Day: 1502
Days Left: 3978
Lives Saved: 8
Stretching his arms out, Bam flopped on the ground, gazing up at the grey sky, sighing pleasantly as he listened to his friends talk and ramble on about meaningless things. He remembered before when they were under Annika, how the days would go by so slowly with nothing to do, how dreer everything was but now their camp grew into a little village full of laughter, something always happening.
With all the warm houses, delicious food, running water, and strong defences, they could all relax. Or so he thought as someone approached his group of friends with stomping footsteps.
"What are you all doing!" snapped Ruth, hands on her hips as she blocked Bam's view of the sky.
Bam grumbled and sat up. "What does it look like? We're chilling-"
"There is work to be done!"
"What?" Bam looked around, confused as to why people were still making bricks and carrying heavy loads collected from the Land of the Lost. "We've already made everyone a house and beds, and then made a river all the way from the Raining Marshes." Bam flipped his hands up in frustration. "And then working showers and baths, a safe staircase down to the Land of the Lost, all those defences and traps, and farmland for the Abyss Fruit!" Bam was almost breathless as he continued to list off everything else that they had made in the year. "What else is there to do? We've made everything that we need to live the rest of our miserable sentences. We can now finally just relax and enjoy ourselves."
"No, there are still improvements left to make! There's still some stuff to work out, but we're working out how to make heaters and install fireplaces in each house and your own private toilet and roads-"
Bam scoffed. "Roads? Why do we need roads? We're not going anywhere."
"It's to make the carts travel easier when they head to the forest to collect wood."
"We're making carts now?"
"Would you rather have to carry everything?"
"Look," Bam sighed, waving his hand in dismissal. "We've all been working for over a year now and only have two days off a week. It's time we all had a break-"
"You've been having this break for four days now!" Ruth looked to the rest of Bam's friends. "It's unfair that we've been working all this time, improving the roofs to your houses and farming and collecting water and wood whilst you all have been lazying around!"
"Hey, it's your own choice to do that! We didn't ask you to!"
"If you're going to keep using the facilities that we made, and eat the food that we grew, then it is only fair that you worked for it! You just need to follow orders-"
"Orders!" Bam finally stood up. "No one takes orders or gives them! Annika is gone, no one is ordering me about-"
"Corinna may have been too lenient with all of you, hoping that you will return to work soon after your 'break', but the rest of us aren't standing for it."
"What's Corinna got to do with this?"
Ruth frowned in confusion. "Because she's our leader?"
There was a pause.
"We don't have a leader," Bam sighed, his voice gentle. "Look, Ruth, I know you've lost your memories, so you might not know the whole group dynamic we've got at the moment. But we do not have a leader; we don't want to repeat what happened with Annika. She got crazy with all the power and control. We have been working fine without a leader."
Ruth shook her head. "Are you sure she's not the leader?"
Bam shrugged. "Yeah, she may come across a bit bossy, but she's just the one in charge of all the construction of the houses-"
"So, she is in charge?"
"No, I mean that is her job because of her experience, same with how Betty is in charge of all of the injured, Ivette on the farming, Oscar on the cooking, and Lili on the defences-"
"So what is everyone else's job?"
"We don't have any assigned jobs-"
"But we help out with what is needed, right? Because it would be unfair if those people have an important job, some needing to do it every day, and yet some people get to have four days off in a row and do the minimum required, right?"
There was a pause as Bam realised he was caught in a trap of his own words. "No, that's..." He sighed. "Look, we do not have a leader that is in control of everyone; we have people in charge of certain aspects. Okay?"
Ruth looked unconvinced. She glanced at the rest of Bam's group, who all tried to stay out of the conversation. "I suggest you get back to work soon; otherwise, more people will come yell at you." And then she left to where Corinna was, who was writing down instructions to a group of people.
Bam scowled as he saw them all smiling, like lapdogs, happy to follow orders as she complimented their hard work.
"Thanks for your help, guys," Bam said sarcastically to his friends, who returned a bored grumble, continuing to lounge around.
Taking in a breath, Bam headed over to Corinna, seeing a mixture of her group of people and his own, along with a few of those who had lost their memories, who all likely believed that Corinna was their leader.
Once Corinna had finished issuing orders to begin construction of a road leading to the forest for wood supply runs, she gave a warm smile in greeting to Bam.
Not wanting to initiate a confrontation in front of so many people, Bam waited until they had all gone to follow their orders; however, Rita annoyingly remained. She held a clipboard and pencil, having become Corinna's personal assistant apparently.
"Hi Bam, how can we help?" asked Rita as if she was translating Corinna's smile.
Bam straightened himself. "There have been people talking and calling you the leader."
Corinna nodded, frowning, as she wrote on her whiteboard that hung around her neck, 'yes, tried correcting', then she motioned to her ears and made a cross with her arms.
