Apocalypse Girl still held Granny's iron frypan, covered in Dead brains as it was. “I don't think we'll be cooking with this any more,” She began, “But it makes one hell of a good weapon against the Dead.” I took it from her, to test the weight. It was fuckingheavy, Granny must have been a lot stronger than she looked. I offered it to Sonny, but he simply shook his head, saying that Apocalypse Girl used it better than he ever could. He had his cricket bat, after all.
evening
We came to a stop when the gloom became total darkness. Apocalypse Girl turned the engine off, then we made out way to the back of the truck, jumping in and pulling out some pre-cooked Meat-beast that we ate cold. We were beginning to run low on food once again, though we still had plenty of water.
The Kid took his position on the roof of the truck, keeping an eye, or at least some kind of sense, out for any stray Dead while the rest of us prepared for sleep. Sonny asked me how I had coped with everyone I cared about dying around me. I thought about that one for a while. I told him that basically, all I could allow myself to care about was Apocalypse Girl. I have other friends, sure, but if she died that would likely be the end of me, too. He nodded and asked how long we had known each other.
Apocalypse Girl, overhearing the conversation, said; “We've known each other since the apocalypse started. He's right, though. You can't let yourself care too much about anyone, really. Sometimes you don't have a choice, though, do you?” She looked into my eyes. No, sometimes you really don't have a choice. “Anyway, stick close to the four of us, you should be alright. You can take care of yourself with that bat of yours, true enough, but going it solo against the Dead the way you did earlier today is fucking suicide. You could have been bitten a hundred times doing that shit!” Realising that she was raising her voice, she lowered it and apologised. “Still, you need to look after yourself. No more suicidal berserker charging into the Dead, okay?”
Smiling shyly, Sonny said “Yes, Mum!”
May 20thYear 1 A.Z.
morning
We followed the road, stopping for nothing, not that there was anything nearby. Sonny kept quiet, staring at his blood-and-brain soaked cricket bat since he woke up this morning. Apocalypse Girl told me last night that he had reminded her of her little brother in many respects. One thing that she had been grateful for, in fact, was that her brother had not had to deal with the apocalypse, having died when a stolen ice-cream van ran him over on his way home from school one summer afternoon, about seven years ago. The driver, hardly more than a kid himself, felt so bad about the whole situation that he committed suicide in his jail cell less than a week later.
We passed a sign which informed us that Coober Pedy was no more than two hundred kilometres away, meaning we had made better time than I had expected, finding a service station, abandoned to the Cold and Dead, several of which staggered about aimlessly. The Kid drew them away easily enough, Apocalypse Girl pulling the truck up to one of the bowsers. We figured that we should take full advantage of the situation, filling up our dwindling, yet still more than adequate fuel reserves.
This was one of those tiny blink-and-miss-it towns, by the look of things, so Sister took Sonny for a bit of an explore while I filled the truck and Apocalypse Girl took watch from the roof of the truck. The Kid, meanwhile, was off making sure the Dead didn't turn around and realise that there was food back here. After nearly half a year of this I was beginning to get used to the idea of being food for the Dead.
noon
Truck full, spare cans full, Apocalypse Girl and I decided to check out the interior of the service station. The shelves had been thoroughly ransacked already, no doubt weeks or months ago, though Apocalypse Girl was able to use her unique … abilities to acquire some fresh bread and a few bottles of water. Thankfully, though we knew it was safe to do so, we had not had to resort to melting the grey snow in order to survive.
The service station attendant sat at his post, stiff and dead. A rather large hole gaped from the back of his head, an even larger revolver lay on the floor at his feet. I picked it up. Five rounds left. Fiddling with the drawers and cash register I found a box of about a hundred bullets for it, only six rounds missing. Replacing the one used shell, I stuck the gun in the back of my jeans, putting the rest of the ammo in my pack, then we returned to the truck.
