Bloodshed (Book One in the Apocalypse Trilogy)

Chapter 4: Ghost Town

Location: Outskirts of Mildura

Johnny

It was night, dark. A part of Johnny knew this. Most of him saw the world in bright colours, ever-changing, nothing staying the same for long. He was floating in bright blue bubbles across a yellow sky.

In reality, he was sitting in the bathroom, smoking. The marijuana had taken effect a short time ago, and he was almost completely in his own world.

A knock. He giggled to himself. ‘Knock’ was a funny word.

“Johnny? What are you doing in there?”

A voice. He scowled, the voice interrupting his time.

“You’ve been in there for an hour. You’re smoking, aren’t you?”

Sharon persisted, and one by one, his blue bubbles popped, leaving him without happiness. Only rage.

“You’re going to kill yourself, you know.”

He decided to stop the interrupting. He opened the door. Sharon stood in front of him, slightly afraid of him. Good.

He reached out, and wrapped his fingers around her slender neck.

“Johnny-don’t,” she choked, struggling to get free.

He didn’t let go. Blood leaked out of her nose, her eyes rolled back...

Johnny woke with a start. He’d fallen asleep. It was almost sunset. He relaxed, realising he had tensed all his muscles in his sleep.

“You OK, Johnny?” Cal called from the driver’s seat.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ m fine.

As the barren desert landscape whipped past them, Johnny sang out tunelessly, occasionally joined by Cal or Williams whenever they knew the words. There was nothing to see outside the tinted windows, and soon the car fell into silence, occasionally broken by a remark from someone. To pass the time, Johnny cleaned his shotgun. 

It was sunset when they found something in the desert. It started as a blur on the horizon, but as they neared it they found that it was in fact a town- Mildura. Johnny had a memory of coming here to see his uncle when he was a kid. It was his uncle who taught him how to shoot, even though his mother had objected to it. “The boy’s gotta learn to shoot, Barbara,” his uncle said one day. “He’s gonna need it. Ain’t no-one who got anywhere that didn’t know how to defend ‘imself.” His uncle had no idea how right he was, but Johnny’s life had been saved many times by those evenings shooting rabbits in the backyard. Of course, rabbits didn’t eat you alive if you missed...

They stopped the car in the outskirts of Mildura as the sun went down. Johnny grabbed his Lupara and put his Colt M1911 in his bag with a few smokes, and was the first out.

The town bore almost no resemblance to when he’d last been here. Gone were the trees and the smiling people, replaced by dead ghost of plants and dead ghosts of people, who had yet to show themselves. Johnny had the feeling that they would though. They wouldn’t have to wait long, he was sure of it.                                                                             They decided to check the area around them for food. After some wandering, Johnny saw zombies chasing a dog through the streets. The dog was thin, and had been running for a while. Bite marks adorned its left side. It was going to die soon, as all animals did under the effects of the virus. Johnny ended up at a supermarket. The sliding doors were dead, so he used his gun to smash the glass entrance. It was dim inside, the only light coming from the sunset outside. Flies buzzed around the butcher’s and a corner, which Johnny decided not to investigate. There was no food in storage or on the shelves. The survivors must have taken it all with them.

***                                                                                                                 

Cal and Johnny were gathered around a small campfire next to the Jeep. It was night now, and Williams was still not back. The fire was a beacon for him to follow, but he would have to be quick or it would attract zombies.

It was cold, but the sky was beautiful. After most emissions stopped, the sky had cleared, and the stars were everywhere, shining brightly. They were one of the only good things that had come out of all this. Cal was not marvelling the heavens, however. He was staring intently at the town, waiting for Williams. He was also thinking. Johnny tried to break the ice.

“Nice night,” he commented.

Cal grunted and stared at the fire.

Johnny tried again. “What do you think Williams is doing right now?”

Cal thought. “Weapons. That’s what he’ll be looking for. Ammo and stuff like that.”                                                                                                               Johnny figured it made sense. Williams was all about defence, probably from a past experience.                                                                   Johnny knew that the day was coming when he and Cal would have to talk about what had happened with Sharon. He knew that it was his fault, but they both didn’t want to open old wounds. He hadn’t meant to kill Sharon but he hadn’t quite had control over himself at the time. It tended to happen when you were high. Sharon had been Cal’s wife, and his only family. After her death he probably had felt more alone in the world than he ever had. Johnny was about to mention it when a moan went off not too far away from them. Cal’s head snapped up, and in five seconds his shotgun was in hand and he was surveying the area around them. More moans echoed, and Johnny guessed that they were surrounded by at least fifty zombies. Then the first zombie stepped into the light. Cal shot it and they both scrambled onto the roof of the Jeep. This was going to be a close one. As more came into the light, Johnny and Cal blasted away and began to run out of ammo. They could only hope that the gunshots would bring Williams. Johnny’s gun went click and he began to reload. He had six shells left.      

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Thank you for reading! Next few chapters coming soon. By the way, I'll soon be releasing character sketches of Williams, Cal, Johnny and a not yet known character.