All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 87: Assisted Living

Bee cocked her head. The unfamiliar noise sounded like it was coming from outside. It sounded suspiciously like someone yelling. And it was getting louder. Glancing at Tony as he struggled to his feet, she grabbed her broom and ran out of the library toward the castle entrance. It only took her a second to run down the hall and squint in the direction of the entrance. The main doors and entryway were still not fully repaired, so she had no trouble seeing the source of the sound.

In the distance, Bee saw a small boy running at top speed toward the main doors of the castle. The whole way, he was screaming at the top of his lungs. "HELP! HELP!"

Bee ran toward the entryway. She couldn't yet see what the kid was running from, but he was already stumbling, and she wanted to reach him before he fell. Once she reached the top of the steps that led down to the entryway, she saw what was going on.

Behind the boy, there were three shambling figures in pursuit. Even from this distance, Bee could tell that they were covered in wounds and peeling flesh. They had to be undead. It wasn't the undead that she was familiar with, but any kind of undead was bad news. Bounding down the stairs, Bee readied her broom as she charged out the doorway.

A broom was an unconventional weapon. One that she had picked up due to convenience rather than due to consideration. When she first learned how to use it, the broom had been a perfect counter to her opponents. They were skeletons, light and easy to break apart. However, zombies were normally considered not much more threatening than skeletons by adventurers, but of course, those assumptions were based on combatants having a sword or spear. Not a broom.

So when her tried and true tactic of driving the bristled end of her weapon into the ribs of her opponent did nothing but bend the bristles, Bee realized this might not be as easy as she would have liked.

Settling back, she moved between the boy and his attackers. With a shooing motion, she urged him to run inside. Taking advantage of the space, she used Scan on the lead zombie.

Name: Sanjay, Level: 20, Type: Zombie, Sub-type: Shambler, Age: 2 weeks, Strongest Stat: Strength

It was nice to see her Scan giving more information. Age wasn't really useful, but primary stat might help.

The other two were slightly weaker and slower. Still, three level 20 zombies were nothing to sneeze at, even if she did drastically out-level them. This time she wielded her broom more like a quarterstaff and stuck the lead zombie in the head. This was much more effective. It was sent stumbling back, trying to maintain its balance.

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However, it was not alone. The two others came up on either side of Bee. This is where the length of the broom shined. It let her engage multiple opponents at once. The handle of her broom darted into a forehead while the bristles swept the feet of the other zombie out from under it.

One went down in a heap while the other stumbled back, but the first one wasn't dealt with yet and came back at her. Seeing that her strategy was having minimal success, Bee started to think. What she had done so far would have been more than enough to take out three skeletons of the same level. Apparently, she needed more combat practice.

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I heard a commotion out front. It was loud enough that it scared the cat away, leaving me alone. Now free of my duty to move a dot of light around the room, I rolled over to the entry hall to check it out. As I went, I made a note to spend more time in this part of the castle. The front door really should have been a priority to fix from the start. This was an oversight I would need to correct.

Once I saw what was going on, I stopped to watch. Beatrice was putting on quite a performance. She was giving three disgusting humans a sound thrashing for attempting to come into the castle in such a state.

It was satisfying to watch her batter them around with a broom. I was slightly disappointed in how little damage the broom was doing, though. It had performed much better against the skeletons. It reminded me of a thought I had a while back about how to improve a broom. It seemed like a good idea to add a spike at the end. It would let the user stab trash and pick it up without having to bend over. I had seen humans do this with a normal stick. Why not add a broom to the other end?

I would have to try adding this to Beatrice's broom at some point. It would probably help her stab these mean humans just as it would help her pick up trash. Speaking of help, Beatrice looked like she needed it as one of them managed to get behind her. As it was about to grab her from behind, I decided I couldn't have that.

I didn't really want to hurt humans, no matter how smelly and dirty the ones from the outside were. Beatrice hadn't seemed to want to hurt the human that we found in the closet either. Still, I wasn't sure how to get these humans to stop grabbing at Beatrice without doing a little harm, at least. Still, I could minimize it. I sent out a quick burst of my sanitation lamp to burn the back of its hand.

