125. Cross-Purposes (Patreon)

I really, really hate the smell of the forest. It reminds me of the fight where my limbs bitten off and I nearly got my whole team killed.

That and there's just so many things to sense. I've trained myself extensively to be able to pick out and identify dangerous scents and sounds, so it's not overwhelming, but it's certainly a lot. And now with Vita gone, I feel obligated to be the one directing everybody to safety. Which is a surprisingly difficult task even when we're just holding position in a shallow part of the forest.

"Excorio!" I call out. "Hey, there's something big heading this way from starboard. I would have asked Manus, but he's out intercepting something on the opposite side, and—"

"We will go," Excorio cuts me off, turning to walk towards where I'm pointing. "You will follow us."

"Uh, yes ma'am," I acknowledge, hurrying after.

The clearing we're all huddled in—if you can call it a 'clearing,' really, considering how many parts of it are blocked by trees—contains the whole collection of convicts and workers that followed Vita, mostly out of a fear of not making it to a town on their own. Considering that she just randomly left and we don't know how long it will be until she comes back, the handful of folks that know how to build shelters have been directing others to do exactly that. Thus, the start of a pretty large camp is slowly getting erected in the middle of human-hostile territory.

"You have been proactive about scouting threats, Jelisaveta," Excorio continues. "Thank you. But we find ourselves somewhat disturbed. Vita and her Revenants each indicated we would be relatively safe here. And we were, until quite recently. What changed?"

"Being a big group is attracting a lot of attention," I answer. "Larger apex monsters that would normally avoid this part of the forest due to relative food scarcity are sensing us and roaming this way. And… I'm like ninety percent sure Vita just being around was scaring them off before."

Excorio smirks with satisfaction.

"Ah, the forest knows its ruler. Good. We are ignorant about forest traversal, we admit. How much trouble is this camp in?"

"Eh," I hedge, making a so-so gesture. "I'd turn a normal Templar squad away and try to lose threats like this rather than fight them, but it's nothing you, Manus, and Tomi can't handle. Vita's Dregs just kind of slow them down, usually by getting eaten, but that's actually pretty helpful so whatever. I have Jeremiah with Manus because he can revive the monsters Manus kills on our side, but… uh, well, you and Tomi fuck up the corpses too much for that to be as effective."

"Who is Tomi?" Excorio asks.

I blink.

"Oh, um, he's the Revenant with the powerful cold-based thermomancy talent? The one that fought alongside Captain Manus."

"Ah," Excorio nods. "His name is actually 'Ice Guy' now."

I scrunch my eyebrows. Vita, what the fuck?

"That's a bit… dehumanizing," I comment.

"You may have noticed with those particularly keen senses of yours, Jelisaveta, but he is no longer human. We think it is an appropriate title, and he is pleased with being given a new name by his master. Ah, is that the beast? We think we see it."

Excorio glances at a mid-sized herbivorous snake that has been entirely minding its own business, and suddenly it balloons into a mass of horrifying mutant tumors. I hear its heartbeat strain and end moments later.

"No, that... wasn't it," I clarify, trying not to wince. Poor thing. "You should see it coming through the trees up ahead in about thirty seconds or so. Uh, actually, I've been meaning to ask. Victoria said you sometimes used your talent at random back at the prison, and—"

"No," Excorio corrects. "We have full control of our talent. I was using it on purpose, trying to test ways around the collar. Sano and Nix never cared to, but that's how I spent my time."

I suck on the inside of my lip.

"So… you were trying to kill whoever walked in through the door?" I ask hesitantly.

"Our talent does far more than kill, Jelisaveta," Excorio answers.

"Uh, if that was supposed to be a denial, it didn't sound like one."

She snorts, shaking her head slightly.

"We were in prison for twelve years, Inquisitor. Our own child forgot us in that time." She gives me a side-eyed glower. "I rather wish you had all been killed sooner. Wouldn't you, in our position?"

