Ever wonder how easy it is to manipulate someone? How easy it is to just shift their view, to confuse them beyond common sense, to convince them of something so blatantly false? It’s not as difficult as one would think. The human brain is a complex thing to those less intelligent, those who’d rather spend their time behind a desk or counter, wasting away their lives. But to the smarter ones, it’s like a puzzle. What makes that person tick? How do they react to certain stimuli? Eventually, you become quite proficient at it, knowing exactly how someone will respond.
You know, it gets a bit boring sometimes, knowing somebody better than that person knows themselves. But recently, that’s been disturbed. People aren’t acting how they are supposed to, not even The Overseer. Change is coming, and I can’t tell whether I’m more welcoming or afraid of that fact.’
1 year after The Reaping (Jake)
It took me a minute to realize where I was at. My body felt sore and I noticed that my legs were rather exhausted. “Idiot,” I mutter under my breath. I had spent so much time running away from a threat not targeting me that I could’ve been caught off guard by another inhuman beast. The ground under me shifted, I was laying down. Even worse, not being able to run at first could easily get me killed. The time it would take for me to get up is ultimately detrimental to my survival.
Click.
The sound of my walkie made me forget all about the dangers for a split second. For a moment, I thought that somehow, maybe, Grant had lived. It was the first time that I have ever felt hope in a long while. But that feeling was fleeting, I had heard him in his last moments, the pain he felt before dying. I could feel a tear forming in my eye, but another click from the walkie stopped me from continuing my mourning. With shaking hands I raised the walkie to my ear, but was interrupted by a glimpse of the dirty screen reflecting my face back at me.
My hair had grown way longer than I would’ve originally liked. The brown curls making their way down a bit past my chin. Lifeless eyes stared back at me, the brown irises might as well have been black. A year’s worth of hair had formed on my face making a distinguishable beard. I remember my life back in Fanton, I had tried so hard to keep a nice clean look, devoid of all facial hair. Now, that was less of a priority. What was a priority: survive. Another click came from the walkie followed by a voice.
It wasn’t one I recognized. The voice clearly belonged to a boy.
“Hello?” The voice said. With shaking hands, I click the button to respond.
“Hello? Who is this?” I question the other person.
“My name is Ben, who are you?” the boys’ name resounded about my skull, quickly causing a headache to ensue.
“Okay Ben, my name is Jake, where are you?”
“I don’t know, I’m in some sort of village. There was some sort of monster, but I think it’s gone now.”
“Alright, I want you to stay there. There is a button on the top of the walkie, click it… it’ll allow me to find you.”
A beeping sound played from my walkie and the antennae seemed to extend… just a bit. The way the walkies work is that when activated, the antenna’s light will blink faster along with a beeping noise if the antenna was facing the other walkie. Sighing, I responded.
“Okay, I got you now, I’ll be there as quickly as possible.”
“Hey dude, thanks, you're an old man who seemed to hold you in pretty high regard,” Ben said.
“He wasn’t my old man,” I said grimly before beginning my trek to find this new kid.
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1 year before The Reaping (Samuel)
Sam walked through the same double doors as always. Fanton was a really nice place, the city was bustling with a multitude of people. The nearby college pumped out many intelligent and capable workers. The city had a reputation of being safe and efficient. Overall, it was a great place to be. However, the place Sam worked at barely paid minimum wage. Even with all the upsides, the city had a huge inflation problem. Despite this, Sam was known around the workplace as a hardworking and optimistic individual. No matter the extra hours he had to work, no matter the soreness, no matter the sleepless nights, Samuel always kept a small smile on his face (which often looked out of place in the dull environment).
Sam walked into the massive building. The company was the biggest one in Fanton. They manufactured a lot of goods for the city and had a lot of entertainment related things in the building he worked. The company itself was kind of considered a monopoly. Though Sam didn’t know exactly what they did to get so powerful, or how such a big company can barely pay its workers, he always comes to work determined to do his best.
Today, Sam was being moved to a different position, one that would pay slightly more than his previous. He rides the glass elevator up and watches the families look through the indoor museum. They all looked so happy. One day, he wanted to take his family somewhere nice, maybe to the beach or a nice restaurant. He smiled at the thought. Stay happy. The elevator dinged, clearly snapping him out of my trance. The doors opened and Sam took his first step out. He breathed in the fresh metallic air.
After a bit of walking, Sam turned around a corner and found his boss' office. Clearly nervous, Sam thought back to the only time he had ever talked to his boss: over an email. A multitude of thoughts went through his head of what to expect his boss looks like. Maybe a big muscular dude, wearing darkened shades, a black suit and tie. His hand rests on the door handle as these thoughts go through his head. People say that first impressions are everything, and Sam wanted his to be the best. Whatever Sam was expecting it was not an empty room with 1 big desk, a window that overlooks the city, and a singular person sitting in a wheeled chair. Sam was spot on with the clothes, the person wore a tight black suit, pitch black glasses, and a red tie. The red tie matched the red lips of the woman.
"I've been expecting you, your partner will be here soon..."
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1 week before The Reaping (Samuel)
Daddy?
I wake up feeling groggy. A massive headache rendered my head and thoughts useless. Shadowy figures bustle around me, and I hear what sounds like a voice. It’s deep and hard to make out. I try to move, but my body refuses to move further than a millimeter. My eyes are facing down and I can see my legs. That’s when I realized why I can’t move, I’m tied down to a chair. The cold hard metal of it allows me to stay awake and aware as possible. Despite this though, I still feel like I’m asleep. Then I remembered.
“No…” I mutter and the shadowy figures freeze.
“He’s awake,” one of them says.
“Should we start?” Another one.
“Might as well, he’s so pumped full of drugs he won’t feel the pain for a solid hour or two.”
“But then our methods will be less effective.”
“Hm… knock him out for a bit more, then we’ll begin once he wakes up again.”
He barely finished before I felt a hard hit to my head, sending me into a dark, infinite abyss of nothing once again.
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Hope you guys liked this chapter, will try to make on every week or every other week.
If anyone can do pings it would be greatly appreciated.
Also I'll probably start adding pictures and stuff with AI once we get a few more characters.
