by Leo Nix
A few hours later Charlene was still sitting silent and subdued in the lounge room. Her shoulder throbbed and she was close to fainting. Soft groans escaped from her as the shock and pain increased. Wicked hallucinations formed and faded as the pain ebbed back and forth. In a panicked voice she called, “What about the water… it's poisoned… we need to get out…”
Arthur and Heidi noticed her face was as white as chalk so they sat beside her and helped her drink from their bottled water supply. Suddenly Charlene vomited and promptly passed out on the lounge. Heidi found some sheets and arranged her into a more comfortable position then she cleaned up the mess. Waving her hand to Arthur she motioned for him to come with her into the kitchen.
Standing all of five foot five inches to Arthur's five foot ten she stood on tip-toe staring him right in the face. “Why the hell did you go and place me and Charlene at risk by coming into my house?” Heidi stormed at him, she was livid.
Although she managed to keep her voice down and her temper under control she was steaming mad inside. “Hell's-fire Arthur, you better start using your brains from now on. No more goofing off like you did at school. This is the real world and any tiny mistake you make can cost us our lives.” Arthur cringed and stammered an awkward apology.
After she settled down Heidi started to go through the cupboards and shelves of the pantry in her friend's house. She turned to Arthur, “Well you might as well tell me what you did to make them chase you.”
Arthur was still red-faced from the dressing down, but with some pride, he began his story. “Me and my mates set fire to their trucks with petrol bombs. We knew where they parked their trucks and Jeeps and things, and early this morning we bombed them. We took out eight of them, it was quite a bonfire too, Heidi.” Arthur smiled to himself remembering that sweet, short moment of triumph.
“We had a rough plan of escape, but as you always said, never listen to Swampy Watson. He's a first class dick head. He was supposed to hide our bikes in a shed but it took us ages to find them, he put them in the wrong spot. By the time we found our bikes they were after us.” He stopped and looked upwards, remembering. “We were trapped on all sides so we rode right through the middle of them. It was pretty awesome, but they fired and Swampy fell, then Lyons. We just kept riding and dodging as best we could.” Arthur stopped talking. He thought of the mates he'd lost that morning and knew what would be happening to them right now, if they had survived.
“I can't go back to our hideout either. If Swampy or Lyons were wounded and taken prisoner they'll squeal, prisoners always do. We watched once what the terrorist do to prisoners. After that I've never let myself watch again. I still see it in my head at night. I hate them.” Heidi put her hand on his shoulder and he turned to her.
“Arthur, you can stay with me and Charlene if you want,” she said gently. “Just remember to behave yourself though.” Heidi lifted her finger and held it in front of his face like a school mistress. “I'm warning you, if you ever do anything without asking me first, I will cut you where a man scratches himself.” She then softened her face, “Just don't put us in harms way ever again. You can help me prepare this place the same way I did in my own house. It'll take a few days, maybe a week. Then we'll go out collecting food and water together, got that?”
Arthur nodded, he was more than pleased to be with Heidi again. His face brushed her hair and his throat tightened as he caught her female scent. He felt a desire as something primal awakened inside him.
“I'm scared Heidi, I think we should all stick together.” His voice cracked as he tried to hold back his emotions. It had been a genuine race for survival and he was still in a heightened state of distress. He pulled Heidi into his arms and hugged her tightly, he closed his eyes to hold back his tears.
As he bent to bury his face in her hair she lifted her face upwards and whispered his name softly. Her eyes spoke a promise he yearned for and he bent to kiss her. Heidi held his kiss and he pulled her closer to him. She then took Arthur's hand in hers and led him to one of the bedrooms so they could consummate their reunion.
Even though they experienced no more drop-in's they all knew that eventually they needed to find a safer place to live. Somewhere they could stretch their legs and enjoy life again. They felt safe enough but it was like living in a cave, any outside activity had to be done at night.
They managed to collect some of the early ripening fruit from the trees and vines around their house but it was difficult in the dark. A variety of fresh fruit abounded in Adelaide and they looked forward to enjoying fresh vegetables as well. Apricots, peaches, plums, apples, cherries, nectarines and figs all had to be squeeze tested and that bruised them. Heidi preserved some of the excess fruit in jars she'd collected from the empty houses surrounding them.
Arthur went with her on her house-hunting trips now. The dead bodies were beginning to mummify in the hot, dry atmosphere and they frightened her. Heidi started to have nightmares of zombies. She became more afraid of zombies than the terrorists. With Arthur by her side she resumed entering houses to collect food and other necessities - but remained wary.
The three became good friends, but Heidi and Arthur were closer than friends. Charlene felt left out and a little jealous when the lovers went off to bed together.
Charlene felt that Heidi was her special friend, she'd rescued her, not Arthur. She was uncomfortable when the two shared moments of intimacy in front of her. That was when Charlene realised she had developed feelings for Heidi and it confused her normally, well structured sensibilities.
Ever the practical one Heidi had stored enough condoms to service an army so there was little chance of pregnancy. They all agreed that falling pregnant was definitely not a good idea given the situation they were in. Heidi never did anything if there was the slightest chance of failure.
