Joshua had always been a good swimmer; it was definitely a point of pride in his family. His great, great grandmother, Mary Bugg, was rumoured to have swum out to Cockatoo Island and back when it was a prison. It was common knowledge in the family that she had once been married to the notorious Bushranger, Fred Ward. A definite black spot in his family’s history. That much was true. What got muddy in the tales passed down to each generation was her exact part in his escape. Some family members said she had succeeded in swimming across the shark infested bay, planting escape tools on the beach, then safely returning to Melbourne. Others said it was just a made-up story and when Ward was paroled he fled to the outback on his own without Mary, never to be seen again.
Joshua’s mom had always been adamant that her great grandmother did indeed swim the bay and that the idiot Ward had escaped and tried to swim it, and drowned or was eaten by sharks. Nonetheless, Mary had eventually moved on and remarried. From all family accounts she’d lived a good life, until the age of one hundred and one where surrounded by her six children and forty grandchildren, she passed peacefully in her sleep.
Joshua always chose to believe his mother's account of Mary’s story. If his great, great grandmother could swim the bay, then damn it, so could he. The smell of smoke from the fire mixed with the burning flesh of the dead was filling the air. Joshua’s stomach rolled a little at the smell. Eventually, most of the tents and buildings would be afire leaving him no place to hide. Joshua knew he had to get moving, he just had to find his way to the beach without being eaten by the hordes of hungry zombies.
WAIT!
Cockatoo Island
“So, what’s your name?” Arton asked, as he steered the off-road vehicle toward the pier. The Can-Am rocked back and forth on the uneven ground causing Samantha’s breasts to jiggle around in the skimpy bikini top. The security chief caught the pleasing sight in his peripheral vision.
“Sam,” she said, popping a bubble. “You might wanna stop eye fucking my tits and keep a watch in front of ya.”
“Arton,” he said, clearing his throat and staring straight ahead. “My name’s, Arton.”
“Weird fucking name, and I didn’t ask.”
“Listen, missy, you keep this up and I’ll drop your ass off in the middle of them people eaters!” Arton really hoped he wouldn’t have to. His base instinct was to find a dark, safe place and have his way with the girl. ‘What the fuck?’ He thought. ‘The World was going to Hell anyway.’ He might as well have some fun.
“Sorry!” Samantha popped another gum bubble. “Artin.”
“It’s Ar-ton!” The Chief said, mildly annoyed, but what he had planned for the girl would make up for him subjecting himself to her verbal abuse. Arton had never really acted on his dark desires. Well, that thing he was fired from the Force for came real close to this. He was happy everything was settled out of court, he guessed sometimes money won over physical and mental pain, which was a good thing for him. Arton felt himself getting hard just imagining the things he was gonna do to the attractive girl in the revealing bikini. If he had a daughter, Arton sure wouldn’t let her dress like a slut. Not like Sam...
“Arton,” Samantha said, remembering she was trying to schmooze the guy, not agitate him anymore than he was. She wanted to be off this island as fast as possible.
“And could you stop with popping those damn bubbles!”
“S- sure.” Samantha was taken aback by the security man’s tone. There was something dark and menacing in it. The off-road vehicle swerved past a couple of zombies that were kneeling over a body in the roadway. Samantha didn’t look too closely, not wanting to know what they were doing. “Shouldn’t we be at the boat ramp by now?”
“Pier,” Arton corrected her. The chief had already picked out an area of the prison that should be empty and secure, the perfect place for what he wanted to do with her. Controlling himself no more, he rested a hand on her bare thigh and gave her a lewd grin.
“Watch out, grandad!” Samantha shouted, as a couple of gore covered zombies stumbled right out in front of Arton’s Cam-Am. The security chief pulled his hand off her leg and jerked the steering wheel of the vehicle hard to the right trying to avoid the half-naked, dead women. As he did this, Arton panicked and stepped down on the gas pedal causing the Can-Am to speed up. The off-road vehicle hit a small berm causing it to go up on two wheels and fly up into the air about ten feet. Samantha cursed as she gripped the roll bar tightly in her hands. She was pissed about what was about to happen and she was pissed about the old leech grabbing her leg.
