Cursed Earth (Kat Drummond Book 12)

by Nicholas Woode-Smith

  I wanted to go to them. But I couldn’t be everywhere. I had to pick a place to be and win that engagement. And then the next. And the next. And hopefully, eventually…there’d be an end.

  As I neared the west-side breach, I saw a fracas. A broken formation of fighters, armed with all manner of melee weapons, were fending off abhorrent as they slowly scaled the barricade. They didn’t care about the barbed wire. Their plate-mail blocked the worst of it and, even as the barbs hooked into their exposed flesh, they didn’t balk. They didn’t care about their leaking, noxious blood.

  I began jogging, then running, tearing into a full sprint. Sword forward, shield facing the enemy.

  “CHARGE!” I yelled, letting spittle fly. Flames erupted from my coat as my men let out their own yells. A thunderous war-cry.

  We couldn’t shock or scare the undead, but we could devastate them.

  We laid into the undead ranks. I smashed an abhorrent with a machete for an arm, shattering his chest plate as I smacked him prone. The Crusader that he’d been slashing recovered, gritting his teeth and laid into the undead with his axe. Around me, Crusaders, official and honourable, pushed the undead back. Cutting, slicing, stabbing. Weapons scraped against metal, sending up sparks.

  I beat back another abhorrent with the Aegis, before slicing the head off another who had tried to attack one of my men. Treth blinked in and out of existence around me, slicing up enemies. To others, the abhorrents heads must have just been falling off at random.

  More abhorrent poured into the breach. My coat flared, ready for the fight and singeing the undead who got too close. Crusaders tackled a flaming abhorrent to the ground, stabbing through its visor to get to its brain.

  “Kat!” Treth yelled, as a bloated zombie cleared the breach, sprinting towards us like a fat kid looking for candy.

  “Behind me!” I bellowed, charging the bloated zom, shield-first.

  I dug my feet in just as the zombie exploded, sending bone and metal shrapnel all around us. I couldn’t have defended everyone. I looked back to check the damage.

  The bone and shrapnel had frozen in the air, before dropping like dice, click-clacking into the concrete.

  Kyong dropped his shield with a flourish, holding his fingers together as if about to meditate. I grinned. Oh, how I was glad to see him!

  “Shield wall!” I commanded, as I saw the dark horde regrouping on the other side of the breach, ready to send the next wave.

  Metal and polycarbonate shields clinked and thudded as they locked into place. I took my place in the centre. A riot cop with a survival spear on my left, an orc with a hatchet to my right. We blocked off the street. Black, gold and red fur flickered at the top of my vision, as werewolves dropped down from the rooftops, collecting the wounded and pulling them behind our lines. Many had just been cut or stabbed. But many others had been bitten. They were put down. We’d mourn later.

  Trudie, in wolf-form, nodded towards me. I nodded back, just before facing the tide of undeath. Cast-iron and plate armour, carrying claw-hammers, machetes, axes and any sharp implement one could find. These weren’t the grotesque and make-shift undead warriors we were used to fighting. This was an army.

  “Hold the line!” I yelled. “Steady!”

  The enemy was close enough to smell. A putrid stench of rot mixed with the smell of oil and grease.

  Senegal pulled an orc out of the line of fire, pulling him onto the rooftop, just as an abhorrent swiped at the both of them.

  More explosions in the distance. Gunfire and the roar of combat.

  I dug my heels into the asphalt, as Treth held me steady from behind.

  The abhorrent hit us, pushing back the wall as they thrashed, trying to break through our shields and gnaw on our arms.

  I slid back. The orc to my side was bitten. He only grunted. Orcs were immune to necro-blood, after all. It was just a cut for him. He responded by cleaving the abhorrent before him.

  The abhorrent kept pushing. Pushing. A shockwave knocked them back. Kyong!

  “Attack!” I yelled, taking advantage of the moment.

  I stabbed forward, letting Ithalen bite right through the abhorrent’s chest-plate. It dropped, allowing the orc to behead it. The line of abhorrent fell, just as more poured through the breach.

  “Shields!” I yelled.

