Everyone in earshot gasped in dismay over this stark revelation. The conversation ended abruptly as a horde of creatures rapidly closed the distance between them. Athos took a deep breath and looked up and down the line. It felt weird having shields that were not the colors of the Ironman. No matter, his strength resided in all of their hearts not in the metal of their shields.
It took all eighty of the remaining members of the 5th Parthica to plug the gap. That meant that there was only a single rank stretching across the head of the rectangle formation. The undead arrived and flung themselves at the new line.
Athos and Baltazar fought as one. Athos raised his shield and blocked an incoming creature. With his left arm, he shoved it back with his shield and then stepped back to give Baltazar a clear shot. Baltazar thrust his Spatha into the man’s head point first. The corpse fell to the ground. As Baltazar withdrew from his thrust, another of the dead ones reached for him.
Athos’ ax caved in the creature’s skull, and it fell dead at Baltazar’s feet. Before Athos could withdraw back a step, a woman lunged at his exposed right side. Recovered, Baltazar thrust the tip of his Spatha out just above Athos’ right arm. The point pierced her forehead, and she went limp. Her forward momentum propelled her into Athos.
Athos, startled over the sudden weight of the limp corpse crashing into him, went down in a heap. Another creature dove at his exposed legs, teeth clicking together in anticipation of tasting the flesh of his leg. He tried to get the weight of the creature off, but he was off balance. He looked up at Baltazar for help, but a creature crashed into Baltazar’s shield.
The new enemy, dressed in priest vestments, landed on his legs after it deflected off of Baltazar’s shield. The priest tried to grab hold of his left leg and bite down. Athos used his right leg to kick the man in the head and tugged on its robes. The priest, intent on sinking his teeth into Athos’ calf mere inches away, ignored the blow. A Spatha suddenly pierced the top of the creature’s skull. With a cracking noise, the Spatha penetrated into the creatures brain pan and sent purple sludge flying. The former priest collapsed onto Athos’ leg.
“To your feet lad, no time to be taking a breather!” Constan yelled. Constan turned away from Athos and neatly dispatched an oncoming creature.
Athos kicked the corpse off his legs, then pushed the other body off of him. As he began to get to his feet, another creature smashed into his chest plate. The momentum of the female pushed Athos back over onto his back. The creature, with maggots emerging from a hole in its cheek, sprang for Athos’ exposed neck. He put his arm up to block the bite when a Spatha flashed in from behind him. The Spatha sank into the her left eye socket, and she fell limp upon Athos. “Athos get off your arse and get back into the fight!” Nikas yelled. They made eye contact, Nikas winked at Athos, and then he was gone.
Athos jumped back to his feet just in time to see Baltazar get into trouble. Baltazar was blocking an undead with his shield. The creature smashed into the shield, trying to get past it, and its momentum helped it to slide to the left to get around the barrier. This forced Baltazar to pivot to his left a bit to keep the creature at bay allowing another of the dead to lunge at Baltazar’s now exposed right side.
Athos was too far away to swing at the creature in time. If only I had my ax, Athos thought in frustration. Suddenly, from Baltazar’s left, a spear flew in and pierced the right side of the lunging creature’s skull. The creature, now forever dead, crashed to the ground in a heap.
Baltazar tripped on the corpse and fell onto his back. The creature, being blocked by his shield, jumped on top of his shield when he fell on his back. The shield was still in Baltazar’s hand blocking most of his body. The weight of the creature on his shield pinned his left arm. Athos drew his Spatha and swung at its head slicing through the skull just above the ears. Purple ichor erupted and flowed down onto Baltazar’s shield.
Baltazar cast off the corpse and looked for the next. Athos, taking advantage of the lull in the fighting, frantically looked around for his ax. He saw it and as he leaned over to pick it up when a woman landed on his back and bit down hard on him. Athos screamed at the sudden weight and the bite. Baltazar, not wanting to stab Athos, smashed her on the head with the pommel of his Spatha. She ignored Baltazar and bit down on Athos again.
