Sunrise

Back to the Battlefield, her sword in hand Natasha could feel a new load of strength running into her body, and in a sense, she was convinced that it was thanks to the arrival of Jamal. Even though she didn't want to admit it, the bad thoughts on what could have happened to him had been keeping bugging her, she had done her best to focus on the enemies before her but it was not easy to get rid of those thoughts from her mind.

That was why even surrounded by fearful adversaries animated by the only desire to kill them, she couldn't stop smiling joyfully. Having the chance to fight side by side with the man she admired the most was giving such wonderful emotions that she would be incapable of explaining. All the worries that had been invading her heart immediately vanished away by the only sight of his face. [ Since he is here we have already won this war ] she couldn't help but think.

Besides the fact that she could feel her exhaustion diminishing, she also sensed that it became easier for her to fight. She was putting fewer efforts to kill the undead than before, it was like she was playing in a carnival.

It was only when she turned her head that she understood why. Behind her, Jamal was rounding around her, at an astonishing speed like a mortal tornado, cutting and slashing whoever came too close to her. She noticed that he had built a range of defense around her and would allow entering only those who were no more capable of fighting and the only thing she had to do was to finish them off, thus she figured out that Jamal had elaborated that situation so that she didn't have to fight the undead herself.

" What an amazing strength and stamina, " Natasha gasped. She had never witnessed such an incredible scene neither she had ever seen this savage side of his personality. His hands until the middle of his forearms were completely covered by the black blood of the undead, but he was gripping at his daggers so firmly it was as if they were parts of his body.

" So that's how he looks like when he gets serious, " Natasha commented still amazed by his skills while continuing slaughtering the enemies coming near to her.

A short time later she started to hear gunshots coming from all the direction after she rose her sight and took a glance at what was going on, she soon saw that the soldiers posted on the buildings, and who until then were only providing light to help them to fight, had resumed their assault on the outlaws to offer to the three fighters, down on the battleground, some support.

Thinking about them Natasha suddenly remembered that girl named Carla, who was supposed to be fighting the other half of the enemies.

While still cutting off the heads of the undead one by one, she raised her head to peek at the other side of the zone where the young woman was, and for a moment she was completely stunned by what was going on there.

" That girl... " she gasped while throwing glances at her from time to time to admire the spectacle.

Carla was closely surrounded by the undead in a way that it should be normally difficult for her to fight, especially with the weapon she was carrying, a long brown staff-like, looking very familiar to the spine she had seen earlier and surely with what she had saved her life, that staff had points in both extremities which made it look like a brown javelin. However, it seemed like that situation was not bothering her at all since she was the one overwhelming while she was ably handling that staff with peaks at both edges.

Natasha observed as she was using her weapon while moving oddly looking like she was combining both styles, the handling of a spear with a kind of martial art using a staff.

Though the enemies would come to her at once trying to put pressure and crushed with their advantageous number, in the end, they would all get killed, pierced by her long spine of hers, or just pushed away. While fighting the outlaws, she was whirling elegantly around them while yet thrusting them fiercely. In one swing, Carla wiped everyone around, like nothing.

Natasha knew that the undead had brute force exceeding normal humans' capabilities, however, based on how she was dealing with them while they were far more numerous, the difference of strength was just too obvious.

Still, that wasn't what shocked Natasha the most, it was how she looked like, at that moment. Besides, her strength and her techniques, Carla had another trump-card. Natasha didn't know what to think about it. Carla had her hairs going down until just beneath her butt, Natasha almost thought that they were not her real hair since they didn't look like it at all, in fact, her hair looked more like the back of a fuzz-pig. With those hard and sharp spines set straight on her back, they were serving her as a kind of shield against the attacks coming from behind.

[ Does that mean that she is... like me? ] Natasha wondered with a surprising excitement that it would be hard for her to explain.

As she turned around she caught the sight of Jamal for a very brief moment and it was like he just figured out what she was thinking. Under the strong lights of the projectors, he grinned at her like to tell that her assumptions were all true and the woman couldn't help but smile too.

She faced the enemies before her and screamed loudly and enthusiastically as to release a bit of her excitement before she gathered her strength and, after using a very short moment of hesitation of the outlaws, she decided to pass at the offensive instead of totally relying on Jamal.

Natasha moved on the battlefield, cutting through the enemies to make her path until she reached Jamal. They were both back to back when Jamal shouted as to tease her, " you better follow the rhythm because I don't intend to slow down for you "

" I was about to ask you the same question, since a while I saw you pretty tired so I don't have a choice but to lend you hand, " she replied jokingly.

Right after that, a group of undead jumped on them and the two people responded to their assault almost simultaneously. They teamed up and carried on slaughtering them in such a perfect synchronization. Natasha was no more following the back of Jamal but rather they were progressing like one man on the battlefield, whenever one of them put one step forward the other would automatically put the second step, while mutually watching the back of each other. Natasha would even sometimes jump over Jamal's to strike down the undead.

