The Shifter

By Hollie A Rogers

The Country. Formerly known as Britain, the most powerful nation in the post-apocalyptic world after the Final War and Nuclear ending is the most advanced nation in the world. Split into seven sectors, Sector 1: Mounta; Sector 2: Shepherding; Sector 3: Oaklea; Sector 4: Gulf; Sector 5: Ferna; Sector 6: Seaton; Sector 7: Huntin; its leaders have a harsh and bloodthirsty reputation. It is shown mostly in Sector 5, where strange things have been happening to the young people aged between fourteen and sixteen. A mysterious process known only as the Change affects one in ten of the people of Ferna, and none of the affected are ever seen again. Taken to the secretive building known only as the Centre, they never return to their families again.
Layla is a sixteen year old girl undergoing this terrible ordeal, and her experiences reveal much about the true workings of The Country. She must try to escape the clutches of the Country Leaders in order to regain her freedom. Will she live to tell the tale?
Book 1 of 4.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hollie A Rogers
• Release date: Mar 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310118388

Hollie A Rogers

I am a student studying furniture making, but have always had a love for writing. My first book 'The Shifter' started about two or three years ago, has been changed about twice and the sequels are already in progress. I hope anyone buying my ebooks enjoy what they read and will continue to follow Layla and friends through their battles, challenges and journeys. I am currently rewriting The Shifter, and its original sequels will not be posted up, but instead be rewritten alongside it. I will post updates as I go along.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

There are four symptoms of the start of the Change. Firstly, the sufferer will experience sporadic headaches, occurring at random points in time. These go on for several days, perhaps a couple of weeks, and in some cases, months.

Secondly, a large alteration in physical stamina, the weak and non-athletic may become stronger and more able to exercise for extended periods of time, or an extremely athletic individual could become weaker and less able to do exercise for as long as usual. For the majority of cases, these changes often happen overnight, though some may occur over the course of a few days.

Thirdly, the sufferer will undergo a change in eye colour, hair colour, and in rare cases, the colour of the blood. Eye colour can change drastically, or it can change slightly, for example; an individual with brown eyes could have bright blue, or red, or even yellow eyes, or they could simply have hazel instead of chocolate brown. The eyes will always glow with an unnatural light when changed. Hair colour can change from mousy blonde to platinum, or from deep brown to black. Blood can change to any colour, and is always luminous if changed. These changes can occur from overnight to over the course of up to two months, but never beyond that.

The fourth symptom is intense drowsiness and an unresolvable need to sleep. The sufferer usually succumbs within one day and cannot be woken for another two. When they awaken, they must be taken to the nearest Centre.

Nobody really knows what the Change is, or what it does to you in the end. But nobody returns from the Centres once they're taken there, and it's a mystery as to what happens to them. Why am I telling you this? Why would you need or want to know? These questions are of little importance to me at this moment. I'm reading the letter, the one issued by the leaders of my country, the one about the symptoms of the Change. I'm scared, no, terrified about it. I've been getting headaches recently, just like the ones described on this piece of official looking paper in my shaking hand. I just hope I'm getting a cold or something. We were issued these letters today in school; everyone in their final year of education gets one. Not everyone goes through the Change, and nobody really knows what it does to you or why it's called the Change. Maybe it's to do with the second and third symptoms.

Nobody ever comes back from the Centre, and nobody knows what happens in there either. The Leaders are pretty secretive when it comes to the Change.

My best friend Carly is already on the third symptom, her hair's turned black and her eyes are now a bright, glowing blue. Her blood hasn't changed colour though, thankfully.

My mother has always told me that if I Change, I'll be in the Centre before I can say 'wait'. We've never really had what you call, a 'loving relationship', and my father died several years ago; he was crushed under a falling tree in a storm. The only things I have left of him are memories of better days. My brother James, he's my mother's favourite. She loves him more than she ever loved me, but I don't care. Though she treats him nice, does practically everything for him and gives him anything he wants, even if it's mine, I'm happy to let her coo and cluck around him like a mother hen. He's the one who will always need looking after, not me.

And besides, what more can possibly go wrong now?

