I told you we should have gotten on that other bus”, said James. “I _told_ you - now I don’t even know where we’re going.”

“…How many times have you said ‘I told you so’ since we left? I dunno what happened, I must have misunderstood the map or something”.

“Well, we’re lost now”, said James.

“Looks like it”, said Riley, peering out the window and yawning into the day. Squinting from bleary eyes, he realized he didn’t recognize a single name on the street signs that passed by at a rapid clip through the grimy window. He was far from home now - further than he’d ever been in fact.

“How can you be so relaxed about all this?”

Riley shrugged. “Iunno. As long as we’re going somewhere and it’s not back right?“

“…Yeah I guess. But, I just don’t know where we are. What if we get caught or something…or-“

“Shhhh. It’ll be OK, don’t stress yourself. We’ll work it all out.”

James opened his mouth to argue, but was stopped when he felt the gentle weight of Riley’s head on his shoulder. A gnawing anxiety remained, but for a brief moment it was assuaged. He soon felt Riley’s breathing slow, and although a lingering worry remained, he felt his own eyes becoming heavy. He could feel the rattle and hum of the bus, and soon he drifted into a restless slumber.

******

Riley felt a shudder as he jolted awake, his head thumping painfully against the window.

“End of the line boys!” shouted a hoarse voice from the front of the bus.

“Crap, now what. Come on, we gotta get off”, said James, nudging - shaking - Riley awake with great effort.

“Wha…what’s going on…”

“The driver says we gotta get off here.”

“…where are we?”, said Riley, rubbing sleep from his eyes. The suburbs had all but gone now, replaced by dry scrub and neither of the two boys had any idea where they were. They werent sure how long they’d been asleep, and for all they knew they could have been in the middle of the outback.

“Disneyland - how the hell should I know?”

“Come on you pair - haven’t got all day you know. Time waits for no man.”

“Alright alright, jeez - hold your horses _old man”, _muttered James under his breath.

“I heard that.”

With a glare towards the front of the bus, James helped Riley to his feet and the two of them made for the exit, stumbling in weary resignation into the heat of the day.

“Do you know where-“, said Riley, but his voice was muffled by the door of the bus closing and the roar of the engine as it rumbled into life once again, rough and indifferent.

“Wanker.”

The bus lurched and began to lumber into the distance, the red tail lights shimmering and soon vanishing completely. Neither boy knew quite what to do or what to say, but it was James who eventually broke the silence.

“Crap.”

“Yeah I know - I know I messed up and probably read the map wrong, and we shouldn’t have gotten on that bus. Im sorry OK?”

“No…it’s not that.”

Riley looked at James quizically. “What is it then?”

“….the backpack - it was on the bus.”

“What? That had all our money and the stuff we bought with us in it. I thought you had it.”

“I thought _you_ did.”

“Nope.” Riley kicked at the dirt below, frustration in his voice. “Well, it’s gone now - what are we gonna do?”

This time, James didn’t have an answer. “I’m sorry….”

It was a misunderstanding, and a costly one, but in their weariness they couldnt find it in themselves to be angry at each other.

Riley flopped down in the dirt, pulling his knees to his chest, looking around at the desolate expanse of road that seemed to stretch forever in both directions like some dark creature snaking towards the horizon and back.

“Well, _now_ we’re lost.”

**

Beneath the shade of a ghost gum, the two boys sat in quiet contemplation, their damp backs pressed against the cool trunk. Riley’s t-shirt lay around his feet, cast aside in a futile effort to combat the languid heat. James stared into the day, eyes cast ahead for any signs of life.

“Which way do you think home is?”

Snapped out of his this thoughts, Riley shrugged.

“Iunno. We came from…that way didn’t we?”

“I’m not even sure. It’s weird - I didn’t think we’d come so far. It’s like we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yeah I know.”

The two boys fell silent once more. For two kids who had grown up in the suburbs, the flatlands around them felt strange and unfamiliar. The only shadows that could be found were those of the dry gums looming in quiet repose, their branches ghostly white beneath the ceaseless sun.

“Do you think they’re looking for us?”, said Riley.

“Our parents? Yours maybe. Mine, definitely not.”

There was something in James’ voice that hadn’t been there a moment ago - a deeper sadness that seemed to have come from within. Riley wasn’t as adept as James at putting such things into words, but he could sense something beneath the surface.

“Maybe we should just…go back”, he said softly. “I mean we don’t even have any money.”

“What do you mean - like, home?”

“Well…yeah. I know what happened with your mum and dad but they can’t be angry at you forever can they?”

“Yeah - they can. I heard what they said. You don’t know what they’re like. Sorry for being a jerk earlier, but if you wanna go back I’m not gonna hate you for it”, said James gently.

“Well I’m not if you’re not. I’m not gonna leave you on your own.” There was a new strength to Riley’s words that were reflected in his eyes. He’d never been so sure of anything in his life.

“Besides, if I went home now my dad would ground me until I was 18 anyway. Probably longer even.”

“…I guess we just keep going then.”

“Yeah, I-“

“What?”, said James, waiting for Riley to finish his sentence. His gaze was fixed on road ahead at a distant object barreling towards them.

**

“What are you boys doing out here all by yourselves? Lost or something?”

The man peering from behind dark glasses through the window of the beaten-up ute spoke slowly, his words a lazy drawl. As he spoke, he drew back on a cigarette. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry. When neither boy answered, he took it upon himself to fill in the silence.

“Must be - all the way out here in the middle of nowhere. Where you two headed?”

