ã€ŠBeyond The Wall (Complete)ã€‹


 Prologue: What Lies Will Rise

    Sara leaned back in her seat, staring out into the white abyss in front of her. The blizzard was heavier than usual. In fact, she couldn''t even see more than twenty paces outside of The Wall. Her ¡®turret¡¯ was only a light machine gun on top of a tripod.

    She hoped it would be enough, when the time came.

    Sara was a private something-class with the something-or-other-division or was it a regiment?

    It didn''t really matter.

    She had the easiest job in the army.

    Sit with a gun¡ªa rather big gun at that¡ªand defend The Wall.

    There were hundreds of others sitting on all sides of her, up and down the hall where she was. Her holo-display lit up with a ¡°CONTACTS SIGHTED¡± warning.

    It pointed at the location, and she pointed her turret in that direction. She knew she didn''t need to, but she checked the safety. It was disabled, as expected. Sara waited.

    She felt a vibration in her chest as someone to her far right fired their weapon. Her earplugs blotted out the sound entirely, but she could still feel it.

    Something moved outside The Wall. She already had her gun pointed in the direction, and quickly sent a notification via her holo-display to those around her.

    They all fired together at the dark shape.

    If this were a movie, they would call it a zombie and they would shoot the thing in the head and it would die. However, here in the real world, the Risen wouldn''t die from a shot to the head. Or a shot to the heart, or anywhere else. In the real world, you had to either blow the head entirely off or dismember it.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Risen weren''t at all like the zombies from movies Sara had seen.

    They were independent, intelligent, and they didn''t need to eat humans.

    When a Risen died, another dead body would rise.

    It was like a videogame, only the Risen were the player characters with infinite lives and the humans were the mobs. Except the humans didn''t respawn like normal mobs, they became Risen.

    They were visible now.

    She could see their features, make out their weapons.

    That meant they were way too close.

    One pointed something at her and she ducked as she fired. Suddenly, she flew backwards, off her chair and onto the ground.

    She felt a spark of pain and felt her shoulder.

    It was wet.

    She screamed for help, but everyone around her had their plugs in. They were firing frantically at the Risen, she knew.

    A blackness started creeping around the edges of her vision, and she reached to rub her forehead. There was a wetness there, too.

    Her breathing quickened, and when she closed her eyes, she thought she could see something. A figure, reaching out for her.

    Smiling at her.

    Its inhuman eyes glittered in the dark, and to her surprise,

    she smiled back.

 Chapter 1: The Only Answer

    Vas was young.

    At least he felt young.

    In his early twenties, however, he was one of the oldest people in Last City. Because of this, his name was at the top of the list when the draft orders came in.

    He lounged outside on a small folding chair and was surrounded by snow, looking at a screen only he could see.

    Apparently a Risen assault on The Wall the night before had resulted in sixteen deaths. A girl at one of the turrets had turned and killed the people on either side of her, and the ripple had continued until everyone in that room was dead.

    The article Vas was reading on his holo-display claimed this incident ¡®further validates the extra amount of resources¡¯ that were spent on The Wall.

    Vas hadn¡¯t realized The Wall would need any more validation than it¡¯d already earned by saving the human race.

    The sound of a bell suddenly reverberated through the air, which signaled the summoning of everyone indicated on the draft papers.

    Vas sighed and stood up. He had a trench coat on, which he wore over a hooded jacked and two layers of pants. His hood was up, and had a tight scarf-like addition sewed onto it, which he had wrapped around his nose and mouth.

    Consequently his only bit of exposed skin was the small opening between his hood and scarf, which left room for his eyes.

    There was also another bit of skin, the tips of his fingers on his right hand. That went without mentioning, however, as everyone knew to wear a cut-off glove on their primary hand.

    The bell sounded once again, for redundancy¡¯s sake.

    Vas shook himself, folded his chair, and walked to the closest building¡ªhis house.

    He kicked the door open. There were no door handles this far north, only an electronic lock that released when someone neared the door.

    Vas dropped his folding chair on the floor and quickly went to his bed. He reached underneath it and grabbed the only weapon the army had not confiscated from him.

    It was a large Japanese sword called a ¡®Nodachi¡¯ but Vas had no delusions about actually being able to use the weapon. He strapped it onto his back. His father had worn the weapon upside-down on his back, but Vas wore it right-side up.

    Vas took one last look at his single room abode before exiting through the second door. He descended down a flight of stairs and reached a giant lit tunnel. It was heated, and the majority of the townsfolk spent their time in the tunnel.

    Hundreds of thousands of people crowded the vast network of tunnels, doing all sorts of activities. Selling, buying, working, playing. All of them were younger than Vas.

    As Vas walked through the giant tunnel towards the base of The Wall, he was interrupted by a girl a few years younger than him.

    ¡°YO!¡± Miiche grabbed his arm enthusiastically, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you in aaages!¡± Vas gave her a blank stare. ¡°Pretty sure I saw you last night, Miiche.¡±

    Miiche¡¯s eyes twinkled for a second. ¡°Funny, I don¡¯t remember seeing you. The only thing I did last night was take a bath. . .¡± She left the implication there, which made Vas uncharacteristically blush, ¡°Dinner.¡± His response was curt, signaling the level of his embarrassment. Miiche put her hands up to her face and faked realization, ¡°RIGHT!¡±

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    The two walked silently side-by-side for a few minutes.

    Miiche laid a hand on his shoulder when they neared The Wall. Vas was taller than her by more than a head and a half, so this took some effort.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be okay, V. They¡¯ll put you on a turret!¡± ¡°They don¡¯t put young men on turrets very often.¡±

    Miiche looked at the ground, ¡°You¡¯ll still be okay. I¡¯ll join the vanguard in a few months and come find you!¡±

    They were almost to The Wall now. There was a guard watching Vas, likely having guessed yet another late recruit was arriving. This draft had probably only included more than a few dozen people, but Vas had managed to be the last one to show up.

    Suddenly, Miiche¡¯s words hit him and he turned to her suddenly, ¡°Don¡¯t you dare join the vanguard. Your sister would be devastated. Get a good job on a turret.¡±

    Miiche¡¯s eyes were fiery. She hated being told what to do. She didn¡¯t argue, but that didn¡¯t mean she would obey.

    Seeing the impatient guard, Miiche gave Vas a quick hug, ¡°Be SAFE!¡± After an extra squeeze, she darted off. Vas thought he might have seen a tear in her eye as she scurried away.

    The guard cleared his throat, and Vas turned around to meet the eyes of the agitated man. He walked up to the guard, ¡°Vas Tremor, drafted this morning. Reporting.¡±

    The guard just stared at him, and Vas looked at another guard quizzically.

    The second guard looked at him with amused disbelief and Vas flinched.

    ¡°SIR!!¡± He added with passion when the realization hit.

    The irritated guard consulted his holo-display while his companion snickered in the background.

    Not helping! Vas thought as he glared at the second guard. ¡°You,¡± the first guard grated, ¡°Will report to the vanguard department.¡±

    Vas nodded. He had expected this much.

    The guard smiled darkly, ¡°The scouts could use some reinforcements.¡±

    Vas¡¯s heart dropped. The Vanguard department was far enough south that the EMP¡¯s effects were complete. Every member of the vanguard used a sword, a spear, and usually a crossbow as well.

    The vanguard was dangerous, it was on the frontlines. However, it was where the majority of the army was. Hundreds of thousands of people comprised the vanguard.

    The scouts, though.

    The scouts pushed forward. They went on search and rescue missions to the south. They watched for and warned of Risen assaults. They searched for survivors.

    Vas took a deep breath and nodded again. He started walking forward, but the guard continued to bar his path. ¡°Your sword. You won¡¯t be needing something so extravagant out there.¡±

    Vas unstrapped his sword and handed it to the guard. He was too numb to put up a fight now.

    ¡°Yes sir,¡± he said.

 Chapter 2: Doors That Groan

    Vas trudged past the guards and into the elevator room. It was one of many that spanned the entire underground of The Wall.

    Many people opted to live in the underground because of the inherent heat in the space, and it was encouraged by the army.

    Vas turned around and stole his last look at the tunnel he had called home for years.

    Then the doors slammed shut.

    Time passed swiftly as Vas was in a daze. For the first time in months Vas saw groups of adults as they went around performing various duties.

    One ran by with a bucket of water and a mop, then was followed quickly by three more with towels. After that was one with a sled.

    Vas watched them with glazed eyes as the secretary in a wheelchair printed out a tag for Vas. The man cleared his throat and got Vas¡¯s attention, then promptly handed him the tag.

    Tags in the army were similar to dog tags used by militaries in the past, except that identification after death was no longer deemed necessary.

    The tag was small, rectangular with rounded edges, and was laser-inscribed with these words:

    ¡°Vas Tremor. Scout. Trainee.¡±

    Vas frowned at his tag. There was no place for a chain so that he could put it around his neck.

    ¡°Don¡¯t we wear these around our necks?¡± Vas queried when the secretary raised eyebrows.

    The secretary grunted out what was probably a laugh. ¡°No.¡± ¡®No¡¯? That was all? How helpful, Vas thought. He waited a moment, but the man didn¡¯t look back up.

    ¡°Well, where do I go?¡± Vas asked with a fake smile, annoyed.

    The man looked up again and blinked. ¡°There¡¯s a good question. Your drill sergeant should be here by now.¡±

    The secretary made a few motions on a holo-display Vas could not see.

    Moments later, an overweight woman rounded a nearby corner and marched up to him. Her shoulders were rolled back, her hair was cut short, and it was obvious she had been through real army training. Before the Risen.

    She nodded to the secretary, then turned back to Vas, ¡°come with me, kiddo.¡± Without another word, then went back the way she had come.

    Vas followed her and was led to a room with more than a dozen other recruits, all close to his age.

    The drill sergeant closed the door behind Vas and turned to the group, waiting until Vas was with his peers before speaking.

    ¡°I realize none of you want to be in this situation. All of you will be going out from The Wall, and you will not be coming back. Once we leave The Wall there are a few things you need to understand. Some are things you learned during our long march up here multiple years ago. They¡¯re all things you need to know.¡±

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.The drill sergeant coughed for a good ten seconds before continuing.

    ¡°First, No electricity or fire exists beyond the wall. Second, consensual sex is allowed and even encouraged, but only during the day. In the evening you will either be on watch or sleeping. Either way, you need to be ready. The Risen attack most during the night. Third and finally, follow orders whenever possible. We are fighting for the survival of our race. Your job is to survive and to keep everyone around you alive.¡±

    Vas did not feel very enlightened and would have loved to hear more, but the woman simply opened the door and commanded them to follow her.

    They marched for about twenty minutes, weaving through the hallways in a single file line.

    Eventually, they all loaded into an elevator and went back down below ground-level.

    This time, they were on the other side of the wall.

    Another tunnel. This time it was smaller, and at the entrance a group of inspection officers asked for the recruits¡¯ tags.

    After scanning each one, they were allowed to continue on.

    About fifteen paces out, the drill sergeant turned and faced the recruits.

    ¡°You will all follow this tunnel to the end. When you reach the end, you will show the officers your tags and be taken to your new units. Electricity ends in around five paces. Good luck.¡±

    The drill sergeant plodded back to the entrance and took the elevator up.

    Some of the recruits nervously started up conversations. Others started crying.

    Vas just put his hood up, strapped his scarf to his head, and strode down the tunnel.

    After a couple of hours, Vas and the recruits who had caught up to him reached the checkpoint.

    Officers took a look at their tags and directed them to keep walking another twenty paces.

    At the exit of the tunnel, an old man took Vas¡¯s tag. ¡°You¡¯ll report to the trainee center with all the other new recruits. It¡¯s straight ahead, the big building.¡±

    Vas nodded and hobbled away through deep layers of snow.

    It was obvious that the snow was mostly shoveled out of the way, but he still sank a fair measure into the snow with every step.

    The building was only fifty paces away, but the distance took Vas almost ten minutes to reach. Glancing back, he saw that the other recruits were using his footsteps to save themselves the extra. They nodded to him respectfully, and he nodded back.

    It hadn¡¯t been his intention, but he would accept gratefulness where he found it.

    He turned back to the building and pushed the door. Nothing happened, and he realized his mistake quickly, pushing on the archaic unlocking mechanism to open the door. It swung open with a groan.

 Chapter 3: Living-kind

    Vas pulled his hood off as a mid-fifties black-skinned man approached him. The man smiled, revealing pearly white teeth. He was shirtless, extremely well fit, and sweating.

    ¡°New recruits!¡± The man shouted with a thick accent that made his words seem more thoughtful and pronounced.

    The building was a massive warehouse, formed into dozens of large rooms that apparently served as training areas.

    It made Vas feel like he was in a giant martial arts gym from the old world.

    Vas nodded to the man, who nodded back and then waited until the rest of the recruits shuffled into the building.

    By the time the fifteen minutes they waited had gone by, a small crowd of shirtless men and women had formed. Women wore wraps around their breasts and underwear, while men only had underwear. ¡°All vanguard, Sun?¡± Asked a voice.

    The black man, Sun, shook his head. ¡°No, they¡¯re sure to have sent some Scouts with this bunch.¡±

    At that, the entire group of spectators raised their fists to their mouths and kissed their pointer knuckle.

    Vas gave Sun a curious look, and the man smiled at him again, ¡°We honor those who sacrifice the most for mankind.¡± ¡°Humankind!¡± Interjected a female voice, emphasizing the ¡°hu¡± part.

    Sun¡¯s smile faltered and Vas thought he saw a glint of pain in the old man¡¯s eyes. It was gone in a second.

    ¡°Living-kind.¡± Said a quiet female voice from behind Vas.

    It WAS quiet, Vas barely heard it. However, it seemed it was louder than he¡¯d thought.

    Everyone in the group of spectators stiffened and nodded solemnly, repeating the words to pass what was said around.

    Sun¡¯s smile deepened.

    ¡°You must be a Scout recruit.¡±

    The girl behind Vas apparently nodded.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Jade.¡±

    The response was sharp, and made Vas turn around to inspect her.

    It was one of the recruits who had stayed close behind him during the trek through the tunnel and snow.

    She was tall for a girl, Asian, dark haired, and gorgeous.

    He found his eyes wanting to linger on her, and noticed that most everyone agreed with him.

    ¡°How about you, quiet one?¡± Vas turned back to Sun.

    ¡°Vas. Sir.¡±

    Sun and the rest of the group chuckled lightly.

    ¡°No sirs and ma¡¯ams out here, Vas. This isn¡¯t some army with uniforms. This is what¡¯s left of people trying to defend themselves and their children. Your uniform is your life.¡±

    Vas nodded, ¡°What happens to us next, Sun?¡± He asked.

    Sun laughed, ¡°Straight to the point! Next, Vas, we¡¯re going to train you recruits. You¡¯ll join these lovely senior recruits,¡± Sun motioned to the group surrounding the newbies, ¡°and will train for a year in this facility. Essentially, you¡¯ve returned to school life. Only, teachers are soldiers and tests are fighting tournaments.¡±

    After the rest of the introductions, Sun led the new recruits to a room with dozens of lockers. ¡°This part always seems strange at first. Take off your clothes and put everything into your locker. You won¡¯t be needing them in here.¡±

    Vas was the first to strip off his multiple layers. He had been nervous all day, and the clarity of the instructions helped him focus.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.He¡¯d already been expecting this after seeing the senior recruits.

    The others were slower to react, but they also took off layers upon layers of clothing.

    Some of the men stared and the women, and some of the women were blushing.

    However, they all complied eventually, which surprised Vas.

    All of them in their undergarments, the male and female recruits shifted their weight back and forth uncomfortably and glanced around.

    Vas was caught glancing at Jade and he quickly looked away when she gave him a ¡°caught you¡± wink.

    ¡°Now I want you all to look at each other. Take a good moment to look into each person¡¯s eye and then examine their body.¡±

    At first, no one complied. However, after a few minutes, Vas gave in. He looked at each man and woman one by one.

    Eventually Sun sighed, ¡°Good. Now the men will take their undergarments off.¡±

    Vas and the others took a few minutes, but eventually conceded.

    Every single man looked terribly embarrassed, and Vas couldn¡¯t hold his blush back.

    When they had all finished, Sun continued.

    ¡°Women, look at the men. There is obviously some sexual tension in the air right now. We could prance around the issue for months and train in close quarters and increase that tension over the year of training, which might eventually result in frustrations followed by accidents. Instead, I¡¯d like all of you to take your undergarments off as well.¡±

    A few of the women complied, and Jade was among them.

    Vas blushed even deeper when she glared at him for staring, but didn¡¯t stop.

    The rest of the women stripped down, and many of the men stared without hiding which ones they were attracted to. Some of the men and women glanced at others of the same gender.

    Sun clapped loudly twice, and they all jerked their collective attention to him. ¡°None of you questioned me, which is surprising. I will still explain to make this clear. Two years ago in our first waves of recruits, there were multiple rapes, two murders, and three suicides. Ever since I started doing things this way, there has been one suicide.¡±

    Sun looked each recruit in the eyes, then scanned their body.

    About halfway through his scanning, the majority of recruits stopped blushing and started scanning one another¡¯s bodies in earnest.

    The men had all collectively calmed down, and they were beginning to look each other up and down as well as staring at the women.

    ¡°There are other reasons as well. For instance, Scouts like Jade here will be required to push south and will travel for months in the snow. There are no fires to keep you warm all night, and body heat is an extremely efficient means of keeping you alive all night. Remember that mutual consent is required for sex, and you can only do so during the daytime hours. You may turn down any person for any reason, but I require you to acknowledge any and all expressions of attraction. You are all equals here, and the person you turn down might be asked to save your life tomorrow. Are there any questions?¡±

    Jade raised her hand and Sun nodded at her. ¡°Are instructors off-limits?¡±

    Sun displayed a wide smile, ¡°No, and thank you. However, no thank you.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean¡ª¡± Jade began, but Sun waved his hand, ¡°Now that we¡¯re through with that, line up, single file. I want each one of you to attack me like you mean to hurt me. The training starts now.¡±

 Chapter 4: Where Strength Is Born

    Author''s Note: I noticed today that multiple people were following my story, so I wrote Chapter 2. Then I thought "what the hell, I''ve got time." Chapter 3. I finished glancing over Chapter 3 and realized I ended it on a baby cliffhanger, and so went on to write Chapter 4.

    Also, I''m sort of trying to write around a chapter a day, so I suppose I was making up for missed days. Anyhow. . . Enjoy!

    <hr />

    <hr />

    Vas was third in line, so he had the luxury of understanding that he was about to receive a beating.

    The two men in front of him had attacked Sun and been quickly punched in the gut or thrown the ground.

    Vas had no experience with martial arts. He had grown up on a family-owned orchard, but he had always been somewhere in the white middle-class of the United States.

    However, Vas had always enjoyed the idea of being a martial artist, or practicing to use some sort of weapon. He had always had an extra amount of anger, which he had channeled through sports and other activities. He¡¯d always thought he could win a fight if he had to.

    He was well over a head taller than Sun, but was nearly as well fit.

    When Sun signaled that it was time for Vas to attack, Vas slouched his shoulders and leaned forward. He looked at Sun, and smiled. He was getting excited now.

    <hr />

    Sun was measuring Vas. Tall, with stretched out muscles. Appears skinny, but is far stronger than he looks. No martial arts training. Weak stance. Will be easily imbalanced and thrown or tripped.

    Then Vas slouched forward. Sun thought the first step was coming, then realized that it was some sort of self-made stance. A strange, hunch-backed stance. Then Vas smiled at Sun.

    Sun took a step back and set into a stance. This young man was dangerous.

    Vas lurched forward and threw a punch, and Sun used the momentum to pull Vas off balance.

    It worked, but Vas threw another punch with his other arm. Sun was surprised when the punch had the heaviness of a punch thrown with good balance, and barely deflected it.

    Then he felt it.

    Vas had distracted him with the second punch and thrown a back kick at Sun¡¯s leg in the same breath.

    Sun went down to the ground, and quickly used his momentum to bring Vas to the ground. He used the extended left arm and pulled it into an arm-lock.

    Vas roared with rage, which surprised Sun. The monster of a man actually lifted Sun off the ground and slammed him back down. With one arm.

    ¡°ENOUGH!¡± Sun yelled. Instantly, Vas stopped his efforts. This impressed Sun even more.

    <hr />

    Vas ceased his efforts at Sun¡¯s command. He was frustrated with himself for getting his arm locked so quickly and knew that Sun could have broken his arm at any moment.

    He felt weak and powerless, which only made him angrier.

    Sun let go of his arm and stood up, offering a hand to Vas. Vas took it reluctantly, without saying a word.

    ¡°That was remarkable.¡±

    Sun looked at the rest of the group, ¡°We¡¯ll stop the evaluation here, I think.¡±

    Vas bowed his head, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°For what? Now I can¡¯t wait to see you with a weapon. What was your name again?¡±

    ¡°Vas.¡±

    ¡°Vas. I¡¯ll remember that name.¡±

    Sun gave a sharp whistle, and five senior recruits walked into the room holding undergarments.

    ¡°These will be your training garments. Each of you will get two pairs and switch each day. We will wash them for you every day. Put those on, then follow me to the armory.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    After they had all happily complied and followed Sun to a different room in the warehouse, they found the ¡°armory¡±, which was essentially a large room with a dozen types of training weapons.

    They ranged from axes to katanas to broadswords to crossbows to nunchaku to daggers to spears and halberds. There was even a flail.

    ¡°Now, do any of these weapons appeal to you? Is there any weapon you are looking for? I believe that every person should be able to live and die with a weapon they connect with.¡±

    Jade raised her hand, ¡°what is that long axe?¡±

    Sun grabbed a halberd from the wall and tossed it to Jade, who almost dropped the weapon from the sudden weight. ¡°Heavy, isn¡¯t it? That is a polearm called a halberd.¡±

    Jade stepped back and swung the weapon. It was slow and difficult for her. She scraped the ground as she loosened her grip.

    ¡°Vas?¡± Sun asked with a raised eyebrow. All eyes turned to Vas.

    ¡°Do you have any nodachi?¡± Sun smiled and shook his head, ¡°Full of surprises. No, but we have katanas.¡±

    Vas didn¡¯t respond, and Sun picked up on his body language, ¡°How about a bastard sword? Giant, two-handed, similar concept.¡±

    Sun waited another moment, then clapped his hands together. ¡°I¡¯ve got it. Have you ever used a miaodao?¡±

    Sun didn¡¯t wait for a response, instead prancing over to the wall and grabbing a curved two-handed sword.

    He handed the sword to Vas, who grabbed and unsheathed it.

    It felt very similar to his father¡¯s nodachi.

    ¡°Chinese, not Japanese. Similar dimensions though. We were lucky to get one of these. I would give you a nodachi, but they¡¯re all in use.¡±

    Vas shook his head, staring at the sword. He liked that it was different yet similar.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take this.¡±

    There was a glint of appreciation in Sun¡¯s eyes, and then he moved to the next recruit.

    Vas laid his weapon across his back. He¡¯d grown accustomed to his own style of swinging large weapons by using large sticks in his family¡¯s orchard daily.

    He contorted his body and swung the dulled training weapon straight through a training dummy.

    Someone applauded from behind him.

    It was Jade. She gave him a smile.

    ¡°You are stronger than you look.¡±

    Most people didn¡¯t get straight to the point with him, so he appreciated her honest words.

    Even though they hurt a little.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean that in a bad way.¡± She said quickly. Quickly like a person trying to reassure a child with an injured pride.

    Vas looked at her with a sidelong glance. She was tall for an Asian.

    ¡°What ethnicity are you?¡± He was curious, since he¡¯d been a fan of anime and was familiar with multiple Asian cultures before the Risen appeared.

    ¡°I¡¯m Native American.¡±

    Well, that showed him for making assumptions. Vas went back to slicing at his training dummy. This time he kept his motions fluid, following his cuts and continuing the momentum of his sword.

    He was careful to go slow as Sun had demanded, but he made sure his weapon stayed in motion. He wanted to fight again.

    He wanted to win the next time.

    At the dummy to his side, Jade started maneuvering her halberd around in a similar attack pattern, except she was adding stabs into her attacks.

    Vas observed this and added stabs to his own motions.

    He wouldn¡¯t lose to anyone.

 Chapter 5: Peripheral Vision

    Days of training turned in weeks of training.

    Weeks of training turned sore limbs into small muscles.

    Vas had lost a dozen contests with Sun and many of the senior recruits.

    The failures only served to fuel his motivation.

    Sun had taught Vas basic stances, but claimed that he knew very little in terms of two-handed weapon techniques.

    Because of the lack of a teacher, Vas practiced on his own frequently.

    When others went for afternoon excursions or got into relationships, Vas swung his sword.

    Jade was often at his side, and the two had become fast friends.

    She seemed to enjoy how blunt and quiet Vas was, and Vas didn¡¯t mind having a sparring partner.

    They often fought each other with extremely slow motions, and never even at half speed.

    Because of this, they were completely equal in terms of strength and speed, and used the practice as a way of perfecting techniques.

    Jade had adopted a katana, which she practiced along with her halberd.

    Sun approved, claiming that having a weapon for close quarters or indoor combat would be ideal.

    At first during their spars, Vas would use his blade to block Jade¡¯s weapon.

    This was the way people had fought in movies, after all.

    However, after a few such fights, Vas noticed his blade was beginning to chip.

    Instead of trying to block Jade¡¯s weapon, Vas attempted redirection. He let her blade slide along his to the side as he stepped into and away from her attacks.

    Even this felt wrong.

    Vas decided to try a new approach.

    Jade swung down in an overhead stroke with her katana.

    Vas stepped lithely to the side and used the back of his weapon for a full block.

    It caught Jade¡¯s sword and deflected the blade.

    Vas stepped back in surprise.

    ¡°That felt right, somehow. Instead of sinking in, your blade bounced off.¡±

    Jade was nodding excitedly.

    ¡°It was like a chang instead of a ching!¡± Vas blinked. He supposed that was sort of the difference.

    ¡°Use different parts of the sword for different things. The back is better for blocking, and the front is better for attacking.¡±

    Jade resumed her slow attack and Vas used the back of his blade to block again, attempting to use the time to set back into his stance.

    Jade stepped around and left an opening, so Vas swung at her.

    Jade used the side of her blade to knock his away, stepped into his attack, and brought the edge of her blade to his wrist before he could do anything about it.

    ¡°The side is best when you want to counter attack.¡±

    ¡°Parry!¡± Came Sun¡¯s voice. Sun was standing to the side observing. Along with everyone else who had been practicing in the room before.

    ¡°It¡¯s called a parry,¡± Sun continued.

    Vas recognized the word from videogames, but hadn¡¯t realized what it actually meant until now.

    ¡°Now, I think it¡¯s time we all turned in.¡±

    Indeed, the sun was going down.

    One of the things Vas had not expected about being beyond The Wall was the lack of light.

    The sun was the only source of light, and by night the stars and moon paled in comparison.

    Complete darkness was something that make everyone uncomfortable.

    Vas had heard that the edges of the army camp used extremely powerful glow-stick lights, which barely illuminated more than five paces in front of them.

    However, in the middle of the camp, night meant pitch black.

    Many of the trainees had taken to sleeping in the same sleeping bag as one or two others for a sense of security and warmth.

    Vas, Jade, and the rest of the group headed to the section of the warehouse where sleeping bags littered the floor.

    Vas was the only person who slept alone every night, even though his sleeping spot was in a corner.

    He believed that one day he would be out in a place much colder than the trainee center, so Vas had promised to himself that he would only sleep alone, to acclimate his body.

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    ¡°Vas, there¡¯s a spot for you with me and Jade near the middle tonight.¡±

    Selene, one of the older recruits, was 25 and always bubbly. She was going to the Scouts next month. She was blonde and white-skinned with a curvaceous body.

    Vas was the favorite sparring partner for Selene, Jade, and many of the more beautiful women in the training center. He suspected it had to do with the ferocity he showed no matter who his opponent was.

    Jade set her hand on his shoulder. ¡°Leave him be, Selene. You know he likes sleeping alone.¡±

    <hr />

    Selene kept her eyes on Vas.

    She knew that he¡¯d say no.

    Jade acted like she had the man wrapped around her little finger, but as far as Selene knew, Vas had never had sex with anyone in the training center. And Selene knew a lot; she watched Vas constantly.

    Ever since their first sparring match where Vas had knocked her out with a throw, Selene had been watching him.

    It wasn¡¯t like he made her heart skip a beat.

    Well, maybe he did.

    But there WAS something special about him.

    The other men and women respected Vas to the point where they even revered him.

    At first it was just the recruits who had come with him. Jade had told Selene the story of Vas leading their group through the tunnel then the snow.

    But it had only taken two weeks of constant duels with the top trainees in the center before Vas had become something of a deity.

    He wasn¡¯t extremely handsome like Larry or Sam or Ethan or any of the men whose bodies were top-notch eye candy, but there was a sort of savage power to Vas that made everyone listen when he spoke. They followed where he walked. They looked where he pointed.

    It gave Selene and the other girls chills, and some of the men she¡¯d talked to said the same thing.

    So when he looked into her eyes, she forgot to breathe for a moment. She knew what he¡¯d say. It was what he said every time she asked him to sleep by her. She glanced at his long sculpted muscles before looking back into those dark eyes.

    ¡°Thank you, Selene. I will sleep alone tonight.¡±

    The hairs on the back of Selene¡¯s neck stood up. It felt like the entire room had gone quiet to hear his response, and Vas¡¯s consistency just reinforced his image.

    Selene smiled at him, ¡°Alright!¡± She had already known what he would answer. She had just wanted his full attention for that moment.

    And she had gotten it.

    <hr />

    Vas turned away from the bubbly girl and nodded to Jade, then to each person he passed on the way to his sleeping bag.

    He laid down and immediately fell asleep.

    Somewhere around six hours later, Vas woke up.

    It was pitch black, but this was the other reason Vas slept alone.

    He stood up quietly, changed his undergarments, and tiptoed his way out of the room.

    Vas dropped his dirty undergarments in the large laundry cart just outside the room and sauntered to the armory. He did so with eyes closed, having memorized the layout of the warehouse.

    He ducked down and reached out.

    When he found the miaodao, he pulled it off the wall and turned around.

    He reached the training area shortly after and found an open space multiple paces away from the walls and combat dummies.

    In the dark, he fell into his stance and swung with full force. He followed his initial swing with a twist of the wrists and continued making his sword flow from cut to stab to parry to cut to block to cut to cut.

    Vas opened his eyes, and could barely see the outline of the room, his arms and his sword.

    He looked directly at the sword and it disappeared, so instead he stared straight ahead.

    Vas had found out that he could see things in his peripheral vision that he otherwise could not.

    He swung again and the blade blurred, but this time he could follow the movement.

    Vas smiled.

 Chapter 6: Helping Hands

    A month had passed swiftly.

    Selene and her group of senior recruits would be leaving today.

    She¡¯d made no further progress with Vas over the course of the month, but it was too late for regrets now.

    Selene drew a deep breath as she took her old clothes out of her locker and put them back on for the first time in a year.

    They felt hot and tight.

    Selene was sweating within a minute of putting her clothes on, but she figured that was as much due to nervousness as it was due to the clothes. It was the meaning behind putting the clothes on that mattered.

    <hr />

    Vas watched Selene¡¯s back for a minute before continuing on through the large hallway.

    He was worried about her, but didn¡¯t want to give her the wrong impression just as she was leaving.

    Vas made his way to the armory, where Sun and dozens of new trainees were talking about weapon choices.

    Vas recalled his first time in the armory with a smile, and Sun waved to him as he walked into the room.

    ¡°You¡¯ll all meet Vas sooner or later. He¡¯s the best kind of quiet. Doesn¡¯t talk just to hear his own voice.¡±

    ¡°Like you do?¡± Vas asked wryly.

    A few of the trainees laughed, and Sun smiled wickedly. ¡°I said you¡¯re quiet, but you still talk way too much sometimes. Maybe we need another sparring match.¡±

    ¡°With weapons, this time?¡± Vas asked, starting to get excited.

    Sun was unparalleled as a martial artist, but Vas was quite confident in his swordsmanship.

    ¡°Maybe when I think you¡¯re proficient enough to not accidentally kill me.¡±

    Vas sighed.

    Then the bell rang.

    Vas had never heard the loud noise, but he assumed it would be the squads coming to pick up their trainees.

    Sun signaled for everyone to follow him, and jogged towards the exit of the warehouse.

    In front of the exit stood twenty experienced soldiers. Four of them stood apart from the rest and looked noticeably leaner. Their clothes also seemed dirtier, even though there was no dirt this far north.

    No, it was blood. Dried blood.

    Those were the Scouts.

    The loud bell tolled once again, and the exit soon filled with the thousands of trainees.

    The process moved along easily, with each vanguard commander calling out the names of the trainees they were taking. There were only a few dozen, and then they bade everyone farewell and marched away.

    Now it was time for the Scouts. There were three women and one man. The man stepped forward and called three names, including Selene. When the recruits had walked up to him he stepped back.

    One of the female Scouts stepped forward.

    She nodded to Sun.

    ¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡±

    Sun shook his head. ¡°I should be thanking you. Hard times out there?¡±

    The woman took a deep breath and let it out. She looked pained.

    ¡°We lost Daneel and his entire squad last week.¡±

    Whispers quickly started circulating around the group. Daneel was one of the top Scouts in the army, well-known even by the trainees.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Kara.¡± Sun muttered darkly.

    ¡°We¡¯ll beat these monsters.¡± He shouted.

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    A few trainees cheered. Kara just shook her head softly.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see. We might need the vanguard to start taking over our operations soon. I¡¯ve lost too many people.¡±

    Kara turned around and the group started walking away.

    ¡°Do you need help?¡± The words were out of Vas¡¯s mouth before he knew it.

    Kara stopped, and so did her group. She looked at Vas for the first time. Selene, Jade, Sun, and everyone else was staring at him.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Kara affirmed. ¡°We need people who can survive snowstorms, kill monsters, and walk hundreds of miles through frozen wastelands.¡±

    ¡°While Vas is out of line,¡± Sun began, glancing at Vas, ¡°I can get you six trainees who are ready. Vas is one of them.¡±

    Kara rubbed her forehead with both hands.

    ¡°If you say they¡¯re ready, we need them. We were planning on a long trip before we lost Daneel¡¯s squad.¡±

    Sun nodded to Vas. ¡°Go get your clothes out of your locker. Fem, Joust, Tare, Alex, Wylana, you t¡ª¡± ¡°Can I go?¡± Jade broke into Sun¡¯s speech.

    Sun glared at Jade. ¡°Fine. Wylana, stay here.¡±

    Wylana opened her mouth to protest but Sun waved his hand angrily, cutting her off.

    ¡°No more arguments. GO!¡±

    With that, the group of six that had been named walked through the crowd of onlookers.

    ¡°Well thanks for making things more exciting, Vas.¡± Said Fem, a short Korean who was known to be the best fighter of all the trainees. He used a broadsword and shield.

    Vas smiled at him and nodded to Jade. ¡°Couldn¡¯t stand the thought of losing me?¡±

    Jade snorted, ¡°I couldn¡¯t stand the thought of losing TO you. Doubt I would practice much once you left anyways.¡±

    The group geared up and walked back toward the exit of the warehouse. Sun whistled at them from the armory, and they walked over to him. He handed them each the weapons of their choice.

    To Vas he handed a new miaodao in a strange red scabbard. There was a button where the scabbard locked onto the hilt of the sword.

    Vas clicked the button and the scabbard opened up straight down the middle like a book.

    Vas looked questioningly at Sun.

    ¡°I heard you like to wear the sword on your back.¡± Sun said innocently.

    Vas stared at the beautiful blade before locking it back onto the scabbard.

    Jade helped him strap it onto his back, and then he helped her with her scabbard.

    Sun walked out of the armory and to the exit, and the group followed. Fem cracked his neck loudly and clapped his hands a couple times. ¡°Get pumped!¡±

    The crowd of trainees opened up for them and patted shoulders as the group walked through.

    For some reason, no one patted Vas on the shoulder.

    However, everyone he looked at would give him a nod.

    Eventually they reached Kara. She sighed.

    ¡°Welcome to the Scouts.¡±

 Chapter 7: Sightless Terror

    Vas and Fem trudged side-by-side through the snow. They stepped into the footsteps of the Scouts in front of them, but walking was still an arduous process.

    Their small procession was on its way to the Scout barracks.

    ¡°Maybe this is the way they haze new recruits,¡± Joust muttered.

    Vas snorted in amusement and Fem let out a laugh.

    Joust¡¯s walking partner, Alex, shook her head. ¡°The Scouts don¡¯t haze people. They need us in the best condition possible.¡±

    Jade poked Alex¡¯s back. ¡°He was joking, Lex.¡±

    Alex blushed, ¡°Oh.¡±

    The group had been walking for hours.

    Vas glanced back and gave an encouraging smile to Joust.

    Joust was almost as tall as Vas, but he was far thicker. It was as though his bones were made bigger. He looked like a bodybuilder.

    In contrast, Alex was a short Latina girl.

    Kara and the three other Scouts who were in the front of the line suddenly stopped walking.

    Vas almost ran into the man in front of him, but stopped just in time.

    ¡°Do you hear that?¡± Kara¡¯s voice was muffled through the scarf she was wearing, so the people behind Vas were unable to pick up on her words.

    Fem repeated the words to those behind him, and everyone became very quiet, listening.

    ¡°Whistle. I hear a whistle being blown.¡± Vas affirmed.

    Kara turned back to Vas and nodded.

    The Scout next to Kara turned to Vas. ¡°Sure that ain¡¯t the wind?¡±

    ¡°No. Two of us have heard it now. We need to investigate.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t even have snowshoes.¡±

    Kara shrugged and eyed the new recruits. ¡°The snow¡¯s not that deep. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Kara turned back around and started sprinting across the snow. The other Scouts were quick to respond and followed immediately.

    Vas and the others were quickly winded and outpaced, while they watched the Scouts creeping out of their collective field of vision.

    Vas fell over while attempting to run, and the act gave him an idea.

    Keeping his weight distributed evenly, Vas bounded across the snow with improved speed and balance.

    The others watched him for a moment before following suit.

    While they were unable to catch up to the Scouts, the distance between the two groups now remained about the same.

