Dead Tropics

by Sue Edge

  “Last time I’m sending you to the shops.” Emma declared cheekily.

  I responded in kind. “You know what the shops are like on a Saturday. We had to fight the crowds.”

  Mike snorted, busy trying to fend off the delighted licks of Phoebe who had jumped into his arms. “That’s an understatement.”

  Kaye shooed us into the living room. “Eat first and then you can tell us all about it.”

  I pulled off my backpack. “Food would be great but first I need to get these antibiotics into Sarah.”

  I looked questioningly at Emma.

  “I’ve been treating her with fluids but the fever is still present. The sooner we get the antibiotics into her, the better.”

  I followed her into the kids’ bedroom where the four toddlers were sleeping. Sarah was flushed and restless even in her sleep. A pang went through me anew at the sight of her shortened arm, but, I reminded myself, she was still alive and that was all that mattered, ultimately.

  Emma set up the intravenous line for the antibiotics while I sat down beside my baby. Sarah stirred and opened her eyes.

  “Mummy!” She smiled. “Miss’ you.”

  Tears blurred my eyes as a wave of fierce, possessive love gripped me. “I missed you too, baby.”

  Bending forward, I kissed her hot forehead.

  “Allie ‘nock me over.” She pouted, making me laugh. Dobbing is an art mastered young.

  “Bad Allie.” I shook my finger at the bunk above us. Sarah giggled, and squirmed delightedly. I grinned and tucked the sheet in around her.

  “Now go to sleep, rug rat. You’ll feel a lot better when you wake up.”

  Emma’s eyes were twinkling mischievously as I rose. “One day this will make a great bed time story.”

  “What’s that?”

  “How mummy braved zombies to get the medicine her daughter needed.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, leaving out all the bits where mummy screamed like a baby.”

  In the living room, Mike was hoeing into a simple meal of baked beans and scrambled eggs while holding his audience captive with the tale of our adventures. It smelt so good that my mouth instantly watered. Kaye saw my face and rose from the table. “Coming right up.”

  Mike looked over at me with a warmth in his eyes which instantly brought a blush to my cheeks. Of course, his sharp eyes noted it and his lips quirked in amusement. I didn’t even know how to begin dealing with my rash, uncharacteristically impulsive behaviour, so, maturely, I chose to ignore it entirely. Pulling up a chair, I promptly devoured the meal Kaye placed before me, in record time.

  I was content to let Mike finish filling the others in on the events of the day. Pushing back the plate, I looked around at the group. On my left, Ken stood behind Emma’s chair with his hand touching her shoulder; across from me, Michele, Lucas and Jessie sat wide-eyed around Mike, with Phoebe the chihuahua wriggling in his lap, while Kaye brewed some strong coffee in the nearby kitchen. They all appeared spell bound by Mike’s rendition of our ‘adventures’. Zombies, crocodiles, soldiers - maybe one day it would sound exciting to me, too, instead of a bloodcurdlingly terrifying memory. At least I prayed that day would have the opportunity to come.

  “There were zombies in the water?” Emma shivered dramatically. “God, I would have died from pure fright.”

  “Not high on my list of activities to repeat. Ever.” I agreed, with a blandness to equal Mr. Cool across the table.

  “So the army is pulling out?” Ken questioned, a frown on his face. “What do you think that means?”

  Mike’s mouth tightened. My pulse started to race in anticipation of what he was going to say.

  “It means they’ve written the city off.”

  Ken wrinkled his forehead. “What does that mean for us? Are we supposed to just sit tight while this virus burns itself out?”

  Emma’s eyes widened. “Of course not!”

  She glanced around the table. “It doesn’t mean that, does it? They wouldn’t just leave us. There are still people alive in this town!”

  I looked across the table at Mike. “It means they’ve decided to abandon standard warfare methods. Isn’t that right, Mike?”

  He met my eyes squarely. “Yes.”

  Mike looked around the table. “The captain I knew, Anders, said the situation was getting out of control - army bases overrun, units destroyed, the horde doubling every couple of hours. Some hours ago, Headquarters gave the order to make sure all units were at least a hundred miles out of town by 0700 hours.”

