Experiment Undead

General Maywood’s frantic voice outside the car jolts me awake. I pull the sleeping bag off of me. Someone had placed it over me while I had been asleep, but I swear I had locked the car doors. I look through the car window to see what is going on. It’s still dark outside. Only a hint of moonlight can be seen.

‘We have to wake them up now. We must go now, Nate, before it’s too late!’ General Maywood says in a panic.

Too late for what?

‘Are you sure they mentioned this town?’

‘Yes, Nate, I’m sure. I know what I heard on the radio. If we don’t leave here now, we are all dead!’

What is going on?

‘Okay, let’s get everyone up then and get the hell out of here.’

I swing the car door open, and General Maywood and Nate turn to look at me. Nate leans to my height, his eyes meeting mine, and gently grips my shoulders. I can see the concern on his face. I realise what he’s about to tell me is serious. ‘Penny, the army has planes on the way to bomb areas of Victoria to reduce the infected, we’re in the vicinity of where one of the bombs will drop, and the planes have already departed. I need you to wake the other kids up, grab your bags and get in the vehicles,’ he says, his voice urgent.

My eyes widen in shock, and I feel my mouth drop open. Nate gently shakes my shoulders and clicks his fingers near my eyes. I snap out of it and bolt inside the kitchen, grabbing a wooden spoon and pot. I bang them together, making as much noise as possible. ‘Wake up, grab your bags and get in the cars now!’ I yell, my voice ringing out through the house.

The adults groan and complain about being woken up, but General Maywood grabs everyone’s attention. ‘You all need to grab your bags and get in the vehicles right now. The army has orders to bomb parts of Victoria, including here and eight other towns, in the next twenty minutes,’ she says, her voice firm.

Everyone panics, scrambling to grab their things and get into the cars. I try to help Liam, but he glares and snatches his bag away. ‘I can carry my own bag,’ he snaps, his old attitude resurfacing.

I step back, hurt, and see the old brutal Liam in his eyes. His eyes narrow at mine. I know he’s mad at me for telling Jane I hate her. I don’t have time to explain. I had said it out of anger and didn’t mean it. Instead, I have to help Nancy as she struggles with Emma.

Jane picks up her bag and runs out the door. I immediately notice the handgun on the floor where she picked up her bag. It must have fallen out. Everyone is too busy running around like headless chooks to notice as I pick it up and place it in my duffel bag. Emma holds my hand, and Nancy follows, rushing out the door with our bags. Jane opens the station wagon door, gesturing for us kids to get in. Her eyes are red and puffy. It’s obvious she has been crying for a while. I know I’m responsible for her tears and feel a pang of guilt. She avoids making eye contact with me.

I climb in and over the front taking the front passenger seat. Nate takes the driver’s seat, and Emma, Nancy and their mum Kate take up the three back seats. There is space in the open boot area, but Liam refuses to get in.

‘No, I’m going to go with you, Mum,’ he tells Jane.

Jane nods, helps him into the back of the ute, jumps up and sits beside him.

Todd and Oscar decide to sit in the back boot of the station wagon. Clive and General Maywood take the ute’s front passenger and driver’s seat while Greg, Carrie, Kelly and Alice join Jane and Liam in the ute.

Speeding, we follow General Maywood’s lead; the ride is bumpy, and the car swerves a few times across the gravel. We can barely see what is in front of us as the headlights don’t work. Ten minutes of driving go by, and we hear planes nearing.

‘Shit, we need to go faster. Hold on, guys,’ Nate says and presses the accelerator to the floor. We all lean back from the force of the acceleration and hold on to anything we can as the bumps and speed increase. I feel like I’m being thrown around like a ragdoll. Emma begins to scream in fear.

‘I’m going to be sick,’ Nancy yells.

‘You have to hold it in,’ Kate tells her.

‘Ride on!’ Oscar cheers, acting like this is a show ride.

‘Oscar, seriously,’ I yell, and he laughs. ‘This is not a laughing matter, Oscar!’ I yell, then break into a scream as the car swerves.

The planes have flown by, and not a moment too soon, an explosion from behind us is heard. Everyone screams as Nate continues to speed ahead. I realise we have lost sight of the Ute.

‘Where are the others?’ I yell to Nate.

‘I don’t know, I lost them about five minutes ago,’ he says.

Suddenly, an explosion rocks the area behind us, causing everyone to scream in terror. Nate tries to speed ahead, but we lose sight of the ute. Debris and dust from the blast are hurtling toward us, and Nate warns us to hold on tight. As the wave hits us, we scream and cling to our seats as the car tumbles over and slams into a tree.

***

I gradually open my eyes, wincing in pain as I feel a shooting ache across the side of my head. As I touch the ache, I realise my fingers are covered in blood. Panic and memories flood into my mind - the bomb, the chaos, losing track of the others. Then I see it - the station wagon is flipped on its side.

I quickly release my seatbelt, but I fall against the car door as I try to stand. I reach over to Nate, shaking him awake. He blinks, taking in the chaotic scene before him. I can see the moment of realisation in his eyes as he looks at me and says, ‘Penny?’

With a forced smile, I wipe dirt and ash off his face, reassuring him, ‘Yes, it’s me.’

I help unbuckle him, and we check on the others.

Emma and Nancy are clinging to Kate, sobbing.

‘Are you all okay?’ I ask them.

