Amy discarded her child to hold up her hands, palms raised. The tender skin roughened pink then the skin puckered, blistered, then bled. Amy's scream stuck in her chest, even as her child - her gorgeous daughter - reached out for comfort.
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The Wilser family - Mum, dad, boy and girl - parked their 18ft caravan on the only 'free to camp' area they thought they'd find.
It was their first 'roughing it' holiday and they're quite unprepared. But it was the only holiday option they had since the airports are still closed. And they had a strong desire to get out of their house, out of their city.
The winter weather didn't deter the Wilsers. They reasoned they'd be the only ones on the road. They were so wrong. Every camp and caravan park were full before they arrived.
But they were here now. Somewhere.
For all the bad luck they had on the boring road trip they were lucky right here, right now. Because it would be hours before nighttime and that meant they could cook up dinner without fussing with torches. Then they turned down their beds and climbed miserably in
Amy felt as if her apocalyptic nightmare began as her head hit the pillow. Huge bonfires roared to devour people's bodies thrown onto the flames. It was all so supernaturally quiet except for a single woman crying. Somewhere. Amy couldn't see though she was searching.
Amy didn't know what she wanted but she had to find it. She looked about in the pitch darkness, the sky was starless. She searched the blackened faces in the bonfires.
"You did this!" The crying woman stopped her keening and began yelling, "you did this! you did this!" on and on.
Amy realised she was looking for her family. And she woke up.
She lay stiff as a board on her back looking up into the unnatural darkness in the caravan. It was freezing in that tin can so she lifted the blankets to cover her face, her breath warmed her cheeks.
Amy was on the verge of tears when she felt her husband stir beside her.
"Are you awake?" she whispers.
"A little," he whispers back.
"I had a nightmare."
"So did I," he says and he turns in the bed to wrap his arms around her and Amy was glad of the shared body warmth.
The kids had had a nightmare, too. The girl had been burning in the bonfire while the boy admitted to being lost in starless darkness. They didn't know what for but they felt it was all their fault.
Amy didn't share her nightmare, and neither did her husband, which made Amy wonder why.
After breakfast, they had to discuss 'where to next.' And once that was decided they tidied up their little messes. When they were about to get out of there Amy suggested they all go for a walk.
"The drive is going to take hours, why don't we burn off some energy first? We might find something interesting," she said.
Her husband and kids agreed. So they chose a general direction and off they hiked in pairs. The light bush was rocky with moss and grass littered with dead branches and bark. Amy's son picked up a branch and used it to whack the trunks of trees he passed.
"Is that a river?" Amy's daughter asked. They all paused to listen, it did sound like rushing water. "Let's go to the river," Amy suggests. And they all herd themselves towards it.
It was either a shallow stony river or a deep and wide creek. The Wilser family, being city-bred, began to debate over the name of the river/creek as they walked alongside it for a while.
Now, Amy's son had dropped the branch and picked up random stones to throw into the white water.
"There's something funny about the stones," he says.
"What do you mean?" Amy asks.
"They make my hands tingle," he replied. He looked at the palms of his hands as he rubbed his thumb over the inner joints of his fingers.
"I suppose there could be a pesticide on them," Amy mused. Doesn't every farmer use chemicals in rural areas? The river/creek was probably contaminated water.
Then Amy almost ran into the back of her husband who had stopped dead in his tracks. She looked up to see he had a thousand-yard stare over the rushing water.
"You all right, love?" Amy asks.
"You did this," he quietly replies with a slight shake of his head.
A shriek made them both turn towards their daughter. She had slipped into the river/creek. Their son laughed. The water was shallow, coming up to the girl’s knees, but as Amy is calling out to her the girl slipped again. And this time she became submerged – and thrashed about.
Amy couldn’t see what was keeping her under. And actually hesitated to help because who drowns in shallow water? Amy’s son had been closest and he reached his sister first, but as his arms dived in to haul the girl up he shouted and pulled back crying holding his arms out.
Amy reached her daughter next, annoyed her son hadn’t done more. As Amy’s arms dived in she felt she had submerged herself into a boiling pot. She began to withdraw but pushed herself to scoop up her daughter and drag her to the stony bank.
The moment the girl’s head came out of the water she began an incoherent shrieking. Amy pulled away from holding her daughter. Amy in turn begged for help from her husband only to witness him falling into the burning waters. Their son had pushed him.
“No!” Amy screamed. The boy focused on her.
“This is the opportunity,” is all he said.
Amy felt defenceless, her acid ridden hands were too hurting to push back or hit him. She ran to save herself.
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