by Steph Matuku
‘Should we get it, or …’ Devin’s voice trailed off as she remembered that not only was the phone in several pieces, but those pieces were embedded in Theo’s skull. ‘Never mind.’
With The Simpsons theme on repeat, nobody felt like giving Theo much of a eulogy. Instead, they hurriedly washed themselves in the river and went back to the camp.
As Eva and Jahmin settled by the fire, Devin went to check on Rocky. He lay in the shelter, his forehead beaded with sweat.
‘Hey,’ she whispered. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Tired. Sore.’
‘Here.’
She opened Mandy’s backpack and took out the box of painkillers. There were only two left. She handed him a pill and, before she could offer him water, he dry swallowed it.
‘Thanks.’
Devin gave him a little half-smile, backed out of the shelter and went to sit with the others. The smoky smell of roasted eel hung in the air. Eva handed her a chunk.
Jahmin refused his with a pained expression. ‘I can’t get over his face. I’ll never be able to watch The Simpsons again without seeing his face.’
‘It wasn’t an accident,’ Devin said. ‘Someone did that to him. Who would do that?’
Eva gave Jahmin a significant look. Jahmin shook his head in annoyance.
‘It wasn’t Liam. How many times? Liam’s bloody miles away. Downriver. Theo drifted from upriver. That’s opposite.’
‘Liam’s a psycho. You said he was a psycho.’
‘No, I didn’t, you did!’
‘Because I’m right.’
‘Actually, you know, you are right. He is a psycho. You know how I know? Because he’s got a thing for you.’
Eva ostentatiously checked her fingernails, polished them on her shirt. ‘That just makes him a psycho with good taste.’
‘Rocky looks terrible.’ Devin kept her voice low. ‘His leg’s really bad, and we’ve only got one painkiller left.’
‘Well, we can’t just sit here, hoping someone’s going to rescue us,’ said Eva. ‘We’ll have to get moving.’
‘How far do you reckon we are from the crash site?’ Jahmin squinted off into the bush, as though he could see the bus wreckage strewn around in the distance.
‘What am I, a GPS?’ Eva said. ‘How would I know?’
‘Not that far,’ said Devin quickly, before Jahmin could retaliate. She found their mock battles quite tiring. ‘I couldn’t have stayed afloat for too long. Mind you, the current was pretty strong.’
‘Not that far in the city. In the bush, it could take bloody hours,’ said Jahmin.
‘We should head up that way soon,’ said Devin. ‘There might be people there already.’
‘Okay, so someone stays back with Rocky, and the other two go. Recon. See if there’s any food or medical stuff or whatever,’ said Jahmin. He turned to Devin. ‘Do you want to go with me?’
Devin blushed, this time with pleasure. ‘Me?’
‘You’ve got the skills. And Evs is so bloody annoying …’
Eva grinned. ‘Devin should stay. Someone’s going to have to feed Rocky and take care of him, and quite frankly his leg makes me feel sick.’
She shot Devin a quick glance as she said this and watched Devin nip at her lower lip and duck her head. She knew it! Devin had a major crush-a-rama. Well, for Devin’s sake she hoped Rocky didn’t pop his clogs anytime soon. She would bet Devin was not only a virgin, her LIPS were still in their virginal state too. Imagine that, she thought pityingly. Sweet sixteen and never been kissed. It was like an old ’50s’ movie.
‘Always so thoughtful and caring – ow!’ Jahmin flinched as Eva jabbed him in the ribs. ‘Fine, we’ll hit the track pretty soon, ay? No point hanging around.’
‘All right.’
‘We’ll send the rescue teams in. Maybe they’ll winch Rocky up on a helicopter.’
‘Like Santa at Carols in the Park.’
‘Yeah. Just like that. Hope he brought his Santa suit.’
Devin’s brow was wrinkled in thought. Something had been on her mind since they’d left the beach, and it was beginning to worry the hell out of her. Funny how if you don’t say something out loud, you can pretend it doesn’t exist. Once a thought is out there – vocalised, bouncing around in the world – that’s when you have to deal with it. Maybe, Devin thought, if more people kept their mouths shut, the world would be a better place. Maybe.
