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

  A swarm of Ghouls then rose near The Boss and her men, who immediately opened fire. I looked to The Commander, who immediately whistled sharply. All of his warriors but one leaped into action, slaughtering the Ghouls surrounding Apocalypse Mum.

  “We need to share a world. We must help them now. This one will stay with you. He will be seen as a murderer in that place.” The Commander shook my hand once again and threw himself from The Elephant onto a Righteous Ghoul that had just appeared near The Boss.

  I turned to Criss-Cross. “Well, looks like we’re stuck with each other. Welcome.”

  Septemner 30th Year 1 A.Z.

  morning

  The sun rose, pale and insignificant behind the all-encompassing clouds. The Elephant trundled on its merry way, to the south and west, away from the chaos and carnage that we left behind us at AR-18. A pack of dingoes tried keeping pace with us for part of the journey, until Mech-Tech gunners persuaded them otherwise, other than that we saw no moving creatures. Apocalypse Girl claimed land-sea-sickness as she nursed a bucket in the Captain’s Cabin, our canine companion keeping her company as Viking steered the ungainly vehicle that his clan of mechanics and technicians had cobbled together.

  The Kid, huddled in a corner on the main deck, was given a wide berth by the majority of Viking’s men, though I sat with him for a while. He said little, just thanked me for getting him out of yet another sticky situation. I told him that he’d have done the same for me, had done a few times, and that was what friends were for. We shared a comfortable silence together for a few minutes, then he asked me to leave him be, he just wanted to feel the wind on his face again.

  “We’ll talk more later,” The Kid told me. His eyes were fixed on the fist that continued to grasp tightly his shark-tooth talisman. His time at AR-18, though brief, had not been pleasant.

  German Doctor watched him from a reasonable distance, jotting down notes on her ever-present clipboard. She had interrogated me at length as to everything I knew or remembered about him, but even though I had been there the entire time, I had no real insight as to how he became the way he was now.

  Maori, Wall, Scar and Giant were busily teaching younger Mech-Techs about weaponry, showing them the proper way to operate their equipment. My squadmates had brought along a lot of hardware, reasoning that The Boss had plenty to spare.

  noon

  Apocalypse Mum had been in contact. The Commander and his Klee-Vics warriors had been instrumental in wiping out The Righteous, their leader had been sighted scurrying back to the northeast, a bare handful of his followers tagging along in his wake. Hundreds, thousands of Ghouls lay dead about Uluru. I must say, I’m grateful to not have to deal with that particular clean-up detail. She told me that she understood why I had left the way that I did, and that she expected me to look after her daughter. Then, she told me that I’d never hear from her again, and the line went dead.

  Viking found a handy Meat-Beast, setting up the butchery as Mech-Techs went scouting. They returned a short while later, conveniently as fresh steaks were being laid out for the hungry. I was unable to think of food, however. Instead I found myself looking to the future, wondering where we’d find ourselves next.

  The Kid and Criss-Cross seemed to be spending some time together, both being unique amongst our Mech-Tech hosts. I wondered if we would really be able to share this world with the Klee-Vics. Surely they would have different needs to us, wouldn’t they? Different goals? Different ideas? The Commander seemed reasonable, but what if he had been trained or even bred to deal with humans?

  I wondered again about something we had learned while staying as the Klee-Vics’ guests, The Commander had told us that humanity had come first, before any other space-faring species. The different worlds that had suffered the same calamity as our Earth, the Dead rising to devour the Living…

  evening

  Scout left this afternoon, heading back to Coober’s Nest. Apprentice wanted to go with her, but felt that her duty was with The Mech-Techs. There were tears.

  Now, at sunset, The Elephant stopped for the night, The Kid wanted to talk. So, we discussed everything, every last little detail about Archer’s Daughter. Four hours, we talked. I learned that she had always wanted to be a marine biologist, but had not been able to afford the required education. Instead, she found herself with a job at a mine, in a tiny town that barely warranted its own pub. She had planned on saving up every last cent that she was able in order to get into university.

  When The Kid found her, she was already Dead, in fact, it seemed as if she had been for a while. No matter, he thought to himself, and simply reached out to her, as he had to other Dead in the past. There had been, he informed me, a modicum of her left. Just the tiniest portion, deep down in the decaying ruins that had once been her brain, but it had still been her. Then, soldiers had come, ruined everything with a bullet to her head.

  “Here, you take this,” The Kid extended his arm, opened his fist, dropping the shark-tooth pendant into my waiting palm. “Give it to your own kid one day.” His grin was the first sign I’d seen of his normal, old self. It was good to see that he was still in there. I told him that our child would indeed receive this thoughtful present, and that we hoped he’d stick around this time. “Why not? I’ve got nowhere else to go, not anymore.”

  Later, I stood with Apocalypse Girl, looking up at the night sky. Through cracks in the cloud we saw the red Intruder Moon. It looks as if we’re going to have to get used to that one, now.

  Apocalypse Girl looked into my eyes, her singular orb darting back and forth between them, unable to decide into which to gaze. “I was thinking,” She began, “According to my mum, nobody’s heard anything from the west of the country. How about we head to Perth?”

  Table of Contents

  September 1st Year 1 A.Z.

  September 2nd Year 1 A.Z.

  September 3rd Year 1 A.Z.

  September 4th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 5th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 6th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 7th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 8th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 9th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 10th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 11th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 12th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 13th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 14th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 15th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 16th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 17th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 18th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 19th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 20th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 21st Year 1 A.Z.

  September 22nd Year 1 A.Z.

  September 23rd Year 1 A.Z.

  September 24th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 25th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 26th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 27th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 28th Year 1 A.Z.

  September 29th Year 1 A.Z.

  Septemner 30th Year 1 A.Z.