No Adults Allowed

One

"There's always something more, isn't there?" Tommy wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. They'd only recently managed to get the fields sufficiently irrigated - using rerouted water from the lakes on top of the hill - and now the vegetables were being stolen by rabbits.

Niko laughed. "Keeps us busy, at least. Maybe we can catch the rabbits, cook 'em up."

"I'll take roasted rabbit over carrots," Tommy said. "In the meantime, let's build some fences. Keep them low, dug right into the ground, so they can't even burrow under. Might work."

Walking back across towards the village, Tommy smiled to himself. They'd made the best of it, under the circumstances. He'd been angry at Eva and the others disappearing at the worst possible moment, leaving them all to fend for themselves. He could have done with her help. Then again, perhaps they'd have put all their time and effort into trying to fix the Temple; instead, with her gone, they'd been forced to improvise and figure out alternatives. They'd done a pretty good job of it, too. They had water for the fields, water to drink, food supplies were healthy if not overflowing. Everyone was busy insulating the yurts in time for winter, which would be soon upon them. He had a suspicion that they wouldn't be benefiting from heat emanating up from the ground as in previous years, so they had to be prepared.

As for the Temple itself, it remained in the centre of town, as an odd monument to a time that now seemed a very long time ago, even though it had only been a few months. They'd relied on it for so many years and it had always been a constant in their lives. He'd never bought into it to quite the same degree as Robin, but he'd certainly taken it for granted that it would always be there; always ready to help them out, to provide for them, to tell them what to do. But if it was to remain silent forever, then that bothered him far less than he'd thought it might.

He'd shown the others that there was nothing to fear, as long as they used their brains and thought ahead. They could survive without the Temple's help, which had come as a surprise to him as much as anyone else. The winter would be hard, harder than ever, but he was confident that they could survive. Having Eva around would have been useful: she'd no doubt have relished the opportunity to come up with crazy ideas and solutions. They'd all been missed by the community, some more than others. Tommy hadn't been too sad to not have to put up with Tilda, for one. Which wasn't to say that he wouldn't prefer her to be there - any loss was felt keenly, and they'd lost so much that week. First Harry, then Eva and the others. Not that they'd all died, but the end result was the same - an absence.

In some ways it had made his life easier, as everyone else had rallied around him, and looked to him for leadership. And he'd found himself better able to provide it, without having to look over his shoulder at Harry's growing ambitions. He felt bad even thinking it, but it was true.

The sun beat down on the fields, as if it had been the most ordinary year. Some days it felt as if nothing was different, until he was struck again by the realisation that everything had changed and would never be the same again. It could be triggered by anything - watching meals being prepared, or hiking up the hill to check the water flow, or the group hunts for food. A glance at Eva's empty yurt, or the little kids playing without Erik. Tommy couldn't quite grasp how the world could feel changed and unchanged at the same time.

He reached the outskirts of Cragside, where smoke was already rising enticingly from the fire pit, the smell drifting across to where he stood. Turning back towards the field, looking along the path, unexpected movement from the tree line caught his attention.

There were six figures approaching. One was noticeably shorter than the others. Another walked with a limp. One was clutching a small bundle to their chest.

And that is the end of No Adults Allowed. Thank you for reading, especially those of you who came along for the ride through 2020! It's been a weird year to be writing a post-apocalyptic story. Please do let me know what you thought of the book.

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