Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 1): January (15 page)

Again the bus heaved sideways under the great force of the throng of Dead, but this time, rather than stumbling around like idiots, we were ready for it, and threw ourselves into the movement.  The bus tipped slightly, though not nearly enough to fall.  The Dead seemed to sense what we were about, and that it would result in a tasty snack for them, and heaved once again.  We once again threw ourselves against the southernmost wall of the bus, this time resulting in it seeming to hang in mid-air forever before finally falling to the ground with a mighty crash.

We picked ourselves up from the new floor we had fashioned, and used the seats to climb out of the open, waiting window.  Archer and Copper went first, Junior then assisted me getting the girls up and out, starting with Apocalypse Girl.  Biker followed next, then The Colonel and The Twin.  I grabbed my sword, Junior his club, and together we threw the prepared bags of supplies up to the others before following them up.  We handed the guns out to everybody, and what few melee weapons we had available, The Twin took her bow and the few remaining arrows we had left and we began to clear off the southern side while Archer prepared his fuck-you to the Dead, removing his shirt and lowering it into the petrol tank first one way, then the other, making sure that it was thoroughly covered in the flammable liquid.

Junior, Biker and I jumped down first, taking out the few remaining Dead that were left.  Apocalypse Girl jumped down when it was clear to do so, followed by The Twin, with an arrow knocked and ready, and The Colonel, with .45 raised.  Copper joined us, and we ran, faster than I thought possible.  Suddenly we were picked up and flung forward by the shockwave from the exploding Greyhound.  After we picked ourselves up we turned, and saw that the Dead had been scattered by the blast.

We fled to the south at a slow jog, keeping our eyes open as only those on the run for their very lives can.  I had never felt this naked until this point.  I really felt we were doomed.

afternoon

Archer had indeed been correct, the road turned to the east after a short hike to the south, and we found an abandoned five-car wreck that we raided for supplies.  We found nothing of any real value, though Apocalypse Girl grabbed a mobile phone charger.  Copper asked her why bother, but she wisely pointed out that she could access the internet with her phone, and find out if there were any survivors from this thing that had happened to the world, and if there was any information or news that could help us to survive.  She just needed a working vehicle now, in order to charge it up.

As Apocalypse Girl's bandage had become red with blood, we decided to inspect the wound and change the bandage.  It had torn open slightly with the impact of the bus tipping over, and a little more when she leapt to the ground, but was otherwise alright.  She was not amused about needing more staples however, but she took them with no more than a sharp intake of breath for each of the three required.

evening

We moved on from the pileup, and found an abandoned farmstead to hole up in for the night.  As it was we made sure that it was well barricaded, and that we had left an escape route, but it proved unnecessary for the moment.  It could be that the Dead that had pursued us had been foiled by the exploding bus.  I didn't dare hope that was the case, but so far there had been absolutely no sign of any Dead at all.  No Living, either, but that was to be expected.  Anyone alive would have almost certainly left by now to try and find friends and family, or at the very least other Living.

January 28th Year 1 A.Z.

morning

Still no sign whatsoever of any Dead.  We ate a leisurely breakfast of whatever salted beef we had managed to salvage while departing the bus, while going through the cupboards and pantry of the farmhouse.  Copper had automatically and foolishly gone to the fridge, and the smell emanating from it alone was more than enough to make him chunder.  We found a large stash of baked beans and other canned goods which we took with us, and a box of shotgun shells.  Other than that, nothing.

The Twin had gone to the barn, but returned white-faced.  Evidently, upon hearing about the risen Dead, the farmer and his wife and their two children had all strung themselves up in the rafters.  I followed her directions, and flung wide the barn door.  True to her word, there they were, just hanging about, being Dead.  Farmer, wife, son and daughter, all jiggling and snarling, trying to reach me.  Two dead cows lay on the floor in their own filth, having starved when their owners had died.  Shaking my head, I turned and left.

noon

We left the farm, heading east along the roadway.  The weather was feeling colder again now, almost like winter.  Perhaps we hadn't noticed the change so much spending all of our time inside a bus for the last several days.  I wondered just how far we had travelled, and asked if anybody had taken the map from the bus.  Their collective silence spoke volumes, and their embarrassed faces told even more.  Well, if they were all guilty of having forgotten to grab the map from Archer, then I was no less so.  Onwards we trudged.

Walking in total silence, we followed the road past several collisions, one of which still had a few Dead wandering around it, but Junior and I made short work of those.  Again, little to scavenge from these wrecks, and not one would turn over.  I made the observation that we seemed to make better time now that we could simply walk around these wrecks, rather than have to move them off the road to make way for our bus, and everybody laughed out loud.  Junior pointed out at that time that he particularly enjoyed
not
having to siphon petrol out of random cars anymore, resulting in another gale of chuckling from everyone.

evening

We found another car wreck this evening, this one free of Dead, and Living, and amazingly, two of the three cars involved still had all of their windows, so we figured it was a good place to hole up for the night.  No way were we going to walk through the night, after all.  Apocalypse Girl, The Colonel and I shared one car, the others crowded into the other.

