Chapter Six

Meanwhile, back at Alcatraz, the villagers from Cisco are under siege once again. Just as Ariel had predicted, the ice from her spell had practically melted away by morning. By the time the morning sun was high enough to shine upon the rocky slopes of what was once Alcatraz Island, enough of the ice had melted to allow the zombies to climb to the very top of the hill. Archers, armed with longbows and crossbows, waited for them from within the steel fence. As soon as any zombies raised their heads above the hills ledge, they would take an arrow or a crossbow bolt to the brain and tumble down the hill. The defenders hoped that the falling zombies would dislodge others of the foul horde as they fell, but they couldn't see so didn't know for sure. In one of the guard towers next to the main gate stands the sorcerer Merlik, throwing fireballs at any zombies who manage to climb up that side of the hill. In the other guard tower by the main gate stands Valerie Storm. Her skin is an unhealthy, pasty white. Her clothes cling to her body with sweat as perspiration pours down her skin. Her long blonde hair is matted to her head from perspiration. Yet she has a steely look of determination on her face. Any zombies she sees climbing over the ledge of the hillside she blasts with her powerful eye beams, destroying its skull and the brain within. Standing with her, watching her with great concern, is her good friend Queen Maya. It was agreed earlier that Maya should be in the tower with Valerie. With her ability to assume the form of any element, she would be the least likely to be harmed if Valerie turned during the battle. And as a former monarch, she's willing to do what must be done if that happens.

Early in the fight, things seem to be going quite well for the defenders. Every arrow or crossbow bolt seems to hit a zombie right in the forehead or the eye. Merlik's spells do tremendous damage to the zombies ranks. And even in her weakened condition, Valerie seems incapable of missing her targets. But as the sun reaches its peak, things slowly begin to shift. For every zombie the defenders destroy, there always seems to be two more to take its place. The archers are having a more and more difficult time hitting their targets. Their arms are beginning to tire from constantly drawing back their bows, and the heat from the midday California sun is causing them to sweat. The perspiration is getting into their eyes and blurring their vision. At first it's almost unnoticeable. Then they arrows and crossbow bolts begin to hit with less and less accuracy. Not all of them missed completely. Many of the projectiles would hit a little low, catching the zombies in the throat or the chest. Often the sheer force of the arrows hitting them would be enough to knock them back down the hill. Sometimes an arrow or bolt through the neck would paralyze the zombie, costing it the use of it's limbs. But more and more often the archers would miss their targets completely. Even Valerie's energy beams hit with less and less accuracy. At first she couldn't miss. Then she starts hitting the zombies in the chest more often than the head. Still, the power of the eye beams were enough to send them flying back down the hill. Then she starts missing almost completely. The energy beams start blasting off arms and legs, or hitting them too low on the abdomen to send them over the edge of the cliff. Queen Maya is worried as she looks upon her friend.

"Valerie," says Maya, "are you alright?"

"Can't. . . focus," replies Valerie, "Everything. . . a blur."

"I should take you to the infirmary," Maya tells her.

"No!" shouts Valerie, shaking her head, "I can. . . still. . . fight!"

"Fight?" says Maya incredulously, "You can barely stand!"

"Just. . . need. . . to rest," gasps Valerie.

"You're exhausted!" Maya tells her, "You can't do any more good out here! And using your powers could very well be speeding up the effects of the poison in your blood!"

"If I. . . turn," says Valerie, "I'd rather. . . do it. . . out here. . . than while. . . locked up. . . with the. . . villagers."

"Don't talk like that!" Maya tells her, "As Queen, I command it! You will not die! Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla will destroy the talisman in time to save you! Understood? You just have to hang on until then!"

Valerie gives her friend a weak smile. "Okay," she says, "just. . . take over. . . for. . . a bit. . . so I. . . can. . . rest."

"Agreed," says Maya. She pulls out a ceramic bottle of water and hands it to Valerie. "Drink this," she tells her, "and allow your strength to return. I will keep the monsters at bay."

Valerie takes the bottle with a grateful nod, then uncorks it and drinks. She chokes on the water as it goes down and begins coughing. Maya wipes the sweat from her friend's face with a rag, then picks up a crossbow and starts shooting bolts at the oncoming zombies. Over in the other guard tower, Merlik had stopped hurling fireballs and has opted for energy bolts. The magical projectiles would leap from his fingertips and strike multiple targets. They don't have the power to blast the zombies skulls like Valerie's eye beams, but they knock the creatures over the cliffs edge and sends them tumbling back down the hill. The strain of such heavy spell casting has Merlik exhausted. His clothes and his hair are soaked with sweat. Perspiration drips off of his body, and he's breathing heavily as though he had just ran a great distance. The sorcerer looks over to the other guard tower and sees that Maya is shooting the crossbow and Valerie is nowhere in sight.

