Chapter 2.1

When I opened my eyes, there was a cracked white ceiling I didn't recognise. For a second I panic that I can't move, but then I realise that my limps were just numb from lying still for too long, and with effort, I shift my head to the side, and I see what looks like a cheap apartment.

I can smell dried blood in my nose, and the feel of cold sweat clinging to my skin. A groan escaped as I went to sit up, the room spinning on an axis.

"Theo!" I called, screwing my eyes shut and trying to calm the nausea rising from my stomach.

"Oh good, you're okay." Her bushy head pocked through the doorway. She looked tired and there was hair poking out of her ponytail like the hadn't brushed it since yesterday. Which it probably hadn't, now the memories were coming back.

"Where are we? What happened?" I had no idea where we were, we appeared to be in some sort of living apartment, but it wasn't one I recognised.

"Well… I don't really know what happened… Erm… This black smoke thing appeared, and you both went crazy fighting the soldiers. I don't understand what I saw… It was insane… But then you suddenly collapsed. Everyone that saw it was dead, but it made a lot of noise, and after you fainted there was nothing we could do to get out of there. They took us here. They took all the kids here."

"All the kids? What about the adults? Where is here?"

"No-one's seen an adult since the invasion. Not one that isn't Garlantian anyway. It's just a block of flats a few streets from the school. They made everyone put on one of these." she held up her wrist and there was a bulky bangle wrapped around it with the code 204E engraved crudely in Garlantian characters. When I looked at my own wrist, I had one that read 205E. Fuck. We were prisoners. "This is some crazy shit Ezra, if you have any idea of how to get us out of here, I'm all ears."

"What about food?" I asked.

"What? What do you mean? There's canned food leftover from whoever lived here before."

"Are you sure it was leftover?"

"Well, I can't be totally sure, but someone was definitely living here before us. Why do you ask?" I looked around the room and I saw that she was right. There was rubbish in the bin and worn clothes half-folded on the chair. Besides the bed, there was a packet of half-finished medication and a mug with the remains of someone's stale coffee.

"Because I've seen these things before. They're prisoner bangles."

"What does that mean?" she asked, with an uneasy expression.

"When I was in Garlantia they put one on me, they inject tiny amounts of poison into the bloodstream and then administer an antidote every morning so you can't run. There must be some way they're giving us the antidote. I thought it would be through food, but I don't know."

"There's been nothing like that since we got here."

"How long?"

"About eighteen hours since the invasion." She was right, it was mid-morning outside. But it was eerie, streets that should have been streaming with people were completely deserted. Even I had trouble comprehending what happened and I knew what Garlantia was capable of.

"What happened to Kirsty?" I asked, I wasn't really that concerned, but I thought I should ask.

"She got put in a different room with another kid… But there are kids here that need help. They're too young to look after themselves. We were paired up by convenience, I was only put with you because I had to drag you out of there."

"You mean there are kids from other schools here?"

"I think so. I saw a kid that only looked about six put in next door."

I winced as I tried to stand, I don't know why I felt like I'd got hit by a truck, but there was no physical injuries. I know I didn't get hit during that fight, whatever I saw through Shadow's eyes protected me from harm, almost like I saw seconds into the future. She watched me as I hobbled past her and tried the front door.

"It's locked. I tried. It's not a lock you can pick either." She pointed at a card reader next to the door.

That was too much security for crappy looking apartment block. Something was weird about the whole set up. But just as I was about to ask Theo about it, a booming voice coming from the speakers above the door sounded out "Participants E1 to E100 report to the courtyard immediately." There was a Garlantian accent, but it was clear enough to understand.

"This is too fucking weird." Theo sounded scared; it was a deep-seated fear like there was something fundamentally wrong that she couldn't bring herself to understand. I had to agree. The whole situation was bizarre and chilling. I didn't want to believe it, but Garlantia had invaded and took control of the entirety of Reaga in less than twenty-four hours. We were already fitted away in neat little cells, as prisoners for them to control.

"Has anyone managed to get in contact with anyone?" I asked, moving towards the bedroom window to watch the courtyard below.

"Anyone? Like who? I haven't spoken to anyone else since we got here. The adults are gone. We're by ourselves." Outside we watched kids file out into the courtyard and form neat lines of ten. Garlantia soldiers lined the buildings with guns resting on their shoulders, while a man at the front shouted instructions. I couldn't hear what they were saying, and the windows didn't open.

"Why are they obeying?" The fear was mixed with anger now. She gripped the windowsill until her fists turned white. I could feel her urging them to fight back. They don't. They line up in their assigned bays. A soldier goes down each line and checks their bangles before marking on the tablet he was holding. They quickly get down the lines, and they're escorted back into the building.

A few minutes passed before the next numbers were read out. "Participants E101 to E201 report to the courtyard immediately."

"That's us." She stated, looking at me with determination.

"Please Theo don't do anything. We can figure this out later when we have time to think." I begged her, and I thought by the look on her face that she was going to blatantly refuse, but reluctantly, she nodded.

"Okay, I won't… For now." Even when she promised, I watched her out of the corner of my eye all the way down. The doors buzzed and swung open as they were automatically released from the locks. Down the hall, I could see similar doors swinging open and children's heads cautiously popping out. Like Theo said, there were children of all ages; there were a couple about seven years old a few doors down, who poked their head out and then ran back inside. There are two soldiers at the end of the corridor, either side of the stairs, when we join the fray, we're swept along in the slow current of the crowd. There isn't much talking, like everyone's still in shock, we numbly shuffle along until we gather in the courtyard. We forced into single file lines when the ear piercing sound of a child screaming breaks out. I felt Theo physically flinch at the sound, and we all spin to see a soldier dragging two young children by the scruff of the neck down the stairs. They're roughly thrown in the direction of the line missing two children. They were the same children I saw trying to hide before coming down.

They continue to sob, but fear and oppression kept us from moving. No-one comforts them. The sounds of their sobs are overtaken by the sounds of the general at the front "You will now be referred to as the numbers on your bangles. We will take a register each morning and you will report here when called. The bangle contains a tracking device, it cannot be removed, and any attempts at escape will be met with lethal force." While he addressed us, each bangle was scanned by soldiers methodically making way through the line.

Then we were escorted back inside before he made the same speech to the next hundred.

Safely back in our apartment, I noticed the door had the numbers E105 and E106 written on the door, it locked shut behind us.