Sector 28

"I deeply regret to inform you that the ship the S.N Maria and the one hundred people sailing her have gone missing at sea. We are treating the incident as suspicious, if caught these people will be prosecuted." said the not so confident Governor as the room erupted with screams of anger and rage.

"We are doing our best to find the victims of this tragedy, " he yelled over the swell of discussion in the room.

The official story confirmed it for everyone, tears were shed and the riots got worse. How could you even dream of escaping when so many had failed before you? Other countries sent their condolences and searched their seas looking for the escapees. You couldn't escape the story, rioters kept on bringing it up at rallies. The S.N Maria was a big transport ship which hundreds of locals from a fishing post in Port Lincoln had stormed trying to run away from the political dictatorship in Australia. Everything in Australia had changed, the country had become a puritanical society where women were required to be covered even though they wore tatters as there isn't enough money. Food was rationed and in short supply, people were falling ill and were not given enough food to work the long hours, they were constantly under an armed guard. If they were not productive they "disappeared." Five sectors had already tried to escape unsuccessfully. Everyone wanted to escape. Full families went, great grandmothers to new-born babies. The story above was what the rest of the society thought, that we were just another failed escape but of course I knew so much more than that. This is how I became shipwrecked with one hundred other survivors.

Crack, thump, alarms ringing, babies crying and feet rushing. An angry ocean swelled and thunderclaps roared. Those were the noises that woke me to the sound of the storm. The ship was made up of sailors, as we were from Sector 28 a fishing post, this meant that everyone on board had a role same as they did back at the commune. Except we aren't under guard anymore

I climbed out of bed, avoiding the small bodies of my tiny siblings in their rags and starved twig like limbs. There were seven of us in total, myself being third oldest. I mostly take care of the youngsters whilst also working, as Mum has been bedridden since having the youngest, Finn almost seven months ago whilst Dad, Belou and Quinn work full time on the boats with the middle aged kids working around school hours . I had run out of my dorm along the carrier's hallways to my emergency post. Working the ropes is always hard work, the constant orders being yelled and sore hands from the rope. All our problems tripled when the waves started crashing over the deck . That's when the news came in from the control room.

" All major controls are down, we have lost all contact with the mainland. The council have said to retreat to emergency stations and wait on further orders" says the twelve year old boy called West, panting as he had run all the way from the control room. And yes he is named after the compass direction, there is a whole thing about how safety lies to the West because of the direction of the ocean currents.

That's when it hit

"Oh my God, Thank you West, I say excitedly, hugging him. I run as fast as I can to the raised platform that leads to the control room.

"West " I yell screaming to a halt in the middle of the room, having interrupted a very grave meeting.

"That's the solution, sail West" I pant. There was a silence as the information sunk in.

"How did we not think of that" said West's father John looking around the others with stunned looks on their faces

"I mean what else are we going to do " the room fell into discussion. The decision was made to evacuate to the safe rooms and then sail West when the weather calmed.

The storm kept on throwing it's worst at us and all we could do was to hold fort and wait for the weather to subside. Extreme rations had been put in place as well as a rationing of power, explaining why I sat at a crank winding up the spare generator

"OH MY GOD" screamed Belou at the crank by the porthole

"What is it " I said wandering over to his crank. That's when I see through the rain the small lump of land amongst millions of litres of water. I run over to my radio.

"Portholes to control room, Portholes to control room come in". A silence... then white noise.

"Control Room to Portholes. What's up Kalani?" said one of the first mates Bud.

"We can see an island" I say holding the radio in between my shoulder and face as I get my compass of my duty belt. I focused it and read out the co-ordinants as quickly as possible whilst thoughts rushed through my head.

In the dead of night, holed up in the safe room I lay staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep with Hasani and Finn huddled next to me. Suddenly Quinn rushes over "They need you for something..."

Oh. My. God. I can't believe I'm about to do this, I'm about to jump into the literal suicide of the stormy ocean. The brief was simple, a group of us would go scout the island, try to find water and an area for camp, see the terrain we'd be living in. I neared the edge of the liner, a 40 meter drop, looking down at the white wash. Well, here goes nothing. The water was colder then expected, chilling through to my bones. The swim was tough the waves splashing into my face, even though we had lifesaver boards but we finally got to the island. I crawled up the beach, laying outstretched.

"Come on, lets go" spoke my older brother Belou as he poked me, walking up to the foliage. The hike was gonna be tiring especially when you've just swum a couple of kilometres and all you're wearing is bathers with a duty belt and bag, as we searched for clean water. My eyes took in a tropical view with the foliage starting higher up. I slung my beach bag over my shoulder

"Lets split up" spoke Bud. I started trudging away on my own, machete in hand, swiping to make my way through the deep forest until I heard rustling. I raised my radio to my mouth and machete, just being cautious. Then suddenly I was tackled to the ground. The body pinned me down while a hand clamped over my mouth. "Who are you" said the body. I finally opened my eyes to find a boy staring down at me. His was blonde and strong looking. With a surge of power I flung him off and grabbed my machete standing him off. I slowly back away bumping into another girl. Look around realising that I'm realising I'm surrounded by people, I grab my radio      

                                                                   "Guys, we have company"