“Fuck me,” Joshua said, as he tossed the book over his shoulder. As the young man continued his search, he found more useless shit. Joshua turned to the third desk where this time he found a roll of half-eaten digestive biscuits. Shoving a biscuit in his mouth he held onto the rest and headed over to a row of lockers. Joshua was looking for something to help him survive his run back to the campsite. He had to find the others and get them all off the island before they ended up like Ryan and the horrible things outside.
Joshua grabbed up a black rucksack, that had security stencilled in big, white letters on the front pocket, from off of the back of a rolling chair. Joshua shoved the roll of biscuits into a small, zippered pocket. Searching the equipment lockers, he found several packets of zip ties and tossed them in the backpack. Joshua didn’t really know how to use the zip ties, but he’d seen movies where they had used them so he guessed he would figure out how they worked if need be. The rest of the supply lockers were a bust, as the security staff had cleared them all out in their haste to respond to the rioting on the island. As the pounding outside continued, Joshua actually found an expandable baton laying on the floor under one of the paper strewn desks. After several attempts at trying to open the baton, Joshua finally figured it out without hurting himself. Closing the baton was a whole other ordeal, which again he quickly figured out without injury. Sweating profusely, Joshua continued his search for supplies and weapons. The young Maori found a few cans of pepper gas, stashed in a cupboard filled with old tea and coffee cups, filters and an odd assortment of creamers.
“What the fuck?” Joshua mumbled to himself, frustrated at the lack of any sense of order in the security office.
Joshua grabbed the cans of gas and tossed them in the pack. Joshua didn’t think he could hurt the things with the pepper gas, but maybe he could blind them. Finding another baton that someone had used as a doorstop, he shoved it in with a couple of tepid, unopened bottles of water that were rolling around loose in a filing cabinet. Anything else he found that he thought could be of any use was thrown into the rucksack. Joshua even discovered a loaded taser in someone’s security jacket pocket, he wasn’t sure how that would work on one of the crazies, but he carefully zipped it into the front pouch of the pack so he could have fast access to it if need be. He figured he’d probably would end up shooting himself if he ever had to use it. Joshua shuddered at the thought of being tased again. A window exploded inward as bloody, undead hands broke through one of the glass panes.
“Fuck!” Joshua ran over to the shattered window that was still covered by a closed blind. The dead man’s hand was ripped and badly torn from the broken glass. The things fingers were wrapped around several of the blinds slats as it tried to find something fleshy to grab. Satisfied the undead cannibal couldn’t get inside, he continued his hunt for anything else of value. Suddenly the front door glass started to crack and give in.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Joshua cursed.
The moans of the ravenous undead began to grow louder as the zombies started to pull themselves up through the broken windows. Sharp shards of glass jutted out of the window frame, slicing into the dead as they slowly climbed through the jagged opening. The sharp edges of glass tore into the zombies causing big rips in their flesh. Black blood, intestines and organs all dropped to the floor with sickening splats. The smell of corruption was overwhelming. Some of them got caught up in the offending glass, as the hungry creatures relentlessly made their way inside the office in search of warm prey.
“Fuck me!”
Joshua glanced over his shoulder at the horde of nightmares that were now crowding into the small building. Holding in his reflex to vomit at the horrific sight, he snapped open the baton and ran for the narrow hallway that led to the restroom. Closing the thin door behind him, he locked it and scanned the tiny room for an exit. Bingo! There was a small window above the toilet. Placing the baton on the lid of the toilet tank, he unlocked the window and slid it open. There was just enough room for him to squeeze out. Behind him he could hear the moans of the dead that were lumbering closer and closer. The nauseating smell of the corrupted bodies wafted in underneath the cheap door, making the small bathroom seem more claustrophobic than it was.
