by Tony Thomas
When the bags hit the ground, Mick looked around quickly before saying, ‘Okay, this is it. Remember, take your time and one at a time.’
He turned and climbed over the balcony rail, balanced on the ledge. Then he carefully planted his left foot into the loop below the balcony and started the descent. Despite the swaying on the rope, he quickly worked his way down until the safety rope grew taught, then slipped it off and finished the descent in a few quick movements. He untied the bags, looked around, and then grabbed the rope for Lara to climb.
‘Here goes nothing,’ Lara quipped as she climbed over the balcony rail. In a few moments, she too had released the safety line and got to ground.
‘Piece of piss eh?’ Mick said with a smile. ‘Might be good for you to keep lookout while the other two climb down.’
Lara, full of adrenaline and exhilarated by completing the descent, replied, ‘Shit, yeah!’ before trotting away from the hotel towards the road.
Lincoln had just released the safety line when Lara came quickly back. ‘Mick!’ she whispered, ‘There’s a zombie wandering towards us. It didn’t see me, but it’s definitely coming this way.’
‘Fuck, just what we needed,’ Mick said. ‘Lincoln, hold the rope tight for Chris, not too much weight on it, but don’t let it swing too much, okay?’
Lincoln looked concerned, ‘What are you going to do?’
Mick bent over his bag and removed the leg of the desk. ‘I’m going to take this bastard out if he gets too close, that’s for sure. Otherwise I’m going to try to stay out of sight.’
Chris had already started climbing, with the rope swinging a little. Lincoln drew it tight, steadying it. Mick had walked towards the road, keeping out of sight as much as possible. He looked up the street and saw the zombie shambling along. It looked to be alone, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Mick got back to the others just as Chris stepped away from the rope.
‘Lara spotted a zombie coming this way. Unfortunately, it’s between us and Boat Quay, so we either have to take it out or hide until it goes past,’ Mick said as he joined the others.
‘I vote hide,’ Lincoln said. ‘We’re not even sure you can take them out, let alone how to do it.’
‘Head shots is what the news said,’ Chris interjected.
‘Well, caving someone’s head in is probably harder than it looks,’ Lara said. ‘Either way, no time to discuss it, let’s keep out of sight.’
They each grabbed their bags and started to move for cover. The noise of the bags rolling on the cement was much louder than any of them had expected in the total silence of the morning. A roar came from the street.
‘Fuck, it’s one of the fast ones,’ Mick muttered. He let go of his bag and turned to meet the crazed zombie charging towards them. Mick stood still, even as Lara, Chris, and Lincoln started to rush away from the zombie. The zombie swung towards Lara, Chris, and Lincoln just as Mick dashed forward, swinging the desk leg with both hands into the face of the zombie. The zombie’s legs came straight out from under him under the combined impact of his momentum and Mick’s hit, and he fell flat on his back. Mick took one step closer and smashed the leg down with all the force he could muster into the already battered face of the zombie.
‘Holy fuck!’ said Lincoln, as the three stopped and turned at the sound of the hit. ‘Is it out of action?’
Mick went to one knee next to the zombie and repeatedly bashed it in the face with the chair leg.
‘If it wasn’t before it is now,’ Chris said. He came up behind Mick and carefully took his arm. ‘That’ll do, mate. He’s not going anywhere.’
The zombie’s head was smashed to a pulp. They could see its brain oozing onto the paving. Lara gagged and turned away. Lincoln and Chris helped Mick to his feet.
‘Are you okay, mate?’ Lincoln asked.
Mick looked down at the zombie before looking at Lincoln and saying, ‘Yep, all good. Let’s get the fuck out of here.’
12:15 AEST: Randwick
‘Jim! Glad to hear your voice.’
‘Hi, Dad,’ Jim replied. He sounded upset.
‘What’s wrong, Jim?’
‘Don and Roy went upstairs, Dad. I told them not to. I told them what you said. They said they’d just go and lock the door again.’
‘What happened?’
‘I made Donny stay next to the basement door. Roy went to find out how they broke in. He took a baseball bat with him, he said it’d be fine. It was really cold upstairs, Dad. I think some windows must have been broken.’
