by Alex Burns
I looked closer at the camera. There was an arrow scratched into the gate. I rolled my eyes, but pushed the button.
I waited. The dogs realised I was no longer following them and milled about my legs. Maggie lent on me, her weight pushing me into the gate.
Nothing happened, so I pushed the button again.
“Yes?” Ollie’s voice crackled over an intercom. I jumped. Horatio barked.
“It’s me. Alice.”
There was a faint buzz, and the gate swung open. I frowned at it, and then stepped through and started walking up the garden path towards the house. He’d boarded up half the windows since I was last there.
“Are you preparing for the zombie apocalypse?” I asked when he opened the door. He ran a hand through his dishevelled hair, and stepped back to let me in.
“What?” he asked, absent-mindedly.
I jerked my head towards the windows.
“Oh. Right. No.”
Ollie, always so forthcoming.
“You got the generator working then?” It was light inside, despite the boarded up windows and I could hear the unmistakable hum of technology.
“No. But I rigged up something else.”
The dogs and I followed him through to the kitchen.
“Can I offer you a drink?”
“Water’s fine,” I said, sitting down at the end of the table. There wasn’t much clear space on it. Tools and electronics covered most of the table and half the floor.
“Are you sure? I’ve got a nice bottle of red here,” he said.
“It’s mid-afternoon,” I said.
“Suit yourself,” Ollie said with a shrug. He rustled around in a cupboard and put a bottle of water in front of me before pouring himself a wine.
“What’s with the security system?” I asked. I picked up a computer part and examined it.
“Can’t be too careful,” Ollie said darkly.
“Yeah, the zombie might get you,” I said with a smirk.
Ollie let out a huff and crossed his arms. “I’m not… there are worse things than zombies in this new world of ours, Alice Elizabeth.”
“Right. The residents of Turalla. Horrid folk, wouldn’t want them dropping in,” I said with a smirk. “They might do something dastardly like bring you food. What have you been eating? I would have brought you something fresh if I’d realised I was coming here, but it was a bit of an accident…” I trailed off. Should I have admitted that?
Ollie waved his hand, dismissing my concern. “I’ve got enough food, don’t worry about that.”
“I worry about you getting scurvy,” I shot back. “You can’t live on kraft dinners.”
“Says who?”
“Science.”
“Bianca Norman will come back and haunt you.”
“Who?”
“Bianca. She was in your year level at school. Tall, blond, hot. She was into green smoothies before they were even a thing… ”
“I don’t remember.”
“Did you pay attention to anyone in high school? You don’t remember anyone.”
“I paid attention to you,” he said, staring at me intently. I squirmed in my seat and took a swig of water.
“And I still have no idea why. I was no different to the other girls.”
Ollie cocked his head and looked at me.
“Yes, you were. What happened to you?” he asked, leaning forward to look at my neck.
I gave him the short version of our excursion to Braxton and the reason for it.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, just took a long gulp of wine.
“What’s the point?” he asked quietly after a moment.
“Point of what?”
“Going to all that trouble to get ventolin. It’s a short term solution.” He wasn’t looking at me properly, but staring down at one of his gadgets.
“What… what are you on about?” I demanded.
He looked up and blinked. “I mean, what if she keeps having attacks? What then? You’ll run out of ventolin.”
I opened my mouth and shut it again. What was he insinuating?
“We’ll cross that hurdle if we ever come to it,” I said coldly.
“I’m just saying -,”
“You’re just saying we should sit back and let my niece die. After everything that’s happened, after everything she’s been through, hell, after everything we’ve been through, we should just sit back and watch her die next time she has an attack.” I pushed my chair back and stood up.
“That’s not…” Ollie squinted up at me, looking defiant.
“Just shut up, Ollie. For a smart guy you say some pretty fucking stupid things sometimes. You know, my friends used to wonder what the hell I saw in you when we were together. I can see where they were coming from now.”
I called the dogs to me and strode out of the door.
“Alice, wait, I didn’t mean it.”
