Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 5): May

by Rowlands, Dave

  The pair of guards, however, had seemingly only succeeded in pissing off the remaining Giant Dead one. It knocked them aside with ease, following in their path. When one of them stood up, the massive mutant grabbed him by his throat, lifting him high. His partner smashed the butt of his rifle down, hard, on the creature's knee, shattering the joint. The Dead, leg now bending inward, dropped his current meal, blood gurgling from his throat as he died, and swatted the remaining guard in the face. It snapped the poor guy's neck.

  Viking had regained consciousness by this stage, charging in to rescue a bleeding Valkyrie who was in no real danger, at least not right now. She waved him off, staggering out of range of the rabid flailing of the crippled Giant Dead's arms, her wound leaving a trail of dark, wet blood on the wall as she fell against it and slid down next to Sister, who immediately began treating her injury. The blonde giant took up his hammer once more, swinging with an overhead chop that connected brutally with the Giant Dead head, crushing it to a pulp. Rushing over to Valkyrie he slowed for an instant to shatter the severed head of the decapitated Dead to pieces.

  evening

  Valkyrie's wound was severe, but not lethal. She had lost alotof blood, was currently unconscious, had been bandaged up though and was likely to survive. She was drenched in sweat, but so were we all. It was getting fucking hot down here. The radio squawked at one point, it was finally The Colonel. She had arrived, had slaughtered all of the Dead at the main entrance and was having a little trouble getting inside. She had initially been able to reach The Major, who had promised to open the door for her, but hours later he had still not shown. The Colonel, needless to say, was wondering exactly what the fuck was going on down here. We told her everything that we could, which was not bloody much, then she told us that the door had opened for her, mysteriously.

  We told her about The Kid, describing him in detail, making certain that her people knew he was a friendly, even if he didn't exactly look it. We made it clear that he wouldn't be trying to eat anyone, for one thing, and would likely be swearing at anyone shooting at him. She acknowledged this, then mentioned that he was standing right in front of her now, offering to escort her to our position.

  They arrived about an hour later, the familiarCLANG!!!!! being followed up with a very cautious Viking opening it up. The Kid swore upon seeing the carnage before him. The Colonel strode in like she owned the place, saluting us proudly with a slight smile on her face. A fresh scar ran from her left eyebrow along the temple, looking like it had been inflicted by a knife, maybe a claw.

  “Nice scar, Colonel, where'd you get it?” Apocalypse Girl asked her.

  The Colonel sighed slightly. I got the feeling that it was a question that she was fairly familiar with. “It was a Drop Bear.” Viking burst out laughing until she fixed him with her eye. Apparently it really had been a Drop Bear. “Looked like some kind of mutated koala, in any case. Fucking thing tore a couple of my men to shreds before it gave me that scar. Whatever is happening to the world is a hell of a lot more serious than the Dead coming back to life, isn't it?”

  We told her of the meat-beasts that we had encountered. “Yeah, we came across a few of those things, too. We weren't game to try eating it, though. Apparently that tentacle thing we saw on the way to Canberra might be something similar, we encountered some people living near the coast being able to chop off tentacles and cook them up as calamari. Evidently the tentacles regenerate in less than two days. The group we ran into called the things Cthulhus.” She started out of the room. Seeing that nobody was following her just yet, she said; “You guys coming? The Facility's been cleared out of Dead, completely.” Viking carefully picked Valkyrie up in his arms and we followed her out, and up.

  May 12thYear 1 A.Z.

  morning

  After a good night's sleep, a hot shower and some decent food The Colonel told us that she needed to continue moving. She had a reasonably sized force now, constantly increasing with the occasional volunteer joining up, having heard about her desire to rid Australia, at the very least, if not the entire world, of the Dead. It was a goal that many could get behind. She offered, at least, to leave a squad behind to help clean out The Facility, but we refused. According to The Smart Couple, the volcano inside of which this particular installation had been built was stirring. We would have to leave, and soon.

  Valkyrie's shoulder, upon cleaning the wound, seemed nasty enough, but there was no infection present. So far this vaccine was working well enough, maybe it would be enough to mean that humanity would indeed be able to continue its meagre existence on this fucked-up planet. The Kid disappeared for a little while, only to return a short while later, bearing Archer's shark tooth amulet, saying that he had known the old man's daughter reasonably well before she left the commune. If she were still alive, somewhere, he wanted to give it back to her. There was no way of knowing for certain how much time we had before the volcano erupted, according to Smart Guy, only that it was definitely going to do so soon. The pair of scientists decided that they would be better off travelling with The Colonel and her army, especially since they could now render said army immune to the Dead Plague. They gave us the radio, however, as it was a far more certain method of communication than Apocalypse Girl's phone, both with them and our friends in Melbourne.

