Jack turned away shyly, but still managed to smile at her.
Enjoying his lunch, he listened as the two girls took in the view, snapped photos and chatted. He was pleased when they sat close by to eat their lunch.
He was readying himself to leave when he felt the air change. “Do you know how far that trail goes?”
The voice was almost sing-song, its sweet tones music to his ears.
Jack looked in the direction Pixie-hair was pointing. “As far north as north goes.”
Pixie-hair laughed. “Isn’t it ‘as far south as south goes’?”
Jack smiled. “Yeah, but I know nothing.”
She stuck out her hand. “I’m Diana, but my friends call me Dee.”
Jack grinned, his cheeks hurting. “James, but everyone calls me Jack.”
It was hard going. Down, down, down. He hated down. His knee joints ground with every step. He could feel the lactic acid building. He gritted his teeth. He picked his way over the gnarled tree roots that twisted over the trail and dodged granite boulders. He hurried past evidence of the area’s gold mining past. Boilers and steam compressors rusting away in their steel frames. Other relics sat amongst the undergrowth, all but forgotten. Jack ignored it all. His focus was on Dee. On getting down from these mountains safely. As he jogged down the trail, he could hear the hoot of owls, the squawks of kakariki and the coos of wood pigeons as they searched for their meals. Normally he would stop and watch them, fascinated by their routine. Not tonight.
The trail finally flattened out as he came up to the swing bridge. Without even glancing at the view, Jack jogged on.
Only one more hour.
Those countless times he’d hiked this trail were really helping him in the darkness.
Forty minutes later he arrived at the car park. He fumbled for his keys as he ran up to his SUV. Finally getting them in hand, he unlocked the door, slung his backpack onto the passenger seat and jumped in. Jamming the key into the ignition, he started the engine, whacked it into gear and sped off, tyres spinning in the loose gravel.
I’m coming, darling. I’m nearly there.
With one hand on the wheel, he turned on his phone, tapped the phone icon and put it on speaker. Nothing but garbled sound emitted from it. Looking at the bars, Jack swore in frustration. “CRAP! SHITTY SHIT!”
He leant over and turned the volume up on the car stereo. A strange monotone beep filled the silence. Frowning, he scanned through all the FM stations. Nothing. His pulse quickening, Jack switched to AM, and heard an emergency broadcast. He listened to it a few times but got no actual details of the virus. It was just the announcer advising people to stay indoors. Jack ran a sweaty hand through his hair. Letting out a breath, he turned the radio off in frustration.
— 2 —
Jack sped through the night, the road dipping as it followed the undulating countryside. He kept off the main roads, taking the narrower but straighter roads that dissected the flat farmland. His eyes scanned the houses as he flew past, searching for signs of life. Every house was dark; people had either left or the power was off.
Jack grimaced at each dark building he saw and fought the urge to drive faster. The closer he got to Hamilton, the more his trepidation grew. After thirty minutes of speeding his way along the back roads, Jack decided to risk the highway, his worry for Dee and his family making up his mind.
As soon as he turned onto the main road he spotted an orange glow up ahead. His mind flashed back to his time in Australia. A glow like that normally meant a fire. Slowing his car, he wound down the window. Acrid smoke wafted in, making him cough. Definitely fire.
Jack dropped his speed further and glanced in his rearview mirror, searching behind for any vehicles, in case he needed to make a quick U-turn. The glow intensified as he rounded a sharp bend, and before him was the cause of the fire. He jammed on the brakes.
Cars lined the road on both sides, their occupants milling around. About 100 metres away, he could see a jack-knifed milk tanker strewn across the road, its ends tangled in fences on both sides. It was engulfed in flames, thick black smoke pouring out over the land.
Alongside him, on the shoulder of the road, a family sat waiting in an old mini-van.
Winding his window right down, he made eye contact with the driver. “Hey, been waiting long?”
“About an hour,” replied the man.
