Final Shot | ONC2022

Chapter 14: Run Run Run Away

Leo kept talking.

I sat, my shoulders so tense that the base of my skull began to ache, while he handed me book after book.

So many young women trapped in his pages. An Indian student with a long, dark plait. A young woman with olive skin and freckles and silvery hair. A woman who had a scar down the centre of her chest and eyes like sapphires. 

And then the second part of each series.

By the time he'd finished showing me his work and burning it, the pademelon was roasted through. It smelt divine but I'd never been less hungry. Even sipping at my cider  was enough to turn my stomach.

And all the while I watched for his knives to appear, the bread knife warm against my side.

Leo carved himself a generous portion of pademelon and sat again. His mouth was too full to keep talking, so he watched me turn the pages of Tika's book. I could tell he wanted to brag about each photo, each transformation. When I'd finished, he took the book and threw it in the fire. I watched him watch it burn. He didn't even wince.

"How can you stand destroying it all?" I asked. He was so obviously proud of each shot.

Leo swallowed a mouthful of meat. "I'm just burning paper. This is all backed up. Don't worry, it's very secure, but even if someone found it, I'd rather go to prison than destroy my work."

I felt myself slump a little. It was worse, somehow, knowing he still had all those images to gloat over. I wondered if he masturbated while he looked at them. I couldn't prevent my lips forming a sneer.

Leo caught it. "Don't you fucking sneer at me."

I let my face smooth to utter blankness. "I wasn't sneering at you. I've just got a headache."

His teeth flashed. "Don't stress. You won't have it for long."

He took the last book from the crate and pushed it at me. I looked at the cover. Ally.

I opened the book and gasped. Ally was a thin slip of a girl with huge, brown eyes and dark skin. She couldn't have been more than sixteen years old. I glared at him. "She's a child!"

He cut another long strip of meat from the spit. "So was I."

"How old were you?"

"I'd just turned twenty when I made most of those photos."

I flipped from page to page. Ally in an opal mine. Ally riding a camel, laughing at the horizon. Ally swimming in a billabong. Ally standing with two young men who looked exactly like her. One of the men cradled a shotgun in his arm.

"Is this... Allyra?"

"The one and only." He actually sounded regretful. "My first love."

"Your first kill," I said, scathing.

His eyebrows lifted. "No." He leaned back. "Coober Pedy's a bit like this place. All those old mines. Thousands of them. And lots of tourists, too. Backpackers. There's more missing backpacks stuffed into those abandoned shafts than you'd think. Sometimes still strapped to their owners.

"Ally's brothers were real hunters. They learnt from their elders, and those guys really knew their stuff. They taught me everything I need to know about hunting.

"But it wasn't enough for me. There were better things to shoot than roos and emus, and better ways to shoot them.

"It didn't take Ally long to work out what I was up to. At first, she just wanted to help me cover it up, but jealousy got the better of her. I don't know why. I didn't love any of them. Anyway, that was the end of us."