by West, Mark
A hand touches my shoulder and I spin around. Two policemen are standing there. I’m hot and clammy and feel myself shaking. One of the officers asks me what’s wrong. I begin to stammer, my words not forming a sentence, and he gives his partner a questioning look like I’ve lost my mind. His partner steps forward and reaches for something on his belt. I’m scared he may try to cuff me and take me away.
‘I’m not crazy,’ I beg, but notice his cheek is missing and his hands are covered in blood. ‘You’re one of them!’ I yell and run.
I’m running through the crowd, voices calling for me to stop and notice more of them around. Yet people seem oblivious and continue to shop. I’m almost at the end of the hall when I spot Victoria by the front doors, waving at me casually. She has a smile on her face. I scream for her to run, but she continues to wave like she hasn’t seen me in years. The faster I go, the further she moves away.
There is a buzzing in the air, like a swarm of bees are about to break through the crowd. I’ve stopped running. My legs are frozen. Waves of flesh-eating Infected have begun to surround me. The crowd of Infected steps closer and closer and the buzzing gets louder. I curl into a ball in defeat, willing for it to all go away. I hear a voice calling from the crowd. A woman is holding a big, black speaker above her head. It crackles a few times then blares out, ‘Get up!’ I stare back at the woman in confusion. It blares out again, ‘Get Up!’
A blinding flash of light strikes my eyes and the words bounce through my brain. I blink and the crowd around me disappears. I’m not at the markets anymore. I’m in bed and covered in a pool of sweat. Victoria is sitting up beside me, clutching my body with urgency. I feel disoriented. She continues to shake me repetitively, screaming words I can’t understand. I can’t process anything and don’t know what’s going on because alarm bells are filling the room.
‘They’re coming!’ Victoria screams, squeezing my arm tighter this time. ‘The alarm! It’s been triggered!’
I peer back at her in confusion and try desperately to comprehend what’s going on as my brain’s neurons struggle to fire.
‘Jackson.’ She stops shaking me and pulls my face close to hers. ‘They. Are. Coming.’
Chapter 36
THEY ARE COMING
Her eyes are bulging with fear. I finally realise what’s going on and rip off the covers, launching out of bed to grab a pair of pants and a shirt and snatch up my rifle. ‘Wait here.’ I dash out of the room and run to the front of the house.
The alarm is still blaring. It’s gloomy outside and the air feels bitterly cold. I pull on my coat and notice in the distance the sun about to set behind the hills: a thin strip of orange light below the dark clouds. A storm is coming. I don’t check the time, but guess it’s around five or six o’clock in the afternoon. I must have slept all day. Lincoln and Noah are already outside waiting for me, Koda by their side. Both are holding their gun.
‘What is it?’ I ask, checking the surroundings.
‘Not sure,’ Lincoln answers. ‘I was inside when the alarm went off. Just got out here. Must be something serious if it’s been triggered.’
‘What about the girls?’ asks Noah.
Koda barks at Tyler’s lookout post then bolts off in the opposite direction, heading for the trees. ‘Get back here Koda!’ Lincoln yells. But the dog has disappeared.
‘Leave him. The girls can stay inside for the moment.’ I look around for any sign of Tyler or Amy. ‘It could be nothing, perhaps a false alarm.’ That’s what I’m hoping, but know better than to assume anything these days.
We made the alarm a few months ago. Remote buttons located at our two lookout towers, one either side of our fence, triggers an ear-piercing bell that rings continuously until turned off. We found it at the hardware store. Its purpose is to alert us of any potential danger. This is the first time it has been used since it was installed.
‘We need to find the others,’ Lincoln insists. I agree.
We run to the rear tower where Tyler is holed up. When we arrive I see Amy standing on the platform, peering over the wall and out into the field in the direction of the setting sun. She ignores us. I can’t see what she is staring at, because this part of the fence is solid timber.
‘Amy!’ I call out, the alarm still blaring in the distance. ‘What the hell is it? Where’s Tyler?’ But she doesn’t answer, only shakes her head.
