Smart Girl told us all of these things, and more. Disturbing, sick shit. The Giant Dead had been the result of some of the experiments that The Major had ordered. “Please help us, I can't think of anyone else that could do anything.”
May 6thYear 1 A.Z.
morning
I was sitting with Apocalypse Girl having breakfast when The Major entered, two heavily muscled gorillas in uniform flanking him. He told me that The Kid had been asking to see some of his friends, myself and Apocalypse Girl in particular. The Major said that our mutated friend was politely refusing to cooperate with any tests until he was able to speak to us and that his scientists were at the very least eager to get to work.
We finished up our food, followed The Major and his goons into the restricted area and were shown to a small room with a pair of chairs and another door opposite the one we had entered by. A minute or two later, once we had gotten settled in the seats, not very comfortable ones by the way, the door opened, admitting our friend.
He smiled at us in greeting, saying that his hosts weren't particularly fun people and he needed to see someone he could trust. He emphasised the word 'trust' slightly. He then asked us if we planned to continue searching for other groups of survivors. Apocalypse Girl assured him that was our plan, to which he heaved a sigh of relief. He told us quietly that he had felt a large number of his 'friends' inside The Facility and that they were restless and hungry. A little louder he told us that he had heard one of the soldiers talking about a group that had holed up around a mining town to the north and another underground complex far to the west.
“I know what they've got planned for me here, don't worry about me. Just get out there and make sure that survivor's network gets up and running.” I mentioned that I had heard a thing or two about some of the things that went on here before we arrived. He nodded. “I know. The network is more important than that and so is whatever they can learn from me. We all know that. Might be a good idea to get in touch with your military buddy though...”
After that he rapped a couple of talons on the door, which opened a moment later. Our host came in a few seconds after that, talking about the need for more 'test subjects' with his goons. We were shown back to the mess hall after that, where The Smart Couple awaited with Viking, Valkyrie, Archer and Sister. All six were being held at gunpoint.
noon
“Did youreallythink that I didn't know what you were up to?” The Major shouted at The Smart Couple. “If I didn't need you both I'd have you shot right here.” He ordered the pair taken to the labs where they could work under 'supervision' until they proved themselves. The rest of us were confined to quarters and our firearms taken. They left us our melee weapons, saying that at least if any Dead broke in again we should be able to defend ourselves.
At least in this instance 'confined to quarters' meant that we were left in a wing of the second level where one corridor could be easily blocked off and guarded by only two men. We were basically allowed the run of the place, the guards only really paying any attention if we drew too near them. As it was we were able to go through a bunch of Dead people's things to see if there was anything that could help us out. There wasn't. Just clothing.
Apocalypse Girl was taking it all in stride, at least so far. Sister wasn't doing so well, comparatively speaking. Viking and Valkyrie's mental and emotional state were written all over their faces. They didn't want to be test subjects. To be honest, neither did I. Archer was furiously attempting to fiddle withsomething, not allowing anyone near enough to see. All I wanted to do was cut down that fucking Major with my sword, but there was no way that was going to happen. The guards would gun us down the moment they saw us coming with weapons drawn.
evening
Whatever is was that Archer had been doing, it was done now. He was busy chatting away to the new guards, the pair that he had given the cigarettes to. Naturally they had asked him if he had any more, he handed them a packet and the three got to talking. I figured it was best to leave him to it.
Viking was loudly complaining about how pissed off he was that there was no way of contacting his people, they'd come and get us out of this fucking mess, that sort of thing. Valkyrie and Apocalypse Girl were trying to cheer Sister up and meeting with some limited success. Eventually we were rounded up and taken to the mess hall to be fed, where we were joined by The Smart Couple, then the eight of us were shuffled back to our corridor.
Viking kept up his ranting almost all evening, but then he had been asked to by Smart Guy so that we could have a little audio cover for our discussion. He hoped that the booming of Viking's voice would be all anybody listening would hear, at the very least.
“ Can we get a message to your Colonel friend
somehow?” Smart Girl whispered to me. I told her that without a radio there was not a chance of that happening. She smiled, nudged Smart Guy, hissed “Radio!” into his ear and he handed me a small cylindrical object. He showed us all which end to speak into, where the frequency dial was and warned us to keep it safe. Nobody knew about it except us. I gave the tiny radio to Apocalypse Girl who wandered off into the corner to get in touch with anybody that could help.
