The Mulligan Planet (14 page)

Another fist collided with the
soft grey jaw of the biochemist who had the blame of the failure
thrust upon her by general Shenim, “Because of you our race is
doomed to extinction!” her words dripping from her lips like venom
as Neysor looked into the white room while leaning on the curved
archway. The scientist looked up into Shenim's burning blue eyes
which were partially obstructed by the long brown strands of hair
across her face, but not obstructed enough to prevent the haunting
image of her pupils in a thin slit, “You m-m-must understand
general, we did t-t-t-tests which were successful, you bei-” a
blood splattering slap silenced her, “You are never to speak of
that!” the scientist began sobbing again while looking on the
floor, Shenim raised her fist and Neysor decided to intervene,
“Shenim! That's enough.” she spun to face Neysor, “Commander!” her
white armour tightening as she brought her arm to her chest, the
scientist following weakly in her brown lab-coat and, despite the
anguish that Neysor felt, forced pity into his heart, “Lai,
shouldn't you be somewhere else?” tension built up between the
three as Lai nodded and scurried out of the room, a white panel
door falling behind her.

“What are you doing Neysor? It's
her fault that this has happened!” Shenim was acting like an angry
child and she knew it as soon as she looked into Neysor's black
eyes, “Calm Shenim, mistakes do happen, it was not her fault.” her
eyes widened and her brows furrowed, “Calm?” she began pacing the
room, “Calm!?” her fingers running through and pulling her silky
hair, “Yes general, calm.” Tears ran down Shenim's lighter skin,
“Only you could say 'calm' at a time like this!” The brotherhood
was taught three very simple rules: one, learn patience for the
young bloods, “The planet is filled with monsters!” two, never
break the brotherhood, “This was our last hope! We have nothing
left!” three, the most important, “Maybe not our last hope.” and
the one that Neysor hated the most, “What do you mean?” he crossed
the room and placed his hand on Shenim's mid-section, leaned in and
kissed her lips lightly. Never fall in love.

“John, if we survive this I’m
going to kill you.” The flames were licking my back but in spite of
being in a fatal situation we’d learned a valuable lesson, they
were very vulnerable to fire, went up in a second and were down
after a few more, “Yeah, yeah, but let me save us first.” There was
a window at the end of the hall next to the stair well, I struggled
to remember how high up we were as the smoke got thicker and the
hall got hotter. 'You're floors up, Harry can probably make that'.
Problem was if I smashed the window the fire would get pulled
toward it pretty damn quickly, even with the room's window open
behind us, “Get it off me!” I spun to see a child, a little boy,
well, what was left of him, dangling off of Harry’s arm while he
pushed on its head to prevent it from biting him. I waited for the
perfect moment before grabbing it by the scruff of its neck,
holding it at arm’s length, “We’re going out the window, you think
you can make it down?” I threw the kid at a zed flailing out of the
flames, “Yeah, I can make that.” the flames were creeping out of
the room and further into the hallway allowing more and more of the
dead to come running toward us, “Let’s go-” they weren’t going up
like before, some of the dying and charred corpses must’ve been
acting like a path, blocking the flames from the fresh assailants
making their way up toward us, “Now!” I kept my head facing the
damaged and slightly less flame covered zombies chasing us down as
I ran for the window, their gnashing teeth and guttural roars
proved incredibly distracting.

I turned my head just in time to
be able to dive through the window, hitting the neighbouring
building's hard brick wall and bouncing me down onto the alleyway's
hard concrete pavement shoulder first, rain sprinkling over me
shortly before a small explosion sounded above my head as the
building took in a sudden breath of fresh oxygen, giving the fire a
burst of life. Harry landed on his feet next to me, “Smooth.” I
stuck out my hand and he pulled me up, “Again, I save your ass and
I don’t even get a thank you, didn’t your mother teach you
manners?” I dusted myself off and readjusted the duffel. A breath
of relief released itself involuntarily from my lungs as I saw the
large metal gate standing between us and the now burning street,
“She did, but she also taught me that a fat guy gave me presents
every year and that a fairy came along to collect my loose teeth,
so what did she know?” we shared a laugh for a moment in our minute
of safety. Then a epiphany fell upon me, “You have any family or
anything?” we started walking away from the fiery wreck of the
apartment block and street, “Yeah, my sister, she’s in Thailand
though and I never knew my dad and my mum, died when I was young, I
had a girlfriend but we split up last week.” No hunting for family,
I mean, his situation was sad, but it was good, meant I could focus
on staying alive and finding
my
family, it might sound like
I was being selfish but they were important to our survival, they
were the only capable people I knew. If Harry and I were going to
survive we needed them.

