The Sixth Level (Secret Apocalypse Book 2)

by James Harden

  "Yeah. And major highways," Jack added.

  I didn’t say anything. I was too tired to think, too tired to speak.

  "Well, I suppose we need water," Maria said. "Maybe we should head for a river? The Murray-Darling river system flows through this area. It’s the biggest river system in Australia."

  "Is it fresh water?" Daniel asked.

  "Yeah. I think so."

  "Well, that’s a start."

  Daniel checked his GPS device. He found an isolated stretch of the river that was far away from any towns or population centers. But unfortunately we’d never make it there before sunset.

  We’d have to set down for the night.

  Daniel picked out a hill situated in an isolated area of farmland. It was in the middle of absolute nowhere. We landed without incident and prepared to spend the night in the chopper. We closed the cabin doors and made sure Daniel and Kenji slept right next to the machine guns in case they had to use them during the night. It seemed unlikely that anyone or anything would sneak up on us all the way out in the middle of nowhere but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

  What we didn’t plan on was that the hill we had chosen was at the top of a valley. And that the valley led down towards a rural town. We were still safe from the infected. But we could hear them. Even all the way out in the middle of the countryside. Their screaming howl was funneled up through the valley. The noise seemed to be amplified. Even with the cabin doors shut and all the windows shut we could still hear them. The screaming and the moaning and the howling travelled up the valley in the dead of the night and kept us awake. At one point I thought I could hear gunshots. But I couldn’t be sure. Maybe I was just hearing things. My imagination was running wild. Maybe there were survivors down there. Maybe they were trapped. Surrounded.

  During the night Daniel retrieved something from the storage compartment in the cockpit.

  It was Doctor Hunter’s computer.

  "You brought it with us?" I asked.

  "Yeah of course. It’s way too valuable to leave behind. There’s gotta be some information on here somewhere."

  We opened it up, eager to learn as much as we could about what was going on. Maybe we would find out if Kim was all right. Maybe there was something on there about the vaccine we’d heard Doctor West mention.

  There were so many questions. And we were hungry for answers.

  Daniel turned the computer on and Doctor Hunter’s email account appeared on the screen. My eyes read down the list of his latest emails, scanning the headings.

  Test Subject Zero.

  Nano-virus.

  Mutations.

  Outbreak.

  Christmas Island Facility.

  Tokyo Strain.

  Nevada Facility.

  All the emails had been sent in the last couple of days.

  "Jesus, what the hell is all this?" Maria asked. "Mutations? What the hell is the Tokyo strain?"

  "I don't know," Daniel replied.

  "Click on Test Subject Zero," Jack said. "I need to know if my sister is all right."

  Daniel clicked on the email and it opened immediately. It began to load more video attachments, more interviews but then the screen went blank. And the computer powered down. The battery had died.

  Everyone deflated.

  "Don’t worry," Daniel said. "We can recharge it when we get back to my camp."

  But that was so far away, I thought. Thousands of miles. Who knew what stood between us and the camp. How the hell would we even get there? I did not feel like walking all that way. We’d never make it.

  And besides, we hadn’t even discussed our plans yet. We hadn’t made any decisions. Even though the camp was the logical choice, I still thought we should talk about stuff like that as a group first before we made any commitments.

  I guess all that could wait ‘till tomorrow.

  Right now there was nothing to do except sleep. But even in my state of exhaustion I was finding that difficult.

  Daniel and Kenji took turns keeping watch during the night. Jack and Maria passed out pretty much straightaway. And not long after that Maria started snoring.

  I was up in the co-pilot’s seat, pretending to sleep. But no matter how hard I tried, and no matter how many sheep I counted in my head I couldn’t drift off. So I sat there in the dark. And I listened to the sounds of the infected as their screams were amplified and broadcasted over this lonely part of the countryside.

  Epilogue

  The next day Daniel realized the chopper had suffered some slight damage during our escape from Sydney Airport. The fuel tank had been ruptured. A piece of shrapnel or a chunk of rock would’ve been enough to do it. I was surprised that appeared to be the only damage we’d received.

  As a result we only had about a quarter of a tank left.

