Desolation Boulevard (4 page)

Suddenly it became too much for Matt and he
could feel the bile rising from his stomach. He turned and ran from
the horrors before him, up the stairs and into the afternoon
sunshine, before vomiting into the gutter.  He knew he was
suffering from shock, which would probably get worse later, but for
the time being he somehow needed to keep himself together. It was
impossible. He felt the world around him fade to black, and he
looked down at the footpath, thinking that it would probably be
best if he sat down for a minute. But it was too late. His brain
had already made the decision, and he slumped to the ground
unconscious.

Chapter 7

The offices behind the main foyer of the
Police Station were empty and abandoned, as Sally had guessed they
would be.

“
Hello? Is anybody here? I
need help,” She pleaded, knowing that there would be no
answer.

Sally had no idea what to do. It seemed as
if everyone on the planet had evacuated and left her behind. It was
like a nightmare. She walked back outside and looked up and down
the abandoned streets and listened carefully, but apart from the
occasional bark of a dog, she heard nothing. Since she had no
better alternative, she decided to explore the most familiar parts
of her neighbourhood, to try to find some clues as to what had
happened, and then she would return home to reassess her dire
situation.

As she walked, she marvelled at the change
that had come so suddenly over her city. “This is science fiction,”
she thought. How could a city of over three million people just
disappear into thin air? It was impossible surely? And then she
heard it - the sound of glass breaking! She froze and listened. Had
she imagined it? She was so still that if there were anyone around
to see her now, they would have thought she was a statue. There it
was again - the sound of breaking glass. No mistake this time. She
felt immense relief; she wasn’t the only person left; there was at
least one other. But what if they were a danger to her? Because the
city was so quiet Sally had no idea how far the sound had
travelled. It might have been kilometres away or just around the
corner, and although she was desperate to make contact with another
person, she was wary. Society’s rules, for the time being anyway,
were suspended, and the wrong person in this situation could be
capable of anything. Sally decided that discretion might be wise
right now and she moved into the nearest building that would give
her a view of the street. It was an all-night café where she often
had coffee and read. She pushed through the door and found a spot
behind the counter in the shadows where she knew she couldn’t be
seen from outside.

While she waited, Sally considered her
situation. With no information available, she realised that there
was literally nothing she could do but stay safe and wait for some
kind of resolution to this nightmare. She had somewhere to live,
she had plenty of food and water, and she was healthy and
intelligent. As far as positives went, though, that was about it.
Negatives on the other hand were abundant. No mother, no people, no
information, no friends, no services and no clue as to what to do
next! As she listened for the approaching sound of whoever was
randomly breaking windows, Sally realised that, for a while at
least, she would be making up the rules as she went along.

After almost ten minutes of waiting in
silence Sally was about to give up and head outdoors again when she
heard the noise. It was a human voice. Despite her longing to speak
to another person, her survival instincts kicked in and she decided
to hold her position until she knew more about this stranger. She
couldn’t tell if it was a lone voice or a group because all she
could hear were fragments of talking, and then silence. This
pattern repeated for a minute or two while she hid in the shadows
of the café, until eventually the source of the noise came into
view. Sally had a clear view of the person as they paused on the
footpath. It was a male, around twenty-two years old she guessed.
He was dressed like a lot of men that age - skinny jeans, t-shirt,
black hoodie and sneakers. She watched.

The man turned slowly and stared across to
the other side of the street. She couldn’t tell what he was looking
at but she could hear him saying something.

“
Wakey, wakey
sleepyheads!”

That didn’t make sense. Suddenly the man
turned and faced the café. Sally froze. He seemed to be looking
straight at her. Even though she knew that the man couldn’t see her
because she was hidden behind the counter in darkness, while he was
in the bright sunshine, it was still a frightening situation. The
man tilted his head slightly to one side. She was panicking now and
desperately wanted to run, but she knew that any movement would
give her position away for sure. His head tilted back the other
way. “Shit!” she thought to herself. “He can see me”! He held his
position and kept staring. Then he smiled - an unhinged smile. The
smile of someone who has moved to another place; a place that
normal people never wanted to go to. Sally was about to get up and
run to the back of the café when she realised that he hadn’t
spotted her at all. He was looking at himself in the reflection of
the window. She wondered what he was seeing, because she was sure
that his self-image was very different to the one that she saw.

