FicWad

I got no feedback from the first one and am feeling like giving up. Is it really that bad?
Oh well here's a new chapter anyway. It may be the last if I don't get any interest.
Enjoy!


Ethan stumbled out into the kitchen, trying to comb out his shock of brown hair. He came to a halt when he saw his sister, shoulders hunched over her body in a defensive way. Her frail, bird-like hands; scratched and bruised, were curled around a mug of tea. He couldn't see her eyes; they were hidden beneath the tangles of her dark hair.
"Dasha?" he asked tentatively. "You okay?"
She sat up immediately, straightening out her back and forcing herself to appear strong for her brother. "I'm fine, just a little tired. Didn't sleep much."
He sat down across from her and she poured him a drink. His eyes focused on the package on the table. "What's this?"
Dasha smiled. "A gift from Johno to us. I thought you might like to open it together."
He grinned, excited by the prospect of a present. "Yeah, sounds great!"
"Well, go on. Open it." she waved him on.
Not needing any further encouragement, Ethan began to tear at the wrapping. His eyes lit up when he saw what it held. "Chocolate!" he grabbed the bar, turning it over in his hands gently like it might vanish if he gripped it to hard.
Dasha's eyes alighted on the other object inside. "Dried mango," she almost moaned it, "he knows me too well."
Ethan gave his sister a pleading look. "Can I have a bite? Please please ple-"
"Yes, of course you can! Just ration it out a bit, okay? Or it'll be gone before you know it." Dasha smirked at his enthusiasm. She herself pulled a strip of dried mango out from it's container and let it alight on her tongue. She almost groaned it was so good. The sugary preservatives dissolved and soon the flavour of the rich fruit assaulted her mouth.
Ethan on the other side of the table was sucking away at a tiny piece of the chocolate. It may have been 70% cocoa but he didn't care. The last time he had the enjoyment of the confection was well over two years ago.
The siblings spent the next half hour delighting over their gift between sips of tea. When Dasha noticed Ethan's bar of chocolate reach the three quarter mark she gently reminded him that if he ate it all now he couldn't have any later. Taking her own advice as well, she placed the container of preserved fruit high up in the cupboard, where it wouldn't tempt her.
Before her brother could disappear she called him back to the kitchen. "Ethan, I need to talk to you about are rather pressing manner."
He nodded. Her tone was very serious and he immediately wondered what he could have done to get into trouble.
Dasha took a deep breath, deciding to just hack straight at it rather than make it a drawn out explanation. "There will be some refugees coming to live with us today. They're from another country. I don't know how long they will be with us - perhaps forever."
Ethan's grey-black eyes widened impossibly. "But, why?"
His sister forced down her anger at the government. "Because they need somewhere to live that is safe from the disease. The authorities have decided that since we have enough resources and a big enough house, we should share it."
Tears welled up in his eyes. "But this is our home!" he cried.
Dasha enfolded his lanky frame in her arms and let him cry against her chest. He had handled the death of their parents so well and had grown up so quickly that sometimes she forgot how young he really was. His fourteenth birthday was only a few months behind them. She knew that he wasn't old enough to be dealing with the world as it was.
"I know it's our home, but I can't stop this. I wish I could," she mumbled, hating his tears, "This time there's nothing I can do."



