Divine Inheritance: Chaos

Ilda smirked as the man demonstrated his powers to her, as the tree came flying towards her she fired a breeze of freezing air at it covering it completely. With one mighty swing from her sword it broke in half and shattered. Lucius was not far behind the tree however, but she quickly skated out of the way of his advance, having frozen the ground around her with her other hand. "Come let us dance upon the ice good sir! It has been a long while since I have had a worthy partner." She taunted as she moved quickly on top of the ice. It was still too soon for her to decide, but the man showed promise of being more competent than the others she had encountered in this land.

Her men quickly made a circle around the two warriors and cheered and hollered for Ilda. Bets were already making their way around as to how long Lucius would survive against her. "Don't be too afraid to go all out, I like to be man handled, or I think I do, I've never had a man who could so far hmhmhmhm." Her taunts were amusing, but true, she was a powerful person and she had never met her match besides the Lords of Iron, but they didn't count because it was several against one.

 

Lucius was shocked by the sudden ice summoned from Ilda. He briefly skirted around, trying to get his bearings. Ilda skated around him, taunting him. He pulled back and punched into the ice, sending cracks through the surface and lifting up massive chunks. Ilda was on one of these chucks and she was sent flying through thr air. Lucius launched himself forward and clashed weapons with Ilda. He pushed forward and Ilda went flying back. She flipped around and landed feet first onto a tree, dropping onto the ground. "I must say Ilda," Lucius walked forward. "Not very many people have lasted this long against me. I am very impressed."

 

She had not expected him to break the ice, most could not think that fast on their feet, but nonetheless she was sent into the air and quickly locked blades with him before flipping backwards and landing on her feet luckily. Her men looked on in awe at the generals skills and power, a worth opponent had finally surfaced for Ilda it would seemed. The hooping and hollering grew louder as her men waited to see what was to come next. "I would say the same to you as well, the longest record so far has been just seconds short of a minute and have well surpassed that. Continue to impress me and I might just spare your life when I defeat you, and perhaps invite you to dinner hahaha." She chuckled as she casually stood before him. The air was growing rapidly cold and clouds began forming overhead. As continued to chuckle her breath could be seen as the temperature continued to drop and it began to snow lightly.

"I was born and raised in the fidget weather of the northern hemisphere. I was molded and shaped by it, becoming it and it becoming me. Let's see how well you survive the harsh and malevolent side of mother nature." Freezing the ground once more in front of her she threw her shield on the ground and jumped on top of it and sped towards Lucius at a great speed. She maneuvered it and came at him diagonally and slashed low and quickly spun and slashed high as she pasted him before stomping on the edge of her shield and flipping it back into her hand.

 

Lucius could already feel ice forming on his arms, beginning to weight him down. He barely parried her first blow and had to dodge out of her high slash. She certainly knew her way around ice. But he was just as flexible with the enviroment. Lucius skated forward on his own feet and slammed into Ilda. He knew instinctively he had to level the playing field. Lucius kicked the shield away from them and flipped around, landing a kick right into Ilda. She shielded herself and went sliding away from Lucius. He pulled his sword back and entered his fight stance, facing to the side and angling his blade down. "I have braved many a danger. Many a warrior has fallen to my sword and power. I would hate for you to be one of them, but if I'm left with no choice, then oh well."

 

He was successful in punching Lilith, not so successful in thinking about the possible repercussions of such a move. Lilith was not having any of his playful talk, it almost seemed to him if she was mad at him or something, it was beyond him to understand women and their impossible meanings to decipher from what they say. The next thing Oryx felt was his brain slamming against the inside of his skull as his head made contact with the ground like someone bragging after making a touch down in the game of pig skin ball. If it were not for his helmet he most likely would have been knocked unconscious, luckily the only thing he was seeing were stars for the moment. As he flew through the air as graceful as a goat being launched from a catapult he felt a brief moment of peace as he floated through the air, but reality hit him hard in the shape of a large tree. He laid there for a moment looking up at the forest roof. "Well.... That definitely sucked...." Oryx said as he got back to his feet. Lilith was no push over that was for sure, but then neither was he.

