Play Dead 8
Play Dead, Chapter 8
“Wait, let me get this straight, m'kay? A woman came to you in a dream, on a bed of clouds, with a white dress on, and told you that Sarafine wasn't a real human?” Noah asks.
It's the next day after I wake up from my dream that I had. I guess it was like some sort of revelation. We sent Sarafine out to gather some flowers. She was so clueless that it wasn't hard to get her to leave. Noah and Demona are still fucked up but they are at least conscious now. Hunter and Madden are in the room as well. They both have their hands crossed. It feels weird talking about Sarafine like this.
“She's some sort of...glitch in the game,” I state.
“I can actually see that making sense,” Demona explains, “She knows way too much about this game. It's been kind of weird. She is like Play Dead Online's Siri or something.”
“A glitch though?” Madden asks, “The girl was weird...I didn't think she was THAT weird.”
Noah seems confused, “I think all of it is weird. I mean lets be honest. She has a personality. What kind of NPC has a personality. I mean this whole thing is weird. Like what's up with this angel lady in your dreams...”
“I didn't call her an angel,” I say, “I just said she was standing on clouds.”
“Right. So this lady standing on clouds tells you that you are the chosen one and you will be her champion and lead her people out of confinement?” Noah asks, “This is perfect. I'm Noah and my best friend's Moses. Perfect.”
“Noah?” Demona asks.
“What?”
“Shut up the fuck up, please,” Demona says.
Noah rolls his eyes and leans back. He throws his hands up as though giving up on the conversation. I know it sounds far fetched. I can't explain what Celeste said to me. All I know is that I had to protect Sarafine. And for the first time in this game I felt like I had a goal. I felt like I had a real purpose besides just survival.
If Sarafine was the way outside of this game then I had to keep her safe no matter what.
“He's telling the truth,” a dark voice says.
We all turn to the corner of the room. It's hard to remember the Black Assassin is in the room sometimes. Hunter makes his way out of the shadows and into the middle of the Guild floor. He crosses his arms and looks around at us. He doesn't have his helmet on but he has his full armor. He's so handsome. It's hard not to stare at him and try to see those mysterious looking eyes glare back at us. His armor fits like a glove. He's the only one that seems to wear it almost all the time. I guess he feels naked without it.
“Should have known you knew something about this,” Madden jumps in.
I give Madden a slight elbow. The tension between the two has not blown over since yesterday. I didn't think it was going to blow over anytime soon either.
Hunter explains it, “Celeste Edwin is one of the game developers for this game. She was the one who told me what my father was up to. She was the one who helped me get into this game.”
Hunter knew who she was this whole time and he'd been just sitting there letting us argue it out and look stupid. Maybe he was amused by my story about a woman in the clouds.
“Why would she go against her employer though?” Demona asks confused.
“Emotion,” I answer.
“What?”
“Human emotion,” I repeat, “That's the one thing Manolo couldn't replicate in this game. It's the one thing he didn't calculate into his perfect world.”
Hunter nods in agreement, “Celeste felt sorry for the players. She didn't have the pull or power to stop the game completely. It was way bigger than her. So she hacked the game. She added Sarafine into it. She gave us a fighting chance.”
“Us?” Madden asks Hunter, “You came in this shit on your own. You weren't forced into this fucking game. You didn't have your life ripped from you.”
“Madden enough...” I state.
“But...”
“ENOUGH!” I reply harder this time, “We need to stop arguing. We're a guild now. We're the Fire Walkers. We need to find out why Sarafine was placed in this game for and how she can help us get out.”
Madden looks away. I feel bad for screaming at him but I have a feeling he wouldn't have stopped going after Hunter unless I said something. Madden is angry. I can feel it. It's true anger. Unlike me, Madden had a life back at home. He had a future. I can see that pain every time he opens his mouth. I can see his regret for getting into this game. He was so upset. I just couldn't let that effect the morale of everyone else. I had to keep everyone on track.
It was my job...as their leader.
It was my job as Celeste's champion.
“Did she give you any clues?” Hunter asks.
“One. She said she had a gift for me.”
“How do we find it?” Demona asks.
Hunter crosses his arms, “Well you guys did say that Sarafine was like the Siri of the game. Why don't we ask her a question like you would Siri?”
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“Am I in trouble?” Sarafine asks.
