They way it moved, it was hypnotic, like a snake, slithering low on the horizon.
"Hey, what the hell is that?" I asked.
Maria looked over to where I was looking. "What's what?"
"That thing over there. It's like a dust devil or something."
I pointed down to a small group of warehouses. The dust cloud seemed to flatten itself against the wall of the building, and then disappear.
Maria looked over to where I was pointing. "Um, I don't see anything."
"It was right there."
We waited for a few moments to see if it came back, but it never showed.
"You sure it wasn't just a heat mirage or something," Maria offered.
"I'm sure. It was black. And it was sort of elongated. And it was moving."
"Sounds like a heat mirage to me."
"Whatever. Just keep your eyes peeled."
I looked over at the warehouse one more time. But there was still nothing. I suppose it could've been a heat mirage. But then again, the thing seemed to move with a purpose, like it was looking for something. Like it was hunting.
Then again, maybe I was just losing my mind.
"Hang on a minute," Kenji said. "I’ve got something."
He looked up from his rifle, blinked a few times.
"Where?" Daniel said.
"On the far side of the mine. Military vehicles. Two tanks. Three Humvees."
The tanks and the Humvees were stationary. They appeared to have broken down. They were all facing the same direction. In amongst the tanks and the Humvees, we could see craters caused by the tanks main guns. Their shells had torn up the ground, leaving a long line of destruction that moved out into the desert.
What had they been shooting? Was it the infected? If so, where were the bodies?
Flanking the tanks were the Humvees. There were three of them. Each Humvee appeared to have a huge satellite dish on its roof. The satellite dishes were all pointed in the same direction, the same direction the guns on the tank were aimed.
The closest Humvee appeared to be covered in black dust. It almost looked like ash.
One of the Humvees had been flipped over.
"What do you think happened here?" I asked.
Daniel shook his head.
"What the hell brought them down?" Kenji asked with a worried expression on his face.
"I have no idea," Daniel said in disbelief.
"I wonder if they were trying to defend these mines?" Jack asked.
"It’s possible. But why? And from who?"
It was a puzzling scene. And one that we could not afford to investigate. It would be too time consuming. So we agreed that it was best if we stick to our plan and keep walking towards the town of Hunter.
Just as we were about to leave I took a closer look at the nearest open faced mine. There was something in the pit.
Bones. Lots and lots of bones.
My jaw dropped.
Maria saw it as well. She held her hands up to her mouth; she was going to be sick. "Oh my god," she breathed.
"What the hell?" Jack said.
Kenji had his rifle up to this shoulder again, looking through the scope. "They’re carcasses. Animal."
"What kind of animals?" I asked
"Ah, it’s difficult to say. They’re all ripped up, torn apart. Dogs, maybe. Cows?
"Human?"
"I … I can’t tell."
Daniel looked closely through his scope as well. "We should keep moving."
At that moment we heard a deep, guttural purring noise. The same sound I heard in the middle of Sydney. Right before that giant, monster thing attacked us.
We couldn’t be sure but it sounded like it was coming from one of the other mine pits, about half a mile away.
"Guys, I think we should get the hell out of here," Maria said.
Something roared.
"Go!" Kenji shouted. "Back to the creek! Go now!"
We started running. The ground shook.
I looked over my shoulder. I needed to see it. But Kenji pushed me forward, told me to keep going.
I turned and kept running.
CHAPTER 8
We made it back to the dried up creek and kept running. We ran towards the town. We ran what felt like hours.
Kenji finally held up his hand for us to stop.
Jack, Maria and I collapsed in the creek bed. I doubled over, breathing hard. Sweat pouring off my face.
We couldn’t keep doing this.
Daniel had moved over to the bank of the creek, keeping look. He was taking no chances.
Kenji handed us a bottle of water. Our last one. We were each allowed a few mouthfuls.
Daniel moved down from the bank and had some water as well.
"What do you think?" Kenji asked.
"We keep going. We’re almost there."
"Maybe we should rest up for the night," Kenji suggested between deep breaths. "Hit the town first thing in the morning."
Daniel shook his head. "I say we get in and get the hell out."
"But it’s getting late," Kenji argued.
"No. It’s too dangerous," Daniel said. "We can’t spend a night out in the open like this, so close to a town. So close to that mine."
"I don’t think walking all the way back to the farmhouse in the middle of the night is any better."