  Speaking of Melbourne, the news from there was grim. The Followers had been disbanded once The Disciple's friends from up north had arrived, but The Disciple himself had disappeared. His friends, however, have been hard at work clearing up the devastation that had once been Melbourne and were now demanding that The School become part of their Empire. What had once been a mishmash of various criminal organisations up in Queensland had now joined forces, come south and taken over the whole place. So far The Principal had been successful in keeping them out of The School, but Soldier had encountered many of them, most of whom had told him that they were now responsible for protecting the people of Melbourne and his services were no longer necessary. Lately, however, the veiled threats had grown more obvious, to the point of Soldier and his men being ordered out of the furniture shop he had been using as headquarters at gunpoint. Fortunately for them a group of Schoolfolk and Mech-Techs had come along to defuse the situation before it got too nasty and eventually The Principal had relented on his 'no military' policy enough for them to have a bit of added security.

  noon

  The six of us that decided not to go along with The Colonel, that being Apocalypse Girl, Sister, Viking, Valkyrie, The Kid and I, were given a map by The Smart Couple showing the possible locations of other underground facilities similar to this one and The Think Tank. The nearest was way up north, near Alice Springs. Viking spent most of the morning insulating a truck that he had picked out for us a couple of days ago, all the while Valkyrie stood at his shoulder commenting on what he was doing wrong. When he, irate, turned to her demanding that if she knew better than he, why didn't she do it, the pair just started laughing together. She was still a little feverish from her ordeal, though we suspected it was more due to shock and blood loss than any infection. The truck would be ready by tomorrow morning, Viking swore.

  The great question, however, was 'what next?' and it was a bitch of a question to find an answer to. The Kid wanted to find Archer's daughter, somehow he felt she was still alive. I had learned to trust such feelings by now personally, but all I wanted was to find somewhere safe and warm to settle down with Apocalypse Girl. Sister wanted to come with us still, no matter where we went. The Nordic couple, on the other hand, had seemingly had more than their fair share of travelling and wanted nothing more than to return to Melbourne. I could hardly blame them, really. Viking told us that he'd finish up with the truck for us before they left in the mini-bus.

  evening

  We loaded the truck up with enough food to sustain us for a long journey north, deciding that the most likely safe place was another of these underground complexes. The Kid was going to join us for at least part of the journey, he said, tho
ugh he felt he would need to leave us before we get anywhere near the Alice Complex. Having no actual directions to the place itself was going to be a little painful, but at least we knew the vague area, so it shouldn't be too tough.

  We made certain to raid the armoury, taking a sniper rifle, assault rifle and a bow, not to mention a whole shitload of ammunition for all of them each. At the very least we would be well prepared for our journey.

  May 13thYear 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Viking and Valkyrie have left us, heading back to Melbourne and their friends. True to his word, however, the promised truck was insulated against the Cold and ready to go. The blonde giant had also filled several spare containers with petrol, also making certain we had more than enough spare wheels as well as the means to change them. Viking had been more than a little concerned when we had found out about the vast Criminal Empire that had taken over Melbourne and wanted nothing more than to make sure his people were safe.

  The Cold, funnily enough, didn't seem any where near as bad as it had before. In fact, the perpetual coating of grey snow that had dusted even The Facility's motor pool was absent this morning, though there was a lot of fog. There was an odd odour, too, something similar to a rotten egg, or maybe a particularly nasty fart. The four of us had just finished loading our backpacks into the truck, The Kid had already hopped up into the back and I was doing the gentlemanly thing, assisting Apocalypse Girl up into the cabin, when I noticed that the soles of her boots were slightly molten, leaving small rubbery strings on the asphalt below.

  I didn't say anything at the time, just ran around to the other side of the truck, hopping up and pulling Sister up after me. I told Apocalypse Girl calmly that we should leavenowand she gunned the motor, pulling us out onto the road. I looked behind us, seeing a haze of heat emanating from the motor pool, looked at Apocalypse Girl. She saw something in my eyes and we began moving faster, down the slope of the mountainside.

  Once we had made it as far as the snowline she pulled the truck to the side of the road, keeping the engine running in case we needed to make a swift getaway. The four of us exited the truck, knowing what was to come. First, the earth buckled, seeming to roll under our feet. Sister nearly fell over, but The Kid grabbed hold of her shoulder, keeping her upright. A plume of ash and smoke rose high from the direction we had come, followed by a reddish glow that lit up the clouds above. We then heard the sound, a massive rumbling roar that drowned out all speech. Since meeting Apocalypse Girl on New Years' Eve I had seen a lot of things. The Dead rising, naturally, the depravity of human society with no structure or rules. I had even seen a thermonuclear explosion as a neutron bomb went off at The Think Tank, vaporising an entire lake in an instant. All very impressive, yet incredibly disturbing sights, to be sure. The sight of a volcano erupting at close range, however, blew them all away. The lava spewed up into the sky, lighting the world as far as the eye could see. The road behind us, maybe a couple of hundred metres away, bubbled and boiled like the proverbial witches cauldron of yore. Cracks large enough to swallow a bus opened up in the earth between us and what little would have remained of The Facility. The lava began flowing from the caldera, newly formed, down the mountainside, slowly setting everything around ablaze. It was truly an awe-inspiring thing to witness.

  noon

  We drove in silence after the eruption. There was really little any of us could say after that. It was the first we had actually seen of any kind ofnaturalactivity since the initial Rise of the Dead. The torrential rains certainly had not been, the coloured lightning was caused by something out of this world, the snow caused by massive nuclear devastation mixed with the ashes of the Dead. Who knew what had caused the Dead to rise in the first place? Whatever it was could not have been natural, either. It seemed comforting, to me at least, to know that the world still fought to reclaim itself. We could only do the same.

