Chapter Three: Survivors

‘Quiet’ was all the voice behind him whispered so quietly he himself could barely hear it. Jason stood still both out of shock and out of recognition of the voice. They waited and the Tallentiri passed. Jason was the first to speak.

‘Out of all the people that could’ve survived, you had to be one of them, didn’t you Claire?’

‘You make that sound like it’s a bad thing’ Claire replied pushing her blonde strands of hair out of her eyes.

‘You make my life hell in school, and yet you save my life out here. And, for what it’s worth, even though I was never in danger, thank you’ Jason replied tonelessly.

‘As much as I despise you Jason, I doubt I could let another person be killed by those things, no matter how much I hated them,’ Claire responded. ‘And, by the way, what I do to you is less than what you did to me’

‘Are we really going to do this now?’ Jason asked. Claire smiled.

‘Follow me. We’ll talk along the way’ and so they walked, jumping the wall in front of them and headed down the laneway they landed in.

‘So when did it start?’ Jason asked.

‘About three hours ago, give or take maybe fifteen minutes. They’ve been patrolling the streets, looking for survivors. So have I’ Claire replied.

‘And have you found any?’ Jason asked curiously.

‘Let’s just say, you’re the only one I’ve found that’s been able to move’ Claire answered darkly. They continued walking and the sounds and smell of a storm was greater now. They could feel the electricity in the air.

‘So where are we going then?’ Jason enquired.

‘Somewhere that’s, for now at least, safe’ Claire replied and they continued to walk, in silence.

She coughed up dust. She could see the smoke hanging thick in the air. She pushed her now dirty blonde hair out of her blue eyes. The girl’s name was Celeste Hargrove.

‘Sarah!’ she called out. She needed to know her younger sister was ok. She waited for what seemed like forever and then she coughing from the other side of room, behind the collapsed ceiling.

‘Sarah, can you hear me?’ Celeste asked. The coughing stopped for a moment.

‘Celeste?’ Sarah replied.

‘Yes. You need to relax I’m going to get to you, ok?’ Celeste told her. Celeste moved towards the collapsed ceiling and began trying to clear a path, but many pieces of the ceiling were too heavy to move by herself, so instead she turned and walked over the debris to get to the door way that entered the main hallway. She knew had to move fast. In this condition, weatherboard would be unstable and if it collapsed and covered the doorway at the other end of the lounge room, Sarah would be trapped there. Celeste turned into the small kitchen and walked around the square table and into the back room. The other doorway to the lounge room was clear and in she went. Sarah was in a bad way. One of her legs was trapped beneath the collapse and she had large cut across her forehead.

‘Sarah, I’m here’ Celeste told her.

‘Celeste, help me’ Sarah replied. Celeste moved towards the piece of ceiling covering Sarah’s leg and pulled it up. It cracked apart freeing her leg, but Celeste could see that the leg was broken in at least two places. Celeste sat her sister up.

‘I need you to keep your leg really still ok’ Celeste said.

‘Why?’

‘Because it’s broken and we can’t stay here,’ Celeste told her and then she pulled Sarah up. ‘Put your weight on me. You don’t want to be relying on that leg’ eventually, Sarah stood up, while being supported by Celeste.

‘Thank you’ Sarah told her sister.

‘You’re welcome, now let’s get out of here’ Celeste replied and very slowly they made their way out of the house.