New City

by Deborah Abela

  ‘What?’ Xavier wasn’t happy.

  The pilot checked a small hand-held device and seemed not to have heard. ‘We need to get moving before the weather changes.’

  Xavier scowled. ‘I almost had him convinced.’

  ‘Really?’ Griffin asked. ‘Because it looked like he was ignoring you.’

  Xavier was offended. ‘I made and flew my own flying machine. How much harder could it be to fly a helicopter?’

  ‘I guess we’ll never find out,’ Isabella poked his chest, ‘because I didn’t survive the last three years to have it end now.’

  She looked around the rooftop. ‘Where’s Fly?’

  ‘Saying goodbye to Herman.’ Griffin nodded towards a young girl with straight dark hair who was standing by the edge of the roof. ‘She’s been there a while.’

  Isabella walked over and stood by her side.

  ‘He keeps slamming his tail against the water.’ A single tear fell down the young girl’s cheek.

  Isabella held her close.

  Another sea creature appeared behind Herman. This one was much larger with the same long neck and flowing mane. She stretched out her wings and let out an echoing screech. The younger one joined in.

  ‘They’re saying goodbye,’ Isabella said.

  Fly waved. ‘I’ll never forget you.’

  The blades of the chopper came to life with a slow, rhythmic swoop. Isabella and Fly crouched low as they scrambled in beside the others. Xavier heaved the door shut.

  The whirr of the engine increased and, with a sudden jolt, the machine lifted into the air.

  ‘Oh dear.’ Jeremiah tightened his seatbelt and hugged the bear against his pale face. ‘Is it a bad time to confess that I’m a nervous flier?’

  ‘It would be if you were the pilot,’ Xavier joked. ‘But since you’re not, we should be fine.’

  The chopper flew over a maze of flooded streets and overturned double-decker buses that looked like toys left out in the rain.

  Raffy stared as it swept beneath them. ‘What if we’re not fine? What if leaving is a huge mistake?’

  Isabella gently held Raffy’s hands. ‘Grimsdon has been a good home for us, but it’s time to share you with the rest of the world.’

  ‘But what if it’s even harder to survive where we’re going?’

  ‘How could it be?’ Griffin cried. ‘We’ve lived in a flooded city with bullying thugs and sea creatures bigger than this helicopter. Living back in civilisation will be easy.’

  ‘He’s right!’ Xavier puffed out his chest. ‘Especially if you stick with me.’

  ‘My hero …’ Griffin raised an eyebrow.

  ‘It’s about time you realised, Griffman.’

  But Raffy couldn’t hide his fear. ‘Last time we lived with adults, they made me and Bea live in separate houses. What if they do that again?’

  ‘This time will be different,’ Bea said.

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Because I’m bigger now and I won’t let them.’

  Isabella held Raffy’s gaze. ‘Nothing and no one is going to keep us apart. I promise.’

  The knot in her stomach tightened.

  The sparkling harbour sped beneath them, crisscrossed by crumbling bridges and the tops of buildings poking out of the water like islands. It looked almost calm and serene.

  Until the helicopter suddenly lurched forward. ‘Oh dear,’ Jeremiah groaned. ‘I don’t think I can do this.’ There was a brief silence before Raffy spoke up.

  ‘Tell us about the new house we’ll be living in.’

  ‘The what?’ Bea gave her brother a proud smile and knew instantly what he was doing. ‘Your house in the country,’ she added. ‘The one that’ll be our new home.’

  ‘Oh.’ Jeremiah kept his eyes shut. ‘It’s small but it’ll be big enough for us.’

  ‘Does it have a garden?’ Fly joined in.

  ‘It used to.’ Jeremiah’s voice softened a little.

  ‘What did you grow?’ Bea asked.

  ‘Apples, pears, and in winter there were oranges as big as footballs.’

  ‘I love oranges,’ Raffy said.

  ‘Me too.’ Jeremiah opened his eyes. ‘We can pick them together.’

  ‘I don’t mean to show off, Jeremiah,’ Bea adjusted her tiara, ‘but I think you and Snowy are going to love living with us.’

  ‘Is that so?’ Jeremiah’s shoulders relaxed even further.

