Desolation Boulevard (21 page)

As he tried to think of a way out of their
dire situation, Sally suddenly grabbed his arm and pointed toward
their burning car, “Look!”

Bonnie had climbed from the car and, in one
motion, had armed a fire extinguisher and was directing the jet of
chemicals at the flames.

“
What the fuck is she
doing?” asked Dylan frantically, as the marauders advanced towards
her.

“
Hey! Bitch!” the leader
yelled, now only ten metres from Bonnie, who was ignoring him as
she continued to put out the fire that had engulfed their
car.

“
Hey! Forget the car,
bitch. We got something hotter for you!”

As the flames on the roof and hood of the
car flickered and died, Bonnie gradually seemed to realise the mess
she was in. She dropped the fire extinguisher to the ground with a
hollow clunk, and turned to face her aggressors with a face that
gave away nothing. The leader of the gang, who was wearing a red
bandanna as a headband, spoke again. “Ooh, you’re something! I’m
definitely going first with you sweetheart.”

He turned and looked at his three offsiders,
“You motherfuckers can wait your turn.”

They nodded and giggled like naughty
schoolboys, which they probably were, Bonnie thought sadly.

Behind the parked car, Dylan checked his gun
and flicked the safety off, and then quickly did the same on
Sally’s gun. He whispered in her ear, “I need you to do this with
me. No doubts, no hesitation. We’ll only get one chance. When I go,
come with me. Watch out for the recoil like I taught you. Okay? And
don’t hit Bonnie.”

Sally looked at Dylan and nodded, eyes wide
with fear. He moved in front of her in a crouch position and nodded
his head in a “let’s go” motion. As he stood up silently and began
running toward the gangstas, Sally realised that all four of them
had their backs turned because all of their attention was on
Bonnie. As Sally got closer to the pack, she could tell that Bonnie
had seen her and Dylan coming towards her, yet her face remained
passive, as the leader of the gang grabbed her and began ripping
off her top as his three henchmen looked on salaciously.

Dylan stopped about five metres short of the
bandits and nodded at Sally. It was time to act. But as he raised
his gun to shoot, “red bandanna” turned to grin at his gang and in
the process saw Dylan and Sally preparing to fire.

“
What the fuck!” he yelled,
realising that he’d been outflanked.

The three other marauders, who had been
spectators up to this point, turned around as Dylan and Sally let
loose with their weapons. Sally, who hadn’t been prepared for the
recoil after all, sprayed her first couple of rounds wide, but
Dylan’s experience shone through and his first volley of bullets
struck all three in the chest showering the air around them with a
fine red mist.

Now “Red Bandanna” realised he was
outnumbered, so he threw Bonnie to the ground and reached for his
weapon, as his partners in crime fell to the ground in an
undignified, bloody heap. As Dylan and the last standing gangsta
levelled their weapons at each other, Sally thought, somewhat
absurdly, that they looked like mirror images of the other, almost
choreographed. To complete the illusion, both men squeezed the
triggers of their weapons simultaneously and waited for the deadly
impact. What saved Dylan was Bonnie’s spilt-second decision to
throw her whole body at the legs of “red bandanna” as he pulled the
trigger. So, as Dylan’s salvo of fire blew the top off the
gangsta’s head, sending shards of bone and bits of brain into the
air, the gangsta’s shot sailed away into the sky harmlessly,
leaving Dylan untouched.

The toxic stink of the car’s blistered paint
burned the nostrils of Dylan as he swung around to check on Sally.
She looked at him and shrugged her shoulders, as if to say “not a
problem.” He put his gun down and went over to help Bonnie, who was
struggling to get out from under the dead gangsta. “Shit!” she
said, “He’s heavier than he looks!”

“
Yeah, and he’ll have to
wear a hat from now on,” chimed in Sally.

Dylan helped Bonnie to her feet and turned
to survey the scene. The four marauders lay dead on the ground as
foam from the extinguisher dripped from the car and mingled with
their blood.

“
Is anyone injured?” he
asked.

“
No.”

“
No.”

