Free and what was left of her Wonder Women circled the block again.
"I count two hundred orcs," James reported. The automaton's tone grew increasingly harsh with each sweep.
"Their numbers aren't getting any smaller," Black Jack said. "We have to find another way into the Citadel."
"That could take hours," Free snapped, skidding to a halt. Her motorcycle, Cleopatra, shrieked as lightning played along her wheels.
The others brought their bikes up short, arraying themselves in a line beside her.
"We're wasting our time." Monalisa punctuated her words with a belch. "Let's stop dancing around and go punch something."
"I hate to agree with her, Free, I mean I really hate to agree-" James began.
"Screw you, bucket of bolts." The elf grumbled.
James and Monalisa were always at each other's throats, never agreeing on anything.
"I'm having trouble quantifying my levels of discomfort, but I agree with Lisa. We have spent precious time reconnoitering the same position. The time has come to make a move."
Free turned to Jack, her ally when it came to arguments within their little circle. He wouldn't maintain eye contact.
"Fine!" Free snapped. "I guess we need to find another way in."
"See, wasn't that hard," Lisa chuckled as she cracked open a brew and took a deep drink. "We're with you, just point us in the right direction."
"Incoming transmission..." James tilted his head skyward. "Trapped. Public transport, surrounded by infected. Civilians in danger."
"Sounds like the corpses are busy," Lisa chuckled. "We'd better get going if we want to find a way in time to make a difference."
Free knew Monalisa was right, but the idea of ignoring a distress call rubbed her the wrong way. Free had always been opposed to authority, but she took the power given her by Lady Shadow very seriously. Free was a city leader, a Shadow Lord. She had no right to sit back and ignore a cry for help.
"James, what channel are they broadcasting on?" Black Jack reached into his Stetson and removed a waterskin.
"Mermidon command channel."
Free, Lisa, and Jack all stared at the robot.
"There is a ninety percent chance the broadcaster is Commander Reade."
"Let's roll," Free ordered, revving Cleopatra and streaking off with no regard for whether the others followed.
--
Hunter fired over the barricade, his bullets finding their mark in dead flesh. The steady bark of machine gun fire filled the air above him. From the roof of the public bus, a mermidon commando/medic and two einherjar peacekeepers swept their weapons across the open street, cutting down droves of infected. Scores of walking dead collapsed, but an equal number swiftly filled the gap. From the inside looking out, it seemed like their precarious position was an oasis in a desert of corpses.
Mer pressed her staff to the wounded woman's side, cool and rejuvenating air rushing to the point of contact. Her intestines slithered back into her body, gaining color with each inch it traveled. The edges of the hole in her gut reknit and sealed with only the slightest scar left behind. The einherjar lancer sat up with a gasping breath, death had claimed her for a few minutes.
"Careful, life has returned, but your body will need a few moments to recover," Mer said as she squeezed the woman's hand.
The lancer looked around pausing as she observed the scene in the street. Corpses lumbered from every direction. Most were shambling, bleeding forms, but some walked with purpose, firing weapons and directing their mindless peers.
"My partner, Scott... he'd been bitten."
"We know."
"He shot me."
"We know that too, lancer."
"Ember, my name is Ember Korb."
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Ember," Mer said with a smile. "We need you out there. We have too many civilians and not enough fighters.
Ember fumbled with her gear, finally settling on a pistol and whip.
"I lost one of my whips when the horde broke through our blockade."
"That pistol will have to be enough." Mer stood and took a deep breath. The energy in her staff was nearly depleted. There was enough for two more lives... or Lady Shadow. "Our people outside need support."
Ember nodded and made her way to the front of the bus. Her steps were wobbly at first, but grew stronger with each passing moment. Mer watched her go as an excuse to ignore the other bodies around her, wounded and dying. She wished she could save them all, but she wasn't sure she was ready to pay the price. Casting a glance at the Citadel, so close yet so far, she wondered whether she should use the last of her healing for those she could reach and forsake the leader of Shadow City.
Gods of the realms, please give me strength and wisdom. I am but a humble servant who humbly needs your guidance.
