The Opal Desert

by Di Morrissey

  Then Davo seemed to change his mind, and he turned and moved away from her, muttering to himself. Whom he was accusing, quarrelling with or justifying his actions to, Anna had no idea. He picked up a jerry can and walked out of the hut, slamming the door behind him. Anna heard the rattle of a bolt being put into place.

  She crouched down again, in absolute terror, her head on her knees, her arms twisted behind her. Suddenly she knew that Davo was heading to the dark side. He’d stepped over a line and there was no turning back. He couldn’t let her go now.

  All was quiet. Where was he? She cocked her head. Was that an engine? A motor? A car?

  It was a chainsaw. God, what was he doing? She sat up. How was she to free her hands? She struggled to her feet, in spite of being unbalanced by her restrained arms. This was her moment. She went to the window and saw through the flyscreen covering that he hadn’t taken the old Land Rover.

  ‘Maybe he’s taken his minibus,’ she thought.

  Wildly she looked around the room, searching for something to free her hands. She saw the knife Davo had used to cut her gag still lying on a rough wooden table. She leant backwards over the table, managing to grasp the knife in her fingers. But after a few moments she knew that it was hopeless, her hands and arms were bound too tightly.

  Exhausted from this futile attempt, she lay back on the floor, smelling the earthy red-caked dirt. Her eyes were still hurting so she closed them to relieve the stinging. When she opened them again she stared at the scene in front of her: dirt floor, the legs of a chair, the base of some kind of cupboard and a rough hearth in front of a wood stove. ‘In this heat, who’d need a stove?’ she thought. But she realised that winters out here in a leaky shack would be freezing and a fire of any sort would be welcome.

  Then she saw it.

  Shielding the base of the stove was a narrow length of corrugated iron presumably to stop embers or wood from rolling onto the floor. Anna struggled over and lay across it. She began rocking and wriggling in a sawing motion over its rough surface until Shirley’s old rope finally frayed and snapped. She rubbed her cramped, sore arms and looked out the window. She couldn’t see Davo but the old Land Rover was close by.

  Anna looked around the hut to see if Shirley’s opals were somewhere obvious, but there was no sign of them. Then she grabbed the knife from the table and slashed the flyscreen covering the window. Carefully and quietly she eased herself out of the hut and made a dash for the old car. But the keys weren’t in the ignition. ‘Damn,’ she thought. ‘Usually everyone in Opal Lake leaves their keys in their cars.’

  She could see Davo’s tour bus parked some distance from the hut by a shed. Her heart sank. Davo was still around. Then she saw him leave the shed with some tools, walk over to the bus and open its engine cover. Anna flattened herself against the Land Rover. She heard him return to the shed.

  Carefully she peeked out from behind the old four-wheel drive. A shovel, a large cooler and coils of rope were scattered on the ground and a rifle leant against the bus. She had to get out of there. It all seemed so surreal. Even the clouds obscuring the sun gave the scene a strange light so that while one part of her was functioning from moment to moment, another side of her felt as though she was looking down on everything.

  The air was close, and she had no real sense of time. Walking into Shirley’s dugout and finding Davo seemed an eternity ago. From the shelter of the Land Rover, Anna looked around the desolate landscape. Where on earth was she? The drive out here had seemed long, and this place looked like the end of the earth. But she couldn’t stay here. She had no idea what Davo planned to do with her and she could not stay to find out.

  Anna glanced upwards at the glowering sky, said a swift prayer and, as if hearing the starter’s gun, took off in her usual style – running as fast as she could. She tried to fly above the ground, touching it lightly to make no sound. She took heart that the noise from within the shed would mask the sound of her speeding feet.

  She headed for a nearby mullock heap, hoping that the white mound would shield her while she got her bearings. When she reached it, she could see that beside it was an old mine shaft. The rusted scrap of iron over the top of the mine shaft was held in place by rocks and a coil of old barbed wire. She had no idea how far down the shaft went but she’d heard stories of bodies being thrown down mine shafts and never found. Was this what Davo had in mind for her?

