Reece turned and his heart sank. The hideous flying zombie bat-people they had dubbed ‘gargoyles’ were approaching in large numbers...too many to count. And since they were coming from the north, they must not be affected by the extreme cold. The creatures didn’t have much in the way of hair or fur, but obviously, something in their physiology allowed them to survive the freezing temperatures. The yeti and several berserkers reformed their defenses to prepare for the incoming aerial attack. Everyone with rifles also turned to prepare for the new front in the battle.
With much of their support otherwise occupied, everyone else was hard-pressed to hold up against the relentless frontal assault of rotting and skeletal monsters crawling and scrambling over the walls. Reece, Ciera, the yeti, his buddy, and seven berserkers were all that was left to battle the oncoming horde. Unless Reece did something, they wouldn’t last another minute.
“We just need to hold a little longer!” Reece yelled as he attempted to bolster their spirits. “Help is coming, so let’s see how many of these bastards we can destroy before they arrive. What say you?”
The berserkers roared as if a fire was lit within them. They continued to fight with a renewed vigor beyond what even the battle song had given them. Every one of their limbs was covered with the gore of all the undead beasts they had slaughtered, yet they fought on. Ciera laughed in victory as she tossed three knives with one hand and then three with the other. Two rotted black bears skidded to a dead-stop, knives sticking out of their faces. Even the old man with the force field seemed to smile bigger, despite the barrier beginning to fail. The man pulled out a large two-handed battle-ax to make his last stand.
Ciera gave Reece a wink before plunging more of her deadly knives into another half-skeletal polar bear’s empty eye-sockets, finding what was left of the rotting brain inside. It had worked, but Reece felt that it would only last for a couple more minutes. Reece tried to recall the battle song, but without the berserkers singing it, his mind couldn’t grasp the words. Instead, he grimly fought on the best he could.
Behind them, shots began ringing out as the rifles were used against the incoming gargoyles. A few seconds later, they made contact. A few of them bounced off the shield before it gave out completely, a couple even killing themselves in the process. The yeti and the other four berserkers fought with everything they had to stop their advance, but there were just too many of them. Some of the flying humanoids slipped past their defenses or simply flew over them to harass Reece and the other defenders on his side of the defensive circle.
The old man with the battle-ax took down two of the gargoyles before a third snuck up behind him and severed his head with its wicked-looking tail. They were quickly overwhelmed and fell back until the last few defenders were fighting back to back. The gargoyles continued to hit the shield protecting the rifle wielders, some breaking through. Reece noticed that the shield was shrinking as more and more of the gargoyles rained terror down upon them.
It didn’t take long before the shield was completely gone. They were all exposed now. The gargoyles quickly took advantage of the opportunity and bit down with their grotesque maws, yanking several unfortunate people completely out of the group’s perimeter as they flew off with them, the doomed people screaming in pain. Once out of range of the defenders, the people were quickly eaten while still alive. Their screams were cut short as they quickly died one by one, abruptly ending their agony.
Reece heard a loud bellow and saw the yeti driven to one knee as a zombified polar bear and gotten its teeth into the creature’s left calf from behind. His buddy came up from the side and crushed the bear’s skull with his big hammer. Before the beast expired, it clawed the man and threw him back several yards where he lay still in the ice and snow. The yeti bellowed in anger but was having trouble getting back up.
“This is it,” thought Reece as the defenders began to fall one after another to the constant onslaught of undead animals and other abominations.
Then the ground and undead around them suddenly started exploding and raining rotting flesh down upon them. The explosions came from all around, blowing up undead everywhere Reece looked. Reece recognized the bloody handiwork of anti-personnel cluster missiles.
Large caliber bullets began tearing through the wall of monsters and Reece followed the sound of the dual miniguns to the Phoenix as it came in low to hover directly above them. The cargo ramp was already open, and several beings began jumping down the thirty meters to the ground. Aika and Karina were the first ones down, each dressed in black thermal bodysuits. Talia came next, dressed in a green tank top and brown skirt.
