Death is Only the Beginning

Tori's POV

Before I knew it we all were back in the plane, the way down the mountain was much easier than the trek up. I noticed out the window the dragon was nearby. Mum was quiet and dad seemed to be his usual self.

"Port-side 9 o'clock." Mad Dog exclaimed. "Hey Rick... Should I quit drinking?" He asked my Dad. Dad shook his head and then the conversation ceased. We quickly and quite abruptly landed in the middle of nowhere near the wall. I deplaned with my mum in front of me. We started walking again, I'd gotten my fill of exercise for the year. I just wanted to sit on the couch and eat cookies after this. After we disembarked Mad Dog took back off into the cloudy sky to bring reinforcements for us to fight off the emperor.

"Jonathan to Rick." I heard the radio in my dad's hand crackle.

"You'd better get a move on... If you're gonna beat him to the Tomb." My uncle told us.

"Yeah, yeah, just get back here as fast as you can, for reinforcements... No sight seeing." Dad told him sternly, looking angry at the fact that he had to do this again. I sighed, grabbing two guns for both my dad and I.

"Here, dad." I threw him the gun. He caught it with ease.

"For me?" he asked looking thankful.

"Yeah. It's Alex's don't get too excited, you know knives are my forte." I told him. He smiled.

"Just like your mother." He chuckled.

"Now remember the terracotta army is not indestructible until they cross the great wall." Lins mother chided from behind us.

"Well that's comforting, how exactly are we supposed fend them off?" Aunt Evy asked as she racked her handgun.

"When the Emperor built the wall, he buried his enemies underneath it, then cursed their souls to hold it up for eternity. Most of them were conquered soldiers. I will call them to battle once again." Lins mother continued. I nodded and caught up to my mom to make sure she was alright.

"Unlock an altar, raise an army. That sounds like a plan. Let's go." Dad said to all of us huddled in the group. Walking closer to the wall, we picked a spot with rocks all around us so no one would get past us in their attempt to become immortal.

"You alright mum?" I asked her inquisitively.

"I will be when this is over." She smiled at me tiredly. The fire that once was in those green eyes gone. I looked back to my dad who was looking at the scene unfold through binoculars, while he was perched behind a rock.

"Alex?" Dad asked, he looked to his left to see him gone.

"Where'd he go?" I asked.

"Where do you think?" Evy asked both of us with a hint of sarcasm crawling up next to us. I looked through the binoculars seeing what I can only describe as the emperor raising his terracotta army, speaking to them as if he was about to rule the world reminding me of Hitler. I quickly moved with my parents and Aunt closer to the chaos that was about to erupt. I stood behind a rock with Aunt Evy as my mum and dad were off to my right. Mum and dad moved forwards guns in tow even closer to the mess that was about to erupt.

"Today you awake to a world in the grip of chaos and corruption. I will restore order...I will retake what is mine. I will crush any idea of freedom." I rolled my eyes at his lines, doesn't he know this is not the world it used to be?

"I will slaughter without mercy. I will conquer without compassion. I will now lead you past the Great Wall." I growled at that tightening my grip on the machine gun I held in my hands.

"Once you cross, you will be indestructible. I raised you for one purpose, to enforce my will on the entire world!" He finally finished his speech and the army replied with a simple,

"Long live the Emperor!" The earth shook beneath our feet and a feeling of eeriness took over. I looked behind me to see skeletal zombies rushing towards us surrounding us with weapons of their own. Dad, mom, Evy & I spun around and saw them surrounding us, we pointed our weapons at them confused.

"These are uh... The good undead guys, right?" Dad asked, I smiled at Lin's mothers work. One guy charged towards us and was about to throw his axe into my mom.

"No, no, no, no!!!" Evy yelled at them.

"Zi Yuan sent us!!" Dad told them stepping up in front of my mom.

"I don't think they speak English." Mom said to him.

"We're with Zi Yuan." Dad tried again.

"Zi Juan?" The zombie fellow asked us.

"Right, right." Dad breathed out happily as the guy continued off yelling stuff I didn't understand fully. But we followed behind them running into battle. They started yelling more things as we stopped running. Mom and dad looked at each other like they had no idea what was going on. Evy just smirked.

"Incoming." Dad said grabbing mom and running to shelter as to not get hit by the incoming arrows that were pelted at us. I followed them closely, careful not to get hit.

"Hey, that's my favorite blue shirt." Dad said upset his shirt got an arrow through the sleeve, pinning him to the nearby rock.

"I always hated that shirt." Mom said back to him smiling. I looked over the rock we were behind seeing the undead being incredibly uncoordinated. One even took a shovel behind his head and turned, smacking the head of another guy next to him off his body. I stifled a laugh. He fell down as the guy who swung the shovel attempted to put his head back on. Everyone started charging towards each other as my family stayed by the rocks.

"Tori? You liked this shirt right??" My dad asked me as my mom pulled the arrow out of his shirt. I just ignored him letting him have his moment. He scoffed and looked away, upset no one seemed to like his favorite blue shirt.

"Welcome to 20th century." Dad yelled at the mummies barreling towards us. Mom started screaming as she fired off her shots. I pulled the trigger on the machine gun not expecting the kick back I got. Shooting the closer mummies to us making sure to conserve ammo. We started taking fire, the mummies starting to just throw their weapons at us and dad decided it was time to go as we saw our zombies getting demolished.

