Walkabout (Urban Hunters #3)

By Gary Taaffe

WALKABOUT (book 3)

Billy leaves his family and the bush for the first time ever, but wolf-whistles and abuse leave him confused about the appeal of his bare bum. A friendly trucker named Turbo, teaches him that he won’t pick up any girls wearing a bright red sundress. And he nearly runs back home after a gruesome discovery in a barrel at the tip. He calls upon his ancestors for help with shocking results, and he’s forced to fight off a mongrel old man in a violent confrontation. A darkened alley full of rats in the city reveals a beautiful girl. Amber’s pyjamas are covered in mud and blood and she’s stained in tears, and Billy falls in love.

“It was such a fun and entertaining adventure story. Great gross-out scenes that I loved from the first book. I loved the Aussie lingo. The humor had me laughing out loud in places.” Jessica B, USA

“This writer has done something rare - he’s come up with something so original that I can’t even compare it to other books. It stands alone. And his humour is really sensational.” Jack S, Australia

“Can’t wait for the next in the series as I couldn’t put it down. They really are good value.” Ann C, UK

URBAN HUNTERS is laugh–out–loud, gut–churning, heart–wrenching storytelling at its best. Unlike anything you’ve ever read, in typical Taaffe fashion. Hilarious as usual. Always surprising. Wonderful!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Taaffe
• Release date: Sep 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9780987176028

Gary Taaffe

Gary Taaffe is the No.1 Bestselling Amazon Author of 9 fiction and 2 non-fiction books, including the Urban Hunters series for Young Adults and his Stampede series, a no-nonsense guide to book marketing for authors.New York Book Review, W.D La Rue said, “I would read ANYTHING this man wrote.”Gary lives in Forster-Tuncurry, Australia, where he’s surrounded by waterways for fishing and bushland for hunting. He writes fulltime with new books coming out in quick succession.If you want to be the first to hear of his latest release, sign up to his newsletter, and if you want to find Gary socially, click one of the links below:Subscribe to my Readers Group newsletter to be the first to hear of new releases in the Urban Hunters series: http://eepurl.com/_E311Subscribe to my Marketing Strategies that Work! newsletter: http://eepurl.com/baqxn5Instagram: Gary_Taaffe https://instagram.com/gary_taaffe/Pinterest: Gary Taaffe https://www.pinterest.com/garytaaffe/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Taaffe/212091488802148Twitter: @Urban_Hunters: http://twitter.com/urban_huntersPUBLISHERGary is a perfectionist who creates stunning books, both inside and out.He always has formatting jobs on the go for fiction authors but his latest claim to fame are his step-by-step publishing guides that are paving the way for clubs and committees around the world to gather large groups of people together to publish their stories, photos and works of art into highly sought after full colour books.Check out his Services page for more information.

Book preview

Titles available in the

URBAN HUNTERS

series

1. Four Small Stones

2. Tribal Scarring

3. Walkabout

Billy arrives in the city to mixed reactions: he has to fight off a mongrel old man, he makes a gruesome discovery in a barrel at the tip and wolf–whistles leave leave him confused over the appeal of his bare bum.

That’s all easy, until he meets Amber down a rat–infested alley.

It was such a fun and entertaining adventure story. Great gross–out scenes that I loved from the first book. I loved the Aussie lingo. The humor had me laughing out loud in places. Jessica B, USA

This writer has done something rare — he’s come up with something so original that I can’t even compare it to other books. It stands alone. And his humour is really sensational. Jack, Australia

Can’t wait for the next in the series as I couldn’t put it down. They really are good value. Ann, UK

URBAN HUNTERS is laugh–out–loud, gut–churning, heart–wrenching storytelling at its best. Unlike anything you’ve ever read, in typical Taaffe fashion. Hilarious as usual. Always surprising. Wonderful!

4. Budgie Smugglers

5. Bullies

6. The Orphanage

7. Bowels of Hell

8. Final Straw

Urban Hunters Box Set (Books 1–8)

9. WANTED! New Dad

10, 11, 12. Coming soon!

