Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 9): September Read online

  His rant consisted mainly of telling those of us trapped beneath the surface that, should we choose to join with him, we would be spared. Should we resist, however, then we would find ourselves feeling pain more intense than we can imagine, and we would end up joining him regardless.

  We listened to his words from the safety of the computer lab deep within the complex, Apocalypse Mum’s face grim. The Mech-Techs had taken The Elephant’s trunk up, denying The Righteous any access, and were holding out far more successfully than we were, at least at present. Viking was in constant contact with Static, who wanted us to just bust through The Righteous’ ranks, pile up in The Elephant and fuck off somewhere more or less safe-ish. To be fair, I wanted nothing more. On the other hand, there were a fuck-ton of the bastards up there. The entire surface of Uluru was covered with Ghouls. The only vaguely mitigating factor was that we were able to see a few falling off the edge, presumably to their deaths, giving us something to at least laugh about for the time being.

  I walked with Apocalypse Girl to our quarters, wondering how, or if, I was going to sleep tonight with an army clamouring to get inside our nice, safe place. She was very quiet. We had already had a close call with Ghouls once before, in Adelaide. She didn’t like to say anything, but I knew that they scared her more than pretty much anything else we had encountered.

  Nearing our corridor, Mutter and Clutter came running up to us. The pair seemed almost totally out of breath, Clutter doubled over, leaning heavily against the wall.

  “We found something,” Mutter mumbled, Clutter translated. “You guys need to come with us, now.”

  I didn’t hesitate, just whistled for the Dog, who trotted along quite happily, oblivious to the impending demise of us all. We followed the two techs deeper into the base, deeper than I had been before.

  Clutter led the way at a trot, running along a darkened corridor to a door at the far end. “The other day, when you guys were dealing with the cloning facility,” He told us. “Another team brought this thing in.”

  At the end of a long, dimly lit corridor, lay a door, bars covering a small opening. I told the others to stay behind as I examined further. The bars were spaced maybe two centimetres apart, thicker than the distance between them. Through the bars I saw something large huddled into a ball in the centre of the room, large chains stretching out from either side of the room.

  As I stared, it lifted its head and looked into my eyes. As I looked into those blue orbs, a sense of familiarity washed over me. Sat before me, huddled in a pile of filth and rags was The Kid. I didn’t know if he’d recognise my voice or even if he’d register that I was there at all, but I told him that we’d be back to get him the fuck out of this place. We just had a tiny matter of a large army of Ghouls to contend with first.

  September 28th Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  Apocalypse Girl was, if anything, more pissed off at her mother than I was. We’d told her about The Kid, his plans to head to Mount Newman to collect Archer’s Daughter, Dead or alive. We’d informed her that his assimilation of the Dead Plague was responsible for our own immunity, had given her all of the records that we had salvaged from The Major and his bizarre experiments. She didn’t need to send soldiers out to capture him. However, we couldn’t say anything to her, at least not yet. Too many of The Righteous awaited outside, hungry for our flesh.

  Somehow we needed to get him out of here. This much we had decided upon, on the way back to our quarters. The Kid needed his freedom, and it seemed, we needed ours as well. Overnight we conferred with Viking and Valkyrie, they were in full agreement. The Elephant would be used to make our escape, provided we could fight our way through the horde of Righteous that were currently occupying the top of Uluru. The entrances to AR-18 were closed, locked down completely, The Elephant’s trunk raised to prevent any Ghouls from accessing it. We were at a standstill, we couldn’t get out, they were unable to get in.

  What we needed, as far as I could tell, was The Kid and his prodigious strength. I had no doubt that he’d be happy to help us assist in his departure, provided he remembered who we all were. He seemed to be in a bad way, from the minute or so that I spent observing him. If he could plough his way through their ranks, we could follow in his footsteps easily enough.

  noon

  Alarms signalled an intrusion deeper in the facility. My squad was tasked with finding and sealing the breach, so down into the depths we went, gathering as many weapons as we could carry. I wondered just how they had managed to find their way into the complex beneath, the truly ancient one; all huge stone buildings amidst an underground city built, it seemed, by giants.

  There was a modicum of light down here, just enough to see by, though none of us could find the source. There seemed almost no shadows cast by the structures around us, indeed, faint though they were, even our own seemed fainter than they should; indistinct blobs of mild darkness that smeared across the floor at our feet.

  “Nice that we can see, but it’d be good if we could make the light brighter,” Giant whispered, and the light did indeed brighten, significantly. Now that we could see everything around us, we stood staring, amazed. The structures formed a much larger complex than I had first thought… it seemed as if the city, more a megalopolis, went on almost forever. The entrance from the AR-18 facility was but a narrow terrace that led to a ledge overlooking the ruins.

