We had a few hours to prepare before the third wave. Like after the second round of zombies, we cleared the bridge of bodies and recovered what loot and ammunition we could. With the command points he gained from fending off the second wave, Woods bought another catapult, more firebombs, and a large stock of holy arrows.

The third wave started, predictably, with zombies. Across the river, they poured out of every alley and building, as thick as mosquitos in spring. As before, they slowed as they reached the bridge. So many of them jockeyed for space, dozens fell into the Thames even without our intervention.

The archers started firing at will, each headshot killing one of the innumerable hordes. Once the bridge was half filled with the undead, Woods ordered the first fire bomb launched. We didn’t have an unlimited supply, but with so many of them swarming the bridge, we needed to thin their numbers.

The first zombies reached the wall and I went back to cutting down the monsters as they climbed. I found myself jealous of the Lieutenant's halberd. The polearm was perfect for cutting and stabbing the zombies before they could climb high enough to threaten the defenders. My shamshir, as much as I loved its speed and cutting power, just didn’t have the reach. I had to wait for the zombies to be practically on top of us before I could hack them apart.

Still, I did what I could, doggedly chopping down any climbers that made it to the top of the wall. The hours in between waves gave me plenty of time to get my breath back, but I was far from top form. My limbs felt like lead and I could taste bile.

Chopping through a zombie’s arm and lopping off the top of its skull, I fantasized about morning mass and the healing it would bring. Magical healing would be great for building muscle. I kicked the corpse off the wall and stepped back to give the archer room to take a shot. Not that you could raise strength through traditional bodybuilding. Would make a cool game mechanic though. I thrust my shamshir through a zombie's eye socket and pushed another that tried to bite Eva. Weak as the magical attack was, it still managed to knock the monster back off the wall and into the seething mass of undead. Raising skills and attributes through training would be really immersive.

My pondering was interrupted by a bellow from across the river. I looked over to see a zombie lieutenant stepping out of the ruined city. At seven feet tall and built like a grizzly, the brute would be a challenge even if it wasn't surrounded by a swarm of zombies. I didn’t have long to examine the hulking monster though as a lunging zombie tried to rip my throat out.

I managed to catch the strike on my shield, but only barely. Even as I cut the undead down, another pair practically ran up the wall. It seemed the lieutenant’s roar did more than draw attention. The normal zombies seemed more energized, twitching and lunging in frenetic bursts. We were hard pressed for a few seconds until the buff tapered off and the zombies slowed.

As the zombie lieutenant reached the far end of the bridge, Sarah readied the catapult at Wood’s command. Before the halberdier could issue the order, another bellow rang out from the city. The second zombie lieutenant was leaner than the first, but half a foot taller. The energized zombies hit us like a tide.

When the hulking brute added his own roar, we were bodily pressed back by a flood of undead. With the two buffs stacked, we rapidly lost ground. “Hold the line!” Woods called, activating his skill before we could be swept off the wall.

Our feet locked in place and the horde of undead crashed into us. Countless bones snapped as stoppable force met immovable object. Fighting in the press was claustrophobic and dangerous, but the Halberdier’s skill did most of the heavy lifting. It not only checked the horde’s charge, it protected us from attacks. It wasn’t invulnerability, but the lightning fast lunges turned sluggish and predictable as they hit the glowing blue wall.

Woods called for holy arrows, and the archers fired point blank into the slavering horde. The positive magic cut them down like wheat before the scythe. Every glowing bolt not only obliterated the undead it hit, but the residual magic burned all the undead nearby. As an added bonus, the combined residual magic of a dozen arrows was enough to saturate the area with positive energy. I could feel my cuts and bruises tingle as they slowly regenerated.

Woods followed up the holy arrows by loosing both catapults. The firebombs missed the first zombie lieutenant. Our fight on top of the wall had given it enough time to pass the kill zone. The resulting inferno still cut off the wave of normal zombies behind it, providing us a much needed buffer.

The first zombie lieutenant went down under a barrage of holy arrows. Even its superior constitution was overwhelmed by repeated hits of the magical ammunition. The hulking zombie crashed to the bridge as a wave of smoldering ash before it could manage another bellow.

The second zombie lieutenant roared, energizing the zombies again, but without the stacked buff, we held the wall without letting the undead regain their foothold. This time, the firebombs hit the special zombie without issue, and it was mostly dead before it made it out of the kill zone. A single holy arrow to the head finished it off.

With the special zombies dead, the flood of normal zombies reduced to a much more manageable trickle. The zombie lieutenants speeding up the normal zombies had the side effect of creating a lull now that they were gone. The archers switched back to normal arrows and we were finally able to take a quick breather.

