Vas's eyes were as wide as they would go when he stumbled after Miiche.

He wanted to pretend they were being brave and accomplishing some important task, but he instead suspected that Miiche was at least three-fourths insane and that they were both stupid.

"Have you killed many Risen recently," Vas whispered to Miiche. It was more to find her location than to start a conversation. He did not want to be left behind.

"A few," came Miiche's voice from a few paces away, "but be quiet, we need our ears to find them." Vas closed his eyes, which had the same effect as leaving them open. "Sometimes they just stand still, you know. One could be standing around the next corner and we wouldn't know until it attacked us."

"Then stay behind me," Miiche chided.

Vas rolled his eyes, which obviously had no effect in the dark. But it made him feel a little better anyways. Another crank sounded in the distance, followed by screams then silence.

There was a dripping sound to the right, which Vas barely took note of. The huge corridors were remarkably empty. To Vas this either meant people had evacuated or that the Risen were cooperating to methodically kill everyone in the Wall. Vas and Miiche walked with their hands sliding across the left wall of the corridor, and when the wall disappeared it meant they were in an intersection. On the third intersection, Vas's spine tingled. He immediately stopped walking and listened. Nothing.

A thunderous crank sounded to Vas's right. It wasn't really thunderous, but in the dead silence it seemed that way. Miiche started sprinting towards the sound, and Vas did his best to follow. After a few moments, he heard a door slide open and a person's muffled voice as though it was behind a group of people, "Finally, a rescue team! Hello?"

Miiche ran into something with a thump, and immediately proceeded to slice its head off. The creature thrashed about, but she'd beheaded it soon enough. Vas felt a bit of air to his right, and barely backed out of a full tackle. He stuck his blade into flesh as he dodged, but his opponent was barely fazed. It seemed momentarily stunned. Vas could barely hear anything now that his blood was pumping. His heartbeat was the loudest thing in the world at the moment. Vas realized that the dagger would be more dangerous if the Risen were able to use it than if he were. "Miiche, take the second knife." Miiche wordlessly backed against Vas, a warm comfort in the darkness. She grabbed the dagger and struck again at whatever she was fighting. "Hello?" The voice came from inside the room that had just opened. "They're Risen!" Vas shouted, "They're killing groups of gunners one after another!" There were multiple muffled curses. "If you all line up with your backs against the far wall I will try to make my way to you when we finish killing them," Vas said. He sounded calmer than he felt, as the Risen who was his current opponent charged him.

One of the things about Vas that many people did not expect was his extraordinary hand strength. Wielding large swords and training with them for so long had made him stronger, but he'd always had a strong grip. He'd never truly tested his unarmed combat skills, but he knew they were superior to his dagger fighting abilities. As the monster lunged at Vas, he stepped back. He was careful to maintain his balance, but he couldn't afford to take a full blow when he had no idea where it was coming from. Vas felt a hand grab his left arm, and he whipped his hands along the arm to find the monster's head. He found it and swung it to the right, which was the wall. There was a loud crack and a spray of fluid. The hand grabbing Vas went limp.

Another hand grabbed Vas, This time from his side. More Risen were coming. Vas couldn't afford to move too far, since that would leave Miiche's back exposed. Instead, Vas powered through the creature's grip, swung his hand up and grasped the creature's throat. He squeezed until there was a popping sound, then swung the monster around his body and into the wall. "Vas," came Miiche's voice from behind him, "Switch." Vas leaned back and found Miiche then rotated around her, trading places with her. The wall was now on his left side, and he was going to face the majority of Risen for a time. 

