Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 9): September

by Dave Rowlands

  “Was it something I said?” I asked Viking. He chuckled.

  noon

  The Terraformer slid some food and water through the window/force field just as we were beginning to get hungry, something that resembled a pinkish salmon paste to look at, but tasted exactly like chicken. How it knew what our dietary requirements were I didn’t have any idea, it may even be that this food is completely unsuitable for human consumption. Whatever, we all ate it, none of us died, so it was clearly not poisoned. It was even fairly filling, far more than I would have expected it to be.

  The door opened, Giant unceremoniously being slid through by a slightly different looking Terraformer than the one that had been interrogating us earlier. Her hand had been healed, though the hole remained. The woman herself was unconscious, probably for the best.

  Giant awoke before too long, complaining of having a headache but that her hand was feeling fine. The hole she wasn’t that concerned about, she had full use of her digits and was happy enough with that.

  “What do you think they’re going to do with us?” Viking sounded worried. Not for himself, I know him well enough for that. No, he’d want some way of Valkyrie knowing what went down here. I’d want Apocalypse Girl to know, too.

  evening

  The sun was descending beneath the horizon, we knew because the light inside the alien stronghold changed dramatically. The colours on the walls, floor and ceiling all became brighter to compensate for the sun no longer penetrating the exterior walls. I wondered idly what these particular aliens might be using for an energy source, what they might eat, whether they were more akin to reptiles or insects, since they physically bore resemblance to both. I wondered what German Doctor would make of it all.

  “She’d want to take one apart, see what makes it tick, that’s for sure,” Viking put in. I hadn’t realised that I even spoke out loud. “She’d probably get all sorts of information by torturing the poor fuckers too.” I didn’t doubt that he was probably correct. She seemed a nasty piece of work. I was just thankful that she’s on our side.

  The wall slid down again, at one point, the original Terraformer again scrutinising us. I raised the box that it had given me, asking if it wanted to talk some more, but it silently raised the wall again, its eyes still glowing blue, with maybe a hint of purple. I felt that the eye colour change was significant; it seems to be connected with emotion in some way.

  My squad and I swore a vow a moment later; one of us at least would be certain to return to AR-18, tell the others what had happened, give them as much information as we could discover. Which meant, of course, that it was time to start digging. Hopefully it will want to talk tomorrow.

  September 25th Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  More of the odd pink shit again this morning, the same Terraformer sliding it through the force field. It stayed around to observe us eating, it seemed, then turned away. I stood, trying to get the thing’s attention.

  “What now?” It asked into the Translator Box. “More insultings? More scorn?” It raised a six-digited hand to its head, scratching between its bristles, stopping momentarily to polish a horny protrusion.

  I raised my Translator Box to my face. “No more scorn or insults.” I looked into its multi-faceted eyes, wondering how this thing before me even saw the world. “Information only. I want to know why you’ve come to Earth.”

  It began clicking and whirring wildly, tik-tik-tikking its laughter once again. “There is no why. Klee-vics require a home, Humans don’t need this world now.”

  “Yeah, yeah we do. This is our fucking planet. We were here first, we’re not going anywhere.” I told it. “You might have to find somewhere else.”

  “Impossible. We are here now. Nowhere else for us to go. Planet promised to us by Council of Elders after all.” It looked at me, eyes glowing green. “Your Earth is now Klee-vics colony. Nothing to be done now. Your species doomed to extinction now. Accept fact.” Eyes flashed a brilliant red.

  “NO!” I told it as it began to turn around. “Humanity will survive this. I promise you that.”

  “We’ve seen same thing happen with other human worlds. Many, many times over many, many aeons. Every time, within months every human gone. Every one. Every time.” It seemed almost upset at reporting this fact. “Human reserve worlds even, all gone. Dead come back, wipe out world population. Klee-vics require similar habitat to humans. Little warmer, little darker. Talk more later.” It turned away, this time waving its hand and closing the window before any of us could react.

  “Do you suppose it was telling the truth?” Giant wanted to know, examining the hole through her hand. “About the other human planets, that is. How could that happen?”

  “That’s the last thing I want to be worried about right now,” I told her. “For now we’ve got to concern ourselves with one thing; getting the fuck out of this place.”

  noon

  Hours went by, the six of us passing the time playing with a deck of cards that Maori happened to keep on him at all times, just in case of situations like this. As we played, we discussed possibilities of escape. Since they left us with our weapons, we had a few options. Any grenades let off in this room would likely kill the lot of us, so that was out. Our rifles were next to useless, since the Klee-vics force field technology only allowed for slower moving articles to pass through. My katana, used slowly enough, was able to penetrate the force field, but that did little good when the damn thing was a solid fucking wall.

