Chapter 1

In the eerie silence of the city ruins, the sound of the collapsing wall seemed to go for miles.

I looked at Johnson who was still holding the two meter long iron bar with a bunch of concrete still attached to it. His face showing he couldn’t understand what just happened.

“I just wanted to see if I could lift it, I had no idea the wall would just fall.” He stammered.

I can’t believe this kid, sure let's lift the goddamn iron bar that is stuck to the wall. What the worst that could happen, sure it seemed stuck at the wall, but I’m 100% that is not because it was supporting the weight of the wall, I will just apply some strength to it free and I am sure I can lift it to impress the girls. Maybe do some biceps exercises while at it…

“Dammit Johnson, how many times did we do this run, get in, grab the collector, leave a empty one and get out. Nowhere on the plan said to start playing with the scenery, we are in the middle of..”

“Arty, they are stirring we got go.” Erick voice is low and a little nervous when he stops me from ripping Johnson a new one.

Lis and Lilian are just standing to the side looking at the discussion. Lilian wide eyed still processing what happened and Lis, well, I just can’t read her face.

“We need this colector, let me finish removing the crystal and we can skip setting a new one.” I answer Erick and go back to work casting the spell to remove the safety and stealth runes around the device. “Everyone stay alert for freaks and junkies, or anything else out of the ordinary.”

As I finish dispelling the safety measures and start to remove the energy crystal from the collector I hear the first moans. Everybody freezes at the sound, well with the exception of Lis, but she doesn't count, being Fae and everything.

A loud sound of something hitting the ground follows and I turn to Johnson who has a terrified look on his eyes and doesn't seem to realize he just dropped the iron bar he was holding. I have a fleeting desire to just freeze his leg on the spot and leave him behind, but I don’t, first because I’m not an asshole, second because he could easily free himself...

The moans intensify and others sounds joins it. Louds clicks and some kind of scream that remembers me of a screeching tire. Freaks dammit, not my day, couldn’t just be vanillas, there had to be freaks.

I store the crystal on the container in my backpack and get up. - Move everyone, Johnson you lead, me Lilian behind, then Erick. Lis you bring the rear, if something gets close nail it, just try not to set a fire in case we have to fall back. Erick I need you to keep watch for any anormal magic signature that gets too close, by the sounds of it there are freaks close by.

Quickly my vanguard gets out of it’s stupor and we start moving through the ruins of the apartment building. I don’t know what this place was called before the end of the world, the city ruins has no significant building to try identify it, but it used to be a big enough to have this building complex of 5 10 floors residential towers. We are inside one of the 3 that are still standing. Luckily for us the magic well is located on ground floor, so we can try making a fast exit before all the creeps can cut our way out of the building.

The buildings are all square shaped with the elevator pit and stairs in the middle with the apartaments facing outside. We were in an apartment on one of the side corridor, so no exit in sight right away when we leave the apartment. We move quickly but not running yet, since more noise would be a very bad call. As we reach the end of the corridor and turn, there are 2 creatures on it and a third coming out of the entrance of one of the apartments where the door has long been removed. Unfortunately, the three of them are between us and the exit, fortunately they seem to be only vanilla zombies, the type that is slow and has suffered no magical or radioactive mutation. We are still careful, because looks can be deceiving, there are few freaks that don’t show visually identifiable alterations.

I look at Erick who gives me an ok. Erick has a decent amount of talent with divination magic. It doesn't mean he can see the future or play with probabilities. Unfortunately divination magic doesn't work like in the Alex Verus novels, although it may occasionally give glimpses of the immediate future, few seconds at most according to Erick, and considering time doesn't slow for him while those glimpses happens things they are usually more confusing than helpful. The biggest use of his magic is that he can detect magic auras close by, he even feels life signs when the life energy is strong enough, and his ability to see the magic aura of a creature is top notch. The TLDR version, he can easily confirm if a zombie is a regular one, or a freak.

The moment the creatures noticed us, they moaned higher and started shambiling in our direction.

“Johnson you get the one closest to us, Lilian get the second, I’ll hand the one furthest. And quietly please.”

As we start moving to close the distance to the zombies, the sound of running footsteps going down a stairs come from our right, and as soon as I turn to the direction there is sound of something big hitting a metal door at full speed and low scream that sound like screeching tires.

I turn to the fire door to our right that leads to the stairs in time to see it shaking again as whatever is on the other side keeps throwing itself against it. The fire door is seems durable, but the walls where its frame are set in too seems in a much worse condition. I quickly focus on the dark and cold spot inside my mind that I use as a visualization of my connection to the well of winter, grab the power and will it outside my stretched hand and a gust of freezing wind hits the doors hinges reinforcing it with a almost 10 cm of ice, I quickly do the same to other points of the door frame. That should buy us some time.

