Undead Advantage, a Zombie Chronicles Novel

confident when he had been holding the ax. 'Target One' changed to him in Dave's mind, revolver guy gets two bullets, girl with the bow, gets one, two guys in front each get one, then whoever looks most threatening gets the last one. Plus there would be misses. The boy in front had a long dagger out, probably nothing to worry about, he was half Dave's size. 'Watch the boy he has a big knife.', Dave said to Nuke, who stood quietly watching with big eyes as the trio approached the cycle and gun.

Dave had told Nuke earlier that the signal for the attack was when anyone touched the gun. His reasoning was that anyone who grabbed the gun would be distracted by it, try to get it to work and in those crucial seconds where they figured out it didn't work, they would be dead.

The three guys stood there looking at the bike from about fifteen feet away, Dave could not quite hear what they were saying, but they were pointed to the blood on the ground where fatty had died. 'Shit', thought Dave, 'I should have moved the fucking bike twenty feet away or so, it is so obviously a trap they will never fall for it now.'

Yet they did, the older guys stopped and looked around, they sent the boy up with his knife, he approached the bike, and flicked the gun off the seat. Dave said, 'Good enough, go!' to Nuke who looked confused as to if flicking the gun off the seat with a knife was the same thing as touching it with their hand. 'Go!'

Dave pulled his revolver out and got a bead on the kid with the gun. Meanwhile Nuke scrambled towards the group out the front door of the building they had been hiding. Dave watched him go and also watched as the older boy with the gun raised it and prepared to fire. Dave pulled the trigger and fired until the young man went down, 'Was that two shots? Or three?' he thought to himself, 'Goddamn it! I am too far away!'

Pulling himself up Dave burst out of the front of the store and watched as the girl with the bow put an arrow into Nuke from about twenty feet away, Nuke was running for the little girl first and the arrow, which went through his forearm and pinned it to his neck, not slowing him up in the slightest.

'Gotta get closer to the chick with the bow!' this was Dave's only thought as he charged towards the 'rear' group to get a shot off, ignoring, the three people closer to his motorcycle, who were about fifteen feet away. Nuke slammed into the little girl, an all pro football star could not have done a better job of knocking her on her ass. As they went down Dave closed to within 'accurate' pistol range, or about thirty feet from the young woman, he sighted down the gun, going for a torso shot and just as he was about to pull the trigger he hand was knocked aside and the gun went flying. Staring in amazement at his arm Dave saw a long sliver of metal sticking out of it, about eighteen inches long.

'Sonuvabitch!' he cried, it was the little kid's dagger, sticking through his arm! Dave had expected the trio to run away, not stand there facing down a guy with a pistol. Turning Dave saw the little kid looking smug and worried at the same time, obviously happy with his throw and afraid of what was coming. Only he was not alone, the two larger boys jumped in front of him and stood shoulder to shoulder, one of them yelling to the boy, 'Stay back Matt!' and the advanced on Dave.

Giving them his full attention, Dave mimicked them, 'Oh yes, stay back Matt! And stick around, me and you are gonna have a long talk once I get rid of these bozos!' As he said this an arrow appeared out of his shoulder. 'Fucking Christ!' Dave yelled, a little higher and the arrow would have hit him in the head. To prevent any further bow shots Dave jumped forward into the two young men, 'let bow and arrow girl get a shot off now.' he thought, thinking she wouldn't risk firing for fear of hitting her friends.

As he slammed into the taller boy's shield both of them took swings at him with their swords. One sword bit deeply into Dave's lower leg, breaking the bone, however as he spun aside he was able to dodge the other blow entirely. Not quite breaking through the two Dave jumped back, keeping them between him and the archer and trying to buy time for his leg to heal to the point where he could use it again. The boy Matt had picked the Glock up off the ground was trying to figure out how to use it. Dave saw Nuke running at him from the side, Nuke had sprouted two more arrows, one in his back and another in one of his legs, neither of which stopped him from tackling Matt into the Harley.

While this by-play was going on the taller young man had lumbered forward and tried to hit Dave, they were talking quietly to themselves, planning their moves and Dave figured he had better just handle them one at a time. Behind the young men the bow woman was trying to get a shot on him or Nuke, the other two in that group were bent over the guy on the ground and the little girl, checking to see if they were alright.