  A few dozen hands into our game, a couple of Klee-vics guards appeared, walking straight through the wall into our cell. Scar and Wall raised their weapons, but I waved them down. The guards grabbed me, not as roughly as I was expecting, chittering at me. I held up my hands, telling my squad that I’d be back later. Clearly their commander wanted to have a one-on-one with me.

  evening

  The Klee-vics guards escorted me up, so far up it wasn’t funny. I’d never had any problems with heights before, but when the blasted things showed me just how high up we were, I nearly chundered. Along a shimmering hallway, they stopped about halfway, waving a six-taloned claw at the wall. It slid down, almost melting, and the guards implied that I should walk on through. I did so, still amazed at the fact that I was still allowed to keep my weapons.

  “Enter, be welcome. Sit and be comfortable.” The Klee-vics commander told me as I walked through. I found a seat, deposited myself in it, finding it more comfortable than I had expected. “No idea why, you people have lasted much longer than other humans.”

  “These other human worlds; are there many?” I wanted to know.

  “Many.” It seemed confused that I didn’t know that. “Humans are the First species. You don’t know your species history?” The Translator Box seemed to be functioning much more clearly tonight.

  “Look, mate, as far as I ever knew, humanity evolved here on Earth and the farthest we’ve ever been is the Moon.” The Klee-vics commander tik-tikked its clicking laughter once again.

  “Humans came first; before the history of this Universe began there your species were, mighty rulers of everything. Spreading out from the Galactic Core, reshaping every world to your whim. Humans created the lesser species, the schrandfelths, the Klee-vics, all of them.” It spoke almost with reverence. “You had been seen as Gods to lesser beings for millions of years. Why else would we not take advantage, invade with hostile intent? Even those that don’t see you as deities, we would not take a human world.”

  “So you just take the worlds that The Dead leave you, then, yeah?” The Klee-vics eyes flashed a brilliant red for just a second, then back to green. “How often does that happen?”

  “Only to the worlds that have lost their way. Humans that live in harmony with their worlds have yet to suffer The Dead rising. Those that pollute their water and air, as you have here, they suffer The Dead. Every time. Klee-vics had been watching Earth for a while, knowing what was going to happen eventually.”

  “You used the In
vader Moon to transport yourselves here, didn’t you?” It nodded. “Why a moon? Why not space ships?”

  “Large bodies of stone are easier to move through the void. Easier to hollow out massive rocks than to refine metals for starships for mass transport.” The Klee-vics told me. “Enough for now. Back to your friends.” It snapped its digits, summoning a couple of guards to return me to my cell and my squad.

  I got the impression that we’d both learned a lot.

  September 26th Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  The Klee-vics walked into our cell this morning, without an escort, without weaponry. I could tell that Maori and Wall wanted to jump the creature, so I shut down their idea with a glance and the barest shake of my head. The pair backed down almost imperceptibly.

  “We cannot keep you here. You are not our prisoners, nor are you our guests. Free to leave now, to go back to your people. We have much to think about.” The Klee-vics helped me to my feet, handing me my own backpack out of the pile in the corner. “We Klee-vics would want this colony to work as well as any other in the Universe. This means living in peace with any other species residing on this world.”

  I took my pack, telling the Klee-vics commander that our Boss would likely not want any other species sharing our planet. I’d try to convince her that it would be in our best interests to try to coexist, but with all of the dangers of this world rearing up at once she might not listen to reason.

  “We will work with you to convince your superiors of our benevolence. There is no way that we can go back, not now. A one-way trip, as you Earth natives would have it.” The rest of my squad gathered up their equipment. “We are aware of your predicament. Someone that desires greater power and control descends upon your home. We will assist you at the correct moment.”

  It almost seemed as if we were hurried out of the Klee-vics base, rushed out into the grey glare of the Australian Wastes. A moment later, Scar confirmed that we were in radio contact with AR-18, they had a fix on our position and were sending a chopper for us, all we needed to do was simply wait.

  noon

  The helicopter arrived on schedule, stirring up the dust as it landed. The six of us climbed aboard and the chopper ascended into the sky, turning to the north west and tilting forwards to carry us all home.

  As the chopper landed, I glanced out the window to see Apocalypse Girl waiting impatiently. She was well and truly obviously pregnant now. It almost seemed as if our baby had doubled in size in the four days that I was away. Exiting the helicopter, she nearly bowled me over in her enthusiasm to welcome me back home, Apocalypse Dog bouncing around in canine glee at my return.

  The Boss was also waiting, downstairs in her office. Viking and I went alone, telling Giant to have her hand seen to, and the rest of the squad to get some well-earned rest and a shower.

  Apocalypse Mum was furious that we hadn’t vaporised the Klee-vics from the face of the Earth. Even more, she was livid that their commander had claimed that they were here to stay. However, when told that other humans elsewhere in the Universe had suffered their own Dead-related Apocalypses, she was intrigued.

  “This alien, he really told you that we’re the first sentient species in the Universe?” I confirmed that the Klee-vics had indeed told me that. “That’s interesting, to be sure… However, with The Righteous bearing down on us, it’s not really something that we can follow up right now. Defence must come first.”

