The Zombie Proof Fence

by Tony Thomas

  They made the trip to the elevator unmolested and uninterrupted. Lincoln was starting to think things were going too well. He expected a ravening hoard to leap from the elevator when it opened, but it was empty yet again. He sighed with relief as the doors closed, and Chris swiped his card key and pressed the ‘30’. The few moments it took to get to the thirtieth floor seemed like an age. The doors opened to an empty lobby yet again—they were beginning to suspect that not everyone was quite as panicky as they were.

  ‘Which way Chris?’ Mick asked.

  ‘Follow me,’ he answered as he led the way. Halfway down the corridor, Chris stopped and keyed his door. Like Lara, he was mostly pre-packed. It took only a couple of moments to zip his bag, unload the mini-bar, and grab his pillows and quilt. Lincoln again took over mini-bar duty—it was kind of fun to unload everything.

  Mick had held the door open and signalled the all clear. They started walking back down the hall towards the lift. They were fully laden now—Chris, Lara, and Mick each had a roller bag, laptop bag, and in Chris and Lara’s case, a quilt and a pillow. Lincoln struggled to manage three laundry bags full of booze and snacks.

  Just as they were approaching the lift lobby, they heard a ‘ding’.

  ‘Oh fuck!’ said Chris.

  They all stared like rabbits in the headlights as the lift door opened. A tall blond man staggered from the lift. He had blood streaming from a cut above his eye. His left hand was gripped tightly over his right triceps. There was blood seeping through his fingers. He pulled up suddenly when he saw that there were people watching him.

  ‘Big fight in lobby,’ he said, with a strong German accent.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Mick said. ‘What happened to you?’

  ‘Woman I was helping bite me. Many people fighting. My friend and I help Security push them out of hotel. Security shut down the lobby, order everyone back to their rooms. I go to my room to clean wound and put on bandage.’ He leaned heavily against the wall.

  ‘Can you manage on your own?’ Lara asked; concerned he would collapse where he stood.

  ‘Yes, yes. Is not a problem. I go to my room,’ he replied, and pushed off the wall. He staggered down the hall away from them.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Lincoln said. They rushed into the lift, but were taken aback by the amount of blood on the wall over the control panel. After swiping his room key, Lincoln pressed the ‘34’ button which appeared clean enough. The elevator zoomed upwards, not so much causing as contributing to his stomach’s anxious churning.

  When the doors opened, a hotel cleaner was in the lift lobby, cleaning the doors of one of the other lifts. He nodded to the group and muttered, ‘Good morning, sirs and madam.’

  Lincoln nodded and said, ‘You might need to clean this one, mate, there’s blood all over the panel.’ The cleaner stopped what he was doing and came and looked in the lift, before turning a questioning eye on the Australians.

  ‘It was like that when we got in, mate,’ Chris said, a little defensively. The team hurried off towards Lincoln’s room. Chris looked back as they rounded the corner and saw the cleaner step into the lift and lock it open before returning for his cleaning kit.

  06:00 AEST: Sydney

  Dan looked nervously at the security monitor beside his front door.

  The knock on the door had shocked him. On any other day, he would have been annoyed and probably just swung the door open. Today, he was worried someone had seen the stockpile of food he had put together, or even worse, that it was someone who was sick with the ‘disease’ or whatever it was that was causing the current craziness. He hadn’t noticed the porch light come on with the motion detector. He was so absorbed with the news and the dire situation unfolding that he had been taken completely by surprise. The knock had shaken him to the core.

  He was a little surprised to see that it was his neighbour, Joanne. She was dressed for work as a flight attendant and looked a little stressed but otherwise okay. Dan tried to look into the front yard behind her, but the camera was angled down and he couldn’t see anything except her familiar blond features. He decided to take the chance and opened the door.

  ‘Hi Dan, so sorry to knock so early, but I have a bit of a problem,’ Joanne gushed.

  Dan barely managed to get out ‘Wha. . . ?’ before Joanne rushed on. ‘My taxi didn’t come to take me to my flight. Something is wrong with my phone and I need to get to the airport. Can I use your phone?’