Something grabbed Vas's right arm, and before he could react another monster slammed into his ribs. Vas growled loudly and used his left hand to shove the charger to the ground. He stomped on its head with the heel of his shoe. Standing on the corpse made balancing difficult, and the Risen that had hold of his arm tugged Vas forward. "Careful Miiche," Vas gasped as he tried to regain his balance. Something grabbed and bit his right leg, and Vas fell towards the floor. As he fell, Vas yanked the Risen holding his right arm to the ground with him. Vas grabbed the creature's skull and smashed it against the ground. The thing holding his leg attempted to bite again, and Vas kicked it hard. He heard it slam against the wall. That one wasn't dead, but there was no time to worry about it yet. Vas got to his knees before the next monster tackled him. Luckily, the monster's momentum made it easy for Vas to swing it over himself and headfirst into the floor. Vas stood up, unhindered this time.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Vas heard heavy footsteps as something ran towards him. Instead of trying to dodge or back up, Vas tried timing a kick for when the monster would be in range. He missed, which threw him off-balance. The monster grabbed Vas's outstretched leg, and Vas swung the leg down, ripping out of the Risen's grip and bringing it stumbling towards Vas. Vas grabbed the monster's arm and spun it around himself once, then slammed it into the wall. He messed up the angle, so the monster wasn't dead yet. Vas followed it, grabbed it by the head, and finished the job. The ground was slick with blood now, which made it hard to stand straight. Vas tried to listen as he put his back against the wall. He heard Miiche struggling to his right. "Need help with that," Vas asked through gulped in breaths of air. "We need to leave, Vas," came Miiche's voice, "I was wrong. We can't save them." "But they're waiting in the room," Vas said. "They were, but didn't you hear the screams? Most of the Risen attacked them instead of us. They're all dead." 

Vas tried to think about it, tried to recall the screaming. It wasn't there, but he'd trust Miiche with his life any day.

"Run." Miiche's voice came as her opponent's body hit the ground. Vas heard her start to run, and carefully jogged after her. Once the ground wasn't slick it was easier, so they picked up the pace. "Left here, yea?" They turned left at the first corridor. Vas could hear laughter. He could hear footsteps behind his own. They were chasing him, probably smiling like the stupid monsters they were. Vas knew that the next one probably wouldn't kill him. The next ten or even hundred might not kill him. But they would kill him eventually. "They're gaining on us," Miiche said as they passed the first intersection. Two more, then they'd reach the elevator. Vas didn't respond to Miiche. He couldn't. He was out of breath. His leg was starting to hurt. His back was sore. He'd probably twisted one of his ankles (if not both) while sliding around in the blood. 

They passed the second intersection. One left. Vas thought about telling Miiche to go on without him, that he'd hold them off or something like that. Mostly, he was just tired of running. But he kept running anyways. They passed the third intersection. They'd run into a solid wall soon. Vas started counting the seconds off to himself, trying to keep running. He hated running. He'd always hated running. He could remember when he'd first decided he'd never run again from anything. But then again, this was more of a tactical retreat than running. Vas could tell that he was losing blood, due to his thoughts starting to go wild. Hadn't the Risen just bit him once? What if he died from an infection from a single bite wound? How stupid of a way to die would that be? Vas shook his head. "Vas! Here!" Vas stopped just in time to not run into Miiche. They worked their way to the center of the room and slid through the open elevator doors. Vas closed the doors behind them while Miiche climbed through the top hatch. Vas jumped up after her, and they closed the hatch. They could hear Risen open the elevator doors, and they stayed on top of the elevator cart silently. Miiche ran a hand along Vas's body and then pulled it back. She put a bit of cloth in his hand, and Vas wiped his hands and face on the cloth. When the Risen quieted down, Vas and Miiche climbed around the cart without saying a word. They hung off the bottom and climbed to the central cable. "Use the cloth to slide down," Miiche whispered. 

Miiche slid down for a few moments, then Vas slid after her. They slid in small bursts, and soon they made their way to where they'd come in from. The sun must be rising soon, because there was a dull glow coming from the opening in the elevator shaft. Miiche jumped from the cable and used the elevator doors to pull herself out. Vas was starting to get dizzy, but he made the jump all the same. Vas sat inside the tunnel, taking deep breaths. Miiche wrapped her piece of cloth around Vas's arm and examined him. Vas watched her and noted she had no visible injuries. Ridiculous. "Let's rest here a bit," Miiche said soothingly, "I'm sorry. We shouldn't have tried in the first place." Vas shrugged, "It was worth a shot."