Joe squinted his eyes to read the name ‘Chambers’ that was sewn onto Rebecca’s uniform. “G’day sport,” he said. “Long time, old girl.”
Rebecca didn’t say a word as she focused on the running people.
“Hey!” Joe yelled. “You can take your mask off; it’s not airborne, this virus.”
Rebecca looked at Joe. She ripped her mask off. The sounds of the gunfire and screaming hit her as she walked over to the tank and looked at Joe.
“Long time,” he said again. Rebecca and Joe slammed palms together after she stepped closer to the tank. “Hey, what the fuck is this shit?” he asked.
“No idea, man,” she replied “We got sent here from base, and before we knew it, people were eating one another.”
“Shit is fucked up, man” Earl Torres chimed in.
Rebecca looked up to see Earl. He looked down at her from the top of the tank, his hands on the trigger of his machine gun, ready to rip into any zombies that might come sprinting towards them.
“So, what are your orders?” Rebecca asked Joe.
“Same as yours,” Joe replied. “Try and help contain this infection.”
“Try” Rebecca emphasized.
“Yeah, try,” Joe echoed. Joe looked down the street. People were fleeing in all directions. Some people had bags with them, probably filled with food and supplies for survival in the outback (if they could even make it there). Joe looked up as he heard something coming in on the radio in his earpiece. Rebecca knew they were being deployed to another location.
“Got to roll,” Joe announced “New location.”
The engines on the tank roared back to life. Rebecca and Joe slapped palms before he entered the tank. She knew there was a very good chance that she was never going to see him again. Rebecca looked into the distance as the tank slowly rolled away from her. She couldn’t hesitate, though. If these creatures were attacking people at the neck, she needed to put her mask back on, even though the fresh air had been a slight relief for a few moments. Police and emergency sirens were heard left, right, and centre. The sounds of screaming people dispersed as she slipped the mask back on and pulled it down tightly. She stood back against a wall, peering into Circular Quay. There were a few frightened people around, mainly staff from the shipping company.
A shadow suddenly appeared on the ground. Rebecca swung to her head and looked through the sight of the rifle.
A Japanese man in a suit and holding a briefcase was standing there. “Don’t shoot!” he pleaded.
Rebecca removed her finger from the trigger as she looked at the man.
“Excuse me, miss,” he asked. “What is going on?”
Rebecca looked at the man as he looked at her, awaiting her response.
“Do you want my opinion?” Rebecca said. The man looked at Rebecca as she held onto the rifle. “Go find somewhere to hide,” she said.
“Where?” he asked.
“Anywhere,” she snapped.
The man was still just looking at Rebecca. But her attention was suddenly taken away from the man. She swung her head as a female scream was heard. She squinted her eyes to see a casually-dressed middle-aged woman. One of the zombies was biting into her neck. She could see the blood running down her white T-shirt, staining right through it.
“Hey!” Rebecca screamed. She ran through the street. The zombie continued to bite down into the woman’s neck. The woman was losing her energy. People were running in and around the infected individual, leaving Rebecca with no clear shot at the zombie.
“MOVE!” she yelled. Rebecca took the shot. The bullet launched from the rifle, piercing the zombie. Rebecca looked at the woman as she laid down on the pavement. She was choking on her own blood. Soon, the infection was going to take over her body. Rebecca looked down at her; She put her hands on the bite wound, trying to stop the blood from rushing out of the woman’s neck. Rebecca looked down into the woman’s eyes. The woman gently nodded. Rebecca knew what she had to do. She aimed the rifle at the tip of the woman’s head and squeezed the trigger. The onlookers jumped at the sound of the gunshot. The woman laid dead on the sidewalk.
Rebecca stood up straight. She saw the onlookers standing in fear. They were awaiting Rebecca’s instructions. She looked down the street. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. She grasped the rifle, as, running toward her, she saw a huge group of the infected. She wasn’t sure she would able to take them all down. The people started running from them. Some were taken down and attacked. Rebecca stared in horror as several innocent people were killed in front of her very eyes. She wasn’t going to be able to hold Circular Quay by herself. She looked over at the entrance to the shipping port. She thought this may be her only way to escape.
