This work is fiction. The work has no relationship with any person existing at any time anywhere whether real or imaginary or copywritten. Everything in this work is mea culpa.
This work is the property of Kerrik Wolf (saethwyr@ (SPAM) hotmail.com). Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
You should not read this work if you are under the age of legal consent wherever you reside. This work may or may not contain any and/or all of the following: death, dismemberment, violent acts, implied sex, explicit sex, violent sex, rape, cannibalism, blasphemy (depending on your religion), BDSM, torture, mimes, necrophilia and just about anything unwholesome that you could consider.
The pokegirl universe was first documented by Metroanime and to him all of us who reside or visit there owe a debt of thanks.
Feedback is encouraged. I enjoy hearing from people. Positive feedback will be appreciated, cherished and flaunted in front of people. Negative feedback will be appreciated, cherished and listened to, that I might continue to grow. Flames will give me a good laugh. Feedback may be delivered to: saethwyr@(SPAM)hotmail.com. Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
Into the Fire
Nineteen
Dominique moved Iain’s feet and settled down on the porch swing next to him. “So, is that book going to make you a deadly mage?”
He looked at her amusedly. “I think your position as the supreme magic wielder in our family is safe for at least another couple of years. I am learning a lot from this thing,” he gestured slightly with the tome he held, “but I don’t expect to become any sort of master for a long time. The best I can hope for right now is to augment the abilities I’ve managed to develop on my own.”
Curiosity mingled with satisfaction filled her voice. “It can’t significantly jump your abilities ahead?”
He smiled slightly. “That’s not how this thing works.”
Dominique waited for several seconds. “Care to explain that a lot more?”
His smile became a quick grin. “Please understand that the people who can do the kind of magic I can do are so rare that one or two may be born on a particular world every century. That means the traditional magic school format just won’t work, since in the school concept there aren’t enough of us to make a school viable. It’s just as bad if you try to apply the mage and apprentice paradigm. Either the experienced mage dies before the next one is born or the mage is a right bastard and wants to kill any potential threats before they get started. I won’t necessarily try to categorize them as good, but the mages that weren’t bastards came up with these books and seeded them on the worlds they inhabit, usually with a spell that ensures the book and student meet up.” He lifted the book for emphasis. “This book is a primer on how my magic works. When I’ve mastered it, a spell at the back of it will allow me to create the next book in the series. At the same time, it will copy the first book and send it far away from me to await the next appearance of one of us. As I progress through each book, I’ll create the next one so that it will be tailored to the way I am progressing as well as my interests. I’m not sure where the process ends or how many books in the series I will eventually have in my private library.” His eyes met hers. “However, I do know that the speed at which I progress is entirely up to me. So is how far I ever get in my studies.”
Dominique frowned. “Most people don’t do well in self study.”
“That’s true. Many of the students never get very far, which is sad since at the end of the first or second book it teaches how to balance metabolisms.”
“What does that do?”
“What does that do?”
“It allows people like me to become effectively immortal. If I can survive the next year or so and master this book, I’ll be able to do a much better job of keeping myself from accidentally dying and leaving you ladies alone.”
The Archmage’s crimson eyes got big. “You’re serious.”
“I wouldn’t tease about that, Dominique. You are too important to me.” He sighed. “Still, it’s a pretty big if, what with our upcoming assault on Sanctuary. The odds of us living through this are not something I’d like to bet on.”
“Eve says that as long as we’re careful we’ll be fine.”
He snorted. “The future is a series of decisions that haven’t been made yet. As much as she’d like to, and as much as I’d like her to be able to, she can’t assure us of anything. However, I do intend for us to survive this and we will do everything possible to make sure that happens.” He shrugged. “However, we have to keep in mind that the other guy also intends to do whatever he or she can to survive and that no war ends in a win-win. Somebody has to lose.”
The Archmage slid over and leaned against him. “Our job is to make sure that it isn’t us.”
“You got that right. If someone has to get it in the neck, I’ll always vote for the other guy.”
Dominique got up and bent down to give him a quick kiss. “You work on mastering that book so we won’t loose you. In the meantime, you can count on us to keep you as safe as you’ll let us.”
***
“Next.”
Iain looked at the printout in his hand and up at Eve. “Three P-med healing potion dispensers, each fully stocked.”
The Megami-sama looked over the dispensers on the table in front of her. “Check.” She touched each of them in turn with the wand on her pokepack and they vanished into the containment unit.
“That’s the last item.” Iain put the list down. “You’re packed and double checked and you should have around fifty kilograms of capacity left over for personal effects.”
Eve checked the display on the pack and nodded. “There are forty nine and a half kilograms still available.”
Every member of the harem had a list of the items they were supposed to be carrying for their tiny invasion of the Dark Continent and Iain was personally verifying the contents of each pack. There was a significant amount of duplication in case a pack was lost, but each pokegirl also carried items specific to her specialty within the combat and support paradigm that was a functional harem. They were within teleport distance of returning to the Blue League whenever necessary, but Iain wanted to make the absolute most minimal number of trips in case Sanctuary’s security personnel had some way to track travel into and out of their lands. He didn’t think they did but it never hurt to be safe, which was why all of their returns would be to a wilderness spot where they could evaluate the possibility of pursuit before going home.
April handed him her list and picked up her pack. “What do you know about the security elements we might run across in the Dark Continent?”
Iain could almost hear the ears pricking up around him. He put the list down. “Gather round, ladies, since we all know you’re going to eavesdrop anyways.”
April chuckled and put her pack on the floor. “Get comfortable and I’ll make some tea first. Irena, please give me a hand.”
