Chapter 5: Chapter 5 – The Horde

Dorian grabbed a bow, quiver of arrows and a short sword that were all stashed near the tavern’s front door. He strapped the sword to his left hip and slung the bow and quiver around his shoulders. 

“Come on Chadwick. Let’s go see what all the hub-bub is about.”

Chad stood from his table. “What about the town guard? Can’t they handle this?”

Dorian stopped at the door and looked back at Chad, a sneer on his face. 

“You think a town this small can finance a militia? The guard, as you would call them, are just a small group of volunteers. They are mostly for giving Bronzemead the deception of protection to keep bandit raids at bay.” His amusement at Chad’s perception of the guard’s usefulness continued. “If the town guards are so reliable and capable, where did your escort run off to?”

Chad huffed and started moving towards Dorian, their earlier feud now forgotten.

“So how do the villagers defend from monster attacks?”

Dorian sadly glanced my way before looking back in the direction of the commotion growing outside. 

“The protection of the Temple of the Goddess used to take care of that for them. Except for a roaming fledgling here or there, the town stays largely undisturbed. Now that it’s gone,” he hesitated and sighed, “it appears Her protection is as well.”

With that, Dorian pushed open the door and strode out into the square beyond, Chad right behind him.

I stood frozen in place. I caused this? I mean I technically didn’t have a choice when I crashed into the temple on my arrival but…

Noelle snapped to attention first. She spun to address everyone, “Alright you heard them! This is not a drill!” She clapped and clasped her hands in front of her. “Everyone please start moving to the back room. We have an exit into the cellar from there and we can bar the entrance as needed. Come on! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

She started shepherding and shooing all the customers and girls towards the back, including Roscoe who, despite his supposed important leadership status, was also frozen in place and utterly useless.

Ash started pulling at my arm. “Come on! You heard Noelle! We have a place to hide so you’ll be safe! We can’t have you at risk already after the Goddess just brought you to us!”

I turned back to Ash, “What about Dorian and Chad? We should just expect them to save us on their own?”

“They know what they are doing! They know how to defend themselves!”

Ash started tugging at me more fervently, but I held my ground. I was taller and heavier than his smaller body was able to move, and he soon realized I wasn’t going anywhere with him if I didn’t want to. 

I turned back to the door and set my face in grim determination, imagining what horrors may be plaguing the town. What horrors Dorian and Chad were now facing, alone.

I realized I didn’t have a clue what was out there. I had no idea how large or small the attacking force was, or what kind of monsters called this realm home. Only thing I knew for certain was this was the reason the Goddess had summoned me. I would not cower in a basement and wait to be saved, especially by Chad of all people.

I shook my arm out of Ash’s outstretched grip and started marching towards the door. Ash chased after me, pleading with me not to go outside. 

“Please, Goddess! Don’t leave us! Don’t go out there!”

I ignored him, pushed open the door and marched out into the Square myself. 

The first thing that hit me was the smell. The air was filled with the stench of rot, like the sky had opened up and rained dozens of corpses on the town. The air was so heavy with it that it bore into my nostrils and attempted to climb into my mouth. I reached up to cover the lower half of my face to attempt to stifle it and was immediately grateful that I hadn’t eaten much for breakfast.

I then saw the source of the rot and understood: the town was being attacked by the undead. There were a couple dozen shambling corpses within the immediate vicinity, with Goddess only knew how many more elsewhere. I looked for Dorian and Chad, hoping they were still alive.

Dorian had vaulted on top of a small marketplace tent that was nestled up against another nearby building and was currently taking shots at the monsters from range. I wasn’t sure how full his quiver had been, but he couldn’t do that forever. Nevertheless, he was safe for now.

Chad was further down the square, near one of the side streets where the horde seemed to be spewing from. It allowed him a choke point to control them, but it also meant he was alone against the tide. He had coordinated with Dorian and was occasionally letting a straggler through for him to pick off. While this was a great strategic maneuver, they were still too outnumbered for this tactic to hold for long. Something had to break.

It was then that I saw the corpses. 

Not the corpses of the undead that had already been dispatched by arrow or blade, but the corpses of the living. Scattered throughout the square were mutilated corpses of men and women who had been taken by surprise in the early moments of the attack, their blood pooling underneath them, some of it joining with other pools from bodies that had fallen nearby. 

My eyes went wide with shock. I had never seen a dead body like this before, where just moments before it had been full of life and hope. And I certainly had never seen the remains of a person that had been savagely murdered. Many of the bodies also showed signs that the undead had been feasting before Dorian and Chad had interrupted them.

I turned and vomited on the cobblestone. I had gone through so many difficult and emotional moments today. My body just gave out. These were real people whose lives had just been snuffed out. All their hopes and dreams and promise, gone in an instant. I wiped at my mouth and forced myself to look back and behold everything again:

Chad dodging and swinging, keeping all he could in front of him and out of arms reach. 

