So I almost got
eaten the other day. Back on Monday the
New Breed attacked Haven in force. Now
this was nothing compared to the past swarms that Haven has endured, but
certainly more than the piddling two dozen or so that they’ve been
intermittently throwing at us the past few weeks. I don’t know for sure, but I’d say that there
was about 150-200 total, spread out over two waves. Like I said, not bad compared to past
swarms. Still, they were all New
Breed. And one New Breed is worth a
handful of Old School Zombies.
I really
don’t have to describe too much of the fight.
You guys all know, either from seeing them in action, or reading Josh’s
past posts, that the Haven fighters are not to be trifled with. The moment the New Breed came into range, the
arrows started flying. The undead seemed
to know where a lot of the traps are outside Haven so they reached the walls fairly
quickly. Once they hit the walls, they
spread out, looking for weak points. And
they found them because, from what I heard, when the second wave came, they
headed right for one weaker portion of wall.
I don’t know how the first wave communicated that with the second wave,
but they did.
Whatever the
case, I wasn’t there for the second wave.
Once the first wave was down, I ran out with some others to gather
arrows. I like to help out, seeing as
how I really feel useless when fighting breaks out. Gathering arrows is a difficult job with the New
Breed. Their skin is so tough it’s like
a layer of hide armor, so you want to make sure that they’re actually dead and
not just incapacitated. Then there are
the really clever ones. The ones that take
an arrow to the chest, or even one to the head that doesn’t penetrate to the
brain, and drop to the ground. Those
monsters just lay there, playing dead, knowing that a meal will be out soon to
collect the arrow.
So when
you’re out there, you can’t just grab the arrow. You have to check the body as you
approach. Make sure, visually, the arrow
was a clean hit. If there’s any doubt,
you approach the dead from its head-side and bash it to be sure. Even the slightest doubt, you bash. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a
New Breed reach back to me just as I bury my baseball bat in its face. Tricksey New Breeds.
So between
checking the bodies, smashing the bodies, and picking up arrows that hit the
ground, it’s easy to get tunnel vision.
And that’s what happened to me.
Before I realized it, I was farther from the New Haven walls than I
should have been, surrounded by downed New Breed. There were arrows scattered on the ground
around them, or laying on the bodies. And
that’s when it dawned on me that I was out of arrow range.
Yeah. A bunch of New Breed that weren’t part of the
first wave collected arrows in the heat of battle and laid down just outside our range so that guys
like me would accidentally go too far out, thinking we were still in the field
of carnage when, in reality, we were surrounded by the hungry dead.
There were
three of us that wandered out that far.
By the time we realized how much trouble we were in, the New Breed had
started to get up. We handled the ones
grabbing for us, but by that point, the ones between us and Haven to were up
and blocked us from retreating.
So there the
three of us were, surrounded by a good dozen or so New Breed. I wish I could give some sort of thrilling
blow-by-blow account of how we fought them off.
The truth is I can’t. I don’t
remember anything except a lot of screaming and me swinging my bat like a
madman. And blood. Lots of blood. One of the guys from Haven got torn apart
right in front of me. I didn’t even try
to fight my way back towards Haven. I
kept running outward, trying to get away.
I could hear gunshots from Haven and I knew that even if I broke free
from this group of New Breed, there was a second wave that had started hitting
Haven that would get me. So I ran outward,
which I think caught the zombies off guard.
They might be smart, but they can’t improvise. They expected me to run back to my people,
maybe have Haven open its doors and expose the delicious meals within. So I just ran away. I avoided the forested areas because I knew
they were probably swarmed with other New Breed. Just standing there, trying to think and plan. And watching.
Damn things always watch.
I made it
out towards some nearby neighborhood. I
really don’t know the area. Probably
it’s one of those places Josh visited and blogged about in the early days of
The Fall. I survived out there for a day
and a half before I figured the fight was over and it was safe to come back
in. The journey back was pretty
uneventful. Sure enough, once Haven came
into sight, there was no battle, just about five New Breed standing outside of
arrow range, watching. I came up behind
them and started swinging. Again, no
poetry in motion, no awesome tactics, just rage swings. Then I went to the Haven gates, all
splattered in congealed zombie blood. The
older guy who let me in took one look at me and said, “Goddamn, son” before
shaking his head and walking off. Not
sure if that was a “you’re lucky to be alive” or a “didn’t think you had it in
you.” Maybe it was just a “you really
smell.” Whatever the case, I’m
alive. And I was the only one of the
three of us arrow collectors that made it back.
So many times I’ve been the only one to survive, and I just don’t
understand why. I just survive somehow. I don’t deserve to live any more than these
other guys. I really don’t know how to
feel about it, except tired. So tired.
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