She caught the attention of the Japanese man, who was still standing in the middle of the sidewalk on the other side of the street. “Shit,” she uttered to herself. Then, she yelled at the man. “Move! GO!”
Thankfully, Scott had found Rebecca and joined her. Rebecca kneeled down into the street with him. They took shots at the running zombies from their position.
“There’s too many of them,” Scott said
“I gathered that,” Rebecca replied.
Rebecca and Scott continued shooting at the zombies as people continued to run from all corners.
Scott happened to spot one of the zombies running towards Rebecca. “Woah!” he gasped. “Shit!”
Scott swung his body around and fired his rifle, saving Rebecca. However, there were too many zombies to hold back. Scott looked over at one of the ships’ skippers. He was just standing there in his sky blue polo shirt and navy blue shorts. He was too scared to move from the scene.
“Shit,” Scott uttered. “Rebecca” He ordered “Circular is fucked. Go on that boat with them survivors and get out and away from the city.”
“What about our orders?” she yelled.
“Fuck the orders!” he yelled back.
Scott looked down the street, taking single shots at the zombies as they sprinted towards them with their glowing eyes and snarling mouths. Rebecca ran to the docks. The tourist stand was still full of souvenirs; the tiny hut which sold hot beverages and food was empty, but food was still cooking, which was stinking the place up.
“You,” She ordered the skipper. The skipper looked Rebecca. “Get this thing moving,” she ordered
“What,” He asked. “I’ve been giving orders to return to base.”
Without warning, one of the zombies ran towards the skipper. Rebecca looked through the sight of her rifle and squeezed the trigger. The skipper flinched. Rebecca looked at the skipper and then turned around, looking back to Scott. “Scott!” she screamed. Rebecca ran over to Scott as a few of the survivors, including the Japanese man, got onto the boat.
“Come on!” she ordered
Scott looked to his left. One of the zombies was approaching quickly. He didn’t have time to shoot. The zombie lunged at him and sunk its teeth into his neck. Rebecca took a shot, killing the zombie.
“Agggh! Damn it!” Scott yelled.
“No!” Rebecca yelled as she ran over to him.
“Take these,” Scott ordered with a weak voice. He handed Rebecca the magazines he had left. She grabbed them, watching Scott start to choke on his blood. He started to close his eyes as he lost his energy. “Do it,” he choked.
Rebecca looked through the sight of the rifle and slowly squeezed the trigger. “Sorry, bro,” she said as she put a bullet in his chest.
She looked up to see more of the infected running in her direction. There were too many of them for her to take on. She ran into Circular Quay and got onto the small commuter ship. as the skipper unfasted the rope tying it to the dock. “Come on! Get this thing moving!” she screamed.
She then swung around to look at the running zombies who were now sprinting into the quay. She took shots at them if she felt she absolutely had to, as she was trying to preserve as much ammunition as she could.
The skipper finall
y got onto the boat. He ran up the stairs onto the bridge. He looked forward at the horizon of Sydney. There was no chance of him ever getting home. He pushed the two throttles to maximum. The engines came to life. The back propellers started to rotate, pushing the ship out of the quay.
Rebecca continued to look through the sight of her rifle as the Japanese man looked at the snarling infected as they ran into the quay. They stopped at the edge of the dock as the ship sped away from the quay. The skipper looked out of the front glass window, feeling the sunbeam in through it. He looked at the small, half-empty bottle of water in the cupholder next to him.
Rebecca watched as Circular got smaller as they approached Sydney Harbour Bridge. She looked up at the bridge. She could hear the screams from people as the ship passed underneath the bridge. The sound of gunshots was starting to fade away. The infection had nearly taken over the entire city, and perhaps the country. The bridge offered a couple of seconds of shade for the ship’s passengers.
The skipper hit full throttle. The propellers at the back of the ship blasted to full power.
“Ma’am!” the skipper called to Rebecca.
Rebecca ran up the stairs and inside the ship’s bridge.