Dorian loosing arrow after arrow into anything that got away from Chad that kept advancing closer to the inn.

And the screams. The screams were the worst of all. They seemed to come from everywhere, the cries of the townspeople echoed off buildings from the nearby streets. They were crying out in surprise, in pain, in fear. 

It was a moment before I realized some of the screaming was being directed at me.

“Amelia!” Dorian cried out. “Get back inside where it’s safe!” He had probably been trying to get my attention for a while, but I had been so disoriented by all the assaults to my senses that I hadn’t noticed. Ash had followed me up to the door and was again pulling at me insistently, now attempting to push off the inner door frame as additional leverage. 

“Ash! Get her inside! Get Noelle if you have to!” Dorian shot one of his few remaining arrows. It was about to get dicey. 

“Goddess, please!” Ash continued to plead with me to come back into the relative safety of the the tavern. 

I whirled back at Ash and snarled, “I am NOT your Goddess!” It came across much harsher than I intended but my head was swimming with all sorts of emotions and I couldn’t control myself any longer. He shrunk away from me and looked genuinely hurt.

“If you want to run and hide, go run and hide!” I pointed out to the village. “People are dying out there and I’m not going to stand by and watch!” 

I turned away from him and started scanning for anything I could use as a weapon, either real or a makeshift one. I spotted a small market stall that looked like a butcher stand not far from where I was standing and sprinted over to it. There it was, just as I was hoping: a hand-axe implanted in a cutting block. 

I picked it up and quickly looked it over. I was no expert on truly judging the weapon for sharpness and had no desire to accidentally injure myself testing the blade, but it looked like it would do the trick. I wasn’t thrilled at how close I would have to be to the horde to get some hits in, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. 

Dorian had finally run out of arrows. He slung his bow back over his shoulder and leaped off the market stall. He drew his short sword and moved to join Chad, who had lost control of his choke point and had been slowly retreating. The zombies were now less contained and were starting to spread out. There were so many! Where were they all coming from?

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The two of them fought side by side, looking for easy kills to continue to thin the numbers. They made a formidable pair. Their familiarity with each other’s fighting style was obvious and neither got in the other’s way as they danced from engaged foe back to their original ground they were attempting to hold. 

Chad’s weapon of choice was obviously his sword, but Dorian also seemed to be holding his own with his blade as well. Had their duel earlier come to actual blows, Chad likely had the upper hand, but it would have been closer than he would have ever admitted. Their combat stances and movements radiated with confidence, but I was certain they were well aware of their precarious situation, and it was only a matter of time before something happened that they couldn’t control. 

 I moved to join the two of them and jumped next to Dorian, attempting to help form an enclosed semi-circle facing the zombies and help even the odds, brandishing my newly acquired hand-axe. 

Dorian finished skewering one of the approaching corpses through it’s head and jumped back before addressing me. 

“What in the name of the Gods do you think you are doing?” He scowled, obviously frustrated that I wasn’t obeying his orders to hide, and he moved to position himself in front of me. “I’ve already got to protect pretty boy over here. I don’t need to be worrying about you too!”

Chad seemed to take offense to this, and he moved to make a show of easily dispatching a target of his own, slicing it down through it’s middle with relative ease. 

“Remind me again how many you owe me for saving your life today? You’re easily above a dozen.”

Dorian laughed as he drove a foot into the knee joint of another undead before slicing off it’s head as it fell towards him, “You haven’t even killed a dozen since we’ve been out here! Was one of them going to kill me twice?”

I could see the seriousness in their eyes and yet their ability to jest with each other, despite death mere rotten teeth and claws away, was oddly relaxing. My courage reinforced, I decided to join the fray. One of the larger undead had gotten loose between them and was making a lunge towards me. Any fear of facing a larger opponent I quickly pushed aside to meet my first challenge. I lunged to meet it’s charge, screaming like a mad woman the whole time as I brought the axe down in a slicing motion. 

I could do this!

Memories of my frustrations from the morning flashed in my vision: Chad proclaiming my destiny to be his silent and obedient wife, the girls forcibly, provocatively dressed as eye candy for drunken men to fondle, Roscoe sliding his hand up the girl’s skirt while she was forced to straddle his lap. Or worse, Noelle being forced to do those things. I channeled all of it into a white, hot fury as I brought the axe head down as violently as I could. 

The axe was unfortunately much duller than I had hoped. It made a wet chonking sound as it impacted in it’s skull but didn’t penetrate far enough to stop the undead’s momentum. Instead, it was now forcing me backwards as it continued moving, attempting to at grab at me while I held onto the axe handle. I struggled at staying out of it’s grasp while trying to dislodge the axe so I could take another swing. It gurgled at me, a green frothy liquid seeping from the sides of it’s mouth, as it got a grip around my left arm. It started using it’s grip as an anchor to control my movement, pulling itself closer to me, and I couldn’t help it any longer. 

I screamed. 