She spoke up anyway. ‘Don’t you think it’s weird how there’s been no helicopters or anything? They should be here by now, buzzing around, all up and down the valley. They must have seen that half the bus went down the river.’
One glance at the other two and she knew they’d been thinking the exact same thing.
‘They’re probably still at the site,’ said Eva. ‘There’s too much for them to do. Rescuing people and fixing them up and stuff. They’re busy. Right, Jahmin?’
Jahmin nodded automatically, but privately he thought that Devin had made a lot of sense. Why hadn’t anyone come looking? What if he and Eva got to the crash site and no one was there at all? Then what?
‘Okay, well, whatever we find, we’ll come back here and tell you first. We won’t cross the river until we know what’s happening.’
‘Goody.’ Eva rubbed her hands. ‘We’ll be like secret agents. You can be my sidekick.’
‘Yes and you can be my sideburn. I’ll shave you.’
‘Oh, you so wish.’
Eva and Jahmin’s bickering was getting on Devin’s nerves. She got up to check on Rocky.
‘Hey you,’ she said, sitting next to him. ‘How are you feeling now? Did the pill work?’
Rocky shifted position to give her more room, and frowned. ‘I think so. I don’t know if I’m having a reaction or whatever, but I’m really cold.’
‘Do you want to come by the fire?’
‘Not cold outside. Cold on the inside. I dunno. It’s not bad – just weird.’
Devin looked at him closely. The colour had come back into his cheeks and his voice was stronger.
‘Do you need anything? A drink or something? There’s some eel left, it’s a bit raw but …’
‘No. Stop. I just want to say something.’
Devin obediently shut her mouth, gazing at Rocky expectantly. In the dim light of the shelter it was easier to look him in the face.
‘I just wanted to say, thank you for–’
‘Oh no, you don’t have to thank me. I wanted to. I wanted to help you.’ Hastily she added, ‘And Eva – of course, Eva.’ She gave a bright, don’t care-ish laugh that sounded completely fake to her ears.
‘You’ve been awesome.’
Rocky’s hand fumbled for hers and held it. Devin froze. She stared at his fingers around hers. Her hand felt hot and clammy, and for some weird reason it didn’t look like her hand any more. It looked more like a plastic shop mannequin’s or something, all stiff and pale against his brown skin. Little shockwaves were shooting up her arm, and she could feel her pulse beating tight against his hand. She snatched her hand away and tucked it into her lap. She looked up, wanting to say something casual, to pretend it hadn’t meant anything. Rocky was gazing at her. He leaned towards her. She let her eyes drift closed.
And then half the shelter caved in on them, showering them with brush and sticks.
Eva rolled between them, cackling with laughter.
‘Shit! Sorry! Jahmin thinks he’s Superman.’ She struggled to her feet, yelling, ‘You’re a sidekick, you dick! Now fix the damn hut!’
Devin quickly got up and moved away, the pulse in her wrist still beating hard. Her nose tickled and she swiped at it, noticed one nostril was bleeding.
Of course, she didn’t think anything of it.
33
His resolve hadn’t wavered and neither had his sense of direction. Liam knew he was being led back to the waterfall. He understood why. That was where it had started. Going back to the place it had happened made the closing of a circle, for Eugene
to finish what Liam had started when he’d looked Eugene in the eye and jumped. If their positions were exchanged, Liam would probably have done the same thing.
But then, Liam reminded himself, maybe it had started way before that, when Eugene had hurt Beth. Or when Eugene’s mum had taken off. Or when Eugene’s old man had begun to be a bit too free and easy with his fists.
Liam stumbled, put out a hand on a tree trunk to steady himself. His heartbeat was so loud he could hardly hear his own thoughts. How did he know that stuff about Eugene? He didn’t know shit about him or his family. He just knew him as the mean loudmouth who picked on kids who couldn’t fight back.
Eugene loved his mummy and she left.
She left him by himself.
She left him.
Liam left him.
Liam resumed his loping run through the bush, his mind spinning with memories he wasn’t entitled to have, his nose bleeding.
