Auclair loaded another round into the artillery and took a deep breath. He tried to wipe the sweat from his head, but was foiled when he forgot about the gas mask. The other prisoner with him fired the round and then loaded the next shell to give Auclair a brief rest. They alternated every time so they could go on for a much longer period overall.
Auclair peered over the ledge and noticed the receding undead. As they began thinning out, Auclair clutched his stomach with a grimace. All the work loading shells had made his hunger stronger so he lowered himself to the ground.
"You alright?" His skinny partner asked him. Surprisingly they managed to keep up with Auclair perfectly fine when moving the shells.
Since they were so skinny, Auclair thought it would've been rude to trouble him about his hunger. He just told them he was tired and they nodded before settling down next to him.
Their work was finished for now as an alarm blared out, declaring that the threat level had reached H5.
They watched the renewed dead laying in a massive pile beneath them as they burned. The cleanup crew would be arriving shortly to spread the ashes out and create new room for the undead. How they would even achieve that in the first place, Auclair had no clue. The scale seemed simply too large for to comprehend.
"So what is this place? What are those things?" Auclair asked straightforwardly.
"What? Did you somehow drop one of those shells on your head?" The prisoner asked in confusion.
"I take it they told you all nothing about the new prisoners?" He was referring to the contestants of course.
"They never do." The prisoner shrugged.
"I see… Well, as hard as it may be for you to believe, we're not exactly from here."
"How's that possible?" The prisoner leaned forward, "Are there other places that have survived?! No, how would you even have made it here…?"
They leaned back and bit on their finger while deep in thought.
"Magic." Auclair explained simply.
"…You're sorcerers?" The prisoner leaned back with wide eyes, they lifted their body to run away at any time.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure. Like I said, none of us new prisoners are from around here. I don't even know what happened to this world, what you all are fighting for. I also know that not all of us can use magic, or at least I'm fairly certain not all of us can."
The prisoner's eyes narrowed.
"So… some of you are sorcerers?"
"I assume so, although I personally haven't heard the phrase used."
They sighed.
"I see."
"Can I ask you something? Why do your people distrust us so-called 'sorcerers?'" Auclair asked.
The man looked at Auclair before raising his hands and gesturing towards everything.
"They caused everything. All of this."
"So the hivemind?"
"They brought it from another dimension. It spread like wildfire and killed the planet overnight. This is the last city left. We've been fighting for generations now and I doubt it will end soon. It corrupts the air, takes roots in our mind, and slowly drives us mad before taking over our bodies entirely." They said wistfully.
Auclair rubbed his chin in thought when the prisoner began talking again.
"I guess you better be happy you've got that gas mask. The lot of us are infected. They took me under suspicion of being infected; I don't know if I was, but I surely am now." They said without even any resentment.
"You seem content with that." Auclair brought up.
"Well, I can't have my family get infected with it, now can I?" He looked towards Auclair with a weak smile. "You really aren't from here?"
"No."
The prisoner sat back down and looked towards the burning bodies.
"The city can't keep up with this forever. We'll run out of resources and the hivemind will just grow stronger." The prisoner looked at Auclair and then said with some hesitation, "I- if you really are sorcerers from somewhere else- I'll be long dead… but give the hivemind a reckoning. It deserves one after all the stuff it's put us through."
Before Auclair could reply, his stomach grumbled. He looked at it in confusion because he didn't use the same stomach as a human. He had never heard it growl before.
"Guess you'd be hungry, you aren't used to this work after all." The prisoner said, trying to change the mood away from a strange sentimental one.
"Yeah…" Auclair mumbled, not used to the feeling of being hungry like a normal person.
"Well, this is over, it's time to go eat now. Let's go get some food." The prisoner stood up and involuntarily let out a quiet wheeze.
That's when Auclair realized he'd have a problem during the trial. He currently didn't have any enemies besides the undead to get stronger or quench his hunger. He wasn't sure if he'd get infected if he ate an undead, but it definitely wasn't safe. Then on the other hand, he didn't have any uninfected people who's hearts he could eat.
'Well, I could kill Gwen and eat her heart, but then other problems would most likely arise later down the line.' He thought as he pushed himself up.
The prisoners all along the wall, as well as the guards, began leaving as people covered head to toe in sealed suits arrived. Auclair was walking towards his party when they walked past each other. Auclair looked at them as they looked back at him. Without an uttered word they continued about their day.
