Magenta Monster

I love writing challenges – it started with NaNoWriMo of National Novel Writing Month were you write 50, 000 words in a month. Nano has a huge community with a forum were help can always be found or an exercise to get you going, and local groups so you get to meet other local writers. It really helped boost my writing and I highly recommend it.

Also they don’t mind if you are a series of flash fictions instead of a novel!

There are many others NaPoWriMo, PoMo and WoPoWriMo which all deal with poetry and PiBoIdMo which is picture book writing. What ever you are into writing there will be a challenge out there waiting for you!

We came eventually to the Cavern proper, sobs escaped more than half of us as we shone light with acrid flame upon the devastation. Retching was more prevalent. We were all tired and I wanted to set up somewhere safe for us to rest that was not the damn bubble. I found the freezers and containers and paused, could I get into them? The secret of the keys had been very important but the fact that they were still standing apparently undamaged gave me hope that we might find some food and water.

Then my lecture noticed that one of them was busted, my ears dropped until he pointed out that we could get into it and it looked as if the door had been open when the flood occurred. We stood in front of the metal Suma made cave and shone our feeble lights within – I shuddered we would have to go in there to make somewhere safe to sleep but it was more than possible that a body would have been washed within and if it had suffered from the sickness…

Swallowing my own fear I ordered the two nearest in and tried not to hold my breath nor pant through my purples, I did this by ordering the others to fan out and keep and eye on the surroundings, I didn’t want a reanimate to sneak up on us whilst we were preoccupied.

My chest hurt but though there was a crash and bang which made me jump, there was nothing within the container. A sense of relief flooded me but I barked out orders, for us to sort it out and make it secure for the night. We stripped it, pulling out the sodden sack of grains and debris that had washed in.

Somehow we found a broom and made it as dry and tidy as we could. It was big enough that we could set up in there easy and part of me wanted to laugh that the council had not thought to use one for the council chamber – it would have been warmer and easier – then I reflected that perhaps they had not wanted to take up a food store for their own comfort.

There was so much to think about – I was no leader but I was all that was left, snorting, fifteen was not much of a people nor army but that was all that there was now.

We searched the area finding three more little shattered bodies and one larger one, ‘not all will reanimate the same as sometimes the reanimates remember who they are but not normally.’ the medic said, I thought that I really should learn everybody’s names but it somehow seemed a very low priority compared to keeping them alive.

I blanched at the thought of having to perform the rite for our entire population, but more at the thought that at some point were were going to meet others that were not dead, others that were stronger than us and armoured. We’d dispatched the first one easily but then there had been a lot of us and one of it. I shuddered at the thought of what it would be like if the numbers where reversed.

Food and water was a more pressing issue though – especially water and I took the decision to split us into three teams, I didn’t want too, there was something safe in numbers but we needed water, food and bedding and that was three things and we needed them before we dropped, the medics supplies of stim shots was running low and with each we were increasing the chances of dropping dead from cardiovascular failure or so she had informed me.

I also found I didn’t want to be out of site of my Lecture it was as if he represented safety. All animosity seemed to be gone and he’d actively kept me sane enough to do what I had too. But he was the natural choice to lead a group, part of me knew that he was more senior than I was and should really have been running the whole thing, I could pass the leadership onto him – then I could breath easier.

I knew I would not, or was it a could not? I didn’t know nor did I think he would thank me for such a action.

I stayed close to our head quarters and set about busting open the other containers, it was hard work and I had to use the large female as a counter point for the chisel we were using as a lever. The metal groaned and buckled and eventually we were in. Some water had gotten in but not much, however there was no food but a lot of canvas and ropes and other such equipment, we began to sort through it and I sent three of my group back to our container to set it up with the useful bits we extracted.

We moved on to the next container, me and the large female – Ancho, who had been a school teacher. We busted into the next one, it was both easier and harder than the first – we now knew what we were doing but muscle fatigue was setting in.

It was full of tins, water had gotten in and the labels had all fallen off, ‘I hope they are food,’ Ancho said and I nodded and sighed gesturing that we should take a crate back to the other container.

She was very good at carrying and hefting and I thought that she would have been better as a miner with her build than with her chosen job – not that it really mattered anymore. It might even save the woman in the times to come.

We were half way back when I heard a strange shushing sound, I put the crate down and scanned the area. There was a… body walking towards me or rather trying to walk towards me, one leg had been busted up pretty badly and it was being dragged along. Strange tendrils of yellow gunk seemed to stream from it.

