Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 25

"No!" I screamed.  Not as long as there was breath in my body.  I would do whatever it took to save her and suddenly, I knew what I had to do.  I saw Kaye staring wide-eyed at Roy as he rose to his feet, a trace of my daughter's blood on his lips.  I felt a momentary anguish at leaving my inexperienced sister to deal with the monster that had once been Roy, but my child had to come first.  "Stop him, Kaye!  I have to help Sarah." 

Kaye nodded fearfully and stepped forward as Roy started towards us.  I ran past her as I headed for the ironing basket in the corner.  Sarah was screaming loudly now, having registered the bloody stumps on her hand.  Falling to my knees, I grabbed a sock and wrapped it around her arm.  Twisting, I proceeded to make a tourniquet.  As I twisted it tighter and tighter, Sarah's screams turned to howls. "Hurts, mummy, hurts."

Tears dripped down my cheeks.  "I know, baby.  I'm so sorry."

Glancing up, I saw Kaye spin and land a roundhouse kick on Roy's chest that sent him flying back into the sofa.  I blinked in surprise.  While I had known that my sister was a black belt in theory, this was the first time I had ever seen her in action. 

Satisfied that no blood - or virus- could get through the tourniquet, I jumped to my feet and grabbed the long handed shovel near the door.  As Roy rose to his feet and turned towards me, I ran at him, holding the shovel like a spear.  With a violent thrust, I speared him through the throat and propelled him backwards.  The shovel tip buried itself into the wall, leaving Roy dangling like some grotesque marionnette.

Max, Ken and Emma leapt over the baby gate at the top of the verandah stairs and charged into the room.  They came to a stop as they took in the scene before them. 

"Oh, my God."  The aghast whisper came from Michele as she ran into the room followed by Lucas.  "You killed Roy."

I looked at her, adrenaline still coursing through my body. "He was one of them.  And he...he bit Sarah."

Her hands flew to her mouth in horror.  "Oh mummy, no, that means..."

Grimly, I turned away from the body hanging limply against the wall.  "Not if I can help it."

Running past Max and the others, I bolted down the stairs for the ambulance.  I flung its doors open and started rummaging through the supplies.  Within minutes, I had located the scalpel in the trach set, the morphine and the other bits and pieces.  I sat back for a moment, trying to center myself.  My hands were shaking so badly that I knew I would  not be of any use to Sarah if I didn't calm down.  I took a deep breath and then another.  It would all work out, I told myself, Sarah was going to be just fine.  I can do this.

Upstairs, Max and Ken had removed Roy's body.  I didn't know where they had put it and I didn't care.  Picking up my crying daughter, I laid her gently on the dining table.  I grabbed the vial of morphine and drew the quantity I would need for anaesthesia into the syringe.  Emma came up quietly beside me.  "Lori..."

I sent her a hard look.   "If you're here to help, great.  If you're going to try to talk me out of it, then get the hell out of the way."

She touched my arm, her eyes searching mine.  "I'm not exactly sure what you're planning, Lori."

Searching for a vein, I placed the needle carefully against my daughter's skin.  I smiled gently at her.  "This needle will make all the pain go away, baby."  She hiccupped tearfully.  "Hurts, mummy."

I injected the morphine and then stroked Sarah's curly hair.  "There.  It will be all better soon.  You'll see."  As her sobs faded and her eyes slowly closed, I turned to Emma.  The others stood around us, their faces reflecting their concern and compassion.  My oldest daughter looked sick with fear.  I felt sick, too.  I could hardly believe I was going to do this.

"I am going to amputate her arm."  I heard someone start to cry.  Looking up, I saw my sister's tearful face as she shook her head in disbelief. Closing my eyes for a moment, I looked back at Emma.  "Will you help me?"

"You know I will, if you think it will work." She said softly. 

I shrugged, struggling to keep the despair I felt from my face. "I applied a tourniquet within minutes.  If I amputate now, at least she'll have a chance."

"Well, then." Coming to a decision, Emma nodded.  "Let's do it."   She turned and briskly issued instructions to the group.  Michele and Lucas kept the other kids away while the remaining adults organised boiling water, lights and sheets.

