Experiment Undead

As I gaze to the left, my eyes behold a towering wall of dense greenery as far as the eye can see. The trees are tall and straight, reaching the clear blue sky above. The leaves rustle gently in the breeze, creating a soothing melody that blends with the symphony of bird songs.

The scene is much the same to my right—the trees and brush stretch before me in a vast, impenetrable wall. The sunlight filters through the canopy, dappling the ground in a patchwork of light and shadow.

The air is thick with the sweet, earthy scent of the forest and the occasional fluttering of a butterfly or the scurry of a small creature through the underbrush. The only sounds breaking the serenity are the distant rustle of leaves and birds chirping.

As I gaze out over the landscape, I am drawn to the uninfected wallabies and kangaroos grazing in the distance. They move with effortless grace, their lithe bodies blending seamlessly into the natural surroundings. Oscar smiles and takes their photo the moment he sees them.

I’m grateful for the moment of peace amid chaos, taking a deep breath and allowing myself to be completely absorbed in the beauty of the wild. For a brief moment, I forget the danger that lurks just beyond the edge of the bush and the knowledge that the virus is still out there.

James drives off the quiet main road and follows the picnic area signs. The winding path is surrounded by tall trees and lush greenery, casting dappled shadows over the truck as we make our way up the hill.

As we reach the top of the hill, a breathtaking view of the surrounding landscape opens up. The rolling hills are carpeted with emerald grass, and the distant mountains are shrouded in a misty veil. James expertly parks the truck between the toilet blocks and a wooden picnic table, and we all pile out, eager to stretch our legs and explore the area.

I lift Emma down, her small hands clutching my shirt as I set her feet on the grass. Kate is already helping Nancy out of the truck, her soothing voice reassuring her as she makes her way to solid ground.

The air is cool and crisp, invigorating our senses and filling us with renewed energy. As we make our way towards the picnic table, anticipation fills us, eager to run around and enjoy the beauty of the great outdoors.

Carrie and Todd step out of the vehicle, and the sound of the engine fades away into the serene stillness of the forest. Todd snatches his bag and strides through the trees with forceful determination. ‘Toddy, where are you going?’ Carrie calls out, her voice echoing through the lush greenery as she pursues him. The leaves crunch under their feet as they hurry towards the dense undergrowth.

Todd’s anger is palpable, emanating from him like a pulsating aura. The earlier tension between him and Oscar still lingers, casting a shadow over their otherwise peaceful excursion. Carrie knows Todd needs space to cool off but continues following him anyway.

Suddenly, Oscar jumps out from the back of the truck, his eyes darting back and forth between Carrie and Todd. He frowns as he watches his uncle storm off, his thoughts conflicted about whether to follow him.

James steps forward and places a reassuring hand on Oscar’s shoulder, his expression calm and collected. ‘Give him some time. I’m sure he’ll be back shortly anyway, once he gets hungry,’ he says, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. ‘How about we shoot some wild rabbits, and I’ll show you, kids, how to skin them since it’s going to be our main source of food for some time?’

Our surroundings fall silent once again, and the only sound that can be heard is the soft rustling of the leaves as we take a moment to contemplate James’s proposal.

‘Great idea, Oscar needs the shooting lessons anyway,’ I beam, trying to uplift everyone’s mood.

Oscar nods and looks over his shoulder sullenly before facing us again.

‘I’ll set the tent up while you kids hunt dinner,’ Nate says.

Kate approaches, twiddling her fingers, ‘I think I’d like to learn how to shoot too. I need to be able to protect myself and help protect the group rather than being a bystander. When the soulless almost got Emma earlier today. There was nothing I could do to help. I could have lost my little girl today, and I cannot bear the thought of living without either of them. I had to rely on all of you to save her, but if I had a gun and learnt to use it, I would have been able to save her myself. I want to be useful to the group, and I want to be able to protect my own two daughters,’ she says, tilting her chin up.

‘Very well then,’ James smiles, ‘I’ll grab an extra rifle from the army truck. Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to shoot a few rabbits to feed all of us,’ he says, licking his lips as he takes another rifle from the truck.

We follow James and have been walking for over an hour. We crouch around him as he squats down.

He points at the rabbit droppings, ‘Fresh shit. That’s a good sign,’ he laughs.

‘Eww,’ we all say and laugh.

