He was enjoying himself. I hated him. But I didn’t have time to dwell on the thought—a solitary Creep flicked the curtain aside and strode into the room.
I waited for something to happen, but no one moved.
‘There’s nothing here, sir,’ the Creep yelled over her shoulder. ‘I guess we were too late.’ She looked up at Tobe. She smiled shyly.
‘Good one, Grace,’ Tobe whispered. ‘Catch you down at the rail yard, okay?’
‘Yeah, you bet,’ she mouthed, letting the curtain fall back.
‘What?’
‘Sh.’
Tobe, Ruby and Jacko said it together, a muted choir. I shut my mouth, heard the crunch of heavy boots outside the shack. I looked at Tobe. He was counting on his fingers, a vicious smile on his face.
‘Shouldn’t be a problem,’ he whispered.
Jacko took Tobe’s arm, caught Tobe’s eye, shook his head.
Tobe frowned, pulling away from Jacko’s grip. ‘I’ve got this,’ he whispered.
‘Don’t be so bloody stupid.’
Tobe took a step forward. Jacko grabbed him again.
‘Don’t fucking touch me!’ Tobe yelled furiously, forgetting everything else.
Same old Tobe…
Jacko’s face fell. It was easy to understand why; I too hoped that no one else had heard Tobe’s rash venting of all the hate and madness I had only just come to know. But it didn’t really matter—without even checking that the way ahead was clear, Tobe rushed through the curtain.
‘You stupid bastard,’ Jacko said.
We all reluctantly followed Tobe into the alley. I knew that I would never have a better opportunity to slip away and be done with him forever, but I made a split-second decision, choosing to follow him in order to see that Ruby got away safely.
I knew that I might regret it. I didn’t really care.
The alley was empty. I breathed a sigh of relief, and we fell into a rough single-file line behind Tobe. He had drawn his pistol, was sweeping it back and forth. Ruby brought up the rear, awkwardly walking backwards, making sure no one snuck up on us.
The gun looked absurdly big in her small hand. It shook a little.
‘How we doing back there?’ Tobe asked her.
‘All clear.’ Her voice shook as well.
Tobe took his eyes off the metaphorical prize and looked back at her, his gaze passing over Jacko and I as if we weren’t even there.
‘Don’t worry, she’ll be ‘right.’
‘Yeah, sure.’ Ruby didn’t sound convinced.
Tobe brought us to a halt. Jacko and I groaned aloud.
‘I know what I’m doing, okay?’
‘Tobe,’ Ruby said. ‘Calm down.’
‘Don’t tell me what to do! Look, do you want out of here or not?’
‘Yeah, but…’
‘Then shut up and do as…’
A lone Creep sauntered into the alley, presumably drawn by one of Tobe’s fits of rage. The Creep didn’t have a weapon in his hand—he was either a rookie or arrogant enough to think that a desperate mob of holdouts wasn’t really a problem.
Even I knew that his mistake was a stupid one.
‘Get down!’ I yelled.
Tobe spun on the spot, trying to hide his caught-by-surprise expression behind a viscous smile.
I could see faint dots of white light behind the Creep; they bobbed, dipped, but didn’t flicker. Not firelight, not candlelight, but torchlight. More Creeps…
‘Over here!’ the Creep who had stumbled upon us yelled.
He reached for his pistol, but he never stood a chance. Tobe, his gun already in his hand, was too fast—without dropping his smile, he shot the Creep down. Jude immediately started barking, trying to scare away the man-made thunder. The Creep began twitching. Tobe shot him a second time, this time in the head.
My stomach heaved again. I tasted bile again.
‘Come on!’ Tobe screamed.
He had seen the torches as well, but was clearheaded enough to know they were heading our way.
‘Go! Go! Go!’
He ushered us into the nearest alley that intersected ours. Shots rang out, gouging chunks of wood from the buildings around us. We ran on, before anyone could take better aim. I had no idea where we were going; we seemed to be heading down alleys at random. More shots rang out; more wood exploded around us.
And still we ran, taking a left, entering yet another alley, joining a mob of holdouts who were all running in the same direction we were, frenzied now that the Creeps were out on the streets.
Tobe kept looking over his shoulder, making sure that we hadn’t lost him. Whenever he caught my eye, he winked at me.
‘Bastard,’ I muttered.
He somehow heard me. He looked back; despite everything that was happening, he smiled a cheeky smile. He ran straight into someone, bowling them over. I watched as he simply stepped over them.
‘Come on.’
‘Tobe, wait.’
‘There’s no time.’
I stopped anyway—fuck him. Whoever he had bowled over was already pushing themselves off the ground.
‘Dickhead,’ a woman said.
Her voice was soft, but nonetheless it sounded like she took no shit. I thought I recognised it. It couldn’t be…
‘You should watch where you’re bloody going,’ the woman said, looking up at us.
Louise’s mouth literally dropped open. Mine did the same. So did Ruby’s.
‘G’day,’ was all that Tobe said. He didn’t seem at all surprised.
‘Lou!’ Ruby called happily.
Louise reached out and ruffled her hair. Ruby forgot where she was, forgot what was happening—she dropped her gun, wrapped her arms around Louise’s legs.
‘I don’t ever want to wake up,’ I said, finding my voice, properly smiling for the first time in a long time.
‘Nice to see you too, Bill,’ Louise said.
A shiver ran down my spine. ‘How long have you been here?’
‘I got in today, would you believe it?’
We both laughed. What else could we do? Even though our world had gone to hell, there was still something to smile about.
More shots rang out; our tiny moment of happiness was ruined. It was the sound of automatic gunfire, rat-a-tat-tat. Once again, I couldn’t see who was shooting, couldn’t see who was being shot. Louise flinched, pulling Ruby with her to the ground.
As the gunfire petered out, Ruby slowly and deliberately wormed free.
‘I’m okay.’
Ruby picked up her gun, trying hard to look determined. I reached down, took Louise’s hand, helped her to her feet.
‘What happened?’ she asked.
I nodded at Tobe. ‘What do you think?’
I had never seen hate in Louise’s eyes before.
‘I knew it. Bill, I don’t want to say I told you so, but…’
More gunfire cut off her words. It was closer this time, louder. Louise flinched again as screams answered the gunfire. Over her shoulder, at the far end of the alley, I saw the shadows start to stir. I stared at them, slack-jawed, confused. Tobe caught me staring. Whatever was stirring made him gape as well.
‘Go! Go! Go!’ he shouted again, shining his torch into the darkness.
It was too late. The shadows turned out to be another mob of panicked holdouts, heading straight for us. There were thirty of them, maybe forty, maybe more. Running blindly, the flash of gunfire lighting up the night behind them, they moved like a stampeding herd.
‘Shit,’ was all Tobe managed to say.
The mob hit us like a living, breathing wall. I couldn’t help letting go of Louise’s hand.
‘No!’
It seemed like such a small word. How could something so small hold so much regret? And then I was being trampled and had bigger things to worry about. Jude howled. People screamed. Gunfire echoed around us. Rolled up in a foetal ball, I caught glimpses of holdouts running, of Creeps chasing them, of people falling. It felt like everyone managed to kick me in my barely healed ribs. But all in all, it was actually less painful than I had expected and was over before it really began.