Darlings of Decay

by Chrissy Peebles

It was clear that some of the stores were open, but not all.

  Probably opened by people just like us, who showed up to work not knowing about the outbreak.

  I tried not to think about what happened to those poor people.

  We began our slow shuffle down the escalators and across the shopping centre.

  We had made it more than half way when we saw two zombies up ahead, crouched over something, tearing through it like lions on a zebra.

  “What do we do?” Jo whimpered, fear in her voice.

  “Just keep going,” Wyatt whispered back. “Blend in. If they come too close, hack they’re damn heads off.”

  I started to shake as we edged closer, my heart pounding furiously and my breath shallow in my lungs.

  “Don’t look.” Whispered Wyatt as he glanced at me sideways, but it was too late.

  I had already seen the fear riddled face of the woman that the zombies were devouring.

  She was young, around the same age as me, and wearing an apron.

  She must have worked around here somewhere.

  Tears welled in my eyes and all I wanted to do was pull my knife out from my jeans pocket and start wailing on the zombies, but I knew it would be pointless; the woman was already dead.

  As we quietly made our way passed the beasts, trying our best to seem as undead as possible, one of the zombies turned from their meal to look at us.

  I swallowed the rising bile back down my throat as it locked eyes with mine while ripping into the woman’s intestines, sending blood and guts spattering all over itself.

  “Ok,” whispered Wyatt once we had passed the zombies. “We’re nearly there. I can see it.”

  I had never felt so excited to see a Bob’s Camping store in my life, but it quickly turned to dread when I saw that it was closed, the roller door pulled down to the floor.

  “Looks like Bob didn’t show up for work today.” Wyatt said as we reached the store.

  “We came all this way for nothing!” Grunted Ben as he kicked the roller door.

  I turned around to see a few more zombies had started to emerge, feeling sick at the thought of walking all the way through them to get back to the car.

  “What do we do now?” I asked, trying to pull the door up, but it wouldn’t budge.

  I knew we wouldn’t make it back to the car.

  For the first time since this nightmare started, I felt helpless.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I got this.” Said Jo as she pulled two bobby pins from her hair and bent down to slide them into the lock on the roller door.

  Ben, Wyatt and I looked down at her, wide-eyed in surprise.

  “I lock myself out of my car a lot.” She explained as she bit her lip in concentration.

  The three of us kept watch while Jo jiggled the lock open and slid the door up high enough for us to duck under, sliding it back down again once we were safely inside.

  “You rock, Jo!” I smiled, hugging her tight.

  Jo smiled broadly as we started exploring the store, searching for anything we might need to survive the road trip to Wyatt’s brother’s house in Cairns.

  Looking at the row of backpacks along the wall, I had an idea.

  “Here,” I said, walking over to the racks and passing Wyatt, Ben and Jo a backpack each. “We should have a backpack full weapons, food, first aid kits… So we’ll all have everything we need… in case we get separated.”

  “Ok, everyone pack your bags and meet back here in ten minutes.” Added Wyatt, and with that we took our empty backpacks and began filling them with anything we could use.

  I packed a dome tent and camping kit, a pocket knife, five hunting knives, a first aid kit, water canteen, a torch and batteries, binoculars, some rope and as many packets of hydrated food as I could squeeze into the two front pockets.

  “Hey… guys?” I heard Ben call from the centre of the store as I tied a sleeping bag to the outside of my backpack.

  We all ran over to meet him, instantly seeing why he had called us over.

  He stood in front of a huge motorhome parked on a small stage, the giant sign next to it promoting a Bob’s Camping Giveaway, of which the motorhome was first prize.

  “I think I’ve found a better way to get to Cairns.” He grinned.

  “Yeah, because that’s completely inconspicuous.” Said Wyatt sarcastically, staring up at it.

  “Well, it’s no more inconspicuous than a bright yellow Chevy Impala,” replied Ben.

  “We’ll be able to store heaps of weapons and food in there, and it’s practically zombie proof!” He added as he banged his hand on the side.

