it. Then there come the Left Tenant, white and blue and another blue on blue and the rest of the brumby mob followed by a crowd of droans buzzing about in their wake looking for whatever they could scab.
Looking closer at the other mob I could see it was just two indies roading. They weren’t part of the brumby mob, but they were gunna get caught up in the storm of the Brumby King. One red and white and one with purple patterning, roading partners roaming free. Their path was getting crossed with the brumby mob right in front of the camp. I stood watching, I couldn’t take me eyes off what was happening. The indies didn’t realise the threat of the brumbies or they thought they could take them, because they didn’t change course until it was too late and the brumbies were all around. The Brumby King took a fancy to the purple and so it crashed up against it while the Left Tenant and the other brumbies circled around and kept the red and white busy. The King wasn’t mucking around trying to mount with its donk, it wanted to wrangle the purple into its mob. Even though the red and white done its best to drive off the King, it was overwhelmed and outnumbered. It drove off by itself, to the westing while the King and its mob pressed on.
Watching from the fence, the greasy camp boys went pale. There wasn’t nothin no one could do, it was just a matter of time before they’d be on us.
‘Carn,’ I said to Isa, ‘we gotta move.’
‘Wheres Smoov?’
‘He’s gone to sling his tote from the showgear. There’s no time, we gotta go.’
‘I’m not leavin till he’s given me the codes so as I can show in me own right. Anyways we would be killed out in the open.’
Maybe she was right but I didn’t wanna stick around, I felt the pull in me guts. We would die if we stayed. We had to go, but we’d already done too much talking, the heat was coming down. The first shots of rocks were falling down, launched like missles from the brumby trucks, they were raining pain and stone and shards of bone.
A crash right next to us and a brumby busted through the fence, wheels jarring through the shocks, engine screaming, dust flying, rocks falling and folks were running to get away. The panic hit me. I grabbed Isa’s arm but she still wouldn’t come. She pulled away and I just had to run to save myself. The air throbbed with the beating of battling trucksound, steady bass rumbling and horns tweeting and dripping with jammy delay.
The Left Tenant came on hard, howling and screaming diff and high pitched turbine whine cutting through the deep rocking grumble sound of the donk. And then it blasted a tune, a cranking dub that whipped the following brumby mob into a frenzy of high revving engines and the blat blat blat of exhaust brakes. Up come the Left Tennat’s own second, light blue frag patterns on dark blue, its vents wide open under blank view screen sensors as it sucked up all the air around to cool its searing manifold. Once they’d busted through the fence, they went all different ways through the camp looking for damage and destruction. The noise was terrible, dust and smoke in me throat and every breath was hard won from the thickening air. Camp folks screaming in panic and fetching up their gear, whatever could be carried. A dog ran past snarling and snapping, fear inside its eyes but angry outside.
Through the dust and smoke and bodies rushing here and there, all of a sudden I came face to face with Smoov, his eyes wild. He made to grab me arm and pull me back with him and I didn’t say nothing. It all happened so fast I just wanted to be done with it. All them pent up feelings came rushing out, Brumby King or not, I wasn’t gunna go with Smoov no more. I stepped sideways as he over reached and he fell into the space where I used to be and then fell down onto his knees. Between Smoov and the blur of moving bodies behind, I saw Crow. He wore a coat made from trucktyre and he had silver hair but you could see as
Looking closer at the other mob I could see it was just two indies roading. They weren’t part of the brumby mob, but they were gunna get caught up in the storm of the Brumby King. One red and white and one with purple patterning, roading partners roaming free. Their path was getting crossed with the brumby mob right in front of the camp. I stood watching, I couldn’t take me eyes off what was happening. The indies didn’t realise the threat of the brumbies or they thought they could take them, because they didn’t change course until it was too late and the brumbies were all around. The Brumby King took a fancy to the purple and so it crashed up against it while the Left Tenant and the other brumbies circled around and kept the red and white busy. The King wasn’t mucking around trying to mount with its donk, it wanted to wrangle the purple into its mob. Even though the red and white done its best to drive off the King, it was overwhelmed and outnumbered. It drove off by itself, to the westing while the King and its mob pressed on.
Watching from the fence, the greasy camp boys went pale. There wasn’t nothin no one could do, it was just a matter of time before they’d be on us.
‘Carn,’ I said to Isa, ‘we gotta move.’
‘Wheres Smoov?’
‘He’s gone to sling his tote from the showgear. There’s no time, we gotta go.’
‘I’m not leavin till he’s given me the codes so as I can show in me own right. Anyways we would be killed out in the open.’
Maybe she was right but I didn’t wanna stick around, I felt the pull in me guts. We would die if we stayed. We had to go, but we’d already done too much talking, the heat was coming down. The first shots of rocks were falling down, launched like missles from the brumby trucks, they were raining pain and stone and shards of bone.
A crash right next to us and a brumby busted through the fence, wheels jarring through the shocks, engine screaming, dust flying, rocks falling and folks were running to get away. The panic hit me. I grabbed Isa’s arm but she still wouldn’t come. She pulled away and I just had to run to save myself. The air throbbed with the beating of battling trucksound, steady bass rumbling and horns tweeting and dripping with jammy delay.
The Left Tenant came on hard, howling and screaming diff and high pitched turbine whine cutting through the deep rocking grumble sound of the donk. And then it blasted a tune, a cranking dub that whipped the following brumby mob into a frenzy of high revving engines and the blat blat blat of exhaust brakes. Up come the Left Tennat’s own second, light blue frag patterns on dark blue, its vents wide open under blank view screen sensors as it sucked up all the air around to cool its searing manifold. Once they’d busted through the fence, they went all different ways through the camp looking for damage and destruction. The noise was terrible, dust and smoke in me throat and every breath was hard won from the thickening air. Camp folks screaming in panic and fetching up their gear, whatever could be carried. A dog ran past snarling and snapping, fear inside its eyes but angry outside.
Through the dust and smoke and bodies rushing here and there, all of a sudden I came face to face with Smoov, his eyes wild. He made to grab me arm and pull me back with him and I didn’t say nothing. It all happened so fast I just wanted to be done with it. All them pent up feelings came rushing out, Brumby King or not, I wasn’t gunna go with Smoov no more. I stepped sideways as he over reached and he fell into the space where I used to be and then fell down onto his knees. Between Smoov and the blur of moving bodies behind, I saw Crow. He wore a coat made from trucktyre and he had silver hair but you could see as
Similar Books
