Chapter 10

"Ladies and gentle I present to you our feature attraction, the zombie horde" Brutus's voice rang out to the squad following him. In front of us was undead as far as could be seen. The number far exceeded the few hundred we had been told.

Skye's eyes narrowed as she looked at the incoming horde, her mind obviously at work. "This is not something that we can handle and is outside the scope of our mission." She pondered for a few minutes before continuing "I will continue to Taryln, you guys will attempt to guide the horde away from the city. Attempt to move them further east. It will take me roughly a day to reach the city if I move at a sprint the entire way, and at least half a day to gather reinforcements. If we are lucky and move quickly it should take a day and a half to return after that. That's 3 days." At this point she looked at me "do not attempt to engage them in melee, you have no control over your bloodlust yet and will surely die to the horde."

Her eyes paused over the squad, eventually landing on Knight. "You will temporarily oversee the group as you have previous leadership experience but listen to Brutus's advice. He is more experienced with this world than you are. Keep your charges safe if possible, but the survival of Taryln is pair important than any of our lives". She nodded as the words left her mouth and her eyes looked off into the distance. "Just hold on for three days" these were her parting words as she began to sprint off into the distance. Leaving us far behind in only moments.

All eyes fell on Knight as we awaited our orders. She did not seem uncomfortable under our gazes but did not speak. She simply turned towards the horde and began to jog. She obviously expected us to follow. She truly was a woman of few words.

We circled the horde and arrived from the east. As we approached, knight came to a stop, her eyes surveying the enemy in front of us. Fortunately, these undead were mindless, and had yet to notice our presence. Her voice is was direct and to the point when she finally spoke "Brutus you will stay here and guard the archers, while Lily and myself will approach the horde attempting to bring a few to us at a time. When a group is separated Dark and Aster will fire at the group, thinning them out while attempting to make your ammunition salvageable. We will then finish them off, collect the ammunition and repeat. Brutus's job will be to Destroy any undead that make it to the archers. "

I nodded, the plan seemed simple and yet do able. Poor Brutus would receive little battle experience from the fight, but it did not seem to bother him in the slightest. Knight began the plan immediately as she rushed towards the outskirts of the horde, followed shortly after by Lily.

The planned seemed to be working smoothly as she pulled the first group of the horde, around 2 dozen of the undead slowly shambles towards the duo. Knight gave a few non-lethal slashes to a few to incite their rage and led them in our direction. They traveled neither fast nor slow, only at a speed slightly faster than the undead own.

Aster and I did not fire when they entered our range, rather we waited until the distance was cut to about 100 meters, to ensure the accuracy of our shots. She shot to the right side of the group, and I to the left, cutting out those on the edges moving inwards. The group did not last long before they all lay on the ground dead. We quickly moved forward to retrieve our arrows and bolts. Despite our efforts we still lost a bolt or arrow each. This was within expectations however, we did not need to kill the entire horde, only reroute their direction.

We repeated the process a few more times, I ultimately ended up losing 5 more bolts, while Aster only lost 3 arrows total. Well, she was an archer my nature, she obviously was better at it than I was. Even with my years of experience in the army back on earth I was a medic, the amount of time I spent shooting was much less than other soldiers. Honestly after the last few days I had killed far more with my katana than I had ever done with my m16.

On the next group of undead things did not go as planned. As Knight and Lily went to pull the group of sheep to slaughter, knight stumbled as she swung her spear. The slash that was supposed to merely wound an undead sent its head flying instead. The scent of putrid blood perfumed the air around it, sending the horde into a frenzy. The group of thousands of undead turned in unison, their eyes glowing red as they watched their comrade fall to the floor.

Lily looked back at me, obvious fear in her eyes as the horde began to give chase. The undead around knight were already on top of her. Her spear swinging wildly as she began her hopeless slaughter. An arrow suddenly sprung from an undead that was grasping on to her leg, but the momentary respite was soon broken as a scream could be heard. Blood oozed from knights' forearm that was now missing a large chunk of flesh. I didn't hesitate to put a bolt through the head of the offending undead. Brutus let out a roar and he ran into the Frey, his speed was not as fast as the others, but he had already drawn the great sword on his back as he bulldozed the undead in his path.

Mayhem ensued as his great sword slaughtered toward knight. She was thoroughly surrounded by this point. And our arrows could no longer provide any assistance. The bodies of undead began to pile in the gruesome aftermath of Brutus's insane charge. Guts and gore rained from the sky every time his blade finished its powerful ark, sending half a dozen undead to their deaths.

The secondary seemed like hours as he finally approached the bloody knight. Her spear was broken, and she was only using the shaft to strike at the undead. The bloody wounds on her body had grown to almost ten, but she fought on with a bloody determination. The space around her was slowly being thinned out by Brutus, giving Aster and myself a chance to shoot.

The undead around her quickly fell, but more took their place. The undead seemed unending and I was out of bolts. Next to me Aster fired her last arrow. The undead swarmed Brutus, His sword arm was grabbed by an undead and several others jumped into the fray, taking large chunks from the trapped flesh. His sword fell, his wounded arm no longer able to carry it. He lashed out with his left fist, sending an undead flying into a group of its comrades. The force behind the flow knocking them over. Their bodies were soon crushed into paste under the feet of the horde.

