by Wilde, J. M.
My jaw dropped at the sight of Wyatt crouching there looking over the edge as he wiped the zombie blood off of his knife onto the concrete. He turned to face me and shrugged casually, flashing me a crooked grin. “You’re not the only one who can kick butt.”
I took my eyes off of him long enough to notice that the rooftop doubled as a beer garden for the pub downstairs. Around me stood six sets of high tables and bar stools, with an undercover area housing two big couches on either side of a glass coffee table.
Wyatt walked over to one of the couches. “We can use this to block the door.” Once we secured the couch in front of the door, we felt safe enough to take a break on the remaining couch. I sank into the soft cushions and immediately pulled the walkie-talkie out of my backpack and switched it back on.
“Ben? Are you there?” After a tense moment of static, I heard muffled voices on the other end.
“Eva? Yeah, we’re here. We’re on the roof. What happened?”
“Zombies,” I said. “We’re on the roof now, too. We’re trapped.” I turned my gaze across the road to the opposite building, looking for the others. After a couple of seconds, I saw Ben, Jo and Tom pop their heads up from behind the rooftop wall. Wyatt walked over to the ledge and waved to let them know we were okay, and they waved back.
“How’s Tom?” I asked. I could see he was leaning over the wall, looking at something down below. I could only assume he was watching those monsters tearing his wife to shreds.
Ben lowered his voice. “Not good.”
“And Jo?”
“She’s okay, just scared. Don’t know what happened to the dog though. What do you guys wanna do?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “But it’ll be dark soon. We might have to stay here and wait it out until morning.” I heard voices as Ben talked it over with Jo, and I could tell they were upset. Wyatt took a seat next to me on the couch and listened to the voices arguing through the speaker.
We heard Ben groan before he started talking into the walkie-talkie again. “Fine,” he grunted. “But next time I say we’re not stopping, we don’t bloody stop.” Wyatt rolled his eyes as he took the walkie-talkie from my hand.
“Fine,” Wyatt replied, echoing Ben’s frustration. “We need to save the batteries of the walkie-talkies, but let us know if anything happens over there.”
“Yep,” Ben said. “Speak to you in the morning, I guess.” And with that, everything fell silent again.
Wyatt turned his head to look at the opposite rooftop. “I’m glad I’m on this roof and not that one.”
“Me too,” I agreed. “But I hope Jo’s alright.”
“Ben will look after her,” Wyatt said. “He doesn’t show it, but he cares about her a lot. I’m more worried about Tom.”
“Poor guy,” I said. “First he lost his son, then his wife was murdered right in front of him. I can’t imagine what’s going through his mind right now.”
A cold breeze swept across the rooftop, making me shiver. Wyatt pulled a sleeping bag out of his backpack, unzipped it and placed it over the two of us.
“Maybe Ben’s right,” he said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have stopped to help them. We could have been safe at Elliot’s place by this time tomorrow, but instead Jill is dead and we’re stuck here on this roof.”
“That’s bullshit,” I said as I huddled closer and looked him the eyes. “Ben is not right. He’s tired, he’s angry and he’s heartbroken about his parents, but he is not right.” I slouched back, letting out a long exhale. “Yes, whether we like it or not, the world has changed. But we can still be good people. I’d rather be stuck out here, knowing that we did the right thing, than sitting safely at Elliot’s place knowing I left innocent people to die.”
Wyatt didn’t say anything, but when I glanced at him I saw him watching me intently. When our eyes locked, he leaned in and kissed me, taking my breath away.
The moon rose over the horizon and the stars began to sparkle in the darkening sky. Soon, we had both fallen asleep in each other’s arms.
Chapter Five
I awoke to the cackling call of a Kookaburra and the dawn breaking over the rooftop. My muscles ached from all the fighting, running and travelling we had been doing. All I wanted to do was enjoy a hot shower and dive under the covers of a big, comfy bed. But my current reality was nowhere near that heavenly fantasy.
