It has been four years since the Australian government began overtly and aggressively cracking down on its citizens. Taxes have increased year by year, and now many businesses, big and small, have closed. Even the major banks did not escape. The economic downturn started slowly with the introduction of the net-zero plan and the new Cold War. This all happened as the government sat back and watched tent cities pop up in rural towns, and crime rates skyrocketed. The only areas not affected by the crime were the major cities, such as Melbourne.

  At the steps of government house

  Three black unmarked cars pulled up in front of Government House as a middle-aged, slightly balding man and a young woman in her mid twenties walked amongst the crowd of government employees towards the main entrance. The lady lent over to her husband, pushing her way through the chaotic kindergartners masquerading as adults.

  “Maybe we should consider what our son said.”

  “Don’t rock the boat, dear. Plus, he’s only 12 years old. What would he know about this government and the needs of the people maybe once stop codling him and he actually grows a pair I will listen to him but if your asking me to take the words of him to the premiere, then you can forget it that man is-“ the man was interrupted before he could finish what he was saying just like always. Jack never got to finish when it came to this subject, his wife would always stop him before he got to far and began asking he wanted to know but also didn’t, his son even at the age of twelve had no features that resembled anyone in his entire family. This was the last time he would bite his tongue, as tonight he would find out the answers one way or the other.

  “He may only be 12, but Jake is my baby boy. He’s very smart for his age and maybe we should consider his plan. Reducing the taxes on the citizens. Might help reduce the support that has been growing as of late then there’s those in opposition to the Australian government. Do you think we could-“

  “Dear, just stop. For once, just stop. Do you want to live in one of those tent cities out in the boonies? Were young ladies like you are attacked constantly or go live up in those hills with all the inbred farmers?”

  “Yeah, you are right, Jack,” the lady said in a dejected voice. Jack began opening the door to the building, his hand grasping the cold steel, as he pulled hard on the handle?

  BOOM!

  The interior front fissured of the building was gone. In the rubble there lay a severed hand still clutching at the steel door handle, and beside it was the pale face of the once vibrant young lady.

  In a private school exclusively run for the children of government employees, children were being rushed back to their homes or, like some of the unlucky ones, such as Jake, rounded up as if they were just cattle waiting to go to the slaughterhouse. It began slowly with one or two but then the rush began as the kids were shipped off to one of the government-run orphanages known for their cruelty to the kids they were supposed to be caring for jake was unaware of what was happening to him till it was too late if he had known he would have run but no he was a good little boy and put his trust in those older than him, the same people that refused to even inform him of his parents deaths.

  A new life begins

  After four years have passed since the attack on the Melbourne government and his escape from the orphanage of hell and the rejection of his pleas to his much older step sister for adoption. Jake had finally found a place in his life he could call home. It was in a rundown back alley in the centre of Melbourne; it used to be a tattoo shop in its day that was before the government cracked down on them, stating that health was their reason. This was when people that still trusted their government, but now it is home to some of society’s outcasts and drifters. In the back corner of the former shop, there was a portion of the room sectioned off by plastic tarps. This is the current home of Jake Everval and his partner, Mia Cho. Jake had a string of good luck when he found this place the lady that once used this room sold it to him for just one night’s use of his body jake had nowhere else to go so he accepted the lady’s offer in the hope she wouldn’t hurt him. This was the night Jake began losing his way even after going through all the torture at the orphanage and being rejected by his own family jake had still held value in his life but after that night the only thing that brought him any form of happiness was his partner Mia she entered his life a few weeks after Jake’s acquisition.

  Mia was lying on the mattress Jake had bought for the two of them with the money he had saved up after working at a coffee shop for months. It could have even been a year. Jake wasn’t all that good at keeping track of dates. The shop was in one of the newly established government facilities. It housed the local enforcers and their intelligence division. The thing Jake found out quickly while working there was that the enforcers couldn’t keep a secret, even if their lives depended on it. Many times, Jake overheard the itineraries of high-ranking government officials just by serving coffee. Jake had found a way to make a few extra dollars by selling this information to other unsavoury members of the public this allowing Jake to live a relatively stable life till the point he could actually support Mia’s unwavering spending habits.

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  “Don’t leave yet,” Mia said in just that little flirtatious way Jake couldn’t resist, her dark long wavy hair draping over her natural curves, as she lay in his bed, her glistening tanned skin reflecting the morning light.

  “You know I want to stay, Mia. I just can’t. We need money so I can buy you that ring you wanted,” Jake said with a look of shame on his face.

  “It’s okay, my love. I can wait. You don’t need to buy it yet.”

