ALL NOVEL Ch. 21 The Apostate
Naomi Weaver spun into her attack, the longsword nothing more than a blur as it beheaded the lizardman. The kill notification dinged but she was more focused on the small pack racing toward her. They were five and half feet tall, though they ran hunched over. Yellow-gray pebbled skin, flickering tongues, and holding crudely made spears. They were a nuisance.
An arrow whistled past her, slamming into the chest of the lead lizard. It collapsed in a boneless heap and Naomi couldn’t help but smile at her daughter’s skill. The twins were both gifted archers, but they were coming into their own over the last day. Arrow after arrow had left the lizards nothing more than pincushions as they pushed out of the city limits.
Naomi stepped forward, taking up the space so the lizards couldn’t roll around her to the more vulnerable members of her party. Toward her family. The family that she had buried so many years ago. The family she had been willing to burn the world down to get back.
A spear clanged against her steel breastplate, but she pushed through the bloom of pain from the hit. Her armor held, but the pressure drove the air out of her lungs. It did nothing to slow her riposte, which killed the weak monster. She stepped over the corpse and began to cleanse the area around her with a judicious application of sharpened steel.
“DAD!” Naomi spun at the cry, her heart filled with fear, the last of the little lizardmen dead at her feet.
Nia and Tia were both holding their bows fully drawn, trying to get a clean shot on the monster trying to eat her husband, Marcus. Naomi ran, her armor jostling loudly as she cut across the distance as fast as she could. She missed her increased stats, the speed and strength she had once wielded.
Marcus stood his ground against the smooth skinned quadruped. It was six feet long and five feet tall with a long tubular head that ended in a mouth full of triangular teeth. Claws dug into concrete, tearing it apart with ease, as it bounced from side to side, dodging her husband’s thrusts. His short assegai had been excellent in the close quarters so far, but now its limited length was showing its disadvantages.
Naomi charged right by her husband, trusting in her skill and armor as she swung her sword with every ounce of strength she had. At the last moment she activated her skill, Cut, a sheen of energy appearing on the edge of her sword. The monster spun, cat quick, and instead of taking its head, her blade bit into its shoulder.
Rancid yellow blood flowed out as the beast screamed in rage, swatting at her with one of its dinner plate sized paws. Naomi danced back, the displaced air of its passage a cool breeze on her exposed face. She darted back in to slash again, without the skill this time.
Her sword peeled the skin apart, but didn’t cut into the muscle. A long and painful flesh wound at best. If it was strong enough that only skills could hurt it, this could be an excellent leveling and potential boost for her family. The opportunity made her smile as she kept moving back and forth, twisting the long monster around.
The thrum of a pair of released bows were followed by the meaty impacts of arrows penetrating hide. The monster screamed again as its back leg buckled. Marcus slashed with his assegai, the entirety of his powerful frame behind the blow. The spear ripped through its other back leg, hamstringing it. The monster collapsed, hind legs no longer able to support its weight.
The fight dissolved into a simple slaughter. Her daughters filled it with arrows while Marcus continued to leave deep gashes in its side. This type of wanton slaughter irritated Naomi to a degree, they were ruining the beasts hide. There was no one to process it, but old habits die hard.
“Let’s take a break. Get out from under the sun,” Naomi ordered in a suggesting tone. It was good to see her kids back, fighting back the tears of joy every time she saw one of her girls smile or laugh. They weren’t the only ones in their little party, but they were the most important ones.
The noncombatants were quickly shuffled into a blown out storefront while Marcus and Naomi stood guard. There were nearly a dozen people here, people who hadn’t survived the first coming of the apocalypse. She had saved them, she had to keep reminding herself that as she looked around the ruins of her home.
“Who knew our little hobby would be so useful?” Marcus mused, cleaning the assegai with a scrap of cloth. Naomi smiled back at him, glad to finally have his presence back. He was unshakeable, as unmoving as a mountain. His death had destroyed her, but she had stopped it this time. There would be no finding his half eaten body in the ruins of their home.
“Re-enactors did,” Naomi teased. It wasn’t the right time for teasing, but her battered psyche couldn’t stop the elation every time he looked at her.
“We’re almost out of the city. Where do we go from here?” Marcus asked as they both looked up and down the street. Naomi checked the time with her new affinity and breathed a silent sigh. They still had a bit of time before she needed to be at the intersection.
“Out and away from all this. Maybe the mountains?” Naomi said, already knowing she had gone up to the abandoned camp in the mountains. She had stashed enough water and dried food to last them weeks up there. Disposable income and a trailer having come in handy after she returned back to her body.
“What about that lake we took the girls to last year?” Marcus suggested. Naomi had to hide her smile. She didn’t even have to set up the conversation to allow it to happen.
“That sounds like a good idea. We need to get moving though. We need to find somewhere safe before dark.”
“Alright. Hey, guys! Time to get moving, we’re almost out of here.” Marcus started to gather everyone up and Naomi took the moment to look at her daughters and friends she had saved. Her and Marcus had both grown up as single children and their parents had passed many years ago. It was just the two of them and the girls.
It hadn’t stopped them from making friends who were like family though. Aside from Rachel, Nia’s girlfriend, they were all middle aged and skilled in basic survival traits. Or at least knowledgeable about them. Once they got the camp up and running, their worth would shine. In the meantime she would fight to the death to keep them safe. She just had one more group of people she had to bring into the fold.
They moved out, heading away from the dense buildings and more into the urban sprawl that infested the outskirts of the city. Monsters were frequent, but not at the intensity levels they had been at during their initial push out of town. Naomi led them, taking a detour that had Marcus shooting her a raised eyebrow at.
Burnt out buildings were everywhere, primarily homes, smoke and heat wafting off of them in waves. She was right on time. Naomi looked hard, peering into the smoke and shadows as the sun sank, desperate to find the creature that would start the downfall of the most powerful Wizard she had ever met. The minutes were trickling by, getting close to the date with destiny, when she saw it.
A thin lizardman, it carried an atlatl, and crouched down in the remnants of a two story house across the street. Only the flicker of it grabbing a dart had allowed her to see it. They didn’t have much time if she was to avert disaster.
“Nia, second story, across the street. Left side, by the pillar.” Naomi gave directions to her closest daughter. Nia instantly nocked an arrow, and after just a second to aim, loosed the arrow. The arrow sped across the street and Naomi was rewarded to see the lizardman stagger out of the shadows to fall out of the second floor to splatter against the ground.
Right in front of Iseul Flores. The young woman looked around frantically, her large family spreading out around her and the other younger members. A variety of bats, crowbars, pipes, golf clubs, and even a bullwhip, were brandished. The massive Park-Flores clan rolling in a wave to protect their young and old.
Mrs. Park stood in the center of the formation, clutching at her granddaughter's shoulder. The granddaughter who was destined to have died right in front of her if Naomi hadn’t acted. Mrs. Park had been the most natural magic user that Naomi had ever encountered, held back only by the grief of watching her entire family succumb to the apocalypse. By the fifth year, when Naomi had initially met her, she had been a shell of herself.
“Hello!” Naomi called out, smiling widely as the scores of family members watched her walk over without a care in the world.