She’s mocking me. She has no idea how I got here. No idea what happened to me in prison. And no idea what Fiona asked me to do.
But she’s right, and the realisation is like a bullet.
I have been Fiona’s puppet. I have been fetching her post and making her coffee.
I’ve been doing everything she asked – anything to keep me out of prison. And I haven’t given it a second thought.
I think about Penny, in our cell. Calling her a glorified postman. Making her feel small, because what she did at the Home Forces didn’t matter.
Private Penny, who fetched the post and smiled and saluted and had no idea what was going on upstairs.
And tomorrow, I’ll be Private Smith.
Will I matter?
This is about survival, Ketty. Keep it together.
“I’m still a soldier, Bex.” I lean against the parapet and look out over the park. “Basic training starts tomorrow. They’ve busted me down to Private, and I have to start over. But I’m still a soldier.”
Bex nods, watching the crowds. “This feeling,” she says, glancing at me. “Losing someone you love? Don’t forget how it feels. You’ll be a better soldier, if you can hold onto that feeling.”
If you can understand what it means to cross the lines.
I nod, brushing tears from my eyes.
She’s right.
If I want to impress Colonel Ryan – if I want to earn my freedom – she’s right.
Fireworks
Bex
The door to the roof terrace slams open behind us, and Dan and Margie step out.
“Bex! Where have you been? It’s fireworks time!” Dan sounds drunk, and there’s a half-empty glass in his hand.
I look back at Ketty, but she’s stepped away, into a dark corner of the roof. I turn and smile at my friends.
*****
The fireworks are stunning, and our view from the rooftop is the best in the city. They’re launching the fireworks from locations all around London, so where we’re standing, we’re surrounded by light.
It feels amazing, knowing we’re the guests of honour. Knowing that all this is for us – for me and my friends.
I stand with Dan. He has one arm round Margie’s waist, but the other he throws round my shoulders.
“Do you remember, Dan?” Margie asks. “Your version of Victory Day had fireworks.”
I laugh at the memory. “In the library, at Rushmere! You promised us fireworks.”
Dan stands up straight, and looks out at the dazzling display. “So these are my fireworks.” He nods, smiling, his eyes shining. “Not bad, Dan. Not bad.”
Mum sits next to me, holding my hand. Amy’s with her parents, and Jake stands with his Dad – his Mum’s standing with Saunders’ parents. Dr Richards stands with one of the MPs, debating something over the loud music from the park. Charlie has one arm round Maz, and his arm round her shoulders. She glances at me, and I give her a smile. She grins back at me.
I look around at everyone’s faces, lit up by the fireworks. We’re here, and we’re alive. We’re not running any more.
The fireworks are for us. And they’re for Joss, and Will, and everyone who fought to defeat the Home Forces. For everyone who couldn’t be here.
I squeeze Mum’s hand. “These are for you, Dad.”
Beginning
Katrina
I’m the first out of bed on the first day of training. The first through the showers and the first to get dressed. The other women in the barracks are only just stirring as I check my uniform and straighten the beret on my head.
I look at myself in the mirror on the back of my locker door. Camouflage fatigues. Polished boots. Hair neatly up and off my collar. Everything straight and regulation-smart.
And the name tag on my chest. Private Smith.
Katrina Smith, officially. I haven’t asked them to change their records.
It’s the name Mum and Dad gave me. The name I couldn’t pronounce.
And it’s the name I’m using for my second chance at building a life, and earning a place in the army. Leaving Corporal Ketty behind.
I look at my reflection.
I’m here. I’m alive. I’ve done things Colonel Ryan wouldn’t approve of. I’ve messed up. I’ve crossed lines.
And I’ve done things that make me proud.
I’ve learnt what I can do. I know how strong I am. I know how hard I can push myself.
I think about bandaging my own gunshot wound, on the coach. Sending help to Jackson, and keeping the recruits calm.
I think about learning to walk again. Pushing myself to walk end to end of the corridor at the hospital in Wales, again and again until they let me leave.
I’m smiling at the memory of walking without my clothes through the dining room in prison, turning humiliation into victory.
I close my locker and walk along the corridor to breakfast. There’s no one here, and the doors are still locked. I stand outside, first in the queue.
There are noises from the bunk rooms. People getting up, getting dressed, talking and laughing.
I look around at the empty corridor.
What are you doing here, Ketty? Starting again?
What do you want?
I want what I’ve always wanted. I want to be good at my job. I want to be the best.
I want promotions and responsibility and authority, and I want to deserve everything I get. I want to earn it.
No secrets. No manipulation. No backstabbing.
No Conrad. No Lee. No Bracken.
They’re giving me another chance. They’ve given me a PowerGel, and they’re going to train me to follow their rules.
And this time, it’s simple. If I want my freedom, I need to earn Ryan’s respect without crossing his lines.
There are no short cuts. I have to work my way up, and win my promotions. I need to be the best. The first, the smartest, the fastest.
