by DB Daglish
“How about just leaving and we’ll call it quits,” offered Rory.
“I don’t back down mate,” Mike said, turning behind him to see his accomplice who was now just holding tightly on to one arm of Janet. “Keep a gun on her Jonno. If they make a move, kill her.”
By now Forty had crawled to a position just behind where his partner and Jonno stood by the fence. All he needed now was the fellow to step back and he’d be able to drop him. He watched as Jonno now pulled a pistol from his belt and held it loosely, but he was still to far away to attempt anything with any amount of safety.
Jack was at the back behind the others of his community yet closer to the buildings where he knew another weapon lay. Quietly he stepped backwards, moving ever so surely to a position where he could slip unnoticed behind the woodpile. But his movements were noticed and a shout went up from one of the invaders. Mikey aimed and fired, dropping Jack where he stood.
Immediately Max fired in return, a bullet smashing into Mikey’s skull and blasting blood and brain through the air as he fell in a crumpled heap. Others raised their weapons and Rory took another down with a shot to the chest, but was cut down himself when shots were returned. Back at the fence line Jonno had let Janet go to raise his pistol, holding it with two hands ready to fire. Yet before a shot could fired the ax split his skull. Not waiting to see if anyone else was hurt, he reached for Janet, swinging her over the fence where they ran quickly down to the garden shed as fast as they could. Forty straddled the only working motorbike and jumped on the kick starter, revving it loudly as the engine roared to life. Yelling to his partner to jump on and hold tightly, he cranked the throttle and sped across the paddock through some buildings and on to the streets of South Morang.
He was sure he heard a shot as he kept going far into the suburb, turning up one driveway and behind the overgrown hedge to wait.
“Oh God,” was all Janet could say, still in shock at the events that had just unfolded. “Did anyone get away?”
“I don’t know…shhh!” and he strained his ear to see if he could hear anyone following. Within a few seconds a vehicle could be heard in the distance, then the sound of a motorbike. Finally they sped past his position and down the street and out of sight. Quickly they climbed on the motorcycle again and making sure no sound of any approaching vehicle could be heard, he sped back to the homestead.
“Stay here!” he warned as he quietly crept around the buildings to discover four of his friends dead. Only Lily, the youngest was missing. Jonno still lay with an ax in his head and Mikey also lay where he had fallen. Hearing a motorcycle in the distance he quickly started his own, and sped across the paddock, down the road and into the gorge. Here he hid the motorbike in the grass at the side of the bridge, covering it with some brush and sticks. Janet ran with him across the road and hid behind the large hedge near the house opposite.
The faint sound of a vehicle could now be heard at the top of the gorge, but then nothing. There was no high pitched whine of a motorcycle either. They kept lying low and peered through the bottom of the bushes. The vehicle was now in view at the bridge, but they had not heard it approach. He could see now that the gang had free-wheeled the vehicle down the hill to be as quiet as possible. ‘Cunning buggers’ he thought. Here they stopped and walked across, one going under the bridge for a look. Forty quietly sighed with relief. Under the bridge was the first place he had considered hiding.
A shout suddenly went up from one of them and Forty’s heart sank until he realized they had just found the motorcycle hidden in the trees. He was about to flee north past the house behind them, when he realized they assumed he had fled the opposite direction. Just then the trail bike arrived and with the remaining members of the gang pointing up the hill, it took off up through the trees in a fruitless pursuit. The others followed it up to see what was there. As they did Forty carefully moved Janet back toward the house and ran into the tree cover behind it and up the hill. Ensuring they could not see across the road, he kept moving to prevent them from being seen. If he could not see them, then it was most likely that they could not see him. Finally they came out near a large house on the ridge with an old stagnant swimming pool. A few ducks were swimming in it and he quickly ducked down so as not to disturb them. If they were to fly off, it might give away their position. Creeping back down the hill a little they came out on the ridge just south of the house where they could see some activity near the bridge. Knowing the gang had assumed they were on the opposite side of the road, they took the opportunity to put as much distance between them. Running as fast as possible they moved through various properties until they could safely see Gorge Road again from the protection of abundant tree cover. Here they waited and caught their breath. Until now they had not spoken.
“What do we do David?” she asked.
“First time you have called me by my real name in a long time!” he noted.
“This is serious Forty, don’t…”
“That’s better,” he interrupted. “Now shhh, let’s just sit and wait.”
It took some time but they did hear voices and then some ducks flew overhead.
“Are they at that house back there?” she asked pointing down the road.
“Shhh, down!” and he pushed her head into the grass, keeping it here while he watched three of the gang look around the corner of the road two hundred meters from where they now hid. Eventually, when they had gone, his hand released her and she lifted her head, her face covered in dust.
“Sorry,” he said, “I didn’t mean to do that.”
She laughed, a weird thing to do considering the circumstances, and then wept quietly and he hugged her in the shade. A few minutes later they watched as both car and motorbike went back up the hill across the bridge and disappeared. Waiting a little while longer he finally stood, lifted Janet to her feet by the hand and hugged her again.
