The Colony

by Lang, Christopher

  Over the next hour or so, they heard an occasional shot. Masako assumed that they shot each woman when they were finished with her.

  Two hours after they arrived, the attackers left. Smoke wafted up from the new house. Half an hour later, Kevin insisted on going to check if there were any survivors.

  When he returned to the women, he had a knapsack filled with bottles of water, a couple of machetes and nothing else.

  “Where is everyone?”, asked Linda.

  “No survivors.”

  “The new house is burning down, let’s go”, said Kevin.

  They started to walk. Walking on the road would have been much easier, but Kevin insisted that they keep under cover. That afternoon, they reached the outskirts of Newell Plains and took a wide berth.

  Kevin missed his watch. He’d left it beside the bed, but it was gone. The inbuilt compass may have been useful for cutting across the country, but he wouldn't take the risk without it. He kept within a close distance of the road so they didn’t get lost.

  That night, they stayed in a hay shed six kilometres north of the Zoo. They'd covered about twenty-two kilometres going cross country. Kevin didn't sleep during the night period. He watched all night. He slept for two hours after the women awoke and they were on the way again by 7:00 am.

  - 19 -

  The hyenas were attacking each other. They hadn't been fed properly for weeks, and already the weakest were dead. It was obvious which one was next. The alpha female was nipping at a particular bitch's hocks and the others were following suit.

  Sara bought Raymond another beer. He was laying on the portable hammock, relaxing in the sun. He had lifted the hammock from the information centre at the zoo. The primates were dead and the smell had meant that he had to find a less odorous place to relax. He was sure they were monkeys, but Johnny the Pig disagreed with Ray, claiming they weren't because they didn't have tails.

  Ray was seriously thinking about having Johnny put in the hyena cage naked.

  The lion was almost dead. That was a huge disappointment. Its chest was rapidly moving up and down and it was as skinny as a reed. The automatic feeder had run out of dry food four days earlier but even when it was operating it was barely enough to sustain life. Ray felt sorry for the lion, an emotion he'd never felt for a person. All he knew was that he couldn't watch it. So he'd moved on to the hyenas. He'd always like them.

  The alpha hyena took another bite of the designated victim, and then it happened. The six other hyena's tore their cage mate apart and started to devour her.

  “Charlie! Charlie, come over here. Do you have those keys on you? Will one fit the lion's cage?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Okay let's go up there.”

  Raymond walked up the pathway a couple of hundred meters with Charlie and Sara following. As they walked past the lion's cage, the lion opened its eyes but didn't move its head to look their way.

  Johnny the pig was still naked. Raymond had the boys hose him with the firehose. “At least the bastard doesn't stink anymore”, he said to Charlie as they approached.

  “I'm sorry, Raymond. I'm sorry, man. You're right, you're right. They're monkeys, man.”

  Raymond felt disgusted that he was blubbering. “Bring him.”

  Raymond turned and walked back to the Lion's cage, Johnny was stood up and dragged to the Lion's cage.

  “No! Fuck no, Raymond!!! I'm sorry man! Please! We're friends. I even shared my ex with you all those times. Please no!!!”

  “Where are his socks?”, asked Raymond. “Go and get his fucking socks and his knife.”

  Johnny kept on pleading, but Raymond ignored him while he waited.

  “Okay give me his socks.” Raymond dropped one on the ground and took the other sock and shoved it in his mouth.

  “Take that out, and I'll cut your cock off.” Raymond nicked him with the knife just above his pubic hair to show he was serious.

  Johnny was nodding vigorously, tears were running down his face.

  “Charlie, open it.” Charlie walked to the maintenance gate that led to the cage. After a minute or so, Raymond saw him put his head through the door at the back of the cage. The lion raised its head and looked towards the door.

  Raymond spoke to Johnny. “We're going to put you in with Leo. Now I can tell that you want to tell me that his name's not Leo, but I can't have that anymore Johnny. It's not personal, you just piss me off…

  “Well, I guess it is personal.

  “Now Leo looks pretty sick to me, so you might survive. Once the door is locked, we'll put the keys in the moat down there. If you manage to get past Leo to the keys and back out again, good for you.

  “But now you listen really carefully, I never want to see your smart-arse face again. If I ever see you again, I will feed you your own cock.”

  Raymond placed the knife on his left nipple, ran it across his chest to his right nipple and finished off the zed with a cut across his belly. It wasn't deep, but it hurt a lot and bled badly.

  “Fuck man, did you just piss yourself? Okay, put his arse in and bring me back the keys.”

  Three of the men marched Johnny around the back of the enclosure and two minutes later, the door opened and he was pushed inside. They had taken his handcuffs off to give him a fighting chance.

  Charlie came around the front of the cage and noticed that Leo was now interested. Maybe it was the blood, or maybe it was just the fact that he knew the door was locked but Leo was now managing to stand up.

