Chapter Twenty-Nine: Acid vs. Zombie

TWENTY-NINE

Tyler stepped forward toward the horde and everyone else began to back up. Roan followed them lethargically as the last dregs of his stamina potion began to fade away. He kept his eyes on the tall woman as her skin began to take on a green hue reminiscent of the potion. The horde kept coming forward without slowing down at all, uncaring of the danger that Tyler represented.

“Some intelligence gained from eating the amulet, but not enough to see a trap. That’s good to know.” Even his thoughts felt sluggish now as Roan leaned against a wall, warmhammer resting on the ground. Taoya drifted over to him, a concerned look on his face.

“What’s your problem?” the big man asked in his failed attempt at whispering.

“Stamina potion is wearing off. Mean crash,” Roan admitted. Taoya grunted and nodded his head as he turned to look back at the crowd.

“Have you ever seen something like this?” he asked a moment later.

“A horde of undead? Can’t say I have,” Roan said, exhaustion wearing away at the icy mask he had been wearing.

“He does have a sense of humor. Moira just lost a bet,” Taoya said with a laugh. Condensation looked like it was building up on Tyler’s skin, green dots that bubbled forth as she threw her tattered robes off and to the ground. She was wearing a sleeveless wetsuit underneath that ended at the knees. Her exposed limbs were corded with muscle, like a swimmer’s.

“A scion using their bloodline in full? Only a few times. Not like there’s a lot of you sitting around out here. Just us who have nowhere else to go,” Roan said. He couldn’t hid the bitterness in his tone.

“Clamp that shit down. Nobody cares about your sob story. Don’t look weak.” Roan’s mind screamed at his mouth, but the aftereffects of the potion were stronger than his willpower.

“Tyler’s ability is special, even amongst our kind. It’s nice to see it being used for a greater purpose than just winning some tournament,” Taoya said, not seeming to have cared about Roan’s slip up.

Tyler’s entire body was now covered in green dew. Roan couldn’t see her face, but from the way her shoulders were tense, he had to assume this was difficult. If he had blinked he would have missed it. The little drops of liquid aerosolized in a second, bursting forth in a cloud that drifted forward as she shoved her hands toward the horde.

It was a slow attack. Walking briskly would have kept Roan ahead of it with ease, but it covered the entirety of the boulevard from side to side. And the zombies seemed intent on walking right through it.

“Will this be enough to kill them?” Roan wondered out loud. So far they seemed fragile, but fast healing unless their tumor itself was destroyed. He didn’t know how potent this acid attack was going to be, but he doubted that it would be enough to destroy the pulsating tumors.

“Oh, yeah. This is going to be nasty,” Taoya said grimly. Roan kept his eyes locked on the horde as they slowly disappeared from sight as the fog thickened. It became an opaque haze as Tyler sagged, staggering backward and slamming into a wall as she went limp. No one got close to her though, not with that haze of acidic fog still trailing off of her skin in thin streamers.

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