Amber’s shoes sunk into the mud with a squelch as she nearly fell in disbelief. Another necromancer!?

“The hell do you mean, necromancer?” Scott demanded, echoing her sentiments. Eduardo pulled a can of spray paint out of his pocket and started shaking it, grinning like a maniac.

“Deny all you want man, you’ll see I got the magic touch.” He clicked the boombox to a new track and dashed to the side, spraying a circle around the row of graves to a heady, thumping beat. Scott likewise ran to a grave, hurriedly carving a circle into the dirt with his shoe and drawing the sigils on the headstone, altering the formula slightly to accommodate the unusual configuration at lightning speed. He watched as Eduardo sprayed the ground, sloppily inscribing strange sigils in paint.

“The hell’s he doing? He’s spraying too wide, and that inscription’s way too shaky for any quality undead.” he muttered as he finished his circle, Eduardo dropping the can and clapping loudly.

“Aztock, turath, neb emuu kashnoth serbaph jslatmon ha! Aztock, turath, neb emuu kashnoth serbaph jslatmon ha! Aztock, turath, neb emuu kashnoth serbaph jslatmon ha!” they both incanted at the same time, Scott’s sigils lighting up a toxic emerald green, Eduardo’s turning almost a lime.

“Get your lazy asses up!” Eduardo commanded, and the entire row of graves, all six of them, erupted as the decaying zombies burst out.

“Come forth!” Scott called, and his zombie crawled out of the loose, wet earth determinedly. He cursed. Six against one wasn’t good odds. He’d have to play this very carefully. Something was odd about the zombies too; they twitched and jerked, as if full of energy, not the lifeless, mindless drones he was used too. Eduardo cracked a smile as he bobbed and weaved to the music, his zombies shuffling along.

“Wah-hey, I see you got necromancy too! Too bad it looks like you’re stuck at one at a time. Get him!” He flicked his hands out, and the zombies howled and surged forward like a pack of wolves, bones rattling and flesh shaking off.

“Defend me!” Scott said, and the zombie under his control shuffled in front of him as he jumped into the grave it came from, limiting the angles of attack. “Think, think!” he muttered, watching his zombie parry blows from the fastest one. Suddenly, as the others caught up they swerved to the side, synchronized running around the two to attack Scott. ‘No way! Zombies don’t have enough presence of mind to coordinate like that without direct, immediate orders! He didn’t say a damned word!’ He glared at Eduardo, dancing and laughing like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Rip its’ head off!” Scott ordered. His zombie reached up to decapitate the one it was grappling with. That wouldn’t hold it long, but hopefully it would stun it long enough to reposition his pawn.

“Drop!” Eduardo shouted, gesturing grandly, and his zombie fell like a stone, the magic animating it cut off, making Scott’s miss. “Up!” The zombie’s eyes flickered as the magic brought it back, blowing Scott’s mind as it drove a hand through his zombie’s torso, hooking it in place. Then he had other things to worry about, as the other five zombies surrounded him. He bent low and used his backpack to block their grasping fingers.

‘Damn it! How? How is he doing this!? These things are supercharged, how could he pull it off with such bad line work? And how can they coordinate so well without orders!?’ he thought as he covered his eyes, a zombie kicking dirt at him. ‘Does he somehow have a telepathy spell? No, I would’ve seen him cast it, I think. Rrrgh, no choice, have to use Arnold and Ta-’

“Ha ha ha!” Eduardo laughed triumphantly, interrupting his thoughts. “Give it up man! Your zombie’s nothing. Can’t believe you tried to challenge me on my own turf, man!”

“This cemetery’s been my repository way before you came along, bastard! It’s mine!” Scott called back, fending off the hands grasping at him.

“Pfff, yeah, whatever. C’mon, your brain’s as weak as your powers, and your zombie! I’m just too good! But I guess that’s all you can expect from a noob. Amateur.”

The air suddenly felt a bitter chill sweep through it, making Eduardo shiver.

“What did you just say?” Scott hissed over the battle, his tone as cold as the air.

“What, you deaf or just stupid? I said you a lame-ass necromancer who can’t even raise his dick up, wimp! I’m the hot one around here!” Eduardo cried, dancing and jumping to the beat. He shot a finger gun at Scott and winked, the zombies mimicking him. Scott regarded this new development, anger focusing his mind with crystal clarity.

