Chapter 1

Dead. Everything was dead. The trees were ashen, the thin, burnt bark peeling away like dead skin. The grass was coarse and dry; it crunched with every step we took. Even the sky appeared dead. Smoke and fog clouded the once clear, blue sky. All the lively creatures that once inhabited the small town had completely disappeared. As for the people…

“Annaleise!” Kieran’s deep voice called from a few metres away. I could sense the urgency in his tone of voice, but I was in such a state of shock, my mind just shut it out. I wandered aimlessly through the wasteland. This town had been our home. Our home had been reduced to ruins.

“Annaleise!” Kieran shouted again, this time more harshly. “Can you hear me, Anna?”

“Yes…” I whispered softly, my mind still floating somewhere far away from my body, somewhere far away from this world. “I can hear you.”

“We need to get out of here,” he ordered. “We don’t know if this place is safe.” Kieran seized my arm and led me away to the nearest, old country cottage. He peered through the tattered fly-screen, then cautiously pulled the door open. The inside of the home looked just like any other simple home you’d find in the town of Alumuna.  Wooden floor-boards, a couple of bedrooms, a reasonably hygienic bathroom with just a hint of rust forming on the metal shower-head, a small yet functioning kitchen stocked full of food, and a basic living room complete with a comfortable lounge chair and old, bulky television set.

I slumped down onto the lounge chair whilst Kieran darted around the house like a fly, checking each room for any sign of life. Apart from the sound of his thumping footsteps, and the highly irritating dripping tap in the kitchen, everything was dead silent.

“I still think coming back was a stupid idea,” Kieran groaned as he slumped down beside me. “You know this is basically suicide, right?”

 “I’d rather die here than anywhere else,” I murmured. “Besides, who are you to judge about stupid ideas? If I recall correctly, it was your idea to hide behind a horse during a game of hide-and-seek when we were six, your idea to go for a swim at the beach during jellyfish season when we were eight, your idea to spray paint our names on the pavement at school when we were twelve, your idea to drive your father’s truck through the flooded river when we were fourteen…”

“Alright! Alright! I get it!” he growled at me. “Will you shut up, Anna? Seriously. Now is not the time to be making stupid jokes.”

With a wave of rage rushing through my veins, I rose from the chair. “Stupid jokes?! Kieran, these ‘stupid jokes’ are our memories! They’re all we have left! Don’t you get it?! Everything and everyone that we knew is gone!” It was then that every emotion I’d been holding in since we arrived back came flooding out. I’d felt completely numb up until this point, even the most painful thoughts hadn’t stung me at all. Now, I was shattered. The past seventeen years of life had been smashed into millions of miniscule pieces.

I bolted to one of the bedrooms, slammed the door and locked it behind me. I didn’t want to Kieran to see me like this, with tears pouring from my swollen, red eyes and my whole body trembling. I sat hugging my knees with my back resting against the hard bedroom door.

The bedroom reminded me of my own many, many years ago. Obviously, this room had belonged to a small child. Several stuffed animals were lined up in a neat row across the small bed and, at the end of the bed, was a magnificent wooden toy box with a flowery pattern engraved on it. Pink, sheer curtains draped down over the window and, up against the left wall, was a large mahogany wardrobe.

Two years was a long time to be away from home.  Two years was a long time to be living in a tedious boarding school. Two years was a long time to be left pondering over what disastrous events could be occurring back home. Two years was a long time to keep begging to know the truth, only receive superficial answers and have everyone continue to lie to our faces on a daily basis.

That’s why Kieran and I escaped at midnight three nights ago. That’s why we used all the money we’d saved up to buy train tickets that would bring us close to home, and walked the remaining thirty kilometres to Alumuna. After two years in a prissy, pathetic boarding school, I had become ridiculously depressed, and Kieran had evolved into this volcano of anger ready to explode. The school was turning everyone into robots. The teachers and dorm supervisors had brainwashed everyone into not caring about what was happening back home. They’d somehow managed to weave their way into everyone’s heads and kill their curiosity, but not ours. Kieran and I were far too intelligent. We knew something wasn’t right. We knew this wasn’t just some government arrangement to improve our education and better our future, but we hadn’t expected things to be this grim.

