Gina, Greg, and Brad sat at the edge of the road, too tired and too traumatized to walk, wondering if anyone would ever pass by again. There was no telling where the nearest town was or how many people were going to be driving around this time of night. “We’re gonna die,” Greg sighed.

“Yeah, watch out for those kangaroos,” Gina giggled as she leaned against his shoulder.

“Shouldn’t you try Paul’s phone again?” Brad asked anxiously.

“I’m telling you, there’s no signal,” Gina explained for the third time, trying to stay patient.

“They might have driven somewhere where there’s a cell site by now.”

Gina sighed and dialed again, not surprised to get the same mechanized voice announcing that the number was unavailable. “Nope,” Gina sighed.

“Do you think something’s happened?” Brad asked.

“Worrying about them isn’t gonna help anyone, dude,” Greg barked.

“Sorry,” Brad huffed, “but all I can think about is what those two could be doing to Fenny…”

“I thought they were driving off with her van,” Greg said.

“What if they’ve been caught or something?” Brad asked, beginning to panic himself.

“She’s got Paul with her,” Gina reminded him, “he’ll take good care of her.”

“Paul, sure,” Greg laughed, “he’s gonna be a lot of help.”

“You guys hear that?” Brad asked, jumping up. An old pickup truck was bumping down the road, and he wasted no time leaping into the middle of the street to block its path. The truck slowed to a halt and he wandered over to the driver’s window, where a kind, weathered face smiled up at him.

“You kids lookin’ for a ride? Where you headed?” he asked.

“Civilization,” Brad said with a grin.

“The best I got to offer is Brady Creek,” he laughed. “You’re welcome to come along if a couple of ya wanna sit in the back.”

Brad looked back at Gina and Greg who shrugged. “Sure,” he said, opening the door to join him in the cab.

“I’m Kev, by the way.” He stuck out his hand for Brad to shake.

“Brad,” he said, “and that’s Gina and Greg.”

Kev nodded. “So, what’s a Yank like you doing out in the middle of nowhere?”

“Car troubles,” Brad answered, watching Gina and Greg settle in the bed of the truck. “And we got lost.”

“Happens a lot out here,” Kev smiled as he headed off down the road again.

“So, no internal bleeding?” Paul asked, looking up from the map.

“Not that I’ve noticed,” Fenny replied.

“No broken bones?”

“Nope.”

“Ready to move on?”

“Move on?” Fenny asked. “Where to?”

“Food. Water. Shelter,” Paul said, helping Fenny to her feet.

“Oh,” she nodded, “right. Which way do we go?”

“That way,” he declared, pointing down the deserted road. “There’s a town called Kulpara just up that way.”

Fenny nodded again and they headed off. The sun was beginning to rise off to their right. “Wanna know what I’ve decided?” Fenny asked after a few minutes.

“What?”

“Getting kidnapped sucks.”

Paul laughed at her. “Yeah, it does.”

“So, anything interesting happen to you guys that I’ve missed?”

“Oh, getting chased by the bad guys, destroying cars, getting molested by Rona…”

“What?” Fenny gasped.

“She stripped down and tried to rape me when she dragged me back to her hotel room. So, I’ve managed to get to see both of our kidnappers naked, as well as Brad.”

“And Gina,” she smiled.

“Is there anything you two don’t talk about?” he asked, struggling against the laugh.

“Gina’s a gossip,” she smiled. “Nothing gets past her, and she makes sure nothing gets past me.”

“It’s the journalist in her,” Paul said, “the need to disseminate information.”

Fenny nodded and yawned. “You think it’s possible to fall asleep while walking?”

“Tired?” Paul asked as she wrapped herself around his arm.

“Exhausted. You?”

“Nah,” he said sleepily.

“I thought Australia would be a nice mellow change from LA. It hasn’t been.”

“Oz can be very tiring if you spend all your time here running for your life.”

“Oz,” Fenny smiled. “Whenever someone says that I expect to see a cloud of flying monkeys.” Paul took a few skipping steps and Fenny let go of his arm. “What are you doing?” she laughed.

“We’re off to see the wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” he sang, grabbing her arm and putting it through his. “We hear he is a whiz of a Wiz if ever a whiz there was. ”

“If ever oh-ever a whiz there was, the Wizard of Oz is one because, because, because, because, because, because,” they sang together as they skipped along the road, dodging rocks. “Because of the wonderful things he does…”

“Here we are,” Kev announced as he pulled up to a cute little farm house surrounded by sheep pastures. Brad realized he must have dozed off as the sun had managed to rise. “You guys look like you could use a good sleep and some food. This is the only place for a few miles, you’re welcome to stay with me and the wife.”

“Oh, thanks, that’s really very nice of you,” Brad smiled sleepily as he climbed out of the truck to reunite with Gina and Greg who obviously hadn’t managed to get any sleep. Without a word they followed Kev into the house.

“Lindy, we’ve got company for brekkie!” he called cheerfully.

“Really?” A tall woman with pewter hair appeared from the kitchen to smile at them.

“Picked up a few Yanks with car troubles,” Kev announced, gesturing at the three haggard visitors.

“Actually two yanks,” Gina piped up. “I’m their chaperone.” Greg rolled his eyes.

“Well come on in, we’ve got food on the table, I’ll fix up some more.” She set about in the kitchen as Kev guided them to the table and full plates were set before them. “So, what’re you doing out here in Brady Creek?” Lindy asked.

“Got lost sightseeing,” Brad said, reaching for a jar of preserves.

“You look like you’ve been chewed up and spit back out,” Lindy laughed. “How long have you been lost?”

“Not long. Just lost our luggage,” Greg sighed, “don’t have a change of clothes.”

“You’re not doing too well for yourselves, are you?” Kev laughed.

