"So she can come after us again? You can forget that!" David said, siding with Nanako.
"But we can’t just leave her in the middle of the aisle! The Skel will most definitely check in here," Shorty protested.
"Good!" Leigh snapped.
"Shorty’s got a point. I’ll hide her upstairs somewhere," I said as I retrieved my gun from the floor and then flipped the girl onto her back. Then I dragged her towards the stairs by her armpits. Getting her upstairs was a lot harder than I’d anticipated, thanks to the condition of the stairs and my left arm not functioning properly; but I managed it in the end.
Upstairs consisted of several rooms, including the gutted remains of an office and a bedroom that overlooked the street. I dragged her into the bedroom, which was in utter shambles. A plaster roof panel had collapsed to spill mould-infested insulation batts to the floor. The bed’s metal frame was intact, but with the windows shattered, dirt and leaves had blown in and were covering the rotting mattress and the floor.
I laid the girl on her side against the wall beside the bed, and picked up the plaster roof panel with the intent of covering her with it. I paused at the sight of the pitiful scene of her small body slumped unconscious against the wall and her head lolling on the floor. I wished there was another way. I mean, she was an echolocater, one of my kind and the second one I’d met. If only we’d been able to get her to join us, what a time we could have had. Two biologically engineered soldiers working together, would’ve been awesome.
As I studied her trussed up, abandoned and alone, a complex partial epileptic seizure suddenly triggered. A sense of déjà vu that I’d experienced this exact situation before overwhelmed me, confusing and disorientating me with its implications, which I immediately rejected – this had not happened before. And then came the vision-strength image – another memory from my missing year. I was sitting on a crumbling red brick wall on the outskirts of Skel territory. My Austeyr assault rifle was across my lap, and I was feeling totally miserable. I’d just been forced to shoot my own Ranger teammates in self-defence after trying to stop them from delivering a bunch of helpless refugees into slavery to the Skel. The image passed just as quickly as it had come, and then every nerve ending in my body spiked with adrenaline. Next came the disturbing falling sensation, and lastly; the excruciating stomach pain.
The seizure only took a few seconds, but I felt as though I’d been through a major ordeal and woken from a very deep sleep. Blasted things, these seizures. I hated them, but at least they always gave me some sort of glimpse into my past.
The girl suddenly groaned and writhed about on the floor in pain. Surely her head would be hurting like it’d been hit by a sledgehammer. She opened her eyes and struggled frantically against her bonds, but then fell stock-still when she noticed me standing before her and holding the plaster panel.
Going against my better judgement, I discarded the plaster panel and pulled out my knife. Her eyes went wide in horror, thinking I was about to stick her, but when I cut the shoelaces binding her wrists together, her expression changed to one of anger and undisguised hatred.
Without saying a word, I made my way to the door, at which point I turned to appraise her. "Don’t let the Skel catch you this time. They’d practically stripped you naked when we found you. If we hadn't happened along and killed them..." I let my voice taper off, letting her mind finish the sentence.
Her eyes widened in shock. This was news to her since she was unconscious at the time. Her expression changed, then, but not to a softer one as I'd hoped, but to one of defiance, as though she either didn't believe me, or didn't care.
Not waiting to hear her response, I hurried downstairs to the others, who had donned their backpacks and were ready to go.
Nanako handed me my pack. I slung it on my back and then led the way to the back door. Lesson number one when Skel are around – don’t go out of a building the way you went in. It took a couple of minutes to jiggle the lock open, and then we passed single file into the laneway, which was filled with plastic wheelie bins, metal hoppers, stacks of wooden pallets, and tons of refuse. And throughout it all, bushes and wild grass flourished as they attempted to reclaim the area, sprouting from every crack in the concrete and every spot in which soil had accumulated.
Nanako touched my arm. "You cut her free, didn’t you?"
I glanced down into her beautiful brown eyes, but saw acceptance, not condemnation. "Ah, yes."
"Thought you would."
"You know me better than myself, then. It was a last-minute decision," I laughed softly.
