We then had to drive four kilometres between two fences to reach the second gate. The first guard had clearly already radioed us in to him, and he let us through with hardly a word other than a low whistle of praise for our vehicle. After that it was another two klicks in the opposite direction and at the third gate we were told to turn off our engine and exit the vehicle. Firecracker complied, turning off the ignition, and we all filed out.
Immediately we had a dozen guns trained on us, we were ordered to disarm, and once we had done so we were led into a building where we were made to strip out of our clothes for an inspection. We were told by the embarrassed soldier performing the inspection that everybody who goes out gets inspected like this, same as any newcomers. Once we were declared clean and unbitten, we were allowed to dress once more, then we were led into a holding cell and told to wait.
noon
Beginning with The Colonel, they took us one at a time from the holding cell. When it came to my turn, just after Apocalypse Girl, Redbeard was the only one left. I was taken into an office that contained one table and two chairs. I was ordered to stand in front of the table and told to answer every question truthfully. I did so, feeling as though this might have been a bad idea, after all.
The two men sitting in the chairs facing me both wore the stars of Generals, the younger man sitting to my left with only one star, his older companion wearing four. The younger man was polite and respectful in his questions, and when I told him of the other groups we had encountered he smiled privately to himself over so many more people managing to make it through the first few months than he had ever dared hope.
The older general, however, was far more of a hard-arse. He insisted that we were now property of the Army, soldiers in his cause. I chose to hold my tongue rather than argue the point. I did ask, however, that since our group worked so well together if we would be able to continue, the younger general instantly agreeing. His elder grumbled quietly about this, but allowed it. I also requested that we be allowed to keep The Nightmare. The older man looked up, saying that he had already granted it to The Colonel when she had asked, and as far as he was concerned it was
her
property now. Also, since she was the only member of our group to have been part of the military before the Dead began wandering around, she was to be in charge.
I was handed my weapons back, then taken to a small tent that had been allocated to our little group. The Nightmare stood proudly beside it, looking menacing. Apocalypse Girl sat alone within the tent, fretting slightly, until she saw me and smiled. The Colonel came in a moment later, and Apocalypse Girl stood to attention, saluting her sarcastically. Sister and Firecracker came in following a fuming Redbeard. He wasn't happy about having been conscripted, but then neither was I, or any of us.
evening
Sitting around the campfire next to our tent, we introduced ourselves to our neighbours, only to be greeted with scorn and contempt. Apparently we were not expected to last very long. Patrol duty would be allocated to us within a few days, apparently, and the raw recruits always get the shittiest assignments. The Colonel had been summoned to a meeting with other officers, and when she returned her expression was grim. The older general, had decided that since there were other groups of survivors in large numbers, they should also be “brought into the fold” whether they accept it or not. I had a hard time imagining The Mech-Techs simply rolling over and joining because some old man in a uniform wanted them to. The Principal would object as well, probably to the detriment of his people.
Then there were The Followers. They would be trouble no matter what happened. If they joined up willingly, in fact, they might even be worse, and their philosophy could spread through the ranks. If they resisted, they had numbers enough and were well enough armed to be a serious problem as well.
I told The Colonel that this general was a complete fuckwit if he thought this plan was any good. Nodding her agreement, she nevertheless said “We are under his command, no matter what we might think of him.” She then went on to say that she had met privately with the younger general, who was far more reasonable, but even he said there was no changing his elder's mind when it was set on a task. Shit.
March 31
Year 1 A.Z.
morning
The snow beat down on us relentlessly this morning. The Colonel had been in meetings with senior staff since before dawn, and she had just returned. General Fuckwit had decided that we were going to march on Melbourne, leaving in maybe a week's time. She had been told that we would be needed in the vanguard, because of our vehicle, The Nightmare. General Practical had tried to reason with his superior once more, but General Fuckwit had set his sights on, of all people, The Mech-Techs first of all. His plan was, after wiping them out or forcing them to join us, to
negotiate
with The Followers. The Colonel said the word through clenched teeth. She had tried to tell them a little about what The Followers were like only to be told to remain silent if she wished to avoid a court-martial.
Glancing around at the other faces in our tent, I felt fairly certain that the others felt as I did, that maybe we just didn't quite belong here. How we were going to get out, though, that was the real kicker.
noon
Redbeard had been out among the other troopers, trying to get some idea of exactly how the men were feeling about everything. Many of them couldn't wait to move out, just so that they're
doing
something, an attitude I totally understood. On the other hand, however, many of them also were resistant to the idea of taking on a large force of well-armed Living people. Putting the Dead down made sense, putting down anybody infected and about to turn also made sense. Killing the Living who wanted nothing more than to live in peace made no sense whatsoever.
That was the dominant viewpoint amongst the local tents and campfires, at least. There seemed little to no reasoning with General Fuckwit, but perhaps we might just be able to get away and warn them. The Colonel mentioned at one point over lunch that she now totally understood what The Principal had been driving at when he said he wanted no military influence in his territory. The worst part of it was that she clearly felt guilty. She had been the first of us to tell them about the different factions living amongst the ruins of Melbourne, but all of us had confirmed it.
evening
We sat together after our evening meal, just Apocalypse Girl and I, atop the roof of The Nightmare. It was one of the few places in camp where we actually felt like we were alone, at least as long as we didn't listen too closely or look down.
She held my hands in both of hers, looking into my eyes. “We have to get the fuck out of here, as soon as we possibly can,” She began, “I don't care about the others, just you and me, we need to get out of here, and back to The School, warn them, get them out of Melbourne too.” She was close to tears. I told her that with any luck, if we're careful we might be able to do a lot of good from the inside here anyway.
She shook her head, and this time the tears began to flow. “You don't understand, though,” She took a deep breath to steady herself, then with a look of abject terror on her face said “I think I might be pregnant...”