CHAPTER 32 - UPGRADES

I’d been hoping that the Animate spell would effectively double my number of controlled minions. As I explored the new spell, I found that it would animate a single dead body into something basic, like a tier one zombie or skeleton—or I could combine a few bodies to create something more complex and higher tier.

As I looked at the piles of bones in front of me, the spell gave me a sense of what I could do with them all. I’d Animated one skeleton already, which left me limited. Since I already had one tier one under my control, now I could only summon a second tier one. I released the skeleton from my spell and it clattered to the ground, nothing more than a pile of bones again.

Now I had new options. I could summon two tier one skeletons, or I could use up two bone piles, merging them to make tier two options. There were two I could choose from: skeleton warrior and skeleton mage. I tried the first, but the bones weren’t close enough together. I’d have to merge the piles if I wanted to make that work.

“Well, guys, I can think of a few options here,” I said, chatting with my zombies and Hope. There wasn’t anyone else around…! “I could just send the zombies in, let them get killed, control new skeletons, and repeat until they were all gone.”

The problem with that, of course, was I wouldn’t get crystals from the ones I controlled, just the enemy undead. Since my goal was to farm as many crystals as possible, I’d end up losing at least half of the loot if I tried that method. Not ideal.

Another option would be to raise two skeletons, send them in, and repeat over and over until all the enemy skeletons were dead. That might work. I gave it a shot, trying to raise the same skeleton that I’d raised before, but…nothing. Apparently I could only raise a dead thing once, and when I released it, I’d used up whatever spark of magic made the spell effective.

I rolled the skulls for two other skeletons back to their bodies, and cast twice, back to back. The effort of the spells left me panting, breathless, but they worked! I had two skeletons out there, right on the edge of where the enemy undead could reach.

The reaction was instant. Two dozen enemy undead came rushing over at top speed. In the distance, others threw rocks! One stone pinged off the skull of one of my skeletons, almost knocking it over. I ordered them to march forward—this was a theory test, after all. It wasn’t looking great, but if they could even take down two enemy skeletons before they were destroyed…

“Nope,” I muttered, watching the wave of undead overwhelm my pair of guys in seconds. They didn’t even take down a single enemy before they fell. “That one’s not going to work.”

I’d used up three out of eight bone piles now. If I was going to get the best possible milage out of this stuff, I needed to go for quality. The other side had quantity, numbers I wasn’t going to beat without upping my game in some other way. I glanced around, staring across the street.

This was, oddly enough, a residential road. The opposite side was a string of nice houses, and from the looks of them they were empty. I couldn’t count on that, but if I had even a little luck, maybe I could find something over there to help equip my guys, help them fight better.

I rested until I’d recovered enough to cast again, then looked at the remaining bones. Merging piles to make a stronger undead would be the right move, but I wasn’t going to be able to scoop all of the bones close enough before I was overrun with attackers. Maybe later. For now, I just Animated two more and then recalled them quickly to my side. Thankfully, once they were under my command they completely ignored whatever had been keeping them away from the gate.

Now I had five undead: two zombies, two skeletons, and the bone dog. I shouldered my bag and we set out across the street as a group. One of the houses had solar panels on the roof, and I figured we’d check that first. Not because I thought the electricity would work; with every device fried, I was sure whatever the Event did had wiped out solar, too. No, I just figured that someone with solar panels was more likely to be handy, more apt to have tools and stuff I might be able to use.

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I went straight up to the door. With Hope beside me and the other undead arrayed as guards around me, I knocked. No answer. I knocked again, hammering as loud as I could. If there were people there, I wanted to leave them be. Everyone was going to have a tough time; the last thing I wanted was to steal from someone who needed their supplies.

But there was no answer, so I tested the door. Locked, but my axe made quick work of the handle, which then let me open the door itself. We swept the home quickly, searching for any people or critters hidden inside, but it was empty.

In fact, it looked intentionally empty. As I looked about, the bedrooms had clothes left scattered about, like someone had hastily packed. Two adults and a couple of teenagers, from the looks of it. The kitchen told the same tale, with most of the storable foodstuffs removed. There was some fruit and cheese in the no longer cold fridge that were still worth eating, so I had that for a quick lunch. I wondered as I ate where these folks had gone. Clearly, they’d had a destination in mind.

What was nearby? I scooped the map out of my pocket and peered at it, then slapped my head. Of course! We were only a few blocks from the airport, and on the far side of the airport, the Air National Guard base. They had hundreds of full-time military personnel over there. Their weapons wouldn’t work, the planes were all trash now. But the command structure had likely remained intact. It made sense that would be a good place to go. It might be worth me checking it out, once I was done with the cemetery.

Food finished, I scooped up what other odds and ends I thought might be useful from the kitchen, and refilled my water bottle from the tap. There wasn’t much left in the pipes, but it was enough, and it still smelled okay. I was going to be boiling water soon, though.

A quick cruise around the house found me some other odds and ends. I grabbed a nice black leather jacket out of the mom’s closet. She clearly appreciated night-life, because the cut was not what I would consider ‘mom chic.’ It was too warm to wear, but I looped it through my backpack straps. Some protection from grabbing claws would be welcome. One of the teens had a baseball bat in their room, too, which I passed off to Rosie.

From there it was out to the garage, and that was the mother lode.

The aluminum trash cans caught my eye first. There were two of them, and they had lids. I popped the lids off and instantly regretted it; old trash and warm, late summer days was not a great combo. But the lids themselves were in good shape. They weren’t supremely sturdy, but they were fairly decent, and they’d work as makeshift shields. I handed one each to my zombies, then looked around for more weapons.

Potential objects were all over the place. The family had been gardeners. There was a hoe, a rake, a lot of other long pole-type objects, but I ideally wanted my guys to have shields. That meant one-handed weapons. I found a mallet, a big wood job with a large head that was perfect for fighting skeletons. Guildie got that one.

An aluminum baseball bat sat in the corner. I snagged that, and the biggest regular carpenter’s hammer on the workbench, and gave them to the skeletons. Looking at what I had here, I was already beginning to feel more confident in our odds. Sure, we still couldn’t take the whole swarm down at once, not even with all of this. But the skeletons were basically unarmed, and now we were not. That sort of qualitative advantage was exactly what I’d been looking for.

I opened the garage door and walked down the driveway to the street. Glancing one way, then the other, I quickly spotted what I’d been seeking. The house next door had their trash cans already outside. These were plastic, rather than aluminum, but they still had lids, and in some ways that was probably better. These trash cans were big, heavy duty monsters with large lids made of thick plastic. Not a perfect shield, but not bad at all. I handed one to each of my skeletons.

My little team of undead stood arrayed in front of me. I’d armed all four of the bipeds; Hope already had her teeth and her howl. With shields to block the enemy rushes, and the bats and hammers to crush bones, we were going to be much more effective this time.

“Saddle up, folks,” I told my growing army, drawling out the words. “It’s time to show those skeletons who’s boss in these parts.”

Yeah, I seriously needed to find more people sooner or later. Talking to my undead was a lot like speaking with a wall. They didn’t so much as moan in response, except for Hope. My pup was brighter than the others, reacting with energy and enthusiasm to my call to arms. Probably a side effect of her being tier two, which was another reason to aim for more, stronger undead next time I cast Animate.

We crossed the street again, the early afternoon air heating up and shimmering over the pavement. Back through the gates, straight into the breach. It was time to see how capable my army was, now that I’d had some upgrades!