The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive.
After spending hours inside an isolation cell with Jarad, Alexand was relieved when her mother Inajda finally joined them in the cell. Unfortunately, Alexand learnt very quickly that Inajda was not there for her own protection but was being held as a prisoner due to her association with Anya Ranyevzsky, the woman Alexand had warned her about.
Whilst Anya was unconscious, Inajda had retrieved all that she needed from her ex hideout, aware that she could never use it again, and that the Amanojuko should not have access to it or know it existed. She had planted a series of invisible bombs around the edges of her old apartment complex and she, Alexand and their rescued ex Haernyara, retreat to the safety of the adjacent street.
Alexand’s condition is rapidly deteriorating. The nature of her illness is cyclical, and degenerative, and her doctor has given her the maximum dose of Katherine’s inhibitor, to try to stabilise her.
Alexand and the rest of the resistance have settled in a cave in the mountains of Southern Russia. Alexand has scanned the area; there are no inhabitants for hundreds of miles. Inajda has illuminated a map on the far cave wall, showing the topography for two hundred square miles. She scrolls through the map, until she reaches the nearest settlement.
Inajda doesn’t need to scan the grave to realise what has happened.
After having crossed over the bridge, Inajda and Alexand run into a socialite the other side. (CLICK HERE for next chronological story)
Katherine De Somme is thirteen years old and has been forced to join the army, (by her father Georges) after accidentally killing her younger sister, Lali, in a chemical explosion. Her parents had high expectations of her, but her need to live up to their high standards has resulted in devastation for everyone. Katherine loses everything and everyone, in one horrible night. (A Spanish translation is now available, by Hernán Jara Droguett.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Eldenath Balsara is an orphan. She doesn’t know who her father is and her mother was put in ‘The Bad Thing Box’ for being ‘evil’. She has a new mother, who is a matron in The House of Plenitude and Mirth. Eldenath has to un-learn the Bad Things taught to her by her old mother, like reading big words and looking at paintings and singing in the shower and listening to music. (See issue: 17) She is about twelve years old here. (A Spanish translation is now available, by Hernán Jara Droguett.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Images, story and characters, © Cheryl Moore
