The oldest man in the city observed the situation of his men. They had a brick wall ore iron gate between them and the former residence of the city. His boys where on scrap wood platforms shooting or smashing the dead. The old man looked for his grenadiers.
The first of the yellow jackets he saw was missing half his face. The man he recognized as Ruff was covered in burns. Everything to the right of the right of his chin was black including a stump arm. The steal of his breast plate was tarnished three fingers cooked into it.
"North barricade Jack?" asked Maxum.
"I was dragging some kid of the line when the barricade exploded," slurred the soldier through half destroyed lips. "Poor kid was gone with my arm."
Ruff looked at his stump. He got to his feet with the help of the wall behind him. He looked at his pouch of grenades on his left hip. The left side of his mouth curled into a smile. His right side twitched.
"Get some bandages on those wounds Ruff," ordered the senior sergeant.
Ruff with his back against the wall shook his head no. He pulled a hammer out of his grenade bag. The grenadier limped his way to a platform.
"Damn it!" shouted Maxum.
He looked at the wall to see a man get dragged over. In places the dead men got over the wall. A team of men with shrapnel guns lead by Tarance who had blood coming out of his ears.
The situation was desperate but none of his men had given up. Not a man had lay down all of them where fighting desperately.
"Lamp oil!" shouted the old man. "We are going to burn those fuckers!"
A group of men followed him to the storage room in the mint where they had stored all the lamp oil they could loot from the city. The barrels were pulled out of the storage and ran to the parts of the walls with the most dead men crawling over. The barrels where cracked open and the oil dumped over. Torches chased over the wall. Men were freed up by the expanding mote of fire to help move oil.
The men worked fast the fires burned in the street all around the compound leaving the dead to burn. The threat beginning to die down except they had burned most of the lantern oil and Lord Brand had not been reinforced. The men cheered as the dead burned and the dead musketeers where gunned down. Things seemed to be calming down in the street.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The sounds grew louder and the ground shook. If he didn't know better Maxum would have assumed footsteps.
"Sargent of Arms!" shouted a voice from the north side of the compound. "Fucking giant!"
The old soldier ran to the north gate as fast as his aged bones could carry. The approaching giant was outside his understanding.
Its shape was blocky most of it seemed to be stones. The stones where held together by corpses wrapped around the stone and stitched together. The tower of stone and meet was head and shoulders taller than the two-story buildings on either side of the street.
"Muskets to the north!" shouted Maxum. "Concentrate fire! Bring the giant down!"
At his order, the men on the walls began to fire at the creature as it slowly approached the wall. Musket rounds hit the stone chipping off shards but no more. A new wave of dead folk shuffled behind the monster. Its purpose was clearly to destroy the wall. Fire might burn its meaty harness, but the stone was not going to burn before it had a chance to smash the wall.
The veteran soldier thought of what to do. Never in his life had he been asked to make a wall stop. He had no canon he could use to destroy the giant. Lord Brand had ordered all finished guns to defend the lord's castle. Shooting it in its stone body was not going to work. The fleshy bits didn't seem to bleed when shot.
"Grenades!" shouted Maxum.
One of his Yellow coats threw a lit bomb over the wall landing by the creatures feet. The grenade shook the giant causing it to trip and fall sideways crushing a house under its massive body.
The men cheered as it hit the ground. A small piece of its foot reduced to gravel. The cheering stopped when the shattered bits of house began to move, and the walking statue stood up again.
"More grenades," shouted Maxum. "Focus on its left leg chip it to gravel!"
The orange jackets resumed shooting at the moving statue ignoring the dead musketeers shooting at them from across the street. More grenades were thrown. To the old mans dissatisfaction the walking corpses moved in front of the slow moving colossus taking musket rounds and jumping on grenades to protect the walking wall.
The creature began to close on them. Every step shaking the earth beneath the men a little more as it got closer. Men took hits from the dead shooters and had to be pulled from the wall so another man could take up the post. Volleys of fire carved holes in the line of dead men that filled in the time it took to reload.
"Raaahh!!!" screamed a man who jumped from the wall. He landed heard but stood up and ran at the colossus. His right side was charred black. How Russ managed to run despite his hip being melted amazed Maxum. The man stuffed a lit torch into the grenade bag on his left hip as he rushed the wall of teeth. The dead turn their attention to Ruff muskets trin themselves on the solder as he runs.
"Cover Sergeant Vokin!" shouted a voice down the wall.
The living men to Maxums right and left begin shooting at the dead men aiming at Ruff.
Ruff disappears behind the dead folk.
BOOM!!!
The earth shakes and the statue collapses forwards smashing the dead folk beneath like grapes. It tries to get up but its leg is almost completely gone. Reduced to gravel on the city street. The unliving move in front of it to shield the injured monster as it crawls away.
Gunshots ring out in cheer as men pummel the line of undead. The men shouting triumphantly as they reload. The walking wall crawls back behind a building out of the men site. The hoard of dead folk sinks back down the streets bringing more celebratory chants from his men.
Maxum sighs to himself. It had been to close and cost him to much. He needed to contact the other outposts around the city and figure out a next move. Preferably a breakout.