Almost a week had passed. It was already the sixth day since the Geographer's camp had been in the Fort. During this time, not much could have changed, but something had indeed changed. The attitude of the people from the fort towards the Geographer's people had become much better, and they even sympathized with them. The Geographer's plan was working perfectly; more than ten people secretly told the Geographer that they wanted to go with him to the Alps. But Nelson did not sleep and still found out about what was happening below in his closed tower.
On the morning of the sixth day, he ordered everyone to be brought to the basement or church and not to come out for two days.
Many did not understand the problem, but it was then announced that a wave of Ronnie was approaching from the west side of the city. Geographer ordered the strike force to conduct reconnaissance to verify if this was true. Asan could not forget the scene when they approached the western part of the city and saw hordes of monsters. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of "Ronnie" were marching towards the fort, but they were moving quite quickly and in an organized manner, which was rather strange.
The Geographer's people, of course, could not find any space in the basement or church, causing unrest. Right now, Asan was standing on the fort's wall and looking at a large group of Ronnie that were steadily approaching the fort walls. They were like a swarm, paying no attention to anything except their goal. The boy's heart raced in anticipation of something.
The Geographer was notified of the readiness to leave the fort at any moment, but there was very little time. What was even more surprising was that Nelson himself appeared from his tower and was now speaking with his enemy—the Geographer.
Geographer, judging by his look, seemed quite calm. His corpse-like gray eyes looked fearlessly at Nelson and his two guardsmen, who stood on either side of him, tightly gripping their halberds. Other soldiers in the fort were scattered along the fort's walls, holding various medieval weapons, dressed in less prestigious and eye-catching armor than Nelson's guard. Asan thought that their long pikes and two-handed swords were trembling, not out of anticipation for battle, but rather out of fear.
Laszlo, standing next to Asan, nervously paced back and forth, exhaling plumes of steam from his mouth.
It was fairly cold and damp outside, and the sky was slightly covered by a dark veil. Many people didn't like this, especially Asan, because it could mean that rain might soon come. But unlike last time, when there were whole rolls of thunder in the sky, the area seemed to just become slightly darker.
"I don't like this at all. Look at them, Asan, they've never gathered in such large groups before! Damn it, why haven't we left this damn fort yet?!" said Laszlo with a trembling voice, constantly glancing at the army of the dead marching towards the fort.
Asan silently stared at him but soon looked away. Geographer had said that it wasn't possible to leave yet, because the creatures might change their course if they saw a large group of people leaving the fort. Perhaps this was why Asan had this nasty and unpleasant feeling deep inside. To protect.
He was ordered to protect the people, not himself. Once again, a war raged within his mind, its outcome determining what he would do.
On one hand, there was his own desire to survive, screaming at him to leave the fort as quickly as possible and run as far away as he could. But on the other hand, he had grown close to these people. No matter how much he claimed that no one mattered except himself, feelings couldn't be deceived. For an entire month, he had walked with each of them, overcoming various difficulties and obstacles for survival, and this... This had bonded them. He considered the camp his family, with the strike team being his closest relatives and the rest of the camp his distant ones. His eyes constantly clouded with the thought that all these people might die today. Die, if he left.
Glancing back, he looked at the group of people gathered in a circle, with their belongings ready. Asan saw how they were looking at him, at each member of the strike team, with hope. They trusted him with their lives, and this made the guy feel sick. How could they trust someone else with their lives instead of themselves?
"Tsk… shit" Asan cursed, turning his gaze to the crowd of Ronnie that was steadily approaching the fort.
A nasty smell of decay and pus mixed with metallic notes of blood settled in the air. The creatures were already at the foot of the hill where the fort itself stood. Raising his hand in front of him, Asan watched in surprise as it trembled, not out of anticipation. Fear was taking hold of him too. How would they manage against nearly a thousand creatures? There were only six of them, and even if you included the soldiers, there wouldn't be more than twenty.
His breathing quickened, and his ears began to ring.
The boy's heart began to pound wildly, and sweat covered his back. Summoning a small knife found in the warehouse into his trembling hands, he prepared himself.
The creatures had come close enough for their groans to be heard. It slowly drove everyone on the battlefield insane, but suddenly...
Ronnie started to circle around the fort, showing no desire to enter.
"What the fuck?" Stilet cursed, his spear blade trembling, revealing the fear of the dumpling.
"They... They're going around us?" Alice asked in surprise, having also taken a position on the fort wall, not far from Asan and Laszlo.
