Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 7): July Read online

  Anno Zombus:

  Year 1;

  July

  Dave Rowlands

  For everyone who has joined the nightmare so far...

  July 1st Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Tiny is one of us, now, though I strongly suspected that I wasn't the only one not willing to trust her completely. Redbeard and Viking always kept their eyes on her outside of the pub and The Twin wouldn't let Tiny escape her sight inside. Still, she took it in good form, knowing that she was in an incredibly precarious position. Should her Boss, Yakuza Lady, find out that her own informant had signed on to a group of assassins wanting to destroy both her and The Enigmatic Man, the very same people responsible for Biker Boss's untimely and unpleasant demise, well...we're all fucked in that case.

  Disciple had wanted me to come with him to New Brisbane, though were it not for old friends and their timely arrival the assassination team would consist only of him, Jarhead and myself. The Principal, from The School in Melbourne, had wanted to send emissaries to what he referred to as 'the Nation in the North' so, when the call for volunteers came, Redbeard and The Twin signed up immediately. Doctor had required a little convincing, as Nurse was now pregnant and he had been loath to leave her side. Viking, on the other hand, had supplied the vehicle that had brought them here.

  A powerful local, The Puller, who had been responsible for the mildly creepy idea of using teeth as currency, had assured us that the original Three Bosses had planned on overrunning and dominating the entire country. This would mean relative safety from the Dead, of course, but at a price many would be unwilling to pay. The Puller had also told us that, should a power vacuum result from the untimely demise of The Bosses that he would step in, with the promise of the same level of protection for the Living under his rule without the oppression. He also swore that he would not expand the borders of The Empire any further.

  Having met and spoken with The Puller and Yakuza Lady both, the former certainly seemed more level headed. Whether this meant he was a more capable leader for The Empire I had no idea, but he was less likely to order an invasion of The School than Yakuza Lady. The Enigmatic Man stayed in the shadows, it seemed, though there was some speculation that he might be behind some people that had gone missing shortly before the most recent Dead incursion.

  I still expected to see Apocalypse Girl at my side, though she was safely tucked away at the Alice Facility with some other good friends, Machete, Sister, Sonny and The Colonel to name a few. There was nobody on this planet I trusted more than Apocalypse Girl, nobody I cared about more. I would have done almost anything to have her here, but for the new Life growing inside her. The continued survival of our species takes precedence over personal preference.

  Tiny and The Twin were busily sparring in the room that the three of us shared, as the latter was in awe of the skills of the former. Tiny, in turn, wanted to learn how to shoot. The Twin being a dead-eye sniper made her the perfect choice as teacher and the pair became fast friends once the initial suspicion had worn off. The Twin had been told not to pull any punches, though Tiny was able come within millimetres of striking her without making contact. Thus far, however, The Twin was yet to score a single blow.

  Viking stuck his head around the door just as Tiny launched a flurry in the direction of The Twin's face. To her credit, her attention never wavered from her opponent and she was able to block every strike. Afterwards, The Twin collapsed onto a mattress and Tiny smiled slightly, inclining her head in respect. Viking told us that Disciple awaited below.

  The former leader of The Followers raised his stump in greeting, Tiny and I sat across from him. The Twin had yet another meeting with The Enigmatic Man today and went straight there once she had recovered sufficiently from her battle. Disciple, once being made aware that Tiny was now with us, outlined his plan for Yakuza Lady. It was tricky, but it could work quite well. Or disastrously. Tiny, smiling evilly, nodded her agreement to every sinister detail of Disciple's plan. When he was finished, she told him that she would go and see to her part immediately.

  Once the small Chinese woman had left the pub, Disciple turned to me. “Are you sure you trust her?” I laughed in his face, telling him that I was sure I didn't trust him but I was out here with him anyway. “Fair enough. Just be ready to do your part.” I told him that he had nothing to worry about.

  noon

  Doctor was waiting for me, a wooden katana in either hand. He tossed one to me as I approached, which I easily caught, and we began our daily dance in the square outside the café. Waitress watched while she poured black life into people's cups, eyes never leaving the spectacle of our swordplay. It was quite remarkable, really, she never spilled a drop.

  As ever, we drew quite a large crowd. Redbeard watched with Viking at his side, talking to one another carefully. Rather, Redbeard talked while Viking nodded, pretending to listen. Disciple edged towards them, Jarhead moving in from another direction. A moment later Tiny appeared in the crowd as if by magic, nodding once to Disciple.

  “Traitors!” Disciple shouted, pointing to Viking and Redbeard. “Grab 'em!” The pair struggled against the hands restraining them just enough to make it look convincing. I recognised at least three of The Puller's security guards, conveniently off-duty at the right moment. Disciple had indeed worked all of this out. “These guys are assassins, they're here to take out The Bosses,” He told the growing crowd. Doctor and I, meanwhile, had ceased our fighting and moved over to assist in the arrest.

