The Zombie Proof Fence

by Tony Thomas

  ‘Brick,’ Bozo interrupted. ‘You sound like you know where you’re going. We’ll follow along, just make sure you don’t drive like a bat out of hell and lose us, okay?’

  ‘No worries Bozo’, Brick smiled, ‘let’s go.’

  07:30 AEST (05:30 SST)Singapore

  ‘So who’s going to sleep first,’ Chris said. ‘There’s no point all of us trying to stay awake.’

  ‘There’s no chance I’m gonna fuckin’ sleep,’ Mick replied. ‘I’m too wired.’

  ‘I think we all are, big fella,’ Chris said. ‘How about we draw straws? None of us are going to choose to sleep first.’

  ‘Good idea, Chris,’ Lincoln said. He looked around the room for a second and then said, ‘I don’t think we have any straws. Rock, paper, scissors?’

  ‘For fuck’s sake,’ Mick muttered.

  ‘C’mon Mick,’ Lara said. ‘How about we just draw names, Linc? Rock, paper, scissors is a pain in the arse with four people.’

  ‘Sure,’ Lincoln said. He grabbed a piece of hotel stationary from the desk, tore it into four pieces, and wrote each of their names on them. He folded the pieces, put them in a coffee mug, and said to the group, ‘Okay guys, let’s do two-hour watches, first name drawn is first watch etc. Lara—you draw.’

  Lara smiled, ‘Gee thanks boss. Okay, let’s see.’ She drew the first name and read it. ‘Chris, you’re up first.’ She drew again. ‘Then Mick’, another draw, ‘then me, so I guess our fearless leader gets the long sleep.’

  ‘Sweet,’ Lincoln said. ‘Alright, wake me up if anything happens. If someone wants to sleep in the bedroom with me, there’s plenty of room on the floor.’ Lincoln walked into the bedroom and closed the door.

  ‘Gee, what a gentleman,’ Lara said. ‘I’ll take the cushions off the lounge. Might as well get a few hours.’ She gathered the two cushions from the bigger lounge and the single cushion from the arm chair and juggled them as she opened the bedroom door and made her way into the room before dropping them and closing the door.

  ‘Chris, if you want to sleep through your watch, I’m good,’ Mick said.

  ‘No worries, Mick, I’m okay.’ Chris smiled. ‘Not sure how much there is to do anyway.’

  Chris walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. He expected not to see anything and that is exactly what he saw. Just as he was about to move away, he caught a flicker of movement to the right. He tried to get a better view by moving his head to the left, but it didn’t help.

  ‘You all right, Chris?’ Mick asked.

  ‘Yeah, I think I saw something in the peephole but I’m not sure.’

  ‘Give us a look then,’ Mick said. He walked over to the door as Chris moved aside. Mick bent down and looked through the eye hole. He saw a flash of movement and then nothing.

  ‘I thought I saw a movement, but I can’t see shit now,’ he said.

  ‘Bloody peephole, you can only see stuff directly in front,’ Chris said. ‘Do you think we should open the door and have a look?’

  ‘Why not?’ Mick asked, he smiled at Chris as he reached down and slowly pulled the door open. He leaned out into the hall and looked to the right, the hallway was clear. As he started to turn his head, he heard a sound that could only be described as a growl.

  Mick snapped his head towards the sound. There was a man, who looked to be fairly short, dressed in the hotel’s porter uniform. He had blood splattered on his face and shirt. The porter was about 10 metres away, he was standing slightly crouched and looked like an animal about to pounce. As he started to run, Mick pulled back into the room and slammed the door closed. As Mick pushed against the door, he heard the thud and felt the door vibrate as the man slammed into it.

  ‘Fuck me!’ Mick said, he quickly fastened the security chain on the door and stepped back. The man slammed into the door again, trying to force it open.

  ‘What the hell just happened?’ Chris asked.

  ‘There was a hotel porter all covered in blood up the hall, he charged towards me,’ Mick said. He looked out the peephole and could only see flashes of motion as the man in the hall started pounding on the door with his fists and feet. ‘He’s going ballistic trying to get in here.’

