Experiment Undead

Kate has spent hours giving us all horse-riding lessons, from how to properly mount the horses, hold the reins, steer the horses and make them trot, canter and gallop as we ride toward Rokewood.

I race past everyone on Dreamer and then slow down and circle laps before making Dreamer trot as we return back to the group.

‘Show off,’ Oscar laughs, and then almost falls off Tillie as he struggles to control her for a moment.

‘Well done, Penny,’ Nate smiles and nods in approval at my riding efforts.

Kate smiles, ‘You’re a natural, Penny. Keep up the good work,’ she says.

My lips widen to a grin as I’m feeling proud of myself. ‘It’s amazing what you can achieve when you listen for a change, Penny,’ she adds.

My smile falters, and my shoulder’s drop as everyone tries to contain a laugh. My eyes glower at everyone, and they look away not wanting to feel my wrath.

‘My leg’s hurt, Mummy,’ Emma says, ruffling her mother’s hair.

‘I suppose we should take a break and let the horses graze for a while,’ she says to Emma. ‘Let’s take them over to the trees for shade,’ she points.

The horses graze as we sit in the open field by the road. I notice something shiny in the long grass. I lean forward and lift a sign missing the right side, ‘ome to ewood,’ I read, raising an eyebrow.

‘What is it, Penny?’ Oscar asks.

‘It’s a broken sign,’ I say, turning it around to show everyone.

Nate stands, approaches and takes the sign, ‘Could it be Welcome to Rokewood?’ he says, ‘It’s still a while to get to Rokewood from here. So, why would this sign be out here?’ he says.

I push my hands into my pockets, ‘I guess we’re about to find out,’ I smile.

Nate raises an eyebrow, ‘I suppose we will,’ he replies.

There are hundreds of cars along the road with dead soulless scattered around. Nate squats down and places his hand on one of the thick tracks on the side of the road, ‘These tracks are from tanks. Army personnel must have been here and killed all these soulless,’ he says.

I follow Nate up to one of the cars. There are bullet holes along the side and through the windshield.

‘Wait, this doesn’t make sense,’ he says, staring at the dead soulless woman slumped over the steering wheel. ‘Soulless can’t drive, so why are there so many soulless dead inside the cars?’ he says,

He opens the passenger door and gently pushes the lady back against her seat. Her eyes and mouth are wide open.

Nate and I gasp, cover our mouths and step back in shock.

‘Her eyes,’ I stutter. They’re still blue. She was never infected,’ I turn away. I can’t look at the poor lady any longer.

I follow Nate to the next car. There is a man and woman in the front with multiple bullet holes. They are also not infected. I look into the back seat to see a young boy and girl riddled with bullets. I step back, falling over.

‘Penny,’ Nate shouts, runs around the car, and crouches beside me.

‘Are you okay?’ he asks.

I’m still on the ground. The gravel digs into my elbows as I sit up. I stare at my feet. I can’t look up. Not even at the sky. ‘Why would the army shoot people who aren’t infected dead? Mums, Dads, children,’ I say, gesturing to the back seat.

Nate stands and peers in the backseat. He grabs his hair with both hands, ‘What in the hell is going on? This can’t be right. There has to be more to what we are seeing,’ he says.

The ground beneath my feet begins to vibrate, the sensation growing stronger with each passing second. A faint screeching sound echoes in the distance, causing me to tense up.

‘Nate, do you hear that?’ I ask urgently, turning to him for confirmation.

He places his hands on his hips, his eyes squinting as he stares down the road. His face drains of colour, and I know we’re in trouble.

‘Quick! Get back to the others. Get to the trees with the horses,’ he orders, his voice urgent.

Without a second thought, I jump to my feet and race towards the group. ‘The trees, quickly!’ I shout, grabbing Emma’s hand and pulling her along with me. We crouch behind the cover of the trees, our hearts pounding as we watch the oncoming danger.

As the source of the noise grows closer, I realise that it’s not just the sound of a car, but a helicopter as well. Nate lies down in the long grass, peering through his scope to get a better look.

A station wagon zig-zags between the cars on the road. I notice two women, a man and three children inside. The man looks terrified as he desperately drives, swerving and speeding over the dead. The helicopter blades whir, as it draws closer to the vehicle with each passing second.

‘What’s going on?’ Todd asks.

‘We don’t know, but just to be safe, we should stay here,’ I reply.

Suddenly screams erupt from the car as the helicopter shoots at the car.

‘What the fuck,’ Todd shouts in disbelief.

