Chapter 9 - Third Wave
The wave started the same as the others had, with a wave of beasts coming from one direction. By this point, we had discussed what we were to do and everyone had their assigned roles. I was part of the group that was in charge of moving the spikes into place and anchoring them into the ground to make sure they wouldn't move. Everything was already planned out ahead of time and every direction had markers for where they were to be placed.
We even practiced doing it during training a few times to make sure we could do it quickly and efficiently. Granddad was nothing if not thorough. With the direction known, we all got to work moving everything to the west. People were shouting in the background and people moving back and forth getting everything pointed in the right direction and ready. My Dad and I carried our section of spikes into place and used the back of our axes to hammer it into the ground. The anchors were about a foot long and made sure that it stayed in place no matter what rammed it. The angle of the spikes made it unlikely, but safety measures were in order.
In under two minutes, we had set everything up and were ready to go. The mass of bodies wasn't even close to being in firing range so we had time to spare. We couldn't carry both the spike wall and the javelins, so some of the older kids were tasked with taking the javelins to every warrior on the front lines. Anna ran up to me carrying a bundle of javelins huffing from exertion.
"Here you go, Uncle Topher." Anna chirped.
"Why thank you." I said while grabbing three of them off of her stack. I stuck two of them in the ground beside my right foot for easy retrieval, while keeping one in my hand. Anna then scurried over to my dad.
"Here you go Pawpaw."
"Thank you, little one." He said while patting her head. He then relieved Anna from a portion of her stack and copied my actions. She moved on down the line and after her stack ran out she ran back to the shelters we had built for the non-combatants.
That was a subject of hot debate; what to do with the kids. Some of the older kids, being in the ten to twelve range, wanted to help but their parents vehemently refused. There was not a chance of them participating in the fight. The extent of what they were allowed was to help run little things around before the wave got started, like javelins or arrows.
The shelter that was built for them was the most sturdy of anything that we had built so far and had a lot of work put into it to make sure that nothing would be able to get through. We used whole logs for the sides and set them deep into the earth. There was no way anything was getting through.
It all started when a parent was worried that something would get by us and target the kids, which led to a discussion about the possibility of flyers or something extremely quick that could run past the defenses. There was a slight panic as more and more ideas were thrown out, but Granddad squashed the fervor when he suggested the bunker-like shelter so the kids would stay safe.
It took a lot of work and multiple hours of toiling and everyone chipping in, but it was done. The parents were especially happy that the kids were safe. It also had the added benefit that the kids didn't have to watch us slaughtering animals.
"Level 3 and 4 White-tail Deer numbers around 80. Boss is a level 8 White-tail Buck. The boss is about 5 feet tall and looks twice as strong as the normal deer. It also has an impressive rack with what look like sharp spikes pointing forward." Kyle shouted out so everyone could hear.