Page 5 of The Glass Unicorn, Part 2 (Quest Wars #2)

I stared at the rotting, lumbering creatures.

They were more terrifying than any movie portrayal, because these zombies were directly in front of me, very real, and not just moving pictures on a screen.

The sight of rotting flesh sloughing off of the bloated corpses was bad enough, but in a few places, bones peeked through the flapping skin.

I caught my breath, backing away.

“Holy fuck,” Thornhold said, frozen in place. Brynn let out a strangled cry, and both Reggie and Ray looked like they were ready to faint.

Geoff, on the other hand, jumped to his feet, apparently ready to go. “Your blades will work on them,” he said, unsheathing his long sword.

I glanced around. There was no escape. We were going to have to fight our way through.

Breathing through my mouth—the smell was atrocious—I held out my dagger, wishing I had room to bring out my bow.

But they’d be on us before I could get off more than a couple shots, and then I’d just have to switch weapons again.

“Guys, we’re going to have to go through these things,” I said, trying to keep my voice from wavering. We could do it. We’d taken down a Trogger and a couple of ogres, along with some skeletons. We could totally face the zombie apocalypse. Couldn’t we?

A warm wash of air blew over us, filled with the smells of the dead flesh. What was left of my breakfast threatened to make an abrupt appearance again, and I had to swallow hard to keep it down. Geoff was already headed toward the creatures, sword at the ready.

I quickly counted heads. There were four of the creatures, but I wondered if they’d be more dangerous than the skeletons.

Dangerous or not, though, I couldn’t let Geoff go in on his own — that wouldn’t be fair.

I broke my paralysis and moved forward. As though waiting for my cue, Brynn and Thornhold closed in behind me.

As Geoff and I took on one zombie, Brynn and Thornhold split off, engaging one each. Reggie and Ray headed toward the last.

There was no time to think, or strategize which direction might be the best to attack from.

The zombies might be slow, but they wouldn’t stop.

Not until they were cut or smashed into pieces.

Ray might be able to turn them, but he wasn’t high-level enough to drain the unnatural life out of their bodies.

And turning them meant we’d have to deal with them when the spell wore off and they turned around and came back.

As I held out my dagger, it occurred to me that I should buy a sword. Going in with a dagger was dangerous and put me too close to the enemy.

Geoff caught the zombie’s attention and I slipped around behind it, darting in as I slashed with my dagger. The silver did more damage than just steel, but a dagger was still no match for a longer blade. The zombie clawed, swinging at Geoff. It didn’t seem to notice me.

Unlike ghouls and ghosts, zombies and skeletons didn’t have much in the way of brains.

They were more mindless automatons, and they had to be raised by some form of necromancer and then given a geas.

Whereas ghosts were actual spirits, and ghouls…

Well, nobody knew how ghouls worked. We hadn’t gotten that far in the game.

Every time I plunged my dagger into the back of the zombie I shivered, cringing as all manner of disgusting liquids came splashing out. I tried to avoid it because I thought maybe it was poisonous or acidic, and we didn’t have any poison resistance potions or antidotes with us.

As I neared the door leading into the hallway, I closed it, preventing any further creatures from joining the zombies. We could take care of them if we didn’t have to worry about anything else crashing the party at the moment.

Brynn was using her sword, and she cleaved her zombie almost in half.

It fell to the floor, both halves still twitching.

The feet were kicking, but they couldn’t do much.

However, the top half of the zombie’s torso dragged itself toward her, hands grasping at the stone floor.

Brynn had the upper hand, so to speak, and she hacked at the torso, letting out squeals of disgust as she chopped the zombie into tiny pieces.

Oh gods, we were going to have to do that, weren’t we? We were going to have to make pulp of these creatures if we didn’t want them still rambling around the dungeon, whether it be a single hand or a torso or fully intact.

“Remember, we have to destroy them entirely,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the din of the fighting.

The zombies were groaning, letting out primal grunts as they fought.

The sounds of Thornhold’s axe squishing as it contacted flesh made my stomach lurch, but I forced my attention to the zombie that Geoff and I were fighting.

I managed to land enough slashes through its backside, that—when Geoff made another swing—his long sword managed to sever the spinal column. The top half slid to the ground, and the bottom half began to flail around, still on its feet.

Watching the lower half of the walking dead stumble around did it for me.

I turned and threw up in the corner, pausing to take a swig of water and rinse my mouth out afterwards.