A short time later Iain looked around the room. “Sanctuary has two primary layers of defense. The innermost one is the personal guards of the various council members and the higher ups within the government. They’re customized to the preferences of the individual members and, although their numbers are higher than are found in the typical tamer’s harem, they can be considered as the harem of each high potentate. It also means that describing them as a group is impossible.” He leaned back with his large mug of Milktit milk cradled in his hands. “This brings us to the second group. The Dark Continent Watchers Service is a paramilitary organization that was originally established to monitor and intercept tamers from foreign governments crossing into the Dark Continent. It maintains watch stations around most of what Sanctuary considers its territory and works closely with the Dameosaur packs that keep the numbers of Cheetit and other unwanted pokegirls low. While the Sanctuary Goths form the uppermost hierarchy and many of them serve on the High Council, there are significant numbers of other powerful or politically adept pokegirls in lower command slots. As these move up the ranks they’re often groomed to become Sanctuary Goths as a perk. Humans found in the DCWS are usually the pets of pokegirl officers, although a few out and out believers in Sanctuary’s ascension are in the very lowest ranks. They’re also never really trusted since they’re not pokegirls and especially since they’re significantly weaker than the pokegirls they work with. They usually function as a built in support element to keep their fellow DCWS stormtroopers from going feral. However noble their original intentions might have been, and I’m not sure if there was any nobility involved, the absolute power the DCWS wields caused them to evolve into something that resembles a blend of the NKVD and the Gestapo.”
Eve’s blank look was mirrored in the face of every pokegirl in the room. “Who are they?”
Iain shook his head slowly. “I should have expected that question. The Gestapo was a unit of secret police that terrorized the people that they supposedly worked for while the NKVD worked for the Supreme Soviet. It was also in control of the secret police, but it also included in its ranks the civil services like the police and fire departments. Both groups also controlled and maintained the prisons and prisoners and ran the local governments, the NKVD directly and the Gestapo through intimidation. Both groups were only accountable to their masters and had horrible reputations for torture, rape and murder. They both also worked to suppress the impure, which happened to be whatever their lords defined at the time. The DCWS doesn’t maintain prisons like the NKVD and Gestapo did because most of the time death is the penalty for just about any crime that requires DCWS involvement. I’m not sure how much of what the DCWS does is deliberately patterned after the Gestapo or the NKVD, but the uniforms worn by the members of the DCWS who can regularly wear clothes are very reminiscent of both groups. Of course, black uniforms are psychologically very intimidating, so it could just be a coincidence. The DCWS functions as Sanctuary’s police, carries out assassinations, conducts counterintelligence operations, which are a joke since the leagues don’t really have any enemy spies here and trains for what they think war is like.” He gave a grim smile. “The BLSF, being a completely professional volunteer army that remembers its tactics and roots from before Sukebe and the Fall, would chop them up in short order if they met on the battlefield.”
He took another deep drink of milk. “The DCWS is brutal, corrupt, self serving, arrogant and drunk not only with power, but also with the belief in their moral and physical superiority over any foe they might meet. Their tactics tend to be brute force followed by more brute force if it doesn’t work. They take what they want when they want and from whomever they want. They have no real esprit de corps and either kiss the ass of superiors or bend over so their ass can be kissed by their subordinate mwanajeshi depending on whether they think their fellow can help advance their career or not.” He snorted softly. “A band of sisters they most definitely are not. A large gang of bullies is probably a much more apt description.”
Scheherazade’s tail flicked sideways and knocked the chair next to her over. She picked it up with her telekinesis and set it back on its feet. “How much trouble are they likely to be for us?”
“With Irena being a Sanctuary Goth, normally they would think twice before interfering with us. However, that’s not always the case and sometimes they fuck with civilians for fun. I’ve got something much better in mind. Dominique has looked into my memories of my notes and created badges so we can be a shujaa team commanded by Irena. Shujaa are elite units led by a Sanctuary Goth and they are the special agents of the DCWS. Shujaa means hero or warrior. The common DCWS troops are called mwanajeshi, which means soldier.” He smirked slightly. “While someone masquerading as a member of the Blackguards would be found out in relatively short order, the various factions in Sanctuary promote people and transfer them without bothering to communicate the changes to any of the others and sometimes not even with the other members of the same faction. That’ll let us move around without being discovered. Shujaa don’t take orders from anyone outside their chain of command and nobody screws with them if they like their skin attached to their bodies.”
“Iain, we don’t speak Swahili.”
“That’s ok. We will learn it, but remember that the secondary main language in Sanctuary is English. It’s used as a common language between the various villages and such. No matter where we go, we should be able to find someone we can talk to, and as shujaa we can commandeer them to translate for us. However, it’ll be easiest if we grab the first bilingual person we find and go into dreamtime for some in-depth immersion language lessons.” He reached for a biscuit. “Hopefully that’ll happen within the first hour of our arrival. It’s why we’re going to an urban area in the first place instead of coming out somewhere quieter.”
Eve put her tea down. “About that plan, Iain. Are you sure it’s really a good idea to go straight to a city in Sanctuary?”
“I’m not sure there are any good ideas in assaulting Sanctuary. I do think this is one of the least bad ideas. A city will let us get a feel for how things are before we move on to the capital and get revealed because of some stupid custom we’re not aware of.” He finished his milk and reached for April’s list. “Eve, I think we’ve had a long enough break. Sanctuary won’t fall on its own you know.”
***
In the moonlight, Eve watched him tightening up the straps on his backpack and settling his tactical sling into position under it. “If we’re supposed to be shujaa, why isn’t Irena out for the first leg of this trip? She is supposed to be our commander.”
“She’s still mastering several of her abilities as a Sanctuary Goth. Since that includes teleportation and since I don’t want to unduly burden you during a blind jump,” he shrugged to finish his statement.
Eve nodded. “That makes sense and we’ll release her once we arrive. What do we do if someone asks about her?”
“I’ve already coached Irena on the idea that she prefers teleporting in a pokeball instead of doing it herself. It sounds like the same sort of power trip for lazy Sanctuary Goths that it makes about as much sense as a lectica did for Roman nobility.” At her curious look he smiled. “It’s a type of litter or sedan chair where people rode inside while others carried it so they didn’t have to walk.”
She suddenly scowled. “Please don’t ever describe that to a tamer. I can see them making their harems carry them around.”
