WildGame

by Margo Lanagan

  Hart moved further away around the bench, and Vinnie’s hand stole out and lifted the cage door, which rose smoothly and without a sound. He held his breath, certain his heart had stopped beating, while he reached in and grasped the rat-kangaroo by the scruff of her neck.

  He lifted; she didn’t budge. Closing his eyes, he forced his arm in another centimetre or so and grabbed her around the ribs. She rocked forward, her chest in his palm, and he picked her up. In one swift motion he had her in the bag. He didn’t dare make a noise zipping it up, but held the edges together with one hand as he crawled under the table to the door.

  Macka and Dr Hart looked around at him as he stood up, Macka trying hard to look as surprised as Hart did. Vinnie felt guilt throbbing across his red face like the beam of a lighthouse.

  ‘Sorry!’ he said in a choked voice. ‘Gotta go!’ He blundered into the door, had a brief battle with the handle, then dragged it open and fled down the corridor. He was hurling himself down the steps before he heard any sound behind him, and then it was only Macka’s fake-urgent shout, ‘Vinnie, what are you doing!’ He could hear her fighting to keep from laughing.

  He pelted up Science Road and into the tunnel, glad of its darkness and dankness now. He paused to zip up the bag properly, then ran through the tunnel, out into the sunshine for a second, through the second tunnel and across a car-park. Halfway down the long road they’d come in on, he shot a look over his shoulder. The road behind was empty. Darting into an alleyway, he peeped back as Macka appeared at the top of the hill, running at full speed, her hair flying, yelling his name. She slowed down as she came closer, staggering and panting, struggling to hold the sewing basket steady.

  ‘In here, Macka!’

  She saw him and flapped her hand at him. ‘It’s okay,’ she gasped, ‘he’s not following.’

  Vinnie peered up the hill again. ‘How do you know?’

  Macka collapsed against the wall, her breath going in and out in great, ragged huffs. ‘I said I’d catch you and bring you back,’ she said. ‘I told him you were a friend of mine just out of a home for delinquents.’ She tried to laugh, but it took too much breath. She bent over and propped one hand on a knee. ‘Boy, it hurts! Did you have to run so far?’

  ‘I thought he’d be so wild he’d come racing after me straight off!’

  ‘Are you kidding? He didn’t even realise what you’d done for a few seconds, poor old bugger! And then he sort of ran a little way with me while I explained about you being a kleptomaniac and everything, and then he ran out of puff and I said I’d follow you and bring you back and he sort of fell behind—’ She broke off to pant.

  ‘Oh god, how awful!’ cringed Vinnie. ‘I mean, what a lousy thing to do! The poor guy, thinking he could save the species. Wouldn’t that have been a great feeling? And then two kids—two delinquents—come in and just steal that feeling, and he’s got nothing!’ He checked the road again—it was still empty. ‘He’s probably sitting in his lab all upset, waiting for you to turn up, with her …’ He handed the school bag to Macka. She took it and squeezed his arm so hard it hurt.

  ‘Vinnie, you’re a hero,’ she said, and started laughing. ‘You were brilliant, honest! I didn’t hear a thing, and then you pop up at the door looking like you’ve pinched the Crown Jewels or something! Geez, I wished I’d had a camera on me!’

  Vinnie wasn’t amused. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said. ‘You never know, he might still come after you.’

  ‘Hang on, let me check the rat-kangaroo.’ Macka unzipped the bag a couple of centimetres and put her eye to the opening. She saw the reddish glow of the animal, smelt the familiar acrid smell. Having it back made her feel weak at the knees with relief.

  ‘We should give her her babies back,’ she said. ‘If they’re still alive, that is.’

  Vinnie jittered while she sat down on the asphalt and opened the sewing basket.

  ‘Phew. They seem to be okay. Still wriggling all over the place, revolting little worms.’ Vinnie peered around the corner again at the deserted roadway. He turned back to see her manoeuvring a tissue with four pinkish blips on it into the half-open zipper of the school bag. ‘There you go, back to Mum. Look after ‘em a bit better this time, hey?’

  ‘Mac-ka!’

  ‘Sorry, I don’t think I should hurry this part,’ said Macka distractedly. She sat with the bag open between her knees, watching the contents closely. ‘She’s seen them. She’s sniffing at them. Oh look, one of them’s managed to lift its head—they’re crawling up to her. They’re so cute, in a horrible kind of way, know what I mean?’

