Justin heard a noise to his left and turned that way to look down the hall. Walking carefully, he looked into each room and finally found Alice. She was sitting on the floor in one of the bedrooms. Beside her was a girl Justin didn’t know. Justin took off the mask and said, “Alice, are you ready to go?”

  Alice had looked up in shock when the figure in a hazmat suit and gas mask had entered the room, but her look of shock at seeing and hearing Justin was even greater. She stammered, “J…Justin?”

  Justin wasn’t entirely sure if she was in shock or teasing him, but a quick skim through the known responses suggested shock. Fortunately, that was the same response he’d expected so as he removed the backpack and took out the other hazmat suit, he said, “Yes Alice. You wanted to get away from here. Please take your shoes off and put this on while you explain why you used ‘Green Lantern’.”

  When Alice didn’t move, he repeated the sentence exactly.

  This time she started talking, but Justin interrupted her and said, “Alice, take your shoes off while you talk and then put this suit on.”

  Nodding slowly, Alice took her shoes off then stepped into the suit Justin was holding open as she said, “Me and Taylor didn’t want to hook up with Brad and his friend Ron. Brad said we had to stay upstairs until we wanted to party properly. I’m scared. People are dying, and all they do is drink even more, and they’re getting pushy.”

  Justin checked the hazmat suit was on correctly then said, “Alice, put your shoes on. When we get downstairs, I have a gas mask for you. Let’s go.”

  Chapter 7

  Before Alice could move, Taylor stepped forward and said, “Take me with you. I’m scared of what they’ll do when they get really drunk.”

  “Sorry, I don’t know you, and I have only one spare suit. Ron isn’t feeling well and probably won’t be in the mood for anything for some time.”

  Turning away, Justin looked down the corridor to check no one was there. When he turned back, Taylor looked up at him and said, “Justin, please.”

  Justin looked down at her and working through the checklist, assigned her a value in the eights. He said, “Taylor, I don’t know you. Coming here was your choice, and you should have known what Ron is like. Either you are like him, or you are just stupid. I would normally leave Alice to face the consequences of her actions, but she is almost family, and my sister asked me to help her. You, I don’t know.”

  As Taylor burst into tears, Justin turned to check on Alice. When he saw her shoes were on, he turned to go, but Alice said, “Justin, coming here wasn’t Taylor’s choice. Her family is down from Gympie because her dad’s going through chemo. She’s staying with her cousins, John and Jenny Morris. They dragged her here. She thought she was going to be at school all day. She’s not even in our grade, she’s only fourteen.”

  Justin hated making the wrong assumptions and quickly recalculated. Starting as a seven, Taylor’s circumstances, age, and choice to stay upstairs with Alice brought her into the sixes. He still almost left her, but the fact that he’d been wrong was also in her favour. He quickly modified his plans, then turned to Taylor and said, “Taylor. I made some bad assumptions, I’m sorry. You can come but stop crying. I don’t have a suit for you, but I can help make you mostly safe. It’s possible you could still die when you leave the house. I cannot take you to your parents or to your cousin’s house, only to where Alice and I live. What do you want to do?”

  Justin’s apology was real but was said in the same tone he’d said everything else in, and although Taylor stopped crying, her look had turned to anger instead of thankfulness. She said, “That’s it. You’re sorry.”

  “Yes Taylor, now do you want to come or not? I am leaving with Alice in the next ten seconds unless you say you want to come.”

  Taylor could see him mouthing the seconds and waited until he hit six then said, “I’ll come with you. I’d rather die than stay here.”

  Justin thought that was a foolish attitude because death was a permanent condition with unknown consequences, but as he did in most situations, he kept his thoughts to himself. He turned away to look around the room. He could hear the noise from downstairs getting louder and factoring in the number of people on the lower floor he changed his plans again. He said, “Alice, Taylor, follow me.”

