by Adam Smith
Fiona and I are woken by a knock at the door, we hear Lewis say. “Guys. Wake up. It’s just me. I… I have something for you.” Fiona gets up and walks to the door wearing just her underwear and opens it and says. “What the fuck dude? We were sleeping.” “Oh, oh sorry. I’ve made everyone breakfast. Here.” Says Lewis, passing Fiona a serving tray with two coffees, some toast and some fruit on it. “Oh, thanks mate.” Says Fiona. “No worries, I’ll see you when you get up. I have to take, take Mark and Sandy theirs now.” Says Lewis trying not to look at Fiona. “Thanks mate!” I yell out from bed as Lewis walks off, Fiona closes the door and walks back over to me in bed. “That was nice of him.” Says Fiona. “Yeah it was, I don’t think he’s ever seen a naked girl before though.” I Say. “I’ve got clothes on mate.” Laughs Fiona, I shake my head and laugh. “He’s taken the news about Cam pretty well.” I Say. “Maybe this is his way of dealing with it or some shit.” Says Fiona. “Fuck knows. Gimme coffee.” I Say. “You want it over your head, or balls? You fucking jerk.” Says Fiona. “Woah! Sorry. Please, please gimme coffee.” I Say. “That’s more fucking like it mate.” Says Fiona with a grin. We have our breakfast, get ready and head outside into the hot morning sun. A perfect looking day. Skies are clear, slight fresh breeze, birds are chirping and insects are clicking away happily, all of the wildflowers in the surrounding area in a bright bloom. I take a deep breath of the clean fresh air and say. “What a fucking beautiful day.” “Well it was, until your ugly ass face came outside and started talking.” Laughs Mark, as he walks past me pretending to punch me in the stomach as I stretch. “Thank you for brekkie Lewis.” Says Sandy. “Yeah thanks mate.” Fiona and I say at the same time. “You’re welcome.” Says Lewis. “You guys wanna head off soon?” Asks Mark. “I’m keen.” Says Lewis. “Yeah let’s go.” Says Fiona and Sandy. “Okay, I’ll grab some guns.” I Say. “We’ve already got our shit together mate.” Says Mark. “Well aren’t you just a fucking legend mate.” I say laughing as I walk back inside my room, I walk to the cupboard with some guns in it and grab out two .44 mag lever action rifles a lever action shotgun, a .223 bolt action rifle with a scope and a bag full of suitable ammo. I return to the carpark where the others are waiting. “What guns and how much ammo have you guys already got?” I ask. “We’ve got our two trusty pump action 22’s a shotgun and a 44.” Says Mark. “Lewis what have you got for today?” I ask. “Oh. Umm I, I have my axe.” Says Lewis. “In the cab of my ute, there’s two pump action .22 rifles and a shit load of ammo. You can use one of those today.” I Say. “Ah Yeah. Yeah ok. I can I can do that.” Stutters Lewis. “Ok pin your fucking ears back and pay attention guys. We are all just going to cruise up in one car so that we can leave it a little bit away from the hotel, then we’ll go in on foot.” Says Fiona, standing at the bonnet of my ute with a map of the town in her hand. “Lewis, where is the best place to hide the ute and walk in from?” I ask as we all gather around the map. “Here. Here is good, from here we can walk around the back of the hotel and we won’t be as easy to see.” Says Lewis. “Excellent. If shit goes down and it’s a trap, take cover and keep each other safe. Try not to get split up. If we do get split up, meet back at the ute. Do not wait at the ute for too long if it is a trap though!” I Say. “Umm why?” Asks Sandy. “If it is a trap and you make it to the ute and wait around then they will have the upper hand. It’s their town not ours. The quicker you get back here the quicker you can set up your own ambush and lookout.” I Say. “Oh. Hopefully that’s not what happens today.” Says Sandy a bit concerned. “Good, So everyone’s on the same page then?” I ask. Everyone agrees, we jump in the ute. I’m driving, Fiona is in the passenger seat, Mark, Sandy and Lewis are riding in the back. We’re cruising up the road with some chilled out music cranking, taking in the natural splendour of the country, vibing as if we were on a normal pre zombie road trip. I look over at Fiona, the wind from her open window blowing her hair around while she’s got her arm out the window in the wind she turns her head and looks at me through her mirror tinted chopper sunnies with a smile then, she looks back out the window. We cruise for a bit longer when we hear a tap on the roof and Lewis starts yelling to us to slow down. I turn the music down and slow the ute. “What’s up mate?” Yells Fiona out of her window. “Pull over in this track, it’ll take us. Take us up to the back of town.” Says Lewis. “I thought we were going up the main road mate?” I ask as I turn left into a gravel track. “I I forgot about this track. It’ll be be it’ll be better.” Says Lewis. “No worries mate. If you say so.” I say and start heading up the track. Fiona looks at me. “Could