The Lost Journal Part 2 (A Secret Apocalypse Story) (6 page)

I stared at
him. "There’s no way you could’ve known if it was safe."

"I had to
know that Maria was all right," he continued. "Maybe I wasn’t thinking
straight. But I couldn't help it. I couldn't stand by and do nothing."

I shook my
head. I think I understood his reasons. "They almost had her out," I said. "They
were so close. But the chopper, the pilot lost control. It's a miracle she's
alive. If the military come back, we have to hand her over. Do you understand?

"What? No
way! They tried to kill us. They’re destroying the city. They're killing
innocent people. That's why you left right? You didn't want to be a part of it?"

"I… I left
because…"

"Yeah. And
now you want to hand Maria over to the military? Are you crazy?"

"Maria is
too important. She’s too valuable. The military, the soldiers, the men in
black, they are enforcing the containment protocol because that's their orders.
That's the only way to stop the spread of infection."

"There's
gotta be a better way."

"There is,"
I answered. "Maria. That's why we hand her over to the military when and if
they come back. With Maria, they can manufacture an anti-virus. They can put a
stop to all of this."

"What if
they don’t come back?"

"Then we
have to contact the military. We have to let them know that Maria is still
alive."

"You do
realize that if they come back for Maria then they’ll probably just kill us."

I nodded.
"Yeah. I do."

Jack didn't
like the idea at all. He didn't trust the military one bit. And I can’t blame
him. Not after the massacre at the bridge and everything else that had
happened. But he reluctantly agreed. He knew Maria was important. He knew she
should’ve died when she was bitten.

After all,
everyone dies.

Everyone
turns.

Maria
didn't.

She was
different.

That's why
we needed to protect her at all costs. That’s why we had to hand her over to
the military when they came calling.

It was an
easy decision to make.

Unfortunately,
the military never came back.

Maybe they
didn't believe the fact that Maria was immune. Maybe they didn't want to risk
any more Special Forces soldiers on a rumor. Maybe they couldn't spare the men.
There were a million possibilities.

The only
certainty; it was up to me and Jack. We had to protect Maria at all costs.

We were on
our own.

Going deeper into the city. Risking
everything.

We continued to wait it out in the harbor cruise
boat. Eventually, the shelling and the gunfire ceased. The city fell quiet. The
silence was even more unnerving and terrifying then the constant gunfire.

It could
only mean one thing. All the soldiers were dead.

No, I
thought. They would’ve put up more of a fight. Maybe they’ve completely fallen
back. Maybe they got out.

Then again
maybe they were hiding. Keeping quiet, same as we were doing.

I could
imagine what must be going through their minds at this point in time.

I could
imagine it all too easily.

"Where’s our
goddamn aerial support?"

"Why is
Command not responding? Is the radio broken?"

Confusion at
first.

Then fear.

And panic.

And then the
cold realization that they had been left behind.

A diversion.
Collateral damage.

A sacrifice.

I took a
deep, deep breath as I remembered being in that exact situation not too long
ago. Less than a week ago, I thought. Again, I’m ashamed to admit it, but
whoever was left, a squad of soldiers, maybe more, they were keeping the
infected occupied. This made our lives a whole lot easier. Probably saved our
lives.

"So what now?"
Jack asked. "We can’t stay here forever."

He was
right. We were so exposed. Even though this section of the harbor seemed to be
deserted for the moment, we knew it wouldn’t stay that way.

The infected
would come through here. It was only a matter of time. The reality of the
situation was that we were in deep trouble. We were surrounded and massively
outnumbered. We were exhausted and hungry and dehydrated.

We needed to
find shelter and then food and water. In order to do that we needed to head
deeper into the city. I woke Maria because she needed to be a part of the
planning process. Local knowledge is invaluable.

"We need to
make our way deeper into the city," I said. "We need to find a secure place to
rest and recover."

They both
nodded.

"Any
suggestions?" I asked. "You guys know the city. I’ve never been here before in
my life."

"I don’t
know," Jack said. "I mean, those things could be anywhere. And the soldiers.
They’ll shoot anything that moves."

"That’s why
we need to be careful," I said. "Keep our eyes open. And our ears. But we’re
gonna have to make a move before it gets dark. It’s no good moving around when
we can’t see."

"Yeah, I
don’t want to be on the streets at night," Maria said. "Good point."

"We need to
find a suitable hiding place," I continued. "Secure it. Try and contact the
military or someone. Explain that Maria is immune and needs to be rescued."

Again Jack
did not like the sound of that idea at all. "But they’ll kill us all. They’ll
shoot us on sight and they’ll harvest her organs. It’s a no win situation. We
can’t do it."

"What the hell
else are we supposed to do? We need to get Maria out. She is all that matters."

"I know
that. But maybe we should at least wait until everything settles down."

"Take a look
around. This isn’t going to settle down."

"Guys,"
Maria said.

We stopped
arguing.

"We can talk
about this later. After we secure a hiding spot. We need to prioritize. First
things first. Staying alive. Then we can worry about getting rescued, all
right? We need to get to a building. A solid building. One that we can fortify.
And one that we can get the hell out of in a hurry if we need to. Like the
casino. But better."

