by DB Daglish
It was late afternoon when Willo finally arrived at the school grounds. The main gates of the primary school hung open and walking through they encountered many roos and rabbits in the garden areas; previously a sports area. As they saw humans for the first time in many weeks, they scattered in all directions.
“Well, that means no one is alive here then,” Willo said.
“Is that so Michael?”
A voice came from behind the trees beside the drive. Instantly Lenny and Ricki trained their weapons in the direction of the voice.
“Steady!” the soft voice said as a woman appeared from within the shadows.
“Gloria!” Willo exclaimed as he recognized the woman. He hugged her and then held her at arm’s length. “You live?”
“You haven’t lost any of your intelligence then?” she shot back. “Of course I live you idiot. What are you doing here?”
“Guys…” Willo said, “this is Gloria. She was someone else who lived here before I took off.”
“Yes. And why did you leave without saying anything?” she demanded. Her hands remained on her hips reinforcing her indignation.
“I was scared, I wanted to distance myself and I assumed you guys would do the same.”
“We did,” she said. “Well most of them did. I stayed behind. I was sick but as you can see, I recovered. I have not found anyone else alive since. And I have roamed the streets for a long time doing so.”
“We didn’t find anyone either. We searched both downtown bases. Just human remains…nothing else.” Willo confirmed.
She just nodded for that is what she had expected. Gloria did visit the edge of the city once, but she feared it after seeing dogs in packs, shooting at them to scare them away. Entering a property she found a kayak and paddled down the river for a long way before beaching it on the other side and working her way back to the school.
“I think that worked?” she said. “It rained heavily the next day so any scent would be hard to pick up if they did come across where I came out.”
“Clever,” remarked Ricki. “And you’ve seen none since?”
“Just the odd local stray. But there are no cats now. What’s with that?” she remarked.
“We’ve seen that too. Both here and up north. But we have no explanation for it,” Nick cut in. “It is quite spooky.”
“Yes it is,” she offered. “Now…I have food in the kitchens if you’d like some. And fresh spring water!”
“Oh yeah,” Willo said, “I’d forgotten about that. It was months after the first die off that we found a spring about two kilometers north that ran into the creek. Lucky find that was!”
“Gloria!”Nick said with a chuckle. “Funnily enough, we have a yacht back at the wharf in the bay called the Gloria. Amazing coincidence aye!”
“Hang on!”Lenny interrupted as something came to mind. “When we came in here, you called him Michael.”
“Yes,” Willo said. “My real name is Michael.”
“Then why Willo, and why did she call you Michael. Were you too ‘close’ or something?”
“Oh God,” she laughed. “No – not like that! I just like using real names when there are few of us left. It just seems to fit better.”
Lenny seemed satisfied with her answer and they were invited back to the buildings. They sat around the steps in the shade for an hour talking, when Nick suddenly yelled. A snake bit his leg as he moved it in the grass. Quickly Lenny was on his feet, firing a few shots into the snake until one hit its head and it writhed and died.
“Oh damn,” Gloria said examining the snake. “That’s a brown. Very venomous they are. I saw someone almost die of a bite many years ago.”
Ricki reached into his bag and brought out a small section of rope.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Tourniquet!” he replied.
“Absolutely not!” she said with a loud voice as she pushed his hand down. “All you use are pressure bandages. Don’t ask me why, all I know is that is better. Sometimes these snakes can bite yet deliver no venom but there’s no way of knowing.”
“Will I die?” Nick asked. “It doesn’t hurt!”
“No the actual bites don’t. But hopefully all you’ll get will be the shits and dizzy spells at the very least - at the worst, paralysis or death.”
“Do you have any anti-venom here?” Lenny asked.
“Look around,” she said. “Oh, sorry…I was being cynical. We ran out years ago Lenny.”
Immediately he motioned to Ricki to come with him saying he’d be back as soon as possible, and he ran toward the houses with Ricki trailing behind.
“‘What are we looking for?”
“Bicycles!”
“How can that help Nick?”
“We need to find some old chemist shops that are further away than we raided. We’ll try east as that’s an area we didn’t go into much.”
It took time to find two bikes in any state worthy to ride. The third house had a pump and all the tires were re-inflated.
“I hope they last ok?”
“Well if they don’t we ditch it and find another one at the nearest house. Now let’s go, and he took off down the street. It took four hours to find a chemist where they could discover anything marked anti-venom. Finally, after smashing his way into another cabinet, Lenny screamed in triumph.
“Ha ha. Got it,” he said holding up a small bottle with the correct label. Quickly he searched for syringes still in unbroken packets and raced out to the bikes. It took just a short time to ride the eight or so kilometers back.
Nick had taken a turn for the worse during the time they were away. Quickly they handed Gloria the vial and the syringes.
“What, no drip bag?”
“What do you mean?” Lenny asked.
“You’ve never seen this done have you?”
Lenny shook his head as he looked at Gloria, wondering what he done wrong.
