The third species was responsible for the clean-up, research and mutations. It was considered a lesser race, as far as the two other, far older species were concerned. Fluffy sounded ashamed. “Would wish different. Want anything other than this.” It looked at each one of us, before continuing. “Uninhabited planet is Earth.”
“
But we're not uninhabited!” Sister said. “There's plenty of us left, thousands, maybe even millions!”
“
Percentage of population of surviving humanity on earth is less than one percent before Dead Plague.” Fluffy pointed out. “Was told no survivors before coming. No cure for plague. No vaccine. No chance for survival. Have seen similar plagues on other planets. All uninhabitable wastelands until
Schfrandfelths
clean up.”
“
We've been vaccinated, though,” Apocalypse Girl told it. It stood in sudden shock, staring at her. It blinked one set of eyelids, then another, then the third, slowly. “That has to mean something, doesn't it?”
“
I must go now. Must report new developments. Was wanting to stay with you, watch you survive. Pity. Will be in touch.” Fluffy then de-materialised before our very eyes.
“
Mr. Scott, one to beam up,” Said The Kid in an amazed tone.
May 17thYear 1 A.Z.
morning
None of us mentioned everything that had occurred yesterday, I think that we were a little too freaked out by the whole experience. On the other hand, aliens were probably more believable than the Dead rising to eat the Living. Until you experience it, at least, anyway. We steered clear of the crash-site, though Apocalypse Girl reported it to our military allies, hoping that The Colonel's scientists might be able to do something with the debris. The Smart Couple were with her, they should be able to come up with something.
So, without speaking about Fluffy and
Schrandfelths
and
mnanx
we continued out journey, following whatever road signs we could see through the gloom and snow that told the way to Alice Springs. In time we came to a pretty impressive traffic snarl, a cattle truck had jackknifed when the driver had tried to avoid a collision with a Greyhound bus, much like the one we had travelled in a couple of months ago. The trucker had not been successful, the trailer of his semi had overturned and crushed the front of the Greyhound.
We reasoned that this would be a possible gold mine of fresh supplies, The Kid even pointing out that we could easily enough siphon whatever fuel remained from the nearby cars that had smashed into the wreckage as well as the truck and bus themselves. He even offered to siphon the fuel himself. While he did so, Apocalypse Girl and I boarded the big bus with weapons at the ready. Where there was death, there were the Dead. Sister jumped up on top of the cattle truck, sniper rifle at the ready. Where there were the Living, the Dead would not be far behind.
Surely enough, there had been about a dozen passengers on this particular Greyhound, all of them standing up and shambling towards us. The cramped conditions, however, made them easy to dispatch, as I sliced through heads and Apocalypse Girl clobbered them with the butt of her assault rifle. With care, knowing from previous experience, I opened the toilet door at the back of the bus. Nothing there but dried blood. A
lot
of dried blood. A doll lay in the largest puddle, stuck fast. There had been no children among the Dead in the bus, so we shouted out to Sister to be on the lookout.
noon
We found little of any real use, at least amongst the passengers. The Kid had managed to replenish our fuel supplies almost completely, at least, and there was still whatever luggage they had brought with them to search through. The passengers were most certainly not going to need any of it any more. Apocalypse Girl, appetite gone after discovering the child's blood and doll in the toilet, took over watch duty from Sister, at least once she had chundered up her breakfast. Sister and I ate, after which I climbed up onto the roof of the Greyhound, to convince Apocalypse Girl to have something.
I found her in tears. She turned to me, throwing her arms around me. I held her silently, then, when her sobs subsided, I told her that we would find somewhere safe. The Alice Springs Facility would be secure, I told her. “How can you be so sure of that? The last place was meant to be safe, too! And Melbourne! Nowhere is
safe
now,
nowhere!
”
“
Dead!” Came the call from below. Sister climbed up, The Kid leaping up easily by her side. I asked him if they had noticed us yet, he shook his head. “Nope. Not too many of them, either. It shouldn't be too much trouble to divert them.” He folded himself up and reached out with his mind. A shudder went down my spine, shared by Sister and Apocalypse Girl as The Kid made contact with the approaching Dead. Sure enough, the thirty or so walking corpses just shambled off of the road, The Kid sending them off in the direction of the crash-site. The Colonel would clean them up when she arrived.
