we sat in the inn, Erin had made us pancakes and blue juice,

(man that is delicious)

and we were watching frozen, we were at the spot where Anna is frozen solid. when Erin shot to her feet

I paused the movie as she was looking alarmed, “what’s wrong Erin?”

“don’t you hear that?”

“hear what?”

“sounds like an alarm or something”

I strained but I couldn’t hear anything

“I don’t hear anything Erin”

she went over to a window and looked out, “I can’t see anything out there but I know something IS there”

I unstrapped my rifle and went over to the window Erin was looking out of.

looking through the scope I scanned the terrain furthest from the inn.

“I don’t see anything Erin”

a few tense moments passed by as the only thing that happened was the darkening of the sky and then Daniel saw it.

“Erin what am I looking at here” he handed the rifle to Erin and pointed her in the right direction.

“it looks like… like Lizcor is under attack”

“you think they will come here”

Erin and Daniel shared a look before both scrambled to get ready

Erin’s pov -----

Daniel flipped tables up so they could bar the windows and Erin propped up bottle after bottle of some kind of green glowing liquid on to the bar.

all of the prep came to a halt, when one of the bug men came barreling through the door.

Erin and David Both froze for a short moment before Erin relaxed

“Oh. Pawn. it’s just you.”

The Antinium stood in the doorway, nearly invisible in the fading light. Erin frowned. then she began to back away.

“Wait a second.”

The antinium had four arms and two legs. Pawn- Pawn didn’t have all his limbs anymore. but worker’s weren’t allowed to leave the city unattended, and this Antinium didn’t have swords

“who… are you?”

He was familiar. At least, he seemed familiar, but he definitely wasn’t Pawn or Ksmvr.

The worker- if that’s what he was- Shuddered. He shook slightly, and then stepped suddenly towards Erin. she backed up further away from him.”

“h-hello? can you hear me? Who are you? what do you want?”

The workers head twitched suddenly. Erin let out a little “eep” as she jumped slightly backwards

“hey bug, if you don’t back up right now we are going to have a problem”

Daniel had grabbed a shotgun and was advancing slowly towards the worker who didn’t even register his presence

“I aM AnTiNium. I haVe a NaMe.”

Erin backed up further . that wasn’t what a worker normally sounded like. The one in front of her was speaking rapidly, his voice surging and falling. he sounded-

insane.

“You have a name? um, good. That’s good, right?”

He stared at her.

“I Am iNdivIDuAL. BuT I reJECT. I rejEcT aLL.”

“last chance pal, back of”

“ThiS is yOUr FaulT” the antinium did not stop

“me? what did I do?”

“YOU DID THIS TO ME. yOu mAde me ThIS waY. bUT alL iS SuffERIng.

Erin backed up But stumbled over an overturned table leg

the antinium leaps forwards all arms ready to strike

BLAM

the Antinium landed limply on top of Erin with green blood sprayed all over her

Erin was screaming and hitting the antinium who was just laying there on top of her

Daniels POV ---

Erin was scared of whatever this bug thing was, so when it leapt to strike her I shot it.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

you never appreciate the power of modern-day firearms until you remove someone’s head at close range in one shot.

the room was painted green in a second both from the initial spray and from the subsequent spray as the body continued to supply a head that was no longer there.

I bent over forwards and threw up

I heard something running at the open door. so I snapped upright and armed my shotgun

‘shu-shunk’

another antinium stopped momentarily in the door to take in the scene before him

“freeze before I blow your head off”

the antinium in the door raised its hand placatingly as it looked upon Erin scrambling out from underneath the headless antinium.

“Please. I mean Erin no harm”

“what about me?”

“do You mean Erin harm?”

“no, I was the one protecting her from your friend there”

“so we have an accord in that we both want Erin to live. we must hurry as the undead could be upon us any moment now”

Erin had finally freed herself from the headless antinium and now looked at the one in the door for the first time.

“...Pawn?”

“I am not Pawn.”

The worker shook his head. But he was not Ksmvr Either. He knelt before Erin suddenly, he spoke to her, voice loud in the silence.

“I am Knight.”

“Knight?”

He nodded. The Worker stared up at Erin

“I have named myself. I have Chosen. I am individual, First and last of my kind. I am Knight and no one else is like me. And I am here to protect you… We are here to protect you.”

“We?”

“Erin you should probably look outside, there are more of these… whatever they are out there.”

Erin Threw caution to the wind and raced outside, brushing past knight. there she stopped

Daniel had followed her and now stood behind Erin as they looked upon the Antinium. Workers.

They stood around the inn, Arms folded or holding weapons.

Swords, maces, axes. But also other things. rolling pins, rocks, large branches… even a large vase in one case. they all stared Silently at Erin as she froze in place.

“Who…”

“Excuse me, sir”

Knight managed to squeeze around Daniel and out to Erin and the other Antinium

“The Dead are coming. Please remain inside. we will protect you with our lives.”

Erin looked at him

“you? but who are you? Where’s Pawn?”

“He is being kept in the hive by the Prognugator. he remains. But we have come. We have Chosen. We are individual.”

“Individual?”

Knight nodded. in front of Erin, a worker turned. He Bowed to her, low, as far as his stiff exoskeleton would permit.

“I have chosen. I am Bishop.”

Another Antinium turned, and then another.

“I too Chose. I have Decided. My Name is Vladimir”

“I am Calabrian.”

“I am Emanuel.”

“call me Garry”

“I wish to be known as Milner-berry.”

“Belgrade. I will die for you.”

they spoke one by one, in the faint moonlight. antinium looked at Erin, all alike on the outside. But different on the inside, each one Individual.

“We will all die for you. I am Jose.”

“No, none of that. we have a fight in front of us and each of us must fight so that we can all live to tomorrow. If you believe in anything. believe in that.”

Daniel had moved out of the ring of Antinium and had been scoping the approaching horde.

“There are more of them than there is of us, so we will have to be smart”

And then the first of many zombie’s appeared out of the darkness, one tried to take a bite out of Daniel’s face. but got decapitated by Toren as he rushed past the Individual Antinium, he crashed into another