  ‘Macka, we’ve got to move. I just feel terrible hanging around here!’

  ‘Yeah, I guess so. But no more running—it’d kill me, and that’s the truth.’

  ‘Okay. But quick walking, hey?’

  Macka zipped the bag closed and stood up. ‘Okay, but just tell me one thing, smarty. Where’re we going to go? We can’t go home. When I don’t turn up back at the lab, Razz’ll ring Ol, Ol’ll ring my place, Mum’ll ring your place and the game’ll be up. If he doesn’t call the cops first up.’

  ‘Oh god, maybe he already has. We’ll have to hide somewhere.’

  ‘Until when?’ Macka looked at Vinnie. Vinnie, panicking, stared back. Then his shoulders relaxed, and Macka grinned and poked a finger into his chest.

  ‘VideoZone,’ they both said.

  They stepped out into the road just as a battered grey sedan rounded the corner at the top of the hill. Its horn sounded; its driver had red hair; an arm clad in orange waved from the window.

  ‘Shit! Run, Macka! Back down here!’ Vinnie grabbed Macka’s arm and pulled her towards the alleyway.

  ‘No, no! This way!’ She started to haul him up the hill.

  ‘You’re out of your mind! You’re going to waste all that effort—’

  ‘Shut up and come with me, you dope!’ yelled Macka as Razz Hart’s car began to slow down towards them. She waved to him and went round to the driver’s side, dragging Vinnie with her. ‘Hi, Razz,’ she said, lifting the bag victoriously.

  ‘Thank Christ,’ said Razz, and rested his forehead on the steering wheel. Macka sprang away, and they sprinted off down the tennis-court road.

  ‘No!’ they heard him shout. ‘You kids don’t know what you’re doing!’

  ‘Yes, we do!’ Macka yelled. They heard him reversing his car to the corner, and then revving it around to follow them. Vinnie yelped, and overtook Macka. ‘Where we going?’

  ‘Turn right, through that gate!’

  ‘He can follow us through there!’

  ‘Not all the way, he can’t!’

  Vinnie thought his legs would jellify underneath him as he charged through the gate and up the tree-lined laneway between two wide playing-fields. He could hear the car coming up behind them, and Razz’s voice shouting over the noise, abusing, pleading, swearing.

  ‘Where to, where to?’ Vinnie screamed. A sports centre reared up in front of them, a small car-park to one side—the end of the road.

  ‘Round the back!’ Macka yelled. ‘There’s a path through!’

  They darted behind the building, fell up some steps and ran along a narrow path that let up a long incline to Missenden Road. A big Gothic college loomed on their right; the buildings of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital straggled along the left.

  ‘I can’t make it, I can’t—’ Macka was at his side, fighting for breath. Vinnie looked back and saw Razz’s car tossing up gravel as he did a furious six-point turn in the car-park.

  ‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘We can slow down a bit—he’s going to try and head us off at Missenden Road.’

  They walked and puffed for a little way, panicked again and started to jog. An ambulance came gliding silently down towards them, its lights flashing, then veered into the casualty bay.

  ‘I could use one of those,’ groaned Macka. Vinnie took the bag from her and dragged her by the hand up to the road. There was no grey sedan in either direct
ion—yet. They ran to the crossing and brought the traffic to a tooting halt as they dashed across. Vinnie let out a triumphant yell; they raced down a side-street and were swallowed up in a maze of tiny laneways.

  7 THE FUN COMPANY

  ‘I’ve just realised I’m starving hungry,’ said Macka as they emerged onto King Street. It was two o’clock.

  ‘You can eat just as soon as you hand back those animals,’ said Vinnie, pushing the button at the pedestrian crossing.

  ‘Hey, look,’ Macka said, staring across the street. Outside VideoZone was a large black van, with THE FUN COMPANY painted on the cabin door.

  ‘They’re taking away the pod,’ said Vinnie. He looked stunned.

  ‘On a Saturday,’ said Macka. ‘I thought we’d have until Monday at least.

  ‘Yeah.’

  When the lights changed they crossed slowly, all the urgency draining out of them. They could see Wally slouched on the footpath having a smoke. In the bright sunlight he looked bleached and uncomfortable.