“Fucking asshole!!” Samantha screamed, over the high-pitched whine of the vehicle’s engine. The Can-Am came down hard on the driver’s side crumpling the plastic fenders and sending it into a long slide.
Arton held tight to the wheel as it violently vibrated back and forth in his hands. The control suddenly jerked to the left, Arton refused to let go of it, causing him to fracture his right wrist. The Chief let out a yelp of pain, as the vehicle spat sand and dirt in their faces as it continued its wild, uncontrolled slide.
The Can-Am travelled several feet before crashing sideways into a row of portable outhouses. The blue, plastic buildings exploded all over the top of the small off-road vehicle spraying faeces and blue liquid all over Samantha and Arton. The Can-Am’s engine whined loudly, then sputtered to a dead stop.
“Shit!” Arton shouted, as he used his undamaged left hand to wipe off the waste and blue toilet bowl liquid that had splattered his face.
“No shit, grandad! I told you to watch out! Fuckin’ idiot!” Samantha cursed, as she quickly unfastened her seat harness. Her dirty, bare feet smashed Arton in the face and shoulder as she used his body to help climb out of the wrecked Can-Am. Arton spat something nasty out of his mouth as he watched Samantha’s thong covered arse disappear over the side of the off-road vehicle. The pain of his fractured right wrist made him wince as he realized his dark plans of having his way with the girl had gone up in smoke. Now he was back to the reality of being trapped on a zombie infested island.
“Wait!” He shouted at her as he tried to unfasten his own seatbelt with just one hand. The harness buckle had been damaged during the crash and now it wouldn’t release. Arton struggled to get the buckle to work but it still held tight. He needed two good hands to free himself.
“Hey! I’m stuck!” Arton yelled after Samantha. “Come back and give me a hand!”
“Sorry, grandad!” Samantha’s voice trailed off as she ran away. “You’re on your own!”
“You fucking bitch!” Arton angrily pulled at his harness with his fractured wrist. “You fucking twat!” He screamed. A sharp pain also shot through his neck, he’d obviously injured himself in the crash. Sweating profusely and panicking, the security chief tried to wriggle out of the harness. The safety rig wouldn’t give. “No! No! No!” Arton pounded on the small dashboard with his good hand. Tears started down his cheeks as he began to cry. Shivering uncontrollably, the security chief looked up to see two female zombies climbing over the passenger side of the wrecked Can-Am. One of the women had a long gash that went from her right shoulder blade, across her right breast and stopped at her waist. The security chief could see some of her rib cage poking out, along with a thin rope of entrails. The other woman had both her breasts chewed off and a good chunk of flesh was missing from her thin waist. Screaming in terror at the two demons that were getting closer, Arton swiped at them with his good hand. Unphased, the two dead women slid heavily on top of the Security Chief, all teeth and grabbing hands. The nasty, horrid smell made him want to throw up. One of the zombies almost bit Arton’s hand in half as she snapped her broken teeth across his open left palm.
“Aaaaaahhhh!!!” Arton screamed, as his own hot blood squirted across his face. The other zombie bit into Arton’s crotch, taking a mouthful of fabric with her. Arton tried to yell, as he moved around not wanting to give the undead woman another go at his groin. Suddenly, he felt a horrible, sharp pain in his neck as t
he other dead woman tore a chunk of flesh from it. Hot crimson blood splashed all over the naked woman’s face and bare breasts. Arton dropped his head sideways, trying to fight through the pain and extreme blood loss. As Arton stared at the dead woman’s bare breasts, that were dripping with his blood, he thought of Samantha and the fun he’d intended to have at her expense. As Arton started to drift away, he felt an excruciating pain coming from his crotch. Lazily glancing down, Arton saw the other woman had the tiny remnant of his manhood in her mouth. The zombie chewed the small thing like it was a little wad of bubble gum. Arton wanted to laugh at the irony, but instead, the security man let out a sad, hopeless gurgle and collapsed under the weight of the two feasting zombies.
