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forbetterorworsefinalspace · 4 years

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Soul Case

Rating: Teen and Up

Fandom: Final Space

Part: 7

Link- 🌌

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While recovering from her injuries, Sheryl's past comes back in a muddle mess. What really happened and what didn't? The world may never know.

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The outbacks of Australia were hot and dusty. The wind blew harshly, pelting Sheryl with dirt specks and sand. The sun over head was broiling and her mouth felt dry. As she walked she passed abandoned vehicles and garbage, almost tripping on an exposed fender.

She licked her lips dryly, trying to shield her eyes from the sun. She didn’t recall how she got here, dad likely dumped her again. Well that was no problem, she just needed to wait for the stars to come out and follow their directions until she could see the Mountain, then trek her way home.

It was just gonna be a while.

As she went Sheryl noted something in the distance, standing on four legs. Cautiously she went closer, finally seeing it for what it was.

A Blue Heeler.

Oh bugger all! She scowled. If there was one thing she hated, it was dogs, and if there was one dog she hated, it was Blue Heelers. Fuckin things!

Almost as if it could hear her thoughts, the dog ran for her, barking and snarling. Sheryl had no time to react as it closed the distance in the blink of an eye, before coming down on her. She yelled as the dog bowled into her, teeth snapping. She kicked, trying to fight back, but she couldn’t get enough power into her hits. Somehow it snapped it jaws onto her head, starting to drag her along the ground.

She screeched, hands scrambling for something to grab onto, when one closed around something sharp. It hurt, but she quickly slashed up at the dog wildly.

It almost seemed to sense the impending attack though, as it let her go and jumped back, growling harshly.

Panting the girl got to her feet, hair a mess and head bleeding. She and the dog had a slight standoff, both snarling at each other and bearing their teeth. It was clear the dog didn’t intent to leave, so Sheryl started to back away. Thankfully it seemed disinterested in following after her now, since she could defend herself.

A few feet away, Sheryl looked down at her hand, finding an old combat knife that she was holding by the blade.

She rectified that and kept going. ……..

It was so bloody hot.

It was sunset and the temperature wasn’t much better. Sheryl stumbled along, wiping sweat and blood from her brow.

Must be 40 degrees out here at least! Odd at this time of day.

As she walked Sheryl stumbled, tried, alone and hungry.

Pull yourself together. Your pathetic.

She tried to stand straighter at the thought.

Sunset turned to twilight, everything blanketed in darkness and the sky a melted orange. The abandoned relics of the past around her were painted in the warm colours. Sheryl stopped by an overturned battle truck, licking her lips dryly. As she leaned against the truck something scuttled over her hand, glancing to it she found a cockroach running around, antennas twitching.

She quickly smash it under her hand and rammed it in her mouth, chewing the crunchy creature apart before swallowing.

Ok, got food, now she just needed water.

Thankfully if there were roaches here then that meant water was close. She went looking, until she located a small muddy puddle with an old tank barrel sticking out of it. She dropped to all fours, drinking out of it like an animal, her hair dipping in around her face and turning brown.

God it was warm, why was it so warm?!

A distal howl sent a chill down Sheryl spine, she sat up to look at her surroundings wildly, before some creatures start to emerge from the wreckage around her.

Dingos.

Sheryl stood, pulling out her knife. She didn’t really stand a chance against these things, not when there were so many! She backed up as more and more Dingos slipped from the darkness. With very little options left Sheryl turned and began to run.

They were right behind her and Sheryl was so focused on getting away, that she didn't really pay attention to where she was going. She was glancing over her shoulder at a sharp set of teeth, when she rushed right over a steep embankment. The world was a tumbling mess of dry dirt, rocks, heat and darkness before she landed in a shallow puddle. Coughing Sheryl got to her hands and knees, shaking when she heard the wild dogs scrambling down the hill towards her.

Where was her knife?! Where was it!?

Her hands splash in the thick, cloudy water for her missing weapon, as it had tumbled out of her hands during the fall. Rocks started skittered down around her as the pack got closer, Sheryl still fruitlessly searching.

BARK! BARK!

Something came from the opposite direction, leaping over Sheryl, much to her shock. She spun around, watching as a new dog started to fight off the Dingos with ease. At first the wild dogs refused to back down, but when it became clear they weren’t going to win, they finally had to retreat.

Yelping and whining the Dingos ran off, tails between their legs.

The dog snorted, shaking his fur out with a snuff before starting to walk back to where he had come from. Sheryl stared after it in disbelief, getting to her hands and knees again when it crossed the puddle to the other side. There the chocolate lab stopped to stare back at her, waiting.

Sheryl shifted, not sure what to do,

Something shimmered below her and Sheryl looked down as her reflection in the mud puddle below her swirled into an ominous shape.

‘Sheryl Goodspeed.’ The figure had deer like horns and a skull face, two burning eyes pierced her soul. Somehow she knew this demons name.

“Oreskis?” She asked in a wheezing, scratchy voice.

‘You need to wake up Sheryl Goodspeed. Your dying.’

Yip! Yip!

Sheryl looked behind her in time to see a tiny Golden puppy bounding up behind her. It jumped on top of her, submerging her face in the mud puddle- -----

“GASP!!” Sheryl’s lungs were full of water and she struggled to find the strength to sit up. She coughed and hacked harshly, shaking away a pair of tiny hands when they tried to help her.

“Mom!” Gary shouted, sounding relieved. “Your awake!”

“A-ar-” Sheryl coughed some more, body wracking heavily. “Are you trying t-to- (COUGH!) Dr-o-own me?!”

She was soaked from her head to toes, her sleep shirt heavy and sticky, even her pants and feet were wet. How much fuckin’ water had that kid poured on her.

“I’m sorry!” Gary said quickly, wringing his hands. “B-but you been sleeping for two days almost and you started talking in your sleep, and your voice was all cracking and you sounded thirsty so I grab a cup and-”

“How long?!” Sheryl looked at him in shock, only to find Gary out of focus, despite being right beside her. In Fact the entire camper was fuzzy…

Wait, confused, vision impaired, soaked even where water wasn’t poured, and the heat from her dreams hadn’t dissipated upon waking. Sheryl swore and forced herself up, despite sleep calling to her like a siren. She yanked her pants down a bit to get access to her injury, pulling off the wrap to find it red and angry.

