The woman there gave me an appraising look. ‘Haven’t seen you round here before,’ she said.
I kept my eyes low. ‘I’m staying with my brother,’ I said. ‘Down the road.’
‘Really? What’s his name?’
I looked up. ‘Paul,’ I said, keeping my eyes steady, daring her to contradict me or call me a liar.
A long moment passed, then she nodded and packed the last of my things into a bag.
‘Here’s your change,’ she said, handing me a few coins.
Back on the road I shoved the coins into my pocket and hurried back to where Matt and Gracie were waiting.
‘Here,’ I said, handing them one of the packets of biscuits as I opened one of the bottles of water and took a deep swig.
‘How did it go?’ Matt asked.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘But we should get moving.’
As the day wore on it grew hotter but we kept walking. Once the land we were passing through must have been beautiful, rolling farmland and trees, with farmhouses on the hills and animals grazing in the fields. But with each passing kilometre it grew wilder, less kempt, as if the bush was already reclaiming the land, swallowing it up, covering buildings and invading houses.
We stopped in the late afternoon, and made camp in an old barn set back from the road. Just as it had last night, the darkness came quickly, but this time I found myself aware of the space around us, the great sprawl of the land and the birds. Somewhere to the east a storm moved against the horizon, lightning flickering from time to time, and watching it I was aware of the touch of a breeze from it.
The next morning I woke in the soft light before dawn; next to me Gracie still slept, her body curled in on itself. A little way off Matt lay sprawled on his back, his arms thrown out and his chin tilted upwards. I walked out into the pale light: to the east the storm was gone; in its place low cloud shrouded the rising sun. It would be hot again today, I thought – although it was still early I could feel the heat massing in the air – yet despite that I felt suddenly happy, and free.
I tried to hang on to that feeling as the morning dragged on, but it was difficult. The sun was hot and Gracie was feverish and needed to be carried for long stretches. For the past couple of days I had been able to rely on Matt to help me with that at least some of the time, but since yesterday he’d been distant, his long face pale, as if he were growing ill. I tried to think through what we would do if he was getting sick, whether I could risk staying with him if he couldn’t travel or if it would be better to leave him and move on. Would he leave us? I wondered.
Because of the heat we were all drinking more than I had expected, and by midday the bottles I had bought yesterday were beginning to run low. I suggested filling our bottles at one of the creeks or looking for a water tank in one of the abandoned houses we passed from time to time, but Matt was against the idea, saying we couldn’t run the risk of one of us swallowing some kind of parasite and falling ill.
At about eleven we came around a bend to find a house set back from the road behind a high fence. At first we assumed it was abandoned, but as we approached it two dogs appeared and began to bark savagely. We stopped, staring up at them.
‘Do you suppose anybody’s home?’ I asked.
Matt wouldn’t take his eyes off the dogs as they hurled themselves against the fence. With their sleek black and white fur and massively muscled forequarters and thick, powerful heads, they didn’t look like any breed I knew, instead they looked like creatures somebody had bred to hurt people. ‘You’d think they’d come out if they were.’
‘I could go see if there’s somewhere we could get in where the dogs can’t get us.’
Matt shook his head. ‘I’d be surprised if there was. And anyway, it’s too dangerous. If they caught you they’d tear you apart.’
I nodded, kneeling down beside Gracie, who was sitting slumped on the verge. In the sunlight she looked ghostly, her eyes sunken and dark.
‘Would you like me to carry her for a while?’ Matt asked. I hesitated, then nodded, grateful for the chance to rest a bit. I was about to thank him when I heard a car engine, and saw a ute coming around the bend, and froze.
It wasn’t the first car we’d seen, of course, or even the first person – yesterday we’d seen a pair of kids playing in front of a house – but those other times we’d had enough warning to step away from the road and hide. This time the sound had been obscured by the barking of the dogs and the bend in the road.
The dogs fell silent as the ute skidded to a halt in the driveway. For a moment everything was still, the only movement the cloud of dust that was slowly dissipating behind the ute. The driver rolled down his window.
‘You looking for me?’ he asked. Beneath his close-cropped hair his face was obscured by dark glasses, and although he hadn’t made any overt threat I felt myself grow tense at the edge of menace in his voice.
Matt took a step forward. ‘Is that your place up there?’ he asked.
‘Why’d you want to know?’
‘No reason,’ Matt said. Behind him I forced myself to stay still, uncomfortably aware of the way he kept looking past Matt to stare at me and Gracie.
‘What are you doing out here anyway?’
‘Just walking,’ Matt said. ‘We’re staying up the road.’
The man ignored him. ‘What’s wrong with her?’ he asked, indicating Gracie.
I took a step forward, shielding Gracie from his gaze. ‘She’s just tired,’ I said.
The man stared at me. ‘Would you like to come in?’
‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘But we’re fine. We should just get her back.’
‘I could drive you.’
‘No,’ I said, taking a step backward. ‘That’s okay.’
‘Be careful then. We get bad people through here.’ His eyes didn’t leave me and Gracie. ‘And runners.’ At this last he smiled unpleasantly.
