Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 4): April

by Dave Rowlands

  I took advantage of the relative light of day to take a bit of a stroll. Apocalypse Girl, as ever, at my side I walked out to the road, covered now in a thin layer of grey. Looking to the west I saw nothing, to the east was a solitary Dead, standing in the middle of the road. It seemed completely oblivious to our approach, until we drew near at least, then it snarled at us, gnashing teeth, but as soon as it tried to take a step towards us, some barrier repelled it. When we fell back a few steps it lost interest in us completely, turning to a sound faintly heard in the distance before wandering away. Apocalypse Girl shared my own astonishment, and we returned to the pub. Barkeep knew precisely what we had been up to just from the expression on our faces. He had seen it often enough on others, no doubt.

  “See what I mean? Wherever that old fella got to, I reckon we should be grateful that he put up that spell protecting us at the very least.” I asked Barkeep if the old magician had said anything else before disappearing, only to be told that he had only spoke once, cracking a joke about how the Dead were on walkabout, and so was he, but this town was safe at least. Then he polished off his beer, went up the stairs to the same room I am sharing with Apocalypse Girl only to vanish during the night. “I wish I'd have asked him to put up a spell protecting us from snow too now!” Barkeep chuckled.

  evening

  Apocalypse Girl was knackered, and so was I. We ate our dinner with everybody else, but buggered off up to bed shortly afterwards, briefly thanking Barkeep's Wife for the meal. Viking and Cyclops were engaging Barkeep in a discussion about various brewing techniques, Sister and Archer having a game of pool with a couple of locals. Guide was reading in a corner, Valkyrie nowhere to be seen.

  As she closed the door to our room the noise from below lessened somewhat but not completely. Apocalypse Girl told me that she felt there was something about this town, something … unusual, maybe, but not necessarily bad. I agreed with her completely. Earlier, while eating, Barkeep had spoken of the idea of a Living Network, saying that it was a fine idea in theory but the old fella had warned him that the one way to break the spell would be to be involved in the affairs of other people. I had explained that they wouldn't be involving themselves, exactly, just sharing information with other groups. He still hesitated but took the piece of paper that Archer had written The Network radio frequency on.

  April 18 Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  We filled up The Nightmare's fuel tanks, as well as the spares that we had with us, leaving behind a pair of assault rifles and a box of ammo as thanks for their hospitality. As I filled up the fuel tanks I began to think of that strangely obliterated town where I had discovered my sword. The Dead had seemed loath to go near that place as well, though it had a totally different feel to it than this town. This place was far more vibrant and alive, for one thing, the other felt as though there was nothing worthwhile for the Dead there.

  We left the town behind, moving onwards to the west, following the highway. Apocalypse Girl behind the wheel this morning, Valkyrie in the main turret, long blonde hair streaming out behind her in the breeze. We had eaten with the people from the town before leaving, once again, and Barkeep told me that I should keep my eyes out for the old magician fella. That thought preoccupied the day for me, and I kept on seeing formations of snow flurries in front of us that could have looked almost like an old Aboriginal man, and eventually Apocalypse Girl got fed up and told me to either keep my fucking mouth shut about my hallucinations or get the fuck in the back.

  Things were no better in the back. Viking and Cyclops were debating, rather loudly, whether The Followers were gong to keep their word or not. It was not a conversation I wanted to be a part of, but since I knew The Disciple before I told them that he was a man of his word, if a complete lunatic and amoral prick. The Followers would stay to their side of the city as long as The Schoolfolk stayed to their own.

  Cyclops wanted to know how and where I had known The Disciple before, but I was in no mood to tell that tale yet again, not so soon. I told him instead that anything from before hardly mattered now, the important thing was to keep on Living, was it not?

  noon

  We came across the remains of a helicopter that had crashed into some cars. There was no way of telling whether the cars had been abandoned by that stage, or if that had caused it, but there they were. Six cars, untouched since the beginning of the end, other than the helicopter of course. One car, a volvo, had in the back seat a baby, still writhing in its seat, unable to free itself. I put my sword through its tiny head, though with no teeth it was no danger to anyone I couldn't just let it be.

  We found a few useful items in some of the cars, but the real discovery awaited in the crashed helicopter. A case of single use rocket launchers, unopened and miraculously still strapped to the rear of the chopper. The pilot tried to make a meal of Cyclops when he reached inside to grab the unopened pack of cigarettes from his top pocket, but once again the Dead was unable to remove its restraints. It suffered from severe cranial deformation for scaring the one-eyed giant.

  In any case, there was no moving this particular obstruction, so Apocalypse Girl moved The Nightmare off of the road itself and around the obstacle, then we were once more on our way west. This time I took the main turret, feeling as though some fresh air, though polluted and radioactive no doubt, would do me some good.

  evening

  The road forked as the day neared its end. Apocalypse Girl decided on taking the northern fork, only to have it peter out to nothing but a dirt track that led to a farmhouse that had been long burned to the ground, perhaps before the Dead rose. We turned The Nightmare around soon enough, but by the time we reached the fork and turned down the other path it was completely dark and we called a halt to the day of travel.