“If you tell us what we want to know we won't rip your circuits out,” Demona threatens her.
I shoot Demona a hard stare. I literally had a long talk with everyone before pulling Sarafine in the room that we won't mention anything to Sarafine about her not being human. Looking at Sarafine it's hard to tell that she is a design. I mean there were NPCs (Non-Playable-Characters) but Sarafine wasn't an NPC. NPCs didn't have souls. They were computers that just looked human in the game. Sarafine wasn't an NPC. She didn't just look real. She sounded real. She felt real. She seemed like an actual real person.
“No Sarafine. You aren't in trouble,” I state, “There's someone named Celeste. Does that name sound familiar?”
Sarafine looks terrified of Demona. She stares at her the entire time I'm questioning her. If Demona's personality was terrifying enough she had out her axe.
“No.”
Demona clutches her broadaxe. The armor she got from Hunter is glimmering. She looks like some type of deep dark warrior with her black lipstick. There is a scariness to her to her aggression and at times I'm glad that she's actually on my side.
She growls at Sarafine, “The bitch is lying. Killian, let me have a one on one...”
“Noah,” I instruct.
Noah can almost read my mind. He knows exactly what I need. Noah literally has to cast a skill on Demona. He screams out PETRIFY before stabbing her in the arm with one of his daggers. The poison on his dagger causes Demona's body to stone over. It's temporary but Demona won't be able to interrupt for a while. I've seen the Petrify technique used several times by Noah when he was stealing from other people. It was a useful thief ability.
I'm surprised when I see Hunter walk over to Sarafine. For the first time since I've met him he seems warm and easy going apart from him trying to seduce someone. Hunter presses his glove across her short haircut and smiles at her big bubbly eyes.
“Sweetie. I'll need you to try to remember. Is there anything about a Celeste that comes to mind? Anything that rings a bell at all.”
“Um...”
“Think sweetie.”
“Sweetie?” Madden says.
I give him a hard look and then give Noah a look. Both Madden and Noah seem to know what the look means. If Madden says something else he'll be petrified just like Demona. Hunter was trying to help here...somehow. Hopefully...
“Celeste,” she says, “Yes. Celeste's cave. Celeste's cave has something waiting in it for Killian. I don't know how I know that. That's so weird.”
She looks at us as though wanting us to ask her how she knows that. At this point we've all figured out how she knows it though.
“Do you know the location?”
“I can take you there,” Sarafine says.
“No. Can't risk it,” Hunter explains, “There may be a trap. Draw it on my map. You'll stay here. I'll take Killian to the cave.”
“We all can go,” Demona says.
“You guys are still healing,” Hunter explains.
“I'm not,” Madden replies.
“Killian, can you please tell your boyfriend that he doesn't need to babysit you?” Hunter asks me.
“He's not my—” I start off but before I finish it Madden cuts me off.
“Well I'm not leaving you with him alone. So you get the map. I'm going to go ahead and get ready. The three of us are going.”
Hunter grunts and takes Sarafine to the study area to get the mapped drawn. Madden grunts and goes into the bedroom area. The guild house is simple and plain but it's effective in keeping sound out.
At this point Demona isn't petrified anymore because she is just shaking her head and I know she is about to talk a lot of shit.
“I'd pay to see this fight over you,” Demona explains.
“What fight?”
“Wait. Wait. You're taking Madden and Hunter with you. This brawl between the two of them is going to be epic,” Demona explains, “Make sure you record it. You know how to use the camera in your menu right?”
“I got 20 coins on Hunter,” Noah says.
“Nah. You're tripping. Warriors always win. Madden is going to beat the crap out of Hunter.”
“Hunter's higher level.”
“Rogue levels don't mean shit. 1 level for a warrior is worth 5 for a rogue,” Demona explains, “Plus Madden wants to be with Killian a lot more.”
“They are not going to fight over me,” I explain, “Stop being dramatic.”
Noah and Demona look over at me as though I'm clueless. I have no idea what they discuss about Madden and Hunter when I'm not there.
Demona shakes Noah's hand, “I'll take that bet...”