  “Find the intruders,” I said, on an impulse, when the initial shock of the enormity of the place had worn off a little. Sure enough, a pale blue ball of light rose from the floor at my feet, turned into a holographic arrow that spun around slightly, then pointed into the heart of the Uluru City’s centre. I ordered my squad to advance down the slope towards the abandoned megalopolis and whoever it was that awaited us.

  evening

  Several hours of walking later, my legs were fucked. We had seen no sign of any kind of intrusion thus far, and the pale blue arrow kept steadily pulsing away, still pointing us further, deeper into Uluru City’s enormous streets. Our shadows still seemed all penumbra, their darkest parts removed, even with the brighter light seeming to emanate from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

  A few moments after I called a halt for a water break, I heard a scrabble of something, stone on stone it sounded like. Drawing my katana as swiftly and silently as I was able, I barely held back from slicing into the Klee-vics commander as he tic-ticked his way carefully around the corner behind which I was waiting.

  “My thanks, for not killing me,” He greeted me. His voice, odd sounding though it was, sounded amused. “If we are to share this world it occurred to me that we should fight for it together.”

  I slid my blade back into its sheath, welcoming him with an outstretched hand. He looked at it for a moment, then awkwardly extended his own forelimb, grasping my fleshy fingers in his own chitinous claws. He whistled sharply and a dozen of his soldiers clambered down from the buildings around us.

  They were smaller than the commander, every one identical save for wounds that must have been received in combat. One had a criss-cross pattern on his thorax and abdomen, another seemed to have suffered a nasty wound to his skull plating. Several more seemed to have suffered some pretty nasty burns, either from flame or acid of some kind.

  “My best warriors, veterans of a dozen campaigns, every last one of them.” The Commander puffed up with pride. “I’d trust any one of them with my life, and therefore all of yours as well.”

  At that moment the radio crackled. Scar listened for a moment, then broke the news to us all. “They’ve breached the helicopter hangar roof. Apparently, at this moment there are hundreds of Ghouls pouring into the fucking base.” His face was fixed in his customary scowl, warped around his visage ruining wound, but his voice was filled with despair. “We’ve gotta get back there, ASAP!”

  “Clamber up onto our backs.” The Commander told us. I would have been hesitant to do so, except that I was shitting my pants with concern over what fate may be abo
ut to befall Apocalypse Girl. I immediately got up on his abdomen, Scar mounting Criss-Cross. Viking climbed aboard The Brained and the rest chose various Burn Victims. Then, we were off, at a velocity that I had never before experienced.

  I had Scar radio in, telling them that we were bringing in outside assistance. Before we knew it, we were back in the human-made section, though this area had been abandoned. All of the non-combat staff would have been moved into a secure location deeper within the base. We moved in the direction of the hangars, hearing gunfire as we approached. The Commander was incredibly intuitive, moving where I wanted him at the simple nudge of a knee.

  Suddenly, a group of Ghouls appeared before us, pouring out of a hallway, all snarls and slavering, calling out that they were going to eat us while fucking us, or something disturbing like that. The Commander charged. I barely had time to get my sword out before he hit them, and when he did, he hit them fucking hard. The first Righteous Ghoul ended up as a smear of reddish brown glorp that slid down the wall, the second found a Klee-Vics spine through his temple. The rest of them suffered similar fates as the rest of the Klee-Vics caught up to us.

  In almost no time, they cleaned up the intruding Ghoul presence, scouring the hallways and impaling the fuckers that dared intrude on us. The Commander stayed with us, but his warriors spread out in insectoid fashion, cleaning up the base as swiftly as they were able.

  I spotted Apocalypse Girl, standing with her mother in the hangar amidst the remains of several dozen dead Ghouls. A hundred other soldiers stood guard as the pair argued, loudly. The same hundred soldiers raised their voices in a great roaring cheer as the Klee-Vics skittered their way in, all of them reporting that the Ghoulish presence had been eradicated from inside the base.

  Apocalypse Mum did not look pleased that I had enlisted outside help, or maybe her daughter had said something unpleasant to her. In any case, she shook The Commander’s claw and thanked him graciously enough for his assistance, then requested politely that he remove his warriors from the base.

  I pointed out to her that the only easy way out was through the rest of The Righteous. The Klee-Vics had come to help, and they had done so incredibly well, but I didn’t see them surviving the throng of sickness, wrong and evil that currently occupied the top of the facility. Not if they went alone.

  “Fine! They can stay. For now. Once the Righteous are dealt with, I want your warriors out of here. I don’t mind you staying, honestly, I’d like a chance to converse with you. However, I’m a little uneasy about having fighters from an unknown source in the deepest most secret parts of my facility.” The Boss told us after staring at me for a long while. I wondered how many ways of killing me she was imagining. I had heard of girlfriends’ mothers being problematic before, but Apocalypse Mum was starting to get more than ridiculous.

  September 29th Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  I spent most of the night, rather than sleeping, making plans with Viking, Valkyrie and Apocalypse Girl to break The Kid out of his cell. The Technicians were willing to help us out, that much was certain, as long as we take them with us when we leave. I asked Viking if he thought the rest of the squad might like to tag along as well; he looked doubtful. I nodded, he was right. It was unlikely that our short time leading that squad had been sufficient to make them betray The Boss.

  I wanted Apocalypse Girl to wait near the elevator with the dog, but she would have none of it. Instead, the two techs would wait with Apocalypse Dog while the rest of us went after our old friend.