It was all just too much. Somehow it didn’t seem the same when we were just talking through it around the table.

Even the online version — which I played on my own — didn’t seem nearly as disgusting as this.

It took us about twenty minutes, but finally we stood there, panting, the floor covered with remains. An eyeball stared lazily toward the ceiling from one of the zombies faces. It was mangled and distorted, and I turned away, trying to breathe through my mouth rather than through my nose.

“Should we look for treasure?” Brynn asked in a shaky voice.

“I am not going through all of that goo spread all over the floor. If you want to look for treasure, go ahead. I just want out of this room.”

I yanked open the door and peeked out, relieved to see there was nothing waiting for us.

I slid out and stood in the hallway, leaning back against the cold stone.

It wasn’t even killing the zombies that had bothered me so much — they were already dead, after all.

It was the massive amount of gore that had triggered me.

Within minutes, the others, including Geoff, joined me. We were all covered with blood and slime, and none of us seemed particularly happy.

“What now?” I asked. I turned to Geoff. “Do you know how big this dungeon is?”

He shrugged. “It has several levels, I know that much. And there’s supposed to be some excellent treasure hidden in here. There are rumors of some sort of artifact, as well. And somewhere, that necromancer has to be hiding. Unless he’s fled the dungeon already.”

I slid down to squat, still leaning against the cavern wall. “I suppose we are here. We might as well continue on.” A thought crossed my mind and I turned to Geoff. “You do know about the game, don’t you?”

He looked puzzled, and I noticed that there was no watch on his wrist. “What do you mean?”

“Where’s your watch?” Thornhold asked. He leaned on the hilt of his axe, looking remarkably comfortable for what we had just been through. He actually gave off the aura of a dwarf, which seemed kind of a blessing. Dwarves were steady and sturdy, and they didn’t spook all that easily.

“Something happened and the game broke. We can’t get out,” Brynn said.

Geoff paled. It was obvious he didn’t know. “You’re joking. At least, I hope you’re joking?”

“I’m afraid not,” I said. “We’re stuck in here for as long as it takes them to fix the game.

We do have contact with one of the employees, and she can get messages from the game guides.

But she can’t send anything out.” I didn’t want to give away her secret Wi-Fi connection with her relatives.

We didn’t know who Geoff really was, except he wasn’t a Sym.

“Crap,” Geoff said. “I was supposed to leave here tomorrow. You mean I’m stuck here? In Elfin form?”

“Just like I am,” I said. “Did you come with anybody? A group or a party?”

He shook his head. “I came in on my own. I’m a solo player mostly, but my wife gifted me a four day excursion. We’re nowhere near rich. She saved for months to make this happen. I can’t stay here—my wife and baby depend on me.”

“It’s okay—” Ray started to say, but Geoff waved him off.

He began to hyperventilate. “I’m the sole breadwinner.

The only way my wife was able to afford this was by scrimping and saving.

I didn’t know she was doing that, and I wasn’t going to accept it but she insisted that I deserved a break.

I work two jobs to keep us going, while she stays home with the baby.

She has a chronic illness and can’t work outside the house. ”

He sounded so distraught, and the look on his face was so sincere, that I felt sorry for him. I motioned to the others. “Excuse us a second, please.”

We stepped back inside the room, and Thornhold pulled out his axe. Three zombie fingers were still wiggling around like worms. With one smash, he flattened them into paste.

“What do you think about asking him to go with us? I can’t stand the thought of him being on his own and getting killed, not when his wife and child are out there waiting. We could ask Liesel if she can contact his wife?”

Brynn glanced out the door at Geoff, and back at me. “I say yes. I trust him. It might be a mistake but I don’t think so.”

The others agreed, and we returned to the hallway, shutting the door behind us once more.

“Geoff?” I asked. “How would you like to join our party? We can clear out this dungeon and then go back to a safe place where we can rest. Maybe we can find out more about what’s going on at that point.”

“You mean it?” He asked. “I can go with you?”

I nodded. “We like you and having a bard along would be helpful. You also seem handy with that sword.”

“I took fencing in college,” Geoff said. “I’ve kept it up ever since. I also know some martial arts and I can teach you some basic moves, if you like. And I’m a decent archer.”

This alliance was sounding better and better. We agreed on it, and then—letting him lead because he seemed to know more about the dungeon than we did—we headed still further down the hallway, waiting for the next jump scare.