“Apparently, cold didn’t bother her,” thought Reece, relief flowing through him as the cavalry finally arrived.
As they joined the defenders, several other jets were providing cover for the rescue and were expending cluster missiles with a complete disregard for conserving ammunition. The sky was raining dead and dying gargoyles and their severed body parts.
“We heard you could use a little help,” yelled Aika over the sounds of battle.
“Nah, we were doing fine,” answered Reece, feeling a bit snarky as dueling emotions clashed within him. “Hey, do any of you know a good battle song? I need a jumpstart on a new-found ability.”
Aika just cocked her head in confusion, but Karina smiled and began to sing. The song was edgier and angrier than the one the berserkers had sung. Where that one was full of glory in battle, this one felt more defiant. It only took a moment for Reece to feel the song and then he joined in, singing it as loudly as he could.
The results were almost instant. Even the most tired of the defenders roared defiantly at the undead intruders of their land. Three of the berserkers who had been brought down, got back to their feet to resume the battle.
The yeti roared in defiance as it tore into a pair of dread wolves. Even the man with the hammer had somehow regained his feet and dove back into the fight. The battle song seemed to inspire the defenders to fight beyond death itself. Karina had picked a good one. All of Reece’s fatigue was wiped away as he sang, and he began cutting down a pack of skeletal coyote-like creatures that had come rushing in for their next meal. Instead, they found their deaths.
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More undead polar bears rushed towards the defenders. It was clear that these poor monstrosities had been heavily mutated before they had been infected by the zombie plague. The lead bear charged the small line of berserkers when a furry carcass flew over them and smacked into it, stopping its momentum.
Once Reece saw the beast knocked back a moment, he looked behind him to see the massive yeti striding forward, having just tossed a bear’s corpse across the battlefield. The creature seemed to be grinning ear to ear as he passed Reece, its smile filled with sharp teeth. The guy with the hammer followed in the yeti’s wake, bludgeoning skeletal dogs and coyotes that slipped past the bigger of the two companions.
“Great fight song,” he yelled in a strong accent before laughing as he passed Reece to bash another incoming dread wolf’s skull into the ice. “Name’s Dmitri, da big furry guy here is Hank. It’s a pleasure.”
Reece nodded and smiled back at the man as he continued to sing Karina’s battle song. The yeti, Hank, continued wading through the undead animals, tossing them aside or crushing them underfoot as he went. Dmitri simply followed him, finishing off the zombified wolves before they could recover. Even with his spirit reinvigorated, he was sure they would have been finished if not for the timely intervention of his companions from the carrier.
Watching the fresh Aika, Talia, and Karina go to work was nothing short of breathtaking. The three women, bolstered by Reece’s battle call, created a swath of destruction in front of them that nearly brought a tear to his eye. He recalled the deadly ballet that Karina had performed in a mall parking lot shortly after they first met. This was something similar, but easily ten times as awe-inspiring.
Reece couldn’t follow Karina’s spear as she spun it about her body, dismembering undead beasts all around her. She was like a vampiric blender. As was Aika. Where Karina was all speed, Aika was finesse and skill. It also didn’t hurt that she was bigger than Karina, adding additional power and reach to her two katanas as they danced all around the new vampire. With every swing of each katana, one or two beasts lost their heads.
The group had to continually retreat due to the steadily rising pile of carnage from the unending hordes of undead beasts they had felled. For her part, Talia used her limbs to pierce anything that got within four meters of her as she extended her devastating spikes out that far.
Reece had seen other figures jump from the Phoenix, but they were fighting on the other side of the battlefield. Despite that, Reece’s song may have infected them too, because not a single undead made it through their lines. The battle only lasted a couple more minutes before the horde had finally expended itself against the resilient defenders.
“You look clear for now,” came Pasha’s voice from Reece’s radio. “The rest of the northern enemy force is still about half an hour out. We’ve got two transports incoming to get you all out of there and back to the carrier group, or what’s left of it. Over”
“Copy that. And... thanks. You really saved our hides. Over,” replied Reece, relief evident in his voice.
