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Tom Harris

Writer of edgy Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction

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End Transmission

#RISE: Ep 4: APOSTLE DAY

The dead have been with us for almost a year now.

Crowley says there are big plans to celebrate the anniversary.

The rebirth of New Britain.

But I won’t be celebrating. I will be fighting. And I’m not alone.

There are others like me.

We post this stuff on what’s left of the internet. Just in case someone’s listening.

There are twelve of us. We call ourselves The Apostles, but none of us are religious.

How could we be after what has happened.

Most have given up. But we haven’t.

The fate of the world is in the hands of a bunch of kids – lol!

Even Syd next door has stopped saying hello.

Like the adults, she’s glazed over; become a ceramic version of herself.

I like that line and the image of it, even though I heard it from Crowley on TV, maybe he’s slowly infecting me…

Syd was fine until she turned 14, but now she too is infected with death.

Thirteen seems to be the lucky number for us all. But we won’t be thirteen forever.

13

I don’t have long.

I’ll be fourteen on All Hallow’s Eve – the 31st day of October.

The anniversary of the return of the dead.

Today is October the 30th. In the future we hope it will be known as Apostles Day.

The day when the twelve first met.

We have twenty four hours before the next rising.

Things are bad now, but when they come again…the dead will inherit the earth.

The dead are taking over the world. They are infecting the living.

I live in a world where the living are lifeless.

My name is Anderson. I am one of the twelve apostles of the living and I’m calling on you all now.

Anyone who’s left. Who’s out there, watching and waiting…

It’s up to us to stop Crowley.

It is time to take back our lives.

It is time for the living to rise.

END TRANSMISSION…

#RISE

#MARIGOLDS

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#RISE Ep 2: The Necromancer

My name. I didn’t tell you my name.

It’s Anderson. You don’t need anymore than that. Just Anderson.

After the Marigolds and the vote. The election results were announced.

Big Ben chimed and Mum returned as promised.

I never really knew Mum. Too young. Adults always say it, but I get it now. I mean, I still don’t know her, but at least she is here, back with us.

She walks past my door, but she doesn’t say hello. She grunts a lot and smells funny, but she is still my Mum.

We don’t seem to exist to her though or any of them. So we don’t talk to the dead…but the necromancer does.

It’s what necromancers do.

When he speaks they appear alive. It is because of this that we need Crowley.

Dad says if we ever vote against the Party of the Dead then things will change. The dead will turn on us. We could all get eaten!

The necromancer keeps us invisible. The necromancer keeps us alive.

So life is strange.

Everyone got what they wished for. They were not careful.

Everyone got their dead back. But not as they thought.

Sure, they walk around and moan, but not like before…nothing like before.

Crowley is on the telly…right now!

He says there are more dead coming.

The Prime Minister looks tired.

The Necromancer looms above her, arms raised, taking the acclaim of the public. Their banners of support are bland, none witty or worth sharing. Their messages devoid of emotion, in fact, the banners are there upon Crowley’s orders…

So are The Hackers.

They’re running another trace.

I’m compromised…but I will return.

When it’s safe.

When we can speak again…

END TRANSMISSION…

#RISE

#MARIGOLDS

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#RISE: Ep 1: The Marigold Proclamation

#RISE

EPISODE 1: THE MARIGOLD PROCLAMATION

marigolds-a

Friday on the 14th day of October in the year 2016…

I don’t have long. Don’t have time to tell it all now.

You see, they’re watching. Always watching.

It started with Marigolds in the window.

It started a year ago when #Marigolds went viral.

‘The flowers will connect you with the dead.’

Those were the first words of the government necromancer, Crowley.

Unlike other political parties, The Party of the Dead did not knock on doors.

Can we count on your vote? was simply a question they did not need to ask.

‘Put Marigold’s in your window.’

That was it.

It was new. It was a gimmick and it worked. It was a landslide.

I suppose it’s our fault…Well, not mine exactly.

I’m too young to vote, but the adults got it wrong – again!

They thought it was fun. Like voting for Jedi’s.

But they didn’t think everyone else would do it.

The Marigold Proclamation changed everything.

The promise of being reunited with loved ones that had passed on beyond the veil of life.

Crowley showed us: Live on the BBC.

Celebrities in the graveyard looked on as their dead returned from the earth.

Some fainted. Some cried. Some got a new TV series out of it…but everyone was watching.

I was watching. Dad was watching.

We looked at each other and then at the empty armchair between us.

We both said it. At the same time. ‘Mum!’

We wanted her back.

The Marigold’s went in the window. The vote cast…

Stop.

Need to stop now.

No time.

They are watching. Always watching.

But I have more to tell.

More to say.

But not now…not now.

Though I will tell you this much, my friend…

The dead are coming.

END TRANSMISSION…

 

#RISE  

#MARIGOLDS

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