by James Harden
"So the military is behind all of this?"
"No. We were on containment duty only. There’s someone else in charge."
My mind was racing. If the virus was to get out of control here, in Sydney, would they nuke it as well? I suddenly felt very uncomfortable; I suddenly wanted to get as far away from the city as possible.
"Wait a minute," Kim asked. "Why are there no guards or soldiers down here? There were two men outside this door when we were wheeled in. And there were more of them, further along this corridor. Where have they all gone?"
Kim was right. I remembered the two soldiers standing guard. Where had everyone gone? Maybe they had all bolted when they heard the alarm. Maybe we should do the same thing?
"Look, we can talk about this later." I said. "And scare each other with doomsday theories and zombie stories but right now we need to figure out what to do. I don’t really want to stay here with those things in the morgue."
The thumping was getting louder and now Doctor Hunter’s cries for help were making everyone uneasy. Maybe we should put him out of his misery after all I thought.
Maria began walking up the stairs. "I know what I'm doing. I'm going home, locking the gates, setting the security alarm and hiding underneath my bed with Share Bear."
Kenji seemed to regain his composure. "Slow down. First things first. We need to get out of this building. If we can do that, without getting caught then we can figure out what to do. The Colonel said something about evacuating North Sydney, which might mean the military is falling back to a designated safe zone. If that’s the case, then we should head there. They’ll have security, shelter, food and water. That’s our best option."
"And what if that’s not the case?" Maria asked.
"Then we’re on our own." he said as he checked the ammo clip of the rifle.
"Wait a minute," Kim said. "You’re suggesting we willingly go back to the military after what they just tried to do? Are you out of your mind?"
"They only did that because they thought we had come into close contact with the virus. It was for the greater good, I guess. They were trying to contain it. It was just protocol. It wasn’t personal."
Kenji sounded like someone who was actively trying to fight the affects of being brainwashed. It must be hard for him. He had been drilled into obedience, ordered to follow his superiors. And then all of a sudden his masters had turned on him, chained him up and tried to kill him. What he said about protocol made sense. But hearing people talk casually about how they are going to cut you into to pieces and harvest your organs, well yeah, that’s personal.
"When someone tells you they’re going to cut out your brain that’s not protocol, it’s just messed up," Kim said, echoing my thoughts.
"Yeah, are you sure we should be going back to the military," Jack added. "Won’t they have a record of who we are?"
"I don’t think so. All of the doctor’s notes were either hand written or recorded on his Dictaphone. They won’t have a record of us. They don’t even have the resources to look for us at the moment. You’ll blend into the crowd. Trust me. This is our best option. It’s really our only option. They’ll have a secure compound set up with food and water."
The prospect of food sounded pretty good. It was only then when he mentioned it did I realize I hadn’t eaten all day. Not since the party at Maria’s house. And that was only junk food, nothing nutritious. He was also right about the shelter. The military were really the only organization that could offer protection and look after everyone who was being evacuated.
Jack still wasn't convinced. "But won't they just tie us up again and make a science experiment out of us because we've come into close contact with the virus. Won't they just follow 'protocol'?"
"We have no choice. If the military really are falling back to a safe zone, they'll be offering protection to everyone. We'll be safe. It's not like they can harvest everyone’s organs."
I let out a nervous laugh and we all gave each other worried looks.
"If that's not the case," Kenji continued. "Then we're on our own. We'll have to fend for ourselves. Maria's house might be the best option. But we have to make a move. We can't stay down here forever."
So just like at the police station we followed Kenji. We really had no choice. And again he didn’t actually say ‘come with me if you want to live’, but again; we all sort of knew that if we wanted live we better go with him.
Chapter 18
We followed Kenji up the stairs. The hospital was deserted. There were no nurses, no doctors, no soldiers, no killer robots wearing space suits. There were abandoned hospital beds left in the rooms and walkways; the nurse’s station was empty.
Kim kept saying how lucky we were. How we didn't run into any resistance or any soldiers or anything else.
"Everyone must have bugged out," Kenji said.
"That's good for us right?" Maria asked.
"Yes and no."
We came out the main entrance of the hospital. It was early morning and the sky was grey. The crowd that was protesting the night before had completely cleared out. The ground was covered in rubbish, broken glass, and even some splatters of blood. The temporary fence that the military had erected was pushed over. The razor wire was tangled up on the ground. I wondered where such a huge crowd of people could’ve disappeared to.
"Should we check around the back where we dropped off the Humvee?" Kim asked
I didn’t really want to walk or run all the way around to the rear to see if the Humvee might still be there. I didn’t really want to spend a minute longer here at this hospital of death than was necessary.
"No. they would've taken it with them," Kenji said.
In the emergency drop off zone we found another military Humvee that had been tipped over on its roof. Kenji got down on all fours and crawled inside the cabin. He emerged with an extra ammo clip and a walkie talkie.
"Where did everyone go?" I asked
"Yeah," Jack said. "Where are the guards? Where did all the soldiers go? Where are all the people?"
