Chapter 27
When Marcus and Liz reached the island, Colson and five hundred men were standing at his spot waiting for him. Marcus did not know what to think, but he knew that Colson was a smart man; he was not about to cross Marcus twice. He said, “God damnit! Where the hell have you been all night? Don’t you know we’re getting ready for war?” “What? I thought the undead would not be here for another day,” Liz pronounced. Marcus responded, “They must have tracked down our scent. We must deal with this as soon as possible.”
Colson said, “Everyone important is waiting at the field to hear your opinion. The others are there except for Isaac. They’re waiting for me too.”
Marcus lowered one of his legs and Colson climbed up to sit ahead of Liz. When he was in position, Marcus took flight for the baseball field where the group held all of their meetings. It took a single minute for Marcus to reach the island. He reached the northern border and turned south to land on the baseball field where the Angel Island map was sitting in disrepair. Marcus landed at the center of the map, and Liz leapt off his back to enter the crowd. Marcus listened to the yelling and bickering that accompanied bureaucrats at work. From the noise, he could discern that the people all agreed that the undead invasion was a serious problem, but they could not agree on how to solve it.
One group wanted to try to fix the defenses before they were hit. They argued that the turrets held off the invasion for this long, so it could do the same now. Their opposition stated that it would take too long and they did not have enough ammunition to take out the entire east coast.
Another group wanted to evacuate the island and flee to the other islands spread across the area. They argued that it was impossible for the undead to swim. Marcus directly opposed to this plan by stating that the undead evolved to run instead of walk, and swimming was probably not far behind.
Another group wanted to evacuate the island and let the titanicus deal with the undead. Most of them did not like the titanicus to start and hoped to get rid of them.
The only group that came up with a sensible answer was the last, which believed the answer was to have the titanicus hold off the invasion while the humans set up a small amount of explosives on one side of the large suspension bridge to take out a large portion of the undead all at once. Marcus, Liz, Thomas, Colson, and Katherine’s temporary replacement, agreed to this plan. The rest of the assembled group also agreed, but Marcus knew it was only to stay on the giant silver mouthful-of-teeth’s good side.
A bell sounded in the distance, and someone yelled, “That’s the defense system; the army is here!”
Colson yelled out and his five hundred soldiers sprinted with weapons drawn to their vehicles. Liz, Mish, Dragoon, and Dem all jumped to Marcus’s back at once. He was almost too heavy for flight, but his poor wings were just strong enough to lift him above the ground. Karen flew beside him with a silent Isaac on her back and said, “What’s the matter; a little extra weight too much for you?”
“Ha! It’s only a few dozen extra tons. I’ll live.”
Karen laughed and flew off to the bridge. Marcus also flew across the small expanse of water and landed at the closer end of the bridge. Twenty men were hauling explosives to the support beams. They were only just getting started, but the invasion was only a few miles away. Marcus yelled out, “Mish, Dragoon,” and the duo jumped off.
Marcus took flight again and yelled out, “Dem,” when he reached the center of the bridge, where the first ranks of the lesser undead were starting to engage Karen and Isaac. Dem leapt off and used his wings not to slow himself down, but to direct his fall into the enemy’s lines. Marcus continued to fly to the other side of the bridge, where the guns were still firing at maximum capacity.
The army massed before them stretched off into the distance and disappeared beyond the mountain peaks, where the roadways were sickly brown veins traveling up the grey and white mountains. The army was enormous; far larger than Marcus remembered it before. The size of the army did not matter to Marcus; all that mattered were the people living within the fortress behind him. Their lives depended on his success in battle, and he will not fail them.
Marcus breathed in until his body glowed yellow and excreted flames out of every scale. Then he turned to look at Liz, who jumped to his mouth, retrieved her blade, and let herself fall into the nearest crowd of thirty foot tall behemoths. Marcus did likewise a hundred yards away. The last stand of the West Coast began.
Colson said, “Everyone important is waiting at the field to hear your opinion. The others are there except for Isaac. They’re waiting for me too.”
Marcus lowered one of his legs and Colson climbed up to sit ahead of Liz. When he was in position, Marcus took flight for the baseball field where the group held all of their meetings. It took a single minute for Marcus to reach the island. He reached the northern border and turned south to land on the baseball field where the Angel Island map was sitting in disrepair. Marcus landed at the center of the map, and Liz leapt off his back to enter the crowd. Marcus listened to the yelling and bickering that accompanied bureaucrats at work. From the noise, he could discern that the people all agreed that the undead invasion was a serious problem, but they could not agree on how to solve it.
One group wanted to try to fix the defenses before they were hit. They argued that the turrets held off the invasion for this long, so it could do the same now. Their opposition stated that it would take too long and they did not have enough ammunition to take out the entire east coast.
Another group wanted to evacuate the island and flee to the other islands spread across the area. They argued that it was impossible for the undead to swim. Marcus directly opposed to this plan by stating that the undead evolved to run instead of walk, and swimming was probably not far behind.
Another group wanted to evacuate the island and let the titanicus deal with the undead. Most of them did not like the titanicus to start and hoped to get rid of them.
The only group that came up with a sensible answer was the last, which believed the answer was to have the titanicus hold off the invasion while the humans set up a small amount of explosives on one side of the large suspension bridge to take out a large portion of the undead all at once. Marcus, Liz, Thomas, Colson, and Katherine’s temporary replacement, agreed to this plan. The rest of the assembled group also agreed, but Marcus knew it was only to stay on the giant silver mouthful-of-teeth’s good side.
A bell sounded in the distance, and someone yelled, “That’s the defense system; the army is here!”
Colson yelled out and his five hundred soldiers sprinted with weapons drawn to their vehicles. Liz, Mish, Dragoon, and Dem all jumped to Marcus’s back at once. He was almost too heavy for flight, but his poor wings were just strong enough to lift him above the ground. Karen flew beside him with a silent Isaac on her back and said, “What’s the matter; a little extra weight too much for you?”
“Ha! It’s only a few dozen extra tons. I’ll live.”
Karen laughed and flew off to the bridge. Marcus also flew across the small expanse of water and landed at the closer end of the bridge. Twenty men were hauling explosives to the support beams. They were only just getting started, but the invasion was only a few miles away. Marcus yelled out, “Mish, Dragoon,” and the duo jumped off.
Marcus took flight again and yelled out, “Dem,” when he reached the center of the bridge, where the first ranks of the lesser undead were starting to engage Karen and Isaac. Dem leapt off and used his wings not to slow himself down, but to direct his fall into the enemy’s lines. Marcus continued to fly to the other side of the bridge, where the guns were still firing at maximum capacity.
The army massed before them stretched off into the distance and disappeared beyond the mountain peaks, where the roadways were sickly brown veins traveling up the grey and white mountains. The army was enormous; far larger than Marcus remembered it before. The size of the army did not matter to Marcus; all that mattered were the people living within the fortress behind him. Their lives depended on his success in battle, and he will not fail them.
Marcus breathed in until his body glowed yellow and excreted flames out of every scale. Then he turned to look at Liz, who jumped to his mouth, retrieved her blade, and let herself fall into the nearest crowd of thirty foot tall behemoths. Marcus did likewise a hundred yards away. The last stand of the West Coast began.