A crumbling tower (2)

Moving to destroy the first wave of undead set on turning the three people currently present on the tower into a buffet, a wave of flame covered the floor in front of me.

Acidic blood from the blood sword flying outwards in an arc, the fire from the blaze rune coated the drops as they devoured everything around them.

That included all of the undead that painstakingly climbed up here at the cost of their allies.

Burning through their flesh and bone and costing the numerous zombies their lives I continued to swing my sword while taking a few more steps.

But if this was the extent of the undead horde than there wouldn't be countries falling in the wake of a zombie apocalypse.

"Slade watch out!"

Grabbing the back of my shirt she yanked me backwards at the cost of a perfectly fine piece of clothing.

But in the case of the zombie wave tactics that they seemed fond of employing it was a smart idea.

Especially since these zombie wave tactics also involved several hundred skeletons firing arrows.

Being one step away from losing an eye I thanked... whoever it was that had grabbed me and continued to swing my blade now constantly aware of the undead taking aim.

Fleshy bodies absorbing the majority of the arrows that flew up towards the tower, the Undead Archers gave no regard for the lives of their comrades as they shot their seemingly endless supply of arrows.

Oh yeah, it certainly didn't help that a loud growl coming from a certain helmet wearing zombie coward sitting in a tower several hundred metres away suddenly growled causing all of the undead to abruptly change their tactics.

Why thank you yes, I would certainly like to be bathed with arrows.

Staring at the sky that had been blanketed with black arrows that whistled through their air I laughed at the prospect of being turned into a pincushion

Than I realized I didn't want to be a pincushion and here we are hiding underneath the ramparts while desperately dodging the numerous zombies that somehow survived the deadly rain.

"We have to get to the captain otherwise we'll be stuck here all day!" Kicking at the knee, a resounding crack of bone filled the air as arrows thudded against the rapidly weakening barrier attached to the shield.

"Over there!"

Ella pointed to the side, it revealed a portion of the tower that had collapsed to reveal an open space devoid of zombies.

"See? That's how we're going to get past the army he commands!" Laughing loudly Cherry immediately began to move towards the open space, her brown broadsword covered in several nicks on its surface.

Call it bad luck or just a development of events.

We never did make it.

*Crack!

It started small as we ran towards the open space.

As we got closer I was able to see that although it wasn't as empty of zombies as I had thought, it was at the least better than the mess in front and behind us.

It seemed that captain really didn't want us to leave.

'What in the hell did you bring to get that guy so attracted to us you madlady.'

Footsteps ringing out in the rapidly crumbling tower I lowered the shield over my head as the archers poised to unleash the second volley of iron rain.

Brushing past the numerous pieces of wood discarded on the ground I ignored the numerous pops that sounded in my ears as I took out a clump of arrows.

Tossing them backwards, it didn't take a genius that such an inefficient move would be unable to take lives unless very lucky.

And since they were already dead I honestly didn't care as the point of those arrows was to buy some time

Reaching the precipice of the open wall the two women were on the verge of leaping out of the hole in the wall.

That's when it happened.

In hindsight it seemed obvious.

When designing the numerous watchtowers placed every so often along the walls of the ramparts their designers certainly design them with the idea of carrying several hundred people at the same time.

Especially so when so much time had already passed and not passed, eroding the stone and brickwork making up the entire length of the walls.

And pair it with the fact that even now more arrows were applying pressure against the walls it was a miracle that the tower stood as long as it did.

One arrow may not do anything, but when that number is multiplied a hundredfold?

Adding the numerous undead with the average weight of a malnutritioned adult?

Well it's a surprise that the ramparts themselves haven't tipped over yet.

Floor suddenly tilting underneath them, Ella, Cherry and I all instantly lost our footing.

Sliding backwards, the numerous rolling arrows didn't do any favors as the tower tilted backwards.

Falling towards where the zombies had been applying their weight, it fell towards the piles upon piles of undead that were desperately listening to the orders of their captain.

Following the orders of their leader to the tee, they sadly didn't have the foresight or the survival instinct to dodge the giant falling tower that began to crush all of them like ants under a boot.

'Bloody hell...'

Ever wonder what it was like to crush numerous life forms underneath the heel of your boot?

I didn't but now I think I know what it.

Ears being tormented the sound of bones cracking resounding like the rustle of a chip bag?

The squished flesh and blood?

Imagine an extremely wet sponge that's being squeezed atop a microphone without a noise gate.

Grating and not at all pleasant.

Eyes dilating and my surroundings blurring, I felt sick in the pits of my stomach as for a brief moment, I imagined those sounds to be people.

Actual living people living their lives without a damn for death.

But now I was harshly reminded that death came in many forms.

'It's just that this form of death came in the form of suffocation, or is crushing better? It may be just blunt force trauma.'

My old friend Dark humor enlightening my spirits like it did in the war, I shook my head and refocused my senses on the surroundings.

Flames clinging to my limbs I instantly shot up from the ground where I had fallen, plucking out the numerous arrows on my body.

Staring at the Elite Zombie staring down at me from the tower they stood upon I felt inexplicably dirty.

Frowning Ella slapped my shoulder as she got up and dusted herself off.

"Calm the fire hotshot, you don't want to get to fired up do you?"

'...Did this lady just use three bad puns?' Staring at Ella who was uncharacteristically punny, before I knew it, the flames adorning my entire body had snuffed themselves out.

"I survived!"

'And I guess she did.'

Turning my gaze to Cherry pop out from underneath the rubble adorned with a zombie's hand, I pulled her out of the pile of stone.

"So... Do we just go now?"

"What's the rush? Don't get so fired up and cool down for a moment." Huffing, Ella searched through the pile of stones and picked out her broadsword.

Grabbing several of the discarded arrows Ella also took the time to pick out many of the more functional ones.

"We've got a brief window of time where undead aren't besieging us, take this time to calm down and recollect."

She tossed me an orange flask.

"Drink up, by now we're probably surrounded by his army so prepare yourself."

'I forgot about this.'

Simultaneously stabbing myself with a tonic while drinking the orange liquid, the subtle soreness I felt all over my body soon disappeared.

Flexing my legs I looked upwards only to see undead slowly poking their heads over the walls, flanked by the red bean shaped buzzcutters.

Screeching loudly, their bodies split apart to reveal their inner blade as they darted towards us.

"Now we just have to deal with the captains elites! Let's do this!"

Raising her blade cheerfully, Cherry leapt towards the numerous undead cresting over the horizon of the crater formed by the towers fall.

"...I wish I had your sister's otherworldly optimism."

"Do remember that she was never the same ever since our brother left us and the disease hit."

"It is still optimism at its peak."

"I can't argue with that."

Following close behind Cherry who took the lead in swinging her brown broadsword wildly, I felt as if I was ever so closer to my goal.

But then again, this was just a step in the process of stopping this world from going to the pits as time slowly but surely began to overlap with itself, merging all timelines into a single moment.

I still don't remember everything, and honestly speaking, I don't want to.

Only recalling the scars left on my soul from that horrible horrible day, I took another step forwards to decapitating the Elite Zombie who went by the alias...

Captain of the Bronze Order and temporary leader of the Iron Order

Or in other words, the bronze guards of the city and the iron watchers of the prison.

'I guess this can count as a prison escape.'

Humoring myself as I lit myself on fire once more I prepared to charge straight towards the Captain, tearing through all of his defences.

I think I was going to commit insubordination to a man in power tonight.

+++

Tree that really should manage their time better