‘Nice one… Now, you’ve all heard my plan and you’re all welcome to join me.’
No one spoke, no one moved.
‘Fine. If that’s how you feel, then fuck the lot of you.’
Louise nearly screamed. ‘Tobe! What’s the rush? Give us a chance to sleep on it, it’s almost dawn.’
Another silence.
‘Okay, fair enough. Listen up, all of you. I’ll be off at sunrise tomorrow. I like the…’ He struggled for the word. ‘…the drama of it.’
Someone groaned. I did the same. From nowhere, thirst consumed me.
‘Water?’ I rasped. It was pathetic.
‘You’ve got to travel light and make your own way here. I don’t want to waste any more fuel.’
‘Water?’ Still pathetic.
‘Bring whatever food you have, we might be on the road a long time.’
‘Water?’ A little louder.
‘I’ll be here from midnight, to start packing people in.’
‘Water?’ Louder again.
‘Don’t be late, because…’
‘Water?’
‘Fuck, what is that?’
‘Water?’
‘Bill!’
Everyone stared, shocked into silence. I waved pitifully. Tobe and Louise whooped happily as they rushed over. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so heartfelt. I smiled, took the canteen from Tobe’s hand, drank deep. Louise reached out, stroked my head, running her hands through my greasy hair.
‘You gave us a fright, mate,’ Tobe said.
I tried to answer, started coughing. Louise parked herself next to me and kept stroking my head. I smiled stupidly, deeply touched.
‘You okay?’
‘Yeah, she’s right.’
Exhausted again, I collapsed back on the couch. Everyone else had fallen into quiet conversation, giving us some space.
‘Lou, mate. Could you maybe fix us a cuppa?’ Tobe asked.
‘Lazy bastard, do it yourself.’
Tobe gave her a funny look. The penny must have dropped; she stood, smiled, blew me a kiss, walked away. I didn’t want her to go, but needs must and all that.
‘What did I miss?’ I asked.
‘What did you hear?’
‘Bit of this, bit of that.’
‘Well, we’re in the shit.’
‘And?’
‘What do you reckon? We’ve got to haul arse.’
‘Hang on…’
Tobe started to interrupt but Louise appeared, stopping him dead. She held out a battered tin cup of billy tea. I sipped at it, felt the burn in the pit of my stomach.
‘Cheers.’
‘No worries. I’ll leave you boys to it.’
There was bitterness in her voice. I mouthed a ‘sorry’ and she winked at me as she walked away.
‘Forget what you heard, mate. All that matters is that you’re okay.’
Tobe stood, addressing the rest of the townsfolk. They were still milling around, still arguing amongst themselves, still debating his plan.
‘Like I said, I’ll be here at midnight and gone at dawn. Now go home, get some sleep.’
Louise’s anger shook the walls. ‘Tobe! This is still my pub and I still give the orders! You lot—whoever wants to stay can stay, there’s plenty of room to rest up before heading home.’
The crowd began breaking apart. I caught Tobe’s eye, waved him over. He bent down, pulled me to my feet, threw his arm around me to keep me steady.
‘Let’s go.’
Louise was swamped; everyone was asking questions, demanding drinks. She blew me another kiss and smiled a wicked smile. I knew that we would have our time; that she would wait for me to come back.
‘Lead on,’ I said.
Tobe didn’t correct me this time, he just dragged me away.
He kicked the door open, helped me outside. Dawn was coming, the sky tinged purple. I took a shuddering step and almost fell over Red and Blue, who were cuddled up together on a blanket by the door.
‘Easy,’ Tobe said, grabbing my arm.
‘Cheers.’
‘I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to her.’
Blue was growling low in her throat. I crouched, held out my hand. Every muscle ached. Blue sniffed me, licked my palm, and stopped growling.
‘Sorry.’
‘No worries.’
I stood back up and took a few steps. My legs shook, threatening to buckle. I caught sight of the transport, swore to myself.
‘Guess it wasn’t a bad dream then.’
Tobe started rolling some bush tobacco. He passed it over, started rolling one for himself.
‘Got a light?’
He tossed me his Zippo.
‘What happened?’ I asked. ‘I feel like shit.’
Tobe smiled grimly. He whacked the side of the transport with his open hand. ‘These babies are armed, to stop cheeky buggers like us getting inside. A bit of a shock will send anyone packing.’
I looked him in the eye. ‘How do you know this?’
He broke my gaze, looked at his feet. ‘You learn these things, out there on the land. Anyway, forget it. You need some rest, that’ll fix you right up.’
He whacked the transport again. My exhaustion and pain forced me to drop my question.
‘You want a ride?’
I shuddered. I’d had enough of the Creeps and their toys. But there was no way I could manage the walk home.
‘Fuck it.’
Tobe laughed. I followed him to the transport, walking slowly with my head down. And then I saw something in the dirt lining the road.
‘Tobe!’
‘What?’
‘Come here, have a look.’
‘All right, all right.’
He wandered over, bent down low. Small footprints were tramped into the dirt. Tobe and I turned back to the transport. The side door hung open, the footprints leading away from it and into the darkness.
‘Shit.’
We stared at each other. I knew we were sharing the same thought—it was the girl. It was Tobe’s fault. If we had left her on the land like I had suggested, she wouldn’t have been able to follow us and hitch a sneaky ride.
‘What do you want to do?’ I asked.
Tobe scratched his chin. ‘Give me a minute.’
He walked away, back into the pub. I leaned on the transport, staring at the stars. My head swam, my legs cramped. The sky slowly lightened as I waited for the pain to pass. Eventually, I wrenched on the passenger door. Locked. I wrenched on the driver’s door, settled myself inside.
I groaned.
‘You okay?’ Tobe asked, appearing from nowhere.
‘She’s right.’
‘Well, let’s get you home then. Red and Blue will be fine with Lou.’
He didn’t mention our stowaway.
‘And what about the girl?’
‘Oh, yeah. I asked everyone to keep an eye out.’
‘Good one.’
‘Are you going to scoot over or what?’
I managed to do so. The cabin was cramped; the dashboard was a mess of dials, more complicated than it probably needed to be. Tobe’s rusted keyring hung from the ignition. I couldn’t tell whether he had hot-wired it or simply had good luck with his souvenirs.
Tobe started the engine. Its roar filled the air.
‘And away we go…’
We cruised down the broken highway, headlights shining bright in the sombre dawn glow. Wrecks and fallen trees occasionally appeared ahead; Tobe calmly steered around them. I opened my window, letting fresh air flood the cabin. The dilapidated houses passed in a blur, giving way to flat empty paddocks and rolling hills of dark bush. I tried to enjoy the ride; it had been years.
Tobe turned the steering wheel sharply and the transport fishtailed. I looked over as he got it under control and pulled onto my road.
‘Sorry about that.’
‘No worries.’
The transport shuddered on the potholed dirt road. I gritted my teeth. Tobe did the same. He stared straight ahead, eyes fixed on the world beyond.
‘Here’s the plan…’
I groaned, exhausted and pained. ‘Save it, I can guess what you’re going to say. You fancy yourself as our hero, leading the tribe in search of a new land.’