Treason

Nine

We eventually made it to his "camp". It looked nothing like one though. Scraps of fabric were strewn everywhere, a makeshift lantern was knocked over by a tree, and little crumbles of food were scattered across the ground. Hardly anything of use was there. I heard Daniel utter a loud groan.

"Damnit, I knew this would happen!" he kicked the lantern across the destroyed remnants of his camp. I stayed where I was, watching him warily. If his camp was picked apart, that meant no food or water he had promised on the way here. My stomach growled angrily, making me blush. I rubbed my stomach thoughtfully, where would we get food from now? I haven't seen any animals at all, maybe we could eat berries. Yeah... No.

Daniel looked over at me, his jaw tense, his entire body's demeanor showing barely restrained anger, yet he looked at me with such soft eyes. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable, to be honest. I shifted in place, staring at the ground.

"I'm sorry." Daniel sighed.

"For what?" I asked confused, looking at him now.

"For saying I'd get you food, and then this happens," he gestures to the area around us.

"It's alright, we can get food somewhere else right?" I look at him hopefully. He sighs.

"I guess we could go to a trade spot. It'd be dangerous for you though, Newbie. It's not like you've shown how tough you are in dangerous situations, right?" he smirks at me. Ignoring his last remark, I ask,

"What's a trade spot?"

"It's where the people of Treason come to trade things they have for stuff they need. The government thinks were living like savage animals, but not everyone's a psycho here." He grins widely. "Just look at me," Daniel winks," I'm sane." He thrashes his head around, acting like a mental patient on crack, including vigorous twitching. I snort.

"Completely." I deadpan, he laughs loudly.

"Oh come on," Daniel elbows me in the side," have some fun!" He twirls around. I watch him amused, but no way am I participating, my hand still hurts.

"So, you were saying? About sane people in Treason? I find that a little hard to believe."

"Well, there are some really demented people in here, but the majority of us aren't. We got in here for just breaking some laws, maybe some laws against murder," his eyes hold a playful glare," but no big deal, right?" I hope he's joking. "So in order to survive we have an unofficial system. People who are good at killing things, hunt animals. People who are less violent do other things like collect water or plants." He shrugs," And then everyone meets at a trade spot and they trade. It's almost like we've been transported to the old ages."

Well who knew Treason wasn't as cruel as everyone thought it was? "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" My stomach grumbles in agreement.

"We don't have anything to trade," Daniel groans," it's all gone." He pouts and mournfully looks at his destroyed camp.

"Welp." I suggest, "We can always pick some berries."