  ‘Hi, kids,’ he said through a cloud of smoke.

  Macka looked inside. A snazzy little black forklift was scooting over the carpet towards the pod, which was enclosed in a kind of padded cage on a wooden pallet. Macka felt a dreadful fatalistic calm descending on her.

  Vinnie kept giving her meaningful looks and indicating Wally with his eyes. Macka ignored him, and finally he cleared his throat to speak.

  ‘Whereabouts is The Fun Company, Wally?’

  ‘Somewhere out west; I dunno. Pennant Hills or something.’

  ‘It’s dumb that they don’t have it on their truck, hey.’

  Wally snorted. ‘No point in advertising if all you’ve got’s dud merchandise.’ He drew on the cigarette, his face wrinkling up around it hungrily, and Vinnie turned away from the sight. The forklift was turning gently, the pod held aloft on its arms. Two men in black coveralls were calling out directions to the driver.

  Wally gave a rattling cough and started delving into one saggy pocket of his grey-brown cardigan. He pulled out a large receipt and uncrumpled it.

  ‘One-one-six-eight Powers Road, Seven Hills,’ he said. ‘That answer your question?’

  ‘One-one-six-eight Powers Road,’ Vinnie said to Macka. She dragged her eyes away from the approaching pod and a light went on behind them.

  ‘Seven Hills,’ she said, nodding.

  They stood back as the forklift came out, the monstrous black egg preceding it. A little gaggle of kids had gathered to watch. Macka heard someone mutter ‘Far out!’

  The driver of the forklift, Macka noted, was a woman; her short-cropped crimson hair topped a very pale and finely-made face, and like the others she wore a black coverall, only it looked much more voluminous on her thin body. Vinnie nudged Macka’s elbow, as they both noticed the crest on the shoulder of the suit; a golden circle with a slashed X inside.

  ‘What’s that mean?’ said Vinnie.

  ‘It’s the “fight” button on the game,’ said Macka.

  ‘She looks like she comes from another planet, too,’ said Vinnie, half scornful, half admiring.

  Macka thought she looked fantastic, her long-fingered hands moving the wheel and the levers, her face totally taken up with the work. She looked like someone you could talk to about computer-generated animals and actually expect to be taken seriously. Except that she was too busy. Watching her, Macka could feel how important was the work she was doing; the sun struck her face and lit up a sheen of sweat.

  She raised the pod and slid it into the van, then withdrew the forklift, turned and reversed it onto a metal platform. One of the men then cranked it up to the floor-level of the van, and she rolled the forklift neatly into place beside the pod’s cage. She slipped out and jumped down.

  ‘Okay, Mr Tanner,’ said one of the men to Wally as he fastened the van doors. ‘Hopefully we’ll see you again sometime.’

  Wally grunted and flicked the butt of his cigarette into the gutter at the woman’s feet. She looked down at it for a moment, then put out one black-booted foot and crushed it. She looked up at Wally, and standing beside him Macka could see straight into her eyes. They were black, they were hollow, and they didn’t shine.

  Wally rattled some phlegm around in his throat, and swayed on his feet as if a gust of wind had knocked him off balance for a second.

  The three climbed into the cab, and the woman took out a bright gold-yellow handkerchief and began carefully wiping her face, turning to a fresh piece of the cloth with every stroke.

  ‘Weird bunch of people,’ Wally said to Macka and Vinnie, as soon as the engine started. He backed off and went into VideoZone, followed by a trickle of kids.

  Macka watched the van move into the steady flow of the traffic. She hugged Vinnie’s school bag to her, and felt the animal move inside it.

  ‘They were a bit creepy, I reckon,’ said Vinnie.

  ‘Yeah.’ Macka felt as if a ghost had just brushed past her, leaving a cold breath on the air.

  Someone tapped her on the shoulder. ‘What you going to do now?’

  Macka turned to find a tall girl with dark olive skin grinning down at her. She had thick black hair tied up into a ponytail on top of her head, and was dressed in black from top to toe.

  ‘How you going to get it back in the game?’ asked the girl, her eyes widening with laughter. Looking at her nose and mouth, Macka thought she must have some Koori blood in her.

  ‘Are you one of them?’ she asked, waving an arm after the disappearing van.