Dave feinted back at the smaller boy, then jumped sideways into the larger one, knocking his sword aside with ease. Once close in Dave smashed the kid in the face three times, then swept his hand down on the kid's shield arm, probably breaking it, the kid was tough and spun away from Dave and stayed on his feet, shrugging off the pain of his broken nose and split lips and trying to bring his shield back up into line. He did get his sword up and between them, which put all three of them in a line giving the archer another shot, which took Dave right in the neck, he gurgled and pulled at the arrow. He felt, then saw the slender blade of the other kids enter through his back and come out of his stomach, with Dave impaled the bigger boy stepped up and swung at Dave's head, trying to end the combat. Dave's gestures were a ruse however, the neck shot hurt like hell, but was not a blow that slowed him down, and the impalement? Well the kid in back should have taken a head shot, not stabbed him through the chest.

The kid behind him yelled, 'No!' as Dave twisted sideways and pulled the sword hilt out of his hands with his body's weight. Then Dave lifted his hand up and deflected the sword by hitting the flat of the blade, which bent the weapon slightly. Continuing his twist he backhanded the shorter youth, knocking him to the ground. Dave briefly saw Nuke fighting with the kid on the ground and he turned full circle and and stood facing the the taller kid once again. Dave spread his arms wide, ducked briefly to let another arrow fly past his head and then leaped on top of the youth, knocking him down and landing on top of him.

In a classic bully on the school yard method Dave pulled himself and the blade of the sword up the kid's body and then sat on his stomach and delivered another volley of fists to his head, stunning or knocking him unconscious, Dave could not pause to find out. Reinforcements were arriving in the form of one of the girls who had hung back and the other, young kid who had been checking on the guy Dave had shot.

Quickly standing and putting the new combatants between himself and the archer Dave stretched, then reached up and casually tore the arrow out of his throat, followed by removing the other arrow from his shoulder. Rotating his shoulders and clearing his throat Dave tried to talk, his damaged throat would not allow it yet, though his leg seemed to be completely better. Cracking his knuckles Dave then reached behind him, grasping for the hilt of the sword under his left shoulder blade with his right hand. It was a tight reach, until Dave used his left hand to push the blade back through his body, making the hilt stick out a little more and easier to grab.

Clearing his throat again, Dave wondered at why they were not jumping him, instead they seemed to be watching him, waiting to see what he would do. Glancing quickly sideways he saw Nuke pinned under the bike with the other brat on top of him, pistol whipping Nuke with the Glock! Well there was nothing Dave could do for him now, he would live or wouldn't. Shrugging his shoulders and clearing his throat yet again, Dave found he could speak again, albeit his voice was rough, 'Wh-hat are you waghting for?' he asked them.

The girl, who had a smaller shield on her arm and a long sword, answered him, 'You.'

'What? Why?' he asked.

'It is the damage moron, the more you use your body to heal up damage the slower you become, you lose your reflexes, we've seen it before.', she answered smugly.

'Huh?', thought Dave, he hadn't really noticed that, though it made sense, still he had gone into this fight well fed and was sure he was still stronger than he had ever been. He tried a feint with the sword, the woman didn't even flinch. Instead she said, 'Oh please, you are not even in reach of me yet!'

Snorting, Dave lunged into reach and stabbed at her, using his speed to take her by surprise, only she was not where he stabbed, she had sidestepped and delivered a sharp thrust to the side of his head above his ear. A thrust which he barely was able to pull back from before it shattered his skull! Further her companion, had stepped forward and slashed at Dave's legs from behind, cutting through his denim into his calves! He almost went down, instead staggering forward and beyond the reach of their swords. Turning he put his back to the archer, and watched them intently, when he heard the arrow released he stepped right, to the other two it was as if he had just disappeared and reappeared two feet to the left of where he had been, the arrow, unimpeded, smacked into the boy's shield.

Casting the boy a sidelong glance the young woman said, 'Ron, you better let me handle him.'

'You sure Whitney?' said Ron.