We run tomorrow, p.1
We Run Tomorrow, page 1
About the Book
TONIGHT, WE’RE GONNA KIDNAP OUR BEST FRIEND. AND TOMORROW? WE RUN.
Sticks, Maki, Jed and Tommy live on the same street. But the adults around them are making decisions that could tear the four friends apart.
When they discover their favourite comic book series is being made into a blockbuster movie, they know what they have to do.
Get to the audition. Get the parts. Stay together.
Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
The Screen Savers 1: The Screen Savers
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
The Screen Savers 2: Returning Home
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
The Screen Savers 12: iSpy
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
The Screen Savers 24: Cyber Space Race
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
The Screen Savers 28: The Malware Matrix
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
The Screen Savers 33: Captcha the Clone
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
The Screen Savers 41: We Run Tomorrow
Acknowledgements
Need Help?
The Notorious Nat Amoore
The Mighty Mike Barry
Extract from Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire
Books by Nat Amoore
Meet the Kids of Watterson Primary
Imprint
Read More at Penguin Books Australia
For Knox. It took a while but we got there! – Nat
For JennyB, BXB and TLB, who are the heart of the MCU*, and with thanks to Pam, Helen and Suzanne, who introduced me to many things, including Nat. – Mike
*Mike’s Comic-making Universe
CHAPTER 1
My face is pressed into the ground. The dirt tastes like blood. Or maybe my blood tastes like dirt. I spit it out.
‘Get up, Sticks! Tachiagare! Get up!’
Maki’s yelling at me and yanking on my t-shirt. He’s right beside me, but he sounds real far away.
‘Come on, Sticks.’
Pushing up, I peel my face away from the ground. My lip throbs. I wipe my hand across my mouth. Yep. Blood and dirt.
Rolling over to face Bryce, I scan his expression. Blank as usual. Not at all fazed that he just decked me. Not sure what else I was expecting.
Jed’s between us, sort of squatting – right hand raised above his head, Lefty out in front and his weight shifted onto his back foot. Most people laugh it off when Jed strikes his ‘karate expert/I’m ready to take you down’ pose, but Bryce has known Jed for long enough to know he’s dead serious. Jed may only be eleven, but he’s already got his brown belt and could kick Bryce’s butt any day.
‘Move it, Jed,’ Bryce demands, but keeps his distance.
Jed shakes his head. ‘That’s enough,’ he says slowly. ‘Just go home. Leave Sticks alone.’
Jed’s so Batman. Christian Bale Batman. Cool, calm and tough as hell. I’m the total opposite – sprawled on the ground like a squashed insect.
Maki yanks me to my feet.
I sway a little, kinda woozy. A punch to the gob will do that to you. But it’s not my first and I know how to shake it off.
Tommy stands a couple of metres behind us, ready to run. That’s how we always do it. When we’re running away from someone it’s always Tommy first, ’cos he thinks real quick and knows the best way to go. Then me and Maki. Then Jed goes last, ’cos if whoever’s chasing us catches up, he can break their legs or whatever awesome karate thing he wants to do.
Bryce towers over Jed, still ready to attack. But it’s me he stares down.
THE TORMENTER’S SHOULDERS EXPAND AND HIS CHEST STRETCHES AS HE LOOMS OVER ME. CLENCHING HIS FISTS, THE VEINS IN HIS NECK THROB AND RED HORNS TEAR THROUGH THE SKIN OF HIS FOREHEAD. I STARE INTO HIS YELLOW EYES, SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING HUMAN, BUT FIND NOTHING.
I try to shake the image out of my head. I also try to breathe normally. When Bryce is around, all the air gets stuck in my chest. It’s like I’m trying to breathe through a wet towel.
Gathering up any scraps of courage I can find, I stare back at him. I know I’m not real convincing. As if the Tormenter would be scared of Captain Stick Insect. Bryce points his finger at me.
‘I’ll get you, Sticks. When your little bodyguards ain’t around. I know where you live, remember?’ He laughs at his own joke.
I don’t.
