Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The cold, it was all you could feel, it’s all I can feel the bitter breeze, sending shivers up your body without a second though, but it was something we were all use to now, we didn’t know any different.

All my eyes saw was white, a constant blizzard that never ends.

Pulling my legs closer to my body I look over our once proud city, it was a white city of snow. I pulled at my hooded jacket as a breeze blew through me, chills went up my body as the cold hit me.

A howl trapped on the breeze caught my ears. I lifted my head and stood to my feet removing any warmth I once had, looking towards the wall I saw nothing before having to take a step back in surprise as light appears and disappears near the wall.

Even at this distance I know its gun fire it’s the only light in this world besides fire. Stepping towards the gap that laid between every house, I watch the smoke from the guns disappear into the snow.

Looking to the roof of the house I step towards the side till I was able to see over the side, where a pile of wood crates lay bunched together and covered by a large rag. The crates were old and also covered in snow.

I stepped closer to the edge and also closer to the crates, till my feet rested half on and half off with my toes hanging off the side. Pushing off my heels I land in the crates. From the cold and old age of wood they brake under my weight and I crash to the bottom of them " hurting my bum in the process.

I expected to fall through them but was still unprepared for it to happen so quickly. Shifting slightly I grabbing hold of one of the crates corners and pull myself up to my feet and dusk off the snow that was collect in my fall.

My head banged in protest as I began to walk. Walking down the stairs I watched the ground ahead for any ice as I went to the lower levels of Sydney.

Our lives are all described now as higher and lower level. The higher level are for important people and for families that are larger than four. Those with no family " myself " or don’t meet the requirements are on the lower level where they lie on the street and work in the generator. Only a few on the lower level actually have a house.

A loud bell rang through all of the Sydney. The meant it was time to eat at the great hall. Jumping the last two steps of the stairs, and slipping slightly on the ice that covered the bottom of the ground before the stairs. I headed down the main street towards the great hall. Every day the bell would go off when it was time to ear, though it was a small amount you were able to live off of it.

I main street was a dark sort of place it was covered in rags and falling apart building that were holding old rags for shelter from the snow. The path of the main road was dirt but was also mixed with snow. All the snow that was once there had been pushed back against the buildings with logs of wood, though it didn’t stop the snow from over the logs. The buildings were all dark and rotting brick, the rotting of wood and alcohol made the main street stink and a gloomy place.

Walking down the street I noticed an older man leaning against the wall of a broken building, he looked more worn out from the drinking then he did the cold. I knew he was going to die by morning, it’s clear in the eyes with some people, almost as if their saying ‘let me die’.

Looking away from the man I pull at my jacket slightly to gain a little warmth, and look at the ground in time to see a red liquid covering the ground. I step over it and look over to the rags above my head.

Not noticing where I was going I step on something squishy looking at the ground I expected the worse only to find a small doll that was covered in dirt. Seeing this doll brought me to earth as I picked it up and took notice of the sound of crying of a child. I looking in front of me I saw a woman with two children one no more than a few 

months old, but already looked dead and the other most likely five or four crying out to her mother and pointing at the doll.

The woman was holding the baby in her arm trying to keep it awake and walking at the same time, while her other daughter pulled at her skirt. The woman’s eyes her shaded over with exhaustion and she looked at her wits end with the two.

I looked at the doll and the child before taking a few steps forward towards the girl, and when I was only steps away from her, I bent down and reached the doll out to her. The girl looked at me and stopped her crying and looked at the doll. She 

hesitated as she reached her hand out towards it. I moved the doll closer to her with a small smile to her, she looked at the doll and then at me before snatching the doll and running back to her mother and grabbing her skirt.

When I finally made it to the great hall I stepped through the open doors " which were massive in size and of sliver but was rotting, with strange swirl design that looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in centuries. When I was inside I noticed that the hall was nearly completely full with people. Though the hall could fit a few hundred people " it was built a little time after the bridge fell " It didn’t fit us all and with the number of tables inside of the hall it fitted even less people.

The hall was a large open space with a number of pillars that all had different craving in them from people who got bored " mostly the children " though the area was large and used regularly it was rotting on the rooves and the floor was covered in snow and ice. The corners of the building were all iced over with a hard shell that no one can crack. The stage at the back of the hall is old wood and is also covered with patches of ice but most of the snow is shoved to the corners. On the opposite side of the hall there the cafeteria, that just like a hole in the wall that’s about 90cm from the ground and 200cm in length. Sitting on the bench of the ledge there are several trays of small amounts of food that had been left over from the people who have had their share.

The great hall was the only place where people can actually smile and talk freely. Adults and children would all go to their groups of age and act freely without a care. It was where it just seemed natural to be loud and noisy " for outside is quiet and silent.

I went towards the cafeteria and grabbed a tray from the small stash of them, and moved along the window to collect any of the leftovers. Several of the trays of food had been emptied and only a small remained " a small amount of beans, stiff and old looking bread and crisp and burned overcooked vegetables. I grabbed the bun and found it to be stale " but I didn’t expect anything different " and scooped the last of the burnt vegetables and baked beans before going to find myself a seat.

