Young Writers Society

"RUN!"

The two brothers ran faster across the hard red earth, as a bullet whizzed past them. The smaller boy took a quick look back, and saw the pursuing truck winding its way around the sparse rocks and trees, leaving a trail of red desert dust behind it. He saw the leer of the man who was holding the huge gun over his shoulder, and leaning out of the window.

The boy raced on as he saw the man move his hand, and heard the shot of another bullet.

"THIS WAY!"

The taller boy swerved off to the right, into a vast grove of short, fat trees. The hot, dry, desert air was making them both sweat, and their navy shirts were damp. The smaller boy turned his head again, and saw the truck braking at the edge of the trees, and the men jumping out.

"Bernard! Bernard!" he yelled at his brother, who turned around.

"We got to MOVE!" Bernard shouted, "COME ON!"

They ran on between the trees, but now the men were running after them, and the trees were slowing them down.

"Emmanuel, you got to do your thing!" Bernard shouted

"NO! No, I can't-ARGH!"

They both leapt aside as a bullet snapped through the space where they had just been running.

"They're through here!" the shouts of the men came through the trees, and the boys jumped up and ran on.

"Emmy-"

"I can't! Don't you think I would if I could?"

More shots whipped past on both sides, and the boys ran like rabbits from a hound dog, swerving this way and that until-

"A rock!" Bernard said. The trees stopped just before a bare rockface. Emmanuel skidded to a halt next to him, and they exchanged a glance.

"I heard something, this way!" A male, English voice echoed through the wood.

At of the mans voice, the two immediately took to the rock, climbing up it like spiders. It was easily ten metres high, but it took them a matter of seconds to ascend, finding foot and hand holds all over the surface.

They pulled themselves over the edge and lay on their backs, chests heaving. The rock fringed a large, flat plain, and they were surrounded by large grey stones and a few dead tree stubs.

"Ber-"

Bernard rolled over and put a long, dark finger over his brother's lips.

"Ecoute," he whispered.

They lay in silence, listening.

"They went this way!" One of the men was shouting.

"No, you idiot... dammit, we can't loose these kids!"

There was the sound of the men's footsteps, walking around the trees below. The silence around them was deathly, and Emmanuel stopped breathing, for fear the English men would hear him.

"Hey, Julian, c'mere, there's a rock!"

"Hey, you think-"

"Yeah..." There was silence, then the man raised his voice. "HEY, KIDDIES! YOU UP THERE? HERE, BOYSIES....!"

Bernard increased the pressure on his brothers lips. Emmanuel closed his eyes, silently praying.

"WE'RE COMING UP, BOYSIES! WE'RE COMING UP THE ROCK! NOWHERE TO HIDE..."

Silently, Bernard, knelt up, and indicated Emmanuel to follow. They crawled over to a particularly large rock, and crouched behind it. Emmanuel let out a long, wavering breath, and he clutched his brothers hand. Bernard squeezed his fingers.

They waited.

There was no noise, and they stared around them, at the rock edge, and Emmanuel was about to turn and whisper to his brother, when four white fingers appeared at the edge of the rock. Emmanuel flinched, and they both withdrew behind the rock, and crouched down.

There was scrambling, and then the sound of feet landing on the earth.

"Pull me up, Julian..."

Emmanuel closed his eyes hard, and tried to focus his mind. Bernard was right, he had to do his.. thing. But it was difficult, so difficult...

There was heavy breathing, and then soft thump, and the second man landed on the rock.

"Bloody kids..."

Emmanuel strained his mind, reaching out for that feeling, the feeling of power which he knew meant he could do it. Come on... he thought, come on...

And then he felt it, just as he heard the men saying, "They must be round here somewhere..."

Emmanuel knelt up, and peered slowly over the rock edge. He felt Bernard frantically pulling him down, but he resisted, and stared at the men, who were stood looking out into the plain.

"They can't have run off, the younger one can't be more'n twelve..."

"They won't have run off, Einstein, we can see for miles! They must be hiding somewhere..."

They men turned around, and all of a sudden, they saw Emmanuel's eyes.

And in the same second, a gust of immense wind hit them, blowing them backwards, and then they were suddenly gone, as the wind pushed them over the edge.

There were screams, short screams, before there was a sickening crash, and the noise stopped. Instantly.

Emmanuel turned to his brother, who was staring at him.

"Did you do that?"

"Je pense...oui."

They stared at each other.

"Ou...Ou est-ce que sont les autres?"

"Qui?"

"There must have been more men."

"No, I- I don't think so."

Bernard stood up. Emmanuel held his hand, as they stepped out from behind the rock.

"Come on."

"What?"

"They had a truck."

Emmanuel nodded, but didn't follow Bernard when he walked to the edge of the rock.

"Emmanuel, come on."

Emmanuel nodded and slowly walked over to the edge, and they both descended, slowly. When the reached the ground, they turned to look at the crumpled bodies of the two men. Emmanuel inhaled sharply, and blinked.

"Are...are they dead?"

"...Oui," Bernard replied, and walked over to the bodies.

"I...I didn't mean to."

"I know."

Emmanuel watched as Bernard passed his hands over the dead men's eyes, shutting them. They he stood up, and wiped his hands on his jeans.

"Em, we got to go."

Emmanuel didn't hear. He just stared at the men.

"Look, brother," Bernard said, "They would have killed us."

There was no reply.

"It was us or them, Emmanuel. I'm glad you chose us."

Emmanuel slowly turned to look at his brother, tears sliding out of his eyes and down his face.

"Come on."

Silently, they both walked away, and soon the silence of the desert was broken only by the roar of an engine, and the patter of pebbles on the dry earth.

A.N Okay, I'm sorry if you're a tad confused about Emanuel's ability, but the plan is to develop all the characters as I go along. But I'm thinking I might have to cut down the number of characters, because it might get confusing, what do you think?

Oh, and the reason Emmanuel and Bernard are speaking English and (bad) French, is that I've set them in Cameroon, and those are the two main languages there, so they can speak both. Bilingual, man.

PLEASE REVIEW AND CRITIQUE. I'm not so sure about this chapter.