“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”

Winston Churchill

Bethany peeked her head over the barricade and watched the Spartans that guarded the exit. They had not moved from their assigned positions – their final obstacle to escape this nightmare.

The supermarket was utterly silent, save for the quiet whispers of their team as wounds were bandaged and grief replaced fear.

“It’s been over an hour. They must know the other Spartans are dead,” Bethany whispered to Elias. She shifted uncomfortably on the crutch tucked under her arm as she tried to keep the weight off her ankle. “So why aren’t they coming to finish us off?”

“They know we have to go through them. It’s our only path to escape,” Elias replied. “See, look at what they’re doing.”

The three Spartans had begun stacking rubble in an orderly row ten feet away from the exit. Their wolf paced at the threshold, standing guard as the pile quickly grew.

“They’re building their own barricade. They’re stealing our idea!” Bethany protested.

Her ankle throbbed. Elias had wrapped it tightly in gauze as best he could with his injured hand, and Zee’s pills had helped numb the pain.

“I guess we can’t do anything about it,” Bethany sighed. “We’re in no shape to stop them. Elias, can you check on the others?”

Elias nodded and headed behind the pharmacy counter to check on Harmony and Brandon. They sat huddled together, faces crusted with spent tears and exhaustion. Priyanka and Anjali were at their side. Jaya lay beside the children, silent in sleep.

Anjali sat at her mother-in-law’s side with her shirt lifted above her midriff as Priyanka wrapped a bandage around Anjali’s chest. Her breath shallow, Anjali winced as Priyanka worked. Despite the pain, her eyes shone with a protective fierceness as she watched over the three children.

In the far corner, crouched over the bodies of Henry and Gabriel, Zee and Abigail whispered to each other, sharing secrets only they could hear.

As their conversation ended, Zee barked out a harsh laugh. Bethany watched in shock as Zee and Abigail grabbed Henry’s body and dumped it unceremoniously over the barricade. They did the same to Gabriel. Bethany saw a slight smile at the corner of Abigail’s mouth appear before she burst into tears.

Handing Abigail a bottle of green pills, Zee gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and left her to grieve.

“What was that all about?” Bethany asked as Zee arrived at her side. He rested his chest against the barricade and stared out at the Spartans.

Zee shrugged. “It does us no good to stare at their corpses.”

“Zee, Abigail just lost her family. How can you be so callous?” Bethany asked as Abigail’s quiet sobs broke through the silence.

“That’s between the new widow and myself, my dear. Let’s just say dear deceased Henry was not the dutiful husband he should have been. A bully at home, and a coward here. She’ll grieve, but not for him. Then she’ll leave her old life behind, and find herself stronger for it.”

“You know that from experience?” Bethany prodded curiously.

Zee gave her a toothy smile – a silent answer that spoke louder than any flowery words he could conjure.

“Yah. Yah, me too,” Bethany sighed.

They sat in silence as they watched the Spartan’s wall grow.

If it were my father, would I have grieved for him? After everything he did to me, would I have spared them any tears? I hope not.

“Well, that wall is going to be a problem,” Zee said chipperly as he broke the silence. He dug into his pockets and pulled out a yellow transparent vial filled with tiny white pills. “A problem for you and Balboa to solve. I’m going to go distribute these lovely painkillers so we can handle whatever plan you devise.”

Zee limped over to Anjali, shaking a bottle of pills as if they were candy. Despite Priyanka’s protests, Anjali extended her hand and Zee dumped four of the pills into her palm. She swallowed them dry as Zee laughed.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Bethany hobbled over to Rocky and Emily and settled in beside them. Rocky had woken twenty minutes ago, shortly before Emily, and he was weak as a kitten. He was regaining his strength as his magic reserve refilled, but it was a slow process.

Rocky gently dabbed away the blood in Emily’s ear. His hands started to shine with healing blue. The magic flickered, unstable, and Emily slapped his hands away.

“You don’t have the strength to heal me, Rocky. Stop fretting. I’ll be fine,” Emily scolded. “It’s not the first concussion I’ve had.”

“I don’t think your skiing accident is comparable to this,” Rocky countered, but he let his healing glow fade.

They had recovered a bit of their magic over the past hour. Bethany guessed she had recovered twenty percent of her magic. It returned slowly, like a trickle filling a bathtub, and its absence made her feel helpless. She resolved to increase her magic as soon as she was able.

“How’s the ankle, Bethany?” Rocky asked as Emily clung to his shoulder to stop her head from spinning.

“Hurts,” she said simply. “How are you feeling?”

