“I was a kid on Firstday, twelve years old. Wrong time to be a kid surrounded by adults. First they took my lunchbox so that they could ‘stockpile provisions’ for ‘democratic redistribution’. Then, a few hours later, my backpack and everything in it became ‘strategic resources’. Then some naked guy ran up and asked me for my shirt, but when I said no, he hit me, and took it. There were other adults there, but they just watched. They just stood there and watched. As I tasted the pooling blood in my mouth, I realized two things. First, this was most likely not going to be the last time I got hit. Second, I couldn't be a kid anymore.”- Mason Young, Survivor 1087

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Cyrus Fraisier

Day 1

Initial Location

Morning (?)

As we walked towards the varying cries of ‘Come!’ and ‘To the hill!’, I glanced at this supposed partner of mine from the corner of my eye. I couldn't figure out an ulterior motive on this guy, nothing made sense except what he actually claimed: he wanted a partner. There was no other reason to approach me. Still, it was best to watch this Bryce at least until I knew him better. My thoughts were interrupted as I scratched at my leg furiously, the foot tall grass having slipped up my pants leg and irritated my calf yet again. I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked over to see Bryce pointing at his shoes. He had his jeans tucked into his boots. I hurried to copy him the best I could with my slacks and loafers. I really wasn't dressed for this. It surprisingly took us nearly twenty minutes to walk all the way there. The valley was surprisingly large. As we joined the growing crowd, I realized there were a lot more people than I thought, thousands at least. All of us were forming a natural semicircle around a small group of people standing higher on the slope. After a few more minutes, one of them stepped forward. I couldn't really see his face due to the distance, but I could tell he was an older white guy with salt and pepper hair, more salt than pepper if you asked me.

“I am Colonel Leonard Thames, United States Army! Currently, both the time and date are unknown, and we cannot establish communications with the outside world. It is believed that we are in some sort of underground facility. For now, we would ask everyone to please remain calm and find others that speak your language. The most important thing at this point is organization! To that end, myself and the people behind me will be collecting the name and place of origin of everyone present and issuing survivor numbers. We are also collecting food and other strategic resources. Please bring all donations forward at this time. We must remain unified, we must remain strong!” I exhaled in annoyance. Why the fuck did I think that these guys would have something useful to say? Of course they don't actually know anything, they probably only woke up a little bit earlier than I did. The guy kept talking but I stopped listening right around there. We’re in a box, nobody knows what's going on, and I walked here for nothing. And I wasn't giving the three candy bars in my apron pocket to nobody. Nobody. Probably having heard me, Bryce nudged my arm.

“Not feeling the speech? Me neither. To be honest, I don't really take to the idea of just giving them my stuff. Sounds like some commie shit to me, partner.” He said.

“Yeah, that shit’s a no go. These people don't know shit. I really stopped sharpening my spear for this. We done wasted enough time here, I'm going back.” I said, putting my spear back on my shoulder semi-pointy end down.

“Hold your horses a minute there. Most important thing in this situation is to get a lay of the land. As fate would have it, we've walked to the highest point that I see round here. It’d be a shame to waste the trip.” He said with a smile as he pointed at the hilltop right in front of us. This bastard wanted to make me do cardio. I sighed again. I really didn't want to walk up the hill, but it was the smart thing. Especially as I had no idea where those things were.

“Well, guess that makes sense.”

“Hey shut up! I'm trying to hear the man talk!”I heard someone yell behind me. I whipped my head around to see who had lost their minds and thought they could just talk any kind of way to me, but then I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder. I turned to see Bryce shaking his head. He was right. It would be a waste of time. I shrugged his hand off, and started walking to the left most edge of the crowd so we could start climbing the hill.

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“So, what were you the owner of?” Bryce asked as we weaved through the mob. How had he known that? Seeing my surprise and reluctance to answer, he spoke again.

“There's an owner tag on your apron dude. Come on man, we're partners now, you gotta talk to me. I don't know how long it’ll be till help comes, but we might as well get to know each other.”

“... I owned a convenience store.”

“You gotta give me more than that man, come on.” He said. I don't know why he sounded annoyed. I answered the question didn't I? I sighed as I tried to keep up with the other man’s step. We were around the same height, I was around 6’2 so he was probably 6’3, but he was much leaner than me. He was having a much easier time gliding through the crowd, slipping around people. I had to do a lot more shouldering and pushing. Luckily, the people were rapidly thinning as we approached it's edge.