  ‘Oh yes,’ Bea said. ‘We’re lots of fun. We act out plays at night and Griffin reads us stories.’

  ‘He’s reading us Oliver Twist,’ Raffy said.

  Jeremiah finally seemed to relax. ‘I love Dickens.’

  Raffy peered out from beneath his scraggly fringe. ‘Do you think they’ll let us live with you?’

  ‘I certainly hope so.’

  ‘Even though we’re not a real family?’ Fly asked.

  ‘We’re as much a family as any could be.’ Jeremiah took Snowy from inside his jacket. ‘What’s that, Snowy?’ He held the bear to his ear. ‘You’re absolutely right!’

  ‘What did he say?’ Raffy asked.

  ‘Snowy says it wouldn’t be right to separate us, and he’ll do all he can to make sure we stay together.’

  ‘Great,’ Xavier said. ‘We have the guarantee of a stuffed bear.’

  ‘Who has never been wrong,’ Jeremiah declared.

  Bea and Raffy giggled.

  The chopper tilted to one side in a wide, swooping turn. The pilot’s tinny voice sounded over the intercom. ‘Last chance to see the city before we leave.’

  Beneath them was a long, stone building adorned with spires so that it looked like a dragon with a spiky body and clock tower for a head.

  ‘Parliament House,’ Isabella whispered.

  On top, tied down with ropes, was a large winged machine.

  ‘My Aerotrope,’ Xavier said. ‘She looks even better from up here. Raven had better look after her.’

  At that very moment they spied a face hidden in the recess of a window. Isabella lifted her hand and held it against the glass.

  ‘Do you think they’ll be okay?’ Griffin asked.

  ‘Raven’s looked after those kids for years. He has the Aerotrope if he decides to leave.’

  They fell quiet.

  It was really happening.

  They were leaving Grimsdon.

  The chopper flew over the wheel of the Grimsdon Eye, the turrets of the castle and the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.

  That’s when they heard a loud series of cracks. Even from the height of the helicopter they couldn’t escape the noise.

  They searched below but it was Griffin who saw it first. ‘There!’ he cried.

  A tall apartment building had shifted to one side and was leaning against another, as if it was tired of staying upright. A flock of birds flew away in a cloud of panic. The pilot swooped in for a closer look.

  Stone ground against stone, stairs twisted and doorframes cracked and burst.

  ‘That’s it!’ Jeremiah held Snowy to his chest. ‘I’m not opening my eyes again until we land.’

  The building beside it began to collapse too. Bricks flew into the air, balconies dislodged and crumbled into the water. There was a loud screeching and scraping as if the buildings had suddenly come to life.

  The water boiled and frothed as more and more debris crumbled into it. Windows smashed and glass rained down in splintered fragments.

  The next building began to crumble too.

  Great cracks appeared and walls fell away, leaving gaping holes into abandoned kitchens and bedrooms.

  Like dominoes, the row of buildings weakened until they came crashing down in an avalanche of steel, stone and glass. Homes and offices disintegrated as if they were made of sand. Beds, lounges and cupboards tumbled out.

  It was like witnessing the end of the world, one falling building at a time.

  After the last building collapsed, all that was left were jagged walls poking out of the water like graveston
es in a cemetery.

  And then all was still.

  No one spoke. They sat and watched as the world they had known lay in a broken, crumpled mess.

  Within minutes, the helicopter turned into another huge arc, sweeping them away forever from the sunken city of Grimsdon.

  CHAPTER THREE

  An Unexpected Welcome

  Flooded suburbs streamed beneath them, with their broken homes swirled by murky waters. Then came the towns swallowed by hard layers of mud.

  Streets were clogged with furniture, cars and bus shelters. Many houses had lost their roofs and rivers of mud had spilled through windows and doors of shops like frozen lava.

  After that, things became even more eerie.

  ‘What can you see?’ Jeremiah still had his eyes shut.

  ‘Neighbourhoods that aren’t flooded,’ Raffy said. ‘With normal houses and yards but no people.’

  ‘It’s as if everyone has vanished.’ Bea searched the deserted playgrounds and schools. ‘Why isn’t anyone living there?’

  ‘It’s too close to the Floodzones,’ Jeremiah explained. ‘They can’t let people come back in case the waters rise again.’

