Birdsong - Chapter 1

A story begins about a girl who lives in an encampment for children, where there are frequent drills for terrible storms that seldom come, and always somewhere else, reportedly leaving complete destruction and widespread death in their wake. Many if not most children are without parents, forcing them to live communally in these encampments with the women who serve and oversee them under strict yet seemingly necessary protocols involving long periods of time in sealed underground bunkers, which our narrator chooses to make the best of, hoping to lift the spirits of the other children. Some of her peers, however, seem hellbent on making the lives of the children, especially newcomers, as difficult as possible, and while the girl tries to protect as many newcomers as she can, she can only get to one at a time. One such newcomer arrives on a particularly mysterious night, surprising her with his attitude towards his newfound situation and his resistance to her efforts to extend a helpful hand.