Kruger was alone in a spaceship that was so advanced it needed no crew. He simply had to tell the spacecraft what to do or where to take him and, somehow, it obeyed. The ship’s greatest trick was the ability to make itself and its contents invisible. Already completely silent, it was able to land on planets unseen and unheard, therefore, the animals which inhabited the planet were not afraid. A useful feature.
The spacecraft raced towards its destination. Inside, on his monitor, Kruger watched the antics of the strange animals that lived on the planet he had been sent to investigate. A planet he now knew was called Earth.
His long, pale-green fingers toyed with a gadget, and he wondered why his masters insisted he brought it on the trip. The translator had been developed by his people and was supposed to interpret the language of any creature. Kruger had tried it on numerous animals on many different planets but had never got the contraption to work.
He was getting hungry. The food store, fully stocked when he had left his planet was now empty. He needed to land and eat soon. Looking at the monitor once again, he watched the strange behaviour of the creatures he had come to study. They were not unlike himself in shape, but they were much smaller and instead of the normal translucent green, they had a pink, almost white skin colour - apart from one who seemed to be a much darker tone.
It wasn’t so much their appearance that intrigued Kruger as their behaviour. He had seen some of them fighting, which told him the planet was considerably behind his own, and most others, in its development. Furthermore, there seemed no point to the fights. The victor did not appear to keep his conquest for slavery, nor did they eat the losers.
The thought of food reminded Kruger of his own hunger. He needed to land and eat - now. He put the useless translator away and prepared to land the spaceship.
* * *
Legends of witches and ogres in Nothingness Woods didn't stop children from playing there. While they tried to scare and tease each other, no one really seriously believed the large forest contained anything unnatural. Certainly, no witch had been seen within anyone's lifetime.
Thirteen-year-old Aaron Ballantyne had no fear of witchcraft as he led his small band of kids into the woods - their playground.
It was a warm summer’s day, though there had been a considerable amount of rain recently, making their feet squish and stick in the boggy ground. The refreshing smell of newly watered trees drifted on the light breeze towards the children. School had finished until the autumn and the youngsters were happy to be free and have fun.
Devil's Ditch, the stream that ran through the woods, was now like a fast-flowing river and instead of its usual bubbling, made more of a whooshing noise. Rather than risk jumping the stream as they normally did, Aaron led his troop over the rickety wooden bridge, which itself wasn't that safe, but better than being swept away by the current.
Carol, Aaron’s sister, wanted to use the tunnel that went under the stream instead, but Aaron insisted they used the bridge.
“It would take ages,” he argued. “You know we can only get in the tunnel one at a time. Besides, Darren wouldn’t get in.”
“I’ve been in before,” the plump boy protested.
“Yeah, but only at the other end. It’s wider there. I doubt any of us could get in or out at this end, let alone you. You might get stuck, then you’ll panic and set off one of your asthma attacks.”
Darren conceded. It was true the tunnel they sometimes used as a den was much narrower as you went into it. It wasn’t actually a tunnel at all, but a kind of escape route dug out by some animal long ago. The children had gradually widened the entrance so they could crawl into it, but hadn’t managed to make it into a real tunnel.
They stopped on Satan’s Bridge for a while, to watch the rush of water below and threw sticks into it to see how fast they would travel. Once bored with this activity, they continued their walk through the thick woodland. The trees were in full leaf; this made their path seem dark even though it was early afternoon. At times, they had to push their way through dense bushes, ignoring the occasional scratches they sustained. This was particularly uncomfortable for Jason, the youngest member of the gang, as he was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts.
When they reached what they thought of as their own special clearing, Aaron turned to the others.
No one knew why this clearing was called Eagle’s Nest, as there were no eagles around for miles, but generations of children had called it that and no one ever thought to change it.
“What do you want to do?” Aaron asked.
“Let’s build a new den.” This came from Paul, otherwise known to the gang as Stinker. Not because he actually smelled, but because the others rarely saw him when he was clean.
“No. We’ll get mucky,” Carol protested. Her auburn hair was tied back in a ponytail, which now swayed in the gentle wind.
“So?”
“Just ‘cause you like gettin’ dirty, doesn’t mean we all do, Stinker.” The support for Carol came from Darren.
“You’re outvoted, Stinker,” Aaron added.
“Let’s play hide and seek?” This suggestion came from Jason. The small ten-year-old, fair-haired boy had a pleading look in his pale blue eyes, hoping to get back up for his idea. Nods from his friends gave him satisfaction.
“Okay,” agreed Aaron, “but you’re it ‘cause it was your suggestion.”
“All right,” the younger boy agreed.
“Count to one hundred while we hide.”
Jason obeyed, and as he started to count the others went off to find their hiding places.
Even before they had all left the clearing Darren yelled, “Run! It’s the Cutlers.”
