by Saless
Chapter 49

The portal opened out in front of a cliff face with an ornate stone door standing wide open. "I take it this is where they came in?" Mike said, looking at the gaping entrance.

"Yes, that should be it. Mike, you and I should go first." Erica replied, drawing her sword in her right hand and putting her left on one of her pistols.

"Yeah, I guess so." Mike agreed, drawing the falchion and stepping through the door. Erica followed close behind him and Sarah and Jill followed, with Vash riding Jill's shoulder.

There is no one I can detect nearby. Vash said to the group. He was enjoying not having to hide himself this time.

"I can't feel anybody but us, either." Jill agreed.

"At least we don't have to worry about light." Mike said, gesturing at the torches lining the hall with his chin. Erica nodded and they continued inside, noticing two dead bodies that looked well decayed just inside the door. "Are you sure we didn't arrive a really long time after this happened?" Mike asked.

Erica looked at the corpses and said, "No, those were zombies. Most of the monsters in this place are undead."

"Zombies?! Are we sure they're really dead?" Jill exclaimed, looking worriedly at the bodies.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, zombies are mindless. If they were alive, or whatever you call it, they'd be attacking us already." Erica replied confidently.

Sarah shrugged when Jill looked to her and they continued on. They came across other bodies as they went, one of which seemed fresh. "What about that one?" Mike asked when he saw it.

"That was one of the bandits that came in here before us. They got killed one by one as they went into the tomb. We'll find several more before we reach the un-cleared sections." Erica said.

"He had a sword." Jill noted, looking down at her own well-used blade.

Mike looked back to see why she'd commented on that and saw her look. "We can come back for it after we're done if we don't find something better first." he said. Jill nodded.

As Erica had said, they came across more fresh corpses among the once-again-dead undead as they continued deeper into the tomb. After several minutes they came to two side passages. They started down one, but it ended in a small room with a sarcophagus in the center that was lying open. Decayed corpses littered the room, along with one fresher corpse. "Not likely to find anything here." Erica said. The others nodded and they went back to the other side passage.

This hall lead to two rooms, both like the first. Both had been ransacked and were full of corpses. They returned to the main passage and continued on.

I sense something ahead. I think we're about to come to the end of the section our predecessors explored. Vash warned. Erica and Mike, who had re-sheathed their weapons, drew them again. Sarah drew an arrow and held it against the string of her bow, while Jill grasped the hilt of her sword. As ready as they could be, they started forwards once more.

Before long they came to what had obviously been the previous group's last stand. Several fresh corpses were surrounded by dozens of decayed ones. "That's it for the free ride. Time to be alert." Erica said, though they all were already. The fight had occurred at another junction with two side passages.

"Vash, can you tell if there's anything down the left hand passage?" Jill asked.

Undead are difficult to read, but I think there is. In fact, I think behind us is the only direction that doesn't have at least some monsters to worry about. Vash replied.

"Vash says there are undead in every direction except the one we came from." Jill said for Erica's benefit.

Erica nodded thoughtfully. "Mike, why don't you take lead and I'll fall back and take up the rear-guard. These guys were obviously attacked from all directions at once." she said. Mike nodded and stepped forward with his sword in both hands in front of him while Erica slipped to the rear of the group and drew a gun in her left hand while holding her sword out in her right. "I'm ready when you are." she called back to Mike.

Mike started moving forward again, with Sarah ready to lend support. She was unsure how useful her bow would be against undead, but she still had her fireballs to fall back on, as well as her portals.

The passage eventually ended at a closed door. "We've got a closed door up here, should I open it?" Mike called back.

"Might as well." Erica called back. Reluctantly, he did so. A loud gong-like sound echoed throughout the tomb as soon as Mike opened the door. "Okay, maybe that wasn't the best idea." Erica said sheepishly as a shuffling could be heard from the direction they came.

"Yeah, we've got zombies or something in the room!" Mike said, lifting his sword up higher ready to strike. Just then there was an explosion behind them. "Was that you Erica?" Mike called out worriedly, not daring to take his eyes off of the zombies shuffling towards him.

"No! I don't know what that was, but I haven't fired a shot!" Erica yelled back. Two zombies were approaching slowly towards her. She was just trying to decide if she should shoot or not when a small ball of flame and sparks shot past her and struck the lead zombie. The fireball exploded, sending the zombies sprawling in pieces. "Thanks Sarah!" Erica called over her shoulder, still watching in case they got back up.

"No problem!" Sarah replied happily. She was happy, in a way, that they were facing undead, as she didn't have to feel any guilt about killing them.

Sarah heard Mike grunting and turned to see him hacking at the zombies trying to get at him through the open door. She drew back on her bow and released. The arrow buried itself in the zombie's skull, but didn't seem to slow it down at all. "I don't think my bow is going to be very useful here!" she said, turning back to watch over Erica since she couldn't use her fireballs to help Mike.

Four more zombies were approaching Erica, though two of them were missing an arm each and all of them looked a little singed. "How come they're all burned, but your fireball only hit two?" Erica wondered aloud.

"Maybe they got caught up in that explosion earlier?" Sarah suggested, launching another fireball. This one was a little closer and knocked Jill and Sarah off their feet. Erica didn't seem affected.

"Let's not use explosive spells or bullets quite so close, okay?" Jill said archly as she picked herself back up.

"Sorry." Sarah muttered, getting back up in time to see Erica chop off the arm of one of the zombies. Erica seemed quite capable of dealing with that zombie, but two of the ones she'd blasted were back on their feet. They were in pretty bad shape, but they were still moving. Sarah opened a portal under their feet and linked it to another portal in the ceiling farther down the corridor. The fall wasn't enough to hurt them, but it put them far enough away to blast them with another fireball.

"Damn!" Mike cursed, as one of the zombies managed to rake its claws across his face. His body rippled as it changed and he took on his naga form again. He coiled his serpentine lower body and shot forward, knocking the zombies back into the room. He quickly slithered back out and to the side of the door. "Sarah, can we have some fire in this hole?" he yelled.

Sarah dashed to the door and yelled, "Vascor!" ducking back as soon as the spell was cast. Even so she was singed a bit by the backlash of the fireball.

"Thanks!" Mike said, slithering back into the room. All the zombies were on the ground, so Mike had an easy time lopping their heads off before they could recover. That seemed to do the trick. "Everyone in the room!" he called, taking up a position just to the side of the door. Sarah and Jill hurried in to follow him, and Erica followed once they were in. She and Mike then hacked and stabbed at the zombies as they reached the door.

"Might as well see if there's anything in here we can use." Sarah said, looking around the room. Jill joined her and they quickly determined that the room was bare except for the corpses and the sarcophagus in the center. "Should we open it?" she asked.

Jill shrugged, "Sure, why not? There's often treasure in these things in the books and games."

"Wait, don't!" Erica yelled, momentarily distracted from the fight at the door. She was too late.