Pawns

Silence reigns again in the room. At least for a few seconds: a gurgling belly is suddenly heard. We turn to the origin of the noise: the zomb... the men who attacked us yesterday. With all that I had almost forgotten them.

"-We must also decide what we do with them," I said, pointingthem with the knife.

"- We're dead we already know", said one of them," we listened to what you said, you're already monstrously strong and yet you're not sure of your survival so we ... we're sure to die out there. We saw that we were not much against you, so we do not even threaten you ... damn if we had known ..."

I interrupt him:

"-Even if you knew it, hunger would have pushed you to attack at some point ... but I'm not going to kill you or simply get you out. Getting yourself out of here will be detrimental even if you are weak, leaving a problem free would be silly of me. Killing you would eliminate all possible sources of trouble, but ..." I take a look at my mother and see her reluctance ... " But I will not do it either. You will follow me outside and give me a hand."

I see them becoming pale when they hear me say that.

"- What ... what do you mean by giving a hand ? Are you going to use us as bait ?"

I raise my eyes to the sky, exasperated.

"- Even if I want to do that, you would not have a word to say against it. But no I do not intend to use this way (not that the idea did not come to me ...). You have arms and are rather strong men according to old human standards ... so I will make you work. There is a hunting shop in Nemours, fortunately out of town, I want us to go and get guns and ammunition there."

As much as they were already pale before, now they are almost transparent, and my mother too.

"- Lukas ! It's right in the orc's village ! Do you want to go get weapons in a city filled with monsters ?! Are you out of your mind ?!

- There is no way that we go there ! You said there was an orc army !

- We'll be eaten ... like my neighbor ... these things will eat us!

- You're sick! I'm not going there , screw it !

- We'll finish like John and Alexander before we even enter the city ... »

I feel anger rising in me... that my mother is worried, that's ok, but these morons think that they can still decide for themselves... I activate [King's Bloody Aura] and say in a deep voice:

"- I said that you did not have your say ... if I want you to crawl, crawl, if I want you to follow me to a city full of orc, you'll do it and without arguing. Death is not necessarily sweet with these orcs, but it is surely better than if I bleed you slowly and mummifies you alive ... "

They are petrified and can not even breathe. I have not raised my voice at all, but my threat is all the more frightening. They probably saw my way last night after all, they remember it as soon as the words left my mouth. I could use [Blood Submission] but the idea of ​​sharing my blood with these people ... disgusts me. I also refuse to absorb it, even if it will help me.

"- I hope I made myself clear. You are my prisoners, I have all the rights over you »

They continue to tremble, and when I look at my family and Marie, I see them as shocked. I have a slight twinge in the heart seeing them like that but hey ... Do I have the choice ?

I get up and go to the kitchen where I call my mother. She got up and joined me then we prepare some food in heavy silence.

"-You've changed Lukas," she said finally, " and I do not like the way you ... I do not like what you're changing into."

I do not answer her. I know what she means, and I will not defend myself or change it. I know what I have to do to get out and I know what I have to do to save them, even if her way of seeing me will change for something more ... dark and violent, the current world forces me to be so. Even if I do not feel like it, I have to, that's all.

After having given them some food (not much, just enough so that they don't pass out on me) , we get into my car, and although it is under constraint, they go up without complaint. We start and quickly reach the demarcation zone of the monsters, and what I see gives me cold sweats :

The goblins are attacking other creatures. The rats are being slaughtered, the pests are not better ... only the slimes are doing well because of their immunity to physical damage and their acidic property. But the battle made them react and they invaded the other areas anarchically. However they are slow and all the other monsters remain at a respectable distance.

The four guys with me are shaking seeing the scene, which I understand for once. The battle is impressive after all, but I only see the goblins and no hobgoblins. In spite of that the other creatures are not a match against them, and apart from slimes I know that they will soon disappear from here. But besides the scene that unfolds before us, what annoys me most is ... that the road is blocked by all this bloody mess!

"- They saw us !" Suddenly shouts the one in the passenger seat.

And indeed a group of goblins begin to advance towards us, weapons lift.

"- damn ... well we go in the heap.

- What ?" they cries all at the same time.

- We have to go to the other side and you know it's the shortest route. The others take too long, so hang in there »

And by saying that I push the accelerator, making my car jump forward (pulling out a motor noise that twists my ears)

(Sorry my dear car but here ...)

The goblins who were advancing towards us also react and quickly depart from my path, but the other monsters did not notice us because of the ambient fighting. I crush my horn for them to notice us and get away, but I take a Miniblin heads on and being small it passes under the car immediately. I miss losing control when the critter passes under the wheels, and crushing a giant rat just after does not help me. The four others howl while clinging to each others, drowning the sounds of monsters passing under the wheels and hitting the car. Finally I go through the central roundabout, crushing the flowerbed and an another Miniblin that was hiding there. I feel my car suffer which makes me wince, I have not finished paying for it after all ...

(Ah, but ... I do not need to pay anymore now ...)

I continue, avoiding the trees of the roundabout until the other side which is as congested as the one from which I come. I burst out honking horns so that the bugs on the road avoid me a minimum but ... obviously it is a vain hope. I crush rats, miniblins and goblins again. As the monsters try to move away, I suddenly see in front of me an enemy tougher than the others: a Hobgoblin in leather armor and with a spear which he uses to quietly eliminate the enemies around him. The goblins around him (acting as a close guard surely) screams , drawing his attention to the car. I cross his eyes and decides to avoid it to not lose more control of the car by hitting it (especially that I do not know if it is resistant or not to the frontal shock with a car ... seeing how the rules of the world was changed I tell myself that at a certain level, taking a bullet in the skull would not be mortal so being hit by a car...).

I pass him by the side and he tries to struck his spear in the car, which he manages to do: the tip enters the door and scrapes one of the two in the back. The spear gets stuck, which causes the hobgoblin to follow after the car, but it is quickly unhooked by the many obstacles on the road that the Hobgoblin eats in the face.

With his fall I regain some control over the car, as I finally leace behind the chaos of the monster's battle and takes us on the road to the side of the city where the hunting and fishing store is, in wich I really hope to find some useful weapons and objects.

" - F*ck ! You're sick !" Scream the passenger number two.

"- I can not believe we're still alive ... we're still alive ..." the number one passenger murmurs.

"- It touched me ! It touched me for f*ck sake ! That bastard touched me !" Complains number three who does not even bleed but shakes the number four that remains there, shocked.

"- Shut up ! We are not yet at the end of our troubles, it was the hors d'oeuvres compared to what we probably expect in town !"

When I say this truth, my pale, green-looking passengers find themselves even whiter.

"- And if you have bad ideas about me know that I am your only chance of survival now ... "

I prefer to remind them in case, and I'm doing well because I see the one next to me suddenly contract himself up.

I continue my journey and arrive in view of the city, and just like last time the orcs are busy conscientiously destroying it. They are fewer than last time, I guess now that they have taken this city they will continue to expand to others ... so the one where we live too.

(They had already arrived there but I eliminated them quickly when I went to the supermarket ... let's go to the other side and hide the car...)