AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURES

Chapter 4: Roadkill

He slumped against the wall, becoming then aware of his empty holster pressing into his side. Slowly he took off his brown suitcoat then let his fingertips run down the length of the leather shoulder strap. His jaw worked as his fingers moved. It was like...caressing a snake that had curled itself about his body. With an animal-like roar, he ripped it off, flinging it onto the roadway, then heaved himself to his feet, staggering onward.
******************
"HANDO!" cried Himself. "Get OFF there!"

 

 

Hando was doing a hand-stand on the railing above Newell Falls, a big grin on his face as he watched Ando watching him nervously. Sid helped Maximus to a sitting position atop the wall then sprang up next to the young Melbourner. Glancing at him with a pleased smirk on his lips, Sid did a backward somersault completely off the rail, disappearing from view.

 

 

"SID!" Himself hollered, running toward the rail, leaning over, his eyes scanning the rocks below.

 

 

About 50 feet down Sid stood, waving up at him. "YOU should know I'm capable of this...and more," Sid called up at Himself.

 

 

Himself stood there, shaking his head, then gripped Hando's leg and flipped him back down onto the roadway. "I do know that about Sid," he growled, "but you are NOT a nanotech organism." Sometimes just keeping his characters in one piece took all his energy.
 

Berti had not stopped for the display of testosterone. The only testosterone she cared about was somewhere up ahead and she feared for its safety, for what it might bring itself to. It was getting hotter now as the sun gained height and she paused briefly to wipe her brow and look toward the top of the escarpment. Had he spent the entire night walking? How far ahead WAS he? She was not used to this advanced level of angst. Usually it was Joimus who bore the brunt of it. She turned, looking back at the person in question, studying her as she knelt beside her General.

Indeed, the General was having a rough go of it. With every step up the steep escarpment road, his leg had sent sharp signals of pain racing through his body. Beads of sweat covered his brow, running down his temples.
 

 

Joimus carefully undid the clasps and ties of his cape and, folding it tenderly, placed it in her backpack. She did the same with his cuirass, which was, of course, a bit more resistant to being folded, but she remembered how to do it from the time she had found it abandoned by Victoria Falls. She unbuckled his greaves, too, trying to take as much weight off him as possible.

 

 

He smiled weakly as he watched her. "You burden yourself too much," he said softly.
 

"Nothing of yours can be a burden to me," she replied, lifting her eyes to his. He reached out, running his thumb pad down the line of her jaw. Her hand, then, rested as lightly as moonlight above his leg wound. "How did this come about?" she asked, her eyes going all serious.

 

 

He sighed deeply, all the emotion coming back to him as he had lain there chained to the wall of the shed. "I had to stop him," he whispered, "before he returned to your...bed."

 

 

"But your own flesh," she said, looking into his eyes wonderingly.

 

 

"It did not matter," he replied. "Nothing mattered but stopping him."

 

 

Her fingers left his injury, going to his lips, tracing back and forth along them. "I love you," she murmured.

 

 

"I know," he said.

Sid climbed back over the wall, vaulting lightly down next to Maximus. "I know just what that feels like," he said, his eyes indicating the General's bandaged leg.

 

 

Maximus managed a small chuckle. "Indeed you do!"

 

 

"I would share the pain with you...were I able," Sid added, his eyes genuine.

 

 

Marti rolled her own orbs toward the sky at his statement. Maximus, though, gripped Sid's hand tightly, nodding affirmatively.
 

Joimus turned her head, looking up at the high rim of the escarpment where the waterfall brinked and poured. "Have you ever noticed," she mused, "how the waters fall in little feathery sections as though the droplets find some fellowship with their mates that is not lost even in the greatest plunge?"

 

 

Both Sid and Maximus turned to follow her gaze. "It looks like they are having fun," Sid remarked.

 

"Before they are broken on the rocks below," Maximus added, a far away look in his eyes. He blinked then, and smiled slightly.

 

Sid studied the General's expression, then cupping his palm over Maximus' shoulder, said, "Water is never broken. Its shape is changed briefly. That is all."

 

 

"Do you remember...," Joimus began, not intending, really, to say more.

Both Maximus and Sid nodded. "Forgetting was never an option," Maximus said.

 

 

Sudden tears sparkled in Joimus' eyes. "I...miss it," she breathed softly.

Maximus took her hand and lay it over his uncuirassed chest. "Here," he whispered. "You will ever flash across my being...here."
 

Such a sudden longing took her that she sank to her knees between his legs, burying her face in his chest, her arms tight around his waist. "I cannot bear being outside of you."

 

 

He stroked his fingers through her hair. "It will not always be so, my
love."

 

 

"I know," she murmured, her tears wetting the front of his rust-colored tunic.

Bunny stood nearby, watching silently. Sid went to her, pulling her close to his side. "Orange," he said simply. When she looked up at him, puzzled, he added, "Yellow...inside of red. She wants orange."
 

"You seem...different," Bunny remarked, her eyes probing his.

 

He smiled at her, a smile with no plot, no self-gain, no lust for acknowledgement behind it. "I have known green," he said, then looking at Maximus, added, "and purple."

