Desolation Boulevard

by Mark Gordon

  Chapter 39

  Mount Edward

  It was three in the afternoon when they stopped for the night. They had spent the day on the main road that would take them over the Great Dividing Range, but despite the absence of immediate danger, the trip had been a slow one. Occasionally they found their way blocked by cars that needed to be winched clear, and they were wary of being ambushed again by marauders, so Dylan rarely drove above fifty kilometres an hour. Bonnie and Sally took turns in the front seat as lookouts, and their guns were loaded and ready to fire if needed. They saw a few survivors wandering about forlornly, but they kept to themselves, and Dylan didn’t slow down or try to make contact with them. They knew that there would be clusters of people springing and forming groups like the one at St Jude’s, but Dylan, Sally and Bonnie had no need for them just yet. Maybe after they found Bonnie’s daughter they could be part of a meaningful community again, but at the moment they had a goal to pursue and they needed to do it on their own.

  The town they had stopped in was a tourist village called Mount Edward at the top of the Dividing Range. For over a hundred years it had served as a weekend escape for city people who needed to unwind for a weekend and experience the countryside, while still being able to get a cocktail and a fine meal. The air was already brisk when they pulled into town, and they could tell that the night would be a very cold one. To avoid being trapped outdoors once the sun began to set, they immediately looked for somewhere to stay for the night. There were plenty of old, sturdy buildings in the main street to choose from, and they eventually settled on a small electronics store that had barred windows at the front and a metal security door at the back. After a quick search they discovered that it was free of sleeping zombies, and upstairs they found a small apartment with two bedrooms, a lounge room and a compact kitchen with a gas stove, where they would be able cook a proper meal. After lugging their bags inside and claiming personal spaces, they ventured outdoors and explored the immediate neighbourhood. Just as in the city, evidence of the initial zombie ferocity was clear. Bodies in various states of mutilation were scattered about the streets and many shop windows were smashed. The smell that had been rampant in the city in the first few days after the event had subsided somewhat as flies and birds cleaned the carcasses almost to the bone.

  “Why aren’t there any people about?” Dylan asked, as they stood surveying the destruction.

  Bonnie looked about, then offered “This village probably only has a population of around ten thousand. It’s possible that nobody survived.”

  Dylan frowned. “Nobody? Is that the survival rate we’re looking at? No more than one in ten thousand? That can’t be right. Across the country that would mean only a few thousand of us survived!” He shook his head. “No. There are more survivors than that. There has to be!”

  Sally looked worriedly at Bonnie. “Do you think he’s right?”

  “Not necessarily,” she replied thoughtfully. “This town might be empty of survivors, but statistics can be funny. I bet there are places where the survival rate is much higher. Even in random events there are clusters of larger numbers that don’t fit the normal pattern, as well as lower numbers, like here. If I had to guess, I would say the survival rate across the country is around five per cent, maybe a little bit less.”

  “But we haven’t seen that many people,” argued Dylan. “Not even close.”

  “No, because they’re hiding. Look around. Would you spend very much time outdoors with all these bodies lying around?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Anyway, we’ll just have to wait and see won’t we? Come on, there’s nothing here. Let’s go inside and get some dinner started”.

  They went in and locked the doors. Bonnie sent Dylan and Sally off to wash while she fired up the gas stove and prepared a curry from canned ingredients they’d carried in from the car. The sky was getting darker outside and it was cold in the apartment, but Dylan discovered a gas heater in the lounge room and was pleased when he was able to light it without any trouble. As the room warmed and the smell of curry began to waft from the kitchen, Dylan took Sally by the hand and led her to the window. He pulled the curtains back and raised the sash. “Let’s check it out.”

  Sally stuck her head through the opening and felt the cool evening breeze on her face. Just below the ledge of the window was a large, solid awning that had been built to protect the shop’s doorway from rain.

  “It looks safe enough,” Dylan said. “I want to see what the zombies are going to do. I wonder if they’re still attacking each other?”

  “I’ve been wondering about that too,” commented Sally. “It’s not sustainable is it?”

  “I don’t think so. But let’s watch and see what happens.”

  They were standing together with their backs to the wall when the first creature appeared on the street below. It was a male, maybe seventeen years old and completely naked apart from a pair of sturdy boots. It paid them no attention at all.

  “What’s it eating?” asked Sally.

  “I’m not sure, but I think it might be a chicken.”

  “Yeah, that’s it! A whole raw chicken! That is disgusting! Won’t that be full of bacteria?”

  Dylan looked at her and frowned, “I guess so. I wouldn’t eat it, that’s for sure. What’s it doing?”

  “Just standing. Is it waiting for something?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  They pondered the strange behaviour of the zombie, as Bonnie called them in for dinner. They climbed back inside to the warmth of the apartment, locking the window behind them.

