Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 34

"Whoa!  That's a leap, isn't it?" My voice was suddenly shrill.  "How do you go from a few lost battles to nuclear warfare?!"

"They can't let this virus get out, Lori.  We're acceptable losses if the alternative is the virus infecting the whole country or even the world."

"There're still other options!"

"Really? What?  Keep a quarantine in place until the bodies decay away?"

"Ye-es." My mind rebelled at the thought that anyone could contemplate wiping out a whole town.  Even if most have already been killed or turned? "Assuming your fantasy is remotely plausible, what do you suggest we do?"

Mike jumped off the railing and picked up his backpack.  "We make a bug out plan.  First hint that the army is withdrawing all its troops, we get the hell out of town."

I laughed, a little too high pitched.  "We tried that already.  It didn't go too well."

"The highways aren't the only options."

As I followed his retreating figure, I realised he was right.  The quarantine could not successfully prevent us from hiking out via the rainforest that hugged the city of Cairns or grabbing a boat and heading out to sea.  At least I didn't think so.

As we neared the start of the trail, my stomach growled embarassingly loudly.  "Um, I think we should eat before we head back down the track."

"I agree.  Noise like that will bring every zombie in the area on our heels."

"Ha-ha."  I headed for the gorgeous dam which lay ahead of us.  "I'm just not a damned robot, like some people.  I need food." 

Mike grinned as I stomped past him.

We dumped our backpacks on a picnic table and proceeded to eat our sandwiches in silence.  I couldn't get the image of a nuclear weapon being dropped on us out of my mind.  Just the possibility of it was enough to make me want to pack up my tribe and head for the hills.  Literally.

"We're should post someone up here with a walkie-talkie to keep an eye on the troop movements." Mike said between mouthfuls. 

"Okay."  I wondered if he wanted me to volunteer.  I had no intention of being separated again from my family, however, so I kept quiet and focused on eating.

Belly soothed, I gazed at the still lake.  It looked so cool and welcoming.  Oh bugger it, I thought defiantly, a few minutes more won't hurt.  Throwing Mike a mischievous grin, I took off at a run and leaped into the water.  Just as I expected, it felt glorious.  As my head emerged, I saw Mike on the bank, watching me with a crooked smile. 

"You look like a drowned rat, girl."

I laughed.  "Don't care what I look like.  The water feels like heaven!" 

He sat down and plucked a blade of grass. 

"Don't you want to come in and cool down?" I asked, curious.  He shook his head.

"Big strong Mike isn't scared of the water, is he?" I teased.

"Nope."

"Then why?"

Mike just shrugged as he lay back on his elbow.  My curiosity increased.

"You can swim, can't you?"

"Yeap."

Exasperated, I splashed water at him.  "Tell me, damn you!"

"Nope."

Shaking my head, I clambered out of the water.  "Has anyone ever told you what an annoying man you can be?"

"Yeap."

"Ahhh!"  Shaking my sopping hair, I splattered water all over him.  Laughing, he held his arms out in a protective gesture.  In that instance, I had a intense moment of deja vue.  A scene from many years ago.  Joe on a rug here, laughing at me, as I stood over him, wet and cajoling him to join me...

"Lori?" 

I blinked and saw Mike's quizzical expression.  "We'd better get going." I mumbled, walking away.  It hurt too much to think of Joe, not knowing if I'd ever hold him again.

Thankfully, the walk downhill proved a lot easier than the walk up. Still, I was perspiring freely by the time we returned to the Crystal Cascades national park.  Pausing to scan the area, I was reassured that there were no zombies lurking in wait for us.  As I turned to Mike, the walkie-talkie crackled.

Mike pulled it out.  "What's up?"

It was Emma.  "Put me onto Lori, please, Mike."  He raised his eyebrow quizzically as he passed the walkie-talkie to me. I shrugged.  She didn't sound frantic so I assumed it wasn't an urgent matter.

"Hey Emma.  What's going on?"

"It's Sarah.  She's developed a high fever and I'm concerned..."

The world spun around me.  Not my baby, please.  As the walkie-talkie fell from my nerveless hand, my vision darkened and I felt my legs go out from under me.  Strong arms grasped me and lowered me gently to the grass.  Mike's face swam above me.  Dimly, I was aware of him talking on the walkie-talkie as I gasped for breath, overwhelmed by panic. 

"Lori." His voice cut through the panic.  "Listen to me.  Sarah hasn't got the virus.  Her wound is infected.  Do you hear me?  She hasn't got the virus." 

It took me a while to grasp the meaning of the words he was saying, but as they sunk in, I felt dizzy with relief.  Closing my eyes for a moment, I took a deep breath and tried to center myself once more.  My baby was going to be okay.  Shaking, I sat up and grabbed the walkie-talkie.