 

 

"Is...is...this like your 'inner Fred' back in The Village?" she asked. " (Journey Into Jeopardy)

 

 

No," he said, shaking his head slightly. "Fred Rogers was my fail-safe programming. This...," his hand moved a bit toward Joimus and the General, "was nothing foreseen by my programmer."

 

 

"Is it...permanent?" she wondered.

 

 

"I have no way of knowing," he said truthfully. "We shall have to see." He smiled at her again. "But I AM me, you know!"

 

 

"I did note your back flip off the wall," she laughed.

 

 

He spread both arms wide. "Ah, I am, indeed the most 'off the wall' character of them all!"

"We should go," Himself said. "Berti is already halfway round the next switchback."

 

 

Sid walked quickly to Maximus, bending enough to slide the General's arm around his neck again. "You OK?" he asked.

 

 

"It is better without the armor," Maximus said, though both Sid and Joimus noticed the dark flicker of pain in his eyes as he stood.

 

 

How strange, how truly, truly strange it was for the rest of the cast to watch Sid aiding the General in such a solicitous manner.
 

"He's up to something," Marti affirmed to Jeff. "He has to be."

Jack, too, watched with wary eyes. Sid seemed very strong, very in control of himself whereas the General was obviously weakened and in pain. "I don't like it, Rose," he said softly to the petite woman at his side. "I don't like it at...all."

 

"You fear for him, for his safety?" she asked.

The Captain nodded. "I fear at some point Sid will present us with his butcher's bill."

 

 

"Is there anything you can do?"
 

He stood there on the road, his hands clasped behind his back, watching with narrowed eyes as Maximus leaned heavily on Sid. More to himself than to Rose he whispered, "I will grind whatever grist the mill requires in order to assure their safety." Licking his lip thoughtfully, he added, "It's an unfortunate business...damned unfortunate."

Another hour brought them to the top of the escarpment. Maximus had lagged way behind the others, but Jack managed to go even more slowly so that he was always further back. He did not trust Sid and was not about to let Maximus and Joimus be alone with him. Even though he kept up a flow of conversation with Rose as they walked along, his eyes constantly sized up the small group about 20 feet ahead. Maximus had begun almost dragging his left leg by the time they got to the final switchback.

 

 

Jack had had enough. He sprinted forward, placing himself in their path. "Maximus," he began, then stopped, shocked at how pale his friend's face was. "Maximus!" he repeated, his voice urgent, concerned. "You must rest!" Taking hold of the General's free right arm, he deftly switched his weight off Sid and onto himself, guiding him over to the low wall.

 

 

"I'm not tired," Sid protested. "I don't...get...tired."

 

Jack ignored him, squatting in front of Maximus, pouring water from a canteen into a small cup. Maximus drained it greedily, his hands shaking with the effort of holding the cup. Then he managed a half smile, looking over at Sid. "Next time I want to stop you, remind me not to do so thorough a job of it!"

"Road kill!" commented Anna, making a face.

 

 

"Looks like a 'roo and some sorta bird," added Andy, approaching the two objects lying near the edge of the road.

 

 

"Andy, stop!" she called after him. "Just let them be!"

But he was curious and walked nearer. "BERTI!" he suddenly shouted. "Berti! Come here!"

 

 

Berti kept walking a few more steps before she slowed and turned. "Not now, Andy," she said tiredly. She started to turn away again when Andy reached down and picked up the larger of the two brown objects. Her hand flew to her mouth. Bud's jacket! Racing past Andy she grabbed the railing, looking down, hoping she would not see Bud's form crumpled on the rocks below. Her breaths came, rapid and shallow, until she ascertained that he was not there. Closing her eyes, she waited until her pulse slowed and she was able to release her white-knuckled grip on the bar.

 

 

Anna had picked up the other object. "It's Bud's holster," she said, handing it to Berti, adding, "Can you handle the angst?"

 

 

Berti took both the holster and the jacket in her arms, her eyes brimming with tears. "I fear I must," she said somberly. "It seems to be my...turn."

 

 

"There...there are...turns?" Jewelie gasped as Jim's grip tightened around her hand. She looked into the boxer's eyes. "Is that not why we have Joimus? Is that not why she is here?"
 

"There seem to have been...adjustments...of late," Jim answered, his voice going hoarse.

 

Together they turned in some awe to watch as Berti sat heavily down on the wall, pressing Bud's jacket to her face, her shoulders beginning to shake.

"Oh, crap!" Jewelie sighed.

Laura stood about 30 feet away, watching the scene. "Steve," she said, her voice very serious.

 

 

"Yes?"

 

 

"I think I have sudden business in California."

 

 

He waved his hand toward Berti. "Don't let this deter you from epilife, Laura," he said, his voice low, pleading.

"Why, I've seen much worse, much...."

 

 

Her appalled expression halted his tumble of words. "No...no...I didn't mean...," he blithered.

 

She took one long backward step away from him and he felt something inside his chest beginning to shred. "Oh, shit!" he exclaimed, reaching out, pulling her to his chest, locking his mouth over her upper lip. His right hand moved up to the back of her head, holding her close as he moved his lips to her cheeks, her eyes, then back to her mouth.

When, finally, he pulled his own head back a little to look at her, she just stood there, her eyes closed, swaying slightly in his arms. She blinked once, twice, then murmured, "On the other hand...."

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