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now? After twelve thirty? A quarter to?
    One? Something
like that anyway.
    Ahhh. What’s
to worry? The night is young.
    First house,
Skarzy thought. First house out of this clearing.
    E.T. time.
Extraterrestrial.
    Mass Murderer.
    Killer.
    I’M GONNA FUCK
THE WHOLE WORLD OVER!!!
    Skarzy stopped
as the trees thinned. Ducked down into the leaves.
    Just over the
hill he could see it. Down the path.
    Down the way.
    Waiting for
him.
    A cruising
police car.
     

 
    17
     
    Skarzy turned around. His forehead was
wrapped in sweat. He cocked the gun.
    Walked faster.
Ran.
    There was
another clearing on his left.
    Another house
waiting. Or another police car.
    Another
wailing siren.
    One bullet
wasn’t enough.
    Or was it…?
    He pressed it
against his head.
    Teeth
clenched. Growling.
    Eyes dizzy. He
could do it, he knew.
    It was so
fucking easy.
    And the trees
were thinning again now.
    Second
pathway.
    He could do it
right here.
    …
    He didn’t.
There was something else waiting for him through the trees.
    His heartbeat
slowed. The gun fell to his side.
    A train
station.

 
    18
     
    Outside the station’s office there was
a basin. Skarzy knelt before it and buried his face in the fresh water. Ohhh,
the relief.
    He looked up
after finishing. A black car passed.
    Not a squad
car. Whew!
    He wiped his
brow and stepped into the office.
    He was looking
for magazines. Anything to cover this up.
    No Woman’s
Day. No thick pages of any kind. He was disappointed.
    Eventually he
found an FR Radio pamphlet. It would have to do.
    Skarzy looked
up at the clicking clock. It was twenty to one.
    There was a
map by the clock. Skarzy ran his finger across it and found Mordialloc Station.
    He looked
outside. The station was deserted.
    Two ways to go
from here. Left or right.
    Left to the
City and the stars and the lights. Where all the shops would still be open.
    Right to Mentone,
and the First Station where he’d been beaten up, from there to Frankston and
then a taxi cab home.
    It was a
difficult choice. In fact, Skarzy wasn’t sure what to do.
    It made sense
to go in the Frankston direction, made sense in that he stood a better chance
of getting to his house by 5am, even if he didn’t have the money.
    Of course,
that also meant going door to door knocking for nightmares, and you just never
knew the stakes there. Just thinking about that man’s hand on his palm…
    And then there
was the City. Left of field.
    His night
would go on. The race would go on.
    The moments…
    And what if he
was caught? He supposed it would happen eventually.
    This might be
his last night free.
    He crossed
over to the over platform and bashed the information button.
    “The next
train to depart from Platform Two, will be the 12.59am train stopping all
stations to Flinders Street. There will no more trains this evening.”
    Skarzy
swallowed. That had been close.
    He stared
longingly at the snack machine. A nice big bag of Twisties in the middle.
    He sighed. Sat
down on the bench. Eager eyes scanning for change.
    Minutes
passed. His crotch began to shiver.
    The gun
nestled safely under the pamphlet.
     

 
    19
     
    Skarzy heard the train coming. It was right
on time. The carriages rolled past him at blinding speed, and with them a
fierce gust of icy wind. Skarzy squinted bitterly.
    He had seen other people were on the
train also, but not so many he was forced to make eye contact. It wasn’t
exactly peak hour. He ran beside what appeared to be an empty compartment, pried
the sliding metal doors apart with a nudge, and stepped aboard into the
revealing light.
    The train
almost began again immediately. Skarzy wondered if the driver or conductors had
seen he was the only one at the stop. He wondered if they’d seen him naked.
Skarzy didn’t have a ticket. If they came down from wherever the hell they
were, he’d have to jump the train and make do with wherever he landed.
    Not exactly an
unfamiliar concept.
    The train
rolled on and Skarzy stumbled across the aisle,