The Lost Journal Part 19

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 sh.e.l.ling 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 G.o.dd.a.m.n 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 ma.s.sively 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 h.e.l.l 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 h.e.l.l 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 sc.r.a.pers 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, sh.e.l.ling, 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 G.o.dd.a.m.n 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.

"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l," Jack whispered.

Maria had her hands over her mouth, shaking her head. "What do we do?" she said quietly. "There's so many of them."

"Get down. Stay calm," I said to them both. "They haven't seen us yet."

We crouched down behind an abandoned car.

"Where did they come from?" Maria asked.

"There might have been an evacuation route through here," I explained. "Bad news if you have a lot of people in a confined area. The virus would've spread from person to person in a matter of minutes."

"We'll never make it to Center Point," Jack said. "Not with that many infected running wild through the city."

"We need another place to hide," I said. "Somewhere close. Something we can fortify."

Jack motioned with his head over my shoulder, back down the road, away from the infected. "The Town Hall. It's an old building. Solid stone walls. If we can board it up, secure the doors and the exits, it might be all right. At least for a while."