FernFolio

Bradley, who has survived on his own almost longer he can remember, has collected his pack, Florist, a small girl with a hacking cough, Victor, more wild animal than child, and three semi-feral dogs, Hunger, Fearless and Shelter, from the doorways and back alleys of the Zone.  Bradley, Floris and Victor are three among the thousands of children lost, abandoned, or orphaned during the Dead Time, when governments, institutions, and financial and social safety nets failed, stores and businesses went bankrupt, houses and offices were looted, buildings collapsed, and people were thrown into chaos.
Each day, Bradley hustles for a good trade, or works a shell game scam with the Old Woman, a fellow traveller in the mean streets of the Zone, while Victor and Floris, who are still small and innocent-looking enough to draw sympathy, beg for food in the streets.  Though they live from one meal to the next, and in constant danger of being attacked and robbed for the rags on their back, the members of the pack manage well enough, sharing their meagre food and body heat in the basement of a burnt-out warehouse.
When their long day on the street is over, Bradley, Floris, Victor and the dogs crouch around the Old Woman’s fire, and listen to her stories – stories that have the power to take them far from the wretchedness of their lives in the Zone, stories the Old Woman tells about each of them, and stories she tells to teach them about the Invisible City, the Compounds, and the Forbidden Territories.  Each night, when the stories have been told, and it is time for sleep, she asks her questions, and the pack replies -
“What is the world made of?”
“Ashes and dust.”
“But what cannot crumble, what cannot burn or be broken?”
“Stories.”
One day Bradley helps the Old Woman con the lieutenant of one of the Forbidden Territories’ warlords out of a sack of vegetables.  Though he disappears into the crowd with his prize, the man comes after Bradley, and manages to find the pack’s hide-out.  During a midnight raid, Floris is taken, and Victor, bereft, takes off after her, only to be captured and caged by the warlord’s ragtag army of boy soldiers.  When Bradley goes in search of Red Dog’s headquarters, and is lured into a trap, he finds himself with only his courage, his cunning, and his stories to win the pack’s freedom, and to strike out in search a better life for all of them far from chaos and despair.
Written by Tom Pow, The Pack is a post-apocalyptical story about friendship, loyalty, and the power of stories.  Pow’s words are stark and beautiful.
FernFolio Editor