Ancho screamed and dropped her crate, I removed my broom handle weapon from where I had strapped it to my back. It seemed rather flimsy.

I cracked the seals again, this time I had a climbing knife in my hand, just in case, what I had seen going past our little bubble, did not fill me with confidence. I did not mentioned it to the others. We were all awake now and huddled in a sorry little group, we had enough food for one meal, I reasoned we should consume our supplies and sleep (if we could) and then it would be time to brave the damp cavern beyond. I didn’t know if we would find anything still edible out there but nor did I know if we would live to see another meal time.

Even so it really wasn’t much of a feast and all of us were hungry enough that sleep was hard to come by but finally the cold was a chill in the back of my mind as I sank down deep into a dream of swirling bodies and fire. I stirred but felt comforting arms around me and slipped into a deeper, dreamless void. I was slow to awake.

My eyes felt gritty and my fur grimy, I wanted a bath, I wanted water more. I got a small half cup of stim and wondered weather the water it was made with wouldn’t have been the better option. I kept the thought to myself and thanked the woman who handed it to me. I sipped it savouring the warmth and thought of meals with my parents before my grandmother became truly sick. Sighing I got to my feet and stretched – we had been in the bubble long enough for me to feel cramped and soggy.

It took a good 2 hours to get everyone sorted. We each had two large weapons approaching clubs and spears – the best we could make with the resources we had, then we had a selection of knives and jabby things like eating utensils which being so close range would be a last resort. No one looked happy, no ones purples were purple and everyones ears were low. Two of our number had also developed patchy fur – they had the sickness and now knowing what I did about the reannimates it took on a rather sinister meaning. How long before they turned?

I ignored the implications and turned to the sorrowful little group, ‘friends it is not going to be easy, it is not going to be a walk in the park, we don’t really know what we will find out there, we have all lost.. everything. I can’t bring your families back nor guarantee that we will live to see another day but why we live the Suma people live, whilst we live there is a chance for vengeance and more there is a chance of performing the rite for those who lay beyond this vale.’

To me the words felt, hollow and empty, my conviction from before was gone and I was a scared youngling but my parents had drilled me on public speaking and my voice carried full of apparent strength.

I saw the fright replaced by zeal and the power to do this thing scared me more, it was almost as if I was controlling them, I mentally shook myself and turned to the outside world, knowing that they would follow me.

The tunnels were dark now, the lighting that had been put into place had been smashed or washed away, our torches cast pale discs of colour in a monochrome world. It was oppressive. I forced my feet onwards. The floor was slick with water and the moister levels in the tunnel made my fur sodden and breathing as laboured as it had been in the bubble.

We found a little corpse, a sad little bundle, it had not reanimated and the medic set about performing the rite and tidying the little thing. I struggled not to loose the small contence of my stomach, I felt ill at ease with myself as if my main emotion was frustration. From what the medic had said children did not tend to reannimate – it was unheard of and the illness only struck down those past the youngling stage of development. We were wasting time – but how could I not let them attend the rite for the child?

I couldn’t feel it’s death, there was too much all around me, in my ears and eyes and soul. Remnants of everyday items scattered the floor in front of us. We moved onwards towards the main cavern, I’d reasoned that that was were all the supplies had been and was also the place that would have been swept clear of bodies.

There was a stench beginning, the water still puddled upone the cavern floor showed rainbow scums telling me that they were polluted with decomposing organics, the cave was not going to be a healthy place to even breath soon.

A clunk made me jump, a figure was heading towards us, our light gleamed off of it’s body, ‘kill it!’ I screamed. We where all parallelised by the sight of it, it’s head lulled to the side.

‘The armour is incomplete!’ cried the medic, ‘aim for the neck!’

My lecture saw the group hesitate and rushed forward, a low ‘nooo’ escaped my lips but his chisel on a stick struck the creature in the neck but he had misjudged how much force to use and the chisel was embedded in the things neck, it scrabbled still, trying to reach us with an erry determination.

Others joined in the attack, following example and soon the creature was laying in bloodied yellow tatters at our feet. I made us examine it, ‘see the armour, some will have more complete scales, so the eyes may be the only chance of a kill.’ I sounded so cool and calm but all I wanted was to be hugged by my Father and told it was all going to be alright.

The medic performed the rite, I choked on the acrid flames, she herself was unsure if the creatures could come back from second killings. They didn’t really die the first time but they were pretty hard to kill so the incineration had always been the way.