"I know you inside out, Mister, and don’t you ever forget it," she said, poking me in the chest.
"No, Ma'am," I said, and pointed to the dried blood that caked her mouth, chin, and neck. "We gotta get you cleaned up. That must be so uncomfortable."
"Please do," she replied.
"Anyone know where there’s a working bathroom?" I asked the lads softly.
"Funny boy, Jones," Shorty chuckled.
"What does someone have to do to get breakfast around here? I’m starving," Leigh complained.
"There should be some fruit in your pack," I replied.
Leigh dug around in his backpack and pulled out a blackened, bruised banana. "You mean this?"
"Eat it, it’s still good for you," I assured him.
"Says who?" he quipped, but proceeded to peel the skin away and eat the banana anyway.
"We're going to Ballarat, right?" David asked.
"That's the plan," I assured him.
"Considering our condition, it's gonna take us at least a day or two to get there, ain't it?"
"About that," I agreed.
"And you think we're gonna manage that on the half-rotten pieces of fruit we've got in our backpacks?"
"Once we've put a good distance between us and the Skel, we can bag ourselves a couple of wallabies to roast."
"Aww, man, wallaby?" Shorty complained. "Can't we do better than that?"
"Wild dog? Feral cat?" I suggested.
"I was thinking lamb," Shorty replied.
"Out here?
"I can hope, can't I?"
Having finished his banana, Leigh sidled up beside me. "Jones."
"What?"
"I've been thinking..."
"That's never a good thing."
"Haha. Seriously, I've been thinking that when we get to Ballarat, I wanna stay there. Getting my behind handed to me a few minutes ago by that Custodian girl reminded me just how much I hate all this fighting and stuff. I just wanna settle down somewhere quiet, okay?"
I looked at Leigh and saw the fatigue and resignation in his face. He'd had enough, and I didn't blame him. Still, there was the bigger picture of our families stuck in a town that was surrounded by Skel. If we couldn't break the siege, Newhome and our families were doomed. I thought of my little sister, who'd just recently climbed out of her sick bed to tentatively experience the fullness of life. Of my older sister, about to get married although she was barren. Of my mother, who'd always been there for me; and, well, my father too, I guess, even though he'd disowned me the last time we'd spoken.
"What about your family?" I asked.
"Jones, you know as well as I do that I'll only hinder you if you bring me to Skel country. So please, let me stay in Ballarat," he whined.
"We don't have to make any decisions now. Let's wait until we've had a good rest and..."
"No! I wanna know now. I want this load off my mind," he pressed.
I sighed. The poor guy was probably right; he'd been through more than the rest of us, and to be honest, when it came to combat, he was the least capable of our group. "Fine," I conceded, though with an edge to my voice. "You wanna stay in Ballarat when the rest of us are gallivanting around trying to save Newhome and our families, you can stay."
"Thanks mate."
So much for trying to prick his conscience.
"Okay, let's go," I said, and we set off, with everyone sending loaded glances at each
other. No doubt they all wanted to stay in Ballarat as well.
But we'd only gone a few steps when the sound of guttural voices bellowing at the far end of the laneway caused me to spin about in alarm. Skel!
"Take cover!" I hissed as I quickly ushered everyone behind a large metal paper-recycling bin.
"Skel?" Nanako asked, voicing the fear on everyone's minds.
I held up my hand to quiet them and focused on what I could hear. I could just make out what the Skel were saying. "There's a whole bunch of them," I whispered.
"What are they doing?" Leigh asked a tad too loudly.
"Shhh!" I said, frowning at him. "They're looking for whoever killed the Skel war party that jumped the Custodians. In other words – us."
David tugged on my sleeve. "Then let's get out of here!"
I looked at David, who was as pale as a sheet. Leigh, who was no better, and Nanako, still crippled by fatigue thanks to her recent ordeal. Trying to outrun the Skel when they were in this condition was gonna be a nightmare.