She grunted. “Well congrats Gary, the wound you gave me is infected…”

“What?!” He looked to her leg quickly. “W-what do we do then?! We can fix this right!?”

“Get my first aid kit from my bag, the big one.” She ordered briskly, pulling on the wound a bit to see it was closing at all. Burned like a mother fucker, but it seemed to be sealing shut.

“This one?!” Gary asked, running back with a large black case.

“Give.”Sheryl took it with a nod. It opened and she pulled out a few different boxes of medical supplies until she came to the bottom. She yanked out something that looked like an air jet gun nozzle, with an empty space at the back and a large needle in front.

She heard Gary whine at the sight of it, but she didn’t look at him. Instead she tried to find the right vile inside the case, she should have multiple of them… She couldn’t read the tiny print, her vision was blurry, and Gary didn’t know what to look for, thankfully though the viles also had brail imprinted into the glass. She ran her fingers over a few before finding the one she wanted.

Rocephin.

She jammed it into the end of the gun, which beeped when the seal to the vile opened properly. She tapped the bubbles out of it, then lined it up to the wound.

Sheryl paused, taking a very, very deep breath, then rammed it into her thigh as hard as she could.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

“Ahhh!” Gary screamed as well at the sight, before he dropped to the floor, almost fainting.

The gun injected the Rocephin into her once it was needle deep. Faster than the blink of an eye. Still made her vision white, especially around the injury. She pulled it back out, wheezing tightly and shuttering.

"FUCK! FUck! fuck! fuck."

Fuckin’ hell.

“T-there!” Sheryl coughed, blowing her hair out of her face. “All done.” She released the vile and tossed it into the case, then ejected the needle to be tossed in the garbage.

Gary clawed his way back to his knees with the help of the bed blankets. “Your better? Just like that?”

“What? No!” Sheryl glared at him and the boy withered. “Nothing works like that, you idiot. It takes time to recover from anything. Your mistakes never just ‘go’ away.”

“Oh…”

“God knows how much this will take me off track.” Sheryl grumbled. “I have shit to do, this is the last bloody- grah!”

“W-when will you be better?”

“I DON’T FUCKIN’ KNOW!” Sheryl snapped at him. She could see Gary’s blurry form flinch at her tone. She in turn pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to calm down. “Ok...Alright… I’ve done all I can for now. I just need more sleep… and to clean myself up.” She pulled at her sweat soaked shirt. “Go run me a bath if you want to be helpful-”

Gary was gone before she finished.

Sheryl harrumphed.

She wiped her face, thinking about her fever dream. It was a made up mess of things and she wasn’t sure what it meant… but Oreskis was in it and she wasn’t drunk this time… Did that mean he really was real?

She hoped so.

This had better be worth the trouble.

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noddytheornithopod · 5 years

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Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled skin ideas

Pretty much what it says. I might as well make a post for potential DLC skins Beenox could choose to add. If a character isn’t listed, it just means I haven’t got ideas for them. This is more just an open brainstorm too to list my ideas, lol.

To start, @LuchosFactory on twitter drew some awesome concept ideas so I’ll refer to them sometimes.

Crash Bandicoot:

As shown in the links, there’s Carbon Crash, Titans/Mind over Mutant era Crash, and biker Crash from Warped.

Special mention to the Dash Dingo one because that would be pretty fun

You have a whole host of CTTR skins if you really want ideas. This Reddit post illustrates this and other ideas on how Crash has been seen like Jetpack Crash and Crash from those promo images. Of the CTTR skins, the Skeleton Crash and Evil Crash would probably be the best (of course, that’s if you don’t make Evil Crash his own character one day).

Maybe a wombat colour scheme because, well, Willy the Wombat.

They love robot skins so maybe robo-Crash? :v

Coco Bandicoot:

I love all of the ideas in the concept from twitter: her biker look from the Warped cover, her Titans and Mind over Mutant looks, her N Tranced look and even Evil Coco (based on the idea from Twinsanity, again assuming she can’t be her own character).

Her Nitro Kart and Twinsanity design could be a kind of intermediary between her classic and Titans look.

If you really want to dig deep, you could use her Crash Boom Bang look. :P It actually looks similar to old Zembillas concept art, funnily enough.

If Crash gets a Warped pilot skin, Coco should too.

Maybe a hacker Coco, perhaps even a little Matrix inspired since she was gonna be like that in one Twinsanity concept.

Dr Neo Cortex:

From the link above, Sheriff Cortex is the most compelling concept to me.

Maybe some of his Warped looks we see in the past, like a Roman Cortex (the former even has an N Sane model), Pirate Cortex or Pharaoh Cortex.

IDK why but I like the idea of a formal Cortex, even if it’s just a simple suit or tux, lol.

I could also see him in a safari getup for some reason, lol.

Maybe something inspired by Victor Frankenstein given what I suggest for N. Gin and N. Brio later.

With all this talk about how he came from a circus family... clown Cortex?

IDK why but I can also imagine a goofy disco cortex. :P

Cortex as a military general like Tiny? IDK why but I can see lots working for him lol.

Dr N. Gin:

Again, a lot of great concept ideas drawn above, like Radical Entertainment era N. Gin (seriously I want that Gothic look), the CNK look with the red eye, the gas station look and even the idea of an inverted N. Gin is fun.

Twinsanity N. Gin with the yellowy skin would be cool too, though I guess we have green N. Gin lol.

Robot N. Gin if you want to go further.

Frankenstein’s monster or maybe Igor N. Gin?

I could see N. Gin as a pirate.

Steampunk N. Gin? N. Tropy already has that kind of aesthetic so why not, his rocket could be a steam chimney lol.

Tiny Tiger:

His gladiator appearance from Warped.

Look, I admit I’m not a fan of whatever Tiny was in Crash of the Titans (why is he a literal tiger???), but maybe he could have that green outfit he wore, maybe even with the Bengal tiger stripes.

Dingodile:

You have different coloured pants with his Wrath of Cortex, XS and Twinsanity looks.

Since he’s the “Australian” character even among all the Australian animals, maybe give him a khaki shirt or something, maybe even with a hat if you want, he can be the Dingodile hunter (there’s even Zembillas artwork of him in a shirt or overalls). :P

Ripper Roo:

We DO have gentleman Ripper Roo, but why not go further and give us a Dr Roo look from Crash 2?

