The intent was right of course. In the early days, they had ambulances picking up skin bite victims and taking them to hospital. Meat bite victims who turned instantly had initially been seen as victims. Later, Honey Potts were used to lure them into places where they could be locked up.
Not long after that, the police and military began to kill PVs observed attacking humans.
Bevan was in his Hawkei Protect Mobility Vehicle, or PMV patrol truck when he saw a herd approaching a family home. He had not used his weapon since he killed his patrol partner three days earlier. Although the kill order had been given, he was hesitant to kill beings that he considered human.
As Bevan approached the herd, they turned their attention his way. The PVs rushed at the truck, but they turned back towards the family home as he accelerated off.
Bevan stopped, wound down his window and fired his Glock. One went down, but got up again. It was definitely wounded, but it turned and headed for Bevan again. Bevan accelerated at them and knocked them flying. Two of the five got up. Bevan drove the seven thousand kilogram Hawkei at them and all five were dead.
Bevan took the shotgun from the rack and went to investigate the house. He checked on the family (there was none, just a loud TV that had been left on) and continued his patrol.
Later that afternoon, the order to kill PVs on sight was given and Bevan had no hesitation in killing them. In the span of a single day, his attitude had changed. He found that stopping the truck and using the roof mounted 12.7mm Heavy Machine Gun was much more effective than the Glock, no shit Sherlock
- 1 -
Two days later, the order was given for all Police and Military not involved in specific operations to go home and survive.
Bevan was on patrol when the order was given. He did not hesitate to drive the Hawkei home to pick up his wife and son. The Hawkei was a much safer vehicle than his personal car. It was armoured, armed, and virtually indestructible.
Bevan loved camping. No crime, no criminals, nothing to do but relax in the wilds and drink beer. But Joan loved her comforts. The compromise was the camper trailer. The first thing he did when he got home was attach it to the rear of his Hawkei.
Joan had already packed the essentials (and a few not so essentials) into the trailer. Their suitcases went into the back of the Hawkei, and they were on their way to the south coast hinterland.
The eight-lane road was clear enough for them to drive 75km south, occasionally using the weight of the Hawkei to clear their way. They turned off to the south west and arrived at the Advanced Dam.
They stayed there in a campsite for three days, and then across the border to a bluff overlooking the ocean. There weren't any people around. Surely the death rate wasn't that high, or were people just scared to be outside?
Bevan and his family enjoyed the beach and fished each evening. On the tenth morning at the bluff, Bevan saw a small herd heading towards the campsite. He had no escape route or protections.
Isolation was not enough. Without walls and other survivors, it was just a matter of time before their campsite was overrun.
- 2 -
Bevan put his family in the Hawkei and used the Machine Gun to deal with the PVs. They moved inland to a location with clearer exit points.
“Bevan, where is everyone?”, Joan asked the next morning while they ate their breakfast. Bevan told Joan what he knew.
“I wanted to come south as I'd heard that it was clear. The New South Wales Government had everyone in the area go to Harrisville. It didn't work. They had an outbreak. The last we'd heard, there was a swarm of over twenty-five thousand head slowly moving south-east, towards Gareth Heads.”
“What? They might come back up this way?”, she said.
“No, there are three rivers and three hundred kilometres between us.”
He continued, “There was a camp at Sandgate. It was a massive disaster. They had twelve thousand people housed together in a single camp. Then someone with a bite managed to be admitted. It took less than a day for a herd of more than ten thousand people to form. It headed north to the Sunshine Coast, growing rapidly as it went. That herd was the reason I came south. They had managed to cross rivers as they were following the highway.”
Suddenly Bevan looked at his wife with dawning realization, “Oh shit, oh shit”, he said. He was worried about his family's safety, and he thought it would not be long before a swarm found them.
“What is it?”, she was suddenly scared.
“I met a group when I was working the blockade. They were going to a Winery up in the Granite Belt. And the next day, I met a man and his son traveling in two vehicles. They were going to the same place, the same bloody place.”
“It's well over a hundred people”, he continued. “I wonder if they made it.”
“It sounds like a safer place than here. Even if they aren't there, there must be good places to stay out there.” Joan sounded keen.
According to the truck's computer, the Hawkei had enough diesel for another 650km of travel. They packed their food supplies into the truck and headed towards McPherson to cross the border and find the Winery.
- 3 -
Late that afternoon, they arrived in Buckworth and found it completely empty. Not a soul around, no PVs and no people.
The town wasn't damaged at all, apart from a single home on the way out of town that appeared to have burnt down without any obvious reason.
Bevan came the long way around, through the northern part of New South Wales and entered McPherson. As they entered the town, Bevan noticed a herd standing in the fields. Many of the herd wore uniforms.
