by Tony Thomas
‘Have you spoken to any of the people from Germany or Switzerland?’
‘Yes, I spoke with Christoph earlier. He lives in a hamlet far from Zurich. He is safe. The office in Munich has shut down. It sounds bad there.’
‘Do you know what it is? Our news broadcasts said it was a sickness that made people violent. They said it was highly infectious.’
‘Yes, they become most violent. We have heard people say that they are zombie, but that cannot be true. The news here says that it has spread throughout the world. They say it started in Pakistan and might be germ warfare out of control. It does terrible things to people. Many, many people have it, there is no cure so far.’
‘Nothing on our news said germ warfare. Where did you hear that?’
‘It was on a blog post I read. From a doctor in our government. I don’t know if is real or not, but it sounded like he knew what he was talking about.’
‘Have you seen anyone with the sickness?’
‘No, only on television. Everyone here stays inside, trying to avoid becoming sick. The government says that it can only be caught from another person, but I have seen on the Internet that people say this is not true. I think it is best to keep away from all people.’
‘What do you plan to do?’
‘What can I do? I will lock my doors and wait for it to end. We have food for a week or two. I have heard it is not safe on the road. People have changed while they drive, many accidents have happened.’
An attractive blonde woman carrying a baby walked into view in the background. There was a rapid fire burst of what Dan assumed to be Polish, the voice sounded scared to the point of panic.
‘Wait one moment, Dan,’ Piotr said.
‘What’s wrong, Piotr?’
‘Please, be waiting one moment.’ Piotr stood and moved out of frame. Dan could see the doorway and hall behind it, but no movement and no sound.
Dan was beside himself wondering what had happened. His thoughts turned to Gen. He stood, left the office, and walked out to the lounge room. Gen had fallen asleep on the lounge in front of the TV. Probably a good plan all things considered. Dan knew he needed to sleep, but he was way too wired to even try just yet.
As he walked back into the office, he heard Piotr’s voice calling quietly, ‘Dan, Dan are you there?’
Dan quickly rushed forward and sat at his desk. The background was moving behind Piotr. He seemed to be climbing stairs.
‘Sorry, Piotr, I just went to check on Gen. What happened? Why are you walking?’
Piotr’s voice was hollow, ‘I am moving upstairs, out of view from the street. Kasia saw some people on the street. She thought they looked odd, the way they moved. That is when she called me. I went to look at them.’
‘And what happened?’
The background changed again as Piotr placed the computer on a desk and sat in front of it.
‘When I looked out the window there was a group of about ten people. There was one or two women, the rest were men. They did not look as they should. They all looked as if they had been hurt in some way. Two of the men had blood coming from their head; one of them walked on a broken ankle. A woman had no shoes and bleeding feet.
‘They were walking slowly and were in front of Andrej Zekarek’s house. It is on other side of the road from me. I could see Andrzej in the window watching them from his reception room. Andrzej went to the window and moved to close his curtains. As he pulled the curtains the people started to rush towards his house. I think the movement must have attracted them. One ran and dived into his front window. He crashed through it and I could see him chase and grab Andrzej. The whole group crowded around the window—I saw two more climb through.’
‘Bloody hell! What did you do then?’
‘I pulled Kasia back away from the window. I made sure none of them saw me. Our house has only small windows at the front. I closed the doors to the front rooms so they cannot see us. Then I picked up my computer and carried it upstairs.’
‘Oh Piotr, I am so sorry. You must go and secure your home. Will you call the police?’
‘I will try, but I am sure that this is not the only time this has happened. The news says that the Policja have been unable to stop any of the riots. I will be surprised if they come to a disturbance in the suburbs.’
‘What do you plan to do?’
‘I will move my family upstairs. I will make sure that we all stay away from the windows. I will try to keep my children so they are quiet and out of sight. It will be difficult with the baby, but we will try to keep her calm. We must all try to be quiet. Other than that—I am not sure what else I can do. I thought we would be safe here.’
‘Piotr, please take care. I will call you again soon.’
