They called a halt and Vitus turned to Bactus to discuss their tactics. The scout joined them and handed Bactus a small pocket telescope. It was a fine piece of work and Bactus lifted his eyebrows in question to the scout.
“Family heirloom, sir. My grandfather bought it after being on campaign with Germanicus, sir. Passed it to my father, who passed it to me.”
Bactus whistled. “Germanicus, aye? You following in the old man's footsteps then?”
“Yes, sir. Proud to be doing it too, sir.” The scout smiled at this chance to honour his ancestors.
Bactus held the glass to his eye and scanned the estate. He muttered under his breath as he did so, most of it sounded like swearing.
“It’s a gods damned mess down there. Risen everywhere inside the walls and plenty of bodies. Can’t see any live ones but the villa itself seems intact so they could be holed up inside.” He passed the glass to Vitus, “What do you think?”
Vitus took the telescope and took a second to focus it, as he’d seen Bactus do. The gates to the villa were down and broken. There seemed to be a number of bodies under and around them. As Bactus had said, the Risen were overrunning the yard inside the wall.
He scanned the barns and most of those seemed intact as well. The front door and the windows in the front of the villa were secure.
As he passed the glass across the front of the villa he saw movement in one of the windows. A face, he thought it was a girl, passed across the window and was gone. He couldn’t be sure he had seen it and if he had, then he couldn’t be sure if it was a live person or a dead one.
“I saw someone inside, I think. Can’t be sure if it was a Risen or not,” he said to Bactus.
“We can’t see any broken doors so I have to say we need a closer look. We can’t leave live people to face these things alone.” He took a look again without the glass. “Got any ideas how we go about this?”
Vitus explained to Bactus what he had noticed about the Risen at the fence, and they worked out a plan of action.
The front gate of the estate was about half a mile from the villa. Behind it was an avenue of trees and a lawn to either side of a rutted road that led to the villa. The lawn wasn’t wide, just enough to save visitors passing between crop fields as they approached the villa.
They slowly made their way towards the gate, keeping themselves hidden in under growth and trees as they went. Two other groups were making their way to either side and moving along the line of the fence.
Vitus had twenty archers and the same in legionaries, in his group. The rest were split between Bactus and Antonius. Bactus was taking the side where they had seen the open gate but neither route looked free of the dead.
If the plan worked, it could be that Vitus would be the one tackling the biggest number of enemy, though hopefully with little in the way of danger.
The gate was locked and bolted closed and the wooden fence to either side was about eight feet high. If his observations were right Vitus hoped this wouldn’t matter either way.
Regulus had volunteered to be the bait and he walked up to the gate, making no attempt to hide himself from view. He spoke to a Risen as it passed close to the gate.
“Morning, ugly.” He said, raising a low laugh from the rest of the group. The Risen turned immediately, moving from a shambling, rolling walk to a sharp, jerking lurch.
It came to the gate, hitting its face hard into a metal bar and reached through towards Regulus, who stood about a foot out of reach. An arrow flew past his ear and drilled into the Risen's forehead. A cheer went up from the unit.
“Fuck me!” Regulus said as he turned towards the archer who had loosed the arrow. “I don’t mind them trying to kill me, but can you lot not try so hard?”
They laughed again, and behind Regulus more Risen took the bait and lurched towards the gate. The first few fell fast, dropped by archers as soon as they appeared, but it quickly became apparent that this was going to take a while, as more and more came. The legionaries stepped forward and used spears to kill the monsters through the iron bars of the gate.
The trouble began as the Risen began to climb. It didn’t happen at first, but only as the group around the gate became big enough to block those behind.
They seemed to leap like frogs, needing no run up. Instead they launched themselves into the air, showing a dexterity that wasn’t apparent in their walk. They were up and climbing the top of the gate in seconds.
Vitus gave the order to retreat from the gate and the legionaries dropped back. The archers began pouring arrows into the climbing dead. Those that made it over the gate became the prey of the legionaries and the killing continued.
The dead began to fall in droves and for a quarter of an hour the bodies began to build up on both sides of the gate. It was good killing, and the Romans were delivering death as only they knew how.
After a time the dead stopped appearing at the gate, and Vitus called a ceasefire. He stepped forward towards the gate and saw nothing moving beyond. The weight of the dead made it impossible to open the gates inward. Instead Vitus ordered part of the fence removed. The work wasn’t difficult and was over in minutes.
There was enough room to ease through and he stepped forward onto the avenue and lawns of the estate. A glance to his right showed that Bactus was having a similar time against his enemy. They were just mopping up the last few dead as Vitus watched.
Antonius was nowhere to be seen but as there had been no gate in sight, his orders had been more of a scouting mission.
Vitus waved to Bactus as the centurion stepped through his gate and pointed towards the broken entrance in the villa wall.
Both groups made their way across the lawns towards the milling Risen in the yard. Halfway up the lawn was a Risen that seemed to be tied to a statue by a long rope. As they got closer it became apparent that she was tethered by a long length of intestines.