"That was a good one missy! If I could die that might have done the job!" He said with a thumbs up wiping the blood from his mouth and nose underneath his helmet. The distance had been widened and Oryx was not much of a long range fighter, but it seemed getting too close to Lilith was not a good idea either, too bad Oryx was bad at learning from his past experiences. With Svellsbane tightly gripped in his hand he rushed forward with ferocity and brutish speed. Her blade was big, very big, but Svellsbane he had no doubt would withstand its might. He let out a battle cry as he raised his sword and began slashing at Lilith, despite his oafish appearance and demeanor, Oryx's attacks were strong and quick, showing years of honed swordsmanship. "I have seen your power, now show me what you can do with your weapon!" He shouted as he aggressively continued swinging and pressing forward.

-----------------------------


"Well I can certainly say that with all the dangers you may have faced, none have ever been deadlier than me." She cared not for gathering her shield, if sword to sword was what he wished then he would meet his end at her blade. "You will not stop me, Carmilla Sar will be mine before you even know it." She said assuringly, the fool had no clue of her plans and it would be too late before word arrived. She skated forward once more and slashed as the ice sending a thick layer of shaved ice in his direction trying to blind him before skating back around and slashing mid waste and following up with a high kick to the face.

 

Lucius raised his arms up to defend against Ilda's attack of shaved ice. But he was not prepared for her follow-ups, as she sliced at his waist. Luckily, his armor managed to deflect the worst of that attack, leaving him winded as if he had been headbutted by a billy goat. Which caught him off guard for Ilda's kick. Her foot connected with Lucius' face, lifting him up into the air. Such a powerful kick would've killed most men, and knocked cold many others. But Lucius was far from ordinary. He lashed out and managed to grab hold of Ilda's ankle. With a mighty war cry, he managed to spin himself around just enough to yank Ilda off her feet and slammed right into the ground. Lucius soon followed suit, smacking the ground with a thud that knocked him off balance for a moment. He climbed back to his feet and spat to the ground, surprised to see blood and a tooth mixed with his saliva.

Lucius began chuckling madly and threw his hands up into the air. "This! This is what I crave!" He looked to Ilda with a madness in his eyes. "A real fight! A real opponent to push me to the limits. I have waited far too long for this. But we both know that this is not even close to our true powers."

 

"Hmm?" Gerik started when it seemed as though Raven understood what he had been saying. Before he had the chance to ask about it Raven had asked him about Claire's situation. He turned to look at Claire, unsure what to say. Part of it was because he didn't want Claire to remember that day. The other part was that he didn't want Claire to know the guilt he still felt over what happened, regardless of whether or not it was his fault.

"Well... There's not too much to say. I had been trav–"

"He saved me." Claire interrupted, her voice almost seeming to crack as she said it.

Gerik kind of shrugged in agreement. "Her village had been attacked... I managed to find her before she fainted." He turned back to Claire to see her reaction. She was looking towards the ground, not really focusing on anything.

-----

"As I recall it was something about protecting her strength and kindness." Voltair casually answered Kable's thought as though Kable had spoken it out loud.

 

Ilda had the wind knocked out of her as Lucius slammed her on the ground, but she scrambled to her fight just as quickly as her opponent. Lucius' words amused her, he craved battle and he had so far proven himself a worthy opponent. He was also right in that she was withholding her true power, there was no point in going over kill over if the man had turned out to be a weakling, but she also didn't want to risk getting her forces sucked into something that would render them useless, aka dead. "You are right in that I've been holding back my full potential, but that is because the point is not to beat you, but to more or less stall you. I have all the time in the world, but your clock is ticking away..."

--------------------------------------

Lilith's swordsmanship wasn't as honed as Oryx's, but she still managed to keep up with him after she began to get a rhythm in. He was about to switch it up before she grabbed his weapon, a bold as well as idiotic move. He was about to show her the error of her way, but she beat him to the punchline. Lifting his sword high and sent a great burst of air at him, but this time he was much closer. He was sent yet again flying, hitting the ground, rolling and skipping across it several times while letting out grunts and moans with every rough hit before being stopped by a stump. He laid there for a second giving the expression that he was out cold, but slowly he shook his head and got to his feet and began patting the dust off of him. "I will preserve like the river that cuts through the earth, and I will endure like the mountains against time." Oryx said with a slight smirk underneath his helmet. This was his bread and butter, the clashing of blades, the breaking of bones, the sound of battle, this was what he and his people thrived and lived for. "I am a Lord of Iron, descendant of Odin, descendant of Tyr, descendant of King Horik!" Oryx yelled as he banged his hand against his metal breastplate. The distance had grown again and to resume sword fighting would not be a good choice, even if he felt confident now that he could beat her blade to blade. Looking around them there was plenty of boulders, stumps, and logs strewn about the forest floor.

