Opening Chapters
Following a recent visit to Perse School in Cambridge, the boys of yr 7
were inspired by As Good As Dead In Downtown to write.
These excellent opening chapters are their work.
Chapter 1
Viven and Pedro sneaked along the dark alleys looking for a deserted favela.
'Come on,' said Pedro (her brother) 'every one is in we can come back tomorrow.'
'No way,' said Viven replied 'we haven't got anything for five days mom will kill us.'
Viven and Pedro carried on walking for about a mile until they found a deserted favela
'perfect' it was a shabby brown with one small window, the window overlooked the Brazilian
city of Rio de Janeiro. They started unpacking their equipment; a crowbar (just in case
there were some locked doors), a sack and most importantly a knife. The house looked very
easy to rob it had no cameras and no locked door, easy, too easy.
These minor things did not bother Pedro after all this was just a favela it wasn't supposed
to have high-tech security systems but Viven was more suspicious.
'Are you sure this is safe it looks a bit easy,' said Viven.
'Come on,' replied Pedro 'it is only a favela and as you said earlier we need to get some
loot or mom will kill us.'
He wedged the crowbar in the door and started to push, he then realised that the door was
not locked and turned the handle.
Viven and Pedro slid through the door in case the door creaked luckily both were very slim
and it wasn't a tight fit. The inside of the house was like the outside and it wasn't very
pretty. The walls were a dark brown and the ceiling looked like it could fall down any second.
There were only two rooms in the favela; one a kitchen with nothing special in it and a bedroom
and bathroom in one room, they searched the bedroom first as that is were most people keep their
valuables, they found some earrings made of silver and a silver watch, they put there loot into
the sack and went to search the kitchen they were not very hopeful Though the kitchen's did not
normally have very good loot. There was a knock on the door someone probably the owner was trying
to open the door they had about ten seconds to find a good hiding place five seconds Pedro dived
behind a chair Viven jumped under the bed the door banged open and two people in there thirties
came in one was a tall skinny man with a knife strapped around his belt the other was short skinny
woman who kind of waddled, you would have laughed if she hadn't been holding a gun.
Alfie Bullmore
Chapter 1
It was dark in the building at night. In daytime it was noisy, and crowded to some extent,
but now it was empty, dark and desolate. At one end of the room there was a dark display of
a few late Egyptian mummies and around the other walls the artifacts got older. On a double
-sided display down the middle there were the oldest finds of all, some five thousand years
old. A soft blue glow was being emitted from one of the artifacts. It was a light blue stone,
with brown lines on it, which were swirling around like a liquid. The lines presently changed
into the shape of a skull, and the swirled back again.
A dark shady figure entered the room. His companion, who followed behind, was just as shady.
They both had masks on their faces. They both looked around. They both made their way towards
the oldest finds in the middle of the room, towards the faint blue glow. They both knew what it
was. The person that looked like the leader was examining the glass of the window and the display.
He muttered something to his companion, who went and opened the window. The display cabinet was
more secure. Knowing he didn't have long he smashed the glass and immediately alarms rang all over
the building. His companion reached in and grabbed the stone and quickly stowed it away in a small
drawstring bag, which he put in his rucksack, and was out of the window after his master and melted
into the night.
They had left their stolen car outside the nearest pub and afterwards went for a drink to make
them look less conspicuous. It was a holiday weekend and despite the time the pubs and bars were
full of people and the city was busy. There was now a large-scale police operation with roadblocks
on the main routes out of the city and on some of the smaller roads. It took a long time for the
robbers to escape the city, but they managed it by hiding the stone in the fuse box of the stolen car.
Andrew Betts
How The Assassin Became - Chapter 1
'Are you sure you want to do this?' said a boy of around eighteen.
'Of course,' replied another boy of fifteen. 'We've been planning this for nearly a year now!
I'm not going to back out now.'
'OK, OK, sorry it just seems weird that we're finally here after so long. It's also hard to
take in what we're doing. We're attempting murder here; we are trying to kill Zaron the third!
If mother and father were here they wouldn't be very proud of me. I'm letting you, Roth; my
baby brother put himself in danger by trying to assassinate the king! Then what do I do? stand
and watch in the crowd.'
'Don't say that. I'll be fine,' said Roth backing into a alleyway. 'You know you can't do this
because you don't believe in violence so I have to do it. You're helping me by making my tools
for me. That's what you're good at being a blacksmith. Come on Marlon we have to do this! We have
to kill king Zaron to avenge our parents. He made our lives miserable! We have to kill him because
in three years time...'
'Something bad is going to happen say your stupid visions,' interrupted Marion. 'They say a mass
invasion is coming from the east and our king is not a proper leader and knows nothing about war,
so when the invasion comes he will not be able to protect us from the savages,' interrupted Marlon.
'My visions are real. You know king Zaron know nothing about fighting! Remember when the Scots
invaded and king Zaron the second was cut down in mid battle and his son, our king now had to lead
the battle, and it was only for the townsfolk who saved us from a Scottish invasion!' shouted Roth.
'Think of your wife Molly and your baby son Jack, do you want them to become slaves for these savages?'
'No-one can protect us if we let the current king fight the east men. That's why we need to kill him
so the prince who is strong, a good leader and who knows how to fight can take the crown...'
