The Last Elephant Read online

  ‘Not far now, Luce,’ Colt said to the elephant.

  She seemed to sense it. Her big round feet flashed across the hard wet sand at the sea’s edge. They left a trail of water-filled craters behind them, joined by the crazy zigzag of Lucy’s trailing leg-chain. They were flying.

  But so was the vehicle that came speeding down onto the beach about halfway between them and the town.

  At first it didn’t look like anything to worry about. Just a fisherman, Colt thought. Or someone taking a drive along the seashore. But as the vehicle drew nearer, he got a nasty surprise.

  It was a big orange van.

  He prodded Lucy behind her left ear to make her turn. She went lumbering towards the ridge of sand hills at the top of the beach.

  ‘Where are we going?’ asked Birdy.

  Colt pointed at the speeding van. It was already changing direction to cut them off.

  ‘Rat cops!’

  They reached the first sand hill about a hundred metres ahead of the van. Lucy struggled up the soft, sandy incline. It was hard going. Colt could hear her breath whooshing in and out. He could also hear the growl of the van’s engine behind them, growing louder all the time. But he didn’t think it would be able to climb the ridge without getting bogged in the sand.

  ‘Go, Lucy!’ he cried, prodding her with his heels to urge her on.

  Lucy heaved herself and her two riders up over the summit. The ground dropped away sharply on the other side. There was a steep sandy slope that disappeared into a long narrow valley filled with tea-trees. Lucy went tobogganing down the slope and charged straight into the trees. Colt had to duck his head to avoid being swept off her back by the low, scratchy branches. He heard a scream behind him and glanced over his shoulder.

  Birdy was gone.

  ‘Whoa, Lucy!’ Colt cried, scissoring his knees against the wrinkly barrel of her neck to make her stop.

  Lucy rocked to a standstill. She was probably glad to have a rest. This must have been hard work for an elephant recovering from rat flu.

  ‘You’re a champion, Luce,’ Colt said, patting the side of her head as she used her trunk to rip a long strip of bark off a tree and stuff it into her mouth.

  Colt was hungry, too, but he had more important things on his mind – and one in particular. He looked back the way they had come. There was no sign of Birdy, just a tangle of bristly branches. The trees were so thick he couldn’t even see the ridge. This would have been a good place to hide an elephant if the rat cops weren’t so close behind. He listened for sounds of pursuit, but heard nothing. The rat cops’ van must have stopped or become bogged in the soft sand on the other side of the ridge. Would they come after Lucy on foot?

  ‘Birdy!’ he hissed into the tea-tree jungle behind them. He didn’t dare call out any louder in case the rat cops heard.

  There was no answer.

  Colt slid to the ground. He rubbed his hand along the huge grey wall of Lucy’s side as he slowly crept back into the trees looking for Birdy. He was getting more and more worried about her, convinced she must be hurt. Otherwise why hadn’t she followed them? It wasn’t as though Lucy was particularly hard to follow. It looked like a bulldozer had come through here.

  Then he heard something. Twigs snapping. Clothes scraping against branches. Someone was coming through the dense bush towards him.

  ‘Birdy?’ Colt whispered, ducking under a knocked-over tree.

  ‘Hello, Snowy,’ said a figure in orange. ‘Fancy meeting you here.’

  It was Officer Katt, with her stun gun drawn.

  ‘What do you want?’ asked Colt.

  ‘You know what I want,’ the rat cop said. She was peering past Colt into the thick tea-trees behind him.

  They could both hear Lucy tearing off another strip of bark.

  ‘She hasn’t got rat flu,’ Colt said.

  ‘The lab report came back positive.’

  ‘But she’s over it now. There’s absolutely no reason to kill her.’

  Officer Katt gestured with her big, ugly gun. ‘Get out of my way, Snowy. You and your mother have caused me enough trouble already.’

  ‘I won’t let you hurt her!’ Colt cried. His skin was starting to tingle. He was smaller than Officer Katt, and he wasn’t armed, but he was stronger than he looked. A lot stronger – last night he had lifted a four-tonne elephant.

  The rat cop must have seen the threat in his eyes, because suddenly she seemed nervous. ‘I’m not alone,’ she warned, reaching for the two-way radio strapped to her belt.