Walking along the side of the great hall, I took notice of all the people laughing and smiling and the children running around the open areas. But after walking around aimlessly for several minutes, I started to consider eating in a corner on my own. But as when I just about to turn to the lonesome corner, I felt a grip and a tug on my elbow before I was pulled back to follow.

When I was turned around I took notice of the short black hair tied in a side ponytail, I couldn’t help but recognise her.

“Tai Lee, I can walk on my own” I stated to her

Tai Lee was a short black haired Chinese woman, with dark dangerous narrow eyes. Her skin is a olive colour but slightly pale from the cold. She always wore a black long sleeved thick shirt over a blue sleeveless jumper with a hood that rested on her back. Her black tracksuit pants that were slightly to large for her and fell a little off her hips but didn’t fall. On her feet to protect them from the cold she wore steel toed boots that were scratched and dented with her pant tucked inside them.

“Parentally not” Tai Lee argued with a slight snap

Tai Lee was the eldest of twelve, her parents were killed but not by the night raiders but by people to save resources it happened every year. Tai Lee was left to provide for her family the youngest being four years old.

Tai Lee was unfortunately born without a right arm from the elbow down. She always says that if she had a right arm she would be right handed " holding cutlery feels uncomfortable. Though she now has a mechanical arm, which now all she complains about is how everything she grabs breaks under her grip.

Tai Lee dragged me through the crowd of tables and people, and towards one f the many tables sat in the middle of the room. She let go of my arm and walked to the other side of the table and sat down where a tray was already placed on the table.

Where she was seated there was a large muscular man next to her, he was dark 

skinned and had short curly black hair and dark brown eyes.  He wore a long sleeved turtle neck shirt with a black coat hanging off of the back of the chair, He was sitting down so I’m not able to see the rest of him.

“Aren’t you cold, Arkamun?” I couldn’t help but ask

“You are only cold, when you believe you are” Arkamun answered

Arkamun had always been like that, stating things that made no sense, while he regularly said what he said " though I still see him shiver every now and then.

I looked past Arkamun and took notice of a smaller leaner boy. He had a head of straight ginger hair and dark tan skin to match. His eyes are bright blue, though they showed no emotion. He wore a navy blue turtle neck shirt under a black coat that was a tad too big for him.

I saw his eyes drat my way before return to the wall he had been glaring at for who knows how long. Across from him was a pair of ginger twins, their hair flicking at the ends under the beanies that hide them. Their skin was tan but pale. Their cheeks and nose were covered in freckles, their eyes were a shade of green and also had a happy glow about them "only the heavens know why.

They wore black turtle neck shirts and large sized green jackets, their pants were baggy and their hands were covered in makeshift gloves. I could only help but smile at the pair of twins. The pair were like what people believed twins were like, inseparable. They have never been apart, as far as I know.

My mind was all of the place of group that I had forgotten what I was actually doing there. I remembered when a pair of fingers were snapped in my face, bring me back to the world of hell.

“Are you just going to stand there all day?” the first twin asked with a thick Scottish accent

“Or are you going to join us?” the second twin asked with an equally Scottish accent

Michael " the elder of the two, and first to ask " moved slightly over on the bench seat giving me room to sit next to him, where he was currently patting the spot he had previously been sitting.

I smiled and placed my tray on to the table, before sitting down next to Michael. I looked over of table finding the group of rusted spoons and picked out the least 

rusted and started to eat. Using the spoon I scope up the beans and ate them I one bite. They were cold and uncooked but it was a pleasure to even feel them in my mouth.

I finished off the last of the beans and started on the vegetables, cutting them into two with my spoon, then eating them. As I grabbed the bun, a thumping on a microphone blared through the great hall.

The group of us and everyone else in the hall covered our ears as the mic was tested. Sometimes the twins would yell out that they did it " as if they’re in trouble and done something wrong.

Our ears were still covered when the head director come forth the microphone. The director was a man of greed; he saw no purpose in us and regularly shot someone in the head. But he did know he needed us, to stay warm " at a certain age we are all put to work in the generator room to create the heat that we don’t even feel.

He stood before us with a disgusted look on his face, his eyes glaring. As he stood he coughed into the microphone and we all lowered our hands from our ears, to listen to his riot of a speech.

I bit into the stale bun as I watched him talk about all sorts of things that most of us down here didn’t care about; most of what he was talking about was: how warm it is in the upper level, how all our hard work was making their live warmer " he spoke so often of it " then he moved on to the night raiders.

“As you know those that attack the Night Raiders without orders, are considered fools and it is still true. We have get again had another death of one of the soldiers that try to protect this great city. The fool jumped from the wall and hit the ground shooting furiously but only to be grabbed in the hands of a beast and dropped into its mouth.

But of course we shall not let this death draw us down, as we continue to defend the wall, you may all continue to warm the surface with your hard work in the generator room: splendid warmth up in the upper level, though we would all proffer the sun, but alas it cannot be done as the sun has gone and given up on us and left us to our demise!”

I turned away from him and his riot of a talk and looked over towards Tai Lee. She was sitting down with her little sister on her lap being spoon feed by Tai Lee. I took another bite of the bread tasting its flavourlessness and swallowed feeling the roughness of the bread down my throat.

