I won't be taking a break or publishing a new prologue or anything so don't worry.

It's just the format I've had planned.

The finished story of Beyond The Wall should clock in between 60-70 chapters.

Enjoy...

Weeks passed, and the group encountered few difficulties as it continued its path south. The horde of Risen never showed itself, and they decided Vas’s group had lost the monsters during their frantic flight.

Halfway through the third week, Vas and the decoys were assigned as the the southern scouting party.

Vas’s hand was healing well. It had scabbed over, and the camp medic believed it would only leave a scar. Vas could already use his fingers again, but he made sure not to use the hand too much.

The main group had grown weary of the constant marching, but morale was quite high. They’d gone much further than any other scouting party and had suffered no casualties.

Today was the first day Vas and the party encountered a building. It was covered in snow, but they assumed it was a residential complex.

“Should we try and enter the building,” Fem wondered aloud, “or is it not worth our time?”

Vas stared at the building for a moment. “I doubt anyone would have survived in there for very long. It isn’t worth digging the snow away.”

“Do you suppose there might be Risen trapped in there?” Tare brought up a great point.

Could they afford to walk past a building that was potentially infested by Risen?

“Even if there are, they’ll be trapped unless we let them out,” Jade posited.

“Or until the snow melts,” Alex observed.

“We pass it. Can’t dig up and clear out every building we come across.”

They all nodded and continued walking. There was another building. And another.

It seemed they’d reached a neighborhood.

They walked down to where the corner of the street should be and saw rows upon rows of rooftops.

Vas wondered how many Risen he was passing. Dozens? Hundreds?

Maybe they had all gotten out before the snow got too thick.

Vas knew they hadn’t. The area just felt wrong.

“If we clear out a few houses, we could sleep in them tonight.”

They all looked at Joust.

“I’d rather find an abandoned supermarket.”

Vas pointed to a large building not too far away.

The others nodded.

Vas glanced up at the sun. They didn’t have too much longer before they needed to head back, but shelter for the night would be worth it.

The Decoys reached a supermarket-looking building and tried to peek through the large glass doors. The bottom half of the building was covered in snow, but was not completely trapped like the houses they’d seen.

Tare was the one to find the doors. There were two sets of double sliding doors, which were inoperable due to lack of electricity. They were covered almost completely by snow.

Joust stuck his axe’s blade into the middle of two doors and tried to pry them open.

The others helped, and they were able to pry the doors open after a few minutes.

The group then kicked snow down into the open doors to create a ramp of sorts.

Eventually Vas slid down into the dark store. He walked into it.

“Anyone here?” He made sure his voice was loud enough to be heard from anywhere in the store.

No response.

Jade slid down after him and was soon followed by the others.

“Want to just clear the isles in pairs?” Fem cracked his neck.

Vas nodded, then realized that the others might not be able to see him.

“Yes. Just call out if you need help.”

Vas and Jade took the first isle. Vas led them down the pitch black, ready for anything. They reached the end without any problems.

There was a loud crash an isle away. “Sorry. Shopping cart.”

“Fem’s just clumsy,” Tare teased lightly.

The Decoys were on edge, but they all believed the store was empty. Risen had a habit of attacking as soon as they knew a person was close by.

Especially if they’d been trapped for an extended period of time.

They finished clearing the store after about fifteen minutes.

“We should head back.”

“Can’t be late. Selene might make us play cards if we get there too soon though.” Alex was joking, but she hit on a very real worry of Vas’s. In fact, he’d already considered the notion, which was why he’d suggested sweeping the grocery story in the first place.

Fem walked out of the store and stopped halfway up the makeshift ramp.

He put his hand out and stopped Tare, who’d been right behind him.

“Vas,” he hissed, “Risen out there. Dozens. One of them saw me. I’m going to run, you all st—”

Vas stepped up beside him and observed the group of Risen. Fem gaped at him.

“We’ll use the narrow opening to force them into disadvantageous fighting situations.”

Vas supposed the smarter choice would have been letting Fem take a hit for the team. Assuming the Risen didn’t come check the direction Fem had come from.

Fem, Vas, and the others all backed into the store. Joust stood just inside of the small opening with his axe held at the ready.

“Fem and Alex cover any that get through the opening. Call for a switch when you get tired. I’ll sub for Joust, Jade subs for Fem, and Tare subs for Alex.”

Seconds later, a Risen with a baseball bat leapt into the opening. Joust beheaded it without much trouble. Fem yanked the body further inside and Jade ensured the monster was dead.

The next Risen was smarter and tried rolling through the opening. Joust brought his axe down in a vertical slash and cut the thing in half.

It wasn’t dead yet, but Joust turned back to the door to face his next opponent. Risen were starting to crowd the entrance.

Alex took the head off of the half of the Risen that was left, then kicked the body backwards.

The same continued for another few minutes. Soon around fifteen headless bodies had been thrown further into the store.

“Switch,” Joust called.

Vas put his left hand on the big man’s right shoulder and clicked his weapon’s sheath open. Joust spun to the left and fell back, and Vas decapitated a Risen that had just made its way through the narrow entrance.

The monsters started getting smarter, and pulled the doors all the way open. Two of them started coming at once, but it wasn’t much of an issue for the soldiers waiting inside the store.

Risen would come rushing in, unbalanced and poorly armed. It only took a sweep of Vas’s sword to dispatch each one.

He fell into a rhythm and continued cutting to one side then the next. Every so often a Risen would lunge at him as he dispatched the monster next to it. Jade or Fem would step in from the side at that moment and kill the attacking creature.

Just as the sun was setting outside, the flow of Risen ceased. Vas and the others had probably killed around a hundred of the monsters, and their clothes were dripping wet with blood.

Vas swung his sword and wiped it on the side of the nearby door. He clicked the sheath closed over it.

“We’ll need to stay here tonight. Stay in pairs. Jade and I will keep watch.”

Fem nodded. “Do you think the main group will be worried?”

“Of course they will be!”

“Not much we can do about it now.”

“At least we’ll have a story to tell when we get back!”

“Alex, if you tell them I killed a hundred Risen on my own, so help me.”

“What? You basically did!”