    After a few minutes, Vas could hear the whistles clearly along with screams and shouts.

    Kara shouted something and the Scouts with her drew their weapons, proceeding with caution as they rounded a large rock.

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.They were now out of Vas¡¯s line of sight, but he could hear the clang of metal and the sound of blades ripping flesh.

    When his group neared the large rock Vas stopped. Fem drew his sword and pulled his shield from his back, and nodded to Vas before leading the group around the rock.

    There were large blood spots all over the snow, but no bodies. About ten paces away, three Scouts were facing seven snarling people.

    No.

    They weren¡¯t people anymore, the seven were Risen.

    When the epidemic had first started, Vas had asked his father how to recognize Risen. His father had refused to tell him, saying he would know.

    The day Vas encountered Risen for the first time he had panicked and run for his life, leaving his father behind. His father had killed the thing, but died later from an infection.

    When Vas¡¯s father became a Risen, the first thing the creature had done was the first thing every Risen did. It had ripped out its eyes.

    Vas clicked his sheath open and fell into stance, laying his sword across his back. His eyes went wide and he smiled.

    He dashed past Fem and almost tripped, but was able to recover his footing at the last moment. One of the Scouts turned and said something to him, but he wasn¡¯t listening anymore.

    Vas would never run away from anything again.

    The scout tried to grab him and Vas slipped past the man with animal-like litheness. The closest Risen pointed its face toward Vas, signaling that it was ¡°looking¡± at him. It smiled back at Vas.

    Vas let loose a roar of rage and swung his sword.

    The Risen brought its own sword up in an attempt to block, but Vas¡¯s swing knocked the sword aside and pierced flesh.

    Vas cut the creature in half with his first swing, twisted his wrist around and decapitated it with another.

    He brought his sword up just in time to deflect another Risen¡¯s attack. With that same swing, he used his momentum and curled into a roll, bringing his sword down hard enough to decapitate the monster that had just attacked him.

    The next closest Risen hesitated for a second before attack, and Vas used the time to set his sword into his starting position.

    He jumped forward, and the Risen moved to protect itself from being cut in half like its first brother.

    Vas smiled wider. He¡¯d expected the shift in tactics.

    His swing took off the Risen¡¯s hands and, consequently, its defenses. Vas brought his blade around in another strike that took the monster¡¯s head.

    Vas looked up for his next target, only to see the remaining four Risen already dealt with. The final creature was decapitated by Fem as Vas had looked up.

    Shaking, Vas took breaths to calm himself. He shook the wet blood off his sword then wiped it with his sleeve.

 Chapter 8: Slap by Slap

    I changed Vas''s text color from dark blue to gray because I was told the dark blue is hard on the eyes. Since Vas is the main character and you''ll all have to put up with him for some time, I thought it was a legitimate enough reason to change. I edited all the other posts to reflect this change.

    Thanks for reading! Please leave feedback if you enjoy the story! And if you don''t!

    <hr />

    <hr />

    Kara stared at Brom¡¯s decapitated body.

    When Kara and Brom had rounded the corner, the creatures were waiting.

    They¡¯d killed Brom quickly and he¡¯d joined their ranks shortly thereafter.

    The remaining three Scouts fought defensively and held for long minutes until the trainees arrived.

    Kara had wanted to use a formation to surround the Risen and overwhelm them, but she¡¯d known it would be risky with similar numbers and fresh trainees.

    It had been Vas¡¯s split-second decision to jump into the fray and attack the Risen.

    The result had been spectacular.

    Seven Risen were defeated in less than half a minute.

    Kara knew his decision had been the correct one, but she questioned the reasoning behind his decision.

    She had figured he¡¯d simply given himself over to rage, but as soon as the Risen were dead he had returned to normal.

    Was it possible that Vas had used himself as a distraction so that the Scouts could take advantage of the moment and overwhelm the Risen?

    The small trainee with a shield and broadsword had followed Vas right into the fray and killed two Risen on his own, and a tall tan girl had beheaded another of the Risen with a stroke of her halberd.

    Kara had only reacted fast enough to kill a single Risen herself.

    Kara glanced up when she heard a clicking sound, only to witness Vas¡¯s sheath close around that strange two-handed sword.

    She took a long breath and let it out slowly before walking over to Vas and his group of trainees.

    There was no doubt about it; they were Vas¡¯s fighters. Fresh from daily training, sleeping inside a warm building, and eating until they were full for months had turned average people into warriors.

    All the Scouts had started that way, before the endless nights. Before long marches with almost nothing to eat every day.

    Kara stopped in front of Vas and eyed him. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that the short man and the tall woman were standing defensively behind Vas.

    Vas was watching her. She¡¯d never noticed how tall he was. Easily a head and a half above her. Six foot. . . How many inches was that? Four? Five? Almost two meters? Ridiculous.

    ¡°That was stupid.¡± It was all she could think to say. She wasn¡¯t even particularly angry at the man for charging in, since it had gone so well. The problem was that he couldn¡¯t hope to do the same every time such a situation arose.

    ¡°I was thinking the same. I¡¯m glad it worked out so well.¡± Vas smiled ruefully. ¡°I am sorry about your friend.¡±

    So he¡¯d noticed the dead scout? Had he questioned her ability to make decisions because he saw her companion was turned Risen?

    Vas bowed his head, ¡°I am also sorry for my actions.¡±

    The short man behind Vas walked up and clapped him on the back. ¡°Don¡¯t take his actions to heart, ma¡¯am. He¡¯s just a combat junkie, didn¡¯t mean to ruin any plans or formations.¡±

    Kara raised her eyebrow at the man. ¡®Ma¡¯am¡¯? Seriously? How old did she look? She couldn¡¯t be more than four years his senior. ¡°Fem¡¯s the name, you can count on me!¡± Fem had apparently taken her attention as a sign that he should introduce himself.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Kara snorted and shook her head.

    She looked at the sky for a few moments. The sun would be going down in a few hours, and they were about three hours away from the barracks.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get moving.¡±

    Kara looked over to see Ender give his thumbs up from beside the body of Brom. Ender had gathered the former Scout¡¯s snowshoes, weapon, and rations.

    The group formed up again, and Kara led them alone back to the barracks.

    <hr />

    Vas shook the snow off of his boots inside the wood-floored Scout barracks. It seemed to be a former school building.

    The building was freezing cold, and now that the sun was going down the temperature was dropping rapidly. It was nothing like the warehouse.

    Many of the trainees were shivering and they were already in their new sleeping bags.

    The entire group was in a little room, likely to utilize body heat and keep them all as warm as possible.

    Kara stood watching them with arms crossed. ¡°Make sure it¡¯s two people per bag. Sleep naked.¡± She instructed.

    She glanced at Vas with a curious expression, ¡°Not planning on sleeping?¡± Vas shook his head. ¡°Who keeps watch?¡±

    Kara smiled, ¡°Not you, tonight.¡± She inclined her head to point in the direction of two fully dressed Scouts who were sitting up in the corner talking to each other quietly. ¡°Will you sleep, as well?¡± Kara snorted, ¡°Of course. What kind of leader would I be if I was too tired to make decisions?¡±

    Vas nodded to himself. That made sense, he¡¯d never thought about that aspect of leadership.

    Delegation and trust was an important part of being a leader.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I know they¡¯ll stay awake all night and that I¡¯d be woken up if something happened,¡± Kara stated, breaking into his thoughts. ¡°The problem is that sometimes things are beyond my control. I have to just let go and believe they¡¯ll keep me safe so that I can get a good night¡¯s sleep.¡±

    Selene walked up to the two of them. ¡°Do you two want to share my bag with me, since we¡¯re. . . uneven? I have the extra-large one.¡± Kara nodded.

    Vas had always turned Selene and the others down, but he couldn¡¯t think of a good excuse anymore. He¡¯d always been afraid that he¡¯d have nightmares and thrash around, accidently hurting his sleeping partner.

    However, it was something he¡¯d have to overcome sooner or later. He wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep alone out in the wastes. ¡°Yes, thank you.¡± Vas¡¯s word were quiet, but they made all of the people in their sleeping bags turn to look at him.

    ¡°The hell?¡± Fem¡¯s voice. ¡°You turned me down twenty times at least. I thought you were afraid of sleeping with people!¡± There were murmurs of agreement from all of them.

    Vas figured he¡¯d come clean sooner rather than later. Jade was glaring at him like the time he¡¯d kicked her shin during practice. ¡°Nightmares. I thrash about sometimes.¡±

    ¡°You were scared of hurting us?¡± It was Jade¡¯s voice, incredulous. ¡°Yes.¡±

    A hand touched his back, and he turned to see Selene smiling at him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if you slap me I¡¯ll slap you right back!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a very healthy basis for a relationship,¡± Joust stated.

    The room broke into laughter.

    It didn¡¯t quite reassure Vas, but it did make him feel better.

 Chapter 9: Partners

    ¡°Kill them before they start learning.¡±

    Vas jerked awake, his entire body covered in sweat. The room was dark, but there was a faint glow. The sun would be rising soon.

    He turned over, trying to calm down.

    Jade was in a sleeping bag a paces away, looking at him.

    Vas almost shouted in surprise.

    Jade smirked at him as she held a finger to her lips. Then she took an exaggerated deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, and let it out slowly. She repeated the action. Then she gave him a glare.

    Vas wasn¡¯t sure what she wanted, but he started taking the deep breaths with her. After two or three he started feeling better.

    She smiled.

    She¡¯d been trying to calm him down. He¡¯d woken her up.

    He hoped he hadn¡¯t managed to hit her in his sleep or something.

    Jade pulled herself out of her sleeping bag, and her naked body was covered in goosebumps for a moment. She grabbed undergarments and quickly slipped them on, then got up.

    She grabbed her katana and Vas¡¯s miaodao and stood over Vas expectantly.

    It made sense that she would know he liked morning practice. He¡¯d doubted it was very hard to figure out when he was missing from bed every morning, only to be found in a training room.

    Vas slipped on his underwear quickly, and also slipped into a pair of pants and a shirt.

    Jade gave him an exasperated roll of her eyes and put on her own pair of pants and shirt.

    Vas and Jade nodded to the Scout who was on watch, and the man tiredly inclined his head to them.

    Once they were out of the room, Jade led Vas across the hall and down the stairs. They found padded sandals in a locker near the base of the stairs.

    Scouts kept a good amount of equipment in the barracks so that they could change into more comfortable attire after weeks in the snow.

    Vas stretched and sighed.

    Jade walked to a room three doors away and he followed. It was a gymnasium.

    ¡°Now let¡¯s get moving. You made me wake up while it was still cold for this, you know.¡± Jade tossed Vas his sword, and he caught it easily. He clicked open his sheath.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I woke you,¡± Vas apologized.

    Jade shook her head and let out an annoyed breath.

    She walked a paces further and fell into sword forms. She started in her ready stance and worked her way through multiple theoretical combos. Vas just watched her. It looked like she was dancing. How long had she been practicing those forms?

    ¡°I¡¯m not naked anymore, so stop staring.¡± Jade said in-between swings.

    Vas broke his gaze and started in his own stance. He moved a snail¡¯s pace, drilling every bit of his motion into his muscles. It was far more difficult than going fast. ¡°I don¡¯t just look at you when you¡¯re naked.¡±

    Jade stopped her exercises and watched him for a couple minutes before replying. ¡°Why do you go so slowly?¡±

    Vas finished his set of forms and shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s harder. I figure if it¡¯s more difficult one way I should do it that way until it¡¯s easy. Then find another way to practice.¡± Vas switched grips and flipped his stance into a left-handed version of his regular stance and started slowly executing his combos.

    Jade nodded and started imitating his pace. She was sweating after a few minutes of silent practice. ¡°I¡¯m not mad at you for waking me up,¡± she stated.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Vas thought it wise to stay quiet.

    However, after a few minutes had gone by and Vas was ready to switch grips again, he tried being brave. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I slept next to Selene and Kara?¡±

    Vas held his sword in only his right hand and started his combo from the beginning.

    Jade snorted. ¡°You are DULL!¡±

    ¡®You are dull¡¯? Really? That was what he got for trying? Anyways, who said that? ¡®Dull¡¯? Wasn¡¯t it normal to call someone something more like ¡®stupid¡¯, or ¡®idiotic¡¯, or ¡®dumba--¡¯ ¡°You should have told me.¡±

    Vas stopped mid swing and looked at her and put his sword down.

    Jade was practicing with her back to him, so he couldn¡¯t see her face.

    ¡°I know we aren¡¯t lovers or anything. That¡¯s not what I meant. I thought we were friends. I consider you one of my best friends. You should have just told me what you were dealing with. I could have made Selene stop bugging you.¡±

    Jade turned around and glared at him.

    ¡°I could have put pillows between us to sleep. I thought you knew I was here for you.¡±

    She had tears in her eyes now.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like you¡¯re the only one who¡¯s gone through all this. Joust cries through the night before he falls asleep.¡±

    Jade was shouting now, but Vas was too stunned to say a word.

    ¡°Alex couldn¡¯t draw her weapon for months when she first started training. Selene acts happy all the time because she wants everyone around her to be happy. Her parents committed joint suicide, and she thinks it¡¯s her fault. Fem watched his family get butchered in front of him, and only survived because he ran. I¡¯m. . . WE¡¯RE all broken. That¡¯s why we¡¯re all still here. The normal people died a long time ago.¡±

    Vas shook his head. He didn¡¯t know how to deal with this. He had avoided people because of this. He was going to try anyways.

    ¡°I¡ª¡±

    ¡°YOU don¡¯t get to talk yet!¡±

    Jade bellowed.

    Vas shut his mouth.

    ¡°You are the best of us. You kill them like you were made to. You practice every moment you¡¯re awake. You get left behind without snowshoes, so what do you do? You get down on all fours and start bounding after those who left you. We all look to you when we don¡¯t know what to do! We don¡¯t think you¡¯re invincible! We know you¡¯re not perfect! Maybe we thought you were perfect at first, but we figured it out the first time you sparred with Sun. You¡¯re just as broken as us.¡±

    Jade put her head down.

    ¡°The difference between us and you is what we did with our broken pieces. We all tried to fix ourselves. To make ourselves look normal. You just threw your pieces into some kind of fire. That crazy fire you use to fight.¡±

    Jade was on the ground now, crying and exhausted. For the first time, Vas noticed the Scouts who were all crowding into the gym to see what was wrong.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re following you now. You can¡¯t keep running from us. You have to trust us. We¡¯re your friends. We¡¯re. . .¡±

    She trailed off.

    She couldn¡¯t talk anymore between sobs.

    Vas put his hand on top of her head.

    ¡°Partners, Jade. We¡¯re partners.¡±

 Chapter 10: Prepare For Departure

    The Scouts spent the day in their barracks.

    And the next day.

    And the next.

    Vas had practiced almost non-stop during the first day. Kara had told him after Jade¡¯s outburst that the five people who had come with him would be his squad.

    Vas hadn¡¯t expected to be put in a leadership position. Actually, he¡¯d assumed he would be disliked and ostracized by the other trainees.

    Near the middle of the first day, the day Jade broke down, Tare confronted Vas. ¡°I don¡¯t think we can really get along, but I¡¯m willing to follow you an¡¯ Fem.¡±

    Tare was the final member of Vas¡¯s new squad. He was a short Asian man.

    Not Korean like Fem.

    Maybe¡­ Japanese?

    ¡°There¡¯s a saying I like. ¡®Duty is heavier than a mountain; death lighter than a feather¡¯. You aren¡¯t alone, so make sure you share the load.¡±

    Vas had thanked him, and the normally-quiet man had left.

    Vas had spent the majority of the next two days playing cards with his squad and the other Scouts.

    He wasn¡¯t someone who did well when he had to think a lot. He usually ended up depressed and regretful. For this reason, Vas always tried to have something to do.

    His squad appreciated the effort, but it seemed obvious that he didn¡¯t fit in with people in such normal social situations.

    In addition, Kara also took those two days to drill knowledge into Vas¡¯s squad. Things like building shelters, using tents, setting people up to keep watch, normal times for Risen to attack, how to survive on rations, and more.

    Most of the things Kara drilled them on were things that Vas and the others had experienced.

    After all, it was only around four years ago when they had all participated in the two-month-long hike to The Wall in the first place.

    The reason the Scouts waited at the barracks for an extended period of time was to meet up with three other Scout parties who were due back within the week. Kara claimed she had an assignment. She called it ¡®the long trip¡¯, which Vas assumed meant going back to the old world.

    On the evening of the third day, fifteen Scouts returned.

    The next morning, more than thirty returned.

    Kara called a meeting with the squad leaders. The meeting consisted of Kara, Vas, and three others. One of Kara¡¯s men, Ender, sat in on the meeting in case the squad leaders needed anything.

    A woman in her mid-forties with a long scar across her face nodded towards Vas when they were all alone together. ¡°Who¡¯s this, Kara?¡± The woman asked icily.

    Kara rubbed her forehead, ¡°Vas. Daneel is gone, Ishone.¡±

    The icy woman, Ishone, stared at Kara for a long moment. She finally nodded.

    With Ishone¡¯s approval, the other two seemed to have no qualms with Vas.

    Vas hadn¡¯t realized it would be so easy for a completely new recruit to get promoted.

    ¡°When is the long march? My men will need at least a few days to recuperate. I¡¯ll need to leave some behind, too.¡± This time was a big man, an islander by his looks.

    ¡°I can give you three days.¡± The squad leaders nodded like this had been expected. Vas didn¡¯t want to seem like he had no idea what they were talking about, so he simply stayed expressionless.

    Ishone nodded to him, ¡°New moon in three days. It¡¯s extremely dark on those nights, which means that if the Risen attack. . . Well, it doesn¡¯t go well. When we plan multi-week trips, we always avoid the new moon. Imagine being in the dark and barely being able to see monsters who can see you like it is daytime. Now imagine being in complete darkness.¡±

    That made sense to Vas. He¡¯d been practicing in the dark whenever possible. The idea of fighting in such circumstances was terrifying. Then it struck him, ¡°That¡¯s why we stay in pairs. We can go back-to-back in the dark if the Risen come.¡±

    Ishone grinned at him.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s part of it.¡± Kara stated, ¡°How many people can we take down south without getting noticed?¡±

    The islander squad leader sat forward, thinking. ¡°Maybe thirty? Forty?¡±

    The third squad leader, a tall thin man with a moustache, wrinkled his nose. ¡°They¡¯ll notice us no matter what. The question is whether we can make it there without too many of them noticing us.¡±

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.¡°They may be monsters, but they don¡¯t possess superior senses to humans. We could slip past them,¡± said Ishone.

    ¡°Except that they can see. In. The. Dark.¡± The third squad leader growled.

    Ishone and the man with a moustache glared at each other for a few moments.

    ¡°What is the objective?¡± Vas wondered aloud.

    Everyone looked at him.

    ¡°Objective?¡± Kara raised her eyebrows.

    ¡°We want to see what has happened to the old world. Imagine if people were able to beat the Risen. What if there are resistance groups?¡± Kara was obviously passionate about the possibility.

    Vas nodded slowly, ¡°So how long is our trip estimated to take?¡±

    Kara grinned at him. ¡°Two months to get down to the old world. A year of gathering information. Two months to get home.¡±

    Vas¡¯s eyes grew wide.

    ¡°A year and a half? What about food? Even the rations should run out after four or five months. Water will be more difficult to find down there as well. Our weapons will break down. Our clothes will wear out.¡±

    Ishone shook her head and glared at Kara, ¡°You added a new squad leader FOR this trip without even explaining it to him? Did you even decide on his squad¡¯s job?¡±

    Kara sat back with a guilty expression on her face.

    ¡°He¡¯s taking Daneel¡¯s job.¡±

    They all stared at Kara. The islander rubbed his chin. ¡°Is he that good a fighter? I agree that we need a decoy squad, but only if they can survive long enough to actually be decoys.¡±

    This was the first Vas had heard about a decoy squad, but the idea made sense.

    ¡°What is my squad¡¯s job, exactly?¡±

    Kara blinked, taken aback.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you angry?¡±

    Ishone broke in, ¡°What about Tapo¡¯s question? Can they really fight that well?¡±

    Kara nodded at Ishone. Tapo, the islander, clapped his hands together. ¡°This is wonderful! Who would have thought we would be so fortunate? Another warrior as proficient as Daneel?¡± Tapo grinned at Vas, ¡°We will need to spar sometime!¡±

    Vas grinned back. He very much liked Tapo.

    Moustache man clicked his tongue loudly. ¡°We need to focus. There will be time for fun later.¡± Tapo and Vas glared at the man, while the two women nodded appreciatively.

    ¡°Vas is right about one thing, water will be difficult to find once we can no longer rely on the snow. Our purifiers work with the snow, but they can¡¯t purify salt water.¡± He explained the last sentence for Vas¡¯s sake.

    ¡°That is why the path I¡¯ve drawn out goes through multiple lakes,¡± Kara huffed as she set a large map down on the table in front of them.

    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Vas''s Squad (pairs are shown vertically)</td></tr><tr><td>Vas (Squad Leader)</td><td>Fem (Sub Leader)</td><td>Joust</td></tr><tr><td>Jade</td><td>Tare</td><td>Alex</td></tr></tbody></table>

 Chapter 11: Where Legends Begin

    For each of the three days before they left, Vas had the squad sleep in their pairs.

    Vas and Fem had originally planned on becoming a pair.

    This changed upon the revelation about their position as decoys.

    Vas¡¯s first idea had been to make a name for his squad among the Scouts by using his and Fem¡¯s fighting prowess for a larger impact in the bigger battles.

    However, if they were going to have to focus on survival and tactics, Vas wanted to take a more balanced approach.

    Fem and Joust had both agreed to the new pairs Vas proposed, and no one else argued.

    Finally, it was time to leave.

    Vas was ready to get away from the card games and gossip.

    Almost all of the Scouts who were in the barracks would be leaving on the trip, but Vas assumed people would be less playful and talkative in the frozen wastes.

    Not that he disliked good times and people.

    He disliked games he lost at. And large amounts of people.

    Maybe he did dislike good times and people.

    Vas shrugged to himself.

    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jade packing a deck of cards into her pack.

    ¡°We won¡¯t have time for those, you know.¡±

    He tried to sound logical, but the truth of the matter was that he dreaded the possibility that he would have to keep play cards again in the near future.

    ¡°There¡¯s always time for a game!¡± Jade grinned wickedly, ¡°We¡¯ll be out there for more than a year. I¡¯m sure there will be plenty of opportunities for me to beat you.¡±

    Vas sighed and walked to the doorway. They were the last people still in the building. Everyone was waiting outside.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°. . . Vas?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll be back, right?¡±

    Vas turned and looked Jade in the eye, making sure he didn¡¯t show any of his doubt.

    ¡°Yes.¡± He sounded so sure that he surprised himself.

    Jade nodded and put her deck of cards back on the table next to her.

    ¡°Bring the cards.¡±

    Jade beamed a smile. ¡°Really?¡±

    Vas walked out of the room.

    He still hated cards.

    An hour later, the barracks were out of sight. The 38 Scouts marched two-by-two.

    All of them had snowshoes, so they didn¡¯t sink very far into the snow.

    The other reason for marching the way they did was to leave as few tracks as possible. They could go single-file, but then it would be more difficult to collectively respond to threats.

    There was no real proof that the Risen could track people using traditional methods, since they no longer had eyes. However, there were stories of scouting parties encountering groups of Risen that looked like they were following tacks.

    If nothing else, marching two-by-two gave a sense of security to the Scouts.

    The Decoys marched at the back of the procession. Tapo had explained that Vas¡¯s squad would be called to the front in the case of finding a herd of monsters that were unaware of the Scouts.

    Depending on the number of Risen, the Decoys would either draw attention away from the main group while it passed then try to escape, or they would function as bait and attack the Risen; drawing attention away from the main Scout group charging in.

    The group of Scouts slowed to a halt as the sun neared the edge of the horizon.

    They had made good progress and had come across no issues.

    There were no large rocks or hills in sight, so they were forced to make camp in the open.

    Vas helped set up a tent, pinning it down and piling snow along the sides of the tent. The snow would help insulate and disguise the tent.

    Finished with the tent, he filled an insulated cup with snow, shook the thing a few times, and put it in his pack.

    Jade pulled a wool blanket out of her pack and laid it in their squad tent.

    Normally, six people would be an uncomfortable number of people to fit in such a tent. However, the warmth that extra people brought was worth the tight quarters.

    Vas stared at the setting sun and noticed a dark speck that should not have been there.

    He jumped to his feet and found Ishone two tents away. She raised an eyebrow at him.

    ¡°There¡¯s a strange speck on the horizon. I didn¡¯t notice it earlier.¡±

    Ishone showed no sense of urgency. In fact, she looked more at ease.

    ¡°We think it¡¯s a wanderer. Tapo has one of his little ninjas checking it out.¡±

    A wanderer? Vas wanted to ask, but Ishone turned and walked away from him.

    He assumed it was a Risen that wandered on its own.

    When Vas returned to the tent, the others were in their bags. Jade was already sleeping.

    Instead of stripping down and sleeping, Vas sat inside next to Jade¡¯s snoozing figure.

    It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t sleep. He was exhausted, too.

    It was just. . . What had Tare told him? Duty was heavier than a mountain?

    Vas felt that if something were to happen now, it would be something he could have prevented.

    ¡°Something wrong?¡± Tare¡¯s voice broke into his thoughts. Fem, Joust, and Tare were watching him.

    Vas observed the three men. They were ready to fall asleep, but they were alert at the same time.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.He took his sword off. The red sheath looked dull in the dark tent. It was almost completely dark now.

    ¡°Sleep with your clothes on tonight.¡± It came out sharper than Vas had intended.

    The men nodded and started slipping clothes on.

    It was warm in their makeshift igloo, especially compared to the cold building they¡¯d been staying in.

    Vas sat in silence for another thirty minutes, listening. He didn¡¯t hear any signs of trouble.

    Jade suddenly twitched next to him. She had never told him what had happened, but she constantly had nightmares like he did. Maybe worse than he did.

    Vas laid a hand on her arm and she grabbed him. Her eyes opened wide and she stared at him in terror.

    Actually, she probably couldn¡¯t actually see his eyes. It was too dark for that now. Why could he see hers? He put his thoughts aside. He was getting tired.

    ¡°A nightmare, Jade,¡± he cooed.

    The terror disappeared as Jade oriented herself, but she didn¡¯t stop looking at him.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you sleeping,¡± Jade scolded him, ¡°Worrying yourself over silly things again?¡±

    Outside the tent, there was a crunching sound.

    Footsteps.

    Vas put a finger over Jade¡¯s lips.

    They were chapped.

    They waited a few moments in silence as the crunching continued.

    It seemed like it was getting closer. Or was it walking past them?

    Jade sat up, and Vas cursed himself for not waking her up and telling her to put clothes on. She was completely naked, and wouldn¡¯t be very helpful for a fight in the snow.

    Vas wanted her to unzip the entrance and wake the others, but he didn¡¯t want to say anything. She also couldn¡¯t see in the dark as well as he could.

    Vas grabbed Jade¡¯s hand and pulled softly. She let him pull her across him and to the entrance.

    He put her hand on the tent zipper.

    After that, Vas got into position. He pulled his sword close to his chest and touched Jade¡¯s leg with three fingers. Then two. Then one.

    Jade pulled the entrance open and Vas dove out almost immediately.

    Everything was dark.

    The small sliver of moon and starlight was only enough to illuminate very basic details.

    Vas caught movement in the corner of his eye and jumped away from the blur.

    He heard a swish in the air.

    ¡°You. . . See?¡± A grinding voice inquired of him.

    Vas could barely make out the dark form now.

    He didn¡¯t shout out in case there were more of them.

    This was a Risen.

    It was the second time a Risen had spoken to him.

    ¡°I¡¯m nocturnal,¡± Vas spat sarcastically as he clicked his sheath open and swung his sword.

    He felt his sword get knocked aside and stepped forward.

    There was a blur. Vas felt like he could predict the next attack.

    He brought his sword back around and felt his opponent¡¯s sword slide across his own.

    Barely fast enough.

    Vas couldn¡¯t win like this.

    ¡°I am¡ª¡± The rasping voice began.

    ¡°Silence!¡± Vas roared out the command, not caring if other Risen heard.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need your name, monster.¡±

    This was only memory Risen had. Not loved ones, not where their home was, not what foods they liked. They remembered their human birth name.

    Vas attacked the creature again and was deflected again.

    This Risen had learned how to use its weapon, unlike the fresh ones from the week before.

    It was switching stances and using the advantage of its perfect vision.

    Vas made a feint, trying to use the Risen¡¯s vision against it. He swung back around and allowed his sword to be redirected, and used a kick to send the monster flying multiple paces.

    Suddenly, Vas saw his companions coming out from the tent. Cries of alarm were beginning to sound throughout the camp.

    The monster laughed. ¡°I will remember your name, Nocturnal. We will meet again.¡±

    Vas swung his blade, fully expecting it to be deflected.

    To his surprise, he felt it rip through flesh.

    The monster was beheaded.

    Vas snarled at the decapitated shape.

    He could barely make it out in the darkness.

    He still hated it.

    Vas shook his sword and wiped the blade. He walked back to the tent, where Jade was slipping on her shoes.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said frankly.

    Jade finished putting her shoes on and Vas helped her stand.

    ¡°Go lay down. I don¡¯t think there are more.¡±

    Was she trying to make sure he didn¡¯t get tired?

    ¡°They¡¯ll be wanting to know what happened,¡± Vas stated. He was exhausted.

    ¡°Fem will explain it to them. Right Fem?¡±

    ¡°Right¡¯o,¡± came Fem¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Trust us.¡± Jade winked at him and walked away.

    Vas laid down and listened to Joust and Fem explaining the situation to newcomers. ¡®A lone Risen¡¯ and ¡®We dealt with it¡¯ and . . . Vas closed his eyes and fell asleep.

 Chapter 12: Tears and Laughter

    Vas opened his eyes. He was in a house. His house.

    Vas shut his eyes.

    It was a dream.

    He could hear the banging. The banging he always heard when he dreamt.

    Next was would be the power.

    Suddenly, everything got very dark.

    The sounds of electronics shutting off.

    A lightbulb popped.

    All of the doors unlocked and clicked open.

    ¡°I. . . Will find you.¡± A raspy voice stated, ¡°And I will kill you.¡±

    His father.

    Only, it was wasn¡¯t his father.

    A dream? How could this be a dream?

    Vas opened his eyes, panicking, looking for somewhere to run.

    His entire body was shaking.

    What could he do? Vas couldn¡¯t beat his dad in a fight.

    He¡¯d always disliked fighting.

    He¡¯d refused to learn how.

    When the Risen appeared he had just run away. By then it was too late to learn.

    Vas regretted running away more than anything.

    The shame was the worst of all.

    He would do anything to forget the shame.

    Anything to make him forget.

    ¡°I can. . . SEE you,¡± the voice was like chalk on a chalkboard.

    Vas stared at his hands. His eyes hadn¡¯t adjusted, and it was too dark to see anything.

    But he could see his hands, somehow.

    Maybe he could escape out the back door, maybe. . . No.

    Vas would never lose himself to fear again. He knew he couldn¡¯t win a fight, but it didn¡¯t matter anymore.

    He couldn¡¯t feel his fear or shame anymore. He didn¡¯t hate himself anymore. He felt light.

    Something clicked in his mind. Or was it a snap?

    And then he felt angry. Angry at the world itself for wronging him.

    He was going to make them pay.

    All of them.

    Humans, dead humans, anyone and everyone.

    He wanted to roar to let some of it out, but he kept it inside instead.

    Instead, he smiled. ¡°I see you too.¡± Vas¡¯s wide eyes went to the monster.

    It hesitated, and Vas took the opportunity to attack.

    It tried to grab him, but he stepped back.

    Vas punched the monster in the face. The monster smiled and punched him back.

    Vas felt the world spin, only to refocus in an instant.

    This wasn¡¯t going to work.

    He needed something. The monster jumped for him, and Vas let it scratch him. He jumped past it and dashed to the far room. His dad¡¯s old room. There would be weapons there.

    He reached the room. There were dozens of weapons laying around, but they looked too big to use indoors. Vas grabbed the first one he reached anyways.

    A two-handed katana or something like that. He couldn¡¯t remember what it was called.

    Vas pulled the weapon out and swung at the Risen when it ran into the room. He missed.

    The creature rammed him against the wall and punched him a few times.

    Vas flipped the sword around and stabbed the creature, pinning it to the wall.

    He was able to step away from the monster¡¯s flailing limbs, but knew if he let go the monster would be able to move again.

    Vas felt around the wall on his side with one hand while holding the sword with his other.

    His seeking hand finally found something. He pulled it and saw it was a medieval buckler.

    Vas snarled and used the buckler to attack the creature¡¯s face.

    A minute later, Vas stood over the body.

    He was covered in blood.

    He was crying.

    Then he felt a warm hand on his cheek.

    <hr />

    Vas woke up.

    Jade had her hand on his cheek, rubbing it. She had a concerned expression, but said nothing when he met her eyes.

    She was lying next to him in the sleeping bag, which meant she must have come back after investigating the night before. Vas looked around and observed that everyone was in their sleeping bags.

    Vas sat up and felt his cheeks. He¡¯d been crying.

    Jade stood up and gave Vas his sword, grabbed her own, then unzipped the tent and exited. It was still dark outside, but the sun was just over the horizon.

    Vas followed Jade and practiced with her just outside their tent in silence.

    As the sun rose, he was able to see the headless corpse of the Risen he had beheaded the night before. He only gave it a glance before completely dismissing it.

    Vas might use his anger as fuel when he was fighting, but it wasn¡¯t as though he violently hated everything that had to do with the Risen.

    He realized they were just dead people that became something else.

    There was a cold hatred that he had built up for years, but it wasn¡¯t something that made him lose control of himself.

    After a few hours, the four other squad leaders approached Vas¡¯s squad. The others had joined Vas and Jade in practice when they had woken up.

    Vas sheathed his sword and followed Kara and the other leaders. ¡°We¡¯ve all agreed that extra scouts will be necessary during the day from here on out. A wanderer finding our camp on the first night was awful luck!¡± Vas nodded.

    ¡°I have suggested your squad to help me with the scouting jobs,¡± announced Tapo, ¡°I believe our two squads are the most prepared for small-scale combat if it comes to it.¡±

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.¡°Also,¡± Ishone added, ¡°Your eyesight must be incredible to be able to fight in the dark.¡±

    Vas could deny neither point. His squad would probably appreciate the straightforward scout work.

    ¡°Just tell me what you need from me.¡± Vas nodded to Tapo.

    The squad leader with a mustache shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t you all think this is a sign? Our first night out, and one of them finds us. Who¡¯s to say they don¡¯t have telepathy? What if it warned its friends?¡±

    Ishone snorted, ¡°We¡¯d all be dead if they had telepathy.¡±

    The members of their group shifted uncomfortably. They all knew they were only one misstep away from certain death. ¡°The scout charts we had when we made this plan were recent. We¡¯re dodging the biggest groups in the area by going now, Serj.¡±

    Serj, which was apparently the mustache man¡¯s name, spread his arms wide.

    ¡°For a hundred miles, maybe. Maybe even two hundred miles, if we pretend the Scouts are that good. But what about after that? What if we run into a swarm of those things? Even a small swarm would be a thousand of them. The further south we go, the more there will be. Millions of them.¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t going there to fight,¡± Tapo stated.

    ¡°We are going there to scout.¡±

    ¡°The commander is sending us there to die. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re all so passionate about it, but can we face the reality of the situation. Please.¡±

    No one refuted him further.

    Serj sighed loudly.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s important. But it¡¯s crazy. This is only worth something if someone survives to report.¡±

    Vas found himself nodding. He completely agreed with Serj.

    In fact, he thought that going south was suicide without purpose.

    But in some ways that made life easier.

    No more waiting for surprise attacks to jump in while he was trying to live a normal life.

    Instead he lived every day like it was his last.

    He and his squad were constantly practicing, always on alert.

    Vas felt more alive because of the mission.

    And maybe because of his squad, too. He smiled.

    ¡°Something funny,¡± Serj growled at him.

    ¡°At least we were all crazy to begin with, right?¡±

    Serj smiled. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s get on with it.¡±

    The squad leaders all nodded and broke apart.

    When Vas reached his group, they had already packed up the sleeping bags and tent.

    ¡°We might start having scout duties,¡± Vas warned them. Fem nodded, unfazed. He looked at Alex, ¡°you were right, Lex.¡±

    Alex grinned and patted Vas on the shoulder. ¡°Best eyes in the camp.¡±

    Vas watched Alex, puzzled.

    Eyes?

    He looked at Joust.

    The big man shrugged, ¡°She¡¯s been telling everyone in camp about how you valiantly slew a Risen in the dark. Has a whole story. Attack, dodge, kick, full of details. Without mentioning that she couldn¡¯t see anything. Without mentioning that she was still sleeping like a baby when it happened.¡±

    Fem snorted in amusement.

    ¡°The best part is where he cuts off the head. What¡¯s he say again?¡±

    Alex blushed a little, then shook her hands. Her expression went serious. ¡°Just as the Risen performed his counter-attack, Vas gave it a hard kick! The monster hissed as its sword hit the ground with a CLANG! Vas knew it was disarmed and jumped at it. He beheaded the creature with ease, and then the sickly gurgling of the blood annoyed him. ¡®Silence!¡¯ Vas shouted. Then it stopped.¡± Alex smiled, having finished her story.

    Jade and Joust clapped and Alex bowed.

    Fem fell to the ground rolling and laughing.

    Vas couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    The story was absurd.

    Alex saluted him seriously.

    ¡°Ready to go when you are, sir!¡±

    Fem, who had been about to get off the ground, started laughing again.

    He fell back over, laughing. Tears were coming out of his eyes. ¡°It. . . It hurts. . . Ahh.¡± Fem tried to take a deep breath, but failed as another bout of laughter hit him.

    Vas looked at Jade, ¡°prognosis, medic?¡±

    Jade beamed a smile back at him and poked Fem with the butt of her halberd.

    ¡°Ow,¡± Fem protested.

    ¡°I think he¡¯ll make it, sir.¡± Jade said.

    More laughter followed.

