3 Chapter 3: Rise of the Dead (2/2)
This sucked.
”Obey me! OBEY ME!”
”No.” I raised an eyebrow as the necromancer bathed me in black magic, to no avail. The raving, ranting guy seemed more bark than bite. I was getting less afraid of him by the minute. And more annoyed. ”Could you please be quiet?”
”Dangerous…an undead abomination is dangerous.” The necromancer was paying absolutely no attention to me at all. Chattering, he was biting his fingers, his mushroom-haired head bobbing up and down in despair. ”This abomination cannot be allowed to exist!”
”Huh?” I felt a chill at that last statement from the necromancer. That didn't sound good at all. Gulping, I began to back away, but it was too late. I was completely surrounded, hemmed in by a ring of zombies. Looking around and seeing that there was no path of escape, I turned back to the necromancer with both my hands raised. ”Um, look, I mean no harm. I'm sure we can talk this out, right? We can just both go our separate ways…”
”Kill him.”
The necromancer's command was final. The bastard had no intention of listening to me at all. At his order, the zombies lunged at me as one, their rigid movements belying their grace and incredible speed. I tried to dodge, but I wasn't able to evade in time. The mass of bodies struck me, knocking me over and pinning me to the ground. I struggled desperately, but the zombies climbed all over me, moaning and slavering.
One of them bent down and bit a huge chunk of flesh off my neck.
”Ah…aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
A scream of agony tore itself from my throat. Flailing in both pain and despair, I kicked and writhed, but the weight of zombies held me down. Another bent and bit my arm. I could feel a couple more chewing on my leg. Gritting my teeth, I kicked them, but their jaws were firmly lodged into my muscle, causing excruciating agony that caused tears in my eyes.
What the hell? Even if I'm a zombie, an undead, why am I able to feel so much pain?!
I kicked and screamed, but I was unable to dislodge my assailants. They bit down hard and chewed, refusing to let go. I felt my blood flowing down my torn skin, molten fire flowing through my veins and flooding my system with unbelievable agony.
”Aaaaaaaaah! Get off me! Get off!”
”Feast yourselves, my precious minions. Make sure not even one shred of flesh remains.”
”Fuck you!” I shouted and kicked, but the zombies remained clinging onto me with their jaws. The damned things were actually biting all the way down to the bone! I squeezed my eyes shut, tears spilling freely from the incredible pain.
Over the din of moaning and chewing, the necromancer was beside himself in glee, watching my demise triumphantly. His hands clasped behind his back, he watched the gruesome spectacle like a father happily witnessing the growth of his children.
”No…noooo!”
I struggled and fought back defiantly. The reality that I was going to die a second time hit me, and hit me really hard. The ice-cold fear clenched my heart tightly in a warning grip, reminding me of the unspeakable terror that awaited me should I fall back into the depths of death.
No! I never want to go back to that place ever again! Never!
Kicking and lashing out, I screamed as I felt my leg being torn off. Another zombie gnawed off my left arm, biting through the bone. I jerked violently, from reflex, and watched in horror as the offending undead ripped my arm off.
”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Blood spurted all over the place as the zombie fell back. Cradling my severed arm in his embrace, he began chewing on it.
Breathing heavily, and almost blacking out from the pain, I bit my lip so hard I could taste my blood flooding into my mouth. I couldn't black out here. I couldn't. I had to fight back. I was never going back to that place ever again.
”Hah, hah…”
With a force of will, I head-butted the nearest zombie, causing him to fall back and into his comrades. Kicking out as hard as I could, I managed to dislodge the zombie that was biting firmly into my left angle, hurling him away.
But at a cost. A huge chunk of my ankle went with him. Wailing in pain, I clenched my teeth and forced myself to endure it. Crawling to my feet, I found that I couldn't stand. That bite must have torn my tendons or something.
”What are you doing? Hurry and kill him!” The necromancer hissed above, gesturing wildly with both arms. At his voice, the zombies clambered back to their feet and shambled after me, their eyes still hollow but somehow ravenous at the same time.