"Is everything okay over there?" he calls to Maya.

"Fine!" replies Maya, "Valerie is just tired from the strain of using her powers! She's having trouble concentrating!"

"Is she going to be all right?" asks Merlik.

"I don't know!" Maya shouts back, "I think the effort of using her powers may have sped up the poison from the zombie's bite!"

Merlik looks over the battlefield outside the steel fence. More and more zombies are crawling up over the hills edge and aren't being killed off. The arrows and crossbow bolts from the defenders are flying less and less frequently, and are hitting their marks less often. When they do hit, it's mostly as the zombies are getting within pointblank range which simply provides their fellow undead with protection from projectiles. As a result, more and more of the zombies are making it all the way to the steel fence. Merlik turns towards the courtyard.

"Shara!" he calls.

"Yes?" replies his young barbarian companion.

"Start the generators!" he tells her.

"Right!" she calls back up. She runs over to the generator room. There she finds the old man Kwan with several other villagers.

"We have to start the generators," she tells them.

Kwan nods his head affirmatively and signals the other villagers. They quickly harness a couple of equarts and lead them to the generator, where they're helped up into the giant hamster wheels. Then they crack a whip and get them going at a full gallop. The generators come to life, the turbines spinning and the lights flashing, and a Jacob's Ladder buzzing between two wires. Heedless of the danger, the zombies outside grab hold of the steel fence in an attempt to break it down. The air becomes thick with the stench of rotting, burning flesh and ozone. One by one they fall to the ground, lifeless. Newcomers take their place and try to get in with the same results. With the electric fence once again active, the defenders gather up their weapons and head back into the main building. Only the archers in the guard towers remain, along with a handful of men in the compound armed with axes, torches, and Molotov cocktails. They're there to set fire to the gigantic wood mounds just in case the zombies happen to break through. Maya tries to get Valerie to stand up.

"Leave me," says Valerie, "I'm too dangerous to go back inside with you and the others."

"Don't say things like that!" says Maya, "You're going to be alright! You'll see! Now get up!"

"Maya," explains Valerie, "if I still have my powers after I turn, I'll be far more dangerous inside than I would be outside."

"You are so wrong on so many levels!" Maya tells her, "If you're trapped inside it will be just one of you against all of us! We can put you down before you can manage to do too much damage! But if you stay out here and turn, and you still have your powers even when you're undead, you'll be able to blast through all of the barricades the villagers have built! We'll be outnumbered and trapped! Besides, I told you that Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla are not going to fail us!"

"Look," says Valerie, "I've seen enough Romero films to know how this is going to end. If I haven't turned by the time the zombies break in here, they won't wait for me to turn. They'll just tear me apart and devour me. I think I'd prefer that to becoming one of them and hurting my friends."

"It won't come to that!" Maya tells her, "I promise! If you turn, I'll kill you myself before you have a chance to hurt anybody."

Just then, Synda sticks her head up through the trap door.

"What the heck's taking you two so long?" she asks.

"Valerie wants to stand her post while we barricade ourselves inside the main building," replies Maya.

"Don't be ridiculous!" says Synda, "If those things break in here, they'll tear you to pieces!"

"That's the idea," replies Valerie.

"No way!" says Synda, "You are not breaking up this team!"

"We may not have any choice," says Valerie, "This bite is fatal. I don't think I'm going to last much longer."

"You're coming with us!" say Synda, "Even if I have to drag you into the building by your feathers!"

"Hey!" shouts Merlik from the ground, "What's going on up there!"

Merlik and Shara are standing down in the courtyard waiting for the other three heroes to join them so they can all retreat to the main building. Synda looks down to the two younger adventurers and waves them away.

"Go on ahead!" she shouts down to them, "We'll catch up!"

Merlik and Shara turn and look at each other. Then they shrug and walk off towards the main doors. As they're walking away, Synda turns and looks back at Valerie.

"So are you coming with us?" she asks, "Or are we going to have to carry you?"

Valerie laughs weakly and shakes her head. "You two are impossible," she tells them.

Maya smiles at her. We've been living together for six years now, and you only just figuring that out?"

Maya and Synda help Valerie up onto her feet and down the ladder, and the three of them head off to the main entrance with Valerie leaning heavily on her two friends. An archer with a quiver full of crossbow bolts runs past them to take Valerie's place on the guard tower. Maya and Synda then take Valerie to the least populated wing of the prison. There, they make her as comfortable as possible in one of the prison cells. Synda leaves, but Maya insists on staying behind to tend to her injured comrade. Like with being in the guard tower, Maya's ability to assume the form of any element would render her immune to Valerie's infectious bite. Synda locks the cell door behind her, just in case.