 Chapter 13: The Calm Before

    Vas and Jade crawled along the snow. There were tiny shapes far in the distance, but they couldn¡¯t risk being seen. The land was completely flat, after all, and they would stick out like a sore thumb if they stood.

    Jade watched Vas¡¯s body for any signal he might give her.

    Vas always seemed to be the first person aware of danger, and he would warn her if he saw something he didn¡¯t like.

    His eyesight was also far superior to Jade¡¯s own.

    She trusted him with her life.

    They¡¯d never talked much to each other, but she¡¯d felt extremely comfortable with him for months now.

    He was the only person she knew who had never tried to put restrictions on her.

    When they sparred, he held nothing back. When they deliberated, he took her words with as much weight as he took anyone¡¯s.

    He treated her like she was his equal.

    Jade still felt awkward about blowing up at him then breaking down crying a week back.

    But she believed it was something that needed to be said.

    If nothing else, it had improved her relationship with Fem.

    The two of them hadn¡¯t liked each other until that day.

    ¡°Jade,¡± Vas started. Oops, she¡¯d gotten distracted. ¡°Let¡¯s go back. The monsters are walking north.¡±

    <hr />

    Vas and Jade met up with the four other Decoys on their way back to the main group. ¡°Fem and Tare, scout to the east until you see the sun going down.¡±

    Vas scanned his surroundings and caught something unusual. It was a lump of white.

    Was that a polar bear?

    He could hardly believe his eyes. It was.

    The bear was standing on its hind legs, sniffing the air and looking around.

    ¡°Careful,¡± he warned in a hushed tone.

    Jade, Alex, and Joust noticed where he was looking quickly.

    ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be this far west,¡± Joust stated in amazement.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not hostile yet. Just walk away slowly.¡±

    Vas was surprised by Joust¡¯s knowledge but did as the man cautioned.

    After a few minutes of walking, they couldn¡¯t see the bear anymore. Alex breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Jeez! I was perfectly fine when the scariest thing I had to deal with each day was Vas¡¯s face when he lost at cards.¡±

    Vas grunted. He was only half paying attention.

    Did he need to warn Fem and Tare about the animal?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Joust reiterated, ¡°there¡¯s probably a body of water nearby. The bear wasn¡¯t territorial. It will likely head back to where it came from.¡±

    ¡°Should we warn Fem and Tare?¡± The question came from Jade.

    ¡°Nah. I¡¯d rather hear the story of them running for their lives later,¡± Alex joked. Was she joking? Maybe she was being serious. Vas could never tell with her.

    ¡°What do the Risen eat,¡± Joust wondered aloud, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of them biting people before, but not eating them. People just become Risen when they die, after all.¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t eat.¡±

    Everyone looked at Vas.

    ¡°Bodies stop functioning when they rise. At least, they function differently. The muscles and skin don¡¯t degenerate, and wounds still close up as if they were alive. It¡¯s like some kind of magic.¡±

    Joust scratched his head, ¡°I was never one for mysticism, but people raising from the dead and nationwide EMPs could change my mind.¡±

    ¡°How do you know they don¡¯t eat? Couldn¡¯t they just eat when we aren¡¯t looking?¡± Jade had obviously thought about this before.

    ¡°I kept one in a room, near the beginning. I kept it locked in a room for a month and a half. It never starved.¡±

    The others watched him. They obviously didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°And?¡± Joust prodded him.

    Oh. Were they just waiting for Vas to continue?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I asked it basic questions. ¡®What do you remember¡¯, ¡®are you hungry¡¯, things like that.¡±

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    It wasn¡¯t all of the story. Vas had conversations with that Risen. The creature almost never gave responses, so Vas would sit and talk to it for hours.

    He barely remembered those days. He didn¡¯t want to remember more than he had to.

    Joust nodded, apparently satisfied.

    ¡°I would think they were trying to help us with their little ascension,¡± Jade began, ¡°If they didn¡¯t seem so much like they just wanted to kill us.¡±

    They caught sight of the main group, which was farther south than Vas had anticipated.

    ¡°They definitely don¡¯t just need a big hug,¡± Vas grumbled.

    Jade smiled at him.

    ¡°We need to catch up to the main group. Less talking, more walking.¡± The others nodded.

    Six hours later Tare and Fem met up with the main group.

    They reported no unusual movement, and hadn¡¯t met the bear.

    Tare and Alex got in argument about whether there actually had been a bear until Joust stepped in and confirmed the story.

    The group stopped about forty minutes later, when they reached a lightly forested area. There were a few rocks, and people pitched tents next to them.

    It was the first bit of cover that they had found in their multiple days of hiking over the frozen wastes.

    Vas glanced at the horizon as he pitched his group¡¯s tent, but there was nothing to be discovered out there. Just a whole lot of snow.

    Tare prepared the rations, which they kept in a serving container they passed around. After a few bites of the rations, Vas left his group¡¯s area to find Kara and the other leaders.

    They were planning on having a meeting right before it got dark tonight.

    As he walked past a nearby tent, Tapo whistled at him. The big man smiled and waved, so Vas approached him. The rest of the leaders were there, crouching in a grouping of trees.

    Ishone and the others nodded their greetings. ¡°You were saying,¡± Ishone prodded Serj. The man nodded, ¡°The scouts should stick closer than they have been. It¡¯s too dangerous for them to be so far out, now that we¡¯re nearing lake territory.¡±

    Vas had heard them mention this area they would be walking over, which was covered in hundreds of lakes.

    ¡°However, we need to be extra cautious of Risen movements. Our movement charts don¡¯t extend this far out.¡±

    Kara scratched her head, ¡°We don¡¯t want to lose anyone to the lakes, but if we accidentally catch the attention of a herd we¡¯re dead.¡±

    ¡°Not dead, not all of us,¡± Ishone cut in, ¡°That¡¯s what the Decoys are for.¡±

    Ishone gave Vas an apologetic expression before continuing, ¡°We can keep the scouts a fair distance out, even if it means slowing our pace. But if we start losing people to the lakes it will be like fighting a guerilla war against nature. We¡¯ll lose.¡±

    Tapo nodded slowly. ¡°Caution is our best ally in this situation. We are not being chased, nor have we been spotted. Our actual arrival time is inconsequential as we have no one waiting for us. I hope.¡±

    Vas agreed with Tapo¡¯s sentiment, ¡°As long as we get there.¡± The others nodded.

    ¡°Could I borrow the map tonight, to let my squad study it?¡±

    Kara held out the map. ¡°I had a man trace the map in case something happens to this one. But this is the original, and we need to be as accurate as possible when plotting our course. I¡¯ll need this back.¡±

    The map had rough markings around the areas where the group had stopped to camp each night, including their current approximate position.

    ¡°Let¡¯s all get some sleep. The next two weeks might be particularly trying,¡± Ishone muttered.

 Chapter 14: The Storm Begins

    Three days passed without issue. The group¡¯s pace had barely needed to slow since Tapo and Vas had monitored the groups personally.

    Every night while the others made camp, Vas pored over the map. He memorized lake positions, the distances of each lake to the next, the sizes of the lakes.

    Ishone had mocked him the second night and told him he would exhaust himself.

    She was right, Vas was exhausted.

    He suspected if a Risen ambushed happened that night he¡¯d sleep right through it.

    However, knowing your terrain in a fight was the bread and butter of tactics.

    Additionally, if Vas¡¯s squad was required to act as a decoy for the main group, he wanted to ensure they could make their way back to the main group.

    On the fourth day, when the sun was directly above, Vas saw a large rock formation. The ground had long since turned into an area with varied terrain. There were ravines, trees, rocks, and all other sorts of cover.

    Everything was still blanketed in snow, but the air was warming up little by little.

    Vas and his squad decided to climb the rock formation, hoping it would give them a good view of the valley below. The ascent took around ten minutes of carefully picking their path.

    Finally, they reached the end of the climb. There was a seven-foot rock wall left to climb before they would reach the top of the hill.

    Vas jumped up and grabbed the ledge, pulling himself up with relative ease. Just as he pulled his first leg onto the ledge, he saw a corpse.

    Startled, his body froze and he let out a quiet curse. There weren¡¯t enough curses in the world to describe how he felt.

    Vas started to climb back down as stealthily as possible. Maybe it hadn¡¯t noticed him?

    Then it smiled and turned its head right at him.

    The freaks always smiled.

    It made Vas want to run for his life. Which made him angry.

    Vas pulled himself up and rolled forward.

    He had to kill it. Right now.

    His sheath clicked open, and he beheaded the creature in the next moment.

    It was a moment too late, however, as three more Risen had just climbed up the top of the hill.

    These were watching him.

    Vas stepped back in horror as three more climbed up the hill.

    Again and again.

    There were more than a dozen before Vas turned around and ran back the cliff where he¡¯d climbed up. He rolled off and hit the ground hard.

    His squad stood with weapons unsheathed.

    ¡°Risen,¡± Vas panted out, ¡°Tare and Fem, tell the main camp. Stay with them.¡±

    The two men jumped into action, and ran away immediately.

    ¡°Kill the first one that jumps down, then run,¡± Vas said to his remaining friends.

    Seconds later, three Risen reached the cliff Vas had jumped off.

    One of them jumped down, and Vas swung at it.

    The swing took an arm, but the monster avoided taking a fatal blow.

    A second later, Jade¡¯s halberd shot through its neck.

    ¡°Run.¡±

    They turned and sprinted, bounding down rocks they had scaled only minutes ago. Vas sheathed his sword as he ran.

    He glanced back just in time to see a Risen with a crossbow aimed right at him.

    The bolt flew out, and Vas held his left arm in front of his face as he tried to dodge.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    He felt a flash of pain as the bolt shot through his hand and got stuck halfway through.

    It wasn¡¯t barbed, which was fortunate.

    Without thinking much about it, Vas pulled the bolt back out and threw it at an oncoming Risen.

    His throw was extremely lucky, and hit the Risen in the face just as it was jumping to its next rock. The bolt threw off the monster¡¯s trajectory just enough and the Risen missed its jump, falling thirty feet to the ground.

    The Risen who had shot at him went from smiling to jaw-dropped awe.

    Vas turned back around and made his next jump.

    He landed awkwardly and rolled along the ground.

    Using the opportunity, he grabbed some snow in his right hand and stuffed it into the bleeding hole in his left hand.

    It stung worse than he expected.

    The world flashed, and he was unable to see for a few moments.

    That didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t run, though.

    Right around where Vas remembered seeing the next gap, he leapt.

    His guess had been just right, and he landed on the next rock safely.

    The three Decoys were a rock ahead of him.

    Jade glanced back and slowed her pace for him.

    Hopefully that meant the Risen weren¡¯t too close behind.

    ¡°Run!¡± He shouted it at Jade, but was half talking to himself. He could feel his body getting tired. It was going into shock.

    Jade of course did as she pleased and continued in her slow pace until he caught up.

    She matched his strides. ¡°Partners.¡±

    Vas just nodded. Jade noticed his wound with a grimace.

    She started to try ripping her scarf, which was sewn into her hood like Vas¡¯s own.

    However, since she held her halberd in one hand, she quickly realized her folly.

    It was the same reason Vas hadn¡¯t tried it himself.

    They were almost to the ground now. Vas glanced back.

    The closest Risen was three rocks behind them.

    There must have been more than thirty Risen chasing them. The creatures just kept pouring over the top of the hill.

    Vas shook his head.

    This was bad. It was a herd.

    Vas would need to spend the next six hours leading them on a chase in the wrong direction. He would take them back in the direction they had appeared from. He couldn¡¯t afford to take them north; the main group would get too far away in that case.

    Vas hit the ground running, and the other three let him lead. He turned to the direction where the Risen had come from.

    Luckily, Risen did sleep. It was something like sleep, at least. They slept at random times of the day, since the sun did not affect them. Therefore, they would often attack at night. This was terrifying from the perspective of a group or an army of people that were unaware of nearby Risen. Vas however felt confident that he could lead a group of Risen on a chase they could never win.

    Then he ran into a clearing. It was the bank of a lake, he knew.

    The lake was frozen over. It was covered by snow. The snow was covered by Risen.

    Tens of thousands of Risen. Hundreds of thousands.

 Chapter 15: The Fall

    Vas could only shake his head in disbelief at the sight of so many Risen. They effectively blocked paths to the north and east, which only left south.

    If Vas led the Risen south, there was a possibility he would lead them right into the main Scout group.

    He didn¡¯t have a choice.

    He didn¡¯t have time.

    Vas immediately started running to the south. Joust let out a string of curses and followed close behind. Jade and Alex just stared at the horde in terror. Thousands of smiles greeted them.

    The group of corpses started shambling towards them.

    Then the Risen started running.

    The ground shook. There was a loud cracking sound, which made Vas think the ice on the lake was breaking.

    It made no visible impact as the Risen ran at Vas¡¯s group.

    Vas assumed the middle of the lake had cracked and swallowed a few hundred Risen. Maybe even a few thousand. It didn¡¯t help.

    The four Decoys were already tired because of running from the first group of Risen.

    Physical differences started making themselves apparent when Jade and Alex fell behind.

    Vas slowed their pace as much as he dared.

    The chase continued for another hour. The fastest Risen had made their way to the front of the charging horde, and some of them were closing on Vas¡¯s group.

    Alex was the furthest back. She was huffing hard. Jade was just in front of her. Joust barely looked any better.

    Then Alex tripped. Vas turned around and ran at her. ¡°Keep running!¡± He shouted as he ran.

    Joust hesitated but complied. Jade also kept running. At least, she tried to. Vas grabbed the halberd from her and kept running. ¡°Drop your pack and keep running!¡± Jade unstrapped the backpack and kept running.

    Alex was getting back up, but Vas hadn¡¯t run back to help her up.

    He swung the halberd horizontally just as the fastest Risen ran into range. ¡°Drop your pack and run, Alex.¡±

    The Risen dodged and smiled at him, then lunged forward, using the gun it was holding as a sort of club.

    Vas he could see three more close behind.

    He beheaded the creature with a swift backhanded swing.

    Vas couldn¡¯t use the halberd as well as Jade, especially with only one hand functioning properly.

    He didn¡¯t care much for finesse at the moment anyways.

    Vas turned back and scooped up Alex¡¯s pack. He looped one of the straps onto the halberd and laid the weapon across his back.

    When he reached Jade¡¯s pack he did the same thing. The halberd was significantly heavier now, so Vas wedged it behind his neck. The hood, which was strapped to his head through the scarf, held the polearm solidly enough. He slid it out the hood on the other side of his neck, so the weapon was evenly distributed across his body horizontally.

    Vas held onto the halberd with his ruined hand. With his other hand, he unsheathed his miaodao. He was still close behind the tired Decoys, but the group was moving faster as a whole.

    However, three Risen were almost upon them.

    Vas glanced back as he ran. Although at this point it looked more like a leisurely jog.

    They were maybe ten paces away.

    They were all armed, but not heavily. Two of them had kitchen knives, while the last one had some kind of replica short sword.

    Behind the Wall, there were multiple smithies. These smithies were run by one or two master craftsmen, then given endless amounts of supplies and apprentices. Vas could have avoided the draft if he¡¯d decided to work at the smithy full-time.

    Nine paces.

    Because of the smithies, the army was always supplied with real weapons crafted for combat.

    By contrast, the majority of Risen coming from the south were poorly armed. Those with replica weapons were the least dangerous.

    Eight paces.

    Vas turned around, facing his three opponents.

    One with a kitchen knife was a pace or two in front of the others, so Vas targeted it first.

    There were around a hundred Risen closing in on Vas¡¯s group, but the rest of the horde had been outpaced.

    Vas feinted a lunge and the monster fell for it.

    Easy.

    Or not.

    The second and third one were here.

    Vas spun away from a knife and swung his sword as he came around.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    The Risen with a sword tried to block, but the sword was cut in half. Along with its head.

    Vas used the sword¡¯s momentum and brought it up then down again.

    He cleaved a second monster nearly completely in half.

    The last one was close now. Vas kicked at its knee, jamming it backwards.

    There was a sickening crack as the Risen lost its balance. Then it lost its head.

    Vas turned back to his squad. They were two dozen paces ahead of him now.

    He started running after them.

    Wielding his sword one-handed in an actual fight had been extremely taxing.

    They were nearing a densely forested area, which was exactly what they needed.

    They could go southeast now. Leave obvious tracks that suddenly disappeared on the ice of a lake.

    Vas¡¯s squad turned and waited for him before exiting the clearing.

    When he reached them, Jade took her halberd back and Joust took the two extra packs.

    Vas sheathed his sword and led the way.

    They were all exhausted, but they still had a long way to go.

    The sun would be down in around four hours.

    Vas pulled out a compass and the group continued at a brisk pace.

    He weaved around trees and through brush, and the others followed close behind.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Joust gasped out from the back of the single-file line, ¡°maybe they¡¯re afraid of trees, so they won¡¯t follow us.¡±

    Vas didn¡¯t respond.

    They all knew Risen were perfectly fine with trees.

    Alex started coughing. No, she was laughing.

    ¡°Trees? You had this long to think of a joke, and that¡¯s what you got?¡±

    Jade giggled quietly. Even Vas in all his bad humor had to smile.

    They continued through the forest for hours, obscuring their tracks whenever possible.

    It wasn¡¯t that he wanted to disappear completely, but Vas sure wasn¡¯t going to make himself easy to find.

    They¡¯d started heading east about an hour ago, and Vas hoped he could lose the Risen by the next morning. There was a lake about fifty miles (eighty kilometers) east, if Vas had their position right on his mental map.

    Jade jogged up beside him and held out a cloth. She¡¯d cut a strip of their wool blanket to wrap around his wounded hand.

    Vas held his hand out. The wound hadn¡¯t bled too much, but he¡¯d had to be careful with it.

    Jade wrapped his hand deftly. ¡°Have you done this before?¡± He¡¯d wondered the words aloud.

    ¡°Run from a horde? Nope. We get to experience something new together. So exciting.¡±

    Alex giggled and Joust snorted. Jade finished tying Vas¡¯s hand and fell back into the single file line. ¡°I trained to be a nurse for a while. Before.¡± Vas nodded. ¡°Why¡¯d you wanna be a nurse,¡± Alex inquired.

    ¡°I had siblings. Two brothers. They used to get hurt a lot when we were young.¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Family was a touchy subject for everyone who¡¯d made it to the wall.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Vas is dumb enough to make up for two men,¡± Joust stated confidently.

    ¡°You¡¯re one to talk, you big. . . Oaf.¡± ¡°Oaf?¡± Jade made a face, ¡°Let¡¯s be careful with our language before you hurt someone¡¯s feelings, dear.¡± The sarcasm was practically dripping.

    ¡°It just felt right.¡±

    They reached a small clearing, and Vas scanned it before entering.

    It would be evening soon. The forest would slow their pace somewhat, but Vas was thankful for all the trees and brush. Without cover, the Risen would catch up quickly.

    The Risen should be thirty minutes behind them by now. At least, that was what he hoped.

    Vas took a step forward.

    A sudden wave of dizziness hit him, and he fell forward onto the snow.

    He lost consciousness before he hit the ground.

 Chapter 16: Never Again

    Jade watched with horror as Vas collapsed. Had he lost too much blood?

    She ran to his side with Alex and Joust close behind her.

    Jade turned Vas over and touched her forehead to his. She waited for a moment and felt his breath on her cheek.

    Good.

    ¡°Is he okay?¡± Alex looked terrified.

    ¡°I think he will be.¡± Jade infused a confidence she didn¡¯t feel into her words.

    What could they do? Without Vas they weren¡¯t even really a squad. Just a few people lost in the woods.

    ¡°Stop trying to kiss him and help me get him on my back,¡± Joust exclaimed. Joust took off the three packs he¡¯d been carrying.

    ¡°Wait. We shouldn¡¯t move him!¡±

    Joust shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re all dead if we don¡¯t move him.¡±

    Alex nodded and Jade eventually agreed.

    They helped wrap Vas¡¯s arms around Joust¡¯s neck and then helped Joust stand up.

    Joust shook his head. ¡°This won¡¯t work.¡±

    They eventually got Vas¡¯s body onto Joust¡¯s shoulders so the man could carry Vas¡¯s distributed weight.

    Jade picked up her pack and Alex picked up the other two.

    Jade grabbed Vas¡¯s compass off the ground.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go east.¡±

    <hr>

    Vas opened his eyes to see a purple sky. Only, he saw it sideways.

    After a moment of orientation, he realized he was on Joust¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°What happened,¡± Vas murmured, blinking rapidly to clear his vision.

    Joust huffed, ¡°You fell over so I carried you.¡±

    ¡°Welcome back, Vas.¡± Jade¡¯s voice was excited. She¡¯d been worried.

    ¡°I think I can walk if you set me down.¡± Vas wanted to get back on his feet.

    Joust complied and set Vas down.

    Vas slowly stood and took a tentative step forward.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t faint that time,¡± he grunted.

    Joust laughed. ¡°That¡¯s good, I don¡¯t think I could carry you for two more hours. I was already preparing to drop you.¡±

    Two hours. If Vas assumed an average pace, they¡¯d probably made it a fourth of the way to the lake.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been walking east for about two hours.¡± Jade was bringing him up to speed. ¡°No Risen, no signs they¡¯re following.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve seen a few squirrels though!¡±

    Jade held out the compass Vas had been using earlier. He took it. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Alex sniffed loudly, ¡°you¡¯d do the same for us.¡±

    ¡°If we keep up a good pace, we should reach the lake before dawn. We¡¯ll use the ice to lose them.¡±

    He hoped.

    There was a lot of hoping in Vas¡¯s plans recently.

    He hated leaving things to chance.

    Two hours later, it was so dark that Vas could barely see. The group¡¯s single-file line had become a human train. Jade had apparently left her halberd where Vas had collapsed, so both of

    Jade¡¯s hands held Vas¡¯s shoulders, Alex held onto Jade¡¯s shoulders, and Joust held onto Alex¡¯s shoulders.

    Vas had heard a few wolves howling in the distance, but they¡¯d seemed to get farther away. Vas could only hope the wolves would attack the Risen to earn a few more minutes for his group.

    On second thought, it probably wouldn¡¯t earn him any time at all. There were just too many Risen.

    In some areas, even Vas was unable to see in front of him. He¡¯d walk into brush, scratch himself on tree branches.

    Whenever moonlight peeked through the trees, Vas stole a glance at his compass.

    Making sure you were going the right direction was an important priority in the woods.

    Especially in the dark.

    ¡°Vas,¡± Jade whispered into Vas¡¯s ear.

    Vas got goosebumps and almost jumped. He hated being surprised.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.¡°Thanks for helping Alex and I. When we fell behind.¡±

    ¡°Alex and me,¡± Alex corrected quietly, ¡°And I actually did fall.¡±

    Vas just shook his head.

    He never seemed to know what words to say at times like this.

    Maybe someone wiser than him could have given the right answer.

    If he were Joust or Fem he¡¯d turn it into something funny.

    If he were Tare he¡¯d have known a quote to fit the situation.

    If he were Alex he could tell the story in a ridiculous manner and make himself sound like a hero.

    He wasn¡¯t a hero. He was a person.

    He hadn¡¯t run back to save Alex and Jade.

    He¡¯d seen the Risen closing on them and panicked.

    ¡°What did you do the first time you faced terror?¡± He asked the question bitterly.

    ¡°What?¡± Vas shook his head again. ¡°I think the first time a person encounters terror, they do one of two things: freeze or run. I ran.¡± He kept his voice low.

    Vas was angry now. At himself.

    Why was he talking about this?

    Jade¡¯s grip on his shoulders changed. ¡°I cried. I let them do what they wanted. I guess I froze. I just wanted to live.¡±

    Jade¡¯s response reminded him, like she always did.

    He wasn¡¯t alone. They¡¯d all dealt with terrible situations.

    He nodded slowly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll never run away again.¡±

    The others didn¡¯t say anything else.

    They didn¡¯t have to.

    They¡¯d all made the same choice.

    Hours of silent marching passed by.

    Vas occasionally reached to his shoulder and gave Jade¡¯s gloved hand a squeeze.

    He could feel her growing tired from the amount she leaned on him. Without having to pick her own path, she¡¯d let her head drop and was letting Vas lead her.

    He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she fell asleep like that.

    The others had done the same thing.

    The cold air was probably the only thing keeping them awake. And the walking.

    Vas was able to pick out details now.

    He could see the bushes, he could see the branches.

    He narrowly avoided a rock.

    The sun would be coming up soon.

    That meant they had to be close to the lake, right?

    What if he¡¯d been wrong about the lake¡¯s location?

    The glow of the sun about to rise made it so Vas could see ahead of him perfectly now.

    The trees seemed to thin out ahead.

    Jade let go of Vas¡¯s shoulders and came to walk beside him.

    ¡°Give me your hand,¡± she commanded.

    Vas did as he was told. Jade examined the makeshift bandage and shrugged.

    ¡°I think you''ll make it.¡±

    ¡°You think?¡± She gave him a devious smile.

    Vas smiled back.

    They finally reached a clearing, which Vas assumed was the bank of the lake. He stepped carefully and found packed ice beneath a small layer of snow.

    ¡°We walk out a few dozen paces onto the lake, then head south.¡±

    The others followed him wordlessly.

    After walking further onto the lake Vas turned them south.

    Their tracks seemed far less obvious on the ice.

    Vas could see a hill in the distance.

    If they could make it to the hill before the Risen emerged from the forest, they might escape.

    ¡°We need to run.¡±

    He didn¡¯t wait for a response before he started jogging.

    The others followed.

    They must be even more exhausted than he was.

    Then a miracle happened. It started to snow.

    Vas smiled. He couldn¡¯t have planned it any better.

    After ten minutes of running, the group reached the hill. The hill was surrounded by another forested area through which Vas and his group could escape.

    Vas stopped after cresting the hill and waited for the others to catch up.

    ¡°Lie down and rest. We need to know if we lost them.¡±

    Joust was the first to comply. He was asleep moments after hitting the ground. Alex followed.

    Jade went prone next to Vas. She hugged him. She didn¡¯t stop.

    Vas tore his gaze from the lake and glanced at her. She¡¯d fallen asleep.

 Chapter 17: Sounds of Animals

    After two hours passed, Vas was starting to fall asleep.

    The Decoys couldn¡¯t wait forever.

    The snowfall had probably made their tracks impossible to follow.

    If the Risen were unable to find prey, the monsters would most likely assume that Vas had headed north. After all, why would humans go further south?

    Vas gave himself a light slap on the face.

    If he counted his time being unconscious, he had already taken a two hour nap.

    He could make it for the rest of the day. He had to.

    Vas nudged Jade until she opened her eyes. She drowsily pulled her scarf down and pushed some of the snow into her face. Then she shivered.

    ¡°OKAY that was not a good idea.¡±

    Vas smiled and crawled down the back of the hill to where the other two were sleeping. Alex woke quickly and helped kick Joust awake.

    When they were all standing and ready to go, Vas pulled out his compass. He tried estimating where the group camp would be and aimed ahead of that position.

    ¡°We should go before Joust falls asleep again.¡± Alex poked Joust as she said the words.

    ¡°I¡¯m awake,¡± Joust growled at her. She giggled.

    ¡°We should be able to catch the main group tomorrow, if we¡¯re lucky.¡± Vas decided it was time to cut into their banter before things went too far. ¡°But the only way we can do that is if we march hard today.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather just sleep longer and let the search take an extra day or two,¡± Alex complained. Joust nodded in agreement.

    Vas ignored them. If they couldn¡¯t already see how dangerous traveling was with four people, he didn¡¯t see the point in explaining it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Jade walked beside him, and the pair of troublemakers fell in behind them after a few grumbles.

    They entered the forest at the bottom of the hill and Vas directed them south-west.

    It wasn¡¯t long until they could hear birds. The chirping animals were something Vas had forgotten about. He looked up to try and catch a glimpse of one, but couldn¡¯t see any.

    ¡°Do you hear that?¡±

    Vas glanced at Jade, who had her head cocked to the side.

    ¡°The birds?¡±

    ¡°No, the water.¡±

    Jade started wandering to the east. Vas almost stopped her, then decided better of it. They were all excited by the prospect of fresh running water.

    No wonder the frozen lake the night before had cracked. The weather must be getting warmer.

    They reached a small stream after a few minutes of searching.

    Vas emptied his filter cup onto the snow and put the cup in the water.

    These particular cups had a filtration system built into the bottom. You could stuff snow or water into the bottom, which unscrewed.

    After that, screw the bottom on, shake a little, unscrew the top, and drink.

    Vas took a drink from his cup. The water was very cold, but it felt nice. He let out a long sigh.

    ¡°Vas, take the glove off your left hand. Let¡¯s wash the wound.¡±

    Jade had her cup filled and ready to pour already. Vas suspected this had been her scheme ever since she¡¯d heard the running water.

    Vas reluctantly unwrapped his hand, which sent jolts of pain through him. Pulling off the glove was just as difficult.

    Joust and Alex watched with worried faces. Alex grimaced and looked away when Vas finally got the glove off.

    Jade took the bandage and handed it to Joust, ¡°Wash this for me, please.¡± Joust grunted in affirmation.

    ¡°It might hurt a bit. A lot.¡±

    Jade took her gloves off and flexed her fingers. She grabbed her bottle of water.

    ¡°Try not to scream.¡±

    Vas smiled a little. Scream? He hadn¡¯t screamed when the bolt had shot into his hand, or even when he¡¯d yanked it out. The most painful thing he¡¯d done was stuff snow into the wound. . . Oh.

    Jade poured the water onto his wound, and Vas couldn¡¯t keep his body from shaking violently. The pain of the cold water almost knocked him unconscious. His world flashed white.

    Vas opened his mouth wide, wanting to scream.

    Jade grabbed his hand and used her fingers to rub the edges of the wound. She also helped keep his hand steady. It felt like hours of endless pain had all hit him at once.

    Jade dropped her cup onto the snow and took Vas¡¯s hand in both of hers. She examined it for a few moments. ¡°Could I get that bandage back?¡±

    Joust handed her the wet cloth. She wrapped it around Vas¡¯s hand deftly and tied it on the side of his hand.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.¡°Give me your glove. Alex, can you sew it while we walk?¡±

    Jade took the glove from Vas and handed it to Alex.

    Alex shook her head, ¡°It¡¯d be better if we could use a patch.¡±

    ¡°Just stitch it closed for now?¡±

    Alex nodded.

    ¡°Ow,¡± Vas hissed belatedly. He¡¯d stopped himself from saying anything until now, worried he might scream.

    Alex gave Vas an apologetic smile, ¡°You did a good job being quiet.¡±

    She sounded genuine, so Vas smiled back. ¡°It hurt.¡±

    Joust nodded, ¡°That¡¯s always the worst part. Well, that and how bad it itches as it heals.¡±

    Vas didn¡¯t look forward to itching skin.

    ¡°We sho¡ª¡± Vas tried to say that they should get moving, but in doing so he¡¯d turned around quickly.

    His world went black for a few moments, and he was unable to see. There was a sharp buzzing sound in his ears. He took deep breaths and kneeled on the ground.

    He felt Jade¡¯s hand touch his forehead. He could hear her talking, but couldn¡¯t make out the words.

    Vas closed his eyes and focused on breathing. The buzzing sound went away after a few moments.

    When he opened his eyes, Jade was crouching in front of him. ¡°Just give yourself a few minutes before you get up. When you get up, do it slowly. Understand?¡± Vas nodded.

    ¡°Let¡¯s fill up our cups and be on our way.¡±

    Alex was staring at Vas. Joust kept glancing at him.

    They were worried about him.

    Hell, he was worried about him.

    Jade seemed to be the only one who remained calm.

    Jade clapped her hands. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Vas glanced at her.

    He noticed something in the brush crouched behind her, a dark shape.

    It was inching towards her.

    He gripped his compass in his right hand.

    ¡°Jade, duck!¡± He yelled the command suddenly. Jade turned to him, confused.

    When she saw him about to throw something, she dropped to the ground.

    Vas launched the compass directly at the charging wolf¡¯s head.

    The charging animal¡¯s mouth was foaming, and it snarled when the compass knocked it to the ground.

    As soon as the compass flew past her, Jade leapt to her feet, drew her katana, and sliced at the animal. Her blade met flesh, but it was too shallow.

    The wolf growled and lunged toward Jade, who drew her arm up to protect herself.

    The wolf slammed into the ground.

    Joust stood beside the beast, which he had cut in half with his battle axe. Alex had also already reached Jade with her two scimitars drawn.

    Joust pulled his axe out of the ground and spat. ¡°Can¡¯t catch a break, can we?¡±

    Vas stood slowly and smiled wryly at the big man. Between the two of them, Vas was taller. However, Joust had far more muscle.

    ¡°Good thing we have you here to remind us of it,¡± he joked.

    Alex snorted. ¡°He told you! Was this the only wolf? I thought they hunted in packs.¡±

    Vas was already scanning their surroundings and started to shrug when he saw Joust waved a hand dismissively. ¡°Wolves are wimps. They only really attack people when rabid. And when they¡¯re rabid, they¡¯re alone.¡±

    Every time Joust hit them with his random animal facts, Vas was amazed by the depth of knowledge. With the bear he¡¯d had his doubts, but Joust had been right. He supposed the man would be right about this as well.

    The group readied their equipment, Vas retrieved his compass, and they set off.

    Just as the sun was setting later that day, they reached the end of the forest and found a clear area.

    To Vas¡¯s surprise, they found the main group setting up for camp there.

    They arrived and were greeted by cheers and excitement. Selene ran up and gave each of them a hug, while Tare and Fem both shed relieved tears.

    Hugs and stories were plentiful.

    Alex spent hours in a clearing in the middle of the encampment telling the story after story. The tale of Vas catching a crossbow bolt and using it to kill a Risen. The story of Vas running into the fray to rescue her and Jade from a hundred thousand Risen, then carrying everything until he passed out. Her rendition of the wolf incident.

    Vas, Jade and Joust fell asleep in the group tent while listening to the stories.

    They heard later about Alex falling asleep in the middle of telling a story and being carried to her bag by Tare and Fem.

 Chapter 18: The Biggest Monster

    Returning to the main group had taken Vas far less time than he had originally anticipated. Kara and Ishone had decided to slow their pace over the last day to ensure that the Decoys would be able to catch up.

    The next day, Kara announced that they would take a break to let the Decoys catch up on sleep.

    Vas, Jade, Alex, and Joust slept through the morning.

    Around the time the sun was halfway through the sky, Tare brought a pack of rations to share into the tent. ¡°Time for some lunch,¡± he chirped.

    Vas was the first one to wake fully, and took a big bite of the rations. He knew the vitamin-infused stuff would fill him up with just a normal bite, but felt like he deserved a little extra today. Tare directed an amused smile at him. ¡°What?¡± ¡°They¡¯re all waiting for you. Acting like they¡¯re playing cards. Everyone is excited to see you.¡±

    Vas patted the back of Jade¡¯s head. She scooted away from him. He set the rations on the ground in front of her nose and stood up.

    Everyone in Vas¡¯s group had started wearing their undergarments to bed now that the weather had gotten warmer.

    Vas pulled his clothes on. ¡°Why? They saw me last night.¡±

    Tare raised his eyebrows.

    ¡°Did you hear the stories Alex was telling? It seems you¡¯ve been chosen by some god to compete with monsters in mortal combat, but you have to remember what the rest of the Scouts do every day. They walk until they make camp. They run if there is any sign of Risen nearby.¡±

    Vas was being turned into a symbol.

    He wasn¡¯t just a survivor; they were all survivors.

    He fought. And he won.

    He didn¡¯t want to be a symbol. He was a person just like every other.

    Vas finished dressing, nodded to Tare in thanks, and walked out of the tent.

    When every person in the encampment turned their eyes on him, he knew.

    It didn¡¯t matter what he wanted.

    Selene, who was now a member of Tapo¡¯s scouting groups, had been the first person to see Vas return with his small party.

    She was playing cards with a few other members of Tapo¡¯s group who had the day off.

    Ishone and Serj would be covering scouting duties for the day with their groups.

    Selene hopped up from her card game and skipped over to him excitedly. ¡°Did you already eat, Vas? Would you like to play cards?¡±

    Vas eyed her, wary. She was a tricky one. Trying to get him to say yes about lunch, which she would in turn take as a yes for playing cards.

    ¡°I did eat, but I¡¯m a little tired for cards.¡± Selene nodded and took his arm. ¡°Will you at least tell us how you killed the wolf with a compass?¡±

    Vas was about to say no. Then he blinked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t kill it, Joust and Jade did.¡±

    Selene smiled, ¡°What? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard this version!¡±

    Vas cursed himself for being so gullible.

    She¡¯d won the second he¡¯d responded to her.

    He was doomed to waste his day losing at cards.

    ¡°Vas, there you are.¡± It was the voice of Kara.

    The voice of an angel who had the power to get him out of playing cards.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Kara addressed Selene, ¡°I need to hear his report.¡±

    Selene gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded.

    Vas almost jumped for joy. Escape successful.

    Vas followed Kara to her tent. Tapo and Ishone waited inside.

    Vas nodded to the two other leaders. ¡°Serj is monitoring the scouting parties,¡± Kara informed him.

    After Ishone gave a brief report from the scouting groups, Vas related the events of the past two days.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure they didn¡¯t follow you?¡± Ishone¡¯s icy voice was not accusatory, just thorough.

    ¡°Like I said, we waited a couple hours before moving on.¡±

    Ishone nodded, ¡°So it is possible, however unlikely, that you were followed.¡±

    ¡°Of course. This is always true for decoys,¡± Tapo interrupted.

    ¡°Very well, let¡¯s move on.¡±

    Ishone and Tapo nodded, as did Vas.

    ¡°We are hoping to move out tomorrow morning and continue in the same manner as we had been. Do you have any objections or concerns?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    The meeting went on for another twenty or so more minutes as the leaders planned and plotted their path for the next few days.

    As Vas exited the tent, he saw Fem watching the ongoing card game from afar.

    ¡°Not interested in playing?¡±

    Fem started and spun around. When he saw it was Vas, he instantly relaxed.

    ¡°Thought you were. . . Anyway, no. The card game¡¯s a front. They really just want to talk about all those crazy stories Alex told. Did you really kill a rabid wolf with a compass?¡±

    Blast that girl. Couldn¡¯t she make somebody else the hero of her stories for once? Joust had been the one to get there in time to save Jade while Vas wasn¡¯t even able to stand up.