  Instead of heading for the stairs, Justin led them to what he thought would be the main bedroom. He moved into the ensuite and quickly found some lipstick. Heading back past the confused girls, he wrote ‘I have opened the windows in this room. If you break down the door, YOU WILL DIE’ on the outside of the bedroom door. Closing it, Justin locked it then turned to look around the room.

  Not seeing what he wanted, he said, “Alice, Taylor, check the cupboards and the drawers. I need some thick blankets.”

  Justin didn’t wait but went to look through the cupboards in the bathroom. After seeing what was available, he took the lids off the two large bottles of hair conditioner and turned them upside down to drain. Next, Justin took out a bottle of talcum powder and a box of make-up removal pads. He soaked the pads in some water and then covered them thoroughly with talc before spreading them out to dry. Heading back into the room, he saw the girls had found some blankets. He said, “Good work, Alice, Taylor. Both of you come with me.”

  With that, he turned and headed for the bathroom. Taylor arrived first, and he set her the task of rinsing the two bottles thoroughly and then told Alice to use the hairdryer on low to dry the talc-covered make-up pads. Heading into the bedroom, he used duct tape around the edges of the door as a sealant then pulled the mattress off the bed and used it to cover the doorway. Justin pulled the one freestanding dresser over and used it to wedge the mattress in place. Taking a knife from his pack, he estimated the length of Taylor’s legs, arms and torso and cut the blanket into lengths then ripped a corner from the carpet and cut away a fifty-centimetre strip of the rubber underlay. Going through the bedside drawers, he took two condoms from one of the drawers. Justin still needed a mask to cover her face but couldn’t find anything airtight. In the end, he decided to fashion one from a wire coat hanger and duct tape.

  He went to the bathroom door and said, “Taylor, please bring the bottles to the bedroom. Alice, bring the dry make-up pads.”

  When they arrived, Justin cut two ends of one of the bottles and one of the other. Cutting open a pillow and poking holes in the remaining end, Justin joined the bottles together using the talc-covered make-up pads instead of charcoal. He then joined the two tops together using the condoms as the flexible hose. After shaping the hanger and fitting the loose end of the bottle just in front of the mouth, he used the rubber underlay around the edges and taped the mask over Taylor’s mouth and nose. After making sure she could breathe, he gave her rubber gloves from his bag and then rolled the cut lengths of blanket around each limb and taped them in place. He wrapped more rolls around her torso and finished with a poncho which he tightened around her waist and hips.

  When he’d finished, he used a couple of plastic bags to form a dome over her head, added sunglasses and taped it all up. When he’d finished, he said. “Alice, put on the gas mask then help Taylor into the shower. I want you to make sure the blanket is completely wet on the outer layer. Any toxic residue in the air should dissolve in the water.”

  Turning away, Justin put on his mask and opened the balcony door. Two dead birds were on the balcony, but he ignored them. He took a rope from his backpack and quickly fashioned a harness. When the girls came onto the balcony, he lowered them one after the other onto the outside lawn and then let himself drop beside them. Looking up, he could see Brad and his friends staring at them from inside the house. Ignoring them, he unhooked his bleach spray and after putting it back in his bag, led the girls out the front gate and back to where he’d left the bike. Several times on the way, Alice tried to say something, but he ignored her.

  Once in the garage, he said, “Alice, Taylor, I didn’t expect two passengers so you will need to squash up tightly behind me. From here, we will go home. I have to stop somewhere on the way, but you are both to stay on the bike until we get home. I want you to nod your heads if you understand.”

  When both heads nodded, Justin opened the garage, started the bike, and exited the garage. When he was outside, he left the quad idling while he closed the garage, returned the remote and then closed the side door. Getting back on the bike, he reached up to the walkie-talkie and said, “Tiger, I have Princess and am coming home. Keep silence. Over and out.”

  Back at the house, Jacquie was still reading, and all the rest were watching the DVD except Oliver who’d fallen asleep again. When Justin’s voice came out of the walkie-talkie next to her, Jacquie almost jumped with fright. Lily, on the other hand, began to dance around the room singing, “He made it, he made it, he made it.”

