Morpheus book 2, p.10
Morpheus: Book 2, page 10
“Alright,” Joel said. “Let’s move closer and see what happens next.”
That got a rumble of agreements, and their group pushed through the trees. There were thick shrubs at ground level and each of them kept an eye out for snakes and spiders. Just because it seemed most of them had vanished didn’t mean they were gone entirely. Not to mention the possibility of some hidden creature from Morpheus taking up residence instead.
Slowly, the wall came into view. The sun had dipped below the horizon. The sky was dark, with just a faint orange glow in the distance. It wasn’t quite dark, with just enough light for Joel to take in the defenses in front of him.
From their cover in the trees, Joel was confident they weren’t easy to spot from the defenders. Those same defenders that appeared to be looking around in confusion. There were a few distant shouts, followed by a bang that sounded an awful lot like a hammer striking something solid and metal. Which must have been enough for the guards on this side to drop out of view.
“Now,” Joel snapped.
As one, they broke through the trees. Not at a dead sprint. They were still aiming for stealth. The last thing anyone wanted was to be caught in the open. Even a single archer would make this mad dash a costly one. Joel pulled ahead, setting the pace as Jess summoned Buster to run alongside her. The hellhound knew better than to yip and instead picked a spot just ahead of her.
“What’s that?” a voice called.
Joel grimaced and braced with his shield as he approached the fence. “Bolster!”
He felt his body swell. The power of his muscles increased and his arms became lead as he crashed into the fence. The weak structure buckled, but didn’t collapse. There was a parked car on the other side, and Joel toppled over it as his momentum carried through. To his surprised the car shifted, skidding a foot across the ground as he did so.
“Shit! Ring the bell!” someone shouted.
Joel looked up to see someone with a spear running for… a rather basic looking bell. It resembled a large cooking pot that someone had hung from a rope. Between the runner and Joel was an archer. This one carried a hunting bow. He had it drawn back, aiming right at Joel. Jess popped around the corner, her own bow was up, and she let loose with her arrow. The shaft flashed across in the pale light and the runner collapsed with a scream.
The archer aiming at Joel spun and fired blindly towards Jess. He missed them both as Buster rushed in with a snarl. The archer yelped and turned to run, only for the hellhound to grab him by the ankle. Savage snarling met Joel’s ears as he got up. The archer kicked out at Buster, who released the man. Only to slam into the ground as Joel kicked him under the jaw. His teeth snapped shut alongside the sound of bone breaking. The man lay on the ground, unmoving. Joel wasn’t sure he’d killed him, but didn’t care as he ran past the quietly sobbing spearman who had almost reached the bell. Something Joel fixed by cutting the bell free with a swipe of his sword. After checking to make sure there wasn’t a clangor attached, he lobbed it over the fence, where it made a single dull clang off in the grass.
“Was that the bell?” Someone called.
Joel turned around as a pair of men stepped out of a nearby home. They were dressed casually, like they were in the middle of getting the kids to bed. Neither of them were armed. And they froze as they spotted Joel and his party.
“Go inside,” Joel ordered as he led his team up the small street.
“Wait, who are you?” one of them stepped up. “Does Mitch—OOOF!”
Joel drove his fist into the man’s stomach. The punch wasn’t at full power. Joel wasn’t sure if that would kill someone or not. In either case, his strength stat was high enough that the man crumpled to the ground, gasping as his friend put his hands up in surrender.
“Inside, now,” Joel grunted as he walked past.
There was a distant scream, prompting Joel to start running. The commotion at the north end had been mostly ignored. But there were people coming out of homes to check whatever was going on in the south near the gate. Joel recognized a few in passing. Faces he’d remembered from the fight. People who had been injured and brought in for healing.
Joel had to wonder why so many of them were following Mitch. The man had made a run for it when he thought their home was going to fall. And yet he’d shown back up, acting like he was in charge the whole time and even managed to paint Joel as the bad guy. It didn’t make any sense, and Joel could only assume that Mitch had some kind of ability. Something that made people want to follow him. Or perhaps unable to refuse him. Which sounded terrible should he be misusing that ability more than to just keep himself at the top of the pecking order out here. What other explanation was there, that would leave people accepting literal fucking heads on spikes though?
