Page 11

“Julie, I’m going to get you to work with Nerida today, if that’s OK.

I’ve got some dramas beyond the gate I need to look after, and we’ve got to do your training before you go in there.

She’ll be ecstatic, just let her know this is not long term.

Ask her to show you how to do stock control in the animal shed and the veterinary clinic,” Finn said.

He was looking a bit flustered, sweat already beading on his forehead.

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’ll be back with some of the animals for Doc Hobbes, but if I’m not by lunchtime, go to the mess shed with Nerida.”

“Ok.”

“And stop worrying so much, you’ll be fine.” He stopped the cart outside the animal shed and let me get out before taking off at a rapid clip. I shook my head and wandered in.

“Girlfriend!” Nerida said, running over when she saw me. “So, what happened to you last night? Sneaking off with Shaun, you naughty minx.”

“Nothing happened. He just walked me home.”

“Treat ‘em mean, keep 'em keen. Used to be my motto too, until I came here. Now it’s kind of redundant. Well, you ready to learn how to slop up?”

“Sure, it sounds delightful.”

“Ah, it’s not that bad. C’mon.”

It turned out that slopping up wasn’t really sloppy at all.

It was weighing and portioning a combination of raw meat, bone meal, fish oil, eggs and some other stuff to keep the dogs healthy.

I hadn’t heard or seen one yet, so I was dead curious as to what they looked like.

I thought maybe I’d get a chance to see them through the fence, but no dice.

Buddy sat there drooling as we divvied up a bit over a hundred meals, the meat coming from a massive walk in fridge, and the other ingredients in big bins along the walls.

“Oh, look at you,” Nerida said, putting a half serve in front of my dog.

“Sit, Bud,” I said as he went to devour it. He sat alright, but made that growling/yodeling sound Huskies make when they are unimpressed. I just cocked an eyebrow at him and waited for him to settle. “OK, now you can eat.”

“Oh, honey,” Nerida said. “With that kind of attitude, you’ll have no problems with the guys here.”

“What, you make them sit and stay before they…” I said as a joke.

“Before they eat me out? Sure, honey, gotta show them who’s boss.

Then they take their fill, and keep on taking right up until I tell them to stop…

” The bubbly brunette had instantly transformed into some kind of languid, khaki clad dominatrix.

She laughed and went back to normal when she saw my face.

“I get it, you’re probably wondering what the fuck you’ve done, landing in a hotbed of sexual deviants.

But seriously, it’s pretty boring most of the time.

People work, sleep, get laid, just like everywhere else. ”

“Right, so Finn said ask you to show me the stock control system?”

She gave me a cheeky smile, seeming to see through my transparent attempt at changing the subject.

I really, really needed people to stop talking to me about sex for a moment.

I’d had plenty of conversations with girlfriends back in the day, but they were in the circle of trust. Complete strangers?

Not so much. She started showing me what to do, pulling up the stock order on the animal shed computer, and how to fill out the forms and get proper authorisation.

She pulled some clipboards off the wall and demonstrated how to monitor stock levels, ticking off what we had and writing down amounts, when a couple of carts arrived.

“Looks like its feeding time!” Nerida said. "Use your swipe key to get into my office, the one you were in the other day. Ask Lou and Aidan to come out, they always go on the feed run.”

Ah, the freaky couple I’d seen yesterday.

I wandered up the hallway, looking at the various doors, until I saw the one with a light on.

I swiped open the door and there they sat, almost in identical positions as before.

The only thing that betrayed the fact they were alive was their eyes moving to take me in as I arrived.

“Hey, Nerida said you guys were going on the food run?” No response.

“Did you want to come out…and get on the cart?” Nothing.

“Guys? Hello?” I waved a hand in front of the closest one’s face, but got no reaction other than a flutter of eyelashes “OK, guys. If this is some kind of taunt the noob thing, can we cut the crap? This day has been confusing and weird already without the Village of the Damned vibe you got going on. Guys?” I looked at the two of them in frustration, then moved to try and take the arm of the one I was standing next to. I could drag them out if I had to.

Yeah, no I couldn’t. Eyes slowly swivelled to look at my hand wrapped around what I thought was an arm but was apparently really a block of cement.

Lou or Aidan had the kind of wiry build that often proved to be stronger than someone puffed up by body building, but seriously, I couldn’t move his or her arm an inch.