“
Come on sleepyheads,” he
said to nobody. “Come out and play. Please! I’m boooored,” This
last word clawing it’s way out of his mouth as a tortured
plea.

Sally wasn’t sure, but she thought she could
see a tear rolling down his cheek.

“
Pleeeeeaaaase!” he
screamed, suddenly aggressive, at himself in the window.

Sally shuddered. She knew now that
this was a person to avoid. She wondered if his mental state
was like this before today, or if he had cracked under the strain
of waking up in a city where everyone had vanished. Sally was
scared. She didn’t want to become like him, but she knew that it
was a real possibility. She was trembling in fear and she wanted
him to go away. Then, without warning, the man’s head turned
sharply to the left as if he had heard something. He moved off out
of Sally’s view. She waited a minute or so and then crept quietly
to the front door of the café and peered around the edge of the
doorway. She could see the lonely figure of the man walking away
from her about two blocks away. That was enough for her. She headed
home.

Chapter 8

Matt regained consciousness to find his face
being chewed on and screamed. It took seconds for him to realise
that Elvis was licking the side of his face where it had been
grazed by the fall.

“
Bloody hell, boy! That’s
twice today you’ve given me a heart attack.”

He looked up at the sky and saw that the sun
had moved towards the west, but the streets were just as quiet as
they had been before he passed out. “Not a nightmare then,” he
thought to himself, cynically. Now he had decision to make. Either
get back in the car and drive to the nearest town, or go home and
wait for the authorities to resolve this crazy situation. If he
drove to Carswell, he would arrive at around sunset, and that was
not an appealing idea, especially if he found the place in the same
state as Millfield. And there were his parents to consider. If he
stayed home, and this catastrophe finally resolved itself, he would
be closer to them when they recovered. He decided to head home.

The sun was pushing towards the western
hills when Matt pulled the ute into his driveway. Constant checking
of his mobile phone had not yielded a signal, and when he went
inside, he found that he was still without mains power. He went out
to the shed and checked the generator, and made sure the chickens
were locked up for the night, before he headed back into the house.
Elvis stayed by his side the whole time. He couldn’t tell whether
the dog was providing protection or in need of it. Maybe both. By
now the sun was below the hills and it was getting dark inside the
house. Usually at this time of the evening Matt’s mum would be
getting something ready for dinner while dad sat at the kitchen
table with a beer and the newspaper. Tonight though, Matt knew his
parents were lying somewhere unconscious and at the mercy of the
night, like everyone else in town. He hoped that they would be safe
until he could search for them at first light.

Matt wasn’t hungry and he felt like his head
was disconnected from his body, but he forced himself to make a
sandwich and have something to drink. He took them out onto the
front porch and ate while Elvis finished off last night’s
leftovers. He looked cross the fields towards town as the sun set
behind the house. Somewhere in the distance a dog howled. Matt was
about to get up and go inside when he heard another noise. His joy
was indescribable! A low whining hum coming from above. It was the
unmistakeable drone of a jet airliner! Matt scanned the darkening
sky until he found the source - a blinking light traversing from
west to east, heading towards the city! Matt screamed in delight
and hugged Elvis. He knew that people must be on that plane, and
someone must be flying it. The whole world wasn’t affected by the
disaster, just his part of it! In that short moment Matt had found
hope that his parents would be okay. Surely by tomorrow authorities
would have things under control and some information would be
forthcoming. He went inside with a semblance of hope, and feeling
happier than he had been since he had found the Thompsons’ hiding
under their bed earlier that morning.

