Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 22

An occasional zombie lurched towards us as we passed, but the road ahead remained largely free of cars and people.  A few cars had driven off the road and into the ditch on the side, possibly the source of the zombies we spotted, but we travelled unimpeded to the turnoff.   I reached over and tapped Lucas on the shoulder to remind him to turn.  He nodded and smoothly took the exit to Redlynch. 

On the right was a large shopping centre and a little further on were a couple of schools.  From the lack of pedestrians or shoppers, I felt pretty confident that the residents were now aware of the dangers facing them today and were hiding in their homes. Or they've all been turned, a small voice suggested.  I ignored it as the anticipation of seeing my family grew.  For the first time all day, I allowed myself to imagine holding them in my arm, covering them in kisses and reassuring myself that they were well. 

We soon left the suburbs behind and started passing large acreages dotted with horses.  Then we passed into the rainforest estate.  Thick, dense foliage covered the road on both sides as we travelled over the rickety old bridge that crossed the fast flowing river.   Just past it, was the road my sister lived on.  The motorbike's engine groaned in protest as it struggled to get us up the hill.  Topping the hill, I anxiously scanned the street for any sign of trouble but it looked as serene as ever.  

As Lucas parked the motorbike at the bottom of my sister's steep driveway, I jumped off and ran up the driveway as if my feet were on fire.  My heart felt like it would burst with the need to touch my kids.  As I reached the stairs, I heard the sliding doors open and the pitter patter of little feet.

At the top of the stairs I saw the placid faces of my babies.  "Mummy!" Sarah smiled happily.  Alex cautiously placed a plump foot on the top step as he started down towards me.  I laughed and bolted up the stairs.  Sweeping them up in my arms, I spun around, causing them to laugh and squeal.  Oh, they smelt so good! I nuzzled my face in their neck.  Then, in the doorway, I saw the most beautiful sight in the whole world - my daughter Michele, healthy and smiling.

I grinned, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't embarass her when all I wanted to do was burst into tears and cover her in kisses.  "Hey, honey."

"Hey, mum. " Did I spy a hint of tears in her eyes? "What took you so long?"

I shrugged, blinking rapidly while I readjusted the kids on my hips. "Got delayed at the school."

Kaye pushed past Michele and hugged me tightly, babies and all.  "I've been so worried." She stepped back and slapped my arm.  "Couldn't you ring at least?"

"Hey, I tried several times!  I think the lines were swamped or something."

She gestured dismissively.  "It doesn't matter now.  Come inside - all of you."  She smiled welcomingly at Emma and Lucas as they topped the stairs. 

Inside, Roy shifted nervously from foot to foot as I moved towards him.  Freshly showered and wearing Charlie's clothes, he looked younger and more vulnerable.  He held his hands up defensively. "I had to leave, Lori.  You told me to keep the kids safe.  There were so many of those things around the ambulance and more kept coming - I was worried we wouldn't be able to get away so I decided to circle around the block a few times.  We looked for you but you never came..."

Putting the babies down, I touched his arm.  "Roy.  It's okay. I'm not mad at you." I smiled reassuringly, a little amazed at his anxiousness. Surely I wasn't intimidating? " You did the right thing. Thank you."  If they hadn't left when they did, they might have ended up in that traffic jam...I shuddered to think what might have happened then.

"Yeah, well." He blustered.  "The day's been bad enough without having Lady KillBill on my case."

I rolled my eyes and turned away to look at the rest of the group. "Where's Jessie?" I asked anxiously as I realised who was missing.  Kaye touched my arm reassuringly.  "She's sleeping.  Come and see."  I followed her into my nieces' bedroom and saw the frail looking child curled up in the bed, looking peaceful and angelic.

"Is she okay?" I whispered.  I suddenly realised that I didn't even know why she was in hospital in the first place. 

Kaye nodded, understanding what I was asking.  "Turns out she's an asthmatic.  She had a bad attack last night.  Needed to be observed overnight but she is fine now. Just a bit tired.  I gave her a bath and some food and then suggested she have a nap."

