by Mark Lingane
“Don’t worry, I make everyone sick.”
“Don’t you dare try to out-sad-story me. Go away.” She rolled over and flung another rock, which struck him in the chest. It clanged. “What are you wearing?”
“Ah, a kind of armor.”
“What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere, wearing armor?”
“I was on the train, and it got attacked by great scary flapping fiery things that destroyed everything.”
An impossibly long silence fell between them, accompanied by rain drumming on the wet ground outside. Even in the gloom, he could recognize the stunned expression on her face. Hatred was driven away by morbid curiosity. He could tell she was dying to ask.
Eventually she said, “Where do I start? How did you survive? Are there any others? You still haven’t said why you’re wearing armor. You’re, like, ten.”
“Thirteen,” he said.
“Whatever, a kid, and what on earth is a great scary flapping fiery thing? And the whole train?”
“Yes. Everyone else is dead, burnt to a cinder. Would you like to see it?”
After another long pause she pulled a face of disgust. “You bet I do.”
The girl sat up and steadied herself against the rock walls. After a couple of deep breaths, she staggered to the cave entrance. She sat on a large stone just inside. Sebastian had been hoping to sit on it, but allowed her the chance. It was another thing his mother was quite strict about. A gentleman always stands for a lady. He wasn’t sure this unnamed girl counted as a lady, due to the fact that she wasn’t old enough to be one, and she certainly didn’t talk like one. He wondered if he could push her off.
The girl looked very ill. Her face was pale, almost the color of the cyborg’s skin, and strangely bloated. Her hair was long and matted, so covered in dirt it was hard to guess the color.
She coughed violently again, doubling over under the force of her contracting muscles. She straightened up and rested her head against the wall. “Let’s wait until the rain passes,” she whispered. Her voice was hoarse.
Sebastian took out his canteen and offered it to her. She looked at it suspiciously, before reaching out and sniffing the contents. She raised it to her lips and drank heavily, then dropped it when she had finished. Sebastian scooped it out of the dirt and held it out in the rain to fill it up again.
“How long have you been here?” he asked.
“Weeks. Months. Years. Who cares?”
“Surely someone does.”
She snorted. “Funny way of showing it.”
Sebastian looked up into the dark skies. He enjoyed the scent of the fresh air, cleansed by the rain. The dust had been washed away and his head didn’t hurt. It was a good sign.
“So, what’s your name?” he said.
The girl was throwing pebbles out into a small pond that had formed a few yards away. Each pebble she threw landed directly in the center of the pond.
“It’s … Melanie,” she shouted. “Are you happy now? Will you stop asking now?” She threw a handful of pebbles at him.
The shock was visible on Sebastian’s face. Her tone had been brutal. His lower lip quivered.
“Don’t you dare cry.”
He could feel the sadness roll over him. “No one likes me. I have no friends.”
“Oh, for crying out loud. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean … Look, it’s not your fault. I’m the one with no friends. I’m sure you’ve got plenty at … school or the juvenile detention center. Whatever.”
He burst into tears. “They’re all dead. Even the ones I didn’t like.”
Melanie looked at him. “Did you do it?”
“Yes. No. They came for me and killed everyone else. Except the vet,” he said between his sobs.
“Who came?”
“The men in black armor. The cyborgs.”
“Cyborgs? Aren’t they just scary stories? I remember some of those stupid girls from school drooling over some guy dressed up as one. He was an idiot. Just because they thought he was a bad boy who looked hot that made him worthy. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” She burst into a deep, heartfelt weep.
Sebastian was now giving her a look of concern.
“Joshuz, look at us,” Melanie managed, “aren’t we the party people.” She wiped the tears from her eyes and stood. “Let’s go. Maybe the change of scenery will help. I’ll get my stuff.” She disappeared into the darkness at the back of the cave only to reappear moments later, carrying nothing.
“Where’s your stuff? Are you going out like that?”
“Like what?”
“In your underwear.”
“It’s not underwear.”
“Where’s your dress? You’re wearing a corset at least.”
She narrowed her eyes and poked him in the chest. “You just watch it. These are breeches. Good for carrying lots of things. And I’ll have you know that this is a clasped brocade corset. Absolutely everyone is wearing them.”
“But I can see your shoulders and the shape of your legs.”
“For crying out loud.” Melanie extracted a long black hooded coat out of one of her pockets and wrapped it around her, momentarily knocking a pendant around her neck into the light before being concealed. She raised the hood over her head and disappeared into its depths. “Happy?” Strands of hair fell in front of her face.
“Now you look like a witch.”
“Good.” Melanie stomped out into the damp forest with her coat flowing behind her.
Sebastian picked up his pack and followed hurriedly.
The rain had ceased and left deep, unexpected puddles across the plain.
“You don’t have to swear so much,” Sebastian said.
“My breeches are soaked.”
“You should’ve worn a dress.”
“I’m warning you, the last person who tried to force me into a dress got a boot in the groin and a frying pan in the face. And she was a friend.”
They drudged on through the mud. Sebastian could feel a mild pain in his head, but scanning the horizon, he couldn’t see anything. They approached the remains of the train as the sun toiled toward the mountains in the west.