Charlene remained jealous of Arthur, so she busied herself reading books they found in the empty houses, and several evening visits to the local library. She wanted to understand the psychology of terrorism and read everything she could find on serial killers, mass murderers, psychopaths and war criminals. As an undergraduate student of psychology she knew what to look for.
Her shoulder didn't heal properly either, and she wore a sling to keep her arm immobile. There was a constant ache in her shoulder and the bones knitted poorly, limiting all movement in her arm. It was fortunate that she was right handed but her sleep was still disturbed with nightmares and the constant pain. Charlene found her left hand had some strength but was generally useless.
Nights were the worst but she no longer cried herself to sleep, a blessing for the others she thought. One thing she continued to grieve was not saying goodbye to her family. Her older brother might still be alive. He was in the military, somewhere, and she prayed that he was safe and fighting the terrorists right now.
Over the months the terrorist activity quieted down. Although it wasn't safe to walk the streets, day or night, there were no more house to house searches. There were fewer sightings when they went in search of food and water at night. By now the poison had dissipated from the water system but they were always careful. It appeared that the Revelationists had forgotten about the city dwellers or `house rats' as they called them, and probably considered them a zero threat.
A house-dweller's network had developed, as small groups gained knowledge of each other. No one really trusted the others though, capture meant betrayal. It was commonly accepted that once a member was captured the entire group would move to a new safe-house. There were now very few dwellers, those not killed or imprisoned by the terrorists remained well hidden or escaped to the countryside. The survivors lived by night and slept when they could, which limited their opportunities to form a community.
To keep their spirits up Heidi, Arthur and Charlene would sometimes talk of escaping to the countryside, possibly the Flinders Ranges where Heidi still had family. That helped, a little.
Chapter 5 - Nulla - Safe House
Nulla le
d the boys back down the same track they had walked up. The sentry came forward and wished them good luck then faded back into the bushes. Their rifles were heavy, so too the ammunition. The two young men felt both proud and overawed.
“Righto, boys, we'll ride from here and you follow my lead in everything. Your lives, as well as mine, depend on your immediate action. You, young fella, Simon is it, right, get on behind me. You, Luke, keep up. If we get hit by enemy fire we go bush regardless. If I go right you go right too no matter what, got it?” Nulla kicked the bike into life and took off at speed. Luke was hard pressed to keep up on the rough dirt track.
They spent the next fifteen minutes on the track when Nulla unexpectedly took a right turn straight into the bushes. They bashed through thick scrub, the branches whipping painfully against their uncovered hands, necks and chests. They continued for a full thirty minutes then stopped. Nulla switched off his bike and indicated for Luke to do the same.
“Righto, watch me like hawks and do what I do. Listen, observe, then act. We should be safe here for about a half hour, after that we are in real danger. I mean that fella's because we just dodged a terrorist patrol back there. Righto, let's get this done.” He pulled the Steyr off Simon's back and placed it in his lap. He slowly explained the mechanism for loading, unloading; what to do if it jams and finally how to aim and fire. Then he explained what to do if attacked and how to react. He kept repeating, “…just watch me, listen, observe, then act.”
Feeling a little more prepared for war the teenage boys jumped back on their bikes and Nulla again led the way. They didn't leave the safety of the bush for another few hours. Time meant nothing and it seemed to stand still since that morning when they found the world had gone to hell.
They rode almost to the bottom of the mountain when Nulla stopped the bikes at a fuel depot to fill their tanks.
“Righto boys, time to eat. Luke break out the tucker in the pack and help yourselves. Not too much though 'cause it could make ya crook. Go easy on the water because we don't know when we'll get safe drinking water again.”
They finished refueling and sat with their backs to the depot walls and ate what the boys said was `darn good food.'
Simon stared at Nulla and said enthusiastically, “Nulla, there's nothing wrong with this army food, it's delicious.”
“Not when you have to eat it day in, day out it isn't. Righto, fifteen minutes kip. Luke, get yourself up on top of that shed and keep an eye open for baddies. If you see anyone driving a vehicle of any description, call out to us.” Nulla then rolled himself a cigarette, smoked quietly then closed his eyes and directed Simon to have a short sleep too.
But Simon was too excited to do much more than stare around him. He watched in fascination as Nulla skillfully rolled, smoked, slept and keep his wits about him all at the same time. In fact he was sure that if he had to write an essay he could add that to his repertoire. He tapped Nulla's leg, “Can I go up on lookout too? I'm bored watching you sleep.”
Nulla chuckled to himself, he had been given the keys to the kingdom. No officers, no one to tell him what to do, and he had the freedom to run his own war. He could play at being warlord if he wanted, that was basically what the captain said, he assured himself.
After some minutes there came a cry from the lookout, “Nulla!”
He opened his eyes and peered at the two excited faces. “What?” he called back.
“The hills are on fire, up where we came from, it's all smoking, looks like a bush fire. You can hear the thuds too. They must be bombing the terrorists,” called Simon.
