SAVE POINT 10
Darken Camp Level Loading...20%...100%
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Rosabella
The thing shrieks, its icy fingers persistent around my wrist.
Grabbing.
Its skin like soggy sandpaper, scratching.
I try to shake off the zombie Darken—try to kick at it with a scream—to no avail.
Its gaping mouth, red with blood and gore, snaps at me, inches away—
Its eyes are wild.
Insane.
Like it's not a person at all anymore, not the man whose skin it wears. ...Like it's only the shell of one, its soul emptied from its eyes and...hungry.
Ravenous.
It's going to eat me.
It's going to burrow into the skin of my face with its yellow teeth and leave me, here, twitching and crying for help as it devours my intestines.
This is terrifying.
...Why did I ever like horror video games—
SPLAT.
Bone-slicing.
Blood squirting.
Nearly into my eyes.
I cringe.
The fingers from my wrist drop.
I blink past the red to see a large, hulking outline standing over me—Rainer's shadow...
...Holding the handle of an ax buried deep in the Darken's head. Seriously, how many weapons does that guy have on his person at all times? This is ridiculous... And I'm ridiculously lucky.
The weight of the zombie's body falls on my chest, its blood seeping into my shirt. Its stench of death clogging my nostrils.
I shove the thing off and into the grass beside me with a squeal.
It hadn't just been a dream—that...that THING had been attacking me...
I can barely catch my breath; it seems like a lost cause as my eyes adjust to the pitch-black night, focusing in on Rainer's pissed face.
"Who was on guard?" he seethes, calling over his shoulder, "They did a piss-poor job of it—"
He garbles the last few words under his breath as he shoves yet another Darken to the ground beside him, running his dagger clean through its chest before throwing the weapon carefully, in a bloody offering, to me.
It bounces in the grass a few feet away.
I strain to reach it, nearly pulling out my shoulder in the process.
But I'm frozen in fear.
I can't move.
Because shadows of the Darken stumble in the darkness of our camp.
And there's lots of us, but more of them.
"Get up. We're going to have to make a break for it! Kill anything in your path," Rainer instructs quickly, slashing at another Darken who charges him.
I stumble to my feet, feeling each thrust of my lungs as they bring in breath.
Breathe and follow the others, I tell myself. ...But that's kind of a harder deal than one would think when surrounded by zombies...
I see Callen flagging me down on a rocky ledge just a few paces away. His face is tight and serious, and the tuft of his gray hair above his insistent eyes blows back in the wind.
Apparently, escaping requires more hiking, but, honestly, I'd do anything to get away from these monsters.
I leap forward, trying to follow him, but a low growl stops me...
...Too incredibly close to my ear.
I whirl around—
To meet dead eyes cracked with red veins.
And gaping jaws and—
I don't think.
I move.
With a grunt, I shove the dagger upward, into decaying ribs.
Blood and yellow filth slosh over my hand. The creature whines, the light flickering out of his eyes.
"Atta girl!" Rainer remarks, a grin spreading on his face as he watches me.
Pride dances across my middle for a second, but, shoving the zombie off the knife and to his knees in the grass, something else does too.
Disgust?
I killed a dragon and, now, I've killed a zombie... Is this how it's going to be now? Me just...killing things? All for the sake of freeing Dad? ...Is this...right?
I try to shake the thought off.
"Come on, you two!" Callen shouts, waving even more frantically at Rainer and me.
Luckily, the path is clear this time. The two of us race forward, up the hill. ...Well, per usual, Rainer is far faster than I am, but I get up there all the same.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
When we crest the hill, the rest of the group flags us over a stream. Honestly, you can barely call it that, it's a gully in the hill where water looks like it's been draining off the mountains from rain. Still, water gushes through it, sloping downward in a series of trickling waterfalls.
"Darken don't swim," Dormouse calls to me so I understand. His voice carries even over the rushing noise in the, otherwise, silent night, "They're afraid of the water."
...If I'd have known that, I would have found an island to sleep on...
My boots hedge on the slippery rocks, but, finally, I find a spot to wade across. Icy liquid instantly floods into the fabric of my bodysuit. I gasp at the temperature and the force of the waves. It takes careful precision to make it across to the other side: one foot in front of the other.
When I reach solid ground, I let go of the breath I didn't know I was holding.
Callen offers a short smile and a hand to help me up, and I take both of them gratefully.
Rainer, however, is not in jovial spirits.
"I'll ask again: who the hell was on guard?!" he rages.
No one particularly looks like they want to answer, especially Dormouse who cowers near the rock wall extending upward.
Finally, Joy steps forward, her face ridged with frustration, "I fell asleep—"
"Oh no, no," Rainer shakes an annoyed finger at the pink-haired girl. "No more excuses from you. Callen, it's affecting her," he turns to address the leader, his arms stretched open in protest and outrage, "They smell her—"
"They didn't smell shit. I'm still here, you know," Joy barks, looking hurt, "I'm still a person."
I edge towards Dormouse, trying to conceal my movement from the quarreling others. "What is going on?" I whisper.
"You don't want to know," he whispers back.
But Rainer overhears us—
"Rosabella has every right to know," he storms, "It could save her life if you lead more of these things here—"
"I'm not leading them anywhere!" Joy screams, throwing her hands down—
"Quiet! All of you."