  Daniel said we should have enough fuel to make it to the river, but once we landed there, we would have to abandon the chopper.

  We ended up landing about ten miles away from the river because the leak in the fuel tank was worse than Daniel had initially thought. The engine began to struggle and stall while we were still in the air. So he set us down immediately.

  Everyone said their goodbyes to the Blackhawk helicopter. And the machine guns. Jack asked if we could take one of them with us but Daniel and Kenji just laughed at him. They were too heavy. And even if we could haul them around, we’d never be able to carry enough ammunition. So our weapon total remained at three rifles. We had plenty of bullets for the moment, but we all knew if we ran into trouble it wouldn’t take long to use them up.

  We began the hike towards the river. At first we were walking through the back properties of some very isolated farms. I had no idea what the farms were used for. We couldn’t see any cattle, and there were no sheep. But after a few miles, the farmland turned into bushland. It was a wild part of the country.

  It was hard going. The trees, the bushes and the scrubs grew thick and completely untamed. I guess it was ultimately a good thing. It meant we were as far away from people and from the infected as possible.

  It took us a few hours but eventually we made it to the river.

  After the trek we were even more exhausted and even more dehydrated. Everyone’s faces were covered in dust and my skin was starting to get sweaty and itchy from constantly wearing the NBC suit.

  We decided that now was probably the best time to have a bath. Who knew how long we would have to wait before the next one?

  "All right," Jack said. "Boys down one end and girls up the other!"

  I was going to say something about how I shouldn't be the only one with Maria. And that maybe one of the soldier’s should keep watch. But I don’t think Maria would’ve appreciated having either Daniel or Kenji supervise while we undressed and washed. And besides, we truly were in the absolute middle of nowhere. I figured we were as safe as we’d ever be.

  I powered off my NBC suit and thing expanded and loosened around my body. It looked like I was wearing a wetsuit made for someone much larger than me.

  I stripped down and suddenly realized this was the first time I’d ever been skinny dipping.

  It was fun and relaxing. Maria was swimming around, squirting water out of her mouth like one of those water fountain statue things. My faced was caked in dust and after I’d washed all the dirt and grime off I felt like a different person. It was like a cleansing ritual.

  But my smile soon disappeared.

  Overhead, a huge flock of black crows flew by. They were squawking and carrying on. For a second I freaked out. What if they were infected?

  Fortunately, they kept flying. They paid us no attention. But it was enough to make us nervous. We jumped out of the river and dressed as quickly as possible.

  I was just in the process of slipping back into my NBC suit when Maria screamed.

  I turned around, expecting to see an infected person. But there was nothing.

  Maria was staring at the water with her hands over her mouth. I followed her
gaze.

  There was a body floating down the river. It was badly decomposed, impossible to tell if it was a male or female.

  There was just one at first.

  But then more.

  And more.

  Until the river was full.

  We ran downstream to where the guys were bathing but luckily they were already out of the water. They had jumped out as soon as they’d heard Maria scream. Daniel and Kenji had grabbed their rifles and were about to come and see if we were all right.

  It was kind of funny seeing them just in their undies and boots, carrying their rifles.

  But they were all business, completely serious. "Are you OK?" Kenji asked.

  But we couldn’t answer him. We were speechless.

  Maria just pointed at the river. "The river," she stammered. "It’s… it’s full of bodies."

  Kenji turned and aimed his rifle at the water. I could hear him flick the safety switch off. I think he initially thought we meant there were infected in the river. But once he saw the floating bodies he lowered his rifle.

  We just stood there for a few minutes. Watching them all float by. There must’ve been thousands.

  Kenji said they didn't look infected. Most of them had bullet holes in their chest and torso. He said they had been executed.

  More innocent people, I thought.

  But then I wondered if maybe it was better this way. Maybe execution was the kinder, more merciful option. I don’t know.

  "So, what now?" Maria asked after awhile.

  No one answered her right away. Jack was staring at the water shaking his head. Kenji was silent, his shoulders were slumped forward.

  "We head west," Daniel said. "We scavenge whatever food and water we can, from wherever we can. And we head west."

  "To the camp?" I asked.

  "Yeah. If we can get back to the camp, we can get out of here."