  “Looks like you were right, mate,” Disciple told me, loudly. “This red bearded fucker let the Dead loose, the ones that nearly got you and him,” he nodded towards Jarhead, “when you were meeting your Boss.” For show, I cursed Redbeard, throwing a punch at his face. “Where's the Jap you were fighting? He's with these two as well, you know!” Doctor had vanished.

  evening

  Disciple, Jarhead and I escorted our 'prisoners' into the Asian Quarter of New Brisbane, Tiny at my side seemingly invisible to everybody else. Throngs gathered to see the would-be assassins being brought to their intended target. They jeered, taunting Redbeard and Viking in a dozen different languages. None of the comments were particularly polite.

  Tiny speared her hand behind Viking's knee, dropping him as a dart flew from an upper window of a pub we passed to fly harmlessly through the air where the blonde giant's head had been an instant earlier. She then hauled him back to his feet, propelling him forward, making it all seem the rough treatment of a prisoner rather than her saving his arse. I still held my wooden sword, using it to prod Redbeard onwards with an occasional whack to one buttock or the other.

  We arrived at Yakuza Lady's mansion before much longer. Her guards insisted on frisking each of us, Tiny included, though they let us keep our weapons. Tiny led us through the massive house, knowing Yakuza Lady's schedule intimately she knew precisely where she would be.

  She lounged on a throne-like chair, surrounded by her servants. A pair of guards stood watch outside the room, another pair behind her throne. Last time I met her, Yakuza Lady was almost naked in a pool. Here, now, she wore a kimono loosely, showing a large amount of impressively tattooed flesh beneath. Tiny and I approached her and bowed politely.

  “You have the assassins, I see,” She said. “These two would have had little chance of getting anywhere near me by themselves. Surely there must be others?” Tiny told her that there had been at least one more that we had been able to determine so far, the emissary from The School that she had been meeting with almost every day for weeks now. “Surely he has had ample opportunity to strike by now.”

  Spying my wooden blade she looked first into my eyes, then into Tiny's. “Ah. I see.
Clear the room! I would face this Swordsman alone.” Everybody left the room. Tiny shuffled Disciple, Jarhead and our 'prisoners' out one door, the guards and servants left through another. A moment later, however, I heard the sounds of combat coming from without.

  Yakuza Lady slipped out of her kimono, standing naked before me. Her tattoos almost hypnotic, she strolled over to a display stand on one side of the room. She took one sword from the rack, looked at me momentarily, lips pursed. She threw the katana to me, then picked another as my hand wrapped around the hilt, snatching it from the air.

  Her tattoos seemed to flow into one another as she flew towards me, striking as swiftly as a serpent. The first few blows were testing my reflexes and skill. Her speed was phenomenal, though she stuck rigidly to the forms that Doctor had shown me. Even so, knowing every move she was about to make, I found myself hard pressed to keep her blade from biting into my flesh.

  A flurry of attacks came, then we circled around one another, both catching our breath. “You are skilled for a gaijin. I suspected you from the start, you know. The way you carried yourself was that of a warrior. I will honour your memory.” She attacked again. Once more I focussed on nothing more than simply staying away from her sword. It was not easy. The tip of her blade bit into my thigh, drawing first blood. Smiling, she drew her katana back and thrust towards me.

  Doctor had trained me well. I spun in a tight circle to my left. As her sword passed the point where my bowels had been an instant earlier my blade sliced deep into her neck, severing her head neatly from her shoulders.

  July 2nd Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Now that I've had some time to think on the matter, it seemed odd how Yakuza Lady's soldiers and servants simply disappeared almost the very instant the woman died. Tiny, bearing a minuscule scratch beneath her left eye, glanced in on me when she heard the sounds of sword-fighting cease and called out “The Bitch is dead!” alternately in English and several other languages to boot, just so everyone got the picture. Redbeard then limped into the room supported by Viking, blood streaming from a dozen wounds covering them both. We made our way back to the pub we had been using as a base in short order, unhindered by anybody.

  None of us were able to sleep, besides which there were wounds that required tending. Luckily for us, Doctor had returned after the commotion died down and was fully prepared for our injuries. My own wound, though painful enough, was far less serious than Redbeard, who had taken a spear to the stomach. Doctor was confident that he would survive, the weapon having somehow missed everything important, but he would be out of action for a good long while. Viking, while almost covered in his own blood, had only a small gash on his forehead and a number of small stab and slice wounds on his arms and legs.

  By the time Doctor finally got around to sewing up my leg we were all exhausted, but the sun was cresting the eastern horizon by that stage, and he was no sooner finished than a knocking came on the door to the room Redbeard and Viking shared with Jarhead. The man that I had clobbered some sense into back outside of Melbourne had suffered a nasty blow to the head that had rendered him unconscious, Tiny and I had needed to drag him out of Yakuza Lady's headquarters before he regained sense enough to walk on his own two feet. Now he carefully opened the door, gun at the ready, before swinging it wide to allow The Puller.

  “Well done, my friends, well done indeed!” The former dental surgeon smiled a toothy grin as he surveyed our wounds. “Things in the Asian Quarter will take some time to calm down, but I am certain that whoever is running things next will be slightly less insane.” He sat across from me. “I hear that you duelled her yourself. That must have been something to see.”

