"It hurts," he conceded.
"Your chin?"
"Everything. That cow did a right number on me." He grimaced each time he bit into his apple.
"That cow," I replied gruffly, "Just saved our lives."
"Speaking of cows, how’d the little heifer get free? I thought you tied her up, Jones?" Leigh demanded.
"Well, I…"
"You untied her, didn’t ya, ya big softy." Shorty grinned.
"And it's lucky for us I did."
"That remains to be seen," Leigh said. "I don't think we've seen the last of her yet."
"So what are we gonna do now?" Nanako asked.
"We can’t go north or west, not without risking running into Skel or Rangers, so we have to keep heading southeast."
"Now hold up right there," Leigh’s voice rose in alarm. "There ain't nowhere to go in that direction except over the river and into Skel territory. And you said we're going to Ballarat."
"That was the plan..."
"You promised!" he said, coming up onto his knees.
"I know what I said!" I snapped angrily. "But there's who knows how many Skel searching for us back there, plus the Rangers, including their senior commander. And I, for one, don't want to get caught again. How 'bout you?"
"But Jones..." Leigh pleaded.
I scooted forward, grabbed him by the shoulders, and stared into his light-brown eyes. "I'll look out for you, okay? You're gonna be fine."
"What, like you did last time? In case you don't remember, that didn't turn out too well."
"Hey, you're not the only one who got shot," I protested as I ran my fingers over the ugly scar on my forehead.
"Took three in the chest, did you?" Leigh shot back.
"That's not fair…" I began.
He cut me off. "Don’t go making promises you can't keep, that's all I'm saying."
"Can I get a word in edgeways?" David interrupted.
"Sure."
"Are you saying we're gonna go into Skel territory right now, without resting up first?" he asked, looking as troubled as Leigh.
"Just to the outskirts of the south eastern suburbs. It's the last place they’re gonna think of searching for us," I replied. "We should be able to find a safe place to rest and regain our strength."
"Nice theory," David said.
Chapter Seven
We rested until Nanako and Leigh were strong enough, and then resumed the trek south towards the West Gate Bridge, walking on the train tracks. The rails were barely visible now, as the gravel ballast was covered with dirt and grass. The wooden sleepers, what we could see of them, were rotting away. The power lines drooped overhead, though the steel poles still stood tall, even after a century of neglect. But the best thing were the trees and bushes that grew right up to the railway line, providing us with the perfect cover. No one would ever spot us in here unless they were to come onto the railway line too.
Leigh had grown sullen and kept casting dirty looks in my direction as we walked. I seriously don't know why he was blaming me for this; it wasn’t like I was in any way responsible. I did feel for the guy, though. He'd set his hopes on getting away from it all. I even told him he could. And yet here we were trudging straight for the last place on Earth that any of us ever wanted to go. The nuclear-bomb devastated, south eastern suburbs, home to the barbaric Skel.
We followed the train tracks until we hit the West Gate Freeway and then followed the freeway east towards the West Gate Bridge, which was the only way to cross the Yarra River.
The bridge itself was massive, ten lanes wide with steel box girders that reached high above us. Thick steel cables hung from the girders. Once thousands of vehicles would have travelled these lanes every day, but the long bridge was hauntingly quiet now, occupied by the wrecks of perhaps a dozen cars and trucks that had run out of fuel while attempting to cross it when fleeing the city.
The guardrails were still in place, but a hundred years of wind and rain had all but stripped them of their enamel paint, causing the exposed metal beneath to slowly rust and corrode. Cracks had appeared on the asphalt surface, revealing the joints between the sections.
Leigh stumbled to a stop when we stepped onto the bridge, clearly worried as he took in the scene before us and the river below.
"What?" I asked impatiently.
"You can't seriously expect us to cross that."
I listened to the wind as it howled and whistled its way through the bridge, and I could relate to his concern. "We'll be fine."
"Didn't a whole selection collapse once?"
"Only while they were building it," David replied.
