I was relieved, despite all the trouble that he had caused me.
Tobe wore a stranger’s clothes as well. His left arm hung in a sling. One of his eyes was so puffy it had collapsed in on itself. He snorted in his sleep. He reached down and scratched his crotch. He rolled over, ending up on his injured arm.
‘Ah, fuck!’
He was instantly awake, rubbing his arm gingerly. I tried not to laugh but I couldn’t help myself. This time it was my turn to cry out, my cracked rib giving me one last chance.
‘Shit!’
‘Bill, mate, is that you?’
I laughed again, softer this time. My broken body allowed me that much.
Tobe jumped off his trolley, as easy as can be. ‘How’s it going?’ he asked.
‘How do you reckon?’
‘Mate, you’re not the only one who got the short end of the stick.’
I looked at him properly. Bruises mottled his skin. He wheezed every time he took a breath. He seemed to have trouble focusing on me, his good eye glassy. But at least he could walk.
‘You okay?’ he asked again.
Despite our presumably dire predicament, I wasn’t actually feeling too bad. The fact that it was once again the two of us against the world comforted me, no matter our injuries and setbacks.
‘I’m getting there. How about you?’
Tobe smiled. ‘You know me.’
‘Good one. So, how long was I out?’
‘About a week, give or take,’ he said, his voice trembling slightly.
I met Tobe’s eye. He looked like he was about to cry.
‘We weren’t sure that you were going to wake up,’ he said. ‘Fuck, mate, you had me worried. Bill, it’s good to see you…’
I was touched, but I didn’t want him to see my embarrassed smile and I didn’t want to see his tears. I turned away, looked around the room. Something was missing…
And then it clicked.
‘Hey, where’s Ruby?’
Tobe quickly pulled himself together. ‘She’s ‘right, mate, she’s out doing her thing. You know, it’s all part of the adventure.’
He laughed, parked himself on the edge of the trolley next to mine, ignoring its occupant.
‘She’s just a kid, Tobe, and one of those bastards shot your dogs right in front of her. That doesn’t sound like much of an adventure to me.’
This time, he wouldn’t meet my eye.
‘I know she’s just a kid, but she’s been through worse. You don’t give her enough credit, mate—she’s tough, tougher than us.’
‘But…’
‘Drop it, Bill, okay?’
And so I did. For a moment, neither of us spoke.
‘Where are we?’ I finally asked.
Apart from the three trolleys and their hanging gardens of fluid bags, there was no other furniture bar a stainless-steel cupboard and sink. The cracks in the walls let in shafts of light; dust motes filled the air. The wind blew. The whole room seemed to sway.
‘Well…’
A knock at the door interrupted Tobe’s answer. He somehow smirked and looked sad at the same time.
‘I think I’ll let the doc answer that.’
The door creaked open and a stooped figure shuffled in. The shocking white of his coat was made brighter still by the sheer darkness of his skin; his hair was as white as the coat he wore; wrinkles spread across his face like cracks across dry earth.
Tobe and I stared. He smiled at us, drew up to the windows, threw open the curtains. Sunlight flooded the room, hot and bright.
‘Ah, William, so good to see that you’re awake. Tobias, how are you?’ He drew up next to us, held out his hand.
‘I’m good, now that our boy’s awake,’ Tobe said, shaking his hand. ‘Thank fuck for that, eh?’
The doctor arched his eyebrows, his disdain for Tobe’s gutter mouth obvious.
‘Shit. Sorry, Doc.’ Tobe smiled innocently.
The doctor shook his head, feigning exasperation. ‘William, how are we on this fine day?’ he asked.
‘It’s Bill. Just Bill. Who are you?’
He smiled. ‘Dr Ishra Khan. But please, call me Ish.’
He took my arm. Methodically, he started removing the various tubes that connected me to the fluid bags. He took a grimy cloth from his pocket, uncorked a dirty bottle, tipped some foul-smelling fluid onto the cloth, wiped down each puncture mark.
His old-man hands didn’t shake in the slightest.
‘So, William, how do you feel?’ he asked, completely ignoring my earlier request.
‘I feel like a million bucks, Doc. I feel like I could run a bloody marathon. Far out, how do you think I feel?’
‘Bill, please.’
It was Tobe. My mouth clanged shut.
‘Bill, mate, bear with the Doc, all right?’
I nodded dumbly.
‘Cheers.’
Ishra made a show of checking an antique watch he wore. ‘I might have a suggestion,’ he said. ‘Tobias, if you would be so kind as to gather William’s things and meet us at the platform—we don’t have that long now.’
I looked at him quizzically.
‘You chose a good day to wake up,’ he said. ‘I was worried that we might have to carry you aboard.’
I frowned, completely lost. He ignored me, turned back to Tobe.
‘Ruby should be there soon, if she manages to work that old watch I gave her. If not, would you mind fetching her?’
‘No worries. But, Doc, try and be gentle with the big stuff, okay?’
I watched their exchange with incredulity, so far out of my depth that I couldn’t even see the bottom.
‘Bill, mate, try and take it easy.’ Once again, Tobe was somehow smirking and looking sad at the same time.
‘She’ll be ‘right,’ I said.
Tobe looked doubtful. I didn’t really believe my own words.
‘I’ll catch you later, then.’
‘No worries.’
He walked away, slamming the door behind him. Ishra joined me after a moment. At first, he seemed unsure where to start.
‘William?’ he asked tentatively.
‘What?’
‘Please, relax.’
‘Huh.’
‘Please. If your friend Tobias can trust me, surely you can too.’
I thought it over. ‘Okay, then,’ I said, knowing that I would regret it.
But what choice did I have?
‘Thank you. Now, it’ll be easier to answer your questions if we walk and talk, that way you can see for yourself. And that poor leg of yours needs a little exercise, otherwise it might lock up. Do you think you can manage that?’
He smiled warmly and I gave in. He took my hand. Despite his age, he had no trouble hauling me to my feet. My thigh burned. I steadied myself on the edge of the trolley. I waited an interminable moment while Ishra shuffled to the cupboard, pulled out an old-fashioned walking stick, shuffled back, passed it over.
I tested my weight, took a wary step.
‘Lead on, MacDuff,’ I said.
‘I believe you mean “lay on”, though I hate to presume.’
He smiled softly. He turned away and walked out the door, swallowed alive by the white-hot sunshine. I shielded my eyes, hobbled after him, and crossed the threshold.
‘Bullshit,’ I said, not knowing what else to say.
Ishra didn’t criticise my choice of words. Fair enough, too—we were facing a concrete plain that stretched for hundreds of metres, enclosed by a semicircular jumble of ruined houses. Faint lines and arrows marked the concrete, almost lost beneath the dust. A few wrecked vehicles were all that broke the emptiness. The heat was stifling.
Nothing natural caught my eye, not even a fly.
‘I call it home,’ Ishra said bitterly.
I looked back at the building we had left. The makeshift sickbay was nothing more than a worn-out weatherboard shack. On either side of it, more shacks interspersed with rough wooden sheds formed an incredibly long wall of derelict buildings. They were all on the way to ruin, ready to fall down and return to the earth.