This is my first story. i wrote the first few chapters...BLAZING CHURCH
Across the air the bell rang.
The church stood in front of Jack Convy, a silent, looming object, about to swallow him up.
Jack silently entered.
He was being watched.
It was a typical church, about to have its usual Sunday morning service. But it seemed far from usual. The church seemed to be eerie, as if warning Jack that it was not safe.
A large groan came from the doors as Jack pushed them shut. The doors closed behind him. The choir and audience began to sing a hymn.
There was another large groan, but not from the door. Nor was it anybody in the church. It seemed to be coming from the walls.
Jack was taking this all in when suddenly the window shattered into pieces, scattering shards of glass flying wherever they could.
A single shard of glass fell down onto Jack’s arm, making a deep cut. Jack winced in pain.
Everybody stopped singing. The look on their faces was of pure horror, but so was Jacks.
Jack realised that there was absolutely no time to waste and dashed towards the door. But as he tried to get out, a grey, gooey liquid came oozing out from beneath the door and instantly set.
Jack tried to push the door but the instant cement had already done its work.
“There’s another way out!” cried one of the older choirboys.
“Through the arch!” another one shouted, pointing to an arch near the altar.
Seeing a slight beacon of hope, Jack ran across to the other side of the church. The ‘Arch de escape’ Jack thought. He knew a bit of French.
By now, several people were crowding around the arch, trying to get in.
“Stay calm, everyone!” The priest called out. But nobody could be calm.
Jack was one of the first people to get through the arch. He found that on the other side of it, there was another room, though it was a lot smaller than the main church room.
But No! Jack furiously looked at the way out. A door with cement already set in place.
A few people started to cry. Jack could just count the seconds before he too cried. But the moment never came.
Suddenly, a loud bang occurred. People went back into the main room to find it filled with smoke. A large fire wriggled inside the smoke, crawling its way, slowly to the people.
“Satan himself is here!” one man cried out with a heavy cloud of defeat around him.
“Who would do something this terrible?” Jack trembled under his breath.
The fact that the fire was only expanding slowly didn’t seem to make a difference. People were still terrified, praying for their dear lives.
Jack tried to think of another way out.
Could he use the shattered windows? No. They were too high up and were curving inwards, so if he tried to climb, he would be doing so against gravity’s will. Anyway, even if it was possible to climb up, he didn’t have anything to climb on.
The windows seemed hopeless, so he looked for something else.
He spied a staircase going down, probably going to the chapel, at the corner of the church that now seemed nothing like a church. Half of it was already ablaze. But not the stairs.
So Jack went over to one of the choirboys and asked:
“What about the staircase?” Jack pointed to the staircase, with the fire almost touching it.
“It leads to a dead end. Just a chapel.” The choirboy quickly replied.
“It will protect us from the fire, wont it?” Jack asked curiously.
“I guess…” the choirboy shrugged.
“Come on everybody, get down!” the two shouted.
“ You will be safe from the fire.” Jack coughed through the smoke.
People took the advice and began to walk carefully through the smoke.
Suddenly, A scream pierced the air. Somebody had fallen over into the fire.
The thought of it chilled Jack’s spine. He could feel it happening to him soon. He would go into the flames, his skin would get hideously burnt and nobody could save him and for all he knew, he would be left there to die. No. He would go down to the chapel, and wait for the fire to get put out by the local fire brigade and he would get out with no burns at all. He was suddenly snapped out of deep thought by the choirboy’s voice.
“So, what’s your name?” The choirboy asked, beckoning people into the chapel.
Jack coughed and then replied:
“Convy. Jack Convy. What’s yours?”
“My name,” he began boldly. “Is David.”
More than half of the people were in the chapel now. The remaining ones were in a queue, waiting for their turn to come. Jack and the choirboy now known as David joined the end.
Jack looked at the body that sizzled in the fire. Dead. There was nothing he could do about it.
It was now their turn to go in. David went in first.
Jack then quickly looked around, just to check that there was nobody else who hadn’t gone down into the chapel. Then, he suddenly heard a loud clang from behind him and instantly turned around to find a Metal Crucifix that had once been on the wall catch fire and fall to the ground.
Jack turned back around and looked at the stairs to the chapel. The sight made him gasp. The fire had reached the staircase while he was distracted.
He was separated from David and was in high danger.
Some punishment… Jack thought. He was sent to church alone by his mum who decided it was a good punishment for punching one of Jacks classmates as a joke. So I punched some guy softly. That doesn’t mean that I should be sent to my grave! He thought with anger. His fists were clenched as tight as they could.
Meanwhile in the chapel, David was getting worried about Jack. He should be here by now! He was just right behind me.
But then somebody shouted:
“THE FIRE! IT’S COMING DOWN TO THE CHAPEL!”
“Close the doors!” Another shouted.
“Wait! There is a big dish of Holy Water here! Spread it all over the doors! Then the doors wont catch fire!” Another shouted.
The holy water was being passed towards the front.
David urgently though of something.
“But my friend is still out there! He still might be alive! We should wait for him.”
A few people shook their heads. An elderly lady stepped out.
“1 person might have to die to save 50.” She shouted.
David didn’t reply.
“And you didn’t give two hoots when my sister fell into the flames, so why should I care about your friend?” She continued.
“Sorry if I kind of ignored her, but I had other things on my mind and Jack… He is the one who lead us to the safety of the very chapel that we were in! We have got to show some respect!” David pleaded.
But the people ignored him.
“Somebody, ring the fire brigade.” Another person shouted.
To David, it seemed that everyone wanted Jack to die.
David shook his head in despair.
Little did he know that it was the other way around. Jack would live, and he would die…
Jack looked at the flames in horror. He had nowhere to go. He was being baked alive in some torturous oven. The smoke was suffocating him. His eyes were swelling up. And if the wasn’t enough, if he didn’t do anything, he would be engulfed in flames in less than two minutes.
“This is just hopeless!” he groaned to himself, shaking his head. “I can’t get into the chapel, my last hope.” He continued in despair.
He coughed and spluttered over the smoke. The air was too thin. He slowly walked away from the fire, even though he knew it would catch him soon.
In the middle of all this, the door to the chapel went flying off its hinges and a huge fireball curved up into the smoky air.
“Whaaa…?” Jack asked to nobody. Then he realised.
The chapel was the obvious place for safety. The wicked person who had planned the destruction of the church saw the chapel and put a bomb in it.
He felt guilty. He was the one who lead the people - and David - to the chapel. This was planned out ever so carefully. Now, all that mattered was to get out alive.
Jack frowned. He kept a promise to himself that he would not let the person who planned this ever get away. He would get his revenge. For they had killed many people including Jack’s new friend, David. And of course, they had ruined a church. But that didn’t seem to matter to Jack. He never liked church, anyway.
Jack slowly moved away from the fire. He tried to move fast, except he couldn’t. His head was throbbing.
Then he heard it. It was faint, but it seemed to be coming closer. A siren! The Fire Brigade was on its way, and nearly at its destination!
If he could just stay out of harms way for another few minutes he might survive.
This new hope seemed to make Jack move faster. He ran into the small room that he had been in earlier just before the fire was ablaze.
Jack banged on the door several times.
No reply.
The fire reached the arch that led into the room.
The Fire Brigade had better come soon, before its too late.
The fire crept closer.
Jack banged on the door and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“HELP! FIRE!” he shouted, loosing his breath.
The fire was too close. By the time that the Fire Brigade came, it would already be too late.
Jack needed to do something, and fast. He could feel the heat, licking him.
He saw a metal pole, hanging from the roof down to halfway to the bottom of the room. If he could hang on it, the fire wouldn’t be able to reach him!
He ran across to the pole and gently laid his hand on it.
Boiling!
Jack took his hand of the metal pole. The flames were coming closer. He didn’t dare look.
There was nothing he could do. He would just have to cling onto the pole.
So, he carefully slid his arms around to the back of the pole, and then did the same thing with his legs.
He withdrew his hands into the skivvy that he was wearing. This made it harder to climb, but at least it would give him some protection from the heat of the metal pole he was climbing.
He continued to shimmy up the pole.
Finally, the fire covered the whole room. If Jack did fall, the flames would take care of him.
Jack remembered the moment that the person had fallen into the fire.
Would that happen to him? No. He would find a way. He had come this far. He couldn’t fail now!
Jack began to furiously kick at the sealed door, trying to attract attention.
Nothing.
He suddenly felt a sudden pain in his arm. It without Jack wanting it to loosened its grip. Jack cried out. Nobody heard it. He carefully slid his hand back into his skivvy and once again put it onto the metal pole and clung on for his dear life.
