Lachlan Walter - The Rain Never Came

The real reason for her indifference soon became apparent.

‘Come on, hurry up,’ she muttered.

The commander surprisingly did as she said, picking up his pace, leading us into a long corridor lined with faded portraits of presumably long-dead people. Doors lined the corridor: numberless, featureless, closed, and locked. It struck me that no Creeps had followed us inside. I guessed they were needed in the camp; I had never seen more than a few dozen of them at a time.

In the seat of their power, guarding a cripple and a kid hardly seemed necessary. Then it struck me that Ruby and I were alone with the commander.

We hadn’t seen anyone else the whole time, and while Ruby and I might not have posed the greatest physical threat, neither did the commander. I stared at his back, so very tempted. But then I remembered his earlier words, and thought about that great white nothing only a few kilometres away.

I realised how much they depended on us giving up hope.

‘Ah, here we are,’ the commander said, oblivious to my murderous moment, stopping us at one of the unmarked doors.

He took a set of keys from his pocket, fumbled with the lock, threw the door open. He flicked a switch on the wall, illuminating a rough-brick stairwell. We followed a set of rusty stairs down a single flight, stopping at a steel door. The Commander knocked twice, took out his keys, managed to get the door open.

We faced a squat room lined with cells. The single electric bulb shone wan, dim, greasy. A lone Creep sat at a wooden desk, his feet up, and his back to us.

‘Private,’ the commander barked.

The Creep spun in his chair, jumped to his feet, threw the commander a rough salute. ‘Sir.’

‘You’re excused.’

‘Fuck, great.’

The commander frowned, obviously unimpressed by the Creep’s language. ‘Do you enjoy it down here, Private? Or would you rather be working out in the sun?’

The Creep’s face fell.

‘Then you will mind your manners.’ The commander smiled imperiously. It was obscene how much he delighted in lording over his underlings. ‘As I said, you’re excused.’

‘Right, sir, no worries.’ He threw the commander another rough salute as he sauntered out of the room.

‘What the fuck do you want this time?’ someone called out.

It was a hoarse voice that I didn’t recognise

The commander frowned; I guessed that he wasn’t overly welcome in the cell block. I looked for the owner of the voice, couldn’t see anything. The cells were all dark, long, narrow—it was impossible to tell how many of them were occupied.

‘Answer me!’ the voice demanded. ‘What are you waiting for? Bloody Christmas?’

‘Tobe!’ Ruby yelled brightly. She pushed past me to his cell, almost knocking me down.

‘G’day,’ he said. ‘How’s it going?’

Same old Tobe, as cool as can be.

‘Yeah, g’day,’ I said, unable to help myself.

Tobe stepped into the light. He looked thin and a little desperate; the Creeps must have been keeping him hungry. He reached through the bars, took my outstretched hand. He let me go, grabbed Ruby by the shoulders, looked her in the eye and smiled wide. She reached through the bars and hugged him as best she could. I just stood there staring.

‘Tobe,’ I finally said, ‘it’s…’ The words caught in my throat. ‘Mate, it’s good to see you.’

‘You too, Bill,’ he said with a gap-toothed smile.

‘Tobe?’ Ruby asked, still holding him tight.

‘Yeah?’

‘Are you coming back with us?’

Tobe laughed grimly. ‘It depends, Ruby. It’s up to our friend there.’ He nodded at the commander, who had been watching us with fascination.

‘Speaking of which,’ the commander said, ‘I think we’d better get to it.’ He looked square at Tobe. ‘Don’t you think, Tobias? Or would you rather have me explain?’

Tobe’s smile disappeared in an instant. He let Ruby go, took a step back, looked at us, looked back at the commander.

‘You gave me your word,’ Tobe said, holding the commander’s gaze.

The commander made an elaborate show of mulling over what Tobe had said. Tobe cursed him under his breath, looked back at us, met Ruby’s eye.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

The commander stepped forward. He pushed me aside, took Ruby’s arm. She snatched it away, scowling at him.

‘It’s okay,’ Tobe said to her. ‘He’s taking you back to the shack so Bill and I can have a chat, that’s all.’

‘Don’t make me go,’ she said quietly, tears welling.

Tobe smiled sadly. ‘It’ll all be over soon. Try and take it easy until then, okay?’

He winked at her. Something seemed to click—she straightened her back, looked him in the eye.

‘Right, boss, right you are.’ She looked up at the commander. ‘Are you coming or what?’

He laughed at her cheek. ‘Very well.’

He turned away, smiling to himself. He stopped at the steel door, took out his keys, fumbled with the lock. Ruby followed. She didn’t say goodbye; she didn’t look back.

‘Have fun,’ the commander yelled as he slammed the door behind him.

Tobe burst into tears as soon as we were alone, keening like a fly-blown sheep. Unable to stop myself feeling sorry for him, and hating myself for doing so, I reached through the bars and squeezed his shoulder in a pathetic attempt at comfort.

He grabbed me in an awkward approximation of a hug. I struggled against him when I started to run out of breath.

He collapsed in slow motion and ended up sitting on the floor. He looked defeated, his head hanging low. Dark questions ran through my mind; I couldn’t stop them. Had he been sentenced to death? Was he to be exiled? Were Ruby and I to share his fate, as both accomplices and friends should?

I didn’t ask any of them, instead letting Tobe’s tears run their course.

‘Sorry,’ was all he said, his voice broken, small.

‘She’s ‘right, no need to apologise.’

He looked up at me with red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes. He didn’t speak. I started to panic; Tobe wasn’t the type to give in, I had never known him to hit the wall. I stared at him, giving him time to get it together. But he didn’t, and kept sobbing.

I cracked. I asked a stupid question. ‘Tobe, what is it?’

He shook his head, then looked back at the floor and started babbling. ‘He woke up, Bill. He couldn’t see, of course. I made sure of that. But you know what? He didn’t really need to.’

I was lost. ‘Tobe!’

But he kept on. ‘That dog-killing prick—he recognised me, he knew who I was. I should have killed him while you were unconscious, back at the train station. I should have done more than taken his eyes. But I thought that’d be enough.’

‘Tobe!’ I yelled.

He ignored me again. ‘So the bastard wakes up, and the first thing he does is tell the nearest Creep about me. And then that Creep tells the commander…’

‘Tobe!’

‘…and then he comes to visit, all pompous and smug, dangling treason and court-martials and you name it in front of me. Threatening you…’

At that one, I sat down on the desk facing Tobe’s cell, deciding to let his panic run free so that I could get a straight answer.

‘…and threatening Ruby, making me choose between telling you the truth and exile. All for a bit of fun, he said. Knowing that prick, if I chose otherwise, he’d tell you the story once I was gone. That arsehole, he’s probably listening to us right now, laughing it up.’

His torrid stream abruptly ran dry. ‘Bill, I’m so sorry.’ He fell silent, leaving it at that.

‘Tobe?’

He wouldn’t look at me.

‘Tobe, what’s going on?’ I asked again.