Leaving Bullworth behind...

[The 510 Series]

Author's notes

17th Aug., '14

This story will be a first-person narrative about the Townies, written in Jerry's perspective. I created a story like this on FMScout (making it loosely FM related), but there wasn't a lot of interest. I really like the idea of the story however, and will be posting it here. I will alter the story quite a lot, though. It'll be very different to the FMScout version.

24th Sept., '14

I'll be writing a second narrative within this story as a Cypriot teenager, Nikos. He, along with his friends Stamatis, Kostas, Petros and Stavros, were kidnapped from their homes in Larnaca and taken to the Turkish part of the island. They now have a rare chance to make their escape.

[The 510 Series]

It is 2014. The townies, all aged 15, are at a shipyard at Blue Skies Industrial Park - apart from Gurney and Zoe. They are planning to leave Bullworth and the USA completely, in favour of England.

"Guys! I've got some good news!" began Edgar, "there is a ship leaving to go to Liverpool in a matter of hours. This is our chance!"
"Awesome!" I say, "but do we have water to take along?"
"Yeah, Duncan stole some from a shop on our way over. There's 10 litres between the seven of us and it'll take roughly 2 days to get there. Jerry, you and Duncan were always the most intelligent ones of us; will that water last?"
"Well, it's winter," Duncan starts, "so we won't need as much as we would've done had we gone later in the year."
"Why we going over there anyways?" Omar asks.
"We want an education, right? There's gotta be a better school than Bullworth in Liverpool, surely..." says Edgar. Omar reluctantly agrees with him.
"Anyway, we need a plan," says Omar, "Edgar, shall I send Jerry and Duncan to think of one?"
"Yes. Like I said, they were always the most intelligent ones out of us..."
Duncan and I went into a warehouse to think of a plan. That was easier said than done though. We managed to think of one in the end, and to cut an extremely long story short, we made it to Liverpool with little problem. Bigger problems, however, were just around the corner...

[The 510 Series]

We had to find somewhere to stay, and we found a corner shop which had adverts in the window. There were no adverts about accommodation or homeless shelters, so we went in to ask for help. The shopkeeper was a young Asian man, in about his early twenties, and had a broad Liverpudlian accent.
"Sorry, lads," he began, "but only four kids are allowed in at a time. Did you see the sign?"
"No, sorry," Edgar said to him. He turned his attention to the rest of us, and said, "okay, Otto, Henry, Leon? You guys wait outside."
They obliged.
"So, what is it that you'd like?" the shopkeeper asked.
"Err... Duncan, you do the talking," Edgar said.
"Okay..." sighed Duncan, "we're homeless and looking for somewhere to stay. Do you know any homeless shelters?"
"Well, you've most certainly come to the right place!" the shopkeeper laughed, "I was homeless for a bit, and I stayed in an excellent shelter. It's Father Jonathan's church hostel in Tranmere, just over the River Mersey from here!"
"Thanks, we'll check it out," Duncan said, as we headed to the door.
"Wait!" said the shopkeeper, "you guys are American. Are you over here illegally?"
Edgar gulped. Duncan and I shifted uneasily. Omar tried to hide his face.
"Y- yes," I eventually said, "but please don't tell the police!"
"Trust me mate, I won't," the shopkeeper chuckled.
"Good. Thanks again; see ya round."
"Bye. And good luck!"
We told the others about the plan.
"Sounds great," said Henry, "but how the fuck are we going to get there if it's across the river?"
We didn't have that once covered. We had to sleep rough, for one night at least.

***

Edgar said that best place to sleep rough was in a shop doorway, so we split up into three groups: Edgar and Omar as the first, me and Duncan as the second and Leon, Henry and Otto as the third. Duncan and I didn't find a decent doorway, but we found a dark place behind a safe storage warehouse, right near a scrapyard. There were walls either sides of us, with another wall behind us, so we decided to set our stuff down there. After a few minutes, a kid who we'd never met came along. He was carrying a pack just like ours. He stared at us.
"This your spot?" I asked.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Sorry. Should we get going?" I sounded relatively intimidated. The kids in Bullworth were tough, but having seen a fight over here - it was a group of teenagers wearing blue football shirts beating down a few teenagers wearing red ones - I knew that we had to be much more careful around here.
"Na, lads, you're alright," he said, to my relief, "just budge up so I can put my stuff down and you'll be fine."
"Sorry about earlier, we're relatively new," Duncan said.
He laughed, "yeah, I can tell. I've been around for about a month now; came over from Ellesmere Port on the Mersey."
"Cool. We came from Bullworth in New England."
"Sound. Name's Antonio, by the way. You?"
"Well, I'm Duncan, and this is Jerry," Duncan said, pointing at me as he did.
"Wait, did you say that you were from Bullworth?" Antonio asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Bloody hell! That's where Joseph Northrop fled to!" Antonio said.

[The 510 Series]

In the end, we never found out who Joseph Northrop was... well, at least not yet. The night was harsh - the rain pounded down relentlessly and at 5 in the morning a policeman came up to us and told us to move along. Antonio had told us that he had once found five pounds in a dumpster once, along with some untouched battered burgers from a nearby chip shop. We were really intrigued by this, as we were fucking starving, and he told us that we should look later on. We then realised that the rest of our group hadn't met Antonio, and they were very confused when they saw us with him.

