by James Harden
"I don’t mean to be a back seat driver, but are you sure you know where you’re going?" I asked Jack.
"Yeah!" he shouted over his shoulder. "I know the city like the back of my hand."
"OK, just checking. But shouldn't we slow down?"
"No. Staying in one area of the city for too long is bad," Kenji said. "If we stop, the infected will find us."
I suddenly remembered Doctor West and his disturbing warning about how the Oz virus was designed to find life and consume it.
Kenji was doing his best to navigate, like a rally car co-driver. "Hard left down this alleyway!" he shouted "And then hard right on to the main road."
The Humvee barreled down the alleyway. We crashed through some industrial sized bins. And rubbish exploded everywhere.
Up ahead a pile of bricks and shattered concrete partially blocked the alleyway. I guess it was a section of the wall. It had crumbled and fallen across the alleyway. Jack was forced to slow down and drive around it. Suddenly two infected jumped out of the adjacent building and onto the hood of the Humvee. Jack hit the brakes and they went flying forward. He then accelerated, running over them, squashing them beneath the giant wheels.
Jack floored it again and we picked up speed as the alleyway seemed to narrow. For a split second it looked like the Humvee wouldn't fit. Sparks flew as the armored sides of the vehicle scraped against the alley walls.
"Hold on," Jack said. "We're almost there."
We shot out of the alleyway and on to another main road. Jack slammed on the breaks as he turned sharply to the right. We slid out in the middle of the road, the tires tearing and screeching and finally gripping.
Up ahead was a main intersection.
But something was wrong.
The power lines above the intersection were moving like they were alive. They seemed to have caught and wrapped up a group of the infected, at least a hundred of them. It looked like the wires were rolling them up, cocooning them or something. There were maybe four power line poles or telegraph poles. One at each corner of the intersection. The wires were converging in the middle like a massive, messed up spider web.
Jack slowed down. "Ah, Kenji, have you ever seen anything like this?"
Kenji’s mouth was wide open. "No. No way."
"Was this here yesterday? Or this morning?"
"I ... I don't think so."
Some of the wires extended from the middle of the intersection. They seemed to zero in on us, like a snake rearing, ready to strike.
I heard what sounded like the crack of a whip.
Some of the cars parked on the side of the road were lifted into the air and flipped. A few of the cars were sliced in half.
Jack put the Humvee into reverse and executed a 180 degree turn. We accelerated away from the intersection and the wires.
Just when I thought we’d gotten away unscathed, Daniel slid down from the machine gun turret, his face was bleeding.
"Oh my God. Are you all right?" I asked.
Daniel was holding the side of his head. He looked like he was in shock.
"We need to find a place to pull over!" I shouted.
"Yeah, hang on," Jack said. "There's a parking facility up here. It's clean."
Daniel's face was pretty pale. He was definitely in shock. I couldn't quite hear him properly but it sounded like he said something about the wires being alive.
Chapter 23
We pulled into the multi-storey parking facility. Jack reversed into a parking bay so we were equal distant from the entry and the exit doors just in case we had to leave in a hurry.
All the cars inside the parking lot were covered in a layer of dust. Just like the office building, I thought. The dust was much thicker here then it was inside the office building, though. It was so thick we couldn’t see inside any of the cars. I guess it was possible for anyone or anything to be hiding in there.
I shook my head. I had to stop scaring myself.
We all piled out of the Humvee. Daniel had blood pouring down the side of his face.
"Are you all right?" I asked.
"Yeah. I’m fine," he said, regaining some composure and color in his face. "It’s just a scratch."
"Just a scratch? There’s blood everywhere!"
Kenji reached into the back of the Humvee and retrieved a small medical pack. He stepped forward, up to Daniel. "Let me check it."
Kenji dabbed away at the cut but blood continued to pour out. "Might need stitches. But we can put this butterfly band aid on. Should do the trick for the moment."
"Are you sure?" Jack asked. "Why is there so much blood?"
"Lot of blood vessels in the face. Even a superficial cut will bleed heavily. I’m Kenji by the way," he said introducing himself to Daniel as he put the butterfly thing on. "Kenji Yoshida. Private first class, US marines. And this is Jack."
"Hudson, Daniel."
"Marines?" Kenji asked.
"Not really."
"Army? Air force?"
"Freelance," Daniel answered.
"Ah, understood."
Kenji finished putting the band aid on.
"It’s all right. I got it." Daniel said.
Kenji handed him some more bandages and Daniel blotted and wiped away the rest of the blood off his face.
"Woah," Jack said. "Check out the cut on your chest plate."
It looked like the wire thing had sliced into his armor. The cut was deep and wide. It was amazing that Daniel wasn't more seriously injured. There did seem to be a lot of blood but I guess Kenji was right. It wasn't that bad. He seemed to have gotten off lightly.
And Daniel looked to be in good spirits.
"It’s cool," he said. "I'm OK. Trust me, I’m fine."
He had definitely gotten over the shock. He was back in business mode. More focused than ever, especially since the mission was back on and we had an amazing opportunity to actually accomplish our goal. Maria was so close.
