Staring down at them was a well-dressed man in his mid-thirties, dark brown hair beginning to grey at the edges, with large glasses, and a thin wiry face. His teeth were exceptionally white in the night and he seemed manic with his expression.
"Don't be shy, come inside. We would love to have you play with us." The man said as his eyes began to glow red.
There was a pounding on the gate and scratching as it sounded like bodies were being pressed against it.
"I don't think we should stay here with our thumbs up our asses guys," Jay commented looking at the gate as they began to bend outward and the wall shook slightly.
"Awww, what's the matter? Don't want to meet your doom?" The man smiled even wider which Tom had thought impossible.
"Actually, you can't call it doom unless it comes from the Mount Doom region of the country of Mordor. Here we just call it Sparkling Abject Terror." Tom said quickly trying to distract him with the first thing that came to his mind.
"What the actual fuck?" Jay asked. "That's funny shit!"
"Um...what?" The man on the wall asked, the smile gone from his face as he stared in confusion.
"Oh, nothing really, just...what the hell is that?!" Tom shouted suddenly looking down the wall and pointing.
Turning to look at where Tom was pointing, Tom raised a hand and shot an Eldritch Blast at his face and made a break for it with Jay, Bron, and the Usiku following his lead. Just before the blast hit him in the face, the man turned at the source of the green light and batted the spell away with a small blue glowing shield at the end of his hand.
"Clever boy. I will enjoy playing with you." He said to himself as he watched them turn down the corner of a street.
Just as they reached that corner, the gates burst open into splinters from the force behind them as zombies piled out on top of each other through the opening. As the zombies fought to untangle themselves from the pile, the party continued to make a run back for the guild building.
"That was an excellent diversion. You are learning tactics quickly." Bron praised Tom. "If we had stayed he would have overwhelmed us."
"My thoughts exactly. If we can get to the guild, then we can fight them off with the others." Tom said panting slightly from running.
He did notice though that this was the easiest time he had ever had running. He had always hated working out before, but with his new body, he felt like he could run for miles. Which was good because he was several miles from the guild building.
A few arrows whizzed overhead, missing them completely, but letting them know they were being pursued. Bron turned and began running backward, still able to keep up with Jay and Tom because of his size and apparent dexterity. He pulled out the largest bow Tom had ever seen from somewhere, Tom assumed his inventory, and pulled back on the string.
A projectile of pure energy appeared on the bow as Bron aimed at the zombies. He held it for a long moment then released the arrow and turned to run forward again. Not able to turn to see what happened with the projectile, Tom merely heard an explosion and thought he heard a sad "awww, man" from one of the zombies right before the bolt struck, making him almost chuckle, as it blasted from behind them. They were pelted with small rocks from behind as they continued running.
Hearing more growls and groans after the noise settled down told them they hadn't done much but delay the zombies. But that was what the goal was right now. Don't get overwhelmed and get back to base to get the numbers to beat them. They continued on, running for the safety of the new barricade.
Tom pulled out a gun from his back and turned to fire a couple of shots as he continued to backpedal when they came to an empty street and managed to shoot a few of the zombies, killing one with a headshot, but he wasn't proficient enough to hit them in the head every time.
"Where is fucking James when you need him?!" Tom angrily cried out. "Motherfucker is everywhere when you don't want him around!"
He turned back when he emptied his third clip and continued running.
"It's just up here! We are almost there. When we get there, Jay, get inside and sound the alarm. Bron, you, the Usiku, and I will hold them off at the gate until reinforcements arrive!" Tom called to the others as they ran.
Bron only nodded not looking away from straight ahead with a determined look on his face, the Usiku growled in response and Jay gave a thumbs up and a smile. When they reached the end of the street they made a right turn and could see the Trammel Crow Center at the end of the street. Putting on an extra burst of speed with the goal in sight, they put a small bit of distance between them and the approaching zombies.
When they arrived at the gate Tom, Bron, and the Usiku turned and faced the oncoming threat. Jay continued through the gate and rushed to the security center to get the message out. Bron quickly equipped two of the largest great axes Tom had ever seen and lowered slightly into a fighting position to receive the charge.
"When they arrive, big sweeping attacks for the first rush, then defend and attack when you have the chance. Keep your sword up at all times." Bron instructed him without looking at him. "We will make it through this."
"I have a couple of tricks up my own sleeve. We only have to hold long enough for reinforcements to arrive." Tom said and activated his tattoo of strength, feeling the sensation of his muscles growing stronger.
He also began to charge a spell. The power in his hands grew as he made the hand motions necessary, ending with his hands beside his right hip.
"FINAL FLASH!" Tom yelled as he released the pent-up energy and a blast of light fired out at the enemies carving a hole right down the middle of the advancing horde, disintegrating everything that was in its path.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"That was impressive indeed," Bron commented. "Let's see how you handle the sword you have now!"
Equipping his greatsword, Tom readied himself to attack. When the zombies were only twenty yards away, Tom let out a battle cry and rushed them, Bron and the Usiku following behind with a trumpet and a roar. The trumpeting sound, which was mixed with some kind of guttural rumbling, Bron let out sent chills down Tom's spine and he felt truly thankful that Bron was on his side.
They met the enemies with huge sweeping slashes of their weapons while the Usiku slashed and bit and used its tentacles to attack the enemy. Whole swaths of the front lines were mowed down like wheat against the great weapons as the zombies began to frantically crawl over each other to get at the fighters who kept their backs facing each other to keep from being surrounded. Bron swept back and forth cleaving the zombies at roughly head-level trying to decapitate as many as he could with two axes in alternating patterns
Tom was doing his best to keep up, but with only one weapon Bron was quickly outpacing him. Once he was certain he was fully within the horde, Tom activated his second tattoo and began leeching the life force from every enemy around him. He felt the power rush into him and his swings became faster as he felt like he had just been injected straight into the heart with adrenaline.
