Fear The Outback (Book 1): Fear The Outback

by Cheshire, Stephen W.

“Yes,” replied Boyd.

  “What’s your population?” Flynn asked.

  “About 300.”

  “You’re lucky you’re away from the infection,” Rebecca said.

  “Yes, we are,” Boyd replied. “Very lucky.”

  “So, you know what I’m going to ask next?” Flynn asked.

  “I have no idea what is happening. I got called into the office this morning when a lot of cities across Australia began reporting these attacks.”

  “Have you reported any?” Flynn asked.

  “No,” Boyd replied, “but we took action straight away.”

  “What actions?” Flynn queried.

  Boyd walked over to the desk, on top of which was a map of Tamagoroa. He took a pen out from the desk “This is Tamagoroa,” he stated, drawing a circle around the town. “I have patrols going around a quarter-of-a-.mile perimeter. When we knew something was wrong, I closed off the town centre, as you saw, and closed down the main food store.”

  “Why’s that?” Rebecca asked.

  Boyd released the breath he had been holding in for a while. “Because if people started looting, it would bring further chaos in the future if help doesn’t arrive.”

  “I get it now,” Flynn replied.

  “How much food have you got?” Rebecca asked.

  Boyd looked out of the window into the town centre.

  “About two weeks’ worth,” he replied provided that the generators don’t run out.”

  “What generators?” Rebecca asked.

  Boyd dotted on the map, he didn’t have the energy to draw another circle.

  “Here,” he said. “All of the town’s power is powered from here. There’s only one slight problem…”

  Rebecca knew what he was going to say before he even spoke.

  “We were due for a fuel delivery within the next couple of days,” Boyd said, “for the generators. But now that all this has happened, the engineers at the station believe we have about half a day until it runs out.”

  “Shit,” Flynn gasped looking up at the ceiling.

  “How about the fuel from the vehicles in the town?” Rebecca asked.

  “Wouldn’t be enough,” Boyd replied.

  “Shit,” Flynn said again.

  “Where does the fuel come from?” Rebecca asked.

  Before Boyd could reply, there was a gentle knock on the door. He knew it wasn’t going to be serious because of the nature of the knock.

  “Come in,” Boyd called.

  There was a short pause before the door slowly started to open. Flynn, Rebecca, and Boyd watched as Phoebe slowly walked into the office. She started to sob.

  “Phoebe,” Boyd said. Phoebe started to cry. “Is your dad…” Boyd began to ask, but he was unable to finish the question.

  “Yes!” she cried “Yes he is!”

  “He was a fine mayor your dad,” Boyd praised, “and a fine man, too.”

  “What is going on?” Phoebe asked. “I saw people eating one another in the streets of Brisbane.”

  Boyd looked at Phoebe. “Truthfully, my darling, I don’t know, but I don’t want you to worry. I am going to protect you.” Phoebe wiped the tears from her face as Boyd spoke. “I promised your dad that I would look after you if something ever happened. And that is what I am going to do.”

  Flynn looked at Rebecca. He tilted his head, signalling her away from the talking couple. “So,” Flynn asked Rebecca. “What’s the plan?”

  “The plan for what?” she questioned.

  “For going to get fuel for the town.”

  Rebecca didn’t reply. She knew the town needed the fuel. She looked over at the mayor as he finished comforting Phoebe, who eventually slowly turned around and left the office.

  Flynn and Rebecca slowly walked back over to the mayor.

  “Where is this fuel depot?” Flynn asked.

  “Why do you ask?”

  Rebecca looked at Flynn. “We’re gonna go get the fuel,” she said.

  Boyd gave them the smile. It was a few seconds before he could do anything else. He walked over to a map of Australia that was hung on the wall above the fireplace which he used to keep the office warm during the freezing winters.

  “Here’s Tamagoroa,” he said, “and here is the depot,” he continued, pointing to an area that was farther away than Flynn and Rebecca had hoped.

  “Shit,” Flynn said, “that’s quite a drive.”

  “Yes,” Boyd replied. “About a three hours each way—if you don’t stop.”

