Ascended

I pulled out my sword.

“It was you.” I snarled, “You’re the one killing people.”

The old man stepped back to allow another pair of guards in front of him. Val stood up and drew her sword, stepping to my left as I shifted right. There were guards in front of us and behind us. Zombies were to our left and the scaffold was surrounded to our right. There was no way we were getting out of this without a fight.

“You are incorrect.” The mayor clicked his tongue as he spoke, “It is you Bokor who are forcing these people to die.” He pointed at my sword, “All so you can make those shiny rocks.”

I tightened the grip on my sword, “We would never ask for any humans to be killed!” I could see by the looks on the guards’ faces that my words weren’t having any effect. I played my trump card again, “I’m Bokor! I’m telling you that he is lying to you!”

“But you aren’t Bokor.” The mayor sneered, “You’re just as human as anyone here.”

I glared at him, “You aren’t human.”

The mayor laughed, “You don’t know much about humans, do you?” He grinned, “We do anything to survive. Even if we have to sacrifice a few to save the many.”

I gritted my teeth, “I know enough to know that what you are doing is wrong.” I straightened up, “When I tell the Bokor – ”

“They’ll what?” The mayor sneered, “They want zombies, so we give them zombies.” He chuckled, “You’ll make good zombies.”

My heart started racing. I had prepared my whole life to fight zombies. I had never thought about becoming a zombie. I assumed eventually I’d die while fighting zombies, not humans. I’d thought I’d be cremated like people were supposed to be buried.

I began preparing for the fight, “You’re going to kill a Bokor?” I swept my gaze over the guards, “Do you think you’ll get away with this?”

“We aren’t going to kill you.” The mayor laughed, “It’ll be so tragic. Wannabe Bokor goes into the zombie pen and gets himself a bit. What are we supposed to do?” He shrugged, “We’re only humans?”

I stepped away from Val. I had no doubt that if he offered her a deal, she would help throw me in the pen.

“Trying to save yourself?” The mayor teased.

“I’m giving us room.” I slashed my sword in front of me.

“You can’t win.” The mayor teased, “Put your sword down and we’ll knock you out before we throw you in.”

He was right. There were too many guards. The fight wouldn’t last very long and then they’d throw us in. I tried to think of an exit route, but the only options were guards or zombies. I thought about jumping in the pen and killing zombies, but then I’d be stuck in a pen with a bunch of dead zombies. Eventually, I’d die from hunger or thirst and then I’d turn into a zombie myself. I started to lower my sword.

“You killed Sera.” Val hissed, “I don’t care how many guards I have to kill. You’re going to pay.”

“Whoa!” The mayor held up his hands, “I had nothing to do with that. If she hadn’t been in your bed then she’d still be her lovely self back at the Bucket, wondering what tragedy befell her older sister.”

“Then who killed Sera?” I demanded.

The mayor pointed behind us. We both turned to see Darren standing in front of the guards. The wrangler had a knife to my partner’s throat and was holding him tight. My partner was still too hungover to tell exactly what was going on.

“Darren!” Val exclaimed, “Why?”

“This town is barely surviving.” Darren sneered, “The old and the sick are dragging us down. If we’re going to survive, then the sacrifices have to continue.”

“You did all of this so you could kill more people?” My temper flared, “You’re crazy!”

“What do you know?!” Darren screamed, “What gives you the right to stick your nose in our business?”

I started to tell him exactly why what they were doing was wrong, but I was interrupted by the soft plea of my partner.

“Byler,” Max’s voice was full of fear, “Help me.”