I'll Bring A War

The world screams at me when I come around. I can’t tell if the torturous cries are in my head or if the attack is still going on. I don’t want to risk getting caught, so I stay put. Gradually, the screaming ceases and silence fills the street; that now lies in ruins. Hearing voices in the distance I know I need to move quickly. An immense pain fills my head as I sit up and I grit my teeth to stop myself from going unconscious again. The room spins as I stand up. The burning rubble pops and crackles as it burns and the air is heavy with dust and smoke.
***
My brother was in front of me when we had to run. They were making their way down the street, breaking into the houses and capturing the people inside. When people were captured by the shadow soldiers of F.E.A.R they weren’t heard of again. Over the years and the numerous places Ali and I had moved to because of F.E.A.R, many of my friends and people I knew had been captured. I hadn’t seen them since. Ali told me about F.E.A.R when I was thirteen years old, he felt that I could make my own decision and choose what to believe in and that I was old enough to understand. He told me that it had started years and years ago. That F.E.A.R had risen to power and started to force the people north of the desert to live in their city, under their rule and religion. Having lived in the south my whole life Ali and my parents had thought that we were safe. Six and a half years ago, when I was eleven they reached our home. Our small town in the countryside. At first it was just a radio message, irregularly sent a week, a day, three days apart as they tried to connect to the radio system in the south. After they’d found the initial way into the radio system that connected throughout the whole country, they sent regular messages that started weekly and gradually increased to three messages a day, like it was now. I remembered they started to send messages warning us that they were going to send soldiers to take us to their city and that we could either go willingly or by force and face the consequences. My parents fled our small market town immediately, the attacks started the week after, I didn’t care. They’d never cared for Ali and I and he was always the one to make sure that I had food and helped me with my homework that I received from the many shabby schools that I had attended over the years. Ali always protected me from F.E.A.R. He told me about the rebels, The Wild Ones, he told me about their religion and their belief in a God who preached love and acceptance of everyone. He told me about F.E.A.R, about the controlling ways of the organisation, about the soldiers under the capes. He told me about their religion as well and how he’d found out from someone who had escaped the city them self. F.E.A.R preached about and worshipped the demons of F.E.A.R and the Matriarch and they used their power to control and destruct. Ali told me that F.E.A.R captured the rebels they found and anyone who they found outside of their city and did terrible things to anyone whom they claimed to be seen as ‘sinning’. And I chose my path. I chose my religion and what I believed in. I chose to stay outside of the city and to run from F.E.A.R and their cruel religion. Although I wasn’t strictly part of The Wild Ones, Ali and I planned to journey to the desert to join them with the town children, whose parents had left, when they were all fifteen. Except I seem to be the only person left. And I can’t find Ali.
***
I scramble through the rubble, desperately trying to find Ali without making any noise. “Ali”, I keep whispering, hoping to hear a faint reply back. I’m crying now and I can barely breath I’m so desperate. The voices I heard don’t seem to be getting any louder so I decide to rummage a bit more on the street. It’s empty. I don’t know why they didn’t take me. The soldier I encountered hit me, but why didn’t they take me like they seemed to have done to everyone else? “Ali,” I shout one final time. Silence.
Aimlessly, I roam the streets. They’re all the same, patches of flames littering the floor and many of the buildings left in rubble. I search for the other children, there were five of them all between twelve and fourteen years old, but I can’t find a trace of any of them. There is nothing here for me now. I head towards the outskirts of the town and mentally plan my journey to the desert. The closer I get, the louder the voices become. Creeping around the corners, I get closer to the voices. Once I peak around the corner where the voices are situated I crouch down and watch. They aren’t soldiers, they’re people. I sprint behind a pile of rubble so I can get a closer look. There are seventeen people gathered at the end of the street by the wall that shields the town from the desert. It’s clear that most of them are people who have escaped the attack who are now feeling the impact of losing their loved ones. Three of them stand out; they aren’t hunched over weeping or sat down. They are stood up and one of them is looking down at the street, I pray they haven’t heard me. The silhouette turns back around. They are dressed fully in black and have writing on the back of their jacket. In white it reads ‘Prophet’. It can’t be. I squint to see the back of the other man next to him, ‘Deviant’ it reads. It is! It’s them. The rebels, they’re here. I stand up, revealing myself and start to walk towards them. “Ashley, there’s another one,” the one with ‘Prophet’ on his jacket says to the man with ‘Deviant’ written on his.