"Oh Lori, I'm so sorry.  I didn't think..."

"When did she develop a fever?" I interrupted.

"Not long after you left.  I've cleaned rewrapped the wound but it's badly infected. We're going to need a broad spectrum antibiotic to treat the sepsis."

"Okay, okay."  My thoughts spun through my options.  "I'll find some."

I looked up at Mike.  "Fancy a road trip?" I asked with a weak smile.  He stood up and offered his hand to me.

"Things were getting dull around here, anyway."  He responded, deadpan. 

Back on my feet, I tucked the walkie-talkie away.  "There is a pharmacy at the Redlynch shopping centre.  We should be able to get what we need there."

Mike nodded.  "First things first, we need a vehicle."  I agreed, looking at the ten or eleven cars sitting in front of us.

"I don't suppose your repertoire of skills include hotwiring a car?" I asked hopefully.

He shook his head regretfully.  Damn.  I was beginning to think that there was nothing this guy could not do.

Sighing, I looked across the car park.  There was nothing for it but to go to the popular swimming holes and search the picnicker's belongings for keys.  "Okay.  We'll try the first swimming hole and keep our fingers crossed that we find car keys quickly."

"Look for one with a remote.  We don't have time to try unlocking a dozen cars in order to find which one the key fits."

I agreed and we set off at a trot across the car park.  Nearing the top of the stairs which meandered down the steep bank to the first rock pool, I paused and pulled out my parang.  From the corner of my eye, I saw Mike reach over his back and pull out a cleaver.  Carefully, quietly, I stepped down the rock steps, followed by Mike. There were vines and trees on both sides obscuring our view as we descended. As the waterfall came in sight, I spotted several teenage boys in their board shorts standing stranded on large rocks around the waterfall, gaping wounds on their bodies.  A family of zombies stood in the shallow end of the rock pool.  They turned to stare at me, a man and woman in their thirties and their two little girls.  Both the girls' faces had been gnawed, exposing teeth and bone in a gruesome mockery of a grin.  Lumbering awkwardly through the water, they started to make their way towards us.

As I stepped off the stairs onto the bank of the pool, I saw the picnicker's bags.  They lay loosely grouped together on the surface on a nearby flat boulder.  Just beyond them stood a powerfully built man and, presumably, his girlfriend.  Her bloodstained blond hair almost covered the missing chunk in her cheek.  They, too, immediately began staggering towards us. 

Mike stepped past me, cleaver held forward.  " I'll hold them off while you look through the bags, Lori. Make it quick. " 

"Umm." I tugged his shirt.  "I have a suggestion.  Why don't we just grab all the bags and get out of here?"

Silence.

"Yeah, that plan works too."

Bursting through the trees, we raced over the smaller rocks to the big boulder.  Keeping a watchful eye on the zombies as they approached, I grabbed as many bags as I could carry and then turned and ran back up the steps, Mike on my heels with the remaining bags.

I upturned the bags on the road and scrabbled through them, searching for keys.  I found three sets of keys but none with remotes.  Frustrated, I turned to Mike.  "Any luck?"

He dangled a set of keys in front of me.  It didn't have a remote, either. 

"Damn it!" I cursed.  We would have to try all the cars.  The noise we were making was already attracting unwanted attention.  Two zombies lurched out of the toilet blocks and, in the distance, I could see several zombies staggering down the path towards us.

Mike stood up.  "These'll do nicely, Lori.  Let's go."  Puzzled, I dusted off my hands and followed him as he strode into the car park.  He bypassed several cars and then stopped.  As I cleared the cars, I saw he was standing beside a Kawasaki motorbike.   "What do you think?" He smiled.  "Do the job?"

"Right now, I'd accept a bicycle." I responded, a nervous eye of the zombies.  "Let's get out of here." 

Mike straddled the motorbike and I clambered behind him, hands firmly on his waist.  Opening the throttle, he roared down the highway with confidence.  Minutes later, we passed our house as we headed towards the shopping centre.  I sent them my love and prayers as we drove over the old bridge.

A car lay overturned on the hill, blood staining the road around it.  On the side of the road, a zombie stood motionless, staring at us.  As we left the rural suburbs behind and entered the suburbs, we found our path blocked.  Car upon car lay stalled, crashed or overturned, blocking the road for a hundred meters.  Mike slowed the motorbike as he cautiously negotiated the maze of vehicles.  I swallowed as I spotted a woman's arm lying on the road.  Blood splattered the road around it.  The smashed windscreen of a nearby car had pieces of clothes and flesh hanging from its edges.  From the corner of my eye, I spotted a woman standing beside a blue volkswagon.  Grey skinned and dull-eyed, the creature limped towards us. My hands clutched Mike's shirt instinctively.  He turned his head inquiringly, and seeing the woman, nodded in acknowledgement.  A moan drew my eyes to a middle aged man lying on a bonnet on my right.  He stretched his arms out to us, his mouth stretched wide over grey gums. I flinched involuntarily before I realised that he could not reach us.   His lower body had been severed when he had been pinned between two vehicles. 