Food.  I suddenly realised I was starving!  Kaye recognised the look on my face and laughed.  "Come on, I'll make you guys some sandwiches and you can fill me in on everything.  I'm still trying to process the stuff Roy and Michele told me!"  As my sister talked, I  felt the tension start to drain from my body.  My sister, my kids, my friends - we were here and, for now, we were safe. I  I knew it wouldn't last but for now, a few moments of peace felt like a slice of heaven.

****

After a long drink of cold water, we sat around the long wooden table and brought each other up to date.  I briefly told our story, although I'm sure they filled in the more unpleasant gaps for themselves. "What about here?"  I asked.  "Any activity, dead or alive?"

Kaye wrinkled her forehead.  "No, it has been as quiet as ever.  I haven't seen or heard anything unusual - unless you count the sight of an ambulance coming up my driveway."

 At my querying look, Roy pointed downwards.  "Parked it next to the four wheel drive. Guess that's why you didn't see it. "

"What about the radio or the tv?" I asked. "Any information?"

Kaye snorted.  "In the morning, there was all that talk about the encephalitis outbreak and then the minister came on at lunch to say that they were considering implementing a quarantine. Nothing since!"

"Maybe we should check again." Emma suggested.

Kaye gracefully stood up and picked up the tv remote.  She frowned as only static came on.  She flicked to another channel and then another.  There was static on all the channels.  Kaye moved to the radio and tried to find a station.  Static.  She turned to us with a raised brow.  "I'm going to take a stab and say that this is not a good sign."

I sighed.  "We need to talk about what we should do next.  Do we sit tight, make this place secure and wait for our armed forces to bail us out? Or do we make an evacuation plan?"

"What about Jim and Ken?" Emma asked anxiously. 

"I hope that they are okay, Emma, but if they are not here in the next couple of hours, we are going to have to assume that they are ... not coming.  In the meantime, we need to make plans."

For the next half an hour, we discussed our options.  Going north was out of the question as there was only rainforest and the ocean.  And, as I pointed out, Cape Tribulation seemed to be the origin of this plague so heading in that direction was not a good idea.  Going south was not a good option as it seemed likely that most of inner Cairns was lost to the plague now.  That only left the hills.  About twenty minutes up the road was the exit to the tablelands, the mountainous farming region of far north Queensland.  As far as we knew, that road was still clear, but for how long?  We needed to make a decision soon.

Once we'd determined our two viable options, we argued about the pros and cons of each for several minutes.  I felt torn.  All I wanted to do was huddle under a blanket and sleep, and in these peaceful surroundings, it was easy to believe that the plague would never reach us.  I desperately wanted to believe that I could just relax and leave it to the government to fight the walking dead.  However, the cynical side of me said I should pack up and head out of this hellhole while I had the chance because the only thing I could count on was myself - and my small group of family and friends.  But what about Joe, an anguished voice inside me cried out,  who would look out for him if we left? 

"We have to go." I said tiredly. "We don't know how long this situation could go on for.  We don't know how long we can hold out here for.  It makes sense to take the kids up to Claudette's farm until this mess has been cleared up."  I would find a way to get through to Joe, I promised myself.  The ship usually arrived back around 6pm and his mobile phone came back into reception range about half an hour before that.  I could warn him. And if that didn't work, maybe I would head back into town and pick him up myself...

"What about Jim and Ken?" Emma repeated her earlier question. "Are we going to wait for them?"

I shook my head.  "We can't.  You saw how quickly things deteriorated in the city.  We don't know how long the road will remain open.  We'll leave them a note so they know where to find us." If they make it here, I added silently.  Emma nodded slowly, chewing her lip.

Roy spoke up. "Um, what if this problem has spread to the Tablelands?"  I stopped short.  The thought hadn't even occurred to me.  Pushing myself away from the table, I looked around the group.  "Maybe it has.  If we need to, at least we can take the inland route down to Townsville; hell, we can go all the way down to Melbourne if we want! Here, we have no options except to stick it out."

