Searching through the phone I found the image, towers of what seemed like nothing so much as obsidian rising from a dome that seemed to devour all light. The shapes themselves were disconcerting, the very sight alone sending shivers up my spine. A moment later I nearly dropped the phone as it jangled, vibrating out of my hand. Those freaky Mech-Techs have done it again, I see! A photo of The Tortoise from high above accompanied the message. I laughed.
“Guys, you should come up here and have a look at this!” Viking called down from the roof. Jarhead was up there in an instant, Tiny right behind him despite the fact that she had needed to pull The Tortoise over, pull on the parking brake and turn the engine off. I climbed up to be greeted with silence. Viking was pointing up into the sky. Following a line from his finger into the heavens I swore quietly to myself. I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it myself, first-hand. A second moon.
Two moons. This new one seemed smaller than our original moon, reddish in hue. Doctor said something quietly to himself in Japanese. I remembered another photo stored on Apocalypse Girl's phone, a fleet of what can only be described as alien spacecraft with something massive in the background, blotting out all the stars in a large part of the image. It had to have been them towing this fucker into our orbit. Fuck.
July 9th Year 1 A.Z.
morning
I finally got a reply from Apocalypse Girl, having asked her before I passed out from exhaustion in the early hours of this morning to ask The Smart Couple about this new moon. Their suspicions mirrored my own, that it had been towed in by some outside influence, though any satellites that might be nearby had been knocked out of orbit or destroyed by now. Only a few remained, these barely of any use in our current predicament. It certainly wasn't likely that we would be in a position to be launching anything else up there in a hurry any time soon, so we would have to make do with what we have.
Tiny has begun teaching all of us a little of her unarmed combat, right now I am nursing a black eye from having not dodged one of Viking's punches rapidly enough and have had to sit through a lecture from the diminutive Chinese woman about how each bruise is a lesson. She has also been insistent that we all spend some time sparring on the rooftop platform. Her reasoning was that there may be bandits that try to take The Tortoise and we would be better off knowing the way it bucked and swayed more intimately than the enemy. Laughing, Viking asked her if she had been a pirate in a former life.
Still making good progress, though we passed a small settlement that had recently been overrun by Dead. It looked as though someone Died inside, unnoticed, then started nibbling on their former comrades. There was certainly no sign of any damage to their outer defences, but everybody inside had been torn apart and were now wandering around, oblivious to all but fresh, Living, human flesh. We left them that way.
noon
We've stopped to refuel at a service station, the town in which it lay deserted, perhaps the inhabitants had moved on and were shambling around back up the road, perhaps some had moved to New Brisbane. In any case, there was little actual damage to any of the buildings, so we figured we'd search through some, see if we could turn up anything useful.
Doctor had spotted a small clinic, so he asked me if I would help him search through it. I agreed, smacking Viking across the back of the head 'accidentally' on our way past him as he filled The Tortoise's capacious petrol tanks. The fact that I had to reach up so high belied the accident, but he took it in good graces, joking that he'll blacken my other eye tomorrow.
We found a couple of useful things, a couple of tourniquets, some bandages and antiseptic lotions. A couple of scalpels, a number of syringes. Basically precisely what Doctor had been hoping to find. The med bay in The Tortoise was well stocked, but you can never have too much medicine.
After we loaded up the supplies we had found, we decided to check out the supermarket. It had been barricaded from within and we could see movement inside. Jarhead reasoned that we should be able to get inside from the roof, so we had Valkyrie move The Tortoise nearby, using the rooftop platform as a stepping-stone. Sure enough, there was a maintenance door leading inside, or rather outside from within so that people could work on the air conditioner without having to lug a big-arse ladder around with them everywhere.