Moaning.  All around us, as Mike weaved between vehicles, heads appeared.  "Mike!"

"I see them."

From the houses lining the street, zombies lumbered out.  My heart started racing.  I trusted Mike but things were getting a bit hairy for my liking. 

A hand lunged out of a car window as we passed by.  I screamed as it brushed my arm, causing Mike to swerve.  As he straightened the bike, I looked back at the car.  Through the window, a child, still strapped in its seat, stared at me.  Four or five years old, its blank, implaccable eyes gazed out of a face still plump and innocent.  From the front seat, its mother thrashed in her seat, unable to work out how to release herself from her prison. 

Finally, we were through the maze and Mike opened the throttle again, sending the bike surging forward.  He roared out onto the open highway again, swerving adroitly between the dozen or so zombies dotting the road.

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 33

We had really lucked out with the design of this house. Having been built into the mountain, the steep slope and the rainforest growth behind the house had so far proven too difficult for the zombies to negotiate successfully.  Mike and I opened the back door and slipped quietly into the tangled shrubbery a few steps away. If all went according to plan, we should be at the lookout in less than two hours.  The rain had fortuitously stopped, although the day remained heavily overcast.

Making our way up the steep incline covered in dense rainforest was strenuous work, especially as we needed to move quietly, to avoid any unwelcome attention, unlikely as it seemed in the forest.  I sent Mike's back an irritated look as he moved through the landscape with seemingly little effort and I resolved to work out a whole lot more when this whole mess was resolved.

After ten minutes of going straight up, I was quietly relieved when we headed downhill again towards the road.  As it came in sight, Mike signalled to me to get down low as he scouted the area.

"Clear." He grunted and walked into the open.  I stumbled out of the greenery onto the bitumen, sweaty and itchy.

"You okay?" He asked politely but a slight twitch of his mouth suggested amusement.  I glared at him as I brushed off leaves and ants.  "Just fine, thanks.  Can we go now, or do you want to talk about the weather, too?"

He raised his hands in surrender and moved off.    Walking down the middle of the deserted road was an eerie feeling.  The only sounds were those made by insects, the wind and our boots on the bitumen.  Normally, this road was busy with walkers, bicyclists and motorists.  This close to the national park, I would often hear families talking and laughing in the rock pools that lined the road all the way to the waterfalls.  But today there was just the sounds of nature.  I didn't like it.

As the entrance to the national park came into view, we slowed down and proceeded more cautiously.  I counted ten cars which potentially meant ten car loads of zombies.  The beginning of the trail was on the other side of the car park so we skirted around the edge of it, sticking close to the forest line.  Mike abruptly stopped me and gestured across the park.  I looked to where he was pointing but I couldn't see anything.  A splash of colour caught my eye as the figure of a teenage boy in colourful board shorts emerged from the forest.  The vacant stare and the ragged wounds all over his body saddened me.  Somebody's son, a voice whispered in my head.  He lurched into the middle of the car park.  Behind him, some more young boys emerged.  Did they somehow know we were here, I wondered.  Had we been too noisy?  I stayed very still in the shadow of the trees, breathing shallowly, as the zombies milled on the road for several minutes.  Finally, one staggered down the highway and, like sheep, the others turned to follow him.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I gave Mike a 'let's get the hell out of here' look that he picked up loud and clear.  We made it to the trail without spotting any more zombies, thankfully.  It was a deceptively simple dirt trail which I knew would rapidly become steep and just kept getting steeper.  It was going to be hell.

Surrounded by cool rainforest on both sides, we walked up the trail, keeping a sharp ear and eye out.  A couple of times, nearby rustling in the shrubbery caused us to freeze but both times it turned out to be goannas.  Bloody big lizards with a tendency to be cranky, they were still hugely preferable to zombies. 

After ten minutes, my heart was pounding what felt like a hundred miles an hour.  I was sure my face was an unattractive beetroot red but I doggedly pushed on up the dirt track which had become steeper, rockier and twisted with tree roots.  Mike paused to send me a querying look.  Scowling, I waved him on.  The man was a robot, I was sure.

Finally, the track leveled out and I knew we were almost there.  Hallelujah!  I was inordinately proud of myself.  Not a word of complaint had passed my lips (quite unlike the last time I had done this hike, I thought, which had consisted of me and Kaye whining and moaning all the way).  Of course, we hadn't had the fear of flesh-eating zombies to motivate us, either.