There were nods of agreement around the table.  With that decided, we split up to pack food, clothes and whatever weapons we could find.  I found an axe and long handed shovel in the shed; Kaye produced some butcher knives and Roy located some star pickets.  Twenty minutes later, we pinned a note to the verandah post for Jim and Ken and piled uncomfortably into the four wheel drive and headed for the Tablelands exit.  In the backseat, Kaye's toddlers wriggled on Emma and Roy's laps, while Michele and Lucas juggled my two in the rear beside a sleepy-eyed Jessie.  I rode shotgun as Kaye drove.  Glancing in the rearview mirror, I grinned as I caught Michele and Lucas casting sidelong glances at each other.  Even in these circumstances, teenage hormones don't rest, it would seem.

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 21

I looked around me desperately for a way out of the traffic jam but we were hemmed in on all sides.  "Let me guess!" Lucas yelled.  " We run for it?"

"We run for it!"  I scrambled out of the vehicle and made for the side of the highway.  Around me, people were craning their heads, trying to see what was happening.  For all I knew, it could be a fire or a chemical spill, but I sure as hell wasn't going to stick around to find out, if I could help it. 

The flood of panicked people poured past us.  I struggled to push past them but it was like trying to fight through a storm surge.  For every foot of progress I made, I was pushed back two.  I looked around anxiously for Emma and Lucas.  Several feet away, they were clearly in the same boat.  Emma looked at me helplessly.

An agonised scream shot through the confusion.  Jerking my head around, I saw a woman thrashing on her car boot with a man tearing at her stomach.  Another terrified cry on my left: a teenage boy was being pulled through the back seat window of his car even as his mother clutched desperately at his legs.  Pandemonium broke out as people realised that the zombies were amongst them. 

I was sickened as I realised that this traffic jam would offer up a smorgasbord for the zombies.  The living didn't stand a chance.  The stalled cars offered no protection as the zombies' hammering hands soon broke through the thin windows.  On all sides, I saw people kicking and screaming as they were dragged out of car windows.  Panic-stricken, others abandoned their cars to make a run for it but found themselves struggling to move through the congested gaps between the car.  We were hemmed in on all sides.  Through the mass of people around me, I saw, with something close to panic, the pallid faces of zombies closing in on all sides.  We were sitting ducks.

Desperately, I caught Emma and Lucas' eye.  "Under the cars!" I mouthed.  With a judicious use of elbows, I created enough breathing space to wriggle down to ground level and roll under a car.  Peering around me, I spotted Emma and Lucas crawling up towards me, one car across.

The terrified screams of the people around us flooded my ears.  The zombies picked them off like sharks at a feeding frenzy.  People started scrambling over cars and shoving people over in a frantic attempt to escape the death that surrounded them.  A few feet from me,  a young long-haired woman in t-shirt and jeans collapsed to the road, blood gushing from a ragged hole in her throat.  Two slack-faced zombies fell upon her  As she struggled weakly to rise, they tore with bare hands at her bare stomach.  My gorge rose as they pulled away chunks of flesh.  I closed my eyes and turned the other way. 

A child of about four years was lying on his belly between the cars.  His big brown eyes met mine for a long moment and then he was gone, swept from view by a stampede of feet.

Swallowing hard, I waited until I could catch Emma and Lucas' eye.  I pointed forward.  It was going to be a long and uncomfortable crawl but, as far as I could see, our only option was to make our way to the front of the traffic jam. The other two nodded their understanding.

On elbows and knees, I commando crawled from one car to another.  For once, I was grateful for the Australian tendency to drive bumper to bumper.  Emma and Lucas kept pace with me in the row of cars a few feet away. 

