Byzantium Infected Box Set

by James Mullins

  Back in the Governor’s office Athea and Liana were unable to do more than hold the damned in the doorway. Even with Assala’s help, the flood of damned was difficult to contain, much less push back. Then it happened, a bad run of luck. As Athea was finishing up a kill and taking a step back to avoid being bitten. Assala stumbled on the tile floor, made slick with the blood of the damned, and fell forward.

  Both Athea and Liana lunged forward and stabbed, but their efforts weren’t enough. As Assala tried to stand, one of the damned, an elderly woman grabbed her arm, bit down, and pulled a piece of her flesh away. Assala screamed in agony as blood poured out of her arm. Her red blood mixed with the purple on the tile floor creating a pinkish colored liquid.

  Athea and Liana nimbly twisted out of the way as all, of the undead fighting them turned and dove for Assala. As more damned joined the feast, her screams echoed down the hallway. Constan’s rhythmic snoring stopped and he began to stir. Damon sat up and groaned.

  “My children feed!” Fonda exclaimed, “Soon all of your flesh will be torn from your bones.”

  With the damned feeding on Assala, Liana and Athea, joined by the other surviving females of the group, took advantage of the situation and slew all of the undead in the Governor’s office. Governor Maurice noted how distracted the damned had become when one of them succeeded in feeding. Could I use that to escape somehow? He looked over at his wife and smiled.

  “What is there to be so happy about?” Julia asked.

  “Just a pleasant thought dear.” Governor Maurice replied.

  “Stop wasting time on pleasurable thoughts.” She poked him in his ample gut, “You’ve spent far too much of your life focusing on pleasure.”

  The Governor, happy at Julia’s irritation, smiled and said, “Of course dear.”

  “Have you thought of a plan to get us out of this situation yet?” Julia asked.

  “I have a few ideas sweetness. They need some refinement.” The Governor replied.

  “Then refine them already. The vexatious nature of this situation is unacceptable. If you would have done a better job of foreseeing this, we wouldn’t be in this situation now.”

  The Governor elected to not respond to his nagging wife and instead turned his thoughts inward. During the conversation, Athea and Liana had managed to push out into the hallway. They were joined by the other five survivors from their unit Talisha, Eutropia, Novin, Lucretzia, and Priska. Talisha and Eutropia fought against the damned that were entering the hallway through the window, and Liana and Athea began fighting their way in the direction of Baltazar and Athos. The other two ladies stood in reserve between the two groups.

  Maarika joined the ladies out in the hallway and began providing support in both directions with her sling. As Maarika left the room she glanced back at Nasir. He sat on the floor leaning up against the couch that Constan slept on and stared blankly at the ceiling above him. His arm muscles were so fatigued that they shook with exhaustion. Maarika thought to herself, We could really use you in this fight love. Curse that idiot Farid for his shortsightedness. These foolish Romans could have conquered the world if they weren’t so busy trying to stab each other in the back.

  Out in the hallway, completely exhausted, Baltazar began to falter. A large damned, an armory worker whose muscles rippled from long hours feeding the furnaces, reached up and grabbed his sword arm. Baltazar cried out in pain from the pressure of the viselike grip and dropped his Spatha. The blade clattered to the floor as the damned, reached for Baltazar with his left arm. Baltazar shrank behind his shield to avoid the grasp and yanked his right arm free of the beast’s hold.

  The unholy beast, moved around Baltazar’s shield and reached for him with his hands. As the hands grasped Baltazar’s arms, a gladius cleaved through them. Erupting in a purple gout of blood, they dropped to the floor. A second gladius penetrated the damned’s skull and the handless corpse fell to the floor. Baltazar looked up to see who had rescued him, Liana smiled down at him.

  “Need a hand love?” Liana asked.

  Speechless, Baltazar nodded. Liana reached down and hoisted him up. She pointed down the hallway toward the door to the Governor’s office, “Think you can make it on your own?” She asked.

