A Wilting Flower

by Terran34

7. The Oppressed Attack

The tunnel stretched out ahead of the group of beleaguered passengers for several scores of meters, and then curved away to the right into impenetrable blackness. The ledges on the right side of the tunnel only extended for a few more meters before opening out into one of the few train stations spread across the entirety of New York City.

The station itself stretched across the entirety of the tunnel, giving the usual travelers room to reach either the northbound or southbound trains. However, the only way out was a large alcove set into the right right side of the tunnel several meters away from where the man leading the pack of passengers was standing.

A series of turnstiles blocked entry to the train platform, and several automated ticket machines were stationed against either side of the alcove, distributing train tickets to whatever travelers that could afford them. Behind the turnstiles and booths were two escalators that were intended to carry passengers to and from the city proper. It was too dark to see any further, but it was possible that there were other levels to the station.

Usually the turnstiles and train platforms were staffed by employees of the company as well as populated by hundreds of people, but it was completely abandoned. Everything was dead quiet, except for the eerie whispering coming from the other end of the tunnel.

Amaryllis took a step back, finding herself backing into William in the process. Cold droplets of sweat rolled down her brow, an inescapable feeling of dread filling her up inside. She couldn’t even explain it to herself, but she had a feeling that the scraping and clicking she was hearing foretold the approaching presence of death itself.

Brendan, who was the closest to the train platform as well as the one leading the pack, continued forward, his floodlight trained on the other end of the tunnel. So far his light revealed nothing, but the sounds coming from the tunnel only increased. Whatever they were; they were getting closer.

Some of the passengers moved forward with Brendan, unwilling to let him get too far ahead. Amaryllis forced herself to move forward as well. William stayed close to her, attempting to hide behind her from whatever was coming.

“What the devil is that whispering?” Amaryllis heard Jakob demand in a harsh whisper. She couldn’t see him well in the darkness, but she knew his complaining voice anywhere. “And that awful racket!”

“It’s probably other people in the same situation as us. No doubt if power went down throughout the tunnel, we weren’t the only train affected,” someone suggested placatingly. The man’s confident tone and friendly manner led Amaryllis to conclude that she was hearing Dawson.

“I dunno...I have a very bad feeling,” Samuel’s accented voice added with uncertainty evident in his words. Amaryllis heard the muscled man crack his knuckles. She agreed with him. While she’d like to believe that Dawson was right, she knew that something was wrong.

“Who’s out there?” Brendan called out into the tunnel, standing in the center of the platform with his floodlight pointing forward. His voice echoed throughout the station. The instant after he spoke, the clicking and scraping died away immediately, leaving only the whispering to break the silence. “Hester, is that you? Did your train lose power as well? Hector? James?”

Brendan grew more unsettled with every name he called. Amaryllis could see him starting to tremble. No answer was forthcoming from the tunnel. At least, not in the form of words.

They all began to hear the sound of what seemed like hooves clopping on the tiling of the platform. Amaryllis noticed everyone around her looking at one another in confusion. She too found herself completely confused; what the hell would a horse be doing in a tunnel like...the realization hit her just as a quadrupedal figure walked out into the circle of light illuminated by Brendan’s floodlight.

It was clearly some species of horse, though it was unlike any horse anyone had ever seen. It was much smaller than a typical horse, but it’s most striking feature was the color of its fur. It was colored a shade of blue so pale it reminded Amaryllis of ice. Furthermore, it’s mane was completely white save for multiple streaks of blue running through it. Again unlike a typical horse, its mane appeared to be styled, with most of it straightened and hanging down one side of its face, with the rest combed down neatly over its ears.

When the creature raised its head, it revealed an oddly expressive face with large blue eyes set above a squarish muzzle. Its features were decidedly masculine. To top off this absurdity, the creature was dressed in tight clothes colored both black and white and equipped with a carved ivory staff tipped with a crystalline blue orb. Despite all this, the stallion’s most striking feature was the horn growing from his head.

At this moment, Amaryllis knew without the shadow of a doubt that she was looking at a pony. This was not just any pony; this was one of Seth’s ponies...an Equestrian.