‘The helicopter is from the army,’ I point out the soldiers inside.

‘Then why are they shooting civilians?’ Todd asks.

‘I don’t know. Maybe one of them inside is infected?’ I shrug.

‘I guess that would make sense, but that’s still no reason to shoot the others in the car,’ he adds.

The screams of the passengers inside the car fill the air, drowned out only by the deafening roar of gunfire. The helicopter circles the car, relentlessly firing until the car explodes in a fiery burst, sending debris flying in all directions.

The horses panic, but Kate and Nancy calm them down.

‘Crikey,’ Oscar says, as his arms wrap around me and pulls me into him as a flaming tyre near misses me by an inch.

We tumble over and land staring at each other with wide eyes as chaos continues to erupt. I nod at Oscar in thanks for saving me.

The helicopter is still shooting, but they have already hit their target. Confused, I crawl off Oscar and peer out from the tree.

The helicopter circles and shoots toward Nate. One soldier falls out after Nate shoots him. More bullets fly from the helicopter.

‘Nate!’ I scream.

Panicked, I zip open my duffel bag, grab my handgun and aim it at the helicopter.

‘Penny, what are you doing with a gun?’ Todd shouts, Give it to me right now.’

I oeer over my shoulder and give Todd a death stare, ‘If you know what is good for you right now, you will fuck. Right. Off!’ I say to him sternly.

‘Penny!’ Kate yells.

Todd steps back, holding his hands up in surrender.

I ignore Kate, take a deep breath, and carefully aim. With one eye closed, I focus the other on the pilot, but the helicopter won’t stop moving around.

The helicopter is about to circle again. This is my chance. I pull the trigger. Blood splatters across the windshield, ‘I did it. I got him,’ I say in disbelief.

The others step out from behind me and watch the helicopter fly out of control with the pilot now dead. It crashes into the ground on the other side of the road, bursting into flame.

‘Holy macaroni,’ Oscar says, staring at the helicopter, ‘You got it,’ he says, turning to me. His smile widens, and my cheeks suddenly feel warm, but I look over his shoulder as Nate runs toward us. I burst into a run and jump up into Nate’s arms, knocking him over.

‘Bloody hell, Penny. You saved me,’ he laughs.

My facial expression changes from relief to confusion, ‘Couldn’t they see you were like them? You wear the same uniform,’ I point out.

Nate’s, eyes brows lower, ‘You would think, but I don’t know. The more we’re out here, the more confused I’m becoming,’ he says.

‘Me too,’ I reply.

Nate stands up and grabs my hand to help me up. Todd, Oscar, Kate, Nancy and Emma stand beside me, staring at the burning helicopter. Nate stares toward the car and runs toward it. It’s still burning. He crouches as close as he can. His head and shoulders drop before turning. He shakes his head, indicating they’re all dead. We follow him over to the helicopter. The three men inside are also dead. Nate rubs his eyebrow and shakes his head again. He walks over to one of the cars on the road and kicks it. Then leans his back against the vehicle crossing his arms.

We give him a few minutes to cool off before approaching him.

‘I want to know what the hell that was all about. A car full of civilians and the soldiers are dead,’ he says, angry. ‘It pisses me off to see all these lives wasted. They didn’t have to shoot those people, and I know they knew I was one of them, yet they proceeded to target me.’

‘We’re going to find out why, Nate,’ I say to him.

He looks me in the eyes and nods, ‘Then we better get going,’ he says.

As the others walk over to the horses, I look around, ‘Wouldn’t it be quicker to get there by car? One of them could be working?’ I say to Nate.

‘Generally, I would go for it, but seeing as everyone in a vehicle around here has been shot or blown up. I think we should take the quieter and slower approach of travelling by horse,’ Nate says.

‘Good point,’ I reply.

Nate stares at te dead, ‘There must be at least a thousand dead people here, maybe more. They could have been saved, but instead, they were killed. I haven’t even found one person who is soulless amongst them yet,’ he says agitatedly.

His face softens as he faces back to me, ‘Are you okay, Penny? You saved my life. I know that, but that’s not an easy choice you made. Shooting one man to save another,’ he says.

I flinch and step back, blinking a few times. I look to the side in thought. I was so scared of losing Nate that I never hesitated to kill the pilot.

My eyes water and I stare back at Nate, ‘I-I wanted to kill him. I had to save you. I didn’t even think about it. I wanted to do it. Does this mean I’m a bad person?’ I ask, tearing up.

