by Wilde, J. M.
Wyatt hadn’t even looked my way all morning. I sat next to him at the table, trying not to feel the tension between us. In fact, I was trying not to feel the tension between everyone sitting at that table, but it was impossible.
Ben was suspicious of Elliot, Wyatt was furious at both me and Ben, and Jo was furious at Ben, too. Try as I might, I couldn’t stop my suspicions, either. The only one who seemed happy was Elliot, who hadn’t stopped smiling since he came into the kitchen.
Wyatt stood up from the table and started heading for the door. “Eva, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Um, sure,” I said, following him outside.
“Oh, a lovers’ quarrel, is it?” Elliot asked. We ignored him as we stepped outside and closed the door behind us.
Wyatt sat on the steps of the porch as he began to speak. “I’m sorry you don’t trust my brother.”
“Me too,” I replied as I sat next to him. “I really want to trust him, I do. But I just can’t shake this feeling that something’s not right.”
Wyatt groaned and held his head in his hands. “Me too,” he muttered from behind his palms.
“What?” I asked, thinking I must have misheard him.
“He seems different,” he said. “I thought, maybe, he’d just spent too much time alone in the forest, but after seeing how happy he was that a zombie got in—I think he’s lost touch with reality a bit.”
“Why didn’t you say something last night?” I asked.
“And give Ben the satisfaction of being right?” he asked, turning to look at me with wide eyes. “No way. He’s been an ass ever since we left Melbourne.”
“Well, he did lose his parents,” I reminded him. “He’s had a tough few days.”
“I’ve lost my parents,” he snapped. “I’ve had a tough few days. We all have!” He threw his hands up into the air. I nodded, knowing he had a point. “We’ve all been through hell, but he’s the only one causing trouble.”
“I’m sorry, man,” a voice said from behind us. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was Ben. I held my breath, hoping he wasn’t about to start another argument.
“I mean it,” he said. “I know I haven’t been the easiest person to be around lately. You guys all seem to be handling this craziness so well, and I feel like I’m losing it.”
“Ben, we’re all losing it,” Wyatt said.
“It’s true,” I added. “How could we not? I’m one more zombie away from a complete breakdown. I have no idea how the hell we made it this far.”
“Really?” Ben said, genuinely surprised.
I nodded. “Really. We’re all hanging on by a thread. It’s not just you. That’s why we need to make an effort to be good to each other.” I reached up to hold his hand. “We’re all we’ve got now.”
Ben thought for a moment, and put a hand on Wyatt’s shoulder. “I really am sorry.”
“Me too,” Wyatt said.
“I’ll stop hassling your brother,” Ben added. “I’ll keep my big mouth shut.” He went back inside, leaving Wyatt and I staring at each other in surprise of what just happened.
A tired smile tugged at my lips. “You know? Maybe we’re all a little bit nuts right now. But if we don’t stop fighting, we’re gonna end up going all Lord of the Flies on each other.”
Wyatt chuckled at my bad joke, and I was glad to make him laugh.
“Truce?” he asked, holding his hand out.
“Truce,” I agreed, shaking his hand.
He wrapped his arm around me and kissed me on the forehead. “Good. I couldn’t stand not talking to you for another second.”
That night, I was woken up by a long creak and a loud thud. I sat up in bed, looking around my empty room. The door was still closed and locked, as was the window, so I assumed it was the wind. The sun was rising, so I decided to get up, make myself a cup of coffee and enjoy the view from the front porch before anyone else woke up. It had been a long time since I’d lived with other people, and I had already begun to cherish the rare peaceful moments by myself.
I quietly stepped out into the hallway and wandered into the kitchen, switching the kettle on. Gazing out the kitchen window, my heart skipped a beat when I noticed something walking up the driveway. I could tell it was a woman by her long black hair and curvy shape. At first I thought she was a zombie, but as I watched closer I realised she wasn’t moving like one; she wasn’t shuffling, limping, dragging her feet or hunching over. I had learned by now that zombies wander around aimlessly, slowly and without direction—that is until they spot food. This woman knew where she was going. She was walking with purpose, confidence and her chin held high. I wondered how she got onto the property, and hoped Elliot hadn’t left the gate open again. I was snapped out of my curious stare by the sound of the kettle boiling, and by the time I switched it off there was a knock at the front door.