'OK,' bellowed Marlon, a tear dripping down his cheek. 'We'll do it, but no-one, I mean no-one must
ever find out!' said Marion with a deadly serious tone to his voice. 'You'll have to cover your whole
body so your identity is hidden.'
'I know I've been training all year for this moment hiding in shadows, melting into crowds, jumping
from rooftop to rooftop and close combat if I was ever caught by any of the king's guards. Then for
an extra I practiced changing my appearance using masks,' said Roth excitedly. 'How can you forget
you were with me helping me, training me to reach the mark and now I've made it and hit that required
level to be able to carry out a big task like this one?'
'I know and you have done very well but let's get down to the task in hand,' said Marion putting his
arm round Roth's broad shoulders, they were around the same height quite tall with the same dark features
around their faces.
'Tomorrow,' continued Marion 'the king is will be paraded through the streets of Vallard in the view
of crowds and crowds of public that is where you come in baby brother,' said Marion looking at Roth with
a smile creeping across both of their faces. 'Listen, this is what you're going to do. The king will be
travelling round in his horse-drawn carriage. You have to time this perfectly, when the carriage is going
past the big town hail the sun will be blocked out and a shadow will be cast over that area. You need to
avoid the crowd, because it would be quite suspicious for a boy dressed all in black standing in a crowd.
So stick to the shadows! While the carriage is going along creep up alongside it and crawl underneath it.
It could be quite dangerous for you take care and watch the wheels.'
'Why do I have to go underneath the carriage and not on top?' questioned Roth.
'Use your brain brother,' sighed Marlon. 'The area will be swarming with royal guards you could be caught
easily, and you wouldn't go unnoticed by the public either. Anyway back to the point. When you're hanging
from the carriage this is the tool you are going to assassinate the king with,' said Marion as he opened
his jacket up and pulled a thin blade around thirty centimetres long. Then he opened his jacket up again
but this time pulled a little bottle with a murky green liquid swirling around inside. He continued, 'You're
going to be hanging directly under the king's seat. With this tool you are going to thrust up through the seat,
ripping through material then slashing through flesh. Now this won't be enough to kill the king, that's why we
have this,' said Marion holding up the bottle. 'A tiny drop of this poison on the blade and that will finish
him off instantly.'
'Where did you get it from?' questioned Roth.
'I've got contacts from everywhere. This one is from my friend down south he owns a special potion business.
That's it you know what you're doing now. I'll meet you at sunrise tomorrow on the hill with all your kit. Now
go and get some sleep.'
'Thank you so much brother, we can do this. Once it's done we can forget about it and live a normal life
I promise,' said Roth as the embraced each other in a hug.
Cameron Strange
Will
Will was there. Trees surrounded him on all sides. Through a small gap in the trees he saw a flame. He heard
a scream. There was a man running towards him.
'Help me' he said. Will stared at him coldly. 'Oh, why won't you help me? You have to help me. My baby.' Will
continued to stared at him colder than ever. The man wheezed. A woman ran over and talked to the man.
'They got her out... she's dead' said the woman.
'No' the man cried. The woman nodded 'no!' He shouted .Then he bursted into tears. Will gave the couple
one last cold stare. Then disappeared into the wilderness. There was someone whispering something. It slowly
became clearer.
'Will, Will.'It turned into a shout 'William' Will woke up in a maths lesson. 'What did I just say?'
shouted the teacher. Will shrugged. 'William your GCSE's are in a month. And you would definite get a much
better mark if you stayed a wake in my lesson. You have a detention, tomorrow, after school. Anyway' and she
continued with the lesson.
At the end of the school day all the kids raced outside exept Will stayed behind with his friend, Pete.
Although Pete knew more about then anyone else even he knew very little about him, because Will practically
never said anything , unless he apposulutly had to. He was the best in lessons but never showed it, and is
excellent at sports but always declines the offer to be in the school team.
************
Pete remembered back when these two boys were 14 a boy called Alan came up to him and made the
daring move of asking him why he was like this.
'Will' he said 'when we were nine, do you remember? You were so open and seemed so happy.'
Will said nothing.
'When now you're so quiet and missserable.
Will grunted. 'What changed?'
Will hit him.
Two weeks later Alan woke up in hospital. When Will heard he came straight away. There was
no-one around and Will walked into Alan's ward with out asking which one it was and walked
straight in to Alan room. No-one came in when Will was in the room but as he left the nurses
came in.
There was a scream. A doctor raced into the room. There was blood everywhere the doctor followed
it up to Alan on the bed. 'Oh no. Oh no' Then he turned to the nurse 'bring me the boy that
was just here.'
************
Pete talked first 'I can't believe you fell a sleep in a maths lesson' with a smile on his face.
Will just grunted. So I suppose I won't be seeing you after school tomorrow'.
'No' Will replied.
'So, what do you want to do?' Pete asked. 'Come on Will. You were never the chattiest person
on earth but you usually do something.'
Will just sat there. Put his heads in his hands. He then grabbed his bags. 'Never mind, I'm
just going to go home'. He then walked out of the class-room and went home.
