See? he thought. This is the whole reason the forests shouldn’t be knocked down. He felt the familiar surge of anger at the thought of these animals losing their homes.

He slowly sank to the ground and sat there, legs out in front of him and his arms behind his body propping him up, watching the roo. He could see the animal’s nose twitching. It could probably smell them and was trying to work out whether they meant danger.

He smiled as the roo took a small hop towards him, unaware there was a human close by. Suddenly there was a loud metal bang as the bucket of the loader, which was about one and a half metres in the air, fell to the ground.

From deep in the forest, a loud cry from the alarmed birds echoed through the night, and the roo raised itself to its full height before bounding away in fear.

‘Shit,’ the other man said loudly from the back of the tractor. ‘Sorry. I’ve fucked it up back here. Lost the hydraulic oil that holds the bucket up.’

Colin stared in dread at the bucket that had come down on his legs. He hadn’t even realised he was that close to the tractor. Now, he was pinned to the ground. Colin reached out to try to shift the bucket—a futile movement, he knew. It was larger than he was and its steel was at least a few centimetres thick. But he had to try! It shouldn’t be on his legs. How was he going to get out, now the hydraulic pump had been taken off the machine?

It was strange, he thought. Surely this should hurt? He couldn’t feel anything. Reaching down, his hand came away wet. He could smell it. Blood.

‘Mate?’ Colin’s voice was panicked. ‘Jeez, I’m bleeding.’

‘What do you mean, you’re bleeding?’ The leader came out from behind the tractor. ‘Did you scratch yourself on something?’

‘Front. Tractor.’ He wanted to squeal with fear, but his head was fuzzy now and he couldn’t work out how to move his tongue.

‘What? Oh, fuck!’ The man raced to the front of the tractor where Colin was pinned underneath the bucket. He knelt down and realised there was blood seeping into his jeans and onto the ground beneath him.

Colin tried to grab at his arm, but his hand felt heavy and he couldn’t make contact.

‘It’s okay, mate. It’s okay. Gerard!’ He turned and yelled over his shoulder. ‘Ring an ambulance. Now! For fuck’s sake. Colin, mate, hang in there. We’ll get you out.’

The man got up and tried to lift the bucket. It was a dead weight. ‘Help here, Gerard. Quick!’

‘Shit, what’s happening?’ Gerard asked, finally arriving and seeing his friend lying in a pool of blood, with his head thrown back and his face pale, not just from the glow of the moon.

Racing back, the leader looked at Colin, whose eyes were shut now, his face white and bloodless. ‘No, no, no!’ he muttered as he ripped off his shirt and tried to stem the blood flow. Deep inside, though, he knew it was futile.