No one needed to be told twice. All of them had previously suffered beatings at the hands of the Cutler gang.
Fear gave the children extra speed as they fled.
They could hear the chanting of the rival gang’s battle cry behind them ‘fight or flight’. Flight was always the sensible option, though it didn’t usually save them from a thrashing.
Eventually, hoping their pursuers had given up the chase, Aaron, Carol and Paul stopped when they reached another open space. A few seconds later, wheezing and puffing, Darren joined them.
He collapsed to the ground and used his inhaler.
“They- they've caught Jason,” he managed to pant out between gasps.
Aaron’s face paled. “We’ll have to go back for him.”
“You’re joking! They’ll kill us,” Stinker protested.
“We can’t just leave him.”
“No, we can’t,” Carol said, agreeing with her brother. “If they beat us up, so what? We have to get Jason back. If you’re scared, Stinker, you stay here while the rest of us go.”
“I’m not scared,” he protested.
“I think you should stay here, though, Carol,” said Aaron.
“Why? Just because I’m a girl? I’m not scared either!”
“I’m not saying you are, but Dad’ll kill me if anything happens to you, and Barry Cutler’s gang have hit girls before.”
“I’m coming, and you’re not stopping me. I like Jason.”
Aaron knew it was no use arguing with his sister when her mind was made up. “Okay, let’s go before they hurt him.”
Apart from Darren, the others went back the way they had come. Soon afterwards, Darren realised he was now on his own and sprang to his feet, fully recovered, and went to catch up with his friends.
Finding the enemy wasn’t a problem. They just had to follow the noise the Cutlers were making.
This led them to the Cutler’s own clearing, which they called Devil's Lea. There they found Barry Cutler, Aaron’s archenemy, looking down at Jason who was pinned face down to the ground by two other boys. Aaron recognised these boys as Peter Green and Jordan Daley, two local bullies and ardent members of Barry’s gang. Jason was crying.
Alongside Barry stood two girls, one black and one white. The white girl, who was egging on the bullies, was a blonde of about thirteen. The black girl, who stood quietly peering through thick-lensed spectacles, was about a year younger.
“Leave him alone,” Aaron shouted. "Can’t you see he’s scared? “
Barry glared at Aaron, amazed the kid had the nerve to enter his realm, let alone challenge him.
“What you goin’ to do if we don’t, then?”
“Please, let him go. He’s only little.”
“Tell you what. We’ll leave him alone if you have a fight with me. Just you and me in a fair fight.”
Aaron stared at the other boy who was a year older; almost a head taller and much thicker set than him and wondered how any fight between them could be fair. However, he knew he had to protect Jason.
“All right,” he said, with some reluctance. “But let him go first.”
Barry nodded at the two boys who held Jason. They pushed his face into the mud before releasing him, causing the already crying child to bawl even louder.
Aaron was about to protest, but Barry’s fist struck him on the cheek and sent him reeling backwards. He fell to the ground and Barry sprang on him. The two boys rolled over and over on the muddy ground, pummelling each other.
The older boy’s superior strength soon gave him the advantage and he had Aaron pinned, face up, to the ground by his wrists. At the same time, he manoeuvred his legs into a tight scissors grip round his victim’s waist and squeezed tightly.
“Please, you’re squashing me. I can’t breathe,” Aaron pleaded.
Barry’s response was to squeeze even tighter. For a few moments, he enjoyed watching the expression of pain on his enemy’s face then, becoming bored, he decided to hurt Aaron even more by yanking a handful of his thick, black hair.
“Ouch! That’s not fair,” the younger boy protested.
“I make the rules here. Anythin’s allowed.”
“Anything?”
“‘Cept for bitin’.”
With the rest of both gangs looking on, Aaron was desperate to avoid crying, but he now felt the tears well up in his eyes as Barry continued to tug his hair while keeping the pressure tight round his waist.
Aaron’s wrists had been numbed from the weight of Barry pressing them to the ground, but in order to grab Aaron’s hair, the bigger boy had now been forced to release one of his wrists, and the feeling started to return. In desperation, Aaron used this free hand to lash out and strike Barry firmly on the nose.
Barry screamed, rolled off his victim and put his hand to his nose, now streaming with blood.
During the fight, Aaron’s friends had watched quietly, anticipating his defeat. The Cutler gang, on the other hand, had been giving their leader encouragement with shouts of advice ranging in degrees of violence from ‘smack him’ to ‘kill him’. Now, they fell silent in disbelief, as they watched the tears flood their captain’s face.
Aaron leapt to his feet.
“Run!” he yelled to his friends. They did so, leaving the clearing before the members of the other gang could recover from the shock of seeing their leader defeated.
“I’m gonna beat you to a pulp for that - all of you!” Barry’s screamed threat rang in the children’s ears as they fled.