Valkyrie chose this moment to stand up and walk over to Viking, slapping him hard on the face and screaming at him to shut the fuck up. This led to a massive screaming match that certainly covered the rest of our talk. I asked them what was going on with The Kid down there. The bespectacled couple glanced at one another before Smart Girl told me. “They've been passing around sections of his brain. The … Dead plague, they've been calling it in the lab, they've identified what causes it, some kind of bacteria that affects the brain, with the side effect of raising the Dead. Anyway, you probably don't need to know any of that.” I told her not really, not right now. If they were using bits of The Kid's brain then he was dead. “There is actually some good that has come of it though, it looks like we'll be able to come up with a working vaccine. There was a lot of preliminary work already done by the scientists that had been running this place before we got here. They...” She looked grim. “They died before we arrived. The Dead got them. Then The Major arrived with his own group, then we got here. We were talking with those people back in The Think Tank. Anyway, we are very close.” Apocalypse Girl came over, saying that she had been in touch with Soldier, who had promised to get in touch with The Colonel immediately. She then got up and went over to the tall nordic-looking couple, shouting at them for disturbing her peace, didn't they know she was pregnant, that sort of thing. I asked The Smart Couple if they knew of any other way we might be able to get out of here than the front door or the way we had arrived. “I'll find something. We're too close to an answer to abandon all the research though, no matter how horrifically and unethically the data was obtained. It's likely only a matter of days, really.”
Fascinated as I was, I also didn't really care that much. If I were here willingly, that would likely not be the case, but as a prisoner I was thinking that vaccine was likely to be tested on me, or worse, Apocalypse Girl. I told him as much and that really all I cared about was getting the fuck out of here. He nodded, telling me that they would see about it. Have to be honest here, I can't see a way out of this mess.
May 7thYear 1 A.Z.
morning
The Smart Couple were hauled off after breakfast, back to their work. The rest of us were warned to keep the noise down by the guards, who wanted to keep things nice and simple. Archer tried in vain to befriend this pair. For one thing, neither of them smoked, for another they both believed in what The Major was doing. The pair last night had not, but were conflicted. As soldiers, they knew to follow orders. As humans, they knew that what The Major was doing was wrong. Well, maybe notwhat he was doing, but certainlyhowhe was going about it was fucked up.
We went back to our rooms after eating, though we could in fact do little else. Apocalypse Girl caused a major distraction with Sister, the pair of them screaming at one another convincingly, Sister being ac
cused of trying to steal me from her. While this was going on I checked in with Soldier. He had been able to contact The Colonel, who was nearby, as luck would have it. She should be here within three days. I told him that I hoped we could hold out that long.
noon
The day was proving most uneventful, the six of us simply sitting around playing poker when the pair of guards that Archer had provided some smokes to knocked on the door, open already, waiting to be invited before entering. One of them started shouting at us, telling us that he knew exactly what we were doing, clearly we had figured out that this place was bugged and we were using noise to distract anyone listening in to our plans. The other guy squatted down in front of Archer, Apocalypse Girl and myself, saying quietly “We're with you guys. There are only about a dozen of us left, and The Major has been using us as test subjects too. He ran out of civilians a couple of weeks ago.” I told him that I had heard there were a couple of hundred left. “No fucking way. Everybody's Dead down there. Everybody. Even the scientists, we had seven, now only two, not counting your two friends. We can get you into the restricted zone, but you'll have to take out The Major and his guards.” His mate, seeing our conversation over, stopped shouting at us and they left.
“ Well, then.” Archer said. “That's the real problem with the world ending, all the fucking crazy comes out in people.” We all chuckled a little at that, but he was right.
evening
The Smart Couple were looking haggard tonight. Smart Guy told me quietly that they were making even more progress now. I asked him how many civilians he had seen. His face dropped. “There aren't any left. All Dead, used up in experiments. There used to be an entire team here, too, that arrived with The Major. Only a couple of them left, the rest all ended up getting too close and getting bitten. By accident, apparently.” He returned to scoffing down his food.
Smart Girl took over at that point. “We've hit on a series of formulae that wethinkmight be able to protect against the Dead plague. The Major says he wants to begin testing in a day or so. We'll try to delay it as long as we can, but I don't think he's going to listen to reason. He hasn't so far, no reason he'll start any time soon.” Things were starting to look worse than usual.
Amidst the loud boasting between Archer and Viking we were able to converse properly. I informed them of what Soldier had told us, that The Colonel should be along in a couple of days. “Hopefully she'll get here in time, then.” Smart Guy said. “The Major has found an older part of this place, not unlike that at The Think Tank. There was no nuclear missile there, thankfully, but he decided that it was a great place to dispose of any bodies. There are likely to be thousands of Dead down there now.” I got on the radio to Soldier, relaying the exact location of the back door to him so that he could pass it on to The Colonel, no doubt that door would be more easily accessible than the front entrance, no matter how large her forces are now. Hopefully she's recruited some more willing troops to help out with her crusade against the Dead.
When I was done I asked Smart Guy if there was anything that could be done about the Cold. He shook his head, saying that he didn't think it likely, but then nobody has ever had to deal with a nuclear winter before, had they? Apocalypse Girl chose that moment to ask about the strange craft above the clouds, shooting multicoloured lightning into them.
“ I don't know. That's the whole of it, I don't know anything about them. We only found the one image and sent it to you. It seems like either there's a lot of interference to the signals or else something has happened to a lot of the surveillance satellites.” Smart Guy said. “We used to be able to get images from all over Australia at least, back at The Think Tank. We focussed locally, mainly, but now...” He trailed off. We would have to find our answers elsewhere.