  “It would be more comfortable. But how would we get it out?” Asked Jo, walking around to the door and opening it. She climbed in to take a better look.

  “The same way ‘Bob’ got it in; drive it.” Answered Ben, following her up the steps.

  “But… my car.” Muttered Wyatt, concerned about his beloved automobile.

  “It’ll be alright here, it’s safe enough. It’s not like anyone’s going to steal it,” I said, trying to make him feel better. “C’mon, let’s take a look.” I smiled, following Jo and Ben inside.

  Stepping into the motorhome, I started to feel more optimistic about road-tripping to the other side of the country, which was fast becoming a zombie wasteland.

  With a kitchenette, complete with an oven, stove, microwave and refrigerator, four seater dining area, and even a toilet and shower, this would be much more comfortable than Wyatt’s Chevy, stylish as it may be.

  Wyatt climbed in after me and walked over to the driver’s seat.

  “There’s about a quarter tank of petrol,” he smiled as he inspected the rest of the cabin. “And a CB radio!”

  Turning the radio on, we could only hear static.

  “We’ll try it out once we’re on the road.” Wyatt said, switching it off again.

  “Check this out!” Said Ben as he pressed a button on the wall.

  A double bed descended from the ceiling, over the couch along the back wall. “Looks like there’s only one bed.” He winked, glancing over at Jo.

  “Calm down, Ben,” she replied, pressing another button, and a double bed came down over the driver’s cabin. “There’s another one here.” She said, rolling her eyes at him.

  I avoided making eye contact with Wyatt as we all stood looking at the two double beds, but I could feel my cheeks warming into a blush.

  “We won’t be using them, anyway. If we all take shifts driving we can make it to Cairns without needing to stop. I don’t think it’s safe to have the beds down while we’re on the road; anyone not driving will have to sleep on the couches.” Said Wyatt as he stepped back out of the motorhome, leaving Ben looking very disappointed.

  “Let’s load it up!” Called Wyatt from the store, and the three of us climbed out and started grabbing as much as we could carry. “Now that we’ve got the RV, we can pack more than just gear for the trip north; grab anything we could use when we get to Cairns, too.”

  Wyatt ran over to the counter and started searching through the drawers.

  “Got the keys!” He called as held up a set of keys for the RV.

  After we had gathered enough supplies, Wyatt and I surveyed the motorhome, taking note of everything we had brought aboard.

  With countless knives, ropes, a few axes, over a dozen first aid kits and survival kits, plastic jugs that Wyatt had filled with filtered water from the tank in the back room of the store, torches, lanterns, extension leads, tents, sleeping bags, walkie talkies, enough matches to fill a drawer and enough dehydrated food to fill three of the cupboards in the kitchenette, I felt confident we had more than enough to survive.

  “I think we’re ready to go,” I said, putting my arms on my hips triumphantly. “All we need to do now is get out of Melbourne Central.”

  “That should be fun.” Wyatt grinned at me, placing his hand on the small of my back.

  My heart started to race as he leaned in close to me.r />
  My moment!

  I closed my eyes, waiting for his lips to grace mine.

  Once again, we were interrupted, this time by the sound of Ben clearing his throat.

  I quickly stepped back, my cheeks burning red, while Wyatt clenched his jaw, glaring at Ben.

  “That’s new.” Ben smirked, with Jo smiling widely behind him. “Just came to tell you we’ve cleared a path out of the store and the roller door is up. We better go.”

  “Let’s do it.” Said Wyatt, stepping into the driver’s cabin and taking a seat.

  “Dibbs on the passenger seat!” Yelled Ben as he jumped into the RV, stopping to look at me. “Oh. Unless you want to sit up front?” He winked, gesturing to Wyatt, who was starting the engine.

  “No, I’m ok,” I glared back. “I’ll sit back here with Jo.”

  After everything we’d been through, I wanted to spend some time with Jo to find out how she was coping.