  As Mick turned away from the peephole, they heard a faint scream from the hall. Mick turned back and looked through the peephole, he saw the man tilt his head back and scream again.

  ‘Sensational sound proofing in these rooms,’ Mick said with a laugh.

  ‘Do you think he can get in?’ Chris asked.

  ‘I really doubt it,’ Mick said. ‘These doors seem pretty solid. He wasn’t a real big bloke. What worries me is that we’re trapped in here. We won’t be able to get out past that nutter.’

  ‘As long as he can’t get in, I’m okay.’

  ‘I s’pose so. I don’t like being trapped here though.’

  ‘Me either. Maybe if we keep quiet, he’ll go away?’

  ‘Right-o, but I think we should keep a close eye on him.’

  07:45 AEST: Heathcote National Park

  Brick hadn’t been at all surprised to come across the crashed car. While the fire trail had a fairly good surface, there were no warning signs about corners or intersections. There were no signs on the trail indicating there were gates ahead either. The gate at the end of the track was at the bottom of a gentle downhill bend. The hill dropped away sharply on the right. If you were travelling at a safe speed, it was no problem. If you were going too fast, the gate would come as a complete surprise when there was no room for error. The driver must have spotted the gate and braked hard, then lost control and slid off the edge of the track before rolling and slamming roof first into a gum tree.

  Brick had known about the gate at the end of the track and had been expecting it to come up. Aside from that, he had been cruising at only forty k’s or so and had plenty of time to stop, even with the trailer on. Fully aware that some other idiot could come screaming up the road behind him, he pulled in tight to the bend as Bozo pulled up behind him.

  ‘Are you just going to unlock the gate, Brick?’ asked Rita.

  ‘I have to see if they’re okay first,’ Brick said. ‘Kids, stay in the car.’

  ‘Hold on a sec, Brick. Those people did that to themselves by driving like idiots. Why are you putting us at risk for them?’

  Brick was a little shocked at what Rita had said. ‘Rita, you’re a nurse for chrissakes. We can’t just drive away.’ He opened the door and got out before Rita could say anything.

  Bozo had pulled up behind him. As Brick walked towards Bozo’s car, Bozo lowered his window. Before Brick could say anything, Bozo asked, ‘You’re not thinking of rescuing them, are you, mate?’

  ‘What the fuck?’ Brick said. ‘Of course I’m going to have a look. What is wrong with you people?’

  Brick walked over the crashed car. He had been to plenty of crashes when he worked in the Fire Brigade’s Rescue unit, and this was clearly one that it would take a miracle to walk away from.

  The car, a relatively new Holden Commodore, had hit the tree roof first and the passenger compartment was more or less crushed. As Brick walked to the front of the car, he could see that the airbags hadn’t deployed. They just weren’t designed for a roof first collision. The impact had resulted in the entire roof being pushed down lower than the tops of the seats.

  ‘Fuck,’ Brick muttered. He didn’t expect anyone to come out of this.

  Brick walked past the front of the car and climbed a little down the hill to get a look through the windscreen. It was clear that both the driver and front passenger were crushed beyond any chance of survival. As Brick climbed back up the hill to move around to look through the back windscreen, he smelled fuel. He backed away across the track and started to walk uphill to the back of the crashed car when it suddenly burst into flames.

  He took a few more steps back and noticed Bozo had come to join him. ‘Driver and passenger are fucked, mate. Couldn’t see into the back seat though, I was working my way
around to have a look.’

  ‘Too late now, Brick, even if they did survive the crash you’d. . .’

  A weak cry came from the back of the crashed car. Brick immediately started to move towards it. Bozo grabbed him. ‘Think, mate. They’re fucked. You can’t get to them in time, if you try they’ll be just as dead and you’ll be burned.’

  ‘I can’t let someone fucking burn, Bozo,’ Brick said, struggling to get to the car. He heard a weak scream, it sounded like a young child.

  ‘No way, mate. Your family needs you more than this poor bastard. If you go in you’ll be fucked.’ As Bozo spoke the fire totally engulfed the car. The trees and scrub around it had caught fire. There was no way to get near the car let alone get anyone out of it.

