by DB Daglish
With the entrance to bay finally in sight they battled on until safely inside where the swells could not reach, and for the first time in thirty six hours or so, the boats ceased to heave and pitch.
Tia was the first to enter the harbor and no one was letting her win - although all were definitely willing her too. For the first time in days she was beaming from ear to ear. Don quietly saluted her when no one else was watching and she nodded in thanks. The race was what she had needed to break her out of her despondency. They dropped anchor and stayed the night at the southern end of the harbor and only in the morning did they venture further north and to the docks where one cruise ship was still silently docked.
Most watched Willo’s reaction. In returning to Melbourne, he was bothered about being here for two reasons. First he was aware of the trouble many had caused in this city after the first death, and then there was the uncertainty of the second death.
Lenny was worried for another reason. He had some more spots, but he did not seem to be sick or appear weak in anyway. What if his rash was nothing more than a reaction to a plant? In that case coming here was endangering them all; if in fact none of them were infected.
“You guys stay here and let me look around with Willo first!” Lenny stated, not wanting to put any of them in any sort of danger. At that Ricki went down into the yacht and came out with two pistols and a rifle.
“I’ll come with you just in case,” he said.
“No you won’t!” Don interrupted. He had guessed Lenny’s thoughts. “I’m the oldest, so if we are not infected I have the least time left to die naturally.” He took the weapons off Ricki and climbed up onto the dock proper; handing the pistols to Lenny and Willo.
“Let’s go then, before I change my mind!”
“Thanks old man!” Lenny said, “But you’re not as steady as you used to be, so give me the rifle!” And he exchanged weapons as they began to walk through the buildings. All was quiet, with the wind making the only sound. A few rats scuttled away as they walked to where an old brick building stood rail tracks could be seen.
“In the old days, the trains came from downtown to here. All around us is where one group used to live after the deaths ended. They were a quiet bunch,” Willo stated. “Their main site was a few streets back where all the houses overlooked their planted gardens. We’ll go there first. Eventually we were bullied out by the troublemakers from the docklands area. These guys were bit feral really.”
It wasn’t long before they arrived at an oval section of land surrounded by at least twenty multi-story homes. Trees had spread their branches to create thick canopies that entangled each other, and long grasses and small bushes grew through the pavements as it did in every other city and town in the world. Fighting their way through the undergrowth and to the other side of the oval, Don saw something unusual.
“What’s that? A light house?” he asked as he saw a narrow white tower before them.
“Sort of. It’s a beacon that lines up with the one on the other side of us, down in the water, for ships to guide themselves in by.”
“Doesn’t look like anyone has been here in years,” Lenny noted. “How far to the city center?”
“Only about half an hour’s walk from here. You’ll see the taller buildings shortly,” he said as he continued until he reached a wider road.
“There,” he finally said, pointing north.
Not too far away, the tall buildings of the city stood reaching out as if seeking attention in a desperate bid for survival. Twenty five years of neglect had those looking like others they had seen; vegetation growing from various rooftops and even balconies. Overgrown trees pressed against glass fronted shops and buildings along the streets. The roads were still well defined, and seldom would one need to walk over or around something. But here and there, old rusty car bodies were parked in odd places and some were upturned. Various buildings were still blackened from fire some from a very long time ago, some less than decade, he guessed.
To Don it was as if things had been different in this place somehow, at least compared to all others places he had visited.
“You seem to be curious Don?” Willo remarked.
“It just looks different from anywhere else,” he said.
“I told you Melbourne reacted differently. I do not know why it was that way, but a large percentage of those that survived the first death seemed to get into roving gangs and such. It was pure bedlam for a while. Then small groups formed and armed themselves. Only then did the ones causing the problems settle down a little.”
“What about that?” Lenny asked as he pointed to the one of office tower blocks that had been ravaged by fire.
“I don’t know about that one, yet it seems like it was many years ago by the look of the weeds growing on it.”
“So are we trying to find if anyone’s alive? Where did they live here in the city when you left?
“Just up the road…Oh damn it!” Willo suddenly blurted out.
“What’s up?” Don asked pointing the pistol all around.
“No, relax. It’s not any danger…,” and he looked at Lenny. “Did you tell anyone?”
Lenny shook his head.
“Tell anyone what?” Don asked, a bit confused at the sudden change of mood.
“I’ll tell you at the bridge,” Willo said, “It’s just past this exhibition shed here.”
Presently they came out into an open area and onto a bridge where a walled viewing area near a monument, overlooked the river. In front of them the tallest towers of the city stood, just across the water. Here Willo paused and leaned he against the stone wall with his hands. Eventually he sighed and turned towards Don.
“Lenny knows something you don’t. I was one who came to Manly with Forty and Janet the day you guys left to go north.”
“Yeah!” Don said, not getting the connection.
“It was me that brought the sickness!”
Don thought for a while. “So…you got it from here, met the other couple arrived in Manly, Lenny got the sickness from you guys and passed it to us?”
“Well maybe. Someone else gave us a hug when we arrived. I can’t remember who that was. She would have had a better chance of getting it than just sitting in the room where we all talked. But that’s not the point. I’m the cause of all this!”and in his sadness and guilt, he turned back to face the river.