I muttered the litany of passing souls with the others – I kept and eye on our surroundings though and felt a strange scorn for those who still dropped their heads in pray, they were leaving themselves so vulnerable to attack.

I didn’t even know where I had learnt such thoughts. It was time to move on.

Most of us use wikipedia just to look up something very specific but a great way of using it as a writer is to go to the home page. There they have a featured article which though not something you would normally read can lead to some fantastic story ideas or give you unexpected facts for a work in progress. There is also news articles, on this day, did you knows and a daily image – all of which are a writers dream!

Warning though you can start clicking links and loose most of a productive writing day on the site so I would suggest using a timer – say half an hour?

Trembling I realised I was once again panting, and stood to break the seal on our little bubble. The water was down to just over half way but it was still a mighty river thundering past. Cracking the seals was nerve racking, they structures were still untested and no one had been really sure if they were supposed to be reusable – the hiss of air was welcome but again with it came the bubbling of water, just a tiny amount but there was already a puddle on the floor and again I began to fear that the pressure of the water would push the structure back on us, crushing all before the water swept us away.

I bit my lip in concentration, something I had not done for years, the tang of blood made everything seem sharper for a moment as my body reacted to pain and what it supposed to be a threat. I waited until my nerves seemed to ping and then I resealed it. I was thirsty – this was a new issue, I looked at those sedated on the floor and tried to calculate how long we had been in our feted little existence. I strode over to the supplies to see what we actually had, most of us had bought a canteen of water or a thermos of stim, we had not been on an expedition so there was no extra water.

I jingled my own flask and frowned, it seemed ridiculous or somehow poetic that here we were trapped by water and it was dehydration that now set to kill us. I sipped at my tepid water, my throat was starting to hurt with swollowing. I gazed out into the dark murk of liquid and wondered if there were still tanks of fresh water out there or if the deluge had smashed them, I thought on food and hygein matters and how we were now to get out of the cavern. What state was the equipment in? Lastly I began to assess the weapons we had at our disposal – we didn’t was my conclusion, what we did have were tools.

I gestered the medic over, ‘we need to let them wake up but only a few at a time.’ She nodded, there were 15 of us, the work parties had been far larger than needed as mainly they had been for show. Food was another thing in short supply. I needed the effect of the sedative to have worn off before we ventured out into the realm of the undead. I hoped it wouldn’t be too bad – surely most of the corspses would have been smashed to pieces? Or alternatively washed very far away.

There were scant rations but I did not feel hungry at all. We sorted the tools, spades, pix axes, hammers and chisels. I had brought spare handles for the spades and we even had brooms so when the first of the team began to awaken we gave them a little fluids each and pain meds and as they began to take in once more what had happened, I set them too making weapons.

It was a while before one woman Meglak asked why we were making weapons, the oddness of the activity having penetrated her shock, ‘are we going to follow the water out of the cavern and kill the Nesu?’ she asked bittily.

‘Don’t be daft,’ snapped one of the others, ‘any survivors out there will be after the same supplies as us! That’s why we are making weapons.’

‘No! We should be teaming up with others not planning to kill them,’ a small male with permanently pale purples replied pushing his own workings away as if they suddenly disgusted him. I noticed his eyes had not stopped streaming, though I was not sure if it was sedative fatigue or grief.

‘Some people will have gone crazy and will be trying to kill people,’ said a husky youngling. There was a murmur of disbelief but people were not looking at each other.

I took another sip of my nearly depleted water.

‘It’s worse than that,’ I said gently and perhaps too quietly.

They all looked up at me and I could see the fear tremor in their eyes, childhood nightmares die hard, and now I knew they were real and they were indeed hard to kill and now I had to tell this desperate, scare little band of people that the fairy tales were true – at least the bad ones!

‘You know the rite?’ they nodded. ‘It is to stop the Undead from emerging..’ I faltered, what else could I say really, the Medic looked ashen, I think she disapproved of me telling them but it wasn’t exactly something we could keep secret anymore was it?

‘By the Everliving!’ cursed at least one of them. ‘No! NO nononononono,’ the pale man said backing away from me as if I was the source of the plague. ‘Not so, not so.’

‘I’m afraid it is,’ I said sternly as if they were all silly children, I hated the way it made me sound like my mother, not because I didn’t want to sound like her anymore but because it sent a pulse of pain through me at the realisation that I would never hear her again, I found the prospect of survivors laughable. I couldn’t cling to that hope.