Despite my expectations, the human just kept on going, not even acknowledging the burn. I upped the intensity of the light and tried again. Still, it ignored me. Something seemed off here. That last burst had taken a significant bit of flesh off, and I didn't think a human would be able to completely ignore that. Thinking about what to do, I decided to call out to Beatrice to warn her of the one behind her. I could also ask if she needed any help. With a couple of beeps, I conveyed my message as best I could.

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Bee had lost sight of one of the zombies as she battered them around. She started aiming for their heads, but they just kept coming. Even putting all her weight into the blows, the broom was just not heavy enough to deal real damage. Even an ordinary human would have taken a lot more damage than these zombies. They must have been fresh, as their rotting flesh was a bit too malleable.

Just as she was about to take a step back to reevaluate the fight, she heard a call from Void. In the note, there were undertones of warning. Whirling around, Bee saw the third zombie. She ducked under its hand and was facing all three again, standing between them and the little kid hiding in the corner. Over her shoulder, Bee called. "Get inside!"

The kid was in a bit too much of a daze to listen and huddled up more into the wall. Not seeing the kid move, Bee redoubled her efforts and made a two-handed swing with all her might at the lead zombie. The end connected with its lower jaw, and it broke. Finally, some progress.

"Move!" She yelled over her shoulder. Finally, the boy was woken up and scrambled on all fours into the castle and up the stairs. This allowed Bee to concentrate fully on the fight. She really shouldn't be having this much trouble on only three level 20 zombies, not with how strong she was. Changing up her tactics, she poked the right zombie in the face with the handle of the broom. She aimed for its eye socket but missed slightly. The end just skittered off the side of its face, having next to no effect.

Looking around, Bee was about to drop the broom and pick up a rock when a beam of light that burned her vision shot out of the castle doors. It sailed past her and seared a hole in the head of the lead zombie, causing it to topple to the floor. Looking up, she saw that her master had come to her aid. The warning it had given was apparently not enough. She was slightly embarrassed at needing help in such an easy encounter, so she threw herself at the remaining two opponents with gusto.

This time her lunge landed, and, with a disgusting squelch, the broom handle sunk in. Her angle wasn't perfect, so she had to lunge forward again to destroy the brain. As she finished, Bee stepped back quickly to avoid the grasping hands of the final zombie.

With only one opponent left, Bee had a chance to slow down and focus on her strategy. Her control over the broom was nearly perfect. The issue was the weapon itself. If she was honest, it was a bit of a stretch to even call the broom a weapon. Something like this wasn't meant for combat, and even with her skill, it held her back quite a bit more than a sword or hammer would. It was, after all, a cleaning implement. She would need to talk to Void for advice.

Her master had recommended this to her for a reason, so she couldn't just throw it away thoughtlessly.

Bee turned from her downed opponents and headed back inside. At the top of the stairs, she found Tony comforting the sobbing kid. Now that he was safe, the kid had broken down in tears. Void was sitting next to them and watching her carefully. Thankful that she didn't feel much judgment from her master, Bee bowed to it. "Thank you for the warning, master, and the assist."

It gave her a small beep that sounded a lot like "you're welcome."

Seeing that Tony and the kid didn't seem ready to move anywhere soon, she sat next to Void. "I didn't expect to see zombies. Where do you think they came from?"

It was worrying that Void didn't have an answer for her. Could it be that her master didn't know? Maybe. It did know a lot, but nothing was omniscient except the system. "I can only think of a few things that might have caused a zombie outbreak. Either a high concentration of death is nearby, causing the dead to rise again, or some necromancer is on the warpath again. I didn't think necromancers were real, though. I only heard about them in old stories from the wagon handlers my father employed."

Void beeped. Bee nodded. "Yeah, I agree it's unlikely that it's a concentration of death. This area is demonically heavy. And we just cleared out the only source of death in the catacombs below here. I doubt there are any others nearby."

Bee thought for a minute. "Now that the Lieutenant is gone, I imagine the demonic aura is fading, but that should take a decade at least."

Void beeped again. Bee wasn't quite sure what it meant this time but thought she had a decent guess. "I hope we don't find out too late, though. We don't really have enough food if we get more refugees."

Pushing herself to her feet, Bee held out her hands to help the boy and Tony to their feet. The four of them made their way to the kitchens. Nothing helped a little kid feel better than hot food, Bee thought. Or sweets. She generally preferred sweets.