Eleven
Cruz
B efore the pandemic, Dawn and her family spent their downtime holidaying in the eastern part of the state, so not only was she familiar with our destination, but her knowledge of the towns spread between here and there helped us choose our next stop.
Since there was no need to scavenge, we were looking for a smaller, safer town with no major shopping centres, where people were less likely to have hung around after the virus swept through. She suggested a town called Harriet, two hours from Wallin, and apparently so small and lacking in basic amenities that travellers never even used it as a rest stop.
Dawn and Jonah were up front in the Ford we’d stolen from Jackson and his cronies, and Liv and I trailed behind in the new SUV just in case there were any mechanical issues. She insisted I take the passenger seat, letting me nurse my headache and the embarrassment of being taken down by a slingshot and a fucking pebble.
We travelled the full two hours without a break, the longest distance I'd ever covered in one stretch since I abandoned my original home on the coast. No dangers or problems with either vehicle, just a straight run from one place to another, taking us two-thirds of the way to Bridgehill.
We left sunny skies and fat, white clouds behind us in Wallin, and ahead lay darkness and an impending thunderstorm—not the first of the day if the glistening road and wet grass were anything to go by. The smell of rain seeped in through the car vents, and the temperature dropped noticeably over a few kilometres.
As we took the exit and approached a sign indicating the lower speed limit heading into the township of Harriet, Liv sent me a smile. "Here just in time," she said. "Looks like it's about to bucket down, but it shouldn't take too long to find a place and wait it out."
Thunder rumbled overhead, and the wind picked up, whipping through the pine trees that hugged the roadside. I pointed out a corpse stumbling from the thick grass and heading straight for the road. Liv swerved around it and continued behind Dawn. With no weather apps to rely on anymore, we could never be sure if we were in for light rain, or if hailstones the size of golf balls were coming our way.
"How's your head?" she asked, sending me a glance.
In that split second look, I saw her lingering concern, but I'd recovered well for someone who'd hit the ground unconscious. All I had left now was a vague throbbing in my temple, nothing like the splitting pain immediately after I regained consciousness. “Almost back to normal.”I stared out the window as my mouth twitched. “Are you worried about me, querida ?”
“I just want to make sure you’re looking after yourself, along with the rest of us.”
The testiness in her voice had my smile growing, but I was wise enough to keep my head turned away. I loved having a woman in my life who cared about me, and I’d never take this sweet side of hers for granted. “I appreciate it. I’m doing okay, though.”
Liv must have picked up on my amusement, anyway. She took her hand off the wheel and gave my thigh a playful shove. "Excuse me for caring. I can drop you off right here if you're going to be a jackass."
With a laughing breath, I grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss on the back of it. "If it's all the same with you, I'd rather be where you are."
She gave me a pleased little smirk and returned her hand to the wheel.
We approached a deep bend where pine trees blocked the view of what I assumed would be the town once the road straightened again. Water filled all the dips and potholes, and the surface glistened with moisture. Two corpses in the distance struggled through the long, wet grass.
A sign welcomed us to Harriet—population five hundred—and relief swept over me.
We'd made it without losing anybody.
Dawn’s brake lights came on up ahead as she reached the bend, but whatever caused her to slow wasn’t visible from our position. I focused on the road, waiting as Liv eased her foot off the accelerator.Maybe she was being cautious on the wet road and didn't want to take the corner too fast.
The passenger window of the car lowered, and Jonah stuck his arm out, twirling his finger in a U-turn gesture. “Can you see what’s going on from your side?” I leaned closer to Liv to check if she had a better view.
“Nothing yet—but whatever spooked her, Dawn’s turning fast.”
In a desolate country town, only corpses could inspire that kind of reaction.
Liv slowed further as Dawn swung around in a wide circle, only she made the turn too late and had to leave the road to complete the manoeuvre. No issue on a normal day, but after a heavy bout of rain with dirt and grass on the roadside, our run of good luck may have just ended. My stomach clenched and dread moved through me. “Shit.”