As I turn back to my team I see that Johnson has already engaged the closest zombie and used his hammer to dispatch it. Lilian just finished casting her signature spell and a missle of pure raw arcane power blows the head of the second zombie. Noticing I was occupied Johnson was already moving to take the last one. As I get ready to get moving again, I feel an increase of the temperature behind me and a sudden red light flashes from behind me, As I turn around again I see Lis with both of her hands on fire. With a quick movement she throws the flames that something comes from behind the bend of the hallway. She light up her hands again and repeat the gesture quickly, and then a third time before lowering her hands

“We must move quickly Artharian.” She tells me with as much emotion as if we were having a cup of a tea back behind the shields of the enclave. Ok, Arty, it isn’t like your still not used to the creep Sidhe casually bringing fire and destruction and make it look easy. Ok, I’m still not used to it and also not envious at all.. Why would I want to be like Roy Mustang, Grey Fullbuster is much cooler..

Johnson and Lilian having dispatched the zombies on our way were already moving to the exit I rejoin them and we keep moving on formation again. I see a dozen or so regular zombies coming from the hall opposite to us, but we can easily reach the exit corridor before they block our passage. Right as we exit the building I can hear a a big crash and assume that the freak just brought the fire door down. I quickly turn around and see the dozen or so pack reaching the exit corridor. I lower my hand to the ground focus myself and murmur “Sioc” I feel, my magic instantly gather and focus in a spell. I release a wave of frost that cover the ground from the entrance where we are standing all the way to the end of the small entrance corridor where the zombies were coming from. The thin layer of ice I created made the ground slippery and soon the zombies were falling on the ground.

Just as I was feeling smug about myself I see a creature crash in the doorway, throwing 2 zombies out of its way. The creature seemed to be at least over two and a half meters tall, it looked humanoid, but had no hair on it’s entire body, it had elongated ears and it’s forehead was longer than a a regular human. It’s limbs looked thin but strong arms unproportionally longer and the fingers ended in 15 centimeters long claws. But what terrified me the most was that it’s stomach was ripped open, and it’s oversized ribs formed a mawlike cage, and the sound of tires we’ve been listening so far is made by it’s ribs grinding against each other as they open and close as it chews on the upper half of a regular zombie.

Oh hell no! I instantly search for my dark and cold spot, draw its power as fast as I can visualize the spell form on my mind and chant it “Balla, Balla mór Sioc” and I feel my body tense as I release the energy and a transparent 30 cm thick ice wall blocks the corridor.

I turn to Erick who is looking back at me, looking as shocked as I probably look. Whatever that freak was and what it could or couldn’t do, I had no intention of finding out. I nudge him and we move out where the rest of the team is rushing to the building number two of the complex, well to the pile of rubble it used to be building number two.

As we left the dark corridor of the building, I shed at least one layer of worry, since we should be safe from any kind of junkies for now.

It’s just a 90 meter run in the open, from our left I hear moans, now the sound is much scarier, it had a much stronger reberating note, I guess that is what happen when you get couple of thousands zombies together. When we passed stealthy through the horde was mostly shambling around the ruined cars on the big parking lot or just standing still, but now they are moving in our direction, worst I noticed one or two shapes that are moving quickier.

Great, more freakies.. Still while the horde of zombies was 150 meter or so, the two are probably another hundred or so further away and had to push all the other zombies out of their way to reach us. I wouldn’t say we had a free run to the second building cause I didn’t want to jinx anything, but things were looking good.

As Erick and me bringing the rear of our group enter the field of rubble that is the second build Lilian is alredy crouching close to a block of rubble made of big pieces of concrete and metal bars. She focus her magic and small hidden runes drawn on the ground and the rubble around us start shining.

- Hurry Lily, they are rigth behind us. Erick complains. He doesn't have the best of nerves, hates field missions, I think he used to be a some kind of a clerk for the Magi council before the end of the world.

I look back to the entrance and wonder if another icewall to buys us time would be a good idea, but decided against it, while the entrance was somewhat still standing forming this small alcove we were standing, both wall to the side passages are no more and the horde could easily flank us, so i rather save my magic, I already used good part of it with that wall.

As Lilian finish activating the runes, part of the rubble start shaking and soon levitate revealing a hole in to what used to be the elevator pit, Johnson jumps in followed by Erick and Lilian, I look to Lis whos standing closest to the door and looking at me expressionless.

- Come on Pyra, you know I’m going last. Her left eyebrow raises a little and she gives me a small smiles that to me looks more like she is smirking and jumps on the hole as well. Damn I’m sure she does it on purpose, I hate fae humor, I’ve been trying to master the one eyebrow look for years!

As the sound of many steps hitting concrete gets louder I dispel the runes and jump on the hole as the rubble start moving back closing it.