    ¡°Joust killed it. That man is insanely fast.¡±

    Fem nodded in understanding.

    ¡°He beats me in spars sometimes now. Ever since he started doing morning practices with us. I can¡¯t imagine fighting him when he¡¯s serious.¡±

    Vas laid a hand on Fem¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You alright?¡±

    Fem frowned, ¡°Don¡¯t know. Feel like I should have been there. Could have saved your hand, at least.¡±

    ¡°You followed orders, warned the main group, and did it fast enough that the Risen never even saw you. The hand will heal, anyway. I know we have tons of stories to tell, but you and Tare are heroes just as much as the rest of the Decoys.¡±

    Fem waved a hand, ¡°Don¡¯t care about the hero stuff. I¡¯m worried you¡¯re overexerting yourself when I¡¯m not there.¡±

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Vas thought about it. The question was really too much to think about. If he hadn¡¯t run back to help Alex, who would have? He could have told Joust to come with him, but the big man was already tired.

    Was it overexertion or just doing what was necessary? Vas didn¡¯t know how to draw that line. He knew Fem was probably right, but he didn¡¯t know how to fix it.

    Vas¡¯s brow furrowed.

    ¡°Vas.¡±

    Vas looked up.

    ¡°Now that your arm¡¯s hurt, who do you think would win in a spar?¡±

    ¡°Between the two of us?¡±

    Fem nodded.

    Vas considered. This was something he could actually analyze.

    Fem would have the distinct advantage because of having both a sword and shield. Vas could use his wounded hand, but not enough to do much with it. Sparring would be difficult because he¡¯d have trouble stopping the blade before impact. Fem would probably win.

    ¡°Me.¡±

    Fem smiled and his eyes seemed to gleam.

    ¡°You¡¯re on.¡±

    <hr />

    Vas and Fem walked up to the large group of soldiers who were playing a variety of card games with their multiple decks. Alex, Joust, Tare, Jade, Selene, and even Tapo had joined the games.

    Alex eyed the approaching men.

    They were smiling.

    Vas smiling was never something to be missed. Either something funny had happened, or something incredible was about to happen.

    Alex didn¡¯t have a crush on Vas like Selene did, and she didn¡¯t worship him like Jade seemed to.

    However, he was the most interesting person she¡¯d ever met.

    The moment he walked into a group, all eyes fell on him.

    Every time he fought, every time he talked, everything seemed to center on him.

    It was like some kind of god had found amusement in the idea of giving the most anti-social fighting maniac on earth the charisma of a king.

    The others said that she exaggerated stories too much, but she just told them the way she saw them. He might not have technically killed that wolf with his compass, but he hit the animal between the eyes so hard that he knocked it over. With a compass. While he was kneeling on the ground nearly losing consciousness ten paces away.

    The guy was something special.

    It wasn¡¯t like he was in the middle of some kids club.

    He was one of the newest youngest recruits and stood next to veteran warriors.

    Even Sun had known, from the first time they sparred.

    ¡°Vas and I are gonna spar. Anyone care to watch?¡±

    Alex¡¯s attention snapped to the current moment.

    A spar? Between two of the best fighters in camp?

    The thought of a sharp weapon covered in blood still gave her chills, but Alex would pay to watch a friendly spar with wooden weapons.

    Everyone jumped up and gathered their cards immediately. One of the soldiers brought a long wooden sword for Vas and a smaller one for Fem.

    The area was cleared in a matter of minutes, and everyone was intently watching the match.

    Vas stood in his typical stance, while Fem hopped around on the balls of his feet.

    Tapo had been declared the referee for the match and would call the start.

    Normally Vas would be the better fighter, but in his sleep-deprived and wounded state, Alex had no idea which of them would come out on top.

    She wanted to say Fem, but couldn¡¯t bring herself to believe Vas would lose.

    The two men touched swords and waited. Tapo clapped, which signaled the start.

    Vas jumped back immediately, and Fem did the opposite.

    One might say that the way the spar started would favor Fem because of the short distance they started at. If one didn¡¯t know Vas.

    Fem¡¯s lunge was a cautious one. He¡¯d been beaten by Vas at close range enough times to know there was no advantage.

    Vas spun around and delivered a sweeping blow, which Fem deflected with his shield. Fem took the opportunity to follow up with an attack, but hadn¡¯t noticed Vas step into the shield.

    Fem became off-balanced for a moment when Vas wasn¡¯t where he should have been.

    Vas tripped Fem with an outstretched leg and followed the falling man with his wooden blade.

    Fem used his trip and rolled forward, narrowly escaping the swing.

    Now that Vas had the distance advantage, he closed in on Fem.

    Fem cursed and deflected blow after blow with incredible concentration. Then he lunged forward.

    Vas dodged the attack deftly and followed up with an overhand swing. This was it, Vas¡¯s left was completely exposed.

    Fem blocked the blow to the outside with his shield, and at that moment began a downward swing with his sword.

    Vas let go of his miaodao with his left arm and brought his wrist up just in time to collide with Fem¡¯s wrist. The blow effectively deflected Fem¡¯s sword.

    Then Vas twisted. His sword, which was now beneath Fem¡¯s shield, met Fem¡¯s lower torso. Vas continued a fake slash all the way up Fem¡¯s chest as he stepped back.

    Fem smiled wide. ¡°What the hell was that last move? I was sure I had you!¡±

    The rest of the onlookers cheered and rushed the two fighters, asking questions about stances and swings. ¡®Why swing here instead of counter attack¡¯ and ¡®how did you follow up this move with that move¡¯ sorts of questions.

    Alex glanced to Joust at her side, ¡°Think you could beat him?¡±

    Joust just shook his head. He looked struck by disbelief. ¡°Before seeing that I thought so. Maybe if we gave him a spear or something he wasn¡¯t used to. Maybe.¡±

    Alex considered herself extremely proficient in her abilities, but she knew Joust was her superior in nearly every way as a fighter. For him to be overwhelmed meant one thing: Vas was the monster she made him out to be. In a good way, of course.

 Chapter 19: What Waits Inside

    Sorry it''s only this chapter today. Next chapter is the end of book one.

    I won''t be taking a break or publishing a new prologue or anything so don''t worry.

    It''s just the format I''ve had planned.

    The finished story of Beyond The Wall should clock in between 60-70 chapters.

    Enjoy...

    <hr />

    <hr />

    Weeks passed, and the group encountered few difficulties as it continued its path south. The horde of Risen never showed itself, and they decided Vas¡¯s group had lost the monsters during their frantic flight.

    Halfway through the third week, Vas and the decoys were assigned as the the southern scouting party.

    Vas¡¯s hand was healing well. It had scabbed over, and the camp medic believed it would only leave a scar. Vas could already use his fingers again, but he made sure not to use the hand too much.

    The main group had grown weary of the constant marching, but morale was quite high. They¡¯d gone much further than any other scouting party and had suffered no casualties.

    Today was the first day Vas and the party encountered a building. It was covered in snow, but they assumed it was a residential complex.

    ¡°Should we try and enter the building,¡± Fem wondered aloud, ¡°or is it not worth our time?¡±

    Vas stared at the building for a moment. ¡°I doubt anyone would have survived in there for very long. It isn¡¯t worth digging the snow away.¡±

    ¡°Do you suppose there might be Risen trapped in there?¡± Tare brought up a great point.

    Could they afford to walk past a building that was potentially infested by Risen?

    ¡°Even if there are, they¡¯ll be trapped unless we let them out,¡± Jade posited.

    ¡°Or until the snow melts,¡± Alex observed.

    ¡°We pass it. Can¡¯t dig up and clear out every building we come across.¡±

    They all nodded and continued walking. There was another building. And another.

    It seemed they¡¯d reached a neighborhood.

    They walked down to where the corner of the street should be and saw rows upon rows of rooftops.

    Vas wondered how many Risen he was passing. Dozens? Hundreds?

    Maybe they had all gotten out before the snow got too thick.

    Vas knew they hadn¡¯t. The area just felt wrong.

    ¡°If we clear out a few houses, we could sleep in them tonight.¡±

    They all looked at Joust.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather find an abandoned supermarket.¡±

    Vas pointed to a large building not too far away.

    The others nodded.

    Vas glanced up at the sun. They didn¡¯t have too much longer before they needed to head back, but shelter for the night would be worth it.

    The Decoys reached a supermarket-looking building and tried to peek through the large glass doors. The bottom half of the building was covered in snow, but was not completely trapped like the houses they¡¯d seen.

    Tare was the one to find the doors. There were two sets of double sliding doors, which were inoperable due to lack of electricity. They were covered almost completely by snow.

    Joust stuck his axe¡¯s blade into the middle of two doors and tried to pry them open.

    The others helped, and they were able to pry the doors open after a few minutes.

    The group then kicked snow down into the open doors to create a ramp of sorts.

    Eventually Vas slid down into the dark store. He walked into it.

    ¡°Anyone here?¡± He made sure his voice was loud enough to be heard from anywhere in the store.

    No response.

    Jade slid down after him and was soon followed by the others.

    ¡°Want to just clear the isles in pairs?¡± Fem cracked his neck.

    Vas nodded, then realized that the others might not be able to see him.

    ¡°Yes. Just call out if you need help.¡±

    Vas and Jade took the first isle. Vas led them down the pitch black, ready for anything. They reached the end without any problems.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.There was a loud crash an isle away. ¡°Sorry. Shopping cart.¡±

    ¡°Fem¡¯s just clumsy,¡± Tare teased lightly.

    The Decoys were on edge, but they all believed the store was empty. Risen had a habit of attacking as soon as they knew a person was close by.

    Especially if they¡¯d been trapped for an extended period of time.

    They finished clearing the store after about fifteen minutes.

    ¡°We should head back.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t be late. Selene might make us play cards if we get there too soon though.¡± Alex was joking, but she hit on a very real worry of Vas¡¯s. In fact, he¡¯d already considered the notion, which was why he¡¯d suggested sweeping the grocery story in the first place.

    Fem walked out of the store and stopped halfway up the makeshift ramp.

    He put his hand out and stopped Tare, who¡¯d been right behind him.

    ¡°Vas,¡± he hissed, ¡°Risen out there. Dozens. One of them saw me. I¡¯m going to run, you all st¡ª¡±

    Vas stepped up beside him and observed the group of Risen. Fem gaped at him.

    ¡°We¡¯ll use the narrow opening to force them into disadvantageous fighting situations.¡±

    Vas supposed the smarter choice would have been letting Fem take a hit for the team. Assuming the Risen didn¡¯t come check the direction Fem had come from.

    Fem, Vas, and the others all backed into the store. Joust stood just inside of the small opening with his axe held at the ready.

    ¡°Fem and Alex cover any that get through the opening. Call for a switch when you get tired. I¡¯ll sub for Joust, Jade subs for Fem, and Tare subs for Alex.¡±

    Seconds later, a Risen with a baseball bat leapt into the opening. Joust beheaded it without much trouble. Fem yanked the body further inside and Jade ensured the monster was dead.

    The next Risen was smarter and tried rolling through the opening. Joust brought his axe down in a vertical slash and cut the thing in half.

    It wasn¡¯t dead yet, but Joust turned back to the door to face his next opponent. Risen were starting to crowd the entrance.

    Alex took the head off of the half of the Risen that was left, then kicked the body backwards.

    The same continued for another few minutes. Soon around fifteen headless bodies had been thrown further into the store.

    ¡°Switch,¡± Joust called.

    Vas put his left hand on the big man¡¯s right shoulder and clicked his weapon¡¯s sheath open. Joust spun to the left and fell back, and Vas decapitated a Risen that had just made its way through the narrow entrance.

    The monsters started getting smarter, and pulled the doors all the way open. Two of them started coming at once, but it wasn¡¯t much of an issue for the soldiers waiting inside the store.

    Risen would come rushing in, unbalanced and poorly armed. It only took a sweep of Vas¡¯s sword to dispatch each one.

    He fell into a rhythm and continued cutting to one side then the next. Every so often a Risen would lunge at him as he dispatched the monster next to it. Jade or Fem would step in from the side at that moment and kill the attacking creature.

    Just as the sun was setting outside, the flow of Risen ceased. Vas and the others had probably killed around a hundred of the monsters, and their clothes were dripping wet with blood.

    Vas swung his sword and wiped it on the side of the nearby door. He clicked the sheath closed over it.

    ¡°We¡¯ll need to stay here tonight. Stay in pairs. Jade and I will keep watch.¡±

    Fem nodded. ¡°Do you think the main group will be worried?¡±

    ¡°Of course they will be!¡±

    ¡°Not much we can do about it now.¡±

    ¡°At least we¡¯ll have a story to tell when we get back!¡±

    ¡°Alex, if you tell them I killed a hundred Risen on my own, so help me.¡±

    ¡°What? You basically did!¡±

 Chapter 20: Until the End

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    Vas took the first watch of the night while Jade slept. He sat just inside the door so that he could use the stars to alert him of any newcomers. If any Risen did appear he would need to dispatch them quickly and quietly, in case there were more nearby.

    After a few hours, he woke Jade up and they switched positions.

    Vas fell asleep quickly, exhausted.

    Jade poked Vas awake just before dawn. The light of the sun just before it rose cast an eerie glow into the dimly illuminated store. Blood was everywhere, and painted the floors as if they¡¯d been a blank canvas.

    When the Decoys had all woken up and had a stretch, Fem and Tare went outside to scout. Tare whistled that the coast was clear and the other two pairs were finally able to crawl out of the corpse-ridden store they¡¯d been trapped in.

    The group stalked past snow-covered rooftops with caution. They¡¯d wiped out around a hundred Risen the night before, but after seeing a hundred thousand just weeks ago they knew the deadly possibilities.

    As they were passing the last rooftop, Fem stopped walking. ¡°Thought I heard something,¡± he explained after waiting a few moments and hearing nothing.

    Then they all heard a distant clang.

    Tare cursed. ¡°The main group!¡±

    The Decoys all began running towards the sounds, which grew louder and more evident as they drew near.

    They climbed a snow-covered hill and were finally able to see the cause of the commotion.

    There were a hundred beheaded bodies lying on the snow. A dozen Scouts were holding formation against a group of a hundred more Risen.

    They couldn¡¯t engage here. It would be suicide.

    Even if they won, Vas would lose people.

    Fem clapped him on the back.

    ¡°If you and I were to spar right now, who do you think would win?¡±

    Vas smiled despite himself.

    ¡°Me.¡±

    Fem nodded, unsurprised.

    ¡°I expect you¡¯d be willing to bet you can kill more of those freaks than I can?¡±

    This was stupid. But they couldn¡¯t just let the rest of the Scouts go down without helping.

    Vas could see Tapo dancing through the chaos with his bastard sword. The big islander was the only person who had beat Vas in a duel since Vas had joined the Scouts.

    Selene, the hyper girl who always made him play cards, was fighting for her life. Ishone went down to a crossbow bolt as he watched. She¡¯d join the Risen soon.

    ¡°You¡¯re on.¡± The words sealed their fate.

    The Decoys charged silently down the hill. Vas and Joust ran side by side, and their outside backs were covered by Jade and Fem. Alex and Tare were in the far back of their small diamond formation.

    It was a formation Vas had practiced with his team in case they ever came across superior numbers like a horde. They would all turn outwards and protect each other¡¯s backs after the initial charge.

    None of them made a battle cry or anything to give away their position, so the first six or seven Risen lost their heads before the next row turned to fight.

    This group of Risen was extremely well armed. Vas¡¯s first kill had wielded a crossbow, while the next one had a pair of well-made knives.

    Vas took his third monster¡¯s feet before slicing its head off.

    Risen number five and six rushed him at the same time.

    Vas swung at the one on his right first. It attempted to parry his blade, but Vas used the deflection¡¯s momentum to push his blade right into the neck of the Risen on the left. Vas kicked the one on the right then decapitated it as well.

    Risen number seven was facing Selene and the Scouts, so it was with a simple wave of his sword that Vas decapitated the inattentive creature.

    Selene¡¯s eyes glittered as she smiled at him for the short moment before they both turned to find new opponents. Vas stepped in and joined the Scout formation, and so did the rest of the Decoys.

    It was hard to tell who had the advantage at the moment. The Risen were clearly winning until Vas had arrived, but after five minutes with reinforcements it seemed like the lines of Risen were getting thin.

    Many of the monsters had inferior weapons and very little actual battle experience, and fought against more than a dozen veteran warriors with well-maintained equipment.

    Ishone, Serj, Kara, and the majority of the Scouts had already joined the Risen ranks, but they had been dispatched quickly after they became Risen.

    After all, this was the real reason for pairs. If one person turned into a Risen, it was their partner¡¯s job to kill them before they started killing.

    Vas finished off Risen number thirteen and a blur in his peripheral vision caught his attention.

    He turned just in time to see Tare¡¯s chest get pierced by a crossbow bolt.

    Vas dove into his next opponent and savagely slashed the monster to pieces with three quick strikes. He worked his way around the outside of the Scout formation and found the crossbow-wielding Risen.

    The Risen raised its crossbow again and took aim at one of the remaining scouts.

    Vas threw his two-handed blade, and the weapon knocked the monster over just as it fired. The bolt flew askew and harmlessly imbedded itself into one of the other Risen.

    A monster slashed at Vas from the side, and he felt a flash of warmth along his jaw and cheek as he side-stepped.

    Vas rolled forward and kicked the crossbow Risen, then grabbed his sword. He decapitated the monster, then spun out of the way of an oncoming enemy¡¯s hatchet.

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    A tall Risen that looked more like a skeleton than a zombie stepped into Vas¡¯s view. It was the only Risen facing him, while the others had all turned to make one last push against the Scouts.

    The unnatural creature smiled, revealing sections of its face to be completely fleshless.

    It was as tall as Vas, and wielded a type of two-handed sword that Vas recognized.

    A nodachi.

    ¡°We meet again,¡± a chalk-like voice hissed out of the Risen. Vas was fairly certain he¡¯d never met this thing. ¡°Nocturnal.¡±

    Vas¡¯s brow furrowed, then he remembered the conversation he¡¯d had with a wandering Risen in the dark.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t die?¡± He was too shocked to initiate. It could attack him if it wanted to fight.

    ¡°I gained a new vessel and rose again,¡± the grating sound replied. The Risen cocked its head at Vas.

    Vas shook his head and stepped into his stance. The Risen also entered a stance, and Vas attacked.

    The monster easily parried Vas¡¯s blade to the side and followed up with an attack. Vas stepped back, but his vision flashed red as the monster¡¯s vertical strike sliced the left side of his forehead and down to his cheek.

    This Risen knew how to fight. It was as strong as Vas. It was as fast as he was. And it was far less tired.

    Vas reset his stance as the monster watched him. It wasn¡¯t smiling anymore, simply observing. The watchful silence unnerved Vas even more than a smile would have. Vas expected a smile.

    He did not expect intelligence to this extent.

    If Vas was a fighting prodigy, so was this thing.

    The cut above his eye was bleeding, so Vas still could not see clearly.

    He would be unable to judge distances very well.

    The unlucky injury would likely prove fatal against such an impressive opponent.

    ¡°I was marching north to find you,¡± the Risen¡¯s voice scratched out, ¡°meeting you here is a. . . surprise.¡± It stepped forward.

    Vas kept wiping at his eye, and tried holding snow to the cut to stop the flow of blood. Could he buy time? ¡°You said you had a name.¡±

    The monster smiled and took another step. ¡°What would you call me, oh Nocturnal?¡±

    Vas shook his head. He could sort of see out of his left eye, ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡±

    Vas entered his stance, and the Risen attacked him. Vas parried the attack, then waited and parried the next one. To the side, he could see the Scouts winning against the other Risen.

    He just needed to buy time.

    Vas slid forward as the monster swung at him, spun, and landed a strike on its arm.

    The cut was too shallow to sever the arm. ¡°You can call me death,¡± the voice suggested nonchalantly. The Risen swung its sword down at Vas, who rolled out of the way.

    ¡°You don¡¯t die,¡± Vas pointed out as he took a few quick breaths.

    ¡°Hades,¡± came a voice from Vas¡¯s side. Alex and Jade had made their way out of the fray. The Scouts were killing off the remaining Risen.

    The large Risen regarded the two women, and so did Vas.

    Jade had a large gash along one of her arms and one down her back. She had small slices on her cheek, and a few cuts in her clothing. Alex was covered in blood, but bore no obvious wounds. She walked with a slight limp.

    ¡°Hades,¡± the screeching voice affirmed.

    The large Risen, Hades, lunged forward at Alex and Jade. Jade parried the first attack, and Alex successfully took off the arm Vas had failed to.

    Vas walked forward in his stance, and Hades kicked Jade in the gut. She gasped for air, and Alex was forced to commit to defense in an effort to save her.

    Hades jumped back and faced Vas. Vas swung and the monster parried, but Vas was ready for it this time. With only one arm, Hades was unable to contest the swing, and Vas took its other arm. Then its leg.

    ¡°You won¡¯t have anyone left to help you next time, Nocturnal,¡± Hades hissed.

    ¡°I won¡¯t need help.¡±

    Vas beheaded the monster.

    Vas sheathed his sword and turned to survey the scene. There were hundreds of decapitated bodies littering the snow.

    The remnants of the Scouts walked, limped, and stumbled towards him.

    Tapo was bleeding from multiple cuts but didn¡¯t seem too injured otherwise.

    Selene looked fine aside from a slash across her stomach.

    Fem¡¯s scalp was bleeding, but it looked to be only a graze.

    Joust was holding onto an arm wound.

    There were a couple Scouts whose names Vas did not know.

    Altogether, the surviving Scouts numbered nine.

    Five of those were from Vas¡¯s squad.

    Fem reached Vas¡¯s side and nodded to him. There were tears in the man¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Tare turned. I. . .  Finished him.¡±

    Vas nodded back, choking away his feelings. He had to stay strong. Crying could come later.

    ¡°VAS!¡± Alex screamed at him.

    Vas turned and saw Jade¡¯s body jerking on the ground. His mind went blank. He couldn¡¯t see or hear anything else.

    Vas ran to Jade¡¯s side. He put his hand on her scarred cheek.

    ¡°I¡¯m here. I¡¯ll be here until the end. Partners, Jade.¡±

    She didn¡¯t respond.

    He felt tears in his eyes. They stung as they rolled down his wounded face. He didn¡¯t care.

    Jade reached to the sky with a hand and her eyes went wide. Then her hand dropped back to the ground. Her eyes unfocused.

    Then she smiled.

    Partners.

    Vas stood up, drew his sword, and took off her head.

    Altogether, the surviving Scouts numbered eight.

    Four of those were from Vas¡¯s squad.

 Chapter 21: Victorious

    The victorious few were quiet as they stood around Vas. Selene stepped forward and took a deck of cards out of her pocket. She set the deck on Jade¡¯s body.

    Vas was in a daze. He¡¯d dealt with death. He¡¯d been prepared for death.

    But he hadn¡¯t expected Jade to go so soon.

    If she hadn¡¯t stepped in to fight Hades and overextended herself, would she still be alive?

    What if Vas had just stayed with the Scouts in formation?

    He stared at his sword. It was still wet with Jade¡¯s blood. What if she hadn¡¯t turned? What if she had been just fine and was smiling like that to tease him?

    Tapo stepped up to Vas.

    ¡°Clean your sword.¡±

    Vas nodded and swung the blood off his sword. He¡¯d rehearsed the motion tens of thousands of times while practicing. Next to Jade.

    Tapo turned and faced the other Scouts.

    ¡°Gather the rations. Make sure we have two tents total. Ensure you all have two water bottles each. If your weapons are chipped or broken, grab a new one. If your clothes are ripped, exchange with one of the dead.¡±

    This was the worst part of winning. Surviving afterwards.

    ¡°Vas.¡±

    Vas looked up.

    Tapo stared him in the eye.

    ¡°She died fighting.¡±

    For some reason this meant more than anything else.

    It was the way things should be.

    Jade deserved to die fighting.

    She¡¯d earned the right.

    Vas clenched his jaw and unclenched it. His vision focused and he nodded sharply.

    Tapo gave him a sad smile and walked away.

    Vas knelt to Jade¡¯s body and used her katana to cut pieces of her scarf.

    He used the bandages to dab the gashes on his face.

    Then he kissed his knuckle the way Sun and the new recruits had, the very first time they¡¯d spoken of the Scouts.

    Vas stood and examined himself. He¡¯d basically avoided wounds to his body this time. His scarf was cut in a couple of places, but not so bad that he needed a new one.

    Retracing his steps, Vas found the corpse of the Risen they had dubbed ¡®Hades¡¯. Alex and her stories. Wasn¡¯t Hades the lord of the underworld or something? Vas sighed and flipped the body over.

    He unclipped the monster¡¯s sheath and took the nodachi from its hand. After shaking the sword, he sheathed it. Then he strapped the large sword onto his back upside-down.

    Looking at him from the front, he would appear to have a sword with a hilt poking out on both his top right and bottom left.

    Vas quickly drew the nodachi in the same fashion he¡¯d seen his father draw. It felt awkward, but the different drawing angle as well as having a second sword could be extremely advantageous in a fight.

    Especially if he decided to throw his miaodao again.

    He sheathed the nodachi with less difficulty than he¡¯d expected.

    After ten minutes of gathering supplies, the Scouts reassembled.

    Tapo gave a warm smile to the group.

    ¡°We need to keep moving south.¡±

    ¡°Why are we going south?¡± Selene¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t cheerful like usual.

    Tapo gave her a blank look.

    ¡°There must be a real reason. We know we won¡¯t find survivors.¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± a short bald Scout broke in, ¡°we don¡¯t know that.¡±

    Selene kept her eyes on Tapo.

    ¡°Without the rations, we¡¯d already be long dead. Imagine life without the rations. You¡¯d have to farm your own food or something. It¡¯s been years.¡±

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    Vas had thought about the subject, but never in so much depth.

    Tapo sighed, ¡°The commander believes there is more to the Risen than we realize. Kara thought there would be survivors. The mission fit both of their desires. That is all.¡±

    Vas absently scanned the battlefield again. What could he have done differently?

    Could he have helped the surviving Scouts retreat instead of fight a battle?

    The reasons they had marched south didn¡¯t really matter to Vas.

    He wanted the reasons for the deaths.

    ¡°Time to go.¡± Tapo sounded frustrated. Selene was being obstinate.

    Vas glanced at Jade¡¯s body one last time. He saw the card deck laying on top.

    ¡°Wait, we forgot something.¡±

    Vas jogged away from the group and grabbed the deck of cards.

    Jade had told him he should to learn.

    Selene walked up to him before he reached the group. She was clearly upset.

    ¡°Those were hers,¡± Selene hissed.

    Vas held the deck out, ¡°these are ours. All of ours. We¡¯re partners, Selene. We¡¯re family.¡±

    Selene looked like she was about to cry. She turned and walked away.

    ¡°Selene.¡± The woman turned back to him, and Vas could see the inner struggle. She always acted happy, but now she couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± He¡¯d forgotten what she was dealing with. She¡¯d lost almost her entire squad. Trainees she¡¯d spent more than a year with. Selene nodded.

    ¡°Now that that¡¯s over with,¡± Fem patted Selene on the back, ¡°we need to start marching.¡±

    Vas sent the only remaining pair to walk about twenty paces in front of their group.

    Alex had complained as usual, but Joust had agreed readily.

    Tapo clapped Vas on the shoulder.

    ¡°I think we need to talk about which of us will be in charge.¡±

    Vas nodded, ¡°I believe you should be. You have seniority and experience in your favor, and you know things about the mission I do not.¡±

    Tapo snorted.

    ¡°Your squad makes up the majority of this group. Without you, us four would have died with the others.¡± Tapo leaned in conspiratorially, ¡°All I know about the mission is that the commander thought the Risen were preparing to launch a full-scale assault on the wall.¡±

    Vas raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just say that when Selene was interrogating you?¡±

    Tapo waved his hand dismissively. ¡°I didn¡¯t like her tone.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Vas affirmed with a smile, ¡°I should be the one in charge.¡±

    Tapo smiled back. Vas waited for the return joke. It didn¡¯t come. That was when Vas realized the smile was a lie. ¡°Good.¡±

    Tapo walked away to join Selene.

    Vas watched the big man who had lost his entire squad aside from Selene.

    He watched the two other Scouts they¡¯d saved. One had been from Ishone¡¯s group, the other from Serj¡¯s. They¡¯d both lost everyone.

    Fem had lost his partner. Alex and Joust had lost friends.

    Vas didn¡¯t have time to harden or get stronger.

    He couldn¡¯t close everything out like he had before.

    He had to hold them all together.

 Chapter 22: First Step

    The Scouts marched south until they reached the grocery store Vas and his Decoys had used the night before.

    When they reached the store, Vas and Fem slid down into it.

    ¡°Anybody home?¡± They had no way of knowing what sorts of things attracted the Risen. If a group had found the hundred dead bodies, would that group still be here?

    No noises came from the store, so Vas and Fem made their ways down the isles until they found a pharmacy section.

    Vas could vaguely make out what the labels said, and grabbed multiple bandage packages along with gauze.

    He loaded Fem¡¯s pack with the items and then filled his own with pills. He took as many pain killers as he could find, as well as cold medicine. He grabbed a few bandanas and tissues. Then he grabbed multiple packs of women¡¯s hygienic supplies. Finally, he went and found a large bottle of whiskey.

    Vas was sure there were a dozen other things the Scouts could use, but he¡¯d already filled up two bags and couldn¡¯t think of anything else at that moment.

    Fem and Vas took about twenty minutes inside the store.

    When they returned, the Scouts continued on their way south.

    They hiked for another few hours, well past midday. As they seemed to be reaching the end of the little town they¡¯d been walking through, Vas stopped them.

    ¡°Let¡¯s dig this house out.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± The question was asked by Joust.

    Tapo snorted and gave Joust a ¡®you are an idiot¡¯ sort of look.

    Tapo started grabbing snow where the front door of the house seemed to be and throwing it elsewhere.

    Selene and the others immediately started working at digging through the snow with whatever they had.

    Joust frowned and watched the other Scouts. Vas patted the man on the shoulder.

    ¡°Only one entrance to keep watch on tonight.¡±

    The words seemed to be enough because Joust formed an ¡®o¡¯ with his mouth and started digging with the others.

    Soon the snow was carved away from the doorway. The handle was an old door handle, one that required a key to open. It was locked.

    Alex pushed the others aside and pulled out two hairpins Vas hadn¡¯t even realized she possessed.

    They all watched in amazement as Alex took under five minutes to pick the old lock.

    The door made a final click and Alex turned to Vas. She nodded.

    ¡°Open the door. Get ready.¡± If there was a Risen inside, it should rush out to Vas. That situation would be far preferable to an encounter indoors.

    Alex pushed the door open to reveal a tall Risen. Alex squeaked and jumped backwards just as the monster jumped towards her.

    Tapo beheaded it at the same time Joust sliced into its torso from the other side.

    ¡°Anyone else,¡± Vas inquired into the dark house.

    Nothing responded, and the Scouts entered after a minute of waiting. They stuck together as a big group.

    Alex watched their backs and Fem lead their front.

    The shorter swords they both had equipped would be easy to maneuver for indoor combat.

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    They searched the entire house, which was only a couple of bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen.

    Nothing.

    No monsters, at least. The only resident had been the large Risen.

    Everyone split up and went to find blankets, towels, sleeping bags, and whatever else they could find.

    Everything seemed like it had gone unused, as though the Risen had been standing waiting at the door for years.

    Vas went to the front door and looked out.

    The sun had yet to go down, so light still peeked through certain areas around the windows and through the doorway.

    Vas turned back to the inside of the house and whistled a long, high-pitched whistle that he followed with a low-pitched whistle with roughly the same length.

    The whistle was an assembly call that the Scouts used out in the wastes, where voices often didn¡¯t carry well.

    The Scouts assembled within a few dozen seconds. ¡°Time for new pair assignments. Alex and Joust can stick together since they¡¯re the only pair left. Any preferences?¡±

    Alex raised her hand, and Vas couldn¡¯t stop himself from smiling. ¡°Yes, Alex.¡±

    ¡°Can I sleep on the couch instead of next to Joust tonight?¡±

    ¡°You can sit by the door next to Joust on watch tonight.¡±

    Alex glared at Vas and Joust grunted out a laugh. Alex turned her glare to him and he quieted, still smiling.

    One of the Scouts whose name Vas did not know raised his hand. He seemed to be Native American. Vas nodded at the man.

    ¡°Sir, may I, uh, is there any chance I could just stay solo?¡±

    Vas knew the feeling. He¡¯d avoided people like the plague for years.

    ¡°No. And just call me Vas. You are?¡±

    ¡°Zy.¡±

    ¡°Zy, team up with Fem. Selene and I will pair up. Tapo and. . .¡± Vas trailed off as he looked at the other Scout whose name he didn¡¯t know. It was a short and bald man who looked Indian. Vas absently wondered if the man was Hindu.

    ¡°Azul.¡±

    Vas nodded.

    ¡°Tapo and Azul.¡±

    Vas watched the group process their new pairings.

    ¡°Don¡¯t try to forgive. Don¡¯t try to forget.¡±

    Vas pulled out the bottle of whiskey.

    ¡°We¡¯ll each take a sip. One sip. Take the night to remember. Find a quiet space if you need one. Go to sleep if you need to. I¡¯ll take the night watch.¡±

    Vas took a sip and swallowed it down. It made him cough.

    He walked over and held the bottle out to Tapo.

    Tapo cleared his throat. Vas caught his eye and saw that the big man was about ready to cry. He glanced at the others and noticed they were too.

    Then Vas felt a tear roll down his cheek.

    Selene walked up to Vas and gave him a hug, then the others joined in a large group hug.

    They passed the whiskey around and each took a single sip.

    The next hour was spent crying, sharing, hugging. Recovering.

 Chapter 23: Of Night and Death

    Lots of talking in this chapter. Sorry if the story has been a little slow lately!

    We''re building connections, characters, and opening up some theories and ideas about the world.

    It''s setup I swear.

    <hr />

    <hr />

    Before the sun was up, Vas woke. He¡¯d fallen asleep after being relieved from his watch by Tapo. Tapo was sleeping nearby, so the large man had apparently been relieved as well.

    They¡¯d only had one person set on watch duty, since the opening of the front door would be fairly obvious to anyone in the building.

    Vas would not normally allow for such lax security measures, but the day had been particularly taxing.

    Vas¡¯s first thought was to wake Jade so they could practice. However, it was Selene sleeping next to him.

    The Scouts started moving at dawn, after a quick helping of rations. Vas had distributed feminine supplies to Alex and Selene before they left the house. He packed the whiskey bottle back into his pack.

    Today they would be marching straight south and hopefully would find another building. Tapo and Azul were the forward scouts at about 20 paces ahead of the group.

    ¡°Why do you think it stayed inside for years?¡±

    Alex was behind him, so Vas had to turn around to raise an eyebrow at her.

    ¡°I mean, the door opened to the inside. It could have dug its way out. We know they¡¯re not scared of the snow.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Selene began, ¡°It was waiting.¡± Selene walked beside Vas. She hadn¡¯t gone back to her cheerful self yet, but she finally seemed calm. The crying had helped.

    ¡°Waiting?¡± Joust seemed interested. ¡°For humans to kill? That¡¯s a lot of commitment.¡±

    ¡°There were two bedrooms. Maybe they do remember a little. Maybe it was waiting for someone to come home.¡±

    ¡°For years? Still a long time to wait to kill.¡±

    ¡°What if it wasn¡¯t planning on killing? What if it was hoping for family?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s. . . Really sad.¡± Alex took the idea hard.

    They walked in silence for a while.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s the apocalypse? Like maybe some god or another got ticked off at all of us and decided this was it?¡±

    Joust laughed, ¡°If God decided to end the world, why not just throw us into the sun?¡±

    ¡°I think,¡± Selene began, ¡°There is some kind of magic making this all happen. Not only are dead people rising, but there is no electricity or even fire.¡±

    Joust snorted and rolled his eyes.

    ¡°What,¡± Selene snapped, ¡°You have a better idea?¡±

    Joust shrugged, ¡°Has to be a scientific reason for it all.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± Fem was butting in now.

    ¡°Uh, Such as, I haven¡¯t really thought about it. Maybe it has to do with climate change?¡±

    ¡°Sounds more mystical than rooted in scientific theory,¡± Selene taunted.

    ¡°You said the dead are rising and that there is no electricity or fire like they are the same,¡± Zy entered the conversation suddenly. ¡°But I believe they are isolated events. Where the Risen are likely a global phenomenon, the EMP has been proven to disappear once one walks a certain distance to the north.¡± Zy barely stopped for breath before continuing, ¡°Therefore, we can deduce that the EMP will also lose its effects if one walks a certain distance south. If this distance is the same as the distance to the Wall, is it not possible that the same distance applies in all directions? Obviously this is speculation, but. . . What?¡±

    They were all staring at Zy.

    Vas was impressed by not only the man¡¯s well thought-out explanation, but his extensive vocabulary as well.

    ¡°Well, what about the Risen then?¡±

    ¡°God got angry at us? Airborne illness? We don¡¯t have enough information. What happens if you chain a Risen¡¯s hands and don¡¯t allow it to claw its eyes out? Will the change revert, making normal people essentially immortal like the Risen?¡±

    Vas felt bile rise in his throat as he thought about the answer.

    It was Selene who spoke, ¡°No. Their eyes melt.¡±

    Zy¡¯s brow furrowed.

    ¡°I always thought that the world ran on specific laws that could be scientifically proven,¡± Vas stated. ¡°So if you were to somehow break a law, it could cause a chain reaction. Sort of like how splitting a nuclear atom creates a chain reaction that leads to excess energy and consequently ends up being a bomb. What if somebody somewhere made a big mistake and split the wrong atom or law or something? I don¡¯t know the science behind things, but I feel like nobody really knows.¡±

    Joust clapped Vas on the back, ¡°Another member of the science team!¡±

    ¡°What he¡¯s saying is almost complete gibberish! It sounds as mystical as what I said.¡± Selene was very defensive of her magical explanation.

