Terranovus
Chapter XIV - The Wastelands

The next day at school, during my free period, I beelined for the library as soon as I could. The library was situated next to the cafeteria and as I stepped in and admired the floor to ceiling glass walls, I wondered why the term “library” still even existed. A module in my history subject explained many years ago humans relied on libraries to expand their knowledge and conduct research by reading physical books. But no one had ever touched a physical book in decades; they no longer existed. So why they remained as “libraries” remained a mystery.

Thankfully there weren’t many students using the library, so I found a spare computer easily and quietly sat down. I had wanted to research volcanoes so badly at home last night, but I was too afraid to do so with Iris watching so a school library computer was perhaps the best.

Settled at the desk, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching, then loaded the computer and opened a search engine. Volcanoes, I typed. Immediately I started reading.

“A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface...”

Slowly I read and clicked through various encyclopedias and hundreds of articles until I sighed and laid back in my chair defeated. Not one site mentioned radioactive volcanoes. I chewed the insides of my cheeks irritated and wondered if perhaps the Army had use radioactive materials to trigger this volcano to erupt on purpose. It sounded so absurd though. I had to be missing something! I leaned forward and went to amend my search.

“What are you doing?” asked a voice behind me. I jumped and spun round to replace Hyun peering at my computer screen. He was sitting at a desk behind me and had homework laid out in front of him.

“What are you doing giving me a fright like that?” I demanded. Ignoring me, he carried his chair forward and looked closer at my screen.

“Why are you reading about this?” he asked.

“No reason,” I responded. Suddenly he snatched the computer mouse out of my hand and strolled through the article and clicked on the other tabs I had opened. “Hey! Do you mind?” I demanded and whacked his hand away. He turned to me sternly.

“Whatever you’re doing Tilly, stop it. These computers are closely monitored by the Army and if they replace out what you’ve been researching bad things will happen,” he warned. Speechless, I watched snatch the mouse back and delete my search history, close my web browser then shut down the computer. He threw me one last warning look then scooped up his homework and stormed out of the library.

My mind reeled with confusion and anger. What on earth just happened?

I turned back to my computer screen and felt nerves starting to trickle in. Was it true? Was the Army monitoring these computers? I gingerly pushed myself away from the desk and looked at the computer as though it was radioactive. At least I now knew the Army doesn’t like people researching volcanoes. And if Hyun knew why, I had every right to know why too.

At 3pm when the school bell rang, my mind was made up. I only had 24 hours remaining of the resistance’s deadline and I knew if I were to uncover Terranovus’s secrets, more drastic detective work had to take place.

So when I exited the school, I avoided the bus depot and instead made my way to the nearby tram stop. From the other side of the road, I watched Maria make her way to the school bus and glance around the schoolyard, looking for me. Not today Maria, I said to myself, I had business to attend to.

The tram arrived quickly and as I jumped on and took a seat, I thought back to Tommy’s Ingo message.

I’ll always love you.

I couldn’t help but smile and wished there was a way for him to be here, or at least be able to message me. Tommy was the smart, confident and sensible one. He was the one who got Simon and I out of that mess with the Toffs and I knew if our roles swapped he would have uncovered all of the Army’s secrets already.

It wasn’t long until the tram arrived at my destination.

“Army Base,” Iris’s voice sounded.

I jumped off the tram and stared up at the base. This time I had no intention of visiting my dad. With a deep breath in, I marched up the pathway to the main entrance and found my goal sitting in the side driveway - a large dirty 4x4 vehicle. I watched a handful of dirty white overall workers climb out of the vehicle and make their way to the main security entrance.

“How is it out there?” called out one of the security guards.

“Better,” one of the overall workers responded, “that new shipment of soil definitely helped. Where’s shift 2B? I thought they were supposed to take over?”

“They’re just coming up now I think,” answered the guard. I couldn’t have asked for more of a perfect timing - I had to get in that vehicle, I had to see what the Army was hiding in the wastelands.