Suddenly, there was a knock and a voice at the bedroom door. “Anna…”

“Go away, Kieran,” I moaned, wiping the tears from eyes with the back of my hand.

“Look, Anna, I’m sorry about what I said before. It’s just… I’m so angry that they lied to us all this time. I’m so angry that we wasted two years of our lives in that pathetic prison of a school,” he mumbled, shuffling his feet awkwardly as he spoke.

I rose from my sitting position on the floor and unlocked the bedroom door. Kieran must’ve noticed my red eyes and tear-stained cheeks, because he slowly moved closer to me, wrapped his muscular arms around me in a rather awkward hug and playfully tousled my long, brown hair.

“Now,” he said, once we broke apart, “do you know how to cook something good for dinner, because I’m starving.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was the first time in three nights I’d actually managed to have a decent night’s sleep. The mattress was pleasantly soft and spongy underneath me and the fleecy blanket and smooth cotton texture of the bed sheets made me feel warm and secure. They were coarse and scratchy like the bed sheets at the boarding school. No, these blankets reminded me of home. I had one hundred and one theories about what might’ve happened to my home buzzing around like bolts of electricity in my head. It’s no wonder my dreams were so full of confusion and uncertainty.

My subconscious played with the thoughts buzzing around in my mind and transformed them into twisted scenarios. I saw guns being fired aimlessly and buildings smothered in orange flames, burning to the ground.  The town was being reduced to nothing but ruins. Everyone was either hiding, screaming or running frantically. I knew it was all a dream, a fake reality inside my head, but deep down I had this awful feeling that all these images were real, that these events had really occurred. I tossed and turned violently in my sleep, longing to wake up from this terrifying nightmare, but at the same time, I was curious. It was like wanting to see the end of a movie, or read the end of a book.

Suddenly, a loud, droning noise echoed through my dream, sending a shiver of nervousness through my body. The noise was far too loud to be a part of my dreaded nightmare. It was real.

“Anna!” I heard someone whisper harshly. “Anna, wake up!”

My eyes snapped open instantly. White beams of blinding light shone through the windows into the room. I gasped, taking a deep breath, about to let out a scream. Before I could make a sound, someone clamped their coarse hand over my mouth. Terrified, I kicked and struggled, trying to break free of the person’s iron grasp. Finally, as my vision started to clear, I realised who the person was.

“Kieran,” I said, my voice muffled by his hand still covering my mouth.

“Sssh! Don’t talk, don’t move,” he ordered, his eyes intensely focussed on the window. We lay there in dead silence until the beams of light and loud roaring sound vanished, allowing the darkness to consume the room once more.

“What was that?” I asked, my weariness still lingering, affecting my ability to process what had just happened.

“Helicopter,” Kieran replied solemnly, peering through the closed curtains into the darkness outside.

Kieran’s one word response caused a thousand questions to swarm into my head. Where did the helicopter come from? What were they doing? Who was flying the helicopter? Were they looking for someone? Who were they looking for? Why were the here?

Kieran offered to keep watch while I slept, but I was far too anxious to sleep. This strange tingling sensation had taken over my whole body. Whenever I closed my eyes, images from my nightmare returned. I couldn’t shut them out. I lay curled up in a foetal position under the blankets, my arms and legs trembling. My lungs felt like they were being crushed, like I was suffocating.

“You’re safe, Annaleise. Just close your eyes and go to sleep,” I repeated Kieran’s words of assurance to myself.

oOo

I must have eventually dozed off, only to wake up to the sound of the fire alarm beeping and Kieran swearing furiously. I trudged sleepily out into the kitchen. I could tell by the strong smell of burning, the hazy grey smoke filling the room and the various types of food spilled out over the kitchen bench and tiled floor that Kieran had been attempting to cook breakfast.

