Chapter 110
One by one, the zombies picked themselves off the ground and started running at us, their arms and legs jerking and spasming as they went. Their bodies were covered in cuts and bites and blood, I could hear them groaning and growling as they approached. Their movements were jerky and unnatural, and I could see the veins and arteries in their arms pulsating as they ran at us.
I didn't have time to think. I grabbed Clementine and lifted her over my shoulder, sprinting away from the horde of zombies behind us.
I had no weapons. No time. I knew Midori was a badass but...
"Go, Ikki!" Midori roared as I ran. "Don't stop!"
I didn't look back. I didn't know if she would be okay. But I trusted her to take care of herself. She was a tough chick, and I had a little girl to protect. I sprinted for a small metal bridge connecting two rooftops. A good choke point, if there ever was one.
"Midori!" I shouted, briefly turning around, but she was already behind me with the fire axe in her hands. The axe blade gleamed in the firelight as she swung at a zombie that had come close enough to her to attack. The blade connected with its head, and it fell to the ground in a lifeless heap.
More zombies dropped from the hotel suites above us, and Midori swung the axe again. The blade of the axe connected with the zombie's neck and sliced through the skin with ease. Blood and gore sprayed everywhere, and the zombie crumpled to the floor.
There were over thirty zombies now. Midori danced backwards as I stomped over the bridge, Clementine screaming in terror.
A series of greenhouses and raised beds spread out along the roof. I could make out an electronically locked gate and door on the other side of the roof.
Midori danced back again, standing on the small metal bridge as over thirty zombies crawled to their feet and sprinted at her. She backed up further, then swung the axe, cleaving the skull of one zombie, and then a second, before stepping backward onto the metal bridge, and backing up even more.
"Midori! I yelled. "What are you doing?! There's too many of them!"
The zombies tried to follow her, but Midori swung the axe in a wide arc, decapitating another one and sending its body tumbling over the edge. One more followed behind it, managing to grab at Midori's arms, but she threw out a thudding front kick, sending it stumbling back into the horde.
"Keep moving!" she called out.
"I'm not leaving you here!"
"I'll be fine! Keep moving!" she shouted.
She smiled. It was a small, almost imperceptible smile.
A smile that I knew was a lie. I could tell she knew she couldn't take them all on.
And yet she'd planted on that bridge to give me time to find a way off this rooftop, anyway. To save this little girl.
She was putting on a show of strength to give us time.
She raised her axe and swung again, taking another step back as a pair of zombies tried to grab at her. It wouldn't be long before they pushed her off the choke point. They were closing in on her, their teeth snapping and gnashing together, their arms outstretched and reaching for her.
I sprinted for a flight of stairs leading up to the gated greenhouses within a brick and metal enclosure. The gate and doors were electronically locked, of course. But the door was slightly ajar - held together by a padlock similar to the one I'd found at the Evergreen Foundation.
"Rai! Get this thing unlocked!" I ordered, my voice frantic as I set Clementine down. Rai-chan's orb body flew towards the door's electronic lock. "Ikki, it's jammed shut! I don't think I can!"
"Try!" I yelled, pulling at the gate and the door's handles with all my might.
My HUD lit up for a second, but a moment later I heard Rai-chan's voice chime in.
"The network is down! I can't override it!" she yelled.
I growled, running up the stairs and looking for some way to open the gate. I grabbed a set of garden shears from a nearby table, jamming them into the gap of the door as best I could. Clementine put her little hands over mine without prompting, helping me push on the shears, but the metal of the gate wouldn't budge.
"Dammit!" I growled. The shears were too weak to get it open, but what else did we have? The only way to open it was to break it open, and we didn't have the right equipment.
I looked over the rooftop. We didn't have a lot of options.
"Fuck," I growled. I looked at Clementine, and her eyes were wide with terror.
"I can do it!" Rai-chan chimed in, but she sounded uncertain. "Just... just give me a minute. I might be able to short it."
"We don't have a minute!"