Following that, you could also give him a skin with the long crazy hair.

Pinstripe Potoroo:

His Twinsanity suit would be pretty cool for something darker. His purple suit is close I guess, but still.

Maybe a version with a longcoat could work like this old design?

Dr Nefarious Tropy:

His white skin is actually not too dissimilar to his Twinsanity one, though if it can be differentiated then go there.

I’m sure you could come up with all sorts of time travel themed skins for him if you tried, maybe even stuff tied to different eras.

If Cortex and N. Gin can be robots then why not N. Tropy?

Fake Crash:

He has the green pants from the Vicarious Visions games I guess, lol.

Nitros Oxide:

Give him a fancy version of his usual outfit with a top hat like his CNK podium animatiton.

Some of his concept art is interesting, specifically the ones where he has a mask on. Maybe it’s like a space or explorer suit?

Look if he’s an alien, why not have a xenomorph themed skin? :P This is random but lol.

Penta Penguin:

How about look to actual penguins for ideas like Polar with bears and close relatives and Pura with cats? The ninja skin already looks a bit like a rockhopper.

Crunch Bandicoot:

Obviously you have his Mr T parody skin from Tag Team Racing.

Some sort of military outfit maybe could work?

His N Tranced design.

A few of his elemental designs could translate, most likely being the fire/lava Crunch.

Something inspired by his Titans and Mind over Mutant designs, specifically with the scars and more cyborg arm.

Zam:

Not much inspiration here, but they seem to like giving him dog motifs so that’s something.

Then again, maybe Zam would work better with a xenomorph inspired skin.

Real Velo:

Of course, hopefully we get Emperor Velo XXVII as a racer one day, but if not... skin based on it?

These alien characters can come in many colours so there’s something (same can apply to Zem). lol. Give me a purple Velo if you want to tack on a skin so I can be reminded of another purple Steve Blum voiced character (okay Blum doesn’t voice him in Nitro Fueled but whatever Garazeb Orrelios FTW).

N. Trance:

Some concepts here could be used. That weird black suit could be a form I guess.

Cracked egg. The link shows a Twinsanity idea where Evil Crash would eat from his head like an actual egg, so you could have the bandage barely covering a blatant crack, lol, or even just cracks by themselves without that.

Krunk:

Lots of potential colourful ornaments and primate inspirations.

Nash:

They’re taking fish inspirations, so they could look there.

Geary:

A black Geary? Or maybe even just a Silver Geary? Honestly any metal like bronze, copper, platinum, etc could work.

Tawna:

No. I know what some of you are probably thinking, but no.

Baby T:

Just give me a skin with feathers. Do whatever colours you like for his variants, just give me at least one with feathers, preferably something like a down or emu feathers.

Spyro:

You have all his different Reignited skins, just mine them. Even sunglasses one. :P

(From now we’re in purely speculative territory) Komodo Moe:

Obviously outfits that would complement Komodo Joe.

Dr Nitrus Brio:

You have his weird grey skinned version from Twinsanity, I guess.

His Mind over Mutant outfit could be different enough to warrant a skin?

Green monster N. Brio, that being if he doesn’t become his own character like baby Crash and Coco (honestly with those at least Cortex and N. Tropy should get baby versions lol).

Since the MCU is all the rage, maybe a Professor Hulk inspired skin in between his normal look and his green monster look.

Like N. Gin a Frankenstein’s monster N. Brio would be cool, or even an Igor look. Or maybe he could have a Frankenstein look like I suggested with Cortex?

Nina Cortex:

Obviously you have her Tag Team Racing skin (if Von Clutch and Pasadena come same applies to them I guess).

Besides her original appearance you could have her Titans one, which is different enough.

You also have the version for her that would’ve been developed for CNK if she made it in.

Rilla Roo:

This is really scraping the bottom of the barrel I admit, but I swear I heard about some cancelled game idea where he was gonna be in a circus getup?

Lab Assistant:

Look, the most iconic enemy from the Crash games could get a whole host of looks. Just look up any outfit they appear in, and boom, skin.

#crash team racing #nitro-fueled #crash bandicoot

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floridabeerblog · 4 years

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Brewery Visit - Crazy Dingo Brewery @crazydingobrew

Brewery Visit – Crazy Dingo Brewery @crazydingobrew

It has been years since I last wrote about Crazy Dingo Brewing. And, when I wrote about them, co-owners Stu Paasche and Dan Esperon were just homebrewers, living on a dream and less than a barrel of beer a batch.

Fast forward to the now, and these fine gentlemen took the little idea, named for one of the Stu’s slightly insane Australian Shepherd dogs and turned it into Southwest Florida’s newest…

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jeremystrele · 5 years

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Chewy’s Autoship Helps You Build a Perfect Pet Gift Box

We hope you like the products we recommend. Just so you are aware, Freshome may collect a share of sales from the links on this page.

Subscription boxes are trending, and who can blame us? What’s not to love about getting a treat in the mail, whether that’s a monthly shipment of flowers or a weekly package of food (see you later, grocery shopping!). The only issue with subscription boxes is they can also contribute to the accumulation of stuff. When your box comes stocked with items you don’t really need, they often just end up taking space in your house.

That’s why pet subscription boxes, while super fun for your furry family member, can be a problem. Do pet owners who want to take a more minimal approach to their pet’s stuff have to skip the fun of a pet gift box? No! Thanks to the Autoship feature from Chewy, you can shower your pet with fun items on a regular basis while also ensuring both you and your four-legged friend will like what your box contains.

Use our promo code (at the end of this article) to grab 30 percent off your first Autoship from Chewy. Image courtesy of Chewy.

How Autoship from Chewy works

So, let’s be clear, Chewy does not offer a subscription box. They do, however, offer a recurring shipment that’s tailored to your pet. After personally getting a sample box from them, I think that’s a good thing. My dog’s toy basket is now completely overflowing. I honestly can’t imagine keeping up with a monthly increase of toys, and that’s saying something because my pet is a Destroyer of Toys.

You can use Chewy’s Autoship feature to set up your own subscription, on your own schedule, with the items that are right for your pet. That could mean a monthly shipment of Fluffy’s favorite treats or a quarterly box with Spike’s favorite toy that he inevitably destroys every so often.

