We, The Watched

**<a href="http://www.wethewatched.com" target="_blank">WE, THE WATCHED</a> by Adam Bender Chapter One -- Awake** The light is blinding. You shake off the sweat in a shiver. A million needles stab, and something is hammering and pounding away above you. [[Try to wake up->Can't wake up]] [[Roll into the cool shadow of a towering tree->Tick]]

This must be a nightmare. You strain to open your eyes ... but all you see is trees and sky. [[Roll into the cool shadow of a towering tree->Tick]]

Your neck itches--a tick, maybe. You picture the insect's dark head sinking into your skin, its abdomen ballooning red. [[Scratch that itch!->Scratching the itch]]

You sit up fast, scratching all the way. As you gasp for air, your eyes absorb row after row of gray wood. You are in the middle of a forest. [[Shake it off->Thrashing about]] [[Meditate]]

You thrash about, but it is a futile attempt to improve the reception. All you get is static and a stronger headache. The woodpecker continues to hack away. It's not a dream. You're definitely in a forest. [[Meditate]]

You close your eyes and let a warm breeze brush through your hair. "Think, damn it," you tell yourself. "How did you get here?" But you can't remember. [[Inspect clothes]] [[Inspect skin]] [[Check pockets]]

Your clothes are damp and feature spots of mud, but nothing is torn. [[Inspect skin]] [[Check pockets]]

Your body aches, but your skin shows no signs of cuts or even bruising. It's like you just up and decided to spend a night in the woods--but forgot the tent and sleeping bag. Were you drunk? You can't remember anything about last night. [[Inspect clothes]] [[Check pockets]]

Frantically, you search your pockets. No wallet, no keys, no cell phone ... only thing in there is a crumpled-up brochure. [[Read the brochure]] [[Toss the useless thing!->Throw brochure]] [[Inspect clothes]] [[Inspect skin]]

"You have to be kidding me!" you scream as you throw the balled paper on the grass. Unless... [[Give it a look just in case->Read the brochure]] [[Inspect clothes]] [[Inspect skin]]

You snap up the ball of paper and carefully unfurl it. Emblazoned across the top are miracle words: //National Park Visitor's Map//. Better, someone's drawn two circles with a marker--one around the end marker of a trail and the other around a station labeled //MONORAIL//. You must have used the map to get here. But why? You think hard but still can't remember anything about why you came here ... or even where you came from. [[Look for a trail]] [[Smooth out the map]] [[Mumble idiotically]]

You stare into the wilderness, looking for a trail. Could you actually have taken a trail to get here? Were you too wasted to remember anything, but sober enough to stick to a path. Wait. Is that--? The tree on the other end of the clearing has something scratched into its trunk. [[Inspect tree]]

You smooth out the creases from the map, but it doesn't help you remember anything. [[Mumble idiotically]] [[Look for a trail]]

You mumble a theory about taking hallucinogens but it doesn't ring any bells. [[Smooth out the map]] [[Look for a trail]]

You stagger to your feet and limp over to the tree. Your socks squish. The scratch on the tree is graffiti. Some idiot decided to take a pocketknife and carve the numeral //7//. The whole thing is senseless and illogical, but it confirms civilization is nearby. [[Wipe graffiti]] [[Keep looking for trail]]

You try to wipe the //7// graffiti off the tree with your hand ... but it's carved into the tree. Stupid. [[Keep looking for trail]]

You squint deeper into the vegetation and pan slowly, left to right. Your eyes land on a path--overgrown with weeds, but a path nonetheless. [[Take the path]]

The density of green is overwhelming. And the birds--the damn birds are everywhere, all singing for mates. Too bad you're not here on a hiking trip. [[Berate yourself<-Berate yourself for that joke]] [[Continue on the path]]

As you continue walking, you hear a new sound: trickling water. You realize how thirsty you are. [[Find the water]] [[Ignore your thirst and continue forward->Trail continues]]

What the hell is wrong with you?! You're lost in the woods, don't have the slightest idea why, and what do you do? Make jokes! Make stupid jokes! If you'd just focus, you might be out of this mess already! [[Continue on the path]]

You dash for the source and almost run right through a stream. Splashing and guzzling ensues. As the ripples fade, you don't recognize the youthful eyes staring back at you in the water. [[Make sure it's your reflection]] [[Smile at yourself->Deer]]