  “Wait a minute. Are we talking safe minimum distance?” Ken asked, eyes widening in dismayed understanding.

  Mike nodded, eyes hooded.

  “Isn’t that to do with nuclear bombs?” Kaye stood in the doorway of the kitchen, concern on her face.

  Mike nodded again.

  Emma gasped, reaching over her shoulder to clutch Ken’s hand. I knew how she felt. I couldn’t believe where this conversation was going. I had dreaded hearing that they were going to drop bombs on us but now Mike seemed to be suggesting…

  Ken was the first to break the silence. “You’re actually suggesting our own army is going to nuke us.”

  Mike inclined his head. His normal affable good humor had disappeared. That, more than anything, revealed how serious a situation this was.

  “The government would never allow it.” Kaye argued vehemently. “The backlash…”

  “They can’t let this virus get out, Kaye. It has destroyed this town and an army in less than two days.” Mike rationalised calmly. “Imagine what a virus like this could do to the country - or even the world. In the face of a threat like that, we are acceptable losses, I’m afraid.”

  The Escape

  1

  We looked wordlessly at each other around the table. The kids’ faces were ashen. I imagined I looked much the same. My head spun. A nuclear bomb. I just could not get my head around it. Sighing, I rubbed my eyes. I didn’t want to deal with this, not yet. Give me time to catch my breath, I pleaded childishly to the nameless gods.

  “What are we going to do?” Michele squeaked, her eyes wide with panic, her breath coming fast. “Mum?”

  I took a deep breath. “Okay. Whether they are going to nuke this town or just abandon us, we need to get the hell out. Agreed?”

  There was a murmur of still stunned agreement. I looked at Mike. “Assuming this is happening, how much time do we actually have?”

  “Troop withdrawals were to be completed by 0600 hours. However, in light of the army base being overrun, that may have changed.”

  “Great. So the best-case scenario is that we have less than seven hours to get out of Dodge and reach a ‘safe minimum distance’. Worst case, it’s too late.”

  Mike nodded, with a wry quirk of his lips. “Pretty much sums it up.”

  “Okay. So let’s have some ideas on how best to get out of here.”

  “The highways are impassable which leaves hiking out on foot or going by sea. Considering the small tykes, hiking out isn’t really feasible so the only real option is to get out by sea.” Mike summarised.

  “Right.” I said slowly. “That means going to the marina to find a boat.”

  “One with lots of fuel.” Lucas quietly added. “We don’t know how far we are going to have to travel to find somewhere safe.” It was the first time I had heard him speak since I got home.

  “So, to recap, we just need to get across the zombie-infested town safely, and find ourselves a big, powerful, fuelled up boat.” I said, drily. “That should be easy. Oh, and does anyone know how to drive one?”

  Mike, Ken and Lucas put up a hand. Well, of course, I thought, just managing to control the urge to roll my eyes. What self respecting man in Cairns doesn’t know how to fish and steer a boat.

  “What about Uncle Joe?” Michele asked quietly. She was looking at me with hurt in her eyes. She thinks I’m abandoning him.

  “Once we have a boat, we will be able to find him, Michele.” I assured
her. “We know he’s coming in from Jorge’s Patch, so we can plot a course that will intercept him on his way in.” I looked at the men questioningly to confirm that I was right.

  Ken nodded. “Sure. We can also broadcast on the emergency channel to cover our bases. If the boat is monitoring it, they should hear us.”

  See, I smiled reassuringly at Michele, it will be alright. She smiled back. I could see the tension in her shoulders relaxing. I wished I was as easily reassured. We needed to be on the water in six hours. So many things could go wrong in that time…I might not even get the chance to warn Joe and Andy away from Cairns. My mind shied away from the thought. Focus on the here and now, I told myself firmly.

  “The closest marina would be Yorkey’s Knob.” Ken said, thoughtfully, removing his glasses to rub them.

  “Um, I have a question.” Kaye put up a manicured hand. “How are we going to get to the cars? I doubt staging a distraction will get rid of enough corpses for all of us to get to the cars.”

  “Forget the cars.” Mike interrupted, searching his pockets for some gum. “There’s a pile-up blocking the road over the hill. There’s no getting through by car.” Damn, I’d forgotten about that.