‘I look forward to it my friend. Take care of yourself.’
Dan clicked the call closed. He sat for a moment, thinking of what to do next. He shook his head, stood, and went to see if Gen was still sleeping. On the way he did a round of the house, making sure all the doors were locked and blinds were closed.
03:55 AEST: Sydney
Gen decided she should call her sister and let her know what was happening. She headed into the bedroom to make the call. It was just after 4 a.m. She knew if she was getting a call at this time she would be seriously pissed off. As she dialled the number, she hoped Rita wouldn’t get too upset.
It took about ten rings before Brick answered the phone. ‘What?’ he mumbled, not sounding too happy.
‘Brick, it’s Gen. Have you seen the news?’
‘What the fuck are you talking about, Gen?’ Brick said, waking up and getting more and more annoyed about it.
‘Sorry Brick, there’s some really bad stuff happening. You need to watch the news. Can I talk to Rita?’ Gen pleaded, hoping that Brick wouldn’t go into one of his infamous rages.
‘For fuck’s sake,’ Brick said, as he leaned over to Rita, ‘Wake up, Rita, your sister’s lost the fuckin’ plot.’ Gen heard sounds like the phone had been dropped followed by a fart as Brick passed the phone to her sister.
‘Charming,’ thought Gen.
‘What’s going on, Gen?’ Rita mumbled through a half daze.
‘Sorry, Rita,’ Gen said, ‘but there is some big time bad news going down. You need to look at the TV and maybe go get some emergency supplies.’
Rita was slowly coming awake. None of what Gen was saying made any kind of sense. She realised that Brick had gone back to sleep so she muttered ‘Hold on a sec’ into the phone, struggled into her dressing gown, and went into the lounge room.
‘Now, what are you talking about?’ she asked Gen. She was not sure if she should be annoyed or worried.
‘Rita, something seriously bad is happening,’ Gen said. ‘It’s all over the news and the PM and Opposition leader are on TV talking about it. They’re putting a curfew in place and are shutting Australia off from the rest of the world.’
Rita found it a little hard to make sense of what Gen was talking about. ‘Are you drunk?’ she asked.
‘No, although I could probably do with a drink. Do me a favour, just watch the news for ten minutes,’ Gen said.
‘Okay, I’ll call you back,’ Rita replied, and hung up.
04:00 AEST: Sydney
Rita had seriously considered just going back to bed but couldn’t resist turning on the TV. She hoped it wouldn’t wake Brick or the kids.
‘Violent outbreaks continue worldwide. The cause of this violence is unclear. Currently there are riots throughout the Middle East, Europe, and North America. We are now receiving reports of incidents in Latin America, Africa, and Australia. At this time there are no reports of any incidents in Asia.
‘The prime minister recently made a statement on all TV and radio networks. In summary, the nation has been placed in a state of emergency. A national curfew has been imposed and a national quarantine is also in effect. We will now re-broadcast the prime minister’s recent press conference.’
Rita listened to
the PM’s statement. As a fervent supporter of the current government, she was far more accepting than Dan had been. It was kind of strange to see an Opposition leader agree with anything the PM said or did. The Q&A had left her feeling nervous and uncomfortable—it had not been even slightly reassuring.
Nevertheless, both statements left her feeling like she had to do something. Despite her hesitation, she went and woke up Brick.
‘What now?’ Brick moaned. Clearly he had gone straight back to sleep.
‘You have to get up,’ Rita said. ‘We need to work out what to do.’
‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ muttered Brick as he staggered off to the bathroom. ‘This had better be good.’
Five minutes later, Brick was watching the TV with Rita. ‘Fuck me,’ he said. ‘This is bullshit. They can’t lock me in my house!’
Rita looked at him. ‘Brick, you’re a fireman, it’s an essential service. You have to go to work anyway.’
Brick was still waking up. ‘Sorry, still getting my head around this. Did Gen tell you anything else?’
‘Shit’, Rita said, ‘I should have called her back.’ She picked up the phone and called Gen.
