Skyquakers (13 page)

The beam struck. The intense, pink light filtered through
the water, washing over Ned’s body, but some unknown force protected him from
being disintegrated. He floated, fully submerged, arms and legs limp by his
side. He gazed around him to see he was encased in a pool of colour. The surface
glistened like diamonds and the murky waters were vibrantly illuminated with a
strange, iridescent glow. Ned felt as though he was floating in pink jelly,
neither rising nor sinking, but he could feel the beam still trying to touch
him, trying to zap the little hairs on his arms and legs, trying to gobble him
up into specks of light. Eventually, having failed to catch him, the beam
switched off and Ned felt free and unrestrained again. He emerged with a gasp.

No one knew exactly how extensive the damage to the farms
had been in the end, or whether the flames even made it all the way to Ivanhoe.
The storm clouds, moving unnaturally in the sky like a sentient force, drenched
the rivers and valleys for three hours. The colossal grey mass rolled in, bringing
thunder and a downpour like the ones they witnessed in the wet season. The
floodplains filled up, forming their circular pools. The fire was sizzled out,
leaving the Quakers to assess the damage.
 

No settler was lost in the ambush. James’ gun was the only
one which was fired. He claimed he was shooting at a Quaker he thought he saw
coming towards him through the smoke, but in the end he must have been shooting
at ghosts because he never actually saw a solid figure. Ned and Elizabeth kept
their experience to themselves; Elizabeth did not want to admit to James that
her gun may have had a beneficial use. Ned only confided in one other: Sarah.
He told her later that night about the terrifying ordeal. He said he did not
know how to feel about it. The Quaker’s death did not leave him with any
greater sense of empowerment, nor did it appear to have fully compensated for
Andrew. On one hand, it felt good to know at least one of theirs was dead,
perhaps one for every thousand of his own kind who had died, and yet there was
something about its death which left him with this heavy feeling of pity and
disgust.

Sarah asked, ‘Did it suffer?’

‘Yeah. It looked like it really did.’ Ned looked up. ‘Maybe
I should tell Michael about it.’

‘Why?’

‘To make him feel better about how Andy suffered.’

Sarah cringed back. ‘It certainly wouldn’t help me feel any
better.’

Ned decided to keep it to himself.

Around the fire that night, James made a speech. He was very
proud of his family. He was proud of what they had achieved. Even if they did
not cause enough damage to permanently shut down production, they sent a clear
message today to the invaders:
we are
here
. Quakers were never going to acknowledge their existence unless they
proudly made themselves known, and now that it was known, their species could
no longer be underestimated. They were
fighters
.
They were
game-changers
, and it had
become apparent now that nothing was going to change unless they enforced it.
They may not have gotten back Andrew, but in many ways they had gotten back
their national pride.

Michael, whose leg wound was still recovering beneath a
series of bandages, caressed a gun as he said, ‘Andy won’t be properly avenged
until I find that faggot Suit and put a bullet between his eyes.’

‘One day at a time,’ James said. ‘There will be more
battles. Now more than ever, we have to be ready for them.’

In the days following, effort was spent on constant
vigilance more than any other task. The settlers took shifts on patrol for
storms, Quakers, and Suits. When they rested, they slept beneath the water tarp
in the basement. Mealtimes were spent in silence. Ned sat in front of the fire
with his rifle on one side and
Moonboy
, glowing
green, on the other. Around him, the faces of his family were hardened, worn,
smothered in soot and scars. The loving tenderness they once felt for each
other had switched to war-like comradery. Seldom did they spend their days
playing baseball and swimming and falling in love anymore; now it was about
preparing the next attack, practising their escape routes, and learning to fire
straight. All this, undoubtedly, was choreographed by the red-eyed James, and
as the new warden of the camp, he enforced his strict disciplines onto them
all. Michael
’
s leg was still healing and Munroe was too old to
perform these stunts, but every other abled body was expected to play their
part for their share of the food. Some enjoyed it more than others. Ned saw
both the good and the bad in starting a war with
Skyquakers
.
For one, the frustration of Andrew
’
s murder and this planetary
invasion in general was often enough to get his patriotic heart thumping and
his bloodlust raging; he wanted to see them as worn, defeated, and as exhausted
as he had become. On the other hand, he was terrified of getting shot, and
antagonising the guys with the bigger guns and the electric prods was not going
to end well. Each day was another test of survival; one day he would
accidentally let down his guard and be killed. He had nightmares about those
scenarios. They all did.

