“The lines started being drawn on day one. Thames stood there and preached that whole little message about unification and overcoming adversity, but in reality, we were all strangers. It was every man for himself. For a time at least. Luckily I didn't buy into all that kumbaya bullshit from the beginning. ‘Assume the worst’, that's always been my stance in life. The people that run shit now? They're the ones that assumed the worst from the beginning and adapted. I was there. I saw.” Draymond White, Survivor 08921

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Cyrus Fraisier

Day 1

Initial Location

Morning (?)

“...Dead. You think we're dead?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. Now that was wild. I felt pretty alive.

“Think about it Cyrus, think! Those things that you saw, don't they sound like demons? And all those people down there, you think somebody went and captured people from all over the world? With impunity?! Hell no, this would be wild, even for the government!” He said. This was the most fired up I’d seen the guy, albeit I had only known him a little over an hour.

“So we're in hell is what you think? Really? How old are we, man? ” This theory was kinda wild. There wasn't even any fire or brimstone or nothin’. If this is hell, then it gets a 3/10. Relatively low pain/discomfort. He looked as though he was about to reply but then he paused, and looked past me.

“You hear that? Seems we have company.” He said, his dark eyes narrowing. He walked over to the edge of the small plateau and looked down. I hadn't heard anything, but sure enough when I too looked down the hill, there were small groups of people making their way up. The closest ones had gotten close enough that their faces were visible. They waved up at us. Kilpatrick returned the greeting eagerly.

“Wanna run your hell theory by them, maybe they might buy it?” I asked.

“You know, I feel an awful lot of judgment over yonder from somebody who hasn't even contributed any ideas. Where are your genius theories, go head, hit me with one!”

“I don't have any. I don't especially care how we got here, and I don't think I could figure it out if I did. I just wanna survive and go home. But if this is hell, that's never gonna happen. So I don't like your theory that we're all dead, especially when I feel very much alive.”

“I get that, and that's fine. I won't act like I know we dead for sure, it's fair to disagree. That don't mean you gotta be a dick about it, making me seem dumb.” He said. It took a lot out of me not to reply that he made himself seem dumb all on his own. What actually came out was something much more civil, cause the man had a point. I was being a bit of an asshole.

“My bad.”

“No problem, it's done. Anyways, they'll be here in a few minutes. You wanna stay and exchange information? I think we should, but you don't seem like the most social person in the world.” He said, peering over the edge again. He was right, I certainly wasn't the most social person, even before coming here. My spear was already starting to have a bit of defined point, only a little more sharpening to go. But alas, I knew what the smart thing to do was.

“Fine, but I ain’t waiting up here all day, we talk to like the first couple people, then we head back to the white rock.”

“Agreed. Besides, there is only so much any of us can tell each other anyway.” He replied. We spent the next few minutes trying to memorize as much of the land as possible. Other than this hill and the plain at it's base, everything looked fairly forested, the trees growing thicker and taller the farther away they got. As someone who had lived in a city his entire life and spent the majority of it in poverty, I had a history with walking to get where I needed to go. Kilpatrick assured me that trekking this landscape would be completely different and a hundred times worse. Before we could get into the specifics, I heard a voice behind us.

“English?” A large man asked. I turned around and instantly disliked him. This guy looked straight out of a european Old Spice commercial. He had glossy black hair, sharp blue eyes, and a clean shaven, chiseled face. I was already considered above average height, but this guy was NBA level easily. He had been wearing an all grey three piece suit, but had taken off the jacket and wrapped it around his waist. My eyes narrowed. There was something there...

“Yessir, we're Americans. Where ya from?” asked Kilpatrick, his face all smiles. We decided earlier that he would do the talking, which I didn't particularly mind, considering I didn't feel like socializing. The sooner we could share info, the sooner my spear would be complete.

“Iceland. My name is Erik Logarson. I would have yours as well.” The man said, as his three companions joined him. There was a thin white kid with long hair and glasses, everything about him screamed nerd. Next to him was a hispanic dude in a hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts. What really caught my eye were the tattoos on his neck. I had seen those marks before, but I couldn't remember where. My thoughts were interrupted as I heard the last of their number make his ascent. I felt bad for him, at least I was in good enough shape to hide how hard the climb was. As the portly asian man finally made his way up, he collapsed onto the hilltop, gasping for breath. Poor guy was getting grass stains all over his silk pajamas.

“Name’s Kilpatrick, this is Cyrus. Who are your friends?”

“Jimmy, Gabriel, and I believe our asian brother’s name is Hideo. Forgive me, my accent makes such names difficult.”