Jack could see him quite well in the light from the blaze. He looked about 40 and had on a flat cap, like the English wear — or the hipsters. The woman sitting alongside had her hands over her ears. Hearing the bickering of kids from the back seat, he could understand why.
Jack turned his attention back to Flatcap. “Any sign of the emergency services?”
“Nope, not yet. It’s pretty crazy out there. The roads are jammed up.”
“Because of the virus?”
“Yeah. They announced it on the news, told everyone to stay home from work, only essential travel. That was yesterday. We decided to go and stay with family, get out of Auckland. I guess everyone else had the same idea.”
“What about Hamilton?”
“Couldn’t get past the Bombay Hills. The police directed us onto this road.”
Jack nodded, contemplating the new information. Looking out at the tanker, the fire raging out of control and all the cars jammed up, he knew that if he was to get home to Dee, he’d have to go the long way around.
Making his decision, he turned back to Flatcap. “Thanks mate. I’m going to try a different way. I really need to get home to my wife.” He revved the car up and shifted it into gear.
“Hey!” called out Flatcap.
“Yeah?”
“Can you give us directions?”
“Sure, where are you headed?”
“Cambridge.”
“Cambridge? Okay. Follow me. I’ll show you to the turn off.”
The lady, who had not uttered a sound until now, turned and looked at Jack. “Thank you. It’s madness out there.”
A high-pitched scream echoed through the night. Jack and Flatcap exchanged a look.
Squinting into the glare from the fire, Jack could just make out the source of screaming. A couple were running down the road towards where he was stopped, terror sharpening their features. The woman let out another primal scream as a black blur slammed into her. They went down in a tangled mess of arms and legs, just a few car lengths away. The black blur had stopped above them and came into focus.
Jack stared. He was having trouble comprehending what his eyes were seeing. It looked like a monster straight out of his worst nightmares.
The creature looked human enough. Or like something that had once been human. Its limbs had elongated, and where its feet and hands should have been, were claws. Large yellow eyes stared back at Jack. They blinked, as if the creature was deciding whether to attack him or finish off the woman. The monster glared at Jack and shrieked.
Jack’s heart hammered in his chest, sending a shot of adrenaline right through his body. He struggled to think straight. The creature crouched over the woman. Jack watched, dazed, as it plunged its head down and tore out the woman’s throat. Spurts of arterial blood coated the creature’s face, the plasma glowing a hellish red in the firelight. It turned its head towards Jack, as though it could see him watching, and it licked its strange, sucker-like lips. Then letting out a horrible screech, it returned to its meal.
Jack’s hands started to shake but he was unable to look away despite the horror.
The creature was reptilian-looking with blackish translucent skin. Where the mouth should have been was a weird sucker-like appendage filled with sharp teeth. Jack squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the image, but it was seared into his mind.
A cacophony of sounds echoed through his head. Shouts and screams. Engines starting. The swoosh of blood pumped through his ears. Frantic cries of terrified children. Children!
Snapping out of it, Jack looked back towards Flatcap’s car. Flatcap’s children
were screaming.
Throwing his car into reverse, Jack screamed, “C’mon!”
But the crashing sound of glass breaking made him stop. Terrified screams pierced the night.
To his horror, three more of the creatures had appeared out of the smoke and chaos and were swarming all over Flatcap’s car. One of them reached in through the shattered windshield — that must have been the breaking glass he’d heard — and dragged the woman out by her hair. Before he could consider the consequences, he put his car into drive and barrelled towards the creature.
Jack sideswiped it, flinging it backwards several metres and smashing it into another vehicle. The creature shook its head groggily, glared at him, and let out a horrific shriek.
“Get in!” Jack yelled at the woman, all the time keeping his eyes on the monster.
She whimpered, but hauled herself up with steely determination and jumped into Jack’s car.
“Go! Go!” Jack shouted out the window at Flatcap. Two of the creatures were still on top of his car.