McPherson straddled the state border. On the southern side, the military had the largest ammunition dump in the southern hemisphere. But in the north, the army had massive stores that held enough building materials to build a small skyscraper.
Helicopters, Hawkeis, Bushmasters, RPGs and all sorts of odds and ends were held there. They also had dozens of shipping containers. Of course, Bevan knew nothing about this as he pulled into the garage to try to get some diesel.
While Bevan was running the Hawkei’s hand pump to get diesel from the storage tank, Sergeant Daniel Burrows approached him. Bevan did not hear him approach until the soldier spoke. “We'd you get a Hawkei from?”
At first Bevan was startled to see six armed men in uniform, but the soldiers were just happy to see living people.
“I'm Queensland Police. We are evaluating six of them for special ops, I had this one for a patrol car.”
Daniel smiled, “Damn, am I happy to see you?”
- 4 -
After names were exchanged, Daniel invited them to come to the base for lunch.
“We're actually heading to the State Forest. I think there are people living there”, said Bevan.
“How do you know that?”
Bevan told them about meeting Grady’s group and Ethan and his father.
“Were they in a black Ute and an SUV?”, asked Daniel.
When Bevan agreed that they were, Daniel said, “We had a guy come through who said he was going there during the riot. He didn't come back this way. I never thought about him again, but maybe he made it there. I mean, hell it’s only ten minutes away”
All up, there were forty-two survivors in McPherson. The rest of the residents were standing in a field near the Matthews Vineyard.
That night they exchanged stories. Bevan spoke about the horrors he's witnessed in Brisbane and their near miss on the coast. Daniel told him about the fight to survive in McPherson.
“Why is there an army base in McPherson? Seems a bit out of the way to me.”
“That's exactly the point. During WWII, the Government created a general army store and then an ammunition dump.”
“You know that fucking thing Churchill wanted? Let the Japanese take Australia down to the Brisbane line, have you heard about that?”
“Yes I have, but why?”
“Well this is just below the Brisbane line. During WW
II, the flow of trucks and military materials went on day and night. They kept the store the same size since. However, the number of personnel have reduced considerably. We have a communications group here too.”
- 5 -
Tim had been at the Colony for a week and was working on the wall when he heard diesel engines approaching. It was early in the morning. He'd been on since sunrise and no one was outside the walls. Thirty seconds later, two huge off road vehicles crested the hill and stopped.
“Oh fuck”, he said. He realised he had a lot more to swear about now that the world had ended.
Someone got out of the rear truck and walked the to the front truck. A woman and a boy got out of the front truck and went back to the rear truck. A head popped up through the roof of the rear truck and Tim saw what looked like an enormous machine gun swivel towards him.
Tim followed the drill. He tripped the alarm that led to the Nicolls' farm, the Cabins and the Winery. He turned to see Matthew Nicolls sprinting up the hill to the wall. It was easier these days, as he'd lost over ten kilograms in the month since he'd last seen Juan.
“They seem to be well drilled”, commented Bevan to Daniel.
“Yes. That wall is clever; shipping containers, and what are those on top? Looks like cages full of rocks for them to hide behind. Very clever.”
“There's a guy running up the hill from the farmhouse.”
“Yes, that's not so smart, we could take him out straight over the fence from this angle.”
“Ok let's do this”, said Daniel.
Tim was on edge. The front truck slowly came down the hill and stopped forty meters from the barrier. Two men inside opened the doors of the truck and stood on what would have been called a running board in the 1930s.
“Ahoy on the wall”, called out Daniel.
“Ahoy yourself. Who are you and what do you want?”
Bevan noticed that the other man had arrived and was on top of the wall now. Not so smart, only having one person on the wall.
To the right, Bevan noticed a windmill. There was a platform up there and what looked like a sniper's perch, it was manned. ‘Chalk that one up to smart too’, he thought.
Bevan heard a diesel vehicle had arrived on the other side of the barrier.
“My name is Sergeant Daniel Burrows, stationed at McPherson. That's the town fifteen kilometres south of here.”
Matthew recognised the man. It's easy to remember a man who has pointed a gun in your face.
“And you, sir”, pointing at Matthew. “I think you are the gentlemen who came through our town in the height of the firefight.”
Matthew nodded to confirm.
“And who is this then?”, asked Mathew, pointing to Bevan.
“I am Senior Sergeant Bevan Ronald badge number 785620 with the Queensland Police. A month ago, I met a man who was traveling in a convoy to this Winery. I believe it was the second day of the plague when we spoke.”
“Yes, it was.” Grady had arrived with Tom. “And what is it that you two want?”