‘Euthanas me!’ screamed the man who had worried so about his kids, I stared blankly at him, but then he was suddenly on his feet and pinning the medic against the wall. ‘Euthenas me!’ he screamed at her. She looked at me with panic and I was for a moment paralised, I couldn’t take his pain and at the same time could see he was dangerous.

My lecturer was there in an instant by his side, ‘you wish to join your family?’ he whispered. The man nodded and loosened his grip on the medic. ‘But they are out there, we need to find them and perform the rite, then… then you can go with them.’

The man slumped and began to sob. I looked away, knowing that soon I would have to break the seal again, a body that was not limp struggled by fighting the thigh high currents and loosing it’s battle. I shivered.

It all started when I went on a caving exploration to some small Eastern European country, I can’t even recall the name now but if was a fun trip. If I recall rightly I had been trying to pull the guy who was running the expedition, as in sleep with him, it never happened of course he was far too hetrosexual for that. I didn’t mind there was fun in the trying.

The caves themselves had been magnificent and the smell of our acrid torches and the frill of descending into an unknown cave system gave me a sort of mental high that would last for months once I was back home. Of course the bat shit was a bit of an issue it was incredibly slippery and seemed to pretty much coat every surface of every cave we explored. I slipped and slide my way through and we would all have long epic showers on our return, to rejuvenated the aching limbs and to get the stink off of our skin.

Then in the caving lodge we were staying in I noticed a strange cobwebbing, a dark mottled blue veining that stretched out across the bottom of the bunk I slept beneath. I assumed it must be the damp but it niggled at me, I was used to black mould that tended to take hold of the walls of student accommodation but this was different. I wasn’t overly worried about it but I did point it out to the others who predictably just shrugged it off. On maybe the second from last night I had a strange dream about bats and blue mushrooms that grew to the size of a good 4×4 and then filled with gas and floated away until something deflated them or a stray cinder from a camp fire ignited them in balls of green flame.

When I awoke I felt a strange tightness on my face and a panic seized hold of me as I realised I was breathing through a sticky matt of some kind. I scrapped at my face with my blunt fingers and managed to remove a tangled mesh of the fungus, it had detached itself from the bunk above and adhered to my face. Feeling sick and imagining spores in my lungs I ran to the showers.

I scrubbed and scrubbed and gargled and even painfully flushed my nostrils out, when I looked in the mirror I found that I had pink streaks across my face almost as if I had been scolded or had acid flicked at me. They were not bad though – only superficial wounds, skin deep and I knew they would heal.

Fearing the local medical care (mainly due to too many horror movies) I waited until we got home and headed straight off to the Doctors. They checked my lungs as best they could and did some general blood tests but it was basically a waiting game. I went back every six months and then every year and then I moved and forgot about it.

Then yesterday I noticed one of my nails, it has the faintest of blue sheen to it and I have been dreaming of fine little blue hairs that recede from my skin every time light is shone upon them. I am not sure if going back to the doctor will help or hinder (as in will I end up in a lab dying slowly or be dissected for my super powers). I’ve booked the appointment and now as always only time will tell.

As I mentioned last week – this is the fifth year of The Muse Monsters and I am attempting to wrap up lots of almost there for publication projects!

So here is the ‘draft’ list of projects:

Jan: The Poetry Monster Card Game

Feb: Muse Monster Writing Inspiration

Mar: Ballads of the Scientifica

Apr: The Little Book of Easter Poetry

May: A Flash of Magenta

Jun: Dreamscapes and Fantasmagrams

Jul: The Doomsday Collection

Aug: Lojban Flash Cards

Sep: Magenta Shorts

Oct: The Little Book of Spoogy Poetry – audio version

Nov: Turquoise Monster Poetry Collection 1

Dec: The Little Book of Festive Poetry – ebook

Friend Jupiter (first published on Turquoise Monster)

Jupiter
Sitting there
Protector
Shielding us from rocky storms
Or
Sinister betrayer
Sling-shoting armageddon
Towards us
A Projectile wraith
For your rocky brethren
Nestled near the sun
What will the maths show Which way will the simulation swing
Gaseous Giants – Benevolent gods
Or Destroyers of Worlds
Wrapped in jealousy
That their own embryonic systems
Lay aborted, half formed in decaying rings

I slept fitfully, the cold of the bare stone floor partially moderated by my lecturers warmth eating into me. None of us three dared take the sedative as we would most likely come around after the group in general and that would be dangerous. Panicking people do not think properly. The medic had stimmed herself and stood watch, we all hoped the air would hold up but it was already, warm and turgid to smell.

