Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 5): May

by Rowlands, Dave

  Archer handed me a bowl of warmed up baked beans, telling me with a grin that it was indeed the last of the canned crap and that all we had left right now was the munchies that we had acquired at the last service station. Were we not in close proximity to The Facility I might have despaired over our situation. On the other hand, considering the news from The Smart Couple about that particular place and what is now going on there... perhaps the despair was starting to creep in at least a little bit, after all.

  Viking opened the mini-bus's door to admit Sister upon her return, and she shook off a layer of fresh, grey snow before nimbly leaping up into the vehicle. “Well, there's a lot up ahead. Nothing we can't handle, but I was thinking maybehecould do something about them?” She nodded in the direction of The Kid.

  “That's one thought, but I reckon we shouldn't reveal all of his tricks just yet.” Archer told her, his tone contemplative. “No, we need to clear the door the normal way for now. Maybe we can ask those lovely fellows at The Facility if they will kindly assist us, though I think that unlikely as well.” Apocalypse Girl pulled her phone out, typing a quick message to The Smart Couple while Archer continued. “We should take the mini-bus up the road a klick or two, leave it just out of sight of the doors. They know we're coming in this heap of shit, but out-of-sight out-of-mind, as they say. If we can keep it hidden we'll have an emergency escape vehicle for if and when we need it.” Viking suggested that we disconnect the battery in order to make certain it retains some charge while we visit with our new 'friends' at The Facility. “That's a bloody good idea, too. Just the one terminal, though. No need to make it too much of a head-fuck to deal with if we're on the run from The Facility with a bunch of Dead after us as well.”

  Valkyrie sat behind the wheel, starting the engine as we all checked our weapons. My sword was as pristine as the day I had first found it, despite the vast numbers of Dead skulls it had sheared through over the last couple of months. Once again I sent a mental thank-you to whoever had left it behind for me to discover. Sister had maybe a dozen arrows left in her quiver, but we all had at the very least a pistol, apart from The Kid, and Apocalypse Girl, Archer and Viking all carried assault rifles with them. Viking's hammer was looking well-used and heavily stained by the blood and brains and other glorp from the remains of the many Dead he had slaughtered with the thing.

  noon

  Not long in the mini-bus, maybe half an hour later Valkyrie pulled to the side of the dirt track, swinging the mini-bus around so that it faced away from us. Apocalypse Girl's phone jangled, a message from those at The Facility telling us that there would be some limited support at the door. The Kid suggested that he could get rid of the Dead that milled around the entrance easily enough, then I reminded him that we couldn't exactly trust everybody in that place. He nodded, saying that he felt uneasy about all of this. Quietly he confided that he was pretty sure these people would want to dissect and study him in detail. Apocalypse Girl, as ever at my side, asked him if he really thought they were going to kill him.

  “They're gonna try to. I don't think it can be done, though. I tried it myself a couple of times, but I heal pretty fucking quick these days. I couldn't even shoot myself in the head. Eventually I stopped trying, though. Do any of you know how much a bullet to the head hurts?” We all chuckled at that. “Right, probably not, hey? Anyway, it turns out that regenerating that big fuck-off hole that a hollow-point leaves behind is a thousand times worse. All those bits of brain and bone and shit. I was aware of every little detail.” Our mirth subsided somewhat.

  We all exited the mini-bus, carefully keeping an eye out for anything, anyone unusual. The Kid would no doubt be able to warn us if any Dead came near, but this close to The Facility, and the unknown survivors within... We weren't taking any unnecessary chances, let's just keep it at that.

  Interestingly, the snow continued to fall, though it seemed to melt before it ever got near to the ground, even to the point of evaporation. Remembering back to our time at The Think Tank, being informed that The Facility was situated on, or more likely inside of, a volcano. I always figured it would probably be a dormant volcano, though the welcome warmth working its merry way through the soles of my boots belied that supposition. In any event, the mist formed from the quickly freezing water vapour was somewhat disturbing, a kind of deep grey fog that was almost thick enough to need my blade to cut through it. Fortunately this fog rose to no more than about waist height, though any crawling Dead would be rendered almost invisible.

