We drove the van out, passing lizards galore. Following around the bend where we came, we noticed two zombies dressed in zookeeper-like attire, wandering aimlessly after the escaped reptiles.

  Where to go, where to go… I pulled the van over to the side of the road and rolled down the window.

  “Cooper, can you find more farmland?” I asked, being plunged into a menu.

  Cooper the pigeon – reconnaissance task

  Search for:

  Shops

  Farmland

  Zombies

  Vehicles

  People

  Items

  I grabbed for the farmland option and the menu closed. Cooper flew out of the window to the skies and I rested back into the driver’s seat.

  “Where’s he off to?” asked Rachel in a quiet, pained voice.

  “To find the farmland of our dreams,” I replied.

  Five minutes passed and Cooper returned, perching on the mostly open window. I checked the small silver tube he was holding and found a message that read ‘East – 7km’.

  “Looks like we’re off to the seaside,” I said to the team. “Buckle up!”

  We started on our way and took the only road out, heading south instead of directly east.

  After driving for about ten minutes we still hadn’t started east – we were in fact heading south-west. The sun started to set and I felt a little worried we’d be stuck somewhere with a van of injured companions. We soon came up to a road on the left and I pulled down, hoping it would take us east.

  The road soon wrapped around to the right, heading back west.

  “Dammit!” I exclaimed, startling the largely asleep car. Just up the road on the right was a sign that read ‘Quarry’.

  “I think perhaps we should bunker down for the night so you guys can rest,” I said to Rachel and the animals.

  She nodded in agreement, but I think she would have agreed to anything in her current state.

  I turned the van off the road and onto the driveway of the quarry. The driveway was surrounded by trees but soon opened up to a flat dirt field littered with huge car-sized sandstone blocks. I pulled the van up next to a block and got out.

  “You and Artemis stay here and the dogs and I can check this spot out,” I called back to Rachel. I opened the back door and ushered the dogs out as Cooper hopped onto my shoulder.

  The four of us started wandering the field, with Rat and Jagger running slightly ahead, darting in and out between the giant slabs. We soon came up on a large shipping container that was set up like a small site office. The large corrugated-metal door was ajar and a dim light shone out from inside.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Rat’s hackles stood up as we approached. He lowered his posture to a stalking pose and Jagger attempted to copy, bending down into a deep stretch with his tail wagging in the air. Jagger was indeed trying, but it was hard to take such a fluffy husky seriously.

  I pulled the crowbar out from my bag, quickly closing the menu and shoring my grip. The four of us approached the door and I kicked a small rock towards the opening, hoping to rouse any residents.

  The rock clanked into the door and a metallic chime ringing out.

  “Uuuhh,” a gruff zombie grunt responded.

  Out shuffled a stout man dressed in pants, a navy canvas shirt, a high-vis vest and a white hard hat. A plastic-coated ID badge was clipped to his vest.

  Our eyes met and he shuffled closer. Rat started barking and Jagger awooed as ferociously as one could awoo.

  I raised my crowbar, preparing to take a swing, when out of nowhere the zombie ducked, bending down towards Jagger with his hand outstretched.

  I’m sorry – what? I thought to myself as I watched the zombie foreman attempting to stroke Jagger’s head, a small smile on his lips.

  “Woo?” Jagger said, as puzzled as me and Rat. He stood up from his bowing pose and sniffed at the zombie’s hand, giving it a soft lick and then a quick nibble.

  “Uuh,” the zombie grunted, not put off by the husky bite. He looked over to Rat and stretched out his other hand, but Rat was having none of it. He barked and barked – the hair on his back couldn’t possibly stand any higher.

  I looked over at Rat and he looked back at me; we were confused by this whole situation and didn’t know exactly how to respond.

  Jagger, seemingly liking the attention, decided it was playtime and started pouncing around playfully – however that seemed to flick a switch in the zombie and he remembered what he was supposed to do. He looked up at me, stood up and started once again approaching, the look of levity lost from his face.

  “Uh-oh, there he goes!” I said to the animals.

  I once again raised the crowbar and swung it towards his head.

  “THUMP!” The head was knocked off the body and fell to the dirt. Cooper ruffled his feathers, disturbed by my swing. The dogs and I looked at each other and then down at the corpse.

  “How bizarre!” I said to them.

  I bent over and grabbed the zombie’s hard hat, saving the first part of the construction-worker costume bonus. I shoved it into my tiny bumbag.

  The four of us then walked carefully past the body and into the shipping container. Inside was a boxy plywood desk, a couple of grey filing cabinets, some stackable plastic chairs and a noticeboard. A basket of muffins sat on the desk, wrapped in cellophane and labelled with a card from what looked to be a big mining conglomerate. The noticeboard had posted on it a roster, a couple of memos about various safety hazards and a small poster advertising the City2Surf.

  The poster read ‘Join Bosco and I on the running team and let’s save some pups! Our charity for this event is the RSPCA Central Coast division. Speak to Colin to sign up’.

  I looked at the roster and saw that the last night shift was only signed on by one person.

  “Looks like that was it, guys,” I said to the animals. I grabbed the muffin basket and we walked out of the makeshift office. As I stepped over the torso of the man, I noticed the name on his name tag: Colin Bargwanna.

  My heart sank a little more knowing this man would have been a good guy when he was alive. I turned back quickly and grabbed the charity poster from the board, placing it into my bag.

  Heading back to the van, we once again passed the zombie body.

  “I’m sorry, Colin. I’m sure we would have been friends if you didn’t want to eat me,” I said. “Come on team, back to the van – we’d best check on the others.”

  I pulled out my torch, as the sun had now largely set. On the walk back, by one of the large blocks, a glint of gold flickered in the torch light. I looked down and noticed it was a dog tag; ‘Bosco’ was embossed on the front and a phone number was on the back.

  “Guys, Bosco was his dog!” I said to the animals. “I hope he is okay and just ran away!” I dreaded the thought of anything else. I put the dog tag into my bag and we continued back to the van.

  I opened the back door quietly to find Rachel and Artemis cuddled up in the back seat, a blanket wrapped around them both.

  “Shhh,” I said to the dogs as they slunk into the van, curling up next to the sleeping pair. I closed the door and then went around to the driver’s seat with Cooper.

  Locking the doors behind me, I slid my chair back a little, stretching my legs and resting back into the chair. Cooper hopped onto the passenger seat and tucked his legs up, closing his little pigeon eyes as I stroked his head.

  I looked out into the darkness and couldn’t see a thing. It was strange to find myself in such a dark space; it was much like the menu purgatory. As dark as it was, though, it felt so much lighter.

  I reached back to pat Rat and Jagger, scratching them both gently on the ears.

  I wonder what tomorrow will bring.