Dasha crouched next to the swelling belly of Evelyn. The horse's breath was calm, it's eyes drooping in the heat. Her hooves shifted in the sandy corral softly as she swayed. The sun was suspended high up in the bright blue bowl of the sky, it's rays beating down upon the life on earth. The mare's sensitive ears flickered at the sounds in the distance; unfamiliar engines. However she did not stray away from the human at her side.
Dasha chewed her lip thoughtfully. "I think you're about seven months along girl... Wish dad was here. He could probably have pin pointed the exact day you're due."
The horse didn't understand what the human girl was saying, but her voice was soothing. The sound of engines was drawing closer, now mingled with footsteps. Her large head turned to see the other human, the male one, running towards them.
"Hey sis!" Ethan called out.
Dasha straightened up out of her crouch and stretched. She shaded her eyes to see her younger brother sprinting across the yard. He clambered over the railings, slightly out of breath.
"You fixed that gate yet?" she asked, rubbing a hand along Evelyn's long neck.
Ethan nodded. "Yeah, it just came off the pins. Should be fine now."
Dasha nodded, eyes flickering to the road for the hundredth time that day.
"When do you think the foal is due?" the boy asked. He hovered near the mare, hesitant to touch her incase something bad happened.
The serious expression on his sister's face broke into a smile. "It's okay, you can give her a pat. She's perfectly healthy."
Ethan grinned and stepped towards the big animal, running his palm over the smooth hair.
"I dunno when she'll drop. Probably in two or three months." Dasha sighed heavily. "I wish I knew when that bloody stallion hopped the fence. Next time I see Samuel I'm gonna give him an earful of abuse!"
Ethan tried not to laugh but the furious expression on his sister's face was amusing. "I'm glad I'm not Sam then." he snorted cheekily.
Dasha's resounding laughter was cut off by the grumbling of a truck coming up the hill. Her sharp eyes picked out the dust clouds along the road and her heart sank. "Ethan hurry along to the house, now."
He followed her gaze and saw the dust. "But I want to meet the-"
"I said now, Ethan." she said firmly. At his sullen expression she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You'll meet them soon enough."
He nodded and jogged across the yard towards the house. At the garden gate he paused, looking towards the road - but a swift glare from his sister sent him scurrying inside.
Dasha gave Evelyn one last pat before vaulting over the corral fence and stalking towards the grid marking the boundary of the house yard. She eyed the garden fence, making sure her brother hadn't snuck back outside.
The rumble of the approaching vehicle increased and it appeared over the crest of the hill. It was black, heavily armored and bore the insignia for Area 24 on the bonnet. Dasha stared it down, standing defiantly in the middle of the road so that it was forced to stop in front of her.
The gumble of the engine was cut and the doors opened.
"Miss Lewis?" a man dressed in military uniform asked. His mouth was pressed into a firm line, indicating that he wasn't going to put up with any complaints.
Dasha folded her arms across her chest and shifted her weight onto one foot. "Whadaya want, sir?" she drawled in a mocking tone.
The man seemed to take a deep breath to calm himself before stating "We are here to drop off a group of American immigrants that have been assigned living on your property."
Dasha's eyes flickered to a group of three people; two men and one woman. The men seemed calm, but the woman was looking around nervously.
"Is that so?" Dasha sneered. "Wouldn't these yanks rather be assigned living in the town? I doubt their suited to the rural lifestyle."
Another military official came around the other side of the car, a weighty rifle in one hand. It was pointed loosely at the ground but Dasha understood it's purpose.
The first man raised an eyebrow at Dasha. "Whether they are suited to the city or country matters not. It is your duty to host these people. If you do not comply, we have permission to use forceful methods to extract an agreement from you."
Dasha eyed the gun, then sized up the three immigrants. The taller man had his arm linked with the woman, standing slightly in front of her in a protective stance. The woman herself was looking at her feet, shifting from side to side and gripping the tall man's hand tightly. Dasha then focused her gaze on the other man. He surprised her my meeting her gaze dead on with a look of his own. She couldn't decipher the expression on his face, but found his eyes too intense to look at much longer. She broke the connection and faced the military officers once more, sighing in resignation.
"Fine, I'll keep 'em under my roof." she fought to keep her tone civil, "But if any one of them hurts my brother or I, or jeopardizes our safe lifestyle, then I'll be giving them two inches of lead to the head without any reservation."
The officers seemed unaffected by her bold declaration and shrugged nonchalantly. However the taller immigrant stepped directly in front of the woman and the other man frowned darkly.
Dasha, sick of the stand off, abruptly turned and marched back towards her house. The worried voices of the Americans and the firm voices of the Australian military men followed her.
She opened the gate to the garden, stepped through and slammed it behind her, very clearly sounding her annoyance to the unwelcome visitors. Her hard-worn boots clapped loudly on the path up to the front door, which she also slammed.
Ethan looked up as she barged into the kitchen. He paused, a mug of tea suspended half-way to his lips, and raised an eyebrow. "You okay sis?'
She snatched the mug from his hands and took a swing of the hot liquid. "No, I'm not o-fucking-kay. Our barbaric government has no respect for the people of this country. If I had a choice I'd go outside right now with a shotgun and tell those bastards to get off my land!"
Ethan gently tried to take the mug away from his sister but she swung it out of his reach. "Those bloody Americans are going to regret the day they stepped onto these shores!" Dasha scowled furiously, taking another gulp of tea, not caring at it burnt her tongue. "I'm going to make their lives so miserable that they'll be begging to lea-"
"Uh, excuse me?" a timid voice asked.
Dasha swung round to see the tall man and the woman standing in the doorway.
"What!?" the infuriated girl shouted.
The man flinched, keeping an arm in front of the woman. "Where can we put our bags?"
Dasha looked down at the suitcases and felt something snap inside her.
"ARGH!" she flung the mug at the wall and watched as it exploded into a million pieces of ceramic shards. Droplets of hot tea splattered across the wall and dripped down onto the floor. Dasha stared at the mess, breathing hard. "I don't fucking care where you put your god damn bags." she hissed through clenched teeth.
"What's going on here?" the stern sound of a military officers voice boomed through the doorway as he came up behind the American couple.
"I dropped my tea.' Dasha sneered at them then pushed her way outside into the garden. She headed for the far corner and flopped onto the ground under an ancient plum tree. The purple fruits glowed above her light little lanterns, filtering the hot sunlight so that she remained cool beneath it's branches. She closed her eyes, imagining that the past four years had never happened. The heavy scent of fruit made her feel groggy and she lost all sense of time.

