Revolts, Riots and Rebels (The New London Riot)
Revolt I
"Zeph! Zephyr, for heaven’s sake! Get down here now before you get killed, you idiot!"
I didn’t care about what Crash shouted from somewhere below me. Nor did I hear him too well, but I knew what it was about. We’d been through it dozens of times; I never listened.
So, I stood all alone on the low brick wall with my dad’s Glock and emptied a mag and I was thrilled seeing the others with their notorious black shirts with the bright green star printed right over the heart taking a bullet from me in the forehead or having one pierce through the green star. We call them greenies because of those stars.
According to Crash, I’m a good shooter for being being a 16 year old girl. My dad taught me well when I was a kid.
All my guns and other weapons had been my dad’s; when the revolt started we shared his fifty different knives and ten guns before he and mom hid with all the other parents and elderly people in the underground where the greenies can’t get to them.
I was about to reload the Glock, but someone grabbed my waist and pulled me down behind the wall. I was about to yell at the schmuck who dared to drag me down in the middle of my battle, but Crash’s, the one who had done it, grey eyes were so close to mine. I couldn’t blame him for being worried about me.
"Thanks," I mumbled and looked away.
"Are you out of your freaking mind? What the hell would we do if we’d lose you?"
He shouted at me, I could tell that he was really upset.
"I got twelve of them... It’s about fifteen left, maybe ten."
I avoided his question. I always did, I didn’t want to know the answer.
"Zeph, that is very well done, but what were you thinking, getting up there all alone and face twentyfive greenies? And with a simple Glock instead of a shotgun? Promise me, don’t do this again, do you hear me?"
"No," I said and looked him straight in the eyes. Those steel grey, concerned eyes.
Crash is our leader, sort of. He’s in charge of our group of rebels, we call ourselves the Whistle. We were around twenty people when it all started, but now we’re down to fifteen.
We lost those other five people about two weeks ago, in a huge combat with fifty greenies with both grenades and shotguns.
Oh, you want to know how it all started? The whole revolt and all? Okay, here it goes.
Around three months ago, the british government decided to make some serious moves against criminality in the country by using advanced genetic technology. They were about to raise armies of clones – no feelings or anything, just stone cold soldiers and trained to kill and inspect. All households in England were getting their own clone to be hold under control by. Whenever the clone would expect that ”his family” was about to do something either illegal or just wrong, the clone would either eliminate the whole family or just keep them in the house until a few more clones would show up and… take away the family. The death penalty was so to speak back in business.
Everyone who owned guns, knives and all kinds of weapons or just stuff you could kill someone with, would be collected by the clones and thrown in the Themsen. When women would make food by using kitchen knives, the clone of the house would stand behind her to make sure that she didn’t try to do something illegal with it and so on.
The police were apparently useless, so the police profession doesn’t exist anymore. That is why many members of the rebel groups are young policemen and women. An example is our own Robyn here in Whistle, she’s 25 now and an awesome sniper.
England was about to look like a modern Auschwitz, controlled by the government and the clones.
I thought everything was bullshit when I heard about it for the first time, I mean, you can’t create clones looking like fully grown men with no feelings, a clone is born as a baby, just as normal as all babies. And then there is their mind; they can’t be molded into as let’s say the government wants them to look like. We would have to wait at least 20 yeard until the clones would be able to do what they were supposed to do, and these soldiers could grow up and become pacifists.
I got an explanation to that too.
Britain worked with a finnish scientist, and he was this clever ass and ’created’ super clones.
He could create life, and mold them into whatever he wanted. Britain ’ordered’ thousands and thousands of heartless grown up men with enourmous both mental and physical strength. They ordered this, I promise!
The clones would be installed six months after the order was sent, and you know when the riot started.
Anyhow, everyone knew that rebels were about to start a revolt against the government and those who stood on their side. Everybody over 45-50 years of age barricadated themselves in the undergrounds with little children too. I was actually supposed to go there too when hell broke loose, but I lied when they looked for people to join the rebels and said that I was 17 when I was 15.
Then there are the people who liked the new way of living, who stood on the government’s side, normal people like me and Crash and all the other rebels, they joined the greenies.
Whistle is the group which is like the ”central rebel group” and then there’s a few more which are posted on other places both in and around London, like group Sparkle, they habitat in the Towern.
