Copyright © 2023 EK Frances

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  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

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  I

  "They're just dumb creatures."

  "But what if they're not …"

  Where do the trucks go?

  The thought pops into my head like an unwelcome guest. Completely inappropriate, completely unhelpful, yet it haunts me more and more recently. The stories we heard as youngsters seemed distant … one day, when you're a teenager, you’ll be loaded onto a truck and taken off to a new life. It amused me to speculate, but I didn't really care. It's like telling a child that someday they'll die. But now someday is soon.

  “We need to jump,” says Smithy, one of my many cousins, breaking me free of my internal torture.

  I peer into the fast-moving water. I’m sure it wasn’t this fast when we crossed the river. I’m sure it wasn’t this wide.

  On the other side of the river, the lights from the shelter illuminate the faces of all the adults, kids, and other teenagers, who are nicely sheltered from this driving rain. We need to get back. We need to get back before it gets cold, before the darkness sets in …

  “Surely we can just go back the way we came,” I say.

  “This is the way we came Alex.”

  “But it's -”

  “It's rained, that's what's happened. It's rained and the river has swollen.”

  “We'll never make that jump.”

  What I really mean is that Jimmy, Smithy's twin brother, won't make the jump. The rest of us are lean muscle, growing fast and strong.

  Olivia turns to look at me. I feel a weird shift in my stomach almost like it’s alive. She takes several steps back, then races forward and leaps. She floats through the air; her hair blows in the breeze. I stare at her perfect legs as she lands expertly on the other side.

  Her friends follow in quick succession almost like they are compelled to; Olivia, Sangita, Ava, all across.

  My heart begins to race. I turn away from the girls, as they begin running back to our families without a backward glance. I swallow nervously and meet Smithy’s eyes. I know I can cross, it's Jimmy who won't be able to; he’ll be swept away by the raging river.

  “It's getting dark Alex, let's go.”

  I nod. I walk further back than Olivia did, dash forward and leap. The wind ripples through my hair; I feel a thrill in my chest, then a jolt as I land safely at the other side. Smithy follows without hesitation.

  We look at Jimmy. “Come on Jimmy,” we both say at once. We start chanting, ‘Jim-mee, Jim-mee, Jim-mee.’

  Jimmy walks even further than I did, races forward, and launches himself into the air.

  For a moment he's flying, it looks like he'll actually make it. Then the air rings with a crack as he lands. I know his leg is broken, shattered, but he's on our side. He’s safe from the river, which roars its disappointment.

  We edge towards him, egging him to get out of the shallows. Jimmy limps his way out, his face is twisted in pain, but he doesn’t say a word.

  “We need to go,” says Smithy.

  The shadows almost seem alive as we begin to cross the large clearing that leads to the shelter. We both flank Jimmy as he hobbles painfully slowly across the slippery ground.

  Even though I don’t believe in the beasts that live in the forest, I keep glancing between the tall trees. I can almost feel their amber eyes watching us in the dark, waiting until the last glimmer of sunlight drops below the horizon so they can launch their assault.

  “What happened?” Mum says the moment she sees us. Aunt Maud, Jimmy and Smithy's actual mother, ignores them, as always. Mum told me Aunt Maud had two kids, who weren’t even teenagers, taken the summer before Jimmy and Smithy were born, and refused to care for them, so Mum took care of them instead. They are my cousins, but I see them more like brothers, like friends.

  I push past her into the shelter while Smithy explains.

  This is my fault. No one wanted Jimmy to join us, but he wanted to come, and I didn’t want him excluded.

  Mum gets Jimmy settled in his bed which is next to the one I’ve taken. It’s too close to the open door and the wind whips around us. The shelter is already full, bodies are pressed together for warmth; the smell of damp coats hangs in the air.

  Mum brings Jimmy some food. I eat with Smithy in silence; and, although he doesn’t say anything, I feel his smouldering glances. And that thought goes through my head again … this is my fault.

