Chapter 24

Signs of twenty four

The undead army moved to the south. As the larger lumbering force caught the smaller human units also fleeing to the south the human units would be completely consumed by the undead.

Luuk looked over his legion and was amazed. He would have never thought that an army made entirely of heavy infantry could be so effective. He pushed this force harder than he had pressed anyone before and they kept surprising him with how effective they were.

It took Luuk about a week to finally catch the last large force of humans that had escaped the attack on the base camp. Luuk was still looking for Freeman and his force but he figured that this group would be led by Freeman. The humans had set up a substantial defensive structure. Luuk looked at the front ranks of the humans and was impressed. It seemed that the humans had learned to defend against then undead. The front lines were highly fortified and were protected by blocks of archers.

Luuk made sure to allow the humans full view of his undead legion before he started to break down his forces and attack the human positions. The humans must have spent days building up the defenses. This would not be like the last attack where the undead just had to smash into the humans and could defeat them by brute force. Luuk started to split the undead into units of about one hundred. He set up the legion so that his force could concentrate on a single fortification at a time. This would limit the humans to engaging the undead with only a third of the human forces.

Luuk also set up a couple of smaller units. He mentally assigned Adams the task of gathering as many of leaders into a single unit. Any one of the undead that could move like Adams was to be put into that unit. That unit was to set up for a special assignment.

The first units of Luuk's army advanced on the human fortifications. Luuk timed it so that the undead advanced as the sun dropped to the horizon. The humans were quickly lighting fires so they could see the undead enemy. The undead did not need the light to see. It was another advantage and Luuk was certain to take any advantage he could.

The undead forces hit the front of the human fortification and the humans started to hack at the leading undead creatures. The humans in the front rank slashed at the undead. Bones and limbs flew form the undead but still they pushed at the fortification. The human forces yelled orders back and forth. They tried to cycle the men at the front of the line but anytime the man at the edge of the fortification tried to fall back and be replaced he would be pulled down into the undead mass and be destroyed.

Some of the human forces started to panic. This was exactly what Luuk wanted. The archers were trying to focus fire on the head of the undead legion but the undead quickly set up shields consisting of the bodies of humans and undead that had fallen. The bodies started to pile up in front of the fortification. The undead were slowly building a ramp over the shallow ditch that separated them from the humans. When the first undead started to crest the wall protecting the humans a blast of fire lite the night. The cheer from the humans forces pierced the night.

Luuk watched as a pair of blasters shot a wave of fire into the undead. Cutting off the path into the human fortification. The blasters did not spend too much time attacking, they sere obviously conserving the blasters power for just such situations.

Luuk smiled.

This was exactly the type of battle that the undead were designed to win. The blaster's counter attack was as much a psychological attack as physical. Unfortunately for the humans the psychological effect was lost on an army made of undead monsters. They did not fear. They just did as they were told, did what they were compelled to do.

As soon as the blasters had cleared the wall the undead returned. They also picked up a new weapon on the way. The undead picked up the burning bodies on the ground and used them as shields and as weapons. They tossed the burning bodies into the human forces. The psychological effect on the humans was spectacular. Luuk watched and listened as the victorious cries turned in to anguished cries. The undead forced them selves into the defensive wall. The humans were not prepared for such a swift and effective counter to the blasters.

Luuk knew that the blasters could attack the undead again but the undead had pushed themselves as close to the human forces as possible. The blasters would not be able to hit the undead without also hitting the humans.

The yelling from the human positions continued.

Luuk listened as the commanders tried to change the strategy they had set up. The undead had neutralized the archers by building the wall of bodies to use as shields. They had used the blasters counter attack to supply their own attack on the fortifications. The human commanders had to come up with the new defense,and from Luuks perspective they had to do it pretty fast.

The blasters started to launch blasts of fire and earth into the massed undead outside the fortifications. The undead quickly reformed there units. The attacks were effective but the undead had enough numbers to absorb the loses. Especially as the attacks drained the blasters of their power.

Luuk sent the command to attack another fortification. The humans sent reinforcements to the new attack site. The undead held the first fortification but could not make much progress into the human camp. Luuk watched and sent the command to Adams. Adams led his group into to mass that was attacking the second fortification. The humans were fighting very conservatively and that was exactly what Luuk needed to make use of the fifty or so in Adams special unit.

As Adams and his men reached the front of the undead attack they watched as the humans would attack the head of the undead spearhead but would withdraw blocking the undead from pulling men out of the fortification. They were defending against the tactics Luuk had used in his first attack. Adams and his men waited until the humans started to pull back and launched their own counter attack. They jumped the ditch and quickly were over the short wall the humans were defending. It took them only a few seconds to clear the wall and engaging the human defenders. Lukk listened to a new round of panicked cries from the human positions. The slower undead were now climbing into the second fortification. The undead were slowly pushing into the camp from the first breach they made. Adams and his group retreated and allowed the mass of the undead to start pushing into the camp from a second breach of the human fortifications.

Luuk decided he was finished with this battle. The leaders of this group were obviously not the tacticians he thought they would be. He ordered the undead to crush the humans and be done with it.

The masses of undead started to push into the human camp. The sounds of the battle reached Luuk but he tried to ignore it. He knew the results. His forces would sustain losses but the humans would tire and be defeated. Luuk thought that the end of the battle would be before dawn. The humans holding the positions had seen there last sun rise.

The blasters exacted a heavy toll but once they were taken the rest of the humans fell quickly. Luuk was amazed that there were actually groups of humans that were surrendering to the undead forces. All it gained them was a quicker death.

Luuk wondered where Freeman had gone to.

Before the all the humans were taken Luuk ordered the undead to start searching to the south again. Luuk wanted to find Freeman and his force, that would be the last defense from the undead legion scouring all the lands to the south.