‘I think my arm is broken,’ Nancy says, cradling her left arm.

‘My arms and legs hurt,’ Emma cries.

‘Oscar, Todd, can you hear me back there?’ I shout.

But there’s no response.

A feeling of dread washes over me as Nate, and I exchange concerned looks.

Nate opens the driver’s side door and climbs out. I stand and reach up. He grabs my hands and pulls me up. Kate tries to open the side door, but it’s against a tree.

‘You’ll have to climb to the front and get out this way, then we can check on Todd and Oscar,’ Nate says to Kate.

Kate nods, carefully guiding Nancy through to the front. Nate reaches for Nancy’s good arm and pulls her up, inspecting the broken arm. ‘That hurts,’ Nancy cries.

He frowns and confirms, ‘Yup, your arm is broken, Nancy.’ Without hesitation, he removes his jumper, placing it gently under her arm. He wraps the sleeves around the back of her neck, tying them together in a knot, forming a makeshift sling.

Kate sticks her head out the window and holds Emma up, her face tense with worry. I can see tears streaking down Emma’s dirty cheeks as she clings to her mother. I take Emma’s doll, Molly, from her hands and give her a reassuring smile. Nate lifts Emma from the window, and Kate checks her, running her hands over Emma’s arms and legs. She exhales a sigh of relief when she finds no serious injuries.

Nate and I then hurry to the back of the station wagon and lift the boot door open. The bags spill onto the ground, and I notice Oscar’s legs poking out from under them.

Nate checks Oscar’s pulse and lets out a sigh of relief, ‘He’s alive! Oscar, can you hear me?’ Nate taps his face lightly, trying to wake him up.

Oscar stirs, sitting up gasping for breath, and then immediately vomits. I cringe at the sight and quickly pat his back to help clear his airways. I brush his long dark hair from his face, trying to keep it away from the vomit.

Nate turns to Todd, who’s slumped against the back seat, ‘He’s breathing but won’t wake up,’ Nate’s voice is filled with concern.

I help Oscar out of the car, and we observe our surroundings. ‘We are out in the bush somewhere,’ I tell him, looking at all the eucalyptus trees and shrubbery. Oscar nods, then falls to his knees and vomits again.

I quickly grab all the bags thrown out from the car and place them together. I rummage through the first bag and take out a bottle of water. I hand it to Oscar, and he drinks half of it within seconds.

‘Take it easy, Oscar. We might not have much water, and it needs to last a while,’ I tell him.

Oscar nods, screwing the lid back on. I continue to search through the bags, looking for anything that might be useful. I pull a bong out of Todd’s bag and wrinkle my nose at the smell. The glass has a brown tinge, and it’s clear that it’s been used extensively. I toss it on the ground and move on to the next bag. I find two clear sandwich bags. One is full of green herbs, which I assume is chopped-up parsley. I decide it might be useful for cooking and shove it into my duffel bag. The other one is empty, but I look closer at the white powdery substance and assume it’s probably icing sugar. I leave it amongst Todd’s clothes.

As I turn around, Nate approaches me with a glare, snatching up the bong. ‘I had a bloody feeling that useless shit might be as high as a kite,’ Nate yells, throwing the bong on the ground and stomping his foot on it, shattering it to pieces.

Oscar approaches and has gained some colour on his face, ‘I’m really sorry about my uncle. When you woke everyone up, I noticed he wasn’t there. I found him out in the backyard smoking his bong. He could barely comprehend what I was saying to him. So, I ran back inside, grabbed our bags and put his bong in his bag after I emptied it. After putting the bags in the car, I ran back to him and practically dragged him to the car. He fell asleep a minute later...’

‘I thought he looked like he was off in fairyland when he got in the car,’ Nate sighs.

‘What are we going to do now? Do we even know where we are, and what about the others?’ I ask.

Nate pulls his compass out of his cargo pant pocket, holds it in his palm, and waves Oscar and me closer to see it.

‘I’m unsure where we are, but Lederderg State Park is North East. General Maywood mentioned cutting through there. They will most likely proceed that way. That’s where we can regroup. We have to wait for Todd to wake up till we can leave. If we can’t find another vehicle along the way, then it will probably take us a day or two to get there on foot. In the meantime, Penny, I need to look at that gash still bleeding on your head,’ Nate frowns.

I touch the wound, even though it hurts. I had completely forgotten about it, too focused on everyone else’s well-being.

Nate grabs his bag, pulls out a first aid kit, and cleans the wound, ‘Sorry, Penny, but you need a few stitches to close this up.’

I bite my lip and take a step back. Nate bursts into laughter. I pause my steps and raise an eyebrow.

‘Penny, you’re brave enough to kill soulless without hesitation, yet you’re scared of a few stitches?’ he smirks and folds his arms.

He’s right. I feel a bit silly now he has pointed that out. What’re a few stitches compared to facing soulless and risking my life to kill them? As I get stitched up, I try to hold back tears. My body tenses up as the needle goes in, but then I feel a warm hand take hold of mine. I turn to see Oscar, who’s come over to comfort me. He gives my hand a gentle squeeze and offers me a reassuring smile.

I focus on Oscar’s face, a portrait of empathy and concern. I can see he’s trying his best to be there for me. I return his smile, and we feel a brief connection. Oscar gives me one last squeeze as the stitching finishes before letting go of my hand. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling a sense of relief it’s over.