‘Oi, Amy, what is it?’ Lincoln yells, but is met with no response.
‘Shut that alarm off!’ I command the others. ‘I’m going up.’
When I reach the top of the platform, Amy is yet to respond to anyone’s questions. She almost doesn’t realise I’m next to her until I touch her shoulder to see if she is okay. She jumps, but keeps her gaze forward. I follow it to see what the fuss is all about and my heart sinks deeper than it ever has before.
Outside the compound, about half a football pitch away, is Tyler standing in the middle of the field. He appears to be alive. He isn’t standing alone; the woman with the bad arm and the child with the pink, sparkly shoes are with him.
‘What is it?’ Lincoln calls from the ground, but just like Amy I can’t answer. I’m in total shock.
A few moments later I feel the platform begin to shake as someone starts climbing the ladder.
‘How many?’ I ask Amy, with a tremor in my voice.
‘My guess is two hundred or so.’
‘Tyler?’
‘No idea how he got there. I was at the other end of the fence patrolling when the alarm sounded.’ She pauses for a moment and clears her throat. ‘I haven’t seen him speak or move.’
I turn when I sense movement beside me. Lincoln is stepping onto the platform.
‘Holy Mother of God! Where the fuck did they all come from?’
The orange glow silhouettes the masses of Infected in front of us. I notice a few Beasts, like the one that killed Rohan, in the distance on the hills, and a few smaller children lining the front, ready to fight. It feels like a British war film where the army stands in a line waiting to shoot, but in this instance we have no army to fight back.
Lincoln’s face goes white when he sees Tyler with the woman and child. ‘Is that her, Jackson?’
‘It is.’
‘We need to help him,’ Noah says. I hadn’t noticed his presence.
‘How do you think we can possibly do that?’ Lincoln scoffs. ‘Look at all those Infected.’ He bangs the railing in frustration. I feel the tension radiating from his body and into mine.
‘We have to do something,’ Noah replies. ‘We can’t just sit here.’
‘I think they’re waiting for something,’ Amy mumbles.
I turn towards her guiltily, like I’m the cause of all this. I notice her hands are gripping so tightly to her gun they are going white. ‘For what?’ But I know the answer before she has to say it. I have seen this act before, but with a much smaller group.
‘A signal or something,’ she answers, just as I predict. ‘Look at how they’re all waiting patiently and not walking off.’
‘Should we call out?’ Lincoln asks, pulling a pack of smokes from his top pocket.
‘And say what?’ I ask, turning to Lincoln. ‘Let him go? What do you want?’
He places the smoke into his mouth and pulls out his purple lighter. ‘I think we need to call out to Tyler to see if he is okay.’ He pulls back on the cigarette and I notice his hand is shaking.
‘Let’s just wait a moment; see what happens.’ But I secretly know what’s coming. I suspect we all do. ‘Noah, go and warn the girls. Get them ready to leave if we have to.’
‘And go where? The road is blocked. There’s hundreds of those things.’
‘Bush.’ I answer, pointing in the opposite direction. ‘We can escape down there. Wait it out and double back if we need to. If not, we can trek through the hills and back into town.’
Noah peers into the distance. I can tell he has doubts about the plan, but it’s the only thing we have left. ‘Oka
y.’
He walks to the ladder and disappears. Another few minutes go by with no action. There’s no sign of attack and no word from Tyler.
‘I can’t wait any longer,’ I say impatiently. ‘I’m going to call out.’ I don’t wait for a reply and yell before anyone can stop me. ‘Tyler! Are you okay!?’
There is no response, just a wave of movement as the horde shifts on its feet from side to side as if my words are a strong breeze. They eventually stop and I regret my decision. I fear I’m one word away from setting off the dogs. I’m about to say something to the others, apologise for my stupid actions, when Lincoln starts yelling.
‘What do you want?’
‘Wait, Lincoln—’ But I’m too late. I have started a chain reaction.
‘Let our friend go!’ Amy yells aggressively. ‘Tyler! Tyler! You okay?’
