Chapter 37

None of the people woken up by the sounds of fighting were impressed that it had been a play fight. That was none apart from Dave who came right up to him and deliberately showed a full face full of teeth. Daniel involuntarily recoiled, and Dave laughed in his barking manner in response.

Daniel ignored his friends and looked up at everyone else who had gathered. “Sorry.”

He repeated the apology, but this time he did not mean it. Sure, he understood they had woken up badly but the continual daggers he was receiving were going too far. The genuine joy of the kids had lifted his spirits and even if would have been a rough wake up for them Daniel figured the laughter of kids should have raised their spirits too.

With annoyed faces watching, he got up and headed to the room with Ivey in it. Dave had returned to stand just outside the doorway and as Daniel passed him to visit Ivey, he punched a bigger man hard on the bicep, trying to cork the muscle. Dave didn’t even flinch, though Daniel knew the blow must have hurt, which gave the round to the mutated human. “You know better than to show your teeth like that.”

“Raraf.”

“Don’t rarf at me.” Daniel grumbled as he walked into the room where Ivy had been put down. The smile immediately left his face. She was lying on the bed, looking pale and barely moving.

“Ralaife.” Dave patted him on the back sympathetically, as they both looked down at Ivey.

“Has there been any change?”

Dave shook his head and then pointed to where Carly was clearly trying to sleep in the corner.

“Nothing the healers can do?” Daniel guessed.

Dave nodded once more.

“We’re heading downstairs to clean out the rest of the zombies. You don’t have to come, but you’re welcome.”

“Rc.”

“You’re going to stay here?”

Dave, this time nodded.

“Well, she’s a hero. It’ll be great if she’s got someone who cares about her when she wakes up.”

Dave nodded again.

Patting the big man on the shoulder. Daniel turned to leave the room and a smile lit his face when he saw Tamara had waited at the door for him. “Coming down with me.”

“How else are you going to see?” A light globe floated over her head.

“You know I can see in the dark?”

“No, I didn’t. Is that because you’re a mutant?” She stuck out a tongue at him.

Daniel laughed. “Nope, that one’s from my class.”

“What beast whisper?”

“Yeah, it lets me share skills with animals contracted with me.”

“Priscilla,” Tamara said wisely.

“Yep. One a related but far darker note she’s learnt to open chip packets?”

Tamara’s lips formed a silent O. Then she giggled. “There goes your leverage.”

“You’re telling me.”

When they got downstairs. It would have been incorrect to have described it as a hive of activity, but there are people moving around with clear intent.

“Hey.” Cindy yelled behind him.

A fighter going the other way flinched at the loud noise.

“Daniel!” she said urgently as she ran up to him. “We need to test the ramps.”

“They’ll work.” He answered brusquely. “I made them the same as the others.”

She grabbed his arm and yanked on it to spin him around. “No. It doesn’t work like that.”

He hesitated.

“We have to test them.” She insisted in a loud voice.

Daniel looked left and right and wondered how many people had heard her. “I agree.” He was sure for one that Tamara sniggered.

“Great.” Cindy beamed. “No time to waste. We need to set them up. Also, have you disabled the internal barriers like I suggested?”

“Yes.”

“And the groves.”

“Yes.” He answered tiredly.

“Can I get some volunteers to move the ramps?” she shouted.

Daniel wanted to face palm in response. There were open windows to the outside world, and she didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

Despite his private grumbling, she motivated everyone to help, and they began their testing. He had produced four ramps even if the plan was to only use two to gain access to level nineteen. The other two would be kept in reserve in case they wanted to breach some windows further down.

They, of course, had to test all of them and though it was unnecessary, Daniel did as asked. He didn’t think it would motivate the fighters if he refused to test out of spite when someone was loudly telling everyone who would listen about structural integrity and that we don’t want a failure when we use them for real because that would send fighters falling twenty stories to their death.

By the time all four ramps were fully tested, they were all ready. When he looked at them, it was like a small army. Over thirty people were here available to kill at his command.

“I’m sure you’ve heard but we’re going down to fight them crafted weapon to claw.” Daniel joked and failed to get even a smile. “There’s no plan to do anything fancy. We have the numbers and the strength. The intention is to go fast. Does anyone have anything they want to share before we go?”

“That thing yesterday?” a male archer asked. “Is it dead?”

There are so many qualifiers that Daniel could have and probably should have put on it. Unfortunately, he was not in the mood. “Yes. At most, we’re fighting two ultras. But I wouldn’t be surprised if one or both of them are already dead.”

“Why?”

It had been an old voice, but Daniel didn’t catch who had yelled the question out. “The super was forcing them together. When Ivey killed it, that organisation structure it had put in place crumbled. They’ve collapsed into dozens of fractions all of whom are at war with each other.”

A series of other questions were thrown out about squads and specific group tactics. Daniel stepped back to allow Luke to answer. He really did not know if Kerekes was better placed to be the primary healer for squad four or five.