  Baltazar nodded weakly, “Aye. Be careful. I couldn’t bear to lose you now.”

  Liana smiled reassuringly, “No worries love, I’ll be right behind you, as soon as we collect Athos.”

  Liana turned toward Athos and Athea. Athea had taken up Baltazar’s shield. She used it to clumsily block an attacker and then counter attacked by jabbing her gladius into the creature’s mouth. Liana ran up and said, “Let me have the shield. It’s too heavy for just one of our arms. You kill I’ll block.”

  Athea smiled in relief as the weight of the shield was taken from her. Liana, using both of her arms, hoisted it into place at Athea’s left side. As another of the damned stepped forward to attack, Liana smashed the shield into the undead horror. Athea, then finished it with her gladius.

  The two women, fought beside Athos, occupying the spot that Baltazar had vacated. Athea turned to Athos and yelled over the din of fighting, “We need to do a fighting withdrawal into the Governor’s office. The damned are climbing through the window at the end of the hallway, so they are behind us now too.”

  Athos ducked under an attack. He then swept his Spatha through the legs of his opponent severing them. He then stabbed downward as the legless creature hit the ground. The blow struck home and his blade penetrated the skull ending the threat. Before his next opponent could present itself he asked, “How are they getting through the window?”

  Athea, finished off her opponent and replied tersely, “Does it matter? They are behind us and I don’t think the rest of our unit can hold them back for long without shields. We need to all retreat into the Governor’s office, and bar the door.”

  Athos sighed in frustration at the turn of events, “I wish we had more shields so we can hold in the hallway. If something else goes against us in the office, there will be nowhere else to retreat to. You two take the first step back and then I’ll step back. Watch where you take your steps. With so many bodies on the floor you can easily trip if you are not careful.”

  Athea, unconsciously switched from her role as Athos’ partner, into her new role of being his subordinate in the 5th Parthica, “Yes, sir”

  Step by step the trio retreated down the hallway toward the Governor’s office. The damned, their numbers seemingly limitless, continued pressing their attack. At the other end of the hallway the women, had managed to move a few feet forward toward the window. These few precious feet had come at a heavy price as Eutropia and Lucretzia had fallen to the damned.

  This left the last three ladies, Talisha, Novin, and Priska holding the hallway. As Athos, Liana, and Athea neared the Governor’s doorway, Constan emerged into the hallway. Still looking haggard from the long night, and then day of fighting, he looked up and down the hallway taking in the tactical situation.

  “Bloody hell,” Constan said to no one in particular.

  Quickly determining the point of highest need, Constan drew his Spatha and moved to assist the three women holding the line against the window side of the hallway. Fonda, sensing victory, pushed her minions to attack with a relentless fury that was quickly wearing down the surviving fighter’s resolve. In the space of the few minutes it took Athos, Athea, and Liana to complete their fighting withdrawal to the office door, both Talisha and Priska had fallen to the damned.

  Damon, now fully conscious, joined Constan and Novin in holding the line facing the window. As Athos’ group drew even with the door, both groups began to withdraw into the office. Athos used his shield to hold back the damned on his side, as Liana and Athea used theirs to face the opposite direction and provide a barrier that enabled Constan, Damon, and Novin to withdraw behind.

  As all but the shield bearers made it into the office, Athea tugged on Athos and Liana’s sword belts and said, “We’re all in. S
tep back into the office and we’ll close the door.”

  In between kills Athos and Liana stepped back into the doorway. Shoulder to shoulder Athos turned to Liana and said, “You go ahead I’ll hold the door.”

  “Yes, sir.” Liana said.

  Liana took a step back into the office, so that only Athos stood between the damned and the office. He let loose a war cry to try and intimidate his opponents, it didn’t work. Next, he turned his shield horizontally so that it covered the entire doorway and pushed with all his strength. The shield slammed into the two damned facing him, forcing them to take a step back.

  Before the damned could recover Athos jumped back into the office and yelled, “Close the door!”

