Under Advisement
22 Feb 2020Today’s prompt: “Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Give some good advice from a completely unreliable source, and convince someone to take this advice.”
You, Matt, Tracy, and Spazzy are on the run from a band of evil, murderous cultists. You’ve just plastered yourselves against the wall around a corner, and about twelve cultists in black robes carrying sharp knives ran right past you. You don’t know that you’ll get that lucky again. “We’ve got to get out of here,” you whisper to the group as the last of the cultists are out of earshot.
“Let’s split up,” Spazzy says.
“Are you crazy?” you say? “Splitting the party is a terrible idea.”
“This isn’t a D&D campaign,” Tracy says.
“Yeah, but are we really thinking about listening to Spazzy on this one? We’re talking about the guy who thought you couldn’t eat goldfish crackers because you’re a vegetarian,” you say to Tracy.
“I think Spazzy’s right, for once,” Matt says. “If one group of us gets out, they can call the police, which might help the others get out safely.”
“That makes sense,” Tracy says.
You look at the others’ faces in turn. “All right,” you say reluctantly.
“Tracy and I will go this way,” Matt says, pointing off to the right. He then points to the left. “You and Spazzy try that way.”
Your groups are barely out of each other’s lines of sight when you hear a scream. It sounds like Tracy! And then there’s her voice: “Matt, you traitor! How could youuuuuu…..”
You keep running until you reach a road, then stop, out of breath.
“Holy crap, Spazzy!” you say. “Was Matt in league with the cultists all along?”
“Hell if I know, dude,” Spazzy says. “Sounds like it. He probably would’ve done the same to us if we’d all stayed together.”
“How did you know he would do that?”
“I didn’t, duderino. I just thought we should split up.”
“Holy shit. What do we do now?”
“Let’s run into the dark woods over there,” Spazzy says.
“Are you nuts?” you say. “Those woods look, like, people were made to die in them. Why don’t we just keep going along the road? We might see, like, a police car. Or a minivan with a safe-looking family in it.”
“I dunno. I just got a good feeling about those woods,” Spazzy says, striding off among the trees. You rush to catch up, muttering under your breath about what a dumb idea this is.
You’ve just disappeared among the trees when you hear a car stop along the road. Then another. Then another. You stop behind a tree and look out. Tons of figures in black robes are piling out of a whole caravan of cars.
“Sweet Christ on a cracker, Spazzy!” you whisper. “If we’d have followed the road, those cultists would have picked us up and killed us immediately!”
“What’d I tell you, duderino?” Spazzy says. “Can’t go wrong with a dark and creepy forest.”
“Well, we’re not out of the woods yet,” you say. “Literally. Let’s go through and try to lose these jerks in robes.”
Spazzy nods, and the two of you move stealthily through the forest. You’ve got a good head start, but you’re pretty sure you can hear voices following you. Before long, you can see beams of flashlights sweeping through the trees and brush behind you.
“Now what, Spazzy?” you whisper, ducking behind a tree to avoid a flashlight’s glare.
“Dude, I saw this in Jurassic Park once. Just stay super quiet and don’t move a muscle. If you don’t move, they can’t see you.”
“They’re not dinosaurs!” you hiss quietly but emphatically.
“Dude, trust me,” Spazzy whispers, and freezes.
You freeze in your tracks, unable to think of anything better to do. Two minutes later, a large man in a black robe carrying a long knife plays a flashlight over your faces. You can’t see him well through the blinding light in your eyes, but as you squint, you think you can make out his smile.