Walking to the Stars (20 page)

The vehicle lurched and whirred, and they were off. “Where we going?” Samuel called back over his shoulder as the vehicle crunched over debris and rumbled down a slope.

"That way!” Nick called back, pointing south and west. “At least until we run into a bomb crater."

"Fuck!” Samuel said almost immediately. “Bomb crater."

Nick belted Talgerit into his seat and slid forward across the metal floor, thudding into the dog on his way and making it yelp.

"Oh fuck,” he said under his breath, and he took over the controls from Samuel again.

They were only a few kilometers from the city centre, where they'd come ashore. The area had been pretty much bombed flat, and then reclaimed by rampant introduced plants, growing over the rubble. He steered straight west and pushed the vehicle through the jungle of morning glory vines and pampas grass plants, plunging the vehicle into hidden pockets of nothingness beneath the mat of wild green, then jerking and hauling it back onto the level.

"Samuel,” Nick said. “Pop your head up through the hatch, have a look around for me."

"Is this the gun?” Samuel asked, grabbing hold of the controls of the gunnery seat, then reaching above himself to open the hatch.

"That's the gun,” Nick said. He spotted a familiar spire amongst the debris and swung the vehicle hard left, around where he hoped the Maylands train station was, with its sunken underpass, and hopefully level ground.

The train tracks, when they crashed through the razor wire fence and across them, were clear, confirming the line was in use. Nick pushed hard on the accelerator, lined up the spire of the old Peninsula Hotel that he'd seen still standing, and headed for what he hoped was Central Avenue.

Samuel had either spotted something, or hit the wrong control, because a boom resounded around the metal box they were in and cordite filled the air.

"Army?” Nick shouted, and Samuel swung his seat around, just in the corner of Nick's vision, and another shot rang out.

"Yes!” Samuel shouted back. “Go faster!"

The road map in Nick's memory unrolled across the wilderness in front of him; a hill, down the other side, hard left, and the road in front of him was cleared of debris and chewed up by tracked vehicles. Not a good choice, and he swung the car hard right and took off through what had once been a leafy and expensive suburb. It was certainly still leafy, with jacaranda trees marking where roads had been, purple flowers flushing the area with color where the trees had regrown after the bombs.

Up another hill, and Samuel shouted, “Not chasing us!"

"That's not good,” Nick muttered, and they went over the top of the hill and down the other side. What was left of the city centre was spread out in front of them.

For kilometers the ground was blackened and melted and charred, and only the faintest tendrils of green struggled to survive in the rubble that had been superheated and then melted to a glossy black sheen.

The mounds in the middle distance marked the city centre, where concrete and steel had folded over itself over and over, like an obscene batch of cake mix, and Nick swung the steering column hard right when Samuel shouted, “Ghosts!"

Nick didn't need to be warned, he could smell the despair and loss coming out of the ground. There were some places no one would go, even if the military was chasing them.

They skirted the blackened blast zone, Nick keeping his eyes averted from the horror there, and he didn't ask Samuel if he was avoiding looking, too.

"Where are we going?” Samuel shouted over the roar of the vehicle. “Army!"

The vehicle had bolt on steel panels, something Nick became intensely grateful for once whoever was pursuing them opened fire. Unless someone had a lucky shot, the APCs could exchange fire comfortably without doing any real harm to each other, though the noise of the rounds hitting was overwhelming.

He had no chance of shouting instructions to Samuel, but hopefully Samuel could work out that if someone was shooting them, he should shoot back.

Samuel dropped back into the APC, and slid into the seat behind Nick.

"They stopped chasing us,” Samuel said. “That's not good, is it?"

"Depends why,” Nick said, slowing the APC down and leaning forward to peer through the viewing slot. “No vehicles have been through here, not in a long time."

The ravine the APC was driving into was man-made, with crumbling concrete walls and a slimy creek at the bottom. Trees and creepers grew thickly through the ruined concrete, and Nick was sure he saw things scurrying in the shadows.

"This was a freeway,” Nick said. “I've been here before."

The tracks on the APC whirred and slipped uselessly, trying to climb out the ravine, and Nick had to poke around amongst the ruined exit ramps and overpasses, looking for an easier way to climb out.