  “We can go in the fire truck,” Flynn suggested. “Can you fill us up?”

  “I will arrange that,” Boyd replied.

  Deputy Sean Wallace, who had overheard the conversation, then stepped into the office. “Sir,” He intervened, “I would like to go with them. As a member of this town, which holds my family, I think it is my duty to help.”

  Flynn looked at Rebecca. “Shall we?” he asked. Flynn and Rebecca left the office and returned to the small group of survivors who were still standing by the fire truck. The sun was well into the sky now.

  “Bro,” Flynn said to Toby, giving him a hug.

  Deserine looked at Flynn. “Where are you going?” she asked in a soft voice

  Flynn finished hugging Toby. he looked at Deserine. She was starting to sob and was struggling to maintain eye contact with Flynn. He knew she was sorry for what she did to him.

  “Hey,” he said comfortingly, “It’s okay.”

  Flynn ran around to the other side of the fire truck. He pulled the door open and pulled Deserine tightly to his body. He let go of all of the anger from the past and forgot about the horrific memories of Michael. Flynn let her go. “I’ve got to go,” he said.

  “Where you have to go?” Deserine asked.

  “Where are you going, daddy?” Toby asked.

  “Daddy needs to go and get some gas.”

  “Gas?” questioned Deserine.

  “The town’s generator was due for a delivery this week but—well, you get the picture.”

  “What do you mean, ‘town generator’?”

  “The town has a generator that powers it. If it runs out of fuel, which it is due to very soon, the small hospital over there, the town hall, the police station, and the water filter will be out of order, putting this town in a state of chaos.”

  Deserine looked at Flynn.

  “So, me, Rebecca, Spence, and him over there are going to see if we can find some at a fuel manufacturing plant.”

  “Why can’t someone else go?”

  Flynn locked his eyes onto Deserine’s. “Because there is no one else.”

  Flynn picked up the axe. He turned around and looked at Rebecca. She was handed her rifle and ammunition from the people next to her.

  Boyd walked out of the town hall. “Flynn,” he called over. He had something in his hand—a black handgun, which he handed to Flynn along with an extra magazine. “I had one spare. You might need it. God knows what is waiting out there.” Boyd slowly walked back towards his office, disappearing through the doors without another word.

  Flynn shook his head and then looked over. He watched some of the town folks bring some cans of fuel over for the fire engine. They walked single file. One after the other, everyone poured their fuel into the tank. Flynn looked at the gauge on the side. The people had supplied enough to fill the fire truck to the max. A few of the cans were loaded into the side of the truck, ready to be used if needed.

  “Okay, let’s do this,” Flynn called out. Rebecca got into the fire engine.

  Phoebe looked at Flynn. “Hey, wait!” she called.

  Flynn looked down out of the window.

  “Listen, back there in Brisbane…” she said. “Thanks for saving my life.”

  “Not a problem”, Flynn replied. “Just doing my job.”

  Flynn pulled away from outside of the town hall. it was a short drive to the main road that led to the fuel plant. “Okay,” He ranted. “Let’s fucking do this.”

  F
lynn heard the fire truck roar to life. He looked at Spence as he climbed in through the door on the other side of the truck. He wound the window down and looked across at the Australian girl standing on the sidewalk.

  “Don’t worry, darling,” he called “I’ll be back soon, and you can show me the sights later.”

  Flynn shook his head at Spencer. He pushed the accelerator down, trying to keep his eye on the road ahead. All the cars had been moved out of the way when they were syphoned for fuel. Flynn grasped the wheel, looking into the side mirror, back at Deserine. She stood on the sidewalk outside of the town hall, grasping Toby. They soon disappeared from Flynn’s sight. Flynn shook his head. “Come on, focus,” he said.

  ***

  Chelsea wandered about in small circles in confusion, still grasping her phone. She saw something out the corner of her eye—a young boy around her age or maybe a bit younger or a bit older. He had locked his eyes onto her.

  One of the town’s police officers then walked up to the group. “If you guys want to follow me, the hotel over here has some empty rooms which the mayor has suggested it for you lot.”