“Elliot?” the woman called. “It’s me, Nikki. Are you there?”
I started making my way over to the door when Elliot pushed past me, holding a finger over his lips as a sign for me to be quiet. I nodded and moved back into the kitchen, wondering who our new visitor was.
Elliot stood at the door, peering suspiciously through the peephole. “Nikki? Is that really you?”
By this time, Jo, Ben and Wyatt had entered the kitchen, each looking as confused as I felt.
“Who else would I be?” Nikki laughed, seeming confused by his question.
“One of the infected, maybe?”
“Oh,” she replied, realising what he meant. “No, I’m not infected. But you can strip search me for bites if you like!” she called through the door suggestively.
Jo shifted uncomfortably next to me.
“This is no time for games, Nikki,” Elliot replied, like a father scolding his child. “In case you haven’t noticed, the world has ended. Now, be serious and tell me the truth. Are you infected?”
“Oh, come on, Elliot! No! I’m not infected. I swear. Now will you please let me in?”
Elliot paused for a moment, thinking it over. He pulled a knife from his pocket and held it behind his back before opening the door.
“Thank you,” Nikki said as she stepped inside. “But you should know that you can trust me.”
He grabbed her from behind, holding the knife to her neck. “We can’t trust anyone anymore.” She screamed in fright, her wide eyes locking onto mine, pleading for help. The scene made me think of Dan and how terrified I was when I had a knife to my throat only a couple of days before.
“Elliot,” I said. “Let her go.”
“I will,” Elliot said with eerie calm. “First, check her for bites or scratches, anything that could get infected.”
“Elliot,” Wyatt edged towards them slowly. “We’ve known Nikki for years, if she says she’s fine then she’s fine.”
“Do it, Eva!”
“Fine.” I felt sorry for her as I reluctantly walked over to inspect her body. She was wearing denim shorts, so I could already see she had no wounds on her legs. I lifted the sleeves of her v-neck shirt to check her arms. Nothing. There was no blood on her clothes either. “No bites or scratches.” I walked back to the kitchen to join the others.
Elliot released the woman, who spun around and slapped him hard on the face.
“Seriously, Elliot?” she spat. “We’ve been friends since we were five, and this is how you treat me?”
“I told you,” he said, staring down at her. “We can’t trust anyone anymore. No matter who they are.”
“Maybe so,” I said, “but holding a knife to her throat? I know how horrible that can be. It wasn’t needed. Besides, you didn’t treat us that way when we got here.”
“No, when you got here I had a gun,” he replied, matter-of-factly. He turned to Nikki. “Make yourself at home.” He disappeared down the hall again.
Chills ran down my spine. I assumed the gun I saw in his hand when we arrived was for zombies, but now it was clear. The gun was for us, in case we were infected.
“I’m so sorry about that, Nikki,” Wyatt said as he hugged her.
“It’s okay,” she sighed. “I knew he’d be a bit high-strung with everything that’s been happening, but that was intense. How are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. We only got here a couple of days ago ourselves.” Wyatt stepped back to introduce everyone. “Guys, this is Nikki. Elliot went to school with her and our families have been friends for years. Nikki, this Eva, Ben and Jo.”
“Oh, Eva!” she smiled as though she knew who I was. “From the diner! Wyatt told me all about you on his last visit home.” She nudged Wyatt in the ribs.
“All good I hope?” I smiled.
She winked. “All good.”
Wyatt cleared his throat awkwardly before changing the subject. “Breakfast?”
While Wyatt and Ben cooked breakfast, Nikki sat at the table and told us about everything she’d been through since the outbreak.
