‘Come on, let’s go.’
I nodded, trying to forget the sight of the sharpened stakes and broken glass that covered the bottom of the pit.
‘Ruby! Blue! Red! Come on, stop fucking about!’ Tobe called, already back at the transport.
The dogs burst out of the bush, sprawled on the road, hot and happy. Ruby smiled blissfully, a beautiful thing to see.
‘Get in! Now!’
Ruby and the dogs caught on. Tobe and I rushed back to the cabin and jumped in. We sped away, the engine roaring. I urged Tobe to put on more speed nonetheless.
‘What was that?’ I asked.
‘A Punji trap.’
‘Sorry?’
‘Basically, a horrible way to die.’
‘Mate, there was nothing about it on the map.’
‘Yeah, sorry—I haven’t been out this way in ages.’
‘Creeps, you reckon?’
‘Something like that’s too clumsy. Anyway, why would they bother?’
‘First Country, then?’
‘It’s not their style. You know what they’re like—if we don’t fuck with them, they won’t fuck with us.’
‘Fair enough. But it has to be someone …’
‘Yeah, probably an old farmer or some shit. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were holed up in one of those towns we passed.’
I raised my eyebrows. ‘Who’d live out here?’
And then I looked around at the parched land that dwarfed us. It was pretty much the same as home.
We fell silent and drove on. Eventually, I realised that we had steadily been climbing higher; behind us, through the breaks in the bush, I could see to the horizon—a parched land of dying trees, bleached grass, dead towns.
A world of thirst and ruin that sprawled as far as we could see.
We climbed higher still.
The bush slowly became thicker and lusher, fed by underground springs. Trees once again scraped at the transport. The shimmering light never changed as we crawled over the peak and started our descent. Tobe gripped the wheel with both hands, trying not to miss a bend, trying not to send us into a ravine.
And then we shot out into open land.
Tobe floored the accelerator; we rocketed across another bare paddock. I had no idea where we were. I looked down at the map. Whichever forgotten shire we were passing through had faded to nothing, lost in a fold.
‘Shit.’
I saw Tobe’s eyes flick away from the road. I scooped up his rusty binoculars. The way ahead looked clear, the land on both sides empty. Far in the distance, a line of bush cut across the horizon.
‘Ruby!’
As quick as a striking snake, she slithered back through the hatch.
‘Give Bill a hand, will you? Two heads are better than one.’
She looked at him strangely.
‘What he means is …’
She rolled her eyes at me.
I passed her the binoculars. She took them, scanning the way ahead without saying a word. I kept my eyes on the land in case something broke its monotony. An unforgiving place, it made our trek seem futile, ridiculous, insignificant.
When Ruby cried out, I was grateful to have something else to think about.
Wrecked vehicles loomed ahead, cutting across the highway. Tobe kept our speed up until we were close enough to see them properly. There were too many to count, blocking the road completely, a solid wedge of rusting steel.
‘Bugger this.’
Tobe revved the engine, nudging the transport against an abandoned ute. He revved harder; the transport’s bull-bar crumpled the ute’s passenger side. We dug in, slowly shoved it aside. Tobe steered the transport through the gap, barrelled aside more wrecks, and drove straight over the top of others. Ruby and I kept watching the road ahead.
After much pushing and shoving, we cleared the wrecks.
‘About bloody time.’
Far in the distance, the highway curved, disappearing into the steadily thickening bush. The road until then was dead straight; Tobe opened up the transport. I occasionally leaned out the window, double-checking something that had caught my eye, hoping to spot a rusty, bullet-ridden sign welcoming us to wherever.
‘Don’t bother,’ Tobe said. ‘I think we’re in a national park.’
‘As if there’s a difference.’
He laughed, slowly at first and then harder and harder. It was contagious, soon we were howling together.
‘What’s so funny?’ Ruby asked.
We laughed some more. Tobe wiped tears from his eyes. Somehow, he kept the transport under control. But our mirth faded as the highway curved and the thick bush swallowed us up into its shadowy world. Tobe cut our speed as the road started twisting through the towering trees. We crawled for a long time before the road straightened back out.
