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The regime was strict, roles and responsibilities were clearly defined and the swarm delivered. There were no complaints and no disobedience, but in time the workers were drawn to the cascade.

‘Have you ever flown between the sticks?’

‘You mean pass the wall between the bombs?’

‘Yea’

‘No that’s crazy, if you get hit with one of them it’s over. You’ll end up spinning in circles in the water below.’

‘Terry did it last week.’

There was a hush around the group as the story sunk in. ‘No way, that’s not true Terry wouldn’t even take on the keeper, he once told me he is scared of the walkers. The honey thieves. There is no chance he would take on the bombs.’

‘He did and he said it was the most incredible feeling ever. Clean wings no gold dust, and when he said clean, it wasn’t just like wiping your antennas, he said he could fly twice as fast, like those dragon flys.’

‘Shut up, are you telling me he flew into some of the bombs? Like they actually hit him?’

‘Yea, he took four or five hits’

‘And he didn’t crash, he was able to handle the weight?’

‘Yea he said it was hard, the force of the water was big, but he said he just held on.’

‘Was he in the air?’

‘Not sure, he was definitely on the stick for a few, but one might have hit him in the air.’

‘Brrrrr..’ Jay rolled his lips shaking his head in disbelief, ‘I don’t believe it, crazy… and he said he could fly twice as fast?’

‘That’s what he said.’

‘Wow’ Jay looked over at the cascade, dreaming of speed.

Back to the Past

Money was coming into the town, which was good for the villagers, but meant that they had to put up with the habits of the newcomers, some of which were more tolerable than others. But there were some, who lived alone, that were still not accustomed to seeing new faces. They were known in the village as the mountain people for the obvious reason that they lived in small shacks high in the mountains. They farmed the land and kept livestock so the after affects of the blackout had had little effect on them.

The reliance on the blue vein had disabled many people’s ability to think for themselves but these people still had the old skills and their customs hadn’t changed for many years.

As the newcomers grew in numbers so did their interest in the wider countryside.

James stood in the cave that overlooked the valley his eyes fixated on the three men that were moving down the hillside, they slowly traversed down the earthy goat path making sure not to slip on the loose terrain. He had not seen any foreigners in a long time, but he didn’t want them to see him, so he picked up his satchel and made his way back to the hut.

Causing Chaos

‘So you want to be one of us?’ Robin announced after a long hiatus, Joseph nodded in reply. ‘Well it’s not that easy you know…’ Joseph didn’t flinch, kept control of his emotions and looked back into Robin’s eyes, not too fiercely, but enough to show he could stand his ground.

‘We can test him first’ Andrew chimed in.

‘Of course we’re gonna test him, everyone gets tested.’ Andrew looked away sheepishly. ‘You think you are up for that?’ he added talking to the new recruit.

Joseph looked up from the floor and nodded, ‘I am fast, what do I have to do?’

The crew nodded at each other. The boys were all sitting in the attic of the ruin at the top of the village, they had transformed it into a base for their crew and met each weekend to organise their next mission. Today was the induction of a new lad, Joseph, who had just arrived in town.

There was some chatter between the crew and after a few moments Joseph turned to the new boy.

‘Okay listen and listen good, I am only gonna say this once.’ Silence fell around the room. ‘First we gonna blindfold you and take you to the centre of town, you gotta find Mr Finlay’s shop and get into the attic, I’ll give you a clue, there is an old fire escape at the back, it’s not solid but if you are quick you’ll get up it.’ The boys all looked at each other, sly smiles emerging on their faces. ‘Then once you are up there you gotta open one of his old chests, I ain’t gonna tell which one you gotta go for, but you gotta find a skull, the bigger the better.’ Robin paused and signalled around the room with his eyes.

Joseph followed his gaze and saw seven or eight large unidentified skulls hanging on a rope high in the room. He hadn’t noticed them before. Robin continued.

‘Once you got the skull you gotta make you way through the alley ways and back to us, but watch out there maybe a few extra challenges on the way.’

Open eyes

‘I want to show you something’ Rachel said ‘follow me.’

Rachel led her sister down the steps to the bottom of the garden. There was no clear definition between the end of the garden and the field but after a few paces the semi manicured layout of nature became more random and wild.

‘Where are we going?’ Rachel’s sister complained.

‘Nowhere’ Rachel replied, knowing the quizzical nature of her response would annoy her sister.

‘For gods sake, I don’t really care what you are going to tell me, I don’t care for another lecture, I just want some internet.’

Rachel didn’t reply, she just kept on walking enjoying the process of navigating through the countryside.

After a while the pair arrived at the crest of the hill and peered down the valley. In front of them a mash of purple, yellow and beige lit up the landscape bringing a smile to Rachel’s face. ‘Now what do you think of that little sis?’

There was a pause as Rachel’s sister looked for her words. ‘Okay I like it, it’s nice, it’s pretty, but thats it, I don’t know why you have to walk me for half an hour across the countryside to see a bunch of fields. I can see them on the internet, if I had reception.’

‘But don’t you think it’s nice to see the colours with your eyes?’

hmmmm… Rachel’s sister sighed and sucked in some air through her teeth making a hissing sound, knowing what she was about to say was going to be controversial, ‘I don’t know… I think I am okay it’s nice but I’ve got better things to do, I don’t really care.’ She turned and looked at Rachel, nervous, fearing retaliation from her sister. But Rachel just shook her head, turned back to the view and let the colours in.

Touch

‘I can’t explain it’

‘Well try’

‘It’s like you and the water are united you feel the power of pachamama running through you, everything else stops, you just feel…’ Sophie turned to the mountain standing in front of them, then up to the sky. ‘… I don’t know, you feel alive.’

‘Well that sounds all well and good, but you can feel alive in lots of other ways and not have to spend years rolling around in the mud.’

Sophie turned to her sister and looked at her, frustrated, she had heard all these arguments before, you should do this, you should do that. Initially it had angered her, but she had grown to accept it. However this was her sister and she wanted her to feel, to understand what she was talking about.

‘How many times have you woken up on Monday and felt your head pounding, looked at your alarm clock and feared the week ahead?’

‘Eeeeeerrr… like every Monday.’

‘How many times have you got to Friday and felt a huge sense of relief?’

‘Comon Sophie… get to the point.’

‘Well I don’t have that… ever… Not the Monday/Friday bit, but the sense of anxiety and the huge sense of relief. It doesn’t exist in my life. I just have me and a sense of me.’

Sophie’s sister tool a moment to think.

‘But you worry about some shit. I mean you have to, money for example, you have to have money to eat and you have to eat, or does the land magically provide some spiritual nourishment that replaces the bodily need for food!’ She laughed at her sister and a little at her own joke.

‘Shut up’ Sophie replied playfully. ‘Look of course there are things that I need to survive, I am just saying that the drastic opposites are not healthy, the ups and downs. Everything I experience is much simpler. I have what I have, if I need more I work a way to get it, but I don’t fight with the world or the expectations society places upon us. It’s just nature and me and…’

She paused thinking of the times it literally had been just her and nature, times when she had been very lonely. Then continued. ‘It can be lonely, but you find joy in other living things and this reminds you that you are alive.’

Sophie’s sister smiled a comforting smile, ‘I think I like my iphone too much.’

They both laughed.