“So what's the goal from here?”
I shrugged as we stepped backward through the shadows, away from
the street of burning dead, sneaking toward a coffee shop in the
street now ahead of us as the zombies roared, running around
aimlessly behind in the flames, “I don't know, we should probably
get to work on setting up a base of operations, somewhere small
where we know the way around.” we darted across the
destruction-ridden street and ducked through a broken window of the
brightly lit cafe. A single zed sat at a table, groaning
continuously as Harry moved up behind it, his revolver in hand, and
brought the heavy wooden handle across the back of its head;
sending a crack though the shop as the zombie slumped uselessly
forward. I peeked out into the street, the glowing orange of the
flames was staying put. None had followed us but I still had this
strong feeling that we had to keep moving, “Let's go out through
the back door, we'll stick to the back-paths for now.” A nod
confirmed that we were on the same page as we made our way past the
counter and into a small back room, the metal-barred door that led
to the exit swaying lightly in the wind. I made my way for the door
but Harry raised his hand to stop me, “I've had a thought.” I
waited for a moment for him to elaborate, “Yes?” He pointed to a
power box by the door, “Maybe we should start shutting off power in
places we've searched, try and conserve what little juice the city
will have left.” It certainly wasn't a bad idea, juggling between
how time consuming it was and how useful it could potentially be I
decided that it would be worth it, “Sounds good.” He strode up
proudly to metal box and flipped the main breaker switch, plunging
us into darkness.

I drew in a deep breath as I
stepped out from the cafe where we had decided to spend the night
into the smallest amount of sunlight that was peeking through the
dense clouds. A warmth spread out over me while I kept my eyes
firmly shut, “Open your eyes you big baby, you look ridiculous.”
Hesitance was forcing itself into my being, I longed to see the Sun
without fear for the first time in years but I had been trained by
pain since the day I was turned. “If you don't open your eyes I'm
leaving you here.” I opened my eyes, flinching every one of the
five seconds that it took me to do the seemingly simple task.
Blinding natural light hit me in the face forcing me to blink
uncontrollably, a smile sitting comfortably on my lips as I finally
opened them fully, the street bathed in the yellow light that I had
missed so much. I surveyed the ruins we stood in and saw only
beauty, “You cannot imagine what this feels like Harry.” stretching
my arms I spun around for a few moments before Harry grabbed my
arm, “Alright princess, let's go. We've got to get a lot done
today, I'd like to find a place where I don't sleep in a cold-room
tonight.”

Forcing myself away from my
euphoric state I nodded and took the rifle from the duffel into my
hands, “You're right, where to first?” Harry shrugged as we began
to walk down the footpath, the Sun becoming drowned by the sea of
grey above us and pushing a sombre mood over the previously joyful
street, “There's a shop a kilometre or so north that I'd like to
check out, something I've always wanted.” I was curious to say the
least, “Going to elaborate on that at all?” he shook his head as we
passed a burning car, rain beating heavier down on us, “You'll see,
trust me, you'll like it.” my hair had began to layer itself over
my head as we trod through the middle of the splashing street,
water seeping into my shoes and soaking my clothes, “I know you're
excited to get to wherever it is that we're going but we need
thicker clothes, something better than what we've got, water
resistance wise.” Harry nodded, abandoning his soaking beanie,
“There's an Op-Shop over there.” he pointed toward a sign swaying
in the increasing winds, “Looks good!” A low growl met my shouted
response through the piercing rain and wind.

“Don't get grunchy!” another
growl, deeper and angrier than the last, Harry looked over his
hunched shoulders, “I thought that was you!” the growl got closer
and we stopped, Harry pulling his revolver out while I waved my
hands frantically and desperately mouthed '
No!
' he shrugged,
“What?” a hiss was all I could make out as I pointed to my ear and
then attempted to mimic a zed, a point that was clearly going over
his head, “What?” frustration took over and I stormed over to him,
“They have sensitive hearing you dense son of a-!” his hand clapped
over my mouth as fear polluted him, his eyes staring at something
behind me. I moved his hand and sighed as I grabbed his gun,
turning to face four sets of blackened eyes staring at me over
their frothing mouths, “See Har, this is why I wanted to be quiet-”
I marched toward the dead now rushing at me, “it appears they can
hear us-” I slammed my fist into a zombies forehead, crunching its
skull, “and can differenti-” I'd pushed the revolver into another
zed's eye socket while forcing another to the ground, “-ate between
alive and undead, so can we please-” I caught the final zed in a
headlock, popped its neck from the rest of its spine and let it
slump loosely to the soaking gravel, “Remain quiet.” I turned to
face a disgusted looking Harry who was nodding, “Yeah, you got
it.”

