The Rising

Chapter 1

THE EVENTS IN THIS BOOK PARALLEL THE SAME TIME PERIOD AS THE EVENTS STATED IN CHARLIE HIGSON'S 'THE ENEMY'

He had seen him, behind the tree, however he wasn't sure if it was anything. Get something to eat Reuben, your mind is messing with you. Reuben hadn't eaten in days. They'd been running short on food supplies when the Avondale kids had raided the garden and other food storage. Everything had remained calm until them. He had tried to stop them, he hid with Tamir, Josh, Alon and Nell to protect them. No one was hurt due to the good hiding place the top of the wardrobe in Reuben's old room.

Reuben ran back inside the house and closed the door behind him; which he then locked. "Josh, there's something out there."
"What was it?" Josh replied in his 10 year old voice.
"I'm not sure, I think it's a 'grown-up'. I'm going to go and kill it." Reuben then opened the door to come face to face with the creature; it was a cat. "Hahaha. It's only a cat!", Reuben exclaimed. The cat was skinny and missing fur. Reuben got down on his knees. "Here kitty, kitty" the cat looked at him and proceeded into the house, ignoring him. "Nell! Come and look at this." Nell, followed by Tamir and Alon strolled out of their room not realising that there was a cat in the house. The kids hadn't seen a cat in over a year. Nell sat down next to the cat who was growling in hunger. "...Leo?..." Nell cried. Reuben was staring at the cat, it definitely was recognisable but if it was their old cat how could he be alive? Surely he wouldn't have been able to survive this long. Judging by the state of the scrawny mess. Nell instantly ran into the cupboard retrieving a handful of out of date Cheerios. "Stop!" Josh blurted; "that's the last of our food!" He added. However it didn't stop Nell from feeding the cat. "Guys, we are leaving in two minutes. Get any last gear you need and let's get into the car."
Reuben had broken into a car that contained a dead body earlier. He had kept it in the garage for safe keeping.
After a long two minutes, the kids were ready to leave. Reuben lifted the garage door's hatch and hopped into the car with the others. He had turned the key three times and the ignition started. As they began to go down the driveway the cars engine suddenly stopped, as it rolled down the rest of the drive creating a thump as it hit the road. Alon screamed as an adults face hit the window with blood splattering in all directions. The adult immediately fell to the ground, dead. It was unclear what to do now, Reuben had tears in his eyes. He remembered the good old days when it was safe to go outside, and that's the only choice they had. Reuben opened the door, pulled his Machete out of his pocket and continued to open the back doors letting his sister and cousins out. He opened the bonnet of the car releasing a seething mass of fumes and other unbreathable substances. They quickly raced into the garage shutting the door behind them. "Thank god there were no more of them" Reuben said. "Looks like we're gonna have to stay here for a while then" he added sadly.
"Where were we going to go anyway?" Nell asked.
"I don't know. But away from here" Reuben replied.

Days had gone by and the kids were hungrier than ever, Alon was crying all the time so Nell, Reuben's sister had tried entertaining him by playing regular household games like hide and seek. That was when he disappeared. What happened to Alon, Reuben didn't want to think about. It all happened so fast. They were left to discover the gate trampled down and a trail of blood. That was the day that they left the house. Nell had grabbed Leo, while mourning over what happened to Alon she approached Reuben, Josh and Tamir. "Can he come?" Nell asked while looking at the cat.
"He can come, but he won't last long" Reuben replied.

The kids approached the neighbours one year unused car. Reuben went through the keys he had collected from the neighbouring properties. He pulled out the Volkswagen key and twisted it. The door opened and the kids cheered. Tamir and Nell with Leo sat in the back seats; while Reuben and Josh took the front. Reuben started the ignition "please work" he muttered. The car turned with three turns and Reuben began to put his foot on the acceleration pedal. The car began to roll down the avenue and again, the group cheered. As they pulled out onto the main road they noticed how destroyed everything was. The grass was as high as a table, destroyed cars were everywhere, bodies inside them. Reuben began to ponder if he had made the right decision about leaving. "Decided where we're going?" Josh asked.
"I have some ideas"
"Like?"
"Well before everything had completely turned to shit, I was informed that a local school had a camp of kids there that were planning on bringing things back to normal" Reuben sniggered. "Even though they said some stupid things, we could check them out?"
"May as well", Josh answered.
It took the kids 10 minutes and they were at Pt Chevalier Primary School. It was a wreck. Scafolding was scattered everywhere, the old auditorium was burning. "Stay here guys." Reuben said as he opened the car door. He removed the Machette and held it at the ready. As he approached the building, he noticed that there was a hole in the wall with grown-ups inside eating at something. Upon a closer inspection, he realised that there were bodies in there, uncountable ammounts of children. Something must of happened very recently, something very bad Reuben thought. As he went back to the car he informed the others of what it was. They immediately started the car and drove down the road.

"Any other plans Mr Smart guy?" Nell said sarcastically. "Shut up." Reuben replied.
"Where we headed?" Josh asked.
"I was thinking we should look for a friend of mine. He's strong and could help us." Reuben answered.
"Lachlan?" Nell questioned.
"Yes."
"But he lives way too far away!" Nell exclaimed.
"We'll find him, I know it." Reuben said as he turned onto a destroyed onramp.
The motorway was full of cars, foggy windows with dead bodies inside. Reuben gagged as the smell began to tear through the air. As Reuben continued driving, they passed along a bus which read "Metro-Link". Reuben had thought he had seen movement inside but quickly through his attention on the motorway. "Look out!" Nell shrieked as a grownup walked in front of the car. It was a splat and a mass of blood and worms wriggled over the car. Josh quickly threw up, as if the smell couldn't of gotten worse. Reuben stepped his foot on the accelerator pedal and quickly got to the turnoff onto the harbour bridge...