"Are you sure you’re all right?" Kenji asked as well. "That’s a pretty impressive gash," he said as he closely inspected the suit. He had a puzzled expression on his face. "What kind of armor is this?"
"It’s a combo of Kevlar and carbon fiber and other things," Daniel answered.
"I’ve never seen anything like it."
"It’s custom made."
Kenji nodded his head in approval. "Well, it looks like it saved you’re life."
"Wouldn’t be the first time."
Once we were sure Daniel was all right we sort of just stood around. I think we were in shock now. It was just so unexpected to be finally reunited like this. I mean, after everything that had happened this morning, the last thing I expected was to run into Jack and Kenji in the middle of the city. But I guess it was lucky we did run into them because they totally saved us.
We hugged again, for longer this time, just the three of us. I don’t know about the guys but I didn’t ever want to let go. Daniel was sort of standing off to the side. But I don't think he felt awkward. I think he understood exactly what this meant to us.
Jack then threw his hands in the air like he was doing a hallelujah. "Wow. This is just incredible. It's a miracle. Where have you been?" he asked me. "What happened? And where's Kim? Is she all right?"
I think as he asked the question about his sister his mind was showing him the worst.
I told him what had happened when Kim and I made our escape from Sydney Harbor, after he jumped out of the boat. I told him how we ran out of fuel, drifted up the coast and eventually out to sea. I told him that we were in bad shape. We were dehydrated and starving. Kim had lost a lot of blood. But we were picked up by a coal ship and towed to New Zealand. We were locked up in a special quarantine facility for survivors and refugees but we were the only ones there.
"When we got there," I said. "They stripped me down, hosed me down and cleaned me with some sort of chemical spray. I don’t know what it was. And they shaved my head. I’m not sure what they did with Kim because we were separated. After ab
out a week I was given the all clear and extradited back to America. But they still wouldn’t let me see Kim. They said because she had an open wound in her arm she had to remain in quarantine for longer."
"But she's all right?" Jack asked again hopefully.
"As far as I know," I answered. "But she’s still in the quarantine facility in New Zealand. I don't know when they are going to let her out. They wouldn't tell me anything. But yes, the last I heard she was doing fine."
I didn’t tell him about my own fears. That I thought she’d died or had been 'taken care of' as part of the containment protocol. And I didn’t tell him about the outbreak.
"So you made it back to the States?" Kenji asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. But I was the only one."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I was the only one who got out of Australia. No one else made it. I was labeled the only survivor. It was completely crazy. When I got out, nobody really knew what was going on. The media called it ‘The Secret Apocalypse' because the military and the government had covered it up. People around the world only knew bits and pieces. Rumors, basically. Even now, no one really knows how bad it is or how bad it could get. And I think that's probably the worst thing, the fact that people just don't know how bad it could get."
"Wait a second; you were the only person to make it out?" Kenji asked. "The sole survivor?"
I nodded my head.
"That's insane," Jack said. "So the Oz virus has spread right around Australia? How many people have been infected? How many people have died?"
I didn’t know how to say it. So I just went ahead and said it. "No one really knows for sure. But there have been reports that the death toll could be as high as Twenty-two million."
Jack and Kenji both turned pale. Jack looked like he was going to be sick. Kenji went quiet for a bit.
"Twenty-two million." Jack repeated. "That’s everyone. That’s the entire population."
I nodded my head as I thought about the death toll and how I’ll never really come to terms with it. And I tried to ignore the fact that even as we spoke the death toll was steadily increasing.
Chapter 24
Jack kept saying there was no way. There was no way everyone was infected. There was no way everyone had turned into one of those things.
"Is it like this all over Australia?" Kenji finally asked.
"Yes," Daniel said. "I’ve seen satellite images of Perth on the west coast. The virus has spread right across the continent."
"And no one knew about it?" Jack asked.
"At first, no one knew about it," Daniel answered. "But thanks to Rebecca, now the whole world knows."
"What do you mean?" Kenji asked.
"Rebecca posted a video online. Blew the whole cover up wide open."
"Wow," Jack said. "That must’ve taken some serious balls. Figuratively speaking of course."
"But it’s too late," Kenji said. "The Oz virus has already caused as much damage as it possibly could."
No, it could get worse I thought to myself. Much worse.
"So the nationwide quarantine that was designed to isolate us from the rest of the world, it actually worked?" Jack asked.
"Yeah. And now the military have set up a naval blockade around the entire country," Daniel informed them.
"I tried to tell you guys," Kenji said.
"No offence, but we didn't really know you when you were trying to tell us that," Jack pointed out. "And you kinda lied to us about the virus. So you're credibility was not the best at that point in time. And OK, maybe you made up for it by saving our lives on multiple occasions but you were skating on thin ice there for awhile."
Jack was only joking around even though there was some truth to what he was saying. Kenji did lie to us. But he was only doing it to protect us or so he thought. And then yeah, he totally did save us a couple of times. Kenji has this amazing ability to think under pressure and make decisions under fire. We would've been lost without him.