I could no longer see knight, the spot she had occupied was filled with hunched over undead. I could only assume the worse. My eyes went wide as Brutus finally fell. A wave of undead dogpiling his corpse, tearing into his flesh.

Tears ran down my face as I looked upon the scene. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the gruesome mess in front of me. Suddenly a thought hit me like a freight train. Lily was still down there! She could still be seen fighting on the edges of the horde. Undead began to surge in her direction as the other two had already fallen.

Skye's words echoed in my mind as my body moved forward without my consent. "Do not engage in melee, you do not have control of your bloodlust." I let out a half-crazed laugh as I thought to myself that it was much too late for that.

The essence in my body surged as it pumped into my legs, forcing me to move faster. My broken katana was already in my hand as my body moved on its own. I stared in horror as my body moved of its own accord. My mind a passenger to my own fate.

Blacking blood sprayed across my face as the broken katana left a jagged cut through the neck of the nearest undead. To my horror I could feel my tongue lick at the diseased blood, the warm flow of essence flowing down my throat with a spicy taste. My essence surged, my body moving with more strength and speed than I should be capable of.

At the gentle thumping of my heart grew frantic as essence exploded from my body, surging through my veins. I could feel a warm pool of it in my stomach, healing the damage caused by the undead blood.

Carnage ensued as the undead fell to my broken blade. I was the embodiment of death as I slaughter my way to Lily. Outwardly my eyes shined red as they danced over the many injuries on her body. Her body swayed as I approached, it was clear that she was going to fall. I pounced towards her falling body. A predatory howl escaping my lips as I caught her in one hand. The others the one holding the katana slashed out towards the looming undead. Where my blade landed a body would fall. But the undead were endless. I howled again, my essence overflowing as I attempted to wrestle control over my body. It was impossible to gain co troll, but the gesture was not useless. My body seems to understand my intention as it bit deeply into my wrist, dripping my blood, which was overflowing with essence into the mouth of the dying girl in my arms. Color started returning to her face as her eyes opened. She gripped my arm tightly, sucking the blood her body desperately needed from me.

The amount she needed was negligible compared to the constant flow of essence coming from these undead who approached only to die. I through her behind me, towards Aster, with all my might as soon as she was done drinking. I could only hope she would survive as my growing bloodlust took back complete control.

These undead were simply trash. One slice through the neck and they were done. My mind was still enhanced while in bloodlust, and with my enhanced reflexes and strength they may have well been grass and me a lawnmower.

Wounds had accumulated on my body, and my clothes were ripped to shreds. The essence I absorbed was more than enough to heal. The rest of my katana shattered, luckily, I was not too far from where from where Brutus and Knight had fallen. I slaughtered in that direction, my hands and feet hand been honed into weapons by the constant sparring with Lily. I was nowhere near an expert, but it was enough.

I arrived at the location Brutus fell. His blade was there, his body was not. I could only assume that he had been devoured bones and all. My body picked up his great sword. It was heavy, not something I could normally use, but my bloodlust made it possible.

My speed had greatly fallen as I wielded the blade, its massive weight staining my berserker muscles, but with each swing more than a single undead would fall. The wounds on my body accumulated faster, my body stained with my blood as well as the undead.

Somehow my body held on, the wounds would heal just as new ones showed up. And I continued the slaughter. Eventually my consciousness turned black from the pain, all I could hear was the berserk thumping of my heart.

BUDUM BUDUM BUDUM.

Sometime later I slowly began to regain my sight. The thumping of my heart was far calmer. Around me was destruction. The horde was gone, either dead or they had moved on. The plain was filled with headless corpses of the undead. I was sitting with my back on the Great sword, which was planted firmly in the ground. In the distance I could see two figures. One was walking normally, half carrying the other. Joy filled my heart as I recognized the familiar figures of Aster and Lily.

I struggled to my feet, leaving Brutus's blade planted in the ground. It was useless to me as I could not even lift it, and it would serve as a memorial for our fallen comrades. Me was sore, like the day after a hardcore gym session on a normally unused muscle set. But my essence was full, and I was full of energy.

As I got closer to the two girls, I noticed that Lily was not moving. Outwards her body looked fine, her wounds had healed and there were signs of breathing. She seemed to be unconscious. As I approached Aster handed my Lily's unconscious body as quickly sat down on a corpse behind her. Sweat could be seen glistening on her forehead and she was obviously out of breath.

I wanted to ask the obvious question but seeing the state Aster was in I chose a different route. "Are you ok? You seem paler than normal"

She responded with a mocking laughter. "Am I alright? I just dragged Lily for a day to catch up with your crazy ass. I haven't eaten in a day and a half, and my essence is damn near empty. We have no blood, and the nearby beasts are all gone. And don't even think about giving me any of your blood. Sure, it will cure my hunger, but the after math isn't worth it. I don't know why you would force Lily to go through it"

Aftermath? What aftermath? All I did was give her some essence so she could heal and not die. Whatever I could figure it out later, she was right we needed food. We still had a day and a half before Skye returned and I doubt she had brought along a demonic beast for us to feast on.