“What?” Liv asked, then it clicked for her, too. “Oh, crap!”She flashed her high beams at Dawn in the hope it would alert her to the danger, but Dawn had more important things to focus on and paid no attention to our lights.
The car went straight into a boggy patch of grass and stopped dead, the tyres spinning uselessly and leaving her stranded with Jonah.Still no huge issue on any other day. We'd packed rope and a shovel; we had four people available to free the car, and we worked well as a team. A pain in the ass, yes, but nothing insurmountable.
This wasn't any other day, though.
My gaze shifted to the bend in the road. Several corpses were shuffling toward us. Five, six.
Liv slowed to an almost stop and glanced at me, but I kept my eyes on the scene. There had to be a shitload more to get that reaction from Dawn. We could have easily navigated our way through a group of that size.
Another dozen or so followed behind the original cluster, with more coming—so many more—spreading out to cover the entire width of the road.
There were too many. We didn't have time for a tow.
All we could do was evacuate and reassess when the threat had passed.
"Turn the car around and get ready to go," I said to Liv. If they surrounded the Ford, Dawn and Jonah were done for.
While our car was still rolling, I jumped out and left the door hanging open, running toward them with pumping arms and a pounding heart. Corpses may have been slow movers, but being outnumbered to this degree was a disaster waiting to happen, and we needed to get out of here now.
The horde had another fifty metres to go before they reached our location, and the only way out was where we just came from.
“Get out!” I yelled as I ran for the car, hoping they could hear me.
Jonah poked his head through the open window and called back, “We’re bogged!”
Yeah, no shit. Dawn was still trying to drive out of the mess and only bedding the tyres in further. I swore as I approached. “Get out of the fucking car, Jonah! Both of you .”
He definitely heard that. The window went up again, and he opened his door.
I checked over my shoulder to monitor Liv’s movements. She'd already swung the car around and left the safety of an enclosed vehicle to lend us a hand. I didn't want her involved, but I already knew how it would go down if I shouted at her to stay back. Instead, I returned my attention to the Ford, relieved to find Dawn and Jonah coming toward me on foot, trudging through the mud and knee-high grass.
Dawn's features were fraught with nerves, her eyes flicking to her son before locking on me. She knew she'd messed up again. With a quick check on the corpses, the sight had me springing into gear. More of them were coming. Forty metres away. Shit was getting serious.
They'd already veered off their original path down the centre of the road and made a beeline for the bogged car. A rough headcount told me there were somewhere near a hundred of them. There was no chance of us holding them off, and all we had for cover were tall gum trees and the flimsy wire fence separating the paddocks from the road.
We needed to get the fuck out of here.
Liv appeared at my side, her breaths fast and shallow. She took stock of the situation, and as soon as it registered there was no chance of freeing the Ford, she gripped my arm. “I’ll go back and clear room for them in our car.”
“Just enough space for Jonah in the back. I’ll drive. You and Dawn can take the passenger seat.”
“Roger that. Be safe, mi amor."
I smiled at her terrible pronunciation and spared the corpses another glance. Thirty metres away. My humour died, and with a harsh breath, I approached Dawn. “Did you grab the key?” I asked, noting her panicked expression. Seeing a group of that size and knowing we had a single car to escape in would have been pushing the limits of what she could handle. I had to be thankful she was still putting one foot in front of the other.
“Oh, God. I forgot!” She turned to retrace her steps.
Irritation rose inside me, and I tried my hardest to keep it from my voice. “I'll get it. Go help Liv.”
The stung expression on her face told me she’d picked up on my tone, but I didn’t have time to protect her feelings. Jonah apologised as he followed his mum. As soon as they were out of sight, I pushed them from my mind, knowing Liv would make sure they were safe.
The rear tyres were in deep, the lower half covered in sludge and blades of grass. I slipped my hatchet from my belt and headed for the driver’s side, dodging the worst of the mess. Two corpses were already struggling over the boggy ground and closing in on me. The foot of the bigger one got suctioned into the mud, rendering it useless, and as I grabbed the key from the ignition, the other snagged the sleeve of my shirt, latching on with its spindly fingers.