Looking at my daughter's peaceful face, I wondered for a moment how I was ever going to explain this to her.  Hey baby, mummy decided to remove your arm. You won't miss it, will you?  Emma touched my arm.  "Ready?" She asked gently.  I nodded, taking a deep breath.

Carefully, I made an incision.  I worked methodically and clinically, separating flesh and muscle, until finally, the limb was off and I could focus on suturing the wound.  Then I wrapped the stump and, finally,  placed a sock over it to keep the bandage in place.

Sighing, I stood back.  My baby lay so still, a stump where her soft, plump arm had been.  Please let this be worth it, I prayed to each and any god that might be listening.  Let her be okay. 

"You did good, Lori."  Emma smiled at me.  "She's going to be fine."

I tried to smile back at her but I just couldn't manage it.  The emotions I had been holding at bay for the last hour finally overwhelmed me and I started shaking like a leaf.  Kaye hurried over and wrapped her arms around me, holding me tight as I started to sob uncontrollably. 

****

In the kids' room, I sat beside Sarah, stroking her hair, as she drifted off to sleep.  Her brother was already fast asleep at the other end of the bed while the cousins were tucked in the top bunk above. 

She looked peaceful.  Thankfully, there was enough medication in the ambulance should keep her comfortable for several days.  A hand touched my shoulder.  Kaye sat down beside me.  "Are you okay?"

I snorted.  "As okay as I can be, having just chopped my own daughter's arm off."  The thought still made me sick in the stomach.

"You did what you had to do, Lori, to save her life.  Do you have any idea how much I admire you?"

Startled, I met her eyes.  "Huh?"

Kaye leaned forward and covered my hand.  "That's what makes you special, Lori.  You see what has to happen and you act, no doubts, no hesitation.  If it had been my child..." She stopped and swallowed, eyes suddenly dark. "I don't think I could have done it."

"Maybe I shouldn't have." I burst out.  "I keep wondering - was I wrong?  Maybe she wouldn't have turned!  It's not like I knew for sure...What if I cut off her arm for nothing?  What if it doesn't even work and I put her through that pain for nothing.  What if..."

Kaye covered my mouth with her hand, cutting me off.  "Lori, you need to stop torturing yourself right now.  You knew that a bite probably lead to death and you took steps to prevent that happening to Sarah.  That's as much as anyone could ask of you, including yourself.  So I don't want to hear you talking like that anymore. "Got it?"

I smiled tentatively.  "Got it, boss." Her belief in me almost managed to reassure me that I had done the right thing.

"Besides, we need your undivided attention here and now.  You don't expect me to make all the decisions that need making tonight, do you?"

"God, no!" I grinned, forcing myself to respond to her attempt at levity.  "I remember what happened the last time I let you make the decisions.  We ended up with a hot pink bedroom!"

"Hey!" She pushed me, dark eyes flaring in mock outrage.  "That colour was all the rage at the time!"

After she left, I sat beside my babies a while longer before reluctantly leaving to check on the other kids. Michele and Lucas were sharing an earphone as they listened to an iPod.  As I passed the spare room, I saw Jessie lying tucked in the large bed, lit by a soft nightlight.  Her eyes were wide and vulnerable.

"Hey." I smiled as I walked towards her.  "What are you still doing awake?  I thought you'd be out like a light by now." 

"It's too quiet." She mumbled into the sheets, big brown eyes locked on me.  I sat on the edge of the bed and brushed away the hair from her eyes.  "I know but that's a good thing!  Quiet means nothing exciting is happening and nothing exciting means no trouble.  So you can sleep without worrying."  Jessie nodded but her eyes remained locked on me.

"Go on, move over." I jostled her gently.  "I'll lie here with you until you go to sleep, okay?"  She wiggled back a little to make room for me.  As soon as I lay down, a wave of tiredness swept over me.  I had not realised how exhausted I was until this moment.  We lay together quietly for a moment, heads touching.  Just as I started to wonder if she had fallen asleep, I heard her soft voice.

"My mummy used to do this."  

"I bet she was a lovely person." I whispered back, my heart going out to her.  "Do you want to tell me about her?"  There was silence for a moment.