A few of the men began to laugh as the woman struggled to reach them, held in place by her own internal organs. More than one of their fellow soldiers saved Vitus a job and told them to shut up. This wasn’t an enemy, this had once been a person. While she now deserved to be ended, she also deserved their sympathy. To become what she was, she had been attacked and killed by another of her kind. It was not an end any of them could stand to think of.
There were bodies scattered in front of the villa and most had at least one Risen feeding off them. A number of the dead had head wounds and had obviously been Risen before they were put to their final rest. The feeding monsters carried a variety of injuries that showed they had been in a spirited fight against a force that just hadn’t learned quickly enough how to kill them.
None of the creatures gave any notice to the force as they entered the yard. Those that saw them were too busy feeding to feel the need to hunt or fight. Bactus formed the men up into small, three man groups, and they moved about the yard dispatching the Risen quickly and efficiently.
As this came to an end, and it looked like they had the villa secure, a high pitched scream came from inside the building and the door was thrown open.
A large, older woman who looked worn around the edges came scurrying out of the door faster than Vitus would have given her the chance of doing. She was waving her arms in the air as she ran into the arms of Antonius, who did his best to subdue her.
Out of the door behind her came six Risen, two males and four females. They launched themselves at the nearest legionaries, one of whom reacted too slowly and was dragged to the ground, screaming.
The rest fought off the remaining creatures before driving a sword through the temple of the undead who had attacked their colleague. The man spouted blood from a wound in his throat, gurgling and coughing. The legionaries around him froze and it was Antonius who reacted quickest, he stepped up behind the dying man and thrust his blade into his skull.
There was a shocked silence as the remaining men stared at Antonius, he glared back at them.
“You’re all trained men!”
He shouted. “If you take your mind off your job you will end up like him. If you are bitten, you are dead. Do you understand?” He was bellowing at them. They all nodded and two men took a step backwards.
“Good, because the moment you are bitten, that is the only thing we can do for you. Put you out of your misery. I did it out of mercy, and I will do it to any one of you. I also expect you to do it for me.”
He had quieted his voice now but his face and hands were still clenched in rage. “Now check the rest of the boundary and I want a unit inside the villa going room to room.
The woman he had been holding was crying hysterically all the while this was happening, but Antonius managed to make out the word 'cellar'. He turned to the men entering the villa and told them to check that area first, a feeling of dread in his heart.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The cellar was a massacre. Bodies lay sprawled like discarded scraps of meat. Blood coated almost every inch of wall and floor, it dripped from the racks of wine amphora.
Women and children had been torn to pieces in a frenzy. At first sight, it looked like nobody had survived. Indeed, a couple of the bodies started to rise from the ground as the Romans stood and looked at the bloodbath before them.
A child of maybe eight years old tried to get up from the floor, dragging her internal organs behind her. Vitus stepped forward and used the flat of his sword to hammer the top of her head. It made a noise like an egg cracking as she fell to the floor. Vitus felt his stomach lurch violently.
He started for the cellar steps and managed to say, “Check the rest and make sure they don’t get back up,” before he hurried up the stairs, saliva filling his mouth.
He made it outside, just before he bent over and vomited violently.
“How bad is it, sir?” Regulus asked, looking pale just at the sight of his senior officer.
“I will need to live to be a thousand years old if I ever wish to see anything as bad again,” he answered.
“We need men on clean up duty.” He said, then turned to the nearest auxiliary. “Any men not on patrols, gather the bodies and lay them out on the lawn.”
“All of them, sir?” The man asked.
“They were all people once. Yes all of them.” Vitus replied.
Almost simultaneously two legionaries spoke to him from opposite sides. He turned to the voice nearest the house and saw a legionary holding a bundle, saturated in blood, in his arms.
“Sir, you need to see this.” The soldier said to him in a low voice.
Vitus stepped towards him, and saw, buried in a bundle of gore soaked blankets, the face of a baby. It was impossibly small and beautiful in a place of such horror.
The legionary looked up from the bundle and into Vitus’ face. “Sir, her mother was dead and laying on top of her. She had bites taken out of her back. I think she must have protected the baby while they ate her alive.”
The man's voice broke on the last words and his eyes filled with tears. “We had to put the mother down when she woke up and tried to eat it.”
From behind Vitus a small and weak female voice said, “Give her to me, please.” He turned to see the plump woman holding out her arms for the child.
The legionary looked at Vitus, looking unwilling to give up this most precious of packages. Vitus nodded to the man, who passed the baby over with tears running down his cheeks.
Vitus turned away to give the man his privacy, and came face to face with a young woman and a man of similar age to himself. They were being led by a couple of auxiliaries who spoke to Vitus.
“Sir, we found two survivors in one of the barns. This lady says she is the daughter of the house, sir.” The speaker stepped back to allow Vitus to speak to the two of them.
“Miss, my name is Vitus Protus. I’m a centurion of the VIIIth legion auxiliaries. We came to see if we could find any survivors as soon as a scout saw you were in trouble.
