Cake Survival - Part II
(The Dark Wizard, Clues In A Cake)
by Conner Seeker, 10
A March 2024 Monthly Story Challenge Winner
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“What does that black box do?” I asked
“Don’t know?” Amy said. “Let’s find out.”
We flew in front of it hoping to get a better look and the box flashed red making me jump. If I didn’t have Amy we would have been a splat on the floor far below, where I could see ship 4 fly forward along with our ship.
“What happened?” I asked Amy as I saw we were inside and helped approach our now visible landing site.
“There must have been a camera in that box when we flew before the door opened.”
”Oh,” I said a bit embarrassed that I almost killed us all because a camera saw us. Finally, after 1 hour, we landed.
III
Cardboard Sledding Alyssa
When we landed and the door opened, I couldn’t believe what I saw outside. There were 4 spots to land in which our spaceships fit perfectly and the whole place was made of cardboard. In the centre was a huge mountain also made of cardboard. The captain of ship 4, a tall man in a white and red suit, held a meeting and we talked about what to do.
We all wanted to climb the mountain and have a look around so that’s what we did. It was a long way up the mountain but thankfully the cardboard was textured so we had no problem climbing up. At the top, I collapsed and didn’t get up. Amy nudged me.
“Get up,” she said. I looked up.
“Wow!” The view was breathtaking. There were lots of massive shelves and there was a city built on them. I could see people everywhere. I took a step back to take it all in.
“Don’t go backwards!!!” Amy exclaimed. I stopped abruptly and looked behind me.
“Woah!” I shouted as Amy pulled me back from a massive hole. It was deep and went all the way down to the bottom of the mountain. I could even see the shelves!
”Thanks, Amy!” I say. “Let’s get back down."
”Look at this” Amy says and she takes a piece of cardboard and sleds all the way down leaving behind a trail of dust. I took one and followed. The feeling was magical. It lasted for a minute but it felt like a day. I flew down leaving behind a trail of dust and stopped right next to Amy in front of our ship.
“Amazing!” I said. We went in our ship and to our rooms. It took a while since they were at the very top but the rooms were nice with a view of the whole ship plus outside. The pilot and co-pilot were at the very top near the cockpit because in an emergency they would need to fly fast. I didn’t really care though because as I said the rooms were nice. I was absolutely exhausted and didn’t come out of my room until 10 in the morning.
IV
The great city Alyssa
When I came out, the city looked so lively. I wanted to explore after breakfast. Me, Amy, and Alan looked for some food.
”Let’s go get some meat!” Alan said excitedly
”No thanks. I’m vegetarian,” me and Amy said at the same time.
“Seriously? Since when?” Alan asked.
“Two years,” I replied. “I am not eating meat after that, especially not fish.” Amy agreed.
“What happened two years ago? Why no fish? Fish is good,” Alan asked, but we didn’t respond.
”At least the oceans are back,” I thought.
“Let’s go to the vegetable place!” Amy exclaimed.
“Sure, but that’s metres away!” Alan replied. “It will take forever!”
”Not if we use the slides!” I remarked, gesturing at the long tube. We went inside.
”Please enter your destination.” A mechanical voice said.
“The fruit and vegetable aisle!” Amy shouted. We heard a grinding sound as the slide moved. After I was sure the slide was in place, I jumped in closely followed by the others. It was amazing. Sometimes we passed windows where I could see the whole city and I am sure we did a loop-the-loop but I couldn’t tell because that part was dark. One window we passed showed the giant broccoli where the slide was going to end. I was so in awe that I didn’t realise I was holding on to the window and stopped until Amy and Alan crashed into me. We all tumbled down and landed in a big heap next to the broccoli.
“Get off!” Alan shouted. “Thanks a lot, Alyssa!”
I ignored him. I was looking at the broccoli.
”Let’s climb that,” I say and jump on the trunk. It wasn’t too hard to climb but it took forever. When I reach the first branch I collapse on it for five minutes giving time for my friends to stop talking about how crazy I am and to climb up. They look exhausted but I feel refreshed.
”Let’s go up!” I say and jump to the next branch swinging and leaping until the crown. I took a rest and my friends caught up.
“H-How?” Alan stammered as me and Amy leaped ahead.
“Let’s pick the green things!” I say and run along a branch to the tip. It was a long way down. I couldn't fall or I would be put in a marmalade jar labelled Alyssa flavour. (Actually I don’t think I will fill that massive jar.) I carefully edged to the green things. They were about the size of a garden shed.
”Wow, I could live in that! Would be uncomfortable though,” I thought as I pushed some of them off the broccoli and onto the shelf below.
”Alan, can you go down and send the things back to the landing pad with a slide? They should fit in,” I say.
