I still wasn’t brave enough to go into the cloud.

I was going to have to find some way to deal with it. If I hadn’t been running low on magic, I might have tried more fireballs, but my head was throbbing and I could feel exhaustion in my muscles that shouldn’t have started. I needed to save as much magic as I could for an emergency, which meant finding a non-magical solution.

It also meant running from the next group of Zombies that stumbled out of the cloud. I thought about hiding in one of the houses, but with the approaching cloud, that seemed like a very bad idea.

Until I heard a child scream behind one of the windows.

I froze in front of the modest house. It had wood walls, but they weren’t wealthy enough for metal bars with glass inside for windows. Instead, there were two wooden boards that made a cross with a curtain stopping people from looking in. The problem with that setup was that a Zombie would be able to push their way through the fabric and get inside.

Which was a shame because the door was a sturdy wooden one made up of boards that had been nailed together. There wasn’t a doorknob, making it a little more secure than the wealthier houses that relied on a single metal bolt to hold it shut. Instead, there was a hole in the door that a rope could be pushed through. The rope was attached to a thick board on the other side of the door, which would keep the door barred from the inside. It was a great way to keep Zombies out if they hadn’t made their window so large and waist high.

I glanced behind me and stopped counting at seven. The group of Zombies was too big for me to fight in the open street. I could outrun them, but whoever was hiding inside the house to my right would die as soon as the cloud washed over their house.

I grabbed the gray curtain and yanked it down. Houses rarely had only one door and even if this one did, there was bound to be windows on the other side that we could get people out.

“DON’T COME IN HERE!” Terror accented her words as an unseen woman screamed at me. “I’VE GOT A SWORD!”

I glanced up the street, I didn’t have long before the Zombies would reach me. There was just the small problem of not wanting my legs cut off when I climbed inside.

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“I’m Bokor Byler.” I pulled out my Bokor sword and put the tip inside the window. I pushed a little of my remaining magic into the blade, making it glow purple. “I’m coming in to get you out.”

I didn’t wait for a response. I didn’t have time. I put my sword back in the sheath on my back, grabbed the top of the window and jumped, sliding feet first between the crosspieces in the window.

At least two people gasped and one screamed. It was getting dark and there was barely enough light for them to see me. I, on the other hand, could see them outlined in purple thanks to my vision. There were two adult women, a teenage girl, and four kids. One of the women was holding a baby against her chest, while the other one had the promised sword in her hands. The only problem with that was the weapon was still in the sheath, which was what she was holding onto. Pointing the handle at me.

“What do y-y-you want?” The woman with the sword’s teeth clacked as she pointed her weapon at me.

“You have to get out of here.” A Zombie stuck its arms through the opening that I’d just come through. I pulled out my sword and sliced down, taking off the arm, then swung back up as it stuck its head in. I pinned the rolling body part to the floor with my foot. I didn’t need one of the kids to think it was a toy or one of the women to try to throw it out to keep their kids from touching it.

“There’re ZOMBIES in the city!” The woman with the baby pulled the child closer to her chest. “We can’t go out there!”

Another Zombie tried to climb in and I took off the growling head. I kicked the pair of heads against the wall. Ideally, I would have lit them on fire, but the wall under the window was covered with Zombie blood. If I lit a fire in here, the whole house would go up.

“They can get in...!” I felt another Zombie at the back of the house. This one wasn’t growling as it crawled across the floor, meaning it was being controlled.

“Thank you!” I grabbed the other sword and pulled it out, skewering the Zombie to the floor only a few feet away from the teen.

“Wha…!?!” The woman with the empty scabbard dropped it. I heard the clink of metal meeting rock and my heart jumped into my throat.

“NO!” I dropped my sword to grab her hands before she could light the torch that she’d grabbed. “No light! Do you want this whole place to go up in flames?”

I pulled the flint out of her hands and threw it at the window behind me, striking the Zombie crawling through it between the eyes. The Zombie’s head snapped back and it slid out of the window. That one wasn’t dead, but it wouldn’t be a problem for a little bit. Right now, I had bigger problems. There were two more Zombies that had gotten into the house. They were coming out of the bedroom and I had no idea how many more there were.

I was running out of time to save them.