8. Panic

The common room smelt of freshly cooked popcorn, and the others were gathered around the television, watching Flicka. Mikaela sat sideways across a lounge chair, a bowl of popcorn on her lap, her eyes glued to her phone. The fly-spray girls smiled at me blankly when I asked if everyone was feeling all right.

‘Yeah, why?’ asked the pink twin nearest me.

‘No reason.’

‘Here, check this out.’ Alice motioned me over to the noticeboard. The daily planner said we were having spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. I chewed my cheek. If Spud really did have Hendra, he could be dead before dinner.

Next to the planner was the list of first-aid points Mrs Bacton had mentioned the first morning. There were tips on what to do in case of snakebite, precautions to take if someone fell and had concussion, and advice to follow if someone drowned in a dam.

‘That bit.’ Alice pointed to a separate piece of paper tacked on at the bottom like an afterthought, a last-minute ailment that Mrs Bacton had remembered in the dead of night. ‘Read that bit.’

I moved in to take a look. It was titled ‘Understanding Bats’.

‘Don’t touch bats,’ it said. ‘Bats are not your friends.’

My eyes darted down the list.

‘If Hendra virus is suspected, take the following safety precautions:

• • AVOID CONTACT WITH HORSE NASAL SECRETIONS OR SALIVA.
• • PRACTISE GOOD HYGIENE AT ALL TIMES. WASH/SHOWER THOROUGHLY IF CONTACT SUSPECTED.
• • ONLY EXPERIENCED VETINERARY STAFF TO HANDLE INFECTED ANIMALS.
• • WEAR FULL PROTECTIVE CLOTHING.

My eyeballs bulged. Alice and I had not practised good hygiene. We had not avoided nasal secretions or worn protective clothing. We’d touched Spud all over. I had kissed Spud’s muzzle several times, even when he had snorted licorice goo all over me. If Spud really did have Hendra, Alice and I would definitely be loaded with Hendra-virus-carrying cells.

I stared at Alice. Her eyes were wide. My chest squeezed. This could become a spiralling emergency. Mrs Bacton had left me in charge, and it was my job to warn the others. Keep them calm. Anyone who’d touched Spud would need to have a long hot shower to wash off any infectious cells. Someone would have to tell Mrs Bacton. If she wasn’t back yet, we’d have to go to the house and call her mobile and 000 on her phone.

I ticked the points off in my head.

Warn the others.

Shower.

Mrs Bacton.

Triple zero.

I explained my plan to Alice before turning to face the group. ‘Everyone, listen up!’ I announced, placing myself in front of the TV. ‘There’s no need for anyone to panic. I’ve got it under control.’

The girls looked at me and then at each other. Noses scrunched, eyebrows folded. The biggest fly-spray girl sighed and reached for the remote. ‘What’s under control?’ she snapped, angling her arm around me and pointing the remote at the TV.

The volume skyrocketed, sending Flicka thundering across the screen.

I took a deep breath. I needed to calm down. I’d scare them half to death if I told them we were all about to die.

‘Has anyone come into contact with Spud today?’ I continued in a slow clear voice.

No-one answered.

I soldiered on. ‘If you have, you need to have a long hot shower. So that’s me and Alice. Anyone else?’ I looked around the scowling faces.

Mikaela looked up from her phone. ‘Like, who’d want to touch that aardvark?’ she muttered before returning to her screen.

‘Okay, so no-one?’ I said, standing firm in front of the TV. ‘That’s good. And, the stables are out of bounds from now on. Strictly quarantined, okay?’

‘Why?’ demanded one of the pink twins.

I frowned. ‘If I tell you, I don’t want any hysteria, okay?’

No-one said anything.

I took a stabilising breath. ‘There could be a Hendra outbreak on this property.’

There. I’d said it!

I expected crying and maybe some gasping, but there was none of that. In fact, not much happened. There was one sigh and one ‘for goodness sake’.

One of the pink twins spoke first. ‘How come?’

‘Alice and I went to check on the horses before, and Spud was acting really weird.’ I glanced at Alice, and she nodded. ‘He was down at the water trough with this gross dead bat, and we think it’s given him Hendra. I mean, he doesn’t actually look too bad … but you never know, and now we’ve touched him and …’

‘Eww, how big was it?’ asked someone.

‘How big was what?’

‘The bat. Was it gross? Did it bite you? Where is it?’

‘Forget about the bat. Listen to what I’m saying! Spud might have Hendra virus!’

The pink twin shook her head. ‘Nope, it won’t be Hendra. It can’t be. The horses will be vaccinated. Mrs Bacton just wouldn’t risk it. Not with all those bats around.’

‘Yeah,’ said a fly-spray girl. ‘Isn’t it like a law anyway? Hendra’s deadly.’

I took a deep breath. Maybe they were right. Maybe Mrs Bacton had vaccinated her horses?

I didn’t notice Mikaela until she was standing right next to me. ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I mean, I’ve heard those injections can get pretty expensive. You’ve seen this place. Mrs Bacton is broke as. I really don’t think she would have forked out for all the horses to be vaccinated. Maybe just the good ones?’

I hesitated. The riding school was pretty run-down. But if it was the law …

‘And also, what’s with that weirdo neighbour guy? The one you said was raving on about shooting? I thought I saw him heading towards the house just before, and I’m pretty sure he had a gun.’

My tongue contracted some new disease, swelling and growing too fat for my throat. I couldn’t speak. My face burnt hot, as if I’d rubbed it all over with Dad’s insanely fiery chillies.

Mr Shearer was here? With a gun?

‘Don’t be stupid!’ said someone. ‘Why would the neighbour guy be here? Didn’t Mrs Bacton go to help him?’

I turned away, my breath trapped in my chest. I knew why Mr Shearer was here. Shoot them. Kill them. He’d come to shoot Spud.

Behind me, everyone argued. The pink twins said Mikaela was making things up. Mikaela was adamant she’d seen Mr Shearer. The fly-spray girls said even if she had seen him, there was no way he was carrying a gun. People didn’t just go around shooting horses.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to block out their voices. I wished it was only a dream and I’d wake up any minute to find there were no bats, no Hendra, no maniac with a gun.

It took a moment to register a hand pulling at my arm.

‘It mightn’t be too late,’ Alice whispered. ‘If they can’t find Spud, they can’t kill him, right?’

‘What’d you mean?’

‘If he’s not in the stables or in the paddock, Mr Shearer will have nothing to shoot. Think about it.’

I nodded, my heart thrashing. ‘You’re right,’ I said.