Then he notices the figure darting through the streets. “Zeke?” he says, though he knows his voice is muted by the battle. He starts to follow.
But the shaking ground begins to shake more. There’s a rhythmic thump to it. He turns. A massive draugr, running on all fours, is approaching at intense speeds. Daniel, trapped in the narrow street, fires the shot gun.
The beast keeps coming.
The gunner waits. The monster was coming closer. Within range.
Closer . . .
Closer . . .
Boom!
The monster feels the blast. It stumbles and begins to roll, stopping just shy of colliding with its attacker.
It raises itself to its feet. Daniel notices the blood covering the draugr. It’s already been injured. He pumps his shotgun, then raises it, aiming for the beast’s head. Aiming for the kill.
Click.
The sound of the empty gun frightens him more than the hissing and screaming of all the monsters in the city.
The draugr swings. It throws the young fighter backward, to the ground. He loses his grip on the shotgun. It falls to rest at his feet. He pulls out his .45 and begins to fire. The monster looks distracted. It swings its hands frantically, as if swatting at mosquitoes. This won’t do, he thinks. He pulls out a full magazine and reloads the pistol before the monster realizes the bullets have stopped.
He aims for an eye.
Crack!
The monster reels in pain, clutching its face. Daniel grabs the shotgun and pulls out his last four cartridges. He reloads quickly and pumps his shotgun.
The monster is big. He’ll have to be close.
He creeps closer to the draugr as it begins to recover from the pain. When the demon opens its remaining eye, the barrel of the gun is the first thing it sees.
It is also the last thing it sees.
The gun explodes, and so does the massive creature’s head. The body wavers for a moment, then falls forward.
On Daniel.
The corpse pins him to the ground. He slowly wrests his way out, gets to his feet, then runs off in the direction he last saw Zeke.
Transport vehicles roll across the bridges. Soldiers stand guard on the north side, blasting draugr as they approach the front lines. The Supervisor hops off a vehicle on the south side of the river and looks for a captain. The ranking officer finds him first. “Sir, the south sectors seem to be clear of draugr,” he reports with a salute.
“Good. Keep a few teams down there hunting, just to be safe. How about the north sectors?”
The soldier glances around. “I’m not entirely sure. I was with alpha team. We’ve done three sweeps in our sector and can’t find any more civilians. I believe beta team has also retired after three sweeps.”
“And gamma and delta teams?” Dumah asks.
“I can’t say. They’ve both returned at least once. I believe delta team is out on their third sweep.” The soldier looked uneasy.
“Something you’d like to add, captain?”
“Sir, the draugr know we’re evacuating south. More and more have been gathering at the bridges.” He nods across the dirty water. There are already twice as many draugr as when Dumah crossed the bridge a moment ago.
The governor immediately starts walking through the make-shift base at a brisk pace, shouting orders as he passes. “You,” he says pointing at a man with a radio. “Radio the remaining teams for a progress report. Tell them we don’t have time to be thorough, just clear out the majority of civilians to minimize casualties.” He turns to the captain again. “Build me a pyre. Find anything that can burn. Pile it near the north end of the bridge. We’re going to push them back into the evacuated sectors where we can safely exterminate them.”
He turns to a nearby Lieutenant. “Relay my orders to the other bridges.”
Jae-Hoon crouches by the headless giant. This is the one that attacked me.
Gunfire echoes in the distance. Draugr screams are muffled by the streets and houses between them. This area is oddly quiet.
It’s still bleeding. Profusely. It hasn’t been dead for long.
He looks around, hoping for a straggling monster to kill. Nothing presents itself. He looks around for clues. On the hard earth, he sees a shape. Dark brown. The stain of draugr blood. It’s shaped like a boot. The foot pointed north.
Anyone who could survive a battle with this beast must be hunting draugr. Jae-Hoon, hoping to be helpful, turns north and follows the fighter’s footprints.
Joel walked casually through the streets, Charlie beside him. The monsters were slow. They enjoyed picking them off. The pirate even felt good enough to sing.