    ¡°There are a lot of things science can¡¯t explain yet. Real systems and laws that we don¡¯t know the explanation for are mystical and even magical. They¡¯re scientifically provable, but we don¡¯t have the means to understand them. It¡¯s all science, and it¡¯s all magic.¡±

    Joust shrugged, ¡°I guess.¡±

    Selene nodded excitedly.

    Tapo turned around to face them all and whistled. They immediately came to attention. Tapo walked to Vas and spoke quietly, ¡°Risen marching right through our path. Azul saw them in his binoculars. Don¡¯t seem to be heading this way.¡±

    Vas nodded and looked around him. The area was a fairly large clearing and seemed to be the top of a hill. There were a few trees to their left about 500 paces away. ¡°Let¡¯s head to those trees then lay low for an hour or so.¡±

    Tapo smiled. ¡°Good call.¡±

    Vas appreciated the feedback, but it wasn¡¯t like there were other options.

    A couple minutes of walking brought the Scouts to cover. They sat down as a group.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.Vas pulled bandages and gauze out of his pack.

    ¡°Pairs, change your partner¡¯s bandages.¡±

    He didn¡¯t need to explain. Everyone knew the dangers of infection.

    Selene crawled over so she was directly in front of Vas, then carefully removed the pieces of cloth he¡¯d stuffed into the cuts on his face.

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky he didn¡¯t get your eye.¡±

    Vas raised his brows.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±

    ¡°He?¡±

    ¡°Hades,¡± Selene waved aside the question.

    Had Alex already spread a story around? When? It¡¯d only been a day or two! They¡¯d all been together almost the entire time!

    That woman was a monster.

    Selene finished bandaging his face, then bandaged a few smaller cuts on his legs and arms.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It. Not he. If we start pretending they¡¯re human, we¡¯ll just be making the same old mistakes.¡±

    ¡°Vas,¡± Selene turned around and pulled her jacket and shirt off to allow Vas to bandage a cut along her back, ¡°We can¡¯t pretend they¡¯re mindless zombies either. It spoke to you. It even had a name for you! That¡¯s incredible.¡±

    ¡°It was the wanderer I killed in camp months ago. It revived.¡±

    ¡°What?! They revive!¡±

    ¡°Stay still.¡±

    Selene obviously focused on staying still because her body stopped twisting around.

    ¡°So it remembered meeting you? And you killing it? Then did it revive again? Could it be searching for us right now, knowing where it last saw us?¡±

    Vas should have thought of that. He cursed himself. They needed to make significant progress to lose Hades. Maybe change directions? No, that wouldn¡¯t really work. Hades didn¡¯t even know where they were heading in the first place.

    ¡°Still, it took him a while to find us again. Months.¡±

    ¡°He said it was by chance.¡±

    ¡°So maybe they revive in a different body randomly?¡±

    ¡°A different body?¡±

    ¡°If we killed his body where can he go? When a person dies, they turn into a newborn Risen with no memories. So can we assume that the Risen have a fixed number? It isn¡¯t like people who were already dead rose. Graveyards stayed the same. Do you see what I¡¯m saying?¡±

    Vas shook his head. Why would the Risen have a fixed number? He couldn¡¯t follow her train of thought.

    ¡°No.¡±

    Selene spun around. She sure was pretty. She held her arm out for him to bandage.

    ¡°How many people were there before the Risen?¡±

    Vas thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Ten billion? Eleven?¡±

    Selene nodded. ¡°Do babies turn into Risen if they¡¯re stillborn or die from disease?¡±

    Vas shook his head, ¡°No idea.¡±

    Selene frowned. ¡°Well, let¡¯s just assume there are eleven billion Risen. The total number of the human population at the moment the epidemic began.¡±

    Vas shrugged as he bandaged her arm carefully. She was hard to bandage when she kept jerking around in excitement. ¡°Okay.¡± At least he could follow her logic so far.

    ¡°So if there were eleven billion people, they will all turn into Risen when they die. Therefore, there are eleven billion Risen.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°So when we kill a Risen what happens? If you die, can that Risen jump into your body?¡±

    ¡°I hope not.¡±

    ¡°No! Vas! No! It can¡¯t! Because you¡¯re already a Risen. The Risen that is killed will have to go find a body that isn¡¯t already Risen. It grabs a skeleton from a graveyard or something.¡±

    Vas got it now.

    A fixed number of Risen that never dwindled.

    When he died he¡¯d be his own Risen.

    He was already a Risen.

    Even when they cut his head off, he¡¯d just revive endlessly.

    ¡°So we¡¯re all trapped in an undying state of purgatory forever after we finish our times as humans.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so grim! There¡¯s a bright side!¡±

    Vas locked eyes with her.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re free from death, Vas. What do you think happens when you die?¡±

    ¡°Maybe I go to heaven or something.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you wake up as a Risen and realize you were wrong. You realize that you¡¯re already going to live forever. You¡¯ll go find Jade and everyone we¡¯ve lost. You¡¯ll have forever to do it. You¡¯ll kill as many humans as you can so they can join you in eternal life. What if the Risen are trying to save us from real death? What if the Risen are just the product of someone finally finding the way to live forever?¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that wonderful? You¡¯ll wake up and realize life was just a bad dream.¡±

    ¡°Selene.¡± Vas grabbed Selene¡¯s arm. ¡°Stop moving.¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you excited?¡±

    ¡°Why think about death when you are still alive? If you¡¯re right, when I die I¡¯ll lose my memories and turn into a Risen. Are you suggesting we kill each other to become enlightened? What can we do with this, even if it is true?¡±

    Selene stared at him with sad eyes.

    ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to be a downer.¡±

    ¡°My parents both committed suicide. I wouldn¡¯t suggest we kill each other.¡±

    Vas almost cursed. Hadn¡¯t Jade told him that?

    Stupid! Why couldn¡¯t he have remembered!

    Selene stood up and put her shirt and jacket on. She offered Vas her hand.

    ¡°Time to go, Nocturnal.¡±

    She was smiling.

    ¡°What¡¯d she call her story?¡±

    ¡°The lord of night versus the lord of death.¡±

    Vas smiled and shook his head.

    He let her pull him up. Then he put his hand on her shoulder.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be. We should talk more.¡±

    Vas looked south. They¡¯d make it to a city within the next few weeks. What were they even going to do? Walk from building to building and search for survivors? There weren¡¯t going to be any.

    The Scouts watched him, waiting for commands.

    ¡°Let¡¯s head south carefully until we¡¯re sure they are gone.¡±

    They all nodded and picked up their packs. They looked tired already.

    ¡°Alex, I heard you have a new story.¡±

    Everyone in the group perked up slightly.

    Alex gave him a wide grin, ¡°Oh DO I!¡±

 Chapter 24: Adapt

    Vas opened his eyes to stare at a dark ceiling.

    At first, he thought he was in his room.

    It wasn¡¯t until he turned and saw Selene sleeping next to him that Vas realized where he was.

    It had been almost a month since the ambush that had killed the majority of the Scouts in expedition.

    Vas¡¯s group had made cautious, slow progress.

    At first, there were long stretches in-between old suburbs. These would often be covered in snow and the Risen inside each house would be standing by their respective front doors.

    After a couple of weeks the snow was barely even deep enough to cover half a door. Houses were getting closer together and it wasn¡¯t more than another week until the houses were replaced by modern housing complexes (which were like 7-story hotels as opposed to individual houses).

    The Scouts had dodged around Risen patrols until this point and had made fair progress each day.

    Once they reached the city, they barely moved a street a day.

    Sometimes they were forced to stay in a building for multiple days, clearing floors upon floors of Risen.

    The monsters were everywhere.

    They weren¡¯t clustered like what Vas and the Decoys had encountered out in the wastes.

    There was a Risen in every apartment.

    In every condo.

    In every house.

    Sometimes there were more than one, up to six.

    These Risen were never armed. They were always standing behind their front door, waiting.

    The doors were always ajar since the EMP had forced the safety switch and opened every door in every city (aside from those programmed without safety switches, which was an option very few people took advantage of).

    Alex and Joust had worked together and written out a proposal for a research project on the Risen, and Vas had approved it conditionally.

    If it didn¡¯t get in the way of the mission, what could it hurt?

    Also, since the mission was so ambiguous, could much of anything really be detrimental?

    Joust had started categorizing Risen and monitoring their behaviors, and had allowed Alex to name and document their findings.

    The Scouts had spent two days clearing the huge (15-story) housing complex they were currently in, and still hadn¡¯t touched the floors above the tenth.

    There had been multiple scouting attempts to nearby buildings and shopping complexes, but the Scouts always returned well before nightfall.

    They all stood together in the apartment room they had picked as their base of operations.

    Alex was presenting the findings she and Joust had during their research.

    ¡°Because of that we are categorizing Risen now. We believe the way people have studied multiple breeds of dogs, horses, and animals in general can be applied to the Risen. For example, the Risen who stay in their homes are Sleepers. Risen that travel alone will stay categorized as Wanderers. Risen that form their freakish hordes will be known as Goblins.¡±

    Joust sniffed loudly and took a step forward, frowning.

    ¡°¡ªJust kidding! We¡¯re calling them Brawlers.¡±

    ¡°Because they fight without much skill or experience, we found this description fitting.¡±

    Joust interjected, obviously trying to take control of the storytelling from here on.

    ¡°Which is why we should also make a category for the Risen who are experienced and deadly. We¡¯ll call them Lords!¡±

    Joust shook his head and rolled his eyes. ¡°That doesn¡¯t fit with the types of categories we have. That would be more like a ranking system, defining which Risen are grunts, officers, etcetera. But they aren¡¯t an organized army even when they gather, just a mindless horde. Like how a mob of people functions.¡±

    ¡°However,¡± Zy broke in, ¡°The Risen are obviously different when they are first created as opposed to those who come back in a new body. Much like we have children and adults, except the aging criteria vary.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible they get stronger the more times we kill them?¡±

    A few people shifted uncomfortably at Selene¡¯s question. If the Risen kept getting stronger. . .

    ¡°No,¡± Vas broke in, ¡°The big Risen I fought didn¡¯t really improve from the first time I fought him. He had a bigger body and a better weapon the second time, but I was tired and wounded before our fight began.¡±

    As he spoke, Vas flexed his wounded hand.

    The hole had closed up, and he could use his hand like it was new again.

    He supposed he was lucky, but one small bit of luck didn¡¯t really make him feel lucky. He¡¯d give up his entire arm if it would bring Jade back.

    Joust cleared his throat, which was effective in bringing attention back to him.

    Attention that Alex had no trouble stealing for herself. She clapped once.

    ¡°We have found no evidence that the gender or age of a person before they rise has anything to do with what kind of Risen they become.¡±

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.She said the words as if she¡¯d practiced them, and Vas took a few moments to process them internally before he started slowly nodding.

    He still didn¡¯t really get what she was saying. No evidence that the gender or age of a person will define what kind of Risen someone would be?

    ¡°You¡¯re just saying we can¡¯t tell what kind of Risen someone will become, right?¡± This was the question Vas had been forming, but it was Tapo who asked.

    ¡°Not quite,¡± Joust held up a finger, ¡°While I believe gender and age have nothing to do with it, there is a good chance something we do as humans effects our type as a Risen. For example, every Risen we saw up north was a Brawler. They instantly become hostile. There must be a reason for that. We know all Risen are hostile, but Sleepers and Wanderers are often capable of restraint where Brawlers simply rush in.¡±

    ¡°But Sleepers and Wanderers do still rush in once they notice us so the types of Risen are really all still the same thing.¡± Alex attempted to take the conversation back.

    ¡°Why does any of this matter to us?¡± Selene asked.

    The group looked at her. Vas could think of multiple reasons why studying the Risen would matter. They were reasons of emotion, logic, strategy. He decided not to say any of them.

    It was Joust and Alex¡¯s project, after all.

    ¡°Has humankind ever been the strongest or fastest creature on this planet?¡± Joust queried.

    ¡°When you think back to the beginning of our race, do you think we prospered because we were strong? I rather suspect it was because we were weak. We created tools and weapons because our hands and teeth were not enough. We created clothing and armor because our skin was not enough. We learned and adapted. We learned to make fire, captured lightning to use for our own purposes, and even defied gravity.¡±

    ¡°And?¡± Selene broke in just as eyes in the group started glazing over.

    ¡°And we did that because we kept learning things. A bear could track you by looking at your footprints, but he chooses to use his sense of smell because it is more efficient and natural. Because we know this, we know that hiding our tracks is insufficient to escape a bear. Effective methods include staying downwind, finding water, finding smelly plants or animals. The more we document and figure out about the Risen, the more complete a picture we can create. What if the Risen have an entire social structure we have no idea about? A command structure? A method of reproduction? An economy? A leader? A hive mind? Tribal structure? What if this is some sort of extra-terrestrial invasion force? For now I believe all we can do is try to document and categorize their actions so that further study can take place.¡±

    ¡°If we ever make it back north to show your findings off, do you think anyone will care?¡± Azul rarely spoke, but now he voiced the worry they all had.

    The first part, not the latter.

    They¡¯d made it south. They would keep going south.

    Would they ever return north?

    ¡°When our work gets in the right hands,¡± Alex stated confidently, ¡°It could help us beat the Risen for good.¡±

    ¡°The point of all this traveling cannot just be to scout. Discovering patterns and habits, researching, becoming acquainted with our enemy. It is these things that will turn the tide.¡± Joust crossed his arms.

    ¡°Then,¡± Selene took a step forward so that she was in the middle of the group, ¡°We should all be researching something. We should be capturing and studying the Risen we find. We should torture them, feed them, converse with them, and interrogate them.¡±

    The others nodded.

    ¡°There are more samples here than up north. I believe we should turn this building into a research complex. With the first few floors being our defensive locations, we could turn other floors into laboratories. We still have yet to clear the top floors. The Risen there could serve as our first subjects.¡± Zy rubbed his chin as he spoke, which he seemed to think would lend him an even more dignified air than his intelligence already provided.

    Vas was uncomfortable at the idea of becoming a scientist, but this seemed to be the safest path to knowledge. Controlled environments, interrogations, tests. He could see Fem nodding at him.

    These things were more likely to keep his people alive than scouting blindly through the city.

    Alive.

    They were going to survive this.

 Chapter 25: Experimental

    Author''s Note: Sorry guys.... I started "I Shall Seal The Heavens" and got addicted for a while there.

    Here''s another chapter, sorry for the wait.

    By the way, if you''re really interested in the story or something and I''m not posting every few days, send me a PM.

    I usually just end up forgetting to write it, since I have other (non-RRL) projects going on.

    <hr />

    <hr />

    Although Vas disliked the idea of forcing former people to become lab rats, the group of Scouts took to their new jobs with excitement.

    Joust and Zy became the chief researchers, and members of the group were reporting findings to them. Alex functioned as their secretary due to her quick handwriting.

    Only two days had passed, but already the research had more than twenty pages full of experiments and results. How long did it take for Sleepers to tire? How long would a Sleeper chase a person before giving up? What was the general attention span of a Sleeper? Could Sleepers stay awake for multiple days, or would they eventually need to sleep?

    Much of the research was ongoing, and the group constantly checked on the progress of such experiments.

    How could you tell if a Risen was even awake?

    Vas and Selene were currently watching Azul and Fem repeatedly stab, prod, and bruise a Sleeper chained to a wall. Azul stabbed the creature¡¯s stomach lightly with his sword.

    ¡°Can you feel this?¡± The creature nodded.

    Azul stabbed his blade into the Sleeper. Its body shuddered slightly, but it made no cry.

    ¡°You can feel this as well?¡± The monster smiled at him.

    ¡°But you don¡¯t feel pain. You don¡¯t holler. It does bleed, though. And also has a more extreme reaction to something that should cause pain than something that should cause discomfort.¡±

    The last sentences were spoken to Fem, who was taking hasty notes on a pad.

    Vas disliked the experiments, but understood their purposes. The scientists at the Wall would supposedly have done similar tests, but nothing had ever been released to the military masses. At least, so far as Vas knew.

    Vas had performed some experiments on his father when the man had turned. He knew the knowledge had come in handy, but the majority of it was pointless.

    Who cared what happened to a Risen¡¯s eyes if they weren¡¯t immediately plucked?

    Vas had not had the freedom to test Risen pain tolerance and had kept his father locked in a room until the EMP. He¡¯d tried to have conversations with it, but those usually went nowhere.

    By comparison, this Risen seemed to respond quickly and intelligently.

    Even without words.

    Vas absently wondered what kind of Risen his father had been. Or rather, currently was.

    Even though Vas had killed that body, the consciousness had likely transferred to another.

    ¡°Do you suppose that the resurrection of Risen into new bodies validates the idea of a soul? The body is gone, but memories and habits remain in a completely new body.¡±

    Vas blinked.

    He was starting to sound like Zy.

    As if on cue, Zy walked into the room. The spindly Native American man knocked on the door frame to indicate his presence for those not already aware.

    Vas absently wondered whether Zy would ever be a threat. If this were a fiction or some story, the mad scientist would turn on his companions and try to rule the world or something, right?

    ¡°The idea of a soul is generally something you find in religion as a way of explaining how humans can live forever. I¡¯d say the Risen resurrection means something like ¡®there is a dimension we cannot access, where memories and thoughts exist independent of the electrical signals that call them out¡¯ or something. Imagine this universe made out of thoughts and ideas. We cannot perceive such a realm, but our brains automatically fetch information from it. However, since Risen have no memories of being human, perhaps we really do die when our brains stop functioning. Perhaps we go over to that realm of thought. Or another. Or none. Who knows?¡±

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Vas suddenly got the feeling that Zy¡¯s frame of mind was far out of reach. A realm of thought? He tried to wrap his brain around the idea, but couldn¡¯t think of a good enough picture. Perhaps if he had time to sit and think about things without worry.

    But he didn¡¯t.

    At least, he didn¡¯t think he did.

    Vas had been wrong, and there had been a lot of time to sit and think.

    The experiments made regular progress during the first week, but once the Scouts put their minds to the task many of them came up with innovative tests and interesting results.

    For instance, there was the fact that the Risen could not die from blood loss. They simply lost consciousness for a time. Risen did not sleep and had no need to. Loss of oxygen had the same results as loss of blood.

    It had been nearly twelve days before Vas was approached by the Zy and Tapo. Tapo proposed that they take a few people out to hunt for a couple of Risen to serve as samples.

    ¡°What do you need new Risen for? Can¡¯t you use the ones we already have?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Tapo said without giving further explanation.

    Zy watched the big man for a few moments then shrugged. ¡°For one, they are already being used in experiments. Second, we believe killing Risen who we have been experimenting on might give away our position.¡±

    Apparently, Tapo and Joust were both extremely interested in dissecting Risen corpses.

    Vas gathered Fem, Alex and Selene. The four of them were the only people not currently busy with experiments.

    He explained their mission, which interested all of them.

    ¡°Does it matter what kind of Risen we find?¡± Selene wondered aloud.

    ¡°The experiments Joust and I did suggested there might be physical differences between types of Risen,¡± Alex piped in, ¡°But I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to safely find anything other than Sleepers.¡±

    Fem coughed a few times before attempting to contribute his own opinion. He gave up after a few tries. He¡¯d been sick for multiple days, but seemed to have recovered. Aside from the cough.

    They were still inside their headquarters, so Vas didn¡¯t mind.

    ¡°If you cough like that on the streets, Alex will probably slit your throat.¡±

    Alex gasped and looked offended, ¡°I would never waste such a valuable sample like that! If was going to kill him I¡¯d do it in here.¡±

    The two girls and Vas laughed. Fem snorted between coughs. Finally, he seemed to be finished. He nodded to Vas as they walked down the stairs, ¡°Sorry,¡± he got out in a scratchy voice.

    Vas gave him a wide smile and tried to think of something funny to say. He took too long and eventually surrendered to a simple, ¡°No worries.¡±

    Vas had plotted out their course: they would go to the housing complex across the road, using dozens of broken down cars as cover. They would go the sixth floor (they¡¯d cleared the first five already), kill two Sleepers, and pull them all the way back. There was a lot of dragging, carrying and walking involved, but it seemed to be safer than the other nearby locations.

    Less room for error was always a good thing.

 Chapter 26: Smiles in the Dark

    Vas, Fem, Alex and Selene stood on the first floor near the front of their housing complex, looking outside through large glass doors.

    The scenery outside was brightly lit. Cars were scattered around the road. Many had crashed into each other or into nearby walls when the EMP hit.

    There was around a foot of snow, which covered the cars up to nearly the tops of their tires.

    No Risen were obviously present. In fact, very few Risen roamed the street in front of the Scouts¡¯ headquarters. Vas had taken the past few days to watch the street from the third floor, where he¡¯d had a good vantage.

    He¡¯d seen many Risen walk up and down side streets, but none had walked down the street directly in front of the Scouts¡¯ housing complex.

    Fem sniffed a few times, then let out a loud sneeze. Vas wrinkled his nose. He was fairly certain there had been a payload of nasty included with the sneeze.

    ¡°Need something to wipe that with?¡±

    Alex asked the question sweetly. Too sweetly.

    Fem nodded while holding his sleeve to his nose. As he looked at Alex the relief on his face turned to a glare.

    Alex was holding a knife out to him.

    Selene giggled, and Vas pretended not to notice by looking outside with excessive attentiveness.

    Just as Fem seemed about ready to snap, Alex pulled her knife back.

    ¡°Just kidding, sheesh.¡±

    She held out a facial tissue.

    Fem looked confused for a moment and snatched the tissue from Alex¡¯s hands. He examined it before using it.

    Vas looked back at the scene.

    ¡°Do you just keep tissues in your sleeves for situations like this?¡±

    ¡°Yep! I hold tissues to my wrists with extra headbands.¡±

    Vas stared at Alex for a few moments without letting his expression change. Truthfully, he was dumbfounded. He hadn¡¯t even realized she had extra headbands.

    Alex grinned at him, and eventually Vas just shook his head and turned back to the doors.

    ¡°What! It¡¯s normal! Right Selene? You have extra headbands too?¡±

    Selene obviously nodded, because Alex continued, ¡°I think it¡¯s weird how unprepared you two are!¡±

    Fem grunted.

    Vas was about to say something when the world went black.

    A buzzing noise filled his ears.

    He could still feel his body, although the loss of vision and hearing made him imbalanced. He put out an arm and steadied himself on a nearby wall.

    Vas hadn¡¯t had one of these flashes in months. The last time was in the forest with Alex, Jade, and¡ªVas lost control of his body momentarily and regained it just in time to feel the pain of slamming against the ground.

    Suddenly, the pain was gone.

    He was still conscious, obviously, which left him feeling odd about the lack of pain.

    He could vaguely hear his friends¡¯ worried voices in the background, but they were drowned out by the buzz.

    He still couldn¡¯t see anything. He could feel Selene touching his arms and Alex rubbing his back.

    For a moment, he thought he saw a figure in the blackness.

    It disappeared.

    It was obviously just his brain playing tricks on him. Making shapes where there were none, like children do with clouds. Vas was still physically in the same building. There couldn¡¯t be anything inside his mind except for him. Right?

    Then it was there again. It was smiling, holding out a hand to him.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.Vas stared at it, examining it.

    It was familiar like an old friend who he should recognize, yet didn¡¯t.

    He felt like should smile back. Grab the hand.

    Where was he? He couldn¡¯t feel his body anymore. It felt like he was actually standing in the endless blackness opposite of the figure.

    This was obviously more real than Vas had first assumed.

    Was this what happened at the end? Was the friendly figure his Risen counterpart? When people turned, they would smile. Were they smiling at this familiar figure?

    It just stood there, waiting.

    The smile didn¡¯t hold the eeriness that Risen smiles normally did. Vas felt guilty for not recognizing whoever it was.

    The figure held its pose as Vas looked around in the blackness.

    Vas was trapped in his own mind, wasn¡¯t he?

    It was one of those, ¡°locked in your head while the demon does whatever it wants with your body¡± sorts of things, wasn¡¯t it?

    Vas felt the figure laugh. It didn¡¯t move, and nothing in its expression or demeanor changed.

    The laughter simply appeared in his mind, obviously of foreign origin. It wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d imagined telepathy would be. He¡¯d always imagined telepathy would be like a normal conversation. Like a phone call inside your head.

    It wasn¡¯t like that.

    It was like how a person can tell another person is bored or tired through body language. No words, not even any real effort. A person can just understand body language.

    Vas supposed this meant the figure could read his mind or something. Although he also supposed this dark realm was his mind. Was he currently standing and thinking inside his own mind?

    He knew he should be more worried. What was happening outside, in the real world? However, this figure put him at ease. Everything was fine. Besides, if he was already dead there wasn¡¯t much he could do.

    Vas wondered what he should do. Maybe the figure would let him out? He tried speaking, and found he had no voice. He tried thinking at the figure, but it seemed to have no effect.

    The figure just stood there smiling, with its arm outstretched.

    Maybe if he attacked it something would happen? Maybe if he attacked himself? Vas tapped his cheek. He took a breath, slapped himself, and immediately regretted his decision. After a few more moments, just when Vas was going to try attacking the figure, he distantly heard a person sobbing.

    Suddenly, he could feel himself breathing. In the real world. He could feel a dull throbbing in all the spots where his real body was sore. The world of darkness was fading away.

    The figure put its arm at its side, but kept smiling.

    They both knew they would see each other again.

    Vas smiled back at it as everything returned. Darkness gave way to light, which blinded him at first. Hearing came back as a deafening roar. Vas could hear the sobbing distinctly now. The buzzing sound was gone, too.

    Oddly, his cheek still stung where he¡¯d slapped himself.

    ¡°Did I slap myself?¡±

    He heard three simultaneous gasps, felt a hand on his cheek, and regained his vision just in time to see an Alex with tears streaming down her cheeks jumping at him. She hugged him tightly and let out another sob or two.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Selene¡¯s face was red as well, though not noticeably marked by tears. She clicked her sword into her sheath. Vas heard Fem¡¯s blade slide back into his sheath as well.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll keep my eyes a little longer, if that¡¯s what you mean.¡±

 Chapter 27: Homeward Bound

    When the two girls gave Vas enough room to sit up on his own, he glanced towards the doors. Hours had passed.

    Vas still felt lightheaded, like the world itself was shaking ever so slightly.

    ¡°I think,¡± came Fem¡¯s voice, ¡°We should probably stay here a few more days.¡±

    The two girls nodded.

    ¡°At least until I stop coughing. And I think you could use some rest, Vas. Real rest.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t need more Risen to test yet anyways,¡± Selene said soothingly.

    Fem and Alex both nodded in agreement.

    Were they expecting Vas to argue?

    He felt like it¡¯d be a monumental task to stand up, not to mention executing a mission that could potentially get them all killed.

    Vas opened his mouth to agree with them, and at that moment the shaking world stopped its trembling.

    Selene looked around. ¡°Was that an earthquake?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t notice things were shaking until it went so still.¡± Alex didn¡¯t normally get nervous, but she was obviously on the verge of panic after the day¡¯s events.

    Only, something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The stillness was unnatural.

    Had it been an earthquake? It had felt more like a constant thrumming. Vas had thought he was the only one who could feel it.

    ¡°You all felt it?¡± He asked the question just to confirm. ¡°I thought it was just me. It felt like my heartbeat.¡± Alex shook her head and put her hands on her face.

    ¡°Like a heartbeat.¡±

    It sounded familiar. It felt familiar. There¡¯d been similar tremors before the lights went out years ago. Tremors like a heartbeat. Vas had been distracted with his Risen father at the time.

    Experts had been speculating that the tremors meant volcanic activity, but had been unable to find an actual source.

    Then everything had gone dark.

    But not dark from ash, simply dark from lack of electricity. Lack of fire.

    If the tremors were back, if they¡¯d been happening for years, what did it mean? They didn¡¯t feel like normal quakes.

    Suddenly, Vas stood up. Without the world shaking, he realized he¡¯d been imagining his weakness.

    As Vas stood, so did the hairs along the back of his neck. He looked out the door from a distance, at a building on the far corner. Hundreds of paces away from their location, due to the wide streets.

    He watched it like it might move.

    And just as he started to think he might be crazy, it did.

    The entire building seemed like it lurched as a shimmering cloud spread out from it.

    They had seconds.

    ¡°Cover your ears and run towards the stairs!¡± Vas pulled Alex and Selene with him. Fem reacted quickly, and they all obeyed without question.

    If it was a volcano, Vas had thought there might be a shockwa¡ª

    BOOM!

    Thunderous, beyond any sound Vas had ever heard. Like a gunshot except louder. Bigger in a way that Vas couldn¡¯t even fully perceive. It passed through Vas in an instant and made him feel like jelly. He and his friends fell to the floor.

    Vas looked back just in time to see millions of shards of glass rushing towards them, and he pushed Fem and the others into a crevice next to the stairs before rolling after them. His ears rang even though he¡¯d covered them. With shock he realized he could feel blood trickling down his cheeks, from his ears.

    Through the piercing ring, Vas heard a similarly sharp sound as countless shards of glass crashed into a wall and shattered.

    Vas tried to ask if everyone was alright and even felt the vibration in his throat as he spoke. However, he couldn¡¯t hear anything aside from the ringing.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.Alex was crying again and so was Selene. Fem¡¯s face looked like he couldn¡¯t take much more either. Vas could feel tears on his own face. They rolled down until they mixed with the trail of blood running from his ears.

    Vas tried to grab his friends, and then realized he was already holding onto Fem and Selene.

    The three of them were looking at him.

    Vas came back to his senses at that moment. There were more of them. They needed to group up.

    He tried to say ¡°upstairs¡± then gave up when they just looked at him blankly.

    He said it again, this time letting go of Fem to point up the stairs.

    This time Alex slowly nodded, and the other two didn¡¯t take much longer to understand.

    Vas attempted to stand and fell over after a few moments. It was remarkably hard to stay balanced without his hearing.

    The whole near-death experience thing probably played into the difficulty as well.

    Vas stayed up on his fourth attempt, and was the last of the group to accomplish the deed.

    The small group crunched a few steps of shattered glass before they started up the stairs. The glass was shattered so finely that it almost seemed like it was snow on the ground.

    After around ten minutes of slow progress, Vas and the others made it to the first research floor.

    Tapo, Zy, Azul and Joust were sitting in the stairwell, surrounded by dozens of Risen corpses. Blood was everywhere.

    There were bandages over chest wounds, arm wounds, leg wounds. Zy had a bandage over his head, which covered one of his eyes.

    The group sat back-to-back with each other, as if watching for Risen.

    Three of them greeted Vas, the girls and Fem with hugs. Joust kept his back to them, watching the open door in front of him. Vas clapped Joust¡¯s shoulder and the man nodded without turning away from his station.

    Vas examined the scene. How had so many Risen escaped from their bonds? This looked to be all of them. Sleepers were less aggressive than the other Risen.

    Vas cleared his throat loudly, hoping some of his hearing would be back. It wasn¡¯t.

    Tapo tapped Vas on the shoulder and handed him a piece of paper with words written on it.

    It read:

    ¡°They all started screaming at once.

    They chewed off their limbs to get free and attacked us.

    We would have been fine, but that was when the giant boom hit.

    They weren¡¯t even affected by the boom, but shattered glass slowed down a few of them. Until they used glass shards as weapons.

    Zy lost an eye from the glass.

    Whatever that boom was, it woke up the sleepers.¡±

    Vas looked up blankly and handed the paper to Alex, who was leaning over it like she wanted a turn.

    The boom, Vas thought, was a volcanic eruption. If it woke up these sleepers¡­

    Vas rushed into the hallway in front of Joust. He turned into the first room on his right, stepping over corpses and narrowly avoiding a fall.

    He finally reached his objective: the large hole in the wall that had once been a window. Vas leaned out of the opening, careful not to but his hands on jagged edges.

    He looked out and saw the sun setting in front of him. West.

    He looked down and saw thousands upon thousands of Risen in the streets. There were so many that Vas couldn¡¯t even see the ground in many areas.

    They were all walking to the direction at his right. To the north.

 Chapter 28: The Deck

    Vas watched for a minute with horror as the line of Risen seemed to extend and grow endlessly.

    The others followed him one by one into the room and looked out the gaping hole in the wall¡ªwhich was once a window, of course¡ªand they caught Vas¡¯s mood after moments of the sight.

    Vas sat on the ground next to the former window after a few more minutes. How would they leave? Could they outrun the Risen and warn the people at The Wall?

    The Risen they¡¯d been experimenting on had been killed, and should be reviving soon if they hadn¡¯t already.

    If they were nearby, they could relay the Scouts¡¯ location and have thousands of Risen attacking the research facility within minutes.

    If he considered that the Risen would be a constant flow of bodies and they were all headed in the same direction, there would be a break in the traffic.

    Much like automobile traffic on main streets with stoplights, there would be gaps between the huge groups of Risen. If they could match the pace of the Risen and find what path the monsters were taking, they could fit into one of the gaps until they found the opportunity to pass them up.

    Vas nodded to himself.

    They could outpace the larger groups of Risen over the next few months. If the Risen all followed the same path it would even be possible to set traps, avoid movements.

    Alex was the only Scout still standing; the others had all followed Vas¡¯s cue. The Hispanic girl¡¯s tear-streaked-but-still-pretty face was becoming grimmer by the moment.

    Vas clapped his hands together hard. Alex¡¯s attention along with a few others snapped to him.

    Vas made a small grimace. He hadn¡¯t heard anything when he clapped, but many of the others were recovering already. He sighed.

    ¡°Who can hear,¡± he tried to ask. He wasn¡¯t sure if the words actually even came out of his mouth, but he could feel vibrations in his throat. Would he go deaf?

    Vas saw Alex say something. She raised her left hand and all of the others did the same, except for Vas.

    So she¡¯d told them to raise their hands if they could hear?

    Vas could feel himself starting to panic. He couldn¡¯t even hear the ringing in his ears anymore.

    Tears slid down his cheek. He closed his eyes, and the world seemed to disappear. No sight, no sounds. Nothing.

    He opened his eyes after only a moment and sucked in a breath.

    Everyone was staring at him with what looked like pity and horror. At least that was what it seemed like.

    Vas clenched his jaw. ¡°Time to go,¡± he said.

    Alex blinked and Vas watched her mouth and expression carefully. It seemed like she¡¯d asked about how they¡¯d leave with so many Risen outside. Something to that effect. He kept a steady gaze on her.

    ¡°The Risen are all walking in one direction: North. They¡¯re all walking at once. If we find a gap, we can follow their tracks until we can branch off and pass them. Need to warn people at The Wall.¡±

    Alex shook her head and looked at the others. Vas switched his focus to Tapo, figuring the Islander would be the next one to talk.

    Vas was wrong, and he saw from the corner of his vision that Fem¡¯s mouth moved. Just as he turned to look at fem, Azul¡¯s and Zy¡¯s mouths moved.

    As Vas looked at Zy the man finished his contribution and Tapo¡¯s mouth moved.

    Tapo was focusing on Alex, likely either supporting or disagreeing with Vas¡¯s words.

    Vas stood up and cracked his neck. His balance was getting better and he didn¡¯t even sway.

    Vas looked out the window. The Risen would probably clog the streets for a few more hours.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.He examined the way the monsters flowed. Just like people. It was like watching a busy street where everyone went one way.

    Something caught his eye to the South, and he glanced out to his left at it. It was a large black cloud, spreading out like a mushroom.

    Vas said an expletive. He couldn¡¯t even remember which one.

    The boom had been an eruption.

    Alex joined him at the window and Vas moved away to make room for the rest of the curious bunch.

    The Scouts spoke for a few minutes, and Vas practiced pacing without being able to hear.

    He figured the most difficult part of not being able to hear was tied between physical balancing and the inability to communicate effectively.

    Vas closed his eyes, letting the nothingness of silence and darkness swallow him.

    He could still feel, he realized. His feet ached. His hands clenched. His ears itched.

    His body swayed like a tree, and he wondered if he¡¯d find himself on the ground the moment he lost focus.

    In fact, he was almost able to more acutely feel everything. It seemed like his nerves were working on overdrive to make up for sudden loss of hearing. He could smell the stink of blood through the thick scent of his own sweat.

    His eyes snapped open, and he even felt like he could see better than before.

    A small chill ran along his back, and Vas could feel the absence of a breeze behind him. He turned around just in time to inadvertently deflect Selene¡¯s hand reaching for his shoulder.

    He looked her in the eyes, and she opened her mouth. She said one word with an inquisitive look on her face. ¡°Vas?¡± He could imagine her voice asking.

    Vas wondered what undertones would be in the question. Would she sound worried, frustrated, unsure?

    Then again, he didn¡¯t really need to wonder. Her expressions gave away her unease. She wasn¡¯t frightened, but she certainly wasn¡¯t comfortable dealing with Vas¡¯s sudden handicap.

    ¡°If you¡¯re finished with your discussion,¡± Vas said, ¡°Let¡¯s get ready to go.¡±

    Selene met his eyes and her shoulders straightened a little. She nodded.

    Over Selene¡¯s shoulder, Vas caught sight of the rest of the Scouts bursting into motion. Packing, cleaning, opening bags and choosing which items to keep and which to leave.

    Vas took the time to rifle through his pockets and see what he had. Bandages, thread, a needle, gloves. A beanie, his water container. A deck of cards.

    When he pulled out the bloodstained box which held the cards, Vas smiled.

    ¡°Selene!¡± He shouted because he wasn¡¯t sure how far away Selene would be, but when he looked up and saw worry of the faces of his companions he realized the shout was excessive.

    Selene walked up to him, and Vas held the deck of cards up. ¡°Write down a meaning for each of these cards. Useful things. Easy way to communicate.¡±

    It was hard to talk in good, complete sentences when he couldn¡¯t hear himself.

    Alex showed up from out of nowhere, as she often had even when Vas could hear perfectly. She had a hungry look in her eyes. She said something, and Vas gave her a questioning look.

    Alex held up a Joker and mouthed the word, ¡°Attack.¡±

    Vas smiled and rolled his eyes. Alex watched him.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Vas said, ¡°It means attack, but we won¡¯t be attacking much of anything on the way home.¡±

    He hoped.

 Chapter 29: Ashes

    Hey guys, sorry about long times in-between publishing! I''m writing a script at the moment so a lot of my time is going into that! Hope you enjoy the little snippet that is Chapter 29.

    <hr />

    <hr />

    It was later in the day when the group of Scouts finally made it downstairs, fully packed and equipped for a long trip. If the Scouts stayed where they were, the Risen they¡¯d just killed would likely be back for revenge.