"What if we climb a tree?" Maria suggested. "We could spend the night up there. We’d be safe then, right?"
"I’m with Daniel on this one," Jack said. "We need to get in and get back to the house as quickly as possible. I do not want to end up in that mine pit of death."
"What do you think that was?" I asked.
"Maybe it was like, a nest or something," Jack suggested.
"A nest?"
"For one of those monster things."
"Like the monster that attacked us in the middle of Sydney?"
"Yeah. But bigger. A lot bigger."
"What the hell are they?" Maria asked. "What is going on?"
"Mutations," Jack said.
"What?"
"Remember on Doctor Hunter’s computer? There was an email that said something about ‘mutations’. Maybe the monsters are like, mutations or something. They’re people that have been infected with the Oz virus, and now their whole body, their DNA or something is mutating out of control."
"That’s crazy. That’s impossible."
"Is it? Last month I would’ve said the same thing. Last month, if someone told me that the entire population of Australia was going to be wiped out by a killer virus that turns people into zombies or whatever, I would’ve told them they were insane. Our world has been turned upside down. We have to consider the possibility that the virus is changing, that it’s changing the people it infects."
It was a scary thought. And unfortunately Jack made it sound like a very real and very terrifying possibility. At that moment, I really wanted to charge Doctor Hunter’s computer so we could read the rest of his emails. I wanted answers.
In the end we decided that we had to keep moving. If the thing in the mine pit was anything like the monster in the middle of Sydney, if we stuck around, it would hunt us down. It would stalk us and kill us.
After we’d rested up for a few more minutes, Daniel forced us to our feet. We kept walking. We had decided to raid the town as soon as possible. At the very least we needed to check it out before nightfall. As Daniel reminded us, reconnaissance is a very important exercise.
As we walked along the creek bed, towards the town we kept checking over our shoulders every thirty seconds or so to see if the monster was chasing us.
I don’t know why we kept looking. We would’ve heard the damn thing before we saw it.
The sun continued to set. The shadows cast by the trees that lined the creek became longer and longer.
Our plan was to raid the town for supplies and get back before sunset but now it looked like we weren’t going to make it in time.
We kept arguing. Where to spend the night?
Where do we hide?
I think jack said something about how as long as we find one can of baked beans it’ll all be worth it.
Suddenly a voice from the shadows spoke to us. "You can forget the baked beans. Town’s fresh out. And there’s no point in hiding. They’ll find you."
It was a woman. She was covered in dust. She was dirty, like she hadn’t showered since before all this started. Her shoulders were slumped forward; her hair was a mess of knots, tangled up into dreadlocks. Her arms were down by her side.
Her right hand was dripping with blood.
CHAPTER 9
Daniel and Kenji both aimed their rifles at the woman, at the first survivor we had seen in weeks.
"Who are you?" Kenji asked. "What are you doing here?"
Daniel stepped forward and to the side so he was standing in front of Maria.
The woman ignored the questions. She simply moved over to the bank of the creek and sat down against it.
"Are you infected?" Kenji asked.
She was breathing hard. She took out a canteen and had a drink of water, spilling most of it down her chin.
"Answer me!"
She dropped the canteen. "Yeah. I’m infected. I lost the others. We got separated. I panicked. Got my stupid ass surrounded."
She held her hand up to her eyes, so she could inspect her wound. She’d been bitten on the wrist. Her hand was a red mess, and as she held it up, blood dripped back down the length of her forearm. On her wrist, just below the bite wound was a tattoo of a barcode.
"Why do you have a barcode tattooed on your wrist?" Daniel asked.
The woman ignored the question as she continued to inspect her wound.
I couldn’t believe it. This was the first person we’d seen in weeks, the fist survivor. And she had been bitten. This meant she did not have long.
"What the hell are you doing out here?" Kenji asked. "Are you alone?"
"I was in a scavenger team," the woman answered. "We operate in teams of four."
"Scavenger team?"
"Yeah. Our job is to raid towns, farms, houses. Gather supplies. Food. Water. Whatever we can use. The smaller towns are empty. Picked clean already. People leaving took most of everything anyways. The bigger towns are a different story."
"Where’s the rest of your team?"
"We split up. We got separated. We’re usually so careful. You have to be. It’s a dangerous job. Practically a suicide mission each time we set foot outside. But everyone’s gotta do it. Everyone’s gotta pay their dues."
