by Adam Smith
ZOMBIE
An Aussie apocalypse
Part 1
WRITTEN BY
ADAM 'ADSKA' SMITH
ZOMBIE
So there I was, sitting in the toilet block on a small mine site in outback Western Australia, about 70 kms from the nearest town. As I sit on the toilet wasting time thinking about “fuck knows what” I'm blissfully unaware of the chaos taking place everywhere else.
I get up as I finish in the toilet, I open the door of the stall and walk to the sink to wash my hands, looking in the mirror I think to myself “damn you're one sexy son of a beast”. As I leave the toilet block and walk down the stairs onto the hot crunchy gravel, the hot sun beating down on me as it nears midday, I head for my work truck, during the short walk to the car park where the truck is I see a ute parked on an angle across the walkway partially blocking it, doors open hazard lights, and window wipers on. Good place to park you fucking dickhead, I think to myself as I shake my head and get into my work truck. On my drive back to the yard I notice that the mine site is very quiet, not a lot going on, I pull into the yard and jump out of the truck. I walk over to Mark and ask him “mate I know it's the mines shift change, fly in day today, but its bloody quiet isn't it?” Yeah mate, I've not seen anyone else since the morning meeting this morning. Replies Mark. “Oh well I'll try and get in touch with Frank and we'll go for lunch then eh?” I ask. “Nah mate no good he's not answering, I can't get anyone on the radio at all. Fuck it let's just go anyway!” States Mark. “Sounds good to me!” I Reply. We jump in the truck and head for the main offices to grab some food. Driving along the main road about halfway to the offices, talking about what we're going to do when we fly home in a couple of days, when all of a sudden … BAM! Out of nowhere a bloke steps in front of the truck. “Fuck me!” Yells Mark. I slam on the brakes and we jump out of the truck. “Is he okay?” Asks Mark. “I think we killed him”! I state. “Fuck fuck fuck!” Shouts Mark... Wait... “He's Getting up.” I say. “Mate, Mate are you okay?” We ask at the same time. The bloke just grunts at us as he clambers to his feet. Blood flowing from his nose and mouth. “What the actual fuck is going on?” Yells Mark. As the bloke who's now on his feet stumbles towards Mark and tries to bite him. “Get away from me!” Mark yells, as he hits the guy with his hard hat. The bloke stumbles a bit but just keeps on coming at Mark. I run over and kick the guy over. “Get in the truck!” I yell. “But what about this guy”? Mark asks. “don't worry about him mate we've got bigger problems there's at least 50 of these guys over there at the office mate, we’ve gotta’ go. Get the fuck in the truck!” I yell again.
We jump in the truck and start driving to the office. “Mate do you think this is how it starts?” Mark asks. “how what starts?” I reply. “You know... the zombie apocalypse”. Responds Mark. At the same time we pull into the main office car park. We look at each other as we sit in the truck in the car park at the office, stunned by what we can see. Blood splatters on the walls and windows, blood puddles on the lawn and in the car park, but strangely, no bodies, just a mob of the messed-up blokes walking towards us, drooling blood and saliva, shirts stained with fresh blood, limbs missing chunks of flesh. “Mate these are fucking zombies. We need to get to town now!” Shouts mark. I can sense something different about him, could it be fear? Maybe excitement? For now, I'm not sure! We had always joked about a zombie apocalypse. But now it was actually here.
We're driving into town, we only see a few more zombies in the vast open spaces on the drive. “Mate do you think this a big joke?” Asks Mark. “I Doubt it mate.” I reply. “Why do you say that?” He asks. As I slow the truck down just before the turnoff into the town. “That's why!” I state and point to the massive mob of zombies in the town. “Fuck me!” Yells Mark. “What do we do now then?” I ask. “Ha ha, loot the pub?” Says Mark jokingly. I look over at him smiling and say “Yes. But first we should go to the gun club and see if we can get some weapons”. “good idea, I don't want to go hand to hand with these fuckers just yet.” Says Mark. We take off down the road into town and then left onto the road that leads to the gun club.
