Carrier (25 page)

However, after a few hours into our journey the next morning, I started to doubt that others existed at all.

Houses started to pop up along the roadside, in small clusters, small towns with odd names like
Chattering,
where little streets branched off from the highway. There seemed to be no movement at any of these towns, and after we passed the sixth one, I changed gears and slowed the truck before pulling over on the side of the road.

We got out, stretching our legs as we walked around the nearest house, calling out ‘Hello!' But only the whistling wind answered.

The kitchen was bare, as though the people had eaten every last skerrick of food before leaving.

But when I stepped into their bedrooms I realised the house hadn't been abandoned at all.

Two adult-sized skeletons, with a smaller skeleton nestled between them lay beneath a moth-eaten blanket stained with something dark.

‘What is it?' Petra asked, as she and Sammy tried to wriggle past me to get into the room.

‘Nothing,' I said, keeping my voice bright and happy. ‘Let's go. We want to get to the beach in time to watch the sun set over the ocean.'

Their giggles echoed though the hollowness of the home, bouncing off the walls. I couldn't get them out of there quick enough and decided not to stop at another house. There would be no food left in any kitchens after seventeen years, anyway. We'd survive on fish and whatever grew on the trees we came across. I pictured apples, oranges and grapes and although I'd never tasted them before, my stomach groaned with anticipation.

We passed through the city of Perth, the tall buildings drawing ‘ooohs' and ‘ahhhs' from the kids, but giving me the shivers. The way the tall towers speared up and towards the sky and cast shadows over us made my heart race with panic, as if there was a possibility they could topple over us at any minute.

Cars were strewn across the road, as though people driving had suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and ran for their lives.

I had to carefully navigate the truck around the rusting bodies to get through and continue on down the road, which according to the many green and white signs was called a
Freeway
.

A sigh of relief whistled through my teeth as we left the city behind us and travelled down the freeway, turning right twenty minutes later, because that way headed west, towards the coast.

We drove through narrower streets lined with houses, hundreds of them, and I knew from my books that we were driving through the ‘suburbs'. To see all of these homes, that once housed families — parents with laughing children — bare and neglected, the windows smashed and the insides dark and hollow sent a cold shiver down my back. The only thing that lifted my spirits was the blinding horizon, and the setting sun.

We drove up a small hill and as we came over the top, my stomach lurched and my heart stuttered.

‘The sea!' shouted Sammy and Petra in unison.

I stood on the break and the car skidded to a stop.

There before us spanned the ocean, the Indian Ocean, in all its shimmering glory.

In silence, we watched the sun slip behind the sea, leaving behind streaks of gold and orange against the pale, purplish sky.

Patrick would love this,
I thought, wiping away the tears that streamed down my cheeks before the kids could see them. And I wondered then, seeing as it had crops, if the ship had any bodies of water on it to simulate the ocean?

Nothing as beautiful as this.

A minute later, Petra straightened in her seat.

‘Let's go to the beach,' she said happily, swinging her legs back and forth. Sammy nodded and I nodded back.

‘Okay. Let's go catch some fish,' I said, as we drove down the hill and towards the sea. After weaving our way through another small suburb, we found ourselves in a large area of gravel; a car park, judging by the numerous cars lined beside each other in a neat row.

We got out and slammed the car doors behind us. The sandy coast was deserted, except for the seagulls which hovered above and then dove into the surface of the sea.

‘Silly birds,' said Petra laughing over the soft roar of the sea.

Sammy shook his head. ‘They aren't silly. They're catching fish.'

‘That's right,' I said, before ruffling his hair, which was already mussed up from the sea breeze.

‘Dad told me,' he added, his face solemn while he stared out at the ocean.

After looking at several homes, we chose one nearest to the water, so that we could watch the ocean while we sat at the dining table. I had to smash a small, stained-glass window, which depicted a soaring blue dragonfly on it, to unlock the front door, and checked first for dead bodies. When I was completely certain there were none, I allowed the children to roam free and explore the rooms.

After a few sleepless nights, we decided to sleep in the master bedroom together, with Emma curled up at our feet. This sleeping arrangement seemed to reduce the nightmares and give the children a sounder sleep.

I myself found it difficult to close my eyes and not see the faces of those that I loved and missed, no matter how many days and weeks had passed.

Mum's face was already fading from my mind, just like Dad's and Alice's had. Patrick's face came and went. Sometimes, I'd wake up from a dream, left with a crystal clear imprint of his face in my brain and I'd lie there in the dark, listening to the gentle breaths of the children, wishing Patrick was here with me, hoping that he'd forgiven me for not telling him the truth about his dad.

Despite my nocturnal angst, time passed quickly.

