Raywood Forever

               They gave Ray two days to rest and recover. The last few years when the world turned to shit had done a number on every survivor. He showered and slept soundly for the first time in recent memory before being visited by Michael and thrown his rifle. The pink hadn’t started flaking off yet and Ray smiled as he weighed the familiar thing in his hands.

“Come on, we’re raiding a mall,” Michael said from the door frame. “We need to get you some new clothes dude, you reek.”

“Yes because washing machines are so abundant out in the world right now,” Ray rolled his eyes and followed Michael out to the yard.

               They had holed up in an old hotel and blocked it off with whatever they could find. It used to be really nice until the fall, or that’s what it looked like anyways. They had pushed the walls back so that they had the entire driveway and lawn secured. There was so much metal surrounding the property that no other survivors in Los Santos would be able to barricade themselves in anywhere. Gavin was laying on the grass in the sun, snoring lightly. Geoff and Jack were over bickering by the car and Lindsay and Jeremy were nowhere to be seen.

“Get up dipshit,” Michael nudged the Brit with the toe of his boot. Even though his words were less than pleasant, the tone Michael used was affectionate and Gavin sat up with a wide smile.

“I am up,” He giggled. “Just having a little snooze.”

“Get in the car children,” Geoff groaned. “Michael, you’re driving.”

               The drive to the mall they were going to search was full of the same kind of bickering. It started with which CD to play in the car’s radio and then moved to which stores to hit up first once they got there. Ray tuned them out as he watched the crumbling city pass by. They pulled into the parking lot and the four of them walked into the looming building, guns at the ready. They split up, Michael and Ray together and Gavin with Geoff before going in separate directions. Geoff kept complaining that they didn’t have any good music so he dragged Gavin off in search of some new CDs. Michael and Ray made their own rounds, packing two duffle bags of stuff for the Hispanic man.

“Now all that’s left is for us to burn those fucking clothes,” Michael chuckled.

“Fuck you, I love this sweater,” Ray replied with his own smirk.

“Look, there’s the exact same one,” Michael pointed across the hall and sure enough, there were a few bright purple hoodies with white zippers.

“Aw sweet!” Ray ran over and grabbed a few just before they heard the crack of bullets being shot at them.

“WHAT THE FUCK,” Michael shouted and dove beside Ray.

“Sorry,” A voice rang from down the hallway.

“What the hell man?!” Ray poked his head out to see a man in a skull mask and a leather jacket.

               Even though he couldn’t see his face, Ray was enraptured by this mystery person. His broad shoulders and tight pants practically had the younger man’s mouth watering and all Michael could do was laugh at him and try to get both of them off the floor. Even the smooth voice that echoed through the mall was stuck in Ray’s skull. Michael busied himself with stuffing the sweaters in one of the duffle bags while the strange man came up to them.

“Sorry, you can never be too careful,” He shrugged, making the leather he was wearing scrunch.

“You could’ve killed us!” Michael replied, only slightly angry.

“I said sorry!” The man tried to defend himself.

               They bickered for a bit, Ray staying quiet even after Geoff and Gavin showed up. He was still in awe of the stranger. Little did he know that the stranger was fixated on him too. Underneath the mask, he could barely keep his eyes off the smaller man. His slender limbs and taped up glasses and messy hair were all endearing qualities. If it wasn’t for the sniper rifle slung casually over his shoulder, he might’ve felt the need to protect the younger man.

“If you want, you can come with us,” Geoff’s words snapped Ray back into his own mind. “Just as long as you promise not to kill anybody in our sleep.”

“I wouldn’t want to add to the zombie numbers anyways,” The stranger chuckled.

               And that’s how the bigger man ended up squished between Ray and Gavin in the backseat of Geoff’s armoured car. Ray could feel every inch of this man pressed up against him in the too-small car. His leg was bouncing anxiously as they drove back to the hotel. Lindsay and Jack were there to open the gate this time and the introductions were repeated. Lindsay had to snap in front of Ray’s face to get him to focus.

“Can you show Ryan to the room beside yours? It’s already cleaned and everything,” Lindsay was laughing. “408.”

“Yeah sure,” Ray shook his head. “Follow me.”

               Ray managed to make it into the elevator and hit the buttons before he got too nervous. As soon as the doors closed, Ryan moved to pull up his mask and it was like Ray couldn’t breathe. The man underneath the skull mask was so gorgeous that Ray almost fell over. Even streaked with dirt and remnants of face paint, his defined features struck the Hispanic man like he’d been shot. Most of his hair was pulled back but pieces in the front were falling into his eyes, showing how it waved. The only thing Ray could do was gape like a fish. Too soon, the doors opened with a ding and both men had to awkwardly break eye contact and walk down the hall together. Ray showed Ryan which room would be his before going into his own. Closing the door, he slid down against it with his head in his hands.

               Running alone and sleeping on roofs can only work for so long. Finding food and ammo was getting harder and he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep going on his own. He was moving through Los Santos when he found them... Well more like they found him but the end product was still the same. The walkers had been trying to scale the side of the building he was on all day and a group of other survivors watched on.

               They stayed in their armoured car as the walkers kept trying to climb the side of the building. They only made it up so high before most of them inevitably fell to their deaths. Every once in a while, a walker would make it up closer to the top but a swift shot to the head brought them down. Over the course of the day as the dour men watched and debated, the shooter never showed their face.

