I faced the front again and pulled in a laboured breath. “That boy’s about to see everything we just did.”
Theo’s jaw hardened, and he glanced at the mirror. He had to be thinking about Ruby.
Everything we saw took us back to the people we loved, and the helpless feeling of knowing we could do nothing to protect them.
For the first time since we’d hit the road, I desperately wanted Tim and Varesh with us. We hadn’t even left Melbourne yet, and I was questioning our decision to throw ourselves into this mess.
This new world… it wasn’t meant to be tackled in small numbers. As I stared at the devastation through the side window, I released a slow breath.
Maybe it wasn’t meant to be tackled at all.
We travelled along the side streets on the outskirts of the city, the GPS course correcting whenever we were forced to deviate from the most direct route. The woman’s voice helped break up the monotony as I scoured the footpaths and buildings, and I entertained myself by picturing her getting frustrated over our meandering.
We'd been driving for close to an hour and still hadn't passed through Melbourne's western suburbs.
Theo focused on the road, and neither of us spoke, the silence becoming less tense the closer we got to leaving the built-up areas.
Houses had thinned out and industrial buildings started popping up. We drove by storage units and a panel beater, a car wrecking yard and warehouses. The only signs of life were the occasional vehicle, but each time we passed one, Theo and I faced the front and minded our business.
He tapped the steering wheel with his thumb, alert but relaxed. “How are you feeling about meeting my family?” he asked. “Are you nervous?”
“I wasn’t until just now.”
Theo gave me a lightning fast smile. “You’ll get along with Mia. She’ll be full of questions when we turn up, but she’s easy to like.”
His wistful tone caused a pit in my stomach, and I took in his profile, imagining how it must feel knowing he was only a couple of hours away from reuniting with them. “I can’t wait to see her—and your dad and Ruby.”
We took a left down a back road running beside a trainline that hadn’t been used in years. Overgrown weeds poked between the sleepers, and clusters of prickly pears filled the embankment on either side of the tracks. On the opposite side of the road were fenced paddocks with long grass and a single, lonely shed in the middle.
The lingering scent of the dead had faded a while back, and I drew a lungful of cleaner air. It would be like this in the country, I thought. Less human activity. Fewer of the infected. Just the people we cared about and plenty of space.
Then I locked onto a sight up ahead that erased the tentative feeling of security. “What’s that?” I asked, squinting.
Theo lifted his foot off the accelerator and eased closer. “Looks like a crash.”
Out here? There was nothing around.
As we rolled up to the scene, the details became clearer.
A minivan had veered off the road, but there were no tyre marks to suggest the driver had tried to avoid the accident. The front bumper was crushed and half wrapped around a telegraph pole, the passenger door hanging open.
Unable to tear my eyes from the scene, I rolled down my window.
“Sadie.”
“I’m just trying to work out what’s going on.” Then I caught the faint thumping, a persistent beat like a door banging in the wind. “Can you hear that?” I asked, sitting forward.
“Yeah, I hear it.” Theo slowed to a stop, keeping his hands on the wheel. He checked the rearview mirror.
Another sound drifted from the van, soft and uneven, like a hiccup in the middle of a crying jag.
My heart thumped, and I tried to tell myself I’d imagined it. “Is that—”
“Sounds like it. Just… hold on a second.”
He eased the Ranger forward a little more, checking left and right.
His caution had me yanking my gaze from the wreck and scanning the area for infected.