‘You’ve seen it?’ Gen answered.
‘Yeah, we’ve seen it,’ Rita said. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘Not a whole lot we can do, Dan went and bought a load of food and water a bit earlier, before they announced the curfew and stuff. I guess we could pool resources if it gets tight.’
‘Thanks for that,’ Rita sighed. ‘But have you heard anything else?’
‘Dan is hitting up email now. Hold on a sec. I’ll put you on speaker,’ Gen hit the loudspeaker button, while Rita thought ‘wanker’ as she turned her phone to loudspeaker.
‘Dan, it’s Rita and Brick—what have you heard?’ Gen asked.
‘Nothing good,’ Dan said. ‘I’ve heard back from two of the guys in Munich. It sounds like they’re in a war zone. They say they can’t go outside and that people are getting killed in the streets.’
‘Shit,’ said Brick. ‘Is that happening everywhere?’
‘Not sure, mate.’ Dan clicked at his keyboard. ‘I talked to a mate of mine in Poland. He lives out in the suburbs and someone was just attacked across the road from him. It sounds like city centres are going nuts in Europe. No shootings, just mob attacks.’ He paused before saying ‘It sounds like the start of a zombie movie.’
‘Yeah, except no one is coming back to life. Have you heard from anyone else?’ Rita asked.
‘No, haven’t got onto anyone yet, if you look at Twitter it sounds like it’s going crazy everywhere.’
Brick cut in again, ‘Look, I don’t much care what’s happening outside Australia. Have you heard of anything happening here?’
‘Earlier the PM said that there had been one incident but it was under control. I haven’t tried to contact anyone else yet, and I haven’t heard anything. Sorry about that, Brick.’
‘No worries Dan, tell you what, we might give you a call back later—okay?’
‘Okay,’ Dan said, too preoccupied with Twitter and email to start wondering what his erratic brother-in-law was thinking.
04:15 AEST: BA275
Karen had carefully stepped over John on her way to the bathroom. Despite accidentally treading on his foot as she returned, he hadn’t stirred or moved in over an hour. Given he had been feeling unwell, Karen was glad he was getting some rest.
She was now engrossed in her second movie. She knew she should probably try to get some sleep as well, but her first day was a rest day to recover from the flight, so she decided to catch up on some movies she hadn’t seen. This was one her favourite types of movie, a historical romance.
Karen didn’t notice John wake up. Since she was in the window seat, she did not expect him to bother her even if he needed to go to the bathroom. She looked up as he started thrashing in his seat. Thinking he was having a nightmare or was disoriented, she gently tapped him on his arm—hoping to wake him. John’s head snapped to the right at her touch, spittle sprayed from his lips into her face.
Revolted, Karen closed her eyes, bringing her hand up to wipe them just as John made a roaring cry and grabbed for her. Her surprise turned to terror as he started madly flailing at her with his fists, restrained by his seatbelt from being able to easily reach her. Despite being initially struck dumb by the shock of the attack, she soon found her voice and began screaming hysterically.
The flight attendants were there within seconds. On seeing them, John turned his attack to these new, more accessible targets. As Karen watched in relief, the muscular head steward managed to catch both of John’s arms and quickly wrestle them into a firm lock grip. Despite this, John continued to struggle. Yelling, or more accurately, roaring, as he snapped his head around trying to bite the steward.
The attendant who had been so generous with drinks earlier looped a plastic cable tie over John’s left wrist and tightened it. The steward then forced John’s wrists together so she could restrain his right wrist with another tie. A third tie locked his wrists to his thigh.
John continued to struggle after being cuffed. He swung his head wildly from side to side, moaning with inhuman aggression. The steward was trying to calm him saying ‘Please sir, just relax’ over and over.
Despite their efforts, John continued to struggle. The attendant looked at Karen and said, ‘Let’s get you to another seat.’