  “That smells great,” Dylan said. “I’m starving, and it certainly smells a lot better than what that freak was eating on the street.”

  “Yeah, this apocalypse living really gives you an appetite, doesn’t it?” joked Sally, as she scrubbed her hands with sanitising gel.

  “Are there many of them out there?” Bonnie asked, as she directed them to sit at the small dining table.

  “No. Just one at the moment, but I’ll check again as soon as we’ve eaten. There must be more out there somewhere, surely?”

  As they tucked into their curry, Dylan looked at Bonnie with a mouthful of food and smiled, “You know, this is awesome, but a cold beer would make it unbelievably awesome.”

  Bonnie jumped up from her chair, “Oh, I nearly forgot! Wait there!” and she went to the kitchen and returned with three icy cold beers as if by magic.

  Sally looked at the woman and commented, “Wow! Aren’t you full of tricks? How the hell did you do that?”

  “I’m a mother! We have all kinds of skills and supernatural powers,” she laughed, as she passed around the drinks. But before anybody had a chance to take a sip of the surprise beers, Bonnie held her bottle up and said, “Before you drink I want to say thanks to my new young friends for saving my life today, and for helping me to find my baby girl. I know you probably think I’m just being ridiculous, but I know she’s alive somewhere and I really appreciate the way you’re helping me. So thanks, and let’s drink to a future with friends, whatever it holds.”

  They clinked their beer bottles together and drank.

  -

  With their curries finished they went to the window to see what was happening on the street below. After Dylan had grabbed his gun and established that it was safe, they climbed out onto the awning and surveyed the scene below them.

  “Where are they?” asked Sally.

  Dylan shook his head. “I can’t even see the one from before.”

  “There!” Bonnie exclaimed, pointing down the street. “Is that it? Heading out of town?”

  In the distance, towards the end of the darkening street, they could see the pale, naked figure of the zombie, walking away from them slowly, as if it wasn’t sure what it should be doing.

  “Is he the last one left in town?” asked Bonnie.

  “I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I’d say yes, or at the very leas
t, one of just a handful,” observed Dylan.

  “But they were here, lots of them!” stated Sally. “You only have to look at the bodies around town to know that.”

  “So where are they?” asked Bonnie.

  Dylan watched as the lone figure in the distance shambled off into the obscurity of the night. “I think they’ve moved on.”

  “What about that one?” asked Sally. “Why it he still here?”

  “I think he’s just a straggler. The others have left him behind.”

  -

  They had cleaned up their dinner mess, and sat on the couch in the tiny lounge room and tried to analyse this new information. Despite the obvious logic of the earlier explanation - that the creatures had gone elsewhere - it didn’t help them to understand where they had gone, or why. Bonnie suggested that maybe they had moved on to search for better feeding grounds, but Dylan didn’t think that idea rang true. He reminded them that the straggler they’d seen before dinner had been chowing down on a whole chicken, which implied that they had access to food in town if they wanted it. Sally put forward a theory that was as unlikely as it was desirable when she suggested that they had all died from natural causes. Dylan conceded that it was possible, but didn’t think it was likely. Their experiences over the last few days seemed to indicate that the creatures were actually becoming stronger.

  “Well how do you explain it then?” Bonnie asked, throwing her hands up in the air.

  “I think they’re migrating,” he stated matter-of-factly.

  The women looked at him with disbelief. Bonnie spoke first. “Migrating where? Surely they have nowhere in particular they need to be. They’re like animals for God’s sake!”

  “Exactly,” replied Dylan, “And we all know that many animals migrate for all kinds of reasons”.

  “Yes, mostly related to the weather,” Sally countered.

  “Not necessarily. Some animals migrate for food and some migrate to breed.”

  “Wait a damned minute!” Sally objected, “You’re not suggesting these things have gone somewhere to get romantic and try to make baby zombies are you?”

  “No, not at all. I don’t have a clue what their reason is. I just think it feels like it’s the right explanation. Call it an educated guess.”

  “Look,” said Bonnie, “There’s no point trying to guess what these things are doing until we have more to go on. Let’s wait until tomorrow and search the town before we leave. If we can’t find any, we’ll assume they’ve moved on for reasons unknown. Fair enough?”

  Dylan and Sally nodded in agreement.

  “Okay.”

  “Sounds reasonable.”

  “Now, I need to go to bed because it’s been a big, scary day, and tomorrow I’m hoping to find Gabrielle. I want to start our search as soon as the sun’s up. Goodnight.”

  After Bonnie had gone to her room and closed the door, Dylan and Sally sat on the couch, huddled together in front of the gas heater.

  “I’m so glad I found you,” she said.

  “Me too,” he replied. “Turn off the light.”