I hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year. Here's the final part of my short story I wrote back in 2010.

All city men had their guns pointed at the villagers. Mike noticed a twitch in the finger on the trigger and heard the first gunshot. He released his arrow. The arrow landed in earrings shoulder, making him drop his rifle and yell out. Before he saw where it landed, Mike got another arrow and primed it on the string. 

            The next second, all hell broke loose. Gunshots thundered through the peaceful settlement. Screams reached the clouds as the men fired at anyone who got in their way. Sam’s horse reared in fright and kicked a city man with tattoos down his arms.

            Naomi pulled Jason away from the door and huddled over him in the corner of the room, ‘We’ll be alright,’ she whispered in his ear, reassuring herself at the same time.

            Back outside, Natalie pounced on a city man with a ponytail, hitting him across the face with her bow. He fell back, bringing his hands to his nose where blood trickled from his nostrils.

            ‘Bitch!’ he spat and punched her in the stomach.

            ‘Please stop!’ Sam shouted but his voice was drowned out by the screams and gunshots.

            Tattoo and earring man had reached the baskets, grabbing two in each hand and ran to the jeep, throwing them in the back.

            ‘Chris!’ Tattoo man yelled, ‘We’ve got ‘em.’

            A city man barged into the cottage where Jason and his mother whimpered in the corner.

            ‘Hello there,’ he smiled seeing Naomi, and grabbed her by the hair. He wore big black sunglasses. ‘You’re a pretty one aren’t you?’

            ‘Please, let me go. We'll give you whatever you need!’ she begged.

            Jason sprung up and kicked the man in the shin as hard as he could.

            Sunglasses dropped his mother and grabbed Jason instead, ‘You little shit!’

            Jason spat in the man’s face.
           From outside came the rumbling as the jeeps engine was started. Sunglasses flung Jason across the room, his face almost purple with anger.

            His mother grabbed onto the man’s arm, ‘Please, just name your price to leave us alone.’

            Sunglasses threw her off him, no longer interested in her and stormed over to Jason. He put his face right up to him, ‘Did you never got taught to respect your elders?’

            Jason thought he could smell white spirit on the man's breath as he answered, ‘You are not one of my elders.’

            Sunglasses hit Jason across the face, ‘You people make me sick. Dirty savages.’

            ‘You are the savage ones,’ Jason rubbed his cheek and tried to ignore the pain.         Sunglasses stood tall, pointing his AK at Jason. Naomi screamed, grabbing at the man’s arm again.

            ‘Get off me you whore.’ Sunglasses yelled and kicked her back onto the soil.
           Jason scrunched up his eyes to the gun, praying to Gaia as he did. He heard a gunshot, felt white-hot pain in his stomach and then nothing.

Sorry that I haven't updated for a long time, I've been busy researching self-publishing. Blog post on that topic coming soon.


He turned and ran down the hill letting his feet lead the way. Naomi saw him coming and came to meet him. ‘Where have you been?’

            ‘Talking to Gaia.’

            ‘Can you hear that?’

            ‘Yes. City people are coming.’

            His mother looked over his shoulder towards the noise; eyebrows knitting together. ‘What can they want from us?’

            Mike came towards them, a crossbow tied around his shoulder and arrows in his hand. ‘You have to stay inside, just to be safe.’

            ‘What does Sam say?’ Naomi asked.

            ‘He'll speak to us in a minute, he's getting the horses ready.’

            ‘Does he deem that necessary?’ her eyes widened, suddenly aware that this could be worse than she thought.

            ‘It’s only a precaution. We don’t want them thinking we’re weak.’

            The engine was getting louder as the villagers stood there helpless and waited. Sam sat on horseback looking down at his people and held his hands up to hush them.

            ‘My friends, as you can hear, we have visitors from the city coming to meet us. We have done nothing to provoke them. Women and children must stay inside; warriors and hunters will stay out here behind me.’ Sam announced.

            ‘Go inside now my people. No harm will come to us if we are understanding and patient.’ He smiled but there was no warmth behind it.

            Naomi grabbed Jason by the hand and pushed him before her into their cottage. Just as Jason passed the threshold, the car drove over the nearest hill. They were laughing, swerving over the yellow flowers in a snaky line, crushing their heads underneath the great wheels. That sight alone was enough to warn the villagers; seeing those defenceless flowers flattened under the wheels of a massive, metal machine.

The car's canvas roof was ripped off and flapping in the breeze. There were five men - one was sitting on the edge of the jeep clinging onto the roof, hanging dangerously over the wheel. 

            Sam sat motionless and tall on his black steed with the other hunters behind him.

            The city people continued laughing until a passenger in the front seat pointed at the villagers. The driver seemed to notice them for the first time and swerved to stop, tires chucking up dust into the air as they stalled a foot from the nearest hut.

