LUKE

Tyler and I both rode out on our horses. I could hear the sound of the horse shoes colliding with the ground making a 'clop' sound. We are heading towards a place we haven't been before, and that is Crafers, Striling and Aldgate. All three of these places are all up in the beautiful Adelaide Hills. It's about a thirty minute drive to get there but with the horses it would take about a hour, if we are going to search all three places it is going to take at least a day. We got to the highway and we sped up.
The breeze blowing on our faces as we rode was a memorable moment. As we rode past all the cars I could memorise which car was next. We have gone through the highway a lot.

We finally got to Crafers and I slowed down and my horse came to a stop. Tyler and I both stayed on our horses and surveyed the area. There was tables knocked over and rubbish everywhere. There were weeds and vines growing out of everything. It looked like nobody has been there for years.

"It looks clear" Luke said.

I'm gonna be more worried about Stirling and Aldgate then Crafers as they are more popular. Where more people used to live is a bigger chance of people or more zombies. We both got off of our horses. We only had one pistol between the two of us as guns have a shortage now. I took out my machete from a holster in my horse and waited for Tyler to get his machete. We spotted a car park with a sliding door we for our horses so they could be hidden from zombies. We both led them inside and left them. We closed the sliding door and walked back to the road.

"I think it would be a good idea to find us more affective weaponry" Tyler said.

"I agree. You start from the left houses and I start at the right houses, then we meet in the middle. What do you think?" I said.

"I think that is the only plan that we have so I'm ok with it. I'll see ya in the middle" Tyler said winking at me as he ran left down the road.

I turned right and walked down the street. I got to the last house on the street and walked up to the front door. It was mouldy and the paint was all scrapped off. The house was completely white and there were cracks running across the walls everywhere you looked. The door had a large vine wrapping around it, like it was a grand entrance. This is what most houses look like these days. After years and years with no maintenance they tend to slowly fall apart. I twisted the door knob as paint flakes fell to the ground with a large crunch sound. The door wouldn't budge. It wasn't locked. The door must of come off its hinges and slowly grown into the vines around it. I took a step backwards and rammed into the door. Dust flew all around me as the door slammed onto the floor.

I looked around me hoping that no zombie heard it. I quietly stepped inside, trying to make no noise. The house stunk. It smelt like something was rotting away somewhere. I blocked my nose and walked to the kitchen. I quickly opened every drawer, cabinet and looked throughly through shelf's to find any left over food. Even if it was out of date. I found a sort of gardening draw and found three packets of seeds. Carrots, carrots and more carrots. I quickly put them into my bag and continued to search. I walked to the lounge room and didn't find anything. I completely searched the bottom floor and went to walk up the stairs to the second floor. The rotting smell began to become stronger and stronger every step.

I saw three doors. I opened the first one and it was a bathroom. I checked the cabinets and found some Paracetamol and some Aspirin. I chucked it into my bag and walked back out. I opened the second door and the rotting smell quickly became stronger. I knew what ever was rotting away was in this room.

I walked in and saw that it was a kids room. There was comic books, a video game console and a few superhero action figures. I looked around the room and took a small glance at the bed. On the bed I saw one teenage girl laying on the bed basically bone with small amounts of flesh left. I then looked at the other body. It was an infant baby. All bone. I ran out of the room in horror and vomited on the ground. I wiped my mouth clean and decided to check the next house.

A few hours later after searching through about ten or more houses I meet Tyler in the middle house. We looked over what we both scavenged and decided to check the next houses over.

It took hours but we finally fully searched Crafers, at least the main part of it. It was becoming dark so Tyler and I decided to set up camp. We cleaned out a car we found and made it more comfortable by adding lots of pillows and blankets. Tyler was going to take the back seat and I was gonna sleep on the front seat. Quickly it became even harder to see anything. We quickly put up thick pieces of newspapers on the windows of our new car. We then lit lanterns that we had and placed them in the back of the car and one at the front. Batteries are extremely hard to come across these days so we had to resolve to lanterns or fires.

We both sat out on the bonnet of the car, undecided about who should be the first look out. We started to get tired.

"Alright, get some sleep. I'm going to look out first and I'll wake you up in about two hours time" I said.