With the group asleep the air would last much longer, she would resedate anyone who looked like they were gaining consciousness before the water had receded, not normal medical practice and I was very aware that we could loss people in the process but it seemed somehow best in the circumstances.

But that phrase just ran around and around my head – was that what the Nesu were thinking? It was what we had thought when we had gassed the cave-in tunnel… I was no different to them and that hurt, sliced my soul. The best thing for the majority was often not the right thing and the right thing not always the best, it appeared to me. The complex questions of ethics and philosophy pummelled me.

A change in sound had me awake, my head hurt and I was panting as I sat up, we were running perilously low on oxygen, ‘here,’ whispered the medic handing me one of the two breathing rigs we had for when the below cavern was broken into, she was already wearing one. They had maybe two hours gas each. We were in trouble. I looked over to the air lock and sighed with relief, I could see a line of water, it was receding. I wondered if that was the change of sound I had heard but somehow I didn’t think so. An erry groan seemed to float around us I looked up in surprise.

‘Sound travels well in water but it’s distorted,’ the medic said. Nodding I stood up and examined the air lock, it was holding tight, I was frankly amazed. But the water was not going down fast and I couldn’t open it unless the pressure was equalised on both sides. I could pump in water from this side but with everyone asleep I would risk drowning them and besides the water was moving at a distinctly fast pace beyond, it didn’t look good. I ran my hands over the thing and then nodded to myself as the solution presented itself to me.

‘I’m going to deflate the ring slightly, some water will come in hopefully not too much.’

The medic paled, ‘not too much or the pressure of the water will blast it at us!!’

I nodded and and set too work with trembling fingers, there was a hiss of air exchange and gentle bubbling I took the gas tank off to test how it was going, the amount of water jetting through was increasing, in panic I reinflated the thing, thanking the designer that it had it’s own gas canisters and valves for the inflating. I stood in the puddle relieved I had kept my boots on.

The medic checked the sleeping people, ‘they are breathing easier but I have no idea for how long!’

Neither did I, ‘We will remain without our masks until we start panting again and then I’ll do the same thing.’ She nodded and took her own apparatus off and pulled a face, ‘air is still pungnent I’m afraid.’ We both laughed until the issue of air usage hit us and we sat in grim silence. I was planing on what to do next – there were tools and things we could use to protect ourselves but what exactly was I expecting, one of the sleepers began to stir and I motioned for the medic to sedate once more.

‘Tell me,’ I said when she had finished and was sitting down once more, ‘what exactly am I expecting out there?’ I gestered to the watery world beyond our little bubble. I sounded nonchalant, brave maybe, I was more scared than I had ever been, all those stories to frighten younglings into doing what they were told, they came pouring back and they nearly all contained the undead. I had thought it superstition but the cave in had shown me that at least the council thought there was some truth in the old legends.

‘It’s the disease,’ she murmured quietly, ‘it somehow changes the body so when you die – you don’t actually die as it were, well the body doesn’t but mostly it is just functioning but… well its been switched into a higher metabolic state – to keep it going in the state it is in so it it looking for energy, sustenance to keep it going. The Reannimates will eat anything organic they come across – they are like the gojing hoppers when their hive swarm.’

I took a deep breath but the air was still thin and it made me cough. ‘so they will eat people?’ I asked already knowing the answer.

She nodded, ‘People are an easy obvious food source to them,’ she shrugged and went back to monitoring the sleepers. I noticed my lecturer was awake and listening with wide eyed intensity. I patted his leg and he slithered into more of a sitting position – we both had our backs to the wall, our bodies touched down one side – we needed that comfort.

‘Is there anything I need to know about killing them?’

‘Yes depending on how far they were through the metamorphosis – the sickness, they will be stronger. The fur melts into a kind of armour – the metabolic stress of the transformation causes fever, also pain seems to matter less to them.’

‘So why let people with the sickness live? I asked.

‘We’ve never seen numbers like this – there are a few records of cities succumbing to the sickness and then to a horde of the undead but nothing like the numbers we’ve been seeing besides people can live with it for decades and be fine, still productive. It is strange – not like an illness at all – as I said it resembles many other creatures who changes to their grown up form but the loss of self is alarming with us.’

I sighed, ‘so I have a zombie horde that are stronger than me to destroy inorder to save a little band of us who are likely also to turn into zombies?’