“Come on, now,” Joshua said to himself, as he pushed out the small window screen and let it drop to the ground. Popping his head out he could see the area around him was clear, just a few storage sheds and no dead. Satisfied he could make it, Joshua leaned back inside the restroom and pulled off the rucksack. Since he couldn’t fit out the window with it on, he dropped the pack to the ground outside. Sudden, heavy pounding on the wooden door made him jump and almost lose his balance on the toilet seat. Grabbing up the baton and trying not to panic, he quickly started to squeeze out through the narrow window. The door violently exploded open as Joshua crashed to the ground outside. His shoulder sending jets of pain through him as he hit the hard, dirt floor. Laying on his stomach and almost breathless, Joshua glanced around for any of the meandering zombies. Nothing, so far so good. Joshua quickly scrambled to his feet, grabbing up the rucksack and baton as he did so. The adrenaline was now coursing through his body, dulling the pain in his shoulder a little. Joshua tried to slow his breathing. He had to keep from falling apart, a lot of good he’d do his friends if he collapsed due to hyperventilation.
LOOK BEHIND YOU
Cockatoo Island
“The tunnels?” Anastasia let go of her death grip on Ben’s arm and stepped backwards away from him. “No way!”
“Ana...” Ben turned from the mouth of the tunnel and faced his trembling friend. “We’ll be safe here for bit, at least until help gets here. You’ve seen the rest of the island. It’s insane!” He shuddered, as he flashed back on the zombie walking around with its foot stuck in a decapitated head.
“W- we don’t know what’s in there, Ben.” Anastasia took another step back. “What about Zoe’s bloody shoe?”
“Okay, okay,” he nodded, gently grabbing the sides of her arms. “Maybe going back in there isn’t such a good idea, but staying out in the open isn’t either.”
“How about over there?” Anastasia tilted her head in the direction of the remains of one of the old prison structures. Signs and yellow tape marked it as under construction. Ben, letting go of her arms, turned to look over to where she was motioning.
“Yeah, yeah. That’ll work fine until we figure out what we’re gonna do.” Ben took her by the hand and quickly led her over to the front of the dilapidated building. A faded tourist information marker was placed outside the forbidding cell block. The bronze plate noted that it was once home to the notorious bushranger Captain ‘Thunderbolt’ Ward. The marker detailed Ward’s outlaw career, his escape from the prison and his mysterious disappearance. Right now, the two frightened young people cared nothing about Captain Thunderbolt or the history of Cockatoo Island, they just wanted to survive.
“Look, Ana, we can rest in here for a minute or two. Think things out.” Ben said, glancing at the area around them, making sure they weren’t being followed by any of the horrible flesh eaters. Anastasia just nodded, her eyes focused on the ripped barrier tape that lay discarded on the ground.
“Ben, someone’s gone through there,” she said, her voice filled with worry.
“Probably just construction guys. You know how messy they are.” He smiled weakly, also a little unnerved by the remnants of yellow warning tape on the ground. “No worries.”
“I got plenty of worries, Ben!” Anastasia gripped his arm tightly and stared over at the open front doors of the cell block. “What if some of those things are inside?”
Ben pursed his lips and tried to keep his voice from cracking. It did all the time anyway but, right now, he wanted to show her he was in a position of strength. Zoe was more than likely dead, murdered by whatever those things were that were killing everyone on the island. Maybe now, Anastasia would see him as more than a friend.
“Look, Ana, I’ll... I’ll have a look-se
e. If it’s all clear, I’ll come get you. That okay?”
“Okay.” She quickly nodded and let go of Ben’s arm. “Hurry though.”
“Just a quick look-see.” He gave her a forced smile, trying to reassure the frightened girl even though he too was scared shitless. “Be right back.”
“Hurry,” Anastasia said, as she hugged herself tightly and anxiously glanced around, looking for any of those horrible creatures.
