The Runner

Monday, 29th of February, 198 A.C, 18:50

“Here’s a little-known history fact I just learned: Using the Gregorian calendar, the Calamity actually happened on March 2nd, not March 1st. When the Calamitous calendar was adopted, one day was removed from March and added to February so that the new year would line up cleanly with the turning of the month. Weird, right?” - excerpt from ‘Fact a Day #583’ by John ‘J2’ Tulip

The vanguard was fighting around me. Falling. Dying. About ten feet ahead, I recognized Kylie, a protestor with the Soul of Spark. She was holding the broken tip of her spear like a knife, as if it would ward off the lupi that had isolated and encircled her. One of them lunged suddenly, and though she stuck it good, it wasn’t enough.

I was useless to help. My task was to observe and keep my Veil up for anyone in range. Unless something hit me, my feet were stuck to the asphalt.

Someone screamed to the left. A young man in a courier’s uniform was pointing towards the sky. It was hard to see the corpi at night, up out of the floodlights’ reach as they were. At best I could catch a wing or beak on occasion when they hit just the right angle to catch an errant Chipper beam. What gave them away was the sound. Earpiercing caws and cackles came from above by the hundreds, like the world’s worst game of aerial marco polo.

A volley from the wall sent the flock into disarray. Dozens of the creatures tumbled into the light, melting away as they fell like so many meteors. But even with such concentrated fire, I could tell that they had barely put a dent in their numbers. Worse, the swarm shook loose several corpi in its panic and, with nobody around but the vanguard, the resulting squadron wasted no time in dive bombing us.

Our defensive circle wavered as volunteers were disoriented and forced out of position by the flying Psychons. The courier from earlier fell to the ground under a hail of pecks and scratches. I was probably the only person who noticed him disappear under a pack of hungry lupi.

I looked back to my right. To my surprise, Kylie was back up, with nothing more than a bite wound. I couldn’t say the same for the woman who had come to her rescue. It was impossible to make out who the martyr was behind the mass of shadowy flesh and teeth, but the hysterics in Kylie’s voice as she desperately stabbed and shoved at the monsters gave me a pretty good idea.

I scanned desperately for anyone or anything that could save the duo. I knew it was selfish, to care so much more about the lives of these two than all the other volunteers dying by the minute. But I didn’t care. I had marched with them, clinked glasses with them after good and bad news alike. They couldn’t fall here. They just couldn’t.

There. The Berserker was slicing her way through the swarm, a pink-glowing smudge silhouetted against the night. The arc she was tracing would soon intersect with Kylie and Steph. They just had to hang on. And, well. The Berserker had to keep that blade of hers away from them.

***

The Berserker

Lupus to the left which I caught it in the neck but another one jumped me to the right slow enough that I dodged no problem and STUCK IT with a knife that didn’t quite take it down down but weakened it so I didn’t even have to go for seconds because behind me someone FINISHED IT OFF freeing me to focus on the two more Psychons ahead one cervid and wow that was a small capra it was fast though considering it almost got me with a horn and I TWISTED MY LEG dodging but I had to keep going with my ankle SCREAMING and me SCREAMING LOUDER to drown out the pain enough to land one solid CHOP and the capre’s HEAD WAS GONE so next was the cervid which wasn’t too bad with those antlers splayed out to the side leaving its skull wide open for me to wedge my falchion in and use it like a pole vault so I flipped over and landed as the Psychon disappeared and my sword pulled free ready for the next group but before that why was it SO LOUD with those damn corpi shouting like it was the END OF THE WORLD and filling up my head like it was a balloon with all those noises bouncing around subatomic particle style small on their own but fuck there were so many of them that–

I clutched my heart and failed to catch my breath.

One two three four five lupi all in a pile was that someone under them well that wasn’t good were they still alive because if so I had to help them but that would be tricky since I didn’t want to HIT them or risk PHYSICAL CONTACT but every second I hesitated was a second they were closer to DYING so I started with a spray of knives to drop a few corpi in the area and scatter the rest which worked so as I ran by I picked the thrown knives up off the ground but I NICKED MYSELF on one of them and it STUNG like a papercut but I made it to the pile and LOPPED OFF the jaw of one of them then dodged the counterattack from its friend and CLEAVED the fucking thing in two which left three more to go and as it so happened one lunged at me but I slid under it its legs at which point it almost TOUCHED me but not quite so I GUTTED it as it flew overhead and it was gone before it hit the ground and the next one was a simple stick and flick with left just one left after that who went for my arm but BROKE A TOOTH against my shield which I had turned it on just in time to stun the beast and PLUNGE my falchion DEEP INSIDE which was pretty nasty so I flicked the blade to the side when it was done to clean off the blood that as I thought about it wouldn’t be there because Psychons didn’t bleed–

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I focused on the movements. Slice up, slice down, thrust. Parry, riposte. Remember the footwork.