“
Then let’s get out of
here. It’s not a nice place.”

After they had cleaned the soot from the
windscreen and the windows of the car, Dylan checked under the hood
to make sure that the fire hadn’t damaged the engine or the car’s
electronics. When he was satisfied that there was no harm done,
they climbed back in, both women getting into the back seat
together. Dylan was the first to speak once the car was moving
again. “Jesus Bonnie! What were you doing back there, saving the
car? That could have gotten you killed. We can get a new car
anytime! There are millions of them all over the place.”

“
I don’t know. I just
remembered packing that fire extinguisher on top of the other
stuff. I wasn’t really thinking I guess. I didn’t want to be slowed
down by losing our car. I was stupid, wasn’t I?”

“
Maybe, but we made it, so
let’s just try to be more careful. From now we have to be prepared
for anything. I want you both to make sure your weapons are always
loaded, but always keep the safety on while we’re in the
car.”

He looked at Sally in the rear-view mirror.
“Are you okay?”

She nodded but he could tell that she was
close to tears. He guessed that Bonnie was probably holding her
hand.

“
You were great back
there,” he said to her, smiling. “That’s exactly how we have to
become – ruthless. Once we make a decision we need to act on it
without hesitation. I don’t want to think about what those scumbags
would have done to Bonnie if they’d killed us first.”

“
Why do there have to be
people like that? Isn’t it horrible enough just with the zombies?”
asked Sally.

Nobody answered; because there was really
nothing you could say. They stared at the road ahead and were lost
in their own visions of the future.

Chapter 38

Matt woke up to the appealing smells of
coffee and bacon wafting from the kitchen, where Kate, Montana and
Gabby were fixing breakfast. He sat up on the couch and looked
through the big window at the bush outside. The sun had risen, but
wasn’t yet high enough in the sky for its warmth to break through
the rainforest canopy, so the house was a little chilly despite the
fact that Kate had relit the open fire. He stretched and headed to
the kitchen to see if he could help.

“
Good morning sleepyhead,”
Gabby offered cheerily, as she scooped scrambled eggs onto three
plates, under Montana’s close supervision.

“
We were wondering when
you’d finally get up,” said Montana, smiling at him. “It’s nearly
eight o’clock.”

“
That couch is really
comfortable. I slept like a log. I’ll just use the bathroom before
breakfast. Good morning Kate.”

“
Morning Matt. How do you
like your coffee?” she asked without turning around.

“
White, one sugar
please.”

“
Coming up. Now hurry up
and go wash before your eggs get cold,” she demanded, as she filled
his coffee mug from a copper pot.

Ten minutes later as they sat sipping their
coffees (juice for Gabby) in front of empty plates, Matt broke the
comfortable silence. “That was a great feed. Thank you. I feel like
you’ve spoiled me.”

“
Yes, we probably have,”
quipped Kate,  “but that’s okay. You can help me with the
dishes while Montana and Gabby take Elvis outside for a
run.”

“
Sure. No problem,” he
replied, sensing that Kate wanted to speak to him alone.

“
Hey Gabby did you know
that boys could wash up?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at her
comically.

The little girl, who was now dressed in
clean clothes with her hair styled in cute pigtails, looked at Matt
witheringly. “Of course they can! Do you think I’m silly?”

“
Of course not sweetheart.
You’re very smart. I was just teasing.”

He went over to the girl and gave her a hug.
“I have to go and help Kate now. Are you going to help Montana take
Elvis for a walk?”

“
Yes, but Kate said we’re
not allowed to go into the forest. We have to stay near the house,
even if Elvis runs away. It might be dangerous.”

“
I think that’s very good
advice,” said Matt. “Montana will look after you. I’ll call you
inside soon, okay.”

“
Okay,” she said, as
Montana appeared from the bedroom dressed in jeans, boots and a
white t-shirt.

“
Right, let’s get that dog
outside. He must be busting to pee!”

Gabby giggled and called to Elvis, “Come on
boy! Pee time!”