“I’m going out this morning,” he informed me abruptly, without even saying “hello” or “good morning”.

“Okay…” I said, sliding myself onto one of the polished wooden seats at the dining room table. “Where are you going?”

“I dunno,” he shrugged. “Gonna look around a bit, see if I can figure out what the hell is going on around here.”

“Can I come?” I said softly, not caring much about whether or not he actually heard me. Part of me was desperate to join Kieran on his adventure, but the other part of me was much too frightened.

Kieran took a temporary break from his cooking and cleaning, and came to sit at the table with me.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to come, Anna. It’s just that…” His hazel eyes gazed off into the distance as he pondered over what to say next, how to phrase his explanation and how to do it all without making me angry or upset. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt. You’re smart Anna, but you’re so easily frightened and caught off guard. If something bad is out there, I don’t want to risk you getting hurt… or worse.”

I nodded silently. What could I say? Yes, I was a little offended that Kieran viewed me as incapable, however, I knew deep down that he was right. I wondered if he really did care about my safety and wellbeing, or whether he just didn’t want his highly irritating childhood best friend tagging along. Perhaps it was a mixture of both.

I sat on the veranda watching as a Kieran cautiously walked out into the distance. Despite my short-sightedness, I could see him gesturing to me to get back inside the house. A cold autumn breeze swept across the flat, dry land. Shivering, I pulled my navy blue jacket tighter around my body. I felt isolated. I’d always felt isolated growing up. I was very different from everyone else in my school and neighbourhood. However, this kind of isolated was different. It was like being dumped on a deserted island, not knowing if there was any kind of civilisation nearby, left alone with no one to converse with. Despite Kieran’s orders, I spent a majority of the day sitting on the veranda. When I grew tired of simply daydreaming, I raided the house’s marvellous book collection for something that would hold my attention.

The sky was darkening when Kieran eventually arrived back at the house. He had a serious, sombre look on his face, his hazel eyes staring aimlessly at the dry, rough grass that covered the ground.

“Get inside, Anna,” he solemnly. “There’s a lot I have to tell you.”

 

3: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“What… what do you mean they’re gone?” I stammered nervously at last. I had listened intently to every word Kieran had spoken in the past few minutes, but my brain had not processed a single thought. This new, frightening information was being denied entrance to my mind.

“There were absolutely no people in sight where I went. It was dead,” Kieran began to explain, looking down, his hazel eyes hidden under his shaggy black hair. “I went and visited my house. No one was there. Mum and Dad were gone. The horses were gone, dogs were gone, windows were smashed and the inside of the house was a mess. I don’t think anyone’s been home in months.”

I didn’t say a word. I simply nodded my head solemnly. Usually, any kind of dreadful news would have me in hysterics. This news was somehow different. It was as if this information was a sharp-pointed needle filled with anaesthetic that Kieran had been given the delight of jabbing into me. It had stung a little, but for some strange reason, it had left me feeling completely numb. After minutes of eerie, awkward silence, I finally spoke.

“What about me house? My family?”

“I didn’t go to your house. I just roamed around a bit and quickly checked my house,” Kieran replied. Kieran was one of those people who had no problem fabricating lies. He was a lying prodigy.  Over the years, he’d had a lot of practice, lying his way out of all sorts of punishments. It was never possible to tell whether he was being completely honest with you or not. So, considering the circumstances, I assumed he was telling me the truth. Kieran would never lie to me about a sensitive matter like this.

“Can we go to my house?” I asked hesitantly. As desperate as I was to go home, I was afraid of what I might find. 

“Maybe… tomorrow. We’ll have to be really careful though. We don’t know what’s out there.” I still couldn’t wrap my head around how much Kieran’s attitude had changed since arrived back in Alumuna. Kieran had never been a cautious soul. Every day he seemed to find himself in some sort of trouble. Responsibility seemed to be weaving its way into his personality. Whether or not Kieran would let it remain there was a whole other story.

oOo

“I’m still not sure that this is a good idea, Anna. We should’ve waited until night,” Kieran grumbled, kicking the brown dirt as he walked, causing it to swirl around in the early morning breeze.

