by Mark Lingane
“How long have you been here?” he asked.
“Weeks. Months. Years. Who cares?”
“Surely someone does.”
She snorted. “Funny way of showing it.”
Sebastian looked up into the dark skies. He enjoyed the scent of the fresh air, cleansed by the rain. The dust had been washed away and his head didn’t hurt. It was a good sign.
“So, what’s your name?” he said.
The girl was throwing small pebbles out into a small pond that had formed a few yards away. Each pebble she threw landed directly in the center of the pond.
“It’s Melanie,” she shouted. “Are you happy now? Will you stop asking now?” She threw a handful of pebbles at him.
The shock was easily visible on Sebastian’s face. Her tone had been brutal. His lower lip quivered.
“Don’t you dare cry.”
He could feel the sadness roll over him. “No one likes me. I have no friends.”
“Oh, for crying out loud. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean … Look, it’s not your fault. I’m the one with no friends. I’m sure you’ve got plenty at … school or whatever.”
He burst into tears. “They’re all dead. Even the ones I didn’t like.”
She looked at him. “Did you do it?”
“Yes. No. They came for me and killed everyone else. Except the vet,” he said between his sobs.
“Who came?”
“The black-clad men. The cyborgs.”
“Cyborgs? Aren’t they just scary stories? I remember some of those stupid girls from school drooling over some guy dressed up as one. They were so ridiculous at school. He was an idiot. Just because they thought he was a bad boy who looked hot that made him worthy. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” She burst into a deep, heartfelt weep.
Sebastian was now giving her a look of concern.
“Joshuz, look at us,” she managed, “aren’t we the party people.” She wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. “Let’s go. Maybe the change of scenery will take our minds off things. I’ll get my stuff.” She disappeared into the darkness at the back of the cave only to reappear moments later, carrying nothing.
“Where’s your stuff? Are you going out like that?”
“Like what?”
“In your underwear.”
“It’s not underwear.”
“Where’s your dress? You’re wearing a corset at least.”
She narrowed her eyes and poked him in the chest. “You just watch it. These are breeches. Good for carrying lots of things. And I’ll have you know that this is a clasped brocade corset. Absolutely everyone is wearing them.”
“But I can see your shoulders and the shape of your legs.”
“For crying out loud.” She extracted a long black hooded coat out of one of her pockets and wrapped it around her. She raised the hood over her head and disappeared into its dark depths. “Happy?”
“Now you look like a witch.”
“Good.” She stomped out into the damp forest with her coat flowing behind her.
Sebastian picked up his pack and hurried out after her.
The rain had ceased and left deep, unexpected puddles across the plain.
“You don’t have to swear so much,” said Sebastian.
“My breeches are soaked.”
“You should’ve worn a dress.”
“I’m warning you, the last person who tried to force me into a dress got a boot in the groin and a frying pan in the face. And she was a friend.”
They drudged on through the mud. Sebastian could feel a mild pain in his head. He looked around, scanning the horizon, but couldn’t see anything. They approached the remains of the train as the sun toiled toward the mountains in the west.
“There’s the train,” Sebastian said. He pointed to the long black silhouette several hundred yards away.
“Oh,” she said as they approached the wreckage. She felt it wasn’t personal enough. “My.” She felt it wasn’t religious enough. The vast expanse of the desolation was terrifying. “God.” She let the statement rest.
She ran her hand over the charred mess. She kicked through the remains of one of the carriages, sifting through the rubble and bones.
“Something’s wrong,” Sebastian said. He rubbed his temples.
Melanie stooped over and picked up a small skull. She pulled back her hood, which fell down her back. Sebastian couldn’t help but notice how pale she was. She looked as sickly as his mother had when the doctor took her to the hospital.
Melanie spun the skull in her hands. It crumpled to dust and floated away in the wind. “They were children,” she whispered.
She turned around and wandered among the wreckage, searching for anything salvageable. She spotted some large, stacked boxes that had been sheltered from the rain behind a series of seats that had been folded together. She slid the first box from the top, just as the cyborg jumped out from behind the pile of boxes.
12
THERE WAS BARELY time to blink. The cyborg leapt forward, raising a large blade toward the young girl. She shrieked in surprise. There was a blur as she twisted, with the long coat twirling wide under her rapid movements. There was another shriek, followed by a thud. The cyborg collapsed to the ground.
Melanie was breathing heavily and staring down at the man. Blood dripped from the end of the long knife she clasped in her hand.
Sebastian had watched the action unfold from the other end of the carriage. “Did the cyborg make a comment about you wearing a dress?” he shouted.
“Be careful, there could be more,” she shouted back.
“No, that was the only one.”
“How can you be so sure? Oh, this is stupid.” She walked down the length of the carriage. “How do you know?” She kept a wary eye out for more cyborgs.
“I can sort of sense them when they’re near.”
“Would’ve been helpful if you’d told me earlier.” She shook the knife at him. “Was that one of those things?”
“Oh no, the great scary flapping fiery things are way, way bigger. And they fly.”