Priscilla was already downstairs and was monitoring the only group of zombies on the floor. It was led by the speedster that survived the battle she had shared the night before and had formed a family of eight. They were all crammed into a room on the opposite corner from where the ramps would let them onto level nineteen. For once, a bit of luck was going their way.

“Quiet.” Luke ordered. “We all know the plan.” There were serious nods. “Daniel, let’s do this.”

Everything was in place. The teams assigned to the effort threw the ramps down and Daniel checked they had deployed properly. His consciousness flooding each ramp one after the after. His mind rushing through the entire structure in order to confirm that no unexpected weaknesses had appeared.

Daniel took a deep breath to steel himself. “We’re right to go.” Without hesitation, he took the lead. That first step out onto the ramp suspended twenty floors up was still scary but having seen how well it had worked yesterday he could stop himself from hesitating. Then he was rushing down as fast as possible. He was not afraid of heights per se. But this many stories on a plant bridge that he had made himself was terrifying. In a way, he was glad Cindy had insisted on testing everything again despite how annoying that process had been.

The fighters followed him and behind them once the entry point was secured forty non-combatants had been drafted to provide logistics for their effort. When they got the all clear, they would start carting down sections of the barrier they planned to use to block off the stairs so they could engage the remaining ferals on their own term.

That had been Cindy’s idea, and all the interior defences in the stairwell around twenty-five had been requisitioned. Theoretically, he could create a barrier that assisted by his magic, gravity, and a bit of strength that would curl down the stairwells to create a moving wall they could shift down one level at a time. That would let them secure floors one by one and be safe from attack from below.

Daniel burst back onto floor nineteen and immediately moved to secure the corridor.

It’s going to be okay. He told himself.

Things would go right. There would not be any nasty surprises waiting below, or at least there better not be. He was pretty sure Ivey had possessed the only ‘destroy all enemies’ card’ available to his group… If there was another super. Daniel did not want to think about that. No matter what happened they had made the right decision. Courtesy of Priscilla he had witnessed first hand the civil war. They were no longer a consistently dangerous whole instead they were fragmented.

Now was the best chance to strike. If they gave the ferals time he was pretty sure the result would be the entire set of floors becoming unified once more under an ultra or worse case another super. Given how many of the ferals had perished over night a new super emerging was not beyond the realm of possibility.

Daniel stood in the corridor. A club that would have done an ogre proudly clutched casually in one hand, though admittedly because of its weight the end rested on the floor. If he wasn’t using his skills, the club was cumbersome, but if he faced a genuine threat and engaged strength and speed, then anything he struck with his new toy would feel it. Or not, depending on what state of mush it was reduced to.

Priscilla kept watch. Zipping between the corridor and the stairwell. Nothing she was seeing concerned her.

To supplement her work, Daniel released Animal Sense, but the ferals below were not acting unusually. Within short order, all thirty-four of their raid party got down with no difficulty. Luke used hand signals to split them.

Daniels group was assigned to defend the stairwell while the other two groups continued on to form defensive clusters one in each corner hemming in the enemy. The opposing groups of ferals were not quite in a corner room, but once they emerged from the suite they had turned into their lair, they could go in either direction. Luke was not taking chances and had a defensive set up ready to catch them no matter what they chose.

A scattering of pressure plates was thrown down to give wall to wall coverage, and they were ready.

Priscilla moved past him and down the stairwell. She was positioning to provide early warning. From where he stood, Daniel could only see Luke’s team. Luke raised his hand and then brought it down, giving a signal. From the discussed battle plans, Daniel knew it was Janice he was signalling. It was her job while her child teleport still worked to trigger the ambush. If she got in trouble, she would be teleported back to Dave, her dad. As Carly was also watching over Ivey, there would be healing available if it was required.

There were long moments of silence.

Finigan’s ears picked up, but Daniel heard nothing.

Then there was a thundering roar of anger, of outrage from the other side of the floor.

Luke’s team tensed. The archers had their bows up and the ranged casters and magic spells were ready, but they did not fire.

Other feral roars had joined that initial angry one. Then those sounds started moving, or at least that was it sounded like in his perception. It was difficult to tell the way the sound echoed around the corridors.

The group he could see dropped their high alert as the attack was clearly occurring in the opposite direction.

Less than two seconds had passed.

All they could do was listen to get an idea about what was happening from the noises.

The ferals of thunderous calls went down the corridor. Then there were a series of explosive blasts, more roars, none of which seemed to have reached the corner where the attack group was supposed to be standing. Then another burst of concentrated explosion, which was the distinctive sound of his one shot rockets and then silence.

“Janice.” He heard Luke’s voice calling out but softly as to not alert anything downstairs.

“What’s happening?” Tamara asked him.