Bloody bastard…
Swiveling my head, I glared at him, bitterness filling my heart. Was I brought back from the dead just to die again? Like this, pathetically, eaten by other undead? Would I be sent back into that terrifying abyss so traumatizing my mind refused to remember the experience?
”Don't screw with me…”
I wasn't going to die like this. I wasn't going to die in a place like this.
Revenge. I still need to get revenge on Kobayashi. On all my classmates. I can't die yet!
Reaching out with my right hand, I inched my way toward the necromancer. The pale man probably didn't recognize my intentions, thinking that I was trying to get away from his zombies. Or he had full confidence in his zombies to capture and kill me before I could do anything. It didn't matter. As long as he stood still and remained where he was, I stood a chance of victory.
This was probably the only way I could get out of this. If the necromancer was the one controlling the zombies, then I just had to get rid of him first before his zombies pounced on me. With a tremendous effort, I kicked off on my good leg and hurled myself off the ground. The necromancer's deep-set and bloodshot eyes widened when I barreled right into him. He was as thin and frail as he looked – even someone as light as me could topple him over with a well-timed tackle.
”You! Get off me!”
I punched him in the face with my one good hand. The necromancer flailed about, smacking me with his staff and sending me sprawling on the ground. Rising to his feet, he shouted to his zombies.
”Kill him! Kill him right now!”
Even when winded, I felt the surge of adrenaline run through my undead system. Shaking off the white sparks that flew about my eyes from the strike, I pounced on the necromancer again. This time, he tried to ward me off with his staff, but I grabbed his arm with my right hand and shoved it back. The both of us crashed down in a tangle of limbs.
”Hurry, you fools! Get him off me right this instance!”
With my left arm torn off, and my right hand preoccupied with keeping his staff at bay, I had little weapons left. Moving up my good leg, I placed a knee squarely on his groin, crushing his you-know-what onto the ground. The necromancer let out a high-pitched wail that was in contrast with the low voice that he had been using all this while.
But I wasn't done. I could hear the pattering of the zombies' feet as they moved toward me. Damn, but from the sound of it they moved fast! I had to take decisive action and finish this before they caught me and rip me off from the necromancer. Unfortunately, I had nothing else to fight with. If only I still had my arm…
No…wait. I still had one other weapon.
Lowering my head, I sank my teeth into the shocked necromancer's throat and bit down hard. Closing my eyes and suppressing revulsion, I yanked my head back as hard as I could, tearing off a huge chunk of flesh and splashing blood all over my face.
”Argh! Ugh!”
With his left hand, the necromancer tried to press against his bleeding throat. It was of little effect. I had bit off both his jugular vein and carotid artery. Now, even if his zombies killed me, he would bleed to death.
But I wasn't going to let his zombies kill me. Not yet. With a determined roar, I bit out another lump of flesh from the other side of his throat, eliciting another cry of pain. Raising my head, I licked the necromancer's blood off my lips, realizing vaguely that the red fluid tasted surprisingly sweet. The flesh, despite being stringy and thin, had quite the marvelous texture to it. It was soft and easy to chew. Swallowing the lean meat, I hungered for more.
Oh, and for some reason, I was hungry. Very hungry. I didn't notice it before, but now that the necromancer was helplessly pinned beneath me, he looked very…delicious.
I was going crazy. Crazy with hunger, crazy from being shoved near the verge of death, or crazy from being thrown into an insane situation. Whatever. I wasn't thinking straight right now – the hunger was driving me crazy. I would probably regret this later when I sobered, but right now I didn't care about anything other than relieving that burning vacuum in my stomach.
”You tried to feed me to your zombies,” I told the terrified, weakening necromancer, lowering my mouth to take another bite of his flesh. Behind me, the zombies seemed to have stopped moving. The life force of the necromancer was ailing, as was his unnatural magic. As he weakened, the blood leaking from his body, so did his grip on the dead.
Good. I could slowly enjoy my meal then. Smiling, I swallowed the bloody lump of flesh in my mouth before reaching for more.
”So it can't be helped if I feed on you…right?”