The Toxic Tea Shop

Seth shook Ellyn awake and held a hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t make a noise; he put a finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet. He moved off her and she looked around, the others were crouched low, the fire had been kicked out. About 50 metres from where they were, Ellyn could see a group of the tan uniformed men, moving between the trees, they hadn’t see them yet,  Julian signed to move away, into a set of nearby bushes, that would conceal them. They slowly pushed through the line of bushes the sound of twigs snapping was worryingly loud, but the patrol seemed to not notice. They waited on baited breath so see if they noticed them. There was a shout, the patrol turned to them, and ran over towards them but they stopped at what was left of their camp. “Looks like they were here, they must be somewhere nearby!” one of the men said Ellyn started to shuffle back but Dahveed stopped her and shook his head. “No shit num-nuts” one of the men said to the other. “Let’s ...

The man had sat down at the table and opened a folder, taken out bits of paper and a pen, then began to write on the paper. He was there for what felt like days to Ellyn and Seth, other people came and went, bringing the man drinks and snacks. Seth gave Ellyn a nudge as the man got up and walked out the room. Seth signed for Ellyn to nudge the others. He switched the fan off and they all filed out of the vent. Dahveed and Blueberry began sieving through the paper on the desk. Julian and Clarence went over to the door to stand guard. Seth went over to one of the machines and punched a keyboard, pressing many keys at once, nothing happened at first, but then the machines whirred into life, Julian walked up to Seth and gave him a light slap on the face, Dahveed reached up and placed all the paper they had gathered into the vent, so they could get it later. Clarence looked out the door and gave a thumbs up to show it was clear, they all left the room, and entered a long curved hallway, a...

They gathered outside the building, the clock showing that it was exactly noon. As Ellyn exited the building the midday sun was blinding, she held a hand to her forehead to shield her eyes.  “Wouldn’t have been better to sneak into somewhere at night?” asked Ellyn, “Well, like I said it’s mostly underground so it doesn’t matter when we go, Noon is a time that just works!” Seth Explained. She looked around and counted 6 of the members from last night’s meeting were there, including herself and Seth. Ellyn saw the moustashe man from last night, who she now knew was called Blueberry. The bearded man as well, his name was Clarence, and the dark skinned man called Dahveed was there. Seth’s cart stood nearby, its unorganised nature looking more evident in the light. They had just finished going through some hand gestures that they would use during the activity, Ellyn tried it on Seth by pointing to her eyes then too Acorn. Seth nodded and told Acorn to stay with the cart. They jo...

This area was beyond the plains, both dust and industrial. This set of lands, known to all as “green sepulchre”. Its distinctive features are of the tall evergreen trees that grow in abundance. Their bark is tough and incredibly sticky with its sap, which is toxic. The trees feed on insects and small rodents, but have also been known to trap people who get too close. While Ellyn woke with the dawn, she decided to make the most of the comfortable bed. While she did appreciate the carts hammocks they had nothing on that bed. Seth meanwhile had decided to not lie in and was doing some errands for himself and the other members of the Regal Syndicate. By around 10 o’clock Seth had already completed his list of tasks, and now he decided that it was time enough. So he opened the door to Ellyn’s room, peered in, saw she was still asleep, and then threw Acorn on to her bed. The post-aerial Acorn was less pleased with the Ellyn shaped landing pad then she was. It certainly woke her up. Wit...

As the sun dipped below the horizon, once more hidden by the hills in the distance, they rode the cart through some woods to a large building standing on its own in a concreted plaza. Seth parked outside and Acorn was left to guard the cart again. Without the sun the wind was quickly chilling them and Ellyn began to shiver. Seth noticed and took off his jumper and draped it over her shoulders, she did not protest. Ellyn saw that Seth was wearing a black long sleeved shirt; it had some sort of crest on it which she did not recognise. They quickly hurried towards the building; it was a large building with a clock on the outside, which was not working. The windows were boarded up but there was light streaming from the gaps, and voices could be heard from within. Seth linked arms with Ellyn to keep her close, he muttered something about appearances and it’s her first time but most of his words were stolen by the wind. They approached the bouncer at the door, a wall of a man that stood wi...