Baltazar breathed a momentary sigh of relief as several of the creature’s teeth tumbled to the ground. Apparently, Athos’ armor had held. Baltazar dropped his shield and grabbed the pommel of his Spatha with both hands. He smashed it into the woman’s head with all his might, sinking the pommel into her head with a cracking noise. The corpse slid off of Athos’ back.
Athos looked up at Baltazar, who was standing over him in a defensive posture. “Am I bit?”
“No, your armor seems to have held. The bitch even lost some teeth,” Baltazar saw movement out of the corner of his left eye. He swung his Spatha wildly at the incoming creature. The Spatha connected with the creature’s left arm cleaving it off. The impact of the swing caused Baltazar to lose his grip on the Spatha now slick with purple blood and bits of brain matter. The blow momentarily deflected the creature from its goal of biting Baltazar’s exposed throat.
Athos, still on the ground, scrambled in the mud for a weapon. His fingers grasped the handle of something. My ax! He swung it at the creature’s left leg. The ax cleaved right through the Arab’s filthy robes and bit deep into its left leg. Athos pulled it out and swung again. This time the ax cut through the rest of the creature’s leg. The undead arab toppled to its left landing on Athos’ back who was trying to stand up.
Baltazar swung his Spatha at the now prone undead arab’s head. At the same time, he was completely oblivious to another creature that was lunging toward him. The man, who looked as if he’d vivisected, crashed into Baltazar’s back knocking him forward. Baltazar’s swing went wide, and he fell forward onto Athos and the undead arab on Athos’ back.
Theron, seeing the pair in trouble, swung his Spatha and cleaved off the head of the vivisected man that had crashed into Baltazar. Head and body both tumbled to the ground. The undead arab under Baltazar, now pinned, grabbed Athos’ legs and tried to pull itself forward, so it could bite his calves. Sadly, the armor of a Skutatoi only covered the front of their legs.
Baltazar sprang up and drew his ax. During the motion of standing, he kicked the still animated head back toward Theron. Theron, engaged with a creature on his shield tripped on the head and fell backward. The head bit down into Theron’s calf muscle. At the same time, the creature in front of him slipped past his shield and bit into his forearm. Screaming Theron dropped both his shield and Spatha.
Baltazar swung the ax he had just drawn toward the undead arab’s head on top of Athos’ back. The ax contacted the back of the creature’s head, splitting the skull and entering the brain. The arab’s body immediately went limp. Baltazar heard Theron’s screams of distress coming from behind him and whirled around.
What Baltazar saw made him sick to his stomach. Theron was now on his back screaming as the creature on top of him chewed on his arm. Another, an overweight woman, sprang and landed on Theron’s chest. The fat woman bit into Theron’s throat and tore it out with her teeth.
Baltazar swung his ax downward at the beast chewing on Theron’s throat. He used a lot more force this time than he did with the arab that had been on Athos since it didn’t matter if he hit Theron now. The strike cleaved the woman’s immense head clean in half. The large corpse collapsed onto the now silent Theron.
Athos regained his feet and saw a creature lunging toward Baltazar’s exposed right side. Athos threw his ax at it. The ax smashed into the left side of the hell spawn’s head bringing it down. Athos then moved to retrieve his ax. At the same time Baltazar, not even noticing Athos’ defense of his exposed right side, swung his ax sideways at the creature chewing on Theron’s arm. The ax slammed into the right side of the creature’s skull ending its unholy existence.
Baltazar looked down upon Thero
n and saw the life leave his eyes, “God bless you my friend for rescuing us. May your soul find peace at God’s side. Please forgive me for what I must do.” Baltazar brought his ax down on Theron’s forehead ensuring that his friend would stay dead.
The pair of friends turned back to the horde of creatures in front of them and picked up their shields. The mass of the undead extended as far as they could see into the darkness. Athos sighed heavily with the fatigue he was feeling, “Will there ever be an end to them?”
Baltazar replied, “There has to be.”
The friends fought as one for what seemed like hours. Every swing of their arms came a bit slower as their muscles grew fatigued during the next thirty minutes of fighting. As the bodies of the undead piled up in front of them, Nikas ordered withdrawals. The soldiers represented a rectangle of light that slowly withdrew in front of the endless assault from the darkness.