Around us, death poured down on the drivers and their passengers like oil on fire. Bodies fell to the ground, blood pouring from raw wounds, only to rise and attack the people around them.  The cries of pain and terror was unending and unbearable.  I tried to block it out, tried to focus on just getting out of here alive, but every scream shot through my body like a knife.  After fifteen minutes of travelling this way, seeing unimaginable images of suffering, my body started to shake uncontrollably. 

As I paused to rest my arms, the family in the car above me fell under attack.  The mother shrieked as her children were dragged out of the car.  "No, no, no!  Leave them be! Let my babies go!"  The pain in her voice was unendurable as the children's screams abruptly ended.  Blood splattered to the ground around me.  The mother's sobs became a gurgle and then stopped.

For a moment, my throat was so tight with tears, I couldn't breathe.  I looked across at Emma.  Her eyes looked back at me with compassion and reassurance.  You can do this, they said.  I swallowed and smiled briefly at her.  I'm okay.  Taking a deep breath, I crawled on. 

Five minutes on, I began to notice a diminishment in the amount of people - and zombies- around me.  I must be getting near the front of the line, I thought gratefully as my forty year old body was screaming in protest.

As I dragged my trembling arms along the length of another car, a body on my left stirred.  His intestines lay strewn across the bitumen.  I froze as his eyes blinked open.  Then, slowly, he turned his head and looked straight at me.  I stopped breathing as our eyes met for a long moment.  Without blinking, he pushed himself to his knees and moved towards me.  Shit!  I scurried forward as quickly as I could, trying to put some distance between us.  The zombie continued to crawl alongside the cars, never taking his eyes off me. 

From the corner of my eye, I could see Emma and Lucas keeping pace with me.  A hand closed suddenly around my ankle.  I gasped and kicked out desperately with my other leg.  It connected with the zombie's face as he inched under the car towards me.  A second head appeared under the car and another zombie started to crawl laboriously towards me.  Trying to stay calm, I reached back and, pulling my parang out, hacked fiercely at the hand clutching me.  It was hard to get much momentum with so little room but, thank god,  the sheer weight of the parang did most of the work, cutting half way through the wrist on the first swing.  Trying not to panic as the second zombie came closer, I swung again and succeed in severing the hand. With a shudder of revulsion, I shook it off my leg.  As the other zombie's fingers brushed my pants, I rolled away and scrambled into the open.  My limbs ached in protest as I stood up.

A couple of cars down, two zombies emerged from cars, attracted by the noise.  Then another three, no, four, popped their heads up from between the vehicles.  Everywhere I looked, I saw zombies turning towards me.  Oh, this is not good, I thought with a touch of hysteria.  The one armed zombie and his companion started pulling themselves from beneath the car beside me.  Oh no you don't. Stepping forward, I placed a foot on the back of the closest one and, hoisting my parang up,  lopped his head off.  As it rolled away from his body, I moved to the next zombie and, pinning its head with my foot, proceeded to remove it.

Looking up, I could see an empty highway not thirty feet from me.  The road ahead was blocked by a pile-up.  Four smashed cars stretched across the highway, forming a tangled metal barrier.  I felt Lucas and Emma coming to stand beside me while I tried to assess our options.  They looked pretty bleak.

If we could just get to the empty highway, we would have a chance, but to do so, we would have to run a gauntlet of undead bodies.  Even as I hesitated, the gaps between the cars  rapidly filling with undead bodies moving towards us.

"On top of the cars!"  Lucas blurted. "We might be able to make it if we run across the tops of the cars."  I looked at the bumper to bumper line of cars stretching  before us and then at the dead bodies lining the sides.  Without another word, I scrambled on the bonnet of the nearest sedan and leapt onto the boot of the next car.  The thumps behind me told me that my friends had followed suit.  Over the roof and down onto the bonnet and a leap onto the next vehicle.  My heart leapt.   This might just work!