On the other side of the freeway, the trees towered over the APC, crowding the vehicle and making Nick frown.

"They weren't here,” he said. “Much further up the hill, yes, there was a huge park. Guess the trees have spread..."

"Are we going to have to walk?” Samuel asked.

Nick put the APC into neutral and put the brake on. “That depends on Talgerit."

Talgerit opened his eyes and yawned when Nick crouched down beside him, the dog whining and sniffing around his feet.

"How's the arm?” Nick asked.

"Sore,” Talgerit said. “Where are we?"

"Trees,” Nick said. “I think they're not just trees. Could you have a look?"

Talgerit shuffled to the front of the APC, Nick hanging onto him to keep him steady, then he leaned against the front of the APC to look out of the viewing slot.

"Trees,” Talgerit agreed. “This is someone's country."

Nick nodded, and Samuel asked, “What does that mean?"

"We're not driving the APC over the top of the trees,” Nick said.

"Talgerit? Can you walk?” Nick asked.

"Anywhere, anytime,” Talgerit said.

"What do we take?” Samuel asked.

"Drink the water, rather than carry it,” Nick said. “Take whatever food there is. Grab anything else that looks useful."

Samuel clanked faintly, when they climbed out of the APC, and Nick lifted an eyebrow at him as the pair of them helped Talgerit out, to lean against the nearest tree while the dog ran around pissing and sniffing.

"Tools,” Samuel said, patting his pocket.

Talgerit wriggled his toes in the dirt and took the camo jacket that Nick offered him, sliding his undamaged arm into a sleeve and draping the jacket around his shoulders.

"How does the arm feel?” Nick asked, feeling Talgerit's shoulder and elbow under the jacket, where the field dressings ended.

"Like you think it would,” Talgerit said, wriggling his fingers and wincing.

Nick felt Talgerit's forehead, and shrugged.

"No sign of infection, which is a good thing. There must be antibiotics in what's left of the city somewhere, but I wouldn't want to try and find them."

"Carder?” Talgerit suggested, and Nick nodded.

"If we have to."

As they pushed their way through the undergrowth, Samuel asked, “What's carder?"

"Goanna,” Nick said. “The fat stops infection."

Samuel was silent, apart from the crackling of twigs under his feet, and Nick looked back at him and said, “Applied topically, not internally, if that helps."

Samuel nodded.

The trees were close together, so they had to push between them, climbing over fallen branches and between balga plants. The shells of buildings poked up through the trees, and Nick found the remains of a set of traffic lights, the paint peeled off the pole and a honeyeater's nest in the green light.

"This is the top of the hill,” Nick said. “It should be downhill from here."

Talgerit, who had been leaning on Samuel, pushed past Nick with his dog following at his heels, and said, “There's a track ahead..."

When Nick stepped out onto the track, Talgerit was kneeling down, looking at the leaves and bark on the dirt. Samuel almost trod on Nick, coming out of the trees, and Nick made a mental note to try and teach Samuel the basics of moving through the bush, before he injured himself or a bystander.

Talgerit stood up again. “It's well-used,” Talgerit said.

"Who made it?” Samuel asked. “The Noongar who live here?"

Talgerit grinned at Samuel, and Nick said, “I believe that would be the good option."

"What animal made it, unna?” Talgerit said. “This is an animal track."

"Not procoptodons,” Nick said, looking up at the trees closing over the track, just above their heads. “Not diprotodons either."

"There are other really big things?” Samuel asked.

Talgerit shrugged. “Probably. We'll walk this path, if it is going to where Samuel's clock is."

Nick pointed, south and slightly to the west, the direction the path curved through the trees.

Talgerit walked ahead of them, standing straighter with each step, and his dog sniffed ahead, disappearing into the bush, then sliding out between the trees again. The trees were loud with black cockatoos calling, and honeyeaters buzzed them on the path. Lizards slithered away, and Nick had to grab Samuel to stop him from standing on a dugite snake warming itself in a patch of sunshine through the trees.

The track twisted occasionally, but kept heading in the right direction. After a couple of kilometers, Nick caught up with Talgerit, who had been stalking several paces ahead of them.

"Still going the right way,” Talgerit confirmed, pointing toward where in Nick's memory the University of Western Australia stood.