As we prepared to leave, once Sonny and Sister returned, The Kid soon after, we heard an unearthly, inhuman, shrieking wail that echoed all around us. Rather than stick around to discover whatever kind of horrible mutant made that noise, we hurriedly moved on.
evening
The Kid left us this evening, saying that it was time for him to go, so off he loped into the Cold and darkness, all alone. He was off to find Archer's Daughter, he told us. We all wished him luck, then we ate. Sonny was more than a little confused as to where the bread had come from, so Apocalypse Girl tried to explain it to him. By the expression on his face he was even more confused after the explanation.
“ What happened to him?” Sonny wanted to know, once The Kid had gone well and truly out of earshot. I told him all that had occurred back at the commune, the tiny scratch of a Dead one's teeth on his leg, the Deaths of his friends and Kindly Lady. Apocalypse Girl took the story further, telling of how he had infected almost an entire army of convicts that were descending upon the commune after having broke out of a nearby jail. Apocalypse Girl and I chose first watch, wrapping ourselves up as warmly as possible to ward against the Cold. There was nothing around, not within visual range at least. Not that visual range was particularly far these days. We had a couple of torches with which we were able to light up the surrounding area somewhat, though, honestly, they didn't do much.
To kill some time, Apocalypse Girl whipped out the radio, checking in with Soldier at The School. There was no real news, just more of the same. The Empire was consolidating their position in Melbourne, actually making things safe for the Living. Soldier was quite impressed by their effectiveness, in fact. There existed an uneasy truce between The School and The Empire, both sides leaving each other more or less alone apart from the occasional meeting between The Principal and an Imperial Ambassador. At least The Empire were better neighbours than The Followers had been.
May 21stYear 1 A.Z.
morning
Thanks to The Kid's ill-timed departure, the first we knew we were in trouble was when Sonny awoke us with a scream. Fortunately it was little more than a squeak that the Dead outside failed to notice, thanks to the incredible job that Viking and Valkyrie had done insulating the truck from the Cold. There were easily a hundred of them out there, shambling along in their sluggish fashion. They seemed uninterested in us, however, preferring to stagger off down the road, creating furrows in the snow.
Deciding that we shouldn't take any chances, Apocalypse Girl got behind the wheel. Gunning the engine to life, she attracted their attention. Telling Sonny to be careful not to get bitten, Sister slid out the window, climbing up onto the roof of our vehicle. I handed her assault rifle to her on request, which she promptly used to gun down a good dozen or so of the stench-ridden throng before Sonny and I jumped out, cricket bat and katana in hand. The noise of the engine and gunfire from the front of the truck caught and held fast the attention of most of the Dead, though a couple came at us, sensing a meal was near. Sonny flattened a couple of heads with his bat, I sliced a couple apart and we proceeded to clear the exterior of the truck in short order. As we heaved the dead corpses of the Dead off the road Sonny asked me why we didn't just burn them, like everybody else was doing. I was about to answer him when the downpour began. Rushing back into the dry warmth and safety of the truck, we were still drenched by the time we made it inside.
noon
The deluge was as intense as we had seen them before, creating a layer of dark grey sludge at the base of the windows. With little to do to pass the time, Sister fished around in her pack for a little while, eventually, triumphantly, displaying a deck of playing cards. After a few hands of poker
, gambling with our spare
ammunition, Apocalypse Girl and I grew bored and retreated into the cabin.
“ What is with this fucking rain, anyway?” She asked of nobody in particular. I shrugged, not having an answer. “At least this one doesn't have any coloured lightning. That kind of freaks me out a little bit. Especially having seen where it comes from.” I couldn't agree more. She began cleaning her guns, I followed suit. Sister poked her head in, saying that Sonny had reiterated his question. “I've always wondered myself, actually. Why don't we burn them? Everyone else seems to.” Apocalypse Girl and I looked at one another, a slight smile on her face, probably on mine as well.
She answered for me. “The natural way is for dead things to just rot, combining with the earth, right?” Sister nodded. Sonny stuck his head through, next to hers. “Right, so anything that's burned up goes up into the atmosphere. It's been our theory for a while now that burned Dead are the main cause of this...thisfucking Cold. Sure, all the nukes that those dickheads in power let off in the early days wouldn't have helped matters, but let's face it, Beijing and Tokyo were completely overrun with the Dead by then. They wereallburnt up by the nukes, you see?”