It's Callen's voice.
Sharp.
Decisive.
Like his gray eyes.
"...What's going on?" I ask haltingly, wondering, even as the words come out, if it is more prudent to just keep my mouth shut.
Callen looks at Joy before answering. She's simmering—too hot to handle—and I'm glad it's him and Rainer pushing her buttons and not me. The gray-haired man swallows and begins to speak slowly—calmly—directing the words at me, "Joy has been...compromised. The dark magic grows randomly on the world here and on people, and she woke up with the growth on her two weeks ago. It's been getting worse. She'll eventually turn Darken."
...So, that was why the girl had been so pissed when I'd used their last health pack.
She's...dying.
Turning zombie.
For no reason.
Just because their world is going to shit.
I look at the girl with renewed understanding, my heart warming towards her. Maybe she isn't angry with any of us here... Maybe she's just...angry.
At her situation.
At the magic...killing her.
...But I'm getting the creator magic. Maybe I can make this better—heal her.
"But if I fix things—" I stutter.
"You will, kid, you will," Callen assures me, holding up both hands as though to sooth the blubbering in my voice, "This is just temporary."
...But something in his eyes makes me wonder if he actually believes that as uneasy silence blankets us all again.
"Well, I'm up," Rainer finally quips, thrusting his hands into his pockets, "Who wants to go see a dragon?"
I shiver. The dragon sounds better than the Darken right now. Even if I close my eyes, I doubt I'll sleep. I'll just keep hearing my name repeated like in my nightmare and see the screaming face of that...thing.
"I vote 'go'," I side with Rainer, trying a smile, "Thank you, by the way...for saving my life and all."
He nods at me but doesn't elaborate.
Callen nods too, "Okay, let's get an early start. Our spot here isn't safe anyway."
He heads into the brush.
Everyone else follows. I join the group, trying not to trail behind in the dark as the bright twinkling of stars stretches out over our heads. Is Dad looking up at these same constellations? Is he thinking of me right now like I'm thinking of him?
...The quicker we get to that dragon, the quicker I can save Dad.
***
A huge building looms on the horizon.
It looks—
Well, it kind of looks like—
"Is that a prison?" I blurt.
An enormous, stone edifice sits on the sloping ground just over the ridge like a meditating monk, balanced and settled between two mountainous peaks. It's square, gray towers cast a shadow that looms over the landscape and the surrounding moat, making it appear eerie and desolate. Steam rises from the water, billowing and distorting the gothic angles of the windows and doors. ...But all of the windows have wrought iron bars creasing their panes. If I had to decide if it was a castle or prison, I'd settle on prison.
"Sure is," Dormouse pipes up, "Actually, it's the prison your Dad is in—"
"Dormouse—" Callen warns, but the words are already out.
I gape at the twiggy kid, feeling my heartbeat launch through my shirt.
Dad is in there?
Behind those walls?
Trapped?
We are going right into his neighborhood only to have to walk away again before they fulfill their part of the bargain?
"I thought you said there is one more dragon—a third one," I sputter at Rainer.
He nods, "That's 'cause there is. When we finish here, the Queen of them all—the 50-pointer—reigns right over that ridge."
He points into the sunrise.
We've been walking for hours. My legs feel rubbery and weak, and my eyelids have been drooping for the last twenty minutes. If I can only get a break...
But Dad's right here.
One of the dragon's that standing in the way (between me and Dad) is right here.
In that stone fortress.
I have to go forward.
I have to continue to do this.
I bite my lip and start down the mountain, leading the group.
—Letting gravity and my brick-like feet take me closer.
Pushing every boundary within me.
"...oh, okay," Rainer mutters behind me, surprised at my sudden determination.
The path is weedy, sprouting with clumps of exuberant onion grass and sharp rocks. I weave my feet cautiously around the jagged stones and down the dirt trail.
The smell of stagnant water hits me as my feet clank over the ancient wood of a bridge across the moat. The water below grows green with cattail and lily pads. I lift my chin to observe the thick, castle-like torrents twisting overhead.
And my stomach drops with flinty resolution.
"Which way do we go in?" I ask as the prison walls rises over my vision, a maze of wrought iron bars and spike-armored gates.
"Whichever way he'll let you in," Callen says grimly.
I spin to look at him, "What do you mean?"
He wipes his hands off on the legs of his pants and brushes a hand through his cropped hair with creased eyebrows I can't read, "The dragon is one of the prison guards. That's why it's maximum security. You can't get in or out without facing the beast...and, unfortunately, for too many inmates here, that doesn't typically end well."
My heart thumps...
But I can't let this stop me.
If this was a game online, I'd make a move.
I'd throw caution to the wind and fucking make a big move.
Grasping at every ounce of courage I own, I walk up to the advancing stone wall. "Here I am! Let me in!" I shout at the top of my lungs.
My voice echoes through the valley, only faint birdsong joining it as the world awakens from another bitter night and the sun just crests over the silhouette of the craggy mountains.
> Gate A is for assholes who wake up other people at the crack of dawn—have some respect.
A voice in my mind!
The dragon!
And the gate slides up.
And I hedge forward as my breath catches in my throat.
...Wait... Is this all a big mistake?