The ‘Deviant’ man, presumably called Ashley starts to approach me. He breaks into a jog and embraces me when I reach him. I latch onto him tightly and it is only then that I realise I am crying. “Shhh its okay,” he comforts me, stroking my hair. “My brother,” I cry, “I can’t find him help me please. And there are these children, we look after them. Please, there are five of them. They have no parents, they left. Please.” The words tumble out of my mouth and before I know it I am crying too much to talk. “What’s your brother’s name?” Ashley asks me seriously. “A-ali,” I stutter.
“Andy,” he calls out to the other man. He runs over, “It’s Kiera, Ali’s sister.” Andy nods knowingly at Ashley. “Wait you know my brother?” I ask catching my breath back. Ashley looks me in the eye and replies, “Don’t worry about it now, we have to get you sorted out okay? You’re covered in blood.” I don’t realise until he says about the blood, I look down at my black top and I can see the blood soaked into it and place my hand over the place where my head got hit, only to see it covered in bright red blood when I bring it away from the wound. Ashley and Andy lead me to the others, supporting me on my now adrenaline empty, wobbly legs and sit me down. My head is bandaged, as well as my hands which are pretty cut up from scratching away at the rubble and I am given a bottle of water to drink.
The third man with ‘Mystic’ written on his back; who I later find out is named Jinxx, spends the next two hours searching the rubble filled city for anyone left. I plead to go with him, having regained my senses, but Andy tells me that I have to stay and can help him treat the other people they have saved. I grab bandages and soak cloths in water and start to clean wounds and cover them. There is one little boy there with his mother, he looks scared. I notice how thin they look, his mother was injured badly and Ashley already informed me that they didn’t expect her to make it through the night. Her eyes are full of sorrow. They sit supported against the wall holding each other, the little boy is crying into his mothers shoulder as she hugs him tightly and whispers words of comfort weakly into his ear. Stealing some bread and a canteen of water from the pile of supplies in the middle of the make-do camp, I kneel down to their level and the little boy looks up at me. “Hey,” I introduce myself, “I brought you some food and water, you look like you could do with a boost.” He looks at his mother with caution, she nods her head and gives me a small smile as the boy reaches out a shaky hand and takes the bread. “Don’t be afraid,” I smile at him as he stops eating to listen to me, “Tomorrow, we’re going to go on an adventure through the desert with these kind people. They’re going to keep us safe.” He smiles slightly, “Are you ready to go on an adventure?” I ask him. His eyes sparkle amongst the fear with a spark of excitement and he nods eagerly at me. With one last smile, I turn to retrieve some more bandages but a hand grabs my wrist. It’s the mother; her dull blue eyes and pale face stare up at me as she beckons me to her. When I am at her level, once more, she whispers something to me whilst her son munches happily on the bread I gave him. “Please, look after him for him. After…” her voice trails off.
“I promise you,” I give her my word, “I will do everything in my power to keep him safe, always.” She kisses my forehead with her chapped lips and grips onto my hand for dear life. I stay with them for hours, talking to the little boy, Aaron, and Harriet. We sing softly and tell his mother stories that we make up on the spot. The sun is setting and the sky is faded into a sea of pink, purple and blue when Harriet passes away. Her son in her arms, she tells him she loves him and will always be with him. He holds onto her tightly as she takes her last breath and I stroke his back, tears falling silently down my face as he cries softly into her small body, never letting go of her hand.