    Besides, Vas believed they needed to go back to the Wall. They needed to warn the army so that preparations could be made. Vas believed his small group could perhaps outpace the Risen by a day or two. A day or two to prepare.

    The group of Scouts crouched inside their building, watching thousands of Risen from a corner. They needed to be ready to go when there was a gap.

    After a few minutes of watching the Risen, Vas turned back to his companions, wondering why they were so quiet. Then realized they were all talking to each other. He caught Selene¡¯s eye and smiled. She raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Should we attack?¡± He tried to make the question sound innocent. Then he smiled at them. Apparently his pass at humor was successful, as smiles covered the faces of all the Scouts.

    Alex said something that was probably a response to Vas, but her lips moved too fast to read. Everyone laughed, and Vas thought he could almost make out the murmur of laugher. Maybe he was just making it up.

    A hand touched his shoulder and made him flinch. It was Tapo. The big man pointed to the entrance of the building. It was clear.

    Vas nodded and stood. So did the others. They strode to the entrance and walked through what had once been windows. No Risen in sight. ¡°North,¡± Vas said, mostly to himself. He saw Fem nod and realized everyone had heard him. He¡¯d need to be careful not to be too loud when speaking in the future.

    Vas¡¯s small group stepped through the cluttered streets. It was easy to follow the tracks of tens of thousands of footsteps in the snow. After a few more minutes of walking, the light from the sun darkened considerably, like a cloud had covered it entirely. Vas found this strange as he hadn¡¯t noticed any clouds in the sky. Glancing up, Vas could barely even see a small portion of the sky. He shook his head.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.Something was wrong.

    More than an earth-shattering boom and hordes of Risen charging to the Wall. He just couldn¡¯t settle on what it was.

    Vas felt a flick at his shoulder and glanced at the disturbance. Alex held out the deck of cards and mouthed something akin to, ¡°We should make meanings for the rest of these.¡± Vas wondered if she was actually saying those words or if she was just mouthing them at him.

    ¡°Later, when we aren¡¯t in danger of dying if we mess up.¡± Alex raised her eyebrows at him, ¡°we¡¯re always in danger of dying,¡± she mouthed.

    One of the most interesting parts of being temporarily deaf¡ªat least, Vas hoped it would be temporary¡ªwas that he had to focus on facial expressions and body language to decipher the meanings and complexities of whatever people were saying. Alex would draw herself up before telling a good joke or a story. Tapo sighed and rubbed his eyes constantly when he didn¡¯t have enough to do. Fem avoided meeting people¡¯s eyes whenever he could.

    The sky was getting very dark after a few more hours of walking. Vas had hoped they could escape the city before stopping for the night but there was no choice now. Nighttime was just too dangerous in close quarters like this. ¡°We need a house to stay in,¡± he said. Alex sprang into action, finding the two of hearts after a few moments and holding it up for Vas. ¡°I¡¯m who said it.¡± Alex huffed and drew up before her retort, ¡°And can you hear yourself?¡± Vas just shook his head and laughed quietly.

    The Scouts made their way into one of the many tall housing complexes and up the stairs. There were never houses on first floors, which always functioned as a giant lobby.

    On the second floor all of the doors were wide open. This was disconcerting because if there were any Risen left behind they would likely attack as soon as they saw the Scouts.

    Fortunately, when Tapo chose the first house on the right, it was as empty as they all hoped.

    Vas set his bedroll down in the furthest room from the entry, where a giant hole in the wall was. There used to be a window, now there was just glass on the floor. Vas laid down, looked out the window and saw an endless dark cloud in the sky.

    Ash.

 Chapter 30: Be Careful What You Wish For

    I''ll try and get a couple more out in the next day or so.

    <hr />

    <hr />

    Vas walked down the street and glanced from side to side. The ash was now a light coat of grey, which covered the pure white of snow. Vas and his companions were all forced to wear their hoods up with scarves over their mouths, to help filter out the ash.

    They¡¯d kept pace for two days now, and by Vas¡¯s estimation they would soon be out of the city.

    Selene gripped Vas¡¯s arm and stood slightly behind him. They¡¯d decided this would be the quickest way to get Vas¡¯s attention in case there was an emergency: attach him with a person who could hear.

    In addition, Selene was Vas¡¯s partner, so they should be paired together anyhow.

    Vas hadn¡¯t given the pairing system much though since losing Jade. It hadn¡¯t been necessary in most cases since the weather had warmed and the Scouts had stuck together the majority of the time.

    However, the Scouts would need all the warmth they could get. There would need to be a pair to watch over their sleeping companions. Pairs were once again necessary.

    Vas could feel a dull throbbing in his head, and the high-pitched sound had returned in bouts over the past day. At first it would only stay for a minute or two, but now it had plagued Vas for over three hours.

    Vas sometimes thought he could hear the whistle air made as it passed through his nose, then he would take a deeper breath and hear nothing.

    Vas flexed his left hand and glanced at it. It had fully healed over the past weeks, and he could hold his sword properly again.

    He almost hoped they could stumble onto a group of Risen. He hadn¡¯t had a good fight in a while. The Scouts hadn¡¯t even sparred for the weeks they¡¯d been researching. Capturing and subduing unarmed unprepared Sleepers had been largely uneventful.

    Vas sighed. He heard a popping sound near his jaw, and suddenly a rush of sound burst into his perception. His breathing, Selene¡¯s breathing, their footsteps, the sound of a creaking door, the deep whistle of the wind running through empty buildings.

    It hurt, and Vas clenched his jaw as he covered his ears. ¡°What is it?¡± Vas heard the first words he¡¯d heard in days. Even muffled because of his hands covering his ears, the voice was beyond welcome. Selene squeezed his arm after a moment, when she remembered that Vas was deaf.

    Vas could feel tears gathering in his eyes and took a deep breath to steady himself. He could hear himself breathing. Vas¡¯s body trembled with uncontrollable excitement. ¡°I can hear again,¡± he got out before choking.

    Sounds were painful, but not as painful as the silence. Not in the same way.

    Selene hugged him. ¡°Why are they hugging?¡± Alex and the rest of the Scouts had been a few dozen paces behind Vas and Selene¡¯s spotting party but had caught up quickly.

    Vas laughed. Alex¡¯s voice hadn¡¯t changed one bit. It was just like he¡¯d been remembering for the past few days.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.Tapo reached them first and patted Vas¡¯s back. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him,¡± Tapo asked. Selene shook her head and laughed. ¡°He can hear again.¡±

    Tapo gave his first genuine smile in weeks, and hugged them both. ¡°WHAT HAPPENED?!¡± Alex practically shouted, unable to contain her curiosity. Her steps were a little slower than Tapo¡¯s long strides. ¡°Shhh,¡± Joust cautioned, ¡°The Risen might not have great hearing, but that won¡¯t stop them from listening in on your shouting!¡±

    ¡°He can hear!¡± Tapo apparently didn¡¯t care about Joust¡¯s cautioning.

    Alex gasped and Joust¡¯s eyes widened. Alex joined the hug, followed shortly by Joust. Azul also hopped in on the hugging.

    Zy stood a few paces away, watching them. Fem clapped the man¡¯s shoulder and pulled him to the group, ¡°Hasn¡¯t been news this good for a long time.¡±

    Zy snorted and joined in on the hug. ¡°It was about time.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Azul said, ¡°We were getting tired of Alex¡¯s stories.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°We love your stories, Alex.¡±

    Vas just smiled and closed his eyes, listening.

    For the next three hours, the group marched together. The buildings grew further apart as they were reaching the furthest reaches of the city.

    Protocol and strategic sense would normally push Vas to demand a small advance group.

    However, none of the Scouts seemed willing to break away from the jolly squad.

    They were at the last intersection. The northern end of the city.

    In fact, Vas didn¡¯t notice until it was almost too late.

    Vas¡¯s arm jerked straight into the air, signaling everyone to stop.

    The Scouts were instantly alert.

    The ground in front of them was covered in lumpy ash and snow.

    Something seemed wrong. The ground was uncommonly lumpy.

    Almost as if there were a thousand bodies lying just under a thin layer of ash and snow.

    Ten thousand. A hundred.

    Trap.

    Vas scanned the nearby buildings briefly and pointed to the closest one on the right.

    The Scouts stalked to the building.

    Just as Vas was about to enter it, there was a deep cold laugher. Cold like snow, screeching like the wind. It rasped like the unsheathing of a great blade.

    Vas knew the laugh. He stopped and turned to the intersection. In the middle stood a seven-foot-tall skeletal being partially covered by a dark tattered cloak, holding a scythe.

    To Vas¡¯s side, Alex held up the Joker card.

    ¡°Nocturnal.¡± The creature hissed as it smiled. The lumps of ash stood, revealing thousands of Risen.

 Chapter 31: Opportunity

    ¡°Hades,¡± Vas returned. His head was spinning.

    How? Had the thing been tracking him?

    Was it really death incarnate?

    It looked just like the¡ª¡°Freak looks just like the grim reaper.¡±

    Vas almost laughed despite the situation.

    In fact, he wanted to laugh.

    They¡¯d come this far.

    To die.

    Was that all life was?

    Would there ever be any point at which a person decided death was the right ending?

    The finality of it hit Vas suddenly, in a way it never had before.

    Death was coming.

    What came after it?

    Would Vas turn on his friends? Would he rip out his eyes and march north?

    ¡°Shall we play a game?¡± The screeching voice seemed to hold sway over the Risen in a way that nothing ever had. They simply stood, watching without sight. Could Hades control them now? Had he been able to before now? Was he growing stronger each time he died? Were they all?

    So many questions.

    A game?

    ¡°What kind of game,¡± Vas inquired. Maybe if he stalled long enough, the others¡­

    No, the other Scouts weren¡¯t moving. They would fight to the death with him.

    Selene gripped Vas¡¯s shoulder.

    It steadied him.

    ¡°The kind you can win.¡±

    Vas eyed the monster, taking it seriously for the first time.

    ¡°I can¡¯t think of many situations where I come out on top here.¡±

    ¡°Fight me.¡± The skeletal giant smiled at him. Even with Vas¡¯s above-average height and from a distance, it was a head taller.

    Vas raised his eyebrows.

    ¡°I can¡¯t even reach you.¡±

    Hades cocked his head.

    ¡°I¡¯m not far.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you¡¯ve forgotten mortal life. There are a few more¡­ Constraints. ¡±

    The deep screeching laugher resonated around the square again.

    The legion of Risen stepped to the side, making a wide path leading from Vas to Hades. The skeletal being stepped forward.

    ¡°Vas¡ª¡±

    ¡°Shh.¡± Vas had a plan now.

    Fight the colossal skeletal grim reaper that ruled a legion of undead monsters, win, and run away to the north. Survive weeks in freezing ash-covered lands while avoiding groups of Risen. Warn the people at the Wall.

    It would totally work.

    Vas shook his head.

    ¡°If I win¡ª¡±

    ¡°You are not in the place to negotiate. Step forward and fight. Alone.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s not alone.¡±

    The Scouts stood with weapons brandished, ready for the fight.

    ¡°Then neither am I.¡±

    Vas took a step forward.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to cut your head off again.¡±

    ¡°We shall see.¡±

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Hades stepped forward.

    Vas glanced back and nodded to his Scouts.

    He had to look confident. He hoped he succeeded.

    Either way, they stood still, watching.

    It was a duel. Vas was good at duels.

    He could handle this thing.

    Maybe.

    Hades smiled.

    Looking at the demonic sight, Vas couldn¡¯t help but feel an overwhelming fear.

    Every piece of him told him to run away. Hades was bigger, stronger, and probably smarter than Vas was.

    Vas smiled back anyways. He took another two steps forward and clicked his sheathe open. There would be no running. Away.

    Vas broke into a sprint.

    The scythe was a longer weapon, granting Hades the opening opportunity to attack. The monster swung its weapon point down as though it were an axe.

    Vas dodged to the side, but Hades twisted the scythe with inhuman speed. Vas barely used the side of his miaodao to redirect the blade in time.

    Hades sensed Vas¡¯s loss of balance and took the moment to bring the weapon back, around his body, and into a sideways slash.

    Vas dodged backwards this time, narrowly avoiding the blow.

    Now that Hades was the one without good balance, Vas attempted to push himself forward and attack.

    However, the ash on the ground was loose. Vas¡¯s attempt to push against it failed, and he ended up almost falling completely onto the ground. At the last second, his foot gained enough traction to push off. Vas was now too late to make a clean attack, but he knew he might be able to pull off a contested slash.

    Vas swung his blade up from the left, but Hades stepped into the blow instead of away from it. The monster used its scythe blade to redirect Vas¡¯s blade to the side, and rammed its shoulder into Vas¡¯s chest. A few popping sounds marked the collision.

    The attack sent Vas a few paces backwards and knocked him to the ground. Vas lay stunned for a moment, fighting off unconsciousness. He rolled to the side after a second of laying on the ground and barely avoided the scythe¡¯s point becoming imbedded in his skull.

    Vas jumped to his feet and parried another slash.

    Hades lunged forward, and Vas saw his opportunity.

    Vas stepped into the attack and avoided the scythe, which opened up a clean strike to the monster¡¯s core.

    ¡°Got you.¡±

    Vas swung his blade clean through the monster¡¯s ribcage, which was only partially covered by flesh. He only cut about half of it, and Hades was still able to stand.

    ¡°I got you.¡±

    Vas realized he¡¯d made a mistake as he felt a pressure against his back. Hades had lured him in, let him dodge the scythe, and planned to slice through Vas¡¯s back.

    Too late.

    Hades ripped the scythe through the air so fast it whistled, and a large crack split the air as it sliced.

 Chapter 32: Jade

    Vas never had never considered himself to be extremely lucky until this moment.

    Hades had ripped the scythe across Vas¡¯s back so forcefully that it had cracked the scabbard of his second sword, Hades¡¯ old nodachi. The nodachi fell onto the ground.

    Aside from having the wind knocked out of him, Vas was unharmed.

    Adding to his luck, the scythe¡¯s blade had shattered like glass.

    During the split second where Hades was trying to figure out what had happened, Vas spun around and swung his miaodao straight through Hades¡¯ right arm. The monster made a grinding sound with its mouth and attempted to grab Vas with its remaining hand, but Vas dodged back and away.

    ¡°Suppose this makes things more even.¡±

    Hades bent down and grabbed the nodachi from the ground.

    Vas took the time to analyze himself. Was he moving too aggressively? He¡¯d figured that if he wasn¡¯t aggressive, Hades would win the fight. The being with more speed and strength would probably win if its opposition couldn¡¯t bring something new to the fight.

    However, now that he¡¯d taken a gamble and effectively halved his opponent¡¯s offensive capabilities, Vas hoped he could win through a contest of skill.

    A fight wasn¡¯t about who was stronger, smarter, or faster. It was about who could manipulate their advantage the best. And luck.

    ¡°So quiet. What happened to your¡­ Spunk?¡±

    Hades charged without waiting for a reply.

    Vas brushed ash aside with his feet and set into a defensive posture, keeping his sword well in front of his body. He¡¯d gained a lot of experience fighting defensively through sparring with Jade. Her halberd¡¯s extreme range had made for excellent practice.

    Jade.

    Vas clenched his jaw. It was hard to stay focused in fights, recently. Ever since that day. His thoughts kept drifting. He couldn¡¯t just go into blind rage and win fights anymore. He¡¯d lost a piece of his soul.

    Hades grinned as he neared Vas¡¯s range, and initiated with a swing similar to one Vas would have used.

    The extra weight along with momentum made Hades¡¯ attack extremely dangerous. Vas stepped into it and parried the powerful blow to the side. The nodachi¡¯s momentum was unavoidable to some extent, and it sliced through part of Vas¡¯s right leg.

    However, Vas used the moment for a bigger objective. He brought the miaodao up and around, aimed for Hades¡¯ head, and swung. Hades used his stump of a right arm to slow the attack, and stepped out of the way just in time. He kicked Vas in the side. CRACK.

    Vas rolled with the blow, absorbing as much of the shock as possible. He still lost a few ribs, he knew. As he rolled, Vas¡¯s hand caught onto something hard.

    A piece of concrete, maybe?

    Vas threw the object at Hades before standing, which caught the monster by surprise. It had been a pebble, and hit Hades directly in the forehead. It fractured the skull, but damage-wise was naturally ineffective.

    It did buy Vas time to stand up.

    ¡°Your pattern is extremely difficult to predict.¡±

    Vas spat out a wad of blood.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m going for.¡±

    Hades snorted and took a step forward. Vas fell into a defensive stance again.

    Ash fell around them like snow. Maybe there was some snow intermixed?

    No. Vas had to focus. If there was such a thing as divine intervention, he¡¯d already used it all up.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Smiling, Hades attacked again. This time Vas dodged backwards.

    Mistake.

    Hades¡¯ nodachi sliced another notch into Vas¡¯s right leg. Both cuts had been shallow, but Vas knew he¡¯d be losing blood too fast now. He obviously wasn¡¯t skilled enough to fight defensively.

    It was time to gamble.

    Vas attacked. Hades parried him easily and followed up with a blow of his own, but Vas was already waiting. As Hades brought his blade through for a counter attack, Vas¡¯s blade was being swung down just to the inside. Hades¡¯ blade touched Vas¡¯s right arm, sliced a small bit into it, and stopped. In that split second, Vas had cut off Hades¡¯ left arm.

    Vas kicked the monster over.

    Vas was stunned. Hades had made a mistake thinking Vas would fight defensively the entire time.

    If he¡¯d been a split second late with his swing¡­

    But no, he wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°Now, let us go.¡±

    Hades cackled and looked down.

    Then he jumped up, attempting to bite Vas.

    Vas decapitated Hades in a swift motion.

    All of the Risen around Vas suddenly collapsed. Lifeless, almost. Puppets with their strings cut.

    ¡°HELL YEAH! RUN!¡±

    Alex. Oh, Alex. Vas smiled.

    <hr />

    She was still in her body, somehow. Wasn¡¯t she dead?

    They should all die too.

    She opened her eyes. Only, she didn¡¯t have eyes. She just saw things around her.

    She felt around with her senses. It was really just like eyesight, except she didn¡¯t require light to see.

    She knew she was a Risen now. An enemy¡­ No. An immortal.

    She sat on a snowy hill, alone. She was where she had died. Or was it where she had awoken?

    She was waiting.

    She didn¡¯t know what she was waiting for, only that it would come.

    Days passed. Perhaps weeks. Maybe months. She did not know. It did not matter to an immortal.

    She knew her thoughts were changing, even as she thought them.

    She knew¡ª

    Suddenly a large being of mixed pieces of flesh stood up not far from her hill.

    She knew it was a commander. Its presence gave her the strength to stand. The will to stand.

    ¡°Nocturnal! So unpredictable!¡±

    Hades. That was the name of this commander. She knew it the moment he looked at her.

    Why did he have a name?

    Hades smiled at her, and she smiled back.

    ¡°We will go to their wall. Gather others.¡±

    ¡°How will I gather others?¡± She didn¡¯t know how she spoke. It had seemed like a requirement to get the information needed to obey.

    ¡°Name yourself.¡±

    A name.

    A name for her.

    She thought long and hard.

    After what may have been days, Hades cracked his neck.

    ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°How do I find my name?¡±

    ¡°Remember. With memory comes control over the others.¡±

    And so she sat. Closed her eyes. Thought.

    Hours passed. Remember.

    Then, she knew. She remembered.

    ¡°Jade.¡±

 Chapter 33: Pass the Card

    Vas sat quietly, letting Selene sew the slashes on his right leg together. At first he¡¯d insisted that they simply bandage him, but stitching up the wound had been elected the as the better option.

    The cut on his right arm had already been taken care of.

    It had been a day and a half since the encounter with Hades, and they were just inside one of the outer houses of the city. The Scouts had made good progress ever since escaping from the ambush, and had been able to stay between two huge waves of Risen.

    ¡°You know,¡± Selene began, ¡°Unless we are able to get in front of them, we won¡¯t get to the Wall in time.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Vas grunted. He was trying to think of a way to outrun the Risen, but had yet to think of something that wouldn¡¯t get them all killed.

    Alex held up the joker card of her deck.

    ¡°Do you hold that card up because you actually want to attack, or because you like holding up a joker card?¡±

    ¡°It makes me feel cool and mysterious.¡±

    ¡°It makes you look like a goober.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    The rest of the group sat together, listening but not really joining in on the conversation. Everyone was exhausted. Tapo might have fallen asleep sitting up. The big islander had recovered well from being pelted by shattered glass, and was mostly healed.

    Fem sat beside Tapo, leaning on the man. Fem¡¯s sword still looked to be in good shape, as he constantly took care of it. However, his shield was battered and the color of dry blood. Vas supposed it symbolized how they all felt.

    When Vas glanced at Zy, the Native American man caught his gaze with his eye. He still wore a bandage over the eye he¡¯d lost.

    ¡°You should wear an eyepatch when we get home. We¡¯ll call you the pirate.¡±

    Zy snorted. ¡°Way I see it, I¡¯m halfway to becoming a Risen now. When I die, all I have to do is pluck out one eye.¡±

    Azul, who was sitting next to Zy, laughed.

    That reminded Vas, he¡¯d been wondering about something. ¡°Why do you suppose the Risen around Hades collapsed when I beheaded him?¡± Azul scratched his chin for a few moments.

    Everyone leaned in, including Tapo who had apparently not been sleeping.

    The group had grown interested in their research on the Risen during their time in the south, and that made them hungry for questions and answers.

    ¡°I suppose,¡± Azul finally said, ¡°there may be some kind of hierarchy within the Risen.¡±

    ¡°LIKE I¡¯D SAID!¡± Alex said loudly. It was almost shouting. But not quite.

    Azul sighed, ¡°Sort of. But what you postulated was a social hierarchy. I believe what we witnessed supports the idea that there is an actual physical hierarchy. Somehow, the Brawlers were reliant on Hades. And also obedient. When he was defeated, they all shut down. It was like Hades acted as a generator.¡± Tapo nodded at this. ¡°Perhaps this is what makes the Sleepers into Brawlers.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Fem interjected, ¡°It is a possibility. But remember that we had never before seen any kind of hierarchy. Perhaps this is an anomaly.¡±

    ¡°I think we now have the basis on which to build our theoretical hierarchy.¡±

    Joust walked in from the other room. He¡¯d been on watch duty.

    ¡°I can hear you all clear as day out there. Especially Alex.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°See?¡±

    ¡°Alex. Shh.¡±

    ¡°Well EXCUUUSE¡ª¡±

    ¡°AS I WAS SAYING,¡± Azul broke in, annoyed at being interrupted, ¡°I think we can now safely assume the Risen work something like a kingdom. The Sleepers are commoners, the Brawlers are commoners who are drafted into the army. The Wanderers are nobles, and whatever Hades is, is an army commander.¡±

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.Vas nodded slowly. He always had trouble following Azul¡¯s logic, but this time it seemed simple. And somewhat frightening. ¡°By that logic, isn¡¯t there a king?¡± Azul nodded.

    ¡°Yes, and although we have no evidence for making that statement, I believe it is natural to assume there is a king. Or queen. What have you. Something that started this all and oversees it.¡±

    ¡°By this logic,¡± Zy began, ¡°shouldn¡¯t some of us stay in the south and search for this king? To slay it?¡±

    ¡°No, splitting up our group further would be unwise. It is likely none of us would survive.¡±

    ¡°It is already likely that none of us will survive. I support this mission.¡±

    ¡°They will need us all at the Wall,¡± Vas said. He intended the statement to be final.

    Everyone knew it, and bowed in submission. Even Tapo.

    Fem stood up. ¡°Vas.¡±

    Vas met eyes with Fem. He knew if Fem supported the idea, he would have to listen to them. He couldn¡¯t even imagine sending half his group away for such a long shot. Vas shook his head and sighed. ¡°Speak your mind.¡±

    Fem nodded. ¡°I have always followed your orders without question, even when I was unsure whether you commanded the correct course of action. However, I believe with this decision we will be throwing away a chance we will never get again.¡±

    ¡°You expect me to send four people north and four people south? Four to the south on a mission that is based on speculation? That doesn¡¯t even leave us with enough people to get the message north.¡±

    ¡°We need¡ª¡±

    Vas was angry. Why was Fem questioning him now? Now, when they needed each other?

    ¡°We need to survive, Fem!¡±

    ¡°We cannot defend forever! You need to attack to win a fight!¡±

    Vas rubbed his head.

    ¡°You can¡¯t win a fight if you¡¯re dead.¡±

    ¡°Fem,¡± Alex said quietly.

    Everyone turned, taken aback by Alex¡¯s serious tone.

    ¡°Do you remember the first time you faced terror?¡±

    ¡°Terror?¡±

    ¡°Did you freeze, or did you run?¡±

    Fem stared at Alex for a few moments, and then his eyes glazed over. Then he snarled, regretting the words he was about to say from the bottom of his heart.

    ¡°I ran.¡±

    The words hit Vas like a hammer. He knew he had to listen, now.

    ¡°Sometimes you just can¡¯t run any longer, can you?¡±

    Fem met Vas¡¯s eyes again, and Vas nodded again.

    ¡°Who is going south, then?¡±

    Tapo raised his hand. As did Zy. Azul sighed. ¡°Count me in, as well.¡±

    ¡°Vas¡ª¡±

    Vas clasped Fem on the shoulder. ¡°We¡¯re still friends. Do what you have to, to be a man.¡±

    ¡°To be a human, Jade would say.¡± Vas snorted. ¡°Yes, she would.¡±

    Fem held his hand out as a salute, and began gathering his things off the floor.

    ¡°We¡¯ll leave at dawn. We can draw the Risen behind off of your backs, give you more time. If you cut west then north you might be able to outrun the groups ahead of us. They¡¯ll be slowed down by the lakes.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see each other again in time. How much time is the only question.¡±

    Alex grabbed her joker card and handed it to Fem. ¡°This is your job now.¡±

    The next morning, Fem and his group left. Vas, Alex, Selene and Joust headed out just after them, to the west.

    Altogether, the remaining Scouts marching north numbered four.

 Chapter 34: Two By Two

    West they marched, for the entire day.

    When the Scouts finally stopped walking, the sun had already set.

    Vas crouched down. He was in a sour mood, feeling a bit of abandonment by the majority of people he¡¯d ever known.

    ¡°Why get close to anyone if they all leave you in the end?¡±

    Alex slapped Vas on the back, startling him. ¡°They¡¯ve got a mission just like us! You did approve it in the end, remember?¡±

    Alex walked over to Joust and helped him set up a little tent.

    Selene set her bag inside the tent and stood beside Vas. She ran her fingers through his hair.  Vas leaned his head against her.

    None of the scouts were romantically involved with each other, but Vas felt intimately connected with Selene. They¡¯d never had sex and weren¡¯t planning on ever having it, but Selene knew how to calm Vas when he was agitated. Vas had been there to pull Selene out of her depression when her squad was annihilated. It was an unspoken bond.

    And it wasn¡¯t that Vas was ruling out sex, by the way.

    There simply wasn¡¯t the leisure to really think about the prospect.

    If Selene walked up and said ¡°Let¡¯s have a good time in the tent,¡± Vas certainly would have considered the proposal. He probably would have agreed to it.

    But for now, this was better. A companion that stood by his side, said nothing, and helped him relax.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you go south?¡± Vas wondered the question aloud. He¡¯d thought Selene would volunteer immediately for the more suicidal of the two suicide missions.

    Selene continued running her fingers through Vas¡¯s hair for a few moments, thinking.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said at last.

    They watched Joust and Alex construct the tent, bickering as they went. ¡°Not THAT stake. OBVIOUSLY that stake is for the other part of the tent. . . JUST KIDDING!¡±

    Maybe they weren¡¯t bickering, on second thought. Maybe it was just Alex talking a lot.

    Selene crouched down next to Vas. There was no sitting on the wet snow and sticky ash, unless you liked muddy pants.

    ¡°She sure is noisy.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    The night passed without incident. Joust and Alex slept for the first half, and Selene and Vas slept for the second.

    <hr />

    Jade stood in front of her soldiers. The Risen behind her were like sheep, and she was the shepherd. She somehow had become their supply of energy, and they almost seemed to feed off of her aura. However, instead of feeling weaker because of this, she felt stronger with every additional Risen she added to her ranks.

    Jade could not remember her life before her rise, nor did she care to. Whenever she tried to recall, she would find emotions like terror and sadness. She hated remembering those things.

    So, she obeyed the commands of Hades and gathered more Risen for their army. That was her life. It seemed simple enough to her.

    She walked to the north, because Hades had told her to. Her army was large, but could be much larger still.

    Jade remembered that her objective was to kill as many humans as possible. She could not remember why, simply that it was now her role.

    Hades stepped up beside her. He had grown even larger than the last time she¡¯d seen him. He was well over the height of two people standing on each other¡¯s shoulders. His arms were the size of her chest, and his legs were twice that size. He reminded her of something.

    Remember.

    She hated remembering.

    But this memory wasn¡¯t painful.

    It was something she¡¯d heard of.

    Read about?

    Seen?

    A giant with one eye, wearing only a cloth over itself.

    She knew she¡¯d seen something like that somewhere.

    But Hades had two eyes! So they were obviously completely different!

    Where had she seen the giant with one eye?

    Jade shook her head. It didn¡¯t matter.

    ¡°Jade,¡± a deep voice came from the giant. It did not have the raspy screech Jade remembered.

    Wait, what raspy screech? Hadn¡¯t his voice always been deep?

    ¡°Make haste. The humans must not have too long to prepare once the storm takes them. We must attack with the ash.¡±

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    <hr />

    In the morning, Vas was awoken by Joust shaking his shoulders. Joust held a finger to his lips.

    ¡°We can see them on the horizon. Need to get moving fast.¡±

    Vas nodded, and got up from his bed quickly. He¡¯d slept almost entirely naked for the first night in a while next to Selene, and cursed the cold weather for forcing him to do so. If he¡¯d been dressed they could have left faster.

    Selene helped Vas pull his hand through his jacket, and that was when he noticed she had managed to wake up after him and be dressed before he was.

    ¡°How¡ª¡±

    ¡°We need to move.¡±

    They quickly exited the tent and Joust removed the stakes. They packed the tent into his bag as quickly as possible. Alex only made a quick comment about using the wrong stakes once, which showed how on edge even she was.

    She quickly recovered once they were on the move, however.

    ¡°Anybody want breakfast? I have some rations here.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡±

    Vas also wanted some, but he was preoccupied trying to look behind himself at the thin line to the south. They were coming. Not fast, but steady. Which seemed even more frightening.

    What had happened to disorganized groups of Risen? They¡¯d just been monsters before, but now¡­ Now they almost seemed¡­ Human.

    It was like some force was making everything reach a climax, unnaturally. Vas wondered if the volcanic eruption had anything to do with it. Was it a signal of some kind? A weapon?

    Vas knew it was something important and felt like he was on the edge of figuring it out. He knew he¡¯d figure it out when it was too late.

    This just wasn¡¯t his kind of thing, solving mysteries. Vas glanced back to see Alex putting away the rations after giving them out to everyone who¡¯d asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take one too.¡±

    ¡°Of course you will!¡±

    Vas and the others headed directly to the north for a few hours. They couldn¡¯t afford being seen by even a single Risen, so they had to put enough distance between themselves and the following wave of Risen before they could go to the west again.

    The walking had become increasingly difficult due to the ash as well as the snow, so they all stopped and put on snowshoes.

    ¡°Well this sucks!¡±

    ¡°Actually, with this we might be able to put additional distance between us and the following waves. In addition to catching the Risen in front of us.¡±

    ¡°Told you.¡±

    Alex raised her hands, ¡°Sure, yes, I get it. That part is nice. Thank you for your positivity. But that doesn¡¯t change the fact that every time I take a step these stupid things throw snow up the back of my legs and make me cold.¡±

    ¡°And Alex marched valiantly back to the north, leading her poor troop of fellow scouts. She continued this way until she encountered a foe worse than any rabid animal or undead monster. Snow. Shoes.¡±

    ¡°Oh shut up.¡±

    Vas laughed out loud with Joust and Selene. ¡°Do you need us to carry you,¡± he wondered aloud. They all laughed again.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to pull out the stiches in your leg tonight.¡±

    ¡°You all heard her. If my stiches are gone tomorrow morning, Alex wears snowshoes the entire way back to the Wall.¡±

    Even Alex laughed a little.

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll make it back? To the Wall?¡±

    Vas didn¡¯t know how to answer. They¡¯d barely made it to the south. There were months upon months ahead of them in a frozen wasteland filled with enemies.

    ¡°Maybe. If you wear snowshoes.¡±

    Alex glared and Joust fell over laughing.

    Vas hoped they could keep having days like this. He¡¯d had enough of death and fighting and loss.

    They all had.

 Chapter 35: Death Flag

    Snowshoes, although something Vas had made many jokes about over the last few days, had actually made all the difference. The Scouts had been able to outdistance the Risen to a greater extent than he¡¯d ever imagined.

    They¡¯d been marching west for almost twelve hours and still couldn¡¯t even see the Risen to the south.  However, they could see a line off to the north, where the Risen there were marching.

    Once the Scouts were able to get enough west of that line, they could march directly north and outdistance the Risen altogether.

    If they were lucky, they might get multiple days of advantage.

    Vas had originally thought that the trek would be far more difficult, and full of deadly situations, but the additional layer of ash had slowed the Risen down where it barely hindered the scouts. On top of that, the Risen seemed to have suddenly become disciplined, so there was little danger of the wave from the south catching up to the wave in the north, which would have essentially pancaked Vas¡¯s entire squad.

    An entire week had just about passed since Vas¡¯s battle with Hades, and they¡¯d been traveling without incident since. Were they really going to make it back to the Wall?

    ¡°Weather sure is getting colder.¡±

    ¡°Guess we¡¯ll have to sleep completely naked tonight.¡±

    ¡°Joust, if you are having any dirty thoughts I am going to make you be the little spoon.¡±

    ¡°Spare me, for I have sinned.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s better.¡±

    Vas heard a noise for a moment. He stopped and looked around. Then he realized what it was.

    Birds.

    They were nearing a forest. Vas had thought the ash would push them all away, but then again where would they go?

    Most of them would probably choke to death on the ash.

    Vas coughed.

    Maybe he would choke to death on the ash.

    ¡°It seems the wind is picking up,¡± Selene said from beside him. Vas almost jumped.

    She had a ninja-like sneaking ability, and often caught him off-guard. But he didn¡¯t jump. He wouldn¡¯t give her the satisfaction.

    She didn¡¯t seem to notice.

    ¡°Yea. We might need to make shelter,¡± Joust agreed.

    ¡°If there¡¯s a blizzard coming, we should go as far as we can before it starts. It¡¯s more dangerous than setting up a shelter now, but it might buy us extra time before the Risen in the south catch up.¡±

    ¡°I wish they stopped during a blizzard. Everything should stop during a blizzard.¡±

    And so the Scouts pushed on. The wind continued to pick up, and it became more and more difficult to tell which direction they were going in. Vas pulled out his compass and started using it as constant reference. He would need it once they entered the forest anyways.

    ¡°Hey, are you going to kill any animals with that compass this time,¡± Selene whispered.

    Vas groaned. ¡°Alex just never stops telling stories, does she?¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯d already heard that one. But she was telling it again yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Stupid wolf.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Vas! The stories about you fighting Hades will be WAY more popular when we get back to the Wall!¡±

    ¡°I hope you forget them all.¡±

    ¡°I write them down.¡±

    Vas blinked.

    ¡°What? Where?¡±

    ¡°Like I¡¯d tell you!¡±

    Vas shook his head and looked up. They were almost to the forest. After they reached the west side of the forest, he planned on heading straight north. He hoped they could reach around the Risen at that point. The maps he¡¯d memorized hadn¡¯t stretched much further west than this.

    The wind and snow kept picking up, and in less than a few minutes, snow was swirling all around them. It was cold, but not unbearable.

    ¡°Do we make shelter?!¡± Alex shouted.

    ¡°I think we can keep going!¡± Joust responded, ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem that bad!¡±

    Vas nodded, then realized they couldn¡¯t really tell. Visibility was low, after all.

    ¡°Let¡¯s try and get through the forest!¡± They all seemed to be in agreement.

    A few minutes passed, and Vas found it fairly difficult to keep walking in a straight line. Even watching his compass while he walked just made him dizzy. It seemed like he was walking in circles when he was walking straight, and seemed like he was walking straight when he walked in circles. The way the snow killed most visibility made it so that Vas couldn¡¯t set a point as west. He simple had to look at his compass and walk through swirly mist that was supposedly west.

    Instead of continuing this way, Vas and Joust began working together. Vas would point in a direction and Joust would walk in that direction. When Joust started drifting to the side, Vas would shout at him to stop. After that, Vas and the two girls would walk up to Joust and the process would start again. This alleviated Vas¡¯s dizziness and also made him sure they were traveling in the right direction. Even though the going was somewhat slow, they were still able to make good progress.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    The icy wind nipped at their faces when it could, but the Scouts were prepared for much colder weather than this. The Risen would keep walking during these conditions, so Vas figured that meant the Scouts should as well.

    Walking through a blizzard. What kind of stories would Alex tell about that? If she so much as insinuated that Vas led them through it, he was going to slap her.

    Their slow pace continued for around three hours, which is when the gusty wind finally became calmer and snow and ash stopped swirling around.

    ¡°Was it really a blizzard, or just blustery weather?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that what a blizzard is?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it has something to do with warm air and cool air combining and blah blah blah.¡±

    They all looked at Joust. ¡°I thought you were interested in nature stuff,¡± Vas commented, speaking for them all.

    Joust shrugged. ¡°Animals, sure. Animals are interesting. Weather patterns though? Not so much.¡±

    Another solid hour of marching west brought them to the edge of the forest they were in. Squinting, Vas thought he could make out the Risen to the south.

    ¡°That¡¯s them,¡± Selene confirmed, following his gaze.

    The ones in the North were now too far ahead to see.

    ¡°It looks like the line ends around where the middle of the forest will be. I think we can march straight north.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll find out for sure when we get closer,¡± Joust supplied.

    ¡°Great. Closer.¡±

    Vas agreed with Alex¡¯s sentiment. Closer to that many Risen was not where he wanted to be.

