The Zombie Proof Fence

by Tony Thomas

  Bozo tucked the last of the gauze bandage into a fold near his wrist and examined his hand. Blood was still oozing through the bandage, but it wasn’t throbbing as much as it had. He thought that the bleeding was slowing. Bozo knew he needed to get to a doctor. He shut the tailgate and walked to the front of the Range Rover, climbing back into the driver’s seat. Cindy was still moaning and thrashing. Jill seemed to be sniffing the air, smelling for something. When she strained towards him he knew it must be his blood she could smell.

  Bozo started the car. He felt a little woozy as he pulled out and headed for Picton.

  07:40 SST (09:40 AEST): Singapore

  ‘What the hell do we do now? Should we wake Linc and Lara?’ Chris said.

  ‘I’m not sure there’s much point,’ said Mick. ‘I think Stefan and Uli are fucked. Mick paused for a moment and shook his head, ‘I can’t believe Uli would do that. The silly bastard, why didn’t he look before opening the door?’

  ‘Maybe he did and couldn’t tell.’

  ‘Mate we could hear the banging through the phone. That wasn’t normal. He should have realised something was wrong.’

  ‘Sure, but Uli was a bit down and didn’t sound like he was really with it when we spoke. Maybe he just didn’t notice it was wrong’, Chris said, he was feeling a need to defend Uli that he didn’t really understand. ‘I know you guys were pretty tight—are you okay?’

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe you’re right, maybe he couldn’t tell, I’m not sure I would have noticed. I would have just been glad to see him at the door. What I do know is, one of the last things we talked to Uli about was phoning home. If we’re not going to wake up Linc and Lara, it’s probably a good time to give it a go. What do you reckon?’

  ‘Yeah, why not?’ Chris pulled his phone from his pocket and called. Less than a second later he hung up. ‘No joy for me, straight to voicemail.’

  Mick tried as well. ‘No answer’, he said. ‘That’s pretty normal for Mum. She’s always pretty hard to catch.’

  ‘You would think with the curfew she’d be easy to get to,’ Chris said.

  ‘Nah, she’s probably out doing some gardening. No way she’d be sitting inside. I’ll try her again a bit later.’ Mick stood and walked to the mini-bar. ‘I think we should have a drink for Uli and Stefan, waddaya reckon?’

  Chris didn’t really want another beer, but decided Mick needed the support, ‘Sure, why not?’ he said as Mick handed him a can of Tiger.

  They both popped the tops and clicked cans. Mick said, ‘To Uli and Stefan.’

  ‘Uli and Stefan’, agreed Chris, and sipped the beer.

  Mick said, ‘You know, Uli was right when he said we were trapped in here. There’s no way we’re gonna be able to fight our way out through thirty odd floors of fire stairs without one of us getting hurt or killed.’

  ‘What about the lift?’

  ‘Sounds like a dangerous way to go to me, who knows what you’re going to open the doors to?’

  ‘Well we can wait it out a couple of days. We’ve got plenty of food and drinks.’

  ‘I’m not so sure about that. We’ve only got mini-bar crap. Mostly that’s just sugar and salt. We’ll be lucky to last a day on that. Drink-wise we’ve got a few beers and softies, but again, not really that much.’

  ‘I think the food could last more than a couple of days, but maybe you’re right. As for drinks, there’s unlimited tap water and it’s very drinkable here—no chance of Bali Belly’, Chris joked, hoping to raise the mood.

  ‘We’ve only got water as long as the electricity holds out. I’m pretty sure it gets pumped into a cistern on the roof. Once the power goes the water will go pretty soon after.’ Mick looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘You know, I think most of the power in Singapore comes from gas-fired power stations. They won’t run forever if there’s no one to maintain them, but I guess they’ll probably run for a few days at least.’

  ‘Surely the hotel will have backup power?’

  ‘Maybe, maybe not. Sure as eggs it won’t last for more than a day. Best case we can last four days tops, but it could be as short as tomorrow. I really think we should work out how we’re going to get out of here.’

  ‘And go where?’ Chris said. ‘By the time we get out of here the whole island could be infected. At least while we stay here we’re relatively safe.’