‘Okay, so did Roy find out how they got in?’
‘I called out to him. He said he’d just be a minute. Then we heard this roar, like someone yelling like a crazy person. Then there was this thud. Roy yelled out, “I got one!”’
Jim paused for second, as if struggling for words. ‘We thought that sounded pretty cool. Donny had the other bat, he started to walk down the hall. All of a sudden, this guy just jumped him out of nowhere. He must have been in the kitchen. The guy started beating on Donny and he was screaming. Roy came running back and smacked the guy over the head with his bat. He hit him twice before he fell.’
‘Oh shit Jim.’ Jeff was stunned. He had no idea what to say.
‘Donny got up, he seemed to be okay. He even said ‘Thanks man’ to Roy. They started walking back towards the basement door and I saw blood on Roy’s shoulder.’
Jim sobbed. ‘I ran back into the basement and slammed the door closed and bolted it. I think they’re both infected, Dad.’
‘When did this happen Jim?’
‘I locked the door about ten minutes ago. They were pounding on it for a while, but they’ve stopped now. I tried to turn the TV up so I couldn’t hear them, but the only thing you can see now is the Emergency Broadcast System. It just tells you stay inside. What do I do now, Dad? What should I do?’
Jeff took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. ‘Jim, I think you did the right thing locking them out. If Roy had blood on him he might be infected. Donny was almost certainly infected if he was beaten by one of them. Everything I’ve seen says that any contact is pretty much certain infection. You had no choice.’
‘But Dad, what if they weren’t infected? In zombie movies they have to bite you or get blood into your blood somehow. Roy just had blood on his shirt. Donny only had a bleeding lip. They might be okay, and I’ve locked them out there.’
‘Jim, you couldn’t take a chance. You did the right thing.’ Jeff repeated. He had no idea what to suggest Jim do next. As he was struggling for words, he heard a thumping noise through the phone.
‘What’s that noise Jim?’ Jeff asked.
Jim took a second to reply. His sounded relieved. ‘It’s Donny and Roy. They’re banging on the door, but they’re talking as well. Maybe they’re okay! Hold on a sec Dad.’
‘Jim, don’t let them in!’ Jeff almost yelled.
He could hear Jim moving, with the phone in his hands. Jim was holding the phone so Jeff could hear the conversation.
‘Is that you Donny?’ Jim called.
‘Yeah, of course it is, Jim,’ a voice answered. ‘Roy and I are okay. We aren’t infected.’
‘How can you know that?’ Jim asked. ‘Roy had blood on his shirt and you had a bloody lip.’
There was a pause. Then the voice called out again, ‘I hit my lip on the bat I was holding when the guy jumped on me. He was on my back the whole time, He only hit me on the sweater. He didn’t make me bleed. Roy isn’t sure about the blood on his jacket, but it isn’t his, and he had another shirt underneath so it didn’t actually touch him. He’s taken it off now.’
Jim spoke into the phone. ‘What do you think Dad? They sound okay to me.’
Jeff thought desperately. ‘Jim, it’s only been a few minutes. Why don’t you get them to hide upstairs for a while and then come back in about an hour. They’ll be okay if they aren’t sick by then.’
‘That sounds good, Dad,’ Jim replied. ‘Hold on.’
Jim
called, ‘Guys, I’m talking to my dad. He said you should stay upstairs for an hour. If you’re still okay after that then you can come back down here.’
‘Come on, Jim, that’s bullshit,’ Donny yelled. ‘It’s freezing up here.’
‘C’mon, man’, another voice, Jeff assumed it was Roy. ‘It’s not safe up here either. The doors are all busted in, as well as some of the windows. We can’t stay up here for an hour.’
Jim spoke into the phone. ‘Dad, I’m letting them in. They sound fine.’
Before Jeff could react, he heard the latch click and the door open.
‘Thanks, man’, Roy said.
‘We’re okay, honest Jim,’ said Donny.
Jeff heard the latch lock. ‘Dad, we’re okay. Both of them are fine.’