  Brick stopped struggling and watched as the car burned. He was gutted. Bozo let go of Brick’s shoulders and said, ‘I’m sorry, mate.’

  Brick shook his head. ‘Fuck you, Bozo.’ He walked back down the hill to the gate, unlocked it and swung it wide open. The heat from the burning car made him flinch as he walked back up the track to his car.

  As he climbed in Rita asked, ‘Well?’

  ‘Don’t fucking start. I just heard a child burn to death.’ He heard gasps from the back seat. Brick took a deep breath. ‘Sorry, kids. There was nothing I could do, we got here too late. I’m sure it was really quick for the poor little bugger.’

  Brick looked at Rita. ‘Sorry love, that was not an easy thing to see and hear.’

  Rita leaned over and kissed Brick. ‘I’m sorry too, honey. I know you couldn’t walk away, I just think we have to look out for ourselves now, and can’t take risks for other people.’

  ‘Yeah, I suppose so.’

  Brick took another couple of deep breaths, he stared at the burning car and said, ‘That fire is going to get out of control pretty quickly with no one around to put it out. I guess we should get out of here.’

  Brick started the car and rolled down the hill past the burning car. He drove across the bridge after the gate, then turned left into the Pipeline track.

  07:50 AEST: Sydney Airport

  Jeff eyed the ‘no telephone’ sign as he quickly and, he hoped subtly, sent a text to Jim.

  Are you still in the house?

  The response was almost immediate, far quicker than he had expected. His message tone beeped noisily.

  Gee dad. I was worried. R U OK?

  Sorry Jim. Still at the airport. Being held here until safe to go to hotel.

  ‘Is that your boy?’ Pete asked.

  ‘Yeah, do you think it’s okay to call him from here?’

  ‘You can try. They usually don’t let you use phones here but I think today might be a little different.’

  Things are getting really bad here dad

  Jeff immediately called his son. He was surprised when he seemed to be getting through. Jim answered after only one ring. ‘Dad, you’re okay!’

  ‘Hi Jim. I’m glad I could get you. Are you still in the house?’

  ‘Yeah. We’re in the basement like you suggested. We cleaned out the pantry and the icebox and came downstairs. Dad, the news is kinda weird here.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Jeff asked, again wishing he was at home

  Jim took a second or two to respond. ‘The stuff we’re seeing on the news doesn’t match what we get on the Internet. The news told us that things are settling down and that everything’s under control. But when I talk to people on Facebook, they say people are still being attacked and that things are still crazy.’

  Jeff shook his head and then said, ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think it might be better to trust what people are saying on Facebook. Have you heard from your mom?’

  ‘Not since she left. I think she was sick, Dad. I don’t really expect her to come back here.’

  Jeff felt a touch on his arm, Pete was indicating a customs officer that had spotted him talking on the phone and was walking towards him.

  ‘Jim, I think I have to hang up, I’m in a no-phone area. I’ll call back as soon as I can. Stay safe, okay?’

  ‘We’ll try, Dad, bye.’

  ‘Bye, Jim.’

  Jeff ended the call as the officer reached him. ‘Sorry officer,’ Jeff said. ‘I was talking to my son, letting him know I was safe.’

  ‘I understand, sir, however, I must ask you not to use your phone in this area.’

  Pete interjected, ‘Is that really a big deal today? We’ve been cut-off for ages. Surely he can call his young bloke and check he’s okay?’

  The officer looked at both of them, and then quietly said, ‘If it was up to me, sure, I don’t mind you calling. My boss, on the other hand, is enough of a tool to arrest you if you use your phone here. That’s why I took my time coming to warn you.’

  Pete looked a little chagrined and said, ‘Sorry, mate, I get it, thanks for handling it like this.’

  The officer smiled as he said, ‘No worries. If you put your phone on silent, I won’t notice you texting either. But please don’t make any calls.’

  Jeff offered his hand to the officer and said, ‘Thank you. There’s no way someone at home would have helped like this. I really appreciate it.’

