It had been hours since the Husk Horde led us into an abandoned High Rise full of alleged Husk/Human co-operatives.
It had also been hours since we ran into…. Whatever the hell that was. Another Husk in human clothing? That shot lightning from its mouth?
When we reached Camelot's Keep there was no time for rest.
I called up the entirety of the Knight-Hunters, fresh Soldier Units and sent dogs off with the Scouts on perimeter runs.
We waited.
I readied myself for a war.
Nothing came.
At least not for….. I looked down at my watch, not for the past five hours.
"Maybe you didn't get a good look…." Lance said from behind me as I peered out at the dark frozen over city from my balcony— my personal vantage point. The setting sun released a blinding glimmer of red to dance across the glacial peaks and snow drifts swallowing entire neighborhoods. The shadows grew deeper. It was there somewhere.
"I know what I saw."
"Then why don't you tell us what it is?" Lance pressed, voice muffled by his purifier mask.
"Because!..." I calmed. "What would you call a cloak wearing thing spitting lightning?"
"A shitty day." Lance replied stiffly.
"Be honest." I side eyed him.
Lance crossed his arms, I could hear his bicep flexion begin to stretch the fabrics beneath his armor, "A new challenge."
I nudged his shoulder, "More honesty."
Lance sighed, "A good challenge….. fun, even."
I nodded, "Yea…. If one of ya'll is saying something sounds fun, we're fucked." I watched small dots in the distance skitter across the frozen streets like rats, sinking down into sewers and ice tunnels. Maybe even Husks had bed times….
"But… it appears the fun won't reach us." Lance said.
"It could be waiting us out. Any word from… anyone?"
"No. Trish, it was— according to your own eye witnessing, ten minutes from base. It was chasing us down. Then…."
"I know…. It stopped."
"And how big did you say the Horde looked?"
I clenched my fist, "You were there with me! You didn't hear them? You didn't look back?"
"I was carrying corpses to be investigated. I was following your orders." Lance commented.
If anyone else would've said that, I would've punched them in the face for attempted smugness. But Lance…. Well, he was Lance. Which means?
Genuinely, he was following orders. He goes where he's sent. If only with a little resistance…..
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "I know what I saw…."
"Well, maybe we'll know more after going over these abnormals with the Scouts." Lance replied.
"Abnormals?" Never heard that nomenclature.
Lance shrugged, "Husk in human clothing. Not at all normal…. So, abnormal. Anyway, they're ready for us. The remaining scouts and soldiers are still following your previous orders."
"Fine." I left my balcony as the sun fell behind the lowest glacial slope and cast the Five Tundra's in darkness.
The lights of the many human encampments and filled rooms of my castle-stronghold were snuffed out so not to draw any possible attention.
As I re-entered, I clicked on my flashlight and moved down the long halls and corridors with Lance. I hadn't slept in… too long. My legs were beginning to get that weird tingling sensation as I padded down step after step until I reached our dungeon.
The stairs transformed from polished clean wood to grimey stone drenched in blood so deep that any amount of cleaning wouldn't fix it.
The walls were thin. Lined with signs of struggle and damage.
As we reached the bottom and traveled down the halls, jail cells with chains and collars hung to our left and right.
Flashbacks of hearing men, women and Husks' screams filled my mind. They use to inhabit my nightmares as a child…. When I slept. When our King was a soulless tyrant and not…. Me.
Overthrowing him felt as good as it did to see my Soldiers survive todays ordeal.
Today's ordeal which hopefully concluded with what lay in front of me. In the dungeon main hall, strapped to three operating tables made of etched stone.
The limbless Husks shuffled and gnawed against their leather bindings. Still wearing their human armor, portions removed few and far between where the Scouts must've seen fit. Still they wore gas masks, sweaters, leather wraps and even backpacks.
The same Scouts that gave a salute to me as I stood on the other side of the operating tables from them.
I returned the salute.
"So…. Fill me in."
One of the scouts stepped forward. I knew her. A damn good shot, coal black hair and blue eyes. Unfittingly, her name was Robin.
"Well, as you observed on sight, they're not at all humans." Robin approached the first Husk and removed its Helmet. Her freckled face didn't budge at the sight of it.
A Humanoid face devoid of fat, lips or eyelids peered at them wildly. Glowing purple veins bulged all over its grey skin like live worms beneath the surface. Its teeth chomped at the air loudly before Robin jammed the helmet back on.
"They're all at similar stages of True-Decay?" Lance questioned.
Robin and the other Scouts nodded.
True Decay— like True Death, was simple. Husk's were Undead. But they could still die— truly. And decay— truly. Unfortunately, when the world went to hell, it's leading scientists and the like didn't survive. We work with what we know.
And that is, for some reason, whatever keeps the Husk's going, are variations of what we need to survive.
Carbon. Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen. They get it from consuming living things and converting it…. Twisting and perverting it into isotopic hellish re-imaginings.
"If they've gone without it then they've been held somewhere. Unable to eat." I said aloud.
"Whoever did this may have been drying them out to make suiting them up easier?" Robin questioned. "That is if we're going with the idea that. .. humans did this on purpose."
"Who else would? Boogeymen in cloaks?" Lance questioned.
"Yea, actually."
I ripped a boot off one of the Husks, finding a foot of snake's slither madly once free. I handed it to Lance to study.
"They could've also been starving them in a misguided attempt to up their ferocity." I considered as I studied the others. "Gladiators had to face starved Lions with the same thought in mind…. Long ass time ago."
"Well… like you said. That's misguided. They were significantly weakened compared to average Husk's." Robin commented.
"Yea no kidding…. Fighting them felt like training the new recruits." Lance commented as he turned the boot upside down and slapped the soul a few times.
A single leaf fell out. Wilted and decaying like its wearer.
Lance looked at me. I already knew what it meant.
Of the Five Tundra's, only one had plant-life in abundance. They supplied everyone else with their crops— grown successfully from a giant solar lamp powered by a giant generator guarded by their own unit of pseudo Knight-Hunters.
Tundra Four's very own…..
"GroveMongers…"