Sheathing his sword quickly he grabbed the nearest boulder and ripped it from its resting place and threw it as hard as he could at Lilith, before grabbing the stump, log, and other large objects to throw at her. She was bigger than him, but the more he threw and the faster he did the more she was on the defense.

 

Lucius and Ilda began circling around, the air growing tense between them. Her comment also threw him off. Running out of time? Lucius had all the time in the world. And even if he would fall here, on this forgotten mountain pass, he knew his men would carry out their orders to the end. There was no way for this to end well for Ilda.

"Time?" Lucius asked, his smirk returning. "You seem to forget, Ironside. We have your encampment surrounded. Barisor will soon be retaken by the Empire and you," he pointed to Ilda. "You shall be driven from this place. Or you shall die on this very spot. You alone have the choice."

Lucius planted his feet firmly and raised his sword. "But you have indeed shown great strength and power before me. So I have give you the honor of knowing who struck you down. I am General Lucius Magnus." Lucius then surged forward and clashed swords with Ilda. The very shockwave sent most of the soilders surrounding them flying backwards. The ice and ground cracked beneath their feet, but neither noticed.

 

Ilda would have laughed if given the chance to. Though when he announced his name it did catch her off guard. When he charged at her with great power and speed she barely blocked the attack, but got her head back in the game and pushed back. Her faced filled with anger and hatred, but also deceit and amused. The cold weather grew tenser, from snowing to that more of a blizzard, the winds picked up more and freezing air began to numb the skin. With one hand released from her blade she raised her hand and it began to surge with blue glowing energy that swirled off and began forming two giant monsters made of ice and snow. She jumped back as the monsters came at Lucius from both sides. "I did not know I had the pleasure of fighting thee General Lucius, I've heard stories of you from across the Great Sea, it is indeed an honor to fight as well as beat such a legendary opponent." She said as her shield was thrown to her by one of her grunts.

"Though I am not one to spoil surprises I believe my plan is much action and there is no reversal so I will give you a little insight. I am not marching to Carmilla Sar to secure it, I am marching to secure the mountain to have a land route to Carmilla Sar, because it is already mine." A large grin grew across her face as she told Lucius of this. "You made a large mistake in giving me three weeks time to do as I wish. In that time I have fortified Barisor well enough to last long enough to secure it from siege until reinforcements arrive, which they do by the week." She gloated with a pep in her step as he ice monsters stood between him and her. "You see I sent two fleets along the coast, one up the river that is awfully close to Carmilla Sar, and another all the way south and up into your great lake to secure the mouth of the river to my newly acquired city. I would also reconsider who has who surrounded, because the weathers is only going to get colder and my people thrive in those conditions, but do yours hmmm?" There was nothing Lucius could do to save Carmilla Sar, he was already too late it seemed. Barisor would not fall within the time frame given to him, there was no doubt there, his only options were to fight to the death here or step back and reconsider his tactics.

"It looks as if I have your balls in a vice grip, isn't that how you say it in these lands correct?"

 

Lucius knelt down to one knee as the cold began to fully set into him. He was shivering and could feel his teeth chattering. But he struggled through the pain and stood back up. He swung his sword around and immediately decimated Ilda's snow beasts that surrounded him. He stood back up again and began laughing.

"I must say, you barbarians have no sense of withdraw on your monologues! I thank you for informing me of your plans and your routes! It will help for our defeat over you. And so you can freeze my men and I to death all you wish. For in the end, you will lose." He swung his sword towards her men and the resulting shockwave covered all of them in debris.

 

(MORE FIGHT. Also, posting for Caboose since his eyes are still recovering.)

Ilda blasted an arc of ice that juat barely caught the wave of dirt launched at her men. As she turned back to her opponent, Lucius had suddenly appeared before her. He launched a punch right for her head that she managed to catch on her shield. Immediately, it felt as if a massive boulder slammed into her, sending her flying. An ice platform appeared behind her and Ilda flipped onto it, as graceful as a swan.

"I give you credit, General. Not very many men can land such a sneak attack on me." She stretched her back and sighed at the cracks heard. Straightening herself back up, Ilda flashed an evil grin. "But now I'm done comparing sizes. We're ending this." Ilda raised her hands up and called forward her power.