  ‘Nope,’ said the girl. ‘I’m one of you. I got a bird. What’d you get?’ She was looking at the bag with interest.

  ‘A black-faced rat-kangaroo,’ said Macka.

  ‘Got a little sort of arrow, about here?’ The girl put a finger up to where her black eyebrows almost met.

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Yep, I know the one. My bird ate one of those. They’re yummy.’ She laughed as Macka drew back in horror.

  ‘But they’re really rare! Like, they’re almost extinct!’

  The girl shrugged. ‘Makes no difference to a bird.’

  ‘You’ve played the game too?’ said Vinnie.

  ‘You bet,’ said the girl.

  ‘Did you put your bird back in, then?’ said Macka.

  ‘I had to. The bloody thing was huge. I didn’t have anywhere to keep it. Besides, it was pretty cranky—flapping around and gouging at me with its beak and its claws. It scared the crap out of me when it first came out!’ she added with a wide grin.

  ‘So how did you get rid of it?’ said Vinnie, fascinated.

  ‘Wasn’t easy. You have to have the thing touching the screen, which makes it pretty well impossible to see what’s going on. And …’ She caught Macka’s eye and faltered. ‘You use that big black button on the right, okay? But your mind has to be right, too. I can’t explain it, really. You have to hold your mind in a certain way, and keep it there, and that’s hard.’

  ‘How long did you have your bird for?’ said Macka.

  ‘Ten, fifteen minutes, maybe. What about you?’

  ‘I got her out last night.’

  The girl looked impressed.

  ‘She’s had four babies since,’ Macka added, rather proudly.

  ‘Hell, I reckon you’d better get her back inside quick.’ She looked from Macka to Vinnie and back again. ‘That’s a heavy game. It takes it out of them, coming through to out here, and going back again. My bird just sat on the ground for ages once I got her back in. Couldn’t seem to move or anything. If one of those rats hadn’t come along I don’t reckon she’d have made it.’

  Macka chewed at her thumbnail nervously.

  ‘How’d you know it was a she?’ said Vinnie.

  ‘They’re all shes,’ the girl said, lifting her head so that she looked at him down her nose. ‘It’s an all-girl game. Only girls can play it, and only female animals can go in and out.’

  ‘How’d you work that out?’

  ‘I watched. Once
I got my bird back in I wanted to see how other people handled the game, so I kept an eye on it for a while. None of the guys could even open the door! But there was one little kid, she came in with her father, and while he was off playing something she hopped in, pressed a few buttons. Nothing much happened; I think she was too little to know what was going on. And right after that Wally tried to get into it. Which was worth watching,’ she laughed. ‘I’ve never seen him actually lose his temper before. He was wild, man.’

  Macka felt the animal shift again inside Vinnie’s bag.

  ‘And now the game’s gone,’ she said mournfully, ‘and we’ll have to trek all the way out to Seven Hills and find where those creepy people operate from.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess you will.’ The girl thrust her hands into the pockets of her black vinyl jacket and nodded slowly, her eyes following a bus that roared past them towards the station. ‘And soon, I’d say.’

  Macka felt they were about to lose her. ‘Come with us?’

  The girl turned back to her, grinned and shook her head. ‘It’s your turn,’ she said. ‘You won’t need me along.’

  ‘And Macka,’ said Vinnie, ‘I hate to tell you this, but I can’t come either.’

  Macka looked aghast at his guilty face. ‘You what? Vinnie, you can’t—’

  ‘I promised Mum I’d help her do the shopping. I promised. I told you when you called me this morning, remember?’

  The Koori girl eyed them both with amusement. ‘I gotta head off. See you guys later.’

  ‘Don’t go!’ yelped Macka.

  ‘You’ll be right,’ said the girl, clapping her on the shoulder.

  Macka watched her saunter off past the post office. Vinnie was busily going through his jeans pockets.

  ‘Here,’ he said, pushing a ten-dollar note at her.

  ‘Don’t fob me off with money! Come with me, you bastard!’

  ‘I can’t. I’ve done you the favour you asked me—we got the mother back, okay? I really have to go—I’m running pretty late already.’

  ‘But I can’t go on my own!’

  ‘Remember, one-one-six-eight Powers Road.’

  ‘Vinnie!’