Before the Storm by Sean McMullen Page B

with his strange little knife. The youth’s clothing peeled away neatly, leaving him standing in just his boots and socks. Fox pointed down into the alley from where the push had emerged.
    â€˜Hide!’ he ordered.
    The youth ran and hid. Emily tried to work out whether she was feeling more traumatised from holding a gun for the very first time, or from having seen her very first naked boy. Fox took Mr Lang’s letter opener from the unconscious policeman’s hand, wiped the blood from the blade, and handed it back to BC. BC was on his feet, but leaning against a wall and looking unsteady. He turned his disturbingly sharp eyes on Emily.
    â€˜Safety catch, release, next time,’ BC commented, waving the letter opener at Emily’s gun. ‘On trigger, place finger, also. Not trigger guard. Returning dagger, yours. Nice balance.’
    Before another quarter minute was past, the five of them were out of the lane, again with Fox carrying BC. They had reached Flinders Street Station and were sitting on a bench by the time police whistles began sounding in the distance.
    â€˜Do you think we shall be arrested?’ asked Daniel nervously.
    â€˜Nah, the coppers will say they ’ad a stoush with that push, and that they won,’ said Barry, whose nerve seemed to be returning. ‘Scabby coves will get arrested.’
    â€˜Serves them right for robbing me the other day,’ said Daniel.
    â€˜You never told me that!’ cried Emily.
    â€˜Train’s comin’,’ said Barry, hoping to prevent raised voices that would draw attention to them.
    â€˜BC, can you walk to board the train?’ asked Emily as she stood up.
    â€˜Asleep,’ said Fox. ‘Will carry.’

    After all that had happened in the city, the train journey was remarkable for the fact that nothing happened at all. Barry’s father was busy selling tickets at their home station, so that it was no problem to hide BC in one of the small storerooms.
    â€˜The old man thinks stores is too much like ’ard work, so I does it all after school,’ explained Barry. ‘Come Christmas, I’m outta school for good an’ in me career.’
    Emily and Daniel went home for blankets and a pillow, and when they returned Emily made up one of the shelves as a bunk. BC had been lying in a corner on old mailbags, but now he sat up and shook his head.
    â€˜Somnulacillian, two tabs,’ he said to Fox, who turned to Barry.
    â€˜Bag,’ Fox said softly.
    Barry produced his bag, and from this Fox took all of the strange things from the room in Flinders Lane. This included the tiny kit of medical supplies. He dissolved two pinhead-sized tablets in a glass of water, which BC drank, then he lifted the youth onto the bunk and put the stubby rifle in his hands. BC lay back and closed his eyes.
    â€˜Healing coma, twenty-five, induction of,’ he explained.
    â€˜What’s he mean?’ Barry asked Emily.
    â€˜The tablets will make BC sleep, um, so that he heals faster,’ Emily guessed.
    â€˜Oi, with all the sleepin’ me old man does, you’d think he’d be the fittest cove in Melbourne,’ replied Barry, then he raised his finger at the sound of a distant bell. ‘Train comin’. I gotta do the gates, now I’m ’ere. Back soon.’
    Neither Emily nor Daniel said much while Barry was gone. Fox busied himself with tidying his tiny medical kit and other supplies, and occasionally checked BC’s pulse. Presently Barry returned.
    â€˜Bad news,’ he announced. ‘Lurker was in the dogbox on that train.’
    â€˜And who is Lurker?’ Emily interjected, by now feeling vaguely annoyed about something, but not sure what it was or what to do about it. ‘If it’s that horrid Lurker the Worker –’
    â€˜Yeah, it’s him. Lurker lurks around and hears stuff, like. Anyhow, Lurker heard that a station inspection’s on Wednesday. We gotta