I shoved the corpse off me with my elbow and pocketed the fob. With a swing of my hatchet, I took out the side of its head.Blood and bits of brain matter splattered my shirt, and the slimy handle nearly slipped through my fingers. Fighting down my frustration, I wiped it on the body at my feet and tightened my grip, ready to swing again.
"Watch out, Cruz!"
Liv's voice reached me over a jumble of moans that were growing louder by the second. The pressure was on. I looked up as another five corpses were about to reach me, and my heart jolted.If I didn't get moving now, I was a dead man.
The stench always ramped up whenever they travelled in a pack, and since most of them were wet from the rain they’d been walking through, it took the smell to a whole new level. My eyes watered, and I coughed as I backed away from the group, switching my gaze between the uneven ground behind me and the corpses coming at me from the front.
Thunder rumbled, and a bolt of lightning flashed nearby, the clouds a patchwork of greys so dark they were almost black.
“Hurry!”
The fear in Liv's voice had me wishing I could pick up the pace, but the ground was so soft it squelched underfoot, sucking my boots in deep with each step. It wouldn't take much to overbalance and end up on my ass, and I couldn't afford to lose the advantage I'd gained—not when there were countless more corpses on the road heading straight for Liv and the others.
As the frontrunner of the new group reached for me, I lifted my hatchet above my head and brought it down hard in the middle of the corpse’s skull. When it dropped to the mud, the next one stumbled over its body and landed knee first in the sludge. I caved its head in and looked over my shoulder to find Liv pulling her sword free, ready to run to me.
“Stay there!” I bellowed. "Get everyone in the car."
Two more came at me and it took three swings to drop them both. My arms ached. My calves strained with the effort of tackling the too-soft ground, but we were all safe, and that single detail kept me focused.
Another glance over my shoulder told me Liv had the car under control.
We were almost good to go.
As I reached the harder packed gravel at the edge of the road, the sky opened and fat raindrops belted down, drenching me in seconds. I blinked against the water pelting my eyes and checked behind me again. Metres away now, but the biggest section of the group had almost reached us.
If we didn’t get moving right this minute, we’d be stuck in the middle of the kind of trouble we might never escape from. Flashbacks of the expression on my brother's face hit me, and my stomach churned. I didn’t know if I had it in me to go through that again.
Feeling safer on sturdier ground, I stowed my hatchet and turned my back on the horde. As the rain soaked my clothes and streamed down my face, I sprinted for the car and dived in through the driver’s door, slamming it shut behind me. Liv and Dawn were squished together on the passenger seat, Jonah on the same side in the back. My breaths were coming hard, my pulse thudding in my ears.
"We'll be okay," I said, partly for them, partly for me.
I turned the key in the ignition, ready to get the hell out of here.
Nothing happened.
I swore under my breath and closed my eyes, willing the engine to turn over, praying to a God I barely believed in anymore.
When I tried again, the rapid clicking told me either the battery had died or the alternator needed replacing, neither of which could be fixed here and now. We weren’t going anywhere without a jumpstart, and our backup car was bogged in a fucking ditch.My heart hammered, and I fought through the chaos in my mind, shoving it down to focus on the next task.
The rain came down so hard it sounded like a stampede on the roof and windows, the rivulets on the glass blocking our view of the incoming horde. We’d be surrounded in seconds, and corpses didn’t give a shit about rain. They’d hang around for as long as it took to get their teeth into the bait sitting inside the tin can.
"We need to run.” Liv's voice trembled with fear or cold, her eyes darting out the windshield then across to me. “We have the smallest possible window to decide. If we don’t commit now, we’re never getting out of here.”
Time seemed to slow as I stared at the blurry images of approaching corpses and considered our options. If we ran, we’d have to keep running until we found shelter, and I hadn’t seen a house for at least the last five kilometres. All of this land would have been owned by one family and used for farming. Wherever their house was, we couldn’t see it from our current position.
