This was no fancy dancing back and forth. This was a straight out brawl.
I swung my sword over my head, metal clanging as he blocked my sword. I spun and dropped to one knee, jabbing upward only to have him swing and block again.
The gazes of everyone in our group burned holes through me, fueling me to fight harder, fight faster. Sweat ran down my face, blurring my vision.
The flat side of Fawke’s blade slapped against my backside eliciting screams and jeers from the others. “I don’t think a Malignant is interested in that part of my body.” I lunged. “They prefer guts.” I knocked his sword aside, stopping my tip from mere inches from his belly.
“Bravo.” He stopped and clapped. “Anger spurs you on.”
“That and the will to live.” I leaned against the fence to catch my breath. “The rest of you grab a thick stick. I’ll work with the women?”
“Sounds good. Ezra and Moses are strong enough fighters to help with the men.”
I sheathed my sword and found a stick as thick as my wrist. We didn’t want any injuries worse than a bruise, and the sooner we deemed the new people fight worthy, the sooner we could resume our mission.
I paired Gage with Lara, Kira with Riva, and Lotus with Lara. I closely monitored the last two, them both being new to the group, and occasionally changed places with one or the other.
“Block your body at all times. When the attack comes, the monsters won’t pussy-foot around. They come at you in full force. If you don’t kill them, they will kill you. Don’t be timid.” I tapped my stick on Lara’s shoulder. “Pretend you’re protecting your babies.”
That helped a little, but the woman was definitely not a fighter. I doubted she’d last a month out here.
After an hour, I called a fifteen-minute break, then resumed. “I’ll spar with Kira. The rest of you watch and learn.”
Kira wasn’t as good as Fawke, but she gave me an intense workout. It might be a good idea to have regular sparring sessions to keep us all in top fighting shape. “Look.” She pointed her stick to the sky.
A white parachute floated down toward the parking lot on the other side of the fallen building we’d camped next to yesterday. “Whoever that is won’t survive the horde living there. Let’s go, people.” I pulled up my scarf and took off at a dead run.
Fawke passed me quickly. Pounding footsteps behind me let me know the others followed. We were going to be too late no matter how fast we ran.
“Over the top! There’s no time to reach the opening.” I scrambled up, my feet slipping on loose bricks and cement.
Up and over like ants, then a full sprint to where the person fought to free themselves of their chute. From the nearby buildings swarmed Malignants. Seconds later, screams came from under the chute which was now being ripped to shreds along with the person trapped underneath.
I held up my hand to stop the others. “We’re too late. The horde is too big for us.” My shoulders slumped. “We’ll wait until nightfall to see what we can retrieve.” Happy Birthday whoever you are.
Back at camp, I paced in front of my group. “That’s what happens when you’re unprepared. She should never have gotten tangled.”
“She?” Dante tilted his head.
“Sounded like a female.” I kicked a rock. The poor girl probably wouldn’t have made it to us anyway. Not with the numbers of Malignants that swarmed her. We could have lost more by trying to save her.
“How are we supposed to get across that lot with that many of those things?” Lotus turned and lost her breakfast.
Fawke glanced my way. “Should we start traveling at night? The rubber suits have flashlights. It’ll be slower, but they sleep at night.”
I stopped my pacing. “I don’t see that we have any other choice. Get some sleep people. We move out as soon as it’s quiet.” I sat with my back against the wall and closed my eyes. I didn’t need to see to know Fawke sat next to me.
“It’s unfortunate, but it happens. More than we’d like.”
“How many since you’ve been here?”
“She made five. All the same way. They couldn’t get out from under their chute in time.” His voice held all the weariness I felt.
The radio crackled. My eyes snapped open as Sharon’s face appeared on the monitor. “It’s your job, Miss Dayholt, to make sure new arrivals don’t die the moment they step foot on land.”
“There was nothing I could do. The Malignants were too many for us to tackle.” I would not let her make me feel any worse than I already did.
“We have more turning eighteen in a few days. Make sure if one arrives that you keep them alive.” The screen went black.
“How did she know?” Lotus asked.
“The chip we all have goes dead when our heart stops beating,” Fawke said.
“We’ll lose some of us as time goes by.” Ezra sat next to one of the gas fires. “There’s no way we can reach that mountain without a few deaths.”
“Thank you, Mr. Encouragement.” I glared.
“I don’t want to go.” Lara shook her head. “Leave me here. I’ll die here. It’s better than being torn apart.”
“No one stays behind,” I said.
“Let them activate my chip.” She stared wide-eyed around the group, shrugging off her husband’s hand as he tried to placate her. “What do I need to do?” She grabbed her stick. “Kill?” She whacked Lotus on the head. The girl crumbled to the ground.
I tackled Lara, yanking the stick from her hand. If her chip wasn’t activated once Sharon found out, it would confirm my suspicions that they were nothing more than
