"We just barely got away that time. Heh… heh."
"I think we may have lost them for good this time. Ugh, they usually don't keep this up for as long as they have. They must really want to catch me, and you too now."
"Yeah, thanks for that."
For three days now we had been running away from the zombie army. We were exhausted and our food supplies were getting low. We had jumped into a nearby cave and hid, waiting for them to pass. Each time they got closer and closer to catching us. We needed to rest, but had little means to do so. With that huge army on our tail it was nearly impossible to comfortably rest without the fear of being killed in the middle of our relaxation.
"So, do you think we lost them finally?"
"Who knows at this point. I think we're better off hiding in this cave for a while than going out their and risk getting chased again."
"What did you do to make them so angry anyways?"
"I killed one of their strongest warriors through less than honorable means."
"By that you mean?"
"Basically it wasn't just me in the arena. A few of us had organized a trap to kill the zombie. It worked. But now the others are really angry."
"Yeah, I could tell."
Steel poked his head out of the cave for moment and, upon seeing no one, collapsed to the ground.
"I think we should rest. Here," he handed me an apple and a piece of bread, "don't eat it all at once. Although it's not like we have much of a choice in this world."
I chomped down on the apple and bread. I felt rejuvenated, except now we were out of food. I peered around the cave, looking to see if there was anything we could make food from. There was nothing.
"Now that we're finally away from them, for the moment, can you tell me that big guy is?"
"I suppose it'll be good to pass the time. Well to start he is one of the generals of the zombie army. Second in command only to the Chief General. He goes by Shempaia, a name that means 'feared' in the ancient tongue."
"The ancient tongue? What the heck is that?"
"It's nothing more than a language that the ancients used in this world. Most books are written in this language. So many stories to be told. Unfortunately many of the books were destroyed during the monster invasion of the capitol. Another sad tale to add to the collection."
"What about the monster army?"
"It's exactly what it sounds like, an army of monsters. Each type of monster is organized under their own leaders. All extremely powerful and tactical. I'll let you judge which is the scarier trait. We fight them off, killing a few, but any time we try to launch an offensive we get ourselves annihilated. It isn't a pretty sight."
"What about that strong zombie that you killed?"
"That was more luck than anything. We caught everyone off-guars so they couldn't react quick enough to save him and, well, we got him. Then we nearly died trying to escape the zombie hoard that came after us. Nothing's ever easy I'm afraid."
"...," I was about to speak but Steel shot up and went to the edge of the cave.
"Alright, let's head out."
"But what about…"
"They would have come back by now, look." He pointed up into the sky, the sun was nearly completely set and the moon had started to rise in the other direction. "Better to move at night when we can't be seen as easily. Besides, I think there may be a village off that way." He pointed towards a large forest of white trees. He walked out of the cave towards the forest. The moon rose steadily into the air.
The forest was large and white. It was hard not to get lost wkth every tree looking almost exactly the same. Eventually we reached a sharp uprising of the ground.
"Great, now we're stuck against a wall. Where is this village of yours anyways? We've been travelling for quite some time and haven't seen anything."
"It's right here."
"Where? I don't see anything except for a large stone wall."
"It's in the wall."
"Alright now you've gone crazy. If you expect…," a small clicking sound came as Steel pressed his hand against the wall. I heard the shifting of blocks and then a small passageway opened deep into the ground.
"After you," he said motioning with his arm.
I stepped in, followed by Steel. The sound began again as the passageway closed up behind us. In front of us lied a long narrow staircase. Torches lined the edge of the tunnel giving off a soft glow. When we reached the bottom we came upon an iron door with no button. Steel walked up to it and gave it a knock. Rap-tap-tap. Voices could be heard coming from the other side as the door swung open, revealing an enormous cavern.
"Collin, welcome to Stonesberg."