"What's to stop it happening again?"
"As I said, it only happened while they were building it, and that was 140 years ago," David said as he went over and reached out a hand to Leigh. "Come on, I'll walk with you."
Leigh held up a hand, keeping David at arm's length. "Don't invade my space, man."
I sighed, wondering when Leigh would stop pushing David away for what he'd done.
"If it hasn't fallen down in a century and a half, it's not gonna fall down today, so stop acting stupid and keep moving," I said.
"Fine!" he spat, and hurried over to Nanako, Shorty and me. "But if we get blown off or the bridge collapses; I'll never forgive you."
"That's the spirit," I said, giving him a friendly slap on the shoulder.
And so with David now trailing behind, we passed slowly over the bridge. As we went I marvelled at the commanding view it afforded us. The broad, meandering Yarra River, nicknamed the 'Upside Down River' since the water was brown rather than blue. The dilapidated warehouses that butted up against the river on our left. The miles of wild bushland that surrounded the warehouses. And Coode Island – a concrete landscape dotted with terminals where container-ships once came to unload their cargo.
We were about three-quarters of the way across the bridge when one of my habitual glances over my shoulder caught a flash of blonde hair.
"We’re being followed," I informed the others.
"What?" Leigh squeaked.
"Let me guess – it’s her," Nanako said dourly as she shot me a dirty look.
"That's my guess."
"What do we do?" David asked.
"We’re gonna have to catch her and take her prisoner – we can’t leave her running around; she’s too dangerous."
"Killing her would be a lot easier," Leigh suggested.
"Not an option!" I hissed.
"May I point out that if you hadn’t untied her, we wouldn’t be having this conversation," David said.
"You’re right; we’d be having a conversation with the Skel and the Rangers instead," I shot back testily.
An abandoned eighteen-wheel semi-trailer truck just ahead with the driver's door hanging open gave me an idea. "Nana-chan, David and Leigh, you guys keep going, and talk noisily amongst yourselves. Keep saying my name, as though you’re talking to me. Shorty and I’ll hide in this truck and ambush her when she walks past."
"Hey, why do I get the short straw?" Shorty pouted.
"David, Leigh and Shorty can keep going," Nanako corrected, "You and I will set the ambush."
"But…"
She stuck a finger on my lips. "After you, I’m our best fighter, and I’m the best archer too. So suck it up, this ain’t open to negotiation."
I could tell by her expression – the one where she pursed her lips and furrowed her brow – that there was no way I could change her mind, so I nodded.
So while the other three goons continued on their way, chatting noisily amongst themselves, Nanako and I clambered up into the truck cab. We crouched on the floor between the seats and the dashboard so that we were not visible from outside. I had my pistol ready, and Nanako had her bow and arrows.
"Don’t make a sound, not even with your breathing," I whispered, "She can hear as well as I can."
Eyes wide, Nanako nodded.
And then we waited. And waited.
I was beginning
to think she wasn't gonna show when I heard furtive footsteps. Well, I could tell the Custodian girl was trying to be quiet, but truth be told, I could have heard her a mile away if it wasn’t for the gusts of wind that buffeted the bridge.
The footsteps drew closer, and with my heart thumping away in nervous anticipation of what could be another ugly confrontation, I nodded to Nanako, indicating that she get ready.
But then disaster struck. Nanako, in pain from crouching so long, tried to move her foot slightly so she could move quickly when she had to, but her foot scuffed across the dirt-encrusted floor.
The approaching footsteps ceased mid step.
"Shoot, she’s on to us!" I said as I sprang from the truck with my gun in hand.
To my dismay, the Custodian was ready for me. She was also armed with a four-foot long metal bar. She hewed it at me with all her might, forcing me to leap back to avoid having my brains knocked out. I was hoping to scare her into capitulating by threatening her with the gun. I wasn't actually going to use it. If I did, every Skel in the neighbourhood could hear it and come running.