Blood dripped off of my fists
and the end of the gory revolver as I pulled it out of the slack
jawed zed before following Harry toward the Op-Shop, his shoulders
hunched, a shiver rattling through his whole body. The store had
been barely touched by the chaos, a glass door where a red cross
sat was still intact, the cross brought back sore memories of the
hunters, the night of the attack seemed like a distant memory
despite happening only days before. Harry prodded me in the back,
“There you go again, zoning out, you ever going to tell me what you
think about?” He pushed passed me and opened the door, “Maybe when
we get the time.” I stepped into the store, the scent of baby
powder and cheap laundry detergent lingering in my nose and mouth,
“Time? What? You got somewhere you need to be?” A chuckle bounced
from my throat to the dry plaster walls surrounding us, “I suppose
not, but I would really rather wait until we don't have to
constantly watch our back, it's a long story.” He accepted this as
he started rustling through clothes while I started on a stand
further away, dozens of jumpers and jackets in an array of colours
and tones stood out to me. Settling on a light brown jumper and
darker leather jacket I dropped the duffel and chest holster before
tearing off my freezing clothes down to my mostly dry underwear and
t-shirt, I slid the jumper over the shirt and clipped my chest
holster back on, the few seconds I had been without had allowed my
body to relax temporarily allowing the realisation that I had
barely taken it off in the three days of the apocalypse. The jumper
fit comfortably while the jacket was slightly over-sized which was
desirable as it had to fit over two layers of clothes and my
guns.

Pants and shoes were an easy
decision, faded dark blue jeans that sat a few centimetres too high
and a set of old cadet boots that fit perfectly over the thick
green socks that were buried in the right boot. As I tightened my
laces Harry came bounding around the corner, “What do you think?”
he'd taken to wearing a button up shirt, black jeans, joggers and a
large woollen trench-coat, “Lose the coat.” he frowned at while
rubbing a fold of the coat in his hand, “Why?” I stood and felt my
feet sit in place as I kicked the ground lightly, “Because you'll
get caught on something or by someone.” a loud, groaning huff came
from Harry, “Come on John, it’s warm and dry. Plus, it looks
awesome.” I strained myself putting the duffel back on, for some
reason I was exhausted after the brief fight, “You know what? Fine,
it's up to you, but if you get snagged don't expect me to save
you.” a smile launched onto his face, “Thanks.” struggling a smile
back through the waves of dizziness proved too difficult and I
quickly found myself sitting on the floor with Harry rushing over
to me, “You alright John?” spots were invading my vision and I was
swaying, I knew this feeling but couldn't define it, “I... Yeah, I
think so.” A concerned tone had made its way into Harry, “When was
the last time you ate something?” Hunger! That's what it was, “Oh,
um... It must've been the day of the invasion.” Harry's brow
furrowed, “Wait here.”

I laughed a little as he darted
out through the front door, his coat billowing behind him
spectacularly, “It does look pretty good.” 'Oh great, delirium has
set in.' the base of the duffel acted as a support while I slumped
forward slightly for a moment, a cold sweat settling under my skin.
The door flung back open and Harry was soon spoon feeding me some
kind of wheaty paste with milk and honey, the deliciousness
detracting from how much shame I'd normally be feeling. The cold
sweat was dissipating, the dizziness faded enough for me to take
the bowl from Harry's hands, “When did you last eat?” He shrugged,
“This morning I had carrots from the cold room. That was good. I
just assumed you grabbed something as well.” I attempted to nod
unsuccessfully as I slurped the remaining contents of the bowl,
“It's my fault entirely, I've been too focused on finding the
team.” Harry helped me to my feet, it was certainly less daunting
than before, “Get us where you want to go before I get dizzy
again.” the downpour was making it next to impossible to see across
the road once we'd gotten back onto the covered footpath, “Let's
stick to the path, for now, if there are any zeds we'll sneak
around, I don't think I've got it in me for another fight, or
running for that matter.” we moved at a brisk pace, occasionally
peeking through shop windows and in the cars that littered the
street in search of survivors and zeds, I was coping at first but
after five minutes I was losing steam again, not as bad but it was
definitely noticeable, “How far Har?” we stopped and he looked
around for a moment before settling on a location across the
street, “There.” I looked across and saw a comic book store, its
neon sign still flashing pale blue.