ONE

Layla! A voice shrieks, breaking the silence of the cool afternoon. My green eyes open and the branches of my tree are once again visible just above me. My back is against the bark of a thick branch near the bottom of the tree and my legs are crossed, the feet resting lightly against the trunk of the tree. I sigh quietly and my breath mists slightly in the air above me, disappearing quite quickly into the air. I raise my head slightly and glance over at our cramped little house, watching the smoke rise reluctantly from the chimney. My house is near the edge of the living quarters of my sector, the rest is forest.

I live in Sector 5 of the Country, which is all that remains of the Old World UK. We call our sector Ferna, after all the ferns that sprung up in the forests after the Final War. Our trade is mainly fern-based; we are weavers and sell ferns as decorations for the main part, but also sell small amounts of animal skin and carvings. We’re not the richest sector, the richest are Sector 1 (Mounta) and Sector 3 (Oaklea), but we’re much better off than Sector 6 (Seaton) and Sector 4 (Gulf). When we are unable to buy food, some of us turn to the forest for supplies such as meat and berries. There is no law against hunting, so long as you don’t venture too far, but there are so many perils in there that many Fernians would rather risk starvation than venture out into the wilderness. The average person living in Ferna will get about one meal every day (one meal being equivalent of one meal in Oaklea, the second richest sector in the Country. They get their money from trading valuable goods such as furniture and precious stones). There is one other, more mysterious export Ferna has that keeps it from becoming like Gulf (the poorest sector in the Country). Huge crates with plain location labels are shipped out to richer sectors; they supply us with the majority of our money with which we feed our people. However nobody, not even the traders themselves know what they contain, and opening one is punishable by death, a sentence that is usually carried out on the spot by a Sector Patrol Officer. It seems harsh, but who am I to say otherwise?

Layla! My mother shrieks again, and my train of thought is derailed. I groan and roll off the branch, landing on all fours before lurching to my feet and walking towards the house. My mother can be seen standing impatiently at the kitchen door, arms crossed over her chest and a look of irritation on her increasingly unpleasant face. Don’t ignore me when I call you. She snaps.

Sorry Mother. I say as I reach the house, in an expressionless tone that I've developed just for her over the years.

Go and fetch the dog, James wants to go for a walk. She barks, before stalking back into the house.

Shep's not the only dog around here. I mutter to myself, turning around and walking back along the garden towards the pen. We got Shep a couple of years ago, about a month after my father’s death. James loves walking Shep, our dog, and I always have to go and get him from his pen, as he doesn't like my mother and she won't let James get him in case he gets hurt. I'm more expendable.

Shep's head pops up at the sound of my approach and as I lift the latch he bounds over, tail wagging a mile a minute as he reaches me. He's probably the only being in our household that is truly happy to see me. Hey, Shep! I laugh and scratch him behind the ear. His tongue lolls out of his mouth and he snuffles at my clothes in case I've got a treat for him. I shake my head and he looks disappointed. Tell you what; if you are good for James, I'll see what I can find you. Deal? I murmur, and his eyes light up, his tail wagging in a blur. I don't think dogs are meant to understand human speech, but Shep does. He's the only dog we've ever had, so I wouldn't know, but he seems very intelligent. He follows me out to where James is waiting.

Thanks Layla. He says before whistling for the dog to follow him and walking off towards the ever-present trees. Shep hesitates, but follows James, stopping to look back at me before bounding off into the woods with my brother.

I sneak into the kitchen through the open door to grab a scrap of meat for Shep before scampering off back to my tree before my mother can catch me out here by myself and give me some back-breaking, soul draining task to do. She's always worse when James isn't here. I climb as high as I can, until the branches start to sway alarmingly at any tiny movement. I can see the living quarters of Ferna, all of them, from this tree. My house is F.L.Q.2310; each house has a number like it. Carly lives in F.L.Q.1986, quite a way from mine. Ferna has one school for everyone aged ten to sixteen, and after you're finished there you're stuck working in farming or trading or manufacturing hand-made goods. The huge, mystery crates are traded by the luckier people who have good connections with traders of that line. I'm in my last year of school, about the age any people who are going to Change, Change.