And, here’s the best part: you get 30 percent off your first Autoship, plus 5 to 10 percent off select products in all your future Autoships. You can change or cancel your Autoship at any time. So whether you want a monthly, quarterly or yearly present for your pet, Chewy’s got you covered.

My box came with – count them – six(!) toys and three types of treats. Image provided by Kacie Goff.

My sample shipment from Chewy

I wanted to test this out. It’s one thing to go into a pet store and see a toy in person. It’s another to order it online. Would Chewy’s toys hold up? Would their treats entice my dog? It was time to find out.

My box from Chewy arrived on a rainy day. We’ve been having this uncharacteristically wet winter in Southern California and my dog — a dingo lookalike mutt named Babou — has been going nuts. Naturally, he’s driving me crazy right along with him. So when the box showed up on my doorstep, I tore into it. And, I swear, Babou must have known it was for him. He paced nervously around me as I pulled off the packing tape and started sorting through the goods. We received:

Toys

The Frisco Skinny Plush Squeaking Fox Dog Toy

The Frisco Rope with Squeaking Barrel Dog Toy

The All Kinds Toss & Play No Squeak Tri-Flyer Dog Toy

The Frisco No Squeak Football Dog Toy

The Frisco 2.5-in Tennis Ball with Rubber Sleeve

Our personal favorite from the shipment, the Frisco Hide and Seek Plush Chewy Box Puzzle Dog Toy

Treats

Bones & Chews All-Natural Beef Recipe Freeze-Dried Dog Treats

American Journey Chicken Jerky Grain-Free Dog Treats

American Journey Peanut Butter Recipe Grain-Free Oven Baked Crunchy Biscuit Dog Treats

The puzzle toy, in particular, was a real treat for both Babou and me. With the rain keeping us both indoors, stuffing the box full of toys (it came with three small ones inside) and tucking a treat at the bottom was enough to keep us entertained while we waited out the steady drizzle.

The prince patiently awaiting his new treasures. Image provided by Kacie Goff.

My review of Chewy’s products

Would I recommend ordering your dog’s favorites from Chewy? Abso-freaking-lutely. Every toy they shipped me is high quality. My dog has been thrilled with (and unable to destroy) each item. And as for the treats? They’re a slam dunk. The freeze-dried treats, in particular, are a fun new discovery. Babou is a finicky eater, but I’ve found that crumbling two of them on top of his food will have him polishing off dinner in record time.

Chewy has such a wide range of toys and treats that it’s easy to replicate an Autoship order with the things you’re already grabbing from the pet store on a regular basis. With the double bonus of getting a discount on your order and crossing an errand off your list for good, it’s definitely worth taking this unique approach to pet gift boxes for a spin.

Plus, Chewy has amazing customer service and an 100 percent satisfaction guarantee on every item in every order. You can rest easy knowing that you’re going to be happy with your order.

Want to get in on the action? We’ve got a Freshome promo that gets you 30 percent off your first Autoship order! Whether you’ve got Fido’s birthday coming up or Fiona just seems bored with her current hoard of cat toys, it’s worth checking out Chewy.

The post Chewy’s Autoship Helps You Build a Perfect Pet Gift Box appeared first on Freshome.com.

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owensrhodes · 5 years

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Chewy’s Autoship Helps You Build a Perfect Pet Gift Box

We hope you like the products we recommend. Just so you are aware, Freshome may collect a share of sales from the links on this page.

Use our promo code (at the end of this article) to grab 30 percent off your first Autoship from Chewy. Image courtesy of Chewy.

How Autoship from Chewy works

My box came with – count them – six(!) toys and three types of treats. Image provided by Kacie Goff.

My sample shipment from Chewy

Toys

The Frisco Skinny Plush Squeaking Fox Dog Toy

The Frisco Rope with Squeaking Barrel Dog Toy

The All Kinds Toss & Play No Squeak Tri-Flyer Dog Toy

The Frisco No Squeak Football Dog Toy

The Frisco 2.5-in Tennis Ball with Rubber Sleeve

Our personal favorite from the shipment, the Frisco Hide and Seek Plush Chewy Box Puzzle Dog Toy

Treats

Bones & Chews All-Natural Beef Recipe Freeze-Dried Dog Treats

American Journey Chicken Jerky Grain-Free Dog Treats

American Journey Peanut Butter Recipe Grain-Free Oven Baked Crunchy Biscuit Dog Treats

The prince patiently awaiting his new treasures. Image provided by Kacie Goff.

My review of Chewy’s products

Plus, Chewy has amazing customer service and an 100 percent satisfaction guarantee on every item in every order. You can rest easy knowing that you’re going to be happy with your order.

The post Chewy’s Autoship Helps You Build a Perfect Pet Gift Box appeared first on Freshome.com.

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fieriframes · 3 years

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[Image 1: A man in a kitchen. Caption: I'm gonna make you a Double-Barrel Dingo Dog.] [Image 2: A man standing in a kitchen. Caption: I don't know to take him seriously.] [Image 3: A man standing in a kitchen. Caption: Is there such a thing? Oh, yeah.] [Image 4: A man standing in a kitchen. Caption: Double-Barrel Dingo Dog fully loaded!] [Image 5: A man standing in a kitchen. Caption: That right there says gym membership, doesn't it?]

#s29e20 not your everyday eats #guy fieri #guyfieri #diners drive-ins and dives #double barrel dingo dog #thing #barrel dingo dog #double #gym membership #right #indoor #person #man #kitchen #cabinet #table #standing

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ecotone99 · 4 years

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(AA) Is it really safer...?

“It’s safer out here than in the city. For sure.”

With that, Adam helped lessen some of my concerns about my first overnight hiking trip.

He had a good point as well, I mean, apart from the occasional snake bite or fall, nothing that bad ever happens in the Australian bush.

Despite the fact that, well, our bush can have some bite to it. There are snakes, leeches, ticks, spiders, dingoes and wild dogs. To name just a few. And Ivan Milat. Australia’s answer to Ted Bundy. But he died last year.

The snakes are what freaked me out the most. When Adam first floated the idea of an overnight hiking trip, I quickly took to Google to find out what we might come up against.

The death adder. Eighth deadliest in the world.

The tiger snake. Seventh deadliest in the world.

The brown snake. Fourth deadliest in the world.