Before Amaryllis could ponder the ramifications of a pony from the future being in front of her, the pony drew closer and smiled malevolently, evil intent present in his ice cold eyes.

“What in the hell….?” Brendan couldn’t even finish his confused question before the pony reared up and slammed the butt of his staff into the tile with a tremendous crash. There was a lot more sound than there should have been for such an action, and Amaryllis could feel the air resonating with power, similar to the way she felt after meeting Sombra for the first time.

The pony’s staff shined brightly and released a glowing orb into the air. The orb was so bright that it illuminated the entire platform and blinded anyone looking at it. With a gesture of his head, the orb flew into the air and came to rest just beneath the ceiling of the tunnel.

The orb shed light upon the dark tunnel...revealing what was inside it. Amaryllis’ breath caught in her throat as she saw rows upon rows of twisted, monstrous creatures filling the dark tunnel, completely unmoving. It was clear that they used to be human, but they were twisted by dark magic such that they were quadrupedal and equipped with lethal enamel claws at the ends of their hands...which were bloated and hardened into the shape of hooves.

Amaryllis knew what they were. There was no way she couldn’t recognize them, even though their appearance had only ever been described to her through her conversations with Seth.

“Oppressed….but...how...this is…” was all Amaryllis could say, her face turning completely pale. The sheer impossibility of the sight before her had her dumbfounded and unable to act. It couldn’t be. This was too soon. It had only been a few months since Seth returned to the future. She was supposed to have eighty years. Beside her, William turned his head curiously upon hearing her mention the name of what they were.

The pony grinned and his horn lit up with a cyan light. The staff became enveloped with the same light and moved seemingly on its own to point directly at all of them. “These shall be my first subjects…” the pony was talking, much to the shock of everyone that wasn’t Amaryllis. The pony’s grin turned wolfish, and his next words came out as a deafening bellow. “Advance!”

The Oppressed all roared at once and surged forward like a river of flesh, remarkably fast despite their distorted appearance. The tunnel filled with the sounds of their cries...and then all hell broke loose.

The other passengers weren’t sure what was going on or what to do until the first Oppressed reached Brendan, spittle flying from its unhinged, fanged jaw. All Brendan could do was halfheartedly swing the bulky floodlight forward out of reflex. The Oppressed easily dodged around the poorly planned attack and was upon him in an instead. In a flash, Brendan’s chest was torn apart like flypaper, the man screaming with agony as his rib-cage was rent asunder.

The passengers all panicked at once before the oncoming horde of Oppressed. Seeing Brendan’s fate was enough to let them know just what was waiting for them should they remain still.

Amaryllis snapped out of her stupor. “We need to go, now!” Amaryllis hissed to William, panic overtaking her as well. There weren’t that many people between her and the Oppressed, and she would be damned if she was going to die this early without getting any answers.

William didn’t move at first, his eyes wide open with shock. It was clear that he was freezing at the sight of the Oppressed colliding with the passengers. The sound of dying screams filled the air as the Oppressed cut them to pieces without mercy. Amaryllis cursed and punched him in the face.

“Ah, what…?” William stammered with fright, but Amaryllis wouldn’t let him finish. “The….the conductor...he just….and…”

“I know, dumb ass! Unless you’d like to donate your rib cage as well, get moving! Now!” Amaryllis yelled at him frantically. If he didn’t get moving within the next few seconds, she was just going to leave him. At this point, the odds of her own survival appeared to be growing rather slim.

William nodded dumbly and thankfully followed Amaryllis as she broke into a run. Running into the tunnel would be a death sentence. She could tell by how fast those things were that any attempt to run would end with her being overtaken. Her only hope was to get up the escalators and get out into the city.

“Everyone come this way! Quickly!” The voice came from Dawson, his features clearly distinguishable in the light from the magical orb. He was standing near the escalators, having been one of the lucky few to stand near that edge of the group. He was waving frantically to everyone, his frightened eyes wide and fixated on the Oppressed.

Amaryllis ran over that way, glad that at least someone else had the same idea. She glanced over her shoulder to see the other passengers falling in droves to the bloody claws of the Oppressed. She squeezed her eyes shut, gritted her teeth, and kept running. As much as she hated to admit it, they were buying time for her to escape.