They just sat there, regarding me with those yellowy green eyes.

“Hey.” I’d taken a step backwards, looking at the two of them warily, when another person appeared in the doorway.

I turned and saw a guy with a long and lean build, a mop of black hair and grey eyes standing there. “Can’t get ‘em to move?”

“No, Nerida seemed to think I would just have to ask them. I’m Julie, by the way.”

“Brandon. She would, she’s pretty good at getting almost anyone to do her bidding, that’s why she gets lumped with these guys.

” He gave a low raspy whistle and then gestured to the hallway.

“C’mon, it’s feeding time. Time to sort out those hungry dogs.

” Slowly, the two of them got up at the same time, moving to the door as one.

“Thanks for your help. I would have been here all day trying to move them. What’s the deal anyway? Is there some kind of disability?”

“Not really my story to tell, but Lou and Aidan are siblings, and they got hurt a while back, never been the same. They can function, sort of. Look, next time, tell Nerida to do it. You don’t have to put up with her shit.”

“OK…” I said, detecting an undercurrent.

“You’ll be at the mess hall for dinner?” he asked.

“Maybe not tonight.”

“Someone got to you already, huh? Lucky bastard. Well, maybe I’ll catch you around.”

“Uh, sure…” and I watched him lope back down the hall.

I returned to the slopping up table to see a group of blokes loading the meal containers we’d made up into the cart.

A couple stopped mid delivery when I appeared, causing the men behind them to stumble and curse, but they seemed to recover quickly enough and got back to the job.

That was something I was never going to get used to.

Being the invisible waitress was more my speed, seamlessly taking and delivering orders, only noticed if the kitchen screwed up the order.

I squared my shoulders and decided to ignore the attention, heading over to the storeroom where we had been doing a stock check and opening the door.

“Oh yeah, honey, you can ride me hard tonight…”

“Oh, shit! Sorry!” I said as I walked into Nerida in a clinch with some tall, dark and handsome guy. His eyes opened first, and he regarded me with a sly smile as I beat a hasty retreat.

“You OK?”

I blinked a few times, searching around mentally for the brain bleach, to see Brandon looking concerned.

“Stop chasing skirt and help us get these containers,” one of the guys shouted.

“Blow it out your arse, Sam!” he called back. “You want me to get someone?”

I shook my head. “It’s just taking me a bit to adjust here, is all.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Same thing happens to most girls who come here.” He had a look at his watch, and said, “It’s nearly lunchtime.

Why don’t you wander over to the mess hall and grab a bite?

Nerida and Sonny will be up to whatever they are doing for a while, and Finn’s stuck with something behind the fence, so… ”

“Yeah, sure, sounds good. Are you coming?”

He shook his head ruefully. “Animals eat before we do. Anyway, go on, these guys are gonna take forever if you don’t.” I looked around him and saw the blokes had slowed down to a snail’s pace, watching what was going on.

I walked past the line, Bud at my heels, and over to the Mess Hall.

Being outside in the fresh air instantly made me feel a bit better.

I looked at Bud, and said, “C’mon!” taking off at a jog, him running between my legs and barking as we went.

I nearly tripped twice, but he was grinning and I was laughing by the end of it.

I wandered inside and saw the place was half empty, thankfully.

People looked up, but I just swept past, grabbing a plate and the makings of a huge sandwich and some juice, before scanning the tables for one where the guys on it didn’t look up to see what I was doing.

I found one towards the back, with three blokes sitting a fair way apart, not talking to each other and not looking around either, and made a beeline for it. “Do you mind if I sit here?” I asked.

The three of them looked up with a start, one guy’s eyes flicking to the other, but the third nodding and gesturing for me to take a seat.

I sat down at the other end, giving the guys their space if they wanted it, no sound other than the clink of utensils or the sound of people chewing.

Finally, I said, “I’m Julie, the new girl. ”

“I know,” the guy closest to me said. He had short greying hair and intense blue eyes. “Mack,” he said, pointing to himself. “George and Al.” The other guys gave me a nod and went back to eating. Well, thank fuck for that, I thought, not everyone here was gagging for it.

“So, what do you guys do?” I asked, relieved to treat them like any other person I’d meet on the job. Getting people talking about themselves was always an easy way to start a conversation.