Giant spikes of ice erupted from ground all around Lucius. He heard his men cry out in fear and agony as some were impailed on them. Cursing at the fact that his men were disposed of so easily, Lucius gazed around. The air was thick with fog and there was ice everywhere, limiting Lucius' vison. "Ilda!" he called out. "This simple trick will not work on me!"

Channeling his energy into his sword, Lucius swung it into an arc in front of him. The resulting wave of power shattered all the ice in front of him. He was shocked to find Ilda already moved. A rustle to his side caused Lucius to lift his sword up in time to block Ilda's kick. She launched herself off and threw her shield, which Lucius noticed now came with spikes of ice on his own. He knocked it to the side and brought his sword down, lifting up the earth yet again. A giant ripple formed towards Ilda, which she fell into as she tried to land.

 

Unlike Lilith Oryx had armor plating, and despite the jagged edges of the rocks and how fast they were coming at him his armor held. Oryx would have left out a triumphant laugh at the attack, but his armor still had cracks were the pieces joined together and several of the small pieces penetrated through these cracks and dug deep into him. The pain was not unbearable, but more of an annoyance, some of the pieces he could flex out of his body, others were too deep and he would not be able to dig them out until after the fight. The attack overall however was a good but failed attempt. "Armor forged in the fires that burn under the Drarven mountains, going to take a lot more than some sharp rocks to get through it..." He said as he grabbed another log and sharpened the end into a point quickly with his sword. He had crafted a crude tree javelin, but it would work, or he hoped. He sheathed his sword and ran at Lilith letting out a brutish cry once more, only a fool would charge with such a mediocre attack, but the style matched Oryx's fighting style.

However at the last minute he jabbed the pointed edge into the ground and the tree bent, Oryx pole-vaulted himself at Lilith at a great speed his body tucked in like a cannonball and his shoulder aimed at Lilith's center mass. It was a daring and unexpected move, Oryx seemed to be more tactful and he let off to be, regardless if the attack succeeded or not. He was a big man and he didn't doubt for a moment his mass hitting Lilith would hurt, but if she recovered quickly he would be in close quarters with her once more and the last few times that had proved a dangerous move.

---------------------

Ilda fell into the ripple that had formed beneath her despite her best to avoid it. She grabbed the ledge of the ripple trying to pull herself up. Why did her armor have to weigh so much? She thought to herself as she scrambled up the side and onto a high piece of earth that had been lifted up after the ripple. She breathed heavily, the cold air was numbing and calming to her. The storm had drastically worsened. Snow covered the land deeply as far as she could see, which was farther than most in that type of weather. She called forth for another barrage of large ice spikes to rise from the snowy land, forming a cove behind Lucius giving him little room to maneuver. With one hand at her feet she made a slide of ice and rode down it great speed at Lucius while her other hand fired a great blast of freezing air at her opponent. One sweep of her freezing air would render frozen solid and few had ever side such an attack.

 

Roxanne had traveled a long way following her targets. They were quite skilled at hiding their own trail and many of their customers were unwilling to talk. A few minutes of 'persuasion' was pretty effective to change their minds. That, she never minded doing. On one particularly irritating military man she had been willing to keep the torture going for a minute or so more only stopping when he lost consciousness. She had decided to leave him alive to spread the word of what happens when you cross the Cursed Demon.
The Imperial military camp was disgusting. Hot, sweaty people all running in different directions wearing the disgusting colors of Azureth pride and full armor. She walked amongst the soldiers sporting her stolen pieces of armor proudly. Many of the imperial dogs recognized her from her description and muttered insults and rumors between them. She did well to keep herself ready in case any man dared attack her. But she also knew full well they wouldn't. Dogs were too stupid to act without command from their masters: Lucius or Marcus. Even if they did, she could easily and happy slaughter any fool who would try.
A small smile crept across her lips as she found the tend she sought. Unfortunately, Lucius and Marcus had already taken their men and gone to the battlefield to correct the incompetence of Roxanne's targets. She would not find any great prize today. But one person remained behind to lead the soldiers that were not selected for travel east back to Sax. This was the person she sought today, Major Aulocard of Mira. The major was no doubt a close confidant of General Lucius. He would, no doubt, know what the next mission assigned to Tess and Merrick would be. Knowing that mission would give her a vital clue to where they would have gone. It was the only real clue she had after losing their trail in Barisor. His tent was one of the few that still stood as the soldiers packed for their journey home. Without hesitation, she entered the tent.
She was admittedly disappointed to find it empty. The assassin woman hardly had the patience to hunt him down through the camp. She decided to instead wait for him. The tent was quite large and colored red. The ground was covered in stiff mats. A cot was placed in the far corner and a desk and chair in the center. She took the desk as her own while she waited. She used her arm to clear the surface of the wooden desk, scattering books, maps, notes, and a quill and open jar of ink everywhere in one rough sweeping motion. The ink spilled everywhere ruining many of the seemingly important documents.
The woman perched there, on top of the desk, with her legs crossed and her scythe in hand. It's tall handle was resting against the ground beneath her. The massive blade still hung high over her head as she spun the staff between her hands. She counted the amount of times the scythe made a slow, full circle. Each complete turn represented another minute of pain for the trouble of making her wait....
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Roxanne reminisced her most recent victim as she made her way through the woods in pursuit of her targets. Unfortunately for that soldier, he had taken too long to return. He didn't survive much longer after she learned that Merrick and Tess had been assigned to assist Jaxx. As usual, she took a token of his death before leaving his camp. His badge had been cut from his armor and attached to her belt. Eventually she would find a better place for it.
For now, the prospect that she was tracking not only her targets but the daughter of the pig emperor himself was quite promising. It hadn't taken much time to find someone in Mira who had seen Jaxx and among other people. There were rumors of many famous people having been seen in Mira recently including the Archangel, The Titan of the Arena, the Iron Demon, The Emperor's daughter, and some delusional giantess who claimed to be the missing Lilith Newgate. All of them were people she hoped to one day meet and kill for different reasons each.
Once she learned Tess and Merrick were probably among them such a large group became much easier to track. She knew she was gaining on them and had already started making predictions of the number in their group.

