The dead kept coming in waves before they were cut down by gunfire. Chief and Duke woke up from their scared episode and kept rolling over the lifeless attackers. Some of the Kindred dismembered them with swords while they were pin to the ground by dogs. The sounds of battle echoed across the stone flats while undead kept streaming from somewhere.

No roared and swang his large sword, clipping the scalps of two zombies in front of him. Brain tissue and skull pieces spread around as two mindless attackers piled up on the ground. It looked like an entire sea of dead sneak up on them which was impossible. He looked past the line of defenders into the darkness trying to pierce into the unknowable gloom. But he could discern nothing but more rotting dead.

He glanced behind him looking for Rowana. His heart skipped a beat when he couldn't find her anywhere. But after frantic few seconds, he noticed her hiding on top of the wagon still holding the messenger bat in her arms. Sighing in relief he jumped on top of a largest shambling corpse running his sword through its gaping mouth.

We can't hold this throng until morning. Thought blazed through his mind as he whipped the sword out of the gore and swishing the excesses bile away from the pristine steel. Following through he cut low severing the legs of closest zombies which let Chief and Duke jump and maul the crippled undead.

"Fiat, we brought those expensive gizmos with us?!" No, yelled over the din. Fiat snapped his head towards No and nodded. "Then, let's burn this dead and try to run towards the Rebuke, they can't let us die here."

Few of the bruisers started lobbing grenades behind the lines, devastating deaths advance. That gave them some room to calm horses and hitch the wagons. But as soon as they tried moving the dead increased the rate of their attack.

Fiat jumped out of wagon carrying a large white backpack connected to the larger weapon. He pointed towards the bigest group of walking dead and fired. Nothing happened but Fiat kept the trigger pressed moving slightly left and right. And then zombies started going up in flames while the atmosphere superheated around them. The longer he sprayed the invisible weapons path the more torches of flaming zombies appeared. Soon, the stench of rotting meat burning assaulted their nostrils but they bought enough space to move away.

"Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation you rotten bastards!" Fiat, yelled stopping his invisible barrage.

The caravan moved slowly while the path was cleared by grenades and Fiat's strange device. But after they closed enough to see the lights of Rebuke ground shook beneath them. The explosion flowered in front of them creating a shallow crater cleared of walking dead.

"The Rebuke's cannons," Rowana said surprising No. He glanced behind him and saw the half-breed hugging the bat.

"You alright?" He asked before breathing out. Rebuke's cannon fire gave them some respite but the swaying sea of dead was slowly closing up on them.

She nodded snuggling the poor creature.

"Worse has passed, it seems Rebuke decided to give us aid. Hopefully, they don't fire at us."

The palisade of the town came into view while they pushed the poor horses to their limit. The Rebuke's cannon boomed again followed by the explosions behind them.

Caroline trotted on her mountain pony shooting with her carabine.

"Hey boss, they are not opening the gates." She yelled before firing a few more shots.

No turned to see if she was telling the truth and his heart sank. We will be sandwiched between the walls and the undead horde. Movement along the palisade caught his eyes and he squinted focusing his attention there. Two figures were heavily gesturing to each other which looked like they were arguing. A moment later one of the figures punched the other and run along the wall.

"What was all that about." He whispered to himself before the gate started opening. "Hurry, through the gate, right now!"

The wagon after wagon rolled into town as the Kindred kept throwing grenades. Finally gates clicked closed behind them and he let out loud sigh. Safe at last ... or a bit safer. His unease return moment later as one of the town folks run out of the guard tower and sprinted directly towards him.

"I very well hope you lot are worth it, I had to punch deputy to open the gate." The man said in one breath.

"And we are thankful for that. For saving our lives that is, not for punching deputy." Caroline said dropping to the ground.

"Why did you had to fight your superiors?" No asked as he sheat his sword.

"Something fishy is going on. Fishier than an army of the dead attacking us every night." The town guard said as he spat to the ground. "Sheriff forbade us to let you into town today and he went and locked himself into his office. Deputy, the bootlicker he is kept insisting we don't let you in cuz of those orders. I shit on those orders. I ain't letting folks die at my doorsteps."

"Thank you for letting us in. Should we go visit sheriff now and clear all this out?" No asked the guard.

"I guess, but he ain't gonna be happy with either of us."

"I am No, and this is my group of explorers. What is your name?" No asked proffering his hand to the guard. The man looked at the three meters tall catman and took his hand.

"I saw you, folks, last week when you rented horses and wagons from old Mick. The funny bunch I thought. A lot of guns and armor and going into the desert beyond the mountain." Guard prattled on as they walked along the empty streets. "Oh, my name is Rufio, Rufio Studford. From the Bittersprings Studfords. Or at least I was when Bittersprings still existed."

No shivered when he heard that.

"What happened to Bittersprings?"

"Oh right, you were out and about so you haven't heard the news. The entire town was masac ... massac ... murdered. No one knows why or how."

No looked at Rowana who looked pale as a ghost. She shook her head in disbelief. Does she know who did that? I know she is capable of murder but entire town? People had a lot of tells that No could detect with his senses which made it very hard for people to lie to him. No, I don't believe she was involved in that massacre.

"Here we are. Sheriffs office. All of his men are patrolling the palisade and crewing the cannons. Dead are restless today as you folks saw." Rufio said with a chuckle.

No pointed for Fiat, Caroline and Rowana to follow him as they entered the building. The wooden two-story house looked sturdy enough from the outside but inside it looked like a ruin.

"What a hell ..." Rufio exclaimed grabbing his revolver. "What kind of crap is this?"

The walls were covered in slime that glistened reflecting the electrical torches Caroline and Fiat turned on. Furniture was in pieaces, broken and rotted while paper and other rubbish littered the floor.

"So I am guessing this is not how his office usually looks like," Caroline said moving the light of her lamp from corner to corner.

"Hell no, it looked normal today," Rufio said brandishing the revolver in front of himself. "Sheriff is in that room. But seeing this I don't know what a darn tootin is going on here."

"Alright, new girl, take this," Fiat said giving Rowana the light while he readied the weapon he was using earlier.

"You think that is a bit too powerful for this place?" No asked worried the technological gizmo would make the house go up in flames after a single shot.

"Don't worry, sir. This thing has many modes, I set it up for accurate beam mode."

Five of them walked across the eery building before coming to a halt in front of the door Rufio indicated. Fiat aimed at the door holding his weapon with one hand while he opened the door with his other. Cold air buffeted them as if the room was refrigerated. Caroline and Rowana shed some light inside showing the table and a figure sitting behind it.

"Sheriff Conolly, is that you?" Rufio asked stepping inside.

Sheriff Conolly sat at his chair clutching the gun tohis chest while his head leaned unnaturally to one side. The light moved acrosshis face revealing the gaping bullet wound on his temple.