by Jai Williams
“Have you seen a little boy? He’s about five years old, he was wearing a cap and he looks like me,” whispered Hank to the woman in front of him.
“I’m sorry, I haven’t seen him,” she whispered.
The criminals who were outside of the ice cream store started shooting the glass of the store. Men and woman who were joining them started picking up chairs from outside and throwing them through the windows, and they entered the store. Some of them headed over to the ice cream machine and started tearing through it like vultures. The men holding guns started shooting all over the place, one of the women in the store opened the door to the backroom and looked to her left; there she saw all the men, women and Hank crouched behind the wall. “FOUND SOME BITCHES!” she yelled with a joyful tone. The men, women and Hank stood up and the woman in front of Hank turned to him. “Go. Run to the back exit and get far away from here,” she said as she crouched down to Hank with a scared look on her face.
Hank ran to the back exit, opened the door and ran left down the alleyway. The men and women in the ice cream store who were hiding got gunned down. Hank heard but he kept running as fast as he could. Hank was scared because he had no idea what was going on; he thought maybe he should have put the books down for one night and watched the news to see what was going on in the world, but he was more scared about losing his brother. He still had no idea where Jamie was, but he thought back to when he and Jamie were in the tree house and he said to Jamie that whenever he got lost he should come to the tree house and wait for him. So Hank kept running through the alleyway. He ran across the street and cut across the park, where from there he headed through a residential area and ran to the back of his neighbour’s house. Hank climbed up the tree house. “It’s ok, Jamie, it’s me—Hank,” he said while climbing.
He finally got up and looked around in the tree house and saw nothing, Jamie wasn’t there. Hank started panicking and heard from inside his neighbour’s house screams and gunfire so Hank rushed down the tree house, grabbed a chair from a table that was in the backyard, put it against the side fence and climbed over it. Hank did the same thing to the next few fences until he reached the backyard of his house. He pulled out a key from his back pocket and unlocked the back door. “Jamie, are you here?” said Hank loudly so it echoed through the house, but there was no reply, so Hank headed to Jamie’s room to see if he was hiding in there. Hank looked under the bed, in the closet and everywhere else in the room Jamie could hide but he couldn’t see Jamie anywhere so he headed to his room, his father’s room and all the rooms in the house but Jamie was nowhere in sight. Hank was scared because he couldn’t find his brother, he felt guilty for leaving Jamie by himself back at the ice cream store. He thought maybe if he hadn’t left his brother by himself then everything would be ok apart from the criminals tearing up the town, but at least his brother would be safe.
There was a bang at the front door. Hank thought it could be Jamie so he started walking to the front door but the banging got even louder and Hank thought, Wait, hang on, my brother isn’t that strong; he can’t knock on the door like that. Hank started walking backwards and bang, the front door came down and there stood three armed, mean-looking men.
Hank ran to the back door that he left open and ran out to the backyard and from there he headed to the back fence, which was climbable and he climbed over it to the backyard on the other side of the fence. Hank ran to the side of the house and pushed open the fence door and from there he ran like hell to a kind of dog park-picnic area that had trees and bushes that Hank could hide behind. Hank hid behind a tree and poked his head out and saw on the road a car driving by, with men from each side of the car apart from the driver side pointing guns out the windows. Hank was so scared; he thought that if armed men where roaming the whole town then they might have captured his brother or worse, killed him, but Hank hoped that wasn’t the case. “Hang on, little brother. I’m on my way,” he whispered under his breath.
Hank ran through the park using the trees and bushes as cover. He thought that if Jamie wasn’t in the tree house or at their house, then the only other place that Jamie would head to, is the restaurant that their father worked at, so Hank took cover behind everything he could and headed through alleyways where it would be safer. Hank came to the end of an alleyway and across the road from him was the restaurant he was heading to. He looked around to make sure that the coast was clear and he headed straight towards the restaurant. Hank pushed open the front doors and when he entered he saw tables and chairs knocked over, people dead on the floor and tables and blood splattered everywhere.
Hank heard a gunshot from in the kitchen and without thinking he bolted straight into the kitchen and there he saw chefs, waiters and waitresses dead on the floor. Hank turned to his left and he saw two men standing, with one holding a gun at Hank’s father’s head. Hank’s father was kneeling on the floor and he turned his head to Hank. “Hank, run,” he said. They were the last words Hank would ever hear his father say. One of the men standing in front of Hank’s father, shot Hank’s father in the head and he fell to the ground with blood covering the floor after him. “NO, DAD!” he cried as he ran over to his father. Hank kneeled beside his father’s dead body and tears started dripping from his eyes. One of the men standing behind Hank grabbed Hank’s upper arm and forcefully pulled him up and turned Hank towards him. “You should have run, kid,” said the guy with an evil smile.
“Please don’t kill me,” replied Hank as he sobbed. The two men laughed.
“We’re not going to kill you; no, we need little soldiers like you for the new world,” said the guy holding Hank’s arm.
