Home Before Dinner

Prologue

Oh, hello my friends. You're probably wondering why I'm here. Well, let's just say I was playing Home Before Dinner.

What?! What's Home Before Dinner?! It's a wonderful game! It's like a race but you're actively being hunted. Survival of the fittest, ya know what I'm saying?

You still don't know what I'm talking about? Well, I guess I better explain the game more simply for you. There are two groups, the hunters and the hunted. The hunted have to get from the starting point to the end point. The hunters have to catch as many of the hunted as they can. Everyone stops once the sun sets. Any of the hunted who have managed to get the end point safely win. The hunters win if they catch all of the hunted.

The rules, ah yes the rules. They're very simple. The hunted are released from the starting point in the morning. Usually that place is Central Park. The hunters can emerge from the sewers thirty minutes later. Everyone can use the streets and the sewers to race for the finish line, which tends to be some random place in New York. If you get caught by the hunters, you lose.

There are also some other rules besides the basic ones. Seeing how we're playing this in a huge metropolis such as New York, we have to be aware of our surroundings. So we decreed that if you get caught by animal control, not only are you disqualified if you arrive at the pound but now everyone is gonna have to break you out later. If you're hungry, you can get something to eat if you can find anything. No cheating whatsoever, we don't like that. Anything that's not deemed cheating is allowed though. If someone on the hunted team wishes to not continue, all they need to do is declare they quit. They can then proceed to the end without fear from the hunters.

Sounds like a fun game, doesn't it? What? You don't think so? Fine, let me tell you the story of what happened on this very day...