The Farmhouse
"ARRHH!!!!"
Lucy's scream made me sit bolt upright on the collapsed couch, instantly awake. From his spot under the window, resting against the wall, Steve did the same.
I looked beside me. Lucy was no longer curled up on the couch. She wasn't even in the same room as us. A door beside the ancient TV was open, and I could hear panicked breathing from the dark room beyond.
"Lucy!" I cried, grabbing the iron bar at my side and launching off the couch. Steve followed close behind as we ran into the room, expecting the worst. We stopped a few meters inside; Lucy was up against the far wall, looking pale and terrified. In the centre of the room, lying on a big wooden table, was a body. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw that the rest of the room was completely empty. Deep scratches in the floor suggested there'd been more furniture in there until recently.
"Are you ok?" Steve asked, moving to comfort my frightened sister. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the corpse.
"I.. I... I was just looking for a bathroom..." she managed to choke between breaths. "It was too dark to see at first and... and I touched his face. I thought he was going to bite me."
"It's alright," I said softly, trying to sooth her nerves. I walked over to the body, iron bar outstretched, and gave it a poke. Nothing happened. The body was stiff with rigor mortis. "I think he's well and truly dead."
Steve looked around the room and spotted a blind covering a nearby window. He gave the bottom a tug, and when the material failed to rise back up into the roller, he pulled on it violently. The entire thing came down, filling the air with dust, but revealing the dirty glass behind. The room was suddenly awash in rusty orange light, and we had a clearer view of the body on the table.
"Wow," Lucy said softly, less fearful now she could see. We surrounded the tabletop, looking down on the unmoving man. He was old; perhaps in his seventies or eighties, though he still retained a fair amount of grey hair. His jeans may have been blue once, but now they were riddled with holes and stained brown from years of farm work. He even wore a red-chequered shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows; just like the farmers you see in the movies. His arms themselves had been placed carefully over his chest, hands clasped together in a relaxed, peaceful manner.
"How'd he get here?" I wondered aloud. Someone had obviously gone to a great deal of effort to set him up this way. I leaned in for a closer look, but backed off sharply when I saw the bite marks on his forearms and hands. "And how come he's not one of them?"
Steve was studying the man's face, prodding something just on the hair line.
"Look at this," he said, waving us over. I was still feeling cautious, but I edged close enough to see what he was pointing too.
"What is it?" Lucy asked, puzzled.
"Stiches. There's a ring of stitches going all around his head."
"Why?"
"I think..." Steve paused for a second, then rapped his knuckles against the dead man's forehead. There was a hollow knocking sound. "Yup, I was right. They've opened his skull and removed the brain."
"No way!" I said, shocked. "How? Why? If he'd been bitten, then they'd probably have to do it while he was still..."
Steve nodded. He moved further down the man's body and began to undo the buttons on the red-chequered shirt. Opening it revealed an aged, grey haired chest. There was a long cut, running from the breastbone to the stomach, which had been painstakingly stitched back together as well.
"They've removed his organs too," Steve said. "I guess they didn't want to take any chances."
"Who would do this?" Lucy asked, looking both confused and slightly repulsed.
"My guess? Someone who loved this man very, very much. Someone who didn't want to see him rise from the serenity of death to wreak havoc on the living. Most likely his family."
I gulped. I doubted I'd be able to do that to my parents. But if it came to choosing between them having a peaceful death, or returning as one of them... I'd certainly try my hardest to achieve the former.
"Wow... that's almost... sweet," Lucy said softly.
We all went silent, thinking about our families for the first time in days. I hoped Mum and Dad were safe; they'd had to go to France on a business trip, and as far as I knew this crisis hadn't gotten overseas. Other then my classmates, no one truly close to me or Lucy had died yet. The same couldn't be said for Steve...
I looked over at him, studying his face. It was blank, stony in its complexion. But I could see he was holding it back. He was thinking of his wife, and those last terrifying moments they'd shared. I would have forgiven him if he'd simply burst into tears, but I think the time for that was over now.
Steve buttoned up the man's shirt again and clasped the frail, dead hands together as before.
"I hope his family didn't meet the same end," he said. He turned, and made for the doorway.
"I wonder if Mary-Sue is ok?" Lucy said abruptly. I looked up at her in surprise, and made a clearly displeased face.
"Who cares," I said flatly, turning to follow Steve. "I don't give a crap about that bitch."
"Hey!" Lucy cried, following us back into the lounge room. "That's not nice. She was our friend."
"She was your friend. My friends would never point a gun at us and then leave us for dead."