“What new world?” asked Hank.
“We will tell you about it after we – how can I put this nicely? Fuck up this little town,” replied the guy holding Hank’s arm.
“Okay, we’re going now,” said the guy holding Hank. Hank was pulled away while he was looking back at his father’s dead body.
They left the restaurant and there standing a few feet away from them, were four army men and a Captain. The Captain looked forty years old, he had bold hair and he was wearing an army outfit just like the soldiers.
“Let the boy go, now,” said the Captain demandingly.
“What if we refuse?” asked the man who was holding onto Hank’s arm.
“Then we’ll just take him from you and trust me, you don’t want that to happen,” replied the Captain.
“Hmm…no…no and oh yeah, hell no. We’re keeping the boy,” replied the guy.
“What, you thought you’d come into this town and start wrecking houses and shops? Kill innocent people and take kids and think you’d get away with it?” replied the Captain with an angry look.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what we planned,” replied the guy.
“No, you don’t get to do that,” replied the Captain.
“Well we’re celebrating; you know, all of us criminals are taking back this world. It’s ours now, so you better get used to it,” said the other guy who wasn’t holding onto Hank’s arm.
“No, no it’s not,” replied the Captain.
“Yeah it is. I mean…” said the guy.
“Kill the men,” said the Captain to his men as he butted in before the guy could finish his sentence. Two of the soldiers opened fire at the men and killed them without harming Hank.
Hank was standing there looking at the ground. He was shaking and sacred, and there was a splatter of blood across his hair. The Captain walked up to Hank and Hank slowly looked up at him.
“Are you ok, son?” he asked but Hank didn’t reply; he was just standing still, shaking, with tears in his eyes. The Captain kneeled down to Hank. “You’re safe now. My name is Gill Miles. What’s your name?” he asked with a smile.
“H-Hank Gibson,” replied Hank in a soft and scared tone.
“Well, Hank Gibson, it’s nice to meet you. Do you know where your parents are?” asked Captain Miles.
“My mum died years ago and my
dad he ah…he’s dead inside this restaurant,” replied Hank with a sad look on his face and tears running down it.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Hank, but I want you to know you will never be alone. We will protect you,” replied Captain Miles, trying to comfort Hank.
“I have a little brother but I have no idea where he is,” said Hank as he wiped his tears away.
“Well, I promise we will find him,” replied Captain Miles.
All the men and Hank hopped into the army car they had and searched for Hank’s brother. They searched high and low as they drove through the town. The town was no longer the peaceful small town Hank saw it as; it was now a destroyed and unliveable killing ground. All Captain Miles’ other men who were in other vehicles making sure every criminal was killed, grouped up with Captain Miles and one of them hopped out of their vehicle and walked over to the vehicle that Captain Miles was in. “Captain, everyone is dead in this town; it is just a graveyard now. I think we should leave. We don’t want to wait around for other people to show up and kill us,” said the guy.
“Okay, we will head out,” replied Captain Miles.
Captain Miles turned around to Hank, who was in the back.
“Look son, this town is unsafe to stay in so we’re going to bring you with us to our base where you will be safe,” he said with a smile.
“W-what about my brother?” asked Hank with a worried look.
“We will head to your house so you can grab some of your things and a photo of your brother, and I will send some of my men to search for him. Don’t give up hope; he might be with people who fled this town,” replied Captain Miles. Captain Miles drove up to a vehicle that some of his men were in and put his head out the window. “You guys head to the base; we need to stop somewhere first,” he said to them, so the other vehicles headed out of the town and Captain Miles, his soldiers and Hank headed to Hank’s house. They stopped outside the front of Hank’s house and one of the soldiers went with him just in case there were men inside the house. They walked over the broken door and headed to Hank’s bedroom. Hank grabbed a backpack and started to fill it with his clothes. He walked over to his bedside table, opened the top drawer up and pulled out a photo album. He put the photo album in his bag, zipped it up and picked the backpack up and put it on his back. “Are you sure you don’t want to bring anything else? We have a basketball court – well, we already have basketballs but if you have one and you want to bring it, then go ahead,” said the soldier.
“No, I’ve never played basketball,” replied Hank.
“Well, when we get there I’ll have to show you how to play,” replied the soldier. They walked to the bathroom and Hank grabbed his toothbrush, toothpaste and a towel and they left the room and headed out of the house and went back to the car. “Got everything you need?” asked Captain Miles as Hank and the soldier got back into the vehicle.
“Well, there is one thing but we haven’t found him yet,” replied Hank with a sad look on his face.
“We will find him; we will,” replied Captain Miles. They headed off out of the town and towards their base. Hank turned around and looked through the back window of the vehicle and saw his town he lived in.