“Well, I want to go home. Besides it would be boring sitting around at that other house all day.”

The morning sky was a light, cyan blue, lined with long, pale pink clouds. The horizon was as orange as a flame, and slowly rising sun looked like a luminous circle of pure gold. I looked past the low, metal-wired fences at the paddocks of dry grass beside us. The paddocks were usually full of horses, cattle or sheep. I searched my brain, trying hard to remember who owned this particular paddock, but it had been so long since I’d been home that I couldn’t remember. I’d always liked to believe that my mind was like a scrapbook of memories.  Now it seemed that the photographs were too dusty for the image to be clearly seen.

As time passed, the blue colour spread across the sky like ink, consuming all the pink clouds. I definitely wasn’t the sort of person who could tell the time by looking at the sky, or position of the sun, but I suspected that it would be at least seven o’clock, if not later. On an ordinary day in Alumuna, some people would be leaving their homes at this time, or starting work on the farm. Some would be making quick trips to the supermarket to pick up things they needed for breakfast that they’d forgotten to buy the previous time they went. This, however, was not an ordinary day in Alumuna. By the looks of things, the town hadn’t seen an ordinary day for a long time.

“Nearly there,” Kieran commented, pointing to the black and white street sign in the distance. I couldn’t read it well from where I was standing, but I knew what it said— Mauboy Street. It was a walk down memory lane. As we passed each house, I tried to remember who lived in each house. I remembered that Taylor Nordan had lived in the old, small white house with the short, pale blue picket fence. Her Plummer Terrier puppy always used to dig its way under the fence and we’d have to run around chasing it through the neighbourhood. Jack Summers used to live in the two-story, brick house. Every weekend he’d throw a massive party. The street would be crowded with rowdy, intoxicated teenagers until about 4am.  

Finally, we started approaching the end of the street. 119, 120, 121, 122, 123. 123 Mauboy Street. The beige house with the palm trees growing in the garden, big paperbark trees towering near the side of the road and the metallic blue letter box overflowing with junk mail. I was home at last. Without thinking, I raced towards the wooden front door.

“Anna! Wait up!” Kieran said in a harsh whisper. Ignoring him completely, I slowly turned the cold, metal doorknob, pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Everything was just how I remembered it. The blue lounge chairs in the lounge room, the three bedrooms, the large backyard, and the messy kitchen. Something was missing though. That sense of home, normality and comfort. That feeling you get when you arrive home in the afternoon after a long, tedious day at school. Or that feeling when you arrive home after a holiday and finally get to curl up and sleep in your own bed again. The feeling had vanished completely. More importantly though, my family had vanished completely.

My eyes wandered over to the framed family photograph hanging on the wall. Mum, Dad, my little sister Nadia, my little brother Hayden and I. Everyone smiling cheerfully. I knew Nadia was safe back at the boarding school. Unhappy, but safe. I couldn’t say the same for the rest of my family though. When Nadia and I were sent away, Hayden had been too young to go, so he’d stayed with Mum and Dad. Answered questions danced around in my mind. Where were they? What had happened? Did they escape before something awful happened? Did they know what was going to happen when they sent me and Nadia away?

“Anna, are you okay?” Kieran’s concerned voice interrupted my painful thoughts. I hadn’t noticed it, but tears were running down my cheeks, dripping down onto my blouse. Kieran walked over to stand beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Maybe it’s best we go now.”

“Okay… I just want to collect a few things first, if that’s okay?” I wiped to tears from my eyes and tried to cover up my sadness with a smile.

“Sure, take your time,” Kieran mumbled. “I’ll go… stand guard.”

