“Aw crap!” Ben grumbled. He reached out to grab Anastasia, but found the girl had already broken into a sprint, falling in close behind Joshua. “Wait up!” Ben shouted, as he turned and ran after his two friends.
THAT’S SOME FUNNY SHIT
Cockatoo Island
“Ironic,” Ben said, as they hurried across the old wooden planks of the boat slip area. “Bloody Island was a shipyard once and now not one damn ship in sight!”
“Ssh!” Joshua motioned for the others to stop. The boat slip slowly rocked back and forth from the ocean currents. The loud noise of zombie mayhem could be heard clearly in the distance. The horrific sounds of violence and feasting shook all three of them. A row of old storage sheds blocked their view of the main pier, so they could only imagine what terrifying things were happening beyond them.
“Oh my…” Anastasia covered her mouth, hands trembling.
“Stay here,” Joshua told them. “Let me have a look.”
“Joshua…” Anastasia reached out to him, she had lost too many friends today and she didn’t want to lose another. The Maori held her hand and gave it a reassuring, gentle squeeze.
“I’ll be right back,” Joshua said, letting go of her hand and giving Ben a quick nod. “See ya in a few.”
“Ya better.” Ben pointed the blood-stained rebar at him. “I’m a holdin’ ya to that.”
Joshua just waved and gripping the baton jogged over towards the storage buildings. As he moved closer to them, the terrifying sounds on the other side grew louder. The screams were almost horrifyingly overwhelming to him. Quickly, looking back over his shoulder he saw Ben and Anastasia alternately watching him and then the areas around them. Good. Joshua came to the end of the boat slip and climbed up the six-foot ladder to where the storage buildings lined the main pier.
Making sure no dead were roaming about, Joshua eased himself over to the farthest building and carefully peeked around the corner.
“Aw, fuck!” He muttered to himself. From his viewpoint he could see one of the ferries was swamped with people both living and dead. It was a scene straight out of hell, as the zombies tore apart those people that were still alive. Hundreds of others were diving into the ocean trying to escape the hungry dead. Most seemed to prefer drowning to being eaten. Joshua saw several of the dead grab one of the boats’ crewmen and tear him limb from limb. The mob of dead each had a piece of the man and were feasting on him like he was a bucket of chicken. Another group of zombies had cornered a woman and her small children and were about to pounce on them. The young Maori was too far away to get to them. Joshua, sadly turned his head, unable to watch what was about to happen. He’d seen more than enough of his share of bad things today.
Suddenly, the people that had escaped into the ocean started to scream even louder than before as the water around them began to churn and turn red.
“Sharks!” Someone in the bay shouted. “Sharks!”
“Help!”
Joshua quickly looked back over to where the two ferries were located. He saw the waters near the pier were now also becoming a feeding ground for the predator fish. What the zombies on the ferries weren’t finishing off, the damn sharks were! The big fish appeared to be swimming around the groups of living people and pulling them under one by one. Easy prey for the great whites. The whole area would soon be a feeding frenzy for zombies and sharks. This was almost too much for the young man to fathom.
Joshua shivered, as he noticed the second ferry was floating on its side in the bay. Survivors clung to whatever they could as the boat started to slowly sink. The whole scene was just utter chaos. The warm ocean filled with the panicked living and the ravenous dead and the killer fish. More sharks were also slowly picking off the survivors that were trying to stay afloat. Joshua noticed the sharks were totally avoiding the dead that had fallen into the ocean. Some of the zombies floated, most sank. The young Maori found it odd that the sharks had no interest in them, at all. Maybe it was the taste, or smell of the dead that turned them off. Now, there was no longer any place safe for the living in the warm, blood-soaked waters of the bay.
“Damn.” Joshua sadly shook his head at the nightmarish scene of carnage before him. Clearly the zombies were winning, or maybe the sharks were. It didn’t matter because the living were obviously the losers of the nightmarish feeding frenzy. Backing away from this fresh vision of hell, he turned and quickly climbed down the ladder. Once he was down, Joshua sprinted over to his two friends who nervously waited for his return.
“We good to go?” Ben asked, with a bit of hope still in his voice.
“No.” They could both see the defeated look in Joshua’s face. “Those bloody creatures are everywhere. The ferries are toast mate. One’s sinkin’ and the others a fuckin’ slaughterhouse. Now the bay is filled with fuckin’ sharks.”
“Sharks? Can this bloody day get any worse?”
“What do we do now?” Anastasia reached over and grabbed Ben by the arm. “Can’t we just jump in over here and try and swim over?”
“Current’s too rough over here, plus the bloody sharks are in a frenzy...” The big Maori said. “Even the best swimmer wouldn’t make it across. How about the far side of the island? It’ll be a longer swim but this side is infested with those things!” Joshua told them.
“The whole damn island is!” Ben said a little too loud and close to tears.
“Easy, mate.” Joshua patted him on the shoulder, trying to calm him down.
