Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 42

Desperately, she wrenched her arm away but the corpse immediately threw itself on her, knocking Emma to the ground.  As she hit the ground, Sarah flew off.  Immediately, the creature reared up and sank its teeth into Emma's neck.  "No!" I screamed futilely.  I heard a faint agonised cry behind me.  Lucas. 

Emma turned her head to meet my eyes.  So much sorrow and regret.  "Look after Lucas." She mouthed at me.  God, please.  Sarah sat up a few feet away, crying.  I was almost there.  And so was the horde.  They fell on Emma like a pack of hungry dogs.  As other corpses moved past them to reach out clumsy arms for my Sarah, I swooped her into my arms, their fingers brushing my skin as I burst by.  I kept running, knowing it was our only chance.

My lungs burned as I struggled to stay ahead of the dead mob.  Sarah clung to me, crying with fright, as I ran across the road.  If I could just reach the apartment block, we would be okay.  I grabbed the doorknob.  Locked.  Glancing around, I saw them stumbling eagerly across the road.  I ran down the side of the building to the adjoining garage.  There was an internal door, I remembered.  Please don't be locked, I prayed. 

Inside the darkened garage, I felt for the doorknob.  Sweet mercy, it turned in my hand.  As the sound of moans entered the garage, I stepped into the darkened stairwell of the apartment block.  A few seconds later, I was inside the bottom apartment with Sarah. 

Gasping for breath and trying to control my trembling limbs, I listened carefully for movement in the flat.  Thuds on the garage door and the front door made it difficult to hear anything but, nonetheless, the apartment felt empty. 

Carefully, I balanced Sarah onto my hip and held my parang ready as I investigated the flat.  No signs of blood, no body.  It was mercifully empty.  Breathing a shaky sigh of relief, I placed Sarah on the kitchen table and slowly sat down in an old, rickety chair beside her.

"Wan' to go home, mummy." Sarah wailed, her baby blue eyes welling up.  I stroked her curly hair, unable to say anything.  My heart was just too broken.  Emma had been my partner in crime for so many years.  We had worked together, griped together, even gone on girls' adventure holidays.  She reminded me that I was someone other than a wife and mother, as important as those roles were to me, and kept the spirit of fun alive.  And now she was gone.  Dead because she wouldn't sacrifice my baby to save her own life.  Oh, Emma.

The banging on the front door became heavier.  There were more corpses gathering there, I realised, and if they didn't give up, the flimsy door was likely to give way.  And if not the door, the glass in the windows certainly wouldn't hold up for long. I needed a plan for getting out of here.

A click. The back door, I realised, feeling sick.  Spinning around in my chair, I was dumbfounded to see Mike walking towards me, blood dripping from his machete.    "What are you doing here, Mike?!"

"I couldn't not come."  He said simply, coming to kneel beside me and take my hand comfortingly between his rough ones.  God, I couldn't deny that how happy I was to see him.

"Oh Mike, you idiot." The look of tenderness in his eyes made my heart ache even more.  "The others..."

"Ken's using a buggy to take them to the creek that separates the course from the marina.  They've insisted on waiting there for us.  I made them promise to go on if we don't join them in the next half an hour, though."

"Oh God, Mike." I laughed tearfully, horrified and touched in equal measure.  "Without you there, they won't make it.  You know that!"

He smiled at me.  "Yeah?  Funny, they said the same thing about you.  We'd better get back to them, hadn't we?"

I nodded, blinking back the tears.  The sound of cracking glass brought us quickly to our feet.   As I feared, the glass in the window was cracking under the pressure of all the bodies outside.  From the bedroom, came the sound of glass hitting the floor.  Even as we looked at it, the front door splintered.  A hand pushed through a hole in the door.  Mike swung Sarah in his arms and headed into the stairwell, with me following closely behind.  As exhausted as I was, fear has a way of giving you a second and third wind.   