“Batting a thousand,” Greg huffed. Three pairs of Australian eyes settled confusedly on him and he frowned into his eggs.

“Your singing isn’t half bad when you’re drowned out by me,” Paul chuckled as they wandered into town.

“I can’t believe you know the words to every song in that movie off the top of your head,” Fenny laughed.

“So this is Kulpara, huh?” Paul mused, looking around the town and avoiding the topic of his knowledge of musicals.

“Looks like every other town we’ve been dragged through,” Fenny sighed. “Let’s just get some rooms and get to sleep before I collapse and you’re forced to carry me through the streets.”

“I’d probably just leave ya,” Paul announced.

“I love you too,” Fenny laughed.

“I’d bring back a blanket,” he assured her with a smile.

“You’re a prince.”

“Look, they’ll give us a room,” Paul said and grabbed her hand to drag her into an inn.

“Five o’clock in the morning and we need a room, that’s a bit odd, isn’t it?” Fenny sighed as they headed for the only person in the front room, an old man sitting at a table reading a magazine.

“Excuse me, can we get a couple rooms?” Paul asked.

“Don’t have a couple rooms,” he answered, not looking up.

“You don’t have any free rooms?” Paul demanded, wondering how a little town like this could have enough tourists coming through to fill up all the rooms.

“Got one,” he grumbled.

“Fine, whatever,” Paul said. “We just need a place to sleep.”

The old man looked up at Paul and over to Fenny. “I’m sure you do,” he smiled and wandered over to where he could find the key.

After their breakfast, Gina and Greg were escorted to the master bedroom while Brad was shown what looked like the room of a son gone off to college, where he stripped to his shorts and quickly fell asleep.

Gina, meanwhile, had similar plans and pulled off her shoes and pants and slipped between the covers of the bed in the next room. Seconds later she felt Greg’s body pressed against her back as he held her close to him, his legs entwining with hers, light kisses dropped on her neck.

“Greg,” she sighed.

“Hmm.”

“Get off.”

“Huh?”

“I’m tired.”

“Tired?” Greg echoed.

Gina turned to face him. “I feel like I haven’t slept in 3 days. I’m too tired to even think back to how long it’s been since I got a good night’s sleep.”

“But it’s morning.”

“A good fucking morning’s sleep then,” Gina barked.

“I was gonna let you dominate me,” Greg whined.

“Tough.”

“Well if you don’t want me to screw you silly, just tell me.”

“I don’t want you to screw me silly,” she yawned and rolled over again.

“Fine,” he huffed and rolled over to the opposite side of the bed. As the prospect of sex was suddenly denied him, he felt the impossible weight of sleep descend upon him and, in spite of himself, he drifted off.

“Horny bastard,” Gina sighed as he began to snore lightly.

Paul and Fenny wandered into their room. “What do you think happened to the others?” Fenny asked. “You think they’re ok?”

“I’m sure they are,” Paul assured her. “They’ve gotten out of worse messes than this.”

“I guess you’re right.” Fenny flopped on the bed and kicked off her shoes. She shot Paul a sideways glance nervously, and he turned away as she slipped off her jeans and hopped into bed.

“After all,” he continued as he slipped out of his shirt, “they’ve got Gina’s brains, Brad’s raw panic, and Greg’s ability to piss everyone off, what could go wrong?”

He turned to slip into bed, Fenny trying to work the tangles out of her hair with her fingers. “The only upside of being with Ritza is that they had a hairbrush,” she said.

They heard a door slam in the next room and Fenny instinctively cocked her head to listen. “Lost another fucking car!”

“But at least they’re dead.”

Fenny and Paul looked at each other, eyes wide. “That’s—”

“Ritza and Rona,” Fenny finished for him.

They edged closer to the headboard to listen more closely. “I can’t wait to tell him his precious little Fenny is dead, burned to death in a fiery explosion after being dashed against pointy rocks at the bottom of a cliff,” Ritza cackled.

“Stop scheming and shut up and sleep,” Rona yelped. “I’m beat.”

“They want to sleep, do they?” Paul said softly, wringing his hands and looking just like the Wicked Witch of the West.

“What?” Fenny asked, wary of what he could be planning.

He got on his knees and bounced around on the bed a bit, moving around until he found a squeaky spring. “Oooh,” he groaned. “Mmmm.” He nodded at Fenny, who looked horrified yet somehow amused. “Come on baby, let me have it,” he cried.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” came the response from next door. “Some guy’s got a hooker in the next room.”

“God you feel so good,” Paul continued as he gave the bed a few good bounces.

Fenny shrugged and grabbed hold of the headboard, banging it against the wall. “Oh yes,” she moaned, putting on a prim London accent as she didn’t trust her Aussie accent and figured her California accent would be suspicious. “Oh darling, harder, please, yes.”

Paul winked at Fenny and drowned out her giggling with more groans and gasps. “Oh, I love it when you do it like that, yeah…”

They continued with the jumping on the bed and banging the headboard and screaming and trying to smother their laughter, working to a fever pitch.

Fenny let out an earth shattering orgasmic cry that almost fooled Paul, and he was there in the room with her. She collapsed on the bed, giggling into the pillow as Paul panted dramatically and let the bed springs slow. He lay down next to her and pulled the covers up over both of them.

“If they start up again,” came the muffled voice from the next room, “I’m gonna shoot ‘em. It’d be worth it just to read their obits.”

Fenny and Paul both chuckled to themselves. “That was great,” he said, a bit breathless.

“You weren’t so bad yourself,” Fenny said, still with that accent. She smiled at him. “Think it’s safe to sleep now?”

“I don’t care if it is, I’m going to,” Paul said and closed his eyes. Fenny nodded and rolled onto her side and was asleep almost instantly.