THE EXTRACTOR - MISSION: OUTBACK by J.T. Brannan

Author:J.T. Brannan [Brannan, J.T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grey Arrow Publishing
Published: 2018-05-01T22:00:00+00:00

6

Lee’s dreams were troubled.

There was darkness and pain, and the sensation of being dragged through the cool, wet mud by a pair of powerful hands; there were sinister shadow-shapes around him, shapes that looked like men but moved like wild animals, smooth and graceful.

He heard sounds of wood being chopped, of muffled voices, and even singing; but still he couldn’t make out the shapes around him.

He screamed as they touched his body, squirmed and writhed; and then he was still, unable to move, and he felt powerless, vulnerable, and he wanted to scream . . .

And then he saw a face above him, a terrifying, dark face, a blackened skull with yellow eyes, and then he did scream; he screamed and screamed, and he thought he would never stop.

When Lee woke up, the rains had stopped, and the sun was up once again, low on the horizon but already burning hot and blinding in its intensity.

He tried to move his head, but stopped; everything hurt like hell, from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes, and he wondered, for a fraction of a second, if he had even survived at all, or whether he’d died and been transported to some sort of terrible netherworld.

Eventually, however, he did manage to move, and was surprised to see that he was no longer ensnared among the tree roots – his last waking memory.

Instead, he was on a makeshift bed made of branches, raised about four feet above the ground and spread between a low cliff face and the trunk of a tree. He knew he must have somehow dragged himself inland the night before, and made a bed that would keep him safe above the floodwaters, but he remembered none of it.

Then he remembered the dreams, and wondered if he had done it himself or not. Had someone helped him? He tried to remember the details of the dream, but could only conjure up vague images and feelings.

The lands around him had been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, he knew, long before white settlers arrived. It had once been known as Mparntwe, and Lee knew that the original inhabitants, the Arrernte people, still lived in the area.

Most lived in communities and outstations around Alice Springs, but he knew that others were supposed to live a lifestyle more closely associated with their ancestors, much closer to nature.

Had Lee been helped by one or more or these people?

Or had it just been a dream?

He shook his head, aware that he might never know the answer.

He looked around him again and noted with some amazement that the waters were completely gone now, with the land just as bone-dry as the day before. From the position of the sun, he knew it couldn’t have been up for long, and yet it had already done its job of reversing the previous evening’s storm damage.

Unless, he thought with a sudden rush of fear, he’d been out of it for more than a single night.

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