Desolation Boulevard (36 page)

“
Get out demon!” he
ordered, as he climbed out of the driver’s side.

Sobbing freely now, Gabby did as she was
told and stepped out of the car onto the gravel verge. Bill came
around to her side of the car and pointed to a large eucalypt a few
metres from the edge of the road. Gabby could see that he had a
small gun in his hand, like the ones cowboys used.

“
What are you going to do?”
she asked, looking at him through a film of tears.

“
Get over there,” he said.
“To that tree.”

When Gabby didn’t move, he raised the gun
and pointed it at her face. “Get over to that tree now, or I’ll
blow your face clean off. Move it!”

As Gabby turned and started walking to the
tree, she heard Bill puking again. She turned to look. He was
doubled over and in obvious pain, but he was still able to point
the gun at her from his crouched position. “Keep moving!” he
barked. Then, almost to himself, Bill mumbled something under his
breath that Gabby didn’t really understand at all. He said, “The
reborn won’t like this.”

When Gabby reached the base of the tree she
turned around and looked at her tormentor. Even through the tears,
she could see that this man was extremely unwell. His skin had gone
the colour of cold porridge and he had black circles under his eyes
that looked like smudges of charcoal. He continued to point the gun
at her face, despite the obvious trembling in his arms.

“
Turn around.”

“
Why?” Gabby asked, almost
hysterical now. “What are you going to do?”

Bill brandished the pistol weakly at her. “I
said turn around. Hurry up!”

Gabby did as she was told and faced the
tree. The smooth bark of the grand, old eucalypt was only
centimetres from her face as she felt the cold metal of the gun’s
barrel pressed against the base of her skull. As she waited for her
young life to be extinguished by this evil man, Gabby’s senses
seemed to be taking in every single detail of the restricted view
she now had of the world; the mottled beauty of the tree’s bark,
the clean smell and the shine of its leaves, the vibrant blue of
the sky, and the lonely caw of a crow somewhere in the distance.
She took in all of these things in a segment of a moment, cherished
them, and let them fill her up like a tall glass of cold water on a
very hot day. Then she closed her eyes as she heard the cold click
of the gun’s hammer being cocked behind her.

Chapter 58

As Matt’s ute sped through the early dawn,
Montana continued to survey the countryside desperately, hoping for
any sign that Gabby and Bill had passed by; but apart from the
occasional crow pecking at a dead animal on the side of the road,
there was nothing to be seen, and with each kilometre that passed,
she knew that their chances of finding Gabby were becoming more and
more remote. Montana knew that if Bill was heading in any direction
other than east, they were on a wild goose chase and would probably
never see Gabby again. They also realised that the beautiful little
girl who had become such an important part of their lives might
already be dead, although neither of them were brave enough to say
it aloud.

“
We’ll be in Carswell
soon,” commented Matt, as they pushed forward, the tyres humming
ominously beneath them.

“
What if they’re not
there?” asked Montana, in a quiet, faltering tone.

Matt stared at the road ahead, squinting
into the rising sun. He paused, and then shook his head
despondently, “I don’t know.”

“
Matt, why do you think he
took her? Really?”

He wound down his window and let the fresh
morning air rush in before answering. “I’m not sure, but I think
that he needs her for something. Almost like she’s precious, or has
some value to him. You’ve said it yourself, remember? You think
she’s special. So maybe she’s worth having around? Maybe she really
is some kind of protection against the feeders.”

“
Like a psychic human
shield?”

“
Maybe,” he replied,
realising how ludicrous it sounded to say it out loud. “ I really
don’t know, I’m just trying to fit the pieces together in a way
that has some kind of logic.”

Without warning, Montana pointed ahead and
shrieked, “Matt, look! Under the tree! Is that...?”

The words shrivelled up in her throat as she
clearly saw the motionless body of Gabby lying at the base of a
large gum tree just off the road around two hundred metres in front
of them.  Matt slowed the car down.

“
Shit!” he exclaimed
painfully. “It’s her.”

