by Leo Nix
“But what about speed and what about water? Deserts don't have water bottles growing on trees you know,” came Simon's somewhat tortured reply, even he smiled at the silliness of his argument. But, being Simon, he just wouldn't let Nulla get the last say. Not that he ever won that competition, not against Nulla, only Heidi had ever done that.
“Simon, you are a dick,” said Luke as he finished his stew then tapped his plate on Fat Boy's food truck for another serving.
“Simon,” said Nulla in that voice of his, “I'm going to put you on the camel patrol with the rest of the bike boys. If you don't like it after a month, I'll give you back your bike. How's that for a deal?”
Simon looked up from his empty plate and licked his spoon one more time to get at the last traces of curry. “Boss, you're on.” He joined Luke at the food truck with a smile knowing he'd won, well, sort of. He considered himself lucky. Two almost-wins in the one day was the best he'll ever get against Nulla.
Kris was perhaps the quietest of the men in the patrol. He worked solidly and was genuinely proud of his ability to handle a horse. “Nulla, let me help these cameleer bike boys when we get back to the palace. Anything that can go nearly two weeks without water and eat anything that grows is pretty impressive, I reckon.”
Major Lewis, or 'Louie' as he was now known, had earlier spoken to Nulla and Kris announcing that Sundown wanted camels for long range desert patrols. While everyone wanted horses, the argument for camels came from the experienced cattlemen and desert hunters. Horses would be best suited to manage their large cattle herds and to help short range patrols around the house paddocks. Camels would be responsible for the long range patrols into the desert itself.
“I want you to make sure every bloke who touches a horse or camel knows how to ride and care for them,” he told them.
When they arrived back at the Christian Palace that evening, the Girl Guards were there to greet them. They fussed over the horses like they were Red Dog's puppies.
“What is it with girls and horses?” asked Halo. “Can't you girls see these are working animals and they deserve respect, not cuddles.” He turned to Heidi, “One day they'll be going into battle and cuddles just won't cut it then.” Halo led his horse into the fenced home paddock. The girls followed and helped rub the horse down.
Halo wasn't finished though. “But if any of you lovely girls want to help, you are most welcome.” His boyish smile meant he would prefer if they did the work.
Nulla decided he'd better take control as he spied Heidi about to jump down Halo's throat. “Girls, you can help any time you're off duty, but please, ask permission from the boys.” When he saw Heidi about to open her mouth he continued. “I'm sure none of us will say no, but it's just a sign of respect to the animals and their riders. Ask Kris if no one else is around.” Heidi now closed her mouth and watched Nulla suspiciously. “Righto, everyone, finish grooming your horses then shower and supper on the rooftop. I heard Andy say his new beer is ready.”
“Nulla?” called that familiar voice, and Nulla could feel the hackles rise at the back of his neck.
“Yes, Heidi?” he said politely, knowing she was going to speak even though she knew he'd probably say no.
“Well, so… girls like horses and I think the Girl Guards should get horses too.” As she spoke he lifted his eyes to the heavens, so she said a little more firmly. “Come on Nulla, don't be so blasted stubborn. Girls are better at riding and caring for horses than men, it's a known fact.” That last bit was louder than the rest. Nulla was well aware that this teenager with the body and smile most men would die for, was just starting to wind up.
“Kris, Simon, Luke, come over here, boys. Arty, you'd better stay well back.” Kris knew from first hand experience that what the girls wanted they always got. Not by bullying but because they were so darn cute everyone gave in to them. Simon and Luke just stood by smiling. They knew what was coming and wouldn't miss it for the end of the world.
“Yes boss?” said Simon and Luke together. Kris loped his tall, lean body over reluctantly.
“You boys heard the boss-girl, what do you think?” he asked, his face was a blank space.
“Simon, if you don't support us…” Heidi left the sentence unfinished.
“Luke, if you want to live… I suggest you be on our side,” said Lulu giggling behind her hand. Luke knew she was keen on Simon. They'd sat together every chance they could before they'd left for the muster.
“Boss, I think the Girl Guards are right on the ball with this,” grinned Simon. “If we can just find a few donkeys for them that should make them happy.”
