The late afternoon sun was still hot.
Cynthia could feel the heat in the sand and the dry leaves under her feet and the sweat trickled down her back.
“So,” Cynthia began angrily, “are we going to be pieces in your collection or are you going to sell off our body parts for the government or mad scientists to make super-soldiers?”
Tony laughed.
“Actually, you will be in pieces in my collection.” He smiled at her, but Cynthia refused to look at him. “I want to try something new with you three. In a way, you will join the collection, but mostly I’m making something special. An experiment.”
Cynthia glanced at her bound hands in the bag.
It won’t be too far now.
“I’m making something. Maybe I will be the super-soldier, when I’m done,” Tony said thoughtfully.
Cynthia felt sick. She knew what was coming.
“Shiver can climb walls and not be seen on video, Courtney is able to project the person she wants people to see, and you Cynthia, are able to kill with a touch. Think of how powerful those gifts could be in the right hands. They are wasted on you…mutants. Your kind, wear your gifts like defects, like shame.” He put on a voice and waved the rifle around. “Oh no, I can walk through walls. Now I’ll never be happy. I wish I was normal!”
The two men escorting them, laughed hysterically at Tony’s impersonation.
“I don’t think you understand anything at all.” Cynthia growled. “You parade about pretending to be a nice little rich prick, while you hunt and kill women and collect souvenirs from their bodies. And what’s the deal with the ‘Ace of Clubs’ bullshit and the goons with their clown masks? Lets not forget your fixation on leopards. You are straight up, crazy.”
Tony didn’t even slow his pace.
“You are naïve, Cynthia. All your kind are. You box yourselves up and you forget the bigger picture.” He rested the rifle on his shoulder. “When I was in the United States, I met some really cool guys. Men and women that are taking a stand against the genetic uprising. One of them had a son who travelled the world working for the DPHR. The Department of Post-Human Relations. Their job is to hunt scum like you and put them down before they go public. He told me that in some countries, people like you are stoned to death or executed for being witches. They know so much about this invisible world that normal people don’t even see.” He kicked another branch out of the way. “But I saw it. I’d known about it for a few years. I didn’t know all the details, but I knew that Dad employed someone who wasn’t human. That was you, Deadfall. Dad’s pet executioner.”
Cynthia hoped that if he kept talking, he wouldn’t think about stopping their hike prematurely.
She looked behind her at the two girls. Courtney had her head down; Kara looked ahead and gave Cynthia a knowing look.
“Ace of Clubs.” Tony shrugged. “Every revolutionary needs a gimmick, and mine isn’t even illogical. I run a bunch of clubs. That’s what some of the boys started calling me months ago. I think its cool. As for the outfit, it just suits me. Have you seen the Chinatown security footage they plastered all over the news?” Cynthia hadn’t. “I look fantastic. It was fierce, wasn’t it boys?”
The two men heartily agreed.
“You see Cynthia, United States gets all the best heroes in the comics and the movies. You ever hear of an Aussie super hero movie?”
Cynthia said nothing.
Keep moving.
“Yeah, that’s cause there isn’t any. Now, Ace of Clubs and his loyal army, will be leading the war on mutation. We will be the leopards that outlast you niche species. We are human and humans are the perfect design, just as leopards are the perfect design among big cats.”
Cynthia shook her head. This man is more dangerous than I thought. And he’s unstable.
“Not far now, ladies. I think we will find a good tree out of sight just out there.”
Tony pointed to a collection of large gum trees and twisted broken branches.
He looked at each of his men. “I want one per tree, and that big one is where we will hang them while we dress them.”
Dress them, Cynthia thought, it wasn’t dressing with clothes, it was the kind of dressing you do when you slaughter a pig.
Chapter 31
The small plane landed in the flat paddock.
The crop farm was on the outskirts of a town called Nhill on the highway to Adelaide.
“Are you sure about this, Mr Claire?” Ryan shielded his eyes as he watched the orange glare of the afternoon sun descending over a distant horizon.
Matt shrugged. “It’s the best we have to go on.”
Matt had visited this area a several times in his life. When he was a fresh out of high school, he would stay with a friend in a nearby town where they would spend their days fishing or playing video games. Later he came up here to do research for one of his novels. The last few times, of course were while he was in the employ of Mr Carlyle.
Bronson Carlyle used this area to dispose of evidence from some of his less savory business exploits.
Only days ago, he was here with Cynthia.
He and Cynthia had used one of the few roads that passed through the heart of the Little Desert National Park.
They left the plane and found they weren’t alone in the field.
An older man in tattered jeans stood leaning on the back of the farm vehicle, his white beard catching in the breeze.
“Mr Claire, Mr Chen, I’m Rane. You asked for a car?” He nodded toward a blue sedan parked on the edge of the gravel track that led to the gate. “She’s the best I could dig up at short notice. Full tank and good tyres. She’ll do the job.”
Matt nodded to the man, who offered out a set of keys.
“Cheers.” Matt was short of breath. “The convoy?”