  ‘Starving to death is not my idea of safe. I think we could get to the river and get on a boat. If we do that we can escape from crazies by moving into the river, but come ashore to scavenge for supplies.’

  ‘And then what? Do we become boat people and try to make it back home?’

  ‘Maybe we could. If we find the right boat we could give it a go.’

  ‘Fuck Mick!’ Chris said, starting to feel exasperated. ‘I don’t think it’s that desperate yet.’

  ‘Maybe not yet, but it’s going to get there unless something happens. You saw the news—India is fucked. The rest of the world is in big trouble. I bet we don’t hear another word from the Singapore government unless they get it under control. Those pricks don’t ever admit to problems.’

  Chris finished his beer, looked at his watch and said, ‘Mick, you might be right but I’m not ready to believe it yet. I’m going to the loo and then go get some sleep. You can work out what you want to do next. Just don’t open the door without telling us.’

  09:40 AEST: Sydney

  The first thing Dan did when he went into his office was to hit Google to get details on what guns the Australian Army used. It took only a few seconds to find an image that matched the rifle he had picked up. The gun was an Austeyr EF88. It was standard issue for the Australian Defence Forces. Dan found a manual and was somewhat relieved to work out that he had turned on the safety catch properly. There were instructions on how to take it apart and clean it, how to load it and even how to fire it.

  This was one time when he was actually going to read the manual before he played with the toy. Dan had virtually no experience with guns. He had fired a rifle and a pistol in a gun range, but this looked like something out of a computer game. According to the manual, it was a ‘Light Semi-Automatic Rifle’. Dan hit the print button and then opened the Skype connection to Piotr.

  Piotr answered immediately. ‘Have you checked the soldiers Dan?’ he asked by way of greeting.

  ‘I couldn’t find any of them Piotr. I collected one of the guns, but I couldn’t see any of the soldiers.’

  ‘A soldier would not leave his weapon, Dan,’ Piotr pointed out. ‘What of the people that attacked them?’

  ‘There were some bodies in my neighbour’s yard, but the really scary thing was that I found some pools of blood in front of my house, but no bodies.’

  Piotr looked thoughtful. ‘It must be truth then. God help us.’ Piotr crossed himself.

  Dan noticed that Piotr was holding a rosary in his right hand. Dan found himself frowning at this. He knew Piotr was a strong Catholic and didn’t want to offend him, but he really hadn’t gotten over Joanne’s little episode yet either.

  ‘Piotr, have you heard this story of dead people rising from anyone else? It could just be they keep going even if they’re badly hurt. Being shot doesn’t mean being dead.’

  ‘Yes, I understand, Dan. I have not heard this story anywhere else yet. Maybe it is as you say, and they are not dead. I do not think I will take any chances though.’

  ‘I don’t think I will either. I need to let Ian know what’s going on. Do you want me to try and do a three-way chat?’

  ‘Why not? It would be good to hear he is safe,’ Piotr said.

  Dan quickly added Ian to the call. As Ian answered, the video dropped out, but he was expecting that.

  ‘Hi Ian, I’ve got Piotr on the line as well,’ Dan said by way of introduction.

  ‘Hello, Piot,’ Ian said. ‘Dan told me you were having an interesting time.’

  ‘More interesting than I ever wanted to see,’ Piotr said. ‘It is the old Chinese curse, yes?’ Piotr sa
id, reminding them all of a more pleasant time in a bar in Melbourne only a few weeks before.

  Ian’s feeble laugh said it all. ‘So, Dan, I take it you still haven’t been to sleep?’

  Dan couldn’t help smiling at his friend’s gentle nagging. ‘I grabbed a few minutes a bit earlier. Piotr and I have some interesting updates. Before we get into that—what’s happening in Auckland? Any outbreaks yet?’

  Ian said, ‘You Aussies always crap on about how tight your quarantine rules are. Nothing at all here yet. I think we might be okay.’

  ‘Half your luck. Well things have taken a strange turn here. Piotr, why don’t you tell Ian the story you heard from the guy in Atlanta?’

  Piotr recounted the story in a little more detail than the first time Dan had heard it. While Piotr was talking, Dan started to search news sites, hoping to find something that would explain what was happening. There had been no newsflashes on any of the newspaper sites that seemed to match what he was looking for, although he noted with some anxiety that there were reports that Pakistan had fallen off the map as well. He turned his office TV back on and muted the sound before flicking between channels.