  She crouched behind the hillock and looked around the bleak countryside. She could see that the track Davo had driven along went no further than his shed. Small trees were clustered in the distance, but there was no sign of any kind of road. If she ran along the track leading from Davo’s hut, he’d be able to find her. She would have to run across country.

  There was no direct sunlight. Everything glinted in an eerie light – the forewarning of a storm. She could see some small bumps on the horizon. Maybe those hazy breaks were dwellings or mining machinery. She decided to head towards them. The empty plain, distantly studded with scrub, stretched in front of her.

  While this landscape didn’t screen her much, it was flat and she could easily run over it. If she could cover enough ground before Davo knew she was missing, she might stand a chance. Anna took a deep breath and ran with long loping strides – wishing she she could swallow up miles with each one.

  The air felt close and there was a strange smell, and not a breath of wind. It occurred to Anna that the changing weather could be an advantage to her. The cloud cover made things much cooler and if it rained, the rain might obscure her from Davo. But she had no idea how far she would have to run before finding help. In this open country where she had no water, could she outrun her pursuer?

  Many thoughts passed through her mind, but then came a very familiar voice: ‘Pace yourself. This is a long run. Uneven ground. Concentrate on what you’re doing. Adjust your stride. Breathe.’ Craddock’s voice was so clear she almost stumbled. But she kept running.

  She focused on a spot ahead and allowed herself to be reeled forward at the end of an invisible line. Keep going, keep going. She kept listening to her coach’s advice and found she was pacing herself: slowing down, breathing well and then picking up speed again.

  Anna kept running.

  Now there was a slight breeze and the hot heavy air was laden with moisture. The day became darker and Anna knew that her prayer had been answered. A storm was coming.

  The wind picked up. There was a distant rumble. The sky above the horizon was bruised with large purple and blue thunderclouds. ‘Was that thunder,’ thought Anna, ‘Or the moan of wind?’ Then she realised it was the sound of an engine. Her rhythmic pace faltered slightly but Craddock’s voice told her to keep calm, not to panic and not to bolt. Her steps remained steady. But between the rising gusts of wind she heard the unmistakable growl of a car getting louder, and she glanced quickly over her shoulder. To her horror she glimpsed the outline of Davo’s old Land Rover in the distance.

  She pushed down her rising panic as she felt the first drops of rain sting her face.

  Anna kept running.

  The grey rain began to blur the emptiness around her. Now she felt she was moving through a silver space and she realised that she could end up running in circles if the rain got much heavier. A clap of thunder shuddered high above her.

  The sound of the car continued to grow behind her while the horizon wavered faintly ahead of her.

  She looked back again. The Land Rover loomed larger like an animal stalking its prey. She imagined Davo behind the wheel, grinning madly.

  She felt the terrain beneath her feet changing; the ground had become softer. She looked down. She was now running on sand!

  The engine was louder, nearer, and she knew that the car was gaining on her. Then a flash of lightning whipped across the horizon, lighting up the sky. The large and ominous clouds were speared by shafts of light followed by the roar of thunder.

  Soon the storm would be above her on the strange sandy plain.

 
Anna kept running.

  Breathe slow, move forward, speed up.

  And then suddenly she knew where she was. She was on Opal Lake, running across its dry bed, being pummelled by soaking rain. She glanced back. The Land Rover didn’t seem so close now. It had slowed down. Perhaps Davo couldn’t see her in this rain. Perhaps there was a shortcut away from the lake that she didn’t know about. Maybe Davo would get out and run after her. She almost laughed aloud. ‘Do your damndest, Davo,’ she thought.

  ‘Steady, take it easy, take it slow but sure,’ came Craddock’s calm voice. ‘You have a long way to go. This is still dangerous.’

  The storm began to whip itself into a crazed whirlpool, stirred by forks of lightning. This scared her. She knew lightning ran to ground through the highest point, travelling along whatever conductor it could, and she imagined being struck at any moment.

  Anna kept running.

  Then the storm was above her, and she was caught in the middle of a madness of blackened sky, blinding rain clouds threatening to suffocate her, while shards of fiery lightning bounced all around her.