  Chelsea looked at the boy. He started to walk over to the group. He looked at Chelsea as she looked down at her mobile phone. He could see the screen was off, though. He assumed she was waiting for a call from someone—a call that was never going to come.

  “Hey, my name’s Brett,” He said as he approached. Nobody replied. “Do you need anything?” he asked. “I can help you.”

  They continued ignoring him, walking towards the hotel across the street. It was not a big building, only two floors and around forty rooms. Brett looked at Chelsea’s phone as she kept staring at it.

  “I have that phone,” Brett stated. “Do you want my charger?”

  “Look, Brett,” Olivia snapped. “Thank you for trying to help us right now, but I think we, as a family need to be alone.”

  Brett froze. He knew Chelsea was going to take him up on his offer.

  “No, wait,” Chelsea said. She looked up at her mum. “I’ll see you soon.” Chelsea went over to Brett. They began walking away from the hotel together. Olivia didn’t have the energy to try to stop Chelsea.

  Brett looked at Chelsea. “Name’s Brett,” he said.

  “Chelsea.”

  “Where you from?”

  Chelsea stopped for a second.

  “Sorry,” he replied quickly.

  “No, its okay,” she replied. “Adelaide.”

  “Oh?” Is it nice?”

  “Was.”

  “My dad’s been there. He was away on business in Perth when all this happened. My mum went as well; they were going to meet some friends.”

  Chelsea looked over her shoulder at her family as they entered the hotel in the distance. She looked forward again, seeing a small group of houses.

  “This is my house,” he said.

  The house is new. There was not a scratch or mark on the wall. Brett opened the door and they walked in.

  “It’s upstairs,” Brett said. “I’ll find it for you.”

  Brett and Chelsea walked up the wooden steps towards his room. His room was immaculate, just like the front door. There was not a single mark on the flooring, the bed was made, his neat homework desk was in the corner. It was not the typical teenage boy’s room. There were no posters on the wall of pop stars. The occasional model car could be found on the window ledges.

  “How is your room so tidy?” she asked.

  “I like to keep things organised,” he answered. “I hate a mess.” Brett walked over to the side of his bed. He reached down and picked up the black charger. “Here you go. You can plug it in here.”

  Chelsea plugged the phone in. A quick vibrate later, it was booting up. The network provider logo floated around on the screen as the phone came back to life. Brett looked down at the background picture. It is of her and Justin. They were sitting on a park bench in Adelaide. The sun had been shining in from behind as they took the selfie. Chelsea could still remember the day very well. She had just finished school and was thinking about college. All those memories now seemed so distant.

  “Who’s that?” Brett asked.

  Chelsea just focused her eyes onto her and Justin as they sat on the park bench. She started to wipe a tear away from her face.

  “Hey,” he said.

  Chelsea struggled not to cry. “Sorry,” she said.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” Brett replied.

  Chelsea looked down at the telephone screen. The signal was dead. Nothing was getting through to her phone. All of her social media accounts were dead, giving her no tweets or status updates. All her friends were seemingly gone. She put the phone down on Brett’s bed.

  “Can I get you anything?” he asked

  Chelsea looked at Brett. “I am hungry,” she said.

  Brett jumped up off the bed. He shot down the stairs towards the kitchen and started flinging cupboard doors open. His mum and dad hadn’t been shopping since before the outbreak occurred, but he was able to put together a cheese sandwich for Chelsea. It wasn’t much, but it would do. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge as well and took it up to her.

  She was perched on the end of his bed. just sitting there, staring down at the phone screen, desperate for the signal to come back and for messages to pop up. Chelsea looked up at Brett as he stood there, looking down at her with her sandwich.

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  Brett handed her the plate. He watched her wolf the meal down. “I’m sorry it’s not much,” he said.

  Chelsea wiped her face. “No, it’s okay,” he replied.

  Brett looked at Chelsea as she finished eating the sandwich.

  “If you want to,” he asked, “you can take a quick shower.”

  “Can I?”

  “Yes, sure. There is even a clean towel in there.”