As I climbed onto a truck bed,  dozens of corpses mobbed the vehicle and reached for me.  Carefully, I kept to the middle of the truck bed, avoiding the forest of grasping hands on both sides.  I clutched my parang tightly in my hand as I scaled the roof and surveyed the obstacle course before me.  Eight zombies were grouped around the lower bonnet, hands pawing at the air as their dull eyes stared at me. 

With a deep breath, I launched myself through the air, landed on the bonnet and immediately pushed off again.  I felt hands grasping at my clothes but falling away as I scrambled over the roof of the next vehicle.  Ahead, I could see more and more zombies lining the vehicles like some kind of perverse ticket parade. 

I knew that if I stopped to think about it, I would quail so I just ran.  Over and over, I clambered over roofs and dodged hands.  I had a terrifying moment moving from a volkswagon to a four wheel drive.  For a moment, as I climbed over the back of the larger vehicle, a hand succeeded in hooking itself in my pants.  Holding on with one hand, I viciously lashed out with my parang and buried it in the arm of a young girl of about eleven years old, almost severing it.  Yanking my leg away, I was free to continue my climb over the roof of the four wheel drive.

I drew a quivering breath as I saw the roadblock ahead and, beyond it, the open highway.  A quick look back showed Emma and Lucas just one car behind.  I waited for them to join me as I looked for a vehicle that could negotiate the small gap in the road not blocked by the pile-up.

"Um."  Lucas said hesitantly.  "I have a suggestion."  As we turned to look at him, he pointed at a motorbike lying on its side, blood splattered on the ground beside it. Emma and I glanced at each other and then back at him.  "Can three of us even fit on it?!" Emma asked dubiously.

He shrugged.  "If they can fit a whole family on them in Asia, I think we can squeeze three skinny folks on this one."  Glancing around at the growing group of zombies,  I knew that we were out of time - and options.

Without waiting for a response, Lucas leapt off the vehicle and dashed over to the Honda motorcycle and righted it.  I knew he had a trail bike at home but it seemed to me that this was a whole different kettle of fish.   However, Lucas seemed to think differently and immediately kickstarted the bike into life.  With an ostentatious squealing of wheels, he roared to the front of the car and revved the engine.  It was the signal for us to climb on behind him.  Scrambling down, Emma squeezed onto the seat behind him and I jumped precariously onto the rear section over the exhaust,  clutching Emma's waist tightly.

With a surge of power, the bike roared forward. Instinctively, I leaned over to counter the tilt as we flew past the roadblock and onto the blissfully empty highway, leaving the mayhem behind us.  

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 20

We scrambled out from under the van and raced across the paved area to the door.  The zombies at the window immediately lurched towards us.  I grabbed the door handle and turned.  It was locked.  "Hey, in there!" I called softly but urgently.  We didn't need to attract attention, if we could help it.   "Let us in!"  I shook the door handle to reinforce the fact that there were people out here.  Nothing.  Only silence greeted us.  I guess I was mistaken about someone being in there.

Lucas readied his bat as the zombies stumbled up the wooden stairs.  He looked nervous but determined.  I moved across to a window and peered inside but I couldn't see any movement.  Nothing for it but to break the window, I decided reluctantly.  That was bound to attract unwanted attention.  A grunt behind me drew my eye and I saw Lucas and Emma slam their bats into the faces of the two zombies, sending them flying off the stairs.  From their uniforms, they must have worked at the resort.

Using my bat as a battering ram, I broke the window glass and cleared it away from the frame.  I suspected we only had a short window of time before other zombies came to investigate the noise.  Gesturing to the others, I clambered through the window.  There was a counter with brochures in the right corner and a door just beyond it which I assumed was an office.

Where would one keep car keys, I wondered.  As Emma and Lucas climbed into the room, I raced behind the counter and started searching the drawers.  Emma passed me, headed for the office, while Lucas nominated himself to keep a lookout.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" The enraged voice came from a large, red faced man standing in the doorway of the office, waving an angry finger at us.  "You think you can steal from me?!  I'll kick your bloody arses, all of you, if you don't get the hell out of here now!"  Startled, Emma backed away to stand next to me.

