Run by Gabby Tye

fatigued I don’t even bother to get up. I lie in my nest of cartons, scattered tins and assorted packets of dried food.
    â€œWhat the hell do you think you are doing?”
    â€œI’m tired. I must have dozed off. Geez, calm down,” I mutter.
    â€œHere we are, working like crazy, and you find the time to take a nap?”
    She kicks the bag at my feet and continues barking, “Are you even packing these bags correctly?”
    â€œThere is a right way to pack bags?” I ask lamely.
    â€œOf course there is!” she screeches.
    She pours out the entire contents of two bags. “You put all the canned food into two bags? Who do you think is strong enough to carry them? Don’t you have any brains? Divide the cans equally into all the bags so that we all share the weight. Then divide up all the rest of the dried food. Every bag should contain some biscuits, some instant noodles and some rice. So that if we get separated from one another, we have enough to survive on our own.”
    â€œOh.” How am I supposed to know that? It isn’t every day that I am tasked with packing a survival bag!
    Thankfully, Kyl comes to my rescue.
    â€œWhat’s going on in here?” he says.
    Dyanne rolls her eyes. “Your little charity project is making a mess of the food. What a waste of time. Some help she’s turned out to be!”
    She storms out of the pantry, where I am still sprawled pathetically.
    â€œC’mon,” he says gently. “Let’s get this done. We’re running out of time.”
    We work till eight in the evening. It has taken us an entire day to get everything organised. They have obviously done this before. Everyone has done his bit – no fuss, no arguing. The younger kids automatically look up to the older kids for leadership and simply do what they are told to do. I feel a strangepride that they are handling themselves so well.
    Each of us has two bags to carry. One for essentials like extra clothes, a set of cutlery, a lighter, a bottle of water, candles and a blanket and another – thanks to me – neatly packed with food. Despite my efforts to stuff each bag with as much food as I can, there is still a fair amount of food left in the pantry – two cartons of sardines and three sacks of rice.
    As much as we hate to leave so much food behind, there is no way for us to lug the rice around with us. In the end, we decide to hide the food in a small dried-out fish pond in the front garden. We carefully wrap the food with waterproof garbage bags and cover the whole lot with rocks and soil. When we run out of food, we can come back to this secret stash.
    I tap Jae’s shoulder. “We should move. Tattoo Guy will be back.”
    He nods. “Right… We’ll move tomorrow. Promise. Everyone is exhausted. It would make no sense to start off now.”
    Also, he doesn’t mention the obvious question hanging in the air – where are we going to go?
    â€œFine,” I say. “Good night.”
    We are all feeling too vulnerable to be separated, so we all huddle together on the floor in the living room. Everyone falls asleep quickly – everyone, that is, except me. Maybe my earlier nap has refreshed me, maybe I am nervous. Whatever the reason, my mind keeps churning.
    Who am I? What happened to me? Why is this happening to me? How can this be real? Why can’t I remember? Did I really get abandoned? I lie down and gaze at the stars outside the window. They glimmer with a hope I do not feel. I try to remember where I came from, who I am – everything – but everything’s a blur of confusion. Misery wells up in my chest and, frustrated, I find myself crying. Again.

CHAPTER 24
    A scream wakes me up. Eryn points out the window. “Wha-wha-what’s tha-that s-s-sound?” she stammers.
    We hear strange grunting and groaning sounds coming from outside.
    We all run upstairs to get a better view. We spot a