Hall
I inspected our hastily put together barricade of tables and chairs. It wasn’t
much but it was something.
"I can’t
believe it," Maria said. "I just can’t believe it. The city. It’s so messed
up."
"Yeah, it’s
not good." Jack mumbled almost to himself.
We wasted no
time in securing the rest of the building. We moved through the Town Hall in
silence, trying to ignore the fact we were in the middle of a warzone. We
checked the side entrances and emergency exits. We made sure they were all
locked. I made sure we had a way out in case we needed to leave in a hurry.
We decided
to rest up in the main function room. According to the sign on the huge wooden
double doors, it was called the Centennial Hall.
Jack and
Maria moved behind me and I pushed open the doors.
I scanned
the room quickly, rifle armed and ready.
The room was
deserted. It appeared to have been set up for some kind of function. It was
full of round dinner tables that were all covered with white table cloths.
Bottles of wine and champagne were sitting on the tables. And empty glasses.
There was a
sign just inside the main door that read:
North Sydney
Grammar Debutante Ball.
Welcome
Debutantes and partners.
"What the
hell is a debutante ball?" I asked
"It’s like a
fancy prom or high school dance," Maria answered. "It’s an old tradition. It’s
supposed to symbolize a young girl coming out into society or something. Personally,
think it’s load of crap."
"You do
not," Jack said.
"Well, maybe
not all of it," Maria replied. "OK, sure, it would be fun to dress up and dance
and all that stuff. But the whole thing, the whole tradition. It’s sexist or
something. I don’t know."
Jack shook
his head. "It’s not sexist. It’s just an excuse to party."
I moved over
to the nearest table and picked up a menu. Dinner was to be a three course
meal.
King Prawns
and Seared Scallops for the entrée.
Wagyu beef
and Atlantic salmon for the main course.
Crème brulee
and chocolate lava cake for dessert.
Underneath
the menu was the wine list and a warning that alcohol was not available for
debutantes or partners who were under the age of eighteen.
I doubt that
would’ve stopped anyone.
Reading the
menu had made me hungry.
Without
saying a word between us we all moved over to the main bar that was located at
the rear of the room. We were all hungry and thirsty. Luckily we found some
bottled water. But unfortunately the only food we found were bar snacks. Salted
peanuts. Potato chips.
Not good.
"There’s a
small supermarket across the road," Jack said. "It should have some canned food
or something."
"Do you
really want to go back outside?" Maria asked. "With those things? I’m more than
happy with potato chips for dinner."
"We can’t
survive on potato chips forever," Jack answered.
"Who said
anything about forever? I just think it’s not worth the risk to go back outside
right now."
"Yeah,
Maria’s right," I said. "We should wait. Make sure the infected have cleared
out. Go first thing in the morning."
Jack didn’t
look convinced. "And what if they don’t clear out?"
"Then we
wait."
"For how
long? Until we starve to death? News flash, we’re in the middle of the city.
We’re completely surrounded. There are hundreds of them out there. And that
number is growing by the minute."
"I
understand that," I answered. "But we just ran a good couple of miles. We need
to rest up first. We can go hungry for one night."
I think Jack
knew we couldn’t go back outside at that point. He was just voicing his fears.
The biggest fear being that we were trapped in the city, that we were
surrounded, that we weren’t going to make it out of Sydney alive. And I have to
admit, I was scared of the exact same thing. I had no idea how many people had
been infected. And I had no idea how many infected people were in the middle of
the city.
We were in a
bad place. A very bad place. Would there ever be a safe time to make a raid on
the
I inspected our hastily put together barricade of tables and chairs. It wasn’t
much but it was something.
"I can’t
believe it," Maria said. "I just can’t believe it. The city. It’s so messed
up."
"Yeah, it’s
not good." Jack mumbled almost to himself.
We wasted no
time in securing the rest of the building. We moved through the Town Hall in
silence, trying to ignore the fact we were in the middle of a warzone. We
checked the side entrances and emergency exits. We made sure they were all
locked. I made sure we had a way out in case we needed to leave in a hurry.
We decided
to rest up in the main function room. According to the sign on the huge wooden
double doors, it was called the Centennial Hall.
Jack and
Maria moved behind me and I pushed open the doors.
I scanned
the room quickly, rifle armed and ready.
The room was
deserted. It appeared to have been set up for some kind of function. It was
full of round dinner tables that were all covered with white table cloths.
Bottles of wine and champagne were sitting on the tables. And empty glasses.
There was a
sign just inside the main door that read:
North Sydney
Grammar Debutante Ball.
Welcome
Debutantes and partners.
"What the
hell is a debutante ball?" I asked
"It’s like a
fancy prom or high school dance," Maria answered. "It’s an old tradition. It’s
supposed to symbolize a young girl coming out into society or something. Personally,
think it’s load of crap."
"You do
not," Jack said.
"Well, maybe
not all of it," Maria replied. "OK, sure, it would be fun to dress up and dance
and all that stuff. But the whole thing, the whole tradition. It’s sexist or
something. I don’t know."
Jack shook
his head. "It’s not sexist. It’s just an excuse to party."
I moved over
to the nearest table and picked up a menu. Dinner was to be a three course
meal.
King Prawns
and Seared Scallops for the entrée.
Wagyu beef
and Atlantic salmon for the main course.
Crème brulee
and chocolate lava cake for dessert.
Underneath
the menu was the wine list and a warning that alcohol was not available for
debutantes or partners who were under the age of eighteen.
I doubt that
would’ve stopped anyone.
Reading the
menu had made me hungry.
Without
saying a word between us we all moved over to the main bar that was located at
the rear of the room. We were all hungry and thirsty. Luckily we found some
bottled water. But unfortunately the only food we found were bar snacks. Salted
peanuts. Potato chips.
Not good.
"There’s a
small supermarket across the road," Jack said. "It should have some canned food
or something."
"Do you
really want to go back outside?" Maria asked. "With those things? I’m more than
happy with potato chips for dinner."
"We can’t
survive on potato chips forever," Jack answered.
"Who said
anything about forever? I just think it’s not worth the risk to go back outside
right now."
"Yeah,
Maria’s right," I said. "We should wait. Make sure the infected have cleared
out. Go first thing in the morning."
Jack didn’t
look convinced. "And what if they don’t clear out?"
"Then we
wait."
"For how
long? Until we starve to death? News flash, we’re in the middle of the city.
We’re completely surrounded. There are hundreds of them out there. And that
number is growing by the minute."
"I
understand that," I answered. "But we just ran a good couple of miles. We need
to rest up first. We can go hungry for one night."
I think Jack
knew we couldn’t go back outside at that point. He was just voicing his fears.
The biggest fear being that we were trapped in the city, that we were
surrounded, that we weren’t going to make it out of Sydney alive. And I have to
admit, I was scared of the exact same thing. I had no idea how many people had
been infected. And I had no idea how many infected people were in the middle of
the city.
We were in a
bad place. A very bad place. Would there ever be a safe time to make a raid on
the
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