Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 4): April (7 page)

On our way to the manhole we passed Archer, who wanted to come along having come to respect, and be respected by, The Colonel and found Redbeard and Sister already waiting, also wanting to come along.  We wasted little time, dropping under ground while Guide replaced the cover behind us, moving the hundred or so metres to the furniture shop's manhole.  We exited to be greeted with several rifles pointed in our direction, which were put up once they realised who we were.  The Soldier greeted us first with a salute, then a handshake, leading us to The Colonel with a smile.

She had set herself up in the office of the old furniture shop, and had guards posted as though sensing trouble coming.  I had no doubts of that, myself.  The Followers, once they realised who was responsible for the loss of their captives, would be coming in force.  She greeted the five of us with a smile, insisting that we take a seat.  Once we did so, she offered us coffee.  Naturally we took her up, coffee being a real luxury these days.

“Now, to business,”  She said.  “I assume that old man at The School sent you to 'deal' with me?”  I nodded, adding that I had actually offered.  Her smile went away somewhat.  “Fair enough.  I can respect that, I'd rather work with someone I know I can trust anyway.  What are his terms?”  I told her.  She didn't like it.  Not one bit.  Her jaw clenched, her eyeballs bulged, and she uttered something under her breath.  Then she inhaled deeply, breathed out, and gave her reply.  “I accept.  We will deal with The Followers for your Principal, though it would be nice to have some assistance from the locals.  I know we can count on The Mech-Techs for some support.”  I told her that the five of us, at the very least, will be right there, and that we would put out a call for other volunteers.  “Excellent.  I have some men watching The Followers, they will let us know the minute they begin.  You certainly caused them a
lot
of trouble, you know.  A bunch of them, maybe a dozen or so, went in about two hours after you left, to have some fun of course.  One of them forgot to lock the door behind them.  Quite a few Dead got out, I understand, and The Disciple is quite pissed off.  Well done!”

evening

The Colonel offered us a meal, insisting that we stay overnight.  The Cold had gotten intense, and a flurry of grey obscured vision that was already minimal.  Even with the floodlights that The Colonel had set up around the furniture shop you wouldn't be able to see the Dead until they were eating you, if then.

A radio squawked in the distance, and a runner came up to The Colonel a minute later, handing her a piece of paper.  She glanced at it, then looked up.  “It looks like they're probably going to come tomorrow.  Apparently The Disciple is revving them up, getting them in a right foul mood.  He's blaming you for it, you know, or at least 'that bastard son of a whore with a sword' anyway.  You'll get your chance to call for volunteers, though.  They don't have any vehicles, so it will probably take them at least half the day to get here on foot.  By that time we should have set up a reasonable defence.  I already have men in most of the buildings around the perimeter of The School.  We'll get the fuckers, don't worry about that.”

I had no doubt that we out-gunned The Followers, and with The Schoolfolk and The Mech-Techs we probably outnumbered them, too.  That knowledge didn't stop the uneasy feeling from crawling all the way up my spine to take up position deep in my mind, lurking like a kraken, ready to pounce with gigantic tentacles on any reasonable expectations.

April 14
Year 1 A.Z.

morning

Over a quick breakfast with The Colonel I brought up the idea of creating a network.  She smiled, saying that she had already considered it, telling me that she was more than willing to travel around and find new people.  She would, she said, also do her damnedest to rid the world, or at least Australia, of the Dead, so that future generations would be able to live in relative safety.  “If only we could do something to prevent our fresh dead from rising, though...that would be truly handy.”  She mused.  That put me in mind of The Smart Couple, and I mentioned that they had asked us to seek out The Kid for them.

