Free Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 4): April by Dave Rowlands

“What're you talking about?”  He demanded.  I told him that we were responsible for killing his general friend.  He laughed, doubling over in a coughing fit after a while.  “Dude, I always told you I had contacts up in Queensland,”  My heart sank.  “These guys sorted their shit out with the Dead straight away.  They've decided to hit the road, shall we say.  Head south for the nuclear winter!”  He laughed again.
     
    I told him that no matter how many of his 'friends' come to rescue him, there was no way I was letting him take The School.  “Mate, I don't want your piece of shit school.  I've got a place, somewhere near here.  Much better than this shithole!”  He smiled.  Half of his face smiled, at least.  The rest grimaced, as a dribble of drool slipped between paralysed portions of his lips.  “We were heading that way anyway, you guys are in our way.  We figured you'd be easy pickings, but nooo... you had to make things difficult, didn't you?”
     
    The Disciple stalked around silently in a large circle.  Apocalypse Girl motioned that we should go, but I knew him, I knew he wasn't finished.  “Right, I know what to do now.”  He said, hobbling towards me to peer into my eyes.  “I will spare The School, The Mech-Techs, even your beloved Colonel and her army.”  His good eye burned.  “On one condition.  You have to leave.  Find somewhere else to make trouble.  Or we're gonna attack with an army of ten thousand and obliterate you all.”  The Disciple turned around, hobbling off into a side street and almost disappearing into the snow after moving a matter of metres.
     
     

evening
    “But you can't go!  We need you guys here!”  The Twin cried out when we told her.  I told them that I would just go on my own, he hadn't said anything about anyone else but me.  Apocalypse Girl kicked me in the shin from across the table for that one.  I glared at her, but she was right.  She and I are a team, we have been since the beginning.  We were having a victory dinner party that The Principal had arranged for us that was apparently doubling as a farewell dinner.
     
    The Principal seemed genuinely sorry to see us have to leave, but he wasn't about to waste any tears on us, after all he had a community to lead and if we were a threat to their safety by staying, then we had to leave.  Many of the friends we had made were considering coming along with us, Guide in particular.  Viking and Valkyrie wanted to join us as well.  Which meant that Cyclops was coming, of course.  Redbeard was truly torn, as he wanted to come with us but Firecracker did not.  I told him to stay.  To compound matters, though, Firecracker told him to go.  In the end, with Apocalypse Girl whispering loudly in his ear “ She means she wants you to stay you idiot! ” Redbeard chose to remain behind.  Archer, on the other hand, was eager to get back on the road again.  He had an aversion to remaining in any one place for too long.  Sister looked from face to face before shrugging, saying that she needed to pack a few things, were we leaving first thing in the morning?
     
    We organised a radio frequency with which to keep in touch with people here, as we planned on taking The Nightmare, though it would be a little cramped with eight people in it, and discussed amongst ourselves a likely location for The Kid to have found himself.  Archer pulled out a map of the area that he had sketched up, showing all of the landmarks that we had encountered on our journey.  The older man had been the last to see him, that had been before the destruction of The Think Tank, and he had marked the approximate location.  The Kid had grown up on a commune, which was also marked clearly, far to the west.  It was unlikely that he would return there, but it was certainly possible.  My eye kept returning to what looked like a sword in a stone.  Asking Archer what that was, he smiled, shook his head and said “You