"She laughed a lot."  Jessie spoke in a low sad voice.  "And she liked to sing a lot.  She was pretty bad at it."  My throat tightened.

"Yeah well, good for her if she didn't let that stop her.  You should hear my kids complain about my singing!"  I saw a hint of a smile warm her solemn face.

"I think mummy would have liked you, Lori.  Daddy, too."  Oh Lord, I think I'm going to cry.

"Lori?"

"Yes, Jessie?"

"Promise you won't die too?"  I closed my eyes in a vain attempt to block her loss and pain.  Turning to face her, I stroked her face gently.

"I promise you that I will do everything within my powers to keep us all alive."  Trying to lighten the atmosphere, I smiled cheekily at her.  "If I am forced to, I will pull out my secret weapon."

"What's that?"

"My amazing voice. The kids swear that my singing makes anyone listening want to kill themselves."

Not surprisingly, I fell asleep beside Jessie.  A couple of hours later, after checking on the babies, I walked quietly into the living room.   The whole house was dark, lit by a few discreet candles behind drawn curtains.   We had decided that the less attention we drew to ourselves tonight, the better.  Soft murmurs in the corner drew my eye.  Emma and Ken sat on the love chair, heads close together as they  talked softly.  A pleased smile crossed my face at the sight.  This was a first.  Emma usually went for the loud and enthusiastic adrenaline-seeking types.  It was nice seeing her with someone who might not be as flashy but had more depth and character than any boyfriend I had seen her with before.

Sliding the doors open, I quietly walked onto the wooden verandah.  I could see Max's dark frame sitting in a chair as he kept watch over the street.  "Nothing exciting to report, I assume?" I murmured as I pulled up a chair beside him.  I saw the gleam of his eyes as he glanced at me.  "Nope."

We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes as my eyes adjusted to the dark.  The moon was hidden behind clouds heavy with rain and the air had a cool chill to it. I kept my fingers crossed that the rain would hold off. At this time of the year, when it rained, it dropped like a heavy curtain.  There were times I'd had to pull the car to the side of the road because visibility had dropped to zero.

A heavy mist lay on top of the hills surrounding us, creating an illusion of being cut off from the rest of the world.  Below us, the street lay still and quiet.  Nothing stirred.  It was unnerving and reassuring at the same time.

"Would it be too much to hope it stays like this forever? " I sighed

"Yeap."

I narrowed my eyes at Max.  "I bet you were a real party pooper in your past life." 

Grinning at me, Max propped his rifle on his lap.  "Yeap."

I laughed softly in appreciation.  "So what is the plan tonight?"

He pulled out a pistol and held it out to me.  I hesitated briefly before taking it.  "First, some practice time so that you know what you're doing if you're ever need to use it. " He stood up and seemed to choose his words carefully.  "You can keep watch with me - if you're up to it. We'll be rotating the watches between the adults every four hours."

Standing up, I smiled at him.  "I'd be honoured."  Feeling a little flustered for some reason, I turned and pointed the gun at a palm tree. "Now show me how to use this thing."

Max came and stood beside me.  For the next half an hour, we practised sighting, loading and shooting, although without bullets.  Gunshots were bound to attract attention.  As we looked out over the street, I heard noise in the distance.  Frowning, I strained to discern what it was.

"Gunfire." Max stated, his voice surprisingly grim.  "Not far away."

My heart dropped.  "Maybe the army will keep the zombies at bay. They might never get here."  In the moonlight, I could see the scepticism in Max's face.   I couldn't blame him; I didn't even believe what I said.

A rumble told me that a vehicle was crossing the rickety little bridge at the bottom of the street.  We listened keenly as it turned up our street.  An army truck trundled slowly past as a soldier spoke through a loudspeaker.  I shivered as I remembered the ruthlessness they had displayed this afternoon towards civilians just trying to survive.

"A curfew is now in place.  All residents must remain inside their homes until further notice.  Anyone found outside may be shot on sight."

I gasped.  "How can they do that?!"  Who the hell was the enemy here? 

Max shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time the army has followed a 'shoot first and ask questions later' policy."