He stumbled across an overgrown set of rutted wheel tracks and followed it through the trees. A cool breeze from the river caressed his neck. In the heat of the afternoon, nothing stirred in the bush, except for the insects. Swarms of midges, attracted by the smell of his sweat, stung his bare flesh with happy abandon.
Liam ignored them. He knew Eugene was here somewhere, watching. He could feel him. And with every step he took, he could hear that insistent whisper calling his name, a whisper that grew louder with every step.
The whisper became a roar, the crashing of the waterfall. Liam left the tracks and pushed his way through the trees to the edge of the gorge. He gazed with awe at hundreds of tonnes of water smashing down a steep cliff into a murky green pool. The pool fed the rapids beyond, and then the river, wider now, disappeared around a bend. And on the other side of the pool lay the remains of their bus, looking sad and forlorn and completely munted.
Liam scanned the trees surrounding the pool for any sign of movement, but the spray wafting up from the falls made it hard to see. He couldn’t hear shit either. He glanced down at the steep, slippery gorge walls and returned into the bush to make the descent instead. It was still hard going on the slope, and he slipped a few times, wildly grabbing out at the bushes and branches for balance.
He was glad Jahmin hadn’t come. Jahmin, with his pavement-accustomed feet, would have slipped and been smashed to smithereens on the rocks below. But Liam had a good head for heights and didn’t feel afraid. He didn’t think he had any emotion left in him at all. There was room for nothing else but getting to the bus. Finding Eugene. Finishing it.
Scratched and bleeding from the thick tangle of scrub he’d clawed his way through, he finally made it to the bottom. The roar of the falls was deafening. The churning green water was covered with white froth, like icing, and the air was veiled in a fine white mist. Liam took in the beauty of it all with one dispassionate glance and headed straight for the bus.
The whispering was even louder now. He could hear it above the sound of the water. Liam. Liam. Come closer.
Closer to what? Liam wondered as he picked his way over the rocks to the buckled wreckage. He remembered clinging to it with Jahmin as it shot down the river, and grimaced. How could they have survived? They shouldn’t have. It was ridiculous.
It lay on its side, the front part submerged in water, the roof facing him. He couldn’t see inside. He watched it warily, as though it were a great beast that had fallen but might get up again and charge.
Eventually he tried to scramble up the side, only to slither back again. He grabbed onto a jutting piece of metal for balance and it sliced into his palm. He cried out in pain, falling back into the water. He dunked his hand in, remembering too late his old man’s advice, that rivers might carry waterborne diseases but your piss was always sterile. Never mind, he’d do that later when he really had to go.
He yanked at a rip in his T-shirt, ripped a strip of fabric free and wrapped it tight around his wound.
A mocking voice sounded deep in the bush. ‘Ha haa.’
Liam stopped, head cocked.
‘Ha haa.’
‘Shut up!’ he shouted.
Liam. The whispering came from inside the bus.
Liam scanned the bush again and then looked at the bus, undecided.
A large green and red parrot, a kākā, flapped noisily up out of the trees and glided back down again, its harsh cry of ‘Ka kaa’ ringing out.
Liam clambered up on the bus again, this time watching where he put his hands. He crawled to the window at the rear, where Eugene had been trapped. It yawned open, the blackness within oozing a vapour of despair and death.
Liam.
He sucked in a couple of deep breaths of clean, mountain air and lowered his torso through the hole.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. Everything was in disarray. Seats and straps and bags and bodies were tossed about as though they were in a topsy-turvy doll’s house. Dark shapes drifted ominously under the surface.
He’d last seen Eugene in the seats just behind the row below him. At first he couldn’t see anything. But then, underneath the seats, he made out a flash of blue.
Liam stretched as far in as he could without falling. From this angle he could see Eugene quite clearly. His skin was pale, his lips slightly parted, his eyes staring blankly. Eugene was dead.
Liam heaved a great sigh. The turmoil within him eased. The heavy hammering of his heart quietened.
He squirmed back up out of the window and sat up. The heat of the sun seeped into his skin. All around him and in him and through him was a soft white glow swallowing up the bush, the water, the rocks, the clouds, a light that was in him and through him, lifting him up and up …
Liam.
