Excerpt Chapter 65 : The Meeting

And flooding waters, rushing in

Will flood the land with such a din

That mankind cowers in muddy fen

And snarls about his fellow men.

Mother Shipton         

Jason got the top of the dirt stairs and could see clearly down the river towards where he left Kirstie. With a shock he saw someone out in the middle of the river.

‘she looked up through the water to see the magnified spread of a giant bat’s wings directly overhead’

“My god, Kirstie no,” he said, and began to sprint down the stairs.

As she started to sink below the surface, she looked up through the water to see the magnified spread of a giant bat’s wings directly overhead, contrasting defiantly against the deep blue sky. There was a kind of peacefulness that seemed to be consuming her, a peacefulness that she now longed for. She wanted to get back to the surface, back to breathable air, but something else seemed to be dragging her deeper and deeper.

Now her arm ceased to ache, even breathing in the brown water seemed soothing. The bat seemed to hover overhead. In the briefest of flashes, she actually thought she was looking down at the river from above. She even thought she caught a glimpse of her pale body below the surface, but then again above her through the cloudy water, she could see the bat.

She took another breath of the cold brown water and again immediately she was looking down at herself under the water. She seemed now to control two bodies; she could feel herself breathing in the river water and she could see down from the sky over the river. She looked to the side and saw Jason running down the track to the edge of the river.

‘My god he is still alive.’

She wanted to yell out to him, she wanted to go back to him, but it was too late. She felt her arms moving and she lifted her body away from the brown water, through the branches that over hung the riverbank, and she flew into the blue sky.

Jason got to the edge of the river where he last saw Kirstie, ripped off his jacket and shoes and dived in as a giant bat took flight from hovering just above the water where he had last seen her on the surface. The water was cold and for a moment he could not breathe. He didn’t look up he didn’t see the giant bat lift off and fly up through the branches, he just tried to open his eyes in the brown freezing water, tried desperately to catch sight of Kirstie.

He dived several times, grabbing wildly about him in the dark mud of the river but he could not find her. After more than ten dives he looked despairingly about him on the surface and then hit the water with his first yelling in exasperation.

“Why did you leave, I told you I would protect you.”

He swam back to the riverbank, pulling himself clear of the freezing water using a low hanging branch and stood for a moment looking back at the river.

Eventually, he walked to his jacket, removed his wet shirt, and put it on. Still shivering but finding some relief in its dryness and warmth, he put his hand into his pocket pulled out his phone and speed dialled number two. The phone he was ringing quickly answered.

“I am going to need you to clean up a bit of a mess Nigel.”

He listened for a few seconds.

“I know, I know, look, I’m at a car park next to the Yarra River in Fairfield, Melbourne Australia. I’ve got two dead Ong in the car park, and I think your Kirstie Martin has drowned in the river.”

There was a stunned silence on the other end.