October

by Dave Rowlands

  I returned to the others, told them what I’d seen. The general consensus was to try and find another way around and into the city before more Dead arrive behind us.

  evening

  Darkness descended on a day that had been all but futile. Our progress had been thwarted by wreckage and the Dead, leading me to think that giving up on Perth might not be a terrible decision. I wondered what Apocalypse Girl would suggest in this situation, wondered whether she was still alive…

  German Doctor looked at my shoulder while we were camped for the night, prodding it painfully and cleaning it of the small amount of pus that had begun to form. She told me that it was still looking much better than she’d seen it before, even though it was clearly getting worse. We were both fully aware that this bite from my former friend will be what kills me.

  The only parts of my future that seemed uncertain; whether I’d find my way to Apocalypse Girl before the end, whether I’d see my child born… Whether I’d still be me enough to not want to eat them… It was possible that I’d retain some form of humanity after Death, though; after all, Disciple had, and had been able to control the Dead in much the same manner as The Kid. It wasn’t really a comforting thought, though.

  Journal of A.G.

  More news from The Fortress, none of it particularly good.

  The Plague-bunnies didn’t strike again after their incursion that had injured Giant, instead Deathwish and his deputies had discovered a massive burrow that led to the north. The thing had been large enough for humans to travel through, not that anybody wanted to.

  We were warned of what to expect, the drumming sound, their sheer speed and agility… Deathwish himself and as many people that The Master could spare had come to reinforce us. I only hoped it’d be enough.

  Regardless, in this instance I was happy enough to join The Queen, The Mistress, Maiden and Giant inside the underground facility beneath The Palace until the danger passed. If it passed. The reinforced metal walls should be proof against their teeth and claws, though I felt horrible at the thought of the carnage they might unleash against the general population of Adelaide.

  October 28th Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  A short while into our journey to find another way around into Perth the engine began to sputter and finally died out. None of us being mechanically minded, there was not a lot we could do other than gather up our supplies and continue on foot, trudging forward one step at a time. Our progress was slowed interminably by this event, but without Viking or one of his Mech-Techs there was no other option.

  German Doctor suggested that we try to find the river and see about accessing the city via the water, which I figured was not a bad idea. The only real issue was that I’d never been in this part of the country, so I had no clue where to begin looking. I knew it was one of the larger waterways around, and that in the city itself it got pretty wide, but that was it.

  Numerous days driving had left our legs unprepared for the rigours of walking long distances, so after every hour’s travel time or so we rested for a while. German Doctor suggested that it’d keep us more easily able to run away from danger if need be, and there were plenty of dangers just out of sight; I could feel them. Eyes were watching us, whether Living or Dead, or Mutant Fauna…

  noon

  Three hours of walking and we’d found no sign of the river we sought. We stopped for a bite to eat, washing the jerky down with water while our friends scouted ahead and around us. German Doctor spoke of her fascination with extra-terrestrial species that had begun at a very young age, her fears that she’d never encounter someone from another world. Now that she’d met some, she felt her life’s work had some validation; up until that point it had been entirely theoretical.

  She examined my shoulder once more, discovering that it seemed no better or worse than last inspection. It was beginning to feel slightly numb, but still hurt when she poked at it with her instruments in an attempt to remove the pus that had built up overnight. We both considered that a positive sign that the Mutator’s work was likely to keep me going for a while. I dreaded the thought of what was to come when it wore off.

  Criss-Cross and The Kid returned, they’d both spotted a large building that could hold some useful supplies, or else would be a reasonable place to hole up for the night. Besides which, there were vehicles in the nearby carpark that might be marginally more functional than the orange piece of shit that we’d left behind us.

  evening

  It was just before nightfall when we finally reached the building that they’d seen; an old hotel that had been in the midst of upgrades when the end had hit. This was both a good and a bad thing; good from the point of view that there would be very few Dead around, bad because it meant that food and water supplies would be scarce.

  In any event, German Doctor and I would have actual beds to sleep in tonight. That was always preferable to the alternative; hard ground while our friends that required far less sleep looked out for trouble.

  We resolved to search the building thoroughly in the morning, however. There could be useful equipment lying around, after all, and there were half a dozen vehicles that we could try out. With a bit of luck, one or two might still want to work. It was unlikely, given that they’d been sitting still for the better part of a year, but it was worth looking into at the very least.

  German Doctor and I found the largest suite in the hotel, broke the lock getting inside, tested the bathroom taps in a vain attempt to find water, barricaded the doors and found separate beds to spread out in. My thoughts drifted to Apocalypse Girl… I had no evidence to support my feelings, but I was sure she was out there somewhere. Maybe Perth was the wrong direction to be heading after all?

  Journal of A.G.

  Wounded, terrified people began streaming in from the outlying areas today. Plague-bunnies had hit them hard and they needed somewhere to go, so The Queen had them put up in a hotel in the middle of the city and ordered her medical personnel to attend to their injuries. They told horrific, nightmarish stories about watching their loved ones torn to pieces by tiny sharp teeth, in some cases being so badly mutilated that there was not enough flesh left for the victims to rise again in Death.

