By the time Sam had finished her tour of the base, she had crafted in her mind an understanding of what was happening. When she had originally decided to head to Holsworthy it had been because it was a military base. Sitting on the edge of a national park, pre-Collapse the base was mostly functioning as a supply depot and a small military airport. Or that had been her understanding. She hadn’t realised it was the base for the engineer corps, or that it had housed special forces. She also hadn’t realised it was the location of a military prison, and part of that now formed the Holsworthy Outpost.
The old base was largely ruins, some places had apparently been fixed up and converted but otherwise the outpost’s settlement was tiny. A tightly packed cluster of buildings that used a portion of the old prison surrounded by walls. It seemed like the engineer corps had survived at least, everything was well made and they were apparently still trying to repair old parts of the prison complex. Shipping containers made up most of everything, there was an abundance of them, and when she followed a group out to the nearby creek it was a spectacular sight to see the forest reclaiming the land and weaving into stacks of shipping containers.
It seemed like the creek was recreational – only a small group went down and they were followed by an on-duty soldier. They lazed about in the sun, swimming and socializing. Some of them spoke about being deployed to other colonies, and others spoke about heading out into the ruins for more salvage.
Back within the confines of the walls, Sam had figured it out. From her memory of the map from yesterday, Holsworthy was the western-most shield against the Commonwealth and aside from the few farmers and builders who maintained the greenhouses or repaired the walls, it was a military base. Nearly everyone here was a soldier. That was the realisation that brought her before the Commander.
She found Tara in the map room, it seemed they never left it.
“I get it now,” she confronted them.
Tara stood over the map, looking up slowly, lost in thought, “Sam.”
“Are you the only one that knows, or was it a conscious decision?”
They stood up straight, regarding her coldly, “What are you doing in here?”
“I slipped past your receptionist, she was busy with paperwork.”
“Fair enough, what exactly are you on about?”
Sam stepped up to the map, opposite them, “This base, it’s a sacrificial lamb.”
Their expression slipped, from polite to unnerving, “I knew you weren’t letting on to something.”
“Do they know?”
“The people here?”
“The other colonies.”
“No, why should they?”
Her eyes held theirs, both trying to read each other’s blank expressions.
“They have no idea of strategy, that is why they gave that task to me.”
“You’re playing with people’s lives.”
They planted a hand on the map, drawing her eyes down, “Who do you think has more to lose? Us, or them?”
They were pointing to the other colonies, to the red pins surrounded by a sea of red pins.
“They’re not fighting for us, if it saved them they’d sell every last one of us. They’d applaud seeing us at the end of a rope.”
“You don’t trust them.”
“I trust us.”
“You think by sacrificing us, you can save them?”
“I don’t plan on losing. I want them to bleed for every inch of ground they tread, and the only way I can do that is by putting us in the fire.”
She was fixated on the map, on the white pins encircling Sydney and the lone red dot standing in their way as they approached from the south.
“The fate we face is worse than death,” they said taking a step around the table towards her, “doesn’t that make you fearless? Don’t you want to see them destroyed?”
“Okay, I’m in,” she looked up, meeting their gaze again, “just, look me in the eye and tell me you’re going to stop them.”
“I’ll die before I let them win, and seeing Canberra burn is on my bucket list.”
“Then take some advice, I’ve seen the way the Commonwealth fights the living, the way it fought me. They use the dead as shields, they lure them in and fight you only when you’re exhausted.”
“You,” they made it around the table to point a finger at her chest, “you fought them?”
“I did. I liberated an entire camp, and I sent the people they had captured here.”
“You…” they smiled, “you’re the one they talked about?”
“They talk about me?”
“Hundreds of survivors from a camp to the south, they arrived one day. Most moved on, a few stayed. You should talk to Eshe, our quartermaster. She had me build you a garden after you saved her sister.”
They looked ready to hug her before thinking better of it, “I figured you were a myth, they told me you were eight foot tall and could crush skulls with your bare hands.”
“I’m glad they made it.”
“If you truly fought the Cross and won, by yourself that is, I want your help. So tell me how true that was.”
“I had help, I had my girlfriend Jess with me. She was the only one who got me through it.”