4: Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Despite the shattered glass window, my bedroom appeared unchanged. The sky blue chiffon curtains still draped down over the window, dimming the light. They were tattered and torn, most likely from the broken glass. My wooden wardrobe was still standing tall against the bedroom wall. I pulled open the door, the creaking sound of the joints alone was enough to bring back a flood of vivid memories. It was a total mess inside, just as I’d left it. I’d never been a fan of cleaning out my wardrobe. I picked out some clothes, clothes that I’d always loved to wear, clothes that were comfortable. Although fashion was the least of my problems now, I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life wearing the same turquoise blouse and grey denim jeans. As much as I tried to ignore them, my eyes fell upon my collection of teddy bears and other plush animals I’d had as a small child.

“Kieran’s going to call me a baby,” I said to myself, picking up my favourite teddy bear, Theo. My grandma had given him to me a few days after I was born. I’d always thought he looked incredibly cute in his fuzzy, honey-coloured fur and plaid waist-coat.

“I can’t leave you here, Theo. I just can’t.” I shoved Theo into the very bottom of my bag, and piled the clothes in on top to keep him hidden. There was so much I wanted to take with me, but I knew I had to be sensible. I quickly collected some small photos and raced out of the room.

“What took you so long?” Kieran grumbled when I got to the front door.

“Sorry,” I whispered, looking down. “There’s just a lot of stuff I wish I could take with me.”

“Well, you’ve gotta stop being such a child, Annaleise. You need to grow up!” he exclaimed harshly.

 I was shocked by Kieran’s heartless comment. “What’s gotten into you, Kieran? I get that you’re trying to be all responsible, but there’s not need to act like a -”

My sentence was cut off by a deafening crack, almost like the loud bang produced by fireworks. Except, unlike fireworks, this abrupt sound instilled fear in me. A sense of danger hung in the air. Kieran grabbed me by the arm and dragged me inside my house.

“Don’t just stand there, Anna. We’ve gotta find somewhere safe to hide!” he spoke in a harsh whisper, frantically searching for a safe place to hide. He pulled me into the space between the couch and the wall.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, breathing heavily.

“Gunfire.”

“Gunfire?”

“Sounded like it.” Kieran peered over the top of the lounge chair. “Well, we’re going to have to hang around here in your house for a bit longer. I don’t want to risk going out there now.”

We sat there for almost an hour in utter silence. I was shocked. I’d never heard gunfire before, except in movies. This gunfire had just confirmed my theory that something awful had happened here in Alumuna during our two-year absence.

“Kieran… I’m sorry,” I said at last, breaking the lingering silence.

“Sorry for what?”

“For getting all pissed off at you before,” I explained. “You were only telling me to hurry because you knew we were in danger. I’m sorry. I know that you’re only trying to protect us from harm. It’s just… it’s different seeing you act like this. You’ve changed.”

oOo

I don’t know what time it was when we eventually left the house. The sky was slowly beginning to dim, creating a beautiful, serene darkness that would make our escape a lot safer. Kieran led us down a different route, one that was more hidden. As we trudged along, I was hit by a wave of exhaustion and pang of hunger. We hadn’t been able to salvage much food from my house. The majority of it was old and rotten. All we’d found were some stale biscuits we found hiding up the back of the pantry. They didn’t taste particularly good, but it didn’t matter. We ate some anyway, and took the rest with us.

My mind was overwhelmed by thoughts and theories. Knowing that there were people here, people with weapons, frightened me greatly. I wondered how long they’d been here. Who were they? Where did they come from? Were they from this town? This country? This entire couple of days felt like a strange, warped nightmare that I longed to wake up from. My answered questions were torturing me, slowly killing me.

“Stop worrying, Anna,” I heard Kieran’s voice say from in front of me. It was almost like he could read my mind.

“What makes you think I’m worrying?” I asked, a little embarrassed. As much as I hated it, I knew I was the weaker one out of the two of us. I was too sensitive. Kieran would often say he was the warrior, and I was the worrier.

“I can see it on your face,” he replied. “It’s the same look you have whenever you think you’ve done terribly on an exam, or when your mum tells you she’s booked you a dentist appointment.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little. Kieran was correct. I absolutely despised dentist appointments. It was one of my strange phobias that I’d never grow out of.