Of coure there are the people who had no courage, so they either stayed in their houses, waiting for the clones to come. If they lived in an apartment or house in London city, they had to move after a few weeks. It’s a damn warzone out there now.
Our plan is to defeat the greenies, storm the government house, kill everyone except the prime minister, keep him as a hostige and force him to put this to and end.
It does sound crazy, and it really is, but it’s worth a try. What else should we do? I know that I’m going to die anyhow.
Well, my plan is to save my own ass and get the hell outta Britain and hike somewhere, to like Spain or Italy or the US. But I’m gonna die.
I reloaded the Glock with the palm of my hand and the pistol made that loud, clicking sound which I love to hear, and looked over at Skye, she was sitting a few meters from me.
Skye is my best friend. She’s 18, and has got the coolest weapon of them all; a bow. She is a verry skilled archer, and when she saw that I was looking at her she said:
"On three, Zeph; One… two… THREE!"
"NOW!"
Crash followed us.
I stood up, aimed at a greenie and bam, he screamed and fell to the ground. Bam, bam. I got two others, and saw five more die of Skye’s arrows.
Crash had his shotgun; he killed the rest of them in a matter of seconds and then there was silence.
"Well done, boys and girls," I said and put the pistol in my holster.
"Well done indeed," Crash said smirking and hanged the shotgun over his shoulder.
We walked to the Whistle’s base, an abandoned house with apartments near Leicester Square.
Everyone sleep in the same apartment, it would be too risky to be in separate ones.
It was late spring, and even though it was around 8 pm the sun was still shining.
We stopped at a grocery store, no one worked there anymore and all the windows were crashed, but the groceries were still there so we could just go in there and grab whatever we wanted to have for dinner. Crash took a grilled chicken, Skye chose a pizza and I… I haven’t been eating regulary since everything started, and Skye knew about it.
I sat on the check out desk and drank a bottle of Apple J2O when Skye harshly stuffed a ham and cheese baguette and a chicken too in my arms.
"You don’t have to eat the whole chicken, but I’ll kill you if you don’t eat the baguette. You look like freaking skeleton, Zeph – you have to eat something."
"Um… Thanks, Skye, I’ll try to get it down. The thing is that I’m not always hungry y’know… But it’s nice of you to look after me, mom."
I smirked and she punched me playfully on the arm. She is a mommish person, always caring about me and stuff.
We headed back to the base, and we had our dinner on the floor in the living room, since we haven’t got any real pieces of furniture in the apartment except for an old couch. We sleep in sleeping bags, Skye and I have occupied the smallest bedroom (there are five of them – Crash has got his own too).
I ate the whole baguette, and I have to admit that it was wonderful to eat something – I think my last meal was a bar of chocolate two days earlier. No wonder why I’ve been so damn trigger happy today.
Everyone was sleeping when I came out from the shower, except Crash who were out on the balcony alone.
By the way, his real name isn’t Crash. His name is Alan Johnson and he’s 23, but his name doesn’t sound really rebellish. And my name isn’t Zephyr either – Dani is a boring name and Zeph sounds better when we’re out fighting. Very few people know my real name.
I put on some clothes (the few clothing pieces I have are all dirty and worn-out – but who cares) and went out to him. I suffer from insomnia anyhow.
He sat on the balcony floor, gazing at the sunset and looking all distant.
"You okay?" I asked and sat down beside him.
"Yeah, sure… I was just thinking about you, actually."
"Really? How come?"
I struggled to keep breathing normally.
"I’ve noticed that you’ve been acting, how to speak… Bitter, sort of grumpy for quite some time now. May I ask why?"
"…I think that everything’s getting to me, Crash," I said and sighed.
"You mean the revolt and all? It’s getting to all of us, Zeph. You just have to…"
"…Turn off your mind and focus on everything else except your personal life," I finished his sentence and continued:
"Haven’t you seen me on the battlefield? Who is the most eager person to get out there and fight?"
"Oh my, that was a hard one… Skye?"
I didn’t want to start the rant about my feelings and stuff right now, so I pushed him with my elbow and giggled. I always manage to giggle like a freak when I’m with him, and that’s serious since I haven’t had a good laugh in weeks.