“What do we do?” he asked.
Rebecca looked forward. “We head inland.”
“What!? That’s suicide!”
“We find a river, head in, land, and try and find some survivors to take away from the big cities.”
The skipper didn’t argue. He just looked forward as the Sydney Harbour Bridge behind them got smaller by the second.
Chapter Three
Olivia looked out the front of the car. The only thing she could see was the road ahead. She was hyper-focused on it. She took a quick glance in the rear-view mirror at Jett and Chelsea in the back. Olivia was holding onto the phone. The battery was close to dying. She then looked at Ethan sitting in his seat with his head in the corner of it, fast asleep and unaware of the chaos around him. Olivia wondered if they were going to survive this whole ordeal. She wondered whether Ethan would survive to tell the stories as he gets older. Olivia jumped as the car started to shudder. Chelsea and Jett looked up with fear in their eyes as the car started to die out. Olivia looked down at the fuel gauge as the car shuddered again. The car was about to run out of gas on the dead road. Olivia saw a gas station in the not-too-far distance. It had a diner built into it. The moon gleamed down on it and lit the sign up. She pulled in, watching the gauges in front of her slowly die away.
Chelsea and Jett looked at her. “What happened?” Chelsea asked. Jett simply awaited the response from his mum. “What happened?” Chelsea asked again.
Without warning, Olivia screamed, “I don’t know!” Jett and Chelsea looked at their mum, Ethan was still asleep. Olivia put her head on the steering wheel. She started to cry. “I’m sorry,” she wept. Jett and Chelsea knew she was upset about their dad. The car remained silent as Olivia lifted her head. She looked at the empty petrol station. No lights were on inside. “We’re out of petrol,” she sobbed.
Jett and Chelsea looked around. Jett looked at the line of fuel pumps.
“Shall I?” Jett asked, eager to get out of the car and away from the emotional distress.
“No,” Olivia ordered. “I’ll go.”
Olivia got the courage up to get out of the car. Jett and Chelsea felt the rush of cool air enter the car. It had been a stuffy journey toward the outback from Adelaide. The family had been too scared to open a window because of the infection. it was a sense of relief. that few seconds of fresh air. Olivia closed the door but didn’t click it shut. The keys were still in the ignition so that they could flee if there were any infected people nearby. Olivia slowly walked up to the petrol nozzle. She slowly took it from the holder toward the car. As the hose was just about the reach it clicked; it couldn’t go any further.
“Shit,” she whispered underneath her breath. She fed the hose back into the pump. She stormed over to the car. The only thing she could hear was the rubber soles of her trainers as they clipped on the ground.
She pulled the car door open. “Come on,” she ordered. “We need to push.”
“What?” Chelsea asked in shock.
“Don’t argue,” Olivia replied.
Chelsea and Jett got out of the car and went behind it. “On three,” Olivia said. Chelsea and Jett looked at their mum as they stood at the back of the car. “One, two, three!”
They pushed the car closer to the petrol pumps. Jett looked up at the gleaming moon as it gleamed down onto the petrol station. Not a single cloud was in the sky. it was still very warm outside.
Olivia walked around to the petrol pump and took the nozzle out again. This time, it reached. “Please, please, please,” she begged. She squeezed the handle. Nothing. “Shit,” she uttered under breath
Chelsea turned around and got back into the car. She checked her phone and saw that the battery was almost dead. Jett checked his phone, too. His battery was almost dead as well.
“So,” Jett asked. “What do we do?” Olivia didn’t reply. She looked down at the steering wheel. trying not to cry again. Jett looked at Chelsea; she was just staring down at her phone. Jett felt angry. His mind flashed back to earlier; he saw Laura. She was just staring at him through the window of the car. He looked at the handprint blood stain on the window. It hadn’t yet dried fully.
“You do know he’s dead,” Jett said.
Chelsea swung her head to look at Jett. “Excuse me?”
“You do know that he is dead. Face the facts, Chelsea. Justin is dead. You’re never going to see him again.”
