Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 120: Last Stand

Zane and the girls were rushing through the streets of Carson, dodging through buildings, and rapidly taking out any walkers that got in their way. They were being pursued and surrounded by half a dozen abominations at the most.

Naturally Eliza was keeping a close eye on what she believed to be a horde king, one who Bart had tasked her with capturing alive. Now that she knew the "truth" about Zane, she intended to kill him, and blame the death on Bart. Which would invoke the wrath of the other Horde Kings, especially the terrifying entity known simply by the name of "Lilith."

With Zane and the girls now surrounded with no escape, Eliza decided this was the moment to attack sending in her most elite servants, which were merely Tier III undead, to finish the job. If this was any other Horde King, then these abominations would be easily annihilated.

But Zane appeared to be rather weak, which was no doubt the reason he was "hiding" among the living. After all, the Horde King's were a Social Darwinistic caste of undead, though they had their own code of morals.

Among these morals were a set of rules in place to prevent them from turning on one another like the humans had, if one were a Horde King without a Horde like Eliza believed Zane was, then he would quickly replace himself devoured by his brothers and sisters.

Eliza watched from nearby as Zane took a stand, forcing the girls behind them as he asked one simple question.

"How much time is left?"

Olivia quickly responded with an anxious tone in her gaze. By the look on Zane's face he was going to do something drastic, and she did not want him to take such unnecessary risks for her sake.

"I've got sixty seconds Zane, please don't do anything-"

But before she could finish her statement, Zane shifted his gaze to Elena and was quick to ask her as well.

"How much time?"

Elena did not hesitate to respond, and she had an equally anxious tone as Olivia did when she did so.

"two and a half minutes, Zane don't!"

But it was too late. Zane had unslung his rifle and tossed it on the ground, perhaps in an attempt to get better mobility, as he withdrew his knife from its sheath and slit his wrists for a second time. The blood which flowed from Zane's veins was not normal.

Though it was a sanguine red in color, it had a thick and shimmering appearance. Giving off an almost magical vibe to its lustrous and mercury like texture. Zane then spread his blood into the air, and dispersed it into a fine mist, which when he clenched his fists it shifted its form into a thousand crystalline needles which floated around him.

As the six abominations rushed towards Zane and the girls, Zane took a stand while making a brief statement about his plan towards the girls.

"I'll buy you all the time you need… But when your cooldowns are both finished, I want you, Olivia, to light this entire area up with lightning, the most powerful bolt you can muster, do it! Elena, you will freeze time the second you are able to, and Madison… You protect us with your ability…"

Zane did not wait for a response, as Olivia and Elena nodded their heads, while Madison, who was in a state of panic, cried her eyes out. Zane launched the swarm of bloody needles he had towards the oncoming abominations as if they were a storm of bullets.

The needles peppered the targets, piercing their rotten flesh and bone alike as they dealt significant damage to the Abominations, but it was simply not enough to kill them. When Zane saw the Abomination fall to their knees while full of holes, their dark and coagulated blood oozing out of their wounds, he quickly checked their HP.

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[Abomination – Tier III Undead]

[Level - 10]

[HP: 125/250]

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Despite using his creativity to turn his blood into a bunch of small needle like projectiles which travelled at the speed of a full powered rifle cartridge, Zane had only reduced the Abominations to half health. An act that made him realize how little power he currently had compared to the Level – 20 Undead.

With this in mind, Zane spilled more blood from his veins, turning it into a short spear, which he used to attack the undead one at a time, while making use of his speed to nimbly evade their attacks.

Of course, despite the crystalline blood spear, which, unlike more conventional bladed weapons, was fully capable of piercing through an Abominations' thick hide, the damage he dealt per thrust was still insignificant compared to what he wanted to achieve.

With each strike successfully dealt to the large, fat, and hideous undead monstrosities, they would lose precisely 25 health points. But with six of them constantly moving after Zane, attempting to take his life on behalf of their master, Zane could only barely dodge their attacks, making it very difficult to regularly deal a significant blow to the enemy.

And just when he was starting to grow agitated with his lack of progress, Elena called out to him.

"Zane, we're ready!"

Zane did not say a word and instead bolted back to Elena, effectively pulling the enemy towards their group, and their untimely demise. Once Zane was standing next to Elena and Olivia, and they had been effectively surrounded by the abominations, the two beauties cast their skills at the same time.

Time suddenly froze within the immediate vicinity of Zane and the girls, with only themselves being able to move. And while this happened, a large storm was gathering above them. A sight which filled the party of awakened survivors with dread.

Knowing that a massive and devastating bolt of lightning was about to land directly on top of them, Zane called out to Madison, who was still on the ground crying her eyes out, reminding her of her usefulness to their group.

"It's now or never Maddie!"

Being called Maddie, like her family used to do before their unfortunate deaths, snapped the girl out of her shock, causing her to rise to her feet, her eyes glowing pink, like the color of her force fields.

She stretched out her hand and placed a large, and translucent bubble around herself and the others. Just in time to absorb the lightning strike which spread out across a twenty give meter radius, frying everything within it to a crisp.

Eliza had watched in anger, as her most elite troops were annihilated by Zane and the others, causing her to stand still for several moments, contemplating what her next move would be.