The inland taipan. Third deadliest in the world.

All these could be found around the region we would be hiking in the south-east of Queensland, near Brisbane.

I also had a nagging concern about other people. While scouring Google about hiking mishaps, I came across several articles about the murders of hikers who were camping.

Sure, these grisly deaths had occurred in America, a long way from Australia, but they raised fresh doubts in my mind about Adam’s assurances of the bush being a safe haven.

In one instance, a couple on the Appalachian Trail in America were brutally murdered by a drifter who decided to wander onto the trail for unknown reasons. Unlike most hikers, the drifter, Paul Crews, was carrying a long-barreled .22-caliber revolver, a box of 50 bullets, and a double-edged knife nearly nine inches long.

When Crews stumbled across the couple at a remote shelter, something happened, and while the exact details are unknown, he committed an atrocious double-homicide before fleeing the scene.

The incident ‘prompted outdoorsmen and trail officials to rethink conventional wisdom long held dear: that safety lies in numbers, that the wilds offer an escape from senseless violence, and that when trouble does visit, it's always near some nexus with civilization--a road, a park, the fringe of a town.’

But I had to put all those concerns to one side. I couldn’t dampen Adam’s mood as we breezed out of the city mid-morning on a Saturday. With dubious tunes blasting out of the pathetic speakers of his dirty white Holden Astra, I could feel myself start to relax.

While I had spent the past weeks looking up everything that could harm me in the bush, Adam was busy plotting what he described as an “epic hike”.

I stayed away from the details and trusted Adam to put a good adventure together. I knew we were heading south-west, but the actual hike? I had no idea. And to be honest, I didn’t really care.

Hiking is something I don’t really understand. I like a majestic view as much as the next person, but I could never understand the point of walking without a purpose. Walking to the shops to get milk? That makes sense. Spending a whole day walking around to only end up where you began? A little strange if you ask me.

Adam and I caught up weekly to run together, often heading from the City along the Riverwalk to New Farm.

Running together one Wednesday night, as the Brisbane skyline gradually faded from view, we began to reminisce on our teenage years bashing our bodies to pieces playing Aussie Rules. We were both defenders and relished repelling attacks.

Adam gave up footy a few years before me and turned into a bit of a fitness freak.

As we neared the turnaround point of the run at New Farm Park, Adam floated the idea of doing a hike together sometime.

“Yeah okay,” I agreed. “Something short, like Mt Coot-tha?”

“How about a challenge instead? I’ve never done an overnight hike and I’m keen to try one,” Adam replied.

I knew he had been getting into hiking but the idea of spending two full days walking around in the bush seemed a bit of a daft way to spend a weekend.

I let the idea sit for a while as we slogged along the pavement near the river. Adam is smart. By using the word challenge in a sentence, he knew he was putting me in a pickle.

Since our footy days, we were always locked in a tussle trying to outdo each other. Even then, as we hid our deep breathing from each other, we were attempting to be a better runner than the other one.

After a bit more baiting by Adam, I eventually relented.

“Fine. But I’ve got no gear to spend a night out in the bu…”

“All good! I’ve got a spare tent and sleeping bag you can borrow. That’s all you need.” Adam said.

While I didn’t like the idea of using Adam’s spare sleeping bag, that was probably last washed or cleaned a long time ago, it was only going to be for one night.

One night.

Easy.

Our final destination on four wheels arrived in agonising fashion. It was a carpark near Mt Joyce and I was absolutely bursting to go to the toilet. Adam’s advice to drink a couple of litres of water in the morning, so we wouldn’t have to carry as much water on the hike, had me in agony.

He had refused to pull over on the couple of dirt verges we had passed recently, and so I now had to do a dash of shame from his car to the nearby toilet block. Lucky no one else was around to see.

Relief, sweet relief.

With that out of the way, we extended our arms into Adam’s boot and heaved our packs out.

Our packs were about the same size but mine was much lighter. Adam’s newfound love for hiking also extended to hiking gear, and his pack was weighed down with an assortment of tools and ‘things’ that seemed to have no purpose.

“So, Mt Joyce? Never heard of this place,” I said.

“Me neither until recently. It looks like a cool little mountain and has a campground at the base,” Adam said.

A campground. Not really what I was expecting. I thought we would be sleeping rough on some patch of dirt. The campground might even have hot showers.

We started hiking but I was still imagining what other creature comforts the campground might have. WiFi, a pool, maybe even a BBQ so we can cook up a feast.

The trail was easy enough to follow as it gently followed the banks of Wyaralong Dam, so I was comfortable enough in my other world.

When I start daydreaming a blank expression normally takes over my face.

Never have I gone from blank to alert as quickly as I did when Adam shouted “SNAKE!”.

Shit. Shit. SHIT. I was yanked back to earth and started dancing on the ground as if the floor was lava and slowly evaporating away.

My eyes started scanning the surroundings so fast Arnie in the Predator would have been proud.

But I couldn’t see anything. Adam, in a relaxed composure, was a few paces ahead of me and lifted his finger to point to a nearby bush.

I could hear the rustle of undergrowth before I saw the tail of something, possibly a snake, fade into the bush.

“You scared him off.”

“Isn’t that the point…?” I replied.

“He was just minding his own business. That gave you a big scare, yeah? I’ve never seen someone bolt into action as quickly as you did,” Adam said.

“I didn’t know where he was. Anyway, let’s keep going away from it before it comes back.”

That snake, likely a harmless carpet python, was the first one I’ve ever seen in the wild. I didn’t want to see one again so we quickly forged ahead.

My heart rate was now easily in the triple figures, a combination of our encounter with the snake and the weight of my backpack. I stopped daydreaming and instead started concentrating on the side of the trail and every rustle which could pose danger.

We must have walked a few kilometres by now and up ahead I could see a building of sorts. It looked out of place amongst the natural surroundings.

As we got closer I could also see a few picnic tables and one tent already set up.

“Is this where we are camping?” I asked Adam.

“Sure is! This is Mt Joyce Base Camp. Let’s get set up here, and then keep going to the summit of Mt Joyce. It will be about two hours return to the summit. We can leave all our gear down here so it will be much easier,” Adam said.

Ahuh. I thought we would be slogging it out for much longer with our packs on, so this was a nice surprise. And given the rather remote nature of the campground, we didn’t have to worry about anyone pinching our gear.

