Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 8): August Read Free

conferring with the Scavenger Squad, with whom I expect to meet in the next couple of days.  She flashed a sweet smile at me, saying that she expected great things of me.  A shudder ran involuntarily up my spine, chilling me to the bone as she looked away.

August 3 rd Year 1 A.Z.
    morning
    With Apocalypse Girl at my side I was able to work out a decent plan to clear out the Dead from one of the larger shopping malls in the city itself.  The Queen's face brightened when I divulged our ideas over breakfast, as it meant opportunities for more supplies but more importantly it opened up the possibility of entertainment!   That was the one thing lacking in Adelaide, other than a couple of pubs here and there serving whatever noxious liquids they found remaining in their cellars there was absolutely no entertainment to speak of.  Not for the regular people, at least.  The Queen, naturally, had her own Jester, a little fellow that had probably managed to survive the Dead by simply being beneath their notice.  That was Her Majesty's reasoning, at least.
     
    Jester performed for us over breakfast, debasing himself by leaping about while telling jokes about the Dead and humorous anecdotes of the early days of The Queen's reign.  She was cackling wildly at his antics and, when he fell over and bloodied his nose, almost wet herself.  Rather than allow him to tend to his injured proboscis she insisted that he continue his tale, blood pissing from his broken honker.  When he finally finished the blood had stopped flowing, but that was hardly surprising as it seemed more covered the unfortunate dwarf than was left inside him.  The Queen thanked him for his performance and dismissed him, completely ignoring the white-hot agony and pain directed her way in his glare as he left.
     
    The Queen was suggesting, once we finally liberated our target, that we set up a massive screen for the people in the square in the centre of town and screen movies every night.  That should keep the people happy, she thought.  Butler agreed with her, nodding at every word she said.  Occasionally he would glance in my direction.  It took me a little while to notice but he did that with Her Majesty's less intelligent ideas.  A little while after that and I realised that he was in fact rolling his eyes ever so slightly with each glance.
     
    noon
    I had been allowed the use of the Security office of the Palace, though the monitors were useless now it had quite a nice desk and The Queen figured that I would need a good one.  Her Sheriff had used this office, she told me, once they had cleared out the former Casino.  As she left me, she reiterated that, should I need anything at all I only had to call out.  Butler would provide my every whim, apparently.  Also, if I needed a laugh I had her permission to call upon Jester.  I told her that I would be fine as long as I had Apocalypse Girl with me.  The Queen smiled at that, beaming first at Apocalypse Girl, then myself before flouncing out the door.  It was a smile that never reached her eyes.
     
    Scout came into my office shortly after lunchtime, telling me that not everyone was happy with the Queen's rule.  Nobody was actually willing to stand up and say anything directly, after all she had saved them all from the Dead, many times over, and reintroduced rule of law, at least of sorts.  Adelaide had gone from a city where the Dead tore the Living apart at every opportunity to a community of Living surrounded by the threat of the Dead tearing them apart.  She also told me that she had heard about the upcoming foray into the shopping mall and signed up for it.  One last adventure before she heads back up north to Ginger and Coober's Nest.
     
    evening
    At dinner the Queen asked about my bite marks.  She'd never seen any that had been Healed before and told me that she needed to inspect them.  As she traced her fingers gently along the scar where Disciple had torn out a chunk of my flesh she