Sam and his group walked for five minutes, trailed by the 30 zombies.

Sam kept on racking his brain for a usable plan, but nothing came to his mind.

Nissa asked while walking " What do we do now? If we keep on walking we will lead them to Woodchester!"

Sam stopped, looked at the group and declared "We don't have many options right now. I want you three knights to head back with the wounded. Inform Rudolph what is happening and send someone with plenty arrows. We will systematically shoot them down. Most of the work will depend on you archers, i will secure the front line, protecting you.

When they come too close we retreat and repeat that action."

The knights left shortly after, while Sam and the archers prepared for battle.

When the zombies reached 20 meter away from them, the archers started shooting. They killed five and Sam took down two zombies, when he defended them.

He stabbed the first, afterwards shattered the seconds skull by slamming his shield on it's head.

When the others got too close, Sam's group retreated quickly and repeated that action.

After they had stopped for the third time Sam was panting heavily. He was wearing heavy armor and kept fighting in close combat without a good rest. Only eight zombies remained from the original 30.

The archers started to fire again and killed the rest of them.

All of them sat down on the ground. The continuous battling had totally worn them out.

They had rested for ten minutes when five men came riding over on horseback.

They stopped and dismounted.

"Hello Nissa, the young knights told us your plan. We brought around 200 arrows. Rudolph told us to help you out as well, so you can rest for now.

"Roar"

At this moment a loud roar was coming from behind them.

The zombie general had followed them with his whole army. 150 zombies were looking at them with hollow eyes, while they walked towards them.

"ROAR"

This time it roared a lot louder and the zombies started charging!

"They are too close! We have to retreat immediately!!" Sam shouted and started running towards the horses. The riders got on and shared their horses with the others.

They rode for 5 minutes and reached a windmill. Sam gave commands and the archers got in position. When they waited for the horde another group came from the villages direction. They came by foot, they were players this time. The leader was a big bald guy with a bastard sword on his shoulder, obviously a warrior. Two girls followed him. One held a staff, while the other wielded two daggers.

What wondered Sam was the complete set of leather armor the warrior was wearing.

' It is impossible for someone to be completely equipped at this phase of the game, unless he stole it. His two companions seem to be completely unequipped, except of the assassins second dagger. Maybe he took their gear and traded for stuff he can wear?' Sam thought while he watched the group of three appropaching.

" Who of you is Sam? This old guy... Rupert, or what his name was, told us to come here and help. Didn't expect to see some players here as well, but your equipment is quite lousy don't you think? What Level are you?" the big guy started asking.

"I am Sam and my Level doesn't matter. I am the leader of this mission at the moment." Sam bluntly stated.

The bald guy observed him with a haughty expression and asked " So what is the situation, the village chief said you would brief us?"

"In a few minutes a big horde of zombies will come at us. About 150 of them are left and they are lead by a boss monster who has the ability to control them. He makes them move faster or stop on his command. He is no simple zombie, who moves because of his desire for flesh and blood. I think he wants to massacre every single one of us!"

"What?? 150 zombies and only 12 people to stop them? How are you planning to do this? I will say in advance that I won't sacrifice myself for these NPC's and their village. If your plan is bad or has no chance of success I will leave immediately!" the bald guy declared with an arrogant facial expression.

' My first impression of him was right, I don't like this guy. He is speaking about abandoning us, right from the start. I cannot trust him! If he wants to run I will let him, but if he tries to frame, or use us as scapegoat, I will kill him on the spot. I won't let myself or Jack die, because of an arrogant coward!'

" The plan is quite easy. We are deploying hit and run tactics. The ranged attackers shoot them, while the close combat fighters defend them. Before we can get surrounded or swallowed by the zombies, we retreat a few hundred meters and attack again. We should be able to kill all of them before reaching Woodchester."Sam told the newcomers their strategy.

A moment later, the horde of zombies came into sight. The general was quite eye catching with his copper shield and big body. With about 2,5 meters he towered over the rest of the zombies.