“Fly!” She looked skywards and wheeled around, scanning the horizon.
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t be able to move if one was near.”
She sheathed her knife and wiped the blood off her hands onto her coat. “How did you survive all of this?” Her eyes bored into him, searching for clues. He couldn’t help noticing her hands were shaking.
“The last carriage on the train was a bit different. It was kind of like a safe.”
“You mean the one with the roof ripped off it?”
“Er, yes.”
“This is all very suspicious.” She glared at him. “If I find you’re a spy who’s come looking for me it’s going to be worse than a frying pan in the face.” She looked down at the last carriage, then back at Sebastian. She narrowed her eyes and waved a warning finger at him, then stalked off down to the end of the train, pausing briefly to cast a suspicious eye over the cyborg.
Sebastian followed at a distance. As she clambered up into the carriage via the sliding door, he continued on around to the far side of the train. He was surprised by what he found. He banged on the side of the carriage, which clanged loudly.
Melanie responded in less than elegant tones.
“There’s no need to swear,” he said. “I’ve found out how he got here.”
He could track her movements by the muttering and swearing as she walked around the carriage. He pointed to the vehicle.
“What is it? It looks kind of like a bicycle,” Melanie said. She sat down in the damp soil.
“They use them to get around. They go as fast as a horse.” He related his escape with Dr. Filbert as she listened with her mouth open.
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t think he made it.”
“You know anyone who isn’t dead?”
“That’s a very unkind thing to say.” He paused and looked down at his feet. “We have a choice. We can head back
to New Toowoomba—”
“No!”
“Okay, or head on to Isa. Which is closer?”
Melanie sat in silence looking at the strange bicycle. “If we can work out how this thing works, we could go to Isa.”
“You know the way?”
“You stupid, boy? Where do the train tracks lead?”
“Why are you so mean? You say lots of hurtful things, and I gave you the last of my water.”
She sat looking at him. She pulled the cowl over her head. “I’m sorry. I’m not well. I have something wrong with me, with my blood, which means I won’t live for very long.” There was a long pause. When she continued her voice was cracking. “And when my parents found out, they said nothing. Just left and went away on a holiday with my stupid sister. It’s not fair. I don’t want to die.”
“Where are they now?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. They’ll never see me again and I’ll never see them.”
The two were silent. Sebastian stroked his hand over the vehicle. He had no idea how it worked. Even if he could get it started and making that terrible, loud roar, he didn’t know how to propel it forward or steer it. He assumed the handlebars worked the same as a bicycle’s, but he hadn’t ridden one before.
He spotted a stick that looked like a pedal sticking out of the side, low down. He stepped up onto it and swung his leg over. He couldn’t reach the pedals on either side at the same time. He leaned forward and grabbed the handles. He made growling noises as he mimicked the cyborgs’ actions. The right grip on the handlebar twisted. The left one didn’t. That could mean something, he thought.
There was a large red button in the center of the black container. He pressed it. Nothing happened. He examined the container. It had a small recess with a strange clip on the end. He thought he recognized the size of it.
“I think I know how to get it started,” he said.
He jumped off and ran back to the fallen cyborg. He searched it and found the small black device they all seemed to carry. He ran back and placed the device in the recess. It clicked into place. The screen flickered and flashed. He pressed it but nothing happened. A small picture of a long thin object appeared on the device’s surface.
Melanie looked over at the image. “That looks like a thumb,” she said.
“Erg. This is going to be gross.”
“I’ll do it.” She stalked off in the direction of the cyborg.
Sebastian continued to experiment with the vehicle, which meant sitting on it making vroom-vroom noises and imagining racing through the forest.
Melanie returned and rolled her eyes at him. She placed the thumb on the display. The device vibrated and several small pictures appeared on the surface. Sebastian pressed the red button and the vehicle spluttered then roared into life. He twisted the grip and the roaring got louder.
“How does it go forward?” Melanie shouted above the noise. “And can you make it quieter?”
Sebastian shrugged and released the grip. The noise reduced to a quiet hum. He jumped off and looked around the bike. He couldn’t see anything that looked like a go-forward button. There was a small silver lever just in front of the foot pedal. He pressed it. It clicked. The vehicle shot forward then fell over on its side with its rear wheel spinning in the air.
He gave Melanie a wide grin. “I’m awesome.”
“Luck.”
They both had to lift it up from its side, but each time they righted it, it shot away and fell over.
Sebastian reexamined the silver lever. He had clicked it down before, so he clicked it up this time. The rear wheel came to a slow halt. Together they lifted the machine and it sat before them looking black and menacing.
“You ever ridden a bike before?” Melanie asked.
“No.”
“I have.”
“You can’t ride it. You’re a girl.”
She gave him a look with daggers in it. “Don’t tell me what I can’t do. You can’t reach the pedals. I have to ride it.” She glanced uncertainly at the vehicle. “Shouldn’t be too different from my old one.”
Shouldn’t be too different besides how to start it, how to stop it, and how to make it go in between, thought Sebastian.