But then he realised that it was useless. He had met his fate. That is what he thought. The Fire Brigade was his last hope. Did he really hear the siren? Right now, it didn’t seem so. Where were they? A whole church was on fire! They should be here by now!
Jack could feel the blazing heat below him. He couldn’t hold on forever. He accepted defeat.
He loosened his legs. He now only clung on by his hands, wrapped up in his skivvy. He was about to loosen his hands and fall into the flames, but at the last minute, he heard voices and footsteps outside.
At the very thought that he might live, he forced his legs back up. This was very difficult, but he managed to do it. Just.
He tightened his grip on the pole and began to kick again.
But this time he heard alarmed voices, and footsteps coming his way.
He kept on kicking.
Then he heard a loud crash from the other side of the door.
What had happened? Were the Fire Brigade officers all right?
Another loud crash brought excitement and fear all in one.
After one more crash, he saw the part of the door that wasn’t sealed and was wooden began to splinter.
Two more crashes and there was a hole in the door. Jack could see the faces of two Fire Fighters.
“Hello?” the first one asked.
“Anybody there?” the second one asked.
Jack groaned as a response. His legs dangled in front of the hole.
The two fire fighters grabbed hold of his legs and began to drag him through the hole.
“My name is Josh, and this is Martin.” The second Fire fighter said.
“What is yours?” Martin said.
Jacks body slid down through the hole and into the outside world.
Jack looked at Josh and Martin. Josh had dark skin and black curly hair. Martin was an Englishman with blonde hair.
Jack wondered how they had made the hole in the door. They had probably done it with some kind of sledgehammer.
Then Martin and Josh just realised that Jack was only fourteen. They shrugged as they had thought that he was a man. It was a strange sight to see a boy survive from a big fire.
After getting some fresh air, Jack found that he could talk easier.
“I’m Jack. Jack Convy.” He replied, happy to be safe.
“Is there anybody else alive in there?” Martin asked.
This question made Jack think of David.
“No. They’re all dead. Some idiot decided that blowing them up was a fun idea.” Jack said in disgust.
“A bomb?” Josh asked.
“Yes.” Jack replied. “First, the windows shattered, then we got sealed in with cement, then the church decided to set itself on fire, then everybody apart from me went into the chapel for safety, the chapel blew up, and then I… had a heroic escape with a bit of help from you two.” Jack smiled.
The trio walked down onto the grass that was next to the church.
Jack noticed that the fires damage was mainly inside the church, as the grass was not scorched. There were a few black bricks around the church, but nothing worth worrying about.
“We should contact the police.” Martin muttered to Josh.
“Definitely.” Josh replied.
“We can send you home, while our men fight the fires. They are pretty rough aren’t they?” Josh said.
What is he doing? Jack thought.
“Is he saying that I shouldn’t mess with his men? How rude!” Jack just realised that he had thought out loud.
The two fire fighters glanced at each other.
“Thinkin’ out loud are ya?!” Josh laughed.
“Josh meant that the fires are pretty rough, not the fire fighters!” Martin said with a slight smile on his face too.
“Though mind you,” Josh began. “The fire fighters are pretty rough and you if I were you, I would stay as far away from them as possible!
Jack just acted all embarrassed.
“Ahh… It’s alright Jack, don’t be embarrassed.” Martin chuckled.
It wasn’t that funny.
Jack began to get angry. He felt that the two fire fighters were teasing him. But he didn’t complain. After all, the firemen had saved his life. He just decided that it was a good idea to change the subject.
“Well, umm, what do we do next, and when are we going to do it?” Jack asked, trying not to sound as if he was hurt.
It wasn’t just his feelings though. He had been burnt it several places, sprained an arm while climbing the metal pole, had a deep cut from the shard of glass that had landed on his arm and had much more smaller cuts and splinters from being dragged through the door.
“Josh will take you home while I will supervise the rest of the fire fighters…” That was the last thing Martin ever said.
He began to gasp. Then choke. Blood began to drizzle out of his mouth. He fell backwards in a big pool of blood. Josh looked away in disgust, then took hold of Jack and ran him to the Fire Brigade’s car.
One thing was clear. Martin wasn’t attacked from the front. And there was nobody behind him, so he couldn’t have been stabbed. There was nobody suspicious within pistol or machine gun range that could hit. So, a soldier with a sniper rifle was hunting them. And of course, it would have a silencer.
The sniper fired another shot, but this time, it was at Jack.
ANNOYING, SENILE AND WEIRD
Jack tumbled over.
The sniper bullet had torn through the grass right behind him, scattering dirt in the air.
He needed to get up quick. The sniper could - and would – kill him if he just remained where he was, lying there.
Josh helped him get to his feet, then the two started to run again.
The sniper fired yet another shot. Just as well Jack moved quickly as the sniper fired a shot just where Jack just laid.
By now, the two were at the Fire Brigade’s car.
Jack tried to open the door to the back seat while Josh walked around to the other side of the car. The car was locked.
The sniper took aim.
Josh franticly looked through his wallet until he found the right key.
The sniper fired.
Jack ducked. Glass fell on him for the second time in two hours. The bullet had shattered the window of the back seat closest to Jack. Of course, this meant that if Jack hadn’t ducked, then he would have been shot. Josh unlocked the car and Jack and he climbed into the car.
The other fire fighters just realised what was going on and all too soon, had forgot about the fire and scrambled to the fire trucks. The sniper began to pick them off one by one.
The fire fighters that had been shot were lying on the grass, gasping for breath. The sniper happily shot them again.
While the sniper seemed to be distracted by the remaining fire fighters, Josh drove Jack off to a safer place.
The sniper was still shooting the fire fighters, over and over again until they were just bodies with no fingernails, teeth lying around them and in a big pile of blood.
Just after Martin got shot, Jack had thought that he would be the only one. But as Jack got driven away, he saw that many more were the more likely total.
The sniper kept on shooting at the helpless fire fighters. They were being tortured. They were targets. Living targets for a sniper.
The soldier who was doing all of the hideous shooting – His name was Alex - smiled.
“This is far from war. This is too easy. War is much harder. This isn’t war! This is sport!” The soldier laughed.
“Here’s a phone,” Josh panted, handing his mobile to Jack. “Call the police.” He continued.
“Just one thing, before I do. Where are we going?” Jack asked.
“Mandurah.” Josh replied hastily. “Now hurry up and ring the police already! Jeez!” He demanded.
“Where is Mandurah?” Jack asked.
“Ring the police!” Josh demanded again.
Jack just sat there, giving Josh an annoying smile.
“Fine.” Josh sighed. “About and hour and a bit down south. But if you live in Western Australia, then you must know where Mandurah is!” It is the fourth or fifth most well known place in WA!” Josh said, not quite believing that Jack didn’t know about Mandurah.
Jack used to live in America before he came to Australia, so he didn’t know much about the locations of all the small towns and cities. He just learnt the capitals: Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin and, of course, where he was right now, Perth.
“I used to live in America, DUH!” Jack said in an annoying voice to go with his annoying look.
“Yeah, like I am totally supposed to know, dumbo!” Josh replied.
“Now ring the police!” Josh shouted, beginning to lose his temper.
So Jack made a farting noise and then dialled the number of the local police.
“What is your emergency?” a policewoman on the other end of the line said.
“There is a sniper rifle somewhere near St Georges Cathedral, Cathedral Avenue, St. Georges terrace. Oh yes, and there is also a very annoying fire fighter right next to me, that is the main problem.” Jack joked.
Josh slapped him.
Jack just smiled as a response.
“The emergency services are most definitely NOT for jokes!” The policewoman spat back.
“Man, I do hate the emergency services. Annoying Fire Fighters, Senile police and I bet that they have weird Doctors and Nurses as well.” Jack muttered to himself.
“What’s that that?” The policewoman asked.
“Oh, nothing.’ Anyway, the stuff about the sniper is true. There is also a fire in the church or cathedral or whatever, so somebody like rang the annoying Fire Brigade before they blew up, yes I know, there is some kind of bomb involved, somebody will tell you in more detail later, but anyway, the annoying fire fighters came and the sniper just shot them into a big soggy pile of flesh and blood.” Jack yawned.
The policewoman scowled at the annoying Fire Brigade remark, but said nothing at all about it.
“What is your name?” she said in a dull tone of voice.
“Jack Convy.” Jack said, clearly tired of repeating himself.
“Look, can I speak to somebody sensible, like, maybe the so-called ‘annoying’ Fire fighter?” the policewoman asked.
