A new chapter! In half the time as before! I'm on a roll now.

This one gets kinda gory because, well... you'll see.

Chapter 36:

The moon was at Last Quarter, plenty of light for Isaac to get an idea of his surroundings. However, it was sound that he was focused on at the moment. Not only the rustling he had heard in the distance, but how much noise he seemed to be making as he crept over the embankment in front of his parents' home. His every step seemed to echo through the crushing stillness, it was a wonder that he hadn't woken anyone up. In reality he had made barely a sound, but he was gripped by a nameless apprehension that magnified his every movement.

"HeeYA!"

Came the coarse yell across the empty streets, followed by a sickening crunch that Isaac instantly recognized as the crushing of bones. Without pausing to think he dashed off in the direction of the sound.

Lamps flickered in the widows of the homes that he was running past. Others had been awakened by the sound. But Isaac didn't need much light to recognize Steven swinging an incredibly large granite maul at the group of five ragged-looking people surrounding him.

As Isaac closed in, he noticed that they were not just ragged in their manner of dress, their bodies were torn to ribbons as well. And they were all in varying states of decay.

"Vodoun." Isaac whispered as he ran closer.

From the condition of his opponents, it appeared that Steven had fought bravely thus far. Shattered bones and the battered bodies of two defeated Vodoun littered the small town square where they were fighting. Steven's trusty maul had gained a thick coating of dried blood and flayed skin. His powerful blows landed with tremendous force, sending his targets flying, but the heavy weapon slowed his reaction time. So the crowd was still advancing steadily.

Isaac ran up behind the Vodoun nearest him and swung his blade in a savage downward strike to the top of its head. The blade sunk in deeply. The Vodoun abruptly halted its advance, but far from falling to the ground as Isaac had expected, it turned to face him with the blade still buried in its skull, tearing the hilt out of Isaac's hands. He quickly flung a stone spire at his foe with a thrust of his palm, but the Vodoun blocked it just as easily, catching and crushing it in one swift motion that Isaac would've thought the simple-minded beasts incapable of.

The small patches of remaining putrid skin on the creature's face stretched and snapped as it opened its mouth wide to launch a biting attack at Isaac. In a sudden shift that Isaac nearly mistook for an attack, the point of a sword burst from the Vodoun's mouth. As the now limp skeleton collapsed, Isaac saw that Steven had fought his way over and used his maul to hammer the Gaia Blade straight through the Vodoun's skull.

He had paid a price however, as the others had caught up with him. In no time at all a Vodoun was trying to rip the maul from Steven's hands. Another wrapped its arms around his neck from behind. Isaac grabbed the bloody hilt of his sword, hoping to wrench it free from the Vodoun's skull. There were gruesome cracking sounds as Isaac hefted his sword. He saw that the blade was still stuck, and that the head had come free from the body.

He swung his blade high above his head hoping to dislodge the fetid reminder of his last opponent. The skull flew off in a high arc, cracking against the skull of another Vodoun a few paces away, exaggerating his chaotic stumbling. Isaac knew that he would have to strike hard to break bone. That seemed to be the only way to disable them, but he couldn't risk hitting Steven, so he opted for the back one.

A powerful slash severed the Vodoun's shoulder. Steven felt the grip on his neck slacken and took it as an opportunity. He stopped pulling on the handle of the maul and instead lunged forward putting his weight onto it. The Vodoun in front was thrown to the ground as Steven landed hard on top of him, flipping the other over his shoulders by its one remaining arm.

Even this turn of events could not shake the unwavering determination of their attackers. The Vodoun were still pulling at Steven's weapon and clawing at his face with impunity. Isaac ran the one-armed Vodoun through the chest with his sword, pinning it to the ground. It still swung at Steven, and was quite within reach of him. Isaac knew that he would have to kill it.

He forced a surge of psynergy through his blade and into the ground. The earth responded violently. A pair of stone claws ripped out of the ground on either side of the blade, penetrating the Vodoun's chest from below and pulling sharply outwards, ripping it in half. Even as the claws relaxed and crumbled, Isaac found himself unable to pull his sword from the ground. He would have to think of another way to help Steven with the others.

Steven was still on top of one struggling for his weapon. Isaac extended his hand towards them and said "Growth."

Vines erupted on either side of the Vodoun and snaked their way around its arms. Isaac clenched his fist and the vines grew tight. The combined force of Steven and the vines finally overwhelmed the Vodoun and Steven ripped the handle from its wretched grasp. He stumbled backwards as the weight of the granite block at the end of the weapon set him off balance.

The Vodoun raged against the vines binding it to the ground. Isaac felt his psynergy being drained rapidly as he struggled to bolster them against the Vodoun's incredible strength. He knew that he couldn't keep this up any longer. His vision fogged as his mental reserves reached their limit. For the first time he noticed the fatigue that his sleepless night had left him with. He was dimly aware of Steven engaged in combat with the other remaining Vodoun.

He raised a sharp edge of stone about six inches up from the ground. He gave one final tightening of the vines to yank the Vodoun down onto the stone edge. His focus finally broke and the vines and stone crumbled, but the Vodoun had ceased its resistance, crumbling stone peeking out through its rent and cracked bones.

Isaac held his head as he tried desperately to regain his bearings. He squinted to see Steven still swinging away at the last Vodoun. This one seemed to be faster than the others. A blow that would've pounded any other Vodoun into the ground like a tent spike was somehow easily dodged and reduced to a glancing blow to the shoulder. It didn't help that the attacks had slowed pace considerably by now. Isaac could see that Steven didn't have many swings left in him either. Perhaps if they combined their last effort…

Steven reeled backwards from a punch to the chest. Grunting heavily, but pausing only for a brief moment before readying his weapon again.

"Steven wait!" Isaac yelled.

Steven didn't know what Isaac had planned, but this clearly wasn't working, so he held his maul poised over his shoulder as the Vodoun trudged towards him.

"NOW!" Isaac yelled. The sole of his boot flashed briefly as he stomped hard on the ground. Solid-footed Steven remained firmly rooted as he took is cue to swing. The comparatively light bag-of-bones he was fighting however was bucked into the air by the violent tremor. As it hung aloft briefly, it was unable to dodge Steven's attack. The force of the impact hurled it across the square. It smashed against a nearby tree with a clatter of scattered bones.

The maul finally fell from Steven's hands with a heavy thud. As he stared ahead and tried to catch his breath he said simply:

"…Morning… Isaac."

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Wooooo Gratuitous zombie-smashing! Hey, that would make a great name for a band...