Anno Zombus
Year 1
September
This one is for the South Australian Emergency Services personnel that came to rescue my partner, Rhiannon and I on the 16th of August 2015. Though the accident was quite minor (except for the poor car!), their prompt, professional, and friendly service certainly made a bad day much more bearable!
Also thanks muchly to Richard…
On a secondary note, I’d also like to dedicate this one to Jonas, Kadria, Krissy, Kayla, Elliot, Erin and any/every one that has thrown their support behind me in my “little undead” project.
Enjoy…
September 1st Year 1 A.Z.
morning
Apocalypse Girl was not happy about our new home, though I was not about to complain. Her mother was perhaps a little overbearing, but... well, all things considered, at least she wasn't about to put me in front of a firing squad. The Colonel was more than happy about our presence, as she and her army were not particularly welcome, though their immunity to the Dead and the fact that the formula was able to be replicated certainly helped.
Apocalypse Mum, aka The Boss, was apparently a high ranking member of a secretive quasi-military organisation the likes of which I had no idea even existed here in Australia. The Brigadier, her second in charge, was a man of few words, but over breakfast he explained as much to us newcomers. Apprentice's affinity for Healing made her an invaluable member of Apocalypse Mum's medical staff and Tiny had already been talked into teaching as many as wanted to learn her own particularly nasty brand of hand-to-hand combat.
Scout wanted to return home to Coober's Nest as soon as it was possible. Viking and Valkyrie were unhappy about yet another diplomatic mission going down the tubes thanks to their friendship with me, and unlikely to return to Melbourne in a hurry, not without new allies at least, so they were keen to join her. Thankfully, these people were not as eager to conscript as were the generals near Canberra, though Apocalypse Mum had offered me a commission. Anyway, I turned down her offer, stating that my job was to look after her daughter and unborn grandchild. She didn't like the refusal, but clearly understood my reasons.
I had been in touch with The Smart Couple via radio, wherever the fuck they had gotten to, and informed them of our whereabouts. They were at least pleased by our relative safety. They didn't want anything to do with any kind of shadow military group, though. They had been researching the Dead as much as they were able, as well as looking into a few other ideas. So far, at least with regards to the Dead, they had come up with nothing particularly new or mind-blowing.
The Twin was at a loss as to what to do with herself, she had never really been all that comfortable inside these underground facilities, and ended up sitting with me, keeping me company while Apocalypse Girl and Mum screamed at one another for hours on end. As it was, they had not stopped since last night. Jester, on the other hand, was in his element. Finally being taken seriously, The Brigadier had asked him to take charge of the computer systems down here.
noon
Silence. Apocalypse Dog's ears pricked up as soon as mother and daughter stopped shouting. A moment later, Apocalypse Girl stormed out, tears streaming from her lone eye. The Twin and I followed her wordlessly, Apocalypse Dog trotting along between us. Soon enough, she bullied a couple of soldiers into showing us where our quarters were.
The room that Apocalypse Girl and I were meant to share was reasonably large and lavish, compared to those we had encountered in previous facilities, and about three doors down from her mother. It was about as far as Apocalypse Mum was willing to let her go, at least at the moment.
She flounced through the door, flopping onto the bed. “Why does she have to be such a fucking cow?” She asked nobody in particular. Knowing better than to say anything, I just put my arms around her. The Twin just shook her head with a wry smile. “She's not going to let us leave this place, you know.” I told her that I figured that would be the case. “I haven't even seen her in nearly a year, not since she kicked me out... now... I don't know, she's fucked in the head.”
I couldn't argue, or rather I knew better than to argue, and when the dog began licking her face, Apocalypse Girl's mood began to change for the better. We were told by a passing soldier that lunch would be ready in a little while. “I'm not hungry,” Apocalypse Girl said, though she still rose. “But... I really don't want to get you into trouble.” She smiled up at me. “So, let's go and get some food.”
The living quarters were more familiar looking than much of the rest of the base, the ceilings of a uniform height with those underground facilities that we knew already. The mess hall was an exact copy of The Think Tank's, in fact. The only real difference was the black-clad soldiers that swarmed about everywhere. Apocalypse Girl studiously ignored her mother as she came in and joined us at our table.
“I know you're all tired, but I need to talk to you. I've been reliably informed that you've encountered some of the extraterrestrials that are responsible for all of this.” I told Apocalypse Mum that she was partially correct. “We've long suspected that, should they choose to invade Earth, they might strike first with a plague or the like. Clearly that is the case.” Apocalypse Girl humphed next to me. Her mother ignored it. “We've been monitoring what few satellites remain, so we saw the approach of the Invader Moon, not to mention the extraterrestrial fleets when they first arrived. Before the Dead began to rise, by about a week.”