  The rain is really pounding now, it sounds like someone is dancing across the aluminium roof. The many florescent lights buzz like flies, and the dampness creeps in from the sodden grass.

  The door closes automatically at dusk, if you are not inside by then, you don’t get in. It will be a while before it closes, but it’s so dark outside already, anything could come in …

  II

  The only thing worse than the bright lights in this shelter, is when they go off. They’ve just gone off, and the blanket of darkness seems thicker than ever.

  The storm is still raging outside. The windows rattle like they are being shaken on their frames. The door creaks like it will burst open at any moment and let in the beasts that live in the forest.

  That’s what we’ve been told at least. We’ve been told that the men patrolling the grounds with their dogs, are doing it for our own protection, protection from the many fierce animals that live in the forest. That we should be grateful to them for the food, the shelter, the security.

  The creatures, it’s said, will kill and eat us given the chance. I don’t believe in the beasts; I’ve never seen or even heard one. I think they are just tales they tell us to keep us in line, to provide a reason for the men walking around the compound, through the compound, with their sticks, their dogs, their guns. To make sure we never go too deep into the forest. They probably made up the stories themselves so we would be grateful.

  Jimmy is still crying. A girl called Emma broke her leg once, the men took her away and brought her back a few days later with her leg strapped and a small limp. But Mum seemed nervous about Jimmy, almost like she thinks if they take him away, he won’t come back …

  Where do the trucks go? The unwelcome question floats through my mind again.

  It’s my first memory, huddled around my cousins and friends as we heard ghost stories. At least at the time I thought they were ghost stories, but now I’m not so sure …

  Each year, on a random day, all the teenagers disappear. They don't disappear in a puff of smoke or anything silly like that, they get taken. By the men. By the men with dogs. Pulled apart from their mums. Loaded onto a truck.

  No one knows what happens to them after that, but that doesn’t stop us guessing. My favourite theory is that we go to a school and learn everything, or that we get to travel the world, why else would they put us on a truck? The most likely scenario is that we're moved to another compound, the scariest scenario is that we are offered as a sacrifice to the monsters that live in the forest.

  I laughed the first time I heard this theory, laughed harder than I had ever laughed before, but as I stared at the adults’ serious faces, a drop of doubt crept into my mind. But surely they wouldn't, surely they wouldn't feed us, keep us safe, just to sacrifice us when we become teenagers?

  The fleshed-out version, is that in the depth of the forest, are monsters with an insatiable appetite. Immortal beings, with elongated arms and legs, and amber eyes that glow like orbs. They could feed on anything, but choose to feed on the tender meat of the young; they are unstoppable predators, but prefer having their prey delivered.

  Boys are driven into their lair deep in the forest, then tipped into a huge pit built into the ground. The queen monster kills the captive prey one by one. First, it paralyses us with its venom, then, it uses its razor-sharp claws to slice us open. It watches as the blood slowly drains from us. Then it tears us apart, severing each limb, carving chunks off our bodies, before setting us alight by breathing fire onto us. The other monsters then join in and eat us.

  The teenagers go into a frenzy as they watch their friends slaughtered, until there is only one left, the strongest. This one is released and joins the girls on another compound. Eventually they have more babies, continuing the cycle.

  I remember thinking, I’m not sure which I would prefer: being a mother forever losing her kids, watching my friends be killed, or being eaten alive myself.

  But I don’t believe it of course. I don’t even believe in the monster-beasts that live in the forest. I think we probably just go to another compound, but my increasing nervousness must mean there's a part of me that doesn’t think everything is as it seems.

  Glass falls from one of the many windows, shattering my thoughts. More cries are added to the gentle sobbing coming from Jimmy.

  The cool air freezes in my throat as I hear it. The howl. The howl from the beast I never thought existed. I shuffle around trying to find the warmth of Mum, even though I’m really too old to snuggle with her. I know she’s with Jimmy, she must be close. I stumble in the dark, then nest close to her.

  Another howl; long, high-pitched, wavering slightl