Fallen, Chapter III; Different

Chapter III; Different

I am alone, yet so many surround me
I am dead, yet my heart still beats
I am human, but I am different

After a while resting, I rise from my place. Karl had already left earlier. Only me. Alone.
Not moving, not caring. Left to fend alone.

I walk towards the door to see outside. I see the girl, Susie, and run over to her.
“Hey,” she says to me, bearing looking back. I take a peek over her figure, to see that she is cleaning up the wound of a child.
“Hey, what happened to-“
“Skinned his knee while looking for fire wood.” I tilt my head to the side; Shes still focussed on cleaning up the wound.
“Fire wood?” I ask. “Isn’t that a bit dangerous-“
“Karl says he wants to burn the bodies,” she murmurs quickly. “His loading it on a truck, gonna take it east as far as it will go, burn them their, and walk back home.”
“Wont that attract attention?” I ask curiously.
“His got it all worked out.”
“Is that even possible?” I snap back. She looks up at me.
“I dunno about you, but by what I’ve seen him do, anything’s possible.” I kneel down next to her as she begins to strap a bandage onto the child.
“Your Susie, right?” She nods her head.
“That’s the name. Your Sarah, Karl told me before.” I watch as she finishes strapping the boy. He stands, as do we.
“Now go back to Karl, and tell him not to bring back any more injured kids.”
He begins to walk off, before I cry, “Hey, kid, what’s your name.”
“Zach,” he calls back, without turning around. I run up to where he is, waving to Susie, who smiles and waves back.
“Im coming to, then, if your going back to Karl.” He nods his head.
“Yep,” he says grumpily.
“So, where you getting the wood from.” He doesn’t turn his head. I don’t like that.
“bush,” he says shortly.
“Uhuh…” I say distastefully. “And that would be-“
“Down at the oval. His not their, though. His gone down to the English Block for something.” My eyes light up.
“Thanks,” I say as I begin to run towards the English block…

I arrive there to find the fence gone, and a weeping Karl. His just kneeling their, in the meadow, crying. Sobbing. Not doing anything, except for waiting for his tears to disspear, to splash against the ground. For the pain to end.

He jumps up as he see’s me. “Its you,” he says blankly as he wipes away some tears with his hands. I nod, and slowly walk up to him.
“Did you get the-“
“Yeh,” he says, stepping back a few steps. “Yeh, I got them all. There on the back of the Ute. Plus some bodies, got them to.” I shake my head curiously.
“What Ute?” I ask. Then my eyes light up. “We’ve got a car!” The enthusiasm makes him chuckle, and wipe more tears away from his face, like the sun has risen after years of night.
“Yep, there was one the David hot wired one for me in the car park. Its good to go, as long as I find some fuel somewhere down the track. Its over their, Look.” He points, my head follows his hands, and I see a red, four wheeler Holden Ute with a pile of bodies and heads on their, as long as some wood and tinder. “The plan’s to drive a few hundred Kilometres away and burn the lot. To not draw attention, we need to make sure they don’t come here.”
“Can’t you just burry them?” I ask as I turn my head towards him. He shakes his head.
“Not enough man power, might draw attention towards here. Besides, I might pick up some supplies on the way there.”
“Where’s there?” I ask.
“As far away as I can get. I’m brining Michael and the boys with me.”
“And me?” I ask hopefully.
“No,” he replies coldly. My eyes dart down towards to floor, and he quickly begins to excuse his actions. “You need to stay here and watch over the others. Susie and Madeline will help you, plus Ill leave the newcomers for man power. That Tristan is a good leader figure, shame his got no brains.” I laugh uncomfortably.
“Well, I got to get going,” he says nervously. “Watch over the others, and let no one leave the school. Not for any reason. “And remember what’s in your pocket.

He leaps up into the car, bends down to fuse two wires together, and it roars to life. I feel my back pocket to feel a cold, metal handle. The gun he had given me earlier. It cold, metal handle sends a surge of power up my arm, a sense of courage I never knew I had. “You might need to use it before I get back,” Karl says. “Watch them.” He waves one solemn hand, turns his head towards the road, and revs the car. “Goodbye!” he roars, and the car begins to move. He slowly drives away, leaving me to stand alone in the field.