Emma and Ken joined us on the verandah, outrage on their faces as they listened to the message.  "It feels like we're fighting our own army as well as zombies."  Ken muttered, rubbing his glasses furiously.

Max sighed, popping a fresh stick of gum in his mouth.   "At night, it will be difficult for soldiers to distinguish living from dead, folks.  This way, they know everyone they see is the enemy and can take 'em down before they get too close for comfort."

I scowled at him.  "Yeah well, goodie for them.  Too bad for anyone trying to escape zombies!"

He inclined his close-shaven head in acknowledgement.

As the noise of the truck faded, we listened to the sounds of battle in the distance.  It was continuous and clear now. I noticed Emma slip her hand into Ken's.  He squeezed it reassuringly.  It made my heart ache with a sudden yearning for my  Joe.  He had  been my rock for the last twenty years, ever since we met as carefree students.  I wondered if he was okay, if he was still at sea - literally and figuratively.  Was he happily fishing with his friends, completely unaware of the struggle his family was enduring?  And Charlie.  Here I was, completely focused on my own dramas, without sparing a thought for my sister and what she must be going through.

We stood in silence for a few minutes with our own thoughts.  Sighing, Emma turned away.  "I'm going to try and get some sleep while I can.  I have a feeling it is going to be a long night."

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 24

The remainder of the trip home was spent in sombre silence.  The reminder that the zombies were nearly on our doorsteps, if they weren't here already, made it suddenly frighteningly real.  The illusion of safety and peace I had felt in the midst of the rainforest was shattered.  It was inevitable that the zombie horde would reach our doorstep; it was just a matter of when, not if.

As we pulled into the driveway, I spied a battered panel van parked at the top and two familiar figures standing beside it. "Jim!"

"Ken!"   Emma exclaimed joyfully.  As Kaye drew her car up beside them, we clambered out and hugged the men with squeals of delight.  After everything we had been through together, they felt like part of the family and my heart swelled with happiness to see them looking so well.  The two men grinned and accepted our attentions graciously.  Roy lifted Ellie and Beth out of the car before clapping his hand around Jim's arm and then Ken's.

Interrupting the reunion, I  started to shoo everyone upstairs.  Ken took off his glasses and started vigorously rubbing them.  "You going to introduce them to Lizzie, Jim?"

Jim looked at him with hooded eyes.  "Reckon so."  Curious, I watched him walk around the back of the van.  My mouth dropped open as he returned with a quivering, short-haired brown chihuahua under his arm.  I don't know why the sight of a big, burly man holding a tiny dog should be so startling but it was like finding myself suddenly in an alternate reality. "This is Lizzie.  She was my parents' dog and I sorta inherited her when they died."  He looked around the group placidly.  "Don't be fooled. For a small dog, she's got a lot of verve." 

I cocked my brow teasingly.  "Verve?"

"Gumption." He corrected himself.

"Gumption?" I raised my eyebrow higher.

Jim narrowed his eyes at me. "Something wrong with your vocabulary all of a sudden, Lori?"

"No, not at all.  I'm sure she's a very plucky little dog.  You must feel very secure in your home at night."  As the others laughed, I grinned and held my hands up in a gesture of peace.  A smile tugged at his lips as he acknowledged the point.

I ushered the group upstairs for some coffee and a pow-wow.  Little Lizzie was promptly whisked out of Jim's arms by the children.  I had no doubt she would be thoroughly spoilt.  Even Lucas and Michele sat nearby with big grins on their faces, trying to tempt the dog over with pieces of cheese.

Jessie giggled as the chihuahua placed her paws on her chest and licked her face enthusiastically.  I felt a twinge of guilt as I watched the thin little girl hugging the dog.  I had barely exchanged two words with her since she'd woken up.  Looking up, she caught me looking at her and grinned happily.  I beamed back at her and promised myself that I would make some time to sit down with her - as soon as our complicated life permitted.

The toddlers were immediately vociferous in their hunger so Kaye and I plonked a packet of biscuits and some chips on the table.  Yeah, sue me; I'm a bad mom. 