“Nope. He’s driving.” Jack replied.
“Where are you?” the policewoman asked.
“On some kind of freeway, going to Mandurah.” Jack said. “By the way, can I call you Senile?” He asked.
“NO!” the policewoman said furiously and hung up.
At the police headquarters, ‘Senile’ was talking to a policeman.
“Contact the Australian Secret Service and tell them about a bomb detonated by a terrorist named Jack Convy and a soldier of his having a sniper and blowing up St. Georges Cathedral and Killing everybody who came near it.” She furiously lied and walked out of the HQ.
“Yes, ma’am.” The policeman said, saluting her.
Senile walked outside to notice that the usual security camera that stood outside the HQ was smashed.
She looked at it for quite some time. It was the last thing she did.
Another soldier shot her three times: twice in the back of her head and once in her back.
She fell forward and was dragged away.
She twitched a bit, so the soldier decided to shoot her again.
So that is what he did.
“You stupid idiot!” Josh said.
He parked the car and pushed Jack out, then drove off again.
“I really wish I didn’t save him from that stupid fire. I would be more than happy for him to die and get hideously burnt.” He muttered to himself as he drove.
Josh was thinking that if the policewoman didn’t have to put up with Jack, then neither should he!
Jack began to crack up on the side of the road, laughing so hard.
He still had Josh’s mobile.
Jack figured that Josh would come back for it really soon, so darted of into the deep bush that was all around him.
He wasn’t sure how on earth he was going to get home, as it would take hours to walk there; he supposed that he would ring his mum to pick him up. But what would he say? What would she say?
He continued deeper into the bush.
After about ten minutes of walking, he decided to return back to the road. Which way was it? Northeast. No, Northwest or was it even Southwest? He had no idea at all.
He faced the facts: He was lost.
Then he heard a rustle in the bush that was next to him.
He froze. He didn’t know much about the animals in Australia.
He carefully looked in the bush. It had scales – and it definitely wasn’t a goldfish as it was brown in colour - so it must be a reptile. Yes! Jack loved reptiles and knew lots about them. He looked at it more closely. It had no legs, and was too big to be a legless lizard, so it must be a snake. And judged by its colour and where it was, Jack was easily able to tell that it was a Dugite.
He knew that it was in the top ten of must deadly snakes in the world, but he didn’t worry. To somebody who knew as much about reptiles as he did, it was harmless.
Jack just silently tiptoed away from the bush. The snake saw him but didn’t seem to care. Jack wasn’t a threat to it. Even the Dugite knew that.
Jack was now safe from the Dugite, but that still didn’t solve his problem of being hopelessly lost in the bush. He tried the phone. Out of range. Well, he just got out of a fiery church, and now he was lost in the bush halfway between to him, what seemed like nowhere.
Four police cars and an army truck came to St. Georges Cathedral. But not for the Sunday service. They wanted to put an end to who they thought was Jack Convy. One of the police officers brought out a siren microphone.
“Show yourself, Convy, or we will have to put an end to you!” The officer spoke into it.
The sniper, who had been in his hiding spot for hours, shot that man. A few other police officers got shot as well.
The army began to shoot with what they had and a few police officers began to shoot with their pistols and Tasers. Except they had one problem. They didn’t really have any targets to shoot at.
The sniper began to shoot again.
A police officer spoke into a walkie-talkie to send in an air force vehicle.
The soldier with the sniper began to chuckle again. He was enjoying his time killing whoever came near the church. And he loved the final look of puzzlement on their face as they wondered where he was as he shot them. And the fact that he was getting paid to do so! It was simply an offer that he couldn’t refuse.
His story was that he was bullied as a little boy. He was called names. And he was given the occasional punch. So, one day, he decided to bring a knife to school. The bully said, “Alex is a stinky head!” as he walked past. Alex brought out the knife and stabbed him dead. It felt so good that he wouldn’t be teased anymore. He felt like a god. If somebody did something that he didn’t like, they would die! He felt so much power and kept the knife with him at all times.
He got in so much trouble after stabbing the bully. He got expelled and he got into huge trouble with his parents. Alex almost stabbed them, but he found that he didn’t have the heart to (As a small kid normally would). He pretended to forget about it, but at the age of sixteen, he ran away from home to live his crime spree life.
Out in his hiding place with the sniper, Alex felt something in his pocket. He put his hand in to bring it out and then remembered. He still had the knife with him. He felt a sense of adore with it. He shook his head happily and took hold of the sniper again.
He shot some more people with the precise aim that was part of the sniper rifle of his. Now, the sniper rifle was nearly as close to him as the knife was. It was new, but now, after killing so many people, it was only necessary to like it as well.
Then he heard a strange noise and looked up to see a helicopter.
Why wasn’t he paying more attention?
The helicopter was here to kill him, and it was in the air, so if it came too close, then he could be visible.
To do his next stunt, he would have to take extreme aim on a rapidly moving object in the sky.
Where was the fuel tank? Ah… Alex could just spy it on the side of the helicopter.
He took a pistol out of his belt. A gun in each hand.
He put the two guns together and then used then snipers aim to aim for the pistol as well.
Two bullets tore into the side of the fuel tank.
At first smoke poured out, but then, it exploded.
Alex felt the same feeling that he had felt when he stabbed the bully.
Phase one of his boss’ mission was being done.
Destroying Perth.
Phase two was destroying the rest of Australia.
Phase three was destroying the whole world.
PERTH IS CLOSED
Jack was in the bush, all alone, in the blazing sun. It was summer. An Australian summer: between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius each day.
He needed water above all. He needed Shelter as well. Fire seemed to be the last thing he needed.
So, he walked on until he found a place where it was still in the bush, but there were no trees. There was a freshwater river running through it too. It seemed perfect for camp.
Jack took a long sip of water, and then went to work.
Firstly he went on a scavenger hunt to find some supplies. It was all rusty, but it would work. He found a sharp knife, 30 metres of wire, lots of rusty metal and lots of big logs and rocks.
Next, he tried to make a small cubby kind of house. He cut the logs with the knife to the right size and then laid them, one on top of the other. He used wire, rocks and the excess parts of the logs that he didn’t need to keep it all in place. The walls were now done. It had taken him hours, but it had saved him a lot of bother.
Now he needed a roof, better interiors and probably a door of some kind.
He used a large sheet of metal for the roof and to make sure that it didn’t get blown off (Even though that in this weather, it seemed impossible for it to blow off) attached some wire between the roof and the spaces in between the logs. Now, he had a hut. It had an entrance, but it didn’t have a door. He got a smaller sheet of metal, and only attached the wire on one side of it, so it was like a door. He made lines in the dirt with his fingers to give the door some guidelines on where to go.
It was beginning to get dark. It was six o’ clock already.
He still had an hour before it was too dark.
So he didn’t waste an instant. He collected up some clean and soft leaves and laid them in the hut for something to sleep on.
Then he had an idea. He could make a sink full of water in his hut!
He dug a small hole under the hut. This would be where the sink is.
Then, he dug a small trench from the river down to the outside of the sink. He laid the trench with leaves; sticks and rocks, to make sure that the water didn’t soak up into the soil.
And surely enough, water began to trickle down from the river and into the sink. It was a bit like a miniature tributary, but it needed a return path, otherwise, the sink would overflow.
So Jack dug out a return tributary back to the river.
It seemed perfect! But it needed a filter. So Jack made a sifter out of the wire and placed it on the entrance to the sink from the tributary.
He tried out the new sink. Fresh water!
He was pleased with his hut. He had only spent half a day working on it, so he wondered how much he could achieve in a year!
So, after a hard day of pain, Jack took some rest inside his hut. Even though the bed was far from comfortable, he was so tired that he slept right through the night.
Jack woke up at ten AM the following day. At first, he wondered where he was. Then he realised with disappointment that he was in the middle of the bush. Lost.
He stood up.
He was pleased to find that the hut – and he – was all in one piece.
He took a long sip from the sink of water.
“Water, what more could one want.” He mumbled to himself.
Then he felt something. On his foot. He slowly looked down.
There was something he would rather not have on his foot.
A big, defensive mother scorpion and several white, baby ones all around her.
Jack knew a bit about scorpions, but he didn’t know much. He knew that the baby ones were venomous, so he assumed that the mother was too.
He stood where he was.
He shouldn’t make any sudden movements, so he just had to stand there.
Oh no. He felt a sneeze coming on.
He didn’t want to kill the scorpions but, in a way, he was being forced to. He was certain that he was going to sneeze and then, the scorpion would inject poison into him. He was lost in the bush and without any medical help he would be dead.