His health bar filled, and then the mana he had used for his spell began to refill, followed by his stamina. Feeling like he could fight for hours from the rush of energy, he reached out and grabbed a goblin zombie by the throat and began to use it in his second hand as a weapon to bash other zombies with. Now with two weapons, he was beginning to make space around him to fight.
But it wouldn't last because the bodies of the zombies began to pile up around him and the fluid from their bodies began to pool at their feet making the ground slippery. Just when he thought they would be overrun, a shot rang out from the building and the head of the zombie right next to him exploded in a shower of gore, splattering onto his face and body.
Suddenly the shouts of a large crowd could be heard from the gates as a literal army of men and women came rushing out to join the fight.
"TO TOM! PROTECT THE GUILD LEADER! FOR VANGUARD!!!!" Derek shouted as he led the charge and it was picked up by everyone around him.
"FOR VANGUARD!!!!" The cries echoed off of the buildings around them in a cacophony of voices.
Suddenly there were people everywhere. Tom felt like he would have been lost in the battle if the enemies hadn't been zombies. He began to wonder what a war would look like now. Shaking that thought from his head he pressed on attacking any zombies he came across and quickly killing them.
"THE HEADS! THE WEAKNESS IS THE HEADS!!!" Tom cried, trying to get his people to kill the enemy as quickly as they could.
Guns fired, knives stabbed, swords slashed, a bomb went off at one point somewhere, and spells flew on the battlefield. The zombies were being completely pushed back. It was like a mudslide rushing down the side of a mountain. The members of Vanguard fought with a ferocity that Tom had never seen before. It warmed his heart to see that these people thought of this place as home enough to throw themselves into the heat of a battle to defend it.
After about ten minutes of battle, the majority of the zombies had been killed and only a few remained alive and they were quickly being dispatched by groups of people. Tom stood in the middle of the battle scene looking around at the devastation that had been wrought. Again, Tom was moved by the ferocity with which the people of the guild, his guild, had brought their arms to bear to defend what was theirs. Their little piece of peace.
Tom looked around and noticed he didn't see Bron anymore. Looking at his menus he noticed the timer had elapsed. Focusing on Bron, he activated Summon Demonic Creature again and Bron rose from the summoning circle to stand beside him. Surveying the battlefield, Bron grunted in satisfaction.
"Looks like your people were able to handle the situation with ease," Bron commented.
"They were. I'm very happy to see how they came to our aid and eagerly jumped into the fight." Tom replied still looking around as well to see if he could help heal anyone.
Several people were going from group to group offering to help as well and healing spells were cast on those that needed it.
"Indeed. And you fought valiantly. Though your forms need work." Bron said leaning slightly in his direction while looking at him out of the corner of his eye.
"Could you help with that?" Tom asked, turning to look directly at him. "You gave me a few tips before we started. If I summon you more often, can you teach me to fight?"
Bron paused for a long moment and thought about it. "Yes, I will. If you summon me out of battle more often, I will train you to fight more effectively."
"Awesome! I'll make sure I do that." Tom replied, excited at the prospect of finally finding a way to learn to use his weapons better.
The Usiku came over to Tom's side and began rubbing against him with affection. It licked its lips in satisfaction at the carnage and purred loudly as it almost knocked Tom over. Stroking its deep black fur, Tom scratched the beast letting it know he liked it as well.
"I think we need to give you a name," Tom said to the Usiku. "Can't just call you Usiku all the time. How about...Midnight?"
The beast rolled its eyes at the name.
"Alright, so it's not that original, give me a moment then," Tom chuckled as he thought about a better name. "What about...Shadow?"
It appeared to think the name over then purred loudly in pleasure. "Alright, Shadow it is. You did well Shadow. Thank you for your aid."
Licking his hand at the compliment, Shadow seemed to puff his chest out in pride at his words. Its tentacles wrapped around Tom in a hug of sorts as well, showing that the beast was pleased. Derek walked over after healing a minor wound a warrior had received in the fight.
"What the fuck happened?!" He shouted at Tom.
"We went to investigate The Master and ran into a zombie problem," Tom replied evenly, Shadow and Bron standing on either side of him.
"And you brought them here?!" Derek was furious now with Tom.
"We could have fought them there and died," Tom offered.
"None of this is okay, Tom! You don't know what could have happened and likely their leader knows where our base is!" Derek continued.
"What should I have done differently?" Tom asked seriously trying to figure out what he could have done.
"How about not going off in the night to find information?" Derek replied less loudly, but with the same amount of anger.
"Not really an option. We needed to know what we were up against. This man is enslaving people and has taken away their free will. That's not okay and nothing you can say will convince me that I didn't make the right decision." Tom said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.
"UUUUUUGGGGHHHH...I know, I know. But this was dangerous." Derek complained while letting out a huge sigh.
"I know. But it was also a great test of our defenses and response times. These people performed like professionals rushing to defend what was theirs. They showed they can defend themselves finally and everything we are working toward is working!" Tom replied, emboldened by what he had witnessed tonight. "We won't always be able to just stand in the gap and defend these people. I'm proud of what they did tonight."
"I know that. I'm just trying to keep everyone here as safe as possible. But you're right. The people did amazing tonight. They are more prepared than I thought. Sorry for yelling at you about it." Derek said showing he felt the weight of responsibility just as Tom was.
"It's fine. There's nothing to forgive. But remember that we can't stay safe. And maybe we showed everyone not only what they are capable of here, but that we aren't someone that can just be pushed around." Tom said with a huge smile on his face, placing a hand on Derek's shoulder. "Now come on, let's make sure everyone is okay and go inside. I need to tell everyone what we found."