  Davo and the Land Rover became remote dangers. She saw a bush bent double in the wind as if cowering against the onslaught of the rain. Crazily her mind spun. ‘What to do, what to do? Where was Craddock’s voice and advice now? Drowned by this black and blue nightmare,’ she answered herself. She stopped running.

  She flung herself to the ground and rolled over, squirming and digging herself into the wet sand. Her arms, still stiff from being tied, felt weak, but she scrabbled like a frantic insect, feeling her body being covered by a wet blanket of sand one instant, while the rain washed it away in another. Her hair felt sandy, her mouth gritty. Was she being buried alive?

  The crack of powerful lightning hit so close to her that she imagined she felt the ground quiver. Then there was another crack even closer. She had a vision of her body being left a blackened skeleton, never to be found in this vast, arid lake. No one would ever know what had happened to her.

  ‘No!’ She scrambled to her feet, shedding wet sand like some primordial creature arising from hibernation. She broke into a shaky sprint, trying to outrun the rain, dodge lightning and evade the dogged pursuit of the now invisible four-wheel drive.

  This time she didn’t look back. Whatever advice Craddock might have been shouting in her head was deafened by the wind and rain and lightning.

  Anna kept running.

  It was more than survival that propelled her forward. Now she was being challenged to prove something to herself, to outrun the elements and the man in the Land Rover. She tried to concentrate. She stopped for a minute, drew deep breaths, held her face to the sky and gulped in mouthfuls of rainwater. She slowed her pace, conserving her energy, watching where she went and weaving around the puddles, trying to see what was ahead of her.

  She was determined to reach the far side of this lake. A strange calm came over her.

  She knew how much those opals meant to Shirley. She wanted to show Kerrie, Pam and Mick that she had purpose and commitment and wasn’t just a drifter like some who passed through Opal Lake. She wanted to measure up to Craddock’s expectations and belief in her.

  But most of all she wanted to prove something to herself. She knew what she wanted to do. ‘If I get through this, give me a chance to run seriously,’ she prayed aloud to the retreating storm.

  The storm passed over her. She adjusted her pace to invigorate herself. Dare she look behind? She couldn’t see the Land Rover.

  From her only visit and Shirley’s mud map, she struggled to remember the layout of the lake. She recalled that there’d been a track at the end of the lake and a small lakeside path. The lake seemed enormous as she looked across to the vast horizon. But it was not the size of it that worried her as much as its remoteness. With no water or food she wondered if she could make it back to town. No one would ever look for her out here.

  She shook her head. ‘I’m not thinking like that. It’s defeatist. I am going to get there. Davo can’t win. He mustn’t.’

  Anna kept running. Steadily. Pacing herself. Pushing forward. Conserving her energy by not allowing herself to feel panicked or stressed. She ran smoothly, in her zone, not thinking, not feeling, ignoring the pain in her body, just breathing as evenly as she could. Every step forward was another bite of the lake swallowed and left behind.

  And then she recognised precisely where she was. How long ago it seemed since she’d first come out here to see the lake. There was the old table and seats where people picnicked and there was the track winding down to it. She knew that this was the road into town even though there was still a long way to go.

  She left the lake and felt the firm track beneath her feet, knowing that she was heading in the right direction. A renewed burst of energy carried her forward. Scrubby bushes, dripping from the recent rain, and scattered trees lined the track. After the barrenness of the lake, she felt comforted.

  Anna put her head down and kept on running.

  Ahead of her the track curved, screened by saltbush. In the distance she glimpsed an open patch of ground dotted with mullock heaps.

  As she swung around the corner she altered her pace and lifted her head, and then almost stumbled. Parked across the track was the old Land Rover and leaning against its door, with a smirk on his face and his arms folded, was Davo. Without slowing, Anna swerved and headed past the trees towards the open ground, studded with old mine shafts and mullock heaps.

  Anna heard Davo shout her name and something else but she took no notice. Her heart was pounding and her breath rasping in her throat.

