The preparations were all made and now it was time to go. Reece had been gifted a Viking straight sword and wooden buckler by Josefin, and Ciera had been loaded up with throwing knives. The medieval arms would have to do since they had left their weapons behind for the mission. They hadn’t counted on having to fight the Order way out here, but it looked like they may not have a choice. Reece and Ciera were bundled up in their cold-weather clothes, but everyone else had chosen thick grey robes instead.

The entire berserker population of the complex followed Josefin and Reece to the bulkhead through which Reece had originally been guided inside the underground compound. The regulars as Josefin had called them were to remain in the complex. If Reece and his allies were wiped out, at least the regular humans had a chance of remaining undiscovered and safe in the underground bunker. They stood at the large bulkhead door and waited as the minutes slowly ticked by. A being shimmered into existence as he walked up to Josefin and spoke several words.

“It’s time, and good luck. You have our blessings. May they see you through to the other side,” said Heimdall before he shimmered out of sight as quickly as he had appeared.

Opening the inner bulkhead door, the troop filled the mid-chamber. The inner door was closed, and the outer door was opened, allowing the biting cold to begin seeping inside. With Reece and Ciera walking in the lead, the group marched outside through the unassuming shack in single file. Reece heard a deep humming coming from the group and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end as a chill ran through his body. As the group entered the full elements, one by one, they began to shiver from the extreme cold.

Reece noticed a cadence to the hum and before he knew it, the hum had turned into a battle song from the past. Every one of their companions was singing the song as they traveled to their destination. By the third verse, they had arrived at the landing pad. The group formed a ring around the pad as four flares were lit and tossed in a square that encompassed the entire landing platform. The singing continued, getting louder with each verse. By the fifth verse, Reece joined his voice to theirs. He had never been much of a singer, but somehow Reece knew the words and cadence of the battle song.

Bjorn, Josefin, and the other inhabitants of the compound were no longer shivering. Reece began to feel the heat emanate from those closest to him as they began to convulse and grunt. Some dropped to their knees while others went to all fours and arched their backs. Their singing began to gradually change to grunts and growls as they drew deeper into their transformations, so Reece concentrated on the enemy instead. He watched and ground his teeth as the army of undead mutant animals closed in on them from the south.

One by one, deep rumbling roars erupted from all around, causing Reece to glance around at his companions. He and Ciera were no longer accompanied by a group of men and women. In their place stood bear-like creatures that stood like humans but were covered in thick fur. They were all berserkers and each of them stood three meters tall. The coloring of their coats ranged from black to white, with a couple of brown and grey ones as well. The undead horde of mutant hyenas, wolves, great cats, and bears all crested the outer walls and rushed the small group.

Just as the pack of undead reached them, the battle song that Reece and the berserkers all had been singing evoked a power that coursed through their bodies. Reece could feel it like vibrant energy that infused his whole being, and he could see it affect the others as their eyes glimmered with power from within. He swung his sword at the animated corpse of a jackal and cleaved the beast’s head in two.

The empowered berserkers ripped into the first wave of monstrous zombie animals, tearing them apart as quickly as they attacked. Another battle song started as a growl from the bear-men as they fought together. The distraction almost cost Reece as a grotesque cheetah launched itself at him. However, before it could reach him, it sprouted several knives in its head. It dropped instantly. Reece lopped a mangy hyena in half before plunging his sword into the maw of a dread wolf, using his strength to press the sword through the creature’s brain and out the back of its skull.

Having a brief reprieve, Reece turned and thanked Ciera for the save. She smiled and nodded back as she continued to launch knife after knife into her targets, hitting them all unerringly. Reece didn’t know how many knives she had, but she seemed to be retrieving them endlessly from her pockets. She had thrown off the heavy cold-weather coat and fought in only the garb the goddess had made for them. Despite the deep cold, she didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable. Reece shrugged to himself and rejoined the battle.

It was going great for several minutes, but the undead things just kept coming in wave after wave. The small band began to tire. As they did, they began to slow and started taking injuries. Gradually, the group closed in as far as they could but there was nowhere to go. Still, they fought on for a while longer before the undead beasts finally broke through, killing one of the berserkers in the process. Once that happened, the circle broke and it was everyone for themselves. Reece’s arm felt like lead and his throat was raw, but he continued to sing and slash through the throng of enemies.

Ciera’s hands moved in a blur as she retrieved, aimed, and released knife after knife after knife. The berserkers fell one by one. But every time one fell, it bolstered the rest to fight even harder. The enemies were starting to pile up, creating a sort of bulwark against the undead that was now swarming the entire village. There didn’t seem to be an end to them, and the other army hadn’t even arrived yet. Reece knew their prospects of survival were beginning to look grim.

Then the remaining survivors heard a roar and the biggest polar bear they had ever seen crested the wall and loped towards them menacingly. Its white-looking fur was matted in dried blood and as it reared up, Reece saw that its belly was hanging open with its gory red ribcage gaping and its organs and guts long gone. Despite missing many vital organs, the seven-meter-tall monstrosity looked like a force not to be trifled with. Just before the undead bear reached them, what Reece could only describe as a massive yeti appeared before it and swung a huge paw with wickedly long claws at the gigantic beast’s head. This didn’t kill the already dead bear but stopped its charge and drove it to the side and down to the ground, dazing it.

