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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3580246" data-attributes="member: 143">This looks to be a long week for our heroes...* * * * * Chapter 185THE FIRST FEW SECONDSMarshal Velan Tiros, in his Chronicles of the Border Wars, wrote that the first few seconds of a battle were crucial, for in that moment, when the lines of battle clashed, the true mettle of an army was tested.  For the companions from Camar, the first few seconds of the battle with the zombie horde in that dark passageway in Grezneck nearly resulted in total disaster. The zombies, for all the damage they had suffered to their bodies, and the shambling, awkward way with which they moved, looked weak, even fragile.  That was an impression that the companions had already proved false, for not only were these foes incapable of feeling pain, but they were also possessed of an inhuman strength and a single-minded purpose.  Arrows and bludgeons did almost nothing to them; they had to literally be hacked apart before the animating force that drove them was overcome. They did not reason, or comprehend anything but the most basic commands from their master.  But that didn’t stop Dar from lifting his sword as the first rank of the enemy horde drew close enough to strike, and shouting, “Come on then, you freaking bastards, come to the chopper!”  If anything, the zombies seemed almost eager, extending their arms as they staggered forward to attack. The fighter met the first with a downward stroke of his sword that clove the first zombie’s chest open from throat to pelvis.  Despite the gaping wound, the zombie somehow continued to press its attack, wobbling slightly as it tried to pound the fighter with a fist that was missing a few fingers.  The blow only managed to smear black ooze on Dar’s plate armor, but it did distract him as two more zombies lurched in on the heels of the first.  One came high, trying unsuccessfully to grab onto Dar’s extended weapon arm, while the second stumbled and seized Dar by the waist, trying to get a grip on his armored torso.  Kalend tried to come to his colonel’s aid, but he found himself under attack by another pair that shambled around the engaged warrior toward the thief’s flank.  The first took a swing at his body that he avoided by darting to the side, but that unfortunately placed him at hazard from the second, which delivered a pulverizing blow to the side of the legionary’s face.  Kalend was spun around by the force of the impact, which dislodged several teeth and cracked the bone of his lower jaw.  He staggered to the side and would have fallen, had it not been for the tunnel wall.  He barely had time to turn around before the two monsters were on him again.  On the opposite flank, Talen and Shay were likewise hard pressed by the initial surge.  Talen, guided by sound and smell rather than sight, waited until the first zombie was almost on top of him before striking.  Beatus Incedia flared as it tore into the zombie’s shoulder, almost taking its left arm off from its body.  But as with Dar’s first target, the zombie pressed its attack with its other arm, and it managed a glancing hit to the knight’s wrist that almost knocked his sword out of his hand.  Another zombie seized his shield, and for a few seconds there was an awkward tug between the two of them for control.  Shay, near the left wall, was warded both by Talen on her right and a protrusion in the corridor that formed a small protected place to stand.  Only one zombie at a time could get to her there, but what the scout saw was a sea of extended hands, as several other zombies tried to surge past that single attacker.  Pressed in close together, there was no way she could miss, but again the zombie’s hide felt like old leather, and it paid no heed to the gash she hacked open in its torso.  The zombie just came right on, pushing her up against the wall, and suddenly her advantageous position became a trap, leaving her with no room to retreat.  Behind it hands probed at her around its body, just inches short of being able to seize upon her.  She thrust at the zombie again, but it was too close for her to get in a decent swing, and her sword glanced off its body with barely a scratch.  “Get... the... hell... OFF... ME!” Dar yelled, as he drove his hilt down into the skull of the zombie grabbing him.  The monster’s head popped like an overripe melon, and Dar's fists came up dripping brains, but the creature continued to doggedly hold on.  Dar whipped up a leg, tearing one of its arms free, and drove his armored knee into its jaw, snapping the head almost full back on its neck.  The zombie’s arms still tried to claw at him, but they were vague, directionless, now.  Dar brought Valor down, shearing the zombie’s head in twain, and that seemed to finally give the monster the idea that it was destroyed; it flopped back, still twitching. The entire exchange had only taken a few seconds in total, but when Dar looked up, there were a dozen hands reaching for him.  Dar reached out and thrust the first zombie back with a solid punch in the chest, but the hands were everywhere, grabbing onto his arms and his legs. Cursing loudly, he was pulled roughly into the midst of the swarming zombies. Talen felt a cold fear as his senses were overloaded; from what his ears were telling him, zombies were everywhere.  He’d pulled free of the zombie grabbing his shield, but he had no idea what had happened to it; there were more in front of him, pounding on his armor.  He just kept hacking downward with Beatus Incendia in sharp, controlled motions, and with every swing he felt the sword bite deep into zombie hides.  A stench of roasted flesh filled his nostrils, as the holy flames seared the wounds he caused.  He already felt as though he’d been fighting for hours; his arms felt like they were ringed with lead weights.  The zombies just kept coming, so he had to keep on swinging, hack, slash.  Then he felt his sword strike deep, the impact shuddering up his arms.  He tried to draw the sword back, but Beatus Incendia stuck; he’d clove deep into a zombie’s sternum, and as the creature fell its weight tugged the sword down.  He tried to yank it free, but then hands closed on his arms, and he was pulled down after it. As the knight went to the ground, several zombies fell on top of him, grabbing at his helmet and armor.</blockquote>

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