A brave combat

Natasha slammed the door of her home after entering in hurryingly.

While she was running towards her room, Dana, who had been surprised by the loud noise, followed her to inquire. She stopped at the entrance of Natasha's room, which had been left wide open, and stared at her while she was changing clothes, " what is happening? "

The latter glanced at her surprised but didn't pay her much more attention though. After she put on her boots, she stood up, hopped twice before she stared at Dana. The young girl analyzed her from top to bottom and by looking at her outfit she concluded that something important happened, she frowned after she decided to not let it go.

" Hey, tell me what is wrong, why do you seem so pressed to go out? And by the way where is Ja- "

" Listen, I really don't have time to waste, " Natasha stopped her coldly, she got a thoughtful expression for a very short moment, then, she told her, " look, stay here and wait, I'm sure Lina will come to take you to somewhere safer, " she lowered her voice, " at least somewhere farther from the barrier, " she paused, " so until then just wait for her calmly here, got it? "

After that Natasha directed her attention toward her closet near where Dana was standing and as she tried to move toward it, the girl stepped on her way with a severe expression while putting her fists on her hips, " tell me what is going on? "

Natasha didn't reply directly, she bent forth and slowly picked up the wooden sword, she used during her practices, behind Dana. With a determined look, she told her, " I have some important problems to deal with ". And without saying more, she left the room, went down the stairs to leave the house and the girl didn't try to stop her after she began to get an idea of the situation, even though it was too late to do anything about it.

She decided to listen to Natasha's advice and went to the living room to wait for Lina.

Natasha took a little while to arrive at the zone where was supposed to be the fight. There, she saw a load of people running back and forth while shouting commands to one another.

As she moved further, she saw that while there would be groups of people pushing wrecked cars from one position to another, others were carrying barrels and massive objects. She was surprised to notice that there were some few trucks, equipped with big shovels on the front and metallic cables attached to the back, they were put at the disposition of the workers to help to transport some items, pushing and sometimes dragging heavy automobiles which they couldn't move.

[ It seems like Donald has managed to get the help of almost half of the town ] Natasha supposed while she was still observing them doing their best to get the job done as quickly as possible. She had the impression that they were putting all those efforts not because they were scared to stay there but rather they understood the urgency of the actual situation and didn't wish for Natasha to see the slightest issue while doing her job to protect them. They wanted to leave her in the best circumstances which would permit her to have the advantage during that battle. Considering that, Natasha could feel more motivated than before.

[ I will protect this city all for sure, even if it costs my life I will keep you all alive no matter what ] she said to herself while clenching her wooden sword in her right hand.

She walked through the agitated crowd trying to get near her assigned position as fast as possible. After she finally arrived, a moment later, she ran into Lina, busy giving instructions to the workers while shouting at them some words of encouragement from time to time. She noticed her friend only when she was two meters from her.

" Don't worry, we have almost finished, Brad and Matteo did a really good job, " Lina started saying while staring at the workers, " it remains only some few spots we have to secure. We will all evacuate the zone very soon to give you enough time to prepare yourself and order your thoughts ".

" I suppose that you have arranged a place where you will stay to observe the fight, haven't you? " Natasha asked her, even though she already knew the answer.

Lina took a short moment to respond. " Don't worry, it's a safe place afar from here you will be fighting. I promise to not get in your way so please don't mind me, " she waited, " I have ordered Matteo to go pick Dana and bring her to the city hall. He even proposed to gather all the citizens there since it's one of the places the most farther from here, saying that people will feel less scared if they are together, " she laughed slightly and added, " sometimes I'm surprised to see how considerate and mindful that kid can be ".

Natasha smiled softly, " you're right, he's sometimes very impressive ".

A minute later, Brad stopped near them while bending slightly and panting. Even though he seemed quite in a hurry to tell them something, the two girls gave him the time to catch his breath. After a few seconds, he stood up and Natasha couldn't help but analyze him. His T-shirt sticking to his skin, looking all wet with his face was covered by drops of sweat and just by looking at him, it was evident for her, that he was amongst the ones who put the most effort into that operation.

" The work is done, all the barricades have been placed, " he told them with a little sense of pride he tried to hide, " I hope it will work as you have planned and will be enough to lead the enemy to this place ".

" Very good " Lina praised him with a confident tone, " and don't worry, it will work. Rare are my plans that fail ". She raised her voice a little bit and ordered, " well, you can go tell everybody to start evacuating the zone, hurry up we can't afford to waste time ".

" I have already told them and as you can see they have already begun to leave, " Brad replied while pointing to the workers.

The women turned their heads in the direction he was indicating, they saw that some of them were hurriedly walking away to join their vehicles while others directly got into the trucks, and soon, all of them began to leave in the same direction toward the inner of the city.

