Priceless

Caleb – 12am 

Adrenaline was pumping through my blood like a bitch.

Bullets were flying, ricocheting off the walls. The glass windows were imploding, counters and desks spewing over as fighters tumbled. The carpet was drenched in blood, the air riddled with smoke. My eyes were stinging, and I was sweating like a whore in a church.

A blunt force rammed into my ribs.

“Mother Trucker!” I swore, as I was slammed against the wall. A set of desk draws rebounded off my chest, before I crumpled on top of them.

My vision blacked in and out. A room full of faces, and I couldn’t pinpoint one I knew. I pushed myself to my feet, groaning between my teeth. Those draws had cracked a rib for sure.

I was heading for behind the counter, hoping the protection would be enough, when it hit.

First, beneath my feet.

Next, rolling through the jip rock.

Then, a hot spasmodic force, a white contraction of noise that blew through my body. Blinding me. Deafening me. Explosion. Pain. Burning.

Silence.

******

Kat - 8pm

4 hours earlier

The skies were a demonic red. A haunting reminder that, for the next 12 hours, there were no rules. Crime: vandalism, theft, murder, and worse, are all legal during the purge.

“You look like you’ve seen death, Kat,” Quinton called, snapping me back to the barn. His stare was cold.

“Look outside Dumbass, she has,” Caleb interjected, he chewed on some gum, scuffing his boots through the cracked dirt. “The skies are falling.”

Shades of scarlet stained the sunset like dripping blood. I was sure that was God warning, that not even he would save us.

There were six of us in the barn: My sister Zibby, my neighbours Quinton and Caleb, Anna, Caleb’s cousin, her boyfriend Jed, and me. We’d decided on this plan weeks ago. We lived in a sheepish country town and all of our parents were content on locking their doors and gearing their rifles. There was one thing us outlandish country kids needed and wanted however, in masses we’d only have access to tonight - cash.

We all had our reasons, and most of us were keeping those close to our chest.

Anna laid back on a hay bale, wearing denim shorts and a tied-up top that showed off her stomach. Her dread-locked boyfriend, Jed, was asleep next to her. I didn’t know Anna well because she’d been home-schooled, but she had the spirited sort of personality that meant most people avoided her. She was a black sheep in our isolated little town.

Zibby slept also, curled in on herself by the back door, her dark hair curtaining her face. I didn’t want my sister here. I wanted her locked in a bunker somewhere far, far away.

Quinton brooded in the back corner, his shoulders broad and his hair tousled backwards. If he smiled a little, and stood up tall, he appeared almost normal. But I remembered.

I remembered being in the truck, my mum was chatting out the window to Quinton’s dad. I was watching Quinton with the cattle, and I remember seeing the white lines that ran up his forearm. I remember how nervous I felt around Quinton’s dad. The look in his eye that made you uneasy. His manic outbursts, the reek of beer that ran through their home, soaked into the walls. Quinton was guarded and dangerous. I knew to stay away from him.

******

Zibby – 9 pm

The train was freezing. All the heat was gone. We locked shut our shipping compartment, so we wouldn’t get hijacked on the way into town. But, even our six bodies couldn't produce enough warmth to make the trip bearable.

The purge had just began, we all knew it, and the fear it provoked was chilling.

Caleb pranced up and down like a Shetland pony. His hair was the colour of burnt carrots, and he wore that much flannel it was criminal. He really didn’t have much going for him, but he was high on adrenaline and thought he was all that.

My older sister, Kat, sat still and eyed him with a stare as sharp as razors. It was freakishly scary. I hated how quiet she was. She was scared as hell, but she wouldn't let me know that. It was belittling. Despite what she believed, I could handle it.

Kat didn’t want me here. I’d blackmailed her into letting me come. It was that, or I’d blow the whistle, and tell mum. Naturally, any parent wouldn’t love the idea of their child plotting to rob their town bank, legal or otherwise. Lord knows, our mum would go catatonic. She hated the purge, she’d never participated. And to top it off, Kat was going to hit the streets with freshly released juvi-resident Caleb Waters, his bi-polar cousin, and the suicidal Quinton Brice.

If our mum found out what Kat had planned she could kiss college goodbye. On the plus side, affording the tuition would no longer be something she had to worry about.