I don't have an answer to that, but I do at least have a good distraction. Thirty-six seconds after my callout (damn, I'm off my game), a massive limb bursts through the trees, pulling behind it a thin, gangly body with five other horrifyingly long arms. The beast's legs are all tipped with hairy, almost-humanoid hands, with three joints in each arm. Every one of them is over four times longer than the main body itself, which is almost entirely a giant, gaping mouth. The spiderwalk snatcher, as it’s called, barely gets a chance to terrify every onlooker before Excorio gruesomely murders it with a look, a satisfied grin splitting her face all the while.

"We did not taint the meat," she comments idly. "Though we do remove almost all the marbling in the process. Still, we could have some people butcher that for supplies."

"Uh… I think we're good for now?" I respond diplomatically. "Actually, while I've got you here, I was kinda wondering if I could ask you some personal things. Um, if that's alright."

The lumpy, twisted-tooth woman turns my way, a piercing glare in her eyes. I think I'm the only person that I've seen hold her stare without, y'know, staring at how odd she looks. I wonder what she thinks of that, though it would probably be rude to point that out so I don't intend to ask.

"Mmm, perhaps," Excorio nods. "You're certainly welcome to ask, but we may not answer. You, however, we are also hoping to ask a few things. And you will answer."

Yay, more threats! I just shrug and nod, though. It's not like I have anything to hide.

"Go for it."

"What is your plan, here?" she asks. "We see you've been establishing yourself as a point of command, directing Vita's forces as if they were your own. What opening are you trying to create?"

I scowl slightly, a bit surprised by the question but quickly seeing the logic behind it.

"I'm not really the planning type," I admit honestly. "I just wing it, generally. I help whoever's in front of me. Right now, that's everyone here. You included. I'm directing people because I can tell where the threats are coming from before anyone else, and I don't want those threats to hurt anyone. That's it."

"Hmm," Excorio considers. "We lack Vita's ability to sniff out falsehoods, so consider me still suspicious."

'We,' then 'me.' That's got to be purposeful, but I can only guess as to what it implies right now.

"If I had some kind of master escape plan or whatever, don't you think Vita would have noticed me plotting it before she left?" I counter.

Excorio's expression is difficult to read with how different her face is, but I still see the subtle tightening and unfocusing of her eyes that indicates she's considering it. Her muscles, tense under the bulbous growths on her skin, relax ever so slightly. Subconsciously, I've been judged as less of a threat. Which is good, because I'm really not one.

"Anyway, uh, if it's okay to ask," I transition awkwardly, "I was curious about your whole… you. Situation. Um. Sorry, I really have no idea how to address this politely, uh... you're more than one person, right?"

She chuckles. It's a rhetorical question, but I just don't know how else to start the subject change.

"Oh. Is that all? Yes, we are. In some ways we also aren't, but generally speaking we are and prefer to be referred to as separate."

"Great, cool," I nod. "So how does that… work? When I'm talking to you, for example, is Nix listening? And would it be rude to address her?"

Excorio shrugs.

"She is aware, yes. We are all always aware, but only one of us moves the vessel at a time. And to answer your question, well... you are standing near three people. It is generally rude to talk to one only if you act as though the others are not there, wouldn't you say?"

I raise my eyebrows. Oh, shit, I have been being rude!

"Sorry, Nix! Sorry, um… Sano? Hello to you both! I haven't met you, Sano, but uh… gosh, I feel awful, is it okay if I meet Sano? Like, talk to her? Is that a thing I can ask?"

Excorio smiles, but it's thin and tense.

"You are more than welcome to ask. Never expect or demand. For now, the vessel remains mine."

I hesitate, not sure if it's wise to press that point. I decide to do it anyway.

"...Didn't Vita do that?" I ask. "Make a demand, I mean. Back at the prison."

She put Excorio in charge. I remember that. She shoved her tentacles into this woman and squeezed her soul until she obeyed. Again, Excorio gets more tense, more stressed. I think I can see, with soul sight, the aspects of Nix and Sano clawing at her ever so slightly.

"...She did," Excorio agrees. "And I forgive her, because she is ignorant in her forgetfulness, and because her joy is our purpose."

She hisses the last three words, and I get the impression she's not just speaking to me. And I notice, then, that perhaps I have an opportunity here after all. I didn't lie to her, I don't have any kind of plan to harm Vita or escape here or whatever. But I'm good at winging it, and I see the obvious opening: if Sano or Nix is willing to use their talent to help us escape rather than hold us in, we have a chance. We can break through the undead, survive the forest, and bring word to the Templars!