The garage door had already splintered. I could see a head pushing its way through.  Mike sprinted up the stairs, heading for the second floor.  The second apartment on the left was unlocked.  We slipped into the dark apartment and closed the door behind us.  I guess the body is able to hear or see things that the conscious mind cannot register because I knew immediately that we weren't alone.  Mike handed Sarah to me and pulled out his hatchet.

I swung Sarah onto my hip, parang forward, and slid along the wall while Mike walked slowly beside me.  Nothing in the lounge room.  The kitchen was empty.  He jerked his head at the bedroom.  I nodded and followed him down the corridor.  As he pushed open the door, something shot out.  I only just managed not to scream as my brain registered that it was a cat.  As the large grey tabby disappeared, I breathed a sigh of relief. Not much chance the cat could have survived this long in a room with a flesh-hungry corpse.  That only left the bathroom.  The door was closed.  I hesitated.  Maybe I should just leave it like that.  Anything in there wasn't likely to be able to get out.  As I deliberated, Mike slipped by me and pushed the door open.  A moan sent a shiver down my back.  Glancing at Mike, I glimpsed a fleeting look of sadness on his face as he looked inside.  "Stay here." He ordered me as he walked in.  Yeah right.  Putting Sarah down, I gave her a firm 'stay' signal and then I followed him in.

A little girl of about two with dead eyes and a bloodstained mouth faced us. Long dark ringlets framed an angelic, plump face as she stood naked in the bath.  Her mouth opened and shut as she reached futilely for us.  Dried blood pooled on the floor before her and bloody fingerprints marked the walls of the bathroom.   My mind couldn't help but try to join the dots.  I surmised that the child had been infected first and had turned while her mother was bathing her, maybe in an attempt to bring down her fever.  From the amount of blood on the floor and walls, I guessed the child had torn out a major artery when she'd bitten her mother and the woman had quickly bled out and died.  She'd then wandered off, leaving the child trapped in the bath.

"We can't leave her like that." I said sadly.

"I'll take care of it." Mike responded. "You find a way out of here." Chicken that I was, I left him there with her.  Sarah was waiting obediently outside.  Happy to see me, she held up her arms up in a familiarly demanding gesture.

A look out over the balcony showed at least a hundred corpses pushing their way into the building.  Even if we made a sheet rope, there was no way out that way.  I briefly considered going onto the roof but I had not observed a ladder on the outside of the building.  We would be trapped and, come dawn, the corpses were going to be the least of our problems.  At the end of the building, however, I observed a possible solution...

Thud!  I whirled around as the door splintered.  Mike joined me, a few new blood splatters on his t-shirt.

"Things are going to get mighty cosy in here in a few moments." He observed. 

"Yeah.  Follow me.  I have an idea."  Sarah on my hip, I hurried into the bedroom and pushed open the window.  A tall mango tree loomed out of reach.  "If we could just reach the tree, we could climb down."

Mike was silent as he did some calculations.  I didn't need him to tell me how hairy an attempt it was going to be.  A thin ledge ran to the neighbouring balcony.  The tree stood a good distance away from it but it was still within jumping distance.

He tucked his machete in his belt. "As we're going to have to jump for the tree, I'll carry Sarah."

I nodded silently.  The gap between the building and the tree was at least five feet.  Her extra weight would make it very likely that I'd fall short. 

The sound of breaking wood and loud, hungry moans intensified.  Hurrying to the doorway, I saw arms and heads pushing through the splintered door.  I shut the bedroom door.  "We need to go. Now."

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 41

As we entered the suburbs, I noted with sadness the many lit homes on both sides.  Each one stood as a testament to a family lost last night.  I knew that if there were people still alive, they would be huddling down in darkened homes, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, just as we had done.  So many homes also meant many zombies roaming the neighborhood.  Thankfully, the darkness and bobbing water had lulled the babies to sleep. I examined the trees and banks for any sign of movement as I floated by, intensely aware of how exposed and vulnerable we were.  

