Farmers vs zombies

The plague

This plague is worse than any other. It isn't the usual plague us farmers of the central west see, there are no locusts, grasshoppers, foxes, snakes, bunnies or plant viruses. Nobody is sure why, what, when, where or how but we do know who. Everybody woke up one day to our dead rising as undead and mistaking them for the people we have known our whole lives, we were chased an eaten. Those who escaped with a scratch or bite slowly succumbed in less than a couple of days depending on strength. The process is dreadful to witness with your loved ones first developing an extreme fever, then violence, then the wound swells and festers into something so putrid, even the strongest stomachs are tested, then they lose their strength until they die a slow painful death. Then they come back wanting our flesh.

The plague came through the countries and across the seas in a matter of days. I remember the first day I knew of the apocalypse.

My sister, Becky (Rebecca) and I were out hunting In the mountainous forest of Raygurn for five days in celebration of her seventeenth birthday. She had just passed her p's so we took a road trip. No word reached us in those uninhabited mountains because there was no reception. On the fifth night we decided to call it quits on an excellent total of 166 pigs 9 foxes and 21 rabbits. We packed up the next day and left passing through several towns. What we saw was unforgettable.

"Hey beck" I questioned "what is that god awful smell. Your farts smell like rotting sheep".

 The smell was worse than a dead rat hidden in a small room. As we neared the small town of Harl, the stench increased until almost unbearable limits.In the distance, smoke rose in thick, black pillars towards the heavens in multiple places including one in our vicinity. Beck and I were starting to worry when we rounded the corner.

"Shit. Emma, there's been a crash call the ambulance" yelled beck urgently as she slowed down and parked on the roadside. 

"There's no reception. Town is not far away, let's take them there". 

Becky searched for survivors in the red Mazda 3 while I searched in the white station wagon but nobody was there. Blood smears led from both cars into the bush on either side of the road so we followed them towards the survivors or what was left of them.

A young male in his twenties was crouched over a victim that looked to be a 50yr old female, scraping out the last of the small intestines. My hand went directly to the bright blue pocket knife in my cargo pants as the cannibal looked up from his meal. The cannibal was missing half his face which was shredded and all black around the edges and his eyes were glazed over white with large, noticeable red lines running from the edge of his eyes to his pupils. The cannibal charged at us as I readied my knife to defend myself but not before beck sent a handgun round between his eyes.She was shaking in disbelief at what had just occurred.

"W-what should we do? Should. Should we tell someone? Should we help them?" I said equally shaken

 "What's the point in it? I'm pretty sure they are all dead and from here, the smoke seems to be right over the town. I think we are alone in this."

 She was right, the best thing we could do would be to get the hell out of here and back home so that is what we did but after checking the bodies for signs of life. It looked like all around us was chaos so someone may believe a cannibal shot himself, right? We cleaned the gun of fingerprints and made it look like a suicide. nobody could trace the gun back to us anyway, it was unregistered.

Driving home was hell. Every ten or so km, there were abandoned cars, dead people and debris blocking the road. As much as we would like to get home as fast as we can, each turn in the road held a surprise. I nursed the 22 rifle in my lap for emergencies.

"What do you think is going on? Im sorry but it is obvious this area is in crisis, chances are so is everywhere else"

"Either the world is in economic ruin or a highly contagious sickness has sent everyone crazy. Could it be weaponised sickness? Are we at war?"

After the very wide detours and the very slow speed, we made it home in 6 hours when it should have only taken two. The last stretch of road was the worst and we feared we wouldn't get home. The tank was running on fumes when we returned.

Home looked normal from the outside as it's usual white weatherboard on 7 foot tall brick stilts with no fire, all alpacas accounted for and healthy looking crops but we still approached with caution. The front gate had an alarm attached so we entered via the side gate weapon at the ready. Beck parked the ute in the house yard for easy getaway then checked her rifle for ammo. We looked through all the windows to identify any danger and then with the all clear, we unlocked the door and did a classic swat team search of the house back to back. Our house was quite large with 5 bedrooms, an office and 2 bathrooms. The sound of creaking floorboards alerted us to the office.

We went side by side to the door and did a countdown from three when the door burst open and dad and my stepmother, Claire, we're pointing handguns at us. Aside from nearly shooting each other, we were over the moon to see them and even more happy that my brother, Blake and my two stepsisters, Annie and Martha were alive and well. A large reunion of big hugs occupied the next 5 minutes. The tension and the unspoken possibilities of what our family could be between beck and I were suddenly lifted into a big group hug.