  But Colt wasn’t alone, either. There was a rustling sound in the trees above them. Officer Katt looked up just in time to see a Flying Flynn launch herself out of the branches.

  Birdy landed on the rat cop’s shoulders, wrapping both arms and one leg around the startled woman like a giant tree spider. Her other leg kicked Officer Katt’s gun hand. The weapon spun from her grip and bounced along the ground, stopping right at Colt’s feet. He stooped and picked it up.

  ‘Let her go, Birdy,’ he said.

  Birdy did a backwards flip and landed lightly on the ground behind the rat cop. It was a perfect dismount.

  Colt waved the stun gun. ‘Take a walk, Officer Katt.’

  ‘You wouldn’t dare shoot me,’ the rat cop said.

  She was right. Colt aimed the heavy pistol at a tree and pulled the trigger. There was a puff of smoke and a crackle of electricity. Two high-voltage metal darts, attached to the gun by wires, buried themselves in the tree trunk. The weapon was harmless now. Colt tossed it onto the ground at Officer Katt’s feet.

  She didn’t pick it up. Instead, she grabbed her two-way radio and pressed the call button.

  ‘Owen, I need back up!’ she said urgently. ‘Bring an extra gun. Hurry!’

  But whoever Owen was, he was going to arrive too late. By the time Officer Katt had finished her call, Colt and Birdy were nowhere to be seen.

  ‘Nice work, Flying Flynn.’

  ‘Nice work yourself, Snowy,’ Birdy said. She made her voice go lower, imitating Colt’s voice. ‘Take a walk, Officer Katt.’

  They were sneaking through the tea-trees. Sneaking wasn’t a very accurate description, because they were on an elephant. But they were going quite fast, and that made up for all the noise they were making. Colt had no idea how far behind them the rat cops were, but he knew that they weren’t following in their van. It hadn’t made it over the sand hill. And nobody could catch up with Lucy on foot.

  But helicopters were another story.

  Thwop! Thwop! Thwop! Thwop! Thwop! Thwop!

  Colt glanced up through a gap in the trees, hoping it was just the holovision crew come back looking for them.

  But the helicopter that flashed overhead was orange. Instead of the Channel 12 logo on its side, there was a big white rat.

  ‘Did they see us?’ asked Birdy.

  Colt ducked under a branch. ‘I don’t think so.’

  Birdy ducked, too. ‘Can we hide?’

  It might have been possible to hide Lucy beneath the thick canopy of tea-trees, but that would mean stopping. And if they stopped, Officer Katt and the guy called Owen would catch up.

  Colt made a decision. He prodded Lucy with his right knee to make her turn towards the sandy ridge. ‘We’re going back to the beach,’ he called over his shoulder.

  ‘But what about the rat cops?’ Birdy asked.

  ‘We’ll make a run for the border,’ he said. ‘It’s our only chance.’

  Lucy came out of the tea-tree forest at a run. She went ploughing up the sand hill. Colt glanced back at the trees. There was no sign of any rat cops. They reached the top of the dune. Half a kilometre away, on the seaward side of the ridge, the DoRFE helicopter was coming down next to the orange van. Its whirling rotor sent up a huge cloud of sand that hid everything from view.

  Colt knew the helicopter wouldn’t stay on the ground for long. It was probably picking someone up. There were no prizes for guessing who. He prodded Lucy behind the ears, sending h
er bumping down the side of the dune towards the sea. As soon as she reached the hard, wet, sand at the water’s edge, he turned her towards the town.

  ‘Run, Lucy!’

  There was a loud clatter of rotors behind them. The orange helicopter rose into the air and came swooping along the beach after them.

  ‘Faster, Lucy!’ Colt cried.

  It was a race to the river. A race they could never win.

  ‘What’ll we do?’ Birdy shrieked as the menacing orange helicopter came roaring up behind them.

  Colt could see the town quite clearly now. There was a long jetty poking out into the sea, then the shine of reflected sunlight on the smooth water of the river. The rat cops didn’t have the power to kill anything on the other side.

  But on this side, they did. Even though Lucy no longer had rat flu, her laboratory tests had come back positive, so DoRFE could destroy her.