  “We’ll go via the creek.” He continued.

  “Huh?” I think I spoke for all of us.

  “We float downstream till we get past the blockage, then we find a car, and drive out.” He looked pretty pleased with himself. Smug bastard.

  Emma looked horrified. “What about the zombies? They might be in the water!”

  Mike shook his head. “The current is too fast, I think.”

  Ken squeezed Emma’s shoulder comfortingly. She didn’t look convinced. “What about the kids? We can’t hold the babies afloat the whole way.”

  Kaye smiled. “That’s one thing we don’t have to worry about. Living in the tropics with kids means we have every water toy imaginable. We’ve got an inflatable boat, air mattresses, floaties, boogie boards…”

  “Okay, okay.” Emma laughed. “I get the idea.”

  I looked at my watch, seeing the time ticking inexorably away. “Let’s make a list of essential items to take with us. Do you think we can be ready to leave in an hour?”

  “We need to be.” Mike said grimly. The reminder of what was hanging over our heads sent a cold shiver through me. As desperately as I had fought to keep my family safe, I knew that some things were out of my control, and that knowledge made me sick with fear. Swallowing, I put the thought at the back of my mind. Focus on the here and now, Lori, I repeated.

  After allocating tasks to everyone at the table, we broke up the meeting. I rummaged through our medical supplies, trying to decide what to bring. I also needed to prepare Sarah for the trip. Her limb needed to be protected from the water and any bacteria.

  Emma sat down beside me, handing me the antibiotics from the bedroom.

  “So what’s going on?” She asked with a meaningful nod towards Mike, who was bagging his guns to protect them from the water. I flushed. Trust Emma not to miss anything when it came to men and women.

  “Nothing, really.” I replied awkwardly.

  “Which means, something happened.”

  I could feel my cheeks flaming. “It was just a moment of temporary insanity - on both our parts. I still love Charles, you know that. I’m not ready for someone else in my life. I don’t know how it happened…” How the hell do I put into words the tangled emotions I felt?

  “Do you feel something for Mike?” Yeah, I thought, maybe it was easy to put into words after all. I nodded slowly, feeling I was somehow betraying Charles just by acknowledging the fact.

  “Well.” She sat back on her heels. “Then it would seem you are ready for someone else in your life. I know the timing sucks but you deserve someone special, Lori, and from what I can see, Mike is a hell of a guy.”

  I shoved the medicine into a duffel bag. ” Like I said, it was just a moment of temporary insanity. We’d just been through so much and the way he was looking at me…” I swallowed, knowing I was babbling.

  Emma touched my hand understandingly. “I get it, Lori. You two have fought beside each other, faced life and death situations…it doesn’t get much more intimate than that. It’s not surprising you two have developed a bond so quickly. That doesn’t mean you are betraying Charles’ memory.”

  “So I shouldn’t feel guilty?” I said wryly, glancing sideways at her. “Is that your point?”

  She grinned. “My point is, give yourself a break, Lori. If we survive the day, then you can beat yourself up for being human. Until then, count yourself lucky that you have a man like Mike to watch your back. And let’s face it - he is hot!”

  I snorted. “It’s amazing how you can make feeling something for someone other than my husband sound perfectly normal.”

  “Your dead husband, Lori. And who knows what normal is in a situation like this?” Emma said drily, getting up. “Let’s just focus on getting out of it alive.”

  Amen to that.

  In the lounge room, the CB came to life. “Mike, you there?”

  Mike trotted back inside and grabbed the handset. “Travis! Good to hear from you.”

  “Yeah, you too, mate. Have you heard from the other groups? I’ve lost contact with them.”

  Mike exchanged a concerned look with Ken and me. Ken shook his head.

  “No, sorry. What is your situation, Travis?”

  “Not so good. The security screens gave way. We’ve barricaded ourselves here in the storeroom.”

  “Any way out?”

  “We could go through the loading dock, I guess. We’ve got trucks parked out back but we’d have to fight our way through the dead people. No one’s too keen on doing that.”

