James was glad he had been on night watch. Last night even though he had to fight that thing he got the chance to fight it. He also got to sleep through the execution this morning. The royal guard had executed 137 people seemingly at random. He had heard the oldest was a grandma in her 60s. The youngest was a 2-year-old boy. He had been allowed to sleep in the barracks.
Most of the guard spent the day hunting down the creatures that jumped over the wall last night. A new list was also handed down to the royal guard with the names of 246 people to be arrested and executed. The new list was being rounded up tonight and will be executed tomorrow. He would get to sleep through it again.
Without a doubt the city militia was not happy. No whispers of insurrection have been heard but if these executions and strange orders kept coming around it was only a matter of time. Tonight, a great many barrels of lamp oil and half the powder from the magazines was sitting on the walls.
Looking from the walls before the sun went down the enemy trenches where complete. Canons where being put into place as the sun finished setting. Tomorrow would probably be the first night that the guns fired on the walls.
"Move! Move!" shouted a captain. "Get on the walls now load your muskets and fire."
James looked to the stairs to see the royal guard lead by Captain Narrows running up the stairs and into the walls. The rest of the royal guard ran out loaded their muskets and looked out into the night almost as confused as James.
"I said Shoot!" ordered Captain Narrows.
BOOM!!!
A cannonball hit the city wall. James looked out in surprise at the accurate canon fire hitting the walls.
BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
Enemy canons flashes light the field for seconds. For those brief flashes the young soldier thought he saw a small army approaching the walls.
"I said shoot DAMN YOU," ordered Captain Narrows.
Muskets began shooting into the darkness. Torches were thrown into the night. A horde of people dressed in rags marched with purpose up to the walls. They were unarmed but showed no fear.
POP!! POP!!! POP!!!
The musketeers began to shoot into the crowd. James had expected them to run but even as cannons rocked the city wall sending bits of stone into the crowd, but they did not run.
Thump… Thump… Thump…
The rhythmic sound of something large closed in on the wall.
"Oil over the walls now!" ordered the captain. "Cannons fire, if you see what's stomping around out their shoot it!"
James grabbed the large barrel of oil with the help of his friend Tommy, and they hoisted the barrel over the wall. It crashed onto the people below. The oil leaked out of the shattered barrel.
"By the sun that basterd has no arms!" cried Tommy as he looked over the wall.
James looked over the wall and noticed that the fearless army at the base of the wall. It was much worse than missing arms taking a good look at them. At first he thought they were just dirty but now he saw many of them had lethal injuries but continued to move.
"Those fuckers are already dead!" cried tommy.
POP!!
Tommy was thrown back to the ground. A lake of blood pooled beneath him. He looked at his chest for a moment before his head fell back and he started to scream.
More musket balls began to hit the wall. Muzzle flashes light the night from behind the wall of corpses.
"Get those militia boys up here now," ordered Captain Narrows.
Tired men in civilian cloths rushed up the walls. Tommy was dragged away. James pulled his ram rod out of his musket and shot the crowed at the base of the wall. More torches were thrown of the wall lighting the lamp oil. The dead folks at the base caught fire and began stop moving.
James finally saw what was making the stomping sound. A brick house on legs of stone was walking up to the wall.
"Shoot it!" ordered Narrows. Shoot that walking tower!"
The front door opened, and a cannon barrel pointed out. Men the yellow pointed muskets out the windows and began shooting.
BOOM!!!
The door cannon shot. The front door was almost level with the wall and a section of men on the top of the wall disappeared except for spare limbs and screaming burn victims. A wall cannon fired into the building scattering bricks and collapsing the left living room. The second floor fell out and slid of the ground to the ground. A musketeer in a yellow coat missing his lower half loaded and fired his musket from the now exposed second floor hallway.
The house reached the wall. A horde of the dead men rushed out of the front door and onto the wall. These dead folks began eating the defenders.
One rushed at James reaching out to grab him. James smacked it with the butt of his musket. The dead man twisted but kept advancing.
"Throw them of the wall!" shouted the Captain.
James tried to push his enemy to the wall and a militia man rushed to his aid. The two men pushed it of the wall. They moved on to begin bludgeoning the dead men feasting on soldiers at the breach.
James saw Captain Narrows light a powder barrel and rolled it over the wall onto the house. As James was breaking every bone in a corpse, he heard an explosion from the base of the wall. The musket flashes from behind the unliving lines stopped. The dead men continued to chew uselessly on the wall. The enemy canons continued to hammer away at the defenses.
By morning the last dead man had stopped moving. The cannons continued to fire, and the enemy trenches seemed to get closer to the walls.
James was dismissed from the wall to return to the barracks to sleep. As James closed his eyes, he heard the drums sound signaling the beginning of todays executions.