The Smashing Dead

Season 2, Episode 4: Amid the Final Dungeon

Part 3

Duster was caught on the chain-link fence. He was slumped over, pathetically reaching for Ness and Robin. Ness could barely look.

"Look, he's your friend." Robin said, "You should do this."

Ness stared at his former friend. For some reason, Ness felt guilty for everything.

"I-I'm so sorry, Duster."

Ness raised his hatchet and stuck it across the undead Duster's face. It didn't kill him, just left a large gash across his cheek. Ness raised his hatchet and struck Duster again. Again, it didn't kill him, it only made a piece of his head to hang off. Ness raised his hatchet for the final time and rammed its blade into Duster's head. He stopped moving. Ness couldn't look as he yanked his hatchet.

"If it comes to it…if Shulk, or Lucas, or anybody needs to be put down, you gotta be ready for it."

"I know…" Ness said quietly, "I've…done this before."

Robin looked at Ness with pain, as if she knew what he felt, or that she wanted to know more.

"That hatchet of yours…" Robin said, changing the subject. "It seems to get stuck pretty easily. It's gonna get you killed. Use this instead."

Robin handed Ness a surprisingly clean ice pick. Ness took it and clutched it in his hand.

"It's very effective." Robin said, "We can do this."

Robin pushed Duster's corpse off of the chain-link fence. It flopped onto the ground like a ragdoll that had given up.

Ness and Robin ducked behind an upturned slide. They could already hear muffled cries.

"They don't sound too good." Robin sighed, "The clock is ticking."

"I'm ready." Ness said, full of determination.

"I know you are." Robin replied, flashing a quick smile. "We need to get a better look. How about you get the close one, and I'll hop over the fence to get the other."

Ness nodded. And ran over to the walker. He waited it to get just close enough to give two quick stabs to the head and neck, signaling Robin to catch up with Ness.

"Nice work." Robin praised, "Now watch this."

Robin ran and easily jumped over the wooden fence, landing on her hands and feet. She sprinted towards the shambling corpse and kicked its knees, toppling it over. She stabbed the walker in the eye the moment it fell.

Ness ran over to Robin.

"You take out the knees first." Robin explained, "Then…put a knife in its head when it's down. Now, let's see what we got on deck."

The two hid behind a wall, putting them out of sight from the other walkers. Ness peeked out from behind the corner to observe the scene.

Two walkers were standing by some sort of barricade. One of them was aimlessly slapping a piece of scrap metal that made up part of the barricade.

"It's gonna take some work to get over there…" Robin sighed.

Robin suddenly ran for an old pickup truck. Ness attempted to follow, but was grabbed by the walker from before.

Ness freaked out. He thought that one was dead already.

The noise alerted the two other walkers as well as Robin. Robin took action and ran to make quick work of the two walkers. Ness tugged his arm out and quickly stabbed the walker in the eye. Ness stood up and saw that Robin was struggling with one of the walkers. The other one was making his way towards Ness.

Ness lashed his foot out and kicked the walker right in the knees, toppling it over. Ness then stabbed it, ending its life.

"You did the knee thing." Robin said, finished with the walker. "Nice trick, huh?"

Ness and Robin hid behind a dumpster to see where the cries were coming from. The cry was coming from a nearby house complex, where a horde of walkers were banging on the door.

"That's a lot of walkers…" Ness observed, "They looked worked up about something."

"And what gets walkers worked up?" Robin asked in a tone that told Ness that she already knew the answer.

"People. How do we get in?"

"If we can get enough noise on this side, we can lure those walkers over here."

Ness looked around and saw the pickup truck from before. This gave him an idea.

Ness quietly stood by the truck and opened a door. Ness pressed the wheel, making the horn blare, but Ness let go the second a walker turned around.

Not enough, he has to find something to keep the horn pressed for a while.

Ness turned around. He saw one of the walker corpses from before.

"Robin." Ness called, "If we put that walker on the truck horn, the sound will get the walkers distracted."

"Just like moths to a flame." Robin agreed.

Ness and Robin each grabbed one arm and began to drag it towards the vehicle. When they got to the truck, they set the walker on the chair. He almost looked polite. But not for long.

Robin shoved the corpse onto the horn, shooting the noise everywhere. The walkers by the door were attracted to the sound and made their way towards truck, but were stopped by the metal barricade.

Robin and Ness made their way towards the one house and entered it without a sound.

Inside, there was a doorway that was blocked by a bookcase. Another walker slapping itself on it. Robin made quick work of it.

The sound suddenly stopped.

"Shit. We have to go!"

The two teammates ran to another house. Ness ran up the stairs leading to the door and kicked it, barely affecting it.

Cries erupted from inside the house. Turn out their guess was a lucky guess.

"You're gonna need more force than that!" Robin yelled. "Put some muscle into it! I'll hold the walkers off. Just get us in there!"

Ness slammed his foot into it three more times before the lock gave way. Robin dashed and shoved Ness inside to save time before closing the door.

"Help me block this door!" Robin said.

Ness and Robin shoved an entire dresser over, queuing a yelp from the other room.

"Who's there?" A familiar voice shouted.

"Shulk!" Ness called

A door from down a hallway opened up, showing Shulk holding his Monado, tired and bloody.

"Ness!"

Shulk ran towards the two.

"Did Duster find you? He said he would look for you. He made a run for it."

Those words hurt Ness.

"Look, he was out there" Robin said before Ness could, "But we took care of him, ya know."