  The officer shook Jeff’s hand, smiled, and started working his way through the crowd to another person who couldn’t resist the lure of using their phone.

  ‘So what did your boy have to say?’ Pete asked.

  ‘We didn’t really get to talk much. He took a bunch of food down to the basement and they are staying down there for now. He did say that the news reports don’t match what he’s hearing on Facebook.’

  ‘That doesn’t sound like good news, the Facebook stuff I mean.’

  ‘Yeah, I told him to believe what he hears from Facebook, not what the news is saying. That might not be a great idea either, but if the news is horse shit, then I don’t want him trusting it. I really need to tell him to not believe anything.’

  ‘Well, the customs guy more or less told you that you could text—might be a good idea to do it now.’

  Jeff set his phone to silent before texting,

  Jim, be careful what you believe. Make sure its safe b4 you do anything

  The response came back quickly,

  Yeah, I figured that out already, dad. We think we r gonna stay in the basement until 2morrow at least

  Good plan. We are getting sent to a quarantine area soon. I’ll call you once I get there but it might be an hour or 2

  OK dad. We can talk then

  Jeff put his phone back in his pocket and looked around. Their belt was moving with only a few items of luggage on it. The crowd was steadily building as people waited for their luggage to come through. Several other planes had apparently landed, with big groups of people standing around most of the belts, and more people filing slowly into the luggage collection hall. ‘How long do you think they’ll keep us here?’

  Pete looked around as well. ‘I don’t think it can be too long. This room is pretty big but it won’t hold every planeload that comes in.’

  A warning chime sounded and fresh luggage started to appear on the belt.

  08:00 AEST: Sydney

  Dan had retreated to his office. The religious crap coming from Jo was driving him crazy, and he really needed to report what was happening to the authorities. Gen had stayed in the lounge room in an effort to calm Jo down.

  Dan dialled 131 000. This time it rang for a while—not a good sign, Dan thought. After at least a dozen rings, it was answered by a machine. ‘This is the Disaster response hotline. If you are in immediate danger press ‘0’ now.’

  Dan pressed ‘0’. He heard some clicking noises and then a female voice asked, ‘Can I have your name, address, and the situation please?’

  Dan quickly gave his name and address. He paused as he wondered how to explain what was happening. ‘Mr Mayer, please explain your emergency?’ the operator asked.

  ‘Sorry about that, I’m not really sure of the best way to explain this. A plato
on of soldiers came to pick up my next door neighbour. He’s infected with this disease or whatever it is. They went into his house to collect him and while they were in there a pack of people came and attacked the soldiers guarding the truck. I think they attacked the soldiers as they came out of the house as well. They were shooting for a while but it stopped.’

  ‘Are you in immediate danger?’ the operator asked.

  Dan was taken aback by the calmness of the operator’s response. He couldn’t help but resort to sarcasm when he answered, ‘Gee, I’m not sure. There’s a pack of crazy people just outside my front door. The army unit that came to pick up my infected neighbour was overrun and probably killed, other than that everything’s fine’, Dan’s tone changed to anger, ‘Of course I’m in immediate danger!’

  The operator completely ignored his sarcasm and anger, ‘Sir, I understand that this was a terrible experience. Are there any infected persons in your home? Are your doors and windows locked?’

  The matter of fact tone of the operator forced Dan to calm down a little. ‘No, I don’t think there is anyone infected here. I locked my front gate before the attack and last time I looked I couldn’t see anyone in my yard. We are locked down, but there are a lot of crazy people on the street outside.’

  ‘Thank you, sir. If there is no immediate danger, I will need you to clear the line. I have notified the operations group of your situation. We will call you back on this number if we need further information’, the line clicked and went dead.

  Dan looked at the handset for a moment in stunned silence. ‘What the fuck,’ he muttered. He touched the keyboard on his computer and his screen came to life. Dan noticed he had two Skype messages and clicked on them. The first was from Piotr, asking to call when available. The second had just come in from Ian and was a missed call.

  Dan paused for a moment. Since he could still hear Jo talking loudly with Gen in the lounge room, he decided he would have a sane conversation first before trying to talk to the crazy lady.