  When she’d calmed down, she came over to Jacquie who could see her huge grin through the plastic bottle. Jacquie said, “Lily, I suppose you are ‘Tiger’ and Alice is the ‘Princess’.”

  “Jacquie, yes. Matthew is ‘Captain’, and Oliver is ‘Spaghetti’. Only Justin and I know the names. Justin doesn’t have one yet. I try to think of them, but he always says ‘no’. He said I could choose Alice’s, Matt’s and Olly’s but he got to choose mine and his.”

  “Lily, why did you call Matt’ Captain’?”

  “Because he likes Captain America.”

  “Why did Justin want to know Matthew’s safe word?”

  “Last year Justin really wanted me and Olly to have safe words, so he went full-on autistic about it. He made Mum make us all choose a safe word and a danger word. Matt hates Green Lantern, so that was his danger word. Alice thinks Justin is stupid, so she doesn’t have one.”

  “Lily, did Justin ‘pretend’ or ‘for real’ go full-on autistic?”

  “Everyone except me thinks he’s special in a bad way. I’m the only one who knows he’s really special in a good way. Alice just laughed at him and made fun of him for weeks and weeks. Even John laughed when Mum wasn’t around.”

  “So he was pretending?”

  “Nope, he was ‘for real’. He does what he has to until he gets what he wants. That’s why I said shhh before. You are probably a five by now but if you cause him lots of trouble he might make you back to a six or seven. Only me and Olly never change. I’m his one and Olly’s his two. Mum used to be a one, but she’s a two now.”

  “Lily, did you make Justin get Alice?”

  “Not really. I just let him think I needed her here. He didn’t really believe me, but it was enough to make him change his mind. It’s his fault really because he let me read the plans. If you know how he thinks you can shift him in the right direction. He doesn’t have many emotions of his own, so I let him use mine.”

  Jacquie smiled down at Lily and said, “He knows how to love, though. He loves you.”

  Lily smiled briefly, then said, “Sometimes I think so, but sometimes I think he only does things because he promised my real dad he’d look after me and because I’m family. That’s why Mum’s a two. She isn’t a Waters anymore, she’s a Larson.”

  “Is that what Justin told you?”

  Lily nodded and said, “I asked him why Mum was a two, and then he told me. When I get married, I’m not changing my name because I don’t want to be a two.”

  Jacquie didn’t say anything but just leant down and gave Lily a hug before returning to the folder.

  Chapter 8

  Meanwhile, Justin was pulling up outside a small industrial estate at the edge of the neighbouring suburb. He could see dead people either outside or inside each of the shops. He stopped next to a pool supply store, and after making sure the girls stayed on the bike, he went inside and ignoring the dead owner and customer lying on the floor, he moved to the back of the shop where he found supplies of concentrated hydrochloric acid and chlorine.

  When he’d filled half the trailer with the chemicals, he moved to a welding supplies distributor three doors down, and after walking through the shop to the back entrance, he opened it before moving the quad around to the back door of the shop. He then loaded the rest of the trailer with some high-pressure bottles of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and acetylene. When he’d finished, he relocked the door, and after retrieving the keys from the dead owner, he locked the front and made his way back to the bike. Fully loaded, the quad was slow to move but Justin had calculated the weights and knew they could get all the way home with the charge left in the bike. He’d also chosen a route back to the house which had only a few hills, and those all had gentle slopes.

  Back on the road, Justin was moving at about thirty kilometres per hour and watching to make sure no one was following him. His constant scrutiny of his surrounds gave him a clear picture of what was happening in the area. He calculated that over half the population had been at work, school or shopping. Of those that remained, more than half were already dead because of the toxin. The only ones he thought would still be alive were those who’d stayed indoors with the windows and doors closed and the air conditioners off. Some others may have survived but the more they moved around, the more likely it was that they’d be dead soon.

