A loud tapping sound stirred me from my sleep, slowly transitioning into thunderous blows as if the police were trying to break down the door with a battering ram.

I groaned as I rolled out of the bed, trying to come up with a reason I would be in enough trouble to have someone prepared to break down the damn door.

I half considered looking for some makeshift weapon to fend off the person if it was a robber before remembering I was smack in the middle of the woods. No likely robber here but a raccoon who I imagined would have a hard time imitating the sound of gunshots on my door.

The sound resuming broke me out of my idle thoughts. "I'm coming, dammit!" I all but screamed. The nap had worn off any remnants of my high, leaving me frustrated and ready to kill whoever was behind the damn door.

I swung the door open with that exact thought in mind, my scowl betraying my sinister thoughts.

Of course, Atlas stood on the other side of the door, sucking on a lollipop cheerfully. "You should see your face right now," he said with a broad smile. "You look super pissed off." 

I contemplated slamming the door in the idiot's face. There were a lot of pros to that decision, but ultimately, having someone who seemed to think of me as a friend was needed in a place like this. I knew from experience addicts could get rowdy when denied their fix so having a strong country bumpkin at my side was advantageous.

Especially considering my well-known wealth might make me a target. I was a bit paranoid, I know; call it the effects of living in LA for most of your life.

"I wonder why," I answered finally, rubbing groggily at my eyes. "Who taught you how to knock? Mike Tyson?"

Atlas shrugged, unbothered by my annoyance. "I got heavy hands man, nothing I can do about it."

"Is not using them on my door an option?"

"Anyway," he said, blatantly ignoring my complaint. "It's dinner time. I figured you may not have eaten today so I came to grab you."

He had a point. It had been an erratic day and the only fuel my stomach had attained were a few pills and beer. Even I had to admit that wasn't sustainable. Not with the lack of variety in the pills anyway.

"Alright, I'll go freshen up," I announced, spinning around and leaving the door open for him.

"I have to say," he started as I splashed water on my face in the small excuse for a bathroom. "You keep being made out to be this big celeb, and that makes you the first one I've met and now that I'm in your bedroom I have to say, it looks pretty normal to me."

I laughed humorlessly. "You should see my cabin; it's only slightly less depressing than here. Also, I'm not a celeb. My mother is. I just have some popularity from being associated with her by blood," I paused, thinking, "Well, perhaps it's notoriety now."

I threw on a hoodie considering it was now nighttime and it was bound to be cold --being in the middle of the woods and all. It can't just be me thinking how absurd this whole woods thing is right?

Right?

"Don't you have a hoodie or something?" I asked Atlas. He still wore his bright red T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, which looked even dumber at night. 

"I don't have one. I didn't think the nights here would be this cold."

"So much for being an ornithologist who's aware how the wilderness works," I commented with a snicker. 

He frowned. "Speaking of, do you think that girl believed us?"

"That was basic information that you didn't know so you certainly can't be winning any bird watcher credibility right about now. I'm not sure that practical and theoretical crap even exists either. Perhaps your clothes did make her think you were some caveman who never learned how to dress properly and she's into that."

Atlas looked down at his clothes with a raised eyebrow. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

"The easier question would be what's not wrong," I replied, handing him an oversized plain black hoodie that I probably wouldn't wear anyway from my suitcase. "You can keep it."

"'Preciate it, dude. And either way, I call dibs on the bird watcher. She looks and sounds like an angel." His voice took on a dreamy tone. I had a sneaky suspicion that Atlas wasn't around a lot of people outside of his family at his farm house. He'd latched on to me quickly and even more so to the idea of what women can be.

He clearly lacked experience and experience wasn't teachable. "Easy tiger, I'm not interested in your little bird enthusiast."

"What are you, gay?"

"No. Believe it or not, every male isn't programmed to leap at every semi-attractive girl they see. In my case, it makes me warier than anything else."

Atlas shrugged as if to say suit yourself, refocusing his attention on his bland-looking lolipop.

"What's the deal with that lollipop anyway?" I asked. "Looks like something from a gluten-free commercial for people that realized they are dying and attempt to turn a new diet leaf just to die anyway." I paused, adopting an exaggerated fake sad tone. "You're not dying, are you?"

Atlas rolled his eyes. "Turns out it costs points for the good sugary stuff. Since it was our first day, no one had points so we all had to settle for the healthy alternatives or nothing at all. I picked this up to impress Nellie 'cuz I heard nice girls dig healthy eaters but it turns out sugar-free lollipops ain't so bad." He produced an unopened one from his pocket. "Want one?"

I shook my head in disgust. Maybe he was built for the woodland life, after all, being brought up on a farm and all. On the other hand, I was starting to miss the air pollution of the city. "I only eat things that have over a five percent probability of leading to my death. Back in LA, we call that living."

"By the way, don't bother checking that mini fridge for energy drinks. There's only bottled water in there," Atlas said with a nod at a mini fridge on top of a small counter.