Karen nodded gratefully as she unclipped her belt and slid past the snapping, struggling John. Fortunately, there was an empty seat towards the back of the upper deck. Karen slumped into it, feeling like she was ready to pass out. Both the steward and the attendant had come with Karen to get her settled. ‘My name is William’, the steward said then nodded towards the attendant, ‘and this is Theresa. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?’
Karen took a deep breath and replied, ‘No, he just scared me a lot. What would make him do that?’
‘I don’t know,’ said William. ‘We’re going to talk to the captain about it now. I don’t think we’re going to make it nonstop to Vegas anymore.’
02:30 SST (04:30 AEST): Singapore
Chris, Lara, Mick, and Lincoln walked out of the Fairmont into the forecourt on Stamford Road. They looked around nervously, checking to see if anyone was acting strangely. It seemed quite odd how few people were around. No matter what time of the night, there were usually people on the street in this area of Singapore. It was eerily quiet. There were no taxis on the rank at the hotel and no cars went past on Stamford Road.
It was still pretty warm, around 27C. The humidity had eased a little and it was quite pleasant outside after the environmental sterility of the air-conditioned bar. Still, the quiet and the lack of people was a little unsettling.
Chris said, ‘Before we start walking aimlessly, does anyone know where the nearest 7-Eleven is?’
‘The nearest one I can think of is at Boat Quay,’ Lincoln said. ‘There’s probably another one closer but I don’t really know where.’
‘Fair walk to Boat Quay,’ Mick said.
‘You lazy bastard,’ Chris laughed. ‘It’d be less than a kilometre.’
‘And the rest,’ Mick replied with a smile.
‘I think there’s one on North Bridge Rd before you get to the river,’ Lara said. ‘It’s probably only a couple of hundred metres.’
They started walking along Stamford Road towards North Bridge Road. Singapore’s generous street lighting ensured there were no dark places along the road. The hotel complex on their right was brightly lit but eerily quiet. There was no insect noise, no car noise, no people noise—no noise at all.
Lincoln said, ‘Not many people about. It’s not normally this quiet, is it?’
Mick said, ‘Not that you’d know, given you’re usually in bed by now, but this is a little bit quieter than normal. Usually there would be a few more cars on the road as well, mostly cabs.’
As they walked, the quiet became contagious and none of them felt li
ke chatting. When they turned left into North Bridge Road, Lara said, ‘I’m getting a little freaked out by how quiet it is.’
‘Don’t worry, no one around is probably better than loads of people, isn’t it?’ Chris asked reassuringly.
‘I guess so,’ Lara said. They continued to walk in silence.
As they walked past Saint Andrew’s Cathedral, they were shocked out of their silence by the sound of yelling in the distance.
They all looked at each other, then Lincoln put what he thought they were thinking into words, ‘I’m not sure a few bags of chips and some drinks are worth getting killed for. What do you reckon? Maybe we all head back to the hotel?’
Chris and Lara muttered their agreement. Mick said, ‘Are you kidding me? It’s only on the next corner.’
‘No,’ Lara said. ‘I want to go back now, while we can, and before we run into a problem.’
‘Oh for fuck’s sake,’ Mick blurted, ‘It’s just a bit of shouting.’
Chris said, ‘No, Mick, it’s more than that. I think we should go back as well.’
‘Really? Bloody hell if you guys say so. . .’
As they looked anxiously around, they noticed a flickering glow in the distance, towards the Singapore River. Lincoln said, ‘That looks a lot like a fire, doesn’t it?’
Chris agreed. ‘Sure does, I don’t know what would burn over that way though—it’s all concrete except for the restaurants along Boat Quay.’
‘There’s your answer then,’ Mick said. ‘I’m surprised we haven’t heard the fire brigade yet. They’re usually pretty on the ball here.’
They turned and walked back along North Bridge Road, away from the fire. The distant shouting was becoming louder as they turned into Stamford Road. It was only a short walk to the hotel now, but they all felt like running. As they hurried along the street, they finally heard the sound of sirens in the distance. Somehow, this actually made them less nervous, it was a sound they expected to hear and its absence had been so much of a worry that its presence was actually calming.