She suggested that we get onto that after dealing with The Followers, as they were already on the move, according to her scouts, one group of whom had failed to report in and were already counted among the lost.  The Soldier was already out in the snow, shouting orders to the troops, preparing for the coming battle.  Apocalypse Girl, together with Sister, Archer and Redbeard were eager to return to The School, as they needed some time to prepare.  We left the furniture shop, noticing that the Cold had become more intense now, in fact by the time we reached the relative warmth of the sewers I could barely feel the skin of my face apart from my nose, which felt as though dipped in acid.  Apocalypse Girl mentioned that we need balaclavas if we intended to go anywhere this winter.  I could do nothing but agree.

noon

Gunshots in the distance gave The Schoolfolk and Mech-Techs some advance warning a few moments before we resurfaced, and Archer immediately sprang into action, sending Traveller off to find The Twin.  He was not a fighter, but the man could run I'll give him that.  The grey-maned veteran took the rest of us to the armoury, a small shed that was packed with firepower.  I picked up an assault rifle, Apocalypse Girl likewise, where Redbeard took out a pair of pistols and Sister stuck with her bow.

Doctor, ever practical, and Nurse were rushing around giving all those rushing to the defence of The School, their home, scarves made from thick wool saying that they wouldn't notice the Cold until it was too late.  Most ignored the pair, though the crew of The Nightmare and survivors from The Think Tank all grabbed one gratefully.  I could see Firecracker, identifiable only by her shock of vibrant red hair, rushing around making sure all of the women and children, everybody not actively involved in defence, were in carefully considered positions ready to assist with first aid or running messages.

The rooftops were lined with defenders along the edge of The School's perimeter, The Colonel's soldiers below us, between us and the invaders.  They were fighting a running battle, not retreating but falling back from one position to the next, causing as much damage as they could to the oncoming foe.  Squinting into the distance, I could see very little, just a mound of snow that seemed the shuffle and move.  I motioned for Archer's binoculars, not that they helped a great deal, but it was enough to make out a large group of Dead Followers and their Dead captive women.  Somehow The Disciple had managed to find a way to capture and herd them in our direction.  Clearly he had lost some of his men in the process, but he was just as obviously not the sort to care much about that.

I called down to the soldiers that they were just Dead approaching.  They gave no sign that they had heard but their aim shifted upwards to a more cranial region.  The Colonel had given orders that Dead were to be eliminated, but The Followers were another matter.  They were to be incapacitated, if possible, but headshots were to be avoided.  We wanted more Dead rising in their ranks, after all.

The Dead were no match for the might of our combined forces, Schoolfolk and Mech-Techs both opening fire as they drew nearer to our allies outside the fence.  I picked and chose my targets, aiming specifically for those unfortunate women.  A tear froze to my cheek shortly after I put a couple of rounds through the head of the girl who had happily cut her own throat.

The sergeant of the company below us shouted up that there had been a couple of Living Followers leading them.  Looking down at some of the bodies littering the ground below, some of the bite marks on some of The Dead Followers looked very fresh, some even still bleeding.  With disgust I realised that The Disciple hadn't needed to think of a way to herd the Dead.  He had simply sent a bunch of his own men in to unchain them, then used them as bait to lure the Dead to us.

Then gunfire erupted all along the perimeter.  The assault was as brutally effective as it had been unexpected, cutting down most of the company of men below us.  The sergeant and two of his men were pinned down behind a barricade made by an overturned Holden, both of his men had been his, one was bleeding badly.  I flattened myself against the roof, wishing that there was some way I could get Apocalypse Girl the fuck down, out of danger.  She seemed to be loving it, though.  She grinned at me below a hail of bullets, her scarf having fallen as she dropped, raising her own rifle without bothering to look for targets and firing blindly.  As her burst ended, a scream of pain came from an attacker, and she grunted in satisfaction before replacing her scarf.

The familiar report of The Twin's sniper rifle sounded and another man swore as his mate dropped dead, a hole several centimetres in diameter where his heart should have been.  My burst just missed him as he dropped behind cover, but I was able to at least mark his position.  When he stuck his head around the corner of the window that he was using, I put him down.  I had to duck low to avoid having my own head blown off by another Follower, who fell dead with one of Sister's arrows burrowed through his skull.

evening

The battle itself was over in fairly short order, but before it was over I had to put down the Dead soldier who had survived the initial surprise attack after he had bled out, as well as most of those that hadn't survived it.  There were other losses, as well.  One of the children designated for first aid duties kept trying to revive a fallen friend for a little too long.  Nobody noticed until he was screaming in pain.  He had understood well enough what had to happen to him after his Dead friend had torn his right cheek off.

