The source Ren Zexian had mention now burned hotly inside the old range oven, filling the chambers with immense heat. They did not know how long the small crystal of black flames would burn for, but it was certainly a better source than green or treated woods.

"It seems like overkill," Tyler muttered as he sealed the small door of the fire chamber.

"Whatever works," came Paul's easy reply as he placed the campstove kettle upon the metal plate atop the oven. It did not take long to heat the water it contained and two cups of black, unsweetened coffee were produced.

*****

The first section of the wall was finished. It stood at ten feet in height and was almost a foot and a half wide. It was attached to the thick, but six foot high wall of one large estate at one end before curving a good distance across the main road that connected the three manors and ending at the thick hedge surrounding Nathan's home. The wall also had an entrance way, where two metal garage doors that happened to conveniently have been hinged on the sides rather than the top, sealed the exposed area.

On the inside of the wall, a secondary wall had been built. This was only five feet high and one foot thick and had ladders attached to it for ease of climbing. It was intended that a man could walk along the length of the inner wall and attack wandering zombies that came to their 'doors' with relative ease. Both walls had good foundations so if needed, they could increase the height further at a later date.

What no one expected, though, was that the first wave of zombies to hit the wall would not come from outside of it.

"Where the hell did these bastards come from?" Dexter seethed as a thick bolt of lightning shot from his fingers and through the bodies of two zombies in tandem. It was not enough to eliminate them, but their rotting muscles seized for a moment, giving Harry a chance to swing the metal pipe he held and knock them over. It took a while for weak zombies to rise after they had fallen, not to mention there was a black hound with sharp teeth ready to tear out the throats of any that fell.

Unfortunately, not all of these zombies were weak. A particularly dexterous one was dodging the flaming blasts of energy coming from Ren Zexian, who was guarding the metal gateway to the manor with his life. Patrick released his control, dripping with sweat as he did and a heap of heavy, broken bricks and mortar fell upon the zombies. His luck was good for one did not rise again and another lost the ability to move one of its arms.

"The third manor!" Harry yelled following an epiphany. Dexter cursed beneath his breath. That was right! With the urgency of building a wall, the distractions of the gulls, storm and internal logistics, they had not yet had a chance to sweep through the third manor and ensure that their new base was completely safe. Who knew that it would be such a fair sized nest of zombies!

There was likely just over twenty of them, their bodies ranging in size and decay and ability. If they had cleaned out the third manor a couple of weeks ago, they likely would have been able to take on two or three at a time. The zombies were mostly the slow, rambling sort that humans morphed into during the initial outbreak. However, now they were clustered together and they were a threat not only in number, but in strength.

Apart from the thin, agile zombie, whose remaining muscular tissue seemed to have fused to its bones, making it appear deceptively fragile, there was also a zombie whose thick body seemed impervious to their attacks and a third zombie that sparkled with lightning. This last one was throwing random bolts of electricity their way from a distance. Fortunately, it cannot have had its ability too long, for its aim was bad and over the many metres the blasts travelled, the lightning had weakened. It still hurt like fuck when it hit though.

"Shit!" Winston cursed as the blast hit his hand causing him to drop the gun.

"Can't someone deal with that bastard?!" Dexter roared. Although they were both of lightning ability, did not mean the man was any more immune to the shocks of the zombie's blasts if they hit.

"On it," came a voice from the other side of the metal gates. A large ball of water formed above the pesky zombie before falling to drench it. Dexter wanted to curse Tyler as an idiot, what was he trying to do? Clean it? But he swallowed the swear words down as the lightning crackling over the zombie's body reacted with the water and the undead humanoid fell, convulsing for several minutes before black blood poured out of seven orifices.

The agile zombie shrieked as it suddenly was consumed by black flames, it seemed Ren Zexian had become impatient with it. The squad never spoke about it, for Ren Zexian did not wish to mention it himself, but they were well aware that the man's fire came in two types. One was of red-orange flames, appearing to be ordinary fire, it's temperature that of a small campfire. This fire was impressive enough a combat weapon considering zombie skins were usually dry and burned easily, not to mention the clothes and rags upon their rotting bodies. However, the second type of fire was by far deadlier, blue-black in colour and the temperature of those flames never seemed much higher unless one got very close to them, as if the heat was greatly concentrated at its core. Yet if those flames touched a fuel source, they would consume it rapidly until there was nothing left.

And this was what they were using to cook with now.

With the smaller threats mostly destroyed, they had but one monster to deal with. Winston, Paul and Harry had to back away from it, running away across the height of the wall, for neither bullet penetrated it's barrel chest nor knife stuck in its chest. Patrick used the last of his strength to make it heavier, slower, but it seemed almost oblivious to the increased weight of its limbs as it reached upward.

"Tyler!" Dexter called out, hoping to deal with this zombie much as it's annoying 'friend' had been dealt with. "Another water bomb over here."

"Got it," Tyler replied and a mass of water appeared above the monster's head before drenching it. Dexter prayed to the heavens that his idea would work as he threw out a strong blast of lightning. Fortunately, it seemed the zombie's ability was only skin deep as the currents of electrical energy were drawn through the liquid over the monster's body, penetrated its armour and toasting it from the inside.

As it fell, heavily to the ground, the men on the wall collapsed, gasping for air. "Let's not do that again," Winston complained.

"We probably need to make sure that was all of them," Dexter sighed. "I don't want anymore sneak attacks like that!" The swift zombie had raced into their midst while they were inspecting their handiwork and testing the hinges on the garage doors. Fortunately, they were warned before any of them became dinner, the large black dog had growled angrily and leapt to attack it, delaying its endeavour. The other zombies had appeared a couple of minutes later.

Patrick jumped down to pet the beast as he crooned; "Whose a good boy, whose a good boy?!" Aslan growled, before turning his head to the side and becoming fog to escape.