The Lost Journal Part 2 (A Secret Apocalypse Story) (12 page)

What were
they chasing? Who were they chasing?

Over the
past couple of days, the horde, the swarm of infected has been growing exponentially,
down in the streets, right outside this building.

Why were
they coming back into the city?

Are there
other survivors down there?

I don’t want
to think about it but I can’t help it. My mind automatically shows me the worst
case scenario. I imagine a person, a normal, everyday person. A girl, maybe. Or
an old woman. They are stuck in their apartment. They haven’t been outside.
They can’t see what’s going on but they can hear it. And they know.

They know
they are helpless.

Alone.

Trapped.

I wouldn’t
wish that on my worst enemy.

This virus
is a nightmare.

It’s weird
though, they way they swarm in large groups. It’s almost like it’s a survival
mechanism of the virus or something. Safety in numbers.

I don’t
know.

Anyway,
because of their tendency to hang out in large groups, the streets were sometimes
full of infected people and sometimes they were empty. When the streets are
full it looks like a riot, or a protest march or even the start line of a big
charity fun run. But once they all clear out, and eventually they do, the
streets become deserted, like the whole city has been evacuated and abandoned.

I guess
that’s the reason Jack survived when he ran through the city. He’s gotta be one
of the luckiest guys in the world right now. I mean, if he had taken a wrong
turn he would’ve been surrounded and overwhelmed. He would’ve died. Or he
would’ve led the infected right to us.

I shivered
at the thought.

I watched
the rest of the horde sprint around the corner to the next main intersection.
They kept on going. Full steam ahead. ‘Single minded aggressiveness’ as Doctor
West described their behavior.

It certainly
was.

The streets
below continued to be emptied. A minute later it was deserted.

I guess it
would be possible for someone to be alive down there.

Possible.

But not
probable.

I exhaled on
to the window, breathing on the cool glass so my breath fogged it up, obscuring
my view of the outside world.

Even though
we were high up in our tower, our castle in the clouds, we wouldn’t be safe for
much longer. Not here. Not in the city. There were just too damn many of them.

And Maria.
She was important. We had to get word out that she was alive and resistant to
the virus. We had a responsibility, a duty to the rest of the world to do this.

Feb 20th - The choices we make

The city had been relatively quiet over the past couple of days. No gunfire. No
explosions. I figured the military had completely fallen back. I figured the
soldiers who had been left behind in the city were now dead.

We decided
to have a meeting and plan our next move. We were sitting around a table that
had been set for four people. A family maybe. Or a double date. The table was
right next to one of the floor to ceiling windows. We looked out over the city
as we discussed our fate.

"The
military have bugged out," I said.

Maria
furrowed her brow. "Huh? Bugged?"

"They’ve
retreated back to the coast," I added. "Or the airport. The small force they
left behind to occupy the infected are gone. They’re most likely dead."

"How do you
know that?" Maria asked. "You don’t. You can’t."

Maria was in
denial. She knew being alone in this city was not a good thing.

"Trust me,"
I said trying not to scare her. "They did the same thing in Woomera. I was
there. I experienced it."

"So what
happens now?" Jack said. "What happened in Woomera? How exactly did you get
away?"

"I got
lucky. I ran."

"What the
hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I was in
deep. I was smack bang in the middle of an outbreak. Command had called in an
airstrike to contain the infection. We were able to get out of the danger zone
just in time."

"Wait a
minute," Maria said. "So you’re saying, after the military falls back, they
call in an airstrike?"

"That’s what
they did in Woomera," I answered.

"And then
they nuked the joint?"

I nodded.

"So you’re
saying they could be gearing up to do the exact same thing right now?"

"Maybe."

"We have to
get out of here," Jack said.

Maria wasn’t
so sure. "There’s no point if they’re just going to drop a nuclear bomb. We’ll
never get far enough away."

"Yeah, Maria
is right," I said. "But there’s a good chance they won’t call in a nuclear
strike."

"Why the
hell wouldn’t they?" Jack asked. "This place is crawling with infected."

"They might
not call in the big guns because they’ve already lost control. Airstrikes and
nuclear weapons won’t stop the virus now. It’s beyond the point of no return."

"We can’t
take that risk," Jack said. "I mean, I don’t want to say it but the military
were keeping the infected occupied. And now that they’re gone or dead or
whatever, there’s nothing to keep the infected occupied. This means, there’s
more chance that they’ll find us."

"Yeah," I
said. "Exactly."

"So we’re on
our own now?"

"Well,
realistically, we were always on our own," Maria said calmly. "We survived
against all odds. No thanks to the military or anyone else. We survived. And
now in order to stay alive we need to plan ahead. We need to be smart. It’s the
only way."

Maria
continued to surprise me. "I couldn’t have said it better."

"OK," Jack
said. "What’s our plan? What’s our next move? We can’t stay up here forever."

"I know you
both don’t want to hear this, but we need to contact the military," I said. "We
need to let them know that Maria is still alive. We need to make sure they know
she is one hundred percent immune to the Oz virus. Maria is special. She is valuable.
If we can get the word out, if we can let the military know our position, they
will send help."

"We’re gonna
need radios or walkie-talkies or something," Jack said. "Good ones. Long
range."

