After showering and shaving, Tom pulled some clothes out of the wardrobe and dressed. He decided to wear a grey fisherman’s jumper and blue jeans. Well-worn but comfortable trainers were placed on his feet to complete the picture of an average teenage student. However, as he walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, Tom knew that he would never see the house or the other occupants ever again. He left through the well-used front door of the old rectory situated behind the ageing church at West Stow. He shook his head, such a pity that it would all vanish in a few minutes. A slow grin passed across his face as he walked towards the parked car in the drive. He drove away with the same sense of regret and sadness but with the bitter determination to complete the task set to him.
The car was a new electric driven model which replenished it’s batteries from the intense sunlight that filtered through the thinning atmosphere and hit the twin solar panels fitted in the car’s roof. Tom stopped the car in a lay-by five minutes from the church and pulled a small transmitter from his pocket. He stood staring at the tall tower and grand old building, which had been his family’s home for the past eighteen years. He looked down at the small button he held in his hand as if willing it to trigger itself, taking the deed away from him, but with a heaviness in his heart, he knew what he had to do. Slowly, Tom pushed the button.
A slow, deep rumble emitted from the old house and the base of the tower. The six bells were nudged into a slow swing making them call out to any that could hear them carry on the still morning air. As Tom stood and watched he could have sworn the bells were talking to him:
“You have a job to do, the first stage is complete.”
Mimicking the slow push of the button, the tower seemed to hang in the air, then slowly it fell towards the ground. It seemed to Tom as if this was happening in slow motion. The tower looked like it was being lowered on a string. Then, as Tom was forced back to reality, the bricks and mortar fell more rapidly, until they looked like a rushing flow of water, spilling and flowing over the old house and pushing it into the ground as though it wanted to join the bodies already buried in the littered graveyard.
He was dead, four bodies would be found, and his one of them. This part allowed him to complete the next part of the plan which would eventually make them all see that they had caused this and made the world like this, he was the Earth’s messenger giving his message to the recipients in an appropriate manner. But that was only the beginning, no-one could ever really know what he was planning. Every death had been planned to the letter, they would seem to be accidents. This would make sure he was able to move freely without the Socialist government security stopping everyone and asking for identification.
Britain had joined the “Super country” of Europia seven years previously. Soon afterwards in the governmental elections the Socialist Party of Equality had been elected into power, A year later they had banned all other opposition to them and had become a dictatorship for the people. Food was scarce and law was enforced with an iron hand. Many were executed just for stealing food to feed their families from the officials personal supply vehicles which were scattered all over the country.
“Damn.”
Tom breathed the curse just loud enough to hear. He had got sidetracked and lost valuable time to get away from the scene of destruction infront of him. He felt like cursing out loud. He had received the message the day before: the Americans wanted him to incite a revolt against the government. How they had not said, but Tom had already planned it, using the unexpected army all around him. Children. Caesar had his legions, Hitler had his army so why not him his own fighting force? The thought caused him to laugh out loud. With the laughter still ringing in his ears he jumped back into the car and drove off towards the town just over the horizon. That was the first destination; only him and his backup team knew the other meeting points. Even the Americans were in the dark, this was too important for one of the government moles to get hold of.
Tom pulled into the turning circle of his old school, the asphalt ancient and cracked. The bricks of the outer building crumbled like biscuits. Tom climbed from the car and looked on in hatred.
2
The school buildings stood dark and menacing, the windows dark and mysterious. Tom heart filled with dread. He had attended the school until it had been closed down. The government had decided that practical labour was the way forward, not education. So the school had been transformed into an arms factory, supplying the forces with enough ammunition to wipe out most of the world’s armies.
