Chapter 9: Village of the Dead
The filly awoke with a gasp and panted heavily. She looked around.
She wasn’t at the Launch site anymore, but in a destroyed building that was different from that she was hiding in.
The building was mostly intact except for the roof. The sky was dark. Too dark for normal circumstances. Also there was green fog everywhere.
Tiara also saw a blood trail on the ground. She could see it was her blood.
Did someone dragged me to safety or did I crawl here? She thought as she couldn’t remember that she crawled away.
Then she noticed a second blood trail. It leaded to a dead German soldier on a bed. A Luger pistol was lying next to him. His face was covered in blood.
Diamond Tiara had to throw up. She winced as she heard the scream of a woman in the distance.
Outside was not better. Bodies were littered on the street, destroyed and burning trucks and the buildings were on fire and collapsed.
Too scared to move, she curled into a ball and cried.
“I am dead! Everyone is dead and I can’t go home! I am in Tartarus! Is this my punishment for being a bully even after I changed?!”
She heard another scream. It sounded horrible. She peeked through the window.
Some of the bodies rose. Their flesh was rotten, their eyes glowed yellow.
At some of them, the thorax could be seen. Their skin was pale grey.
“Zombies!” Tiara exclaimed but silenced herself to avoid getting spotted by them.
Some Zombies wore gasmasks, other wore helmets, and some wore caps like Josef, while some Zombies had no headgear at all, but a knife in their head.
As weapons they had meat hooks, flashlights, wrenches and many other things.
Some Zombies even used Luger pistols and MP40s. However the Zombies couldn’t use them effectively. They tended to wave them around and randomly pulled the trigger indiscriminately.
Then they started to feed on a body. Tiara couldn’t watch this. She closed her eyes and covered her ears.
Then she heard gunshots and the Zombies were killed. (If you can call a destroyed undead killed as he is already dead.)
“Check the buildings! I don’t want that some of those undead are ambushing us! Check also for supplies.” A man ordered in English with a Russian accent.
In panic, Tiara grabbed the Luger. She hadn’t fired a weapon before but still she had to defend herself somehow.
A Russian entered the building. He wore the uniform of an Elite soldier and had a Moustache. He wore an a yellow-orange colored arm band around his left upper arm, bearing a logo, which was a skull and crossbones with a bullet piercing the skull, and the initials “S.B”.
“Stay away from me!” Tiaras hoof trembled as she aimed at him.
The Russian looked at her calm. “Kid, put the pistol away. I won’t hurt you.”
“You’re lie! One of your comrades shot me!” Tears leaved her eyes.
“Boris! What’s going on?” Karl entered the building. He wore the same clothes but also had forearm guards and shoulder pads. He had a bloody bandage wrapped around his head. He also wore black fingerless gloves. There was a large black container attached to his belt, as well as additional ammo pouches.
“Tiara?”
“Karl? What’s going on? Where’s Josef?”
“Did somebody say my name?”
“Josef!” The filly dropped the pistol and ran to him for a tight hug.
“I thought you died!”
“No. The shot wasn’t fatal. Karl fixed me up. You need medical attention right now.”
He pointed to her chest where she was bleeding. “It’s a miracle that you didn’t bleed to death.” He took care of it.
“I can’t remember how I even got here.”
“By the blood trail, you seemed to crawl here.”
Josef had a bloody bandage around his left leg.
“Daddy, what’s going on out here?” She asked scared.
“I don’t know. Whatever it is, it is a thousand times worse than the war itself. Germany is shrouded in in darkness. Zombies walk the earth. We’re one of the few remaining living souls in Germany.
We are in an abandoned village, en route to Berlin, hoping to find a working vehicle.
Don’t worry; we’re protecting you from the bad Zombies.”
“Okay Daddy, let’s get out of here.” She looked around.
“These poor people. They didn’t deserve this.”
“I know. Hadn’t I assisted them in their occult research, this had never happened.”
“You never told me your name.” Tiara looked at the man with a fedora and a revolver in his hand.
“Dr. Efram Schwaiger.”
“And I am Boris Medvedev.” The Russian introduced himself. “Josef hoped that we would find you still alive and not dead or… as one of them.”
“Anyway, let’s move.” Karl took the lead. The female screams reminded Tiara too much of Elsa. She prayed that she and her kids were still alive.