Their attack was so strong that the outlaws, turned into undead, started to instinctively back up, they were no more the ones who were attacking, but rather, it felt like they were preys who were getting slain. Without noticing the two of them happened to reach the zone Carla was supposed to be responsible for.

" What are you doing here? " the woman shouted when she saw them opening a path to get near her.

" It just seems like you were too slow, " Natasha joked while smile at her.

Carla smiled back and replied, " are you kidding me, I had almost finished with them and was about to see how it was going on your side. Look, you just brought to me more work " she added while thrusting violently her weapon in the chest of an enemy.

" Here listen, girls, from now on, the one who will kill the last undead will be spared from Lina's pie of victory, " Jamal shouted.

" Huh? What does it mean? " Carla asked after she retired her staff from the undead's heart.

" Believe me, girl, it's not something you want to get the taste of in your entire life, " Natasha glanced at her with a serious face and replied before she jumped ahead without any more explanation. The former didn't seek any further detail either, she decided to believe her words and she jumped ahead while increasing her rate of killing.

The cooperation of that trio was so powerful that the army, who was still posted on the windows of the buildings, stopped firing on the enemies, to admire that extraordinary battle.

Though they fought very bravely and fiercely they still took some more hours to completely exterminate the enemy.

It was was only when the agitation stopped and the silence took its place in that battlefield that Jamal could take the time to observe the traces the combat had left. Every here and there, the bodies of the outlaws were laying on the ground, so many that it would be difficult or almost impossible to walk around without stepping on them.

" Oh... over there, there is one left, " he remarked after he took a glance at a body trying to sneak toward them while moving between the piles of inanimate corpses a few meters away from them. Soon it became the one only standing and facing them with a mad expression, meaning that he didn't have any intention to flee, and more than that, it seemed that it wanted to settle things down.

" This one is mine! " Carla exclaimed excitedly before she started rushing towards it.

Until then it was Natasha who had killed the last outlaw, though Carla thought it was only pure luck since she had only been focusing on killing as many as she could, forgetting about the rules of the bet. However, she was now determined to not let her the chance to win that time.

" No... mine... " Natasha said with a tone betraying her exhaustion. She tried to put a step forward but almost fell down after she tripped over an undead's body, hopefully, she managed to use her sword to help her not losing her balance. Jamal stopped next to her, passed an arm around her waist to help her stand up and the latter unconsciously leaned all her weight on him since she had not the strength to keep on her feet.

" You have fought well but look at you, you're too tired. It's obviously my win, but don't worry you will completely recover once you will get a piece of the pie of victory, " Carla teased her. She was jumping from one dead body to another while raising her staff high, ready to finish off the enemy.

" She's right, you have been fighting for much longer than us so no need to push yourself too hard, " Jamal tried to comfort her, " don't worry about the pie you can still manipulate Matteo to eat it for you ".

Natasha raised her sight and gazed at Carla as she was rapidly shortening the distance between her and the undead, she thought in less than five seconds she would reach it and officialize her victory by planting her weapon in its heart.

[ No I'm not giving up yet ] the woman suddenly thought. She pushed Jamal lightly, raised her katana next to her ear, grabbing it like a javelin while straightening her other arm forward, " don't underestimate me! " she shouted before she threw the sword accompanying it with a scream The katana flew in the direction of the last outlaw passed just next to Carla as she was at only one meter away from it and penetrated with force through the undead's chest.

•••

Carla stared in disbelief at the undead as it got pushed backward by the sword. After it fell on another corpse, she turned her head and saw Natasha bending over, as she was trying to catch her breath. When the latter raised her head to catch a sight of her rival, the woman grinned at Carla victoriously before she lost consciousness.

Hopefully, Jamal quickly caught her before she fell to the ground.

" That girl... " Carla sighed as she still couldn't believe it, " how can it be? I thought she was worn out, totally out of strength ". She turned her head again to glance at the undead Natasha just finished off, and standing straight on its chest, instead of the sharp katana, was a wooden sword. She stared at it confused before she picked it up and brought it to Jamal.

" That girl is really awesome, " she first told him once she got back while still holding the wooden sword.

" Yes, and very stubborn too, " Jamal replied while staring at Natasha's unconscious face.

A few seconds later, the first sun rays started to appear from behind them and kept increasing second after second until illuminating the entire battlefield.

Jamal moved his sight to the Volga who was standing on the roof of a pickup with a rifle hanging on her side. The latter rose her fist as high as she could and started shouting her joy very loudly. The people in the buildings, who had been observing the battle just like her, started to scream their excitement too and soon the entire zone became very noisy.

Jamal laughed, he lifted Natasha to carry her on his arm and started to slowly walk towards the cars. He leaned his head a little and whispered in her ear, " we won. Everybody in the city is safe and it's all thanks to you. You really did a good job ".