I told her that there were three different factions of aliens, at least from what Fluffy the schrandfelths had told us. She nodded, listening intently. The schrandfelths were the only ones we had interacted with directly, though at first we thought the Shadow might have originated off-world, we had since discovered that it was much older than humanity, and native to Earth. I had the feeling that it was native to everywhere, in fact, at the same time. I had the feeling that Shadow had left a part of itself, or at least some knowledge of itself, behind when it possessed me. I refrained from mentioning that part.
“So this Shadow, as you call it, is benign?” She asked me. I shrugged. All I could tell her was that it was not a threat, and that each individual Shadow that we had seen was, in actual fact, a kind of tendril of the whole entity, species, whatever it was. There was one, but it could be infinitely many with ease. “And, other than this janitorial species, you know nothing about our invaders?”
I told her what Fluffy had told us; that the two other species seemed to have double-booked our world as humanity died, rose and killed itself off. Fluffy told us, I made certain that Apocalypse Mum knew, that it had seen this kind of thing before. One of the other two species was allowed to terraform our planet and colonise it. The other was responsible for the mutants that we had encountered, extra-large spiders and snakes that seemed to have a profound resistance to the cold, the regenerating Meat-Beasts that provided far more flesh than the cows that they had once been. The Dragons, a form of mutated goanna that had the ability to breathe fire. Drop-Bears, koalas that killed...brutally. The Echidna that had been ultimately responsible for Jarhead's demise, and of course, the overly large and incredibly vicious Dingoes, several times the size of the native dogs that had frustrated farmers for many decades, with the ability to walk on hind legs and an elongated tail that was part whip, part serrated blade of bone.
Apocalypse Mum quietly listened to all that I had to say about these mutants, as her men had encountered several varieties already. I could almost see the cogs in her brain ticking over, cogitating on the comparisons between the reports from her men, those from The Colonel and my own debriefing. When she was done, she stood, turned and left. I realised that The Twin and I were the only ones left in t
he mess hall.
evening
No amount of caffeine was able to reduce my weariness, so I headed for the room I shared with Apocalypse Girl. She was already fast asleep, snoring softly into her pillow. The dog at least had the decency to raise his head and yawn at me from the bottom of the bed, then a moment later his snores joined hers. Smiling, I shook my head before stripping off for a shower.
As I washed, I ran over recent events in my mind. What had occurred in Adelaide had been, for the most part, a nightmare. The Ghouls, who ate the Dead and had corrosive blood, had probably been the worst of it, though the monster that had been The Queen... Queen Bitch-Head, my old friend Apprentice had called her. She had taken Apocalypse Girl's left eye with a fork because she objected to The Queen's plan to breed with me and produce a child with a possible immunity to the Dead. Knowing her, she would have exposed said baby to Dead teeth before it had even been a week old just to be certain.
The Master, his Mistress and Maiden, who lived in a Fortress that had once been one of the larger shopping centres in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, had been friendly enough. The Master and The Queen had known one another a long time before the end. Maiden, in fact, was their daughter that The Queen had assumed lost in the first days. According to multiple sources, Her Majesty was not remotely as stable or sane as she had once been. The loss of her right hand man had driven her into a spiral of madness from which there was likely no return. She had tried to make me her new Sheriff, but really I don't think I was cut out for the role. I only hoped that she didn't order Deathwish's execution. He had been a true friend, helping Jester sneak Apocalypse Girl from her cell during a Dingo attack on the city.
At least we're relatively safe here. I hope we are.
September 2nd Year 1 A.Z.
morning
Another meal with Apocalypse Mum, again feeling more like an interrogation than a conversation. This time she needed to know about everything that had happened in Queensland, with the fledgling Empire that had arisen in the months since the world ended. She had already spoken with Viking and Valkyrie, it seemed, by the questions she was asking, and seemed unconcerned by the fact that my answers, honest though they were, painted me in perhaps not the best light. When I told her of the duel with Yakuza Lady, she requested a visual demonstration, so I unsheathed my sword and began slowly re-enacting my half of the fight, describing the moves of my opponent as best as I was able.
As I sat, katana replaced on my back, the troops nearby applauded my performance. Apocalypse Mum looked on with a slight smirk, her daughter with a slightly larger one coupled with slight annoyance that her mother would embarrass me so. Coffee was poured once again and the inquiries moved on to The Puller and any speculations that I might have had about his motives and whether he'd be an appropriate leader for New Brisbane. I shrugged, telling her that he seemed smart enough to lead, certainly willing to take advantage of any opportunities that arose. Other than that, I could say very little. The unspoken reality of the situation was that The Puller had simply not been on the hit-list of my former friend, turned mortal enemy who had called on one of those debts to get me to help him accomplish his assassinations.
The Brigadier strutted over, bending at the waist to whisper in The Boss's ear for a moment. She stood immediately, telling me that we would continue our discussion later, then turned and left without a further word to anyone. Apocalypse Girl seemed more than slightly irritated by this. Tiny came over and joined us.