"She was just scared! I honestly don't blame her. We'd just seen half our class die; it's only normal she'd want to make sure her parents were alright. You'd do the same thing if ours were here... right?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah. I guess."
Lucy went over to the collapsed couch again and hopped onto it lightly.
"I just hope she found them," she said quietly.
I wanted to say more about our ex-schoolmate, but the last thing any of us needed at the moment was to fight or argue. We simply didn't have the energy to waste. I forced my lips together and managed a grim smile.
"Yeah. I'm sure she found them. I'm sure they're fine..."
3 Days Earlier - Midday
"Go! GO!!" I yelled at the bus driver, trying to shake him from his stupor.
"But... but the other kids!!" he choked. He'd managed to open the doors for us to get in, and close them behind, but now he could only stare. Paralysed. Completely horrified by the snarling hoard, tearing across the concrete bus station towards us.
"Trust me," I said, watching as the first few kids reached the bus doors and started banging furiously on then. "You don't want to let them in."
It was terrifying. They just kept throwing themselves at the bus walls and glass, smearing the blood from their hands and mouths in long streaks. Their milky, unblinking eyes stared at us, lusting for flesh. At the back of the bus, my sister and her friend screamed as a teacher cracked the window nearest to them with his forehead.
"For fucks sake, go!" Mary-Sue screamed. It seemed to snap the driver out of it at last, and he jammed the bus into gear. I just had time to see the bloodied, gnarled face of Mike Hicks, Captain of the Basketball Team, before he disappeared under the front of the bus. We felt the back wheels jump as his body rolled underneath.
"Jesus Christ... Jesus Christ," the driver panted. "I just ran over a kid... I just killed someone."
"It's ok," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "He was already dead."
I worked my way up the bus to where my sister and Mary-Sue now huddled, clutched in each others arms. Both were spattered with blood and covered in bruises. I still couldn't believe they'd made it out; two fifteen year old girls managing to fight off those things our classmates had become? I was beyond admiration.
"It... it happened so fast!" Lucy whimpered. "I killed Katie! I stabbed her in the eye! With a pen. She didn't even make a noise... just... fell off me."
Being only a small girl - a whole foot shorter then myself and a lot thinner - I couldn't help but be amazed by her. The large, hand shaped bruises on her neck and arms were already darkening. It must have been some fight.
"You didn't kill anyone," I said, trying to console her. "She was one of them. If you hadn't stopped her, she would have killed you instead."
"Ricky tried to bite me! He tried to bite my fucking throat!" Mary-Sue sobbed. "I had a crush on him for so long too..."
Mary-Sue had always come across as being tough, but I never knew for sure if that was just the 'black chick from the ghetto' routine or her real personality. Now she sat with my sister; bloodied claw marks trailing her face and wrists, school uniform hanging in tatters. The one missing piggy tail left her looking like some lost and forgotten Raggedy Anne doll. Her flushed cheeks emphasised the image.
"It's alright. We made it. They're behind us now."
"But what about out there... out here?" Lucy said with fear in her eyes. "There might be more!"
We all held onto the seats as the bus took a hard turn so fast it felt like we were going to tip over. The driver must have been going at least ninety k's in streets designed for forty. If those things outside didn't kill us, his crazy driving would.
I pressed my face to the glass and stared outside.
"I don't see anything. Perhaps everyone else managed to get away?"
As I said that, the bus began to slow down and we all looked to the front window. We were coming to an intersection, where it looked like there'd been a massive traffic accident. On the edges of the wreckage, we could see the tell-tale flashing lights of some emergency vehicles.
"Hey look! Police!" Lucy cried excitedly. Her smile began to fade as we drew closer. "What... what are they doing?!"
There was small group of officers and paramedics, leaning into the cars or crouched over people lying on the road. Perhaps originally they'd come to help the crash victims, but they certainly had no intentions of that now. Now, they were busy fighting over the remains.
"Oh Jesus, oh Jesus." We heard the bus driver chanting his panicked mantra again. He hit the accelerator and weaved his way through the wrecks, throwing us from one side of the bus to the other. Outside, some of the police looked up and snarled. One or two even gave chase, but they slowed down after awhile. They seemed more content with the meals they'd already caught.
"Damn," I whispered. "It's all gone to hell."
The devastation was already pretty widespread if only the western suburbs had been affected this morning. I gathered, from roads the bus drive had taken so far, he was going as far east as he could. Things weren't looking any more promising here, however.
Even though the streets were nearly deserted, there was still plenty to see. The endless houses with their front doors wide open; some smashed from their hinges, others just left that way in haste. Cars lay abandoned on the roadside, full of worldly goods but devoid of any owners. A small group of dogs, still dragging their leashes, ran howling past us. If there'd been some kind of main event, we may have already missed it. This was only the aftermath. I wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or petrified.