“She was the silent one with you yesterday, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Tomorrow I want you both in here, we’ll go over things. And once I have proof you’re not lying to me, we’ll work out how best to bring down the Cross.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Sam left the commander to their work, heading back across the base. The crowds had gathered around a bulletin board at the intersection between the offices and the apartments. There, stapled up on the wood was a list of names and a woman was reading them out. Jess was there watching, and she slipped in next to them, both standing on the other side of the street to see what was happening.
“How are you feeling?”
Jess smiled, there were people around, they placed a hand over their heart.
“Good. It’s good to see you out, around people.”
They glanced at her, smile widening, then something in the crowd distracted them. Sam turned to look as well. The women who had their names called out were all gathered to complain.
“Any idea what’s happening?”
Jess nodded, leaning in to whisper to her, “Bonfire tomorrow, they’re on duty for it.”
“Oh, so they have a bonfire night?”
Jess nodded again.
“I guess, as like, a morale booster.”
They shrugged.
“I still remember our first camping trip.”
Jess turned red.
“You’ve gotten better at it at least.”
Jess went to open her mouth to complain, and froze, there were people, they were watching.
“It’s okay, babe. I thought it was cute.”
She patted Jess’ back, “Especially the part when you fell out of that tree.”
Jess shoved her, grinning a half-laugh before realising. They turned away, heading back to the apartment. Sam followed, racing to catch up but not touching them until they were both alone in the hot mess that was their apartment. It was a sweat box, the sun heated it up to an almost unbearable degree. Jess threw themselves down on the mattress and stared up at the roof.
“You alright?”
“Sure…”
Sam sat down next to her, “I know. I’m going to stay here, I think they need us.”
She sat up, “You’re staying?”
“I am. They need our help or, we’re all kind of screwed. Ash was right.”
They wrapped an arm around her, “I saw the Commander, she wants our help. Apparently the people we saved told her about us.”
“They did?”
“You know that garden, apparently they built that because of us.”
“Cool,” she laid back down.
“I mean, I’m going to stay, but not if you won’t. If you think we should keep going, maybe we can get to Fiji.”
She smiled, “I can’t remember the last time I saw you in a bikini.”
“Dream on,” they laid down beside her.
“I get it, you don’t need to convince me. They need to die.”
“Good,” Sam turned to look at her, “besides, there is a creek nearby that people swim at. So, maybe we don’t need to go that far.”
“As long as you don’t expect me to swim.”
“I don’t think I could make you.”
She turned to face Sam, their noses almost touching, she went cross-eyed trying to look Sam in the eye, “I get a good feeling about this place.”
“Yeah,” Sam kissed her, and stroked a tear away from her cheek, “me too.”
Early morning light peeked in through a poorly curtained window. The way it broke upon Eshe’s sleeping body left Ash empty. There was nothing to hold her here except her fear, and even that fear felt hollow. Not wanting to hurt people was the same dullness in her chest as hurting people was. It was just harder to reconcile.
She laid next to Eshe, unable to move until it felt like an hour passed and she forced herself up. She dressed, and took her time sitting on the lounge drinking the rest of the juice from the can.
“Thought you left,” Eshe was awake, half-naked and standing in the kitchenette doorway, “Figured you were busy.”
“I’m not really the kind of person to lie in bed all day.”
“Don’t blame you, neither am I.”
She got up, joining them in the kitchenette, “I should get going, my friends are probably wondering where I went.”
“Okay, but don’t be a stranger.”
“We’re going to be working together.”
They smiled, blushing, “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” she contemplated kissing them goodbye, but decided against it, “And uh, I won’t be… a stranger, I mean.”
“Good.”
She nodded, agreeing, as she left. Out on the street the early morning was busy, people going to and from work – the night shift heading back to get some rest as the day shift rose from their slumber to deal with another long day of hard work. Life around the apartment blocks was particularly buzzing, and in Sam and Jess’ apartment the two were sitting and eating their breakfast. An unopened box sat on the lounge while they sat on the mattress. She recognised the box immediately, and Sam nodded to her as she entered.
“Busy night?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Got you packing shelves or something?”
“Y-eah, something like that. The Quartermaster is nice, she uh, needed some morale boosting.”