“Sir, I have my wife and son with me in the other vehicle. We have been camping on the northern New South Wales coast. I remembered you people and I was hoping to join your group. In McPherson, I met the Sergeant.”
“Do you have any weapons?”
“We are unarmed, but that Hawkei up there is military and it does.”
Matthew Nicolls and Grady looked at each other.
“This is what we'll do. The two of you step out from behind those nice protective doors and stand in front of your truck. Put your hands up and slowly turn around so we can check you out. The truck up the hill can still give you cover.”
The two Sergeants did as they were asked, as they finished a small door opened in the wall. “Come in.”
For ten minutes, they spoke with the Sergeants before inviting them to come to the Nicholl's home to meet the management committee. (Their leadership time now extended).
Joan was very worried. Her idiot husband had just gone behind the barrier. After a few minutes, she saw a large gate open and the other Sergeant signal them to come down the hill.
The Corporal started his Hawkei, drove arrange the Hawkei and drove through the gates, where he followed a minibus down the hill to the farmhouse. There, the real discussion commenced.
- 6 -
The two Sergeants introduced the Corporal, Private, and Bevan's family. Valerie introduced the members of the management committee.
Valerie explained, “We want to wait for Sue and Alexander. They're the managers of the Camp Cabins and it's further away than the rest of us. We're only driving when we have to.”
“Saving fuel for important uses?”, asked Daniel, who received nods in response from the Colony people.
They were nervous, Daniel understood that. For one thing, the soldiers were armed. Not on them, but at least in the trucks. Secondly, they had previously interacted with them, and thirdly, they represented authority.
“What's this here?”, asked Daniel, pointing to a large fish tank.
“That's Florence's enclosure. She's a large Children's Python”, said Valerie. Matthew was watching the interaction between his wife and this man with interest.
“They have a type of python for kids?”
Valerie chuckled, “No the person who discovered them was named Children. You nearly killed Florence, from what I hear. She was in the car with my son.”
“No ma'am, I didn't. My gun was on safety and my finger was not near the trigger. My objective was to get your husband and son away from danger as quick as possible, not to hurt them in any way.”
“Well then, we thank you”, said Matthew.
After watching this, Bevan was thinking that things might be alright. Daniel and his team were trying to be as pleasant and friendly as possible.
Sue and Alexander approached and were introduced. The six outsiders sat down with the six leaders of the Colony.
“Give me a moment”, Matthew asked and walked inside. Valerie looked at Sue and shrugged her shoulders. Bevan observed this interaction and relaxed even more.
Matthew returned momentarily with his son and jugs of water and glasses for all. Ethan briefly went inside again, and then came back out with his seventeen-year-old sister Joss and younger brother Sean.
“What's your son's name”, asked Matthew.
“This is Tyson.”
“Would Tyson be interested in using the trampolines with Sean and Joss?”, It turned out he was, the three Nicolls children and Tyson started to get to know each other.
“That, in a nutshell, is the reason we're here”, started Daniel. “Eighty percent of our town are either dead, or standing in a field on the southern side of the border. There are forty-two of us left. Twelve town civilian adults and children, sixteen soldiers and the rest are our partners and children. We want to merge with your group. There is definitely safety in numbers and we have a lot we can bring to your group.”
“We've taken security measures, but I've always thought they were not enough”, said Grady.
“Yes, we noticed”, continued Daniel, “For example, there is line of sight to this house from the road. But that's not the only thing I'm talking about.”
“We're soldiers. Most of us have been to Afghanistan. I was in the SAS until a knee injury meant I couldn't do the running required. But McPherson is a storage facility. It's one of the largest in Australia.”
“What? Still? I thought that was long gone. Isn’t it mostly just a facility for Army people to overnight in?”, asked Tom. “That's what everyone says.”
“That's what we want them to think. I'm glad to see it worked”, said Daniel with a smile.
“Ok, I'll take the bait. What do you have?”, asked Valerie.
“We have twelve more Hawkeis, four Bushmasters, two Abrams, lots and lots of Ammo. Building materials, literally tonnes of Ration Packs. We also have twenty thousand tonnes of diesel fuel in below ground store and twenty-five thousand litres above ground.”
“Well, to be honest, we're not sure we do want to join you yet, but certainly an alliance at least. Our base is built for secrecy and security, not for homeliness. Few soldiers lived on base; only a small number of the single men and women. The rest of us lived in town. But we're mostly older and married, or at least with a partner and living off base. It’s not safe anymore so we’ve all been living together on base, but it's pretty tight. I'd really like to hear your long-term plans and how you ended up here.”
The Colony Page 12