Even if we found it, we'd only be leading a shitload of corpses there.
All it would take during our escape was for one person to roll their ankle or run out of steam, and we were done. Having spent the past couple of years set up in a permanent home, Dawn and Jonah wouldn't be anywhere near the same level of fitness and endurance as Liv and me. There was just no tactical reason for us to run, especially with Dawn’s fear of corpses.
“We stay,” I said, glancing at the sunroof. “But we’re going to get wet.”
At the first slap of palms against the window, Jonah swore in the back seat and Dawn's breaths came faster.
I leaned forward to meet her eyes around Liv. "Are you coping?" I remembered asking Liv that same question a lifetime ago, but she hadn't raised the same concerns that Dawn's unpredictable behaviour was doing now.
She almost shook her head, then whimpered and nodded quickly, trying her best to convince herself and me. If she couldn't control her fear, it had the potential to cause us real problems. What if she flung the door open and tried to run just to get away from the pure terror of being surrounded? We'd all be goners.
"I know you're scared, but I need you to do whatever you can to keep it together. Don't look at the freaks. Close your eyes and focus on something good."
She nodded again and pulled her shoulders back, drawing a long, controlled breath like the kind women did when they were in labour. “Are you planning what I think you’re planning?” she asked, her voice sounding like it was being forced between chattering teeth.
"Yep." Corpses gathered around the car, creating a constantly moving barrier, pressing their hands and faces on the glass and leaving grimy marks wherever they touched. As more of them arrived, their moans rose in volume, becoming a never-ending drone that filled my head and clouded my thinking. A claustrophobic feeling came over me and my pulse thumped faster as the sea of faces turned into a blurry mass right before my eyes. “I’ll take care of as many as I can through the sunroof. When their bodies drop, they should work like a pile of sandbags and block the others from getting to us. Once it stops raining, we’ll reevaluate.”
“So, we’re just buying time?” Jonah asked.
“That’s all we’ve got.”
I turned the key in the ignition again, hoping for enough charge to open the sunroof. Liv pressed the button overhead to engage the panel, and it moved without issue. Water battered the car’s interior, drawing involuntary reactions from everyone, including me.With the sudden drop in temperature, it felt like tiny knives stabbing my skin.
I switched off the ignition and slid my knife from my belt, preparing to struggle into position.
Liv grabbed my forearm before I could move from my seat. "I’ll do it.”
Rain clung to her lashes, and she shoved wet strands of hair from her face. I pictured her in danger while the rest of us sat in the car, and every muscle in me rebelled against the idea. I locked eyes with her. “No.”
“You won’t fit. I’m smaller.”
“No, querida .”
“I’m not asking.” Liv squeezed my arm and scrambled into a crouched position with less effort than it would have taken me. She apologised for the clumsy way she had to move in the cramped space, then slid her upper body through the sunroof and blocked out most of the rain.
Seconds later, her hips began jolting with each strike of her knife, and my heart went right out there on the roof with her. Corpses dropped in slow motion around us, tumbling and dragging their bodies down the glass. Some of them bumped against the car as they fell, sending thuds through the interior.
Liv’s foot lifted at one point, as if she needed to lean out to reach one. Dawn wrapped her hands around her knee to stabilise her, and I looked out the windshield. So many corpses surrounded us that the chances of getting out of here without losing someone had sunk lower than ever. Liv couldn't take them all down. Her actions were only delaying the inevitable.
If I took out a few through my window and cleared enough space to exit the vehicle, I could jump onto the bonnet and help her. Maybe fit on the roof beside her and drop more of them from there.
"This doesn't feel right," Jonah said, mirroring my thoughts. "Should I—"
"No." Dawn cut him off, sending me a pleading look.
The rain was pouring down. My eyes moved everywhere, trying to absorb all the details at once. More corpses dropped, smashing against the window behind Dawn's head and rocking the car.Liv had made good progress; she'd already culled around a dozen, but there had to be eighty or more left.