The group is moving around so much that I can hear their bodies rubbing against each other. Distant growls are echoing, and I swear some Infected have taken a step or two towards us.
‘Look.’ Amy says, pointing at Tyler.
The woman beside Tyler is raising her one good arm. Tyler is stiff as a board like he is frozen in time.
‘What the fuck is she doing?’ Lincoln asks. We watch intently.
The women’s arm is all the way in the air. I feel drawn to her. It’s like a tingling feeling of butterflies trying to give me a message. What does she want? I concentrate on the feeling, but my attention is drawn away when the child begins to walk towards Tyler and it flutters away. I watch the girl stop in front of him. Tyler is still stiff, but I sense he knows what’s going on. The girl lunges at him. She knocks him down, then rips at his throat like a lioness attacking its prey.
A jolt of pain runs through my body, and I lean over the railing and vomit. Lincoln grabs the back of my jacket and pulls me up. No emotion. No sympathy. Just get up and fight. I wipe away the vomit from around my mouth and see Tyler still on the ground. The child is on top of him and feeding away. No one speaks and no one shoots, because we are all in complete shock. Another death. Six left.
The woman steps forward and stops, drops her arm to her side and the horde begins to scream at us. It cuts through the air like a jet tearing across the hills. I feel a rumble from the earth; the Infected are closing in on us. They move quickly. The woman and child are engulfed by bodies and I lose them. I raise my gun instinctively and begin firing at everything and anything. The others follow and I see a couple of bodies drop, but it doesn’t make a difference. The Runners break free of the pack; the Beasts and the rest of the horde follow.
I spin my gun around and focus my attention on the Runners, hitting one and then reloading for the next. But there are too many.
‘We can’t shoot them all.’ Lincoln screams. ‘We need to get the hell out of here.’
‘I agree.’ Amy yells, panic in her voice.
I take a few more shots before answering, hitting a Runner less than thirty metres away. ‘You’re right. Let’s go.’
I shove Lincoln in the back, moving him quickly towards the ladder, and he begins his decent. Amy is next. She quickly spins around, grabbing the sides and taking a step backwards.
‘Hurry.’ I yell, glancing back at the horde. The Beasts have all picked up boulders and the Runners are now less then fifteen metres away.
The moment Amy is at the bottom, I spin my body around and grip the sides of the ladder. I step backwards, one foot after the other until I miss a rung and fall to the ground. I land on my back and my body lets out a gush of air as my ribs are compressed. I gasp, trying to draw air into my lungs, and roll onto all fours. I tell myself to get up, but the pain is fierce, and I don’t know if I can run.
My gun is next to me in a patch of grass. I reach out, grab the leather strap and pull it to my side, hugging it tightly. A band of searing pain constricts my chest, and I’m still trying to catch my breath when I feel footsteps stomping behind me. A hand shoots out in front of my face and I see Amy standing over me.
‘Grab my hand!’
I grab it. Her grip tightens and she yanks me to my feet. I wince from the burning pain in my ribs; they must be broken.
‘Run!’ Amy orders.
She shoves me in the back and I feel more pain surge around my chest. I stagger at first, but my legs gain momentum and in no time I’m running towards the house. My ribs burn and my legs and body ache, but I know it’s nothing to what I will feel if I’m caught.
Amy is just behind me. I can hear her panting. I’m about ten metres from the wall when there is a loud thud like a comet has pounded into the earth. It causes me to stop, Amy also. I turn to see a large boulder resting just five metres from the fence. The thing is huge, and I’m amazed at the sheer power of the Beast that was able to throw it.
I’m about to turn and run when a boulder explodes through the fence. I shield my face, avoiding timber shards, palings and posts that are flying in all directions. I’m in shock at how little our defence is holding them back. Amy starts yelling.
‘Runners.’
They are a metre back and I turn and run, yelling at the top of my lungs.
‘Breach!’
I don’t get far, perhaps ten metres or so, when I hear Amy calling for me. She’s no longer by my side. I stop, turning around to see she is on the ground, her gun lying a few metres in front of her. She must have tripped.