He had to do something.
He began to inhale the way you do before you sneeze.
But as he sneezed, his foot lashed out, knocking all the scorpions off his shoe.
But now, he had to get them out of his hut, but he hoped that he didn’t have to put them out of their life.
But then he heard footsteps outside.
An alarming figure – a soldier – kicked the door down with a pistol in his hand, pointing the gun at Jack. Jack was annoyed to have this on top of the scorpions. But of course, this added to the growing fear.
The soldier took a step forward, trying to shoot at point blank range. Bad mistake.
He stepped into the pile of scorpions, getting poison injected into his body. But Jack couldn’t believe his luck. After getting stung, he fell over into the pile of scorpions, crushing them all!
He dropped his pistol. Jack picked it up. He was tempted to shoot the man, but he knew that it was a bad idea.
Jack needed to move. He was being hunted. Now he was sure. The church didn’t make a difference. The enemy didn’t care about the people who had died. He only cared about Jack. Wherever he went, he would be in danger. He wanted to be at home. He didn’t even know what he was wanted for. Just as well he didn’t shoot the soldier. He would’ve become more wanted. But he had a different idea to get rid of the soldier.
He picked up a spare wooden plank and the remaining wire.
He took the knocked out soldier further downstream, where the river became a lot wider. So wide, that there was a strip of land in the middle. A small island. But it was surrounded by deep water.
Jack laid the wooden plank in between the shore and the island. It just fit.
He and the soldier went across to the other side.
He searched the soldier pockets. He found another knife and a compass!
There was a big sturdy tree on the island. Jack tied the soldier to it, and then walked back onto the land, taking the wooden plank with him.
He walked back to his hut.
A pistol, two knives and a compass. He was sure that he could get somewhere with these.
He looked at the comas. He was travelling south to begin with, and north was pointing to his right. West must be in front of him, so he needed to go East.
Jack turned around and began to walk.
The crane swivelled around. This crane was just on of the thirty-six that were working on buildings that were yet to be finished.
But this crane was like no other. It wasn’t building anything.
The window was open.
A sniper stuck out of it.
Three more helicopters came, looking for Alex.
They flew right by the crane.
Alex operated the crane to turn away from all of the commotion, and then he pointed his sniper the opposite way that the crane was facing.
He aimed his sniper and pistol at the helicopter
He fired them the same way that he did with the first helicopter.
“If they ever make a Heil Attack 4, then it would have to be like this!” Alex joked to himself.
The three helicopters exploded.
“Level one. Part one.” He said in a robotic voice.
Death was all around him, but he cared as much as he would’ve if it was a computer game.
Alex shot all the police cars and army trucks until they were just wrecked.
“Is that all you’ve got? I can win. Bring it on. Come on, there is heaps of you guys and there is only me.” Alex mumbled.
But wait. There was one other vehicle that must have came while he was shooting the helicopters.
A big, armoured tank. This would be a challenge.
“Okay, make that level one, part two then.” Alex said, in an ordinary voice instead.
Alex shot the tank with his sniper. It made a dent, but it didn’t do much damage.
“I was hoping I got to use this, and now seems the perfect time.
Alex brought out the one grenade he had.
If somebody saw the grenade fly through the air, then his position would be given away. He would have to use bullets at the same time to cover for it.
Alex began to shoot more people with the sniper. So many were already dead. But that didn’t stop him. He was here to finish his job. Even if it had pain involved.
While all the shooting was going on, Alex pulled the pin to the grenade and instantly threw it at the tank.
As the grenade landed on the tank, it detonated some of the ammunition for the tank
‘prematurely’. The tank had a big rip in it and it caught fire. The person inside it was instantly killed.
The roads to the main city were blocked off. The city was ‘closed’.
The police and army retreated.
Alex had a wide smile on his face.
His job was done. Phase one of his mission was complete.
He climbed out of the control room, and down the ladder.
He hid his sniper and pistol.
There were a few more people, still leaving the city, so he decided to blend in with them.
At the very edge of the city, Alex stood in front of the swan river. It was the main river, running between the city of Perth, then to Applecross, and then finishing at Fremantle. Despite its name, it didn’t have any swans in it. The occasional bottle nose dolphin could be seen, and of course, lots of blowfish and jellyfish and fish in general. Crabs were the speciality. Jack had it once, and he found it quite nice with vinegar.
A boat was there, waiting for Alex.
He got in and drove off. He didn’t have a licence, but he still drove, out of Perth and into Western Australia’s harbour: Fremantle.
It was only about fifteen minutes away from the main city.
Jack used the two knifes to fight his way through the bush.
At one point, he came a berry bush. There was a bobtail. Jack fed it a berry and kept some for himself.
They were nice, a bit like a cross between a cherry and mulberry.
Jack kept on walking, for another forty-five minutes until he heard the sound of cars.
He darted forward in excitement.
Finally, he found himself on the side of the freeway.
There were lots of cars going away from the city, but strangely, there were not many cars in sight going to the city. Jack scratched his head. It should be the other way around.
Then he looked up to see the tall buildings of the city on the horizon. The lights were all out. It was silent.
It was a dead city.
RIVER OF SWANS?
Jack needed to find out more.
He needed to get to the city and find out what was going on.
He walked up the road for a while, and then tried the phone again.
People in their cars stared at him.
What was going on?
There faces were of horror, and they instantly drove off.
One person pulled over and dialled a number on their phone.
Good. The connection was stable.
Jack dialled his mum on Josh’s mobile phone.
After a while, Jack heard the familiar voice of his mother.
“Hello, Maria Convy speaking, who is it?” She asked.
“Thank god its you mum! It’s me! Jack!” he said happily.
“Oh… Jack, right. Uhh… what do you want?” Maria said nervously.
“What’s the problem, mum?” Jack asked.
“Oh just… why? Why did you do it?” Maria shivered.
“Did what?” Jack asked curiously.
Was this the reason why he was being hunted? Was this why people that went by were shocked?
“The bomb, the sniper, why would you do something so terrible?” Maria began. “And setting a church on fire a killing anyone who came near it… Oh please! Please let me live! I don’t want to die!” She sobbed.
“I didn’t do that, except I was involved.” Jack admitted.
“Involved with what?” Maria trembled.
“ I was the one stuck in the burning church and the only one who survived. I was the one hunted by the sniper and survived. And I... I just got ditched by the fireman who saved me and he threw me in the bush, except he kinda forgot that I still had his mobile.” Jack said guiltily.
“Oh.” Was all his mother said in response.
“And I think I know why this whole misunderstanding took place.” Jack said.
“Well, I didn’t kill people with a sniper and set a church on fire, but I did make a call to a policewoman who was in a bad mood and made the mistake of telling her my name.” He continued.
“I believe you, but it was all over the news, and people want you, dead or alive.” Maria said, feeling a lot more comfortable.
Almost everything made sense now. Everyone was out to get him. But he didn’t think that the man who had came into his hut didn’t want to do anything with him, he just wanted Jack dead.
“I am being hunted by two groups of people, the baddies and the locals. Pretty much the same thing, though.” Jack joked. “Just one more thing,” He began. “Can you pick me up? I am down the freeway, there is a windmill of some sort next to me.” He said.
“I would if I could.” Maria said.
Jack was puzzled and scared. Did his mum still not trust him?
“Why not?” He asked.
“The city is the only way to where you are. And the city is closed and abandon now. Covered in dead bodies. I can’t go through.” Maria replied in defeat.
“Oh, that’s fine, I can get through the city, meet me at the edge, okay?” He said, and then hung up.
The reason that he had been so quick, was that a police car was speeding towards him.
By now, two police officers had stepped out, with their guns pointing at Jack. They were walking closer by every second.
Jack looked at the empty first lane of the freeway. Yes. He could do it.
He dashed across to the middle of the freeway.
One of the cops fired.
They missed.
The second lane of the freeway were behind a set of train tracks.
Jack climbed over the first barrier.
Why didn’t he look before? A train was approaching!
He ran forward to the second barrier, but it was much higher than the first.
Jack tried to climb over it.
Too high.
He could hear the train, about to crush him.
He looked at it. Right above him, about to slice him.
He tried to jump the barrier again. This time he did it. He made it on to the thin line between the second freeway lane and the railway.
But he didn’t move his leg in time.
The train rammed into it.
Jack felt like his leg was trying to be ripped off by a giant. He moved it out of the trains way, out of harms way.
He found it very hard to walk.
He limped to the next train station.
There was a bridge across to the other side of the road there.
And past that, there was the most polluted river Jack had seen. The water was black. The swan river was not pretty...