The girl rushed forward, and with another great sweep of the bar, drove me back against the empty fuel tank beneath the cab's open door. I lost my balance and stuck out my left hand to catch myself. At that moment, an arrow swooshed out of the cab and hit the girl in the right bicep, the arrowhead passing right through her arm.
The girl fell back with a strangled cry, the bar slipping from her fingers to clatter noisily upon the road. Taking advantage of the sudden reversal of our fortunes, I pushed off from the truck, and although I didn’t want to hurt her, I smacked a right cross into her chin. Her head snapped back and she went down, out for the count.
"Good shot!" I exclaimed as I stuck my gun back in my waistband and helped Nanako to climb down from the truck.
"Figured having an arrow through her arm would cramp her style."
I stood over the unconscious girl and sighed deeply. She sure was a colossal nuisance. "We'll have to treat her wound before we bring her with us."
Nanako glared up at me from beneath her dark-pink bangs. "You gonna tie her up after we’ve patched her up, and leave her tied up this time?"
"If you think it's necessary."
"I do."
"Okay. Now let’s get to it. We have to catch up to the others."
"This girl's trouble, you mark my words, Ethan," Nanako said as she slung her bow over her back and knelt beside her. We cut off her sleeve and removed the arrow. I was glad I'd knocked her out – that would've been a lot harder to do if she was conscious. Nanako cleaned both sides of the wound with an anti-bacterial hand wipe, popped on two sterile gauze pads, and then wrapped up her upper arm in a compression bandage. We were fortunate the arrow hadn’t hit any major blood vessels. Next, I cut long strips from the sleeve and tied her hands in front of her. To have tied her hands behind her back would have caused excruciating pain.
I was wondering how we could wake her up, since I wasn’t going to try to carry her, when the girl moaned loudly and opened her eyes. She studied her bandaged arm while struggling briefly against the bonds binding her wrists together. When she realised she couldn't pull her hands apart, she took the weight of her right arm in her left hand, taking the pressure off the wound.
"Untie me this instant, traitor!" she demanded.
"Not happening," was my response.
"I command you to untie me!"
"In case you blinked and missed it, you're our prisoner now, so you’ll do what we say," I said as I put my arms around her shoulders and hauled her to her feet. I stuck my face in hers, which was white from the pain. "We can do this one of two ways. We can drag you with us, or you can walk of your own volition."
"I am not going anywhere with you, traitor," she hissed through clenched teeth.
"Drag you it is, then," I said, and grabbed her firmly by the left upper arm and pulled her after me.
"Very well, I will walk!" she snapped, wrenching her arm free.
And so with the Custodian beside me and Nanako behind her, we resumed our walk across the bridge. My three forager buddies were quite a distance ahead of us and would soon be off the bridge.
"Where are you taking me?" the girl demanded.
"We’re going into the south eastern suburbs," I replied.
"To hand me to the Skel?"
"We just saved you from the Skel, remember? So why on earth would we hand you back to them?"
"Because you are in league with them."
"Don’t be ridiculous, if that was the case, why are we running from them?"
"Because you let the Rangers into Newhome, remember?" she said with conviction.
"I didn’t let them in; David did, and that’s because the Rangers were blackmailing him by threatening to kill our mate Leigh if he refused. Once I found out, I hunted down the Rangers and took them out, and then rescued David and Leigh," I explained.
"You honestly expect me to believe that?"
"I don't care what you believe. It's what happened."
"Bah."
"What’s your name, by the way?" I asked.
Silence.
"We’ll just call you ‘Consultant,’ then – okay?"
"I am not a consultant!" she spat.
Chapter Eight
"Then what are you? A Custodian lackey, a stooge?" I asked, trying to goad her into talking.
"I told you I am not a Custodian," she replied angrily. "I am a specialist. I work for the Council."
I glanced at Nanako. I’d never heard of council specialists before, but then again, until I’d met Bhagya Singhe, I didn’t know there were Custodian consultants, either.
