23rd June 2023

Richard’s breath came quick as he raced through the alley between buildings. Reaching the main street, he lifted his eyes to find the sun, setting fast. He was running out of time. Brisbane had always been a city full of nightlife, but the curfew imposed at the setting of the sun had stopped that dead. The rules were clear. Anyone outside or making noise after dark were considered freedom fighters and either shipped out to a PoW camp, or killed if they didn’t cease their activity. Richard had lost track of time trying to recruit for his resistance, and was caught out on the opposite side of the city to his home.

He hurried across the street, glancing left and right for soldiers. He wasn’t the easiest man to hide, with a bulky 6’1” frame and many muscles from years of active police work. He rushed into the next alley, and grumbled as he ran into yet another chain link fence. Slinging his AK-47 across his back, he leapt up and hauled himself over. The rattling of the fence sounded unbelievably loud and he winced as the sound reverberating down the alley. He landed in a crouch, but stumbled as he felt something soft under foot. A human-like yelp make him jump away and unsling his rifle, turning the weapon towards whatever had made the sound.

From amongst a pile of black garbage bags and rotten carpet emerged a tall, lanky man. His blue eyes projected the pain he felt as he rubbed the arm Richard had landed on. His hair and beard were a scraggly black, and he was dressed in ragged clothes. Richard kept his rifle trained on him. The man jumped when he saw the rifle and raised his arms in surrender.

“Woah, hold up there mate,” he said, his voice clearly Australian. Richard lowered the weapon slightly.

“You’re out late,” Richard commented.

“So are you,” the man retorted. “I need to get somewhere though,”

“Don’t we all,” Richard remarked dryly.

“Nah, you don’t understand, I need to find my sister,” he replied.

“You won’t stand a chance after dark without a weapon,” Richard said.

“Got these,” he raised his fists and dropped into a boxing stance, throwing a few shadow punches. Richard grinned and lowered his rifle.

“You won’t stand a chance,” Richard repeated. “I’ll come with you,”

“Oh thank god! I was starting to get real worried,” he said, then added, “about you. You look like you couldn’t handle even one of them AFUR soldiers with that toy of yours,”

“Careful, boy, it’s more than a toy,” Richard growled at him.

“Hey, cool it. And it’s Andrew, not ‘boy’,” the man introduced himself.

Richard muttered something under his breath and continued on down the alley. Andrew followed, asking him what he had said. Richard continued to grumble about the younger man’s energy, eventually snapping at him to be quiet. Andrew stopped, then jumped as the sound of gunfire was heard. Richard swung around, trying to locate the source of the sound. With a gasp, Andrew sprinted away from Richard. With a curse Richard followed him.

Andrew turned down a street and stopped, slamming his back against the wall and peering around the corner. Richard followed suit, leaning across Andrew to see what was going on. A squad of soldiers were firing on an exotic foods store, taking cover behind cars and other objects. Every so often one would move too far out of cover, and the resounding boom of a shotgun came from inside the store. Richard looked down to see Andrew fiddling with something. As Andrew pulled out a lighter, Richard figured out what it was.

“You’re not serious,” he groaned. His younger companion had assembled a poor excuse for a Molotov cocktail.

“Deadly,” Andrew replied with a grin on his face. Standing, he weighed the bottle of vodka in his hand, and raised his lighter to the soaked rag at its neck. The flame burst to life as Andrew stepped around the corner and hurled it at the largest group of soldiers taking cover behind an upturned car. He stepped back into cover and covered his ears against the resulting explosion. When the shockwave had passed Richard shoved him roughly aside and started firing around the corner. Andrew, not expected the blow, landed sprawled on the concrete, but jumped up straight away.

“What the hell, man?” Andrew asked, brushing himself off.

“You were in my way,” Richard said, flattening himself against the wall as the soldiers realised where the attack was coming from and fired back, then asked “Got another one of those?”

Andrew hurriedly put another one together and lit it, stepping dangerously out of cover to toss the makeshift bomb. The resulting fireball engulfed the rest of the squad of soldiers. Richard checked to make sure it was clear, then stepped out. Andrew rushed past him, shoving him into the brick wall, and hurried towards the shop they had defended. He jumped through the open window into the store.

Richard hurried to catch up with him, throwing a worried glance towards the sky again. The sun was dangerously low. He stopped to tug weapons from burnt hands and slung them on his back. Entering the store the same way Andrew had, he was met with a shotgun at his face. Richard stepped back, surprise in his blue eyes.

“Who’s your friend?” the woman with the shotgun asked.

“Rambo,” Andrew replied cheerfully.

“Actually, it’s Richard. Richard Evans,” he informed them. “Is this your sister?”

“Yeah, this is Shane,” Andrew said, slinging an arm around his twin as she lowered the shotgun.

“Shane?” Richard raised an eyebrow.

“Taken name,” she said. Her hair was the same scraggly mess as Andrew’s, but brown with blonde streaks. Her eyes were a dark green, though they shared the same facial structure and lanky limbs. Shane wore clothes that weren’t much better than Andrew’s, a loose white shirt and brown vest, combat pants and boots.

“Well I hate to interrupt this meet and greet, but we really need to get somewhere safe. Soonish,” Andrew said. His voice held none of the fear that his message did, still remaining at a cheerful pitch. Richard found it bizarre.

“Got a place?” Richard asked them.

“Usually we stumble around until some poor bastard takes us in out of kindness,” Andrew shrugged. Richard sighed.

“I’ve got a place close by, we’ll go there,” he told them.