Ragnarok: The Fate of Gods (12 page)

             
Crack!  Crack!  Crack!

             
The Supervisor fires single shots from his assault rifle.  In the loud battlefield of the city, the shots don’t echo.  Draugr fall.  Over years of inactivity, his aim is as precise as ever.

             
The guardsman drops to the ground, relieved. 

             
“Stand up, soldier,” Dumah commands.  “The battle is not over.  Keep your head.” 

             
The young man snaps back to attention.  “Yes sir.”

             
“Where is your captain?” 

             
“We got separated.  I think he’s down the street.”

             
“Stay with your unit.  You are stronger together.”  He turns in the direction the young soldier has pointed.  “Come with me.” 

             
They run. 

             
A slow draugr appears on the street ahead of them.  Dumah doesn’t stop.  The beast collides with the butt of his rifle.  It falls.  A single shot to the head finishes the monster.  “Leave none alive,” he instructs the young guardsman.  “But don’t waste ammunition.” 

The soldier listens intently.  Despite the urgency of the situation, the old warrior is excited.  He is once again the commander.  The battlefield philosopher.  Perhaps he has not lost his purpose in life after all.  He is there to teach. 

They reach a small line of soldiers being pushed back by draugr.  They join ranks and begin shooting.  One man is a step closer to the draugr than the other soldiers.  Dumah takes his place beside him.  “Are you the captain of this unit?” he shouts over the gunfire. 

“
I am now,” the man shouts back.  “These freaks got our last one.”  He sprays his gun rapidly into the demons.

“
Keep your head, soldier.  Do we know where they’re coming from?”  Dumah continues to fire steadily.  The ranks of monsters before them thin out. 

“
No clue, sir.  But the rumor is they’re clustered around the Namsan sector.” 

Of course.  The Karellan! 
he thinks.  The swarm of draugr around them has dwindled to a handful.  “Here are your orders, soldier; evacuate the northern sectors.  Round up the transport vehicles.  Get all civilians south of the river, then set up a barricade on the bridges.  Civilians are your first priority.  Attack draugr only when necessary to protect them.”  One more shot from his rifle, and the street is clear. 

“
Yes sir,” says the man.  He salutes. 

The soldiers begin to follow their captain, but Dumah shouts to the first young guard. 
“Rookie, I got another job for you.” 

The boy stays. 
“Yes sir?”

“
Round up enough soldiers to clear out the draugr south of the river.  I’m assisting with the evacuation here, but draugr extermination will be top priority in the south.”

“
Yes sir.”  The guard runs south, to the bridges.  Dumah turns north.

Jae-Hoon makes noise.  Lots of noise.  He screams.  Hits things.  Anything he can do to attract attention. 

Non-human attention. 

Draugr charge him. 
Ignoring the civilians
, he thinks.  The monsters are nothing against a trained fighter.  His feet and fists fly, guided by twenty years of training.  The spike in his hand tastes the hearts of many monsters. 

Their corpses pile up at his feet.

He grows tired.  The monsters seem endless.  For each one he kills, two more seem to take his place.  Coming to pay their respects to their fallen friends.  Coming to avenge their deaths. 

Do draugr have a respect for the dead?
he wonders. 
Do they have a sense of friendship?  A sense of vengeance?

A girl screams. 

Jae-Hoon looks over.  A young boy leads his sister through the streets.  A draugr chases them.  It looks strong.  He buries his spike in the nearest monster, then fights his way out.  Toward the children. 

The pursuing draugr is not incredibly fast, but fast enough to close in on the kids.  Jae-Hoon leaps, his stylus extended.  But the monster already knows he
’s there.  It swings a powerful arm.  The blow connects with the priest. 

He drops his weapon. 

Getting up, he looks around.  The stylus is gone.  He glances at the monster.  It ignores the Slayer and continues toward the children.  There is no time to find the spike.

He knows his duty. 

Throwing himself on the kids, he pins them to the ground.  Holding them safely to the earth.  He braces himself, waiting for the final attack from the monster. 

The attack he has been waiting for since he became a Slayer. 

A sword sings. 

Instead of piercing claws, something else hits his back.  Something heavy.  Dropping.  Then it rolls off, harmlessly.

The priests looks up.  Zeke crouches nearby.  His katana is still extended in follow-through position.  He picks an object off the ground.  The spike.  “Here,” he says, giving it back to the Slayer.  “Get them somewhere safe.” 

“
Thank you.”  Jae-Hoon nods and takes the children in his arms and dashes south, to the bridges, where the barricades are being set up. 

Zeke dashes north.

Down by the river, Charlie and Joel tied up the small boat they used to get into the city. 
“Real mess, isn’t it?” said the pirate, very calmly.  Guns fired in the distance.  People screamed.  “Think we’ll be able to help any?”

“
The others  seemed to think so.”  He glanced at the draugr.  They moved slowly, stumbling.  Very zombie-like.  “These guys don’t look so tough.”

One broke through the ranks.  It moved faster than the others.  Human speed.  Charlie fired his rifle.  The hollow-point bullet tore off the monster
’s head.  Dark brown blood sprayed on the other draugr. 

“
Nice shot!  Awful mess, though.  I hope the monsters have a good dry cleaner.” 

“
Good thing Emily got out when she did.” 

Joel ignored the ambling hoards for a moment. 
“Emily?  Who’s that?” 

“
That’s right, I didn’t tell you!”  He pulled out his wallet and flipped it open.  “She’s my little girl.  Just been promoted to first-class citizen.”

A draugr closed in on them and hissed excitedly.  Gooey saliva sprayed all over the two men.  The pirate pulled out a long dagger from beneath his tattered coat.  He slashed.  The monster
’s neck began seeping with blood.  It fell. 