Flatcap managed to get his car moving and expertly spun the wheels despite the loose gravel on the shoulder of the road. Wrenching the car side to side, he came out of the melee, throwing the two monsters off and into the ditch in the process.
Flooring the accelerator again, Jack squealed back down the road.
I’ll find you, Dee. Just stay put. I’m coming, promise.
“Holy shit, what the hell was THAT?” Jack said, more to himself than to his passenger. A cold sweat enveloped him. Images of what he’d just witnessed flashed through his mind. He tried to calm himself.
Deep breaths, in, out, in, out, in out. Deep breaths…
Though Jack could see Flatcap’s car up ahead, he was struggling to keep up with his panicked driving. Both cars tore through the night. He focused on the red tail lights, following his driving lines.
“What the hell was that?”
He barely heard the quiet response. “Dante’s bloody inferno.”
Jack nodded his head in agreement. “Did you see its mouth?”
“Yeah.”
He looked over at his passenger. She had her hands in her lap. He could see by the way she leant away from him, curled against the back of her seat, that she wanted to be left alone with her thoughts. Staring out the windscreen, focussing on the road, Jack had time to think.
He just couldn’t make sense of it. What the hell were those things he’d just seen? Were they what people became if they caught this virus? That just didn’t make any kind of sense. Outside of science fiction, that is. Surely no one had managed to create a virus that turned people into monsters? Surely? He shook his head. He had so many questions, and no answers. He banged the steering wheel in anger.
Stay safe, Dee. I’m coming.
Jack looked down at his shaky, sweaty hands. He wiped them on his pants in turn, trying to dry them. He clenched them into fists to try to stop the shaking, gripping and regripping the steering wheel as he did so. His mind just kept replaying the horrifying creature tearing out the poor woman’s throat and lapping up her blood.
The car shuddered and swerved as it went over onto the gravel shoulder, threatening to skid out. Jack cringed, cursing at himself as he watched a road sign go under the front of the car. He took his foot off the accelerator and pulled the steering wheel hard down to the right. To his relief, he regained control of the car. The car bumped slightly as he returned to the tarmac. He shivered as a cold frisson enveloped him.
“Bloody hell! Sorry,” Jack apologised, glancing at his passenger.
Flatcap’s wife stared ahead into the darkness, oblivious. Jack looked back up the road at the disappearing tail lights. Get it together. He forced himself to refocus and follow them.
— 3 —
He had to survive. Jack had spent so many years alone, wishing for someone to share his life with. He didn’t want to lose it all now. Thinking of surviving reminded him of the stories his nana had told him about living through World War Two. About how everyone had carried on as normal. How they looked after each other, helped one another when needed. How they’d sung songs down in the bomb shelters, frightened, scared, listening as the Luftwaffe rained down terror and misery. She would be telling Jack to “Keep calm and carry on.”
Thinking about how his grandparents had survived the Blitz helped Jack to calm down. He reached out and turned on the stereo. Anything to try to distract him from the horror that he had just witnessed.
After thirty minutes, the two cars came up to an intersection. Flatcap pulled over, allowing Jack to pull alongside. His passenger jumped out before the car had stopped and ran over to her car. “Babies! Are you okay?” The kids clambered out of the car to hug her.
Jack waved to Flatcap. “You all right?”
“Yeah, I think so. Was that the virus?”
“I don’t know, man. I really don’t know.” Jack shook his head. “I was hoping you could tell me. I’ve been hiking in the mountains for the last three days.”
“There was shaky footage on the news and conflicting reports,” Flatcap said.
Jack nodded and checked his mirrors for any other cars.
So many thoughts were buzzing around in his head, he was having trouble concentrating. He just wanted to get home to Dee. A few hours ago he’d been happily enjoying the solitude of the wilderness, back before he read Dee’s message. He’d believed her, but seeing the creatures first hand had frightened the hell out of him.