As I went to take another bite of the bun, I felt the table Vibrate. I looked over at Tai Lee again and saw her lift up her plate off the table and place it onto the seat bench. While Arkamun just placed it onto the table next to our " making the table longer for more people.

When I looked I looked next to him I saw Drake not doing anything but making room for Arkamun Plate " he was sitting on the second table. My eyes moved over to the twins where I saw Mikey " on the corner of my eye - banging the table with his head while Michael just rolled his eyes and shook his head at his brother.

“You're going to get a headache” Michael said, while crossing his arms

“Then make” BANG “Him” BANG “Stop” BANG “talking” BANG

I winced as Micky hit his head once more on the table. When he rose a red mark was imprinted on his forehead. He rubbed it with his hand and I took notice of Michael not watching him anymore, but instead his attention had gone towards the stage.

The head director had stopped his rambling and was looking down at a woman who was holding a deathly looking baby in her arms. The poor things arm was hanging out of the old rags that it was wrapped in, it was surely dead.

“She’s begging” Michael said

She was a skinny woman and looked like she was ready to collapse to the ground. Her face was covered in dirt and her hair was greasy looking and mattered. Her hands were bony and looked as if she didn’t even have flesh.

She was holding the baby up towards him in shaky hands. She was saying something to him, though I couldn’t hear what he was saying " or her " for his hand was over the microphone but the way his was talking to her made it look like argument.

I heard slight shifting in Arkamun’s direction, but when I look it wasn’t Arkamun. I looked towards Drake and saw him look at the wall of the hall. I couldn’t help but also follow his glaze towards the wall, when I heard the woman hit the ground.

I saw Michael - on the corner of my eye " look at the table and stretch his arm of the table in Micky’s direction; I took notice of that his arm was stretch out to stop Micky from hitting his head on the table any further: stopping him from hurting himself.

I couldn’t help but turn around and watch the director kick the woman in the head. One of her arms hugging her child to her chest, while the other tried to protect her head from the blows of the director’s boots.

Things like this happened often, though we of the lower level never seem to learn. Most then anyone it will be a woman with a dying baby or a woman with an already dead baby. It’s a depressing scene, watching her or him be beaten to the ground. 

Worse than anything I think, is the fact that no helps.

It continued for a few more minutes until the woman was shaking on the ground in fear of the beating continuing. The director cleared his throat and moved back up to the microphone as if it had never happened.

He continued his riot into the microphone, his face was blank but his eyes looked as if they were staring straight at me. Directed at me. But I knew it wasn’t, yet my heart was beating so fast, as if a Night Raider stood before me growling and snapping at my skin.

Eyes of a hunter glaring down at me wanting to tear my flesh off my bones. I shiver and shake my head attempting to get the thought and images out of my head, but they just returned seconds later, and started swimming through my head again.

I grab my arm and squeeze it, as the thoughts continue to swim in my head. My glaze was stuck on the rotting wood of the table, my glaze didn’t shift until I felt a slight kick to my leg. It was barely noticeable and no matter how much I want to look up at Tai Lee, I not able too.

I felt the kick again but stronger this time, and when I didn’t look up again Tai Lee gave me another just this one was most likely going to bruise.

I jerked up at the sudden pain and looked straight of at Tai Lee’s boring glaze. She was nodding her head towards the stage area - where the director stood and spoke " before her own eyes returned to it.

My eyes slowly followed her glaze and landed on the director’s large figure. He was nearing the end of his speech " you could tell when he starts to walk backwards toward the exit. As he grabbed the lever to move him up to the upper level, he spoke the sentence that we all wanted to tear him apart for.

“And don’t forget that, your presents is only to serve and listen to us… you filthy vermin”

With his speech finished we all watched him move back to the upper level. I watched as a stale bun flew passed the platform and hit the wall behind it.

Once the director was out of sight along with his little soldiers, the great hall started to louden once more. People’s voices grew and took over the silence the director had created in his speech, and the hall gained its liveliness.

My eyes drifted away from the stage and went to the wall of the great hall. I thought about what he had said. I always do. Knowing what he said " though hard to admit " was true. We of the lower level have no other purpose but to do what the upper level says. It’s the cold hearted truth that we all knew it was true, and the worst of it all was that there was nothing we could do about it.

Reviews

[MightyMouse]

As a twin myself, I absolutely adore twins! I think the story is great, with the exception of lacking details and grammar mistakes that every good story starts out with. You should really finish it. I like the idea and I think it would be really awesome if this was completed and published. The idea is good enough to make a good movie someday, if you work for it.

[PenguinEmpiress]

Wow, thank you so much! I haven't written anything for this story for a while, but I'll have to get back onto it! Cause I actually really like the way this stories going, It's just a jumble in my mind at the moment.

[Rafy T.Nym]

The story is truely amazing!I wish to read next chapters & want to know what happens next.

I have always liked twins,I hope mickey & his brother stays like this,they actually behave like my younger brother.Funny!

[PenguinEmpiress]

Thank so much ☺️ I so glad to hear that

I love twins too, and just had to have them in this story