Foundered

Yarachmiel IX: Last Dying Breath

Yara had been sitting for a couple minutes now, merely listening to the sounds of battle outside. In his mind he could hear fell whispers whenever he closed his eyes, he could see shapes moving in the shadows, battling soldiers all around.

He hoped they'd be alright, but he knew well this hope was in vain: they were under siege, and he was soon about to join those who he had been fighting for.

He looked around – soldiers surrounded him, manning the turrets to the best of their power. There was only one way out, and it was soon about to be closed. "Should I remain sitting here," he thought. "With my death our defeat will only be speeded."

No, he wouldn't let that happen. He had seen too many zombie movies to know where this was going.

"Sorry guys," he got up, "I need to leave."

"What, no!" a soldier stopped him. "Stay here, comrade, outside is death."

"Do I look like I care?" he said almost desperately, there was a fearful hiss in his voice. "I'm gonna die anyway, might as well die as I lived: with my friends."

The soldiers nodded, a fell silence drawing over: "take care, friend. May we meet again."

Yara smirked and walked away.

Left and right people were running, trying to stop the zombies from entering their apartments, locking themselves in hoping for the best. Gargoyles surrounded the castle, flying in circles above the swamps, looking for unguarded windows or openings to jump into.

"Help!" he heard a familiar cry, all of a sudden.

"Zac!"

As he looked ahead of him, there was Zac, trying to hold back a horde of zombies. Their claws and teeth were not a problem for his armor, but fresh air for his lungs surely was. Zac tried to move out of the mosh pit, multiple zombies on top of him pressing him down, only to be saved by a barrage of bullets.

"Yara?" he got up, seeing Yara try to take a stand. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm dying, but you need to get to safety."

"I can hold my own," replied Zac, "and don't worry, you'll live."

"I won't, but that's not my biggest concern right now, where's Jasper?"

"Haven't seen him, have you?"

"I told him to take you and get out of here, but right now he's probably leading a suicide charge into a horde of undead."

"Damn it, what should we do? We can't leave him here."

"Let's fall back to a safe zone, we'll contact him later."

Zac nodded, trying to help Yara stand and run back into the safety of an abandoned cannon tower, locking the door behind them. "Jasper, come in," Yara spoke into his mouthpiece, but no answer came. "Jasper?"

"What is it?"

"The signal's too weak, he must be somewhere too far by no-"

They heard distant flapping, and a roar following – a roar much louder than that of any other monster. "Dragon!" a voice said in a distance: indeed there was a dragon headed towards them. But they were in a cannon tower – a self-loading weapon with great potential.

"Zac," Yara looked at him, fear filling his eyes, "do you want to take out a dragon?"

Zac nodded, positioning himself onto a turret. "Fear not, I've played too many games to know how to take down a massive moving target."

***

Waiting for the beast to draw near, Zac switched the controllers on and pointed the gun towards the dragon. The beast neared – drawing in a quick breath, he aimed and squeezed the trigger. A loud boom pervaded, and the dragon was sent plummeting down.