Beyond the Horizon(An apocalypse novel)

Chapter 21: Barricade

"Shit, it’s a dead end."

It was Brandon speaking, a grim look on his face.

Mr. Morgan didn’t reply, yet his face held a similarly dark look. He didn’t stop, though, running to the grey wall at the end. Naturally, they followed.

Finally stopping once they stood at the hallway’s end. The flood of bodies chasing after them hadn’t stopped, drawing closer now that they had stopped.

Miles took it as an opportunity to take a breather. Only to realize that he didn’t need to.

Despite having just run through those twisting corridors, he barely felt winded.

’Was I always this athletic?’

Looking at the others, none of them seemed to be catching their breath either.

’Is it the system or...’

His train of thought was cut off by a voice.

"What do we do now? We’re trapped. A-are we really going to die!?"

It was Kyle. The boy was looking around frantically, hands raised to his head as he did so.

Mr. Morgan did not reply immediately, his face growing more resolute as the sounds of the mob grew closer.

"We have to fight."

’Fight?’

There was barely anything in the hallway they were in. Just some lockers to the sides and the grey wall behind them.

If a horde were to rush in, Miles found it hard to imagine a scenario they wouldn’t be overrun in. But what other choice was there?

It was either to fight and die, or just die.

Mr. Morgan stepped up to one of the grey lockers, tugging its handle, as though to pull it out in its entirety.

It didn’t budge, remaining stuck there as though it were a part of the wall.

The man didn’t mourn over it, merely glancing at Grimm.

"You know how to use that weapon of yours, right?"

The boy hesitated before speaking, probably realizing now wasn’t the time to be mysterious.

"I have two skills that help me with it."

The man’s eyes widened a bit at that, but he nodded, taking it in stride.

The sounds were coming directly from the other hallway now.

"Aim at their heads, if not then their legs. Anything that can bring them down. If you get scared, or can’t use it anymore, then pass me the gun."

He didn’t wait for a reply before turning.

"Brandon, burn anything that falls."

"Wai-"

Before the boy could finish his sentence, bodies crashed into the hallway. There had to be at least twelve of them in just the first wave.

Blackened hands, dressed in a variety of clothes. All deathly pale, all glazed-eyed, all demons.

More still rushed in behind them.

Mr. Morgan went up front. The length of the hallway still separated them from the corpses.

"The formation will change. Grimm and Brandon, both of you behind me, and stand on opposite sides. Just do what I’ve told you to. I’ll handle anything that gets through. If something slips behind me, leave it alone. The rest,"

His gaze focused mainly on Miles.

"...will handle it."

He turned to face the approaching corpses.

"Just focus on what’s before you. It’ll be okay."

What he meant by that exactly, Miles couldn’t tell. Comfort to them, or perhaps himself. Not that it mattered.

He began.

"Grimm... fire."

A shot rang through the enclosed space, immediately followed by the sound of flesh bursting. The first corpse stopped in its tracks for a moment, then dropped to the ground.

Half of its face was gone. Miles stared at it unflinchingly.

’I doubt normal rifles could do that. Likely a skill, if anything.’

The creatures gave them little time to breathe as two more rushed in, bypassing the fallen corpse as they attacked from different directions.

Grimm’s rifle rang out again, blowing out one of the corpses’ necks, sending it tumbling into the corpse on the floor.

There was a deep frown growing on his face.

The other slipped in close before he could reposition, heading straight for the boy.

Mr. Morgan got to it first.

He swung, slamming his bat straight into the side of the monster’s head, sending it crashing against the lockers with a thud.

Before it could reposition itself, he was upon it, slamming his bat into its skull again, this time causing a sickening crack.

Its movements stopped completely.

There was little time to celebrate, as three more rushed ahead of the swelling crowd at the other end of the hallway. It had grown to more than thirty now.

The vice-principal grabbed the corpse laying against the lockers, visibly shivering as his hands came in contact with the body, before tossing it onto the other two on the floor.

Forming a barrier of sorts. Miles could see where this was going.

Then, as though to confirm his thoughts, the man turned to Brandon.

"Burn it."

The boy seemed hesitant.

"How will w-"

"Just burn it."

Seeing the next three corpses already closing in, he gritted his teeth before summoning [Inferno]. The blue blaze took a moment to climb up his hands before he shot them out towards the corpses on the floor, deactivating the ability the moment the flames left his hands.

Just like before, it caught on quickly, spreading across the lying bodies like a wildfire before consuming them in their entirety.

The flames rose high from the pile, hissing and crackling as they thawed the ice in the cold bodies.

A flame barricade.

Grimm took another shot, downing the first of the new group, sending it falling into the pile and extending the barrier as the flames caught on.

The corpse directly behind it paid no mind to its fallen comrade, attempting to climb over its burning body.

The flames caught on, stopping it mid-air and sending it crashing into the pile of corpses as it clawed at its own flesh.

It screeched, a sound still as horrible as Miles remembered it, sending those behind it into a frenzy as they pushed forward even faster.

Grimm’s rifle rang out the third time, sending the final member of the wave barreling into the barrier as well.

The flames spread to it as well, now completely demarcating the hall between them and the corpses with a wall of blue fire.

Yet behind that wall, seven corpses rushed forward. Behind them were at least ten more, and further back, Miles couldn’t see signs of the crowd thinning.