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1 " One thing he’d learned about Australia – it was full of different variants of a certain kind of guy who was fixated on belittlement and condescension, especially when there was a girl involved. "
― Gabriel Bergmoser , The Hunted
2 " to the stillopen door. "
3 " She stood slowly. The pain from her leg had become a blaze, filling her whole body. "
4 " Steve’s eyes closed. ‘Please. I want to go home. Please.’ Maggie lay the shotgun down. She picked up the bat. ‘No. "
5 " But they’re out there.’ Her voice was high pitched, strained. Frank shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. But if they are. "
6 " If you took all the criminals in the world, put them on an island and left them for a hundred years, what is the first thing they’d say to you when you came back?’ Allie had no idea. Maggie smiled. ‘Probably something like “G’day, mate”. "
7 " Looking for experience was a beautiful idea when you were lying on a couch reading Kerouac in your share house; less so when your determination to just follow the road only meant ending up on more road. "
8 " I’m looking for something.’ ‘What?’ He paused. He knew, even if the knowledge was fuzzy, that he could overshare when he was drunk. Be too sincere and end up feeling like a dickhead the next day. But then, this girl was talking to him and he’d probably never see her again and he was by himself in the middle of nowhere and what the hell. ‘Australia,’ he said. He braced himself for the scoff, but it didn’t come. ‘Okay, you’ve got my curiosity,’ she said. ‘How does that work? I’m pretty sure it’s easy to find something you’re standing on. "
9 " and knew she had to head away from it. She kept listening for gunshots or shouts, scanning for beams of torchlight or the gleam of some stray moonlight reflecting off the barrel of a gun, but the night and the trees remained undisturbed. She kept moving. When she saw the car she ducked behind the nearest tree before she had quite registered what she was even looking at. There had been no attempt to hide it, but in this kind of thick darkness it was almost unnecessary. She was less than two metres away when she noticed it. Her eyes went immediately to the windscreen, looking for the shapes of people inside, but it seemed empty. And familiar. A horrible swooping feeling in her stomach came with the recognition. Simon’s station wagon, abandoned in the trees. She gave herself a few more minutes until she was convinced there was no-one here, then she made her move, circling round and approaching the rear of the car. In a tiny snatch of starlight that pushed through the leaves and branches above, she saw something thick and glistening on the ground. "
10 " before, a slicing, tearing burning in her right leg that made her crumple and bite down on her wrist, drawing blood before she would let herself scream. She fell hard against the metal of the car. She tried to move but something held fast, something that wrenched at her leg. Her ears rang. She reached down and felt her ankle. That was a mistake. The pain seared again as she felt the metal jaws and jagged teeth that had snapped shut on her leg. A trap, left for anyone trying to use this car to escape. And she had been stupid enough to try. Gritting her teeth, her eyes streaming and the occasional whimper escaping no matter how hard she tried, she pulled apart the trap. She felt metal tearing at flesh and even the smallest effort to rest weight on her leg made her want to collapse. The trigger mechanism she’d stepped on raised and clicked back into place, the trap an open circle of serrated metal again. She moved clear, pulling herself up on the car, then she heard snarling and grunting that seemed to come out of nowhere. "
11 " moment to come for you. "