Before the party got separated in the massive crowd, Auclair found Norman, Gwen, and Jackson.
"That was fun." Jackson said while rolling down his sleeves. "I could do with a shower though, the smell of festering carcasses, blood, and smoke doesn't really agree with me."
"We have limited water in the city. We can only wash ourselves once a month, the citizens once every two weeks, and the upper class once a week." The prisoner Auclair had partnered with answered as he was walking with them back to the prison.
"Ugh." Jackson and Norman both groaned while Gwen looked immensely displeased.
Not too long later, the massive parade of prisoners made their way back to the prison and entered the cafeteria. Since the contestants might not have been infected, they were brought to a separate room from the rest of the prisoners and allowed to eat.
They all took off their gas masks and went to get food. Once they grabbed their trays however…
"I think I'm going to be sick." Norman said as he quickly ran to a trash can.
Gwen was stabbing her tray with her fork with a horrified expression. She pushed the tray slowly away with the same fork as a shiver crept up her back.
Auclair looked at his tray, which like all the others, was covered in maggots. Something was telling him that even if he ate these his hunger wouldn't be quenched, so he pushed his tray away much like Gwen.
He leaned back in his chair to see most of the other contestants do the same, although there were a few who seemed unaffected by the maggots for food. As Auclair was looking around, his brows furrowed.
"Where's Jackson?" Auclair asked.
Gwen briefly shrugged before crossing her arms and lowering her head. Norman came walking back while holding his stomach. He wiped throw up from his chin while Auclair repeated his question.
"Huh, I don't see him. He followed us to the table right?" Norman asked Auclair.
"I'm not sure. I don't know when we got split up."
"Aw… Are you guys worried about me?" Jackson suddenly said as he place his hands on Auclair's shoulders from behind and leaned his head over.
"Hands." Auclair said with a glare and Jackson lifted them off his shoulder, raising them slightly in jest.
"Why are you still wearing your mask?" Gwen asked with narrowed eyes.
Auclair turned to find that Jackson was indeed still wearing his gas mask.
"Well there's a deadly disease going around. I'm obviously gonna wear it while I'm not eating or drinking."
"…Come to think of it. I've never seen your face before." Gwen said while tilting her head.
"Trust me honey, I'm pretty handsome." Jackson replied dismissively causing Gwen to huff and ignore him.
Auclair looked at Jackson and asked directly. He didn't want him to escape the question.
"Where were you?"
"Eating."
"That's it?"
"It may come as a surprise, but I like to eat alone. I know my charming personality may suggest otherwise."
Auclair pieced it together rather quickly.
"Does it have to do with the mask?" He asked.
Jackson laughed, "Yeah. You're pretty quick."
Jackson didn't bother explaining further and neither did Auclair.
Jackson proceeded to sit down and look at the tray before shivering in disgust.
"Why maggots?" He asked.
"They're easy to grow. For the prisoners, why would they have anything else? Let's create a plan." Norman said it quickly to drive the conversation away from the maggots as soon as possible.
"Could they have no-"
Jackson was beginning to ask something about the food when the entire prison violently shook. A moment later, a deafening crack rang out in the air. Everybody was sent sprawling to the floor at the sudden development.
An emergency broadcast immediately began playing.
"Detonation along the top of the wall! Purging all prisoner pits! Everybody else evacuate immediately!" The same nonchalant announcer from before was now screaming into the microphone.
Everyone, prisoners and guards alike, immediately ran to the outside.
Auclair looked up to find the top of the wall blown apart and large fragments were still falling wildly.
"Everyone, attention! Make your way to ground level! Prisoners are ordered to go to the top and sorcerers will follow the rest to the bottom."
Massive screeches then echoed in the air.
Besides the steadily falling rain and the cracking of the fire atop the wall, nobody made any noises when they heard them. However, the screeches paused momentarily as if to make way for the speakers that were starting all over the city.
"This is Grand Councilor Abrams. The hive has sneaked past our radar with some sort of tunneling. The haven't managed to dig under the city due to the brilliance of our forefathers, but they are attacking the wall. This is a call to all soldiers, guards, prisoners, and able bodied men, go to the walls and save this city. The threat level has been raised to H3 with the possibility of it reaching H2. May the forefathers bless you and you be washed of sin."
The microphones cut out and the world returned to silence. Everyone gathered their courage and started making their way to the wall. The screeches began ringing out again, disturbing the guards.
They even changed the order and were making the contestants go as well.