A fire burns in the camp, filling the already warm air with more heat and the city people start to drift off, including little Aaron who falls asleep atop his mother for the last time. I am drifting off myself when I hear the quietened voices of The Wild Ones. Deciding that Aaron is safe, I approach the black jackets on the edge of camp. “What’s going on?” I ask them. I only have to look to get my answer; Jinxx is walking towards camp a limp body in his arms. The body is small and the long hair falling over Jinxx’s arm leads me to believe that it is a female child. “Is she..?” I trail off, not wanting to lose anyone else. Jinxx nods at the other Wild Ones and Andy whispers, “Yes” slowly under his breath. It’s only when Jinxx lies the body down that I realise who she is. “No,” the word escapes my mouth quietly and bluntly. The little girl is called Izzy. She was only twelve years old and she was the youngest of all the city children Ali and I looked after. Her parents had left for the city of F.E.A.R when she was seven, much like mine did, except they left her on the belief that she would hinder their journey. I lean over her petite body and weep quietly. Her long blonde hair is sprawled out on the floor next to her lifeless body and her skin is pale and flawless, she looks beautiful; like she is sleeping. I almost expect my crying to disturb her slumber and for her to wake up and ask me what is wrong. Knowing that she will never wake up again makes me cry harder. Her body looks untouched except for the gaping stab wound that marks her stomach and the blood that is soaked into her too big cream dress that used to be mine. I laugh between my sobs at her shredded and sloppy shoes, remembering her fun childlike ways and how she always saw the good side of things. “Goodnight Izzy,” I kiss her forehead quietly and continue to cry, holding her deathly cold hand in my own warm clammy one.
I feel a cold hand on my shoulder and jump. Turning around, I am relieved to see Aaron behind me, holding his hand out to me. I take it gratefully and fold him into my arms. His legs are either side of my waist and we cry together, sat by the fire next to Izzy’s body. Soon after, he falls asleep and I continue to cradle his body close to mine. His hands are still tangled in my hair, we’re holding onto each other like our lives depend on it. I try to sleep, leaning against a crate for support but no matter how hard I try all I can see is the gaping wound in Izzy’s body and screaming haunts my thoughts. Footsteps start to approach me and Aaron and I move slightly, ready to take off if it’s an intruder, I exhale with relief when I see Ashley’s silhouette grow and then shrink onto the floor next to me. I coo Aaron back to sleep, my slight movements disturbing his sleep. “Hey,” Ashley whispers.
“Hi.”
“I’m sorry about Izzy…” It’s only at this point that I realise tears are still falling slowly down my face; I don’t even want to think about how grotty I look right now. “It’s okay,” I smile to myself, “She was so full of life.” My eyes fill with fresh tears that drop angrily down my face. Ashley moves closer to me and wraps his arm around me and Aaron. A tiny sigh comes from Aaron as he recognises the movement; I smile at him and hush him letting him know that he is safe. He adjusts his position so that he is comfortable, accidently hitting my chin with his hand as he does so. “We can put him on some cloth if you want, if it saves you from holding him,” Ashley offers kindly.
“Thanks,” I say, “but I want to be here when he wakes up. I want him to feel safe.” I smile and the small lanky boy in my arms, he weighed next to nothing and I hoped to God that nothing happened to him. “Ali always said that you were great with kids,” Ashley smiles down at me.
“How do you know Ali?”