Winged insects hiss in your ear and bite your arms and face, apparently attracted to your sweat and extreme body odor. The further into the vegetation you push, the more the bugs seem to attack, the more they foil your pitiable attempts to distract yourself from the present. Maybe you shouldn't have gotten going so fast. Maybe you should have looked around where you woke a little longer. You might have found some answers right there. God, why didn't you think of that? Maybe you should turn back! Or maybe you should just rest here. Screw the bugs! [[Rest]] [[Go back to where you woke]] [[Keep going]]

You touch your face and see you hand in the reflection. Yep, that gaping mouth and patchy beard are definitely yours. [[Smile at yourself->Deer]]

The bushes on the other side of the stream rustle and snap, and two large deer tiptoe out into the open. They stare at you, bodies frozen stiff. [[Stare back->Deer stare]] [[Say hello->Deer run]] [[Scream->Deer run]] [[Throw a rock at the deer->Deer run]]

You are locked in a staring contest with the deer. [[Say hello->Deer run]] [[Scream->Deer run]] [[Throw a rock at the deer->Deer run]]

Alarmed, the doe turns around and bolts back into the shrubbery. The buck soon follows. Yeesh, now you're messing with animals. If you don't find humans soon, you're probably going to end up completely insane. [[Get back on the trail->Trail continues]]

You can't afford to rest, damn it! You have to keep going until you find somewhere you can get help and sort things out. You'll be okay if you just keep moving! [[Or... maybe I should turn around?->Go back to where you woke]] [[Keep going]]

No, right now, all that's important is survival. You should probably call it a miracle you woke up at all. You might have been on the brink of death. And if that's true, you can't waste a second chance at life scrounging around for hints to your past. That's like ... selfish, or something. Screw that. [[Keep going]] [[Rest]]

After another ten minutes of walking, your eyes lift to the horizon and swerve nearly 90 degrees with the path. It turns away from a strange blue patch of light--a surreal end of the forest. [[Leave the trail to check it out->View]] [[Stick to the trail->Dark clouds]]

Curious, you drift off the beaten trail and walk through the thin layer of trees. You stop at the edge of a cliff. It drops more feet than you have time to estimate, but below and far in the distance is a shore-side metropolis. The skyscrapers and white-speckled ocean are as familiar as déjà vu, but you can't attach a name to the picture. Your eyes ride an ivory-toned structure from the city edge back to a large, tin-roofed building about a mile below. The monorail station! The map was right! [[Return to the trail->Dark clouds]]

The path slopes down a mountainside. You glance up at the sun to get an idea of the time, but dark clouds have invaded the sky. [[Freak out]] [[Keep going->cemetery]]

Your mind replays the awakening, the futile scan for meaning. You scream wildly. A bird returns the cry. Calm down, dammit! Take things one step at a time. Just make it to the monorail station and the haze will clear. You're hungry and aching. Of course you can't think straight. [[Continue on->cemetery]]

The path opens up into a field--no, a cemetery. Cold fog seethes around the graves and down your spine. The stones all have the same stark contour, but they've chipped individually with age. A granite soldier watches over them, a menacing hawk perched on one outstretched arm. Below his boots are these words: //These soldiers gave their lives for Unity. They will be remembered for Heroism in a time of Great Civil Strife.// You glance upwards and freeze under the hawk's icy stare. The train station can't be far. This is a graveyard; there's got to be at least a parking lot nearby. If you can find that, you can find the train. [[Walk through the tombstones]] [[Run through the tombstones]]

Every advance through the white curtain of fog reveals another hundred tombstones, and the taste of stale death comes with each breath. It's irritatingly quiet--even the birds have shut up. [[Run through the tombstones]]

You start to run through the cemetery. In the distance, you see a small chapel in major disrepair. It looks like it was bombed during a war. Suddenly, your ankle screams, the world blurs, and you're face-down in the dirt, caught in death's shadow. Something cold licks your neck. Your eyes bolt skyward and watch several hundred liquid daggers scream into your face. [[Get up!]] [[I'll just stay here, thanks.->Play dead]]

You scramble to your feet and sprint through another marble row, towards the small church. The storm grows torrential, and the rain's static drone amplifies your lungs' wheezing. Your legs give out just as you reach a crumbling flight of stairs in front of the war-torn chapel. Its rotten doors are two times your height and look at least ten times your age. [[Go inside->The church]] [[Take cover in the entrance and wait out the rain->Leaving the church]]

Your clothes are getting pretty wet from the rain. **Liquid daggers**, remember? This doesn't seem like a great option. [[Run for shelter->Get up!]]

