Australia Under Attack: Unbroken

Part 2

We make it to the national park just before sunset. The trip had taken longer than expected, due to miles and miles of traffic on the highway. It seems practically all of Sydney are fleeing the city and heading to more isolated areas.

The parking lot is full, so we have to squeeze our car in between a few trees at the entrance to the park. I get out and stretch, happy to be out of the car after such a long drive.

The air smells fresh, like a mix of eucalyptus and campfires. We're at the base of a mountain range, with one trail leading up and another leading further into the bush. A sign suggests camping grounds are scattered all around the park, including near the top of the highest peak.

"Where are we camping?" I ask.

Mum looks up at the mountains and then at her watch. "It'll be dark soon, too dark to hike to the first campsite. So we'll just sleep in the car tonight. Tomorrow we'll drive into town, buy more supplies, then we can make the trek to the highest camp. That'll be the safest one. And the least populated one."

We lay the back seat down and arrange our pillows and sleeping bags to make a bed. Being a four-wheel drive, there's just enough room for the three of us to share.

"This is actually pretty comfy," I say as I lie down. I can see the stars through the window, the green one floating above like an all-seeing eye.

Erin pulls her phone out and opens Facebook. After a few minutes of scrolling, she clicks on a video and holds it up so we can all see it.

"Check this out," she says. It's gone viral. Some American scientist dude talking about the Visitors on CNN.

She clicked play and the scientist began to speak. "I'm not encouraged by the silence. I can think of no benign reason for it. I'm afraid we may expect something closer to Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas than a scene from Close Encounters, and we all know how that turned out for the Native Americans."

The video stops, and we all just lay there, silently contemplating what he had said.

"That sounded promising," Erin says sarcastically.

"We'll be fine," Mum says. She reaches over and gently pushes Erin's phone out of her face. "Get off Facebook. It's a cesspool of negativity and paranoia. Let's watch some cute panda videos instead. Or, who's that girl who cooks on YouTube?"

Erin laughs. "Hanna Hart."

"Yeah, let's watch some of her videos," I say. "We need some cheering up."

We spend hours watching videos and laughing so hard that the car shakes. Soon, we start to fall asleep, the three of us all huddled together under the stars.

Day ten.

I wake up first. The sun is rising, rays of sunshine peeking over the mountain and shining through the windshield. I let out a soft yawn and reach over to my backpack to pull out my phone and check the time.

I press the button, but nothing happens. I try again, and still nothing. Furrowing my brow at the black screen, I sit up, trying to remember if I charged it before we left home. I try turning on the power button, but even that won't work, so I reach over Erin as she sleeps and grab her phone from next to her pillow.

It isn't working either. I think for a moment, confused. She always makes sure her phone is charged so she can Snapchat her friends. I assume we used all her battery power watching YouTube last night and turn my attention to Mum's phone.

But just like the others, Mum's phone is dead, too.

Just then, Mum wakes up. She smiles sleepily at me and pulls me into her side for a hug. "Good morning, hon."