“I think the guys wanted me to wait before telling you-“
“Please.” I cut him off. His face lights up with a grin and his eyes meet mine. I notice how warm they are. How the light chocolate brown of them invites you in and how friendly he looks up close.”You see Kiera,” he says cockily, “If you’d just waited, I was going to say that the guys wanted to wait so we could all tell you, together. However, because I’m a nice guy I will tell you anyway.” His smile grows and I can’t help but smile back at him. “Go on…” I encourage him to carry on. “Patience Kiera!” he exclaims and I laugh quietly. I anxiously wait for Ashley to begin talking and it feels like the longest time before he opens his mouth to speak. “We didn’t expect F.E.A.R to invade the south. We’d raided the Temple, where they keep the outsiders, only a few months before and took out many of the soldiers. The last thing we expected them to do was to rise back up so quickly and attack the South.” He breathes a few times before continuing. “The only thing we observed that was noticeably different was that they started expanding the city. Knocking down parts of the wall and rebuilding them. It’s huge, the city; massive. And they all fit inside of it. Ninety percent of this country’s population. And they’re all trapped inside those walls.” He shakes his head and laughs a little, “Sorry, Ali. Let’s talk about Ali.” He carries on. “When F.E.A.R started attacking the south we spread out from our camp in the desert. We heard the radio messages-“ he sees my confusion at how they received the message in the middle of the desert. “Yeah CC, the Destroyer, he’s ace at technology. It’s a secret though don’t tell anyone.” I laughed. “Anyway, we split up in the desert. Groups of no more than four. We all split up as well, Andy, Jinxx, CC, Jake and I, we came to the south and had a city each whilst trying to juggle the extra two between us. We spent months away from each other with only our walkie talkies to stay in contact with one another. I was based here in Blantham, being the best at fighting among the other guys I took the biggest city there was. It was bound to be a hotspot for the soldiers. Except they didn’t attack. The other six cities suffered badly, well nothing compared to this,” he sighed looking around. “Most of the people the shadow soldiers encountered were killed instantly or taken away. Wanting to keep ourselves safe and strong we helped where we could to warn the people and treat the injured but a lot of the time it was unsuccessful and we couldn’t risk a failed attack. We’ve recruited about two hundred and fifty people, but that’s nothing compared to all the people who were left here.”
“I met Ali three weeks after being here. You people of the south must have done your research because he recognised me at once. He was seventeen then and you must have been what? Eleven?” I nod, there are six years between Ali and me, and he is 23 now. “He said that your parents had left and that he wanted to join the rebellion. He explained the situation and told me how he was desperately trying to keep you both alive and how he’d join now but wanted you to make your own decision when you were old enough. Apparently, you were strong minded from a very young age and you’d kill him if you didn’t decide yourself.” I laugh at Ali’s description of me.
“I did decide. I always knew. The soldiers, we were there so many times. We’d moved five times in those first two months before coming here,” I shudder at the memory. “It’s okay Kiera, one day we’ll defeat them. For good,” Ashley smiles at me, his face soft. “As soon as I met Ali I knew he would be faithful to us. He was everything we believed in. He accepted, loved and cared for anyone; no matter how they looked or what they believed in. I helped him. I told the guys about him immediately and we always helped out when we could, we got food and supplies down here as much as possible. Ali helped us out too. He even broke into F.E.A.R once to steal a map of the Temple from the governor’s office.” I must have given Ashley a shocked look because he quickly covered himself saying, “We didn’t tell him too. He did it off his own back after attending one of our meetings. He simply told us to look over you whilst he was away selling some goods in one of the other cities and to take you back with us if he wasn’t back in a week’s time. Being here I was the one to look after you.” He pulls a goofy face as I look up at him. “What were you twelve?” I nod in reply; I had just turned twelve a week before he went away on 6th May. It was exactly two months since the first attack on the south and Ali was due to turn eighteen in the next month. Ashley’s voice brings me back to the present, “Even from the young age of twelve you were so independent. I saw you taking care of the other kids, you cooked them some stew I remember and one girl, she started crying for her mother and you sat down with her and you told her our story. You told her about The Wild Ones and her face lit up. I knew from then on that you’d chosen us and I could have bet money on the fact of you staying in the city and raising those kids before joining us.” I laughed at how accurate he was and I wept at the memory of Izzy, I remember that night. She was the little girl crying and I remember my fascination and faith in The Wild Ones. “How old are you Ashley?”
“Twenty four,” one year older than Ali, I think to myself sadly.
“How old were you when it started?” I ask him.
“I was fifteen when F.E.A.R properly took over. They were around long before that but as soon as they got the power they have now they started to control everyone. I already knew that I was against them and I was in the first city they attacked. They took my family, but before they did my mother gave me this pentagram and told me to run.” I looked at the gold pentagram hanging from his neck; it was a star, with what looked like a B either side of each point. “She told me that in the desert a group of people had started to set up a rebel base against F.E.A.R and that I belonged there. And that’s how I met these guys.” Ashley finishes smiling. I can’t believe how long he’s dealt with F.E.A.R and how long he’s been fighting against them. How dedicated he must be; it made me feel safe. “Get some sleep now, it’s late” he says and starts stroking my hair soothingly.

Notes