" That's good, " Lina exclaimed, she looked at Brad and after she saw him with a different expression on his face she frowned and asked him straightforwardly, " what do you want? "

He took a deep breath before he said, " I want you to permit me to fight ".

" No " she responded straight almost immediately.

Brad, who seemed to have anticipated that response, tried to negotiate by giving her his reasons. " I want you to hear me out first. I'm not the only one who suggested that. Some of the guys from Short-river, just like I do, think about giving a hand to Natasha ".

" I don't care about how many you are or how bad you want to help, it's just too dangerous for you, " Lina forced herself to take a cold tone. " Anyway, you have already done more than you needed to help us, so there is no point to risk your life for nothing ".

" I don't think it's for nothing, " the man replied while raising his voice a little bit, " I don't mean to say that Natasha is weak or anything like that... what I'm trying to say is that, it may be too much for her to stay alone, not only in the battlefield but also in her mind ".

When he paused Lina couldn't help but glance at Natasha.

She had always been able to tell whatever the latter had in her mind, and at that moment, just by taking a quick look at her face, even though she was trying her best to show only a strong attitude and an ensured feature, Lina knew very well that Brad was right, [ it's for her a too heavy burden to carry alone ].

Brad took a calmer tone and continued " I already know. Matteo told me that Jamal and the others didn't come yet and they may not be able to make it in time. A battle can't be won by one person, and not only the enemies are stronger but they are also greater in number, Natasha would need people to cover her back and we can do it... " he turned and said to Natasha, " I-I believe that this is the reason why Jamal has sent here a part of the weapons we took from the gangsters, back in Short-river, and expressly asked me to help you, he didn't mean only to make the preparations, he wanted me to help you to fight ".

He, then, for the first time, raised his head to look at Lina in the eye and, with a great determination, he told her, " I have done many mistakes and stupid things in my life and I know that I can never possibly make up for them, neither I can erase them, nor ignore them. But I have been given the occasion to, at least, atone for my bad deeds from now on, Jamal has opened my eyes and showed that I can hope for forgiveness if I dedicated the rest of my life to do the right things without any regrets. So please, let me keep my promise I made him. Let me fight ".

" That's so like him to say things like that, " Lina said in a very low voice while staring down with a melancholic smile, she then lifted her sight to gaze at the man before her, who was staring at her with all his trust, she smiled at him before she said " you finally look at me in the eye, huh. Well, I told you that but you have to note that it's not even my decision, " she then pointed to Natasha with her finger.

The latter startled a little bit when Brad suddenly landed his sight on her. She immediately calmed herself and responded to him while trying to have a serious expression, " if you promise to give me your support from a distance away from the fight, I don't see any reasons to turn you down ".

" I promise on my name and the behalf of my comrades to not get in your way, " he declared while nodding. After that he turned around to look at a group of seven people standing away, who, the two women hadn't noticed before but, were definitely staring at them for quite a moment, he lifted his fist forward and raised his thumb as to tell that it was okay. " Alright, I shall go to join them and stay in position while waiting for the enemy to show up, " he finally said to Lina and Natasha before he ran towards the group of people.

The two women noticed that among them, two guys were carrying bags which they put down, opened, and started to collect firearms. They distributed them to everyone around and when they were all finally equipped, they split into smaller groups of two people and ran in different directions.

Lina and Natasha stared at each other silently for a long moment, and even though no one said a single word, they seemed to be in a deep discussion. Then, Natasha said to Lina " it's almost time you better quickly leave this place ".

The latter nodded, stepped forward but instead of leaving right away, she held Natasha in her arms, " I'm counting on you so you better make it alive, " after that, she gave her a kiss on her cheek, released her from her hug and started running away.

Natasha waited for a short moment, staring at her, before she moved, too, to go place herself in position.

•••

The battlefield was prepared in the way that the outlaws, transformed into undead, would be lead by a series of barricades to a dead end, stuck between two buildings and a high wall composed of wrecked vehicles and other metallic wastes that had been piled up years ago by a company of recycling, which had one time proposed to clean the entire city, unfortunately, the company collapsed due to bankruptcy and the project had also been abandoned. However, the traces of the work, that company had the time to accomplish, had been left behind, just like that wall of metallic materials.

The sun slowly down and as it disappeared on the horizon, loud sounds of footsteps started to be heard in the zone. It was like a huge troop of soldiers was walking through the streets of the city.

From where she was hiding Natasha could hear the footsteps becoming louder and louder as the enemy was getting closer. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, but she was not scared, nor she was stressed, Jamal had taught her how to get rid of those kinds of emotions before combat, she was rather feeling excited by the upcoming clash. Even though she was looking forward to jumping out from her hideout and initiate the attack, she knew that she had to stay patient and wait for the right moment.