‘Shit.’
Ruby drew the word out, leaning forward with the binoculars hard against her eyes. Tobe looked at me, raising his eyebrows. I didn’t know what he wanted.
‘Have a look, dickhead.’
Ruby wordlessly held the binoculars up.
‘It’s all right, Tobe. It’s just an old bridge and a few more wrecks,’ I said, doing as he said.
We slowed, stopped at the bridge, jumped out. Trees grew thickly around us, hugging both sides of the road. We must have been on an aquifer; they formed a solid wall, casting us in deep shadow. The pounding sun was far away, hidden by the canopy, robbed of its ferocity.
There was no birdsong. The world sighed as the wind blew.
‘Right, then.’
Ruby and I stood to one side as Tobe rolled an enormous rock onto the road. I crouched next to him, helped him lift it. Tobe nodded at the bridge. A wrecked firetruck and a rusted-out bus sat in the middle, cutting it in two. Sunlight drenched us, the empty river below cutting a bright scar through the dark land.
‘One, two, three.’
We threw the rock as hard as we could. It landed with a thump, rolled a little, came to rest beside the firetruck. The bridge barely shook. Tobe picked up another rock, threw it at the bus. The crash of shattering glass echoed through the trees.
‘Let’s go. Ruby, stay behind me.’
But she had already darted onto the bridge. Red and Blue dashed past her, running their guts out in pure dog joy, disappearing from view. The wrecks threw Ruby in shadow; we soon lost sight of her as well.
‘Shit.’
We jumped back into the cabin. Tobe started the transport, edged the front wheels onto the bridge. It sagged a little but held. I released a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. I kept an eye out for Ruby. Tobe inched us forward, so slowly that you would swear we weren’t moving. The bridge moaned as old wood strained.
‘Come on, what are you waiting for? Bloody Christmas?’ Ruby had Tobe’s drawl down pat.
She had climbed on top of the bus and was doing a handstand. I whistled low, couldn’t help feeling old. To see it all as simply the way it is, instead of as it was, instead of as the wreckage of a forgotten world, what bliss that would be.
I sighed deeply. Tobe muttered under his breath.
Ruby smiled wide, finishing her routine by somersaulting to the ground. She bowed low and then darted further along the bridge.
‘Better get a wriggle on, I guess.’
I felt the same weary regret that filled Tobe’s voice. I tried to ignore it. We pulled up to the firetruck, wedged our bull-bar against it. Once again, we dug in and pushed hard. It started to move, leaving rubber behind. After much grinding effort we pulled free, only to snag the bus on our rear bumper. The engine whined, the transport weighed down by our newfound load.
‘Come on.’
Tobe floored the accelerator, forcing us forward. The engine screamed and then stalled. I leaned out the window to look at the damage; we were hauling a load of twisted metal that exuded the acrid taint of petrol. Somehow, the bus’s fuel tank had been punctured; a thin trail was dribbling down its side, pooling on the road. I turned back. Rub
y was watching us from the far end of the bridge. She raised a hand. Tobe started the engine and pushed us forward before I could stop him. A fireworks show of sparks appeared in the rear-view mirror as the bus—still snagged on our rear bumper—collapsed on its wheel hubs and started scraping along the road. Tobe revved the engine harder. We shot free. The transport stalled again.
‘Look out!’ Ruby yelled.
In the rear-view mirror, tongues of flame were leaping off the bus. Cold sweat drenched me. Tobe was cursing to himself, trying hard to get the transport started. Horrified, unable to stop myself, I looked back at the wrecks. Tobe screamed Ruby’s name, telling her to run. Flames reached the bus. It exploded with a thunder that drove everything else away.
It happened too quickly. It happened too slowly.
Through the dust and smoke, I saw that the explosion had blown a hole in the bridge, a hole big enough to cast both wrecks into the empty river. A deep tearing sound came from below us, as if the world itself was cracking open. The transport lurched, its rear end dropping, throwing us back into our seats. Cracks were racing across the surface of the bridge, splitting it apart, raining more rubble onto the dry riverbed.
‘Come on, you bastard.’
