The Tasmania Trilogy (Book 1): Breakdown

by Owen Baillie

  “Shell?” Ken said.

  She tried to speak. Her body convulsed. “Yes,” she managed eventually, in half a voice.

  “I love you, Shell. You know that, don’t you?”

  Shelli nodded. “Yes, hun.” She swallowed, gathering herself, fighting to stop her grief. “Me too. I love you. Always.”

  And then Ken’s eyes lost focus. His head rolled slowly to the side, and then he was gone.

  Mac sat up on his knees, clenching his jaw, anger burning through him. Shelli shrieked and fell onto Ken’s chest, sobbing uncontrollably. Mac reached out and closed Ken’s eyes.

  49

  In the distance, across the sweeping landscape, sheets of rain fell. Nearby, heavy dark clouds circled.

  “Hold tight,” Sam said. “Don’t panic. Let me do the talking.”

  Juliet, Meg, Jessica, and Sam turned to face their pursuers. There were five men in total, including Ponytail—the one who had struck Bill with a club—and Black Jeans, the creepy, shaved-head man who had assisted Juliet out of the car.

  Ponytail was trying to control a vicious-looking black Doberman on a lead. “What the fuck is going on here?” Ponytail said to Sam, who was still down on one knee, a hand touching his bloody nose. “You do this, Samuel?”

  Sam let out a long breath and climbed to his feet. In addition to the blood, his nose was inflamed, and a dark mark—no doubt soon to be a bruise—stood out on his jaw. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop him.”

  Ponytail glanced around at the others. Meg had tears in her eyes. Both Jessica and Lory were panting. Black Jeans stared at Jessica with another creepy expression. Juliet wanted to wipe the look off his face but stood silent, knowing any action would only provoke them.

  Ponytail walked forward towards Sam, poking the club at his face. “You better hope you did what you could here, Samuel.” He walked past Sam, letting the dog pull him towards the fence. It sniffed around the site where Bill had climbed up and pressed his face against the wire from the other side. After a few moments, the dog turned away, no longer interested.

  “I was gonna give that big old biker a working over for messing up my nose,” Ponytail said. He handed the dog lead to Black Jeans and touched the side of his nose, which was now slightly swollen. “You’ll have to do.”

  With a swift swing, he brought the club around and struck Sam in the stomach. Sam grunted and clutched his belly. Juliet shot a glance at Jessica and Meg. Don’t say a word. If they spoke up, Ponytail would know Sam had tried to help them all escape. As if hearing her thoughts, Ponytail turned to Juliet. Watching Sam, she worked a smirk into her expression, as if Sam was getting what he deserved. It was difficult to do.

  Ponytail circled. “You tell me what really happened, Samuel. And I suggest you get it right the first time.”

  It took Sam a moment, but eventually he straightened up and said, “I told you. I couldn’t stop him.”

  “How’d they get out?”

  Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. They’d already left the vault when I spotted them.”

  Ponytail swiveled and pointed the club at Juliet. “You. What happened?”

  Her heart was beating fast. If she said the wrong thing here, it might mean a whole lot more suffering for one or more of them. She waved a hand towards the empty field. “I don’t know. Bill was fiddling with the door for a time. We told him not to bother, but he got it open. Somehow.”

  “You lot see anything?” He looked from Lory to Meg. They both shook their heads.

  Glaring at Sam, Jessica pointed to her nether region. “Asshole tried to grab me down there as I climbed the fence.”

  Ponytail chuckled. “Sweetheart, you’re lucky that’s all he did.”

  Another man, tall, blonde haired with a beard, scuffed the dirt with a brown boot. “Hey, man, maybe we should head back and go after this guy,”

  The first drops of rain rapped against the dry leaves. Ponytail considered this, looking from Blondie to the field beyond the fence, and then back towards the main entrance of the yard. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He started off then stopped and pointed the club at Sam. “The committee will decide if you’re to be punished, Samuel.”

  Sam nodded. “I did my best, Dennis.”

  Dennis—Ponytail—waved the club in a wide circle. “Everyone back to the vault.”

  As they began walking, Juliet glanced back towards the field. They had been so close to freedom, so close to having their lives back. Now, it was almost certain something horrible would befall at least one of them. She made a promise then, with her heart full of anger, that she would stop it from happening. In the short term, their lives were in their own hands. Bill couldn’t help. The authorities couldn’t help. And Sam was likely to be restricted. Walking back in a line, she glanced at Meg and Lory, whose faces reflected her inner thoughts. Lory was crying. But Juliet would not let the others understand her doubts. It was up to her now to hold them together until they were safe.

  She wished Skoota the best of luck and hoped the head start was enough to see him safely to Mole Creek for help.

  50

  Nightfall was upon them. Mac stood at the back window to the courtyard, looking out into the darkness. Thunder continued to roll across the sky around them like giant rocks cracking together. Rain fell in heavy sheets, drumming against the school’s iron roof. A good thing Mac thought; it would wash away all the blood from the school grounds.

