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Chapter 1 into the world they had to go, searching for food and water. The sky was scorched and the sun burned. Jez's mousy hair turned quickly blonde, Ki's turned to the colour of sand; Ion was the only one who retained his dark locks. At first their youthful skin blistered and peeled. It took many years for it to grow used to the heat and sun. Ki was the worst hit. Scars ravaged his face and now he wore a mask at all times, hiding the beauty he had matured in to. "Jez?" Ki's whimpering voice asked now. "I'm here," he replied. "I saw it again," he whispered. "I saw it all again." "I know." His fingers brushed lightly at Ki's hair, dared to touch the fragile skin of his forehead. "Don't worry. I'm here now. It's all over." Then the sobbing began. For such a large man, it was strange to watch Ki crumble and fall so weakly. He had once been the smallest but two years ago he had overtaken both Jez and Ion. Standing at six feet he towered over everyone in their camp. With muscles that he had worked hard to grow, a body of armour, a mask hiding his features and a large alien gun in his hands, Ki could look like a man three times his actual age. But in Jez's arms tonight Ki felt and looked like nothing more than the twelve year old boy he had cradled four years ago. Across the room Ion snored, grunted against Ki's sobs and turned over in his bed. No one else stirred, no one else complained. Only for the first few weeks had people worried about Ki's nightmares. Once they had grown accustomed to sleeping through the noise it had fallen to Jez to wake and take care of him. In the beginning he had hated the responsibility. Now he waited for night to fall just so he could crawl into Ki's bed and wrap his arms around his weeping body. |
"When will it stop?" Ki whispered. "When will it stop?" "When it is time," Jez answered wisely. Sounding wise was far easier than actually being that way. Cryptic words and spoken riddles were the easy way out of speaking the truth: he did not know anything. The past attack, their present condition and the future that no one could see. It was all lost. Why they were here; why the other worlders had attacked; why only they had survived; most importantly: for how much longer would they survive? Only one slip up needed to be made and then they would all find themselves hanging from posts in the rubble town, beaten and hanged. They had begun with eighteen, now twelve was their total. The other worlders had picked off the weaker members but as far as they knew the aliens did not know just how many of them had survived the war. Their leader, Amma, said that that could only be a good thing. It meant they were cloaked and safe. "I wish the time was now," Ki whispered in Jez's arms, his lips moving against the smooth skin of his chest. "I wish it would all end. One way or another." Jez nodded his head. "Soon," he whispered in a promise, stroking back Ki's hair once more. "Soon it will be." And Jez knew it to be the truth. Their leader did not know what he was doing, that was true, but secretly, Jez, Ki and Ion had been meeting. A plan had been made. They were not going to wait around for another forty years, praying that the other worlders would not find them. They were going to claim back the world, or at least die trying. The right time was approaching fast and soon Ki would have new nightmares to dream about. |