Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 5): May

by Rowlands, Dave

  Loading up the clothing into the back of our truck, we began trying to move some of these vehicles off the road. The combi-van proved among the easiest to shift, actually, despite its bulk. Others had their hand-brakes permanently on, or ridiculously flat tyres, or were fused together by collisions. Eventually we were forced to employ the truck to move some of them and, in time, the road was clear enough for travel.

  evening

  There were lights on the horizon ahead of us. Figuring that rocking up in the dead of night might be taken the wrong way, we decided to wait until morning before we approached too close, but it appeared that we had finally found Coober Pedy at long last. To tell the truth, I have always wanted to see one of their underground houses. We drove towards the lights, staying at least a kilometre away, for their safety and our own. The last thing we needed was to get into a gunfight with an entire town. The shriek-howls that we had heard before started up again, this time seeming to come from all directions at once. Rather than post a lookout on top of the truck, we figured it was best to just hole up in the back.

  Sonny was anxious to get to town, as were we all, but the strange animal noises coming from without had us all worried. We had seen some of the mutated critters that populated the outback now, some of which were useful, but most seemed simply deadly. The Drop-Bear, for instance, that had eviscerated poor Granny. They seemed to be more of a silent predator, dropping on their prey from above, but whatever was making those shriek-howl noises sounded more like a hunter, using terror to drive their prey before them. They also soundedbig.

  May 24thYear 1 A.Z.

  morning

  The morning seemed to never come, but as the complete black of night regressed to a dull grey whatever had been making those horrible noises all fucking night finally left. The sounds themselves will probably haunt our nightmares for years to come. Deciding as soon as we were sure they were gone we continued on to Coober Pedy.

  All my life I had heard of the town, the unusual underground houses that people lived in. I had always imagined a sort of desert version of The Shire. Well, now it was an underground town no longer. They had cannibalised what they could of the exterior, above ground portion of their housing, creating a nest for themselves that hung from an enormous crane, supported by as much various assorted crap, building materials, boulders, mining equipment, whatever they could build the gigantic pillar that held the Coober's Nest aloft.

  A three metre high fence of assorted, re-purposed metal surrounded the town, which itself was about four metres up. Apocalypse Girl drove the truck up to the base of the tower of junk, honking the horn a couple of time, in case nobody had noticed us yet.

  A crossbow bolt skittered off of the bonnet of the truck. A voice somewhat distorted came from a megaphone wielded by a man standing next to the crossbowman. He ordered us to come out of the truck, hands above our heads and he would send down a bucket for our weapons, then a ladder for us. Sister shouted back, asking what guarantee we had that we'd get them back. The man replied that we had no guarantee whatsoever, but we'd be better off trusting him than whatever else is out there.

  We had no choice but to agree.

  noon

  We climbed up the rope ladder that they lowered for us. Seeing our guns still in their bucket as we arrived at the top made being greeted at gunpoint a little less irritating. “I apologise,” said a thick, Irish accented voice coming from behind a ginger beard. “But, for now, we'll be keeping these. We'll give 'em back to you, soon as we're sure you're good people, but for now I need you to go unarmed.”

  He motioned for us to hand over our melee weapons as well, raising an eyebrow as Apocalypse Girl handed over The Frypan with a glare. I handed over my katana to Ginger myself, telling him to look after it for me. To my surprise, the man nodded, saying that he would. Coober's Nest was actually quite a bit larger than it had seemed from below. There were several 'rooms' partitioned off from the main communal area, with a sizeable and sturdy walkway around the exterior. The rooms were well furnished and well insulated against the Cold, layers of blankets nailed in place over the walls. More blankets served as doors.

  Ginger showed us around, introducing us to some of the locals, Dentist, who was in charge of all things medically related and Scout. She was an interesting one. Dentist shook our hands enthusiastically, smiling broadly. Scout simply raised an eyebrow. Then she told us that we were the first group to have made it through alive, as though discussing the weather. Then, she went back to cleaning her rifle.

