Emma laughed as Alex jumped off the wall and landed on his backside. Emma laughed and sprung lightly off the wall. She helped Alex to his feet. Alex and Emma were both seventeen. Alex Brooke was older than Emma Dole by two months and five days. Alex had short, black hair, green eyes and pale skin. He didn’t tan much. He was about six foot tall. He was wearing jeans, a black t-shirt – that was stretched over his big, muscular chest – and trainers. Emma had long, brown hair, bright blue eyes and slightly tanned skin. She tanned more easily that Alex, but not much more. She was about five foot three. She was wearing jeans, a white, long-sleeved t-shirt and trainers. There was a pink plaster cast that ran from halfway down the palm, to middle of her lower arm. She had broken her wrist two weeks back while bike riding.
They were sitting in the park, on the brick wall that surrounded the whole park. Alex grabbed Emma’s hand and pulled himself to his feet. He brushed leaves and small lumps of half-dried mud off his backside. Emma laughed again. He shoved her in the shoulder, making her take a step backwards.
“Don’t laugh!” he hissed.
“Well, I am!” laughed Emma.
She shoved him back, sending him flying onto the damp ground.
“Wow,” said Emma, blinking. “I’m stronger than you! Ha!”
“You’re not stronger than me,” snapped Alex, getting to his feet. He wiped the back of his jeans again, sending leaves and bits of mud falling to the ground. He stood up straight and looked at Emma. She stopped laughing.
“Oh, aren’t I?” she asked, a huge grin spreading across her face. “I’m the only one that can knock you onto your backside!”
“I wasn’t expecting you to do that,” snapped Alex. “That’s why you knocked me down, because I didn’t have chance to defend myself!”
“And I used my bad hand,” said Emma, ignoring Alex’s comment. “Ha! Call yourself strong?”
Alex shoved her, sending her flying towards the ground. She landed with a hard thump on the ground. She glowered at him from the ground. She ignored his out stretched hand and pushed herself onto her knees and then onto her feet. She shoved his hand out the way and brushed leaves and mud off the back of her jeans.
“Oi!” she protested. “These are new!”
“Severs you right for pushing me over,” retorted Alex.
An ambulance raced past the park, lights flashing and siren blaring. Emma stared after it.
“Bloody gangs,” muttered Alex. “They’ve been stirring up trouble all week. Biting people, attacking people, and all that! Why can’t they just stop?”
“Oh, I heard about that,” said Emma. “Those gangs have gone around, biting people and killing them. Some people have even gone missing, haven’t they?”
“Yeah, seventeen people over the last month. And the deaths have gone up. It’s really annoying. My mum won’t let me go shopping alone until they’ve been stopped.”
“My mum is the same. I only just managed to convince her that I would be safe with you.”