Chapter Four
The companions awake early the next morning. After a hardy breakfast, they go to work helping Kwan and his people improve their defenses. Princess Ariel and Merlik go about the ancient prison and use their magics to repair the damage to the buildings caused by centuries of neglect. While they're doing this Shara, Maya, Synda, and Ookla go about to all the ancient guard towers and equip them with bows and arrows, crossbows and crossbow bolts, Molotov cocktails, as well as heavy stones which can be dropped on the heads of advancing zombies. Of course if the people manning the guard towers find that they need to drop heavy rocks onto the zombies, then all hope for saving themselves is pretty much lost. While they're doing all this, Thundarr borrows Yeek and, with the aid of the winged Valerie Storm, goes about collecting as much firewood as he possibly can. He and Yeek fly to a wide clearing in the forest where there are no zombies around to be seen. Thundarr dismounts and begins cutting down large trees with his Sunsword. Valerie gathers up smaller bits of firewood, dry fallen branches and tinder and such. Then Thundarr climbs on Yeek's back and they fly back to Alcatraz, with Yeek carrying a fallen tree in his talons. They drop the firewood off in the courtyard of the ancient prison, where dozens of men with axes cut the tree up into more manageable pieces. They would then start building huge mounds of firewood. Starting off with tinder and kindling. Over that they would set up heavier and heavier logs, almost like they were building some sort of shelter. Eventually they stack up logs so large only Ookla could lift them, or Synda with the aid of her Staff Of Power. They build several of these mounds next to the fence. Then they build more around the courtyard. The idea is to play on the zombies instinctual fear of fire. Should the zombies break through the electrified fence again, the defenders would throw lighted torches into the tinder and kindling in the heart of each wood structure. The woodpiles would go up in flames and any zombies that are trying to get through the breach in the electric fence would be too scared to enter the courtyard. At least, that was the hope.
Thundarr and Valerie are on their last trip into the woods. In addition to help carrying the smaller pieces of wood for kindling and tinder, Valerie was also acting as Thundarr's lookout. With her ability to fly, her hawk-like vision, and her ability to shoot energy beams from her eyes, she was the perfect back up for this mission. As Thundarr and Yeek fly off with their last tree, Valerie follows close behind with an armload of dry sticks. Just as she's flying past a huge fir tree, a zombie groundling leaps from the tree's upper branches and grabs Valerie's leg. She screams and drops her bundle of sticks, flapping her wings harder to try to stay aloft.
"Valerie!" cries a concerned Thundarr.
The groundling bites her on the calf and she screams again. The zombie's ratlike teeth sink deep into her flesh. She looks down and blasts the groundling's skull with her eye beams. The zombie's skull explodes and it falls to the ground, dead. More zombies come out of the trees and into the clearing.
"Let's get back to Alcatraz," she says to Thundarr, and she leads the way to the fortified prison.
They get back to Alcatraz and the men and Ookla begin chopping up this last log. The sun is setting in the west, and Ariel's prediction of how long her ice spell would last was pretty much dead on. The ice had nearly completely melted away over the course of the day. By morning the zombies would be making their way up the hill again. Princess Ariel comes over to the two returning heroes to greet them and update them on the state of Alcatraz's defenses when she sees Valerie's bloodied leg.
"What happened?" she asks with genuine worry.
"Some zombie rat creature bit me," replies Valerie, "took a chunk right out of my leg."
"The bird woman's been bitten!" cries one of the villagers, a big burly fellow with an ax, "Get her! Before she kills us all!"
"No! Stop!" cries Ariel, and she creates a wall of magical energy between the advancing villagers and themselves. Kwan comes over to try and mediate.
"She was bitten by a zombie!" cries the first villager, pointing his finger at Valerie.
"She must be destroyed!" cries another.
"Is this true?" asks Kwan, "Was she bitten?"
"She was," says Ariel, "But that's no reason to kill her. Not yet."