The whisper wasn’t Eugene. It was something else entirely.
Liam slumped forward onto the bus, his eyes wide, a trail of dried blood on his upper lip, his heartbeat slowing … and slowing … and …
Stop.
34
She felt a tremor, the tiniest vibration. A soft glow pierced her lashes but still she lay with her eyes closed, floating in a twilight world. Her hands fluttered up to her face. She felt the touch of her hands on her face. She was here. She was alive. The ship was awake and so was she. It wouldn’t be long now.
35
Devin tilted her head, concentrating.
‘Was that an earthquake?’
‘I didn’t feel anything,’ said Jahmin, and Eva shrugged.
Devin waited a moment and then turned her attention to Mandy’s backpack, tucking a leafy packet of mushed-up baked eel into the pocket. She handed the backpack to Eva. ‘Will you be okay?’
‘We’ll be sweet. Big game hunters us, conquering the Congo, what, what.’ Eva tried to smile, but her lips trembled and it came out a bit wrong.
Hesitantly, Devin reached out to give Eva a hug. It was the first time she’d ever done that. Eva returned the embrace warmly, and the two girls clung together for a moment.
Jahmin addressed all three of them in one breath. ‘Come on, you stupid lesbo. We’ll be back before you know it. Catch ya later, bro.’
Jahmin knelt beside Rocky and clasped his hand. He leaned forward and pressed his nose to Rocky’s in a hongi, closing his eyes. He straightened and Rocky frowned, wrinkling his nose.
Jahmin laughed. ‘What, do I smell or something?’
‘Your hair tickles,’ said Rocky, rubbing his nose, but Devin saw the expression on his face. It was uncertain, wary. ‘Break a leg.’
‘Nah, you did that already,’ Jahmin replied.
Devin waved as Eva and Jahmin headed off into the afternoon sunlight. She could feel the space grow emptier as their laughter and chatter was swallowed up by the bush. Her heart began pounding in fluttery anticipation. Rocky was watching her. She went towards him.
Jahmin was right. A couple of kilometres on a flat city street was nothing. A couple of kilometres crawling through dense bush was completely different.
He wanted them to go down to the river a
nd pick their way along the shore, but Eva flatly refused. Apart from their recent terrifying river crossing, Devin’s dire warnings of flash flooding coupled with the actual surge they’d seen were uppermost in her mind. So, no thanks, she preferred her river from a distance.
It was hot, though, clambering through the undergrowth. Jahmin didn’t seem to notice the heat, but Eva did. She peeled off her hoodie and tied it round her waist. Her T-shirt was clinging to her back.
Eva enjoyed hanging out with Jahmin. They’d always got along, recognising in each other an accidental troublemaker, someone who was naughty but still nice. Made a change from Devin’s irritating timidity and Rocky’s wholesomeness. Even Rocky’s occasional weed smoking didn’t detract from his Nice Guy image. It just made him more likeable, more approachable, like he had issues too.
Sickening, really.
‘Bloody mozzies,’ she panted, swatting at her arm. Her exposed skin was covered in little red bumps. ‘Devin said there was some kind of leaf you could rub on to keep them off.’
‘Yeah? Do that, then.’
‘I don’t know what leaf it was, do I?’
‘Well, pick one. There’s heaps to choose from.’
‘My luck and it’d be poisonous.’
Jahmin inspected his arms carefully. ‘I haven’t got any.’
‘Probably because you taste rotten.’
‘Good. Look what being tasty gets you.’
Jahmin poked at Eva’s lumpy arm and she flinched. ‘Jeez! Your fingers are like ice! You can’t be cold. I’m boiling.’
Jahmin considered. ‘No, I’m not cold, exactly. Not hot. Just … normal.’
Eva snorted. ‘That’s a matter of opinion.’ She swallowed, her throat thick. ‘I’d kill for a drink.’
‘We’ve been going for about an hour. We should head towards the river, see where we are.’
‘Let’s just rest for a bit,’ Eva said.
‘I thought you were thirsty?’
‘Yeah, but …’ She kicked the ground, tugged at the straps of her backpack.