  Taking us to a room where we could get settled, Ginger left with a smile on his face. They had pulled together a few spare mattresses that Apocalypse Girl curled up on almost immediately. There was also a couch that Sonny and Sister sat on together. I felt ill-at-ease without my sword, so I paced back and forth, impatiently.

  evening

  We had been left more-or-less alone for most of the afternoon, though a couple of smaller heads had poked through the curtain briefly. They fled as soon as Apocalypse Girl said hello and from without we heard their mother berating them for going so near 'the strangers' in case we were dangerous. The smile on Apocalypse Girl's face dropped once she heard that.

  Scout came for us shortly after full dark. “Dinner.” was all she said. We followed her into the communal area at the centre of Coober's Nest where a woman in a chef's hat was passing out bowls of stew. There were a good thirty people in this room alone. Most, if not all, of the town's remaining inhabitants.

  Chef handed Apocalypse Girl a bowl first, who sniffed at it, asking what the meat was. Chef smiled, telling us it was lamb, they still had plenty of different meat left. The Nest had gone up early, Ginger even going so far as to install generators into the suspended town. The ability to freeze huge amounts of food was the second thing that the Irishman had considered.

  We ate with them, the meal being the best thing we had tasted since the early days back at The Think Tank. Around a mouthful of fresh-baked bread, Ginger asked us how we had managed to make our way this far north. We told him the truth, that we were simply passing through on our way to Alice Springs because we had an idea that there was a hidden underground bunker somewhere in that general area.

  “ Yeah? Good luck with that!” Scout's sarcastic tone assaulted us. “You would have heard them, the last few nights, as you got closer to Coober, yeah? Those horrific, nasty noises?” We all nodded, slowly. “Come with me.” As if on cue, a piercing shriek-howl erupted from just outside, startling the buggery out of us all.

  The best below us was massive. Muscles rippled along its hide, threatening to burst through the skin. Sensing prey it stood up on its hind legs, walking over to the fence. The fucking thing was barely half a metre shorter than the wall of detritus. “Dingoes, mate. Fucking Dingoes.” Scout spat at the thing. Waving over the guard that had shot at our truck earlier this morning, she took his crossbow from him, lining up the beast in her sights. The bolt flowered from the Dingo's skull. It hardly even noticed. It just cackled its shrieking howling call from between razor sharp teeth. Asking to borrow Scout's binoculars I got a better look at the thing. Spines erupted from the creature's back and the tail had lengthened, becoming a whip that seemed to cut the air. It looked sharp as a steel blade. If packs of those wandered the grey wastes, getting to Alice Springs would be painful. I said as much. “There's worse than Dingoes out there, believe me.” Scout warned us. Fuck.

  May 25thYear 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Sleeping on a mattress was something of a novelty for us, these days, and we took full advantage. We didn't move an inch until Dentist, this morning, came to take us to breakfast. Last night, our interrogation, though taking a friendly form, had been interrupted. The conversation had turned to Dingoes, Meat-beasts and other mutations that we had encountered once we went back inside, so Ginger wanted to pick things up again over toast and tea.

  Scout insisted that she had seen a Dragon, one day, while out scavenging for supplies. Everybody laughed, though he
r eyes flamed. At the very least, she believed it. Everybody laughed, that was, except Ginger. He told everybody off, saying that without Scout they would all be dead a hundred times over. Even he, himself, had been saved by the plucky young woman. The day the Dead had risen, Ginger had been the town drunk, Scout a seventeen year old delinquent trying to get him to go and buy her booze.

  Together, they saved everyone in town that was left Living and once Ginger sobered up, he stepped up and became the leader the community clearly needed. Whether Scout had truly seen a Dragon or not, it didn't matter to him. He'd be on the lookout for the bloody things anyway, just because it's Scout saying it. He asked us our tale, which we told without

  embellishment, though we omitted a few things. Sonny still didn't know anything about our encounter with Fluffy, in fact the three of us that were there still were unsure of what to think about all of the things it had told us. It was concerning, if nothing else, but for now we had other concerns.

