by Wilde, J. M.
It was Wyatt and Ben.
My heart skipped a beat and a wide smile spread across my face as they saw me, but their astonished expressions told me that they hadn’t heard the news of my survival.
“Eva?” Wyatt croaked, his voice catching in his throat from surprise. Ben stood next to him, his jaw hanging open and his eyes wide.
“Don’t freak out,” I said, holding a hand out. I walked towards them, unable to hide my happiness even though they were clearly in a state of shock. “I can explain.”
Wyatt exhaled as though he’d been holding his breath for days. “Eva.” He stepped towards me and took me in his arms, and I could feel his heart racing in his chest.
“I missed you,” I said, trying to fight my tears. I relaxed into him, relieved that he was okay, that we were all okay. He held my head in his hands and kissed me, and I felt his tears falling into my own.
“I don’t get it,” Ben said, confusion in his voice. “You’re not infected?”
“Not anymore,” I said as Wyatt moved aside so I could hug Ben. I heard the click of the door handle and turned to see Jo walking inside, gasping and holding a hand to her chest when she saw us.
“You’re here!” she grinned. “You’re all here!” She hugged us all, and it felt good to be all together again. “How did you guys get here?”
“Some army guys came into our room this morning,” Ben said. “They said we were being moved to another ship, and brought us here.”
“They gave us a room on the floor below,” Wyatt added. “But then told us to wait in here. I guess now we know why.” He turned to me and took my hand. “How are you here? How did you ...?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. The four of us sat on the bottom bunks and I told them everything, explaining to Ben and Wyatt how I survived the river and the infection, and telling Jo why Commander Renner had taken me during the night.
Chapter Fifteen
The next day, after a long-awaited reunion with my friends and a good night’s sleep, I arose to see we were on the coast of Melbourne. I looked through our cabin window, watching the skyline of my hometown as the ship slowed to a stop in the ocean. An army helicopter flew up ahead, returning to one of the war ships after dropping flyers over the city. The captain’s voice filtered through the speakers in the hall, and I opened our door to hear what he was saying.
“The Melbourne rescue operation will commence in thirty minutes,” the muffled voice said. “All rescue volunteers; prepare to disembark. I’ve been informed we still need another five or six volunteers on the rescue boats to assist in the transportation of survivors. Anyone who would like to help out, please report to Bill at the induction area.”
“I want to volunteer,” said Jo, who had joined me at the door.
“Me too.”
We left Lea and Skye sleeping soundly in their bunks and walked up the three flights of stairs to the induction area, where Bill was waiting.
“We’d like to volunteer to help on the rescue boats,” I said when we reached him.
“Great!” he said. “We need as much help as we can get.” He handed us each a life jacket. “Put these on. All we need you to do is stay on the rescue boat while we move survivors from the barge to the ship. As you know from your own experience, these rescues can be overwhelming for survivors, so your job is basically to comfort anyone who needs it and help them to and from the boat.”
“We’d like to help too,” a voice said from behind me, and I turned to see Wyatt and Ben walking towards us. Bill handed them life jackets and led us down to the rescue boats.
“We need two volunteers per boat,” he said. Two boats sat swaying next to the ship, each with a driver waiting for volunteers to join them, and Wyatt and Ben jumped aboard the first while Jo and I jumped on the second. We were about to take off when a third volunteer joined us, a short bearded man with a camera hanging from a strap around his neck.
“This is Dave,” Bill called from the ship. “He’s a photojournalist. He’ll be going with you to document the rescue.”
I nodded and smiled at Dave. “Hi,” I said before we started speeding towards the port.
“Are you a survivor?” he asked as the boat crashed against the waves. He had a noticeable American accent.
“Yes,” I said. “Jo and I were rescued in Sydney.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really? And you’re willingly going on a rescue?”
“Why wouldn’t we?” I asked, confused by his question. “We’re from Melbourne, and we want to help.”
“I’m just surprised you would voluntarily go back into the danger zone,” he said. “I mean, at least I’m getting paid to do this. No way would I actually choose to be here. It’s depressing as hell.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering if he meant to be as insulting as he sounded. I looked at Jo, who rolled her eyes at me, making me smirk.
We pulled up next to one of the barges, waiting for the first load of survivors. I stood up to get a better view of the operation, and all I could see was chaos. On land, survivors outnumbered the zombies that surrounded them, but they were far from safe. Most of the uninfected were fighting off the horde, with military joining the war and snipers firing at the monsters as fast as their guns would allow. People were scrambling onto the barges, crowding the entrances to a dangerous level. Screams and cries were coming from every direction as some people were attacked by zombies and others begged to be let onto the barge. Even thousands of military personnel and volunteers still were not enough to save everyone. It was the most saddening and horrifying sight I had ever seen. I felt helpless, all I could do was stand there and wait for survivors to be cleared of the virus, only then could I help them onto the boat and take them to the ship. I waited while a line started to form on the barge, and soon the first group were climbing in. I held my hand out and helped them step on one by one, with Jo taking them to a seat and Dave snapping pictures. When he pointed the camera at me, I swatted it away.
