“Oh come on,” Kim said in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”

“It changes people,” Kenji said. “They become extremely violent, dangerously violent, like a rabid animal. You saw what it did to those people at the police station and you saw what it did to Officer Dennis. A person infected with the Oz virus will attack other non-infected people to spread the virus. Just one bite, just one scratch is enough to pass on the infection.”

“So those people at the police station weren’t just high on drugs?” Kim asked.

“No. It was the virus.”

Kim pushed Kenji in the chest. “Why didn’t you tell us? We could’ve been infected! We could’ve been killed!”

“The less you knew the better. If they were to question you, if they found out that you knew what was really going on, they’d kill you on the spot. They wouldn’t even think twice.”

“Couldn’t be any worse than having your organs harvested,” I said.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just thought that you were safer not knowing. I didn’t realize how bad it was. I didn’t know the virus had already made it here. I knew it was dangerous but I had no idea how fast it was spreading through the population.”

“Hang on just one minute,” Jack said as he held his hand up yet again to ask another question. “Let me get this straight. Are you trying to tell us that the virus not only kills people but then turns them into rabid, violent animals?”

Kenji nodded. “They become aggressive, they don’t feel pain. It’s like the virus completely takes over.”

“You mean like a freakin zombie? Is this what this is? Is this the goddamn zombie apocalypse?”

“I don’t know what it is exactly. I don’t think anyone does. But if this thing gets out of control, it’ll be bad. I don’t even want to think about how bad it could get.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “Because you’ll have zombies eating people and then turning those people into zombies and so on and so on.”

I thought about what Jack said. It sounded ridiculous but it also sounded terrifying. A normal virus was spread passively from person to person, but what if the host body was actively and violently trying to spread the infection. How many infected people could the military contain before they become overwhelmed?

“Is there a cure?” I asked. “Is there any treatment?”

“Not that I know of. The only way to stop the infection is to kill the host.”

“You mean, kill the infected person?”

“Yes. A head shot is the only way.”

“But you can’t just kill everyone who gets sick!” Kim said. “What if I were to get infected right now? Would you kill me?”

“We’d have no choice. Sometimes the virus acts instantly, sometimes it takes longer. But one thing they drilled into us before we came here was that once you become infected, you will change. There is no stopping it.”

“And so the military is supposed to be containing this thing?” Maria asked hopefully. “That’s why you’re here, right? To fix everything?”

“That’s why they sent us. I’m not sure who is in charge, or who’s responsible, but it was obvious to me that they had completely lost control. The quarantine is all part of a massive cover up. Keeping people out and shutting down communication networks is all designed to stop the flow of information. I mean, when we got to Woomera, it wasn’t just the people in the immigration center that were infected. There were hundreds of cases reported in the township.”

“You sound like the crazy lady we shared a cell with,” Jack said. “What did they tell you, Kim? You’re a cop, surely they told you something.”

“Yeah. They did. You know what they told us? Follow the military. Full cooperation. No questions asked. A lot of good that is doing.”

Arguing was getting us nowhere. And getting nowhere was not a good thing. Especially since the thumping coming from the morgue fridge was in no way subsiding. It was actually getting louder. We could hear Doctor Hunter still begging for his life. The man had completely lost it. The fridge doors looked pretty solid, but it wouldn’t surprise me if those things broke the locks or the hinges of the door any second now.

“So why did you run?” I asked Kenji.

Kenji sat down on the stairs and doubled over, like the implications of what had just transpired in the morgue had kicked him in the guts, like the seriousness of what was happening all around us had just kicked him in the guts. “I ran because I was scared,” he said. “I was stationed outside the Woomera immigration center. My orders were to shoot anyone or anything that broke out of the containment area. My orders were shoot to kill.

“It made me feel sick,” he continued. “I couldn’t do it at first. But then I saw what had become of the people who were infected. They weren’t human anymore. They were monsters. After a couple of days, more and more cases were reported. It started to get out of hand.”

He lowered his head and ran his hands through his hair. “Once the virus broke the quarantine, they ordered a nuclear strike. And that’s when I got the hell out of there.”