Christopher Littlefair
Chapter 1
'Get down on the floor. Number two put that sack over his head. Put him in the van. Let's go.' There was a
screech as the van speed away. The president of Canada was taken hostage.
*************************
Later that day an emergency meeting was called. The Vice President was reading out a letter from the hostage
takers.
'We want one billion pounds or you will never see your president again.' There was a pause.
'Jason, tell Lizzie immediately about what has happened.' Jason was already half-way down the corridor and
running to Lizzie's room. Jason was a trainee body guard of Lizzie Owens the president's daughter. He was
twenty four and had a six pack. He had short blond hair and greenish grey eyes. He owned a yellow and green
Suzuki motorbike and never went anywhere without his precious blue jeans. When Jason arrived at Lizzie's room,
he knocked on her door.
'Miss Owens I have some news for you,' Jason said.
'Come in Jason,' Lizzie replied.
Jason entered the room. It was so big that ten double-deckers could be stationed side by side. The wall paper
was a rose pink; the floor was velvet with a lovely burgundy colour. Lizzie had a four- poster bed and was
sitting at the end of the room looking out onto the Hudson Bay from behind a desk. You could tell Lizzie out
of a thousand people because she always sat straight, she was very neat and she had glossy black hair.
'John sent me to tell you that. Um...'
'Yes go on.'
'Um... your father has been...' There was a pause. 'He's been kidnapped.'
'Oh no. '
There were tears coming down her face, she had turned red.
'When did it happen?' as her voice was drowned away in tears.
'Yesterday,' replied Jason.
'I knew this would happen. He has a lot of enemies, the Yakuza, the Mafia and al-Qaeda. They all have
been sending threats and now it's happened. How much for the ransom money? ' Lizzie said.
'One billion,' Jason replied.
'What shall we do?' Lizzie said anxiously.
'Well we could try and find who kidnapped him in the start.'
'Put the letter through the D.N.A scanner. There has got to be some finger prints on it.'
'That's what the F.B.I is doing now,' Jason exclaimed.
'I hate people thinking that I'm young, I'm fifteen. Jason how about we go and find him together?'
'John is no way letting you out of this mansion. What's that ticking?
'Oh it's been there for ages,' replied Lizzie.
Jason walked over to Lizzie's bathroom. He opened the boiler cupboard door.
'Oh no! How bad can today get? RUN!'
A few seconds later there was a massive explosion.
Declan Jennings
Chapter 1
'Hey! What do you think you are doing you stinking brat! Oy! Stop running away!' shrieked the fat
slumbering shopkeeper, Dew, with a dirty white apron around his waist. As he screamed, a slim figure,
wearing a balaclava, slipped into the hordes of people as she was thin air with the fat shopkeeper
trailing her.
The girl shuffled through the normal mob of people in the streets of Sheng Wan. As a young teenager of
thirteen, the girl could out run the shopkeeper who had slabs of fat.
By now Dew was waving a Chinese vegetable knife over his head in such a manner that it would decapitate
any one around him if was not careful. Anger enraged him and threw the knife like a Frisbee right at
the girl.
At lightning speed she dodged but the knife struck another person. His brains splattered on the ground.
Despite the disgusting sight, she carried on racing towards the out skirts where there were all the poor
lived.
A pair of blue eyes flashed in a corner of the dark alley. 'Come out you rascal! Don't make me tell the
police!' ordered Dew.
Suddenly, the girl pounced onto him bringing him down to the ground. Picking up a metal pole, she started
beating his chest. Blood poured as a stream out of his body. Soon afterwards he died.
'Well done' proclaimed a well known voice. She pulled of her balaclava. She was the most wanted teenage
thief and murderer, Tian. The voice was of her master, the king of the criminal activity in the city.
'You are no longer needed. I will turn you over to the police...' he said. Before he finished Tian
crept back out of the alley into the sunlight of justice. She hesitated and walked into the crowd with
thoughts of what she should do in the future. She headed out of the city with a fresh heart.
Edward Lam
Chapter 1 - Bad Memories
'Get back here now!' Sean's captor shouted 'before I have to kill you.' At that moment, someone jumped out
and pointed a gun at him. 'Don't try and run away this time, now get back to your father!'
The man pushed the gun into Sean's back and shoved him roughly. When Sean came back, he found his father
thrown on the floor. 'Right, if the police don't meet our demands, one of you is going to be dead at the end
of this hour.'
The thought made the muscles in his spine spasm. Sean's blond straggly hair fell over his fierce green eyes.
They got onto the radio to issue the demands for the police to release one of their own from prison, an IRA
assassin, a man called Liam Kelly.
Time was ticking slowly by.
'Time is almost up' the dark haired captor said and pointed the gun at Sean. 'This is what we do to Irishmen
who work for the English embassy.' A bullet whistled past and clipped Sean's knee, he clutched his bloody
kneecap in agony.
As black closed in on Sean's vision, he had heard his father shout, 'Don't kill him he is only a child, take
me instead.' The pistol shot sounded, filling the air with a noise which shook Sean to the bone.
Sean sat up quickly, he was drenched in his sweat and he realised he was screaming. His mother was perched on
the edge of his bed, watching him intently; she always did when he had that dream of the event which would haunt
him for the rest of his life. He never saw the Irish army troops abseil down the outside and crash through the
window; they came as soon as they heard the fire of the Browning, killing the IRA men instantly with heavy fire.