‘It’s worse than that,’ I raised my ears at that, ‘this is the biggest horde ever seen, our entire population is down here.’

I shuddered and stare in despair at my lecturer, his features mirrored back my own feelings.

The area was out of bounds, it was more than that, it was a death zone but Andrea no longer had a choice, she could hear the dogs barking behind her. There was no where else left to go. The fence metal was cold and rusted, chunks of paint cut into her fingers but she pulled herself up anyway, arm muscles straining and rubber soled rainbow sneakers slipping on the metal slats – she scrabbled upwards. Grabbing hold of the heavier, older metal grid that lay behind the fence she swung one leg up, a seam gave out in her clothing, something went pop in her groin. Panting she hauled so she was crouching on the top of the fence, she looked back at the ally way, a large black and caramel shape thundered around the corner, snarling and growling it spotted her, she froze for a moment, scare and tired, but the a blinding light seemed to sear her eyes.

The guards would have guns, she leaped snagging her coat of the barbbed wire, she was cut but if it had been razor wire things would have been much worse. She locked the pain down deep and ran. Bullets pinged on the metal fence. No one would notice a body this side of the fence and there was no one left to notice she was missing. Her soft soles made little thudding noises sending up little splashes as once again it rained on her.

A stitch ripped into her side, she felt she would split open, she needed to rest but she dared not. There was little light, the orange glow of the clouds was all she had, she had never seen it so dark. The buildings were husks, empty shells, she felt them drag at her, she should go inside one of them, fear meant she did not and the run became a jog which became a shambling walk. So very tired, she dragged herself through the streets thinking on all that had brought her to this place.

Tears stung her eyes but she was too wet and cold to waste the energy on crying, she heard a howl and shivered, had they followed her in here?

No one dared come here, no one ever returned, that was the one thing everyone agreed on, it was the place naughty children were threatened with. Looking around she saw the moss growing on the brick work, it had eradicated most of the graffiti, one bit still proclaimed HELL. Nodded at it she wondered on, drifts of sound scratched at her senses, were they really there just far off or was she imagining it?

This was outside of The Company, she was out of bounds, there were other companies – she knew that – that had been what started it all. Her dad had decided they would defect, he had tried but they had all ended up in the lock down forced to work out his contract. Now he was dead and she held the key they needed, it was in her brain, she could feel it if she thought about it, a strange greasy intruder. They had killed her sisters, they had had key too but the doctors hadn’t known how to extract them, Andrea was pretty sure they still didn’t know how to extract them.

The sounds were definitely getting louder. She should hide out until morning, she was so tired and hungry. There was a smell that accompanied the sound. It seemed to bypass her nose, her mouth watered, she really was very hungry. They were not brilliant at feeding you in lock down, especially when your father had upset them.

Her heart lurched painfully as a rat scuttled before her, she knew rats at least, they got everywhere. Her and her sisters used to hunt them for pocket money, no poison could kill them but elastic and metal did. There was good eating on the larger ones too, but she was too exhausted to hunt.

‘Well looky here!’

Andrea spun round, the man in front of her was huge, she turned to run but collided with another – a girl, broader than she was. The girl grabbed her and she struggled.

‘Hey, calm down!’ Andrea wasn’t going to calm to down, she wasn’t going to die easy – never!

‘She must be a Wall Jumper! Hey hunni we’re not going to hurt you.’ But Andrea wasn’t listening and wouldn’t have trusted the sentiment anyway – that is what they had told her family when they bundled them into the lock down.

Frantic instinct took over, she felt the arms holding her give and ran with energy she would pay for later.

‘The bitch bit me!’ she heard from behind her.

Thudding feet followed her, she tried to jodge but unlike The Company confines she didn’t know these streets. She rounded a corner and stopped with shock. Multicoloured tents were arranged on a grassy area, music and hubbub filled the air. More people than she had ever seen thronged about, they seemed to move in a strange dance of the many, it was beautiful.

‘Welcome to the Independents Miss!’ laughed the man she’d collided with, the girl she’d bitten was sulking at her.

‘I hope you’ve smuggled something good out because you are paying for my jabs!’ the girl pointed to the red welt, she’d raised blood on the other girl’s arm.

‘We’ll take you to the Ring Master, he’ll fill you in on how things work round here.’ Andrea let them lead her away, too tired now to really fear the strangeness of it all – was she really out of The Company’s reach? The Independents? She had heard rumours of them, they had no central governing system, no share holders and no regulated currency – her father had feared them, she knew she didn’t have that luxury.