“Considering that my current number of tamer friends is exactly zero, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
“Do you miss having human friends?”
Iain reached out and took her hand. “I have five human friends right now in you ladies. That’s more than the typical average for me. It’s tamer friends that I don’t have, mostly because six out of ten of them are morons, two of the remainder are assholes and while I’d probably enjoy meeting the other two, I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
“What about me?” Evangelion gave him an annoyed look as she came into the clearing.
“I haven’t known you for very long, Vanessa, and I’m not someone who calls people friend if they’re not. Now that we’ve said hello, why are you here?”
The legendary’s eyes narrowed. “You were leaving without saying goodbye to me.”
Iain gave her a confused look. “You’re insecure about me?”
She folded her arms. “I am not insecure.”
Eve pushed on Iain’s hand with her own and let him go. Stop teasing her. She’s going through something unique in her experience and is probably frightened about all the things that can go wrong.
Evangelion’s eyes went wide when Iain hugged her hard. “Vanessa, I have to do this and you can’t come along. I don’t want you to get hurt or stressed so much that something bad happens. You’ve got keys to the house and the place is stocked with food. We’ll be back eventually.”
She sighed and leaned into his arms. “What if something happens to you and you don’t come back?”
He blinked and decided not to investigate the reasoning behind that question too closely. “The rent is paid up for six months. We’ll be back at least a couple of times long before that and I really doubt that unless we walk into some kind of nuclear blast that everyone will die instantly. However, I will ask Eirian that if something happens to us all, then she would pass along a message to you.”
“Who is Eirian?”
Iain hesitated for a second. “She’s a Dragoness who is going to be keeping an eye on our progress.”
“How is it she can do that and I cannot find you with my magic?” Evangelion looked more curious than annoyed, but annoyance was still there.
Eve tugged on Iain, who let the legendary go. “She won’t tell me, Vanessa, and it pissed me off for a while. However, I don’t think anyone else can utilize the techniques she uses to track him. And Iain, we need to be going if we’re going to stay on schedule.”
“I will return to your home and protect it while you are gone. Thank you for letting me stay in your home with you for a while.” She touched her stomach. “Us.”
Iain smiled. “Vanessa, I know what’s happening is frightening. It is for every new mother. If you have any questions while we’re gone, go ahead and email them to me. I’ll pass them on to Irena as soon as I get them. Just remember that email service on our trip may be spotty and I may not get any messages until we return here.”
“I know.” Evangelion watched with an impassive expression as they teleported away before turning and heading back for Iain’s home.
***
Heavy clouds obscured the moon as they scudded across the sky. Eve appeared and let Iain go. He was reaching for Irena’s pokeball but paused when the stench of blood and excrement hit him. His voice was almost a whisper. “What the hell?”
Eve summoned a dim light. “I’m not sure. Put on your armor.”
Something gleamed in the light a few feet from them and as Iain’s eyes shifted to night vision it was revealed to be the body of a man. His throat had been torn out and the gaping cavity under his ribs showed he’d been eviscerated and the organs completely removed. Gaping bite wounds covered his arms, face and something had torn holes in his pants to feast on his legs. Iain shook his head. “It glows and will draw attention.”
Aurum stepped out of the shadows and stopped, her head lowered as she hissed softly. “There is death all around us and yet it moves. I do not understand.” She glanced at him. “Explain how the death walks.”
Iain exchanged a look with Eve and shrugged. “I’m not sure. Summon two more Dragonesses and two of you fetch one of these walking dead so we can determine what’s going on.”
“I can fetch one alone.”
Iain carefully didn’t say the first thing that came to mind and his second thought was to make his instruction a direct order. Finally he decided to try reason. “I don’t doubt that, Aurum. However, someone will need to watch your back to ensure you’re not jumped by other moving dead and, more importantly, to ensure that others don’t follow you back to me and put me in danger. I want the third to remain to protect me.”
The undead Dragoness nodded. “You speak with wisdom. Eirian is right; you are a better master than my killer ever was.” The shadows unfolded to reveal Beryl and Skye. “Skye will guard you while we hunt.”
The blue Dragoness became motionless as the other two silently paced off. Eve touched his arm. “My killer? What was she talking about?”
“Eoghan murdered each of them in order to turn them into liches.”
Eve gave Skye a sympathetic look. “That’s terrible.” The Dragoness ignored her.
Iain nodded. “Eoghan was a terrible person. First he murdered a race that had done him no ill and then his own brother. Killing was what he did best.”
Eve jumped when Skye gave a harsh laugh. “At the end, he didn’t even do that. After making us, we did his killing while he plotted to gain Ygerna. And even that failed.”
Aurum and Beryl came around a corner. The gold Dragoness carried a slowly struggling figure while the red stayed several paces behind her. Both Dragonesses were covered in liquid that dripped sluggishly to the ground as they stopped in front of Iain.
Beryl bobbed her head to him. “You were right. Most of the dead around us are moving in packs. We had to destroy one group to capture this thing and make sure we would not be followed.”
Iain was staring at the figure Aurum held. It was a Pidgie. One of its wing arms had been almost completely severed at the elbow and something had torn open the chest to leave a gaping hole where the heart and lungs should be. It snapped its beak repeatedly as it tried to twist in Aurum’s grip. “You two are going to take that thing fifty feet from us and remove its head. Then you will find some water and bathe or you will cleanse yourselves with fire.” He looked at Eve as they moved off to carry out their orders. “It’s a Zombabe.”
The Megami-sama’s armor snapped into existence. “Armor up and release Scheherazade. Shay’s armor will protect her from the poison while we work our way out of the town. I’d prefer just to fly somewhere else, but if anyone knows about this outbreak the city will probably be watched for infected trying to escape. Until she becomes a Zombabe, a flying pokegirl can flee by air, so in the Blue League teams track down and eliminate anyone flying out of an infected area. Sneaking out by ground is safest.”
