Land Down Undead 2

By John Normal

Your editor sends you to Australia on an assignment to investigate the weird world of zombie tourism. You are loaded onto a bus with a bunch of sweaty backpackers and taken deep into Australia's undead wasteland.

What will you find out there?
Can you even survive?

You choose where the story goes in this rude and crude zombie comedy adventure game book.
Will you join a German zombie killing cult?
Shag an Australian yobbo?
Or lead a small team of survivors to safety?

The choices are all difficult and your fate is in your own hands. Containing three major plot lines with multiple minor variations, nineteen different endings, and ten gruesome ways to die. Land Down Undead 2 is a unique zombie comedy game book experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Normal
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005907716

John Normal

John e Normal is the alter-ego of Australian computer scientist John Hawkins. He lives in a cluttered world of science fiction, electronic music and endless self parody.

Book preview

Introduction

You were just a little girl when the dead stood up and began eating the living. You peered out of your window at disfigured people feeding on your screaming neighbours. You remember the mental fog of fear and confusion, the warmth of urine running down your legs, and the feelings of shame.

Your father carried you to the car and placed you on the back seat. You lay face down and tried to ignore the screams outside. Your mother sat beside you and stroked your hair as the car moved through the city. You can still close your eyes and hear her trembling voice singing you a gentle lullaby.

Your family was lucky. You escaped from London and found refuge in one of the military evacuation zones. You grew up there, behind huge concrete walls, protected from the horror that lay outside. By the time you were a teenager the entire United Kingdom was free of the undead, and a long process of rebuilding society had begun.

The only significant horde left in the world was quarantined in Australia, a far away land whose native inhabitants fled. Your parents met there many years ago, long before the dead walked the earth.

You hold a deep curiosity for that country and its weird history. Once an ancient land of improbable animals, then a penal colony, then a backpacking mecca for drunken students, and finally the containment facility for the world's infected. In your purse you have a picture of your parents, very young and sunburnt, hugging each other in front of Ayer's rock. Now that your parents have passed away you feel like that picture and that distant land are the only connection you have with them.

When your editor asked you if you wanted to travel to Australia to write about the emerging zombie tourism industry you jumped out of your seat.

Bloody hell yes, you exclaimed without thinking.

She raised her eyebrows at you.

You do know that it is dangerous there, don't you?

You sat down and regained your composure. Yes, maaam, you replied. She paused and stared at you, perhaps rethinking her request. Then she picked up a flyer from the table and handed it to you. Land Down Undead Tours Inc was printed on the front cover. A big picture of a group of backpackers holding blood stained cricket bats dominated the rest of the flyer.

You leave tomorrow, she said as she smiled and nodded toward her assistant. Donald has your itinerary, pick it up on the way out.

You turned to leave but as you placed your hand on the door handle she called out.

Ohh and Sarah,

Yes maaam? you asked turning back to her.

For Christ's sake be careful! she pleaded.

Arrival

Your editor's words are still in your ears as the ship approaches mainland Australia through Melbourne port. You can see the blackened husks of skyscrapers as the ship glides toward the wharf. Trees and grasses grow in the streets, and many of the buildings are covered with vines. There is something peaceful about the view, but you know that danger lurks in every corner of the city.

Your tour guide is waiting for you as the boat docks. He is waving his hands and talking loudly through a handheld megaphone.

G'day everyone, welcome to Australia.

He is a tall man with scruffy blonde hair and sunburnt skin. Me name's John, he repeats to each of you as you file past. G'day, he says offering his hand, you shake it quickly and move on.

You follow the group of tourists across the wharf. In front of you is a couple of young Swedish backpackers you met on the journey, Hans and Petra. They have come to see Australia for a little bit of danger at the end of their trip around the world.

Petra explains that she finds something fascinating about the hordes of undead that are quarantined here.

They were once people from all over the world, she tells you. It is like a living graveyard, remarks Hans.

You tell them you are here because your magazine wants you to write an article about Australia's zombie tourism industry. They volunteer to be interviewed later in the trip. The tour guide continues yelling at the group through his megaphone.

Keep coming, don't be shy. I want everyone to come down into the enclosure over by the bus.

