by Adam Smith
Ute. “Follow me.” Says Mark over the two way and we head off for a long days drive.
About 5 hours into our drive we’ve seen nothing. No zombies, no people, no towns, just picturesque west Australian bush and scrub. “Copy guys. I’ve gotta piss. I’m stopping.” I hear Mark say over the two way. We all slow down and stop in the middle of the empty highway next to a tree. The hot still air around us, the noise of insects and birds. I get out of the truck for a stretch and a piss. We all meet over at the tray of the girls Ute for some drinks and a break. “How much further until our overnight stop?” Asks Fiona. “Maybe another 3 hours.” Says Mark. “Where are we going to stay?” Asks Sandy. Mark and I look at each other and say. “The pub!” “Haha guess we should’ve expected that.” Laugh the girls. We all get back in our vehicles and head off down the road again.
“Towns only ten k’s from here.” Says Mark on the two way. “Copy that mate, head in slow, keep an eye out and we’ll go straight for the pub.” I reply. “Sounds good.” Replies Mark. I see the speed signs getting slower then, the welcome sign. We carry on past an agricultural maintenance and supplies yard on the right, a bakery and small general store on the left. The town is very quiet, we see the pub on the left. “The Railway Hotel” is the name of the pub. We pull into the carpark, get out of the vehicles and take a look around. Looking at the pub we can see a drive thru bottle shop on the right hand side near a small beer garden, the main building in front of us with doors in the middle, on the left of the building there’s quite a few rooms spread out, the car park extends all the way to the edge of the main road, only divided from it by a small nature strip. In front of one of the rooms we can see a blue wagon parked neatly with the windows slightly down and a sun shade on the windshield. “That’s a bit odd.” Fiona says. As she starts walking towards the car with her .22 pump action rifle at the ready. Fiona gets within fifteen metres of the door when suddenly the door handle twists and the door opens, a young man with short blonde hair and glasses, wearing thongs, black shorts and a white long sleeved shirt walks out with his hands above his head. We all stop what we are doing and watch what is happening, I raise my rifle and aim at the man, just in case. “Hi there… Ahh… I’m Lewis.” Says the man. “Come out here and kneel down, is there anyone else in there?” Asks Fiona.” No, there’s no one else here. Just me.” Says Lewis as he walks out of the room into the carpark and kneels down with his hands on his head. “Watch him. I’ll check the room.” Says Fiona. “Yeah no worries.” I reply, walking over to Lewis as Fiona heads inside the room and checks it out. She returns a few seconds later and says. “He’s not lying. There’s no one in here.” “I...I told you that.” stutters Lewis. “So, what’s going on here mate?” I ask Lewis. “Oh… umm. I come out here prospecting quite often.” He says still kneeling on the floor. “Dickhead. We want to know what the deal is with the town and pub. Are there many zombies inside? Are there more people here?” Says Mark. Lewis just stares at Mark then looks at Fiona. “Stand up mate. We’re not here to hurt you.” I say reaching out my hand to help Lewis up. He grabs it and gets to his feet. “I’m Smithy mate. That’s Fiona, Mark and Sandy. Wait… where’s Sandy?” I say as we look around. “I’m over here.” Says Sandy. She walks back to us from near the beer garden. “Guys! There’s lights on in the kitchen.” She Says in excitement. I look back at Lewis as Fiona shoulders her rifle. “Care to explain mate?” I say sternly. “As I was… was saying. I… I come out here prospecting a lot. And after the.. ahh… undead began walking around. I came back here.” “Get to the fucking point!” Says Mark harshly. “Oh… the… the power is from the emergency generator in the shed out the back.” “Not possible.” I say. “It’d be out of fuel by now.” Says Fiona. “No… n… no, it’s fuel is from the servo next door. The owner of the pub owns the servo too.” Says Lewis who’s beginning to panic. “Calm down mate. Fiona, Mark. Easy.” I say, they both lower their guns. “How do you know all this?” Mark asks curiously. “As I was saying.” Says Lewis as I cut him off. “Yeh you were out here prospecting. We got that much. Hurry up. Time is money son.” I say laughing. Fiona looks at me and starts laughing. “I always stay here when I’m out. I know the owners really well. They used to come prospecting with me. I… I… know this whole town like … like… umm the back of your hand. Well not your hand. My hand. You know what I mean.” Says Lewis who’s clearly uncomfortable. “What does the generator power exactly?” I ask. “Oh. That one only powers the freezers, a few fridges and the office.” Says