Terranovus

We reached the Army Base quickly and as we arrived I buried myself further into the sheets and hoped Hyun wasn’t going to rat on me.

“Back already?” called out one of the guards as the vehicle pulled to a stop. The doors opened and I heard the group leader’s voice again.

“You wouldn’t bloody believe it!” he called out. “There was a runaway out there. We tried to catch them, we think it was a girl, but they got away. We need to send the drones out asap.”

“A survivor?” asked the guard.

“More likely a rogue Terranovus citizen,” spat the leader. I felt my heart pumping in my chest and hoped upon all stars and planets Arnav wouldn’t be sent to collect the water again.

“Oi, Arnav,” called out the leader, “come and collect the water will ya? We didn’t end up bloody using it.” Damn it! What was I going to do?

“Nah, it’s okay boss!” I heard Hyun call out, “I’m going to take her down to the loading bay for a wash anyway. I’ll sign out when I’m finished.” I sighed with relief, it looked as though he was protecting me. Once everyone had climbed out the vehicle it moved again and went down a steep ramp. We turned a few corners then came to a stop. I heard Hyun climb out of the vehicle then make his way around and open the trunk. He looked extremely pissed off, almost as pissed off as I was.

“What the hell did you think you were doing sneaking into an Army issued vehicle like that?” he yelled. I threw the sheets off me and looked around the loading bay, thankfully it was empty.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing helping the Army cover-up that genocide back there?” I spat back.

“I don’t do that stuff, I’m just their driver,” Hyun argued back.

“Oh, because that makes you more innocent,” I retorted, “how do you know how to drive anyway?”

“I played a lot of online stimulations back at the Sectors,” Hyun mumbled then seemed to remember why he was angry at me, “don’t spin this back on me! Do you realise how much trouble you could have been in? Those wastelands are radioactive, what were you thinking?”

“Radioactive? What did the Army do to those people, Hyun?”

“Take a wild guess Tilly,” he said.

“I can guess thank you very much. But why did they kill them, tell me what else do you know about all of this,” I demanded.

“Like I’m telling you,” retorted Hyun, “you need to leave Tilly. Get out of here before they realise you were the one they saw or we’re both in trouble!”

“Please Hyun, tell me what else you know!” I begged him. Hyun shook his head with disbelief and slammed the trunk door shut.

“This is your last chance,” warned Hyun, “get out of here or I will call security and you’ll be arrested.” I stubbornly glared at him until I came to realise he was being serious. I had to let this drop, until tomorrow at school of course.

“Fine,” I muttered and stormed off back up the ramp.

“Not that way!” yelled Hyun and he pointed at a fire exit door a few feet from us. I stuck my finger up at him, marched towards the door and pulled it open.

I followed the fire exit tunnel until it emerged near the Army Base entrance, out of view from the security guards. Though I really wanted to march up to Dad, who undoubtedly had to know something about wastelands, I instead turned the other way and walked down the driveway back to the tram stop. I would confront him at home.

“Hello sweetheart,” Mum greeted me as I walked through the front door, “where have you been? You didn’t message me.”

“I hanged out with some friends after school,” I replied and kicked my school bag over to the corner of the living room. She stared at my school bag confused.

“Well, I was hoping we could go down to the beach and check it out before the sun went down, what do you think?” she asked, clearly deciding to mention my school bag was going to result in an argument. Mum always liked to keep the peace.

“No,” I said and shivered, the bare thought of admiring a piece of land which perhaps hundreds of people were murdered on made me want to vomit, “perhaps another day.” I started to make my way to my room.

“Tabitha, would you like to talk?” asked Mum, clearly worried.

“Nope,” I said and shut my bedroom door. I flopped down on my bed and glanced at the time on my Ingo. 4.45pm. Dad would be home in forty minutes. That was plenty of time to prep my speech. Suddenly my Ingo vibrated and I saw it was a reply from the resistance.

Good work. Well done.

I leaned forward and smiled pleased, then typed a reply.

Can I speak with Tommy now?

I waited for a moment, until-

No

I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell and tear my Ingo into pieces.

You said I could talk to him!

We had suspicions the Army had destroyed the land and renamed it Terranovus. Thank you for confirming our suspicions but if you want to talk to your lover boy we need new and useful information.

Like what? There’s nothing more to know. Please, I really want to speak to Tommy.

We want to know which land is next and when.

I reeled back shocked. What? No way. The Army wouldn’t do it again, would they?

How am I supposed to find this out?

You figure it out.

I cried out and flung the Ingo at the wall. Screw them I thought. Screw everyone. Especially the Army. I felt disgusted with myself for even sitting on the bed in this luxurious home. I wondered how many bodies were buried under this home. And how come the rest of the world didn’t know about this? How could the world not know an entire country was destroyed?