Shulk suddenly looked completely torn up. He nearly dropped his Monado. Ness knew exactly how he felt

"Fuck…fuck…"

"Shulk, we gotta get going." Ness said.

"I'll second that." Robin agreed.

"Well, I would've left already, but I got Lucas here and…" Shulk trailed off and looked at the door where he came from. "I don't know what to do about her."

"What's the matter?" Robin asked.

"Just…you gotta help."

Ness and Robin followed Shulk to Lucas, who was sitting in the corner with his head down.

"Lucas, look it's Ness." Shulk said. "I told you there were alright."

Lucas looked up at Shulk, then at Ness, then hung his head again.

"What's going on?" Ness asked quietly, "Can he get up?"

"I don't know what to do." Shulk whispered, "I can't snap her out of it. I tried carrying him, but I guess Bowser messed me up back there. I don't know. After Flint, he just lost it. Started running through the woods like a maniac. I chased after him for a long time. And then…well, she saw this mobile home and made a beeline to it." Shulk sighed, "I'm just so glad you guys are here."

"But we're not out of the woods yet." Robin pointed out, and, as if on cue, Ness heard a walker slam itself onto the door.

"But what are we going to do about Lucas?"

"Maybe she'll listen to me." Ness offered.

"Maybe…" Shulk agreed.

"Listen, I…uh…" Robin intervened, a look of worry plaguing her face, "They're gonna tear this place open pretty soon. We can't stay. So we gotta get him up or…"

"Well, I've been trying." Shulk replied in a matter-of-factly tone. "I've been trying for hours. I can barely get her to look at me."

Ness thought for a moment and knelt in front of Lucas.

"Lucas…it's me."

No response.

"Some people…" Robin said, "you just can't help. Okay? I've seen it before."

But Ness was the kind of person that never gives up.

"You helped me when we first met, now I want to help you."

This made Lucas look up for a moment. At least they were getting somewhere.

"Maybe it seems like you're alone right now, but you're not."

"Yes I am." Lucas said quietly."

"What about Shulk, and Robin, and me? We came here because of you. All of us in a group, we're your family now."

Lucas suddenly broke down crying.

"Crap. We're surrounded." Robin remarked, "W-What about the skylight?"

Shulk looked up, "It's all we got."

"Ness. There's no time!" Robin said through gritted teeth.

Ness began to scramble for a solution.

"When this all started, "Ness began, on the verge of rambling, "I met my friend Ike. He tried to help me find my parents. He protected me more than anyone else in my whole life. He died to keep me safe. I was so scared."

Lucas seemed intrigued. "But you're still here."

"Because he taught me to be strong. Even when I'm scared. Because he wanted me to live. And your dad protected you because he wanted you to live. He would still want that!"

Ness kindly handed Lucas his missing shoe. Lucas quietly slipped it on and made eye contact with Ness.

A loud creaking noise came from the door.

"Get to the skylight, now!" Robin shouted as the sprinted to the door.

"Come on, I'll boost you!" Shulk said.

Shulk cupped his hands under his stomach to make a step. Ness quickly put his weight on it, but Shulk quickly let him go to clutch his chest in pain.

"What's going on back there?" Robin shouted from afar.

"It's my ribs." Shulk replied, "We're gonna need something to stand on!"

"Shulk, get over here and help me hold this!"

Shulk nodded and ran out of Ness' sight.

"Ness, see what you can find!"

The young boy desperately searched through the area. He found a milk cart. Too small. He found a fridge. Too heavy.

There was only one other option.

"Can we use that?" Ness asked, pointing at the dresser that made a makeshift barricade.

Robin thought for a moment, "Yeah, that would work."

"Shit." Shulk cursed in frustration.

All three got in their positions.

"One. Two. Three!"

Shulk and Ness pushed the dresser, while Robin stayed back to hold the door closed. Robin eventually let up and killed as many walkers as she could.

"It's through!" Ness shouted the moment the dresser was in place.

Robin ran into the room and shut the door and locked it.

"Shulk, you go first. We need you up top." Robin ordered.

Robin boosted Shulk up with little effort.

"Okay, come on!" Shulk yelled, reaching his hand down.

"Lucas!" Ness screamed, "We have to go! Are you listening?!"

Lucas looked more terrified than ever.

"I can't do it."

"NOW, Ness!" Robin bellowed, "If she doesn't want to go then don't make him! Don't let him take you down too! Not again."

But Ness would never give up until the last minute.

"You can't die like this!" Ness shrieked. "Don't make me leave you! Come on! Dying like this is…is STUPID!"

"You can't save him, Ness. We have to go!" Robin was practically begging at this point. "Believe me, I know about this."

Ness felt a burning pain inside of him. From the walkers on the other side of the door, Robin's annoying insistence, Lucas' stupid weak fear. Ness was melting from anger.

Ness had enough.

With an enormous amount of force, Ness lashed his hand out and smacked Lucas right on the cheek.

"MOVE!" Ness roared.

Lucas was stunned.

At that moment, the door broke down. Ness grabbed Lucas by the arm to put him onto the dresser. Lucas gave no protests. Robin quickly boosted them booth to the roof before climbing up herself.

"We gotta go." Robin said.

"Lucas…" Shulk whispered.

"NOW."

They all jumped off and ran into the forest.

There were no screams of pain coming from the mobile house. Everyone that was in there had gotten out. Well most.

As far as Ness was concerned, this mission was somewhat a success.

…Somewhat.