I hadn't even noticed it since I had gone straight to bed. Now that I looked around the room was remarkably small with the bare necessities. It was a huge step down from my lavish lifestyle, but I wouldn't get anywhere complaining.

"Let's just get out of here. Hopefully they don't think there's enough sugar in apple juice to get a high or something," I grumbled. I could feel a headache coming on and that did nothing to better my mood.

I opened the door and followed Atlas out into the hallway before remembering something. "I'll be back in a second," I announced, slinking back into the room and heading into the bedroom with frantic steps. I dug into my suitcase and found the small capsule I was looking for. A grin formed as I anticipated the relief that the white tablets would give. They weren't exactly prescribed for headaches and irritability (or prescribed at all, for that matter), but there was nothing wrong with a little self-medicating experimentation.

Just as I palmed three of my little babies and felt the lovely inviting ridges, I remembered why I was here. It'd become such a habit to take whatever drugs I had my hands on when I started to feel bad that I had forgotten the whole no drugs thing. 

Why was I even conforming to these rules? It's not like I cared about the wants of this group I had unwillingly become a part of. Even the reward of a smoke session diminished when I considered the difficulty of amassing the points, on top of the fact my group wasn't the type of people I'd normally have a smoke session with.

I was all too aware my brain was fervently searching for excuses on why I should pop the pills and go on about my night. I needed a rational reason--a shield to stop my mind's attack and put down the pills now that I had them in my grasp.

Because my mother wanted me to? I'd already repaid her for the bad publicity by staying put in this badly disguised jail. I didn't owe her anything anymore.

Because I was addicted? Unlike most addicts, I'd accepted this fact a long time ago and still decided to prioritize the thrills of the lifestyle over my health. Why should that change now?

I sighed, twirling the pills between my palms and feeling the enticingly intricate carvings on the tablet before throwing them and the capsule back into my suitcase. I would never come up with a reason good enough to please my brain because it desired the pills. To hell with a rational explanation, I wouldn't let my brain control me. 

My mother had always described my stubborn trait with distaste but I suspected it was the only reason those pills weren't down my throat.

I joined Atlas who waited outside, jovially sucking his pallid lollipop, unaware of the mental warfare I had overcome. A moment later we defeated both sets of stairs and walked out the front door of the ground floor. The smell that greeted us was something only considered endurable if you grew up among apes like Tarzan.

My poor city-bred nose started to quiver under the malodorous assault. Some animals had clearly left steaming piles of dung that were intensified by the night's humidity. Atlas bounded ahead of me as I staggered, still sucking on his lollipop with a content expression. 

I guess growing up on a farm made you sacrifice your sense of smell. I followed Atlas' lead to the cabin, noting hardly anyone was outside.

The large cabin turned out to be more organized than I expected. It resembled a small restaurant more than a cabin from the inside. The food was set up at the front in buffet style, protected from the elements by plastic covers as they sat neatly and attractively in their trays.

I hadn't expected much after I realized they thought we would become sugar rush junkies if we even got colored lollipops but the presentation made the food look enticing enough. For wood-people anyway.

"You gonna keep staring, your highness?" A male voice asked from behind me.

I had been so surprised by the setup I had stayed admiring in front of the opened door, blocking it as I took in all the sights. I glanced back to see Military buzz cut from earlier sneering at me.

"I was waiting for my food tester, and it seems that someone who looks dumb enough has arrived," I responded, staring pointedly at him.

"You wanna say that again?" Buzzcut asked, his sneer never disappearing. Meeting people who were jealous of my fame was commonplace, and I didn't necessarily blame them. It wasn't like I did anything to achieve the fame other than be born to someone who eventually made their own fame.

"Sure, when we aren't surrounded by people and counselors ready to take our points, I'll happily say it as many times as you want," I replied before heading inside without a glance back. No way was I risking a point deduction for disorderly conduct or something of the like when I had resisted taking pills.

I made sure to help myself to a generous amount of chicken and rice while giving the vegetables a clear berth. That was a bit too high on the healthy scale.

I noticed there were only four tables with five seats around each. They didn't literally tell you to sit down with your assigned team but they sure tried to manipulate it to work out like that.

Atlas--who had gone on ahead when I stopped by the door, now sat at a table with Nellie and Thor. He looked pretty annoyed and I could guess why. Nellie and Thor sat next to each other talking animatedly in between picking at their food.

I sighed before heading over. It wasn't like I had much choice anyway.

Nellie and Thor jumped as I dropped my tray at the seating opposite them and sat down. Atlas who sat at the top seat of the table shot me a relieved look.

"What's up, guys?" I asked, cringing inwardly as I did.

Thor regained his shy nature with the conversation interrupted and fidgeted with his glasses. Nellie on the other hand kept her bright smile.

"We were just talking about The Great Gatsby and how great both the movie and novel are. You heard of it?" She asked.