Finally, the pivotal moment arrived that would decide the fate of the Ironmen. Constan, covered in sweat, glanced behind him during a moment of respite. What he saw both stunned and horrified him. “Sir the Imperial Tagmata have disappeared. The bastard hell spawn are behind us now too!”
Nikas exclaimed, “Fucking Cowards! The left most Kontoubernion left face right now! Form a line you are our new left flank. Second and third Kontoubernion hold your position! You will remain in front. Fourth Kontoubernion right face! Now form a line you are the new right flank. The rest give me a line in the rear! Any of you that are not needed to form the rear rank, collect in the center. You will be our new reserve.”
The men of the 5th Parthica moved to comply with Nikas’ orders. Many of those on the far right of the line were lost when they tried to withdraw to form the rear line. Despite those losses the 5th Parthica now formed a square of roughly forty men. In the middle was a reserve of a mere five men and Nikas. Thirty-five of them had fallen since they arrived at the head of the now defunct rectangle.
Athos dispatched what felt like his thousandth creature that day and started praying out loud, “God, I’m so tired. Please give me and my comrades the strength to continue. Please help us to figure out how to remove ourselves from this place. I started this adventure surrounded by wolves, and I am going to seemingly end this adventure surrounded by the dead. Why the hell did I ever leave home?”
Athos killed another creature threatening Baltazar. He looked over to his right at Constan. Despite the cool temperature of the desert night, sweat streamed from him, and his breath was labored, coming in gasps. He looked on the verge of total collapse.
Athos blocked yet another of the dead with his shield. He brought his ax down on its head, and it dropped to the ground. Covered in purple ichor, his ax had become difficult to hold onto on several occasions, when impacting the heads of the undead, it had almost slipped from his grasp. Athos glanced over at Constan again. Constan appeared to be having difficulty breathing and was turning red.
“Nikas Sir!” Athos yelled.
After about a minute and two more slain creatures, Nikas’ voice startled him from behind. “What is it Athos?”
“Sir, can you please replace Constan with a member of the reserve? He really needs a moment to rest.”
Nikas glanced over at Constan and nodded. “Jirair relieve Constan.”
“Thank you, sir,” Athos felt a hand on his arm for a moment, and then it was gone.
Athos, Baltazar, and Jirair continued fighting. Athos overwhelmed with fatigue reacted automatically to each creature that faced him. Block, push back, swing. Next target, block, push back, swing. The reserves, such as they were, slowly shrank until Constan was forced back into the line to Jirair’s right. Athos stole a glance, when he could, between slaying the undead. The old man looked a lot better after his break.
Baltazar swung his ax at a creature but missed. Licas, just to Baltazar’s left, saw that Baltazar was in trouble. He pivoted on his right foot and struck the creature crashing into Baltazar with his Spatha. The corpse went limp, but the damage had already been done. Baltazar, exhausted, was unable to resist the momentum and weight of the now twice dead creature. He fell backward onto the ground. Under normal circumstances, Baltazar would have been able to easily absorb the impact and push the corpse away. After ten hours of fighting with the undead, he was simply too tired.
Nikas, seeing the danger to Baltazar, leaped over him and took his place in the line. Athos’ foggy mind barely registered Nikas’ presence. A creature crashed into Licas’ shield while he was still looking to his right at the commotion. Nikas jammed his Spatha into the beast’s gaping maw.
This ended the immediate danger to Licas but exposed Nikas’ right side. One of the dead grabbed Nikas’ sword arm and lunged for his exposed neck. Athos, registering the danger to Nikas, shoved the moaning man back with his shield and dispatched it.
Nikas, his right arm now free of the moaning man’s grasp, jabbed his Spatha into the eye of the other creature. Athos had failed to notice that one in his fatigued state. Saving Athos distracted Nikas, and he did not see the new female creature charging at him from his left. Athos saw the danger to Nikas and moved to stop her, but another of the undead crashed into his back. Standing up, Baltazar saw the threat to Athos. The vile thing had jumped onto Athos’ back and was trying to bite the back of his neck.