  Dan said, ‘I think you should come inside’, before opening the security door and looking behind Joanne towards the street.

  ‘Thanks, Dan, I’ll be quick,’ Joanne said as she walked towards the kitchen. ‘Oh, hi, Gen, I hope I didn’t wake you,’ she said as Gen walked into the room.

  As Gen turned to look at her, Joanne realised something was wrong. ‘Are you alright, Gen?’

  ‘Have you seen the news this morning, Jo?’ Dan said.

  ‘No, I usually hear it in the cab on the way to the airport. Has something happened?’

  ‘I think you should sit down, Jo’, Gen said, getting up, ‘I’ll get you some coffee.’

  ‘No, thanks, Gen, I’m running really late. I just needed to use your phone. The taxi didn’t show and I can’t get through to the cab company. All I get is a busy signal.

  ‘Joanne, I don’t think you can go to the airport this morning,’ Dan said.

  ‘What are you talking about? I have a flight this morning. I need to be at the airport in half an hour.’

  ‘All the flights have been cancelled, Jo, it was on the news.’

  ‘What are you talking about, Gen? They never cancel all flights, especially the international ones.’

  Dan thought for a moment. ‘Gen, you know what, they didn’t say international flights were cancelled, it was only the domestic ones.’

  ‘Ye—e—s, but they did say that no international flight that left would be allowed to return. Surely Qantas would cancel all flights rather than leave people stranded overseas?’

  ‘Hold on a second,’ Joanne interrupted. ‘What do you mean not allowed to return?’

  ‘Sit down,’ Dan said. ‘You need to watch the news for few minutes and then call in to work and say you can’t make it.’

  Joanne numbly sat as Dan turned the TV volume back up to something audible.

  ‘Violent outbreaks continue to be reported throughout the world. At this time there have been only two incidents in Australia; both in Sydney.’

  ‘Two incidents?’ Dan blurted, ‘It was only one a few hours ago.’

  ‘Both of these incidents took place in the airport international terminal. Police reports indicate that in both cases, the incidents were contained; however, the media have not been allowed into the airport.

  ‘The police and military are on high alert following the announcement of the curfew and quarantine by the prime minister.’

  ‘What. . .’ Joanne started to say, but trailed off as the reported continued.

  ‘As reported earlier, the prime minister has declared a state of emergency. All people are to remain in their homes with the exception of essential services. A national curfew is in effect from 6am AEST. If you are unsure whether you are considered an “Essential Service” then please go the web site displayed at the bottom of your screen.

  ‘The police minister has recommended that all people stay in their homes and lock all doors and windows. Avoid using the telephone except for emergencies. Please stay tuned for further updates.’

  ‘Oh, lord!’ Joanne blurted. ‘This doesn’t make any sense at all! What happened that would make them declare a curfew?’

  Dan tried to be calm, ‘There seems to be some sort of sickness everywhere. It makes people go crazy violent and the PM is shutting down the country in the hope that they can contain it. It started a few weeks ago in Pakistan, but no one really noticed it, or thought anything in particular about it. Last night it escalated out of control almost everywhere. Up until ten minutes ago they were reporting one incident that w
as under control, this second one is scary.’

  ‘Are you having me on?’ Joanne asked, hoping this was some sort of prank.

  ‘You saw the news,’ Gen said. ‘This is not looking good.’

  ‘Oh my goodness,’ Joanne muttered. ‘Uh, can I use your phone to check in with work? When I tried to use mine earlier, all I could get was a busy signal.’

  ‘Sure thing,’ Dan said. ‘I’ll just grab the cordless.’ He ducked out of the lounge room and had a quick look at the security monitor as he walked past the front door. It was aimed at the front porch, but he could just make out people on the street walking their dogs, just like any other day. It was surreal. He went into the bedroom, checked the blinds were closed, and grabbed the cordless phone. On the way back into the lounge room, he turned it on and checked it had a dial tone—it seemed okay. As he handed it to Joanne, he said, ‘We’ve got a dial tone, here you go.’

