Sighing, I slumped forward a bit. The wind was cutting into me and my robes weren't cutting it. Farther ahead Lunacora was staggering through the blizzard with more practice than I. A silent sentinel, I trudged on for all I was worth.
I cannot stop. I cannot sleep. Not out here.
I knew that if I fell asleep, I was as good as dead. Behind me, the cool tundra was cool- and it was freezing cold for most others. But out here, even Lu's blood was starting to chill.
A sharp sound of someone dashing through the snow made me turn my head in fear. A dark and cloaked figure was rushing towards me, arms spread out and an ominous gas mask staring me down. My eyes adjusted to the darkness as I turned from the moonlight, and I heard Blaine's voice.
"Natalia: run!" Behind him the rest of our guild mates were running full on, terrified faces filling my cold body with adrenaline. Behind them the creature was speeding right at me.
Its feature turned my stomach and its distorted face made me turn tail and flee after Luna. Dashing fast, I felt my Rapier bounce on my hip, my Scythe jerk around on my back, and my Sniper Rifle hop around on the back of my waist.
Go go-go-go-go-go-go!
My eyes were wide as we sped onwards. Blaine passed me by for only a second, before turning, drawing his Desert Eagle, and squeezing off shots.
An ungodly screech came right after.
"Keep going!"
"FUUUUUU-!"
The members of our party were practically "shitting bricks", as Blaine or Ferrickosu might say.
We hit another patch of trees in a new stretch of tundra woodland, and I lost sight of Luna in the darkness. Rushing through the branches, I bit my lip, ignoring the pain blossoming on my cheeks and arms. My hip boots and robes protected my legs, as I continued onward in a bounding sprint.
Fumbling about in the inky blackness, the moonlight went from illuminating the night, to becoming non-existent. And I needed it bad.
My heart was throbbing, bounding so fast I thought I might die of fear or shock. Skidding to a halt, I looked back. Nobody was cursing behind me anymore, Blaine was not at my side, and I couldn't see anything. I cursed my silvery tinged hair for the first time as my eyes adjusted to the darkness painfully slow.
Come on- I need to see!
Closing my eyes shut, I clenched my fists, breathing in short gasps still.
I am too loud-.
The snapping of twigs made me open my eyes, and fear lanced up my spine. The darkness still loomed everywhere, the bangs of my hair the only thing I could see other than my pale hands. My breathing picked up again, and my heart raced faster.
No. I need to see!
Gasping in the darkness, fighting to breath in the sudden deadly cold that had swept in as we ran farther south into the desolate, uncharted territory, I squeezed my eyes shut.
The snapping of twigs stopped. As my heart felt like it was going to burst, I thought my prayers to Notch and the other, the God.
Counting silently in my head, I opened my eyes and peeked out into the darkness.
And screamed.
The face was black, and the mouth was gaping. Swinging out, I hooked the creature in the face, and leapt back, pulling my Rapier out. My heart sung as I leapt back a few more feet.
The creature cursed and moaned. "Ow- crap! Well that sure as shit is you alright~! Dammit Natters, don't just go swinging around!" As Blaine stood back up, I flew into a flurry of my usual adrenaline filled, sloppy sign.
"Than do not jump in my face while the Bird Man is chasing us!"
"If you think I can see well enough in this darkness, you got me beat there. Can't see jack shit besides you flailing your arms in weird directions. Comeon. We have to go and link up with the others."
My heart was practically pounding in my throat as my guild mate began to jog forward, and I felt a gauntleted had grasped my cold hand. Shivering, I tried my best to keep behind him. Yelling and screams made both me and Blaine jump in fear, and I felt his grip tighten on my hand. Racing through the foliage, we burst into a clearing. The yelling was getting louder. A quagmire of odd noises and calls made my stomach turn as he raced on. Back out into the welcoming moonlight, Blaine let go of my hand as we raced down the pathway.
I could see Wheat, Lunacora, Aster, Sam, Ferrikosu, and Boxxi all scattered around what looked to be the cold, frosted remains of an abandoned estate built magnificently.
Woah… that building… it must be from the earlier 1900s…
"Natters, lay down suppressive fire, I'm going to flank that creature and I want it off of the rest of the Grey Clouds!" Blaine's voice changed from its usual, soft, nasally voice to one of practiced power. As we continued to sprint, I signed a yes, before breaking off and diving into a pile of snow. Blaine continued on as I unhooked my Sniper Rifle, and took aim for the first shot.
Grey was sprinting for all he was worth, his gas mask and rather gamey BDUs close to making me laugh on days were we calm down in the guild bases. His cloak was off- probably stashed somewhere safe, and as I peered through my scope, I admired his determination.
He's gotten more confident since he-…
Shuddering, I looked for my target, and found it racing around Boxxi.
The British girl was growling- something she did so often in her anger, that I did not even have to hear it to know she was pissed and showing it. Her daggers danced with her as she spun in circles, pulling and throwing her knives as she held the long strings that connected to their hilts.
Clicking off the safety, I nested into the snow a bit deeper, and held my breath.
Die.
I pulled the trigger and watched the body fly.
