Bush Predators

Pop awkwardly hauled himself onto the ute's tray. Tilly went to offer a hand but as usual he shooed her away claiming, "I'm not that bloody old yet!" He stood for a moment, triumphant of his efforts, before easing himself into the old lounge chair that she had secured to the tray's bar for them.

The moon light bounced off the lovegrass, their grazing sheep and gave the gums a ghostly glow. It cast shadows that moved and swayed with the gentle breeze carrying cool relief from a day that was suffocatingly hot. She breathed deeply trying to relax a little.

"So," he began, "what are the facts, darling?"

"Another sheep died last night, making that three that have died in the past two weeks. Each death coincided with having the flock left here, close to the mountains. There is no clear evidence of attack, just two puncture wounds with very little blood." She replied, as if though she was reporting to a superior on one of the murder mysteries they loved to watch.

Pop just gently nodded his head, the moonlight unkindly showing his age. His spirit is still young, but his old body struggles these days. Why was he adamant about coming out here with her and why did she let him? He should be at home, in bed resting his bones that have experienced so much of life already.

Truthfully, she did know why she let him come. Despite logic, her fear and confusion have lingered too long and made Pop’s monster stories seem real.

"Ah, so which one of the foul creatures that lives in the bush did it?" He had his cheek with him tonight, but there was an uneasiness about him, a joke that came across too tenderly.

"Pop, now is not the time for your stories. There is something very real killing these sheep." she said, trying to convince herself as well.

"Two puncture wounds, again?" He asked. She nodded.

"Then isn’t it obvious, darling? It must be the dreaded gum python." he teased.

The silent shake of her head and slight smirk was all Pop needed to start laughing at himself.

The gum python, along with the drop bears, are creatures that are both non existent but are said to drop down from tree branches. Tilly knew that stories and creatures like these were told to encourage people to look up, take stock of where they're standing and make sure no gum branch is about to come down and crush them. It was also just a fun way to scare people.

She remembered Pop sticking twigs in his mouth and chasing her younger sister and her around the gum trees close to the house. They were never really sure which creature he was being, there were so many twisted inventions of his mind.

"Seriously, Pop, have you ever seen something like this before?"

He had seen the other two bodies. Felt the large puncture wounds, too far apart to be a local snake or spider bite. He had seen the lack of mess and gore. Why wasn't he as worried as her?

"Perhaps they were just old and sick, darling."

"Maybe, but I know our sheep. I know when one acts oddly to show it's sick and usually it's a gradual decline not a few hours and she's dead. Not just dead but drained. What about the matching wounds? I’ve never heard of a disease in sheep leaving those marks."

They fell into silence, contemplating. She loved this about Pop. There was no need for social cues or politeness that she had always struggled with. Here, with him, they could sit and watch the stars fight for space amongst the few remaining dark patches in a moon lit sky.

"Darling, I think it's time I tell you something -" Pop was interrupted by Tilly's sharp inhale.

He followed her wide-eyed gaze and found the white figure moving amongst the gum trunks.

Tilly detached the scope from the gun and looked through it. She could see a ghostly white figure with white blonde hair, wearing a white dress. The figure moved amongst the gum trees, sharing their same ethereal glow. Tilly did not recognise the figure and was concerned when she saw that they had no shoes on and were moving with twitching actions, sniffing the air and quickly tilting their head one way and then the other.

Sudden realisation hit that she had parked the ute before the breeze picked up. Their scent would flow down hill from their ledge, towards the figure. Then Tilly nearly burst out laughing, why was she treating this girl like a predator? The poor thing was probably sleep walking, lost and scared. Tilly was smiling and shaking her head when she brought the scope away from her face and was about to tell Pop. When she turned though, she saw his eyes alarmed and one finger held to his lips.

There's been few moments in Tilly's life when she's seen Pop panicked. Despite the clear worry, he put a cold steady hand on hers as a signal. Tilly obeyed and remained still and quiet.

Pop leaned for the gun and grabbed it. He pulled a bit of cloth from his pocket and loaded the gun carefully, never revealing what laid beneath the fabric. Tilly was shocked, had he seen something she hadn't? Maybe his old eyes were tricking him and he didn't realise the figure was just a girl. Tilly was about to open her mouth and say something but Pop stopped her and handed the gun back, now loaded. He held up two fingers, his signal for only two shots.

Tilly sat quiet watching the figure in the field, standing between two gum trunks, a few steps away from joining the flock. It was unsettling how still the figure stood, perhaps still asleep? There was a repeated sequence of actions; standing unnaturally still, sniffing, taking the odd step out into the field and then shying from the moonlight before returning under the gum's shadow. This continued for some time before Pop spoke.