The fallen soldier was MANGLED and MUTILATED but alive and a woman maybe her partner dragged her toward the Runner trying to keep her alive but enough of that I had to get going there were too many monsters to SLAUGHTER and too many soldiers to save I dodged weaved SLICED and STABBED but they just kept coming until I saw the Pugilist stained with blood but not his own since I couldn’t see any wounds and his Veil wasn’t over his eyes as he spoke to the vanguard captain and the two signaled a retreat after which he cuffed the Runner on the ear to get his attention for new orders which must have gotten through because the Runner got up and started jogging back towards the wall with that restorative aura going to help the wounded make it back which meant that–

I lowered my sword a few degrees and honed in on the sensations along the length of my arms. The tension in my shoulders. The lactic acid waiting to swoop in if I took too long of a break. The hints of exhaustion creeping into my forearms and wrists due to poor form. I let it all out as I exhaled. The Pugilist was fighting his way over to me. I needed my Veil under control before he arrived.

I created some breathing room between me and the enemy, relaxed my shoulders, and put a hand over my chest. I could manage controlled breaths, if not deep ones. The pink lines running along my body faded to a dim glow.

The Pugilist was giving me instructions. We were going to cover the flanks for the vanguard’s trip back, but unlike them and the Runner, we were gonna stay outside afterwards. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about militia members getting too close?

A shout from the barricade kicked things off. It was Ira, probably having noticed the movement in the vanguard. Muzzle flashes joined the floodlights as the wall guard did their best to clear a path for us.

A thought popped into my head while I took the right and the Pugilist headed for the left – assuming the Pugilist was finally going to pop his Veil on, the vanguard might be more scared of *us* than the Psychons. Good incentive against straying too far to one side, I supposed.

My mind was wandering. I focused back on my surroundings and came face to face with a chest-high taurus that was mid-charge. Something in my heart popped. I had been distracted for only a moment, but already there was no time to dodge. Maybe I could deflect the attack? I started to raise my shield, but there was zero chance I would get it up in time. My Veil wasn’t ramping up fast enough either; all I could do was let out a strangled yelp and hope that the horns missed anything vital.

Just as the monster was swiping its head to gore me, it vanished. A tiny little marble plopped to the ground in its place. I said a breathless thank you to the Duelist, already dashing off to fend off the Psychons attacking further up the line; even if I wanted to stick around the experience had set off my Veil like a *motherfucker* and it was only revving up higher and higher – no way I could hold it back now, I’d just have to do what I could to steer it away from people and towards Psychons as hard as that was going to be but the Duelist had given me this second chance to I owed it to him to make the most of it especially since I had completely forgotten about him I mean it was easy to do that with him being in a pocket dimension most of the time but that actually begged the question of whether he would be heading back over the wall with the vanguard or like me and the Pugilist going–

Once more into the breach.

None of these fuckers were going to get near me with my sword and my knives and my tonfa and my shield and my armor if it really came down to that last one but no I wasn’t going to let that happen so I dashed up along side the vanguard the tip of my falchion digging a shallow GASH into the asphalt daring any Psychon to get close until a lupus did and I kicked the blade up and SPLIT its head from nose to neck which might have spooked some people but not the monsters considering one went right in to take its place and it sure did do a convincing impression of its friend DYING after I followed through on the momentum from the first swing to bring the blade around for a horizontal slash CRUSHING its teeth and not stopping until I hit its dissipating ribs and NAILED a serpentes on the backswing for good measure then looked up to see not one but two feles pop up in front of me ready to take down some poor solider holding out his spear like a fishing pole but lucky for him I was faster than them with my feet POUNDING the ground as I slid my sword into its scabbard and took out my trusty tonfa then got one from the bottom with a kick that sent it a good two meters into the air before it was gone but not dead of course those things got skittish when actual danger showed up so I made sure to take out the other one with one spinning tonfa strike to its neck which made a CRACK I bet you could hear from the wall but there waas no time to dwell on it I had to keep up the pace especially with the crowd spreading out since some people were slowed down having to carry the injured–

Halfway there. *Focus.*

Someone behind me stumbled and dropped the body they were lugging along sending both of them sprawling on the pavement which was an invitation to the Psychons if ever there was one and sure enough they came crawling but they did not count on an angry woman armed to the teeth coming along and summarily ENDING THEIR LIVES now I couldn’t help the soldier up but I stuck around long enough for them to stumble to their feet though their payload wasn’t moving and I think they realized it because they filled my skull with a CRY OF ANGUISH but then rejoined the group of course as soon as that was done I was off to the next crisis and again to the next doing everything I could to KEEP THEM ALIVE but even so we were losing more people by the moment and I could not tell you who because I had no time to inspect the bodies or else there would be even more casualties so I RAN MY ASS OFF just a little longer until they finally got to the fucking wall where the soldiers were ready with ladders and cloth lifts to ferry everyone to safety except me and the Pugilist who stayed back to hold the line like hell and even after the last of the vanguard was up and over we forged back out each terrifying in our own way because if we kept it up we might just save the wall and all the messy dirty FILTHY BEAUTIFUL people inside but for now I just had to fight and fight and fight and fight and–

Keep going until either the sun came up or I fell down.