Photo by Nik Owens on Unsplash
Photo by Pablo Pacheco on Unsplash

Links to the original post and the story so far (in order) can be found in the Tale of Two Pizza's Archive Post

Yes, yes, I know, I am behind on this weeks Tale of Two Pizza's AGAIN! Many apologies! My daughter and I have both been laid up with the COVID this week and while I have had more time than usual on my hands I have been otherwise distracted and unable to focus on writing! I think we are both over the hump now though and starting to perk back up so it is high time to round up last weeks entries and start up a new week!

We only had one entry last week from the amazing @wrestlingdesires who continues to come back week in week out and remains super patient with my occasional delays on the weekly winners posts and new sections of the story! His entry this week continued where I left off with Barry arriving stealthily in Grove hoping to find Henry. Hiding in the stables he observed the arrival of Will's ruined horse and the message from the Preda's. Will managed to shake off some of his fear and found his bearings, determined to return to the Pizza Baron after his shocking experience in the woods.

As always @wrestlingdesires entry is well written and continues to push our story forward! The SBI sponsorship and PIZZA are on their way!

Winners delivery pics

Henry stirred in his cell to the sound of a key scraping in a lock, but nothing more. His initial interaction with the Preda's had been the most pleasant. He had spent most of that first meeting huddled on the floor while his new "friend" Wes explained how Henry would be the key to winning the conflict with the Pizza Baron. Mrs. Preda had seen through his feigned fear and attempted to convince him to their cause. He had nearly fallen for her false charm. A voice echoing faintly in his mind had made him falter and his hesitation had brought with it a drastic change in the demeanor of both the Preda's. A wave of genuine fear crashed over him out of nowhere, and Mrs. Preda tossed him back to the floor hard enough that he had briefly lost consciousness. He groggily recalled being dragged into the cell by Wes.

It had been days since then. Occasionally he had been pulled from the cell in the basement and offered another opportunity to help the Preda's cause and carry a message to Grove and all of the Fruit Barons allies. Each time he felt intimidated and terrified beyond reason, and each time that faint voice had helped him remain steadfast. He had been confused by it at first. It was not part of him. It only seemed to happen when he was facing Mrs. Preda. The one time he had faced Mr. Preda alone the intimidation and fear had not been as overwhelming. He had managed to hold his own without it's whispering to bolster him. Each time he had been questioned and coerced since then it had been by Mrs. Preda herself. The strange echoing whisper came only when he was about to lose himself to fear and begin babbling and bawling like a child. It held that fear back somehow. It sheltered him. He drew strength from the shock he had perceived on Mrs. Preda's face the first time it resonated in his mind.

All will be well, Henry, take heart! This fear is not your own! Remember Delilah!

As if he could forget her. The strength and determination she showed in everything she did was what made him admire her... and fall for her. Why a strange whisper was constantly reminding him he could not understand, nor what the words it whispered meant... How could his fear not be his own? Still thinking of Delilah made him determined to be as strong as she was and helped him overcome the fear that tried to rise in him again and again in Mrs. Preda's presence.

He realized he had been lost in his own thoughts for several minutes and suddenly remembered the noise that had roused him from his exhausted stupor. He raised his head and looked out through the bars of his cell and saw a shaking young man being tossed into the cell opposite by one of the nameless guards. He remained motionless on the floor as the guard stomped back up the stairs out of the cellar.

Suddenly the whisper spoke again in his mind.

Henry! That boy needs your help, but he is dangerous, be wary! Remember Delilah

He stood bolt upright. This was the first time he had heard it outside of Mrs. Preda's presence. It was the first time it had said anything other than odd reassurances. The figure on the floor of the other cell stirred at the sound of Henry's footsteps approaching the bars.

"Hey... HEY! Are you ok?" Henry called across to him. He could see the boy in the other cell was struggling to rise and turn to face him. He seemed to be around the same age as Henry. He managed to drag himself up into a sitting position, he shook his head and then raised his hand to it as if in pain.

"Are you hurt? What happened to you?" Henry asked, trying to get some response from the boy. The figure finally raised it's head and looked at him. Henry could see dried blood under his nose and across his chin, as if he had been punched, but there was no bruise, no swelling... just dry blood. His eyes shifted in and out of focus as he stared at Henry so that Henry felt the urge to look over his shoulder at whatever the boy was focused on behind him. There was nothing there but the empty cell. The boy finally shook his head again and focused on Henry's face.

"I'm ok... I think... Where are we?" The words came ragged and faltering as if the boy had screamed himself hoarse.

"We are in the Preda's cells below the main building. In Slickville. I'm Henry, I've been here a few days but they haven't hurt me... Looks like you weren't so lucky..." He looked questioningly at the boy. He just shrugged.

"I'm Cyril"

The rules for this week remain the same as previous weeks!

I'd like to continue building on the story of the Pizza Baron and his post apocalyptic world. Each week I'll pick a winner that becomes the next piece of the story and wins 20 $PIZZA and a 2 SBI sponsorship from me. I may award additional prizes if I feel multiple entries expand the story well.

Each week I'll write a post announcing the winner and then I will write another chunk of the story and open it up again for the next weeks competition. I'll compile the winning entry for each week. If we reach a conclusion of the epic tale of the Pizza Baron I'll divide another TBD amount of PIZZA among all the winning entries throughout the whole story and publish the finished story here on Hive with all the contributors as beneficiaries. If this goes well we might have the first open source blockchain novella on our hands! 😂

The first weeks contest established a secondary storyline that may be tied back into the main plot if you so wish!

Bear in mind this is an experiment as well as a competition so we will see how many entries I get and how well it goes!

Rules:

Entries must be more than 200 words but less than.

Entries must use the hivepizza tag

Entries must comment on this post with the link to their entry

Entries must fit in the world/scenario that has developed from the previous weeks contest(s). You are free to develop characters, introduce new ones, invite aliens to the feast, I don't care as long it makes some kind of sense in the context! The Pizza Baron should remain relevant to the plot!
(I've named it a Tale of TWO Pizza's for a reason HINT HINT)