Then whistles began ringing out, one after another. They repeated the same simple code, over and over.
Auclair was one of the first to hear it and his eyes narrowed. Everyone reached the upper section of the wall, nearing the top. Smoke was everywhere as fires proceeded to rage on uncontested.
That was when a single soldier stumbled into the path of everyone.
They all froze when they saw his condition.
His clothes were torn revealing eviscerated flesh that was leaking at an astonishing rate. He didn't even have his gas mask on. He slowly turned his bloody, sweat covered face towards the massive group of arriving fighters. His eyes widened and he quickly walked forward with hastened steps.
However his legs were too injured and he almost fell. He looked at them and gathered every ounce of strength left in his lungs.
That was when the rest could finally hear the whistles through the thick concrete walls that covered them. Everyone looked around with wide eyes before they settled on the soldier in front of them.
The dying soldier then yelled the code decrypted so everyone could hear it plainly.
"BREACH!" His voice cracked as the word began echoing through the labyrinthine walls.
Then like a sea crashing ashore, a flood of undead entered the hallway and crushed the soldier immediately. The first few clutched onto him and tore into his flesh. Before his body could even react, the other undead pushed them into the wall.
Once he finally could sense what was happening to his body, he could feel his bones and innards being crushed. As the undead swarmed him it caused him to suffocate under the mass of carcasses. He couldn't even feel the undead teeth tear into his skin as he was quickly turned into a paste against the wall.
"Shit!" A contestant blurted out as they quickly created a clear wall.
On the other side of the wall were dozens of guards and prisoners. They slammed their bodies against the wall desperately while looking back at the undead quickly encroaching.
"You damn bastards! The forefathers were right! You damned devils!" A prisoner yelled while hitting his hand against the transparent wall as tears streamed down their eyes.
One of the guards backed away from the wall before firing upon it with their gun, yet it only cracked where the fire was concentrated.
On the other side were the contestants, guards, and prisoners alike. Yet the guards and prisoners kept shamelessly quiet as they watched death quickly approach their brethren.
With the undead quickly approaching, the other contestants began gathering up any abilities they had while retreating further into the wall.
The contestant who created the wall had to be next to it to hold it up, and they very quickly realized their mistake.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" They mumbled under their breath as the undead reached the wall.
They slammed their bodies against it, painting it in a dark crimson as the first undead got crushed by the force.
The crack from the guard's shooting began to spread as the contestant's nose began bleeding from the effort of keeping the wall up.
Auclair gathered the rest of his party and began running down the halls with everyone else as fast as they could.
"We just need to find a balcony!" Auclair yelled. Norman had an idea of what Auclair would do, but Jackson, and even Gwen, chose to trust he had plan.
Auclair took a glance behind him to find the contestant's wall shatter.
The first group of undead lunged forward and tore open his stomach before he even hit the floor. Another undead placed it's jaw on the contestants head and bit into it, instantly shattering it and sending brain matter everywhere. Much like the previous people caught by the hive, they were crushed not a moment later by the sheer force.
"How the fuck were there even this many people on this planet?!" Jackson yelled in confusion.
The groups of people quickly split apart in different directions. That's when Auclair had a thought.
"Don't follow the guards!" He yelled to the others. "Like I said earlier, just find an opening to the outside!"
'If its a hivemind, then its probably absorbed knowledge of the wall's layout. It would know the quickest way to the bottom and will follow it to kill as many people as possible. It would only make sense for the guards to take the quickest route when their life is on the line.' He thought.
"Map!" Norman yelled when he spotted a large paper plastered onto the wall. He skidded to a stop and everybody looked for any of the oncoming undead. Norman pressed his finger against it and quickly began navigating through it.
"My sense of direction is shit, but I think there's another outside prison this way! If we get to it, we should be able to do what you want!" Norman pointed to a specific hall.
As they began running through the hall, another flood of undead began following them, searching for any stragglers to kill or infect. Upon spotting them, they let out a strange cry.
'Shit!' Auclair thought.
He wanted to bring his Ego out now instead of waiting until they got to the outside, but the walls were simply too cramped for it.
"We don't have far, come on!" Norman yelled, "Now the time for any secret super abilities to pull out of your ass!"
"I don't got any that'd help in this situation!" Jackson replied.
"Damn it! Ugh! I've been working on something!" Gwen admitted.
She quickly turned and summoned two fire daggers from both hands. She tossed them towards the ceiling and when they got close they quickly grew in size until they seemed like massive flail maces. They smashed into the ceiling creating a small explosion of dust and got stuck. She made them disappear immediately causing the ceiling to collapse.