‘See that?’ he points a little further up. ‘There’s a burrow and another over there,’ he says. ‘While we wait for the rabbits to show, I’ll teach Kate and Oscar how to use the gun.’

Oscar and I smile, sharing a small cheeky glance at one another, knowing I spent the morning teaching him how to use the rifle.

As we wait for the rabbits to appear, James patiently teaches Kate and Oscar how to handle the rifle. He demonstrates how to hold it properly, how to aim, and how to pull the trigger. Kate listens intently, her eyes focused on the weapon in her hands, while Oscar’s attention wanders back to me. James points to the safety and the lever to eject the magazine, pulling it out and then pushing it back to click in place.

James looks up as we giggle at each other, he then clears his throat as Oscar, and I playfully elbow each other, ‘Oscar, you need to pay attention if you want you and your little girlfriend to survive this world,’ he says.

A warm feeling creeps along my cheeks. James just referred to me as Oscar’s girlfriend! I glance at Oscar to see his cheeks are also red.

‘Girlfriend?’ he says, ‘I’m not even fourteen until next month, and Penny is twelve. I’m not old enough to have a girlfriend yet,’ he retorts.

James laughs, ‘Well, I had my first girlfriend in primary school. I must have been seven years old. The relationship lasted a whole lunchtime,’ he laughs.

‘Oh, you’re so funny,’ Kate says, laughing with him, ‘How adorable that would have been,’ she adds.

Oscar takes my rifle, ‘Safety,’ he says, switching it off and back on. ‘Button to eject the magazine,’ he says, ejecting it out then pushing it back in till it clicks. Oscar pulls the charging handle, points the muzzle toward the burrow and looks through the front sight as a rabbit hops out. He takes the safety off and pulls the trigger, shooting the rabbit dead on the first go.

‘Alright!’ I shout and jump up with delight. I face Oscar, and we hi-five. ‘That was an awesome shot, Oscar, and on your first go!’ I add.

‘Well done,’ Nancy smiles.

The gunshot scares Emma. She runs behind her mother and clings to her leg.

‘It’s alright, Emma,’ Kate says, rubbing her back in reassurance.

James is deeply surprised and taken aback. He looks between Oscar and the dead rabbit before staring at me.

He crosses his arms, ‘Let me guess, little Penny Toughin here has already been teaching you?’ he asks.

Oscar and I smile and shrug.

We’ve been sitting in the brush, waiting for hours. So far, no other rabbit has come out.

‘One rabbit won’t feed us all, but it’s better than nothing, I guess,’ James says, pulling a sharp knife from his boot. ‘Now, to show you how to skin and gut it,’ he smiles.

Kate has Emma count the ants on a tree, so she doesn’t have to watch. James removes its head and feet, and Nancy spins around and throws up. I want to join her; the bile creeps up my throat. Come on, Penny. You have to watch it. You have to learn. This is how we live now. This is how we survive. Focus. I tell myself.

James skins the rabbit, then removes its insides, ‘Now we rinse it through water, and it’s ready to cook!’ he says, dangling the prepared rabbit in my face. I turn and vomit.

‘Oh, man,’ I say and hurl again.

As we begin our long trek back to where the army truck is, I hear the rustling of a bush. I aim my rifle and slowly scan the area I heard the noise. Everyone stops and watches me.

*Bang* I pull the trigger. The sound echoes through the trees, followed by a heavy thud.

‘What on earth did you shoot?’ James asks as I run towards my kill.

‘Dinner,’ I reply, staring down at the dead deer.

‘Nice work, Penny,’ he says.

I nod.

I feel awful for shooting the deer, but I know we all must eat to survive, with many towns bombed and crawling with soulless. I know the food will be scarce anywhere we go until we can find a Safe Hold to live in.

Kate helps James lift the deer over his back to carry it, ‘This will keep us fed for days,’ James smiles as we follow behind him.

The sun begins to dip lower in the sky, casting a warm golden glow over the surrounding landscape. The air is filled with the sweet scent of eucalyptus and the distant sound of a kookaburra’s call. The sky gradually fades from gold to deep orange to a rosy pink as the sun sinks below the horizon. The night becomes dark, and the moon shines brightly over us.

We return to camp, all feeling a sense of accomplishment and with the promise of a warm meal and the glow of the campfire that Nate has made.

Todd and Carrie are sitting by the fire next to Nate. Todd makes no effort to look up or make eye contact with anyone and remains silent. Carrie is leaning into him and has her hand on his knee.