“I just finished my first teaching session for the day,” she began, “It started off alright, all of my students are already more than competent combatants. Eventually, we might even be able to make your mother's army worth something!” Apocalypse Girl grinned.
noon
I spent most of the morning exploring the base. A lot of restricted areas, naturally, with hundreds, perhaps thousands of people swarming in and out of them. As a newcomer, everybody already knew who I was, though almost everyone treated me differently. They knew that I was with their Boss's daughter and that I had kept her safe throughout everything that had been happening to us over the last eight months. However, they also knew that I was the one responsible for knocking her up. It all amounted to wildly varied levels of respect from each and every individual in the AR-18 facility. Some treated me as a younger brother, others as though Apocalypse Girl was their own little sister. All eyed my sword enviously.
Though I was never actually allowed inside any of the restricted zones, I was easily able to wait around outside for a moment or two, by which time a couple of grunts or maybe low level lab techs would wander out, often chattering about their work still. I was easily able to work my way into such conversations and even made a couple of friends of some lab techs over a cup of coffee.
Unfortunately, about much of their work they were kept in the dark. Told only what they needed to accomplish whatever task they were given for the day, the pair of techs were little more than drones, it turned out. There were nearly as many scientific personnel here as military, it turned out. The only thing was, not a single one of them knew exactly what was going on here. Only The Boss, my … well, I suppose you'd call her my mother-out-law, only she knew every detail of this base's inner workings. Apocalypse Mum was the capstone on the pyramid that was AR-18.
evening
I spent another couple of hours wandering around, learning the lay of the place. The larger areas, the much older parts, were somehow lit with a soft glow that seemed to emanate from everywhere at once, which was strange, as it left you shadowless walking through these halls designed by, and for, giants.
After a while, though, my stomach began rumbling, asking my throat if it had been cut or not, wondering why the hell it hadn't been fed yet. So, I headed back over to the mess hall. Once there, I saw Apocalypse Girl still seated where I had left here, chattering with Apprentice and Scout. The Twin had joined them by now, and Tiny, fresh from teaching another class judging from the way she collapsed into her chair.
The pair of techs that I had spoken with earlier had just wandered in, so I waved them over to our table. Delighted, they sat down and introductions were made all around. They had both been fresh out of university when the shit had hit the fan, friends since primary school, now surviving together and working as lab-monkeys in the apocalypse. They were lucky, though. They had found themselves at AR-18 before the world ended. As such, they had no real comprehension of what things were really like out there.
They knew about the Dead, naturally, though they had yet to encounter any personally. They had heard rumours about mutants from some of the soldiers that they had overheard chattering and comparing notes on their patrols. They had heard of the potential extraterrestrial threat and the Invader Moon. They had heard about the nuclear winter, for all intents and purposes over now, but a brutally cold time was had by all. Except, of course, those here at AR-18.
Just before sundown, I took Apocalypse Girl and the two techs up to the surface, using what turned out to be a much quicker elevator than I had expected. As we stepped out onto the surface of Uluru, the techs gasped. They stood transfixed, staring at the countryside that had once been coloured a deep, vibrant red. Now it was grey as ash, grey as the skin of the Dead. Turning around, they gasped again, this time at the sight of our newest, reddest satellite, the Invader Moon.
September 3rd Year 1 A.Z.
morning
The pair of techs sat with us at breakfast, at least until The Boss came along, then they picked up their coffees and buggered off so quickly that it seemed like magic. This time she was giving me an offer, she was putting together a group of some of the best troops that she had, an elite squad of six. She wanted me to lead them. The fire in Apocalypse Girl's eye told me that I had better accept the job, though she was clearly livid at the idea of me being put in any more danger.
“Good!” She said, when I accepted her offer. “I'll have the other five report to the briefing room at 1300. I'll introduce you to them then, and
you can learn a bit more about what we are trying to do here. I think you might find it interesting.” Part of me was curious, to be sure, but all I wanted to do was look after Apocalypse Girl and just be fucking safe and secure for a little while.
“I'm sorry,” Apocalypse Girl tried to soothe me. “I couldn't really do much about it. She knows what you went through since all of this started and she knows what you're worth. To be honest, if I was in her position I'd want you leading these guys, too.” She smiled. “You can keep them safe, after all!” I felt a little better after that, but my new technician friends had already bailed.
After breakfast, we headed off to Tiny's dojo, at first to watch but before long the diminutive but deadly woman had roped me into assisting her in demonstrating a few techniques. That bloody woman had the power of a demigod condensed and filtered and crammed into her miniature frame. Just about when I had more than had enough of Apocalypse Girl's chuckling at how I was being flung about the room like a ragdoll, Tiny called an end to the session.
We went back to our quarters for some solitude, to discover that Apocalypse Mum, or one of her many lackeys more likely, had been there first. I found a shiny new uniform, cleaned and pressed and perfectly fitting, with my name sewn into the front. Apparently I was now a Lieutenant in The Boss's army now. Fucking conscripted once again. Great.
Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 9): September Page 1