With a nod, Ben started forward across the construction barrier, clenching his fists so his hands wouldn’t shake, he made for the open front doors. To Ben’s surprise, the cell block was well lit due to the many holes in the ceiling and walls. Dozens of streams of sunlight poured into the old building, giving the prison structure an appearance of peaceful serenity. Swallowing nervously, Ben stepped through the two big, open wooden doors. While the threat of a zombie jumping out at him scared the holy fuck out of Ben, he also remembered the stories of the rumoured ghost that haunted the nearby abandoned officers’ quarters. What did they call it? Sir No Face? Yeah that was it. Sir No Face. Ben shivered a bit at the thought. That’s all he needed to see today on top of all the terrible shit he’d already witnessed, a fucking faceless ghost. Timidly, Ben scanned the area around him for anything that could be lurking in the shadows of the sunbeams. Seeing it was clear he turned around and walked back outside.
“Come on, Anastasia, it’s okay!” Ben watched as the frightened girl moved forward, then stopped, eyes wide in horror.
“Ben!” She screamed and pointed at him. “Look behind you!”
Before he could react, Ben felt the hard grip of the hungry dead on his shoulder. The pungent smell of offal made him want to gag as he tried to pull himself from the clawing hands of the undead. Ben kicked backwards into the things right knee and heard a nice snap. The break would have normally driven the man to the ground but he kept trying to bite Ben’s neck.
“Fuck!” Ben cursed, as he frantically twisted and turned, the foul-smelling man’s cold hands grabbing his back. The neck of Ben’s shirt was stretched and torn as the zombie continued to hungrily claw for his throat.
“Help!” Ben’s voice was high and whiny, as he tried to turn and throw the zombie off of him. The dead man held tight, as Ben frantically fought to tear free from the flesh eaters grip.
“Aaaahhhhh!” The zombie let out a groan, of what almost sounded like relief, as Anastasia slammed an old piece of rebar into the side of its skull. The steel bar cracked the dead man’s skull, sending out a gruesome geyser of black blood that splashed all over the side of Anastasia’s face. The undead man made a gurgling sound, blood dribbling from his mouth as he fell forward, still gripping the neck of Ben’s t-shirt and tearing it right down the middle. Collapsing in a fetid pile, in front of Ben, the flesh eater let out a loud moan, then went silent. Anastasia, still holding the bloody rebar, pushed the stunned Ben away from the unmoving corpse.
“Anastasia?”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah!” He quickly tore off the remains of his shirt and gently wiped the black blood from Anastasia’s face. When he was finished, he tossed them onto the back of the dead man. Shaking, Ben pulled Anastasia in close to him, “I thought I was a goner. Thanks.”
“I thought you was a goner, too.” She held up the small piece of wicked iron. “I just grabbed the first thing I saw, and whack!”
“Glad ya did.” He released her, relieved to see she’d come back to her senses. “We need to find someplace safe. I think more of those things might be lurkin’ around.”
“What about the others?”
“I really don’t know. I mean this whole island is fucked up.” He ran a hand through his sweaty mop of hair and found something wet and squishy. Grabbing it out he saw it was the dead man’s nose. Letting out a loud squeak, he tossed it to the ground.
“Ew!” Anastasia stepped back away from the small piece of flesh and cartilage. “Is that what I think it is?”
“It’s his fucking nose!” Ben’s voice cracked like a choir boy’s, as he wildly ran his hands through his hair, looking for anything else the zombie might have left behind. Anastasia grabbed him by the shoulders before he could dissolve into total panic.
“Ben, Ben. It’s okay, it’s okay.”
“His fucking nose, Ana, it was in my hair!”
“I know, Ben. It’s gone now.” She said calmly. “You’re okay now.”
“Am I still on this fucking island?” Ben asked, eyes wide in fear.
“Of course,” Anastasia answered.
“Then I’m not fucking okay, am I?”
As if on cue, a low, hungry moaning came from behind them. They both slowly turned to see the thing that had once been Zoe, bloodied, clothes ripped and torn, wearing only one shoe, staggering quickly in their direction.
