Reluctant Necromancer

We traveled through the back roads, of what was already a rural, unpopulated area. Which meant a lot of cracked, gravel, or worse roads, but the weather was good and the maps held true. Time passed slowly as we passed through an endless forest along winding roads. We were all much quieter after what we found at the gas station.

I turned in my seat to watch the profile of Ashley’s face as she gazed out of the window on her side of the van. Her features were soft in the afternoon sunlight. After a few minutes she seemed to feel my eyes on her and glanced over. I gave her an awkward smile that she returned with much more enthusiasm. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to my cheek before turning back to look out the window.

In the late afternoon we began to pass clumps of people walking down the road. Oliver pulled over and tried to talk to a few, but they kept hurrying off into the trees as soon as he slowed down. So after a few attempts he stopped trying and we kept going.

The clumps of people kept getting larger and larger the further we went. Until we ran across what appeared to be an entire town of people running down the road. Oliver quickly pulled over and jumped out. The people just streamed past as quickly as they could move, eyes wide. None of them tried to run off into the forest this time. People carried small children and herded larger ones as they hurried.

A woman fell in front of us, and Oliver jumped forward to shield her body from the crowd as he pulled her to her feet. “Run!” she yelled before taking off once again, though limping slightly.

From off behind the stampede of people an eerie howl called out. It was echoed by other voices from behind and to the sides in the trees. Something wasn’t just chasing these people. They were herding them.

We all realized what was going on at the same time. John’s skin flickered into its mithril state. Ashley pulled her rifles from the back of the van and sprinted off into the trees. With a helping hand I boosted Mara up on top of the van.

“Three at the back of the group,” she called out before sending beams of searing energy over the top of the crowd. Many of them ducked down as they continued to run past. A few fell and I followed Oliver into the mess to help pull people up before they could be trampled.

John roared and charged past everyone toward the back of the group. Gunshots began to echo out from the forest near where Ashley had disappeared. Whines and whimpers followed by snarls came in reply.

Oliver and I helped the final people up and the stampede of people was finally past us. A different howl came from inside the forest where Ashley was and was echoed by the others. It sounded like the monsters on the other side of the road were circling back from the group toward us.

I looked past the final stragglers and finally took in what the others were dealing with. Huge, shaggy, rust colored wolves were darting around John. They were chest high on him, so they’d be about shoulder high on me. Five were circling around him and one would dart in but when John turned to face that one another would dart in from behind. They appeared to be too close to John and too far away for Mara to feel comfortable peppering them with blasts of energy judging by the pained expression on her face.

I heard rustling on the far side of the forest from where Ashley went in and suddenly four wolves exploded from the tree line and burst onto the road. Mara immediately blasted the lead one in the face. The fur on its face and neck melted off like molten metal, glowing bright red. The skin underneath looked red and burning hot, but the thing kept coming. I darted forward and jabbed with my spear. It skipped off the fur along the wolf’s side with a metallic screech.

I backpedaled away from the snapping teeth. They closed a handsbreadth away from my face. I pulled the haft of my spear around and whipped the wolf’s snout away with a solid thwack. I could feel the heat from Mara’s strike rising off of its skin.

“Move!” Mara shouted at me.

I dove to the side and rolled back up to my feet. As I came back up facing the wolves Mara shot the first wolf in the face again. This time its entire face seemed to drip and melt and the wolf keeled over with a twitching limbs and a long whimper.

She shot a second one immediately after and Oliver followed up with a whip of water. Steam flashed off of the partially melted skin and I heard a resounding crack fill the air. A deep fissure tore through the beast’s neck and oily blood pooled forth from the breech.

A third wolf lunged at me before slamming into a flash of light that was shaped like a kite shield and stopped it in its tracks. I once again backpedaled away from the snapping jaws and flashing teeth. Oliver was off to the side with a hand raised in my direction.

With a flick of my power I raised the first wolf that Mara had melted the face on. I had it lunge at the wounded wolf to finish it off quickly. A moment later I raised that one and had them facing off against the two uninjured wolves.

They came together like a car crash. A loud metallic crunch echoed continuously as they scrabbled against each other. Iron claws raking over iron fur and skin. Metal tore in screeches that deafened.

“Get one off of John,” I called to Mara and Oliver. They nodded and Oliver rushed forward as Mara took aim.

Mara unleashed a beam of energy into a wolf that darted just out of reach of John’s scything arm. Many of them were covered in small scratches and tears. Oily blood leaking from their skin. The one Mara shot with her beam partially melted and then Oliver whipped his stream of water forward, catching it around the neck like a garrote. A hiss of steam and a tortured scream of metal later and the wolf stumbled to the ground, oily blood pumping onto the road.

As soon as it died I raised it and brought it into the back of the ones circling John. It disrupted their attack pattern enough that John was able to catch on and deliver a mighty blow that severed a wolf in twain right behind its ribs. That turned the entire tide of that fight. John able to finally catch the wolves circling him.

I turned back to the series of snapping, scratching, crashes nearer me. The four wolves fought on, but the undead wolves were getting the upper hand as they didn’t falter from any kind of wounds. It was only a matter of time.

Meanwhile, gunshots were still ringing out from the forest, though the rate of fire had definitely decreased. It had gone from rapid fire staccato that seemed to gather all their attention to something more deliberate as Ashley hunted them. The gunfire also sounded like it was constantly changing where it was coming from as she jumped through the shadows out there. I wanted to rush out and help, but I didn’t think there was much I could do. I’d already proved that my spear was useless against these creatures.

A handful of minutes later we got the notification.

[Your party has killed: Iron Wolves x 11]

[Monster kill total: 32/100]

I dismissed my minions and waited by the side of the road for my girlfriend to return to me. A few minutes later she popped out of the shadows in front of me. She offered me a shy smile as I marched up to her and wrapped her in my arms.

John started pulling the bodies off to the side of the road. Ashley and I followed behind him and went to start butchering. Unfortunately the skin was still iron hard and our knives wouldn’t cut through.

After John got them all lined up, with a little convincing he walked along and sliced under their sternums right where we showed him. Five minutes later we had a couple handfuls of monster cores and a single [metal] essence.

Oliver offered to take it to offer to the people that had been chased. Glen and Junior had apparently managed to get most of them to stop running about a half mile behind us. His truck and Sheryl’s ice cream truck were parked with the group on the side of the road.

We all got washed off thanks to Oliver and jumped in the van to head back to the rest of the convoy and reassure the civvies that they were safe for now. Hopefully one of them would take the essence and give their group a better chance at survival. I wasn’t going to hold my breath though.