But there was nothing mean about what Jack had just said. He was only joking. And they way he said it; I kind of got the feeling that Jack and Kenji had been through a lot together these past couple of weeks. I got the feeling they had bonded. They were becoming friends, brothers.
"So what happened when you got back," Kenji asked.
"When I got back I found myself in the middle of this crazy media storm," I continued. "I was about to do a globally televised interview. It was billed as this huge event - an exclusive with the only survivor of the secret apocalypse. I've never really liked being the center of attention but I was determined to let everyone know what had happened. I figured people had a right to know what was going on. But just before we went to air, we received your call for help. It changed everything. The military stepped in once again. They confiscated the recording. They said it was top secret, a national security threat and all that crap. They censored the interview. I was only allowed to talk about my experience. I wasn’t allowed to talk about the military, the containment protocol and the massacre at the Sydney Harbor Bridge, or the effects of the Oz virus. I wasn't allowed to talk about Doctor Hunter or Doctor West and what they did to those poor people at the immigration center. It was pathetic."
"But people know about it now, right?" Kenji asked.
"They know the bare minimum, I guess. Like I said, the interview didn’t really cover much. I was pretty angry about the whole thing. So I made a video clip and posted it online. It was like a confession of sorts. I let people know about the virus, how deadly and destructive it was. I told people about Maria. It was only online for about forty minutes before they took it down. But enough people saw it and enough people heard about Maria and how she was immune for people to start asking questions and demanding answers. It forced the military and the government into action. So they organized a rescue mission and announced their plans to the world."
"The military?" Jack asked. "Rescue?"
He was confused. In his mind the military were just as much the enemy as the infected.
"Yeah, it was like this huge thing to win back the public’s trust or something. They introduced the team to the world during a press conference. It was weird. It was like a victory parade for heroes returning home from war or something. Except they weren’t victorious, they hadn’t achieved anything. And unfortunately, the mission was a failure; the team was killed in action, right in the heart of Sydney."
"Wait, when was this?" Kenji asked. "How do you know?"
"It was approximately seventy-two hours ago," Daniel answered. "My team was able to intercept the mission footage."
"What did the footage show?" Kenji asked.
"Nothing good. Their chopper was hit and they went down right in the middle of the city. Within minutes they were surrounded."
"That was probably the chopper we heard the other day," Kenji said.
"So, wait just a damn second," Jack said, still confused. "What the hell are you doing back here?"
"Well actually, when the military failed, Daniel approached me and showed me the stolen military footage. He explained to me that they had failed and that Maria was still in danger. He was going in with a team to rescue her. He wanted me to come with his team, as like, an insurance policy or something, to make sure you guys didn’t run away when you saw us."
"Insurance policy? What are you saying?"
"Well," I said, hesitating. "We're here to rescue you."
Even though they were initially happy to see me, I could tell they both deflated. Their spirits were crushed just a little bit.
"Come again?" Jack asked. "You're the rescue squad?"
"No. Not me. Not really. Well, actually, yeah. But it's not like we came alone. We..." I choked on the words. "Daniel's team...." I stammered, stuttered.
"Like I said, we were a freelance, mercenary team," Daniel explained taking over. "We’ve operated all over the world, all kinds of ops. From rescue missions to assassinations. We've done everything. We were all ex-Special Forces.
All of us. The best."
"What do you mean ‘were’?" Jack asked.
"My team is gone," Daniel said his voice eerily devoid of emotion, like he was trying to distance himself and ignore the reality of what he was saying, of what had happened this morning.
"They're dead. We were ambushed back in the CBD. Our mission was to rescue you, well to rescue Maria. She was our primary target. But we failed. We were the best, and we failed. We just, we weren't prepared. I mean, even though we knew we were going into hostile territory, we just weren’t prepared."
Kenji reached out and put a reassuring hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Things are messed up; no one could’ve prepared you for this."
"It's just that after the military failed we should've known," Daniel said. "Twenty two million people dead. We should’ve known. We didn't do any better," Daniel continued. "It's crazy, this whole city, this whole country; it’s like nothing I've ever seen before. The infected, the dust storm, that thing. It's messed up, it's..." He trailed off. "I mean, we're just lucky you guys showed up when you did. How the hell have you guys survived here all by yourselves?"
"Luck, I think." Kenji said.
"And Kenji's sharp shooting." Jack added. "But how did you get back here all the way from America?" Jack asked.
Daniel told him about our flight over here in the hypersonic jet, how we flew in stealth mode through the naval blockade. He told them about the camp out in the middle of the outback, right in the middle of the Nullarbor plains.
The guys took a moment for everything we'd told them to sink in. It was a lot to process all at once. Especially since they’d probably spent the last two weeks hiding and running for their lives, completely cut off from the rest of the world, constantly hunted by the infected and the military.
"So I guess you're like, a bit of a celebrity back home," Kenji finally said. "The sole survivor of a zombie apocalypse, a sixteen year old girl."
"Yeah, unfortunately."
"Wait, how come they thought you were the only survivor?" Jack asked "What about Kim? She got out as well. She's a survivor, right?"
"No one knew about her," I answered. "She was quarantined all the way in New Zealand. I was the face, the proof I guess."