“Don’t worry. You look fine,” he said dismissively before shoving it in my face again. “Smile.”
“I’m not worried about how I look,” I said, pushing the camera away again with more force. “You’re in my way. I’m trying to help these people and you’re slowing us all down.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned his camera towards the survivors, who were too distressed to notice they were being photographed. I wanted to stop him, but the boat was reaching capacity and with more people waiting, I had to focus.
Within minutes, our boat was full and we were pulling away from the barge, on our way to deliver the first load of people to the cruise ship. I did my best to comfort my fellow survivors by telling them they were okay, that they would be safe from that moment on. For some of them, my words helped a great deal, but others just stared absentmindedly over the water, tears streaming down their faces, too distraught to comprehend what I was saying.
The boat knocked against the side of the ship as people clamored off in a hurry, and once again we were zooming back to the barge, where more people were already lined up. We continued going back and forth between vessels for hours, moving at least 150 survivors on our boat alone, with Wyatt and Ben’s boat moving even more, having started ahead of us. By the time we set off on our final pick up, it was well past midday and the sun was bearing down on us. Only a handful of survivors remained on the barge, the last few being tested while the rest waited in line for us to collect them. But as we approached, I knew something had gone terribly wrong.
A fight had broken out. A man was trying to choke one of the medical staff, tearing at his biohazard suit to get to his neck. Others in suits grabbed hold of him and pulled him away, holding him back as he writhed in their arms. A woman ran in front of him, putting her hands on his chest and trying to calm him down, two children cowering by her side. A sick feeling rose from the pit of my stomach as we got closer, and I saw the medics talking to each other and looking at one of their handheld blood testing devices.
&nbs
p; “I’m not one of them!” the man yelled when we pulled up. “Test me again!”
The woman turned her attention to the staff, weeping in desperation. “Please,” she wailed. “Please test him again.” As the man tried to wriggle out of the grip of the medics, his shirt ripped, revealing a series of bites and cuts on his shoulder, chest and abdomen that looked horribly infected. The wounds were deep, gaping and seeping some sort of discharge. I wanted to help, to find a way to give him Priya’s treatment, but with one look at his grey skin and glazed eyes, I knew it was too late. The virus had already taken over, he was only holding himself together to get his family on the ship. And even if he could receive treatment, his wounds surely would kill him anyway. As the device beeped with the results of the second testing, reconfirming that the man was indeed infected, he broke free from the medic’s grip and started running for the boat, straight to me.
“Eva, look out!” Jo called as she pushed me out of the way, placing herself in the line of danger. The man dove onto the boat, knocking Jo off her feet and over the side and into the ocean.
“Jo!” I peered over the side to see her floating face down in the water. Behind me, a group of soldiers rushed the boat, grabbing the man and pulling him back onto the barge. “Help!” I called as I swung my legs over the side and jumped into the ocean. I swam to Jo and turned her over, my panic growing when I saw her lips were already a light shade of blue and her head was bleeding. I linked an arm around her and started swimming back to the boat, grabbing hold of a lifesaver that had been thrown down for us. I held on to it with all my strength as the waves crashed against us, knocking my back into the side of the boat. As we rose up out of the water, I saw the infected man collapse, hanging lifeless in the arms of troops. The woman fell to her knees by his side, wrapping her arms around her children as they cried together. I slumped onto the floor of the boat, dripping wet and shivering as I watched a soldier perform CPR on Jo. “Please, Jo,” I whispered. “Please wake up.”
The click-click-clicking of Dave’s camera caught my attention, and I turned to see him taking photos of Jo’s unconscious body. “Seriously?” I asked, covering the lens with my hand. He rolled his eyes and turned his camera to the grieving mother and children as they wept together. Overwhelmed with fury, I covered the lens again, pushing the camera back into his face.
“Hey,” he said, pulling away from me. “Give me a break. I’ve got a job to do. People want to see the destruction and despair.” He pointed at the family. “That’s it.”
“That,” I said through gritted teeth, “is a family who just lost someone they love. They are people who’ve come this far, made it through nightmare after nightmare, just to get to this boat, only to have all their hopes ripped apart at the last second. I know you’ve got a job to do as a photojournalist, but you’ve also got a job to do as a human being, and that’s to show some damn respect.”
At that moment, Jo sprung to life, coughing up water and gasping for air. I kneeled next to her, rubbing her back as she sat up, dazed by the experience.
“She needs to go to the hospital carrier,” the soldier said to me. “That cut will need stitches and she might have a concussion.” He waved down a passing rescue boat that was going to the hospital and together we helped Jo onto it.
“I’ll come with you,” I said, but she shook her head.
“No, I’m fine. They need you here. Help that family.”
“Okay,” I said, letting go of her hand just as the boat sped away. I turned my attention back to the rescue operation, trying not to think about how close I’d come to losing my best friend.