  Town after town lay abandoned and forgotten. The helicopter flew quickly over it all, until they reached a vast, snaking wall.

  ‘We’re nearly there,’ Xavier said, and Isabella felt her breath catch in her chest.

  Inside the wall were lush, green hills topped with a sea of rotating wind turbines above fields of shining solar panels. The helicopter rose above the turbines, gently buffeted by their breeze.

  As they rose higher they saw their first glimpse of New City.

  Xavier held out his hand. ‘Welcome to your new home.’

  The glittering city appeared before them like an island surrounded by wave after wave of tightly packed houses with thin, winding streets in between. Everything was grey. There were no gardens and only the rarest green smattering of shrubs and trees.

  Fly opened her notebook and began sketching.

  ‘I’ve been here before,’ Isabella realised. ‘With my dad. It used to be called Littleton.’

  They stared at the sprawl of houses, but as they got closer, they noticed something else.

  ‘There’s no one here either.’ Raffy searched out the window. There’re no bikes or kids playing or people shopping. No one.’

  ‘Maybe they’re all at work or school,’ Griffin suggested.

  ‘All of them?’ Fly asked.

  ‘It does seem strange,’ he admitted.

  ‘I can see something moving!’ Bea cried.

  A rounded armoured vehicle slowly patrolled the streets.

  ‘It looks like an oversized beetle,’ Raffy said.

  In the centre of it all, perched on the highest point, was a vast labyrinth of a building with turrets, battlements and a fortified gatehouse. It sat like a sleeping grizzly, lording over the cowering buildings beneath and protected by its own forbidding wall.

  ‘That’s Littleton Castle,’ Isabella said.

  The pilot’s voice sounded over the intercom: ‘Prepare for landing.’

  The helicopter descended quickly, and with it went Jeremiah’s stomach. ‘Oh dear,’ he said, burying his face in Snowy’s fur.

  As they passed over the walls of the castle they peered into a courtyard where soldiers in steel-grey uniforms were marching in perfect time. In a smaller area, men in white suits battled in twos using whips and swords in a martial-art-style combat.

  ‘This was a museum when I was here last,’

  Isabella said. Xavier shrugged. ‘Not anymore.’ The chopper was jostled this way and that before it landed on a rooftop with a small bump. Isabella patted Jeremiah’s shoulder. ‘We’re here.’ His eyes flew open. ‘You hear that, Snowy? We made it!’ They sat still, not wanting to move as the rotor blades slowed. ‘What happens now?’ Griffin asked. Xavier pointed. ‘I think we’re about to find out.’ Four soldiers stepped out of the building.

  They surrounded the helicopter, guns held firmly against their chests. They wore helmets with dark visors covering their faces, each with a shiny red viewfinder over one eye. On their legs they wore curved metal attachments.

  Xavier whispered to Jeremiah. ‘Maybe it’s time for the bear to go.’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ Jeremiah slipped the soft toy inside his jacket and whispered. ‘Sorry, Snowy, it won’t be long.’

  ‘Collect your bags and step out of the helicopter.’ The helmets made it hard to know which of the soldiers had spoken.

  They did as they were told and climbed out of the chopper, ducking beneath the slowing blades.

  Xavier stepped forward. ‘We’ve been invited here by –’

  ‘Stand back.’

  ‘You don’t understand, I was the one who –’

  ‘I said stand back, and don’t make any sudden –’

  Griffin didn’t hear any more as his knees collapsed under him and he crumbled to the ground.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  A Bad Omen

  Isabella and Fly knelt beside Griffin.

  ‘I said don’t make any sudden –’

  ‘We need to make sure he’s okay!’ Fly threw it out as a challenge, daring the soldier to stop them. She didn’t know if her heart was beating from the sight of the guns or her fear that Griffin was hurt.

  She gently tapped him on the cheek and his eyes flickered open.

  ‘Let me guess, I fainted.’

  ‘Are you okay?’ Isabella asked.

  He rubbed his head. ‘I will be when I learn how not to faint at inconveniently dangerous moments. What was it this time?’ He pushed his glasses back into place and saw the soldiers. ‘Oh, that’s right.’ He suddenly felt faint again.