What did finally end the creature was a white-clad man with a wicked-looking hammer appearing out of the powdery snow near the undead beast’s head and bringing the hammer down hard onto it. Its skull crushed, the zombie polar bear twitched once and didn’t move again. New allies had entered the fray, but the battle was still incredibly lopsided, and the berserkers were barely holding their own by this point.

Reece heard the zip-zip-zip of gunfire. The dread wolves began dropping one by one as bullets ripped through their heads, bodies, and limbs. He turned and saw a large group of regulars with silenced rifles busy putting the weapons to good use. When another group of dread wolves came up around the wall and attacked them from the side, they simply bounced off something about three meters from the line of rifle-wielders.

Reece noticed one of the elderly men from the complex had joined them and was wearing something that Reece had only heard stories about during his stint in the marines. A black rubbery material encased most of the man, like a S.C.U.B.A. suit. Running over the top of the suit and spread out over the man’s extremities were conductive metal traces for the flow of electricity. They worked as antennas to assist in deploying the energy contained within the large canister and electrical components on the man’s broad back.

The suit was developed to create a temporary force field. They weren’t widely used. Its power only lasted about five minutes. Most enemy combatants would simply wait out the suit’s effectiveness.

Luckily, this elderly man was big and still strong enough, despite his advanced age, to wear the heavy suit. Also, undead animals weren’t bright enough to wait. The wolves clawed and snapped at the invisible barrier to no avail as the men and women with the rifles picked them off from near point-blank range. It was a one-sided battle, but the defenders were battling on borrowed time and they knew it.

They all used the slight reprieve. Reece took a moment to catch his breath as did Ciera and the remaining berserkers. The loud squawk of a radio transmission emanated from within Reece’s backpack, making him jump. He hadn’t realized he even had a radio with him. There was no point as it didn’t have the range to speak with anyone from the carrier. They were too far away. Backing up and letting Ciera and the remaining berserkers cover him, Reece decided to follow the succubus’s example and shed his cold-weather coat. It was the only way to reach his backpack and find out who was making the mysterious transmission.

Reece stuck his sword in the hard-packed snow and quickly pulled the heavy coat off. He expected to be hit by a blast of cold, but it felt like a lukewarm breeze. The outfit that the goddess had given him was truly amazing. There was no time to admire it, however. As soon as the coat came off, he fished around inside his backpack but didn’t find a radio. Just the nightcore and some clothes and other basic goods.

Then he heard it again. This time he could make out a voice that sounded like Pasha, the male version. The voice was coming from the radio which had been stored in one of Reece’s outside pockets. Reece popped it open and quickly snatched the radio out and brought it to his lips, pressing the call button.

“This is Reece, I did not copy you. Please repeat. Over,” he loudly called into the receiving end.

“Oh, thank the gods,” returned Pasha’s male voice, clearly this time. “You’ve got incoming from the north. We were attacked on the seas, but the main force went around us and is still heading for you. If you can start moving due west, we can try and beat them to you guys. It’s your only chance and you’re going to have to hurry. Over.”

“I hate to break it to you, but we’re not going to make it,” Reece called back. “We’re in a fight with another group of undead that came from the east as we speak, and we have over a hundred and fifty or so allies here that we can’t abandon. Over.”

Ciera, the berserkers, a couple of dozen shooters, and the new allies were doing a good job of keeping the undead at bay...for now. However, Reece withdrew his sword from the hardened snow and rejoined the fight anyway. He came up behind an oversized undead beaver that was attacking Ciera’s left flank. She was trying to keep a dread wolf at bay as well and looked to be in trouble.

Coming to her aid, Reece stabbed his sword down through the thing’s thick neck and twisted. The strange creature’s thick head nearly popped off. Though not a decisive blow, it must have been a mortal wound to the beast, because it dropped to the ice and ceased to move.

Now it was Ciera and Reece who flanked the wolf, giving the woman the moment that she needed to stick a pair of knives into the sunken eye-sockets, ending its unlife. Their victory was short-lived as another zombified polar bear entered the fray. It had been over a minute before the radio came to life again.

“Okay, change of plan. Hang tight, we’re coming to you. Do you copy? Over,” said Pasha.

Reece backed off a step before responding. The yeti creature moved in and began to battle the undead bear, allowing Ciera to throw an endless supply of knives into the beast.

“We copy you. Hanging tight. Over,” returned Reece as he spun around and beheaded a near-skeletal husky with an overhead chop of his Viking sword.

It had gotten past the white-furred berserker to his left and was heading for Ciera’s blind spot while she and the yeti were concentrating on the giant bear. The yeti seemed to relish the battle, clawing into the bear with great zeal. Smaller undead animals joined the bear in its assault, but the yeti’s companion swiftly dealt with them. The bodies were quickly piling up around him, forcing him to move closer to the bear.

The rifle-wielders continued to fire around the battlefield and shore up any weak spots in the berserker’s defenses. The elder maintained his stance in the middle of the regulars, shielding them from harm. Most of the animals around them were fully dead. All in all, things were going okay. The berserkers had begun to swap out to catch their breath. Reece breathed a sigh of relief. They were holding, for now.

“Balls!” yelled Ciera as she took a moment to point. “Incoming from the north.”