“The anti-venom is great but we can’t just inject it direct, we need to dilute it and use a drip. Damn, what choice do we have? Quick give me a bandage and a scalpel out of the medical box,” she ordered. They were handed to her as Nick lay on the table.
“I’m no nurse but I know if the body is swelling it has something to do with renal failure and fluid retention. If I produce a cut and it doesn’t stop bleeding, we will know!”
“What’s renal failure?” asked Ricki.
“Kidney failure!” was her reply. Ricki knew that was bad, but not why it was so.
“And there is the sign,” she confirmed as they saw a wet patch involuntarily appear on Nicks trousers as he lay there semi-conscious. “Well, that confirms it. I don’t need the scalpel now. He’s bad alright, and the next step is paralysis or death!”
“Damn. What do we do?” Willo asked.
“We have no drip. We are going to have to inject it direct into his bloodstream.”
“Should we?”
“I don’t know? It might help, it might not. For all I know it could kill him!” and even Gloria, who had been clinically calm up until now, seemed nervous. Finally she took a deep breath, gathered herself and stood with her back straight as though getting into the zone.
“Right. Take that bowl there and fill it with water and that smaller one over there, Willo, you bring that one also. Fill them with the water from the bottles and place them here!” she demanded. Quickly they followed her instruction. With the two bowls in front of her she poured half the anti-venom into each bowl.
“Look. I have no idea of the dilution required or even if water is the right thing…” and she sighed. Filling two syringes she looked up at Ricki and Lenny.
“So do I do this?” she asked.
They looked at each other blankly.
“Come on,” she urged. “He’s one of you! Do I do this?”
Still they said nothing.
“He’s more related to Ricki.”
“If I don’t do this he will die anyway. Do-I-do-this?” she said with as
much emphasis as possible.
They didn’t know what to say. They had no call over his life.
“Oh for God’s sake,” she yelled. “If it was you, would you want us to try?”
She saw an agreeing nod from Ricki and she immediately plunged the syringe into his arm and slowly released the contents directly into his bloodstream. The she stood up alongside the others to watch.
“What do we do now?”
“We wait!” was all she would say. A few tense minutes passed as they sat alongside. Then she heard a laboring of breath.
“Damn!”
“What?” Ricki asked.
“Shock. He’s going into shock. Probably gave him too much or we were too late!”
“What can we do?” he asked, a little more on the panicky side than normal.
“Nothing. There is nothing we can do. We have no…what do they call it…adrenaline!”
“What would that do?” Lenny asked.
“Maybe give him a chance!”
They watched as his breathing became worse and she checked his throat to see some swelling. Standing back she shook her head and within a few minutes Nick had breathed his last.
Ricki quietly walked outside. Suddenly a few shots rang out and they rushed to see Ricki filling the dead snake with a few more rounds.
“Don’t get…” Lenny began before Gloria motioned for him to stop talking.
“Whatever helps us Lenny. Everyone handles grief differently,” she said.
They buried Nick in the middle of the old gardens area before dark and spent a gloomy night together.
“Will you stay here now?” Willo asked her.
“I’d rather come with you guys to be honest. I’m done here. You’re all survivors, so we can stick together now!”
The guys looked at each other but said nothing.
“What does that look mean?” she said, picking up something was wrong by the looks the men gave each other.
“We all survived the first outbreak. Only you and Willo have lived through the second!”
“You mean you guys are immune?”
“No, I mean we have only recently been exposed to those that have it. We are expecting to die soon. Well, most of us!”
“What do you mean, ‘most of us’?” she asked.
“Two have been given blood from someone at Sydney who was not touched by either sickness. This little girl was immune so we took some blood…well, I should say she gave it to two of ours. That’s all her body could spare!” Lenny explained.
“But you don’t look sick!” Gloria stated emphatically.
Lenny pointed to his neck.
“Take your shirt off,” she demanded.
“Hey we don’t know each other well enough for that yet,” he joked.
“Just shut up and take the shirt off!” she demanded.
He did so and she examined him carefully, finishing back at his neck. “Well, this looks like the beginnings of it?” she suggested, “but there are no marks elsewhere to suggest it’s getting worse. How long you had this Lenny?”
“Oh…about what guys?” he asked his companions as he turned to them.
“Seven days or so. What difference does that make Gloria?”
“You guys don’t have it. None of you. And Lenny here is not getting worse. It could just be an allergic rash. What about you Michael? You’ve seen it firsthand. What do you think?”
Willo sat there thinking and looking at each person in turn. He’d seen his own body when the sickness hit him, and after he had recovered he had watched as the last of the others died around him; all but Gail, Jake, Ron and Charlotte at least. But it was true – his companions showed no real signs of a worsening sickness in any shape or form; unless they had only been infected at their arrival back in Sydney recently.
