meltdown. But that wasn’t true. Behind the brick veneer and fibro facades, they were just as screwed as everyone else.
The phone burbled from the seat as a text arrived.
‘Thank God!’
I snatched it up, overjoyed that I could swing the car around and go pick up Jacinta. But she hadn’t messaged me. I’d missed a call. Private number. Mum!
I jabbed the key for voicemail.
‘Danby! Danby!’ She sounded terrified. ‘Oh, baby, your dad! Stephanie! My God! Please be all right. Evan too. This is—this is—I love you. Please call me! I love you!’
Sobbing, I hit her number.
First time she’d ever answered first ring. ‘Danby!’
‘Mum! I’m so scared!’
‘Me too, darling!’ She yelled over whatever was in her mind. ‘Wh—where are you?’
‘I’m coming with Evan. Mum I’m—’
‘So loud! I thought it was just me that I—’
Silence. I wished she wasn’t out of range. That I could hear her mind and see she was really all right.
‘Are you okay, Mum?’
‘My mind . . . it’s so loud.’
‘Is it safe there?’
‘It’s not safe anywhere but at least here it’s—’
Then she was gone in a beep-beep-beep.
I screamed at the thought of her beautiful mind catatonic.
Then I looked at the phone. Laughed with relief.
No bars. Mum wasn’t gone. The network was.
‘At least here it’s—’
Safer: that’s what she’d been going to say. I was sure of it. Shadow Valley was remote and sparsely populated. It had to better than here. All I had to do was get us there.
I wrenched the steering wheel and accelerated us away from the river and towards the freeway that connected the city to the mountains. Talking to Mum had given me hope that I didn’t want to sully. So I didn’t skip to minds in the smoke and haze ahead. This stretch of road looked clear of vehicles. Maybe this was the start of our clean getaway.
A wreck loomed out of the murk. White Kombi, flipped on its roof, billowing smoke, shredded corpse sprawling from a side window. After that, there was only total gridlock. Drivers bashed cars. Tried to funnel forwards. Trapped themselves tighter when they tried to reverse. I skidded to a stop. Cursed myself for being so stupid.
Now I did leapfrog from mind to mind. Traffic was at a standstill for kilometres. The freeway exit was blocked by a blazing pile-up. Every highway lane was blocked with crashed or abandoned cars. All around me drivers refused to believe these were all roads to nowhere.
Has-to-be-a-way-through-C’mon-move-Let’s-go-At-least- got-the-stereo-screen-air-con-Oh-God-no-petrol-pouring . . .
Breaking news burned from mind to mind: a rainbow river of gasoline, spilling from drums in the cargo hold of a crashed Hegira, streaming down the road under vehicles.
It’s-on-fire-Fire!-Oh-God!-Oh-God!
People were so parked-in they couldn’t get free. Drivers kicked at windshields and then vehicles began bucking into the air on cushions of fire.
Rattling the gearstick, I stomped on the accelerator. We shot back wildly. Glanced off the fiery Kombi. Spun across the road until we crunched into a parked car. My face slammed into the airbag. It took a second to realise I was alive. Then I whirled to make sure Evan was okay. My little brother was cushioned by a side airbag and safe in Big Bear’s embrace. But his screams were louder than the car alarm we’d set off. Evan’s defences were crumbling.
Scary-Danby-scary!
‘It’s gonna be okay!’ My shout only added to his terror. ‘Hang on!’
The airbag deflated in a cloud of chalky dust. I shook the gearstick forward, twisted the steering wheel hard right and mashed the accelerator. We ripped down Boundary Road, side-swiping and scraping parked cars as we went.
The inferno receded in the rear-view mirror but keeping on towards the river offered no escape. A few blocks away a young Hellwheels fan was dying in a stolen V8. We’d never get past the carnage he’d created. Even if we could, a bigger disaster waited just
The phone burbled from the seat as a text arrived.
‘Thank God!’
I snatched it up, overjoyed that I could swing the car around and go pick up Jacinta. But she hadn’t messaged me. I’d missed a call. Private number. Mum!
I jabbed the key for voicemail.
‘Danby! Danby!’ She sounded terrified. ‘Oh, baby, your dad! Stephanie! My God! Please be all right. Evan too. This is—this is—I love you. Please call me! I love you!’
Sobbing, I hit her number.
First time she’d ever answered first ring. ‘Danby!’
‘Mum! I’m so scared!’
‘Me too, darling!’ She yelled over whatever was in her mind. ‘Wh—where are you?’
‘I’m coming with Evan. Mum I’m—’
‘So loud! I thought it was just me that I—’
Silence. I wished she wasn’t out of range. That I could hear her mind and see she was really all right.
‘Are you okay, Mum?’
‘My mind . . . it’s so loud.’
‘Is it safe there?’
‘It’s not safe anywhere but at least here it’s—’
Then she was gone in a beep-beep-beep.
I screamed at the thought of her beautiful mind catatonic.
Then I looked at the phone. Laughed with relief.
No bars. Mum wasn’t gone. The network was.
‘At least here it’s—’
Safer: that’s what she’d been going to say. I was sure of it. Shadow Valley was remote and sparsely populated. It had to better than here. All I had to do was get us there.
I wrenched the steering wheel and accelerated us away from the river and towards the freeway that connected the city to the mountains. Talking to Mum had given me hope that I didn’t want to sully. So I didn’t skip to minds in the smoke and haze ahead. This stretch of road looked clear of vehicles. Maybe this was the start of our clean getaway.
A wreck loomed out of the murk. White Kombi, flipped on its roof, billowing smoke, shredded corpse sprawling from a side window. After that, there was only total gridlock. Drivers bashed cars. Tried to funnel forwards. Trapped themselves tighter when they tried to reverse. I skidded to a stop. Cursed myself for being so stupid.
Now I did leapfrog from mind to mind. Traffic was at a standstill for kilometres. The freeway exit was blocked by a blazing pile-up. Every highway lane was blocked with crashed or abandoned cars. All around me drivers refused to believe these were all roads to nowhere.
Has-to-be-a-way-through-C’mon-move-Let’s-go-At-least- got-the-stereo-screen-air-con-Oh-God-no-petrol-pouring . . .
Breaking news burned from mind to mind: a rainbow river of gasoline, spilling from drums in the cargo hold of a crashed Hegira, streaming down the road under vehicles.
It’s-on-fire-Fire!-Oh-God!-Oh-God!
People were so parked-in they couldn’t get free. Drivers kicked at windshields and then vehicles began bucking into the air on cushions of fire.
Rattling the gearstick, I stomped on the accelerator. We shot back wildly. Glanced off the fiery Kombi. Spun across the road until we crunched into a parked car. My face slammed into the airbag. It took a second to realise I was alive. Then I whirled to make sure Evan was okay. My little brother was cushioned by a side airbag and safe in Big Bear’s embrace. But his screams were louder than the car alarm we’d set off. Evan’s defences were crumbling.
Scary-Danby-scary!
‘It’s gonna be okay!’ My shout only added to his terror. ‘Hang on!’
The airbag deflated in a cloud of chalky dust. I shook the gearstick forward, twisted the steering wheel hard right and mashed the accelerator. We ripped down Boundary Road, side-swiping and scraping parked cars as we went.
The inferno receded in the rear-view mirror but keeping on towards the river offered no escape. A few blocks away a young Hellwheels fan was dying in a stolen V8. We’d never get past the carnage he’d created. Even if we could, a bigger disaster waited just
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