She found herself running among several other passengers that had heard Dawson’s cry. She noticed Mary carrying her daughter and hugging her close to her breast, the poor mother crying with fright and horror at the monsters that had appeared. She also noticed Jennifer, the convention goer, somehow managing to keep up with them. Samuel was also there, his endurance easily on par with Amaryllis’. There were others, but Amaryllis couldn’t make them out.

At first, as they neared Dawson and the escalators, Amaryllis believed that they were going to make it. Just as this thought crossed her mind, there was a roar, and several Oppressed broke away from the main group and charged after them. The gap between them narrowed at a frightening pace due to their magically enhanced speed.

Amaryllis found herself in the back, and she couldn’t help but notice how fast they were catching up. There were six of them, but no doubt others would follow before long. Amaryllis groaned when she realized that they were going to catch them before she could reach the escalator with the others.

“Dammit!” She cursed, and then she pivoted on one heel to meet their advance. She could hear William calling her name in horror, but she didn’t care. It was either this, or they all die. When the first Oppressed reached her, it leapt into the air, its claws outstretched.

Amaryllis found herself recalling all her training and lessons in self defense. Something like an Oppressed that could only attack blindly, dealing with a charge like this should be easy for her.

She ducked beneath the creature’s claws and grabbed onto one of its forelegs just long enough to throw the creature over her shoulder and onto the ground. She immediately turned to see two more Oppressed charging at her...too many for her to handle.

“Raagh!” Suddenly, Samuel was there as well, his muscles rippling through his arms as he intercepted one of them and caught both of its forelegs just beneath the claws. With a yell, he wrenched the legs apart until Amaryllis could hear the bones cracking, and then he tossed the creature aside.

Grateful for the help, Amaryllis met the remaining one and pummeled its chest repeatedly, halting its momentum. The Oppressed snarled and swiped its claws viciously at her, but she nimbly dodged aside and slammed her elbow into the spot just beneath its neck, breaking the creature’s spine.

She heard a snarl behind her and hit the ground just in time to avoid the first Oppressed’s next attack. Amaryllis cursed, remembering what Seth had told her. They were undead; no matter what you did to them, they’d just get right back up unless you prevented them from moving their limbs.

“Watch out, they don’t stay down!” Amaryllis warned Samuel. The muscled man didn’t respond, but acted on that warning just in time to avoid one of the Oppressed he thought he’d taken care of. “Break their legs so they can’t follow!”

Together with Samuel, she made quick work of the six Oppressed. They hadn’t killed them by a long shot, but with their legs broken, they wouldn’t be able to do anything other than crawl.

“Come on; let us go before more come,” Samuel said to her, wiping ichor off onto his pants. Amaryllis nodded and the two of them sprinted together towards where Dawson was herding the others up the escalator.

“You two, over here! Quick!” Dawson called to them. Behind him, Amaryllis could see Jennifer and William running up the escalator. Dawson appeared to be leading the group, and it was working; it was clear he’d saved several of them so far.

“The hell are you still doing here, you idiot!? They’re still coming!” Amaryllis snapped at him when she reached him. Sure enough, a greater number of Oppressed had detached from the main slaughter and were coming after them with bloodlust evident in their roars. “Don’t talk back, just go!”

“Not without the two of you. Go on, go! I’ll be right behind you!” Dawson returned quickly, slapping her on the back in an attempt to spur her on. “Now!”

Amaryllis didn’t waste any more time arguing. She sprinted up the escalator with Samuel, wanting to be anywhere other than here. She noticed Dawson still down there. “Get moving! If they aren’t already here, they’re already dead!” She shrieked.

Dawson closed his his and let out a moan of despair. “You’re right. I’m coming,” he finally gave in. He gave one last regretful look behind him at all the people he was leaving behind, and then he followed the two of them up the stairs.

Amaryllis found herself on another floor where people usually waited for their trains. As such, the walls were lined with restaurant stalls. On the far end of the floor was a large staircase through which she could see daylight. Several of the other passengers that had made it out were already running up towards the street.

The three of them were right behind them. Yet the Oppressed were gaining on them. The monsters surged up the escalators, their claws clicking on the metal cacophonously. Adrenaline rushing through her, Amaryllis put on a burst of speed, unable to think about anything other than getting as far away from those monsters as she could.