Waiting only to see that Matt was following me I began to walk away, willing myself not to run, tensed for the sound of the engine in case he came after us. Only once we were around the bend did I look back, catching one last glimpse of the back of his ute still parked in the same spot.
‘Here, give Gracie to me,’ Matt said as he caught up to me, but I shook my head.
‘No,’ I said. ‘Just keep walking.’
‘But what if he comes after us?’
‘If he was going to try to catch us he’d have done it already.’
As I spoke we reached a stand of trees. ‘Here,’ I said, grabbing Matt’s arm and pulling him toward them.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘Didn’t you see the way he was looking at us? He knew something was up.’
‘We need water.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘But if he calls Quarantine or comes after us, none of that will matter. Come on.’
Although I was trying hard to sound like I had a plan, I really didn’t; all I had was the certainty that something terrible would happen if we stayed on the road.
The spot where we’d left the road was wild scrub, a tangle of grass and ferns and undergrowth which scratched at our faces and pulled at our clothes. Frightened I would lose my footing with Gracie on my shoulders, I lifted her down and tried to hold her on my hip and push forward with my shoulder, but almost immediately a branch hit her in the face and she cried out.
‘This is hopeless,’ Matt said, but as he spoke I broke through another bush and found myself on soft bark and leaf litter beneath a stand of trees.
‘This way,’ I said.
I’m not sure how long we kept running. It felt like forever but it was probably no more than half or three-quarters of an hour. After that initial break we managed to find a track of sorts which we followed for a while, then we came to an area where the ground gave way to black water and marsh. Skirting around we em
erged into a sort of clearing, not far from an old shed, its roof fallen in and walls half-sunk. I lowered Gracie to the ground and looked around, trying to spot some kind of landmark.
‘That hill,’ I said. ‘It was on our right this morning, wasn’t it?’
Matt looked at it, then up at the sun.
‘I don’t know. I’ve been trying to keep the sun on the left so we know we’re heading north, but it’s too high for it to really work.’
When I didn’t answer he looked down again. ‘We’re lost, aren’t we?’
I shook my head. ‘No. Or perhaps a bit. But it doesn’t matter: we have to keep moving.’
We walked through the afternoon and into the evening. Eventually the bush gave way to abandoned farmland, before the trees took over again, but other than the shed in the clearing we came across no other signs of habitation. In the late afternoon we stopped for a while beneath some trees under an outcrop of rock. It was hot and we were all hungry and desperately thirsty. For the past hour or two Gracie had been asleep on my shoulders: now she was awake she had started complaining she was thirsty, ignoring my repeated response that we had no water so I couldn’t do anything about that.
‘We can’t keep going much longer,’ said Matt. ‘Gracie has to rest and we need somewhere to sleep for the night.’
‘I know,’ I said irritably. ‘Perhaps if you’ve seen a house or hotel I’ve missed you could tell me?’
‘I’m thirsty,’ Gracie whined.
‘I know,’ I said. ‘And I’m sorry, but we haven’t got any water.’
‘Perhaps I could go ahead and try to find somewhere?’ Matt said.
‘What happens if you can’t find your way back?’
‘I won’t get lost.’
‘Are you certain? Because I’m not.’
‘I’m thirsty,’ Gracie said again.
‘I know,’ I said, more tersely this time. ‘But like I said, we haven’t got any water.’
‘When can we get some?’
‘I don’t know,’ I snapped.
‘Perhaps I should go and find some,’ said Matt.
‘Not without us.’
‘I really am thirsty,’ said Gracie.
‘I know!’ I snapped. ‘We don’t have any water!’
There was silence for several seconds after my outburst. Finally Gracie began to cry, long, choking sobs, and Matt sat silently, looking as if he wished he was anywhere other than here.
I reached out and pulled Gracie toward me. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean to shout at you.’ But she didn’t answer. Instead she just lay against me, small and hot and quietly sobbing.
Whether because she was thirsty or because the Change was burning through her, Gracie refused to settle, so I found myself unable to leave her until after it grew dark and she finally fell asleep in my lap, and even then I was afraid to slip free for fear of waking her again. But eventually I gave in, unable to bear the ache in my back and the stiffness in my legs any longer.
She didn’t stir as I slipped myself free and stood up, stretching my arms above my head and rolling my shoulders to release them. Overhead the sky was bright with stars, yet down here, amidst the trees, it was almost pitch dark. Earlier, aware we could go no further, Matt and I had tried to clear a space where we could sleep, picking over the leaves and dirt to remove stones and avoid ants and other bugs, both keenly aware how hard and unyielding the ground was; now, with the light gone, the forest seemed ominous and eerie, the wind shifting through the trees, and owls and nightbirds crying out in the dark, as if the creatures that inhabited the Zone ahead were filtering into the trees around us, seeking us.
I looked around, wondering where Matt had gone. At some point not long after dusk he had stood up abruptly and wandered off, saying he’d be back in a few minutes. Even ordinarily I would have been worried he had not returned, but after the events of the afternoon I was even more uneasy, so with a glance at Gracie I began to pick my way along the rock face in search of him.