Montana was sobbing uncontrollably as Matt
stopped the car adjacent to the tree. They jumped out and ran
straight to the girl, their hearts filled with anguish and
self-loathing. How had it come to this? Why hadn’t they been able
to protect the precious life of this child? How could they have
failed her? As Montana knelt to lift the limp body of Gabby up into
her arms, Matt felt the tears welling up in his eyes as he relived
the death of his father all over again. Montana hugged the tiny
figure to her chest and was shaking with grief. “Gabby, Gabby, I’m
so sorry. I’m sorry.”

Montana buried her face into Gabby’s neck,
tears mingling with the sweat on the girl’s skin. Sweat? Dead
people didn’t sweat, she realised with a start!

“
Matt! She’s alive!
Quick!”

Matt took the girl from Gabby’s arms and
took her back to the car, where he laid her down on the front seat.
He swept the hair from her face and placed his palm on her
forehead.

“
She’s got a temperature,
but she’s definitely alive.”

“
Oh my god! Oh my god!
Thank god!” Montana exclaimed, shaking all over, but with relief in
her voice now. “But why is she here, Matt? Where’s Bill? Why did he
leave her?” she babbled, confused by the unexpected turn of
events.

Matt stroked Gabby’s forehead as he
answered, “He couldn’t stand being around her. He’s a bad man. He
had to get away. Just like the feeders, who wouldn’t go near
her.”

“
My god! It’s true isn’t
it? She’s special! She’s charmed or something! She has a
gift!”

“
It certainly seems like a
distinct possibility,” he replied, smiling.

As they stared incredulously at the little
girl on the seat before them, Gabby began to stir. They watched as
she wiggled her fingers for a few seconds before her eyes slowly
opened. Montana leaned over and rubbed her back. “Hey gorgeous, how
are you feeling?”

Gabby’s eyes lit up as she saw the faces of
her two guardians smiling at her. “You found me,” she
whispered.

“
Yes darling,” replied
Montana, as the tears started up again. “We found you. Are you okay
sweetheart? Did Bill hurt you?”

Gabby looked confused, as she answered, “No.
He didn’t. But he was going to do something bad. I didn’t like it.
I’m really tired,” she said, as her eyes closed and she drifted off
to sleep.

Matt and Montana looked at each other,
before covering Gabby with Matt’s jacket and softly closing the car
door.

“
What now?” asked
Montana.

“
We should head home, I
guess,” suggested Matt, a little uncertainly.

“
Yeah, maybe.”

Matt looked at Montana and knew immediately
that she had other ideas. “What are you thinking?” he asked.

“
You’ll think I’m silly,”
said Montana, “But I think we should have a quick look at Carswell
while we’re so close.”

“
What would we be looking
for, exactly?”

“
I’m not sure. It’s just a
feeling I have. Maybe I just want to see what Brock’s up to. Maybe
I want to find Bill and ask him why he took Gabby and then just
dumped her on the side of the road. I can’t explain it. I feel as
if there’s something else we need to find before we head home. Can
we go a bit further?”

Matt stared at her for a few seconds before
answering, “This is all getting very weird, because that’s exactly
what I was thinking.”

He shook his head.

“
Alright then. Ten more
minutes.”

-

They had only been back on the road for a
couple of minutes before they saw Matt’s mother’s car, stalled in
the middle of the road ahead, with the driver’s door wide open.
Matt applied his brakes, bringing his car to a complete stop, as
they studied it from a safe distance.

“
Do you think it’s a trap?”
asked Montana, as she absently stroked Gabby’s head, who was still
sound asleep on her lap.

“
Maybe, but I think I can
see Bill in the front seat.”

“
What’s he
doing?”

“
Just sitting there, I
think. We’re too far away to see. We need to get
closer.”

“
What if it’s a
trick?”

“
Then we’ll have to be
trickier,” he replied, sounding more confident than he
felt.