Every day.
No mistakes. No excuses to put you back behind bars.
It won’t be quick. It will take time, and hard work.
But I’ve done it before.
Discipline, determination, backbone.
I can learn to do it again.
I’m here, on day one, and I’m ready. I’m making a start.
And that’s enough, for now.
SEPTEMBER
New
Rebecca
I’m up early, pulling on cargo trousers and a polo shirt for the first day of training. Mum’s still asleep as I pack a rucksack with the things I’ll need.
Everyone’s moved on. Dan and Margie are back at Rushmere, and Dr Richards has a flat in the grounds of the school. Amy and Jake are at home. Charlie and Maz have chosen Brighton for their restaurant, and they’re looking for a place to rent.
The Royal is a hotel again – not the headquarters of a political movement. And Fiona’s moved into 10 Downing Street. It’s still strange, seeing her on TV. Knowing that she saved my life, and that I worked for her, for a while.
I’ll see everyone again. I can imagine us all in Charlie’s kitchen, drinking tea and tasting her new recipes.
She’s promised to invite us to dinner when the restaurant opens.
*****
After the party and the fireworks, we all ended up in Dan’s room. We raided the mini bar, and sat around, swapping stories and feeling grown up and fabulous in our party outfits.
And no one wanted to leave.
Charlie and Maz crept out, around dawn, and the rest of us piled onto the enormous bed, and slept, curled round each other, in our ball dresses and dinner jackets. Dan and Margie stole the pillows, so I rested my head on Dan’s legs, and Amy curled up with her head on my waist.
Falling asleep, surrounded by my friends, I felt safe for the first time since we were conscripted. Since we began our long march to Camp Bishop. I felt protected.
I felt free.
This is my tribe, and I won’t lose them.
There’s a photo in
a frame on the wall, next to Saunders’ sketch. It’s the photo from the ball, as we all stood in the lobby, facing the cameras.
My tribe, smiling. Safe. Dan and Maz holding me up, and making sure I didn’t miss out.
It was an amazing night. Charlie was right – I’m glad I was there.
*****
I pick up my registration documents from my desk and put them in the top of my rucksack. Rebecca Ellman, the acceptance letter reads. Trainee Firefighter.
This is my chance to build a new life, and a new identity. To be someone other than the Face of the Resistance.
I don’t need to be the figurehead, or the leader, or the inspiration. I can choose to be me. I can choose to help people, when they need it most. I can choose to stay out of the spotlight.
I think about waking my friends in the middle of the night, and getting them out of the bunker. I think about running through the farmyard, trying to save Margie and Dr Richards.
Margie was wrong, in the department store. This is what I was born for. Not the inspiration and the cameras and the attention.
I want to help. I want to stand with people when they need it.
I want to be brave.
Rebecca Ellman. I can live with that. Leave Fiona, and Ketty, and Bex of the Resistance behind, and move on.
I’m smiling as I pull the rucksack onto my shoulders.
There’s a line of cards on my desk. Best wishes from my friends, and from Mum. Everyone sending me their support as I start my new life.
We’re all carrying scars. We’ve all been hurt and used, and we’ve all lost people we loved.
But we found people, too. We found each other, and we found out what we’re capable of.
We learned to be brave.
I open the front door quietly, and step out into the chilly morning air.
I need to be brave, today. Stepping out of my old life, and into something new.
But this is what I want, and I know that they’re all behind me, cheering me on.
And that’s enough, for today.
Note
Alcoholism is not a weakness – these are Ketty’s words, not mine, and they come from her unique understanding of her childhood experiences. Addiction in any form is acknowledged to be an illness, not a choice. I do not advocate treating alcoholism as a weakness, any more than I intend to present Ketty as a perfect role model.
Reviews
First, thank you so much for reading Victory Day. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you’d want to recommend it to other people. Please, please do!
Here’s why this is important.
I want to write more books, but I can only do that if there are people reading the Battle Ground series. How will readers find out about the Battle Ground books? I can buy all the adverts in the world, but the best way to reach new readers is through personal recommendations.
If you enjoyed this book, you can help me to write more, just by telling your friends and followers about it.
It’s as simple as that.
Head over to Amazon. Give the book a star rating, and tell other readers why they might want to pick it up and read it. Tell them what you liked about the story and the characters. Tell them about other books you think are similar to Victory Day. Give them a reason to read this book instead of something else. Reviews don’t need to be long – Amazon reviews can be as short as 20 words.
If you have an account on GoodReads or Library Thing, head over there and copy-and-paste your Amazon review. And if you have a blog, a YouTube channel, or an account on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook, drop your review on there as well. If you’ve read the rest of the series, reviews for the other books would be amazing – thank you! Tag me (@RachelChurcherWriting on Instagram, @Rachel_Churcher on Twitter, or Taller Books on Facebook), and I’ll repost your reviews when I see them.
This really makes a huge difference.
Thank you. You’re a wonderful person, and I really appreciate your support.