"Figure of speech! It won't take long!"
A series of screams echoed over the roof. I whipped my head around, and my heart dropped into my stomach.
The horde of zombies was pushing forward, and Midori's position on the bridge had collapsed. Her arms were a blur as she swung her axe again, again, and again. Her body was dripping in sweat and blood, her clothes soaked through with red. The small bridge was covered in bodies, but she stepped backward, swinging and chopping and slicing with the axe in an endless flurry of blows.
But they had broken the chokepoint. She couldn't keep up the fight, and they were going to swarm her if I didn't do something. My eyes darted around frantically, but I had no ideas.
Rai-chan glowed with a bright blue light, and then I saw an electrical discharge. A bright blue bolt of electricity hit the gate and the door. Sparks flew as it was hit again, then again, and again.
I heard the click of a lock opening. Then I saw the gate open slightly.
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I didn't have time to thank Rai-chan, as I rushed to Clementine, grabbing her in a bear hug.
"Midori, come on!" I roared.
She whipped her head around to look at me. But the moment of distraction had been too much for her, as she stumbled backward, and the horde of zombies surged forward and swarmed over her.
"Midori!" I shouted.
Midori let out a blood-curdling shriek, and she swung the axe wildly. But there were too many of them. Her scream echoed in the air, and I felt a chill run through my veins.
I felt my body shudder. My mind went blank.
This couldn't happen. I had to save her. I had to. I...
I couldn't move. My legs wouldn't move.
I just... I couldn't move.
Midori's screams were cut short. And then the horde of zombies rushed toward us like a tidal wave.
"Ikki! The gate!"
Rai-chan's voice echoed in the air, snapping me out of my stupor. I sprinted to the door, pulling it open and throwing myself through.
"Close it! Shut it! Now!"
I pulled Clementine through and quickly shut the door behind me. A pair of zombies crashed against it, rattling the metal. The harrowing sound of claws scraping against the metal made my skin crawl, but I knew we were safe. At least for a few moments.
"Midori," I murmured. I felt a twinge of guilt in the back of my throat.
She had sacrificed her own life for Clementine's and mine.
"Midori..." I repeated.
I didn't know what to do or what to say. I didn't know what to do with my guilt.
She was a good person. She deserved better.
"I'm so sorry..." Clementine whispered.
I turned around and saw the tears rolling down her face. She had a look of guilt on her face. I could feel her guilt and sorrow. It hurt me.
"No, don't say that," I said, trying to keep myself together.
I patted her head, but the tears continued to roll down her face. She was still scared and upset.
I couldn't blame her.
"It wasn't your fault," I said.
She looked at me with a tear-filled gaze.
"It's my fault..." she mumbled.
"No... it's not..." I tried to say. I tried to comfort her. But my mind was a fog. My thoughts were in a haze. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to feel.
I breathed, looking around at the garden we were in.
It was a massive place, with long rows of vegetables and flowers, and large greenhouses and buildings dotting the edges of the roof. The air was thick with humidity and smelled of fresh dirt. Terran cities were full of co-ops and community gardens to help with food production. Even in a wealthy city, a lot of the land area in the inner districts was dedicated to this.
My mind was racing as I tried to come up with a plan. Even in a reinforced rooftop garden like this, there were still too many vulnerabilities. If those things started climbing, they could break through the glass walls and come through any gaps in the ceiling or walls. I looked over at Clementine. Her face was red, her cheeks streaked with tears.
She looked up at me with big, watery yellow eyes, her body shaking with sobs.
"We're not done yet..." I murmured, looking around. The zombies were trying to get in, and I could hear their moans and growls, their bodies pressing and slamming against the walls. They had no concept of pain and weren't smart enough to coordinate, but that wouldn't stop them from finding a way in. I needed to find a way out, or else I would die in this garden, and Clementine would die with me.
Maybe I could get into a basement. Or maybe there was a tunnel, another fire escape.
