Good morning wednesday gifs

K♠️ : Come Seek
This game is part of a series of games, where I am writing games for all 52 cards for a borderlands in the UK. Each one includes a story of how I imagine the game playing out. You can find all entries here.
Venue: Forest outside of the city. (~3 days away)
Player limit: Unlimited
Rules: At the bottom of the story.
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Remaining Games
?th Day of Sojourn
Mia left the building in triumph, and began to make her way back towards the school.
However, as she was making her way, she decided to go a different way. As she was the only winner of the game, no one would realise she was missing, they would just assume her dead.
She turned, trying to find an adequate place to stay. She thought back to the Nine of Spades, where she had found her knack for spades games. Before the borderlands she had been quite different, but with rigid training routines she was on her way to becoming the best spades player in the land, or so she liked to believe.
First Day of Exhibitions
The Unknown.
He loved the wilderness. Admittedly, there was little of it left in the UK, so he had gone to other countries in search of adventure. He had decided to return home this summer, and he had been met at the airport by his two friends. Then he awoke here, in his car, with his two friends, who had been exited for his return home.
This was his home now. The wilderness, about 7 days walk from the city. He looked up at the massive blimp above his head, the king of spades hanging down. How had the world come to this?
His life here, the past few years, had been an experience. He knew there was now no way back for him, and that death waited with the arrival of this blimp. He didn’t want to go, but this was his choice. Soon the players would be here.
Alex
She had only just made it out of the Queen of Spades game alive, and now she had agreed to play another Spades game? What was she thinking? Alex walked with the school kids to the store they had spoken about, and they kitted up with boots, 40 litre backpacks, tents, food rations, etc., splitting the duty fairly evenly. They also grabbed miscellaneous wilderness supplies, medicine, first aid, water supplies, etc.
She carefully put on the backpack with the assistance of one of the kinder of the two school kids, Tom, who explained that with this heavy a pack slinging it over your shoulder could cause back damage.
“Looks like my DofE is really coming in handy.” He joked, as the others got their packs ready. There were four of them all together, Ellis, Tom, Alex, and Flo. She hadn’t really met any of them during the first stage, but they had introduced themselves now, and they were going to have to work together if they wanted to clear the King of Spades.
Ellis checked the time on his pocket watch he had wound up and set based on a sundial the schoolboy she met, James, had made.
“It’s just after 6, we can get some walking in before camping out for the night, as two or three hors are better than none.” He said, leading them out of the shop.
They began to make their way down the street, to the desolate wasteland that lay beyond the city, a mix of forests and mountains, as far as the eye could see, a solitary King of Spades hanging in the distance.
“You aren’t going to forget about me, are you?” A voice called from behind them, and Tom turned, followed by a surprised Ellis.
“That’s… Your dead…” Tom said in confusion.
“Clearly not. Also, I’m joining you on this journey. Don’t worry, I’ll be self sufficient. It’s all packed.” Mia said, showing them her Backpack. “You should remember, my group got back first on DofE!”
“Alright. We need all the help we can get. But if you get on my nerves too much, I’ll leave you alone in the woods.” Ellis said, and they walked off.
The first hour of walking was always the worst, before everything started to fall away and you lost track of time. It was the worst part, and she trudged through the forest, over rocks, all with the group, watching their backpacks sway from side to side.
The walk continued for what felt like a while, but she knew this would be the least intensive of the days, the next few being four times as long, and likely four times as arduous. She looked at the hill towering in the distance, and knew tomorrow they would be going up it.
They arrived at the base of it, and Ellis checked the time, before deciding they would set up camp here for the night. They began unpacking, and she, Tom and Mia were assigned to setting up the tents, while Ellis would work on the fire and the food, and Flo would establish a boundary and some traps for animals, fo which Ellis gave her a book and a battery powered flashlight, as well as some of the materials needed.
Alex, Tom and Mia had put the poles together on the tents, and were beginning to thread them through the plastic fabric of the tent, as Mia began to ask her about her time in the borderlands.
She told her about her first game, the encounter with James, then the Fibonacci Gaps of the six of spades, her time with Katherine, the seven of hearts…
“Really, Ben did all that? What a sack of shit he is. Honestly, not surprised you faked your death. We found out he was bad during the ten of hearts game, but never realised quite how bad he was…” Tom said.
“What about you then, Mia?” Alex asked her, and by the time the tents were up the three of them had formed quite a good bond.
Once everything was set up for the night, they sat around the fire, eating food, telling stories, recounting their lives.
For the first time since the seven of hearts, Alex felt happy.
-
They settled into sleep that night, Alex in the warm embrace of a sleeping bag, the tent fluttering in the light breeze. It had been a rollercoaster of a day, but she needed to get a good nights sleep, in preparation for the next few days of hiking.