He looked back at Flatcap and his family. “We’d better keep moving.”
Flatcap nodded in agreement. “Definitely. Which way from here?”
“Right for a few kilometres, then left for a bit. Just follow me. Lots of turns.”
“Sure. How far to Cambridge?”
“Half an hour or so.”
Flatcap grimaced and stuck his head out of his window and lowered his voice. “Thanks for your help back there.”
“No problem.”
Jack plotted the course in his head, thankful that his adventurous spirit had pushed him to explore all these back roads. The fact that he hated being stuck in traffic had added fuel to his passion for exploration. Everywhere he looked, the glow of fires in the direction of built-up areas lit up the night. Knowing what caused them made him hurry.
Coming over the brow of a hill, Jack saw the school where he had to turn left. Realising he was going too fast, he pushed down on his brakes. Flatcap’s car nudged into the back of his, causing him to spin, like in a police PIT manoeuvre. He wrenched the steering wheel hard left, trying to correct it, but Flatcap’s car slammed into him again, causing both cars to slide out, tyres screeching. They ended up in the ditch on the side of the road.
Shaken, but unhurt, he clambered out of his car. His back wheels were stuck fast, deep down in the culvert. A short distance away, the other car’s front end was also in the culvert.
Damn it. What else can go wrong tonight?
Jack made his way to Flatcap’s car. “You guys all right?”
“Shaken but okay.”
“We went crash!” squealed a child’s voice. Jack smiled, spotting Flatcap’s son in the back.
Flatcap hauled himself out of the car. “Yes son, we went crash.”
He looked back at Jack. “What happened there?”
“Going too fast, simple as that. So do you think we can get these out?”
“Nah, I don’t think so. We’re in too deep.”
“Bugger it!” Jack spat. “I’ll go see if I can find a tractor or something. Plenty of farms around here.”
Flatcap moved the peak of his hat up and down his brow. “Yeah, all right. Probably best I stay here with my family.”
Jack nodded.
Returning to his car, he grabbed his pack out of the back seat, took out his headlamp and checked to see it was still working. Satisfied, he looked around. Spotting a driveway farther up the road, Jack headed off.
As he turned into the driveway, a crunch under his foot revealed grav
el. Fear of being detected, by either humans or monsters, made him tread carefully and silently.
Jack flicked his gaze up towards the house and back to the vehicles. Plucking up his courage, he entered the property. As he crossed the cattle grate, his foot slipped and he went down, the resulting clang like a gunshot in the silence of the night. Jack winced, at the noise and the pain, and rubbed his foot. He prayed there were no monsters around to hear that racket. But surely they wouldn’t be, so far from civilisation? He crawled off the cattle grate and got back onto his feet, testing out his foot. It would be fine. Dusting off his pants, he carried on up the driveway, pausing every few metres to strain his hearing for any sounds.
Jack could see the silhouettes of a house and vehicle sheds in the dark. Moving towards the shed, he thought he heard a popping sound. He froze. What was that? Heart hammering, he peered into the darkness. He wished he could turn on his light, but was fearful of attracting the creatures, or an angry farmer with a shotgun.
Maybe I should just knock on the door?
There were no lights on in the house, and no further sounds reached him. Jack wondered where everyone was. Had they made a run for it? Why would they? They already lived in the country; nothing out here except cows, cows and more cows. He shook these thoughts from his mind as he approached the shed.
The shed was enclosed on the sides and the back, leaving the front open to the elements; typical for farms. He could see an old-looking tractor. Moving to the back of the vehicle, he saw that a wooden pallet platform was attached to the trailer. Piled on it was a rusty chain with a large metal hook attached to each end. In the cab, the key stuck out of the ignition.
Finally! Some good luck.
Jumping into the seat, he checked to see if the tractor was in neutral. With his fingers crossed, he turned the ignition.
The Rule of Three (Extinction New Zealand Book 1) Page 2