A dog barked in the distance.  I realised it was a sound I hadn't heard since this plague started.  I wondered how it had survived this long and, with sadness, how much longer it would remain alive.   "Head in, folks." Mike murmured, starting to swim sideways out of the current, followed by the rest of the group. It took us a little longer to reach them with the unwieldy boat.

"Okay, stay here." Mike whispered.  "Ken and I will find a vehicle."  I flared up, wondering why he didn't want me along.  Hadn't I proven myself yet? 

"We can't risk any noise." He continued, looking straight at me. "You have a much better chance of keeping your kids quiet than Ken or I have." I scowled but couldn't argue the point.  Michele was right - I guess I am a control freak, always needing to be in the thick of things. 

The men disappeared through the grove of trees giving us cover.  Lizzie quivered but I had to admire her obedience to Mike as she silently watched him walk away.  Now for my own kids.  Watching them like a hawk, I raised a threatening finger every time they opened their mouths.  They shut them again.  Kaye employed similiar tactics with her toddlers.  In this way, twenty minutes passed uneventfully, although my nerves were starting to feel considerably frayed by the time I heard a vehicle scream out of a driveway across the road.

"Get ready, everyone." I whispered, scrambling to my feet awkwardly with my babies.  Michele reached over and pulled Alex out of my arms.  We hurried to the edge of the treeline and saw the bright lights of a large vehicle heading our way.  Behind them, corpses poured into the street.  Ahead, the street was also filling.  This was going to be close, I realised.  The four wheel drive screeched to a halt in front of us.  Mike leaned out of the driver's window.  "Hustle, people."

Piling in on top of each other, we were inside the vehicle and on the move in seconds.  The road ahead was already thick with weaving bodies.  Mike plowed through them, accelerating to an unnerving speed.

"Um, Mike." I murmured, my face pressed up against his seat as the kids tried to untangle themselves and crawl in the back seats.  I got a foot in my back and an elbow in my side.  "Ouch!  Getting us killed...oof...in a crash...uh...won't be a big improvement...hey!...on dying in a fiery nuclear explosion."

"If they gather in enough numbers, we won't be able to get through at all." He responded calmly as a body bounced off our bonnet.  The wheels thudded over several more bodies before the car left the road and roared across the empty field behind the shopping centre, heading for the beach road.

The road stretched, empty and serene, before us.   Even the kangaroos and curlews one could usually spot beside the road were nowhere to be seen.  "Wow, it's like a ghost town." Lucas murmured in awe. 

"Let's hope it stays that way." Mike responded drily.  I knew what he meant.  If we ran into a horde of walking dead like the one at the airport...I shuddered.

Fifteen minutes later, Mike paused the car as we turned into the main street of Yorkey's Knob.  A sleepy little suburb, it nestled around a crescent shaped bay upon which the marina had been built.  The main street stood silent and dark before us, as did the whole area. The street lights had not come on. "We're about to re-enter a populated zone, folks, which means lots of walking dead, so be alert." Mike spoke, a tense edge to his voice.  The dark enveloped us on all sides as the car moved forward, except for the thirty or forty feet in front of the car illuminated by the headlights.  Within seconds, the first zombie appeared in the lights.  A bedraggled woman in her thirties, she stared at us as we passed within inches of her.  An old man bounced off the side of the car back into the darkness.  A face gleaming in the dark on the side of the road;   two children walking down the road, arms reaching for us; boys in board shorts banging on the door as we passed.  The tension in the car rose as more and more zombies appeared before us. 

Finally, we approached the turnoff for the marina.  "Hell." Mike muttered, braking sharply.  Looking up, I saw a wall of darkness at the outer reach of the headlights.  It moved into the light, revealing  blank faces and ragged limbs.  I drew in a sharp breath as an endless number of heads appeared behind the front line.  Ten, twenty deep, they just kept coming. 

With a harsh squeal of wheels, Mike reversed up the street. 

"There must be over three hundred." Lucas estimated from the back. 