The battle-worn troupe didn’t have time to rest yet. They needed to get the noncombatants out of the complex and to some semblance of safety aboard the carrier. The berserkers began filling the first transport, transforming back to their human forms as soon as they were out of the elements.
Reece and Ciera fetched the noncombatants with the help of a couple of the regulars who assisted in convincing them to leave their makeshift home. It took a few minutes, but they were finally able to rescue them all as they had already dressed warmly, just in case they needed to evacuate.
Five minutes before the northern undead army was set to arrive, the last of Reece’s allies boarded a transport and headed back to the carrier. Reece made sure he was the last to board the second transport. He didn’t want to leave anyone behind. Scanning the carnage that lie across the landscape, Reece noticed movement under a pile of corpses. Peering closer, he saw a large bear paw grab the hardpacked snow and pull. A very bloody berserker hauled itself out from under the corpse-pile despite the ghastly wounds it had suffered.
“Hold a minute,” yelled Reece back into the transport before sprinting over to the barely conscious ally.
Hauling the big bear-person to its feet turned out to be more of a chore than Reece could handle on his own. With Reece’s efforts, the creature was able to limp towards the transport slowly. It took everything Reece had to keep the brave defender on its feet and moving forward. It felt like an eternity with the mass of undead rapidly heading their way.
As one, Aika and Karina were on the ground again, holding the undead back and allowing Reece time to rescue the wounded berserker. By the time they reached the transport, the undead creatures were swarming into the small town. Bjorn came down to check on him. Reece saw him trying to help the gravely wounded berserker, so he assisted the big man and the two of them got the wounded defender safely onboard the transport. Aika and Karina wasted no time in joining them.
“Go, we’re clear!” yelled Reece the moment the five of them had stepped onto the ramp.
The transport immediately took off while closing the cargo ramp. The zombie army crowded beneath them, filling the area that they had just left. As the transport pulled away from the ground, Reece’s view of the zombies made them look like swarming ants. An involuntary shiver ran down his spine.
Once the transport was safely away and the cabin’s temperature rose to acceptable levels, the berserker was finally able to transform itself back to its human form. Reece immediately recognized her as the woman Bjorn had taken a keen interest in. He quickly took to binding her wounds, as did Aika, as there were many covering her body.
He saw a flurry of movement and looked towards it. Karina was moving about, busily providing her blood to the regulars to heal their many wounds. As he worked, he also noticed that Ciera was buckled into a seat and passed out from the ordeal. She had several bandages across her left arm and forehead. Knowing they were relatively safe; Reece breathed a bit easier.
He returned his focus to the severely injured berserker woman. Reece recognized her as Ulla, one of the members of the complex’s welcoming party. Once she was stabilized, Aika found some dark grey robes for the woman and carefully dressed her. Once the now unconscious woman was finished being tended to, Reece and Aika strapped her into a seat.
Reece smiled, knowing that Bjorn would be happy to see she had survived. His smile was fleeting as he considered the fact that they were still in heaps of trouble. They also had no idea how bad the state of the carrier group was that they were rushing towards. He did notice that Hank, the yeti, and the man named Dmitri had made it aboard. He nodded weakly at them, glad for their timely assistance.
Forcing himself to his feet, he felt the last of the effects of his battle song fade from his body. Deep fatigue set in. Before he went to ask the pilots for a situation report, he looked over at Aika and smiled as best as he could manage.
He opened his mouth to thank her, but his left knee buckled. He dropped to the floor, landing hard on it before falling forward. Reece managed to stop his descent with his hands. Trying to use his other leg to stand back up, that too gave way and he sat back on his heels as his body became heavy. He could feel and see the darkness closing in on him. It started as simple tunnel vision.
He chuckled internally as he realized that he must have overextended himself several times over. That was his last conscious thought, the last of his strength giving out. Swaying slightly, Reece toppled over. He could feel himself fall against something warm and soft just as the all too familiar darkness claimed him.