“Let’s go on up,” Geoff got out of the car.

               It didn’t take long for the three men to get into the building. They were very well practiced. Gavin stayed in the car, opting to be the distraction instead while Michael, Geoff and Jack ran in. Los Santos was lucky in the fact that their power was still on so the three men didn’t have to take the stairs. The ride up to the top was full of bickering between Geoff and Jack and only stopped as the elevator was coming to the top floor. From there they had to take one set of stairs up to the roof access door.

“You’re a good shot, kid,” Geoff said once they’d all come out of the doorway.

               The kid flung around, aiming his riddle at Geoff’s forehead. Standing before the three men was a dangerously thin Hispanic boy. He was clearly closer to Michael’s age and looked as if he’d been having trouble finding food in at least the last few weeks. Even though he was so young, he made it seem like the sniper rifle in his hands was an extension of himself. His purple hoodie was streaked with dirt and his shoes were ripping. His glasses were taped up in more than one spot. He eyed them suspiciously, waiting for one of them to talk again.

“We’re not gonna hurt you man,” Michael put up his hands. “What’s your name?”

“Ray,” The gun lowered even if he could still kill all of them with it in an instant if he wanted to.

“Well Ray,” Geoff began. “I think we could both be beneficial to one another so we’ve come with a deal.”

“What are you offering?” Ray narrowed his eyes.

“You can come with us to stay in safety,” Geoff stepped forwards slowly. “You just need to help out like the rest of us.”

“What does that entail?”

“Boy you ask a lot of questions,” Michael laughed at Geoff’s comment.

“We go out for supplies and stuff,” Jack finally spoke. “It’s easier as a group. Someone always has your back that way.”

“And we don’t have a sniper,” Michael chimed in. “It would be super helpful.”

“Do you guys have food?” Ray pushed his glasses back up his nose.

“I’m only the best cook left in Los Santos,” Jack joked.

“Alright, I’ll go with you,” Slinging the gun over his shoulder by the strap, Ray packed up his stuff.

               On the way down, Michael radioed to Gavin that they were coming and to be ready to pick them up. Sure enough, He was waiting in the passenger seat. He wasn’t the most precise driver after all. Geoff took the wheel while the other three piled in the back. They had to run over a fair number of walkers before they were in the clear, splattering the car with blood, dirt and pieces of rotting flesh. At least the inside was clean.

“Hello!” An enthusiastic british accent greeted Ray. “I’m Gavin, what’s your name?”

“Ray,” He replied quietly.

“We never even introduced ourselves,” Jack realised. “Well I’m Jack, that’s Michael and the grumpy one driving is Geoff.”

“I’m not grumpy!” Geoff tried to defend himself.

               The group made it back to the compound with relative ease. Two other people let the car through the gate that they had constructed out of everything and anything they could find. Ray followed the rest of the guys out of the car and went to stand beside Jack timidly. Although he was sure enough in his skills, being around this many people again was unsettling. The two people that Ray had yet to meet both came over eagerly and went up to Geoff.

“You found a new guy!” The redhead was wiping her hands on her jeans.

“Yeah, guys this is Ray,” Geoff motioned over to the sniper. “This is Lindsay, our resident medic and Jeremy. He kind of does everything.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ray managed to get the words out.

               2 AMand Ryan was still pacing around the apartment. He still refused to call it hiseven though he spent almost every night there with Ray. Speaking of the youngsniper, he hadn’t returned yet. The heist had gone well from what Ryan had seenand heard. At Geoff’s, he’d taken his and his lover’s share of the money beforegoing back to their apartment and waiting. He figured that Ray was just tryingto get out of the area discreetly and would be home soon. When he didn’t comehome, Ryan turned on the news and watched it obsessively. They hadn’t arrestedanyone for the robbery. The only other conclusion Ryan had come to was that Rayhad been injured and/or kidnapped. When the door opened, Ryan stood and sawthat it wasn’t Ray. Geoff and Michael came in.

“WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?” Ryan’s rage was very quicklyovercoming him.

“Calm down man,” Michael said, mildly calm.

“NO,” Ryan screamed. “YOU TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED THIS SECOND.”

“RYAN,” Geoff screamed back, getting his attention. “Ray isfine, we just have to go get him.”

“What do you mean?!” Ryan was getting close to tears,something neither of the other men had seen from him.

“He’s stuck in the building he was on top of,” Michaelexplained. “Gavin’s waiting downstairs in the truck, we need a plan.”

“Come on, we can’t leave him alone for too long,” Geoffdragged Ryan out by the shirt.

               Ryanwasted no time in busting into the building where Ray was hiding. He blewthrough everyone who was in the lobby, knocking heads together left and rightwith ruthless force. Jogging up the stairs, he kept up his insane pace ofripping through the enemies that were blocking his path. Gavin, Geoff andMichael trailed behind him, making sure that the bad guys were really out coldbefore moving on. Ryan whistled on the top floor and heard a weak responseback. Running in the direction, he found Ray under a pile of trash bags.Flinging them off of him, Ryan yanked the younger man into his arms.

“You’re okay right?” He looked Ray over after letting himgo. “No one hurt you?”