I glanced nervously at the guards then back at the vehicle. But how was I going to sneak on before the new shift workers arrived? I turned back to the overall works who were gathered around the security entrance, dumping their gear through the x-ray machine and saw my chance in the form of an employee staggering out of the entrance carrying an enormous stack of one-litre water bottles.

“Here, let me help you,” I said and ran towards him. The young soldier looked up appreciatively and blushed.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, “luckily these are the last few bottles.” Together we shimmied the package over to the 4x4 and dumped the load in the trunk. I glanced at the other items next to the water and saw half a dozen filthy jackets and a pile of sheets. That would do me nicely, I thought. Suddenly, I realised the young soldier was looking at me curiously.

“Oh,” I started, “I’m here visiting my dad. He just started two days ago.”

“Oh, really? What department?” he asked.

“Oi! Arnav! Come and collect these dirty overalls and take them to facilities will ya?” someone called from the main entrance. The guy looked at me apologetically and quickly ran off.

This was my chance.

With one quick glance to make sure the coast was clear and the guards were still distracted, I leaped into the trunk and quickly shut the door behind me. Only to then freeze and think what the hell was I doing? It was official, I more irresponsible than Jack firing that gun.

Still committed to the plan, I shoved myself backwards and maneuvered my way under the jackets and sheets. Laying quietly, I carefully listened and heard seconds later the new shift workers emerge from the base and greet their colleagues. Suddenly a flaw in my plan hit me. What if they wanted water and to wear their jackets now? Damn it. It was too late to change my mind. I heard the new shift workers make their way towards me.

The side doors opened and the vehicle rocked back and forth as everyone climbed in. Voices filled the vehicle then the doors slammed shut. Everyone was in. It was only once I heard the engine start and felt the vehicle roll forward did I allowed myself to relax slightly. Step one - tick! The vehicle moved away from the Army Base and picked up speed as it cruised down the driveway and out onto the highway.

The voices I heard mingling were a mix of men and women and they seemed to know each other really well as the banter between them was fluent. I listened to their conversation for a while until the driver slowed down and turned onto a dirt road that rocked the vehicle back and forth. I grimaced and held onto the sheets tightly to stop them rolling off me. The vehicle travelled for a while on the rough road, and only twice I had to stop myself from swearing loudly in pain when we hit two enormous potholes.

Then without warning the vehicle arrived at its destination.

“Let’s do this folks,” one of the men said. The vehicle’s doors opened and I held my breath in anticipation. This was it, this was when my plan would come to its end. I heard the group of workers gather nearby.

“We’ve got four hours left until the sun sets so let us make the most of it, eh?” said the man in charge. “You all know your roles, get to it!” I shut my eyes and begged fate for mercy. I waited and waited until I realised their footsteps were walking away and becoming distant. I breathed a sigh of relief and waited until I couldn’t hear a single footstep until I peered out from beneath the sheet and listened again. They were definitely gone. I gingerly pulled back the sheet and glanced out of the trunk’s window.

The land was black. Smothered in a black ash that still smoldered and smoked beneath the mounds of dirt and ash. Parked near the peak of a small hill, I watched the group of white overall workers walk over the top of it and disappear from sight. I was alone.

I carefully scrambled forward and flicked the trunk’s latch. The door slowly opened and I gasped as air that smelled of rotten food and ash hit my nostrils and made me gag. I placed the sleeve of my school uniform over my nose and looked up again at the somber sight.

Destroyed empty buildings and foundations of what I presumed to be homes were visible in the distance, whilst the land closer was flat and completely black and lifeless. Diggers and bulldozers lined the horizon, and despite looking like a warzone, the Army so far had done a good job clearing most of the land. Still sitting in the trunk, I tentatively pulled out my right leg and nudged some of the soot with my foot, only to reveal nothing but soil underneath. Curious, I leaned down and rubbed some of the soot and soil between my fingers, where was this hard volcanic rock I had read about?

I looked back up at where the white overall workers had disappeared over the hill and knew, without doubt, I had to follow them.