I wondered and pondered this for the next thirty minutes until I heard my front garden gate open. I peered out of my bedroom window and saw Dad standing mid-way through the gate talking to someone on his Ingo. He looked stressed and I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I crawled forward and ducked under my window and fumbled for the latch. It gave a satisfactory click as it released.

“I can’t pretend I’m okay with this,” I heard him say. I leaned forward more but wasn’t able to hear who was on the other side of the line. Dad continued, “of course I’m not going to tell my wife and daughter ... are you mad? ... I’ll talk to our boss tomorrow ... I don’t care if we get sent back to the Sectors ...” Dad went silent and I peered above the windowsill to see him looking pearly white. I watched him end the call and I slid back down onto the carpet. Perhaps tonight wasn’t a good night to confront Dad.

Dad was quiet and reserved throughout dinner and I could tell Mum was trying her best to remain positive. We all went to bed in silence.

The night before forgotten, I hopped onto the school bus the next morning extremely keen.

“Good morning,” Maria welcomed me cheerily.

“Good morning,” I said back and sat next to her. I turned to Hyun’s front door anxiously and waited for him to run out late as usual. But this morning he didn’t appear. The bus waited for a few seconds until it gave up and closed its doors and drove off.

“Where’s Hyun?” I asked Maria panicked. She shrugged.

“How am I supposed to know?” she said. “Sometimes his dad gives him a lift, why do you want to know?” I shrugged and acted as though I didn’t care but Maria continued to stare at me.

“Do fancy him?” she whispered. I scoffed at that.

“No,” I retorted. Maria laughed.

“Good, cause he’s homosexual you know?” I rolled my eyes and looked away. I didn’t care about that, one in third of every human was homosexual, it wasn’t a big deal. What was a big deal was how on earth he managed to get himself a job as a driver for the army.

The day passed quickly and although I hunted everywhere, Hyun wasn’t to be seen. He didn’t attend school that day, nor the next or the next. I was frustrated and distracted and very aware my graphic communication project deadline was nearing. As I sat down one night with my stylus and drawing board, I wondered if it would be acceptable to design the transportation hub in the shape of a cemetery. Then I remembered the winner and runner-ups would be invited to the Major’s home. Suddenly I straightened my back and focused a little more. I could do this. I had to do this. For Tommy.

The next week I resigned to the fact Hyun was actually very good at avoiding me. My classmates told me they saw him attending classes but the second I rocked up outside of those classes, he must have received wind of it, as he was nowhere to be seen. Admittedly I was quite impressed.

Then the day of the transportation hub hand in date arrived and I walked onto the school bus carrying my one-metre by one-metre model.

“Wow, that’s incredible Tilly...”

“... You made that all by yourself? ...”

" ... You’re gonna win for sure,” voices surrounded me. I proudly smiled down at my model. It was one of the best I had ever made. Made of timber and glass, the transportation hub took shape of a spider. Ziller’s location was in the centre of Terranovus, and after I spoke with a transportation specialist at Dad’s work, I learnt it was important for this hub to accommodation tracks facing North, East, South and West. So I took his advice and used the “spider” design to fulfil Ziller’s need. As I wanted its visitors to be “wowed” by my architectural skills, I made the hub almost completely underground with only its glass roof above the surface. So above ground, it looked like sunken “spider” shaped greenhouse but underground, visitors, when they looked up, saw an incredible mosaic of wooden beams and glass.

“I wish my design was as good as yours,” moaned Maria as we walked down one of the school corridors together. She looked down on her “mirror” themed design miserably.

“What are you talking about? Yours is good too,” I encouraged her. These last few weeks I realised Maria was smart, and I mean incredibly smart. She received an A in every class and aimed to be the best in every subject (apart from Sport). I think that was why the Army chose her family for Terranovus.

“Oh my gosh, what is that you’re holding Tabitha?” I heard Ava’s voice laugh from behind me. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“Ignore her,” I mumbled to Maria and together we kept walking.

“Tabitha I’m talking to you!” called out Ava.

“Don’t call me Tabitha, only my mother calls me that,” I shouted out with a smirk and continued walking. Maria sniggered into her project and I grinned amused with myself. That was until I saw a shadow in the corner of my eye and realised Ava was right behind me.

“What-” I started then felt her foot wrap around my ankle and yanked me backwards. As I fell, I watched my project fall out of my hands and fly two metres through the air and crash into a zillion pieces. I screamed like a banshee.

“You filthy coward piece of-” I started then launched myself at Ava. She shrieked as I rugby tackled her to the floor and started slapping every inch possible.

“Miss McKinley! What on earth do you think you are doing?” demanded the headmistress behind me. I paused for a moment, debating if I should stop, but glanced up and saw Hyun staring at me shocked. I sighed and climbed off petrified Ava and turned to Ms Zhou defeated.