Truth was he felt the same way as Ben, but he knew he had to hold it together if he ever wanted to see his family again. “You’re probably right. Seems like everyone headed for the pier when it happened so the majority of them fucks are probably on this side of the island. There’ll be zombies about but less than over here. Plus, the sharks will all be busy on this side of the bay.” He gave him a fast, reassuring smile. “What ya say Ben? At least we might have a fighting chance.”
Ben mulled it over for a few seconds, then slowly nodded in agreement. He hadn’t seen what Joshua had but he figured by the pallor of his face, it had been pretty horrific.
“Good. Good.” Joshua looked over at the girl. “Anastasia?”
“I’m with ya, Joshua.”
“Alright.” He dropped his pack and knelt down, reaching inside he pulled out a water bottle. Popping the top, he handed it to Anastasia. “Drink, it’ll help.”
“Thanks.” She hadn’t realised how thirsty she’d been and before Anastasia knew it she finished half the bottle. Wiping her mouth, she handed the rest to Ben. “Best water I’ve ever tasted.”
“Right,” Joshua nodded, as he again dug through the pack and pulled out an expandable baton. Swinging the weapon open he offered it to Anastasia. “Take this, it’ll be easier to carry than that two by four.”
Anastasia again thanked Joshua, dropped the piece of wood at her feet and took the proffered baton. Taking a few practice swings, she nodded, satisfied with the lighter and deadlier weapon Joshua had given her.
“Anything else in your bag of tricks?” Ben asked, as he dropped the empty water bottle on the ground.
“This.” He pulled out the taser gun.
“What is it?” Ben asked, as he watched for any approaching zombies.
“It’s a taser gun.” Joshua stood up and walked over to where Ben was and gave him a quick lesson on how to use it, all the while scanning the area in case any flesh eaters showed up.
“How’d you know how to use one of those?” Anastasia asked.
“Bloody security guard shot me with one when I went for help! Idiot thought I was a damn zombie.”
“Fuck me.” Ben chuckled. “That’s some funny shit.”
“Not at the time mate, it wasn’t.”
“It’s funny, Joshua.” Anastasia laughed. “I bet you pissed yerself.”
“No. No.” Then Joshua grinned, and joined in with the much-needed laughter.”
“Almost, Anastasia. Almost. Truth be told, I felt more like I was going to s
hit myself.” He handed the taser to Ben, who tucked it into the back of his board shorts just like all the gangsters he’d seen in movies. “Just don’t shoot yerself, Ben.”
“Mate, I’m too fucking scared. Right now, my asshole is locked up tighter than a choir boys. So, if I did shoot meself, nothing’s coming out, guaranteed.”
“Well, that is really good to know. We better get moving before it gets dark”. Joshua said, glancing around for any roaming dead. “I’m not swimming across the bay at night.”
MEAT SACK PICNIC
Cockatoo Island
“How’s it look?” Anastasia whispered, as the three braced themselves against the back of one of the old warehouse buildings. Joshua slowly peered over the side of the old tin building, then pulled back to where Ben and Anastasia were crouched.
“Six of them meat sacks are eating some poor bastard. It’s like a meat sack picnic.” He said, just barely above a whisper so they could both hear. “Three of them have their backs to us, we might be able to slip by. Just be quiet as fuck. Got it?” The two quickly nodded. “Okay, quiet as possible.”
Joshua slowly and deliberately, peeked back around the corner of the warehouse. The six zombies were still huddled around the fresh corpse, preoccupied with devouring the meal in front of them. Joshua waved for the others to quickly follow behind him. Holding their breath, not wanting to make the tiniest sound, the two slowly stepped from behind the safety and cover of the warehouse. Holding their breaths, moving as fast as one can while tip-toeing in cartoon fashion, the three made their break. Leading the way, Joshua pointed to a group of newer buildings and tried to signal to the others that it was their destination. Hoping his friends understood, Joshua moved past the feeding zombies, followed by Anastasia.
Ben tried to block out the horrible, rending sounds coming from the undead picnic. Shaking, he kept his eyes on Anastasia as she followed Joshua. Every breath the three took was carefully measured. Ben could hear nothing but the fast beating of his own heart. The young man wished he could be as cool as his friend right now, all he wanted to do was drop into a fetal position and cry. Little did Ben know, Joshua felt the same way as he did, only his friend was better at hiding it. What seemed like hours, but was only seconds, passed as they finally cleared the group of dead diners. That was when, as Ben took a big step, the taser slid down the back of his board shorts and clattered to the asphalt. He tried to reach behind him to grab it but he was too late.
To the three youths it sounded like the end of the world, as the taser smashed to the ground and bounced up and down a few times before landing on its side. The small group of zombies suddenly stopped their feeding. Ben slowly
turned back to see six sets of undead eyes staring right back at him. All of them were focused and hungry.
“Oh shit!” Ben cursed aloud, as a reflex. The rudely interrupted cannibals dropped the body parts they were munching on and awkwardly got to their feet. The ravenous dead now had some new meat to eat.
“Run!” Joshua said, reaching over Anastasia and grabbing the stalled and fear frozen Ben by the shoulder. “Fucking run!”