  Giant was already limping around, complaining that she should be out there, doing something about these blasted rabbits… I tried to tell her to stay calm and help me out with the refugees. She did so, but with a sour expression on her face, as if experiencing severe indigestion.

  We’d come to the conclusion that elevation was a good defence against the hungry horde that approached, figuring that they’d travel underground as far as they were able, as we had heard plenty of reports of them bursting up through the ground to attack in a large group. There was a lot of sub-surface infrastructure beneath the city that would need to be looked at after they’d come and gone, assuming we survived the onslaught.

  Back in the Facility beneath The Palace I realised that I was more afraid now than I had been since Book and I had found The Commune…

  October 29th Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  We began our room by room investigation of the hotel shortly after breakfast. Since German Doctor and I had found the largest suite on the top floor to sleep in, we began there, deciding to work our way down as we went. Our comrades began scouting the roads leading away from the hotel as we began our search.

  Our initial assumption that there were no Dead present inside the hotel proved false, so it was a good thing that we kept our weapons at the ready. Doubly good that I was leading the way through doors, as German Doctor hadn’t had anywhere near as much experience as I with this sort of thing.

  We found a maid in one room who had obviously been bitten way back at the beginning of everything, shambling her rotting self towards us and gnashing her teeth at the prospect of a bite to eat. She caught a mouthful of katana blade and we rummaged through her uniform, finding her housekeeping keys.

  Several more Dead occupied rooms on the top floor,
one being a family of four that had been unlucky, plus a couple of survivors that had found the place and decided it was a nice place to shoot each other through the chest and stomach for whatever reason. It was odd, we had initially assumed that the hotel would have been closed to the public while undergoing construction. Evidently that had been only partially true.

  The next floor down we had trouble opening the door. It appeared that the maids only had access to the keys on the floors that they worked on. German Doctor offered to run downstairs and find some more, though I cautioned her against such a move. Places like this, you never knew where there were lurking Dead waiting for a snack to wander by. She considered that for a moment, eventually nodding her agreement.

  I kicked the door hard, right near the lock and it flew open to reveal an empty room. All the furniture had been removed with no signs pointing to who had taken it, or where. After trying a few more rooms on the same side of the hallway with exactly the same result, we figured that these were rooms that had been slated for upgrades of some kind and moved on.

  The other side of the hall, however, told a different tale. These were fully furnished, beds, side tables, even wardrobes so that visitors could hang their clothes up. The few times I’d stayed in hotels, I’d left everything in my suitcase so that I wouldn’t have to deal with repacking disasters. However, I’d only ever stayed for a weekend at a time. With a more lengthy holiday it might have been nice to use a wardrobe…

  noon

  We stopped for lunch after we’d cleared the second floor from the top (There were five floors of rooms, plus the ground floor with the kitchen and bar) and descended to the third floor after eating. Again, the rooms on one side were in the process of being upgraded, with all of them missing furniture. Some of them had construction equipment inside, tools and the like. As well as a few Dead construction workers.

  Some of the Dead workers were irritating to deal with, still wearing their hardhats after all these months, which limited my options to simply stabbing them through their faces. Their numbers were small enough and the rooms large enough that it wasn’t too hard to manoeuvre them into a position that could be taken advantage of, though.

  The second floor had a ring of keys just sitting on a hook on a housekeeping cart right next to the stairs. German Doctor snapped these up, trying the nearest door and opening it easily. She grinned at me and quietly swung the door wide, stepping out of my way so that I could explore the room, sword in hand.

  Three Dead, another small family, stood staring out the window. The child, a girl of perhaps ten years of age, snapped her teeth in an irregular pattern. Other than that, the trio didn’t move a muscle. I cut through the adult Dead heads with one swing, then put my blade through the Dead child’s skull as it turned and snarled in my direction.

  Looking around the rooms on this floor, it was truly a shame that the upgrades would never be completed. The carpeting was nicer, furniture of a better quality. The windows were a lot larger, which we assumed most of the construction work force had been tasked with, offering a lovely view of the wastes… It would no doubt have been nicer a year ago.

  evening

  We kept searching, deciding that we’d go through the second and first floors, then take a break for dinner in the kitchen after seeing what we could find. So far, we’d found no weapons other than the guns the Dead survivors had killed each other with on the top floor, and no edible supplies. The workers had some tools that would possibly be of some use to somebody.

  The few Dead guests that we’d encountered had clothes in their rooms, but they had arrived prepared for a summer holiday, and the weather had changed dramatically over the last ten months; even though summer was approaching again, and the days had been growing marginally warmer over the last few weeks, it was unlikely that this ‘summer’ would be anything like shorts and t-shirts and thongs weather.