A couple of small groups of Followers had broken through our lines somewhere down the line, gunning down several Schoolfolk and Mech-Techs.  Cyclops had taken a couple of rounds to his massive chest, but he was going to be fine, according to Doctor.  Valkyrie had been taken by one group of Followers, they had thought to have some fun with her.  It worked out in reverse, with her having hidden a nasty little knife in her belt.  Viking followed soon after but by that time she had already slain the trio.  They were joking about it, though she had a cut over one eyebrow deep enough to need stitches.

Many of those that had ignored the good advice and scarves offered by Doctor and Nurse were regretting it now, some lucky enough to just have really fucking cold noses and ears, others needing them to be amputated lest frostbite cause the death of the tissue.  Doctor was now far more careful, nobody was going to suffer infection and Death on his watch, not after what had occurred over the last couple of days.

April 15
Year 1 A.Z.

morning

Fucking tired this morning.  Was helping Doctor and Nurse until after midnight, holding people down so that Apocalypse Girl could stitch up their wounds, she seemed talented enough at that to have been a nurse herself.  Redbeard and Firecracker were another team doing much the same, though in reverse.  Firecracker was taunting Redbeard, calling him a 'master seamstress' until he threatened to sew a few stitches in her.  Their patient at the time, Archer, told them to “Stop fucking flirting and sew my fucking arm up already!” but it was all in relatively good humour.  We had, after all, just beaten back a force of superior numbers and though there were obviously many Followers surviving, those remaining were hurting far more than we were.

Guide knocked on the door, letting himself in and unwrapping his scarf to speak once the door was closed behind him.  Everybody wore one now, wherever they went.  After yesterday, everyone was more conscious of the Cold, and that was bound to only grow worse.  Summer had passed, we were now, or should have been, deep into autumn.  With the added nuclear winter we now wondered if the natural seasonal cycle would still come into effect?  Anyway, Guide told me that somebody had approached the walls waving a white flag, but he would only deal with 'The one with the sword' and no-one else.

Swearing, I dragged my carcass out into the snow.  Ironically, the Cold seemed far less intense than yesterday, but I still swathed my face in wool.  Apocalypse Girl, as always, was at my side.  The man that stood in the snow was missing his left arm below the elbow, his face had been horrifically burned, but I still knew him, from long ago, lifetimes ago it seemed.  The Disciple stood before and below me, waving a stick about a metre long, a grey rag tied to the end.  I resisted the urge to leap down, sword drawn and cut the son of a bitch down where he stood.  Instead I told The Twin and Sister to keep their eyes open and lowered myself to ground level.  My shadow followed me, though I would have preferred her to remain behind.  Especially now.

noon

I unwrapped my face and The Disciple's eyes widened in amazement.  “My, my, isn't this a surprise?  I thought I saw you in my camp the other night.”  His eyes flickered to Apocalypse Girl.  “I've seen you before, I'm sure of it ... I've got it!  You were at that New Year's party.”  My former friend chuckled.  “We tried to find you, dude,” he returned his attention to me, “one of the guys knew a better place, that party was dead anyway.”  He laughed at his poor attempt at humour.

His tone turned serious.  “Looks like you've done better than me, anyway.  Nice place, this School.  Easily defended, clearly.  We were fools to try and take you on, really.  We have allies coming from up north, lots of them.  We should have waited for them, but after you're little fucking stunt in the stables, well, I couldn't really have that, now, could I?”  His good eye burned with rage.  Apocalypse Girl pointed out that we put a stop to them, too.  “What're you talking about?”  He demanded.  I told him that we were responsible for killing his general friend.  He laughed, doubling over in a coughing fit after a while.  “Dude, I always told you I had contacts up in Queensland,”  My heart sank.  “These guys sorted their shit out with the Dead straight away.  They've decided to hit the road, shall we say.  Head south for the nuclear winter!”  He laughed again.