Although it was dark it was possible to make out shapes in the starlight, even so I had gone twenty or thirty metres before I glimpsed Matt sitting against an outcrop of rock, his dark shape almost invisible.
Something in the way he sat, the stillness of him, brought me to a halt, and for a few seconds I just stood, barely breathing, watching him. He was half turned away from me, his knees drawn up, his arm huddled into his chest.
Moving quietly I approached him, worried he was sick or injured in some way, but he didn’t seem to register my presence, so it was only as I knelt down beside him and he turned to look at me that I saw the shimmer on his skin and the light moving in his eyes and finally understood. Matt was Changing as well.
13
In the split second after I saw the phosphor of the Change on Matt’s skin I took a step back in surprise. It was not deliberate, more an instinctual reaction, but even in the starlight it was possible to see Matt’s face change, his shock and distress at being discovered hardening into defensiveness and anger.
‘Please,’ I said, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know.’
He stepped back into the shadow of the rock face, his face disappearing into the darkness so all that was visible was the liquid glint of his eyes, the faint shimmer of the Change in the outline of his face.
‘Well, you do now.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
He snorted derisively. ‘Why? So you could give me some medicine? Make me better?’
I hesitated, stung by the anger in his voice. I had seen enough of him to know this anger wasn’t him, or at least it didn’t have to be, that it was his way of protecting himself. Keeping my voice level I tried a different tack. ‘How long have you known?’
He looked away. ‘Since before I left Adelaide.’
‘So you’re heading for the Zone as well?’
He nodded.
‘And the story about your brother, about him being up north?’
He shook his head. ‘Cain is in Adelaide.’
‘Does he know?’
Matt looked away, and nodded.
‘Oh, Matt,’ I said. ‘I’m so sorry.’
He didn’t answer. Somewhere nearby a bat shrieked. I turned and looked back the way I had come.
‘I have to get back to Gracie,’ I said. ‘Will you come with me?’ As I spoke I extended a hand.
Matt looked down at my hand and shook his head. ‘Maybe later,’ he said.
That night was one of the worst I’ve ever known. Unable to sleep I lay in the darkness listening for Matt, hoping he would return, more frightened with each passing hour that he was gone for good, a prospect that suddenly seemed unbearable. Next to me Gracie slept fitfully, shivering and shifting uncomfortably on the hard ground.
Sometime deep in the night the moon rose, and for a time I lay staring up at it and the great girdle of the Milky Way. Its brightness stretched from horizon to horizon, and I imagined myself falling upwards, leaving all of this behind and losing myself in its light. Once we had dreamed of travelling to the stars, of becoming explorers; now we scrabbled and fought to survive. What else lay out there, I found myself wondering. Were there other worlds, other possibilities? Or was this all there was, this chaos and fear and sense we were running from something we could not outrun? At some point I realised I was crying; surprised at myself, I tried to wipe my face, but the tears kept coming.
I’m not sure how long I lay staring upward, all I know is that eventually I slipped into sleep, only to wake in the pale light of the pre-dawn as if from a shallow slumber.
Matt was crouched beside me, his head lowered as if he was afraid to be seen.
‘What –’ I began, but he lifted a hand to silence me.
‘There’s somebody out there,’ he said in a whisper. He lifted his finger to indicate I should listen, and sure enough, I heard
it, the crunching of feet and then, quite distinctly, a man’s voice saying ‘This way,’ followed by a cough and the sound of somebody spitting.
‘Who are they?’ I asked.
Matt shook his head. ‘I don’t know, but we need to get out of here.’
I sat up quickly and, grabbing my coat, began stuffing it into my bag, but Matt shook his head urgently. ‘Leave it,’ he said. Next to me Gracie was stirring; I grabbed my shoes with one hand and Gracie’s arm with the other.
As I pulled her to her feet Gracie began to complain, but I wrapped the arm that held the shoes around her face to silence her.
‘Listen to me,’ I whispered, my face close to her ear. ‘There’s somebody out there and we think they’re looking for us. We have to get out of here as quickly as we can, but it’s important we don’t make any noise so they don’t realise we’re here. Can you do that?’
Gracie nodded, her eyes wide. I released her, but suddenly there was a volley of barking from somewhere nearby. Matt and I exchanged a glance and I saw the same fear I had seen in his eyes last night. I picked up Bunny and closed Gracie’s hand around him.
‘Here,’ I said quietly. ‘You hold on to Bunny. Make sure he’s okay.’
Gracie nodded, squeezing Bunny to her chest.
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Let’s go.’
We picked our way along the rock face as quickly as we could, following its curve upward toward the ridge. Although the hill wasn’t steep it was hard going: the ground was rough and I almost cried out several times as it cut into my bare feet. As we reached the top I motioned to Matt to slow down so I could pull on my shoes, then I knelt in front of Gracie and began to help her into hers.
‘Hurry up,’ Matt said, but just then a shout came from lower down the hill.
‘Over here!’
‘Shit!’ Matt hissed. ‘They’ve found our stuff. They must be tracking us.’
I finished tying Gracie’s lace then took her hand. ‘Come on,’ I said.
The Silent Invasion Page 11