Inside was dark, gloomy and smelled repugnant. Jarhead whispered that everyone inside was clearly Dead, he counted about fifteen of them from the various noises that he had heard. Viking handed Jarhead and I a torch each, shining the light from his own about, trying to get a sense of things. Seeing a corpse sitting against a nearby wall, I planted Machete's blade deep inside its skull. Sometimes you didn't know they were going to move and try to gnaw on you until you got close enough to reach.
The three of us spread out, moving from the managerial offices and maintenance area behind the store into the main area. Jarhead's estimate was off, but not by much. I counted about twenty Dead that I could see, with more roaming the aisles. Viking's hammer was as thirsty for the brains of the Dead as was Machete's blade. Jarhead had chosen the chainsaw from The Tortoise's armoury, which was loud and drew the attention of every Dead present. It proved effective enough at cleaving through the skull of the first Dead that Jarhead targeted, but the second proved too much and the chain snapped, a link of it flying off and gashing open Viking's forehead.
Swearing loudly, Jarhead pulled out a police truncheon, clobbering everything in sight with it. By this time I was busily slicing away, shredding Dead heads, we all were making sure none of them got back up in our own way. When we were done, we searched the supermarket more thoroughly. All of the canned goods were already gone from the shelves, everything that would have turned to rot and filth by now also long gone. Viking swore at our foul luck, Jarhead laughingly suggesting looking in the back. It was a fucking goldmine.
We unbarred the front doors, calling for the others to help us out loading up all of the canned stuff into The Tortoise. Laughing and smiling, they did so. I was wiping the sweat from my forehead after delivering my third supply run when I heard Doctor cry out in pain. Running into the supermarket, I could see the blood gushing from the freshly inflicted bite wound on his left forearm. The Dead that had bitten him oozed glorp onto the linoleum.
Quickly I told Viking to grab hold of him, take him to the med bay of The Tortoise, while I grabbed a tourniquet and lashed it around his arm, trying to keep the infection from spreading into his bloodstream. Just as I was about to reach for a bone-saw, a familiar sounding voice came from behind me. “You don't want to be doing that, mate, there's a Healer nearby that can take care of your friend.” Viking jumped with a start.
“How the fuck did you get in here?” The blonde giant asked Elder. The old aboriginal man simply shrugged. I asked him the far more important question, how do we find this Healer. Elder smiled. Follow the road south, he told us, before the next town there would be a road leading inland. We should take it and keep on driving until we find a house where no house should be. The man we sought lived there.
Doctor writhed in agony on the bed before me. Everybody crowded round, Valkyrie asking me what we were going to do. Looking up at her, I told her that Elder had never steered us wrong before. We made for this mysterious Healer.
evening
The sun was setting when we found the turnoff that Elder had mentioned. The old man had chosen to come along for the ride, at least until we get to this Healer, he told me with a grin. We kept on driving down a dirt track, eventually resorting to the tank tracks to avoid being bogged down in the mud that we were beginning to churn up. Doctor was asleep, though starting to develop a fever. Elder told us that we had little need to worry about him, though, his Healer would fix everything.
Valkyrie pulled up at long last, saying “If ever a house should not be somewhere, it should not be there!” She pointed as I headed up to the cab. A single structure rose before us. It sat on stilts, a couple of metres above the surface of the lake that we had stopped beside. A small ramp le
d from the shore up to the door of the building, more than wide enough for us to carry Doctor, though he was stirring and capable of walking still.
Arriving at the front door, it opened a moment before I knocked to reveal an incredibly old man with a wispy white beard wearing what looked like a white bathrobe, who beckoned us all inside, telling us that he could help us in a wheezing voice. He clapped his hands once and another bathrobe clad man, this one incredibly young-looking, ran out from nowhere to lead us to our rooms, that had already been prepared for us. Elder assisted the ancient Healer with Doctor, making sure that the unfortunate man was able to keep his feet as they led him away for treatment.