The Mongolian Wilds has a lot of these beasts called Manticores. The Manticore has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth, bat-like wings and a trumpet like voice. They are kind of vicious but luckily Madden is there. He has his sword and shield and takes the lead acting like a tank as he goes through the spawning creatures. He swings his shield bashing and letting out a skill known as WARRIOR CRY everytime one of the Manticores looked away. Once he did the WARRIOR CRY he would cause them all to head towards him.
“Your boyfriend likes to show off,” Hunter says.
Hunter and I are in back of the spawns. I'm shooting with my arrows and Hunter is shooting with his gun. For the most part we barely get any hits in. Madden is like a one man army out there. Madden's defense is really high. I watch at times when he stands still showing that the beasts don't have much of any effect on his heavy armor at all.
I have to admit he is showing off...but it's kind of sexy. It's clear he's doing it because I'm here. Our eyes connect several times and I swear Madden winks over at me a little bit. My chest gets heavy when he does it. I feel my heart beating heavy. There is something so sexy about the way he is just invulnerable. I can't keep my hands off of him. If he swung his dick like he swung his sword I just could imagine be slayed over and over.
My natural instinct is just to defend Madden, “That's what his specialization does. He's a Warrior Tank. He's supposed to draw them away.”
Out of no where Hunter grabs me. He holds me there for a second. He presses up against me for a minute with that hard sexy armor.
Then he asks, “Why didn't you correct me?”
“What?”
“I called him your boyfriend and you didn't try to correct me,” Hunter explains before taking off his mask, “Why?”
I hadn't even realized that I didn't do it. It's weird. Madden and I had gotten so much closer. To say I didn't still have the biggest crush on him would be a lie. I was obsessed with him. I mean I damn near was following him around the Wilds being his cheerleader.
“Seriously? Hunter?” I ask, stepping away from Hunter, “How about because I'm tired of you saying that all the time? He's not my boyfriend. That's clear.”
“Good. Because Tanks are usless and weak...” Hunter explains, “Watch and learn. INVISIBILITY!”
Hunter disappears. I don't see where he goes. I'm following up after Madden who has a bunch of Manticores around him. I count about 6 that have spawned around Madden. Madden is taking them down one a time with his sword but then all of a sudden they start dropping like flies. Every single attack that is given to them is a critical attack. I'm confused but then I see Hunter reappear out of no where right next to Madden.
The 6 Manticores are dead and are crystallizing. Hunter has snuck up behind them and killed them.
He gives me a stare as though proving some point that I don't understand. He puts away his gun and walks past Madden so fast that Madden's head jerks.
“We should rest here,” Hunter explains.
Madden clearly doesn't seem to like the fact that Hunter just came out of no where and killed the spawns he was working on but he holds his thoughts.
Instead he argues about the time, “It's not that dark.”
“It is dark. The Manticores are nocturnal. It'll be easier to travel during the day,” Hunter explains, “I don't even know why I'm even asking you. I could care less what you think. It's up to you Killian, the guild leader. Should we build a tent here or not?”
“How much longer do we have until we get to Celeste's cave?” I ask.
“We'll wake up and walk for about 2 hours. We should be there according to the map,” Hunter replies.
“You said 2 hours an hour ago,” Madden replies.
“We would have gone faster if you cleared the Manticores faster,” Hunter says.
“I actually do this...all the fucking time.”
“Yeah. You do. I forgot your dad created this game. Huh?” Madden says.
Ouch.
“OK. Let's put up a tent,” I state.
It's clear that Madden has hit a nerve with Hunter. Madden just stands there. I've come to know that Madden has a clear sense of pride. He takes orders from me because he likes me but the fact that Hunter has such a strong personality doesn't click with Madden. I take out a tent from my inventory and put it up. Hunter doesn't seem to be interested in sticking around though. He's been glaring at Madden ever since he made the comment. At this point I am sure that they are definitely going to end up killing each other before this is over.
“I'm going to go take a walk,” Hunter says.
“Disappearing as usual.”
Hunter ignores Madden and leaves. I kind of feel bad for him while I watch Hunter leave.
I look over at Madden. He's taken off his armor. He's sitting on a log. He's shirtless. His muscles are popping against the fire. I take a seat next next to him on the log. There were days that I used to dream about being so close to Madden.
“Do you have to be so mean to him?” I ask Madden as he's sitting there.
“Yeah. I kind of do,” Madden replies bluntly.