Turning back to the adults around the table, I waited for Jim and Ken to bring us up to speed.  He popped a gum in his mouth, and in a few words, summed up the last few hours.  The trip to his home had been uneventful, bar a handful of zombies spotted on the road.  He'd picked up Lizzie and they had moved on to Ken's house.  Eyes cast down, Ken quietly told of finding bloodstains on the kitchen floor but no sign of his parents.  Emma reached out and grabbed his hand tightly.  Looking from her to Ken, I realised sadly that they had both been orphaned today.

"Did you have any trouble getting here?" I asked, thinking of the traffic jam we had battled through.  The two of them snorted at the same time.

"You could say that." Jim said wryly. 

Ken started the story.  "After we picked up some equipment, we decided to take the old back road via Freshwater.  We figured there'd be less traffic. Which there was." Jim inclined his head in agreement. "There's a short cut through the cane fields my family used to take.  Unfortunately, we found the Kuranda tourist train parked across it."

"It looked to be abandoned but we decided it wasn't worth investigating." Jim took a deep slug of the coffee Kaye placed before him. "We decided to cross the train line a little further up and backtrack across the edge of the field to the dirt track.  Figured no one was going to sue us for any damage to the cane."

"Unfortunately," Ken continued. "as soon as we crossed the line into the field,  we discovered where all the passengers had disappeared to."

Emma gasped, her hand going to her mouth.  "They were in the sugar cane?"

Eyes bright with remembered excitement, Ken nodded.  "They just started pouring out of the sugar cane. "

"What did you do?" I had to admit the story had me as sucked in as Emma.  At least I knew this one had a happy ending, as they were both sitting in front of me.

Ken looked at Jim who sat with one arm slung over the back of the chair, clmly chewing his gum.  He shrugged.  "Pulled out one of those pieces of equipment I mentioned earlier.   It's amazing how quickly a chainsaw can separate a head from a body."

"Eww." Kaye made a face across the table to me.  Ken grinned.  "Jim leaned out of the window and cleared a path like he was trimming a hedge!  Didn't get rid of all of them but it gave us enough wiggle room to get the old van across the field to the dirt track.  After that, it was clear sailing."

Jim pushed his chair back.  "Reminds me, we need to get our stuff in." He glanced outside.  "Have to shore up the place before it gets dark, too."

Roy grimaced, as he stood and stretched.  "Yeah well, I need to take a ten minute cat nap before we get started on that stuff.  My head's bloody killing me."

Emma rolled her eyes at me but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.  We had all been through a lot today.  "I'll get you some panadol."

He looked a little surprised.  "Thanks."

As Roy lay down on the sofa with a groan, I hurried downstairs, knowing that the toddlers were in safe hands with the teens.  As long as they weren't busy making goo-goo eyes at each other, I thought.  Beside the van was a growing pile of stuff.  I spotted the chainsaw, rope, a couple of bags of tinned food, a rifle and extra ammunition, and something that looked like a radio. "It's a CB radio." Jim clarified for me.  "If communication remains down, it may be the only way for us to communicate with the outside world."

He grinned down at me. " And I still have some contacts from my days in the forces who might be able to tell me something useful."

"You're full of surprises, aren't you, Jim?" I smiled at him, feeling sudden affection for a man I had only known by sight for years.  He kinda reminded me of that British action hero, Jason Statham, with his clean shaven head and muscular build.  Not that I was about going to tell him that.  He was cocky enough as it was. 

I left him and Ken to it while Emma, Kaye and I unloaded the four wheel drive again.  I placed anything that could be used as a weapon, like the axe and long handled shovel, next to the sliding doors upstairs where we could reach them quickly.

After transferring our stores to the house, we set to work shoring up the house's defences.  Finding wood wasn't a problem as the shed was full of bits and pieces.  Charlie was quite the handyman and had, in fact, just finished building a treehouse in the forest for the kids.  Jim and Ken put together a rough barrier at the bottom of the stairs to deter any zombies while Emma and I covered the rear windows of the house.  Being on a slope, the back of the house was accessible to any zombie who decided to make the long trek up the driveway and through the rainforest.  Kaye left to prepare dinner and organise baths for the kids.  I grinned as I heard her muttering something about getting the short end of the stick as she went upstairs.