‘That’s a big rabbit,’ Nate jokes, staring at the deer.

‘Sure is,’ James says and drops it to the ground. ‘Penny, it’s your kill. You get to skin and gut it yourself,’ he says.

‘What! I don’t think I could,’ I say, horrified. ‘I could barely stomach watching you prepare the rabbit,’ I add.

‘You’ll get used to it, Penny. Now get your butt over here. I’ll help you a little,’ he says.

‘Fine,’ I huff and walk over to the deer.

James drags it to the nearest tree and then collects rope from his truck. He shows me how to tie the knot around the hind legs, throws the rope over a thick tree branch, pulls the rope, and lifts the deer off the ground.

I grab my knife from my boot and cut where James points, down its middle. We skin it, removing its skin in one large piece.

James hangs it over a lower branch, ‘Best to dry it out, and then it can be used to keep you warm at night or used as clothing if need be,’ he says.

I wrinkle my nose and furrow my eyebrows as I cringe. James laughs and shakes his head at me.

I cut the flesh of the deer open down its middle. My stomach feels queasy from the smell of blood, and I feel the urge to vomit. I close my eyes and sing, ‘Sunshine, lollipops, care bears everywhere.’

James raises an eyebrow, indicating his surprise and confusion at my song choice. However, I continue to focus on the task, taking a deep breath and carefully removing the liver, kidneys, heart, and intestines. While the sound of the organs slipping out and slopping onto the ground is disturbing, I continually hum my calming song, distracting my mind until the gutting process is complete.

We take bottles of water and use them to clean the meat, rubbing it down to remove any remaining blood or debris.

As we finish cleaning the meat, Nate approaches with a thick, straight branch. James takes the branch and sticks it through the deer, preparing it to be cooked over the fire. The men each take an end of the branch and hold it over the fire, slowly turning it like a spit roast.

As the meat cooks, everyone remains silent, watching as the flames slowly sear the outside of the meat, giving it a delicious smoky flavour. After what feels like hours, the meat is finally cooked and ready to be eaten.

James takes a large knife and cuts large chunks of meat off the deer. We line up eagerly, each taking a piece of the succulent and juicy meat. We sit around the fire in a circle to eat. As we take our first bite, the flavour explodes in our mouths. The juices drip down our faces as we devour the meat.

Even though Todd and Oscar are still ignoring each other, the atmosphere is now one of satisfaction and contentment with our stomachs full.

Nate stands, ‘You should all get some sleep. I’ll take the first watch, and then Todd and James can take watch the second half of the night,’ he says.

‘I’ll take the first watch with you,’ I tell him.

‘Are you sure?’ he asks.

‘Yes, I’m sure,’ I smile, stand, take my rifle and follow him to the picnic table.

Nate and I sit back-to-back on the table as everyone else enters the tent to sleep except for Todd and Carrie, who decide to sleep in the back of the truck instead.

We stare up at the stars in the beautiful night sky. After a while, I realise I don’t know much about Nate besides him having been a new army recruit and only eighteen years old.

‘Tell me about your family. You must be missing them?’ I ask Nate.

He jolts at my unexpected question and remains silent for a while before replying, ‘It’s not something I discuss,’ he replies.

‘That bad, huh?’ I say, with a sigh and lean my head against his back.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ he answers.

I pause as I sense the sadness in his words, ‘It matters to me,’ I reply gently.

Nate turns his head to peer at me over his shoulder. He appears taken back but also troubled in thought, ‘You don’t talk about your past either, you know. Your life before ending up with the Toughin family,’ he says.

‘No one has ever asked me. I’m sure Jane had a fair idea, but she never asked me about it. I think she hoped I would naturally tell her one day when I was ready too. But to be honest, I don’t think you can ever be ready to tell someone these things. I tried to tell my social worker, but she said I was a troublemaker and a troubled child with behavioural issues. That I’d just be wasting the court’s time and to stop wasting hers. So, I never mentioned anything of it again.’

Nate leans back, ‘How about this, then? I’ll tell you my past if you tell me yours. Maybe talking to each other can help lift the weight from our shoulders?’

I sit forward and swing around, making Nate almost fall back, ‘Alright, but we have to promise never to share each other’s secrets?’ I say, holding my little finger up. He sits up, faces me, and grips his little finger over mine, ‘Pinky Promise,’ he smiles.