John snuck a glance back at the boy in question. Possessing an average height with brown-hair and brown-eyes, Goodie was the type of average that meant the guy would blend into the background whether he wanted to or not. That, along with the boy’s fondness for silence and stealth meant that John and the others were often prone to receiving jump-scares whenever they turned around.

The kid was creepy as fuck.

But that was no reason to have done what they did to him. Once they got back up top, John and the others would have to have a sit down to discuss exactly how they were going to deal with the kid and what they could offer him to cover his losses. But that conversation would have to be had much, much later as the group’s progress back to the surface had been getting slower and slower, as well as more hazardous now that they did not have Goodie’s snake to rely upon.

Goodie had not said anything on the matter, having been silent and withdrawn since he had lost his pet, more so than usual, that is.

A snake may have appeared to have been an odd choice for a pet, John finding them quite creepy himself, but everyone was different. If John remembered correctly, one of his cousins owned a pet snake and the guy had been devastated when it had died of natural causes, he could not imagine how the silent boy behind him felt after losing his pet to what he would have no doubt considered murder.

It was silly being that concerned over a dumb animal, but John could not help but feel a little guilty despite not actually have done anything to harm the creature.

The group’s actions had resulted in the demise of the poor thing, and while John knew that the guy had other people to call friends, like that woman he shared his truck with, whatever that situation was about, but John was certain that the snake had meant the world to the boy, enough so that there was probably nothing that they could do to properly make up for what they had done.

John still did not know why they agreed to force the boy to go with them…no…no, he did know why, he and everyone else were a bunch of dicks, that was why. But they could not have come down here…no, he was lying again, they could have come down here without him, but having him here to guide them made everything so much easier, so much more convenient, and that was ultimately why they had done everything the way they had, because it was the easier choice to make or because it would have made things easier.

For them, easier for them, he added.

But it had just made so much sense at the time. The kid, Goodie, had been so full-on into himself that he had been doing the whole role-play thing when they had originally met the guy, John still remembered when he and the others had first approached the boy on that hill outside the village where the waggon-train had first gathered. The kid had brushed them off claiming that he was far too busy watching for assassins to bother with them. It was such a stupid thing to say that it had the entire group laughing for days.

It was not hard to figure out what had happened and why the kid put on such a front. Unable to deal with life on earth, people like him hid away in their entertainment & hobbies, a story that had long since become a cliché for people like Goodie and John doubted that the kid was any more capable of dealing with life here on this world, so, naturally, the boy would have done the same exact thing as he would have done on Earth, wrapping himself in fancy stories and cos-playing to hide himself from the truth of his situation and to also make himself feel important.

Well, John could not exactly blame him, a runt stuck in an unknown world by themselves with no to rely on? Even he would have been shitting himself.

In Goodie’s case, though, the kid had shut himself off, which was why he refused to go with them in the first place. Or at least that was what John had told himself.

It was what Jennifer had told him.

It was the reason for her plan, the reason why they forced Goodie into going along with them on their adventure. As time passed and their victories mounted up…John could not help but wince as he thought that…Goodie would have, of course, begun to relax his guard, then, when he finally started coming out of his shell, opening up to them after seeing how much loot that everyone was going to get, finally began to sway to their side of things, they could then have released him from Jennifer’s control and the group would have then had a new member.

But Goodie had not opened up, rather, he had become even more guarded, with the kid never relaxing for even a moment.

The guy had obviously had experience with bullies from before the group had met him, the way Goodie reacted to the more built-up members like him and Bret did more than indicate his extreme dislike for anyone who fell into the ‘Jock’ category.

That, and it was not hard to miss Goodie’s leg. It was not crippled or anything, but it had obviously been injured enough at some point that the guy had to constantly watch how he walked. John had seen the kid wince a few times when he had to make a sudden movement, one of the rare moments that John ever saw the kid express an emotion on that stone-cold face of his, the pain more than likely a constant reminder to not trust people.

Was it any wonder that the guy could not relax?

Still, it was somewhat unfair, though, John might have screwed up this once, but he was by no means a bully, and being labelled as such really irked him.

Sure, back in school John would punch certain, scrawny-looking kids as they passed by, maybe call them some names and such, but he was not a bully or anything, he did it good-naturedly, a bit of ribbing now and then to toughen them up. Just as he was not a dumb jock, he knew that geeks were not all geniuses that would one day run the world, so it was necessary to keep them from falling into a slump where they would just let life skate on by. But that was just him, and he knew that some people, others, just took things too far.

Though that was all just a guest as none of them actually knew if Goodie’s knee had been busted by a bully or not as the kid had never opened up to any of them, even to the other quiet kids of the group. Never letting anything slip, never letting them see a chance for them to force him out of his shell to get him to open up to anyone else.

It was just not fair.

Yes, they went about it the wrong way, but they were still trying to be his friend. The kid could have done something to at least meet them halfway.

His brow creased as John breathed in in frustration.

John realised that he was working himself up into a rage, a state that would have helped no one right at that moment. He forced his emotions down.

Trying to cool off, he vented his feelings by kicking an over-sized mushroom, a lumpy looking thing the size of a basketball, one of the few specimens of plant-life that could grow this deep into the burrows.

More magic or whatever, John thought, as he was sure that even normal mushrooms needed a bit of sunlight to grow.

He looked on as it went sailing across the vast, empty space to his left, the opening to a large cavernous hole that went down far beyond what their mage-light could reach.

He watched as the fungus disappeared into the shadows below.

The sight of the hole made him feel uneasy. They had passed by a number of giant holes, cracks, and crevices since they had come down here, but this one looked off for some reason. John hoped that it was due to him seeing it from the other way round as they headed back rather than because it was the first time he was seeing it all together, otherwise it would have been a heavy blow to their already low morale if they had to turn back, he would have to go over the map with Jennifer later tonight.

It was a testament to how worn down he had become that he did not make a joke about having time alone with the cheerleader, the notion usually having his face flushing as his infatuation with the young woman caused his heart to race.

Any further thoughts on the matter came to a halt as a scream echoed out.

John shot round, eyes darting left and right as he drew his weapon, his mind trying to lock on to whatever had attacked them.

Nothing? Everyone was looking to the left, out over the opening to his left.

A flying monster? No. Something crawling up from below, then? No, there was nothing there as he peered over the side.

John turned back to view the other. It took him a second to realise that the others were not staring at the cavern, they were staring at Bret.

Seeing no immediate threat, he relaxed, then proceeded to ask the obvious, “What the hell happened?”

Wait?

John eyed the group of young adventurers who seemed to be trying to press themselves into the tunnel wall, each looking at Bret with fear in their eyes.

All but one.

Where the hell was Goodie?