  Ben buckled himself into the front passenger seat while Jo and I strapped ourselves into the bench seats in the dining area.

  “Everyone ready? Doors locked?” Called Wyatt, turning to look at me, his eyes sparkling.

  “Ready.” I replied, nodding my head as I tightened my seat belts.

  “Here we go.” Wyatt said as he started edging the RV towards the door and out of the store.

  I looked out the window as we drove out into the shopping centre to see at least twenty zombies roaming around now, and they had all just spotted the big white motorhome driving towards them.

  I grabbed my backpack and pulled out two hunting knives.

  “Here,” I said as I passed one to Jo. “Just to be safe.”

  Jo took the knife and held it tightly in one hand while she closed the window curtains with the other.

  “Just to be safe.” She repeated, smiling nervously.

  We picked up speed as we approached the hoard, slamming into them one by one.

  I cringed as I bumped up and down in my seat, zombies falling under the wheels while others banged on the walls.

  “Get rid of him!” I heard Ben yell, and I leaned over to see what was going on.

  One of the zombies had climbed onto the front bonnet and was hanging off of the left side mirror, it’s mouth frothing as its dilated pupils glared eagerly at Ben.

  “Hold on!” Wyatt yelled as we approached the exit. “It’s going to be a tight squeeze!”

  I braced myself as the RV crashed through the automatic doors, snapping the left mirror off and crushing the zombie against Ben’s window, smearing blood and infected saliva along the glass.

  “Ugh.” Ben cringed as we sped out of Melbourne Central and turned onto the city streets, sending the squished corpse sliding off onto the road.

  “We made it!” Jo yelled, almost surprised.

  We cheered and laughed as we made our way out of the city.

  I smiled wide, feeling the most relaxed I had felt all day.

  Chapter Thirteen

  We made our way out of the city, headed into the suburbs to find Ben’s parents.

  “Should we go there and see if they can help us?” Wyatt asked, slowly pulling the RV to the side of the road and motioning towards a hospital up ahead.

  I leaned out of my seat to get a better look at it through the windshield.

  There were two army tanks parked out the front, with a wall made of sand bags blocking the entrance into the hospital. I could see at least two army personnel with large guns patrolling the area.

  “Well, the news reporter said anyone infected should get immediate medical assistance. Maybe they have the cure?” Ben suggested, pulling a pair of binoculars from his backpack and holding them up to get a closer look.

  “I don’t know. It looks pretty intimidating. And if that’s where the infected are going, I don’t want to be anywhere near it.” I replied, feeling anxious that we had stopped.

  “Well, we’re not infected, maybe we could help?” Wyatt asked, looking at each of us to gauge our reactions.

  “We sure look infected,” Ben said, looking at his reflection in the side mirror, his face still covered in faux lesions and blood. “We should probably take this makeup off if we’re gonna go in there.”

  I pulled my makeup remover wipes out of my bag and handed one to each of them.

  The coolness of the cloth refreshed me as I smoothed it over my face, and I felt relieved to look like my normal self again.

  I started to wonder if going to the hospital would, in fact, be the best choice for us.

  There would be medical supplies, food, and help for us there, and it was clearly protected. It might just be the only safe place left in Melbourne, and it sounded like a much better idea than driving through the outback to the other side of the country.

  “Maybe you’re right,” I said, throwing the makeup-covered wipe into a plastic bag.

  “We’ll be safe in there. And we can lend a hand.”

  Just then, an old brown station wagon swerved around the corner behind us, speeding passed the RV towards the hospital.

  I unbuckled my seat belt and walked over to stand in between Ben and Wyatt, watching intently. Jo followed and leaned in over my shoulder, and I could feel she was still trembling.

  The station wagon skidded to a stop at the blocked entrance and a middle aged man with silver hair stepped out of the driver’s seat. Frantically, he ran around the car and threw open the passenger side door, leaning in to help a younger man to his feet.

  “He’s been bitten,” Ben said, watching carefully through the binoculars. “Oh jeez, he’s got two huge chunks of his arm missing. I can see the bone. Ugh.”

