‘Come on, no use smoking the rest of the day away.’
We did as she said. Broken and hobbled, I was relegated to holding the sacks open. Food and water were the priorities; soon, the first sack was bulging with what Ruby had scavenged. Into the others went some spare clothes, some spare ammunition, and the precious wedding dress.
When Ruby helped me hoist a sack over my shoulder, I collapsed under it.
‘Dickhead,’ Tobe said, helping me back to my feet.
I gingerly looked over my mangled leg. It was okay, I hadn’t done any further damage.
‘Let’s try that again,’ he said with a laugh.
‘Piss off.’
Ruby quickly put a stop to our familiar ways. ‘Get your bloody act together! Tobe, give me your rifle.’
Embarrassed, he passed it over.
‘Now, take both sacks.’
He started to argue but she cut him off.
‘What, aren’t you man enough?’
The perfect insult for someone like him—he puffed out his chest, threw one sack over his shoulder, picked up another, started strutting and taking the piss, staggering back and forth, pretending to buckle at the knee.
‘Yeah, yeah, whatever.’
He kept going. Ruby started laughing, started staggering with him, the two of them stumbling around like puppets with cut strings.
I gave in and laughed with them.
The angry barking of Red and Blue brought us back to reality. Frenzied and growing more ferocious by the second, it cut through the quiet bush.
A high-pitched yelp provided the crescendo.
‘Red! Blue!’
Tobe’s call went unanswered.
‘Red! Blue!’
Nothing.
‘Come on, stop fucking around!’
Red burst out of the bush bordering the riverbed. He ran to Tobe, whining, and then looked back. Blue was emerging from the bush, limping, leaving a red wet trail behind. She half-fell down the riverbank. She collapsed at Tobe’s feet, whimpering.
I froze. Something in me had snapped; my ability to adjust and adapt had overloaded.
‘Blue!’
Tobe was cradling her, his fingers tracing paths over her body, his hands dripping with blood. He cried without seeming to notice. Blue shuddered, flinched away when Tobe touched her belly.
‘I need some help!’
Ruby was already comforting Red. She was crying as well, but unlike Tobe she had given in to it. I was dimly aware that one of us should be keeping an eye out for whatever had hurt Blue, but the thought was drowned out by my own numbness, by Tobe’s desperation and distress.
‘Mate, come on!’
I felt nothing: no sorrow, no sadness, no pity, just a blank detachment that separated me from the world. But still I moved, holding Blue like Tobe asked.
He cracked a canteen, washed her belly clean. ‘Fuck, no.’
Blue whimpered again, breathing fast. I stroked her head, scratched her behind her ears. Her breathing slowed dramatically. Her eyes rolled back.
‘Tobe!’
He was already beside me, taking over. ‘Come on, girl, you’ll be ‘right.’
We both knew that he was lying.
‘Come on, good girl, good dog.’
His tears and her blood pooled at his feet. He held her tight, arms wrapped around her in a familial embrace. Her eyes rolled open and she looked at him with pure love. She licked his face. He couldn’t help but smile.
She closed her eyes, shook a last time, and died in his arms.
Tobe collapsed over her body. Red howled. I cried, letting it all out. Ruby said nothing. Tobe stayed slumped over Blue’s motionless body. After a long time, he got to his feet.
Ghoulish fascination made me take a last look at Blue. Bullet holes peppered her belly.
‘Ruby? My gun.’
Ruby let go of Red. She got to her feet and unshouldered the rifle. Red ran to Blue, licked her face, nudged her with his snout.
‘Don’t move!’ an unexpected and unknown voice shouted.
Surprised, Ruby dropped the rifle. A metallic clicking cut through the quiet, the sound of a dozen or more guns being cocked. Tobe slowly raised his hands; Red quickly scuttled behind him. I raised my own hands, scared through and through. Ruby held her clenched fists at her side.
Shadowy figures started melting from the bush, their black body armour a perfect disguise, the dreaded letters CRP running down their chests. Moving as one, they silently strode down the riverbank.
‘What’s going on here?’ the lead Creep demanded.
Tobe tugged his balaclava lower onto his forehead, wincing once again. I looked at Ruby, tried to smile bravely.
