.
‘We’ll go there in a minute but you’ve got to do something first.’
Do-something-first .
‘All I need you to do is say, “Jacinta!”’
He looked at me uncertainly.
‘Fairy floss at Luna if you can do it.’
That got him more interested.
‘You know her. Ja-sin-ta,’ I said slowly. ‘Ja-sin-ta.’
Ja-sin-ta , he turned the word over in his mind, liking the sound of it.
That’s what I wanted.
‘Ja-sin-ta,’ he whispered.
‘That’s right!’ I beamed at him. ‘JA-SIN-TA! JA-SIN-TA! JA-SIN-TA!’
Evan joined in, repeating her name, thinking her name.
Ja-sin-ta-Ja-sin-ta-Ja-sin-ta.
Jacinta couldn’t hear my thoughts. But she might hear Evan’s. If he could reach her, bring her back, then she’d see me through his eyes and I could tell her to get down here to the car.
Evan and I stared at each other, singing that one word, blocking out all else. I sent my mind out for Jacinta’s, hoping she’d flicker back to consciousness. There was nothing. He wasn’t getting through. But we had attracted the attention of other minds inside Goldrise and in neighbouring buildings.
Girl-and-kid-in-car-Can-deal-with-them-Still-get-away . . .
They’d heard Evan. Seen me through him. Coveted the BMW from darkened windows.
A warning shot would slow them down.
Shit!
I’d overpacked everything else but I’d left the gun on the dresser. It wasn’t like I could whip the bow and arrow from the boot and learn archery in time to defend us. We had to get moving. First I had to make sure Jacinta knew my plan.
I grabbed my phone and hit redial.
‘You’ve called Jacinta,’ she said. ‘You know what to do.’
Beep!
The guy who lived in Goldrise apartment 5C was barrelling down the fire-escape stairs with a baseball bat, prepared to beat me to death if that’s what it took to take the car.
‘Jax,’ I said into her voicemail. ‘I can’t get to you. I’m . . . I’m going to Mum’s. I’ll call you again. I don’t know—oh shit!’
I threw the phone on the passenger seat as 5C burst through the front doors. He stalked towards the car, pounding the bat against the palm of his hand.
I-will-smash-you-I-don’t-want-to-but—
‘Get out of the car and no one gets hurt!’ he yelled.
I turned to Evan. He gaped, terrified, feeling the blast wave of the man’s fury.
‘Hang on!’ I screamed.
I switched my foot from brake to accelerator and the BMW roared out of range just as 5C lunged. I didn’t need to look back to know he’d landed rough on the road, had cracked a wrist bone and was howling in my exhaust.
Adrenaline rushed through me and I sped up with it. It was like the first time I braved the half pipe. Crash or crash through: that’s all I could do. I couldn’t think about leaving my best friend behind, about what had happened to Dad and Stephanie, about what was happening to however many millions of others. Mum, Evan, me: we were what mattered now.
I hit fifty as we hit Commercial Street, just missed an abandoned Jeep, veered around two teenagers brawling on the bitumen. Off to my left, The Grocery was in darkness and beset by bobbing flashlights. Looters. Their minds scared me. Not because they were stealing but because every single one of them was going at it alone. Though they were all there for the same reasons, could all read each other’s thoughts, there was no cooperation or coordination, only competition and conflict. When wary distance failed, fights erupted. There was no coming back from this. I was living through the end of the world. ‘Living through’ was probably too much to hope for.
The BMW raced under Beautopia Point’s archway entrance and into the real world—or what was left of it. I hit the brakes and we skidded to a stop in the middle of Boundary Road. We were in the working class suburb that bordered Beautopia. It’d be nice to report its residents were more down to earth than our estate’s self-important elite and thus less susceptible to the mental
‘We’ll go there in a minute but you’ve got to do something first.’
Do-something-first .
‘All I need you to do is say, “Jacinta!”’
He looked at me uncertainly.
‘Fairy floss at Luna if you can do it.’
That got him more interested.
‘You know her. Ja-sin-ta,’ I said slowly. ‘Ja-sin-ta.’
Ja-sin-ta , he turned the word over in his mind, liking the sound of it.
That’s what I wanted.
‘Ja-sin-ta,’ he whispered.
‘That’s right!’ I beamed at him. ‘JA-SIN-TA! JA-SIN-TA! JA-SIN-TA!’
Evan joined in, repeating her name, thinking her name.
Ja-sin-ta-Ja-sin-ta-Ja-sin-ta.
Jacinta couldn’t hear my thoughts. But she might hear Evan’s. If he could reach her, bring her back, then she’d see me through his eyes and I could tell her to get down here to the car.
Evan and I stared at each other, singing that one word, blocking out all else. I sent my mind out for Jacinta’s, hoping she’d flicker back to consciousness. There was nothing. He wasn’t getting through. But we had attracted the attention of other minds inside Goldrise and in neighbouring buildings.
Girl-and-kid-in-car-Can-deal-with-them-Still-get-away . . .
They’d heard Evan. Seen me through him. Coveted the BMW from darkened windows.
A warning shot would slow them down.
Shit!
I’d overpacked everything else but I’d left the gun on the dresser. It wasn’t like I could whip the bow and arrow from the boot and learn archery in time to defend us. We had to get moving. First I had to make sure Jacinta knew my plan.
I grabbed my phone and hit redial.
‘You’ve called Jacinta,’ she said. ‘You know what to do.’
Beep!
The guy who lived in Goldrise apartment 5C was barrelling down the fire-escape stairs with a baseball bat, prepared to beat me to death if that’s what it took to take the car.
‘Jax,’ I said into her voicemail. ‘I can’t get to you. I’m . . . I’m going to Mum’s. I’ll call you again. I don’t know—oh shit!’
I threw the phone on the passenger seat as 5C burst through the front doors. He stalked towards the car, pounding the bat against the palm of his hand.
I-will-smash-you-I-don’t-want-to-but—
‘Get out of the car and no one gets hurt!’ he yelled.
I turned to Evan. He gaped, terrified, feeling the blast wave of the man’s fury.
‘Hang on!’ I screamed.
I switched my foot from brake to accelerator and the BMW roared out of range just as 5C lunged. I didn’t need to look back to know he’d landed rough on the road, had cracked a wrist bone and was howling in my exhaust.
Adrenaline rushed through me and I sped up with it. It was like the first time I braved the half pipe. Crash or crash through: that’s all I could do. I couldn’t think about leaving my best friend behind, about what had happened to Dad and Stephanie, about what was happening to however many millions of others. Mum, Evan, me: we were what mattered now.
I hit fifty as we hit Commercial Street, just missed an abandoned Jeep, veered around two teenagers brawling on the bitumen. Off to my left, The Grocery was in darkness and beset by bobbing flashlights. Looters. Their minds scared me. Not because they were stealing but because every single one of them was going at it alone. Though they were all there for the same reasons, could all read each other’s thoughts, there was no cooperation or coordination, only competition and conflict. When wary distance failed, fights erupted. There was no coming back from this. I was living through the end of the world. ‘Living through’ was probably too much to hope for.
The BMW raced under Beautopia Point’s archway entrance and into the real world—or what was left of it. I hit the brakes and we skidded to a stop in the middle of Boundary Road. We were in the working class suburb that bordered Beautopia. It’d be nice to report its residents were more down to earth than our estate’s self-important elite and thus less susceptible to the mental
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