I climbed out of the trunk and marched forward with dread churning in my stomach. I knew what I was seeing wasn’t good at all. I quickly scrambled up the hill, desperate not to lose the workers. What on earth was the Army hiding? What had happened here? Finally, I reached the top of the hill and stopped dead in my tracks as I beheld the sight before me.

Hundreds upon thousands of blackened corpses.

Overwhelmed with grief, I cried out and fell to my knees as my stomach threatened to empty itself. The smell of half-decomposed bodies was piled on top of each other was atrocious and flies swarmed everywhere, feeding and breeding wherever possible. What had the Army done?

I watched the white overall soldiers work nearby, gathered in a hut and operating machinery that was pushing and shoving the blackened and unrecognisable corpses into an enormous pit. I felt my stomach churn again and I wiped away the tears I hadn’t realised were falling.

I had to get away. I had to tell the resistance now!

Just as I turned, I heard a shout and I saw the group of workers looking at me shocked.

Damn it!

I sprinted back to the vehicle as fast as I could, all the while feeling completed disgusted for stepping on the land I ran on. I reached the 4x4 and yanked the driver’s door, only to pause and realise I didn’t know how to drive. The vehicle wasn’t driverless.

Suddenly a hand snatched my arm away and roughly yanked me backwards. I went to scream but the person clamped a hand against my mouth and pulled me tight against their body.

“Don’t scream or you’ll be dead,” a man spoke into my ear. I turned my head and saw Hyun looking at me furiously. I pulled away angry.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed at him then looked down at his white overalls horror-struck.

“Nevermind me, I can look after myself. I told you to stop whatever the hell you were doing!” he warned.

“You’re not the boss of me!” I retorted. Hyun scoffed at that and glanced up at the peak of the hill.

“Right now, I am. Now get in that boot and stay there,” he demanded. I glanced at his uniform again.

“You’re one of them, how do I know I can trust you?” I asked.

“Why would I be offering to hide you?” Hyun stated and didn’t bother waiting for a response. He guided me to the wide-open trunk. “Now get in.”

I glanced up at the hill too and knew I had perhaps only seconds.

“Fine,” I said and climbed in. I shimmied under the jackets and sheets and watched as Hyun glared at me and shut the door.

Silence filled the air and I didn’t have to wait long until I heard footsteps running and a voice.

“Did you see that?” said the leader.

“Yeah, I originally thought it was one of yous running to check something but they weren’t wearing a uniform-” said Hyun.

“Did you see where they went?”

“Over towards the buildings, they went behind the diggers-”

“This is nuts!” yelled the leader, “everyone out here should be dead. How many years has it been? Three? Four? There should be no survivors, jeez, look at this land, it was annihilated.”

I heard a second set of running footsteps approach.

“Sir, we don’t know where the runner went and those buildings aren’t safe for us to go near!”

“It was a girl, right?” demanded the leader.

“Not sure,” said Hyun, “but I definitely saw a ponytail.” Oh, screw him, I thought.

“Sir, what should we do?” asked the second voice.

“We don’t know for sure it was a survivor, it could have been a Primus resident for all we know. We go back to base and send the drones out to search the land.”

“Yes, Sir!” said the second man and he went off to relay the orders to the rest of the team. I heard the leader swear and kick the ground in frustration and mumble something about being behind schedule. Then the side doors opened and I felt everyone clamber in. They were just as shocked as their leader.

“How is it possible?”

“...should be completely closed off...”

“A survivor? Surely not.”

Now that my adrenaline was fading and reality was closing in, I closed my ears and clamped a hand over my mouth in hope they wouldn’t hear my sobs.

I now knew the truth.

This land was not new. It had never been new.

The Army had invaded Terranovus. They had destroyed the land and killed its citizens in the process. Was the land even called Terranovus? My head was reeling with a thousand and one questions but I knew the answers could wait.

As the 4x4 rolled back down the hill to the highway, I quietly shifted my body and tapped on my Ingo. I opened the last message from resistance and started typing a reply.