  Athea and Liana pushed on the door with their combined strength, and it yielded quickly to their collective efforts. As the door was nearly closed a set of putrid arms grabbed the edge and began pushing. Within moments several of the damned on the other side had positioned themselves to add their strength to the effort of pushing the door open. Overmatched, Liana and Athea, began to give ground to the damned. They were being pushed back and the door began to open again.

  Before anyone could intervene to aid the two women, one of the damned managed to slip into the room. Constan drew his Spatha and stepped forward. Before the damned, Constan actually recognized her as one of the women that sold cloth in the agora, could sink her teeth into Liana he brought his Spatha down.

  The former cloth merchant, moved quicker than Constan had anticipated. Instead of his Spatha striking the skull, it came down on the neck and severed her head. At that same moment Athos, and Damon joined the ladies to work on pushing the door shut. The sudden extra force worked and the door began shutting once again.

  The door would have had enough force behind it to close before the damned could add enough muscle on their side to make up for the slain cloth merchant, save for the fact that her corpse was wedged between the door and the wall. The corpse’s bones made a crunching noise as the heavy oaken door struck the headless body.

  “Mary, virgin mother of God! Can we get this door closed already?” Governor Maurice exclaimed and he threw his immense bulk against the door.

  The added weight of his enormous body was the tipping point. With the added pressure from the Governor, the bones of the wedged body yielded, punctuated by a snapping noise, and the door finally slammed shut. They quickly dropped the bar into place.

  Chapter 43

  Late Afternoon September 29th 636, Governor’s Palace, Damascus, Syria Province, Byzantium

  Trapped

  “We’re trapped in here surrounded by damned on all sides. Now what do we do?” Julia asked.

  “We pray, and we wait.” Constan replied.

  “That’s not good enough Tourmarches, we can’t stay in here forever, and those bastards outside will wait us out.” Governor Maurice, said.

  Constan cast a glare in the Governor’s direction and said, “Aye, sir. Athos, Damon and Nasir, with me. We need to figure a way out of this mess.”

  A loud thump came from the door and it shuddered at the impact.

  Constan’s shoulders slumped and he sighed deeply, “Quickly it would seem.”

  “We need to come up with a way to distract the damned long enough to gain a foothold on the ground and then fight our way out.” Nasir said.

  Constan nodded, “Aye, but how do ye propose we do that from the second floor? We only have two options of escape. We can go back through that door.” As Constan pointed to the door it shuddered again from the blow of the damned’s battering ram, “Or we go over the balcony somehow and get back to the ground.”

  “Then what, fight our way through hundreds of damned, with two shields between us to the east gate?” Damon asked.

  “Does anyone have a better idea?” Constan asked. The door once again shuddered at the impact from the battering ram.

  The Governor moved to his desk and said, “Someone help me move this desk up against the door, it will buy us some time.”

  Athos and Damon assisted the Governor and a few moments later the desk was placed up against the door on its side, “And now we brace the desk with the couches.” The Governor ordered.

  Everyone pitched in. In less than a minute, the four couches in the room were piled up against the desk. The next time the battering ram struck the door, the sound was muffled by the desk and the couches. Thanks to the added weight of the furniture, the door did not shudder as much from the blow.

  Turning back to the conversation Athos asked, “Does anyone have some rope?”

  Everyone shook their heads no to Athos’ question. I think I see the direction his line of thought might be going. Governor Maurice thought to himself, “Would curtains work?” He asked.

  Athos pondered the Governor’s response for several moments and then nodded, “They might.”

  “What did ye have in mind, lad?” Constan asked.

  “If we can lower several of us simultaneously to the ground, we could form a perimeter, so that everyone else can climb down and join us on the ground.” Athos said.

  “But where would we go from there? What good would it do us, to be on the ground surrounded by the damned?” Damon asked.

  “What good indeed, especially when it would be easier to just stay in this room and hold the door when it breaks.” Nasir added.

  A sudden thought occurred to Constan and he snapped his fingers, “I’ve got it. There is another way out of the city that doesn’t involved fighting our way down Straight Street to the east gate.”