Matt smiled at Montana as she took the
little girl by the hand and led her outside. When Montana beamed
back at him, he marvelled at the change that had come over her
since she decided to leave the evil Brock back in Carswell. It was
as if she had gotten some of her innocence back. He wondered if she
would be able to maintain that outlook, given the situation they
found themselves in. Come to think of it, could Matt keep his own
spirits high? He felt he had to try, no matter how hard it might
be, because suddenly he’d had a huge responsibility thrown upon his
shoulders - he had others that needed him. Maybe if they could
surround themselves with good people, like Kate and Gabby, they
might just be able to create something worthwhile from the ashes of
the old world. His parents would certainly not want him to give up,
and he knew that if they could see how he had handled himself in
the last few days, they would be proud of him. He went to the
kitchen to help Kate with the dishes.

“
It’s about time,” she
joked, from the sudsy sink as he entered the kitchen. She grabbed a
dishtowel from the hanger and threw it at him. “Make yourself
useful while we chat.”

“
What are we chatting
about?”

“
Your plans, for one thing.
What happens to you three now? What do you plan on
doing?”

Matt looked at Kate. His plan had always
been to return to the family farm, but now he realised that Kate
was implying that there was another option.

“
Well, were heading home to
“Two Hills”, that’s my dad’s … I mean my farm. I thought you would
come with us. You know, safety in numbers. The girls really like
you and there’s plenty of room and we all get on really well. It’s
dangerous here and I think we need each other. “

Matt knew before she answered, from her body
language and the sad look on her face, that Kate would not be
leaving her rainforest home.

“
I’m staying right here
Matt. But I really appreciate your offer.”

“
How can you stay here?” he
asked, confused and disappointed. “Especially after what happened
yesterday?”

She simply responded with a question of her
own, “Why are you going home?”

He frowned. “What do you mean? That’s a
silly question. That’s my home! I belong there. I can look after
Gabby and Montana. My parents built that farm up from nothing. I
can’t just walk away from it!”

She smiled at him.

“
Oh,” he said, as the
realisation hit him. “I get it.”

“
That’s right, I feel
exactly the same way about this place as you do about your farm.
I’ve got a lot of memories here. Mostly good ones, but there are a
few unpleasant ones as well. Despite that, though, there’s nowhere
else I’d rather be. I love Gabby and Montana. And you, but I feel
like I’m not needed in your future except as a good friend. You
finding Gabby wasn’t just a fluke. I don’t know what it is, but
she’s important for some reason. Montana can sense it too. You
three need to be together, at the farm. I don’t know, maybe it’s
just as simple as starting over, but whatever it is, you don’t need
me for that.”

“
I guess so, but what about
the feeders? Will you be safe here?”

“
I think so. My
ex-husband’s the only one I’ve ever seen and he’s dead now. I’m
miles from anywhere, so why would the feeders come all the way out
here? I have my shotgun, and this house is very well built. I don’t
think they could get in without a great deal of effort. I think
I’ll be fine. I’m very resourceful, and you could come and visit
every now and then, couldn’t you?”

“
Absolutely. It’s only a
forty minute drive. I could bring the girls.”

“
See? We can stay in touch.
You can have sleepovers here, it’ll be fun.”

Kate looked to the front door as Montana and
Gabby came inside with Elvis.

“
He did a pee!” Gabby
yelled jubilantly. “And a poo! He smiled after he did it! Montana
said he must have been holding on all night!”

As soon as Montana looked at Matt’s face she
could tell that something was wrong. When he told the girls that
Kate wouldn’t be travelling with them, there were tears as they
hugged the woman who had saved their lives, and begged her to
change her mind. She returned their hugs and repeated what she had
already told Matt. Eventually, the girls realised that Kate wasn’t
going to budge, so they accepted her decision with long faces and
began to pack their things into the back of the four-wheel drive.
As well as her chainsaw, Matt noticed that Kate had thrown a shovel
into the back of the car and he guessed what it might be for. After
the car was packed with their bags they all climbed in and
travelled back down the bumpy road to the spot where Matt had
crashed his car.