"What are we going to do?" Michele asked anxiously.  No answered as we focused on the street around us.

"Mike!" I shouted. From behind us, a mob as big as the one before us, if not larger, spread across the street and gardens.  We were trapped.  The car screeched to a stop.

"Hold on, folks." Mike said calmly, and changing into first gear, charged up the street a bit before swinging a hard left into the car park of the nearby IGA supermarket.  "We're going to have to hoof it from here."

We piled out of the car. The babies cried and whimpered as they clung to backs, sensing the tension in the air.  I desperately wanted to comfort them but I needed to focus.  Pack on back and stake in hand, I ran after Mike into the dimly lit supermarket.  He stood in the center of the shop, gun in hand, warily looking around.  Blood stained the counter, fruit and vegetable were scattered and squashed on the floor, displays lay knocked over. 

As the others joined us, Mike looked at Ken and Lucas.  "Bar the doors, give us some time."  They nodded and hurried away as Mike turned to us.  "Stay close and stay alert.  We don't know what we'll find."

Single file, we walked slowly towards the back storage rooms, leaving Ken and Lucas to finish blockading the doors.  Emma cast an uneasy glance behind her as we left but said nothing.  With a toddler on her back, she couldn't offer to stay with them. She needn't have worried as they rejoined us a few minutes later.  "We've got zombies banging on the glass." Ken said tersely.  "We've maybe got about five minutes."  Mike nodded in acknowledgement.

A dragging, wet sound alerted us to company as we passed the deli.  A dark haired young woman with once-beautiful blue eyes dragged her torso towards us.  Her legs were shredded, gnawed stumps.  A long bloody trail marked her slow progress along the floor.  I wanted to end her miserable existence but every moment could mean the difference between life and death for our group, so I hardened my heart and walked by. 

From the cereal aisle on our right, came moans.  Lumbering down it towards us were three young - and very dead - employees.  Mike stepped forward and shot them, one at a time, through the head as their arms stretched out for us.  Without a word, he moved forward again.    From behind us, came the sound of crashing glass.  "Looks like we just ran out of time." Ken whispered grimly behind me. 

Knowing the horde was just behind us, our pace quickened as we hurried through the dim shop. I caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of my eye and then a figure launched itself across the aisle.  I blinked and saw Michele falling backwards, struggling with a figure, my son's frightened face peering over her shoulder.  My heart froze in my chest. Michele instinctively wrapped her hands around the woman's neck, forcing her head away.  Teeth gnashing in frustration, the woman flung her head from side to side in an attempt to sink her teeth into flesh.  My momentary paralysis broken, I ran over and pulled the dead woman's hair violently back.  Her eyes looked dully back at me as she bared her teeth.  I plunged my stake through her eyes and as her limbs stilled, I flung her body to the side.  The others circled in concern around us.

"Are you okay?" I asked frantically, as Michele regained her feet.  "Did you get bitten, scratched?" 

"No, I'm okay." She answered shakily as Alex threw himself at me.  I picked him up and held him tightly.  Moans, hundreds of moans, erupted behind us as the creatures responded to the ruckus.  Wordlessly, we all ran.

Through the swinging doors, we ran into the huge, dark storeroom.  Rows of shelves and boxes lined the room.  Someone banged against a shelf as they hurried towards us.  With a jerk of his head, Mike indicated the docking bay.  As we slid the door up, the swinging doors to the storeroom banged open.  God, they were so close now.  My heart banged frantically against my chest as I held my little boy close.  Looking around, I checked on Sarah who clung to Emma, an arm wrapped tightly around her neck. 

The alley was dark and deserted.  We raced away with the moans of the creatures behind us ringing in our ears.  A dark mass emerged from the end of the alley. Oh hell, no! 

"Over the fence." Mike said tersely, indicating the the property opposite us.  I glanced around us as the boys gave the girls and children a boost over the fence.  Corpses were closing in on us from both sides.  Their dragging footsteps and dull moans filled me with helpless revulsion.