“ So, we've fucked ourselves and our planet properly, this time?” Sonny wanted to know. Sister slapped him on the back of the head. “What? We did it to ourselves, didn't we?” That was one way of looking at it, I told him. I didn't know anything about what started the Dead Plague, I continued, but I was pretty sure the bombing of major population centres wouldn't have done much good anyway. Incinerating maybe a billion Dead in a couple of days? That was bound to have some kind of effect.
evening
The rain continued as the already dark world outside grew to total blackness. The Colonel got in touch via radio, telling us about a huge horde of Dead that she and her men had taken out before the rains came again. She asked if there was any news from out friend Fluffy, whose very existence I was reasonably certain she doubted. Mind you, had I not met it myself I would have probably called 'bullshit' on anybody trying to tell me they'd met an alien.
There was not, and we told her so. She had lost a few more men to Drop-Bears, she said. Apocalypse Girl related the story of what had happened to Granny. “Threehits? She was able to get three fucking hits on that damn thing? Fuck me, I could use a hundred of her. Hell, give me five, that'd do. One of my men got a single shot off, once, after it had ripped his stomach open. Mostly they're lucky if they even have time to scream.”
Before signing off, The Smart Couple came on the radio. They had managed, they told us, to vaccinate most of The Colonel's force against the Dead Plague by now, telling us to relay their thanks, and apologies, once more to The Kid. I assured them I would pass on their message. As Apocalypse Girl put the radio away, I noticed something. Silence. The rain had finally stopped.
May 22ndYear 1 A.Z.
morning
The rains had washed away the snow, though the Cold remained. I was not certain, but I thought I spied a tiny glimmer of blue amongst the dark grey of the clouds above us. As it was, I was sure the day seemed slightly brighter than the usual gloom. The four of us at least were able to stretch our legs and go for a proper walk to warm ourselves up. I had grown weary of the crunch of snow underfoot. Realistically I knew that it was likely only a temporary thaw, but it was a pleasant change.
Sister climbed up onto the roof of the truck, using the scope of her sniper rifle as a telescope. After a moment, she jumped lightly down, telling us there was a Meatbeast a short way up the road, off to one side, which we promptly drove towards as we were running low on food once more.
Sure enough, a short way down a gravel path lay a large, heavily mutated former cow. I sliced off a few nice steaks for our breakfast, which Apocalypse Girl cooked for us. We devoured our fresh, hot breakfast with gusto and glee, then I carved off a lot more for later.
noon
We came to another one of those tiny outback towns around lunchtime. The really strange thing about this place was that it seemed totally unaffected by anything that had happened to the rest of the world over the last five or so months. There were no people around, true, but it looked easily like they could all just be inside. We had to investigate further.
Sonny suggested that we go in pairs, though I shook my head. I wanted us to stick together. I still didn't know what Sonny was capable of, not really, nor did I want him running off alone with Sister. He might try something and get shot for his troubles. Or they might both get eaten while otherwise occupied. Neither option appealed much.
We filled up our truck and empty fuel canisters at the local service station first, loading them up into the back and making sure they were secure, then we raided the fridges. There was not a lot left, just a solitary unopened bottle of water. It was not really much of a concern, we still had plenty of water in the truck.
After this, we went around the town, searching each building in turn. Everybody's personal belongings were gone. The furniture still stood, sure, the wardrobes still contained clothes. The family photos were all gone, however, as well as music and movie collections, anything that might have held personal value was gone. In the window of the local post office was a painted message reading, simply, 'Gone to Coober safer there'.
It looked as if everyone had left at the very beginning, deciding that the larger mining town was a better idea, the age-old idea of safety in numbers. I found myself hoping that they were all still there, safe and sound in houses in the ground.
evening
There was little else to do in the town, so we moved on. The road was clear of obstructions, clear of Dead, too and we made good time. We made nearly a hundred kilometres before it grew too dark to comfortably drive. At that point we pulled over, the four of us climbing in the back, munching on some cold pre-cooked Meat-beast steaks.