Sam laughed, Jess grinned, and she kicked herself because she thought she was being subtle.
“I, um-”
Sam raised a hand to stop her, “We don’t need details.”
“Speak for yourself,” Jess grinned wider.
Sam frowned at them, but addressed her, “Unless you’re too tired from shelf-packing, the Commander has asked to speak with Jess and me. I think you should come too.”
“Uh, why?”
“It’s a long story, but we’ve decided to stay. The Commander wants our help dealing with the fundies.”
“Okay, I’m in.”
Jess offered her a protein bar, “Have some breakfast.”
She accepted it and sat down on the lounge across from them, “So, uh, how are you feeling?”
Sam shrugged, “Had worse, but I’m not dying.”
“Right,” she scratched her neck, “good to hear, I guess.”
“We’ll go once you’re done eating.”
“Sure,” she took a bite of her food and mulled over things in her mind. She swallowed, then told them, “There is a bonfire night happening tonight, if you guys are interested.”
“Yeah, we heard,” Jess stood, “You should come with us.”
She nodded, fading back into her thoughts.
“What’s eating you?” Sam asked, hopping up to help Jess with their belongings.
“Nothing,” she finished her food, “let’s go.”
Jess stretched their arms, and gestured to the door, “Ladies first.”
Jess spent the walk to the Commander’s officer – the room with the map – preparing for a long day of inquisitions and very little of actual interest. The way Sam had described it to her, the Commander had been planning on working out their loyalties, but as soon as the three of them walked in the Commander welcomed them like old friends.
“Good you’re all here, is it too early for you three to start drinking.”
Sam led them to the table, and she spent a good five minutes examining it while Sam and the Commander spoke.
“What’s the occasion?”
Tara, the Commander, grinned like a proud mother, “You all checked out, and this morning is a particularly good morning.”
“Oh, I guess you asked around then,” Sam watched them pour a glass of whiskey but declined, “Why is it a good morning then?”
“It is a long story, but I convinced some friends to look into the nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights.”
“I take it you’re planning on converting it to provide power?”
“We had concerns of a leak or a melt-down but the whole place is intact. Whoever locked the place up before the Collapse was smart enough to take the fuel with them for storage.”
“And you were worried maybe the Cross would get their hands on it.”
“It crossed my mind,” Tara sighed, “I had a similar idea, a radiation bomb would be a good tool to salt the earth so to speak.”
“I’d use it to cut the head off the snake.”
“Let’s focus on the task at hand. You three are the most recent arrivals, you’ve all fought the Cross and won. The last engagement I fought was at the Airport, so tell me. How have their tactics since then?”
“I wasn’t there, how-”
“Tell me what they do now, is what I mean.”
“Right,” Sam looked at Ash, “well, the first thing you need to prepare for is the dead. They have a way of luring them, usually sound but sometimes light, whatever it is they get the dead to attack you until you’re weak. Usually they’ll also have some marksmen trying to pick you off in the middle of it, create gaps in your defenses.”
“So,” Tara repeated, “Snipers and undead.”
“I found molotovs useful. The dead are smart enough not to walk through fire, you can control entire hordes with enough of it.”
Tara looked at Jess, who nodded in agreement, “The Northern Colonies reported similar things.”
“Their soldiers are mostly conscripts being led by a few veterans. Their marksmen aren’t a problem if you plan for them, at least the ones I ran into. They use carbines, assault rifles and I think one of them had an actual marksman rifle, but they tended to just try and suppress me so I couldn’t fight the dead.”
“Should I ask how you worked all this out?”
“I killed them.”
“That’s no then.”
“It was easy to tell, veteran soldiers don’t panic when you shoot back. I’d be careful with my analysis though, the scouts we ran into in Campbelltown weren’t new. Their leader was battle hardened, they didn’t even flinch when I threatened to set them on fire.”
Tara turned their eyes back down onto the map, “Any other advice?”
Sam looked at Ash, who perked up and answered, “Uh, yeah, further west they still have vehicles – mostly uh, converted cars… what are they called again?”
“Technicals,” Sam answered.
“Right, they still seemed to have plenty of petrol and they’d move around zombies in box trucks and panel vans. They’d transport them to the perimeters of their compounds to keep people in or out depending on the situation.”