I ignored him and slammed the door shut behind me. I seethed the whole way back home, thinking up more insults I wish I’d thought to say to the stupid arrogant imbecile.
I gave Charlotte a big hug when I got home, and vowed to protect her, no matter what.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
We walked down the brightly lit aisle of the supermarket, a red basket clutched under my arm. I followed Tristan’s broad back.
“Which bread do you want? The pumpkin seed or wholemeal or soy linseed whatever that one is?” I asked, stopping in front of a shelf full of loaves of bread in their colourful plastic wraps and pointing at each type of bread.
Tristan eyed the bread shelf and then shrugged. “You know, none of those are actually made in Australia,” he said.
“Huh?”
“The dough is delivered from wherever they make it semi-cooked and they just finish it off here.”
“Really?” I screwed up my face, eyeing off the other options. “Well, pick one anyway.”
Tristan grabbed one of the loaves. “Thick cut is better.”
I nodded. I looked up and down the aisle. No one was near us.
“I had a horrible dream,” I said, feeling unsettled and sad.
“Oh?” Tristan looked at me. His hair was getting long. I reached up and brushed a strand out of his eyes.
“Yeah. Everyone was dead. Well, not everyone everyone, but way too many people.”
“Was I?” he asked with a snort.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t know. You were stuck in Canada. I didn’t know what had happened to you.”
“Well, that would suck,” Tristan said.
“It was horrible,” I whispered, reaching out for him. “Sarah, Lucy, Alan - nearly everyone was gone. We were stuck in Turalla, living off rabbits and the veggie garden.”
“It was just a dream,” Tristan said, pulling me close and squeezing the back of my neck. I stood there in the suddenly dim aisle, listening to his heart beat and feeling safe. Something tugged at my attention, and I frowned, burrowing deeper into Tristan’s chest. Whatever it was, I wanted it to go away.
“Wake up, Alice.”
I blinked. The supermarket disintegrated around me. It was dark, but moonlight streamed in through my window, giving the room a faint silver glow. I clung to the feeling of Tristan’s arms around me, but they rapidly dissolved, leaving me feeling empty. Tom stood next to my bed, bending over me. I sat bolt upright, and he took a hasty step backwards.
“What is it?” I demanded, heart suddenly pounding. Gertrude meowed grumpily from the end of the bed, irritated at being disturbed.
“Someone broke in.”
“What?!” I threw the blankets off me and grabbed the torch from my bedside table. Mum usually turned the power off after we went to bed. I flicked it on and shone the light in Tom’s face.
“Stop that,” he said, pushing my arm away. “It’s okay. They’ve gone. I think.”
“You think?” I demanded. I handed the torch to my brother and pulled on my jeans and a cardigan.
“Well, I chased th
em out of the house and they ran out to the street. I dunno where they went from there.”
“What happened?” I demanded. We walked out of my room. Mum and Yi-Ling were standing in the kitchen in their dressing gowns. Mum had an arm around Yi-Ling, who was pale and shaking. Maggie was lurking under the table, tail between her legs and whining softly.
“Yi-Ling heard a noise and woke me up, and then we heard smashing. I suppose it was the window.” He inclined his head to the kitchen window, which I belatedly realised no longer had any glass in it. “I came out here to see what was going on, and found a man rifling around in the pantry. Maggie and Horatio must have followed me out. They started barking and Horatio might have even bit him, I’m not sure. He cleared off then.”
“Where is Horatio?” I asked, glancing around the kitchen. He wasn’t there, neither were the two girls. Hopefully they were still sleeping.
“Can’t you hear him?” Tom said, cocking his head. I stood still and listened. Sure enough, I could hear barking in the distance.
“He chased him outside. Hasn’t come back yet.”
“What’s going on?” Charlotte demanded, coming into the kitchen rubbing her eyes. Ava followed her in, looking around at us all with her big dark eyes. She pointed to the smashed window.