Two hundred meters later, we emerged onto the deserted bitumen road leading to the dam.  I stopped, breathing deeply, and pulled out my bottle for a long drink.  "Oh, my god!" I gasped.  "Who the hell does that for fun?!"

Mike took a swig out of his water bottle.  "You did well."  I looked at him disdainfully, although I was secretly delighted to receive praise from him.

"Which way now?" He asked, wiping a slight sheen of sweat of his forehead and having, it would appear, regained his breath already.  I really disliked this guy sometimes.

There were no vehicles to be seen up here.  No vehicles and no zombies.  The dam was a sixteen kilometer windy drive from the town below.  There was no way zombies would have wandered up here overnight.  Feeling safe for the first time since this plague hit us, I felt an intense desire to jump, sing, shout at the top of my voice. 

We had to walk downhill a while to reach the lookout.  It boasted the most spectacular views of our town, from beaches to city to surrounding rainforests.  It took my breath away every time.  It did not fail to do so again, if for different reasons.  All across the city, dozens of columns  of smoke spiralled into the air, painting a picture of disaster.

Seating himself comfortably on the lookout fence,  MIke pulled out his high-power binoculars and started a slow survey of the landscape before him.  Even without binoculars, I could see long convoys of army vehicles moving along the main roads in every direction.  It filled me with hope.  As long as they will still trying, we had a chance.

After fifteen minutes of Mike's silent presence, I started getting antsy.  Surely he'd seen everything there was to see by now!  Finally, he put down the binoculars and stared pensively into the distance. I bit my tongue as I waited for him to say something.

Mike abruptly held the binoculars out to me.  He looked unusually somber.   I suddenly felt reluctant to take the glasses, but I knew I needed to see for myself.  Adjusting the focus of the binoculars, I peered at the suburbs below me.  The power of the binoculars blew me away even as I stared, horrified, at the devastation before me.  The streets  looked like they had been hit by a category four cyclone.  Cars dotted the streets, overturned or crashed against homes and trees.  The houses stood open, windows smashed, clothes and toys strewn across their lawns.  And stumbling down the street in ones and twos, were the dead.  The binoculars were so powerful, I could see the details of the individual zombies, from the torn clothing to the pasty skin and bloody wounds.  It was hard to look at them and not think about the living, breathing people they had been only a day ago.  They had laughed and loved, fought and cried.  And now the shells of their former lives shambled forward in an endless hunt for food.

"Check out your seven o'clock." Mike murmured. There was an enormous dark mass spreading over several blocks.  As I adjusted the focus again, my stomach sank.  Zombies, thousands of zombies, moving as one unit.  

Where were they heading, I asked myself.  Moving the glasses ahead of the mass, I spotted a wall of sandbags near the end of the street and,  behind the wall, soldiers.  Their slew of weapons poked over the blockade.  As the zombies neared, the soldiers opened fire and tore into them with machine guns and other high powered guns.  The front lines of the zombie horde were ripped apart in seconds.  As they fell down, other zombies clambered over their bodies and, in turn, were hammered by bullets.  Some collapsed, never to rise, but others staggered on even as their bodies became little more than bloody meat.  The horde moved forward with the relentlessness of a mud flow. 

I couldn't look away, such was my horrified fascination.  Grenades flew into the approaching crowd of dead.  Body parts soared into the air.  A torso and head landed on the sandbags, causing the soldiers to rear back in panic.  A young man rushed forward and used his rifle to shove it off.  I realised, with dismay, that they weren't even making a dent in the zombie mass.  I heard a distant thumping and, glancing up, saw heavy-duty helicopters speeding in to provide cover for the overwhelmed units.  Banking, they came in low and released missiles which flew  straight into the dead crowd.  Explosions rocked the street.  Jamming the binoculars to my eyes again, I  saw large gaps in the crowds which, within seconds, had disappeared like they had never been. 

The horde was now only about twenty feet away from the sandbag blockade.  Panicked, soldiers started to turn and run.  Those that stayed ripped desperately into the crowd with their weapons.  So many bodies littered the street that the advance of the zombies slowed as they clambered over mounds of body parts.  But it didn't make a difference.  The soldiers didn't stand a chance against an enemy that had no fear - and overwhelming numbers.  More soldiers bolted.  Silently, I urged the remaining ones to go.  I couldn't bear to watch what was about to happen but I couldn't tear my eyes away, either.

Finally, as the zombies loomed just beyond the sandbags, the units must have been given the signal to retreat.  They grabbed their weapons and ran in the other direction.  Then they stopped.   I could see the panic on the faces of the soldiers and what appeared to be lots of yelling. Moving the binoculars, I realised why.  Zombies were filing into the street from the other end, too.  The soldiers were trapped.  Heart in my mouth, I watched as the soldiers drew together, back to back, spraying the approaching hordes with fire power.  Brave as they were, it did them no good.  They disappeared beneath the zombies without a trace.  Thirty or more men lost within minutes.