“There’s the train,” Sebastian said. He pointed to the long black silhouette several hundred yards away.
“Oh,” Melanie said as they approached the wreckage. She felt it wasn’t personal enough. “My.” She felt it wasn’t religious enough. The vast stretch of the desolation was terrifying. “God.” She let the statement rest.
Melanie ran her hand over the charred mess. She kicked through the remains of one of the carriages, sifting through the rubble and bones.
“Something’s wrong,” Sebastian said. He rubbed his temples.
Melanie stooped over and picked up a small skull. She pulled back her hood, which fell down her back. Sebastian couldn’t help but notice her pale complexion. She appeared as sickly as his mother had when the doctor took her to the hospital.
Melanie spun the skull in her hands. It crumpled to dust and floated away in the wind. “They were children. Boys,” she whispered.
Melanie seemed to break, clutching her hands to her eyes. She turned her back to him and wandered among the wreckage. Her breath labored as she searched for anything salvageable. Large boxes were stacked behind a series of seats that had been folded together. She slid the first box from the top, just as the cyborg jumped out from behind the pile.
9
THERE WAS BARELY time to blink. The cyborg leaped forward, raising a large blade toward the young girl. She shrieked in surprise. Melanie blurred as she twisted, with the long coat twirling wide under her rapid movements. Sebastian heard another shriek, followed by a thud. The cyborg collapsed.
Melanie was breathing heavily and staring down at the man. Blood dripped from the end of the long knife she clasped in her hand.
Sebastian had watched the action unfold from the other end of the carriage. “Did the cyborg make a comment about you wearing a dress?” he shouted.
“Be careful; there could be more,” she shouted back.
“No, that was the only one.”
“How can you be so sure? Oh, this is stupid.” Melanie walked the length of the carriage and confronted him. “How do you know?” She kept a wary eye out for more cyborgs.
“I can sort of sense them when they’re near.”
“Would’ve been helpful if you’d told me earlier.” She shook the knife at him. “Was that one of those things?”
“Oh no, the great scary flapping fiery things are way, way bigger. And they fly.”
“Fly!” She looked skywards and wheeled around, scanning the horizon.
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t be able to move if one was near.”
Melanie sheathed her knife and wiped the blood off her hands onto her coat. “How did you survive all of this?” Her eyes bored into him, searching for clues. He couldn’t help noticing her hands were shaking.
“The last carriage on the train was a bit different. It was kind of like a mobile safe for a bank. McQuarry or something.”
She momentarily stiffened before finally relaxing. “You mean the one with the roof ripped off it?”
“Er, yes.”
“This is all very suspicious.” She glared at him. “If I find you’re a spy who’s come looking for me, it’s going to be worse than a frying pan in the face.” She peered at the last carriage, then back at Sebastian. She narrowed her eyes and waved a warning finger at him, then stalked off to the end of the train, pausing briefly to cast a suspicious eye over the cyborg.
Sebastian followed at a distance. As she clambered up into the carriage via the sliding door, he continued on to the opposite side of the train. He was surprised by what he found. He banged on the carriage wall, which clanged loudly.
Melanie responded in less than elegant tones.
“There’s no need to swear,” he said. “I’ve found out how the cyborg got here.”
He could track her movements by the muttering and profanity as she walked along the carriage. He pointed to the vehicle.
“What is it? It looks kind of like a bicycle,” Melanie said. She sat in the damp soil.
“They use them to get around. They go as fast as a horse.” Sebastian related his escape with Michael as she listened with her mouth open.
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t think he made it.”
“You know anyone who isn’t dead?”
“That’s a very unkind thing to say.” He paused and looked at his feet. “We have a choice. We can head back to New Toowoomba—”
“No!”
“Okay, or head on to Isa. Which is closer?”
Melanie sat in silence, looking at the unusual bicycle. “If we work out how this thing works, then we go to Isa.”
“You know the way?”
“You stupid, boy? Where do the train tracks lead?”
“Why are you so mean? You say lots of hurtful things, and I gave you the last of my water.”
Melanie sat looking at him. She pulled the cowl over her head and turned away. “I’m sorry. I’m not well. I have something wrong with me, with my blood, which means I won’t live for very long.” She paused for a considerable time. When she continued, her voice was cracking. “And when my parents found out, they said nothing. Just left and went away on a holiday with my stupid sister. It’s not fair. I don’t want to die.”
“Why would they leave?”
“Because of … look, you don’t know anything.”
“Where are they now?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. They’ll never see me again and I’ll never see them.”
They were silent. Sebastian stroked the vehicle. He had no idea how it worked. Even if he could get it started and making that terrible, loud roar, there were no instructions on how to propel it forward or steer it. He assumed the handlebars, which protruded out of a central black box, worked the same as a bicycle’s, but he hadn’t ridden one before.
Sebastian spotted a silver peg that looked like a pedal jutting out of the side, low down. He stepped up onto it and swung his leg over, but couldn’t reach both pedals at the same time. Leaning forward, he grabbed the handles and growled as he mimicked the cyborgs’ actions. The right grip on the handlebar twisted. The left one didn’t. That could mean something, he thought.