“Simon! I'm going to beat you for that!” cried Lulu. The teenagers were always together now, usually sitting by the lagoon talking - as teenagers do in every society. “Bloody donkeys!”
Halo over-heard the conversation and wandered over. “Donkeys?” he asked curiously. “I love donkeys, Lulu. I'll capture one for you.” He was actually quite sincere. Nulla felt a laugh struggling to burst from his chest.
“Nulla, can we take the girls out-bush and get some donkeys? Donkeys are very intelligent and gentle, I think they'd even defend our Girl Guards.” Halo, at five foot ten and almost as wide across the shoulders was completely unaware of Heidi's stare.
She smiled to herself as she saw a crack in the door and quickly jammed her foot in. “Nulla,” she said, but seeing his look she quickly changed tack, adding in a seductive voice, “Boss, can I suggest Halo and these lovely, handsome boys, go back and catch some mounts for us? I don't care much for donkeys though.” Her voice was soft, sexy and her face was turned slightly upwards. The light caught her sensual throat. She'd seen Glenda do it when she wanted something from Nulla, and was now doing it herself every chance she got. She found it worked with the other males, except Captain Johnny Walker.
“Kris, what do you think?” called Nulla still chuckling inside. He silently admired how Heidi would do anything to get her way.
“Yeah, we could do that. We know where the donkeys hang out. They really are beautiful creatures once they trust you. They take a bit more care than horses but I think the Girl Guards would be remarkably suited to them.” Kris was genuinely expressing his opinion but it made the boys laugh out loud.
“I mean, no, I didn't mean to be rude when I said that, Heidi. I mean, donkeys are special creatures, they're not like horses. They think differently, more like humans. Yeah, I'll take you out in the morning, if Nulla lets us.” He looked sheepishly at Nulla.
“OK, I'll give you five days to bring back enough donkeys to train as pack animals for our patrols. If they're suited to our needs we'll keep them.” Nulla had never worked with donkeys but he was willing to try if Kris thought he could make it work.
Heidi smiled at Danni and Lulu, turned and grinned at the boys. Lulu went up and hugged Kris. “I think we'd better round up some horses too, for our house patrols. If you do that for us then you're our hero. We'll make you something special for supper tonight, something just for you.” She giggled as she winked at Danni and Heidi. “You're our saviour against this mean, wicked man.”
Nulla laughed out loud. He knew he'd been manipulated into saying exactly what he was planning on doing anyway, though not with donkeys.
“If you girls join our 'animal management team' then you'll have to do a lot of the work, you know that, don't you?” he said seriously. “Our boys'll be out on patrol for weeks at a time and they'll need their remounts cared for while they're away. Can you promise me you'll do that? Every day up at the crack of dawn, feeding, grooming and caring for the animals?” He saw their faces melt with joy.
Danni spoke first. “Nulla, boss, if you let us have our own patrol animals we'll do anything for them.” The girls had quickly learned that if they used the term 'boss' the way Luke and Simon did, Nulla was a lot more agreeable.
“Righto, it's now up to you lot. Let's get cleaned up and you can plan how you're going to bring back a herd of donkeys… and maybe a horse or two.
” Nulla chuckled to himself as he walked off to talk with Andy and Captain Walker - there was always so much to be done.
That week they brought in more camels, horses and donkeys than they'd planned. Nulla and Kris both rejoiced that their troops would soon be mounted and on training patrols in a few days. Already the 'mounted cavalry' was split into horse and cameleer cavalries.
Every day some of the troops and their families came out to watch the boys training and handling their mounts in the stockyards behind the palace. It turned out that, although they looked cute, the stubborn donkeys were more of a damn nuisance than anything. Both Kris and Halo agreed that they would train them as pack animals – or just keep them as pets.
Jaina was still getting a feel for her new found friends in the commando. Being ex-Revelationist some of the community treated her somewhat diffidently, some outright rudely. Jaina wasn't one to hold back though. She won friends easily and made enemies just as easily. Fortunately she had Donata, Chan, Blondie, Fat Boy and even Poolie, her former prisoner, stand up for her.
