Apocalypse: The Ice King Returned

Chapter 10: Firefight in the Sewer

There was only one thought in Constance's mind. "He helped me when I needed him, and he taught me how to survive. Now I have to help him. Even if I don’t make it, I can still buy him time.”

Constance held her ground, gripping her ax tightly. Luther felt angry. His death was fast approaching in the form of a hundred zombies. He died once before this way and was reborn to have this power, and he wasn’t going to waste it. Not this time.

Luther promised himself that this was not how he would die. 

"Freeze!" 

Luther cried out. Constance was inches from the nearest zombie.

The sewer they were in heated up immensely.

Luther put all his power into strengthening the ice, but behind him, his sister was burning down zombies left and right. Luther’s face was red, and his eyes were shut as he screamed once more, "Freeze!" 

The ice had become solid. desperately pulled at the handle.

The iron gate shot open.

Constance could not see what was behind her. Her entire energy was focused on killing every infected person that jumped at her. She threw fireballs at every zombie she saw. As soon as it was about to hit their heads, she’d yell, “Burst!”

With a loud whoosh, the fireball exploded and destroyed each zombie’s head.

Luther had taught her this. Once you can master your power, it becomes unstoppable.

Constance did not like killing these infected ones. Her face was covered in sweat and she could only shoot three at a time now. Another wave of zombies was soon to reach her and she had to save her energy.

Constance picked up the fire ax and cut off the neck of the first zombie, but five more came behind it.

They were too many. Constance did not have the same control over her power as her brother, and she did not know how to fight. As one zombie tried to bite her, she burst a fireball right through its skull, killing it. She could not go on much longer. She burned through the last of her energy and her face became pale once more, and the hand of another zombie scratched her arm.

She was dropped to the floor and it opened its mouth, ready to feast on her neck. 

Is this it? Constance's eyes teared up and she could only focus on the other zombies coming in from behind it.

       Fortunately for her, death had come close but hadnn’t reached her yet. A blue arrow pierced through the eye socket of the zombie on top of her and it fell back into the water.

Constance felt her body go limp, and she was picked up from the floor. 

"Are you okay?" 

Constance was exhausted, and her chest was burning. "No." 

Luther hugged Constance tight and retreated through the open gateway. A few zombies chased them through. Luther kicked the latch shut as he ran, and the iron gate collapsed to reseal the sewer system. Two of the infected ones were halfway through when the door shut down on them.

They did not die, but they were stuck under the door, unable to move. All they could do was roar like the rest of the horde stuck on the other side of the gate.

Luther breathed a sigh of relief. He looked down and saw the blood running down his sister’s arm. “Did you get scratched?”

"Does this mean I’m…infected?" Constance spoke weakly in response to her brother. She attempted to stand now. Even though her power had depleted, she felt just strong enough to get to her feet.

"I don’t want to mutate. I don’t want you to see me like that. Please, you have to kill me before I do." Constance pleaded with him. She nodded for him to kill her, but behind her eyes was a sad expression of wanting to live longer. 

"If you were just an ordinary person, you would mutate into one of them. But if you are an Erazer, the powers in your body will form antibodies. All you need are some anti-inflammatory pills to fight off any bacterial infection.”

Luther squeezed her shoulder, "Don't worry, you won’t die. But you do need to be more careful from now on. If you are infected by a zombie more powerful than you, your power might not be enough to fight off infection. You should have as many power cores in your system—or more—as the zombie that attacks you. The more advanced the zombie, the faster the rate of infection. You got lucky this time, but you really need to be careful."

"Re...really?" Constance sniffled.

"Would I lie to you?" 

Constance smiled and she felt much better hearing her brother’s words of comfort.

Luther and Constance decided to rest up and eat now. They weren’t afraid of the zombies stuck in the sewer now.

Luther spoke as she ate, "Constance, do you prefer to protect me more than you protect yourself?” 

"I just..." Constance was about to answer but she was interrupted by Luther, "Just remember that the next time you want to save someone, protect yourself first. Keep yourself calm, don't trap yourself into a corner. The key to living is hope.”

Luther drank some water, then pulled out a cigarette for him to smoke as he waited for his sister to finish her food. 

Luther said, "I tried to treat your arm the best I could, but medicine is just as rare as food now. I didn’t have a lot of medicine when we left. I lost a bag in the fight, and you finished the rest of the food." 

Constance had taken the last bite of bread but stopped in the middle of chewing. She only now realized that Luther hadn’t eaten any of the food, and he only drank his water. She looked up at him, “Luther, you…”

"Don’t look at me like that, Constance. It’s just going to get annoying." 

Luther puffed at his cigarette and continued, "Don’t worry about saving me any food. I ranked up already, and I don’t feel hunger as easily as you do now. Once we venture further, we can stock up on more food and meds."

Luther tossed the cigarette down a sewer grate. The burning paper on it landed on garbage underneath and set it ablaze. 

A loud squeak echoed from underneath the grate.

"It’s a rat!" Constance squealed, afraid. It seemed she hadn’t changed very much yet.