The sun began to peek over the horizon behind Schmidt, the increasingly common clumps of trees casting long shadows over the countryside. The western camp was a few dozen meters from the edge of a thin forest, each tree at least five meters apart. The forest floor, if it could even be called that, was cast in shadow.

At least a hundred men stood around the improvised camp. Most of them were Empire soldiers, stacking the crates brought from Dijon in a line to be used as cover. Confused French civilians stood among them, weaponless.

Rob’s sudden voice made Schmidt jump. “Not quite what I was expectin’.”

“This is strange,” Jakob replied. “Captain Bösch is supposed to be competent, isn’t he?”

“From what I’ve heard.”

Jakob looked concerned. “He has to know that these boxes aren’t going to stop anyone. Plus, they only go for a few dozen meters. Our enemy can just, you know, go around.”

“What do you think of all this, Barry?” Rob was looking at Schmidt. “I thought you would’ve been blabbering your head off about how excited you are, considerin’ the situation.” Despite his smirk, there was an edge in his voice. “What’d you say before? The thing about tellin’ a pile of corpses you told them so? It’s not satisfying, right?” For as long as Schmidt had known him, Rob had never sounded as scared as he sounded now. That, more than anything else about the situation, unnerved him. “You better do it now. Before it’s too late. Tell us you told us so.”

“Don’t call me Barry.”

“Alright, Barnabas.”

There was a pause.

“I won’t let you die here, Barry,” Rob said.

Schmidt smiled nervously. “Well if I can’t die here, you better not die either. Same goes for you, Jakob. You’ve got Gabi and Lilli to look after.”

“None of us are going to die today. Not on my watch,” Jakob said. “We all have people we have to return to.”

“Yeah,” Schmidt said. “I can’t die here anyways. No one’s going to care if I turn the tides in a battle in some godforsaken field in the middle of France.”

“We have a deal, then.” Rob held out his hand, and Schmidt shook it, then they each shook Jakob’s.

“You know, Barry,” Jakob said. “You can be a war hero without sacrificing yourself. Just look at Captain Bösch.”

“I’d rather die here than be like him,” Schmidt replied, a deep bitterness in his voice.

“Huh,” Rob said. “Well, then.”

“What about General Krüger? He’s a war hero too,” Jakob said.

“That’s not the point,” Rob said. “Just be a war hero, Barry. A war hero that didn’t die in battle, I mean. You can be a war hero and die, but that’s not… Do something cool and, you know, don’t die doing it. Just do that instead of sacrificing yourself.”

Schmidt remained silent.

Rob and Jakob looked at each other, then looked into the forest to the west.

“Who do you think we’re fightin’?” Rob asked.

“I have no clue,” Jakob replied. “I do not think anyone here knows.”

“Captain Bösch has to know, right? I mean, he’s the captain. He’s certainly worried about whatever it is.”

“Earlier, I heard some people talking about monsters from the disease.”

“Wait, the one from Paris?”

“Yeah, I would assume.”

“What do you think, Barry?”

“Huh?” Schmidt looked up. “What?”

“Do you still think we’re fightin’ zombies?” Rob asked. “You know, the ones from Paris.”

“I… have no clue.” Schmidt noticed his mouth was dry. “I never actually believed that any of this would happen, you know? It was fun to talk about… I don’t know, to make people believe I thought I was being serious? But… I wasn’t. I never was. I have no idea what’s going on, and I have no idea what a zombie is, or why a disease from Paris would make them fight us.”

“So what I’m hearin’ is that there’s nothin’ to be worried about.”

“Are you worried?”

Rob paused before answering. “A little.”

Another silence.

A light appeared in the forest ahead of them.

“Do you see that?” Rob asked.

“Yeah,” Schmidt replied. Conversation began to break out through the soldiers.

A voice to Schmidt’s right yelled out “Captain Bösch! Captain, the scout is coming back!” For a moment, Schmidt considered sneaking away from the improvised defences to avoid Bösch. He decided against it, keeping his eyes on the scout in the distance.

The scout continued towards the defences, moving between the sparse trees of the forest. Schmidt could make him out now. He wore Empire supplied clothes, held a torch, rode a brown horse, and had something on his back.

Something large. Something dark.

Something moving.

“What… is that?” Jakob asked.

Schmidt fidgeted with his musket. He considered readying it. Though the soldiers around him spoke in worried whispers, none of them readied their weapons either.

The scout began to shout, hitting the dark mass on his back with his torch. The soldiers behind the defences fell into an uneasy silence, watching as the scout began thrashing on his steed, trying desperately to get the dark mass off his back.

The horse began trying to buck the scout off, causing him to drop his torch which was extinguished on the damp morning grass.

The quick transition momentarily blinded Schmidt as his eyes adjusted to the much darker early morning twilight. In the darkness, the scout’s panicked shouts turned to screams, the horse continuing to whine with fright.

The soldiers behind the defences remained silent.

There was a thud somewhere in the forest.

And then there was silence.

After a moment, the now riderless horse ran past the defences towards Dijon.

As his eyes adjusted, Schmidt could see the scout’s corpse near the edge of the tree line.

He could see the dark mass on the scout moving, writhing, enveloping the corpse in the darkness.

Schmidt shakily readied his musket, aiming it at the dark mass.

Slowly, the corpse began to get up.

In fear, his finger slipped, compressing the musket’s trigger, firing a single shot into the darkness. It missed the corpse, hitting a tree in the distance.

The corpse rose unsteadily, standing still for a moment at full height.

Then, it took a single step forward. It moved like a drunkard, the dark mass that was now covering the corpse seeming to writhe upon itself.

After a moment, it took another step forward.

Then another. And another.

The corpse, the monster, began to take another step, then fell forward. Almost immediately, it got back to its feet, taking another step. It took each step quicker, each with more purpose.

Then, it stopped.

The monster’s head tilted towards the sky.

A wet scream that sounded like a drowning animal came from the monster.

Deeper in the forest, a second scream joined.

Then two more.

Then two more on top of that.

A chorus of screams echoed through the early morning countryside.

“What the actual hell,” Rob said, his voice full of fear.

Then, the screams died out, one by one, returning the countryside to a piercing silence.

“You heard that, right?” Rob stuttered. “You saw that, right guys? Tell me I’m going insane, please, please tell me this isn’t real… please God tell me this isn’t real…”

The monster staggered behind a nearby tree, its dark body swallowed by the shadows cast by the steadily rising sun.

“I… I think it’s real…” Schmidt replied, his mouth dry.

From deep within the forest, dozens of monsters began to move between the shadows of the trees, making their way towards the Empire soldiers.

“It’s real…” Jakob said.

Suddenly, chaos erupted in the western countryside of Dijon.