You shot kangaroos?"
"Yeah. And wild buffalo and wild dogs and wild boar. But there are more kangaroos than people in Australia. It was like population control. And all the introduced animals are pests. The huge buffalo herds destroy the vegetation and cause soil erosion. And the wild dogs kill anything and everything. They completely mess up the ecosystem. So we were helping, really. The real test was when we tried to shoot rabbits. That was damn near impossible while hanging out of a chopper. My record was five."
"I don’t think I could ever shoot a kangaroo. They're so cute. And bunny rabbits? You guys are murderers."
"It makes it easier when you're starving and the only thing on the menu is Kangaroo burgers or rabbit stew."
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Trust me, you get accustomed to bush tucker after awhile. Especially since there's really no other alternatives. You have to live off the land. You have to co-exist with it. Otherwise you’re dead. The aboriginals of Australia have been living out there in one of the harshest climates for over 60,000 years. So it can be done. And I guess it’s a real possibility there are other survivors out there."
"You really think so?"
"Yeah I do. I mean, out there, in the desert, the aboriginals call it ‘the Never Never’ because it’s such a huge and never ending place. At the training facility in Western Australia, we were three full days travel from the nearest town. There were no other living souls for hundreds of miles in all directions. People could be hiding out there; people could be out there and not even know there's a problem. So there has to be other survivors. We know for certain that you were the only one who made it out."
"And Kim," I added.
"Sorry. And Kim. I meant you were the only one who was allowed to leave the New Zealand quarantine facility and made it back to America. But I’m positive there'll be other survivors, there just has to be."
I asked Daniel if there was a chance we might be able to see Kim when we landed in New Zealand but he said there was no time. And besides, the last he heard she was still in isolation.
It must have been so awful and so lonely to be there all by herself. I wonder if she had access to television. I wonder if she saw my interview. I wonder if she knows the worst of it.
About thirty minutes into the flight Daniel announced that we were roughly halfway. I guess we were somewhere over the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It was dizzying to think about how fast we were flying. I was just about to ask Daniel exactly how fast we were going when he received a phone call.
He answered a larger oversized mobile. It reminded me of the phone Doctor West had used to call in the military when he found out Maria was immune. I guess it had special capabilities or long range capabilities.
He spoke briefly, giving short answers. "Yes, sir. Understood. I have the coordinates. ETA is sixty-two minutes. Yes, sir."
Daniel hung up the phone but he had a worried expression on his face; his eyeballs were darting back and forth like he was reading an invisible book, like he was mentally playing out a scenario in his head, a bad scenario.
"What is it?" I asked.
"There's been an outbreak in New Zealand."
My stomach dropped again. But this time it wasn’t from the acceleration of take off. It was because my worst fears had been realized.
An outbreak in another country.
Somehow the virus had made it across two thousand miles of water, across the Tasman Sea. The Oz virus was starting to spread around the world.
"An outbreak?" I asked in disbelief. "Where? How bad is it? Is Kim all right? Is she safe?"
"I don't know. But there's been a change of plans."
I was shaking my head. "How the hell did it get to New Zealand?"
"I don't know," he repeated.
My mind was racing. Was it Kim’s fault? Was she responsible? Maybe she was somehow infected? No, that's impossible, I thought. She wasn’t infected. She’d
"Yeah. And wild buffalo and wild dogs and wild boar. But there are more kangaroos than people in Australia. It was like population control. And all the introduced animals are pests. The huge buffalo herds destroy the vegetation and cause soil erosion. And the wild dogs kill anything and everything. They completely mess up the ecosystem. So we were helping, really. The real test was when we tried to shoot rabbits. That was damn near impossible while hanging out of a chopper. My record was five."
"I don’t think I could ever shoot a kangaroo. They're so cute. And bunny rabbits? You guys are murderers."
"It makes it easier when you're starving and the only thing on the menu is Kangaroo burgers or rabbit stew."
"I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Trust me, you get accustomed to bush tucker after awhile. Especially since there's really no other alternatives. You have to live off the land. You have to co-exist with it. Otherwise you’re dead. The aboriginals of Australia have been living out there in one of the harshest climates for over 60,000 years. So it can be done. And I guess it’s a real possibility there are other survivors out there."
"You really think so?"
"Yeah I do. I mean, out there, in the desert, the aboriginals call it ‘the Never Never’ because it’s such a huge and never ending place. At the training facility in Western Australia, we were three full days travel from the nearest town. There were no other living souls for hundreds of miles in all directions. People could be hiding out there; people could be out there and not even know there's a problem. So there has to be other survivors. We know for certain that you were the only one who made it out."
"And Kim," I added.
"Sorry. And Kim. I meant you were the only one who was allowed to leave the New Zealand quarantine facility and made it back to America. But I’m positive there'll be other survivors, there just has to be."
I asked Daniel if there was a chance we might be able to see Kim when we landed in New Zealand but he said there was no time. And besides, the last he heard she was still in isolation.
It must have been so awful and so lonely to be there all by herself. I wonder if she had access to television. I wonder if she saw my interview. I wonder if she knows the worst of it.
About thirty minutes into the flight Daniel announced that we were roughly halfway. I guess we were somewhere over the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It was dizzying to think about how fast we were flying. I was just about to ask Daniel exactly how fast we were going when he received a phone call.
He answered a larger oversized mobile. It reminded me of the phone Doctor West had used to call in the military when he found out Maria was immune. I guess it had special capabilities or long range capabilities.
He spoke briefly, giving short answers. "Yes, sir. Understood. I have the coordinates. ETA is sixty-two minutes. Yes, sir."
Daniel hung up the phone but he had a worried expression on his face; his eyeballs were darting back and forth like he was reading an invisible book, like he was mentally playing out a scenario in his head, a bad scenario.
"What is it?" I asked.
"There's been an outbreak in New Zealand."
My stomach dropped again. But this time it wasn’t from the acceleration of take off. It was because my worst fears had been realized.
An outbreak in another country.
Somehow the virus had made it across two thousand miles of water, across the Tasman Sea. The Oz virus was starting to spread around the world.
"An outbreak?" I asked in disbelief. "Where? How bad is it? Is Kim all right? Is she safe?"
"I don't know. But there's been a change of plans."
I was shaking my head. "How the hell did it get to New Zealand?"
"I don't know," he repeated.
My mind was racing. Was it Kim’s fault? Was she responsible? Maybe she was somehow infected? No, that's impossible, I thought. She wasn’t infected. She’d
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