  ***

  Olivia sat down on the medical bed in the advanced hospital of Tamagoroa. A young nurse named Saheli—an Indian girl who was in her mid-20s—walked into the room.

  “Mrs. Ackerman?” the nurse asked.

  Olivia froze for a second. “Yes?” She sat up on the bed as she was given some blue robes. “Sorry!” she sobbed

  Saheli looked at Olivia as she wiped a few tears away from her face. She looked at Olivia. She pulled the small torch out of her top pocket and shone it into Olivia’s eyes; her pupils reacted normally.

  “So, what happened?” Saheli asked.

  Olivia was silent for a second. “We…” she began, “we ran off the road. That’s when we met the others.”

  “Others?”

  “Yes,” Olivia replied. “I was very lucky that guy with the fire truck came by.”

  Saheli placed her hands onto Olivia’s neck. “Do you have any pain here when I touch here?”

  “No.”

  “I can’t feel any damage,” Saheli said when she had finished the neck examination, “but I should take an x-ray just to make sure there is no damage to the vertebrae.”

  Olivia looked at Saheli. “Might as well,” she agreed.

  “I’ll arrange it,” Saheli replied.

  ***

  Brett and Chelsea re-entered the town centre. Chelsea felt a lot better after the sandwich and water. “Thank you for the sandwich,” she said.

  Brett looked at Chelsea. She still had the phone in the palm of her hand.

  “Not a problem,” he replied

  Brett looked across the street at the hospital. He saw Jett, who was sitting on the wall next to the steps leading into the hospital. “Isn’t that your brother?” he asked.

  Chelsea looked over to see Jett. He was smoking a cigarette. Brett and Chelsea walked over to him

  “You okay?” Brett asked him. Jett looked at Brett. “Oh,” Brett said. “Brett Frater.” Brett extended his hand.

  Jett still just looked at Brett, who stood there waiting to shake his hands. Jett slowly extended his hand, and they shook hands, maintaining eye contact. />
  “Where’s mum?” Chelsea asked.

  “Oh, inside,” Jett replied. “She is having a check-up after the accident.” Jett threw the cigarette away. He blew the last of the smoke away and then headed into the hospital, followed by Chelsea and Brett. They looked at the reception desk. No one was manning it.

  Brett looked over the counter to see if someone was around. “Hello?” he called. He looked down the hall, towards the wards. Chelsea looked at Brett. He gave her a smirk as he ventured into the hospital.

  It was not what they imagined it was going to be like inside. There were blood stains on the floor and, of course, on the windows—the typical zombie invasion scene.

  Jett looked around the hospital. There are some single wards around the hospital, which Jett looked into, eventually finding his mum. She was sitting on the bed. looking down at the floor. The wounds she had received from the accident had been cleaned.

  Olivia looked up and saw Jett and Chelsea waiting for her. “You guys okay?” she asked

  Chelsea nodded. Olivia looked over at Brett, who was still standing in the doorway.

  “Listen,” Olivia said to him. “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier.”

  “No please,” Brett replied. “It’s okay. Chelsea told me about your husband.”

  Olivia didn’t reply.

  Saheli entered the room. Jett looked at her, unable to take his eyes off her. She was holding onto the X-ray. She looked at Jett as he continued to lock his eyes onto her. She then looked down, slowly walking over to the board on the wall. She placed the piece of paper on the light. Olivia looked up at the X-ray of her neck.

  “Sorry it took a while,” Saheli said. “The hospital’s WiFi is down, so I couldn’t get it sent to my iPad.” Saheli looked at the X-ray of Olivia’s neck.

  “I can’t see any damage,” she said. “I think you need a few painkillers and some rest; that is the only thing that I can suggest.” Saheli looked at Jett as he still had his eyes locked onto her. “Call me if you need me,” she said to Olivia. Saheli slowly walked out of the room.

  Chelsea looked at Jett.

  “What?” Jett asked.

  Chapter Seven

  Flynn looked out the front of the fire truck. The sun was scorching down on the dead outback. Not a single life or animal form could be seen.