“It’s not your fault Willo, it would have spread eventually,” Lenny said. “Hang on. The woman you hugged – the redhead?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that was my wife, but she’s not sick!”
“Yet!” Willo shot back.
“Well we’ll see. Anyway, as I said, it would have reached Sydney eventually.”
“Really? No one else reached Sydney before dying that I know of. If you didn’t have it before, you’ve then carried it north, and if you didn’t have it at that point you certainly have it now. It’s such a damn mess!” he yelled, his voice echoing off the buildings. A dog barked in the distance in response.
“You survived. Tia and Ho might do so as well. But it’s just fate. Life involves death, although to be honest…” Don admitted, “I’d rather die of old age.”
“That is my point!” Willo said as he raised his voice.
“Hey, calm down man,” Don suggested. “We still don’t know if that rash on Lenny is the virus or just a reaction to something. But is being in this place where it seems obvious everyone is dead, a safe thing to do? I mean especially if we are not infected!”
Willo apologized.
“I’m just stressed that’s all. Hey, we don’t know they are all dead just because we haven’t seen anyone yet. The first city base was over there,” he pointed at a tall narrow set of buildings. “But then they moved down the river, to set of buildings the rowing clubs used. The clubrooms made great first level accommodation, up away from the dogs.”
“You had a dog problem?”
“Not any more than you would expect. But th
is is a big city and they had plenty of rats to catch, the ones the cats didn’t get. Those mangy things would get in any level, but the dogs could be kept out easily enough. I’ll show you, but first let’s look inside.”
They walked across the bridge until Don stopped and pointed. “Is that someone in a chair up there on the top balcony?”
Lenny pulled out some binoculars from his backpack and took a look. “That was someone up there!”
“But I can see them?” Don suggested.
“No, what I mean is, yes you see someone, but they aren’t alive. Take a look,” and he handed them to Don. When the lens was focused he could see skeletal remains and a couple of birds perched on the railing.
“Ah, ok. That was someone,” he agreed. He took the rifle off Lenny and raised it toward the balcony.
“What are you doing?” Willo asked.
“Scaring the birds, and letting anyone alive know we are here without us having to enter places where too many dead bodies are.”
Taking careful aim he shot at one of the black ravens. As the blast echoed around the buildings one of the birds fell, plummeting to the pavement behind the raised rail line that blocked the view of street level.
“Shot!” exclaimed Lenny. “I thought you were too shaky to handle a rifle?”
“You thought wrong then,” he said as he handed the weapon back to Lenny with a wry smile. “Shhh.”
They waited, but no sound or call came from anywhere. They looked on both sides of the bridge and back along the road they had traveled upon. But there was nothing. The city looked and sounded dead.
Willo took something out from his pack and wrapped it around his face. “What are you doing, do you plan to go in there?”
“Yep. I need to see how many there are. You guys stay here till I return,” he said with a muffled tone and he strode off under the bridge.
In about ten minutes he appeared on the top balcony and waved at them. Don trained the binoculars on Willo as he gestured something with his palm facing downwards and disappeared.
“What’s he doing?” asked Lenny.
“I think he went to the top first and is doing a quick sweep of the levels, one by one on the way down, judging by his hand gestures. Go have a look yourself, but leave me the rifle; you take the pistol just in case.”
Don sat on the bridge wall he watched Lenny disappear and he sat in silence, thinking about his first visit to this city and the odd circumstance he found himself in. Everywhere vegetation grew, and in his private moment he observed all the re-growth that was occurring. Every tree, weed, plant, piece of decay, hanging sign, broken window and small animal caught his eye. Even a kangaroo bounded by, a street away, in some sort of hurry. As he watched where it had come from, some suspicious looking shadows appeared at the corner of an old brick building where the plant growth had extended halfway into the road. Quickly he moved behind an old grey upright sign and rested the rifle on it. As he did so, four dogs appeared around the corner of the building. Although they were just dogs, he didn’t want to be alone if many came to seek the activity the shot had announced. He clearly remembered the incident at Zingari twenty seven years ago were a clever pack had ambushed them. ‘Clever bastards’ he thought to himself. Using the binoculars again he could see two of the dogs looked unwell and he decided to dispose of them.
Willo appeared at the ninth floor balcony in response to the first shot. As he peered down the street with his hand over his face for shade he saw some dogs running and then another dog fell as a second shot was heard. Movement caught his eye to the east and he could see another pack of dogs approaching Don’s position along the river. With the breeze from the west they could now smell humans, and to them, that smell meant food.
He called out toward Don and then heard a sound below. Looking over the balcony he saw Lenny on the second floor balcony far below.
“Lenny!” he yelled. “Dogs are approaching Don, run back and help him, I’ll be there soon.”
He now ran quickly down the many flights of stairs, almost tripping several times in his haste.