Apparently the statistics show that one in ten people Change, which is a lot. The weird thing about it though is that it is only Fernians Change. No-one else does, not the people from Oaklea, or Seaton (Sector 6), or Gulf (Sector 4), or Shepherding (Sector 2), or Mounta (Sector 1), or even Huntin (Sector 7). Only the people of Ferna, yet nobody knows why. It's bizarre, what has Ferna done or got that the other sectors haven't? I guess it's not the ‘why’ I should be worrying about, but the ‘who’. It hits random people; no victims have a similarity that provides a trend, except their ages. No such thing as 'runs in the family' either, a brother could Change, and his twin might not, there's no pattern to it whatsoever. And what if I Change? Well, it'll be no skin off my mother's nose, that's for sure.

Hey Layla! You up there? I hear somebody shout up to me. I look down through the leaves in such a way as I cannot be seen through the foliage, the way I have learnt to over the years. I see Carly standing at the bottom of the tree, so I call her up, and she climbs up to join me with unnatural grace. The Change is really taking effect.

Hi Carly. I say quietly, and wince as another headache attacks.

Are you alright? She asks, and I look up at her in surprise, not even flinching at her bright, glowing eyes.

Huh? Oh yeah, I'm ok, just a headache is all. I mutter, and her worried face grows increasingly so. Are you ok? I ask, trying to divert the conversation. She smiles sadly, and my stomach tightens.

According to the letter I got, I've got between two and four weeks until the final symptom. Carly got a different letter to me, as she's already going through the Change. She must see something in my face because she pats my arm awkwardly. Don't worry about me, Layla, worry about what you're going to do when you leave school. Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll get a job with those mystery crate traders, and you'll never have to worry again. She says this all in a rush, but I'm barely listening.

But what if I Change? I whisper, and Carly looks down through the branches at the grassy earth far below us. She swings her legs in the empty air, and grips the branch tightly when it sways.

How long you been getting the headaches for? She asks finally.

I don't know, a few weeks I guess. I mutter.

"I'm going to keep an eye on you then. If you get all athletic all of a sudden, then we’ve got a problem." She says, and I smirk.

Hey, maybe if I Change soon we can go to the Centre together. I chuckle half-heartedly, knowing it's virtually impossible. She nods and I hear James calling my name. Damn, I need to go put Shep away.

It's ok; I need to be home by sundown anyway, it'll take me a while to get there. Carly grins, and instead of laboriously climbing down like me, she simply jumps, landing on her feet.

Show off. I mutter darkly, and she saunters off, laughing.

Later, Layla!

Bye, Carly! I'm so going to miss her when she goes. Maybe I'll Change in time to go with her. Not likely though, nobody's ever had accelerated symptoms.

Layla! You going to take Shep for me or just stand there, looking gormless? James shouts. Rolling my eyes, I whistle for Shep who runs over happily. I take him to his pen and he looks at my pouch expectantly. We all have one, it is Ferna law to have one so we can carry our medicines at all times. There are dangerous animals in the woods, especially around Ferna where there is more woodland to hide in, and the Country needs all the workers it can get.

What is it Shep? I ask, and then remember. Oh! Here you go, buddy! I laugh, taking the meat out of my pouch. He gobbles up the meat, licks my hands as a thank you, and trots off to his kennel. I smile, lock his pen and hear my mother shrieking for me again. Oh joy. I walk back to our tiny home, dragging my feet until I see James beckoning earnestly. I look on the kitchen table, and instead of seeing the usual poor Fernian's ration dinner of Ferna vegetables and a couple of slices of bread, I see a bowl of tomato soup each, a whole loaf of bread, a gorgeous looking plate of proper Mounta vegetables each, and even, dare I say it, a piece of meat each from Huntin!

What's this? I gasp, and my mother actually smiles at me, a rarity, believe me now.

I got a job today, James grins, I thought I'd treat us all to something nice for a change. I flinch a tiny bit at the word 'change', but we all quickly sit around the tiny table and tuck in. We eat rather slowly, savouring the treats, but it is still all gone soon enough. My mother gathers up the plates and things and washes them up for herself for once, obviously in high spirits.