"Honey! Fall back, to higher ground." Dad yelled at mom as he threw a grenade in their direction. We moved again up further near the wall. Our entire family ended up back to back shooting trying to move to higher ground.

"I. Really. Hate. Mummies." Dad yelled between shots.

"It seems the feeling is mutual." Mom and Evy yelled back to him. One started crawling up to mom without his legs.

"Shut up, clay boy!" Mom yelled at him and hit his head like a golf ball into the sand.

"Run!" She yelled at all of us starting to crack out of her shell again. We all bolted up the stairs leading up to the wall, shooting the mummies as we went. Mom ran out of ammo and got her knives out, this I couldn't wait to see. Dad grabbed two swords after throwing his gun, waiting for me to run out of ammo and need one. But I had my knives, I could take care of myself;

"Give it to Aunt Evy!!!!" I yelled to him as I ran out of ammo throwing the gun behind my back because it had a strap. I grabbed my knives out of my waistband as Rick threw Evy the sword.

"Next time I say, 'I've been in closer scrapes then this', I mean this!" Dad yelled at all of us. I hit the mummies, throwing knives to my hearts desire slashing them and breaking their shells. Clattering surrounded us as they fell. Next I knew there were airplanes above us firing at our enemy. Uncle Jon!

"Die! You Mummy bastards! Die!" I heard Jon yell distantly.

"Jonathan certainly knows how to make an entrance." Evy said.

"Haha! That's his specialty, Evy don't you remember??" Mom yelled back to her as they went to fight side by side. As we prepared for the second wave, we got a breath of fresh air when they were taken down for us.

"You okay?" Alex asked me as he rode up on a motorcycle with Lin in tow.

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Dad answered for me. Alex rolled his eyes at him.

"We had it completely under control." Evy told him as she walked up to her son.

"The usual, mummies, Nazis. The whole shebang." Mom told him. Lin noticed something in the background.

"Mother! NO! Mother! Mother!" Lin yelled as she ran towards her mother. What happened?? We started to run with her. I guess she was part of the family now too since we were still fighting to keep her safe. Even though part of me still despised her for trying to kill me. Lin cradled her mothers head in her arms as she uttered out some more words to her.

"Pierce through his heart. You must live, okay? And fight on." She uttered out. I crouched down next to them as Lin sobbed. She took her final breaths.

"She said, through the heart." Evy said handing the knife to my mom. Knowing this was her speciality.

"Through the heart. Let's go." Mom said to me.

"What about me??" Alex asked.

"Stay with your mother. You've done enough." Mom said to him. I smiled. She was back. We jumped on the motorcycle Alex brought back and headed off towards the tomb.

"So mom, what's the plan?" I asked my mom looking for a bit of guidance.

"Divide and conquer, it's what your father would say." She yelled back to me.

"No offense, but isn't that a little short on detail?" I asked her not trying to piss her off now. "12 o'clock low!!" I told her warning her of the mummies on our tail, I reloaded my gun since now I had the time and started shooting to drive them away from us.

"Hang on!" She yelled as she continued driving us to the entrance of the tomb. We crept in seeing the emperor levitating some planet looking items around in his hands. As they spun, mom and I shot them down one by one. I stepped forwards into his view when he turned around to see what was going on as mom hugged the wall to get behind him.

"I dug you up... and I'm gonna put you back down." I told him glaring into his beady little black eyes. He screamed at me when I finished the sentence. The Emperor jumped forwards and turned into some creature, I couldn't possibly describe its origins. He threw me into a pillar. I shook my head looking back up at him as mom crept up behind him and jumped swiftly onto his back stabbing the knife into his shoulder. He threw her off into a lit pot of fire, she fell onto the ground and crouched behind a dragon. He groaned in agony, his claws going to his shoulder where he had been stabbed, morphing back into a human form. Mom ran over to me to make sure I was alright.

"Tori?? You okay?" She asked me. I nodded looking at her still slumped on the ground. The emperor threw the knife at her, unhappy with his new injury. She dodged it, running and jumping away, avoiding the blade. It split in two as it hit one of the stone figurines.

"Enough tricks! Where is your honor? Fight like a man." Mom said as she jumped onto the globe in front of her. She ran forwards at him ready for some hand to hand. That's all I saw before I came up with a plan of my own. I wrote a division symbol in the sand to tell her what I was planning. She took the knife from the sand as she got knocked down and started to back him up for me. I watched her headbutt him and knee him in the stomach before I made my leap of faith I plunged the knife into his heart from the backside as she did the same with the front. Our knives met in the middle and she pulled it out. They were fused together like it was forged inside of him. He started to melt away from the inside out. Dad, Evy, Alex and Lin came up behind us.

"Now you can rule—in hell!" She smiled at him.

"Hey, that's my line." Dad told her smiling as the emperors face started to bubble. I backed up and turned around ready to get the hell out of here. As we walked outside the undead armies disappeared into dust. The soldiers of the wall started cheering for us before they too turned into dust in the wind. Finally at peace with the world, as we looked over the sand dunes I noticed a horse riding in from the west.

"Alex? Is that?" I started to ask him.

"DAD!!!" He yelled and ran towards him smiling like a child. Evy ran forwards as well ready to greet my uncle.

"I guess this will be the final story in Evy's books." Mom said smiling at dad. I rolled my eyes as they shared a sweet moment. I wish I had that, but everything was in it's place now and I finally had my adventure I'd been waiting for. I was happy and ready to go home.