“If all Lenny has is a rash, and they left Sydney unaffected, their return and mingling with the rest of us there, even though we are not immune – might now still kill them?” he agreed. “But back to their question Gloria. Will you come with us? I mean if we die, then there are still at least four of us who won’t! And if none die, we can all go somewhere else and start again.”
She sat silent for a while and disappeared to another room.
“What’s she doing?” Ricki asked.
“Maybe she just needs time to consider on her…” but he was interrupted as she reentered, a backpack on her shoulder.
“Right. Let’s go then!”
Chapter 12
“Here they come!” Dirk yelled from the curved third floor balcony he was stationed on. From here he could see them a long way down the beachfront, returning after being away an extra day than planned. If they had not returned by midday Don was planning to send a team to the area Willo marked on the map.
In the distance four people approached until he realized one was a woman. He took quick stock of the situation realizing that she was no one he could recognize and that Nick was missing. Quickly he called down to Ryan and Harry who were talking down near the water.
“You need to come up guys?”
“Why?” Ryan called.
“They have someone new with them!”
At that they clambered off the large wooden bollards they were sitting on and ventured up to the plaza area. Indeed there was someone new and Harry greeted them all warmly, yet only received a muted response.
“Why so glum guys?” he said still smiling. “And where’s Nick?”
No one replied and the tone changed in his voice and his smile disappeared.
“What’s happened to Nick? Is he hurt?”
Ricki shook his head.
“I did all I could,” Gloria offered.
“Did what? Who are you? And where is he?” Ryan demanded.
Willo put up his hand. “Easy Ryan. Nick is dead. He was bitten by a brown and it killed him!”
“A brown what?”
“Snake!”
“You mean that snake like we saw up the coast?”
“Yes. They are the second deadliest snake in the world. Few bites kill, but this one did. Gloria here tried to save him!” Willo replied.
“How? What can fix a poisonous snake bite in this day and age?” Harry asked.
“Obviously nothing! But we are tired and emotionally drained. Can we go and cleanup and rest before we explain it more?” Lenny asked. “By the way, this is Gloria and she is the only one who survived from the community Willo frequented. So she is the only person alive in Melbourne that we could find. Pretty sad aye!”
“Two!”
“What do you mean?”
“Don found a small boy on the way back from the city the other day. He’s inside the restaurant building now. Go take a swim in the harbor and freshen up and we’ll meet you inside in an hour or so with everyone else.”
They did just that, while Janie took Gloria with her to find some new clothes and have her freshen up as best she could.
“Is Lenny your beau?”
“Gosh, I haven’t heard that term used for a long time?” Janie commented. “But yes Gloria, he is my beau. What happened to Nick, I hear he died?”
“Yes. From a snake bite. The boys managed to find some anti-venom after a few hours search but I think it was too much and it might have killed him.”
“Oh. That’s terrible,” Janie said.
“He would have died anyway Janie. He was failing fast. What we injected was either going to save him or kill him. We had no choice…it should have been as a drip but I had to inject…” and she burst into tears.
Janie hugged her tightly. It was obvious her tears were more than just for Nick. The loneliness of being the only one around her that survived the second outbreak, finally caught up with her.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered.
Janie moved in front of her and looked Gloria in the eye.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. You did your best.” Then she changed the topic. “Did you know we have a yacht named after you?”
“Yes,
so I’ve heard,” she said as she sniffed away the final tears. “I also know about the circumstances of that too. They told me as we walked back here today. There is just too much death around Janie. It just doesn’t stop!”
“Have they told you that we may all have the same thing that killed your friends?”
“Yes. But I’m not convinced you have it. I’ll explain at the meeting. We never had them. Anyway…why do you guys have group meetings?”
“Back in New Zealand, there used to be a guy from down south who organized one of the most successful communities in the country. He changed the way they thought about things, but Ryan, Don and Karen could tell you more. Those three were there at the beginning. They along with Ricki and some other Kaumātua, are regarded in high esteem.”
“What’s a ‘Karmatua’?” asked Gloria. It was not a term she had heard before.
“Kaumātua are Maori elders. It’s a term of respect for age and wisdom.”
Gloria nodded. Now she understood. Her parents had taught her to respect her elders as well.
The room was abuzz with voices as the entire group gathered in the old restaurant building overlooking the harbor. The young boy was there as well. He was introduced as Tyler, but he refused to speak for he was far too shy. Ricki, upon hearing the boys name for the first time, nodded in approval, smiling at the memories that name brought for he thought they had said Taylor.
Gloria was introduced and was allowed to tell her story from when Willo had left. They also discovered his real name. But as she described the events around Nick’s death, a hush fell upon the room before a few began to weep openly. Chris and Bryce were the most affected as they had known Nick for twenty seven years since ‘the event’, as those from New Zealand still called the first outbreak.
Don asked if Chris could say a few words in Nick’s honor and they all stood in respect as he honored the man as best he could and asked for a time of silence. This was something they had not done with the others and Chris then suggested some others speak about Angel, Fin and Dee.