"I'm going out there." I turned the key in the ignition to lower the driver’s window.
The smell of rain and wet corpses rushed in, and I grabbed the nearest one to stab my knife into its ear. As soon as it dropped, I reached for the next and jammed my blade into its eye. Each time one body fell, I took hold of another, and before long, I had a pile of eight built up outside the door, the stack too high for others to climb over.
“They’re still coming!” Liv yelled.
I turned in my seat to face Jonah and his mum. "Stay here," I said. "There's not a single reason for either of you to get out of the car. Do me a favour and don’t give me another person to worry about.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked, her panicked gaze shifting to the chaos outside. Her hands were still gripping Liv's leg, holding on tight as if both their lives depended on it.
“I’m getting up on the roof from the outside.”Cold air swept through the window, bringing rain and the stench of corpses. I closed it again to shut out the noise.
"But what if…" Her voice trailed off as if she didn't want to finish the sentence. What if Liv and I died, and we left her and Jonah to deal with this alone ? The reality was that someone needed to help Liv, and we couldn't fit another person through the sunroof. As the minutes ticked by, it was becoming more and more evident that the longer we waited, the more likely we were to die here.
"We'll be okay," I said, about fifty percent sure I was telling her the truth. "Don't let go of Liv."
The bodies heaped beside the car were positioned far enough back for me to ease the door open and squeeze out into the storm. As soon as I shut the door and stepped around them, three more corpses were on me.
Breathing faster, I sliced and stabbed my way free, desperate to get to Liv. She had to be running low on energy by now, and I didn’t know what would happen if she hit the wall. When I’d cleared a temporary path to the front end of the car, I jumped onto the bonnet and watched my step to avoid slipping on the slick metal.
Rain pelted my face and dripped from my hair, soaking my already heavy clothes. Thunder boomed overhead and a crack of lightning lit up the blackened sky.
“What are you doing?” Liv shouted. Her hair was plastered to her head, her sweet face drenched. With her mouth set in a grim line, she grabbed another corpse by the hair and took it out with one precise stab through the eye.
“Helping.” My foot slid on the bonnet, and I righted myself before the momentum could take me down.
Liv shot me a concerned look. “Please don’t fall.”
Another corpse reached for me. I punctured its brain and risked a glance at the rest of the horde. The entire group had rounded the corner, with a couple of stragglers bringing up the rear. My stomach dropped at the sight. We had so much work to do under the worst possible conditions.
Liv’s terrified screech had the hairs rising on the back of my neck. A couple of corpses had got hold of her at the same time and pulled her further from the sunroof. The resistance from the other end let me know Dawn and Jonah had acted fast and anchored her from the interior, but that wouldn't stop these rotting fucks from taking a bite out of her.
A third corpse clutched her hand, and urgency tore through me. She was strong, capable, and basically fearless, but she couldn’t fight off a group of the dead with both arms restricted.
I lunged across the windshield and grabbed the waistband of her pants for leverage. While the rain pummelled both of us, I stabbed the nearest corpse, and its hold on her loosened. The second one stared straight at me with dead eyes, its blistered mouth widening to let out an unintelligible sound. I took it out with a strike through the ear, and it dropped to join the other.
Just as I’d downed the last one to free Liv, the intermittent beeping of a car horn cut through the mayhem, confusing me at first. I blinked the rain from my eyes while I tried to make sense of it. Two years on from the world shutting down, those once familiar sounds didn't fit with our new life anymore.
Liv had turned our car around in preparation for leaving, and the honking came from somewhere ahead of us on the clear section of road.
“What the hell is that ?” she asked, a breath wrenching from her as she shoved another corpse back from the car. A series of thuds and muffled voices came through the gaps in the sunroof, and I could only guess Jonah and Dawn were letting us know about the new arrival, too.
I killed another three that left my shoulders aching and my lungs working harder. The rain was still belting down, but the bright red SUV would have been hard to miss in any weather. “A car.”
