Despite the fact we we're locked up in what could only be described as the smallest tin shed in the world, we could still find ways for us to pass the time in our dimly lit home. Barry who was inclined to make lame dad jokes every three minutes, had invented a game for us to play. In the corner of the shed he'd found a piece of wire, presumably a piece of what was holding the shed together. He then used our pee bucket that did not get used, we refuesed, as a drum. Between the four of us we had a rather nice repatoir of songs and would each take in turn to drum out a beat for the others to guess. While it wasn't the most engaging game, it was the most entertainment four prisoners of war like us could get.
Lucy and Jenny would usually win because, despite all the songs we knew between us, they ussually knew girly songs that Barry and I did not. I could acctually hear one of our guards singing along to the beat once, although not in english or any language that I recognised. He had a good voice though as far as I could tell and I wondered breifly why he was a part of this makeshift military, attempting to take control, and not on Asia's got Talent or something.
This Invasion/War was something that changed all of our lives, maybe for the better but that depended on your point of view. If you were a part of the invading nation, then Australia was the perfect place for you to settle, but for the residents of Australia, things were suddenly two sizes too small. Like our shed. Four camp beds, packed together and one thin slit of sunlight was all we had. The floor luckily, wasn't cement, because the ground was softer than the camp beds we would sometimes even sleep on the grass.
It was needless to say but our quarters were not the life of luxury we were used to. Constantly our thougts were of back home. Lucy told us stories of her little brother and the trouble he would cause at home that always made her laugh, Jenny of the meals she could cook which we didn't like hearing too much about beacuse it would make us hungry and Barry, of the time, years ago, before the invasion, when he was Wirawee's youngest sheep sheerer to beat the town's own record. These memories were the only things we could discuss in our bleak situation that provided some happiness. Those stories however, were not the first we had shared with each other. After we were all together and had, I admit, finally stopped crying we shared our stories of how we ended up here. Jenny had shared her story first. It was one probably the scariest of the four and we each felt terrible for her having to go through it. Despite it being so traumatic, she still told us what happened.
'I was asleep at home. I got thirsty in the middle of the night so I got up to get a glass of milk. I went into the kitchen and because we live on a farm, outside the kitchen window, I had a clear view of the barn' She gave a shaky sigh.
'I could see them. There was a light shining in the barn, but I didn't know it was them though. I assumed my brother forgot to turn the lights off. I pulled my gumboots on because it had been raining and slogged through the mud towards the barn. It started raining again by the time I got there. I opened the barn door and there they all were. Over a dozen of them, all dressed in black. A couple had a torch with them, that was the light I saw.' She took a shaky breath. It was obviously something that made her uncomfortable recalling but we didn't say anything, we just let her catch herself.
'I turned and ran. I screamed for my family but they couldn't hear me over the rain. I was drenched to my skin and before I could even make it to the house, I was tackled to the ground. I had five of them on top of me, pinning me to the ground and tieing me up. They accutally hogtied me. My legs and arms were tied together behind my back and a bag was shoved over my head. They didn't even have the courtesy to carry me away, they dragged me through the mud all the way to the other side of the farm and they tossed me into a van or something. The next thing I knew, they untied me and shoved me into a portable toilet where they gave me these to change into' She tugged at the very 60's looking shirt and trousers.
'After I was changed they threw me in here and well, I met you guys' She smiled 'At least something good came out of it all' She said then began to cry. Before Lucy or I could react, Barry already had her in an embrace, soothing her. I felt really sorry for her, compared to what I went through, it was nothing. She had the worst of it and she didn't deserve it, none of us did. We just wanted to live our lives, we didn't want to be a part of this stupid war. That's not us denying the reality of the situation or not wanting any the responibility of it, we just wanted life to be peacful. Is that too much to ask?
After Barry had finished consoling her, he volunteered to share his story. His was nowhere near as traumatising as what Jenny went through but it was still an ordeal that he never needed to go through in the first place.
'I was at home too. I was actually with my family though. Dad was inside, making lunch. Mum was in the pig pen feeding the pigs and my little brother and me were on the tractor. I was giving him a ride around the field and we strayed to close to the treeline. On the otherside was the border fence. There were only a few of them but they were fast. They were on us before we'd even noticed them. They tried to grab my little brother Benny but I socked one in the jaw and pulled him away. I tossed Ben away as far as I could and told him to run. The three of them ignored Benny then and ganged up on me. I managed to get one in his particulars before the had me bound and gagged. Dad and Mum came running, shotguns in hand. They were too late though, they had me through the tree's and on the other side of the fence before they could get to me. I was shoved in here probably an few hours later, but as Jenny said, it's not all bad.' he finished, smiling at Jenny.
Barry had a rather large physiqe but that didn't mean he was a fighter. He had put on a bit of muscle from wrestling the sheep he sheered but he still couldn't fight off three grown men at once. Lucy offered to share her story next. Her story of abduction was acctually pretty similar to mine, she had wandered to close to the border fence.
'I was coming home from school and I had my headphones in and I was walking along the side of the road. We live off the main road, up a dirt road. Well, I was so lost in the songs I missed the turn and just kept walking and unfortunatley the road ended at the border fence. I realised too late where I was. There were huge signs saying to keep out, both in english and whatever there language is. I turned and went to run but I didn't get far. They were acctually already on our side. They must have been driving back from somewhere because they past me as I was running away from the fence they did a yewy and came after me. I didn't have much choice, they had guns and I had nowhere to run. They must have a thing for gags because they bound and gagged me too and threw me in the back of a ute. They moved me a bit before I was finally thrown in here, Bastards!' She exclaimed. My first impression of Lucy was small but fiesty. She didn't seem very big in stature but her attitude was very big. She was one girl I would not want to get on the wrong side of, but maybe would like to get on her good side. She was really cute and my age and despite the circumstances I was really glad I'd got to meet her.
I was acctually too busy staring at Lucy to notice that all three were staring at me, obviously waiting to hear my story of abduction. I quickly averted my eyes from Lucy's gaze and cleared my throat.
'It was market day. Me and Dad had just got back from the market and were putting the sheep we had just bought into their new pen. A couple had mangaged to sneak away. Our farmland was pretty big before the invasion but then it was cut in half. The border fence ran across the far end of our land. It wasn't anywhere close to our house or the rest of the farm, it was a few acres away but we all agreed to go nowhere near there. Unfortunatley the sheep hadn't got that memo. They had spread pretty far by the time we realised they'd got out of the pen. I managed to get a few in and Dad went to get the rest. I saw one heading towards the fence so I hopped on the ATV and went after it. I caught up to it but it wouldn't budge. I hopped off and tried to herd it back they way it came but by now we were too close to the fence. They must have been planning something before because the had a giant chunk of the fence movable. It was just propped their. The Ute crashed through it and swerved to a stop before me. They all filed out and made for me. I tried to get to the ATV but I was tackled to the ground. Dad saw what was going on and tried to get to me but they had me pinned and gagged. I coulldn't see anything but I know they tried to run dad over. I heard him yelling as we drove passed then I could still hear him as he chased after us. We lost him though and after a few hours on the road, we stopped somewhere before coming here. I wouldn't be surprised if when we stopped, it was to grab you Luce.' I looked into her eyes again.
'Well if that was how we had to meet, I suppose it's better than nothing' She said with a smile.
'I know what you mean. I feel like if it were anyone else here this would be a lot worse than it is.' Barry added, squeezing Jenny's hand he was holding.
'Now all we need to do is get out of here' I said.
'That would take a miracle' Lucy said.
'Or an Army' I replied.