“Shit!” Ben jumped back a little, startled. He glanced over at Anastasia, who had also jumped a little.
“Zoe?” Her voice trembled as she called to her lover. “Zoe!”
ESPRESSO YOURSELF
Cockatoo Island
The festival area, and most of the island, was now totally infested with the hungry living dead. So far Joshua had been able to slowly make his way building to building without being detected by any of the undead cannibals. Crouching behind what had been a small coffee shop, the big Maori watched helplessly as people were dragged off by the flesh-eating hordes and either devoured, or partially devoured and turned. Shuddering in the heat, Joshua pulled a warm water bottle from his pack. Still holding the baton in his sweaty right hand, he popped the bottle top with his left and quickly drained it. Quiet as possible, he set the empty bottle down and away from him. Joshua didn’t want to accidentally step on the plastic container and give his position away. Mobs of the ravenous zombies were everywhere now and aggressively searching out the living.
Joshua pressed himself against the warm, outer wall of an abandoned coffee shop, a place called Espresso Yourself. ‘What a stupid fucking name,” he thought to himself, as he started to wish the damn place was open. Joshua really needed some caffeine in him as his adrenaline boost was now starting to wane. A crunching sound from behind instantly adrenalized him again, and he quickly glanced over his shoulder. One of the hungry dead was slowly crawling on broken and twisted legs toward him.
Another group of undead creatures were close by, ripping apart a couple of teenage girls they had caught hiding in a food vendor tent. Joshua had tried to make his way over to the tent to save them but there were just too many zombies for him to fight. The girls screams started to really unhinge Joshua as he covered his ears and turned back to look at the slowly approaching zombie. The pitiful thing had started to let out a low, guttural moan as it pulled itself along the ground. Joshua couldn’t let the dead man alert the others to his position with its incessant moaning. Making sure he wasn’t seen by any of the other hungry crowd, Joshua stood up and hurried over to the disabled zombie. The creature raised its torn and blood-streaked arms at him as he moved closer.
“Sorry, mate.” Joshua said quietly, then he brought the baton down hard on the back of the zombie’s head. With a sickening crunch, the big Maori caved in the undead man’s skull. The moaning instantly stopped.
Joshua nervously nudged the corpse with his foot to see if it was truly re-dead. The zombie let out the most heinous smelling and sounding bout of gas the young man had ever heard. Joshua brought the baton up to strike him again, but then realised it was just a death rattle. Just great, a dying fart. The creature was finished this time.
Trying not to gag on the dead man’s gas, Joshua once more looked around behind the coffee shop, making sure he was alone. Seeing the area was clear, he slunk back around to the side of the shop. Carefully peeking around the corner, he saw the mob of dead had finished devouring the teenage girls and had moved on. Taking a deep breath, Joshua rested his back against the wall of the coffee shop and slid down on his butt. The screams of the dying living, and the moans of the hungry dead
were now intermingled. With a trembling hand he wiped the sweat from his face. Joshua could not believe he’d started the morning going to a music festival and now had found himself smack in the middle of a zombie outbreak. He started to think about his family. His mum would be worried for sure. His dad probably was... well, his dad would be trying to reassure his mum that Joshua was okay. That is if anyone outside knew what was going on here. A far away scream brought him back to his senses.
Glancing around, Joshua saw most of the area around him was clear. A small fire had broken out over near the food court area, quickly taking any of the nearby tents with it. The hungry dead had definitely moved on. A few half-eaten corpses stirred nearby, but none of them had enough limbs left to make them mobile. Standing up, Joshua could see the mobs of dead had headed toward the camping area and beyond. His friends, and Samantha, were probably eaten or turned by now. There were just too many of those damn things on the island now. Hot tears started to stream down his cheeks as he thought about the fates of the others. Maybe he’d had more feelings for Sam than he thought he did. Now he somehow had to find a way off the island, or end up dead like his friends.
Zombie Island Page 20