I lit up a cigarette and leaned my head on Crash’s shoulder.
I’ve been smoking for about half a year, and I don’t care if it’s bad for me. Nothing is good or bad in a situation like this.
"You mind if we share that?" Crash said.
"Pff, I didn’t know that you were smoking," I replied and handed him the cigarette.
"I don’t."
"Okay, okay, I’m not gonna ask," I said and smirked.
"By the way, are we up to something tomorrow?" I asked after a while.
"Yeah, I spoke to Andrea out of Sparkle, the italian guy, and he said that there will be an enormous combat by the Tower Bridge around noon, and we’ll be co-operating with both Sparkle and Halo too which is great, ’cause we’ll be about 80 rebels there. I’ll tell the the others tomorrow when we have breakfast. Looking forward to it?"
"Oooh, you know I are! What toys should I bring?"
"Toys? Well, you’re good with the Glock, but bring as much as you can."
"Grenades allowed?"
"Of course, but don’t blow up the whole fucking bridge. And Zephyr… Be careful, wont you?"
"… I’m not afraid to die anymore."
"Oh really? But seriously, be careful. Do it for me, please?"
"Maybe."
My only fun these days are shooting. You feel the adrenalin pumping when you run towards a bunch of greenies with one gun each in your hands while you’re screaming your heart out … that feeling is invincible. And even if Crash asked me to be careful for him… Nah. And what the fuck does he mean with careful?
"You will too."
"We’ll see about that, got it?"
I didn’t say it in a rude way, even if it may sound like it.
After a while I lied with my head on his thigh, and it was pretty dark too. It was all quiet, and the only thing I heard was Crash’s breaths.
"Do you miss your life you had before the revolt started?" I asked to break the silence.
"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I really liked studying and stuff, you know having your own apartment and being a grown up, so to speak."
"You lived alone?"
"Yeah, all alooone. But at the same time, it’s good to lead a group of rebels and sort of fight for your country, you know. So how was your life before the riot? I don’t think I know your real name, actually…! I remember the first time we met, you introduced yourself as ’Zephyr, but you can call me Zeph’. "
"My real name is so uncool, I mean – Dani Clarke. Anyhow, I lived with my folks in an aparment too, and I have no siblings. I hated school, except from English and arts class, and the other kids used to gang up on me since I’m like a metalhead, y’know, I didn’t look the same way they did."
"You’re into metal, Dani?"
"Don’t-call-me-that-or-I’ll-give-you-a-nose-job."
Crash smirked and brushed my hair with his fingers. He did it once, and I remembered that he asked me a question.
"But, um… metal, yes. Metal and hard rock… "
"Cool, I like that kind of music too. You have any favourite bands?"
"Yeah of course, Disturbed are awesome and Metallica, Kreator and AC/DC are a few of my fav bands. How about you?"
His hand still cupped my face. I didn’t know what to say or do, so I just ignored it.
"Metallica and Iron Maiden are like the gods, but I like Megadeth too. But if these kids at school gave you a hard time, didn’t you sort of fight back? You’re that kind of person, hehe."
"You bet I did… There was this girl named Yohanna who I hated, and we fought a lot… But I always ended up at the head master’s office for either breaking her nose or to pay for the wash of her clothes when they got blood stained. My dad was good at teaching me how to defend m’self."
"Aww, I hate it when the odd looking ones takes the shit when they are innocent."
"Do you think we’ll live through this?" I asked after a while, still freaking half-lying on his lap!
"…I don’t know. I really don’t. By the way, we should try to get some sleep, don’t you think? The time is… almost 10.30 pm, we’ve been out here for quite some time now."
"Yeah, maybe we should," I replied and we stood up and went inside.
"Good night, Dani," Crash said when I was about to open the door to mine and Skye’s bedroom and gave me a quick hug from behind.
"G’night," I said, still half shocked from what he did. I didn’t even mind him calling me Dani.
I knew that Skye was awake when I entered the room, and she was all excited.
"What happened on the balcony, Zeph? C’mon, tell me everything!"
"It was nothing, really."
I got into my sleeping bag on the floor, close to the wall.
"I know it was! I heard what he said before you came here, y’know."
"He said good night, so what? I need to sleep, so nighty-night, Skye… Trust me, there’s gonna be a long day tomorrow."