    Nevertheless, it was where they had to go.

    And so to the north they marched. Alex muttered something about her snowshoes, and Joust seemed to have a quick rebuttal. They were just out of earshot, so Vas was unable to participate.

    Instead, he clicked open the sheath for his miaodao and held the blade in front of him as he walked.

    The edge was chipped and warped in multiple places. Vas very much regretted that he hadn¡¯t grabbed his nodachi back from Hades¡¯ corpse.

    This would just have to do.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get my sword to you if yours breaks,¡± Selene said from beside him, ¡°I have a pair of long knives in my pack I can use instead.¡±

    Vas glanced at Selene¡¯s weapon, a katana. The weapon type was extremely popular due to its cutting ability, and Selene had kept this one in great shape.

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll just use my bare hands on them.¡±

    Selene smiled. ¡°That was what I liked about you when we first met. You¡¯re so¡­ Savage.¡±

    Vas raised his eyebrows and looked at her. ¡°You like the idea of me crushing skulls with my hands?¡± Selene scrunched her nose up. Vas agreed, it wasn¡¯t the most pleasant image.

    ¡°I like that you are on my side. I like that you fight with everything you have. It¡¯s reliable.¡±

    Vas sheathed his miaodao.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you never give up.¡±

    They walked quietly for a few minutes. Vas didn¡¯t know what to say or how to say it, so he simply paid attention to his surroundings.

    ¡°Vas, if we get into an unwinnable situation, can you take Alex and get away?¡±

    Vas blinked. ¡°Wha-¡± ¡°Joust and I have talked about it. We want to get Alex home no matter what. You¡¯re the one who memorized the map. If worst comes to worst¡ª¡± Vas held up a hand, silencing her. Alex was apparently close enough to hear their conversation, because this was the time she decided to butt in. ¡°That¡¯s a death flag, you know. In a story, it would be a death flag. Unless the person in the story points out it¡¯s a death flag. In that case, I think it¡¯s cancelled out.¡± Alex punched Joust after speaking. ¡°Don¡¯t make stupid death flag plans without me again!¡±

    ¡°Sorry!¡±

    They all walked for another minute in silence.

    ¡°If they see us we will run. If they catch us we will fight. Don¡¯t play the hero, and I will get you home alive. All of you.¡±

    Vas watched a tear leak down Selene¡¯s cheek before she turned away. She cleared her throat and nodded after a few moments.

 Chapter 36: Salutations

    Vas stood in a dark place, across from his smiling companion.

    He recognized it.

    He knew it.

    It had no gender. It had no face.

    Vas knew it, though. They were friends. They had to be.

    Vas felt a confirmation in his mind. Of course they were friends, but not exactly friends.

    That last thought was telepathy. It was the way the companion communicated with him.

    Was wondered why he was here. Was he dead?

    No.

    Was he dreaming?

    Yes.

    Vas tried to stare at the companion, and found that it was much like looking at a reflection of himself. It was smiling at him. Vas smiled back at it.

    The companion¡¯s arms were at its sides, this time. No arm stretched out to Vas as in the past.

    That was because Vas was still alive.

    Still alive? Vas wondered if it really was the part of him that would become a Risen.

    It just smiled. No response this time.

    The companion turned away from Vas, inspecting the endless darkness in that direction.

    It was watching something.

    <hr />

    Vas jerked awake and found Selene was laying across his chest. Due to them both being naked, Vas couldn¡¯t help but have an indecent thought or two. However, those were quickly brushed aside when Selene turned her head to look at him.

    ¡°Awake now?¡± Selene asked the question, but obviously knew the answer.

    Vas nodded anyways.

    ¡°You were thrashing around in your sleep again.¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Vas had no idea why he was thrashing about in his sleep recently. It was the same dream as usual. It felt peaceful, he always felt calm. Then he woke up and heard about how he¡¯d rolled around punching and kicking and clawing wildly.

    ¡°I woke you fast enough this time. You didn¡¯t hit me.¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s good to hear that Vas is only periodically abusive!¡± Alex¡¯s voice came from outside tent.

    ¡°It¡¯s unintentional. You can¡¯t control what you do in your sleep,¡± Joust muttered.

    Vas frowned at bowed his head to Selene, ¡°I really am sorry,¡± he said quietly. He hoped Alex couldn¡¯t hear.

    Selene just rolled her eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to Alex, you aren¡¯t doing it on purpose. You haven¡¯t even hit me hard enough to leave a bruise yet.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s abuse I tell you! Call animal control or something! There¡¯s a bear in the tent with Selene!¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Alex.¡± Alex sniffed loudly. ¡°The first step is recognizing it.¡±

    Selene stood up and started dressing herself. Vas followed suit.

    It had been multiple months since they¡¯d started their trek to the north. They¡¯d encountered a batch of Risen, been trapped in a blizzard, almost fallen into a lake, and had made it past the waves of Risen marching to the Wall. They were almost a week ahead of the first wave, by Vas¡¯s estimation.

    Multiple months of marching in snowshoes and walking as much as possible. Alex had eventually stopped complaining about the snowshoes, but always found something. The ash was too thick and made her smell bad or her things were too heavy because of the ash or¡­ Actually, maybe she was just complaining about the ash, Vas realized.

    However, today everyone was in high spirits. Vas had no idea where exactly they were, but he was fairly certain that they were within a few more days of heavy walking to the Wall.

    Vas walked out of the tent after Selene. The Scouts wore all their layers, and had been for the majority of the trip. Hoods, scarves, gloves. Every extra bit of clothing helped.

    Stolen novel; please report.Vas found it funny, now, that he¡¯d used to practice every morning with his sword. He¡¯d been so focused on staying alive and training himself and staying in peak condition. It was only later, when his group had been whittled down and killed that he¡¯d realized the truth: survival was based on luck.

    Additionally, his miaodao looked ready to break apart at any time. He¡¯d tried his best to keep it well-maintained, but nothing was built to last through that many strikes. He would need a new weapon when he returned to the Wall.

    Vas glanced at the many patches and cuts in his jacket and realized he would need a lot of new things when they got back to the Wall.

    The Scouts marched for six hours straight north. They¡¯d been heading straight to the north ever since making sure they were a good distance ahead of the front wave of Risen.

    It was around this time that Vas spotted shapes of people in the distance. It was a large party, and he suspected it might be Risen.

    The Scouts proceeded with caution, staying as low to the ground as possible while still heading in the same direction. Although they were cautious, they also hoped that the group in front of them was the army, and that they¡¯d found their way back to the Wall.

    As they got closer, Vas thought he heard a conversation. ¡°They¡¯re people!¡± His excitement skyrocketed, and the other Scouts caught it. Alex jumped up and down a few times, waving at them. ¡°HEY! PEOPLE!¡±

    The group turned and saw them, and its leader waved back. The two groups walked up to each other, and once they were within normal speaking distance, the leader clutched his fist in the air. Army.

    Vas kissed his knuckle and held his fist in the air as well. ¡°Scouts, eh?¡± The man walked up to Vas shaking his head, ¡°I don¡¯t recognize you from any of the recent departures. Long trip?¡±

    Vas snorted and laughed softly. ¡°Long trip.¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°Well, welcome home.¡±

    Vas looked around.

    ¡°Wall¡¯s about a day¡¯s walk straight north. Basecamp is a little more to the north-east.¡±

    Vas nodded. ¡°Many Risen lately?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s why we¡¯re so far out even though we¡¯re not scouts. Command¡¯s worried they¡¯re gathering up for a bigger attack or something. Haven¡¯t seen more than thirty of the monsters since the ashfall started.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re right.¡±

    The man watched Vas for a few moments. ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°Too many. A week away.¡±

    The man growled out a couple expletives and rubbed his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll escort you back to the Wall, but I need to leave the majority of my people out here just in case. Don¡¯t say anything to them. Need to keep morale high.¡±

    Vas nodded, and the man led them back to his group. ¡°I¡¯ll be escorting this Scout party back to basecamp. Spread out and keep your eyes peeled. Jun, I¡¯ll leave the captaining to you.¡± The man identified as Jun saluted in response.

    As Vas and his small party walked past the members of the Vanguard, all of the members of the army kissed their knuckles and raised their fists into the air. Alex returned the gesture excitedly.

    ¡°We¡¯re basically famous.¡±

    ¡°Once you start telling your stories we actually will be.¡±

    Alex got a gleam in her eye.

    ¡°Alex. No stories.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t stop me!¡±

    Vas just sighed and followed the captain. He was too excited to argue with Alex.

 Chapter 37: Seven Days

    Vas¡¯s group followed the lead of the captain in front of them. Vas himself walked beside the captain and made occasional small-talk, about the weather and the state of the Wall and recent skirmishes with Risen.

    Mostly, Vas and the captain walked in silence while Alex told stories of their last few days slogging through the snow in snowshoes.

    Vas tuned her out, not very concerned with how frustrated Alex was about wearing snowshoes for long periods of time. He suspected she was talking more than usual since she was excited.

    About half a day of walking brought the little group through multiple outposts and into a large area covered by tents and buildings. Eventually they arrived at a large office building which functioned as a command structure.

    The captain turned to Vas and the others, ¡°I¡¯ll take your captain, but the rest of you should go get cleaned up. You can all meet up again in the Scout barracks not far from here.¡± Alex gave a thumbs up and immediately started skipping through the snow in the other direction. Selene and Joust watched Vas, and Vas gave them both a nod. After his affirmation, the other two Scouts turned and followed Alex.

    This was fortunate timing, as it was the same moment that Alex tripped and fell into the snow.

    Joust snorted and helped Alex up quickly as he snickered, ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t need some snowshoes?¡± Selene laughed, and Alex hurled a few expletives at them both.

    Vas smiled, watching his group of friends finally at peace. No impending doom lurking in the shadows here. The captain nodded to Vas, ¡°Good group you¡¯ve got there. The little one talks a lot though.¡± Vas rolled his eyes, ¡°Tell me about it,¡± he said.

    The captain laughed softly and motioned for Vas to follow him into the building. The two guards in front of the doors let them in, and a guard inside the doors held one open for them.

    Once inside, Vas and the captain walked down a hallway, through another door, down another hallway, up some stairs, and around a corner. They finally reached a double door with two guards standing in front. The captain nodded to each of the guards in turn, ¡°Vince, Sigmund. Next to me is a Scout captain with a report on a Risen horde to the south.¡± The guards nodded, and one of them knocked on the doors a few times in a pattern. He listened for a moment, then nodded to himself and opened his door. Vas and the captain walked through this final door, which lead to a large study with four men and two women. Two of the men inside seemed to be guards, and there were two other men and two women who seemed like commanders. These four people were standing around a huge table with army positions and strategic advantages marked.

    The captain next to Vas saluted, and Vas followed suit. ¡°Commanders, this man is a Scout captain with information about a Risen horde to the south.¡± Three of the commanders seemed to ignore the captain, but the fourth, a woman in her mid-40¡¯s, nodded. ¡°Thank you captain. You may return to your post.¡±

    The captain nodded and left the room. One of the guards closed the door after him.

    ¡°Now, I do not recognize you. Don¡¯t remember any captains with your¡­ Demeanor.¡± The woman said. ¡°I am Salar, the Scout field commander.¡±

    Vas saluted her, ¡°Commander Salar. The captain misspoke. I am an interim captain.¡± One of the men at the strategy table, short and bearded, shook his head, ¡°Lost another squad, did we? No need to speak in riddles kiddo, whose squad was it?¡±

    Vas nodded to the man, ¡°Commander. I was a part of the expedition to the South, a member of Kara¡¯s squad.¡±

    Immediately, all four commander¡¯s eyes gained a hint of wakefulness, and they devoted their full attention to Vas. Commander Salar raised her hand, ¡°I will require a full report. First, what was this about a Risen horde?¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t fair to keep that to yourself, Salar,¡± said the man who had spoken earlier. Salar shushed him and waited for Vas to respond.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.Vas cleared his throat, ¡°The volcanic eruption seemed to be some sort of signal to the Risen. They began gathering into large groups and marching north in waves. The first wave should reach our outer area within the next six days.¡± Vas almost forgot, but this time he didn¡¯t, ¡°Commanders.¡±

    ¡°No need to keep calling us commanders. We haven¡¯t forgotten.¡± The short commander said. He stroked his beard, ¡°How many Risen in each wave? Also, how many waves?¡± This man was obviously calculating costs and preparations. Vas liked him already. ¡°Com¡ªI mean, sir, there are hundreds of thousands in each wave. As for how many waves, I believe this is an all-out attack that will be undertaken by all of the Risen. Therefore, the number is incalculable.¡± One of the other two commanders cursed. ¡°Equipment?¡± The short man was still planning. Vas squinted his eyes, remembering as best he could. ¡°Nothing special. Most of them were armed with tools and other makeshift weapons.¡± The man tugged his beard a bit, ¡°Shovels? Ropes? Any sort of siege equipment or something that might have a chance to breach the wall?¡±

    Vas shook his head, ¡°I didn¡¯t get a good enough look to know. There are Risen armed with crossbows and bows, but they are fairly uncommon. I did not see siege equipment.¡±

    The man nodded, apparently satisfied for now.

    Salar stepped forward, ¡°Now follow me back to my study. I want your full report on the mission to the South.¡±

    Vas complied, and even though the other commanders gave Salar disapproving looks, they seemed to be aware that it was very much in her power to keep this information to herself. Vas assumed this was some sort of political power play of some kind, but had neither the insight nor the authority to intervene.

    After a few minutes of walking, Salar and six guards strolled to a building about six hundred paces away from the command structure. Vas followed until they eventually arrived. Two of the guards posted on the outside, and the other four followed Vas and Salar inside.

    ¡°Now, please answer this question first. Did Ishone survive?¡± Salar¡¯s eyes seemed almost hungry for the answer, which caught Vas off-guard. He grew wary, and decided to skew the details a bit. ¡°No, commander. Ishone, Kara, Tapo and Serj were all killed in a Risen ambush. Because of that, I took command of the survivors.¡± Salar nodded and smiled slightly. Vas was starting to feel uncomfortable now. He had a bad feeling.

    Salar took a deep breath. Vas¡¯s mind was spinning. He knew there was something going on here, but had no idea what it was or how to deal with it. He was exhausted. ¡°Thank you, young Scout. Please go back to your barracks and have a good night¡¯s rest. You can report the rest to me in the morning.¡±

    Vas glanced up, surprised. ¡°Thank you, commander. I am quite tired.¡± He knew she didn¡¯t care about the rest of the report, and was only pleasantly surprised that she was letting him leave so soon.

    Vas turned towards the door, took a step forward, and then saw a blur in the corner of his eye. He rolled forward, barely dodging the club of the guard who attacked him. As Vas rose back to his feet, he ripped the club out of the guard¡¯s hand and knocked the man out with a swing to his chin. One of the other guards kicked his knee into an awkward position from behind, and Vas took a few of that man¡¯s teeth with the club.

    Unfortunately, Vas wasn¡¯t fast enough to avoid the next blow to his head. Pain flashed through his body, and he slumped to the ground. One of the guards cursed, and Vas heard Salar¡¯s slightly panicked voice say something.

    Some warm blood splattered on Vas¡¯s face, but it wasn¡¯t his own.

    Vas, dizzy and confused, lost consciousness.

 Chapter 38: V and Mi

    Jade walked casually through the snow, plowing a foot of the powder and ash with each step. She wasn¡¯t excessively tall, but her body never lacked for strength.

    Jade watched the distance with curiosity.

    Vision was not a complete picture for the Risen, and she had enough broken memories from being a person to recall how sight had worked.

    Instead, she could simply sense everything in a large radius around her. Only, she couldn¡¯t see behind objects like trees, and she also couldn¡¯t see everything at once. She had to choose things to focus on. And focusing was much easier if she turned her head in the direction of the thing she was focusing on.

    At the end of her vision was simply a darkness that never went away. This was the reason for the Risen that chose to simply wander around: Risen were unable to deal with the fact that they could not see an end in open space. They tried to walk until they could find the end of their vision.

    The Risen that stayed indoors were the same. They tried to hide somewhere that blocked their vision in, so that they could pretend that their vision was complete.

    Madness.

    Jade glanced to her right and her vision revealed a nearly endless wave of Risen all under her command. Their soul strings extended from their heads and into the earth.

    When Jade glanced to her left, in the distance peeking out from a rock was a being with a soul string extending to the sky. Jade stopped walking and watched it.

    All of the Risen were under her command, so they naturally all stopped walking at the same moment she did.

    Jade had a strong urge to bind that soul string to the earth.

    It was a human.

    Jade smiled, and the human apparently realized he¡¯d been spotted. His head and soul string disappeared behind the distant rock formation.

    Time to hunt.

    <hr />

    Vas jerked awake and instantly regretted doing so. His head had a dull ache, and his body was covered in bruises. His sword, the miaodao, was gone. Vas felt his head and found a sticky area that seemed tender. He sat up slowly with his eyes closed, sucking in deep breaths of air. After a minute of readjusting, Vas opened his eyes and looked around.

    He was inside a dark room with bars covering an entire side. There was a window just across the hall outside his bars. The other three sides of the room were covered in slimy stone, and Vas thought he could see moss growing in multiple areas.

    The ground was hard wood, but it was still softer than stone would have been.

    Vas briefly wondered what kind of person designed this odd room, then decided that he didn¡¯t care. He was trapped in some kind of cell, and that was all that mattered.

    Vas sat there for a few minutes before he eventually felt well enough to stand. Leaning against one of the stone walls, he stood up slowly. Vas hobbled over to the bars and brought his head to them, trying to see as far in each direction as possible.

    The sudden clanging sound of a heavy door opening and shutting startled Vas, and he glanced around.

    A bruised burly man appeared from the left holding a tray. The man smiled at Vas, revealing several missing teeth. ¡°You killed Barlin, you know.¡± Vas blinked twice. ¡°Didn¡¯t know any Barlins,¡± he said.

    ¡°You took his club and bashed his head in with it you scum!¡± The guard seemed to be a little dull, and quite prone to emotional outbursts. ¡°Oh, THAT Barlin. Yes, I definitely killed him,¡± Vas said with a smile, doing his best Alex impersonation. ¡°Are you the second one I hit? I knocked your teeth out with my next swing?¡±

    The guard snarled at Vas and threw his tray at Vas¡¯s bars, ¡°Commander says you stay here alive for a few days. I wager after six or seven, she¡¯ll forget you¡¯re here. I¡¯ll be back to gut you then.¡± With that, the guard simply turned and walked away.

    ¡°Too afraid to do it now,¡± Vas prodded. The man paused a moment, opened the large door and left.

    Vas glanced down at the tray and saw the bits of food ration scattered all over the ground. He licked a little that had flown onto his arm and then sat down.

    Reaching through the bars, Vas barely managed to grab hold of the small tray and pull it through the bars. Vas flipped it upside down and put it on the ground. He slid it around and found that it could slide a fair distance. Also, the bars did not go all the way to the floor, so the tray had just enough room to slide underneath them.

    The loud door scraped open again after just a few more minutes. ¡°That was quick,¡± Vas said cheerily. The same guard appeared in his field of vision, this time holding a spear.

    Vas smiled at the guard, ¡°I must be the luckiest man alive! You brought me a present.¡±

    The guard growled and pointed his spear towards Vas. He stabbed forward with extreme precision and speed, almost skewering Vas with the first attempt. Vas narrowly escaped, only taking a scratch on his left arm. The guard drew back, watching Vas like a hunter eying his quarry.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.Vas waited patiently, keeping the tray under his right foot and preparing to dodge at any moment. Even if he could get the spear out of the guard¡¯s hands, it wouldn¡¯t help him unless he could kill the guard here and now.

    The guard lashed out like lighting, and Vas stepped into the strike. At the same time, Vas slid the tray forward under the bars and into the guard¡¯s ankle.

    The spear made a gash in Vas¡¯s side, but he was able to grab hold of it this time because the guard lost his footing. Vas pulled the spear into his cell, flipped it around, and stuck the guard straight through his eye before the man could run. Vas pulled the spear back slowly, and the guard toppled over next to the bars of Vas¡¯s cell. At the last moment, Vas yanked the spear quickly out of the man¡¯s head, so that the shaft of the spear wouldn¡¯t snap on the bars.

    Vas immediately rolled on the ground parallel to the bars and stuck his arm under them. He found the guard¡¯s keyring as soon as possible and unlocked his cell. The whole ordeal had only taken a matter of seconds, so the guard was just now starting to claw out his eyes.

    Vas set about the task of slowly stabbing through each section of the guard¡¯s neck piece by piece to decapitate the man before he completely turned. Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab. After the job was done, Vas kicked the head off the rest of the way and pulled the slippery body into his old cell. Vas ripped off a piece of the guard¡¯s clothing and used it to wipe the fresh blood off his own face.

    Vas cleaned himself as much as possible with the cloth before throwing it back inside the cell. He closed the cell door, locked it, and then proceeded down the hall to his left until he saw the heavy door the guard had come through. Vas tried a few different keys before getting the right one.

    The door swung open to reveal a set of stairs leading up. The air was getting cooler already. Vas felt a little dizzy and made some bandages out of strips of cloth he kept in a pocket.

    Vas took the stairs slowly, and peeked over the top when he reached it. There was another long hallway, this time filled with multiple cells. At the end of the hallway was a large door that seemed to lead outside. Many of the cells appeared to be occupied. Vas prepared to make a run for it when he heard a familiar voice. ¡°V? Yo!¡± Vas jumped in surprise, startled by the sudden noise. ¡°Miiche? Am I hallucinating,¡± Vas wondered aloud dazedly. To the side, Miiche stood in a guard¡¯s uniform. Instead of a spear, she had two sabers sheathed on each of her very well-shaped hips. ¡°You look terrible. Why are you here? You disappeared years ago.¡± Miiche was all questions.

    Vas held up a finger to his lips. ¡°Long story. I need to get out,¡± Vas whispered. Miiche glanced at Vas¡¯s finger and giggled, ¡°You really trying to make me talk quieter? Come on, front door¡¯s right here.¡±

    Miiche walked towards the front door casually, and Vas followed behind her while glancing around every corner. ¡°You¡¯re more easily startled than a squirrel. Just relax. Want one of my swords? I¡¯ll trade you for Gorsh¡¯s spear. Is he dead, by the way?¡± Vas just stared at Miiche¡¯s back with horror. How did she know? ¡°Gorsh always had that spear with him. Also, he just came upstairs to grab the thing, looking all angry like. Then you show up holding it and there¡¯s blood¡­ Well, you can keep your secrets. Whatever. But the spear, you should give me the spear. Here.¡± Miiche unclipped one of her sabers, stopped walking, turned around and held it out to Vas.

    The two of them were currently in the middle of around fifty cells full of detainees, and everyone seemed to be watching them. ¡°Take the trade, man. She¡¯s brutal strong when she¡¯s angry.¡± The whisper came from a few cells down. There were dozens of murmurs of agreement.

    Vas shook out of his daze and held the spear out. Miiche swapped it with the saber in an instant.

    ¡°Good. Now, there are two guards outside. What are the chances they recognize you?¡± Vas shrugged. ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll know soon enough.¡±

    Miiche pushed open the double doors, ¡°Hey boys, taken this guy out for a walk.¡± The two guards glanced over at Miiche casually, but upon seeing Vas one of the guards pointed. ¡°Wait. Isn¡¯t that¡ª¡± Blood spattered over the snow and both men¡¯s bodies hit the ground. Miiche¡¯s spear stuck through one¡¯s neck, and her saber had already decapitated the other. Miiche spun around and decapitated the man she had used the spear to stab. Two dead guards in a matter of seconds.

    Vas hadn¡¯t even fully drawn his blade yet.

    ¡°So, V, where we headed,¡± Miiche asked, chipper as usual.

 Chapter 39: Five Days

    Vas walked through the snow besides Miiche. Miiche had always been smart and stronger than most people her age.

    However, more than all of her other attributes, Miiche excelled in one thing: decisiveness.

    She was the person with the fastest analysis and reaction time that Vas had ever met. When she had killed the two guards in front of the brig, she had already thought about it and analyzed other paths of action, deciding this was the one she wanted to take.

    Miiche looked over at Vas, then glanced away quickly. She glanced over again, and Vas caught her gaze. She giggled and looked away.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Miiche shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s good to see you.¡±

    Miiche looked at Vas again, ¡°You don¡¯t have to feel bad about it, and I never got along with them anyhow. Rescuing you and slaying some lecherous bastards was just killing two birds with one stone.¡±

    Vas smirked, ¡°Rescuing me? I was almost out of there on my own.¡±

    Miiche stopped walking and turned to Vas. She didn¡¯t seem to mind her blood-streaked clothes in the least, even though it¡¯d earned them a few funny looks since leaving the brig. She gave him a smug smile.

    ¡°You reaaally think I was just there by coinky dink? I just happened to be working that shift in that brig? I have been looking for you for years, so I naturally made friends with all the captains who go on border patrols. The fellow who delivered you to our illustrious Commander Salar told me some scouts were back.¡±

    At this moment, Miiche stopped her overdramatic gestures. She tapped her head, ¡°I can use this, too.¡±

    Vas squinted at her.

    She wasn¡¯t lying, or else she wouldn¡¯t know about the captain who¡¯d brought him to Salar.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you let that guard bring his spear downstairs, then?¡±

    Miiche grinned at him and put her arm over his shoulder and around his neck.

    ¡°Vas! Vas! If you couldn¡¯t beat that gorilla you would deserve to still be in the brig.¡±

    Vas raised his eyebrows at Miiche, ¡°What if he¡¯d killed me?¡±

    She winked at him, ¡°Like I said, you¡¯d deserve to stay there if you couldn¡¯t beat him. Don¡¯t worry, I would have killed him and fed him to your Risen form in revenge.¡±

    ¡°Risen don¡¯t eat people.¡±

    Miiche shrugged, ¡°At least I¡¯m nice enough to give your hypothetical Risen form the option. Then I would keep you as a pet. I¡¯d spike you to a sled and drag you around with me everywhere I went.¡±

    Vas just snorted and shook his head.

    Most people didn¡¯t realize it when encountering Miiche for the first time, but the girl was a total psychopath. She and Vas had been in the same group traveling north to the Wall many years ago.

    Miiche had grown up in an orphanage and had been forced to kill everyone in it to protect her little sister from them when they turned into Risen.

    Unfortunately, her little sister was mortally wounded in the process and Miiche had killed her, too.

    When they¡¯d both lived under the protection of the Wall, Miiche would often come and spend the night in Vas¡¯s bed. It was only there that she¡¯d be able to fall asleep, after some special tension releasing exercises that boys and girls often perform.

    Sometimes Vas would wake her up with his thrashing, and sometimes she would wake him up with her nightmares.

    Miiche hadn¡¯t had a weapon to fight the Risen in her orphanage. She¡¯d spent weeks there with her sister, constantly trapping them in a closet or setting up barriers to sleep and killing Risen when the chance came.

    There was really only one way to decapitate a Risen without a weapon, and the method Miiche had been forced to use most often still haunted her.

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    She¡¯d been able to find alternative methods from time to time, but when the traps failed and she had to protect her sister, Miiche had done what she had to.

    Because of the decapitating method, even though they¡¯d engaged in intimate relations many times, Vas and Miiche never kissed.

    She washed her mouth multiple times a day every day, but had never felt like it was clean.

    Vas watched Miiche from the corner of his eye as he walked towards where he thought the Scout barracks would be.

    He had a foreboding feeling that his friends might be in danger or dead, but hoped that Commander Salar wouldn¡¯t be so bold to attack them.

    Either way, he knew they had to get there before Salar was informed that he¡¯d escaped from his cell.

    After a few minutes of trudging through the snow, Vas could see the building in the distance. It was the same building they had stayed in before marching south.

    Even though there had probably been closer Scout barracks, Vas and the others had decided on this one as their main regrouping spot.

    Vas¡¯s heart caught in his throat when he saw a large group of people in front of the barracks.

    He didn¡¯t see any unsheathed weapons, and hoped this group was there without violent intentions.

    As they neared the group, Miiche grabbed Vas¡¯s sleeve, ¡°Vas, why are there so many people here?¡±

    ¡°Did you say Vas?¡±

    A young man turned around with excited eyes, finding Vas. Miiche seemed about ready to decapitate this young man, but Vas shot her a ¡°please don¡¯t start killing everyone¡± look.

    ¡°That is my name.¡±

    The young man¡¯s eyes widened even further than they already had been. Vas absentmindedly hoped they would stay in their sockets.

    Vas still had a bad feeling, but the situation didn¡¯t seem violent yet.

    Also, Salar didn¡¯t know his name.

    A young women turned to look at them with eager eyes, ¡°Did you really kill a wolf by throwing your compass!?¡±

    About thirty other faces turned around at this, everyone equally excited.

    ¡°Alex,¡± Vas growled.

    ¡°PRESENT!¡±

    Alex¡¯s voice came from inside the crowd, ¡°Oh, Vas. We were just talking about you!¡±

    All gazes now fell on Vas.

    Miiche scratched her head, ¡°You killed a wolf with a compass? What kind of monster are y¡ª¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t kill it!¡±

    Vas knew he needed to interject now, or he¡¯d never get a word in.

    ¡°I only stunned it for a moment, then Joust beheaded it!¡±

    Alex clicked her tongue loudly and pointed at a man next to her, ¡°SEE I TOLD YOU! He wasn¡¯t even fully conscious so he doesn¡¯t remember the details perfectly, but Joust saw it too.¡±

    The man next to Alex spat on the ground, ¡°It¡¯s still more believable than him killin¡¯ a hundred Risen in one night.¡±

    Vas gaped at Alex, ¡°I didn¡¯t kill all of them!¡±

    The young woman next to Vas widened her eyes this time, ¡°You actually did kill a hundred in one night?¡±

    Vas shook his head, ¡°No! It wasn¡¯t just me.¡±

    ¡°It was mostly Vas! Maybe fifteen or so were split between the rest of us. Nothing was quite as awesome as the final showdown with Hades, though.¡±

    Instantly, the air had a palpable level of enthusiasm. Miiche cocked her head sideways, ¡°Hades?¡±

    Alex¡¯s smile seemed far scarier to Vas at this moment than any Risen had ever been.

 Chapter 40: Four Days

    Vas waded through the crowd and Miiche followed close behind him. After a far longer while than it should have taken, they made their way to the Scout barracks.

    Vas stepped inside and closed the door as soon as Miiche entered.

    ¡°What about the girl? Alex?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll be fine,¡± Vas said bitterly.

    ¡°Vas!¡± Vas felt Selene run into him with a hug at the ready. ¡°You need to wash the blood off you. Get a change of clothes.¡±

    After saying this, Selene inspected Miiche. ¡°I¡¯m Selene,¡± she said.

    Miiche took this opportunity to set her new spear in the corner, then waved at Selene.

    Vas started walking to the back room where he knew he could find a change of clothes.

    After a moment he stopped and turned around, holding out Miiche¡¯s second saber.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Miiche rubbed her eye, ¡°Shucks V, you¡¯re gonna make me cry. Thanking me so sincerely.¡±

    Vas rolled his eyes and put the saber in Miiche¡¯s hand. ¡°Selene, this is Miiche. Miiche.¡±

    Vas caught Miiche¡¯s eye for this. ¡°Be good.¡±

    Vas didn¡¯t know if Miiche would be jealous and go ballistic, or if she wouldn¡¯t even mind Selene. He could never tell. Women.

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    At this moment, Alex burst through the door.

    ¡°VAS! You walked away from me!¡± Alex turned to nod at Miiche, ¡°You¡¯re pretty. Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Miiche.¡±

    ¡°Solid. Aren¡¯t you gonna tell me I¡¯m pretty?¡±

    ¡°How do you know Vas?¡±

    Alex rubbed her nose, thinking about it.

    ¡°Scouts,¡± she said simply.

    Miiche nodded.

    Selene stepped forward and leaned against the nearby wall, ¡°How do you know him?¡±

    Miiche shrugged.

    ¡°He just kind of follows me around, you know?¡±

    Both of the other girls nodded knowingly.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you changed yet?¡± Miiche was who asked the question, but it seemed to be coming from all three of the girls at once.

    Vas growled at them and walked down the hall to the back room.

    There were ten or so other people in some of the other rooms but Vas didn¡¯t recognize them, so he didn¡¯t make conversation.

    When he reached the back room, Joust was laying on a cot.

    He sat up when he saw Vas. ¡°Wow. Been fighting?¡±

    Vas just snorted and sat on a nearby cot.

    He rubbed his eyes.

    Joust stood up and grabbed a spare jacket from Vas¡¯s things.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Vas said without looking up.

    Joust just nodded and went back to his cot.

    Vas knew he should probably start telling them what he¡¯d gotten involved in, but had a strange feeling that none of it would matter.

    They¡¯d only been back for a day or two, but that meant the Risen should arrive in the next four days.

    Vas put his jacket on and leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then heard a loud knock at the front door.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± Vas heard Alex open the door. ¡°You¡¯re¡­¡±

    ¡°Alex? Selene? I thought you were dead!¡±

    Vas¡¯s eyes snapped open and he hopped off his bed.

    Joust wasn¡¯t far behind them.

    This voice¡­

    Vas reached the hallway and saw just who he¡¯d thought he would.

    Sun!

    The man who had trained them before they¡¯d marched south.

    ¡°Sweet eyeless mother of¡­ Vas!¡± Vas strode up to Sun and they hugged. ¡°Joust, too! How many of you made it back?¡±

    Vas shook his head, ¡°This is it. We just got back.¡±

    Sun nodded, not especially surprised.

    ¡°You¡¯re who brought news of the assault then. They¡¯re making me a captain, having me gather people up. You guys lucked out, you get to be my last group of members.¡±

    Vas watched Sun carefully, ¡°No more training?¡±

    Sun shook his head. ¡°If we¡¯re all dead out here, training won¡¯t be much help.¡±

    ¡°At least they¡¯ll never breach the Wall. Any chance they¡¯ll let us go back in there?¡±

    Sun shook his head. ¡°Those scumbags aren¡¯t letting anyone back into their precious Wall. It¡¯s politics. They¡¯re worried the commanders down here might take their power away. I swear their stupidity is going to get us all killed.¡±

    Sun walked away slowly, as if thinking about every step. Vas knew his mind was somewhere else, maybe scheming. Whatever Sun was thinking about, he didn¡¯t seem willing to share it with anyone.

    ¡°Vas, I want you to be my vice commander. I¡¯m sure if you haven¡¯t already been put in a command position you would be good at it.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s been put in a command position alright!¡± Vas glanced at Alex. He didn¡¯t say anything, but he gave her a little frown. She stuck her tongue out at him.

 Chapter 41: Three Days

    Vas woke up to a dark ceiling and then closed his eyes again. The Scout barracks didn''t feel like home per say, but it was better than anywhere else he''d recently stayed.

    He flexed his arms and found that neither had gone numb during his slumber. He''d grown accustomed to numb arms due to sleeping with a partner so often, but had opted for his own bed in the barracks.

    "VAS!" Alex''s shout was something particularly special in the morning, not because of her cheery tone or excited attitude, but because of her mouth''s proximity to his ear.

    "Ow," Vas said as he glared at Alex, whose face was not more than an arm''s span away from his. "I knew you were awake. You always move your arms when you wake up."

    Vas blinked. He hadn''t realized Alex paid such close attention to him while he slept. "Miiche told me. She''s pretty alright if you don''t need a conversation partner."

    Vas sat up and rubbed his head.

    "Can anyone have a conversation with you for very long?" He hadn''t meant to be mean about it, but she did shout in his ear. Alex just rolled her eyes and walked away.

    Vas glanced to Miiche, who was sprawled on another bed in the room watching him quietly.

    "Nothing to add?" Vas was uncomfortable that she watched him so intently.

    The silence lingered a few more moments until Miiche took a deep breath.

    "Since when did you have a little harem?"

    Vas snorted, stood up and put clothes on.

    Miiche put her warm hand on the back of Vas''s cool neck after a few moments. "You still thrash around at night."

    Vas nodded. He equipped no weapon today. He didn''t really have anything worth taking. Besides, if Miiche wasn''t enough to protect him, she could at least stall long enough for him to find a weapon to use. She would insist on following him around all day anyways.

    Selene walked into the room fully equipped. She''d changed into a new set of clothes altogether. Vas had done the same, except for his jacket. Selene nodded to Miiche, and Miiche smiled back.

    Joust and Alex walked in almost immediately after Vas finished putting his jacket on.

    "Ready," Joust said. Was it a question? It seemed like Joust''s statements and questions could sometimes be taken either way. Vas just nodded in response. The little group walked through and out of the barracks. As they went, people would start following them.

    It was unspoken, but because the entire military camp was outside of the Wall, everyone was expected to partake in the fighting. Sun had explained it the night before, something about having waves of people lined up. It felt like some sort of medieval stratagem. Sun''s fighters were in the wave of troops closest to the Wall. The last line. They would provide support and assist in filling gaps where necessary, but were in what was considered the safest position. That along with following the command of the legendary Vas seemed enough to entice people to follow for a chance to be considered a part of Sun''s wave.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Selene and Miiche walked slightly behind Vas to either side while Alex and Joust walked side-by-side just ahead of him. Miiche snickered, "It really is your own little harem," she said. Selene raised an eyebrow, and Alex turned fully around with an incredulous expression. "What?! Ew! Vas is reliable, but just... Ew. Sorry Vas." Miichestuck her tongue out at Alex in response. Vas attempted to ignore the exchange as much as possible, but Joust turned around and winked at Alex. "Don''t worry, you can join my harem." Alex turned and stared at Joust with her eyebrows raised.

    Vas coughed and stared at Joust for a few moments before he finally broke into laughter. In a momentthe laughter overtook every one of them, and they stopped walking for a full minute or two. The people who had been following them were confused but waited patiently.

    Vas and the group arrived in Sun''s camp just in time for the morning ration. The camp was a series of tents and buildings that were familiar to Vas. In the center of it all was the large building where Sun had drilled survival and fighting tactics into new recruits. It was also where Sun had set up a base of operations. Vas and the others made their way to the center after about an hour more of walking. Curiously, almost all of the troops in the camp were also going in the same direction. Maybe for a training exercise?