Seeing that I have nothing better to do, and that it is getting dark outside, I go upstairs to my room. It's the smallest in the house, more like a glorified cupboard really, but hey, it's somewhere not exposed to the elements. I only have the basics, a bed, some blankets and a chair on which to put my clothes, but that's pretty much it. I look around my room and shut the door. I'm not tired yet, so I sit on my windowsill and watch the slowly darkening landscape outside, worrying about the future.

Even though my mother wouldn't care if I Changed, I'm still terrified. The Centre is the one place that haunts my nightmares, the pristine blank white building on the edge of town. I'm scared of not knowing what is in store for me, scared that I'll just disappear like the others and not even get to say goodbye to Shep and James. My mother would celebrate, but I don't think my brother would go that far. I hope anyway. Sighing, I climb under my blankets and close my eyes, hoping for an undisturbed night's sleep.

*

"Katherine, why did you ask me to meet you here? It must be important; you know I'm on the run." Penny says to me, glancing around cautiously at the dark street. I'm close to tears as I look at my best friend, my childhood playmate. Her once blonde hair is now deep chocolate brown, her blue eyes a piercing grey, glowing in the darkness. Her clothes are worn and threadbare in places, she has no shoes. A head taller than me she stands anxiously as I close my eyes briefly. She ran away after the Change hit her, and has been running for the last five years.

"They were going to take Layla and James. I sob quietly. I'm so sorry Penny, I really tried." Before she can process that they leap at her, tackle her and hold her down, stabbing a needle thing into her neck.

"No!" She screeches; I see the horror and betrayal in her face and I hope she doesn't hate me now. Her struggles weaken and stop, her eyes drift shut and they grin at each other, the men from the Centre. She's breathing slowly, deep in sleep. They smirk at me, pick up my captured sleeping friend and take her off through the midnight streets towards the Centre. I'm left in the dark street, alone, cold, but with the knowledge that now, my children are safe. I walk back home to them and their father, Daniel. None of them know what I have had to do, and it is going to stay that way. Penny's terror and betrayal haunts me, and I can't get her face out of my mind, but I had no choice, they threatened my family...

I wake up in the dark with the sensation of a huge void in my chest. A void that once held Penny and Daniel. I'm so sorry. I whisper to the night.

*

The warm morning sun is pleasant, and the birds are singing cheerfully above me. I am content here, if a little bored. I see the same places and the same people every day, and have done for the past two years, but I suppose that means little in the long run. At least I have not been found yet, have not been caught and sent to wherever they send us after the discovery of our power. I am still, relatively speaking, free, and that makes all the difference in the world to me.

I never wanted to become what I am today, but if it is necessary for my survival, then so be it. If I have to play the tame animal, I will, and do. The earth feels powdery and loose under my paws, and every time I breathe out there is a small cloud of dust where my breath disturbs the dry earth. Unable to stay still any longer, I stand and shake out my fur, taking a deep breath in. I can smell the swiftly approaching summer, wildflowers, grass, the animals in the woods just beyond the fence that is meant to confine me here, everything. I look around and listen carefully for any people nearby, and am confident of my invisibility for the time being.

Smiling to myself, I close my eyes and pale blue smoke swirls around me like a dust storm. Within half a minute, I am an eagle, and am flying out towards the forest, determined to have a little time out of the daily schedule. I know I only have half an hour before they wake and go to check on me, but the joy of flight was so tempting, I am more than happy to take the risk. It is certainly enough for now.

I turn gently with the breeze before pulling up and launching myself high up into the blue sky, watching the forest whip by from above, content with this little exercise.

*

I wake up feeling strange, and notice that I don't have a headache. Maybe it was a cold, and has passed. I look around my tiny room and sigh; I was having such a good dream. It was about snow, lots and lots of snow, in the forests.

I was running through the trees, the cold scent of winter strong in the air. It was a peaceful dream, and my father was there, laughing and beckoning me to follow. I did follow, but I woke before I could find out where he was taking me. It's a shame I've woken up.

