“—think we should do to it?” Lily asked.

It felt as if I had been gone for hours, yet she had just finished the sentence she started before I used drain.

I dropped my hand immediately. She didn't seem to have noticed that I touched her.

Koffer did because he pushed his blade against my neck a little harder. It broke the skin and my flesh began to hiss.

The pain caused me to lean back. Lewis pulled me away from Lily and Koffer’s weapon. His hands slipped from my shoulders and he fell onto his back, sending his helmet flying. The position of his arms hadn't changed but his face was sucked dry just as Kumo's vision had shown.

My disguise and mask disappeared as I put them away and activated my control undead ability. I dislocated my jaw and let loose a raspy growl.

Lily’s eyes were locked on Lewis, so I let out a wail. It would never be as good as a banshee’s but it got Lily's attention.

Her eyes nearly popped from her skull as she fell on her ass.

I feinted, and all of the men flinched. Lily screamed as she scurried behind Koffer and hid behind his legs. He kneeled next to her.

While they were off guard, I launched to my feet and ran toward the mass of undead. The men were in shock and stood there like statues as I passed them. I was too far away from the Hexed for my skill to affect them.

The distance between me and the undead shrank quickly. The guards standing between us readied their shields and drew their weapons.

Just as I came within range of my kind, a sharp pain wracked my leg. I tripped and fell to the ground. A dagger protruded from my knee. As fast as I could, I pulled it out and dropped it.

Pain worked differently for the dead. It was immediate but didn't linger. The one thing that made us extremely dangerous was that we didn't experience pain when we strained. For example, if something was too heavy, we wouldn't know until it broke our arms.

Another advantage was that we had a much higher regeneration rate and could reattach a severed limb. The living races needed to see a healer to fix theirs.

Either way, I wasn't taking any chances. I got back up and sprinted away.

I didn't bother looking back, but I did pull out my rot potion and drank it. The pain in my leg all but disappeared.

Then it hit me. A wave of consciousness. Forty, fifty, sixty, seventy people were connected to me. The thoughts and emotions of every one of them streamed directly into my brain. To say it was overwhelming was a massive understatement.

A part of me wanted to revel in the fact that it was the highest count I’d ever connected to, but I didn't have time.

I did my best to ignore them but couldn’t. Undead were everywhere, soldiers too. My point of view shifted several times. Then I found it, the one perspective not surrounded by people. In the confusion, I spun and caught a glance of the man in black leather chasing me.

When I turned back around I was surrounded by undead again.

Damnit!

It was like each perspective was begging for my attention. The experience was so different from the AI hordes.

I noticed I wasn't connected to any of the ghosts.

Stop, little shambler!

Only one of us was running, so I stopped them. I caught a glance through their eyes. They had almost run into the guards.

Then I had an idea. Through the swaths of needs, wants, and must-haves I searched for my kind. The shamblers.

Their perspectives were less chaotic. I directed the person outside of the guards to wave her hands. I could finally swap into what I called “us” mode, which worked similarly to how a spider could see through so many eyes,

We could see her over the guards.

Our small swarm moved toward those hands. Though we were jam-packed into a small space, the connection between us made it easier to navigate. We weaved, knowing exactly where to step. The second one of us reached the guards, we attacked.

We pulled on the man's armor, but he didn't budge. Then another of us arrived and another. Soon over a dozen of us focused on two people. We pushed, pulled, and grabbed.

Something was wrong. My abilities weren't being shared. The shamblers were resisting me. I remembered the buried need to be commanded that Molly had. When I tried to tap into the shamblers' same need, I was met with a wave of revulsion.

“I don't know where you think you're going, but you're not getting through here,” a guard said. His voice echoed through all of our ears.

I need your help! I thought to the undead. I know you're new, but these men are going to kill you!

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Show them Memories. Kumo said.

I'd never done anything like that before. I didn't want to force anything on these people so I simply remembered the fight from this morning. The strength we shared, our speed, and the tactics I'd used.

A spark of curiosity formed amongst the group.

I tried to encourage them with a thought, Together, we can fight them, and together we can win!

Then it happened, the revulsion turned to acceptance, and their resistance melted away.

We tried to move the men blocking our path again, and this time, they were swept away when we pulled. An opening was made, and the shambler outside joined us.

As we weaved through the Hexed, other shamblers were touched by my gift and joined us. It was then that the shambler that was me collapsed. The sprint had taken a lot out of her.

We surrounded her and waited.

Most of the skeletons were still connected to us, but if a shambler was near, it took the place of one of them.

