Of Inferno, Tempest.. [Prologue] And Other Crap Like That

Ok, sorry. You probably have no idea what that was all about. Well, allow me to explain. From the start, not just the start of the War.

After all, everything has a beginning, right?

It all started… at the beginning of Year 12. We were 17. In the Australian school system, it’s the last year of school and the hardest. Kind of like Senior year in American schools.

Anyway, it all came down to one night, in late January. The 26th – Australia Day, ironically enough. I had a party all lined up, too. One I had been planning for weeks. I had it all set out at - where else – a crappy, abandoned warehouse.

This is where our story begins.

Well, sort of. Turns out we weren’t the first, or anything. But this is where is begins for me.

11:47 pm, and I was having a great time. The sound & lighting guys I had hook-ups with came through spectacularly, so there were huge (even if second-hand) amps and great lights. There was a DJ and everything, but this wasn’t your average underground rave – he was playing nothing but alternative hard rock to pure, unadulterated metal. There were more studs, spikes and black leather pants in the crowd than a Cradle of Filth show.

Well, ok, not quite.

It was meant to be 18 , but I could see kids in here that definitely weren’t. Hell, I wasn’t even 18. I’m not one for kicking people out, though, unless they get into fights, and it would make me kind of a hypocrite. I was also fairly sure there was a drug racket going on inside here too, but as far as I knew it was only pot and the odd ecstasy pill. As long as it wasn’t hard shit like smack or ice I wasn’t worried. This was about having a good time, right?

There was a makeshift ‘bar’ against the wall too, re-selling alcohol from the closest bottle shop, but I made sure they ID, so none of the really U18 people got hold of any drinks. If they ended up getting some from someone else, so be it – I just wasn’t going to supply. I saw a heap of friends over at a corner table near the bar, so headed over there. I hadn’t got far before I felt strong arms wrap themselves around my waist and a face nuzzle into my neck.

“Hey baby, miss me?” The person said, and I turned my head only to get a face full of black hair.

‘Ugh, Ike, get off me,” I said, laughing. I turned around and looked up at my best friend, who was grinning sheepishly.

“Sorry. You know I love you,” he said, this time wrapping an arm over my shoulders. He’s only joking. My actual boyfriend, Cabe, was over at the table of friends. He saw the two of us and waved us over.

I smiled and started to walk over, trying to avoid the drunken circle jerks. I tried taking a mental inventory of my appearance, but it wasn’t working so well ’cause the last time I looked in a mirror was like four hours ago. For some reason, I always get butterflies around Cabe. He is just so…

Well, hot.

We walked over to their table, nodding a greeting to the group of around 5 guys at the table, and then I walked around to the back of his chair.

“Hey, babe. Miss me?” I whispered in his ear, echoing Ike as I bent down to give him a hug hello. Cabe craned his neck back so I could kiss him before turning back to the conversation. I stayed and listened, absent-mindedly running my fingertips up and down his neck. They were talking about a concert from the night before, a local band called Torment of the Traitor. One of Cabe’s friends knew a guy who knew a guy who was in the band, so they all went to check it out.

“I’m telling you, man, they suck balls. Did you see the fag bass player? Easiest instrument of all of them and he just stands there, doing jack,” Jimmy, who is pretty much Cabe’s best friend, said derisively.

“You’re the fag, asshole. That was some technical shit he was playing. You’d know this if you actually payed attention for once,” another guy, Will, shot back from across the table.

“Whatever, he was still a fag. That chick guitarist though… shit, man, she was so hot…” replied Jimmy, taking a swig of his drink, “Must be how they get regular turnouts…”

I looked across at Mel, Will’s girlfriend and the only other chick at the table, and rolled my eyes. She copied the gesture and mouthed ‘boys’ at me.

“You are such a perv, Jimmy,” she said, taking a sip of her drink.

“Hey, I’m just appreciative of fine female talent in the genre of alternative music. There aren’t that many out there and it should be encouraged,” he said innocently.

“Uh huh, sure… whatever you say.” Mel said, finished her drink and pulled Will to his feet. “Come on, sexy. Let’s go dance.” He shot a pained, pleading look at the rest of us.

“Aww, babe, no…” he whined, but let her drag him to his feet.

“Come on… if you love me you will…” she said, half-joking. Once again Will allowed himself to be dragged towards the pit.

“Here, babe, pull up a box,” Cabe said, gesturing to the one Will just vacated.

I slid onto the crate thing next to Cabe, taking a sip of his drink as I did so. Then I checked the time off my mobile. 11:54. Showtime.

“Oh, can’t, got to go do one last little thing,” I said to Cabe with a wink, getting up from the box, and then, “Hey, do me a favour? When the clock strikes midnight, get everyone out the front,” I said to the table in general. Except for Cabe himself, who knew what I was doing, they looked slightly puzzled but nodded.