  Kaye and Emma joined us, concern on their faces. Mike rubbed his head. “Unfortunately, I think you are going to have to, mate. This whole city is going to be nothing more than an ugly blot on the landscape in a few hours.”

  Silence. “Say again?”

  “We have it on pretty good authority that the city is going to be levelled in the morning. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”

  There was a long pause. “Shit.”

  Mike snorted. “Yeah.”

  “So what’s your plan, Mike?”

  “We’re heading for the Yorkey’s Knob marina, grabbing a boat, and getting the hell out of here.”

  “Right. Well, maybe we’ll see you there, mate. Once I’ve persuaded this group to fight our way to the trucks, that is. We’re bound to lose a lot of good people, though…”

  “Good luck, Travis.” Mike said softly. “Hope to see you again.”

  “Thanks, mate. Good luck to you, too.”

  We stood in a somber circle for a few minutes. I wondered morosely if any of us would still be alive this time tomorrow. Mike stirred himself. “We’re wasting time. Grab your backpacks, weapons and gather the kids. It’s time to go.”

  Twenty minutes later, we all stood in the kitchen, ready to go. Kaye, Emma, Lucas and Michele each had a drowsy baby strapped to their backs. I had tried to take Sarah but Michele shooed me away. “I can do it, mum. I’m bigger and stronger than you.”

  As I knew that my ability to protect them might depend on my agility and freedom, I, reluctantly, didn’t argue with her. Jessie had Phoebe tucked in a little backpack. I wondered about the wisdom of bringing the dog but as Mike seemed to have more control over her than I did over my children, I said nothing.

  “Mummy!” Grumbled a tousled haired Alex from Lucas’ back. “Wan’ get down!”

  “Ssh, Alex!” I scolded. “Only soft voices, remember?” I prayed that the hike would soon lull the babies back to sleep. I knew that riding on my father’s back as a child had always had that effect on me. In addition, I had given them a dose of antihistamines to make them drowsy and less inclined to talk. A loud voice outside could be catastrophic. I shuddered at the thought and crossed my fingers, effective as I knew that would be.

  Mike quietly opened the
back door. From beneath the house rose the moans and thuds of the dead people waiting for us. In the dim moonlight, he pulled himself up the steep bank and into the forest. As Kaye and Emma followed with difficulty, Mike reached down and offered them a hand. The kids and I were next while Ken brought up the rear. As quiet as we tried to be, the moans suddenly intensified. They know we’re up here, I thought, my pulse quickening.

  We pushed our way upwards, through the moist, dense rainforest. Tree branches and vines whipped our faces and roots tripped our feet as we struggled to find our way in the dark. Within minutes, I was dripping sweat and feeling the strain. I heard a baby whine in protest as something snagged it, quickly hushed. Finally, Mike decided we had put enough distance between us and the corpses, and marched us towards the road and the creek that ran beside it.

  Beside the fast flowing creek, we unpacked the pool toys and the hand pump. Ken and Lucas stood guard while we quickly inflated the small boat, air mattress and arm floaties. Wading into the creek with the boat, Mike held it steady against the bank while we placed the suddenly wide-awake babies in it. Jessie held onto the air mattress nervously. While she was a good swimmer, she had never been in a fast current before.

  “Ready?” I smiled at her encouragingly. “Remember, don’t panic. Just go with the current and when we are ready to get out, just swim sideways until you reach the bank.”

  Jessie nodded, her brown eyes fixed on me, but her grip remained tight on the air mattress.

  Kaye and I grabbed the boat and waded into the middle of the creek, water gushing around our thighs. The babies watched us, uncertain as to whether to be scared or excited.

  “Remember, only whispers.” I murmured to them with a smile. “We don’t want to wake the neighbours.” Or let anything else know we’re coming.

  I nodded at Kaye, and with a deep breath, lowered myself into the water and let the current take us. Immediately, we surged forward down the creek. In the moonlight, I could see Jessie hanging onto the air mattress with Phoebe’s head poking out of her backpack, buttressed by Michele and Lucas. I felt so proud of the way the teens had stepped up. I knew Jessie was in safe hands. Glancing to my left, I saw Emma, Ken and Mike swimming nearby, at ease with the fast flowing current.