Volume I - Episode 119 Where: Melbourne, Australia When: 30 days after E-Day, 5:25 pm I'd been searching for Jessica for nine days, and I was seriously starting to lose hope. There are 129 streets and over 10,000 private residences in Balsdon, the suburb where, I was fairly sure, Jessica had lived. Of the thousands of houses I had driven or walked past, only two had obvious signs of life. The first was occupied by a little old lady who refused to answer the door when I knocked, peering at me through her living room blinds as if I were Death itself come to take her away. I didn't even get to knock at the second house. The door flew open as I walked up the driveway, and a middle-aged man, naked except for a a filthy pair of boxer shorts and a long, unkempt beard, chased me off his property with a cricket bat. My search had not gone well. I had, however, found plenty of wrecked cars, hungry, abandoned pets, overgrown gardens, and signs of looting. I barely passed a shop anymore that still had all its windows intact or shelves that hadn't been picked clean. Long gone was my theory that Jessica and I were the only people left in the world. There were people alright. Not many, but they were there. During the nights, I sometimes heard car engines roaring along the major roads near my house. Occasionally I also heard far-off voices, or screams, or saw a flicker of light on one of the nearby mountains east of Melbourne. Someone had taken all the Diet Coke from Safeway, my local supermarket. And one night I heard a rapid series of loud bangs that sounded suspiciously like gunshots. And all the while, there was still no sign of Jessica Bell. Had I missed her, somehow? Was she living in one of the houses I had mistakenly thought was empty? Had she moved out of Balsdon after E-Day? Had she ever actually lived in Balsdon at all? Another thought kept nagging at me, too difficult to face up to, but too stubborn to ignore completely... Was she dead? As I drove home, frustrated by yet another day of fruitless searching, I decided to change my tactics a bit. Maybe it was time to give up searching for the house that she had lived in? Maybe she had holed-up somewhere else? A hospital maybe? Or a shopping mall? "Righto," I said aloud to myself as I weaved around a burnt-out wreck in the middle of Dover Road. "From tomorrow, we're hitting the shopping malls." I quickly formed a plan in my head. I'd start with the Balsdon Mall, of course, since it was closest to the suburb where (I suspected) Jessica had lived. After that, I'd check out Quinn Hill Shoppingtown or Bendelle Shopping Centre in the afternoon. That decided, I flicked on my MP3 player and listened to some rock. By the time I saw the black four-wheel-drive in my rear-view mirror, it was already upon me. Notes: We're getting close to the climax of Volume 1 now. I'll be tying-up several story threads, and more or less synchronising the timelines (at least in Melbourne). About 20 episodes to go! Thanks to everybody who has given me encouragement, ideas and advice. I particularly want to thank: Angela Balsdon Fiona Gregory Bec Francis (nee Bendelle) Seana Quinn Ange Leong Bek Rushbury Adam Dennis Deborah Fishburn Peter Dexter Veronica Inbar Everybody on Renderosity! Any many, many others!