"Who's this guy?" Edgar asked, with an unfriendly tone in his voice.
"This is Antonio," Duncan explained, "He slept in the same place as us yesterday..."
"Hi," Antonio began, stretching out his hand, "good to meet you."
Edgar reluctantly shook.
"Cool," Edgar said, "how long you been around?"
"Ah, around a month. I'll help you look for money in dumpsters later, if you like - you'll be surprised about what you can find..."

***

Later, all eight of us went to find stuff in the dumpsters and litter bins. Otto went with Leon to find stuff, and when the returned Leon smugly produced an unopened chocolate bar from his pocket.
"Great!" Antonio said, obviously pleased about it, "how about you and Otto share half with each other? There's precious little food in good condition like that around here."
We came across an alleyway with two dumpsters in it. Duncan, Antonio and I looked in one whilst some of the others looked in the other one. Edgar and Omar, sort of just stood around a bit, talking.
"Holy shit!" I heard Henry shout. The others backed off, shocked at what they'd seen.
"Antonio! Edgar!" Leon yelled, "help!"
We ran over there. What we saw stopped us in our tracks. Duncan looked sick. Antonio recoiled in horror.  Edgar and Omar were also really scared.
"There's a fucking dead body in here!" Otto shouted.
Antonio now just looked sad.
"Aren't you going to do anything...?" I asked.
"No... I recognise that person. Hank was his name. Another American. He was my friend. The Nazi Party... they killed him, I'm sure of it..."
"Nazis?" I asked.
"Yeah. Didn't you hear? The Nazis of London and the USA are out in full force, killing every American they can reach..."
We let that sink in for a moment. Then the sudden realisation hit us. The moment that we realised that we'd picked the wrong moment to go to England.

[The 510 Series]

It is nighttime in Famagusta, Cyprus. Five boys -you and four friends - are being held in a Turkish patriot's house, up in the attic - you were being tortured earlier in the day. The door is locked, but there's a fire escape window. It was locked - but you had a chance. You just needed to break a window in some way. You find a hammer. You swing it towards the window with all your might and it shatters. But then, you hear footsteps, along with cries of anger and outrage. You try to escape, but that's when he arrives in the room. He grabs you, and is about to throw a punch...

I wake up.
"You okay, Nikos?" It was Petros, "you've been sleeping for ages!"
"Where are we?" I ask.
"We're on the boat! We're going to England!"
"Thank God! Are the others here with us?"
"Yeah. They're out doing some work for Emre."
"Emre?"
"You know, the Turkish captain? One of the very few Turks who actually liked us? He's using us as his crew so that we can get through Customs easier."
I stood up from the bed, my eyes still heavy. I yawned, went into the toilet, had a piss, and then went out onto deck.
"Ah! You're awake!" Emre seemed happy to see me, "fancy earning some money?"
"Of course!" I say, "what do you want me to do?"
"Oh, nothing special, just need you to sort out these maps..."

***

"So, tell us a bit more about this Hank guy, Antonio!" said Edgar.
"Well, he came over here with three sisters - Madison, Veronica and Diane. They all died."
"All four of them?"
"All four of them. Madison was first to die. We found her hidden in the Mersey tunnel. Then it was Veronica. Her death was horrific - she was beheaded in front of the rest of us! I've not seen Diane, but I'm fearing the worst. Don't be surprised if you see her body turn up though..."

[The 510 Series]

"Let me see..." began Emre, checking the maps he'd told me to sort out, "yes, you've done well; I can take it from here. Thanks - I owe you five Euros!"
"Thanks, Emre", I say, "I'll be going now."
I went out on deck.
"Hey, Nikos! Over here!" I heard a call. It was Stavros. I approached him. He was with the others.
"Hi guys! Did you hear any news? You know how there are Nazis in England who hate Americans? Any news on them?"
"Err... yes, unfortunately - Diane Johnson, that girl who'd been captured, has been executed, with the footage sent to Barack Obama and David Cameron," said Stamatis, "they also have someone captive in the USA - apparently, his name is Jim Hopkins. He's fifteen."
"Fifteen? And they've got him?" I begin,  "poor bastard, he has no chance! He's a dead man walking!"

***

Antonio approached us all today, with a grave look on his face.
"Guys, word on the street has it that Diane has been murdered, and that the Nazis in the USA have captured someone!"
"Shit! Do you know his name?" Inquired Edgar.
"I believe it was Jimmy Hopkins. He's from New England, just like you guys!"
We were stunned. Jimmy Hopkins, a long-term friend of ours, had been captured by the Nazis. Him and Pete Kowalski came with us to Blue Skies and wished us on our merry way when we left Bullworth... what would they do to him? They'd kill him, that's for sure, but... how? We couldn't just let it go. We had to do something!
"Guys, we need to get back across the Atlantic as soon as possible. Jimmy is in danger!" Instructed Edgar.
"Wait, don't tell me you knew him?" Antonio said.
"We did know him..." I say, sadly, "he was a good friend of ours. We helped him remove this psychopath or sociopath or whatever he was from the local school."
"But, guys... I hate to piss on your bonfire here, but you were lucky to get over here in the first place - how do you expect to get back?"