I didn’t care about what Crash shouted from somewhere below me. Nor did I hear him too well, but I knew what it was about. We’d been through it dozens of times; I never listened.
So, I stood all alone on the low brick wall with my dad’s Glock and emptied a mag and I was thrilled seeing the others with their notorious black shirts with the bright green star printed right over the heart taking a bullet from me in the forehead or having one pierce through the green star. We call them greenies because of those stars.
According to Crash, I’m a good shooter for being being a 16 year old girl. My dad taught me well when I was a kid.
All my guns and other weapons had been my dad’s; when the revolt started we shared his fifty different knives and ten guns before he and mom hid with all the other parents and elderly people in the underground where the greenies can’t get to them.
I was about to reload the Glock, but someone grabbed my waist and pulled me down behind the wall. I was about to yell at the schmuck who dared to drag me down in the middle of my battle, but Crash’s, the one who had done it, grey eyes were so close to mine. I couldn’t blame him for being worried about me.
"Thanks," I mumbled and looked away.
"Are you out of your freaking mind? What the hell would we do if we’d lose you?"
He shouted at me, I could tell that he was really upset.
"I got twelve of them... It’s about fifteen left, maybe ten."
I avoided his question. I always did, I didn’t want to know the answer.
"Zeph, that is very well done, but what were you thinking, getting up there all alone and face twentyfive greenies? And with a simple Glock instead of a shotgun? Promise me, don’t do this again, do you hear me?"
"No," I said and looked him straight in the eyes. Those steel grey, concerned eyes.
Crash is our leader, sort of. He’s in charge of our group of rebels, we call ourselves the Whistle. We were around twenty people when it all started, but now we’re down to fifteen.
We lost those other five people about two weeks ago, in a huge combat with fifty greenies with both grenades and shotguns.
Oh, you want to know how it all started? The whole revolt and all? Okay, here it goes.
Around three months ago, the british government decided to make some serious moves against criminality in the country by using advanced genetic technology. They were about to raise armies of clones – no feelings or anything, just stone cold soldiers and trained to kill and inspect. All households in England were getting their own clone to be hold under control by. Whenever the clone would expect that ”his family” was about to do something either illegal or just wrong, the clone would either eliminate the whole family or just keep them in the house until a few more clones would show up and… take away the family. The death penalty was so to speak back in business.
Everyone who owned guns, knives and all kinds of weapons or just stuff you could kill someone with, would be collected by the clones and thrown in the Themsen. When women would make food by using kitchen knives, the clone of the house would stand behind her to make sure that she didn’t try to do something illegal with it and so on.
The police were apparently useless, so the police profession doesn’t exist anymore. That is why many members of the rebel groups are young policemen and women. An example is our own Robyn here in Whistle, she’s 25 now and an awesome sniper.
England was about to look like a modern Auschwitz, controlled by the government and the clones.
I thought everything was bullshit when I heard about it for the first time, I mean, you can’t create clones looking like fully grown men with no feelings, a clone is born as a baby, just as normal as all babies. And then there is their mind; they can’t be molded into as let’s say the government wants them to look like. We would have to wait at least 20 yeard until the clones would be able to do what they were supposed to do, and these soldiers could grow up and become pacifists.
I got an explanation to that too.
Britain worked with a finnish scientist, and he was this clever ass and ’created’ super clones.
He could create life, and mold them into whatever he wanted. Britain ’ordered’ thousands and thousands of heartless grown up men with enourmous both mental and physical strength. They ordered this, I promise!
The clones would be installed six months after the order was sent, and you know when the riot started.
Anyhow, everyone knew that rebels were about to start a revolt against the government and those who stood on their side. Everybody over 45-50 years of age barricadated themselves in the undergrounds with little children too. I was actually supposed to go there too when hell broke loose, but I lied when they looked for people to join the rebels and said that I was 17 when I was 15.
Then there are the people who liked the new way of living, who stood on the government’s side, normal people like me and Crash and all the other rebels, they joined the greenies.
Whistle is the group which is like the ”central rebel group” and then there’s a few more which are posted on other places both in and around London, like group Sparkle, they habitat in the Towern.