Private Jason Little, her genius but awkward boyfriend, was a welcome addition. His boyish enthusiasm for anything anti-Revelationist won everyone over. It wasn't too long before they were accepted as one of Sundown's Commandos.
“Hey, Jason! Hey, Jaina! Want to come with us to see the donkeys?” called Assassin leaning out of his truck window. “Kris and the boys are going to spend the day training them. It should be fun.” The two lovers had taken their breakfast outside, to watch everyone preparing to leave for the station where the donkeys were kept.
Jason Little, the small young man with the wide girth, suddenly stopped eating his plate of beef and bean porridge, as if he'd been shot. Jaina looked at him curiously, so did some of the others.
Assassin looked at Jason and asked, “Are you OK, Jason?”
Jason had a mouthful of bean porridge in his mouth and it began to dribble onto his shirt front as he said in a small voice, “Donkeys? You mean real donkeys? Are we allowed to touch them?”
“Yeah, you like donkeys then Jason?” Assassin laughed.
“Yes, I love donkeys. I've loved donkeys since Shrek.” He turned to Jaina excitedly. “Jaina can we go. Please, can we go with the boys?”
His well-developed girlfriend took the plate from him and set it down on the bench. He'd spilled most of it anyway. “OK, we'll go with the big boys.” She smiled then asked affectionately. “But since when have you liked Shrek's Donkey? You've never said anything about it before.”
“I never told anyone because they'd laugh at me. But Sundown's nice. He wouldn't let anyone laugh at me, and neither would you or Blondie.” He giggled like a kid as he ran and tried to get into the back of the truck, but it was too high for his short legs. Everyone else was settled in for the ride except Jason and Jaina.
“Assassin, can you please come down and help Jason get in the truck?” called Jaina. Jason tried again and again but he was so clumsy that, despite the well-meaning stockmen grabbing at him, he stayed firmly on the ground.
“Mate, hold still and I'll help you up,” said Assassin as he grabbed him by the waist and lifted. The boys in the truck heaved too sending Jason over the back board to fall in a heap on the floor.
Assassin then helped Jaina into the truck although she really didn't need help - but she was female after all. Assassin Creed was considered 'very cute' by all the ladies. At just on six foot tall, blond haired, broad shouldered and a surfer's muscles that put everyone else to shame, he was constantly teased by Halo and Beamy for being the 'best looking bloke in the commando'. They reminded him of it every chance they got. Assassin had no idea what they were talking about, which made the girls gush even more.
“There you go, Jaina. Just make sure young Shrek here doesn't fall out. It's a bumpy ride.” Assassin then climbed into the truck cabin to begin their journey to play with the donkeys.
Chapter 2 - Post-Apocalypse Newcomer
It was their weekly management meeting and an impatient Tricia had matters she needed to discuss. Pinkie brought in some of Fatima's home-made cheese for everyone to try as they settled down to their meeting.
“Sundown, before we begin we've got some news for you but we need to invite someone in to tell it,” said Tricia as she looked outside to see if her special visitor was ready. Nulla sat there grinning. He struggled to keep his mouth closed, he didn't want to spoil the girl's fun.
“What special visitor? Did someone just drop out of the sky?” Sundown asked absently as he enjoyed this new type of 'Fatima cheese' made from their small but growing herd of milking cows. It was the best he'd tasted so far.
Pinkie led Glenda into the room by the hand and the men stopped eating, this was something they hadn't expected.
“Hi Glenda, so how's things? Ah, so what's so special? Has Nulla been a boofhead again or something?” asked Pedro. He was just as perplexed as the others.
“Nulla already knows, Pedro, but the big news is… we're going to have a baby.” Glenda had picked her nails to the bone worrying over this moment but, despite rehearsing her lines, it came out in one rushed sentence.
There was a moment of stunned silence until Sundown stood up and slapped Nulla on the back. Then he walked around to gather Glenda in a bear hug.