he be in on something?” She asks. “Yeah this seems a bit odd. But let’s be honest, Lewis is a bit odd.” I Say laughing. “Yeah you’ve got that right.” Laughs Fiona. We drive for a few minutes until Lewis taps the roof again and says. “Stop here. We can walk… walk right into the back of, of the royal hotel from here without being seen easily.” I look at Fiona as I stop the ute. “Is his stutter suddenly worse?” I ask. We get out of the car, Fiona looks at Lewis dead in the eyes with her cold death stare and says. “Why are you so nervous all of a sudden mate?” “Is there something we should know about this town mate?” I ask Lewis. “No. No. What do you mean?” Asks Lewis. “You’re stuttering more now than usual. And you’ve suddenly remembered a hidden unused track leading right up near the hotel we want to check out.” Says Fiona. “Seems a bit suss mate.” Says Mark. “No. No I don’t… I don’t know anyone or anything in… in this town. I… I… I stutter more when I’m nervous. And and and this whole situation that it it it might be a … a trap is making my anxiety go sky high.” Says Lewis in a mess. “Okay okay. Calm down mate, we believe you.” Says Fiona. “C’mon mate. We need you to show us the way. Let’s go.” I Say to Lewis and reach my hand out to help him down from the back of the ute. He takes my hand and jumps down. “Everyone got their weapons?” Asks Mark. “Yeah mate.” I Say. “We are all ready.” Says Sandy. “Ok. Get your weapons ready, stay quiet. Lewis will take the front with me. Girls come up the middle about twenty metres behind me. Mark another twenty behind the girls.” I say as we stand around the ute finishing up loading our guns and readying our bags. “Too easy mate.” Says Mark. “Sounds good.” Says both Fiona and Sandy. Lewis just nods. “Be careful.” Says Fiona as she kisses me. “Always.” I Say with a wink and a smile. Lewis and I walk off along a used kangaroo track through the bush towards the pub. We emerge from the heavier bush and can see the pub, some shops, a public open space, a few houses and a shitload of zombies. I signal to the others to come up to where Lewis and I are. “Tell them to wait here.” I Say to Lewis, I run up the scrub line another fifty or so metres, laying down on the ground I look through the scope on my rifle. I can see the beer garden is empty and the hotel looks pretty empty on the ground floor. I look up at the first floor and can see it’s empty and quiet. I look to the right side of the building and see a sheet hanging on the balcony facing up the street with some writing on it, I can’t read it though as I’m side on to it. I get up and make my way back to the others. “I think we can make our way up to the back of the pub, jump the fence into the beer garden and get in from there.” I say to the others as I kneel down beside them. “Did you see anyone in the pub at all?” Asks Sandy. “No, it looks empty. But I did see a sheet with something written on it hanging on the balcony, but I couldn’t read it.” I say. “That’s a bit strange.” Says Fiona. “Okay mate, how do you want to do this then?” Asks Mark. “We stick to the scrub line up until where I was, then we quickly and quietly move up the hill and into the beer garden.” I say. “Why are there so many zombies in this town?” Asks Sandy. “This town, is much bigger than, than, than our town and it has lots of, lots of tourists because of the, the, the gold prospecting around here.” explains Lewis. “Well that explains that.” Says Fiona, “Okay, everyone ready?” I ask, everyone nods and agrees. We move up the scrub line trying not to be seen or heard by the zombies or any people that might be waiting for us. We make it
to the point where we want to head up the hill to the pub, it’s about fifty metres of open grass to the beer garden. “Straight up the hill, quick and quiet. Three, two, one, go!” I say. We all quickly run up the hill to the beer garden fence, Mark and I act like human stairs helping the others over the small fence before jumping over ourselves, as I make it over I can see that we’ve attracted the attention of a few close by zombies. “Quick, get inside.” I say. Fiona runs to the door and opens it, we all quickly get inside and pull the door shut. “What now?” Whispers Fiona. “Stay quiet, stay together. We need to clear this level then go up stairs.” I say. We move forward into the pub past the bar, I can see the stairs are barricaded off at the bottom. “Why are the stairs barricaded?” Asks Mark. “That’s why!” I say as I shoulder my rifle and fire. There's a pack of zombies coming from the front room of the pub. “Quick! Up the stairs!” yells Fiona, everyone quickly jumps the barrier and heads up the stairs, I make my way back over to the base of the stairs still firing at the few remaining zombies, I turn, quickly jump the barrier and run up the stairs with the others. “Where the fuck did they come from? I thought you said it was clear.” Says Fiona . “It