  Joanne’s hands were shaking as she dialled the Qantas shift scheduler. As he put the phone to her ear, she heard the beeping of the busy signal. ‘Still getting a busy signal.’ She hung up and tried again. On the third try, she handed the phone back to Dan and said, ‘I give up, I guess I’ll just have to text the supervisor and let him now I’m stuck.’

  ‘Sorry about that,’ Dan said. ‘Did you want a cuppa?’

  ‘I’d better not, I need to get in touch with work even if I don’t have to go in. Besides, I should wake Mark up and let him know what’s going on. He got in pretty late last night, he wouldn’t have heard any of this.’

  ‘No worries Jo.’ Gen smiled. ‘You be careful, okay? If you need anything, we’re right here.’

  ‘Thanks, Gen,’ Joanne walked to the door.

  Dan nearly tripped over himself rushing to get there before her. ‘Hold on a sec!’ he exclaimed, ‘Check the coast is clear before you head out.’ He pointed at the security monitor.

  ‘Really?’ Joanne laughed nervously, ‘Aren’t you getting a bit carried away?’

  ‘Maybe,’ Dan said as he opened the door. ‘But better safe than sorry. Gen’s sister and her husband just had a nasty incident and they only live a couple of kilometres away.’

  ‘Really?’ Joanne asked, looking a little shaken by this. ‘Are they okay?’

  ‘We think so, they’ve decided to go bush and are on the road, but last we heard they were okay,’ Gen said.

  Dan had a good look out the security monitor. ‘It looks pretty clear, but I can’t see the street real well. I’m going to have to re-aim the camera a little I think. Anyway, all good at the moment.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll see you later then,’ Joanne said, as she opened the door. She had a quick look around before she started to walk quickly down the driveway. By the time she had done a dozen paces, she had broken into a trot. She ran through the gate and turned out of view.

  Dan and Gen walked onto the porch and looked at the camera. ‘I think I’ll need a ladder to get to the camera,’ he said. ‘I might wait a bit to see if things are okay before I do that.’ He closed the door, locking it and again looked at the security monitor.

  Gen said, ‘Dan, I think you might have had too much coffee.’

  ‘I guess so,’ Dan said, smiling, as he walked into the lounge room.

  A scream cut through the air. Dan dived back towards the door.

  ‘What was that?’ Gen demanded.

  ‘No idea,’ Dan said, looking at the monitor. ‘I can’t see anything.’

  Another scream, and there was no way to work out the direction it had come from other than outside.

  ‘What do you think we should do?’ Gen said.

  ‘As much as I hate to say it, I think I need to look outside and see where it’s coming from.’

  ‘Are you sure? Maybe we should just ring the police,’ Gen suggested anxiously.

  ‘We can’t call the police just because we heard a scream. It’s okay. I’ll just take a quick look; I won’t go any further than the front yard.’

  Dan checked the monitor for what must have been the twentieth time. It looked clear so he opened the door and walked through it as another, shorter, scream rang out. He crept into his front yard, feeling a little like a flighty bird. He crouched down as he walked and he felt even more birdlike as he bobbed across the yard—creeping forward far enough to crane his neck over the fences surrounding his yard. He looked back at Gen and shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘I can’t see anything.’

  He moved further out through the yard, sticking close to the fence on the left. When he was almost to the front fence, he looked across his yard towards Jo’s house. He didn’t see anything in that direction, relieved; he signalled to Gen that it was clear. As he turned to look the other way, he saw two women coming around the bend in the road, both running hard. The one in the lead had blood streaming from a cut on her head. She saw him and veered towards him. Dan started to back away, ready to run into the house. She yelled ‘Help me!’ just as the woman chasing her grabbed her by the hair.

  With a scream her legs came out from under her and she fell hard on her back. The attacker lost her balance and her grip as the woman fell. She stumbled slightly, but her eyes were fixed on her victim. As Dan watched, the attacker leapt onto the chest of the woman and started to claw and punch her head. The woman brought her arms up trying to defend her face. She was already bleeding profusely from cuts and grazes following her fall on the road. The attacker continued her frenzied beating on the woman, her bloodied fists striking the road almost as often as they struck the woman.