I straightened up slowly and talked soothingly to the belligerent man.  Presumably, he was the owner or the manager of the resort.  "I'm sorry, sir.  We didn't know you were here.  We'd really appreciate it if you would give us the keys to one of your vehicles."  It did not occur to me that he wouldn't be willing to help us in these extraordinary circumstances.  I was wrong.

"Oh I bet you would, missy." He sneered.  "Well, you can go back to your looter friends out there and tell them that I've called the police.  They're on their way now."  He gestured at the two zombies who had picked themselves up and were banging at the door.  Thankfully, they hadn't yet discovered the broken window.

I exchanged a surprised look with Emma.  "Looters?  That's what you think is going on?"

Lucas suddenly spoke up.  "You might want to hurry this up, guys.  We've got company."  Shit!

I looked at the large, blustery man in front of me and anger started to blossom within me.  All the screaming and mayhem going on in his park, and it was clear this man had not so much as stepped foot outside this office to assist his customers.

I pulled out the parang and held it up, noting with satisfaction the sudden widening of his eyes.  "Look, mister," I said, oh so calmly.   "I've already killed a lot of people today, and, frankly,  I am quite happy to add one more to the list.  Give me the keys to a car right now or I'm going to start chopping pieces off you until you do." 

He swallowed hard, which surprised me a bit.  I must sound very convincing.

"Guys...!" Lucas sounded a lot more urgent.  I stepped forward with the parang, holding the man's eyes.  He backed away and threw his hands up. "Okay!  Take the bloody keys.  They are on the pinboard in the office."  I nodded at Emma and she skittered past him into the room.

"There are about a dozen car keys here!  Which one do we take?"

I cocked a questioning brow at the man, whose face was becoming more flushed by the minute. 

He scowled but answered. "The orange one belongs to the closest jeep."

Emma hurried out, clutching the keys.  "Got it. Let's go."  I nodded and backed away, grabbing my bat as I passed the desk.  As we joined Lucas at the window, I paused to look back at the man.  "Those aren't looters out there, mister, and I'm pretty sure you had no luck reaching the police.   I would suggest you get out while you can."  He glared at me contemptuously.  Shrugging, I clambered out of the window.

Not a minute too soon, either.  The paved courtyard was full of zombies, all with only one thing on their simple minds. The three of us. The front ones had already reached the office stairs.  In silent agreement, we jumped off the verandah and flew across the pavers to the car park where the jeeps were stationed. 

Lucas and I jumped into the first jeep as Emma stilled her trembling fingers while she tried to place the keys in the ignition.  "It doesn't fit!" She squealed in dismay.  Anger coursed through me and I felt a moment of intense regret that I hadn't chopped a few pieces off the miserable bastard!   He might have cost us our lives, I thought, as zombies flooded around and in between the vehicles in the car park.

"Try the last vehicle!" I yelled at Emma as I leapt out of the jeep and swung my bat at the nearest zombie.  He bounced off a car and collapsed onto the ground.  From the corner of my eye, I saw Lucas ram his bat into the stomach of a zombie and push it violently back into the creatures behind it.  With the tiny bit of breathing space we had gained, the three of us backed away and ran down the line of parked vehicles until we reached the last jeep. 

Lucas and I held our bats at the ready as Emma shakily stuck the keys in the ignition.  Please God, let this be the one.   Relief made me weak in the knees as I heard the wonderful sound of the car engine starting.  The jerk turned out to be pretty predictable in his thinking, after all. Emma scrambled over into the passenger seat as Lucas hopped into the back.  I guess I'm driving, I thought wryly.  Throwing the bat on the backseat, I jumped into the driver's seat and sent the jeep into a screeching reverse, cutting a swathe through the huddle of zombies immediately behind us.  As I threw the jeep into first gear, a zombie succeeded in grabbing Emma's arm.  Emma screamed as the zombie brought its mouth towards her bare skin.  Viciously, Lucas jammed his bat into the creature's mouth and held it at bay as, with a squeal of wheels, I sent the jeep charging forward.

