Proverbs 4:14-19
Do not go in the road of sinners, or be walking in the way of evil men. Keep Far from it, do not go near; be turned from it, and go on your way. For they take no rest till they have done evil; their sleep is taken away if they have not been the cause of someone’s fall. The bread of evil-doing is like their food, the wine of violent acts their drink. But the way of the upright is like the light of early morning, getting brighter and brighter till the full day. The way of sinners is dark; they see not the cause of their fall.
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“Form up! Positions!” I yelled trying to break the trance that rippled over the crowd.
Lena took over at that point, “Remember, this is our town! We aren’t giving it up for anyone, much less that creepy bastard!”
After the horde of zombies finished pulling around the corner and spread out to fill the street, we saw him. The zombie crowd separated as he walked into the front and center of their formation.
I wanted to laugh if our death and undeaths weren’t riding on this. Total edge-lord. Dark, blood-stained robes? Check. Face covered in a deep cowl on said dark-lord robes? Check.
Surrounded by 10 uncomfortably smoothly walking, likely super-zombies? Check.
Creepy, overly wide smile that I could make out from all the way down the street? Also, check.
He definitely needed to die.
Lena apparently felt the same, “Anyone with a rifle, open fire on him!” No need to wait for the opening speech, that was a sucker’s game.
Pops rang out and a few shots even looked like they made a solid grouping, as the bullets impacted him he took a pained knee before one of his special zombies dropped to the ground in exchange for him standing back up. Then, he was lost to the crowd as the zombie horde moved forward at a surprisingly quick shamble. Some sort of damage transfer. More bullshit.
Typical of zombies, only headshots worked and not every shot managed to cut down a zombie. Still, plenty did as the distance between our groups shortened.
“Ready boys?”
A small chorus of “Aye.” sounded out.
I smiled, the old timers were getting into it now.
Lena was shouting new orders to the firing lines. I looked at her bodyguard, the edge-of-elderly woman who would have been assigned to me, and nodded ‘watch Lena’, she gave me a grim nod in response.
The shooters pulled back a bit and condensed their positions. They’d protect the flanks and we’d hold the center. There were a bit more than 50 of the slow zombies left by my quick, and best, guess. Right before closing with us, they pulled to our flanks and the center opened up and the 9 fast zombies darted forward.
Shit, they were fast. I leapt out in a thrust and, with a bit of luck, took one of them through the eye before kicking it off my sword and cutting through a grasping arm. Joe’s hot machete sliced through nearly as easily as my own, the added weight even giving him a slight advantage in cutting power. Frank was on my other side and Sam’s job behind me was to make sure that our formation held.
Another tried to tackle me but it hit my shield, and I felt Bulwark kick in as my feet refused to move, bodyweight naturally perfectly positioned to hold. I slapped it to the ground with a backhand and Sam bisected its head with his heavy machete. Joe and Frank were doing alright but I couldn’t help them.
Two more attacked me at once and one grabbed onto my shield, the sudden reversal in direction threatening to pull me off balance before Sam’s machete nearly cut through my arm to stop a strike toward my head.
There were more than 50 zombies, more and more were pouring out of storefronts as we held them off and they joined the fast zombies. They were acting smarter too as slow zombies filled in between the fast ones. Shooting quick, darting strikes as our blades were busy with their slower cousins.
The Mortician had expected to roll us in melee, but now he was adapting, not risking his fast zombies as easily as before. He had also stored some backups. That I couldn’t figure out, had he been expecting us to meet him in the middle of the street? Dialogue back and forth a bit? It seemed stupid, but I could definitely see some budding dark lord thinking like that. We couldn’t afford to let him learn from his mistakes. I had been catching glimpses of him when they first attacked but those were growing more scarce.
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“Sam! Can you fill in for me?”
He stepped in and I sent out a series of cuts and bashes before twisting myself deeper into the group of zombies. I bashed a few aside then slammed the shield’s edge into a fast zombie and it spiraled toward Joe who severed something vital before it stopped moving. I managed another lucky stab into one’s skull that tried to take advantage but it grabbed my wrist as it died, taking my sword arm, and sword down with it to the ground. I saw something building behind the writhing mass of zombie flesh. Something dark.
I raised my shield and pushed out Will to try and counteract it. Magic fights magic, right?
