First published by Allen & Unwin in 2022

ANH DO
Text copyright © Anh Do, 2022
Illustrations by Lachlan Creagh, 2022

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Illustrations by Lachlan Creagh
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 1

THE
WALL
I’d done lots of wild things over the last few the train – and the shouts of the soldiers who
years, but stealing a train was probably the had been guarding them. I silently wished the
wildest! animals luck, and bid the soldiers good riddance.

EEEAAAKKK !
Rattle! Clank! Rattle! Clank!

Is it meant to be making that noise?

woofed Brutus.
‘How should I know!?’ I snapped, and
immediately felt bad for taking my nervousness
out on him.
I eased the lever forwards, gradually
increasing our speed. How hard could driving
this thing really be? Forwards made the train go
faster. Back made it go slower.
Eagle’s cry from above filled my heart with
joy. I still could not believe we’d found her again,
after thinking she was lost for good.
We set out across open plains, and soon we
were zooming along. Wind blew in through the
smashed windscreen and blasted us all full in the
face – and nobody seemed to mind!

Clackety-clack! Clackety-clack!

‘That’s more like it,’ I said, daring to grin. The

forest began to slide by. Within it, I could still
hear the calls of the animals we had freed from

2
 The doggies pushed each other aside for a
turn at sticking their heads into the rushing air.

This is great! barked Nosey.

Like being at sea! yapped Pirate.
We’re moving so fast! howled Sunrise.
No one can defeat us for we are the
most powerfullest! yipped Tiny.
Some of Brutus’s flying slobber splattered on
my cheek.
‘Yuck, Brutus!’ Tiny ran across the dashboard, treading on

Sorry, said Brutus, licking his lips. buttons, and the windscreen wipers came on.

The dogs weren’t the only ones who were With no windows to wipe, they snapped off in the

excited. As the wind curled through my hair and rushing air and bounced about in the locomotive.

whipped it ever wilder, I felt like, for once, we ‘Tiny!’ I said, whisking him off the dash. ‘Be

were in control. careful!’

We were well and truly on our way to Tunny, Whoops, barked the little chihuahua.
the town where my parents had been seen ‘You can sit here next to me,’ I ordered, ‘until

recently. How long until we got there? you settle down.’

‘More speed!’ I declared, leaning on the lever. But I never settle down!
4 5
 Ahead, I saw something huge that seemed Soon I could make out what it was – an
to stretch across the entire horizon. A sense of enormous wall, running for many kilometres in
foreboding filled me. What were we looking at? either direction. And we were heading straight
for it.
 ‘I sure hope Tunny’s on our side of that thing,’ nestled against it on our side, was a group of
I muttered. buildings labelled Tunny.
Surely there was a map somewhere Well, that was a relief.
in the driver’s area? I looked through the I zoomed out and saw that the land on the
compartments, but the only useful thing I found other side of the wall was labelled The Northern
were a couple of plastic-wrapped sandwiches to Kingdom.
throw to the dogs.
Then my gaze fell on the smartpad I had
stolen from Officer Caitlin.
‘Hmm . . .’
I picked it up and swiped through screens of
animal cage controls. Eventually, I found myself
on some kind of home screen – where one of the
icons was labelled Satellite.
‘Double hmm,’ I said.
I pressed the icon, and up sprang a satellite
map of the whole area!
I could see a tiny blue blip moving along a line
– that had to be us, on the train tracks. I scrolled
along the tracks towards the wall – and there,

8 9
 I’d never heard of such a place. Some distance away, travelling in the same
I zoomed out even more, until I could see direction as us, was another train.
the shape of entire countries. My own was right And over there as well! Sunrise added.
there, labelled Riverland. To our other side was another train.
Seeing it spelled out on a map made me
realise I hadn’t really thought about my home
country’s name in years. I suppose I hadn’t really
had to – when I was separated from my parents,
I’d just been a little girl.
The neighbouring country, Braxas, was
marked with a red and black flag. Thinking back,
I remembered seeing that flag several times,
flying in places the soldiers had taken over.
So it was the Braxans who had invaded us.
After all these years, I finally had a name for the
enemy – but what did they want? Why had they
taken over Riverland?

Look there! said Sunrise, interrupting my There were, in fact, many different trains on
thoughts. It’s another one of the things many different tracks, all heading across the
we’re in! plains to Tunny.

10 11
 Suddenly, the dogs started barking together.

Look! Look! Look! 2

‘What is it, doggies?’ I said, sticking my head

UNEXPECTED
out the window.
We were running side-by-side with another

CARGO
set of tracks and some distance behind – but
catching up fast – was yet another train.
It was going to overtake us.

‘Get into the back of the carriage, doggies!’ I said.

‘Hide under the seats!’
Under the dash I found a big floppy cap and
put it on. As the other train appeared alongside,
I turned my head away so the other driver
wouldn’t see my face.
 PRAISE FOR

‘I really enjoyed this book. It was intense

and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
Five stars!’
Poldy, age 11

‘Wolf Girl kept me on the edge of my seat

the whole time . . . I never knew what was
going to happen next.’
Piper, age 13

‘Wolf Girl is an exciting and adventurous book.

I loved how brave Gwen is, and with the help of her
pack she is strong enough to survive anything!’
Cate, age 12

‘I loved it because it was full of adventure.

The best thing was the ending, which was so
exciting. I can’t wait until the next book.’
Olivia, age 9

‘Each page was more exciting than the last!’

Leo, age 12