  We drove through a town that had been burned to the ground, probably a couple of months ago by now, not bothering to stop to search the rubble. We wanted to get as far away from the erupting Facility as we could manage by nightfall. Alice Springs was several hundred kilometres away, to the north and west, and the roads would not necessarily be easily travelled.

  evening

  We pulled over to the side of the road, Apocalypse Girl having had more than enough time behind the wheel. Breaking out some food and water we had a quiet meal, the three of us that ate, at least. While we ate, The Kid told us of Archer's Daughter. He and Kindly Lady had been involved with one another a couple of decades ago, The Daughter being the result. She had rebelled in a big way against her parents' way of life, running away at the age of thirteen to move to Sydney to become a lawyer. She had kept in touch, though, sending the occasional letter to Kindly Lady informing her of the latest developments in her life, the last of which had a postmark from a tiny town in the dead centre of Western Australia called Mount Newman, an isolated mining town. She had been in charge of legal matters for the local mining concern, apparently, and the pay was apparently quite lucrative.

  He went on to say that neither Archer nor Kindly Lady ever really talked about her, though he knew her mother was proud of her accomplishments. The only way he had been able to find out any information was by sneaking into Kindly Lady's room from time to time to read the letters The Daughter had sent. The way he was talking was contemplative, as if he considered himself responsible for their Deaths. In a roundabout way, perhaps, he was, but I don't think it really matters.

  His reverie was interrupted by flame streaking across the sky, burning up the clouds briefly, but enough to show stars, the first any of us had seen in months. The fireball fell to earth north of our location, detonating on impact, creating an enormous explosion. We resolved to check it out in the morning, the column of flame that rose into the darkened sky serving as a more than sufficient beacon. It might take us a couple of days, there was no real way of knowing just how far away it had come to ground, but whatever it was, was sure to be worth investigating.

  May 14thYear 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Following the road to the north we soon discovered that we were not the only ones who felt the need to investigate the pillar of flame that had appeared overnight. There was a small army of Dead between us and it, shambling along. Only a hundred or so, but more than enough for the four of us to cope with right now, not without being overwhelmed even inside of our truck. Were we in The Nightmare, it would hardly be a problem, but that was rusting away halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide by now.

  The Kid tried to move them, though they seemed to resist at first, they stumbled out of the road, leaving us plenty of room to pass unnoticed. After a couple of minutes of relatively slow going, however, Apocalypse Girl spotted them in the rear-view mirror following us. We came across another such group of Dead, dealt with them in similar fashion, then moved on down the road. Whatever had caused the fireball in the sky still blazed on the ground, still a column of brightest orange against the stark grey wastes.

  A third group of Dead lay before us, shambling along as is their way, though they seemed to split into two distinct groups, right along the middle of the road. As we wondered at this phenomenon, the last group of Dead we had passed came into view behind us. Revving the engine, Apocalypse Girl told the rest of us to hang on before slamming the truck back into gear and ploughing through the Dead before us. Luckily, she was able to see the massive shape of the Meat-beast that the Dead were avoiding in time to hit the brakes so that the impact was lessened somewhat.

  noon

  It was an amazing sight, the Dead parting like the Red Sea, paring off to one side or the other, the Meat-beast breaking them like a wave. Though they sensed food nearby, The Kid told us that the heavily mutated former cow masked us quite thoroughly. On the other side, however, the two streams of Dead became one wide river about twenty metres down the road as they continued on their journey to whatever had crashed down from space. The radius of the Dead-cloak exte
nded a good couple of metres from the Meat-beast, so we were easily able to carve off a few steaks, light a nice warm fire and cook up a good sized feast for three while The Kid went off on a scouting run. Sister suggested that we should try to take out some of the Dead from within the safety of the Meatbeast's Dead-cloak, though I told her it might not be a wonderfully good idea. Something like that just might get their attention. Grumbling, Sister allowed that I might be right, putting up her assault rifle and turning back to her meat.

  evening

  The Kid returned, while we were chopping off some more meat for later, cooking up a second meal for our dinner. Tomorrow, he told us, we would likely reach the impact site. The flames had begun to die down somewhat, though the pillar of fire was still dominating the darkness. The Dead perfectly content to just want to wander into the flames and burn up. As long as we take our time getting to it, the Dead should take care of themselves for us.

  Apocalypse Girl asked him what he had been able to see, though he told her that he hadn't been close enough to see much, he had just felt the flames through his connection to nearby Dead. The second, or rather first, group that we had encountered today had just finished swarming past us and we ate our fresh Meat-beast steaks. Personally, though the idea of eating mutated cow would have sickened me, before the world ended at least, now I could think of nothing tastier.

  The Kid told us that there were no more Dead nearby, so we kept our cooking fire lit, sitting around it sharing stories from before. None of us felt as though we were the same people that we had been before, so rather than tell our own tales, we told those of others.