‘Jim, I’m not so sure. But I guess it’s too late to do anything about it now. Make sure they clean any blood off their skin. There’s bleach in that basement, wash them off with that and water. Call me back if anything else happens—okay?’
‘Okay, Dad,’ Jim said. ‘I’ll get them cleaned up and call you back.’
12:15 AEST: Sydney
‘Piotr, are you okay? You look unwell,’ Dan asked. They had finally managed to get a three-way video conference running. Dan thought Piotr looked like he had flu. He was very pale and looked to be sweating. Ian looked his normal robust self, he had a cup of tea and was also looking at the monitor with some concern.
‘No, I am fine my friend,’ Piotr replied. ‘I am just tired. It is getting very late here now. I will be asking Kasia to take watch soon.’
‘Okay, well, just an update from me,’ Dan began, although he was still concerned at how haggard Piotr was looking. ‘Our prime minister just had a press conference. He was caught out lying by some reporters. That’s not the worse part though. He told everyone that the outbreak was under control. He said there were no uncontained outbreaks.’ Dan paused, unsure of how to tell them about what he and Gen had seen in the bay.
‘How do you know he was lying, Dan?’ Ian asked.
‘Well, a reporter asked him to comment on the use of napalm in the city, and about attack choppers shooting private boats. He palmed it all off as “operational security”. The thing is, we saw the choppers take out a boat from our balcony. We heard other explosions as well. On top of that, we can still see packs of people roaming the street on the security monitor. It definitely isn’t under control here.’
‘Holy shit! You saw a chopper take out a boat?’ Ian was incredulous. ‘They’re taking this curfew pretty seriously then?’
‘I don’t know what’s going on. The PM clearly isn’t coping if he’s bullshitting in press conferences. How can you trust a government that does that? I’m not even sure he can keep governing.’
‘He didn’t really lie you know. He just said he wouldn’t talk about it.’
‘That’s as good as a lie and you know it. It’s just as bad as the refugee centres we sponsored that were just concentration camps.’
‘Yeah, maybe. You know, we’re hearing the same thing coming from our government, I wonder if they’re talking shit as well?’ Ian said. ‘Maybe I should be worried too.’
‘Ian, our government has a history of lying and talking crap, at least in the last few years. Yours hasn’t even had a scandal, let alone a leadership change.’
‘Where’s Piotr gone?’ Ian asked.
Dan paused. Piotr was no longer in shot. ‘I don’t know, he didn’t say anything, I hope everything is okay.’
‘Maybe he had to go to the loo or something?’ Ian said. ‘We were getting a little carried away.’
‘Yeah, maybe, it doesn’t seem like him though.’
‘Did you see that?’ Ian exclaimed.
‘What?’
‘It looked like someone running past the doorway to the left of the shot.’
‘I didn’t see any—wait, is that another one?’
‘Fuck me, there’s people in his house!’
‘Could it have been Kasia?’
‘I don’t think so, Dan. It looked like a man to me.’
‘Oh fuck, they must have got in.’
‘What can we do?’
‘Fuck all, Ian. He’s on the other side of the world.’
‘Oh shit, can you see that?’
The image from Piotr’s camera showed a doorway in the background to the right. Through the doorway they could see people moving past. They were moving quickly, but all seemed bloody or injured.
‘They look like they’re all SPS1,’ Dan said.
‘Fuck, Dan. They’re going to attack Piotr.’
‘At least they’re not going to eat him.’
‘Jesus, Dan, that’s our friend. How can you make a joke like that?’
‘Sorry, Ian. I just don’t know how else to react to this. That could happen to me anytime, there’s zombies outside everywhere. The government is killing people that are trying to escape.’
‘I get it, Dan. I get it. That’s our friend though, and he’s probably getting attacked at the moment.’
‘You’re right, Ian. I’m sorry. Maybe he’s escaped, maybe he’s safe.’ Dan shook his head, ‘Mate, I think he’s probably history but you never know. Let’s leave the video link open just in case.’ Dan stood up. ‘I’m just going to check on Gen, Jo is still here and I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her.’