‘Junbi?’ Jed says.
‘Dekiteru,’ Maki answers. Usually I hate it when they speak Japanese to each other, because I barely understand a word. But neither does Bryce, so it’s actually perfect in these situations. I wish I spoke another language.
Jed shifts his weight. ‘Ichi, Ni, Sun. Nigero!’
Okay, my Japanese sucks but I know what that means. It means run!
Jed bounces off his back leg and kicks Bryce square in the you-know-what. The rest of us bolt.
I follow Tommy’s steps exactly as he springs between the dips and rabbit holes. Without him, I’d have a broken ankle in the first ten metres. I’ve seen people on TV doing this thing called parkour. I reckon Tommy would be sick at it. He knows exactly where to go even when he’s bolting at full speed. But to be fair, there’s not much Tommy doesn’t know.
WIKI’S FEET MOVE SO FAST THEY BECOME A BLUR. A LIGHTNING BOLT STREAKS FROM BEHIND HIM AS HE FLIES THROUGH THE FIELD, LEAVING A TRAIL OF BURNT GRASS IN HIS WAKE.
I don’t bother looking over my shoulder. I know Maki’s right behind me, and Jed’s right behind him. And I know that Bryce is too lazy to chase us for more than five minutes. Plus, like he said, he knows where I live. He’ll get me eventually.
Tommy ducks under a fence like a rabbit, without slowing down. Me getting through the fence is much more like an unco sloth crawling through a wire maze. By the time I drag myself out the other side, Tommy is disappearing down the bank ahead. I stop for a second. He’s too fast for me, but I bet we’re heading for the pipes. He’ll wait for me there.
‘Hayaku!’ Maki yells as he slips through the fence and overtakes me. I’m pretty sure I should know what that word means, but, like most things, it just slips through my swiss-cheese brain.
‘It means hurry up!’ Jed says, grabbing my arm and dragging me onto my feet.
I turn to check behind us.
‘Don’t worry, he’s long gone. Probably still doubled over, holding his bits.’
Jed grins wickedly and we slide down the bank to the pipes.
Crawling inside, we settle in on the cold concrete. Tommy and me sit opposite each other, pressing the soles of our shoes together to stop us from slipping down into the middle. Maki and Jed do the same. We stay still, listening to our breathing slow. The sound of water trickling down the side of the pipes makes me wanna pee. I’m not a big fan of peeing in the wild. The guys reckon I’m fussy, but I like a toilet – with walls. I stop listening to the running water and try to think of something else.
THE FOUR OF US – WIKI, SKYDROP, HISPEED AND FILTER – THE SCREEN SAVERS. FACING OFF AGAINST THE BADDIES. SAVING THE WORLD. NOT NEEDING TO PEE. NOT EVEN A LITTLE.
‘Thanks, Jed. Again!’ I say, reaching up to touch my swollen lip. It’s not that bad. Mum and Dad probably won’t even notice.
‘Anytime,’ says Jed. ‘Lockett Squad, locked together, right?’
We all grin. That’s us – Jed, Maki, Tommy and me – the Lockett Squad. It’s a dorky name that old Mr Kennedy gave us but it’s kinda stuck.
See, the four of us live on Lockett Street. And Mr K can’t be bothered learning all our names so he just started calling us the ‘Lockett Street Kids’, which morphed into ‘Lockett Squad’. He also says if we don’t straighten out, eventually we’ll be ‘lockett up’. It’s a bad old-man pun, but the name has stuck.
‘You gotta tell someone, Sticks. Dob him in,’ Tommy says.
I just shrug at him, like I always do. Just because Tommy knows everything doesn’t mean I have to listen to him. I try to clean the blood off my lip with the end of my sleeve.
‘What will your mum and dad say?’ asks Maki.
‘Same old,’ I say. ‘Big brothers can be tough. He’s going through a stage. Stay away from him. Don’t antagonise him.’
‘Antagonise?’ Maki’s eyebrows meet in the middle as he searches for the word in that two-language brain of his. I can barely fit one language in mine. I really don’t get how he can squeeze two in there.