As they sprinted up the stairs, Amaryllis discovered with horror that there would be no way to stop the monsters from chasing them right onto the street. There was nothing; no doors or anything to separate the street from the train station. Nothing except for the emergency shutters that would close in the event of maintenance. However, those wouldn’t even close without power.

When Amaryllis and Samuel ran through, she turned and held out a hand to Dawson. The older man had slowed down, glancing between the station entrance and the stairs, where the Oppressed were already starting to climb.

“The hell are you slowing down for? Come on, old man!” Amaryllis urged him frantically, taking a step forward.

Dawson came to a stop just inside the entrance, heaving a sigh. “For what? We’d just get run down in the streets; those...those...things….they’re faster than us. There’s just no way around that…” he said, sounding awfully calm despite the situation.

“Dawson, come on! We’ll find a way!” William calls to him as well. Other passengers as well start to call out to him, knowing full well that if he doesn’t get moving, he’s finished.

The man shook his head. “Sorry guys, I’m not gonna make it. Someone’s gotta close these shutters, and the emergency handle’s on the inside,” he points out. Dawson leaps into the air and grabs hold of the shutter handle, and then starts to close it with a grunt. Behind him, the Oppressed are getting closer and closer, with only seconds before he’s caught. Despite the despairing cries of the other passengers, Dawson didn’t stop. “Get you guys someplace safe…”

That was the last thing Dawson could say before he managed to close the shutters. Immediately afterward, there was a sickening thud and the sound of sharp claws slicing through the air, and blood spurted through the gaps in the shutters.

“Oh god!” William cried, retching onto the ground nearby. The others weren’t faring much better.

Amaryllis took a look around to see who had made it. There were precious few of them, numbering about twenty in total. Most of them she recognized from the train carriage; Dawson had been the only one among their number to die. That made sense to her; ever since leaving the train, they’d stuck together as much as possible. It only followed that they would be the ones to escape.

Grant and Rachel Graves were on the far end of the street resting against a car and holding their son close. Rachel was crying and Sawnee looked terrified, while Grant was doing his best to be strong for them. He looked grim and Amaryllis could see the terror in his eyes. He was tough indeed to remain in control of himself in such a state.

Aven and Avil, the engineers, were standing with Jennifer close to the Graves family. The three of them looked exhausted; they had sprinted the whole way and none of them looked that well built.

Samuel was with Mary and Emma, doing his best to comfort them. Emma was crying into her mother’s embrace, who was covering her daughter’s eyes to keep her from seeing the blood oozing out through the shutters. “Don’t look, sweetie….please...just don’t,” Mary whispered to her daughter, tears streaming down her face.

Jakob was with Kent, who was the only member of the train’s staff to make it out. Amaryllis had to hand it to him; the old man was tougher than she thought if he could keep up with the rest of them. As for Jakob, he was in bad shape; he was curled up into a ball and sitting against a wall, muttering to himself. “This can’t be happening. This isn’t happening!”

There were a seven others that Amaryllis didn’t recognize, but apart from them, these twenty were the only ones that had made it out of there. She couldn’t help but feel regret and scorn for herself, having left scores of people down there to die with those monsters….monsters that shouldn’t even be here this soon.

Amaryllis wasn’t given time to think. Once the shutters were closed and the initial shock of Dawson’s demise had worn off, the confusion and incredulity set in. Aven, now that he had his breath back, turned to the rest of the group, desperate for answers.

“What the hell were those things!?” Aven demanded, jabbing a finger towards the closed shutters. “They...they killed damn near everyone!”

“They were like humans...but broken in half and...those claws….oh god...”

“They came out of the tunnel!”

“Did you see that furred...horse thing that was with them? It talked!”

“It was too small to be a horse...but it looked too weird to be a pony…”

Amaryllis’ eyes darted between each passenger as they spoke, though she wasn’t sure what she was expecting to hear. None of them had any answers; instead, everything they said to one another was nothing more than individuals expressing their horror and despair at the loss of so much life or their speculations on the possible nature of those creatures.