The family argued a lot more now. There was becoming a
shortage of food and people were becoming possessive of their things
–
a pot, a t-shirt, a round of bullets, a lemon
–
causing
petty fights daily. Elizabeth and James didn
’
t speak
much anymore, except to argue. She was powerless though to stop his regime; he
took the students where he wanted, when he wanted, and forced them to harden up
by learning to shoot and running for cover. She had to obey him if she wanted
her rations, and if she was caught comforting one of the students, counselling
them with motherly tenderness like she used to, both of them would get a hard
yelling for their display of weakness.

Michael had become increasingly cold as well. He wanted to
go hunting for Suits, but he was still limping and sore. Despite all of Violet
’
s
gentle touches and affection, his mind was now only hell-bent on revenge. It
was all he ever talked about: that Suit, the young, cocky guy who murdered his
best friend. He was going to pay; Michael would make sure of that. Eventually
Violet stopped trying, and so Ned watched that love affair die as well.

As for Sarah, she was just as paranoid and brittle as ever,
but had become even more so since the ambush. Ned spotted her lurking around
Zebra Rock late at night every now and then. With
Moonboy
by his side, glowing green, he eventually decided to track her and followed her
to the bank of the river, where he found her crouching behind a hollow tree.

‘What are you doing?
’
he asked.

Sarah gasped and jumped back.
‘
Ned, it
’
s
just you. You scared me.
’

Ned crept closer to see Sarah had a backpack hidden in the
nook of a grey tree trunk and in it she was stashing water bottles and canned
foods. She looked at him with wide, terrified eyes and scratched her elbow with
guilt.

‘What is all this?
’
he asked.
‘
Why
are you stealing food?
’

‘Please don
’
t tell James. He
’
ll
go crazy.
’

‘Are you going somewhere?
’

Sarah gave a nod and shifted her feet.
‘
I
’
m
leaving.
’

‘Why?
’

‘It
’
s not safe here anymore. I
hate it here. I can
’
t do this. I
’
ll
never be like the rest of you: I
’
m not made to kill things.
’

‘Sarah, none of us are,
’
Ned said.
‘
We
didn
’
t plan for this to happen. This isn
’
t
what we want to do; it
’
s just what we have to do.
’

‘No, it
’
s what you want to do.
’

Ned felt offended and attempted to counter her argument, but
then he thought of Andrew again and nothing came out.

‘I can
’
t stay here,
’
she said.

‘But where will you go? We
’
re still in
the middle of a desert
–
where else
is
there
to go?
’

‘I don
’
t know, but I
’
ll
find somewhere safer,
’
she said.
‘
Just
don
’
t tell anyone, okay? I don
’
t want you
to get in trouble for me, and I don
’
t want anyone to come chasing
after me.
’

‘But they will catch you.’

‘Soon enough they
’
ll catch all of us. Go back to
bed, Ned. Thanks for being a good friend, because that
’
s what you
are: you
’
re one of the good ones. Please keep safe.
’

Ned was torn, but waking James and telling him of this
breach was not going to benefit anyone. So, with a last goodbye, he turned his
back on Sarah and went back to bed. The next morning, they all woke to find her
gone. She had left a note explaining the situation and her feelings under her
pillow in brief. They searched for her for an hour or two, but there was no way
to tell which direction she had gone. Ned kept the secret hidden. Later that
day in confidence, Tim said to him,
‘
She spoke about running away
weeks ago. I never thought she
’
d actually do it.
’

Ned asked him,
‘
Are we killers?
’

‘
Why, is that what Sarah said?
’

Ned was torn. He shook his head and stared at his feet.
‘
I
have no idea what we
’
re even doing anymore.
’

Part way through March, Ned started listing all the things
he knew he
’
d never get to do in life: graduate from high
school, go to university, drive a car by himself, go skydiving,
see
how everyone on
The Walking Dead
turned out
…
All these dreams and desires were irrelevant now. He had very little
left to look forward to other than the basic needs which sustained him: a meal
tonight, some rain hopefully this week, his bed still where he left it and a
sky clear of ominous storms. At least he still had
Moonboy
,
who was entirely immune to the tragedies and woes of his human companions. Dogs
were impartial. Unconditional love, they called it. Ned found more comfort in
his alien hybrid than most humans these days.
Moonboy
did not judge him for his actions; he did not care how he used his gun, whether
for good or for evil. He never called Ned a killer, or weak, or irresponsible;
all these conflicting opinions which he now reserved for himself.
Moonboy
still snuggled up to him on the end of his mattress
at night, still chased him around the fields and played catch with him when
everyone else was too worn out, and still smiled with a dopey grin, his green
tongue dangling from the side of his mouth, as he reclined on the gallery
veranda. Ned spent time with his dog when the companionship of the settlers had
dried up. He whacked baseballs into the fields with his bat and let
Moonboy
fetch them again, or dedicated time to teaching him
to roll over and shake paws. He was a quick learner. It was still a mystery how
he disappeared so suddenly, only to wind up days later on the roof of the gallery,
in a tree, or on the other side of the Ord, but these days he responded well to
Ned
’
s call. With a short, sharp whistle,
Moonboy
could be summoned almost anytime, any place. It was
a sign of loyalty, he declared, and a sign of love.