"What do you make of it, darling?"

"I thought sleep walker. We should help her."

Her Pop chuckled in a sad way, a way she wished people wouldn't. Why hide behind a half laugh? He caught Tilly's confused and concerned stare.

"Darling," he began, "What ever happens, please know we only ever tried to help?”

"Okay" Tilly said, still confused.

Something warmed in his face at the blatant trust his granddaughter had in him, but then the cold oldness returned as he began.

"What do you see when you look down there?"

"Just the bush, the sheep and that girl down there, what do you see?"

"I see the same, but look up into the gums. Not just at the trunks, look up into the branches, above the girl."

Tilly looked at the gums and could just see pale branches twisted and gnarled in the moonlight. She used the scope and halted on a white face staring straight at her from the branches. But, not just one face. Around the top of the tree she saw five faces. Five small children clinging to the tall gum's branches, all pale and all staring straight at her with unblinking eyes.

"Pop" Tilly said a bit shaky, "Whats happening? Why are kids up there, how did they even get up there?" She guided the scope down the length of the tree and as far as she could see the first branch stood at least fifteen metres off the ground.

"Darling, my stories were always half true. I was hoping they wouldn't sense us and just feast on the sheep but they know we're here."

"What are you talking about?" she was concerned about the kids and wanted straight answers so she could work out how to get them out of the tree and to safety. They seemed to know she was there and she would like to think their eyes were pleading, but they also seemed a little inhuman, a little too wide and a little too dark. But the moonlit night can play tricks, especially in the bush.

"My stories, they weren't meant to make you believe in deadly koala bears or dangerous man eating wombats. They were meant to make you think that the bush is beautiful and life giving, but perhaps the things people call monsters might find a home there as well."

"Pop, now's not the time, there are kids that need help down there."

"They're not kids. Well, not just kids anymore."

"What else are they?" Tilly asked, beginning to get frustrated, now was not the time for his ramblings.

"They're vampires"

Tilly audibly sighed and tilted her head back praying to the stars for patience.

"Pop!" she said rubbing at her temples. "I need you to be serious for one night, we need to get help."

She was beginning to stand, needing to do something but she caught her grandfather's face. The look of concern, fear and pleading. He has never been a weak or desperate man in her eyes but in that moment, his weariness had never been so evident.

"Vampires?" she asked, a slight smile. The only invitation her Pop ever needed to tell his stories. A sense of relief seemed to flood him and his youthful smile returned.

"Exactly what it sounds like, blood thirsty and half dead creatures that walk the night looking for a snack. They've come down from the retreat."

Tilly had learnt to sort through Pop's stories and pluck the few grains of truth. They're from the retreat. The retreat, where rich European families often came for extended holidays, but all locals are barred from it. That made sense, why she did not recognise them, the whiteness of the hair and skin. Just some kids who got lost and scared in the bush. They had thought of their own forests back home and liked their chances in the trees more than on the ground. People often forget that our dangerous critters are rarely large and can often climb.

"So, we should help them back to the retreat." Tilly suggested

"They really are vampires. I swear it, on your nan's grave." Tilly had barely let out a breath in reply to Pop's words, when a branch snapped somewhere in the shadows behind them.

"Ready the gun, darling. Whether you believe me or not, they hardly seem friendly now do they?"

"Maybe that's because they’re scared and me holding a gun to them will hardly encourage friendship." she snapped in a whisper.

Small childish laughter came from different directions, echoes? or multiple kids surrounding them? Tilly aimed the scope at the gum tree where she had seen the kids, now the branches were empty. The white figure that had stood in the gum's shadow was gone as well.

"Pop, this is creepy. The kids are out of the tree."

Pop, still sitting comfortably, chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"My hearts too old for this kind of nonsense, I should have handed the reins to you a long time ago."

Tilly looked to him, his eyes were sharp, the eyes of someone who's experienced this before and calculating their next move.

"What do we do?" She asked

"Wait for them to come to us, stick together and hold on to the hope that we're safe and they're vulnerable. Your gun has silver bullets in it, don’t hesitate to shoot. I would but I’m better with the close range stuff these days, hands can get a bit shaky." He pulled his bag to his seat as Tilly, rested her gun on the ute's bar. She surveyed the shadows not sure whether this was a trick of some sort but also trusting the gut instinct that has guided her well through life.

Pop had put on some leather gloves and was rattling around in his bag. He took out a silver cross necklace, and passed it to Tilly, "Around the neck" he said. She did as instructed. He handed her a spray bottle.