“I’ve been slaughterin’ the draugr
All, the live long day!”
As he passed the monsters, he stabbed and slashed them, keeping with the rhythm of the song.
Slash!
Charlie thought the song sounded fun, and added his own part.
“I’ve been shootin’ up their faces,
Just to watch them pass away!”
Bang, bang, bang!
“Nice,” said Joel. “How about:
Can’t you hear the monsters hissing?
Losin’ their guts on the road!”
Slash, stab, bang!
“Can’t you see Karellan whining?”
Bang!
“Pirates blow your . . .”
Stuck for his next rhyme, he asks, “Hey, what rhymes with road?”
“Uh, I don’t know. Toad?” A draugr approached Charlie, hissing softly. He shot it in the face. Its head exploded and the giant moved to the next monster.
“No, I don’t think that will work.” Joel stabbed a draugr hard out of frustration with his song.
“Bestowed?” More gun fire.
“Nah, I don’t think so.” Another monster spotted the pirate and shrieked loudly. “You’re a noisy little fellow.” He crossed his daggers across the monster’s throat, cutting the noise—and the draugr—dead.
Meanwhile, Charlie shot rapidly into a large group of monsters. “Well, as much as I’d love to help you find a rhyme, I kinda got my hands full right now.”
“No problem,” said Joel, stepping back to watch. “Take your time.”
Charlie switched his gun to fully automatic, then sprayed the group in front of them. Most of the monsters fell dead. A few twitched on the ground, spasms in the throes of death. Two still ambled slowly toward him. He stepped back and raised his gun.
Click.
The draugr still stumbled forward, awkwardly. Very non-threatening. He shrugged, dropped his gun and stepped forward. Grabbing them by the head, he slammed their skulls together.
Crunch!
The monsters fell. Joel nodded and smiled. Charlie took a slight bow, then they continued down the street.
Ariel clutches her tiny derringer. She only has two shots. The gun in her hands, and the one in her pocket. Draugr pound on the windows of her house.
She has heard the announcement. The city is being evacuated. I must be the only meal north of the river, she thinks. For the first time since the war, she is scared. She misjudged so many things. Her improving strength. The amount of draugr. The monsters’ ability to find her. The need for her to stay secret.
And she knows Zeke isn’t in the city today. He is another thing she misjudged. Him and his paranoia. His seemingly justified fear that she needs protection.
She backs into a corner of the room, holding her shaking gun at the window.
At the bridges, soldiers mill about busily. They fight for control of the river.
The draugr do the same.
On the south bank, only a short distance into what is still a safe zone, the captain finds the Supervisor. “Sir, we’ve received word on gamma and delta teams. They’ve returned.”
“Excellent. Send out orders to light the fires.” The captain runs to the radio as Dumah strides confidently toward the front lines. The draugr hoards are massive. They fight furiously, and the city guard loses
ground.
He smiles confidently. A soldier nearby drops a torch onto a heavy pile of wood. A fire burns on the bridge. Other fires explode into being down the river.
Draugr shriek in pain. Some catch fire and run. Some tumble into the dirty water below. All of them turn back. Perhaps, a little too quickly. They stampede back into the north city. Even the slower ones seem to find uncommon speed. The ground shakes under their weight.
Dumah shouts wildly. “Follow them! Sweep the city! Pin them against the walls until every last one of them is dead!”
It will be a long and difficult process, but the soldiers follow their commander’s orders without question. They cross the fires and form a line on the north bank, moving at a relaxed pace and carefully picking off the straggling draugr.
Daniel plants a .45 between the monster’s eyes.
Then he stops.
It’s the first draugr he’s seen in over twenty minutes. A zombie-like one, with nothing faster for nearly an hour. Something is wrong. Where are they all?
As if an answer to his question, the earth begins to shake. He looks around for the source. Instead, he sees Jae-Hoon pop out from around a corner behind him.
