Shit! Her heart rate elevated, throbbing in her ears, as more sounds arose from the darkness. They’ve found me! She thought to herself, thinking perhaps the government troops had heard her screams earlier and come in search of her.
But she could see no beams of light, nor sign people were out there, it was pitch black.
Maybe it’s a bear? Wait, no. No bears out here, this is Australia you dimwit!
She squinted into the darkness, trying to fathom where the noise had come from, but couldn’t pinpoint it. Surely if it was the government they would have torchlights or something, she reasoned. She couldn’t think of any other animal it could have possibly been, certainly not as large as this one sounded.
Maybe it’s that goddam bigfoot fella, I don’t think there’s any goats up here.
The noises stopped, about twenty metres from where she lay and she stilled herself, listening intently, trying to gauge the sound’s location. Silence followed momentarily and she nearly went back into arrest when the noises suddenly started again.
But it wasn’t the sound of sticks snapping, this time it sounded metal, as if someone had banged two pieces of steel together. She knew it wasn’t an animal, she knew those noises were man made.
Before she could place the racket the knocking suddenly changed, almost sounding as if someone was thumping on an empty steel drum. Marion couldn’t contain herself any longer, “Who goes there!” she challenged.
No response came, the banging stopped and an eerie silence ensued.
“I said who’s there!” Marion called out again. “Show yourself!” her voice reduced to barely a whisper.
The rustling started again, only this time the noises were sticks cracking and leaves rustling. The sounds grew louder and she knew whatever was out there must’ve been moving towards her, it had heard her challenge and was coming to investigate.
Quickly Marion looked around for something to defend herself with and fretted when she realised she had nothing to fight back with.
Should’ve kept that damn flare gun!
Hastily, she rustled around on the earthen ground for some sort of an object, a stick, anything that might offer her some protection. Breathing a small sigh of relief, she grabbed hold of a thick branch from a fallen tree and pulled it close into her chest. She tried to sit up but found it too difficult, so instead steeled herself for whatever was coming at her, hands clasped firmly around her new stick.
Through the break in the canopy she made out a shadowy figure as it stepped into view, covered enough by the darkness so Marion couldn’t make out any distinct features. She determined it was a person, couldn’t make out the sex, but noticed they were carrying a large shovel, hanging by their side as they approached.
She squeezed the branch in her hands tightly.
“Who are you?” she yelled with as much force as she could muster, but knew her voice must have only been a murmur, she did not have the strength to call out loudly.
The figure didn’t reply, but the shovel dropped from the stranger’s side to fall to the ground, along with the person, who fell to their knees right by Marion’s side.
“Marion!” the husky voice sounded, confusingly.
But before Marion could think she shrieked, “Get away! Get away!” and starting swatting at the dark figure with the branch in her hands.
The branch collected the unarmed shadowy figure to the side of the head and sent them rolling to the side, Marion went to take another swing but the person had fallen out of her reach.
“Argh!” a female voice sounded, “What the hell Marion?”
“Huh?” Marion called out, confused as she recognised the voice. “Is that you Lucinda?”
“Awww,” the voice wailed. “What did you do that for?”
Marion recognised the voice instantly as Ma’am, otherwise known as Lucinda Caradoc. Marion was surprised but bore no sympathy for her, “Well you should have said who you were then. Like to give a woman a heart attack out here.”
“So should you … I didn’t even know what, or who you were.” She regained her composure and returned to Marion’s side.
“The hell are you doing stomping around out here anyway? I thought you’d left, buggered off with your super-god?”
“I should ask you the same thing, what the hell are you doing out here?”
Marion tried to remain proud but as soon as Lucinda saw the defibrillator kit lying next to her she figured things out very quickly. “Where’s my daughter?”
“Hmmm …. Yes I’m fine, thank you for asking.”
“Always the difficult one!” Lucinda said, playing with the defibrillator kit.
“It doesn’t work. I think it ran out of battery.”
Lucinda pushed a few buttons and the machine activated, she turned to Marion and commented dryly, “It shuts itself off when not in use, dummy, got to reset it.”
She could see Marion mutter something under her breath in response, but didn’t say anything, instead she affixed the wires back onto Marion’s body. Marion would’ve refused if she had the strength to fight off Lucinda, but she didn’t.
“What are you doing out here?”
“Long story Ma’am,” Marion replied.
“Here we go again.” Marion only called her Ma’am when she was upset with her.
Lucinda didn’t say anything though, only continued to work with the defibrillator. It indicated trauma was apparent and medical attention was needed as soon as possible. Whilst she was doing this she noticed Marion shivering, seeing the blanket she quickly grabbed it and threw it over her. Marion cuddled it thankfully, happy to have a reprieve from the cold.
