Frostbound

Chris

It was well into the night before the bodies in need of gathering ran out. There were more than I cared to count but I knew someone already had. That someone had been pacing around waiting for me to call upon her.

I didn't want to.

I really didn't want to.

But I had to.

"Sophia," I called.

She perked up and stopped her pacing to come bounding over. Her eyes were tired, and I knew she hadn't slept in a while. Her Endurance wasn't the same as mine and she needed more rest than I did.

Hell, I needed rest after the day I had, but I just couldn't bring myself to lie down. I didn't want to leave my mind alone to remember.

"How many?" I said.

"My Lord," I didn't even have the energy to groan, let alone correct her, "The Healers have stabilized who they can and the casualties should not increase. With that, I can report of the 841 who marched South, 315 were killed in action. A further 287 were seriously wounded, with the rest either moderately wounded or lightly wounded.

"246 have lost either one or more limbs and require extensive further healing, but the most worrying thing right now is infection," Sophia reported.

"Infection?" I asked. While people still occasionally got sick, those with enough levels behind them rarely did. I hadn't been sick since the Change, my Fortitude enough to ward away disease and my Vitality enough to kill off anything that got by.