This morning I woke up ready to go but my computer decided it wanted to sleep in a bit. Which is a shame as I have a lot to do. I suspect a cookie clearing system wide cleanse is in this evening’s cards. But for now, let’s see if we can get this day started. So on to the writing prompt.
I think I will have to tease this one apart and figure out who is in the group before I go into it. I actually kind of like the idea though.
Monday, April 10th: Food is a priority.
“Food Is a priority,” John said looking around. His eyes were studying the ground, looking for plants that might prove helpful just as moments ago he searched the tree line and the upper landscape for signs of where they were.
There was silence around him and he blinked. John looked at the others, his mind momentarily diverted from their mission. He had been quiet as the others argued about their position, their priorities. In fact he tuned them out as he tried to figure out where he was and what was going. On. Truthfully he was more concerned with where he was rather than what was going on. He knew if he found his location and assessed his resources he would have the leisure to figure the rest out. The others did not seem to share his views.
He looked from one face to another, strangers all. Yet here they all were together.
“Food,” one of them said. His accent was from the pure high caste and grated across John’s ears. There was a hint of whine to it. “Food comes from stores,” he said. “We need to find out why we are here.”
John looked around the circle of faces. They were dressed in upper class clothing and all looked as though they were enjoying a casual afternoon before they arrived here. He was in his school uniform. As his scholarship to one of the best schools in Cardail came with a uniform budget, he too was dressed in the clothing of the wealthy.
“We were all taken from the same area, more or less,” he said. “Now we are in the Great forest north of the city,” he told them. He pointed to the mountain range behind them. “That is the Dragon’s back range,” he told them. They all looked to where he pointed their eyes tracing the bumpy ridge of mountain lines that looked like the vertebrae of a giant beast, hence the name of the range. That means we are at least a five day’s journey from the nearest outpost and that is by transport vehicle.” He looked around. “I don;t see a transport vehicle. Which means we are going to have to walk. Which means we will need to gather food.”
He looked around and saw rising panic on many of the faces. The one who spoke to him so derisively earlier sneered, even as his eyes jittered, dancing from shadow to shadow but seeing nothing.
“There is no way that is true,” he said. “Do you know how dangerous that would be? My father would never allow it. Don’t you know who I am?” He snorted. “This has to be a simulation.”
“It isn’t a simulation,” John replied. He had been in the sims many times and knew their version of reality didn’t quite match up with the real thing. He knew because he spent time in the real thing. “If you’ve never been out of the city I can see why you’d think so,” John added, willing to be fair. “If you haven’t seen the real thing, the sims look pretty good.”
It proved to be the wrong thing. John received a scowl in return,
“Please, I’ll show you,” he said. He walked over to one of the trees. “Override, code 459278,” He said in a loud and clear voice. He then kicked the tree hard. His howl of pain echoed through the forest as his food connected with a real tree.
Ten til Midnight 