Tyler agreed and got into the car. He must of feel asleep quickly because I could hear him snoring basically as soon as he got into the car. I sat there alone on the bonnet of the car with no light at all. Only the moon light was helping to see. I heard one zombie in the distance. But I couldn't see where it was. I held onto my machete tightly bracing just in case the zombie was going to attack me at any moment. But that sound of one zombie slowly started to turn into more and more. A horde was on its way. I looked all around me trying to figure out which way the sound of the zombies were coming from. But I couldn't work it out as it sounded like it was coming from all around me.

I quickly got off the bonnet and as I did I saw a sparkle of light in front of me. One of the zombies must of had something reflective on because the moon light reflected off of something. I quickly ran over to the side door. When I was about to open the door I heard someone talking. Very quietly. But I could make out what they were saying.

"how many of them?" one of them whispered...

"i only see one, there could be more in the car" another whispered...

I was shocked. Was there people hiding from the horde somewhere. Were they talking about me. Or were they talking about the horde. I opened the door and quickly woke Tyler up.

"Tyler, wake up now!" I yelled.

Tyler rolled over.

"It's my turn to look out already?" Tyler said.

"No, a hordes coming!" I yelled.

"Shit. Then shut up and get in" Tyler said.

I quickly got into the car and closed the door behind me.

"How many?" Tyler asked.

"A lot. I couldn't see them but I could hear them" I said.

"I also heard people talking somewhere close. We need to keep our eyes open when the horde clears because we might have some trouble to deal with" I said.

Tyler nodded.

I crawled to the front of the car quickly and slowly pulled down the newspaper on the front window of the car. I could see the horde. It was right in front of us coming straight towards our car. There was so many of them. They were spread out across the entire road. I quickly pulled it back. I sat back in my chair.

"there's a lot of them. turn off the lanterns" I whispered.

We both turned off our lanterns at the same time and held our breath. All I could hear was the zombies moans slowly getting closer and closer and their foot steps getting louder and louder, and soon enough they were at our car. I heard them brushing past the car. I heard a few accidentally walking into it and falling over. It felt like it went forever. I clenched my fists hoping they don't hear us.

"go up ahead. circle the car." I heard someone whisper outside.

I started to shake. Tyler had tears running down his face. We both held still as we heard the zombies slowly circling our car.

"keep us together. don't break off" another whispered.

It took me a while to believe it but the zombies were talking. They were having conversations with each other, they were telling each other what to do and where to go. It was like... they were evolving. They weren't leaving. They just kept circling around us. My thoughts were if zombies could talk, could they open doors as well. I slowly pressed in the locks on each side door at the front and Tyler copied me with the back doors. We stayed silent scared out of our minds. I haven't been this scared since all of this started.

"they aren't budging. move out" one zombie said.

The moans of the horde slowly faded as they went further and further away. Tyler and I stayed up all night shaking in the car, not saying a word. Soon sunlight was glimmering through holes in the newspaper. I unlocked the door and stepped out of the car. I looked around and saw no sign of the horde. It must of kept moving. I walked over to the back of the car and opened the door.

"Come on Tyler. We gotta get out of here" I said.

Tyler slowly stepped out of the car shaking.

"We need to get to our horses and get back home" I said.

Tyler didn't follow me.

"Come on" I said.

Tyler faces me and slowly followed me. We walked over to the garage we left our horses in and opened the sliding door. But as I opened it I saw another horde coming down the road.

"Shit" I said.

"Is... is that the same horde?!" Tyler said.

"I don't know" I said.

I quickly got onto my horse. Tyler was staring at the horde.

"Come on Tyler! Get on your fucking horse!" I yelled frustrated.

He quickly jumped up onto his horse. We rode out of the garage. The horde was really close and our horses started to get really scared. They started to kick and jump. Tyler fell off of his horse and it ran away. My horse kicked me off as well and ran off. I landed weirdly on my foot.

"Arghh!" I yelled.

"Shit Luke!" Tyler yelled.

He grabbed me and dragged me. He was using all of his strength to get away from the horde. But we were moving to slow that the horde could easily keep up with us.

"You have to leave me" I said.

"I'm not leaving you. That's not we do" Tyler said.

I could tell he was running out of breath. He was slowly running out of strength as well. The horde was now getting closer.

"we've almost got them" I heard a zombie whisper.

"get us closer" another zombie whispered.

"kill them" I heard one zombie whisper.