  “Cheeky bastard”, thought Raymond, “conserving his energy.”

  Johnny had taken the sock out of his mouth, “Please, please, please!”

  Raymond took the keys from Charlie.

  “Here Johnny, I'll give you a hand”, and he threw the keys down into the moat. “And your knife”, the knife landed just near the keys.

  Johnny ran across the enclosure; it wasn't far, only twenty meters or so, and the cat was up on its feet and going after him. But the cat was sickly and weak. Johnny got to the moat, down the slope and into the puddle of water before the Lion could get him.

  Jonny picked up the keys and the knife and looked up at the lion. It hadn't bothered going down after him. Johnny ran along the moat to the far side of the enclosure. The enclosure was shaped like a giant slice of cheesecake, with the door near the tip and the moat running along the slopped edge. Johnny was now about as far from the exit as he could be, but the lion hadn't followed him. It just watched.

  Watching the lion, Johnny climbed up the slope of the moat back up to the top. The lion and Johnny were about twenty meters apart. It was twenty-five meters for Johnny to get to the door, but only twenty meters for the lion. The lion took a step towards Johnny and then it was on.

  Johnny sprinted for the doorway. The lion ran also, but Charlie could see that Johnny would make it there first. And he was right, he dropped the knife at the doorway and had the keys out and had tried the first one when Leo was on him. The lion was skinny, but it still weighed over 150kg. It jumped on Johnny's back, pulled him down and ripped his throat out.

  The lion started in on the soft parts of his belly.

  “Oh man, that was fucking brilliant!” Said Raymond. “Hey Charlie, we got to work out a way to let Leo out before we leave. The Hyenas too.”

  Charlie looked at Raymond and smiled, “Can we start with the Zebras and shit boss?”

  - 20 -

  The storm on their first day on Macquarie Island was the most exciting thing to happen in the first three months spent there. Fishing and swimming and just generally lazing around were the main activities. Juan was happy with the amount of nookie he was getting. There wasn’t much else to do at night.

  Michelle had extended the small fruit and vegetable garden that the rangers had started. Richard was shocked that the garden even existed as the island was for native species only. The rangers had been bending their own rules. Michelle had started producing tomatoes, seeded from the few tomatoes they had on
board the yacht. The pumpkin patch was growing like crazy.

  Juan was sitting at the picnic table looking at the waterfall. There wasn't much water falling. Since the storm three months earlier, they'd only had drizzle.

  The night before, he'd had a long discussion with Valerie. Somehow, she had information about where there were settlements. The closest coastal settlement was at Akaroa, near Christchurch, New Zealand. There appeared to be other settlements on New Zealand and some possibilities on New Caledonia. The fresh water was becoming a problem on the island, but they would be able to get by with water from the yacht.

  Jennifer had told Michelle that she was overdue and feeling ill when she was hungry or smelt food. Michelle and Juan were no longer using contraceptives either. For Juan, the future was uncertain. It was becoming clear that there wasn't much future on Macquarie Island.

  Richard was pushing for clearing Kauri. The idea of shooting over two thousand people was a difficult option for Juan to contemplate even if he’d had the bullets. The people he'd shot on Lord Howe were still prickling on his conscience.

  - 21 -

  Two months after joining the Colony, Sergeant Daniel Burrows led a three-truck team across the border to Donaldson. Donaldson had a pre-plague population of over three thousand, and was less than an hour away from the Colony.

  When they got there, it was still as empty as Bevan had reported. On the western side of town, there were plenty of PV bodies, but they'd been dead for months. There was no obvious reason for them being dead.

  The objective of this trip was multifaceted. The first part of the trip was for reconnaissance. They wanted to locate water tanks and solar panels for the Colony. The second part of the trip was a trip that Matthew Nicolls had asked them to make, so he was with them for the ride.

  The town was empty and unclaimed. The team erected signs displaying the agreed radio frequency and made camp at the local Catholic High School. The town was checked over, and an inventory of solar panels, canned food, and batteries was made. A water tank wholesaler had dozens of water tanks in a yard outside town, that solved some problems for Matthew. A supply run would return after the team returned.

  Early the next morning, the convoy left Donaldson along the B60 and made it to Tapscott by midday.

  Tapscott was far from empty. The three trucks moved slowly into town, avoiding the swarms as they went. The McPherson PVs were still standing in the field south of town, but the Tapscott swarms still moved slowly around. A swarm approached the first truck, but Daniel continued at the same low speed and they parted and let him through.

  “Matthew, Matthew, where do we need to be? Over.”

  “They can't get past Tatham. Over.”

  “Roger, I don't want to be driving through this shit. Let's hang a right, and swing around from the south. Over.”

  “Roger that. They're at the rendezvous already. Over.”

