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Vas took the first watch of the night while Jade slept. He sat just inside the door so that he could use the stars to alert him of any newcomers. If any Risen did appear he would need to dispatch them quickly and quietly, in case there were more nearby.

After a few hours, he woke Jade up and they switched positions.

Vas fell asleep quickly, exhausted.

Jade poked Vas awake just before dawn. The light of the sun just before it rose cast an eerie glow into the dimly illuminated store. Blood was everywhere, and painted the floors as if they’d been a blank canvas.

When the Decoys had all woken up and had a stretch, Fem and Tare went outside to scout. Tare whistled that the coast was clear and the other two pairs were finally able to crawl out of the corpse-ridden store they’d been trapped in.

The group stalked past snow-covered rooftops with caution. They’d wiped out around a hundred Risen the night before, but after seeing a hundred thousand just weeks ago they knew the deadly possibilities.

As they were passing the last rooftop, Fem stopped walking. “Thought I heard something,” he explained after waiting a few moments and hearing nothing.

Then they all heard a distant clang.

Tare cursed. “The main group!”

The Decoys all began running towards the sounds, which grew louder and more evident as they drew near.

They climbed a snow-covered hill and were finally able to see the cause of the commotion.

There were a hundred beheaded bodies lying on the snow. A dozen Scouts were holding formation against a group of a hundred more Risen.

They couldn’t engage here. It would be suicide.

Even if they won, Vas would lose people.

Fem clapped him on the back.

“If you and I were to spar right now, who do you think would win?”

Vas smiled despite himself.

“Me.”

Fem nodded, unsurprised.

“I expect you’d be willing to bet you can kill more of those freaks than I can?”

This was stupid. But they couldn’t just let the rest of the Scouts go down without helping.

Vas could see Tapo dancing through the chaos with his bastard sword. The big islander was the only person who had beat Vas in a duel since Vas had joined the Scouts.

Selene, the hyper girl who always made him play cards, was fighting for her life. Ishone went down to a crossbow bolt as he watched. She’d join the Risen soon.

“You’re on.” The words sealed their fate.

The Decoys charged silently down the hill. Vas and Joust ran side by side, and their outside backs were covered by Jade and Fem. Alex and Tare were in the far back of their small diamond formation.

It was a formation Vas had practiced with his team in case they ever came across superior numbers like a horde. They would all turn outwards and protect each other’s backs after the initial charge.

None of them made a battle cry or anything to give away their position, so the first six or seven Risen lost their heads before the next row turned to fight.

This group of Risen was extremely well armed. Vas’s first kill had wielded a crossbow, while the next one had a pair of well-made knives.

Vas took his third monster’s feet before slicing its head off.

Risen number five and six rushed him at the same time.

Vas swung at the one on his right first. It attempted to parry his blade, but Vas used the deflection’s momentum to push his blade right into the neck of the Risen on the left. Vas kicked the one on the right then decapitated it as well.

Risen number seven was facing Selene and the Scouts, so it was with a simple wave of his sword that Vas decapitated the inattentive creature.

Selene’s eyes glittered as she smiled at him for the short moment before they both turned to find new opponents. Vas stepped in and joined the Scout formation, and so did the rest of the Decoys.

It was hard to tell who had the advantage at the moment. The Risen were clearly winning until Vas had arrived, but after five minutes with reinforcements it seemed like the lines of Risen were getting thin.

Many of the monsters had inferior weapons and very little actual battle experience, and fought against more than a dozen veteran warriors with well-maintained equipment.

Ishone, Serj, Kara, and the majority of the Scouts had already joined the Risen ranks, but they had been dispatched quickly after they became Risen.

After all, this was the real reason for pairs. If one person turned into a Risen, it was their partner’s job to kill them before they started killing.

Vas finished off Risen number thirteen and a blur in his peripheral vision caught his attention.

He turned just in time to see Tare’s chest get pierced by a crossbow bolt.

Vas dove into his next opponent and savagely slashed the monster to pieces with three quick strikes. He worked his way around the outside of the Scout formation and found the crossbow-wielding Risen.

The Risen raised its crossbow again and took aim at one of the remaining scouts.

Vas threw his two-handed blade, and the weapon knocked the monster over just as it fired. The bolt flew askew and harmlessly imbedded itself into one of the other Risen.

A monster slashed at Vas from the side, and he felt a flash of warmth along his jaw and cheek as he side-stepped.

Vas rolled forward and kicked the crossbow Risen, then grabbed his sword. He decapitated the monster, then spun out of the way of an oncoming enemy’s hatchet.

A tall Risen that looked more like a skeleton than a zombie stepped into Vas’s view. It was the only Risen facing him, while the others had all turned to make one last push against the Scouts.