Riley and James shared a glance, and both knew they were thinking the same thing. The man had been nice enough to pull over, but still neither of them were sure how much to tell him.

“We’re headed to town, that way”, said Riley, pointing towards what they thought was the opposite of where they’d come from. “whichever towns the next one.”

“That’d be Mudgeribah - long way off though - ‘bout an hour give or take.” The man laughed, a throaty chuckle. “You boys really aren’t from around here are you?”

Riley shrugged.

“Well look, I’m just passing through - headed that way myself if you want a lift.”

The ute rattled and clicked beside them, but neither of them was certain about the man’s offer.

“You think we should?”, whispered James.

“I mean he said he was going the same way. I don’t know though.”

“Yeah me neither...” James thought back to a book he’d read a while back, about a man who stalked the outback in a black four-wheel drive, abducting anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. _The LandCruiser of doom_, or something equally ridiculous.

“What if he’s….you know?”

“What if he’s what?”

“Like…a bad guy.”

“Oh. I mean he seems OK?”

“Yeah I guess . I dunno. We can’t just stay here either. Could be ages before another car comes.“

“Yeah I guess.”

“You boys need a lift or no?”, said the man’s voice from inside the cab of the ute, louder now.

The boys glanced at each other and nodded.

“One of you boys can hop up front”, the man said.

Riley thought about it for a moment, but in the end clambered into the backseat next to James. As the car began to move, he realized he hadn’t asked the man’s name.

**

As the Ute rattled along, Riley stared blankly out the window, watching the flatlands pass by In a blur of brown and dull green. If the two boys were far from home before, they seemed to be even further now. Up front the man fiddled with the knob on the radio, searching through the stations over and over and over again as if searching for something in particular, to no avail; every now and then the boys would see him glance backwards, but the only thing that could be heard was an endless array of static.

James yawned, wiping his forehead on his shirt. It felt hotter inside the car than outside, even more so due to the fact that the windows didn’t seem to be stuck up, unable to be wound down at all.

“You boys alright back there?”, said the man, peering backwards.

“Um, yeah I guess.”

“Much further?”, said Riley, still not seeing any signs of life outside the window.

“Little ways yet….bit further down the road. Won’t be much longer now.”

The man cleared his throat, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. “So where you boys really off to?”

The two boys looked at each other, still not sure how much to tell the man. It was James who spoke first.

“Anywhere.”

“Lotta ‘anywheres’ out here. What, you kids runaways? Bit young to be on your own.”

The two boys shared a glance; neither of them answered, but the man nodded all the same.

“You two brothers or what? Don’t look alike.”

James hesitated for a second. He wasn’t sure what came over him, but all at once he felt a new boldness. “Were not brothers. He’s my boyfriend.”

“You two poofdas?“

“Guess so. That a problem?” Riley turned to James and smiled, his eyes shining for the first time in a while. James grinned back at him.

“Yeah well….city’s full of em. No matter - live and let live I say. You boys want some water? Think I have some up here. Bloody hot day…”, he said, rummaging around in the passenger seat and pulling out a plastic water bottle and passing it backwards. As he gazed backwards, neither boy saw the look that lingered in his eyes.

*****

The man had given up fiddling with the radio now, and the car had fallen silent.

“Bloody thing”, he said with a grunt.

Perhaps it was the heat, or just plain weariness but James could feel his eyes growing heavy once again, as if he was having to make a conscious effort to keep them open. Beside him, Riley was weary too, but he was still focused on looking for any sign of life amongst the vastness. He could see that the land around them seemed to be changing, dry scrub giving way to yet more barren earth, tinged with red and brown.

Riley noticed something in the corner of his vision. It passed by in a flash, too quick to discern, but there was no mistaking it - a sign, something that would have told them where they were.

“Hey James - wake up. Hey - there was a sign back there. Excuse me.”

The man seemed to not hear him, staring ahead, his eyes focused forward. Riley began to wonder if maybe he’d misunderstood what the man said - that he’d drop them off at the next town.

“Hey. Hello.”

Riley shook James awake, but he seemed to linger in his weariness. Instead of slowing, the car seemed to be moving faster now; he tried once again to get the man’s attention, still to no avail.

“Riley…I think somethings wrong…”, muttered James. His stomach began to churn, over and over and over again. “I feel…sick….”

“Hey - we need to stop. He’s not OK…”

The man paid no attention. James was right; something was wrong. Panic began to rise in Riley’s chest; he thought about jumping out of the car, but he wasn’t going to leave James behind.

“Fucking stop! We wanna get out!”

He tried the door handle, but it didn’t budge. James’ couldn’t hold it back any longer; a river of vomit fell from his mouth, pooling in his lap.

“Shit - James!”

As the two boys felt the car jerk to a stop, Riley felt James’s hand slip into his.

*****

Hundreds of miles away, John Shipton knew he had a job to do. Hat in hand, his head lowered, he cleared his throat, bracing himself.

“Look - It’s been close on a week now. We’re still doing everything we can - of course…we’re putting every resource we can spare into this.”

“What else can we do? There has to be something - we can’t just sit here. I know I haven’t been a very good father, and I’ve said some things I can’t take back. But god, I’d give anything to have him home safe and sound. This has all just been a big misunderstanding….”

“Look, these sort of family matters - these…misunderstandings - are always difficult. But, I have to be honest. This sort of situation usually tends to resolve themselves in the first 48 hours.”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“Given the timeframe we’re looking at, and how little we have to go off so far, I think at this point the chances of James being found are slim.”

The woman in front of him began to crumble.