The engine didn’t catch. I knew it wouldn’t. A crack in the surface of the bridge caught up to us, raced underneath us. I said nothing. I didn’t have to; Tobe was watching it as well.
‘You’d better buckle up, mate.’
I got back into my seat and did as he said. The transport lurched again.
Fourteen
The bridge gave way. Wood snapped, concrete crumbled, metal buckled and cracked. We fell. Tobe smiled grimly, tucking himself into a ball within the safety of his seatbelt. I reached for the door to try to brace myself. It was gone, torn off without me even noticing. Without warning, the transport started tumbling, end over end. A distant part of me realised that I was holding onto the old rusty nail that my hat used to hang upon, clutching it tight like it was a rosary or a rabbit foot. The transport kept tumbling. I screamed. Tobe stoically kept his mouth shut, but then we hit a tree that hung over the empty river and he started screaming as well. Something tore into my leg, digging deep.
I screamed again. I blacked out.
Tobe’s stifled cries brought me back. My eyes wouldn’t open, the lids stuck fast. I pulled my glasses off. Somehow, they had made it through the fall. I prised my eyelids open, slipped my glasses back on. Tobe was ramming his shoulder against a piece of wreckage, his left arm hanging useless and wrong. Red and Blue lay at his feet, watching him with worried eyes. I tried to wave, saw that my fingers were wet with blood.
I felt more blood dribble down my neck.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t sit up. I craned my neck. Tobe rammed his shoulder a last time; he let loose his agony as his useless arm popped back into place. A gaping trench peeled his forehead apart. His nose was bent at an obscene angle. He took hold of the crooked thing, snapped it back into place with a squelch.
He didn’t cry out. ‘Right, what’s next? Ah …’
He limped my way, Red and Blue at his heels.
‘Bill? You with us?’
I groaned, gave him a pathetic thumbs-up. ‘Thanks for saving my arse, again.’
He looked at me strangely. ‘Don’t thank me, I didn’t do shit. Ruby put in the hard yards.’
I craned my neck again. Ruby was darting through the forest of twisted metal and broken concrete, beating out spot fires with an old blanket.
‘Cheers, Ruby.’
She turned at her name, smiled, turned back, kept working. ‘You owe me one,’ she yelled over her shoulder.
I let my head fall back. My legs were wet, my pants clinging to me. With numb horror, I saw that the gnarled tip of a broken branch was sticking out of my thigh. I stupidly leaned forward, tried to shoo away the flies buzzing around it. Barely aware of what I was doing, I tried to wrench my leg free.
The pain broke its banks and capsized me.
‘Bill?’
Once more, Tobe’s voice brought me back. I opened my eyes; he was squatting next to me, wrapping a makeshift bandage around my wound.
Blue ran up, sniffed at the broken branch.
‘Get out of it!’
Blue bounded off into the bush in search of her kin.
‘Here, bite on this.’ Ruby was standing over me, offering me a piece of wood wrapped in a dirty strip of cloth. ‘It’ll help.’
I relented. She crouched beside me and lay her hands on my shoulders.
‘You ready?’ Tobe asked.
I nodded. Tobe took a firm hold of my leg. Ruby pinned me down.
‘One, two, three.’
Tobe wrenched on my leg. I blacked out again.
‘Mate, this is becoming a bad habit.’
For the third time, Tobe’s voice brought me back. I couldn’t speak. The world was blurred at the edges, like it had been suspended in oil. I looked at the debris filling the riverbed, at the mangled mess of my left leg, at Tobe’s wounds, at the purple glow of dusk’s approach. These things were all hazy before my unfocused eyes. They meant nothing. The pain I had felt earlier was now somewhere far away, as light as a summer cloud.
‘Bill?’
I groaned, any other kind of answer beyond me. I smacked my lips, my throat dry. Tobe held a canteen to my mouth. I swallowed greedily.
‘More,’ I croaked.
Tobe tipped the canteen again. The fuzziness slowly started to pass.
‘You all right?’
‘What do you reckon?’
His smile shrivelled up. ‘I’m serious.’ He was never very good at sincerity.
