The group of Gamers was barely illuminated by the moonlight that managed to filter through the dense trees above them.

  In that darkness, two zombies staggered towards them.

  Arthur had asked for volunteers to take them down. And after some doubts and an uncomfortable silence, it was Gustav who took a step forward, maybe pushed by the embarrassment of his previous weakness—of having been saved by Arthur.

  He drew his sword and went after the first zombie with the rush of somebody who feared he might lose his courage if he thought too much. He walked under an especially dense tree, and for a moment he was immersed in shadows, with barely any moonlight reaching him. For a moment, the wind quieted, and the only sounds in the forest were his steps and the zombie’s, both walking over the leaves on the ground.

  The second zombie was still about fifty yards away, dragging his left leg with every step he took.

  “Don’t try to kill it directly,” Arthur advised. “First, throw it to the ground. It will be safer that way.”

  Gustav looked back from the shadows and nodded uncertainly. He was pale and seemed nauseous. Then he focused again on the approaching zombie.

  Mark felt some trepidation while watching the coming fight.

  We have to start betting on this kind of thing, he thought.

  Gustav tried to take the simplest route. He put his feet on the zombie’s hip and tried to push it down—trying to force the undead to the ground. But it was too timid of a push, trying too hard to keep his distance, and he slipped a little on the leaves on the ground. So the zombie reeled to the side, but managed to stay upright and went after Gustav again, snarling at him.

  The Gamer retreated a couple of steps, trying to find a position to kick the zombie without being grabbed by its reaching arms, and when he found the moment he pushed it again with his feet, now with more strength, now putting his whole weight into it. The zombie managed to grab Gustav’s shirt, and when it started falling, the Gamer followed it to the ground.

  Emily gasped. Arthur and Mark started running to help. But Gustav managed to break free of the zombie’s hold, ripping his shirt and falling on his ass a few feet away from the zombie.

  He got up immediately, not wanting to give the zombie an opportunity to recover. He had let go of the sword. He grabbed it again, holding it a little awkwardly, and tried to press it against the forehead of the undead soldier. He had to try a couple of times, because the reaching zombie made the point of the sword slip away. Eventually, he managed to get the sword into the right position—over one of the eyes—, and he pressed it down with both hands, putting his weight behind it, with enough force to get the job done.

  Then Gustav ripped the sword out of the zombie’s brain and walked back towards the rest of the Gamers. His stride was unsteady.

  “Good job,” Arthur said.

  Gustav made a small nod, acknowledging his words, but he seemed too shaken to answer. Then he walked behind a tree and started vomiting.

  The other zombie kept approaching, his dragging leg carving a faint trail through the leaves on the ground.

  Arthur looked at the rest of the Gamers to see if one of them would step up to finish the other zombie. Nobody did, and Arthur seemed ready to take care of it by himself when Tobias raised his hand.

  “I’ll do it.”

  Arthur seemed a little worried.

  “You sure? You have nothing to prove.”

  “I think I do,” Tobias answered, looking at Gustav, who was walking back from the tree, wiping his chin.

  And he went after the zombie.

  Emily walked after him.

  “I will help,” she said, and before Arthur could dissuade her, she added, “How can I be strong if I don’t test myself?”

  To that, Arthur had no answer.

  Emily approached Tobias, looking with some fear at the staggering zombie. Tobias acknowledged the young woman with a nod. And when they got close, he muttered something to her for about thirty seconds. She listened with much concentration, furrowing her eyebrows. And then she suddenly smiled, nodded once, and started running to the side, hiding behind the trunk of a massive tree.

  The zombie started to pursue her, but Tobias got its attention by clapping his hands two times.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The sound seemed to travel far into the forest surrounding them. Mark looked around, but no other undead seemed to have listened.

  The claps did get the attention of the zombie, and when it started to pursue him, Tobias walked towards the same tree Emily had hidden behind. He hadn’t unsheathed his saber yet.

  When he reached the tree, with the zombie only a yard away, Tobias started slowly walking around the trunk, the zombie following him… And Tobias clapped his hands twice again.

  And Emily ran all around the tree and appeared behind the zombie, pushing it on the back with all her strength, managing to throw it to the ground.

  Tobias came back for the zombie, walking fast while clumsily drawing his saber, and hit it three times in the head, as if he were chopping wood.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  And the zombie stopped moving.

  “Yes! Tobias for the win!” Emily said, jumping with excitement.

  Tobias pumped his saber into the air with the pride of a knight after slaying six dragons one after the other.

  “We fucking rock!” he said. “We fucking rock!”

  They were prudent enough not to shout. But that energy had to go somewhere, making their movements even more excited and erratic. Tobias started making a weird robot dance, his saber still covered with gore. Emily started frantically punching with her little fists some imaginary enemies.

