Foundered

Yarachmiel III: Tides of Darkness

At dawn, the two of them awoke and checked the signals for anything that might correspond to their requirements: three such messages were discovered, with the latest one transmitted from a nearby city two hours ago.

"We have successfully barred the doors, but those zombies seem to be relentless. Right now we've managed to bar them out of the hall, but we don't know for how long it'll work. If anyone's reading this, we're 52 people gathered up inside the Grand Opera, Luthville. This message was recorded at 5:02 AM, 12th March, 2022."

"Ah, that's exactly what we need," replied Yara, "shall we march out now?"

"Yeah, we should," replied Jasper, "we're wasting time here, who can say what might have happened in these two hours."

"Do you have the means to bring them back?"

"Ariador.exe, assemble my retinue," said Jasper, "we'll use the bus we have; it is equipped with swivel guns to hold the zombie-tide at bay. Just to keep it secure, we'll take two jeeps along fitted with our finest warriors."

"Will do," said Yara as he loaded his UMP9, "when do we leave?"

"Now," said Jasper as he with Yara headed down to the courtyard and met their friends. Five ready soldiers assembled in the parking lot with loaded guns, armored in thick jackets and helmets to withstand zombie attacks. From the corner a squire tossed Jasper his shotgun, which had now been painted black with a shiny axe-head at the stock, mirroring Jasper's black jacket and metal casings.

"Live every day as if it's your last day," he whispered, "especially now that the chances of that are higher."

Yara nodded, "any other hints?"

"Don't die," he said, pointing everyone to enter the bus and the jeeps. "Can you drive?"

"Fairly well I guess," said Yara.

"Then drive, I'll keep vigil."

Yara nodded, putting his gun on the side and starting the vehicle, Jasper sat in the back with his shotgun prepared. The second jeep was occupied by two other soldiers, and the bus with three: two at the swivels and one at the wheel. All of them were hardy and battle-ready, enthusiastic to kill some undead. "Alright, let's do this," said Yara as he sped down the castle.

***

An hour into the road: the shadows which once seemed a distant dream had now become as clear as daylight; zombies sprawled up the road, most of them ignoring the troop as they rode past in their armored vehicles, their scent concealed inside the car.

Jasper unsheathed his sword and opened the window, allowing a zombie to be drawn to his scent as the car sped into the city. "Jasper, what are you doing?" asked Yara.

"I'm gonna show you how the knights do it," he said and drew his sword back.

Two moaning zombies neared them, one in the jeep's way and the other a little beside it. Yara sped up and road and squashed one zombie below his armored vehicle, whilst Jasper swung his sword and hew the other zombie's head clear off, sending it flying ten feet into the air.

"Excellent work, Jasper," Yara smiled.

"You too," said Jasper as he pulled in.

"Okay, we're here," said Yara as he saw a large opera building. Even though at a distance they saw a glimmer of hope, the very sight of it was a nightmare: hundreds of zombies, if not thousands, had thronged up the main entrance, which now seemed barely held together by.

"Oh shit," Jasper looked in fear. "Okay, let's do some analysis."

"Ariador.exe," Jasper talked to the computer in the jeep, "analyse."