You push hard on the door and tumble inside. The fall sets fire to your arms and legs, pierces them with jagged shards of red and yellow. The windows blew out long ago--all the color's dropped to the rock floor. The old church smells of mildew and you can see why: without glass, the rain comes through the windows in buckets. [[Sit in the pews]] [[Wait out the rain and go back outside->Leaving the church]]

After a long time, the storm ends. Your ankle burns with every step, but you grit your teeth and limp through the graves like a zombie. Several hundred tombstones later, you find more cracked marble steps. They descend into a parking lot. [[Enter the parking lot]]

You lumber down an aisle that zigzags between twenty-or-so off-kilter pews, and find a seat somewhere in the middle that's as far from the water as you can get. [[Look at your map]] [[Wait out the rain and then leave->Leaving the church]]

You pull out the map and trace your path to the cemetery with your finger. The monorail isn't far. There's a parking lot nearby the chapel, and the train station looks like a quick jaunt from there. The glossy paper reflects a blinding lightning flash into your eyes. Stupid storm! Why did this have to happen now? Dramatic effect? [[Wait out the storm and then leave->Leaving the church]]

The lot is empty, but you see a large yellow sign with the word //MONORAIL// and an arrow pointing down another trail. [[Getting sick of trails, but okay, fine!->tunnel]] [[Pretend you're a car]]

You continue on through a giant, grass-covered metal pipe. You plod into the dark and dank passageway. It twists a few times before finally opening into light. The monorail station stabs through the pastoral beauty of the land. Only the unkempt ivy twisting over its dark metal surface keeps the structure rooted into the forest. Jet black stairs climb from the earth into the blue sky just beyond, but their entrance is gated and watched by a blank-faced man standing erect in navy blue uniform. [[Approach the soldier]] [[Hide]]

You walk up to the soldier. The word //Guard// is sewn onto his uniform. "Good afternoon," the Guard greets. "Put your arms in the air." [[Follow his advice]] [[Refuse]] [[Run away->Hide]]

You run to hide behind a tree and watch the soldier. He doesn't move an inch. [[Approach the soldier]]

You raise your arms and the Guard pats down your shirt. "You don't look well," he says. "Why are your clothes so dirty?" [[Tell the truth]] [[Lie]]

You keep your arms down, but the Guard grabs them and wrenches them into the air. "You don't look well," he sneers as he pats you down. "Why are your clothes so dirty?" [[Tell the truth]] [[Lie]]

You reply, "Would you believe that I woke up without memory in the middle of this forest?" The Guard glowers. "What really happened?" [[Lie]]

You say, "Uh, I tripped and fell through some bushes." The Guard seems satisfied by this response. "You're early. The train won't be here for another two hours." "I didn't have a choice." He stares you cold in the eyes, calculating. Then with a quick turn, he pulls open the gate. [[Go up the stairs]] [[Punch the Guard]]

The steps clank under your feet and the wind whistles loudly in your ears. A whirring surveillance camera attached to the overhang meets you at the top ... and then swivels away. The station is as empty as the parking lot. The only sign of life comes from some stenciled graffiti on the wall, an eerily realistic jet black silhouette of a man with fiery red eyes. Well, nothing to do but wait for the train. You slump against the wall and gaze vacantly at a tight entanglement of trees just beyond the tracks. You're awake. **Congratulations -- you made it out of the forest! Now continue the adventure in the novel <a href="http://www.wethewatched.com" target="_blank">WE, THE WATCHED</a> by Adam Bender! Available in paperback and eBook from <a href="http://bookshow.me/B004YR8I4A" target="_blank">Amazon</a> and other major online retailers** //Break through the government propaganda and avoid surveillance cameras in this dystopian adventure! Told from the unique first-person perspective of an amnesiac, acclaimed novel WE, THE WATCHED places the reader in the shoes of Seven, a hero who can’t remember his past and struggles to conform in a surveillance society.// **Get the eBook free when you <a href="http://www.adambenderwrites.com/join-the-underground/" target="_blank">join Adam Bender's monthly email newsletter</a>.**

Have you gone mad?! [[Right. I'll follow the sign, then.->tunnel]]

You reach back your arm to punch the guard, but your eye catches the rather large pistol in his hip holster. You scratch the back of your head as if that's what you'd meant to do the whole time. [[Go up the stairs]]