Ahead of me, blocking our exit from the park, was the boom gate. I placed my foot down on the accelerator.

"Lori, you're not going to do what I think you're going to do, are you?" squeaked Emma, clutching her door frame.

I smiled grimly.  "You'd better duck."  I crossed my fingers mentally, closed my eyes and sent the car crashing through the barrier.  The light wooden pole splintered into many pieces and I roared out of the park onto the highway.

On the highway,  horns beeped and tires screeched as drivers desperately tried to get ahead of others.  The calm on the road of only half an hour ago had rapidly deteriorated into anger and fear.  I braked sharply to avoid hitting a car as it cut ahead of me.  I crawled past two cars that had collided minutes earlier as the owners harangued each other.

"This is mayhem." Emma muttered anxiously, her eyes darting from car to car.  "We should get off this road as quickly as we can."

I agreed but, unfortunately, the first turnoff was at least a mile away.  If we could make it there, though, it would take us straight to my sister's.  I prayed that this madness had not reached there yet.  Fear surged through me as I wondered if Roy and the kids had reached the house safely.  I shied away from the thought - there was nothing I could do about that at the moment. 

I fought the chaos successfully for another half mile or so before movement came to a standstill.  The horns beeped futilely and drivers cursed and yelled in vain.  None of us were going anywhere.

"What do you think is going on?" Lucas asked, standing on the back of the jeep to get a better view.  I shrugged, trying not to let my anxiety show. "An accident blocking the road, probably."  Maybe, maybe not.  My ears strained to hear anything that would give me a clue.  With all the honking and yelling, it was hard to separate the different sounds.  Still, that whine I could hear above the general noise seemed to be getting louder...

Too late, I realised the sound I was hearing was not a whine but cries - the cries of hundreds of people fleeing.  They poured towards us through the stalled vehicles like ants fleeing a fire.

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 19

The kitchen contained the basics that campers would need to cook dinner - stove top, a couple of pans and pots, some cutlery, a kettle and a microwave.  That was pretty much it.

Coming to a decision, I whispered my plan to the others and then, very quietly,  gathered the pots and pans, carefully placed the metal cutlery in them, and moved to the doorway furthest from the dining zombies.  'Here goes nothing.'  I muttered under my breath, preparing to throw the items onto the paved pathway.  A hand shot out and gripped my wrist.  Startled, I looked up to meet Lucas' apologetic eyes.  "Sorry, Lori" he whispered.  "but you throw like a girl.  If we're going to do this, we need this stuff to land as far from us as possible."  Hell, I couldn't argue with that!  Silently, I handed over the pots and pans to him and gestured for him to go ahead. 

He launched the pots and then the pans through the air. With unerring aim,  they landed an impressive twenty feet away on the pavement.  The noise as they landed was shattering!  I cringed back, terrified that the plan would backfire and bring the zombies straight to us.

I crept back to the other entrance and poked my head around the doorway.  Sure enough, five of the six zombies had staggered to their feet and moved off to investigate the racket.  One, however, would not be distracted from his menu.  Fortunately, he had his back to us so we could still go ahead as planned.

Gesturing to the others, I -  oh so gently - placed my feet on the grass.  Light as a ballet dancer, I tiptoed towards the end of the kitchen block and peered around it.  In every direction, I could see zombies  but, thankfully, none in the immediate vicinity.  With a bit of luck, we might make it to the laundry without being seen. Holding my bat forward in readiness, I crept across the grass towards the laundry, my eye always on the back of the crouching zombie.  To my relief, I reached the laundry without incident.

"Now what?"  Emma gasped as she joined me in the laundry.  A fine sheen of sweat coated her lip. 

I shrugged.  "More of the same till we reach the office, I guess." 

She groaned. "I was afraid you'd say that."