Madden has a stone and he's sharpening his blade. As I'm talking to him he just sharpens. He's such a warrior in more ways then one. He's muscular and disciplined. He's an open book. He doesn't hide in the shadows like Hunter. He comes out swinging and with his hard armor he dares someone to hit him back. He isn't even trying to hide how much he dislikes Hunter. If Madden likes you he really likes you, but if he doesn't...well he shows it openly. He is clearly blunt as well and combative. He's completely opposite from Hunter and yet I find both of them attractive.
“Why?”
“Oh please. Don't fuck with me, Killian. You know why...” Madden responds.
“No,” I explain to Madden, “I really don't.”
Madden stares at the fire. He drops his blade. He has taken off his armor and he has on just a wifebeater underneath that he got from the market. It shows off his strong lean body. He's a lot more muscular in the game then he was when he wasn't. He looks so much stronger. He looks so much leaner.
Madden turns to me after a few seconds of trying to figure out his words, “We're two alpha men. We both want the same thing. And that thing just so happens to be you.”
Holy shit.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. Hunter won't admit it because he hides things. I'm always going to be honest with you. We had a talk the other day. He told me to stay away from you.”
“Are you serious?”
He nods, “Dead serious. Let's just say it didn't end well. We almost fought over it.”
I lay back. I have to admit this feels like a fantasy all of a sudden again. Madden was the man of my dreams. A year ago I would have never thought there would ever be any competition for Madden's affection. A year ago I would have rolled over if Madden said to roll over. If he told me to jump I would have learned a skill that taught me how to fly.
Now Hunter was telling him to stay away from me.
I come back to realism however and out of my fantasy, “We are in the same guild. We all need to work as a team...”
“No we don't. The difference between us though is I'm willing to admit how I feel to you. I'm not playing games in the shadows. He is one of those fucking assholes that likes to play the 'cool' guy. I'm telling you that I want to be with you.”
Fuck. This was happening.
I swallow my spit. I look away from the fire. This was happening. This was happening now! There was no way to run away from it. When I look back at Madden his eyes are still staring at me. Those emerald eyes are digging into me.
“Um...be with me how?”
“He keeps saying I'm your boyfriend,” Madden states, “I think we should give him what he wants...”
“Madden...a year ago you were in love with my brother.”
“And today I am not even thinking about your brother,” Madden explains, “I'm thinking about you. How many times do I have to tell you that. It's driving me fucking crazy that I have to compete with this fucking shadow cat over your attention.”
“Madden---”
“No. Shut up,” Madden explains, “I've been holding this in for a while. This is coming from a guy who was in a guild with a bunch of other guys. Hunter's ego is out of control. There is not enough room in this guild for me and him. Honestly...there isn't enough room in your heart for me and him.”
“What are you saying?”
“I'm saying I need you to decide,” Madden explains, “You can go wait around for the mystery man who is never around or you can choose me...who never left your side.”
I give Madden a hard look. He's giving me an ultimatum. I can tell why he's upset. Truth is I care about Madden. I've always cared about Madden. For the past month Madden and I had spent almost every minute together. We were rarely apart. Hunter was rarely around. This should have been an easy choice. I've fought all my life for this moment and now that it's here where Madden wanted to actually take this relationship to the next level I was hesitating.
“Can I...think about it?” I ask Madden.
Madden gets up. He clears his throat. He takes his man bun out and lets his hair fall over his broad shoulders. It's almost as though he's showing me what I'm missing. I look at him and I know I am missing a lot. Madden is solid broad shoulders and lean frame. His dark bronze skin is makes me just want to go cuddle up with him in that tent. I'm sure he wants me to go in that tent with him too.
That's when he does it.
I drop my mouth open. My mouth gets dry as I look on. He takes his shirt off. His nipples are brown and full. I just want to suck on them. Fuck this boy was the shit. His neck is firm and his body is perfect. This beautiful tan color. He raises his arm over his head, stretching his abdominal muscles as he touches his hair.
This wasn't fair at all. He was doing this on purpose and fuck it was working.
“I'm going to go to sleep,” Madden tells me, “I'll wait for you, Killian. I'll wait for you because you waited for me. I'm not going to have this guy flirt with you in front of my face just to piss me off, though. That's not what guild members do. I'm a warrior Killian and I'll fight for you. But I don't fight fair...”
“What are you doing?”