“The eyes in the air tell me they veered left. South way to Adelaide.”
“Shit.” Matt took the keys and looked across to Ryan, who’s expression mirrored his own.
The old man straightened himself. “Not all though, Mr Claire. One, a removal truck didn’t leave the Little Desert Road.”
Matt squinted. “They stopped?”
His eyes grew wide.
The last time he and Cynthia had stopped on the Little Desert Road, was to take care of business away from prying eyes.
“That is them, isn’t it?” Ryan was filled with panic.
“I’m pretty damn sure.” Matt said, as he jogged through the wheat stubble to the car that had been provided.
Matt climbed into the driver’s seat and Ryan jumped into the passenger side.
Ryan still looked a bit confused about why Matt was so sure.
“Pretty certain.”
“You have a reason to think this then?”
“Last time Cynthia and I were up here we were taking care of some things that Mr Carlyle wanted to disappear. After we had completed the job we were followed.” Matt explained as he drove out of the gate and onto a dirt road.
“His man saw you and followed you?” Ryan nodded.
“It had to be Tony’s goons. That was the day all of this craziness started.”
“I see.” Ryan mused as they bumped down the track heading towards the Little Desert Road.
Ryan was silent for a moment as they drove. He was putting all the pieces together in his mind.
“It would have been the end,” he finally said.
“How so?”
“He must have had Mirage under his influence stealing the files, yes?” Matt agreed. “Then he managed to manipulate Kara.”
“Yeah.” Matt steered the car from the dirt road out onto asphalt.
“Then Tony Carlyle had two Post-Humans and that day he planned to take the third. That business in the city; the zoo, Chinatown, that was just collateral damage. He wanted the three women. The three Post-Humans.” Ryan sat back and gazed out the window.
Matt nodded as he drove.
He hoped like hell that Tony Carlyle didn’t have
everything he wanted, or that stop he made in the desert might be final for Cynthia and Kara.
“There!”
Matt hit the brakes and reversed.
Ryan pointed to a concealed track that led from the main road into the scrub.
Matt leaned over and squinted at the tyre marks in the loose sand.
“I think you’re right, mate.” Matt nodded. “Those tyre marks go in from the right direction and they look pretty fresh.”
“It is sand in there. That track will be too soft.” Ryan warned as Matt turned the car into the sandy track that led into the desert.”
Matt shrugged as he drove in slowly. “They must have done it with a truck, we’ll manage.”
They drove the blue sedan slowly up the track, scanning either side in case the truck had somehow gone off road on a hidden trail.
Ahead there was glinting white.
They could make out the truck through the stunted trees. Just like they had been told; it was an old removable truck.
Matt pulled the sedan up next to the truck and they both jumped out and ran around to check the back.
“They were here,” Ryan said looking at the framework with open straps and the two empty cages. “They must have been here. There are many disturbing things left behind, Mr Claire, but the girls are gone.”
“There are out there.” Matt pointed. “Tracks. Thankfully the ground is sand and at least one of them has heavy feet.”
Ryan jumped down from back of the truck.
“Where are they taking them?” Ryan asked. “This doesn’t make sense. Why would Ace of Clubs go to all this trouble, only to take them out there?”
“My guess,” Matt said as he led Ryan through the scrub, “is that he wants something from them. I just hope that we can find them before anything bad happens.”
They pushed through the spiny bushes and broken sticks.
“Look,” Matt pointed to a rotten branch sitting in a bush. “That’s been kicked up there. These guys just smashed their way through here. They don’t think we followed.”
“So, you think we are going to find them in time?” Ryan picked up his pace.
“Damn, I hope so…” Matt pulled the pistol out of its sheath beneath his arm and checked the magazine and flicked the safety off. “I hope so…”
Chapter 32
He intended to gut the girls like pigs.
The area Tony had chosen was a little more over grown, than some of the other places they had marched through. It was like an oasis of bushland in the sparse, tortured desert scrub.
Around the trees he had chosen were a collection of young eucalypt saplings and some taller bushes that Cynthia didn’t recognise. This particular spot was completely concealed from view.
They were far out of sight from the roads. It was possible that no one had hiked through this area at all.
It may be a desert, but its scrubby nature meant that people could still get lost.
Of course there was the snakes.
Nobody ventured this far into the scrub without the risk of a snake-bite. You would never get back to the road or to a hospital in time to save yourself.
This was desolate and dangerous country.
Cynthia, Kara and Courtney stood helplessly at gunpoint with the cord around their necks.
One of Tony’s goons was setting up some kind of rope and pulley system to hoist them up under a big overhanging branch.
The second goon stood behind the girls scratching at his short grey beard. His rifle was leveled at them, but his eyes watched Tony, who was procuring a collection of items and sharp instruments from his pack.
Everything Tony withdrew from the bag looked ominous and violent.
A boning knife.
Scalpels.
A wire tourniquet.
Cryovac bags.
A collapsible bucket to collect spilling blood.
Tony was only planning on taking the parts he needed. He didn’t want the girls alive slowing him down.