He limped to the window (the limp was an ever present reminder of that day at the embassy) and stared
down at the suburbs of Belfast in the cool evening.
During the night, Sean tossed and turned with the same dream branded into his mind. His mother stayed there un-
flinching keeping him company, she never showed her emotions, it was her way of coping with grief.
As dawn drew near, Sean's mother went down to make a cup of Irish tea. Then came the hammering at the door.
Harry Boyd
Chapter 1 - The Visitor
Aron Armstrong was coming down for breakfast. Mary was in the kitchen, reading a newspaper.
'Let's see what are in today's articles,' said Mary. She was reading the Guardian. 'Tony Blair's just
lost in parliament! He must strengthen up his reputation or he would be sacked before he knows.'
'Aron, munch up. You'd be late for school!' exclaimed Mary.
Aron quickly finished his breakfast and was ready to leave the house.
'See you this afternoon,' said Mary.
Mary Carechild was Aron's guardian. She had blonde, curly hair with a bit of dyed blue on the front. She had
pale skin, a roundish face, long fingernails and earrings pierced in the middle of her ears. She was a nice
person but always was obsessed with politics. Aron was aged twelve. He was a fair haired, tough looking boy.
His ambition was to be a spy. Aron and Mary lived in a small flat in Central London. Aron went to a school nearby
called South Street Super School.
It was a bright and sunny Thursday. Aron arrived at the school gates. His walk from his home to the school took
around five minutes. Aron was walking to his form room. He was in form 1J. His form tutor was Mr. Jeffrings.
During registration, Mr. Jeffrings announced,'There will be an assembly during lunch time.'
At lunch, everybody went to the school hall. Mr. Bossead, the headmaster began to speak.
'Everybody, can I have your attention please. Tomorrow, there will be a visitor coming to our school. The
visitor will be showing you a presentation. There might be something after the presentation that is linked together
but, anyway, you will know tomorrow. I want best behaviour please.'
Aron was very excited. Aron was desperate to know who this visitor was. He rushed home and
hoped time will go by really quickly.
Aron munched up his breakfast the next morning. Aron (desperate to go and meet the visitor)
ran to school and went to his form room. Subsequently, Mr. Jeffrings did the register.
The whole school was walking to the assembly hall. The visitor had not arrived. Everybody was
seated. First up, was to sing a hymn.
A grey Mercedes-Benz S Class appeared at the school gates. The visitor was a middle aged,
fat man wearing a grey suit, a grey tie, a grey shirt and grey trousers. He had a really loud voice.
He strode to the assembly hall and bellowed:
'Can I have your attention please, my name is Mr. Mump. I work for MI6 and there
is a vacancy on being a spy. I will show you a presentation that may be of your interest.'
The presentation was about an essential guide on how to be a good spy.
'So, after that presentation, if you are interested to be a spy, then please come and see me afterwards to get a form.
If you want to go further in the application, you will be required to fill in the form and go in person to the MI6
headquarters. Your parents will be required to sign the form just so we know that your parents are willing to take
the risk for you to be a spy. We will ask five applicants to have an interview and will do an assessment. We will
only be choosing one applicant to be a spy for MI6,' announced Mr. Mump.
Joseph Cheung
Chapter 1
The streets were dark and the moon glowed like a star. There was no movement on the shimmering night of De Paris
Avenue. Behind one shadow lay a dustbin. Inside the tattered old dustbin was a little boy of about 12. He was just
an ordinary boy until the day. The day was when his mother and father had died. Someone had murdered them. This
someone was what the twelve year old wanted to find this man. He knew this man was coming down this road and would
follow him.
***
James Smith was an ordinary boy until the day. His mother was a surgeon and worked at St Mary's Hospital. His father
was a shopkeeper. He loved his family and friends. James was very good at sports and liked technology. He was quite
a talented boy. But since his parents died he is quite quiet.
***
He waited, No sound, then a tip top tip top. James's heart spun around his veins throbbing in his whole body, he felt
as if he was going to burst. The man walked past the smelly old dustbins as if they weren't there. James crept out of
the dustbin as quiet as a mouse. He quickly ran after the man as quietly as he could. Up Cuthbert street onto Pebbly
Avenue. Though the alleyway and there it was. The secret hiding place of his parent's murderer. It was a huge warehouse
full of boxes. He was quite sure the police wouldn't find the convicts here. Then it got a bit spooky. It was pitch
ebony. An owl hooted on the top of the warehouse, the wind getting colder. Drips of rain started the drop. He ran inside
the open door of the warehouse and gasped. Inside was no warehouse of Travis and Perkins. It was like a mini library.
What a strange place he thought. One half loads of boxes and the other a fully equipped library. He wondered were the
man was and what was he doing here. Was he meeting somebody? He remembered what he had seen in movies and television
about secret passageways. Maybe there was one right here in the library. Just pull a certain book and open sesame secret
door. Then suddenly there was a crash and he was knocked out cold.
