The truck started moving. It was a bumpy ride at first, but then it began to smooth out as we turned on to the road.

Which way did we turn? What direction were we now heading? Were we making our way closer to Daniel’s camp? Or had we turned back, in the complete opposite direction?

I had no idea. It was unsettling to be blindfolded.

“Is everyone all right?” I asked, wanting to make sure we were all still together.

A whispered voice answered me. “No talking.”

“I just want to make sure that everyone …”

Before I could finish speaking I was cracked on the side of my jaw with what felt like the butt of a rifle. But I suppose it could’ve been the heel of someone’s boot. Either way it hurt like hell. The shock of being hit made my eyes water. The entire side of my face felt hot and numb at the same time.

“Pay attention,” the voice hissed. “No talking means no goddamn talking. They’re attracted to your voice.”

A spike of adrenalin and anger sent my heart racing. I began to panic. The last time I was tied up like this was at North Sydney hospital, when we’d been taken down to the morgue. So naturally, I was a little worried. But what did he mean by, ‘they’re attracted to your voice’? The truck’s engine was making more noise than I ever could.

For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what he meant by that. And I couldn’t figure out why this person would feel the need to hit me. I mean, these were the first people we had seen in months. Shouldn’t they be happy to have found other survivors? Being tied up and blindfolded and hit in the mouth was not what I expected. Especially since they just saved us from a horde of infected.

The truck ride lasted a few hours. Nobody said another word. The only noise was the engine and the wind tearing through the loader.

Eventually the truck began to slow. The driver downshifted gears, crunching them a couple of times. We must’ve entered a town, I thought. The roar of the massive engine bounced off solid structures, buildings, houses. In my mind’s eye, I imagined us driving into the center of a small country town.

The truck came to a stop, and we were pushed off the back and taken inside a building of some sort. I was being led by the arm. As we moved inside, our footsteps echoed loudly. Judging by that, I figured we were inside a building with hard floors, solid walls and high ceilings.

We had only walked a few feet when we were ordered on to our knees.

A voice spoke softly. It was the same voice that told me there was to be ‘no talking’, and presumably the same person who’d hit me.

“Father,” he said. “We found more survivors. They were on the outskirts of Hunter. We found them surrounded at the Mackenzie’s place.”

“Good work,” an older man replied. His voice sounded gentle, patient. “It has been a busy night,” he continued. “Put them in the vault. And please, untie them.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Oh, and where are the others?” the older man asked. “They were due back before sunset.”

“They’re still out there. They had to take the long way back. They ran into some resistance.”

The older man took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Let us pray for their souls.”

We were then led down a set of stairs and into a room. Thankfully, we were untied. Whoever had been escorting us left the room, closing and locking what sounded like an extremely heavy door. We removed our blindfolds, and then it dawned on us, we were inside a bank vault.

It looked like there were candles scattered in the corners of the vault. But then my eyes slowly adjusted and I realized they weren’t candles. They were glow sticks. In the absolute dark of the bank vault, they actually gave off quite a bit of light.

Jack spoke first. “Well, this is just great. Freakin brilliant. Why did we give up our guns?”

“They had us surrounded,” Daniel said. “Outnumbered, blinded. If we’d put up a fight, we wouldn’t have lasted five seconds.”

“Besides, we’d be dead right now if they hadn’t shown up,” Kenji added. “We owe them our lives.”

“Is everyone all right?” I asked.

Everyone answered. They were all fine.

“What was that whole, ‘no talking’ thing about?” Maria asked. “Was someone hit?”

“Yeah, that was me,” I said.

Kenji came over. “They hit you?”

“Yeah. For talking, remember? ‘No talking means no goddamn talking’.”

“Are you OK?” he asked as he checked my face.

“I’m fine,” I lied. “Didn’t hurt that badly. Scared me more than anything.”

“What a cheap shot,” Jack said. “I know they saved us and all, but you can’t just go around hitting people. Especially someone who is blindfolded. And a girl!”

“They must have their reasons,” Daniel said.

“No,” Jack replied. “There is no excuse for hitting a girl.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Maria said. “I know that’s kind of a stupidly obvious thing to say. But this is crazy. Why did they tie us up? Why blindfold us? I mean, they saved our lives! Why the hell would they hit one of us? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Maria was angry and tired. We all were. But at that moment, Maria broke down. “We haven’t seen any other survivors in weeks,” she continued. “We’re on the same side!”

Jack moved over to Maria and gave her a hug and tried to calm her down as best he could.

“I wonder what that guy meant by, ‘they’re attracted to your voice’.” I said. “Do you think he was talking about the infected?”

“It’s possible,” Kenji replied.

“But the truck’s engine was way louder than my voice. If anything was going to attract the attention of the infected, it would’ve been the engine, right?”

“We can’t be certain,” Daniel said. “No one knows for sure. They might be attracted to any kind of noise, or they might be more attuned to human voices. No one knows.”

“And besides, we’re guests here,” Kenji added. “These people saved our lives. They’re offering us shelter. This is their house, their rules. If they tell us to keep quiet, we do as they say.”

“I guess there are worse places than a bank vault to spend the night,” I said.

As my eyes began slowly adjusting to the dim light of the glow sticks, I saw cash scattered all over the floor. There were all kinds of currencies. Australian, American, Euro, British pounds. There was even gold bullion stacked up at the back of the vault. Safe deposit boxes lined the walls. There were two pallets of cash towards the far right corner. A symbol, a relic of a dying and crumbling civilization, I thought. I moved towards the pieces of gold, mesmerized and drawn to it. I picked one up. It was ridiculously heavy.

I was trying to read the inscription on the gold bar, when suddenly I felt something move in the corner of the vault.

Is ‘felt’ the right word? Sensed? Like a Jedi? I don’t know. I was tired, exhausted. But something had moved. I was sure of it. I turned and looked at the dark corner of the bank vault. Something moved again, ever so slightly.

I couldn’t see clearly. It was like staring into a black hole.

But then a shadow started to take shape.

It moved again. Shifted its weight.

I realized we were not alone.