  “I must. I promised you I would, so that is that. See you tonight and I will even bring back dinner for us, so you don’t need to worry about that.” Jake said as he closed the plastic flap he used as a door to his plastic palace, his heart heavy with worry. He knew she was using him for money, but deep down, Jake truly loved her. Even if he had to sell himself, he would, just to give her a happy life.

  As the night was falling Jake ran home so he would be back before lockdown, he had been court out many times before only being able to bribe his way out of detention by giving the enforcers everything he had of monetary value may times he walked home naked and penny less after a long day at work. Jake had a plastic bag in each hand full of leftovers he had scrounged up from one of the takeaway shops still catering to a particular clientele. As he approached the entrance to his plastic palace, he could hear a strange noise coming from his room. Looking at the floor as he began removing his shoes, he noticed two sets of shoes, one belonging to his soon to be fiancée and the other a set of army boots, ones that could only belong to his best friend, Adam. Adam and Jake met in the orphanage before Adam was picked up by a family that had lost their son in the explosion that killed Jake’s parents. It was only when Jake got his current job the two of them reconnected with him. Adam was an enforcer for the government. Jake had told Adam about everything that had happened to him after Adam left the orphanage from his many attempts at escaping but there was one thing jake had never told him and that was how he sold information about his fellow enforcers to a man belonging to the resistance movement. Mia, Adam and Jake would spend many hours together, just the three of them from going out for dinner, all at Jake’s expense, of course. Then there was even the hunting trips they went on for deer on Adams vacations this was of great help to the people living in jakes building as Adam could hunt as with government approval he could sell off any meat he hunted and actually go hunting for it in the first place. People like jake on the other hand, could only hunt the rats that infested their homes. Jake was delighted that his good friend paid him a visit, as he had informed him about being away on a training exercise for a week. He pulled back the flap with a smile, ready to greet his friend. Only to see his friend and his fiancée naked as the day they were born in his bed.

  “What the fuck are you looking at?” Adam said, a smile plastered on both of their faces.

  “It’s okay, husband. He might as well get one last look before you kill him and all of these rats,” Mia said as Adam reached for the gun on Jake’s side table.

  Jake dropped the two bags and ran for the back door as fast as he could, his heart pounding, knowing if he stopped or even looked back, he would be dead. After all, Adam was an enforcer he could kill everyone in this building and still walk out with no repercussions. That night, people across the city could hear screams and gunfire. It wasn’t just jake’s building that was affected as it seems there was a big operation going on, one that Jake had not even heard about and that was saying something as enforcers liked to brag about their upcoming operations.

  Resistance

  Three years had passed since that night, and Jake found himself fighting in a resistance group based out of the Strzelecki Ranges, the same one he sold information to and also the one the one that lost so many personal on that night jake escape the city. Jake was currently leading his team in the biggest operation the resistance group had done. It was in its final phase. Jake’s team of five received the task of escorting the prisoner back to a safe house, a safe house that Jake remembered well. He should because it was once the place he called home. Everything was going so smoothly until they got to the safe house.

  Bang! They heard a shot before one of his men’s heads exploded.

  “Contact rear!” Jake’s team hit the ground.

  “Fuck, boss, we’re in deep shit now.”

  “What is it, trooper?”

  “Boss, they’ve got us surrounded high and low.”

  Jake took a quick look at the situation and immediately picked up the radio.

  “Everval Actual requests immediate Dark Night support.” Only static came back over the radio.

  “Dark Night, this is Everval Actual, come in,” Jake repeated, but all he heard was more static.

  “Those fucking assholes have hung us out to dry, boss,” the trooper said, frustration evident in his voice.

  “Nobody is coming for you, Jake,” a voice echoed down the alley, chilling the air. The voice was one jake recognised as it was the same one that had hounded him every time he and his men went on a mission.

  “Is that you, Adam? I haven’t seen you in years. Are you actually going to show yourself this time or run like the bitch you are.by the way, how’s your wife? Do you think she’ll be up for a bit of rough and tumble like we used to do?” Jake shouted over the gunfire, trying to maintain some sense of bravado in the face of danger. As time passed and bullets began hitting their targets, Jake found himself with only one trooper left.

  “Boss, it’s been a blast working for you,” the trooper said, his voice resigned. In an instant, tragedy struck as he took a round to the neck, severing his carotid artery. At the same time, Jake was hit by three rounds, one in the shoulder and two in the stomach. He slumped over a stack of pallets, the sounds of gunfire fading into the distance. Jake watched as his last trooper died right beside him. All that could be heard was the crackling of the radio.

  “Everval Actual, hold on. One minute out, Dark Night Actual.” Wind gusted down around him as Dark Night Actual finally arrived on the scene just before everything went dark.