Back at the bridge Don had turned toward the building that was being checked. He could not see anyone, but he was sure he had heard a shout. He then stopped to listen. There was nothing to see and no sound until he saw Lenny sprinting across the bridge and yelling, pointing toward the river. Suddenly shots rang out as Lenny began firing his pistol from the middle of the bridge. Immediately Don moved back to the monument area and saw the pack of about ten dogs approaching at speed. With Lenny’s shot some had begun to flee; one was hit but still moving. Don trained the rifle toward the monument and as he did three more came charging around the edge. By now Lenny was at his side and a barrage of shots killed all three animals and then they turned to the river and took shots at the rest. They quickly fled and he winged one more that fell into the river as it yelped. What remained of the pack ran across the footbridge two hundred meters away only to meet Willo who let off a barrage of shots himself. Two more dogs fell and the rest fled back into the streets on the south side of the river where they had come from. They watched Willo fire a final shot at the one remaining animal on the bridge that was still alive.
Don continued to keep the rifle trained on the area behind Willo who calmly walked back to meet them. But it was not necessary for the remaining dogs had vanished.
“Well – that was fun,” Willo said with a grin as he met them on the bridge. He looked back down the street to see the two Don had shot.
“That’s eight on total!” he said.
They started laughing. Although a bite could have been fatal if these dogs were diseased, the excitement had brought a welcome blood rush. A fair bit of backslapping followed.
“So what was up there?” Don asked as he pointed to the towers.
“Lots of dead - lots!” he confirmed. “I’d say all of them, and if any survived it would only be one or two. But there is no one alive here, unless the shots bring them to us. Let’s go to the other buildings, wait and see.”
He took them east along the river, passing three main vehicle bridges to what seemed like an old park, though it was by now well overgrown. There were seven two level buildings that were once used as rowing clubs. Quick inspection revealed that was no one inside, not even a body. Willo took them to the one at the end of the row.
“I used to sit up in that tower there in the sun and watch the kids play on the river in the kayaks,” and he went silent thinking about the ideal existence many years ago. “I had a terrible life before the virus hit. When I survived I joined up with these guys. It was tough in some respects, yet better in others.”
Don nodded in understanding.
“We were a tight group. We grew vegetables behind us, and had our own two dogs to chase off rabbits and roos. Even had a woman of my own…” he paused again obviously thinking something over in his mind. “Then a dude called Mikey came with his gang and disturbed us. Deborah went missing three nights later. We had a brief gun battle and I fled. But I found her body further down in the old park. I wanted to kill him but I didn’t have the courage. So I fled west to the Manning area. I spent time with another group there and sometimes alone. We avoided the pit after that!”
“The pit?” Lenny asked.
“Inner Melbourne! We just avoided it. I lived in that area for years not venturing out of what felt safe, well not often anyway. Eventually we heard the rumors.”
“About the deaths?”
“Yeah. So I packed my bag and took off. That’s when I met Forty in the hills up north.”
“So you had no direct contact with anyone that you know of that had the sickness?”
“Not that I know of? The one I met kept her distance just in case. Maybe it’s windborne? I have no idea…and now here we are!”
They sat down by the river to rest awhile, sitting in the shade of the trees. After a short while they heard a call from the bridge and Don recognized Ricki and three others. He called them down and along the road
to the grass area beside clubrooms.
“We heard shots,” Ricki said.
“Dogs mate. We shot some dogs further back. Hey how did you find us anyway?” Lenny asked.
Harry held up a map. “We went along the foreshore and straight up this road. We thought you’d be somewhere near the center. We ran most of the way. Man, are we stuffed now!” he said gesturing for some water. Taking a huge gulp he flopped back on the grass. “So what else did you find besides dogs?” he asked with his eyes still closed.
“Bodies. They’re all dead!”
“So is it time to go back then?” Samantha asked. She had decided to tag along but the whole big city quietness spooked her and the dog incident didn’t sit well with her either.
“Actually I’d like to go and visit the last place I was at…just for old time’s sake,” Willo said.
“How far is that?” Don asked. He wasn’t keen on any more walking today.
“Oh, about three or four hours walking.”
“Well, count me out then,” said Don. “I’ll go back with these guys,” he said pointing at the new arrivals.
“Well, if you’re going back and Willo is exploring, I’ll go too,” Ricki said. “You can go back with Samantha and these two…”
“Hang on,” Nick interrupted. “I don’t want to sit and do nothing either. I’ll come with you. We can stay the night there and still be back by tomorrow afternoon.”
So the party agreed to split up. Willo marked the school on the map so if something happened they would know how to find them. Weapons were reloaded with the most ammunition remaining with those traveling onwards into the suburbs. Don handed the rifle over as all he’d need would be pistols in case of any more dogs. The wharf where the yachts were tied up was only just over a half hour away anyway. They said their farewells and split up.
Harry led Don and Samantha back the way they had come, taking a slightly more direct route past some apartment buildings next to a park. Here they discovered a boy of about six years old in a disheveled and starved state. He was extremely timid and the boy reminded Don of the little girl from twenty seven years ago they found in a southern town. A tear formed in his eye as he remembered her death in the house fire. They took the boy back to the boats, and now there was yet another totally immune survivor of both outbreaks.