looked clear from outside.” I say laughing. “Come on guys. We need to check for the people that left the note.” Says Sandy. We split up and start checking the rooms for survivors, traps or anything of use. After a few minutes of looking around I hear Mark yell from the other end of the hotel. “Guys. Come in here.” Fiona and I quickly walk down the hallway to the room the others are in. “What’ve you found mate?” I ask. “A dead guy and girl.” Says Mark as I walk into the room, I look at the bodies on the bed then make my way out onto the balcony. “This is the sheet I could see from the ground.” I say to the others, I grab the sheet and pull it inside to read it, we lay it over the dead couple on the bed and read what it says. ‘HELP US’ is all that’s written on it. “Well I don’t think it’s a trap somehow.” I say. “Nah I think you’re right there mate, look at this. They don’t have any bites, gunshot wounds or anything like that, they died of dehydration or starvation.” Says Mark, as he pulls the sheet off of the bodies on the bed. “Umm guys. C, C, Come here!” stutters Lewis in a panic. We run out onto the balcony and see that a large part of the zombie pack is making its way toward the hotel. “Shit! They must’ve heard the shots!” Says Fiona, “We need to move now!” Yells Mark. we all run to the stairs, run down them, jump the barrier, we try to go out the back door that we came in, but there’s too many zombies there. Sandy starts shooting at the pack. We turn and run for the front door but again there’s too many zombies. “Back up stairs!” I yell. Fiona and Mark run back to the base of the stairs, Lewis and I start firing into the pack, I can hear Sandy still firing at the other side of the hotel when Mark yells. “Sandy! Run!” “Smithy! Lewis! Hurry up! I hear Fiona yelling and more gunshots echo. I turn and run for the stairs saying. “Quick mate, there’s too many.” I get to the base of the stairs where the others are still firing at the pack coming from the back door. “Help!” I hear Lewis yell, I turn around and see he’s tripped over, the zombies are almost on him, I run towards him, reach out my hand and drag him onto his feet, by this time the zombies from the back door are at the base of the stairs. I start firing at them but Lewis runs past me, jumps into the air with both of his feet out in front of him and pushes the zombie closest to us over and creates enough room for me to jump over the barrier. As I get over the barrier I turn and start firing at the pack, Lewis is on his feet, grappling with a zombie, he manages to break free and get over the barrier with me, we run up the stairs with the others, then down the hallway to the last room on the left, we get inside and shut the door. “Guys! We’ve got a gap here. But we need to go now!” I hear Fiona yell from the balcony. Lewis and I run out onto the balcony just as we see Mark jump, Sandy Quickly jumps after Mark, I look over the balcony and see Fiona almost at the scrub line, zombies making their way down the hill after her, Mark and Sandy. “I..I..I Can’t!” says Lewis. “Like fuck you can’t!” I say to him as I step onto the handrail, grabbing Lewis by the shoulder, helping him onto the rail with me. “When we land you need to absorb the shock with your knees and roll. Got it? One Two Three!” I Say, I push Lewis off the balcony and jump straight after him. We land, roll, get up and start running. A zombie tries to grab me as I run past it, I smash the stock of my rifle into its face and keep running to the scrub line and onto the roo track. We can hear the sound of the ute as Lewis and I make our way through the scrub, we run and jump in the tray with Fiona as she stats firing over our heads, I turn around and start firing at a few zombies in the scrub. Sandy in the passenger seat yells out. “Everyone ready?” “We’re all good. Gun it!” I yell. Mark takes off up the track and back onto the main road. We drive for a little while still checking behind us. “Well that got fucking exciting pretty fast!” Laughs Fiona. “It sure did! You were fucking outstanding just then.” I Say to her. “I’m always fucking outstanding.” Laughs Fiona with a wink. “I’m, I’m sorry guys.” Says Lewis quietly. “Don’t be sorry mate, you did an excellent job.” I Say. “No. Not that.” Says Lewis as he rolls up the right sleeve of his shirt to his elbow, he points at his arm. “Fuck.” I Say. “Oh shit. I’m sorry Lewis.” Says Fiona, we look at the bite on the outside of Lewis’ forearm just below his elbow. I bang on the roof of the ute. “Mark! Stop the ute. We’ve got a problem mate.” I yell into his window. Mark stops the ute in the road, he and Sandy quickly get out. “What’s wrong?” Asks Sandy. “Lewis has been bitten.” Says Fiona. I jump out of the ute and put the tailgate down. “Here mate, sit down.” I Say to Lewis, he sits on the tailgate. “How did it happen brah?” Asks Mark. “When I was grappling with them at the bottom