The Bird Man jerked sideways, and, my eyes widened with fear and surprise as it ran off, using the velocity of the bullet traveling through its head to give him more momentum.
No no no …
I pulled back the bolt of my sniper, and cycled another round into the chamber in rapid session. I was a trained Sharpshooter who learnt to place head shots.
Why didn't it die!?
Grey's angry voice mixed with Boxxi's made my heart begin to pick up more after the surprise of not killing the creature we were hired to kill. Rising up to one knee, I felt my waist belt, checking for my extra magazines. They were there.
My L96 should have killed it. I couldn't have grazed it- it's the Accuracy International L96. Am… I looked down at my hands after placing my sniper down in the snow lightly. Am I washed up?
"Natalia- Wheat, get your asses over here!" Blaine's voice caught my attention, and I stood up slowly, cradling my precious possession.
I cannot be. Not yet. I have only fought for a half year! And… my Father trained me…
Moving slowly through the snow, I shook my head.
I couldn't get myself depressed now. There could still be zombies about.
The most of us grouped in the clearing of the broken courtyard, and Blaine counted us off.
"Sound off you guys; and keep your guns out and eyes trained."
"Silversyn, Weiss." Weiss "Wheat" Silversyn, the pale, golden haired Austrian girl closest to the tree, raised her Glock 22, and kept crouched by the Blue Pine. I knelt beside the team demolitions expert, and gave a slight smile as she gave me a big cheesy smile. I began scanning the tree line on the other side of what looked to be all that was left of a magnificent brick and mortar wall.
"Oldin… Sam." The Scout based expert of the team crouched again, his AKM, or Kalashnikov modernized automatic, trained on the trees as well. His dark skin made it easier to blend into the night, so I couldn't see his facial expression as he probably could mine. He was an American along with the rest of the men on the team. A Katana was sheathed on his waist belt, his dark red hoodie blood red, Fleur-de-lis on his chest, as his silver medallion glinted in the light.
"Leviathan, Boliden." I could hear the anger dripping in Boxxi's British accent, and both Lunacora and I coughed our own call off.
"Knight, Ferrickosu." Blaine's older brother nodded once, his own Galil AR trained on the dark shadow looming behind us. I turned around, standing from the crouch I had taken beside gauntlets wear cracked slightly, but his hardened face showed that he was much more experiencd than anybody else.
"Hwael, Aster." The short, small but slightly big boned half black nineteen year old was close to Ferrickosu, who was our oldest guild mate, at twenty five. Her Stoner63 was pointed towards the ground, and ammunition was stuffed in her backpack and on her vest that she wore.
"McCloud, Blaine- alright. We've got our asses in a bind. Both Kitty and Big Papa B are out there- they could still be alive- they have to be." The masked figure pacing in front of us slowly continued, the pistol he had been using away on his person, with the others he had. "That weird as… thing is still out there and we still have to kill it. But right now we need a good plan, or it's going to rip us to shreds-."
A blood curdling moan cut him off, and I spun around on a pivot, facing opposite the house and past Blaine. Looking into my scope, I could see the shambling corpse grimace back at me.
I did not hesitate. I did not wait for orders. I took the shot, and jerked slightly as all one hundred and twenty one pounds of me fired off my powerful Rifle.
The zombie's head bloomed in a red mist, and its body flopped backwards to the floor. I looked over my scope, expecting to view the clean kill, and only achieved a slight heart failure. Gasping and paling from a nice alabaster to porcelain, I watched and heard five more zombies mill towards us.
The undead were not the actual problem.
It was the fact that I had neglected to remember how much noise my Rifle made, and how many zombies would come to the beckoning call of their brethren staggering towards us.
"Shit- they're coming from the trees!" Growling, Boxxi lifted a Remington, and looked to Blaine and Ferrickosu expectantly. Sam and I moved in front of the group as Blaine began shooting out words to his brother.
"Alright- we need to make ourselves a dig in- hold them off-."
"Yes, which would buy us time- what about that house?"
"It wouldn't be a-."
I immersed myself in my training, and lined up for the next shot.
Taking another shot, I heard Sam curse as he went to fire his gun, and heard the click.
"Sunova bit-."
I fired again, resisting a knowing smirk as Sam had more difficulties with his choice of a weapon.
Crouching, I fired again. On my seventh shot, I pulled back the bolt, let the empty fly, and reloaded my next clip, dropping the empty one at my armored boot. My cross around my neck distracted me for a split second as I dipped into the snow again, and lay onto the snow.
Firing a new shot after ramming the bolt of my L96 back home, I got my next kill in. I registered more gun shots going off.
Blaine's voice reached my ears. "They're coming in from over the ruined wall sides- watch your flanks~!"
Still in my killer's trance, I spun up from my prostrate position, and looked out at my other team mates as Sam finally got his gun working and firing at the incoming and quickly growing horde. Wheat was close to Boxxi on the left side, firing at any zombies out of the angry girl's dancing knives.
"Shit~! I'm out!" Hwael's voice echoed in the night, and I glanced around me. She was diving away from the horde, letting Mystic swing his way through the undead. They fell to pieces under his onslaught, and I looked back through my scope. I took the next shot, and there were three times the amount I had to kill for every one zombie I offed.