  Apocalypse Girl's phone jangled. Draw them away from the door, pleaseread the message. We had approached to within visual range, and there were rather a lot of Dead just standing around. In actual fact, there could be considered to be fucking shitloads of Dead just standing around. Archer signalled us all to keep low and quiet, whispering that we should all open fire at once, making sure we put down at least some of them when we get their attention.

  Taking careful aim, we opened up on the Dead. Several fell, everybody taking down at least one shambling corpse in the first burst but The Kid, but then there was no weapon that his enlarged, mutated hands would have fit into. In any case, he now had his own 'natural' weapons in the form of several-centimetre long talons sprouting from the ends of his fingers.

  These Dead were slow to react, thankfully, and we were able to get off another couple of well-aimed attacks on their rear before they were fully aware of our presence. Once they knew we were there, on the other hand, they began to slowly, inexorably, swarm in our direction. We opened fire, each one of us picking off Dead one by one as they drew nearer. The Kid, once the horde drew near enough, sprang into their midst, tearing heads from bodies and tossing them off into the distance with remarkable ease. The crowd of Dead, naturally, ignored him completely, seeing him as one of their own, making his assault that much easier, more deadly.

  My pistol jammed on me as the Dead grew ever closer and I put the thing away, rather than waste time trying to fix it, and drew my blade. Apocalypse Girl stood at my side, blasting away with her own assault rifle, set to single fire, each round finding the brain of a Dead one. I stood still, just waiting for the Dead to approach within reach of my blade. Viking and Valkyrie had adopted a similar stance, with Archer and Sister between them. Valkyrie was blasting happily away at Dead while Viking belaboured any that drew near with his sledge hammer. Sister was down to her last shaft, each one that she had let fly so far had found it's way into the head of a Dead, now dead, one.

  Archer had just emptied his last clip into the slavering faces of the dozen or so Dead surrounding him, then reversed the gun to use as a club. He howled with pain as his hand grasped the red-hot barrel, but began to swing the weapon at any nearby Dead while Sister fired her final arrow. It flew into the skull of a Dead one behind me that I hadn't even noticed as it prepared to sink it's teeth into my flesh.

  The Kid swooped down on Archer and Sister an instant before they were to be overrun by the Dead, jumping to safety before depositing them next to Valkyrie and Viking, who immediately handed Archer his own gun. The grizzled veteran opened fire once more, mowing down more Dead before they could get too close for comfort.

  I spun around in a circle, my blade extended at average head-height, slicing through several, cutting off a couple and lacerating the chest of one particularly tall Dead who responded to my attack by swinging his arms wildly in my direction. Unfortunately one blow connected, sending me flying away from Apocalypse Girl, leaving her to face the giant Dead alone.

  She swore quietly to herself, then raised her rifle to aim at the thing's head. Pulling the trigger, nothing happened. She had run out of ammunition at an incredibly unfortunate moment. Giant Dead launched a punch in her direction that she easily dodged, dancing away from the monster and towards me for a moment while she reloaded her rifle. Bringing the gun up to her face she drew a bead on the Giant Dead and fired. Her bullet hit the enormous Dead one square between the eyes, knocking its head backwards.

  The Gia
nt Dead brought its head down, dark red oozing from the wound that she had inflicted. I was searching through the fog for my sword that had flew from my hand when I landed, but my hands found nothing but a booted foot. I moved back, away from the Dead one that I had discovered and saw my katana had struck this one and was hanging loosely from its chest, supported by the rags the Dead one still wore.

  Apocalypse Girl found me, putting a round through the head of the sword-bearing Dead one and I gathered my weapon as it fell to the ground, by which time the Giant Dead one had descended upon us once again. This time Apocalypse Girl switched from single fire to burst, raised the barrel of her gun up into the gaping mouth of the Giant Dead and pulled the trigger, totally obliterating the monster's cranium. It still stood, flailing its arms like a motherfucker, Apocalypse Girl rolling out of the way of the thing. I swung my blade at one leg, slicing it off at the knee, and the Giant headless Dead toppled over.

