Chapter 58 - Punch Through

I woke to a gentle vibration at my wrist, plus a pinging sound. My eyes snapped open, and I was fully alert in moments; but it was just my watch. I’d set the alarm for seven in the evening. Enough time to get some solid rest, but early enough so we’d be able to leave with the setting sun.

My pack was undisturbed next to my cot, Hope standing guard. Kara was still asleep on the next cot over. I slipped my boots back on and gently roused her.

“Time?”

“Yup,” I replied.

There was no one else in the bunk room. It was a large room, filled with rows of cots, but the other residents were all out and about still, taking care of the business of the day. Farnsworth told me this was where they put newcomers soon after they arrived, until they had more permanent housing. He’d offered us a pair of the cots to rest for a bit. Sleep was going to be in short supply tonight.

Before we were ready to go, Farnsworth appeared at the door, first knocking, then coming inside. “You’re already up. Good. Colonel Turner sends his regards and best wishes. He asked me to let you know he’s sorry he can’t send more help. With the way we’re under siege from the avians, right now…”

“He can’t. I get it,” I told him. “When we bring our friends back, they’re free to stay though, right?”

“Absolutely. Anyone willing to work is welcome.”

I hoped everyone Alfred brought was willing to do some sort of work. Freeloading wasn’t going to get folks very far in this new world. The Guard would find something useful folks could do, I felt confident of that. Bringing them to this place would at least give them a shot. Beyond that, it would be up to them.

Farnsworth took us to the gates, stopping briefly to pick up my undead. With my full force back behind us, we made our way out through the main gates.

“Wish I could come,” Farnsworth said, before we took off. “I’d help if I could. Orders.” He shrugged helplessly.

“Thanks. I appreciate the thought, at least,” I told him.

“You’re a good one, Selena. I hope you get back to us in one piece.”

“Oh, I will. It’s anyone who gets in our way who needs to be worried, tonight.” I meant it, too. I was on fire, and not willing to let anything slow me down. If someone attacked us, I was going to tear right through them.

“I bet. Stay safe out there,” Farnsworth added. Then he closed the gates behind us.

We were on our own, again.

Kara led the way south, skirting the fence line to stay off the runways. There was too much open space out there. Even with the avians mostly sleeping, we didn’t want to take a lot of chances. There was a small forest on the southeast side of the runways. We made our way there, not entering the woods, but staying just outside them where we had optimal visibility without being able to be seen at a distance.

From there, we slipped past the flight academy Farnsworth told me about when he was briefing us on the surrounding area before our nap. It was abandoned and locked up. In a pinch, he said, that ought to be a relatively safe place to rest. It was cleared in the first days after the Event, and the avians hadn’t moved in yet. This was about the closest we wanted to get to their base of operations.

I watched them in the distance, torches lighting up the top of the terminal and air traffic tower. He’d been spot on about them mostly staying inside at night, thank goodness. I didn’t see any of them flying around, just a few silhouettes from their guards as they passed in front of a torch.

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Route Two was a short hop down Aviation Drive. Once we were on a main road, the going felt a lot easier, but the danger was probably higher. The further we got from the Air Guard base, the less their sphere of influence mattered. The bird people, too, were probably clearing out random monsters spawning near their home. As we moved away from both, we entered territory we didn’t know, that was controlled by who-knew-what.

People were out and about. I spotted one group that looked like a family—they had some kids with them, anyway. If they’d approached us, I’d have suggested they backtrack our path, head to the Guard base. But they took one look at the ranks of undead traveling with me and headed in the other direction, fast. It was a little sad to see—I didn’t want to scare decent people. On the other hand, that same fear was probably keeping a lot of would-be attackers away from us, too. That part, I couldn’t complain about.

There was enough cloud cover that the moon was only providing light illumination. If it hadn’t been for Kara’s NightVision, we’d have been in deep shit. Well, that, and my undead didn’t seem to need a lot of light either. They were moving along without much issue. I was not. I tripped and stumbled more times than I could count, but I couldn’t be upset about it. If the visibility was so bad I couldn’t see the ground in front of me, it also meant most things out in the night couldn’t see me.

It took us hours to move the couple of miles up Route Two toward our destination. Cars were dead in the street all around us, and they gave us plenty of cover. The night was noisy, though! The sounds of violence rang out all around us. A scream, to the north. Then sounds of combat to the south. Banging, like someone was striking a drum over and over.

This wasn’t the Burlington I’d known, not even close. This was a nightmare compared to the street I used to hike. My friends and I would walk down Route Two from the University to the mall at least once a week or so. Burlington wasn’t a big town—there wasn’t that much to do here, at least, not before. I knew this street.

But not anymore. It was nothing like what it had been. My senses tracked the smallest sounds, worried they might represent a threat.

Finally we passed the mall itself. We veered north a bit, there, and avoided coming anywhere close to the place. I wasn’t sure what was going on there, but it was bad news. Flames erupted from a score of spots in the parking lot around the mall—someone had set cars aflame, and they were burning merrily. That drumming sound I’d heard before? That’s where it was coming from. I didn’t know what was happening there and didn’t want to.

Not tonight, anyway. I couldn’t fix the entire world. Trying to fight every monster everywhere would just end up with me getting myself killed. But with some luck, maybe I could save my friends.

Once we reached the intersection with Interstate 89, though, we had some choices to make. I knew the goblins had captured the hotel on the north side of the road, and some rat creatures had taken the mini-mall on the south side. We slipped through them, the first time Kara and I passed this way.

That wasn’t going to work out as well this time.

The goblins were on the move. They’d rushed across the road and were actively attacking the rat people, who fended them off as best they could. The rats had set up barricades to keep the attackers back and shoved spears at attackers over the low walls. Other rat-people in the roof of the mall threw short spears or fired crude arrows into the mass of attackers.

“Well, shit,” Kara said. “I was hoping things would stay easy.”

“Yeah, we can’t get that lucky. What do you think? Cut north?” If we moved north, we could slip between the hotel buildings the goblins occupied, and if they were all busy with the rat-people, maybe they’d left that unguarded?

But Kara shook her head. “No, I can still see them there. The goblins are still all over the place on the north side of the street. That force attacking, that’s maybe half of their troops. We go north, they’re going to be all over us.”

“What’s the play, then?” I asked. On the plus side, if the goblins were fighting the rats in these numbers, maybe it meant Alfred’s people were okay. They couldn’t have enough goblins to hit both places at the same time, right?

On the other hand, they were one hell of a barrier for us to cross right now.

“Honestly? I think we just rush ‘em,” Kara said. “Punch through the goblin ranks. That will lighten the pressure on the rat-guys, and maybe they’ll rush and counterattack the goblins.”

“Maybe isn’t a great strategy.”

“No, but unless we want to travel way out of our way to the south—or go north through the woods we know are goblin-infested—we don’t have a whole lot of options.”

She wasn’t wrong. I did say I was going to punch through anyone who got in my way tonight… Guess it was time to demonstrate the resolve behind that. I passed mental orders to my undead, forming them up into ranks. Shield wall up front, with the archers behind.

“Ready?” I asked Kara.

She nodded.

I gave another silent order, and my undead moved forward, pushing straight down the street into the rear guard of the goblin strike force.