‘No, Penny, you’re not a bad person. You saved my life. You’re a hero. You’re my hero,’ he says and hugs me.

‘Really? You don’t think badly of me at all?’ I ask, staring up into his eyes.

‘Of you, Penny?’ he laughs, ‘Never. Now let’s get out of here,’ he smiles.

Although, I appreciate Nate reassuring me that I’m not a bad person. I can’t help but feel guilt add to the rest of the guilt and shame I already carry.

We hop onto the horses and race ahead until we can see Rokewood in the distance. There’s a helicopter flying in slow circles around the small town.

Nate uses the scope of his rifle to see closer, ‘I can see six army convoy trucks, one tank and at least four dozen army personnel. Some of the houses appear damaged. There are also white tents set up in the middle of the street. I also see three people with their wrists tied, walking towards a tent. A soldier is behind them with his gun pointed at them.’

‘Maybe we should seek refuge elsewhere? Something doesn’t feel right,’ Kate says.

‘Let’s go around. There’s heavy bush and lots of trees along the north side. We need to monitor to figure out what’s going on. If this town is under army control, then others would be too. They are meant to be protecting the people, not harming them,’ Nate says.

We walk the rest of the way, leading the horses beside us through the ense area of trees along Rokewood-Shelford Road, then turn right along Kuruc a Ruc road. There we find a large dam surrounded by plenty of bush. We tie the horse reins to a low branch by the dam. The horses drink from the dam and graze.

Nate stares at Kate, ‘You stay here with Oscar and the girls. Todd, you will be coming with me,’ he says.

I step forward, ‘I want to come too,’ I protest.

‘It’s better you stay with Kate. If something goes wrong, at least you will all have a chance to take the horses and get away,’ Nate explains.

‘Well, I still think I should go with you,’ I argue.

‘Well, Penny. I think not. You will stay here and do as you are told,’ he says sternly.

We narrow our eyes at each other and glare.

I cross my arms and mutter, ‘I think not.’

‘What did you say?’ he asks, raising an eyebrow.

‘I said, good luck,’ I lie.

‘Ahem, I’m sure,’ he replies, waving his hand around.

Todd walks by his side. I watch them until I can no longer see them through the shrubbery.

Kate clears her throat, ‘How about I tell you all some good old nursery stories,’ she says enthusiastically, clasping her hands together.

Nancy and I give each other a bored look while Emma jumps up and down, ‘Yes, I want Goldilocks,’ she says, whizzing Molly around.

Nancy, Oscar and I moan.

‘Now, don’t be like that. Come sit and listen,’ she says.

Nancy, and Emma sit directly in front of her like the obedient daughters they are. While Oscar lies behind them like a starfish, readying himself to be bored out of his brains.

However, I climb a tree behind Kate, ‘I’ll listen to the story from here,’ I lie.

Kate sighs, but then nods, ‘Very well then,’ she says and begins the story.

Nancy tries not to laugh as I discreetly climb down the tree. As soon as I’m on the ground, she gives me a “I know what you’re up to look, and you will get into trouble” I shrug to show her I don’t care. I then gesture my finger over my lips to tell her not to say anything. She frowns buts nods.

I follow Todd and Nate’s foot tracks and hear gunshots in the distance, but I know Nate and Todd aren’t too far, so it won’t be them. I’m led to a high wooden fence to find Nate looking over it while Todd is crouched, keeping post. Todd sees me and looks mad. He nudges Nate.

Nate drops down, ‘What is it?’ he whispers.

Todd points at me, and now the two men are glaring at me.

‘Penny!’ Nate scowls in a low voice.

I smile, ‘Hi, fancy meeting you two here.’

Nate sighs, ‘You may as well stay now you’re here. There’s a fire station over this fence. A soldier is walking around doing laps. His name is Henry. I trained with him last year. I’m going to climb over and approach him. We were good buddies back then, so I should be safe. I want you both to stay here while I speak to him and find out what’s going on,’ Nate says.

Todd and I nod and help lift him over the fence. I pat my back to feel my handgun is still there.

‘Get down on your knees and put your hands on your head,’ we hear Henry shout at Nate.

A small hole in one of the planks of wood is in the fence. I point it out to Todd, and we peek through. Only to give each other a worried and confused look.

Nate is on his knees with his hands on his head. Henry has his gun pressed against Nate’s forehead, ‘I thought Nate said they were best buddies?’ I whisper to Todd.

‘Clearly not,’ Todd replies.