Should Have Killed The Kid (20 page)

‘Oh shit.’ The soldier grimaced for a second and then turned the key.

Nothing.

There was the briefest whir but it didn't come close to turning over. A second attempt didn't even garner that much success and the soldier slammed the steering wheel with the flat of her palm.

‘What?’ Dave tried to not let his panic show but it rippled through in his voice anyway. ‘What?’ he repeated, but the soldier ignored him, muttering under her breath while she bobbed and weaved trying to see through the windows.

‘What!’ By the third time, he was nearly shouting.

‘Dead battery,’ the soldier hissed, still looking around.

‘Wha– Why?’

‘Doesn’t matter. Get out of the car.’

‘What? But–'

‘Get out of the car, we’re taking that one.’ The soldier pointed to an old beat up Torana that had belonged to the guy two flats down. Prior to the apocalypse it had caused quite the stir with the body corporate by taking up residence on the street out front while the man’s other pride and joy – a slightly less beat up Torana – had filled his parking space. Apart from that the vehicle was unremarkable and Dave gaped at the rusty brown bomb unable to comprehend.

‘Why woul–‘ he started to protest but the soldier, already halfway out of the rental, cut him off.

‘It’s a manual. We can push start it.’

'Why–'

‘Because this car is an auto. And that one’s on a hill you–.’ The door slammed and cut off whatever name the soldier had called him

A second slam let him know the kid had got the message and Dave had no option but to follow suit, scrambling free, his heart thundering once more.

It hammered double time as he set off for the other car and spotted the shadows across the street, slung like black cobwebs beneath the awning of the balcony lining the opposite apartment block.

They’ve always been there,
he told himself but still he whimpered. With each jolting step he took, he imagined more movement within the depths of the blackness.

Are they getting bigger?

Are they getting closer?

Is that movement?

He didn't dare risk stopping long enough to take a proper look. He hit the passenger door of the car and fumbled with the handle before it dawned on him that the door was locked.

'How are we–' he spun desperately looking for the soldier. He was just in time to see her kicking at the corner of the stone retaining wall that fronted the property next door. Two sharp knocks and a large chunk tumbled free and the soldier scooped it up. Dave ducked to one side as she hurled it into the rear window but, contrary to what he expected, the window didn’t shatter into a thousand exploding pieces. Instead it spiderwebbed into a patchy white mess with a large dent in the middle. The rock ricocheted, almost collecting the soldier as she stormed forward. Before he could blink, Sally slammed a foot into the mess that had been made of the glass and it caved inward, breaking apart all over the rear seat.

She reached inside and unlocked first the rear door, then the front. After nearly hurling the kid into the back – completely unconcerned with the shattered glass all over the seat – she slammed the door then opened the passenger one and scrambled inside before Dave could even think to move.

She was midway through worming her way over to the driver’s seat when Dave tried to follow. She pushed her boots into his chest and forced him back out.

‘No, not you,’ she hissed, finally sounding at least a little out of breath.

Dave's panic tripled.
Is she going to leave me?

‘You need to push,’ she hissed and Dave nearly passed out with relief.

He slammed his head into the door arch in his haste to get back out, hitting with enough force to taste blood in his mouth.

‘Fuck!’ he roared but fought through it and quickly gripped the door, putting his shoulder to the pillar while the soldier scrabbled beneath the dashboard. First yanking down wires then tearing away at them.

Dave barely focused on her though. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep his eyes off the apartment block across the street. He kept trying to tell himself the shadows had not shifted or multiplied. Though a little voice wouldn’t stop screaming at the back of his brain, telling him their numbers had swelled each time he looked.

The one roaring that they were massing, ready for the final charge.

‘Hey, you ready?’ Sally called and Dave awkwardly canted across to see her dump some multicoloured wires down, twiddle with a couple of knobs on the dashboard then wrestle the gear stick into neutral while her foot pumped away at the clutch peddle. ‘Are you ready? David?’ She wrestled the stick back up into first and then gripped the handbrake.

‘Yes,’ David gasped as she dropped the brake and the car slowly started to roll forward.

‘Then push!’ she cried and David obeyed.

At first he thought he lacked the energy. If there hadn’t been an incline it would have been impossible. But as it was, gravity did most of the muscle work.

It still hurt though.

Hurt a lot.

But at least that took his mind off the shadows. All he could focus on was putting one foot in front of the other while he slowly built up to a slow jog. His legs and back screamed in pain. By the time he made it ten paces his body felt like jelly and he shuddered on the verge of collapse.

He groaned and looked across at the soldier, gasping, trying to find the breath for words. Sally wasn't even looking his way though. Instead she pumped the pedals and peered over the steering wheel at...

What's she frowning at?

Dave stumbled as he tried to see and decided it'd be best to focus on the task at hand. He yelled, dug deep and picked up the speed again, trying his best not to picture that they were heading straight into a swarm of shadows.

Just focusing on momentum, moving forward until...

Dave started and almost tripped as the engine roared to life, sputtered, and died.

'FASTER!' Sally yelled from inside and Dave gritted his teeth.

Easy for you to... ARRRGGGGHHHH!!

Dave gave it everything he had until a strange popping raced up and down his legs and his hamstrings felt on the verge of snapping. Ocean roar filled his ears and Dave was about to give it all away. Just let go and collapse to the ground to await the shadows or whatever other fate awaited him. Then the engine roared, stalled briefly causing the pillar to knock the wind out of Dave when the car briefly halted... then roared to life again as Sally continued to pump the accelerator and Dave struggled not to double over and vomit.