“What do you think happened here?” I asked Kieran, curious to know what thoughts and theories were running through his mind.

Kieran shrugged and continued walking. “Invasion, hostile takeover, incredibly long game of hide-and-seek,” he joked in a much less serious tone, obviously trying to lighten the mood and ease my worrying. “We’ll find out eventually, Anna. Don’t worry.”

oOo

 

Of course, my worrying did not cease. These unanswered questions, thoughts of gunfire and theories of what tragedy may have struck Alumuna continued to haunt me without rest. I quietly got out of bed and wandered down the shadowy hallway. My path was disrupted by an object lying on the floor. I tripped, nearly falling to the ground. Regaining my balance, I made an effort not to cry out in surprise, as I didn’t want to wake Kieran. I glanced more closely at the object I’d tripped over.

“Kieran’s bag,” I whispered to myself. Kieran may have gained a sense of responsibility and cautiousness, but he would forever be a slob. As I picked up his bag, something fell out and clattered to the ground. Nothing could’ve prepared me for the sight of that ugly, black beast. Where had Kieran gotten such a horrible, murderous monster from?

“Anna… what are you doing?” groaned Kieran sleepily, rubbing his eyes. I’d been so distracted, I hadn’t even noticed him appear in the doorway.

I stood up, backed away from his bag and looked him straight in the eye. “Where did you get the gun from?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

5: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Anna… I can explain,” Kieran stuttered as he bent down to retrieve the weapon from the floor. All of a sudden, without warning, I heard a noise that shook me to the core. It sounded like a firework being shot into the sky, exploding amongst the stars. For a moment, I thought the sound had come from Kieran’s gun, but I was wrong. The sound had come from outside.

“Kieran…” I whispered desperately, turning to face him. I hoped he’d have some sort of plan. Kieran always knew what to do. Sure, sometimes his plans were more dangerous that the situation itself, but right now I had to rely on him one hundred percent. I was hopeless on my own, and Kieran seemed to know more about this whole situation than I did anyway. He was obviously aware of a lot things I wasn’t.

Another harsh sound blasted, like a clap of thunder. The sound was followed by husky, murmuring voices in a foreign language. Whoever they were, they began to bang on the front door with great force, shouting out something I did not understand.

“Run out the back door,” Kieran ordered, grabbing me by the arm, only to push me away in the direction of the rear exit of the house.

“Why?”

“Because I said so!”

There was no point arguing. I opened the back door and ran outside into the eerie blackness. I was paranoid that I was being watched, that someone would pop up in front of me and shoot me dead before I even had the chance to process a thought. I needed a place to hide until the action was over. There was a small gully about thirty metres behind the house. During the wet season, it worked as a nice, small river running with cool rain water. I suspected that it would be empty and dry now and, sure enough, it was. I climbed into the gully, praying it would keep me hidden from view.

 The sound of gunfire coming from the house sent a horrible shiver crawling down my spine.  I couldn’t bear the thought of losing Kieran. We’d been friends for as long as I could remember, and right now he was all I had. I couldn’t lose him. Just then, a louder sound erupted. A helicopter, creating a loud, droning sound, the thick whirring blades tearing the air to shreds. It looked like a horrible, large housefly. Buzzing around with a plump, black body, irritating everyone with its presence. I had the urge to swat the ugly thing out of the sky. Bright white lights shone down from the helicopter and swirled around the house, as if it were trying to locate a target. I didn’t realise it at first, but that was precisely what they were doing.

“They’re going to blow it up,” I whispered in realisation to no one. Sure enough, something round dropped out of the helicopter. As soon as it connected with the surface of the house, it burst like a balloon. I felt pulse of energy surge through the ground, and a sudden wave of intense warmth hit me. The house erupted into a fiery mess, like a pressurised spray can of orange paint left out in the sun for too long. The flames leaped up into the sky, wisps of smoke intertwining amongst them. It was horrifyingly beautiful. Small segments of timber and sheet metal were blown with great force in my direction. I ducked down into the gully, covering my head with my hands for protection, and screwing my eyes closed.