"Pay their dues? What are you talking about?"
"The Fortress. If you want in, you gotta earn your keep. It’s mandatory. Everyone has to do it. It’s the law."
"Fortress?" Maria asked. "Is that like, some sort of military compound?"
"Something like that."
"And they’re taking in civilian survivors?" I asked.
"Sort of."
"What do you mean, ‘sort of’?"
"Like I said, you gotta earn your keep, you gotta pay your dues."
"Where is this place?" Daniel asked.
"Can’t tell you that. Not supposed to tell outsiders."
"What? Why the hell not?"
"Population control. We’ve only got limited resources."
"Population control?" Jack said. "Where have you been? There is no population left!"
"There’s more than you think. And when they hear about a place like the Fortress, believe me they want in. We got people from all over. I personally think the scavenger missions are a form of population control as well. If you want in, if you want asylum, you gotta do it. Course, no one tells the newbies just how goddamn dangerous it is. But you find out pretty quick."
"You can’t just turn your back on us!" Maria said. "Look, we need water. We need food."
"I’m just telling you the rules. And you should keep your voices down."
"Why?"
"There’s a town close by. It’s crawling with sick people. It’s completely overrun."
We were quiet for awhile after the woman told us that. We had come all this way, used up precious energy and water. For nothing. There’s no way we could risk going in.
The woman coughed and spit up a mouthful of blood.
"We can help," I said even though I wasn’t sure that we could.
The woman looked at me doubtfully, wiping red saliva off her lips. "Oh yeah, how you gonna do that?"
I didn’t know whether or not to tell her Maria was immune. She probably wouldn’t even believe us. Daniel shook his head at me as if he was saying now was not the right time.
"We can help find your friends" I continued. "We could help get you back to the Fortress or whatever; help with a search party or something. We’re armed. We can offer protection."
She shook her head. "I’m not gonna be around for much longer. There’s no way I’m making it back to the Fortress. And there’s no way you’re going to find it without me."
"Hey, we’ve got a U.S. Marine here and a goddamn Special Forces soldier," Jack said. "I think we’ll be just fine. And besides, I’m sure a place like that can use our help."
The woman closed her eyes. "Yeah, maybe you’re right. But you still won’t find it."
She was so certain that we wouldn’t be able to find it.
Kenji lowered his rifle. "You’re infected. Do you want our help or not?"
She shook her head. "Don’t worry. We each get one of these," she said as she produced an old cowboy style revolver.
We all took a step back and I actually put my hands in the air.
Daniel kept his rifle pointed directly at her head.
"Relax." She said. "It’s not loaded. And I've only got one bullet. We were told to save the last one."
We suddenly caught on as to what it was for.
"Like I said," she continued. "We each got one. All of the scavengers. Just in case. I suppose I should’ve realized how messed up the job was when they gave us this."
"Who gave you the gun?" Daniel asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. "The people in charge. The authority. The man."
"U.S. military? Australian Army? Who?"
"They might’ve been military. They had guns. But what do I know? I’m a farmer’s wife. I don’t know anything about soldiers, or military forces. All I know is they have the guns. And in a world like this, whoever has the guns is in charge."
She started coughing again, spitting up more blood. "We live in a lawless place now," she mumbled. "The people at the Fortress, they have the guns. They have the keys to the kingdom. A safe haven. A refuge from the infected."
"But for a price," I said.
"Yeah. That’s right. Their word is the law. That’s why we were forced to go out on scavenger hunts. At first, I didn’t mind. I wanted to help, you know? I wanted to pull my own weight. Contribute. Plus I knew the area; I figured I’d be smart enough to stay out of trouble." She shook her head. "I was wrong. Such a shame too. We were a good team."
She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small bottle of whiskey. "Won't get to enjoy this either."
"What’s your name?" Maria asked.
"You don’t wanna know my name."
"Why not?"
"Look, I’m about to blow my brains out. Trust me; you don’t want to know my name."
"So what now?" Kenji asked.
She lifted her head slightly and looked at the gun in her hand. "I’ve always wanted to play Russian roulette."
She spun the chamber of the revolver and put the barrel to her temple.
Pulled the trigger.
Click.
Nothing happened.
"Jesus!" Jack said. "What the hell are you doing?"
Where The Dead Men Lie (The Secret Apocalypse) Page 4