'GET IN!' the soldier roared as she gunned the engine a few times and Dave winced at the tinny, rattling noise the car made.

He collapsed into the car and it took all his strength to yank the door closed after him.

The respite was only brief. He lay back gasping and his eyes dipped closed for a second but abruptly sprang back open as Sally forced the car into a screeching u-turn and he was slammed into the door.

'What the...' Dave's protest died on his lips. The glimpse he caught of what the soldier had swerved to avoid silenced him instantly.

Not more that twenty metre away, down the end of Sussex Street where it intersected with Bent, lay a sight that took Dave's breath away. Black and glinting in the early morning air, a large ink stain of shadow tattooed nearly the entire intersection.

Dave couldn't take his eyes off it. He shifted around, his gaze locked on, certain it'd come hurtling after them at any second. Even once they'd completed the u-turn and Sally sent them careening down the street, Dave looked away. He swivelled in his seat to stare out the rear window, past where the kid lay amid the shattered glass with his hands over his head.

It kind of hit him in stages how close he'd come to being minced and the longer he stared, the shorter his breath got and the more he felt like bursting into tears.

'Which way?' Sally's voice intruded, forcing back the feeling.

'Sorry.'

'Which way are we going?'

'What?' Dave couldn't drag his eyes away even though the shadow didn't appear to be following. The absurd idea had taken hold that it would be the moment he looked away that it'd choose to pounce.

'WHICH WAY ARE WE FUCKING GOING!!?'

Dave started at the sheer volume Sally used.

He looked across and saw her glaring as she steered down the street one armed.

'Back to the freeway...' he mumbled and his eyes returned to catch a final glimpse of the shadow before Sally screeched around the corner and it disappeared from view.

He felt his blood turning cold as he caught a quick final glint and something gripped at his heart, squeezing it until he felt all lightheaded and dizzy.

Then abruptly the kid started screaming. Pure, panicked screeches as though he'd been stabbed. The shock of the sudden noise snapped Dave out of his strange reverie.

He stared into the backseat dumbfounded while the soldier drove on muttering over and over, 'Shit, shit, shit, shit. shit...'

18.

The screaming only lasted a couple of minutes but it threw everything off kilter. Dave spent the time staring in open mouthed shock at the sheer noise the boy was making.

Even as they turned onto the freeway and the soldier gunned the engine – probably more than she should while driving one handed – Dave stared back, wary that the hunched figure lying face down in the shattered glass would explode again. He had no idea what to do if he did. After so much silence and zombie like behaviour from the kid, he'd been completely caught off guard by the outburst.

Dave swallowed and watched the kid's shoulders hitch and shudder. He wondered if maybe he should be saying something. Although he couldn't hear sobs over the roar of wind through the broken window he was pretty sure that the kid was crying. He only managed to lick at his dried lips.

What would I say anyway?

He really had no words to deal with the situation. It was easier to pretend the kid's shudders were getting less violent and turn and face the soldier instead. Her scowls left him just as tongue tied though so in the end Dave settled for the window as they rocketed down the expanse of the four-lane freeway.

It was surprisingly deserted and the soldier gunned the old rust bucket for all it was worth, pushing them up to a shuddering one-twenty while they streamed passed the occasional abandoned car pushed to the shoulder by the army during the evacuation. Otherwise there was nothing to distract from the dismal and depressing view that surrounded them.

Smoke billowed and eddied across the sky and the quick peeks Dave caught between the sound dampening barriers just showed complete and utter destruction. Nothing but snippets of rubble and scorched, still-burning earth.

Silence reigned as Melbourne's outskirts whipped by. It briefly lifted when Dave nervously muttered the first turn they needed to make on the road to Hent. But quickly slammed back down when the soldier only nodded in response. She followed his instructions though, effortlessly crossing the four lanes that in their past lives had used to clog so badly with traffic and turned onto the Tullamarine highway that wound its way out past the airport.

More destruction awaited there. The large shopping strips that lined the road lay in flaming ruins and Sally was finally forced to slow down to weave around the rubble from a fallen pedestrian overpass. Everything around them seemed to hammer home the end so strongly that it made it bitterly amusing when they passed a row of surviving billboards that, although scorched, still stood proud.

WANT TO LAST LONGER?,
the
three boards queried as they headed past the shattered remains of the mammoth Sexy Land. Dave had never had the guts to visit it even though he'd frequently passed on his way to Naomi's flat in Airport West when they'd first started dating.

He read it over and stifled a short giggle. He thought about pointing it out to Sally in an attempt to break the tension but decided against it, uncertain as to whether or not she'd see the funny side.

Not that his humour lasted much longer.

Just ten minutes later when they reached the airport it had vanished completely.

The soldier muttered, ‘Fuck,’ under her breath and slowed as they passed the road leading into the massive complex.

‘Fuck,’ Dave echoed, his jaw dropping open.

A hastily erected barricade still half-blocked the road. Burnt out husks of trucks, cars and aircraft support vehicles threaded through with glinting razor wire that clearly had little success in halting the shadows. Dave could tell that easily enough. It wasn’t the barricade that had caused Sally to slow. It was what lay behind it. Stretching away down the tarmac, leading a path to the unscathed signs that indicated parking, international and domestic departures – all of which, judging by the mammoth smoke plume, now lay in ruins beyond.

Dave felt his stomach somersault. The scent of decay tugged at his nostrils and even though he figured most of it had to be his imagination running wild – triggered by the sight before him – bile still crept into his throat.