It was clear that none of them knew what to do. She could hear some of them debating whether to run away, find their families, or to go to the police and let them know. The general panic among them was rising.

The only ones that appeared to be relatively calm compared to everyone else were Kent and Samuel. Amaryllis noticed that the latter was staring right at her with a somewhat suspicious gaze. When he saw that she’d noticed, he approached her.

“You, girl. Amaryllis, was it?” Samuel addressed her.

“Yeah, what of it?” She returned, crossing her arms.

“Those creatures...you know something about them,” Samuel accuses her. He appeared to be keeping his voice low, likely to avoid any possible suspicion being cast upon her from the others. At the least, Amaryllis was grateful for that.

“You think?” Amaryllis danced around the subject uncomfortably. The last thing she wanted to do was tell everyone that this was the beginning of the end, and that those monsters would eventually kill them all.

“Yes. You knew that they would just get back up again, like some sort of zombie,” Samuel elaborated, his observations astute. “In fact, it likely saved our lives. How did you know this?”

“Lucky guess,” Amaryllis lied, keeping her face neutral and shrugging as if it were no big deal. Samuel did not look convinced, as his eyes narrowed at her. She already made up her mind that she wasn’t going to tell them, so she continued. “What? They looked like twisted humans and that pony thing made something from nothing. I just put two and two together. The fuck you care, anyway?”

“I had hoped you had more information; even the slightest bit could save us,” Samuel reasoned to her. Amaryllis gave a slight scoff. All the information in the world wasn’t going to save humanity. Seth’s future was proof of that. “For someone who just made a ‘lucky guess,’ you appear very calm.”

“So do you,” Amaryllis retaliated. She may look calm, but that was just because she hadn’t had time to think yet. She knew full well what they were up against, and it was freaking her out.

Samuel gave a rueful smirk. “Ah, but you see, life or death situations are not that strange to a soldier,” he reminds her. “This one is different, but my approach to the problem should not be.”

“Right...I guess knowing how to fight helps your bravery,” Amaryllis remarked, glad at the chance to change the topic.

Samuel nodded. “Now then, are you going to reveal your secrets to me?” he persisted.

Amaryllis sighed and gave him a glare. “There are no secrets. Quit asking, already,” she snapped at him in annoyance.

Samuel wasn’t convinced. Amaryllis didn’t like the way his eyes were searching her face, as if he could uncover what she was hiding that way. “Hm...so you say, but I don’t believe…”

The screeching sound of a siren fills the air, cutting Samuel off as well as the other conversations. It seemed to be coming from nearby, but immediately after the first siren began, other fainter sirens started up from every direction. They weren’t typical police sirens like any citizen would recognize; this was the city wide warning system that would only sound in the case of severe emergencies.

Before anyone could question the meaning of the alarm, a sharp crack sounded off nearby. Samuel looked up in shock at that. “That was a .45 handgun…” he stated aloud for everyone to hear, gaining their attention. He winced as more gunfire filled the air.

“Okay, just what the hell is going on?!” Jakob demanded, his body trembling. “Those things couldn’t be in the city...could they? Is my family safe?”

“What do we do?” William asked, but nobody had an answer for him. Everyone was just as in the dark as he was. “Can we just get as far away from here as we can?”

“What’s safe anymore? Is that smoke!? What’s burning!?”

The sounds of conflict in the distance only intensified with every passing second. Amaryllis could hear the roaring of the Oppressed followed by gunfire. This was the worst possible situation. How could they already be strong enough to tackle New York City of all places? This didn’t seem possible to her.

As the passengers were growing and more and more frantic, a group of Oppressed turned the corner of the street to their collective left. Upon spotting them, they growled ferociously and broke into a reckless charge, their claws scraping along the asphalt road.

“They’re up here too!”

“What are we going to do!?”

“Oh my god!”

Screams rose from the passengers around Amaryllis as the Oppressed drew closer. The monsters scrambled over the abandoned cars in the road, their enamel claws screeching across the metal.

Amaryllis exchanged glances with Samuel, both of them knowing what they had to do. Out of all the passengers, they were the most prepared for battle. As she positioned herself before the incoming monsters, she couldn’t help but scoff at the others. They were essentially useless in the situation. She could hear William gasping heavily with horror as he took cover behind a car. She could also hear the others scattering and trying the handles of nearby buildings. At the least, she was glad they weren’t stupid enough to try outrunning them.