Matt peered through his windscreen at his
mother’s little blue car. It was the car that had driven him many
places as a young boy, and even from this distance he could still
make out the sticker on the back window that said “Mum’s Taxi”. Now
the vehicle appeared menacing and evil as it sat silently in the
middle of the road, with it’s door open, like a mouth waiting to be
fed.

“
Stay here with Gabby. I’m
going to check it out.”

Montana grabbed his arm. “No Matt! This was
a bad idea. Let’s just turn around and go home. It’s a trick!”

“
I have to go and find out
what happened,” he said. “You know that. We can’t run from things
any more. We have to find out what he wanted with Gabby. If he
tries anything, I’ll shoot him, no worries.”

“
Promise you’ll be
careful.”

“
I promise.”

Matt reached down behind passenger seat and
pulled out his gun. He flicked the safety off, and smiled at
Montana.

“
If you see anything
unusual, lean on that horn and give me a warning. I’ll come
straight back, and we’ll get out of here, okay?”

“
Sure,” she said, leaning
over to kiss him on the cheek. “We’ll be waiting here for
you.”

Matt surveyed the surrounding farmland
before getting out of the car. The fields were grazing pastures
with no obvious hiding places to launch an ambush from. Matt
figured that Bill was either in the car, or nowhere near here at
all. He opened his door, climbed out, and pointed his weapon at his
mother’s car. When he was sure that there was no movement, he
starting walking.

Matt kept his gun trained on the car. The
risen sun was directly in his eyes as he moved forward, but there
was no sign of movement up ahead. The cold and calculating way in
which Bill had betrayed him, had left Matt feeling angry and
bitter, but he still hoped that he wouldn’t need to use his weapon.
He’d seen enough death to last him a thousand lifetimes, and now
that Gabby had been found safely, Matt just wanted to satisfy his
curiosity about Bill’s motives and move on. Sure, he would shoot
the man if necessary, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

He was almost halfway to the car now and
could almost make out the figure in the driver’s seat. Yes, that
was definitely a person, and just for a second Matt thought he saw
a flicker of movement within the car. He stopped walking and
squinted into the sunlight. There it was again, a sudden flash of
something moving in the driver’s seat! What was Bill up to? There
was no indication that the occupant of the car had seen Matt, but
just to be safe, Matt crouched down as low as he could and, for the
last twenty metres or so, snuck up to the rear bumper of the car.
 Because he was almost crawling, Matt couldn’t see into the
car any more, but was close enough to hear something inside moving
furtively, secretly, as if someone was doing something they
shouldn’t. He couldn’t hear any voices, but every now and then
there was a sound like sheets on a clothesline blowing in
the wind. He looked back towards his car where Montana was waiting
for him. She had not sounded the horn, so it was probably as safe
as it would ever be to check out the inside of the vehicle. Matt
kept low and crept around to the open driver’s door.

Still in the crouch position, Matt braced
himself by leaning his left shoulder against the rear passenger
door of the car, and raised his weapon, ready to shoot. He took a
deep breath, counted to three, and stood up, swinging the gun
around into the open door, with his finger firmly on the trigger,
prepared to shoot. Then, unexpectedly, a black shape lunged at
Matt’s face, forcing him to close his eyes and fire the weapon
blindly, as the wings of a crow brushed against his face on its
flight to freedom through the open door. His heart was galloping
like a runaway horse as he opened his eyes and looked down to see
the dead body of Bill in the drivers seat. Somewhere in the
background Matt registered the beating of wings, as the bird flew
away, into the clear blue sky. He studied the violent tableau
before him - the top of Bill’s skull was gone, blown away by the
handgun that dangled limply in his right hand, and the kidnapper’s
brains were now plastered to the white vinyl roof of Matt’s
mother’s Daihatsu, like a crazy modern painting. The crow, that
almost scared Matt to death, had made short work of the Bill’s
eyeballs, and the now hollow sockets and open mouth made him look
like somebody who had just been given a big fright. With the sound
of flies buzzing furiously in his ears, Matt turned his gaze away
from the grisly scene and started to walk back to Montana and
Gabby.