Skyquakers (14 page)

Early the next morning, Ned heard a loud coughing and
wheezing beside his ear. He woke and jolted upright. He looked beside him to
see the girl had woken, and she was dry-reaching. He lunged for a bucket and
held it underneath her as she vomited. Not much came out, just bile and saliva,
which showed she hadn
’
t eaten in so long. Once she
was done, she looked up to see who was holding her bucket, only to be confused
by the human face smiling back.

The girl
’
s mouth hung agape in shock
for a moment. She asked,
‘
Where am I?
’

Ned offered her a bottle of water.
‘
On Earth.
’

She took the bottle with shaky hands and drank. She then
spat it up again, splattering a little onto her sheets.

‘That
’
s okay,
’
Ned said,
reaching for a dry cloth.
‘
Just take it slowly.
’

Lacking energy, she collapsed back onto her pillow again and
stared at the roof of the gallery. Her eyes darted back and forth, searching
her mind for clues, but there was only hazy confusion.

‘Earth?
’
she muttered.

‘Here, I have soup,
’
Ned said,
‘
but
it
’
s probably cold now. I can get some bread if you
’
d
prefer.
’

The girl turned her head and stared at him from her pillow.
‘
Who
are you?
’

‘I
’
m the one who caught you.
’

‘What?
’

‘You fell from the sky. I caught you
…
sort of.
’

She shut her eyes again and placed a hand to her forehead.
‘
Jesus
…’
She took a few deep breaths before asking,
‘
How long
has it been?
’

‘Since they took everyone?
’
He counted
in his head.
‘
Months. I
’
ve
lost track.
’

She shook her head, utterly confused.
‘
It
only felt like days
…’

Ned moved the soup aside and shuffled closer to her.
‘
You
…
you saw the Quakers, didn
’
t you?
’

‘The what?
’

‘
Them
. You saw
them
, didn
’
t
you?
’

She stared at him and understood the hint.
‘
Yes.
’

‘What are they?
’

She pushed back a throbbing headache in her skull.
‘
What?
’

‘I mean, what do they look like?
’

‘Why the hell does it matter?
’

‘It matters to me! It matters to everyone!
’

‘Everyone?
’
She looked down.
‘
Whose
pyjamas am I wearing?
’

‘Dr Lizzie’s. She changed you out of your muddy clothes, if
that
’
s okay. And Munroe kept watch of your pulse. And I
made sure you had soup
—’

‘There are others? Here?
’
she
demanded.

‘Yes. We didn
’
t get beamed.
’

‘Shit.
’
She fell back onto her
pillow.

‘Why is that bad?
’

‘Because none of you should be here, not near me. You can
’
t
be near me. I can
’
t be near you. I need to get
out of here!
’

She tried to get up again, but Ned pushed her back down.

‘No, you
’
re not healthy.
’

She stared at him from her mattress.
‘
What
’
s
your name?
’

‘Ned,
’
he said.
‘
What
’
s
yours?
’

She hesitated for a moment before uttering,
‘
Lara.
’

One of Elizabeth
’
s students walked into the
room, only to see the fallen girl awake and Ned talking to her by her bedside.
Shocked, he ran back out and shouted out to James and the others, announcing
her miraculous awakening to everyone. Shuffles of feet began thunderous down
stairs and students appeared from every doorway.

Before they all came barging into the room, Ned grabbed Lara
by the shoulders and hissed,
‘
The
red eye: don
’
t tell him
anything
. Got it?
’

Seconds later, Elizabeth came in, along with James, Munroe,
Violet, Tim, and others. James always had his gun in his hand, and when he saw
the fallen girl awake, he strutted in with a cocky grin. His burnt scarred eye
was hard to miss.

‘Afternoon, missy,
’
he said.
‘
So
does it speak English or do I have to start beeping Morse code?
’

‘I speak just fine,
’
she
barked.
‘
Who are you all?
’

‘Why? Who
’
s asking?
’

‘What?
’

‘Don
’
t play dumb with me, missy.
You think it
’
s a coincidence that you fell right onto our settlement,
not two weeks after we gave those Ivanhoe Quakers a run for their money? You
Suits must think we
’
re pretty stupid, huh.
’

‘Stop it,
’
Elizabeth said.

‘She
’
s not one of them,
’
Ned said.

‘How do you know? Did you ask her? Do you know who she is? Where
she came from? I didn
’
t think so.
’
James crouched in front of the girl
’
s mattress.
He inched close to her and grinned.
‘
Now, we can do this very
easily, or we can do this very painfully. Who are you and why were you sent
here?
’

‘Sent? I wasn
’
t sent
—’

James cocked his gun.
‘
Try again.
’

‘I wasn
’
t sent by anyone!
’

‘I
’
m going to count to three
…’

‘What the hell are you talking about
—
?
’

‘One.
’

‘I can
’
t remember anything!
’

‘Two.
’

‘
Please, I
—’

James aimed his gun, but Ned beat him to it: he aimed his
own rifle at the roof of the gallery and fired a shot. The sharp
boom
and the clatter of the roof
’
s structure startled everyone
and made them leap back, even James. Once the dust and the silence settled, and
Ned saw he once again had the room’s attention, he lowered his arms and said to
James,
‘
Her name is Lara.
’

James and Ned locked glares. He stood close to the boy,
keeping his red eye on him, as though waiting for little Ned to challenge the
village chief. At his ankle,
Moonboy
started
growling. Ned held his ground until eventually James gave a snicker and stepped
away. He put away his gun and snorted,
‘
That still
doesn
’
t prove much. She could still be a Suit sent to spy
on us.
’

‘Really, James,
’
Elizabeth said.

