Fairies Versus Zombies [COMPLETED]

3

An hour later, she sighted the row of fairy soldiers forming a defensive line in the canyon. They were deep in a chokepoint through which the deadings would have to pass if they kept to their awful trajectory.

"There." Chloe pointed. It took ten workshop assistants to carry the trebuchet, a good four of them to carry the massive clay cooking pot. There are perks to being chief inventor. The rest of the assistants carried other items which they had collected from Chloe's workshop.

Captain Dina touched an acorn locket that dangled from the side of a redwood's trunk.

"I promise you, honey," Captain Dina said, "I'm going to make you proud." Chloe pretended not to hear. She must be talking to her dead husband.

"We're going to be logical about this," Chloe said. She strode up to Captain Dina, who wiped her eyes and nodded. "We'll start with the weapons in front and move back, testing the effectiveness of each weapon on the deadings as we go. When we know the best method for killing the deadings..."

"We spread the word and strike," Captain Dina said. She smiled. "And to think that this morning I thought that you were brainsick. Now you're the best defense we have." She straightened her posture. "I'll take point on that branch over there," she said. "Three whistles means that a deading is coming."

And where one deading is, there will be more. Chloe spotted Shaun across the choke-point, squatting on a medicinal mushroom. He took a bite of gooseberry tart.

A whine wafted up from the forest floor. Chloe tensed. She heard it again, but Captain Dina hadn't whistled. She heard a sob. Chloe peered through the fog. A woman crawled on the ground. She held a hand to her neck. She came from beyond the choke-point. Deadings don't cry. Is that...?

"Sabrina!" Chloe jumped down ninety feet, then slow-fell down until she was hovering above Sabrina's upturned face. Sabrina was a buxom fairy with soft curves. Her silken hair swung in mats around her face and her eyes bulged without blinking.

"Something bit me." Sabrina said. Her voice was a salty gargle. "I was gathering pebbles to make a new collection of knives, and something bit me."

"Don't worry," Chloe said. "I've got you now. Take my hand." When Sabrina removed her hand from her neck wound, blood spurted to the forest floor. "Okay, keep your hand over that. Lift your foot and your other hand and I'll carry you by those instead. Hang on tight." Sabrina's skirts fell over her head as Chloe lugged her upward, clasping one of Sabrina's feet and one of Sabrina's hands. She spiralled upwards until they reached the branchline. The two women collapsed on the branch. A soldier waited for them. "Get her to Shaun's medical station," Chloe said. The soldier slung Sabrina across his back and carried her beyond their defensive line, toward the village.

Chloe took her spot behind the trebuchet and squinted through the fog. I can't believe I nearly Grounded myself for stupid Sabrina. A fern blocked her view, but she could see her three assistants in front. They loaded the flinger and aimed the lobbing mechanism at the choke-point in the canyon where they expected the deadings to appear. Chloe rested her back against a tapestry of moss and breathed, letting the cool water on the bark soak through her dress. She closed her eyes, longed for a nap, and gazed at the verdant ferns. They fluttered in the breeze.

Something, however, didn't flutter. Chloe squinted. No, something was heavy and lumpish and bloated. Body-shaped. Chloe stood erect, stepped closer. The lump. Her heart squeezed. It was a fairy's body, stung and swollen. She nudged it with her boot and it rolled, nearly off of the branch, but a twig blocked its path. Now the face was in view.

Do I look? Chloe closed her eyes. Opened them. The canyon was a glorious mess of ferns, mushrooms, lichens, and redwood branches. She forced herself to look down at the face.

Martin! What's Denny going to do? Den's father ballooned, full of wasp eggs. They poured out of his dead mouth and protruded from his ears and nose. His skin was purple and his throat bulged in anaphylactic shock. The wasps are laying their eggs in us. Someone's violated the terms of the treaty. Because we're queenless. This explained her exchange with Eddie earlier. Chloe's blood chilled. He was alive when they laid their eggs in him.

Martin's body twitched. Is he alive? No. Something wiggled underneath his skin. The larvae are hatching. Chloe swallowed a scream. Her amygdala kicked in and she snapped the twig that blocked his fall and pushed his body off of the branch before she had a chance to think. Martin's corpse soared a hundred feet down to the duff below and landed with an audible squish. Chloe's heartbeat thudded in her ears. Her thoughts whirred in panicked fragments.

Three whistles. Captain Dina was signalling the deadings' approach. Chloe lifted her chin, sucked in a breath, and walked back to her assistants. At first, the deadings were impossible to see. Dina always did have amazing tracking skills. Every fairy in the glade held their breath.

The first deading limped into view. His leg was broken and his arms had been chewed off at the elbows.

"Okay," Chloe said to the trio of fairies in front of her. "Wait until he reaches the stick near that pile of leaves. Then go." It took forever. The deading, alone, hitched across the choke-point. But then... "Three. Two. One."

The stone hurtled into the deading's stomach. The deading flew back, slammed against a tree, and lay still. A cheer rose from the fairies, but then the deading's arms jiggled. Pushed. He boosted his arms, chest, and head, now severed from his lower body, and walked on his palms. His mouth burbled.

"So, not the trebuchet," Chloe said. She flew unsteadily over to the next tree. The deading slapped forward. Chloe's assistants fanned a stove at the edge of the branch, upon which balanced a cooking pot full of hot oil. The deading's insane gobbles crescendoed. "Get ready," Chloe said. The deading moved with locked elbows. His hands whacked the ground. Gore dripped from his mangled ribs. "Three. Two." A pause with no air. "One."

The assistants spilled the hot oil over the edge of the branch. It fell, golden and glossy, and sizzled on the deading's skin. The oil poured off of his skull, dripped down his hair, and onto his arms. He blistered but didn't pause.

"Not hot oil," Chloe said. Her heart thumped. She flew to a tree deeper in the choke-point, right next to the apothecary. He's reaching the village. "To me!" she called, and assistants and soldiers with sling-shots followed her, each of them holding a bag of pebbles.

"Fire when ready," Chloe said. Captain Dina came up to hover near her.

"You'd make a good captain," she said.

"That's the last thing I ever want," Chloe said. "Give me my workshop and my babies and I'll be good to go." I'm smiling like an idiot. The deading came into range. The assistants lobbed their rocks. The deading hand-walked deeper into the village, toward The Hatchery while pebbles bounced off of him. Whistles shrieked from the choke-point behind them. A faint echoing buzz of gobbling whines floated into the village.

The deading placed his hand on the ladder that led up to The Hatchery above. I need a weapon. Can he climb? Then, one of the assistant's rocks pelted the deading's eye. The deading paused.

"Into his eye," Chloe said. She leaned far out over the branch, fists tight, face intense. "Harder this time."

The most accurate of them aimed and fired off a rock. It squished into the deading's eye, and drove the previous rock further in. The deading fell, and although his hand clutched the ladder, he didn't move.

"It worked," Chloe said. She gave a little half-smile.

"Yes," the captain said. "It worked. But not enough of us have that kind of skill with a sling-shot. Maybe Den does." She paused, grim even as she blushed.

"I have an idea," Chloe said.

[Author's Note: If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a vote. Now let's chat. What's your favorite trope from the zombie genre? Sky's the limit - shout out your thoughts! Or whisper them softly as you tiptoe away from the zombies...]