‘To be honest, I’ve no idea. What did you do to me?’
‘Wasn’t me, mate. Blame her.’
He pointed at Ruby, who was methodically picking through the remains of our irreplaceable possessions.
‘Ruby!’
She turned to look at him.
‘What was it you gave Bill?’
A guarded smile crossed her face. ‘Just some herbs I found nearby. They’ll wear off soon, but I’ve got more if he needs them.’
It was the most I had ever heard her say.
‘You’re welcome,’ she yelled over her shoulder.
‘Ruby was good enough to pack your wound, too,’ Tobe added. ‘That’s another one you owe her.’
I had a close look. The hole had been cleaned and stuffed with thick green leaves that oozed a viscous fluid. I tried to thank her, but she had already dashed away to another blanket of debris.
For a moment, Tobe and I looked at each other without speaking, letting the ridiculousness of our situation sink in. We hadn’t even been on the road a day; from the cosy confines of the pub to a world of wreckage and flame in less than a turn of the earth.
We started laughing. What else could we do?
‘What’s so funny?’ Ruby called out.
She seemed unfazed by everything. I suppose if that was the only world you had ever known, then nothing was really that strange. Once again, I felt suddenly old.
‘It’s been a long day, that’s all.’
She didn’t understand that, either. We laughed a little longer. I decided to try to move.
‘You sure?’ Tobe asked.
I nodded, reached up, took his hand. ‘She’ll be ‘right.’
She wasn’t ‘right: Tobe heaved and I buckled.
‘You blokes are useless,’ Ruby yelled, striding over, carrying a long forked branch.
I finally made it up, wobbling on my good leg. Ruby passed me the branch. The fork was snug in my armpit; I had to stoop.
‘Aren’t we a sad bunch of bastards?’
Tobe’s question didn’t need an answer.
I couldn’t help staring at the gash in his forehead. When he caught me doing so, he rolled his balaclava down to cover it, wincing in pain. I could feel Ruby’s eyes on the back of my head. I tore a strip off my shirt to wrap the wound. She turned away, keen to get back to he
r hunt. Tobe followed her. I stumbled after them.
Ruby had done well—she had found plenty of stuff that wasn’t completely ruined, including a working rifle. But most of it wasn’t worth the effort. Crates of ammunition and a lot of tools—shovels, picks, axes, saws, crowbars—they were all too heavy to carry. A few jerrycans of petrol had survived, useless now that the transport was dead. Its water tank had been punctured; its precious cargo slowly leaking out. Luckily, Ruby had also found an intact crate of canteens. What she hadn’t found were any backpacks.
Once more, she saved us.
She snatched up a tattered hessian bag that had survived the fall. Without regard for sentiment, she started emptying it, dumping spare clothes at her feet. She dove into the pile, tearing some things apart, unpicking others, tying sleeves and hems together, occasionally reaching back into the bag to find something new to work with.
She eventually pulled out a long white dress wrapped in crumbling plastic.
‘That’s enough!’ Tobe yelled.
He snatched the dress from Ruby. You couldn’t read anything in her Mona Lisa smile. Tobe broke her gaze. She got back to work.
‘Want a smoke before we set off?’ I suggested, trying to distract him.
He was staring into the distance, crushing the dress in his hands. ‘Yeah,’ he said softly.
He squatted. I stayed standing, knowing too well that if I sat back down I would be done for. Tobe surprised me by pulling a crumpled joint from his pocket. It wasn’t really the best way to stay sharp, when you’re lost and injured and far from home. But I didn’t say anything—it had been a long day.
He lit up, took a few drags. ‘You want?’ he asked.
I gave in. We got a little stoned, slowly making peace with our predicament. In silence, we watched Ruby do her thing. If she minded our indulgence, she didn’t let on.
‘Ta-da!’ she shouted when she was done, bouncing to her feet. She held up three patchwork sacks, sleeves and pant-legs tied together as straps.
‘Good one.’
‘Where would you fellas be without me?’
Tobe and I avoided her loaded question. Fucked is where we would have been.
The Rain Never Came Page 13