"They wouldn't listen?" Bam interpreted.
Corinna mouthed the word 'yes'.
"Just to make sure, you've not been trying to become the leader or anything," Bam chuckled in relief. "I don't want a repeat with Annika."
'Will try and clear everything up', Corinna wrote, smiling.
"Well, why don't we have a leader?" asked Rita.
"Like I said, because of Annika," said Bam.
"Yes, but Annika was the leader because she threatened us."
"We don't need a leader-"
"We need structure and order. With a group this large, a leader will be highly beneficial. We've only gone on so long because we have been focused on building. But once we no longer need to do so, the difference in our merged communities-"
"We don't need a leader; we'll-" Bam paused, then motioned to what Corinna had written on her whiteboard. "Yeah, that. If we need to decide on anything, we can all vote on it."
"Yes, let's vote on a leader!" said Rita excitedly. "We can do a whole political debate-"
"No, we are not having a leader!"
Corinna stood in between the two of them; then, once they both were silenced, she showed them her whiteboard. 'We vote on if we should have a leader, ' it read.
Rita and Bam looked at each other.
Rita shrugged. "That sounds fine."
Bam crossed his arms. "Yeah, let's do that."
Bam returned to his friends, a smug grin on his face. He was going to win, of course. Who would vote to have a leader right?
*
"What!" Bam yelled as the results were announced; a few others stood up with him, complaining. "How could anyone vote for that!"
"Well, it was pretty close," mumbled Kai, packing up the votes, shrinking away from the angry voices of upheaval.
"I demand a recount!" someone shouted, and then others began to chant with them.
"How about we all count together?" said Rin gruffly, glaring them all to silence as one came threateningly close to Kai.
Hesitant, Kai revealed the votes one by one, spreading them out on the table for all to see, everyone vocally counting. Kai was telling the truth; it was close, with Bam losing to Rita by five points.
"I demand a revote!" called a voice.
Kai sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, we can do another vote since it's close... I think that's what they usually do, right?"
"No, but maybe this will get them to shut up," Rin grumbled.
With annoyed and tired groans, everyone once again voted whilst Bam continued to ramble on about how anyone would want a leader.
"It is not about control and power," explained Bruno. "Leaders are there to inspire and keep the group cohesive; we're not voting for someone to tell us what to do but to tell us how to do better at what we do-"
"Oh fuck off, Bruno!"
Once all of the votes were collected, Kai counted them out in the open, and the result changed. Bam had lost by seven points instead of five; he had received an even worse result than the first time.
"Now, is everyone satisfied with the result?" Kai asked aloud.
There was a mixed response.
"Since this is a democracy, is everyone in agreement to follow what the majority voted for!" Kai asked even louder. "Put your hands up if you still want to contest this vote!"
Bam and some of his friends put their hands up, but not all of them.
"Why aren't you putting your hand up!" Bam hissed at them.
One of them shrugged. "We lost fair and square. If we keep contesting, then when we vote on something we want and win, someone else will be annoying and do the same. We have to respect-"
Bam cursed, seeing only three people besides himself with their hands up.
"And all those in agreement!" called out Kai.
Everyone else put their hands up.
"That is how democracy works, Bam," said Bruno.
Rita emerged from the crowd and stood in front, clearing her throat to regain quiet. "Now, everyone has a week to put their name forth, just come to me and-"
"Why you?" asked Bam.
"I am not competing, and I have volunteered to organise and host the political debate," answered Rita in squealing excitement. "Does anyone have any objections to this?"
Only Bam raised his hand.
Rita gave a quick smirk, then continued, "as I said, if you are interested in running, come to me. There is no limit on how many candidates there are. Afterwards, there will be two weeks for you to work on your campaign before a final debate and speech-"
"Is that all really necessary?" groaned Bam.
"Do we want another Annika?" Rita straightened herself, her nose scrunching up from so many interruptions. "We also do not want this just to be voting for your friends; all candidates will have plenty of time to prove why they should be voted the leader." She paused. "Also, I think we should vote on the proper title. Leader? President? Chief? Mayor?"
Everyone dispersed, buzzed and chattered about the result and the future political campaigns, as well as possible silly titles names.
Bam stood for a while; his hands clenched as he realised that it was all his fault. If he had just left it alone, not questioning Corinna about people misbelieving that she was the leader, this wouldn't have happened.
Or was this all just inevitable?
Had there always had to be a leader? Would one just have emerged naturally?
At least it was one they would all vote for instead of someone who threatened and manipulated their way to power like Annika. But what would this new leader be like? Annika, yes, was a horrible person, but she never made anyone do any work unless absolutely necessary. There were barely any rules and jobs. You do what you feel like. We're in a prison hell dimension far away from civilised life, so do we need to copy our society from home? We could live in a new way, a better way. But electing a leader, all this politics, having to work all the time, we're just reverting back to all that.