  Once we were finished, Ginger, Dentist, Scout and Chef looked at one another. After a few moments Ginger nodded. “Alright, then. This is what I've decided. You lot can have your weapons back whenever you go outside, which also means that you're all welcome to come and go as you please. Leave them in the bucket while you're in town, though, please.” He looked at each of the four of us in turn. “Yeah, I reckon you'll fit in well enough here, anyway. You're welcome to stay here for as long as you want. You'll be safer here than out there,” He motioned out to the north, towards our goal. “In any case, you'll no doubt be wanting this back.” He handed me my blade. I thanked him.

  noon

  I found Scout outside, watching the horizon with her binoculars. She handed them to me without a word, pointing towards the north. Through them I could see a patch of charred ground. From this distance it was hard to say how large it was, but it seemed fairly big. “Dragon did that.” Was all she said. I had seen a few mutations in the last few months that I would have not believed otherwise and told her so. She nodded. “When you head out to look for this place near Alice,” She began, “I want to come with you.”

  She followed me back to our room, telling me how she scouts around. She uses a small motorbike, she said, takes only a crowbar and a pistol and an empty backpack and, most importantly, a watch. She has an alarm set for two hours after she leaves, at which time she turns around and comes home with whatever she has found. On the off-chance that she discovers a survivor, she brings them back immediately. That had happened twice, so far.

  They had plenty of tools and equipment here at Coober's Nest, not to mention access to vehicles used to transport massive machinery, so anything too big to fit in her pack she simply marked the location on a map and sent 'the boys' out for it the next day. She was often on the lookout for more pieces of large scrap that can be used to expand the town, or its support structure.

  evening

  Apocalypse Girl, it seemed, did not like Scout much. She didn't like the idea that she would be coming with us when we left here, but accepted it readily enough. Sonny had been so terrified of his first sight of a Dingo that he was scared to continue, but he swallowed his horror and agreed that he was coming along too. Sister just nodded. She would be with us no matter what.

  At dinner, chef having roasted what seemed to be the meat of several pigs up, I told Ginger of our plans, Scout informing him that she wanted to come along with us. He nodded. Asking when we were planning on leaving, he helped himself to a portion of crackling. That, we told him, we hadn't decided yet.

  We gave Ginger the radio frequency used by our Schoolfolk and military allies, telling him that the survivors of this apocalypse needed to stay in touch, or else humanity was completely fucked. He couldn't agree more. The only snag, he told us, was that in their haste to get electricity and freezers up and running, they had neglected to bother with a radio. But, he told us, he knew exactly where one was. At the head office of the mine that his brother's wife's cousin's auntie's step-son owned. On the far side of town.

  May 26thYear 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Scout came to get us shortly after what passed for dawn these days, taking us into the communal room for breakfast before we made our way across town. I told her that she should bring supplies for a couple of days, plenty of warm clothing and water. “We shouldn't be more than about six hours, there and back, though,” She said, sounding a little confused.

  “ One thing I've learned is never to assume anything is ever as simple as get in, get whatever we're after, get out safely and alive again. Things have a way of going spectacularly fucking wrong these days, or hadn't you noticed?” Apocalypse Girl snapped at her. Scout blinked. Apocalypse Girl calmed herself somewhat. “All I mean is, prepare for the worst. You coming in the truck with us, yeah?” Scout nodded.

  We loaded up the truck with everything we would need, Ginger helping us out, handing us our weapons at the last. “You take good care of her, you hear me?” He motioned towards Scout. “She's important, here.” I promised I would look after her and we bade him goodbye.

  noon

  Sister took the wheel, Scout sitting beside her, directing her. We saw a few small groups of Dead ones shambling around, never more then about four or five in any one mob. None of them posed any threat to us, so we passed them by. Driving carefully, we made it to the mine in a little under the three hours that Scout had predicted earlier.

