Hollow World Book 4 Chapter 17

Zach kept pulling his trigger, despite the clicking sound it was making, as he tried to clear the Others from where they encroached upon the gate.  Sarah stood next to him, a pistol in either hand, firing into the crowd as well. 

Zach started to brandish his rifle like a club, keeping his foes at bay as more of his companions tried to push the gate back shut.  Inch by inch they pushed them outwards,  until they surged forward as their reinforcements joined them out beyond the wall.  He continued to swing, connecting with the head of a man in front of him who crumpled to the ground only to be replaced by another, who quickly turned his back on Zach.  He took advantage of whatever the distraction was and lifted the rifle overhead, bringing it down hard atop the man’s skull, sending a bone numbing reverberation up both of his arms.

Another man, also facing the wrong direction, stepped back toward Zach as Sarah pushed in front to get a clubbing blow of her own in, knocking him down.  Zach took a step backwards himself, pulling Sarah with him as the group of Others surged again, this time splitting down the center as a group of faintly glowing warriors, the lead, a man wearing a black leather jacket with a Gargoyle upon its back, pushed through.  The glowing men turned and continued to attack the Others, and after he realized what was happening, Zach and then his companions joined in.  

It was over.  Once the defenders had realized that they were not facing a larger foe, but instead had reinforcements of their own, they had rallied and managed to put down every last one of the attackers.  A few men were going through the bodies upon the battlefield and killing any of the Others they found alive, or carrying any of their fallen companions, alive or dead, to a spot within the walls.  They gave the Pennyman, who was slowly making his way to the wall, body by body, a wide berth.  

Zach heard the rumors, of the hundred and fifty men that had stood beside him upon the wall, only sixty remained alive.  One of them was calling for the survivors to rush to the aid of the southern wall, and Zach had to agree.  

He had joined the group collecting ammunition and weapons when he felt a hand upon his arm.

“You are one of the ones He has marked.”  Davey Boy said, the white light hurting Zach’s eyes.  “You, and her,” Davey Boy added, pointing to Sarah.

“Who?”

“The burning man, Graham, Tartarus.  He has many names, but he shall die only one death.”  Davey Boy said, brandishing a long curved blade, “And it will be at my hands,”  He added.

“Who are you guys,”  Sarah asked, walking up.  “I mean thanks.”  She smiled.

“You are welcome Sarah,” Said a man with blonde, almost white, hair down to his shoulders, who had just walked up beside them.

Davey Boy nodded and bowed his head before the new arrival.

“Be about it, I will answer their questions.”

“Yes sir,” Davey Boy said, and then nodded at both Zach and Sarah, before calling for his soldiers and rushing off to join the fighting elsewhere.

“You can call me Acmon,”  Said the blonde, “And they are my army, the Warriors of the Light.”

“I’m sorry, Acmon, I’m not sure I get it, why are you helping us?”  Zach asked.

“I like to think of it as more trying to stop my uncle from winning his war.”

“You’re uncle?”  Sarah asked.

“Yes, as Charon,”  He caught the quizzical look that Sarah shot him, “You may know him as The Pennyman, is my brother, Tartarus is my uncle.”

“Wait, I know that name,”  Zach said, racking his brain for where he had heard of Charon before.  

“The ferry across the river…”  He almost had it, it was on the tip of his tongue when Acmon completed the sentence for him.

“Acheron.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”  Sarah asked.

“Yes, as is the fighting,”  Acmon said, “And speaking of that, I have dallied here for too long.  I must move on, for my men need me, as do yours.”  Acmon said, and nodded to Zach before bowing to Sarah.

Once Acmon had moved on, Zach turned to Sarah, who was reloading her gun, “That was strange.”

“Yeah, but he’s right, we need to get up to the front lines and help out there.”

Zach slammed some new rounds into a shotgun he had picked up and grabbed a clip for his rifle.  Someone held out a full pistol which he took as well, tucking it into the waistband of his pants.  “You ready?”

Sarah nodded and slung a shotgun of her own over her left shoulder, falling into step beside Zach.  “Yep.”  

They ran through the city streets, the smell of burning buildings and the sound of screaming leading them to the fighting.  A small skirmish was occurring between Acmon’s Warriors of Light and the Others in the intersection of two two lane streets.  Sarah tapped Zach on the shoulder and pointed to a building that stood away from the flames and then pointed upward.  Zach nodded and led the way, pushing open a glass door, the bell ringing within.  They found a stairwell in the back that led up and eventually a ladder that led to the roof.  They took cover behind a large air conditioning unit and scoped out the scene below.  

“Shoot the soldiers in the back, that way we don’t hit our men.”  Zach whispered, creeping toward the roof’s edge.  

Below, Zach could pick out the three distinct factions, the Others, Acmon’s Warriors, and then his companions.  He took careful aim and pumped the shotgun, the shell slamming into the chest of an Other that managed to look up at him before toppling over backwards.  He shifted his aim slightly and fired again, dropping another Other.  Sarah was beside him her own gun raining death down upon their enemies.

He was peering along the barrel of his rifle when he caught sight of Sam down below, bleeding from a head wound, but wielding a pair of axes as he plowed through his own group of enemies.