Cynthia was having trouble understanding how this man could kill them like animals. She also couldn’t see how this was the same man, who had taken her out for dinner.
Tony and the man hoisting the ropes were quietly busy, preparing for the bloodshed. The only man who wasn’t distracted was their guard, and even he wasn’t on task.
Cynthia watched the man’s eyes as he watched the other two setting up. He would double blink and widen his eyes in an animated way. Cynthia had seen this before.
The man was high.
She mentally kicked herself for not realizing it earlier. His men would be paid cash for their services and loyalty, but Tony had stolen the contents of a storehouse full of drugs. Drugs were the perfect payment for weak willed idiots or aspiring dealers.
A smile crept across her face.
This was the moment.
This is when they break loose.
Two men were busy and one was high. They needed to take this opportunity or possibly lose any chance of escaping.
Cynthia stole a glance at Kara who was staring out at the trees ahead of her, but she caught Cynthia’s look. Kara’s eyes narrowed and she nodded only slightly.
Cynthia turned a little further to see if Courtney had got the message.
She stood staring at the ground, but glanced up in time.
She nodded very slightly.
That was about two seconds before all hell broke loose.
Courtney had been a little partial to violence in the past, so there was no hesitation in her actions.
Courtney dropped to the ground and snatched up one of the many sticks and spun to stab it down into the goon’s thigh.
The man sucked in a breath and looked down in time to see Courtney break the stick off with half of it buried in his leg.
His mouth was wide with shock and his eyes fluttered.
Kara took this moment to knock the rifle to the side and kick out at the man’s stomach.
He tipped over into the sand clutching his wounded leg. He was gasping and groaning, but didn’t cry out.
Cynthia took the lead.
She pointed towards the nearest tall bushes and twisted trees. There would be enough cover to get them out of initial danger.
The three women ran as best they could with their sore, bare feet across the broken twigs and through the spiny bushes.
“Hey!” Tony yelled.
Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Cynthia told herself as she ran.
Tony was yelling at the two men. The wounded man was trying to get up and hissed in pain.
Bang!
This was the part Cynthia was worried about; the guns.
There were two more shots that whizzed past them and splintered low hanging branches.
“Almost…” Cynthia gasped as they pushed through a tall spiny bush. “This way…” she pointed.
Bang! Bang!
Cynthia felt fire in her shoulder before she realized what had happened.
She was shot.
“My God.” Kara whispered.
“We can’t stop. Not now.” Cynthia said as she glanced at the other two. They both looked anxious.
So far they had made it into some scrub, which concealed them from view. Tony and his men would be after them, spread out with rifles ready.
Cynthia pushed through the leaves and twigs and ducked under the branches. She could see sanctuary just ahead.
The saplings, bushes and twisted eucalypts were beginning to merge with a small forest of green. The bushes grew about eight or nine feet high and they were thick with branches covered with pine needle-like leaves. She had seen a patch of these when she had come to the desert once before. They created neat little hedge mazes with paths that ran between them.
This was where they would have their best hope.
Cynthia and the other two fugitives pushed through the remaining branches and found themselves on one of the natural paths between the bushes. They stood close together panting, the rope still linking them toge
ther like sled dogs and their hands bound tight.
“What is this?” Courtney looked about at the oddly green bushes towering over them in the dim light.
“Dunno, but I’ve seen them before.” Cynthia nodded and pulled them along one of the many paths through the bushy trees. “It’s our best chance out here. You can’t see through it and it doesn’t drop twigs everywhere, so they won’t hear us.”
Kara and Courtney followed.
“You’ve been here?” Kara whispered.
“Not here exactly,” She tried to shrug her wounded shoulder. “But near here. It’s all pretty much the same.”
“You’re shot. We can’t tend that while we are tied up.” Kara emphasized by tugging on the rope.
Cynthia nodded.
They needed to get untied. They were still very slow and vulnerable while they were strung together.
“You two get each other undone while we walk. My shoulder will be fine, but you two need to be free to move.”
Cynthia began to concentrate on the bullet hole while she walked. The familiar tight throbbing feeling began to mingle with the pain. She was trying to repair herself.
They weren’t free for long.
“I know you’re in here. You can’t hide from a bullet, Deadfall. I’ve got one with your name on it.” Tony laughed somewhere not far behind them.
Kara was frantically fumbling over the knot that held Courtney’s hands and Courtney was wiggling her wrists to try and get loose.
The paths through the tall broom bushes were narrow and twisted this way and that. Cynthia needed to try and pick paths that weren’t going to take them back the way they had come.
When she found a spot where several paths met, she knelt down to catch her breath.
“Where are they?” Courtney hissed.
“Shh… Listen.” Cynthia said holding up her bound hands.
The scrub was fairly quiet. There was a breeze that created a continual hum amongst the leaves and there was a definite snapping of twigs; the sound of someone clumsy working their way through the scrub.
The three of them looked in the direction of the sound. There was a faint yelp and hisses of breath.
Deadfall: A Post-Humans Story Page 18
