spolier alert** warning this is a slightly gory chapter- if you don't like slightly gory descriptions please skim over or skip. - but remember it's only a few sentences
also the picture in the sidebar is an imperfect replica. to see the real picture in all the beauty and perfection check out this link
http://browse.deviantart.com/digitalart/?q=girl%20gun&order=9&offset=168#/d3cgk4w
although jodi uses a gun not a sword and my ofriginal Vampyres look nothing like this - the person is almost perfect, exactly as i imagined her. even the hair's perfect now since she cut her hair.
Chapter ten; down by the billabong
“I swear, Jo, after all that time staring out the window and seeing nothing but sand and thin, spiny plants, you won’t believe how good it is to see so much water when we reach this billabong.” Marge grinned through a mouth full of damper. They were sitting around a fireplace eating the bread with billy tea and discussing their journey. After driving for three days the billabong was finally in sight. It was situated almost four hundred metres away beyond a clump of trees in the distance.
“Why is there a billabong in the desert anyways?” said Jodi.
“It’s not really a billabong. It’s actually an oasis, but we call it a billabong anyways.” Damien responded.
“And it’s absolutely gorgeous this time of year.” Marge added.
It was almost evening and the desert was becoming dark and cool. It was quiet for a while and Jodi stared into the fire for a long time, watching the sparks fly from the flame, rising up as high as it could go, before its bright light died and it fell to the ground to lie black and small in the sand. Damien watched her as he watched the flames, watching the light of the fire gleam on her skin and brighten her eyes. He looked away for a moment and his eyes met Marges who was smirking at him. He looked back and furrowed his brows in confusion, and Marge grinned and waggled her eyebrows. Her eyes looked in Jodi’s direction for a moment and return to his, then in Jodi’s direction and again back to him, all the while her smile growing wider. He glared at her, and she rolled her eyes at him.
“What are you guys doing?”
They both jumped at the sound of Jodi’s voice.
“Nuthin’” replied Damien hastily.
“Admiring the scenery” Marge grinned from ear to ear like a Cheshire Cat.
Damien glared at her, but she responded by rolling her eyes again. “Oh come on,” she said. “It’s obvious to everyone else.”
“What is?” Damien growled through gritted teeth.
“You two of course!” Marge threw up her hands in exasperation.
“What do you mean?” asked Jodi, who looked genuinely puzzled.
“Nothing,” Damien interrupted. “Absolutely nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing, huh?” Marge retorted. “It’s obviously something. I mean the way you too look at each other, it’s a wonder you guys aren’t ripping off each other’s clothes –“
“Marge!” Jodi interrupted, and to Damien’s surprise, blushed.
“What, I’m just saying –“
“Marge, would you like to go off and scout the billabong for us, please.”
“Oh I see,” Marge nodded and she got up. “wanna be alone, huh? That’s ok, but just see that you don’t get carried away, ok?” she started walking toward the billabong. “it’s not like you’ve got contraception out here it the desert and –“
“Marge!” cried Jodi again, her cheeks bright red.
They listened to her chuckle as she started to jog and watched her until she disappeared behind the clump of bushes. An awkward silence hung over them. Jodi considered Marge’s words and their meaning. Distance and time had mended the scar in her heart that was created with Nate’s hatred and over the years she had found herself looking more and more at Damien. She opened her mouth to break the silence.
“Damien – “
“Jodi – “
They both stopped when the interrupted each other and look away with a chuckle.
“You first” said Damien.
“No, you go first.” Said Jodi and she smiled encouragingly.
He let out his breath in a whoosh. “Alright then.” He looked at the fire. “It’s just that, I know Marge said it like that, and probably everyone at the base feels that way too, but I just want you to know you shouldn’t feel pressured by that to like me. I mean, it’s alright to be mates, right? In fact it’s probably better off that way. And you still have that guy you like from the other place right?”
So he didn’t feel that way for her. Jodi felt her heart sink as she listened to Damien’s speech and her smile turned into a look of shock. But she flashed a quick smile when he looked up for her confirmation. Still feeling the sting she quickly replied. “Yeah, yeah we’re probably better off as friends.”
