Music

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Dedicated to ScottT30 :)

   Tiffany punched the soldier in the mouth. He drew back from her, spitting out blood. Tiffany had acquired a few bruises and scratches as well, but on the whole she looked a lot better. The soldier straightened up and attempted to punch her, but she blocked him easily, also managing to twist around and kick him in the back of the legs. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground. Tiffany grabbed the nearest hard object to her and whacked him on the back of his head. His eyes closed and he fell to the ground, knocked out. Tiffany stood up and brushed her hands off. She turned and motioned for her sister to come out of hiding. The little girl, no more than nine, crept out from her hiding place, eyeing the soldier carefully, as if he might suddenly leap up and attack them again.

   "It's okay, I knocked him out for a bit," Tiffany reassured her sister.

   The young girl sidled up to her older sister. Tiffany examined her face for any signs of shock or terror, but all she saw was the same blank but understanding expression Elenor always wore. Tiffany sighed and hugged her little sister.

   "It's okay," she repeated. "Elenor, we must fight for what we believe in. The GreenFoot Affect soldiers, they're just men doing their job. They knew someone would fight."

   Tiffany leaned back and searched Elenor's eyes. Elenor just carried on staring at her sister, nodding robotically.

   Tiffany sighed again and released Elenor. Elenor walked away and grabbed her teddy bear from the floor. The old, ragged thing was dirty and dusty, but Elenor still clutched it against her face.

   Tiffany went round their space, a house they had stayed in and overtaken, and collected their few possessions.

   "Come on El, we have to leave here. That soldier will wake up and find us if we don't clear out," coaxed Tiffany, resting her hand on Elenor's shoulder and her gaze on her face.

   Elenor nodded solemnly and followed Tiffany out the dilapidated building. Tiffany prodded the still knocked out soldier with her foot. He was alive and breathing, but would wake up with a terrible headache. Tiffany reached down and pulled a gun and a bottle of water from the soldier's belt, and stashed it away in her backpack.

   Elenor followed Tiffany down the road to an equally dilapidated building, which appeared to be an old clothes store, by the look of the rusting metal of the clothing racks. The wooden shelves were rotten and covered in a dusting of green and white mould. The wooden floorboards were in the same situation. Fortunately, this place seemed to have a secure roof.

   Tiffany looked at the floor in obvious disgust but pulled out a large blanket from her backpack and spread it on the floor, ever careful not to disturb the dust.

   "Don't disturb the dust, 'kay?" Tiffany instructed, looking at Elenor. She nodded, looking down at her feet with a slightly exasperated look.

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   The sun was beating down on London. Tiffany was sweating and felt a bit dizzy, yet she only allowed herself one sip from the water bottle she had stolen from the GreenFoot Affect soldier.

    The GreenFoot Affect. Tiffany thought back to before the War, when global warming was a massive crisis that simply could not be ignored anymore. So the governments and leaders of most of the countries created rules and guidelines to prevent the Earth from heating up anymore. But the temperature was still escalating, and even humans couldn't stop it. Yet Antarctica, once apparently the biggest desert on Earth, still believed that the GreenFoot Affect could be saved. Antarctica had blamed other countries for not helping. For not caring about where Earth's history was going. For not being strict enough. What started out to be a petty little accusation turned into a war and eventually, World War Three. The world was so technologically advanced that neutron bombs could be made easily. Countries underestimated the power of it, and their weakness had the whole country and its people exterminated.