I keep jogging backwards, knowing she will stand soon and run, but stop when I see a boy fast approaching in her direction. He is about twelve years old, clothes almost in perfect condition except for a rip in the side of his chest: the bite of death. I yell for Amy to stand, but I don’t know if she can hear me over the growls that surrounds us.
She takes a quick glance behind her. She realises she is about to be attacked and her face drops. I step forward, unsure of what to do.
‘Move, Amy. Move.’ I plead.
She scrambles forward, grabbing her gun with one arm and rolling to her back. The child pounces into the air like a tiger: arms out and hands like claws. Amy swings the butt of her gun, batting him away. The child tumbles to the ground, rolling about a metre. He doesn’t move.
Amy quickly rolls to her side and begins pushing herself up with the end of the barrel and running in my direction. More Infected are coming up behind her and I scream for her to keep going before turning and running myself.
I can see Lincoln waiting at the door, rifle drawn and signalling for me and Amy to duck. Bullets fly from his gun. They whiz past my ears, one after the other. I hope to God they are hitting their targets.
‘Hurry!’ Lincoln yells. I glance behind to see dozens of Infected on my tail.
I reach the front door, push Lincoln out the way and dive into the room, stubbing my toe on the corner of the jamb. A burst of pain radiates from the toe. A moment later Amy staggers in. The sliding door slams shut as Lincoln dives in after her. Noah runs over to the door with a sheet of ply and hammers in the sides with nails before sliding over a pre-made timber post that locks it in position.
‘Are the other windows and doors secure?’ I ask, between sharp breaths of air.
‘All done,’ Noah answers. ‘Should hold them back for a little while.’
Victoria runs over, picking me up off the floor and gripping me tightly in a hug. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Fine,’ I say, my voice constricted by the pain from my chest.
‘What is it?’ she asks, releasing me from her anaconda grip and checking me over.
‘Nothing,’ I answer. ‘Tyler’s dead.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Tears well up. She moves closer and kisses me.
Amy steps over and gives Lincoln a hug before kissing him too. I feel a hand squeeze my side.
‘They’ve been seeing each other for a while.’ Victoria whispers in my ear. She conjures up a faint smile.
Our moment is cut short when we hear glass breaking and the rattling of plywood as the Infected slam up against the walls.
‘Ready to go?’
I ask.
‘Bags are packed and by the hatch, like we planned,’ Hannah says, pointing to the pile by the laundry.
‘So, what now?’ Amy has a butcher’s knife in one hand and Lincoln’s hand in the other.
‘We escape.’
Chapter 37
THE HATCH
The hatch is beside the washing machine. I made it a few months back when I realised we had no way of escape if we ever got surrounded. It’s nothing spectacular, just a small, covered cut-out in the floor, large enough for a person to crawl through. It leads out under the house into a tunnel we made using old pallets: a timber snake that goes about ten metres into the bush. It is above ground, but fully covered on all sides. Tyler once described it as a mini Great Wall of China. We used it regularly to trap rabbits that run into the yard.
‘Let’s hurry,’ I say. ‘I don’t think we’ve much time before they surround the house, and I’m worried they’ll knock the tunnel over. Lincoln, do you want to lead the way?’
He gives me a nod and slings his gun over his shoulder. The hatch is already open. He pulls a torch from his bag and begins to do a brief scan of the subfloor. ‘Looks clear,’ he says and lowers his backpack into the hole then goes in head first after it. Before he can get his legs through he suddenly pulls himself back.
‘Dammit!’
He begins waving his arms, cursing loudly. Amy runs over and grips his shoulders to try and calm him down. He swears some more then slowly stops and holds his wrist. That’s when I notice the blood.
‘Oh God!’ Hannah shrieks, inspecting his bleeding arm.
‘Something fucken bit me!’ Lincoln bangs the wall in frustration, then tightly grips his wounded wrist. Amy begins to cry and tries to hug Lincoln. He shoves her away.