She and her neighbours had been hiding out in the basement of their apartment building in Cairns, but a fire broke out, forcing them to evacuate. Only three of them survived the horde that was waiting for them outside, lured there by the sound of the fire alarm. They stole a car and dropped her at Elliot’s driveway before continuing further up the coast to their families’ homes.
“I knew Elliot had been planning for this for years,” she said. “I figured it was my best chance.” She took a sip of her coffee. “It’s funny, you know. I was at a bar with some friends once and the topic of a zombie apocalypse came up. We had just been to the Night of the Living Dead showing at the Vintage Cinema and we were all talking about what we would do if zombies attacked, and I said that I would come here. I never in a million years thought it would actually happen.”
We spent the rest of the day talking about movies, her job as a graphic designer, travel—anything other than zombies or the terrifying things we had seen. Elliot spent the day outside running like a madman through the trees again. Without him around, everyone seemed much more relaxed.
Sitting around the dining table, swapping stories and sharing laughs over coffee, made me feel comforted in a way I hadn’t felt in what seemed like forever. For the first time in a week, I felt like a normal person, as though everything was how it used to be. Before the outbreak, before Elliot, before I fell into this never-ending nightmare.
Chapter Eighteen
The next day, we were having lunch when Nikki stormed through the front door, slamming it behind her. “What the hell is this?” Blood spattered all over us as she threw a dead rabbit onto the table, landing right in front of Elliot.
Jo shrieked as she frantically tried to wipe the blood off of her cheek. The rabbit had been skinned and slit open, its intestines spurting out all over the table. I stared up at Nikki, trying to figure out what was going on. She looked terrified, and I instantly knew that our paradise bubble was about to burst. Something was terribly wrong.
Elliot didn’t even look up from his plate. “What’s the meaning of this, Nikki? Can’t you see we’re enjoying a nice meal?”
Rage boiled in her eyes at his ambivalence. “There are at least fifty of these spread out all over the property, from the beginning of the driveway right up to the fence. They’re hanging from trees like Christmas ornaments for god’s sake! Why the hell would you do this?”
Elliot didn’t say anything, he just continued eating his breakfast, ignoring the slaughtered rabbit sitting just in front of his sandwich.
“Is that true?” Wyatt asked, wiping blood off of his face with his sleeve.
We all watched Elliot carefully, waiting for him to say something. “What of it?” he asked, placing his knife and fork gently on the table and looking up at Nikki.
“You’ve really lost it, haven’t you?” Nikki yelled, throwing her arms up into the air. “I’d heard rumors for years that you’d gone loopy, but this is too far. Leaving dead rabbits and kangaroos out there to rot on trees? You know that’ll attract zombies. Are you suicidal? You’re going to get us all killed!”
Wyatt turned to Elliot with his eyes full of anger. “Why would you do that?”
Ben slammed his fist on the table, causing the plates and glasses to rattle. “I knew you were no good! This isn’t a video game, Elliot! You’re the not the hero in some Rob Rodriguez movie, this is real life! It’s not enough to leave the gate wide open, now you have to leave bait at the door?”
“Now, now,” he held his palms up in the air defensively. “No-one’s trying to get anyone killed. We simply need to keep our skills up. Attracting a few zombies every now and then will provide us with the fear, strength and determination we need to keep fighting and stick together. We need to stay sharp, keep fit and excel at fighting. The best way to do that is with the real fear and adrenaline that comes with real zombies invading our home. I did it for us. I did it for paradise.”
“That’s crap,” I snapped, the suspicion I’d been stifling finally coming to the surface and taking over. “You didn’t do it for paradise and you sure as hell didn’t do it for us. You did it for you. This is fun to you, isn’t it? The end of the world is hell for everyone else, but for you it’s heaven!”
“You’re all taking Nikki’s side, are you?” Elliot looked at each of us, his burning gaze landing on Wyatt. “My own brother. Betraying me. Judas!”
“I’ve been the only one defending you!” Wyatt stood up from the table, fists clenched in anger.
“And what about you, Jo?” Elliot stood up to match his brother. “Surely you see that everything I do is for the best, to help protect paradise?”