The campground didn’t meet my earlier fantasies but it was much better than the dirt patch I had expected. We were in an open, grassy clearing, near the old building.

There was space for about six tents. We set our two tents up on the edge of the clearing, far away from the other tent which appeared to be empty, although someone could just be sleeping inside.

Adam did most of the setting up, as I was a liability with the tent poles and nearly stabbed him with them on a few occasions. And I don’t say that lightly, the spare tent he had given me had poles with ends that had somehow rusted themselves into objects capable of causing injury.

When everything was set up, we were ready to head uphill to the summit. I left all my gear in the tent, save for my phone, which despite having no signal, was a necessity to prove that we were tough bushmen capable of climbing mountains.

We had a quick bite to eat and then before setting out, we checked out the building near our tents. It was built out of wood and was surely over half a century old. It looked like it didn’t want to be here anymore, having grown tired of its quiet surroundings.

“Abandoned school hall,” Adam said, reading my mind.

“You’re kidding, right? Why on earth would a school hall be out here in the first place? There are no roads or anything connecting it,” I said.

“Dunno. Probably someplace they sent the shit kids for punishment.” Adam said.

Great, I thought to myself. We were probably camping on the site of a pseudo-juvenile hall for deviant kids. The clearing was probably the site of an old graveyard for kids who couldn’t spell. If any place was going to be haunted this would be it.

We poked our heads inside. It was as you expected from a building that hadn’t been cleaned or maintained in decades.

Graffiti donned the walls and scraps of junk sat untouched in the corners. There was a row of steel bunk bed frames along the back wall - ten beds in total. As expected, they were missing mattresses and the steel frames were coated in rust and paint chips.

The windows were blocked out with cardboard and there was only one door in and out. It was grim.

We investigated the hall for a couple of minutes, gingerly poking at objects with our feet. There was just the main room and nothing else of note inside. So with that, we ducked back outside and were relieved to be in the fresh air again.

It was hard to notice when we first entered the building, but now outside again, there was definitely a distinct smell of recent cooking inside the hall.

Adam also noticed the smell.

“Someone must have been cooking in there recently. Smelt kinda like a barbeque,” he said.

I murmured in agreement but didn’t add anything else. I was keen to get hiking again so we would return before sunset. I wanted to be secure in my tent as soon as it got dark, as the hall had given me an uneasy feeling.

The climb to the summit was harder than we thought. Adam thought it would take two hours return to reach the top, but after 90 minutes of hard walking, we were still some distance from the radio tower that signalled the summit.

I was enjoying the hike, despite the fact that it was looking increasingly likely that we would be returning to camp after nightfall.

It was a warm day and sweat started to drip to the ground. My calves, which are perennially tight, started to throb. But we were almost there.

After nearly two hours of hard, uphill hiking, we finally reached the summit. Adam tried to appear fresh as if the hike had been easy, but I could hear the strain in his voice as he pointed out the landmarks surrounding us.

“Mt Barney, that big one at the back there. Mt Maroon, that one just in front. And that one off to the side shaped like a wedding cake: that’s Mt Lindesay.” Adam said.

Looking out at these, much larger, mountains, I started to imagine a new life for myself.

A combination of the peak-bagging ability of Edmund Hillary, the literary genius of Jon Krakauer and the scene-capturing skills of Jimmy Chin. My 213 Instagram followers were going to love going on this awakening with me, so I started the dawn of a new beginning by snapped a couple of photos of the landscape.

I wish we could have stayed longer at the top soaking in the views, but with just 30 minutes left until sunset, we had to hustle to make it back down to camp before it got too dark.

Adam seemed pissed off, at someone or something. He was flying down the descent, almost breaking into a run at times. I made a few casual comments about the pace which he grunted at in reply.

“I’m sorry,” he finally blurted out.

“What? Sorry for what?” I said.

“This is my fault. We should have started earlier. We are going to be walking in the dark and neither of us has our headlamps.”

“It’s okay mate. Walking in the dark will be fun. And we have our phones to use as torches anyway. It’s all good.”

He didn’t reply but seemed a bit more relaxed after that brief conversation. I knew how much time he put into planning everything, and this weekend of hiking was no exception.

We were about halfway back to camp when the sun set. The sky started to gradually darken 15 minutes after that. My eyes worked hard to adjust as less and less light filtered through the trees. The trail we were following, which had once seemed like a highway, now required a hefty dose of concentration to follow.

With darkness now all but hugging us in the depths of the woods, our phone lights came on and, probably, saved us the embarrassment of spending a night lost in the bush. At times, we would lose the path and stumble awkwardly into tangles of bush or undergrowth, before adjusting our focus and finding the faint slither that would return us.

Adam was quiet and focused on the task of getting us back to camp. I didn’t want to say it, but I was having fun bashing around in the dark. It was just us two, out on an adventure of sorts.

When the gradient of the trail started to level off, I knew we were close to camp. Around every corner, I expected to see the ratty outsides of the old school hall. When it did loom out of the darkness, I was relieved. That was until I could see the clearing where the tents were.

Our tents were in the same position as before - five metres apart near the edge of the clearing. But the other tent, which had been set up on the other side of the clearing when we arrived, was now perched smack bang in the middle of our two homes from the night.

“That can’t be the same tent can it?” Adam asked.

“Hmm, I think so. We haven’t seen anyone else out here today, and it’s the same colour and design as the tent from before. It must be the same one.” I said.

“But why would they move it to in between our tents...that makes no sense,” Adam said.

“I don’t know. It’s creepy. Let’s go see if anyone is around.”

While we were hiking, there was always a bit of space between Adam and I. A metre or so.

But now we walked across the clearing our arms were brushing against each other as if preparing for some attack.

As we were getting close to the tents, Adam startled me by yelling out, “hello, HELLO?! Is anyone there.”

No response. There was no sound or light coming from the other tent. It looked empty just as before.

“Let’s get our headlights out so we can look around,” I said.

We split, to go to our tents. I’m not sure why, but I was scared of unzipping my tent. I had an uneasy feeling about the whole situation and couldn’t help but think someone was going to jump out at me.

That’s crazy, I said to myself. Safer out here than in the city…

I tried to unzip my tent as quietly as possible, and then poked my head inside and illuminated the insides with my phone torch.