Lucinda stopped once Marion was settled and looked about her, which made little sense to Marion as she observed, for there was nothing to look at in the dark. But Lucinda seemed to be transfixed on the direction that she’d come from.
“What were you doing over there?” Marion asked curiously.
“Nothing.”
“And what was that banging for over there?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit Lucinda, what are you doing here?”
“I asked you the same question.”
Realising the futility of the situation Marion decided to give way, it was always the way in arguments between them, Ma’am would always win.
“I’m here because I had a heart attack and I didn’t want the girls to waste themselves here on me.”
“Catlin? You saw her? Where is she?”
“Easy,” she calmed her. “The government grubs decided to take over the installation and …”
“I saw something on the news, it didn’t mention anything about the girls except they were wanted?”
“They’re ok, as far as I’m aware. We escaped but then this happened to me, so I sent them on their way without me.”
“When did you see them last?”
“Hmmm, a few days maybe. I really don’t know how long I’ve been up here.”
“What happened to you?”
“Heart attack, several in fact.”
“And they what, just left you here?”
“I made them.”
“How?”
“I told them the truth Lucinda.”
“Truth about what?”
“About everything, from the start.”
“Great. Just bloody great. Why did you tell her?”
“Tell her?”
“Catlin, did you tell her that …?”
“No, I didn’t tell her that part.”
“Good.” Lucinda breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’re an evil bitch aren’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what it means.” Marion stared at her, remembering the last entry on the threads. “I also know what you’ve done.”
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“You have no idea what I’ve done, or what I’ve had to go through. So don’t even try and get on your high horse with me.”
“Oh I do, I checked the logs. I know exactly what you’ve done.”
“Oh that. Yeah.” She dismissed it, “we need to get you to a doctor.”
“Why did you do it Lucinda?”
Lucinda paused a moment and her chin started to bobble, followed by a tear drop. She wiped it away quickly but didn’t answer the question.
“Which way did the girls go?”
“I sent them east.”
“Should have sent them north west, it’s closer.”
“Oh whatever! I didn’t know, the roads are east.”
“So are the government people.”
“They went down the ledge first, so I don’t think so.”
“Well I didn’t see anyone on my way back, I hope they’re not lost.”
“They’ll be ok. The road isn’t that far.”
“True.”
“Where did you go anyway?” Marion wondered.
“The black man, I went to see the black man.”
“Smith? That’s where I sent the girls, to find him.”
“He’s well gone. Gone to join Alison over in Greece.”
“Dammit!” she worried. “And Greece? Alison? Are you talking about Alison Benchley?”
“Yes, apparently she’s helping him.”
“I think Suni was helping Alison too, have you heard anything about her too?”
“She’s dead.”
“Oh my god, that’s terrible. What happened?”
“Government.”
“Well what are we going to do about the girls, they’ve left for nothing if the black man’s not there.”
“It gets worse.”
“Lucinda?”
“Samuel’s on his way back here, apparently to restore order to the world. He’s trying to get the U.N to agree to help him find the remaining threads and ‘let him prevent the next catastrophe’. They’ve agreed to give him anything he needs, including the Destiny installation.”
“Oh, what an awful mess this is.”
“It gets messier.”
“How so?”
“I came back for a reason Marion.” Lucinda said, looking back over from where she had come from.
“Ok, I answered your questions, now answer mine.”
“Fine,” she took a moment to compose herself. “You’re not going to like this.”
“Hmmm, I never do.”
“There’s another one.” She sighed, indicating where she’d come from with a nod.
“Another what?”
“Another thing ... you know …”
“What?”
“A thread Marion, there’s another thread, right here. That’s why I came back.”
“Hmmm.”
“Can you sit up? Eat some food and water?”
“Sure.” Marion agreed.
Lucinda gave her food and water, enough to give her strength, but Marion was still fragile and suffering the aftermath of several heart attacks. After eating Lucinda helped her over to the clearing that Lucinda had made and quickly took a seat on the bush floor.
“Are you ok?”
“Fine,” she huffed. “Just dying here.”
“This won’t take long.”
“Hmmm, neither will I.”
Lucinda handed a torch to Marion, seemingly oblivious to her medical situation. “Point it there for me would you, I need both hands.”
Marion didn’t object, she was just happy to be sitting down instead of having to cope with the effort of standing. Lucinda turned and with a shovel in her hand began hefting blows onto a steel plate covering the ground.
“Don’t you have the keys?” Marion asked.
“Just shut up would you, and keep the light here, I can’t see properly.”
Eventually Lucinda severed the lock that was secured to the steel plate and, placing the shovel aside, bent down to open the hatch. It was only a small plate, less than a metre squared, but Lucinda lifted it effortlessly and opened what was sealed beyond it.
“A tunnel?” Marion asked, shining the light down it.