  “ The foreman of this mine kept his radio in his office at all times, you see,” Scout was telling us as we put down the few Dead milling around the office building. “Except when he had to go and deal with some bullshit, that is. He'd take it with him then.” I kicked the door open a moment later. There was a Dead one seated at what I assumed to be the foreman's desk. Apocalypse Girl splattered its head with her Frypan.

  Scout looked around, searching the office. Sister and Sonny kept watch at the door, telling us that we had attracted the attention of several Dead, that the groups we had passed on our way out here seemed to have followed us, as well. Scout swore under her breath. “I was afraid of this. He must be somewhere else in this building.” Apocalypse Girl had to ask for confirmation, that we were looking for one of the Dead carrying a radio, who could be any-fucking-where in this building. “That's right. Any-fucking-where. In here, or outthere.” She pointed out the open door.

  evening

  We shut the door, barricading it with the desk, then retreated further into the building. I put my sword through the face of one Dead that wandered the corridor then began to try doors leading from it. The first one was securely locked, the second leading to a tiny supply cupboard. The third opened up into another office, or rather several cubicles that had been partitioned off from one another, giving theillusionof a real office.

  We found a couple of Dead ones, one sat at a computer that was likely deader than it was, splattered their brains all over with cricket bat and crowbar, then we dragged their stinking carcasses out into the hallway, ducking back inside before another Dead one wandered around the far corner. Blocking the doorway with whatever we could we hoped that nothing noticed our passing.

  We huddled together in the corner of the room, having created a small enclosure for ourselves out of the partitions and a couple of desks that wouldn't fit behind the door. Had Scout been here alone, she told us, she felt she would have been some things dinner before long. Figuring that the best way to calm her down would be to keep her talking, Apocalypse Girl asked her what had happened when the Dingoes arrived.

  “There were a bunch of people that had managed to hole up in an underground hotel.” Scout began her tale. “The Dead had already torn the above ground part to shreds, but they just couldn't figure out how to get inside. I knew a couple of people that were trapped in there, so we talked over our mobiles.” She took a deep breath. “I was talking to one of them when the first Dingo got inside. The screams were...”

  She took a moment to compose herself. “Six people were ripped to pieces in another room. My fri
end couldn't bear to go out there until morning. The next night they came back to finish the job. Seventeen people in two days killed and eaten by fucking big mutant Dingoes.” The silence was broken by a shrieking howl in the distance.

  May 27thYear 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Our little cubby made from desks and partitions still held when we awoke. A couple of Dead had gathered in the hall outside the room we were in, though they weren't actually trying to get at us yet, so we took our time getting ready. Apocalypse Girl was swinging The Frypan in preparation for Sonny to open the door. She nodded, he turned the handle, she guided them into the barricade one at at time, battering their heads to a pulp with one well-aimed swing apiece.

  Before we left, Apocalypse Girl found a coat-hanger somewhere. She bent it, twisted it around, fashioning a hook that she attached to her belt. From this hook she hung The Frypan, saying that she was getting sick of always having to get it out of her pack.

  “ Where to now?” Sister asked Scout. Seeing her shrug she went on. “This is your fucking mission, you've got to have some idea where we can find a goddamn radio in here.”

  “ It all depends on where the foreman was when he, well, when he died.” Scout said. “If we're lucky, he'll be in this building somewhere. If not, we might have to start looking outside. Maybe even in the mine itself.”

  noon

  We decided to go back to the first, locked door in the corridor. Kicking it in with a well placed boot we discovered what looked like a records room. Scout said that it had probably been locked up tight for years, ever since they transferred all of their files to their computer system.

  We methodically went through every room in the place, finding more Dead in the toilets, a bunch in the canteen as well, two of which occupied the kitchen area. None of them were the foreman we sought.

  That left the garage, according to Scout. Finding the way easily enough, we filed into the garage as silently as we were able. My sword found the brain of one Dead that lurked near the door, Scout's crowbar lodging deep within the skull of another that came to investigate the disturbance. Sister slipped past their carcasses to close the roller door to the outside, attracting the attention of three more rotting shamblers. They met a messy end at the hands of Sonny and his cricket bat as Sister drew them back towards us.