Second Day of Exhibitions
The Unknown
He took some supplies from his cool box, while sat in his cabin.
Why had he even decided to stay here? This was not how he wanted his life, and he was alone, in the wilderness, where he wanted to be, yet he still felt out of place. He didn’t want to stay in this land, but now he was stuck. He had given up his chance of returning of the old world, and now he sat there, in his self-built log cabin, waiting. He waited for his death. He knew that someone would come, and that the worst mistake of his life would come to light. He thought a definitive chance at winning was better than dying immediately, but he had been wrong. What had he done?
Tom
He awoke early that morning, next to Ellis. He checked the time, before winding up the pocket watch and unzipping the tent and stepping outside.
The world was covered by a thin layer of dew, and the air smelt fresh. He walked over to the burnt out ashes of yesterdays fire, taking a seat next to it, on a cold rock.
He thought about the day, and got ready for it, putting on his boots and preparing breakfast, before waking the others.
Unlike the evening before, they ate in relative silence, uttering the occasional word when absolutely necessary.
They packed up the tents, now talking a little more. They folded the tents carefully, while Flo checked the traps.
They had finally finished packing up, and they prepared for the day. Tom laced up his boots, and stood up, grabbing his backpack.
They set off around 7:00-7:30, beginning their trek up the hill. The hill was at a steep incline, and they walked up a winding path across the side of the hill, stabilising themselves on rocks, sliding through wet grass, mud. They spent hours on the incline, stopping for a short break about halfway up, as well as various other water stops. They were exhausted, and as the sun went under, they were almost at the summit, pushing themselves further up the hill, until they arrived.
As he finished the climb, he collapsed at the top, before looking to see how far away the King of spades now was.
He looked in horror at the mountain a little further away, towering, the King of Spades blimp hovering in the sky. Tomorrow was going to be a much more perilous and arduous trek than today, he thought, and Ellis suggested they set up camp here.
They cycled the roles this time, Ellis on traps, Alex on food, and Flo with Mia and him setting up tents.
They were now in a much more conversational mood, talking with Flo, asking her about her time in this country, explaining theirs.
They also spoke about their time before arriving here, discussing the fireworks, their arrival.
“Well, maybe it’s aliens?” Flo suggested.
“But why? That wouldn’t make any sense!” He responded, and Ellis came over, disrupting their discussion to inform them that the traps had been set up.
They gathered around todays campfire, and began to eat, talking about nothing and everything.
As their meal came to a conclusion, Ellis announced he had something for them, and went into his bag, retrieving a bottle of Alcohol.
“Let us drink! For tomorrow we may die!” He exclaimed, laughing, taking a swig from the bottle.
Flo frowned at first, but realised that underage drinking was the least of their problems at the moment. Alex passed on the drink, and so did Mia, but still, before they knew it the bottle was empty, and Ellis was fast asleep, while Tom and Flo couldn’t stop laughing.
Alex and Mia decided it would be best to get some sleep.
They settled for the night, and eventually the others stopped laughing and retreated into their tents and sleeping bags, and Alex drifted off to sleep, into into a dream.
Third Day of Exhibitions
The Unknown
He awoke on his bed, and stepped out onto the patio, smelling the early morning air, and appreciating the wildernesses beauty. He stood, his arms outstretched, and he took in all of the surroundings. The city was a way away, and from here, he could see it, I all its small nature. He walked around his cabin, grateful to be alive. He stopped however, catching sight of a plume of smoke rising from near the base of the mountain, and he went inside to grab his binoculars.
He walked back outside, looking through them, at the smoke, and what he saw confirmed his suspicions. There was a group coming to find him. How intriguing.
Mia
She awoke to someone punching the side of her tent.
“Mia! Alex! Get up, we need to get going!” Ellis shouted to them through the outside of the tent.
She got up groggily, putting on her shoes before stepping out into the dew covered meadow where they had pitched their tents. Sunlight streamed down over the top of the mountain, starting to bathe their tents in a warm glow.
Mia walked over to the fire, picking up some of the food that had been prepared, and began to eat it. She looked at the mountain, knowing about the dangerous day ahead, scaling it. At the top of the mountain a mist was starting to form, obscuring the massive King of spades, and where it was they were aiming for.
She finished eating, and then helped pack their tents up. They loaded them into their rucksacks before setting off, walking towards the mountain.
The day started with a walk on a mild incline, where Mia found herself talking to Ellis, and they talked about why they wanted to get back. Ellis told her how at first he hadn’t wanted to go back, but now, he wished he could. That was why he was challenging the King of Spades.
Mia continued her conversation, but her shoulders, arms and legs were aching, from two days of carrying so much. Later in the day, she fell behind Ellis, talking to Tom. Tom was quite nice, and despite having made it to Ben’s inner circle wasn’t totally ruthless.