“They will probably will come back around the ring road if they think we went south. So we’ll go north and stay in the trees and hedges until nightfall. After that we can stick to the roads safely.”
Janet agreed as she was very frightened, and they carefully picked their way through various properties until they came to one of the large boarding kennels near an intersection of the road north. Entering the house they fell asleep on a couch after first covering it with some blankets from a linen cupboard.
They woke in total darkness, their hearts racing from the immediate recall of events. Hungry and thirsty, they had no light with which to see to search the house and grabbing the blankets, they headed outside. There was only a quarter moon and partially cloudy but they could vaguely make out the road north. Here they quietly walked, hand in hand, past rows of houses broken up with bare land until the houses finally gave way to open farmland. In time they came to an intersection where the sealed roads now went left and right, ahead was only a dust road boarded by trees and a high fence. It was probably just after midnight, not that time was an issue in recent years, as life would revolve around sunrise and sunset.
“I’m not sure where we are, is this Yan Yean Lake?” Forty said.
“Reservoir,” she corrected.
“Well, I’m not going left anywhere near the main highway, let’s go left toward Kingslake,” and he began to walk until she pulled him to a stop.
“If we are on an open road and they are still searching for us, we may be too exposed. I’d like to go into the hills of the National Park. So let’s walk up this road which is less likely to be searched!” Janet asked.
Forty nodded and they continued until another intersection appeared where the reservoir fence followed the road left. They took the right hand road and walked up the hill, growing tired and taking refuge in another house as the sun began to rise in the west. Looking back south they could see the sunlight gleaming against the distant buildings of Melbourne city and smoke rising from a recent fire.
“Do you think they burned our place?”
“I’m sure of it,” Janet
confirmed. “It would prevent us recovering anything. They know if we were in the area still, curiosity would have brought us back!”
“Good point. Those bastards…we were just living peacefully. Well, we can’t go back so we’ll go north till we find somewhere safe. Do you need to stay here and rest or what…?”
“Stay!” she said and they did. Finding some bottled water they took some much needed refreshment, as they had been without it for many hours already. The whole day they relaxed, slept, hydrated and even managed to eat some noodles the rats hadn’t got to as this house, for they found an old gas camp cooker in the shed that still worked. The previous owners must have been very keen outdoors people, as they found lots of camping gear. Filling two packs with everything they thought necessary, including a popup tent for their journey they planned their next move. Sitting on the deck looking south, they noticed a vehicle in the distance traveling east. Both knew who it was, but they said nothing. Feeling safe now, they continued to look out upon a city that looked no different from it would have done years ago when it was full of people.
There was one thing this new world had brought the old didn’t have – and that was silence. The longer the years since the death, the fewer vehicles could be used as fuel spoiled, and the lack of background sounds brought a kind of solitude not heard in that country since before the English arrived.
“The mobs of ‘roos’ are getting bigger,” she said as she suddenly broke the silence. “Look how many there are down there, their populations have exploded.”
“Yeah. Weird animal really the old kangaroo!” he agreed.
There had always been roos in the city fringes, but out here in the hinterland, huge mobs seemed to drift across the plains. From their vantage point on the hill, you could see them in every direction.
They stayed there one more night, leaving just as the sun began to rise, heading for the pass in the hills behind them. They spent the next evening at an overgrown property under the lee of the hill, and the following day arrived at a little place beside the creek that ran the entire length of the road they had traveled that day. They could see evidence of the wildfire that had occurred four years before. Smoke had hung over Melbourne for many days but the fire had not threatened them for indeed it had burned out on the other side of the mountain they were in the process of walking past. This little settlement must have caught the edge of it as a few of the houses lay in the ashes after burning to the ground.
Wandering in the country as they were, was uplifting considering the tragedy of two days previous. By now they had eaten more substantial meals, as Forty had shot a roo and cooked it over an open fire. But the more they thought of the future, the harder it seemed; without finding others they could feel safe around, or build a community with. For three days they explored the area, visiting gold working sites, waterfalls and a reservoir up on the next hill. Climbing to the highest point they were able to look down on flat and fertile slab of land that hung like of shelf between the mountain and the valley below. This valley held a major route north from Melbourne. Points of limestone jutted out of the ground and small cliffs dotted the ridgeline. It seemed a perfect place and while they camped there, Forty scouted the surrounding hills and roads. From the highway below, it looked like nothing but bush existed up on this plateau. In fact from down there, evidence of the plateau was almost nonexistent.
This is what gave them protection and it was perfect, allowing views, privacy, fertile farmland, a water source and intact buildings that had been shut up for years. This meant there had been nothing but a few rats and mice inside and all the main homestead needed, was a good airing to be usable. No skeletons or human remains could be found, which seemed odd, but pleasing. They had enough reminders of death for several lifetimes already.