"Quiet." Kenji said as he turned on the walkie talkie and tuned it to a specific frequency.
We all gathered around, huddled together and listened. Kenji was fiddling with the knobs but all we could hear was static. In the distance we could hear helicopters, jets, and even gunshots. It sounded like a war was being waged not too far away.
Kenji finally found some voices. He zeroed in clearing up the reception. All I could make out were a whole bunch of code words that sounded like gibberish. Thankfully, Kenji was able to translate.
"All military personnel fall back to green zone. All other areas considered dangerous. Hostiles have been located north of Sydney and moving south along main roadways. Containment protocol initiated."
Kenji switched off the radio and looked to the sky. "We need to get out of here."
"What do you mean?" I asked
"You mean like, before the angry mob of people come back?" Jack said. "Or before the military realizes what just happened down there in the morgue."
"I mean, we need to get out of North Sydney. We need to get as far south as possible, at least over the bridge."
"I am not walking all that way," Maria said. "I'm going home. My house is only ten minutes away."
"No. That’s not an option right now."
"Why not? It’s secure. It has a gate."
"Napalm," Kenji said. "They’re going to use napalm."
Chapter 19
"Napalm?" Kim asked. "As in the explosive?"
"Yeah. We have to go."
"Hold up," Jack said. "Are you saying they're about to bomb North Sydney?"
"If they can't contain the spread of infection, they will. If that doesn’t work, they’ll use nuclear weapons."
Kenji started pushing us then, urging us forward. "Come on, we have to go. Let’s move it."
There was something in his voice that made us all do as he said. Even Maria sensed he was being deadly serious and stopped protestin
g.
"What’s the fastest way to the bridge? Kenji asked.
"Down this road," Kim answered. "It should lead all the way there."
We walked in silence for a few minutes before we all started to jog. Kim was leading the way. Kenji was bringing up the rear. I couldn’t believe they were going to bomb North Sydney. How bad could the infection be?
It didn’t take us long to get to the Pacific Highway. That’s where we found all the people. It was an endless river of cars and pedestrians heading south, across the bridge.
Sydney’s roads have never been the best. They practically choke to a standstill at peak hour. But at that point, peak hour didn’t even compare. My mother was pretty excited when we first moved out here, "no more traffic jams," she'd say. But it turned out the traffic was just as bad.
There were cars backed up bumper to bumper as far as the eye could see, all of them heading into the city, heading for the bridge and the safe zone. The scary thing was that all of the lanes were backed up, even the lanes heading the other way.
People walked pass the jammed up cars while angry drivers were honking their horns and leaning out their windows yelling abuse. I don’t know what good that was doing them. Some of the smarter drivers had completely abandoned their cars.
We had no option but to join the mass of people. There was no fighting it. You just had to go with the flow. People carried bags of canned food, suitcases and backpacks. A few people carried photo albums and laptops and pets. I guess they were really preparing for the worst.
We squeezed into the crush of people and were carried along at the pace of the crowd. Jack had his arm around Maria. Kenji walked just behind us with his rifle pointed at the ground. A few people were coming up to Kenji, asking him questions and expecting him to know all the answers.
Kenji gave them all a standard response. He told them to remain calm and proceed down this road in a timely fashion. He told them everything will be all right and that everyone will be taken care of. "You’ll be allowed back to your homes as soon as possible," Kenji said.
"Are the rumors true," one guy asked. "Is the infection coming this way?"
Kenji hesitated, thinking of the right thing to say. Telling the truth about the virus and the napalm would cause a mass panic, a stampede that would most definitely injure and possibly kill people. So he lied.
"This is just a precaution," Kenji said.
We were walking next to a guy wearing a Lycra cycling suit, and those special shoes that clip in to the bike pedals. He was walking funny because of them. His skin tight suit was slightly ripped and he had a huge graze down one of his legs. Despite his injuries he was still keeping pace with the flow of the crowd.
Kim moved over next to him. Everyone seemed to be giving Kim and Kenji a little bit of extra room. I guess wearing a uniform had some advantages.
"Excuse me, sir, do you mind telling me what happened to you?" Kim asked.
"Nothing serious," the guy said. "Just a scratch really. I was out for a ride. I usually go as far as Gosford on the central coast. Up and back it’s about one-fifty. It’s a good distance. But today I didn’t get very far. I noticed the traffic was heavy and then I saw why. I turned around as soon as I saw the first accident. Apparently there were other ones further up the freeway. The one I saw was a huge pile up cutting off both lanes. It doesn’t take much to get the traffic backed up on the F3. But this was massive. I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw other cars driving around the crash, forcing their way through. There was only one way around. Cars were scraping the concrete barrier but the drivers didn't seem to care about that."
"What happened to your bike?" Kim asked.
"I got knocked off my bike awhile back. I couldn’t ride it anyway. Too crowded. A few people have told me what they’ve heard. Most people have been saying there's been a major outbreak up the coast or something like that. Apparently the whole of North Sydney is being evacuated. It’s all a bit Chinese whispers. What did you guys hear?"