“We’ve secured the estate, as much as we can, and my men are patrolling as we speak. We are dealing with the bodies in the cellar and out here. Are you and your companion unhurt?”
The woman looked at Vitus then behind him to the older woman. She ignored Vitus’ question and instead asked one of her own.
“What bodies in the cellar?” Her eyes showed panic as no-one answered her, she darted her look from face to face. Her gaze finally rested on the bundle in the older woman's arms.
“Rosa, what's that you’re holding? Where is everyone else? How did you get out of the cellar?”
Rosa looked up from the baby in her arms with a dull, numbed look on her face. “It was the injured man, Lucia. He died. Then he came back.” She spoke in short, clipped sentences, as if she were speaking because it had to be done, and no more.
“Came back? What do you mean came back?” The woman, Lucia, knelt down next to Rosa and swept a curl of hair off her forehead with infinite care. “Rosa, what happened down there?”
“He came back but he was one of them.” She pointed to where a legionary was moving one of the Risen. “He attacked us. Maria's son tried to stop him but he was sick and too weak. One of the slaves tried to run for the door but as she opened it there were more of them.
“They came in and killed everyone. I found myself with a chance to run and I took it. May the gods strike me down, I left those children and I ran away. They found this little one down there after they killed those things. I don’t even know her name. Oh gods! I ran away, Lucia!”
She was becoming hysterical again, but Lucia took her hand and spoke softly to her. “If you hadn’t run you would be dead too, Rosa. You would have left me all alone, and you couldn’t have saved anyone.” She had tears streaming down her cheeks as she spoke and her hands began to shake, so she took the older woman in her arms and they cried. The baby between them slept the sleep of the innocent.
The clean up was well underway, and Vitus was joined by Bactus. They set up an impromptu officer’s meeting on the lawn, out of sight of the mess and mayhem inside. A guard of five centurions kept watch for stray Risen.
Bactus sat at a desk he had ordered two centurions to carry to the lawn, with the permission of the lady of the house. She was sitting on the other side of the desk in a comfortable chair and was asking and answering questions of both men.
“My name is Helena Lucia Scribonius. I am the Daughter of Marianus Lucius Scribonius. I presume there is no news of my father?” She asked Bactus.
“Madam, I have men out in the fields and checking all the buildings, but I’m afraid there is no news so far. I have to say, the fact he was not found among the dead gives me hope he is in hiding somewhere,” Bactus tried to reassure her.
“I do hope you’re right Centurion Bactus. However your men tell me you have been heading here for two days and that the place was already overrun when you set out. That makes me think that he has been missing for three days at least. I can’t confirm this as we were in the cellar and it was impossible to keep track of time.
“Coupled with the fact that you have now been here for a few hours, I can’t help thinking, if he was able to, he would have joined us by now. It all makes me think he must be dead.”
She spoke with an immense amount of composure for someone so young, thought Vitus. Despite her red eyes, she was acting with a measure of dignity and maturity it was hard not to respect.
“May I call you Lucia?” Bactus asked her.
She nodded. “Of course, you both can. I owe you a great deal for turning up when you did.” She seemed to drift off at those last words and Vitus couldn’t help thinking how different it might have been had they been only minutes earlier.
“Thank you, Lucia. I will be honest. Your father is considered a very important man in the region. His dealings with the local Germanic tribes have helped a great deal with the stability in the region. It was him we were dispatched to find and rescue. We will not be leaving here until we are satisfied that your father is alive or cannot be found. After that we will be on our way and I would sugg
est that we make this villa secure and you all come with us, at least for the time being.”
“If my father is found he will make the decision about what happens next, Centurion Bactus. If he cannot be found then I will certainly allow you to escort us to your camp and then I hope, on to Rome, I have family there.”
She became silent for a moment, and the two men gave her a second to compose herself. “In fact, my father had just informed me that I was to go to Rome to live with my aunt. I guess that must still be my destination,” replied Lucia.
“We will spend the next couple of days searching before we ask you to join us, Lucia. Take that time to gather yourself, it must have been a very hard couple of days.” Bactus sounded sympathetic.
Lucia got up from her chair, nodding as she did, “Thank you both, you have been very kind.”
The next few days were spent searching for survivors and hunting the dead. Four horses were found that had escaped from a barn. These were prepared for the journey to camp, to be ridden by the two women and carry belongings from the villa.
Twelve slaves were found alive among the fields and barns, although four were bitten and were ordered to be put to death. One more spirit sapping job.
Lucia’s father was not found, dead or alive. She hand wrote a letter, telling him she was alive and where she had gone. She finished by telling him that she loved him dearly and would keep him in her heart forever.
This letter was left with the overseer who, after much persuading on his part, was left at the estate along with all the male slaves.
His argument was that her father may yet return, and the last thing he would want would be to find the estate deserted. He reasoned that the place was safe, for now, and that he could spend some time making it into a fortress. If after a few weeks there was no sign of her father, he would send word to her and ask for further instructions.
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