Chương 28: Chapter Twenty-Eight: Regrouping

TWENTY-EIGHT Roan attacked the front lines immediately. He could only see disaster coming from giving them time to organize and every instinct said attack. Jared was a second behind him, taken off guard by Roan's sudden charge. The hammer came around in a wide arc and slammed into the chest of the closest of the zombies and sent it staggering backward. The zombies on either side of the one he hit attacked Roan. He had to back up or risk being fileted as their swords slashed at him.

His heart hammered in his chest as he flipped his wrist and continued to attack, the long handled hammer giving him a reach advantage as he caved in the zombie's on the right face. It went limp as it flopped to the ground but the one behind it stepped forward before Roan could take advantage. A curse boiled on his lips as he sped up faster, his body burning with energy from the potion.

"We can't do this. Back up!" Jared yelled. Roan gritted his teeth as he didn't want to admit that the man was right. In the matter of seconds the entire fight had flipped, now they were on the backfoot and struggling to survive. A zombie further in the ranks, dressed in sect robes, began to glow green. Roan backed up faster, avoiding another wild swing of a sword. The glowing zombie leveled a hand at him, pointer finger extended. Icy spikes of dread filled him as he threw himself to the side.

Something sizzled as it cut through the air where he'd just been, but Roan didn't see what the result was. He rolled on his shoulder and popped to his feet, spinning and running at full speed down the boulevard. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jared turn and sprint as well, head down and arms pumping as he tried to distance himself from the block of zombies.

"I have allies further down," Roan yelled at him, risking a look behind him. The block of zombies had hesitated, but were now marching forward. They hadn't picked up any noticeable speed, just coordination.

"All of their cysts are flashing in unison!" Jared said, starting to jog as they put distance between themselves and the horde.

"I noticed. What do you think?" Roan asked.

"Hive mind? Definitely some type of communication for sure. That undead gained more sentience when it ate my amulet, that's for sure." Jared pursed his lips and spat to the side as Roan looked up and down the still abandoned halls. He still couldn't tell where his original saferoom was.

"We'll need more amulets, regardless. I got pretty far down the hall and even mine was overheating," Roan offered. He kept an eye on Jared, tense and ready to react if the man decided that he wanted to upgrade amulets.

"I'm cut off from my groups, but I think they sold most of their amulet shards to gain credits. Some idiots were obsessed with buying stat points," Jared said, scoffing and rolling his eyes.

"Don't think any of us did that. Didn't really ask around," Roan said as he came to a walk. They had opened up several hundred yards of distance between themselves and the horde.

"The points were increasing with just working out and fighting. I think it has to do with the mana rich environment and us not having cores. Would need a proper experiment to determine it for sure, but it's a solid hypothesis," Jared said." The college guys are different from the sect ones. At least this one is. Much more intellectual than fighting, even if he can fight." Roan had to remind himself not to make wide ranging assumptions based on interacting with one of the college students.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Those guys who bought points, did they see increases?" Roan asked.

"Yeah, in the price!" Jared said with a laugh as they stopped without speaking, turning to look back at the horde of undead.

"The price went up?"

"Yeah, jumped another fifty credits for another point. They still kept buying them though. Smarter I think to work and push as high as you can and then buy the points. At least we'll see if that works," Jared said with a shrug.

"What are we going to do about that?" Roan said, changing the subject. The effects of the stamina potion were wearing off and he felt more tired than he ever had before. If it wasn't for where he was, he'd go and find a corner to curl up and sleep.

"Your people are close? Is there anyone that can fight this big crowd?" Jared kept his face blank but Roan could see the calculations going on in the man's eyes. Paranoia was only paranoia if there was nobody out there to get you." He's quick. I'll have to be ready the moment he tries anything." Roan shifted his stance as subtly as he could, getting ready in case Jared attacked.

"Yeah, there's a couple heavy hitters. Bloodline sect students."

"I never interacted much with the sects, at least the combat groups. I had a pen pal at a sect about long term mana studies," Jared said. His shoulders were relaxed, but Roan didn't trust it. His instincts were screaming that something was off, that he was too relaxed. Something cracked behind him and Roan spun around, hammer coming up from his knees to shoulder height in a swirling attack. Someone leaned back and laughed loudly as the edge of the metal head nearly caved in Taoya's chest.

"There you are!" The big man boomed as he took the near miss with calm aplomb. Jared looked over and blinked twice at Taoya's size and then shrugged before turning to look back at the tidy horde.

"Hey. You guys figured it out?" Roan asked as he looked behind Taoya to see a line of fighters coming out of the alleys. He'd been right, he'd been close to his saferoom after all.

"Didn't take us long. It's in the name and we had the compendium. This is actually the second time we've come out. The little shards overheated not far down the hall and we had to pay to get the repairs done to upgrade them," Taoya said with the same easy smile as usual. Roan thought there was something a bit stiff there though.

"It was just irritating to find enough shards. It seems someone had monopolized them," Taoya said without a flinch to his smile.

"I didn't know they were that important when I left. I should have come back sooner though. That's my fuck up," Roan said. He was too tired to try to fight back against it.

"See, Darren! I told you we wouldn't have to say anything. Roan is a stand up guy," Taoya said, his smile somehow widening even further as he slapped Roan on the shoulder and looked over to see the perpetually scowling Darren coming out of the hallway.

"Thank you for taking responsibility. You have more shards?" Darren asked, all business. Roan reached into his pocket and started pulling out the shards and handing them over, handfuls of them that got more than one raised eyebrow and sceptical look.

"What? I had a feeling about them," Roan said with a shrug. Darren snorted softly but handed them to one of his allies and told them to run it back to the saferoom and continue upgrading them.

"What's the deal with the zombies?" Taoya asked. Jared immediately launched into an overly long explanation of them. Darren nodded along with it all, only grimacing when he heard about the zombie upgrading itself by eating an amulet.

"It could be worse. Tyler, it's time to earn your keep," Darren called for the tall woman. The small crowd parted and allowed her to walk to the front. She surveyed the lines of tightly packed zombies and a frigid smile cracked her features.

"I won't be able to get all of them. And you'll have to deal with the fog when it's done," she said.

"Just break their lines and we'll deal with the rest," Darren said. The man fished into his pocket and came up with a bubbling green vial which he handed over to Tyler who took it without looking. She popped the lid with a flick of her thumb releasing a wave of caustic vapor that had Roan coughing.

"This is the best part," Tyler said. Then she tipped the bubbling draught back and drank it all in one swallow.