“Drained,” he answered with a half-hearted chuckle. “Emily, do you remember when I got food poisoning and the flu at the same time, and I couldn’t move for a week? It feels like that.”

“You pushed yourself too hard, idiot,” scolded Emily, but there was soft affection in her tone. “Don’t be a hero.”

Rocky cupped the side of her head in his massive hand to hold gauze against her cheek. “You’re one to talk.” Emily leaned into his palm, a slight blush forming below her eyes.

“Three Spartans and a wolf left. What’s the plan?” Bethany asked. “Oh, and they are building a wall.”

“We’re in no shape for a prolonged fight,” started Rocky, thinking aloud. “So we need to hit them hard and fast, and it needs to be something that breaks through that wall they are building.”

“It’s a grocery store, Rocky. It’s not like we can drive a tank through it,” Emily pointed out.

Rocky face lit up with a mischievous smile.

“But… what if we could?”

* * *

Bethany set the crutch at her feet as she sheltered behind the giant bin of watermelons, fifteen paces away from the Spartan’s wall. The creatures stood upon the six-foot high rubble as their wolf paced across the exit, growling as it smelled the approaching players.

They know we are here. But do they know what’s coming?

Emily and Rocky sat next to her with a dozen spears set between them. They were in no shape to fight up close, but they could still throw from a distance.

Alongside the spears, Emily placed a lighter and a roll of paper towel that had been half-soaked in rubbing alcohol.

Bethany watched as Anjali, Abigail, and Zee moved into position behind a Diet Coke display on the other end of the wall. They had their own pile of weapons to throw, and Abigail had dragged along her large sword.

She’s lost her whole life. What will she do now? Hell, what will I do? This isn’t the life I imagined leading when I left home.

She looked to Emily and Rocky, nestled close together for support and she felt a warmth inside her that gave her strength.

At least I found friends along the way.

Anjali gave them a thumbs up. It was time.

Rocky signaled down the aisle towards the employees-only storeroom at the back of supermarket.

A high-pitched vehicle motion alarm and the whirl of a small engine emanated from storeroom, cutting across the silence.

Bethany grasped her crutch in one hand and a spear in the other.

Let’s end this.

The Spartans atop the wall drew their swords and spears, searching for the source of the noise.

A forklift, loaded with two pallets heavily laden with bags of flour, barreled out of the backroom and down the aisle, headed straight towards the Spartan’s wall. Spears and swords stuck out of the bags, which made the contraption look like a giant porcupine.

Elias poked his head out from behind the flour as he drove Rocky’s ‘tank’ towards the rubble wall. He gave the Spartans a merciless smile as he accelerated to full speed.

The Spartans hurled their spears, but all it did was add to the collection already imbedded in the bags.

The forklift whined and the high-pitched alarm grew louder as Elias sped down the aisle, a mist of flour trailing behind him that spilled from punctured bags.

“Get ready, Emily,” Rocky said.

Emily lit the paper towel. The alcohol-soaked end whooshed up in flame.

“Elias, jump!” shouted Rocky.

Elias leapt out of the driver’s seat just before the tank struck the wall, leaving a forklift-sized hole in the Spartans’ hastily constructed defenses. The sudden impact sent the pallets flying off the forks. Bags of flour erupted as they struck the ground, spilling their contents behind the wall and sending a dense cloud of flour into the air.

Elias bolted away from the forklift as Emily hurled the burning paper towel roll. The highly flammable flour ignited in an instant, and a giant column of fire engulfed the exit. It stretched up to the ceiling and left scorch marks on the tin roof. Winged Eyes screeched as they fled from the rafters above.

The three Spartans and their wolf burned, trapped by their own wall. The wolf leapt over the rubble, its fur aflame, only to be pin cushioned by a barrage of spears from Zee, Anjali, and Abigail. It fell, and the smell of its cooked flesh filled the air around them. Bethany gagged and wiped the sweat from her brow from the intense heat.

A fire alarm sounded, and a second later water cascaded down upon them as the building’s sprinkler system activated. Bethany let the soothing water rain down upon her face, relishing the relief it brought.

As the fire extinguished and smoke cleared, they saw a single Spartan still standing, its two companions dead at its feet. Its skin was charred to the bone. Its eye sockets were empty and devoid of life, but it still clutched its sword tightly in its blackened hand.

Bethany clutched her hammer anxiously as the Spartan began to laugh - a haunted sound that emanated not from the creature’s lungs, but from a hellish world beyond.

The creature dropped its sword, and it clattered into the rubble.

And the voice of Ares announced their victory.