Nothing.

My backpack was gone. My sleeping mat and sleeping bag, which had been unfurled before we left, were gone. The inside of the tent was completely empty.

“What the fuck. Where the fuck is all my stuff.” Adam shouted. He was a few metres away but it sounded like he was right next to me.

I was speechless. I looked over at Adam’s tent, and from the faint light emitted from my phone, I could see the rage on his face.

He ran over to my tent and looked inside, as if he thought I had somehow pranked him by taking all of his stuff.

“Who the hell took all our stuff.” He said.

“Well, there’s only one other tent around here. Should we look insi….”

Before I could finish, Adam was already ripping at the opening of the other tent.

“Be careful. We don’t know if this person took our stuff or not.” I said.

Adam didn’t care. He wrenched the zip open and thrust his head inside.

“Ohhhhh, someone is definitely messing with us. Look at this shit.” Adam said.

Not wanting to look, but also desperate to see what was inside, I glimpsed over Adam’s shoulder into the tent.

Our backpacks weren’t inside. Nor were our sleeping bags or mats. Just two items were sitting on the floor of the tent: both of our headlamps.

Adam grabbed mine, passed it to me, then scooped up his. He shone his phone light around the perimeter of the tent, looking for clues about where the rest of our items could be. But nothing materialized. Just an empty tent.

I tried to click on my headlamp but nothing happened. Click. Click. I shook it a few times. Click. Click. Nothing. I shook it again and then noticed it wasn’t rattling like normal.

Fearing the worst, I opened up the compartment to where the 2AA batteries normally went. Nothing. Completely empty.

“Adam...are the batteries still in your headlamp,” I said.

Adam looked at me puzzled, then slowly flicked his compartment open. I didn’t even need to look, I could tell from his face that they were gone as well.

“Is this your idea of a joke?! You’ve set this up, haven’t you? Well, very funny. It’s a shit prank so just tell whichever mate you’ve got doing all this to stop.” I shouted at Adam.

To add more impact to my words, I also shoved him. Hard. He stumbled back a few metres but stayed on his feet.

“I promise you I’ve got nothing to do with this. No one is going to drive all the way out here and give up their whole weekend just to prank you. All my shit is missing as well.” He said.

“Did you tell anyone we were coming out here? Is someone trying to fuck around with both of us?” I said.

“No, not really. I mean, I told my housemates but they weren’t even really listening.”

“Well, fuck...what do we do now,” I said.

Adam’s response to that was to start pointing his phone torch around. The light could hardly reach more than five metres in front of him, and he appeared not to want to move his feet in any direction.

I knew there was nothing to gain from looking around the clearing. The only logical spot where our gear could be was in the old hall, which looked even more menacing now in the dark than it had before.

I didn’t want to bring up that idea though, I just wanted to retreat to the tent and pretend none of this had happened. Wait until dawn and hope for the best.

Adam’s fruitless searching though had brought him to the same, and only, realisation. His faint light beam now settled on the hall.

The hall was 15 metres away from our tents. We looked at each other, and without saying a word, started inching across the damp grass towards it.

Before we could reach the hall, Adam grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him.

“Go grab a rock or something!”

“What? Why?” I said.

“In case someone is inside. Better to be prepared. I’ll shine the light through the door once we open it, you have a rock just in case.”

A rock. Okay, whatever. I didn’t want to venture too far away in search of a lethal-looking rock, so I plucked the nearest hockey-ball sized rock out of the ground and returned to Adam.

We continued our approach to the hall. I put my phone in my pocket and let Adam be the gatekeeper of light.

Adam glanced disapprovingly at the rock I had selected. It was too small to do anything. Too small to hurt someone. Too big to skim across a pond. Useless but whatever.

The door to the hall was getting closer and into focus now. There was no handle or lock, but it stood still in the windless night. When we were a few metres away, Adam’s light flicked across the door.

What...this can’t be real can it?!

Stuck to the door were the 4 AA batteries from our headlamps. They were no longer useful though, horribly deformed and chipped as if someone had bashed them with a rock. A much larger rock than the one I was carrying.

We both couldn’t believe it. Either someone we knew was carrying out an extremely elaborate prank on us, or we were dealing with a freak.

“I don’t want to go inside,” I whispered to Adam. “Let’s call the cops and find somewhere safe until it’s daylight. It’s not safe here.”

“No, I want my stuff back. Someone is just playing a trick on us. We will have to walk back towards the car anyway to get phone reception.” Adam said.

Forget any dreams or words I had shared previously. I wasn’t going to be the next Edmund Hillary. I never want to go hiking again, let alone pitch a tent in the middle of the stupid bush.

Safer out here than the city...bullshit. I wanted my city comforts and security back. Right now.

Without consulting me, Adam pushed the door open with the tips of his fingers.

I entered into a stance resembling a baseball pitcher, my rock poised to create damage to whoever, or whatever, was inside.

The faint glow from the moon didn’t reach into the hall, so it was darker inside than out. A matter not helped by the pitiful light Adam’s phone was putting out.

He swept the light across the hall. Nothing.

We stepped inside and scoped out the dark corners of the hall. Nothing.

Nothing jumped out of the dark at us. Nothing in the hall looked different from how it had been earlier.

Once we were satisfied that we had looked over every area of the hall, we circled back to the middle. I dropped my rock and kicked it away to a corner of the hall.

“So someone has just taken our stuff and ran. They must have thought it was funny to tape the batteries to the door and scare us.” Adam said.

“But what about the other tent?” I said.

“Hmm, no idea. Probably just another hiker who is still out there. Maybe they got their stuff stolen as well and have gone back to the carpark.”

He sounded more relaxed now. Content even. I was anything but. There were no other cars in the carpark when we had arrived this morning. So it didn’t make sense that there was another tent in the clearing.

I was about to reply to Adam when I saw out of the corner of my eye the door to the hall opened. It made no noise, just swung open.

A man of average height and build stepped through, making sure the door closed after him. He was holding both of our backpacks.

“Hey, mates. I’ve got all your gear. I didn’t know where you were, or if you were coming back, so I collected it to keep it safe.”

He dropped our two backpacks on the ground.

Adam and I were shocked.

“It’s all good, mates. I’m a hiker myself. That’s my tent out there. I’m just here for the weekend. What are your boys’ names?”