"Your turn, Lori." Mike murmured.  I placed my foot in his hand and leaning awkwardly against the fence, handed a clingy Alex over it to Michele before pulling myself over.

We crept quickly along the side of the house to the street.  A glance showed it to be free of zombies.  For the moment. 

"The golf course is only a few blocks away." Ken whispered to the group.  "We can cross it to reach the marina."

A zombie staggered onto the street. "Here they come again." Emma whispered despairingly.  It seemed we were the only game in town tonight.

Quietly we slipped down the darkened street and weaved our way through the houses in the the direction of the golf club.  Again and again, we had to change direction or jump a fence as the horde - or hordes- blocked our journey.  We couldn't stop to draw breath or regroup.  We took turns carrying the children in an attempt to maintain a fast pace.  Exhausted mentally and physically, we pushed on in a zigzag manner, drawing slowly but inexorably towards our destination.

Finally, after two long, terrifying hours of playing a deadly game of hide and seek, the club house loomed before us. We huddled in the garage of an old apartment block, staring at the area we had to cover to reach the club house.  The clubhouse sat a good two hundred meters away, over a darkened road, parkland and a car park.  "Ready?" Mike glanced at each of us.  We all nodded, although I am sure everyone felt as drained as I did.  Emma took Sarah in her arms and I picked up Alex.  Jessie slipped her hand in Michele's.  The poor child had not said a word this whole trip.  I reached over and cupped her face gently.  Those serious brown eyes sought mine, searching for reassurance.  "You're doing so good, Jessie.  I'm really proud of you." I glanced up at Michele.  "Both of you."  They smiled at me and tightened their hold on each other's hands. 

We slipped across the empty road and into the bush parkland. A curlew cried its haunting call nearby.  Another curlew picked up the melancholic tune. Growing up, I used to think it was the cry of someone grieving. I shivered.  Tonight, it felt horribly prophetic.

"Here they come." Lucas called out softly.  Looking over my shoulder, I saw them streaming across the park on a collision course with us. What the hell? I wondered in frustration and weariness.  Could they smell us?  Were they communicating with each other somehow?

"Pick up the pace, folks." Mike called, coolly.  "Mike." I huffed, Alex already a dead weight in my arm.  "We can't keep this pace up right across the golf course."

"I know.  We'll find a vehicle at the clubhouse."

A scream brought us to an abrupt stop.  Turning around, my heart seized in my chest.  A tall, thin dead woman had pounced on Emma from the bushes.  With hungry desperation, it clung fiercely to Emma's arm.  Hampered by Sarah clinging to her chest, Emma struggled to pull away.

"Emma! Sarah!" I screamed.  Thrusting Alex into Mike's arms, I started running back. To my horror, I realised the horde were closer to them than I was.  Emma looked up at me, her face frozen with fear.  She couldn't defend herself adequately with Sarah in her arms.  Glancing fearfully to the side, she saw the horde stumbling with eagerness towards her and recognised what I had seen:  I couldn't reach her before they did.

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 40

We looked wordlessly at each other around the table.  The kids' faces were ashen.  I imagined I looked much the same.  My head spun. A nuclear bomb.  I just could not get my head around it.  Sighing, I rubbed my eyes.  I didn't want to deal with this, not yet.  Give me time to catch my breath, I pleaded childishly to the nameless gods. 

Looking back up, I took a deep breath.  "Okay.  Regardless of what kind of bomb they are going to use, we need to get the hell out.  Agreed?"

There was a murmur of still stunned agreement.  I looked at Mike. " So how much time do we have?"

"Troop withdrawals were to be completed by oh six hundred hours, so any action would probably take place within an hour or so of that.  However, in light of the army base being overrrun, that may have changed."

"Great.  So the best case scenario is that we have less than eight hours to get out of Dodge and reach a 'safe minimum distance'.  Worst case, it's too late."