(River of Swans continued soon!)
Across the air the bell rang.
The church stood in front of Jack Convy, a silent, looming object, about to swallow him up.
Jack silently entered.
He was being watched.
It was a typical church, about to have its usual Sunday morning service. But it seemed far from usual. The church seemed to be eerie, as if warning Jack that it was not safe.
A large groan came from the doors as Jack pushed them shut. The doors closed behind him. The choir and audience began to sing a hymn.
There was another large groan, but not from the door. Nor was it anybody in the church. It seemed to be coming from the walls.
Jack was taking this all in when suddenly the window shattered into pieces, scattering shards of glass flying wherever they could.
A single shard of glass fell down onto Jack’s arm, making a deep cut. Jack winced in pain.
Everybody stopped singing. The look on their faces was of pure horror, but so was Jacks.
Jack realised that there was absolutely no time to waste and dashed towards the door. But as he tried to get out, a grey, gooey liquid came oozing out from beneath the door and instantly set.
Jack tried to push the door but the instant cement had already done its work.
“There’s another way out!” cried one of the older choirboys.
“Through the arch!” another one shouted, pointing to an arch near the altar.
Seeing a slight beacon of hope, Jack ran across to the other side of the church. The ‘Arch de escape’ Jack thought. He knew a bit of French.
By now, several people were crowding around the arch, trying to get in.
“Stay calm, everyone!” The priest called out. But nobody could be calm.
Jack was one of the first people to get through the arch. He found that on the other side of it, there was another room, though it was a lot smaller than the main church room.
But No! Jack furiously looked at the way out. A door with cement already set in place.
A few people started to cry. Jack could just count the seconds before he too cried. But the moment never came.
Suddenly, a loud bang occurred. People went back into the main room to find it filled with smoke. A large fire wriggled inside the smoke, crawling its way, slowly to the people.
“Satan himself is here!” one man cried out with a heavy cloud of defeat around him.
“Who would do something this terrible?” Jack trembled under his breath.
The fact that the fire was only expanding slowly didn’t seem to make a difference. People were still terrified, praying for their dear lives.
Jack tried to think of another way out.
Could he use the shattered windows? No. They were too high up and were curving inwards, so if he tried to climb, he would be doing so against gravity’s will. Anyway, even if it was possible to climb up, he didn’t have anything to climb on.
The windows seemed hopeless, so he looked for something else.
He spied a staircase going down, probably going to the chapel, at the corner of the church that now seemed nothing like a church. Half of it was already ablaze. But not the stairs.
So Jack went over to one of the choirboys and asked:
“What about the staircase?” Jack pointed to the staircase, with the fire almost touching it.
“It leads to a dead end. Just a chapel.” The choirboy quickly replied.
“It will protect us from the fire, wont it?” Jack asked curiously.
“I guess…” the choirboy shrugged.
“Come on everybody, get down!” the two shouted.
“ You will be safe from the fire.” Jack coughed through the smoke.
People took the advice and began to walk carefully through the smoke.
Suddenly, A scream pierced the air. Somebody had fallen over into the fire.
The thought of it chilled Jack’s spine. He could feel it happening to him soon. He would go into the flames, his skin would get hideously burnt and nobody could save him and for all he knew, he would be left there to die. No. He would go down to the chapel, and wait for the fire to get put out by the local fire brigade and he would get out with no burns at all. He was suddenly snapped out of deep thought by the choirboy’s voice.
“So, what’s your name?” The choirboy asked, beckoning people into the chapel.
Jack coughed and then replied:
“Convy. Jack Convy. What’s yours?”
“My name,” he began boldly. “Is David.”
More than half of the people were in the chapel now. The remaining ones were in a queue, waiting for their turn to come. Jack and the choirboy now known as David joined the end.
Jack looked at the body that sizzled in the fire. Dead. There was nothing he could do about it.
It was now their turn to go in. David went in first.
Jack then quickly looked around, just to check that there was nobody else who hadn’t gone down into the chapel. Then, he suddenly heard a loud clang from behind him and instantly turned around to find a Metal Crucifix that had once been on the wall catch fire and fall to the ground.
Jack turned back around and looked at the stairs to the chapel. The sight made him gasp. The fire had reached the staircase while he was distracted.
He was separated from David and was in high danger.
Some punishment… Jack thought. He was sent to church alone by his mum who decided it was a good punishment for punching one of Jacks classmates as a joke. So I punched some guy softly. That doesn’t mean that I should be sent to my grave! He thought with anger. His fists were clenched as tight as they could.
Meanwhile in the chapel, David was getting worried about Jack. He should be here by now! He was just right behind me.
But then somebody shouted:
“THE FIRE! IT’S COMING DOWN TO THE CHAPEL!”
“Close the doors!” Another shouted.
“Wait! There is a big dish of Holy Water here! Spread it all over the doors! Then the doors wont catch fire!” Another shouted.
The holy water was being passed towards the front.
David urgently though of something.
“But my friend is still out there! He still might be alive! We should wait for him.”
A few people shook their heads. An elderly lady stepped out.
“1 person might have to die to save 50.” She shouted.
David didn’t reply.
“And you didn’t give two hoots when my sister fell into the flames, so why should I care about your friend?” She continued.
“Sorry if I kind of ignored her, but I had other things on my mind and Jack… He is the one who lead us to the safety of the very chapel that we were in! We have got to show some respect!” David pleaded.
But the people ignored him.
“Somebody, ring the fire brigade.” Another person shouted.
To David, it seemed that everyone wanted Jack to die.
David shook his head in despair.
Little did he know that it was the other way around. Jack would live, and he would die…
Jack looked at the flames in horror. He had nowhere to go. He was being baked alive in some torturous oven. The smoke was suffocating him. His eyes were swelling up. And if the wasn’t enough, if he didn’t do anything, he would be engulfed in flames in less than two minutes.
“This is just hopeless!” he groaned to himself, shaking his head. “I can’t get into the chapel, my last hope.” He continued in despair.
He coughed and spluttered over the smoke. The air was too thin. He slowly walked away from the fire, even though he knew it would catch him soon.
In the middle of all this, the door to the chapel went flying off its hinges and a huge fireball curved up into the smoky air.
“Whaaa…?” Jack asked to nobody. Then he realised.
The chapel was the obvious place for safety. The wicked person who had planned the destruction of the church saw the chapel and put a bomb in it.
He felt guilty. He was the one who lead the people - and David - to the chapel. This was planned out ever so carefully. Now, all that mattered was to get out alive.
Jack frowned. He kept a promise to himself that he would not let the person who planned this ever get away. He would get his revenge. For they had killed many people including Jack’s new friend, David. And of course, they had ruined a church. But that didn’t seem to matter to Jack. He never liked church, anyway.
Jack slowly moved away from the fire. He tried to move fast, except he couldn’t. His head was throbbing.
Then he heard it. It was faint, but it seemed to be coming closer. A siren! The Fire Brigade was on its way, and nearly at its destination!
If he could just stay out of harms way for another few minutes he might survive.
This new hope seemed to make Jack move faster. He ran into the small room that he had been in earlier just before the fire was ablaze.
Jack banged on the door several times.
No reply.
The fire reached the arch that led into the room.
The Fire Brigade had better come soon, before its too late.
The fire crept closer.
Jack banged on the door and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“HELP! FIRE!” he shouted, loosing his breath.
The fire was too close. By the time that the Fire Brigade came, it would already be too late.
Jack needed to do something, and fast. He could feel the heat, licking him.
He saw a metal pole, hanging from the roof down to halfway to the bottom of the room. If he could hang on it, the fire wouldn’t be able to reach him!
He ran across to the pole and gently laid his hand on it.
Boiling!
Jack took his hand of the metal pole. The flames were coming closer. He didn’t dare look.
There was nothing he could do. He would just have to cling onto the pole.
So, he carefully slid his arms around to the back of the pole, and then did the same thing with his legs.
He withdrew his hands into the skivvy that he was wearing. This made it harder to climb, but at least it would give him some protection from the heat of the metal pole he was climbing.
He continued to shimmy up the pole.
Finally, the fire covered the whole room. If Jack did fall, the flames would take care of him.
Jack remembered the moment that the person had fallen into the fire.
Would that happen to him? No. He would find a way. He had come this far. He couldn’t fail now!
Jack began to furiously kick at the sealed door, trying to attract attention.
Nothing.
He suddenly felt a sudden pain in his arm. It without Jack wanting it to loosened its grip. Jack cried out. Nobody heard it. He carefully slid his hand back into his skivvy and once again put it onto the metal pole and clung on for his dear life.