Daniel shrugged. He sort of wished that he had been assigned to one of the active groups on this floor or had left Priscilla in a position to spy on the engagement. It had sounded positive, but he couldn’t tell. Unbidden, Finigan got up and looped over in the corner’s direction where the sounds of fighting had come from.

As the dog moved, there were flashes of images. The connection was not as clean as the one with Priscilla, but he could follow along with what his companion observed. Finigan turned the corner and there was a crowd of humans at the end of the corridor and now that he was thinking about it the smell of fresh blood.

Smell?

Blood?

Direction of blood?

Of course… Realisation hit him. Finigan was a dog and so would have a better sense of smell than him. Vision was a completely different matter. If Daniel had been standing where the dog was, he would have been able to see the expressions on peoples’ faces. All that Daniel could perceive through the link was that there were people there.

The dog padded forward. The sense of smell told Daniel more than he imagined was possible. Before visual confirmation occurred, he was confident that the fight had been successful. They smelt happy and unconcerned. The fresh blood was from a spot out of sight and not near the people. Cindy was in the fighting group, in a cheerful mood.

That was the best time to beg for treats.

Finigan sped up.

Show me the bodies. Daniel thought to his bonded animal before he got distracted by his former owner.

Unlike with Priscilla, he was getting the full sensory suite. Cindy called Finigan’s name, and the dog, bless his heart, ignored his previous owner to look around the corner to assess what had happened. Once more, there was the disconcerting shift between what he could see and what the dog could already tell via its other senses. Two of the ferals had gotten close to the fighters, and the rest had fallen further out.

Then the visual input resolved itself. The closest feral had got within three metres of the defensive line. It had triggered the traps, but it had done it after bouncing along the corridor.

“How many bodies.”

Finigan took a step forward and then stopped. Daniel got a sense of Cindy’s comforting closeness.

Eight, the dog sent back to him along with an imprint of the unique scents and the positioning of the mortal wounds. Finigan couldn’t see the bodies, but the numbers were certain.

Cindy was patting Finigan. Daniel could feel her hands rubbing behind his ears… it was.

With a jerk, he was back in his own body and then chuckled softly. Getting too entwined in one of his companions’ senses was not a wise course of action. The emotions could certainly become overwhelming.

Tamara jiggled his hand. “What?”

“Success.” Daniel confirmed simply.

There was a pause. “You can your Priscilla special thing with Finigan?”

“Yep.”

“So what’s Finigan’s vice?”

He looked at Tamara, surprised by the question.

“Priscilla was bribeable with chips, but given developments you’ll need to find something else. In the meantime, Finigan might fill.”

Daniel laughed. “No, No. Priscilla’s fine. She’ll keep helping us.”

Tamara ignored him. “How are you going to bribe Finigan?”

He remembered the dog’s reaction to Cindy. “Definitely ear rubs.”

Tamara grinned excitedly at that admission. “I can absolutely beat you at that.”

“It’s not a competition.” Daniel protested. While sending a promise back to Finigan. When you come back, I’m going to give you lots of pats.

Love, adoration, and a wiggling body came back to him. The simple trust and love were breathtaking.

He relinquished the contact and while he was pretty sure that was the correct number he figured he should check.

Eight? He thought to Priscilla.

The image of eight packets of chips appeared with excited overtones.

No How many zombies were there

An identical picture came back, but this time she was annoyed and grumpy at him. Then the chip images morphed into zombies, along with a feeling of intense distaste.

Daniel bit back a smile. I know they’re not very nice to eat.

He got an image of an ear then the perspective getting really close to the ear following by her spitting out the taste.

Yep. Zombies, yuck!.

Strong agreement came back with the image of a packet of salt and vinegar chips as compensation.

She could get them himself, so he might as well get the brownie points while it lasted by being generous.

After the fight.

She did a flip and then the mouse shared the recollection of the room from earlier. Her eyes panned across the massed zombies. There were eight and then she looked outside down the empty corridors.

Yes, eight.

Daniel broke off the communication hurriedly.

“We’re clear.” Luke called out softly. His hands were on Janice’s shoulders. The fighters descended from both directions to secure the stairwell.

Priscilla was on guard and with everyone on teeter hooks Daniel at the top of the stairs set about constructing his moving barricade. Chunks of wood with spikes radiating in one direction were shoved into his hands. Cindy was next to him and like a tetris game he slotted them into place.

Three long minutes that felt like an hour later a solid barrier was created from the chunks he had been handed. Daniel wiped the sweat off his brow and focused on his breathing. He had been forced to use strength to slot some of the higher pieces into the right spot, but doing it himself was far more efficient than relying on others.

“Tense,” Cindy said, with a huge grin at him.

“Hard work,” he disagreed.

“We’ll slot the first round of traps in and then push it down before building the second layer.” Cindy told him.

“Fine.”

“And then operation blitz is going activate.” Luke said excitedly.

“Such a shit name.” Alex said, mirroring the thoughts of everyone else who had heard Luke.