The gods had always answered her prayers with a sign, but this day, the day when Shadow City burned all around her, they were oddly silent.
"Mer, get up here." Pacey sounded tired. They were all tired. "There's something you need to see."
Mermia Read made her way to the back of the bus where a ladder led up to the roof. Dozens of eyes watched her, mostly labor workers and merchants. Many had joined her group as they fled the walking dead. Scores were lost when their route intersected with a column of orc marauders also on their way to the Citadel. The corpses and the orcs proved to be the group's salvation in the end, the two armies fighting amongst each other while the survivors fled. The Citadel was within reach, if they could find a way through the walking dead and the orcs on the fortress steps.
She climbed the ladder where a group of children fed clips to the riflemen keeping the corpses at bay. Their ammo boxes looked dangerously low. Pacey was near the front of the bus, laying on her stomach and peering through a pair of binoculars. Her laser rifle rested beside her, its powercell charged in a lunar crystal battery bank. From the roof of the bus, the true magnitude of their predicament was more apparent. So many dead, so many infected.
A bullet whizzed over Mer's head, missing by a hair's breadth. Pacey grabbed her arm and pulled her down.
"What are you doing, trying to get you head blown off?"
"There's so many of them..." Without divine intervention, Mer couldn't see any way through it all.
"No time for despair. We have bigger problems," Pacey said, passing Mer her binoculars. "Look."
Mer laid down and brought the binoculars up to her eyes. Hundreds of bodies, citizens of Shadow City consumed by the walking death. Even as the snipers cut them down more lumbered up the wide streets. While she tried to keep these people alive, the infection was spreading. Mermia was a woman of faith, but it was hard to hold onto her ideals in the face of so much. Despair was loomed over them all.
"What am I looking for?"
Pacey pointed.
"You've got to be kidding me."
To the west, the horde slowly parted and a massive form shambled towards the bus. A corpse, twenty-feet tall with massive corded arms, dragged an axe nearly as long as the monster was tall.
"Is that Grendel?" Mer asked, recognizing the giant who once guarded the westside bridge.
"It was. Now it's just another problem we need to solve, and soon."
"Gods, help us."
Over the moans of the dead came the roar of motorcycle engines. Four bikes tore around the corner, firing guns and spells with reckless fury.
"The Wonder Women!" Pacey hooted, jumping to her feet.
Mer looked skyward.
"Thank you," she whispered.
--
"Chains!" Free shouted, firing her sub-machine gun from the head of her riders.
Shimmering playing cards spun past her and into the clusters of infected ahead only to blossom in colorful blooms of engulfing flame. Bodies fell from her path, outlined in sky blue and pink fire. Black Jack tossed his Stetson into the air and a beam of yellow-green light spewed out from its depths. Each corpse it struck turned into a gelatin statue before spilling to the ground in a gooey puddle. The hat spun above the bikers, propelled by an unseen wind.
Monalisa howled, uncoiling a thick chain at the back of her Harley. She twirled the metal links over her head as Free led the way through the horde towards the massive monster that had once been a friend. Jack went left, Free went right, and Lisa cut between the behemoth's legs. Her chain wrapped around a massive calf as she went by. Beside her, a similar chain shot out from James's bike, hooking around the giant's other leg. The bikes buzzed into more undead, snatching the monster's feet from under it.
"Jack, do it!" Free ordered.
Black Jack skid to a halt, shambling corpses closing in. Free brought Cleopatra around in a wide circle of lightning and skid marks, drawing a line on the asphalt. Lisa tossed her chain to the magician, his hands creating a wall of arcane runes in the air. The chain hit the floating magic and burst into white light. The light flowed along the metal to touch the giant, its flesh taking on a bright luminescence. The giant exploded in a cloud of butterflies and each corpse they flitted upon burned like a pyre.
This time, the entire group howled like a pack of wolves or a hunting party of Mafian elves.
"To the bus!" Free crowed, directing her cycle towards the beleaguered transport.
James, Monalisa, and Black Jack followed in her wake.