The unnatural creature smiled, revealing sections of its face to be completely fleshless.

It was as tall as Vas, and wielded a type of two-handed sword that Vas recognized.

A nodachi.

“We meet again,” a chalk-like voice hissed out of the Risen. Vas was fairly certain he’d never met this thing. “Nocturnal.”

Vas’s brow furrowed, then he remembered the conversation he’d had with a wandering Risen in the dark.

“You didn’t die?” He was too shocked to initiate. It could attack him if it wanted to fight.

“I gained a new vessel and rose again,” the grating sound replied. The Risen cocked its head at Vas.

Vas shook his head and stepped into his stance. The Risen also entered a stance, and Vas attacked.

The monster easily parried Vas’s blade to the side and followed up with an attack. Vas stepped back, but his vision flashed red as the monster’s vertical strike sliced the left side of his forehead and down to his cheek.

This Risen knew how to fight. It was as strong as Vas. It was as fast as he was. And it was far less tired.

Vas reset his stance as the monster watched him. It wasn’t smiling anymore, simply observing. The watchful silence unnerved Vas even more than a smile would have. Vas expected a smile.

He did not expect intelligence to this extent.

If Vas was a fighting prodigy, so was this thing.

The cut above his eye was bleeding, so Vas still could not see clearly.

He would be unable to judge distances very well.

The unlucky injury would likely prove fatal against such an impressive opponent.

“I was marching north to find you,” the Risen’s voice scratched out, “meeting you here is a. . . surprise.” It stepped forward.

Vas kept wiping at his eye, and tried holding snow to the cut to stop the flow of blood. Could he buy time? “You said you had a name.”

The monster smiled and took another step. “What would you call me, oh Nocturnal?”

Vas shook his head. He could sort of see out of his left eye, “Don’t know.”

Vas entered his stance, and the Risen attacked him. Vas parried the attack, then waited and parried the next one. To the side, he could see the Scouts winning against the other Risen.

He just needed to buy time.

Vas slid forward as the monster swung at him, spun, and landed a strike on its arm.

The cut was too shallow to sever the arm. “You can call me death,” the voice suggested nonchalantly. The Risen swung its sword down at Vas, who rolled out of the way.

“You don’t die,” Vas pointed out as he took a few quick breaths.

“Hades,” came a voice from Vas’s side. Alex and Jade had made their way out of the fray. The Scouts were killing off the remaining Risen.

The large Risen regarded the two women, and so did Vas.

Jade had a large gash along one of her arms and one down her back. She had small slices on her cheek, and a few cuts in her clothing. Alex was covered in blood, but bore no obvious wounds. She walked with a slight limp.

“Hades,” the screeching voice affirmed.

The large Risen, Hades, lunged forward at Alex and Jade. Jade parried the first attack, and Alex successfully took off the arm Vas had failed to.

Vas walked forward in his stance, and Hades kicked Jade in the gut. She gasped for air, and Alex was forced to commit to defense in an effort to save her.

Hades jumped back and faced Vas. Vas swung and the monster parried, but Vas was ready for it this time. With only one arm, Hades was unable to contest the swing, and Vas took its other arm. Then its leg.

“You won’t have anyone left to help you next time, Nocturnal,” Hades hissed.

“I won’t need help.”

Vas beheaded the monster.

Vas sheathed his sword and turned to survey the scene. There were hundreds of decapitated bodies littering the snow.

The remnants of the Scouts walked, limped, and stumbled towards him.

Tapo was bleeding from multiple cuts but didn’t seem too injured otherwise.

Selene looked fine aside from a slash across her stomach.

Fem’s scalp was bleeding, but it looked to be only a graze.

Joust was holding onto an arm wound.

There were a couple Scouts whose names Vas did not know.

Altogether, the surviving Scouts numbered nine.

Five of those were from Vas’s squad.

Fem reached Vas’s side and nodded to him. There were tears in the man’s eyes.

“Tare turned. I. . . Finished him.”

Vas nodded back, choking away his feelings. He had to stay strong. Crying could come later.

“VAS!” Alex screamed at him.

Vas turned and saw Jade’s body jerking on the ground. His mind went blank. He couldn’t see or hear anything else.

Vas ran to Jade’s side. He put his hand on her scarred cheek.

“I’m here. I’ll be here until the end. Partners, Jade.”

She didn’t respond.

He felt tears in his eyes. They stung as they rolled down his wounded face. He didn’t care.

Jade reached to the sky with a hand and her eyes went wide. Then her hand dropped back to the ground. Her eyes unfocused.

Then she smiled.

Partners.

Vas stood up, drew his sword, and took off her head.

Altogether, the surviving Scouts numbered eight.

Four of those were from Vas’s squad.