”Great, so I climbed this for nothing?!” He asked but sighed and slid down which actually looked fun. I watched as he put the green balls Amy was dropping into the slide and sent them back. I strained my eyes and with a telescope pilots should always have, I tracked the slide only to find it doesn’t connect. A green ball fell out. I was about to shout at Alan to stop when the slide connected and I saw the balls coming out by our launchpad.
”Keep going!” Amy says to me, I keep rolling the balls off my branch and pushing them down. I watched as they fell like the leaves of a tree.
”Stop!” Alan shouts “You are burying me!” I grinned at Amy and kept going, making sure Alan was fine.
When there was no more in reach for me, I switched positions and kept rolling down the balls for another five minutes until we stopped. Alan was nowhere to be seen under a big pile of green things still going towards the slide.
“Ready?” I asked Amy and jumped down to a different branch. I keep jumping searching for a way in and when I found one I threw myself on it and slid down to the bottom closely followed by Amy. I got out of the way quickly before Amy crashed into me and jumped in the slide between two green balls.
When I got back I got squished by a green ball and landed in a heap to which our team was helping themselves to. I got out just before Amy landed and after a few minutes Alan too.
”Thank goodness you stopped. I thought I was going to die!” Alan remarked.
We sat down and ate as much as we wanted. (Which wasn’t that much. I couldn’t have made a dent on that thing if I hadn’t already eaten the tip of the branch I was on.) After breakfast we started exploring. I watched as 10 different slides snapped into place and one by one people went in.
Amy nudged me. It was our turn. We were going to the centre of this place to explore.
“Are we really supposed to find the dark wizard here?” I asked.
“No, but this is where we live now, so it’s best to look around,” Alan replied.
“Fair enough,” I said and went on the slide. I slid to the centre. This time I didn’t stop as I passed windows. They all had stunning views of massive clearings.
Finally, we arrived. I looked in awe at the huge city square where there were loads of buildings and big carts moving. They were moving by themselves. I couldn’t see any machines or people moving it. As one glided across the shelves towards us and some buildings in the shelves just floated out and sat in the cart along with others that it brought.
“What is controlling that? Is it magic?” Alan asked.
“No,” Amy replied. “It’s the dark wizard's minions!”
That brought back the memory of when me and Amy read that prophecy.
“Do they really have minions?” I asked.
“Of course, every villain has minions, plus I read more tonight. They’re here!” Amy replied.
“WHAT? WHERE!? I CAN’T SEE ANY!” Alan said, suddenly.
“They are invisible, you doofus!” Amy said. “It is probably the type which we can’t interact with directly.”
Alan was about to reply when suddenly the building we were on lifted up and we were flown into the cart.
“No!” we all shouted.
“We need to get out of here!” I said and climbed down buildings. After the others caught up I pointed.
“There!” I said, pointing to the floor moving quickly. “We need to get down.”
The others were staring at the object between us and the floor.
“It’s like a steel net!” Alan said. “How will we get down?” I pointed to the edge of the cart.
“That is the lowest point, let's go there.” I said.
“We need to be careful,” I said, as I cautiously slid on the narrow walkways. “One slip and it's the end.” I inched along the net taking corners carefully. Something big and silver caught my eye but I kept on going and going until the bar I was on was blocked by another.
“We need to get around it!” Alan said.
“No, we will fall,” I replied. “Let’s backtrack. I think I saw something.” I led my friends to the metal thing I saw.
“There, go on there.” I jumped, the fall wasn’t that bad. I didn't feel much as I fell through the bars of steel and onto the bigger one followed by Amy and Alan. I slid down the bar slowly and carefully until I got to the lowest point.
“We can’t jump down or we will die!” Amy said. “If the wheels don’t crush us we will be separated by the sheer speed of this thing” She was right. As I looked on the floor speeding past below and the large heavy wheels.
“Wait, did you say we can’t interact directly?” Alan asked.
“Yes, why?” Amy asked. In reply, Alan took a baby carrot and hurled it at the back of the cart. There was a sudden lurch as the cart stopped.
”Quick!” Alan shouted as he jumped off. We followed him racing to the shelves and climbing off the floor just as the cart started moving again.
“Let’s go home!” I said, as I climbed into a light blue slide and slid back.
When we arrived everybody was already there.
“How was your trip?” The captain of ship 4 asked.
”It was interesting”, I replied. Amy, Alan and I all went into our ship and hit the hay.
I woke up and went to eat something. As I was stumbling down the long stairs to the main hall a soft crackling distracted me. I looked out the window. I saw huge orange flames lick up to the ceiling of the store and the crackling got louder. I was suddenly aware of the smell of the fire and the smoke that I was inhaling. There were shadows darting around the burning store and then an explosion from the other end. I ran to wake Amy.