Lewis. “That one?” We ask. “Yep. That one.” Says Lewis. “Is there more than one or something?” Asks Fiona. “Yeah… umm. Yeah. There’s a few. But … that ahh… that one is the only one that comes on automatically in a power outage. It’s used to ensure that.” Says Lewis as Mark cuts him off and says. “Yeah we get it. That’s the emergency generator, there’s more that run the pub and some rooms. But they have to be turned on manually. Right?” “Yes… that’s correct.” Says Lewis with an awkward smile. “There’s going to be so much food in that freezer.” Says Sandy. “Cold tap beers!” I say, Mark and I look at each other and high 5. We all walk over to the front of the mining Ute that’s parked in front of the doors. “Why haven’t you just gone inside and turned the power on mate?” I ask Lewis who’s standing near us. “Umm… because… there’s too many undead inside. And the keys for the generators and their shed are in the office. And I don’t know anything about… ahh… motors or things like that.” Says Lewis. “How many zombies are inside mate?” Mark asks. “At least twenty five… I think. Maybe. Maybe not.” Says Lewis, we all look at him oddly. “If you can help me clear the pub and get the power on then… then… then you can take half the food and all of the beers.” Says Lewis. Fiona looks him dead in the eye with a cold emotionless stare, she rubs the side of her rifle and says. “Now that you’ve told us all that info, why don’t I just put one of these bad boys right between your eyes and take whatever the fuck I want?” “Well… I. I guess I didn’t think about that.” Stutters Lewis who’s looking at his feet then at me then back at Fiona who’s still staring straight at him without even a flinch. “Nah. I’m just fucking with you.” Laughs Fiona as she walks past Lewis slapping him on the shoulder, then walking over to me as I look inside the pub through a window. She puts her arm around my shoulder and looks at me as I try not piss myself laughing. “You’re a bloody clown fish.” I say to Fiona laughing. “I’ve got a plan guys.” Says Mark. He jumps into the Ute drives around then reverses it in-line with the mains doors of the pub, stopping about twenty metres from them. He gets out and says. “Here everyone, grab your favourite zombie skull crushers.” With a big smile. We all walk down and grab our handheld weapons of choice. “Why… why not just shoot them with your guns?” Asks Lewis. “We only have these four guns mate and very little ammo.” I say back quickly. “Oh ok. Just let me go and get my machete from my room please.” Says Lewis. “Make it quick.” Says Mark. Lewis runs off to his room. “Smooth moves with the guns comment brah.” Says Mark with a smile. Lewis comes back over to us with a large slightly curved machete. “I… I… I am ready now.” Stutters Lewis. “What’s your plan captain?” Asks Sandy with a grin. Mark looks at her then walks to the door of his Ute, he flicks through his MP3 player then selects the “Rob Zombie” playlist. He turns up the music through the car stereo, looks at us and says. “Fitting isn’t it?” I just start laughing, nodding my head I walk to the front door grab the handle open it and push the double doors open. I quickly move back to the back of the Ute where the others are standing. Zombies begin stumbling out of the pub and into our car park slaughterhouse. “Watch this shit.” I say to the others, I pick up a small tomahawk and throw it at the zombies. It hits the closest zombie in the shoulder with the handle and falls to the floor. “So, what are we watching?” Laughs Mark. “I thought it was going to slam into a zombies head killing it. And I’d look cool as shit okay.” I say laughing. “You wanna see something cool as shit?” Asks Mark. We look at h
im and Fiona says. “Yeah go on then.” “Watch this.” Says Mark. He grabs a long handle axe, skip steps towards the closest zombie and swing it as hard as he can in an upward angled motion, the blade strikes the zombie in the side of the head just under the ear, the whole top of its head comes flying off, as Mark turns and looks at us. “Cool as shit or what?” He laughs. We all laugh and agree then set about ending some zombies. I walk towards them, slamming my crowbar through the first zombies face. I pull it out and swing it again into another zombies temple. I don’t have time to lift the bar high enough to get the next zombies head, I slam it into the zombies torso causing it to bend over, I push it to the floor face down and drive the crowbar into the back of its head but it gets stuck, another zombie is onto me. I quickly grab a screwdriver from my pocket in my left hand and with a swift motion I swing up and lodge the screwdriver into the zombies head. I get my crowbar back as I hear Fiona yell. “Lewis! Behind you!” I spin around and see a zombie about to make