“He saw us!” Eric whispered, unsheathing two daggers around his waist. “Let’s take him out—“

“Eric, wait,” Aaron said. The corpse didn’t howl, thankfully. Maybe he only caught a glimpse and not entirely sure? He had to bet on this one. “There might be reinforcements. How about we wait for the corpse to get closer and take him out behind cover?”

Eric pondered for a moment. “Then, let’s do that. Aaron, you and I jump across the window,” he turned to Laurence. “Laurence, you take him head on. Lisa, you stay mid-range to provide support and Lina… ready your bow.”

Everyone nodded.

“And,” he added. “If it doesn’t work out, Laurence will fall back and have Lisa take the aggro instead. If it has reinforcements, then—“

“It’s coming!” Aaron whispered. Five meters, so close.

The corpse was seven-foot-tall, bulky but little of his muscles were left. Aaron breathed in, exhaled all the pressure being stomped atop him. Whether or not the corpse goes down, he’ll still hurry on scouting the area around to make sure it’s safe. Hope it doesn’t get worse than it is now, though. Their lives are on the line after all.

“Aaargh…” The corpse growled, slowly stepping in. Three meters… They were ready… two… nodding, Aaron gripped the axe tightly, his fingers ready to jump across the window. He breathed in.

Eric widened his eyes. “Now!”

Aaron made the jump, and so did Eric. He saw the corpse’s spine, sticking out, with maggots eating away at its flesh.

“Aaargh!” The corpse slashed his sword with full strength.

Laurence parried, though barely, it made him step back. “Kill it!”

Aaron swiftly ran at the back of the corpse, slid as he took a kneeling position, using his axe to strike the corpse's knee. Eric did so too but aimed at the back of his head. The dagger dug dip on the bulky corpse's neck, and the other in its eyes.

He gasped. It didn’t cut through its meat. The daggers did little effect and only caused the corpse to stumble back. Laurence somehow fell back on his own, trembling, eyes on a blank stare. His sword cracked.

“Switch!” Lisa advanced.

“Graaah!” The corpse roared, used his hands to block Lisa’s scythe, used its force and threw her against the aged, wooden walls.

“Gah!” She exclaimed. No way, in just a couple of seconds?

Fuck, fuck, fuck… my axe got stuck! “Lina!” Aaron panicked, his voice stuttered. “Shoot it in the head!” Lina took a step back.

“I know! Don’t order me!”

Laurence managed to get up, his feet dragged behind as the impenetrable corpse advanced, his red, glowing eyes shifted to Laurence.

The corpse raised its hand, the bloodied sword ready to strike down another. Aaron had no time to make complicated decisions. He grabbed the stuck axe firmly, pulled it out of its knee. The corpse growled, turned his head and changed his attention to Aaron.

He pulled back, and so did Eric who just jumped across the window again. Another backstab? Will that even work on this fucker? No, it might be worth a shot. “Lina!” Aaron bawled.

"I can't draw the bow!"

“What do you mean you can’t?!” His patience was running low. It seemed that Lina can’t pull the string of the bow. No choice, he had to improvise. “Forget the damn bow, tend to Lisa and grab that fucking scythe!”

She nodded and dashed for Lisa.

“I’ll aggro this pile of shit meat!” He thundered.

Aaron exchanged glances with Eric and Laurence. There was no choice but to force a coordination, even though they have different plans in their head. If he doesn’t move now, the corpse might turn his head to his teammates.

“Don’t worry,” he muttered to himself. “I’m not planning to die just yet!”

Aaron charged at the corpse at full speed, his objective: to disarm the corpse by cutting off its fingers. But that would require him to move swiftly. Plus, the corpse reacted to his axe last time, so it might have a sense of pain, which means that it might get desperate if his life was being drained away.

The sword slashed down. Aaron stepped behind, stumbling. Shit, the corpse was too fast. Maybe humans really do have a limiter? If so, then possibly, just in theory, it might be stronger than before. Aaron jumped back, gripped the hilt of the bloodied axe firmly. He breathed in and advanced.

A sword slashed diagonally. Aaron dodged, but it didn’t stop there. The corpse was glancing back and forth, changing his positions left and right, as if he knew two people that can and will backstab him. It can think. Not good, not good at all.

Each parry drained his energy, each block destroyed his momentum. Aaron clicked his tongue.

But he had to endure as long as he can. Five seconds was too long, yet ten seconds had passed. The clashed of thinking of where and how to proceed had gone past his mind. Aaron was on the defensive. He stepped back once, the corpse paced, slashing another, changing his position and the way he handled his sword.

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Twenty seconds... Aaron started to gasp, his fingers couldn’t keep up with his stamina Then thirty… It was when Lina held the scythe in her hands, probably trembling. He didn’t care, not when his life was at stake. He wouldn’t be able to hold out for the next thirty seconds or so. Laurence ran back. God, is he going to run? No, he won’t. Or he might.

Shit, shit, shit, shit!

The corpse slashed his sword upwards. It threw the chipped axe away. It was too far. Aaron knelt unconsciously. The invisible weight was placed upon him this fast and heavy. He couldn’t move. He was paralyzed. His feet refused to stand up, arms can’t lend a hand either. Amy couldn’t help. He still didn’t know if she can see this live slaughter, but that’s not the problem.

“Log-out,” Aaron muttered as he looked up. It reeks of the dead, and in his sight, was a giant, its sword ready to slash him in half. “Log-out for god’s sake! Log-ou—“

An arrow pierced the corpse’s head, eyes bulging out. Aaron quickly rolled behind to dodge the monster’s monstrous weight fall. He saw Laurence. “You alright, Aaron?” He asked.

