Chapter 8 – You Should Never Go Home Again.
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Note from the author:
A big thank you to my author; CaptainsSiren, for her wonderful editing work.
Please be aware this chapter contains some gore towards the end. Reader discretion is advised.
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After a few more sexual favours shared everyone went to bed together in John's king bed upstairs sated and happy. John was woken by Tom at sunrise; Merry was already downstairs getting ready. They left the girls asleep so they could prepare for the journey ahead.
John, Tom, and Merry had had breakfast, and silently packed their backpacks with provisions for two days. They would pick up more food on the journey, so they didn't want to overload themselves too much. The men put their rifles over their shoulders, and picked up their hand-to-hand weapons; machetes and an axe each.
By the time they were done, Anny and Skye had woken and come downstairs. Anny looked up to John, with tears forming in her eyes. They embraced in a long hug, which said all that could be said, "Be careful, I love you."
Tom and Skye also had a long hug, and once it was over everyone hugged everyone else. They headed outside; all was quiet in the yard, at the fence, and into the bush beyond. The only movement to be seen was the chickens in the yard, and a single dark bird drifting along the skyline.
John took a long, deep breath, sucking in the cool air of the morning. He took a moment to mentally prepare himself for the journey, and then led the group down to the gate. Anny held onto his arm tightly, he could feel her body pleading him to stay and be safe; but he had to keep going.
The men took up removing the large straight tree branches that bolted against the gates. Tom walked through with Merry, and John closed the gates behind them. He, Anny and Skye then put back the branches so that the gates were securely closed. He turned to Anny and gave her one last kiss goodbye. Their arms wrapped around each other, their tongues entwined and bodies pushed together with the passion only found between lovers.
John made himself pull out of the embrace, even though his mind and body screamed for him not to; they had a job to do. He turned, gave Anny's hand one more squeeze then climbed the wooden ladder that they had erected near the gate, which led up to a small landing. From there he lowered a rope ladder down the other side, which he used to join Tom and Merry in the outside world.
Anny had climbed up after him, and she pulled the rope ladder up after he was clear. John and Anny's eyes locked once more, and then with a smile and a blown kiss, the three headed down the road.
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John took the lead, followed by Merry, and finally Tom. They walked silently along the dirt road, watching the bush for any signs of movement. The quickest route to Tom's place was to head into the bush about half way down the driveway road, but they wouldn't be taking that route as Merry's house was on the opposite side of the main road.
The walk continued easily enough. Merry was true to her word, and after three hours of walking she was still keeping pace. They had reached the main road, and were making their way north along it when they decided to stop at a small stream to freshen up; the heat of the day was rising.
The three kept close together as they rested and splashed water over their faces and arms. Merry was the first to speak.
"I can't thank you enough for letting me come with you guys today." She said as she looked at them each in turn.
"It's fine Merry." John replied, "You're doing really well."
"I just hope I can repay you two one day, it really means a lot to me to be able to see my home one more time."
The men smiled at her, she was a good companion, good in conversation, and knew a lot about how to work the land. They were both glad that they had her expertise in their small group.
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They continued along the road after their short breather. They only came upon one car, and it was crashed off the road. There was a smear of blood in the middle of the road, and a few metres farther down a dead kangaroo. It was a large male, would have been well over six feet high when it was alive to stand up. The car had obviously hit it and crashed.
The men approached the driver's door cautiously. The car's doors were still closed, so they guessed that the driver's body would still be in the car. Unlucky way to go, John thought, the end of the world and this poor sucker is in a car crash.
John approached the smashed driver's door window. The bonnet of the car was crumpled up against a large gum tree; whoever was inside couldn't possibly have survived. He could see a body in there, bent over the steering wheel with blood all over it and the interior of the car. It was a man by the look of him, his arms lying on the dashboard starting to dry out from sitting in the sun.
John turned back to Tom and held up one finger, then ran it across his neck, which was the symbol to show the number of people, and that they were dead. John turned back to see the body staring back at him. The man started making gnarling noises and his arms were trying to get at John, who immediately jumped backwards.
"Holy shit!" John cried out as he stepped back; Tom quickly joined him at his side.
Tom went a bit closer to inspect the Walker, and then returned to John. John motioned for Merry to come forward; she had been waiting in the middle of the road about 20 metres back from them. The three stood together while the Walker tried in vain to reach out at them. His arms were getting cut badly on the broken window shards as he strained to get at them, but he was pinned into his chair by the steering wheel on his chest.
"Well, what are we going to do about our friend here?" Tom asked.
John took a deep breath to calm down from the surprise, and then approached the car. He took his machete out of its makeshift belt holder, and rammed it straight into the Walker's eye. He pushed deeper and deeper into its brain until the Walker stopped making any noise or movement. He worked his weapon free of its head, and wiped it off on the ground below.
John walked back to the others, and started on down the road.
As he passed them he said, "That's what we're going to do about him."
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It was 3pm by the time they reached Merry's house. The men scoped the building with their rifles from the top of the ridge above the house, and saw no movement at all. The homestead looked intact and might possibly not have been raided.
They descended the hill and approached the house. Merry was to stay outside while the men made sure there was nothing dangerous inside. It was Tom's turn to take the lead with this house raid; John had led the last one.
They walked up to each side of the front door, weapons at the ready, and then Tom led them in. As John headed inside he was hit with a wave of hot air that had built up in the closed house during the day. It came rushing out past the men to be free in the cooling afternoon outside. A musty smell followed it, but John noticed that there was no smell of the dead lingering in it. He was unfortunately becoming attuned to identifying that particular smell.
After they had cleared the house, Tom called Merry in. She had tears in her eyes as she walked up the steps to the porch. She looked very cautiously at the house as she entered, then made her way in to start gathering some personal treasures.
John realised that there wouldn't be enough light to get them back to Tom's place today, so they would have to stay here for the night. He checked the rooms, but none were secure enough to be used for the night. He mentioned this to Tom, and after consideration Tom suggested they sleep in the roof.
It was a good idea, safe and out of the way. John found the man-hole in the ceiling and climbed up into it with Tom's help. The ceiling cavity was very hot from the day's accumulated heat, but it had a solid wood panel floor in the back corner where there were some boxes stashed. They could move the boxes out to sleep there comfortably and safely. The men locked the front door so that no surprises could simply walk in, and told Merry about their plans. She agreed, and continued to go through her photo albums.
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With their task complete, piles of blankets, sheets, and pillows were arranged for as comfortable a sleep as possible; they all climbed up into the roof and settled down with some rations for dinner. They used an old oil lantern for light, which they hung up on one of the rafters.
They sat together, John leaning back on pillows against the wall which made the 'A' frame at the end of the roof, Tom and Merry sat crossed legged, all sticking into their cans of food. They chatted about things they had seen during the rest of their trip, about the photos that Merry had collected, when she and Jack had bought the property, and more.
She thanked the men again for letting her come with them, repeating that she could never repay them enough for their help.
Tom laughed out loud, "Well last night was a pretty good thank you!"