itself a fresh Lewis sanga. This is the first time during the zombie slaughter I’ve looked at any of the others. He quickly spins, steps back then swings his machete into the top of the zombies skull killing it. I carry on killing zombies. I look over at Fiona as she puts the hooked end of her crowbar behind a zombies head then puts her foot on its chest. She pushes it backwards with her foot and pulls the crowbar forward into the back of its skull. She lets go of the crowbar and the zombie falls backwards onto the ground onto the crowbar splitting its head in half. Mark and Sandy team up on one of the last remaining zombies. Mark knocks it to the ground and Sandy hits it with the axe as if she were splitting a bit of firewood. I see Lewis make his way over to the last zombie and hack in to it. The sun is starting to get low in the sky. “Lewis. Take Mark to the generators and get the power back on. Fiona you and I will clear the inside of the pub. Sandy keep an eye out here.” I say, everyone agrees and we set about our tasks. Fiona and I walk inside the pub and look around, we can hear something in the bottle shop section at the far end of the sports bar near the beer garden. We walk up there slowly in the dull lit bar. As we round the end of the bar into the bottle shop we see a zombie trapped inside the cool room. I walk over to the door, open it and kill the zombie. We clear this end of the pub and walk back towards the front bar. We walk into the front bar and head for the kitchen. Just as we walk inside the kitchen. Ding! All the lights turn on. “You fucking beauty!” I say. We walk inside the kitchen and make sure it’s clear. “I hope there’s some roast lamb in this freezer.” Says Fiona as she opens a large deep freezer on the back wall of the kitchen. I grab some cold beers from one of the 2 cold fridges and walk over to her. “I love lamb. Please tell me there’s some in here.” I say to Fiona and pass her a cold beer. We look into the freezer and can see all sorts of frozen meats and seafood. “Oi mate! Any bloody cold beers cob?” Says Mark with an exaggerated Aussie accent from a customer seat at the front bar. “Yeah carn! Where’s the service in this joint?” Laughs Sandy with a similar accent. I walk out to the bar with some cold beers and place them on the bar. “You’re not from round ‘ere. Are ya?” I say. Mark tries to answer but just starts laughing. “Want a beer Lewis?” I ask. “Oh ah. I don’t usually drink.” Says Lewis who’s standing in the bar. “Mate it’s the fucking zombie apocalypse. Just grab a seat and get one down ya neck.” Says Mark. “Oh ok. I don’t drink beer though… got any vodkas matey?” Says Lewis with a smile and a shit attempt at a strong Aussie accent. We all burst into laughter as he sits at the bar next to Mark. Fiona gets him a premixed vodka from the fridge, she then lines up 5 shot glasses and pours some tequila into them. “Probably wanna lock the doors mate.” I say to Mark. “Probably wanna lock all the vehicles clear some rooms then lock the doors mate” Says Mark. “Good point.” I say and laugh. “What room do you have Lewis?” Asks Sandy. “Oh thirteen.” Says Lewis. “We can have 2, and you two can have, 9.” Says Fiona, she grabs the keys to the rooms from behind the counter and throws them to Mark and I. “Off you go now.” Says Fiona shewing us away laughing. Mark and I head outside to clear the rooms and secure the vehicles. “Mate I think we should stay here for a while, there’s no guarantee that our next stop is going to be better.” I say to Mark. “Yeah brah. I’m keen for that. Just gotta convince Sandy.” Says Mark. “Well we’re only 700k’s maybe less from Perth. So with a fast car we can get there pretty quick.” I say as we get to my room. “Yeah we can run it by both of them when we get back to the bar.” Says Mark. I put the key in the lock and open the door. We walk inside and can see a queen size bed in the middle of the right side wall with bedside tables on either side. A good sized T.V on the left hand wall at the toe of the bed. A small bench under the T.V with a sink in it, a kettle and microwave on top. and a small fridge underneath. There’s a small round table with 4 chairs at it in the left corner of the room closest to us. At the back of the room past the bed is a wall about a third of the way across the room making a short hallway. We walk inside and down the small hallway into the door, we see it’s a bathroom. We leave my room locking it behind us and clear Marks room. Which is set up as a mirror copy to mine. We return to the bar locking the pubs doors behind us. “Here boys. You didn’t have your shots before and we’ve been waiting for you.” Says Sandy. “And I found some limes.” Says Fiona triumphantly. We sit down and have some drinks. “I think we should stay here for a