The shamblers we picked up along the way seemed confused. I repeated the process I'd done earlier, informing them of the enemy's plans. I didn’t know if it was because they were new to the game or if they wanted glory, but they were happy to let me take control of them.

Exhaustion from the run had faded, but something was wrong. The guards had made an opening, and I could see into the arena again. Lily's personal entourage of soldiers were charging toward us.

When I stood up, we fled to the back of the trap, where the guards were more densely packed.

Freedom lives beyond them. I sent to my horde.

We grabbed one of the men, hefted him over our heads, and then let him drop in the middle of us. He barely put up a struggle as his armor peeled away, and we devoured him.

Drain them! Kumo said.

Before he was dead, I got a hand on the man and focused. The stream of experience came, but none of the memories. It was probably a conflict between the two skills being used at the same time. The ones that ate shared the experience with me but draining the man went only one way. Directly to me.

Suddenly another soldier landed next to the one we’d eaten. We pinned it down, so it stopped struggling.

A skeleton clad in heavy black armor studded with razor-sharp spikes stood above us. The armor absorbed the light around it, making it appear ominous and intimidating.

The skeleton's empty eye sockets glowed with a sinister light as if they were windows into the very soul of darkness.

A massive sword was strapped to its back. Dark purple runes danced along its edge. It was almost as tall as the skeleton itself.

He was not connected to us. I couldn't even sense him.

“For you,” he said. While scanning the horde of shamblers.

I didn’t know why he was bringing us a gift.

“Thank you,” we said.

He stepped back, confused. His hand went for his sword.

Then, behind him, a familiar ghost came into view. She skipped in front of him and leaned on his leg. “I made a new friend,” Molly said while gesturing at the skeleton.

The skeleton lowered its arm.

“This is Ra—”

Our reunion was cut short as my arm was sliced off. It tumbled to my feet and turned to dust. I looked down at my other hand, and it wasn’t a shambler’s. It was one of the new skeletons at the edge of my perception. Pure dread radiated from it.

“Kill them all!” our attacker yelled and swept his blade at our head.

I felt as if I were falling, and then I hit the ground. That last thing we saw was a boot slam into our faces.

I’d lost shamblers in battle before, but none of them feared death. The experience was disturbing.

Apparently, the guards had given up their pursuit and changed tactics. Since the skeletons and ghosts were not completely connected to me, I was powerless to help them. I could sense them, which meant that I could connect with them, but I didn’t know why it wasn’t working.

The skills I used to create the control undead skill should have allowed me to control every type of undead. Then I remembered my time in Aaron’s shop with Molly. She only lost control when I touched her. Perhaps that was the key?

Another of us died, and panic settled in amongst the undead. To avoid being consumed by their emotions, I reigned in my ability, narrowing my command.

I commanded the shamblers holding down the guard to start eating. Luckily, the guards near us hadn’t gotten the order to kill yet. I found one without a helmet and commanded the shamblers near me to start eating the human that Molly's friend had brought.

It was so much easier to figure out which of us was me. I fell back into the crowd and slipped out next to the soldier I’d spotted. He and the others were holding shields up and pushing anyone close to them away.

We grabbed his shield and pulled him far enough out that we could surround him. We lifted him over our heads like the other one. When he hit the ground, we held him down, and I used my drain ability on him.

He screamed as another siphon of energy flowed to me. His body shrunk in on itself. Before he died, we stripped him of his armor and returned him to his people.

The husk landed with a thud. It reached out with its withered hand toward its people.

We spoke as one, “This will be all of you if you don’t set us free.”

Our voice had the same effect as it did on Molly’s friend. They backed up and drew their swords.

“We will kill you all!” we said.

One of the soldiers fell to his knees crying. His shield made a hollow twang as it rolled on the grass.

I felt a presence pass me as the area darkened.

The skeleton with spiked armor pushed through us, and I let him pass. He grew in size until he towered over us. He was at least three meters tall when he made it to the guards. In a movement almost too fast for us to see, he had pulled out his sword and skewered the crying man.

Then a childish giggle drifted over the area as Molly skipped above the guards’ heads.

At least four men dropped their swords.

“They told you to. Go!” Molly said and did a proper Banshee wail. Her haunting voice made a few of the men's ears bleed. They would be deaf and would take weeks to recover. If they were lucky.

The men stood their ground until the skeleton lifted the man he had skewered and, in front of all of them, sliced him in half. Blood splattered everywhere, covering the once-shiny armor of the guards nearest to us with its gloppy spray.

A gap in the guards opened as two dozen broke off into a run.

We didn’t hesitate and pushed our way through the opening. The guards were horrified and didn’t bother to stop us.

I let my ability expand again to reach as many of us as possible.

Run! I told them.

***