Iain released the Dread Wolf and summoned his armor. “You may be overestimating the DCWS, but underestimating them is more likely to get us in trouble. Shay, we arrived in Wellham as planned but the city appears to be overrun by Zombabes.”
“Shit.” Scheherazade’s armor flowed up out of her skin. “I suggest we leave the others in their pokeballs until we get out of here.”
Iain shook his head. “As soon as we make sure the area is clear, I’m releasing them. With the magic armor, having them out is only marginally more hazardous to them than any other battle and we may need their help to get out of here.” He looked around as the Dragonesses returned from their grisly mission. “Good, you ladies haven’t left yet. Aurum, Beryl, I want you to establish a perimeter, but I need you to stay on the ground in case the DCWS has people watching the area. If you encounter a Zombabe, they only die from fire, ice and destructive trauma to the brain. Anything else won’t destroy them, including dismemberment. Don’t let them get past you. Skye, you’ve got the inner perimeter.” He watched as the Dragonesses headed on patrol.
Beryl spread her wings slightly. “What if the living approach us? I sense there are some of them here.”
Iain’s mouth tightened. “I don’t like saying this, but if they smell like Zombabe, they’re probably infected so kill them and take their head. If they’re not infected, monitor them and let me know so I can decide if we are in a position to make contact with them.”
Eve frowned. “I can heal the injured and if they’re infected I can prevent them from becoming Zombabes.”
“You can, but only within certain time limits. Besides, I think it is definitely time to be selfish. We may need your healing skills for ourselves and you ladies are infinitely more important to me than some hapless civilian. I am, too.”
And if they’re with the DCWS we might have to kill them afterwards, too, and you would be very reluctant to kill someone you just healed. Iain is right to triage by Dragoness. Scheherazade’s silver hands grew blades. My laser will be more effective, but vaporizing flesh is a steam explosion and it can be rather loud.
Iain blinked. “It is very quiet, with none of the noise any city produces. That should have been a dead giveaway that something was wrong. I’ll be sure and remember that for the future.” He shook his head. “I’m just not a city boy.”
Eve gave him an unhappy glare. “I want to help everyone we can. I am a Megami-sama, remember?”
He glared back. “It’s my call, not yours. If we run across anyone who isn’t infected, they’ll probably be wounded and so will need aid. Those we’ll help. I just don’t want someone Zombabing out while you’re looking at them. It happens in all the movies, it’s bad and it’s not going to happen to you.” He sighed. “I’ll be unhappy enough helping the ones who don’t stink of Zombabe venom, since that’s probably not a perfect way to check for infection and every decent zombie movie made has some fucking idiot who decides to hide the fact that he’s been bitten. Later, at the worst possible time, he goes zombie with horrific results for everyone around them. I’ll personally kill anyone that I even think is going that route.” He met her startled gaze. “Everyone we do help will get healed and cured before I will let them travel anywhere with us. If they don’t look like it took, we either leave them or they die. It’s going to drain you faster than normal healing would, but that is a direct order, Eve.”
“Do you really think things will be that bad?”
He shrugged. “Wellham had thousands of inhabitants, but to be honest I don’t expect we’ll run into many survivors, if any. Personally I hope all we find are things to destroy, making this argument moot.” He reached for his belt. “The time for talking is over. I want out of Wellham as fast as we can safely get the fuck out.”
He released Dominique, April and Irena. “Ladies, we dropped into the middle of a Zombabe outbreak in Wellham. Put on your armor; we’re leaving right now.”
“Zombabes?” Irena paled and almost frantically activated her magic ring.
“Everyone to me,” Eve said softly. “I’ll give you your assignments.”
Skye appeared from around a corner of the nearest building. “The area is clear. There are more of the walking dead to the east of us than to the west. The north and south also have more Zombabes than the west, but less than the east.”
Iain looked around to get his bearings. “West looks like it leads into the heart of the city. I really wish it led away instead, but beggars can’t be choosers. We’ll be going west. Have the others shift their patrol in that direction.”
The Dragoness bobbed her head. “Yes, my lord. Do you wish us to level buildings that have the walking dead inside them or should we leave them alone?”
“That’ll take too long. Just concern yourselves with the ones in the streets.” Iain shifted his shotgun around to a carry position as the Dragoness trotted off. “Eve, let’s do this. Keep everyone close and in sight at all times.”
Dominique chuckled. “Wow, Eve, his battle skills must be better than our six centuries of experience. I guess we’re lucky that we managed to decide the same thing.” She laughed when Iain blew her a raspberry.
Irena moved to stand next to Iain. She gave him a sour look. “Most of my powers are useless against Zombabes.”
“You’ll learn more attacks and Zombabes tend to be a localized problem. If they’re spread all over the Dark Continent, we can go home because Sanctuary will be way too busy to try to find us anymore.” He winked. “I need you here. You’ve become the key to making it to our destination without having to fight every step of the way.”
She smiled slightly. “That’ll be great once we get past the flesh eating monsters.”
“Between Dameosaurs and feral pokegirls, by the time we get past all of those we’ll be in Sanctuary’s capital.”
That got him a laugh as they moved out.
***
Up ahead, a band of Zombabes turned as they sensed life and headed for Iain and his ladies. Beryl raced to intercept them and ripped her way into the group, ignoring the bursts of poison that bothered her as little as their constant moans while she smashed skulls with her fists.
Eve cocked her head. “Iain, do you see what I see?”
“I think so.” He raised his voice. “Beryl, please stand still.”
The Dragoness halted. “My lord.” The Zombabes streamed around her like water around a rock as they pursued living prey.
“Beryl, thank you. Return to action, please.” Iain watched as the red blurred into motion and destroyed the rear ranks even as Aurum moved to intercept the front of the group. “So, Zombabes ignore liches. That’s interesting to know, even if it’s not really all that useful for us.”
Dominique was watching the carnage occurring ahead of them. “It could be used against a group of them if we have to hit them from more than one side. The Dragonesses could just walk through them and attack from the rear.”