“Yep.”
“To where?”
“Let’s find out.”
“I can’t go down there.”
“And why not?”
“Lucinda …” Marion sighed, “My time has come. I already nearly died coming out of that other bloody hole over there, now you want me to go down another one?”
“Easy!”
“No, not easy. That tunnel is too much for me. I’m done.”
“Don’t say that, don’t give up, I need you!”
“Yeah well you always needed me, but I never needed you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you are selfish Lucinda Caradoc and that all you care for is yourself and your own self interests.” Lucinda only stood there, on the precipe of the tunnel entrance starting agape at Marion, nothing to say.
“Now I am going. I mean out of here. All I want from you is one thing, can you do that for me?” Marion asked, the hand holding the torch now shaking.
“You’ll be fine Marion, once I get …”
“I said can you do me this favour?”
“What? Your daughter?”
“Oh my sweet Ursula.” Her eyes began to dampen at the mention of her daughter.
“I will look after her.”
“No, not that.”
“What then?” Lucinda asked, confused.
“Finish what we should have finished, when this all started. Don’t be selfish and go after your own interests, help the black man, help the Earth. If I have one regret it’s that I never did anything about this, I always went along with it and now I look at what the world has become, I am disgusted at my actions.”
“Marion, I don’t mean to point it out but you’ve been locked up here in the mountains for nigh on thirty years.”
“So?”
“So what would you even know about what the world has become?”
“You just can’t stop yourself can you?”
“What?”
“The words came out your mouth before you even thought of the answer, ignorance Lucinda. I’ve worked the threads. I’ve worked surveillance. I’ve seen more than any person has seen what people are really like. I’ve seen thousands of people and their true nature. I’ve seen what they have done to their fellow man, I’ve seen what they have done to Earth, all of it, through the thread. No foul action escaped my attention … man is nothing but ego.”
“Oh shit.” Lucinda cursed as she realised Marion was right. She’d worked the thread station intimately, if anyone could understand the true nature of man it would be her.
Marion slid sideways and lay on her side, Lucinda moved back to check on her but Marion raised a hand to stop her. “Leave me be.” she started closing her eyes. “I just want to rest.”
Lucinda could only stand and watch as Marion closed her eyes and curled into a ball. As she stood looking over Marion she turned and stole a look back at the open tunnel and then back again at her friend, trying to decide what she should do.
Without giving it a second thought she climbed out of the tunnel and moved over to Marion. She knelt next to her and carefully manoeuvred Marion’s head into her lap, where she caressed and stroked her hair softly.
“If you’re dying then you’re not doing it alone.”
But no response came from Marion, only light and intermittent breaths from her mouth as consciousness slipped away from her.
Then suddenly Marion’s eyes opened, full of fear and pain, as Lucinda held Marion’s head she could feel her muscles spasmodically convulsing. If it was another heart attack L
ucinda could do nothing but hold her friend carefully as she convulsed in her hands and struggled with the pain she was under.
But Marion didn’t utter a sound as this occurred, her eyes remained transfixed on Lucinda, seemingly drawing strength from it.
Lucinda gave an equally strong look back, trying to will the woman to fight off what was happening, but it was to no avail, Marion’s eyes lost focus and the pupils in her eyes began to dilate.
She lapsed back into unconsciousness, her body going limp in Lucinda’s arms.
Quickly her breath became a rasp and then a whisper. It softly and slowly drew in and out, getting slower with each breath she took. Lucinda looked around for something to aide her, but knew there was nothing she could do. The only thing left was to give her friend as much comfort as possible.
Lucinda couldn’t help but think about the poor woman, who must’ve been alone in the bush for days on end, slowly dying. She’d always been there for her and now the thought that perhaps she wouldn’t be freaked her out.
Marion had been a true friend, not one who always agreed and placated her, but one who challenged her, one who made her think twice, one who truly had made sure she never forgot who she was.
Marion had always been there for her, always.
Marion’s breathing steadily slowed, the gasps coming less and less frequently until eventually they petered out to nothing. Her last breath softly expelled at the same moment a tear formed in the corners of Lucinda’s eyes.
Marion passed away in Lucinda’s arms.
- -
Catlin
“Idiot, there’s nothing in there.” Catlin accused Ursula, standing on the edge of a large hole, inside an apartment complex.
“Well how would you know that?”
“Look at this place, it’s been trashed.”
“Well you never know if you never check.”
“You want to go in there and jump over that? Be my guest.”
After an awkward start to their journey, Catlin and Ursula had made it out of the bush and back to civilization. Once they’d found the road it was only a matter of time before they made their way into Melbourne city and to the apartment they had identified back at Destiny.
They were surprised though, when they arrived, that a section of the apartment had been demolished.
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