"There's B-Mart!" Mary-Sue cried, pointing to a large supermarket building we all recognised. Everyone used to do their family shopping there. Now, all its front windows had been smashed in and trolleys lay scattered across the car park. Inside we could just make out the bare shelves and debris laden aisles. I only caught a glimpse, but I'm sure I saw a small crowd around the meat and deli section.
"What are we going to do?" Lucy cried, tugging at my sleeve. "Did you tell the bus driver to take us home?"
"No," I shook my head. I hadn't even thought about that. "Why would we want to go there? Mum and Dad are in France; there's no reason to go back. The driver's probably just trying to get out of town."
"But... but I want to get my things!"
"Forget it. I said it's too dangerous."
"Fuck that," Mary-Sue shouted, standing up suddenly. "My folks are here. We have to go get them! I'm can't lose my family as well my friends."
"Fine!" I yelled back at her. I was in no mood for her teenage-girl demands. "Then go! I'm sure the bus driver will slow down long enough for you to jump out. Just don't try to drag me and Lucy along with you."
"Oh, I won't," she replied, her voice taking on a sinister quality. Then she reached under her skirt and pulled out something I never expected a fifteen year old to have: a goddamn handgun.
"Holy crap!" Lucy cried, jumping out of the seat and clambering to my side. "Mary-Sue... where'd you get that? What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm getting my folks... I have too..." she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her hands were shaking wildly, making the empty blackness of the barrel all the more threatening.
"Mary-Sue, we're your friends! Put it down!"
"Shut up!" she screamed, thrusting the weapon towards me. The cold, hard metal was only inches from my nose. "Just shut up. I know what I'm doing."
She waved the gun towards the front of the bus.
"Go. Now!"
I put my hands up, keeping Lucy protected behind me. We carefully backed our way down between he seats, trying to remain steady as the bus bounced and swerved. The driver was so focused on the road he hadn't even noticed what was going on behind him.
"Even if you find them, you won't have enough bullets to protect them from those things out there."
"I don't care!" she replied through gritted teeth. "Keep walking."
We finally reached the front of the bus; the steps down to the door preventing us from going any further. Mary-Sue grabbed the driver's collar and stuck the gun against his cheek.
"Stop the bus!" she screamed.
The driver looked up at her briefly, and then, amazingly, shook his head.
"No. Are you insane?! We have to get out of here!"
"I said stop the fucking bus!" Mary-Sue pointed the gun above his head and fired, blowing apart the revision mirror. The driver hit the brake so hard we were almost thrown through the windshield.
"You're crazy! Get off my bus!"
"Shut up!" she shouted. "Just open the damn door."
He hit the button, and the doors slid open with a hiss. Mary-Sue pointed the gun back at us.
"Please. Get off. I don't want to hurt you. Please! I just have to know if my family is ok. I'll do it alone. But you have to get off here."
"Mary-Sue... no..." Lucy said though teary sobs. I moved backwards, forcing her down the stairs until we finally stepped out on the tarmac. Our schoolmate smiled sadly, then hit the button, closing the bus doors. I could only stare after her in disbelief.
"Turn us around!" she yelled, pointing the gun at the driver's temple. "Either you take me back, or I kill you and drive there myself. Your choice."
For a second I thought the driver was going to continue his defiance. Instead, he nodded slowly and took hold of the gears. Lucy and I watched the bus do a slow U-Turn, bumping over the midsection before getting onto the other side of the road and heading back the way we'd just come. Back to Mary-Sue's home. Back to the heart of the mayhem. Lucy was still clutching my arm, crying silently.
"It's ok... we'll be ok..." I tried to convince myself as well as her. Once the bus had disappeared from sight, and the sound of its engine faded away, we were truly all alone. The streets and buildings around us were as quiet as the grave. But there was no telling how long that would last. Great clouds of black smoke still rose in the distance, and every now and again there was a burst of gunfire somewhere close by.
"What... what'll we do?" Lucy sobbed.
"We have to get out of the city," I replied grimly. "That's about all we can do."
--
It was getting dark. I frowned, watching the sky above the rooflines turning from a rusty orange to a crimson red. After hours of running and hiding we still seemed no closer to the cities outskirts. Worst of all, I had completely lost my sense of direction. Without any road signs to give hints, I had no idea if we were headed further from the destruction or back to its centre.