...But to do that, I would need to emotionally manipulate Altrix into turning against herself, and I literally can't imagine how much that would suck for her. Unless I'm misreading her (and to be fair, I totally could be) I've only seen Excorio since the prison. I don't know if that's normal or not, but I do know she's been getting progressively more stressed. There's got to be a better way forward than exacerbating that, and in the absence of immediate danger I'm willing to bet on it.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I ask.

"We have already talked about this," Excorio snaps. "Extensively."

"Sure, uh, and that's good. But sometimes it can help to have a third… uh. I mean, a fourth party to explain things to and bounce ideas off of?"

She scowls at me.

"It's frustrating how I can't tell if you're being genuine or not."

"I think you can tell," I posit. "You're just accurately reading me as completely genuine, and that makes you suspicious."

Excorio snorts.

"It is… very strange."

"Yeah," I agree. "I get that a lot. We should start walking this way, another hungry one is coming."

She doesn't say anything but she does follow, and the lull in conversation means my mind has nothing to focus on beyond my hyperactive senses. The mix of dead and living leaves, a fresh rotting plant smell puffing through the scent of hard-working sweaty bodies. It's putrid, arguably in a way I'm used to, but my senses never quite pick up the same things twice. There's always a new subtlety, a point of intense oddity that pounds at my conscious mind and demands attention.

What I want to do is focus on the sights and sounds right next to me, the quickening of Altrix's heart rate, the tense subvocalizations she's unconsciously making as she presumably speaks with the other people that are part of her. Unfortunately, the forest is just too distracting. Oh, well. She can tell me what's going on if and when she's ready.

One more horrifyingly bloated forest monster later, Excorio turns to scowl at me.

"You're getting your wish, we suppose," she grumbles. "Sano has agreed not to assist the escape of the prisoners if I release control of the vessel."

It takes me a second to realize by 'prisoners' she means the Templars. Not the actual former prisoners.

"Um, okay," I say. "I wasn't really trying to fish for a conversation with Sano, I—"

"We know," she cuts me off. "We want this."

"Um, okay," I nod. "Well, let me know when I'm talking to Sano, then."

"It will happen when it happens," Excorio grunts. "Keeping the vessel is much easier than giving it up on purpose."

"Oh, sure," I allow, having absolutely no context for that. "Well, I hope I can help."

Altrix is silent after that, and for the next half hour or so we continue to thin out aggressive threats until they finally slow down, apparently recognizing we're not the free meat we seem to be. A subtle change passes over Altrix during that time, and I'm not quite sure when exactly I'm walking alongside someone else but by the time she speaks it's been long since obvious.

"...Hello to you too, Inquisitor," she deadpans.

"Oh, uh… are you Sano, then?" I ask. "It's nice to meet you!"

One thing that always struck me about Excorio is how she has a very posh, almost noble-like inflection and bearing. Sano doesn't seem to match that, walking with a slight slouch and speaking with such little inflection she reminds me of Vita herself.

"We'd say the same, but we've known you for a while now," Sano grunts. "You mind if we head through the middle?"

I click my tongue once to double-check we're clear on incoming threats, then nod.

"Yeah, sure. I'd be happy to."

We head away from the zombie-army circle that marks the outside of the protected zone, towards the camp. Well, the camps, I should say. There's an obvious divide between former prisoners and non-former prisoners, but thankfully the peace Vita forcibly established hasn't yet atrophied in her absence. That said, the prisoners are making temporary shelters mainly through undead labor and either refusing to share it or being refused by the others. The serving staff and bound Templars aren't doing a bad job of setting up their own makeshift tents, though.

What surprises me, however, is how Sano immediately starts glancing around rapidly, as if trying to taking every detail in as little time as possible. I wonder what she's doing at first, but then I follow her gaze and watch as a minuscule cut heals and vanishes as she glances at it.

"Oh, wow," I say. "That's actually super impressive."

"Our names all have a meaning, you know," Sano says. "Apparently, the artist thought it was funny to name the people he made like things. Just nouns and verbs, from some ancient language or something. My name just means 'heal.' I was very literally made for this."