‘I asked you bastards a question!’ the Creep spat.
‘Piss off,’ Tobe muttered.
‘Sorry, I didn’t catch that?’
‘I said “piss off”. What, are you deaf as well as stupid?’
And then he stood aside. Red went for the Creep’s throat, knocking him to the ground. His screams echoed through the trees. The other Creeps didn’t know what to do; they pointed their guns but couldn’t fire for fear of hitting their own. Some part of me was horrified, some part of me was glad.
Tobe smiled coldly.
‘For fuck’s sake!’ someone yelled.
Another Creep took charge, a bull-roo of a man. He holstered his gun. Without hesitation, he leapt on Red, grabbing him in a bear-hug, dragging him away from the ragged mess of the stricken Creep. Tobe took an involuntary step forward. Guns were thrust in his face, lots of them. He couldn’t do anything but watch as the bull-roo Creep picked Red up and threw him across the riverbed.
Before Red could scrabble to his feet, the Creep drew his gun and shot him dead. The tiny pop of the silenced pistol seemed too small a sound for what it had done.
‘Bastards …’
The Creep smiled. He raised his hand. ‘Hold your fire!’ he yelled, laughing and holstering his gun. ‘Come on, boy, show me what you’ve got.’
Tobe threw himself at the killer of his dog. He swung wildly, furious and unthinking. The Creep toyed with him, taunted him. Tobe managed to get a few punches in, more by luck than skill. The Creep, well fed and well trained, easily shrugged them off.
After a while, he tired of his game. He took a metal baton from his belt and hit Tobe hard enough to make him stay down.
Ruby and I were forced to watch.
‘Is that all you’ve got?’ Tobe asked through broken teeth.
He passed out. The Creep crouched down and pulled Tobe’s balaclava off. He clicked his fingers in the air. Another Creep threw him a canteen. He cracked it open, washed Tobe’s face, grabbed his scruff of hair, and lifted his head.
‘Fucking hell! Tobias Cousins, you cheeky bastard. I always wondered what happened to you.’
The Creep let Tobe’s head fall back. He stood up. He took a long drink of water. Without taking his eyes off me, he spat the water onto Red’s body.
‘Do you want a go?’ he asked.
My simmering rage began to bubble over. I took a step forward.
‘Well, what are you waiting for? Bloody Christmas?’
He had Tobe down pat. I didn’t stop to wonder why, and started a fight I knew I couldn’t win.
Fifteen
A rasping wind was all I could hear. I took a deep breath, coughed hard, and felt a cracked rib twinge. Everything flooded back—leaving home, saying goodbye to Louise, driving through the bush, riding out the collapsing bridge, seeing Red and Blue die, watching Tobe fight.
I had no memory of what happened after I threw myself at the bastard that killed Tobe’s dogs.
I forced my eyes open. I had no idea where I was.
I managed to sit up. My cracked rib twinged again, and was soon followed by a choir of other pains. I took stock of myself as best I could. Someone had stripped me of my tattered clothes, replacing them with a pair of ragged coveralls. Bandages covered my punctured leg, a splint strapped next to them.
I reached up, felt bandages swaddling my head. I unbuttoned my shirt; my chest was a shiny bog of bruises.
‘Ugh.’
Lanterns hung from the wooden ceiling beams. Threadbare curtains covered the windows. Everything was dusty. Somewhat incongruously, I was surrounded by stainless-steel stands laden with plastic bags of fluid. They swayed slightly, like some kind of obscene foliage, the wind forcing its way through the innumerable cracks in the wooden walls. A motionless figure—a bull-roo of a man, his face covered in bandages—lay strapped to the trolley next to mine. Tobe lay on the next trolley along, snoring loudly.
I was relieved, despite all the trouble that he had caused me.
Tobe wore a stranger’s clothes as well. His left arm hung in a sling. One of his eyes was so puffy it had collapsed in on itself. He snorted in his sleep. He reached down and scratched his crotch. He rolled over, ending up on his injured arm.
‘Ah, fuck!’