"The suns going down..." Lucy said softly. She'd stopped crying hours ago, and now seemed to have gone into a state of semi-shock. I wasn't sure if it was the horror of seeing her classmates die, or the betrayal of her best friend, but either way I could tell she was having trouble processing it all. Often when I looked at her face, she had a far away, disconnected expression, as if she somehow believed this was all a dream.
"It's ok," I said. "We'll find a house to stay in for the night. I don't think anyone's left in this neighbourhood. We shouldn't have any problems."
I peeked over the railing fence, scanning the street beyond for any signs of movement. We'd been crouched behind some bushes in an unknown front yard for nearly an hour, after we spotted a small group of people further up the road. Lucy had desperately wanted to go and meet them; she seemed to crave the security an adult presence offered. But I wasn't as keen.
The group wasn't doing anything. Just standing in the middle of the street, looking around them. Any normal person with a sense of self preservation would be hiding, not out in the open. When one of them turned our way, I grabbed Lucy and dragged her behind the fence, where we'd waited until they'd moved off further up the street. Even then, I'd insisted we wait another thirty minutes, just to be sure.
"Can we go yet?" Lucy said weakly. "I'm starving."
"Yeah," I replied, feeling a pang of hunger in my own stomach. "I think it's safe now. We'll go as far as we can while it's still light enough to see. Hopefully we can find a house with a full fridge."
She took hold of my arm and we edged our way back onto the sidewalk.
"Remember, stay low, and if you see anything moving at all, tell me," I whispered. She nodded; she knew the drill. "Go!"
We ran along the street in a half-crouched manner, eyes darting towards every house, every darkened window. We paused behind an abandoned car, just long enough to catch our breath, then ran again. It'd been like this from the moment Mary-Sue had left us to fend for ourselves, and we found it more mentally draining then we did physically.
As we passed the place where we'd seen the small group of people, I pointed to the tarmac. Lucy looked obediently, then put a hand over her mouth. There were remains there that should have been inside a person, not out, and a large dark stain to match.
"Glad we didn't go to meet them now?" I asked. She nodded. It wasn't the worst we'd seen today, but still did nothing to calm our nerves.
The sun was setting faster then I expected. We had to find shelter soon, or it would mean real trouble. I didn't fancy running in the dark. Ahead, I could see a house that bore surprising resemblance to our own home. If anything I knew it would help make Lucy feel more comfortable, so I continued to cautiously lead us that direction.
"Were almost there," I said between heavy breaths. "God I hope they have food."
"I'd settle for running water. I really need a ba-"
A loud yell from the house adjacent to us brought our run to a grinding halt. I immediately ducked behind the front gate, pulling Lucy down with me.
"What was that?" she whispered, fear in her eyes. "Did something see us?"
Another yell, followed by what sounded like glass breaking made us cringe.
"I don't know. Sounds more like a fight," I answered. "Something we don't want to be part of."
There were a series of heavy thuds, followed by more yelling and some angry growls. It sounded brutal.
"A fight? That means somebody's still alive! We have to go save them!" The hope on Lucy's face made me feel guilty. How could I tell her there was no chance of us being able to help? Even if we could kill the attacker, we'd only have to deal with the victim if they'd been bitten. I wasn't ready for that yet.
"It's too dangerous," I said, shaking my head. "Not worth risking our own lives over."
"But they could help us! They might know the way out of the city. I know you're lost; I can see you trying to work things out in your head every time we come to an intersection."
I scowled. Ok, so maybe she wasn't as out of it as I first thought.
"C'mon! Please! We have to try."
I sighed. She was right. The more people with us, the more likely we were to survive. Besides, I didn't think I could sit there and listen to someone die without it plaguing my conscience later on.
"Fine," I said. I got up and looked around for a weapon. Nothing stood out. I ripped a paling off the picket gate and gave it a swing, testing it. Well, it was slow but it worked. Exactly how well would remain to be seen, as we ran up the path leading to the house.
"Help! No please, get off!"
Closer to the doorway, we could here the shouts as distinct words. It was a man. He sounded more then a little desperate.
"Alright," I said, my hand inches from the door handle. "This could get really bad. If the guy's been bitten, we just run for it, ok? It's not worth the risk."
Lucy nodded. She looked scared, but determined, and it seemed some life had returned to her now she'd found a purpose. I put my hand on the handle, and pushed with all my strength. The door flew open, hitting the wall with a crash.
Inside we could hear thuds and snarls, and what sounded like someone sobbing. A broken vase lay in the hallway, and there were bloodied handprints on the walls. I saw the colour in Lucy's face drain. I guessed she was having second thoughts now. Another shout made us jump: the fight seemed to be in the next room. I crept forward, wood paling raised, and peeked through the doorway.
