Chapter 116 - Out Of Time

  The enemy gave us almost a full hour to prepare before they came after us. I was surprised, because I figured they’d charge across the road much sooner, but instead they waited until literally all of the sunset was gone, not even a hint of pink remaining in the sky. Only then did they begin their approach.

  It was more than I possibly could have hoped for. The extra time was a godsend. It gave us time to prepare, more time to set things up so that maybe we’d have a chance after all.

  Our goal remained the same: this was a holding action. We weren’t going to be able to stop them, not all of them, not in an open field battle. It was fewer than a hundred defenders up against a horde that looked north of eight hundred undead strong. Even thinking in terms of numbers like that was insane. I couldn’t imagine how we were going to win this mess, so we weren’t going to try. All we needed to do was stall them long enough that they had no chance of blowing up the Guard base before daybreak.

  “Here they come,” Kara said, pointing. She was right—the zombies surged forward in a mass. They spread out, but not especially much. Rather than sweeping down the hill toward the highway in a wave, they kept some basic organization, moving more like a very dark, very angry river. I chalked that up to the wraiths flying above them, keeping them in line and under close orders.

  We were positioned in the field just on the other side of the highway from the approaching menace. We’d set our first defensive line about a hundred meters back from the road. The reason for that would be apparent to the enemy shortly, if we’d done everything right.

  There was still too much that could go wrong. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, watching as more undead marched their way out onto the highway, quickly shambling their way closer to us. I flew over to Farnsworth. I wanted his feedback about when we should initiate our first move.

  “They gave us more time than we hoped,” he said as I landed.

  “Yeah, and I think we used it well. When do we light off our first stunt of the night? We wait until some are across?”

  “I think that would be best. If we get some of them to our side first, that should help,” Farnsworth said. “But you’re the commander.”

  “You have the experience,” I countered. “Arguably, you should be in charge.”

  He shook his head. “I’m an NCO. I’m used to advising officers who are a little wet behind the ears, and you’re better than most. At least you listen!” He chuckled. “I’ve had some lieutenants who were functionally incapable of taking advice to save their own lives.”

  “How’d that work out for them?” I asked.

  “Posthumous medals, generally speaking,” Farnsworth replied.

  I shook my head. “I’ll try not to follow in their footsteps.”

  “You do that.” He grinned. “Seriously, you’re a lot better than most. You have a bit of a hot head and you like charging into the middle of things. That could get you killed, if you’re not both lucky and good.”

  “I know it’s a risk, but I’m the strongest person we’ve got! If I don’t fight…”

  He cut me off. “If you don’t fight, we lose. I get it. The world is different than it was back then. In the old world an officer who led from the front lines was an idiot who was going to quickly get himself—or herself—killed; then their leaderless army would fall apart. Things have changed now, and the strongest among us, the best warriors and fighters, are also going to tend to be our leaders. I don’t know how comfortable I’ll ever be with that idea, but I understand.

  “At the same time, if you die, we all lose, and most of us will die as well. It’s important you understand that, because if you fall there’s no one else here who can stand against these wraiths, let alone the undead leader.”

  “I know,” I said, feeling the weight of his words settle onto my shoulders. “I’ve always known. Since pretty early on, when I was one of the only people who had combat powers and was able to fight, I’ve known where all of this was going, at least in my gut.”

  “And now here you are.”

  I eyed the road. The first zombies were now fully across, stumbling their way onto the grassy western side of the highway. Ten of them crossed, then twenty, forty, and still they kept coming. The line of zombies stretched all the way back to the mall, still, like a river that kept flowing without slowing. I couldn’t tell if the whole force was just gathered outside the mall, or if there were still more undead pouring out of the building. Either way, it was a scary amount of foes headed our way, even if they were all tier one and two.

  “How long do we wait?” I asked.

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  “We want to hit them at just the right time, I think right before they crash into our lines,” Farnsworth replied.

  The enemy line was fifty meters away from us now and coming fast. It wouldn’t be long. They had maybe a hundred zombies on our side of the highway. I figured another minute, tops, and they’d reach our front rank. Sue stood ready a few meters away from me. All I had to do was send a mental command and my dino would kick this whole thing off in style.

  “Steady…” Farnsworth said. The undead were fifteen meters away from us.

  Ten.

  Five.

  “Now!” Farnsworth called.

  I sent the order to Sue.

  My dinosaur was on standby to set off the trap we’d placed for the enemy. Once Sue received my mental order, they spat a Fireball at the enemy. It wasn’t aimed at the front ranks, though; it wasn’t aimed at the zombies on this side of the road at all. Instead, the Fireball slammed into the center of the zombie river right in the middle of the westernmost highway lanes, the south-bound ones.

