Kat and her best friend lily find themselves stranded on a desert island along with some other people from their orphanage after their boat capsizes!
Excerpt:
Kat’s world was dull, grey and cramped, the entire population living on one third of the earth because the old worlds leaders and millionaires had the other two thirds for themselves. The first generation to live like this had resisted and tried to fight back, but they had been disorganised and weak. They had been wiped out and so Kat’s ancestors, like every other human on this third of the planet, were grown in a lab.
Kat was awoken by the three gunshots, fired from the roof, four floors up. She groaned and rolled out of bed, still in her crumpled uniform from last night. The other girls in her dorm were doing the same, splashing their faces with cold water and packing the last things in to kit bags. Kat’s couldn’t open her eyes as they were all gummy from a bad dream. Suddenly she heard the door fly open and something heavy hit her, she slumped backwards on to the floor, surprising her attacker.
“Kitty Kat! Wake up, wake up!”
The voice turned whiny, and Kat forced her eyes to open, just in time to see a giant peach looming over her face.
“Open wide Kitty Kat.”
Kat obeyed and allowed her friend to drop the peach into her mouth.
“You shouldn’t eat upside down Kat”
Kat sat up, scowling at Lily. Lily just squished her cheeks.
“Cheer up kitty Kat, I don’t want to be stuck with a killjoy for the whole trip.”
Kat forced a grin and thought about their trip, five days on a boat to study sea life, and her grin became real.
Like many of the other children, this would be her first time outside the Wall. What would it be like? She was shocked out of her daydream by the harsh voice blasted from the speakers in the upper left corner, furthest from the window.
“All children in sector four and eight to report to the roof in five minutes, any latecomers will be left behind.”
The message was repeated twice, and there was a mad scramble as the other five girls, (six including Lily) grabbed their bags and their shoes. They stampeded to the door and burst out into the damp and badly lit corridor. They paid no attention to the flickering lights or the puddles in the corner, it was just the norm, to be expected, orphans like themselves were lucky to be in school. They joined the sea of other children filing from the other dormitories, and rushing up the stairs, they flowed like water and came pouring out of the double doors, with so much force they collided with the children from sector eight flowing from the opposite side of the roof. However much force was pushing them though, they stopped several meters from the Master. He didn’t like getting close to the orphans, they disgusted him, to him they were a waste of space, but the governors had promised – a few more years of work like this and he was guaranteed a space on the other side. He made it clear that anyone who broke the rules or misbehaved was dealt with; the children were all too familiar with waking up to find someone new in the dormitory, often to replace a close friend who had disappeared.