Ash then pointed to the map, “But the northern roads were completely trashed and they way they moved around seemed to rely on getting around quick. They had a moving base when I first joined them, and I stuck with them until they put me on guard duty at a compound. When I was planning the break out I had to account for it, they moved units of soldiers along the motorways to keep the refugee camps in check. Sometimes they’d visit the reform camps as well.”
“The scouts had a patrol vehicle,” Sam included, “military stuff as well, not improvised. Special forces if anything.”
“So I heard,” Tara said, “I was worried about that. Rumours were that the crusaders made it back before the Collapse. Those sick fucks made Blackwater look like model citizens.”
“Literal modern day crusaders,” Sam informed Jess and Ash, “mercenaries from private militaries like Blackwater and Unity, Sharp Edge or whatever the fuck, Sandline, all the big ones. They all started sending soldiers to the outbreak zones to murder people thinking they were bringing about rapture. They literally thought they had a divine right to invade the Middle East and slaughter Muslims.”
“There was one group in particular that made headlines. An Australian group formed out of Hillsong, those crazy fundamentalist pricks with too much power in government. They weren’t so bad until the shit hit the fan and they turned rabid.”
Ash interrupted, “Uh, so, why are we worried?”
“They’re bad news,” Tara clarified, “battle hardened ultra-fanatical and a lot of them were former special forces. They were well funded and supported by other fundamentalists, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say maybe they helped the right-wing coup that took power.”
“It’d explain the policy shifts,” Sam agreed, “but the scouts were all women, no way they’d let women fight for them – I was surprised to find out the Cross does actually.”
Tara nodded, then abruptly told them, “I’ve got enough to think about now, thank you all. I’ll need to adjust my plans, but I expect to see you all tonight at the bonfire.”
Then they made a motion to shoo them out the door, “Go, go enjoy your day. Have a swim, or get some extra sleep.”
None of them argued, following Sam out the door. It was a beautiful day outside after all.
“Well, I better go see if Eshe needs my help.”
Sam considered following them, but chances were she’d see the Quartermaster and their sister at the bonfire. Besides, Jess’ mind was probably already decided on seeing the stream and relaxing in the sun.
“Try not to have too much fun.”
Ash scoffed, trying to shake the embarrassment before slinking away.
They only made it halfway down the street before a siren blared and the entire base turned into a chaotic tide of humanity. Soldiers rushed from buildings, weapons in hand, helmets on. Others ran in the opposite direction pushing through in nearly orderly fashion to get inside buildings. The Commander erupted from their office, pistol in hand and their receptionist flanking them with a radio set. The siren ended shortly after it began and the three of them chased after the Commander as they calmly relayed orders over the radio.
Tara walked quickly, arriving at the gate of the outpost before turning to Sam and Jess. Sam had picked up maybe half of the conversation over the radio on the short walk. There was an attack.
Tara pointed directly at her, “You three,” Ash caught up, barely winded from the sprint, “come with me.”
“What’s happening?”
“Cross, three of them. Snuck into the greenhouses, burned down two, injured a guard.”
Sam managed to put two and two together, and so did Jess it seemed, they grabbed her by the wrist to get her attention, but she kept her focus on Tara, “You think they’re the scouts we ran into?”
“We’ll find out won’t we. They’ve already been subdued, if there are more then at least we’ll be ready. You three are going to help me transport the Cross to the black room.”
Ash was already looking out the open gate, soldiers were streaming across the old base to the greenhouses, which had been surrounded by walls – smoke rose from them. She watched, looking at the reason they’d keep the greenhouses separated from the main settlement, it was an inferno, “Are you sure Eshe doesn’t need my help?”
Tara looked at Sam, “Do you need her help identifying them?”
“I’m the only one who saw their faces.”
Tara waved Ash away, “Go help the Quartermaster, tell Eshe to double water rations for any volunteers and soldiers.”
“Okay, and uh, yeah,” Ash ran off back towards the Quartermaster’s office.
Tara stepped out, followed by their receptionist radio-officer. Sam followed them, and Jess took one last look at the base before stepping outside the walls and towards the pillars of smoke.
End of Part Two.
L. Beaumont 