  I leaned in closer and realised it must not be the only injury he has, even I could make out the blood stains that covered both the men’s clothes.

  “I hope they made it there in time,” I thought aloud, watching as the older man held his arm around the younger one as they limped towards the hospital.

  The soldiers began shouting something as they pointed their guns at the two men, who held their hands out, showing their open palms in response.

  I couldn’t hear what the soldiers were yelling, but they refused to lower their guns.

  The two men dropped to their knees in the middle of the road, and it almost looked like they were pleading with the soldiers.

  The older man grabbed hold of the other man’s wounded arm, pointing to it and shouting something.

  “They’re not letting them in.” Ben murmured, bewildered at the scene in front of them.

  “Why not? They said on the news that anyone infected needs medical assistance.

  They did what they were told. They need help!” Said Jo, and I could tell by the strain on her voice that she had started panicking again.

  All of a sudden, we all jumped at the sound of gunfire in the distance. One of the soldiers had opened fire on the men.

  Jo screamed as we watched the men’s bodies thrash violently against the force of the bullets and fall heavily to the ground.

  “Oh my god! Oh my god!” Jo screamed, I held her tight, urging her to keep calm, but I felt just as terrified as she did.

  “That was ‘medical assistance’,” whispered Wyatt, his jaw hanging open in shock.

  “There’s no cure. They just kill them.”

  Tears fell onto my cheeks as I stared blankly at the lifeless bodies, being dragged behind the sand bag wall by one the soldiers while the other jumped in their car and drove it out of sight.

  “We gotta get out of here. We’ll need to find another way out of the city.” Wyatt said as he started the engine and began reversing the RV.

  This whole time, I had hoped more than anything that this nightmare would end soon.

  That a vaccine would be distributed and within a few months everything would be back to normal. I wanted more than anything to go back to living my life, to having my trivial little problems.

  But now I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I may not ever have that life back again. A twing
e of guilt hit my stomach as I realised how much I took for granted just yesterday.

  Safety, food, health, friends, freedom – did I ever take a moment to be grateful for any of it? I’m sure I would have, had I known it would end so soon.

  But now I knew for sure; everything had changed. We were on our own.

  No-one would be coming to save us.

  Chapter Fourteen

  We sat in silence during the drive out of the city. After seeing such inhumane violence first-hand, none of us felt inclined to fill the air with chit-chat.

  As Wyatt drove through the suburbs, I could see Ben shifting anxiously in his seat.

  The neighbourhood streets were just as deserted as the city, except for a few devoured bodies strewn across the side of the road every now and then.

  We saw the occasional car speeding down the street, filled with survivors just like us, although most were headed in the opposite direction, fleeing.

  Even though the outbreak only hit here late last night, a bond had already formed between the few of us who had survived. I exchanged knowing glances with the others in the cars as they passed us, their eyes just us worried and weary as my own.

  I could tell by their blood spattered faces that the infected hit this area hard, maybe harder than it hit the city.

  None of this bode well for Ben’s parents. I took a deep breath and hoped that, somehow, they had managed to stay alive.

  “It’s just here,” said Ben, pointing to a house on the left side of the street. “The white one with the rose bushes.”

  Wyatt pulled the RV over and for a moment we sat quietly, scanning the street for any signs of life… or death.

  Ben turned to us and nodded, so we each picked up a knife and slowly exited the motorhome.

  A cool breeze brushed against my face, and I almost felt peaceful as I closed my eyes to breathe it in. It was late afternoon, and soon the sun would start to set, bringing this – the first day of this Australian apocalypse – to an end. But I knew the horror had only just begun.

  I followed Ben through the gate in the white picket fence and admired his childhood home.

  A white, two-storey weatherboard, with flower boxes adorning the window sills and a beautiful garden, it was charming. I could envision Ben growing up here; playing on the long front porch, running through sprinklers in the summertime. It appeared to be untouched from the ravages of the outbreak.