“Hey, aren’t you . . .” starts the Slayer, but Daniel isn’t listening. Instead, he’s concentrating on the vibrating earth. It seems familiar. Like something that happened recently. Within the last few days.
A draugr stampede.
“Get to cover!” he shouts to the priest.
“What?”
Daniel doesn’t have time to argue. He rushes to Jae-Hoon, then pulls him into a small alley between houses, just as the stampede floods into the street.
It’s painfully loud. Shrieking and hissing flood their ears. Houses get hit by bodies, pushed as far as they can in either direction. Windows break. Doors burst. Many buildings collapse entirely.
A small monster is pushed into the alley where the two men hide. It comes to its senses and hisses at them. Jae-Hoon lands a punch, silencing the draugr. Then he stakes it with his spike.
Slowly, the sounds of the stampede fade into the distance, although the earth continues to shake. They cautiously leave their hiding place. Two draugr, knocked over by the rest, remain in the street. Two quick shots fire from the pistol, and they don’t get up.
“Zeke,” he says to himself, staring down the street after the hoard.
“What’s that?”
Daniel starts running. “We have to go. Come on.”
Jae-Hoon follows.
The earth shakes.
“What the hell?” asks Charlie, staring down the street.
A small cloud of dust appears on the horizon. “What’s happening?”
The giant gives a primal scream, then leaps into the middle of the street, adopting the fighting stance of a pro-wrestler. “I’ll tell you what’s happening! They’re sending in the cavalry when they heard what we did to their buddies.” He begins to shout at the cloud of approaching draugr. “Come on, you bastards! I’ll take you all down!”
The hoard closes in. Joel backs up. “Uh, not to ruin your fun, but I’m not sure we can take on this group by ourselves.”
They stampede appears over the horizon. Charlie gawks at its size.
“Run!” shouts the pirate, who climbs up a utility pole. The giant leaps for an open window of a small house and pulls himself up to the roof.
But the weak building doesn’t hold.
When the draugr flood through the street, their bodies slam into the house. Charlie falls into a cloud of splintered wood and monsters.
Joel panics. The stampede is gone after a minute, but it seems longer. When it’s safe, he runs to the leveled house and begins pulling all the rubble. “Charlie! Charlie, are you okay?” Two figures appear and begin pulling at the rubble with him. He looks up. It’s Daniel and an Armageddonist priest.
“We’re all here, give us a hand,” calls the boy.
A voice groans. The rubble shakes.
Jae-Hoon moves a board and finds a large hand underneath. He grabs and pulls. A massive upper torso emerges from the pile.
Charlie stares at the priest, confused. “Have I been promoted?” he asks, standing up. He looks bruised, but otherwise okay.
“You okay?”
He rubs his head for a moment, then says, “Ow.”
“Good enough for me.” Daniel leaps up and runs after the draugr. “Follow me. I think Zeke went this way!” He disappears down the street.
“Were we looking for Zeke?” Joel asks.
“Who knows? But that’s where all the action is heading.” Charlie runs off after Daniel.
“He’s going to get himself killed.” The pirate turns to Jae-Hoon. “You coming?
They follow the others down the street.
The earth shakes.
Zeke immediately knows what’s happening. “Shit,” he says. With a running start, he leaps off the side of a building and grabs hold of a utility pole nearby. He pulls himself high enough to get a good view of the area.
The draugr are close. They’re stampeding north. Straight for his house.
Straight at Ariel.
“Shit!” he shouts. Leaping from roof top to roof top, he runs with the hoard of draugr.
The tiny house shakes. Ariel wonders whether the whole house will fall. Until now, she was slightly calmed. The monsters pounding at her window didn’t seem smart enough to get inside.
Not that she risked moving from the corner.
The shaking grows stronger. More draugr hiss and scream. Suddenly the windows of the house explode. Monsters race by outside. Two of them are pushed inside, through the broken glass. They are disoriented, but collect themselves quickly once they realize the fresh meal in their midst.