“This is what I was afraid of.”  The Colonel began.  “You've surely noticed the change in weather, I am pretty sure that signifies the beginning of a nuclear winter.”  Apocalypse Girl suggested that it was the Dead that had been burned, but it was dismissed once again.  “No, a lot of cities worldwide were nuked to halt the spread, but by that time it was already far too late.”

After that, nobody spoke.  I don't think any of the three of us slept either.

January 29th Year 1 A.Z.

morning

This morning's breakfast consisted entirely of baked beans, which was a nice change from salted beef, except for the fact that there
was
no more salted beef.  It had blown up along with the bus, and Archer.  Maybe we would get lucky and find a kangaroo or two to shoot.  That at least would provide fresh meat.

There was still absolutely no sign whatsoever of our pursuers.  This made me suspect that they had actually been following the noise of the bus, not necessarily
us
ourselves.  Because of this suspicion I asked everyone if they were willing to hang around for the rest of the day, just to make sure there were no Dead chasing us anymore.  The Twin volunteered to scout behind us, just to be completely certain.  I thanked her for doing it, and off she went, bow in hand.

noon

The sun high above the heavy clouds, I reasoned that The Twin was likely turning around about now, and we would probably see her around dusk.  I was starting to feel apprehensive about sending her out on her own, but The Colonel assured me she was fit for the task.  I nodded, but my concern was no less.  A cold wind rose from the south, and I shivered.  We needed warmer clothing.  Everything that had been among the luggage of the original passengers of the Greyhound was meant for an Australian summer, not whatever
this
was.  I was sure The Colonel was at least partly right, there would have been many nations incinerating entire cities in order to contain this kind of infection.  On the other hand, the incineration of the Dead itself caused many problems, of that I was certain.

Apocalypse Girl's bandage needed replacing, so I attended to that while we waited.  She was clearly concerned for The Twin's welfare also.  She barely flinched when I poked at her wound, and just sighed when I washed it clean.  As I wound the bandage around her injury she asked me if I thought there was any chance of us surviving much longer, or at all, for that matter.  I replied that if I didn't think we did, I would have just thrown myself off of the roof of the hotel on the first night, or eaten a bullet since then.  She smiled at that, and thanked me.  She asked just how much longer she would have to wear that fucking mummy wrapping, and I laughingly asked her if she really had more of an issue with that than the staples in her flesh.  In all seriousness she simply said that they were holding her arm together, so they could stay as long as they were needed.  But they fucking itched like crazy!

evening

The Twin returned just as we began setting up the campfire to boil up some canned glorp or other.  She was smiling from ear to ear.  There had been absolutely no sign at all of any Dead all the way up until noon, which had been when she turned around.  I proposed my idea that the Dead had been following the sound of the bus rather than its sight.  The Colonel agreed that this was likely that they had associated the engine noises with a potential food source.  She went further to say that in her experience, they relied on scent a lot as well.  The smell of blood attracted the Dead as it would a shark, she told us, making certain we knew just how vital it was to keep Apocalypse Girl's wound clean and bandaged.

We stayed in the cars for another night, this time The Twin joining Apocalypse Girl and I.  She was far less disturbing company that The Colonel, considering she was quite willing to talk about other things than the probability of nuclear winter.  Instead we talked about how fucking wonderful it felt to not have to worry about several hundred Dead cannibals following our every move.  “As long as we don't attract any more for a while, we should be alright,”  Apocalypse Girl pointed out.  “And can find somewhere else we can defend and hole up in permanently, like the commune.”

“I thought you were in a hurry to head to Canberra?”  I asked her.  She smiled and replied that she wasn't really in that much of a hurry to run into a nest of politicians, regardless of the probability that most of them were quite Dead by now.  She went on to say that she had only suggested that we head there so that we are going
somewhere
.  Going somewhere, doing something, having some task to complete, that would, she had hoped, give us something more to strive for.

“In that case I think it's an even worse idea than when you first suggested it,”  I told her, “but fuck me, it worked though.  A lot of us are still alive thanks to you, you know.  Hell, we  would never have found the commune if not for your 'head to the east' fixation!”

“Which would have meant the first we knew about it might have been when a mob of sex-starved ex prisoners overrun us, if we hadn't been eaten by then.”  The Twin said.  “So I say we just keep this little discussion to ourselves, and keep on heading the way we're going.  I reckon we're doing alright, thanks to you two.”

We relaxed as much as we were able to in the cramped confines of the car.  As I am writing this, Apocalypse Girl is snoring away in the drivers seat, blissfully unaware of the world.  Time to get some real sleep, at last!

January 30th Year 1 A.Z.

morning

Secure these cars might have been, comfortable they were not.  My neck had cramped up something fierce during the night, and now I was having issues with turning my head to the left.  Two nights in that position was more than enough, so we resolved to continue our long march after another breakfast of baked beans.  Hopefully we will find a town soon, or at least a service station, somewhere we can replenish our dwindling supplies.