I walk around the school for a while, trying to find the others. I am not given any satisfaction until I find a group of years four’s crouched down in the arts room.
“You’re the girl, right?” asks a skinny, small boy.
“If you mean by girl, Sarah, yeah,” I reply coolly. Out of nowhere, a figure runs up to embrace me.
“Sarah, you’re here,” says the high pitched voice Madeline, her arms wrapping themselves around me tightly. “I didn’t know where you were; you left before I woke up- I didn’t-“
“You can let go,” I say, slightly pushing her off. “That kind of hurts.”

My eyes wander around the roomI look around the see most of the survivors in here, a pile of food, and a freezer, in a corner where the newspapers should be. The newspapers, instead, are in a garbage can, with some wood, preparing to be burnt for the night. All the blankets the school could provide are in the room, including the sick bed, yet, their are not enough, despite our dwindling numbers with the loss of four of our heroes. A water tank is in the corner, and it looks dangerously low for thirty people. The desks are propped up against the wall, the paints are being used by the youngest children to keep their minds off things.

“You’ve been busy,” I comment, looking around the room.
“The Tristan boy woke up and told us we had to start getting organised, and that Karl was going away for a while. He and a few others are out bringing the rest of the food from the canteen, and brining over the last few cars to sleep in. There really doing their best to keep us as comfortable as possible. There being nice to me, and all.” I nod my head absent mindedly.
“Who did Karl take with him?” I ask.
“Michael, Shane and Thomas,” she said. “At least we don’t have to worry about Karl eating all the food, did you see how big he is?”
“Don’t tease him,” I say shortly. “His a good guy, he saved everyone in this room including you!”
There was an awkward silence. “He left this here, by the way,” she said as she picks up a machine from the table.
“That’s the!-“
“The radio, yeah,” Madeline finishes. “He told me to turn it on once every night, and only for 15 minutes, when the whole group can hear it. He said he didn’t want to waste the batteries.”
“Ok, then,” I reply. “Then if that’s that, Im going to find this Tristanguy and see what I can do to help him out.”
“Don’t bother,” she breathed, as the door slammed open to reveal a large Kiwi carrying several boxes of packaged food, and a few boys behind him, including his two friends we had found in the bushland. I run over to him as he drops the packages on the propped up tables and dusts his hands.
“Tristan, right?” I say, approaching. He slowly turns to face me.
“Yeh,” he says in a deep, deep, voice. “You’re the chick that was with that Karl guy, The Karl guy who knocked me out?”
“Yeh, that was me,” I say, my voice crackling a bit from nerves. His awfully big, he towers over me, and is taller than anyone in the room, even some of the year elevens and twelves. “I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help you guys?” Tristan looks around to his cronies behind him, who give a quick jerk of the head, as if encouragement, and then nods his head.
“Yeh,” he says. “You can give me that gun in your pocket.” There was, again, silence.
“Excuse me?” I ask. “You want my gun?”
“Yep,” he says, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. “Give it to me.”
I shake my head.
“Im sorry, this was a gift from Karl,” I answer. “You can’t have it.” He smiles smugly.
“Karl isn’t in charge any more, little girl, he isn’t here. So just give me the gun, and nothing will happen.” I consider it for a moment, but the reject the idea. Give this guy a gun? He’d shoot anything that moved.
“Im sorry, I just can’t.” He begins to move forward, I take a step back.
“Little girls shouldn’t play with guns,” he says, trying to intimidate me with his size. I must say, it worked, for I was trembling, and their was no Karl around to save me. “Little girls who play with guns might get-.“ He rubs his knuckles, then spits out a cruel, horrible word. “Hurt.” He jumps at me, and I push back, his bulk moving ever so slightly. As he stands aback, a little surpised, it gives me time to move, swiping the gun from my pocket and pointing it at his chest.
“You can just get back, Tristan, cause theirs eight bullets in this gun, and I don’t want to waste them on you.” He stares down the barrel of the gun; I desperately hope that he doesn’t think his fast enough. I don’t know if I could shoot anyone. Its takes several moments, and he finally comes to a decision.
“Alright,” he says calmly, his hands in the air defensively, as if he had done nothing wrong. “I just hope you’re not a good sleeper. You might find someone might borrow it during the night.”
“I’ll be sure to keep it safe,” I say cooly, returning the gun to my back pocket. This guy was worse than Karl; he doesn’t have compassion for his fellow man, only the drive to rule. Power, a dangerous thing in the hands of dangerous men.

