A Wall Against The Abyss

"Can he hear me?" asked Matthew, knowing that the mysterious voice knew better than them how to survive, and based on his words, it seemed to have Sora's life in his best interest.

"Yes" replied Bianca, relieved that they could finally stand on the same side, one Nikola shared despite not showing it in his face.

"There is a small cave a bit higher deep in the village" informed Matthew, grimacing when the violent clashes made the whole barricade start to tremble with the smaller rocks falling down, telling him it wouldn't last. "There is only a small path towards it, and we prepared more rocks to block the access, should we go there?"

Yes Nikola replied instantly, knowing that such a clearing having been prepared was nothing sort of a miracle.

"There is no other entrance, if we block it, we won't be able to leave, nor will anyone be able to help us there" added Matthew, but his steps were already leading him towards the cave they had readied expecting the worst. Sora would slowly draw the Corrupted sieging them away, and they would try to push all the rocks away while eating the emergency supplies they prepared, but now it seemed like it would be put to use for a different plan. "Shou-"

Yes Nikola interrupted him, knowing more than anyone else the danger they were in.

The red dots all over the map were moving way too fast considering the cold climate eroding the connection the Punishing Virus had with the Corrupted, showing that the Virus was pushing stronger than it ever had.

"We only need to stale for time" added Bianca, seeing the wall that would take them to momentary safety. "There are reinforcements incoming."

"Sora!!"

"I really hope so" muttered Matthew, hearing the scream from a man already on top of the mountain, showing that Sora might be in an even worse state now.

Bianca understood the same, and grabbing the robe, climbed it with a single arm with an agility that left Matthew with an open mouth, but a new tremor erased any admiration he could feel, replacing it with trepidation.

Looking back, he saw a part of the barricade crumbling and revealing a pair of glowing red eyes fixed on him, prompting the boy to climb through the rope as fast as he could.

'The barricade won't last' thought Matthew with growing anxiety, hoping that the 600 they were told needed to resist wouldn't be as long as he feared it was.

Reaching the top, he saw the entrance of the cave too small to house everyone, and the absence of Sora's body on the ground told him the wounded and infected man had been given priority treatment.

Approaching the cave, he saw Bianca crouching near the convulsing body of the man, whose entire skin was covered by a red pattern he had only heard from his mother meant death.

'Boy.'

The voice coming from the small device on the Construct's clothes made Matthew approach, wondering what new orders could allow them to gain some extra time.

'Stay outside, and throw the rocks at the correct moment.'

The villagers looked at Matthew, wondering why was the voice talking directly to him instead of giving a general order, but Matthew only nodded and left the cave.

Nikola had seen the rocks they had prepared to block the cave, and frowned a little seeing that they weren't as big as he would have wanted, but he was used to working in lacking situations.

In fact, those were his normal conditions.

The boy had been the first one to react, showing his courage and ability to think under pressure, making him the idoneous person in charge of waiting until the last moment.

Just after leaving the cave, Matthew saw what no one else had seen in the entire history of the small village.

The barricade exploded, sending rocks, wood and metal flying everywhere, allowing the horde of Corrupted to charge into the village, their red eyes fixed on him, or maybe the small cave behind him. For the first time, the Corrupted hadn't only entered the village, but had conquered it.

Seeing the army of homicidal machines, running faster than any human ever could, Matthew understood why had that voice told them to escape instead of trying to hold back the horde by reinforcing the barricade. These robots were simply at a completely different level from what they had been until now.

He felt a wave of fear coursing through his mind, seeing death incarnate approach without anything to stop them, but rage quickly overwhelmed it.

His friends, his family, his sister. They had all died under these things, so he couldn't afford to show fear of these things.

He wouldn't allow himself to cower against the beings that had already taken so much from him, he wouldn't give a single step back.

The impulse to throw all the rocks at them gained momentum by the moment, the desire to cause so much misery to them as he could dominating him, but he forcefully shut it down, a better plan appearing in his head.

'Aren't they so thirsty for Sora's life?' mused Matthew, a malicious smirk appearing on his face, filled with hatred, but also deviousness. 'Why don't you come here then? Approach, come closer. Closer enough you can smell his blood, feel his heat and see his body. And then, just before you reach him, I will take him away from you.'

The cold rage conquered Matthew's heart, who found the best plan he could use to piss off these things as much as he could. He might not be able to kill and destroy them, his human body didn't allow him to do so, but he would make sure these things wouldn't forget his face.

And finally, a mere 3 seconds after Matthew decided his future course of action, the Corrupted arrived at the wall.

Despite anger cold anger occupying his mind, Matthew couldn't help but open his eyes in shock, seeing the Corrupted jump into the air and stab the rock wall with their weapons or digging their hands into it, climbing through the wall with bone-chilling agility.

Indeed, something was strange here, because if a single Corrupted had shown this speed and strength, the village would have disappeared long ago, with and without Sora's help.