  She zigzagged as fast as she could, racing around the mullock heaps in an attempt to confuse the heavier and out-of-condition Davo, who was now running after her. She was careful to watch her feet, avoiding sheets of rusty iron, rocks and mine shafts. Warnings and tales told by miners about uncovered mine shafts came back to her.

  She didn’t dare look back to see if he was gaining on her, or if he had his gun with him. All she could hear was her breathing, and blood pounding in her eardrums. She heard Davo shouting after her, but she ignored him. Then she heard a crash. She scrambled behind a large mound of dirt and paused, gasping for breath. She felt as though she was in a scene from a bad western and if she stuck her head up over the mound, she would get shot. Should she stay low and run from mullock heap to mullock heap? Was Davo hiding, waiting for her to make a move? She looked around and waited.

  The silence was unnerving.

  She couldn’t stand the inaction. She would just have to start running again and work her way back to the track and hope that Davo wouldn’t pursue her. Standing still in the quiet wet scrub, preparing to make a final dash, Anna heard a yell. Was it a trick?

  She waited. The noise became a low growl. A moan. She stepped out from the bushes and looked around. There was no movement. Where was Davo? She moved quietly towards the sounds. Then she knew. He’d gone down a mine shaft. But which one? She had no idea. She could hear him, so he was still alive. She broke into a run and headed back down the track. She looked in the old Land Rover and to her great relief saw that the keys were still dangling from the ignition. The rifle was on the back seat. She leapt in and started the motor, flung it into first gear and pushed her foot down onto the accelerator.

  ‘Thanks for the driving lesson, Davo!’ she shouted.

  Anna sped along the track. She felt rejuvenated knowing that she wouldn’t have to run all those final kilometres back into town.

  Suddenly she braked and stopped the car. ‘I can’t leave him without finding out what he’s done with Shirley’s opals,’ she said aloud. She turned the car around and drove cautiously back, half expecting to see Davo limping along the track towards her. Thank goodness his rifle was still in the Land Rover. She stopped at the mine site, and got out and looked around.

  All was quiet.

  ‘Davo? You out there, Davo?’

  Was this a trick? Maybe she should just go. But she want
ed to get Shirley’s opals. She knew how important they were to her friend. She had to try to find out where Davo had hidden them.

  Anna picked her way across the no man’s land of mullock heaps and mining detritus. Here and there were scattered slabs of iron, which had escaped the anchors of old tyres and stones, leaving dark holes exposed.

  This was hopeless. There could be hundreds of places he might have fallen. She shouted, ‘Davo! If you can hear me, make some noise!’

  Anna strained to listen, aware of every sound – the faint sticky rustle of wet leaves from a small wattle, the distant croak of a frog. What if he was dead? If he’d hidden Shirley’s opals they’d never be found. She turned back to the car. And then she heard it. It was small, but too regular to be an incidental noise. She hurried towards it.

  The sound came from a shaft where a sheet of iron looked to have been recently disturbed. She looked down into the darkness but couldn’t see much.

  ‘Is that you?’ asked a faint voice from the bottom of the shaft.

  ‘Yes,’ called Anna.

  ‘I’ve broken me leg.’

  ‘I can’t get you up, but Davo, I’d like to help you. First you have to tell me where Shirley’s opals are.’

  There was no answer for a moment, then, ‘Don’t know what you’re talking about. Just go and get help.’

  ‘Sorry, Davo. Don’t think I can do that if you won’t tell me where the opals are. You’ll be right down there. At least for a day or so. Someone might come by and find you.’

  ‘You wouldn’t leave me here? I’m in a bad way.’

  Anna didn’t answer.

  ‘Okay! They’re at the camp. In the water tank. Now will you get me some help?’

  ‘Yeah, Davo. I’ll get back with someone as soon as I can.’ She dusted the dirt from her clothes and jogged back to the Land Rover.

  Mick hung up the phone. He was worried by Anna’s disappearance. The police sergeant at White Cliffs had reassured him that young people did take off occasionally, so they’d wait twenty-four hours before sending out search parties. Mick was not happy with this response. Anna had been missing since dawn. What if something serious had happened? He went into the cubicle that served as his office to ring the police again when he heard someone come into the bar.