The infected corpse lay motionless on the barge while everyone around it scrambled to get the distraught family onto our boat before he turned. It was traumatizing enough for them to see him die, but we all knew that he would have to be taken care of when he came back as a zombie, and that was something no-one wanted his family to witness. I picked up the youngest of the two children and lifted her onto the boat, still fuming at Dave as he incessantly snapped photographs. I put the girl down on a seat and turned to him, red with rage.
“Look,” I growled. “You’ve got your photos, now help. We need to get outta here.” He thought for a moment before nodding and stepping closer to the edge of the boat, joining me to help the last few survivors on board.
The air was thick with nervous tension as we started to pull away from the barge. I stood at the back, taking one last look at Melbourne. I watched over it, tracing my eyes over every skyscraper, every street, trying to imprint it on my memory. It felt very strange, watching the city I grew up in—all I had ever known—fade away into the distance. I wasn’t sure what the future held, but I knew the chances of ever seeing my home again were slim.
Chapter Sixteen
I walked into the dining area, freshly showered and cleaned up after my impromptu dip in the ocean. The tray clanged against the bar as I slid it across the buffet line, dumping piles of mashed potatoes and rice onto my plate.
“Eva,” a voice called from behind me, and I turned to see Lea and Skye sitting at a table by the window. I carried my tray over and joined them, relieved to be sitting down after a tumultuous day.
“You okay?” Lea asked, her mouth full of potato.
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “Tired from the rescue operation.”
“You volunteered?” Skye asked.
I nodded as I hungrily shoved a spoonful of rice in my mouth.
They glanced at each other. “That means you don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?”
Lea swallowed and placed her fork on her tray. “Perth’s gone.”
“Huh?” I asked, confused.
“The US Army sent a plane to drop flyers over the city, but when they arrived ...” Skye trailed off, staring at her plate.
Lea put an arm around her. “The entire city and surrounding areas are either in flames or in ashes.”
“What happened?” I asked, astounded at the news.
“No-one knows,” Lea said. “Could have been bush fires, explosions, people using fire to kill the zombies. But apparently it looks like it’s been burning for at least three or four days. Something huge must have gone down there.”
“Whatever happened,” Skye said. “The Perth rescue has been cancelled. It’s too dangerous to go near it. Besides, from what we’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like anyone could survive there.”
After hearing that, my appetite disappeared, but I hadn’t eaten all day and needed to take care of myself, so I forced another spoonful of rice in my mouth. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Wyatt smiling down at me.
“Hey,” he said as he leaned in and kissed me on the forehead. I loved how he could make me smile even amongst the hardships we were all going through. The familiarity of him and my friends helped me regain a shred of normalcy that I valued immensely. He pulled a chair out and sat next to me, resting his arm on my shoulder. Ben joined us, a smile on his face as he started eating his dinner. They looked happy, which made it harder for me to tell them what happened to Jo.
“Is she okay?” Ben asked with wide eyes after I told them everything.
“She’s fine, but I want to go see her after dinner.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ben said.
“Me too,” added Wyatt.
We found a volunteer to drive us over to the M1 hospital carrier and arrived just as the sun had faded on the horizon. A nurse escorted us to the ward, and I ran up and hugged Jo the moment I saw her. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better,” she said. “They’re just keeping me overnight for observation.”
Ben sat on the end of her hospital bed. “I’m glad you’re okay. It must have been scary, getting pushed into the water like that.”
“I don’t really remember it,” she said. “And I’m not sure I want to.”
I glanced around the room. It was a large ward, with room for at least one hundred patients, but only twenty beds were filled.
As I looked around, I was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face nearby.
“Ash!” I said as I approached her bed. I hadn’t seen her since the Sydney rescue. “I was wondering what happened to you. I thought they must have taken you to one of the other ships.”
“Hey!” she smiled. “Nope, still here.” Her right arm and shoulder were in a sling, and an IV was attached to her left arm. “I broke my arm and dislocated my shoulder on our rooftop run. And apparently I’m severely dehydrated.”
“Woah,” I said. “How long do you have to stay here for?”
“Only another day or so.”
A high pitched scream rattled through the hallway, making everyone jump. Not a single person in the ward moved, frozen in fear as we listened carefully. Another scream rang out, sparking us into motion.
Wyatt moved to the door while I made a bee-line for the window overlooking the hall. I inched the curtain open, peering out to see a group of soldiers running by, their guns pointed forward. Ben joined me at the window to see what was going on. Seconds later, the sound of dozens of gunshots echoed through the ward.
It was happening again.
“Get Jo,” I said to Ben. “It’s time to go.”
Ben helped Jo out of bed while I ran over to Ash and told her we had to leave. Wyatt started rounding up the other patients, all of whom could walk but some needed to bring their IVs with them.
“Where are we going?” Ash asked as we all gathered at the door.
“We need to get off this hospital carrier,” I said.
A shadow moved across the window, and I looked out to see a zombie walking by. I moved back and gestured for Wyatt to lock the door. We stood frozen as more shadows fell across the curtains, too many to keep count.