A War Away

Pat's POV

I stared at the fortress, raising a hand to stop Draco and Dan from rushing in. This was a delicate mission, and it had become even more difficult when we found the horse. 

Jen's horse had been galloping down the path at us, clearly running from something. And from what Draco deduced, it had recently been this way. He actually got it to lead us here, although the horse didn't seem very happy. It was constantly glancing around and neighing fearfully. 

To make it easier for us to sneak up on the fortress undetected, we had tied the horse's reigns to a tree further up the path before contuing ahead on foot. We had planned to jump in and do as much damage as possible.

But apparently, Herobrine had been expecting us, as every single mob guarding the wretched place looked on high alert.

"Shoot. New plan, new plan, new plan." I whispered, trying to focus. There were too many mobs for us to rush in, but if we drew the attention of those skeletons, those zombies would be venerable. But how would that be done?

"Dan.", I got his attention. "If you got up onto those walls, would you be able to get those skeletons to focus on you and clear them out?", I questioned. 

"Sure. Just give me a little time.", was his response.

I nodded, then studied the zombies. Without the skeleton archers to reinforce them, they would be easy to kill. We just had to remember not to get backed into a corner, or up against a wall. 

If we did that, we were as good as baked bread. And that meant, done for. 

Taking a deep breath, I gave the zombies one long glance, then nodded. "Let's go." And with that, me and Draco charged. 

Dan vanished somewhere, but next second, I spotted him on the fortress walls. He must've grappled up there. How, I had no idea, but Dan and his adoptive father, Dr. Trayorus, must've come up with another crazy invention.

A zombie swinging it's spear close to my ear distracted my train of thought, and I slashed at it with my sword, then rolled out of the way of another one of it's attacks. This time, my blade hit home and embedded itself deep in the zombie's chest. It disintegrated into a pile of rotten flesh. The next few minutes became a blur in my memory. 

I remember slashing, stabbing, rolling, kicking, punching, evading, and overall fighting like I was three different people. Through the craziness of combat, I saw Draco on the far side of the battlefield, mowing down the zombies, scythe in hand.

Thanks to Dan, every so often, a bone from one of the skeletons bonked me on the head. And then I came up against the largest zombie I had ever seen. It was a zombie dreadnought. 

Now, the First War had been over fifty years ago, and I, being only thirty one, wasn't alive then. But I had read about it often enough, and I knew that zombie dreadnoughts were basically super zombies. They had to be artificially made, but they were really powerful, and were meant to act as generals, and this one was clearly very mad at me. 

It's first strike hit me square in the chest. It growled something, and I only caught one word. "Jen." How did he know my girlfriend's name?

I didn't have time to think about it, as next second, I was rolling out of the way of another spear blow. This time, I grabbed the spear handle and pulled at it. About half of the spear broke off, and was left in my hand.

I threw it, and it impaled itself in the zombie's side. A few slashes and stabs later, and a well aimed slash landed on it's chest unbalanced it, and as it fell, I reached forward, ripped off the creature's helmet, then stepped onto it's chest, raised my sword, and chopped off the thing's head.

Looking up, I saw that Draco had finished with his half of the zombies, while Dan had cleared the walls. Both of them were looking at me, pride shining in their eyes. It wasn't just any fighter who could take down a zombie dreadnought. 

Flipping the body over, I took off the zombie's cape, and tossed it over my shoulders. "Spoil of war.", I proclaimed. The two of them nodded. 

Dan grappled off the walls, and we headed home, discussing the idea of a possible next invasion, and Dan's new grappling hook, but my mind was only halfway on the subject. What did that zombie know, and how did it know whatever it knew?