“Why do I even bother?” Amaryllis muttered to herself, clenching her fists and preparing herself. She ridiculed herself for asking that a moment later. It wasn’t as though she were risking her life for them...this was the only way she could hope to survive. It was obvious that running from them was useless.

There were seven Oppressed this time; one more than before. She pressed her lips together, nervous despite her previous triumph over them. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get out of the city...but she couldn’t allow herself to get hurt. She needed to let Gerome know that the attack had already begun.

There was a maze of abandoned cars still lying in the road, some of them still running. The Oppressed’s progress slowed as they were forced to climb over them, but it wouldn’t be long before they were past them. Samuel and Amaryllis moved to intercept them, intent on using the difficult terrain to their advantage.

Just as the Oppressed reached them, Samuel acted first. He stood with his back braced against a car, knowing that the monsters would likely climb over top of it. Sure enough, an Oppressed attempted to leap over the car to reach the more visible Amaryllis, but Samuel was ready for it. He grabbed its foreleg and used the monster’s momentum to lever it into the window of the car behind him, smashing the glass and wedging the creature inside.

Amaryllis realized as the Oppressed moved to surround her that standing still would be suicide. As she tangled with the first monster to reach her, she noticed another one lunging at her. Thinking quickly, she pivoted her body so it slammed into the Oppressed she was currently dealing with. The Oppressed didn’t seem to care that another of its kind was suddenly in the way, as it tore into the creature’s flesh regardless.

The remaining four split in half, two of them going after Samuel and the other two heading for Amaryllis. Her heart quickened and she swallowed, realizing that she was now facing three of them on her own.

“To hell with this…” Amaryllis cursed. She leapt to the top of a car, two of the three Oppressed rushing to follow her. She ducked beneath the lunge of the first monster, and then immediately grabbed its foreleg and spun around once before hurling it into the second. She jumped several feet to another car to avoid the third Oppressed, its claws whipping through the air where she’d just been standing.

The three Oppressed surrounded the car upon which she was standing and attacked her all at once, leaping a ridiculous height to reach her. Amaryllis gritted her teeth and struck the first monster’s cheek with a flattened palm, halting its momentum enough for her to slam its head into the top of the car.

After that, she stepped to one side and let the second Oppressed lunge right past her, allowing her to shift her body and kick the creature to the ground. The third Oppressed was already on her, so she jumped backwards down to the ground. Her foot skidded along the asphalt and she stumbled, unused to moving around so much. She’d trained all her life, but this was the first time she’d ever been in a real fight that could claim her life.

Amaryllis looked up to see the Oppressed upon her, its claws raised for the kill. She knew she didn’t have enough time to move out of the way, so she raised her arms in a last ditch effort to protect her vitals.

“I won't let you!” There was the sound of metal smacking into flesh, and the Oppressed was down. Without even looking to see who had saved her, Amaryllis immediately slammed her foot onto the Oppressed’s spine and proceeded to immobilize it.

“...is it down?” Amaryllis then looked to see a panting Aven, the engineer carrying a heavy wrench in one hand. He looked terrified, but he had effectively saved her life.

“That one is. Focus, idiot, those others aren’t down yet,” Amaryllis returned. The two Oppressed she’d repelled before were already getting up and coming back to attack her. One of them was scraped and battered, and the other had part of its skull caved in. Neither of these injuries slowed them down.

“But...you took them out! Those hits would have killed anything normal!” Aven protested at the sight of the monsters still coming, the wrench shaking in his grasp. Amaryllis rolled her eyes and raised her hands into a ready position.

“Weren’t you watching? They don’t stay down...you gotta break their legs,” Amaryllis reminded him. “If you can’t handle them, go back and hide with the rest. You’ll only get in the way otherwise.”

“No...I came to help because hiding won’t do a thing. From the looks of it…” Aven had to break off his sentence as the two Oppressed reach them. He yelped and blocked one of the monster’s claws with his wrench, sparks flying from the impact.