  Some fell, but others managed to lock their shields with mine, creating a wall against the new undead. If it were possible, these new abhorrent seemed even more ferocious! One of them lifted up its visor, revealing blackened, sharpened teeth, as it tried to gnaw into the Aegis. I stabbed it through the mouth, letting its teeth bite down on my quicksilver blade.

  An explosion of dark magical energy made me look up, as gunmen fell from the rooftops. Another blast of corruption magic fell onto the roof, giving the undead just the space they needed to start scaling the buildings, using each other as a ladder.

  I hastily searched for the source of the magic. The drake let out its screech once again. Like the grating of metal and bone. Full of rage and anguish. A spotlight kept sight of it, as bullets and tracer rounds trailed through the dark sky, trying to hit it. I recognised the vampire on its back. The one who had escorted me. He threw down his dark magic, turning more gunmen into blackened skeletons.

  But I had more pressing concerns. Abhorrent were scaling onto the rooftops and running to flank us. If they got behind us…

  “Kyong!” I yelled, pausing to grunt as an abhorrent collided with my shield.

  He let loose a volley of punches, bursting the heads of an entire squad of abhorrent before turning to me.

  I inclined my head to the rooftops.

  “Cover our flanks!”

  He saluted me and crouched, before propelling himself into the air and landing on the rooftops, shredding abhorrent as he did so.

  “Keep holding!” I yelled to my fellow shield-bearers. The undead relentlessly hammered at us. Men and women fell as abhorrent managed lucky shots. We tightened the wall, not allowing a breach where our comrades had fallen. Werewolf medics dragged them away, taking them to the HQ. Cindy and the purifiers would be working themselves to death. Literally, in some cases.

  I bashed an abhorrent back, stabbing another, just as I heard booming footsteps. Before I could cry out or even react, a car was flipped over, crushing abhorrent and the living alike to my side, as a fleshy monstrosity covered in spindly arms charged through its undead brethren like a rampaging elephant.

  It plowed right into the shield wall, sending me flying.

  The shield wall was broken. In a haze, I watched as abhorrent charged, falling on my comrades and devouring them.

  A dark figure charged towards me. I tried to lift the Aegis, but it was gone. I couldn’t feel my arm. I raised Ithalen, just as my vision cleared and I saw the abhorrent looming towards me, holding a spiked sledgehammer above its head, ready to turn me into mincemeat.

  Black blood sprayed as its head popped like a watermelon. I only realised there’d been a bang after the abhorrent fell to the ground.

  I turned and saw the flicker of light from a scope on a rooftop. Behind it was Henri, already pulling back the bolt for another round.

  Guess he could still shoot!

  He fired again, skewering another abhorrent between the eyes. It fell, shivering, but then rose. Bullets were unreliable against undead. Sometimes, they burst their heads open like balloons. But other times, they were little better than BB guns.

  I stood, just as Treth caught an abhorrent’s blade with his shield. I beheaded the abhorrent and surveyed the battlefield as it fell.

  Undead poured through the opening. Many stopped to devour the corpses of those we couldn’t save. Orcs clung to the writhing, pulsating abomination, chopping at it to no avail.

  “Fall back!” I yelled, standing my ground and repeating my order until the majority of people were falling back to the next barricade. I charged forward, cutting down undead as they pursued my allies. My arm stung as I beat back the undead.
Two abhorrent charged me. I tried to bring up my left arm. Nothing happened.

  Treth manifested and cut down the one abhorrent as I kicked back and then stabbed the other.

  I looked at my left side. My arm was limp. The Aegis was gone. The abomination must have dislocated my arm during the fight! And now the Aegis was buried under a horde of rotting monsters.

  Gunmen wearing Crusader dark-grey opened fire at the horde, as one pulled me back. The orcs didn’t stop their unrelenting hacking of the abomination, as it smashed them into the walls of the building, and other undead pulled them off to feed.

  Golden, glowing lights shot past me as pixies flew past our lines, chanting. The pursuing abhorrent suddenly fell into the asphalt, as if it was quicksand. Roots and vines shot up out of the road and soil, choking them. Some of their heads popped off, oozing black blood. The abhorrent who survived were soon skewered by fast growing branches.

  Remind me to never mess with pixies!