All the hammering and noise soon brought out our neighbours.  The retired couple on the left, Mr and Mrs Brand, stood in their back yard peering at the goings-on over here.  Across the road, I saw Jodie and her teenage daughters, Jasmine and Skye, heading towards us.   Further down the road, I could see a man and his little boy watching us.  I didn't know much about that family, though, apart from the fact that they had a teenage son who annoyed everyone with riding his quad bike on Saturday mornings.

"Hey Jodie." I called out between blows of the hammer as she walked around the house.  "Hey girls."  They waved at me as they wandered over to watch the men at work.  I guessed all those muscles on display were a lot more interesting than our red, sweaty faces.

"Hi Lori."  Jodie looked anxious. "You look like you're preparing for a cyclone." 

"I wish I were."  I put down the hammer and nails and wiped my face. "Do you need help getting your place ready, Jodie?"  I knew her husband had left a few months back and she didn't strike me as being very self-sufficient.

She hugged herself nervously. "Do you really think it's necessary?  It seems a bit like overkill for a bunch of rioters."

I sighed.  Here we go again.  What to tell and what to keep to myself?  "It's more than people rioting, Jodie.  These people have been infected by a virus.  They are extremely violent and irrational.  You need to take every precaution to protect your family."

Jim walked over, his damp shirt clinging to his chest.  "Ma'am, if you need help making your place secure, I could come over after I'm finished here." Jodie looked at him with interest.  I felt a moment of vague irritation.  Time and place, lady, time and place. 

She smiled at him.  "Thank you.  I would really appreciate that."  Beckoning her girls, she waved a coy goodbye and walked back down the driveway.

Jim looked down at me and cocked a brow.  I rolled my eyes and picked up my hammer.  As he walked away, Emma snickered. "Looks like Jim's got himself an admirer."

I snorted derisively.  I couldn't believe that there were women who had time to flirt even in the midst of a crisis.

After finishing the windows, we discussed the back door which looked onto the rainforest.  We decided to leave it unboarded in the event we had to make a sneaky getaway through the forest.

It was getting dark as I went upstairs to arrange the supplies into some sort of order.  Ken and Jim had headed over to Jodie's.  Roy was still asleep on the sofa.  Poor guy, he must have been very tired, I thought, if he could sleep through all the hammering and the kids playing around him.  His ten minute nap had turned into, I checked my watch quickly, over two hours!  Sarah came running out of the bathroom, naked as the day she was born.  Smiling, I opened my arms and she threw herself into them.  I loved the way the babies smelt and the softness of their skin.  Years of tropical sun had left my arms bronzed and freckly, and they didn't look very attractive against the pale, smooth baby arms of my daughter.

"Ooh, where are your clothes, munchkin?" I teased as I tickled her.  She squealed and wiggled.  "Don' haf any!"

"Well, I'm sure your aunty has laid some out for you in your cousins' room.  Go have a look."  I watched with a cheesy grin as she paddled out of the room.  What can I say? I'm a sucker for babies.

Turning back, I gathered all the bags of food and carried them into the kitchen.  If we were lucky, they would stretch out our food to five days, although by the end, everyone would be complaining, I had no doubt.  The tins of food that remain uneaten in people's cupboard tend to be the stuff no one wants to eat, like my impulse purchase of tinned artichokes.  Jim and Ken's contributions included tins of kippers, red cabbage, bamboo shoots and spam, which, in my eyes, just proved my theory.  Heck, I didn't even know spam was still being produced!

A giggle alerted me to the return of my daughter.  As I gathered some bottles of juice and soda in my arms, I heard Roy groan.  Glancing over the pile in my arms, I saw Sarah poking Roy in the cheek.  Grinning inside, I headed for the kitchen.  About time he woke up, I thought, quelling the little voice that said a good mother would teach her daughter that it was rude to poke sleeping people.

And then my world fell apart.  My daughter screamed in pain and fear.   I dropped everything as I spun around, a cold sweat breaking out all over my body. Roy clutched my daughter in his outstretched hands, pulling her towards him.  The cold eyes, the pallid skin...oh god, how could I have missed this?!