EYE SOCKET BLUES
Cockatoo Island
“Ana!” Ben moving faster than he’d ever thought possible, grabbed the girl by the bare shoulders and yanked her to the ground. Anastasia hit the hard surface with a grunt as Ben moved out in front of her. The Zoe thing took a swipe at his bare chest with her hand. Ben noticed her nails were jagged and broken, he felt lucky he had escaped being scratched by them. Ben took a step back then, using his whole six months of grade school karate, kicked the Zoe zombie in the left knee. With a nasty, sickening crunch the dead girl dropped to the old concrete and dirt walkway. Letting out a horrible keening noise, Zoe continued to try and get to her feet. If the dead felt any sense of pain, the hunger seemed to overcome it. Ben stepped back surprised as the zombie scrabbled on a broken knee towards the two.
With a flip flop covered foot, Ben kicked the girl hard in her undead face. The Zoe thing just groaned and continued quickly crawling in Anastasia’s direction. Ben looked down at his feet, feeling fortunate that she hadn’t bitten him through the flimsy beach shoe. The hungry zombie then made a sudden lunge at her former lover. Anastasia saw this and swiftly rolled onto her side, quickly getting to her feet and moving away from her approaching undead friend. Anastasia stopped and stared into the lifeless, milky white eyes of her girlfriend and realised Zoe was truly gone and, now, had become one of the flesh eating dead.
“Zoe.” Anastasia’s voice was full of sorrow and sadness as she raised the piece of rebar above her head. Anastasia wasn’t going to leave her lover to walk the earth as a zombie or whatever she’d become. “I am so sorry.”
“No!” Ben snatched the rusted iron from her hand, and remembering every cheesy zombie movie he’d seen, drove the rebar deep into her right eye. Zoe moaned and tried to bite and tear at Ben’s arms as he shoved the rebar further into her skull. He almost lost it as he could feel the soft tissue give way inside her head. Anastasia shivered as she watched Ben finish off her former friend and lover. He continued driving the iron through Zoe’s eye socket until she stopped flailing at him and her body went limp, drooping forward and lay heavy in his arms.
Ben grunted as he gently set Zoe down on her side facing away from Anastasia. The rebar made a grotesque sucking sound as he pulled it from her destroyed eye socket. Falling to his knees Ben released the brain and gore covered piece of iron, letting it drop to the ground. Anastasia ran up behind him and wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders as she began sobbing.
“Ben…”
“I’m so sorry, Ana.” Ben, close to tears, said as he stared at Zoe’s corpse. “She was one... one of those things. I couldn’t let you do it. You’d... you would never forgive yourself.”
“I know, Ben,” she sobbed, staring at her lover’s motionless body. Anastasia noticed she was still wearing only one shoe, that made her only sob harder. “I know. Thank you.”
“Anastasia, we have to get off this island. I don’t think I could do that again. Really.” Ben glanced up at the crying girl. “Ana, we know that Ryan and Emma are dead or... zombies. That only leaves us, Joshua and what’s her name.”
“Samantha.”
“Yeah, Samantha. If any of them are still alive they probably beat feet off the island.” Ben stood up and wiped his bloody hands on his shorts. “We need off this damned rock before we die, or I lose it.”
Anastasia wiped the tears from her face and nodded. “How?”
“The ferries.” He reached down and picked up the blood-stained piece of rebar he’d dropped. “If those are gone or... worse, they have those rental kayaks.”
“Think we can make it across the bay?” She asked, hugging herself and trying not to stare at Zoe’s remains. Her heart hurt just knowing her friends body lay just a few feet away.
“I don’t know, but I’d rather drown than get eaten by one of those creatures.”
“Agreed.” Anastasia nodded, her ponytail bobbing up and down. “You ever use a kayak?”