“It’s okay, girls,” Mum said in her false-positive voice. “Nothing happened. Go back to bed.”
“But,” Ava croaked, frowning at the glass on the floor.
“There was an accident, we’ll fix it,” Mum said before the rest of us could say anything.
Mum ushered the two protesting girls out of the kitchen and back to bed.
The three of us stared at each other, waiting for our matriarch to return.
“The bastard cleaned us out,” Mum said darkly, coming back into the kitchen alone.
“What about the shed?” I asked, blood pounding through my veins. The thought of all that food stockpiled being stolen made my blood run cold.
“I haven’t checked yet,” Mum said softly, closing her eyes and rubbing them.
Without waiting, I grabbed the torch back off Tom and headed for the door. The others swiftly followed.
The entrance to the garage wasn’t obvious, if you didn’t know what to look for. Piles of junk sat in the carport, blocking the door from view from the street. Mum had bugged us all about the junk for years, but now she’d decided to leave it be. It added an air of decrepitness. Our bikes all lined up against the wall were already covered in a new layer of cobwebs, even though it had only been a week since our foray into Braxton. Spiders were industrious, I’d give them that. Even if a stranger did, for some reason, decide to check out the garage, the first few shelves were covered in old camping gear and Dad’s power tools that he’d left behind. It wasn’t until you got around that and clambered over a pile of storage boxes that contained various childhood mementos that you hit the food jackpot.
I gazed around, Mum peering over my shoulder. We all breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Mum’s subterfuge had worked, at least this time. Our stores were all still there, untouched.
We trooped back inside and sat around the kitchen table. Mum put the kettle on and made everyone a cup of tea without asking if we wanted one.
“Maybe we should start locking the door?” Tom suggested, looking around at us all.
“I don’t think it would stop anyone who was determined to get in though,” I said.
“But it might hold them up for long enough for us to realise they’re there,” Tom retorted.
“Yeah, maybe… but what are we going to do? Scaring them off with a cricket bat isn’t going to work if they have a gun,” I said.
“What do you think, Mum?” Tom asked. The tea seemed to be steeped enough for her and she started pouring us all a cup. She didn’t say anything for a moment.
“I’m not sure.” She passed the tea cups around. Yi-Ling took hers and nursed it. She still looked troubled.
“Are you okay?” I asked, frowning at her.
She nodded. “I think I’m just shocked. I’ll be fine. I just didn’t think something like this would happen here.”
Horatio came barrelling into the kitchen, wagging his tail, and did a quick run around the table sniffing us all. Before Mum had a chance to tell him off for being in the kitchen, he darted back to the threshold and sat down, watching us all alertly.
“Good boy, Horatio,” Mum said, getting up to give him a pat.
“Do you think they got anyone else?” I asked, frowning out the broken window. Luckily it was a mild night and the air blowing through was refreshing rather than cold.
“Most likely,” Tom said with a scowl.
“Oh, I hope they didn’t get Ina,” Mum said, worry making her voice wobble.
“I’ll check first thing in the morning,” Tom said, leaning over to pat Mum on the hand.
It was hard to get back to sleep after that. I kept imagining strangers creeping around the yard. Horatio seemed to have the same idea; a few times I thought I heard something and went to the door or window and it was the dog doing laps of the house. Maggie had retreated back to the girls bedroom. She was a useless guard dog, although not as useless as Gertrude. The cat slept through the whole thing.
Jack came by the next morning. He had a couple of rabbits dangling from a string. Mum and I stood up from where we’d been weeding the veggie garden.
“Morning, Buchanan’s,” he said cheerfully to Mum and me. “I was wondering if I could tempt you to part with some of your quince jelly for a bit of meat.”
“Oh love, I would, but I’m all out,” Mum said with a sigh. “Something happened last night.”
“I was going to come over later and tell you about it,” I said.
“What happened?” Jack frowned between me and Mum. I glanced at Mum and deferred to her, letting her tell the story.
Once she finished, Jack shook his head.