"Oh my god." I whispered as I lowered the glasses. Turning to Mike, I found myself lost for words.  He nodded, taking the glasses back from me.  "It's like that all over the city."  Peering through the binoculars, Mike continued to talk.  "There's another battle going on in the Edmonton suburbs and one at the beaches and they're all getting their asses kicked."  He lowered his glasses and looked at me seriously.  "There is just no way for them to combat the sheer numbers of zombies coming at them."

"How many, do you think?" I asked, my mind reeling.  How many of us had been lost?

He shrugged. "Based on what I'm seeing here, I'd guess eighty percent of the city's population are now dead men walking."

I shivered, appalled.  Somehow, I doubted that the army had been prepared to combat a zombie horde of over one hundred and twenty thousand that had literally sprung up overnight.   If we weren't hiding out in a scarcely populated area, I wondered, would we now be part of that horde? 

"They'll bring in reinforcements, won't they?"

Mike shrugged.  "Maybe.  The trouble is that normal tactics of war don't work against creatures that just keep coming, no matter what.  It's like trying to fight a force of nature. "

I frowned.  "So?"

"So what happens when the powers-that-be realise that?"

"They'll try something else."

"That's what I'm worried about."

I shoved him, irritated.  "Enough vagueness,  Mike.  I guess I'm thick so just spell it out for me." 

He shook his head. "Nah.  Forget it.  Too many years of army bureaucracy and paranoia speaking."

"Oh, no, you don't!" I glared at him.  "Spit it out."

Mike shifted awkwardly on the fence.  "Seems to me that it is going to occur to someone at some stage that the surest way to prevent this virus from getting out is to drop a nuke on us."

My mouth dropped.  "You think they might nuke us?!"

"Yeah," He replied soberly. "I do."

Well, shit.

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 32

When I walked into the living room, I saw all their eyes on me, questioning.  Unable to talk yet, I shook my head miserably. 

"Oh, the poor child." Emma whispered.  I saw compassion and sorrow in all their eyes.  Michele's golden brown eyes were shiny with tears.  She had lost two friends today, both, ultimately, at my hands.  Would that affect the way she saw me?  God, I hoped not.  I wanted to comfort her but I felt too numb and raw.  I knew that if I opened my mouth right now, I was likely to burst into tears.

Always good at picking up my emotions, Kaye stood up.  "Come into the kitchen, Lori, and help me make some more coffee."  Silently, I followed her into the kitchen.

"Do you want to talk?" Kaye sent me a sympathetic sideways glance as she put coffee into the percolator. "You look like you've been hit by a sledgehammer.  More than normal, that is."

I snorted, feeling some of the tightness in my throat releasing.  "That good, eh?"

"It must have been hard in there." Kaye offered tentatively, not wanting to push me.  I felt a wave of affection for her, mingled with sorrow that Skye would never have the chance to experience this bond. 

"She was just a kid, Kaye.  No kid should have to die alone like that. This whole mess just sucks."

Kaye reached over and touched my arm.  "She wasn't alone, Lori.  She had you and I just know that helped."

I met her eyes pleadingly.  I wanted so much to believe that I had reassured her in her last moments.  "How do you know?"

She smiled gently.  "Because I know you, Lori.  Kids gravitate to you, always have.  There is something about you that makes them trust and like you immediately. I'm sure that Skye felt that connection, too, and was comforted in the end."

Some of the knot in my chest started to unravel.  If she was just saying that to make me feel better, it was working.  "Thanks, Kaye.  I hope you are right."

"I know I am."  Tucking her dark, straight hair behind her ear, Kaye's manner became brisk. "Now help me get this coffee out there before the troops start a revolt."

Not really ready to face the others, I handed out the coffee and made an excuse to check on the toddlers in the playroom.  Alex gave me a big smile and then went back to playing cars.  Sarah lay on a beanbag looking wan.  "Hey baby." I cooed, swinging her up in my arms. "Looks like someone needs a nap."  She lay her head on my shoulder and wrapped a plump arm around my neck. I carried her to the kids' room, walking straight past the closed spare room door, and tucked her into bed.   Ignoring her half hearted protests, I sang her a lullaby until her eyes closed.  One nice thing about babies is their uncritical appreciation of singing.  That would change.

Walking into the living room, I immediately noticed the solemn looks on the others' faces. 

"What's going on?" I asked. 

Kaye beckoned me over.  "We've finally managed to contact other survivors!"

"That's great!" I responded hesitantly, confused by the serious mood.  "So why the long faces?"