The howling shriek we had heard the other night sounded once more, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. It was louder this time, closer. More menacing. Apocalypse Girl huddled into me as it sounded once more, closer again, though from a different direction, this time. Another shriek-howl came, this one sounding like it was almost on top of us. Tensing, reaching for our weapons, we waited.
Nothing came. After a few more minutes, the trio of shriek-howling critters, whatever they were, had moved on. Their disconcerting noises kept us awake as long as we could hear them, meaning, in this particular case, half the fucking night. Then, Apocalypse Girl and I took watch.
“ It doesn't seem as Cold tonight, somehow,” She told me, once we were atop the roof of the truck. The sudden noise of her words made me jump. “Or else maybe I'm just getting used to it. Hard to imagine getting used to anything in this fucked up world we live in now.” Her hand found mine in the dark. “Except, maybe, for one or two things.” She placed my hand on her stomach. “I am getting so fucking sick and tired of always being on the move, though,” She said with a slight smile.
“ It won't be long until we're at the Alice Springs Facility,” I assured her. “That should be safe, at least.” I stroked her cheek with my spare hand.
“As long as nobody is using it to create abominations, or some psycho isn't using it to launch raids on poor, unsuspecting travellers, or it's full of Dead, or any number of other things could go wrong with this place.” Before I could say anything, she held up her hand. “I know! I know, alright? I just, I don't know, needed to have a bit of a rant, I suppose. Not everything that's happened since the world went to shit has been bad. I have to remember that sometimes.”
May 23rdYear 1 A.Z.
morning
Overnight, more snow fell, dusting the world once more in a light film of grey. It was only a small amount, thus far, maybe half a centimetre deep, so we set up a cooking fire and started the day with a hot breakfast of Meatbeast steaks. Keeping watch was easier when the snow was not so deep. Seeing no trace of the Dead, we piled up on into the truck and began our trek to Coober Pedy.
We were ab
le to make relatively good time on the road, despite the snow. Sister was driving, Sonny sitting beside her, being her spare pair of eyes. One set was not enough, we had discovered over the last couple of months. A lone driver could easily miss something halfburied by the snow, or not notice a mob of Dead ones approaching. Even with a map, as well, it was difficult to see the right turn-off due to snow.
As it was, though, we were following the road we needed. Sonny pointed out that this one led, not only to Coober Pedy, but Alice Springs as well, eventually. As we moved on down the road, we found and promptly ran down a couple of straggling shamblers, thinking that we were likely doing the town of Coober Pedy a small favour with each Dead we killed.
noon
Fucking typical. Another traffic snarl, this one bad enough that it covered the entire road for a fair distance. Twenty or more vehicles of various types littered the roadway, mostly family cars, a few Utes, a VW combi-van that evoked longing for our unfortunately dead Nightmare. Telling Sonny to stay with the truck, Sister, Apocalypse Girl and I jumped out and began the tedious, time-consuming task of shifting cars, searching them for any supplies as we went.
Naturally, the combi-van was full of Dead university students, who had been travelling up north for the summer, though why anybody would willingly subject themselves to the torture of a fuckingdesertin the middle of an Australian summer quite frankly baffled the shit out of me. My sword and Apocalypse Girl's frypan took care of those in the back quickly enough, while Sister took to the seat-belted trio up front with a crowbar before we began piling the carcasses on the side of the road. After the combi-van was clear, we moved on to each car in turn, making sure we removed the threat of the Dead before we even began searching. If nothing else, we found a lot of new, spare clothes. All designed for summer, of course, so lots of shorts and t-shirts. No weapons, save a small caliber rifle in the back of a Ute that had been so badly fucked up by rain and snow that it was now a worthless piece of rusted metal and rotted wood. Probably used to hunt kangaroos, originally. The smaller grey variety, of course, a big red roo would probably require something with a little more kick.
Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 5): May Page 8