He was instantly awake, rubbing his arm gingerly. I tried not to laugh but I couldn’t help myself. This time it was my turn to cry out, my cracked rib giving me one last chance.
‘Shit!’
‘Bill, mate, is that you?’
I laughed again, softer this time. My broken body allowed me that much.
Tobe jumped off his trolley, as easy as can be. ‘How’s it going?’ he asked.
‘How do you reckon?’
‘Mate, you’re not the only one who got the short end of the stick.’
I looked at him properly. Bruises mottled his skin. He wheezed every time he took a breath. He seemed to have trouble focusing on me, his good eye glassy. But at least he could walk.
‘You okay?’ he asked again.
Despite our presumably dire predicament, I wasn’t actually feeling too bad. The fact that it was once again the two of us against the world comforted me, no matter our injuries and setbacks.
‘I’m getting there. How about you?’
Tobe smiled. ‘You know me.’
‘Good one. So, how long was I out?’
‘About a week, give or take,’ he said, his voice trembling slightly.
I met Tobe’s eye. He looked like he was about to cry.
‘We weren’t sure that you were going to wake up,’ he said. ‘Fuck, mate, you had me worried. Bill, it’s good to see you …’
I was touched, but I didn’t want him to see my embarrassed smile and I didn’t want to see his tears. I turned away, looked around the room. Something was missing …
And then it clicked.
‘Hey, where’s Ruby?’
Tobe quickly pulled himself together. ‘She’s ‘right, mate, she’s out doing her thing. You know, it’s all part of the adventure.’
He laughed, parked himself on the edge of the trolley next to mine, ignoring its occupant.
‘She’s just a kid, Tobe, and one of those bastards shot your dogs right in front of her. That doesn’t sound like much of an adventure to me.’
This time, he wouldn’t meet my eye.
‘I know she’s just a kid, but she’s been through worse. You don’t give her enough credit, mate—she’s tough, tougher than us.’
‘But …’
‘Drop it, Bill, okay?’
And so I did. For a moment, neither of us spoke.
‘Where are we?’ I finally asked.
Apart from the three trolleys and their hanging gardens of fluid bags, there was no other furniture bar a stainless-steel cupboard and sink. The cracks in the walls let in shafts of light; dust motes filled the air. The wind blew. The whole room seemed to sway.
‘Well …’
A knock at the door interrupted Tobe’s answer. He somehow smirked and looked sad at the same time.
‘I think I’ll let the doc answer that.’
The door creaked open and a stooped figure shuffled in. The shocking white of his coat was made brighter still by the sheer darkness of his skin; his hair was as white as the coat he wore; wrinkles spread across his face like cracks across dry earth.
Tobe and I stared. He smiled at us, drew up to the windows, threw open the curtains. Sunlight flooded the room, hot and bright.
‘Ah, William, so good to see that you’re awake. Tobias, how are you?’ He drew up next to us, held out his hand.
‘I’m good, now that our boy’s awake,’ Tobe said, shaking his hand. ‘Thank fuck for that, eh?’
The doctor arched his eyebrows, his disdain for Tobe’s gutter mouth obvious.
‘Shit. Sorry, Doc.’ Tobe smiled innocently.
The doctor shook his head, feigning exasperation. ‘William, how are we on this fine day?’ he asked.
‘It’s Bill. Just Bill. Who are you?’
He smiled. ‘Dr Ishra Khan. But please, call me Ish.’
He took my arm. Methodically, he started removing the various tubes that connected me to the fluid bags. He took a grimy cloth from his pocket, uncorked a dirty bottle, tipped some foul-smelling fluid onto the cloth, wiped down each puncture mark.
His old-man hands didn’t shake in the slightest.
‘So, William, how do you feel?’ he asked, completely ignoring my earlier request.
‘I feel like a million bucks, Doc. I feel like I could run a bloody marathon. Far out, how do you think I feel?’
‘Bill, please.’
It was Tobe. My mouth clanged shut.
‘Bill, mate, bear with the Doc, all right?’
I nodded dumbly.
‘Cheers.’
Ishra made a show of checking an antique watch he wore. ‘I might have a suggestion,’ he said. ‘Tobias, if you would be so kind as to gather William’s things and meet us at the platform—we don’t have that long now.’
