Rage

By Suzanne Lowe

Book two in the Seventeen Series.

 

"Revenge. It was all he could think about.

His body ached for it, burned for it like a relentless fire waiting to be quenched. It was all he wanted."

With the KV17 virus now in its mutated form and t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Silvergum publishing
• Release date: Dec 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780648390831

Suzanne Lowe

Suzanne was born in Perth Western Australia and as a young adult grew up in the small country town of Tom Price situated in the outback of Western Australia. Having an adventurous spirit, Suzanne has had the opportunity to experience many exciting adventures including swimming with Whale Sharks on Ningaloo Reef in Australia, climbing to Mt Everest base camp, descending into one of the pyramids at Giza in Egypt, flying in a hot air balloon over the Valley of the Kings, parachuting from a plane at 12000 feet in York, standing on the edge of an active volcano on Tanna Island in Vanuatu, getting up close with Emperor penguins in Antarctica, and sitting with snow monkeys in the hot springs of Yamanouchi, Japan!She is a member of the International Travel Writer's Alliance, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Australian Society of Authors, and the Australian Science Fiction Society.In 2024 Suzanne produced the Australian feature film The Canary with Salt and Honey Productions and Silvergum Creative.

Book preview

Chapter Two

Jasper’s Bay

It had been two months since the incident with Broc. Although the children of Jasper’s Bay were relieved, they were finally rid of Broc and his terrorising ways, no one wanted to talk about the night of the bonfire when he was killed. Even though that terrible night was still fresh in everyone’s thoughts, no one mentioned it. It wasn’t as though they had forgotten, you couldn’t exactly forget something like that in a hurry. After all, their friend Harry had also been murdered that night, and another two children had succumbed to the KV17 virus and exiled themselves into the harsh, barren Australian bush. It was just that the children weren’t used to that amount of violence and fury, and no one wanted to admit they kind of enjoyed the savageness of it all.

Lexi picked up an empty wicker-basket and quickly made her way out the front door of number twenty-three Rosewood Avenue. She, along with her sister Hadley and their friend Jason, were still sharing the house since arriving in Jasper’s Bay. Hadley was waiting impatiently for her in the front garden. It was their turn to help at the Bailey’s farm.

What took you sooo long? I’ve been waiting out here for ages, complained Hadley, scuffing her feet on the path.

Lexi rolled her eyes dramatically. It hasn’t been ages. And I couldn’t find the basket. It hadn’t been put back in its usual spot!

Hadley giggled. Oh, yeah. I was using it to play with Polo. She smiled at the small Jack Russell dog sitting by her feet. Guess I forgot to put it back. Whoops!

Not waiting for her sister, Hadley started skipping happily along the road towards the farm. Come on Polo, she called out beckoning the little dog to follow. We don’t want to be late!

Lexi glared at her in annoyance. Hadley could be such a pain sometimes. "What does it matter if we’re late, she muttered as she rubbed her wrist where her watch used to be. It’s not like anyone knows what exact time it is anyway." Only a couple of the kids in town had watches with solar-powered batteries. Everyone else had given up using clocks and watches when their batteries had run down. Some had never had watches at all, having used their mobile phones in the past to check the time. Everything was so different now. Time didn’t matter as much.

Holding the basket on her hip, Lexi ran to catch up with Hadley. She wanted to talk. The farm was on the outskirts of the town, and without a car, it would take them at least forty minutes to walk there. It was a good chance to chat.

You’ve been doing great work with the job roster, Hadley, Lexi praised, slightly out of breath. It’s really been helping to keep things organised in the town, and everyone seems okay with following it so far.

Hadley smiled and nodded. Yeah, thanks. I like doing it. Plus, I get to boss people around, she giggled.

Lexi smiled too. Uh, huh. You’re definitely good at that! She stopped walking for a moment and gently grabbed her sister’s arm, forcing her to wait. Listen, Hadley. You know there are plenty of kids in this town you can trust, right? There’s Jason for one. He would look after you. Plus, Ethan and Logan.

Hadley turned to look directly at her sister, her eyebrows pulled together in a frown. What are you talking about? she said sharply.

I just want you to know that you’ll be alright if something happens to me. Lexi pulled at the hem of her frayed cotton top.

What do you mean? questioned Hadley in concern. Broc and the gang are gone, and we haven’t had any trouble for weeks. Why would something happen to you?

Lexi ran her fingers loosely through her long dark hair. Her fingers became caught in one of the knots, and she pulled at the tangle distractedly. "I don’t know. I just feel really agitated a lot of the time, you know? Pissed off about stupid things. Plus, I am seventeen now."

Hadley looked at Lexi anxiously for a moment before giving her a hug. Don’t be stupid. You’re practically the town leader. It’s just the pressures of having to hold this place together. If you had the virus, you’d be sick by now.