  The next stop was the labs, as German Doctor wanted to talk. All she wanted was information about the Klee-vics, their weaponry, their capabilities, my opinion of their bodily capacities and functions. I could tell her very little, in truth, yet she kept on for a couple of hours, asking probing questions that I would not have even considered. In the end, she had a reasonable amount of data to draw upon.

  “Next time, try to bring a specimen back for examination, yes?” German Doctor berated me as I left her laboratory. Judging from what I had seen and experienced out in the Wastes, there was no way I wanted to tangle with a Klee-vics, not up close at least. Rather than tell her this, I simply nodded and left.

  evening

  Finally! At last, I was finally able to get some alone time with Apocalypse Girl. In the darkness, I felt her breathing, her heart beating. I imagined our child, growing larger every minute, wondering whether boy or girl, speculating about what sort of person he or she may turn out to be.

  The silence was comforting; no alarms, no snarling Dead coming after us. No gunfire. No Ghouls, Righteous or otherwise. The barest hint of a noise broke the quiet, the soft snorting of Apocalypse Girl snoring as she slept.

  Delicately, I disentangled myself from her arms. There was nothing I wanted to do more than sleep, but, despite being completely exhausted, sleep was an impossibility. Instead, I dressed and went for a walk around the base.

  Nobody was around, just the skeleton crew that worked nights. Cleaners worked the hallways, keeping everything spotless and shiny, in true military fashion. A couple of technicians wandered around, most either yawning or carrying copious capacious cups of coffee.

  Visiting the computer lab, I glanced at the position of the approaching throng of Ghouls approaching from the north. They had advanced far more than I had been expecting, likely they’d be here tomorrow. The next day for certain.

  September 27th Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Another nightly visit from my deceased pal Elder, this time back at the billabong. The Bunyip’s carcass sat still, stinking between the two of us. His smile glowed in his dark-skinned face as he welcomed me.

  “Found a Bunyip, I see, mate.” He greeted me in my dream. “Not too many of these left. Your journey is only just beginning. You’re going to find out that you’re not safe where you are, you’re likely going to need to leave, and soon.” His salt-and-pepper shock of hair surrounding his face glowed as the sun shone through it. “The Dreaming is going to change, and soon.” With that, he disappeared into a puff of smoke, vanishing as did my dream as I sat up, Apocalypse Girl still snoring softly at my side.

  A moment later, the alarm sounded. Footsteps pounded outside the door to our quarters, as soldiers ran past in a hurry. I was pulling my pants on as someone pounded on the door, opening it just a crack. Viking put his head into the narrow space, telling me that The Righteous had been sighted, near enough to spit on just about, then disappeared, banging on other doors, awakening other soldiers.

  In the briefing room this morning, German Doctor argued loudly with The Boss. Whatever it was that they had been discussing was causing a great deal of tension between them. As I entered, German Doctor stormed off, snarling in her native language. She sounded more than a little annoyed.

  “Nothing for you to be concerned about,” Apocalypse Mum told her daughter and I as we greeted her. “She’s just got a couple of projects that require my attention right now, but with this group of Ghouls at our gates…”

  “Anyway, enough about her. We have an army of Righteous Ghouls to deal with. More keep arriving every minute, as you can plainly see…” She turned to the computer screen. Sure enough, a massive horde had begun thronging around the circumference of the Rock. “This is a siege, make no mistake about it. They have the numbers to overpower us, they are stronger and faster than we are. The only real advantages that we have are our weaponry and our training. Even then, we may not prevail.”

  The rest of my squad awaited me just outside, looking fairly glum at the prospects of an unpleasant demise at the hands or teeth of these Righteous fuckers. Only Giant had a smile on her face. She was looking forward to gutting a few of these Ghouls, I could see it in her eyes.

  noon

  A short while later, my squad found themselves atop Uluru, waiting for the bastards to arrive. I looked down, off the edge, to see them clambering up atop one another, forming a kind of Ghoulish Pyramid in order to reach their victims. As one of their prospective meals, I felt that it might be a wise idea to start throwing grenades and other explos
ives at them, but Apocalypse Mum forbade any such action, as it might ‘compromise the structural integrity of the facility’ or some such bullshit. Gunfire erupted all around me as the soldiers defending AR-18 opened up on the climbing Ghouls, but despite the numbers that our group dropped, more and more began taking their place, climbing higher and higher.

  It wasn’t too long before Ghoulish faces began appearing over the edge before being blown apart, then they were up. Hundreds of them suddenly seemed to just fly up from the edges, all around us. The clamour of gunfire drowned out the screams of the occasional soldier that was dragged down by these most dangerous of foes.

  evening

  The number of dead Ghouls piled up around the outsides of Ayers’ Rock were able to be rearranged by The Righteous such that they formed a nice little ramp up to the top, from which their leader, The Righteous Reverend preached. Ranted, more like. Most of the Ghouls from his group were hideous to behold, to be sure, but he took the cake. His face was scarred and scabbed and pitted from where he was picking little bits of flesh out to nibble on, his bare chest bore the marks of teeth, Dead and Ghoul both by the looks of things. Some of the Ghoul bites looked very fresh indeed.