Chapter one: In a corner, nowhere to go

After Shanda returns from her desperate sprint home, another Paladin, Mordecai, receives grim news and must venture into the dangers outside of the city, alone.

Chapter one

In a corner, nowhere to go

The sun was just beginning to rise over the walls surrounding the city of Last Hope, the literal last hope for humanity, signifying that morning had come and with it another day of prayer that the Lord would keep them safe through the next night.

Mordecai stood in the middle of the road at the west entrance, the morning dew caused his black plate armor to shine a little in the sunlight; his massive shoulder plates gave the appearance that he was much bigger than he actually was. Not to say that he wasn’t tall, six foot five would cut quite the imposing picture to anyone he came across, and being built with nothing but muscle gave him an intimidating aura. He tugged at the longsword strapped to his back, whether it was his own imagination or just chafe from wearing it for too long, the blade seemed to itch in anticipation of a fight, like it wanted to go out and kill the monsters roaming the fields that threatened their daily lives. The only thing keeping the people within the walls safe was the walls themselves, and the women and men like Mordecai who stood steadfast to protect the innocents within; risking their lives by going out either to protect scavenging runs or clear a nearby town of monsters in the hopes that one day they will have enough resources to expand. For now, however, he stood watch, waiting for Shanda to return from her scavenging trip. It wasn’t uncommon for her to be later than anticipated, but something about this trip caused Mordecai’s hands to itch, and the only relief was the feeling of holding the blade strapped to his back. The forty-three inch blade was as much a tool as it was another part of him, having been trained since he was eight, now a grown man of twenty-one, Mordecai could wield the longsword just as well as his own hands. He cut quite the imposing figure, with his height along with his weapon; he was also fully clothed in plate armor from head to toe, lest a monster try to spread its filth by biting him, the plate would protect him enough. Something he often said half-jokingly, though he knew it to be true, was that his unwavering faith was a shield by itself, but it never hurt to have a backup. His gauntlets had a blade hidden within, and with the simple press of a button caused the springs to engage and practically shoot the blade into position; perfect for up close kills or if one was disarmed.

After standing in the sunlight for more than thirty minutes, the watchman atop the tower standing next to the massive gate built into the concrete walls shouted. “Paladin approaching, open the gate!”

At his command, two other watchmen went to work on the locks of the gate and opened a much smaller door that was built into the gate itself, showing the person that Mordecai had been waiting on all this time; Shanda.

Shanda stood around five foot seven and, unlike Mordecai, was garbed in leather armor allowing her increased mobility at the expense of defense. Of course, she was so quick on her feet that she didn’t need half inch thick plate to protect her. Her extremely fast reflexes saved both her own hide and other Paladins many times over, often going so far as to dodge bullets being fired at her. While a lot of that was her own ability, Mordecai was willing to wager that a good chunk of it was also the grace of the Lord.

While Mordecai had a plate helmet covering his face, Shanda had a hood that overshadowed a mask that only had two eye slots and small breathing holes lest she pass out in the middle of a battle. Her sword and dagger were sheathed neatly in their place on her belt, swaying slightly as she somberly stalked towards him, her gaze never shifting from his position. To most people this would make them uncomfortable or outright terrified, but as odd as it was, it gave Mordecai a sense of ease, like he was being reassured that Shanda was looking out for him, whether he needed it or not. Draped across her chest and extending downwards across the gaps in between her legs was the standard Paladin tabard; which was either white, red or brown in color, depending on the type of Paladin who wore it, in Shanda’s case it was brown. The design on the chest depicted a sword stabbing downward into the belly of a dragon, meant to symbolize Christ defeating Satan once and for all. It looked much like a fancy loincloth connected to a chest piece, but none of the Paladins liked referring to the tabard in such a way. Mordecai himself wore one of the same design but white in color, since his job as a Paladin wasn’t the same as Shanda’s. Her job was infiltration, assassination, sneaking around, etcetera, the branch of the Paladins she belonged to were known as the Whispers. Mordecai’s was straight up fighting or defending; if you needed a building cleared of monsters or bandits loudly, Mordecai was the type of Paladin to send in; the Strikers. The other category of Paladin was known as the Bulwarks; they were purely used for defense, usually after a team of Strikers and Whispers cleared out an area of monsters, they came in and guarded anything or anyone from threats.

Shanda finally nearing him snapped Mordecai out of his thoughts, he couldn’t see it but he could tell that she had an innocent smile hidden behind her mask. “Sorry I’m late.” She said sarcastically.

Mordecai shrugged. “Eh, as long as you come back eventually it doesn’t matter to me.” He dared to look past her as the watchmen closed the gate and began the tedious task of reengaging all the locks. “So uh, where’s the rest of the scavenger team?”

“They’re not back yet?” Shanda asked, a hint of worry stained her voice.

“No.” Mordecai replied. “What, did you get separated?”

Shanda sighed as she began to unbuckle her backpack. “In a way.” She set the pack on the ground to open it up and reveal a small child wrapped in a towel sleeping peacefully in the leather pack, from what Mordecai could tell it wasn’t even a year old yet.