‘It means, like, provoke or annoy,’ Tommy explains.
‘Ah, souka! So what do you do to antagonise him?’ asks Maki.
‘I dunno. Exist?’ The guys crack up and I join in. Our laughter bounces off the pipes and I quickly forget about my lip.
The echoing dies down and Jed locks eyes with me. ‘Seriously, though, you should tell someone, Sticks. Report him. Like they said at school, you know, if someone is hurting you.’
I scoff at him and look away. ‘They mean like a bad adult or a school bully. They’re not talking about big brothers. Big brothers are supposed to beat up on you. It’s part of the gig. You’d get it if you had one.’
‘I am a big brother,’ says Maki, ‘and I would never hit the twins.’
‘Technically, you’re a step big brother,’ I point out.
Maki shrugs. ‘I still would not hit them.’
‘Yeah,’ says Jed. ‘And my sensei says you can only hit in self-defence.’
Maki elbows Jed. ‘Or Sticks-defence, right?’
We all crack up again. I don’t really care about Bryce. I’m used to him. I’ve put up with him for eleven years already, and he says as soon as he turns eighteen he’s ‘out of this hole’ – so that means I only have to survive another two years. I can do that. Plus, with this lot around, nothing can touch me.
Tommy looks at his watch. ‘Okay, it’s almost four. Anyone gotta get home?’
We shake our heads. Our parents all work and Tommy’s grandma sleeps a lot, so as long as we get home at some point, no one will send the cops after us.
‘Awesome! Who wants to head to HQ? Bit of Screen Savers and a swim?’
‘It’s a bit early, nah?’ I say. ‘Everitt will still be there.’
Jed laughs at me. ‘You’re not worried about getting smashed by Bryce, but you’re scared of that slug of a security guard?’
‘I’m not scared of him, I just don’t wanna get busted.’
‘Daijobu. Do not worry so much,’ says Maki. ‘He never stays until five. I do not think Everitt has ever done a full day of work.’
Tommy grins at me. ‘So, you in?’
Who can say no to that grin?
‘Okay,’ I say, leaping to my feet. ‘But last one there has to do twenty push-ups.’
‘No fair,’ complains Jed, waving Lefty at me. Lefty is the name Jed gave to his amputated arm, which ends just past his elbow. Mum says I should call it his ‘residual limb’, but it’s Jed’s Lefty so I reckon he can call it whatever he likes.
‘Okay, fine. Sit-ups then,’ I say.
Jed shakes his head. ‘Nah, I mean last one there has to do twenty one-handed push-ups!’
‘Whaaaaat? No fair.’
Jed knows he’s the only one who can do those.
He uses his right hand to give me the rude finger. ‘Just don’t be last then, Sticks!’
And we’re off.
CHAPTER 2
We slip through our hole in the fence and send Maki to check if Everitt is still around. None of us know exactly what Everitt’s job is, but it’s something between a park ranger and a security guard. He mainly just sits in his little tin shed and tries to keep people away from the reservoir. We don’t reckon he even has a boss ’cos he seems to make his own hours. As Maki guessed, Everitt has already gone.
This part of the park closes at five o’clock, but thanks to the hole we made in the fence, we have special after-hours access. We trek through the bush and up to HQ. HQ is our clubhouse. We tried to get it to look as much like the one from The Screen Savers as we could. It’s built out of stuff we nabbed from the dump and off the street during council clean-up. It’s pretty crappy and falling apart, but it’s ours.
The clubhouse is supposed to be square, but we struggled with the corners so it’s kinda ‘squond’. The walls are made from a pile of corrugated iron someone had chucked out on West Street. Below our feet are rotting timber sleepers that have all kinds of bugs squeezing their way in and out of the holes. For the roof, we chucked a tarp on first and covered it in a thatched teepee using branches from around the dam. We found the tarp at the dump so it’s got a few holes and smells pretty bad. All of that means that in summer it’s stinking hot (and I mean actually stinking, thanks to the dump-tarp) and if it rains, we get drenched. But, as Mr Kennedy would say, ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ – which means just shut up and be glad you’ve got somewhere to hang out.