  It wasn’t right, but it was the law.

  ‘IT’S NO USE RUNNING!’ a voice came booming out of the sky. The helicopter was right overhead. Officer Katt leaned out of its open door with a megaphone. ‘STOP, OR WE’LL SHOOT THE ELEPHANT!’

  A man beside her aimed a rifle.

  Colt’s mouth went dry. It was a real rifle, not a stun gun. They had reached the end of the road.

  A hand banged his shoulder.

  ‘Lie down!’ Birdy yelled. ‘We’re on a public beach. They won’t risk shooting two kids!’

  ‘Genius!’ cried Colt.

  He leaned forward as far as he dared, draping himself across Lucy’s head and shoulders so that his body, arms, legs and head formed a human shield. Behind him, Birdy wiggled backwards and spread-eagled herself across the rear half of the running elephant.

  Now the gunman in the helicopter had a very difficult target.

  ‘Run, Lucy, run!’ Colt shouted over the clatter of the helicopter’s rotor. ‘It’s up to you now.’

  Colt was wrong. It wasn’t entirely up to Lucy.

  While he and Birdy lay on top of the running elephant, holding on for their lives, a second helicopter joined the chase. The Channel 12 news crew had returned, after all, and now they had Verity Dingle on board. Lucy’s dash for the border was breaking news right across the country. Channel 12 was broadcasting it live.

  It was lunchtime. Lots of people had their holovisions and radios on. And strange things started to happen in the town by the river.

  People came pouring out of houses, out of shops, out of restaurants. Workers in office buildings ran to their windows. Nurses wheeled patients onto hospital balconies so they could watch the elephant and the two low-flying helicopters come slowly along the beach. A thousand phones started ringing, beeping, buzzing or playing annoying tunes. Five thousand fingers, and twice as many thumbs, started madly texting, tweeting or sending messages on ChatterVox.

  TURN ON YR HV!

  THAT ELLIFANT LAST NIGHT? THE ONE ON VERITY DINGLE. ITS ON OUR BEACH!

  OMG!

  TH RAT COPS R GOING 2 SHOOT IT.

  NO WAY!

  GOT 2 STOP THEM

  SAVE LUCY!

  MEET U AT JETTY.

  TELL EVRYONE.

  All over town, people started racing out to their cars, jumping on bikes, getting on scooters, skimming along on hoverboards, or simply running flat out towards the sea.

  People were coming from out-of-town, too. About forty kilometres away, two police officers in a parked patrol car watched an old blue station wagon with one green door flash past them at breakneck speed.

  With its siren wailing and its blue and red lights flashing, the patrol car roared out onto the highway and gave chase.

  ‘Something’s going on!’ Birdy shrieked.

  If Colt hadn’t been so scared, he would have laughed. Of course something was going on – they were on a stampeding elephant being chased by a helicopter-load of fanatical rat cops with real guns!

  But when Birdy called out again, and banged him on the leg to get his attention, Colt raised his head to look. What he saw made him cry out in surprise. ‘Shashlik!’

  They had nearly reached the town. And Birdy was right – something was going on. People were swarming down onto the beach. Thousands of them! Adults, kids, teenagers, men in business suits, smartly-dressed ladies carrying their shoes, people in supermarket uniforms, bank tellers, mechanics, chefs dressed all in white, boys on BMXs, even an old woman on a mobility scooter with a little red flag flapping at the top of its long red pole.

  ‘What are they doing?’ Birdy screamed.

  That was when Colt noticed the second helicopter in the sky – the one with the holocam recording every single thing that was happening. The arrival of Channel 12 had caused the DoRFE helicopter to drop back a bit, and the gunman had hidden his weapon from view.

  ‘It’s people power!’ Colt said, struggling up into a sitting position.

  Birdy sat up, too, and put her arms around him.

  The huge crowd was less than a hundred metres ahead.

  ‘We’re going to run over them!’

  ‘They’ll let us through,’ Colt said.

  He made Lucy slow down, just in case. But he needn’t have worried. As they got closer to the crowd, a gap opened up. Three lifeguards and a parking inspector were holding everyone back on one side, and a line of elderly people wearing the white uniforms of a lawn bowls club were taking care of things on the other side. Within moments, a wide avenue had formed through the huge, chanting crowd.

