an affection that made him instantly jealous.
'Yours?'
'Black girl can't own a Monaro?' There was an edge to her voice.
'It's a classic,' he said. 'They don't make 'em like this any more.'
'No, no they don't.' Then, more gently, 'How are you doing?'
He cleared his throat. 'How do you think?' He rubbed his eyes and his face, crouched forward with the weight of the confusion filling his skull.
'Take your time,' Kala said. 'You're safe here.' The light came on as she opened her door. 'I'll go find Tai.'
Kevin could smell the abandonment; it drifted around him like smoke, filled the cabin, pressing him down into the seat. Kevin sat for a moment trying to make sense of it all as the last of the adrenalin drained from his muscles, leaving him exhausted. He fumbled for the door handle, then lurched out onto the ground and retched. When he was empty, his stomach a tight, collapsed hollow, he wiped the drool on his sleeve and pulled himself to his feet.
A whistle pierced the still, cold air. He pulled himself back to the now, to the fact he was alone with people he didn't know but who apparently knew something about what had happened to him and his family. He might, he knew with a rousing hit of realisation, die here.
'Whitefella,' a male voice called. 'Up here.'
Two figures perched like crows on a beam high above. Kala, and the biker who had… The biker from yesterday. Today. Only this morning. Taipan.
A rickety iron staircase led to a shattered remnant of landing near the couple. He made his way up slowly, aware of the tremble in the structure, the blotches of graffiti. He'd come here from time to time, to drink beer and make out around a campfire. This was the first time he'd been scared. He reached the beam and hesitated. The ground was a head-spinningly long way down, even if the beam was wide enough to sit on.
'C'mon,' Taipan said. 'Wotcha 'fraid of?'
Kevin gritted his teeth and inched his way along. The ground twirled. His guts tightened, hungry or nervous or both, making him dizzy.
Taipan sniffed as Kevin sat down beside Kala.
'You burn ya dinner, Kay?' Taipan asked. 'Stop for a sausage sizzle?'
'Bit of a mess at the house, but I got there in time. Just.'
'That blood part of the mess?'
'A girl got bit. But she's still kickin'.'
Taipan sniffed, patted his stomach. 'Makes a man peckish.'
'Shut up: you've been fed.'
His hand brushed her cheek and she pulled away.
It made Kevin nervous. The bar wasn't that wide. He wished they'd just sit still, damn it.
'VS was watching the joint,' Kala said.
'Them Hunters who picked me up at that old bitch's place?'
'Hippie didn't think so. A woman, he thought.'
'And no sign of them Hunters?'
'There was a four-wheel-drive; it followed the wrong car.'
Taipan gave a malicious chuckle. 'That Hunter, he ain't bin havin' a good day, has he?'
'You gonna tell me what this is all about?' Kevin asked.
Taipan took a packet of tobacco from his pocket and set about rolling a cigarette. Kevin watched with increasing frustration as the biker licked the paper to seal the cylinder, then tamped the end with his lighter before lighting up. Taipan offered the cigarette to him. Kevin waved it away. The biker's nose twitched. He asked Kala, 'This fella smell funny to you?'
'All I can smell is that stink you're so fond of.'
A curlew called, the high-pitched cry sending a shiver up Kevin's spine. The iron felt cold through his jeans, the air fresh but thin as he fought for breath.
'Kala, why am I here?' Kevin asked. It was as if the biker could tell what Mira had done to him. Like he was just trying to decide the easiest way to kill him. He gripped the beam. 'What, what are you guys talking about?'
She turned to Taipan, but he just stared straight ahead through another noxious cloud of smoke.
'One of you, please - tell me what's going on!'
'You're a vampire,' the biker said finally.
'Piss off,' Kevin said.
'You're a vampire and nothin' can kill you,' Taipan told him. 'Nothin' much, anyways.'
'Yeah, right. And pigs can fly.'
'Pigs maybe. Not you.' Taipan reached behind Kala and shoved Kevin between the shoulder blades.
Kevin pitched forward, screaming all the way to the ground. He landed on his back. The impact knocked the wind from him, left his head ringing and his vision hazy. He could still hear, though, over the buzzing in his ears.
'Good one, Tai,' Kala said. 'What if he'd landed on something?'
'Like what? A wooden stake? That whitefella has to learn and learn quick if he's gonna make it. Not that I'm convinced that he should.'
'You can be such an arsehole.'
'You teach him, then. Maybe there's a bit more of the whitefella in you than the blackfella, eh?'
'That's not fair.'
'No, it ain't. You shoulda learned by now that nothin' is. Let me know when you've made up your mind.'
Kevin drew a deep, pain-filled breath and opened his eyes. Abstract shapes flitted across his vision like speeding clouds crossing the stars. He made out Kala and Taipan, standing on the beam.
'Take that whitefella to the farmhouse,' Taipan said. 'I gotta go pick up some gear, then we'll head for the coast. Somewhere with a bit'a cover till we shake VS off our tail.'
Kala's voice dropped, so low Kevin could only just hear. 'What about Willa?'
'She made her point.' Taipan rubbed his chest.
'Tai, be serious. After all of this, you're just gonna walk away?'
'Just leave it be.' He pointed at Kevin with his glowing cigarette. 'It's bad enough we got excess baggage.' He jumped and landed easily, on both feet, near Kevin. 'How you feelin' there?'
Kevin tested his vocal cords, the words coming out hoarse but gaining strength. The pain in his back and chest had subsided, making it easier to breathe. 'I'm okay. I'm alive.' Amazement burst into anger. He struggled to get to his feet. 'What the bloody hell did you think you were-'
Taipan pulled a pistol and shot Kevin in the chest.
Kevin slammed back into the ground, his hearing reverberating with the blast. He lay there, chest burning, gasping for air like a beached yellowbelly.