"Oh," I answer awkwardly. "Sorry, is that a sore subject…?"

"Can be," Sano grunts. "We don't take pride in it. It's something we're good at because we were ripped apart and put back together until we were good at it. That's all. But Excorio... she embraces it. She likes being the single-minded bitch that does what she's told."

A slight increase in the pungency of her sweat indicates how stressed she gets from saying so.

"…I imagine it's pretty terrible to be angry at part of yourself like that," I supply.

"You don't know anything about it," Sano snaps.

"Well, you're completely right," I agree. "I suppose that's why I have to imagine. But I can tell that you're having a hard time. I don't know what it's like to share a soul with two other people, but you're still people. I can understand that."

She sighs through her nose, making her way towards the former-staff side of the camp, where the Templars are also staying.

"We don't really have the luxury of staying mad at each other," Sano says eventually. "That's not how we work. None of us can be comfortable if one of us is suffering. But Excorio is so damn busy shoving her nose up our own kid's ass that she doesn't care about how much of a Watcher-damned asshole Vita has become! For shit’s sake, Vita can sense emotions and we haven't even gotten a basic apology for being soulfucked into compliance! Do you have any idea how violating that was? We changed that fucking bitch's diapers and they aren't even trying to talk to us. We should lean them over our knee and spank them like they're four years old again!"

"Hey, well, that's something we have in common at least," I comment, having no idea how else to navigate that absolute minefield of a rant. "I changed Vita's diapers too. Well, kind of. She didn't have diapers at the time, she just shit her pants."

"Ha! Really?" Sano smirks. "In the prison, you mean?"

"Yeah, she would just… randomly fall into a coma sometimes," I explain. "Sometimes for days at a time. So we had to clean her up."

Sano's face falls.

"Oh. That's… hmm. We didn't know that. Are they okay?"

"As far as I know, yeah," I reassure her. "The problem doesn't seem to be physical, and I think she was doing it on purpose."

She huffs in annoyance.

"See, that's exactly the kind of shit we want to know. But no, Excorio just sits back and never initiates anything. Just lets the kid walk all over us! We just… aaagh!"

The staff gives Altrix fearful looks as we walk among them, heading towards where the three collared Templars are doing their best to help despite having their hands bound behind their backs. Victoria nods at me as we approach, though she sends Sano a nervous look.

"Don't give us that," Sano grumbles at her. "We swapped. And Excorio wouldn't actually hurt you."

Victoria's eyebrows raise.

"Oh! Um… sorry. S-sano, right?"

"Yeah," Sano confirms. "Right again. You doing okay, Victoria?"

"I'm alive, I guess," she answers, nodding. "Thank you. Hey, Jelisa. Are things going okay?"

"We're safe for now, and attacks are dying down," I confirm. "No idea where the queen of the dead is, though."

Victoria tenses.

"Jelisa, you can't call her that," she insists.

I raise a placating hand.

"It was ironic, Vicki. Sorry."

She relaxes, nodding. She and the other two Templars have understandably been on edge this entire… let's call it an 'excursion.'

"Sano," Victoria suddenly pleads, turning to her. "Can you help us get out of here?"

"Yes," Sano grunts. "But we are not going to."

"Sano, Vita is going to kill us," Victoria insists.

"We'll stop her," I promise.

"You can't fucking stop her!" Victoria snaps. "No one here can! If she decides to go for it we're completely dead and you know it!"

Of course I know it. I was there. I watched my comrades drop dead like discarded trash, their hearts beating once before hitting the ground and then never again. I felt their bodies stop, I watched their souls get pulled away, I stood helplessly and did fucking nothing when it all happened. And if not for the fact that I start every morning being just as helpless in my own skin, I might have gone mad.

"I'm just worried an escape attempt will make her more likely to kill you, Vicki," I say simply. "I can talk to her. She's powerful but she's still a person. I'm getting through to her."

"And then what?" Victoria counters. "You think she's going to remove our collars and give us weapons? Do you think she's going to send us a fucking zombie escort all the way to Skyhope? No! We'll have to stay her prisoners or be left to die on an impossible trip home. And we can't do that, Jelisa. We need to go, we need to leave, we need to get help for all these people. Supplies will run out and Vita has no plan. She doesn't even want us here."