“Y-yeah," Aaron let out a dry smile. "Of course, not! I could've died back there! Why did I forget to ask about emergency procedures? Fucking hell, is there even one?!"

"Calm down," Eric said, tapping him on the back. "It's over. You aren't just a weak, typical shy idiot, are you? GGWP."

Aaron laughed. “Getting complimented by Eric? Wow, don’t take it back now.”

He lied down, consciousness drifting away. Weird, why did he feel like he wanted to sleep? Wasn’t this a game? Never mind that. Just for a minute…

“Wake up,” someone said, shaking his head. “Aaron, this isn’t the time and place to be sleeping!” So it was Eric.

Aaron sighed. “What’s happening?”

“Stand up,” Eric said as he pulled Aaron’s hand and helped him stand up. “Look around.”

He did so and saw Lina carrying the war scythe, she looked as pale as the dead. Laurence on the other hand, carried Lisa behind his back, hers still unconscious. But peering around, this might also be the end of them.

“I tried contacting Amy, but,” Eric repeatedly tapped the ground. “No luck. She isn’t answering. The status tab also has no log-out button so I guess this is the end for us.”

That’s right, Aaron thought, sighing as he gazed up the moon, its light warmed his body for some reason. It was… relaxing. In his sight was almost a hundred corpses – mostly average surrounded the entire graveyard. Be it women, men, children, elderly, and even babies. They were all rotting.

“Do we go down without a fight?” Aaron asked.

“I won’t,” Eric replied with a smile. “Would you?”

“Fuck no, I’m not. How about you Laurence?”

Laurence slowly released Lisa from his arms and handed her to Lina. “I’ll fight,” he said as he picked up his chipped sword from the ground. “I don’t wanna die a coward, much less beg my life for these creeps.”

“Ha!” Arno laughed. “I guess we aren’t chosen blindly after all? If it was just someone, then I guess someone would’ve died already.”

“You got a point,” It wasn’t Eric nor Laurence. It was Lina. “But you’ll still die today.”

"Don't be a bummer, Lina. I'm not gonna die until we settle things between us, and you won't too."

“Great job raising a death flag.”

"I'll take that as a compliment since right now, we're going to avoid it."

Eric squinted his eyes. “How?”

Aaron looked around, realized they were getting closer and closer. But none were running, at least. If he can bet on this once chance, then he and the rest might survive. "The church," he ran. "Let's go!"

“Hey, explain—“

“There might be a cellar. It’s medieval and all, so a cellar would be good for storing food stocks and goods, right?”

Time is a necessity. Aaron quickly ran towards the church altar and searched for a cellar. He knocked, stomped, but nothing reacted. He tried moving benches, checking corners but no luck. The rest of the team were pushed to the edge already. "Is there a drink?" Aaron muttered but realized he just said it out loud.

“No,” Laurence sat beside him. “But it would be nice to have one, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” Lina said as she crouched beside Aaron, with Lisa on her lap. “At least we tried.”

“Don’t go out of character now, Lina,” Aaron chuckled, but he received a light punch instead. “Ow, I’ve still haven’t recovered yet you know?”

“Fuck. You.” She gave him the middle finger, then laughed shortly after.

A moment of silence slowly filled the atmosphere. Although Aaron could still hear those zombies growl, his mind was on a different plane right now. It was as if something was drifting away… yet he still heard something.

He glanced behind and saw Eric closed his eyes, hand clasped against each other. He was thinking. And he heard it too. Someone was galloping. One—no, two, maybe three? A dozen, perhaps?

“I hear it,” Laurence said as he got up, grabbed the sword and stretched his back. “Help’s coming. Wouldn’t want them catching us in pieces, right?”

“I got your back.” Aaron said, swinging his axe twice.

“Don’t worry,” Lina grinned. “I’ll be the first one to kill you three before you get eaten alive.

Eric took on a smug face. "Say that when you can at least draw a bow."

"Wha—fuck you shorty! I bet you can't too!"

“And you too flat-chested… wait, you’re not?”

“Blind, are we? Want to take a closer look?”

“Now I understand,” Eric tapped Aaron’s shoulder, giving him a camaraderie stare. “Your pain.”

Almost half an hour had passed since their near-death experience. Aaron stood at the corpses, his nose used to the stench cloaking the entire graveyard. The others were the same too. But Lisa, she, seemed in pain. She shrieked once or twice, but still unconscious.

He peered around, saw the horses, the men who helped them. They were only a dozen, but they were in full armor along with holding a long sword, probably twice as heavy but thinner than Laurence’s.

“You alright kid?” A woman with tanned skin and short, red hair asked in a cold, yet sharp voice. Along with her were a dozen men, scars took their faces, and some doesn’t even have a finger or a limb. All he could think was that they were… veterans in the battlefield.

"We're alright, but one of us got thrown away," he looked behind, nodding. Laurence seemed to get it what he was saying, so he carried Lisa with him. "Can you save her?"

“Doro,” she raised a finger. “Take the young lady back to the fort and have someone tend to her wounds.”

“Yes, my lady.” The man Doro was huge, probably the same as the first corpse Aaron fought. He might be stronger than the corpse Aaron and the team fought, but not less any weaker.

“Just so you know,” Laurence sharpened his eyes. “I’m going with her – make sure you don’t do anything filthy.”

"Do you have any choice, to begin with?" The woman smirked.

Laurence snorted, but refusing to let go of Lisa. She permitted him to go with her.

“Your name, kids?”

Aaron exhaled. “I’d like to know the name of our benefactor first.”

She laughed. Almost to the point where it gave Aaron a chill down his spine. “I’m a hunter,” she said, grinning. “A Witch Hunter.”