But then he realised that it was useless. He had met his fate. That is what he thought. The Fire Brigade was his last hope. Did he really hear the siren? Right now, it didn’t seem so. Where were they? A whole church was on fire! They should be here by now!
Jack could feel the blazing heat below him. He couldn’t hold on forever. He accepted defeat.
He loosened his legs. He now only clung on by his hands, wrapped up in his skivvy. He was about to loosen his hands and fall into the flames, but at the last minute, he heard voices and footsteps outside.
At the very thought that he might live, he forced his legs back up. This was very difficult, but he managed to do it. Just.
He tightened his grip on the pole and began to kick again.
But this time he heard alarmed voices, and footsteps coming his way.
He kept on kicking.
Then he heard a loud crash from the other side of the door.
What had happened? Were the Fire Brigade officers all right?
Another loud crash brought excitement and fear all in one.
After one more crash, he saw the part of the door that wasn’t sealed and was wooden began to splinter.
Two more crashes and there was a hole in the door. Jack could see the faces of two Fire Fighters.
“Hello?” the first one asked.
“Anybody there?” the second one asked.
Jack groaned as a response. His legs dangled in front of the hole.
The two fire fighters grabbed hold of his legs and began to drag him through the hole.
“My name is Josh, and this is Martin.” The second Fire fighter said.
“What is yours?” Martin said.
Jacks body slid down through the hole and into the outside world.
Jack looked at Josh and Martin. Josh had dark skin and black curly hair. Martin was an Englishman with blonde hair.
Jack wondered how they had made the hole in the door. They had probably done it with some kind of sledgehammer.
Then Martin and Josh just realised that Jack was only fourteen. They shrugged as they had thought that he was a man. It was a strange sight to see a boy survive from a big fire.
After getting some fresh air, Jack found that he could talk easier.
“I’m Jack. Jack Convy.” He replied, happy to be safe.
“Is there anybody else alive in there?” Martin asked.
This question made Jack think of David.
“No. They’re all dead. Some idiot decided that blowing them up was a fun idea.” Jack said in disgust.
“A bomb?” Josh asked.
“Yes.” Jack replied. “First, the windows shattered, then we got sealed in with cement, then the church decided to set itself on fire, then everybody apart from me went into the chapel for safety, the chapel blew up, and then I… had a heroic escape with a bit of help from you two.” Jack smiled.
The trio walked down onto the grass that was next to the church.
Jack noticed that the fires damage was mainly inside the church, as the grass was not scorched. There were a few black bricks around the church, but nothing worth worrying about.
“We should contact the police.” Martin muttered to Josh.
“Definitely.” Josh replied.
“We can send you home, while our men fight the fires. They are pretty rough aren’t they?” Josh said.
What is he doing? Jack thought.
“Is he saying that I shouldn’t mess with his men? How rude!” Jack just realised that he had thought out loud.
The two fire fighters glanced at each other.
“Thinkin’ out loud are ya?!” Josh laughed.
“Josh meant that the fires are pretty rough, not the fire fighters!” Martin said with a slight smile on his face too.
“Though mind you,” Josh began. “The fire fighters are pretty rough and you if I were you, I would stay as far away from them as possible!
Jack just acted all embarrassed.
“Ahh… It’s alright Jack, don’t be embarrassed.” Martin chuckled.
It wasn’t that funny.
Jack began to get angry. He felt that the two fire fighters were teasing him. But he didn’t complain. After all, the firemen had saved his life. He just decided that it was a good idea to change the subject.
“Well, umm, what do we do next, and when are we going to do it?” Jack asked, trying not to sound as if he was hurt.
It wasn’t just his feelings though. He had been burnt it several places, sprained an arm while climbing the metal pole, had a deep cut from the shard of glass that had landed on his arm and had much more smaller cuts and splinters from being dragged through the door.
“Josh will take you home while I will supervise the rest of the fire fighters…” That was the last thing Martin ever said.
He began to gasp. Then choke. Blood began to drizzle out of his mouth. He fell backwards in a big pool of blood. Josh looked away in disgust, then took hold of Jack and ran him to the Fire Brigade’s car.
One thing was clear. Martin wasn’t attacked from the front. And there was nobody behind him, so he couldn’t have been stabbed. There was nobody suspicious within pistol or machine gun range that could hit. So, a soldier with a sniper rifle was hunting them. And of course, it would have a silencer.
The sniper fired another shot, but this time, it was at Jack.
ANNOYING, SENILE AND WEIRD
Jack tumbled over.
The sniper bullet had torn through the grass right behind him, scattering dirt in the air.
He needed to get up quick. The sniper could - and would – kill him if he just remained where he was, lying there.
Josh helped him get to his feet, then the two started to run again.
The sniper fired yet another shot. Just as well Jack moved quickly as the sniper fired a shot just where Jack just laid.
By now, the two were at the Fire Brigade’s car.
Jack tried to open the door to the back seat while Josh walked around to the other side of the car. The car was locked.
The sniper took aim.
Josh franticly looked through his wallet until he found the right key.
The sniper fired.
Jack ducked. Glass fell on him for the second time in two hours. The bullet had shattered the window of the back seat closest to Jack. Of course, this meant that if Jack hadn’t ducked, then he would have been shot. Josh unlocked the car and Jack and he climbed into the car.
The other fire fighters just realised what was going on and all too soon, had forgot about the fire and scrambled to the fire trucks. The sniper began to pick them off one by one.
The fire fighters that had been shot were lying on the grass, gasping for breath. The sniper happily shot them again.
While the sniper seemed to be distracted by the remaining fire fighters, Josh drove Jack off to a safer place.
The sniper was still shooting the fire fighters, over and over again until they were just bodies with no fingernails, teeth lying around them and in a big pile of blood.
Just after Martin got shot, Jack had thought that he would be the only one. But as Jack got driven away, he saw that many more were the more likely total.
The sniper kept on shooting at the helpless fire fighters. They were being tortured. They were targets. Living targets for a sniper.
The soldier who was doing all of the hideous shooting – His name was Alex - smiled.
“This is far from war. This is too easy. War is much harder. This isn’t war! This is sport!” The soldier laughed.
“Here’s a phone,” Josh panted, handing his mobile to Jack. “Call the police.” He continued.
“Just one thing, before I do. Where are we going?” Jack asked.
“Mandurah.” Josh replied hastily. “Now hurry up and ring the police already! Jeez!” He demanded.
“Where is Mandurah?” Jack asked.
“Ring the police!” Josh demanded again.
Jack just sat there, giving Josh an annoying smile.
“Fine.” Josh sighed. “About and hour and a bit down south. But if you live in Western Australia, then you must know where Mandurah is!” It is the fourth or fifth most well known place in WA!” Josh said, not quite believing that Jack didn’t know about Mandurah.
Jack used to live in America before he came to Australia, so he didn’t know much about the locations of all the small towns and cities. He just learnt the capitals: Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin and, of course, where he was right now, Perth.
“I used to live in America, DUH!” Jack said in an annoying voice to go with his annoying look.
“Yeah, like I am totally supposed to know, dumbo!” Josh replied.
“Now ring the police!” Josh shouted, beginning to lose his temper.
So Jack made a farting noise and then dialled the number of the local police.
“What is your emergency?” a policewoman on the other end of the line said.
“There is a sniper rifle somewhere near St Georges Cathedral, Cathedral Avenue, St. Georges terrace. Oh yes, and there is also a very annoying fire fighter right next to me, that is the main problem.” Jack joked.
Josh slapped him.
Jack just smiled as a response.
“The emergency services are most definitely NOT for jokes!” The policewoman spat back.
“Man, I do hate the emergency services. Annoying Fire Fighters, Senile police and I bet that they have weird Doctors and Nurses as well.” Jack muttered to himself.
“What’s that that?” The policewoman asked.
“Oh, nothing.’ Anyway, the stuff about the sniper is true. There is also a fire in the church or cathedral or whatever, so somebody like rang the annoying Fire Brigade before they blew up, yes I know, there is some kind of bomb involved, somebody will tell you in more detail later, but anyway, the annoying fire fighters came and the sniper just shot them into a big soggy pile of flesh and blood.” Jack yawned.
The policewoman scowled at the annoying Fire Brigade remark, but said nothing at all about it.
“What is your name?” she said in a dull tone of voice.
“Jack Convy.” Jack said, clearly tired of repeating himself.
“Look, can I speak to somebody sensible, like, maybe the so-called ‘annoying’ Fire fighter?” the policewoman asked.
“Nope. He’s driving.” Jack replied.