“Oh.” Was all he could manage out of his lips as Shanda gently pulled the child out of the pack and placed it in her arms, slowly rocking the baby back and forth.

“I found her in the town we were sent to scavenge.” Shanda explained. “We decided to split up to increase our chances of finding more supplies, and in the event one of us was attacked by enough monsters to the point that it was hopeless, they could act as a distraction while the others escaped.” She took a breath before continuing. “I found this little bundle of trouble and annoyance in a small store not far from where we entered the town; she was all alone hidden behind a stack of boxes. Only thing I can figure is someone either ditched her because they couldn’t handle the burden, or something happened and they were forced to hide the child to keep her safe.”

Mordecai sighed and said. “With how the world is now it could be either one, or neither.”

Shanda nodded in silence as she pulled the edge of the towel closer to the baby’s face to protect her eyes from the rising sun.

“So, what are you going to do?” Mordecai asked. “No offense, but you’re not exactly in the best position to be a mother what with how busy we are.”

She shook her head. “No, I know. I was thinking of letting Melissa take care of her, since she had that miscarriage a few years back, I think she would be willing to take care of a child.”

Melissa was a friend of theirs and used to be a Paladin. One of the monsters biting her in the leg prompted a quick removal of the limb lest the infection spread everywhere else and turn her into a mindless beast. With her leg gone she couldn’t properly serve as a Paladin, so she helped out by cooking meals at the Paladins’ Enclave. In a way, she was still one of them.

“Hopefully,” Mordecai interjected. “You know she was pretty upset about it; I’m not quite sure how she would react to being given a child, someone else’s at that.”

Shanda was silent for a few moments before replying. “Someone will, they have to.”

They both stood there in silence for a few seconds, while Shanda was busy caressing the baby, Mordecai was running a series of questions through his head that he hadn’t really thought about. He had been so caught up in fighting the monsters and protecting the city that he hadn’t had time to really think about people like this child; innocent, alone, unprotected. In a way, he had forgotten what he was fighting for in the first place; he was always aware of the people he had sworn to protect, but he was so invested into the work itself that he didn’t take a moment to appreciate the ones he was doing it for.

Mordecai shook his head as a new question popped into his mind. “So you don’t know what happened to the rest of the scavenger team?”

Shanda shook her head. “After I found her she started crying, which lead all the monsters straight to me. Any other time I would have gone down fighting to buy the others time, but when I looked at the girl I couldn’t bring myself to sacrifice my own life and the life of her. So I bolted. It didn’t take long for me to get out of the town, and only a few monsters actually saw me and gave chase.” Shanda could feel her eyes fighting back a few tears. “I…I might have caused their deaths.”

Mordecai listened in silence, only crossing his arms; something he did when he was waiting.

Shanda continued. “I alerted a lot of the monsters in the town that we were there; they would be pinned right now because of me.”

“Now stop it right there.” Mordecai interrupted, causing Shanda to look at him; through her mask he could see the reflections of water at the edges of her eyes. “Any of the people on that scavenger team would have done the same thing if they found that little girl. They knew the risks when they volunteered to go out and find supplies. To be honest, you might have saved those people’s lives by drawing the monsters out from their hiding places; the worst ones are the ones we don’t know about, right?” Shanda was silent as she listened. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. I’ll head out in a few minutes towards the town to see if I can find them, they’re overdue anyways.”

Shanda straightened up. “I want to come with you.” She whispered.

“No.” Mordecai replied. “Take her to Melissa and get some rest, you’ve been out there for a couple of days, a trek like that takes its toll. We need you up and ready in case something happens.”

Shanda sniffed a little but nodded as she gathered up the backpack and made her way further into the city by going down the road they were standing in.

Mordecai watched her for a few moments before turning back to the west entrance and making his way towards the requisition station, which was basically a fancy name for “it’s dangerous to go alone, take some supplies with you”. When he pushed his way into the tent he was greeted by the quartermaster, an elderly man who knew what someone would need better than the person asking for it in the first place, his hair was all but gone except the long beard on his face that he needed to trim, or perhaps cut off entirely. His green eyes were gentle but firm, much like a salesperson trying to make a deal, or a father explaining right and wrong to a child.

He noticed Mordecai almost immediately and cocked a smirk. “What can I do ‘ya for, son?” His voice, while tinged with the stains of age, was enthusiastic, like a cashier greeting someone coming into the store.

Mordecai made his way to the counter the quartermaster stood behind and placed his hands upon the wooden top. “I need a travel pack; four days with medical supplies.” He said plainly.

The quartermaster lost his smirk and sighed. “Son, you know we don’t have a lot for you Paladins to keep goin’ out there and bringin’ people back, I gave most of what I had to that Whisper girl the other day for her scavenging trip. I noticed she came back, alone by the way, and didn’t come in here with any loot.”

Mordecai closed his eyes for a moment before replying. “That’s the whole reason I’m going out now. The people she went with could be in danger, and she has other things to take care of.”