  As Piotr wrapped up his story, Ian said, ‘No offence Piotr, but that sounds like bullshit to me.’

  Dan spoke up. ‘That’s what I thought as well. Piotr convinced me that I should go have a look outside and see what had happened to the army guys.’

  ‘That sounds like a really stupid thing to do,’ Ian said.

  ‘Funny, that’s just what Gen said. In any case, Jo, my neighbour, snuck out the back door and headed back home. I chased her until I got to the road and then saw her running into her yard. Since I was already out there I figured I might as well grab one of the guns, and see if the people that had been shot had moved.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘They had. I found a pool of blood with no one in it, as well as some wet spots on the road that could have been blood. There were some dead bodies in the neighbour’s yard, but no sign of the soldiers. I grabbed a gun I found on the road then went back into my yard, locked the gate, and came inside.’

  ‘How long ago was this?’ Ian asked, a little unsure of what to make of it.

  ‘No more than about ten minutes,’ Dan said. ‘I can’t find anything on news sites about people getting back up, but Twitter has been full of zombies all night.’

  ‘They must be zombie,’ Piotr said. ‘This is the most likely explanation.’

  ‘Uh, sorry Piotr, but I beg to differ,’ Ian replied. ‘Maybe they aren’t dead. Maybe they just aren’t feeling pain or something.’

  ‘I think you’re right, Ian,’ said Dan. ‘That’s at least plausible. Coming back from the dead makes no sense at all.’

  Piotr took a while to reply, ‘I do not know why you are sure nothing comes back from the dead. The bible speaks of it. The bodies moved. They were not there.’

  Ian ignored the biblical reference and was quick to reply, ‘We don’t know they were dead, either in Atlanta or at Dan’s place. All we know is that they were either shot or hurt in some way.’

  Piotr replied, ‘I know you don’t believe this. I am sure it is zombie. I think we should go look on Internet and try to find out more. If the worse is true and it is zombie it is better to know earlier.’

  Dan took a moment before he replied, ‘Okay Piotr, let’s all see what we can find out. We can talk again in an hour or so.’

  Ian butted in, ‘That’ll be getting pretty late in Poland.’

  Piotr did not hesitate. ‘I will not be sleeping for many hours. My Kasia has tried to sleep now. I will wake her at 3 a.m. and she will take watch.’

  ‘Shit, Piotr, as bad as that?’ Ian said. ‘You take it easy, mate.’

  ‘Let’s all be careful,’ Dan said. ‘Talk to you soon.’ He closed the call, stood, and grabbed the manual for the gun from the printer. Dan was sure he was going to need to know how to use it soon.

  09:45 AEST: Panorama House

  ‘Rita! I’m so glad to hear from you. Is everyone okay?’ Gen gushed.

  ‘Fine Gen. We’re all okay. We’ve stopped at Panorama House. We’re having a break and a bite to eat and working out the best route to take.’

  ‘Panorama House? I thought you’d be past Ulladulla by now. It’s taken you nearly three hours to do a one-hour trip. Has something happened?’

  ‘Long story Gen. We had to dodge a road block and take some fire trails but we’re on better roads now. Are you guys still okay?’

  ‘You wouldn’t believe what’s happened here’ Gen said. Rita could hear that she was walking as she talked. Gen quickly summarised what had happened with Joanne, including Dan’s collection of the military rifle.

  ‘So Dan has a machine gun now?’ Rita asked.

  ‘Yes, and I’m not sure I’m happy about it. I just checked and he’s in his office at the moment talking with some of the guys from work. That’s not the worst of it Rita.’

  ‘I heard about India—is that what you mean?’

  ‘Yes and no. Just before Dan went into his office, he told me a story about people who had been shot getting up and walking. None of the soldiers were still out the front where he found the gun. He said he found pools of blood but no bodies.’

  ‘What do you think happened? Did they get up and walk away?’

  ‘I don’t know. Dan thinks something strange is going on, I don’t really know any more than that.’

  ‘It’s pretty weird that the soldiers would disappear and the guns be left.’