Don’t miss the next book in the
Battle Ground Series!
Balancing Act (Battle Ground #6) tells Corporal Conrad’s story, revisiting the events of
Darkest Hour, Fighting Back, and Victory Day from a new perspective ...
The Battle Ground Series
The Battle Ground series is set in a dystopian near-future UK, after Brexit and Scottish independence.
Book 1: Battle Ground
Sixteen-year-old Bex Ellman has been drafted into an army she doesn't support and a cause she doesn't believe in. Her plan is to keep her head down, and keep herself and her friends safe – until she witnesses an atrocity she can't ignore, and a government conspiracy that threatens lives all over the UK. With her loyalties challenged, Bex must decide who to fight for – and who to leave behind.
Book 2: False Flag
Ketty Smith is an instructor with the Recruit Training Service, turning sixteen-year-old conscripts into government fighters. She's determined to win the job of lead instructor at Camp Bishop, but the arrival of Bex and her friends brings challenges she's not ready to handle. Running from her own traumatic past, Ketty faces a choice: to make a stand, and expose a government conspiracy, or keep herself safe, and hope she's working for the winning side.
Book 3: Darkest Hour
Bex Ellman and Ketty Smith are fighting on opposite sides in a British civil war. Bex and her friends are in hiding, but when Ketty threatens her family, Bex learns that her safety is more fragile than she thought.
Book 4: Fighting Back
Bex Ellman and her friends are in hiding, sheltered by the resistance. With her family threatened and her friendships challenged, she's looking for a way to fight back. Ketty Smith is in London, supporting a government she no longer trusts. With her support network crumbling, Ketty must decide who she is fighting for – and what she is willing risk to uncover the truth.
Book 5: Victory Day
Bex Ellman and Ketty Smith meet in London. As the war heats up around them, Bex and Ketty must learn to trust each other. With her friends and family in danger, Bex needs Ketty to help rescue them. For Ketty, working with Bex is a matter of survival. When Victory is declared, both will be held accountable for their decisions.
Book 6: Balancing Act
Corporal David Conrad has life figured out. His job gives him power, control, and access to Top Secret operations. His looks have tempted plenty of women into his bed, and he has no intention of committing to a relationship.
When Ketty Smith joins the Home Forces, Conrad sets his sights on the new girl – but pursuing Ketty will be more dangerous than he realises. Is Conrad about to meet his match? And will the temptations of his job distract him from his target?
Balancing Act revisits the events of Darkest Hour, Fighting Back, and Victory Day. The story is suitable for older teens.
Book 7: Finding Fire and Other Stories
What happened between Margie and Dan at Makepeace Farm? How did Jackson really feel about Ketty? What happens next to the survivors of the Battle Ground Series?
Step behind the scenes of the series with six new short stories and five new narrators – Margie, Jackson, Maz, Dan, and Charlie – plus exclusive access to bonus blogs and insights from the author.
Novella: Making Trouble
Fifteen-year-old Topher Mackenzie has a complicated life. His Mum is in Australia, his Dad is struggling to look after him, and Auntie Charlie is the only person who understands. When his girlfriend is forced to leave the UK after a racist attack, Topher faces a choice: accept the government’s lies, or find a way to fight back.
Download FREE from freebook.tallerbooks.com
Acknowledgements
The Battle Ground series represents more than a year of hard work – not just for me, but for the people who have supported me and helped to make it happen.
A huge thank you is due to my amazing proofreaders, who have given up their time to read every book and send me helpful and insightful feedback. Thank you to Alan Pla
tt, Holly Platt Wells, Reba Sigler, Joe Silber, and Reynard Spiess.
Special thanks to Holly, for the inspiration for Ketty’s outfit for the Victory Day Ball. You were right – it suits her!
Thank you to my Victory Day beta readers, Jasmine Bruce, Diana Churcher, James Keen, and Karen MacLaughlin, for encouragement and insightful comments.
Thank you to all the people who have given me advice on the road to publication: Tim Dedopulos, Salomé Jones, Rob Manser, John Pettigrew, Danielle Zigner, and Jericho Writers.
Thank you to everyone at NaNoWriMo, for giving me the opportunity and the tools to start writing, and to everyone at YALC for inspiration and advice.
Thank you to my amazing designer, Medina Karic, for deciphering my sketches and notes and turning them into beautiful book covers. If you ever need a designer, find her at www.fiverr.com/milandra.
Thank you to Alan Platt, for learning the hard way how to live with a writer, and for bringing your start-up expertise to the creation of Taller Books.
Thank you to Alex Bate, Janina Ander, and Helen Lynn, for encouraging me to write Battle Ground when I suddenly had time on my hands, and for introducing me to Prosecco Fridays. Cheers!
Thank you to Hannah Pollard and the Book Club Galz for sharing so many wonderful YA books with me – and for understanding that the book is always better than the film.
Victory Day (Battle Ground YA UK Dystopia Series Book 5) Page 27