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Chapter 37- A New Type Of Plague
Part 1- The Journey To Niske
Liz and Alex slowly walked down the silent suburban streets with Bip floating along behind them, bathed in the hot summer days light. Liz held her hands up to her head as she focused intently on the space just in front of her. She let out a long pained groan as her face scrunched up tightly. A small, uneven ball of snow began to grow in front of her, spinning around as it slowly grew larger and larger. A broad smile stretched across her face as she reached out her hand to grab the snowball. She turned to hold the ball out to Alex and Bip, brimming with a sense of pride.
“Look… I did it… I actually did magic without using my hands,” Liz huffed and panted as sweat poured down her face.
“Wow, that incredible,” congratulated Bip.
“I mean I guess… it’s something at least,” Alex shrugged, unimpressed.
Liz glared across to Alex, her frustration beginning to boil up inside of her.
“You guess? What’s that supposed to mean? I’d like to see you do better… jerk,” Liz scolded.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s impressive, but you’ve been practicing for almost five days now and all you can manage is a tiny ball of snow. I’m just saying you’ve still got a long way to go before you’ll be able to use it effectively in combat.”
“Five days?” Liz exclaimed as she thought about the journey they had been on since they had left Sol Dantol. “ It has been five days hasn't it huh… guess time just fly’s when you’re having fun.”
“Having fun? You’re seriously having fun? I feel like my legs could fall off at any second and we haven’t had a decent meal since we left the city. Honestly, I can’t believe not a single bus, train or taxi was willing to take us to Niske… bunch of wimps.”
“Yeah, guess people are really scared by whatever’s going on there,” Bip replied.
“That, and the fact we didn’t have any money to compensate them with,” sighed Liz.
“In any case that doesn’t matter now. Only a couple of hours and we’ll be there.”
Liz’s mind held on Alex's words. She began to look around the suburban streets, for the first time noticing just how empty they were. The street was lined with restaurant and eateries, all setup and ready for business despite being completely abandoned.
“Where is everybody? I mean we're getting pretty close to the city now and this place looks
like it should be filled with people… so where are they all?”
“Huh? Guess you’re right, it’s about lunchtime so there should at least be a few people around?”
Liz and Alex continued to walk down the street following it as it turned the corner. The group stopped in their tracks as they looked up at the peculiar sight in front of them. Towering above them was a tall metal wall running from one side of the street to the other. The group continued to look up in awe as they slowly approached the barrier.
“What the hell is that thing? That doesn’t look like it belongs in a place like this,” Bip exclaimed.
Alex’s eyes were drawn to a metal plaque bolted onto the wall. As the group reached the wall Alex lent in closely to read the writing scrawled across it.
“Attention, restricted area. Trespasses will be prosecuted in a military court,” Alex narrated.
“The Military? Guess this must be part of their quarantine then, but why would it be this far out from the city?” Liz pondered.
“Don’t move!” Came a commanding voice from above.
The group looked up the wall to see a man in an army uniform standing atop it, his gun aimed squarely at them. Liz and Bip raised their hands above their heads as they stepped back from the wall. Alex stared the man down with a ticked off glare.
“Careful pointing that thing around,” Alex scolded.
Another soldier popped up beside the first and looked down at the group.
“Huh it’s just a bunch of kids. Come on Joe put the gun down, don’t try and act all tough,” the second guard said.
“Rules are rules. No one is meant to be here and that means their trespassers,” The first guard replied to his college before looking back down to the group. “What the hell are you lot doing here? How did you get past the third ring anyway?”
The group looked to each other in complete confusion. Liz dropped her hands down to her side as she looked back up to the guards.
“Third ring? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb with us, just answer the…”
“Look just shut up, were mages so let us in already ok!” Alex shouted cutting off the soldier's words.
The two guards turned to look at each other, unsure of how to react to what Alex had said.
“Mages?” the pair questioned in unison.
Part 2- Checkpoint Two A
A man wearing a magnifying glass strapped to his eyes looked intently at the small medallion in his hand. He looked up from the medallion, using his free hand to raise the glasses off his eyes.
“Yep… it’s genuine, their story checks out, they are mages,” The man said as he held out the medallion to Alex.
Alex quickly snatched the medallion out of the man’s hand before pocketing it.
