Achievement Hunter: The Broken

Ghosts Walk Among Us

Michael jolted awake due to his alarm blaring annoyingly from his phone, his heart now pounding in his chest. "What the hell..." Michael mumbles as he couldn't tell if the nightmare woke him up, or his alarm. Either way, he had barely been able to sleep the previous night. The news had been scaring him.
There had been a mysterious portal found within a cliff close by that was exerting weird power sources, so Michael fought with his subconscious for a while until he eventually passed out. The horrific thoughts must've made him have a nightmare. Everyone had died right before his eyes. Michael breaths, telling himself his friends are okay, that they're alive, there's no apocalypse. He groggily turned his alarm off, looking at the time. "Shit..." He leaps out of bed, gets dressed and leaves the house without having breakfast.
He'll find something to eat at work.
He screamed at the traffic. The cars seem to go slower than humanly possible.
"Scientists are now seeing a light purple glow from within the cave, and are unsure of what is causing the source." A voice on the radio explains. "A team has been sent in, and they have yet to return." Michael angrily turns off the radio, turning his attention back to the cars at a standstill.
"Why do cars only go slow when I'm in a rush..." Michael rubs his temple in annoyance.
Finally, he arrives at work, only ten minutes late. Not as bad as he thought. He walks into work, and Lindsay is already making their way into the office as he gets there, holding a small box of donuts. "Hey, Lindsay! You brought breakfast?" Michael calls, running to catch up with them.
"Yeah, I figured why not? It's Friday." They grin.
"Thank God, I didn't have time to get breakfast this morning." Michael goes to grab a donut, but Lindsay smacks his hand before he can get one.
"Hang on, let's get in the office first." Lindsay laughs. "It's the closest thing to politeness all of you assholes will experience."
Michael rolls his eyes, "Alright, fine." but his smile doesn't leave his face. The two walk through the door, down the hall towards the office.
"So I was late, because I stopped for food. What's your excuse?" Lindsay raises an eyebrow.
"Nightmares..." Michael admits. "I think it's this portal shit that's been messing with my head."
Lindsay laughs, "Same. My mind immediately goes to the worst possible scenario." They smile, "But hey, I'm sure everything is gonna be just fine."
Michael raises his eyebrow, "Ya think?" He questions.
"If I could see into the future, Michael, I'd tell you everything would work out."
He shrugs. "Fair enough."
The duo make their way into the office, everyone else is already at their computers. "Guess who got breakfast, bitches?!" Michael points to himself while shouting, causing everyone's heads to turn.
"I assume Lindsay." Gavin smirks.
"...yeah..." Michael groans.
"I got donuts!" Lindsay opens the box, and Michael immediately snatches a glazed.
"Yes! Breakfast!" Alfredo bounces over, taking a donut as Trevor rushes close behind him.
"Thanks, Lindsay!" Trevor takes a donut, seating himself in a nearby chair.
"Hell yeah!" Geoff practically runs to them. "Thanks, Linds!"
They beam, "No problem. I was stuck in traffic anyways."
Two voices are heard as a loud yell of "Donuts!" are able to be tracked to Jeremy and Matt yelling simultaneously. They rush over and attempt to steal as many donuts as they can, but before they can get too many, Lindsay closes the box in the two's faces.
"Save some for everyone, you pigs." Lindsay hides the box behind their back.
"Come on, Lindsay." Matt frowns.
"No!" Lindsay glares. They move the box in front of them, gesturing to put the others back.
"Fine." Jeremy rolls his eyes, putting the extra donuts in the box. He proceeds to glare at Matt, who sighs and reluctantly puts his extras back.
Michael laughs as Jack walks over, waiting patiently for everyone to get one before he takes one.
"Thanks, Lindsay." Steffie smiles, taking a bite of her donut.
"You're welcome! Everyone got one right?" Lindsay looks around, checking to see. "Alright. Matt, now you can steal more."
"Yes!" Matt grabs more donuts as Michael walks over to Lindsay.
"Thank God Lindsay got donuts. I wasn't able to get breakfast this morning." Gavin laughs.
"Same, I overslept." Michael admits as Gavin's laughter dies down.
Which gets Trevor scratching his head, "Same. It's weird, I guess I've been a little stressed lately." He explains as he shakes his head.
"Me too. I dunno what's up." Alfredo heads over as well. "Maybe it's all this stuff about that portal to hell?"
Jeremy sighs, "Oh yeah, totally. I had a weird dream last night."
Steffie nods, "Me too."
"Same here." Michael laughs nervously.
"It was definitely about the news. I dreamt the world was in a weird apocalypse thing and we all were like, dying." Alfredo speaks up.
"...were there like, zombies and stuff?" Trevor asks.
"...yyeah, how'd you know?" Alfredo asks.
Everyone looks at each other, eyes wide.
"And all of us died..." Michael speaks up. Alfredo looks at everyone, realization hits his expression.
"I... had that same dream." Lindsay nods.
"So did I..." Jack mumbles.
Everyone looks around the room, everyone looks horrified. They all slowly nod, confirming to each other what they feared.
Matt looks up from his plate of donuts.
"The hell are you talking about?"
They are about to explain everything, when they hear a loud bang off in the distance. They all look up, out the window is a blinding purple light.
"What is that?!" Alfredo shouts, hiding himself behind Trevor.
Michael begins to yell at everyone to get down, however the rumble gets too loud and drowns his voice out. Everyone covers their ears, and Michael feels him and Gavin get shoved to the ground as Geoff tackles both of them. Everyone follows and collapses. The light blinds Michael, sending him flying. A purple fog fills the room, followed by a bright light and a loud crash that seems to go on forever and Michael feels a pain go through his body as he's thrown to a wall. He sees blinding, purple eyes, glaring at him, followed by a loud roar.
Then everything goes black.