There were a few whispers as Joel led his group past. A handful of people gasped and more than one seemed to recognize them. The sound of running and slamming doors met Joel’s ears. He ignored them. The less people who stuck around, the less he’d have to hurt them if they got funny ideas. At the top of the street, it turned to the left, to where the gate was on the right. The one small road leading out to the rest of the suburb they all lived in.
There, Joel spotted them. A small group of men. A dozen were leaning on the gate as if bracing for something to hit against it. The rest were on a set of platforms. Scaffolding like you’d see on a construction site, though solidified with proper flooring and furniture like chairs. This was set up to be a relatively comfortable place to sit and watch. Something rather morbid since that was also where the spears were left with the severed heads.
The same ones from earlier were still there. Joel didn’t want to think about the smell. But there were a few additions, too. Joel had a moment of concern, noting a few of them were women, too. With the combination of Mitch’s position in this place, that kind of thing struck Joel as a problem.
And speaking of the man in question.
“Is this really all that murdering prick can come up with?” Mitch laughed from atop the gate. “A bunch of idiots with shields trying to kick down the front gate?”
“You’re the only murderer here, you fucking cunt!” Ben roared from the other side of the gate.
“The mouth on this one.” Mitch’s laugh was mocking.
One of his men casually drew back his arm. In his hand was a javelin. It looked like a broom pole with a knife on the end. A simple javelin that anyone with a spare ten minutes and the tools could make. The man hurled the spear over the fence before a pained shout echoed out. Mitch laughed along with a few of his friends.
“Is this arrogance or idiocy?” Jenny asked.
Her voice must have carried over just far enough that one of Mitch’s people turned and looked. He appeared to be having a great time. Like this whole thing was some kind of joke. He had a wide grin on his face as he looked back, probably thinking he was about to see a friendly face or two. Only instead, he spotted Joel standing in the middle of the road, with the rest of his team spread out.
“Jenny, everyone here you can kill. Just save Mitch for Ben.”
“Thank you, master.” Jenny giggled and clapped her hands, before blinking from view.
“Mitch-AHAHHH!” the spotter shouted as Jenny appeared behind him.
She cackled as her blades slammed into his shoulders. She dragged him back, using the knives in his body to steer him, before roughly shoving him over the wall where he fell to the ground with a pained cry. Mitch froze in shock as the rest of his group turned to address the threat from behind.
Amanda shot out, using her skill to make it hard to keep track of her. Something Mitch realized as he was forced to momentarily look away. Unfortunately, it also had the same effect for Joel’s party, who all paused until she moved out of range. The skill affected anyone looking at her in the immediate vicinity. So he focused on the gate instead and felt his vision clear.
Another activation of bolster sent Joel surging with strength as he charged the gate. It was still the same hodgepodge gate from before. A section of fence with a wheel at the bottom. Only now it was reinforced with extra wooden beams. More were set aside, looking like they were designed to be placed to brace the entire southern wall. Which wouldn’t help at all as Joel slammed into it from the inside.
Joel aimed for the locking mechanism. A large, heavy wooden beam dropped into place. The kind of thing that looked perfect for a medieval castle and it worked pretty well here. Joel’s mass, backed up by his massive strength modifier, meant he hit it hard enough that the nearest guard who had been bracing the fence fell over from the impact.
“KILL THEM!” Mitch roared, before ducking as an arrow narrowly missed him, fired by Jess, who cursed under her breath.
Marlene was holding back with Timothy at her side. He was a rogue and kept a knife handy as he watched the goings on. Buster snarled as he ran up to Joel, putting himself between Joel and the closest men on the ground. Which gave Luneira the chance to rush in and join Jenny atop the wall. The javelin thrower turned to hurl his next one at Joel, only for Luneira in her blob form to erupt from beneath him.