  He’d spent a little time checking each room and the internal perimeter just to make sure they were tight. Jim had done a good job—no, an excellent job, in fact. His foresight had saved their lives, setting up a place of refuge with supplies—even power, once they got the generator going. If Mac hadn’t known better, he would have said Jim was trained in emergency management. Jim was not, but Mac supposed being in charge of five hundred kids and thirty staff was a good grounding.

  Whilst the team’s actions had killed a lot of the infected, others had been drawn to gunshots and the killing at the school, and now hundreds fed on the scattered bodies. When they were done doing that, they’d wander about the grounds, searching for more. The infected were in a never-ending cycle of killing. They might eventually learn there were humans holed up in the building and come for them. They would deal with that when it happened.

  Tyler explained what had happened out on Yan Yean Road. They had been parked off to the side when the infected burst through the bushes and attacked the car. Ken had tried to move, but they followed and climbed onto the trailer, chasing the remnants of blood from the last one the group had killed. Mac wondered how they had gotten past the tanker. Pushed it, Tyler said, by using the hood of the car to create a small gap with the ditch at the side of the road. Mac surmised it must have been empty of fuel.

  Smitty pulled up beside him, arms folded. “We gonna bury Dutch and Ken?”

  “As soon as it clears.”

  “I got the feeling Dutch was almost happy to be gone. He struggled with losing them.”

  “I can’t imagine.”

  “We gonna get through this, Mac?”

  Mac narrowed his eyes. “If I’ve given you the impression we won’t, I apologize.” Smitty chuckled. “I still intend to find my wife and go on living long after this fucking mess has been cleaned up.”

  “You think they’ll keep bombing?”

  “I don’t see any other way out of it.”

  Smitty glanced around. “Not a bad place we got here, is it?”

  “No. Not bad at all.”

  “There’s some food in the kitchenette if you boys are hungry,” Jim said from behind. Mac and Smitty turned to face him, and Jim continued, digging his hands into his pockets. “Listen, I want to thank you guys for arriving when you did. Without you … some of us wouldn’t be here.”

  “Truth is, we saw the need for help,” Mac said, “and at the time, we didn’t have a way around that tanker. Looks like in his desperation to escape the infected, Ken solved the problem. Now we need to get to Mole Creek.�
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  “The military setup?” Mac nodded in response to Jim’s question.

  Smitty said, “We gonna clean this place up a little?”

  “You think that’s possible?” Jim asked, eyes wide.

  “We’ve had a little combat training,” Mac replied, clamping Jim on the shoulder. “Though we don’t have a huge amount of ammunition. How’s Shelli?”

  “Lying down in the first aid room.”

  Mac raised his eyebrows. “I’ll check in on her soon.”

  “The bitch that killed Dutch is still out there,” Smitty said, shifting uneasily on his feet.

  “We hurt her though. And she can be killed.”

  An infected man thrust himself against the window. The glass shuddered under the force. Mac and Smitty did not flinch. Jim did, and looked embarrassed. It was it too dark to recognize its features, but the horrible gurgling sounds came through.

  “Tomorrow is a new day,” Mac said, turning away from the window. “And we’re not done yet.” Smitty and Jim followed. “We’re resourceful and defiant. We’ll take back your school, Jim, and then we’ll get down to Mole Creek.”

  “I like the sound of that,” Jim said. “I really do.”

  THE END

  Authors Note

  Although set in the same world as the first three books in the Invasion of the Dead series, you may have recognized that I did not call this story “book four”. Technically, it is the fourth book, but I wanted to open up the possibility for those who had not yet read the first three stories. I hoped by doing this, I might get a new wave of readers who would then go back and read the original trilogy. Stories 1-3 or 4-6 can be read in either order, but by the time we get to seven (before 2025, I hear you say), the reader will have to have read all six.

  That’s the plan. Two converging groups of people you have hopefully grown to love and respect, in a shootout—winner takes all. I’m just kidding, but there will be conflict as the two groups come together.

  For those wanting a conclusion to book three, I am sorry. I hope this read appeased you enough to create a desire for the next one. The book took far too long. Setting up new array of characters is a challenge; the next book should be a lot quicker, as most are established. Speaking of characters, I promised in a Facebook post a while ago to use some of the friendlier readers’ names as characters. I ended up using far more than I expected; I hope for those in the story, it was a small thrill.

  Once again, if you are able to leave a review for this book (or any other of mine you’ve read) I’d be sincerely grateful. I can’t understate the importance of a review for an independent author. Click here to leave a review for Breakdown.

  If you haven’t signed up to my mailing list, feel free to do so. It generally covers new book releases and every so often, I do a giveaway of paperbacks from the series. Click here to sign up. Your e-mail address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe easily at any time.

  Feel free to drop me a line about what you thought of the story, good or bad, or anything else. You can e-mail me at owen.baillie@bigpond.com.

  Here are some of my links to social media (there are so many these days):

  Facebook: Owen Baillie Author or Owen Baillie

  Website: owenbaillie.com

  I am looking forward to writing another one of these author’s notes soon.

  Thanks for reading,

  Owen

  Melbourne, Australia, March 2017.

  SIXTH CYCLE

  Nuclear war has destroyed human civilization.