“More important than protectin’ the people she’s charged with protectin’?” The quartermaster retorted. “I’m sorry, son, I truly am. But Mayor Hodgins is puttin’ the grip on tight around scavenging runs, people are using too much and bringin’ back too little. You gotta get permission from him to requisition supplies for a trip.”

Mordecai narrowed his eyes. “Is this a rule or a copout?”

“Rule.” The quartermaster replied in an almost monotone voice before leaning under the counter to pull out a slip of paper to hand to Mordecai who read it. Sure enough, the Mayor’s signature was on the paper basically restricting any supplies given to outside trips, and all outside trips had to be cleared with him before they could be undertaken.

Mordecai handed the paper back to the quartermaster and tightened his hands into fists. “When was this implemented?”

“This mornin’,” He replied. “When the Mayor found out that the scavenging run was overdue he put in that order immediately, until we can build our stock back up.”

Mordecai sighed and placed his hand on the top of his helmet. Hodgins was the mayor of the Rose district, Last Hope was a massive city in its own right, and instead of having one person rule over every single person and keep track of everything they decided when the city was built to divide it into districts, and each appointed mayor was responsible for the day to day tasks and maintaining order in their own areas. The Rose district, the one Mordecai was currently standing in, was one of the poorer districts, while the whole city worked together to survive and were more than willing to give supplies to each other, the district was still responsible for its own people, food, clothing and tools. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it worked well enough that nobody went hungry, publically anyway.

Mordecai sighed. “Sir, I am a Paladin, and by that I mean I serve a power much higher than the mayor. While I am to respect the authority of the established law, I cannot, and will not, allow innocents to perish simply because of a rule that the law has put into place.” The quartermaster was silent as he listened, but he could tell that he wasn’t happy about the rule being put into place. “Do you have family, sir?” Mordecai asked.

The quartermaster nodded. “Wife and two daughters.”

“Imagine if they were the ones who were trapped outside those walls; hopelessly outnumbered by relentless beasts who’s only mindset is to devour any living thing they find, and that the only ones who could go rescue them are stuck behind the walls because of some stupid rule.”

A few moments of silence passed before the quartermaster sighed. “How many days did you need again?”

“Four days, and it’s not for me personally.” Mordecai replied. “It’s for those people out there.”

The quartermaster nodded before disappearing into the back of the store and coming back a few minutes later with a backpack. He placed it on the counter and as Mordecai went to grab it he pulled it back slightly, locking eyes with the Paladin through his helmet. “You bring those people back safely.”

Mordecai nodded and was given the backpack which he slung over his shoulder before he made haste out of the establishment.

Once outside, he saw what looked to be a bitter argument between one of the guards of the city and a resident, though once Mordecai listened and watched for a moment he recognized the citizen as a relative of one of the members of the scavenging team. He didn’t listen for the whole time, but he caught just enough of the conversation that the relative was slightly perturbed that the scavenging team hadn’t come back yet.

Mordecai sighed as he made his way to the gate, but as he neared one of the watchmen guarding the door approached him with his hand out. “I’m sorry, sir, but you need permission from the mayor before you can venture outside.”

Mordecai turned to glare at the watchman through the eye slit in his helmet and said in a low tone. “Since when do I need permission to do the right thing?”

The watchman was silent as his free hand hovered around the baton strapped neatly to his waist.

“You know full well that you make a move for that weapon and your life is over with.” Mordecai whispered loud enough for him to hear. “I’ll deal with the mayor when I rescue those people trapped out there, if he asks you tell him I forced you to let me through.” As a Paladin and a follower of the Lord it wasn’t right for him to lie, but given the circumstances it was either that or let people outside perish. Besides, he wasn’t ENTIRELY lying…

Mordecai could see fear flash across the watchman’s eyes for a brief moment as he contemplated his measly existence, and for a second it looked like he was seriously considering going for his weapon, but he walked back to the door, beginning the long process of undoing all the locks and opening the small entryway.

“Return quickly.” Was all that he said.

“I intend to.” Mordecai replied as he made his way through the door. Due to his massive size he sort of had to squeeze through but he managed well enough. Not even a second before he was through the door the watchmen slammed it shut and locked it back. For now, the only help Mordecai had was the Lord, but that was all he needed and set out towards the town.

The trek to the town had taken a full day of walking, or in Mordecai’s case, sprinting. The type of training that the Paladins endured would injure or kill most people, but through enough determination, and no small thanks to the Lord, they were able to persevere. The training not only included practice with the weapon of your choice, but also severe endurance tests; running, staying awake and active for as long as possible, and sometimes a flat out test against the monsters outside the walls. If the Paladin succeeded in their tests, they were to take the final exam known as the Vigil; where they would stand guard outside of the walls and destroy anything that would seek to cause harm. Most of the time the Vigil was uneventful, but every once in a while a wandering band of monsters decided it would be a good idea to try and get into Last Hope; it never ended well for them.

