David was the first on his feet at the sound of the gunshot. Captain Gifford wasn't a man who fired for no reason: if he pulled the trigger, he wanted something dead. David belted flat chat into the forest, and he could tell the others were close behind. He wanted to slow down, to let them take over, because he didn't know what he'd find when he arrived. There was something off about the land that day, but David knew they'd never let him live it down if he did.

Instead, David drew his revolver. The holster bounced on his hip as his legs pumped. He hoped that boss man had already dropped whatever it was. Then David burst through the scrub to the scene of the gunshot.

Captain Gifford lay dead on the ground, pants at his ankles, a long stream of shart between his legs, a large pool of blood beneath his head.

And in the middle distance, the deep green forest shuddered and shook as a massive near-invisible figure burst away into the jungle.

David lifted his barker and started firing at the movement, and in mere moments the rest of the group burst into the small clearing and joined in. It didn't take long before David was dry firing at the bush, unable to hear over the thunderous noise of the gunshots around him. Branches fell and leaves leapt into the air as the gunfire tore its way through the undergrowth.

Jocko joined the group just as the ANP finished firing, and he impotently unloaded both shotgun barrels into the jungle. In the distance, much farther than any shots could have reached, came another bloodcurdling roar.

"I fuckin' hit him!" Jocko exclaimed.

David rolled his eyes. Smoke hung thick in the clearing, the smell of sulphur, charcoal and shredded vegetation overwhelmed the senses as he looked out into the bush. And then the odour dissipated, replaced instead by the shit and blood and piss emanating from the fallen captain.

David turned and saw Frederick knelt over the old man, a hand above Terrence’s mouth checking for breath. The white fella then lifted his mate's arm and unceremoniously dropped it, the hand falling limp to the rainforest floor.

"He's dead," Frederick said, his voice low and mean.

John was on the other side of Terrence already and checked for himself. He silently nodded. John grabbed the revolver by Terrence's side and flinched away from it. "The revolver's still warm," John said solemnly. "Terrence never missed. He shot the bastard before it killed him."

"Didn't slow it down none," Jimmy said from deeper in the clearing, where the branches were shredded and the leaves were fallen to gunfire. "It was off in them trees like a Bunyip."

David had seen it too. A shape, too big to be a man, moving like lightning into the rainforest like the branches didn't exist. "Ghindaring for sure," he said, his voice quiet, trying desperately to avoid Frederick's attention, but unable to keep his thoughts to himself.

Sure enough, Frederick glared at him with that look he gave, the one that said David was in for a whooping.

But John spoke first. "If Terrence shot it, and it still killed him…" John said, trailing off, waiting for Frederick's attention to turn his way. When it did, he continued. "I've seen Terrence draw down and pop a man in the brain from 80 yards. Seen him shoot a snake offa David while still in his swag."

Frederick glowered at John as the buttoned-down blak fella kept talking, the white man’s eye twitching and his lip curling, as sure a tell as David had ever seen that violence was coming.

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John, either unaware or uncaring, continued speaking. "If Terrence shot it and it's not lying dead here, it might actually be the fuckin Yaut-way," John said as he crossed Terrence's arms over one another on his chest.

Frederick sat back on his haunches, his fists clenched tight, the veins in his forearms popping out, his chin tucked against his chest, a coiled snake about to strike.

"The fuckin girl was right," John finished as he looked up.

Frederick waited for the Abo to look at him, waited till he could see the dog's eyes so that it might comprehend the fury it had called down on itself. He would snatch the knife from his waistband and bury it in John's forehead, and then he'd shoot the other two coons dead. Frederick could take the whole bounty for himself. Maybe move somewhere down south, where it wasn't this pigshit hot all day.

But then John had mentioned the girl. The bounty. Left back at the camp, with nobody watching her. "FUCK!" Frederick yelled, and he leapt to his feet and sprinted back through the rainforest.

Frederick made it back to the small camp just as Anna had finished picking the lock on her heavy iron shackle. She'd dislocated her thumb to get one hand free. Frederick continued his run, throwing his knee into her face. She collapsed on her front.

Frederick leapt onto her. Blood and teeth sprayed from Anna's mouth as he flipped her over, but she was smiling. It took the rage out of him some. "You'll hang for Terrence's death too!" he spat, daring her to reply.

"The Guwin-gan already got one of you. I'll watch him get the rest too," she said, defiant. Frederick punched her, hard, her head recoiling from the blow and smashing into the ground below, her nose splayed across her face, blood spurting from a new cut in its bridge. Anna’s smile widened. Frederick sat on top of her torso and let out a guttural scream. And then he started beating her with everything he had. Fists and elbows and more fists drove their way into her face, teeth snapping off into his knuckles and blood spraying upwards with every lift of his limbs.

Still, Anna kept smiling.

Frederick felt arms around his, dragging him off her, and he fought them as much as he could, but they had him at a disadvantage. He looked about at who had him, and it was the black cunts. He thought about hitting them instead, but the fight had left him too quickly.

Jocko walked back into the camp and watched as the youngest tracker sank his boot clean into the half-caste girl's ribs. She doubled over at the impact, spitting out blood and teeth and whatever else was in her mouth, then the kid started shackling her back up again.

On the other side of the camp he saw Frederick and his two other blacks sitting on the ground, breathing heavily from the exertion. "Let's fucking go," Jocko said. This is a delicate situation, he thought. These blokes have just lost a guy in their team. They'll be hurting from it. But we are so close to catching our man. If I’ve learnt anything about getting the feeble-minded to work, it’s that a stern voice and a sharp command are often enough. Terrence had been the brains in this group. It was up to Jocko now. "As far as I can tell, both Terrence and I shot Big Joe out there. We can't let go of the chase now."

"Fuck off, Jocko," the fancy tracker, the one dressed up like he thought he was a person, said. "First off, you didn't hit anything. Second, we've gotta bury our fuckin' man. And third, I don't know if we even want to catch that fucking thing."

Jocko shook his head. This bullshit again. "That thing is my fucking Kanaka. It's not a gobbledok, it's not the Nachtridder or the Kludde, it's a fucking man, and he's already been fucking shot."

"What don't you get, cunt?" John spat in reply, standing up now. "Terrence didn't fucking miss. If he shot something, it fucking died. Right?"

The black cunt looked around at the rest of the group, and Jocko could see them all nodding. All eyes turned to Frederick. "Come on, Frederick," Jocko said. "Surely you don't believe this."

Frederick was looking at the ground away from the group. Jocko couldn't tell if he was paying attention or not until the square-jawed killer spoke. "John's right," Frederick said quietly. "Terrence didn't miss. Never missed. So if he shot your man, and your man's still going, then he might just have this 'Quinkan' in him."

Jocko threw his hands up, exasperated. "Are you fucking kid-" he started, but he was cut off as Frederick picked something up off the ground.

"It is still out there though, and it killed our mate," Frederick said as he held the rediscovered dead snake aloft, showing off its fangs again. "And if it bleeds, we can kill it. So I say we bury Terrence, we load up, and we go kill that fucking thing."