Michelle Kenney - Book of Fire

My amazing family and friends who’ve put up with all the late night texts, cancelled coffees and overcooked pizzas - Nick, my North Star from the South; and the entire Kenney clan for showing me, every day, that life is precious.

And finally to…the coolest gang of writers I’ve ever been proud to call my own, The Scribblers, you know who you are - and you rock!

Dedicated to:

My precious Mum and Dad,

for encouraging me to dream

&

Gramp

George Frankum, 1910-1999

who always believed I’d do it.

Prologue

In the old world, people foraged for food in bright cities the size of the forest, Grandpa said, and rode toxic boxes on wheels, instead of running with the sun.

Embellished truth or plain fiction, Grandpa’s fireside myths were my favourite part of the day. And as my twin brother and I grew, the myths turned into stories from his own childhood, like the time he found a tattered advert for the Lifedome on a creeper-choked wall. When he pulled the foliage aside, it still bore the ripped, black lettering of its utopian dream.

It was only when Eli and I turned sixteen that, in keeping with village tradition, we learned the real story of Arafel’s forefathers from the Council. We plagued Grandpa for the rest, and when he finally relented, there was something in his stark portrayal of our beginning that shadowed me, even on the brightest day.

The Lifedome was supposed to be a landmark scientific experiment, he told us, a microcosm to investigate how Genetic Modification could serve the technological world. The goal was the Nobel Prize, but global funding meant the Government had to make extravagant promises. Prime Minister Johnstone went one step further, claiming the Lifedome would provide emergency shelter should the tension between the East and West ever erupt into another Great Holy War.

That day arrived sooner than everyone expected, on 3rd November 2025.

They claimed it was a rogue test missile, that it wasn’t intended to reach London, but the dust clouds enveloped most of the country, and their effect was cataclysmic. With cities in ruins and thousands of refugees left with nowhere to shelter, the Government’s Scientific Team had to throw open the Lifedome doors, and provide what shelter they could.

Those who were still able took their families and fled towards the only safe haven in the West, clinging to its costly propaganda that it could withstand every bomb known to mankind. Others accepted a grateful ride from the Sweeper vehicles.

But there were whispers right from the start, whispers that grew with the silence, that things were very different, once you got inside.

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