Nulla got up and looked. “Yep, you're right. I would say there is some heavy fighting going on up there. The terrorists captured a lot of our heavy weapons and we're trying to get them back. We know most of them aren't as well trained as us but they had the advantage of surprise, numbers and they took a lot of our good lads out in the first few hours. Our soldiers are trying to take control. Sadly the poisoned water business has devastated not just the civilian population but our troops too.” Nulla called the boys back down and they kick-started their bikes.
“Follow me, Luke, and keep up. We need to find a safe place to hole-up tonight and I think I know a good place. It's only an hour away. If you see anything let me know. Luke, just toot your horn, Simon you tap my shoulder. Let's go.”
Just before dark they pulled into an average looking house in the outer suburbs of Adelaide. Nulla walked up to the door and knocked. He signalled for the boys to take the bikes around the back, secure them and to collect their gear ready to go in through the back door. He knocked again then kicked the door in. He called for the boys to enter via the back door.
The house was empty. Nulla met them in the kitchen. “Boys this is my mob's safe house. Beauty isn't it?” He chuckled when he found a gas camper stove in one of the rooms and began to boil water from their water bottles.
“Boys, be careful what you touch, they had drugs dumped all over these benches last time I was here, and I really don't want you getting high on me,” he laughed. “This was my retirement set up. Damn useless now ain't it. Oh well, it has everything a man could want except a woman, eh boys,” he laughed again. Nulla was happy and he was free.
“You're going to be my soldiers while I'm going to be your lord and master. How does that sound?” Once again he laughed but this time there was a wicked gleam to his eye.
“Nulla, what are you talking about? Soldiers? Lord and master? Are you going crazy on us?” asked Luke as he piled their gear into a corner of the lounge room.
“Sorry boys, I'm just mucking about. There's no authority now, none, no police, no law and order. We can do whatever we want, to anyone we want. Don't you boys get it?”
The older man turned to them with a serious look in his eyes. “What do people do when they believe they'll never get caught?” He paused to let the question sink in. “They do whatever they damn well please, that's what they do.”
Opening the fridge door he said, “Blast, the power's off and the beer's warm. Looks like we have to drink the lot then. We're gonna party tonight!”
Together they examined their weapons and equipment. They looked on as Nulla stripped their Steyrs down. He walked them through once more how to load, unload and then took them outside to fire off a magazine each. When Nulla was satisfied they wouldn't shoot themselves he brought them back inside. They stripped the Steyrs back down, oiled and cleaned them under his supervision. When they finished they did it again and again, until he was satisfied they had the basics down pat.
That evening they cooked their meal and sat back and drank the beer left in the fridge. Nulla kept an eye on the boys, making sure they didn't drink overly much. He did, however, want them to have their fill, to know what it meant to be hungover. Nothing tempers teenage drinking than a solid hangover, followed by a firm hand the next time it's offered.
It was bed time, but boys will be boys and they asked a lot of questions, the alcohol loosening their inhibitions around this intimidating warrior.
“Who are you really, Nulla, and what's this you said about drugs and lords of the universe you keep talking about?” asked Simon as he began to sway slightly.
“Righto, looks like I must give you the `Cook's Tour' of my life before you'll go to bed. Worse than my own kids yez are. I was born under a coolabah tree on the Hay plains and spent my humble youth horse breaking throughout southern and central Australia. I learned a thing or two about hustling when working in the circus with old man Jimmy Shannon. I joined a biker gang at seventeen and been a patched member since.”
He rolled another cigarette and leaned back into his lounge chair. “In those crazy years I did some drug running and delivery. I even did some protection and even a few hit jobs. I was what they called a `soldier'. Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to avoid getting caught up in the justice system. I had a choice: do something with my life or go the way of many of my brothers and a life in and out of prison. I chose the army.
�
��The army gave me a routine and I enjoy routines. They gave me a gun and I like guns. They gave me power and I love power. Then they demoted me for fighting. See my shirt, those faded marks there, that's where I hand stitched me proud stripes, when I had them.” He winked at the boys and rolled a smoke for them to share.
After some coughing the boys weren't so keen to find out more but Nulla hadn't quite finished. “This here safe house isn't actually mine, it belongs to my bike gang. We only use it when we lie low. Today we needed to hide nice and low, just in case. But that thing about the drugs, that's true, so don't go licking the benches.”
At this he sent the boys to bed and sat up thinking. He had a lot to think about.
The next morning the boys didn't get out of bed. Nulla stepped over last evening's dinner lying in a puddle on the toilet floor. The smell of vomit spread through the house. He let them sleep it off while he tuned in their CB set. Every broadcast he heard just made him more depressed.
He managed to chat with some HF guys who lived on a remote outback station and was very careful with what he said and what he allowed them to say. There were others, mostly CB enthusiasts travelling around Australia in their four wheel drives. Some he spoke with lived in cities and one called Charlie lived in Sydney. The situation reps were all negative. No good news, losses and retreats by the army and Sydney Charlie reported massive death tolls and an exodus out of Sydney for those who managed to survive. The situation was catastrophic.
Nulla tried to set up regular times to chat with these people but the signals were repeatedly jammed. Eventually he gave up and went inside to make lunch. Most of the food had already disappeared from the fridge. He sorted out what needed to be eaten now and what could be stored away for later, and what had to be thrown out.