Far ahead, she finally caught sight of smoke from a campfire. Obviously it could have been started by anyone. But most likely, and with any luck, she had just found the location of her targets. That thought gave her new hope as she quickened her pace. She knew she would reach them within the hour...
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
'I love it when I'm right' the assassin thought to herself as she finally caught up. She remained hidden in the trees just outside the clearing they had chosen to rest. She watched as Merrick returned to the camp in a rage. 'oh some things never change eh hot head?' she snickered silently to herself as she watched the confrontation from her hiding place. The identities of others in the camp were easy to predict based on descriptions she had heard. The young daughter of the emperor, for one, was easy enough to guess from her terrible attitude. Her snarky disrespect of those around her was enough to annoy even Roxanne. If Roxanne were in Raven's position, the brat would rue the day she was born after such disrespect.
The other two, the foreigner and little girl were harder to place. For now, they were of little concern unless they got in her way.

The camp was separated into three groups quite quickly much to the convenience of the assassin. Each group alone would be easier to get to than all of them together. Now it was only a question of who to go after first. Tess and Merrick were the only ones she was actually contracted to kill. But being so close to so many other people, famous for their ties to the emperor, was so tempting. She decided to go after Tess and Merrick first. After all that chasing, and for what Merrick's sins, they were the obvious priority. Once they were dead, she would return to camp for Raven and Jaxx.

She kept to the treetops as she made her way to the river. The siblings were a far enough distance from the camp for it to be difficult to be heard from anyone who lingered there. The two were in conversation as she grew near enough to them to overhear their conversation. She smirked, hearing Tess tease Merrick for his recent embarrassing encounter with the princess.

Roxanne dropped down from her perch on a nearby tree, she stood across the river from the both of them. It was not far across, so she stood close enough for both parties to speak to each other casually over the running water. "Indeed it was." she spoke once she had landed, making it clear she had been present long enough to have witnessed the confrontation at the very least "Merrick, my friend, you really should count yourself lucky. With your decision to so foolishly expose yourself out in the open that way, you're lucky it was an ally that found you. You never know who waits in these woods who would take advantage of that kind of situation. So far from your weapons and all..." she smirked as she greeted the siblings quite casually. In spite of her almost flirtatious sounding chastisement of the brother, she knew they would already know the true nature of her visit.




*OOC: I left Oryx and Gerik out of the list of famous people seen in Mira because they are not from Azureth. I assume they wouldn't be as recognizable to anyone who may have seen them wandering the city.*

 

Merrick let out an audible groan. If either of the twins were surprised by the new arrival they didn’t let it show. Tess was on her feet in one sharp move. She eyed up the new arrival, her face twisted into a grimace as she looked her old rival up and down, and she stood ready keeping her eyes on the enemy. Merrick made a show of slowly standing up and brushing the dirt and leaves away. “Count myself lucky” Merrick repeated. He started to laugh, “I’m not in the mood for this. But, as you so eloquently said, you would be all too familiar with foolish decisions…” “Why are you here?” Tess interrupted. “…We know why she’s here” Merrick answered for her. He had started pacing; slowly he walked a small path making sure to step behind Tess as to not break her line of sight. “She’s been on our trail for quite some time. Seems she finally managed to find us; and she’s collected a few new trophies along the way”. Merrick said returning the smirk.