Something worked because the Dark-Shadow-Ball of Decay or whatever ridiculous name I was sure it was given, struck my shield for a moment then burst apart in dripping shadows as it diffused into the zombies around me. A zombie started gnawing on my arm and I jerked it away before it punched too deeply into flesh and charged, shield first through the growing pileup.
Then, there wasn’t anything in front of me as I stumbled out. I rolled to avoid another dark splash that bubbled the asphalt of the street and pulled my pistol and aimed it at the cloaked man. I was forced to redirect the bullet into a zombie that was close, too close.
It slumped but then there was another one that I had to shoot before a third zombie grabbed me and I blasted into its head and threw it away. Another fast zombie put itself between me and the Mortician and had its hands outstretched toward me. I was completely out of position to do anything about it either, before something high-powered blew out the base of its skull, leaving the rest of the head hanging on by a thread. I pushed around it and toward the Mortician and saw the blast of the decay ball for an instant before it drove into my gut. Bulwark couldn’t help as I dropped on my back and I felt my cursed bites pulse in near-crippling agony. I could feel it start to chip away at my Fortitude and I felt a small burst of my Fortitude return as the fear hit me of what would happen if I ran out of the resource.
“Vile slave of light.” I didn’t bother arguing against the point he made and honestly, it would have sounded totally badass if his voice hadn’t cracked on the delivery. I found it difficult to unclench my jaw and trade barbs.
Neither of which made me feel much better as he loomed over me and snapped both fingers before black shadowy claws grew from his fingertips and settled into dark talons that dripped liquid shadow. I tried to get up but my stomach muscles were done for.
My below-average but still abnormally high luck for current humanity must have kicked in as I managed to beat off the first strike that came in, shredding my shield and almost the rest of my arm along with it. A miracle since that arm was almost completely numb along with my left foot. A red-hot machete cut in hard and fast toward the Mortician’s neck, he easily blocked it with his other shadow-talon.
“Impertinence!” He moved to finish Joe off.
I activated ‘Here’s a sword m’lord’ and pushed Will toward my empty grip. The space rippled then condensed into my hand as it formed a mostly ethereal longsword made of solid space that was ringed by a thin strip of light. Unsure if what I was going to try next was even possible, but resolute in my earlier promise to not let Joe die, I burst my unattuned Will out from my back onto the pavement and launched myself up.
My conjured blade stabbed upward and punched through the chest of the Mortician before it disappeared back into my surroundings with another ripple. Chunks of black blood blew out of the dark-necromancer as he screamed and dropped to his knees. Lena ran and plunged my recovered sword into his back and Joe finished it by mimicking his earlier cut to sever him at the neck.
I laid back, it was over. He was dead. Hell yeah. Or… ‘Hell? No.’ I guessed that would be more appropriate.
Lena placed her hands on me and color started to return to the world. I sat up, or at least I tried to. I felt my Fortitude continue to drain out of my gut as numbness continued to move in me.
“I got ya Cap’in.” Joe was approaching me with his glowing hot bowie knife. Oh no. Oh screw that.
I tried to roll away but he just laughed at my attempt and plunged the flat of the blade against my gut. Again and again. Then against my arm where I had taken the bite. Then in other places where I was sure weren’t absolutely necessary.
He tore off a piece of his sleeve and handed it to me, “Better wipe those off, Cap’s never supposed to be seen crying like a baby.” He relit his bowie and started cauterizing his own wounds with a barely clenched jaw.
I sniffed, “Joe. Thank you and, with all due respect, fuck you.”
“Anytime, Cap’in.”
My skin was tender, and colored somewhere between blood-red and overly well-done tender. The worst of both worlds. Still, I looked at my bare midriff, it was better than being decayed or whatever else that dark ball would have done to me.
Quest #2 Completed. Alternate Class Advancements Unlocked. Complete Final Advancement Quest to Gain Access to the Next Tier.
Shit, that was right. I had completely forgotten. I looked around and couldn’t see either of the Dark Affinity users.
I looked at my ankle and saw that it was worse. It hadn’t been that much time though. Was that shadow-ball a Fortitude drainer, a damage spell, AND a curse accelerant? Ridiculous OP bullshit.
I stumbled to my feet as Lena helped me, returning my sword. I wiped it on the Mortician’s robe as the death of the remaining zombies and screams of Joe’s ‘healing’ sounded out around us.
“It’s dark.” It was somewhere between a question and a statement as I saw the surprising amount of lit torches that were strewn around the battlefield. When had that happened? I was beat.