The cargo planes and fighter jets took off from the military air station and begun their journey to Western Australia. The flight had been planned for this very date about five years ago and everything was running to plan, the army general was very pleased indeed.

It was the second day of the summer holidays. “I’m so glad the school year is over,” said Billy to himself.

“See ya mum I’m going to the park for the day with my mates,” stated Billy as he scoffed down a slice of toast.

Billy stepped outside, all his emotions were cast aside as this feeling in the bottom of his stomach made him feel unsafe and worried. He shook his head and jumped on his bike and rode to the park to meet up with his mates. As Billy rode you could tell that he was a really fit and athletic boy, his long brown hair flew behind him being thrown around by the wind.

“Hey, how long have you guys been here?” Billy questioned them friendly.

Billy dumped his bike next to the tree. “Aww not very long, where have you been”, Liam and Ben asked him.

They were sitting on the other side of the park on the steep hill. Liam was 13 years old and Ben was the eldest of the group, he was in year twelve at Como High School. The three boys started kicking a footy around. Gus and Oli arrived together a few minutes later on their BMX’s.

Now that every one had arrived they played footy for a while. But Billy sat down on the cricket pitch as he once again encountered that really bad feeling in his stomach. They all sat down on the cricket pitch with Billy and talked. Towards lunchtime more kids came down to the park.

As the day progressed there were at least twenty kids about Billy’s age at the park.

“Hey, there’s like heaps of kids here, lets like play capture the flag!” suggested Liam eagerly.

“Yeah, that’s a h-h-hea- heaps good idea”, stuttered Ben.

The group of friends went round and gathered some other people to play capture the flag.

After they gathered everyone, they returned to the cricket pitch. Billy started to explain the rules.

“Okay guys, basically each tem has a footy as their item, they have to hide it somewhere in their base and must stay three metres away from it until it is touched by the opposite team.”

“Yeah, and we divide the oval in half, if you cross the line and enter the other teams territory they can tag you and you become a hostage, you have to stay in the other teams base until you are set free by a team mate who has entered the opposition’s base and tagged you”, added Liam.

“And to win you have to take the other teams ball and touch it on to your own team’s ball,” Billy explained.

Picking teams is the hardest bit of the game, as usual people start having arguments about who is captain and what team they are on. While the boys…and girls were arguing, they didn’t notice the fighter jets and cargo planes flying over their heads.

“Okay, Billy and Ben have to be captains because they are the best players,” said Gus hoping this had resolved the argument so that they could start.

“Okay, but only if I can pick first,” Billy added quickly.

They had all agreed and they started choosing teams.

“Ok I choose the cricket nets as my base,”

“Dam! That’s gonna be really hard to get in and out of there,” Billy whispered to his team.

“Well we get the playground,” announced Billy

After Ben’s team had gone to their base Liam climbed to the top of the bushy four metre tree which was on their base and wedged the ball up there so it was hidden from vision.

“Ready!” shouted Ben.

“Ready!” replied Billy with a shout.

Billy was very confident in his speed and ability to dodge people running at him so he ran straight at the opposition’s base to cause a distraction. Liam had the uncanny ability to sneak around unseen even if there was almost nothing to hide him. So he snuck up behind the trees all the way to the cricket nets. Two of the smaller boys left the park and planned to return on the other side of the playground via a friend’s house, however these two boys would never return. Every one else stayed at the playground to guard the footy.

Meanwhile, the fighter jets that had flown over the park earlier were just landing in the Kensington Bushland. The two smaller boys who were now in the bushland stood there in a daze with their mouths wide open staring at the planes.

“Let’s go tell the other guys to come and look at the planes,” suggested the dark haired boy.

The boys turned to run back to the park but were shot dead before either could say a word.

“WOW!! Did you hear that?” asked Campbell.

“Ahh who cares, it was probably just those guys doing burn outs again,” replied Alex confidently.

Billy was close to the opposition’s base and was running rings around their defenders. The defenders called Ben to help them and he chased Billy all the way back to the dividing line and they both stood there and watched each other for a while. While Ben was distracted Liam climbed the fence of the cricket nets hoping to get the ball but he was seen, so he just sat there on top of the fence.

Ten soldiers ran from a plane and into the police station across the road, with the Sergeant shouting orders in a foreign language. Without hesitation they murdered all the police officers, showing no mercy. Soldiers from other planes ran into every house within one kilometre of the police station and killed every one just in case someone reported hearing gunshots. In the process the army killed men, women and children without thinking twice.

Liam was still sitting atop the fence thinking of a plan of escape as he was surrounded. Everyone was looking up eager to catch him as a hostage. As Billy was watching Liam, Ben sprinted towards the playground, Billy seized this opportunity and ran at the cricket nets. A couple of the opposition ran at Billy, so Liam jumped down and ran. “Run Liam get away!” shouted Billy.

The soldiers were putting up fences around the bushland and camouflaging the aeroplanes. They sent snipers up in trees as lookouts. This was the perfect base, no one could get within five hundred metres without being seen or shot for that matter.

The defenders were chasing Ben and gaining. Billy and Liam ran towards Ben, there was no escape for him now. “We’ve got ya now Ben!” Alex said with the other boys laughing.

The whole team had circled Ben, but they had made one significant error. While they were busy capturing Ben, Oli had climbed up the tree and the ball was in his hand.

Now they had set up camp, the soldiers searched every shop in the street and took all the food and anything else of value. They were trying as hard as they could to keep their presence unnoticed and so far they had done a very good job. They had done a massive amount of work in the space of two hours.

Oli was still up in the tree, he threw the ball as far as he could in the direction of his base. Michael picked up the ball and ran it into his base and touched it onto his teams ball, they had won the first game. Billy’s team just stood there wondering how they had lost.

The majority of the foreign army left their base and begun clearing people out of the area. They entered every house that backed onto the park and silently killed people who were occupying the houses. The army was moving closer to the park where all the kids were playing.

The boys were all discussing if the teams should change bases when they heard the scream coming from Michael’s house. Michael ran home to investigate. When Michael didn’t return after a few minutes had passed, they wondered why. So Liam, Ben and Billy climbed a tree to see if they could see into Michaels house, and then they heard the gunshot!

The soldiers ran into the park shooting at everyone. After the soldiers were sure everyone was dead they contacted their base via radio. A minute or so later a helicopter landed on the park and set up tents and made arrangements to provide a second base.

The three boys up in the tree were lucky to survive the attack and they were really scared. They studied the soldiers and agreed that they were from somewhere in Asia. They waited until night fell and then they escaped from the park and ran into the nearest house. They frantically tried to contact the police, the phone was ringing and ringing and they started to worry that they would be caught any minute. Finally the police phone was answered but the police sergeant didn’t believe them and thought it was a prank call. The boys kept calling the police until finally they sent an officer to the park. The soldiers also shot him, but he was able to radio in that the boys were telling the truth and that the area was under attack.

The soldiers entered the house just as the boys hung up. The soldiers realised immediately that these boys had contacted the police, the boys were taken as hostages and were very lucky not to be shot on the spot. The soldiers soon realised there was one fatal error in their plan, the SAS were based in Western Australia. With the realisation of this error, the soldiers commenced a full attack immediately, they had to move quickly if their mission was to be a success.

The invasion has begun…