Anno Zombus Year 1 (Book 9): September by Dave Rowlands

eyes had turned a sallow yellow.  The left bulged in an unsightly fashion.  “We have discovered that they require the same treatment as the Dead, that being their brains must be destroyed.  Decapitation works as well, and in this case will not result in an active cranium.”  She nodded to me.  In one swift motion, the unfortunate doctor lost his head to my blade.  “The other thing that we have learned is this; the serum that works as a vaccine against Dead infection is completely useless in the case of a Ghoul bite.  There is some conjecture, in fact, that it may hasten the process.”
     
    I don’t think anyone was expecting to witness a decapitation this early in the morning, or else they might not have eaten, and consequently lost, their breakfasts.  Oh well, the room was going to need a thorough scrubbing anyway.  Once the situation had calmed itself somewhat, and the secondary vomiters had finished, German Doctor continued.  “The blood, though corrosive and unpleasant, does not seem to be toxic in itself.  It will hurt when you are bled upon, but there will be no other effects than the corrosive ones.  I would still advise avoiding eye contact where possible, naturally, and in fact try to avoid it as much as you can.  The substance is rather painful.”  She raised her right hand, spots of red clearly visible where she had been exposed to small amounts of Ghoul blood.  Everyone in the room hissed an intake of breath in sympathy in unison.
     
    German Doctor wrapped up the briefing then, asking me to stay behind for a moment.  “I understand that your group brought these in.  Next time you might want to make sure that they are all dead.  We had to put three of them down in the lab.”  She bobbed her ponytail in her departed, decapitated companion’s direction.  “He wasn’t the only one we lost last night.” Her look told me that it was all due to my own incompetence.  I nodded, saying that now we know, we will only be bringing back dead ones.  She nodded her head once, then spun around on her heel and marched off, back towards the medical labs.
     
    Apprentice, whom I hadn’t even noticed until now, strode forward, slowly clapping.  “Good job, mate.  You’re about the only one to stand up to her glare and not wilt under it.  Nobody really likes her in the labs, but by buggery we do what she tells us to do.”  Her wry grin slowly faded.  “Unfortunately I could only help one person at a time.  I chose her.  It took a lot more out of me than a simple Dead bite, even with what you went through with Disciple.  We have to put a stop to these Righteous.”  With no further word Apprentice left me to my own thoughts.
     
    noon
    One unfortunate part of leading a squad of soldiers, enforcing discipline.  Maori and Wall had disobeyed orders to run off and sign up with a pack of Ghouls.  This was not necessarily something that I would ordinarily overlook, and I told them as much.  They both had the decency to look ashamed about the whole situation, neither offering anything as an excuse other than “I’m sorry, sir, I fucked up.”  Yes, yes they had indeed.  So, after a couple of hours of me screaming at the top of my lungs, I told them that this sort of shit had better not happen again, that I’d keep my eye on the pair of them, and that we would never have this sort of discussion again.
     
    After that debacle, I headed off to the mess hall for a late lunch.  Apocalypse Girl had already agreed to meet me there, her mother hovering uncomfortably close.  This gave me an opportunity to tell The Boss that I had made contact with Fluffy and relay the conditions of any meeting with it.  She also reiterated the importance of discovering where these Righteous Ghouls hung their proverbial hats, then bemoaned the lack of intel regarding the Terraformers.  We were well enough able to look at their shiny new base over what remained of Sydney, but we had nothing solid.  She was