  There were still more than thirty Dead ones left, by my reckoning, and we had almost run out of ammunition and energy. All of us but The Kid, that was, who was holding back the tide, or at least trying to as best he was able considering that particular tide was ignoring him completely. Apocalypse Girl switched back to single fire to take down the five Dead that she had rounds remaining for, then we backed off a little and regrouped.

  “ Now what?” Sister asked. At that precise moment, Apocalypse Girl's phone jangled. The message read simplyduck. We all complied, naturally, and as the back door to The Facility opened up, so did the squad of soldiers that had arrived. The Dead fell dead quickly enough, and one of the soldiers called out to us, saying that the coast was clear and to hurry up. We ran for it.

  evening

  The Facility was eerily almost an exact duplicate of The Think Tank. The only real difference was that this back door led out from the second floor of the place, the top level of living quarters. We were shown almost immediately to our quarters, that seemed as though they had been lived in recently. None of the soldiers wanted to speak to any of us, not even Archer, other than to welcome us that was, and to inform us that their commanding officer would like to speak to us in the morning. The soldiers also insisted on taking The Kid deeper into The Facility, which I at first protested, but the near-Dead teen told me that he knew what he was doing and went along willingly, even trying to make a few jokes with the soldiers, all of whom had their weapons trained on him the whole time.

  The Smart Couple were waiting for us in the dining hall, and they greeted us with enthusiasm. The pair had clearly missed Apocalypse Girl and myself, at the very least. As I hugged Smart Girl I whispered into her ear, asking if it was safe to talk here. She whispered back, telling me that nowhere was safe, not here. The fear was evident in her voice.

  We ended our embrace as Smart Guy began telling us about The Facility. “I'm not going to bore you with all the technical stuff, don't worry,” He started, “Basically this place has a similar layout to our old Think Tank, though of course nobody but The Major and his senior staff is permitted into the lower levels. It seemed to have been a genetic research lab, among other things, so we definitely have all the equipment we could ever hope for on that front.”

  Smart Girl took over momentarily. “We have about four hundred civilians living here, all told, though those numbers used to be significantly higher.” Apocalypse Girl asked her what had happened to all the others. “Accidents happen, of course, and sometimes, especially nowadays, things can go catastrophically wrong.” Smart Girl shook her head slightly, but firmly, as she saw that explanation was not going to cut the mustard with us. Apocalypse Girl changed her next question, instead asking about food. “Naturally, you are welcome to our food stores, though you'll have to talk to The Major about any weapons, or anything like that.”

  “Where is everybody else, then?” Sister asked. “If there are four hundred survivors here, shouldn't we have seen a few of them by now?” Smart Guy told her that there were a dozen living levels and nobody really wanted to live on the floor with the door to the outside world anymore. I asked if we would be allowed up on the first level, where the computer labs are. Smart Girl told me that she would arrange for a couple of passes for Apocalypse Girl and myself at the very least, as we were relatively familiar with the systems used in The Think Tank which were similar. Smart Guy pointed out that there were a few new toys that we could play with in there.

  “ Do you guys have a radio at all? I'd like to check in with my people back in Melbourne if that's possible.” Viking said. The Smart Couple looked at one another. Smart Girl said that they didn't. I looked into her eyes. She was lying, that much was certain, and she was bad at it, too. I remembered a radio that they had discovered back at The Think Tank. Smart Guy had said that it could probably send and receive signals as far away as Jupiter. Looking at him, he shook his head slightly. “Okay, how about vehicles? Do you guys have any here?” Smart Guy nodded. “I'm great with engines, but better with modifications. Any objections to me working on any of them?” He was told that he needed to clear it with The Major first. I was already starting to dislike this Major, and I hadn't even met him yet.

  May 5thYear 1 A.Z.

  morning

  The beds here were every bit as comfortable as those in The Think Tank, and the showers, just as hot and refreshing. We went through the possessions of those who had been here before, finding clean clothing that hadn't been befouled by the innards of the Dead, and were just sitting around eating breakfast, just those of us that had come in last night. Well, not The Kid, of course, but all the rest of us at least.

