TeenZ

Ferry and Loss

I sat up gasping and wheezing, feeling tears starting to well up in my eyes. Everyone else was still asleep, so I quietly climbed outside, avoiding stepping on Scarlett and into the cold morning air. “Was that the last thing that lady ever saw?” I asked myself quietly. I walked over to the Land Rover and grabbed a can of spaghetti. I opened it and began eat, sitting quietly beside the fire pit. The sun began to rise over the tree tops, casting a bright orange light over the clearing. I tried to relight the fire but the cold night caused dew to form on everything. I set my empty can down and stood up, I walked over to the bus and grabbed my machete. I started walking around, making sure no zombies were near, but more in a desperate attempt to remove the image of my friends and family being zombies from my head. I shook the nightmare from my mind as I walked around the surrounding area of out camp. After I was certain that the area was clear I returned back to the camp site.
As I got closer to the tents I heard that Leo was awake and crying. I walked slightly faster and saw that everyone was already awake and sitting around, Kaycee had Leo in her arms and was trying to feed him but he wasn’t eating. I stabbed my machete into the dirt and sat down with the group. “Does anyone have any idea where we are?” I asked “I saw a sign yesterday saying sometime about Mount Worth State Park if that gives any idea as to where we are” Shannon said, Ebony pulled the map from her bag and set it on the ground, we started looking over the map, searching for Mount Worth State Park, “Here” Shae said pointing to a small blob of green “Ok, so we know where we are… kinda” Tom said “But where do we go now?” Tom asked “We could head North, search for a safe place?” Jess suggested “No, it’s everywhere, and besides, we don’t have enough fuel to make it that far” I said “Then how about French Island?” Jess suggested pointing to a small island, similarly shaped to Tasmania in Westernport Bay “It looks like you can only get there by Ferry so it’s safe” Jess added “It’s South-West of here, we could probably get there before it gets dark and find somewhere to stay” Ebony said moving her finger along the path we could take “Well then, shall we pack up and get moving?” I asked standing up. We all stood up and started packing up the tents, I grabbed Scarlett out from inside the tent and put her in the bus. She curled up into a ball again and continued sleeping. I walked back out of the bus and continued taking down the tents. We packed them back into the bags and loaded them into the Land Rover. I climbed in the passenger seat of the Land Rover with Ebony in the driver’s seat, everyone else climbed into the bus. Ebony passed me the map and I started directing us towards Corinella to catch the ferry to French Island.
We drove through twisting and off roads moving gradually closer to Corinella, we passed through a small town called Nyora, everyone who once lived in the town were out on the streets, wandering around searching for out their next meal, we rolled through the town quickly, hitting the zombies out of the way without stopping. We exited the town and the zombies began stumbling after us slowly. We started driving South along the coastline until I told Ebony to turn right. We drove onto a small peninsula right up to the water’s edge. Nothing was around apart from the fields behind us and the water in front of us. We followed signs until we found the wharf where the ferry departs. The ferry was floating there, tied to a wharf with its back open to allow for cars to park on it. Ebony drove forward and parked the Land Rover on it, the bus followed behind. I climbed out of the Land Rover and walked to the back of the ferry. I walked off the ferry and onto the wharf. I walked over to the ticket booth and looked inside. The keys were hanging on a small hook inside. I went around the box to the door, I twisted the handle. It didn’t move. I walked back over to the ticket window. I grabbed a large rock off the ground and threw it through the window. The glass shattered instantly, falling to the floor of the booth. I reached in and grabbed the keys, I walked back to the ferry and climbed into the driver’s box. I turned on the Ferry and began searching for the way to close the back ramp. A small lever was on the right of the control panel, I looked closer at it, small, faded stickers labelled open and close were below it, I pulled the lever downwards. A mechanical grinding noise sounded as the ramp closed. I leaned out the box and shouted “Someone untie us!”. Tom walked over to the rope and disconnected us from the wharf, I pushed another lever upwards and we set off towards French Island.
We drove for about 10 minutes, I presumed that by just moving forward we would reach French Island easily enough. I spotted the other wharf in the distance. I turned the boat around and began reversing the boat to the wharf, I couldn’t see where the wharf was in relation to the back of the ferry so I only stopped when we hit the wharf. The ferry jerked and I quickly turned off the ferry. Tom tied the ferry to the wharf as I released the ramp, Shannon climbed into the bus as Jess climbed into the bus. They reversed the vehicles off the ferry as I climbed out of the driver’s box. I walked off the ferry and onto the main land, the smell of gum trees giving off a pleasant smell compared to the smell of rotten flesh and gore. I stood there for a while, just enjoying the peace of the island. Everything looked undisturbed, like no one lived on the island, birds went about their day collecting food, I could see a few koalas sleeping in the gum trees. Kaycee walked over to the ranger’s box with Leo in her arms, he was cooing quietly, she tried to look through the window but a layer of dust prevented her from seeing anything. She walked around the box out of view, I heard the sound of rusted hinges creaking open.  With the light shining through the doorway I could slightly make out the outline of Kaycee walking in. Kaycee screamed as I saw her outline fall backwards. I ran back onto the ferry, pulled my machete from the Land Rover and ran around the box, Kaycee was on the ground, a zombie dressed in a ranger’s uniform was lying on top of her, savagely tearing into the stomach, blood flew everywhere as Kaycee screamed. I raised my machete and quickly severed the ranger’s head as everyone ran around the box with their weapons raised. Its head rolled into the water. Kaycee was no longer screaming, instead she was crying uncontrollably. She rolled the body off of her and climbed to her feet, chunks of blood and gore fell to the ground. A large, blood covered square fell to the ground, bloody side down. The square was a baby-blue blanket. I suddenly realised what had happened, and apparently so had everyone else. Ebony dropped her nail gun and quickly hugged Kaycee, not caring about the blood that covered her uniform. Kaycee’s sobbed into Ebony’s shoulder, Ebony began walked with Kaycee towards the bus. I picked up the blanket and walked closer to the water. I knelt down and began digging a small hole. Once deep enough I placed the blanket in the hole and recovered it. I broke off a stick from a nearby gum tree which was shaped like a cross and placed the stick so that it was standing at the head of the grave. I walked silently away from the grave and back to the ranger’s box. I reached in and grabbed a map from a small, wooden box. I walked back towards the vehicles and climbed into the passenger seat of the bus. Ebony was comforting Kaycee, Shannon was in the driver’s seat. James and Shiro were already seated. I opened the map. “Ok, drive along Mosquito Creek road until we reach The Centreway where we turn left” I said not looking up. Shannon turned the bus on and we started driving with the Land Rover following behind.