  Daniel turned right and then took the first right off the main road out of town. Soon the landscape changed, and it was becoming clear that they were heading down to a river. As the road approached the river, it was obvious why this point had been chosen as the meet point. The yacht could not fit under the low bridge.

  Juan had a pile of goods on the deck of the yacht and as the Hawkeis approached, he bought his yacht up closer to the bridge. The first Hawkei approached the bridge and drove to the other side. The hatch opened, and the gunner was in position. The second Hawkei stopped in the centre of the bridge, while the third stopped at the entrance of the bridge and positioned their gunner also.

  They expected to be there no longer than necessary. The boat rested against the bridge and Matthew attached the Hawkei’s winch cable to the mast and retracted it until the boat was secured.

  Matthew dropped a ladder over the edge and the first four people on the boat started up one at a time, each with a bundle of goods on their back.

  Juan was throwing possessions up onto the road deck and Ethan was putting them into the back of the truck. As Juan threw the last of the bags up, he started for the ladder. His four companions were on dry land and Juan climbing when Matthew heard a vehicle approaching from the far side of the bridge.

  “Come on Juan, we don’t know if they’re dangerous.” Juan raced up the ladder and the winch was disconnected. Juan hugged Matthew as they all got into the Hawkei.

  A trail bike approached from the far side of the river. One of the soldiers got out of the truck with the Steyr and pointed it over their heads. When they didn't stop, he fired in the air.

  Terry Hinton and his younger sister had been stuck in the farmhouse for four months, surviving by baking bread, eating preserved fruits and drinking their father’s wine collection. This morning, they had noticed the boat on the river outside their home. Ten minutes earlier, three army trucks turned up and Terry's fourteen-year-old sister convinced him it was time to go.

  They ran out into the shed beside the house. Terry started the trail bike and his sister opened the shed’s garage door. Then she ran back to get on the bike. Terry accelerated down the driveway, past the bodies of their parents, still laying on the road.

  The sound of shooting was enough to get Terry to stop immediately. The gun moving from skyward towards them was another motivation.

  “Get off the fucking bike right now”, yelled the corporal. The boy and the girl did as they were told.

  “Have you been bitten?”, Now that the bike was off and the danger was no longer immediate, the corporal was a lot politer.

  Juan was looking on from the Hawkei with concern. “Don't worry”, said Matthew. They'll check them over and bring them along with us if they can.”

  “Are you wearing underwear?”, the corporal asked. The girl nodded, so did the boy.

  “I'm really sorry about this. I need you to keep your arms above your head as much as possible and strip to your underwear. We need to make sure you don't have bites.”

  They did as instructed. The corporal felt more embarrassed then they did. Adult nudity didn't bother him, but the fact that the girl was a teenager was making him very uncomfortable.

  “Private, get over there and check them over.” The corporal moved back towards the truck. These two were not going to be any problem and the roof gunner was still in place.

  “Hi. Don't worry, we'll get you dressed again as soon as possible.” The girl was relieved to hear a female voice.

  “I didn't know there are female soldiers.”

  “Sweetheart, this is the twenty-first century; we can do anything.”

  The private respectfully asked them to turn around and quickly realised that they were safe.

  “Where are you from?”, the private asked.

  “We live over there”, the boy pointed to the house on the hill. “We haven't seen anyone in ages.”

  “Ok, you can put your clothes back on.” The private gave the all clear.

  “Do you want to come with us?”, asked the private. “We live up near McPherson on farms. Some of us are soldiers, but most of us are normal people. In fact, my daughter is in school there today. We've only come here to collect these people. They're friends of ours.”

  The boy nodded.

  “Okay Sergeant”, she spoke into her microphone, “they're clear.”

  On the way back to the Colony, they stopped on both sides of Tapscott. They erected their standard signs built by Grady's web designer listing the radio frequencies. They added an additional spray-painted sign to warn about PVs in the town. The newcomers were nervous as they drove through town.

  “Don't worry”, began Anne, “if a bunch of Taliban can't worry this truck, a bunch of stupid brainless Zombies certainly won't.”

  The private had used Bushmasters in Afghanistan, but the newbies didn't need to know that and probably wouldn’t care.

  They arrived in Donaldson as the sun went down, but the spotlights on the trucks made the last forty-five minutes of the trip a breeze.

  - 22 -

  Masako was getting worr
ied about Kevin. He'd tripped over three times in the last half hour. He needed sleep, but she knew he was too proud to stop.

  “Kevin. I can't go on. Please, can we stop for the day?”, she said. “I need to rest.”

  Kevin looked towards the sun. “It's only early afternoon.”

  “Yes Kevin, and I'm very sorry”, she said. Kevin looked at her and smiled. He knew what she was doing.

  “For your sake then, Masako, let's stop.”

  A farm house was visible in the distance. They made their way to it, and after confirming it was deserted, they broke in. Kevin was asleep in the main bedroom within a few minutes.