Overshadowed

Prologue

"Thomas?"

"Here!"

"Sabine?"

"Here!"

"David?"

"Here!"

"Lavender?" There was a long silence. Lavender was known to be late but she had been so enthusiastic about her first class trip, it was hard to think she would miss out.

"Well, then we're just going to have to mark her absent-"

"Alive and breathing!" Lavender cried as she burst into the classroom out of breath. Her outburst cause ripples of laughter to break out in the classroom.

"That's enough now." said the teacher after a few minutes, none the less the class continued to laugh.

"I said, that's enough now," she said a second time more sternly and yet the class did not stop.

"ENOUGH!" she yelled over the noise in the classroom and suddenly they became so quite you could her pin drop. The teacher then straightened her glasses.

"Thank you Miss Simons, please come on time tomorrow." she told the girl for what seemed to be the millionth time.

"I'll try, Mrs. Steward." Lavender recited her reply and went to her seat.

"Now class, as you know today is your first ever class trip and because of that I want your best behavior. I'm just going to go over the rules quickly." She pulled out a small pamphlet.

"Rule one, stay with your class. Rule two, do not push and shove you peers. Rule three; be kind to your guide. Rule four, be on your best behavior and last but not least, rule five. Do don't go beyond the fence, is that clear."

"Yes, Mrs. Stewart!" the class replied, their smiles stretching from one ear to the other.

"Just remember, we have fences for reasons. Right then, line up in two rows outside the classroom." The class did as their teachers said. Mrs. Stewart led the group swiftly to the elevator. After doing a quick sum in her head she divided her class into three small groups, one for each elevator before climbing in with the smallest group. It was not that she did this not because they had the most space but because Lavender was in this group. Anything could happen to her and this had been proven on various occasions in the time she had taught the six year old. Events that she had never dreamt of happening, like that time she had been found locked in the cupboard down the hall, or that time the bolt in bookcase has fallen on her. Anyway, Lavender was accident prone and the last thing she wanted to happen was that Lavender ended up walking beyond the fence or somehow sawed her arm off in the armoury.

The elevator music echoed around them and the finally, after what felt like decades, the elevator doors opened, letting in a rush of cool air. Mrs. Stewart quick got the class back into their two rows and walked them to the Protector's Station reception. A guide with ginger hair who looked in her mid-thirties was already waiting there for them; no doubt, Lavenders late arrival had cause them a minor setback. The guise took them up a long winding staircase, the higher they went the cooler and fresher the air became. As she led them she began to talk, "The Protector's Station was built in 2062, five years after the apocalypse started. The area, where we are about to come up, is called the crow's nest, similar to a pirate's ship , as it's circular design looks over the rest of the Station and beyond."

The students gasped as they looked around them. They were surrounded by more trees then you could count and the air was sweet unlike the air they inhale every day. The Protector's Station was like a layered cake, each layer gave away to another, bigger one, until you reached ground level. After a few minutes of gapping at the world around them, the guide led them down a small ramp to the level below them.

"This," she said, "is our firing range. When there is an attack we fire arrows and bullets down beyond the fence at the attackers, in over words if you don't know what firing means, we shoot them." Not giving them a moment to think about this she began the lead them down another ramp, before speaking again.

"This is the second armoury; the first one is underground near the reception. An armoury is where we keep our weapons or arms. Unfortunately I can't show you inside today but in a few years' time you'll be let in, now let me show you the spear range." the class groaned after she had spoken but she ignored them, showing them down the next ramp.

"This is our second to last stop. This," she motioned around them, "is the spear range, like the firing range week shoot guns at the attackers." she told them moving on to the last layer.

"Finally, our last stop for today. Here I would say the coolest stuff happens. This is fence patrol. There is a 24 hour guard here on a four hour rotational system. Their job to stay on the lookout, attack and report anyone, or anything, that try tries to get in from outside the fence. You have exactly two minutes to look around before we go and grab some hot chocolate. Remember don't go beyond the fence!" During the two minutes all the students badgered the guide for gruesome stories. This was of course with one exception, Lavender, who started out into the world beyond the fence. She knew now perfectly well what she was going to be when she turned eighteen. If fact she was now planning the next 20 years of her life. So absorbed in her own thought Lavender did not hear her class regroup behind her and leave her, hands clinging on to the fence until an officer shook her out of her thoughts.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice a low rumble.

"Huh- What?"

"I asked what you were doing here."

"Oh, I'm here on a class trip, my class is just over... There..." she said motioning to the space where they had been standing, sudden realization clicking into place.

"Never mind kid, I'll take you back to reception." he said, taking her hand which was several sizes too big in her own. The receptionist call Mrs. Stewart while she sat with a lukewarm mug of hot chocolate in hand. Her teacher quickly appeared.

"I was so worried about you! You must never leave us like that!" Mrs. Stewart muttered as she bustled in and began fussing over her.

"But, I-"

"-No buts! Now let's get you back to the rest!" she interrupted before turning to the receptionist a sickly sweet smile plastered all over her face. "Thank you for your call." she told her and then she quickly rushed off, practically dragging Lavender who had begun protesting as they went but Her teacher ignored her and in part began to drawl on, giving Lavender a huge lecture on how she must "never, ever leave them again like that" and how there was "safety in numbers." None of what she said did Lavender pay attention to. Instead she filled her mind with thoughts of the Protector's Station.