“Where are you?” the policewoman asked.
“On some kind of freeway, going to Mandurah.” Jack said. “By the way, can I call you Senile?” He asked.
“NO!” the policewoman said furiously and hung up.
At the police headquarters, ‘Senile’ was talking to a policeman.
“Contact the Australian Secret Service and tell them about a bomb detonated by a terrorist named Jack Convy and a soldier of his having a sniper and blowing up St. Georges Cathedral and Killing everybody who came near it.” She furiously lied and walked out of the HQ.
“Yes, ma’am.” The policeman said, saluting her.
Senile walked outside to notice that the usual security camera that stood outside the HQ was smashed.
She looked at it for quite some time. It was the last thing she did.
Another soldier shot her three times: twice in the back of her head and once in her back.
She fell forward and was dragged away.
She twitched a bit, so the soldier decided to shoot her again.
So that is what he did.
“You stupid idiot!” Josh said.
He parked the car and pushed Jack out, then drove off again.
“I really wish I didn’t save him from that stupid fire. I would be more than happy for him to die and get hideously burnt.” He muttered to himself as he drove.
Josh was thinking that if the policewoman didn’t have to put up with Jack, then neither should he!
Jack began to crack up on the side of the road, laughing so hard.
He still had Josh’s mobile.
Jack figured that Josh would come back for it really soon, so darted of into the deep bush that was all around him.
He wasn’t sure how on earth he was going to get home, as it would take hours to walk there; he supposed that he would ring his mum to pick him up. But what would he say? What would she say?
He continued deeper into the bush.
After about ten minutes of walking, he decided to return back to the road. Which way was it? Northeast. No, Northwest or was it even Southwest? He had no idea at all.
He faced the facts: He was lost.
Then he heard a rustle in the bush that was next to him.
He froze. He didn’t know much about the animals in Australia.
He carefully looked in the bush. It had scales – and it definitely wasn’t a goldfish as it was brown in colour - so it must be a reptile. Yes! Jack loved reptiles and knew lots about them. He looked at it more closely. It had no legs, and was too big to be a legless lizard, so it must be a snake. And judged by its colour and where it was, Jack was easily able to tell that it was a Dugite.
He knew that it was in the top ten of must deadly snakes in the world, but he didn’t worry. To somebody who knew as much about reptiles as he did, it was harmless.
Jack just silently tiptoed away from the bush. The snake saw him but didn’t seem to care. Jack wasn’t a threat to it. Even the Dugite knew that.
Jack was now safe from the Dugite, but that still didn’t solve his problem of being hopelessly lost in the bush. He tried the phone. Out of range. Well, he just got out of a fiery church, and now he was lost in the bush halfway between to him, what seemed like nowhere.
Four police cars and an army truck came to St. Georges Cathedral. But not for the Sunday service. They wanted to put an end to who they thought was Jack Convy. One of the police officers brought out a siren microphone.
“Show yourself, Convy, or we will have to put an end to you!” The officer spoke into it.
The sniper, who had been in his hiding spot for hours, shot that man. A few other police officers got shot as well.
The army began to shoot with what they had and a few police officers began to shoot with their pistols and Tasers. Except they had one problem. They didn’t really have any targets to shoot at.
The sniper began to shoot again.
A police officer spoke into a walkie-talkie to send in an air force vehicle.
The soldier with the sniper began to chuckle again. He was enjoying his time killing whoever came near the church. And he loved the final look of puzzlement on their face as they wondered where he was as he shot them. And the fact that he was getting paid to do so! It was simply an offer that he couldn’t refuse.
His story was that he was bullied as a little boy. He was called names. And he was given the occasional punch. So, one day, he decided to bring a knife to school. The bully said, “Alex is a stinky head!” as he walked past. Alex brought out the knife and stabbed him dead. It felt so good that he wouldn’t be teased anymore. He felt like a god. If somebody did something that he didn’t like, they would die! He felt so much power and kept the knife with him at all times.
He got in so much trouble after stabbing the bully. He got expelled and he got into huge trouble with his parents. Alex almost stabbed them, but he found that he didn’t have the heart to (As a small kid normally would). He pretended to forget about it, but at the age of sixteen, he ran away from home to live his crime spree life.
Out in his hiding place with the sniper, Alex felt something in his pocket. He put his hand in to bring it out and then remembered. He still had the knife with him. He felt a sense of adore with it. He shook his head happily and took hold of the sniper again.
He shot some more people with the precise aim that was part of the sniper rifle of his. Now, the sniper rifle was nearly as close to him as the knife was. It was new, but now, after killing so many people, it was only necessary to like it as well.
Then he heard a strange noise and looked up to see a helicopter.
Why wasn’t he paying more attention?
The helicopter was here to kill him, and it was in the air, so if it came too close, then he could be visible.
To do his next stunt, he would have to take extreme aim on a rapidly moving object in the sky.
Where was the fuel tank? Ah… Alex could just spy it on the side of the helicopter.
He took a pistol out of his belt. A gun in each hand.
He put the two guns together and then used then snipers aim to aim for the pistol as well.
Two bullets tore into the side of the fuel tank.
At first smoke poured out, but then, it exploded.
Alex felt the same feeling that he had felt when he stabbed the bully.
Phase one of his boss’ mission was being done.
Destroying Perth.
Phase two was destroying the rest of Australia.
Phase three was destroying the whole world.
PERTH IS CLOSED
Jack was in the bush, all alone, in the blazing sun. It was summer. An Australian summer: between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius each day.
He needed water above all. He needed Shelter as well. Fire seemed to be the last thing he needed.
So, he walked on until he found a place where it was still in the bush, but there were no trees. There was a freshwater river running through it too. It seemed perfect for camp.
Jack took a long sip of water, and then went to work.
Firstly he went on a scavenger hunt to find some supplies. It was all rusty, but it would work. He found a sharp knife, 30 metres of wire, lots of rusty metal and lots of big logs and rocks.
Next, he tried to make a small cubby kind of house. He cut the logs with the knife to the right size and then laid them, one on top of the other. He used wire, rocks and the excess parts of the logs that he didn’t need to keep it all in place. The walls were now done. It had taken him hours, but it had saved him a lot of bother.
Now he needed a roof, better interiors and probably a door of some kind.
He used a large sheet of metal for the roof and to make sure that it didn’t get blown off (Even though that in this weather, it seemed impossible for it to blow off) attached some wire between the roof and the spaces in between the logs. Now, he had a hut. It had an entrance, but it didn’t have a door. He got a smaller sheet of metal, and only attached the wire on one side of it, so it was like a door. He made lines in the dirt with his fingers to give the door some guidelines on where to go.
It was beginning to get dark. It was six o’ clock already.
He still had an hour before it was too dark.
So he didn’t waste an instant. He collected up some clean and soft leaves and laid them in the hut for something to sleep on.
Then he had an idea. He could make a sink full of water in his hut!
He dug a small hole under the hut. This would be where the sink is.
Then, he dug a small trench from the river down to the outside of the sink. He laid the trench with leaves; sticks and rocks, to make sure that the water didn’t soak up into the soil.
And surely enough, water began to trickle down from the river and into the sink. It was a bit like a miniature tributary, but it needed a return path, otherwise, the sink would overflow.
So Jack dug out a return tributary back to the river.
It seemed perfect! But it needed a filter. So Jack made a sifter out of the wire and placed it on the entrance to the sink from the tributary.
He tried out the new sink. Fresh water!
He was pleased with his hut. He had only spent half a day working on it, so he wondered how much he could achieve in a year!
So, after a hard day of pain, Jack took some rest inside his hut. Even though the bed was far from comfortable, he was so tired that he slept right through the night.
Jack woke up at ten AM the following day. At first, he wondered where he was. Then he realised with disappointment that he was in the middle of the bush. Lost.
He stood up.
He was pleased to find that the hut – and he – was all in one piece.
He took a long sip from the sink of water.
“Water, what more could one want.” He mumbled to himself.
Then he felt something. On his foot. He slowly looked down.
There was something he would rather not have on his foot.
A big, defensive mother scorpion and several white, baby ones all around her.
Jack knew a bit about scorpions, but he didn’t know much. He knew that the baby ones were venomous, so he assumed that the mother was too.
He stood where he was.
He shouldn’t make any sudden movements, so he just had to stand there.
Oh no. He felt a sneeze coming on.
He didn’t want to kill the scorpions but, in a way, he was being forced to. He was certain that he was going to sneeze and then, the scorpion would inject poison into him. He was lost in the bush and without any medical help he would be dead.
He had to do something.
