Terra Black

"Now, Terra, what are the three rules to success?"

"Rule number 1: control from the shadows; Rule number 2: knowledge is power; Rule number 3: the truth is what you make it."

Terra lounged in her gaming chair, her attention completely transfixed on the 62-inch flatscreen TV she had recently acquired, she was immersed in her favorite PlayStation 4 game, Until Dawn, and she was at the brink of finishing it, for what was now the fifth time. She was interested in seeing all the different ways it could end; she knew you could watch them on YouTube, but it didn't give her the kind of experience she sought. She wanted to be the one to make the decisions for the characters, pull their strings like a puppet master, and get them to act and do just as she wanted, even if it meant their demise, that was the kind of experience she was looking for, and the games that gave her that control over people were her favorite, they reminded her of real life, which was almost just as fun.

Terra was taught three things growing up; first, control from the shadows, manipulating and controlling others to do your bidding lowered people suspecting you of any wrongdoing; second, knowledge is power, the more you know, the more ammunition and control you can have on a population and finally the third; the truth is what you make it, if you do the other things correctly, then anything you say, can be taken as truth and you are now the holder of all people and powers that be. Well, currently knowing the things she did, she was currently the most powerful person in the entire town, even if she was the only one who knew it.

She often imagined herself as the game master of her little brigade of misfits and thieves, always influencing their thoughts and decisions to her benefit: like how she convinced little Stephanie to join in on the scavenging party, Terra knew her family had a history in cultivation and botany, they had the best greenhouse in the town, according to Steph, they had been passing down generational secrets on how to stay self-sufficient in an ever so acclimatizing world where it was normal to rely on the word of others instead of making sure the things you were putting in your body were good for you.

It was quite impressive if Terra didn't say so herself. Due to the greenhouse, Terra and her little group didn't need the grocery store reserves. They had enough vegetables and fruits to last them all winter and the knowledge to continue growing and harvesting for as long as needed. That was why she was sending out Steph with the scavenging party, if they had the means to supply the entire town with the vegetable and fruits they needed, then she can have the entire town by its balls. She would control the food, the only thing left would be the protein aspect, some vegetables provide it, but converting an entire town to vegans is easier said than done, and nothing beats a nice, rare steak. There are animals in the woods, they just found different ways to hide.

So, naturally, she would need to sabotage the farms, but as rule one goes, if you can work from the shadows, do it, and so she shall, Steph will gather intel on what they decide to do, and she will give insightful input here and there as to look like a team player, but inevitably, they will lose their crops, and most of their hope, and when all seems lost, that's when Terra will come in, with a few drop of hope, not a lot but enough to turn them slightly towards her; this is a long game, one that she has been preparing for since before birth, it is her destiny, and she would not fail.

She would have preferred to also have someone in the search party to keep tabs on what they discover about their 'situation' but the names she had others put forth didn't 'cut', apparently, they had more than enough people going and sent her people home. Luckily, they won't find anything, not in Winchester anyway, that's a waste of time, but their passing so close to the Barge is what wanted her to have someone there. Either way, she had enough people in enough circles to be able to keep an ear out for anything that could be a threat to her and the mission that she was tasked with.

She found it odd that everything had gone so smoothly since 'The Vanishing', which is what kids in town were starting to call the disappearance of the parents; she was prepared for a little more chaos within the town, people freaking out, going and looting things a little more, but aside from her and her group on that second day, no one did anything of the sort. It was honestly a little boring. She didn't expect them to come together so quickly. It's been four days, and already there's a group of kids who normally don't interact, coming together to discuss resources and future planning. It's bullshit.

Part of her felt stupid for not seeing it before, individually, each of the kids that were taking on leadership roles, showed signs of quality early on in their lives; she had been watching a lot of the children since kindergarten, picking and choosing which ones will be able to join her in the battles to come; while also recognizing which would be issue's, and even though she saw them as individual threats, she was blindsided by them teaming up and doing it so quickly.

It got her thinking, they work well together now, and while things are not that bad, how would they react to some type of conflict? Would they stay banded together and agree all the time? Or will they succumb to their egos and allows the powers that be to slowly start to take hold?

There's only one way to find out.