Colony 41: Volume 1 (The Era Rae Series)

  Colony 41

  Volume One

  S. J. Taylor

  Colony 41

  is © COPYRIGHT

  First published in Australia by South Coast Publishing, March 2016.

  Copyright S.J. Taylor (2016)

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and locations portrayed in this book and the names herein are fictitious. Any similarity to or identification with the locations, names, characters or history of any person, product or entity is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

  - From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  No responsibility or liability is assumed by the Publisher for any injury, damage or financial loss sustained to persons or property from the use of this information, personal or otherwise, either directly or indirectly. While every effort has been made to ensure reliability and accuracy of the information within, all liability, negligence or otherwise, from any use, misuse or abuse of the operation of any methods, strategies, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein, is the sole responsibility of the reader. Any copyrights not held by publisher are owned by their respective authors.

  All information is generalized, presented for informational purposes only and presented "as is" without warranty or guarantee of any kind.

  All trademarks and brands referred to in this book are for illustrative purposes only, are the property of their respective owners and not affiliated with this publication in any way. Any trademarks are being used without permission, and the publication of the trademark is not authorized by, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owner.

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  Contents

  Book One - The Academy

  Part I

  Chapter 1 - The Ceremony

  Chapter 2 - The Aftermath

  Chapter 3 - The Colony

  Part II

  Chapter 4 - Infection

  Chapter 5 - Failure

  Book Two – Into the Outlands

  Part I

  Chapter 1 - Waking Up

  Chapter 2 - Refuge

  Part II

  Chapter 3 - Fight

  Chapter 4 - Flight

  Book Three – Broken City

  Part I

  Chapter 1 - The Caves

  Chapter 2 - Children of the Event

  Part II

  Chapter 3 - Rocks

  Chapter 4 - Hard Places

  More Info

  About the Author

  Book One - The Academy

  Part I

  Chapter 1 - The Ceremony

  The amphitheater lights flashed on. First there was darkness, then there was light. Fitting, considering why we were all here. Even though I was expecting it, the dramatic change still made me blink, and my ears rang with the sudden roar of hundreds of voices lifted up from the gathered spectators.

  Let there be light, I thought drily, standing there like a dumbstruck animal gawking at the spectacle laid out for us—for me—until I was pushed forward by Saskia and Verne.

  “Come on!” Saskia, tall and blonde and impatient, hissed from behind me. “You’re making us look like idiots in front of the Prelate!”

  “You look like one anyway,” I hissed back, with a very immature giggle of laughter, earning a painful prod in the back for my joke.

  “Okay, okay. Sorry.” I whisper-laughed.

  The lights rose up over our heads, painting all of us in bright circles as our little group jogged forward into the middle of the amphitheater. I could just imagine Saskia, with her statuesque beauty, scowling at the back of my black and green jumpsuit. I tried not to laugh as my feet joined in with all the rest crunching in unison on the dusty earth.

  Saskia was my best friend here at Colony 41. She had always been beautiful, with that sun-browned skin of hers and her long braided hair. I told her so, once, and she got this weird look in her crystal blue eyes like I’d given her the greatest gift ever.

  It was always nighttime when the Colony performed the Ceremony, the graduation ritual for each Academy team moving up to the final stage of our education: The Eccoliculum. Our class had joined the colony in the year 2126. That was ten years ago, ten long years of studying and working, moving from Primary students to Secondary alumni and now, we “26ers” would take our place in the Eccoliculum for the required two years before finally taking our place as Enforcers and fully drafted citizens.

  There were other training places for things like the medical professions or the service workers but here, besides our classes on history and Colony life, we learn how to be Enforcers. The caretakers of an injured world. Soon our dream would come true. I came here when I was six. Five years in the Primary grades. Another six in the Secondary classes. Now… here I stood. All of sixteen years old, graduating up to the Eccoliculum.

  If I looked up at the night sky I should be able to see the edge of Orion, like usual, but not on this night. Not with the lights and the colored bursts of fireworks going off overhead. This was one of the most important nights of the Colony year, along with Restoration Day and New Year’s, and like the other two festivals the leaders of Colony 41 spared no expense.

  The whole place erupted into noisy shouts and cheers as the students from the other classes clapped and drummed their feet on the wooden stands. The amphitheater was designed like a giant oval, easily the biggest of the Academy buildings here in the Colony, its first tier and encircling wall made of white stone, with pillars further back to hold the next three wooden stands of seats. It felt like being in the center of a swirling vortex, with waves of sound rolling and pounding down around us.

  In the highest of the tiers, in a specially built seating box and surrounded by private guards, the Prelate watched us as well. This show was for her, after all.