Mike nodded, with a wry quirk of his eyebrow.  "Pretty much sums it up."

"Okay.  So let's have some ideas on how best to get out of here."

"The highways are impassable which leaves hiking out on foot or going by sea.  Considering the small tykes, hiking out isn't really feasible so the only real option is to get out by sea." Mike stated succinctly.

"Right." I said slowly, trying to process my thoughts which seemed a bit sluggish at the moment. "That means going to the marina to find a boat."

"With lots of fuel." Ken added.

"And power." Lucas quietly interjected.  "We need to get as far away as quickly as possible."  It was the first time I had heard him speak since I got home. 

"So, to recap, we just need to get across a the zombie-infested town safely, and find ourselves a big, powerful, fuelled up boat." I said, drily.  "That should be easy.  Oh, and does anyone know how to drive one?"

Mike, Ken and Lucas put up a hand.  Well, of course, I thought, just managing to control the urge to roll my eyes.  What self respecting man in Cairns doesn't know how to fish and drive a boat.

"What about Dad?" Michele asked quietly.  She was looking at me with hurt in her eyes.  She thinks I've forgotten about him. 

"Once we have a boat, we will be able to find him, Michele.  We know he's coming in from Jorge's Patch, so it shouldn't be too hard to plot a course that will intercept him on his way in." I looked at the men questioningly to confirm that I was right. 

Ken nodded.  "Sure.  We can also broadcast on the emergency channel to cover our bases.  If the boat is monitoring it, they should hear us."

See, I smiled reassuringly at Michele, it will be alright.  She smiled back.  I could see the tension in her shoulders relaxing.  I wished I was as easily reassured as that.  So many things could go wrong in the next six hours...I might not even get the chance to warn Joe away.  My mind shied away from the thought.  Focus on the here and now, I told myself firmly.

"The closest marina would be Yorkey's Knob." Ken said, thoughtfully, removing his glasses to rub them. 

"Um, I have a question." Kaye put up a manicured hand.  "How do we get to the cars?  There are a lot of zombies downstairs.  I doubt a distraction will get rid of all of them."

"Forget the cars." Mike interrupted, searching his pockets for a gum.  "There's a pile-up blocking the road over the hill. There's no getting through by car."  Damn, I'd forgotten about that.  

Mike popped the gum in his mouth with a sigh of bliss.  "We'll take the creek."

"Huh?" I think I spoke for all of us.

"We float downstream till we get past the blockage, then we check the houses till we find a car, and drive out."  He looked pretty pleased with himself.  Smug bastard.

Emma looked horrified.  "What about the zombies?  They might be in the water!"

Mike shook his head.  "The current is pretty fast. Shouldn't be a problem." 

Ken squeezed Emma's shoulder comfortingly.  "What about the kids?  We can't hold the babies afloat the whole way."

Kaye smiled.  "That's one thing we don't have to worry about.  Living in the tropics with kids means we have every water toy imaginable.  We've got an inflatable boat, air mattresses, floaties, boogie boards..."

"Okay, okay." Ken grinned. "I get the idea."

I looked at my watch, seeing the time ticking inexorably away.  "Let's make a list of essential items to take with us.  Do you think we can be ready to leave in an hour?"

"We need to be, regardless." Mike said with deadly seriousness.  The reminder of what was hanging over our heads sent a cold shiver through me. As desperately as I had fought to keep my family safe, I knew that some things were out of my control, and that knowledge made me sick with fear.  Swallowing, I put the thought at the back of my mind.  Focus on the here and now, Lori.

After allocating tasks to everyone at the table, we broke up the meeting.  I rummaged through our medical supplies, trying to decide what to bring.  I also needed to prepare Sarah for the trip.  Her limb needed to be protected from the water and any exposure to any further infection.    

Emma sat down beside me, handing me the antibiotics from the bedroom.  "So what's going on?" She asked with a meaningful nod towards Mike, who was bagging his guns to protect them from the water.  I flushed.  Trust Emma not to miss anything when it came to men and women. 