Her wooden sword in one hand and the other hand stroking delicately Jamal's dagger she was carrying in its case on her back as if to collect from it some drops of his presence to help her increasing her courage.

Just like Lina had said, this type of monsters, which has been sent, was not very smart, they could only be given a simple task to do and so it would be easy to draw them to the place they wanted and as expected, they just fell in the trap.

It was only when they stopped at the foot of the wall of wrecked vehicles they probably understood that something was wrong but it was anyway too late.

Natasha suddenly appeared behind them while they were slowly turning around to face her. She held her wooden sword with her both hands, on the level of her chest and closed her eyes to focus.

In the previous days, during her session of practices, she had discovered that she didn't especially need Jamal's knife to make appear the katana to kill the undead, moreover, she also discovered that it's way easier to transform her wooden sword rather than with the dagger.

Flames began to appear from the palm of her hands, quickly caught by the base of the sword and they rapidly progressed to the top of the blade and as the flames passed, the wooden sword changed into a long and splendid Japanese sword.

The next moment suddenly turned into a furious battle. Natasha hardly had the time to get a good stance as the outlaws jumped on her at such a great speed that even Brad and his fellows who were hidden somewhere couldn't react in time.

Hopefully, Natasha had very sharp reflexes, she quickly moved back in extremis before getting crushed in the shock which broke and raised pieces of asphalt, without wasting a second she corrected her posture and at the same moment took the offensive. She stepped forward and in one swing she chopped off the heads of the first small group of enemies and moved back to wait for the next wave just like Jamal had taught her. Some of them who dared to try an approach got stopped momentarily by a gust of bullets.

[ Seems like the guys came back to their state of mind ] Natasha made the remark while smiling confidently.

" Let's go! " she shouted just before she resumed her offensive. She was moving and turning on the battlefield tearing people into pieces. The pale limbs of the enemies decorated with black veins were flying here and there, whenever she saw an opening or an occasion she would inflict mortal strikes to the enemies otherwise she would weaken them by ripping off their members. [ That is the only way I can slow them down since they can't feel pain ] she thought while thrusting her blade into one's heart. She quickly pulled it out as she was trying to waste the lesser time she could whenever she would attack and immediately started running laterally.

There was too many undead and each of them was as strong and fast as Natasha so to get the advantage over them she had to use all the skills she had and move wisely while using the full potential of her brain to build strategies which were not easy since she had to fight at the same time.

The reason why she kept moving around while trying to not waste even a second being immobile was that during her training with Jamal she was taught to avoid being surrounded while fighting enemies much superior to her in number, moreover, she had to make sure that of them had their attention on her and that no one would think about sneaking.

As time was passing, the fight was prolonging itself. Natasha had been struggling for hours but as the night was turning darker with the time it became difficult for her to fight. Brad and his friends, who had been supporting her since the beginning, had stopped their assault. She guessed that they were running out of ammunition or they just stopped because they didn't want to take the risk to harm her as, even though there some three streetlights here and there, they were not enough to illuminate the entire zone and so it was still not easy to distinguish anything especially for people who were standing somewhere distant from where she was fighting.

One of the undead threw a fist aiming to punch her, the blow was so fast that she just caught a glimpse of it and mostly relied on her reflexes to block it, she put her sword before her face when the undead's fist was at five centimeters to strike her. However, the blow was so strong that it sent her flying away, she hit a light pole causing it to curve.

It was at that moment when she stood up on her feet with quite a difficulty that she realized how tired she was. That was not the first or the single time she got hit, but usually, she would stand up right away, without wasting a second, to strike back. She had killed so many of them but yet they didn't seem to diminish even a little.

" It's not the moment to have negative thoughts, " she started saying with a loud and audible voice, " no matter how many hits I have to take or how many times you throw me down, I won't stop fighting until I kill you all. Do you hear me, you monsters? "

As if to respond to her they all started running towards her but they were nothing to intimidate her or shake her down, she held on tighter to her katana and shouted at them with all her lungs before she ran into the combat.

Using all the strength she had in reserve, she cut, sliced, and thrust, keeping throwing enemies on the ground almost every minute while fighting and yelling like the most furious gladiator. She wasn't caring about strategy anymore as she thought that, in her state, it was pointless, all she could do was to not let the enemy surrounding her as it would make the battle even more difficult to handle.

One of the undead jumped over her trying to attack from her back but before that one could catch her she put a knee down, lowered her body, pushed her katana behind her, and thrust her blade straight in its heart without turning around or even throw a glance at it. She pulled it out and as she was standing, she cut off the entire arm of one undead and continued the movement by splitting another one's entire body into two.