of the stairs.” Says Lewis. “Are you sure it’s a bite? Not just a cut? Let me have a look.” Says Sandy, she grabs his arm, washes the wound with some water then takes a good look it, she looks at us and nods, then starts crying and walks off. “I…I don’t want to turn Smithy.” Says Lewis with tears in his eyes. “We won’t let you turn mate.” I Say, Lewis looks at Fiona and says. “Can you do it please?” “Sure mate. I can do it for you.” Says Fiona with her hand on Lewis’ shoulder. “Thanks. I don’t want to be, be buried, I want to be cremated please.” Sobs Lewis, Fiona walks around to the side of the ute behind Lewis shoulders her rifle and looks at me. “We all love you mate.” I Say to Lewis, I move aside as Mark hugs Lewis then walks off to comfort Sandy who is standing at the front of the ute looking away from us. I look at Fiona and nod. She pulls the trigger. The world seems like it’s standing still, I can see Sandy jump and start crying as the shot echoes around the empty land, Fiona and I watch as Lewis’ body falls forwards off the tailgate onto the road. I look at her, she looks back at me and nods, then walks over to me, we pick up Lewis and lay him in the tray. “Here cover him with this.” Says Mark handing us a towel. “You okay Fiona?” Asks Sandy who walks over and hugs Fiona. “Yeah I’m fine.” Says Fiona. “Let’s get a move on then guys.” Says Mark, he gets in the driver's seat, Sandy gets in the passenger side, I shut the tailgate, jump in the tray and help Fiona in. It’s a somber mood as we drive back to our pub in the hot early arvo sun. We pull into our pub car park and get out. “I’m going to get a shitload of wood to make Lewis a bonfire.” I Say. “Yeah I’m in.” Says Mark and Fiona. “Good idea. I’ll come too.” Says Sandy. Mark climbs into the loader with Sandy. “Just make the bonfire right here in the street.” Says Mark to us. “Yeah mate sounds good.” I Say, Fiona and I jump in one of the four wheel drive utes and head off into town to grab anything that will burn. After a few hours and many trips around town the bonfire pile is huge. “We’ll wait until the suns about to go down.” Says Fiona. We all agree. Sandy and Mark walk off towards their room. “Want a beer?” Asks Fiona. “Sure do mate.” I reply. We turn and walk towards the pub when we hear the unmistakable sound of wailers coming from up the street. We check our rifles and start walking toward the noise. We see three wailers still in school uniforms running up
the street towards us. “Must’ve come from the school.” Says Fiona. We line up and start firing, my first shot lands between the eyes of the furthest wailer, its head splits in two as it cartwheels onto the hot bitumen. Fiona fires and hits the next one in the eye then fires again and hits the forehead of the last one. “All good!” We hear Mark yelling out. “Yeah mate all good.” I yell back. “Nice shooting doll face.” I Say to Fiona. “Naw, thanks muffin nuts.” Laughs Fiona. “How the fuck did they get out though?” I ask. “Not sure. Do you want to go and have a look?” Asks Fiona with a wink. “Yeah we better. You grab some beers, I’ll grab the ute.” I Say. Fiona runs inside to get some beers as I get in the ute and pull up at the door waiting for her, she comes out, looks over at Mark and Sandy’s room and says. “Oh there was a few wailers. We’re going to check out the school and make sure there’s no more.” I look in the mirror and see Mark standing outside his room. She gets in and hands me a beer. “Cheers.” I Say, we take off and head for the school. As we round the corner where the oval is we see a wailer caught on the personnel access gate into the oval. “That’s where they got out.” Says Fiona as I park the ute near the wailer, Fiona and I get out of the ute, Fiona walks over to the wailer with her crowbar as I look around. Fiona slams the crowbar into the wailers head, pushes its body inside the fence. closes the gate and jams the latch closed with her crowbar to stop anything else getting out. I walk over to the fence with my scoped rifle and take a look at the school to see if there’s any movement inside. Fiona now leaning on the bonnet of the ute cleaning the blood from her sunnies with her grey singlet says. “See anything in there?” “Nah, looks pretty empty, but that’s what I thought about the royal.” I Say as I walk over to Fiona. “Wanna head back then?” I Say to her. “Nah I wanna go for a drive. Get in.” She Says with a wink. I get in the passenger side and let Fiona drive, she takes off up the street, sliding around corners and lighting up the tyres with a huge smile on her face, we drive for a little while until we stop near a paddock full of wildflowers and a small old abandoned stone house. “Good spot to relax for a bit.” Says Fiona. We get out of the ute, jump in the tray, sitting on the roll bar drinking some beers looking at the beautiful Aussie landscape, when Fiona puts her hand on my leg and kisses me...
