Junior tripped over a hole in the floor, and on a closer look and Butcher and Junior tearing up that part of the floor, we found that it was in fact a tunnel leading downwards into the earth. The Kid jumped down, and the instant he took a careful step to one side, a spear shot out of the wall next to him. If he had been moving at normal speed this spear would have torn through his throat, killing him instantly. He immediately leaped back.
This triggered a blade that sliced outwards and down. Had The Kid approached this trap from the other direction it would have sliced him neatly in half. We heard some clicking sounds a few seconds later as the traps reset themselves. Junior helped The Kid out of the tunnel, and we decided that no matter how fascinating it might be, there was no way those were the only two traps.
We were safe in this house, that much was certain, but there was no way we could survive in this place without ready access to supplies and water. Besides that, not a one of us wanted to remain in this strange, deserted place any longer than necessary. The Kid, no longer feeling the need to sleep much, decided to wander around a little, keep his eyes out for any Dead that might be coming our way.
Apocalypse Girl wondered, as did I, exactly who S.P. had been, and for that matter, who was Tommy, with his cairn in the backyard? What had happened to this town? It looked as if every building around had been demolished by an angry mob armed with sledgehammers. More than one place had been burnt to the ground, as well. The streets of the town, not that it had more than four or five of those, were all in relatively good shape, however, despite the years of neglect.
Archer looked again at his roadmap, and discovered that it was nearly forty years old. A more recent map would probably not have even recognised the existence of this place. Ghost towns very rarely made mention on any maps.
Tomorrow, with any luck, we'll find some more fuel for the cars. There was likely to be a service station around somewhere nearby. At least we have the sword now, that'll come in handy for sure.
Something had come to my attention, and I brought it up this evening, as we smoked after we had finished dinner. The climate seemed to be changing. We seemed to be experiencing a comfortably cool couple of days. The temperature seemed appropriate for an Australian summer's night, sure enough, but it remained constant through the day as well. I was willing to bet that if we had access to a thermometer it would confirm my suspicions. The others had noticed this also, and we wondered what other effects we might be experiencing over the coming weeks, or months.
January 17th Year 1 A.Z.
morning
We took the opportunity of relative safety to get a good sleep in while The Kid went scouting. The sun, behind thick grey clouds, did nothing to dispel the gloom surrounding the town. Butcher took a closer look at the tunnel we discovered last night, carefully placing himself between the two traps of which we were aware. Shining the beam of a torch this way and that he hopped back up, saying that there were obviously many more traps down there, probably spaced apart every couple of metres. We decided against any closer investigation, and Butcher went on to slaughter the second of our four sheep. Apocalypse Girl and Biker chatted out in the street together, while The Twin and Archer patrolled the area for any stray Dead. I drew my new katana and inspected the blade. I could feel the lives this sword had taken over the years. Whoever S.P. had been, he took care of his weapons. Archer had estimated that this town had been abandoned at least two decades ago, maybe more. I took a few swings at an imaginary foe. Yep, I could see myself carving through thousands of the Dead with this!
After a while, with the sheep dead, roasting over an open fire, The Kid returned. He let us know that he had found a truck stop a short way out of town, that had clearly seen better days. He reported that there was definitely still petrol in the tanks, the pumps were not only still functional but actually still turned on, and there were several empty cans we could fill with petrol for emergencies. He was starting to look very thin and pale indeed now. Butcher offered him some mutton, which he refused. Instead, he walked off in the direction of the truck stop, saying that he would fill up some empty cans for us. The moment he was out of earshot Biker asked what was up with him. The expression of horror on her face grew as we told her of his bite and subsequent infection. She clearly disbelieved us when we told her that he had recovered from it, more so when his ability to spread contagion had been revealed, and the horror returned once more upon learning that he had neither ate nor drank, urinated nor defecated, in a week. The fact that the Dead think of him as one of their own we kept to ourselves for now. No point in scaring the poor girl unnecessarily!
We reassured her that we were keeping an eye on him, and that he was valuable. She said that was fair enough, but she will be keeping her own eyes on him as well.
To redirect attention I asked Archer where we would be likely to get to if we followed the road, to which he replied by silently taking out and unfolding the map he had found. Junior was rolling a joint for us to indulge in while we found our location on the map, a tiny little blink-and-miss-it town called Melrose Park. We followed the road north with a finger, and found that this road intersected with another in a while. Apocalypse Girl insisted that we travel east along that road. I wondered, idly, exactly why she wanted to head east, but didn't bother to ask. As it was, it was as good a direction as any, so we all agreed.
afternoon
The Kid was right, the truck stop had definitely seen better days. The interior was gutted, as had been the town, one wall sagged inwards. One window still had a small sliver of glass remaining in the frame, all but one of the petrol pumps had rusted onto their bowsers. We filled the Valiant and Ute when we arrived, then assisted The Kid with the remaining cans.