He roared and the zombies stopped. Sam's group took position as well. The archers and mage girl were in the back, while 'baldy', the assassin and Sam stood in front of them.

The battle started and the archers kept firing arrows without pause. They killed a dozen zombies and retreated quickly. After 200 meters they stopped again and took their position.

While the arrows were flying and the close combat fighters fought to protect the archers, a scream came from behind.

Unaware to their group about 20 zombies had appeared behind them. By the time Sam turned around he saw two of the newly arrived archers getting ripped apart. Blood and flesh was flying in the around and their terror filled screams filled the air.

Sam's group was surrounded, so he turned to 'baldy' and said " You and the assassin need to protect our rear. Try to kill these zombies as quick as possible while I take care of this side."

The bald guy looked strangely at him but still took the assassin and went to the rear.

A little fireball passed Sam and incinerated a zombie who tried to attack him. It was the mage girl but after firing the first fireball, she looked really exhausted.

The main force of the zombies approached and another scream sounded from behind.

A third archer was ripped into little pieces.

' What is this bald fucker doing? I told him to protect the rear and he only kills off the zombies in front of him, letting the others pass!'

The bald guy shouted something to the assassin at this moment, while pointing at the mage girl. The assassin ran over to her and fled together with her. They used the path previously cleared by the warrior, when he abandoned the archers.

Sam could do nothing to help because the main force arrived in front of him. Only 70 zombies were left of the main force, while six of Sam's group remained.

Jack had seen the player group escape and stabbed the remaining zombies behind them to clear their path of retreat. He retreated together with the other archers, only to see Sam slowly getting surrounded.

Sam kept on waving and stabbing his spear, while at the same time pushing out his shield to keep the distance from the zombies.

More and more of them kept on surrounding Sam, until the zombie general roared again. 50 zombies focused their attention on the group of archers and started to charge at them afterwards.

Sam started to panic and somehow tried to escape the encirclement but without success. Between his swings and stabs he looked to his friend Jack.

He fled with three NPC's while the remaining villager got caught and ripped apart. Their group was fatigued from the continuous fighting and got caught one after the other. Only Nissa and Jack remained, fleeing for their life's.

Shortly after, Sam couldn't see them anymore. He was still fighting 15 zombies on his own. The zombie general stood at the back roaring occasionally.

He controlled the zombies and let them play with Sam until he was totally exhausted.

Eight zombies were remaining, while the rest had been killed by Sam. He himself was half kneeling on the ground, trying to catch his breath. His spear had broken long ago, so he used his backup club until it broke as well.

Finally the zombie general commanded the remaining zombies to stand back.

It walked in front of Sam looking down at him. The bright moonlight illuminated his face and Sam could swear he saw him grinning while he raised his hand, holding the shield.

' Is he mocking me?? This god damn motherfucker wants to kill me??' Sam's eyes turned red and he stood up trembling heavily.

He was filled with pure hatred and anger, when something snapped in his head and he roared

"I WILL RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!!"

The general noticed the changes and retreated, signaling his underlings to attack Sam.

Sam felt no more exhaustion, only hatred and an unbearable urge to kill.

He dashed towards the first zombie ramming him to the ground. He knelt on the zombies chest holding it's head while repeatedly smashing the edge of his shield against the zombies neck. Foul blood splashed on his armor and face but Sam didn't mind.

With a final hit, he severed the zombies head, throwing it aside.

He turned around and waited for the remaining enemies. Sam killed them in similar ways, smashing their heads, or decapitating them with the help of his shield until he was soaked in zombie blood.

He walked to his final enemy, the zombie general.

The boss monster looked at Sam, who made his way towards him, like a god of slaughter, covered in blood and with fury filled, red eyes.

"You are the last one! I promise you, I will rip your head off with my own two hands" Sam wore a cruel smile as he approached the zombie general.