For more information on these titles, click here to get started:

http://BunyaPublishing.com

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Book 3

WALKABOUT

Gary Taaffe

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COPYRIGHT

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher

Copyright © Gary Taaffe 2012

Published by Bunya Publishing

Cover artwork by Toby Quarmby Copyright © Gary Taaffe 2011

Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to customs and cultures, actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

The moral right of the author has been asserted

ISBN: 978–0–9871760–2–8

Edition: v11.1.16smash

http://BunyaPublishing.com

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Cast of Characters

Whenever you come across a character for the first time in this book, they’ll be linked to the Cast of Characters at the end of this story. It's a great reminder of who’s who in the zoo. Plus, you’ll learn how to pronounce their name.

Table of Contents

Titles Available in the Urban Hunters series

Title Page

Copyright

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 — Walkabout

Chapter 2 — Turbo

Chapter 3 — Trash and Treasure

Chapter 4 — Honey

Chapter 5 — Love Hurts

Chapter 6 — Moth Balls

Chapter 7 — The Shudder of the Dead

Chapter 8 — Stomp

Chapter 9 — Ya Bloody, Idiot!

Chapter 10 — Sydney

Chapter 11 — The Take-Away Shop

Chapter 12 — Tiny White Hairs

Chapter 13 — Rat Tails

Cast of Characters

Thank You!

About the Author

Urban Hunters Books

Bonus Feature

End of Book

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— CHAPTER ONE —

Walkabout

Billy heard his family’s song follow him down the river in his canoe. It was comforting — as if they were still with him as he drifted along on the current. Soon though, as time went by and he gathered some distance, his isolation started to close in on him. He’d never felt so alone in all his life. He wasn’t just off on an adventure for a day or two into another area of the Wollemi. He was heading into new territory. Whitefella territory. People who killed his people. Shot them on sight to be rid of them.

He felt a change filtering over him. Everything seemed different. Colours looked particularly vibrant. The twitter of a bird had him identifying its age, species and gender. Even working out where it was without looking.

He felt alive.

Really alive.

As if he was born again.

Do or die, he decided with excitement surging through his soul.

The world was his.

He could do anything.

Go anywhere.

WOOO HOOO, he hollered for all the world to hear I AM COMING!

He stood and twirled his bullroarer above his head and hollered again. Birds took to the air while water dragons dived from overhanging tree branches into the depths of the river in fear of the sound reverberating off the cliff face.

He sat down and paddled ahead, desperate to discover the world. For the first time in his life, he didn’t have to hide. To be on constant alert for other people — for whitefellas. It was time to do the opposite. To get amongst them. To learn about them. To see if it was safe for his family to come out of hiding after all these years. To find a new future. He was buzzing with excitement.

Then, as the heat of the day slowed him down, he relaxed to take in the sights and admire this unknown river. He stopped paddling altogether, letting the current take him wherever it wanted. Savouring every moment of freedom.

He wasn’t used to wearing anything more than his loincloth so he removed his hat and vest and packed them carefully into his new bag. Then he drifted into a state of contemplation — considering his journey, where he would go and what he would do. His dreams had shown him a high peak at the end of the river just north of his destination, where he was to wait for word from his mother before going any farther.

The sun was well up by the time the Colo River delivered him safely onto the Hawkesbury River. It crawled along at a snail’s pace by comparison, giving him plenty of time to marvel at the wonders of the modern world: massive humpies laying in seclusion along the riverbank with strange looking canoes tied to jetties.

Startled fishermen in tinnies got a fright as Billy drifted quietly by. He was like a vision from another era, standing on the front of his canoe in just a loincloth with a four–pronged fishing spear in hand, ready for a curious fish to come close, or to defend himself against a killer if need be.

G’day, mate, they all smiled.

G’day, mate, Billy replied, relaxing his grip on the spear.

He passed a houseboat and saw a woman for the first time ever. She emerged from the shadows within wearing a sky blue costume. Her enormous white thighs glaring in the sun like the moon’s cratered surface. She carried a shiny white toddler while pointing and waving excitedly to Billy. The baby wasn’t happy at all as hulking great flaps of fat kept hitting him in the back of the head every time she waved her arm. Billy waved back and hoped she’d stop. It only made it worse.

He wondered what it would have been like to have his mum point things out to him. She seemed so gentle — always smiling so kindly whenever she appeared in his dreams. Then he realised that his mum had a pudgy face just like this lady’s. Suddenly he understood why his dad wanted him to find a fat one to keep him warm in winter — his mum was a big