  Cyclops broke out his hard-won smokes after we ate only to be told off quietly by Valkyrie, who glanced at Apocalypse Girl before telling him if he needs to smoke that badly he can go up in the main turret or go outside. He went up into the turret for a brief moment before coming back down with an eye socket, usually empty, now full of snow. Declaring it too fucking Cold and windy out, he flung the pack into one corner to much laughter.

  April 19 Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  The southern fork led us, after a lengthy breakfast that held all the appeal that military rations should have after our last two morning meals, to another dirt track that terminated at a farm. This one, though abandoned, still stood. When we approached, however, it became clear that it had been picked clean. Not even a single solitary door was left attached to a hinge anywhere. Somebody had wanted to use this place to help defend another.

  Sister noticed a gate open on the other side of the yard, and we investigated further, finding another dirt road. Driving down this revealed that the dirt gave way to gravel in short order, which in turn yielded to asphalt, widened enough for two cars to pass one another, and eventually turned into a real road in its own right, terminating in a T-junction with the main highway. Viking turned The Nightmare to the west once more, and before long we saw a sign claiming that we were now less than four hundred kilometres from Adelaide. Archer estimated two more days travel time at this rate before we hit the commune. He was hesitant to return, of that I was certain. I can't say I blame him, as there could be who knows what menace residing there now.

  We had fled the commune in haste from an overwhelming invading force of convicts from a nearby prison who had come in search of food, drink, drugs and women. The Kid had already, by this time, walked through their ranks, infecting as many of them as he could have, and also contaminated the food supplies as well as he was able.

  noon

  No real obstacles in the road today, though there was a town that we had passed through, one of several actually, they had all had a large group of Dead hanging around, but this one in particular... When we arrived, Viking told me that he needed to stretch his legs awhile, so he pulled The Nightmare over and jumped out. Valkyrie joined him in short
order, and Cyclops hopped out for a quick smoke. If it weren't for Sister up in the turret we might not have noticed the first group of Dead until it was too late, as it was Valkyrie's hair needed some Dead glorp washed out of it now.

  She had tried shouting a warning, but the wind and Cold had stolen her words. Instead of waste time repeating that idea uselessly, she gave a more appropriate warning and the Nordic looking pair flew back to the safety of The Nightmare as Dead flew to pieces around them. I happened to glance out the back window to see another smaller group of Dead bearing down on us from the first two towns we had just driven through. Figuring it was better to wipe them out now, as a group of no more than sixty or eighty would be easier than allowing them to join with larger groups as we journeyed onwards, I grabbed hold of the rear gun and opened fire, cutting them down in seconds.

  The noise of the main turret died down a moment later, followed shortly afterwards by Viking, Valkyrie and Cyclops piling back into The Nightmare as Apocalypse Girl brought the engine roaring to life. We left that place and the Dead that inhabited it behind and were well on our way in minutes.

  evening

  By the time we stopped for the night the weather had turned foul on us. The Cold had abated somewhat but the rain had returned, turning the snow into an ashen sludge that obscured our vision. Valkyrie was behind the wheel at that point, Apocalypse Girl telling her from our place in the middle section that she had better pull well over. We needed to just stay in one place and wait this one out.

  None of us were particularly ecstatic about the delay, but with the way the sky was being lit up by explosions of lightning of different colours once again, at least it gave us something interesting to look at through the muck and mud. Sometime around midnight the rain ceased, but the lightning display continued on, silently as the grave. It occurred to me that I should have heard thunder and lots of it with such a display but just sat, watching. I reached into Apocalypse Girl's jacket pocket, taking out the phone and sent a message to The Smart Couple, informing them of the delay, asking them if they had any clue as to the nature of the strange coloured, silent lightning. They had not, but Smart Guy was already looking into the bizarre weather patterns, apparently. When he turned up something they'd let us know.

  April 20 Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Another brief shower this morning, but that was over long before we had finished out breakfast and we were well on our way by the time I spotted what looked like a mess of flesh sitting in the road. I drove The Nightmare closer to the mound, which quivered almost as if it was made of jelly. Disturbed, disgusted, yet enthralled we practically flew out of The Nightmare to inspect it.

  It emanated a strangely familiar smell, and fuck me the thing was massive. The bulk of the meat-mass took up a large portion of a four-lane piece of highway. There was room for The Nightmare to pass without causing damage either to it or to the mass of flesh, but only with about half a metre to spare, perhaps less. I pulled off one of my gloves, touched my hand to the thing. It was warm, a pulse ran beneath the surface, yet my hand came away bloodied from the uncovered meat.

  Realisation struck me suddenly. I had worked briefly at a butcher's shop when I was a young lad. The smell was that of freshly cut beef. This lump of flesh used to be a cow, somehow growing beyond what even a cow's sturdy skin could contain and splitting it open. Somewhere from within the fleshy mound came a forlorn moo.

  Our weapons came up instantly the moment we realised that another vehicle was inbound. I could see the headlights approaching our position, but it was a darker day than usual thanks to the rain, and I was able to make out little else until the newcomers arrived.

