Cockatoo

by Christopher Cummings

  Then another idea came to her. ‘Danny has gone downstream. Should I go back up the creek and continue on along the road to try to get to the army cadets?’ she puzzled. For several minutes she thought about this before shaking her head. The problem was the car. She did not know if it was still at the bridge. ‘Or it might be at the turn-off to the camp ground and they will still catch me,’ she thought. Not knowing where the other gang members were induced a deep sense of uncertainty. ‘Marco and Neville might be around as well,’ she thought.

  That meant that the camp ground remained the best option. And that meant crossing the creek and going close to the men. For several more minutes fear held her in the reeds but her shivering increased and she realized that it was not only overexertion and shock that was causing it but also the cold. ‘I can’t stay in the water much longer,’ she told herself. So, with a gulp of dread, she began to ease her way out of the reeds.

  Tina then began wading across the creek. Within ten paces she gave this up. The bottom was soft mud and sludge and she kept slipping and sinking in so that her head even went under. Instead she began a slow breast stroke. As she did she kept scanning the water for signs of Danny.

  ‘Where has he gone?’ she wondered. He had vanished from view and she did not know which bank he was on or near. To make matters worse she realized that the current, while much weaker in the wider and deeper stream, was still carrying her downstream at quite a speed. To counter this she had to swim harder, risking making more noise. But she was so worn out and her muscles so overtaxed that it took a painful effort to make her limbs move fast enough. What particularly worried her was that she was making waves and big ripples as she swam. ‘I hope they don’t notice them,’ she thought anxiously.

  Several lights appeared ahead of her and the beam of a torch suddenly swept across the creek down at the next bend, which she was now rapidly approaching. Tina’s heart leapt in fright and she gulped several deep breaths ready to dive under. Then she saw a black shape in the water near the edge of the camp ground and recognized it as Danny’s head. She heard voices call and then clearly heard the Boss say, “Swim ashore.”

  Danny did, and so did Tina. It was only twenty five metres and she had to increase speed or be swept down right close to where the Boss stood. To make matters worse at that moment the cramp returned and all she could do was gasp and then grit her teeth and use her arms and good leg to keep moving. Only by the dint of extreme effort, summoning up her last reserves of energy, did she make the other side.

  By then she was close in under some trees and she could see a tent and a parked vehicle only ten metres away up on the bank. But an equal distance to her left were Danny and the Boss. All Tina could do was haul herself in under the small clumps of grass and reeds at the tree roots while she tried to recover her breath and dealt with the cramp. ‘If they hear me now I am done for!’ she told herself, knowing she could neither run nor swim.

  Then the Boss’s torch beam swept close over her and then across the creek and along it in both directions. “So where the hell is she?” the Boss growled.

  “Dunno. She might be hiding or she might be dead. She went down pretty hard when you shot at her. I reckon you hit her,” Danny replied.

  “Yeah, maybe. But we don’t want a body drifting around the lake. So we will look for one later. Right now we have to make sure she doesn’t reach any of these campers to tell them her sob story. Come with me and help me speak to the people.”

  “What will we say Boss?”

  “That we are detectives trying to catch a gang of druggies and that one is on the run,” the Boss replied. With that he turned and Tina saw his torch beam light up the nearest tent and vehicle. As he and Danny walked up towards it he said, “You go and get Neville and get him to bring that car down here. Get its headlights on the mouth of the creek where it joins the lake. Tell Marco to stay at the junction to catch her if she goes along the road.”

  On hearing that Tina breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I was right,’ she thought. But now she was in a terrible quandary. ‘What should I do?’ she wondered. One option was to swim back up the creek and make her way up into the forest on the other bank. ‘They will never find me in there,’ she reasoned. But nor would it get her any help and she was suddenly gripped by a fear of bleeding to death from the bullet wound. Another option was to try to get past the camp ground before the car arrived.

  That seemed the better choice and she knew she did not have long, only a few minutes. Her ears told her that Danny was even then walking away up the gravel road through the camp ground and the sound of voices suggested that the Boss was talking to the campers. ‘Now or never,’ Tina told herself.

  So she began breast stroking downstream, keeping right in close to the bank. It was just as well she did because the Boss came back from the tent and shone his torch out across the creek again. All Tina could do was huddle in against the fringe of longer grass at the end of a small ‘beach’. Then the Boss turned and directed his torch up the slope. That was a real help to Tina as it showed her that there were about fifty metres of open, mowed grass between her and the next tent. Seeing that sent her hopes plummeting. ‘I will have real trouble getting across all that open ground unseen,’ she thought miserably.

  Then the torch beam swept around again and her eyes followed it. This time what it revealed gave her hope. Only about twenty metres further along to her left were three or four canoes. They had been dragged up out of the water but they were still right near the edge. ‘If I can get one of those,’ she thought.

  But how? All she could do was lie flat against the bank and try to stop her teeth chattering and her cramping muscles from trembling. At every second she expected the Boss to walk down and discover her and she winced at the terrifying images that her overwrought imagination conjured up of him aiming his pistol at her head, of the bullet shattering bone and sending blood and brains spattering; and of her dead body slumping into the water.