Jo glared at him as she shook her head.
“Dammit, Nikki!” he bellowed. “This is all your fault! Get out of my house!”
She let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m leaving. I’m not staying in this house with you for another second.”
“Your funeral.” Elliot stormed down the hallway, slamming his bedroom door behind him.
I couldn’t believe what had just happened. One minute we were all enjoying our lunch, starting to settle in to our weird new life, and suddenly it was all over. Our lives had changed yet again.
“When are you leaving, Nikki?” Ben asked.
“Now. I suggest you all do the same. It’s not safe here. Not with him.”
“We don’t have anywhere else to go!” Jo began to cry.
Ben hugged her, rubbing her back comfortingly as she cried onto his shoulder. “We’ll find somewhere.”
Nikki slumped on to the chair at the end of the table. “I’m sorry, Wyatt. I know you love him, so do I, but he’s not who he used to be anymore. You see that, don’t you?”
“I see it, better than anyone,” he replied. “I just didn’t want to believe it. It’s like the Elliot we used to know is completely gone. He’s hardly even spoken to me the entire time we’ve been here. It’s as though we’re complete strangers. But I honestly didn’t think he would be dangerous.”
I looked at him with sympathetic eyes. “None of us thought he would be dangerous. But it’s clear now that he’s been up here alone for too long. He hasn’t grasped the threat we’re under. We need to leave before it’s too late. With all those corpses hanging from trees, it won’t be long before we’re surrounded.”
I wanted to comfort Wyatt, to tell him that none of it was his fault, to help him get through the pain of watching his brother change so drastically. But we didn’t have time for any of that. We had to get out of there, fast.
“Nikki,” I said, turning to her. “You’re welcome to come with us. We have enough room and resources in the RV.”
“Thank you so much,” Nikki sighed. “You guys are lifesavers.”
The RV was still loaded with everything we grabbed from Bob’s Camping Store back in Melbourne; all we had to do was pack a few extra clothes and we could leave. We tried to be as quiet as possible as we moved around the house to collect our things, trying not to arouse Elliot’s suspicions.
Nervous anxiet
y pumped through my body as I threw whatever little belongings I had into my backpack. I desperately wanted to leave without having a confrontation with him, and I hoped we could get away unnoticed. A knock on my bedroom door made me jump, and I was relieved to see it was only Nikki. “I’m heading out to the RV, I can’t stand being in this place another second,” she said quietly.
“Okay, we’ll be right out. Be careful.”
A few minutes later, I strung my backpack over my shoulder and stepped out into the kitchen, where Wyatt and Ben waited nervously.
“You ready?” Wyatt asked.
“Yep. Have you seen Hunter?”
“He’s with Jo, she’ll be out in a sec,” replied Ben.
“Cool, the sooner we leave, the better.”
Wyatt nodded. “I’ve already moved the RV into the driveway. In a few minutes we’ll be roaring back onto the highway.”
A shrill scream rattled the windows of the house. We ran to the nearest window to see Nikki running around the RV, blood streaming down her arm. She’d been bitten. A zombie stumbled close behind her, his jaw chopping furiously.
“Run, Nikki!” Wyatt yelled.
Jo ran out of her bedroom to see what was happening, with Hunter by her side, barking loudly in response to the screams.
“What happened?” Jo asked as she reached us.
“Nikki ...” I started, but couldn’t get the words out. My heart pounded in my chest and every muscle in my body tensed as I watched Nikki get closer to the house. I flipped my backpack open and pulled out my axe. I knew if she made it inside we would have to cut her arm off to stop the infection from spreading.
“Why is she slowing down?” Ben asked.
I peered out the window to see Nikki stop in her tracks, her eyes locked onto something just out of my sight. Within seconds, another zombie came into view, blocking her path to the house.
“She won’t make it,” Wyatt said. “We have to go out there.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” a voice said from behind us. Elliot stepped out from the hallway. He was dressed head to toe in camouflage gear again, and he had a shotgun pointed straight at Wyatt’s chest.