She raises the gun.
Bang!
A shot rings out. Zeke snaps to attention. In the wake of the stampede, he drops to the ground outside his house.
Bang! Two shots. She didn’t have any more.
He rushes through the door. Ariel, in a panic, waves a derringer madly at him. “Go away! Go away!” The gun clicks wildly. Two draugr lay dead on the floor, each with a tidy hole between their eyes.
“Ariel, Ariel! It’s me. It’s Zeke.”
The clicking halts. She cautiously opens her eyes. “Zeke?”
He grabs her hand. “We have to go somewhere safe. They’re securing the south city.” Pulling her to her feet, they rush outside.
Where they are immediately greeted by an entourage of draugr.
Stragglers. Or those not present when the fires began the stampede. They crawl out of holes, hissing hungrily.
A white light flashes, blinding both monsters and humans for a brief moment. A malak stands, his back to them. It’s the same one he fought in Pusan.
“You!” he growls, pushing Ariel behind him and raises his sword.
The malak glances over his shoulder, but does not turn. “No. You are not ready. I have come here for the draugr. They belong to me.”
He doesn’t argue.
The malak holds out both hands. Just as before, a gale wind rises from nothingness. This wind is stronger. It stretches farther. Zeke fights to keep on his feet. Ariel holds on to him tightly.
An ear-splitting scream rings through the city. Every draugr in lower Nifelheim sings the same tortured song. The chorus is loud and frightening. The monsters are lifted into the air. They become thin and stretched.
Charlie, Joel, Daniel and Jae-Hoon run down the street. They all spy the malak at once and stop dead in their tracks. The wind nearly pushes them over.
“What the fuck is that?” shouts Charlie.
The city-wide screeching grows louder. There is the sound of something bursting. A large brown mist rises above the houses and buildings. The massive cloud begins to spin. The vortex rapidly shrinks, enclosing around the malak, who seems to grow larger, stronger. As if he is feeding off the strength of the monsters.
The cloud shrinks. The mist and the vortex disappear.
<
br /> Nifelheim is silent. Unnaturally quiet. Only the malak stands before them. He turns.
“Who are you?” Zeke demands. “What do you want?”
The malak scoffs. “You demand answers from me? Very well. It changes nothing. I have many names. I am the First of the Holy Sephiroth. I am the prophet. I am he who walked with God. Should you require the use of an actual name, I am Metatron.”
“What do you want?”
The malak scowls. “That, I have already told you. You are not strong enough yet. But be prepared. The day when we fight is nigh.”
The light flashes once again, and the malak disappears.
Charlie runs to Zeke, who collapses in relief. “What in the divine name of good Zombie Jesus was that?”
Chapter Nine: Infiltration
“So don’t ye kill vampires er sumthin’ like that?” Charlie leaned most of his weight on the table to keep from falling out of his chair.
Despite his lumbering size, he couldn’t hold his liquor.
Jae-Hoon, who had been trying to match the giant shot for shot, wasn’t doing much better. “I telled you before I used to kill vampires when we thought they were vampires but then they weren’t vampires so we stopped killing them and started killing things what weren’t vampires.”
“But what about that . . . that . . .” Charlie paused, his brain stuck in neutral for a moment. Joel and Jae-Hoon waited with a furious indifference. “Pointy thing?”
“Pointy thing?”
“Yeah. You know that,” he finished his sentence by slashing an imaginary draugr with an invisible knife. It was a poor imitation of Jae-Hoon’s fighting style. “Isn’t it supposed to be . . . what was it . . . ass wood?” There was an outburst of laughter at the table. “You know!” the big drunken man continued, confused and offended. “That wood what kills the vampires.” He added another swing of his imaginary knife to illustrate the point he thought he was making.
Joel was not as far gone as the other two. “I think you mean ‘ash,’ Charlie.”
“Yah! That’s what I been sayin. The . . . pointy thing . . . what izzit?”
Ragnarok: The Fate of Gods Page 11