“
What the
fuck
was
that
?” Sister asked in a whisper when the Dead were out of sight. “I could feel you reaching out to them,” I added that I felt it too, Apocalypse Girl nodding when The Kid glanced towards her. “If we all felt it, maybe it has something to do with the vaccine?”
“Yeah, I think so,” The Kid said. “Remember, I knew exactly where you guys were, down in the Facility's Depths. They took out part of my brain, after all.” Apocalypse Girl began to apologise profusely for putting him through that. “What? I knew what was going to happen, I saw it. I
volunteered
, remember?” Her face went red. “If you're ever going to pull through as a species, that vaccine was
vital
, I knew that.” Sister pointed out that he should be saying
we're
. “No. I don't know what I am, now, but no way am I human anymore. I kinda still wish I were, but what I am now has its advantages, that's for sure.”
evening
In the luggage compartment we found a lot of clothing, though mainly for an Australian summer, but still Apocalypse Girl suggested it would be useful to tear up into strips and use as bandages. We also found a couple of pillows and a small bag filled with children's toys. Apocalypse Girl took these without a word, tucking them away in her own pack.
“
Score!” Sister called out, holding a small bag of a combustible green substance in one hand, a well-chilled packet of Tim-Tams in the other. “Somebody on this bus is
definitely
going to heaven for leaving this behind for us!” The sight of the weed cheered me somewhat, though the chocolate covered biscuits were what fuelled the grin on Apocalypse Girl's face. In any event, after eating a meal of Meat-beast steaks, it was a wonderful way to relax.
Whether the marijuana's mild mind-altering properties were responsible I'll never know, but we began speaking of our alien friend and the news it had relayed almost before The Kid stubbed out the last of the joint. We wondered if the other species it had spoken of could be reasoned with, speculated about the other species that had suffered similar Dead Plagues. In the end we came up with more questions than we could answer.
May 18thYear 1 A.Z.
morning
We moved on from the scene of the collision after searching through the remaining cars, not finding much more than we had already discovered. A couple of Dead, still trapped in their cars by seat-belts, easily dispatched, a few cars with some bottled water, some food that had disintegrated into disgustingness. The only remotely useful thing we found was a used first-aid kit, most of the bandages gone but there was at least a sharp pair of surgical scissors which Apocalypse Girl pocketed. Sister found some needles and thread in the glove box of one car, we took that with us as well.
Coming to a crossroads we decided to head west, heading through the mining town of Coober Pedy, which lay near to three hundred kilometres away. Alice Springs was nearly another seven hundred on top of that, so we had a lot of travel time ahead of us. The way the roads were these days we would be lucky to make even fifty kilometres in a day. Snow made things difficult, the Dead were everywhere, there were abandoned cars and crashed trucks littering the roads.
noon
This stretch of road was no different to any other we had travelled down since the snows began to fall. A little bumpier to ride along, perhaps, than the highway from Adelaide to Melbourne, or the coastal road from Melbourne to Sydney, but still it was fucking Cold. Sister began to slow at one point, seeing figures moving off in the distance ahead of us.
As we approached they began to wave, flagging us down. Only two of them, they seemed unarmed, though these days that was unlikely. A young man, an older woman, walking along the side of the road alone with Dead roaming all around, in the midst of this Cold, yeah there was likely more to them than meets the eye.
Sister looked to me and I nodded. She pulled over and I waved them aboard. The old lady shrieked a little upon seeing The Kid, but thanked him graciously enough once he helped her and her grandson up into the back of the truck. I jumped in the back with Apocalypse Girl while The Kid kept Sister company in the cab.
Granny was a riot, one of those old women that will absolutely take no shit from anyone at anytime. Sonny was a quiet, timid kid, but clearly tough enough to look after himself, at least able to keep himself and Granny fed during the apocalypse. Amazingly, the pair of them had left their family farm on foot once the rest of their expansive clan had died, risen and started trying to eat them. Granny showed us her cast-iron frypan that she used to clobber her Dead children with, saying that she had always threatened to brain them with it when they were naughty as children.