It's only about a 10-minute drive out of town but it feels like days. When we arrive at the gun club we drive up to the gates, but they're locked. The whole place is fenced off by an 8 foot high cyclone mesh fence with 3 strand razor wire on top. “What does that sign say”? Asks Mark. “hang on mate let me get closer”. I say and pull up to the gates. “ah, Closed today”. I read on the sign. “Damn”. Sighs Mark. “Being closed is a good thing mate.” I say. “How so?” Asks Mark. “Well think about it dickhead, if it's closed then there shouldn't be anyone here. No one here means no zombies are in there” I say. “Yeah good point. We just gotta get in there without ruining the fence.” Says Mark “Okay so what have we got in this truck that can help us get in?” I Ask, “umm not much mate, pliers a hack saw and some crowbars”. Giggles Mark. “Good thing it's only cyclone mesh then eh?” Just cut the mesh and we'll go through a hole.” I say. “Here you go then hero. I'll get on the back and keep an eye out” Laughs Mark as he passes me the blunt hacksaw and old pliers, making his way onto the tray of the truck. I make my way to the gate and start trying to make a hole. Twang the hacksaw blade snaps. “Fuck me!” I yell. “What!” Yells Mark as he spins around on the truck. “I Snapped the Blade trying to cut through the mesh, mate this is going to take fucking ages, and I’m not to keen on staying out here trying all afternoon.” I say to Mark. “Ha ha you idiot. I thought you were getting attacked or some shit.” Laughs Mark as he punches me in the arm. “What are we going to do now? Ram the gate?” I ask. “Oh, I've got it!” Yells Mark. As he punches me in the arm again. “Do tell.” I ask. “why don't we just reverse the truck into the fence cut the three strands of barb and jump in?” Says Mark. “Yeah that'll work!” I yell as we jump in the truck and reverse it into the fence. We climb up onto the tray of the truck and walk over to the fence. “I’ll do it mate, pass me the pliers” Says Mark, “I don't have 'em”. I say. “Well go and get them you fuckwit”. Says Mark in a joking manner. I climb down and search for the pliers, after a bit of a search I grab them and get back up on the tray. “Here” I say and give Mark the pliers. “About time mate”. He laughs and starts cutting, Snip snip snip. “That’s all of 'em” Says Mark after cutting through the last wire. We look around to see if anyone is around before we jump in to the compound. “You ready mate?” Whispers Mark. “Yeah mate but why are we whispering?” I ask. As we jump into the gun clubs grounds. Walking up to the gun clubs door and Mark asks, “Why did you bring the crowbars?” I just look at him as we get to the double-glazed glass doors with safety glass and a mesh lining on the inside. “Here put these on” I say and hand him a pair of gloves. “What for?” Asks Mark. “So, you don't cut your hands mate, there's no doctor on call today.” I laugh. “Yeah okay, I'm probably going to have to break some shit to get in here”. Says Mark. As we look into the club through the doors. “This is all that stands between us and getting some weapons, do you think it's a silent alarm. Or one of those loud as fuck ones?” I ask. “How are we going to get in is the more important question, you broke the hacksaw remember dickhead”? Asks Mark sarcastically. “Yeah I remember”. I say, and smash the glass panel on the door with the crowbar and glass shards fall around our feet. “But I did bring this remember dickhead.” I say sarcastically and laugh. “Umm there's no alarm going off mate.” States Mark. “What the FUCK do you think you're DOING!” Yells someone, as the door to the club flies open.
We're standing there in the hot sun, staring at a short fat angry man with thinning hair and thick glasses, pointing a shotgun at us, he repeats himself. “What the FUCK
do you think you're DOING? Who are you?”... “Don't answer that, just get inside now.” Yells the angry man. Still pointing his gun at us, we enter the club. “Woah mate calm down, have you been out there?” I ask and point towards town. “Of course I've been out there. Why do you think I'm here?” States the man. “Messed up isn't it!” States Mark. “At Least I know you're not those... umm... those things out there. I'm Gunther, I run this club.” Says Gunther and he lowers his gun. “Nice to meet you mate I'm Mark and this is Travis.” Says Mark and looks at me. “Call me Smithy” I say while looking around the gun club at all the guns on the wall and ammo, knives and accessories in the glass display cabinets, I realise that this is more than just the towns casual shooting range. It's also the towns only gun shop!