Ken spoke up.  "They paint a pretty grim picture, unfortunately.  They're all surrounded by massive numbers of zombies.  The group in the dental clinic are reporting thousands of zombies in the streets."

"More worrying," Mike added grimly.  "is the failure of the army to contain the situation."

Frankly, seeing Mike look so serious was a bit unnerving.  I had come to rely on his unflappability, I realised.  "Who says they're failing?"

He grimaced. "I'm reading between the lines.  Three different groups reported seeing army units engaging the zombies and being overrun or forced into a retreat.  Add that to our own observations, and it does not spell success."

"Okay," I said slowly, feeling like I was missing something.  "But once they realise what they're up against, they'll change their tactics.  Surely, it's just a matter of time before the army gets this under control.  We just have to hang on until then."

Mike hesitated and then nodded.   There was something he was not saying, I could feel it.

Just then, the CB crackled to life.  "Hello, is anyone there?"

Mike grabbed the microphone.  "Yes, mate. This is Mike Bridges.  Who am I speaking to, over?"

"Happy to hear a friendly voice, Mike!  I'm Travis."

"G'day Travis, where are you hailing from, over?"

"Smithfield, mate. We're stuck in a warehouse."  The voice crackled.  I met Kaye's eyes.  That was only about fifteen minutes from here, halfway to the beaches.

"How many are there with you, Travis, over?" Mike was asking.

"Thirty.  There were more but some died last night."

Mike's green eyes sharpened with concern. "Bitten?"

"Yeah. One was infected and before we understood how it worked, she'd attacked a few others. We got it under control, though. Over."

"Glad to hear it.  Can you tell us what the situation is there, over? "

"The whole area is overrun with those creatures. I think we might be the only ones still alive. We were lucky.  A girl came running in yesterday, screaming about some kind of riot outside.  She had blood all over her, so I made the decision to lower the security screens.  Only got them down just in time.  Those creatures just swarmed in, attacking everyone in the other shops!  Man, it still seems unbelievable.  Those poor folks were slaughtered, torn apart before our eyes.  And those creatures...they were dead, man! Over."

We looked at each other solemnly.  I wondered what percentage of the hundred and sixty odd thousand who lived in Cairns was still alive.  Thousands? Or just a handful?  "What about the army?" I interrupted. 

The man snorted in derision at the question.  "Oh yeah, saw them in action last night.  There was a hell of a firefight right outside the centre, in fact.  Let me tell you, the army got their asses handed back to them!  Now we've got what seems like half the army banging on our security screens.  I'll  tell you straight up, man, I'm worried.  I'm not sure how much pressure these screens are designed to withstand."

My heart went out to him and his group.  As bad as our situation seemed, it was clearly a lot worse elsewhere.  After arranging to talk again tomorrow at the same time, Mike signed off.  Looking around the group, he stated firmly, "I don't think we can rely on the army to save our butts.  I want to see for myself what is going on in this city.  Are there any spots nearby where I can do that?"

There was silence in the room as we pondered the question.   "What about the dam lookout ?" Lucas suggested, a bit tentatively.  "It's a bit of a hike but we'd have pretty good views of the city from there."

"You're right, Lucas!" Michele jumped in enthusiastically.  Her eyes were shiny with admiration, causing him to blush a bit.  I grinned inside but was careful to keep a poker face.  I knew my daughter would never forgive me if I embarrassed her in front of a boy. 

"But what about the zombies?" Emma asked, still looking worried. 

Kaye shook her head.  "There is only rainforest between us and the dam.  I guess some tourists at the park could have been turned, though."

"It seems a reasonable risk." Mike said bluntly. "We need solid information in order to make plans.  Otherwise we're just sitting ducks."   Several heads nodded in agreement, including mine.  "Has anyone made the hike before?"

Kaye and I held up our hands, grinning at each other over the memory.  "Oh yeah." I said. "It nearly killed us but we got there in the end!  If you're keen, I guess you could do it in an hour.  The walking track starts about ten minutes up the road."  I hesitated briefly before jumping in.  "I'll show you the way."  From the corner of my eye, I saw my teenage daughter giving me an unhappy look.  I'll talk to her later, I promised myself.  Nodding, Mike started to speak but was interrupted by a sound that had already become unfamiliar - an engine.

Exchanging surprised glances, we rushed to the balcony.  Roaring up the street towards us on his trailbike was the teen boy from down the road.  Somehow he had made it past the zombies around his house and seemed intent on making a break for it.  Heart starting to beat fast, I tried to calculate his chances.  Already the zombies in front of our house were spilling onto the road in the excitement of seeing their first human today.  With a sinking heart, I realised that the boy wasn't going to make it.  By the time he reached the crest of the hill, the road would be blocked with zombies.  With drains and long grass on each side, I didn't think his trail bike would be enough to evade the zombies.

