Chapter Eighty - Darkness Attracts Undead

The sky was overcast and the temperature had dropped.  This in itself would have been refreshing as the heat of a late spring day had begun to become a little oppressive, hinting at another hot and somewhat unbearable summer.  However, along with the cooler air came ferocious winds, which slammed into trees aggressively.  It was not near what it might have taken to uproot the established ones, but dead twigs, remaining blossoms and not more than a few leaves were ripped away and scattered in their wake.

There were some worries about the tender stalks of the tomato plants and the certain less sturdy vines of immature squashes; would they survive this windy storm?  In some places, shrubs seemed to move block the wind and bushes stretched their branches to provide shelter.  It would not solve all the exposed spaces the vegetables were planted within, but it certainly helped ease some fears.

But not all.

The rooster happened to be very silent this morning.  Coupled with the gloomy, stormy weather, an ominous feeling had set in.  Lucy sat quiet and still at the table, her thumb firmly in her mouth, while Aslan remained alert by her side.  The adults tiptoed around them, also effected by the solemn atmosphere.

This sort of thing was what a windswept Jimmy walked into, after a shift upon the wall and happened to voice aloud; "Why do I feel like something is about to happen?"

Aslan angry growls suddenly filled the kitchen, echoing in empty spaces before travelling down the hall.  "Crow beak," Monika cursed him as she turned to exit after following him in.  Dexter looked up out of the kitchen window from the sink, but was unable to see anything untoward.  It did not settle the feelings and Aslan's voice was increasing in volume as well.  Dexter glanced at Autumn, who shared a look of concern before encouraging him.  "Go.  Just in case."

He placed a kiss upon her plush lips, causing her cheeks to warm a little, before he and Jimmy made their way to the front door.  Opening it, he witnessed Ren Zexian speeding along the path with all haste.  In turn, Chang Min leapt from a window above him into sight and proceeded to follow.  "Shit, this can't be good."

They did not head for the front/ eastern side of the wall, but hurried instead down the long drive of the property opposite and through its extensive grassy gardens and the wheatfield beside it.  Loud thuds entered their ears and as they got nearer the thick hedge that framed the inside of the tall outer wall, the heard falling of light rubble and dust hit the leaves and ground. 

Both Chang Min and Ren Zexian seemed to leap effortlessly over the hedge, not moved by the wind at all as they landed on the wide expanse on top of the wall.  A cloud of black fog solidified into a hound beside them.  The others could only stare in awe and curse before running for the stone steps built close by. 

Angry howl of tongueless voices filled the air and the thuds paused.  The two Cultivators glanced down in an almost casual way to see a group of five zombies hammering at the wall a few feet below them.  They did not look like ordinary wandering zombies.  One had lost its arms, but its body had thickened into a shapeless column upon sturdy legs.  With a helmet fastened to its skull, it uncaringly threw itself against the wall and was doing damage not only to the outer metal coating, but the stone foundation beneath.  Another zombie was tearing at the metal, the stumps of its fingers lengthened by stretches of thin, sharpened bone like claws upon what must have once been fingers.  It's feet were in a similar condition and its spine curled unnaturally as it moved. 

The third was a little more like a corpse, just jawless, but its eyes shone with a frightening light as if it had awareness.  Drool dripped from its teeth down the torn shirt covering its chest.  The fourth corpse was small, it was also loud.  Most of the howling sounds actually were escaping it's throat as it moved shakily, but excitably.  It suddenly leapt at the wall, only its own diminutive height prevented it from reaching the top.

The fifth zombie seemed as if it had been dipped entirely in black ink.  It stood back, its shadow more dark than the others, somehow larger than the others.  "Darkness root," Chang Min surmised.

Ren Zexian nodded.  "What attracts others of its kin, but this.  Look."  As the others carefully made their way over the wall as it trembled from time to time, crouching low so not to be too hampered by the gale, the oriental man pointed to the a few undead rodents lurking close by as if reinforcements.  He glanced up and witnessed corpse birds hovering in the sky.  "This will not be like the last wave," Ren Zexian warned them.  This zombie did not control them, this zombie did not need to.  It could be said that this zombie ruled them instead.

"Should we take out this King first?" Dexter asked, noticing Monika leading their own reinforcements to their location with Reggie.  They'd brought along Tyler, Harry and Arthur as well as the soldiers from the other property.

"I think they will protect him," Ren Zexian replied.  "In a game of chess, one must find the opponents weak link."  Glancing over the group of five, Dexter wasn't too sure that there was one. 

"The birds, the rats?" Patrick glanced at the numerous smaller bodies which were becoming increasingly agitated around the dark Zombie King. 

"Pawns," Ren Zexian withdrew his sword from its sheath and glanced with a nod at Chang Min, who nodded perceptively back.  "To be taken down at leisure.  We'll leave them to you."  The two men then leapt from the wall, Aslan closely in their wake, leaving Dexter to curse, but he had no time to think beyond that as the birds swooped down, losing a few feathers as they did.

Monika was swift, abandoning climbing the wall for the crossbow on her back and taking aim.  If the crossbow had been better made, she may have pierced its body with the first bolt, but skimming it still caused it to lose grasp of the wind keeping it in the air and it tumbled to the ground where it met the heavy foot of her comrade; Arthur.  Bolts of lightning streaked from Dexter's palms, burning another of the flying monsters, causing it to die completely.  The rodents began to run at the wall and leap up at it with the child zombie.

It and a couple of rats managed to grasp the ragged edges caused by the claws of digit-less zombie and rocked their bodies in order to leap up again.  As they jumped, Patrick behind Dexter made an unmanly squeal before surrounding the rising undead with heavy gravity, causing them to fail and slam back down to Earth.  The little zombie rose and prepared another attempt, but it's head was suddenly separated from its shoulders by a long blade.  It rolled for a pace or two before a rat bit into it and began tugging it away.

Chang Min and Ren Zexian had leapt in amidst the five, but the corpses had not automatically surrounded them.  In fact the zombie ramming the wall did not cease its attacks and the smallest zombie had shied out of reach.  It was the long clawed undead that reached to attack them.  Chang Min blocked its claws with his sword, to find that the bones were not at all brittle and had to reevaluate how he dealt with it.

In the meantime, Ren Zexian moved towards the zombie with glistening, wide eyes, considering that this might actually be the Dark Zombie's most important piece.  Indeed it's eyes flashed and lengths of sturdy pine wood shot from the ground, stretching branches only when they reached a certain height and creating a wall between the Cultivators, itself and its King.  He could only send bursts of flames in order to weaken the wall. 

Chang Min had removed one of the clawed zombie's arms in counterattack before stepping back and removing the head off of the leaping zombie.  He was almost exposed and vulnerable in that moment, but still the zombie was not as fast as Chang Min and failed to take advantage of it.  Rodents seeking to fish in troubled waters also failed, killed by a vicious dog made of fog.

The barrel chested zombie smacked hard against the wall and a large crack formed behind the metal covering, which in turn gave in weakness as it thrust its entire body through the wall.  Patrick fell, grabbed by the collar by Dexter before being tossed to Harry, close by.  He then had to fall flat on his stomach upon the top of the wall as one of the few remaining birds attempted to take a bite from his flesh.  The rodents ran to and through the hole in the wall squealing in delight as they sought the living flesh beyond it.