A few undead managed to slip by so Gwen sent out her regular fire daggers cutting through them like butter. In her brief time of burning the undead, she discovered they were very weak to fire. She assumed it had something to due to their weakened bodies.
As the last undead fell to the floor, cut in multiple ways with their wounds cauterized, she turned back to the rest who had actually waited for her.
"Alright, now come on." Norman waved to her and they all began running once more as the undead tried to push past all the rubble and debris.
Much like a clogged drain though, they were steadily making progress and pushing it apart.
The group of four finally made it to the last hall which was a wide open area. Where they needed to get was also blocked off by thick steel bars that had descended when the breach happened. The hall was also connected by four other halls which hadn't been blocked off.
"Oh, what the fuck is this last stand bullshit…" Jackson cried out.
They made it to the bars to find a firing line of soldiers behind them.
"Let us out!" Jackson screamed while pulling at the bars.
"We aren't infected!" Norman yelled.
"Away from the bars, now!" A captain yelled at the group who pressed themselves against the bars. Auclair watched the three from behind as he gauged the room around them.
The hallways converged into the hall, but the ceiling got raised considerably.
"We're the sorcerers you all captured! Let us in!" Gwen reasoned.
"Containing a breach is more important! You might be able to help us, but not if the entire city gets infected!" The captain retorted.
Gwen cursed silently and placed her head against the bars.
"How badly does it hurt to get shot?" Auclair suddenly asked.
The other three in the group turned towards Auclair who was facing away from them.
"A lot." Jackson said with confusion. "And that's if you don't die."
Auclair scratched the back of his head. In the distance, he could see the undead finally making their way to them in a mad scramble.
"Well shit. You should all pray for a moment."
"Pray?" Both Norman and Gwen muttered in confusion.
As the undead made their way ever closer, Auclair prepared himself mentally for the absolutely stupid stunt he was about to pull.
Suddenly his Ego tore out of his back causing everyone except Norman to recoil in confusion and fear. His Ego grabbed his fake body and slammed its real body against the bars, causing them to warp crazily, however they hadn't broken yet.
"Open fire!" The captain yelled, but Connie appeared from nowhere and caved his head in.
"What the hell!"
That gave the Ego enough time to ram the bars again and burst through them. The Ego quickly reached out for the other three to climb onto it. Connie disappeared and Norman got onto the Ego without any complaint.
Jackson was looking at it with an expression different from everyone else however, although nobody could see it due to his mask. He was looking at it in sheer awe.
He quickly got on while Gwen stared.
Auclair, upon seeing the undead getting closer, decided to head outside. He would wait a moment for Gwen, but if he started getting shot, or the undead got too close, he'd jump.
The Ego ignored the threads of fate that were dictating who lived and died and just crushed the guards with impudently while they waited for Gwen. It ripped the guards and soldiers open and ate their chest whole, not even bothering to search for the heart. Viscera and blood flowed into its mouth wildly causing the guards to feel like ants.
Gwen's face distorted at the sight, but she still edged forward, knowing that it would be her only way out of the wall.
Regardless of if they got over their fear or not, the protectors of the city began opening fire on giant creature causing it to screech in pain. It protected those on its back and looked towards Gwen for a moment.
As another bullet entered the Ego's side, it jumped off the ledge stretching its arm out to dig its claws deep into the wall. As it slowed its descent to a stop, the flood of undead finally burst into the hall and past the torn apart gate.
The soldiers and guards immediately opened fire, deciding to ignore the monstrosity and the woman standing on the ledge.
"Long Legs approaching!" One of the soldier's yelled as they saw a high level undead making its way towards them, screeching all the way. The very same screech that they had heard outside the prison.
As a few undead lunged for Gwen, she jump into a free fall. She summoned her chains of fire and used them to slow her descent against the wall just fast enough for the Ego to grab onto her.
Once it latched on to her, it let itself begin falling again, leaving a long trail of claw marks into the stone.
When they started to get closed to the ground, the Ego's grip started to get weaker and weaker as the bullet wounds grew and blood fell out. Auclair found his eyes dimming as well as the Ego's eyes.
Eventually, it had to let go as it lost all strength to hold on. They began falling as the Ego's limbs started moving them to its stomach so it could land on its back.
Not a moment later, it crashed into the ground and Auclair's eyes closed.