1) Begin with the phrase "Not a chance" (10 min)
Not a chance. Jenika shook her head. They hadn't been given any kind of chance at all.
She looked away from the sad faces all around her, and walked toward a bench set in a corner. Thoughts swirled, never staying still long enough for her to properly think them, but coming back over and over so that she could recognize their edges.
A double clap cut through the soft murmur of voices, and even that went silent. An officious little man frowned at his clipboard, ignoring the guards on either side. Jenika glanced around, spotting half a dozen more guards before the little man cleared his throat and drew her attention back.
"I assume you all know why you're here," he started, without looking up. "Please come forward when I call your name."
He started naming people, waiting with puckered mouth and tapping foot for them to come forward. Jenika could see that some people didn't know why, some people didn't believe, and some few, some sad few with dead eyes, didn't care.
2) Write about a forgotten action (10 min)
When Jenika's name was called, she stood up and shuffled forward. She kept her head down, not wanting to look at the people around her. An envelope slapped her forearm, and she curled her hand to grab its edge before it slid down. She backed away a few steps before turning and stomping back to the bench.
She heard more names, but they didn't register. She saw people shuffling forward, shuffling back with an envelope, looking around, and she didn't recognize them. And they were all people she had seen every day for years.
She felt somebody sit on the bench beside her, sniffling, and didn't look over.
A pair of boots appeared in front of her. "Move out."
Jenika dragged her eyes up and stopped at the guard's holstered weapon. She stood slowly, and the boots stepped to the side to direct her toward the rest of the group.
"Your envelope."
It slapped her arm again, and she clutched at it. With a moment of panic, she tried to remember if she had shut off everything she had been working on when the evacuation order had been given. The fake evacuation order, triggered by ... Jenika ducked her head and shuffled past the guard, trying to keep her cheeks from twitching. She hadn't turned things off, hadn't been given a chance.
She forced the thoughts deep, trying to avoid them. Her work was dangerous, and needed constant babysitting. And nobody was there, nobody who knew the warning signs or the steps to prevent problems from escalating.
3) Write about a great idea that isn't. (10 min)
The group shuffled toward the door, herded by the guards. Some of the shocked looks were starting to fade, and were replaced by furtive assessing glances at their surroundings.
A pair of buses were idling in the drive, with their doors open. Sleek tour buses with tinted windows in the passenger compartments, so nobody could see in.
Jenika saw one of her co-workers pause at the door of the first bus. He looked around with narrowed eyes, locating all of the guards. One of them prodded him forward, and he stepped onto the first step.
Jenika was sent to the same bus, and when she climbed the stairs saw him slumped in the first seat, glaring at the stairs, his fingers twitching. When the door thumped closed and the bus started moving, he pulled a shoelace out and wrapped the ends around his hands, stretching it tight and scowling at the driver.