"Okay, stay close to the back of the shops and follow me," I said, and then picked my way as quietly as possible down the laneway.
We'd gone only a few steps; however, when I heard vehicles approaching, and then two large, black 4WD cars appeared at the other end of the alley.
We were trapped.
"Down!" I hissed, and we melted into the shadows at the back of the pharmacy beside us.
"Rangers!" David spat.
Chapter Six
"As if the Skel weren't enough," Leigh moaned.
"Let 'em come," Shorty said, "The more the merrier."
"Shorty, you're a nutter," Leigh said.
Several Rangers wearing army fatigues and armed with Austeyr assault rifles disembarked from the vehicles. However, unlike the Skel at the other end of the alley, they didn't spread out to search the buildings. Rather, their leader spoke on his Smartphone while his men just stretched their limbs.
"That's Colonel Yamada!" Nanako practically yelped.
"The Ranger colonel?" I asked, surprised.
Nanako nodded emphatically. He was too far away for me to see clearly, but even from back here I could tell he exuded power and authority. I found it weird, that although I'd been very close to him – so close that he'd taken me on board as his protégé – I didn't recognise him at all. Man, but this amnesia was weird.
"Can you hear what he's talking about?" Nanako asked.
He was practically shouting at the phone, so yeah, I could. "He's trying to convince someone – a Skel leader – that whoever killed their five warriors couldn’t be a Custodian, because Custodians don't kill Skel with single shots to the throat. And also that he wants this person, whoever he is, taken alive."
"He's onto us, then?" Nanako asked, on the verge of panicking.
I watched as the Colonel finished the call and turned to his men. My blood froze in my veins when I heard him say, "Stay frosty, boys – it's Jones. He's out here. When the Skel flush him out we have to move and move quickly. I don't want those oafs killing him."
"What is it, Jones? You look like you've seen a ghost!" David asked, worried.
"Ethan?" Nanako demanded, pulling on my arm.
"We gotta go – now!" I said, scared out of my wits. The colonel knew we were out here and he wanted me taken alive. That couldn't be good.
The windows of the pharmacy beside us had been smashed by vandals, so I motioned for everyone to follow me and scampered into the darkened shop interior.
We rushed past the back serving-counter, its veneer surfaces peeling back to reveal the rotten wooden frame beneath. We went through aisles of shelves stripped bare of anything worthwhile decades ago, and finally to the front of the store, where we hunkered down beside the front sales counter. I poked my head cautiously through the empty doorframe, watched and listened for signs of Skel activity in the street, and then ducked back inside.
"Well?" Leigh demanded.
"The Skel are searching the buildings on both sides of the street, but they’re only coming into the street when going from one building to the next."
"Then we're stuffed!" Leigh squealed. "I knew this venture was gonna turn out bad. They're gonna catch us; they're gonna catch us!"
"Quit fussing, Leigh!" I snapped.
"Let's play leapfrog," David suggested.
"Say what?" I asked.
"When they enter the Asian grocery store, which is the building down from this one, we pop out and run into the next building down, you know, the one they've just vacated," he explained.
"You gotta be kidding. They'll see us!" Leigh protested.
"Not necessarily," I said.
"And the Skel on the other side of the street, what if they spot us when we pop out?" Leigh asked.
"It's a matter of timing."
"And how are we gonna know the Skel have entered the shop beside us? If your head is poking outside the door, they're gonna see you."
Although it was pretty dark in here, Leigh saw me point to my ears.
He backed off and paced up and down while running his hands through his auburn hair. "I can't believe this is happening," he muttered over and again.
Nanako gripped my hand and met my gaze, her eyes shining with determination to succeed in escaping this trap. "We can do this."
I nodded, and then reached up to grab Leigh and pulled him down to join us. "Okay everyone, get ready. As soon as I say go, follow me outside and do exactly what I do. Okay?"
They all met my gaze and nodded, though I could tell they weren't convinced it was gonna work.
