Zimmy says "So what do we do?"

"We get as ready as we can before they arrive. We have four hours at the earliest before they arrive."

Zimmy says "Okay, what are your orders?"

"Get every able bodied man to the north wall with every digging tool in town."

Zimmy says "Digging tools?"

"Yes, we have four hours to dig a moat. Also I want every torch that can be spared and every drop of oil left in town."

Zimmy says "Why?"

"Because by the time they arrive the sun will have set. I doubt the undead are going to stop and wait for dawn."

Zimmy says "Oh, we will be fighting in the dark?"

"Yeah, the undead will have the advantage."

Zimmy says "Okay, I will issue orders immediately! Anything else?"

"Whatever Rockskull has managed to make, move to the north wall."

Zimmy says "Okay, how should I position the troops?"

"Move the majority of the mercs to the north wall. Spread the rest out along the other three walls with the militia. The army will man the north wall once they have rested."

Zimmy says "Understood. I will issue the orders right now!"

Zimmy leaves to get things moving so I leave as well and head to the north wall. On the way I grab a shovel I see at a general store, the owner just smiles and waves at me. When I get to the north wall I don't even wait for them to open the gate, jumping over the wall is quicker.

As soon as I land I start digging, unfortunately the shovel can't handle my strength. It turns into splinters in my hands, so I just start digging with my hands. It might not be dignified but it works, it works really well.

After a few minutes the gates open and men start coming out to help dig. Soon hundreds of men are outside the walls digging, we end up having more men than tools. The men quickly sort it out and work in shifts, they work hard and fast.

They are working on one side of the gate while I work on the other side. As hard as they are working, I am almost as fast as them, of course I have some advantages. The main one is that my claws are shredding any rocks I come across, so I don't have to stop and move them.

At the rate we are going we should have a decent ditch in about two hours. That will leave us another two hours to improve it as much as we can before the enemy arrives. As I dig I keep wracking my brain trying to come up with anything else I can do to shift the odds in our favor.

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Then as I am thinking about the enemy and how to fight them in the dark I suddenly have an idea. Triplines don't work well on humans because they will step over them, but zombies are stupid. So I send some of the men who aren't currently working to go fetch stakes and rope or wire.

If we set up triplines on the ground between the wall and the moat it will slow them down even more. Unfortunately, while I have other ideas, none of them can be implemented in the time we have left. Most of them are traps I saw in movies, but it would take some trial and error to actually make them.

So for now it is better to just focus on what can be done in the time we have. I just keep digging and occasionally glance over to see how everything else is going. When the stakes and wire arrive I instruct the mercs to set up the tripwires.

Merc says "How many should we set up?"

"As many as we have materials for. The more we slow them the more we can kill before they reach the walls."

Merc says "Got it!"

Man says "We have the oil you asked for! Where do you want it?"

"Just put it by the gate for now. We will pour it into the ditch once we are done digging."

Man says "No way do we have enough to fill this ditch!"

"We don't have to fill it, we just need enough for it to burn for a while."

Man says "Okay, we should have enough for that."

As I go back to digging I play out how the battle is likely to go in my mind. No matter how many times I go through it I don't see our forces being able to stop the undead. We will be able to kill a lot of them but not enough to stop them from getting over the wall.

If I am on the wall I will only be able to kill them as fast as they come to me. That won't be enough to alter the outcome, so I need to fight outside the wall. Zimmy and Roland are probably going to have a problem with that though.

The way I figure it I need to kill about half of the enemy army to lower their numbers enough that the attack will fail. With this kind of all or nothing battle, if we can defend against the first attack we win. Once we defeat the first attack the enemy won't have enough numbers left to overwhelm our defense.

The enemy's original plan was probably to wear us down with the living army and then raise them as undead once we were tired. It was a good plan and would have probably worked, but they gave it up for some reason. As I am trying to think of why they changed tactics our army finally comes into sight and I see Roland running over.

Roland says "What are your orders?"

"Bring the men inside and get them fed. Then they can rest until the enemy arrives."

Roland says "You don't want them to help with the defenses?"

"No, they have been marching all day. Let them rest for a couple of hours until the battle starts."

Roland says "You think they will attack as soon as they arrive?"

"Yes. They are undead after all."

Roland says "True. Alright, I will get the men fed and then we will have a strategy meeting."

"Okay."

Seeing the army arrive safe and sound raises morale quite a bit and the work speeds up. About a half an hour later a runner summons me to the meeting. When I arrive I find Roland, Shard, Zimmy, Raindrop, and Nived.

Roland says "Okay, I am assuming you already have a plan. So let's hear it."

"The army and the mercs will man the north wall. Once the zombies reach the wall we will fire the trench."

Zimmy says "Why not when they first reach the trench?"

"We want to split the army. This way we can kill what is past the trench and the fire will keep the others back."

Shard says "If we limit what reaches the wall they will have a harder time getting up it."

Nived says "I get to fire the trench right?"

"Yes, although I have another job for you."

Nived says "What's that?"

"Keeping the heat and smoke away from our men."

Nived says "Okay, I can do that."

Raindrop says "And where will you be?"

"Outside."