"There's only one reason I can think of that the track would go there,” Nick said.

Talgerit nodded. “Whoever, or whatever, uses this track walks there."

"You're moving better. Does your arm hurt much?” Nick asked, as Samuel caught up with them.

Talgerit shook his head slowly.

"This is a good place,” Talgerit said. “Look?” He held out his hand, and a bubble of light swelled, bright enough to see in the late afternoon sunshine filtering through the trees. The bubble grew bigger and bigger, until it was wider across than a man's arms could reach, and was too bright to look at.

Talgerit let the bubble slide to the ground, where it melted away, into the leaves and gravel.

"That's a lot of magic,” Nick said, and Talgerit nodded.

Nick touched Talgerit's arm, above the edge of the dressing, and Talgerit shrugged.

"Okay, let's have a look,” Nick said. “If you've healed yourself, then I'll take the tape off your arm."

Talgerit slid off the jacket, and Nick undid the compression bandage, then lifted the pack off slowly, but no fresh blood welled through the field dressing underneath. He kept the sterile side the bandage clean, away from everything, and undid the field bandage carefully.

Underneath, when he peeled the gauze and wadding off the dried blood and curled sutures, Talgerit's skin had granulated across the wounds, the new skin gleaming and healthy, with no sign of infection. When Nick glanced down at Talgerit's ankle, where the marron had clawed him, the skin was smooth and healthy.

"Accelerated healing?” Samuel asked. “That's amazing."

Nick nodded. “I'm going to cover this up again, Talgerit, to stop the stitches from catching. Then you can use your arm again."

With a smaller field dressing, taken from the APC, covering the sutures, Talgerit swung his arm experimentally.

"Give me some rocks,” Talgerit said. “Let's get dinner!"

Samuel pulled a food bar from his pocket and handed it to Talgerit as they started walking again.

"We stole dinner,” Samuel said. “No need to catch rabbits tonight."

Talgerit looked dubious about the protein bar Samuel had just given him, but he tore the foil wrapper open anyway and bit into it.

"Is it bad?” Samuel asked, and Nick had to admit that the expressions Talgerit was pulling gave that impression.

Talgerit chewed hard, then swallowed. “Can we run my car on this? It'd be better than mutton fat."

Samuel shrugged. “If you steal a truck full of the bars, I'll work on the refining process."

"Because stealing trucks from the army is such a good idea,” Nick said.

The path curved around, and began to track downhill, between smaller trees than before.

"We're close,” Nick said, and he began to run down the track, the dog bounding ahead of him.

The track led into a clearing, and Nick slid to a halt, Talgerit and Samuel on his heels. Across the clearing, partly hidden by tangle of vines, the clock tower of the university reached up, in the dusk. The clock face was broken, the hands of the clock hanging loose, and the roof was missing from the tower.

"I've seen pictures of this,” Samuel said. “Before I left home."

They walked on, across bitumen reclaimed by the vines and balga plants, and past wrecked traffic lights, until the ground dipped sharply, and the tower was close enough it loomed over them.

Samuel leaned against Nick, once they'd slid down the embankment. “This is the place,” Samuel said. “We made it."

Talgerit turned to look at them over his shoulder, as the gloom of dusk settled around them.

"Keep moving,” Talgerit said. “Can't stop now."

The cloisters surrounding the quadrangle they'd slid into were still standing, and Talgerit led them through the cloisters, and under cover.

"Is there anyone here?” Nick asked Talgerit in a whisper, when Talgerit paused and peered around the corner of the building, his dog pushing between his legs to snuffle at the stone wall.

"No people,” Talgerit said. “No nothing."

"What?” Samuel whispered.

"No birds, no dogs, no nothing,” Talgerit said, and he walked out into the open.

Nick grabbed Samuel's arm, and pulled him after Talgerit.

"Do you know where we're going?” Samuel asked. “I had maps, but they're gone, in the river."

"Physics Department is ahead of us,” Nick said. “At least it was, the last time I failed a physics exam."

The ground was rough, vines growing over rubble and thick bushes, but in the very last of the daylight, Nick could see the shape of the Geology Department on his right, and the Physics Department looming behind it.