I flew into the room and, as he brought his mouth to her neck, I grabbed Sarah around the waist and wrenched her away.  Kaye came running into the room.  "What's happened?"  She cried. 

Ignoring her, I examined my daughter feverishly.  There was blood all over my daughter's hand.  The room spun as I saw she was missing her three middle fingers.  No, no, no.  For a moment, I wanted to die.  I knew what the future held and I didn't want to face it.  She had been bitten and I knew, without a shred of doubt, what that meant for her.

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 23

The streets were eerily empty.  No cars moved along the road, no children played in front of their homes,  no school children played in the grounds.  Everywhere, people huddled silently in their homes.  A lone zombie stood beside the road as we drove by, staring blankly ahead.  Blood marred the whole left side of his body. I saw a shiver go through Kaye's body.  "I knew you were telling the truth but to see it for myself..." She whispered.  I nodded silently.

As we turned onto the highway, the situation changed dramatically. We watched, open mouthed, as tanks, jeeps, and trucks full of grim faced soldiers passed us, heading for the city.

"Yeehah!" Roy exclaimed.  "Now those zombies are going to get their arses handed to them!"

I felt a moment of excitement.  "I hope so, Roy."  The thought that this might all be over by tomorrow or Sunday was heady.

For the next several minutes, vehicles continued to pass us, heading into town.  As we took the turnoff to the Tablelands, we fell in behind another civilian vehicle coming from the beaches, presumably with the same idea of leaving town.

"What the hell..." Roy murmured.  Before us, armed soldiers stood across the Tablelands road, backed by a tank blocking any access.  A few civilian cars were pulled over on the side of the road.  We slowed to a stop as a soldier with a loudspeaker moved forward.  "There is a quarantine order in place.  Please turn around and return to your homes."  As the driver ahead of us pushed open his door and emerged, the soldier backed away rapidly.  The other soldiers brought their weapons up sharply.  "Sir, return to your vehicle immediately." As the driver, a tossled fair-haired man in his early thirties, continued to move forward belligerently, I started to get a bad feeling about this.  The soldiers looked jittery and nervous and I could see this situation going bad quickly.  "We have orders to shoot, sir.  Return to your vehicle now." 

The driver paused.  "You can't force us to stay here!" He yelled, gesticulating wildly.  "It's not safe!" The soldier lowered his loudspeaker.  I heard his voice clearly as he tried to calm the driver down.  "I understand, sir.  However, you need to take your family home and make your house aas secure as possible.  Lay low and it will be over in a few days."

"Yeah, when my family and I have been killed by those lunatics!" The driver screamed, face red with frustration.  He started to move forward again.  "I want to talk to whoever is in charge of this goddamned operation!"

The soldier stumbled backwards as the other soldiers charged forward.  "Move back, move back now!" They all yelled in agitation, guns raised to firing position.

"Oh my God." Kaye whispered, horrified.  "Can't he see they mean business?!  They are going to shoot him!" 

We watched, aghast, as the desperate man continued to approach the soldiers determinedly.  A shot rang out and the man jerked.  He touched his chest in surprise and then took another stumbling step forward.    We watched in horror as a barrage of bullets pierced his body, causing him to jerk around in a grotesque caricature of a dance.   As the noise faded away, his body collapsed to the road.  Agonised screams erupted from his car.  The passenger door flung open and his wife ran out.  I closed my eyes, unwilling to watch this disaster play out.  The loudspeaker blasted a warning for the wife to stop.  As I heard no more gunshots, I ventured a peek.  The wife was on her knees a few feet from her husband's body, sobbing  her heart out.

"He just wanted to get our baby to the Mareeba hospital." She cried in grief and anger.  " He didn't deserve to die, you bastards.  You're supposed to protect us, not kill us!"  She stretched out to touch her husband's foot.

"Your daughter's sick, ma'am?"  The soldier's suddenly alert voice should have warned her but she was too distraught to notice.  "Was she bitten?"

She nodded distractedly.  " She's unconscious.  She needs treatment!"

Without a word, the soldiers circled around her towards the car, weapons high again.  "Have you been bitten, ma'am?"