When we were done we hit the road, continuing north until we hit the intersection Archer had mentioned. Due to an overturned truck blocking the entire roadway we had no choice but to head west, to Apocalypse Girl's intense distaste. It didn't really bother me that much, as the overturned truck was blocking the path of a rather large group of Dead.
Heading west lasted until we once again discovered an intersection at which Apocalypse Girl immediately turned to the north. She said nothing, but I felt it was time to ask exactly why, and I am resolved to do so after we have stopped for the day. We decided that travelling during the day was a much safer idea, as visibility was a factor. We both wanted to see if any Dead were around while we were travelling, and wanted our headlights to not give our position away, in case there were any survivors of the bandits that had overrun the commune, or the group that Biker had escaped from. Not to mention any other potential threats. As a group we were reasonably self-sufficient, and the last thing we needed was to lose one of us.
night
Archer and Junior just took over watch from Apocalypse Girl and I, so far so good, no sign of anything moving in the night. The temperature remained consistent throughout the night, as well as the day. The clouds remained overhead, the only real difference between night and day being simply whether or not we were able to see. The Kid was sleeping off the road in a bare paddock, so Biker was comfortably able to sleep herself. She snored away softly in the back seat, curled up with The Twin. Apocalypse Girl and I shared the front.
“Why east?” I asked her.
“Why not?” She countered.
“Come on, you've been insisting we go east at every opportunity. I deserve to know why, don't I?” We kept our voices to a bare whisper. She nodded.
“You're right. All the shit we've seen together...” She sighed, took a deep breath. “I want to head to Canberra. If there's anybody alive in any authority, they'll be there.”
“Yeah, maybe. Could also be that's where it all started first. I reckon that's a fucked up plan.” I told her. “We need to find somewhere to settle down, not find the fucking government.”
“That's just it, if it did start there first, then maybe they have a cure or some kind of inoculation or...” Apocalypse Girl stopped ranting when The Twin an
d Biker popped their heads over the seat.
“I found someone with authority, and what happened to me?” Biker pointed out. Apocalypse Girl's head lowered. “It is however the only plan we have.”
“We need to be careful about who we trust, that is certain, but I think the government, if there is any left, is about as good an idea as we can hope for right now. I still say it's a fucked up plan, but you're right. We'll head east again once we can turn right.” I said. With us all in agreement, the back door opened. Junior pushed The Twin aside in his haste to get in the car. He was soaking wet. As we argued, none of us noticed the rain had begun anew.
January 18th Year 1 A.Z.
morning
We ate to the steady beat of the rain, thrumming on the Valiant's roof. Nobody bothered to speak much, the rain seemed to have washed all hope and feeling from the world, and our hearts as well. Junior hadn't been out in the rain for any longer than a few seconds, yet it had begun with such ferocity that he was covered head to toe in a light film of greyish sludge. He had been sure to wipe himself as clean as possible before handling his food. As far as he knew, The Kid was still outside, though he might have been able to run for the Ute Considering the state of the weather, it was impossible to tell.
Agitation ruled the day, we fumed that we were immobile. Had the storm struck while we had some shelter, it wouldn't have been so bad, but the car was getting cramped and tempers were high, not to mention bodily odours. We had an empty bottle each that we filled far too swiftly. The Twin had a small amount of room left in hers, which Junior was begging to fill. Biker solved the situation by opening the door on her side a crack, and emptying all of our bottles. I really don't want to go into what we did for the...other. Not pleasant.
The rain began to slacken off, though the day itself was grey and gloomy enough to render visibility to practically nothing. I might have detected movement out there somewhere, but it was not possible to tell. Apocalypse Girl suggested turning the lights on, but I argued against it. If there was anything out there, it might attract them. If there was anyone out there, it most definitely would attract them. She took her hand away from the ignition.
Just before we went entirely bananas, Biker pulled a deck of cards out of her leathers. She hadn't even known they were there, as she had simply grabbed the nearest clothes she could and hoped for the best. We spent the next couple of hours playing poker, and hoping that the others fared as well as we in the Ute
afternoon
Eventually the rain died down to little more than a drizzle. By this time the light had died to almost nothing, but there was most certainly movement out there. A whole hell of a lot of movement. We made certain that all the doors were locked, discreetly of course, and kept as close to silent as we could manage. The Dead seemed to possess superior hearing, but their vision was very poor, at least from what we had been able to observe.
We decided, though there was no other real option, that we would just stay put and remain quiet, hoping that this group would move on soon. The Dead seemed of one mind, if a slow, plodding, dull mind of a shambling corpse that existed only to feast on warm human flesh. Once the light died out completely, the card games finally stopped, but we still heard the movement from outside.