Of coure there are the people who had no courage, so they either stayed in their houses, waiting for the clones to come. If they lived in an apartment or house in London city, they had to move after a few weeks. It’s a damn warzone out there now.
Our plan is to defeat the greenies, storm the government house, kill everyone except the prime minister, keep him as a hostige and force him to put this to and end.
It does sound crazy, and it really is, but it’s worth a try. What else should we do? I know that I’m going to die anyhow.
Well, my plan is to save my own ass and get the hell outta Britain and hike somewhere, to like Spain or Italy or the US. But I’m gonna die.
I reloaded the Glock with the palm of my hand and the pistol made that loud, clicking sound which I love to hear, and looked over at Skye, she was sitting a few meters from me.
Skye is my best friend. She’s 18, and has got the coolest weapon of them all; a bow. She is a verry skilled archer, and when she saw that I was looking at her she said:
"On three, Zeph; One… two… THREE!"
"NOW!"
Crash followed us.
I stood up, aimed at a greenie and bam, he screamed and fell to the ground. Bam, bam. I got two others, and saw five more die of Skye’s arrows.
Crash had his shotgun; he killed the rest of them in a matter of seconds and then there was silence.
"Well done, boys and girls," I said and put the pistol in my holster.
"Well done indeed," Crash said smirking and hanged the shotgun over his shoulder.
We walked to the Whistle’s base, an abandoned house with apartments near Leicester Square.
Everyone sleep in the same apartment, it would be too risky to be in separate ones.
It was late spring, and even though it was around 8 pm the sun was still shining.
We stopped at a grocery store, no one worked there anymore and all the windows were crashed, but the groceries were still there so we could just go in there and grab whatever we wanted to have for dinner. Crash took a grilled chicken, Skye chose a pizza and I… I haven’t been eating regulary since everything started, and Skye knew about it.
I sat on the check out desk and drank a bottle of Apple J2O when Skye harshly stuffed a ham and cheese baguette and a chicken too in my arms.
"You don’t have to eat the whole chicken, but I’ll kill you if you don’t eat the baguette. You look like freaking skeleton, Zeph – you have to eat something."
"Um… Thanks, Skye, I’ll try to get it down. The thing is that I’m not always hungry y’know… But it’s nice of you to look after me, mom."
I smirked and she punched me playfully on the arm. She is a mommish person, always caring about me and stuff.
We headed back to the base, and we had our dinner on the floor in the living room, since we haven’t got any real pieces of furniture in the apartment except for an old couch. We sleep in sleeping bags, Skye and I have occupied the smallest bedroom (there are five of them – Crash has got his own too).
I ate the whole baguette, and I have to admit that it was wonderful to eat something – I think my last meal was a bar of chocolate two days earlier. No wonder why I’ve been so damn trigger happy today.
Everyone was sleeping when I came out from the shower, except Crash who were out on the balcony alone.
By the way, his real name isn’t Crash. His name is Alan Johnson and he’s 23, but his name doesn’t sound really rebellish. And my name isn’t Zephyr either – Dani is a boring name and Zeph sounds better when we’re out fighting. Very few people know my real name.
I put on some clothes (the few clothing pieces I have are all dirty and worn-out – but who cares) and went out to him. I suffer from insomnia anyhow.
He sat on the balcony floor, gazing at the sunset and looking all distant.
"You okay?" I asked and sat down beside him.
"Yeah, sure… I was just thinking about you, actually."
"Really? How come?"
I struggled to keep breathing normally.
"I’ve noticed that you’ve been acting, how to speak… Bitter, sort of grumpy for quite some time now. May I ask why?"
"…I think that everything’s getting to me, Crash," I said and sighed.
"You mean the revolt and all? It’s getting to all of us, Zeph. You just have to…"
"…Turn off your mind and focus on everything else except your personal life," I finished his sentence and continued:
"Haven’t you seen me on the battlefield? Who is the most eager person to get out there and fight?"
"Oh my, that was a hard one… Skye?"
I didn’t want to start the rant about my feelings and stuff right now, so I pushed him with my elbow and giggled. I always manage to giggle like a freak when I’m with him, and that’s serious since I haven’t had a good laugh in weeks.
I lit up a cigarette and leaned my head on Crash’s shoulder.