When he woke up James Smith felt dizzy. He was lying on a set and was strapped to the chair. There was a smell as if
someone had used the couch as a toilet. A man stood staring at him. The boy was petrified and shrieked, ' Who are you?
What are you doing here? Let me go!'
'So many questions and so little time. Shut up you little brat and stop yelling at me I'm here to help you.'
'Who are you?'
'I am Nicholas Coward'
Krish Patel
Chapter 1 - The Perplexing Disaster
It was seven o'clock in the morning and Tulip Nora woke up without an alarm. Her guardian was still asleep so Tulip
thought she should be quiet. She felt that she couldn't get up with an aching back but she still managed to bring
herself up and to see a brilliant blue sky. She got out of bed, put on her school uniform and went downstairs. In
the kitchen, she had breakfast which was quick and simple. It was Coco Shreddies with milk and banana which to her
friends, thought was disgusting. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she put on her shoes and went to
school. There, the disaster would occur in the playground...
The school bully didn't know what was about to happen to him. It seemed like an ordinary day with a nice blue sky
and a warm sun. Tulip was also on the playground. She was playing netball. Because of her abhor for boys, she paid
no attention to the other side of the playground but that was about to change. The bully was tackled by a skinny
boy who the bully threatened by saying he would kill his guinea pigs if he did that again. The little boy went
crying after that! He continued playing football with his bully mates when, out of nowhere lightning struck. The
sky turned black. The sun was gone. An eclipse had occurred as well. Tulip looked up, stared at the sky, and then
she looked down again. She felt an outlandish feeling because she knew deep inside, disaster was about to transpire.
More lightning struck a long the ground like a long coiled snake and a hurricane at the same time. Tulip knew death
was about to occur.
The bully paid no attention to this and continued playing football. He had just scored his fourth penalty in a row
and it would be one of his last. The bully was a stocky, well built and hard man but no one could escape the cruel
fate that was in store for him. If he had been a bit nicer, perhaps this fate would not have struck him. As he
stepped up to take his last spot-kick to win the championship, the disaster happened.
'AHH,' screamed the bully as he had taken the penalty (getting hit by lightning). The last penalty of his life! His
friends looked at him disbelieving and said nothing. Tulip had also just seen what had happened yet it seemed so
illusory. What if everyone else would die like this? This wasn't what God had wanted and Tulip didn't want it to
happen either. In these seconds of Tulip thinking, three more people were taken by lightning and there was nothing
they could do.
Tulip closed her eyes and thought about her first birthday present. She was eight years old at that time and she
had never ever had a present before that. She was given her shiny red ruby by a friend of her mum and dad. That was
a night that she enjoyed so much but ended in cataclysm. Her parents died inexplicably in the night and she barely
knew how. As she opened her eyes, another had been killed. Then there was another, then another, then another.
As she looked at the corpses in despair, all of the children were wiped out. Now she was the only one in the
playground. She wept over the devastation caused by the lightning. Death all over the bodies! Suddenly Tulip's
ruby glowed. She felt that she was about to die. Her life blood felt like it was being sucked away. Her brain
feeling like it was being squashed. She saw lightning strike. What was going to happen?
***
Tulip woke up in hospital the next day. She had a great pain in her back but other wise felt fine. She took out her
ruby as she hoisted herself up from the bed. Something had just happened but she didn't know what. The bully had
died in the shortest of times and everyone else had afterwards. An eclipse had occurred just before it. What next?
Tulip was viewing the ruby with great curiosity. She herself was unharmed. It looked like the ruby had saved her
yet caused her to pass out because of it. However, everyone else had died. She had lost her friends, the bullies;
the anonymous people that she didn't know like the boys were gone. She had nothing left. No parents, no friends,
no one at all. Maybe the ruby caused death to anyone apart from herself seeing as though her parents died the night
she was given the ruby. She looked at it again and made up her mind in what she was going to do. Tulip was about to
throw her ruby away through the window but stopped. She couldn't even though she wanted to make dispose of it.
Her guardian came into the room. He looked at her worryingly and said,
'Come with me, we don't have much time and bring the ruby as well.'
'But why, the ruby causes more danger to people even if it saves them,' replied Tulip, astonished to hear that
her guardian knew about it.
'Just do what I say!' shouted her guardian.
They went through the hospital knowing that the nurses would not like her leaving but they didn't even seem to know
she was there. That was out of the ordinary. She followed her guardian out of the hospital into the external. There,
she would face her most devastating adventure. But she needed rest and that is what she did, in her house for today.
She closed her eyes and entered the dreamland. It was a brilliant place where anything was possible. Her ruby glowed
again but this time it did not give death away.
Once again, Tulip Nora had another day that she would remember all her life. What she didn't realise, was that there
would be even more after that.
Michael Du
Capture And Escape
As Major Dan 'TB' Short walked into the briefing office, the whole of squadron 423 of the RFC
(Royal Flying Corps, later changed to the RAF) stood in a polite manor, him being the CO
(Commanding Officer) of the squadron was the reason for this. 'Be Seated.' Said the Major,
'Our top Brass have recently allocated us a task that will see our squadron go west (slang
for die or died), or have our squadron go down in the history books. This task is to be
dangerous and difficult. Our squadron of Camels is the only one prepared, and capable to
carry out this task. Our task is to destroy the new German airfield, between Lille and the
German reserve trenches. It is Aerodrome 97; it contains a mixture of Fokkers, Albatrosses,
and assorted bombers, which we haven't yet been able to identify. This is the Hun's
latest aerodrome, and it's certainly been well thought out by the Boche (slang; German)
top brass. We will be escorting a selection of our own bombers, generally 'nines and
'fours. We will be attacking in two days time, now do you have any questions?' Finished Dan.