    When Vas walked through an open door, he saw that the entirewarehouse had been turned into a barracks. Sun came out of nowhere and slapped Vas hard on the back. "It looks pretty nice right now, doesn''t it?" Sun smiled, but Vas knew the man wasn''t really smiling. Vas smiled back anyways, indulging. Sun shook his head. "This building is going to be a field hospital. It''s my base of operations for now, but once the fighting starts we won''t need it for that. Bandages, beds, executions."

    Sun walked forward into another room. Vas, Alex, Joust, Selene and Miiche followed. There was a large table with a rough map of the area which included key buildings, bases of operations for other commanders, troop deployment charts and rough topography. There were also giant flags leaning against the wall. Red, blue, green and yellow. Sun waved away everything in the room in an all-encompassing gesture. "That''s all strategy and communication and whatnot. I don''t need your mind for that part. I need you to help me figure out how to make all these cowards fight."

    "Cowards?" Miiche''s voice came from behind Vas. Sun threw a hand out. "Yes, cowards. The people who don''t want to fight and somehow found their way to the back line. The last wave. My wave. They wanted to avoid fighting and death and they ran all the way to my camp. I can''t use people who won''t fight, and people won''t fight without hope. I was thinking Vas''s little bit of popularity might help with that."

    Vas nodded. The idea made sense to him. "Unfortunately, my entire persona is something Alex made up and tells stories about. On top of that, we''ve only been here a few days."

    Sun smiled at Vas, "Good stories travel fast. Especially stories people want to believe. Everyone in the camps has heard your name, and half of them know a story or two. Don''t underestimate hope." Alex beamed at this and elbowed Joust, "He called my stories good!"

    Vas shook his head and closed his eyes. "What do you want me to do?"

    Sun grinned, "All I need is for you to give a little pep talk and then help with training and organizing troops. We only have a day or so, but if you show yourself around the camp and make a good impression you might give me allI need."

    "A pep talk," Alex said with a maniacal smile, "let me help you write it!" Vas opened his mouth but before he could say anything Sun raised a hand. "As much as I would like Alex to craft an incredible speech for our hero, they should be gathering in the next ten minutes or so."

    Vas was relieved. And a bit scared.

 Chapter 42: The Dark That Ash Brings

    It was two days after Vas had given his speech. Vas had been training with and visiting fighters around camp from dawn until dusk, and it was now dusk on the second day.

    "Commander, it''s time."

    Vas finished his last swing with barely any amount of force. He''d pulled the practice blade back as he''d swung, effectively striking at Miiche with a feint. Even with a real blade, he''d only have cut into her a small bit if it had hit. However, Miiche had parried the blow with ease, dancing in and around to his right shoulder. She lashed out with her wooden katana, and Vas barely had the time to stop the attack with the cross guard of his wooden bastard sword.

    Vas had been reticent to wieldthe long sword at first, but Sun had insisted that its weight and cross guard would prove superior to the weapons Vas had been using. Vas had to admit that when he was forced to fight defensively, the thick double-sided blade and cross guard lent themselves invaluably. The handle was long enough so that Vas could comfortably grasp it in two hands when he required power, but could switch to one hand when he needed a bit of extra reach or an odd angle. Versatility, not all-out offense, was the name of the game with this sword.

    "Commander--"

    Vas snapped his attention to the pudgy man at the door. A big man, but definitely not a very active one until lately. He held a huge maul in one hand. Miiche stopped when Vas did and paced around behind him, watching both characters like a cat stalking its prey. Vas took a breath, held it for a bit, and then let it out. "I''m only a vice commander," he said, trying not to let his anticipation show.

    The pudgy man waved a dismissive hand, "It''s all the same to me, sir. You just tell me where to be, and I''ll be there."

    Vas nodded, "Where is the commander?"

    "Commander Sun? He''s in the old shack. It''s near the warehouse, I''ll take you there. We''ve set it up as your command center, and we''ve been showing messengers where it is all day. They have to be familiar with which building they''ll run to with crucial information, after all." The man seemed like he''d continue speaking on the importance of messengers and whatnot, so Vas held up a hand. "Take me there." The pudgy man nodded, and Vas put his practice blade down and grabbed his real bastard sword. He clipped the weapon in its sheath to his hip.

    As they walked, Vas noticed that there was ash lining the ground. Before now, the ash had never been this far north. Vas guessed it might be spreading. Just another gloomy sign of the times they were in.

    It was barely more than half an hour later when Vas stepped inside the shack. Sun had moved his flags so that they could be easily seen from the roof during the day, depending on which flag Sun wanted put up. However, it was now nighttime, and the first attack was expected to happen in less than an hour. Selene, Alex and Joust were around the table with three other people and Sun. "Glad you could make it," said Sun. The man''s voice was coarse, like he''d been speaking to people all day. "I heard you were still swinging a sword around, so I sent Ham to fetch you."Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Alex watched them and smiled at the rather appropriate name of the large man who had delivered Vas. "Always a pleasure to assist, Commander Sun," said Ham. Sun gave a curt nod, and the pudgy man left without another word. "Hammer, he calls himself. Most people call him Ham and he takes it in stride. He''s my best captain, Vas." Sun looked seriously at Vas. "He''s a good man, a strong man who won''t back down. But he''s lazy and he''s let his bad habits get the best of him. He''ll do his best and he''ll do a great job, but if the Risen get this close to the Wall I want one thing to be clear." Sun looked around the room to make sure everyone was listening before he continued, "If they make it this far, we are the last line of defense. There will be no retreat, no regrouping. If they get this far and we cannot stop them, everyone will die. Behind the wall and beyond it, no one will survive."

    Vas had run past the endless waves of Risen on his way to warn the troops here. This was likely the end of the human race. There would be no survival. Endless waves of Risen. It was like a survival mode on a videogame; there was no end, no victory. Eventually, you died.

    "Commander!" Hammer rushed back into the building like a rolling boulder, just managing to stop before toppling one of the people at the war table. "They''re here, commander. The first line has engaged them. No requests for reinforcements yet, but we have been sent a few wounded."

    Sun hopped and began giving out orders. He sent Selene to check on the wounded, sent Joust with Ham to ready the fighters in case they were required to bolster a defense. He tasked Alex with manning the flags. Even though it was now dark outside, he said he wanted her to practice and get used to putting flags up. Vas suspected that Sun mostly just wanted the room to be quiet.

    Sun also sent the other men at the table off to carry messages to other commanders along the lines.

    Eventually only Vas and Sun remained standing at the table. Miiche stood behind Vas, a dependablebodyguard as usual. Sun leaned against the table and his shoulders slouched, "Vas, we''re all going to die."

    Vas stood straight and watched Sun. "Yes, commander," he said. He didn''t know what to say. Vas looked out the open door. Everything was dark now, inside the shack and outside of it. Dark, cold, wet. "But that was always the case, wasn''t it?"

    Sun snorted and stretched his back. "You were always a smart-ass, weren''t you," he said. Miiche giggled, and both men looked at her, startled by the sound. "It''s not over until it''s over, you know."

    "Commander!" The shout came from one of the door guards. A small man ran inside and saluted, "The lights on the Wall just went out, commander!"

    Sun looked sharply at the soldier, "Which lights?"

    The soldier shook his head. "All of them, sir. The spotlights, inside lights, the entire Wall just went completely dark. It''s harder to see out here than ever now."

    Sun cursed. "We''re going to lose so many men during the night," he spat. "How long would it take to send a messenger to the Wall?" The guard shook his head, "Could be about an hour for them to get there and an hour to get back, if they left now."

    Sun walked up to the man and put a hand on his shoulder. "Start running, soldier. Find out what happened."

 Chapter 43: Into The Wall

    There were more than two dozen messengers crammed into Sun''s base of operations by the time the guard returned with news.

    Being the group of fighters closest to the Wall made everyone assume that Sun would know what had happened.

    The guard gulped in deep breaths of air before he finally was able to explain, "They lost power. It''s the same as what happened in the south." Sun nodded to himself. It seemed logical that the loss of power was connected to the Risen. "What is happening at the Wall? How did you even find out," Sun asked. The guard shook his head, "I couldn''t find anyone bythe elevator shaft. It seems the Wall went into lockdown. As I was leaving the tunnel I heard shouting. I walked up to the outside of the wall and gathered from the gunners that they were trapped inside."

    Sun glanced at the messengers who had been quietly listening. They all looked terrified. "You have what you need, now go report to your respective commanders. I will be sending a small force to the Wall on a rescue mission. "Sir," one of the messengers raised a hand, "Will that jeopardize our battle plan?" "No," Sun didn''t have time for silly questions. "Now deliver your messages."

    The room grew immediately quieter as twenty-seven men shuffled out of the building. "Vas," Sun began as he turned to Vas and Miiche, "You two go see if you can get in through the shaft and open some doors. See if you can bring reinforcements back with you." Vas thought it was doubtful they could bring anyone back down the elevator shaft, even if they did manage to get up it. Most people would probably prefer to stay in or behind the walls. "Would it be better to try and escape behind the Wall and reinforce there," Vas said instead. Sun shook his head. "If those bastards had let us do that a week ago, sure. Now? Even if the elevators were working we wouldn''t have enough time to get our defensive line through in time. Not to mention all the lines we''d be leaving to die. Go, do your best to find some reinforcements." Vas nodded, put on snowshoes, and walked out the door.

    It was dark, very dark. The ash was covering the sky in a way that made the darkness seem endless. Suffocating. Vas had good eyesight, but not even enough to see the Wall. Luckily, he knew the way based on the buildings. He turned to his right and started marching. Miiche walked at his side, "I had no idea we''d get to go on a midnight stroll. How romantic of you." Vas glanced at her. He couldn''t see any expression in particular.

    Maybe if it was a few degrees warmer. A little less dark. If there weren''t Risen killing good people at this very moment. If their one hope of refuge hadn''t just shut down. If ash wasn''t raining from the sky. Maybe it could have been romantic.

    They walked silently, side by side. "You''re such a pessimist, Vas." Vas coughed. No chance he could refute that. "You want to blame the Risen for everything. Blame the situation for everything. Don''t you get it yet? You said it yourself: we were always going to die. The Risen didn''t change that. Nothing changed that. You''ve known since you were a child that you would die. You just didn''t know how or when." She stretched and spun around. She made it look surprisingly easy. "You''re saying I am blowing things out of proportion?" Vas kept walking. Miiche flicked his arm, "You''re letting them win. You have to enjoy this moment, and the next and every single one after it with all you''ve got. This might be the end, Vas."The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Miiche hugged his arm and walked next to him for a time. "How do you know where we''re going? I feel like we could walk in circles out here forever." "It''s noisy behind us," Vas explained, "and we also just passed a marker. There are markers for navigation during blizzards." "Why don''t I know that?" Vas stared at Miiche. He could barely even see her. "You probably should know that, Miiche," Vas said gravely. "Oh shut up."

    Eventually they found the entrance to the tunnel. It was hard to tell if they''d gone straight there or gone in a roundabout way, as it was also hard to tell how much time had passed.

    When they reached the elevator, Vas and Miiche used nearby tools to pry the doors open. The shaft was completely dark, and Vas could not see how far up or down it went. He felt around for handholds and found nothing. "We need light. We can wait until morning," Vas said. "Will the sun even reach into the shaft?" Vas ignored the question. It simply had to. "Even if there are no footholds along the sides, there should be a cable running vertically through the middle of the shaft. We''ll use that to climb up to the cart, then we''ll climb onto it somehow. For now, let''s rest--" Before Vas finished speaking, he heard the clank of Miiche''s blade as she unclasped the sheath and jumped into the deep blackness. Vas gaped as she completely disappeared from view.

    There was a strange sound, which Vas hoped came from the cable he had said might be there. "Miiche? Miiche!"

    Vas waited for a few moments. Nothing.

    Actually, there had been nothing. He''d have heard if she''d hit something other than the cable. A suspicion grew in Vas''s mind. "I know you''re there. Now move so I can jump to the cable."

    Vas heard Miiche sniff. "Not fair, you needed to be more worried. You''re not as cute when you decide to be smart," she said. Vas heard her scuffle up the cable for a few moments.

    "Okay, go for it. The cable''s harder than you would think, so be careful."

    Vas set his sword in its sheath gently on the ground. He jumped into the darkness and slammed headfirst into the cable. He cursed and barely got a hold. "Told you," Miiche teased.

    They shuffled up the line for a few minutes until Vas reached a hand up and hit something much squishier than the cable.

    "That sort of thing will have to wait, I''m afraid," said Miiche from just above. "I''m feeling along the bottom of the elevator car or cart or whatever they''re called. Ahh."

    Vas felt Miiche move out of his grasp and move to a side of the shaft. "Got it," Vas climbed after her, and together they climbed around and over the cart. When they got on top of it, they worked together to find a lever that opened the top. Opening the elevator doors was more difficult this time, since Vas hadn''t had the foresight to bring one of the tools from below with him.

    Eventually they pried the doors open with a groan. Vas took a step forward and pulled back. It was sticky. A sort of sticky he had encountered many times before. He could smell it now, the smell of blood. He felt Miiche tense up next to him.

    This was bad. Very bad. There would not be survivors for much longer. Vas heard a cranking sound and then something that sounded like a huge door sliding open. Then screams.

    Vas waited until the screaming stopped to grab Miiche. "We need to go," he whispered. "No," Miiche said, "The Wall went into lockdown. The guard spoke to people who were trapped. It sounds like the Risen in here are unlockingroom by room and killing the occupants. We can save them."

    With that, Vas felt Miiche step forward. Vas knew he couldn''t change her mind. This was a bad idea. He couldn''t even see. He took a deep breath.

    "Can we at least climb down and get our weapons?"

    Miiche handed Vas a small knife. "I have one of these, too. Stay close to me, we don''t want to kill each other on accident."

 Chapter 44: Abort

    Vas''s eyes were as wide as they would go when he stumbled after Miiche.

    He wanted to pretend they were being brave and accomplishing some important task, but he instead suspected that Miiche was at least three-fourths insane and that they were both stupid.

    "Have you killed many Risen recently," Vas whispered to Miiche. It was more to find her location than to start a conversation. He did not want to be left behind.

    "A few," came Miiche''s voice from a few paces away, "but be quiet, we need our ears to find them." Vas closed his eyes, which had the same effect as leaving them open. "Sometimes they just stand still, you know. One could be standing around the next corner and we wouldn''t know until it attacked us."

    "Then stay behind me," Miiche chided.

    Vas rolled his eyes, which obviously had no effect in the dark. But it made him feel a little better anyways. Another crank sounded in the distance, followed by screams then silence.

    There was a dripping sound to the right, which Vas barely took note of. The huge corridors were remarkably empty. To Vas this either meant people had evacuated or that the Risen were cooperating to methodically kill everyone in the Wall. Vas and Miiche walked with their hands sliding across the left wall of the corridor, and when the wall disappeared it meant they were in an intersection. On the third intersection, Vas''s spine tingled. He immediately stopped walking and listened. Nothing.

    A thunderous crank sounded to Vas''s right. It wasn''t really thunderous, but in the dead silence it seemed that way. Miiche started sprinting towards the sound, and Vas did his best to follow. After a few moments, he heard a door slide open and a person''s muffled voice as though it was behind a group of people, "Finally, a rescue team! Hello?"

    Miiche ran into something with a thump, and immediately proceeded to slice its head off. The creature thrashed about, but she''d beheaded it soon enough. Vas felt a bit of air to his right, and barely backed out of a full tackle. He stuck his blade into flesh as he dodged, but his opponent was barely fazed. It seemed momentarily stunned. Vas could barely hear anything now that his blood was pumping. His heartbeat was the loudest thing in the world at the moment. Vas realized that the dagger would be more dangerous if the Risen were able to use it than if he were. "Miiche, take the second knife." Miiche wordlessly backed against Vas, a warm comfort in the darkness. She grabbed the dagger and struck again at whatever she was fighting. "Hello?" The voice came from inside the room that had just opened. "They''re Risen!" Vas shouted, "They''re killing groups of gunners one after another!" There were multiple muffled curses. "If you all line up with your backs against the far wall I will try to make my way to you when we finish killing them," Vas said. He sounded calmer than he felt, as the Risen who was his current opponent charged him.

    One of the things about Vas that many people did not expect was his extraordinary hand strength. Wielding large swords and training with them for so long had made him stronger, but he''d always had a strong grip. He''d never truly tested his unarmed combat skills, but he knew they were superior to his dagger fighting abilities. As the monster lunged at Vas, he stepped back. He was careful to maintain his balance, but he couldn''t afford to take a full blow when he had no idea where it was coming from. Vas felt a hand grab his left arm, and he whipped his hands along the arm to find the monster''s head. He found it and swung it to the right, which was the wall. There was a loud crack and a spray of fluid. The hand grabbing Vas went limp.

    Another hand grabbed Vas, This time from his side. More Risen were coming. Vas couldn''t afford to move too far, since that would leave Miiche''s back exposed. Instead, Vas powered through the creature''s grip, swung his hand up and grasped the creature''s throat. He squeezed until there was a popping sound, then swung the monster around his body and into the wall. "Vas," came Miiche''s voice from behind him, "Switch." Vas leaned back and found Miiche then rotated around her, trading places with her. The wall was now on his left side, and he was going to face the majority of Risen for a time.

    Something grabbed Vas''s right arm, and before he could react another monster slammed into his ribs. Vas growled loudly and used his left hand to shove the charger to the ground. He stomped on its head with the heel of his shoe. Standing on the corpse made balancing difficult, and the Risen that had hold of his arm tugged Vas forward. "Careful Miiche," Vas gasped as he tried to regain his balance. Something grabbed and bit his right leg, and Vas fell towards the floor. As he fell, Vas yanked the Risen holding his right arm to the ground with him. Vas grabbed the creature''s skull and smashed it against the ground. The thing holding his leg attempted to bite again, and Vas kicked it hard. He heard it slam against the wall. That one wasn''t dead, but there was no time to worry about it yet. Vas got to his knees before the next monster tackled him. Luckily, the monster''s momentum made it easy for Vas to swing it over himself and headfirst into the floor. Vas stood up, unhindered this time.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Vas heard heavy footsteps as something ran towards him. Instead of trying to dodge or back up, Vas tried timing a kick for when the monster would be in range. He missed, which threw him off-balance. The monster grabbed Vas''s outstretched leg, and Vas swung the leg down, ripping out of the Risen''s grip and bringing it stumbling towards Vas. Vas grabbed the monster''s arm and spun it around himself once, then slammed it into the wall. He messed up the angle, so the monster wasn''t dead yet. Vas followed it, grabbed it by the head, and finished the job. The ground was slick with blood now, whichmade it hard to stand straight. Vas tried to listen as he put his back against the wall. He heard Miiche struggling to his right. "Need help with that," Vas asked through gulped in breaths of air. "We need to leave, Vas," came Miiche''s voice, "I was wrong. We can''t save them." "But they''re waiting in the room," Vas said. "They were, but didn''t you hear the screams? Most of the Risen attacked them instead of us. They''re all dead."

    Vas tried to think about it, tried to recall the screaming. It wasn''t there, but he''d trust Miiche with his life any day.

    "Run." Miiche''s voice came as her opponent''s body hit the ground. Vas heard her start to run, and carefully jogged after her. Once the ground wasn''t slick it was easier, so they picked up the pace. "Left here, yea?" They turned left at the first corridor. Vas could hear laughter. He could hear footsteps behind his own. They were chasing him, probably smiling like the stupid monsters they were. Vas knew that the next one probably wouldn''t kill him. The next ten or even hundred might not kill him. But they would kill him eventually. "They''re gaining on us," Miiche said as they passed the first intersection. Two more, then they''d reach the elevator. Vas didn''t respond to Miiche. He couldn''t. He was out of breath. His leg was starting to hurt. His back was sore. He''d probably twisted one of his ankles (if not both) while sliding around in the blood.

    They passed the second intersection. One left. Vas thought about telling Miiche to go on without him, that he''d hold them off or something like that. Mostly, he was just tired of running. But he kept running anyways. They passed the third intersection. They''d run into a solid wall soon. Vas started counting the seconds off to himself, trying to keep running. He hated running. He''d always hated running. He could remember when he''d first decided he''d never run again from anything. But then again, this was more of a tactical retreat than running. Vas could tell that he was losing blood, due to his thoughts starting to go wild. Hadn''t the Risen just bit him once? What if he died from an infection from a single bite wound? How stupid of a way to die would that be? Vas shook his head. "Vas! Here!" Vas stopped just in time to not run into Miiche. They worked their way to the center of the room and slid through the open elevator doors. Vas closed the doors behind them while Miiche climbed through the top hatch. Vas jumped up after her, and they closed the hatch. They could hear Risen open the elevator doors, and they stayed on top of the elevator cart silently. Miiche ran a hand along Vas''s body and then pulled it back. She put a bit of cloth in his hand, and Vas wiped his hands and face on the cloth. When the Risen quieted down, Vas and Miiche climbed around the cart without saying a word. They hung off the bottom and climbed to the central cable. "Use the cloth to slide down," Miiche whispered.

    Miiche slid down for a few moments, then Vas slid after her. They slid in small bursts, and soon they made their way to where they''d come in from. The sun must be rising soon, because there was a dull glow coming from the opening in the elevator shaft. Miiche jumped from the cable and used the elevator doors to pull herself out. Vas was starting to get dizzy, but he made the jump all the same. Vas sat inside the tunnel, taking deep breaths. Miiche wrapped her piece of cloth around Vas''s arm and examined him. Vas watched her and noted she had no visibleinjuries. Ridiculous. "Let''s rest here a bit," Miiche said soothingly, "I''m sorry. We shouldn''t have tried in the first place." Vas shrugged, "It was worth a shot."

 Chapter 45: Beyond The Wall

    The figure smiled at Vas. Time was up. It held its hand out, and Vas watched it curiously. He sent thoughts towards it, tried to communicate with it. It just smiled.

    Vas jerked awake. He looked around. Miiche was pacing and hopping to warm herself up. "Up so soon," she teased, "I''m glad I didn''t have to poke you awake from your peaceful slumber." Vas cracked his neck. Everything felt stiff and sore. "This is what I feel like after a peaceful slumber?" Miiche pursed her lips in thought, "well, it was peaceful for you. You were still rolling around like usual. I tried to stop you from rolling onto your sword, but you were not to be swayed." Vas stood and stretched. He fastened his sword to his waist and checked the makeshift bandage Miiche has put over his arm in the dark. The bite hadn''t been very deep, and it didn''t look worrying.

    "We should get going," Vas said, "No telling how far the Risen got last night. Need to warn Sun that the Risen could attack our backs at any moment."

    There was a bang from inside the elevator shaft. Miiche glanced at the closed door unconcerned, "They''ve been banging away all night and still haven''t figured it out. They''re probably going to be trapped in the Wall for the rest of eternity at this rate." Vas shook his head. "I would have agreed with you once, but I know better now. Not all of them are smart, but some of them are. They''re sort of like people. Different kinds, different strengths. Don''t underestimate them." Vas started walking down the tunnel and Miiche followed. They walked for a few moments in silence, then Miiche cocked her head. "Did you really fight a special Risen? Alex called it Hades." Vas nodded, "That might be one of the stories she didn''t exaggerate." Miiche nodded to herself at this, "I''d like to fight him. If he''s here, you know, fighting." "Be my guest."

    It took about ten minutes of walking before they could hear shouting. Fighting. "They''re already here," said Miiche, "That means they must have beaten at least the first two lines of fighters during the night." Vas nodded, his stomach twisting, "Not everyone can fight like you in the dark, Miiche." Miiche turned and gave Vas an incredulous look, "I killed maybe three of them, but I''m pretty sure the crushed skulls and blood all over the floor didn''t have much to do with me. I swear I tripped over at least three or four bodies that I didn''t make." Vas smiled wickedly at the memory. He could barely even remember the fighting. He thought about it a bit, "We were lucky they didn''t have weapons. If they''d found the backup armory already we would have been run through in a heartbeat."

    When they exited the tunnel it was a scene of blood and death. The Risen were fighting with humans, and it seemed to be the last line of human resistance. Each man was matched by a dozen Risen. The monsters seemed endless, and their numbers covered his entire field of vision to the south. Vas drew his sword and moved towards the nearest skirmish that blocked his path to Sun''s command center. The final line of defense was still holding, but there were many pockets where men had been encircled and were forced to fight off multiple monsters at once. When Vas approached, a few Risen dashed his way. Vas knocked the first one''s spear out of the way and shoved the creature past him. He heard a gurgle as Miiche finished it off. There were two left now, and Vas engaged the closest one before the final one was in range. Vas charged and knocked aside the Risen''s sword, then followed through with a decapitation. The last Risen was upon him now, but Miiche took it to the ground with a swing. She finished cutting its head off after knocking its weapon away.

    They had to get to the base of operations. Vas knew that it was unlikely, but since there still seemed to be some semblance of order he thought it was possible Sun was still in command. Vas parried a blow from a nearby Risen and kept moving. One of the defining things about a battle was that there was danger on all sides. Focusing on any one area or target had a way of being deadly for those involved. A random bolt or ricochet could end your life if you were just a bit too slow. Vas dodged to the right as a human fighter was stabbed through the chest and fell over. Vas decapitated the fellow without a second thought and kept moving, while Miiche finished off the Risen who had dealt the killing blow. Things went in a similar fashion for the next few minutes. Vas fought to keep himself from focusing on any one thing, and tried to keep note of the things going around him all at once. He devoted the majority of his attention to his front and left side, which was the direction he was heading in. Miiche would cover his back, so he never turned around. He would glance to his right occasionally, but since he was moving left he was often able to avoid and danger coming from that side. The whizzing sound of a crossbow bolt flying overhead made Vas cringe, but only momentarily.

    They moved through the battlefield easily at first, but as they started to near Vas''s objective, there were fewer and fewer humans. Vas was forced to engage a new enemy for almost every step he took, and Vas started collecting wounds. Little by little, scratch by scratch, Vas weakened while the enemies grew stronger. Miiche kept Risen off his back, so the injuries were all very small, but after sustaining multiple cuts and bruises Vas was feeling far less the warrior than when he''d begun.

    At that moment, as Vas struck down the Risen in front of him, he caught a glimpse of the command center. The small shack had a defensive perimeter around it, and seemed to be the central location for the last line of human defense. Vas struck another monster and glanced up to see a figure nearly twice as tall as every other figure on the field. It had a long sword sheathed on its waist, and used a huge maul as its main weapon of choice. Vas recognized the maul as having once belonged to Ham, the pudgy captain. The giant monster used its maul to clear human and Risen alike out of its way. Vas knew this creature. "Hades," he said through gritted teeth. He knew he should be terrified, but at this point he was just annoyed. What chance did they have when the already unkillable Risen could pull out a beast like that?Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Miiche seemed invigorated by the sight, and worked her way in front of Vas. Vas covered their backs and they quickly made it through the last six or seven Risen. When they reached humans, they were let through. Vas turned just in time to watch Hades break through the line of humans. He took a knife from Miiche and hurled it at the monster. The knife lodged directly in the creature''s chest. Hades took a large step forward, crushing a man under the weight, and smiled up at Vas. "So you WERE here," it hissed in its grinding fashion. "Where did you think I would be?""I thought perhaps you were hunting the Patriarch in the south. How lucky for me that you returned just in time to die."Vas watched the creature for a few moments, trying to decide if it was messing with him. Was there really a Patriarch? If he found out that they could have defeated the Risen by heading further south... Vas wanted to scream.

    Miiche stepped in front of Vas and drew her katana. Hades smiled at her and took a huge step forward, swinging the maul at the same time. It crashed down with a speed that even Vas hadn''t anticipated, and burrowed deep inside the snow. Miiche barely dodged the blow by rolling to the right, but before she regained her balance Hades swept the maul diagonally towards her. She put her katana down just in time to use it to nudge the whistling weapon of death away from her head. She redirected it enough so that it wouldn''t hit her, but the edge of the maul hit her shoulder with a crack. Miiche winced and took a step back. Hades saw his opportunity and followed up with another strike. Vas took the moment to slice Hades'' huge leg, and was able to take a fair chunk out of it in time to save Miiche''s life. "Two versus one?" Vas raised his eyebrows at the monster. "Are you saying it''s unfair?"

    Hades'' grin widened, and he threw the hammer at Miiche. It took her in the chest and she fell to the ground. Vas gritted his teeth but stayed focused. He used the moment to slice into Hades'' leg once again. Hades calmly pulled the nodachi off his back. He drew the nodachi from its sheath and tossed the sheath aside. The giant monster took up a fighting stance. It made Vas want to cry. There was no way this was a fair fight. Vas set into his own fighting stance and glanced around. The Risen were not attacking any longer, and they along with the humans in the area were watching the fight. Hades swung. The reach of the monster''s arm was unfair, but Vas knew the reach of the weapon very well. It came almost as fast as Vas could react, but Vas was slightly faster. He dodged to the side and towards Hades, and took a swipe at the monster''s arm. Hades dodged away from Vas''s blade and sent out another heavy blow. Vas didn''t have time to dodge, so he used his sword. Hades was far stronger, but Vas didn''t meet the blow head-on. Deflecting Hades'' attack to the side opened up another strike path, and Vas swung into Hades'' front leg, which was planted for the attack due to the monster''s solid fighting stance. Hades withdrew his leg, but not fast enough. After the third gash on the same leg, when Hades put weight on it, the leg broke. Hades toppled to the ground and Vas took a swing at the now vulnerable neck.

    Hades caught Vas''s blade with his bare hand. Vas didn''t have enough power behind the strike to push through, so he ended up being stuck there. Vas immediately let go of his sword and jumped backwards, just in time to avoid the killing swing of Hades'' nodachi. It was at this moment that Miiche launched into the air and used her momentum to strike at Hades'' neck. The monster laughed as the blade barely went a fourth of the way through. Miiche dodged the follow-up attack and pulled Vas''s sword with her on her way back. She handed it to Vas and turned back to face Hades.

    As they watched, Hades stood back up to his full height. The gash on his neck became a puffy red glob and then faded into a scar. "You are right. This does seem unfair."Hades cracked his neck and turned away from Vas. "While this has been fun, the game has come to an end." With that, Hades walked away. A body that Vas recognized stepped forward and aimed a machine gun at him. Thousands of other Risen did the same. "Jade," Vas wondered aloud, dazed. Jade just smiled back at him as the lights in the wall came on. "Fire,"said Jade.

    <hr>

    It was in the darkness once again that Vas saw his smiling companion. He knew there was no way to go back now. He was as dead as dead can be. Yet he was still here. Vas took the smiling specter''s hand and everything slowly became light again.

    <hr>

    He was laying on an extremely comfortable mat. When he sat up he looked around at white walls. He had the feeling that it was morning, and wondered how he knew. Bvoptins reassured him that it had been monitoring the time of the exterior world. Pretty soon, Vas lost memories of his childhood. His father. He could still remember everything starting from when he began his march to the Wall so long ago.

    Beginning re-initiation. Personalities integrating.Why didn''t Vas feel concerned about this? His mind was speaking to him.

    Vas knew this was Bvoptins, but he didn''t know why he knew. Bvoptins was a part of him, in the same way his hands were a part of him. Bvoptins handled menial tasks such as memory, thought acceleration, calculations, reactions. Bvoptins also acted as a companion when required and could have conversations with him.

    Vas looked around. This was his room. He held his hands in front of him. It was a different body, but these were his hands. His name wasn''t Vas, it was Atrau. He had named himself Vas. Atrau Bvoptins. In the real world, people had one name, and their personal assistant''s name worked as their second name. Humanity was not on the brink of extinction, it was thriving. Atrau had been alive for many hundreds of thousands of years. Atrau could remember more now. Every month, his community would participate in a game, which would go on for exactly one week. They would use accelerated cognition to simulate between one month and one hundred years, and they would play a different game each time. The Last Stand had been a full-amnesia experience, where everyone chose their identities and given skills before entering the game, then got to experience it as if it had been real. Their memories from the real world were stored by their personal assistants, and when they died in the game the personal assistant took their place as the Risen, while the person could watch the game as it went.

    Atrau''s Vas character had been a celebrity, and he''d had millions of concurrent viewers. Atrau himself had never been the dark brooding type, and the experience had been extremely satisfying. Atrau checked the status of the game and found that the humans had actually won the encounter. While the majority of the race had been extinguished, a small unit had managed to penetrate south and kill the Patriarch. It had been a few days after the massacre at the wall, but it was still a victory.

    Atrau stood up, accepted an invitation for an interview, and walked out the door.

    The End

 Epilogue: Risen

    Alex waved the red flag a few more times as she stood on top of the command center. It was supposed to signal unexpected danger and request reinforcements, but she could see the other command centers were all responding with yellow flags. "Hold on, you''re probably just going to die because we''re too scared to come help you," basically. Vas and Miiche were fighting with Hades below, and Joust was helping Selene defend the entrance to the building.

    She set the flag down. She was going to have to kill all of these stupid monsters. Just had to get to Vas and--

    At that moment, the ash in the sky acted oddly. Something about the way it cleared away. Lights suddenly appeared from the Wall, as if the power had suddenly decided to work again. Then Alex heard something she hadn''t heard in a long time. Gunshots. Not from the Wall, but from right next to her!

    She glanced over the edge of her building, only to see the worst outcome. Risen throughout the battlefield around the command center had revealed that their guns-which she''d assumed were junk-were working! Obviously, a lot of the guns didn''t work. Even with firepower returning to the world, they still had gone unused for a long time. A fair number even backfired. Alex cursed when she saw Vas go down to more than a dozen shots. Miiche, who''d been next to him screamed and managed to attack the Risen closest to her, but she also fell after a few more bullets. That Risen looked oddly familiar, but Alex decided not to think about it too much... Lots of Risen looked familiar these days.

    Fortunately, it looked like Miiche had done enough damage to the Risen she''d attacked, and even more fortunately that Risen had been a commander-type! When it fell, so did the majority of the gun-wielding Risen around the command center.

    "Get the guns!" Alex shouted, hoping the people nearby would hear her and listen, since at the moment everyone seemed to prefer standing still.

    Alex ran inside the command center to see Joust holding multiple bloody bandages across his chest and shoulders. Selene was tending to wounds on his back, and when she saw Alex, she shook her head sadly. Joust wasn''t doing well.

    "Joust, where''s your gun?" Alex asked, hoping to bring some levity to their situation.

    Joust help up an assault rifle, to Alex''s surprise. "Here, commander." Joust looked pale, but he had a satisfied smirk.

    Alex grinned, surprised. "Where''s Sun?"

    Joust shook his head. "I think you actually are the commander, Alex."

    "Well sh..." Alex glanced around the room of dead eyes, people without hope. "Sure. I''m a great commander. Let''s shoot these zombie creeps apart til they have to use their teeth to crawl around."

    Selene gave Alex a smile, playing along as best she could. "What should we do next?" Good. Hope. Missions. Assignments. Something to do. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Alex thought for a few moments, knowing that she had to think fast. "We need to take advantage of the confusion. The lights are back on, in the Wall." Alex held up two fingers, looking around. "We''ve got two options. One, we go to the Wall and hope they let us in. Two, we try to kill our way to one of the other command centers. I''m in favor of the Wall, but mostly just because it''s a shorter walk." One of the men leaning against a nearby table coughed, and Alex was pretty sure he was just trying not to laugh.

    "Oh, and grab guns. They''re, you know, working now." A couple of people snickered, and Alex clapped twice. "Let''s go!" Everyone stood, or did their best impression of it, and they made their way out of the command center. Everything outside was chaos, and Alex just tried to get the attention of people who were still alive as they went. She picked up guns, shot them at Risen until they were empty, picked up other guns, and kept on going that way.

    When they neared Vas''s bloody corpse, Alex patted his hair. "You did good."

    It was hard not to cry when Selene broke down and hugged the bloody figure, and even the fading Joust seemed devastated. "Keep moving!" Alex shouted. She had to drag Selene with her. The people around her were able to make a good perimeter simply due to the fact that the vacant Risen around them that had belonged to the defeated commander were blocking their view from the aggressive Risen.

    Unfortunately, even as they neared the tunnel to enter the Wall, Alex noticed something wrong. Aggressive Risen seemed to be coming from the Wall. It would explain a lot if the Risen had been able to gain a foothold when the Wall lost power.

    Even worse, as they neared the elevator, along with a hundred normal Risen, a huge Risen blocked their path. He''d been planning to enter the Wall as well. Hades. No matter how many bullets went into the creature, he seemed to be regenerating. He mostly ignored them, bent on getting into the Wall. The elevator arrived at ground level, and dozens of Risen burst out as the doors opened. Hades ignored everything and entered the elevator.

    "Shoot the elevator!" Alex couldn''t let him win. She knew he''d probably get into the Wall somehow anyways, but she wanted to spite him one last time. "Bring it down!" Glancing to her side, she saw that Joust had fallen over. He was unconscious now. Alex grabbed his gun and fired at the elevator. Selene followed suit. Eventually, one of the bullets did its job and snapped some cord, sending the entire elevator screaming back to the ground level at top speed.

    Alex and Selene, and around seven other people fended off the dozens of Risen rushing them. Alex ran out of bullets first, and switched the grip on her gun to bludgeon an oncoming monster. "YOU!" She heard the angry voice of Hades call out as he burst through the Risen and people in his way. Hades swept a large sword at her, and she dodged, cutting at his huge leg with a blade she''d drawn. It healed in front of her eyes, and she dodged away from Hades'' next attack. Next to her, Selene was cut down by a Risen.

    At that moment, she resolved herself. She wouldn''t become one of them. She waited for the opportune moment, and positioned her neck in the perfect place to meet Hades'' blade. That was the end.

    <hr>

    Alex woke on a comfy mat... Bed?

    Beginning re-initiation. Personalities integrating. For a moment, she was two people. Then, suddenly, she was whole again. Eva sat up. "Cassie, when is my interview?" Cassie, Eva''s personal assistant, responded by adding the thoughts to Eva''s mind. She would be interviewing Atrau Bvoptins and Carni Fersov. She''d known them in the game as Vas and Fem. It was going to be a little weird to try and put her feelings aside as she interviewed them.

    Eva sighed. Just thinking about the last game gave her chills. It had been so awful, so terrifying. She wanted to go find Jade, Selene, Joust... Give them hugs!

    In fact, after these interviews, she was going to do just that.