Chapter 9

Back in her flat, Sally tried to take stock
of her situation. Her first task was to address the lack of
electricity. She found as many candles as she could and stacked
them all together, with a box of matches on the kitchen bench - she
really didn’t want to be without lights when the sun went down. The
next thing she considered was food. She took all of the perishables
from the refrigerator and stacked them tightly into the freezer.
She didn’t know how long the electricity would be out, but figured
that she could keep the food fresh for a couple of days, even with
the power off. Next she went to the stove to try the gas burner.
She turned the knob and was relieved to see that the ignition
sparked a perfect ring of blue flame on the stovetop. At least she
could cook! Her stomach rumbled at the thought and she suddenly
realised that it was mid afternoon, and she hadn’t eaten a thing
all day. She rummaged around in the fridge until she found some
leftover fried rice, made herself a cup of herbal tea, and went out
onto the little balcony to eat.

As she ate her cold rice Sally considered
her options. She figured she had different choices depending on
whether she was thinking short or long term. In the short term, she
knew that she had to stay put to see what eventuated out of this
crazy situation. Longer term, though, she had much more to think
about. If this disaster didn’t resolve itself in the next few days,
she would need to explore the city and try to find someone in
authority or at least someone that could help her. She stared down
at the street where a cat crept around in the shadows of an
alleyway opposite her apartment. At least there were still animals,
she thought bleakly, as she stood up to head back inside. Then she
heard it - the droning sound of a plane in the distance. My god!
She leaned over the edge of her balcony and peered into the clear
blue sky. There it was, just visible above the skyline, heading
toward the city. As she watched, the tiny speck grew in size, as it
headed towards the airport. Her suburb was on the flight path of
scores of international flights per day, yet she was just realizing
that this was the first plane she had seen or heard since she woke
up this morning. Sally prayed that this was the first sign of a
return to normality, but in the pit of her stomach she had a sick
feeling that an alternative explanation was more likely. She
watched and waited. The plane continued to grow in size as it
cruised towards her. It was also decreasing in altitude, which gave
Sally some hope that it was in a normal flight pattern, and would
be landing routinely. She checked the sky. There was nothing else
in the air except for birds.

The plane was close enough now for Sally to
tell that it was a Jumbo jet. It seemed to be heading to the
airport, but Sally realized with horror that something wasn’t
right. The plane was not slowing down or doing any banking that
would be usual at this stage of it’s landing. It was coming
straight in, and fast. From where she stood it seemed as if it were
coming straight at her. Each second that passed saw the jet grow in
size as it thundered towards her. Sooner than Sally realised, the
giant jet screamed overhead, so close that she could read the words
on the undercarriage. The noise was deafening. She just had time to
notice that the wheels had not engaged, as the backdraft from the
giant engine blew her off her feet. A second later, as she cowered
on the floor of her balcony, it felt like an atomic bomb had
exploded as the plane crashed into the nearby city streets.

Chapter 10

The night passed uneventfully for Matt and
Elvis, who slept curled up together in Matt’s parents’ double bed.
The next morning, as soon as the dawn’s light began to wash the
dark from the room, Matt climbed out of bed and went outside. Elvis
followed closely behind, as Matt went to the veranda and listened.
Silence. Nothing had changed since the nightmare of the day before.
There was still no traffic on the road; no tractors were ploughing
the fields; and no planes were leaving white trails across the
early morning sky. Matt wondered about his sighting of the jet from
the previous evening. At the time, he assumed that it was on a
regular route, but after having time to think about it, he realized
that the plane could have been on autopilot, and in the air for
many hours. The Matt tried to visual a scenario where everyone in
the plane had been affected by the “virus”. With nowhere for the
passengers to hide, would they simply be sitting comatose in their
seats? Or would they be piled up in the aisles, like the bodies he
had found in the basement of the pub yesterday? Whatever the case
they would almost certainly end up falling from the sky once the
plane’s fuel tanks emptied. He went back inside.