There was a pause, and then Flight-Sergeant Johnson slowly raised his hand and said
'I have a query sir.'
'And what would that query be?' Replied Major Dan
'What will happen to us NCOs (non commissioned officers) and the ack-emmas (mechanics)
if things go wrong?'
'I'll be honest with you; you'll probably have all your names on the postings board with
H.E (Home Establishment; where you work with a squadron in England, probably training) besides them.'
'Ok, thanks.' Was the retort from the flight-sergeant.
'Dismissed!' Ordered the CO.
*****
Two mornings later, the squadron scrambled out of the mess hut, it was as if they were racing to get to their plane.
Dan Short was a young, but experienced pilot and Major. He was clean shaven, and nearly
always wore his brown leather flying jacket, he also always wore the many medals he had
earnt in assorted campaigns with the squadron. He was a well built, tall man, and he only
just fitted in his camel, which is why the squadron had acquired him an SE 5 from a nearby
squadron. He clambered in and took off, the rest of the squadron soon followed.
Once in the air, the major waited for the rest of the squadron to take off and et into
formation behind him, as soon as they were ready, he started towards British lines. Once
the got to the British reserve trenches the bombers were below them, and a large group of
SE's above. They flew on, over the lines and were soon over the objective, all bombs
were dropped, and then down came the German planes, they poured out of the sky, there
were over 70 of them, and quite soon, only a few British planes remained, but those
remaining noticed that the numbers on German planes had been reduced largely. It was
obvious that all the planes from the new aerodrome had been in the air, expecting an attack.
Just then, Dan Short's propeller was hit by some archie (anti aircraft fire), his plane spun,
plummeting towards the ground all the time he gained control of the machine and made a bad
landing at the German aerodrome, that had just been bombed, he played dead, but it didn't
work. Two Germans hauled him out of his burning plane. He knew he was finished, he knew that
he was now a German prisoner of war, now all he had to do was think of how to escape...
Nicholas Lander
Chapter 1
Tyke was leaning against the rusty lamppost shocked at what he had just done. His mum and dad were lying on the
floor next to him drowning in blood. They were definitely dead. A man in a black top and blue jeans was also
lying on the ground with a dagger through his chest. Tyke shouldn't have killed him but he had tried to stop
the man killing his parents.
Tyke shuffled down the street kicking old cans as he went. Now the fact that his mum and dad were gone for ever
was really starting to hurt him. Tyke's leather jacket was covered in blood and his jeans were torn, a shotgun
was hidden away in an inside pocket. Tyke had no idea where he was going to go.
He passed an old people's home followed by a hotel he searched his pockets and found his wallet. It had about one
hundred pounds in it. He started walking towards the hotel. He now had tears in his eyes, it was the first time he
had properly cried.
Walking into the hotel reception he saw the prices.
Thirty five pounds a night. He thought he would spend one night here and then decide what to do in the morning. An
old looking lady sitting behind a desk with a very pointy nose and grey hair spoke suddenly, surprising Tyke.
'Do you need any help dear?' she rasped breathing heavily after every word.
'Yes, could I book a room for one night please?'
asked Tyke miserably.
'Yes, that would be thirty five pounds,' she said looking straight into Tyke's eyes.
Tyke crouched a little so the old lady couldn't see any of the blood on his clothes. Tyke then handed over the
money and dragged himself up to his room.
His room was quite cramped with a small table with a lamp on it and his bed. A small window was next to the bed
and another table under it. Tyke didn't take his clothes off but just fell on to his bed. It had been the worst
day of his life and the final for his parents but he knew he had done the wrong thing. About ten minutes later he
fell asleep.
Tyke woke up and to his dismay saw his table had been tipped over and his leather jacket and wallet were gone. He
didn't have anything to keep him warm and he didn't have any money to buy anything. It looked like he was going to
have to live his life as a tramp.
Nick Mitchell
Chapter 1
21:30 23rd June 2010: The Kremlin, Red Square, Moscow, Russia
The Russian president, Cozel Korolyov had just finished a speech about how he and his government planned to cut taxes
but maintain the high levels of services for his country. None of it was going to happen, but it made him look and
sound good. He looked like an accountant or lawyer with his grey suit, grey hair and grey eyes. He was short, about
five foot four and his face was blank and emotionless. Once he had finished the press meeting that followed his speech,
he walked off the stage and towards the door.
Outside, a slim figure with black shoulder-length hair, wearing a black hooded trench coat and black shades stood a
few hundred metres away reached into her inside pocket and pulled out a small black stick with a little red button
under a glass cap. This she flicked up with her thumb, and then depressed the red button. Once she had completed this,
she ran only stopping to laugh at the screams of horror at the destruction at the explosion she had caused.