I hesitate. She's… not wrong, exactly. I just don't know what she expects me to do about it. I'm good with people, not with prison breaks. Hell, that's the opposite of my job. ...Though I'm apparently not good at that either.

"Jelisa," Victoria pleads. "I'm not going to have my baby in the fucking forest."

I grit my teeth. Fuck. What do I say to that?

"Should you really be having this conversation with us standing here?" Sano asks blandly. "We believe we made our position clear. Come on, Jelisaveta. Take us to the next-closest threat."

"I… sure," I agree, following her as she turns and leaves.

Then I think a second time about what exactly Sano just said. And didn't say. 'We will not help.' But will she stop us? I plug my nose, which is a bit of a crutch habit but I really need the extra mental energy right now. If Altrix isn't trying to kill us with her line-of-sight death talent, our only real threats are Manus, Tomi (er, 'Ice Guy,' I suppose) and the giant fuckall zombie army.

"What must it be like, do you think?" I muse out loud. "To be forced to love and obey something. It sounds terrifying."

"It is," Sano says bluntly. "Our love is probably artificial."

I blink in surprise, staring her way. She has a distant look in her eyes and a slight frown. I hear her tongue run along the inside of her mouth, poking at her twisted teeth.

"We were made after Vita was," Sano continues. "Excorio is right, to an extent. To love them, to see them happy… that is our entire reason to exist. And we do love Vita. But it is so frightening to wonder… are we able to not love them? And if so, is our love less real? We don't know. But even after what Vita did to us, we want so desperately to forgive them. They do not deserve it, but we want to forgive them."

"...I think it's okay to want to forgive people you love," I respond idly. "But you should definitely assert yourself. Talk to her about what hurt you. Ask for an apology. Communicate. Vita isn't heartless, she's just… I don't know. She just doesn't get things sometimes. You should be specific and explicit with her."

"We know," Sano snaps. "We raised that child. But now we're just… nothing to them. All our time together is gone. How can we possibly bridge the gap of what we mean to each other? This is why we will not help you. Why we could never help you. If we betray Vita, we will lose our chance to be family again."

Yet her tone and expression don't match her words. The way she refuses to meet my eyes, all the little subtle tics and twitches… I could be wrong, but I'm going to take a chance here. I have to.

"How about you head to the port end of camp, then, and make sure we're safe," I say, because Skyhope is in the complete opposite direction.

"Most of the attacks have been coming from there," Sano agrees. "The deeper forest is that way."

"Exactly," I confirm. "I might send Manus and, uh, Ice Guy to back you up as well."

I turn to part ways, my heart beating fast. Vita isn't here right now and I doubt she'll want to stick around this close to Skyhope for long, so this is probably our best chance to escape.

"...Thank you," Sano calls back to me. "For all your help, and for all your questions."

For my questions?

"Uh, yeah, it was my pleasure," I answer honestly. "I hope things work out with you and Vita."

Sano cackles lightly.

"...You really don't see us at cross-purposes at all, do you?" she asks. "We truly hope you survive, Jelisaveta."

"Uh… me too, I guess!" I call back. "Thanks again!"

I jog off, searching for Jeremiah. He's easy enough to find; the dude still smells like tea, even all the way out in the middle of nowhere. He and Manus are chatting, the latter of whom curtly nods to me as I approach.

"Inquisitor," he greets. It's kind of creepy how he sounds and acts pretty much exactly the same as he did in life. "More threats?"

"We're pretty much good for now, I think," I tell him. "I think Altrix would like to talk to you, though. She's up port."

He nods again and swiftly departs, leaving me with Jeremiah. I swallow my nervousness and just come out with it.

"...Are you interested in returning to Skyhope?" I ask.

He raises his eyebrows.

"If I was, I would have done so by now. Unfortunately, I happen to be a convicted blasphemer, so I doubt I would be particularly welcome."

"I… what if I argued for a pardon?"

He clicks his tongue and I try very hard not to wince. He notices anyway.

"Ah, apologies, Jelisaveta. Bad habit on my part. Anyway, to answer your question… I must still decline. I'm afraid I struggle to trust the gratitude your superiors are capable of displaying."