I side-eyed Thor and observed that he seemed just as eager in my response as she did, though in a more withdrawn way. He was probably only romantically interested in Nellie in Atlas' head, judging by the lack of jealousy at me snatching her attention.

"Heard of it? I've both read and watched it."

Their eyes both lit up again. "You liked it?" Thor asked, his voice barely above a whisper but strangely intense.

I shrugged. "It was alright," I lied, faking disinterest. The Great Gatsby was one of my favorite movies and the book wasn't too shabby either, but me feeding into their nerding out would only make Atlas feel more left out. I wasn't particularly interested in his feelings but this fickle crush he seemed to have on Nellie could serve as motivation in the upcoming games. Him giving up on it so early on wouldn't benefit my little experiment.

"Oh..."

An awkward silence ensued with everyone focusing on their food for the moment. I had to admit; it was pretty damn good, and I was a man that wasn't easily pleased. Superstar mom and all came with the availability of professional chefs who knew what they were doing in the kitchen and whoever did this simple dish didn't deserve to be stuck in the woods with a bunch of rejects in my not-so-humble opinion.

The rice had a distinctive buttery taste that sweetly complemented the honey barbeque chicken. Or maybe I was just hungry as hell, who knows?

"Incoming," Atlas whispered just loud enough for the entire table to hear. He had been completely immersed in his meal, his female pursuit long forgotten but he now had his gaze fixed on something behind me.

I turned as inconspicuous as I could, which in hindsight probably made it look more obvious and added the element of making me look like an idiot. In front of the buffet stood Indigo with a half-filled plate, wearing the same attire as before.

She scanned the room with a murderous glare, which I was beginning to think was just her normal expression. Nellie waved eagerly at her.

Indigo's eyes reached our table and the waving Nellie and she pointedly restarted her room scanning, desperately searching for a better option than us. The other tables were almost all full and either way, they had this awkward unsure aura you would expect on the first day of school when no one knew each other. She sighed and made her way to us.

Naturally, since the seat next to me was the only open one, I found myself next to the rain cloud again.

"I was starting to worry you weren't going to make it! What took you so long?" Nellie asked.

"I was calculating my chance of survival if I tried to brave the woods," Indigo said with a deadpan expression. "I imagine that chance and the chance of me surviving in this camp isn't too far apart."

"Oh...th-thats..nice?" Nellie replied awkwardly. 

Indigo groaned after her first bite, her face morphing into a grimace --well, more than usual.

"What's wrong? It's pretty good," Atlas commented, looking up briefly through a mouthful of food.

"That's the problem. There goes my food poisoning hopes. They must've kidnapped Michael Caines and forced him to cook for this cult or something," She said before shoveling another spoonful into her mouth. 

We carried on like that, each of us enjoying the food until we were finished. Nellie and Thor had been working on theirs before we got here and Atlas and I both wolfed down our full plates rapidly, while Indigo hadn't taken a lot in the first place, so we finished around the same time.

"So...what do you guys think will be the game tomorrow?" Nellie asked when we finished.

"Hopefully a paintball fight. There's so much room in this big clearing alone, not to mention the woods," Atlas said excitedly with a faraway look.

"Aren't you scared some big predator will attack us if we're out in the woods?" Thor asked.

"That's what the guns are for silly."

The image of Atlas shooting a bear with a paintball gun got a genuine chuckle out of me.

"I think the very first event is going to be tamer than a paintball fight with...bears," Nellie pointed out sagely. "Maybe we should go over our strengths, so we can be better prepared."

Atlas opened his mouth to say something, probably something involving another predator and a Nerf gun this time but Nellie quickly cut him off. "Starting with Thor!"

"Um...I'm pretty knowledgeable on books and series, maybe that could help?" came the timid response.

"Yeah, maybe they'll have a Harry Pottery trivia and you'll be able to get us the win," Indigo remarked sarcastically.

"You really think so?" Thor asked in an excited voice, his eyes lighting up like fireworks.

We all stared at the boy in disbelief and I kid you not, Indigo started to laugh.

I had known her for just a few hours and even I could tell the current gleeful expression painted across her face was an anomaly; her smile looked so alien on her face that I wouldn't be surprised if someone popped up from behind our table with a clapperboard and called for the end of the scene --but alas, no such thing happened.

Nellie joined in after the shock of Indigo's reaction passed and Atlas joined in soon after. Thor joined in a few heartbeats after, initially frowning at them laughing at him before deciding to take it in stride and join in.

Their abrupt outburst of laughter seemed to help the rest of the room remember that their mouths could also be used for socializing because the uptight, awkward atmosphere became less overbearing in the following seconds as the tables around us attempted to engage in conversation after staring hard at our table. I guess they had all been caught up in the whole middle of the woods against their will thing and forgot it wasn't a literal boot camp where having fun was prohibited.

If you had told me Indigo would've essentially been a catalyst for a more convivial dinner for everyone before I entered this room I would've laughed in your face and called you bat-shit crazy.

Too bad I wasn't in a laughing mood.