Fierce September

by Fleur Beale

  It was a good idea, a daft game – but we came up with no useful ideas.

  Mother called in the early evening. She’d heard about the new hate campaign. ‘Are you all right, Juno? Tell me truly, please. It’s difficult enough being here with our friends around us, but you and Vima are so alone.’

  I choked back a glib reassurance and spoke the truth. ‘It’s hard, but we don’t feel so isolated thanks to the minicomp. And then there’s James, who worked with Vima. He’s helping us to try to work things out.’

  Mother rubbed her eyes. ‘That’s good. I’m glad you have company.’ She smiled at me. ‘I can’t wait to have you back again though.’

  A wave of homesickness hit me. ‘I miss you, Mother.’

  We talked for a while longer and neither of us mentioned Dad or my grandparents. Hera sang me a good-night song. It was a lament and it made me shiver.

  The eight o’clock meeting in the morning brought no fresh news and no more ideas about what we could do. James arrived for breakfast. He bathed Wilfred and played with him till he fell asleep.

  Later in the morning, Marba called and asked me to read out the names of the train passengers Biddo had found listed on the net. ‘Willem says we’re barking up the wrong tree.’ We’d not heard that expression before. ‘He says the people who object to his school are a group of doddery old dears who wouldn’t hurt a fly.’

  ‘But did he tell you who they were anyway?’ I reckoned Willem’s judgement about his own safety mightn’t be too reliable.

  ‘We want to know if they’re on the list of train passengers that Biddo found,’ Marba said, then he recited the names Willem had given him: Mae Calverley, Georgina Prince, Khan Regan, Soraya Billings.

  ‘Just four of them?’ Vima asked.

  ‘He says there were three more but they died of the virus last week. There are others who come along and shout outside his school every saints day, but he doesn’t know their names.’

  James had to explain what a saints day was. I asked him to read out the computer lists of passengers’ names. He quickly became bored, and made Vima and me take turns with him. It was useless. How would we remember any of them, even if we could find a way of linking them to either of the groups?

  Marba wouldn’t give up. ‘These lists still could be useful. We’ll divide them up and each of us will be responsible for making sure we can recognise any name from our section if we come across it somewhere else. Okay?’

  We agreed, though it was plain all of us thought it a waste of time.

  I didn’t sleep very well that night, disturbed by dreams of dark menace. Wilfred’s crying woke me around four o’clock. I picked him up, chatting to him as I changed him, then gave him to Vima to feed. It was while I was in the kitchen, making us hot drinks, that I saw the talk icon flash on the mini-comp. Who could be calling in the middle of the night? This wasn’t going to be good.

  It was Sina. ‘Juno – Hera and Sheen have disappeared. We’ve searched the building, all of us, and they’re not here.’ She scrubbed away tears. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

  I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak beyond a strangled cry.

  Vima ran in from the bedroom. ‘Sina,’ she said, going straight to the mini-comp, ‘has anyone gone outside to look for them?’

  Sina made a huge effort to stop crying. ‘Juno’s stratum are going. They’re getting ready now.’

  Silvern appeared on the screen. She was dressed in her warmest clothes. ‘Juno, we’ll keep looking till we find them. We’ll find them long before you’re out of quarantine.’

  That loosened my tongue. ‘I’m coming too.’

  She smiled briefly. ‘Yeah, we thought you would. Be outside your building in five. We should be there by then.’ She ran from the room.

  Vima was still in front of the mini-comp. ‘Sina, could you tell me when you know anything? Please?’

  ‘Of course I will.’ She managed to smile at Vima. ‘I want to go too, just like you do.’

  ‘Yes. It’s harder to stay behind and wait.’ Vima’s voice was as strained as Sina’s. ‘Thank you.’

  It was the first time they’d spoken since Vima’s pregnancy had become known.

  I hurried to the bedroom. I was dressed and shoving a change of clothes into my bag when Vima came in, her hands full of food. ‘Take this. It’s all stuff you don’t have to cook.’ She tucked it deep into the bag.

  My mind skittered around, unable to accept that Mother and Hera had vanished. Had they gone of their own free will, or had somebody taken them?