  Fly and Isabella helped him to his feet.

  ‘Isabella?’ Raffy tugged at her sleeve. ‘They’ve got guns.’

  ‘We’ll be fine.’ She stroked his hair. ‘Just stay close.’

  ‘Don’t worry.’ Xavier gave him a wink. ‘I won’t them let hurt you.’

  The soldiers stood perfectly still. On their backs was the ruffle of what looked like a fine, metallic material. Almost like a small, folded cape.

  A sprightly female soldier appeared from the building and marched towards them. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun and she seemed too young to be wearing a uniform. She came to a crisp stop and saluted.

  ‘My name is Corporal Smith of the Central Garrison. It’s my job to make sure you feel at home.’

  ‘Then we’re not off to a very good start.’ Xavier nodded at the guns. ‘I was told we’d be welcome.’

  ‘You are. They’re only tranquilliser guns. These are difficult times and we need to be careful of every newcomer to keep the city secure. Trust me, it’s for your protection and safety.’

  ‘I’ve felt safer,’ Xavier mumbled.

  ‘We’re not criminals,’ Isabella protested.

  ‘Of course not.’ Corporal Smith nodded at the soldiers. Two of them began searching their bags.

  ‘Hey,’ Isabella objected. ‘That’s my –’

  She heard a click and one of the guns was trained directly at her.

  Xavier stepped in front of Isabella. ‘It’s all right,’ he told the soldiers. ‘You can look, but you won’t find anything.’

  Jeremiah drew the young kids to him. Isabella began to protest, but Griffin touched her arm and shook his head.

  After they’d searched the bags, the soldiers moved back in line.

  Corporal Smith handed each of them a card and a slim device with a small screen. ‘These are your temporary ID cards and Weather Detectors. You will be given official cards after your interviews at the State Archives. Carry both at all times and do not leave the building unless you are with me or a member of the Garrison.’

  ‘Why do we need a Weather Detector?’ Griffin asked.

  ‘The climate has become unpredictable since the Floods. Your Detectors will warn you when there is an approaching weather event and highlight the
nearest shelter.’

  ‘Is it that dangerous?’ Raffy asked.

  ‘Not if you’re prepared.’

  A gust of wind pushed open Isabella’s coat, revealing her knife in its ankle holster.

  ‘I’m afraid I’ll have to take that. Only soldiers carry weapons. It’s the law after the Chaos caused by the Floods.’

  ‘It’s because of the Chaos that I have it.’

  ‘Yes, and it may have been necessary in Grimsdon, but you won’t need it here.’

  Isabella didn’t budge. ‘I’d prefer to keep it.’

  Corporal Smith spoke carefully. ‘But now that you’re in New City, there’ll be adults entrusted to take care of you.’

  ‘Adults?’ Xavier scoffed. ‘I don’t mean to be rude but, apart from Jeremiah, we didn’t meet any adults we could trust.’

  ‘Some were downright dangerous,’ Jeremiah remembered.

  ‘It’s true,’ Raffy cried. ‘Most of them were bullies who stole from us.’

  ‘And if we tried to stop them,’ Bea added, ‘they’d get their revenge by breaking things in our house … or worse. Once they even kidnapped Fly.’

  ‘She nearly died,’ Raffy said, ‘but Xavier and Isabella saved her just in time.’

  ‘You have to understand,’ Isabella fixed her gaze on Corporal Smith, ‘trusting adults is not going to be very easy.’

  ‘Well, you can trust me. That kind of lawlessness is over.’ Corporal Smith stepped towards Isabella and held out her hand. ‘I’m sorry but it’s the law.’

  Isabella reluctantly unbuckled her holster and did as she was told.

  Corporal Smith handed the knife to one of the soldiers. ‘New City is governed by a set of rules to keep everyone safe. They may seem strange after the freedom of Grimsdon, but you’ll see how necessary they are.’ She brightened. ‘If you’ll take your bags and follow me, I’ll show you to your rooms.’

  She led them into a grand corridor lined with rich carpet and lights that dangled above them like glowing moons.

  ‘The world has changed and we needed to change with it, resulting in one of the most organised and eco-friendly cities in the world. And all thanks to the Major General.’