  Dan took a step forward, and started to yell out. As he did, he saw a heavy set man staggering down the street, coming from the same direction the women had. Dan watched in amazement as the man dived at the attacker, landing on top of her. She turned her frenzied attack onto him. She started punching, scratching and biting him. He tried to restrain her, gripping one arm, and then the other, as she wriggled ferociously, continuously pulling free. She scratched at his face, trying to gouge his eyes. The man struggled to contain her. Despite being both larger and stronger, and on top, the woman’s furious fighting was clearly taking its toll. Dan took another step forward, ready to come to the aid of the man and woman when he noticed the first woman sit up. The man noticed at the same time. As he struggled with the crazed woman, he turned to look at her.

  ‘Kate?’ he said. ‘Are you alright?’

  Kate gave her head a violent shake, she looked down at her hands, paused, raised her head, and slowly turned to where her friend was still struggling with the violently thrashing woman.

  Dan would later have trouble describing what he saw in her face at that point. Her totally blank expression changed into something that could be described as a snarl but was bestial in its ferocity. She jumped from her sitting position into a crouch.

  ‘Kate?’ the man asked again, with a far more worried look on his face despite the fact he was still struggling with a crazed woman.

  ‘Kate’ leapt at the man, knocking him off the attacker. Both women now turned on him. He struggled to regain his feet but their combined attack was too much for him. He huddled in a foetal position as they struck at him. Bloodied hands clawed at him as both women looked like they were trying to tear him to pieces.

  Dan was unable to move. Despite his initial instinct to go and help the man, he realised the danger of the situation. He had just seen a victim turn into an attacker. It was almost exactly like the change he had seen on YouTube. There was no doubt in his mind that this man would soon be up and attacking others as well. Dan backed away slowly. He kept moving backwards as he watched the ongoing battle in the middle of the road, it looked like the women were slowing down, maybe the man was unconscious, maybe he was dead, but either way there was nothing Dan could do for him. As soon as Dan was out of sight of the road, he ran back into the house and locked the door.

  06:15 AEST: QF12 Sydney

  Jeff thought it strange how calmly everyone was acting as they prepared to debark. The plane had taxied to the gat
e and no one had stood until the seat belt light turned off.

  As soon as he could, Pete had stood and taken his carry-on from the overhead storage. He took his phone out and tried to turn it on. ‘Bugger,’ he said.

  ‘Is everything okay, Pete?’ Jeff asked.

  ‘I must have left my phone turned on—it’s as dead as a maggot,’ Mick replied.

  Jeff smiled and shook his head in sympathy. He looked around the cabin. There was none of the usual chatter as people waited for the door to open. People were looking at their phones and typing with an unnerving focus. Pete passed Jeff’s bag to him and then turned as he heard some shouting towards the back of the plane. Jeff looked as well, but could see nothing. His view was obstructed by the bulkhead.

  ‘Can you see what’s happening?’ Jeff asked.

  ‘No, nothing,’ Pete said, as he leaned over, trying to get a better angle.

  The intercom blurted to life:

  ‘All passengers please return to your seats. Please stay calm. We will be debarking shortly.’

  Pete struggled with his bag—using the empty seat between Jeff and himself—and managed to get back into his seat. The sound of the argument had escalated into a scuffle, intermixed with screams and yells.

  A male flight attendant was struggling to make his way towards the rear of the plane.

  ‘Again, please take your seats. We will not be permitted to debark until all passengers have calmed down. The air bridge has been retracted and the doors are closed. Please take your seats.’

  ‘That’s pretty weird,’ Pete said. ‘Normally they would get the bridge connected as quickly as they can so that the cops can get on board. I wonder what’s going on?’

  The noise from the rear of the plane continued. A deep voice clearly rang out, ‘Sit down you fucking arsehole!’ It was soon followed by a sound like a slab of meat being hit by a tenderising mallet. That sound was followed by a couple of cheers as the sounds of fighting completely disappeared.

  In the silence, everyone in the economy compartment heard the flight attendant say, ‘Thank you sir. Do you think you could keep an eye on him while everyone gets off?’