            Jason watched everything from the doorway, his mother behind him with her hand protectively on his shoulder. The city men stumbled out of the jeep. One almost fell on his face as he jumped from his seat.

            ‘Welcome to our little community.’ Sam was the first to speak, opening his arms wide.
          The men were dressed in torn combat trousers, vests dirty and ripped, their shoes falling apart with tape strapping the soles together. They were carrying guns.

            ‘How can we help you?’ Sam asked.

            The city men stood in a V. The biggest man who had been the driver wore a red bandana and stood at the front. He smiled showing teeth rotten and black. He scanned the scenery and his eyes fell on the baskets of vegetables just by the garden gates.

            The red bandana man beckoned to the baskets with the butt of his gun. ‘How about some of those?’

            Sam turned his head to see what red bandana was referring to.
           Mike was staring at one of the men directly behind the leader who was leering at him. The man had a gold earring in his right ear and held his rifle in both hands as if daring anyone to ask him to use it. Mike brought his hand up and fingered the crow feather on the end of one of his arrows without realising.

            Sam answered the leader. ‘We can give you a portion of what we have here, of course. What do you have in return?’

            Bandana grinned, seeming pleased Sam had asked, and raised his rifle. Instantly, all the hunters raised their bows and pointed them at the leader. No one moved. The silence pounded; there were no hum of crickets or the bleating of the sheep in the pen behind.

            ‘Come now, surely we can work out a trade?’ Sam questioned.

            ‘You have things we want.’ Bandana stated.

His mother had told Jason before the Event happened the news had said his country would be the hottest, while others would get much colder. Jason would rather be in the hotter part of the world than the coldest. The Elders told the stories of how the world had flooded some places, and dried up in others simultaneously over the flames of their campfires. The youngest ones listened to the stories like fairy tales and would never fully understand how much the world had changed.

Jason had been too young to know about the world before the Event, being three or four years old at the time. Now he was eleven and considered this normality. His brother, however, had lived in the world before and sometimes lashed out at how he had to live.

The villager’s return was joyful; everyone, apart from Jason who watched from a distance, exchanged hugs and kisses. His mother cast her eyes over the crowd and saw her son standing back by the tree. She frowned and beckoned him towards the cottage.

Instead, Jason turned ignoring her and walked towards the river. A hush rested on the landscape with only the sound of the birds singing. The wind had gone and there was now a hazy shimmer above the fields and its flowers. The sun was low on the horizon turning the sky the colour of apricot, rose and pearl. It was as if the world was watching and waiting.

Calmly, Jason strolled through the waist length golden flowers, brushing them with the palms of his hands as he walked. They seemed to greet him- opening up to his body then closing behind him. A swallow flittered by his head and up into the clouds. His feet were cushioned by the warm soil.

When he reached the river, Jason did what he always did. He stepped off the bank to a huge piece of rock that sat just above the current. It smelt of iron and was boiling from the sun's rays. He sat crossed legged, hands on his knees and back straight. Looking about him, he drunk in the sight of the willows dipping their branches into the water, the Kingfisher watching and waiting for a fish. The silence was vast; the ripples of the water were nothing in the intense silence of the sky. Jason took a deep breath and began to pray.
‘Dear Gaia, to all that I owe my life and to where I will return once my time is complete. Thank you for bringing a good crop this year. Thank you for bringing my brother home safely from the city and blessing the goat with kids. We are grateful for all you have given us. I am sorry for what pain my ancestors caused you.'
After he had finished his meditation, he continued sitting on the rock, listening to the answer. A sudden breeze lifted the branches of the trees and a willow reached out and brushed his cheek- Jason smiled. As he listened, his ears pricked up to the sound of an engine. He hadn’t heard an engine for a very long time and it took him a few moments to register what it was. First, he thought it was thunder, but it was moving close too fast. Then he heard the yelps of the human passengers and his eyes snapped open.

            No one who respected Gaia ever used cars. The city had burnt out vehicles that some people had fixed to run, but normally they would only manage a few miles then cut out. There was no way they would be able to make it all the way to the greenery through the forest, down the dirt tracks and hills. Could they?

            Jason stood up in panic, craning his neck to listen to the sound he tried to work out where it was coming from. West. That meant they had crossed the hills rather than risk breaking down in the forest where they would easily be lost and dead.

            Could his people hear it too? They probably could, any mechanical noise that wasn’t welcome travelled miles over the fields and pierced their conscience. Jason almost jumped off the rock, but in the last second remembered to kiss his fingers, and looked to the sky with the same kissed fingers. The symbol of love to the earth and to show Gaia his meditation was over.
He jumped to the bank- the Kingfisher launching off as he landed- and began to race through the golden field towards the village. The engine was getting closer and the people who were in the car were screaming with delight. As Jason reached the crest of the hill, he saw his community gathered outside their huts looking towards the west. Jason paused; pleased to see they were preparing and looked towards the west himself. From where he stood, he could see dirt billowing out at the horizon but nothing else.