"Nothing, really."  I replied, discomforted. 

"Which means, something happened."

I could feel my cheeks flaming.  "It was just a moment of temporary insanity - on both our parts.  I love Joe, you know that.  It's just that..."  How the hell do I put into words the tangled emotions I felt?

"You feel something for Mike, too." Yeah, I thought, maybe it was easy to put into words after all.   I nodded slowly, feeling I was somehow betraying Joe just by acknowledging the fact.

Emma touched my hand understandingly.  "Intense  situations create intense feelings, Lori.  You two have fought beside each other, saved each other's asses, laughed and cried together...it doesn't get much more intimate than that.  It's not surprising you two have developed a bond."

"So I shouldn't feel guilty?" I said wryly.  "Is that your point?"

She grinned.  "My point is, give yourself a break, Lori.  If we survive the day, then you can beat yourself up for being human.  Until then, count yourself lucky that you have a man like Mike to watch your back.  And let's face it - he's hot!"

I snorted. "It's amazing how you can make being attracted to a man other than my husband sound perfectly normal."

"Who knows what's normal is in a situation like this?" Emma said drily, getting up.

The CB came to life.  "Mike, you there?"

Mike grabbed the handset. "Travis, good to hear from you."

"Relieved to hear you, too, mate.  I've lost contact with the other groups."

Mike exchanged a concerned look with me and Ken as he hurried into the room.

"What is your situation, Travis?"

"Not so good.  The security screens gave way.  We've barricaded ourselves here in the storeroom."

"Any way out?"

"Yeah, we could go through the loading dock.  We've got trucks parked out back but we'd have to fight our way through the dead people.  No one's too keen on doing that."

Kaye and Emma joined us, our hearts going out to the embattled group.  Mike rubbed his head.  "Unfortunately, I think you are going to have to, mate.  This whole city is going to be nothing more than an ugly blot on the landscape in a few hours."

Silence.  "How sure are you of that?"

Mike glanced over at us grimly.  "Sure enough that we're making a break for it ourselves."

Silence.  "Shit."

Mike snorted.  "Second that, mate."

"So what's your plan, Mike?"

"We're heading for the Yorkey's Knob marina, grabbing a boat, and getting the hell out of here."

"Well, maybe we'll see you there, mate.  Once I've persuaded this group to fight our way to the trucks, that is.  We're bound to lose a lot of good people..."

"Good luck, Travis." Mike said softly.  "Hope to see you again."

"Thanks, mate.  Good luck to you, too."

We stood in a somber circle for a few minutes.  I wondered morosely if any of us would still be alive this time tomorrow.  Mike stirred.  "We're wasting time.  Grab your backpacks, weapons and gather the kids.  It's time to go."

Ten minutes later, we stood in the kitchen.  Kaye, Emma, Lucas and Michele each had a drowsy baby strapped  to their backs. I had tried to take Sarah but Michele shooed me away.  "I can do it, mum.  I'm bigger and stronger than you."  As I knew that my ability to protect them might depend on my agility and freedom, I didn't argue with her.  Jessie had Lizzie tucked in a little backpack.  I wondered about the wisdom of bringing the dog but as Mike seemed to have more control over her than I did over my children, I said nothing.

"Mummy!" Grumbled a tossled haired Alex from Lucas' back.  "Wan' get down!"

"Ssh, Alex!" I scolded.  "Only soft voices, remember?"  I prayed that the hike would soon lull the babies back to sleep.  I knew that riding on my father's back as a child had always had that effect on me.  In addition, I had given them a dose of antihistamines as that would make them drowsy and less inclined to talk.  A loud voice outside could be catastrophic.  I shuddered at the thought and crossed my fingers, effective as I knew that would be.

Mike slowly opened the back door.  From beneath the house rose the moans and thuds of the dead people lying in wait for us.  In the dim moonlight, he pulled himself up the steep bank and into the forest.  As Kaye and Emma followed with difficulty, Mike reached down and offered them a hand.  The kids and I were next while Ken brought up the rear.

