Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 3): March Read Free Page A

his head to one side.  He quietly told us to hang back, which we did a little, while he went on ahead.  He drew his .45, and carefully we moved onwards.  The chill became far more evident as we went along, the light becoming more stable, as well, though not for the ancient bulbs that flickered overhead.  No, there was, for want of a better term, a light at the end of the tunnel.
     
    noon
    The Twin ran off ahead while we sat and ate a light lunch.  We had gone through a little more than half the food and water we had brought along, so we needed to be heading back up to The Think Tank soon, so she had offered to scout out the light in the distance.  I was just washing down the last mouthful of jerky with water when The Twin returned, puffing slightly from her run.  Her facial expression was one of deep concern.
     
    “You guys need to see this,”  She began, “Just be quiet as you can, just in case, but it should be safe enough.”
     
    We followed her another couple of hundred metres down the hallway, and came to a large, rusted grate over the end of the tunnel.  Whoever had designed this place had put a back way in, but had neglected to do more than cover it with a simple steel grate.  The Twin pushed on it slightly, and it moved easily, though noisily.
     
    Looking through the grate, however, all we could see was Dead.  Thousands of Dead.  A vast carpet of Dead stretching as far as the eye could see lay no further than a kilometre away, shambling along in a westerly direction.  Now that we could see enough of the outside world, we could make a guess as to where we were, and the orientation of the tunnel.  It stretched out behind us, also to the west.
     
    Apocalypse Girl's phone jangled urgently at her, and she whipped it out as we moved back inside.
     
    “Oh shit.”  Was all she said, showing me the phone.  Two messages awaited our attention.  Emergency situation, need to discuss, return at once.   That was the first.  The second we didn't really need, not now.  Massive horde approaching in Family's wake, RETURN URGENTLY!
     
    I took the phone off her and replied with Two days out, will return ASAP then we marched back down the corridor, and back up the stairs.
     
     
     
     
     
    evening
    We had to stop once we reached the top of the stairwell, going up stairs being that much more difficult than descending.  Close to collapse from exhaustion, we camped in the same room as the previous night.  Another message had arrived during our climb, this one reading Family is three days away.  Horde another four behind them, by best guess.  Need to plan defence NOW.  The phone rang, then, Apocalypse Girl handing it to me.  The Colonel was on the other end.
     
    “That psychotic Mother and her Family are closing.  We have time enough to prepare a solid defence, but we need to know if you found anything we can use down there.”  I told her that we found something interesting, but it wasn't particularly useful in this instance.  She asked what it was, and was silent for a good minute after I reported the neutron warhead on the missile.  “Yeah, that won't help us now.”  She said.  “Though I will need to check it out myself.  I might be able to find a use for it.  Maybe for the Dead?”  Then I told her of the stairs to the corridor and grate, where we had seen the horde firsthand.  She suggested that it might be a good idea to secure that grate, make sure we have a working back door.
     
    We might need it.

March 5Year 1 A.Z.
    morning
    Awakening to the sounds of approaching footsteps, I snatched up my .45 before I was aware enough to realise that it was a crew from The Think Tank coming to investigate things further.  Foreman poked his head through the door, nodding with satisfaction when he saw us, though the glare he gave me left no doubt.  He blamed me for the deaths of his companions at The Farm.  Fair enough, really, because so did I.  Vanishing back up the passage, he barked to