Ascended

The city was lost.

Even if we managed to kill all the Zombies that had gotten loose, the amount of cleanup that would be required was going to burn most of the city.

I kicked a Zombie that tried to get inside the house and cut off its head as it tried to get up. The Zombies were attacking the doors to the houses, trying to knock them in, while most were running towards the front, probably to chase after the caravan.

I thought about going after the caravan, but first I needed to help take out the other two Touched. Those were the most dangerous things at the moment.

Val and the Touched she was fighting were up on the roofs, while Eveth had been surrounded by a ring of Zombies to keep her from running away. Not that she was trying, but it was pretty obvious that the Touched was toying with her.

I decided that Val could handle herself for now and ran over to the blonde Wrangler and cut down two of the Zombies that were part of the circle. I caught her as the Touched knocked her back and pulled her out of the ring.

“Let me go!” She struggled out of my grasp.

I pulled back and cut off the arm of the Zombie on my right before taking off its head.

“I’ve got you!” I moved to her right as she hacked into one of the Zombies. Her sword was probably one of the best one that the humans could make here, but nothing compared to the heartstone infused Bokor blades.

She kicked the Zombie off of her sword and parried the Touched as he tried to stab her. She took a few steps back and cut in front of her and finished off the Zombie.

“Hey!” She grabbed my shoulder as I moved towards the Touched.

I backed up while Eveth tried to get around me. “What are you doing? He’s…”

“He’s mine.” She cut me off.

There was an edge to her voice that told me that I wasn’t going to change her mind. She’d watched this Touched kill her friends and probably blamed him for her parent’s deaths. She wanted justice to be dealt by her hand.

“Here.” I flipped my sword around and offered it to her hilt first. If she was going to beat him, then she was going to need something that could clear away the Zombies easier than the sword she was using.

She switched the sword she was holding to her left hand and took the Bokor blade with her right. I’d forgotten about the two stones not mixing until I looked into her white eyes. I expected it to start burning her, but nothing happened as she hoisted the sword.

“Thanks.” She smiled at me.

“Are you two done?” The Touched had been watching us while leaning on a stone spear. “I’m starting to get bored.”

I held out my hand for her to give me her sword, but instead, she turned to the Touched with a sword in each hand.

“This could be fun…” He kicked the tip of the spear off the ground and spun it around in his hands. The Touched looked at me, “I’ll let you get your sword back after I kill…”

Eveth didn’t let him finish. She began slashing and swiping at her enemy with calm fury.

A Zombie ran at me and I punched it in the face, driving it back. I really needed a weapon and the knife on my belt that I used to cut open hearts and harvest the heartstones wasn’t strong enough to take off a Zombie’s head.

I dodged under the grasp of a second Zombie, then tripped a third. I scanned the area for a weapon, then saw the open door of the house where I’d killed the Touched. I grabbed the arm of the next Zombie that got close to me and twirled it into another. The pair went down, leaving me an open path to run back into the house.

The family that had been inside wasn’t there anymore. I hoped they’d made it to the caravan in time, but I didn’t have time to worry about them right now. Right now I needed to get to the gate and hope that the Zombies hadn’t gotten that far. I picked up the stone sword in my hand only for it to crumble to dust as I started out the door.

“Come on!” I kicked the door. I scanned the room, but there wasn’t anything I could easily break or convert into a weapon. Their furniture was all stone and there wasn’t anything solid and long enough to use in the kitchen.

I ran back outside, but both of the women were gone and the Touched they’d been fighting were decapitated on the ground. There were still Zombies pouring out of the mine, so I took off towards the gate and hoped that I’d find something that I could use as a weapon along the way.