by Josh Hilden
Cheers could be heard across the battlefield. The defenders rejoiced in a victory before returning to their life and death struggle.
Kyle was grinning when Clay shouted from behind him. He whirled around to see what had the man upset. In the distance, he was horrified to see the black clothed commander of the enemy force, the refugees called him Baker, was ripping into their line of defenders. Then they all saw Liam hurl his Pike at the man and attack.
“Rangers, to me!” Kyle yelled. The men and woman who’d just dealt a potentially fatal wound on the enemy turned to retreat and attempt to aid their leader.
19
Lisa
The Wolverines had been forced to move fast and hard, in order to swing wide to the left and get behind the enemy. There were almost 100 armed and armored human soldiers, and maybe 2,000 of the Dead, pushing against the thin line established before the Army of the Dead arrived.
“We need to drop as many of the living troops as we can.” Lisa said to Sam as they observed the last of the forces pass them by. They began to engage the defenders under Liam’s command at extreme distance.
“We only get one shot at this Doc.” Sam said.
“We are outnumbered and outgunned, we have the advantage of surprise and we need to use it.” She said and then gave the hand signal. 20 Wolverines moved forward. She wondered again if they’d sent too many of the fighters back to White Harbor with the civilians. But this was not the time or the place to second guess the decision.
They went silent as they worked their way past a house, half burnt in one round of fighting or another. None of them expected to live, but this was what they needed to do. Too many people they’d loved had been lost on the journey north. Now they were faced with this abomination composed of survivors who’d sold their souls for the proverbial 30y pieces of silver.
“Go!” Lisa called out. The clump of Wolverines in winter hunting camouflage broke into two man fire teams spreading out in a loose half circle.
“Fire at will,” She said into the small radio clipped to her coat.
20 rifles began firing on the force of living troops. The living servants of the Dead assumed they were safe behind the screen of walking corpses. In the first two minutes, half of the exposed troops were dropped by deadly accurate fire, and the remainder turned and attempted to engage the hidden fire teams. Their fire was inaccurate, but had a higher volume than what the Wolverines were able to generate. While the Army of the Dead had a nearly limitless supply of ammunition, the defenders were counting and rationing every shot.
“Well, we have their attention, Doc.” Sam said from his position next to her. He was grinning. She wondered if the man had a bit of an invulnerability complex. She knew the story of what happened to his family, and she worried that what he wanted more than anything else was a noble death.
“Yep, that was the plan.” She said, then sprung up and put a .30-06 round through the windshield of an armored Jeep Liberty. Apparently she scored a kill shot, because the SUV veered to the right and ploughed through three of their own men. Lisa dropped down before the return fire buzzed over their heads.
She was about to rise and shoot again, when she heard the sound of rockets firing. Several seconds later, that was replaced by three explosions. Then the fire from the enemy slackened off. She slowly lifted her head over the partial wall they were using for cover, and saw the smoke and flames from the bridge.
“It looks like the kid pulled it off.” She said to Sam.
“Well good,” Sam said and then sprung up and popped off three quick shots from his carbine taking down two of the enemy. Apparently, he was not the only one with that same idea. All around her, the surviving Wolverines increased their fire on the enemy. The soldiers of the Army of the Dead broke under the shock of their armor being destroyed and the withering fire from the defenders. The once semi-unified force of black clad infantry broke apart and scattered in every direction.
Lisa jumped up and cheered, but her whoops of joy were cut short when she saw the activity in the distance. Liam was engaging the leader of the attacking force in one on one combat, and he was losing. In the distance, the horde of the Risen Dead continued to advance on the defenders, who were holding the line and fighting for their lives.
20
Liam and Baker
Liam circled the center point of the 15 foot area, with General Adam Baker locked directly across from him. The two men were the representations of the old and the new worlds. Liam was the grizzled veteran, with more than 40 years of experience in the arts of warfare. Baker was the vanguard of the new regime. They were the titular heads of the opposing forces, and the next move in the war would be determined by the man who walked away victorious.
“Give me the woman and you can walk away from this old man. You and the rest of your people can leave this place and live another day.” Baker said.
“Would you, if you were in my place?” Liam asked.
Baker grinned thinly and shook his head, “No, but I respect you. I felt that I should offer you the opportunity to leave this.” He passed his axe back and forth from hand to hand as he spoke and circled, his motion was almost hypnotic.
“Spare me. My friends and my family are not going to allow you and your people to continue this insanity.” Pike in one hand and cane in the other, Liam matched the younger and bigger man’s movement’s step for step.
“Such a pity,” Baker said. Then lightning fast he sprang at Liam and jabbing the head of the axe at the older man’s head. Liam was almost caught off guard, but managed to sidestep the blow by less than an inch.