“
Congratulations!”  He looked at the picture again, now ruined by draugr spit.  “Terrible mess, though.  Sorry about that.  I should have been watching.”

“
Nah, it’s all right.  Got a hundred more of these at home.”  He beamed proudly.  “Beauty of a knife you got there.” 

“
Oh, you like it?  I have two of them, actually.”  He flicked it off to one side.  It embedded itself in the chest of an oncoming draugr.  Then he pulled a matching dagger from beneath his coat.  “Iron-titanium alloy.  Incredibly strong.  Almost never needs sharpening.  A gift from my old master.” 

“
Damn fine weapon.”  Charlie took it, examined it, then handed it back.  “If my teachers gave out knives when I was younger, I might have paid more attention in school.  Hey, you mind ducking down for a moment?” 

“
Not at all,” said Joel, politely.  He took the opportunity to pull his first knife out of the fallen draugr.  When he bent down, the big man fired a grenade over his head.  It landed in a crowd of draugr.  The monsters flew into the air, burning.

Joel examined his handy work. 
“Nice shot, once again.” 

Charlie looked at the fiery corpses on the ground. 
“Damn.  Thought they smelled bad enough when they weren’t on fire.  This is one hell of a mess.”

“
I wouldn’t worry too much.  I think the fire will take care of most of them.” 

“
Yeah, well, that was my last grenade.” 

“
Oh.  Well, too bad.”  They looked into the city.  “You want to get started?” 

“
Yeah, I think I’m about warmed up,” said Charlie.   

Jae-Hoon speeds through the city.  It’s not easy.  The children slow him down.  Occasionally, he is forced to set them down and fight draugr. 

But he presses on. 

The military transports seem to be heading south.  The soldiers must be gathering there.  If he could only make it, the kids would be safe. 

He rounds a corner and comes face to face with a massive draugr.  It stands three meters tall, with dual claws the length of kitchen knives on each hand.  Every centemeter of him a brown mass of wrinkly veins.  The smell seems stronger than normal draugr as well.

The little girl throws up. 

“
Stay behind me,” instructs the priest.  He wastes no time, throwing a strong kick at the monster.  He aims high.

The draugr catches his foot.  Jae-Hoon is surprised for a split-second.  Only a brief moment, but it is long enough for the draugr.  The monster lifts, throwing him off-balance.  He falls on his back, hard.  A rock connects with his head. 

The beast advances, swinging powerful fists downward.  Ignoring the pain in his head, the Slayer rolls.  The monster misses him and hits the ground, harmlessly.  Jae-Hoon leaps to his feet and plunges his spike into the demon’s side. 

It roars a terrible, gurgling roar, but the beast is too big.  His spike isn
’t long enough to reach its heart.  It jabs down with its elbow, knocking him to the ground.  The monster stands to its full height. 

A gun fires. 

The draugr swats at the bullet like a fly.  More guns fire.  The annoyed monster turns to face this new threat.  Soldiers with rifles keep it at bay.  Another rushes forward with a flame thrower.  It spits a massive cloud of flame.  The monster is not singed by the blast, but it screams in fear.  It turns and bounds off in the other direction, running on all fours, like an animal. 

Not like an animal.  It is, after all, humanoid. 

More like a werewolf. 

“
Sir, are you all right?” asks a guardsman, helping Jae-Hoon to his feet. 

“
Yeah,” he answered, rubbing his head.  “I’m all right.” 

“
We have orders to evacuate the north sectors of the city.  You should get on the transport.”

“
What?  Oh, no thanks.  I’m a Slayer.  I should stay and fight.  But I do have someone you can take.”  He gives a whistle, then calls for the kids.  They appear, a short distance away, crawling out from behind some garbage cans.

“
Understood,” says the guard.  “If you’ll be staying, is there anything we can do for you?  Any supplies you need?” 

Rubbing the back of his head, he asks,
“You got any aspirin?”

Daniel is efficient in executing draugr.  He has to be.  He isn’t carrying much ammo, and there are thousands of monsters in the city.

Trapped.

The city’s extreme outer defenses are now strangling them.  The demons that once could not get in now can’t get out. 

The shotgun booms once.  The two draugr standing before the gunner fall.  They were close enough that he could feel their breath.  He doesn
’t like cutting it so close, but doubling up on kills helps to save cartridges. 

A scream resonates in his ear.  He spins and shoots without thinking.  The draugr
’s head explodes.  Only a single kill.  He attributes that one to self-defense. 

The ground starts to shake.  Some draugr scamper off. 

Then he notices the figure darting through the streets.  “Zeke?” he says, though he knows his voice is muted by the battle.  He starts to follow.

But the shaking ground begins to shake more.  There
’s a rhythmic thump to it.  He turns.  A massive draugr, running on all fours, is approaching at intense speeds.  Daniel, trapped in the narrow street, fires the shot gun. 

The beast keeps coming. 

The gunner waits.  The monster was coming closer.  Within range.

Closer . . .

Closer . . .

Boom!

The monster feels the blast.  It stumbles and begins to roll, stopping just shy of colliding with its attacker. 

It raises itself to its feet.  Daniel notices the blood covering the draugr.  It
’s already been injured.  He pumps his shotgun, then raises it, aiming for the beast’s head.  Aiming for the kill. 

Click.

The sound of the empty gun frightens him more than the hissing and screaming of all the monsters in the city. 

The draugr swings.  It throws the young fighter backward, to the ground.  He loses his grip on the shotgun.  It falls to rest at his feet.  He pulls out his .45 and begins to fire.  The monster looks distracted.  It swings its hands frantically, as if swatting at mosquitoes. 
This won’t do
, he thinks.  He pulls out a full magazine and reloads the pistol before the monster realizes the bullets have stopped.