while.” I say looking at Mark. “Yeah I agree with you.” Says Fiona. “What about going to see if my parents are okay?” Asks Sandy. “It’s only a 700 km drive, maybe less. So it’s still a doable day trip. Albeit a long day.” Says Mark. “I guess we’ve got food and power here.” Says Sandy. “So is that a yes?” Asks Mark. “Yeah okay let's stay here for a while and see what happens.” Says Sandy with a smile, Fiona pours some more shots in celebration. “What about you Lewis? Are you going to stick around here for a while?” I ask. “Well. I… I was going to. But you guys are here now so that’s your choice, isn’t it?” He stutters. “Mate you can stay here as long as you want, we aren’t going to kick you out or anything like that.” I say. “As long as you’re a team player and you don’t try anything, I won’t have to gut you like a fish.” Says Fiona without even looking at him while she cuts a lime. “Okay… I need to stay here for a while anyway… just, just until my fiancé gets here.” Says Lewis. We all look at him and he continues to explain. “I spoke with him the day after the undead rising. I rang him to tell him about my gold nugget I found, He said he, he… he was coming up with his brother, but he had to go and get him. He also said that the army was trying to prevent anyone from leaving the city. He said that, that I should stay here until he arrives.” “So you’ve been here in this town since the start?” I ask. “Yes.” Replies Lewis. “Has the town been searched and looted by other survivors yet?” I ask, “Umm. I don’t think many people have been here.” Says Lewis. “Tomorrow we need to check this town out brah!” Says Mark. “Yes we do.” I Say and have some more beer. “I’m cooking steak and mash. Who wants some?” Asks Sandy. We eat tea then head to bed for the night. Fiona and I wake up and head inside the pub for some breakfast. “What’s cooking team?” I ask as I walk inside the pub. “Bacon, but no eggs.” Says Mark. “We’ll go find some eggs today mate.” I say in reply, sitting at the bar. “What are we going to do today?” Asks Sandy. “Wouldn’t mind checking out the servo behind us. See if it’s got much fuel left in it.” Says Mark. “Yeah good idea. I think we should also just cruise around town. See what’s happening in there.” I say, just as Lewis walks in the door of the pub and sits down near us. “We’re going to check out the town this morning mate.” I say to Lewis. “Oh, oh ok. Umm I’ll stay here.” Says Lewis. “Wasn’t a question mate.” Says Mark. “What if Cam comes while I’m not here though?” Asks Lewis. “Leave a note on your car.” Says Mark, handing Lewis some breakfast, a pen and paper. He writes a note, eats some food and we all head out into the warm morning air in the pubs car park. “I’ll be back in a minute.”Says Lewis as he runs off to his room. “
We’ll just take the new tray back. Help me clear it off mate.” I say to Mark. “What guns should we take”? Asks Fiona. “Maybe just the .22s, same as the ones you had yesterday.” I say in reply. “Yeah that’s a good idea, we did tell old mate that was all we had.” Says Sandy. “Okay, I’ll grab them and some ammo.” Says Fiona, she walks off to grab what she needs. Fiona returns to the Ute at the same time as Lewis. “I’m driving. Says Sandy. She gets in the driver's seat. “There’s a gun shop in town, if, if you guys want to go there first.” Says Lewis. We all look at him. “Well… well it’s not a gun shop as such, it’s the shop I get my prospecting supplies from. He, he has a few guns and other survival stuff there.” Says Lewis. “So it’s an outdoor, camping, sports shop kinda thing?” I ask. “Yeah.” Replies Lewis. “You’re in the front with Sandy mate. Direct her where to go. But no funny businesses.” Says Mark. We climb onto the back of the Ute as Lewis gets in the front. We head off into the quiet abandoned town, we see nothing as we pull up to what Lewis believes is the gun shop. We get off the Ute and walk to the door. I try to open it but it’s locked. “Fuck sake! It’s locked.” I say “I’ll reverse up to it mate. Grab the chains from the tray and we’ll rip the fucking thing off.” Says Mark. The girls and Lewis set up around the car and keep an eye out. We hear a quiet shrieking noise coming from down the street. I look at Mark and say. “What the actual fuck was that?” “No idea mate. Let’s get this door off and then we’ll investigate.” Says Mark. We hook the chains to the door, Mark gets in the Ute and drives off, ripping the door clean off the building. Mark gets out of the Ute and we head inside to check it out. Fiona walks in behind us and starts looking around the shop. “Fuck me drunk! This place is untouched.” I say to be others. As we look around the shop, It’s only a small shop with a single room of goods, a few rifles on the back wall behind the counter. I walk behind the counter,