“I don't know what to do.” Sobs Gunther as he kneels to the ground in the doorway and begins to weep. “Mate lets just take a fucking breath shall we? It's been a big fucking few hours!” Mark says angrily, he grabs a cold drink out of the fridge at in the corner of the gun club, then turns around and says to Gunther “Get the fuck up mate you look pathetic.” Gunther looks up at him and then looks over at me, while I'm walking around the back of the counter I pick up a pump action .22 that's leaning against the counter. “Mate do all of these weapons work? Do you have ammo for them all”? I ask. “Yeah mate they're all in working order and I have ammo for them all as well, here's the keys for all the cabinets.” Says Gunther, as he wipes the tears from his eyes, stands up and taps his leg pocket that has the jingle of a key chain. “The ammo for that one is on the counter there Travis, I was just about to load it before you guys broke my door, do you know how to load it?” Says Gunther as he stands up and walks towards me. “Yeah mate I've been around firearms all my life.” I reply. As I pull out the under barrel magazines inner tube, drop in 11 hollow tip powerpoint bullets, slide the magazine back together and pump the first round into the chamber.“Gunther, mate can I have a shotgun?” Asks Mark Excitedly “Yeah okay, here Travis.” Says Gunther while he reaches into his pocket grabbing out a bunch of keys, he passes me a couple of keys and says. “Travis those are for the ammo cabinets.” “Cheers mate.” I reply and start unlocking cabinets. “I got some of these in a while back for a station owner, they're really good so I ordered some more in.” Says Gunther. He unlocks the steel safety cable and passes Mark an all black lever action shotgun. “She's got a 7 shot magazine tactical rail, so you can mount a torch or laser sight or anything like that.” Says Gunther. I find some boxes of 8 shot 12 gauge rounds and tip them out onto the counter, Gunther hands me a shotgun the same as Marks. We begin to load them when Mark asks “Mate do you know how to kill the zombies”? Gunther begins to show Mark how to load his shotgun. “Good question, so do you know?” I ask. “The brain, that's the key it's the only way that they don't get up again.” Sobs Gunther as he begins to cry. We finish loading and chamber rounds. “Do explain how you know this information mate.” Says Mark. “Well yesterday evening I went to the airport to get my sister Gina and her daughter June.” sobs Gunther. “Carry on mate.” I say. “Well when I got there it was just about dark and I could see them waiting for me so I pulled up in the parking area and began walking over to see them, the airport staff had just opened the door to another plane of people. Then the doors to the terminal opened and those things came out of the terminal and started coming for my sister.” Says Gunther, when Mark interrupts. “Mate they're zombies.” He says. “Oh um anyway I saw the zombies and at first I thought it was just a couple of drunks, but then there was more and more, I yelled out to my sister and ran over to her but as I got to her a zombie bit her on the arm, I got there and pushed him off of her, grabbed my niece and we ran back towards my car but there was more zombies in the way, so I jumped into a police car that had a dead officer in the passenger side.” Says Gunther as Mark Cuts him off again and says. “Mate is this story going anywhere?” I look at Mark and shake my head. “Carry on mate.” I say to Gunther. “Anyway I jumped in the driver's seat and Gina and June got in the back, about 30 seconds into the drive the officer woke up and started trying to bite me but he was caught in the seatbelt. I didn't know what to do so I grabbed his pistol and shot him in the head, I then pulled over to try and calm myself down. That's when I heard Gina growling at June in the back seat. I jumped out of the car and opened Junes' door, she ran off into the bush crying. I went to help Gina but she kept trying to bite me, so I shot her in the chest twice but she didn’t even flinch just kept growling and snarling at me. So I shot her in the head and ran off to find June, I made my way into the scrub and found June Laying in the dirt face down, I went to pick her up and noticed a bite mark on her hand. I stood up and backed away. After a few seconds June woke up and started to try and bite me, so I shot her. Then I ran back to the car and saw a bunch of the zombies walking up the road. I drove back here and have been in here since last night.” Says Gunther as he breaks down in tears. “So we have to kill the brain to kill the zombie?” I say sarcastically. “Yeah that's what I think.” Says Gunther as he walks to the door then out and looks around. “Did you guys have anyone else with you?” Says Gunther who's now standing in the doorway looking at us. “No! Why?” I say “There's someone standing at the fence near your truck. I hope he doesn’t find the hole in the fence.” Says Gunther. “NO FUCKING... LOOK OUT!” Yells Mark. But it's too late, a zombie walks through the door and bites into Gunther's neck. “ARGH!” Yells Gunther. I run over to the door and kick the zombie in the chest, it falls to the ground, I point the .22 at it's head and pull the trigger. Bang. The shot rings out and the zombies head snaps back into the dirt, blood and dust spray into the air, I slam the door shut and move back over to Mark, Gunther is now gasping for air, holding his neck trying to stop the flow of blood as it squirts through his fingers, he looks at us, his eyes roll back in his head and he falls to the floor. “What should we do?” Asks Mark, “This is going to sound bad, but lets see how long until he turns.” I say. Mark stares at me then says “Yeah okay.” We point our guns at Gunther who's laying lifeless in a pool of blood by the door. After about 2 minutes Gunther Starts grunting and sits up. Bang! We both fire and kill the now zombie Gunther. “Fuck me that was nuts!” Shouts Mark. “Yeah it was. At least we know how long it takes to turn. And we've got this hole place to ourselves to take what we want.” I say “I wonder if there's more out there.” Says Mark as he opens the door and walks out side. He looks around then quickly darts back inside slamming the door and locking it. “Mate we got a problem.” He says. “What sort of problem? Like 100 or so?” I ask. “Haha nah only 10 maybe 15.” Laughs Mark. I look at him and giggle then begin to take out more guns and load them.