One morning, the storm cloud rolled in as dawn broke.
Skyquakers
. Ned
casually swung his bat and heard the echoing
crack
it made against the
baseball.
Moonboy
ran off into the long grass, like a
leaping black fuzz-ball in a sea of orange. He then noticed the wind turn unusually
strong. The darkness loomed over. Thunder clashed once or twice, without any
lightning.
Moonboy
stopped running and started
barking at the sky. Ned held his bat casually against his shoulder and watched
the atmospheric phenomenon drift overhead. He knew they couldn
’
t
see him, a tiny speck on the face of the Earth all the way down there, and even
if they did, he would not be worth their energy to chase. Long ago he would run
and dive into the nearest fridge or body of water when he saw the storm, but there
was this mutual understanding between him and them now, so it seemed.

You can
’
t get me and I can
’
t
get you
.

He whistled for
Moonboy
, who came
leaping back over the grass to his side again. Ned patted his head. His long,
curly alien ears were still poised and alert, and soft, little whimpers came
from his mouth.
‘
Don
’
t worry,
boy. They
’
ll move on sooner or later.’

But the storm clouds lingered. They swirled around, creating
a thick vortex of grey and white. Streams of cloud coiled in and out, twisting around
and forming angry ripples in the sky, as though to be fighting with itself. The
wind picked up stronger. A gap between the clouds began to open up, forming a
tunnel through the thick mass. The eye appeared. Ned knew what came next. So
did
Moonboy
.

‘Oh, shit.
’

He latched onto his dog and curled up into a ball as the
beam struck them both from the sky. The tunnel of purple light thundered down
with the force of jet turbines, pounding into the earth and swirling around
them like a tornado. The beam sparked with energy, giving off a powerful,
almost blinding light in a single vertical streak.

But after a few seconds, Ned and
Moonboy
were still there. Gradually, Ned unfurled himself and found he was still
sitting in a grassy field with his barking alien dog. He was directly inside
the beam, inside a pillar of wind and light. The tunnel was five metres wide,
infinitely tall, and yet he did not dissolve into glittery dust and vanish; he
was still one solid mass of flesh and bone and hair.

He stood and looked up, covering his eyes from the glare
with his hand. Something was coming down. He saw the shadow of something
falling, falling slowly,
floating
down. As the shadow
was lowered from the sky, it gradually moulded into the shape of a person: a
human girl. She had long, mattered hair, dirty denim shorts and a ripped
t-shirt, and her entire body, head to toe, was covered in mud and grime. Ned
stood in amazement and watched the angelic being gently float down towards him.
As she got closer, he held out his arms, as though to catch her. She drifted
down slowly through the purple light, as though to be sinking through water. Ned
was there, arms out, waiting to take her, but then the beam switched off, and
suddenly gravity returned to normal.

The girl collapsed with full force onto him, and Ned, not
anticipating the weight, was crushed underneath her.

‘I
’
m so sorry! Ow, ow…
’
He pulled himself from under her limp body and stood, rubbing his
shoulder which had taken much of her weight. He looked back down to see the girl
was quite young, not much older than himself, but was frail and malnourished,
muddy, reeking of urine and compost, and was unconscious. He did not recognise
the face.

Staring at this body of a girl, it took a moment to realise
where she had truly come from and what her sudden arrival implied: this was the
first human being to return from the sky in more than three months.

‘Oh my god,
’
he muttered.
Moonboy
stood hesitantly by his side, whimpering a little. Ned
did not know what to do. He wanted to touch her, to see if she was real, but it
was all too bizarre.
The first to return
: he had dreamt of this day
since he woke alone in a fridge all those months ago.

The girl coughed and stirred a little. Ned fell to his knees
and began shifting her body into his arms. He turned back to Zebra Rock and
shouted over the fields,
‘
Help! Somebody help!
’

Ned came walking through the fields with the girl in his
arms, shouting for help. Heads turned from the vegetable crops, from the
gallery, from the fire pit, to see the muddy body in his arms.
Moonboy
danced around his feet, barking at her. The rolling
clouds overhead thundered, but then began to part and drift away.

‘What the hell?
’
James cried.

Ned could not hold her weight much longer and fell to his
knees in the dirt. Elizabeth, Munroe, James and the students gathered around
him and stared down at what he had found.