  The gunmen who had pulled me back sat me down, just as an armoured truck sped out of an alleyway, screeching to a halt. It blocked the street. Some of the undead who had bypassed the pixie traps crawled underneath the truck, as Crusaders chopped and stabbed at them. The truck shook as something large hit it. The abomination!

  I tried to stand and winced. The abomination hit the truck again, denting it. Abhorrent began scaling the truck. Some fell at every blow from their giant comrade. But, enough managed to get over. Gunmen fired, letting abhorrent fall in clusters onto the floor.

  “Sit still, Last Light!” a woman spoke. I recognised her. The purifier from Gareth’s pack. Her hands began to glow gold as she gripped my dislocated arm, and popped it back into position, slowly infusing me with vitality.

  I nodded my thanks, just as Kyong leapt over the truck. Black blood splattered like a tidal wave, raining over us. Kyong jumped back to our side. Abomination down. But more were coming! He punched and kicked, devastating abhorrent with every blow. But there were so many of them!

  I stood, drew my seax in my left-hand and re-joined the fight. Like a whirlwind of steel and quicksilver, I slashed at the invading undead, beheading and skewering them. Now, this barricade had almost fallen. I caught glimpses of the main square, just in front of the HQ. The gunners in the trenches were already opening fire. Other flanks must have fallen. Fire fell down from the balcony of the HQ, coating the undead with flames. They were climbing atop each other’s scorched bodies. Like at Ithalen. They were endless. How many people had the Necro Lord infected? How many families had been destroyed and raised up as his rotting slaves?

  More undead fell on us, many dropping from the rooftops as I cut into them. Kyong was panting. His usual furious flurry was slowing down. Even if his spark wasn’t flagging, he was still only human.

  An abhorrent loomed behind him. I tried to cry out, just as a splendid, golden werewolf tackled the abhorrent to the ground. The massive alpha bit down into the abhorrent’s neck, crunching through steel and ripping its head off. A brown wolf joined it, slashing at more undead as additional werewolves charged into the fray.

  Gareth and his pack gave me new confidence, and I sped up my attacks. Slashed, stabbed. Beheaded two enemies with a single strike. Two abhorrent grabbed me. I let my coat burn, incinerating them.

  A werewolf was grappled by a bunch of undead just before me. Now free, I charged to save it, just as a shard of black energy pelted into it. The werewolf’s golden eyes bulged out, and exploded, as it fell dead on the floor.

  I looked up. Black robed figures stood behind rows of undead on the rooftops, raining death magic on us. Many of them would be necromancers controlling this lot. Keeping them organised.

  I wondered if the Necro Lord had even pitched up. But it was too late to expect that the most vile man I’d ever met might have lied to me.

  “The rooftops!” I shouted. Gunmen looked up from the combat on the ground and opened fire. Black-clad gangsters returned the fire, using the rows of abhorrent as cover. CDF and Crusaders fell by my side, as camo-robe wearing mages hastily incanted shields to keep back the worst of the enemy fire.

  Chaos. Everywhere. A firefight between the high and low ground. Zombies and abhorrent streaming down the street. My arms were numb. But I kept swinging.

  Trudie dropped by my side, panting. Her teeth were coated with necro-blood. She had to be careful. She couldn’t die from it, but it was dreadfully toxic.

  “Save the wounded!” I grunted, over the cacophony of gunfire and screaming of incantations. “Secure the HQ!”

  Trudie nodded, before howling. The Gibson twins, their splendid blonde fur matted in black, leapt out of combat, and followed their alpha as they started trying to save as many as they could.

  Undead were filling the gaps behind us. That meant more breaches. More fallen.

  Almost unconsciously, I began falling back. The Gravekeeper was to my side. Gunmen fired from its windows. Others were trying to scale the walls to fight the dark mages on the rooftops.

  The front window of the tavern shattered as the owner of the Gravekeeper burst through, zombies on his tail. He opened fire with his shotgun, splattering a few. Others overwhelmed him from behind, clawing at his back and pulling him down. He kept firing as they devoured him.

  The undead drake let out another deafening screech. Closer, this time.

  I turned to see where the sound was coming from, just as dust filled the air. The Gravekeeper exploded, rubble ripping into armoured cars and slaying human and undead alike.