  Then her chances of being discovered seemed to dramatically increase as a vehicle came driving down through the camp ground, its headlights lighting up the whole creek and lower campground. ‘Too late!’ she thought, her despair deepening.

  The vehicle came to a stop about ten metres away to her right rear, the beam of its headlights shining straight across the creek to the forest beyond. Doors opened and slammed and two men appeared near the Boss. Tina crouched in the mud and grass and bit her lip to avoid whimpering with fear. The Boss pointed in her direction and a stab of pure terror froze her.

  Then the Boss said, “Neville, you take one of those canoes and a torch and go back up the creek to see if you can find this girl. Danny, you help me watch the creek and the tents.”

  Tina bit back a tiny sob of relief and lowered herself until only her eyes and nose were out of the water as she lay on her side along the bank. Neville went striding past and she heaved a sigh of relief. She twisted her neck around to watch and saw him shine a torch over the canoes, then push one into the water. He moved to get in and it gave her a stab of malicious pleasure to note that he had trouble getting in, nearly capsizing the ‘Canadian’ he had selected. Having lowered himself in he took up a double paddle and began to use it, propelling the canoe out into the creek with unsteady strokes.

  As he turned and went up the creek only five metres from Tina she slipped right under, fear clutching at her bowels. But she could only keep that up for half a minute. The experience of being under water in the dark and of having trouble holding her breath was too ghastly. It made her think of Andrew and his fifty metre underwater swim. ‘Andrew,’ she thought. ‘I love him but will I ever see him again? I wonder where he is?’

  But she knew she could only get out of this by her own efforts so she eased up to the surface and blinked her eyes clear when she could no longer hold her breath. Breathing as silently as she could she looked around. To her intense relief Neville was now twenty metres upstream and full in the beam of the vehicle’s headlights. A few strokes
later and he was beyond them and vanishing around the bend. ‘Safe!’ she thought.

  Then she heard Danny say, “Nearly five O’clock boss. Be daylight soon. We should find her then.”

  “I want to be gone by daylight,” the Boss replied. Then he shone his torch up at the next group of tents and said, “I will keep watching this tent near the creek. You go and check the next tent past that one.”

  To Tina’s intense relief they both walked away up the lawn. But the thought of daylight really bothered her. ‘It will be hard to hide then. I had better get out of here,’ she told herself.

  She decided to move on past the camp ground but to stay in the water and then to hide in the forest. So she used her hands to drag herself slowly along in the shallows next to the bank. Every few seconds she glanced to check where the Boss and Neville were. And every few seconds she felt safer as she moved further away from the beam of the vehicle’s headlights.

  Then she was at the beached canoes and an idea came to her, partly driven by the knowledge that she would have trouble walking. ‘Can I use one? Will they notice?’ she thought. ’And can I take one without being spotted?’

  She resolved to try, feeling that she would be safer afloat. So she slithered past the canoes and then crawled up the bank beyond them. Secure in their shadows she raised her head to check where the Boss and Danny were before looking into each one. The first was a kayak but it had no paddle. The next one was a ‘Canadian’ and to her relief it had a short single paddle in it. ‘It will have to do,’ she reasoned. She then glanced around and saw that both the Boss and Danny were a good hundred metres up the slope near another cluster of vehicles and tents. The flicker of a torch up the creek showed that Neville was still searching the far bank.

  ‘Now or never,’ she told herself. Taking a big gulp of air she grasped the canoe and began hauling. It slid easily down into the water and she edged her way backwards with it, taking care not to splash or make ripples. Soon the whole canoe was in the water and afloat and after another careful glance towards her enemies Tina slid aboard. With her heart beating wildly with both fear and hope she pushed herself upright and reached for the paddle. Now training and experience both told. She dipped the paddle in and eased the canoe away from the shore.

  ‘Done it!’ she thought as she took another careful stroke. She looked around and began to plot her course, noting that the creek opened out into the left hand side of quite a wide bay. The whole shore of the camp ground right across the bay was just mowed grass with open water beyond it. And the moonlight did not help. But she was committed so she began to paddle with all the stealth she could manage, forcing her aching arms and tired muscles to function.

  Suddenly a yell rent the silence. Tina’s blood froze and her heart leapt into her mouth. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a torch shining in her direction. It was Danny and he came running down the grass towards her. ‘Oh no! Seen!’ Tina thought. She dug the paddle in and used all the strength she could muster to get the canoe moving faster. ‘Can I get out of range of that pistol in time?’ she wondered.

  Terror gave her strength and she paddled frantically, casting frequent glances over her shoulder as she did. She saw Danny reach the canoes and look in each one and then swear and go running back up the lawn. ‘No paddles?’ Tina surmised.

  The Boss came running down the lawn as well, yelling angrily for Danny to find a paddle and for Neville to come back. ‘Oh no, Neville!’ she thought. He was already in a canoe and had a paddle.

  She was gasping by this time and her tired arms were having trouble keeping up the pace and her whole body seemed to ache and throb. But dread kept her at it and she cringed and her flesh crawled in anticipation of being hit by a bullet. But the Boss did not shoot, just yelled angrily.