“Er, I think he’d actually prefer it if we called him Senjou. It's a japanese thing, they don't really like being called by their first names by strangers.” The nerdy looking kid interjected.

“Is that so? Mr. Senjou, then.” Erik said, looking down. Senjou Hideo just gave a thumbs up in reply. God, did somebody, anybody have water for this man? He looked as though he might just die right there.

“You were down there at that lil rally. They say anything useful?” Asked Kilpatrick.

“Rally? Ah yes. The army man, Thames, he is forming a group called United Survivors’ Support. They are asking for food and clothes for those without. A foolish endeavor, one that ignores our true purpose here. As I thought to get a lay of the land, I and my comrades noticed you were already beating us to it. I am glad we caught you before you left. I was eager to speak with you. Men like ourselves are rare, we should ally.”

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“What do you mean, men like ourselves?” KIlpatrick asked. Yeah, that statement had made me uncomfortable, too.

“Men who take initiative! Men ready to embrace the opportunity we have been given! We are free! Jimmy tell them what you told me, go ahead!”

“Um.. well, I think we may have been isekai’d. That's like how in stories, the main character is magically sent to another world to fight against evil for the gods.” The small teenager said quietly.

“Yes! We are in a new world. Is it not amazing? We are free to make ourselves anew, no longer slaves to the rules and society of the old world. Who we were means nothing, what we had means nothing! I admit, I know nothing of magic, but can you explain it any other way? Surely you must… is that smoke?” The man asked as he gazed far onto the horizon. Horizon? Could it be called a horizon if there's no skyline?

“Oh yeah… my boy here says he saw demons in the trees, I’m inclined to believe him. We think that might be their camp.”

“Demons you say? Like…” Erik pointed his fingers out from his head, imitating horns. Kilpatrick shrugged and looked at me.

“They didn't have horns.” I said, as I leaned on my spear. He eyed it for a moment before speaking.

“What did they look like?”

“They were like a light purple-red, ugly as hell, big black eyes. The tallest was maybe four feet tall. They wore loincloths and carried weapons.”

“How did they act, were they interested in us?”

“Nah, they were hunting something in those woods down there.” I said, pointing in the direction we came in. Erik paused for a moment, then turned to Jimmy.

“Your isekai stories, they have demons like this?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah… but these sound more like goblins than anything.” Jimmy replied. Erik turned back to us.

“You see, men? Surely now you believe.” He said.

“I personally believe this is the afterlife.” said Kilpatrick.

“ What? That's nonsense. We're very clearly alive.” He said with a dismissive smirk. Sure, I also thought that theory was dumb, sure I had just been an asshole about it just fifteen minutes ago, sure I was being a hypocrite, but something about the way Erik did that irked me. No, there was something about the way he'd been talking this entire time that was irritating me, and it wasn't just because he looked like a douche.

“Eh, don't forget your idea is that a bunch of magical beings decided to conjure us here to fight evil. Don't act like your shit makes more sense. You know, this whole conversation has been weird. You came up here, talking all types of crazy shit- ” I said before he interrupted.

“Weird? What exactly do you think we all are going to talk about? This! Being here, how we got here, what we think is going on! Do you think that all those ideas will make sense? No! Because none of this makes sense! I believe in the isekai, because it sounds the most right to me. Do you even have a theory of your own?” he asked. I paused in that moment, because honestly… I didn't. But of course I wasn't going to let this asshole know that. So I just said the first thing that came to my head.

“There's a way out, there's gotta be.”

“Why? Why does there have to be? There's no logical reason why there would be if whoever put us here wanted us to stay here. Sounds like... how did you say? Sounds like ‘crazy shit’ to me. You see? The logic and reason of the old world will no longer serve us. In just a few short hours, I have heard every idea out there. ‘This is a government experiment’, ‘ this is a shared lucid dreaming phenomenon’, ‘we're all tripping on acid’, ‘we're dead’. Now, you say there must be a way out. And, now that I think about it, isn't an answer to the question of ‘how did we get here?’”

“I don't care how we got here, all that matters is what we do now, and I’m going to find a way out of here and go home. Come on, Kilpatrick. Fuck this, we have shit to do and it's getting crowded.” I said. I put my spear back over my shoulder and started walking.

“I thought it was him, but really it's you, isn't it?” Erik said in a low voice as I walked past. Whatever the fuck that meant. I ignored him and kept walking.

“Me and my companions will be remaining here on High Hill a while longer, perhaps our paths will cross again.” Erik said in a louder voice just as we began our descent. I paused mid step. Something about the way he said high hill sounded very... capital.

