Chapter Thirteen: The Harder They Fall

THIRTEEN

“Shit.” Roan slammed the axe blade into his opponent’s skull, cracking the bone and guttering the fire in its eyes. He shoved the skeleton backward with his free hand and spun around. His tired legs pumped as another fresh wave of adrenaline hit him, dumping energy into him as he raced down the alley.

The skeletons were too slow to catch him, but all the territory that Taoya had managed to secured disintegrated in a moment as Roan leapt clear of the hall and into the fray. Darren was quick with his orders, arranging the groups with sharp, barking commands.

“T! Get to the back and charge up! Everyone spread out, encircle it and kite! Clockwise, every other person attacking until my command!” Darren’s voice bounced off the walls as the group followed his orders without hesitation. Roan found himself following after them as he joined the currently U-shape that had the giant surrounded. As it lumbered out of its coffin and closer into the wide cul-de-sac, the edges of the U slid inward and sealed the behemoth.

“Harris, you first!” Darren ordered. One of the boys that Moira had commanded when she carried him free stepped forward unflinchingly. The sword he carried was too polished to have been looted, the edge gleamed as he whipped the blade around his head and cut into the giant’s thick femur. It was like taking a hatchet to a redwood.

Chips of bone broke off but the giant didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Its burning eyes locked on Harris as it lifted its club over its head. Harris scrabbled back, but Roan could tell the boy wouldn’t make it in time.

“Next!” Darren’s voice barked and the second to next person stepped forward. There was enough space between everyone that the second attacker hit the other wide femur with a looted axe. Roan winced as the rusty hand axe buried itself in the bone and then ripped free of the boy’s hand as the giant spun on it.

“NEXT!” Darren continued the line of attacks, each one of them dragging the skeleton’s attention away from the previous attacker. It couldn’t keep up though, the skeleton wasn’t some automaton operating on a previously uploaded attack pattern. Roan saw as it shifted, the weight of it sending a plume of dust in the air as its heel ground into the floor.

It took the next attack and its club was already coming up and around in anticipation of Darren’s command. Roan felt his breath hitch, but the other boy wasn’t stupid.

“REVERSE! RACHEL START!” Darren sent the attack counter clockwise with the girl next to the previous attacker darting forward. Her blow was just as ineffectual, but Roan saw where all the attacks were slowly biting away at the tree trunk thick femur. Cracks slid across the old bones, splinters of it breaking free as it tried to change its momentum as the circle moved and darted to keep it contained but also stay out of reach of its club.

When it came to him, Roan moved decisively. He leapt forward and brought his dull axe around into a two handed slam, aimed right in the center of spiderwebbing cracks. Yellowed bone peppered his face as the split widened, but didn’t fully break open. Cursing in annoyance, Roan jumped back just in time to feel the passage of wind as the club passed through where he had just been standing.

Time passes slowly as Roan waited his turn to attack. Darren shifted the attack pattern twice more as they whittled the giant down. The entire time he had to keep his focus on the giant as any one misstep would see him turned to paste. It was suffocating to be stuck, waiting for his next attack as they went.

Discipline broke as one of the free lancers missed Darren’s call to reverse the pattern. The girl had freckles over her pug nosed face. Curly brown hair that was greasy with sweat and dirt, her clothes torn and bloodied as she stepped forward. Roan saw her face fill with understanding and fear as she realized she’d made a mistake. She carried a long handled hammer that had yet to taste giant bone, still polished and shining, unstained by battle.

Blood splattered across the black walls as her body was tossed like a ragdoll. The shining hammer slid from her dead fingers on the ground, clattering loudly as she didn’t even have time to scream. Bone snapped and broke as she hit an empty coffin, leaving a long trail of blood as she slid into a puddle at the base.

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“FOCUS!” Darren roared, his voice filling the cavern and stifled any thought of breaking. Roan glanced over his shoulder and saw Taoya in a lotus position, hands on his knees as he breathed slowly and evenly. Power was glowing around the big man, but it had yet to reach the pinnacle of cackling energy Roan had seen repeatedly.