Mordecai was eternally grateful for the training he was given, considering he ran for a full day with barely any breaks and was still fully functional, only problem was he was sure that it wasn’t going to last very long, so he needed to find the scavenging team as fast as possible.

He stood just outside the town known as Stillwater which stood a few miles west of Last Hope. When the city was being built not everyone liked the idea of hiding behind walls and having to work together in such small spaces just to survive. To appease the ones who didn’t want to hide and would rather take their chances outside the walls, the mayors of Last Hope agreed to let the people stay in Stillwater on the one condition that they would adhere to the same restrictions that the city did, mostly in regards to food consumption and the types of tools that were used; no loud power tools. Of course, the town didn’t survive very long, a bad winter destroyed the majority of their crops, and most of the people left to go back to Last Hope, the ones who remained survived until the next spring, but were quickly torn apart by a roaming horde of monsters that were searching for food. That horde was currently situated in the town itself and refused to leave. In terms of how big the horde was no one really knew, considering the only reports of the size when Stillwater fell were wild ramblings of terrified survivors, and the Paladins couldn’t get enough of the monsters together to accurately determine just how big the horde was. Since the monsters didn’t need to eat to survive they could “hibernate” as it were, not necessarily sleeping but rather just sitting and waiting for the sound of food to reach their ears, or the scent of the living to reach their nostrils, and they couldn’t exactly send a scout to get the attention of the horde purely to draw them out to see the size, the scout would never make it back safely. Whether they ate out of pleasure or just pure instinct was a question Mordecai didn’t need answered, they killed innocent people so they needed to die.

As Mordecai entered the outskirts of the town he drew his blade from its scabbard, feeling much more at ease with the handle in his hands. The buildings on the outside of the town itself were mostly things like gas stations and restaurants already picked clean by scavengers. The quiet howling of wind through the ruined structures sounded very close to the low growling of the monsters and was enough to put Mordecai on edge, but he pressed on. He wasn’t exactly sure of where to look for the missing team considering he wasn’t with them the entire time, but they hadn’t been in the town very long before the child alerted the monsters to their presence, so he imagined they weren’t very far in.

Mordecai finally reached the town, it wasn’t a city by any definition of the term and thus he felt very exposed, whereas Last Hope had alleyways he could duck into to avoid being seen by the monsters, Stillwater’s buildings were very separated. It looked much like he was a lone gunslinger walking into the old west town of whatever-the-heck, out to rid the peaceful establishment of the wrongdoers that plagued its people. Mordecai sorely wished he was fighting human enemies instead of the monsters, but if he were to die at the hands of these monsters he was ready.

The sound of a can being rolled across the ground caused him to spin to the source and bring his blade up near his head with the tip angled towards the sound’s location. After a few moments a horribly mangled figure stumbled out towards him, it looked to be a male, although with how torn apart the body was he wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be a female. The limbs were all but gone, only its two legs were mostly unscathed, its face was torn apart and Mordecai could see several claw marks across the chest area.

“P-please…”

Hearing the sound of actual words caused Mordecai to lower his blade and rush to help the injured person. However, in his haste he didn’t realize the words that came afterwards until it was almost too late. “Stay back…” As he neared, the figure broke out into a full sprint towards Mordecai, growling much like the monsters that he had killed so many of, causing him to stop in his tracks and get back into a fighting stance.

“I don’t want to hurt you…” It growled again, causing Mordecai to realize that this person was on the verge of turning full on into a monster. The change wasn’t instantaneous, through experiments that no one wanted to perform but had to out of necessity; it was discovered that the plague the monsters transferred to people through their bites took its sweet time to fully convert the victim. It caused them to slowly go insane and attack anything that came close before the horrible growths started to happen, new bones jutting out around the arm areas and their teeth growing to extremely sharp and huge proportions.

As the figure neared close enough to strike, it leapt through the air towards Mordecai who whispered, “May God grant mercy to your soul.” and delivered a quick overhead strike, splitting the person into two as the halves flopped to the ground with a thud. He stood back upright and looked around the town, despite the commotion nothing came out to attack him further, causing the hair on his neck to stiffen. He turned his attention back to the unfortunate soul who met their end on his blade and knelt down to inspect the corpse. Around the left half of the neck was a ruined pair of identification tags that hung on a small chain, closer inspection of the tag itself revealed the name of one of the members of the scavenger team; Steve Bowgard. Mordecai sighed as he took the tag and put it into one of the pouches on his belt.

It wasn’t even a few seconds later before he heard the thudding sounds of footsteps approaching from around the building to his left. He turned quickly and dropped back into his fighting stance, however, the one making the sounds was another member of the scavenger team running as fast as she humanly could towards him. Her long brown hair flapped wildly around her in her desperate pace towards him, and with how she was running and the look of fear on her face Mordecai could tell she wasn’t infected, but he kept his blade close anyway. As the girl neared she slowed her pace and paused to catch her breath.

“Name.” Mordecai flatly said.

After a couple of huffs and puffs she finally managed enough breath to gasp. “Sarah…Parringer.”