"Uh, hello ma'am?"
Dasha's eyes opened slowly. Her blurry vision cleared so that she could see the unfamiliar figure hovering just outside the cover of the plum tree. She look in the pink sky and the long shadows wearily.
"What do you want?" Dasha growled.
His hazel eyes looked almost gold in the setting sunlight. "I have a letter for you, from the military men... They left a few hours ago and asked me if I could pass it on."
Dasha sat up, rubbing her back. "Well then give it to me."
He hesitated, looking back towards the house briefly.
She grinned, though not pleasantly. "What's the matter American, I don't bite."
His eyes hardened, leaning forward to offer the white rectangle to her. "I have a name you know."
"Not one that I care about." Dasha snatched the letter, amused to see him back away from her again. "As far as I'm concerned you're Intruder, the other man is Unwelcome and the woman is Wish-you-weren't-here."
The man glared at her. His black hair hung partially over his eyes, enhancing the menacing look. "You aren't what I expected. Far more uncivil."
Dasha broke into laughter, clutching the letter to her stomach. She wiped a tear from her eye and gave him a patronizing smirk. "Well go on then, ask the military to take you back. I wont stop you."
The man dubbed "Intruder" shook his head. "We're not leaving. It's taken us years to find safety, and now that we have it we wont let it go. No matter how unwelcome you make us." he turned away from her, looking out across the fields of green. The setting light cast an apricot glow against his pale profile. "I guess you wouldn't understand what it's like not to feel safe. To feel hunted."
Dasha's bravado sunk at his words. She avoided his eyes when he turned back to her, opting instead to stand and brush the grass from her jeans. "Don't presume to know my past." she said in a flat voice. "You don't know anything." And with that she turned and walked away, back towards the house, not noticing the white rectangle of paper lying forgotten in the grass.