Bees buzzed in the clumps of wild flowers by the dirt road, making the air clouded with noise. The smell of jasmine was heavy, mixing with the scent of cooking coming from the huts on the hill. Sparrows sung in the branches of the trees laden with blossom and wood pigeons flew from field to tree transporting materials to build nests. Yellow flowers grew plentiful across the rolling hills.

The tree he sat in was one of the tallest, he could see across the fields as far as the river at the bottom. He could see the huts he called home with goats grazing lazily on the dry grass. He watched as a ladybird landed on his stomach, tickling him with its tiny feet as it strolled towards his bellybutton and rested there for a while.

‘Jason! Where are you?’ his mothers voice pierced the natural silence and he turned over on his front- careful to brush the ladybird off him first- so he could see her through the branches. Resting his chin on his hand, he watched his mother stand with her hands on her hips, looking out towards the yellow field.

‘Up here.’ Jason called.

A goat came to nuzzle at her waist, absentmindedly she brought a hand down and began stroking its nose. ‘Mike will be back soon. Come down please.’

Jason frowned; he didn’t want to see his brother yet. He knew he would come back with exciting stories of who he had met and what he had bargained to get sugar. Maybe he would come back with oil- then Jason would never be able to hear the end of how wonderful he was.

Jason wrapped his legs around the knotted branch and slid off until he was hanging upside down in the air by his knees. He hung there, feeling the blood pound in his ears. A cool wind rustled the flowers and the fronds on the roof of the cottages. Jason shivered. He grabbed the branch and lowered himself to the bleached grass. It crackled between his toes as he felt the warmth from the earth travel to the soles of his feet.

At that moment, the sounds of hooves on the dirt road reached the village and the villagers came out to greet the travellers. Jason hung back, kicking a stone.

His brother was at the head, jumping down before the horse had halted to embrace his mother. They had been gone three days and no one had been sure whether they would come back.

The city was a dangerous place. It was necessary to visit to get the supplies they couldn’t grow themselves. There were gangs with guns who would do anything for sugar, coal and cooking oil. Buildings lay in ruin; grass grew through the potholed tarmac and vines pulled down lampposts. It was much hotter in the city, the sun reflected a thousand times in the shattered glass and black tarmac. It was a different world than the one Jason was used to.

    From the corner of his eye, Alessandro saw someone approaching the table. The sight of the figure startled him; the man was dressed in long gold robes with sleeves that grazed the floor. His wig was white, long and curled; white meant wisdom and normally more money than the wearer knew how to spend. He was a Truth Speaker. Alessandro hadn’t seen many Truth Speakers walking around the streets before, and couldn’t help being entranced by the appearance of one at a ristorante.

    The pair at the table stood - the girl a little less enthusiastic - as the Truth Speaker approached and sat down. The round man bowed his head respectfully as they began to talk. The girl was left alone with her own thoughts and the men even seemed to have forgotten she was there. Alessandro hated the way the Truth Speaker looked passed the girl and spoke directly to her father without so much as a ‘Hello’. He pictured the wine glass standing next to the Truth Speaker doing a vanishing act  complete with the red wine inside.

    But then, the Truth Speaker unexpectedly picked up the wine glass and Alessandro’s concentration dipped for only a second. In that second, the magic went wrong. Instead of disappearing, the glass exploded and wine and glass rained over the table. The diners squealed as shards flew everywhere.

    The Truth Speaker cried out and stood up so quickly his chair fell backwards onto the cobbles. His hands went up to his face and Alessandro saw blood trickling through his fingers.

    Alessandro felt a stone of guilt in his chest.

     The Truth Speaker took his hands away from his eyes and looked around at the diner’s bewildered faces. Everyone stopped eating in mid bite and froze under The Truth Speakers hard stare.

    “Who did that?” he boomed.

    For some reason, the Truth Speaker glanced upwards - as if sensing he was being watched - and his eyes fell on Alessandro.




So there we go. A small part of chapter one. I haven't read that up until now for about 2 years, so there will be a need to improve on that section. But I'm halfway through the job, and I can't express how proud I am of myself.

Now to keep on trucking.

Lauren

Castle Dracula was a lively place where excited voices and laughter bounced off the walls and huge fires glowed in every room with candles dotted around on the surfaces. Count and Countess Dracula were greatly admired in Transylvania for their kindness and good humour. They both did much for the community; giving out food for the homeless that lived on the backstreets in the market square, and holding wonderful parties for anyone who could make it up the cliff road.

    At this very moment, as the sun was setting behind the fir trees, a great masked ball was about to begin. Soon, guests in their silk ball gowns, trimmed with lace and sequined slippers would be pulling up the wide driveway in their polished carriages. A great feast was laid out in the dinning room; gold plates and goblets spread across the table glittering in the candlelight.