“That they could, but I don’t see strategic maneuvers being necessary against dead pokegirls. Still, no knowledge is ever completely useless.” He paused as they turned a corner. A boxy armored vehicle sat in the middle of the road and a dim light shone through the open driver’s door. “What the hell? That’s a SUV. It’s kind of clunky and has some appliqué armor, but that’s what it is.”
Aurum and Beryl had already moved past the vehicle, but at his words Skye raced forward and looked the SUV over. “It is empty of life or death.” She moved around to the front, her tail swinging slowly. “There is something painted on the door. It reads DCWS 10th Recon, Eyes in the Wilderness.” She lifted her head and leaned forward, looming over the hood of the vehicle. “The keys are in the ignition.”
Iain flipped off the safety on his shotgun. “Unless Zombabes got them, the crew could still be around somewhere near.”
Skye snorted. “Other than you and your living harem, there are no living pokegirls within a thousand meters. Only rodents and insects are still alive here.”
Iain grabbed the keys and moved around to the back, unlocking and opening the cargo area. “Let’s see what we’ve got. Eve, how’s Irena on firearms?”
“She’s fine.”
He pulled a blocky weapon out of the back. “Then I think you might want this.”
Irena took the firearm. “What is it?”
“It’s a submachine gun. It looks a lot like a larger version of an HK UMP45, which is a .45 caliber SMG.” He pulled a couple of spare magazines from a case and flipped out a round. “Hmm. That’s not a .45 ACP. It reminds me of the .460 S&W Magnum. The BLSF police use something very similar to this weapon for its SWAT teams. For them the extra weight of the ammo is offset by the knockdown power of the round. It’s also smaller and with the stock folded it’s more maneuverable than the R-4.” He slipped the round back into the magazine and gave it to the chibi Sanctuary Goth. “It should be a one shot kill on a Zombabe if you hit her in the head and it’ll definitely get a Dameosaur’s attention if not crack her skull open.”
She grinned and reached into the case for more magazines. “You give a girl the nicest gifts.”
“I try.”
Eve patted the roof of the SUV. “If you can drive stick, we could use this instead of walking.”
“I can drive a standard transmission but we’re trying not to make noise, which is why I haven’t been doing any shooting in support of Scheherazade as she covers our rear. Armored cars usually have powerful engines and are pretty noisy. Also, if we rode in this thing it would just make us into a single target someone could zap.”
“Hey, look, grenades.” Irena held up an elemental fragmentation grenade. “These could be fun.”
Iain shook his head. “You ever trained with grenades?”
“No.”
“Put it back. You drop a grenade short and it becomes a threat to us and anyone with us. Only people in movies come with an automatic understanding of how to safely use grenades. And before you ask, I was Navy, not Army, so I haven’t used them before. I do know enough about how dangerous they are to respect them very much.” He headed back to the driver’s seat and put the keys back in the ignition before making sure the door was unlocked and closing it.
Dominique raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”
“Keeping the keys isn’t going to give me anything more than a souvenir and a Zombabe isn’t going to drive this heap. Some of them can learn to do simple things, but a clutch is beyond them. But if someone living comes along and can use it, they can have it. It might keep them alive.”
Eve’s smile at him made her entire face glow. “Thank you.”
“I am more than willing to think about others if it doesn’t put us in danger.” He looked around as the moaning began to grow louder. “Let’s get moving before company arrives. Skye, can we turn away from the center of the city yet? I smell smoke and getting trapped in a city while it burns is not on my list of fun ways to die.”
The Dragoness cocked her head. “The dead to the south are now more to the east of us. I think they are clustered around a redoubt of the living. They are unlikely to break away from certain prey to give us chase. If you wish to head south now, it would be safer than it was a while ago. There are still fewer walking dead to the west.”
“Then we continue west. As soon as we can, I want to turn south and get out of the city. Then we start making our way to the capital.” He rubbed his palm against the stock of his shotgun. “Sanctuary is over three thousand kilometers southeast of here. Even flying legs of it and landing for the night, it’s going to be a very long walk.”
Eve opened her mouth and closed it when he looked at her. Then she shrugged. “We can’t save everyone, can we?”
Skye twisted her head to look at the Megami-sama for a few seconds. “Lord, we are in no danger from the venom of the mobile dead. If Eirian and the others came here they could range out and destroy all of the moving dead they encounter. It would not necessarily save anyone, but it would lower the density of the dead and give anyone trying to escape a greater chance of success. If you wanted, they could start with the dead clustered around the living to the south and east.”
Iain ignored the way Eve’s eyes lit up. “That wouldn’t get you any benefit. Would Eirian be willing to do this?”
“We are yours to command, my lord. Asking is not necessary.” The blue Dragoness’ wings spread and folded up neatly. “We do remember what living was like, lord, and Eirian had a kind heart while alive. More and more we are becoming something more akin to being alive than dead and being asked by you to decide to help the living ones without putting you in danger would bring her pleasure.”
“What about Sable and Emerald?”
“Lord, Sable lived to destroy. She still takes pleasure in it. As for Emerald, both before and after her death she enjoyed fulfilling the orders of her lord and in doing a job well done. Ygerna had slated her to be one of her special bodyguard assassins. If you give Emerald her head, she will efficiently destroy large numbers of the walking dead.”
Irena frowned. “Why don’t you call them by their name?”
Skye hissed softly. “My killer called us his Zombabes. We knew what it meant and we despise that word.”
Iain blinked. “I hope you don’t mind us using it.”
The Dragoness shook her head. “We are your dead harem and you have not used that word to describe us. More importantly, we know we are respected by you. To you, undead is not an insult or something to be feared. It’s like being feathered, something to live with. You would never willingly insult us in that manner.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Eirian, Sable, Emerald, please come here.” Suddenly all three Dragonesses were standing in front of him. “Ladies, I have a task that I would like to ask you to do for me. You can sense around us the walking dead that others call Zombabes. To the southeast is a large group of them that appear to besieging a group of living. I would like to ask you to destroy the majority of that group of walking dead without making contact with the living if possible. If you do, please break contact as soon as you can. If you agree, while you are doing that we will be continuing west and then turning south to go around the largest concentrations of the walking dead. Once you break the siege, I’d like you to head towards us, destroying all the walking dead you encounter along the way.”