‘I see. He intentionally skewed the mystic inscriptions. The reanimation’s fast and loose, the zombie’s’ll be up for half an hour, at most…but as long as the job gets done, it doesn’t matter. He’s tied their reanimation to his own will.’ If he squinted, Scott could just barely make out the thin hint of a magic trail leading back to Eduardo. ‘That lets him kill and raise them instantly. Moreover, though they’ve received the order to attack mindlessly, he’s basically a guiding force in their heads, allowing him to translate his nerve signals into orders! The music’s to help amp up his own body!’ Scott watched from the hole as Eduardo shimmied and jostled, dancing in place, looking nothing more like a kid hopped up on sugar. He narrowed his eyes. ‘Brilliant, I never would have thought of doing it that way. Bravo. But! There’s more than that to necromancy!’

“Let’s see who the real necromancer is around here, then!” Scott said with a grin. He whispered a command to Arnold and Tarantulas, and they scurried off in opposite directions. “Get low and pull me out!” he shouted, and his zombie abandoned grappling with Eduardo’s and sprinted full-tilt back to the grave, sliding like a baseball player stealing home to grab his hand and yank him away from the zombie gang’s assault. Scott hauled the undead servant to his skeletal feet.

“Stay in front of me and hit anything that attacks!” Scott said, eyes blazing green. The zombie grunted and they charged Eduardo.

“Aw hell no!” Eduardo’s arms whipped out, mustering the gang to surround Scott. Unburdened with protection duty, they could easily do so. Scott grinned wider.

“Go!” he urged. As it lurched forward Scott spun to face the three behind him. “Truly pathetic.” he sneered. As the lead zombie attacked, Scott ducked to the side and flung a hand out, catching its abdomen. “Asthenis jslatmon et spirituous via’cka duun!” He felt his power and will collide with its’ controllers’, and overwhelmed the inexperienced challenger. The zombie jerked to a halt. “Cover me!” Eduardo watched in disbelief as the second zombie took a swing, and the first shielded Scott with its’ own body.

“Yo what the hell!? Y-You can’t do that!” he shouted.

“If you cared to delve deeper into necromantic secrets, you’d know it’s very possible!” he grinned back, and barked “Amateur!”

“Rrrgh!” Eduardo grit his teeth and focused harder, pouring orders into his zombies so quickly they were practically blurs, wailing on the undead Scott controlled without even a pause for breath, no chance to counter or get away. “How ya like that!”

“Forward!” Scott ordered, and his first undead walked through the blows, pushing the attackers aside while Scott hugged close, not minding the smell. They charged up to a wide-eyed Eduardo, who tried to recall those that were still loyal, but it was too late. “Tackle him!” Scott demanded, and the zombie lowered its shoulder and launched. Eduardo managed to juke to one side, but the zombie managed to grab his leg.

“Get off me!” Eduardo screeched, raising his hands to use his magic. Out of nowhere, a furry arachnid abomination jumped and wrapped itself around his arms, forcing them together like handcuffs. “What the f-” A disembodied hand covered his mouth, muffling his screams as he fell in surprise.

“All-righty then.” Scott said, grinning as he marched up to the captured necromancer with his six new minions. “Quality beats quantity, I’m afraid. Now, I trust there’ll be no more problems?” he said as Amber came over and hugged him. “I’ve got six more servants, but I could always add a seventh.” Eduardo’s eyes went wide and he shook his head frantically. “Good. Arnold, please remove yourself.” The hand crawled off and he gasped for breath.

“L-Look, I get it, I w-won’t mess with you anymore. You want the cemetery? Take it, it’s all yours, man.” Eduardo said quickly.

“’Fraid that’s not good enough.” Scott crouched down. “This’s some serious stuff. Where’d you learn your techniques? Who taught you necromancy?”

“That’s what we would like to know as well.” a man called out. They all looked to see what appeared to be a SWAT team emerge from the tree line, pointing assault rifles at all of them. A man in a black suit strode forward after they raised their hands in surrender.

“Who’re you?” Amber asked. The man smiled.

“Agent Crenshaw, with the United States government. I hate to do this to you kids, but you’ll all be coming with us.”