We made it back to the dried up creek and kept running. We ran towards the town. We ran for what felt like hours.

Kenji finally held up his hand for us to stop.

Jack and Maria and I collapsed in the creek bed. I doubled over, breathing hard. Sweat pouring off my face.

We couldn’t keep doing this.

Daniel had moved over to the bank of the creek, keeping look. He was taking no chances.

Kenji handed us a bottle of water. Our last one. We were each allowed a few mouthfuls.

Daniel moved down from the bank and had some water as well.

“What do you think?” Kenji asked.

“We keep going. We’re almost there.”

“Maybe we should rest up for the night,” Kenji suggested between deep breaths. “Hit the town first thing in the morning.”

Daniel shook his head. “I say we get in and get the hell out.”

“But it’s getting late,” Kenji argued.

“No. It’s too dangerous,” Daniel said. “We can’t spend a night out in the open like this, so close to a town. So close to that mine.”

“I don’t think walking all the way back to the farmhouse in the middle of the night is any better.”

“What if we climb a tree?” Maria suggested. “We could spend the night up there. We’d be safe then, right?”

“I’m with Daniel on this one,” Jack said. “We need to get in and get back to the house as quickly as possible. I do not want to end up in that mine pit of death.”

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“What do you think that was?” I asked.

“Maybe it was like, a nest or something,” Jack suggested.

“A nest?”

“For one of those monster things.”

“Like the monster that attacked us in the middle of Sydney?”

“Yeah. But bigger. A lot bigger.”

“What the hell are they?” Maria asked. “What is going on?”

“Mutations,” Jack said.

“What?”

“Remember on Doctor Hunter’s computer? There was an email that said something about ‘mutations’. Maybe the monsters are like, mutations or something. They’re people that have been infected with the Oz virus, and now their whole body, their DNA or something, is mutating out of control.”

“That’s crazy. That’s impossible.”

“Is it? Last month I would’ve said the same thing. Last month, if someone told me that the entire population of Australia was going to be wiped out by a killer virus that turns people into zombies or whatever, I would’ve told them they were insane. Our world has been turned upside down. We have to consider the possibility that the virus is changing, that it’s changing the people it infects.”

It was a scary thought. And unfortunately Jack made it sound like a very real and very terrifying possibility. At that moment, I really wanted to charge Doctor Hunter’s computer so we could read the rest of his emails. I wanted answers.

In the end we decided that we had to keep moving. If the thing in the mine pit was anything like the monster in the middle of Sydney, if we stuck around, it would hunt us down. It would stalk us and kill us.

After we’d rested up for a few more minutes, Daniel forced us to our feet. We kept walking. We had decided to raid the town as soon as possible. At the very least, we needed to check it out before nightfall. As Daniel reminded us, reconnaissance is a very important exercise.

As we walked along the creek bed, towards the town, we kept checking over our shoulders every thirty seconds or so to see if the monster was chasing us.

I don’t know why we kept looking. We would’ve heard the damn thing before we saw it.

The sun continued to set. The shadows cast by the trees that lined the creek became longer and longer.

Our plan was to raid the town for supplies and get back before sunset, but now it looked like we weren’t going to make it in time.

We kept arguing. Where do we spend the night? Where do we hide?

I think Jack said something about how as long as we find one can of baked beans it’ll all be worth it.

Suddenly a voice from the shadows spoke to us. “You can forget the baked beans. Town’s fresh out. And there’s no point in hiding. They’ll find you.”

It was a woman. She was covered in dust. She was dirty, like she hadn’t showered since before all this started. Her shoulders were slumped forward; her hair was a mess of knots, tangled up into dreadlocks. Her arms were down by her side.

Her right hand was dripping with blood.