They clambered over some rocks, and Tom slipped, cutting himself on a sharp edge of rock. He shouted, but insisted he was fine and could continue. They continued, Tom continuing to exhale sharply and wince every couple of steps. The walk was exhausting, but they pushed on, stopping at a larger rock for a break and some water. The sun had reached its peak in the sky, and it was boiling, so much warmer than it had been in the morning. This pace was a nightmare weather wise, and she just wanted to get back to the old world. Mia didn’t want to know why all this had happened, she just wanted to get back home.
Ellis and Flo had been talking, and so had Alex and Mia. Mia liked Alex, while this world had made her quite uncaring, she was a good person. Mia had even with her talks with Ellis almost managed to forgive him. She had heard him crying at night over everything he had done. She hadn’t told him.
They were about two thirds of the way up the mountain when it happened. They were walking along a small ridge when Tom’s leg flared up in pain. He shouted, tipping towards the edge.
“Tom!” Mia shouted, reaching out her hand to catch him. He hung from her hand, over the edge. She tried so hard to pull him up, but she couldn’t , and he just, let go.
They spent the rest of the walk in almost full silence. Mia let out a few tears for tom, but continued. In the old world this would have been a tragedy, but by now they were already so used to the death and the destruction that they just kept going.
They arrived at the top of the mountain, the King of Spades blimp flying a few 100 metres ahed, above a log cabin, surrounded by trees. They cautiously approached the cabin, and Flo felt something curl around her leg.
She let out a shout as she was hoisted into the tree by her foot. They looked around, and they heard the door of the cabin door opening.
A man walked out, and towards the trap. He cut Flo out of it, and introduced himself.
“Hello. Welcome to Come Seek. Difficulty: King of Spades. Rules: Make it here, to this cabin, and Back, without dying. Don’t worry, I won’t interfere. Now, I’ve finished the rules, so come in, and you can restock and prepare for your return to the city.”
“What? You mean all we have to do is walk back?” Mia asked, as Flo stood up.
“Yes. It’s that simple.” The King said, walking back towards the Cabin. “You know, I built this cabin myself. Away from people, to avoid them, but now I’ve come to regret my choice of staying. When it is your turn, I hope you don’t make the same mistake I did.”
He walked away before the others could ask him anything, only stopping to turn back for one thing.
“You might want to go and see the Jack of Clubs after you finish my game.”
They were confused by his comment, but brushed it off, and they walked into the cabin, refilling their packs for the next three hard days of walking back to the city.
Mia wasn’t sure what to think about the King. He certainly wasn’t what she was expecting.
They Slept in the cabin that night, using the insulation and heat that it provided.
The King didn’t return.
Fourth Day of Exhibitions
They awoke in the cabin the next day, the King still absent. Ellis told them it would likely be a good idea to get going again, and Flo grabbed a little food from the fridge in the cabin, offering a little to everyone. They ate in silence, still fazed by Tom’s death and the strange nature of the King. They began to pack up again, rolling up mats, putting their sleeping bags away.
They opened the cabin door, ready to depart. The day had broken recently, and sunlight streamed over the horizon, and the ground was littered with dew. The day was still quite cold, but by the time they started moving and the sun rose in the sky it would be unbearably hot.
The straps of their backpacks rubbed against their shoulders as they walked, and their arms and legs ached, but Mia was preoccupied.
The King had been so different from what she had expected, and she began discussing it with Alex, one of the two of them that had met another citizen. Alex told her how she too had been caught off guard by the king. She had expected that if the game was as he explained he would be tracking them, and trying to stop them, but he had told them he wouldn’t, and seeing as this was spades, meant it was unlikely he was lying.
They continued down the mountain, over rocks, along the path they had walked previously, the grass still flattened from their walk the day before. They retraced their steps, and Mia stopped briefly when she saw the mangled shape of Tom on the rocks below. She forced herself on, but she could feel the off-putting effect it had had on the others. They took a different path once they got down, so they wouldn’t have to go past Tom’s corpse.
After a while of walking they arrived at the previous campsite, their past fire’s ashes on the floor, surrounded by rocks, and They remembered how carefree they had been that night, before it had truly kicked off.
They set up for the night, putting up their tents.
There was no large campfire, no happiness, they simply went to sleep.
Or tried to.
Mia had difficulty trying to get the image of Tom out of her head, and it took a little before she could close her eyes without seeing him.
Over the past few days the walking had become less and less noticeable, as she was getting better and better at zoning out while doing it. The start was always hard, but by the time the sun truly rose the day passed quickly.
This world had changed her so much, and she wasn’t even sure of who she was anymore. She used to be so different, and now she was trekking through the wilderness for her own life.
