“I am going to get you to safety” said Burke “I am going to help you out of this place”.
“Oh no, Mr. Burke, I fear my last day is upon me.” came Wills gaunt reply. “You go on, and save yourself. Tell everybody of what has happened in the weeks passed. You will be a hero.”
Burke slowly shook his head, as his eyes seemed to gloss over as he stared at the ground. Wills shifted
from an uncomfortable position to another, bringing Burke back to the present. “No Mr. Wills, I have
made up my mind, and you are to accompany me immediately. We shall continue on-”.
“Immediately? interrupted Wills “I can’t move. Look at me. I am a wreck if ever you've seen one.”
“We will advance immediately during the cool night while it lasts. I will guide you. It would be foolish for
somebody in your poorly condition to be travelling in the heat of the day.” Said Burke.
“It is as if you cannot hear me”, persisted Wills. “I am in no position to move at all! How do you expect
me to walk myself out of this wretched place with limbs that do not work and a mind without will?”
shouted Wills, his face turning a shade of scarlet.
“Would be a shame for you, Mr Wills, to simple give up and die after all you had been through” Burke
said quietly.
Wills pondered this for a moment. It was true, he knew it. He had endured much and came so far, to
just lay down and surrender. It was not the ending he intended.
“Very Well. I will try to move. But it doesn’t mean we will be going anywhere.” said a more collected
Wills.
“Wonderful.” smiled Burke
He slowly sat upright, his body stiff and aching. “Well make no effort to help me.” said Wills, irritated
that Burke just sat and watched as Wills struggled to stand. Full of energy, it would seem, Burke stood
up in one fluent motion, and beckoned Wills closer.
“You will need these before we depart.” said Burke, handing Wills some water and dried Beef. Wills took
the offering and consumed them, feeling strangely more nourished than he had in weeks.
“Onwards, before the day breaks.” said Burke, turning away from the river and up the bank into the
darkness. Wills followed him gingerly, attempting to adapt to his bruised and bleeding feet once more.
In a matter of hours, the sunlight began to pierce the dark skies, turning them a soft pink, before transitioning to a cloudless blue, preparing to beat down relentlessly on the barren sunburnt land. Barren
except for two lonely figures traversing fields of brown spinifex, dead trees bleached white and rock
mounds radiating heat themselves. With a stained cloth wrapped around his face as protection from the
vicious sunlight, Wills followed Burke a couple of yards behind, one step after another, across an empty
plain, exempt of all forms of life. Wills was surprising himself with his undiscovered stores of energy,
which was nothing compared to Burke, who seemed to press on like a machine, needing neither food
nor water. On occasion, they would stop at a stream or billabong, Wills would drink, and Burke would
conjure a seemingly endless supply of rations from within his old duster, as if out of thin air. They conversed little, and focused mainly on the task at hand. As the day wore on into dusk, Wills was once
again at a loss of energy, so they stopped at the base of a jagged hill, having endured the worst of the
daylight heat, where they would stay briefly for some time until the sun had set. Their extended break
from travelling ceased when the southern cross was highest in the sky, as the two men took advantage
of the dropping temperatures and pressed on up the squat hill. The climb was long and at times Wills
needed to give in to the uphill battle he was fighting to put one foot ahead of the other, but Burke
ahead gave words of encouragement and they reached the summit before dawnbreak. From the summit, a small glowing light was visible illuminating amongst tall trees in the distance, the sinister silhouettes present on the leaves of the canopies.
“Salvation!” cried Wills. “We’re saved!”, tears of joy beginning to run after the trauma suffered seemed
to have come to an end. Burke stood aside, smiling, but noticeably less excited. Without another moment wasted, Wills flew down the side of the hill, falling but picking himself up again every time, and
ran with his remaining strength to the long sinister silhouettes and the beat of drums.
Wills had often wondered what could have been different had he travelled back west, back to the modern comforts of Melbourne, back to the people who had mourned him. But more than that he wondered
what had ever happened to Mr. Burke after that night atop the mount all those years ago. He had vanished without any mortal explanation. On rare occasions, Wills would see his bearded companion among
the trees, he was a ghost haunting the endlessly desolate desert, his face unchanged by time in a land
that was anything but.