  I’ve stood here so many times for tests, for exams, for practical examinations. I don’t remember it ever feeling so big.

  The electric lights rising up along their tracks on the back railings flashed once, twice, three times. The Ceremony was about to really begin.

  Then the fire started.

  There was an audible whoosh from the center of the arena, and the pile of logs and timber that had been stacked up for the Ceremony ignited into flames as timed devices went off against the oil-soaked wood. Warm air passed against my skin, bringing the mixed smells of gasoline and pine.

  Our team, the 26ers, jogged around the fire in perfect sequence in time to our practiced routine, our identical jumpsuits reflecting the heat away. I was perspiring underneath, partly from the fire, mostly from nerves.

  “Hail!” a voice shouted from the stands. “Hail, students of Colony 41!”

  The 26ers came to a stop, every single right foot stomping down hard at the same time, forming a perfect line.

  More applause erupted. More feet drumming on the stands.

  I grinned at Saskia beside me, and she gave me a thumbs-up before turning to face our audience. The fire’s light flickered across the features of her bronze skin, just like it shone on the twenty-eight other members of our group. Thirty of us altogether. I watched them, and wondered if I looked as impressive as they did with my plain face and my long dark brown hair in its braid. They all looked like savage spirits. Like the pictures of old Greek and Roman gods from the archives. I was like the kid sister. Not as strong, not as tall, not as f
ierce.

  None of them have my dedication, though. It’s just not something you can see in the glow of the fire.

  Little freckle-faced Era Rae. I made it. I’m here.

  “Silence!” the voice boomed out again. “Attention, and admiration to the new Academy class!”

  The students in their seats fell silent as a tall man stepped out from the risers, down the wide stairs, into the bright circle of lights and blazing fire. He was wearing the gray combat suit of an Enforcer. Stiff shoulders, sharp seams, dark black insignia on the cuffs of both sleeves. Utility pockets that would usually be carrying weapons and equipment were empty tonight, pressed flat and straight.

  The Enforcers held a level of pride in their appearance that went beyond the authority and the power they held in our society. And I was going to become one of them. Just as soon as I graduated the Academy.

  This Enforcer, walking into the center of the amphitheater, bore his rank on the short collar of his uniform. First Marshall.

  Today he was more than just his rank, however. His face was hidden behind the gold mask of the Speaker. The symbolic figure who directed the Ceremony and spoke for the Colony. Square lines made a fearsome face out of the gold metal. Black glass hid his eyes behind round orbs. That mask commanded instant respect. I’ve heard some in the Academy say it haunts their dreams.

  I knew who was behind the mask. No way I could mistake that walk, or the way his body filled out his uniform. Not to mention that deep, masculine voice. This was First Marshall Avin Blake. He was one of the professors in our Academy classes. Tactics. History. Ethics. I’ve sat in rapt attention through his classes nearly every day. He had a way of holding a young woman’s attention that went beyond strategy and history lessons.

  Um. Yeah.

  The fire flared against the Speaker’s mask. Just for a moment, I was sure he looked straight at me. Then he turned around with his arms raised to encompass the assembled students.

  “Hail to the students of Colony 41!” He repeated. “Hail to the class of 2126, graduating from their position as Secondary Alumni to enter the Eccoliculum, and soon become full members of Colony 41!”

  A rush of pride swept through my chest. All the years of hard work and physical training. All of the tears. All of the bruises and tests. Three broken bones. They’re healed now, and some other 26ers had broken more than that. For a girl my size, I was better at a lot of the self-defense training than the others had been. That part seemed to come easy to me.

  Once this ceremony was over, we would be allowed to roam the Colony at will, past the Academy boundaries. As far out as the edge of the sea, if we wanted. No more upper classmen escorts. No more location tags. We’d be able to join the actual voting body of the Colony, having finally gained enough training and knowledge from our professors to understand the issues and dangers the Colony faced.

  All of that was nice, sure, but for me graduation meant I was only two years away from being an Enforcer. I would be one of the people responsible for holding society together. Responsible for making sure the laws and the ideals of the Restored Society weren’t being violated. After the chaos of the Event, the Enforcers were what kept the world safe for the good people. That was my goal.

  The Speaker held the crowd in his hands. They waited for his every word and cheered him on like the accomplishments he recounted were their own. He held that moment, drawing it out, savoring it, before turning back to face us.

  I licked my lips, feeling a tingling sensation spreading through me. Excitement. Pride. A stirring of something else as I watched First Marshall Blake.

  He was a vision.

  “Who among you wants to take on this honor?” he cried out, pointing at us with a sweep of his hand.

  I raised my voice to shout with the rest. “I do!”

  “Are you ready to take on the mantle of responsibility your Colony demands?” the Speaker shouted.