"Sis? You okay?"
Dasha looked up from the doorway to see Ethan standing in the kitchen. He was stirring a pot of what she suspected was stew.
"I'm fine." she replied shortly, pulling off her boots. "Where are the others?"
Ethan flinched slightly at her harsh tone. "Uh Mikey and Alicia are in the room you prepared for them. I don't know where Gerard is."
Dasha raised an eyebrow. "I guess you're at a first name basis with them now, huh?"
He flushed, turning back to the stove. "Well, Gerard and Mikey are brothers and Mikey is married to Alicia. If I called them all Mr and Mrs Way it would get a bit confusing..."
Dasha stepped into the kitchen and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Guilt overwhelmed her. "I'm sorry I left you alone with them. I was just... so angry. I couldn't stand looking at them a moment longer. I had to get out of the house."
Ethan shrugged, focusing on the stew. "S'okay. I understand. They didn't hang around much anyway. I just pointed them to their rooms and they've been there ever since. However Gerard wasn't in his room when I told them dinner would be ready soon...."
Dasha sighed. "He's out in the garden. We had a... chat."
"Oh..." he turned to his sister. "I'm sure they aren't that bad. We just need to get to know them, that's all."
She pulled him suddenly into a tight hug. "Look, I feel really bad about leaving you alone with them, but just know it wont happen again. I don't trust these people, not yet. And perhaps I never will trust them. So for now, just keep away from them. I'll deal with them, okay?"
Ethan nodded, leaning against her. He buried his head against her shoulder, feeling more at home there than anywhere else. "If that's what you think, then I'll do what you say."
Dasha pressed a kiss on top of his head. "That's my boy. If we stick together we'll weather this whole thing out."
They stood like that, clinging to each other for a small eternity, before they were interrupted by someone clearing their voice.
Ethan and Dasha broke apart, looking to the hallway to see Mikey and Alicia at the threshold to the kitchen.
"We, uh, came to see if we could help with dinner." the tall man stated.
Dasha glanced at her brother. "Ethan go up to your room. I'll bring food up to you."
He nodded, then hurried past the newcomers and up the stairs. Dasha had made sure that all of their rooms were kept separate; the immigrants on the ground floor while she and her brother slept upstairs.
Mikey and Alicia seemed anxious under Dasha's stare.
"If you're that interested in helping you can go outside and find the other one." she snapped.
Alicia shifted from foot to foot. "You mean Gerard."
Dasha shrugged. "I don't care what he's called, just go and find him."
"That wont be necessary." a cold voice issued from the front entrance.
Dasha's eyes flickered to the figure of Gerard before turning her attention back to the stew. She picked up a knife and began to hack a corn cob into segments. "Oh look, he's back." she growled under her breath.
Footsteps came up behind her and she spun around, knife in hand. "I advise you not to approach me from behind until I'm sure you wont hurt me." she twirled the knife expertly in her hand. "Otherwise I'm pretty sure my reflexes will get you before the week is out." She gave each of the American's a serious look. "And if I catch any of you getting near my brother I'll be sure to shoot first and ask questions later." She lowered the knife that had been pointed at Gerard and turned back to the chopping board. "You've been warned."
There was a strained silence, broken only by the hissing of the stew pot.
"If you're going to be here you may as well make yourselves useful." she growled, sick of the tension. "The bowls are over there and there's bread in the oven that needs to be taken out."
Quiet footsteps followed and Dasha watched from the corner of her eye as the three newcomers set the table. She turned the gas burner off and rifled through one of the drawers for a ladle.
"Bowl." she said, holding a hand out behind her. When one wasn't place in her grip she turned and eyed them. "Pass me a bowl?" she enunciated clearly.
Gerard frowned, passing her one of the bowls sitting on the table.
"Thanks." she took each and filled them up in turn with the thick stew, adding even amounts of vegetables and hunks of meat to all. When there were five places ready she cast a commanding look at the two men and the woman. "Sit. Eat." she ordered and grabbed one of the bowls and a slice of bread.
The one called Mikey looked at her questioningly. "Where are you going?"
Dasha glared at him. "My brother needs to eat too."


"She hates us." Alicia whispered once the girl disappeared up the stairs.
Mikey rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I think 'loathe' is a better word. She loathes us."
Gerard sighed. They were all tired. Since hitting the shores of the country yesterday they hadn't had a moment of sleep. His eyelids felt heavy.
"What do you think we should do?" Alicia asked, fiddling with her fork. None of them had touched the food to their lips yet.
"Pray she doesn't kill us in our sleep." Mikey groaned theatrically. "You know I specifically remember Australian's being welcoming and full of good humor. I guess we got landed with the most discourteous bunch of the lot."
Alicia shook her head. "No, just Dasha. Her brother seems really nice, if a bit shy."
"Well looks like we'll never get to know him if his sister has anything to do about it. She acts as though we're here to assassinate them or something ridiculous." Mikey leant on one arm, grumbling slightly. "What do you think Gerard?"
His elder brother shrugged. "People are suspicious these days, and with good reason. There's not much we can do except keep our heads down and pray that she gets used to us. We need to figure out how to get her to trust us."
"If the Wicked Witch of the West doesn't eat us first." Alicia joked. They all chuckled softly.
"Yes, very funny." a cold voice ground out from behind them.


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