  “Victory! Victory!” Emily whispered.

  Mark remembered Tobias’s words when speaking about the bloodied saber:

  All the respect I got for the bloodied saber? Give me a chance, and I swear I’ll earn it.

  And he wondered if this was what he had dreamed of…

  To look like a fool while making a little dance in the night.

  Mark noticed that Arthur looked at Tobias like a proud father seeing his son becoming a man. It was strange. The Arthur he knew wouldn’t be acting like this. The Arthur he knew had little patience for incompetence. Little patience for weakness.

  Now that I think about it, the way he has taken Tobias under his protection is completely different from what he would have done in the past. He seems to actually care about him.

  He has actually taken control of this group, and he has been acting as a caring leader. They are starting to look up to him… He’s gaining their respect, isn’t he? Without threats. Without lies… Who the fuck is this man?

  It was the first time Mark considered the changes his friend had gone through. Mark was still in his early twenties—the age at which he had died. But his friend looked as if he was almost thirty.

  He wondered how else his friend had changed with time.

  “What are you looking at?” Arthur asked.

  “I hadn’t paid too much attention to it, but you do look older than I remember.”

  Arthur looked a little at himself. Extended one of his muscular arms, as if examining it.

  “Do I? I guess I did age a little after you were gone. It’s a little weird for me too, looking at you and seeing you haven’t aged at all.”

  “Yeah. I guess so. It’s a little sad, isn’t it?”

  “Is it? I’m just happy to have you with me again.”

  “I meant how poorly age has treated you. It must suck to get old and shriveled.”

  Arthur chuckled, making a dismissive gesture.

  “Fuck off. I look great. You wouldn’t believe how many women threw themselves at me when the apocalypse arrived. Beautiful women wanting to have some fun before the end arrived. It was fucking awesome. Every day I just went to the bar and picked up a couple of them, to enjoy the night together.”

  At least not everything has changed. He’s still an arrogant asshole.

  Emily, who had stopped dancing and come back with the group, faked a gagging noise, as if wanting to vomit. Arthur smiled at her—he used his charming smile, the one he used when trying to seduce somebody—and she rolled her eyes, but straightened a little and smiled back.

  Mark wondered about the weird dynamic those two had—it felt more like a big brother with a little sister. Then he noticed the looks of unconcealed jealousy from the rest of the Gamers. Even Tobias was looking at Arthur and narrowing his eyes a little, seemingly deciding if he should be feeling admiration. Or just hate.

  Something tells me their experience with the apocalypse wasn’t as “fucking awesome” as Arthur’s… Mark thought.

  He understood how they felt. He had grown up with his friend, and although Mark wasn’t completely useless on that field, and had had some girlfriends and a few flings, anybody trying to compare himself with Arthur was just asking for a depression.

  So he changed topics before the rest of the gamers organized a lynching and made Arthur pay for his success.

  Not that it wouldn’t be fun… Or undeserved..., Mark thought, remembering a couple of times Arthur had picked up women Mark had been interested in. Oh, Susan… How much you broke my heart…

  “Everybody, let’s keep moving,” Mark said. “The battlefield must be nearby. Let’s finish this.”

  Everybody agreed. Mark took the forward scouting position again, and they started moving.

  He saw a massive crowd of zombies surrounding a camp set up by one of the armies. The screams of pain and terror were carried with the wind, making him shiver. And eventually, he heard from the sky the powerful metallic gong announcing the death of a general. It was so unexpected that it made Mark feel like his heart tried to leap out of his chest. A few leaves fell from the trees above him, thrown by the deep sound.

  “Mother-fucker…” Mark muttered.

  He moved around the camp, keeping a reasonable distance. Every time they found some zombies in their path, they avoided them by changing directions.

  Mark no longer feared ambushes—not from living soldiers, at least. Nobody would be crazy enough to lay still with so many moving threats. So he advanced only twenty yards away from the rest of the Gamers, where they could see his signaling to change directions. The scouts on the sides were even closer to the rest of the group.

  And so they advanced for half an hour, until they finally reached the battlefield.

  Mark was the first who saw it.

  So he was the first to know they were well, and truly, fucked.

  He crawled toward the treeline and saw the massive field they had resurrected in was filled with zombies walking under the moonlight—tens of thousands of them, maybe even a hundred thousand. It was impossible to even wrap his mind around the massive crowd of zombies he was seeing. In places where they were densely packed, their movements resembled a dark, rolling wave.

  The rest of the Gamers arrived at his side, also crawling. He heard some curses. Then there was only silence, as the impossibility of their quest started to sink in…

  After almost a minute of silence, Mark said:

  “So… who volunteers to go recover the magic book?”