  I told him that she had been the only person that I had ever fought like that, I'd had to kill the Living before, certainly, but never one on one with the intent to slaughter the enemy. I felt different, that was for sure, especially since Yakuza Lady had personally done me no harm. Even Biker Boss had ultimately been killed by the Dead, though Redbeard, Jarhead and I had engineered the situation. The Puller nodded. He understood the difference, clearly. He told me that I had done New Brisbane a service and that he was in my debt. Then he turned, thanked the room for their participation, and walked out.

  noon

  Waitress is probably the only reason that I am awake to write this right now. The Goddess of Caffeine, she is! Disciple met me at the café, smiling broadly in his disturbingly skeletal way. “That's two down! Awesome!” He slapped me on the back with his stump. “One more and we can get out of this place. Any news from your friend?” The Twin had still not returned from her latest trip to see The Enigmatic Man this morning, the third and final of The Bosses that Disciple wanted me to help him murder. At that moment there was nobody on the planet that I would rather kill than this slimy piece of shit that had once called itself my friend, but I owed him. I wasn't entirely certain the debt was worth the price I had to pay though. I had never before wanted anything more strongly than to just be back at Alice Facility with Apocalypse Girl.

  I told Disciple that The Twin would be back in her own time, then we would see about the third in our own time. I then looked directly into his good eye and told him to feel free to go and fuck himself in his own time. He laughed, though his eye promised pain to come, then he turned and left, still chuckling to himself.

  Waitress poured me another fresh cup of steaming black awake, which I promptly drained just before I heard a familiar voice calling out for me. The Twin, waving to me, approached from the direction of the pub. When she reached me, she told me that she had gone there first, assuming that we would likely be resting. Viking told her to find me here, she said, then told her to fuck off and do it now, they needed sleep.

  She asked what had happened, so I told her. She expressed concern at Redbeard's stomach wound but seemed much relieved when I told her Doctor reckoned he would survive. She told me that The Enigmatic Man had shown her the way to his lair this time, deep in the ruins of the former city of Brisbane. She had the feeling that he wanted us to come after him, as he told her of Yakuza Lady's demise the moment he found out, barely a quarter of an hour after the event itself. “He said that my friends had assassinated her,” The Twin told me. “So I figure he wants us to come for him. He'll no doubt have something nasty waiting, but we can handle it, I'm sure.”

  Telling her that we needed some time to prepare if we were going to tackle someone else, not to mention a plan, she nodded. Tiny came over as Waitress poured more coffee. The Twin greeted her warmly, asking her if she wanted to help us take out our third target. Tiny shook her head, saying that given we had already taken out two of The Bosses so easily we should have little trouble with The Enigmatic Man, so she was in.

  evening

  As the sun descended into the west I send a message to Apocalypse Girl. Two down! One more and I can get back to you. I won't record her reply. Let's just say it was rather personal. A moment later, however, she sent a barrage of messages. Dingoes seem to be hunting us. Dragons have taken a lot of soldiers. Every night we lose men. Dead attacking from the north. Not safe to come back on surface. I swore. Loudly.

  The Twin wanted to know what was up, so I showed her Apocalypse Girl's messages. She swore also, though quieter. I had told her about the mutants we had faced. The phone jangled one more time. There's something in the Depths of this place. I sent a message back, telling her to fall back to Dragon's Lair. It seemed safer there. If I can.

  That was the last I heard from her. More than a little concerned. More than a little tired.

  July 3rd Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Woke up in a fucking cell this morning. Still got Apocalypse Girl's phone and Smart Guy's radio, obviously still got my journal. Viking and Redbeard are in here, Doctor too. He's busy looking at Redbeard's wounds, the expression on his face is not looking hopeful. Disciple is still unconscious in a cell with Tiny and The Twin across the hall. Doctor said he noticed needle marks in all of our necks, at least
in this cell. Tiny said she woke up as the needle went in, briefly. She had seen at least one other person in the dim light of pre-dawn, kneeling over The Twin's bed.

  Chuckling to herself, Waitress skipped down the hall. “I've got you now! I heard you planning yesterday, I know why you're here!” She spat at us. “The Boss wanted you to kill the other two, you know, but you were always meant to die before you got anywhere near him. He wanted absolute control of New Brisbane. Now, he has it.” Cackling wildly the bitch sauntered out.

  “I am going to snap her fucking neck!” The Twin exploded. “That bitch! She was acting all friendly, knowing what was going to happen to us all, knowing about everything! Fuck! She even told me all about it...shit. Oh shit!” She started pacing in her cell, almost kicking Disciple in the head. “We're fucked, guys.” Tiny grabbed hold of her shoulders, making her stand still. Staring up into her eyes, Tiny ordered her to tell us what she knew.

  The Twin took a deep breath, looked around at everybody and told us everything. “First of all, The Enigmatic Man is a woman. Not that piece of shit, another one. Hell, that stupid bitch doesn't even know who she's really working for. Anyway, she was talking about this the other day. Before I knew who she was. If anyone got too close they were going to end up here.”