July 10th Year 1 A.Z.
morning
There turned out to be about a dozen of these bizarre bathrobe wearing people, several women amongst them, even a couple of kids, though they were wearing normal clothing until they decided whether they wanted to learn from The Healer or not. Other people milled about inside The House Where No House Should Be, which also seemed impossibly large inside compared to the exterior we had seen, they wore normal clothing as well and helped out where they were needed. Many had come in seeking Healing, some from bites, others from disease or other injuries.
Amazingly, I had a conversation with another old friend, another of those that had bailed on me that fateful New Years Eve that seemed several lifetimes ago, now. She was apprenticed to The Healer, and had greeted me with a big hug when she realised who I was. Having family in Queensland, she had fled to them the first night, or attempted to. They didn't survive past the first week, as it had taken her that long to reach them only to see their final moments as they were torn apart before her. She had been badly bitten several times as she attempted first rescue, then vengeance. Though successful, she had been about to collapse when The Healer appeared in front of her. When she awoke she bore the scars of her ordeal but no infection.
Doctor was being treated by the old man himself, though any of his apprentices, including my old friend would have been perfectly able The Healer insisted out of respect for a fellow physician. Elder told me that Doctor could be in no better hands as he rummaged about in empty cupboards trying to find some teabags. As usual, the strange old man succeeded and soon we sat about with hot cuppas, enjoying tea that was far fresher than it could possibly have been had it come from this world.
noon
My friend, Apprentice, came to give us the good news about lunchtime, bringing more than enough fresh vegetable stew for all of us including herself, asking if she could join us while we ate. She told us The Healer was satisfied that within a couple of days, Doctor would be fine and well again. We were all relieved to hear it, though we had heard enough tales about this old man's mysterious ability to cure absolutely every malady that had crossed his path that we had few doubts.
She told us that he intended to train up a bunch of people like her, Apprentice Healers that went out into the wastes, each one finding a settlement of his or her own to take care of. The Healer dreamed of a day when, though the Dead may still roam about, being bitten would be of no real consequence. Tiny, nodding, told her that it was indeed a noble goal, Viking and Valkyrie nodding in agreement. I could not help but voice my own opinion, that it would mean we would survive as a species after all of this. Smiling, she asked if we would allow her to come with us and settle wherever we did. As The Healer's first and most advanced apprentice she would be encouraged to leave soon enough and the old man had told her she was ready.
“I think I'm speaking for all of us when I say 'welcome aboard',” The Twin said with a grin. Apprentice almost glowed with pleasure, and she hugged us all, thanking us for our welcome.
evening
I spent much of the afternoon in constant communication with Apocalypse Girl. She assured me that she was safe and sound at Dragon's Lair with what remained of The Colonel's forces, less than half what she had when we had met up near The Facility a couple of months ago. They had fortified the topside and had placed guards on rotation at the train platform, in case anyone or anything tries to get in that way. She gave me a password that they would recognise in case we came by that route. 'Drop-Bear'. I chuckled to myself at the formerly mythical creatures that we used to terrify tourists with, despite the deadly realities of our flora and fauna, snakes and spiders and sharks and shit.
She was concerned about Doctor, wanted to meet my friend, most of all wanted me to come back to her. We would be a couple of days here, I told her, then back on the road to Sydney and the underground facility that lay nearby. Be careful, she messaged, Sydney will be worse than you can believe, I just know it. Please be careful! I promised her that I would be.
I went outside, standing on a balcony over the lake, taking in the fresh air and almost freezing cold. Whether Nuclear or Dead Winter, it mattered not, it was over for the most part, though the Cold tried to linger on. No matter, soon enough the planet's natural seasonal changes would reassert themselves. I looked up at our newest satellite, across the horizon from our old moon and shuddered.
July 11th Year 1 A.Z.
morning
Apprentice was happily handing everybody their breakfast, Doctor included. His arm was still bandaged, though his fever had disappeared completely. He claimed to have never felt better, saying that whatever had been done to him had been far more than simply curing his infection. Elder smiled to himself around a cup of tea.