Still shocked we didn’t respond.

“Come on, mates. If we are going to be spending the night together, you oughta be polite.”

His voice had started to deepen and an aggressive edge could be detected. Our bags were on the ground, but he still had his own backpack on.

“Why would you touch our stuff.”

Adam punctuated the silence.

“I told ya, to keep it safe. It had got dark and you weren’t here, so I wanted to make sure no one else touched it.”

“So you took the batteries out of our headlamps and destroyed them?” Adam said.

“If you’re not going to thank me for looking after your stuff, then you can fuck off. I’m going to sleep in here tonight, so grab your shit and get out.” He said.

With that, he dropped his backpack to the ground and pulled out a tattered sleeping bag. He laid it down next to our bags and started fiddling with it.

He looked homeless which made sense. The hall was a perfect spot for a drifter to set up in. But he had a tough homeless edge to him.

“Let’s get our stuff and get out of here. Quickly. Back to the car.” Adam whispered to me.

I was still in a state of disbelief at this man and his behaviour, but my legs followed Adam’s as he made to cross the hall.

Adam was a few steps ahead of me, and when he reached his backpack he stretched out a hand for it, with his eyes still fixed firmly on the stranger.

I didn’t know what to expect. I still had an inkling that we were in trouble, but the stranger appeared not to care about us anymore. He wasn’t looking at us anymore, just arranging his sleeping bag.

Just as Adam’s hand made contact with the strap of his backpack, the stranger sprung into action.

His hands, buried in his sleeping bag, whipped out a small camping shovel. He lashed at Adam with it wildly, hitting him flat on the front of the face. The shovel was small but it was still metal and emitted a resounding ding when it collided with Adam. His nose copped most of the hit and splayed to the side.

“FUCK YOU for coming here. This is my home.” The stranger shouted.

Adam dropped to the ground without making a noise. Completely out.

The stranger turned to me and raised the shovel to make a second strike. He was quick but I was able to back away, and the blow missed me.

He pushed forward and swung again. This time I had to raise my forearm to block the blow which was tracking towards my head. The edge of the shovel dug into my skin and dinged off bone.

Using my free arm, I was able to shove the stranger back. Pain reverberated up my arm and shot to my brain.

I had a decision to make. Dash for the door and try to escape into the woods. Or try and fight this madman.

My brain went instantly into coward mode. I scurried towards the door, past Adam’s prone body. The stranger was a few steps behind me but I was able to blast through the door before he could catch up.

I set myself in the direction of the bush past our tents, hoping I could lose him in there. That was the extent of my plan. I was halfway between the hall and our tents when the shovel crunched into my upper back.

Not wanting to let me escape, the stranger had flung himself for one last attack. In the process, he lost his grip on the shovel and it fell softly to the ground.

Despite being badly winded, I knew this was my chance. I turned around just as the stranger launched his hands and nails at my face. He dug his nails into my cheeks and started clawing at my face.

It felt like an animal attack, not something a human was capable of doing. I lowered my head and grabbed the front of his jacket. I was taller and heavier than him. I was also possessed now, wanting to see this fucker dead.

On my previous search for a rock, I knew there were a couple of decent ones around my tent. If I could push him on top of a tent, possibly get him tangled up, then I would have time to bash his head in.

I had a solid hold on him and flung him away from me. All my anger went into the push and he went flying in the direction of my tent.

He stumbled and then, once his feet hit the edge of the tent, fell back in a magnificent arc on top of my tent. There was a snapping sound as he fell to the ground. At first, I thought it was his arm or leg. But then I noticed the tent pole poking out near his stomach. Adam’s decade-old tent had come to the rescue, and one of the ancient aluminium poles had snapped and wedged itself through his lower back.

It all happened so quickly. He howled in rage and tried to lift his body off the pole, but I was there in an instant, rock in hand to hammer away at his face. I landed a dozen blows on his forehead before I dropped the rock and put my knee, and all my body weight, onto his neck.

He was barely conscious at this stage, and after a minute without breath, I was sure he wasn’t coming back.

I stepped away from his body and looked at what had just happened. Blood was pooling on my tent. Adrenaline was raging like crazy through my body and my arm was stinging.

The stranger looked almost peaceful now, even with the top of his head completely decimated. Our fight had lasted just longer than a minute, but it seemed like only a few seconds had gone by.

The bush surrounding our clearing was completely quiet as if nothing had changed in the last few minutes. I was at a loss at what to do next.

Adam! Shit. I rushed back into the hall to see my friend.

He was still lying on the ground, but his eyes were half-open. Blood, which had mainly erupted from his nose, had flooded onto the ground around him. I shook his shoulder and his eyes widened slightly.

“What happened? Where is he?” Adam said.

“He’s gone...I had to kill him. He was trying to kill both of us. He is outside on top of my tent.” I said.

Adam struggled up into a sitting position, and then with my help, made it to his feet. I grabbed a spare shirt out of my bag to clear away the dried blood around his face. I also got him four panadol to help with the pain. He said his head felt okay but I wasn’t so sure.

I wrapped a pair of underwear around the cut on my arm to stem the bleeding. We were both banged up but we knew we had to get out of here and call the police.

We left our backpacks in the hall and went back outside to the clearing.

I half expected the stranger to have magically disappeared, but he was still there. Adam looked at him from a distance, his face not registering any emotions.

He turned and started off in the direction of the car. I followed after one last look over the clearing.

The journey back took an hour and I had to lead Adam along as he kept feeling dizzy and wanting to rest. I wasn’t scared of the bush anymore. Snakes, spiders, whatever. They couldn’t compare to what we had just faced.

I got back into phone reception near the car and immediately called the cops.

They arrived just as I got back to the carpark.

They believed our story and took us to the station while another patrol went to scope out the campsite and retrieve the body. Adam had a checkup in hospital but was cleared of any major damage, save for an adjustment of his nose.

A week later we heard from the cops again. Turns out the weekend prior to our visit, the same guy had hassled a group of six guys who had camped overnight. But with the weight of numbers against him, he had taken a more mellow approach compared to when we had met him.

Who he was or what drove him to take up residence in a remote camping spot, we will never know. But I do know that I’ll never go camping in the bush again.

Anyone or anything could be out there, which makes it a much more dangerous place than the city.

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