"A major outbreak?"
"Yeah. Apparently people are getting sick all over. They’re evacuating people to certain designated safe points so they can test everyone for infection and give everyone their immunization shots. This was the closest safe point for me."
Somehow I didn't quite buy that. "Everyone?" I asked. "But there’s got to be millions of people that need to be immunized. How are they going to process everyone?"
"I have no idea how they're going to do it but that’s what they've been reporting on the news and the radio. Where have you guys been?"
Kenji seemed to catch on then. A light bulb came on inside his head. He knew what was going on. "The checkpoints. They'll double as testing facilities," he said.
"What do you mean? Like a blood test? Or a swab of saliva? Won’t that take forever?" I asked.
"No. Not a blood test. A core body temperature test."
"This whole thing sounds like a logistical nightmare," Kim said. "How are they going to test and immunize everyone? And isn't having everyone together like this bad for preventing the spread of a virus? I thought that’s why they implemented the curfew and the quarantine?"
Something didn't feel right. Why did I feel like a lamb to the slaughter? Everyone was blindly following everyone else. And for what? Did we even know what was waiting for us at the end of the road? Were the military really organizing everyone so they could protect us? Or were they herding us all together for a much different, much more sinister reason?
I wanted to turn and run but going against the flow of the crowd was impossible and after a few minutes we approached the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The massive steel grey arch loomed high above the road, acting like a beacon for the masses. It felt like if we could just get to the other side of it, everything would all right. To the left of the bridge was the Sydney Opera House, two world famous icons in one breathtaking view. And even though we could still hear sporadic gunshots and explosions far off in the distance, the view of the bridge and the harbor and the Opera House had this weird, calming effect on the crowd. Some people around us were actually joking around about how scared they were of needles and flu shots.
We were getting closer now. We had the option of going over the bridge or going underground, through the tunnel. Maria made it very clear that she did not want to go through the tunnel and I totally agreed with her. I already felt claustrophobic enough around all these people. I didn't need to be crammed into a confined space to make matters worse. Some people didn't have the luxury of choice. The sheer numbers of the crowd forced everyone on the far right side of the road into the tunnel. I count my blessings every day that I was not one of those people.
A minute later, we passed under the giant concrete pylon of the northern end of the bridge. Just like Kenji had predicted the Military had converted the toll booths into checkpoints. The checkpoints were like the metal detectors at airports. A light turned green as people walked through the detectors.
I asked Kenji what the lights meant.
"Green light means normal body temperature," he said.
"What’s normal?"
"I’m not sure. But a red light will flash if a person’s temperature is too low."
"Too low? I thought a virus caused a fever?"
"Low temperature is bad. I’m not sure why. They did the same thing at Woomera," Kenji explained.
We came to the checkpoints and walked through one by one. I held my breath. Luckily the light flashed green. Apparently we all had normal body temperatures. But the next people to walk through did not. The light flashed red. It was a lady and her child. She was taken away at gun point by the soldiers wearing the space suits, the same suits the soldiers were wearing at the hospital.
The lady began to scream, her child was crying. She pleaded with the soldiers to let her through. She was begging to at least let her child through. But the soldiers remained steadfast which only reinforced the image in my mind that they were heartless, soulless killer robots. The crowd around the check
point stopped, silenced.
It was then we could hear more screaming further off in the distance. It sounded like it was coming from back down the road, maybe a few kilometers away. It was out of sight but it was enough to put the crowd on edge and when a crowd of that size gets on edge you can feel it, like a ripple of electricity. We could then hear mass gunfire. Not just the sporadic single round bursts we had been hearing all morning. It sounded like a full unleashing of ammunition.
The crowd as a collective whole began to freak out. Hundreds of thousands of people asking the person next to them, what was that? What's going on? It was like a hive mind that had lost its mind. It was pure fear.
Kenji’s radio crackled to life. There was another bunch of code words that didn’t make sense to us.
Then we heard one voice full of panic. He didn't even use code words. "They're coming this way!" the voice yelled. "There's too many!"
There were more code words that only Kenji understood. He looked to the sky again like he had earlier. From somewhere far off in the distance we could just make out the roar of jet engines.
"We have to get off the bridge." Kenji said.
Chapter 20
Now we knew why the military was trying to evacuate North Sydney. I knew why Doctor Hunter had such a worried look on his face, why he kept checking his watch every thirty seconds.
According to the voice on the other end of Kenji’s radio, there was an entire horde coming this way. An endless stream of people who were infected with the Oz Virus. The horde stretched as far as the road stretched, as far as they could see. I couldn't even comprehend what I was hearing. I tried to imagine all those infected people, each as violent and aggressive as the next, biting and eating their way through everyone crammed on to the highway. But I couldn’t. The thought was too gruesome.
"What was that order?" Kim asked
"They’re going to blow up the bridge," Kenji said in disbelief.
"What?" Maria shrieked. "While we’re still on it?"