We dump our bags on the floor.
‘Screen Savers or swim first?’ asks Tommy.
Maki’s pretty much down to his jocks before he gets halfway through his answer. ‘Swim. I am cooking. Sugoi atsui.’
He’s got a point. It’s the middle of summer and we haven’t seen rain for weeks. I’m not a great swimmer, but I can almost hear the dam calling me. I’m going in with my shorts and t-shirt on. So is Jed. Shorts and t-shirt are my standard swimming uniform – no one needs to see my skinny body sticking out of a pair of togs. Jed is so pale he might burst into flames if he went into the sun in his jocks. Tommy’s got boxers on, and Maki has no shame as he sprints down to the dam in his tighty-whities.
‘Hey, Sticks, throw us Swiss Arm-y, will ya?’ says Jed.
I grab the black prosthetic arm out of Jed’s bag and toss it to him. He jams Lefty into it and it makes its sucky slurping sound. Jed says Swiss Arm-y is really called a ‘recreation arm’ or something. It’s this cool plastic arm extension that sucks onto Lefty and then Jed can change all the attachments for when he does different sports and stuff. I think he has something like five different attachments. Jed reckons it’s more like a Swiss Army knife than a prosthetic arm, and that’s why he calls it Swiss Arm-y. Plus Jed loves a good one-arm dad-joke.
‘Want this too?’ I say, holding up his fin attachment.
‘Of course,’ he says with a grin. He doesn’t need it to swim in the dam – the fin is made for proper swimming like laps and stuff – but Jed’s worked out that it’s also great for catapulting scoops of dam mud at us. I toss it to him, hoping that, by being so helpful, I might get left out of the mud attack.
We run into the murky waters. I reckon I can hear my skin sizzle as my body sinks below the surface. There’s plenty of reasons not to swim in this dam other than Everitt – it stinks more than a bit like cow poo, there are yabbies the size of lunchboxes and you always come out of it with little red bites from some mystery water bug. The upside of all of this is we don’t have to share it with any other kids. It’s our place. Lockett HQ.
I stay in the shallows while the guys wrestle and chuck mud at each other.
‘Incoming!’ yells Jed, and lands a mud bomb square in Maki’s face. Maki splutters like he might have swallowed some of it, which is the worst thing that can happen at the dam ’cos the mud is what smells like cow poo.
‘Gomen ne, Maki kun.’ I think Jed’s apologising, but he’s peeing himself laughing at the same time so I’m not sure how sorry he really is. Maki looks defeated but unsurprised. Jed always wins a mud fight. Thanks to an annoying amount of after-school activities, Jed’s got an impressive collection of skills.
HE’S HISPEED. HE CAN DOWNLOAD ANY SKILL AT LIGHTNING-FAST SPEED. THERE’S NOTHING HE CAN’T DO. WHETHER YOU NEED A HELICOPTER PILOT OR A KUNG-FU MASTER, JUST CALL . . . HISPEED!
Me and Tommy met Jed when we were in Year Three. He was new on our street and new at our school. And he was the first one-armed kid any of us had ever seen. The teachers all tiptoed around him and assigned a ‘buddy’ to help him around school. It only took about three days for them to realise it was just a big waste of time.
Jed didn’t need a ‘buddy’. He was already a red belt in karate then, so didn’t need anyone protecting him. He spoke a second language and he did more after-school activities than anyone I’d ever met, so I think he could probably teach the teachers. He told the school what he needed, got his dad to sew some magnetic buttons into his school shirt and that was that.
To be honest, at first I found Jed kind of intimidating. I thought he was the best at everything. But he wasn’t.
Not running.
Tommy could run faster.
And Jed so couldn’t handle that.
It was a few weeks into Year Three and everyone had gotten used to Jed being around. The new kid shine had worn off and everyone had realised that there wasn’t any point in teasing him about his missing arm ’cos he’d just smack you in the head with his other one.