  Vima towed me out to the lounge. ‘Stop imagining the worst.’ She held my shoulders and made me look at her. ‘Listen, Juno – you’ve got to keep your mind clear. If anyone can find them, it’ll be you.’

  But I’d not caught any of Hera’s thoughts – nor she mine, as far as I knew. I simply had no idea where to start looking, or what had become of them. I hugged Vima goodbye and took the lift to wait outside in the dark.

  Have you seen the web? It’s about Willem this time. They call him spawn of the devil.

  Have you heard? Oban looked up devil on line. It is an evil being. The most evil being there is.

  Have you seen the web? There’s another posting saying the spawn-of-the-devil group are extreme fundamentalists. It says they’re mad but harmless.

  www.warningtheworld.blogspot.com Essential reading

  The depths to which

  they stoop

  www.bobbingontheocean.blogspot.com On please! Get

  a brain!

  17

  JOURNEYS AND DISCOVERIES

  SIX OF MY STRATUM ARRIVED just as I rushed out the door onto the street. None of us spoke as I joined them, but I assumed the others were searching a different area. That was good. We ran towards the sea, then turned left into Courtenay Place. I followed, trusting they had a plan, that they knew what they were doing. Trusting that we’d find my mother and sister alive and unharmed.

  ‘Listen!’ Paz skidded to a stop.

  We halted too, trying to quiet our breathing. But the unearthly howl that shrieked through the night would have cut through the loudest gasping.

  We took off, running harder than before. Was this the right direction though? Sound bounced off buildings in the city, skittered along alleyways. I shut my mind to doubt and kept running. Paz, Fortun, Jidda and Silvern were the fastest runners. They sprinted over Taranaki Street, swerved left into Cuba.

  Pel, Dreeda and I, bringing up the rear, forgot about keeping quiet as we belted after them. The sound of footsteps everywhere. Up ahead, Marba hurtled around a corner, followed closely by the others. Then there was only the sound of our footsteps blocking out all other noise and all thought as we rushed towards the figures lying in the middle of the street. Mother and Hera. A man circled them, howling. He had a stick or a weapon. He swept it in demented circles. The wind of its passing ruffled their hair.

  ‘Leave them alone!’

  That was Paz.

  We ran on. I couldn’t think, wouldn’t imagine.

  Marba’s voice thundered. ‘Step away. Put the weapon down.’

  ‘You’re among friends.’ That was Silvern.

  We were there. I took in the scene in a millisecond. Mother was on the ground, blood pouring from her head. Hera, locked in her arms, howled hysterically.

  Raggedy Jason. It was Raggedy Jason threatening them.

  ‘Hera! Stop crying. Stop!’ I put the full force of my fear into the command. It was clear that Raggedy Jason was feeding on her terror, hyped up by her howls. ‘Good girl. That’s better. Another deep breath.’

  It felt like a lifetime before she quietened.

  Pel, gentle Pel stepped forward. ‘Sir, I’ll look after the stick for you.’ She held out her hand.

  Raggedy Jason stopped his wild capering. He glowered at Hera and Mother, then at Pel smiling at him with her hand out for the stick.

  He flung the stick away. ‘Food. Gimme food.’

  I scrabbled in my bag, grabbed
a handful of the supplies Vima had put there. Paz took them from me, walked a couple of paces away from Mother and Hera. ‘We have food for you. Come on, I’ll give you what I have here.’

  The moment the ragged figure turned away, I was on my knees beside Mother and Hera. Brex was there too. So were some of the others.

  ‘Mother?’

  She didn’t answer.

  Brex had her fingers on Mother’s throat. ‘Juno, she’s alive. Knocked out but alive.’

  I picked up my sister. She nearly strangled me. ‘Willem. They’s going to hurt him.’

  ‘Shh, darling. Tell me later. Let’s get you back.’

  I kept my eye on Raggedy Jason while the others made a stretcher with their hands, lifted my mother and began walking. Raggedy Jason wolfed down the food and ignored us.

  Hera was quiet except for the occasional repeated sobbing of Willem’s name. When we were nearly back at the Centre she said, ‘My mother hurts.’

  ‘Yes, darling. She’ll get better, she will. Hush now.’

  People crowded the foyer, waiting for us. All the children from the stratum below ours were there, along with the parents Willem had left to care for them. Roop waited, holding Merith. Sina was there with Jovan in her arms. But we no longer had a physician. Who would care for my mother? My stratum carried her inside and lowered her carefully to the floor.