As quiet as we tried to be, the moans suddenly intensified.  They know we're up here, I thought, my pulse quickening.

We pushed our way upwards, through the moist, dense rainforest.  Tree branches and vines whipped our faces and roots tripped our feet as we struggled to find our way in the dark.  Within minutes, I was dripping sweat and feeling the strain.  I heard a baby whine in protest as something snagged it, quickly hushed.  Finally, Mike decided we had put enough distance between us and the corpses, and turned towards the road and the creek that ran beside it.

Beside the fast flowing creek, we unpacked the pool toys and the hand pump.  Ken and Lucas stood guard while we quickly inflated the small boat, air mattress and arm floaties.  Wading into the creek with the boat, Mike held it steady against the bank while we placed the suddenly wide awake babies in it.  Jessie held onto the air mattress nervously.  While she was a good swimmer, she had never been in a fast current before.

"Ready?" I smiled at her encouragingly.  "Remember, don't panic.  Just go with the current and when we are ready to get out, just swim sideways until you reach the bank ."  Jessie nodded, her brown eyes fixed on me, but her grip remained tight on the air mattress.

Kaye and I grabbed the boat and waded into the middle of the creek, water gushing around our thighs.  The babies watched us, wide eyed and uncertain as to whether to be scared or excited.

"Remember, only whispers." I murmured to them with a smile.  "We don't want to wake the neighbours." Or let anything else know we're coming.  I nodded at Kaye, and with a deep breath, lowered myself into the water and let the current take us.  Immediately, we surged forward down the creek.  In the moonlight, I could see Jessie just ahead, hanging onto the air mattress with Lizzie's head poking out of her backpack, buttressed by Michele and Lucas.  I felt so proud of the way the teens had stepped up.  I knew Jessie was in safe hands. Glancing to my left,  I saw Emma, Ken and Mike swimming nearby, at ease with the fast flowing current. 

Mike edged closer to me.  "At this rate, it should only take half an hour to reach the suburbs."

I nodded, focused on keeping the wayward boat in the middle of the creek. "There are some hairy spots on the creek, though.  Rapids and submerged logs.  We'll all have to keep a sharp eye out."

A little face appeared over the edge of the boat.  "Hi mummy!"  His loud whisper echoed across the silent creek.

I grinned back even as I cringed inside.  "Hi Alex, soft voice, remember?"  Sarah's head peered over his as she spoke sotto voce.  "I'm getting wet, mummy."

Mike grinned at her.  "Not as wet as us."  She giggled and their heads disappeared again.

I rolled my eyes conspiratorially at Mike.  We rode down the dark bubbling creek in silence for several minutes.  I tensed as I saw the old bridge coming up.   We would be floating right behind the homes on our street.  I knew silence would be critical.  In the quiet night, the slightest noise would be heard as clearly as a bell.   "No noise until I say so, kids." I whispered sternly.  "Or there will be no tv or biscuits."  The silence that greeted me reassured me somewhat that they had received the message.

The bridge loomed closer.  The water became shallower and bumpier as we hit the rapids.  Glancing around, I saw that everyone was riding high in the water, like me.  After being banged by rocks a few times as kids, you  quickly learn the best way to navigate rapids.  And then the wooden bridge was behind us and we were cascading through the rapids.  Up and down the waves, pushing off big rocks with our feet, keeping the boat at the right angle, Kaye and I struggled silently to keep the small boat from spinning off or ripping itself open on sharp rocks.

Suddenly we were back into smoother waters.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  "Babies, are you okay?" I whispered, trying to keep the shakiness from my voice.  A wide-eyed face popped over the fat edge of the boat. "Yes, mummy." He whispered harshly, making me wince.  From the other side of the boat, Kaye muttered weakly, "Well, that was fun. Not."  I murmured a heartfelt sound of agreement.