Sonny used a cricket bat, saying that he liked the weight of the wood, the way it crushed Dead skulls. He said it almost in a whisper. “You're the first Living people we've seen since, well since the sun went away!” Granny told us by way of explanation. “He's been a bit out of sorts since he had to bash his cousin's brains in.” Sonny flinched at the memory. “Still, he's been a good lad, looking after his Granny like he does. How many are you, then? The girl driving, you two and that other fellow, is it?” I nodded, though Apocalypse Girl told her that we knew of a lot of other survivors, mostly in Melbourne. Granny smiled.
“
Good to know we're not licked yet!” She cackled like an evil old witch. I was starting to like her. “May I ask where we're headed?” I told her we were heading to Coober Pedy first, then Alice Springs, looking for other survivors. Granny looked surprised. “I'm glad you stopped, truly. If you could drop us off with the first safe group of survivors we come across, we'll be grateful to you!”
Apocalypse Girl pointed out that she might not like that, telling them both about some of the more unpleasant people that we have had to deal with over the last few months. Sonny's ears pricked up when she told him about The Colonel and her crusade to rid the country of the Dead, he seemed almost ready to ask where she was so that he could run off and sign up.
evening
Granny offered to cook up our remaining Meat-beast steaks. She mentioned that the pair of them had come across the mutated cow-things a while back. They had taken a lot of meat, all that they could carry, but it had all run out by now. She mentioned, as though talking about the weather, that she had been pretty sure they were going to starve, but then we came along, just in time. Apocalypse Girl consulted with Soldier via the radio after we had eaten our fill. He informed her that The Colonel had arrived at the location she had given him, finding the crater easily enough. The ship, however, was no longer there. The Colonel assumed, Soldier informed us, that the
Schrandfelths
had probably salvaged it in the interim. There were a few pieces of debris left, however, that Smart Guy was taking a look at. Apparently Fluffy's people used some pretty amazing alloys, and The Colonel was keen to replicate it, maybe develop some kind of armour for her troops.
Soldier also told us news of our friends at The School. Viking and Valkyrie had not been seen, though they had made radio contact and were a few days away. Traveller, his Daughter and The Twin had decided that they didn't like this new Empire that had arisen. Soldier had assigned a couple of his men to escort them to wherever they wanted to go. He told us not to be overly surprised if they went looking for us.
There was even news of The Disciple. He had, evidently, decided to follow us, though to what end he hadn't said. Soldier suspected revenge to be his motive, which was likely. We had fucked his organisation up pretty well, after all. All Soldier knew was that he had been seen walking to the west, alone, after finding out as much information as he could about us. I was a little worried, but the chances of The Disciple surviving long enough to find us were incredibly slim. Still, I found myself wondering how it would feel to chop his fucking head off. I suspected it would feel quite satisfying.
May 19thYear 1 A.Z.
morning
Our breakfast was interrupted from a shriek of surprised pain from Granny, who had wandered off behind a tree to 'water' it. As we ran over, a sound not unlike a gong being struck rang out, then another, followed by another shriek of agony, this one mixed with anger, rage even. She struck her attacker with her half-ton frypan of doom once more, the sound ringing out clearly through the Cold air.
Arriving behind the tree, the scene awaiting us was grisly. What had once been a Koala had dropped on her from above, attacking with claws and teeth. Teeth that had once been designed for chewing up eucalyptus leaves, now clearly meant for tearing and rending flesh. The creature was bloated beyond the normal bulk of a koala, though with muscle that threatened to tear the skin apart. This was quite clearly a brutally efficient killing machine now. Granny, or what was left of her, still tried to smash the Drop-Bear's skull further in with her skillet, while her entrails spread out in a large semicircle behind the monstrous former koala.
“
Holy shit!” Sister voiced for all of us. Sonny ran over to his dying Granny, holding her head, stroking her thin, white hair. The Drop-Bear had torn into her viciously enough that her spine was visible through what remained of her stomach. One wrinkled breast hung from a low branch. An arm had nearly been severed and a leg lay a couple of metres away. The attack, from first screech to last gong, had lasted maybe eight seconds.