Shit. Well, there goes my first idea on how to get past the undead army. Can we run for it? I wrack my memory, trying to figure out how far Skyhope is from here.

"On an entirely unrelated note, however," Jeremiah muses, "I find myself impressed with Vita's ability to create a powerful horde, but her creativity is somewhat lacking. Especially in terms of complicated command structure. The idea of using relatively intelligent Risen as a sort of 'commanding officer' that the Dregs follow and copy enables her to give much more complicated attack and defend commands as standing orders. However, her army is still only as intelligent as a series of animals. It doesn't seem to be doing anything more complicated than attacking any monsters that approach. It's unlikely to react to any humans leaving. Not unless they had some way to tell a prisoner apart from a non-prisoner."

"Ah," I say. "I see. That's very interesting, Jeremiah. Thank you."

It's a good thing I'm already in the habit of not reacting to things, because otherwise I'd be screaming as loudly on the outside as I am on the inside. I can't believe I'm doing this. But I just… I can't not do this. I'm not going to just wait around for someone else to decide if she'll kill my comrades! It's my obligation to take that option off the table entirely.

There's a good chance we'll all die. I know that. But while I may wake up helpless every morning, I also wake up a Templar. If they want to risk it, I'll help them. They're the ones in the most danger. Them and… well. The last person I feel the need to talk to. I spot and grab a few bugs on the way, since I know she'll like them.

"Jelisaveta!" Melissa calls happily, collapsing into a puddle and quickly flowing over to me before reforming her humanoid shape. "Hello, hello! You've been so busy, we've barely talked!"

She giggles.

"Jelisaveta, Jelisaveta!" she repeats. "It's such a big, fun name! I'm so happy I can finally remember it!"

"Hey, Melissa," I greet her back, holding out the bugs in my hands. "I brought you a little snack."

"Ooh, yummy! Thank you!"

Slowly and carefully, she moves her hand over mine, pressing herself over the insects and sucking them up into her body without making contact with my skin.

"Good, good good good!" Melissa cheers, her golden body glistening as the struggling bugs dissolve inside her. "How are you, Jelisaveta? I've been great! This trip has been so fun! I'm so happy you brought Miss Vita to help me!"

I grimace.

"Uh, yeah, for sure," I allow. "Though that's… actually what I wanted to ask you about. Can you keep a secret?"

"Ooh, I used to be great at keeping secrets," Melissa giggles. "Not as good now, but I'll try my best!"

"Oh wow, ouch," I say, but I laugh a little. If she can, why shouldn't I? "Well, I'm actually sort of… leaving. With a few people. Very soon."

Her fake, silhouette eyes go wide with surprise.

"Oh, no! Really? I'll miss you very much!"

"Well, that's what I wanted to ask," I say. "Do you want to go with me? To Skyhope?"

As I'd feared, she doesn't react with excitement. But what I didn't expect is for her to shrink down and look scared.

"I, um, I still can't stay solid very well," she murmurs, starting to nervously and very literally wring her hands together. "So I hurt people I touch."

"That's okay," I promise her. "You're getting better at it, it won't be a problem forever. We'll find a way to keep you and everyone else safe until then."

She takes a step back, no longer looking my way.

"...Miss Vita says if Templars other than you find me, they'll make me stop eating again. And I'll forget."

I freeze.

"We… I mean, I'm sure if we explain it to them it'll be fine. You eat bugs! That doesn't hurt anyone."

"...Then why didn't they feed me any?" she whispers. "They had to know."

"Nah, I don't think they did," I dismiss. "There was nothing in your file about eating—"

I shut up. There was nothing in Vita's file about her eating souls either, was there? Animavorism is recognized as a thing that exists, but I've never really heard much about it beyond that. And I worked with Melissa for barely a month before having my bright idea to just feed her live meals. What are the odds literally no one else tried that in well over a decade of incarceration?

"Is Miss Vita wrong?" Melissa asks me. She sounds hopeful, like she wants it to not be true.

I want it, too. There's no way it can be true, right? To keep a child contained in a state of dementia for that long… that can't be on purpose. That would be beyond fucked up, it would be against everything the Church stands for! For fuck's sake, animavorism healed her soul, nothing else! This has to just be a mistake.