“Did you… did you just name this hill?” I asked.

“Of course, as I will name all places. I have decided that I will be at the forefront of this new era, the first amongst men. Like Adam before me, it is only right that I name all things. You climbed this hill first. That is the only first you will have.” He said with a nod. This guy was delusional and I wasn't going to let him frustrate me any further. I turned around and continued walking. I wasn't wrong before, it was getting crowded. A lot more people had begun climbing the grassy slopes of the hill, some even awkwardly waving as they got closer. As I ignored them and focused on making it down without slipping, I heard Kilpatrick's voice.

“What the hell was that, man? We were supposed to be getting info! What even happened?”

“No, fuck that guy! We weren't going to get anything valuable from him anyway, you heard how he was talking, he's half crazy. Nobody has info, and if they do, I doubt they’re sharing. Besides, didn't you get all mad at me for making fun of your whole ‘we're dead’ thing? Aint we supposed to be partners? Why does he get a fuckin pass?” I asked angrily. Kilpatrick took a deep breath before continuing.

“Fine, fine, you're right. But you gotta keep calm man, for real. That guys dangerous. I’m not sure but…”

“He had a gun.” I said.

“You noticed? I work with guns all the time, so I know the bulge of a holster. He had it hid good, underneath his coat he had tied around his waist. Still, why go back and forth with a guy like that? You could have got us both shot!”

“Ah he wasn't gonna shoot unless we touched him, he wouldn't wanna spend the bullets. Guns only got power if they got bullets.” I said.

“You don't know that! Did that guy seem normal to you? Like he followed common sense? Look… if we gonna work together, we're gonna have to establish the guidelines of this partnership. First, no starting fights we can't win. Like against people with guns. If he’s got one, other people could too.”

“Fine, but you know what, if we are partners, I need to know that if we do fight, it won't just be me out there, cause it was awfully quiet on your side when we were up there.” I said. I mean, I get his point. In retrospect, we could've just smiled and nodded, figured out what he knew, then went downhill. Something about him just bothered me though.

“Screw you, if there was a scrap I would have your back. That's the main reason I proposed this whole thing in the first place. Remember, it was my idea! Look, let’s just drop it till we get back.”

“Fine.” We continued our descent in silence. As we walked across the valley, I looked to see what others were doing. Most were huddled at the base of the hill, still. When we were descending, I saw that there were idiots who actually lined up and gave to that little community pile. Lined up to be the first to starve. I shook my head as I continued on my way. That was none of my business.

As we approached the white rock at the edge of the valley, the human density drastically decreased. There were only a few people out here, huddled in groups of two or three. As we walked past, they stopped their whispering and watched closely. All of a sudden, there was a scream. I turned towards the noise, spear in hand. Was it them? I squeezed the wood tight as my eyes darted around, looking for the little bastards. They found a young flailing and screaming woman instead. She was a few dozen yards away near the white rock, clinging to her arm was one of the Y- shaped two-headed centipedes I saw earlier. I began running in her direction. If that thing attacked her, it might attack me. Better to kill it now while it was distracted. I turned to look at Kilpatrick only to see him dash past me, yelling at the woman.

“Hey! Bash it against the rock! You gotta bash your arm against the rock!”

Unfortunately, either she didn't speak english, or couldn't hear him. She ran in the opposite direction, towards us. The centipede reared back its heads and sunk them deep into the woman’s shoulder. Her scream was so piercing, I'd bet $1000 it was heard throughout the entire box. I nearly dropped my spear to cover my ears. Nearly. KIlpatrick reached her before I did, but not before she collapsed. He ripped the centipede off her arm, and flung it away. I immediately went after it while it was wriggling around. I probably couldn't stab it with the dull point of my spear, so I swung it down like a club, gripping the narrow end.

It was crushed with a sickening squelch, it's yellow-green guts splattering all over the multicolored grass. I turned around to see Kilpatrick trying desperately to do something, anything for the suffering woman. Another man pushed him aside, saying something about being a doctor. The woman's shoulder had swollen and turned color. I watched, frozen in place as more people rushed over trying to save her, even as the swelling spread to her throat. Her skin turned from white to red, then from red to blue, and finally from blue to black. Her eyes, which had been searching everywhere for an escape from the pain, lost focus. After a few minutes, the woman stopped struggling. Her chest stopped rising. The doctor guy started apply pressure to her chest, hoping to get her heart beating again. But I knew it was already done. I had just witnessed my first death in this place. The first day wasn't even over.