  Yes, they were chanting! Their combined voices all but drowned out the noise of the two helicopters.

  ‘LU-CEEE! LU-CEEE! LU-CEEE!’

  Colt and Birdy rode her slowly through the middle. People waved and took holopics, and lifted little children onto their shoulders to see the world’s last elephant go by. Birdy smiled and waved back – she was a circus girl and loved an audience – but Colt was too worried. There was still the river to cross. And he didn’t think Officer Katt was going to give up this easily.

  He looked back as the DoRFE helicopter landed on the beach. Even as it was settling on the damp sand, an orange-clad figure jumped out and began running towards them. It was Officer Katt, of course. And she was holding a stun gun. No doubt it was fully charged and cranked up to its highest kill setting. Colt nudged Lucy behind her ears, urging her on.

  The river was just past the jetty. It was low tide and there was enough room even for an elephant to walk under the tall wooden structure without going into the sea. There were people all along it. They cheered and took holopics as the world’s last elephant and its two riders approached. A small girl was eating an ice-cream. Colt caught her eye.

  ‘Can I have that?’

  The girl looked surprised, but when Colt raised his hand and said ‘Please,’ she tossed her half-eaten ice-cream down to him. Colt caught it and took a big bite.

  ‘I can’t believe you did that!’ Birdy said as they went under the jetty.

  ‘Do you want a lick?’ he offered.

  ‘No way!’

  He was glad. He needed the ice-cream more than Birdy did. His ‘batteries’ were starting to run flat. Colt could recognise the symptoms now – the trembling limbs and the light-headed feeling, as if he was about to pass out – and food would fix it. He was going to need all his super-strength if Officer Katt caught up with them before they got across the river-border.

  But it didn’t look like Officer Katt could catch them.

  A huge cheer went up – it sounded like the crowd at a football grand final – as Lucy stepped into the river.

  The crowd fell silent. Lucy had stopped. She was only a few metres from shore, standing ankle deep in the muddy brown river.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Birdy asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Colt said, prodding the elephant behind her ears. She didn’t move. ‘Maybe elephants don’t like water.’

  He couldn’t have been more wrong. While they’d been talking, Lucy had dipped her trunk into the river. Now she curled it up to her mouth like a grey
wrinkly fire hose and emptied it down her throat.

  ‘I guess she was just thirsty,’ Birdy said.

  She was extremely thirsty. And no wonder, Colt thought, after all that running. He and Birdy had to sit patiently and wait while Lucy sucked up trunk-full after trunk-full of water and shot it into her mouth. It gave him time to finish his ice-cream, and to look back and see what was going on behind them.

  Officer Katt was still trying to come after them, but the crowd wasn’t letting her through. Finally she had to wade out into the sea to get past. Swimmers splashed her, people on the jetty threw things, but the rat cop kept coming. She was waist-deep in the surf, holding the stun gun above her head so it wouldn’t get wet. A big wave went right over her. For a couple of seconds, only the hand holding the stun gun was visible, then Officer Katt’s head, shoulders and upper body reappeared. Gasping for breath, wet hair plastered over her face, she kept coming.

  She was crazy. Couldn’t she see the Channel 12 helicopter hovering overhead, sending live coverage of her exploits into a million homes?

  Didn’t she care about people power?

  The answer was obvious. No! From the hateful expression on Officer Katt’s face, it was clear that she only cared about one thing – getting Lucy.

  And she was going to, at this rate.

  Instead of giving Lucy another heel-jab, Colt leaned forward until he was looking directly into one of her big brown eyes.

  ‘Lucy, come on!’ he begged. ‘That crazy rat cop wants to kill you!’

  Lucy finally got the message. Or perhaps she’d just had enough to drink. With a flap of her huge ears, she waded out into the river.

  But was her drink-stop going to cost Lucy her life?

  Back up on the jetty, everyone was screaming and shouting warnings. Officer Katt had got past the crowd. She came charging towards the river, aiming the stun gun as she ran.

  Colt didn’t know the range of a stun gun, but he didn’t think the electric wires would be long enough to reach them yet.

  Officer Katt would have to get closer.