  Sina ran forward, pushed Jovan into Wenda’s arms, then fell to her knees beside Mother. She gave orders. ‘Bring water, a cloth, bandages and antiseptic.’

  ‘Oh no!’ I stepped back from Mother for fear I might contaminate her, stepped away from everybody else. I felt sick with the realisation: I was meant to be in quarantine. I backed further away, still holding Hera, stammering apologies.

  Sina looked up and smiled. ‘You are well, Juno?’

  I nodded.

  ‘We won’t worry then. Let’s get Sheen comfortable.’ She began sponging the blood away with the supplies Brex had fetched. But Roop ran to the lift with Merith and disappeared. Her message was clear: I’d brought danger on my people once more.

  ‘Juno, look,’ Sina said. ‘She’s coming round. Talk to her.’

  I put Hera down, knelt beside Mother and took her hand, but all I could say was, ‘Mother, it’s all right. You’re safe. Hera’s safe.’

  After a few seconds she whispered, ‘Hera. Got to find her.’

  ‘Mother! She’s here. You found her. You saved her.’ I swallowed panic. Raggedy Jason had damaged her brain. Why couldn’t she remember?

  Hera wept. ‘I here, my mother. I here.’

  Sina took a blanket and wrapped it round Mother. ‘Juno, don’t worry. Give her time. It’s like when Vima couldn’t remember after Hilto hit her on the head.’

  The sick feeling subsided. I scrubbed at my eyes, strove for calm, whispered, ‘Thank you, Sina.’

  She was brave. Even saying Vima’s name was still hard for her.

  Hera climbed onto my lap. ‘They’s going to hurt Willem. Grif said goodbye Hera. Willem says goodbye Hera.’ She leaned against me, just a tired little girl.

  Silvern squatted beside us. ‘Is that what you were doing, Hera? Were you and your mother going to find him?’

  Hera nodded, her eyes closing. ‘I go all by myself. Scary man chase me then my mother came. He hit her. Got to find Willem.’

  ‘We’ll go to Willem’s house in the morning. We’ll tell him,’ Silvern promised. Hera must have picked up something from Willem and tried to find him by herself. Mother must have woken to discover she’d gone.

  Hera’s eyes flickered open. ‘He’s gone to the mountain place.’ Then she fell deeply asleep.

  Behind me, I heard my stratum asking questions. Where? How?

  I said, ‘Oban says there’s a mountain near New Plymouth. Willem’s school’s there too. That must be the place.’

  There was more discussion. I half listened, my attention more on Mother as Sina tended to her. She seemed to be trying to wake up. I tried to soothe her. ‘It’s all right, Mother. You found Hera. You saved her. You’re both safe now.’ She sighed and relaxed.

  All the time I was talking to her I was vaguely aware that Silvern, Paz and Marba had volunteered to go to New Plymouth to try to find Willem. Biddo looked on the net for a train. It left at 5 am.

  It was twenty to five already. I stood up, struggling under Hera’s weight. I handed her to Brex. ‘Please can you look after her?’

  Silvern snapped, ‘You’re not coming with us, Juno. Don’t be stupid.’

  ‘I’ve got to. Don’t want to but I have to.’ And don’t ask me how I knew that, because I didn’t know myself. I tried not to look at Mother. I knew I should stay with her – maybe Sina was wrong and she was badly hurt. But I couldn’t ignore the sharp knowledge in my mind, unclear though it was, that I should go to New Plymouth.

  ‘I have to come with you,’ I repeated.

  Silvern shrugged. ‘Let’s go then.’ She gave me a sharp look. ‘You do realise though that we might miss the train? That we don’t even know how to get on a train? Or where the station is?’

  ‘We checked the map,’ Marba said. ‘We should be able to find it but we need to go now.’

  Sina said, ‘I’ll care for Sheen, Juno. Please don’t worry. I’m sure she’s not badly hurt.’

  I wanted to hug her, but I couldn’t risk it. ‘Thank you. More than I can say.’

  Moments later we were off, Silvern, Paz, Marba and me.