  Several more guests occupied some of the other rooms on the first and second floors, all of them simple to put down and rarely more than one or two to a room. We discovered two more Dead maids, one on each of the two lower floors. By the time the sun had properly set we were finished with our exploration and descended to the ground floor.

  Criss-Cross awaited us in the lobby, with the news that The Kid had found a large mob of the Dead that were heading in the direction of Perth, and that he’d decided to lead them away far to the east. He would return in a day or two, he’d told our Klee-vics companion.

  We decided against eating our dinner in the kitchen once we finally got a look at the place; it was a disaster area. There’d clearly been some kind of bloodbath that had happened here, either some Dead guests had gotten in and attacked the staff, or some staff members had come to work freshly bitten and died on the job, getting back up and attempting to devour their colleagues. Whatever had happened, all the kitchen staff were now Dead and shambling around between the stations, along with about half a dozen guests and hotel staff.

  Criss-Cross and I made a small amount of noise, tapping a ladle against a nearby oven, getting their attention. As they shuffled in our direction the Klee-vics ran towards them, stabbing and slicing with his arm-blades, making even more of a mess. The couple that had avoided his initial rush I put down with my sword.

  Our attention then turned to the bar, which was equally occupied by the Dead, though surprisingly less messy than the kitchen had been. Just a few bloodstains on the dancefloor here and there, some broken bottles and the odd decomposing human corpse lying about the place. Again, Criss-Cross flung himself at the Dead as German Doctor distracted them, sending pieces of their heads and skulls flying in all directions. This time, however, he only missed the bartender, and that was only because he was stuck behind the bar trying to grasp vainly in our direction. Criss-Cross pinned his head to the bar then retracted his arm-blades, offering to clean up the mess while we ate.

  Journal of A.G.

  I was just walking the halls of the underground Facility today, with only the Dog for company, when he started barking at a wall randomly. I shushed him, called him to my side and tried to listen. I heard the faint scraping of metal on the other side and felt my heart drop and my stomach rise.

  When I realised that it was those damn Plague-bunnies trying to gnaw their way through solid metal I raced back to The Queen and told her what I’d heard. The expression on her face dropped somewhat, but she ordered some guards to accompany us and asked me to show her where the noises were coming from.

  Her face whitened when the noise grew in intensity as she listened to the wall.

  We raced to the armoury and gathered the three remaining flamethrowers, making sure that all of Her Majesty’s subjects were gathered in the interior of the Facility while Giant, Deathwish and The Queen herself made certain that there were firetraps set up along the hallways. I went along with them, feeling safer with Giant and Deathwish than almost anybody else currently Living, while Viking and Valkyrie made sure that everybody else down here was safe.

  Not for the first time, I wished that I’d been able to reconnect with Book, wherever he was. Even if we were about to die, at least we’d be together.

  I heard another noise underground while we trapped the halls. A sound that I’d hoped never to hear again.

  The distinctive shrieking howl of Dingoes.

  October 30th Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  We spent the night on the top floor again, because it was comfortable and secure, then searched the ground floor for any supplies that we could take with us. There wasn’t a great deal worth scavenging, really, though we found a reasonably large supply of bottled water. We took the water out to the carpark and began looking at vehicles, figuring that at least one should be in fairly good working order.

  We were wrong… Every single one of them had destroyed tyres, smashed windscreens, non-functional engines and a few had been flat out torched. German Doctor pointed out an entrance to an underground carpark, suggesting that we look in there for something that mi
ght have survived. It appeared locked from the inside, though, so back into the hotel we ventured.

  Finding the way downstairs to the carpark was easy enough; it was a simple matter of following a few signs that we’d failed to notice until we were actually looking for them. German Doctor pointed out that we were fortunate in that there was no elevator in this hotel, with stairs going everywhere that we needed to be.

  This appeared to be the staff carpark, we soon realised, finding a board with a bunch of keys attached in a security station with a single Dead security guard that barely even acknowledged our presence with a snarl before I sliced into her head. We took all the keys, trying each with every vehicle we came across until we found those that matched.

  Again, most of the cars here were not in working order, apart from one particular monstrosity that we assumed was the chef’s personal four-wheel drive. It had been a recent purchase before the beginning of the end, at least according to the paperwork that sat in the glove-box. A fresh unopened set of chef’s knives sat in the back seat. When I tried the key in the ignition it took a little while to crank over, but when it did the motor rumbled like a contented tiger. As I turned on the headlights, I saw another stairwell marked ‘No unauthorised entry’ with the door hanging half off its hinges.

  noon

  We took out torches and investigated the stairs that headed down into an inky blackness. I asked Criss-Cross to wait outside the hotel for The Kid, so that he didn’t have to worry about where we’d gone to when he returned, and German Doctor and I descended into darkness.

  I’d lost count of the number of flights we’d traversed, they weren’t numbered, and we seemed to be walking for hours, days, weeks… I knew objectively that we’d not been descending the stairs for that long, purely by hunger and thirst, but the darkness mixed with the stairs that seemed never to end messed with our sense of time rather a lot.