Joshua’s hard grip on his shoulder was all Ben needed to jumpstart him out of his fear induced stasis. He reached down and scooped the taser off of the ground, then quickly fell in behind Anastasia who was already running to catch up with Joshua. Bare feet slapping the asphalt walkway, the three were no longer intent on stealth, just escape. From above them came a loud whining noise and the familiar sound of helicopter rotors. The three glanced up to see a brightly coloured helicopter, with the letters WMA stencilled in black on its tail, flying above them in a crazy out of control pattern. Three zombies were underneath the aircraft, holding onto its landing skis. It appeared to Ben as if the pilot was desperately trying to throw them off the landing gear.
“Fuck me!” Ben said to himself. He glanced over his shoulder to see the pursuing dead had stopped in their tracks, the noise of the aircraft had drawn their attention.
“Joshua, keep running. Those flesh pops are busy watching that chopper!”
“Great! Come on!” Joshua shouted to the others as he pointed to a small side street that dipped between two old buildings. “Maybe we can lose them down here.”
As he followed his two friends, Ben saw the helicopter jink sharply to the right, throwing two of the dead men off the landing skis. One of the zombies landed nearby the mob of side-tracked dead, it hit the ground with a sickening splat and burst open like a diseased melon. The group of flesh eaters were unmoved as they continued to follow the noisy aircraft above them. The second zombie slid off the landing ski and hit the top of a prison building, splattering itself all over it. Black blood, flesh and entrails rained down the sides of the old brick building.
From what Ben could see, it appeared the pilot was also flailing at someone inside the cockpit. With the pilot preoccupied, the helicopter spun in small, jerky circles a few more times, then suddenly shot downwards out of control. Engine revving loudly, the helicopter crashed nose first into the old, main prison building. The three teenagers could feel and hear the rumble of the exploding aircraft as it smashed into the century old structure.
“Oh my God!” Anastasia jumped a little, as the downed airships concussion rolled beneath their feet.
“That must have been the G’day Melbourne helicopter.” Ben said sadly, as he now smelled the burning aircraft fuel, at least it temporarily hid the putrefying smell of the mobs of zombies. “Poor bastards.”
“Poor us if we don’t keep going. That fucked up airshow will only keep them shitbags occupied for so long,” Joshua said sharply. He was angry that not even a damned helicopter could escape the grip of the cursed island. That wouldn’t be them, he swore under his breath, he’d make sure they all made it home.
THE COCKROACH
Cockatoo Island
“Really?” Joshua shouted, as he quickly led the three down a narrow walkway between a couple of old buildings. Another group of zombies emerged from a side street, drawn in by the loud moans of the pursuing dead. “Go back!”
“We can’t!” Ben shouted. “Those damn things are behind us, too!”
“Joshua!” Anastasia gripped his arm tightly. Seeing they were being cut off by both mobs of zombies, Joshua pushed his two friends back and away from him. He only had one choice, the dead would be quickly upon all three of them if he didn’t act. Swinging the baton like a broadsword, Joshua charged head on at the crowd of advancing flesh eaters.
“Run!” He screamed, as he jumped into the middle of the hungry dead. “Run!”
“Joshua!” Anastasia cried. “No!”
“Come on, Ana!” Ben grabbed her by the shoulder. “We need to go, now!”
“Joshua!”
“Ana! He’s doing this to save us!” Ben spat, and almost jerked the girl off her feet as he pulled her away from where Joshua fought the massing dead. “Come on!”
Ben almost dragged the girl behind him, as they sprinted past the first crowd of zombies that were busy attacking Joshua. The second group of undead had turned from the two, drawn in by the brave Maori’s loud screams.
As they ran through the alley behind a row of old clapboard buildings, Anastasia suddenly stopped. Ben almost fell backwards as he still held her hand.
“Anastasia, what the hell?” He said, out of breath.
“I can’t go on Ben.” She let go of his hand and dropped to her knees sobbing. “I can’t go on!”
Ben quickly glanced around them looking to see if any of the dead were closing in on them. So far it was clear, Joshua’s sacrifice had worked.
“Look, Ana, you have to. Those... things will tear us apart if we don’t get moving.”
“You go.” She said shaking her head. “I can’t move another inch. I’m so tired and everyone’s dead.”
“Not everyone. What about your family? You want to see them, right?” Anastasia just buried her face in her hands and only sobbed harder. She had finally reached her breaking po
int. Ben knew he needed to get her moving. A couple of the zombies were now staggering down the alley in their direction. “Ana, the bay isn’t that far away. Just a little bit longer and we can swim home. Hell, I’ll even let you carry me across.” Anastasia continued sobbing as the dead grew closer to their position. Ben made a quick decision, he bent down and scooped the distraught girl up and threw her over his shoulder. Spinning around, Ben broke for the bay. He could see the shimmering blue water from between the buildings. Luckily Ben’s adrenaline was going, and Anastasia was pretty thin, he ran as fast as his tired legs could go. Clearing the alley and the row of buildings, Ben carried Anastasia over to a small shack and boat dock where three Sea Doo jet skis were tied up. A handful of kayaks were also stacked on top of each other along with several paddle boards. Ben had inadvertently stumbled upon one of the islands water sport rental areas.
Zombie Island Page 23