When I reopened them, I scanned the damage with my eyes. The house was ruined. Whoever had actually owned that home, had a home no more. There was no sign of the helicopter or the strange men with the foreign accents. But there was also no sign of Kieran.

“Kieran…” I called softly. I was hesitant about shouting loudly, in case anyone was still around. There was no response. “Kieran!” I called a little louder, a lump of fear rising in my throat. Don’t cry, Annaleise, I tried to convince myself. I’m sure Kieran is fine. He probably escaped before the explosion. Kieran’s smart like that… sort of.

“Sssh Anna. Do you have any common sense? People might still be around here, you idiot,” I heard a hoarse voice say. I’d never been so relieved to hear someone call me and idiot. Before I could say a word, Kieran jumped into the gully beside me. His clothes were a bit tattered, and he had a smear of blood across his left arm. “Get up!” he ordered. “We’ve gotta get out of here.”

oOo

“Now do you understand why I have a gun?” he asked, kicking the dirt as we trekked through the bushland in the dark.

“Well, I still don’t know where you got it from,” I replied.

“To cut a long story short, I found it lying around.”

“So, you just took it?”

“Whoever owned it clearly didn’t want it. What normal person leaves a perfectly good gun lying around?” Kieran picked up a stone off the ground and threw randomly into the darkness.

“A normal person in Alumuna wouldn’t have a gun in the first place. We have gun laws here for a reason. And will you quit throwing stones! You’re going to kill some poor, defenceless little animal!” I exclaimed, ducking underneath the low branches of a tree.

“The guys I shot didn’t look Australian,” Kieran mumbled.

“You shot them?” I asked, suddenly realising just how serious this situation was becoming.

“Well, I missed most of the shots because there was something in my eye, but I think I hit one guy in the leg.” Kieran explained. “I only did it to protect you and me. I don’t exactly like the idea of using a gun, but we may have to get used to it.”

“We? I’m sorry, but I refuse to use a gun.” It’s not that I wanted to die, I just didn’t want to have to kill people in order to live.

“What if it was your only chance to survive?”

“Then I guess I’d just die,” I shrugged.

“Don’t be like that, Anna.”

“At least I’d die with a clear conscience.” I knew engaging in any kind of argument with Kieran was a pointless pursuit, but I still wanted to make it clear where I stood on the issue.

“This is a war zone,” Kieran said solemnly. “There is no such thing as a conscience.”

 

 

6: Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The sky was a hazy shade of grey when I woke the next morning. Beams of warm orange sunlight were just beginning to break through the darkness, signalling the start of the new day.  I closed my eyes again, listening to the melodic sound of birds calling to one another from the paperbark trees above. The liveliness of the surrounding nature empowered me to rise and go for a relaxing, without Kieran’s company. For as long as I could remember, wandering aimlessly through the bushlands had always been a form of escapism for me. Whenever distress or conflict would rear its ugly head in my home, I’d avoid it like the plague. I’d race off into bushlands by myself and hide until the issue had passed.

I continued to press on through the tall cluster of trees, with no idea of where I was actually headed. It was then that I noticed the piece of paper nailed to one of the trees, the light morning breeze causing it to flutter like a bird’s wing. Curious, I trudged over to have a better look.

 

We will NOT be your slaves!

We will NOT be your puppets!

We will NOT submit to your dictatorship!

The Domination will DIE!

Yours sincerely,

The REBELLION

It appeared to a poster, protesting some kind of political act or organisation. It meant nothing to me. Living in the school, we’d been sheltered from everything in the outside world. It was like waking up from a two year coma, having not the slightest idea of what occurred while you were asleep. I pulled the deformed, rusty nail out of the tree, grabbed the poster and shoved it in my pocket.

“You know if they catch you with that poster their gunna kill you,” an unfamiliar voice drawled.