He began to inhale the way you do before you sneeze.
But as he sneezed, his foot lashed out, knocking all the scorpions off his shoe.
But now, he had to get them out of his hut, but he hoped that he didn’t have to put them out of their life.
But then he heard footsteps outside.
An alarming figure – a soldier – kicked the door down with a pistol in his hand, pointing the gun at Jack. Jack was annoyed to have this on top of the scorpions. But of course, this added to the growing fear.
The soldier took a step forward, trying to shoot at point blank range. Bad mistake.
He stepped into the pile of scorpions, getting poison injected into his body. But Jack couldn’t believe his luck. After getting stung, he fell over into the pile of scorpions, crushing them all!
He dropped his pistol. Jack picked it up. He was tempted to shoot the man, but he knew that it was a bad idea.
Jack needed to move. He was being hunted. Now he was sure. The church didn’t make a difference. The enemy didn’t care about the people who had died. He only cared about Jack. Wherever he went, he would be in danger. He wanted to be at home. He didn’t even know what he was wanted for. Just as well he didn’t shoot the soldier. He would’ve become more wanted. But he had a different idea to get rid of the soldier.
He picked up a spare wooden plank and the remaining wire.
He took the knocked out soldier further downstream, where the river became a lot wider. So wide, that there was a strip of land in the middle. A small island. But it was surrounded by deep water.
Jack laid the wooden plank in between the shore and the island. It just fit.
He and the soldier went across to the other side.
He searched the soldier pockets. He found another knife and a compass!
There was a big sturdy tree on the island. Jack tied the soldier to it, and then walked back onto the land, taking the wooden plank with him.
He walked back to his hut.
A pistol, two knives and a compass. He was sure that he could get somewhere with these.
He looked at the comas. He was travelling south to begin with, and north was pointing to his right. West must be in front of him, so he needed to go East.
Jack turned around and began to walk.
The crane swivelled around. This crane was just on of the thirty-six that were working on buildings that were yet to be finished.
But this crane was like no other. It wasn’t building anything.
The window was open.
A sniper stuck out of it.
Three more helicopters came, looking for Alex.
They flew right by the crane.
Alex operated the crane to turn away from all of the commotion, and then he pointed his sniper the opposite way that the crane was facing.
He aimed his sniper and pistol at the helicopter
He fired them the same way that he did with the first helicopter.
“If they ever make a Heil Attack 4, then it would have to be like this!” Alex joked to himself.
The three helicopters exploded.
“Level one. Part one.” He said in a robotic voice.
Death was all around him, but he cared as much as he would’ve if it was a computer game.
Alex shot all the police cars and army trucks until they were just wrecked.
“Is that all you’ve got? I can win. Bring it on. Come on, there is heaps of you guys and there is only me.” Alex mumbled.
But wait. There was one other vehicle that must have came while he was shooting the helicopters.
A big, armoured tank. This would be a challenge.
“Okay, make that level one, part two then.” Alex said, in an ordinary voice instead.
Alex shot the tank with his sniper. It made a dent, but it didn’t do much damage.
“I was hoping I got to use this, and now seems the perfect time.
Alex brought out the one grenade he had.
If somebody saw the grenade fly through the air, then his position would be given away. He would have to use bullets at the same time to cover for it.
Alex began to shoot more people with the sniper. So many were already dead. But that didn’t stop him. He was here to finish his job. Even if it had pain involved.
While all the shooting was going on, Alex pulled the pin to the grenade and instantly threw it at the tank.
As the grenade landed on the tank, it detonated some of the ammunition for the tank
‘prematurely’. The tank had a big rip in it and it caught fire. The person inside it was instantly killed.
The roads to the main city were blocked off. The city was ‘closed’.
The police and army retreated.
Alex had a wide smile on his face.
His job was done. Phase one of his mission was complete.
He climbed out of the control room, and down the ladder.
He hid his sniper and pistol.
There were a few more people, still leaving the city, so he decided to blend in with them.
At the very edge of the city, Alex stood in front of the swan river. It was the main river, running between the city of Perth, then to Applecross, and then finishing at Fremantle. Despite its name, it didn’t have any swans in it. The occasional bottle nose dolphin could be seen, and of course, lots of blowfish and jellyfish and fish in general. Crabs were the speciality. Jack had it once, and he found it quite nice with vinegar.
A boat was there, waiting for Alex.
He got in and drove off. He didn’t have a licence, but he still drove, out of Perth and into Western Australia’s harbour: Fremantle.
It was only about fifteen minutes away from the main city.
Jack used the two knifes to fight his way through the bush.
At one point, he came a berry bush. There was a bobtail. Jack fed it a berry and kept some for himself.
They were nice, a bit like a cross between a cherry and mulberry.
Jack kept on walking, for another forty-five minutes until he heard the sound of cars.
He darted forward in excitement.
Finally, he found himself on the side of the freeway.
There were lots of cars going away from the city, but strangely, there were not many cars in sight going to the city. Jack scratched his head. It should be the other way around.
Then he looked up to see the tall buildings of the city on the horizon. The lights were all out. It was silent.
It was a dead city.
RIVER OF SWANS?
Jack needed to find out more.
He needed to get to the city and find out what was going on.
He walked up the road for a while, and then tried the phone again.
People in their cars stared at him.
What was going on?
There faces were of horror, and they instantly drove off.
One person pulled over and dialled a number on their phone.
Good. The connection was stable.
Jack dialled his mum on Josh’s mobile phone.
After a while, Jack heard the familiar voice of his mother.
“Hello, Maria Convy speaking, who is it?” She asked.
“Thank god its you mum! It’s me! Jack!” he said happily.
“Oh… Jack, right. Uhh… what do you want?” Maria said nervously.
“What’s the problem, mum?” Jack asked.
“Oh just… why? Why did you do it?” Maria shivered.
“Did what?” Jack asked curiously.
Was this the reason why he was being hunted? Was this why people that went by were shocked?
“The bomb, the sniper, why would you do something so terrible?” Maria began. “And setting a church on fire a killing anyone who came near it… Oh please! Please let me live! I don’t want to die!” She sobbed.
“I didn’t do that, except I was involved.” Jack admitted.
“Involved with what?” Maria trembled.
“ I was the one stuck in the burning church and the only one who survived. I was the one hunted by the sniper and survived. And I... I just got ditched by the fireman who saved me and he threw me in the bush, except he kinda forgot that I still had his mobile.” Jack said guiltily.
“Oh.” Was all his mother said in response.
“And I think I know why this whole misunderstanding took place.” Jack said.
“Well, I didn’t kill people with a sniper and set a church on fire, but I did make a call to a policewoman who was in a bad mood and made the mistake of telling her my name.” He continued.
“I believe you, but it was all over the news, and people want you, dead or alive.” Maria said, feeling a lot more comfortable.
Almost everything made sense now. Everyone was out to get him. But he didn’t think that the man who had came into his hut didn’t want to do anything with him, he just wanted Jack dead.
“I am being hunted by two groups of people, the baddies and the locals. Pretty much the same thing, though.” Jack joked. “Just one more thing,” He began. “Can you pick me up? I am down the freeway, there is a windmill of some sort next to me.” He said.
“I would if I could.” Maria said.
Jack was puzzled and scared. Did his mum still not trust him?
“Why not?” He asked.
“The city is the only way to where you are. And the city is closed and abandon now. Covered in dead bodies. I can’t go through.” Maria replied in defeat.
“Oh, that’s fine, I can get through the city, meet me at the edge, okay?” He said, and then hung up.
The reason that he had been so quick, was that a police car was speeding towards him.
By now, two police officers had stepped out, with their guns pointing at Jack. They were walking closer by every second.
Jack looked at the empty first lane of the freeway. Yes. He could do it.
He dashed across to the middle of the freeway.
One of the cops fired.
They missed.
The second lane of the freeway were behind a set of train tracks.
Jack climbed over the first barrier.
Why didn’t he look before? A train was approaching!
He ran forward to the second barrier, but it was much higher than the first.
Jack tried to climb over it.
Too high.
He could hear the train, about to crush him.
He looked at it. Right above him, about to slice him.
He tried to jump the barrier again. This time he did it. He made it on to the thin line between the second freeway lane and the railway.
But he didn’t move his leg in time.
The train rammed into it.
Jack felt like his leg was trying to be ripped off by a giant. He moved it out of the trains way, out of harms way.
He found it very hard to walk.
He limped to the next train station.
There was a bridge across to the other side of the road there.
And past that, there was the most polluted river Jack had seen. The water was black. The swan river was not pretty...
(River of Swans continued soon!)