--
Free and Mer embraced, old friends brought into the service of Lady Shadow at the same time. Free was tall and athletic, covered in tattoos and Mafian tribal runes. Mer was short and skinny with large eyes and pink streaks in her light-brown hair. The walking death continued to draw near, but the toppling of the giant breathed life back into the defenders.
"It's so good to see you." Mer was on the verge of tears.
"And you, silly woman," Free said, wiping unexpected moisture from her eyes.
"I'm not... I'm not silly."
"Whatever. What happened? I ride off to the Machine Barons for parts and come back to the city burning."
"Orcs from the East, a resurgence of the walking death to the west, and," Mer lowered her voice, "Lady Shadow is dying."
"Wow... happy birthday to me."
"Today's your-"
"Don't worry about it."
An explosion illuminated the right side of the bus, sending Hunter and Ember diving for cover. Pacey shouted orders and frightened civilians ran out to put out fires while soldiers continued to fight back the dead.
"We need to get out of here." Free unloaded her empty clips and replaced them with fresh ammo.
"Even if we could, the orcs hold the steps to the Citadel."
"The Wonder Women can handle that. Do you have a driver for this rig?"
"The driver died... then got back up and killed a few of his passengers." Mer shuddered. She'd been outside, coordinating their hasty defense. Maybe if she'd been paying attention to the wounded...
"Fine. I'll open the way. You drive."
"Me?"
"Yeah." Free moved to the driver's seat and studied the controls. "On my signal, you put it in drive and don't stop until we're on the steps of the Citadel."
"I can't."
"You have to, Commander."
Free clapped her on the back and hopped off the bus. Mer lowered herself into the driver's seat and studied the controls. She'd never driven a bus before, but it didn't look any more complicated than an APC. She activated the radio, punched in her access code, and transmitted over the command channel.
"Please, somebody be on the other line."
Motorcycles revved and Free honked as the barricades were yanked aside. With a howl, the Wonder Women rode into the fray. Missiles and magic rose into the air only to crash down upon the advancing corpses. Mer put the transport in drive and defenders rushed onboard as the bus rolled forward.
--
Asha guided Mermia through Lady Shadow's private quarters with a sense of urgency. Below the defenders did their best to keep the hordes out of the Citadel. The refugees brought in with Mer and Free would be the last admitted until the Chromehogs got the city's defenses fully operational. Asha didn't understand all of the tech jargon, but she knew the Wonder Women had the computer boards the automated system desperately needed. Things were becoming desperate.
"How bad is she, Asha-Belle," Mermia asked.
"Don't call me that, Mer." Purple sparks jumped from Asha's blushing cheeks as she leaned into a large wooden door. "We're going to lose her any moment," she whispered.
Beyond, Lady Shadow lay upon her king-size canopy bed, still as death. Her naturally almond colored skin was a sickly tan. White undergarments upon white bedding, the black/purple wound on her chest stood out like an ominous portent. Mer dropped to her knees and began her examination.
"What's the verdict?" Cyber.Red asked as she stepped in from the balcony, the sounds of distant fighting trailing in behind her.
"Red, I didn't sense you out there," Asha said, confused. She could sense the thoughts of anyone nearby who didn't have the ability to block out psychics. Cyber.Red was never on that short list.
"My new helmet," Red replied, tapping the crown-like cap on her head.
"This wound is infected with dark magic..." Mer explained. "She should be dead."
"No," Asha whispered. "She can't die."
"How does she hold on?" Red asked.
"Blackblade," Mer said, pointing to the greatsword against the wall. "I can feel him straining to keep her in the land of the living."
Asha and Cyber.Red turned to the sword. Red took hold of the living weapon. Asha could feel Mermia's grief as if it were her own.
"Mer, can you save her?" Red asked, one hand adjusting her helmet and the other playing with the grip of the sword.
"Only if Blackblade can sustain her through the surgery."
"Good."
The helmet snapped shut and, in a burst of speed, Red was back on the balcony. Her cybernetic limbs whined and in a display of Herculean strength, Cyber.Red chucked Blackblade from the heights of the Citadel.
"Long live the Queen!"
To be continued...