A large red button was positioned in the center of the black box. Sebastian pressed it. Nothing happened. Beneath the button was a small recess with a strange clip at its end. The size and shape were familiar.
“I think I know how to get it started,” he said.
Sebastian jumped off and ran back to the fallen cyborg, searching until he triumphantly raised the tinyIris. He ran back and placed the device in the recess. It clicked into place. The screen flickered and flashed. He pressed it, but nothing happened. A small picture of a long thin object appeared on the device’s surface.
Melanie looked over at the image. “That looks like a thumb,” she said.
“Erg. This is going to be gross.”
“I’ll do it.” She stalked off in the direction of the cyborg.
Sebastian continued to experiment with the vehicle, which meant sitting on it while making vroom-vroom noises and imagining racing through the forest.
Melanie returned and rolled her eyes at him. She placed the thumb on the display. The device vibrated and several small pictures appeared on the surface. Sebastian pressed the red button and the bicycle spluttered, then roared into life. He twisted the grip and the roaring got louder.
“How does it go forward?” Melanie shouted above the noise. “And can you make it quieter?”
Sebastian shrugged and released the grip. The racket reduced to a soft hum. He jumped off and examined the bike. Nothing looked like a go-forward button, but a small silver lever sat in front of the foot pedal. He pressed it down. It clicked. The vehicle shot forward, then fell over on its side with its rear wheel spinning in the air.
He gave Melanie a wide grin. “I’m awesome.”
“Luck.”
It took both of them to lift it up from its side, but each time they righted it, it shot away and fell over.
Sebastian reexamined the silver lever. He had clicked it down before, so he clicked it up this time. The rear wheel came to a slow halt. Together, they lifted the machine, and it sat before them looking black and menacing.
“You ever ridden a bike before?” Melanie asked.
“No.”
“I have.”
“You can’t ride it. You’re a girl.”
She gave him a look with daggers in it. “Don’t tell me what I can’t do. You can’t reach the pedals. I have to ride it.” She glanced uncertainly at the vehicle. “Shouldn’t be too different from my old one.”
Shouldn’t be too different besides how to start it, how to stop it, and how to make it go in between, thought Sebastian.
She tightened her hood around her face and straddled the bike, giving Sebastian a satisfied smirk. “Couldn’t do this if I was wearing a dress. Hop on behind me.”
Sebastian climbed up. His legs dangled over the sides and his arms flapped aimlessly as he struggled to find something to grab.
“You’ll have to hold onto me. Not there. Lower.”
Sebastian blushed as he moved his arms down and linked his hands around her waist.
“What do I do?” Melanie said.
“Click down with your left toes, and twist your right wrist.”
She clicked down with her left toes and twisted with her right wrist. Then they screamed for a very long time as the vehicle, at maximum volume, roared away.
The wind whipped past them, and sand stung their eyes. The oppressive heat and torturous sand bore into them for hour after hour as the sun arced above. Ahead, finally, the sun started to dip below the horizon.
“I don’t think I can take much more of this,” Sebastian shouted.
Melanie agreed. She let go of the grip on the right handlebar and the vehicle came
to an eventual and stuttering halt. She sagged forward. “I can’t feel my hands,” she whispered. “And I’m busting to go to the toilet.”
“There are other speeds, not just as-fast-as-you-can-possibly-go.”
They eased their weary bodies off the vehicle and watched it topple into the sand before turning away.
Melanie found a small hollow that would keep them out of the strong night winds. “Let’s stop here. It gets cold out in the desert at night. See if you can get a fire lit. I’ll scout the area for potential danger. Snakes, spiders, and stuff.”
“Toilet,” he muttered to himself.
In his backpack, he found a flint, and sparked a fire, after scooping up a small heap of kindling. Before long, the fire was blazing. It was a task he always performed during rare cool nights.
Against a mild pain, Sebastian closed his eyes and rubbed his temples until he heard footsteps approaching.
“You all right?” Melanie said, as she slipped into the hollow.
“You know how I said I can sense those things if they’re near? Don’t panic, but they’re in the area.”
“Where?”
“Not close.”
She stared at him briefly, then moved on to more pressing issues. She had returned with a dead lizard. She threw it on the ground, rolled it over, and started to cut it open.
“It won’t be much, or that nice, but at least we’ll eat tonight. Thanks to me.”
Sebastian opened his backpack and handed her an apple.
She paused in the middle of slicing, her eyes transfixed on the fruit. “You didn’t tell me you had food.”
“You didn’t ask. I didn’t know you were going to go off and kill local animals.”
She threw down her knife and stared at him. After a while, she grabbed the apple and bit noisily into it. “Oh, that tastes so good. You got anything else in that pack of yours?”
“Maybe,” he replied cautiously. “It’s meant to last.”
He tipped out the contents, and they immediately devoured the sandwiches. Sebastian scooped back the remaining food into the pack before Melanie could consume the rest. A small, delicate piece of white cloth lay in the sand.