After about half an hour or so of searching the gun club we find some backpacks and large duffel bags. “let's take everything we can carry.” Says Mark. “Let's take everything that's in here!” I say and laugh. “Mate these fucking zombies scratching at the windows and door are starting to piss me off.” I say while we continue to fill the bags with weapons and ammo. “What do you propose we use to umm, remove our problem?” Laughs Mark. “These look fucking awesome for the job!” I say excitedly and pull down two .44 magnum lever action rifles. “Grab some ammo for these mate it’s that box there.” I say and point to a box on the counter, “Here you go” He says and passes me the box of ammo. After loading the rifles and showing Mark how to use them we make our way over to separate windows and have a look at the zombies wandering around trying to make their way into the club. “You Ready to do this?” I yell out to Mark. “Fuck yeah I am!” He replies “Okay mate on three... one, two, three!” I shout. Bang bang bang bang we open fire on the zombies through the windows, bits of brain, skull, blood and glass fly into the air, when Mark runs over to the counter yelling “I'm out of ammo gotta' reload.” “haha why didn’t you take ammo or the shotgun with you?” I yell back to him, as I line up the last zombie at my window and force feed it a hot lead lunch. “Because you only handed me the .44” Yells Mark, makin
g his way back over to his window while he thumbs in some fresh rounds and fires at the last zombie he can see, killing it. “ I thinks that's all of 'em.” He yells out. “Yeah I can't see any more either.” I reply. We both reload our guns and grab some bags. “Let's blow this popsicle stand mary jane!” I yell and kick the door open, I run outside into the hot mid arvo sun, the smell of gravel dust and gunpowder still lingers, I spin around and have a quick look to see if it's clear. “Looks clear mate!” I yell and start running for the truck. Mark grabs another bag and starts making his way towards the truck. I get to the truck first and throw my bags onto the tray then climb up, Mark gets to the truck as I turn around on the tray, I lean down and grab the bags that he is carrying. “Cover me I'm going to get the last couple of bags.” Shouts Mark as he turns and starts running back to the club. I quickly grab a .223 bolt action rifle with a scope on it and load it, I lay on the tray of the truck and face back towards the club. Mark comes out of the club with a few bags and runs back to the truck, he hands them to me and I lean down to give him a hand when he turns around and runs off towards the club again. “Fuck me what is this idiot doing?” I ask myself as I throw the bags behind me, I have a quick look around and line up on the clubs door through the scope again. A few minutes pass and I yell out as loud as I can “Mark DO NOT COME OUT THE DOOR!” I can see a zombie that's walked from behind the building as is making its way to the door. I line it up in my sights take a deep breath and gently squeeze the trigger. The shot rings out across the hot dusty plains, hitting the zombie between the eyes, it's head snaps back, blood mist sprays into the hot air, it falls flat on it's back with a hole in it's head, blood pools around it. “Is it safe now?” I hear Mark yell out. “Yeah mate let’s go!” I yell back. He comes running out of the door carrying more bags and makes his way to the fence, I take the bags and help him onto the tray. “I had to get the rest, and I knew there was pistols there somewhere, after all it is a pistol club.” Says Mark. “Fuck yeah mate, good job.” I say as we sit on the tray trying to regain some breath and composure. A few minutes pass when I say, “So, pub then eh?” and slap Mark in the stomach.“haha you read my mind, beer o'clock.” Says Mark. We exit the tray and jump in the cab, as I'm driving back towards the town we see a few stray zombies on the road, “Slow down and watch this.” Says Mark, “okay” I say and slow the truck down, Mark winds the window down grabs his shotgun, he leans out the window and shouts “die mother fucker!” firing his shotgun twice first hitting the zombie in the shoulder then in the head, he sits back in his seat he looks over at me and I say“ I can't wait to get shit faced tonight” then laugh.