...But am I willing to risk Melissa's life over it?

"Would you like to stay here?" I ask her.

It's not an answer to her question, but she interprets it as one. Perhaps rightly so.

"Yes," she nods. "Will I see you again?"

"Count on it," I promise. "Eat well and remember me."

That beautiful, golden smile returns.

"Okay," she agrees.

Swallowing all that panic, I find and relocate Ice Guy, praying to the Watcher that the Revenants don't just randomly wander back towards the prisoners. Ostensibly, Altrix is the one supposed to be guarding them, but in practice it has always been Vita's ability to keep track of everyone at once that keeps everybody in line. Either way, they should hopefully be used to assuming the prisoners are dealt with and not get overly suspicious for at least like… I don't know, five minutes? Then I collect some cloaks from the supplies that can cover up the prisoner collars. Not to fool any guards, but to hopefully fool the dumbass undead who likely don't have any other way to tell prisoners from non-prisoners.

Every other part of the plan is just… not a plan. I have to rely on none of the former prisoners wandering away from their separate camp and seeing us, I have to rely on none of the former staff wanting to rat us out as we very obviously start to leave, I have to rely on there not being some clever method to let Dregs distinguish who is and isn't allowed to leave their circle… but as far as I know, we won't get another chance like this one. But maybe we will and I'm screwing up everything! Who knows!

"Okay, I have like maybe an eighth of a plan," I say, grabbing Victoria and the other two templars whose names I do not actually know. "But we have an opening. Do you want to go now?"

They look at me in surprise.

"Wait, seriously?" Victoria hisses. "That was fast! We thought you weren't going to!"

"I work fast," I shrug. "But I'm serious, I have no idea if this will work. I just got the dangerous people away from the starboard side and I'm thinking maybe if you cover your collars the zombies will think you aren't prisoners. That's it. That's what I've got. But I figure we need to do this now, because there's no way to know when Vita will come back."

The three of them look at each other, and they all nod.

"Fuck it," Victoria agrees. "Let's go."

We unfortunately don't have a way to remove the collars, but it's pretty easy to find something sharp to cut their other bindings with. Then we throw the cloaks on and, with held breath, wade through multiple deadly layers of undead monsters. The beasts come in all shapes and sizes, but each of them stands with utter stillness as we pick our way carefully around them, soon breaking free from their circle and passing out of sight.

"Why the fuck did that work?" Victoria hisses.

"Risen are stupid," I shrug. "Dregs are stupider."

We automatically descend into tactical silence from there on out. We have some basic, if incredibly shitty weapons: mostly sticks and clubs, plus we're all unarmored. Any sort of fight would be catastrophic, which means every step we take is my responsibility. It's horribly nerve-wracking, but while I'm an awful fighter by Templar standards I suppose I can admit I'm an above-average scout. Avoiding confrontation is pretty much my primary skill in all walks of life, when you think about it.

I move us at as quick of a pace as I can without feeling like I'm guessing our path, and the farther we travel the easier it gets. We are, after all, approaching Skyhope, which means we're moving through the part of the forest that gets more hunter patrols than any other area by far. Dangerous monsters are relatively uncommon, and many of the ones still around have learned to fear humans. When we're about to approach the one-hour mark of our journey, however, everything predictably goes wrong in the worst way possible.

I hear it. The sound I've been afraid of from the start of this escape plan. A cacophony of pounding steps, approaching us from behind.

The horde advances on us.

"Run," I order, and we all move, leaving our fate to the Watcher.

All Templars have at least enhancer training, so we can move pretty fucking fast. But as I direct our course, desperately trying to avoid at least the biggest threats between us and our goal, the sound of the army behind us still manages to gain ground because they don't have to swerve after us. There are hundreds of them. They just have to run in a straight line towards Skyhope, and they'll get us on the way. They won't slow down or get tired, and any monster they encounter will just be added to their ranks.

Because leading them at the front is their self-proclaimed queen, and I doubt she's happy.