I jumped with shock like a deer at the sound of a gun. I turned around hesitantly, my legs trembling so much I nearly fell over my own feet. Standing there was a man, who appeared to be in his forties. He had a mop of shaggy blonde hair on his head, which was partially covered by his ratty, grey bucket hat. A friendly smile spread across his face, but that wasn’t enough to convince me that he was ally. “Who are you? What do you want?” I asked, slowly beginning to back away.

The man just chuckled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya. The name’s Addison. Addison Rivers.” Addison extended his hand as a polite gesture. “And what might your name be?”

Reluctantly, I reached forward and shook the man’s coarse hand. “Annaleise,” I mumbled, still uncertain about this stranger.

“Well, Annaleise. What brings you ‘ere?” Addison pried, taking a seat on a fallen log.

“I used to live here, in Alumuna. Before I was sent away to the school,” I explained. “I hated it there, so my friend and I came back.”

“Aah, a rebellious little runaway. Well, at least at the school you kids were safe from The Domination. Kids like you are being forced into some hard yakka these days.”

“What’s The Domination?” I asked, wondering why I’d never heard of it before.

Addison stared at me as if I’d just spoken in a foreign language. “Seriously? They never told you ‘bout The Domination? Wow, you kids really were kept safe from the outside world.” He scanned the vast area of bushland that surrounded us. “Perhaps we should find a safer place to be. I’ve been hearing explosions and gunfire lately. Wouldn’t wanna get caught up in that. How ‘bout you come to my place?”

“Sure,” I replied, eager to find out everything I could about the events I’d missed over the past two years. “But first I better go get my friend, Kieran. He doesn’t know where the hell I am.”

oOo

Addison’s home was well-hidden. The entrance was a tunnel-like hole in the ground, covered by rocks in an attempt to make it appear less suspicious. The hole was fairly narrow, just wide enough for Addison and Kieran’s broad, manly shoulders to fit through. The tunnel led down into a more spacious hole where Addison lived. The ceiling just high enough for him to stand up without whacking his head on the timber beams that secured the area. Addison had a decent stock of food and beverages. Judging by the various bottles of liquor, it was obvious that the man enjoyed his alcohol. He had a space with pillows and blankets set up in one corner and, much to my surprise, a corner filled with complicated-looking technology. Wires were tangled like jungle vines amongst various control panels and screens. I was tempted to ask what he used it for, but decided to stay quiet.

 “Welcome to my hole!” Addison exclaimed. “Make yourselves at home.”

Kieran and I sat down on the floor while Addison fixed himself a drink. “I apologise for the excessive amounts of dirt,” he said. “I’ve been meaning to steal a vacuum cleaner so I can tidy the place up a bit.” Without wasting any time, Addison immediately got stuck into his story about The Domination. “The Domination is an organisation of extremely idiotic, but unfortunately powerful people. Some say they’ve been around for decades, but no one really knows when they formed. All they want is to rule the world. Basically, they’ve succeeded. They had secret recruits in almost every country. It was terrible. Government members were assassinated, towns were bombed, people came in with guns. Innocent civilians that put up a fight against them were killed. The whole world is under their control.”

“So… how does the school fit in to this?” I enquired. “Why were we sent away?”

“Our Government had heard about The Domination before the attacks began. They said that their immediate priority was the safety of children. So they set up these hidden schools and informed parents of the situation. But the school’s objective wasn’t just safety. I’m not sure exactly what they were teaching you, but I know for a fact that the school’s aim was to embed survival and military tactics in your heads. They wanted to create soldiers of the future. They wanted you separate from the world so you wouldn’t be brainwashed by all this garbage. They hoped that someday you’d be able to restore our country to what it once was.”

I don’t know about Kieran, but I was speechless. The information was too much for my brain to process all at once. I didn’t understand how so much could occur in just two measly years. I don’t know why but, after a few minutes of nothing but the sound of Addison glugging is drink, I impulsively asked an irrelevant question. “What’s all that technology stuff for?”

Addison put down his drink and looked over at where I was gesturing. “Come on, I’ll show you.”