“Ava tripped me and ruined my Ziller transportation hub model,” I stated. Ava scrambled to her feet and straightened her school shirt, looking furious.

“She hit me!” Ava yelled pointing at me. I glared back at her.

“Girls, follow me into my office please,” said Ms Zhou and she turned on the balls of her feet and started walking.

I rolled my eyes but did as I was told. I picked up my school bag from the ground and passed Maria.

“I’ll see you later,” I mumbled to Maria and walked around my ruined model. There was no hope of winning the competition now.

A few moments later Ava and I were sitting in Ms Zhou’s office with our heads down in shame.

“Completely immature ... despicable acts of hatred ... detention for both of you,” Ms Zhou ranted. She looked at both of us sternly, “I will be notifying your parents immediately. Please wait here whilst I do so.” She swiftly stood up and walked out of the room. I turned and checked she was definitely gone before I turned to Ava frustrated.

“Why do you hate me so much?” I asked her. Ava rolled her eyes.

“You tore my Avianna Gebara dress, remember?”

“No, you hated me before that, you completely looked down on me because it was my first time at that ball,” I said. Ava didn’t respond, instead, she tapped her leg impatiently and stared at the ceiling. Finally, she turned to me.

“Did you even look in the mirror before you left for the ball?” she asked. I went to throw more abuse at her, until- “you looked effortlessly gorgeous. The dress probably cost a fraction of mine but you looked beautiful. I was jealous, okay? ” My mouth dropped open in shock.

“Right girls,” said Ms Zhou and she re-entered the room, “both of your parents have been notified and your detention will begin 3pm today at the janitor’s office. You will both be scrubbing the cafeteria floor. Miss Waverly, you are dismissed. Miss McKinley, please remain, I want to speak to you in private.” I silently watched Miss Waverly bow her head and leave the room. The door shut and I turned back to Ms Zhou defeated.

“I deserve my punishment Ms Zhou, I’m sorry for losing my temper,” I apologised.

“Miss McKinley, do you remember when I told you I do not tolerate bad behaviour?” she asked. I closed my eyes and cringed.

“Yes,” I said.

“Fortunately for you, Mr Alderton saw your Ziller transportation hub submission on the Cloud last night and said by far your designs exceed all other students at Primus Academy. Congratulations, you are the winner,” she said unsmilingly. I was shocked, I should have felt over the moon but I didn’t. Ms Zhou continued, “on normal circumstances, I would expel you for assaulting a fellow student but I have listened to Mr Alderton’s pleas and detention will do. Please note, if you assault another student of mine, you will be expelled from not only Primus Academy, but also Terranovus, do you understand?”

“Yes Ms Zhou,” I said.

“Good, you are dismissed,” she said. I nodded my thanks and left her office in shock. Expelled from Terranovus? Perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing unless it meant death...

I left the administrative wing and stepped outside of the school for fresh air. I didn’t know if I could show my face in school anymore, what would the other students be saying about me? I sat down on the school steps defeated. This wasn’t my day. It wasn’t even my week, month or year!

“Hey,” I heard a voice behind me. I turned and saw Hyun. He looked a little awkward.

“Finished avoiding me have you?” I asked. Hyun walked forward and sat down beside me.

“I’m sorry Ava ruined your model,” he said.

“It’s okay,” I sighed, “Ms Zhou told me I won the competition anyway.” Hyun nodded and stared down at his hands, as though debating what to say next. It was clear interacting with people wasn’t really his thing.

“The Army did kill everyone on this land to make room for their utopia,” Hyun admitted and I turned to him surprised, “they blocked all communication towers just before the first bomb fell. Nearly everyone died, and those that didn’t, died from the radiation. That’s everything I know.” I chewed on the insides of my cheeks and thought for a moment.

“Do you know if the Army is capable of destroying another country?” I asked.

“Capable? Yes. They’ve done it once already, they can definitely do it again. But if they have plans to do it again? I don’t know,” Hyun answered.

“The resistance thinks they will,” I said then clamped a hand over my mouth. I turned to Hyun with my eyes wide, “I mean my friends, not resistance, I didn’t say that. I mean my friends-”

“The resistance?” he asked stunned, then realisation hit him. “They’re blackmailing you too, aren’t they?” I felt tears I had no control over fall and splatter on my lap. I wasn’t the only one in Terranovus the resistance was blackmailing.

“Yes,” I admitted, “who are they blackmailing you with back home?”

“A friend,” he said, “and you?”

“Tommy,” I said. And that was all I needed to say. So we sat quietly together, on those steps until the bell rang for second period class. No further words were required, for we understood each other’s journey and torment. When Hyun stood up and swung his backpack over his shoulder he turned to me.

“Make sure you find out everything you can at that Mayor’s dinner party this weekend,” he said.

“Don’t worry,” I smiled, “I will.”