Then Bam remembered what Annika had said, that the other group was just like the others, wanting to get their hands on the Land of the Lost and food drop-off, only they did not use force. No, it was tricks and manipulation Annika had said. They would take everything that was theirs eventually before we even knew.
And they almost did.
Corinna almost became the default leader because so many assumed she was.
But Bam had fortunately stopped that.
However, now he had to ensure that the new leader was someone he could trust to uphold his principles and ideals of freedom.
And that person was himself.
Bam would run for Leader.
*
"Alright, everyone!" Bam called out. "You are all probably wondering why I gathered all of you!"
The crowd of eyes all stared at him, some only a glance as they returned to their own conversations.
"Hey! Listen! Listen!" Bam made a sharp whistle, finally catching everyone's attention. "Now, because of that vote, we have to have a leader," Bam said bitterly. "But we are all part of the original group!" He motioned to himself and then to the crowd, all of them members of Annika's group, including those who had lost their memories. Unfortunately, the one person Bam did not invite found her way over, seeing that everyone was there; Rita was at the back of the crowd, arms folded as she listened, intrigued to find out what Bam's plan was.
"As the original founders of the camp," continued Bam. "It is only right that one of our own is to be the leader, right? Right?"
This was met with mixed responses, some calling Bam discriminative and how much the other group had helped their community, others in agreement.
"Come on, it makes sense, right? You don't make someone who hasn't lived here that long the leader!" Bam directed this at the people in agreement with him, trying to ignore the others hurling insults at him.
"But we have the advantage! We outnumber the other group! We just need to back one horse, all of us vote for the same person, and they are guaranteed to win!" Bam straightened himself, puffing out his chest. "And that person will be me!"
There was a pause before there was an outburst of shouts and objections and laughter.
"I'm not voting for you," scoffed Bruno.
"Look, I promise that will return everything to how it was!" Bam attempted to shout over the crowd. "No more working every day! We've got all the houses and stuff we need-"
"You know, I think I'm going to run too," said Bruno.
"Aw, I'll vote for you, babe," said Betty, kissing him on the cheek.
"How about Junior?" suggested someone. "He was basically Annika's right-hand man, so he's got some experience."
They all looked to the far back of the group to where Junior sat vacantly. He snapped out of his daze and shook his head. "Nah, not interested."
"Yeah, he wasn't Annika's second in charge," said Bam. "They were just fucking."
Junior nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."
"I think Jules should be elected." Talon stood up, their body shaking nervously. "He has connections with both groups, so there will be no bias; he won't favour one side. That's what you were worried about, yeah?" Talon looked to Bam.
Bam hesitated. "I mean, yeah, but I-"
"And Jules is so kind and friendly," Talon continued. "He definitely won't be another Annika. In fact! He was the one who stood up against Annika! Without him, we would likely still be under her rule!"
"You really think I should run?" Jules whispered, cheeks flushed.
"I'll vote for you," said Talon.
"No, stop!" Bam shouted as more people came up with other candidate suggestions. "We need to all vote for the same person! Because they will all vote for Corinna and win at this rate! There is no one else they'd vote for-"
"What about Kai?" someone perked up. "He's the same as Jules having connections with both sides. And he's got great people skills; I think he would make a great leader. I'm gonna vote for Kai!"
"I'm voting for Corinna," said someone else, others nearby nodding. "I mean, she's the leader of the other group, and they only say good things about her. Look how much they did just in the forest with barely any resources! They would have needed a strong leader to survive all that. And how much she has helped us!"
"Guys! Please!" Bam pleaded, his throat hoarse from all the shouting just to be heard. "We need to vote for the same person! Don't vote for the other side! We need to win!"
But it was futile as the crowd was a mess of arguments and a wide mixture of candidate suggestions.
"Don't worry, babe; I'll be by your side. I'll help you in your campaign!"
"I'm still voting for you, Junior!"
"Please don't..."
"You've got this, Jules! Who better to represent everyone?"
"Kai helped me overcome my social anxiety, even though we kidnapped him. What a chill guy!"
"Corinna has already been leading us. May as well be her."
Bam held his head in his hands, groaning as the crowd dispersed. Jules and Bruno both went over to Rita to confirm that they wanted to run for leadership, as well as a few others who wanted to nominate other people. Reluctantly, Bam also approached Rita, wanting so badly to punch that insipid grin of hers.
"Wanting to run?" she asked sweetly, holding her clipboard in a way so that Bam could clearly see the names of all of the current candidates:
Corinna
Bruno
Jules
Kai (nominated)
Junior (nominated)
Bam let out a long sigh before finally saying through gritted teeth, "put my name down."
Rita added Bam to the list, then smiled sweetly, "I wish you good luck!"