Healer had us each go with his higher ranking apprentices, so that they could look us over, making certain that we had no lasting maladies that might cause trouble down the track. I had been paired with my old friend, who insisted on getting all the gossip she could out of me once she heard about Apocalypse Girl. I didn't mind, though talking about her made me miss her terribly. Apprentice worked quietly while we talked, pressing her hands against different parts of me, first my head, then my chest. Finally, she lay her hands on the upper portion of my thighs for a moment, then smiled to herself while telling me that I was as fit as a fiddle.
Walking around the outside of this house-on-a-lake I encountered Elder dangling a fishing rod into the water. “Come and join me,” He invited me, so I sat by his side. He reeled in a fat trout, the likes of which I don't think I had ever seen before. “Good fishing in this here lake!” He called out to a couple of younger apprentices. They looked at him in sheer amazement. To me, he quietly confided that there weren't any fish left in this lake, not here at least. I shook my head, still not quite comprehending this ability that the old man shared with Apocalypse Girl. “You're worried about your girl, I can see that much. Don't. She'll be alright trust me!” We sat together for a while longer as he filled a bucket with fish from another dimension.
noon
From another dimension they must have come, as the flavour of those trout was out of this fucking world! Maybe it's just that the last time I had actually eaten fresh fish was when I was on a camping trip with my grandfather about the age of nine, but it was phenomenally good. Elder had caught more than enough for everybody, our group and Healer and all of his many apprentices as well.
Tiny was helping The Twin with her form, showing her the correct way to kick the living shit out of her sparring partner. Viking was already showing a few bruises. Tiny insisted that we change it up every couple of days, so that we wouldn't get overly used to facing the same opponents. The gash made by the broken chainsaw had healed up nicely, thanks to Healer and his apprentices, though The Twin had split it open for him and a trickle of blood seeped from the wound.
Jarhead had been facing off against Valkyrie, his military background proving of little real value against her greater reach and speed. Just as she was about to deliver what might be a killing blow, however, he ducked and wove, impossibly fast. She cried out in pain from an awkward position on the floor, telling Jarhead that next time his arse was going to be hers. Tiny, almost smiling, nodded her approval. “This is why we mix up our sparring partners.”
evening
Just as
I was about to retire for the evening, having eaten my fill of fresh fish for one day, Apocalypse Girl's phone jangled. My heart skipped a beat when I realised that it was not her trying to contact me, rather it was somebody else trying to contact her. The message read Please tell me you're still safe and sound. I forwarded the message to Apocalypse Girl at Dragon's Lair as soon as I could, along with the overly long phone number attached. About half an eternity later, she replied, saying that she would meet us at the Sydney Base. The Colonel was wanting to get the fuck out of there, anyway, she told me. She had lost far too many troops.
She would be there long before we arrived, as The Colonel plans to leave almost immediately. The Smart Couple had been experimenting a little with the trains, she told me, and they were fast! They had already sent an advance team on ahead to Sydney, who had reported that the base was completely deserted, though fully functional. We were likely still at least a couple of days away in The Tortoise, but the thought of seeing her again so soon made me mildly giddy. Glancing at Machete's Blade, I realised that I also missed my sword. Apocalypse Girl's phone jangled once again. She says your sword is fine, how is her Machete? I laughed.
July 12th Year 1 A.Z.
morning
Back on the road this morning. Elder walked out to The Tortoise with us, hugging each and every one of us goodbye. It was rather a surreal sight, this wizened Aboriginal man wearing a bathrobe and a pair of thongs wrapping his arms around the enormous Viking as if bidding farewell to a favoured nephew. As my turn came, I realised that the hugs were, in fact, an excuse for him to pull something out of thin air for each of us. For me, a nicely rolled, fat joint of incredibly pungent weed that he told me I had to share with Apocalypse Girl when we reunited. After all, she had all the bloody lighters in the country, didn't she?
Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 7): July Page 4
