She practically jumped out of her skin when she felt the swishing of the sword that flew right past her face and landed loudly, burying itself within the skull of a skeleton that moved and walked.
"What's..."
"Goddamn it..." Slade breathed as he looked around, realizing the massive numbers of walking dead that were approaching them from the way they came. "Holy shit..."
"This isn't good..." Armin said as he took out his swords and swung straight at a skeleton, breaking the bones of the creature which clattered to the floor, almost comically and became inactive. "There's..."
"Hundreds of them!" Slade said after taking a thorough look with is tactical vision. "Everyone... move! Move!"
The four people bolted for the direction in which Slade waved as the assassin stayed behind temporarily to lay down a few proximity bombs, grabbing the trigger, he ran as far as he could, taking frantic glimpses back before finding the right time to detonate. Despite the dozens of body parts that would be scattered by that one blast, there were still hundreds of them just behind. Thankfully for the sakes of anyone who didn't want to get brutally murdered by walking skeletons, the undead moved at a slow rate.
"What's going on?!" Armin cried out as he gasped for air.
"No time! I AM NEVER going to touch anything made by Tolkein EVER again." Slade commented as the four took a few sighs of relief. "Listen... we have to keep moving before my favorite author's imagination murders us! Move! Move!"
It felt like hours, despite being probably less than forty five seconds, in that moment alone, they had already trekked through the first floor and were proceeding their way down, all the way into the heart of the volcano, the heat becoming slightly more noticeable as they went down, as did the number of hordes of undead which sought to kill the living.
"This is not good!" Steve said as he swung his shield, crushing two skeletons into a pile of bones. "What the hell are these things?!"
"For some reason Sanya... even though I bet you have no clue... I think you can give me a REASONABLE explanation." Slade said as he kicked one down his attacker, breaking it's skull with his foot.
"Magic?" Sanya asked tentatively. Maybe not surprisingly, that's probably the best explanation at this point when being in a little girl's coloring book all of a sudden now felt like they were in The Hobbit. Slade liked Tolkein and all... but he sure as hell didn't want to LIVE in it... especially with these circumstances. Of course... for him, a bunch of skeletons with reaction times of jello would hardly be much challenge for him, until one realized there were probably a few thousand of them down there.
"This isn't going to matter..." Armin said as his sword went straight through one of his attackers, splitting the undead creature in two. "We need to hurry up and plant the... whatever it is and do it fast!"
"He's right... try not to die!" Slade said as he grabbed Armin and took out his grappling hook. "We'll go ahead first, you two..."
"We'll catch up, yeah." Steve said as he flung his shield at a group of advancing corpses, knocking them into many pieces. "Alright Sanya... you ready?"
"Ready." The girl replied as Slade and Armin flew off, carried by a cable.
There was no point in trying to be subtle. Absolutely none when there were a bajillion walking corpses around that were waiting to savagely mar anything living in their path. As such, the only logical thing really for everyone was to pull out whatever arms they had, and start shooting or slicing away.
"Okay... here's the..."
The loud rumbling caught Slade off, and almost knocked him and Armin off their feet.
"Okay Volcano... don't do anything till I want you to." Slade said as he looked for the spot to plant the bomb. Really? Another level down? No... wait...
There wasn't another level down... HE HAD TO DIG?! Not good..
"Cover me." Slade said as he looked around and continently, found a pick axe.
"What are you doing?"
"I used up all the demo charges when we were stuck in the cave... and the only place I am going to cause any form of the eruption we want is if I dig deeper... the only thing is... I hope I don't land right into a lava pit."
"I actually hope that the eruption doesn't involve us as well!" Armin said as he broke yet another skeleton.
"It won't... but we still gotta get out of here fast because as far as I know... the explosion might cause this entire cavern to collapse in on us!"
"And how are we going to get out if there's going to be a huge eruption?!"
"Simple! I radioed Jim and he set up a zipline! Not only does it avoid the eruption, we can get a nice view of a bunch of dragons going up in flames! And you know what the best part is?"
"What? It's right at the entrance! We don't even actually have to fully go outside! There was a balcony which Raynor found!"
"Oh god! Oh god!" Steve huffed as his uniform received a tear from a slashing blade, he retaliated against his attacker by smashing his bones into dust, watching as Sanya used the now empty assault rifle as a club. Man... she must have hit like a train with that thing. Looking down at his shoulder, he realized the large stain that was slowly forming along the tear.
"How are you doing guys? Your heart rates are going crazy!" Jim's voice said over the radio.
"Fine! You would not believe me if I told you!" Steve said as he ran with Sanya to where Slade and Armin had headed.
"Oh I know what's going on... I just don't wanna know if it's true or not." Jim's voice replied. "You better hurry... Slade's going to need some cover while he plants the bomb!"
"Really? Why the hell can't he just drop the damn thing and detonate it for Christ's sake?!"
"I dunno something went wrong and... oh shit..."
"What?"
"SOMETHING JUST WENT SERIOUSLY WORNG." Jim's panicked voice said over the radio. "Slade! Please tell me..."
"Grah!" Slade cried out as the large rumble threw him off his feet, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Armin trapped underneath many boulders. Grabbing the bomb, and seeing the many skeletons that surrounded them, he had no choice. He set the timer.
"Move! Move! Move!" Slade said as he planted the bomb in the best place he could get, hoping to god that they would make it out. He realized then that Armin was trapped underneath the rocks.
"Leave me!" Armin cried out. "Go!"
He considered it for a moment. He had to leave him, there would have been no way that he could have....
He gave it a mighty push and the rocks came off. Well.
"Wha... thanks." Armin said as his coughed for a moment, his mouth filling with dust from the rubble.
"Don't mention it kid." Slade said. "Steve... we have to go!"
"I just got here damn it!" Captain America said. "Why didn't you... and... oh... what..."
"No time! That rock isn't going to let me dig anyways!" Slade said. "Go! Go! Go!"
They went up the massive winding stairs, right on top of the ledge and crossed the next floor once again, the slow movement of their pursers meaning that avoiding them was relatively easy. That was when disaster struck.
On the way up to the zipline... a low rumble shook the very foundations of the city. A section of the stairs gave way, sending Sanya straight down a massive drop.
They could only stare for a moment...
"Go." Slade said as he watched Armin and Steve gawk for a moment. "The zipline is set up... you two have to move now."
"What about you and Sanya?! You sure as hell..."
"Go. I will get her. And we WILL make it. I promise." Slade said. "Go!"
"No way Sla..."
"JUST DO AS I SAY." Slade shouted. "Move before we ALL die!"
Grudgingly, the Captain obliged, looking back as he saw Slade make his way down, straight into a massive mob of skeletons and fighting his way through. He never saw a man ever run that fast in his life to make way to Sanya, who from the distance, looked like she was still moving. Barely.