"He's not going to make it." Michele echoed my thoughts despairingly.

"Yes he will." Mike said quietly, walking up to the balcony with his rifle.

Taking careful aim, he started taking out zombies like ducks at a target shooting stall at the fair.  There was no way he could take them all down but I realised, with admiration, that wasn't his intention.  He was creating the smallest of breathing spaces at the edge of the crowd which maybe, just maybe, would allow the boy to slip by.  Would the kid even see it?  I wondered breathlessly as I watched him skidding past the first of the zombies at the top of the hill. 

A zombie fell to the road with a neat bullet hole in her head.  Another fell off the road into the ditch.  Look, I urged the boy silently, go left, go left. You can make it.  To my delight, he spotted the opening, and opening up his throttle, skirted past the zombie horde by riding the very edge of the ditch.  "Yes!" I squealed and clapped like a child as the boy disappeared down the street and over the bridge.  Ignoring the zombies beneath us, we cheered and laughed.  Mike slung his rifle over his shoulder with a smug smile on his face that said 'told you so'.  I didn't care.  He'd earned the right.

As the others returned inside, I lingered behind for a few minutes, staring after the boy.  I couldn't help wondering how the boy would survive out there by himself?  Beneath the balcony, the moaning of the frustrated zombies was relentless.  More stood on the lawn staring at me while the ones from the boy's home journeyed laboriously towards us.  We were definitely the only party in town now.

"He'll be fine." Mike came to stand beside me, resting an arm on the balcony.

"How can you be so sure?"  I asked.

He shrugged, turning to gaze over the silent, lush valley.  "I can't, but I choose to believe it."

He was silent for a long moment.  "I've lived long enough to have seen that, for every act of cruelty or unbearable unfairness, there are moments that are nothing short of miraculous.  I think it's about time the good guys scored one, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." I gazed at him, taking in the hardened exterior in which, it seemed, beat the heart of a true romantic.   He saw me staring at him and crooked his brow.

"What?

I shook my head.  "Nothing, really. Just... that was the most talking you've done since I met you."

"What can I say, I'm deep."

Snorting, I moved back.  "Yeah, well. I think I understand now how a guy like you ends up with a dog like Lizzie."

"Oh really." He drawled, eyes narrowing.  "And how's that?"

I grinned cheekily and walked away with answering.  Somehow I didn't think he would appreciate my observation that he was just a big ball of marshmallow on the inside.

An hour later, backpacks loaded with snacks, binoculars, weapons and a walkie talkie, Mike and I prepared to sneak out the back door.  I felt a hand on my sleeve.  It was Michele, looking somber. 

"Honey?" I queried.

"Do you have to be the one to go, mum?"  A pang went through me at the anxiety in her eyes.  "Haven't you done enough?"

I touched her face, warmed by her uncustomary concern for me.  " You know me, Michele, I'm a control freak.  I've never been good at delegating stuff."  I grasped her hands as I tried to reassure her.  "I can't just sit back, honey, not as long as my family and friends are at risk.  And until we get out of this town or the authorities take back control, then none of us are safe.  It's just something I have to do.  Can you understand that?"

"I guess so."  She nodded, still looking unhappy.  "I've never seen you like this before.  It's freaking me out a bit."

"Like what?"

"Like...taking charge, taking risks and stuff.  It's like finding my mum is Xena."  She said with some disgust. 

I threw my head back and laughed.  "Don't worry, honey.  When this is over, I'll go back to being just bossy mum."

Michele's eyes crinkled.  "I hope so.  I don't think I could handle a bossy mum who can kick my ass!"

"Hey! Watch the vulgarity, missy."

Tales of the Dead Tropics - chapter 31

Inside, Skye lay on the sofa, wan.  I quickly pulled over the box of medical supplies we had pulled out of the ambulance.  I set up an intravenous fluids line and put an oxygen mask over her face.  An anxious time followed as I watched her closely for signs of response.  To my relief, colour started to return to her cheeks and her eyes became alert once again. I was grateful as the next step was giving her a blood transfusion.  And that would mean setting up an iv line between    her and someone here with an O blood type.  I knew in theory how to do a field blood transfusion but I wasn't keen on trying it if I could avoid it.

Once I was confident that Skye was out of immediate danger, I had her moved to the spare room.  In truth, I wanted her to be comfortable but I also wanted to put some measures in place to protect my family in case she turned. 

There was a knock on the door.  Michele stood in the doorway, smiling shyly.  "Can I come in?"

Skye turned her head and smiled back.  "Sure."  She looked so young at that moment, more child than woman.