12:35 AEST: Sydney
Joanne and Gen were sitting in an icy silence when Dan walked back into the lounge room. It was pretty clear that there was still a fair amount of tension between them. Dan didn’t think his news would break the ice, but at least it would be conversation. ‘I was just online with Ian in NZ and Piotr in Poland again.’
Gen looked up, ‘Are they okay?’
Joanne asked, ‘Who are they?’
‘Ian is a work friend of mine from Auckland. He’s okay. Their PM is telling them that the country is infection free and that they will stay locked down for the duration. It sounds like NZ is okay.’
‘Just like our PM told us?’ Gen asked.
‘I think their PM is a hell of a lot better man than the arsehole we have running the show. So does Ian. I think NZ is probably safe so far.’
‘And Piotr?’ Gen asked.
Dan hesitated, looked at Joanne, and said, ‘Piotr is another colleague who lives in Poland. He was the one who first told me it was zombies and that Europe is in chaos. Piotr saw attacks on his street. He, his wife, and his baby daughter was holed up in the upper floor of his house.’ Dan paused, then looked at Gen and said, ‘A couple of minutes ago he disappeared from view. A few seconds later we saw people running in his house.’
‘What does that mean?’ Joanne asked.
‘It means that someone got into his house, and anyone running is probably infected,’ Gen said. ‘I guess they’re probably going to be killed then,’ Gen stood and walked over to Dan, offering him a hug.
‘We left the video call open just in case, but my bet is they’ll all be attacked and killed, or at least infected.’ Dan hugged Gen back. ‘I really liked Piotr, he and his wife were good people.’
Dan was conscious of Joanne watching him hugging Gen. He broke and said, ‘I’m sorry about Mark as well Jo, this is an awful thing that’s happening.’
‘Thank you, Dan,’ Joanne replied, ‘I’m sorry to hear about your friend. Uh—it looks like another announcement on TV.’
Dan and Gen walked hand in hand back to the lounge as they sat the talking head cut to another press conference.
The prime minister stood at a podium. He was flanked by four senior ministers and at least eight flags. The prime minister looked decidedly uncomfortable.
‘This is bound to be bad news with that many flags,’ Dan said.
‘My fellow Australians,’ the PM began.
Dan rolled his eyes—he was getting used to the pompous prat, but he would never get used to that pretentious opening.
‘The party leadership have just met to vote on a no-confiden
ce motion in my leadership.’
‘Not another fucking leadership change—not now.’ Dan groaned. Over the last few years, it seemed that the governing party would change leadership every twelve months or so. It was getting to the point where it felt like Australia was, to quote one of Dan’s favourite politicians, a Banana Republic.
‘I have been retained as prime minister; however, this is on condition that several policies must be changed. Not least of these is the policy of revealing operational information. Moving forward this government will adopt a policy of full disclosure with respect to the current emergency.’
‘Wow, that must have been some meeting,’ Gen said.
‘No kidding,’ Dan said. ‘Let’s hope they do the right thing.’
‘Firstly, the international situation. At this time almost all world governments are in disarray. We are no longer in contact with any governments in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, or South America. Many Asian and European governments have also dropped out of contact. In fact, it would be fair to say that at this time the only governments with which we still have reliable communications are the United States, Japan, and New Zealand.
‘Japan and the United States are struggling against widespread outbreaks. Both nations are virtually overrun. The American government is in a bunker designed to withstand WMD attack, and can remain in it for years. The Japanese government, like the Indian Government earlier today, is about to leave the country aboard the helicopter carrier Izumo, which is standing offshore. At this time New Zealand appears to be infection free.’
The PM paused, looking to the ministers flanking him before continuing.
‘Here at home the outbreaks appear to be limited to Sydney only. The strict quarantine and curfew we imposed has contained the outbreaks within the greater Sydney region. At this time there are no reported outbreaks outside of Greater Sydney.
‘In light of the success in containing the spread of the infection, work has commenced on the erection of a barrier surrounding the greater Sydney area. In the interim a no-go zone will be enforced around the city. The zone will extend from Port Hacking in the south, west to Campbelltown, north-west to Penrith, east to Berowra, and then bounded by Pittwater and Broken Bay in the north.