by Adam Smith
The landscape begins to change as we head further from Perth and closer to our pub. A few more hours of driving and we turn into town, then into our pub in the mid afternoon. “Looks empty.” Says Fiona. “At Least it’s still standing.” I Say. I get out and grab a few beers from the esky in my ute tray, I hand one to Fiona, while I’m drinking mine Sandy says. “Where’s Lewis.” “LEWIS!” Yells Mark. “His car is gone.” Says Fiona. “Better head in and check it out. See if he left a note or something.” I Say. We head to the pub door and grab the handle. “Locked.” Says Sandy. “Here.” Says Fiona, grabbing a key from under the pot plant at the door, she hands it to Sandy. “How’d you know that was there?” Asks Sandy. “Where else would he put it?” Replies Fiona. Sandy unlocks the door and we head inside. We walk around for a bit, but find nothing, the power is still on, everything is clean. “Maybe he went prospecting again.” I Say as we walk outside and to his room. The door is locked. “Fuck. I’m sure he’s fine. It’s beer in the shower time.” Says Mark, he walks off to his room and heads inside. “Shower sounds good mate. You coming?” Asks Fiona. I follow her to our room and we walk inside to have a shower and get cleaned up. After the shower I head outside to unload the ute and grab some beers. I look up at the road and see a lone zombie wandering along it, I grab my crowbar and beer, I walk out into the road behind the zombie, placing my beer down then, walking up to the zombie I smash its head in, I grab my beer and head back to finish unloading the ute. The others come out and we finish unloading the utes. “Who’s hungry?” Asks Sandy. “Fuck yes I’m starving.” I say. “I’m cooking… something.” Says Sandy. She walks inside the pub, we follow her in, grabbing some beers I rack up the pool table for a game with Mark while Fiona turns on the music. We play a few games and drink a few beers when we hear Sandy say from the kitchen. “Dinner is ready.” We walk over to the table that we eat at as Sandy brings out some spaghetti and meatballs. “Looks good darling.” Says Mark. “Thanks Sandy.” I Say to her. “Fuck me! This is delicious.” Says Fiona. “Thanks Guys.” Says Sandy as she sits down. “Any for me guys?” Asks Lewis from the front door. We all quickly look at him. “You’re okay mate!” I Say “of course there’s some for you. Grab a seat and I’ll get you a bowl.” Says Sandy. Lewis walks over and sits next to us. Mark hands him a beer. “Cheers everyone.” Says Lewis once Sandy dishes up a bowl for him. We all Cheers him and start eating dinner and talking shit together. “Did… did you find Cam?” Asks Lewis. We all look at each other. “What?” Asks Lewis. “Fuck it. He’s fine, he’s not coming here. Watch this video.” Says Fiona. She passes Lewis the phone with Cams video on it. We sit in silence as Lewis watches it, once it’s finished Lewis knocks back his beer, looks at us and says. “What a fucking piece of shit.” We look at him. “So… so can I just ride this, this out with you guys?” Says Lewis as he gets up, walks to the fridge and grabs some more beers for everyone. “Of course you can.” Says Sandy. “Yeah mate. No worries.” I Say. “Cheers guys.” Says Lewis and he hands out everyone’s beers. “What are we going to do tomorrow?” Asks Mark. “Maybe we should head up the road to the next town and check out the royal hotel, see if there’s any truth to that note we found.” Says Fiona. “Yeah sounds like a good plan.” I Say. “I… I know that town well. I’ll come too.” Says Lewis. “Sorted then. We’ll head off when we get up then.” Says Mark. We stay up drinking and telling Lewis about our interesting trip to Perth before heading to bed for the night.