“Roxanne Sternshade, The Black Phoenix, The Cursed Demon.” Merrick’s arms were thrown out wide in a theatrical manner that had it not been accompanied by the mocking tone in his voice may have been misconstrued for welcome.” Wish I could say it was a pleasure to see you again ‘my friend’. That mismatched look works for you” he said resuming his pacing. “It adds some much needed charm; that is, otherwise severely lacking”. Not waiting for a response Merrick continued. “Like you, we’ve got some new armour.” He taunted, “I don’t know if you had the opportunity to see it, but it’s something to behold. It was a gift you see, and before you ask no, it wasn’t payment for a job; simply a gift, for the ‘favourites’”.

Merrick was hoping for a reaction, “Shall we show it to you?”Merrick stopped pacing and stood beside Tess. He put his hand on her shoulder, knowing she was watching him from the corner of her eye he nodded. “Veni, ad me” the two said in unison after a moment’s hesitation. There was a bright blue flash, and when it abated Tess and Merrick’s new armour had appeared.

“Well, what do you think?” Merrick laughed. “Impressive right? It’s light, easy to move in, but, durable..” Merrick sounded almost unsure of himself. “You’re the first to have the privilege of seeing it. We haven’t really had a chance to try it out, but I’d wager they do a better job than what you have.” He moved his arms and legs stretching, testing the full range of motion.

After a short while he lowered the hood.

“Yes, we know why you are here. The real question is, were you idiotic enough to attack us on your own?”

Spoiler

Spoiler

(OOC: The images are what Merrick's and Tess's armour looks like)

 

Roxanne chucked. If she was phased by anything Merrick had said, she didn't show it. "Oh my. You and the long welcome. Some things never change huh hot head?" she pulled her scythe into her hand. With the other, she reached for the badge that she had ripped from the Major's uniform. "But because you were so polite to ask, I will answer your question with one of my own. Did you really think you were the only one to have learned a new trick?" She tossed the badge across the river where it burst into black flames. The ashes of the object landed directly in front of Merrick and immediately began to stir and grow. Contorting into odd formations before forming the undead body of the Major himself. In the surrounding area, more flames could be seen springing to life and more bodies growing from the ashes. Each of them from previous contractors, targets, and even a few civillians that she had collected. "You see... I got tired of hunting you down. So I took one new life every day it took for me to find you." at least ten undead versions of soldiers now surrounded Tess and Merrick "Hope you don't mind, they aren't thrilled you were the reason they had to die you see."

She herself then jumped across the river, scythe swinging downwards right for Tess's head "Now shall we get this over with? I'd like to kill you quickly so I can move on to your companions!"

 

Tess was quick to jump and roll out the way of Roxanne’s scythe. As she did she pulled a dagger she had on her and sliced the throat of an undead as she climbed back to her feet. She reached into a pouch on her belt and threw some smoke pellets on the ground, the effect was instantaneous. The surrounding area was covered with a thick choking smoke that would sting the eyes. Tess threw some of her throwing knives in the direction she had come from and reached out with her ability to find the life essences around her.

“Shit” was all Merrick could say before the undead major reached for him. Merrick disappeared into the shadows and reappeared behind his new foe. He grabbed the major by the neck and twisted his body, there was an audible crack and Merrick followed through by pulling the major and throwing him over his back. The undead major flew ungracefully through the air and landed in a crumpled heap knocking down another undead. The smoke from the Tess’s pellets had spread quickly. “I hate this stuff” Merrick thought to himself. That’s when he heard it. It was faint at first, just a slight whisper. ‘…kill…you…’ “Kill me?” Merrick asked a loud. ‘..you…kill…us….’ Merrick strained to listen, ‘kill..’ ‘…you…’ ‘killed…us’. ‘YOU KILLED US’. Merrick was taken aback; the undead had moved in to surround him. Standing in front of him, the major, head still twisted in an unnatural way the undead man was making his way towards Merrick, ‘You, Killed, Us’.