By the time the police had closed off the area and started to look for her, she was getting on a plane out of the
country, with a look of triumphant glee for completing the job, on her face.
08:00 24th June 2010: 10 Downing Street, London, England
Mr Tim Davis, the Prime Minister of Great Britain was sitting in his office waiting for a call about any developments
on the last night's terrorist attack in Moscow, killing the Russian president himself. This was a disaster, as he was
the second world leader killed in a month and the ninth this year. The leaders from Japan, France, Australia, Canada,
Italy, Brazil, India, South Africa, and now Russia. 'Who's going to be the next to die?' The Prime Minister asked
himself.
A loud ringing finally broke him from his thoughts. He looked up at the large screen on the opposite wall and saw that
it was his Head of the Foreign Office, Christopher Feather calling on the vid-screen. The Prime Minister pressed the
answer button and started to speak before his minister had even opened his mouth.
'What developments have you got from the Russian police? Have they found the terrorists yet?'
'Not yet sir, but we have reason to believe that the terrorists had got inside and rigged the whole building up with
high explosives months ago. There might have been higher security, but they expected an attack from the outside, not
the inside. They weren't prepared for such an attack. Everyone in the building died. There were few survivors. It was
a massacre.'
'How many died?'
'At least a thousand. They're still finding more bodies at this very moment.'
'Is there a pattern to the countries affected, or is it just random? I mean, do they know whose next?'
'Unfortunately not yet, sir. We've got our best working on it.'
'Phone me if you find anything about the attack or any patterns. Goodbye.'
At that the picture of Christopher Feather disappeared and was replaced with the Royal Insignia. The Prime Minister
just sat there pondering the Head of Foreign Office's words. This was bad news. This was a disaster. The people
were already scared enough without another mass murder. The world was plunging into chaotic terror at the people
holding the reins of the world slowly being murdered one by one. Another death and the total would amount to ten
attacks in a year.
He left the office still pondering the attacks and who might possibly want to do this and why.
08:30 24th June 2010: Hadean Order Headquarters, Westminster, London
The girl known as the Angel of Death; no-one knew her true name, not even her herself, as she had been in a state
of amnesia when she'd arrived on the doorstep of the Hadean Order Headquarters, but she was known to her colleagues
as Angel. She walked into the building, which was a disused law court that no one used anymore, so the Hadean Order
had turned it into their headquarters. Therefore, they didn't actually need too much security, but they set it up,
just in case.
The girl walked up to a bookshelf on the wall and had pulled out a book, 'Assassination for Dummies'. The bookshelf
revolved ninety degrees, revealing a large room, containing a large desk and chairs, which she entered, hitting a
button on the side of the door, and returning it to its disguise. She turned and saw a thin man in a black suit and
tie looking at her. He motioned for her to sit down on the chair opposite him, and before she had got herself
comfortable, he started to speak.
'Well done on the Moscow job. They delivered the money early this morning. Here it is.' He slid a silver
attache case across the desk. 'Five hundred thousand pounds. I had it checked to make sure it was all there.
They were happy about the standard of the job.'
'Thanks. I'll never need to buy an attache case again in my life. Anyway, did they say when and where the
next attack is?'
'Yes, they did. It's in ten days time in Washington DC when the President makes his Independence Day address.
You're attacking the White House and the most powerful man in the world.'
'How much are they paying for such a high risk job?'
'Two and a half million pounds. If you don't want the job I could always give it to someone else, but you're
the best and someone else wouldn't be able to, at least not to your standard.'
'Ok, I'll do it. Goodbye. I've got to get ready.' At that, she left the room.
Paul Bardsley
Chapter 1
It was around two in the morning. The whole house was quiet, quiet as death. Wolfie stepped out of bed and
grabbed her flick-knife. It was pitch black everywhere so she had had to wait a second to let her eyes adjust
to the light. Slowly she crept across the floor trying to miss the creaky floorboards. She stepped out onto the
landing. Wolfie felt a chill run through her bones. That probably meant that the door had been used very recently
or that the insulation had fallen apart again. She skulked downstairs and looked around. Everything seemed to be
fine especially as the T.V. was still there. She quickly scanned around saw nothing different and hurried back
upstairs. Her feet were absolutely freezing and she couldn't wait to get back to bed.
C L I C K. Wolfie jumped up and out of bed. She slunk across the landing. There were only two occasions where she
had heard that noise before, once when she was watching a street fight and the other when she was watching the
police storm a house on T.V. She opened her parents half broken bedroom door a crack to see the source of the noise.
Standing just by her Mum's bed was a tall, thin figure with jet black hair and bright blue eyes like ice. He had
a slight look of hesitation on his face. He raised the gun about to fire...
T H U D a knife flew straight into his neck. It was the first lucky thing that had happened all night. Wolfie
hadn't aimed, just thrown the knife. But now as the man was raising his gun to fire he suddenly fell to the
ground in a heap. Wolfie had never killed before she had had her fair share of playground scuffles and she had
also fought off attackers in street fights but never had she killed. She had only thrown the knife as an instinctive
reaction. In that fraction of a second two thoughts had gone through Wolfie's head, firstly the man was going to
kill her mum and secondly the police would never get here in time. The result of these two thoughts was her reaction
to throw the knife. She always kept a knife in her pocket just in case and now she had had to use it. Wolfie had
remembered when she had been given that knife, just before her father had died. She remembered his last words to her
'keep it safe, one day you might have to use it.' Wolfie had always been puzzled by those last words but she had paid
attention to those last words and had always kept it with her.
