Fandom High School

The dorms sim was back and completely gummy bear free when students entered the Danger Shop again, a fact that had Hardison ridiculously grateful today. "Welcome back," he said, flashing them all a smile. "Sorry there ain't no Candyland Thunderdome this week--" no, no he really wasn't "--but good job on bein' luchadores an' fightin' off zombies an dealin' with that insanity in general."

And now please join Hardison in never thinking of that ever again.

"So, we're down to the second-to-last week of the class, Week 6. Y'all are down to the last bits of food which is probably your biggest worry. Raven an' Hanna made contact with Jeremy's crew at the bank. They weren't real keen on not gettin' food or invited back to the dorms, but they appreciated the fresh water an' have allowed y'all to use the bank vault as a kind of mini-outpost while your scouts are skulkin' around in town, so long as you promise to keep 'em informed of anythin' big about to go down. Y'all have started to build a kind of arsenal, includin' some molotov cocktails. The dorms are stayin' mostly clean, so y'all don't have to worry about dyin' of tetanus an' dysentery, which are always a plus. Honestly, if it weren't for the food situation bein' rather dire right now, y'all could probably make a serious go at makin' this place habitable long-term."

A whiteboard appeared on the wall next to him and on it was a rough drawing of Fandom island. "Your scouts managed to pick up two key pieces of useful intel. While in town, Raven's been noticin' that the creatures are startin' preparations for--somethin'. Somethin' violent. There's been more violence an' aggression in their camp, fights an' scuffles breakin' out. But while it's a little bit chaotic down there, it's controlled chaos, a way to bleed off extra energy before somethin' big happens. They're preparin' for a fight, though whether it's to take y'all out or to move on somewhere else is impossible to say. The other bit of intel y'all discovered was spurred on by Jeremy, he found it in one of the safety deposit boxes in the vault. Turns out there's a huge emergency supply cache, enough to keep y'all going well into next year if you're careful, an' that includes bringin' his group into the dorms. The info Jeremy found gave coordinates, not exact locations, but your scouts managed to figure out those coordinates are inside the ruins of the school. If you can get in there, you might be able to come back with enough to keep this place goin'. An' then there's the last option: escape. You got a lot of really smart people here, and people with extraordinary powers. If y'all work together, you might be able to come up with a plan to get off the island. Baltimore doesn't seem to be in any better condition than the island, but it's certainly bigger. Might be easier for y'all to scavenge stuff there. Might be able to keep goin' and find somewhere these creatures haven't been. Who knows?"

"It all ends next week, y'all. How it ends is up to you. Figure out your options an' decide what it is you're gonna do."

Class began with something unexpected. Rather than an introduction from Hardison, a voice was heard from Cecil's radio.

"Hello?" It was a man's voice. He sounded tense, maybe even scared. "Hello, I don't know if anyone is still out there, if anyone's listening, if anyone's alive still to listen. This is Jeremy, at First National Bank of Fandom Town, over on Unicorn Street. We've been hiding in the vault since those--those things arrived. There are six of us. We're--we're awful hungry. It's been a few days since we've had anything to eat. If you're out there...if you can hear us...please help? Again, we're at First National Bank of Fandom Town, on Unicorn. I hope you can hear us. My name is Jeremy and there are six people here in the vault. We're weak and we're hungry and we're scared. If anyone is still alive out there, please help. Hello, my name is Jeremy, we're in--"

There was a loud squelching noise and the broadcast stopped.

"Well," Hardison said, stepping into the sudden silence. "There's that. Your radio's still working fine, so the problem's likely on their end. But there you have it. The first definitive proof that there's intelligent life still on the island. The question is, what do you make of it? More important, what are you gonna do about it? You got plenty of options, but each options is gonna have an affect on the group as a whole. This seems like the kinda thing you might wanna discuss."

"Now, as for last week, some folks realized that the noises comin' from the bathrooms was the water pipes. They were able to learn that the water's shut off to the dorms. This could be somethin' as simple as a watermain broke or somethin' or it could mean that someone's turned off water here deliberately. You don't know. Elsa's keepin' you supplied with fresh water for drinkin', bathin', an' for the garden. No one's presented me with a plan to turn the water in the pool into somethin' drinkable, but it's enough to keep the toilets flushin' manually an' to keep the dorms clean if you're so inclined. Raven found some cleanin' supplies, but..." He looked around at the dorms which were definitely a bit worse for wear, so no one had mentioned doing any actual cleaning. "Y'all might wanna start puttin' 'em to use, just sayin'. Or not! Maybe you're looking to Oregon Trail it up in here an' see who dies of dysentery first."

In which case, keep on keepin' on.

"One thing. Food's gettin' tight. Most of the scouts are on food detail, but gardens can only grow so fast an' you got some pretty heavy competition in the top predator category. You got a greenhouse goin' an' that's cool, even some seeds an' things to plant in there, an' Hanna's been able to smoke an' salt a lot of what you do catch to make it last. Congrats, the food you have right now is gonna last till Week Six if you keep tight rationing, but huntin' is pretty much gonna take up most of your time if you wanna add enough to get to Week Seven, leavin' you no time for other scoutin' pursuits. Looks like y'all have got some choices to make."

The sim looked exactly the same as it had last week when the students entered the Danger Shop, right down to having Hardison sprawled on the stairs, poking at his laptop. "Hey, y'all," he said, nodding. "Pull up a patch of floor or wall or whatever, a'ight? Normally, the way things are gonna go, the first few minutes of each class is gonna be spent goin' over what y'all've accomplished last week an' then tellin' you a bit about the day's scenario. But this week's gonna be a little bit different cause I think it's kinda important that we make it really clear how this class is gonna work."

( The magic of teamwork )