“Human lieutenant two, zombie lieutenants zero,” Sarah said with a smile. “Congrats Adam.”

“Was that the boss then?” I asked, fearing the answer.

Woods shook his head. “Not yet. How are we doing on ammo?”

“One firebomb, and a dozen holy arrows left. Tons of normal arrows,” Sarah reported.

“Pretty good. I don’t think there will be another round of elite enemies. It should just be normal zombies until the boss arrives,” Woods said. “No telling what the boss will look like, it's been different every time. But it will almost certainly be undead. Just keep your eyes peeled and call out anything out of the ordinary. I died last time to a zombie with red eyes. It seemed like a normal zombie right up until it resurrected every undead in a twenty foot radius.”

We watched the stream of zombies carefully, but in the end, the boss was easy to spot. The matte black plate mail was somewhat hard to make out in the dark, but the glowing blue war-sword stuck out like a beacon. Matching lights glowed from the helm’s visor as the boss marched up to the bridge.

Woods timed the firebomb well, and the urn of flammable tar hurtled towards the armored monster. Just before the bomb could hit the bridge, the boss chopped with his longsword, sending out a wave of glowing energy. Frost coated the bridge and a flurry of ice crystals formed as water was pulled from the air. When the magic hit the firebomb, the taper guttered and died. The clay vessel crashed into the bridge scattering tar, but without the accompanying conflagration.

Unfazed, the undead knight broke into a slow run. It seemed the running water of the Thames, so effective at neutering the normal zombies, didn’t do much to diminish the boss monster.

At Lieutenant Woods’ command the archers loosed a round of holy arrows. The undead knight brought its sword up horizontally, protecting its eyes. The missiles hit the sword and dark armor with a series of metallic pings. The ammunition, devastating to the other undead, deflected harmlessly, ricocheting into the bridge or river below.

“Normal arrows,” Woods called before the archers could send another wave. “Focus on the regular zombies, keep them off our backs while we fight the boss.”

As the undead knight’s run brought it closer to the wall, magic pooled around its feet. A spire of ice burst out of the bridge carrying the undead boss into the air. It kept running, undeterred by the slippery footing. The glacial siege tower crashed into the top of the wall, shaking the stones and crushing the zombies amassed below. It hit with enough force that all the bridge defenders other than Eva stumbled or fell. Her Harlequin class gave her an unparalleled sense of balance.

The undead monster stepped from the ice to the wall at a charge, showing no signs of slowing down. Woods managed to activate his skill, checking the rush, but it was too late to prevent the boss from getting a foothold on the wall. The knight slammed into the Lieutenant with a flurry of brutal chops from his glowing sword. The Halberdier parried desperately, unable to find an opening to fight back even with his longer reach.

As soon as the Hold the Line skill ended, I circled around the undead knight and struck at its exposed back. The boss’s casual backswing nearly cut me in half, but I managed to throw myself out of the way. For my efforts the monster’s breastplate now had a light scratch running down its back. I really needed a way to deal with armored opponents.

“Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love!” Gerald called, clashing his huge montante against the undead's own two-handed sword. The monster went berserk, wailing on our Crusader with brutal chops and no thought for defense. While Gerald’s armor also boasted impressive durability, ice crystals formed wherever the monster’s blade struck. I could see plumes of frost come out with each of the Crusader’s labored breaths.

Woods and I made use of the distraction, delivering a flurry of attacks. I tried to stab into the joints in the platemail, but it was hard to aim with the creature’s erratic movement. I managed to get a good thrust into the back of the knight’s knee, but it didn’t seem to bother it any. Woods had slightly more luck, using his heavier weapon and better leverage to rain crushing blows down on its exposed back and shoulders. The halberd’s spike put holes in the thick armor, but didn’t drive in deep enough to disable the monster within.

“Clear,” Eva shouted. We disengaged, Gerald with a front kick that pushed himself as much as the boss, forming a triangle around the monster. Glass shattered as Eva’s molotov cocktail hit the knight dead center. I had forgotten that she had the spares from the earlier fight. The cheap liquor burned well, but more importantly, it ignited the tar still splattering the knight’s armor from the failed firebomb.

We staggered back as the knight went up like a bonfire. It wasn’t as hot as a proper firebomb, only so much of the sticky tar had clung to the knight, but it was enough to stagger the undead monster. With an inhuman bellow, the knight slammed his sword into the stone, unleashing a wave of freezing energy. The fire went out like a snuffed candle, the remaining liquor froze solid, and even the gas lights of the bridge guardhouse guttered.

I felt like my whole body had been tossed into an ice bath, but it could have been worse. Blood freezes at a much higher temperature than alcohol. If any of us had been closer to the boss when it used that ability, we would have been a meat popsicle. Though without the fire, I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to damage the tanky boss.

