Saga Three: Southern Stars
Chapter 37: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Karina walked out of the Bell Tower from the penthouse floor. She could see as far as the sky lets her. To her avail it was a clear day, the sun was setting and shining its most revealing light on all of Savannah. From the harbor marched a mass. It was clear to Karina, even from so far away that this was not the horde. And just like that a glimmer of hope kindled inside Karina’s heart. For what seemed like an eternity she had not felt such a feeling since it all went to shit.
As the army marched forth against the Bell Tower Karina’s heart grew and grew back to the romantic notions of old. So much had been lost, fallen by the wayside, centuries of culture, society, evolution, cast asunder until nothing but filthy remnants remained of a more refined time, a more dignified day where such concepts as hope and redemption were common currency of the heart. Karina unflinchingly emerged from the shadow; a long awaited salvation grew ever closer until her saviors were at the walls of tower.
“I’m gonna tell you one more time, Hamilton. You let us in or we’re coming in.”
“You have half of Savannah out there with you!”
“And what do you have?”
“We have the bell tower.”
Hamilton made a signal and the grand bells started sounding off. As soon as Syd heard them he gave the order to fire at will. The Harbor army attacked the Bell Tower sanctuary.
The horde came crashing down all around Syd and his militia. Karina watched in horror as innocent people without the ability to think for themselves marched to their deaths. Hamilton knew no lows, already waiting for her in the bedroom, his arrogance in plain view. Why bother putting on clothes when you have the horde at your disposal and this Bell Tower?
Karina stood at the edge of the roof, her toes hanging over. All she had to do was take one more step. She would fall. She would fall and never have to come back, never have to return to Hamilton or his depraved ways again. Was that not paradise?
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One more step and Karina would finally be able to save herself from everlasting torment. Karina wanted to do it. She wanted to stop hating what she had become but at her core, beneath every other feeling and belief she possessed there was her instinct to survive, and it far surpassed everything else. So, Karina kept breathing, she took a step back and continued to hate herself. Karina walked back inside the penthouse and took her robe off, joining Hamilton in bed.
Outside below in the courtyard the undead were now blocking Syd’s escape. There was no retreat. He had just led all his people to die. Some of them banged on the door inside, some tried to make it for the gate. Syd had to decide what to do as his world came crashing down around him. He had nothing. He was spent. Syd saw no way out of this.
If he’s gonna go out, he’s going to be causing some damage right up until the point in which it happens. Syd finished his clip in the back of the heads of the hungry dead coming down on his men that were still banging on the Bell Tower door. In doing so he attracted the attention of the others. Syd charged them with the empty rifle, swinging it around with both hands knocking them over. He abandoned the rifle to swiftly move on, slipping his knife from his belt and drawing his pistol in order to face the next round.
How easy it gets to dispense all of your ammunition when they come at you in bunches like this. Syd used the pistol as a melee weapon; combined with his knife he was still effective. Just a couple more and his people were up ahead, the gate in the distance. Syd felt a tug at his ankle, he pulled through it and twisted around with the backhand of his knife clocking the zombie in the head.
Syd quickly finished him off but was caught by another one. He drilled it in the head and barely got away from more. When Syd turned back around the zombie was so close his knife slipped right into its ribcage. It was stuck and Syd was forced to release it in order to keep moving. Now all he had left was his pistol. Body after body he brought to the ground with a jab to the head, the tricky part was getting past the bites and claws on the ground.
They grabbed at his pants, a bunch of lethargic groupies; their slow pulls made it a sort of hellish crowd surf, unsettling to say the least. He kept moving like a running-back advancing past the line of scrimmage. If he kept his legs moving they couldn’t take him down. But they can get in the way.
Syd got tripped right over by a rotting skull as they swarm all around him. The kicks were no longer working. He was getting pinned and had no means of escape. He thrusted around wildly to break free, but it was no use. Syd started to panic and couldn’t concentrate. He was flipped over on his back and hit his elbow on the ground bouncing his pistol off of his palm. He reached for it and the undead pinned his arm down on the ground, their heads slowly lowering for a feast. Syd stretched out his fingers to snag the pistol all for naught.
Right before their putrid teeth broke his flesh, the zombies were rendered inanimate by friendly fire. Syd ws saved by the surviving members of his team as they crossed the threshold of the gate leading way from the Bell Tower, back to Savannah. Behind them the bell still tolled, drawing more and more in.
Damion threw Syd some ammo and Clara handed him the machete she took from Albert’s remains. Syd felt that fire within him again, the one that yearned for a future. The bell tolled above them, they were halfway free from danger, with more danger growing around them every second. From the neighborhoods to the roads the dormant stirred with the bell, the streets came alive from every district, even attracting human attention. From the north, a band of survivors led by Samuel Gordon Chase heard the bell tower while they snuck into Savannah unnoticed.