His aim wavered as he overbalanced and instead stabbed down into the inky mass crawling up his legs. Luneira let out a pained cry as the weapon cut into her, but she took hold, gripping it tightly as he tried to pull it free once more.
Mitch, watching this all happen around him, turned to flee. Only for Jenny to appear before him. She didn’t aim for a lethal strike. But to her surprise, Mitch was able to dodge it, stepping to the side, causing the blade aimed for his leg to narrowly cut through his shirt instead.
Without a weapon to strike her back, he did the only thing that made sense and gave Jenny a shove. She yelped as she lost her advantage and pitched back off the platform. Joel threw himself out to the side as Jenny tumbled and caught her on his chest. She thumped heavily against him, and Joel flexed his legs to help blunt the force.
“M-master,” Jenny said and blinked slowly.
“Go get him,” Joel growled.
Jenny nodded and blinked straight out of his arms. Mitch was now running. He went right by the javelin thrower and was halfway down the stairs on the other side when Jenny appeared once more. Like the first time, Mitch seemed just a tad too quick for her, dodging out of the way, making Jenny cry out in frustration. Though she moved before he could shove her again. Unfortunately for Joel, where Mitch had run, was behind the other group of men who had been holding the gate. Buster had kept them back momentarily, but without Joel there to support the hellhound, they were already closing in.
At least until Joel swung back into the fight. Joel pushed ahead, using bash to knock one of the men over, before turning back to the gate. With a kick not dissimilar from a popular movie about three hundred men, Joel snapped his heel into the wooden beam holding the gate closed. The beam held, but the wooden bracket did not. It snapped with a terrible crunch and the gate rocked partially open in the wrong direction.
Joel didn’t pause to help with the gate. He turned and swept his blade over the top of Buster, driving back one of the men who was coming in with a wood axe, while a second kept Buster pinned with a spear. Both men pulled back, before one went down screaming with an arrow in his chest. Amanda appeared between the axe wielder and the one Joel had originally knocked over. She struck out at the axe wielder, scoring a shallow cut across his shoulder, before twisting away. The man Joel had struck was quicker, though. Amanda let out a yelp as he grabbed her arm. She twisted and froze in shock as the knife she held found purchase in her attacker’s eye socket.
“GLENN!” the axe holder yelled. “You fucking cunt!”
Which was his last words as Joel’s t-shaped sword slammed into his chest, hacking the man in two. His torso hit the ground a moment before his hips did. He’d been cut from nipple to hip on an angle and his one good arm patted around the injury as he blinked in stunned silence.
At least until Glenn landed atop him, while Amanda stood there, trembling in shock.
“I just killed someone,” she whimpered.
The final member of their group chose that moment to lunge. Amanda had her back to him. He’d held back until now—either through fear or just waiting for an opportunity. He was a little scrawnier than the rest of them and moved quickly. In his hand, he held a knife and Joel watched as he swung his hand around to grab Amanda by the throat. Something Joel wasn’t going to allow as he stepped forward with a lunge.
Amanda squeaked in shock as Joel thrust his sword past her. But the man about to grab her had a far more visceral reaction as the square tip of that blade carved into the side of his guts, opening his side to the air as he flailed and fell to one side.
“OH fuck!” He cried. “Oh fuck, oh fuck!”
Amanda whirled around, looking stunned as Jess rushed over to her side. Joel looked up. He saw Luneira finishing off the javelin thrower as the gate was being pushed open behind them.
Ben stood there, holding a makeshift shield. With him were Dale and the other members of their group who had come to fight. Joel nodded at the furious Ben, noting the deep cut across his face where he’d been struck by something earlier. Ben, though, had no problems as he turned to Joel.
“Where the fuck is he?”
Joel grimaced and turned. Marlene was hurrying over with Timothy. Both were unharmed, though Timothy’s knife was bloody and there was a small cluster of people nearby to where Marlene had been waiting.
“Everything okay?” Joel asked.
“Someone grabbed me,” Marlene nudged Timothy, who had a scowl on his face. “Ben, you need healing.”
“I need to fucking kill someone!” Ben snapped.