  "What about Kim?" Jack asked.

  "Christmas Island is even further than the camp," Daniel said. "A lot further."

  "We can’t just leave her there!"

  Maria put her arm around Jack but he brushed it off. "We can’t! I won’t!"

  "Maria, is too important," Daniel explained.

  "And we don’t know if Kim’s even being kept at that facility," Kenji added.

  Jack lowered his head. "I know that. I do. But I can’t leave here without trying, without doing something."

  Again, no one said anything for awhile.

  He then looked at all of us, one by one. "I’m not leaving without my sister. I have to get her. Or at least try."

  The scary thing was Jack was one hundred percent serious. He was going to Christmas Island with or without us.

  After a couple more minutes we decided to get as far away from the river as possible.

  Daniel told everyone to make sure their feet were dry. If they were wet, we’d get blisters. We did not want that. We had long way to walk.

  A long way.

  We walked at a steady pace for the rest of the day. And eventually the bushland began to thin out. The ground became drier. The land, the terrain became flat and desolate.

  We were at the edge of the outback, staring into oblivion.

  Daniel told me the locals call it ‘the Never Never’ because it’s such a huge area; a seemingly, never ending desert.

  And we were walking straight into it.

  But we didn’t have a choice. To our back was the east coast of Australia, the most populated region of the country. And on that coastline were millions upon millions of infected. We needed to get to Daniel’s camp. We needed to get to the hypersonic jet. That jet was our ticket out of the apocalypse.

  So we’re heading west, into The Never Never. Into oblivion. A sort of abyss, albeit a bright, sun scorched abyss.

  What’s that saying again? Stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back into you?

  Well, we’re staring into the abyss right now. We are walking down a lonely, old road that we can’t see the end of, we can’t even see the horizon, it just turns into a shimmering, heat mirage.

  No one has said anything for a couple of hours. I think we’re all wondering how the hell we we’re going to cross this huge desert on foot. How are we going to survive? What are we going to eat? Where are we going to find water in a desert?

  It’s a lot to think about. I want to talk to Kenji, get all these thoughts and fears out of my head. I want to hear his voice, engage him. At the very least I just want to walk next to him, shoulder to shoulder. Maybe even hold his hand. But I don’t.

  Daniel has been walking out in front for most of the day. Lost in his own world, lost in his own mind. If I had to guess, I’d say he was thinking about Ethan and his team. He told me Ethan was like a father to him. I hope he is strong enough to keep himself together. We need him to be focused if we want any chance of surviving in this harsh and unforgiving environment.

  Jack and Maria have been joined at the hip for the entire trek so far. They both look worried. Jack is probably thinking about his sister. Maybe he’s wondering if he really is going to rescue her. Is it worth it? Or is it just a suicide mission?

  Overhead, a huge eagle flies by, soaring majestically through the dusty red sky. It appears to be gliding effortlessly on the wind.

  "It’s a wedge tailed eagle," Jack says. "I wonder if he understands it’s wonderful to fly."

  "What?"

  "Nothing. Just some lyrics from a song."

  I’m about to ask him what song but I don’t. We continue to walk in silence for what seems like a long time. Hours maybe. Then Maria starts reciting lines from a poem. It’s a famous Australian poem.

  I love a sunburnt country,

  A land of sweeping plains,

  Of ragged mountain ranges,

  Of droughts and flooding rains.

  I love her far horizons,

  I love her jewel-sea,

  Her beauty and her terror…

  I can’t remember who wrote it or what it’s called. But we had to study it last year in English class. Maria got an A as usual.

  Anyway, I’m pretty sure there’s more to the poem but she ended on the word ‘terror’.

  And I guess that’s what we are all feeling right now. Maybe that’s why we’re walking in silence. We’re terrified.

  ####

  COMING SOON IN 2011

  Where The Dead Men Lie

  Book 3 in The Secret Apocalypse series

  OUT NOW

  The Lost Journal

  A Secret Apocalypse Novella

  For more info visit http://jamesharden.blogspot.com/

  Copyright © 2011 by James Harden

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the

  writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any

  resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events locales or organizations is entirely

  coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author.