Sable gave him a curious look. “You ask us to do this?”
“It’s not really any benefit to me or to you to help the living here, so yes, I feel that I should ask this instead of merely ordering. I ask my living harem and I should ask you too.”
Eirian nodded. “We will do what you ask.”
“Thank you. Do what you need to in order to carry out my request. In fact, since we think that that DCWS might be monitoring the situation here, the more noise you make the easier it will be for us to slip away undiscovered.”
Sable grinned. “Rest assured we will make noise, my lord.”
Emerald regarded him curiously. “You do not care if we destroy buildings and other things if we deem it useful?”
Iain grinned. “Just don’t drop the buildings the living are in and don’t drop other buildings on them. Oh, one other thing. If the living ones attack you, ignore them if you can safely do so. If it isn’t safe to ignore their attack, defend yourself while moving under cover. If they persist, leave them to their fate and return to me.”
“Defending ourselves will result in the attacker dying.”
He nodded. “I know. I also know it’s unlikely they can muster the force to seriously hurt you, but if they can, my instructions stand. I will not cripple your ability to defend yourself just so they can use you for target practice.”
Eirian looked at Eve. “Do you have a problem with our instructions?”
The Megami-sama shook her head. “We don’t have to help them. If we do and they’re stupid, they deserve what they’ll get when you pull back.”
Emerald nodded. “If they attack us, we will warn them that we are helping them.”
Sable gave a low snarl. “Once. After that I will defend myself.”
“Fair enough.” Iain watched them head off at a run before turning to Eve. “Satisfied?”
“I’m more than satisfied in this, Iain. You’re proving that Vanessa was right and that you’re a good man for me.” Abruptly she spun in place as she began to glow. A horizontal crescent of light shot from her body, expanding as it did to slash through the group of Zombabes that had surrounded Scheherazade when they stopped. The focused celestial light bent around the Dread Wolf’s armor as every Zombabe it touched dropped lifelessly to the ground.
I had things under control, Eve. There was a definite feeling of annoyance from the silver figure as it turned to give them a brief stare. But out of politeness, I will thank you for your aid, unneeded though it was.
Eve laughed as Iain motioned for them to get moving again.
***
The three figures paused in the shadows as the leader examined the scene in front of her. A squat, solid looking building sat surrounded by either open field or parking area on all sides. Several undamaged DCWS patrol vehicles were in the parking lot. The vehicle nearest the building had its engine running and the driver’s door open. Blood dripped onto the asphalt from the male body that had been half dragged from behind the wheel and now dangled from the seatbelt he’d been wearing. A trio of Zombabes stood in the arc of the door, their heads rising and falling as they fed on the corpse.
The rest of the area around the building was filled with Zombabes that moaned as they faced the building where more food tried to keep them from consuming it. So far it had been successful, but they were nothing if not patient.
The building itself had a heavy windowless door that looked like someone had used electrical techniques to weld shut from the inside, for the paint was blistered and burned in a line where the steel door met the armored sill. Zombabes pressed against it as they did the walls of the building. A couple of windows on the second floor were open and light flashed in one of them. The head of one of the feeding Zombabes snapped backwards from the shot and she fell away from her meal only to be replaced by the one standing behind her.
A voice so hoarse that determining gender was impossible cursed dully.
Use no magic where the life can see us, but otherwise do not hold back. We will begin with grouped fire and then proceed as you will. Begin the simulation of life.
Each of them cast a spell that gave them the semblance of being alive and the Zombabes began to turn as they suddenly sensed food behind them.
The three Dragonesses ran forward in a line abreast. A yell came from the open window, carrying a desperate warning that the three ignored as they ran to the attack. They waited until they were almost on the closest Zombabes before breathing a wave of fire over the mobile dead. The Zombabes burst into flames and fell away as flesh crackled in the intense heat. A pall of dark smoke headed skyward and the air was filled with the smell of roasted meat overlaid with burning hair and fabric.
Then the Dragonesses split up, proceeding counterclockwise with Eirian continuing to use fire blast on the ones in front of her as she drifted towards the security station where the life was trying to defend itself. Her entire body burst into streaming runnels of flame as she combined the two techniques of ignite and napalm into one. Fire flickered in a line behind her as she dripped flaming liquid with every step. Each of the Zombabes she touched or that touched her began to burn as sticky flames spread from the contact point.
Sable hit the mass of Zombabes in front of her like a buzzsaw, the unerring strikes of her wings and claws coming so quickly that sound of bone snapping was almost one continuous noise as she proceeded through the assembled menaces at a run. At each strike, a body flew away from her in a cloud of purple as the mega zombie poison released in a grotesque proof of final death.
Emerald also battled her way into the Zombabes in front of her. However she only fought just long enough for her hyperbeam to charge. Then she stopped and raised her head level with the oncoming Zombabes, looked over her right shoulder and released the deadly beam as she snapped her head sideways in a movement too fast to see. Her sisters dropped into a crouch as she did so. The effect created a fan of energy at head height in a 180 degree arc that chewed through everything in front of it and blew the facing off the buildings it touched even as it ignited them. It also ripped the roofs off of three parked vehicles and set them ablaze. Emerald carefully stopped the swing of her head so that the swath ended just before hitting the building the living had holed up in.
Then the Dragonesses raced forward in search of more Zombabes to destroy, Sable charging her hyperbeam as she prepared to emulate Emerald’s massive strike on the next mass that was shambling towards them.