John gestures across the pier to a double decker bus standing inside a steel fence enclosure.

That's it, hurry along, I won't bite youse, he declares, but I know a few cunts who will.

He grins and you can see a few gaps in his row of yellowing teeth. You trudge up the pier and across the tarmac toward the bus.

When the tour guide takes a break from his introductory monolog you become aware of a moaning sound in the air. As the group is ushered toward the steel armoured tour bus you see where the sound is coming from. On the other side of the fence there are hundreds of undead thrashing and moaning, reaching through the wire toward you.

Hans holds his camera out toward you.

Sarah, can you please take a photo of me with the undead?

You stare at his outstretched hand for a second, uncertain what you should do.

If you say sure I can

>> Click Here

If you say I don't think we should

>> Click Here

SURE I CAN

You take Hans' camera, and he leads Petra over to the fence. They turn and look back at you, posing for the camera. You take one photo; Hans tells you to take a few more. As you lift the camera to take another shot you see a hand reaching for Hans through the fence.

Watch out, you yell, but the zombie grasps Han's backpack and pulls him toward the fence. Petra is pulling Hans in the other direction and screaming as he slides toward the wall of undead behind the fence.

GET BACK, comes the voice of your tour guide.

He comes running past you, holding a machete above his head. He pulls Hans to the side and swings down cleaving the arm from the zombie that has a hold of the backpack. Hans falls to the ground sobbing. The decaying bloody hand is still grasping his backpack. The tour guide pulls it off and gives it to Petra.

Here ya go, have a souvenir, he says gruffly. He turns to Hans. C'mon mate, get and stop bawling. Just be a bit more careful.

He offers Hans his hand. Hans takes it and is pulled back onto his feet.

C'mon everyone shouts John, the show's over, let's get outa here.

Get on the tour bus

>> Click Here

I don't think we should

Hans scowls at you. He takes his camera and walks over to the fence. He holds it away from himself and takes a couple of selfies with the undead pressed against the fence in the background.

Oiiiiii! you hear the tour guide shout.

GET AWAY FROM THE BLOODY FENCE!

Hans almost drops his camera in shock. He walks back to Petra and picks up his backpack.

Get on the tour bus

>> Click Here

On the Bus

Your tour guide walks to the front of the bus and points toward the open door.

Please everyone, take your seats on the bus. He announces. The sooner you get your bums on the seats, the sooner we can get on our way.

The engine roars to life as you are wiping dust away from your window. The bus turns in a slow circle and then drives down an earthen ramp into an old train tunnel. Everything is black except for the wide beams of light sprayed out in front of the vehicle. You peer down the aisle and out through the windscreen at the broken concrete walls of the tunnel in front of you.

An opening of light appears ahead of the bus and rapidly grows. You are blinded by the brightness as the bus bursts through the opening and into the street.

Ok kids, starts the tour guide. We have just entered the south of Melbourne. He points out some of the landmarks as he talks, but his voice washes over you. You are astounded by the vision of blackened buildings gradually being overtaken by grass and vines. The streets are filled with car bodies and junk.

The bus comes to a sudden halt.

Time for some shooting practice, announces the guide over the intercom. He directs everyone to the stairs at the front of the bus that lead up onto the second level. You follow a Spanish hippy girl with long dreadlocks up the staircase and through a thick hatch. The roof has been torn off and the entire second level is open to the air. You can smell the decay in the city around you.

The guide has placed a .22 calibre rifle into a bracket at the front of the bus.

Who's first? he asks.

If you volunteer to go first

>> Click Here

If you hang back and wait for someone else to volunteer

>> Click Here

Volunteer

The guide gestures for you to come forward. He gives you instructions on how to use the gun. Your hands are shaking a little as you pull it into your shoulder and peer down the sights.

Do you see that blue door about 500 metres in front of you? he asks. You scan the base of the buildings until you find it.

Yeah, you reply.

Ok let's see if you can put a bullet in its centre.

You breathe out as you try and steady the barrel of the gun. Just squeeze lightly when you are ready, the guide coaxes you. The gun lets out a sharp crack and the barrel jumps upward as you pull the