She managed to fall asleep, but the night was rough.
She awoke in the night after seeing Tom fall from the cliff again. She got up and left the tent, making sure not to wake her tent-mate. She sat around the embers of the fire, and was joined a few moments later by Alex.
“Hey.” Alex said.
“Hey.” Mia replied, poking the fire with a stick.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“Yeah.”
“Tom?”
“Yeah.”
“Look, Im not going to pretend I know what to say here, but we’ll work through it, ok? So far, all I’ve seen from you is strength, and I’m sure you can work through it.”
“Thanks.”
“Well, you might want to get some sleep.”
Alex returned to the tent, and soon Mia followed her. She didn’t want to be sleepy tomorrow. She wanted to get back to the city as quickly as possible, and she couldn’t afford to be below standard due to lack of sleep.
Fifth Day of Exhibitions
Flo woke up first that morning, getting out of her tent, hitting the sides of the others tents to get them up. She got out some food as the others were still waking, before giving each of them some. She had already taken her tent down by the time Ellis left his tent, and they were sat around as he finished his food.
“I’ve had a thought.” He said, looking at them.
“What?” Flo asked, intrigued.
“We’ve been quite slow these past few days, we could get back faster if we ditched the packs.” Ellis said.
“What!?” They said to him, almost in unison.
“Well, judging by the distance and our pace, we do about 13-18 Km a day. Most of you here are quite good runners, and I can do 20 Km in a few hours. It’ll be hard, but its definitely possible and we would make it before the end of today.” He explained.
“Since when did you become good at maths?” Mia said, teasing him. “But seriously, that’s not a bad idea, although we have to be sure we’ll make it, being out in this wilderness without protection is not something I want to do.”
“Are both of you crazy?” Flo said.
“I’d like to get back to the city as fast as possible, I definitely think it’s worth a try.” Alex said.
“Fine” Flo agreed, and they didn’t bother packing up their tents. They reached grabbed some water, and began jogging down the hill.
The hill was the hardest part of the run, staying at a steady pace while maintaining balance and going down it was difficult, but soon they were at the bottom.
Their arms ached, and their lungs were bursting, but they continued into the forest, running past various places they had seen before, and they stopped for a serious break about halfway back.
A few of them were gasping for breath, and they drank a lot of their water.
They pushed on though, running past their campsite, through the trees, and onwards.
The sun began to grow lower in the sky, and what they estimated was around five, they finally broke through the last barrier of trees, and stepped out onto the tarmac road of the city, dripping in sweat, bent over, out of breath.
They quickly drank the rest of their water, before going to find a place to sleep, more water, and food.
The four of them were tired, and eventually they holed themselves up inside a detached house on the outskirts of town.
There was no edible food in the house, but they did find water. They drank almost all of it, and they settled down as evening set in. Mia managed to find a set of cards, and suggested they play a game.
“Like a card game, obviously…” Before laughing nervously.
They began to play, as Mia explained the rules.
They were having fun, almost forgetting the nature of the place they were in, getting engrossed in their free time activity.
Their illusion of safety was broken by the voice announcing that the King of Spades had been defeated, and that Alex, Ellis, Flo and Mia had gained 13 days on their Visas.
They all looked at each moment, before returning to their game, trying to go back to their earlier state of ignorance.
After a couple of rounds, they went to sleep, now knowing they were safe for another few days.
Sixth Day of Exhibitions
They awoke at a normal time, and Flo was grateful to have been able to sleep in a proper bed. She looked around the room she was in, wondering what had happened to the people who had once lived here, and the old world.
She was saddened by the thought it might not be possible to go back, and they simply might be forced to stay here and become citizens. Who knew.
She got up, seeing no-one else had gotten up yet, and seeing the place, decided she was done with what she had aimed to do. She had beaten the King, and now she had no reason to stay here. She looked at the two blimps left, the King of hearts, and the Jack of Clubs, and the King of Hearts. The Fact that it still hung in the sky, meant it was unlikely that her friends were left alive. She looked down sadly. She was the last performer. The last of a group almost 30 big. She walked over to it.
If Alfie, Tracy and Roger couldn’t clear it, she would in their memory.
When Ellis awoke, he looked around the house, seeing if anyone else had woken yet. He spotted Flo’s empty bed, and didn’t fault her for leaving.
He looked out the window, seeing the only other remaining games being the Jack of Clubs and the King of hearts.
After Alex and Mia got up, he called them down to tell them he wanted to see what the Jack of Clubs was about. Not to play it, just see what the King meant by seeing the Jack of Clubs after his game.
They agreed, and they walked over to the castle, above which the Jack of Clubs blimp hung, spotting two familiar figures waiting fro them at the gates.
TL,DR: get to the Kings blimp, and back to the city without dying. There is no time limit, other than visa.