Mordecai recognized that name as the leader of the scavenging expedition and asked. “Anything behind you?”

Sarah looked around and shook her head. “No, I think I lost them.”

“Them?” Mordecai echoed.

“The monsters chasing me, I knocked over a can and alerted a few of my position. I did what I was trained and didn’t run in a straight line back to the entrance to the town, so I think I lost them in what few alleys this place has.” Sarah wheezed.

Mordecai scoffed. “Yeah, Stillwater isn’t known for its tight spaces.”

They both stood there for a few moments more with Sarah getting her breathing under control and Mordecai maintaining his fighting stance.

“What’s your name?” Sarah asked.

“Mordecai,” He answered. “I’m a Paladin, in case you couldn’t tell. I came here after the Whisper assigned to you returned without the group.”

Sarah scoffed. “I thought she was supposed to bring us back, somebody let those things know we were here, and where is the Whisper? Nowhere to be seen.”

Mordecai narrowed his eyes as the grip on the hilt of his blade tightened; he wasn’t exactly comfortable with people insulting his brothers and sisters in Christ. Regaining the majority of his composure, he managed to reply. “She found a child in one of the buildings; it started crying and alerted all the monsters here. Her disappearance was due to her mad sprint back to Last Hope to protect that baby.”

At that Sarah shut her mouth for a few moments, and the only word that came out was. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me.” Mordecai replied. “Apologize to Shanda when we get back.”

“Speaking of which,” Sarah interrupted him. “When are we leaving?”

“Whenever I find the rest of the scavenging team.” Mordecai said through gritted teeth. “If you want to head back on your own that is your choice, a bad one in my opinion, but if you’d prefer to go gallivanting through the infested roads back to Last Hope than stick with the only one who can save you, be my guest.”

Sarah glanced to the side in thought and aggravation before sighing and rubbing her left shoulder. “Where should we start then?”

Mordecai twisted his neck swiftly and felt a satisfying pop that relieved a bit of pressure that had built up from his sprint to the town, afterwards he replied. “I found one of the team, he didn’t make it. That leaves just one other, if I remember correctly.”

Sarah nodded. “Yeah, Steve said he was going to try and sneak out of the town at night, but considering his corpse behind you I’m going to assume he didn’t get far.”

“He was infected.” Mordecai replied. “And he tried to attack me; his death was swift.”

Sarah sighed. “I guess that’s the best anyone could ask for in this situation.”

“Not quite,” Mordecai grinned slightly. “I’m here to help, whether you asked or not.”

Sarah scoffed. “That just leaves Michael then, he was scouting the northern edge of the town close to the local sheriff’s office, said he was hoping to find some ammunition.”

“After this long?” Mordecai laughed. “He might as well be looking to find a farm with a fifteen foot concrete wall all around it.”

“Nobody said he was that smart. He ran off towards it before any of us could stop him.” Sarah replied.

Mordecai shook his head as he rested his blade across his shoulder and started walking towards the sheriff’s office. “And people wonder why I don’t volunteer to lead scavenging teams…” He whispered to himself.

It didn’t take long for Mordecai and Sarah to reach the sheriff’s department, although he had to admit that they encountered very few monsters along the way. According to their last scout report there was supposed to be a horde situated in the town or at least nearby, which was why when this scavenge run was approved Mordecai began to question the sanity of the leaders in charge of said runs. As Mordecai rounded a corner to an alley he came to greet three monsters hunched over munching on what looked to be a long dead corpse. It was a female from what he could tell from his distance so he breathed a slight sigh of relief that it wasn’t Michael. Even so, his heart drained a bit at the sight of yet another innocent lost to the ferocity of these infected. He signaled to Sarah to stay around the corner and strolled ever so confidently towards the monsters. Within a few seconds one noticed him and didn’t wait to charge straight at him. As the monster neared Mordecai brought his sword back and lurched forward sending the blade into the heart and out through the back of the monster killing it instantly. He quickly tossed the body off of the blade and saw the other two charging at him. Mordecai was thankful to the Lord that these things were incredibly stupid; it’s a wonder that so many died in the first place, although their resistance to bullets may have had something to do with it. Nobody was quite sure why, but bullets seemed to just bounce off of their skin unless you shot them close enough or in the same spot enough times. If the caliber of the bullet was high enough the force of the bullet hitting the monster would be enough to completely tear off a limb, but there was never an entry wound. Besides, nobody wanted to use a gun anyways because it signaled to any nearby that a meal was close. As if the monsters in front of Mordecai just wanted to die, they lined up perfectly as he brought his blade to the left and swung hard, cleaving the heads off of both of them almost simultaneously. Their heads flipped around through the air as their bodies crumbled to the ground and spilled thick blood all over the dust covered concrete. Mordecai stood still for a few moments and scanned the alleyway. About halfway down there was a dumpster next to the corpse of the female, and as Mordecai neared another monster came rushing around the opposite end of the alleyway. He stepped back to clear room for a swing, and as the monster closed in on him it leapt towards him. He stepped slightly to the side and made a twisting motion with his torso, chuckling as the monster’s leap completely missed him. As the infected tumbled across the ground and wondered what happened to its prey just a moment ago, Mordecai casually strolled up and plunged his blade through the skull of the monster. He turned and saw two more rushing at him, from a little ways away from the alley itself. He jogged up and held his blade close to his chest, waiting for the right moment. The monster on the left managed to get a little bit ahead and instead of lunging at Mordecai directly it opted to jump onto the dumpster for a better position to strike. However, it didn’t count on the immense strength that lay within the muscles of the prey before it. Mordecai kicked the metal hard and sent the dumpster rolling forward a bit, unbalancing the monster on top and causing it to tumble down the side, its tumble found its end with Mordecai’s boot smashing into the skull of the beast. Just as he regained his sights on the other one it was practically on top of him. It lunged through the air and grabbed a hold of him before he had time to swing with his blade. As the two tumbled to the ground Mordecai could feel its claws and teeth attempting to bite through his thick armor, buying him enough time to press the button on his left gauntlet and feel the blade shoot out. He delivered a quick jab to the right rib of the monster causing it to grunt in pain and the force of his punch sent it rolling off the top of him. Mordecai rolled over slightly and punched again sending the place deep into the monster’s skull, causing its body to go limp. He stood to his feet and quickly retrieved his blade before watching the other end of the alley again. After about fifteen seconds he didn’t hear anything or see any more monsters charging his way so he relaxed a bit. He glanced back the other way to see Sarah standing still while holding a firearm pointed in his direction and shaking all over, her wide eyes stared deep into his own as he slowly walked towards her.