“That’s what we told you wasn’t it,” Alex hissed.
Liz Alex and Bip stood in a large green army tent in front of a shabby wooden desk. Behind the desk sat an important-looking man with a serious scowl on his face and arms crossed tightly across his chest. A bright light glistened off the many well-polished medals pinned to his chest. All around them soldiers went about their business, occasionally glancing across to the strange group standing amongst their ranks. The man sitting in front of them unfolded his arms and placed them on the desk, pushing himself up and out of his chair.
“Very well then, leave it to the Silver Sun to send Mages without any warning,” The man said as he walked past the group towards the exit. “I’m a general barker, welcome to Checkpoint Two A.”
“Checkpoint Two A? What’s that?” Asked Bip.
The General pushed aside the curtains marking the exit of the tent. The group followed on as He exited the tent, emerging into a large portion of the street blocked off by two barriers. Darted around the area were several tents with various different symbols marking each. Atop the wall leading deeper into the city was a pair of mounted turrets as well as a handful of heavily armed guards.
“There are three rings of barriers quarantining the City with several checkpoints placed around each. Ring one ran directly through the city blocking off all major roads, bridges, and tunnels. We’re in the second, running ten kilometers around the city. The third is the furthers out at twenty kilometers, so far out it would appear that they’ve stopped taking this seriously and are just letting anyone through. I’ll have to have a word with the general there.”
“So what kind of virus are you quarantining anyway?” Asked Liz.
The general stopped in his tracks before turning around to face the group, confusion, and uncertainty swirling in his eyes.
“Are you serious?” General Barker said.
Liz nodded in reply. The general let out a brief sigh.
“A few weeks ago, there was a bombing in one of the most populated parts of the city.
Hundreds we’re killed immediately and hundreds more were injured. Emergency services instantly swarmed the area and started to put things back together, however just as people thought it was over, it got even worse. The bomb had seemingly released some sort of virus, infecting everyone within a ten-block radius who then went on to spread it further through the city. After a few hours the infected started to drop like flies, including all the emergency service workers there to help,” The General explained. “With how fast the disease spread and how dangerous it was the government decided it would be best to keep the city under an absolute quarantine until they’ve found a way of dealing with it.”
“Sounds pretty serious, should we be worried?” Asked Bip.
“The military can handle the situation.”
Alex looked at the soldiers walking around them, noticing the high powered weaponry. He looked up to the far barrier, his eyes hanging on the large turrets mounted on either end of it. He looked back across to the general with an accusatory glare.
“So what’s with all the heavy gear? If all you’re doing here is keeping the virus in surly all you’d need is a wall with a couple armed guards at most. So why would our tight ass government deem it worthy to waste all that money on a bunch of unnecessary guns?”
The general turned to face Alex, a slight grin forming across his lips.
“Ha… you’ve got a good set of eyes on you, haven’t you. That story is the official one we’re telling the public and for the most part, it’s true. The virus that was released was as lethal, but we had a cure figured out almost immediately… the real reason for the quarantine is…”
“Sir, they’re here!” Came a shout from the wall, cutting off the general’s words.
“Well… looks like you’ll get to see for yourselves,” The General smirked as he walked off towards the wall.
Part 3- A New Type Of Plague
The group walked up the dimly lit staircase leading to the top of the wall.
“What are we going to see up here?” Asked Liz.
“Just wait and see,” General Barker replied.
The general reached the top of the staircase, stretched his hand up and pushed open a small trap door, bathing the group in light once more. General Barker climbed through the door and onto the top of the wall followed behind by the rest of the group. Liz looked out over the abandoned streets the sprawled out seemingly endlessly in front of them in awe. The General cleared his throat loudly, drawing Liz's attention back to him. He now stood next to another soldier with many shining medallions pinned to his uniform.
“This is Captain Young, captain these are the Mages who caused the stir at the front gate.”
The Captain reached his hand out to shake each of the groups.
“I’m just glad those idiots didn’t shoot you on sight, we need all the help we can get out here,” Captain Young said.
“And what exactly are we helping with?” Asked Alex.
“Take a look for yourself,” Captain Young said, gesturing over the city.
The group walked over closer to the edge to take a closer look at the city. Liz's eyes held on a darkly lit ally as she noticed a slight movement.