Clementine limped and sobbed, holding onto my arm. I picked her up again, trying not to think about Midori as we walked. She was shaking and her skin was clammy. She was in no shape to keep running. She was so small and fragile, I felt so bad.
"Hey," I murmured to her. "It's gonna be alright, Clementine." She didn't look at me. She just stared at the ground. She looked like she wanted to disappear.
We walked for a moment, then she looked up at me, her eyes big, pleading. "My parents... they're still back there, right? What's going to happen to them?"
I tried not to think about them. Their fate was already sealed, but I didn't want to tell her that.
"Don't worry," I said. "We're gonna figure out how to help them, okay? But right now we have to focus on getting you to safety."
She didn't look reassured by that. But I didn't know what to tell her, and she wasn't in any state to process the truth, either. Once someone was completely taken over by Chaos Corruption, their physiology changed on a cellular level to be inhuman. They were beyond saving. There was still hope before that happened - before the blue lines covered their bodies, they could be cured. But her parents, her grandparents, they were...
I didn't know. It didn't matter. She didn't need to hear that. Not now. I looked down at the ground.
We needed to keep moving.
We made our way across the rooftop, trying to get as far away from the horde of zombies as possible. We could hear the sound of scraping metal as the horde tried to find a way in.
"Ikki?" Rai-chan chimed in, her orb floating around in the air beside us.
"Yeah, Rai?" I responded.
"We're in deep trouble," Rai-chan replied. I looked around the garden. There were a lot of places where the zombies could break through if they got smart enough.
"I know... we're stuck up here with a horde of feral zombies outside."
"Umm... that's not what I'm talking about," she said, sounding uncharacteristically nervous. "We've got a big mana signature closing in. I think it spotted the action with Midori."
I stopped dead in my tracks.
I turned around to look at her, my eyes wide. The air suddenly felt like it had turned to ice. I couldn't move.
I looked around frantically. There were no exits, no way to get off this rooftop.
I could hear the sound of something huge flying overhead, but I didn't see anything. It sounded like the sky was rumbling with thunder, but it was too close. I could see a shadow move over us, and I realized what it was.
"Oh shit..." I muttered, grabbing Clementine and sprinting.
Then, a massive form broke through the shattered glass roof, smashing through a few of the greenhouses. It was an enormous, terrifying creature, the size of a bus. A shower of glass shards rained down around us, cutting my cheek and arms as it toppled the plants and pottery over. Clementine shrieked and screamed.
The chaos beast landed on the ground with a loud thud. It had the appearance of an enormous, moth-like creature. The insect-like wings were a bright crimson and orange, with a yellow trim, and it had a pair of large glowing blue eyes. Its body was long and slender like that of a centipede. Its legs were segmented and had sharp, needlelike spines on the ends, like that of an insect or an arthropod. It was at least 30 or 40 feet long. Its body was a sickly dark green, with a dull sheen like clay.
Its carapace was covered in spines, spikes, and horns that curved and twisted at odd angles. Its body was segmented, and each segment was connected by a thin membrane. The monster's mouth was like a massive gaping hole filled with needle-like lamprey teeth. But what was most terrifying of all was its syringe-like tail. It was tipped with a barbed stinger and was dripping a foul glowing blue ichor. Its wings were beating at a rapid pace, and it had the sound of a swarm of angry bees. Rai-chan's HUD lit up immediately:
Aberrant Identification |
Name: Mikado |
Threat Classification: Marquis |
Estimated Mana Signature: 914,492 MP units |
Known Traits and Abilities: (CAUTION) - HIGHLY POTENT CHAOS CORRUPTION, Flight, Agility, Enhanced Reflexes, Horde Leader |
A Marquis-class chaos beast. And we were trapped here with it.
Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!
Clementine moved before I did, her little body shaking. She screamed, her eyes wide as she tried to run away from the beast, her tiny body shaking with terror. The monster chittered, its eyes landing on Clementine as I turned to run after the little girl.
And then it attacked, lashing its tail out directly at her.