"We can
start looking downstairs in the shopping complex," Maria suggested. "There
might be an electronics store or something."

"And I think
we should plan an escape route as well," I added. "Just in case this place
becomes compromised like the casino did."

"We’ll need
a getaway car," Jack said. "There’s got to be an underground parking lot around
here somewhere. I’m sure of it."

Maria
suggested finding a car with strong bull bar for extra protection.

We all
looked out over the city. We didn’t want to leave our tower but we couldn’t
just sit here and do nothing.

"It’s safe
up here," Maria whispered. "We’re out of harm’s way. We can see everything. But
we have to go."

Feb 23rd - We should be dead

It feels weird writing that down but it’s the honest truth. We barely got out
of the city with our lives.

I’m exhausted,
my hands, fingers, arms, legs – every part of my body is shaking and trembling
with exhaustion. Jack and Maria are sleeping right now. But I figured I better
get this down before I fall asleep.

Just in
case.

Just in case
what?

Why can’t
this wait until morning?

Why is it so
important to get it all down right now?

I don’t know
the answers to those questions.

All I know
is, we’re lucky to be alive. And I’m gonna get these words down on to the page
just in case I don’t get another chance.

We made our
plans. We made them high up in the Sydney Tower, the castle in the clouds. We
knew we had to make a move. We had to do something. The city had fallen quiet. And
this was bad. It meant the last of the remaining soldiers were dead. It meant
that more and more infected were walking back into the city.

So we had to
act.

We were
doing the right thing. We needed an exit strategy and we needed to contact the
military. Simple. So we made our plans. And we were careful.

But we could
not have planned for what happened. No one could have.

We left the
safety of the tower and climbed down the ninety-four flights of stairs to the
shopping complex. We were looking for supplies and most importantly a reliable,
long range walkie-talkie. Walking through the shopping complex was still a
shock, even though we had been down there already. I couldn’t get over how empty
it was. It was like a shell, or a husk or something. It felt so lonely and
quiet.

Jack suggested
we try the security room of the shopping complex.

It was there
we found a couple of walkie-talkies.

The problem
was these radios were probably no better than the ones we had found previously
in the casino. They would most likely only have a short range and be designed
to be used within the shopping complex. But they would have to do. At the end
of the day they were better than nothing.

We were just
about to test them out to see if they worked when suddenly the windows began to
vibrate and shudder. I think we were on the third floor. Jack had moved out
into the hallway, over to the window to see what was going on. He was looking
down at the streets below. Maria and I moved to the window as well. The noise
was getting louder, the vibrations were getting stronger but we still couldn’t
see anything.

"What the
hell is that noise?" Maria asked.

I told her
to back away from the window. I grabbed Jack by the shoulders and pulled him
down so we were hidden below the window sill.

"What is
it?" Jack asked.

"Choppers,"
I whispered.

Slowly and
methodically two Apache gunships hovered into the streets, about two floors up
from where we were.

"Do you
think they’re looking for survivors?" Jack said. "Maybe it’s a rescue squad for
Maria?"

"How would
they know we’re even here?" Maria asked.

"I don’t
think it’s a rescue," I said.

"Well, what
the hell are they doing? And where did they come from?"

"Maybe the
airport?" I said. "It’s probably their base of operations."

"So what the
hell are they doing?"

"I don’t
know? Reconnaissance? Maybe they really are looking for survivors."

"Well,
whatever they’re doing, I wish they’d do it somewhere else," Maria said. "They’re
making too much noise."

Maria was
right. The rotor blades were the loudest thing in the world at that point in
time. And the noise was echoing off the buildings. The deep thumping noise was
being amplified.

"We should
go," I said.

"Wait!" Jack
said. "Look. It’s another chopper."

Another
chopper came in. A Blackhawk. With troops. A small team. Probably Special
Forces, I thought. They abseiled down from the chopper, into the middle of the
street. For a second, I thought maybe they really were here for us. But then
they started moving along the street, in the complete opposite direction.

I haven’t
been able to stop thinking about these guys. I have no idea why they were
inserted into the middle of the city. What was their objective? What was the
point? From where I was watching it looked like a suicide mission. And
unfortunately for these brave men, that’s what it turned out to be. I’m
guessing the noise of the rotor blades is what initially attracted such a large
number of the infected into the area. Then again, maybe they were already
there. Hiding. Waiting.

Within a
minute of the soldiers being on the ground they were forced to open fire on
multiple targets. The Apaches above provided covering fire but it wasn’t
enough. Another group of infected charged the soldiers. The soldiers were being
swarmed. Their position was being overrun.

This is why
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them. They were only on the streets
for a few minutes. There was nothing they could do.

The soldiers
disappeared into a building across the street. I have no idea what became of
them. But I’m guessing they didn’t last long. Once the soldiers had disappeared,
the Apache gunships retreated out of the area. They left as quickly as they had
arrived. They flew vertically up and out of the city.

"The choppers
are leaving?" Maria asked. "They’re just leaving? But there’s more infected
down there."

She was
right. The infected now filled the streets. And we could hear them. It sounded
like they were all around us. Those Apache’s needed to clear out the horde.
They needed to unleash their missiles.