“OK then do it.” Said a young boy wearing jeans and a hoodie. His name was Nathan and he was the main instigator of the group. The “It” in this case was to follow the old railroad tracks through the dead zone and visit the ancient city. A city that was built at the height of their civilizations power and was left to die after the weather changed and the food chain collapsed.
This was a common bet amongst the teenagers. It was the standard “Fuck you” when something could not be decided. The person who wanted to win the argument bad enough, would eventually dare the other to “Take the road into the city and bring back something.” No one actually did this though. To get through the city you had to pass through the area known as “The Dead Zone” , a bizarre band of land where nothing grew. To leave their small town settlement you have to go through the dead zone and only large heavily armed groups of adults did that.
“And if I go, what then?” said another young boy. “We all know it's off limits and it's a long way to go. Walking alone will take a couple of hours and we don’t know what's out there.” This other boy was Samuel. His father was one of the town guards, Samuel had heard plenty of stories about the things that happen to people who leave town. He didn’t want those things to happen to him. “My dad has told me plenty of stories about armed adults getting hurt when traveling out in the dead zone, i am just a kid. No way.”
“Sam you’re an idiot. Everyone knows that the adults just say all that to scare us. I heard my brother talking about it last fall before he made the journey to Redwood to trade with our Dad. Most of the stories are bullshit.” Nathan then laughed and so did some of the other kids. Sam knew he was losing this argument and there would only be one of two outcomes. The first , he would “chicken out” and just say that he was not going to do it, and be made fun of. Or He would set out and get so scared and turn back before he entered the dead zone. He had to think quickly, change the conversation to somehow save face. “Alright, I will go but then you have to come with me Nathan. Two of us will have a better chance of making it if we both go.”
Nathan was not expecting this reply. He sure as hell did not want to go to the ancient city, everyone knew that place was haunted. There were tons of stories of ghosts talking to kids who trespassed. Sam did a smart thing, now he could hook himself to Nathan’s response. If Nathan did not go, then Sam did not have to go. This was unacceptable to Nathan, he needed Sam humbled a bit, so he could stay in charge of the group. He had set up the conversation perfectly to throw out the dare and get him to commit. Then Sam would come back too early and would lose just enough popularity to keep Nathan in charge. Now that was threatened.
Sam did not have much time to think about it, “OK, then we go together. You will beg to turn back before we get into the dead zone anyway.” Both boys looked at each other and smirked, the other kid was going to turn back way before them and they would win. Sam said “We will meet here tomorrow at dawn to give us the day to get to the city and come back. Ernie, meet us here so there is a witness that we both showed up and left on time.” Ernie nodded, he was a neutral friend who could be counted on to not swing to one kid or another.
This seemed to be the signal for the group of boys to break apart. They all started to walk back to town and their respective homes. There was lots of talk about the upcoming journey. No one in town adult or kid had gone to the ancient city in over 5 years, not since the French brother tried it and one of them was killed when he fell off an old bridge. Even if they did not make it to the city the story they come back with should be good and keep the kids happy for at least the next few years.
Both Sam and Nathan went home and prepared for the journey in secret, as neither of their parents would think a dare was a good enough reason to risk their lives on a fool's errand. They would need good walking shoes, a small bag for food and water. Sam was going to bring some rope, his good knife, and his small tool kit, it had some tweezers, two small screwdrivers, flat and phillips head, some twine, and a box of matches. Nathan would be bringing two knives, one for hunting and one for general use, an extra shirt, and an extra pair of socks. Both boys hid their cloths under the bed and went to sleep early. Tomorrow would be a long day.
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