Desolation Boulevard

by Mark Gordon

  Chapter 54

  Stolen

  Matt was jolted out of a deep sleep by Montana shaking him violently. The bedroom light was on, but it was still dark outside.

  “What’s wrong? Is it Gabby? Is she sick?”

  “She’s gone! She’s gone! He’s taken her!”

  Matt jumped out of bed, grabbed his gun and ran to the lounge room. When he saw the empty couch and missing suitcase, he wanted to vomit, such was his fear, “Quick! Get dressed! We have to go!” he exclaimed.

  Matt dressed frantically and ran to the kitchen to grab his car keys. He yelled at Montana, “Are you ready? We have to go! Now!”

  She hustled out of the bedroom, pulling on her sneakers, “I’m ready! Let’s go!”

  They bolted through the front door, and Matt could see immediately that his mother’s car was missing from its usual spot under the carport. “Shit! He’s got mum’s car!”

  He could also see that the big floodlights had not switched themselves on, as they were meant to, “That fucker disabled the lights. Probably right after we finished working on them! God! How could I be so stupid? Come on! Get in!”

  They climbed into the car and Matt was relieved when the engine started first time. The headlights illuminated the gravel road and, as he gunned the engine, he prayed to any available deity that somehow Gabby would be safe. They drove through the bush, staring into the darkness beyond the windscreen, searching for headlights in the distance.

  “Why didn’t we wake up, Matt? Why didn’t we hear him leave?” Montana asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he drugged us. I was dead to the world. If you hadn't woken me I’d still be asleep!”

  “Why didn’t he just kill us while we slept?”

  “Who knows? Maybe he’s just not the killing type. It doesn’t matter really does it? Let’s just push on.”

  They reached the end of the gravel road at the entrance to the farm, and Matt stopped the car, looking left and right down the roads that would take them either east, to Millfield and Carswell, or towards the west.

  “Which way? Do you think he’s taking her to that Diamond Creek place he told us about?”

  Matt shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. I got the impression he didn’t like it much there. I think he’s heading east. I don’t think he’s looking for relatives in the city, like he said he was, but I think he was telling the truth about which direction he was going.”

  He put his foot down on the accelerator, and peeled out onto the road towards Millfield with a squeal of his tyres.

  “God, I hope you’re right!” said Montana, giving him a look that radiated nothing but anxiety and doubt.

  Matt slowed down as they reached Millfield and they peered around the dark streets searching for any sign that Gabby had been through.

  “She must be scared out of her wits. Why do you think he took her? What does a man that age want with a six-year-old girl? Oh my god! Matt, you don’t think he wants to ... do you? Please, not that. She’s just a baby. If he touches her I’ll fucking kill him!”

  Matt looked at her, as tears started welling up in her beautiful blue eyes. “No I don’t think he’s a pervert, but who really knows any more? I’m starting to think you and Kate were right about her. I think she has something that’s special. God! I can’t believe I’m saying that, but the rules have changed, haven’t they. The old thinking, the old way of doing things is finished. We need to trust our intuitions more, or something. I should have listened to you about that scumbag.”

  He took his eyes off the road briefly and looked at her. “I’m sorry Montana. I don’t give you enough credit. If I listened to you in the first place Gabby would be safe now, and that fucker Bill would have been long gone.”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t care. I just want to find her. I don’t think she’s here in Millfield, though, do you?”

  Matt put his foot down, and the car picked up speed. “No I don’t. Why would he stop here? It’s too close. He’s heading toward Carswell, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, I think so too. Let’s get moving.”

  Almost an hour later, as the sky was beginning to lighten on the horizon, Matt said, “We’ll be going past Kate’s turnoff soon. I wonder how Elvis and her are going?”

  “I hope they’re okay. I really liked her. She’s one tough lady.”

  “I’ll say. So are you, by the way. In a good way.”

  “Thanks,” she said, putting her hand on Matt’s thigh. “But I don’t feel very tough right now, I feel like I could shatter into a million tiny pieces. I’m a wreck. Matt, if anything happens to Gabby I don’t think I could cope.”

  “I know exactly how you feel.”

  Five minutes later they reached the spot on the road where Matt had been attacked by the feeder that had once been Kate’s ex-husband. Neither of them mentioned the incident as they sped past because they had other things on their minds. Matt shifted into the lower gears and they began the slow climb up the mountain range towards Carswell.

  “Matt, what will we do if we find them? What will you do to that man?”

  “I honestly don’t know. Right now, the way I feel, I would put a bullet in his head. But when the time comes, who knows?”

  “Matt?” Montana paused, unsure if she even wanted to ask the next question. “What if we don’t find them?”

  He looked straight ahead, intent on the way forward. "We will."

  -

  As Matt and Montana sped through the dawn, searching for Gabby, they were completely unaware that just twenty kilometres to the south, in the ancient depths of the Delano Caves, thousands of feeders were preparing to hibernate for the day. They had converged on this spot from all around, drawn by an instinct that they didn’t understand, for a purpose that was yet to be fulfilled. If the creatures had any kind of self-awareness they might have understood that a similar pattern of feeder migration and congregation was be happening in places all over the world, but that concept was beyond them. The impulses that drove them were of no more concern to them than their impulse to breathe. They just did what they did, like animals would.

  That wasn’t all, though. Since the event there had been changes in the feeders’ appearance and habits that would have been obvious to any scientist who could have found a way to observe and study them. The most noticeable change was their skin, where pale blotches had started to appear, making it look as if parts of their bodies had been bleached. The discolouration started near the neck and under the armpits, and then spread to all other parts of the body. Its progress was slow, but given the rate of coverage, it would be only a matter of weeks before the feeders’ entire bodies were completely white. The other element of this symptom, our hypothetical scientist would have noted, was the toughening up of the affected regions. As the colour leeched from their bodies, the creatures’ skin became thicker and more leathery. It was barely noticeable to the naked eye in the early stages, but eventually this change would give the feeders a very distinctive and animal-like appearance.

  At the same time there were also changes occurring that would have been too slight, for even a scientist to identify, and that was why the feeders were to become such formidable adversaries for whoever decided to take a stand against them. They were evolving. Their physical structure was changing and they became stronger with each slight mutation. They were becoming something new. And once our imaginary scientist got his head around that concept, he would have been very, very scared indeed.