Matthew, knowing he wouldn't be able to enjoy watching the Corrupted climb only to find a boulder fall into their face, rushed to the giant rock, the only one they had found near the cave, and one too big for them to carry.

"Help!" Matthew, despite being ready to push the rock by himself, knew better than to play hero and asked for someone to help him push the rock fast enough to make as much time as he could.

1, 2, 3...

Suddenly, 10 people stood next to Matthew, ready to help, uncaring of the consequences of leaving the safety of the cave behind.

"On my signal." Despite being a bit surprised, and touched at eh readiness his family had to help without asking, Matthew leaned on the wall to gauge the enemy's progress. Now that he had enough hands to help, he could busy himself watching the Corrupted climb until the last moment.

The red eyes fixed on him approached with shocking speed, to the point Matthew felt his body trying to take a step back to hide from humanity's natural predators, but clenched his teeth and stood firm.

"Matthew?" one of the villagers who left to help, the youngest father in the village, asked with nervousness at hearing the sound of the wall being destroyed start getting near.

"On my signal" repeated Matthew, recovering his calm. With this many people on his side, the only thing his mind needed to focus on was analysing the exact moment the Corrupted would get out of their rock throw.

Clang clang clang CRRRK Shing!

The chaotic and erratic sounds of the Corrupted climbing through any means reverberated inside Matthew's mind. Some punched the wall, others used their weapons to do the same and climb, and others were simply climbing over others Corrupted. Some of them fell to the ground when their weapons broke, or their hands weren't able to pierce the wall breaking in the process due to how rusted they were, but another took its place immediately.

The white tidal wave with red eyes was unstoppable, climbing with astonishing speed and approaching the boy looking down on them with calm brown eyes.

'A bit more' the boy's brown eyes stood unwavering in the face of the wave of death approaching him, a frown of concentration on his face.

"Matthew!" the young father shouted, expecting the Corrupted to appear through the ledge at any moment, but held back his desire to push the rock, choosing to trust the boy who had somehow inspired respect in all of them despite his young age.

"On my signal" repeated Matthew for the third time, his mind focused on estimating the the exact time.

10 meters.

8 meters.

5 meters.

....

4 meters, and Matthew opened his mouth.

3 meters, and Matthew shouted.

2 meters, and the villagers started pushing the rock to the edge, held back by a few pieces of wood that came off when a villager kicked them hurriedly before getting away.

1 meter, and the giant boulder started falling.

The Corrupted reached the top of the giant wall, their eyes already fixed in the dark cave, more precisely, in the spot the suffering white-haired man was, even when no eyes should have been able to detect him.

But, a new object appeared in front of them.

"Get fucked" said Matthew, with venom dripping from his voice.

And the boulder fell.

The colossal fragment of the mountain, 4 meters tall and 3 wide, fell just by the narrow wall, dragging every single Corrupted that had been climbing.

The sound of crushed metal, twisted steel and cracking armour was the sweetest sound Matthew had heard in a very long time, and the giant tremor that signalled both the boulder reaching the ground and the death of what he hoped was a huge amount of Corrupted made a twisted smile appear in his face.

Shaking those emotions that would only hinder him now, Matthew leaned from the wall, all his satisfaction at a part of his revenge being achieved disappearing.

The whole street was swarmed by Corrupted, and from the space the fallen barricade had left, the part of the snow plain he could see was filled to the brim with murderous machines.

Hundreds of machines, taken over by the Punishing Virus, were rushing towards them like a swarm, one that wouldn't stop at anything humans could do.

Swallowing his astonishment and the new wave of fear, Matthew quickly leaned back with a pale face, praying that the 600 was now reaching its end.

"Get in the cave!" shouted Matthew, whose panic told the villagers that things hadn't improved that much.

The cave was too small for all of them, but no one was to be left out. Children were picked on adults' shoulders, small adults crouched near the corners of the room, getting squashed by the rest, but no one cared, because if that was what it took to allow everyone to enter, no one would ever complain.

'Throw the food, strong people to the front, slim people to the sides'

The voice from the device on the Construct's white uniform reached the nervous villagers, shedding light on the path they desperately needed, telling them the direction they could follow.

So desperate they were, that they took those words as a lifeline, throwing away the food that would be their only way to stay alive for a modicum amount of time and wood that would prevent them from dying should they get trapped, all to make some space.

Reorganizing themselves to follow the voice's orders, they left a small corridor for Matthew and the others to enter, a few of them staying in the front of the cave.

"Block it!" shouted Matthew, who looking back, saw red eyes appear in the small clearing in front of the cave.

And without any other option, the people in charge of taking away the pieces of wood and metal stopping the rocks from blocking the cave, retired them.

'Resist'

That was the only word that left Bianca's radio before the rocks fell, blocking all signal and light.

Leaving the villagers, who had chosen to protect Sora no matter the ending, trapped.