A foul scent carries itself on the wind, attacking my nose with murderous intent and forcing me to rely only on echolocation to chart the way forward. But what else can we do? Fire in my limbs and daggers in my lungs, we push forward with the speed of hunted prey. Because that's what we are, all we are, in the face of her fury. When my ears finally pick up the open and beautiful sound of the forest's edge, I know we're not close enough.

"We're going to have contact," I puff, and move us to a direct course.

After all, it's run into a monster in front of us or be trampled by the army of them from behind. A furious and hungry pentapede stabs at us as we run past its nest, shrieking with murderous intent and giving Victoria a deep gash through her arm before we outpace it, but I can tell that still won't be enough. We're slowing down too quickly. Our bodies and souls can't handle this for much longer. So it's still over a hundred yards to the edge of the forest when the army of undead overtakes us.

First come the birds. Many of them were just normal, harmless animals in life, but they peck and tear at our skulls with unbridled hatred as larger, deadlier threats swoop down and demand our attention. I swat one out of the sky with my makeshift club, but by then the faster land monsters are biting at us from behind, katzels and arrow hounds and talon kings. One bites hard into my calf, twisting and trying to knock me to the ground, but Victoria and one of the other templars smash its skull with well-placed strikes as I stumble. We're swinging left and right, beating away attackers as we continue to make ground towards Skyhope, but there are four of us and four hundred of them. It's a surprise to all of us when we actually burst out of the trees, our destination now visible in front of us.

Screams erupt ahead of us as wide-eyed farm-workers see an explosion of undead flow out from the forest behind us, shrieking for blood and death. The walls of Skyhope spot us immediately, the alarm sounding ahead to mobilize the army. Never has Skyhope felt like a more perfect name for our capital city than now, when we know reinforcements are coming. We'll soon be seeing soldiers pour out from the gate, coming to our rescue. Even as we get cut off, the horde overtaking and moving to encircle us, that knowledge along with the fear of death keeps us swinging.

Or maybe it just made us foolish, because we didn't think to be afraid when the zombies stopped attacking us until after she emerged from their midst.

Dressed in a black cloak with a blindfold over her eyes, I can still see her scowl furiously, glaring at us with open hatred. She's clearly the source of the pungent smell, as it's so overpoweringly horrid at this range I have no choice but to plug my nose or suffer an episode. She never smelled like this before, but I don't have time to think about what changed as we get locked into her kill range. She strokes our souls, and I'm filled with a frigid terror so all-consuming that I drop to my knees.

"So…" she says blandly. "You really went and did it, huh?"

I swallow. We're not dead. I still have work to do.

"Can you of all people really blame us for staging a prison break?" I joke desperately.

She tsks once, and it's almost a laugh. A partial win, perhaps.

"How about I kick the shit out of you for two years while demanding you kill your family, and then you can get back to me on that," she sneers. "I can't believe you four got just far enough to be annoying."

"I was trying to get my friends to safety," I plead. I know she can empathize with that, of all things. "Get everyone home, convince everyone to leave you alone as best I can, and make sure Victoria can have her baby somewhere safe."

"You know, the really funny thing is that I might have been about to let you do that," Vita sighs, glowering up at the army approaching from the distance behind us. Her own undead forces turn and, to my surprise, start to leave, flowing back into the forest. There's now nothing at our backs but freedom. Not that any of us are willing to risk running away from Vita.

"Then just do that," I beg. "Let us go. You can show everyone in Skyhope, right now, that you're merciful. That you can be reasoned with, that you can be an ally."

"What it would show them," Vita glowers, "is that when I make demands they don't really mean anything. That I can just be walked all over, as usual."

She clenches her fists so hard she starts shaking, and I'm struck for a moment with the reminder of how tiny they are. Like a child's.

"I was considering it!" she snaps again. "I don't fucking know why. So at least there's one good thing that will come out of this. I don't have to make myself a liar."

What is she…? Oh, no. No, no, no!

"Vita, wait!" I shout, jumping to my feet.

In an instant, she's on me. A shattering kick to my ribs and I'm knocked on my back. A second stomp lands where the first strike did, and I hold back a cry of pain as her boot holds me down. All three of my fellow Templars move to attack her immediately, an expert coordinated strike from all sides. They were ready for this.

"Only you," Vita tells me again, and they die.