For near on twenty years they lived here, even raising a family. To preserve the wear of clothing, they often farmed naked except for boots and hats in summer. If someone had suddenly appeared it would seem like a nudist camp, but it was more out of practicality than any special desire to be naked. As a result, the whole family was very weathered and brown. Some wild cats were slowly tamed and that helped with the rodent issue in and around the buildings and after shooting an angry dog Janet had found a little puppy and named it Dingo. He was a funny animal, fiercely protective yet tolerant of the family cats. But anything else, roos included, were quickly dispatched off the homeland.
Their harsh but happy existence was finally shattered when their boy, Billy, was bitten by a brown snake. With no anti-venom available, there was nothing they could do and they watched him die a very painful death. Snakes had appeared regularly in recent years as rodents increased, but they had never had so many near the house and everyone was aware of them. Billy had been sleeping against a log up near the waterhole when suddenly he felt pain in his arm that was resting on the ground. By the time he had walked back to the house, something which only caused the venom to travel thought the bloodstream faster, there was never any hope.
Depression took hold of Forty for many weeks. He was only jolted out of as he saw a lone individual approach from the western ridge. Panic gripped him for they no longer carried loaded weapons after years of uninterrupted contact. His hand gripped his spade and he stood defiantly as the stranger approached.
“You trying to be intimidating with that spade mate?”
“We have seen no one for many years…what brings you here?”
“But first my question? Are you trying to be intimidating?”
Forty looked at him with a questioning look.
“Look down…” the stranger suggested.
Finally Forty realized that he was stark naked except for work boots and a large floppy hat. Quickly he took his hat off and covered himself.
The stranger had a bag with him and he stooped own and rummaged through, throwing Forty a pair of shorts. Dropping the spade he pulled the shorts on and went to pick the spade up again, stopping in mid crouch.
“I guess someone offering me pants is not all that threatening?” he said beginning to smile at the funny situation and standing once more. “My name is Forty and this is my land!”
“Well Forty? Ok, that name obviously has a story to it. I’m Michael, but they call me Willo. Have you been on this land since before the die off?”
“No, just the last twenty, so I regard it as mine!”
“Fair enough. Possession being nine tenths and all that…So, when was the last time you’ve seen someone…it’s been a while I can imagine!”
“Twenty years Willo. We were down Mundora way and were attacked by some idiots who killed five of the people we were with.”
“Strooth. That was probably old Mikey’s gang. I have seen them about ten years ago but Mikey was not with them.”
“We killed him and another two. If I hadn’t escaped we’d be dead too,” said Forty as the discussion brought back painful memories. “So, why are you here Willo?”
“It’s gotten weird down in the pit, so I wanted to escape it.”
“The pit?”
“Melbourne mate. It’s gone all feral. It was like that when the deaths started but even after things simmering down, there was still trouble. You should know - you’ve experienced some of it. But after the gangs got bored and settled down there was almost a time of normality, if you could call it that. But now…” and he shook his head.
“Now what?” Forty asked intrigued at Willo’s pause.
“Rumors of a sickness at the wharf area where many still live. I lived out east near Manningham where several of us had a home in a school there. As soon as I heard about it from someone else leaving the city on their way toward the Sugarloaf area, I decided to pack my bag and leave myself.”
Forty was immediately worried. “Were they sick - the one you heard about it from?”
“No, they had heard it from someone else and left like I did. He said all the cats died but I don’t know what that was about. Only the ones over thirty five years of age would r
emember much of the first virus aftermath. I do! That’s why I high-tailed it out of there. I’m happy on my own or in a smaller group anyway.”
“Ok. Let’s go to the house and you can meet Janet and Danielle,” and they walked back to two startled women. Willo immediately turned his back so they could escape into the house and dress, as Forty had forgotten their lifestyle while talking along the way.
Presently, the women came out, rather embarrassed, and were introduced to Willo.
“Don’t be embarrassed Ma’am. I understand why and I did turn away when I saw you,” he offered.
“Yes, we saw that…?’
“Willo…well, that’s what they call me now anyway.”
“And your real name is Willo?” she asked.
“Michael.”
“Then out of respect for your respect, I will call you Michael. Is that ok?”
He smiled. No one had ever done such a thing for him and he felt special all of a sudden. “Thank you!”
“You are welcome Michael. Now let us fix you something to eat and you can tell us about yourself,” and she prepared a meal that included pork and vegetables, which he wolfed down voraciously.
“You seem hungry Michael?” Danielle asked.
“Yes. I have not eaten since escaping the city,” he said before explaining why he had left.
Janet was extremely concerned, but was assured that he had no direct contact with any sick people in the dock area, having left immediately on hearing what was happening. It did not make her feel any easier, but realizing that if Michael was infected, they were also by now. All they could do was assume they were not, and plan to keep it that way by allowing no one else in to their enclave in the hills. The next morning they sat on the high ridge and, using binoculars and a telescope on a stand, looked south for any signs of activity. The roads were empty but Danielle volunteered to stay there that day and watch, for Forty was concerned that if disease was spreading, people would flee and he would not want them finding his family. Preparing four horses for riding and two packhorses for a possible flight, they waited to see what may occur.
