As They Rise (The Eva Series #1)

Eight

Through the windows we could see more and more of the infected starting to fill the streets. Quietly, we huddled together in the office, glued to the television, waiting desperately for signs of this nightmare coming to an end.

“It’s getting worse.” Ben murmured, almost as though he was talking to himself. 
I listened closely as the reporter came back onto the screen, noticing her eyes were red and puffy, as though she had been crying.

We’ve just had word that all phone lines along the east coast are completely jammed from the record number of calls for help. Thousands are trapped all over the city as the virus takes hold of more and more people. Countless reports confirm that those who are infected can turn violent within minutes and decay at a rapid rate. We here at Channel Three News have barricaded ourselves into this studio, and I suggest anyone watching this do the same. Lock your doors, stay quiet and don’t let anyone inside... no matter who they are.

She began to choke up during that last sentence.

Just stay inside, and wait it out. With any hope we’ll…

She was interrupted by a loud crash coming from behind the camera. 
The reporter screamed as she disappeared behind her desk, hiding from whatever had just broken in. 
The picture turned sideways, and I realised the camera had been knocked over.

The last thing I saw before the picture went static was a hoard of infected zombies swarming over the news desk, the blood curdling screams of the reporter and the crew suddenly falling silent.
I turned to Jo to see her wiping a tear off of her cheek with her sleeve.
“We gotta get out of here, now.” Said Wyatt, standing up from his chair.
“She just said to stay inside!” Jo had started to panic.
“And look what happened to her.” I said, with the news station only blocks away from us, I knew we weren’t safe at the diner.

“I say we go to Melbourne Central Plaza. There’s a Bob’s Camping store there; we can grab some camping gear and more weapons. Whatever we’ll need to survive. Then, I really need to see if my parents are okay.” Ben replied as he stood up next to Wyatt.
“Survive?!” Jo shrieked, her voice trembling. “How can we survive in Melbourne Central? That place will be crawling with those… those… zombies! Then you want to go to your parents? We can’t be driving all over Melbourne!”
“He’s right though, Jo.” Wyatt put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. “We’ll need more than just some homemade spears to survive. We need to find supplies, and that’s the best chance we’ve got. But are you sure you want to risk going to see your parents?” He asked, turning to Ben.
“I have to. I can’t just leave them there. It’s fine if you guys don’t want to come, but I need to see them. Maybe they’re locked inside like we are.”

For the first time in my life, I felt grateful my parents weren’t alive. I couldn’t bare going through this knowing they were out there, in danger or infected. 
With my parents gone, Jo’s Mum and Dad overseas and Wyatt’s living in Cairns, Ben was the only one who could make it to see his.
“I’ll go with you, Ben. We can find your parents after we leave Melbourne Central. We’ll definitely need to get supplies from there first.” I said as I stood up next to Ben, placing my hand on his shoulder.
“And if we’re lucky enough to make it out of there alive and find Ben’s parents?! Then what the hell are we gonna do?” Jo wasn’t calming down.
Ben walked over to Jo and held her as she fell to pieces in his arms.

I could see Wyatt was thinking something over in his head, and he sighed as he finally came out with it.
“We can go to my brother’s.”
“What?!” gasped Jo, staring at him blankly.
Wyatt had only mentioned his brother a few times before, but he never once had anything nice to say about him. From what he had told me, his brother was a conspiracy theorist who lived somewhere deep in the woods in a cabin, trying to stay ‘off the grid.’
“You mean the brother who’s constantly rambling on about the next Top Secret Government mind-control plan? Or predicting a zombie apocalypse? Or…” Ben paused. “Oh.”
“Yeah,” said Wyatt. “Looks like he’s not so crazy after all. Besides, he lives in the middle of nowhere on a huge block of land, he’s got a ton of canned food and supplies – enough to last at least a few months. He’s even got guns. It’s our only choice if we want to get through this.”
I always strongly agreed with Australia’s no guns policy. I saw it as one of the reasons this country is so safe. Now, it could be our end. If Wyatt’s brother had guns, food and security, that’s where we needed to be.
“Where does your brother live?” I asked, looking up at Wyatt while holding Jo’s hand as she whimpered onto Ben’s shoulder.
“Just a bit further than Cairns.” He mumbled, preparing for our reaction.
“Cairns?!” We yelled, flustered.
“Yes. But it’s ok. I know the way, it shouldn’t take more than forty hours if we all take turns driving… and don’t stop.”

I started to feel light-headed again. 
Not only do we have to get out of the diner and to Melbourne Central, but then we have to find Ben’s parents, and get from Melbourne to Cairns, with zombies crawling all over the place. 
A huge task lay ahead of us, but we had very few options. 
“Wyatt’s right,” I decided. “We can either stay here at the diner and wait for what happened to the news reporter to happen to us, or we can take our chances on the outside. If… No, when we make it Cairns, we’ll be safe.”
“There’s only one problem.” Wyatt uttered, scratching his head.
“Just one?” Ben asked sarcastically.
“What is it?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.
“Ben’s car is too small for all of us to fit, and Jo and Eva, you walked here today, right?”
We both nodded.
“Well, that only leaves my car. And it’s parked two blocks away. We’ll have to run for it.”

I slid the door open a little to see at least three zombies walking passed the diner windows.
Jo groaned. “How are we going to get to it? We can’t just walk out the front door!”
I reached for my satchel.
“I have an idea.”