The other Oppressed attempted to attack Aven while he was distracted, but at the cost of ignoring Amaryllis…which frankly she thought was a terrible idea. She snatched the monster by the neck and rammed it against the ground, glaring at it.

“I think you forgot someone,” she spat, and then she bashed its head against the ground repeatedly until it stopped moving. “Huh...hit their brains hard enough and they do die. That makes things easier.”

Aven struggled with his Oppressed. Deprived of every other option, he headbutted the monster to give him some distance. Unfortunately, the monster was barely repulsed and Aven recoiled in pain. The Oppressed roared and attempted to attack while he was incapacitated.

Amaryllis cursed and went to save him. However, before she got there, Aven managed to divert the monster’s claws with his wrench just long enough for him to get a hit in. The Oppressed recoiled upon being hit by the wrench, its skull dented. Aven bit his lip and wildly smacked the creature’s head repeatedly with the wrench until it too fell to the ground, motionless.

“Huh...nice work,” Amaryllis remarked. She took a quick glance around the street to make sure no more Oppressed were coming, and then she rushed to rejoin Samuel. “Hey! Smash their head enough and they’ll fall too!”

Samuel, who was tangling with the remaining Oppressed, nodded at this. “Good to know,” he responds simply, and then he grabs the last Oppressed’s head and rams it into the side of a truck again and again, denting the truck lightly in the process. Once it fell limp, he sighed and wiped off his hands. “Is that all of them?”

“For now...but…” Amaryllis replied. When she paused, both Samuel and Aven could hear the sounds of more Oppressed roaring in the distance, followed by bursts of gunfire. This time, the shots weren’t placed apart. This time, Amaryllis could hear assault rifle fire. “It’s clear they’re all over the place.”

“Where are they all coming from?” Aven demands, calming down now that his life wasn’t in immediate danger. “What are they?”

Samuel shoots Amaryllis a telling stare, but she refused to react. He could act like that all he wanted; Amaryllis had no intention of spilling the truth about the Oppressed. Instead, all she did was shrug. “Monsters that won’t stay down. Hell if I know where they’re coming from.” Amaryllis wasn’t lying about that last part. All she knew was that King Sombra created them from humans and that they would eventually kill off humanity; the minor details were beyond her.

“Still...they must have a sentient commander,” Samuel suggests, brushing his chin. When Amaryllis and Aven both gave him curious looks, he elaborated. “Think about it. A possible city wide assault? Do you really think losing power and cell service was a coincidence?”

“What…? Oh...shit…” Aven whispered, grasping the implication. “Are...are you saying we’re at war?”

“I know as little as you do. But depriving the enemy of communications is a standard battle strategy,” Samuel points out.

“Right...well, we can argue battle strategy and whatever later. How about getting the hell out of here first?” Amaryllis interrupted. While what Samuel said made sense, more Oppressed would just find them if they didn’t move now.

“Yeah...let’s do that. Should we go gather the others?” Aven responds. Amaryllis paused, and then nodded reluctantly.

“Sure...the others,” she grunted in reply. She glanced towards the empty end of the street and contemplated just leaving them behind and heading for the bridge out of Staten. All she cared about was escaping and getting back to warn Gerome. She eventually sighed and turned back towards the group. Even she wasn’t arrogant enough to think she could escape the Oppressed on her own.

Together, the three of them returned to the cowering passengers that were still around. Amaryllis winced when she noticed the number had dropped; several of the people she hadn’t recognized must have run off in a panic. They were most likely dead at this point.

“Wow...you three were amazing up there,” William is the first to address them as they approached, his eyes filled with awe. “How did you even…”

“Gee, maybe it was because we didn’t hide behind the cars and tremble like a fucking coward,” Amaryllis snapped back at him viciously, thoroughly disappointed in him. She knew William had no backbone, but she found this sickening. “Hell, even the engineer came to help!”

William visibly flinched under her words, his eyes filling with hurt. He looked down and remained silent, looking ashamed of himself. However, Amaryllis’ words appeared to have a negative effect on some of the others as well, who were looking at her with anger or disapproval.

“Hey...it was hard for me too. Cut them some slack,” Aven attempted to reason with her. “They’re monsters...you can’t blame them for being terrified.”