  “I am!”

  Our voices joined together in a mighty roar, but I heard mine loudest of all. I wanted Professor Blake to hear me, I realized. I wanted his approval.

  That feeling inside me stirred again. When I looked over at Saskia, at the firelight playing off her cheeks and the arch of her eyebrows, the feeling became something more.

  Saskia noticed me looking at her, and our gazes met.

  And held.

  “Students of 2126,” the speaker ordered us, “what is your oath?”

  The answer was easy. The same three sentences that we had recited every day of our mature lives. They were the principles of the Colony, the words enshrined on the first Restoration day, long before I was even born. Every newborn knew these words.

  “We hold the future in our hands. We strive against the darkness. We carry the hopes of all.”

  The words rang out in one voice, one single and strong anthem, changing us from thirty individuals into one single entity. A single mind made up of thirty boys and girls standing in a line as the fire blazed behind us.

  They had always been just words before. Reciting them had been a duty, just one more chore required as we worked our way up to full members of society. Now, I heard the history in them. I felt their weight. For the first time I really felt like I knew what those words meant. They were the code of our Restored Society.

  The words of our faith.

  Ever since the Event, society had struggled to live, to survive, to set up the Colonies as a place of protection so that humankind could go on. We were still struggling, each and every day. Outside the safety of the Colonies people starved, and died… and worse. Here there was life. Those words we had just recited spoke of rebirth and a chance to fix what was broken. I got that, now. Here was our life. Here was our faith.

  Here, was hope.

  “Then show us all, 26ers!” the Speaker shouted as he gestured towards the fire, the flames rising above our heads and the heat of it intense at our backs. “Show us your commitment to the Colony. Show us, now, and become full members of the Eccoliculum, of the Academy, of the Restored Society!”

  Hot nausea welled up my throat. This was the only part of the grand Ceremony that I was worried about. What if I failed? If I missed a step or was too slow… There was a story that got told about a girl from a previous class who tripped and fell down and couldn’t get up again.

  She’d been burned so badly they took her straight to Quarantine.

  She was never heard from again.

  It might be just a story, but I didn’t want to mess up and be the story that got told to the next group.

  The Speaker motioned for us to take our positions. Mouth dry, prickles of anxiety crawling down the nape of my neck and under my jumper, I turned with everyone else. Now as a group, we faced the flames.

  We’d practiced this. Without the fire, of course. We would start from the right and move down the line from there, which put me third in the row. Just two people ahead of me. Well. At least I wasn’t first.

  “Good luck, Shorty,” Saskia teased me. Her hand reached out and her fingertips brushed mine. For luck, I suppose.

  Without hesitation the first of the 26ers, Caulfield, sprinted towards the fire, screaming his fool head off, the crowd jumping to their feet to cheer him on.

  Then he vanished into the swirl of orange flame and smoke.

  Silence fell around us as we all held our collective breaths.

  Thirty seconds. He had to stay in the flames for thirty seconds. We all did.

  Our jumpsuits were flame and heat resistant, and the spray they coated us in from head to foot before the Ceremony was supposed to be, too. Saskia had offered to spray me down, and I’d done her, the two of us giggling like children, standing naked in my dorm room together, making sure everything got covered so we wouldn’t burn to a crisp on the night of our graduation.

  So I should be fine, right?

  Unless I’d sweated through the spray…

  Oh, Hellfire.

  In that moment of doubt cheers erupted again from around the amphitheat
er as Caulfield emerged through the flames on the other side. His face was flushed and I swear I saw smoke rising from his hair but he raised his hands to wave at the spectators in the stands, and to salute the Prelate, and then he was welcomed to the far side by the Enforcers who stood, ready with medical packs and fire extinguishers.

  That part really didn’t help steady my confidence. Why would they even have the fire extinguishers if this was safe?

  It was rat-haired Verne next. He’d taken great pleasure in breaking my kneecap during tactics training. That had taken almost a week to set and heal.

  Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he got burned. Just a little.

  Well, maybe not

  He raced across the short distance separating us from the fire without hesitation, without any dramatics. Just into the fire, and out again after a slow count of thirty.

  “Hail!” the Speaker called out just ahead of the cheering crowd. No problem. No worries.

  The Prelate nodded her approval, her aged face looking somehow aloof and almost disinterested. I’ve never known her to show much interest in anything. I supposed it came with the stress of leading the Colony. I didn’t have time to think about it.

  My turn next.

  Suddenly I felt detached, like I wasn’t really in my body, like the Era Rae who was about to run into the fire isn’t me. I’m a marionette, and someone else is pulling my strings.

  Did the flames just get hotter?

  “Shorty, go!” I heard Saskia hissing at my side.