Hmm, yeah. I suppose so, agreed Lexi, although she didn’t sound convinced. She thought about the red rash on her feet that would not go away. Did she have the mutated virus? She didn’t have any of the flu-like symptoms that usually went with it. But then neither did Lilly or Braydon. Peering out at the hot, dry land around her, Lexi could see the farm in the distance. They were almost there.

I wonder how Braydon, Lilly and Elisha are coping? It’s so barren, and the ground looks parched. No wonder it’s difficult to grow anything, Lexi said, shaking her head. She stared out to the horizon, deep in thought. I wonder if Zac has seen Lilly at all since she left?

Hadley started walking toward the farm again. Come on, boss lady. If you stop talking, we will be there soon, and you can ask him yourself.

Okay. I’m coming! Lexi took another grim look out to the horizon before trudging on towards the farm. She had so many questions in her head about this virus and no one to answer them for her. No Google, no telephones or adults to ask for advice. It was so frustrating.

The girls kept up a good pace, and it wasn’t long before they reached the Bailey farm. As they walked down the long driveway lined with tall pine trees, they could hear cattle in one of the nearby paddocks. The sound of the cows mooing and snorting always made Lexi smile. It was the sound of life, and it reminded her that they had a chance of a future.

Seeing the girls walking up the long driveway, Katie came running out of the farmhouse excitedly. She let the flywire door slam loudly behind her. Hey! What took you guys so long? I’ve been waiting all morning to tell you something exciting!

Hadley ran towards her friend. It was Lexi, Hadley complained. She took forever to leave. What’s the exciting news?

Lexi raised her eyebrows at Hadley’s comment but didn’t bother to retaliate. She was certainly glad that Hadley had made such good friends with Katie. Although she was a couple of years younger than Hadley, they got along exceptionally well. Plus, it meant that Hadley wasn’t hanging around Lexi all the time and annoying her with her endless chatter! She was pretty sure that Katie’s older brother Zac was happy about it too, as it meant he didn’t have to play with Katie.

Katie grabbed Hadley’s hand and pulled her towards the side of the house. Come and see. Our goat Maisy gave birth to two little kids last night! A white one like her and a black one like the dad. They’re so cute!

Lexi watched her sister vanish around the side of the house with the younger girl. She rolled her eyes. Well, I guess we won’t be getting any work out of those two today!

Tramping towards the field of sweet corn the group had been trying to cultivate, Lexi tucked her empty basket firmly under her arm. The corn had been growing nicely in the hot Australian sun, and she could see that a few of the corn stems already had ears almost ready to be picked. For the past six weeks, the children had been taking turns to water the seedlings with buckets of water from the creek and fertilise them. Fortunately, they had a nice supply of readymade fertiliser courtesy of the farm’s cows! They merely mixed the cow patties with water and dug the mixture into the soil. It was revolting smelly work; however, nobody complained as they were all anxious for a food supply. Their canned and dried food stocks had fallen drastically low, with only a few precious cans and packaged items left uneaten.

The corn had grown remarkably fast in the eight weeks since planting, and Lexi hoped they would be able to harvest some of the corn husks soon. The children could then use the cobs to make sweet corn soup, cornbread and have delicious corn on the cob, although without the butter. Her mouth watered at the thought.

Looking down one of the tall rows of corn, Lexi soon spotted Zac, Jason and Ethan. The boys were pouring buckets of water into a trough they had made parallel with the growing plants.

Jason glanced up when he noticed Lexi walking towards them and waved enthusiastically. Hey, Lexi. Come to help? You didn’t happen to bring some food, did you? Jason was always hungry.

Lexi smiled and nodded. Actually, I did. It’s not much, so don’t get too excited, she teased. We found three old pear trees growing in the backyard of number twenty-nine, a couple of houses down from us. And guess what? They had pears on them! She dropped the empty basket to be loaded with ripe corn cobs and offloaded her backpack from her shoulders. Reaching inside the bag, Lexi pulled out a few ripe pears, careful not to bruise the flesh.

Oh my God, that’s fantastic! Jason’s face beamed in delight. It’s been so long since I’ve tasted fresh fruit! Zac and Ethan looked pleased too.

Let’s go back to the house and wash up, Zac chortled, winking at Lexi. I stink like cow poo, and we could do with a break!

Yeah, you do! Lexi laughed. She turned to trudge back to the farmhouse. By the way, she said over her shoulder. Hadley is going to add tending to the pear trees as part of everyone’s weekly job schedule. They look nice and established, so hopefully, they will keep fruiting for a while. We should really look in the backyards of the other abandoned houses too. You never know, there might be other fruit trees or old vegetable gardens we can salvage. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it before. Lexi shrugged. I guess we’re just not that used to rummaging around in other people’s property. She thought of her time at the Robinson’s house back in Perth with the black blowflies and dead bodies. A shudder ran down her spine.

Zac nodded his head encouragingly. Yeah, that’s a good idea. It’s still going to be a few weeks before this corn is ready. We might have to kill another cow if our food situation doesn’t improve. He screwed up his nose at the