"If in doubt give them a squirt and say 'Bad Vampy', it's holy so will sting a bit." He muttered as he kept rifling through the bag.

"No garlic or stake?" Tilly half jokingly asked. She surprised herself with this half humour. Realising, jokes aren't meant to be funny in the face of fear, it's a way to cling onto your sense of self when you have no control of the world's chaos around you.

Pop laughed heartedly, "From my own garden and all" he said proudly as he whipped out a few cloves and put them in her pockets. "Now here's your own dagger as well. Careful not to cut yourself, or me and best not to let them get a nibble of you. If you want a stake, I can grab a stick."

It almost felt like a game they used to play. Tilly and Pop fighting shadows amongst the trees. Although, back then there was the knowledge that nothing will truly hurt them. The childish giggles were getting closer and Tilly remembered a fact of life, hurt is always a possibility. Pop stood, using the ute's tray bar to support himself, and looked deeply into the shadowed bush.

It wasn't the small children who first stepped out of the shadows, their giggles endless in the dark, but the white figure who appeared. She now stood between two thick gum trunks, standing only metres away from the ute, tilting her head and sniffing. Tilly could see she only looked about sixteen. Then, the figure began uttering in a language Tilly did not understand.

"You still have a choice, Georgina, don't give into it." Pop said in English. Whether understanding what the figure had said or whether this was a desperate plea, Tilly was not sure.

The white figure now spoke in a thickly accented English, "It is who we are now, we're no longer weak. Why should we hide it? Or deny it? We no longer need to be afraid."

Pop replied gently, but with warning, "There are still many things you need to be afraid of, my dear. No one can truly escape death, not even the undead."

The figure smiled and the pale lips parted revealing two long sharp protruding teeth, predators teeth. Tilly's instincts kicked in, a child no longer stood in front of her, but a threat.

“You seem to prove otherwise, old man. Your ancient rules are holding us back, we could be great.” Georgina said.

Children’s voices echoed in the shadows, "Great."

Pop was shaking his head, "Children please. Listen to reason! Do not become the monsters that history and people want to believe you are. If you stick to the program you can go on to live great lives, fully in control of yourselves. Give into this blood lust and there is no turning back. I will not hesitate to destroy you if you come near my grand daughter. I want to help you, I can help you."

"You're ancient and your grand daughter is just another ignorant fool of this pathetic place. You are not a threat. The rest of yours will be more difficult but we can pick them off one by one." Georgina smiled wider. Those long teeth seemed to be growing more and she suddenly moved fast, disappearing from Tilly's sight completely.

Tilly looked around desperate to catch sight again. The gum tree’s white glow made it difficult to distinguish trunk from figure. Children's laughter echoed through the bush, seeming impossibly close, yet she could not see any sign of them. Georgina suddenly appeared on the tray in front of Tilly and Pop. The figure lunged towards Tilly but halted at the sign of the cross hanging from her neck. That moment of hesitation was all Pop needed, he swiped quickly with his silver dagger, finding its mark. Straight through the heart.

Georgina’s face had a look of shock, clearly not expecting the old man to move so fast. The shock slowly turned to relief in Georgina's eyes. The softness returning, taking the dark nature away and becoming human again. There was almost a smile as Georgina finally let go of her last human inhale, one she must have been holding for a long time.

There was no blood, which comforted Tilly, a final confirmation before Georgina’s skin went taunt with death's decay catching up. She was no longer a monster, just a pale girl who lay still and whole in the ute tray, truly dead.

Pop shouted into the shadows, "I did not want to do that. You children do have a choice. Choose to go back to the retreat and continue the program without harming anyone and you will not feel that hunger so desperately and you can be great. Give into the blood lust and we can not help you."

There was no reply from the shadows, but the gum leaves above them started rustling, sending a chill down Tilly's spine. She was not willing to look up. After a few moments, the sense of unease seemed to gradually disappear. The dread alleviated more as she looked at Georgina, still glowing bright under the moon, her skin paler than it had been before. It was reassuring to see her eyes closed and her lips parted slightly with no protruding teeth. Just a girl, nothing to be scared of. Tilly dropped back into the lounge. Pop did the same.

"She was from Sweden, her parents were absolute brutes. The dark things in this world are powerful in some ways but also incredibly weak." Pop's voice was heavy. This was a moment that will haunt him, not from the horror of the world but from what he was capable of himself.

Tilly held up the cross around her neck, "So this stuff really works, there's really a god?" Surprising, because Pop had never pushed religion and never seemed to follow any himself.