January 19th Year 1 A.Z.
morning
The rain was gone. Unfortunately, the Dead were not. It was impossible to tell from inside a car, but it seemed as though thousands of them milled about us. None actually came anywhere near the Valiant, just swarmed around us. There was nothing visible of the Ute behind us either. Just Dead, hundreds of Dead. I wondered what it was that had drawn them to us, and heard a bleating noise. The damn sheep, of course. Clearly they hadn't registered the noise as a food source, but it certainly had attracted them.
Apocalypse Girl and I almost had a heart attack when a Dead climbed up on the bonnet of the Valiant, over the Dead-catcher. A moment later we realised that it was in fact The Kid, covered in grey slime after a night out in the rain. He took up a handful of the glorp that had come down with the rain, and began writing on the windscreen with it. 'Be ready' was all he wrote. He gave us a double thumbs up, then disappeared into the crowd. Apocalypse Girl wondered briefly what his plan was, then we heard a much louder bleat from one of the sheep. This got the attention of those nearest us, alright.
The Dead surged forwards in a massive wave of stench-ridden, rotting flesh. Another bleat, from slightly further away, it seemed, and the Dead stumbled past the Valiant in a leprous, drunken torrent. The bleating continued, The Kid leading the sheep further away from us. Apocalypse Girl moved her hand to the key, and I told her to wait until we could see the Ute Mere moments later she started the car, and off we went once more.
noon
Stopped again. The Kid managed to jump into the back of the Ute just before they took off after us. The plan was to eat a quick lunch and continue onwards, but as we took off after lunch, the Valiant blew a tyre. As it happened a spare tyre was not among any of our possessions, so Archer and Butcher went off in the Ute to find something suitable. The Kid had needed to leave the sheep behind, or the Dead might have started following the sound of the cars as we made good our escape. He looked somewhat better with the slime of the rain cleaned off of him, but he was clearly deteriorating. His eyes were developing a thin white film, his gums drawing back from his blackening teeth. His hair was beginning to fall out, as well. His hands looked more claws now, fingers now more talons, skin a dull grey pallor.
“I'm becoming one of them, I can feel it.” He told me, privately. “I think I need to leave the group.” He was visibly upset by this, but clearly felt it necessary to tell me. “I … lost myself for a while last night. When I came to my senses I was just wandering around, one of them. That bite killed me, it's just taking a fucking long time to get around to it.” He wanted to wait until the others returned. Biker stared at him in disgust and horror, refusing even to speak to him anymore. The Twin and Apocalypse Girl simply stared. Junior at least kept an eye out for Dead, or the Ute's return.
afternoon
The sun continued it's forlorn journey behind grey clouds. The illumination it gave barely classifiable as light, the gloom deepened as the day wore on. A soft breeze blew from the east, bringing with it a scent not unlike that of roasting pork. Apocalypse Girl suggested that meant fresh Dead being burned, or even survivors that had died being cremated. I told her that meant it would probably rain more soon, if that was the case.
The Ute returned, Butcher alone in the cab. He told us that Archer would be along shortly, with a big grin on his face, and proceeded to enquire whether we had gotten anything ready to eat yet. On learning that we hadn't he simply shook his head and sighed, saying how useless we would be without him. Then, smiling the while, he shared out the rest of the roasted sheep.
HONK! The horn made us all jump. Archer, beaming, waved at us from behind the wheel of a Greyhound bus. Butcher then told us that they had found another truck stop, this one also abandoned, but far more recently. Only a couple of Dead wandering around, more water and some canned goods, plenty of fuel. The Twin said that now we could get to Canberra in style. The Kid grinned at me, skeletal face contorting into a terrifying, yet somehow strangely comforting visage.
“Now that you're all here...” The Kid began. “I just wanted to thank you all. I can't stay with you, I'm way too dangerous. I don't know what the fuck is happening to me, but I do know that I don't belong with you guys. I'm not one of Them, not Dead yet, but I can't really call myself one of the Living anymore either.” With that, we said our goodbyes, and he left, walking off into the proverbial sunset. After a couple of steps, he stopped, turned around and walked back. “Don't suppose I could scam The Bommyknocker now you've got that shiny new sword?” Biker fetched it from the Valiant and handed it to him, nodding respectfully. He returned the nod, then turned without any further word and walked away.
We unloaded the Valiant, transferring all of our possessions into
the Greyhound. In its luggage compartment we found several suitcases, with clothing enough for everybody to have several changes. Not necessarily what we might have chosen, but clothes are clothes in the apocalypse. When we were comfortably aboard, Archer closed up the doors and off we went.
Butcher saw that this was one of those buses that featured that most wonderful of all modern conveniences, the water closet, and meandered to the back of the bus in order to make use of the facilities. Before any of us could even think to do anything about it, he had opened the door to let a festering Dead wearing a schoolgirl's uniform fell upon him, tearing a chunk of flesh out of his cheek. As her teeth sunk in, his bowels loosened, rendering the already unpleasant odour of sweat and rotten flesh even worse.
Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 1): January Page 7