We sat around the huge open plan living room in silence for a while. We all knew Kenji was right. As nice as this luxurious penthouse was, we couldn’t stay here forever.
“So, do we all agree that heading out west is our best option?” Jack asked.
Kenji nodded his head. “We need to get to the less populated areas. The less people there are, the less people the virus can spread to. It’s definitely our best chance for survival.”
“But what about Maria?” Kim asked. “Shouldn’t we try and get word out that we have a person here who may be resistant to the virus? Maybe if they knew that bit of information someone would come and rescue us?”
“Or maybe they would try and do what they did to us last time,” I reminded her. “But who would we even contact? Is there anyone left?”
“We could try contacting the government,” Kim answered.
“We don’t even know if the government is still operational,” I said. “And how would we contact them? The phone networks are down.”
“What about Tasmania?” Jack suggested. “Surely the virus hasn’t magically spread across water. Maybe the government, or whoever is in charge has regrouped down there?”
“We still wouldn’t be able to contact them,” Maria added quietly.
Doctor West cleared his throat. “It only takes one carrier to spread the infection. And I assure you, it can spread across water. My advice would be to stick with your original plan and get as far out of the city as possible. The virus is designed to spread quickly from person to person. No people means no fuel for the fire.”
Kim wasn’t ready to let it go. “But wouldn’t the government or the military want to send help if they knew we had someone who quite possibly held the key to a cure, to the survival of the entire Australian population?”
“I’m sure they would,” Doctor West replied. “But even if they do send a rescue, how long will that take? Days? Weeks? Do you think you will last that long here?”
I think we all secretly wanted to be rescued right then and there. It would be so much easier than fleeing the city on foot.
“First things first,” Kenji said. “We need to make sure all the doors in the stairwell are locked on every level. Especially on the gaming floor. Once we do that, then we can get back to arguing over what to do or who to call.”
“Wait, what about the elevator?” Kim asked. “Are we sure that’s secure? I mean, what’s stopping them from riding the elevator all the way up here?”
Doctor West shook his head. “No. They wouldn’t be able to press the buttons; they wouldn’t be able to read the numbers. They’re just not capable.”
“But what if they did it by accident? Like, what if they bumped into it and they just happened to press the button for the penthouse suite.”
The doctor thought it over. “I suppose there’s a slight chance.”
“Guys, relax,” Kenji said in an attempt to reassure us. “Like we said earlier, you need a key to get to the penthouse floor. It’s completely secure.”
I wanted to believe him but I was starting to agree with Kim. I remembered how easy it was for me to get inside the penthouse the other night. I basically just walked in. And even though we had locked the doors and the elevator needed a key to be activated, I still felt vulnerable, especially with so many infected people down stairs.
“Come on Rebecca, let’s go check the stairwell,” Kenji said.
I was about to suggest that maybe he take someone with a bit of muscle. Someone like Jack or Kim. Kim knew how to handle a gun and she knew how to handle herself. What good would I be if we were to get surrounded by infected people? But then Kenji gave me this weird look and raised his eyebrows. I think he was trying to tell me something but I was too tired to figure out what. At first I thought it was because Kenji wanted to talk about something, like the letter he gave me which I still hadn’t read. But when we were alone in the stairwell, he said he thought it would be best if Kim stayed with the others just in case Doctor West tried anything. Kenji didn’t trust him at all.
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I hadn’t given it much thought. Not after everything that had happened today. Maria was on her death bed only a few short hours ago. Combine that with everything else that was going on and I felt like my emotions were being pulled in about eight different directions. I think it was easier just to ignore the possibility that Doctor West might be dangerous.
But then again, he did say that he created the Oz virus. When I found him, he appeared to be drinking. Maybe the guilt of everything he had caused was too much for him. Maybe staying behind in the heart of the city was his way of punishing himself. Maybe he didn’t want to get to safety. Maybe he didn’t want to be rescued at all. I forced the doubts from my mind.
