Wow! I am thrilled with the response this has gotten. Six reviews in a day; that's better than the crossover that I swear I haven't abandoned.
Among the complaints I received were on the length: Rest assured that chapters from now on will be much longer than the introductory chapter, which essentially was to set down the initial plot and introduce the scene. I generally impose a minimum 1000-word limit on chapters I post, unless there is a scene which I absolutely cannot expand or continue. Generally, I try to make an upper limit of 2000 words, simply to maintain a uniformity of chapters. Some may be longer if I cannot find a place to break it naturally. My main goal here is flow; I won't force the length if I can help it.
Thank you again for the interest and compliments. With your encouragement, I'm positive I'll finish this one! [Author sheepishly nudges the corner of unfinished stories under the bed I've actually got a plan for the direction of this one, but again: If you have any suggestions for things to do/have happen, by all means let me know!
I debated with myself for a long time which path to take this—the more serious, realistic way, or the slightly more humorous, easier way. This version I have chosen to take it the realistic way. If there is demand for it, I might post the other version as a separate story after this one is finished. It would be the same plot, same characters, and so forth, but Westron would equal English, so there would be more room for humor, puns, insults, arguments, etc.
,.-'''-.,
"The only thing we have to fear is Fear itself." -Franklin D. Roosevelt
'-..-'
A large class of students woke groggily in a vast field. They had no idea as to where the field was, but it was large enough that they were sure it wasn't in their county. There was an eerie silence before some started shouting, talking with friends, worrying, fretting, and all other manner of panic. Liz, who was generally quite spastic, hardly noticed this.
She had looked up and seen the vast sky. It was a gorgeous blue. The sun was far to their right, just a few 'inches' overtop of a majestic mountain range. She let her eyes trail along it, rarely having seen mountains so huge. She paused when the end of the range vanished over the horizon.
The only logical thought that she could process was, "Dammit, I'm the only one with a bloody towel…"
One of the more collected students began taking inventory of people.
"Hey! Hey, everyone SHUT UP!" someone hollered.
The plain grew quiet. Everyone stared at class the pretty brunette who was their class president. "Okay. Look, we don't know where we are, but we can't panic!" Jenny said. There were some sarcastic mutterings, mostly from the non-"popular" cliques.
"We need to figure out what we have," Liz spoke up. Some people turned to look at her.
"What do you mean, what do we have?" Jenny asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Inventory," Liz reiterated. "Like, things that could help us survive. I doubt anyone snuck out about sixty waffles from that breakfast, but anything that will help us survive," she said, gesturing to the vast wilderness. "We are in the middle of nowhere!" She said. She reached into her pocket where the 4-inch blade had stayed after her hike with her brother a few days before. "I've got a knife and matches, for example," she said, holding it up for inspection.
"Of course she would have a knife," she heard someone mutter. She frowned. It wasn't like she was known for being normal, but she wasn't crazy.
"Shut up," she said. "Look, does anyone have anything potentially useful? Food, tools, anything?"
People stared at her slightly incredulously. Finally, Ben spoke up: "I've got a lighter," he said. "And a knife, too."
"God, do all of the freaks have knives?" someone else said.
"I don't!" Heather, one of the same group, put in. Some people laughed, thought it was tense and quickly stifled.
"I have a granola bar?" someone offered. Liz sighed, slouching over and pinching the bridge of her nose.
"We're going to need a plan," Jenny put in, taking back control. "I say we follow that river," she said, pointing. Everyone looked over to find that there was, indeed, a river flowing about a mile to their left.
Liz pouting at not having been the one to suggest it, but agreed.
"It's most likely to have civilization somewhere along it downriver," she said, putting in her two cents. "We can't hike for more than a day or so, though," she said. "Not seriously. We'll go until late afternoon today, and then, if there are people with enough energy left, they can continue on through the night, and send back a search party for the rest if they find anyone." Liz laid out the plan, defying Jenny to oppose. Jenny did nothing against the motion, so it stood. "If we stick to the river, nobody will get lost," she said, looking around.
"Everyone, gather everything you have, who knows what we might need. We should get started," Jenny said. Behind them were woods, it seemed, and the river flowed out of them. Liz debated sending someone back to look for food, but decided against it. Who knew what was out there?
Liz walked mostly with her friends, Heather, Megan, and Becky. Heather was a stout girl with flyway hair and braces, a loud voice, and shelves filled nearly to collapse with fantasy novels. Megan was tall and somewhat heavy. She was the one with the vampire novels next to her slice-of-life chick lit. Becky was the short brunette with the huge black sweatshirt and anime doodles all over her notebooks.
The four exchanged theories on the sudden change of scenery, as did everyone else.
"It could have been aliens," Heather suggested, only half joking.
"What would aliens have done it for? Besides, I don't think that we would all be fine. Someone would have complained of a sore butt or some odd marks or something," Megan pointed out, also only half joking. They were undoubtedly uncomfortable with the situation. Liz stayed quiet, mulling things over. She kept an eye on the growing mountains in the distance.
"If we can keep a steady pace," she said suddenly. The other girls looked at her. She continued, "something around four miles an hour, a decent walking speed," she looked toward the sky. "We can cover probably thirty miles before we stop for the night. If there are still people who can go on, they can get another twelve or so in. Forty-two miles won't be too bad, right? Surely there will be something along the river there. I don't think even the Mississippi has more than a few dozen miles empty at a time."
"You're probably right," Becky said, "but I know the preps are going to complain about food," she scoffed. Liz sighed.
"Yeah..." She looked around at the group. She and the girls were near the front—they trailed in chunks for almost a hundred yards. She stopped them. "Hey, wait up a minute," she said. She also halted all the groups that were coming up behind.
"Why are we stopping?" someone asked.
"We need to stick together, guys!" she claimed exasperatedly. "A string of people looks a lot easier to attack than a tight cluster. Try and stay grouped up instead of spread out, alright?" she said. There were some irritated mutters, and a few complaints.
"Come on! We've only been walking for a few hours. We're going to need to walk until sunset, people, we've got hours yet to go!" Liz snapped. She adjusted the towel over her shoulder, taking a deep breath. Without allowing herself to bark further orders, she turned and continued walking.
"She's kind of right, though," Alex commented to Jenny, coming up behind her. Alex was an incredibly laid back brunette who was somewhere between a National Honor Society student and a hippie. Jenny looked up at him.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"We've got a long way to go," he said. "And no food to go on. We have to stick together. If some people get a little behind everyone might get way behind, then we'll lose people."
Jenny sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she admitted. She looked at the students all together. "It might be our only hope," she said quietly.