I sighed as I lifted Wyatt’s arm from around my shoulders, quietly got up from the couch and made my way to the ledge to scope out the main street.
Scanning the area, only a few zombies were visible. My stomach turned when my eyes landed on Jill’s lifeless body, her shredded torso, head and right thigh were all that remained.
Forcing myself to look away, I thought I saw something moving in the distance. Looking closer, I could see a small figure running between some of the cars piled on the road.
I ran to pull the binoculars out of Wyatt’s backpack, accidentally waking him up in the process.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he smiled, but when he saw the worried expression on my face he jumped up from the couch in one swift movement. “What is it?”
“I saw something,” I said as I ran back to the rooftop wall. “I think it was the boy. Max.”
Wyatt stood next to me as I peered through the binoculars, searching for the figure on the street. After a moment of frantically moving my line of sight from car to car, I finally found him. He had climbed into the back of a smashed station wagon, and he looked terrified. He couldn’t have been more than four or five years old.
“We need to get to him,” I said as I passed the binoculars to Wyatt.
As he spotted the boy through the lenses, I leaned further over the ledge wall to see how many zombies blocked our way out.
“Wait,” Wyatt said, his lips forming a straight line in concern. “There’s a guy getting in the station wagon with him. He doesn’t look infected. He must be one of Tom and Jill’s friends. ”
Squinting to get a better look, I saw the man Wyatt was talking about. He sat in the station wagon with the boy and slowly closed the door behind him.
At that moment, Ben’s voice appeared over the walkie-talkies. “Wyatt? Eva? You there?”
Wyatt handed me the binoculars and grabbed the walkie-talkie from his backpack. “Yeah, you guys all good?”
“We’re fine,” he answered, and I saw his head pop up from behind the wall on the opposite building. “You ready to make a run for it back to the RV?”
“Uh,” Wyatt hesitated, “we have a bit of a problem.” He ran his fingers down his jaw, scratching the light beard that was growing on his chin. “Is Tom awake?”
“He’s downstairs with Jo,” Ben replied. “They’re making sure there’s a clear path to get out. Why? What’s the problem?”
“We think we found his son,” Wyatt said. “He’s in one of the cars on the street with some guy. He looks okay, but we gotta help them, man.”
For a moment, all we heard through the walkie-talkie was silence. “Okay,” Ben said. “I’ll get Tom and Jo to the RV and start it up. You two get the kid. We’re leaving now.” I watched as Ben gave us the thumbs up and disappeared from view.
Wyatt and I packed up our backpacks as fast as we could, pushed the couch away from the door and braced ourselves for what lay ahead.
He turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders. “Ready?”
“Ready,” I said, nodding.
He placed his hand on the door handle. “Just run for it and smash through anything that gets in your way.”
I nodded again, barely able to breathe as I clutched my axe tight in front of my chest. He pulled the door open and we started to creep down the stairwell, listening carefully for any unwelcome intruders. By the time we reached the bottom floor, my heart was beating so hard that I could feel my pulse in every part of my body.
We paused in front of the door at the bottom of the stairs, taking in deep breaths to prepare ourselves for the race ahead of us.
“Let’s do this,” I whispered. My voice sounded shaky but my determination was stronger than ever. Wyatt leaned in and kissed me softly before taking hold of my hand. As soon as he pulled the door open, we started to run. We had made it halfway through the pub when something grabbed hold of my ankle, tripping me onto the hard wooden floor. I looked down to see a zombie crawling out from under a table, a rumbling growl emerging from its throat as it pulled me closer.
Wyatt tried to pull me up, but another zombie stumbled towards him. He started wrestling with it while I kicked at the zombie clutching my ankle. I sat up and swung my axe at its head as hard as I could, cracking its skull with a loud crunch. The chaos had caught the attention of more zombies, who screeched as they started coming at us from every direction.