Liam struck back at the bigger man with the tip of the fighting pike, digging into the side of the enemy leader. He then followed the dig with a strike to the side of the man’s head with his cane. Baker stumbled back, and Liam pressed the advantage. He knocked the axe to the side with his cane, and ripped the pike across the General’s chest with a savage swing of the arm.
Baker was startled by the vicious movements of the man before him, and for the first time since he had taken the mark of his God he felt fear. He’d expected the brave but slightly crippled man to be no real challenge. But here he was, falling back under the rapid attack. He attempted to bring the axe up and strike, but for the second time the man blocked the blow and countered with a blow to his knee that nearly brought him to the ground. Then he heard the voice of his Master in his mind.
“Are you a man or are you just meat for the beasts?”
Fear surged through Baker as he anticipated the pain that’d come before when Rudolph attacked his mind. Instead he felt a wash of strength channeled into him via the sigil on his head, and he was again filled with power. The next time that the old man went to strike him, Baker easily deflected the attack with his axe. Then palm struck the man in the face.
Liam flew to the ground. For a second the world went dark and he could feel the gorge in his stomach heave. He had not believed the man would have the energy to strike back with such force. He’d felt the air around him spark seconds before the black gauntleted hand delivered the blow and taken the initiative from him. Liam looked at the giant man, and prepared himself for the next move. He would only have one chance to avoid the death blow that was coming.
But that didn’t happen. Instead the air didn’t just crackle with energy. It exploded with heat and light. Liam turned his head and shielded his eyes as he stared at the source of the light and power. At the mouth of the bridge, a lone figure stood, and was surrounded in a blinding corona. He heard a voice in his head, it was a voice that he’d only recently become acquainted with, but it was a voice he already loved.
“Dad, Sam, Kyle…you have to act now. I can’t hold them for long.”
It took a second for Liam to realize that it was Lisa’s voice. Then another to realize every one of the Risen Dead in the area had come to a complete stop. The defenders now had an opening to detonate the bridge and get their people out of the area. If they stayed and tried to mop up the
remaining enemy they might not survive. Liam felt hope rise, and then crash as he realized that none of the living enemy had stopped…and his opponent was advancing on him again.
21
Rudy
Things were not moving the way Rudy wanted. He could feel the anger of his God growing in his mind. Things had to move forward or there would be a penalty to pay, and he would be the one who would have to pay it. Those bastards had been better prepared to stop them than he’d believed. Perhaps he should have listened to Baker and approached the situation differently, but the man had been so rude. Now his armor was either destroyed or trapped on the bridge, and the spearhead of his army was on the other side fighting the enemy with no backup. But he was still confident his people could clear the wreckage, and the advance would continue. This was just a minor setback.
“Lord Clarke,” one of the communications people said, running to his throne truck from the communications van. “My Lord, there has been another attack and the armor has been hit with rockets again. Sir, the forward commanders are asking for permission to halt the advance on the bridge and retreat.” The runner seemed calm, but Rudy could feel the fear through his pale lesser mark. The messenger was never actually safe in the Army of the One True God.
“NO!” Rudy roared and he could feel the rage and the blind hatred of his God fill him. “You tell them to advance, you tell them to clear the wreckage, and you tell them to find that bitch and then feed her fucking followers to the beasts!” Spittle flew from his lips as he snarled these commands out. The young man cowered before him, bowed and then ran back to the radio van.
“Come here, boy!” He yelled to the new servant that he had acquired. He was a 12 year old black boy with beautiful eyes. “Kneel before me.” He told him and drew back his cloak. The boy advanced, and the swollen eye was barely noticeable. He had learned very quickly not to tell Rudy no.
A few minutes later, as Rudy was nearing completion, he felt the distress of his champion across the reach. He bent his mind toward Baker, and entered the warrior’s thoughts. Baker was being beaten by an old man with a cane, this would have angered Rudy and caused him to punish the General again, but he could see the aura on the smaller man. He’d been touched by something, much as the General had been touched by God through Rudy. The man’s aura radiated a blue white only Rudy could see. Rudy was rocked by the voice of the Angel in his mind. This time the Angel sounded half crazed with anger and desire.
“The man must die! He is a Protector of the forgotten Speaker. He must die to open the path to her!”
Rudy reached out again and touched the General, and all of the Dead he had gathered here in the bitter cold for his assault on the bridge. When the connections were established, he then began to channel the lion’s share of his own power to them. When he’d finished with the metaphysical transfusion, Rudy felt drained and collapsed onto the throne.