May 8thYear 1 A.Z.
morning
They came for us this morning. We've been locked in a room, the six of us, with the Smart Couple and another couple of scientists looking in on us from time to time. At least the Smart Couple didn't look like they were viewing lab-rats. The Major already had a rant about how 'useful' we were going to prove, how we were a 'shining example of self-sacrifice' or some such bullshit. I was allowed to keep pen and journal, but our weapons had been stripped from us. I could see my katana through the glass, sitting on a table in the next room with the rest of our weapons, where our captors were also, sipping tea as if civilised people.
Valkyrie paced back and forth, clearly frustrated. Apocalypse Girl sat next to me. She was terrified. Viking had been pounding on the door until Sister pulled him away a couple of minutes ago. She seemed to be handling this better than the rest of us, at least for now. The door opened to admit The Major, flanked as always by his shaven gorilla guards. They levelled their guns at us before he spoke. “You've been given the opportunity to advance human medical science in ways that would have been considered impossible. Any of you that wish to volunteer, please stand by the door by the end of the day. Any that donotwish to volunteer, however...” He smiled, showing only his teeth. There was no emotion whatsoever involved. “Well, let's just say this, it will go easier on you if you just accept things as inevitable.” He placed a small clock on the floor near the door. “We'll give you until, say, seven o'clock this evening?” He and his twin thugs turned as one and left, locking the door behind them.
noon
Smart Girl, along with the two guards that Archer had befriended, brought in some food for our lunch, just some sandwiches but certainly better than nothing. Apocalypse Girl gave her the radio, still set to the military frequency that we had been given, telling her to talk to either Soldier or The Colonel and appraise them of our situation. In the hours since The Major's visit, we had decided that the best way out of here was with her assistance. She said that she would do her best, but that we were the test group for the first batch of the vaccine that had been developed from The Kid's brains. Sister asked Smart Girl what exactly they had done with The Kid's remains, the smaller, bespectacled scientist simply shook her head, saying that she had no idea. One of the guards, from the doorway, said that he had been thrown down into the lower levels, where they disposed of most of their 'test subjects'. He then asked if we had any smokes on us that we could part with. Archer told him, gruffly, that he could have some, once they broke us out, or else wait to loot our corpses. The guard's face stiffened momentarily, then he relaxed into a smile. His partner told us they would see what they could arrange, but we'd have to be ready. I promised him that we would be.
evening
We were given more food, though again nothing fancy, about an hour before The Major returned with his goons. He asked us if we were prepared to 'volunteer' or not. The six of us stood, glaring all of our hatred in his direction, but we all agreed to his terms. We reasoned that, this way, we would have at least half a chance of grabbing our weapons on the way out. We were marched through the door, around the outside of the room totally out of reach of the weapons table, through another door, down a hallway and into a large laboratory, filled with all manner of medical and surgical implements. I noticed Sister palming a scalpel with ease.
“You'll need to spend the night in here, I'm afraid, but we just can't let you go back to your quarters. You might manage to make it out somehow, and that we cannot permit.” Said The Major, before he left us to our own devices. This prick was pissing me off more than General Fuckwit ever had. He at least had been insane, The Major knew full well what he was doing. Two guards remained behind, making certain we didn't get up to anything. Not the two that told us they would help us, unfortunately.
Since all there was available were hospital beds, we made use of them. Conveniently, there were a total of six beds, one for each of us. I had never liked hospital beds before now and, honestly, I still don't, but after a couple of months of sleeping in cars and trucks and buses and the like, it was a nice change. I think all of us would have preferred our beds in the living quarters on the second floor, but involuntary test subjects could not
be choosers.
May 9thYear 1 A.Z.
morning
Shortly after waking, we were fed once more, then told that we would be receiving a series of injections in a little while. I was not a fan of the two scientists that seemed to be running the show down here, but at least they didn't pretend they were doing this for any 'greater good', they knew full well they were probably dooming us to Death and probably mutation on top of that.
We were strapped to the beds and told that there were likely to be some unpleasant side effects of the treatment we would be administered, then the pair left the lab. The Smart Couple came in next, with the pair of guards that we thought we might be able to trust. Smart Girl whispered to Apocalypse Girl for a long moment, the pair having quite a quiet discussion that lasted a good minute or two. Smart Guy told me that they've been ordered to take us to the lower levels once the treatments had been given to us. The guards told us that they could do very little to help right now, but should we survive the treatment, we might be able to fight our way through the Dead in the lower tunnels. They offered to help us punch through the barrier of walking, rotting corpses and find another way out of The Facility.
They left soon enough, leaving another pair of guards behind. These looked almost like The Major's pet gorillas' identical twins, except perhaps more imposing. Then the pair of scientists came back in, The Major following them. They injected Archer first, then Viking and Valkyrie. I couldn't bring myself to look when one of them stabbed a needle into Apocalypse Girl's arm. I was next, after her, then finally Sister. When she called The Major over after the scientists were done, he simply smiled his emotionless smile and pulled the scalpel out from his hand, where Sister had embedded it.
Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 5): May Page 3