At least the knight’s sword stopped glowing. That burst of magic apparently drained the weapon of its frost enchantment. Without the added ice damage, Gerald was able to withstand the undead’s attacks far easier. He still wouldn’t last forever though. We had to find a way to kill the boss before our tank fell.

I started targeting any gaps I thought might contain straps for holding the armor together. If I couldn’t damage the creature directly, maybe I could peel the armor off one piece at a time. In my peripheral vision, I spotted Sarah telling Eva something and the Harlequin nodding.

“I just need an opening,” I heard her call out over the din of clanging metal. An opening eh? I had something for that. I dropped my shield and rummaged around in my belt pouch. When the boss committed its next attack, I darted in and slashed the leather clasps that held the right greave together.

As the shin armor flapped open, I pressed in with my free hand, slapping a minor scripture of binding on the exposed tibia. The knight froze as the magical scripture took effect. Gerald’s next attack bounced off with a clang. The scripture immobilized the undead monster, but also made it completely immune to damage. Still extremely useful in the right tactical situation, I just hoped it was good enough for the women’s plan.

“This won’t hold him for long,” I called, replacing the first scripture as the magic was quickly burned through. Good thing I had quite a few of them saved up.

In a flash Eva sprinted up to the immobilized knight, scrambling up to its shoulders. She quickly shoved a glowing arrow into any hole or gap in the plate mail she could find. The holes Woods had made with his halberd’s spike proved the perfect size. The arrows didn’t do any damage yet, the immobilized boss not triggering their magic. Eva plunged the last two arrows through the eye knights eye slits.

“Ready,” the Harlequin called, legs wrapped around the knight’s head. I ripped the rapidly disintegrating scripture of binding off the monster's leg and dove for cover.

Before the undead could react, Eva drove the holy arrows further into the monster’s skull, triggering the runes. The creature thrashed violently as positive energy flooded through it. This set off the other arrows, causing a chain reaction of holy magic.

The detonation of seven arrows proved too much for the already weakened boss. The suit of armor, and Eva with it, crashed to the ground as the skeleton inside was reduced to burning ash.

“Woo!” Eva called, sprawled out on the cold stones. “Good plan Sarah.” She gave the Archivist a thumbs up.

“Great execution,” Sarah responded with a smile.

“Hell yeah!” Gerald called. Even the normally serious Woods had a bright smile on his face.

“Now we just need to clean up the last of the normal zombies, and that’s night two completed,” the Lieutenant said.

We made our way back to the crenellations where the Bridge Guardsmen were still shooting arrows. With the massive spire of ice blocking the zombies' way, the archers had no problem holding off the horde while we fought the boss. If the monsters had been more dexterous, they could have climbed the ice ramp, but as it was they just lost their balance and slid back down. Even when a zombie managed to make it partially up the ramp, the archers just focused on that one, and the resulting corpse swept up other climbing zombies.

Seeing that the defense was well in hand, I scanned the far side of the bridge for any last minute curveballs. I hadn’t really expected to find any, so the appearance of a non-zombie figure on the far bank surprised me. It was hard to make out details at this distance, but they moved too smoothly for one of the undead and made no move towards the bridge.

“What’s that over there?” I asked, pointing out the figure.

“It’s a person,” Eva said, her higher perception letting her pick out more detail. “He is messing with something covered by a tarp. Oh, it's the scruffy guy! You know, the one that was with the redcoat prick.”

I thought back to our encounter with the trio of protesting testers. We hadn’t exactly parted on amicable terms. “What is he doing here? Trying to loot the zombies we killed?” I guessed.

The tarp dropped away to reveal the unmistakable form of a catapult pointed right at us. “Uh, that can’t be good.”

“Archers fire on that siege engine, take out its operator,” Woods called. The Bridge Guards tried, but their shortbows just didn’t have the range.

“It’s a zombie, tied to a rock?” Eva said skeptically. “What’s the point of that?”

As the catapult fired, I could see that Eva was right. A zombie, its four limbs cut off, was strapped to a large stone, spinning end over end as it hurled towards us.

“Take it out of the sky,” Woods called, panicked. The archers tried, one amazing shot even hitting the zombie in the guts, but it wasn't enough to change the projectile's trajectory.

The zombie missile sailed harmlessly above, far from hitting any of us. As it passed over the bridge and into London proper, shill whistles blared out. Somewhere a bell started ringing. The zombie splattered into paste as it hit the road, but that did nothing to end the alarms.

“Fuck!” Woods cursed. “That’s the breach alarm. We just lost.”

I looked back across the river. Even across the distance I could make out his two-fingered salute before he slipped back into the Old City.