I quickly pulled the axe out and tried to stand up, but it still had a tight grip on my boot. I looked up to see a large, obese zombie coming right at me, a sinister look in its dead eyes. Standing at about six feet tall with the body of a weightlifter, I was no match for such a burly beast.
Frantically, I pried the fingers from around my ankle and jumped to my feet as soon as I was free, just in time to drive my axe right between its eyes, splattering blood everywhere.
I tried to pull the axe free from its skull, but it wouldn’t budge. The zombie started falling forward, leaning over me. I jumped back as fast as I could, but not fast enough. The humungous creature landed on my legs, pinning me to the floor.
Pain shot through my legs as the weight of his body held me down, but I didn’t have time to feel it; another zombie already had its hungry eyes on me. This time, my predator was a little girl. She couldn’t have been more than ten years old. A pink ribbon sat atop her curly blonde hair in a bow and her yellow dress had smiling butterflies all over it. She would have looked human if it weren’t for the dried blood all over face and the ravaged arm in her hand.
Her eyes locked onto mine as she dropped the dismembered arm to the floor. I winced in pain as I struggled to push the burly zombie off of my legs. I could hear Wyatt still fighting zombies on the other side of the pub, there was nothing he could do to help me.
I was about to be dessert for a little zombie girl.
My eyes widened in horror as she bared her blood-stained teeth and let out a chilling snarl. Before I even had a chance to scream, she had launched herself towards me.
I anxiously tried to pull my axe free from the skull of the heavy zombie, tugging again and again. With one final bone-crunching jerk, I pulled the axe free and held it up high, ready to swipe at the blood-thirsty child.
Just as I was about to thrash at her, she slammed down onto the floor in front of me. I watched in surprise as she started sliding backwards, being pulled away from me by a dog.
“Hunter!” I cried, relieved to see his furry face again. He pulled the zombie girl behind the bar and I tried not to listen to the growls and crunches as he tore her to shreds.
“Eva!” Wyatt called from the other side of the room. “Where are you?” The sudden silence told me he had killed the last of the zombies.
“Down here!” I called back, waving my arms in the air so he could see me. “I’m stuck!” He ran over to me, grunting as he dragged the monstrous zombie off of me. I broke free, jumping to my feet and shaking my legs to regain feeling in them.
“Are you okay?” Wyatt asked, looking me up and down for injuries.
I nodded, relieved to feel relatively no pain—getting a broken leg would mean certain death for me. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
We ran out the door of the pub with Hunter trailing behind us.
To our left, I could see Ben and Jo in the RV, waiting for us with the engine running.
To our right sat a maze of cars in between us and the station wagon in which Max and the man were hiding.
Wyatt gestured for Ben to follow us in the RV as we bolted towards the station wagon. I weaved in and out of the cars and skidded to a stop by the side of the car. I tapped my hand on the window, making them jump in fright. “Come with us!” I said as Wyatt lifted the back door up and helped the little boy out of the car.
The man picked up the boy and started following us through the cars towards the RV. I heard the groans of zombies up ahead, but it wasn’t until we had made it out of the pile up and closer to the motorhome that I could see them. More than a dozen zombies were shuffling towards the RV, drawn to it by the sound of the engine.
Jo swung the door of the cabin open from the inside and held her hand out to help us all in one by one. She was about to close the door when I realised we were missing someone.
“Wait!” I said as I stopped the door and stuck my head out of the RV. “Hunter!” I yelled, and within seconds I could see him running towards us. As soon as he leapt into the RV, I slammed the door shut and Ben started speeding out of town, slamming into any zombie that got in our way.
Tom gasped when he saw the little boy, hardly able to believe his eyes. “Max!”
“Dad!” Max cried, reaching out for his father.
The man holding him raised his eyebrows in shock. “Tom?”
Tom took Max and glared at him, clenching his jaw in anger. “Surprised to see me, Martin? Maybe that’s because you left us for dead.”
