Auspocalypse Now

6. Ballroom Blitz

There were about fifty patrons in the club and eight staff, left standing. This included the stag party group Freddie was with, including the prospective groom and best man, Freddie was one of twenty mates. Most of the stag party were Defence Force, about half still in, half reservists and from a few different areas. They were pretty capable. Freddie was standing at a tall table in the middle of the bar, but stood with his back to the wall, talking with six of his mates. The others were in small groups around the bar a number of them were chatting with local girls.

Freddie was still thinking about the incident where Yasin was thrown out when he noticed a commotion outside the doorway to the bar. His inner sense went onto alert. His mates around him noticed the change in his demeanour and automatically tensed up.

The commotion moved inside when the woman screamed. One of Freddies mates, a sergeant, Tom, who was with the SAS, saw the woman then her friend being attacked and immediately called out. "To me lads," and to show he meant it, he roared "NOW."

Brad, doorman no longer but now a predator, on hearing the scream, was triggered to kill. He grabbed the nearest person to him and bit him on the arm. The man wrestled free and escaped further damage, Brad instinctively turned to his next victim.

As Yasin was going berserk from the front of the bar, Brad similarly joining in from the back of the bar, the stag party all moving quickly to Tom, the rest of the patrons running away to the outdoor drinking area, the staff diving over the bar counter; the battleground quickly formed.

Yasin slouched, growling at the front with four bodies prone on the floor around him. Brad slouched, growling at the rear with three bodies around him and the stag party sandwiched between them, in an organised testudo formation surrounding seven girls and four local lads. A few of them had grabbed short tables and held them up as shields, a few others had taken broken table legs and stools, the rest stood strong and were bracing themselves for what was to happen next. The Romans could still teach modern soldiers how to shape up.

Yasin and Brad appeared to be in tune with each other. The virus had started to let them know who is like them and who is not. Their eyesight couldn't see exactly what was in front of them but their other senses were in overdrive. They sensed the testosterone flowing from Freddies group that was keeping Yasin and Brad from joining up. Their heads rolled sideways and towards the disorganised group in the outside drinking area, which was pulsating with fear. The staff behind the bar had hit the floor, the bar and the alcohol fumes in the area masking their presence, for now.

Yasin and Brad moved around Toms group and onto the outside drinking area where they met up. They then launched into the outside group and systematically bit and raked their way through them. The attack was vicious and methodical, they were efficient killing machines, not that they knew it.

Tom and Freddie were thinking through their next move. They had only seen such immediate violence in the movies. Combat operations usually had a script to follow even when it didn't go to plan.

Although Tom had called the lads to him, six of them followed by three of the locals under their protection, broke away from their rudimentary defensive formation and ran to the drinking area, with their shields and weapons at the ready. As they covered the short distance, Yasin and Brad, little and large, turned and faced them, slouched and growling, heads rolling from side to side, sniffing the air and licking their lips.

Tom screamed at them. "Get back here now!" The three local lads turned their heads, the six troopers hesitated. Yasin and Brad didn't, they launched themselves over the first few and landed in the middle of the nine, a few of which now had their backs to them. In minutes all nine were on the ground, dead, or moaning and bleeding profusely.

Half of the patrons of the bar were now wasted and bleeding on the ground. This had taken less than fifteen minutes. One of the bar staff had used her mobile phone and dialled emergency services and in the noise of the killing cried for help. The operator on the other end of the line could hear the screams and immediately on-called the police to respond. As Surfers Paradise was an established drinking area, there was always a squad on call, with riot equipment ready, set up to quell bar fights. This squad responded.

Yasin and Brad stopped and faced the diminished group that was standing ready to take their attack when they again rolled their heads and picked up the crying and fear oozing from behind the bar. They turned their attention to the easier prey and the staff hiding there, cowering in absolute terror, were shredded in seconds. Yasin and Brad were tired now and needed sustenance. They had expended a lot of energy in their frenzied attacks and needed something to eat. Oblivious to the carnage they had created and maintained, they each turned to the broken human remains on their side of the bar and ravenously clawed and bit chunks of meat from the now dead bodies to satisfy their hunger.

Tom realised they had a chance to save some of the remaining people and spoke calmly to the group. "I want three with me, the rest to go out the front, but barricade that door on the way out." One of the others, also a sergeant, said he would organise that. Tom motioned to Freddie and picked two others, Mick and Adam, to follow him. While the killing was taking place, Tom had told those around him to get what weapons they could. They had all improvised and made clubs from broken furniture. Tom and his three stood between the bar and the front door as the rest of the group escaped the bar. As the other sergeant went through he told two of the lads to pick up the doorman Frank on their way out. The other people they passed were beyond saving. Tom told them to save their energy and make tracks.

Tom was one of the earlier bunch of drinkers that had been talking with Yasin and he had also briefly said hello to Brad the doorman as they had gone into the bar. He couldnt work out why two strangers had gone berserk at the same time. When the others had made their way outside, he heard the sounds of a heavy outside table being turned on its side and pitched up against the door, blocking it off. Tom said to the others. "This is it lads, we have to finish this, are we on the same page?" Freddie, Mick and Adam, responded positively they knew the task in hand. Tom called out loudly "Yasin, can we talk?" As he said this he realised that neither Yasin or the other guy had said a word in their rampage. Apart from howling and growls, nothing else had left their lips. Freddie with a club, and Mick with a spear flanked Tom with Adam and his club watching their backs. They had done this naturally, Tom, with his improvised weapon had instinctively known who should stay with him.

Yasin and Brad turned their heads up, rolled them and heard a noise from the patron side of the bar. They didn't understand the question but the sound had gained their attention. They dragged themselves from their latest victims, around to the side of the bar. As they stood up, in a slouchy kind of way, they were dripping with blood and small pieces of human flecked their clothes. They then dropped and crawled on all fours, in tandem, along the length of the bar towards the new sound.

The stench of recent death made Tom and the others gag, but they didn't lose their focus. "Be ready lads, don't wait for them, on my call take them down." Tom hadn't taken his eyes off Yasin, Freddie on his right was lining up the other guy. Mick, with the spear, had quietly moved in between them. Adam started to turn to also face the front. Tom has eyes in the back of his head. "Keep watching our backs Adam, we don't know what is going down, there may be more." As he said that, the staff door at the back of the bar creaked open and the waitress who Brad had turned was stood there, dripping blood. She had gorged on the kitchen staff on her way through and sensed her friends needed some help. And now there were three.

Tom's plan to rush the two guys was no longer viable. The odds were turning against them, time to work something else out.