Michele came and sat next to her.  I decided to leave them to talk for a while; Skye didn't present an immediate danger.

In the living room, the adults were gathered around the CB again, trying to raise someone.   On the dinner table, Kaye had provided the babies with playdough and utensils.  Jessie was trying to show them how to make some animal figures but, frankly, they weren't remotely interested. Sarah was gamely trying to roll a piece of dough one-handed. I walked over and stroked her fair curls.  "Let me do that for you."  She smiled a toothy smile at me and handed over the dough.  For the next half an hour, I played with the kids, rolling and flattening dough, shaping moustaches, hair and funny noses on request.  For a moment, it felt like a normal day in the Nelson household.

Michele poked her head around the corner. "Um, Mum?"  My spidey sense immediately flared up and I was off the chair and in the bedroom within a minute.  Skye was flushed and sweating profusely.  She looked up at me with scared eyes.  "I don't feel good."  Sitting down beside her, I took her hand and smiled reassuringly into her eyes.  As I felt Michele coming up behind me, I firmly told her to leave.  She didn't argue, for once.

Skye coughed.  "My head hurts so bad."  She whimpered.  My stomach plummetted as I felt her feverish forehead.  I had hoped so much that she would escape the virus.  If life was remotely fair, she would have escaped it.   At my age, I should have learned by now that, in real life, the good guys don't always win.  Even so, my heart screamed over and over in anger and frustration, not fair, she's just a child! 

I patted her hand calmly, trying to look confident and in control.  "I'll get you some medication.  You'll feel better in no time." 

As I started to get up, she clutched my hand.  "Please don't leave me!"  Frightened and vulnerable, she clung to me like I was a lifeline.

"Okay, okay." I soothed, sitting back down.  "I won't go anywhere unless you say so."  I stroked her forehead.  God, she was so hot.  I reached across to the side table and picked up a glass of water.  With my other arm propping her shoulders up, I urged Skye to drink.  She obediently drank a few mouthfuls, her eyes on me all the time.  As I lowered her head back down, she rolled over to lay her head in my lap instead, curling into a fetal position.

Hesitantly, I stroked her hair as she stared into space, her hands clutching my clothes.  For long minutes, she said nothing as I ran my fingers through her long curls.

"I'm going to become one of them, aren't I?" She finally asked in a small voice.

I closed my eyes and, for a moment, wished with all my heart that I was anywhere but here.  "It's hard to say, Skye.  You might just have an infection."

"No." She said flatly.  "Mummy was like this last night - and she became one of them."  She rolled over to look up at me.  I saw the fear on her young face, the memory of what her mother had become.  "That's what's happening to me, isn't it, Lori?  I can feel it."

I looked away, fighting the tears that sprang to my eyes.  I could feel her desperate need for me to be honest with her.  "Yes, I think so.  I'm so sorry, Skye."

"It's okay." She whispered.  "I'm don't want to be here without my family anyway."  I didn't comment, not wanting to confirm what she seemed to suspect about her sister's fate.  Instead, I resumed stroking her hair.  I wished I knew how to make this easier for her.  How do you help a fourteen year old face death without even her mother here to comfort her?  All I could do was be here and hope that the presence of a mother, someone's loving mother, was enough.  I tried to project my love to her, through the gentle touch of my hands, the warmth of my body, the soft sound of my voice as I hummed soothingly.

A few minutes later, she spoke again. Her voice seemed to be weakening.  "I wonder what really happens when you die?  Mum believed in heaven but I'm not sure what I believe.  Do you think it's  real?"

Wow.  Good question, kid.  How the hell does one answer that honestly in the face of death?  "Maybe.  There is so much about the universe we don't know.  I like to think death is just a stage of life, like the chrysalis is for butterflies. And heaven is our name for the next stage of our existence." I took a deep breath as I saw the scepticism in her face and rushed on.  "Or else death is the longest sleep we will ever take.  Either way, there really isn't anything to be scared of, is there?  I don't know about you, but I always enjoyed a good sleep!"

Skye smiled a little.  "Yeah, me too.  Mum always said I was sleeping my life away."  Sadness fell across her face at the memory.  "I hope heaven is real.  Then I can see her again."

"I hope so too." I whispered.  Impulsively, I leaned down and kissed her hot forehead.  She closed her eyes at the touch.

"I don't think I can hold on much longer, Lori."  Her childish voice cut through me like a knife.  Her eyes opened suddenly.  "You won't let me become one of them, will you, Lori?"

I shook my head, tears blinding my eyes.  "No, Skye.  I won't let that happen."

She closed her eyes again, so trusting.  I don't know how long I sat there with her head in my lap, stroking her hair as her breathing gradually slowed, and, finally, stopped. 

I kept my promise.  She didn't become one of them.