There was one last surprise for the party goers, to make sure they wouldn’t forget it in a hurry. Let’s just say I know a guy who knows a guy who’s in a band with a guy who makes illegal fireworks. It was going to be big.

Only three other people knew about the display; the guy I knew, the guy he knew and Cabe. It was meant to be a surprise, so I hadn’t told anyone. They had come as the party was heating up, to set it up outside.

I headed out there, to the front of the building where they were set to go off. There was a slight ditch in the ground, a fair distance away from the party, where the ’works were going to be put. I could see two figures over there, fixing a couple of last minute fuses and things.

As I walked over I did a check to make sure the only activity in the place was us. There was no movement anywhere in the lot, so I figured we were safe, at least for now. Andy, the guy I knew, was twisting a last bit of fuse and setting it down as I reached them.

He straightened up. “Awright,” his British accent drawled, “you’re all set. It’s really simple. All you need to do now is light i’ here,” he said, pointing to the spot where all the fuses were connected, “And run like all fuck.”

“Got it,” I said, looking at my phone. 12:00. Right on cue, the music stopped inside and there was a bit of confused yelling. Then people slowly started to come out the front, milling confusedly around the gravely space.

“Ok, we’re out. Make sure everyone fucks off once these are done ’cause the pigs’ll be ou’ here like a shot if they see ‘em.” Andy said, picking up some of his stuff and checking his phone. “Seeya Allie.”

“Yeah, see ya round” I said, and they walked off towards where a couple of cars were parked. I turned back towards the fuse. “Ok,” I muttered to myself, suddenly nervous. “Easy. Just light it up and run like fuck.” I pulled my Zippo lighter out of pocket and fumbled with it, trying to produce a flame. It clicked twice and then lit up. I touched it to the fuse.

The end of the fuse sparked up and I dropped it, rubbing my fingers. Then I started running.

I bolted to the front of the crowd where Cabe was waiting for me, then threw my arms around his neck. “Done. Let the flames begin,” I said breathlessly.

The other people in the crowd started to mutter restlessly and move around. I heard a small bang as some of the other fuses lit and took the distracted lull in the talking as an opportunity to yell out.

“OKAY, MOTHERFUCKERS!” I called out, “HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY”

The timing was perfect.

Right on cue, the first lot of fireworks lit up with a huge bang and flew into the sky, practically showering everyone with blue and red sparks. The crowd of people gasped and then cheered, some whistling and some clapping. Then the next lot exploded upwards, bright green and gold flower ones amid a couple of Catherine Wheels. More yelling.

After a few more like that, they stopped and there was a small, expectant silence.

I took a couple of steps forward to see if there was something wrong. I was about to take a third step when there was another ten or so huge explosions and a massive finale of fireworks leapt skywards, lighting up the clear night.

The crowd cheered again, and then the noise started to die down. My hearing started to return just in time for me to hear something in the distance I had been dreading the whole night.

Sirens.

Shit. Andy was right. But why so soon? I only just set them off! “Cops!” I yelled back to the rest of our friends, who in turn panicked and yelled at everyone to get the fuck out. The rest of the party responded accordingly, and practically rioted in their haste to get to their cars and get away.

I ran inside, where the DJ was packing his equipment up in a panic, stuffing cords and decks in cases randomly, some of the guys helping him out, Cabe included.

The tables and chairs were just old boxes and stuff left behind, so they weren’t a problem, and most of the alcohol was gone. I took all this in as I quickly surveyed the place, and then went to help rip the lights and amps down. Most of it was done, so we carted it all hurriedly back to the truck.

The sirens were getting closer.

“Come on, let’s go!” Cabe yelled, grabbing my hand as he fished his car keys out of his pocket and started running for his car. It was all the way over the other side of the lot.

I ran after him, practically being dragged. Horrified, I saw a couple of cop cars turning into the lot and a couple more chase down a car that was just turning out. I stopped dead.

“We won’t make it, they’ll catch us before we get there,” I said to Cabe, and pulled him around the side of the building. The cops got out of the car and started running towards us.

“Stop, Police!” one of them yelled as he grabbed his radio from his belt and shouted something into it.

We skidded around a small shed-like thing and slid to the ground, trying to stifle heavy breathing. We heard crunching footsteps coming towards us, and I realised belatedly we had left prints in the dirt. Crap.

“Shit. Keep running. Quietly.” I whispered to Cabe, and we got up slowly and started moving around, feeling ahead of us so we didn’t crash into anything. A torch beam stroked the ground behind us and then Cabe accidentally kicked a bit of wire fencing, making a huge noise in the dark.

“Fuck!” He half-yelled, half-whispered, grabbed my hand again and bolted out of there. There was an answering crash and explosion of footsteps as the cops realised how close we were. We darted across an open space, looking back to see if they were still after us. One of them followed us out of the shadows, and I just had time to wonder what happened to the other one when Cabe skidded, swore and let go of my hand.

A bright light shined right into our faces, and something huge and heavy hit me from behind.

Then everything went black.