Chelsea looked at Jett. Olivia looked into the mirror and saw her two oldest children starting to argue. “Be quiet!” she cried. “Please!” The arguing stopped immediately. Olivia then looked at Ethan. He was starting to move.
Olivia then looked ahead at the dead petrol station. She got out of the car and walked over towards the entrance. She walked around the corner, looking at the long diner. She pulled the door open. Not a squeak was heard. She looked down into the petrol station. The floor was white; not a speck of dirt was on it, apart from the occasional footprint. She looked at the counter. It was a place for her to rest her head on for a few minutes. She walked up to and put her head on the plastic dish where change was given. She started to cry again, wondering how and what they were going to do next. While she sobbed, she was unaware that one of the infected was behind her—a male. A huge bite mark was on his arm from where he had been attacked. He staggered towards Olivia. He was not running this time. He was just staggering towards her. Olivia looked up at the transparent sheet that was in front of her. She saw a figure in it. She swung around and saw the zombie standing there, looking at her. She trembled with fear. ‘Is this the end?’ she thought. She tried to look over at the car, but it was too dark to see the children. The zombie snarled and went for her. Olivia stepped to the side and backward, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. Her hand didn’t find anything, though, and she fell backwards onto the ground, trying to hold the zombie off.
She looked back. The door that led into the back kitchen swung open, and a male figure appeared. He ripped the zombie off of Oliva and threw it against the ground. He was holding onto a baseball bat. He slammed the bat into the zombie. Olivia looked at the man as he battered the zombie. Blood gushed out of his head.
“You okay?” he asked, helping her up.
Olivia laid back trying not to cry. “Thank…” she gasped “Thank you!”
The man looked around the diner.
Olivia slowly walked through the diner, trembling with fear.
“Thank you,” she praised, over and over again.
“What for?” he asked.
There was a short pause. “Back there,” she replied.
“What?” he replied. “Oh, no. Not a problem. I hated that kid, anyway, gobby little fucker.”
Olivia walked through the diner with him.
“Name’s Spe
ncer,” he said, “but the ladies call me ‘Spence.’”
“Olivia,” she replied. “Nice to meet you.”
“Before you ask,” Spencer said, “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Olivia didn’t reply as they walked around towards the petrol station store.
“So, what were you doing here?” Spence asked.
“Oh,” Olivia replied. “Out of fuel.”
“Any in the pumps?”
“No… Well, the power is out.”
“Not to worry,” Spence replied. He entered the petrol station counter and clenched his fist as he walked through the open door. He noticed a coat hung up on the door. He looked inside it and saw a leather tatty wallet. He ripped it open and went through it, ignoring all the credit cards and loyalty schemes. He took a 20-dollar bill from it, remarking, “I’ll have that. You never know.”
He then looked around the room and saw what he was looking for: a silver power box. “Here we are,” he said
Spence ripped the box down and looked at the switches. He flicked them up, one after the other. Olivia looked around the petrol station. The lights flicked on, one after the other.
“Perfect,” He said. Spence left the petrol station. He looked over at the car and noticed that Jett and Chelsea were just looking at him as he strolled towards the petrol pump. Spence looked in at Chelsea, whose attention had returned to her phone. She was still eager for Justin to call her.
“Howdy,” Spencer said, “How we all doing?”
Spencer ripped the petrol pump out from the pump, and he slammed it into the tank. He looked at Olivia. “And we just squeeze this!” he said, giving Chelsea a smile as he squeezed the pump nozzle. The pump’s generators grumbled as fuel started to stream into the car.
“We have fuel!” Olivia felt received watching and listening to the fuel running into the tank. It was a big car, and so it was going to take a while to fill it right full.
Spence looked at Chelsea as she looked forward into the rear-view mirror. She looked to the back, into the depths of the dark outback. She opened her eyes wide with fear. She had spotted some glowing zombie eyes—a few sets of them—in the distance, emerging from the outback. The zombies were heading quickly towards the petrol station. The light from the station must have been drawing them in. As the eyes got closer by the second, Chelsea noticed something. They were staying low to the ground.
Fear The Outback (Book 1): Fear The Outback Page 4