“Ben!” Joel grabbed him by the shoulder. “She’s on our side.”
Ben huffed and nodded. “Sorry. I can wait.”
Marlene dropped the subject at that. There were several dozen people watching them. The survivors from the gate, along with the people from this settlement. Most looked worried. A handful carried weapons, though none were willing to step forward. The only person Joel didn’t see…
“Where’s Mitch?”
“He said you’d come,” a woman called out. “That you’d make us your slaves.”
Joel blinked slowly. “What?” There was some jostling, and what sounded like someone grabbing whoever it was that spoke up, before rushing them off out of sight. Joel stood there for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. “Is that what Mitch told you?”
“He said some of the sort,” an older man nodded.
“Mitch, the guy who ran away and hid during the raid while I came to help defend your arses. Who apparently started putting heads on fucking spears,” Joel demanded, gesturing to the ghastly ornaments. “And sent a team to murder my friends over at our settlement?”
“That’s not what he said—”
“Of course he didn’t fucking say it!” Joel snapped. “How fucking stupid are you?”
“Joel,” Jess said and nudged him. “Remember, he’s probably got some kind of ability.”
Joel rolled his eyes. “Right, right. Doesn’t matter anyway,” he muttered. “Where is he? Where’s that little weasel run off to now?”
“He’s done right by us,” someone protested.
“Someone shut him the fuck up or I’m going to fucking kill him,” Joel pointed with his sword at the speaker.
Like the woman from earlier, someone bundled him up and, amidst the protesting, they dragged him off. Joel was satisfied by that. Whatever was going on here, they seemed to have strange ideas, but weren’t devoid of reasoning. Which meant after he killed Mitch, hopefully someone who wasn’t a fucking idiot would take over. The fact they were so easily swayed by that asshole made him less inclined to take any of these people with him. They’d allowed that fuck stain to place human heads on pikes outside their gates. Some of those heads were likely people that once lived here too. There were enough monsters going on to add human ones to the mix.
“Master, I can sense Jenny down there,” Luneira said, pointing down the street.
“Wait, sense?” Joel asked. “I didn’t know you could sense one another.”
“Not well enough to track her,” Luneira conceded. “But… I can tell the general direction.”
“Let’s go then,” Ben said and pushed past.
Joel glanced around at the civilians watching them—just in case they chose this moment to do something stupid. And while they looked angry, confused and scared, none raised their hands to prevent Joel from following Ben. Their settlement was a ring-road with a single entrance on the south side. That entrance led back to the intersection where the school and the eaer was. While the north side opened to a wide expanse of land that was once used for farming. And if you went far enough, you’d find the road Joel and Jess had found Squishy the nraab.
Joel hoped Mitch hadn’t gotten that far as he followed along behind Ben. The swordsman swung his blade around and the watchers scattered, giving him space. There was some muttering as Joel passed through. Jess stuck to his side and Buster, who had come out unscathed, let out a soft growl, while Luneira reformed at his side.
“I’ll come back and heal them,” Marlene promised, as she and Timothy followed up the rear with Amanda.
Joel wasn’t sure if she was going to be okay. Amanda looked pretty shaken up from what had happened. Joel thought it likely that she hadn’t meant to kill him. Especially not in such a visceral way. He’d have to deal with the consequences of that later. Right now, they cleared the crowd and ignored the others who were coming out of homes as they rounded the corner. Not far away, they saw a group clustered at the bottom.
Right where the fence was down.
Ben saw it too and started running. Joel growled and followed as best he could. Despite his strength stat, he lacked the speed of the swordsmen and the others stuck close. It became obvious that the cluster of people were in a loose mob.
Mitch was there, ducking and weaving, as Jenny cut and slashed at him. Proving that he had at least some kind of defensive ability. The people gathered around were harrying and harassing Jenny. She was doing her best to slow Mitch down, while also dealing with the crowd who were doing their best to distract her. Pushing in, and getting in the way, which gave a chance for Mitch to run. Only for Jenny to turn on the crowd, which forced them back.