"Depends on who holds it. The christian cross works just as well as the folk legend of garlic. We’ve come to realise that it's not religion that makes objects powerful but the belief itself, hope seems to be the true power. There is nothing more toxic to a creature created from darkness than a human's body running with streams of hope. It leaves quite a disgusting and potentially deadly taste."

"Who is 'we', Pop? Who else knows about this? Is involved with this?"

"Did you ever wonder how and why a small town, broken off from the rest of the world, is quite well off? There’s a cinema attached to the town hall and an olympic sized swimming pool! No tourist comes through here because there’s no major roads that come near us. One dirt road in and one dirt road out, the farm land and town surrounded by dense bushland. We should have died off. We almost did. Then a wealthy Italian family turned up many years ago. They had sick kids, anaemic they said, lacking blood."

Pop paused for a moment, looking down at Georgina.

"I often wonder if we are doing the right thing, or whether letting them leave this world is a better mercy?" he spoke quietly.

Tilly reached out and steadied his cold hands.

"Pop, tell me everything. It's okay."

A loud whistle rang through the bush. Pop didn't seemed alarmed by this. He simply raised his hands to his mouth and returned a piercing whistle before continuing.

"There are six local families involved in taking care of the retreat and their patients. Not all family member's know everything though. Charlie and I are on watch tonight. Every few hours we check in to make sure no one's carked it from attack, old age or from the cold in winter." He smiled to himself remembering moments of difficulty shared. Certain bonds are forged through trials.

"Every superstition has a root of some sort. It's believed vampires can't stand sunlight and that's true in some cases, but it can be close to a cure for some. It depends on the kind of bite, amount of blood taken and such. There is a long history behind vampires and in Europe there are benefactors who pay for treatment, research and discretion in Australia. This town is treated kindly because we take care of these kids and try to give them another shot at life."

He frowned, breathed out and continued, "You know how I mentioned that hope seems to be the biggest deterrent against this kind of evil? You come to realise that these creatures are just kids. They had to have been without hope to have turned. How can kids so young be truly without hope?"

He rubbed his face with his hands, "Darling, they are kids with an affliction or a disease or whatever you want to call it. But kids nonetheless. They deserve every hope and help. The world failed them while they were living, we're trying not to fail them now they are dangerously undead."

"So you can cure, whatever they have? A disease or a curse?" Tilly asked.

"It can be eased, but never fully cured. the blood lust is the hardest trial. If they can get through that, plus the sun exposure, then the adjustment to life is easier. They're well looked after. Some even turn to helping find the sources of these outbreaks, the poorer communities seem to get whole clusters. Vampires have special abilities, so having a few on the human side evens out the odds a little. After all, they are still human. Their morals and minds are still capable of being beautiful or devastating depending on how we help them now. Once they get through the difficult phases they could do anything, be anyone, maybe even change the world for the better. If we fail them now then we just create another monster for this world."

There was a silence, one where Tilly could see Pop struggling under the enormity of everything that needs to be said. She had questions and concerns about what other things existed in this world. She also felt betrayed by Pop for not telling her the truth sooner, but she also understood the difficult choices he had to make. He lied to protect her from fear, just like she knew she will lie and hide the truth from her little sister. he had been strong for her, so she would return the favour and be strong for him now, "I understand, Pop." she said, without the slightest hint of fear in her voice.

"You do? You don't think its reckless for us to house dangerous creatures so close to town, despite the perks?"

Tilly thought for a moment before replying, "I don't know whether the whole town should know exactly what lives in these mountains. Deep down, I think every human is already aware that monsters, supernatural or not, live among us. But, these creatures are kids who need help and not everyone will see it that way. People can be quick to throw blame on anything unusual. Maybe, it's better to keep them seperate and hidden, you're protecting the creatures just as much as you're protecting the town. Anyway, It'll be difficult for the creatures to get a meal around here. We're farmers and small country town people, absolute fools with nothing but hope."

Her pop gave a little chuckle at her last remark but asked earnestly, "Do you wish you didn't know?"

She nudged the old man with her shoulder and he seemed to loose some of his tenseness. "Nah, I would have found myself getting into some sort of trouble, just like tonight. It's better that I know. You said that you're getting too old, then let me help. What do we do about the other kids?"

"It was a pack mentality thing, I think. We'll go to the retreat and be sure they've returned. We've seen it once before. Last time they just stuck with animals, a missing sheep or cow. Just to take the edge off the blood lust without giving in fully to the craving for human blood. The younger kids weren't as infected as Georgina. There may still be some hope for them."

Tilly rose from the lounge chair and offered her hand to help Pop out of his seat. "Well, come on old man, let's go." she said. Pop took the hand offered.