I roll out of bed, landing on my feet, and pad over to my chair where my day clothes are.

A forest green top that has sleeves that reach just past my elbows and some soft black trousers makes up today's outfit. I bound down the stairs and grab a few mint leaves from the bush on my way out.

School starts at around eight am, and it's already about seven. Ferna is probably the only sector that trains its people to judge the time by the position of the sun or moon. All the other sectors use clocks or sundials. We (by ‘we’ I mean the sector leaders) believe that the sun and moon give us natural timing rather than replicating the early machinery that put us all into this situation. ‘We Fernians believe that nature is the only way to keep from destroying the world a second time.’ Or something like that anyway.

I get to school just in time for my first lesson, Old World history. The Country thinks it is important to remind each generation of the mistakes the people of the Old World did, so we won't repeat their terrible mistakes. It's worked so far I guess.

Welcome to Old World history. Today we will be finishing the course with the Final War and the Nuclear Ending. The entire class fixes its attention on the teacher, who smiles grimly. Everyone finds the Final War interesting, especially because few can imagine the crazy weapons that had the power to kill off everyone on Earth. Carly is sitting next to me, and nudges me with her elbow, nodding excitedly at the teacher. I grin at her, and we pay close attention to the man at the front holding the chalk.

"It started when America and China fell out over the dwindling supply of fossil fuels. The oil rigs in the North Sea were running out of oil, there was little left for them to drill for, and it was the biggest oil supplier in the world. The Americans and the Chinese were the most industrialised countries in the world, and as their supplies of energy began to wither, they began to argue over who should control the oil rigs. Tension was mounting between these two industrial giants, and the fact that Korea, who shared a border with China, had started developing and testing nuclear warheads more powerful than a Uranium bomb. The Americans were sympathetic to this, because as you all remember from the Old World War topics, they had gone through the same thing with the Soviet Union in the O.W.1900s, but however, they did not want China to develop their own weapons with tensions between them so high. In Korea, the leader claimed to be unaware of any nuclear warheads being developed, but declared that if China developed any weapons, steps would be taken. When other countries heard of the dwindling oil supply, they quickly began protesting against America and China taking it, and people became desperate when the last of the coal was taken from a coal mine in Russia. Before long, every country in the world, save for Australia, Canada and Switzerland, had nuclear weapons, and were suffering serious paranoia and were all demanding fossil fuels that were in too short supply.

"The public of each country, in Britain especially, began protesting about it to their governments, and there were riots across the globe as electricity prices soared. America, Russia, China and Korea all had their weapons trained on each other, and the war was at nuclear stalemate for many years.

A year before the Nuclear Ending, China and Korea were openly at war. The global death-toll was rising significantly due to the fighting. France and Germany began to fight each other over oil resources, and things became more and more tense. After an entire decade of battles and nuclear threats, China and Korea fired the first nuclear weapons. The Americans were targeted by both hostile nations, and so fired two missiles at Korea and four at China's largest cities. Russia had pledged to Korea, and fired at America and China. A stray warhead hit Britain in the area we now call Gulf, and within half an hour of the first nuclear weapon being fired, every country in the world had fired at least one nuclear weapon. Explosions racked the globe, cities were turned to scorch marks and ash and dust. Millions of lives were lost. Within an hour of the first missiles being fired, everything was silent, and everything was wrecked and ruined. Britain was lucky to receive only one missile, as no other countries had had the time to fire at them. We, the Country, are the most advanced nation in the world, and are the least affected by radiation. We are lucky to be as we are today. We are lucky that the Country Leaders are caring enough to want to avoid anything like that happening again. That concludes our lesson for today. Next lesson we will look at the relations between all the countries and the reasons for the development of nuclear warheads in more depth. Kindly leave the room calmly and quietly. The teacher finishes talking and we all leave the room soberly, the weight of the mistakes of the Old World pressing on our minds.

TWO

Carly and I head for our last lesson of the day – Practicalities. Since the Country has little need for sport and a serious need for strong, competent workers, we are normally taught how to hunt, run, climb, saw,