We began our descent to the ground floor. It seemed to take forever. I asked Kenji how long it would take the infected to find us if they broke through our barricade. He said from what he’d seen they probably wouldn’t be able to find their way off the first floor. People infected with the Oz virus lose all of their higher brain functions, so the ability to think and solve problems is impossible. Finding their way through a hotel all the way up to the top floor would be like finding their way through an incredibly complex maze. There was a chance they might eventually stumble to the finish, but it wasn’t likely. The real danger was if they actually saw us. Once they had something visual to pursue, they wouldn’t stop.
Kenji marked the door that led to the gaming floor with a huge red X that he wrote in lipstick. He did this as a warning, a reminder that this floor was completely overrun with infected people.
“Where did you get that?” I asked about the lipstick.
He shrugged. “Found it in the master bathroom. I figured who ever owned it wouldn’t mind.”
The door that we would need to exit if we were leaving in a hurry was one floor below. We thought it led to the basement, or maybe the casino car park. But we weren’t sure, so we went to check it out. Kenji put his ear up to the door to see if he could hear anything.
“Should we open it?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure that would be wise. I mean, they could be in there. They could be right on the other side.”
“Exactly. I don’t want to run out into that.”
“But if we open it and they see us, then it could compromise our whole safety. If they broke through this door, the stairwell would lead them straight to our room.”
“So you’re saying when the time comes to leave, we should just run out there blindly?”
“At least we would have a head start.”
I guess it was all we could hope for. But even as he said it, I could tell he really wanted to open it. “If we just open it a crack,” I said. “We’d be able to see how far we have to run, and if there are any obstacles in our way. It would be a huge advantage.”
“But if they made it inside to the gaming floor that means there’s got to be more of them around here,” he argued.
I suddenly realized that when the time actually came to leave, we would have to leave in a real big hurry. If there were more infected around here, and there probably was, we would be lucky to make it out alive.
“OK. You’re right,” I said. “It would be pretty stupid to just open it. We would be putting the whole group in danger.”
We were about to climb the stairs back to the penthouse but then we heard yelling, shouting, and loud running footsteps. It sounded like someone had just run past the door. A voice yelled out for help. A man. Desperate and alone. They sounded close, like they were just on the other side.
“We have to open it,” I whispered.
“No way. We don’t know who that is. They could be infected.”
We heard more noises then. A car engine revving to its limit and tires screeching.
Kenji dropped to the floor and lay flat on his stomach. He was trying to look under the door. “This doesn’t lead to an underground car park,” he said. “It leads outside. Darling Harbor is just across the road. I think.”
The guy on the outside must have seen the door because he tried the handle, but it was locked. He then started kicking it as hard as he could. The noise seemed to reverberate up and down the entire stairwell.
I backed away but Kenji finally gave in and opened the door. I expected the man on the other side to fall to his knees and burst into tears and thank us both for saving his life. But there was no one there. We stuck our heads out the door and looked around the corner. The man was already running away. He looked back over his shoulder in our direction, but he wasn’t looking at us. Back down the street where he had just come from, was a military jeep. It was moving fast, swerving all over the road. I couldn’t tell if it was a Humvee, like the one we had driven the other day. I couldn’t tell because at that moment, it was covered in people hanging on. Infected people. They were trying to smash through the windows, trying to get to whoever was inside. The jeep eventually swerved violently and lost control. It somersaulted in the air two or three times before rolling to a stop on its roof about five meters from where we were standing.
Some of the infected people were thrown off when the car flipped, some had been crushed. Amazingly there were a few that had managed to hold on. They never once stopped trying to break through the windows.
One of the soldiers had actually survived the crash but he must have been heavily concussed. I say he must’ve been heavily concussed because as soon as the vehicle came to a stop, he tried to crawl out of the passenger window, tried to crawl through a crowd of infected people. He was immediately set on and ripped apart.
It all happened in a matter of seconds. Kenji grabbed me and threw me back inside the stairwell. He slammed the door shut and backed away slowly.
“We have to go,” he said quietly, almost to himself. “We have to get the others and get the hell out of here.”
As soon as we began running up the stairs, the banging and the thumping started. The noise echoed all the way up the stairwell. It seemed to fill the entire building.
Now that they knew we were inside, they wouldn’t stop.