“Do you want us all to die? Put that away!” He barked softly.

Sarah let out a shaky breath as she holstered her weapon and continued to stare at Mordecai who spoke again. “That is only to use if I cannot protect you, if you had fired a shot and alerted the whole horde to our position I wouldn’t have been able to fight them off.”

Sarah was silent but nodded.

Mordecai sighed as he turned back to the alley. “I think that’s all of them that heard the commotion. Come on, we’re almost there.”

They both silently jogged through the alleyway, Sarah almost tripping on one of the corpses while Mordecai simply plowed his way through, practically kicking them to the side. Whether he did it out of annoyance or satisfaction Sarah wasn’t sure, but she didn’t bring it up.

As they came to the other end of the alley Mordecai stopped just at the edge and peered around the corner towards the sheriff’s office. It became clear why he hadn’t seen too many monsters roaming the streets, almost all of them were at the office. The building itself was made of sturdy brick, which probably explained why they hadn’t torn it apart yet. The door itself was already busted wide open, but from what he could see inside the monsters were all crowding to one side of the building. At this point Mordecai was extremely curious if Michael was even alive, and if he was, how he had managed to keep the monsters from getting him.

“What do you see?” Sarah asked.

“I see the reason why we weren’t swarmed the moment we encountered the ones in the alley.” Mordecai replied and slowly stepped out into the open.

“Is that such a good idea?!” Sarah exclaimed softly.

“They’re all focused on the sheriff’s office itself.” Mordecai replied and motioned for Sarah to follow him. Although hesitant at first, Sarah crept out from the wall of the alley and gasped at the sight before them.

There appeared to be close to thirty monsters surrounding the building and Mordecai couldn’t tell how many were inside, but his estimated guess was about fifteen or twenty on the inside.

“What are we going to do?” Sarah gasped.

Mordecai shrugged. “I think they currently see Michael, because from what I can tell they’re all trying to get to one side of the building.”

Sarah waved her finger slightly. “Wait, I remember that there was a fire exit on the back side of the office.”

Mordecai raised an eyebrow and turned to Sarah. “How far inside will it take us?”

“It’ll be near the offices itself, which is on the other side of where the monsters are gathering.” Sarah replied.

“So you’re suggesting we get in that way and try to get Michael out?” Mordecai asked.

Sarah nodded. “I don’t see how you can take on so many, though.”

Mordecai laughed. “Have faith, Sarah, have faith! And stay here.” He twirled his blade around a bit before engaging into a sprint towards the other side of the building. The monsters were making quite a bit of noise so they shouldn’t hear his mad dash, but straining his ears Mordecai could hear screams of terror coming from inside the building, and it sounded like a man. He sent a quick prayer to the Lord as he continued his dash.

Halfway there a monster had the nerve to come around the corner of a car parked on the road and notice him, but swiftly met its end as Mordecai spun in his sprint and swung horizontally, cleaving its face in two. The momentum of his sudden swing caused him to stagger a bit, but he regained his footing and continued his run.

After a few moments he finally reached the other side and glanced around the corner of the building to see that no other monsters noticed him.