“Well? I’m waitin’. Tell me more about yourself. It'll be a ways to the top yet, even though it may not look that far. The incline isn't as bad as a mountain, but it'll still be a good lil hike. Some conversation goes a long way. Here I’ll start. I done said already my name’s Bryce, though I actually use my last name more. My dad was in the military, see. Everybody called him by his last name Kilpatrick, and when he passed, I sorta inherited it. Anyway, I’m twenty-three years old, a hunter by trade. I make good money killing elk and deer, then shipping meat to them hippies in California and Oregon who wanna make sure all their meat is ‘ethically sourced’ or whatever. Last thing I recall before wakin up here, I was organizing my firearms for a big hunt. One of the hippies actually paid me for a ‘guided hunting experience’. Basically, they coulda watched me shoot, cause I damn sure don't trust them pulling a trigger anywhere in my general vicinity. Damn that would have been some good money, and I done missed it. All that beautiful portlandian money coulda been the down payment on a new bike… wait, is that right? Portlandian? Portlander? Portlandic?”

“Portlander sounds… not wrong? I actually am one of those hippies, by the way. I'm from Cali, Long Beach to be exact. I don't order no meat though, especially not no damn elk. I go to Walmart and cop a pack of chicken breast like a normal human being. I’m twenty-seven and like I said, I own a convenience store. Slausonmart, named after the street. Perfect location, too. All the kids walking to school had to pass by, and we sold breakfast sandwiches 2 for $4. Then on the weekends, everyone going to the clubs in L.A gotta pass me too and they’d come in and buy drinks to sneak into the club so they wouldn't have to pay them high ass prices. It's good money, but hard work staying stocked. Luckily, I got a brother back home who should be able to manage, at least until I get back.” I said, trying to keep my breathing even.

We had begun the upwards part of the hike, and I was starting to feel it. I put a hand on my gut under my apron. I still had rock solid arms from over a decade of physical labor, but I had gotten somewhat chubby as of late. Business had indeed been good, and with my newfound wealth came free time. That was spent smoking weed, eating foods I couldn't afford before and could barely pronounce, and binge watching netflix shows. I loved every minute of it. My mama always told me I wouldn't get nowhere lazing about on the couch, but I was determined to prove her wrong. I bet she never thought her baby would be able to hire employees to do the work for him. I had been working since I was sixteen, in one way or another, and after ten years I was a small business owner. My own boss. I deserved to be lazy, to take a break and enjoy life. Nevertheless, I was now paying the price for it. We traveled the last few minutes in silence, as I tried to keep my huffing and puffing to a minimum. We were nearing the summit when Kilpatrick spoke again.

“ You… you really think we going back?”

“Well, I certainly ain’t staying here.”

“Man, look down there. Look at all them people. Never seen so many all in one place outside of television. But if someone took us all, they had the means to take us all without us even remembering, which means they drugged us, and with something that could be used for a long time. Not with no cheap shit like acepromazine, neither. There's at least a few thousand people down there, that's a million bucks easy. Look at the size of this place. That guy down there, Col. Thames? He said they think this place is underground. How much would this place cost? Millions? Billions? You say you got a brother, I got some too. We weren't homeless guys on the street. People would come looking for us, but whoever took us, they don't give a fuck. I think we’re screwed till we find out what they want. That, or…” The man went silent as we finally reached the summit. Thank God. My lungs were in some serious distress, and it was hard to keep playing it off. It didn't help that I was carrying around a big piece of wood. Jeez, I didn't look that fat, but I must've been seriously out of shape.

As I found my breath, I looked over the entire box. The first thing I noticed was that it wasn't perfectly square. It was longer than it was wide, and illuminated on all sides. It was a sea of purples, browns, and greens. There was a river that snaked diagonally through the area from what I could see, curving around the backside of the hill, which seemed to be right in the middle of the area. There were a lot of other hills, but none as tall as this one. As I tried to make a mental map, I saw something that immediately caused my stomach to sink: smoke. It was coming from one of the corners of the box, farthest from our current location. Kilpatrick must've seen it too.

“Oh shit, are there others like us over there?” He said excitedly.

“No. Not like us. Listen, when I first got here, I saw some weird ass creatures hunting what looked like a fucking monster. I know this sounds crazy, but I know what I saw. They wore clothes and used weapons, but they were not human. I didn't make it up. I wasn't hallucinating. I sat there and watched them. Fuck, why didn't I say shit about this earlier?”

“Because you were obsessed with the spear. That makes sense. You were in shock, probably still are." He said, far too calmly for my taste. I just told him non-human intelligent life existed. Then he said something that sent a chill down my spine.

“Say, partner… Do you think we might be dead?”