  “What way?” Athos asked.

  Constan smiled, “The latrine right below this room.”

  Damon held his nose shut with his right thumb and index finger. Grinning he said, “I think I know where you’re going with this.”

  “We get everyone down on the ground. If ye remember from earlier, they’ve already broken the shutters on the windows to the latrine. We just have to get into the room, break the marble seats and crawl through the sewer to freedom.” Constan said.

  “Yes, that could work.” Nasir said. He paused for a moment and then added, “How do we distract the damned so that we can lower our best fighters onto the ground to form a perimeter?”

  “We would need a distraction.” Baltazar suggested.

  “I think I know how to provide one.” The Governor said. “Let’s tear the curtains down and tie them to the balcony rails. They should easily hold the weight of one of you. I’m not entirely confident they’ll hold me, so I’ll go last.”

  “You heard the man, snap to it.” Constan ordered.

  Everyone in the room worked to bring down the red curtains that separated the balcony from the Governor’s office. Working as a team, within moments, the four curtains were down. Athea rubbed her fingers on the gold thread used to create an ornate design a few inches shy of the edges, “I think this is spun with real gold.” She marveled.

  “It is spun with thread made from that most precious of metals. Good work getting them down intact, now tie two of the curtains together.” The Governor ordered.

  Once two of the curtains were tied together, Athos picked the set up and carried it out to the balcony. The dull thumps on the door continued as he secured the curtain to the white stone railing of the balcony.

  “Go ahead and release it, so we can make sure it will reach the ground, lad.” Constan ordered.

  Athos reached his arms out over the railing and dropped the rolled-up curtain. The curtain unrolled as gravity took hold of it. Athos, and Constan stuck their heads over the railing and watched its progress as it struck the ground with about a foot to spare.

  Governor Maurice smiled, “Good, now do the same with the other one.”

  As they quickly tied the other two curtains together, Constan observed the damned’s reaction to the curtain that now hung off the balcony. All of the damned that could see him thrust their arms up into the air in his direction. Including those directly underneath. As their hands came into contact with
the fabric their fingers closed around it.

  “Bloody hell, the buggers are going to climb up here.” Constan said.

  Maarika came over to the railing and looked down at the damned as they tried to pull themselves up the curtain. She took out her sling and put a bullet into each damned that tried to grasp the curtain, “Great shot, lass.” Do ye think ye could get them all like that?”

  Maarika smiled ruefully, “Sadly, no. I wouldn’t have nearly enough of my lead bullets for that.”

  Constan sighed, “Too bad we didn’t bring some of those repeating crossbows along. I’m not sure how we are going to distract them long enough to get two people down.”

  As Athos and Damon appeared on the balcony with the second curtain, the Governor replied, “Leave that to me, I have an idea. Just let me know when you are ready to try.”

  Constan nodded, “Aye sir. Hope whatever distraction you are planning is a big one.”

  “The Governor smiled malevolently, “Trust me Tourmarches they will find it irresistible.

  Constan turned to the group and said, “I think we should drop Athos and Baltazar first, they are our best fighters. The second group down will consist of Damon, and Nasir. Then myself and Novin. Next up will be Athea, and Liana. Before the Governor, who volunteered to go last, Julia and Maarika should come down. Then finally the Governor.” Constan turned to Maarika, “Do you have enough bullets to provide covering fire?”

  Maarika, looked into the small brown leather satchel of bullets resting on her right hip. She dipped her left hand into the bag and made a quick mental tabulation of the quantity of bullets within, “I think I have about twenty-five shots left.”

  Another loud thump struck the door to the office, punctuated by the sound of wood cracking. Constan glanced in the direction of the door before responding, “Good, that should be enough for the operation. Athos and Baltazar, you should descend with the two shields on your back. That will provide you some cover while you climb down. Be ready for immediate deployment once you’ve reached bottom. Does anyone have any questions before we get started?”