I yelled at Jack, asking him if we should be going the other way, if we should be going inland instead of out to sea, but he couldn’t hear me over the engine and the wind.

I looked up ahead to see if there were any aircraft carriers or destroyers anchored in the harbor. But there was nothing. We had the entire harbor to ourselves. Even the skies were clear. There were no helicopters of death, no jets. The only birds of prey were two sea eagles circling high above. It looked like the military had fallen back completely. This was good news for our getaway but it could also mean they were getting ready to drop a nuclear bomb. Kenji said they would do it if they had no other choice, if they couldn’t control the spread of infection. He said they’d already used nukes at Woomera.

We passed underneath the destroyed remains of the bridge. The sight of it took my breath away because it looked so surreal and I felt like I should’ve died there.

Thankfully we moved on quickly. We must have been travelling close to a hundred miles an hour. I started to relax a little the closer we got to the open sea, even though I wasn’t really sure where we’d go. I thought we should at least get out of Sydney Harbor, out past the Sydney Heads. We could move up the coast, avoiding major cities, avoiding the military. It would take a miracle.

We hadn’t even made it to the Heads, we weren’t even that far past the bridge when Jack started talking to himself.

“I need to save her,” he said. “I have to go back for her. I have to. I can’t leave. I won’t let them touch her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He needs me. He doesn’t know his way around the city. He needs me. I know the city. I can help him.”

Jack asked me if I could drive the boat. “All you have to do is keep the throttle down and steer. It’s just like steering a car.”

“What? What are you doing? I can’t steer! I don’t even have my driver’s license!”

“I have to go back for her,” he said as he slowed the boat.

I tried to stop him but he was too strong. He pushed me back and told me not to come after him. He told me to get his sister to safety. Get her fixed.

Kim was lying unconscious on the back seat. She had been passed out for a while now. But at least Jack’s make shift bandaged had stopped the bleeding from the bullet wound.

“I’m trusting you with her life,” he said.

“Bastard!”

He dived out of the boat and started swimming. Strong powerful shoulders pumped through the water. He was heading straight back into the apocalypse. I watched him until I couldn’t see him anymore.