  Tina kept on paddling, but she was so tired she had to slow to get her breath back and to allow her racing mind to make a sensible plan. ‘Where should I go?’ she wondered. Straight ahead of her was the open lake and she was already approaching the entrance to the bay and was obviously out of range of the pistol. Directly opposite her was the Fongon Campsite and she could see the twinkle of a few lights there. ‘There are people there, but can I make it in time?’ she wondered. She glanced back and again her heart seemed to stand still as she saw the dark shape of Neville in his canoe come sliding into the beam of the vehicle’s headlights.

  She shook her head. ‘No. I can’t make it. It is a kilometre or more and he is stronger and will catch me up. And even there I will still be right on the far side of the lake from the police and the crooks can drive around there to get me,’ she thought. But what to do?

  ‘Go to starboard and keep close to the shore,’ she decided. ‘That way I can take to the jungle if it looks like Neville is going to catch me.’

  So Tina turned the canoe and shaved the point and paddled as hard as she could westwards. As she rounded the end of the point Neville and the other crooks slipped from view and she felt a real surge of hope. But within seconds this turned to dismay as she discovered that around the other side of the point was another deep bay. Tina at once realized she could not hug the shore or Neville could cut across and get ahead of her. ‘I have to take the risk of him catching me and go straight across,’ she reasoned.

  It was a sickening thought but she nerved herself and took it, aiming her canoe for the nearest land on the far side of the inlet. Almost at once she regretted her decision as once outside the bay she found there was quite a stiff breeze and a chop of waves about half a metre high. This made it quite difficult to both steer and balance the canoe. The wind and waves were coming in from her port quarter, almost from abeam, making the canoe roll alarmingly. Several times she almost capsized but by a dint of skill and effort she managed to keep it upright.

  Pushing herself to the limit Tina battled on, sobbing with despair and exertion. Every few strokes she cast a fearful glance over her shoulder. But before she was even half way across the two or three hundred metre wide inlet Neville came into view. He was paddling furiously, his paddle and canoe both throwing up spray as he pursued her. Tina sobbed again and felt the despair tighten in the pit of her stomach and in her chest. She knew she was close to the end of her strength and could only grimly force her exhausted muscles to function. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks, cold in the wind.

  Another glance back showed Neville appreciably closer. ‘I might just reach the other side,’ she thought, summoning up her last reserves to keep arms apparently made of lead moving. Another rogue wave almost had her over and she shivered with fear and cold as the spray drenched her. By then the jungle on the far shore looked to be less than a hundred metres away. But was Neville closer? She glanced over her shoulder again.

  And sobbed with relief.

  Neville had capsized. Tina stopped her desperate paddling and eased up to just keep moving and under control. She looked back and saw that Neville was struggling to get the canoe the right way up. As it was the same design as hers she guessed that its inbuilt flotation would stop it from sinking but she could not see how Neville could drain it on his own out in the open water. ‘He will have to drag it to the bank to drain it. I have a chance,’ she thought.

  So she resumed a slow but steady stroke that pushed her canoe onwards. And she was right. By the time she reached the other shore Neville was at least another hundred metres behind and was struggling to drag his canoe towards the shore. For the first time Tina began to really think she had a chance.

  That got her looking around. It was still dark, with the moonlight becoming fitful as low clouds began to cover the eastern sky. There was just a hint of grey and she knew that ‘First Light’ was at about 0615. A check of her watch told her it was 0525. Less than an hour. ‘So where do I make for now?’ she wondered.

  By this time she was paddling close along a scrubby bank backed by an extensive pine plantation. Off to her left across the lake was the Fongon Campground. For a few seconds she again considered it. But then she rejected i
t. ‘There are several more camp grounds somewhere along this shore,’ she remembered. ‘And the cadets have gone to the one near Platypus Lookout. I will make for it.’ To help her with her decision she remembered that the army cadets were going to march 16 kilometres to the western end of the lake. ‘The road wiggles all over the place. I can go much more direct and I am already half way there,’ she reasoned.

  So she continued on along the north shore, heading west. Her decision was reinforced by the sight of twinkling lights in the far distance. ‘That is the town of Tinaroo. I can even go there,’ she thought. But the desire to catch up with Andrew and the Navy Cadets was stronger and motivated her to keep on paddling despite her aches and cramps.

  A few minutes later several lights came into view ahead of her. ‘That is another camp ground,’ she thought with relief. ‘Downfall Creek Campground I think.”

  It was and she made steady progress towards it so that by 0540 it was only a hundred metres away across another deep inlet and the tents and vehicles of campers were just visible in the watery moonlight. ‘Soon,’ she told herself, thinking of mobile phones and the police.

  But when she was half way across the inlet and aiming for the tip of the grassy open cape on which the camp ground stood she saw the headlights of a vehicle swing out of the jungle and come hurrying down the slope. At once her heart began to hammer in anxiety. ‘Oh no! Is that the crooks?’ she wondered.

  A wave of fear so powerful it was almost paralysing coursed through her and she stopped paddling for a few seconds. When the vehicle came to a stop on the edge of the lake with its headlights shining out towards her she knew she did not dare go ashore. ‘If it is them I will just walk into their arms,’ she reasoned.