She could feel the strong fire burning inside her which seemed to ask her to release it, and every time she would slice an enemy before her, that fire would grow bigger inside her. She could sense her sword in her hands becoming hotter but the moment she felt like finally releasing that power, another blow from one foe, she didn't see, sent her to fly away and hit hard the ground this time.

" Stand up! " she growled, and in her voice was a mix of pain and anger, while forcing her body to move again, she was gazing at the transformed outlaws getting near to her but she still couldn't get onto her feet. " You're not tired, you still can fight... so stand up, " she punched the soil, panted, and leaned on her fists to push her body upward until she slowly sat up on her knees, she then leaned on her katana to completely stand up, however, her legs were then shaking of tiredness she had to put all her strength while still leaning a great part of her weight on her sword to not fall again.

" I can't die here... I can't afford to stay down while people are counting on me, people waiting for me... I can't let them down... I can't let him down ".

When she finally got a firm stance on the ground she lifted her sword ready to fight again, she was not sure her body could take it any longer but she didn't care, " I will fight until my last breath! " Natasha yelled.

" Well said! That's the spirit! " someone shouted.

Just by hearing that familiar voice, a wind of hope blew in Natasha's heart.

Suddenly, the place started to gradually be submerged by light, beams of lights appeared one by one from the roofs and the windows of the buildings what caused the outlaws to be disoriented for a moment. Behind her, headlights lit up so brightly that when she turned around she got blinded for a short moment, she had to put a hand before her slightly cover her eyes while frowning, to adjust herself to sudden and intense luminosity. She squinted as she tried to look at what was in front of her.

There was a barrage of cars with their headlights illuminating her and the battlefield and after she concentrated more she noticed the shape of a man standing on the top of the car, which was in the middle, with his arms crossed on his broad chest. Natasha didn't have to see that person clearly to figure out who was he. She smiled uncontrollably as she tried to get near to him.

" Look out! " the man shouted but it was too late when she turned her head, the undead had already gotten too close and even though she could counter with her abnormal speed she was just too tired to lift her katana. The undead had its hands before Natasha trying to grab her neck, with its mouth wide open, like a dark cave, where dark drool like ink was slowly flowing out, it was like it hadn't decided yet whether to strangle her or bite her throat until crushing it.

Natasha almost felt like it was over when a long thorn-like object came to stick to the undead's forehead. She didn't have the time to think about it and used her remaining strength to strike the chest of the undead with the handle of her sword and as she was pushing it as far as she could she felt that it was already undoubtedly dead.

Almost at the same moment, two other enemies appeared from each side of that first one, lying lifeless on the ground, and were running towards her, she didn't even get the time to take a stance to defend herself that two brown thorn-like, projectile just like the one of earlier, flew just near her and went directly to stab the two foes on the position of their hearts and they immediately fell down, definitively dead.

" How is it possible...? " Natasha gasped, wondering how can they be dead since she thought that only her katana could kill them. Before she could think more, she lost her balance and almost fell down when someone quickly passed an arm around her waist to catch her up and supported her to not fell. A quick glance on the side permitted Natasha to see the side face of that woman who just helped her.

By the force of the habit, she tried to pass an arm around her neck to get a stronger grip when the woman immediately stopped her, " it's not a good idea unless you want your arm to be covered with holes or your blood being sucked up ".

Natasha was too tired to try figuring out the sense of those words and even thought that she misheard. She let that woman carry her towards the cars and there another woman, who seemed older, picked her delicately put her down leaning her back next to a pickup, she placed a bottle of water on her lips before telling her to drink.

That woman looked up and shouted " how long can we keep them immobile with the light? "

" I don't know and I don't plan to wait to verify it, " the man, Natasha was recognizing the voice very well, responded. With a very loud voice, he shouted, " ready? Fire! " And immediately gunshots started to roar furiously in all over the zone, Natasha understood that it was the people place inside the buildings who were shooting at the undead.

The man jumped on the ground and approached Natasha and the next moment, the smiling face of Jamal slowly appeared before her eyes. " You have been incredibly brave. I'm really proud of you ". With those only few words, she felt that all the effort she had put into that battle finally worth it.

" What did it take you so long? " she first asked him.

" It's a very long story and as you can see we don't quite have the time, that wall of bullets will not hold them any longer, " Jamal replied while glancing away at the army of undead before he brought back his attention on Natasha, " I know you have been fighting for a while and that you are very exhausted but do you think you can keep it up a little longer? Carla will take half of the work and I will help you to deal with the other half so don't worry about a thing ".

Natasha glanced at the young woman beside him who had carried her earlier and without thinking too much she nodded at him and responded to him, " give me one minute, another bottle of water and I'm ready ".

Jamal smiled, messed up her hair gently before he handed her a small bottle of water. A minute later, after the rain of bullets stopped the three people, Jamal, Natasha, and Carla, ran side by side towards the undead, determined to finish them off.