“Don’t worry, brother. I will find you; it is my job to look after you, always and forever,” he said underneath his breath…
Chapter Fifteen: Hank’s Story Part Two
After an hour or so of driving, the soldiers and Hank finally arrived at the base. Captain Miles turned around to Hank. “We’re here. Welcome to Gills Ground,” he said with a smile. They drove through the gates after a soldier opened them up and parked over to the left where there were other vehicles. Captain Miles, the soldier and Hank got out of the car and Hank looked around and saw tents and people walking everywhere. He felt relieved that he finally got to see more people. There were men, women and children, so he knew that this place would be safe.
Hank looked up at Captain Miles, who was standing next to him. “Why’s this place called Gills Ground?” he asked.
“I and my soldiers named it after me,” replied Captain Miles as he looked down to Hank.
“But why?” asked Hank.
“Well, before all this crazy stuff happened, I was the Captain here. I didn’t make myself the Captain; I earned it. So, when people hear the name Gill they think of me and say to themselves that everything is going to be ok; it’s going to be safe here and that’s why this place is called Gills Ground and also it gives people hope,” replied Captain Miles as he smiled at Hank, hoping that Hank would feel safe just like the others.
“What happened back there in my town? Why did all those people destroy the shops? Why did they kill people and more importantly why did they force my brother to run off with other people instead of hiding in places that I would have found him?” said Hank, as he felt so confused.
“So, I guess you haven’t been watching the news lately?” asked Captain Miles.
“Sorry, I haven’t,” replied Hank.
“That’s ok. The bad people in this world, criminals in other words, broke free from the places they were locked up and they started to destroy towns and cities and pretty much everywhere and they don’t care who they kill in the process,” replied Captain Miles.
“But why are they doing this?” asked Hank.
“Because they want power. They don’t want law. They want to be their own leaders and tell people what to do and they no longer want to be controlled,” replied Captain Miles.
“Well, if you couldn’t save all those people back there then how would you try to fix it all?” replied Hank with concern.
“We may not have saved people in your town but look around,” replied Captain Harris. “We’ve saved quite a few men, women and children and that’s the main priority here: to save as many people as we can, and that is how we’ll fix the world. By saving as many people as we can, and slowly we will take back the world,” said Captain Miles.
Captain Miles started walking. “Follow me, Hank. Let me show you around,” he said to Hank, who was still standing near the car with his backpack on. Hank followed the Captain, who was heading to a bunch of skinny long tents far to the right of the base. Captain Miles pointed to his far right, to a tent that was near the front gates. “That tent over there is where we keep our weapons, ammunition and tools,” he said. Captain Miles pointed a bit to his left. “Those two tents over there are med bays, which are like small hospitals,” he said. They continued walking and they approached the skinny long tents – there were three of them all next to each other. They walked down the middle of the two of them. They got to the back of the tents and there were three more of the same tents all next to each other so there were six of these tents in total. Captain Miles and Hank headed into a tent on the left, and when they entered Hank could see five bunk beds on each side of the tent, allowing twenty people to sleep in this tent. There was a bunch of kids and teenagers lying, sitting and walking around the tent; they were all different ages. A boy walked up to Hank and Captain Miles; he looked fifteen years old.
“Dean, I would like you to meet Hank Gibson. Hank, this Dean Grove,” said Captain Miles.
“It’s nice to meet you, Hank,” said Dean as he looked at Hank with a smile.
“Hi,” replied Hank nervously.
Captain Miles looked down at Hank. “Hank, Dean here is going to show you around. Get you familiar with the place and make you feel at home so when we find your brother you can then show him around the place. I’ll leave you to it and I’ll see you later,” he said.
Captain Miles walked out of the tent, leaving Hank behind with Dean. “Okay Hank, want to come with me? I’ll introduce you to the people you’ll be sharing this tent with,” said Dean with a smile. Hank followed Dean over to a group of boys who were playing cards. “Okay everyone, we’ve got a new roommate. This is Hank,” said Dean as he looked at all the boys.
“Hi,” said Hank in a soft tone. Dean pointed to a boy who looked a bit younger than Dean and was sitting on a
bed.
“This is Bruce,” he said. Bruce put his cards face down and turned to Hank.
“Good to have you on board,” he said with a smile. Dean pointed to a boy who looked a year older than Hank’s brother and was on the same bed as Bruce.
“That boy over there winning is Stan,” he said.
“Hey,” said Bruce.
Stan looked over at Hank. “Hello,” he said in a polite manner.
“Hi,” replied Hank.
Dean pointed to a kid who looked a year younger than Hank’s brother. “That little kid over there is Jackson,” he said.
Jackson waved to Hank. “Hi,” he said.
Dean went around the rest of the group of boys telling Hank their names. There were about six more of them; some were younger than Hank and some were older.
“Boom, I win. Who’s next? Ha-ha-ha,” said Bruce in a cheerful tone. Bruce looked over at Hank, who was standing up still and looking at the ground. “Hey Hank, want to play?” he asked.
“What are you playing?” replied Hank as he looked over at Bruce.
“We’re playing go fish. Have you played it before?” asked Bruce.