The young woman nodded, her eyes still glued to her husband's body.  "She bit me on the finger.  It's nothing." She turned her eyes on the soldier pleadingly. "Please - just let me take my daughter to the hospital."

One of the soldiers glanced at us and talked into his walkie-talkie. As he moved towards us, my hand clenched the armrest instinctively.   Kaye gasped nervously as he paused a few feet from our car.  He held his gun casually but alertly.  "Sorry, ma'am, but there is a quarantine order in place.  No one leaves the city.  We need you to turn around and head back home. Now."

I nodded, my eyes never leaving his face.  "We're leaving now."  Glancing at me, Kaye threw the car into reverse and slowly backed up some distance.  Once we were out of range of his weapon, we started breathing again.

"Jesus." Roy exclaimed from the back seat. "I thought we were goners for a minute!" 

"They are not taking any chances." I agreed shakily, as Kaye started to do a u-turn.  I could see that the other car and woman were now ringed by armed soldiers.  A soldier was cautiously poking his gun through the rear car window. The woman's posture was pleading as she begged them to help her.  I felt sick, knowing that she was not going to get it.  Not from the soldiers and not from us.  As we drove off, a volley of gunfire rang out, seeming to go on forever.  I didn't look back.  I couldn't bear to know.

****

Shaken, none of us said anything for several minutes as we headed for the Redlynch turnoff. 

"What do you think it means?" Emma asked quietly.  We all knew what she meant.

"It means they are serious about containing this disease." I answered, equally softly.   "And they are prepared to take any measures necessary to do so."

"Even killing innocent people."  It was a statement, not a question. 

"They did warn him." Roy added, halfheartedly.  "But to kill the family like that! Jesus!  There's no proof that everyone who gets bitten becomes a zombie!"  No one said anything.  Their emotions were probably as mixed and wrenching as mine.  That family could have been any of us.  The dead man had been trying to save his family just as I was still trying to do.

As we reached the turnoff to Redlynch and my sister's home, the staccato sound of nearby gunfire drew us to a stop. 

"I think it's coming from the city." Emma offered.  "It has to be those soldiers we saw earlier."

I frowned as I concentrated on the noise.  "It is a lot closer than the city.  Maybe just over the rise there." I pointed ahead.  No sooner had I said it than we saw figures pouring over the rise like ants down an anthill.  Hundreds of bodies flowing downhill towards us.  We watched in stunned silence for at least a minute as the human wave just kept on coming. 

"There must be at least a thousand!" Kaye murmured in awe.

"People or zombies?" Roy put into words the question we were no doubt all thinking.

"Any chance anyone remembered a pair of binoculars?" I asked halfheartedly, knowing no one did.

"No, but my camera has a pretty good zoom on it." Michele piped up.  Reaching back to grab the proffered camera, I beamed at my brilliant daughter.  She grinned before rolling her eyes.  Don't overdo it, mum.

As I zoomed in on the rise, we huddled around the little viewing screen.  Frustratingly, it couldn't zoom in close enough to see individual faces but what we saw was enough to confirm that the majority of the figures were zombies.  Interspersed in the crowd, I could see the uniformed figures of soldiers fighting for their lives.  Standing back to back, a group of six soldiers fired weapons at the mass of figures grouped implacably around them.  Moving the camera, I spied a man swinging his weapon desperately in circles as he tried to keep the creatures at bay.  Within seconds, he was consumed by the crowd.  Everywhere I turned the camera, I could see men fighting for their lives - and losing.

Coming over the hill, a truck full of men fired machine guns as they tried to make their way to the beleaguered men.  Except for the few zombies they hit in the head, the bodies kept pressing around the truck, making it increasingly difficult for the vehicle to move.  Even as we watched, the truck stopped moving and corpses swarmed over it.

"My God..." Roy whispered. "If the army can't win, what hope do we have?"

"Stop it, Roy." I said sharply.  "We've survived up to now, haven't we?  Maybe we are better equipped to survive than they are."

"How do you figure that?" He sneered.

"We know what we are up against." I replied quietly. "Something, it would appear, the army hasn't figured out yet."