Achievement Hunter: The Broken

Tensions Rise

The group had managed to finish constructing the house, aside from some minor gaps in the walls, and no flooring, but it's enough for them to survive.

***

"You're being such a stubborn idiot!" Geoff is pacing around the room, gesturing wildly with his hands. "You could get yourself hurt! Or worse! Then what?!"

While Geoff and Steffie are arguing, Alfredo could do nothing but watch.

"We can't hide ourselves in a cave for the rest of our lives, Geoff! We need to get stuff to not just survive!" Steffie retorts. "We need stuff to live!"

Geoff pauses for a moment and scoffs, looking at Steffie in what Alfredo can only pinpoint as disbelief.

"You don't care, do you?" Geoff shakes his head.

"It's not that I don't—"

"You could die! We need you! We need to all stay alive. I'm not letting any of you idiots kill yourselves because you want to be a goddamn 'hero', and think you know what the hell you're doing!" Geoff clenches his fists. "News flash, Steffie. You have no clue what is going on, so stop pretending like you do."

"I'm not dead! I was outside today! We all were! Oh what?! Michael gets a few scratches, and suddenly everyone's so paranoid?!" Steffie growls.

"You know exactly why we can't risk it, Steffie!" Jeremy shouts.

"It wasn't the monsters that killed him and you know it." Steffie rolls her eyes. "That was us being ill prepared!"

"How could we have prepared for that? Are you really going to blame us for Matt?!" Jeremy stands shakily. Steffie doesn't reply.

Alfredo looks over at Trevor, who is pretending to be asleep. He knows he's pretending. No one else was sleeping. How could they? Everyone's so loud.

"We can't live like this." Steffie sits down.

"Vee, you're a dumbass," Michael stands. "We're not staying inside forever, we just need to be more careful."

Steffie is standing once more and glaring at Michael. "We have to get stuff we need! Food, water, materials! Weapons!"

Michael looks like he's about to say something, but instead sits back down.

Lindsay was digging through the chests in the back, trying to distract themself. Alfredo knew they were. He'd do the same thing, however he's scared to draw attention to himself by moving.

"What if you don't come back?!" Gavin pipes up. "What are we going to do then, Steffie?!"

"I will come back! You guys know me! I can—"

"Things are different now, Steffie! We need to be cautious!" Gavin stands up and walks over to Vee. "We can't risk going out on our own right now, but we are going to figure this out."

Alfredo's heart stops for a brief moment. The tension in the room was thick.

Steffie eventually nods, sinking back down, as Alfredo lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.