Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 2

~Jane~

Fimiston was an abandoned gold mine in Western Australia. It was the largest mine in Australia, called a super pit, and had been remodelled to house about 40,000 people. The mine had been dug out to accommodate the tens of thousands of townhouses, buildings for shops, and everything a population needed to sustain itself as an independent settlement. All the roofs were painted the colour of the red desert to stop above onlookers from realising that people lived there. There was an emergency tarp roof that could span over the entire opening as well that was only used to keep the scorching heat of a summer's day away from the people.

Billy explained that anything that the people of Fimiston couldn't make or grow themselves was delivered through trains. Recently, it was becoming more common for the trains to suddenly explode, so places like Fimiston had to go without for a few weeks. Their underground vegetative systems weren't efficient enough to supply the demanding population for more than a few weeks.

Since the coasts weren't safe and had been evacuated of civilians when the bombings started, everyone who was fit to travel migrated to the deserts. People had been living underground in the deserts for centuries anyway, as a way to cope with the heat of such a desolate environment. Craters were reinforced to become dams for water sources, underground towns became crowded with survivors, and mines were converted into towns. These crowds began as camps, but soon developed into proper buildings once the surviving military returned after the disease started spreading in other parts of the world. Half of these soldiers were assigned at reinforcing the borders defences, while the other half were placed at these camps to help build proper accommodation for the overflowing population.

The richer civilians lived in houses carved into the rock, where it was cool even on the hottest of summer days. Everyone else lived in stuffy townhouses all crowded together. It wasn't hard to find shelter for those who didn't have homes, but no one could hide from the humid air unless you lived in the proper underground apartments. "It's not much, but it's home," he said lovingly.

The people of Fimiston were good and kind, but harsh to outsiders. Everyone new entering the city was seen as just another hungry mouth to feed, and a body to shelter. Billy assured Jane that if she was travelling there, someone she knew should be able to claim her and she should be protected. The girl was hopeful, but as unsure as she was about the name Jane.

All the while he talked, the woman watched the other people in the room closely. It had grown more crowded as medics tried to squeeze in more people covered in thick red dirt. Most of the children brought in even shared beds in order to make more space for the critical ones. Billy was just starting to tell her about how to survive in a place like Fimiston, when the doctor, Sanders, returned.

"Ma'am, I am delighted to tell you that you are all ok to be transferred to our passenger carriage," he said with a smile. Sanders looked slightly more dishevelled than before, as his white coat had a few new blood stains on it, and his sweaty face was making his hair stick to his forehead. "With me, please."

Jane got up and started pulling her legs over the metal railing of the bed. Sanders rushed to her side to help, resting an innocent hand on her back while she steadied her weight on her sore legs.

She nodded her thanks, already tired of talking. As she looked down at the stitched wound, she started to feel unsure about how well it had been sewn as a bead of blood appeared.

Sanders looked down at her leg and quickly pulled something out of his pocket. "Those students should have bandaged this..." he mumbled. "They're too green. Basically interns."

He unravelled a thick white bandage and squatted in front of her to wrap around her leg. He looped the bandage underneath her baggy trousers, ripping them further in order to get his hand all the way through. I suppose it's not like anyone else on this train is dressed any nicer than rags.