"Specialising in what?" I demanded.
More silence.
"I get it," I said after a moment’s reflection. "You do the Council’s dirty work, eliminating corrupt Custodians and politically dangerous civilians."
She shot me a venomous look.
I glanced back at Nanako. "She’s an assassin."
"And not a very good one," Nanako said, looking daggers into the girl’s back.
"Right back at you!" the girl spat over her shoulder.
"How’s the arm?" Nanako asked.
"Not what you expected, is it?" I asked quickly, before the girl could respond to Nanako’s barb.
"What?" she snapped.
"The world outside Newhome. You blundered right into a Skel ambush. What I don’t get is why you weren’t using your flash sonar. You would’ve spotted the ambush if you were."
She looked at me as though I was a simpleton, which kinda gave me the answer. "Oh," I said, cottoning on, "You couldn’t echolocate because you were looking for me, and if you had, you would’ve broadcast your position."
We fell silent after that, and soon left the bridge and continued down the West Gate Freeway. Rundown warehouses and factories were below us on our left, while bushland was to our right. It looked like we’d have to go another kilometre or so before the freeway returned to ground level.
The lads saw us coming and waited for us beside a couple of rusted-out cars. When we drew close, they sauntered over to join us. They fixed their eyes on the girl – Leigh with resentment, David with fear, and Shorty, well, he was enamoured with her.
"What’s her name?" Shorty asked.
"She won’t tell us," I said. "So just call her ‘Consultant.’"
"I’m not a…" the girl practically shouted.
"Then tell us your name," I suggested.
"Fine!" she growled. "I am Specialist Madison Taylor."
"What do you specialize in?" Shorty asked.
Madison ignored him.
"In killing people," I explained.
Shorty looked from me to her, and then back to me again, not sure where to go with that response.
"I'm serious. She's an assassin. She whacks people for the Council."
"And you're gonna keep her with us? Are you nuts?" Leigh asked, eyes popping out of his head.
"You're not gonn
a cause us trouble, are you, Specialist Madison?" I asked her.
She glared daggers at me.
"See?" I said to Leigh, "She's not gonna cause us any trouble."
"Jones..." Leigh protested.
"Just drop it." I stared him down.
Leigh turned away from me in a huff.
Nanako sat down in the shadow cast by the closest car – an old sedan – fished out her bottle, and finished off what little water she had left. "We need food and water, Ethan," she said.
"When we get off the freeway we can scrounge up some bushtucker and water." I sat down beside her. The others sat down too, except for Madison, who remained standing, looking down on us with contempt. A neat trick considering she was in considerable pain.
"What happened to her arm?" Shorty asked.
"Nanako shot her," I replied.
"Couldn’t you have shown a bit more restraint?" he grumbled.
"She didn’t give us the option," Nanako replied.
"Couldn’t you have shot her somewhere a little more terminal?" Leigh asked.
"Be nice, Leigh, she’s our guest now," I said.
Madison’s cheeks coloured slightly and she turned her back to us.
We rested in the shadow of the car until Nanako and Leigh had regained their strength, and then continued down the freeway until it returned to ground level. After that, we slipped off the road and plunged into the riotous bushland that flourished right up to the edge of the asphalt.
We weaved our way through ferns, shrubs, waist-high wild grass, and gumtrees, until we found a small open area that was out of earshot from the freeway. I didn't know if the Rangers and Skel used the road, but I was betting they did.
"Right," I said after we'd dropped our backpacks on the grass. "We've had plenty of practise finding edible fruits, nuts and berries while we were foraging, so let's spread out, gather up what we can find, and be back here in twenty. Shorty, you take the water bottles, duck back to the Yarra and fill 'em up." Our water bottles had filters that did a pretty good job of filtering out any sediment and other impurities in the water. However, it would taste like dirt.
"Alone?" Shorty asked.
"You're more than up to it," I assured him.
Forager - the Complete Trilogy (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Trilogy) Page 52