“Bastards,” he muttered. “Did you get a good look at them? Were they locals?”
I shook my head. “Tom was the only one who saw him, he didn’t recognise him.”
“Did anyone else get robbed?”
“Tom and Yi-Ling are doing the rounds to find out,” I said. “They should be back soon.”
Jack nodded. “I’ll stick around and wait for them if that’s okay.”
“Yeah, of course,” Mum said. “Here, you can help me plant these out.” She handed him a punnet of seedlings and a trowel and pointed him to a freshly cleared bed patch of dirt. He hung the dead rabbits up on the branch of one of the pear trees.
“I take it they didn’t make it out to the farm then?” I asked as we went back to our gardening.
Jack shook his head. “Pa’s dogs wouldn’t let anyone come anywhere near the place without us knowing.”
“I’m thinking I’ll leave Horatio out at night now,” Mum said. “He was sleeping with the girls… I don’t think they would have gotten away with as much if he’d been out there.”
“I’ve been thinking about ways to increase security around the farm after what we found out in Braxton. I guess I’d better speed up my plans,” Jack said, almost to himself.
Half an hour later, Tom and Yi-Ling returned.
“Ina’s fine, they didn’t get her house, but they did hit up Judy’s, the Tucker siblings, Tony MacDonald, Mr Kenna, Dr Wood and Felix Schmidt. Probably a bunch of the abandoned houses as well…”
“Did they steal much?” I asked.
“Judy scared them off before they could get anything, but the others all lost a good chunk of food and they stole a bunch of meds from the vet clinic.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Concerned about sick animals are they?”
Yi-Ling and Tom both shook their heads.
“No. Dr Wood said they seemed to have taken mostly tranquillisers and drugs that they could possibly get high off,” Yi-Ling said with a frown.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll accidentally give themselves the horse dosage,” Mum said cheer
fully.
“Wow, dark, Mum,” I said, both disturbed and impressed. Tom shook his head and rubbed his face.
“They want to have another meeting, this afternoon.”
“Who?” Mum asked.
“Everyone.”
“What time?” Jack asked.
“Four o’clock,” Tom said. “Usual spot.”
Jack nodded. “I’d better go tell Pa. I’ll see you lot this arvo.”
“Your rabbits,” I called out as he walked up the path leading back to the house. He paused and turned around.
“Keep them. I’ll reserve the first jar out of your next batch of jam, Jenny!”
“You got it!” Mum called back. “Such a good boy,” she added, a fond smile softening her face as she turned back to us. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. She was right, after all. Jack was good to us. Better than we had any right to expect.
“I’m not sure what to do with the girls,” Mum said to me as we were preparing lunch. “I don’t want to take them to the meeting… who knows what things they’ll hear? Those girls are traumatised enough as it is.”
“But you don’t want to leave them alone. Yeah, I know. I was thinking the same thing,” I said while I checked on the rice bubbling away on the stove. It was almost done. “I was thinking I’d stay home with them.”
“You don’t want to go to the meeting?” Mum asked with a furrowed brow.
I shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’m a bit sick of all these meeting anyway, to be honest. I trust you’ll act in my best interests.” I winked at her. She rolled her eyes.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded. “You guys go, I’ll hold the fort. I’d feel better knowing the girls and house are safe. Who knows when or f those thugs will be back, or what they’ll want next time.”
Mum nodded. “All right then.”
Once the time for the meeting rolled around, I distracted the girls and dogs with a spelling lesson, and the three of them left.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Tom asked worriedly before he left. “What if they take advantage of everyone being at the hall and come back?”
“I highly doubt they’re monitoring the town that closely,” I said sharper than I intended. “We’ll be fine,” I said more kindly. “Besides, I know how to shoot now.” Jack had decided a few weeks ago that my skills had sufficiently improved and that I could be trusted with a gun of my own. It was locked up in Mum’s wardrobe. She hadn’t really liked having it in the house, what with the girls around, but relented as long it was out of reach and easy access to Charlotte and Ava.