Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 1): January by Dave Rowlands Read Free Book Online Page A

he moved overly swiftly they totally ignored him.  It seemed, in fact, that to the Dead, The Kid was simply one of the crowd.  Once he realised this, his journey back became a little slower than he had hoped but a damn sight safer.
     
 
     
We, in turn, told The Kid about everything The Twin had overheard Farmer saying last night.  He was furious.  Archer came by on his patrol, coming from the other direction, and we took the opportunity to tell him about Farmer's little plan, too.  He was all for taking the fucker out right then and there, but at that moment I spotted a scout from the bandit camp in the distance.  I raised my bow, arrow knocked, but he was way too far out of range.  He saw me, and ran.  “Fuck.”  was the unanimous sentiment shared by us all.
     
 
     
noon
     
We decided it would be a good idea to hid The Kid's return from Farmer for as long as we could manage, at least until evening, to give us as much time to prepare as we could.  Fat Dealer was told in private, naturally, and he and Archer formulated a plan while Junior, The Twin and I went about our usual routine of archery practice after lunch.  Apocalypse Girl joined us, as always, and we told her about The Kid's adventures and the scout we had seen.  She in turn informed us that Farmer had been trying to kick up a stink about how if most of us survive isn't that good enough?  After being shouted at by everyone else in the group he went up to his room to sulk, not even bothering to order his 'wife' to accompany him.  Probably because she was one of the more vocal of those opposing his plan.  She was now wandering around outside, moving in the general direction of Archer's shed.  We estimated that at the very latest the bandits would probably attack the day after tomorrow, if they wait even that long.
     
 
     
mid-afternoon
     
Fat Dealer asked me to accompany him on an inspection of the wall, as the builders had finally finished their toil.  As we walked, we discussed the situation.  His take on it was that we needed to defend ourselves, and the women, our food and our home.  I agreed, but also told him that no matter what, our lives were of paramount importance.  He nodded, and we began talking about exit strategies.  It was decided that if it looked as though the bandits were going to get in, we would have a few sheep ready to be loaded up into the Ute, which was already filled with fuel, as was Farmer's battered old Valiant.  Archer had taken the idea for armour that I had given him and not only had he, with the skin of a slaughtered cow, created armour that was reasonably light and flexible, but it would also protect from the bite of the Dead, he had also been rather busy welding bits of metal to the vehicles.  Butcher's cattle truck had been taken apart carefully, and the pieces scavenged had been quite effectively attached to the Valiant and the Ute, turning them into sharp pointy instruments of Dead destruction.  The Valiant had what was essentially a miniature cow-catcher bolted onto the front, though it was lower to the ground and almost horizontal, spreading outwards to almost double the width of the car itself.  It had been sharpened so finely that it gleamed in the dying sunlight.
     
 
     
From inside Archer's shed I could hear The Kid telling someone that he wouldn't do it before he came storming outside.  Farmer's Wife was inside, I could see as the door opened to allow his egress, and she was crying.  He headed in the direction of the barn, and from the expression on his face whatever she had asked him to do was not giving him happy thoughts.  Archer came out next, Farmer's Wife following The Kid outside and to the barn.  The hippy bowyer/mechanical genius told us that Farmer's wife had asked The Kid to infect her husband.  Fat Dealer said that if she had known how we found out about his gruesomely handy little ability she wouldn't have asked.
     
 
     
We continued our inspection, and Fat Dealer