“No,” Ben said, wrapping an arm around her and moving her away from Zoe’s corpse. “You?”
“No.”
“Then let’s hope those ferries are still running.”
GRADE A DOUCHE
Cockatoo Island
Joshua struck the baton across the zombie’s face with a loud smack. The force of the strike caused the creature’s neck to snap and its head dropped down to a weird angle on its right shoulder. The male zombie that had once been one of the islands security guards, continued to hungrily reach for Joshua, its teeth still snapping in its oddly positioned head. Stepping backwards, Joshua tripped over a body and fell hard onto his side. The zombie followed suit landing on top of him. Joshua could smell the fetid, undead breath on his neck as he cursed and rolled out from under the flesh eater. The zombie grabbed his ankle, pulling him back down to the ground. Joshua frantically kicked at him with his bare foot, hoping he didn’t catch it in the thing’s maw of broken teeth. The Maori was fortunate enough to strike the zombie on the chin, knocking its head backwards. The dead man still held tightly to Joshua’s ankle as he tried to squirm out of its grip. Using the baton, Joshua smashed at the zombie’s wrist until the bone eventually split and shattered. Its hand now useless, the flesh eater let go of the young man’s ankle.
“Fuck you!” Joshua spat at the undead thing and, rightly unnerved, quickly got to his feet. The zombie also struggled to stand up, still intent on having the young man for dinner. As the dead man stumbled toward Joshua, he swung the baton with all his dwindling strength. This time the blow crushed the side of the zombie’s disfigured skull. Black blood and brain matter squirted from the fresh wound in the side of its head. The former security man stumbled around for a few seconds, then slumped down to the ground, unmoving.
“Fuck me.” Joshua wiped the sweat from his forehead and bent over to catch his breath. That little fight with the dead man had almost worn him out. Joshua had been carefully making his way toward the pier when the damned zombie quietly snuck right up on him. The undead guard had almost, almost, made a snack out of Joshua. The young Maori was fortunate those things weren’t that coordinated or he’d be stumbling around the island smelling like piss and shit too, looking for someone else to snack on. The zombie security guard had tripped over another headless corpse and crashed into Joshua’s back. Before the starving dead man could recover and continue his attack, Joshua had been able to move out of its way and strike it with the baton.
Scanning the area around him for other creatures, Joshua saw he was again all alone. Kneeling down over the re-killed guard he quickly searched him for anything useful. Finding nothing of any value, Joshua stood up and used his forearm to wipe the sweat from his face. Heart racing a mile a minute, he realised he needed to be more vigilant than he was. Those monsters were everywhere looking for fresh flesh to devour.
“Why?” Joshua muttered to himself, as he wiped the bloody baton off on the dead guard’s black polo. The young Maori still couldn’t wrap his head around what was truly happening on the island. His attempts to make it back to camp and try to get to the others had all been foiled by the mobs of living dead that now roamed freely across the island. Feeling like a grade A douche, Joshua had abandoned any hope of trying to save his friends and was now focused on saving himself from the cold hands of
the ravenous dead.
The screams of the dying living and the moans of the savage undead now routinely filled the island. The horrible, surreal soundtrack made Joshua shudder as he carefully crept from building to building toward the pier. From the other side of a snack shack Joshua heard the familiar sound of the shuffling dead. He pressed himself tightly against the side of the small building and slowly peered around the corner. At least five or six of the creatures were stumbling around headed straight for him.
“Fuck!” Joshua mouthed, silently. That group of meat sacks were cutting off the fastest route he had to the pier. Joshua looked down at the baton in his hand and figured he just might have a fighting chance if he surprised the zombies. Then again, he could turn and go the other way, it was a longer route to the pier but as far as he knew, zombie free. Choosing the latter, Joshua turned and sprinted away from the group of approaching dead. As he moved further away from his cover behind the snack shack, another group of zombies appeared from the other side. These ones seemed to be faster and hungrier than the dead that were already behind him.
Zombie Island Page 21