In this fashion, the undead Dragonesses quickly completed a circuit of the building and sped away, leaving less than fifty mobile Zombabes of the more than two thousand who’d been besieging the building. Behind them, shots rang out as the defenders began mopping up. Once out of sight the liches slowed and boosted the spell that gave them the appearance of life to draw more of their prey to them. Then they began methodically destroying each Zombabe they encountered and either leveling or firing every building they found that held them. Groups of the walking dead were destroyed with flamethrower, fire blast or fireball spells while individuals were decapitated or had claws driven through their skulls to destroy the brain. Sonic spells shattered the windows in every building for blocks before more fireballs were launched into them to ignite the interior walls and set them ablaze. Smaller buildings were hit with hyperbeam and collapsed as their support beams shattered.
Eirian was careful to lead her force through streets and alleys in an arc that carried them away from the path Iain and the others were taking before curling around to join them along their route.
***
Skye drifted in their direction as they turned another corner. “There is life in the building to the right.” She pointed at what looked like a block of flats. “There are only three of them.”
Eve looked at Iain and he shook his head at her unasked question. “They’re armed if they’re human and most definitely armed if they’re pokegirls. Going in after them is begging for a firefight. If they come out we’ll deal with it.”
“Can I yell to try and get their attention? Zombabes don’t talk and that might help them decide to escape with us.”
“Yell all you want, but we are not stopping. If they don’t come out before the building is out of sight, we’re not coming back either.”
“I understand.” Eve headed for the building at a trot as she called out for the people inside to come out.
Skye watched her go. “Having others join us adds unnecessary risk.”
Iain glanced at her. “I agree. Sometimes, however, one has to balance risk with keeping your harem happy.”
The blue Dragoness turned and looked directly at him for several seconds with an odd expression of longing. “I wish I had known you when I was alive.” Then she turned and headed back to her position.
Iain watched her go. “I think I would have enjoyed that too,” he muttered before continuing on down the street. His head came around at the sudden triumphant noise in Eve’s voice. “Shit. She had to talk them into coming with us.”
Three people slowly came out of the building and stopped a few feet from Eve. All were female. One was a pokegirl or pokewoman. An Arachnae in her bipedal form. The others weren’t. The humans were an adult woman and a child.
Iain sighed and headed in their direction. When he was closer to them he raised his voice slightly. “Eve, remember our discussion from earlier.”
The Arachnae gave him a haughty look. “And just who are you to order a Megami, male?”
Iain’s face went completely blank before he sneered. “I am reminding her of what our mistress,” he jerked a thumb in the direction of Irena, who was walking towards them in her adult form, “told us to do.”
The Arachnae turned to peer closely at the Sanctuary Goth. She bobbed her head deeply. “Lady, your male has a bad attitude.”
“Not to me he doesn’t.” Irena smiled broadly at the Arachnae. “Who are you and are these yours?”
“I am Janise and this is my pet Teresa and our child Lisa.”
Irena nodded. “I am Irena and these are mine. Eve, remember your orders.”
The Megami-sama stepped forward. “I have to examine you for injuries and then heal and cure all of you to make sure you’re not infected.”
Janise growled softly and her mandibles appeared for a second in the back of her mouth as she folded her arms. “You will not touch us. We are not in need of assistance.”
Irena shrugged. “Then you stay here. Come along, you two.”
Janise raised a hand. “Wait. I will allow this if we can travel with you. You will start with me.”
As Eve started examining the Arachnae, Irena put her hand in Iain’s. She glanced at him. Did I do ok?
He tightened his fingers around hers. You did an excellent job, my little ruthless bitch.
The chibi Sanctuary Goth’s eyes danced with pleasure. I’m all bitch and I’m all yours. Her fingers relaxed slightly. How are we going to work around the fact that the Dragonesses only respond to you without them finding out we’re not a normal Sanctuary Goth harem?
Give me orders to give to them and make it like you think they’re so far beneath you that they’re not worth your time.
She blinked. You’re good at this.
Eve finished with the Arachnae and moved on to Teresa. Janise headed for Iain and Irena. “Lady, I am grateful that you will allow us to escape with you.”
Irena pulled her hand out of Iain’s and folded her hands behind her back. “You certainly have an odd way of showing gratitude, but we have a duty to protect everyone we can. Fortunately for you I take that duty seriously.”
The Arachnae bobbed her head in acknowledgement of the rebuke as Iain walked back towards Scheherazade. The Dread Wolf was watching behind them when he stopped next to her. Tired of the newcomers already?
He shrugged even though she couldn’t see it. I know her attitude is going to be typical, but it doesn’t make me want to poke at her and piss her off royally any less. So I’ll stay away from her until I master that impulse. The fact that she’s a bitch shouldn’t justify me goading her until someone has to kill her.
Her head swiveled as she alertly watched the area. Is your response to her really that negative?
Iain chuckled softly. “Maybe she’s right,” he said quietly. “I do have a bad attitude about being a second class citizen and I need to be careful not to match attitude with attitude or this journey is going to be over long before we reach the capital. After all, this is not going to be the only time someone is going to treat me that way or the only time I’ll have to smile afterwards and admit that my stupidity is why I just got called to task.”
I’d hug you or something right now but my armor will need cleaned with flamethrower to get rid of the Zombabe residue before it is safe for us to touch again.
“Just knowing you would makes me feel better. I will survive this, but I don’t care if she does speak Swahili, we’ll find someone else to learn from. I want away from them as quickly as possible.”
He blinked when Eve’s mind touched his. Iain, please come here. There was a note of sadness in the thought that made him quicken his pace as he turned back toward the tableau. Apparently she’d finished with the mother, Teresa, for now Eve was kneeling and talking to Lisa, the little girl. She looked to be nine or ten years old and was chatting animatedly with the Megami-sama. Teresa had joined Irena and Janise and the three were talking quietly. Dominique kept watch not far from the Sanctuary Goth.
He stopped next to her and she smiled at Lisa. “I just need a word with my friend. I’ll be right back.” She rose and led him a few paces away before letting him see the anguish she felt. “You were right and I need you to keep Lisa from feeling alone while I tell Teresa and Janise that their little girl is infected with Zombabe poison and it’s been too much time since she was infected. I can’t cure it.”