The kids and I spent our days catching fish and then cooking it. By day we swam in the sea, and used the sunlight to practice our reading and writing. We tried not to venture too far from home in case we stumbled across skeletal remains because the one time we did, Sammy cried and wouldn't go outside for a week.

It was only at night, while the kids slept their soundest, that I took to the streets and scavenged other houses for food — not that I expected to find any — and clothes. Most had already been stripped bare, the shopping centres included, most likely when the disease had first hit.

Sometimes I hoped to run into another person, like me, foraging through the hollow homes, someone with children for Petra and Sammy to play with.

But I never did.

Everyone was either dead or gone.

Sometimes we built fires on the shore, in hopes a boat would see us or another batch of aeroplanes would fly to our rescue. But none ever did. Perhaps the entire world had been whisked away by the Aticonans.

Then, one morning, I awoke to a strange rumbling sound that rattled the windows and shook the earth.

Sammy was standing at the window, watching the ocean. Though it appeared to be a cloudless day, a sudden darkness descended upon us — as though a large black cloud had passed over the sun.

‘What is it, Sammy?' I heard Petra say.

I got up out of bed and pulled my oversized dressing gown on, stubbing my toe on the corner of the dressing table and swearing beneath my breath.

By now the sky had turned completely back, darkening the house.

My heart thudded to a halt. The children screamed and Emma whimpered.

With shaking hands, I lit a candle and moved to the window.

Sammy turned to me, his lips parted, his eyes as round as breakfast bowls.

‘They're back, Lena.'

I made the children stay in the bedroom, beneath the covers with Emma, while I stepped outside.

The gale-force winds slammed the door shut behind me and pinned me against the brick wall. Above me the night glittered not with stars, but with the flashing electric blue lights of Aticon's ship which spanned the entire sky and reached the endless horizon.

My body trembling, I waited for Aticon's voice to penetrate my mind, but it did not.

Several minutes passed, during which I shouted at the ship, imploring somebody to tell me what was happening.

Then a hissing sound erupted and hot air rushed at me. I shut my eyes and shielded my face from the heat, my body curled up against the house bricks, my heart racing. Surely they wouldn't land the ship on top of us.

But when I looked again, the ship was moving
away.

‘No! Come back!' I waved my hands above me.

Greetings, Lena.

‘Don't go, come back!' I screamed.

Your people have found much happiness on our ship. All are now disease-free and thriving. Most of the men enjoy working the crops on the ship fields.

I thought of Jonny, and how he would have enjoyed working in the fields, but had never gotten that chance.

Control, Lena, harness your emotions.

I sucked in several deep breaths, through my nose, until a wave of calm doused my anger.

Your mother has coupled with the man you call Mattie. They are expecting their first young in a month,
said Aticon, like he was reciting the gossip pages of a magazine.

A thorn of bittersweet pain stabbed at my heart to think of Mum. Did she think of me and miss me like I did her?

You mother thinks of you each day. You are never far from her thoughts.

‘Tell her I love her,' I whispered to the ship, my throat thickening with emotion.

Lena, your sadness and longing, over time, has weakened me, in a way that I never considered possible. Therefore I present you with a gift, in hopes of stirring the pleasurable emotions I so enjoy.

‘What gift?' I shouted over the hiss of the ship.

The one you yearn for in your dreams, the one whose name you whisper in the darkness — he yearns for you too.

The ship rose higher.

Farewell for now, Lena, but not forever.

The ship blasted more warm air and I clung to a drainpipe so that I didn't blow across the yard along with the children's playthings.

And then, in a streak of blue, it was gone.

The night was still again and I was alone in the dark.

So that was my gift? Did he actually believe that flying all this way to tell me that Patrick pined for me was good news? That it would make me feel less alone?

How could he not know — after being
linked
to me and all — that being apart from Patrick was like being split in two, and that hearing how much he missed me made it even worse?

Perhaps if he'd said that Patrick still hated me I would feel better; because at least then, in some twisted way, I would know it wasn't just the distance keeping us apart.

I slid down the wall, the rough surface of the brick scratching my skin; but I was numb to the pain.

Tears streamed down my face and I wiped at them with the hem of my t-shirt.

Mum was happy, after all these years. The others were happy, too.

I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling more empty and lost than ever.

This could not be the end. The kids and I couldn't just die alone, in an empty country, like this.

‘Lena!' called a familiar voice from behind.

It can't be…

Slowly I got up, my knees wobbling and my head dazed.

A familiar shape ran down the street towards me.

I shrieked and started running to meet him, laughter bubbling up in my throat, tears streaming down my cheeks.

‘Patrick!

A fresh, meaty, sink-your-teeth-in-and-hold-on-tight new adult fantasy series kicks off with King Hall…

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