The Risen

Chapter Forty One

The Zombie Pits
Dante

I was still cuffed, hands behind my back as they dragged me out of the outhouse that they locked me in last night. It was only a couple of hours, but it felt like years, I tried to find something sharp to break the cuffs, but sadly nothing.

They dragged me around to the back of the camp, where they had multiple large concrete holes in the ground, each only about two or three meters deep. 

Inside each one of these pits were hordes of the undead, all looking very hungry.

Carter had me and Holly had Ace.

"What is this?" Ace asked.

"You'll find out soon" Holly laughed pushing Ace towards the pits.

They pushed us around the pits until we reached a large dirt clearing in the middle of the large group of pits.

It looked like a small break area surrounded by the pits of the undead.

They forced Ace and I to our knees, then left.

They walked away from the pits and back towards the museum, just leaving us here.

I looked over to Ace, and we shared confused glances.

"How ye all doing today?" A man asked from my right.

I saw a man standing next to a zombie pit, blowing a large cigar, as if he was asking for me to shove it down his throat. He blew a big buff of smoke out of the cigar and gave us a cold yellow teeth smile.

The man wore a green camouflage standard military uniform, however he also wore a brown cowboy hat.

"My names Champ, wanna know why they call me that?" He asked.

Ace looked over to me, and we both looked towards Champ.

neither of us responded.

Champ threw his cigar into the pit of zombies and began making his approach towards us.

"well, let me tell ya, they call me Champ because I never lose, every enemy I ever faced us fallen to my feet before me" Champ lit another cigar and bent down to blow a huge puff of smoke in Ace and my face.

Ace coughed while I just gave him the death glare.

"Sadly for you two folk, I've been told to kill you both, or at least one of you, depends on my mood after killing the first one" Champ spoke standing back up and walking towards the zombie pit.

"My names Dante, wanna know why they call me that?" I asked.

Champ turned towards me and looked somewhat interested, he gave the same yellow smile as he answered.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Because I lost my parents to this, my wife Betty, my infant daughter Beatrice, my best friend Rielly, My friend James, A man named Max, Another man named Bobby, Edwin, Diana and countless others to be here in front of you, but I gotta say, my track record looks pretty good too, everyone's who faced me has died a slow and painful death, the bandits, Major Skeleton and soon to be Ryder, his personal bitch Jeff, and you, Champ, So I suggest you turn and run now and save Ace and I the trouble of throwing you into that pit!" I threatened.

Champ laughed.

"That's cute, the two of you are cuffed, sure you out number me, but you have no idea who your messing with" Champ walked over and grabbed Ace from behind, and pulled him over to the zombie pit, he hung him over as the zombies all reached up eager to rip Ace to shreds.

"Hey, now wait here just a second! I'm sure we can work something out here fella!" Ace pleaded for his life.

Luckily for me, they didn't tie me to anything, and once I found something sharp enough to break my cuffs I slowly inched my way behind Champ and Ace.

Champ inched Ace closer and closer over the edge, Ace screamed for his life, as Champ laughed. I was still to far, and even If I pushed Champ over, there would be no way to secure Ace from falling in too.

That's when Champ pulled Ace away from the pit, and forced him back to his knees.

"Nah, I was just joshing ya bud, I wasn't actually gonna-" Champ looked up and saw me and his face went white as I grabbed him and hanged him over the edge of the pit.

"So, do you know who your dealing with now you bastard" I cockily stated.

"Fuck...Fuck you!" Champ spat through scared and shaken breath.

"See, why would you say that, it'll ruin your track record, I guess they'll have to call you the disappointment" I spoke as I threw him back first into the pit of zombies.

I stood and watched as the man screamed in agony and pain as he was slowly ripped apart by the horde of the undead, I watched as the zombies ripped his limbs from his sockets, his eyes from the holes, the guts from his stomach, and the brain from his skull, I watched as what used to be the body of Champ became a pile of bones and blood, surrounded by a feast of the undead.

Ace grabbed me by the shoulder.

"What should we do now?" he asked.

I turned to face him, and then looked around the walls for a exit, I looked at the nearby support beam used on the wall, I bet we could climb it.

"There!" I said running towards the beam.

Ace followed me but as we headed towards the beam he asked.

"What about Maya?"

I began to climb the beam as I responded.

"Maya is safe, Ryder wouldn't hurt her or his kid, Besides she made her choice, and if she changes her mind, she knows where she can find us" I climbed the beam, and jumped the fence, Ace followed me and we left, we weren't sure how long it'd take us, or which direction to go, but we knew that we would get back to the church, and warn the others of the upcoming siege.