  The streets were still empty. It wasn’t until we reached the station that we saw other people. Luckily there were enough of them for the four of us not to stand out, even though we hovered in a dark corner for a moment to get our bearings.

  A voice boomed around the huge space, scaring us rigid. ‘New Plymouth train departing Platform 5 in three minutes.’

  Three minutes and we couldn’t see anything that said Platform 5.

  ‘Come on!’ Paz ran across the tiled floor. ‘We follow those people. There can’t be too many trains leaving right now.’

  ‘Yep, this is the platform,’ Marba said, pointing to a sign.

  The five or six people we were following jogged up the platform to carriages nearer the engine.

  ‘We don’t want to be with others if we can help it,’ Silvern said. ‘How about we get in this one? Everyone else seems to be going past it.’

  Just then a couple of men ran past us, elbowing us out of the way. One of them muttered, ‘Hurry up! There’ll be hell to pay if we miss the bloody thing.’

  That was enough to stop us dithering and we scrambled into the carriage.

  ‘Weird,’ said Silvern. ‘Where do we sit?’

  ‘Who cares?’ Paz answered. ‘There’s floor space. That’ll do.’

  ‘We could do with some windows,’ Silvern grumbled. ‘What’s the point of travelling if you can’t see where you’re going?’

  ‘Go to sleep,’ Marba said. ‘We don’t know what we might be getting into. We’ll need to have our minds fresh.’

  I was glad to stretch out on the floor with a mailbag for a pillow, but didn’t think I’d be able to sleep for fear of being haunted by dreams of my mother with blood pouring down her face. But before too long the sound of the moving train got into my head and I fell asleep, to dream of one of Grif’s lullabies that wove itself into the rhythm of the train. It was a gentle song, not a sad one.

  A voice booted us awake. ‘What the hell are you people doing in here?’

  We sat up, disoriented.

  ‘Well?’ the man barked. ‘Cat got your tongues?’ He glared down at us, his spiky grey eyebrows quivering with fury.

  Marba spoke for us. ‘Aren’t we meant to be here, sir? This is the train to New Plymouth, isn’t it?’

  I gulped. Had we made a mistake?

  The man looked baffled for a moment, then his face darkened. ‘Well blow me down. You’re some of that Taris lot, unless I’m mighty mistaken.’

  There wasn’t much point in denying it. Marba nodded.

 
I couldn’t bear the suspense any longer. ‘Is this the New Plymouth train?’

  ‘It is,’ he said, ‘so you’ll all be good enough to show me your travel passes if you please.’ He didn’t sound friendly.

  We stared at him. Travel passes?

  He threw up his hands. ‘No travel passes? I’ll be chucking you out at the next stop, and good riddance is all I can say. Come to think of it, even if you had the passes you’d be out on your ears. Murderers, liars and spongers, the lot of you!’

  I was on my feet, my fists hammering his chest, before I could think what I was doing. ‘What do you know about us? How dare you say those things – how dare you! It was one of us who discovered the virus that one of you let loose. That virus killed my grandmother.’

  Marba and Paz grabbed me and dumped me on a mailbag. Silvern stepped up and looked at the man calmly. ‘Perhaps you’d be so good as to listen to our side of the story,’ she said, her voice icily polite.

  ‘It’s a bit different from the stuff on the net,’ Paz said.

  Marba didn’t wait for the man to comment, but launched into a summary of our life since we’d arrived. Because it was Marba, his account was factual and unemotional. Maybe for that reason the man did listen. He shoved his cap up so that he could scratch his head. ‘That’s as may be. Fact remains there’s plenty of evidence against you lot.’

  I leapt back up from the mailbag. ‘Fact?’ I yelled. ‘The only fact is that somebody in this horrible place killed my grandmother.’ I sucked in a sobbing gasp. ‘Why? Tell me that. You seem to know everything about us, so tell me why my grandmother had to die.’

  ‘Juno, shut up,’ Silvern ordered.

  But I’d gone beyond reason. ‘My mother got attacked tonight. This is a horrible, ghastly place and I hate it!’ I swiped the tears out of my eyes and glared at him. ‘I hate you too!’

  Marba wrapped an arm around me and clamped a hand over my mouth. If he apologised to the man for my behaviour I’d bite him. But none of them said anything. They just waited for his response.