Madden takes off his pants. Holy FUCK. His dick glistens. Whatever bullshit people said that Asians had little dicks definitely hadn't met Madden before. His dick was huge and beautiful. It curves to the right. He has a small patch of pubic hair over his dick that is well trimmed. He stands there allowing the light to reflect off his body. My eyes settle on him. My mouth opens.
“I'm going to sleep. Alone...I guess. I sleep naked but it's ok. No stress. Right? I hope you make your decision between the two of us soon...if not for your sake, make it for the guild's sake.”
With that Madden walks into the tent. He has this muscular bubble butt and these strong hamstrings. He looks at me for a minute and my dick is hard as fuck. He opens the tent and just stands there for a second. I watch his strong body. My heart is racing just looking at him. I had to be going crazy. I had to be going nuts not to do this.
Madden stops for a second gives me a cute stare and then licks his lips before disappearing.
I wake up the next morning to a sharp voice.
“Get up.”
It's Hunter's voice and for some reason he sounds a little annoyed. I'm not 100 percent sure why but then I realize it all at the same time. I'm laying in Madden's arms. His strong arms hold me close. My heart is racing. I can't believe this is really happening. I don't remember going asleep in the tent. I don't remember going to sleep at all. I was exhausted but I don't recall knowingly going in the tent with Madden. Madden is completely naked! His dick is pressed up against my ass in the tent. Hunter is hard at that. He is literally POKING into my pants. I'm breathing so hard that I'm panting. Hunter is looking at this and his face says it all.
“Fuck,” I scream out.
Madden wakes up at that moment, “What? What's wrong?”
“We need to get moving,” Hunter says pulling out his mask, “Now.”
Hunter leaves. I can't tell how he feels. I can never tell how Hunter feels. He never shows it. He just disappears as though he doesn't really care. I look over at Hunter. My mouth is open realizing that we'd spent the night in this tent cuddled up together.
“Did we...”
Madden licks his lips, “It was amazing.”
“Oh my god...”
“I'm joking boy. You fell asleep outside. The fire died. You were shivering. I just grabbed you and brought you in here,” he explains, “We didn't do anything of course.”
“Oh,” I state.
“You kept grinding up against me though,” Madden licks his lips harder and laughs a little bit, “I swear I never felt so tempted in my life.”
I sit there for a second.
“If you walked in on what you saw with me and Hunter...how would you react?”
“Why do you ask?” Madden asks.
“I'm just curious.”
“I probably would have went crazy,” Madden responds, “Just being honest.”
I nod, “Let's get ready.”
I don't know how to feel about the fact that Hunter isn't saying anything about Madden. I am more disappointed if anything. It's a stupid thing to feel. We put on our armors and start walking. Hunter is ahead of Madden and I.
He doesn't say anything. He doesn't even say anything when Madden decides to put his arm around me. And for some reason I don't mind it.
Madden said it.
He was a warrior and he was willing to fight for me and for some reason I liked that.
Hunter stays forward. We finally get to Celeste's cave. The cave is in the side of a mountain. There are steps that lead up to the cave. The place isn't on any of the local maps. It's so far from the main road. There aren't any towns near by as far as I'm concerned as well. Hunter starts up towards me. When he turns around Madden has his arm over me again. Hunter doesn't even seem to blink again when he sees us standing next to one another.
“If there are any monsters I'll hold them off.”
“I am the warrior, I can hold monsters off,” Madden explains, “I have higher defense.”
Hunter gives him a look. I can tell he's annoyed with Madden always arguing with him but he doesn't say anything. I tap Madden.
“Hunter can turn invisible,” I tell Madden, “He should hold off the monster.
We walk into the cave at that moment. The place is dark and damp as we walk in there. Hunter leads the way and he takes a flashlight out of his inventory. Madden takes out his sword and shield. I have my bow and arrow. It's quiet in this cave. It's a little too quiet. It's dark as well. There are no low level monsters that spawn and attack us. It's so quiet. It's so strange.
The only thing we hear are our footsteps as we go deeper into the tunnel.
“This is going to be easier than I thought,” Madden acknowledges.
“Don't be stupid. Something's wrong...” Hunter tells Madden.
