Foundered

Yarachmiel II: Strange Encounters

Yara walked gracefully the courtyard under the pale crescent moon; the sky was devoid of all nuclear ash or smoke, allowing many of night's stars to peek through. The fort was filled with music and laughter, being the only source of light for miles. Looking below the walls, they seemed to be an island amid a sea of pale mist which reflected back the little moonlight which befell them. At a distance the city shone, gleaming bright like a distant dream.

Yara was planning to leave now, he had little to do but hang around for a while, perhaps talk to Jasper one last time before leaving. He breathed in the soft night air, but instead met a smell which made him want to throw up. It seemed there was a rotting corpse around the corner; menacingly it grew adorned with the stench of fear, as if warning them of an ancient evil.

Without second thought, Yara rushed towards the source of the smell which happened to be a small hut woven into one of the barracks. Smells like something died here not too long ago, he said.

Upon entry he saw in one of the rooms: a man standing over the corpse of another. Blood was splattered all around, one of them lay pale and lifeless on the ground, but the other man wasn't particularly healthy either. Yara looked in horror, shunned by the paleness of the corpse, coupled with its dead yellow eyes and rotting nails. His eyes widened as his hand reached for his revolver, but the man had seen him. Now he was snarling, his rotting yellow teeth glaring at him. He was no living man, but one of the undead – Yara could tell by his appearance. The only logical thing to do here was to point the gun at its head and shoot.

As the zombie neared him, lumbering and fumbling vigorously, Yara pulled the trigger pacing backwards. Two of the six shots he fired hit the brain, and the zombie was no more.

Yara looked at the ground as the zombie fell, blood oozing out of his skull from whence he was shot. Suddenly there awoke a second zombie, howling at Yara with a menacing face. This one was running, and Yara had no bullets.

The zombie approached him as Yara fidgeted into his pockets for more bullets, but all in vain.

Yara now looked at the zombie moaning at him with a bloodcurdling snarl, frozen in fear. "Duck!" he heard a shout out of nowhere, crouching thereon involuntarily. Alas, behind him came Jasper and with a pull of the trigger he blew the zombie's head clear off. The headless corpse stumbled a bit and fell on its back.

"Are you alright?" asked Jasper.

"I am," he replied getting up. "What is happening?"

"An outbreak has begun," he answered, handing Yara a UMP9. "Prepare yourself for a battle."

Jasper reloaded his shotgun and with Yara by his side ventured outside and into the courtyard. Synchronised screams filled the courtyard, accompanied by undead moans sullying across the timid air. From the morgue a horde of undead walked out, their bodies bloodless and gaunt, snarling with a vile spirit about them.

A mere few zombies managed to stay out until six robotic knights with their halberds rushed into the scene and lashed their halberds upon them. Before anything bad could happen, the six of them formed a semicircle around the morgue and held the zombies in. Wow, they really work, thought Yara as he took position to fire, this'll be easier than I imagined.

As the first zombies escaped the morgue, Yara unleashed a barrage of bullets upon them, bringing the hordes amassed behind the line of knights with ease. Soon the zombie-tide prevailed through, one of the robots knocked down. A handful of them charged at the two of them but Jasper was quick to bring them down. Once both shells had been fired and one target remained, Jasper grabbed the barrel of his gun and lashed the axe-stock upon the zombie's head, hacking the other's head apart with his sword.