“I didn't know, you can't tell. You're so slim. Congratulations to you both. This is the best damn news we've had since, well, since the apocalypse. We now have hope for the future, a brighter future,” he said, struggling to find the right words for such an occasion. He wiped absently at his eyes which had suddenly grown wet. Then everyone was up and hugging. Even Pedro had a tear in the corners of his eyes as he wheeled himself across to hug Nulla now standing proudly beside Glenda.
“Hey, all of you, shoosh. I'd like to make a toast,” said Andy lifting his glass of communion sherry, which the palace seemed to have an abundance of. “To the happy parents-to-be, and to our first post-apocalypse baby!”
Everyone grabbed the nearest glass of wine, water or tea and repeated, “To the parents, and our first post-apocalypse baby!”
Glenda smiled making her face glow with joy. “Thank you, but nothing much has changed except we're going to add another member to our Commando.” She stopped and became somewhat serious. “Nulla and I, and our group, we lived in fear waiting to be discovered by the terrorists, every single day. That was before we crossed the deserts to be here, our sanctuary. When we arrived you so generously took us into your hearts, sight unseen. We're so glad we made the choice to come here to start our family.” Glenda started to cry and Pinkie came to her aid. Together they left to get more supplies for their little celebration.
Tricia brought everyone back on track as they began to sit back down. “I'll personally be taking care of Glenda and the other women who need obstetrics. Lorraine and Gail have experience in midwifery too.” The commando's head nurse paused before announcing, “I've got a few updates. After our last meeting we've begun physiotherapy and rehabilitation work with Katie and Lorraine in charge. We've some injured men and women who need therapy but they've been neglected. My fault, but now we have some respite from the fighting, we can start seeing to Charlene's shoulder; Bongo's leg, though he is up and about on it. We've got Roo's arm, but that seems to be fine. Then we've got Arthur's arm and leg which, I'm afraid…” she stopped and turned to Nulla and Sundown. “I'm taking him off duty because he pushes himself too hard. He has such a strong ethic to be the best, he's such a courageous young man. Lorraine said she would like to get him in for some physio work before he goes back to patrolling. She's good too. Beamy, well he's been shot up too many times but he's doing well with her care. He's improved, but, his lungs… that's going to take some time.”
Sundown nodded. “Yep, take Arthur off duty and anyone else you consider needs it. Tricia, how about Slimmy, how's he doing? Last I saw he was sitting outside sipping a beer with some of his mates in Birdsville. Is he going to be OK?”
“Slimmy wins the 'You Lucky Ba
stard Award', Sundown,” said Pedro. “He's looking good. It must be them bullets whizzed past his tubing and just left a few holes in him.”
“Yes, Slimmy's doing well, Sundown, but it was a close call. We really need to look into alternatives for antibiotics. The Alice Springs hospital has next to nothing in the way of antibacterials now. Pedro was just lucky, he was given their last infusion,” said Tricia.
“I studied biochemistry, antibiotics was one area I worked on in the food industry. We used the older class of drugs which worked a treat, but my knowledge of biologicals is limited, and very dated these days. What about natural remedies, aboriginal remedies?” asked Sundown, looking at both Tricia and Nulla.
“My mother was a healer back in the old days and her favourite remedy was Castor Oil,” offered Nulla. “I think it stopped Arty and Glenda's wounds going septic. We might consider it for inflammation and constipation. I know Katie used acacia bark and clay for Bongo's blood poisoning in Arkaroola after he and Roo were shot up. It's an old aboriginal remedy we used when I was a kid too. We could get Katie and maybe Jeda and Jenny too, to teach us a bit more. Katie learned a lot from her father, he learned it during his time with the desert aboriginals.”
Major 'Louie' Lewis wasn't so easily convinced. “I'm not so sure we should trust dirt and oil, it might kill more than it heals. Isn't there someone in Alice Springs who studied this sort of thing? What about Darwin or Pine Gap?”
Captain 'Johnny' Walker spoke up. “Forget Pine Gap, Louie, we've tried all year to get them to join us - you know that. They'll never share anything they've got. That yank bitch they've got in charge has busted more balls than our entire commando have dangling between their legs.” He stopped talking and his face turned red as he realised what he'd just said.
“Ooops, sorry girls, that's army talk. I promise to watch my manners in the future,” he said awkwardly.