"She has not turned yet," says Kwan, "But she will soon. I'm afraid it is the only way to ensure our safety."
"No..." begins Ariel, but Valerie puts her hand on the sorceress's shoulder.
"It's okay," says Valerie, "I've seen enough Romero films to know that he's right. In all of them, Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Day Of The Dead, once you're bitten you're done for. And what about my powers? Zombies are beings of pure instinct. The first time I ever used my eye beams in my fight against Vashtar, it was purely instinctual. What if my zombie self can also shoot energy beams from her eyes? Any conventional defenses against zombies will be useless. I can't die with that possibility looming over my head."
"Look," says Ariel, "if we were dealing with a horde of wild zombies it would be different. But these are controlled zombies. Thundarr, Ookla and I were already planning on tracking down the wizard that's pulling their strings. All this means is that we have that much more incentive to break his evil spell."
"It will be some time before the venom kills her," says Kwan.
"How long does she have?" asks Thundarr.
"By the time the sun sets tomorrow she will be one of the living dead," he replies.
"Then we must make haste," says Thundarr, "We leave tonight!"
"Will you keep Valerie safe until we get back?" Ariel asks Kwan.
"She will begin feeling ill very soon. By noon tomorrow she will be too sick to move. I can guarantee her safety until dusk. Once the sun is about to touch the horizon, one of us will have to remove her head. It is better than the alternative."
"I will," says Synda, who had been listening quietly the entire time, "It's the least I can do for her."
"I can accept that," says Valerie.
Princess Ariel solemnly nods her head and lowers her magical shield. Synda and Maya lead Valerie into Alcatraz to take her to the infirmary to treat her leg. Meanwhile, Shara and Merlik walk up to Thundarr.
"So where do we go first?" asks Merlik.
"You aren't going anywhere," replies Thundarr, "Ariel, OOkla, and I are going to head out towards Kublai's old fortress. This wizard may have taken it over as his own."
"You can't leave us behind!" protests Merlik, "We're not children anymore!"
"Besides," adds Shara, "Yeek is our bird! If we don't go, neither does he!"
"This isn't about us thinking you're too young," Ariel interjects, "We know that you're older, wiser, and more powerful than you were when we first met. You've already proven that. But with Valerie out of commission, your magic is the village's most powerful weapon against the zombies. If we don't make it back, it'll be up to you to find a way to evacuate the people of Cisco to somewhere safe."
"If something should happen to us," says Thundarr, "we will send Yeek back to you. You can decide where to go from there."
Shara and Merlik look to each other for support. After a moment or two of silent contemplation, they both nod their heads in agreement.
"All right," agrees Merlik, "We'll stay."
"It is the wisest move to make," says Ariel, "The villagers aren't trained warriors. They'll need your guidance."
"Just try and come back in one piece," says Shara, "I don't like the idea of being the only heroic barbarian wandering these lands."
"Agreed," says Thundarr with a smile. Despite himself, he finds that he's grown quite fond of the young barbarian.
Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla all climb aboard Yeek's back. With only a couple of flaps of his great powerful wings, Yeek is airborne and heading off to try and find the wizard responsible for this atrocity. As they're flying off they look down to see a host of zombies trying to climb up the side of the hill. The ice from Ariel's spell has pretty much melted away. The zombies are climbing higher and higher with each attempt. They still reach an icy patch here or there, or they try and grab a boulder that's slick from melted ice water, and come tumbling down. Sometimes they hit their heads on large sharp rocks and never rise again. Other times they just get right back up and continue climbing. It would almost be funny if it weren't for the fact that they were trying to kill the hero's friends. Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla all know that by dawn the zombies will be reaching the top of the hill and will then continue their assault on Alcatraz.
"Do you think they'll succeed?" asks Shara.
"If anyone can, it'll be those three," replies Merlik.
The two young adventurers go back inside Alcatraz and begin taking command of the defenses, making final last minute preparations. When those zombies come back, they intend to be ready for them.