  We contacted Static via radio, learning that The Mech-Techs had been attacked by Righteous as well, though they had fared better than we. None of the Ghouls had been able to climb up onto The Elephant to any real height, and they were just taking pot shots at any that got too high. The Elephant had been designed with massed ranks of Dead in mind, as well as various mutants that might be hazardous to survival. Dingoes, for instance, or Dragons.

  In any event, they were well ready to drop the Trunk down for us as soon as we’re in position.

  We went to the mess hall, as usual, for breakfast. German Doctor stood around, clearly waiting for someone. The instant she saw me, she practically came running.

  “Lieutenant, glad to have found you.” She seemed a little concerned. “These aliens you have brought in, are they to be trusted, do you think?” I nodded, saying that they had given me little reason to doubt them. She still seemed quite apprehensive. “Have you seen… I don’t know what it is, exactly, I only know that it was human, once. It can still speak, I have heard, though I’ve not been given clearance to examine it.”

  “Doctor, he is a friend of mine, if you’re talking about who I think you are,” I hissed at her. “What do you know about him?”

  “It-he, rather, was flown in when you were taking out the cloning complex.” She told me. “Nothing more. I have only heard rumours around the labs, only the highest ranking doctors are permitted to speak with i-him. If he is truly your friend, are you planning on extricating him from his current circumstance? If so, I would like to come with you when you leave. I can get you into the restricted laboratories easily enough, then I shall meet you at the elevator, ja?”

  She seemed so earnest about it that I told her to wait with the techs and dog. One more tagging along wouldn’t be too much of a problem. I flagged down Tiny and Apprentice, telling the pair of them to gather everyone else nearby and wait for my signal. I didn’t know what it’d be, I told them, but it would likely be loud.

  noon

  The Kid’s cell seemed deeper inside the complex than before. I knew it had to be a trick of the mind, before I didn’t know what I was going to find, now I walked with purpose. German Doctor, true to her word, smuggled us into the secure section, then thanked us again and left.

  Apocalypse Girl walked by my side, step for step, Viking and Valkyrie flanking us but a couple of steps behind, keeping an eye out for potential threats from behind. I had them hang back as I went to The Kid’s cell. As I had figured, the door was locked. However, I had a handy screwdriver, and easy access to the door’s hinges. A few twists of my wrist later, and the entire door lay on the hallway floor.

  The Kid’s massive bulk lay on the floor in the centre of the room. “No more,” he whispered. “I can’t take it any more.”

  “Hey,” I said. “Do you wanna get out of here, or what?” He glanced up at my voice.

  “Is it really you? They killed her, you know. Yeah, she was already Dead, I knew that, but I loved her anyway, and they killed her.” His fist uncurled to show the shark-tooth pendant that he had insisted on going back to The Commune to find. “I’m glad you’re here. What about your girl, is she here too?” Apocalypse Girl stepped into the room behind me, shyly saying hello and waving.

  The Kid was in tears at the sight of us, the water streaking through the grime on his face. He had been through far too much for his tender age, nearly succumbing to the Dead Plague and then assimilating it into his system, somehow making it as much a part of him as the rest. He was, as far as I was aware, indestructible as a result, and the research that The Major had ordered performed by The Smart Couple was responsible for our own inoculation.

  “Are we going to keep standing here or are we actually leaving?” The Kid strained, tearing the shackles free of the walls with ease.

  We made it out of the secure section easily enough, only to encounter the rest of our squad, guns drawn and pointed squarely at us.

  “I thought you might be stupid enough to try something like this.” Giant grinned, putting her rifle up. “We’ve heard stories about how they’re treating this guy, but none of us had the balls to bust him out.

  “He’s a friend. What else could I do?” I asked her.

  “Now you know how we feel.” She grinned. “Come on, you guys need an escort. If anyone asks, we’re taking him to a more secure facility.”

  The first patrol that we encountered bought Giant’s tale, but the second decided they wanted to open
fire. Scar ended up hit in the shoulder, Viking took one to the upper chest. I felt the searing hot kiss of lead as a bullet whizzed past my ear, well, along it really. The Klee-Vics behind them, Criss-Cross, cut them to shreds before they could even register that he was there. In the end, only three rounds were fired.

  We ran the rest of the way, the Klee-Vics swarming to the hangar, rather than the elevator. The Commander, the only one to come with us, told me that they’d be up the walls to the top of Uluru in no time, and would try and clear a path for us.

  The elevator doors were closing as Apocalypse Mum came into view. The look of utter betrayal on her face as the doors closed will probably haunt me to the end of my days.

  evening

  Sure enough, the Klee-Vics had cleared a path for us, holding back the Ghoulish tide as the elevator opened and we stepped onto the surface of the Rock. Ghouls were attempting to eat some of the Klee-Vics guarding our passage, only succeeding in breaking their teeth on their tough exoskeletons.

  We came to the Elephant’s location quickly enough, let The Mech-Techs know, and they let down the trunk for us. The Klee-Vics sprung up lightly when the human contingent was aboard and the trunk raised once again. Apocalypse Mum and a group of soldiers was just appearing as the elevator rose once more, and I saluted her one last time, calling out that I would take care of her daughter and our child but that we couldn’t stay there.