  The vehicle drew nearer and as it approached, Apocalypse Girl swore in amazement. It was the Snail, of all things, come back to us at last. An old ute, with a makeshift tent thrown together out of a tarpaulin and a few metal rods that we had abandoned when Pilot had come to our rescue, bringing us to The Think Tank.

  A large lady stepped out from the drivers seat, an equally large man, clearly her son, exited through the other door. As the two of them were unarmed we put our weapons up. “G'day!” She called out, cheerfully. “Come to grab some meat too, have you?”

  noon

  She had noticed the meat-thing first a couple of months ago, back then it had still mostly resembled a cow except that it was much larger, meatier, than a cow had any right being. However, she had left it alone, continuing to scavenge throughout the area, trying to find enough food to keep her group alive. Not that there had been that many back then, but their numbers had grown in the last month as people had found opportunities to flee from the larger cities and towns.

  .Shortly after she found the Snail, maybe another week later, however, she came back this way again to discover that the meat-thing had grown in mass enough to have split the skin wide open, revealing easily accessible meat within. She had brought a sample back to her people, which had been declared not just safe for human consumption but also fucking tasty, and the next day had come out to find that the meat-beast had grown once again, eventually reaching its current massive size. She had been harvesting meat from this creature twice a week now for two months, and it just keeps on growing the meat back again.

  Though thoroughly disgusted by the idea we tried cutting off some flesh and cooking it up, reasoning that The Harvesters had met no ill effect from it. Mama Harvester had been correct, though. Once cooked up it tasted as nice as any steak I had ever eaten. As long as I didn't think too long or hard about the origin of the meat, at least.

  Baby Harvester, who was mildly simple minded, was put off by all of the pointy bits and sharp edges of The Nightmare, so he insisted that we not come back home for dinner, but Mama was happy enough to take the radio frequency, saying that she would make sure everyone knows about the meat-beast, that it was so far safe to eat, disturbing though it may be to gaze upon, and that The Nightmare and crew were well on their way to Adelaide.

  evening

  We left The Harvesters behind, hacking off huge hunks of heavily mutated, though tasty, former cow, feeling vaguely guilty about having sliced off as much as we had taken for ourselves. Sister was driving, the dark day was blackening, when we ploughed straight into and through a huge group of Dead. Bits of flesh flew as The Nightmare blasted into them, the windscreen was covered with congealed blood in an instant. Sister shifted gear and rammed through even more Dead eventually slamming into something in the road. Whatever it was that we had hit, it was not budging. Dead clawed at The Nightmare's invulnerable metal exterior. Hundreds of Dead.

  “SHIT!” Sister swore from the front. I was trying to disentangle myself from Apocalypse Girl. We had both gone flying when the collision had occurred. “We're not going anywhere in this fucking thing, not now!” Archer was already at the rear mounted gun, blasting away into the dark. Viking was rummaging around in one of the crates of supplies that The Colonel had given us.

  “AHA!” He proclaimed, holding high an incendiary grenade in one hand, a bunch of flares in the other before flying up through the main turret into the night. A few seconds later the side of The Nightmare got incredibly hot, Viking shouted out “Sorry!” and a flare flew behind, giving Archer something to see by. Cyclops opened the side door, flying out bowling over a pair of burning Dead as another couple of flares found their way on either side. Valkyrie's steel rod came out to clobber several Dead that were about to leap on Cyclops and Viking dropped down to join them. I bolted out the passenger side door up front, pulling out my katana as I did so. Apocalypse Girl took the main gun, blasting away while Sister leaped up beside her sending arrows into Dead heads as swiftly as the laws of physics would allow.

  They all lay dead within minutes, by which time we were all nearly ready to join them. Piling back into The Nightmare for what remained of the night, we discussed what options we had now. It became evident rather quickly that without some form of transportation we would be pretty much fucked, but until morning we didn't know
for certain what state Sister had left The Nightmare in.

  April 21 Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  It was not looking pretty. Cyclops was muttering quiet curses to himself while looking at the damage, Viking not bothering to be so polite. Sister had hit a derailed train. From the looks of things, most of the Dead had been passengers, though a great many looked quite a bit 'fresher' than others. Several Dead were still roaming around, but most had been put down in last night's slaughter. These lone roamers I put down with Apocalypse Girl and Sister, as none of the three of us knew anything about either fixing an engine that had hit a fucking train at a hundred kilometres an hour, or for that matter anything about how to extricate said engine from the train that it had struck.

  There was a town beyond the wreckage, one of the stops on the train's route. Nobody there from the looks of things, but we had no option, we had to check things out closer. Archer and Guide were working the other side of the train line, clearing away any Dead they found. Guide was feeling a particular need to redeem himself after last night, as he had been knocked senseless by the initial impact and had been of no use in the fight.

  Sure enough, by the time we arrived at the town, nothing but a few Dead were evident. The five of us stood in the middle of the main road and shouted greetings for a minute or two, to draw out anybody, Living or Dead. What we succeeded in drawing out was just Dead, however. It looked, on closer inspection, as though this town had indeed had some survivors to begin with, but they had either moved on or joined the crowd at the train. I suspected the latter.