  Justin calculated the toxin would be dispersed enough for free movement in another two or three hours. After that, he expected people to try and make their way home from places which had been smart and shut down. While he hoped his mum was one of those, he doubted it because of the attacks at hospitals. As he continued to gather a count of the dead and dying to modify his statistics he suddenly slowed the bike, pulled to the side of the road and turned in the seat to look over at an SUV several houses back.

  The doors and back storage area were open. On the roof were two mountain bikes. On the side close to him, a woman was crumpled beside an open door through which he could see the edge of a baby seat. Facedown at the rear of the car was a man who’d died while packing their bags into the storage area. Looking at the house, he could see that all the windows and doors were closed and the air conditioners were turned off. Justin sat there for almost a minute before turning the bike off and motioning for the girls to remain seated before hurrying back to the SUV. Not only was there a baby seat but a slightly larger one for a toddler. As he got close to the house, he could hear what he imagined was the toddler screaming. He moved quickly around the back of the house and after checking through the window, he carefully used a backyard hose to wash himself off and then prepared the back door for entry.

  Once inside, he closed the door after him and taking off the gas mask, quickly followed the sound to what was a joint nursery where both children were crying. The oldest was a girl Olly’s age sitting in a cot and the youngest, a newborn boy maybe a month old, lying in a bassinet. He’d reasoned there were kids alive and wasn’t sure if that was good or not. Although technically both were sevens, he knew he would have lost focus if he’d left them here to die. If he lost focus, then Lily might get hurt. He, therefore, had to try and help. Making soothing noises, he changed both children even as they continued to scream. Justin found it challenging to ignore the noise as it battered at his senses. He put them both back in their cots and moved quickly through the house looking for a solution.

  Remembering the bikes, he hurried to the garage and found a small child trailer and a helmet which he assumed belonged to the little girl. Grabbing the trailer, he moved back through the house looking for information and supplies. He discovered the girl was called Isabelle, and the youngest boy was Nathan. He ransacked the kitchen but couldn’t find any formula for the baby. Heading back to the nursery, he filled the floor of the trailer with nappies and clothes for the kids then lay a few blankets down. He’d taken a small Tupperware of snacks from the kitchen and holding it out said, “Isabelle, my name is Justin. Would you like to come for a bike ride? We’ll take Nathan and your favourite toys.”

  Isabelle didn’t respond except to briefly stop screaming and stare at Justin with a frown. Justin grabbed Nathan, and after laying him in the trailer, he made a small barrier with soft toys from Isabelle’s cot. When he’d finished, he held out his hands to Isabelle in the universal child symbol meaning, ‘let me pick you up’. Isabelle looked at him for a minute then raised her hands. Justin placed her next to Nathan who was still crying and said, “Isabelle. I’m going to carry you in the trailer. I want you to watch Nathan. You are his big sister, and he needs you. I’m closing the trailer now.”

  Justin closed the trailer and covered it with some plastic garbage bags which he taped over it. He couldn’t see in, but he could hear them both now crying, so he knew they were alive. Justin decided to leave the bleach behind and left via the front door. Both girls were standing by the bike but scrambled to get on as they saw Justin.

  When he got close, Justin said, “Taylor, please get off the bike and stand at the front of the trailer. Alice, shift back even more. What you can hear are two young children who were alive in the house. I want you to hold onto the bike carrier. I’ll go slower so you can keep your balance. The kids don’t have much air in the bag, so we need to hurry.”

  Both Taylor and Alice nodded. Taylor put her feet on the trailer and lent forward to brace Alice. When everyone was aboard, Justin started the bike and moved off. He increased the speed slowly until he felt the carrier at his back begin to move, then slowed a little.

  As Justin reached the fastest safe speed, he reworked his schedule, and the presence of the children changed the direction he took at one of the decision steps. After following it through to the new series of action boxes, he spoke into the walkie-talkie. “Tiger, message in one minute. Out.”

 

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