“A nuclear strike?” Kim said, her mouth wide open. “Why would they do that?”

“The overall objective is containment. By any means necessary.”

“How can they nuke a whole town and get away with it?”

“The nationwide quarantine,” Kenji answered. “Like I said, it was not only designed to keep the virus contained, but it was also designed to stop the flow of information to the outside world. They shut down the phone networks, internet, everything. At the moment, Australia is completely isolated from the rest of the world.”

“So the military is behind all of this?”

“No. We were on containment duty only. There’s someone else in charge.”

My mind was racing. If the virus was to get out of control here, in Sydney, would they nuke it as well? I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. I suddenly wanted to get as far away from the city as possible.

“Wait a minute,” Kim asked. “Why are there no guards or soldiers down here? There were two men outside this door when we were wheeled in. And there were more of them, further along this corridor. Where have they all gone?”

Kim was right. I remembered the two soldiers standing guard. Where had everyone gone? Maybe they had all bolted when they heard the alarm. Maybe we should do the same thing.

“Look, we can talk about this later,” I said. “And scare each other with doomsday theories and zombie stories, but right now we need to figure out what to do. I don’t really want to stay here with those things in the morgue.”

The thumping was getting louder and now Doctor Hunter’s cries for help were making everyone uneasy. Maybe we should put him out of his misery after all, I thought.

Maria began walking up the stairs. “I know what I’m doing. I’m going home, locking the gates, setting the security alarm, and hiding underneath my bed with Share Bear.”

Kenji seemed to regain his composure. “Slow down. First things first. We need to get out of this building. If we can do that, without getting caught, then we can figure out what to do. The Colonel said something about evacuating North Sydney, which might mean the military is falling back to a designated safe zone. If that’s the case, then we should head there. They’ll have security, shelter, food and water. That’s our best option.”

“And what if that’s not the case?” Maria asked.

“Then we’re on our own,” he said as he checked the ammo magazine of the rifle.

“Wait a minute,” Kim said. “You’re suggesting we willingly go back to the military after what they just tried to do? Are you out of your mind?”

“They only did that because they thought we had come into close contact with the virus. It was for the greater good, I guess. They were trying to contain it. It was just protocol. It wasn’t personal.”

Kenji sounded like someone who was actively trying to fight the effects of being brainwashed. It must be hard for him. He had been drilled into obedience, ordered to follow his superiors. And then all of a sudden his masters had turned on him, chained him up and tried to kill him. What he said about protocol made sense. But hearing people talk casually about how they are going to cut you into pieces and harvest your organs, well, yeah, that’s personal.

“When someone tells you they’re going to cut out your brain, that’s not protocol, it’s just messed up,” Kim said, echoing my thoughts.

“Yeah, are you sure we should be going back to the military,” Jack added. “Won’t they have a record of who we are?”

“I don’t think so,” Kenji said. “All of the doctor’s notes were either hand written or recorded on his Dictaphone. They won’t have a record of us. They don’t even have the resources to look for us at the moment. You’ll blend into the crowd. Trust me. This is our best option. It’s really our only option. They’ll have a secure compound set up with food and water.”

The prospect of food sounded pretty good. It was only then when he mentioned it did I realize I hadn’t eaten all day. Not since the party at Maria’s house. And that was only junk food, nothing nutritious. He was also right about the shelter. The military were really the only organization that could offer protection and look after everyone who was being evacuated.

Jack still wasn’t convinced. “But won’t they just tie us up again and make a science experiment out of us because we’ve come into close contact with the virus? Won’t they just follow ‘protocol’?”

“We have no choice,” Kenji said. “If the military really are falling back to a safe zone, they’ll be offering protection to everyone. We’ll be safe. It’s not like they can harvest everyone’s organs.”

I let out a nervous laugh and we all gave each other worried looks.

“If that’s not the case,” Kenji continued. “Then we’re on our own. We’ll have to fend for ourselves. Maria’s house might be the best option. But we have to make a move. We can’t stay down here forever.”

So just like at the police station we followed Kenji. We really had no choice. And again, he didn’t actually say, ‘come with me if you want to live’, but again; we all sort of knew that if we wanted to live we better go with him.