The laundry also sported two entrances.  From the far one, I could see that we were approaching the caravan portion of the park.  And beyond it, the large 'Reception' sign stood like a beacon above the building we sought.  Almost there!  I felt like doing a jig.

A dash across the path brought us unseen to a space between the two nearest caravans.  As we paused to catch our breaths,  the sound of dragging feet hit us.  They were near, really near.  But which direction?! Pressing ourselves against the caravan wall, we froze as a zombie lurched by on our left. I watched him from the corner of my eye as he passed only a few feet away.  The bloodstained skin showed that he had already dined on human flesh. 

As the zombie disappeared, I let out a shaky breath.  Jerking my head at the others,  I inched around the caravan.  It was clear on the other side so we raced to the rear of the next caravan.  My hands were clammy and cold as I pressed myself against the caravan wall.  The bat was threatening to slip out of my grip.

We made our way through a few more rows of caravans unseen, hearts pumping, hands sweating.  At any moment, I expected to be spotted and hear the terrifyingly familiar sound of many moans mingling with hundreds of clumsy footsteps dogging me. 

Then, the moment I had dreaded, panicked human voices, running towards us, undoubtedly bringing  a lot of zombies in their wake.

I exchanged an alarmed look with Emma.  Quickly, I moved to the front of the caravan and risked a look around.  My stomach dropped as I saw three young children, a boy and two girls of about ten years old, running as fast as their young legs could take them.  In their wake, a horde of about forty zombies.  For all their uncoordination, the zombies as a group covered a lot of ground and seemed to be closing the gap. 

I could see the children's terrified faces.  They weren't aware of us but, nevertheless, they were bringing the zombies straight to us.  I pulled back, pulse pounding and heart aching.  They would be on us in seconds.  What to do, what to do? 

"Quick! Under the caravan!" I whispered urgently as I fell to my knees and, pushing the bat in front, scurried under the van.  Emma and Lucas speedily joined me.  A few seconds later, I saw the children's feet as they  flew past the caravan.

Crawling forward until I could see what was happening, I watched in horror as the scene continued to unfold before me.

As the children ran towards the exit, I had a moment of hope that they would escape.  They were young and fast; if they kept their heads, they might just make it!

Then, coming from the playground side of the park, I spotted another group of zombies moving towards the children.  Their trajectory would soon block the children's escape route.  Dammit, dammit, dammit!

The taller of the girls spotted the second group closing in on them.  For just a few seconds, she faltered.   I watched helplessly as the most agile of the following zombies succeeded in wrapping his fingers around her arm.  She screamed in terror and tugged in a desperate attempt to escape his clutch.  But within seconds, she was sucked from sight into the horde.  For several seconds, I could hear her terrified cries.  Tears streamed down my face as I turned my eyes away.

The boy swung away and headed for the pool with the girl in tow.  Yes, I silently screamed in excitement, get inside the gated area!  I watched the boy struggling to reach the magnetic lock on top of the gate as the zombies neared them.  Come on!  Suddenly, the gate swung open and the two children fled inside, slamming the gate shut behind them.  They stood, paralysed, next to the pool as they waited to see if the zombies could get in. 

They could not. The creatures milled around the gate, arms pawing in the air as they tried futilely to reach the children. 

Shaken, I whispered to the others.  "I think we'd better keep under the vans.  There are just too many zombies around."  They nodded nervously.  Checking first, we kept low as we made a dash for the next caravan and threw ourselves under it.  In this manner, we made our way to the edge of the caravan park.  There, across the large paved courtyard, stood the front office. 

Just as Lucas had indicated, in the carpark across from it, were several jeeps with the resort's logo emblazoned across the sides.

Two zombies banged on the windows of the office.  I guess that meant they could see someone in there. 

"Do you have a plan for getting inside, Lori?" Lucas asked.

"Sure." I replied.

"What?"

"Run for it."

A long silence followed.  "You know, Lori," Lucas said in a conversational tone.  "You really need to make up some new plans.  This one is getting really old."