I looked at him quizzically.
‘You chose a good day to wake up,’ he said. ‘I was worried that we might have to carry you aboard.’
I frowned, completely lost. He ignored me, turned back to Tobe.
‘Ruby should be there soon, if she manages to work that old watch I gave her. If not, would you mind fetching her?’
‘No worries. But, Doc, try and be gentle with the big stuff, okay?’
I watched their exchange with incredulity, so far out of my depth that I couldn’t even see the bottom.
‘Bill, mate, try and take it easy.’ Once again, Tobe was somehow smirking and looking sad at the same time.
‘She’ll be ‘right,’ I said.
Tobe looked doubtful. I didn’t really believe my own words.
‘I’ll catch you later, then.’
‘No worries.’
He walked away, slamming the door behind him. Ishra joined me after a moment. At first, he seemed unsure where to start.
‘William?’ he asked tentatively.
‘What?’
‘Please, relax.’
‘Huh.’
‘Please. If your friend Tobias can trust me, surely you can too.’
I thought it over. ‘Okay, then,’ I said, knowing that I would regret it.
But what choice did I have?
‘Thank you. Now, it’ll be easier to answer your questions if we walk and talk, that way you can see for yourself. And that poor leg of yours needs a little exercise, otherwise it might lock up. Do you think you can manage that?’
He smiled warmly and I gave in. He took my hand. Despite his age, he had no trouble hauling me to my feet. My thigh burned. I steadied myself on the edge of the trolley. I waited an interminable moment while Ishra shuffled to the cupboard, pulled out an old-fashioned walking stick, shuffled back, passed it over.
I tested my weight, took a wary step.
‘Lead on, MacDuff,’ I said.
‘I believe you mean “lay on”, though I hate to presume.’
He smiled softly. He turned away and walked out the door, swallowed alive by the white-hot sunshine. I shielded my eyes, hobbled after him, and crossed the threshold.
‘Bullshit,’ I said, not knowing what else to say.
Ishra didn’t criticise my choic
e of words. Fair enough, too—we were facing a concrete plain that stretched for hundreds of metres, enclosed by a semicircular jumble of ruined houses. Faint lines and arrows marked the concrete, almost lost beneath the dust. A few wrecked vehicles were all that broke the emptiness. The heat was stifling.
Nothing natural caught my eye, not even a fly.
‘I call it home,’ Ishra said bitterly.
I looked back at the building we had left. The makeshift sickbay was nothing more than a worn-out weatherboard shack. On either side of it, more shacks interspersed with rough wooden sheds formed an incredibly long wall of derelict buildings. They were all on the way to ruin, ready to fall down and return to the earth.
‘What is this place?’
Ishra gestured for me to follow him, skirting the derelict buildings. He shuffled, I limped—we complemented each other perfectly.
‘This remarkably ugly complex is officially known as CRP Transfer Station 14. Unofficially, like I said, I call it home … And I’m sorry to say that you and your friends are my guests. It’s a much more polite word than prisoner, don’t you think?’
‘Now hang on a …’
‘Please, William, if you don’t mind …’
I nodded begrudgingly. I shut my mouth. The look on Ishra’s face was so pleading I couldn’t do otherwise.
‘This place wasn’t always so empty. Not that I’m glad for that. At the height of the troubles, it teemed with life. Creeps, refugees, holdouts, support crew—they all called it home too.’
I couldn’t help notice his use of the word Creep.
‘As you can see, they weren’t happier times.’
We had stopped outside an enormous steel shed, a building that was almost a warehouse or a hangar. There were no windows. The door was unlocked. Ishra pushed—it gave with a harsh scrape and we stepped into darkness. The heat was incredible. Ishra fumbled at the wall. Nothing happened. I stood speechless. Electric lights built into the ceiling slowly flickered on, revealing an enormous, cavernous space. Filling the space were rows of cells, dozens of them, each cell only ten feet square. There must have been hundreds of them in total; they were all empty except for a steel bench and a sink.
We breathed in an animal stink—the smell of blood, vomit, piss, and shit.
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