A man lay on the ground, and on top of him was a woman. She was growling and snapping, trying to bring her face down towards his, but he had his hands on her shoulders, holding her at bay. He turned his terrified face towards us, probably half expecting me to be one of them. I entered the room and brandished my wooden plank to show otherwise.
"Help!" he yelled at me. There were tears streaming down his face. "Get her off! Do something!"
The woman's flailing arms managed to get a grip around his throat, and he struggled to shake her off. I ground my teeth. No going back now. I ran forward and smashed the paling over the woman's head, feeling the wood disintegrate instantly in my fingers. There was a sickening thud, and the woman seemed to release her grip on the man's throat. I stood over her, breathing heavily. Had it been enough? Was she dead again?
Her face whipped towards me, her milky blue eyes glaring. She bared her teeth and let out a hiss.
"Bro, look out!" Lucy screamed, running towards me. The woman launched off the man, clawed hands raking the air. I tried to move backwards, but tripped, and she was on me in an instant. I barely had enough time to see her bloodied mouth open, preparing to bite down on my thigh, before her whole face suddenly disappeared from view.
I sat up. The man had hold of her ankle, and was pulling her towards him. The snarling woman lashed out with her other leg, trying to shake him off, but at the same time trying to crawl her way back to me. I guess I pissed her off.
"The baseball bat!" the man cried. "Get it out, quick!"
I looked around me, searching for the weapon lying on the floor but seeing nothing. Lucy cried out as she spotted it; a silver aluminium one, sitting inside a glass container on a nearby cabinet. There were signatures all over it.
"Hurry!" the man shouted again.
Lucy ran over and picked up the container. She raised it to shoulder level - about all she could manage - and then thew it to the floor. The glass shattered instantly, and I grabbed the bat as it rolled out and across the carpet.
The man had the woman pinned on her stomach now, one knee on her back and the other on her left arm. I ran over and raised the bat high, aiming for her head.
"No, give it to me," he said, reaching out an arm. I paused, unsure of why he'd make such a request, then quickly handed the bat over.
Beneath his knees, the woman clawed at the carpet, trying to turn her head far enough to reach him. The man stared down at her and wiped the tears from his face.
"I'm so sorry," he sobbed. He raised the bat and brought it down on the back of her head. He did this once, twice, and then a third time for good measure. Her body twitched with each blow, going limp after the final impact. Lucy turned her face away, staring at the wall. I wished she hadn't seen it.
"Are... are you ok?" I asked the man. "Did she bite you?"
"No," he replied sadly. "Nothing hurt. Nothing but my heart."
"Your heart? Do you need medication for it or something?" Lucy asked, her face still towards the wall.
"No, I didn't mean physically hurt," he replied. He wiped the bat on the carpet and then stood up. "That was my wife."
"Oh..." I didn't know what else to say. What could you say? Nothing that was going to make it better, so why say anything at all? Lucy finally turned to look at us again, her own eyes brimming with tears.
"I'm... so sorry," she cried. Then she ran towards the man we'd only known for two minutes and hugged him. It was hard and long, the kind she only reserved for our father when he finally got back from months of being away. I was a surprised, but actually a little relieved that the horrors of the day hadn't killed her emotions completely.
The man put one arm around her and hugged her too. Silent tears continued to flow. He stared down at his wife, the back of her head bloodied and riddled with pieces of bone. Her face was buried in the carpet. Perhaps for the best.
"What happened?" I asked, looking at her arms and legs and seeing no signs of bites.
"I don't know," he replied. He pried Lucy from around his stomach and pushed her gently towards me. "We were walking home from the shops today, when this guy collapsed in front of us. He just fell to the sidewalk, twitching and kicking. My wife ran to help him, and when she tried to put something in his mouth to stop him biting his tongue, he vomited a torrent of blood onto her. All over her face and clothes. We left him and I brought her home... I didn't think any had got in her mouth but I guess... the TV said it only took a little for..."
He trailed off, sniffing and wiping his face.
"Man... I'm so sorry," I said, bowing my head respectfully. "I can only imagine how you feel."
"It's alright. She's at peace now. That's something."
"We're trying to get out of the city. We've been running all day but... but I have no idea where we're going. Can you help us?"
The man cleared his throat and nodded.
"Yeah," he sighed. "Yeah, I know where to go. My wife and I were just getting ready to leave before she... turned. We can go there in the morning."
"Thank you!" Lucy cried. "Thank you so much."
"It's the least I can do," he said. He extended a hand towards me. "It's Steve, by the way. Thanks for saving my life."