***

Michael shudders awake at the memory, the explosion still echoing in his mind. He wishes everything would reset like it seemed to have before, but it didn't. That everything had been a twisted anxiety-induced nightmare, but it wasn't.
This was real.
He had managed to fall asleep in a small hole underneath a tree, protecting him from any threat. Something in him kept him alive. He's not sure what. He still kept Gavin's scarf wrapped around his neck, and his diamond dagger clutched in his hand. He was able to find shelter, not having to worry about anyone but himself. It was almost freeing. It was nice in a twisted kind of way.
However, there was still a part of him pulling his thoughts back to his friends. As much as he tried to forget them, once he was laying down and found it quiet, he couldn't help but think of them. So when he found the house, after months of searching, he was relieved to say the least. As he approaches, he spots Steffie and Jeremy arguing. They're both yelling, with Trevor close behind them. Michael is used to their arguments.
They seemed angry. The argument swiftly ends with them both laughing, as most of their arguments do and Trevor rolls his eyes in annoyance. Jack and Geoff are by the garden. The two of them are collecting food for the others. Alfredo was running up to Trevor with Gavin running close behind. They tackled the other into a hug, them all ending up cackling on the floor.
Michael walked through the memories, almost in slow motion.
Lindsay walks out of the house, freezing Michael in place. They spot him and quickly heads to him. "Hey, Michael." They say.
"Lindsay..." Michael's heart sinks. "I...I'm so sorry...I should've been there..."
Lindsay smiles, comforting Michael. "It's not your fault, Michael. None of this was anyone's fault. Remember survival of the fittest?"
Michael laughs for the first time in a long time. He laughs until the tears return to his eyes, and his chest aches. Lindsay quickly pulls him into a hug. "I'm not gonna leave you guys again. I promise." Michael cries.
Everyone slowly fades from view, leaving him alone with Lindsay. Their surroundings fade to black. It's just the two of them. "I promise." Michael looks at Lindsay, who nods back at him, then disappears.
Michael falls to his knees, looking around at the leftovers from the house. The farm had been picked apart by animals by now. Any bodies that were here were long gone. The wood on the house had begun to rot, moss slowly growing over it.
Alfredo's iron helmet remains on the ground, rust now forming over it, blending together with dried blood. "He needed it...he needed the armor more than me..." Michael sighs as he picks up the helmet and puts it on. The dried blood inside made him sigh, and quickly take off the helmet and gently set it back on the dirt beneath him.
Michael heads inside the house, the grass now up to his knees. The chests rotting away, falling apart. Michael sits on one of the decaying cots, taking in everything. He hadn't spent much time here, but he had relished in the memories he relieved when he stepped foot onto the farm. He thinks of all of his friends. He focuses on that, as his breathing steadies.
When he wakes up, it's pitch black outside. The decaying smell filled his senses, driving him out of the house. He looked at the moon shining bright into the sky. It was almost comforting to have a bit of light. He spotted a hoard of zombies off in the distance.
And he knew what he needed to do.
He turns back to the house, stabbing his dagger into the dirt and as he watched the moonlight shine off of it he's filled with a sense of fondness. Michael carefully takes the tattered scarf off from his neck, wrapping it around the handle of the dagger. A night breeze went by, making the scarf wave in the wind. Michael smiles as he stands up, turning to the much closer zombie hoard.
He begins walking towards them, but he stops himself. He spots Lindsay's Sap of Life, which now stood tall as a full grown tree. Michael smiles at it, a warm feeling found its way to Michael's chest. He turns to the zombies, then back to the tree. His eyes had never left that tree by time the hoard reached him.
Then he saw nothing.
Then he saw something.

***

This wasn't right, he should be dead.
Something was terribly wrong.
Michael's eyes flung open. He was staring at the sky, his arms were still held up in defense. His mind takes a moment to catch up. The pain was dull, but it was still noticeable. He had faded scratches across his arms. He investigates his surroundings, slowly bringing himself to his feet. He was on a small island in the middle of a seemingly endless sea.
His legs were stiff, barely allowing him to move. But he manages to force himself to step forward, stretching out his tense joints. Michael notices a makeshift house in the middle of the island. Or, actually it was just two walls barely being held up, leaning on each other for support.
Michael heard a shuffle behind him. He spins around on his heels, his gaze dashing all around him. He picks up a stick laying by his feet, and holds it above his head in defense.
"Who the hell is there?!" Michael snarls. A figure in a red cloak steps out, a sword in hand. Michael readies an attack, until the figure lowers the cloak, revealing his face. Michael stops dead in his tracks.
"Matt?!"