Two
Mia Dixon cowered behind the dilapidated stables, her heart hammering in her throat. Sweat stung her eyes as her cheek thumped with raging hot pain. Using the sleeve of her crusty work shirt, she wiped away the blood from her nose.
She’d spotted the police van and had wanted to cry out for help. But she just couldn’t risk it. Instead, she remained rooted to the spot, desperately trying to control her trembling.
At least she was safe while that police car was in the pub’s car park.
But then it moved, the officer driving off with a wave to the stockman he’d been talking to.
The stockman checked over the large cage on the back of his mustard-coloured Toyota ute. It was old, and full of cattle dogs. ‘Back in five…’
A bird whistled nearby.
Mia clasped a hand over her mouth to stop her squeal, squeezing her eyes shut, forcing out the tears. Her heart ka-thumped heavily in her chest, but the pulse pounding in her ears made it almost impossible to listen for footsteps.
It felt like it took forever to find the courage to look around her. She had ten metres of empty space to get to the car park. The pub was even further.
Behind her stood a barren field with nothing to hide behind. She’d been lucky to have the trees and long grasses filling the roadside ditch as a cover to get her this far.
But where was he?
She craned her neck to peer through the hole in the corrugated iron that made up the stables. There were assorted chunky utes and trucks parked in the pub’s dusty car park, but she couldn’t see any people.
She took her shot. Crouched low, with her backpack to her chest, her steel-capped workboots scuffed over the dust as she weaved between the large four-wheel-drive work utes. Her breath ragged, the adrenaline coursing through her, she was almost there. She was going to make it.
Then she heard male voices.
Mia dropped and rolled under the nearest truck tray. A string of sharp stones dug through her shirt. Dirt clung to her hair as a pesky ant crawled over her hand. She didn’t move, except to keep her eyes glued on the two sets of boots walking right past her. They were cattleman’s boots, not miner’s boots, and thankfully not the pair she was hiding from. But she couldn’t risk it.
Mia wriggled along the shady underbelly of the truck, through to the other side.
Nearby stood the mustard-coloured Toyota, belonging to the stockman who’d been talking to the policeman like mates. It gave her hope.
Mia crept up slowly. ‘ Shh …’ she said to the dogs through the cage’s wide mesh. One of them sniffed at her. Then another. Then another.
She then did the most daring thing in her life, and slid back the latch, opened the cage, and climbed inside.
‘It’s okay, puppies, it’s okay, I just need a ride out of town.’ She slid the latch shut, then squeezed against the cab to hide behind the large bags of dog food.
And the dogs never made a sound, except to sniff at her tears and blood.