The undead rose, taking haphazard steps towards its next target. Czar. The sizzling life force oozing from Czar stung its senses, leaving its crooked jaw hanging.
"No, no, go away." Czar cursed inwardly, frozen with fear.
"Czar."
"R-run," Elira stuttered, her face ashen.
Czar couldn't move. Couldn't think. His body had become stone, his mind white noise.
He watched as the gap between them dwindled until the undead was finally a metre away from him. Just one more push and its thin arms would graze his body. His figure shuddered as the scene of the boy being eaten alive flashed once more in his head.
"No, I can't die like that. " His lips trembled as he mustered enough force to drag himself backwards. But that wasn't enough. The undead still took another step forwards. Arms stretched to meet Czar.
However, before its arms could make contact, the palms fell to the ground, making the horrid creature scream.
"Fucking bastard, even a Shambled dare cross my path." The voice of the Ace Officer rang in the fog. In the blink of an eye, he dived.
He didn't look in a good condition either. His right arm was no more, left there were exposed flesh, bone and thick clots. His forehead bled, deep gashes appearing all over his body. His uniform now shredded to pieces.
"Boy, take these people and run," His old, commanding voice echoed in Czar's ears breaking his transfixed state
"U-um." Czar nodded, crawling towards Ava and Aliya shaking them awake.
"Mum, mum, wake up." He shook Ava, his tone frenzied with urgency.
Ava's eyelids twitched. Her eyelids pulled away like a stretched elastic. Her vision and memory cloudy.
"Czar? What's, argh? " She groaned.
"I'll explain later, but we need to go — now. " Czar's jittered, grabbing Aliya.
He placed his index finger below her nostrils, feeling a faint warm air brush his skin. Sighing in relief, he piggybacked his niece, wincing as his injured leg exploded with pain. He gnashed his teeth and looked around. Death stretched out, vast and all encroaching. Suppressing all negative thoughts, he dragged himself forward, limping— fast. Elira and Ava followed.
Occasionally, he looked back, sighting the old man battle the undead. The fight felt one-sided. The officer overwhelmed the undead with his big sword that cut through the wind with precision.
The undead regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye. Tendons and cartilages wobbled, stitching to a rotting mass of flesh. But — the rider and his wyvern remained undeterred. They moved through the air with lethal accuracy. And then, the head of the undead rolled on the floor. Inky blood splashed everywhere.
"He killed it." Czar's eyes lit up.
That undead had felt like a god before him, a tyrant that could make and unmake his existence. Still, that man killed it.
"Perhaps," He thought, panting. "We can still be saved."
His limbs tensed, kicking against the ground. He bolted forward, his face slicing through the fog. Either he ran and make it out alive, or… he died.
His hope didn't last for too long when he felt the ground quake. Not the same tremor as the previous one. This felt like a ripple in sync, as though multiple figures were galloping on the ground.
"What now?" His heart skipped. And then he saw them.
A horde of undead, some small, barely a metre and some rising above two metres. They walked together and sometimes as loners stitched together by an invisible thread.
The only thing separating him and the horde was the battered officer who hovered midair.
The wyvern roared, sending a crushing force downward that bashed three undead, flinging them apart. The man turned, seeing the escaping Czar. Their eyes met momentarily. Nodding, he retracted his gaze.
Echoes of battle rang in Czar's ears, and at some point it stopped. Something told him to turn back and see which side won, but another thought told him not too, that it was dangerous. Suppressing his conflicting thoughts, Czar gritted his teeth. He turned, and what he saw…
The horde of undead push one another as they struggled for a potion of their prey. The man's legs were torn, and the undead passed it around like rabid dogs.
They pulled his remaining arm apart. His neck snapped. The bulging, lifeless eyes met Czar, and he could see the last moment of horror etched on them.
"Czar, get up. " Elirah screamed, dragging him from the ground.
However, her scream called the attention of the distant undead, and then…
They chased.
"Dammit. " Czar spat as he held Aliyah tighter.
"U-uncle?" Aliyah's weak voice resonated in his ears, but he paid it no attention.
The galloping sound drew closer. His limbs protested, itching to stop. Burning lungs threatened to collapse, but he dared not listen to his body. Adrenaline emptied into his muscles like a tidal wave, sprinting as though his life depended on it. Except it did.
"Argh!"
Amidst the harrowing quarry, Ava fell to the ground, huffing and puffing. Her dishevelled hair scattered on her face.
"I-" Her chest rose and fell. Breath rough and uneven.
"Go, I can't. I'm, I'm. "
"No, no mum, get up. " Elira squatted beside her, hoping to support her up.
"Elira. " Her mum grunted. "My leg. "
Elira and Czar looked in the direction of her leg, and they could see it. Her right ankle had broken, and her left foot twisted backwards.
"Go, I should distract them for a while, go!"
"No, no, no. Noo. " Czar's composure fell apart like an old doll. He glanced at his mother and then the undead horde a few yards away.
Elira stiffened, gritting her teeth. 'At this point we all won't make it,' she thought, facing Czar, her eyes burning with resolve.
"Take Aliya, run." With wiggling hands, she picked a broken pipe facing the undead, her body shielding Ava.
"What!" He blurted, his eyes bloodshot.
"No, Elira, go with-"
"Enough." Warm tears trickled down her cheeks as she pushed Czar. "Go."
Caught between two storms, Czar felt cold tendrils crawl through his flesh. His perception. turned sluggish. Primal survival instinct kicked in. Stretching his hands, he yanked Aliya and bolted away.
Desperate, Ava tried to return to her feet, but to no avail. Clenching her fists, she watched Czar's disappearing figure.
"Elira, go, you can still escape, don't worry about this old thing. Please leave, Elira, please listen to me one final time. " Ava's voice broke with tears. Regret and sorrow inked on her face.
"Mum, you know I was ready to work at the baby factory if it meant protecting you, protecting them."
"Until I met him again."
"You." Ava's eyes widened.
As though something clicked in her head, she turned, frantic. "Protect the bloodline." Her scream travelled like a catapult.
On impulse, Czar turned. He saw the distant figures surrounded. The pipe in Elira slipped as an undead swiped her throat, pulling out her jugular vein. Blood gushed out like a rusted fountain, dying the fog sanguine.
Ava was dragged into a mass of clattering bones her arm waving in the air as the undead gnawed her alive. Their guttural moans buried her cry. One of the bigger undead shoved the others away, grabbing her neck. Snapped — he tore her head off and swallowed it whole.
Czar saw his mother's head disappear into the mass of bodies. Saw Elira's hand drop the pipe. Then he saw nothing at all—just red, then black, then the ground rushing up to meet him.