Martin’s eyes fell to the floor in guilt. Avoiding eye contact with any of us, he sat quietly on the couch.
Max wrapped his arms around Tom, smiling and tugging on his hair as though making sure he was real. My heart warmed as I watched the father and son embrace, tears streaming down Tom’s face. For the first time since the outbreak, something miraculous had happened, and it felt good to be a part of it.
I slumped onto the floor and hugged Hunter close, quietly thanking him for saving my life back in the pub.
I saw Martin scan the cabin, taking note of everyone. “Where’s Jill?” he asked. With those words, my heart sank. Tom looked at all of us, pain searing in his eyes, and once again I felt like this nightmare would never end.
Tom just shook his head, and Martin knew. He didn’t say anything after that, instead he just sank deeper into the couch, and deeper into his guilt.
I closed my eyes and rested my head against the wall, exhausted. I felt someone sit next to me and put their arm around me tight, and I knew it was Wyatt. He kissed my temple, making me smile. I tried not to think about how close I came to death that day, but the image of that vicious little girl had burned itself into my memory. I rested my head on Wyatt’s shoulder as the RV sped down the highway, thankful to be off of the rooftop and back on the open road.
If you’re going through hell, I thought, remembering the Winston Churchill quote. Keep going.
Chapter Six
I kept a watchful eye on our surroundings while Wyatt checked an abandoned Volvo for zombies.
“All clear,” he said, turning to Tom. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
We had stopped on a dirt road just off the highway, outside of a small truck stop.
“Yeah,” he replied as he lowered Max into the passenger seat and buckled his seatbelt. He wanted to take Max to Darwin, where some of his family lived, so we helped him find a car and gave him some of our supplies to help them on their journey. “I need to find my family.”
We all knew the chances of finding his family alive were slim, but we dared not say it. We had to stay hopeful.
I reached out and shook his hand. “If you change your mind, you know where we’ll be.”
He smiled wearily. “Thank you.” He looked at Wyatt, Jo, Ben and I and nodded. “For everything.” We said our goodbyes, waving to little Max as the car pulled away.
Jo lifted her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun as she looked around. “Where’s Martin?”
“I think he’s in the RV. Probably sulking,” Ben grumbled as he started walking back towards the RV.
Wyatt shook his head. “Nah, I saw him go into the cafe.” He jogged after Ben, patting him on the back. “I’m driving this time.” Ben handed the keys to Wya
tt and they both climbed into either side of the driver’s cabin. None of us wanted Martin to tag along, especially after he abandoned Tom and Jill, but we couldn’t leave him behind.
As I stepped into the RV behind Jo, I heard a loud crash come from inside the truck stop cafe, followed by a scream. I ran outside with my axe at the ready as Martin flew through the cafe door and skidded along the dirt.
“Run!” he yelled as he scrambled to his feet and started racing towards me.
I sprinted back the RV and waited for Martin to get in before closing the door and turning the lock. Wyatt started the engine and headed onto the highway while Martin struggled to catch his breath.
“What happened?” I asked. Jo and I stood over him as he sank into the dining booth, his hands shaking. I looked out the window to see zombies emerging from the cafe, trying to chase us.
Martin wiped the sweat off his forehead with his shirt sleeve. “That was too close.”
Ben turned in his seat to glare at him. “Why the hell did you go in there anyway?”
He held his palms up apologetically. “I was looking for a weapon. I didn’t think anyone would be in there. It looked empty.”
Ben rolled his eyes and turned to face the front again, muttering to himself. I put the kettle on and started preparing dehydrated pasta meals for our lunch. None of us had eaten much, the stress of this new world had taken its toll on our appetite, but we weren’t safe yet and we had to keep our energy levels up.
Ten minutes later, after handing a bowl of pasta to Jo and Ben, I offered one to Martin, who had been sitting silently at the dining table.
He shook his head. “Not hungry.”