‘She could be communicating with them, somehow. There could
be a whole pack of them surrounding us right now. In fact, you two, grab your
guns and get on patrol.
’
He waved off two students,
who seized their rifles and ran out the door like obedient soldiers. James
swung back to the rest of them.
‘
This is not going to end well.
They
’
re dangling bait in front of us. They want us to
believe she
’
s harmless so she can stab us in the backs.
’

‘I am
not
on their side,
’
Lara
cried, pointing back towards the fields from which she came.

‘So, why you?
’
James asked.
‘
Why
only one? Where are the rest of the seven billion?
’

Lara shied away.
‘
I don
’
t know.
’

‘You
do
know and you
’
re lying to
us!
’

‘I
’
m only speaking to Ned,
’
she said. She looked up to him.
‘
I
’
ll
tell you everything, but only to Ned.
’

James gave him a pep-talk outside the room before he allowed
him to sit with her.

‘You keep that thing loaded, okay? If she makes a move, any
move, you take action. Got it? You need to defend yourself and your family. We
don
’
t know who this girl is or what she wants, so you
have to be on your toes. And keep track of what she says: try to make her drop
hints, about Suits, about the Quaker farms, anything. Keep asking and asking,
tire her out, and eventually she
’
ll let something slip.
’

Ned humoured him, but deep down he knew this was just a
harmless girl, not a criminal who needed to be interrogated. He did not care
for James
’
alpha-male commands; he only wanted to know the
agonising truths that he had been longing for since his town and his country
were abducted. His needs were simple: who were they, why were they here, was
everyone okay, and were they ever coming back?

He locked the door behind him, sealing him in a small
four-walled room with Lara. She was still sitting in Elizabeth’s pyjamas on the
mattress, frail, weak, and terrified. She was nibbling on bread and sipping
some vegetable soup from a mug, but she was afraid of throwing it back up
again, so she only took tiny portions at a time.

Ned leant his gun against the door and came to sit with her.
‘
I
’
m sorry about them,
’
he said.
‘
James is a dick.
’

‘You
’
re not wrong.
’
She placed down the crumb of bread she was picking at.
‘
Can
I ask, where in the world am I?
’

Ned found it difficult to explain, so he searched for a
large fold-out map of roads and townships spanning the Kimberley region. The
map was useful in locating homes worth looting, crossing off those which the
settlers had already ransacked. Somewhere near the Western Australia-Northern Territory
border, along the west side of a river snaking from Lake Argyle up to the
northern coastline, Ned pointed to a little red dot where someone had written
‘ZR’.

Her eyes widened.
‘
Wow, I
’
m far from
home.
’

‘Me too. Where did they take you from?
’

‘Melbourne. The last thing I remember was watching the
Veteran
’
s Day parade, and then
…’

‘A storm
…’

‘And people started running
…’

‘And the beams got them all.
’
Ned sat
back.
‘
You wouldn
’
t have had
a chance in hell in a big city.
’

‘And you? How did you survive the storm?
’

Ned laughed.
‘
A fridge.
’

It made Lara smile.
‘
Didn
’
t
even know that would work.
’

‘At the time, neither did I.
’

‘And the others?
’
She nodded at the door,
against which she assumed the settlers all had their well-poised ears.

‘Water.
’

She nodded. She then leant in and whispered,
‘
Do
you have paper and a pen?
’

Ned looked to the locked door, which he could tell was
making her paranoid. He nodded and found a notepad and a black marker. He
handed it to her and watched her begin to scribble down words.

‘And you
’
ve all been out here this
whole time?
’

‘A few of months,
’
Ned said,
‘
this
guy named Jackrabbit found us all and brought us together at Zebra Rock. Munroe
used to own this place with his wife, but she got zapped.
’

‘Ah-huh.
’
She showed him the message.

Ned read it and narrowed his glare at her.
‘
What?
’

She flipped a page and began doodling again.
‘
So
your family, friends, all gone?
’

Ned was a little slow to respond, but he knew talking in
this casual manner was keeping James happy on the other side of that thin,
wooden door.

‘Yeah,
’
he said. He leant in closer.
‘
Do
you know what they
’
re doing up there? Do you know
why they took all of the people? And all the animals?
’

‘Ned, I think you know by now. I mean, you already have that
dog of yours
…’

‘Hybrids. They
’
re making
human hybrids
?
’

Lara showed him the second message. Ned read it and leapt to
his feet.
‘
No!
’