She looked
at me then. "Kenji we know the city, we can point you in the right direction
but you have to lead us. If Jack or I take us into the city, we’ll more than
likely to lead everyone into a trap or a bunch of infected zombies or trigger
happy soldiers. You have to keep us alive. You have to lead us."

Maria
continued to surprise me. She had been through so much today. She had come
close to falling apart.

But she
didn’t.

She kept
herself together.

She had a strength,
an inner strength that I was envious of and amazed by and humbled by.

I loaded the
second rifle I had scavenged and handed it to Jack. "OK, you guys tell me where
to go. And I’ll lead us there. Do not fire your rifle unless absolutely
necessary," I said to Jack "Stealth is our biggest advantage right now. If I
had to take a guess, I’d say the infected are chasing the military as they fall
back to the coast and to the airport. This gives us a small window of opportunity.
If we hurry, if we go now, we should be able to make it."

I told them
to stay close. Stay behind me.

I told them
we had to be as quiet as possible because if anyone or anything was to see us
or hear us, it would be the end.

The Dead City

It was late afternoon when we made our way into the center of the city. Storm
clouds gathered in the west, slowly making their way towards us. A cold wind
blew in from the south, dropping the temperature by quite a few degrees in a
very short amount of time. The wind was funneled through the buildings, blowing
dust and paper through the streets.

The paper.

I’ve never
seen so much paper blowing in the wind before. It seemed to be raining down on
us.

When we left
the relative safety of our boat, we couldn’t hear any gunfire at all, certainly
no explosions. So we figured it was as safe as it was going to get. But as soon
as we left Darling Harbor, we could hear sporadic burst of gunfire start up
again. Fortunately for us the gunfire seemed to coming from a fair distance
away. Further east, towards the coast. And towards the south. Jack said that’s
where Sydney Airport was located. The military had probably set up a forward
operating base there, I thought.

We made our
way slowly through the city streets. And I couldn’t help but feel I was leading
Jack and Maria into an ambush. The sky scrapers of the inner city towered over
us. Imposing. Casting shadows. There were literally a million places for an
enemy, infected or otherwise to be hiding.

Buildings
were pockmarked with gunfire, shelling, and the blackened scorch marks of
explosives. The streets were completely torn up with huge bomb craters. Cars
were everywhere. They had been left behind by their owners in the middle of the
street and the middle of the intersections, even on the sidewalks. There were
all kinds of cars.

Family
sedans.

SUV’s.

Luxury cars.

Work trucks
and delivery vans.

Military
vehicles.

Humvees
covered in blood.

Even tanks
had been Left behind. They had possibly run out of fuel. Although some of them had
become trapped in between abandoned trucks, and cars and concrete rubble.

Blood
splattered the road and the sidewalk. We started seeing limbs. Legs, arms,
hands, fingers. No bodies though.

It was a
scene of complete madness. Total chaos.

Lucky for us
the city center seemed to be deserted at that point in time. And this street
was empty. But I had a feeling it wouldn’t be for long.

"This is
awful," Maria whispered. "I’d never thought I’d see Sydney in a state like
this. I am so glad we missed whatever happened here."

"Yeah, this
looks like a goddamn warzone," Jack said. "Where is everyone?"

"If the
military were falling back on foot, they’d head for the coast," I answered. "To
the beaches. Or maybe towards the airport. So I’m guessing the infected are
chasing them, following them out there. But they’ll be back."

"Who will be
back?" Maria asked.

"The
infected."

"How do you
know that?"

"Remember
what Doctor West said. The Oz virus is designed to find life. They’ll be back,
and they’ll be looking for us."

Maria seemed
to tense up when I mentioned Doctor West. "Guys," she said. "It’s getting late.
We need to get off the streets before dark."

Storm clouds
continued to build and move over the city. Jack told me this was a typical
Australian summer storm. The storm would usually build up during the hot and
humid day. And then by late afternoon you’d have a violent lighting storm. Strong
winds. Even hail. But it would be over pretty quickly.

Lightning
cracked overhead. Thunder echoed throughout the dead city.

"Where
should we go?" Jack asked.

"Preferably
a taller building," I said. "We want to be high of the ground floor. High above
the streets."

"Down
there," Jack pointed. "The Center Point shopping complex. There’s about four
buildings connected. If we can get to them and get inside, we’d be off the ground.
And we would have options, we could move around. Get away if we needed to."

I nodded.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"We better
hurry," Maria said. "It’s going to start pouring down any minute now."

"All right.
Let’s go."

We were
about to make a move. We actually took a few running steps. I was looking
forward to getting inside, getting off these streets, getting to high ground.
But at that moment another flash of lightning and another loud clap of thunder
cracked and ripped the sky apart. It sounded like it was right on top of us.

The
lightning bolt lit up the dark streets.

Directly in
front of us, about four city blocks away we could see the infected. From where
we were standing they were just shapes off in the distance, moving and running
in all directions. Some of them were just standing there in the middle of the
street. Some were shuffling aimlessly. Some of them were headed in our
direction. They didn’t know we were here yet. But they would soon enough.

We all
froze. Unsure of what to do. Too scared to head any deeper into city.

Another
flash of lightning.

To our
right, again, about four city blocks away there were more dark shapes. Some of
them standing, or shuffling. Others were running.

We had been
so lucky up until this point. We could’ve taken a wrong turn. Found ourselves
surrounded.