  Through the ash and dust, I saw a colossal figure looming over us. Writhing arms covered it like fur, where concrete, clay and metal didn’t protect its vulnerable bits.

  The debris in the air cleared as it hoisted its massive arm, ripping a chunk of rubble out of the ground.

  Bullets and fireballs pelted harmlessly against the golem as it raised the rubble into the air and like, it was bowling overarm, hefted the rubble towards the HQ.

  The rubble bounced off a translucent shield, then scattered to the side and crushing undead, fighting man to man with Crusaders around the HQ. There were too many of them and the flamethrowers were no longer spreading their inferno!

  The drake screeched again. And this time, I saw it.

  It loomed over the shield, shooting dark energy towards it. Munitions pelted harmlessly into its dark shield. At an impasse, it dropped below the shield, and landed on the HQ.

  I felt a sudden rush of anxiety. Brett and Guy were on that balcony!

  I turned to rush towards the HQ. To save my new family. But a horde of darkness stood in my way, and the golem loomed above us.

  I swallowed and gritted my teeth.

  I had to believe they could handle themselves up there. I had to.

  I steeled myself and faced the horde. The dark tide kept coming, and I stared it down.

  Survivors stood at my back, holding their guns, swords, clubs, axes and magic.

  “Hold the line!” I shouted, and gripped Ithalen even tighter, as the new wave hit us with unrelenting force.

  ***GUY***

  Men to my sides clutched their ears in pain as the drake screeched. Even my cousin dropped, wincing. Years ago, he would have shrugged it off. But that was before we’d lost Transkei. He was different now. But so was I.

  Brett and I held firm. We’d heard the death cries before. We didn’t only fight vampires. In Drakenbane, we’d gotten our fill of the beast this vamp was riding.

  I released a salvo of silver rounds towards the beast and its rider with my dual pistols. Brett opened fire with his auto-shotgun. The grapeshot tore into the drake’s wings, but it remained flying, hovering just above us.

  “If only we had brought the harpoon gun!” Brett yelled, dropping his aim to fire at zombies scaling the walls. One of them was wearing a police uniform. Had it been that long already? We were already replenishing the enemies’ ranks with our own.

  I didn’t know if we could win this, much less survive it. But I had to trust in Kat.
She was crazy enough that this could work. I had to believe that.

  A gust of putrid wind fell on us as the drake pierced the barrier. I stopped my salvo and reloaded.

  “Keep the shield up!” Brett yelled to the mages, who were paling as they incanted. I saw spittle and bile around their lips. Touching this dark a weyline must have been making them sick. I could only imagine what my beloved Cindy was going through.

  A dark weyline for a mage of light was poison. And, even with her spark, she’d need to go swimming in it. And she would. Because that’s the type of woman I was going to marry.

  “Brett!” I yelled. “Vamp incoming!”

  Brett gritted his teeth as he fired his shotgun and was rewarded with a click. He kicked a zombie back and reloaded, before looking up. The drake beat its rotting wings, knocking one of the mages over with the shockwave.

  I heard laughter from its rider. My blood began to boil. I knew what rode this beast. And I’d faced their like before. I had heard this very laugh. The gloating of a monster.

  I wondered if this creature had ever been to my homeland. I wouldn’t let him live long enough to let me know.

  CDF and other gunners opened fire on the drake and its vampiric rider. Dark magic crackled from the vampire’s fingertips, bursting a soldier to my side. My cousin dropped his depleted rifle and picked up the soldier’s, firing on the assailant. The bullets pelted into the drake like water into a sponge. It didn’t even shrug them off.

  The drake landed, crushing a gunner. It swept its tail out, tripping up mages who were then consumed by the zombies. The shield was faltering, flickering in the firelit night sky.

  Crusaders backed away, their back to the gate to the HQ. My Cindy was in there. And so were most of the healers and the wounded.

  I gritted my teeth, as I reloaded again. I froze, as the drake turned, allowing me to see its rider. He stared back at me, a fanged grin on his face.

  “What a surprise!” the vamp boomed, his voice resonating with predatory menace I was too used to. “A Blood Hunter and a Corpsman. Two scum. One for me, one for my pet. Which will be which?”