“Thank you, Lord.” Mordecai whispered with a glance to the sky before turning his attention to the fire exit door. He crept around the corner with his blade close by, and saw that Sarah hadn’t remembered incorrectly. The door led to a rather large square room with several desks and overturned chairs, several of them still held monitors or computers but the stereotypical paperwork was nowhere to be found. He inched his way in, holding his breath slightly as his eyes scanned the room. None of the monsters were in this room in particular, but he could still hear the screaming and growling from across the way. Mordecai made his way around the ruined desks and chairs before stopping at the entrance to the offices. The entry way itself lead to a long hallway that extended down left or right, left lead to what looked like the cafeteria or waiting area while from the right came more screaming and growling. As tempting as the deteriorated donuts and coffee smelled to Mordecai, he turned right and slowly made his way through the hall. Dead cops and civilians alike lined the corridor of misery, their flesh torn off their skeletons or rotted away due to time, many shell casings littered the floor and several bullet holes lined the walls. The widespread infection had given no mercy to those trying to protect the innocent.

As Mordecai neared the end of the hallway he saw two monsters sprint across from the left into a room on the right, causing him to sneak just a little faster. When he came close to the doorway on the right he dared a glance into the one on the left. From what he could tell all the monsters had finally found their way into the building and were crowding into the room behind him. He peeked around the corner of the other doorway and the sight before him almost caused him to yelp in surprise. A good thirty or forty monsters were all clamoring against one of the cell doors, and on the other side of the thick steel bars was the last member of the scavenging team; Michael. While the predicament he currently found himself in was dire, Mordecai had to give him credit; he had found a way to protect himself from the monsters, although that method had given him no escape route so the plan fell short on the smart scale.

Joking aside, Mordecai’s mind began to crank away furiously as he tried to figure out what the heck to do to get Michael out; there were far too many for him to fight alone, and it would take too long for him to get help from the city. Amidst the chaos of flesh against steel before him, Michael’s eyes did begin to wander and noticed Mordecai at the other end of the room.

“Hey! Help me!” He yelled.

Mordecai sighed and began to use sign language; something that became a rule in Last Hope was that each person had to learn the language for use in infected areas.

‘They don’t know I’m here, I’m trying to figure out a way to save you.’

Michael nodded in understanding but shouted in surprise when one of the monsters decided to launch himself higher above the rest at the steel bars, slamming into them with a clang before flopping on the heads of the rest and tumbling to the floor.

Michael turned to Mordecai and signed. ‘Can you cause some kind of distraction?’

Mordecai sighed and signed back. ‘Play dead, I’m going to cause them to chase me. When no more are in the room RUN LIKE MAD.’ He moved his hands and fingers extra hard at the end of the sentence to emphasize just how fast he wanted Michael to run. ‘Sarah is waiting past a car parked outside in an alleyway, straight ahead from the entrance. Find her, get into a building and wait.’

Michael nodded and slumped to the floor, slowing his breathing and closing his eyes just enough so it looked like they were shut but he could still see slightly. The monsters were certainly stupid, as evidenced by previous tests and experiments, but they were also one minded. They didn’t seem to particularly care that Michael was appearing to be dead; instead they continued to throw themselves at the steel bars in an attempt to reach the feast lying before them.

Mordecai groaned slightly as he steadily walked forward while unsheathing his blade.

“Here we go!” Mordecai yelled half to himself just before he swung his sword as he neared one of the monsters, taking its head off. He followed through by delivering a quick stab into the side of the head of another monster before bringing his blade back and ending with an overhead swing that cleaved another in two. By the end of his attack several monsters noticed him and roared loudly before turning to give chase. The roars notified the others in the room that a fresher meal had been located, causing them to stop ramming against the steel bars and give chase almost immediately.

Mordecai growled slightly as he grasped his sword on the blade near the hilt and holding it near his waist before turning around and sprinting out the door, headed back to the fire exit. He dared to glance behind him and saw the horde clamoring through the doorway, plowing over other infected that had tripped or gotten pushed down, several had dropped to all fours and were bouncing from the walls and the floor. Whether that gave them an advantage or not Mordecai wasn’t sure, but he turned his attention back to bravely running away. It wasn’t exactly one of his better plans, but given the circumstances he needed to improvise. He skidded across the floor slightly as he suddenly changed directions and leapt over desks and chairs as he made his way to the fire exit, he hadn’t noticed earlier but the door had closed behind him. He groaned slightly before he charged towards the metal door and rammed his way through taking it clean off the hinges and tumbling with it before scrambling back to his feet and continuing his sprint. He glanced behind him and saw that the monsters were still giving chase and he had a good lead of about thirty feet on them. As long as he kept running he should be able to get enough distance that he could either lose them in some nearby alleyways or find a good hiding place and wait until they pass. Worst case scenario he would hold up in a sturdy room and kill the monsters one by one as they tried to enter through a narrow entryway.

His sprint from danger was more or less going perfectly fine until another infected suddenly jumped out from behind an overturned car ahead, making a beeline straight for him. Mordecai readied his blade and as the creature neared he brought it close and lowered his upper torso, bringing the tip of the blade closer to his cheek. When the creature was upon him he thrust forward slightly and the momentum of his sprint combined with his maneuver plunged the blade deep into the chest of the monster as he twisted his shoulders slightly to throw the corpse over his shoulder, making sure to firmly grasp the hilt of his sword lest he leave it behind. The blade pulled out of the now dead infected with a squelch before it found its way back in Mordecai’s left hand. 