Wolfie came to her senses in a start. She could hear sirens and they were getting closer.
Robert Cronshaw
Chapter 1
It was a dark Friday night when Woa and his Dad were on another of their raids. As usual they had picked some
unlucky fellow who, when he woke up, would have the nasty surprise of finding he had been burgled. Woa and his
Dad hopped from wall to wall in one of Beijing's many gloomy alleyways. The heavy black bags flickered as they
passed a street light every now and then. Suddenly father and son stopped on the top of a reasonable priced house
in a decent neighbourhood. Woa and his Dad scanned the surrounding area nobody was out. Except one drunken man
walking about but he would blame it on the alcohol.
Silently Woa and his Dad jumped from the roof and landed next to the front door. Woa's Dad pulled out a thin
shiny key and placed it in the lock. The door opened and the two of them slipped in, they shut the door quietly
and pulled their masks off revealing Woa's jet black hair.
'Let's see what we got then,' Dad queried. Woa and his Dad plonked the two black bags on the table in the
living room and searched the contents of them.
'How much did you get?' Woa asked.
'A fair amount, to add to last Friday's raid,' replied Dad. 'Should keep us going for a while. Now you should
be getting off to bed. You've got that History homework to do tomorrow and you said you do it then.' Woa walked
to his room upstairs. His Dad yawned and turned on the TV, where another of China's many late Friday night game
shows was on.
The next morning Woa got up early to do his homework. He sat at his desk and the sun shone in his brown eyes as he
slaved away at another pointless essay on the Russian Revolution.
About half an hour later he had finished and his Dad was downstairs having breakfast. Today he was having soup and
rice and Woa's was already on the table the steam still coming from the soup.
'How's that essay going?' Dad asked.
'Finished. I got up early to do it.' Woa glanced at the food and then the clock.
As he turned he suddenly felt
a pain in his left leg and he looked at it.
'Darn I got cut by some glass' Woa shouted.
'Shh, I'll get the first aid kit and patch you up. One good thing from my time in the army,' Dad wandered out
of the room in search of the kit. Woa tucked into his soup and tried not to worry about the cut. Had he left some
clue behind last night? What would happen if anyone found out what he and his Dad did every Friday night whilst most
of the city slept or watched 'A million to one.'
Tim Wade
Chapter 1
'AGGGGGGGHHHH!!!'
As Julius heard the screams of the prisoners in the torture chamber he shuddered. He knew that if he did not escape
or was released soon, that those screams would soon be his. Soon his familiar sense of being above everybody cheered
him up a bit.
'Well,' he thought, 'they won't kill me, being the Emperor's son.'
But deep down inside, below all his pompousness, below his spoilt soul, he found fear. This had been an unfamiliar
feeling until the last few days.
'Although,' Julius pondered, 'walking around with an elite bodyguard sort of meant that you need not fear.'
Suddenly, his cell door was flung open. A limp form was thrown in by a Roman soldier. Before he closed it he spat
on the twisted shape on the floor. It didn't flinch.
The door slammed shut. Julius shook his head in disbelief. Why had he hoped they would set him free? To them he was
a murderer. Why should they listen to him? He sighed.Suddenly the collapsed bundle moaned. Julius looked up. It was
an old man. Very old.
'Please help me...' his voice trailed of at the end of the sentence and he keeled over and vomited blood. Then he
collapsed and fainted.
Julius went over to the old man and propped him up as best he could against the wall in a sitting position. This was
hard with his handcuffs on. Julius looked at the man's face. On the creased brow, there was a bloody mess where the
man had been beaten. Lower down there was a long crooked nose and a thin mouth. The whole face was
papery white and completely lined with age. And according to the bony cheeks, he had not eaten properly for months.
Julius tore his eyes away from the venerable stranger. Then he prayed to Jupiter, Lord of the Gods, to have mercy upon
the man and allow him to live. Then he slumped against the wall and fell asleep, in the dust, with no hope of seeing
the outside ever again.
When he woke, he saw the stranger. The man was staring at him a confused expression.
'Who are you?' asked Julius with an air of importance.
'I am Christopher,' said the man, 'who are you?'
'I am Julius, son of the Emperor, descendent of Romulus and ruler to be of the...'
'So why are you in here then?' interrupted Christopher, 'your excellency.'
'I... er... um...'
'Don't worry, the Lord will forgive you.'
'The Lord?'
'God, child, God.'
'You're a Christian?!!' scorned Julius, 'that would explain why YOU are here!' he taunted.
'I see,' murmured Christopher 'but pray explain to me your ethereal beings.'
'Why should I tell you?' said Julius sourly.
'Bec...' but suddenly the key turned, with a clang in the lock on the cell door. A soldier came in with
a bowl of grey slop.
'Eat,' he said in a cold voice while passing the bowl to Christopher.
'What about me!' complained Julius in a whiny tone as he always did when he did not get his own way.
&