She straddled the bike and gave Sebastian a satisfied smirk. “Couldn’t do this if I was wearing a dress. Hop on behind me.”
Sebastian climbed up behind her. His legs dangled over the sides and his arms flapped aimlessly; there was nothing for him to hold onto.
“You’ll have to hold onto me. Not there. Lower.”
Sebastian blushed as he moved his arms down and linked his hands around her waist.
“What do I do?” Melanie said.
“Click down with your left toes, and twist your right wrist.”
She clicked down with her left toes and twisted with her right wrist. Then the two of them screamed for a very long time as the vehicle, at maximum volume, roared away.
*
After they had been riding for some time, Melanie shouted back over her shoulder, “It’s very noisy and not going very fast.”
“Try fiddling with the foot lever on the left,” Sebastian shouted back.
The vehicle roared even louder, then launched forward at a faster pace. Each time Melanie clicked down on the lever the vehicle gained greater and greater speed. It bounced over the uneven ground, throwing them around like children’s toys.
The sun beat down mercilessly, the wind whipped past them, and sand stung their eyes. The oppressive heat and torturous sand bore into them for hour after hour as the sun crawled slowly above an eternal desert. Ahead, finally, the sun started to dip below the horizon.
“I don’t think I can take much more of this,” Sebastian shouted.
Melanie agreed. She let go of the grip on the right handlebar and the vehicle came to an eventual and stuttering halt. She sagged forward. “I can’t feel my hands,” she whispered. “And I’m busting to go to the toilet.”
“There are other speeds, not just as-fast-as-you-can-possibly-go.”
They eased their weary bodies off the vehicle. It fell over into the sand. They watched it topple and turned away.
Melanie found a small hollow that would keep them out of the strong night winds. “Let’s stop here. It gets cold out in the desert at night. See if you can get a fire lit. I’ll scout around the area for potential danger. Snakes, spiders and stuff.”
“Toilet,” he muttered to himself.
He collapsed onto the sand and watched her disappear over the lip of the hollow. He lay back and looked up at the darkening sky. The stars were coming out. They were pinpoint clear and shining like diamonds thrown across a dark velvet cloth.
He sighed and got up to search for things to burn. It didn’t take him long as the ground was littered with dry, brittle wood. He collected an armful and returned to the hollow.
He lit the small heap of kindling and blew into the flames until a decent fire had engulfed the wood. He piled on some bigger pieces and before long had a fire blazing. It was a task he had always had to perform during the winter months, when the temperature dipped low at night. These thoughts reminded him of his mother, and he longed to know how she was. Perhaps Merv was right. His mother had told him to go to the academy. He knew it was important, but he wondered if it was right.
He felt a mild pain in his head. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples until he heard footsteps approaching.
“You all right?” Melanie said as she jumped down into the hollow.
“You know how I said I can sense those things if they’re near? Don’t panic, but they’re around. But not close.”
She stared at him briefly, then moved onto more pressing issues. She had returned with a dead lizard. She threw it on the ground, rolled it over and started to cut it open.
“It won’t be much, or that nice, but at least we’ll eat tonight, thanks to me.”
Sebastian opened his backpack and handed her an apple.
She paused in
the middle of slicing, her eyes transfixed on the fruit. “You didn’t tell me you had food.”
“You didn’t ask. I didn’t know you were going to go off and kill local animals.”
She threw down her knife and stared at him. After a while she grabbed the apple and bit noisily into it. “Oh, that tastes so good. You got anything else in that pack of yours?”
“Maybe,” he replied cautiously. “It’s meant to last.”
He tipped out the contents, and they immediately devoured the sandwiches. There was other food, but Sebastian scooped it back into the pack before Melanie could consume the entire contents. A small, delicate piece of white cloth lay in the sand.
“It’s a ladies’ handkerchief. It must be from Bindi.” He picked it up and examined it. Then he sniffed it.
“Is she your girlfriend?”
Sebastian blushed. “No! Definitely not. She’s a girl. Gross. She kept crying all the time.”
“You won’t always think like that. Trust me, it all changes. You’ll suddenly find yourself thinking about her all the time.”
“That’ll never happen to me.”
She laughed. “I said that once. Then I met Liam.” She sighed and wrote his name in the sand. Several times. “With his whooshy hair.” Her face looked sad and exhausted in the flickering embers of the fire.
“How long have you been living out here?”
“I don’t know. I don’t follow the calendar. When they give you a finite time to live, you lose interest in watching the days drain away.”
“Huh?”
“If they give you six months to live, you don’t want to know when six months is up.”
“Is that how long you have?”
“The doctor said about a year.”
“Stick around with me, and I can halve it for you.” He watched a shooting star rocket across the sky. Out here on the open plain he could spot one every ten minutes. The night sky was enormous, especially to two young people lying in a hole in the desert.
“Today’s been the first day in a long time that I’ve felt alive. It’s probably the adrenaline from all the excitement. I don’t know, maybe it’s better to go out fighting than be hidden away in some dark, lonely cave.”