  I was chewing on a wad of crispy bacon when The Major strode in. His bearing was reminiscent of that of General Fuckwit, though his words and manner were a little more respectful. He saluted us, at first, then shook each of our hands. “Welcome to The Facility, my friends,” He sounded like a used-car salesman I had met once. He had convinced me to buy a car that I really hadn't needed at the time, and when I went back to the car yard after the bloody thing blew up on me a week later, he had mysteriously vanished along with his business. And my fucking money!

  “I'd like to thank you all for bringing that mutant here, my scientists tell me that he will be invaluable in the efforts to understand this disease, plague, whatever the hell it is. If we can develop some kind of cure, as they assure me we can, once we know what we're dealing with... Well, anyway, I've been informed of some of your requests, and most certainly you may work on our vehicles, sir.” He told Viking. “Anything you can do would be appreciated, to tell you the truth. We lost all of our mechanics fairly early on.”

  To Apocalypse Girl and myself, “You two want access to the computer labs on the first floor, I understand. If not for your two friends here vouching for you, saying that you're almost as familiar with these systems as they are, then I would not allow it.” He smoothed back his black hair with one hand, muttering about needing a haircut. “As it is, we're short staffed here, and need all the help we can get. If you can help out with defence, as well, that would be most helpful.”

  “ What's going to happen to our friend?” Apocalypse Girl asked him directly. “I understand all that about learning about the plague, sure, but he's really just a kid. I really don't want to be responsible for any more pain and suffering on his part.”

  “Don't worry,” The Major soothed her. “I get it. He will be treated with all due respect. I have assurances from my scientists that his every need is being met.” I almost pointed out that what he just said means nothing. The Kid has no needs. Instead I told The Major that I had heard about other survivors living here. “Yes, we have a couple of hundred, at least, I'm not really sure on all the numbers, to be honest. They come and go, you understand.” With that he saluted us once more, turned and left.

  I looked into Apocalypse Girl's eyes and saw that she trusted this Major about as much as I did myself.

  noon

  I had forgotten how relaxing it could be to not be cramped up in one vehicle or anoth
er, with sweaty, stinky people crowding you from all sides, being all sweaty and stinky yourself for days at a time, only leaving said vehicle to hack apart the Dead. It was amazing. Apocalypse Girl was wanting to go to the computer labs, where hopefully we might be able to find out what the fuck is going on here, but I told her that we should wait until tonight. We have access, sure, but we don't want to make it look to obvious that we're snooping around, after all.

  Archer was busy trying to make friends with the troops on guard at the main entrance, and had been met with limited success until one of them asked him, sounding as if he were expecting to be told no,yet again, if he had any tobacco. Archer smiled broadly, pulling a carton of the things from his bag. Luckily for him, Apocalypse Girl and I were passing by at that time, and she tossed him a spare lighter.

  Up the top of the facility lay the vehicle pool, where Viking and Valkyrie were noisily taking apart some of the smaller vehicles to reshape the metal for use on some of the larger ones. The Major had apparently asked him to make several troop transports more resistant to the Cold and had ordered a couple of men to help him. They weren't happy at having to follow the blonde giant's commands and Viking was pissed that The Major would lumber him with such imbeciles. Valkyrie's expression left no doubt about it, she at least was having a ball.

  evening

  Finally inside the computer labs, Smart Girl told us that we could speak freely in there, and there alone. She told us that The Major had in fact installed listening devices in just about every room in The Facility, but that Smart Guy had come up with a suitable jamming device that had been explained away as interference from the computers. The Major had started out as a reasonable fellow, it seemed, according to Smart Girl, but once they had mentioned hearing of The Kid and her idea that some kind of cure or vaccine might be able to be developed from him he had started the experiments. He had several other scientists with him, bio-weapons specialists in fact, that had suggested to him that a limited exposure to infection met with massive doses of antibioticsmightbe able to replicate the phenomenon. That had been a couple of months ago now. The Major had initially called for volunteers from within his own ranks, but had begun deliberately infecting civilians now as well. They had started out with nearly two thousand people here, military and civilian alike. Now their combined numbers were approximating four hundred.