Why? Why were the creatures circling around the fort if they were clearly heading towards it? What happened that made them decide not to attack but simply go around it and keep moving forward?
Asan, in disbelief, squinted and looked at the nearest scum, trying to see into its eyes.
What he saw on the undead creature's expressionless face made a cold sweat drop slide down his face.
Fear was imprinted in its yellow, glassy eyes. The eyes seemed ready to pop out of their sockets and kept darting around, even catching Asan's gaze. But he saw no deep hatred or rage. There was only fear. How could such a creature feel this emotion at all? Asan could notice such a thing only if he used his dark magic on the beasts' bodies. During those rare moments, he had repeatedly noticed fear in them.
But what could have frightened nearly a thousand Ronnie so much that they even avoided a fort full of people, their favorite prey?
"It's bad... Their look... They're running away from something, or someone" Asan said aloud, attracting the attention of the approaching Paul and the others who had heard the whisper.
"What's going on?
"What's wrong with them?" Paul asked uncertainly, looking at the swarm that had split into two parts and was now circling around the fort.
"They seem to be running away from something... But who could they be running from? Could there be some creature chasing them that we haven't seen yet?" Alice speculated, gripping the handle of her knife tightly, which she had found on the first day of the catastrophe.
Soon, the creatures successfully circled around the fort, and the swarm continued moving at its own pace. Asan saw that some stumbled in the ranks, being crushed by those behind them. They all cared nothing for each other, only wanting to stay ahead and not be last.
But almost everyone's gaze on the fort wall was not behind but ahead, waiting for something terrifying, something beyond imagination. Ronnie - creatures that had been appearing in almost everyone's nightmares recently were fleeing in panic from something.
What will become the new nightmare for people?
"This… This is fog?" A bewildered soldier's voice came from the right side of Asan.
Asan squinted again and looked forward, and it turned out to be true. Ahead, at the end of the town, a white veil appeared, beginning to consume buildings, hiding them behind the whiteness of the fog. Like a huge monster, the fog was slowly and steadily approaching the fort walls, consuming more and more of everyone's view who was looking at it.
"Asan… Be ready to get out of here… This fog, it…
"
"He gives me goosebumps" Laszlo suddenly spoke, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder.
To Asan's surprise, he didn't even tell him to stay and protect the people as he usually would have. No, he told him to get ready to run, which was completely out of character for him.
Soon, the fog approached the fort walls. Asan felt that the wind, which had been blowing in his face, died down, and all sounds gradually disappeared, leaving only the heavy breathing of each person. It seemed that besides the sound of his own heartbeat, Asan could hear the heartbeats of the people around him. Gripping the handle of his knife tighter, he became enveloped by the fog.
After some time, the entire fort was consumed by a white, earthy cloud.
For the first couple of minutes, nothing happened. Each person silently and nervously looked around, trying to spot nearby people.
Asan's visibility had decreased to about three meters around him, so he could only make out Laszlo, Alice, and Paul, who were standing next to him. Each member of the group was looking around and trying to see through the fog but saw nothing. Asan almost wanted to rush into the nearest building when he remembered a similar situation with rain, but he was stopped by Laszlo's hand.
"Stay. Don't move" Laszlo said in a trembling whisper.
Asan flinched at his friend's tone and stopped.
"Do you hear that?" his friend whispered as well.
Asan closed his eyes and tried to listen to his surroundings. Besides the breathing of the people nearby and the sound of his own heartbeat, the boy couldn't hear anything. But soon he managed to recognize some sound. The sound of something heavy, like a thick man slowly walking around an apartment upstairs.
The sound of something heavy walking could be heard somewhere ahead, making the guy swallow bitter saliva and strain all his senses.
Suddenly, for everyone but especially Asan, a creature appeared before their eyes, right out of the mist in front of them. It was small and humanoid in appearance. It was sitting on its haunches on the wall of the fort, its legs resembling bull hooves, looking at them. Everyone's breath caught, and Asan noticed that the creature opposite him had no face. More accurately, it had one, but there were no ears, eyes, mouth, or nose. There were only a large number of holes from which some black liquid was oozing.
And literally moments later, the creature let out a loud howl, causing Asan to shut his eyes from the pain in his ears.
But this was only the beginning, for soon Asan felt lightness under his feet, and then he realized that he was falling off the fort wall, noticing that the creature had pounced on him.
In mid-air, in the mist, he thought he saw the outline of another creature, almost as big as the first but about 40 meters tall, which made him... The boy screamed.