Whatever the group fought Zombies, Diamond Tiara noticed that they always tried to headshot them.
She wondered why until she saw the answer.
One Zombie that was killed by a shot to the chest, resurrected after a strange symbol appeared under him. Josef killed him by stomping his head before he could get up.
They made it to a safe room where they restocked on ammo.
Leaving the safe room, they came to a building with a Skull on a desk.
Out of curiosity, the filly investigated the Skull.
The Skull started to float and the desk glowed red.
“Carnem consumatur!”
A scream could be heard in the distance. “Hide upstairs until we killed all the Zombies!”
“Ok, daddy!” She trotted upstairs and hided in a bathroom.
Waves of Zombies attacked.
The group killed them with headshots and explosives. “Tötet Sie!”
Diamond looked out of the window. She saw a screaming Zombie.
He was glowing red, wore a headband and was holding a grenade in his right hand. He also had dynamite on his belt.
Karl managed to kill him in the middle of a group of Zombies. He exploded.
“Don’t let those Suicide bombers near us! Kill them before they reach us!”
“Got it!” the other three replied to Karl.
After some more the assault was over. “You can come out now, sweetheart!”
Diamond walked down. They made their way to another safe room.
Tiara noticed that when a Zombie was killed, he disintegrated after a few seconds. Even his head gear.
They next area was a gas station.
This time Skeleton attacked. Tiara saw that their hearts were glowing.
“Aim for their hearts! It seems to be their weak spot!”
“Will do!”
Schwaiger shot a Skeleton in the heart and it fell into a pile of bones. Boris found out that kicking them was also very effective.
Even a buck from the filly was enough to destroy them. This pleased Tiara as she could help the survivors against the undead.
Then normal Zombies in combination of Skeletons attacked.
Diamond focused on the Skeletons, while the humans took care of the normal Zombies.
Boris threw a grenade. Two Zombies lost their limbs. The second also lost its head but was still walking.
“Get away from her!” Josef screamed and stomped the crawling Zombie as he was after Diamond Tiara. The other was about to attack her. She screamed in fear as he fell on her back, but the Zombie collapsed before it could harm her.
“Thank you, Daddy.”
Josef helped her up. “A parent must protect his child.” She smiled despite her fear.
The next safe house was in view.
Outside, Josef saw the glint of a scope in the distance. “Watch out!” He grabbed Tiara to drag her away. The Sniper missed. He grunted angry in disappointment.
Looking through the scope, Josef saw a Sniper that wore a gas mask with green goggles and a lighter colored jacket. Josef fired and hit him.
A second Sniper appeared. He jumped from vantage point to vantage point, but as his goggles glow green, he could be easily seen. And he leaved a green trail when jumping.
Karl killed him this time.
“Okay, Zombie Snipers? That’s ridiculous!” Josef commented.
The way leaded to a church with a working truck.
Josef helped his daughter into the back of the truck.
A Zombie scream could be heard in the distance.
“Stay in the truck, you’ll be safe there.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
Hordes of Zombies, Skeletons and Suicide bombers attacked.
They didn’t notice the filly, only focused on the humans inside the church.
“Fire the panzerfaust!” She saw an explosion as Josef fired a panzerfaust at a large group of Zombies, blowing them all over the place.
Another wave attacked.
Tiara saw from the back, that a tall Zombie was with them.
His eyes were glowing red and he carried a MG42, as well as multiple belts of ammunition across his chest. He also wears a helmet and a swastika arm band on its left arm.
Unlike a normal Zombie, he could take a lot of headshots. He also screamed in pain when he was hit.
“An Elite Zombie?!” Josef shouted in surprise as the Elite fired his LMG.
After a few headshots the helmet of the Elite flew off and it shook his head it pain.
“In the name of the lord, EAT my Preacher!” Schwaiger fired a Preacher. It was powerful enough to shot the Elite's head off. It fell on its knees and disintegrated.
“Phew, be glad that’s over. Now let’s get out of here!” Josef climbed into the back with Boris and Schwaiger while Karl took the driver’s seat.
“Daddy, I am scared.”
“Shh, I am here for you.”
“No, I mean Elsa and her kids. I hope they’re still alive.”
“Me too, sweetheart. Me too.”