  Captain Jake Phillips wakes into a dangerous new world, where he finds the remaining fragments of the population living in a series of strongholds, connected across the country. Uneasy alliances have maintained their safety, but things are about to change. -- Discovery leads to danger. -- Skye Reed, a tracker from the Omega stronghold, uncovers a threat that could spell the end for their fragile society. With friends and enemies revealing truths about the past, she will need to decide who to trust. -- Sixth Cycle is a gritty post-apocalyptic story of survival and adventure.

  Darren Wearmouth ~ Carl Sinclair

  DEAD ISLAND: Operation Zulu

  Ten years after the world was nearly brought to its knees by a zombie Armageddon, there is a race for the antidote! On a remote Caribbean island, surrounded by a horde of hungry living dead, a team of American and Australian commandos must rescue the Antidotes' scientist. Filled with zombies, guns, Russian bad guys, shady government types, serial killers and elevator muzak. Dead Island is an action packed blood soaked horror adventure.

  Allen Gamboa

  INVASION OF THE DEAD SERIES

  This is the first book in a series of nine, about an ordinary bunch of friends, and their plight to survive an apocalypse in Australia. -- Deep beneath defense headquarters in the Australian Capital Territory, the last ranking Army chief and a brilliant scientist struggle with answers to the collapse of the world, and the aftermath of an unprecedented virus. Is it a natural mutation, or does the infection contain -- more sinister roots? -- One hundred and fifty miles away, five friends returning from a month-long camping trip slowly discover that death has swept through the country. What greets them in a gradual revelation is an enemy beyond compare. -- Armed with dwindling ammunition, the friends must overcome their disagreements, utilize their individual skills, and face unimaginable horrors as they battle to reach their hometown...

  Owen Baillie

  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

  Alone in a foreign land. The radio goes quiet while on convoy in Afghanistan, a lost patrol alone in the desert. With his unit and his home base destroyed, Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson suddenly finds himself isolated and in command of a small group of men trying to survive in the Afghan wasteland. Every turn leads to danger

  The local population has been afflicted with an illness that turns them into rabid animals. They pursue him and his men at every corner and stop. Struggling to hold his team together and unite survivors, he must fight and evade his way to safety. A fast paced zombie war story like no other.

  ZOMBIE RUSH

  New to the Hot Springs PD Lisa Reynolds was not all that welcomed by her coworkers especially those who were passed over for the position. It didn’t matter, her thirty days probation ended on the same day of the Z-poc’s arrival. Overnight the world goes from bad to worse as thousands die in the initial onslaught. National Guard and regular military unit deployed the day before to the north leaves the city in mayhem. All directions lead to death until one unlikely candidate steps forward with a plan. A plan that became an avalanche raging down the mountain culminating in the salvation or destruction of them all.

  Joseph Hansen

  THE ALPHA PLAGUE

  Rhys is an average guy who works an average job in Summit City—a purpose built government complex on the outskirts of London. The Alpha Tower stands in the centre of the city. An enigma, nobody knows what happens behind its dark glass. Rhys is about to find out. At ground zero and with chaos spilling out into the street, Rhys has the slightest of head starts. If he can remain ahead of the pandemonium, then maybe he can get to his loved ones before the plague does. The Alpha Plague is a post-apocalyptic survival thriller.

  Michael Robertson

  THE GATHERING HORDE

  The most ambitious terrorist plot ever undertaken is about to be put into motion, releasing an unstoppable force against humanity. Ordinary people – A group of students celebrating the end of the semester, suburban and rural families – are about to themselves in the center of something that threatens the survival of the human species. As they battle the dead – and the living – it’s going to take every bit of skill, knowledge and luck for them to survive in Zed’s World.

  Rich Baker

  THE RECKONING

  Australia has been invaded.

  While the outnumbered Australian Defence Force fights on the ground, in the air and at sea, this quickly becomes a war involving ordinary people. Ben, an IT consultant has never fought a day in
his life. Will he survive? Grant, a security guard at Sydney's International Airport, finds himself captured and living in the filth and squalor of one of the concentration camps dotted around Australia. Knowing death awaits him if he stays, he plans a daring escape. This is a dark day in Australia's history. This is terror, loneliness, starvation and adrenaline all mixed together in a sour cocktail. This is the day Australia fell.

  Keith McArdle

  GRUDGE

  The United States Navy led an expedition to Antarctica in December 1946, called Operation Highjump. Officially, the men were tasked with evaluating the effect of cold weather on US equipment; secretly their mission was to investigate reports of a hidden Nazi base buried beneath the ice. After engaging unknown forces in aerial combat, weather forced the Navy to abandon operations. Undeterred, the US returned every Antarctic summer until finally the government detonated three nuclear missiles over the atmosphere in 1958. Unfortunately, the desperate gamble to rid the world of the Nazi scourge failed. The enemy burrowed deeper into the ice, using alien technologies for cryogenic freezing to amass a genetically superior army, indoctrinated from birth to hate Americans. Now they’ve returned, intent on exacting revenge for the destruction of their homeland and banishment to the icy wastes.

  Brian Parker