‘She fell from the sky,
’
he panted.
‘
A beam
…
it hit the fields and
…
and she came down
…’

Munroe checked under her eyelids and held his fingers on her
wrist to feel her pulse.
‘
She
’
s not in a
good state,
’
he declared.
‘
Help me get
her inside.
’

‘She came from
up there
and you want to take her
inside?
’
James roared.
‘
No!
’

But no one listened to him. The girl was hoisted up and
carried inside to a mattress. James watched them disobey him. His red, scarred
eye twitched. He spun back to Ned, who was still panting and staring in
disbelief as the body of the girl was carried away. James sneered at him and
his dog suspiciously before he followed the others into the gallery.

They lay the girl down and gave her water. She coughed it up
at first, but then she began taking small sips.

‘She
’
s filthy,
’
Violet sneered.

‘She stinks too,
’
said Tim.

Munroe snapped his fingers and tried to open her eyelids,
but the girl only responded with moans.
‘
I think she
’
s
been drugged,
’
he said.

Ned skidded into the room. ‘How is she? Is she going to be
okay?
’

‘Not sure, matey. We
’
ll have to
wait until she rehydrates a little.
’

Dr Lizzie knelt by the girl
’
s side as
her students stood around her with silent fascination. With a damp cloth, she
wiped some of the mud away from her face, revealing her smooth, porcelain skin
underneath.
‘
She
’
s very pretty,
’
she said,
‘
and she
’
s very
young.
’

‘She must have escaped,
’
Michael
said,
‘
which means the rest are still up there too.’

‘The humans aren’t dead, then.’

‘They must all be prisoners.
’

‘Let
’
s not jump the gun,
’
said Tim.

‘I think this is a bad idea,
’
James
hissed as he grasped his rifle.
‘
Kids, don’t get too close.’

‘She’s not an animal,’ Dr Lizzie sneered.

‘She came from
up
there
. And things that come from up there don
’
t come back
the way they left: they get
altered
. Should we really trust what we
’
re
seeing?
’

‘You think she
’
s not human?
’

‘She
is
human!
’
Ned cried.
‘
Look at her!
’

The girl moaned and moved her head. Her eyes flickered
opened, but then shut again. She mumbled things, but her words weren
’
t
clear enough. Munroe said she was in a bad condition: horribly dehydrated,
drugged up, malnourished, and there were old, fading bruises from restraints
which once went across her wrists and ankles.

Dr Lizzie stroked her hair.
‘
What did
they do to you, baby?
’

‘Her blood pressure is low,
’
Munroe
announced, with the end of a stethoscope held to the inside of her elbow.
‘
We
should make up some soup.
’

‘You want to share our food with a complete stranger?
’
James barked.

‘What do you suppose we do?
’
Elizabeth
said.

James boldly declared,
‘
Get rid of
her.
’

‘No!
’
Ned cried.

‘She could be one of many threats: a spy, a Suit in
disguise, a
Skyquaker
hybrid, or she may be
contaminated with all sorts of junk: viruses, poisons, spider eggs in her brain
…’

‘Well, we have nowhere to quarantine her.
’

‘So we shoot her.
’

‘No one touches her,
’
Ned said.
He stood between James and the girl, defending her.
‘
I
’
ll
take the responsibility.
’

‘You?
’

‘Yes. I
’
ll take care of her and I
’
ll
feed her, and if
…
well, if she does prove to be
a threat, then I
’
ll
…’
but he
couldn
’
t quite say it.
‘
I
’
ll
take care of everything.
’

James gave a half smile, slightly amused by the challenge.
‘
Okay,
’
he said.
‘
Fine. She
’
s
yours. If you
’
re all dead by the morning,
don
’
t blame me.
’
Then he
left the room.

Ned relaxed a little. He turned and looked down at the girl
again, the fallen angel, who was now his responsibility. She was, as Elizabeth
said, quite beautiful. She was older than him, but not by much, although her
protruding cheekbones and mattered hair gave her the physique of a child much
younger. No one in the room had ever met her before, but she may have come from
anywhere: the other side of Australia, perhaps even the other side of the
world. Whatever the case, they had never seen a human in such an atrocious
condition before, and it scared them. What were they doing to their families
and friends up there? How many were still alive? How many were suffering too?

She had to stay, the angel. Ned could not let her leave
without first getting what he desperately needed: answers.

Munroe checked on her vitals every hour, but she was still
unconscious and druggy. Ned stayed by her bedside until she woke. He kept his
gun next to him, just in case, although he doubted someone so frail and weak
could be a threat. He stayed there all day and night, occasionally using a wet
cloth to dampen her lips with water, rehydrating her bit by bit. Elizabeth was
impressed by such good care he was taking and how diligently he kept by her
side. He stayed there mostly so that James couldn
’
t get to
her, and when he was asleep by her side,
Moonboy
was
on guard.