Free Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden Page A

a
national problem, with some illness or disease.’
    ‘That doesn’t explain the planes,’ Robyn
said.
    ‘They were just coming back from Commem Day,
like we said.’
    ‘Without lights? And so many of them? Fi, I
don’t know if we even have that many planes. I don’t know if our
Air Force is that big.’
    ‘OK,’ said Fi. ‘There is some national
emergency, and everyone’s had to go and help.’
    ‘And the planes?’
    ‘It’s the Air Force, going to help. And maybe
other countries’ air forces too, all helping.’
    ‘Then why would they have no lights?’ Robyn
was shouting now, getting mad, like she did on the netball
court.
    ‘We don’t know that for sure.’ Fi was shouting
too. Fi shouting? First time for everything, I thought. Fi
continued, ‘Ellie might have been wrong. It was the middle of the
night. She would have been half asleep. I mean she only just
thought to mention it now. She couldn’t be that certain.’
    ‘I saw them Fi,’ I said. ‘I’m certain. It
didn’t strike me at the time. My eyes were working. It’s just that
my brain wasn’t. Anyway, Robyn saw them, and Lee. Ask them.’
    ‘We didn’t see them,’ Robyn snapped. ‘We only
heard them.’
    ‘Everyone calm down,’ Homer interrupted. ‘Stay
calm, or we’ll get nowhere. Come on Fi, what else?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I just think
they’ve rushed off somewhere to help. Maybe some whales got
stranded.’
    ‘So two lots of parents rush off without even
leaving notes?’ Kevin asked.
    ‘But if you take out the planes,’ said Fi,
‘you haven’t got nearly as much. Just some little local
emergency.’
    ‘Don’t forget the radio stations,’ Robyn
said.
    Lee spoke up. ‘Fi, they’re all valid theories.
And I’m not saying you’re wrong. You’re probably right, and the
planes are just a coincidence, and the radio can be explained away
and so on. But the thing that scares the sweat out of me is there
is one theory that does fit all the facts, and so bloody neatly
it’s perfect. Remember our conversation that morning in Hell? How
Commemoration Day would be the ideal day to do it?’
    Fi nodded dumbly, tears rolling down her face.
We were all crying again now, even Lee, who kept talking as he
wept.
    ‘Maybe all my mother’s stories made me think
of it before you guys. And like Robyn said before, if we’re wrong,’
he was struggling to get the words out, his face twisting like
someone having a stroke, ‘if we’re wrong you can laugh as long and
loud as you want. But for now, for now, let’s say it’s true. Let’s
say we’ve been invaded. I think there might be a war.’

Chapter
Seven

    It was terrible waiting for it to get dark. We
kept starting out, saying ‘OK, that’s enough, let’s go’, then
someone would say ‘No, wait, it’s still too light’.
    That’s the trouble with summer, it’s daylight
for an awfully long time. But we’d made a decision to play it safe
and we stuck to it.
    The moon was thin and late to rise, so when we
did get going it really was quite dark. We had a couple of torches
that Homer had been able to find but we’d agreed not to use them
unless absolutely necessary. We left Millie on a blanket in Homer’s
kitchen. She was too weak to move far. We walked along the road for
about a k and a half, then branched across the last of the Yannos’
paddocks, taking a short cut to the lane that led to Kevin’s. I
walked with Homer but we didn’t talk much, except when I suddenly
remembered I hadn’t asked him about their dogs. ‘We only had two
left,’ he said, ‘and they weren’t there. I’m not sure where they
might have gone. I think Dad said something about taking them to
the vet. They both had eczema badly. I can’t remember if he said
that or if I just imagined it.’
    Once we were in the lane Kevin starting
running. There were still about two k’s to go but, without a word
being exchanged, we all started running too, behind him. Kevin’s a
big guy,