Athos gasped for air as a rather overweight creature pressed down on his back. Where are all these fat bastards coming from? Who gets to eat like that? He tried to raise his ax but couldn’t. Meanwhile, the female creature, dressed in the tattered remains of a colorful dress, sank her teeth into the left side of Nikas’ neck. Blood spurted out, and Nikas screamed as he sank to his knees. For a moment Athos’ and Nikas’ eyes locked then Athos screamed, “Nooooo!”
Suddenly a tremendous blow smashed into Athos’ head. The world grew gray then black as he sank to the ground. The last thing he saw was Nikas’ lifeless eyes as they stared into his soul. He wanted to scream, but the blackness took him.
Baltazar, Licas, and Constan killed the fat beast on top Athos, then surrounded him. Damon bent down and was checking Athos when several creatures attacked. Baltazar slew one with a Spatha thrust to the face. Another came at Constan who tried to bring his Spatha down onto it. Just as his swing was about to connect another of the dead grabbed his arm in an attempt to bite it. Licas sidestepped the creature in front of him to buy a few seconds and thrust his Spatha into the back of the creature’s head that had ahold of Constan’s arm.
The former man Licas had sidestepped dove on the ground and grabbed Damon’s legs. The creature pulled his legs toward its mouth. Damon screamed in terror. He managed to pull one leg free and kick the creature in the mouth. The jaw of the biter went flying off, and its tongue flopped out. Licas turned toward the wailing jawless creature and kicked it right in the nose. The nose exploded into a gout of purple goo as the head snapped off the body and went flying.
More of the dead attacked Caifas and the other members of the 5th Parthica. This caused them to be pushed away from Constan’s Kontoubernion cutting them off. Constan stuck his Spatha into a walker that seemed to have somehow lost the lower half of its clothing. Although it still wore a woolen brown tunic, the bottom half of the tunic had been ripped away. Constan pointed his Spatha at the now permanently dead walker’s groin, “Will you look at the manhood this critter has!” He exclaimed in awe.
Damon stopped his examination of Athos for a moment and looked up. “Holy Mother of Jesus! I feel for the person on the receiving end of that!” The group broke into laughter easing some of the tension. Licas and Baltazar dispatched another creature each. Constan asked, during a pause between killing the undead, “Is Athos bit?”
Damon finishing his examination responded, “No it seems he is just unconscious.”
Baltazar joined in on the conversation, “Great, now how do we get back into the line?” He gestured at the other members of the 5th Parthica now fighting about twenty feet away.
Constan looked around, taking in t
he situation. They were surrounded by the undead as far as he could see in the moonlight. “I don’t think that we do lad. There are just too many of these things. I’m afraid unless something changes soon, we are going to fall here.” Constan looked back at Damon and asked, “Any chance of waking up Athos?”
“No, he seems to be out cold. His breathing is very shallow and slow, so I think he is going to be out for a while,” Damon replied.
Constan sighed, “He is better off than we are. At least he won’t feel the end come. Does anyone.” Constan’s voice trailed off. The creature reaching for him suddenly sprouted an arrow head from its left eye. The thing stopped in mid step and flopped to the ground. “What the?” Several arrows flew out of the darkness and hit dozens of the dead.
One of the arrows struck Constan in the arm he grimaced and yelled, “We appreciate the help but could you please restrict your fire to the dead?” Despite the losses from the arrows, the hungry masses seemed undeterred from their goal of feasting on flesh. Off in the distance, a horn sounded. The members of Constan’s Kontoubernion slew the four creatures engaged with them. While the rest of the undead turned toward the sound of the horn and ambled away.
Constan turned to Licas and Damon, “Grab Athos, let’s rejoin the others while we have this chance.” Licas grabbed Athos by the shoulders and Damon grabbed him by the feet. Constan and Baltazar walked beside them and looked around for any threats. As they reached the 5th Parthica line, they heard the sounds of horses trotting toward them. Constan looked around, trying to see where the noise was coming from. Looking to his left, he saw Droungarios Luko in the moonlight.
Luko dismounted from his white mare and clasped Constan’s hand in greeting saying, “Well met.”
Constan with a relieved look on his face replied, “Where the hell have you boys been?” Constan got a better look at Luko. He looked as tired and haggard as the rest of the members of the 5th Parthica.
Byzantium Infected Box Set Page 25