“No, but I can certainly blame them for being useless. Because, you know, if we’d died you’d all be next,” Amaryllis pointed out bluntly. After that, one could practically feel the spirits drop amongst the rest of the group.

Finally, Amaryllis felt Samuel’s heavy hand rest on her shoulder. “That’s quite enough of that. We’re all frightened...we don’t need you ruffling feathers for no reason,” Samuel warned her. Amaryllis scoffed and shrugged off his hand. Despite her annoyance and discontent, she fell silent. “Now, we need to get someplace safe.”

“And just where would we go!? The whole city’s under attack!” Jakob protested vehemently. “What about our families? My son’s wedding...”

“...is more than likely canceled,” Samuel finished for him. Jakob closed his mouth at that. “I don’t know where we should go. But I do know that we can’t…”

Just then, something collided against the other side of the subway shutters with a clamorous crash. The metal dented, letting everyone here know that they wouldn’t last long against the Oppressed.

“...stay here,” Samuel finished. Immediately, he gestured for the group to get moving. “Come on, brush yourselves off and let’s go. We need to move or Dawson’s sacrifice will have been meaningless.”

“I want to go home,” Emma whimpered from her mother’s arms. Amaryllis glanced at her with an unreadable expression. She couldn’t help that think that with everything Emma had seen today, she must be traumatized. Amaryllis shook her head. It didn’t matter to her, as long as she got out of this alive. At least Emma had the sense not to wail and let the entire city know where they were.

At last, the group began to move together down the street, with no set destination in mind other than away from the subway. Amaryllis and Samuel took the lead along with Aven, who appeared determined to join them on the front line now that he’d had his first kill.

Amaryllis kept her gaze forward, her brow set into a determined expression. She was not going to die here. She was going to make it out of the city somehow, find Gerome, and prove to Sombra that the human race would not die so easily.

She didn’t care who what she had to sacrifice to do it.

Author's Note:

Gah....finally I managed to get this one out. Not that it matters, I doubt many of my old readers are reading this anyway. But that aside, the reason I held this one off for so long is because I hate killing characters. And in this chapter, I had to kill two of them.

Another reason is that I rewrote chapter two of Tales of the Oppressed, so you should go back and comment on that if you haven't already. I somehow turned 8k words into 15k in the process. Though the overall word count of the story didn't change. Weird.

So now I'm debating whether to slog through the next chapter of this and inflict more pain on my characters, or rewrite chapter three of Tales of the Oppressed. I don't know, what do you think?

I would thank Schadenponi, but he's gone overseas and we won't be working together for while, so I had to edit this one on my own. So bear with me, but there's probably typos in there that I missed. Oh yeah, when my editor left, I also lost my prereader, so I'm not going to know before I post whether or not a chapter is good or not until I post it. So another Battle Princess Luna or Seth's magic return might happen again because I don't know any better until after I get feedback.

So yup, just a one man team again. So help me out by leaving me comments! Anything is better than nothing. At least I know people are reading.

Comments

[GoldenPyrite]

"I doubt many of my old readers are reading this anyway" Boi I've been here for so long its been since the first time tales ended up on the feature boxcdn.meme.am/instances/250x250/66335621.jpg

[Terran34]

7284650

Well, then I guess I stand corrected. Good to see people are still hanging around!

Honestly, these Fimfiction statistics are demoralizing.

[Parukia_de_Bolivar]

Eeeyy

[Pencil_Sketch]

I'm still here!!! TotO is one of my top favorites, how could I not read a story that expands on it.

[Dr Bomb Doge]

I too am lurking in the shadows. I was initially wasn't going to read this when you announced it was happening but I kind of slipped and read chapter one and kept going. Oh how plans change... But this plan change was indeed worth it.

[Blade Dancer]

i just recently found out about this story or i would be here before

[Terran34]

7289933
7288368
7286456

Oh hey, welcome back guys! Missed you all

[Lord Midnight]

Why did I have to find this the hard way? Post a sequel link in toto

[Nitroxtreme99]

Not much of a commenter but I did read Tales of the Oppressed and I am very interested in this sequel loving it so far

[LadyFey]

Still here, Terran. Will be there until the very end. Can't wait for the next chapter!