  It was the ratkins’ fault, or credit—take your pick. I had Patches send some out across the farm looking for anything which might help us out. They came back with some cool crap! There were a few massive steel rods they’d yanked out of somewhere. Each one was ten feet long and almost two inches thick. I had no idea what they’d been for, but they went to arm the Abominations.

  The ratkin also found a few enormous tanks full of foul-smelling stuff that they couldn’t identify. It turned out one was heating oil and the other two were diesel fuel. While none of them would explode anymore, thanks to the changes from the Event, all of them would still burn. While we were waiting for the enemy to attack, I’d had my Abominations haul the tanks up onto the road and then rip them open, pouring the liquid everywhere.

  It was still there, all over the road, even trickling off into the median and the grassy side, a little. The mix of fuel oil and diesel stank even at this range, but if the wraiths had seen what we were up to, they hadn’t done anything to stop it, and they’d marched their troops right through the trapped zone anyway.

  Sue’s Fireball hit and immediately everything caught fire. The flames lashed up and down the highway, catching up zombie after zombie in the rush of heat.

  The wraiths were still on the far side, commanding from the rear as they brought the undead to a stop so that no more would march into the fire. I thought about what Farnsworth had just said about command. It was interesting to see the wraiths not leading from their front, but then again—they had a horde they could expend. There were enough zombies they could afford to lose a few hundred and not worry about it especially much.

  About fifty undead were on the road when it went up. Most of them burned before they could finish crossing the highway.

  That left about two hundred assorted undead on our side of the road, and for a very short period of time, it was just them against us. The wraiths might be able to fly over, but based on their past behavior I didn’t think it was likely. The zombies still waiting across the fire couldn’t get any closer until the flames died out. We had time.

  “Charge!” I shouted, straining my voice to reach everyone.

  I rushed ahead, flying so I could be seen by my troops. The Abominations were right behind me, a vanguard of towering undead flesh. When they crashed into the zombies their impact literally tossed bodies into the air, sending enemy troops sailing back a dozen feet. Then they started laying about themselves with those steel bars. It was a brutal slaughter.

  My fire skeletons and Sue lit the enemy up at range, along with support from the ratkin archers. Turned out that massed volleys of arrows did have a substantial impact on zombies. Hit them with enough arrows and they went down just like any other monster.

  Then I dropped to the ground from the air, streaking in and landing in the middle of the enemy force. I kicked one, sending it flying backward, smashed another in the face with my shield, knocking its head off, and sliced a third in two. From there, it was back to mostly sword work. I used the combination of my Strength and Agility-driven speed to weave through the enemy force, cutting down one after another.

  Just like when I’d been fighting the ants, there simply was no way any single tier one monster could threaten me. Gather enough of them and sure, they could hurt me. But if I kept moving, kept dodging, and kept making sure that any zombie which came near me died, I’d be okay.

  The wraiths shrieked their fury from the far side. Oh, they were seriously pissed! This was a substantial chunk of their force, and we were cutting it apart while the rest of their troops were all locked up on the other side of the road. The flames were beginning to fade already, but we still had a few minutes. Every minute we kept fighting and killing zombies meant fewer to battle once the fire went out. We needed that time, every second of it.

  And then all at once, we ran out of time.

  It came on like a freezing wind. The gust flowed down from the mall, rushing in. I felt the surge of mana as the spell was cast and lifted myself aloft so I could see what was going on. It was a strong wind, powerful enough to rock the zombie horde as it passed, making some of them stumble and fall over.

  When the wind hit our flames, they simply died. They went out, almost instantly, frost tinging the road where there had been fire a moment before. The wind kept coming, smacking into me with enough force it almost drove me out of the air.

  That was the enemy leader. I felt sure of it. I’d still never seen whatever led these undead, but I’d felt its power a few times, and that was enough to recognize it now. With one spell, it ended our brief safe period.

  The wraiths quickly urged their minions forward, and the zombies marched back into the road, crossing it quickly, rushing in at us.

  I glanced back at my troops, which were still exposed, in the open from engaging the forward element. We’d taken out more than half of the two hundred zombies that were trapped on our side of the highway, but now they were about to be reinforced by hundreds upon hundreds more.

  “Withdraw!” I shouted, flitting back toward our lines. I ordered the Abominations to lumber their way back as quickly as their legs could carry them. “Withdraw to our fighting line!”

  Our people started moving back, racing to get back to the dubious safety of the crude defensive line we’d put up, but there was no way they could break contact well enough. The zombies were going to be right on their heels, and there would be no time for them to set themselves up in our defensive positions.

  “Well, this sucks,” I muttered. There was only one thing to do. I dove forward again, landing on the ground directly between the zombies and my fleeing force. If they needed another minute or two, I’d give it to them.