We keep walking down a long hallway. It gets smaller and smaller. Hunter goes on ahead no really waiting on Madden and I. Madden of course seems like he's the more caring guy. He helps me through the cave making sure that we stay together and after a few minutes he even offers to hold my hand. I have to admit the more time I'm around Madden I feel like I can see a future like this.
I can see us winning this game together, hand in hand and coming out of this game to build something more.
“Stop. Now,” Hunter explains.
“What is it?” I ask.
We are in front of a large pool of water. Along the sides of the cavern basin are rocks. The rocks lead up to a path. The path leads up to a small room.
“There...” Madden says, “Celeste's gift has to be through there.”
“Let me get it,” I state.
Hunter picks up a rock at that moment and throws it at the water. As the rock echoes across the water something is disturbed. The water begins to rumble. The entire cave seems to shake. I'm scared that it is going to come down on us but something else is happening. Something is coming out of the water. It's huge. The head is out of the water completley. There are these huge fangs that show. These dark scary looking eyes clear out. My heart beats crazy.
This monster is...fucking huge.
“Impossible,” Hunter says.
“What the fuck is that?” I ask.
The darkness is surrounded by this creature. It growls at us. It has this laser sharp teeth like iron. It is 15 feet long and approximately 1,000 pounds. The sea creature has its eyes set on us. In this game I've never seen a monster so big. I've never seen anything so terrifying.
“It's the Leviathan,” Hunter explains, “One of the great ones.”
“The great ones?” Madden asks.
“1 of the three legendary beasts. You don't want to cross it,” he explains, “We can't defeat it. I'll keep it busy. You guys move.”
“Will you be OK?” I ask.
“I'll be fine. Go,” Hunter explains.
Madden grabs my hand. I'm worried about Hunter but Madden doesn't want to wait. We start climbing the sides of the cave, keeping away from the monster. Behind us we hear gunshots coming from Hunter. He's shooting hard at the monster.
I hear the monster growling. My heart is racing. I'm scared for Hunter. I'm terrified. What if the monster killed him? There was no way in hell he could kill that thing. I shouldn't have brought him here.
“We should go back,” I tell Madden.
Madden grabs my arm, “No. Hunter told us to keep moving...”
Guns keep going off. I hear screams as Hunter attempts to fight off this beast. I can't even stay focused. Madden literally has to pull me up the sides of the caves until we finally get to the cavern. The cavern echoes as we finally get to the room.
The room is dark and empty. As we get in there we stand looking at the darkness. That's when I see it. There is a statue in the room. It glistens.
Whatever is in this room has to be important, especially when it comes to putting that fucking beast out there to protect it. I walk towards the statue and that's when I see it. The statue is holding something. The statue is holding a bow.
“There is it,” I state.
I walk up to the statue and I take the bow out. On the statue it reads, 'Celestial Bow'.
The Celestial bow is beautiful. I open my inventory to view it. The bow is made of diamonds and Osage Orange wood, deer skin, horse hair, deer sinew, waxed linen, paint, Oak wood, Jasper flint, turkey feathers and glue. It has unlimited arrows...the bow literally shoots light.
“Send a message to Sarafine. Let her know I have the bow,” I explain.
I look at the bow. I draw the string back at that moment and an arrow materializes from thin air. It glows at that moment and temperate light bow. I shoot that bow at that moment and when I release I feel a jerk back so powerful that I swear to god I just shot a shot gun.
Madden is shocked when he sees the wall crack at that moment.
“She says that's not it...” Madden explains.
“What?”
“I sent Sarafine a message about the bow. She says that's not it,” he explains.
I look at the bow. This had to be it. This glowing bow was the most powerful thing I'd ever seen before. What else could there be? What else could Celeste have left for me? That's when I see something. The statue has a space behind it and it looks like rails.
“Help me push this,” I tell Madden.
Madden and I grab the statue. We push as hard as we can. The statue moves and I realize there is a secret compartment in the floor. Madden and I look at one another.
It's Madden that leans forward and opens the secret compartment.
It's at that moment we see something that looks like a chest. It's huge and it has a heavy lock on it. Madden hacks at it a few times but nothing happens. The lock is too strong.
I take out the Celestial bow and I shoot. With one powerful shot the lock on the giant chest. Almost immediately the chest breaks open.
That's when I see something that blows my fucking mind.
“Oh my god,” Madden says.
My brother Shaunie is laying in the chest.
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