  ‘It was only one gun—I reckon they probably were off chasing whoever attacked them,’ Gen said, then blurted, ‘What do you mean dodge a roadblock?’

  ‘Well we didn’t exactly dodge it. We got turned back at Heathcote, but Brick had a key to the gate for the fire trail.’ Rita told the story of getting through the gate and meeting up with Bozo.

  ‘I guess that’s good news that you’ve got someone to travel with then,’ Gen said.

  ‘I thought so too, but it turned out badly.’ Rita then continued with the discovery of Bozo’s wife and daughter.

  ‘Oh my god!’ Gen said. ‘So he has his wife and daughter tied up in the car?’

  ‘Yes, both in the back. I don’t know how he expects to get through a road block. We didn’t see him on the way here so we think he might have gone west—at least that’s what he said he would do. He could just be ahead of us for all we know.’

  ‘You don’t think he’s infected as well do you? They sound like they don’t know how it spreads but fighting with one of them seems a pretty sure way of catching it.’

  Rita’s gaze flicked to Brick’s swollen knuckles as he got the camp stove burning to boil some water. ‘What do you mean?’ she said.

  ‘According to the news, it seems anyone who gets blood or saliva on an open wound gets infected. Even a little bit is dangerous.’

  Rita turned cold. ‘Really? We hadn’t heard that,’ she kept staring at Brick’s hand. ‘Bozo’s wife and daughter changed really quickly but he was fine.’

  Gen continued, ‘I suppose Bozo could be okay. They have said it can be minutes or hours though. It depends if he was bitten or scratched. Was he acting strangely?’

  ‘Is that a symptom?’

  ‘They haven’t exactly explained it that clearly. It sounds like the amount of time it takes to become active varies quite a lot. The first person Dan saw got infected changed in less than a minute. Joanne’s husband had to be at least six or seven hours.’ Gen sat back into the lounge. ‘From what Joanne said, she just thought that Mark had the flu. Maybe that’s what symptoms for slow change look like.’

  Rita looked at Brick again—he didn’t look even a little bit fluey, although he did seem a little flushed. ‘Have you heard anything on the news about that?’

  ‘No, they just said that there is a high risk of infection. Maybe they don’t know about the slow changes. They certainly aren’t telling us the full story.’

  ‘Yeah, we noticed that too. They
said there was only one or two outbreaks but we know of at least three, and none of them were at the airport.’

  ‘What do you mean three?’ Gen asked.

  ‘Well you had one at your place, we had one at ours, and Bozo had one as well. None of us live all that close to each other so it must be fairly spread out already.’

  ‘Dan told me the army guys had seen a few infected people as well. Have you seen anyone on the road?’

  ‘Apart from Bozo, no one,’ Rita said. She could not bring herself to mention the accident.

  ‘So maybe the curfew and quarantine are working then.’

  ‘Maybe, but I think we got away pretty easily. It’s not like any towns have walls or fences or boundaries around them. I think this is going to spread pretty easily.’

  ‘I really hope not. We’ve locked ourselves in for the duration. I’m not going to let Dan go on any more “adventures” either. We’re just going to keep a close eye on the news and Internet and try to work out what’s going on.’

  ‘Well, we’re pretty much committed to going to Rocky Hall now. There’s no way we can go back to Sydney. If nothing else the road’s blocked and we don’t want to go back to fire trails,’ Rita said with a sigh. ‘Brick’s burning the toast, I’d better give him a hand. I’ll give you a call a bit later.’

  ‘Please do, as often as you can. By sis—I love you.’

  ‘I love you too,’ Rita said.

  09:45 AEST: Hordern Pavilion

  As Jeff sat down with his coffee, he tried to get an update from Jim before charging his phone again. He was relieved to get through almost immediately.

  ‘Hi, Dad,’ Jim answered. He sounded fairly cheerful.

  ‘Hi, Jim! Are you well? Is everything okay?’

  ‘Sure, Dad. We’re down in a basement playing X-box.’

  Jeff thought that Jim sounded a little odd, he couldn’t quite place what it was. ‘Have you been keeping track of the news? Are there new rescue centres?’

  ‘Uh, we stopped lookin’ at the news on TV. Everyone on Facebook says it’s bullshit. We just decided to cook some pizzas and play X-box.’ Jim giggled.