I’ve been smoking for about half a year, and I don’t care if it’s bad for me. Nothing is good or bad in a situation like this.
"You mind if we share that?" Crash said.
"Pff, I didn’t know that you were smoking," I replied and handed him the cigarette.
"I don’t."
"Okay, okay, I’m not gonna ask," I said and smirked.
"By the way, are we up to something tomorrow?" I asked after a while.
"Yeah, I spoke to Andrea out of Sparkle, the italian guy, and he said that there will be an enormous combat by the Tower Bridge around noon, and we’ll be co-operating with both Sparkle and Halo too which is great, ’cause we’ll be about 80 rebels there. I’ll tell the the others tomorrow when we have breakfast. Looking forward to it?"
"Oooh, you know I are! What toys should I bring?"
"Toys? Well, you’re good with the Glock, but bring as much as you can."
"Grenades allowed?"
"Of course, but don’t blow up the whole fucking bridge. And Zephyr… Be careful, wont you?"
"… I’m not afraid to die anymore."
"Oh really? But seriously, be careful. Do it for me, please?"
"Maybe."
My only fun these days are shooting. You feel the adrenalin pumping when you run towards a bunch of greenies with one gun each in your hands while you’re screaming your heart out … that feeling is invincible. And even if Crash asked me to be careful for him… Nah. And what the fuck does he mean with careful?
"You will too."
"We’ll see about that, got it?"
I didn’t say it in a rude way, even if it may sound like it.
After a while I lied with my head on his thigh, and it was pretty dark too. It was all quiet, and the only thing I heard was Crash’s breaths.
"Do you miss your life you had before the revolt started?" I asked to break the silence.
"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I really liked studying and stuff, you know having your own apartment and being a grown up, so to speak."
"You lived alone?"
"Yeah, all alooone. But at the same time, it’s good to lead a group of rebels and sort of fight for your country, you know. So how was your life before the riot? I don’t think I know your real name, actually…! I remember the first time we met, you introduced yourself as ’Zephyr, but you can call me Zeph’. "
"My real name is so uncool, I mean – Dani Clarke. Anyhow, I lived with my folks in an aparment too, and I have no siblings. I hated school, except from English and arts class, and the other kids used to gang up on me since I’m like a metalhead, y’know, I didn’t look the same way they did."
"You’re into metal, Dani?"
"Don’t-call-me-that-or-I’ll-give-you-a-nose-job."
Crash smirked and brushed my hair with his fingers. He did it once, and I remembered that he asked me a question.
"But, um… metal, yes. Metal and hard rock… "
"Cool, I like that kind of music too. You have any favourite bands?"
"Yeah of course, Disturbed are awesome and Metallica, Kreator and AC/DC are a few of my fav bands. How about you?"
His hand still cupped my face. I didn’t know what to say or do, so I just ignored it.
"Metallica and Iron Maiden are like the gods, but I like Megadeth too. But if these kids at school gave you a hard time, didn’t you sort of fight back? You’re that kind of person, hehe."
"You bet I did… There was this girl named Yohanna who I hated, and we fought a lot… But I always ended up at the head master’s office for either breaking her nose or to pay for the wash of her clothes when they got blood stained. My dad was good at teaching me how to defend m’self."
"Aww, I hate it when the odd looking ones takes the shit when they are innocent."
"Do you think we’ll live through this?" I asked after a while, still freaking half-lying on his lap!
"…I don’t know. I really don’t. By the way, we should try to get some sleep, don’t you think? The time is… almost 10.30 pm, we’ve been out here for quite some time now."
"Yeah, maybe we should," I replied and we stood up and went inside.
"Good night, Dani," Crash said when I was about to open the door to mine and Skye’s bedroom and gave me a quick hug from behind.
"G’night," I said, still half shocked from what he did. I didn’t even mind him calling me Dani.
I knew that Skye was awake when I entered the room, and she was all excited.
"What happened on the balcony, Zeph? C’mon, tell me everything!"
"It was nothing, really."
I got into my sleeping bag on the floor, close to the wall.
"I know it was! I heard what he said before you came here, y’know."
"He said good night, so what? I need to sleep, so nighty-night, Skye… Trust me, there’s gonna be a long day tomorrow."
♠ ♠ ♠
First chapter! Yayness!Comments, please? ^^