I back away, slowly, keeping my eyes on the man. I did not want to be part of this mans little “Club.” The boys surrounding him seemed eager for power and rule; He enjoyed the boys as they followed his every command. He looks like his doing it for the group, but simply isn’t. What he lacks is humility.
I rush over to Madeline once more, who is now accompanied by Susie. Susie, without greeting me, latches herself onto me.
“Sarah!” she cries, not to loudly, but not without fear in her voice. “You have to help, Karl’s gone, I don’t know where else to go. I can’t trust these guys.” I push her off slowly.
“What’s wrong? What’s happening? Is someone hurt?” She shakes her head furiously.
“No, not yet, please, you have to come.” I give a quick glance to Madeline, who nods her head.
“I think you should tell Tristan, he’ll know what to do.” I let off a shy laugh, and grimly shake my head at her.
“Take me there, but don’t let Tristan or the others see me. I don’t trust him.” My hand tightly wraps itself around the weapon in my back pocket.
“I don’t either, that’s why I need you.”

We walk out, Madeline stays behind, and slowly we make ourselves to the bush land on the oval, where obvious attempts have been made to get as much fire wood as possible.
She leaps the fence in one; I try to mimic her move, but simply end up stumbling. I was never the most athletic girl, despite my skinny look and athletic make up. We creeps down and moves towards a bush, and sweeps away the a bush, revealing-
“It’s a Kid,” I gasp, stumbling on a stick in surprise. For behind the bush is a small, child with dark black hair and a bent figure. He crouches down, as if cowering from something.
“Its not just any kid,” says Susie. “Look at him.” I stare him down, and suddenly realise.
He’s a Jap.

“Hello” he says quietly. “My name is Kanosh.” I look at him in amazement, and study him. He has obvious bruising all over his body, and patches that have been bandaged, by, I assume, Susie.
“Where did you find-“ I begin, then see his clothing. School uniform. “His one of-“
“One of us, yes,” Susie finished. “Im scared for him, Sarah. A couple of year sevens beat him up on ealier today, when you were out with Karl. No one noticed him, besides them. I took him here, Im scared that Tristan might do something to him. If year sevens did it, then why not him?” I keep my eyes peeled on the boy, as if contagious, then quickly shake my head as I realise what I am doing. He seems to be a six year old child. How could a six year old be prosecuted because of a blood shed he was part of. It seemed absurd, but was happening. This boy was exiled. Just because he was different.
“What can we do,” I ask. “What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to look after him while I go back up to the camp, and get supplies. Im going to take him deep into the bush, have him lie low a while with me until Karl gets back. I know Karl won’t do anything like hurting this boy, especially when your protecting him.” I look at the boy like a monster, once more, although I try desperately to stop. I simply can’t. “You will protect him, right?” she asks.
“Of course,” I say, ignorantly. “His just like us, the Germans or the Russians wouldn’t care if his Japanese, so, In a way, his being hunted to. Just like us.” I give a shy little smile to the boy. “Isn’t that right, buddy. You’re not different at all.” The boy looks straight ahead.
“Three boys hit me, after another boy saved my life,” says the small child. I am amazed in how he speaks so adult like. “I cried, I screamed, and they wouldn’t stop. I am different. I deserved it.”

A tear flows from my eye, and I kneel down to meet the boy, eye level.
“No one should be hurt because their different,” I say, my voice spluttering as more tears flow. “If anyone hurts you, Kanosh, I will stop them.” I caress the boy, holding him tightly. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I will protect you.”
Susie looks at me. “Go,” I murmur. “I wont let anything happen to him.” I release the boy, stare into Susie’s eyes, and she nods to me.
“Ill be back soon,” she says, and dashes towards the fence line. “Ill be back.”

I sit with the boy in the grass, and together, we wait, not at Australians and Japanese, but as two human beings afflicted by war.