“What the?” Liz muttered to herself.
From the dark corner limped a decrepit looking figure of a woman. Her skin was pale with several large bloody chunks seemingly ripped out. Her eyes were glazed over a milky white color. The woman looked up to the wall locking uncomfortable eye contact with Liz. Liz began to shake slightly as her brain desperately tried and failed to process the creature now shambling towards her.
“Wh… What the hell is that thing?” Liz stuttered.
“Judging by the decomposition I’d say that she was one of the first to be infected,” The
Captain calmly stated.
“What do you mean infected? I thought you said you had a cure for that,” Liz panicked as she turned to face the General.
“We do, managed to solve that little problem almost instantly but this… this isn’t a virus at all.”
Liz looked puzzled, unsure of what to make of General Barker's words.
“Necromancy…” Alex chimed in, drawing the group attention to him. “Am I right?”
The general nodded to Alex.
“Necromancy? What’s that?” Liz asked.
“It’s a theoretical form of magic as old as anyone can remember. Basically, it’s bringing the dead back to life using magic. Thousands of Mages have researched it and all came to the same conclusion. The amount of power someone would require to perform it well exceeds the limit of anyone to ever of existed and even if someone was strong enough, they’d likely kill themselves just trying to figure out the method. About a hundred years ago it was made illegal to study it due to it being unnatural and inhuman.” Alex explained.
“Well it looks like someone didn’t get the message,” said Captain Young
General Barker looked down at the shambling creature slowly growing closer and closer to the wall. His eyebrow raised and he leaned in closer as he noticed a slight shuffling from the dark alleyway. Without warning a large group of the undead came stumbling onto the main street. A horrified expression etched itself onto The General's face as panic set in. Captain Young noticed the General's expression before looking over the wall and noticing the group now fifty-plus members strong. He slammed his hands down on edge of the wall as he leaned in closer to the group.
“Crap… this is the biggest group yet!”
Liz, Alex, and Bip all looked down at the group in shock, still trying to process the existence of the creatures in front of them. The General shook his head as he snapped back into action.
“Quick get someone on those guns stat!” General Barker Ordered.
“We’re still waiting on an ammo resupply,” replied Captain Young
“Argh… crap,” General Barker grunted under his breath as he ran to the other side of the wall. “Everyone, get your weapons and get up here immediately!”
General Barker felt a slight tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Alex with his arm outstretched towards him.
“What can we do to help,” Asked Alex.
“Fighting those things up close is far too dangerous, grab a gun and start shooting.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Came an unfamiliar voice from further down the wall.
The group turned to see two strange men standing atop the wall dressed in immaculate white clothing. The closer of the two was short with neatly kept grey hair. Strapped to his back was a long T shaped stick with one end wrapped in cloth. The other man was tall, muscular and heavily built bald man with a permanent scowl carved onto his face.
“Who the hell are you two?” Barrelled out the general as he stomped his way over to the pair.
The small man held out his hand. Clutched within his palm was a small golden medallion with what looked like a picture of a mop etched onto it. The General looked at the medallion in utter confusion for a moment in silence.
“I’m Calem, this is Edgar… Don’t worry the professionals are here now,” said the small man.
“Come on big guy.”
Edgar let out a low pitched growl before stomping his way to the edge of the wall and jumping off. Calem smiled a cocky smile before following in his friends lead and launching himself off the wall. General Barker ran to the edge followed by the rest of the group. They looked on as the horde grew closer and closer.
“What are you doing you, idiots? If you die this close to the city you’ll become just like them! Don’t be stupid and get back up here!” General Barker demanded.
“Guess we’ll just have to not die then,” Grumbled Edgar
“We’ve spent our whole lives not dyeing, after all, i don’t see why this is any different,” Calem continued as he reached around to his back and unclipped his weapon.
He held the T shaped stick out in front of him with his right hand and began slowly unwrap it.
“Looks like you’ve got quite the mess on your hands here… but don’t worry...”
Calem fully unwrapped his weapon letting the cloth float away on the wind and revealing an intricately carved wooden broom beneath.
“Huh, a broom?” Liz questioned in confusion.
Calem took up a fighting stance, holding his broom out behind him.
“… The clean-up crew has arrived.”