“Doggonit, this is why you plan AHEAD.” Mordecai fussed at himself as he turned right into an alleyway. “Go find the missing scavenging team, he says.” If anyone could hear him they would swear he was talking to an invisible person or was absolutely crazy. “It’ll be FUN, he says.” He neared the end of the alley and took a sharp left, almost immediately after he rounded the corner he found a small shop with the door busted open with a second floor overlooking the street. Mordecai glanced back before running through and saw the monsters hot on his trail. He sprinted his way through the store and found the doorway leading to the stairs; he practically rammed into the wall due to his speed but recovered quickly and leapt up the stairs three at a time. The monsters had just reached the staircase as Mordecai reached the top and jiggled the handle to the door. Thankfully it was unlocked and he quickly made his way in before slamming the door shut behind him and locking it. A swift survey of the room revealed a rather large wooden table that he promptly grasped and practically threw in front of the door before running back and finding several chairs he propped up against the edge of the table to make it sturdier. Before he had even finished setting up the chairs the monsters were bashing on the door, and within mere moments their claws were crashing through the wood. Mordecai glanced back and saw the windows overlooking the alley below, he ran up close and looked again to see that no more monsters were entering the store. He let out a loud breath before walking back to the door. The monsters were spitting, clawing and biting at him as the door began to give way. Mordecai growled in anger as he brought his blade to bear and delivering a swift stab to the face of what appeared to be a once innocent man in the doorway. The creature slumped dead and acted as a roadblock for the others; they’d have to shimmy past it to get further in. He turned around, grasped his blade in his left hand and sprinted towards the window before jumping and crashing his way through. He flew forward a good five feet with a spray of glass shards and fell another fifteen onto the hard ground, landing on his left arm. Pain shot through his bones and muscles but it felt like his armor absorbed most of the impact but hot dog it hurt. He staggered to his feet and glanced back at the store, he couldn’t tell where the monsters were for sure but waiting for a few seconds revealed nothing chasing him, so either they thought he was still in the room or they lost interest.

Mordecai sighed and quickly retraced his steps back to the sheriff’s office; from there he went back to the alleyway where he was greeted by Michael and Sarah.

“Oh, thank God you’re alright.” Sarah gasped. “I thought you had gotten caught.”

Mordecai panted before laughing a bit and clutching his left arm. “Well, at least you gave the thanks to the right one.” To which Sarah gave him a puzzled look.

He shook his head and walked past them. “Anyway, you’re safe now. We need to get back to the city.”

Michael was the first to follow him with Sarah following suit.

“Hey, thanks for saving me back there.” Michael whispered.

“Don’t mention it.” Mordecai replied. “I’m just doing my job.”

Michael chuckled. “Yeah, that’s all we do now, isn’t it?”

Mordecai shrugged his massive shoulders. “You’re the one who volunteered for this expedition.”

Michael scoffed. “Yeah, but I wasn’t expecting to get ditched by that Whisper.”

Mordecai clenched his hands into fists in anger as he struggled to keep his cool after that comment.

“She was saving a child.” Sarah interjected.

Michael glanced at her before trying to reply, but Mordecai cut him off. “It doesn’t matter, you’re safe.”

“I…I guess.” Michael sighed. “I’m just scared, man. I thought I was dead back at the sheriff’s office.”

Mordecai shook his head as they rounded another corner and were back at where he entered the town from. “Anyone would have done the same in her situation. I don’t want to hear anymore of it.”

Sarah was the one to change the subject. “I don’t remember the horde in Stillwater being that small.”

“Yeah,” Michael chuckled slightly. “I mean, when I was trapped it seemed like there were thousands of them, but looking back at it there weren’t that many.”

Sarah shrugged her shoulders. “I guess we should be thankful then, Stillwater might actually be ripe for the picking now.”

“No.” Mordecai replied.

Michael and Sarah were surprised to say the least about his tone. “What do you mean?” They asked at almost the same time.

“Yes, the horde may be gone out of Stillwater, but where did it go?” Mordecai asked. “The only reason we could make scavenging runs into the town was because we knew the horde was dormant in the center, and if we were careful enough we could take what we needed before they knew we were there.” He paused to shift his aching left shoulder in a fruitless attempt to stop the pain. “The horde could be roaming now, or camped out in another town, it could be attacking Last Hope for all we know.”

Silence was his only reply, prompting him to continue. “The only victory that was achieved today was that you two made it out alive. But with the horde gone, it’ll be much more interesting making scavenging runs now.”

The talk was very dour, and was enough to prompt the two survivors to pick up their pace to try and keep up with Mordecai’s own long strides. Nevertheless, even with concerns of the horde’s sudden disappearance his next objective was clear, and his courage remained true. He knew who he served, and if he were to die today or tomorrow he was ready to accept it. Horde or no horde, his calling remained unchanged.