Chapter 21 - The Skeletons Outside

Peter and Maya took out their guns when they saw the skulls manifest and charge straight through the wall. 

They funneled in through the same place. Too fast to hit, they held their fire, saving their ammo for what was to come next. It was obvious that whatever happened in that cabin started a fight.

Then, they saw the skeletons emerge from the ground. 

Their bones were a faded white, having lost their color to time. Most were empty-handed, but a few had small weapons. Tar dripped from their bones as they climbed all over the cabin, trying to get in through the holes. Just as they were about to shoot, they noticed the same skeletons coming up around them. They were much slower than the skeletons at the cabin, shambling towards them, but they couldn't just shrug them off either. 

"What do we do?" Peter asked. 

Maya answered by shooting one of the skeletons with her rifle. It fell apart quickly. 

"Right!" Unable to focus on the cabin skeletons, they aimed for the ones coming at them. They fell into patterns of shooting and reloading, with Peter covering Maya as she reloaded her rifle between shots. As he reloaded, he thanked Scala for the gift: this revolver definitely gave him the firepower he needed. They tried inching themselves towards the cabin, but precaution needed to be taken; if one of the cabin skeletons noticed them, they definitely couldn't keep up.

Unfortunately, it never occurred to Peter to buy more ammo. He cursed himself as he loaded in his last six bullets, desperately trying to find more in his pockets. He shot one to his left. He shot another trying to creep up behind Maya. A skeleton charged him. He missed one shot, landed the next one. A skeleton grabbed him from behind; he twisted and turned, trying to get it off. He crouched, allowing Maya to shoot it off him, then shot a skeleton trying to grab her. Two skeletons popped up in front of him. He shot the left, and tried shooting the right. Only the click of the hammer sounded. Shit, he ran out. He holstered his gun, wanting to keep it safe.

He grabbed his dagger and swung it wildly at the skeletons, clipping some of them. It seemed that the skeletons themselves couldn't stay together very well; only a single touch from the blade was enough to disable them. A skeleton with a sword swiped at him. He stumbled backwards, unable to close the distance. He threw the dagger at it; it disintegrated instantly. He stashed his dagger, then grabbed the sword. The handle was rusty, sticky, and slippery, as if it was covered in industrial grease, but he figured it was worth it. He slashed at every skeleton that came near him, using it like a club instead of a blade. At least the skeletons provided no resistance to his aimless swings.

He rushed towards Maya, who struggled to keep up with the zombies. He gave space for her to shoot, and closed in while she reloaded. He kicked a zombie to his left, smashed his sword to one on his right. He wanted to use his blood magic so badly, just so he could stand still, but the skeletons had no blood to speak of, and he wasn't going to cut himself just to make things easy on him. Plus, it would only last so long before his own blood corrupted. He could ask Maya to help supply blood, but he felt asking someone to harm themselves just to use his powers was a step too far.

Another sword skeleton appeared. This time, he knocked the sword out of its hands, then demolished it. One of the planks cracked under him, sending his foot into the tar. Somehow, the tar was stickier than before. He struggled to get his foot out of the ground as he swung his sword at the incoming skeletons. Something concerning was happening: almost all the skeletons had weapons now, making melee combat much more perilous.

Without Peter available to help, Maya tried to pick up the pace on shooting. But a flintlock could only fire so quickly. And, in her case, she couldn't fire fast enough. A sword skeleton came running at her, forcing her to block with her rifle. She knocked it down with her rifle's buttstock, then swung it at another skeleton.

The third sword skeleton cleaved the rifle's stock in half.

At first, she didn't register the breakage, shoving it away with the rifle's remains. Then, she noticed the sliced stock. She gazed at rifle, putting it down on the ground.

Then, she screamed in a fit of rage, pulling out her revolver.

Desperation turned into anger. She quickly used up all her ammo shooting at the skeletons, hitting every shot perfectly. She didn't bother switching her cylinder out. She simply holstered her gun and charged at the skeletons with her fists, knocking them out with one blow.

He pulled his foot away from the tar, about to run towards her. Suddenly, the Elf screamed. "Peter! Peter, get over-"

Her voice stopped. He looked again at Maya, who took down skeleton after skeleton with ease. She seemed fine. He turned his attention to the cabin, the entrance blocked by a herd of skeletons. He ran forward towards the door. He sliced the first skeleton at the waist. The second one brought its sword down. He deftly blocked it and slammed his blade into it. The third spun itself around, knocking the sword out of his hands. Taking a page out of Maya's book, he simply punched it in the face when it stopped. Before the fifth could swing, he grabbed it by the collarbones and threw it to the side.

Now in front of the cabin, he kicked the door down. Inside, a cloaked figure leaned in close to the Elf, who was sprawled on the ground. Before he could process what was going on, she ripped a gemstone off of the figure's neck and threw it at him. Realizing what it was mid-air, he caught the bright scarlet gem easily. The figure scowled, turning his attention to him.

"Give that back to me. Now." The figure warned.

He smiled. "No. I don't think I will."

Then, Peter stabbed himself with the gem and fell to the ground.