He nodded and spoke as quietly as Eve did. “How long does she have?”
“An hour or two at most. It’s strange, Iain, I can’t find any sign that she’s been attacked and she said nothing bad happened to her recently. Somehow she got infected, and she’s going to die and become a Zombabe.” The Megami-sama sighed. “If I’d gotten to her an hour ago she’d be fine. I know these things happen, but it always hurts.”
“You’re a celestial and a kind woman, too. I’d be more surprised if it didn’t hurt you. I’ll take care of Lisa while you go inform the parents.”
“Thank you, Iain.” She led him back to the little girl. “Lisa, this is Iain and he’s going to keep you company while I go talk to your parents.”
The little blonde smiled at him. “Hi, Iain.”
He squatted next to her and smiled back. “Hi, Lisa.” Out of the corner of his eye he noted Eve heading for the parents and Irena. “How was your day today?”
“We had to hide a lot. There were bad people outside and they wanted in to hurt us.”
“Yeah, we’ve seen some of them too. Did anyone get inside?”
She nodded. “Just one. She got in my bedroom window. Miss Janise beat her up and threw her outside.” She shuddered. “There was a big mess in my bedroom.”
“Wow. I’m glad nobody got hurt.”
“Yeah. Tippie got into trouble though and I had to give her a stern talking to.”
“Tippie?”
“She’s my Guinea Pig. She ate something and got sick and threw up on me. Miss Janise said it stank and I had to put her back in my room. She’s asleep now.”
“Did she get sick after the bad person got in your bedroom?”
Lisa nodded solemnly. “Uh-huh.” A cry of anguish caught both their attentions and Iain turned slightly to see Teresa staring at Eve with a look of absolute horror combined with disbelief. It was harder to read the Arachnae’s expression, but her body language wasn’t happy. Lisa turned around, bit her lip and stared at her mother with concern. “Why is mommy unhappy?”
Iain drew his pistol and shot the little girl in the base of the skull.
Eve, Dominique, Irena, and Janise whirled at the crack of the round. Eve watched him holster the weapon and gave him a sad look of understanding before lunging to catch the charging Arachnae.
Teresa stared at her child and then at him. Her face twisted and she drew a knife before hurling herself at him with a scream of fury. “You bastard!” Iain leveled his shotgun and clicked off the safety. She stopped a few feet away. “I’m going to kill you!”
His voice was flat. “I did what had to be done. You come any closer and I’ll do what has to be done now, too.”
“Don’t you dare touch my pet!” Janise struggled in Eve’s arms but couldn’t get free.
Iain didn’t look away from the human. “I am not going to let her hurt me for what I did. She was going to become a Zombabe and attack us. This way you can hate me for what I did instead of hating her memory for something that she was going to do. But all you get to do is hate me. You try to kill me and I will end your life.” He looked past her and shook his head almost imperceptibly as Skye began sidling in Teresa’s direction.
Irena moved between Iain and Teresa. “Both of you put your weapons away. Janise, neither you nor your pet will hurt mine, is that clear? I’ll leave both of you for the Zombabes if you try anything.” Her eyes flicked over him. “You will not kill without my permission again.”
He bowed slightly. “Yes mistress. If they attack me, I will try not to kill them.”
Irena turned to face Teresa and, behind her, Janise. Her voice was icy. “If you touch my pet I will cripple both of you and leave you for the Zombabes.” Skye hissed and flexed her claws. Irena glanced at the Dragoness. “Iain, I still haven’t forgiven them for their failure. Tell her to stand down.”
“Skye, in the house there is a Guinea Pig that is infected with Zombabe poison. It’s the vector and may or may not be a Zombabe. Destroy it.”
Eve’s mouth dropped as the blue Dragoness headed for the front door without another word. “How did it happen?”
“Lisa said that a Zombabe got into her bedroom. Janise fought it in there and threw it outside. Then her pet, Tippie, got sick from something she ate. It must have been a fragment of Zombabe. The Guinea Pig threw up on Lisa, who probably got residue on her hands and then touched her mouth before washing.”
Teresa was staring at him. “Guinea Pigs don’t eat meat.”
“They’re rodents. They’ll chew on anything they find and rodents like bone. Bits of Zombabe probably got strewn around Lisa’s bedroom during the struggle. She said it made a mess of her room.”
Skye came outside. “I could not find the creature. I found a place where it gnawed an opening in a wall corner. It did not smell alive and I did not sense any small walking dead in the building. It must have made its way outside and moved on in search of prey. As it would have come after us if it were here, this must have happened some time ago.”
Irena blinked. “There’s an undead Guinea Pig out there somewhere? Somehow that’s creepier than the regular Zombabes.”
Dominique chuckled. “That’s because such a small Zombabe could sneak into your tent and bite you before anyone knew about it. It’s a good thing we have the Dragonesses.”
Irena shuddered. “Don’t say that.”
Iain shook his head. “I hadn’t ever considered if Zombabe venom could jump to animals. That puts a new wrinkle on things.” He thought of Irena. We need to get moving.
The Sanctuary Goth didn’t hesitate. “Iain, put Lisa’s body in the house and burn the building. There’s no reason to leave her for the Zombabes.” Her eyes flicked sideways. “Teresa, help him.”
“I don’t want anything to do with him.”
“I didn’t ask, did I? This way you can make sure she’s laid out nicely.”
Janise jerked herself free from Eve. “I will help Teresa with our daughter’s body.” Her voice caught for a second. “Have him stay outside.”
Irena regarded her for a second. “You two have five minutes to say goodbye to her. We can’t wait longer than that. Iain, tell Skye to get ready to fire the house.”
“Yes, mistress.”
***
Iain Grey - Tradesman
Eve - Megami-sama (alpha)
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
Scheherazade - Dread Wolf
Irena- Chibi Sanctuary Goth
April - Duelist
Dragonesses
Eirian - Silver
Skye - Blue
Emerald - Green
Sable - Black
Aurum - Gold
Beryl - Red