Welcome to the End

Chapter 13: Mass Zombie Attack

Razor rolled off his bed, heading for a knife on the crate to his left. Rather than picking up the weapon, he grabbed the edge of the crate and pushed off, rolling back in the other direction.

Wild Eye had anticipated Razor going for a weapon and threw his knife. It skewered the handle grip of the knife on the crate. Had Razor laid hold of it, he would've had his hand impaled. As it was, Razor rolled to his feet on the right side of the bed and secured the knife from a sheath hanging on the wall.

Wild Eye drew a second dagger from his belt and was instantly ready to continue the fight. He lowered himself into a combat stance as Razor came out from beside the bed and into the open area in the middle of the tent.

Razor was tired looking over his shoulder, wondering when he'd catch a knife in his back. Rage flooded his system. The pent up frustration over the horrors he'd been forced to endure and participate in since being captured welled up inside of him and found a target in Wild Eye. Today, their feud would end in blood.

Metal blades whistled through the air, sometimes missing, striking flesh at others. Razor took a hit on his upper right shoulder, and Wild Eye suffered a long gash across his left leg in retaliation.

Wild Eye stabbed directly at Razor's face. Razor ducked to his left while bringing up his right knee into Wild Eye's stomach. Although the scavenger had the wind knocked out of him, he bent his outstretched arm and drove his elbow into Razor's temple.

The two combatants staggered away from each other. Razor was seeing bright points of light in his vision and held a hand to his head, trying to get the room to stop spinning. Wild Eye was partially bent over and attempting to fill his lungs with air. For a few moments, neither man was prepared to continue.

Wild Eye took a deep breath and charged, hoping to take advantage of Razor's weakened state. Razor grabbed his metal studded leather armor from where he'd dropped it earlier and tossed it at his foe.

Despite Wild Eye grabbing the armament and throwing it aside, Razor's fist had been trailing behind it and broke Wild Eye's nose. The scavenger staggered back under the heavy blow, blood running down his face and onto his chest. Hatred burned in the man's one good eye, and he screamed incoherently as he lashed out with all his fury.

Razor did his best blocking the attacks. He was much stronger than Wild Eye, but his opponent was thinner and more agile. Razor knew it would only take a few solid hits to put his rival down, he simply had to endure and wait for the opening, but he didn't want to wait. Razor's hatred exploded and he matched Wild Eye's fury with his own, forcing the smaller scavenger back under a hail of punishing blows.

A diagonal slash drew blood across Razor's cheek, but he countered with a backhand swing that connected with the upper part of Wild Eye's bicep, cutting deep into the muscle. The sharp pain forced the scavenger to drop his knife, but Wild Eye tackled Razor, causing him to lose the grip on his own knife as well. Razor heaved his opponent off, and they both jumped back to their feet.

Lacking a weapon and blocking a punch with his right forearm, Razor grabbed the back of Wild Eye's neck and pulled him close, delivering three knee hits to his foe's midsection before Wild Eye slipped out of Razor's grip and punched him in the mouth.

Pain radiated outward from Razor's split lip, but he forced hit out of his perceptions and focused his attention on his rival. Wild Eye was favoring his left side where he'd suffered a broken rib. Both combatants were bleeding in several locations, but neither one of them looked ready to back down.

Razor had no time to even brush the blood away before Wild Eye grabbed up a metal pipe from where it had been leaning against the wall. One end of the pipe had been wrapped in leather for a sturdy handgrip, but the other was bent outward and jagged, covered in old bloodstains from the many zombies Three Scar had dispatched with it.