“Here, boy!” He said to the boy, who had retreated when the connection with God’s Angel had been made. The boy came to him, and Rudy snatched out with lightning quick reflexes and drew the boy’s throat to his mouth. Rudy buried his unusually sharp teeth into the boy’s carotid artery, and drank deep of the hot sticky fluid flowing from the wound. The boy shrieked and bucked in Rudy’s grip but he was unable to break his steely grasp. Rudy felt energy flood back into his body as the life force of the boy drained and then disappeared.
“Magnificent!” Rudy cried as he threw the limp and pale form of the boy over the side of the truck to Rise and join the ranks of the Dead.
“All things are possible, as long as the One True God is on our side!” He cried to his followers and minions. His forehead ripped with energy. His eyes glowing a bright red.
On the bridge the legions of the Risen Dead began to use the sheer power of their numbers to push the broken and wrecked armor over the sides, at the cost of hundreds of the Dead smashed into twitching piles of bones and meat. In a few minutes, the bridge would be clear and the remaining armor and artillery would be free to obliterate the pitiful warriors defending the North from the forces of the One True God. Further ahead, the Dead facing the line of defenders began to move faster and react quicker, as they now raced toward the men and women who’d seen and done too much on this cold Michigan day.
22
Lisa
Lisa was horrified as she ran toward the man that was for all intents and purposes her Father-in-law. Liam was a blur as he battled the dark man with the axe. For a minute, it appeared he might actually have a chance to stop the General of the Army of the Dead. As she was closing the distance, she felt as if a dark cold wind was blowing through her soul. She dropped to the ground with her stomach cramping in agony. Sam dropped to a knee next to her, and put a hand on her back.
“Doc, what’s wrong?” he asked.
She was touched by the concern she heard in his voice, but she was only able to gasp out a short answer.
“Something’s coming…”
Then Baker received a recharge, and he struck out knocking the older man to the ground. That was when reality changed for Lisa. She began to see things in a way she was almost unable to comprehend.
Once, when Lisa was a young Lieutenant assigned to her first tour in Afghanistan, she and few of her friends got their hands on what they’d been told were “Magic Mushrooms”. Unlike Sandy, who had experimented with every substance she could get her hands on when they had been younger. Lisa had never tried any drugs. She’d rarely drunk alcohol either. But that day she’d bowed to her own desire to do something different. To escape the dry and harsh reality that she had been thrust into.
During the experience, everything became surreal and colorful. Everyone around her seemed slightly out of joint, and almost cartoonish in their aspect. She’d ended up sharing a sleeping bag with another young officer whose name she could no longer remember. What she did remember were the freckles across her breasts that seemed to dance like something in a Disney movie while they fucked. It’d been a night she would never forget, but it had also scared her a little, to feel that she was not really in control of her own actions. That night was as close as she could come to describing what was happening to her now.
Everything became bright and sharp in her vision. Each object seemed to have many layers she knew somehow had always been there, but which people were normally blind to. The people she observed were all surrounded by light of varying hues and intensities pulsing and swirling in a crazy kaleidoscope pattern. There was an almost imperceptible network of micro thin webs connecting everyone and everything, and they seemed to be vibrating and singing just beyond the normal range of hearing. Lisa wondered if animals could see and hear these things, and then knew they did. She was almost lost in the beauty of the scene when she heard her sister’s voice…and then she saw Sandy.
Sandy Sutton stood before her, dressed in a bright white sundress and hat that would have been appropriate for a wedding in the middle of the summer. She radiated a brilliant white light. Peace and serenity washed off of her in gentle waves. Then Lisa began to cry, because she knew that her sister was dead.
“Hey sis, it has been awhile.” The perfect image of her sister shimmered as she spoke.
“Sandy…you’re dead aren’t you,” Lisa said. It was not a question, because the truth of it was obvious.
“I suppose so,” she said and then grinned at her big sister, “But Pa says to tell you that he loves you and he’s proud of you.” All around them the world seemed to have frozen and gone silent.
“What am I supposed to do?” Lisa asked her.
“You already know what needs to be done Lisa. The Dark Priest has to be stopped, and the link has to be broken, or the Dead will continue to Rise until there are no people left on the face of the Earth who do not wear the mark of Ast-Murath.” Now she sounded stern and ancient. Lisa felt that in this moment, she was the child and Sandy was the parent.
“How long have you been dead?” Lisa whispered to her sister. Sandy flashed the chi
ldish grin which had been her constant expression when they were children.
“Time has no meaning here Dear Heart. I have been here forever and I have just arrived. But I guess from your perspective, I died the day that the Dead began to Rise.” She sounded sad as she said that last.
“Did they get you?” Lisa asked, giving voice to her fear for the first time since the world ended. The idea that her little sister had been torn apart by the Dead had given her nightmares.