An emotion Jodi almost mistook for hurt flashed across his face, but disappeared quickly when he looked away. Jodi felt her own smile drop as they lapsed into silence.
A minute passes before Damien spoke again. “Hasn’t Marge been taking too long?”
Jodi’s head snapped in the direction of the billabong. It was almost dark, and it was a new moon, so there was barely any light beside the stars and the setting sun, and there was no sign of Marge anywhere.
“Do you think she’s hurt?” said Damien.
“What if she was attacked by a dingo or something?” gasped Jodi.
Damien stood up quickly. “Go grab two guns and the first aid kit. I’ll grab the bike; it’ll be faster than running.”
Jodi ran to her truck and snatched the battered first aid kit from the glove compartment, and two hand guns from the passenger seat, and ran back to Damien who was unloading her bike from the back of his Ute. They both got on the bike and rode silently and quickly to the billabong.
When they reached the cluster of trees Jodi leaped off the bike and prepared to charge into the bushes when Damien grabbed her hand. He held one finger tip on his lips and then pointed to his ears, indicating for her to be silent and listen.
Now that Jodi had stopped, she became aware of noises from beyond the trees. Slowly, and as silently as they could they creeped closer until they could see past the trees.
From what Jodi could see the billabong was a large pool of deep water, bordered by a small cliff of rock on the furthest side. But that wasn’t what Jodi was looking at. At the shores of the billabong were a large bonfire, and an all too familiar looking pile of metal. She grabbed Damien’s arm and looked at his face, which stared back at her with wide eyes. He once again held a finger to his lips and then pointed to a little way off beside her.
There what she saw confirmed her worst fears and made her adrenaline pump around her body. She held a trembling hand to her mouth as she tried to suppress the scream building up in her throat, threatening to burst from her lips and reveal them both, which would have meant certain death, she knew.
The vampyres! At least twenty of them! Some of them playing with scrap of metal, other on their hands and knees by the edge of the water lapping at it like wretched animals. Others still surrounding a bloodied carcass, ripping off pieces of meat soaked in blood and gulping it down greedily.
Jodi looked around trying to find Marge amongst the rock or the trees. When she couldn’t find her she looked back at Damien. His face was a pale white, he lips turned in a grimace. His eyes met hers for a moment and returned to the group of vampyres surrounding the cadaver. She turned back and this time saw what she had missed.
Now blood stained and unrecognisable, the carcass was being torn apart before her very eyes. As she watched one of the monsters lifted what was clearly a limb, at the end of which was a human hand.
Jodi threw herself back into Damien; the sound of tearing raw meat filled her ears as she let out a scream. The vampyres heads swivelled around and spotted her and Damien watching them from between the trees. There was no time to think, they ran, Damien in front, both of them trying to reach the bike before the monster reached them.
Adrenaline pumped through her blood as her kept her eyes on a gap between the trees, so she didn’t see a stray root lying just above the ground. She cried as she tripped over and landed hard on the ground, twisting her ankle.
Pain filled her vision followed quickly by another pain as something grabbed her by her hair. She turned her head slightly as she saw the sharp canines of a vampyre dripping with blood and saliva move in towards her throat, toward the kill.
BANG! A shot rang through the air; it hit a Vampyre just behind them with a sickening thud. Blood spurted from its wound splattering them and distracting the Vampyre who had a hold of her hair long enough for her to grab the knife she had in her boot and slice through her plait.
Her body flew forwards as the taut grip of her hair was released and she ran towards Damien, who had one arm raised, gun pointing behind her. She pulled her own gun out and leaped behind him on the bike firing at the monsters as they rose up and flew back to their trucks.
“Is there time to take the truck with us?” she panted.
“We might have time to take two of the trucks with us, but we’ll have to leave the water truck and Marge’s”
Pain seared in Jodi’s heart as she thought of Marge, and bile rose up in her throat as she thought of her poor body being torn apart by the monsters.
“I’m sorry Damien” she said. “For screaming and for Marge.”
“This is the world we live in, Jodi.” He kept his eye’s straight ahead. “Marge is now just one more victim.”