Rachel and I talked for hours. She explained more about the game and Stygian Synapses programs, and with greater understanding I felt both reassured and uneasy.

  As night fell, Rachel set me and the dogs up in a small bedroom. Though we’d caused quite the commotion earlier, we were less concerned about a potential intruder; we’d run over 90% of the town’s occupants.

  Earlier in the evening, Rachel had commented on my duffle bag as a means of entering the interface. She’d suggested I consider a smaller bag to use as primary so I was not impeded by the heavy duffle across my chest, and gave me a bumbag should I wish to use it.

  Deciding it would be a lot more pleasant to not have to carry a twenty-kilogram bag around at all times, I decided to use the bumbag as my interface entrance point.

  I opened the duffle, bumbag in hand, and selected to change the primary bag from one to the other, then closed out of the menu. Keeping both bags open, I shuffled through the duffle to swap over the special items. I took out the letter from Mr Brown, the drawing from Johnny, Rat’s toy bear and the photo of Rat’s dad. I also grabbed the cowboy hat, boots and bolo tie from Rat’s dad and stuffed them inside, miraculously fitting them in the small zip with space to spare. I stashed some basic first-aid supplies and a couple of snacks in the front pocket also, then removed my duffle bag and replaced it with the bumbag, slinging it across my chest. I propped the duffle bag onto the bedside table next to the bed. A massive weight was lifted from my shoulders and I felt immediately relieved. The bumbag coupled with my tool belt, which I had managed to use to store my wrench, torch, crowbar and bottle of water, made me feel much more nimble and able to flee should the situation call for it.

  I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes, Rat curled up on the bed at my feet and Jagger on the floor next to us. I must have drifted off quite quickly as I found myself dreaming again of bucolic hills, a farmhouse and now both dogs running happily around.

  As I woke the next morning, I had a renewed sense of longing for my version of heaven – I just needed to figure out how to get it. I looked at the bedside table, which was now empty. I guess Rachel grabbed the old bag or it despawned. I looked down and remembered to zip up my bumbag, lest anything fall out.

  The dogs and I emerged from the small bedroom and I found Rachel and Artemis in the kitchen, preparing Vegemite on toast.

  “Morning. So what’s the plan today?” I said to Rachel.

  “Good morning. Well if we have any chance of making it to the industrial area, we need a car. Not only that, one that fits all five of us,” she answered.

  “We could try to fix the Commodore, I guess,” I said, having no skills whatsoever in mechanics.

  “I think unless you’re a secret mechanic, we’re probably better off finding another car,” Rachel answered.

  “Okay, well I guess we’re on the hunt. No chance there are any car yards in this town?” I said jokingly.

  “‘fraid not,” Rachel responded. “I think we’ll need to go door to door.”

  After finishing some breakfast and preparing for the task ahead, the five of us left the safety of the house to find a new vehicle. We wandered down the street but had no luck, spotting only a tiny Mini Cooper. We wandered further, finding a bicycle, a moped and a very decrepit old tow truck with only two seats.

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  “Where are all the cars in this place?” I said to Rachel.

  “Looks like the vehicle frequency has been turned to low,” she responded.

  Fantastic.

  We walked back and forth through the suburb, only encountering two zombies on the outskirts, which we quickly dispatched with crowbar and hammer alike. On the far west side of the town, we found a small shop and bar, and decided to head inside with the idea to loot the place. After we went indoors and checked for unwelcome occupants, we quickly realised that this tiny store was a great point to start our new adventure – not only did it have snacks, books and some basic supplies, it also had a small loading dock, and in that dock was a large courtesy van. The van was perfect, with seats for eight, a large storage compartment and no visible damage. Now all we needed to do was find the keys.

  I started searching around the car itself, on top of the wheels, under the bumper and around the loading dock. No luck. Rachel was searching inside the shop by the till and staff lockers. Also no luck. We then checked out the bar, searching everything from juicers to jiggers, behind coasters and cans, having no luck at all as the animals meandered around the small kitchen.

  “Did you find anything?” I asked Rachel, having exhausted my half of the bar.

  “Nothing. All I’ve found was a dead cockroach in the sink and a ball of alfoil in the fridge,” she answered.

  “A ball of alfoil?!” I exclaimed, heading over to retrieve it from the fridge. I unfurled the ball and found inside the keys to the Toyota Hiace. “Bingo!”

  “How did you know they’d be in there? Are you sure you haven’t played this before?” Rachel asked.

  “My dad was a bit of a nutcase when I was growing up,” I said. “He was paranoid that people were going to steal his new car using a relay transmitter when he was asleep by, so he always wrapped his keys in foil.”

  “That’s… odd,” Rachel replied.

  “Yeah, one of the less-harmful things he did,” I said. “I guess at least it’s useful now I’m dead!”

  Keys now acquired, I headed over to the van to see if it would start up. I opened it with the click of a button and jumped into the driver’s seat, sticking the keys in the ignition. With a great rumble, the van started with no trouble, and better yet with about three quarters left in the tank.

  I turned the car back off and stepped out.

  “We’re in business!” I called out to Rachel and the animals.

  We decided to pack up all the treats the bar afforded us, loading up the storage space with food, drink, books and some basic tools.

  “What a find! And we’ve still got plenty of space for bags back at the house,” Rachel said, beaming.

  “If only we could sleep in here, we’d have no worries!” I joked.

  “You can!” Rachel said. “Hell – and with a vehicle like this we’d both have places to lay down, so long as you don’t mind cuddling with an animal or two!”

  With the van all packed up, we decided to head back to Rachel’s house to collect our other bags, making a stop on the way past the beat-up Commodore. There was not a corpse to be seen, but many zombie-shaped dents in the ute. We grabbed everything out of it – including all the full jerry cans – and packed it all neatly into the van, then headed back to the house.

  We parked just outside of the makeshift fortress, knowing the driveway had been barricaded with the wooden fence. Rachel, the animals and I walked indoors and started grabbing what wasn’t nailed down. I had filled up any remaining space in my bumbag with goods, thrown a couple more cans of dog food in each dog’s backpack and even managed to find a shopping bag that I then filled with food.

  Heading into the living room of the house, I found Rachel standing in front of a bookcase, staring at a small picture frame with a look of saudade in her eyes.

  “Everything okay?” I asked.

  “It’s nothing,” she said. “When I came to this house and found Artemis, there was a huge pile of cat-food cans on the bench and a note saying ‘Please look after my darling kitty’. I guess the lady who lived here – Artemis’ owner – just reminds me of my nan. The only thing she loved more than me was her cats.”

  I smiled, hoping to cheer Rachel up. “Why don’t you take that with you? I’m sure Artemis would like to remember his mum.”

  “I think I will,” she said. “It’s funny, this game. That’s why I always liked it. Even though I never met the people before they were zombies, they seemed to live rich lives.”

  I nodded, thinking back to the Browns and Rat’s dad. “I guess, now that this is our life, all we can do is try to make it rich. That’s the best revenge, after all.”

  I walked over to Rachel and opened my arms, offering a hug. She dipped her head and flung onto my waist, her little arms wrapping tightly around me. I think Rachel really needed that hug – and, to be honest, so did I.