I screamed like the terrified little girl I was inside my now grown woman’s body. 

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t know how to stop the undead that was biting at my face and getting closer with each attempt. 

I felt helpless. 

Letting go of the axe handle, I attempted to back away. Unfortunately, the creature still had a firm grip on my arm and was able to stay with my retreat, step for wretched step. He reached with his other hand and got a fist full of my dress. I let out a curse under my breath and knew there was a good reason I never made it a habit to wear these things! 

It started to pull me towards it with an uncanny strength. Struggling against it, I tripped and fell backwards, the zombie falling on top of me. It released it’s grip on my dress and pushed me down by my right shoulder. It’s hand still had a firm grip on my left wrist, and I was now pinned to the ground. My shoulder straps had gotten loose in the tussle and had slid down my shoulders. It’s mouth gaped open in anticipation. More green, rotten saliva dripped out of it onto my face and my newly exposed upper chest. I shrieked as the droplets plopped onto my skin. It burned, and it smelled horrible. 

The zombie leaned down to feast on my flawless, smooth neck. 

Was this it? Had I already failed and met my end?

Suddenly a blur dove past me and slammed into the midsection of the corpse, jostling it’s position atop me and saving me from my horrendous fate. The form had tackled my assailant and they were now rolling around on the ground, wrestling for control over one another. I scrambled to get up off the ground and it took me a moment to realize my savior was Ash! He had overcome his fear and surprisingly come to my rescue. 

And not a moment too soon. 

With his element of surprise now gone, he was struggling to maintain control of his grapple with his much larger opponent and was now in danger himself. The drooling corpse had now pinned him to the ground and was trying to lean in to bite at his neck and face. He turned back, made eye contact with me, and simply shouted, “Run!”

And I did. 

I ran straight at the zombie and kicked hard at the back of the head of the axe that was still lodged in it’s forehead. The force pushed the blade further into it’s decomposing skull and it flopped over lifelessly on top of Ash. 

I moved to help get him out from under the zombie and looked back towards Chad and Dorian to see how the rest of the battle was fairing. I was relieved to see that the number of undead had all but been diminished and the square now appeared clear. 

Once the remainder of the horde had been dispatched, they jogged over to where Ash and I were shaking next to our lone kill. I had fixed my dress and was panting heavily. I had never felt such terror as a moment ago. What had I been thinking?

Chad ripped the axe from the skull’s remains and confirmed my kill while Dorian grabbed me by the shoulders with both hands and shook me furiously.

“What the hell was that? Thank the Goddess Ash stuck around and was able to distract it for a moment!” I could see the genuine concern in his eyes before he also looked over at Ash, “You alright kid?”

Ash nodded and refused to leave my side, seemingly more worried about me than himself. 

Chad walked over, thumbing the axe, and addressed me as well. “This thing is as dull as a butter knife!” He glanced at me, then hesitantly at my left arm, as if remembering my outrageously powerful swing at him this morning. He looked back over at the dead, “It’s astonishing it made a dent in it at all!”

He then quickly yanked at Dorian’s small ponytail in a teasing attempt to display the axe’s failures, but Dorian slapped him away before he could demonstrate, clearly not in the mood to play.

“Hey, hey! Yes, we get it, she was lucky the zombie had a skull as soft as porridge. We get it. No need to cut my hair to prove the axe was borderline useless!” They both turned to face me again and started looking me over. Save the irritated spots on my exposed face, shoulders, and collar bone where the saliva had mercilessly dripped on me, I didn’t seem to be any worse for wear. 

“I am glad no serious harm came to you, my lady.” Chad’s expression was stern before he continued, “But please, leave this sort of thing to the men. War is our battlefield for a reason.” 

“He’s being a dick about it, but he’s right,” Dorian huffed. It was clear they were dead serious about this if they were both in agreement. “These kinds of situations will just get you hurt, or worse.” He pressed a hand to his chest. “I can’t have that happen.”

All of this admonishing was just making me angrier about the situation. I stomped my foot and screamed back at them, “Oh but it would have been fine had Noelle been out here?” I clinched my fists, my arms stiffly defiant at my sides. “I’m sorry I’m not a seasoned fighter like both of you, but I still killed it! And had I not managed to pick up the dullest axe in all the village, I probably would have killed more of them! I don’t need YOU! Either of you!”

My face was hot with anger, but not just at them I realized. I was frustrated, but I was also frightened. I had charged in, thinking I was bullet proof because I was chosen by the Goddess to solve the world’s problems. Instead, I had been moments away from death! Ash had saved me. I had gotten lucky. I didn’t want to admit it, but Dorian and Chad were right and that hurt what diminished pride I had left. 

I wanted to cry, but I wouldn’t. Not in front of them. Not when I had just fruitlessly tried to argue my case that I was also capable of protecting myself and the people I cared about. I couldn’t show that kind of emotional weakness now. 

I did the only thing I could do. 

I finally turned and ran. 

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