James is sick and tired of being treated like a child.

He’s twenty-one years old, for Christ’s sake! But still, everyone treats him like he’s a little baby who can’t even wipe his own ass.

It pisses him off.

So he decided to do something about it. It was, albeit, incredibly stupid, but it was still something.

James decided he would sneak onto Ark Island, the only nation left in the entire world that is still led by members of The Reestablishment. Even though that government was overthrown by The New Republic a whole decade ago, Ark Island still hasn’t been invaded by any of the New Republic troops.

So what better way to prove his worth — to prove that he’s really a grown-up — than to sneak onto Ark Island all by himself and get information back to The New Republic?

But as it turns out, there’s a very good reason as to why Ark Island hasn’t been invaded yet.

Ark Island is so heavily secured that it’s nearly impossible to infiltrate. And even if someone manages to, it’s more likely than not that they’ll never come back.

That’s why what James did was so stupid. And he’s starting to realize now, just how stupid it was.

He stole a jet to get here. Then a kayak. Then a paraglider. Yes, the whole nine yards.

And then he was promptly kidnapped and imprisoned.

He has no idea how long he’s been in this cell. A day or two, perhaps. Maybe more, maybe less. He’s been pacing, mostly. Talking to himself. And, of course, eating a bag of gummy bears.

Why did they let him keep these? They took everything out of his pockets except for the candy.

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Food is food.

“Look,” James grumbles to himself, pacing up and down the cell. “There’s no reason to panic. You’ve still got your own pants on, plus all your original body parts, and if you were supposed to die here, no one would care if you had to use the bathroom, okay? They’d let you die in a heap of your own shit—“

The door of the cell opens. James freezes. The empty gummy bear wrapper falls from his hands to the floor.