I shuffled over to crouch down beside the doorframe and then strained my ears, listening to the barbaric Skel. They came ever closer as they searched every building on both sides of the street. I realised there must be dozens of them out here in Footscray, because they wouldn't be only searching these buildings, but the whole surrounding area. I drew my pistol and checked the magazine. I had only four bullets left. Not enough to get us through any scrap we may have with the Skel, let alone the highly professional Rangers.
I listened as the Skel barged into the grocery shop next door. I was about to gesture for the others to join me in a mad dash to the next building down, when three Skel exited a bank across the street. But instead of going straight into the next building, they started arguing, gesturing wildly as they went on and on about some slight one had given the other.
"Come on, come on!" I whispered, willing them to get a move on.
"What’s going on?" Leigh asked worriedly.
I was about to explain about our predicament, when we heard a loud crash and a gun go off. This was followed by angry shouting.
And then, to my utter astonishment, the Custodian girl I’d left upstairs next door suddenly dropped down from the awning, landed awkwardly on the sidewalk, and then sprinted off down the street, heading west. The Skel who were searching the grocery store came charging after her – including one who also dropped down from the awning. The Skel across the street also joined in the pursuit, racing down the road as fast as they could run in their skeletal suits of armour. Which, I must say, was actually pretty fast. Skel were unbelievably fit and strong.
I waited until both girl and Skel had disappeared around a corner, and then stood with a sense of purpose. "Okay, let’s get out of here before they come back!"
Sticking close to the shop fronts, we jogged off in the opposite direction. This, of course, was the wrong direction. We wanted to go west towards Ballarat. But Ballarat was suddenly no longer a priority; we had to escape the Rangers and Skel, and that meant heading east.
I kept a lookout for our enemies as we ran down Barkly Street, using echolocation and listening for the slightest sound that might betray their whereabouts. We had to stop frequently too. Leigh and Nanako would go only so far and then stagger to a stop, panting for breath. David wasn’t doing much better.
We crossed over Nicholson Street and continued east along Hopkins Street, but the sound of a Skel truck approac
hing from the north sent us scurrying south down Leeds Street. We crossed over Irving Street and slipped between some old factories, stumbling on a railway line set amidst an area taken over by the bush. Native and imported trees, ferns, shrubs, and wild grass had turned the place into a virtual forest.
Leigh fell on his knees between the trees that bordered the railway line. "Enough," he panted.
Seeing Nanako collapse beside him, I realised we had to stop and get our strength back. We moved back a ways from the train tracks and hid ourselves in a copse of gumtrees.
"Eat and drink up. We need to replenish our strength," I said as I dug into my backpack to retrieve a banana, an apple, and my water bottle.
"Whose lame idea was this venture anyway?" Leigh grumbled as he got stuck into an apple.
"I dunno 'bout that, I’m having a blast," Shorty said, smiling broadly. "Playing hide and seek with the Skel sure beats sorting scrap metal in the Recycling Works."
"At least the scrap metal wasn’t trying to kill us," David said.
Nanako was leaning back against a gumtree, trying to swallow a mouthful of a banana that had seen better days.
"How are you feeling, Nana-chan?" I asked as I sat beside her. What I would've given for a damp cloth, so I could wash the blood off her face.
"I’m fine," she replied, glancing up at me.
"The truth this time."
"Okay, I’m exhausted. I just wanna hole up for a week and do nothing but eat and sleep."
"And how are you feeling, you know, emotionally and mentally?" I asked. Two days ago, she was lying on her bed in a foetal position, too depressed to move.
"I felt pretty bad this morning, but it’s wearing off. And mentally I’m at peace, now I know you didn’t try to kill yourself – that you didn’t try to leave me. There are still a few residual doubts and fears lurking away in the back of my mind, though, but I’m just ignoring them."
"Keep focusing on the truth," I encouraged her as I leaned forward to plant a kiss on her cheek. I turned and studied the others. Poor David was still as white as a sheet. "How you holding up, David?"
Forager - the Complete Trilogy (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Trilogy) Page 51