My stomach initially tensed, and I wondered if we had another threat to worry about on top of a horde, but everyone knew the more noise you made, the more attention you attracted. The occupants of the car wanted to be noticed, and I could only hope that meant they were trying to help us.
We weren't in any kind of position to worry about their intentions. Liv and I kept ramming our knives into ears and eyes, grabbing hair and yanking heads back to jam our blades through their jaws.
The continuously honking horn would have been irritating under any other circumstance, but it caught the attention of those on the periphery of the group, and they turned involuntarily to follow the sound.
I breathed a sigh and looked at Liv.They were always drawn to the loudest noises, and whenever several of them changed direction at the same time, more of them followed. If we were lucky, only the corpses close enough to know that we were food would stick around.
My heart pounded as a young guy with dark skin jumped out of the passenger side and threw his arms over his head, waving and shouting to draw the attention of more corpses. Whoever was behind the wheel flashed their high beams on and off and the honking continued. Between the two of them, the noise and movement they generated had most of the horde swinging around and heading in their direction.
The rain and wet roads slowed their progress, but enough corpses left that Liv and I could jump down from the roof and take on the remainder at ground level. We swapped our knives for axe and sword. While we focused on clearing the threat, Jonah exited the backseat without being asked and told Dawn to stay in the car where she was safe.
The three of us worked fast, dropping one corpse after another. Dead bodies piled up around us and lightning crackled in the sky, illuminating the gloom for seconds at a time. Thunder boomed and rain drenched our faces. We were all breathing hard, yelling out warnings whenever one of us was about to be caught off guard, working seamlessly as if we’d been together for years rather than days.
The new guy jumped in his car again, and the driver performed a flawless U-turn, sticking to the road and avoiding the soft edges. The SUV travelled at walking pace while the occupants shouted from their windows to keep the horde’s interest, leading the danger away and giving us a fighting chance. I didn’t know if we’d ever get the opportunity to thank them, but they'd saved our lives.
When the rain eased off to a steady drizzle, the apprehension keeping all my muscles taut finally loosened.
“We’re nearly done,” Liv called out, sending me a quick smile. Her hair was stuck to her temples, her t-shirt a transparent film clinging to her body. She must have been exhausted, but her eyes were alert, her movements fast and efficient.
Only about a dozen corpses to go before we could shift our focus to getting our cars operational again. “To your left.” My heart gave a hard thud as I pointed my axe at a corpse trying to latch onto her arm. She turned in one fluid movement and swung her sword at its head, easing my concerns in an instant.
Jonah took on more than his share, maintaining focus and keeping his eyes on each target. “Two more,” he called out, nodding his head at the area behind me.
I spun around and kicked the closest one in the stomach, sending it flailing onto its back. The second corpse—a man with tattoo sleeves and a gaping hole in his cheek where his rotting teeth showed through—tripped over the body and went down. I used a two-handed swing to embed my axe in his skull, yanking hard to free the bit.
Every time I stole glimpses at Dawn to make sure she was staying in the car, I found her tracking Jonah’s movements with an anxious expression.
Her worries would be over soon enough.
Mine, too.
When we finished dropping every corpse, bodies were scattered around the car. Some in piles, others on their own. The scene reminded me of the one we’d come across in Melbourne just before Jackson and his team tried rounding us up.
We were alone here, though.
No one wanted to kidnap Liv, and there were no assholes trying to kill me.
She let out an audible breath and took in the massacre. “We did it,” she said. “I can’t believe we actually did it.”
Liv wouldn't complain about being tired while we were still outside, but after her efforts through the sunroof, she must have been feeling it by now. I wished I could have tucked her away in the car and let her rest, but we still had two vehicles to work on and countless bodies to move, so we could clear room to drive through.
We needed everyone on board, including Dawn, now the danger had passed.
I caught Jonah's eye and nodded at the Ford. "Help me with the car?"
He glanced at his mother and Liv as if to check they were okay, then stowed his knife. "I'll grab the shovel."