Rescuing Janine

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 39, Post Number 952

-Abandoned Cabin, midnight-

Wearing a new olive green jacket over his white t-shirt and wearing his olive green cargo pants and black boots, Leonidas carried his Silver Falchion in the scabbard on his left hip and wore his backpack as well. The full moon lit the area enough for him to see everything in the immediate area, which was good because tonight he would be fighting zombies. He saw a few shambling about about ten meters in front of him plus a lot of them gathered around the cabin the area was named for. He knew exactly why there were so many zombies gathered around the cabin.

Inside of it was Samantha's mage friend Janine, the same young woman whose sword he had retrieved from Silent Cemetery only a day or two before. Janine had been hired to retrieve an iLac that had been left in the cabin by a thrill-seeker and had succeeded in claiming it. However, she was ambushed by zombies who had managed to approach the cabin undetected until it was too late to get away from them. She managed to take shelter in the cabin and secure it from forced entry by the undead, but in the process she had fallen and hurt her left leg, which would make escape difficult. Samantha had received the iLac call from Janine around 10:00 P.M. and had contacted Leonidas around six minutes later to give him the details of the job.

Leonidas had learned from Samantha that while Janine was hurt she had not been bitten, so there was no danger of her becoming a zombie unless the undead broke into the cabin and got to her before she could be rescued. Samantha had learned that from Janine herself, who was keeping in contact with her friend via iLac. That meant while there was still an element of danger, Leonidas had some idea of what he was going into, so he was not going in totally blind.

Seeing a zombie dressed in green robes shambling to the left about three meters in front of him, Leonidas drew his Silver Falchion and approached the zombie. The zombie happened to turn right when the blond man began moving forward... the zombie moaned loudly and moved to meet him. Leonidas approached carefully until he was within sword range, then stopped and brought the sword down on its forehead while it approached him with its arms outstretched. One chop through the head was all it took to take down the zombie for good.

Leonidas pulled his sword out of its head and moved towards the next zombie, which had been alerted by the moan of its predecessor and was shambling towards him. This zombie was a robe-wearing female who was missing their right arm below the elbow and a good chunk of the right side of their neck. He approached it carefully from the right side since it could only grab him with its left arm, then thrust his sword towards its forehead once it was within range. He stabbed through the skull and killed it instantly, then planted his right boot on its chest and kicked the zombie off of the sword.

He heard moaning to the left and looked to find a zombie dressed in green hunting clothes with an empty quiver slung around its back and numerous bite wounds to the left arm and the left side of the neck approaching him from less then three meters. Leonidas turned to face the new threat and waited until it got close, then brought the Silver Falchion down on its head. The sword cut deep into its skull and killed it instantly.

Leonidas pulled the sword out of its skull and looked forward again. By his estimate he was 110 meters away from the cabin. That was not too far to cover, but the trouble was that there were a lot of zombies between him and Janine. He did not know whether the zombies around the cabin were making a serious effort to break into the structure or not, so he had better keep going.

He moved forward another five meters and stopped when he spotted another zombie dressed in gray robes and missing its nose and most of the left side of its face, which had been chewed up beyond recognition. He closed in with it and brought his Silver Falchion down on its head in a two-handed chop. The sword cut deep into its skull and made an instant kill. Leonidas pulled the blade out by putting his right boot on its chest and pushing with his foot while he pulled the sword with his hands. Once that zombie was down for good Leonidas continued to move towards the cabin.

[Post Word Count: 790]
[Total Word Count: 790/2,500]

-Four minutes later-

Leonidas had advanced another twenty meters towards the cabin before he had to stop and fight more zombies standing in his way. He had just defeated a female zombie dressed in leather armor with a missing right arm and a lot of chunks of flesh missing from its left arm and was about to take on a shirtless male zombie wearing brown pants and black leather boots with numerous bite wounds on the shoulders and arms. It advanced towards the blond man with its arms outstretched and Leonidas waited until just the right moment before bringing down his Silver Falchion towards its skull with a two-handed downward chop. The sword found its mark and the zombie died with a moan on its lips.

Leonidas pulled out his sword from its skull and moved forward another meter before engaging a zombie missing the right side of its face and its right ear. The blond man let it come to him before he chopped down on its skull. The sword connected and the zombie died instantly. Leonidas pulled the sword out and looked ahead of him to see another zombie approaching from three meters away. This one wore full steel plate armor minus a helmet and was missing its left ear, the left side of its face, and a large chunk of its throat.

Leonidas took a quiet breath, then began to slowly approach it until he came within range. Once he was close enough he brought his sword down on its head, cutting deep into the skull and killing it with one blow. Leonidas pulled the sword out and kept going towards the cabin.

- Seven minutes and twenty meters later-

Leonidas was approximately 65 meters away from the cabin. He had killed quite a few zombies, but he still had plenty more of them to kill before he would reach the cabin. The wind picked up and blew his hair about... he was glad that he had bought a jacket before going on this job because the wind was cold. He spotted a female zombie with bite marks on both sides of its face wearing a brown leather cuirass and green pants approaching him from three meters away, so Leonidas moved forward to attack it. He approached carefully and when it got close enough he brought his Silver Falchion down on its skull for an instant kill.

Leonidas stood over the vanquished zombie and looked around him for zombies that might be approaching from the sides. He did not see any zombies anywhere other than in front of him, so the blond man began moving forward again. He wondered how many zombies he would have to kill before the night was over.

-Ten minutes and twenty-five meters later-

Leonidas had killed another eight zombies while advancing until he paused approximately 45 meters away from the cabin. He saw the outlines of the figures surrounding the cabin and counted ten of them in front of it, but he did not assume that there were only ten zombies surrounding the structure. As far as he knew those ten were all that he could see and there could be more around back, so he was not going to go charging towards the cabin and risk encountering more zombies than he had bargained for. He was going to play it safe and lure zombies away from the cabin... from what he had learned about them in Silent Cemetery they were not very smart, so there was a good chance they would fall for his plan. All he had to do was shout at them to draw their attention and they would abandon the "siege" to shamble towards him, making them easy to pick off as they approached one at a time instead of as a group.

In order to get the best effect from his plan he had to be closer to the cabin, so he continued to move forward. Ahead of him were only four zombies and they were spaced out, so he could easily kill them without fear of being swarmed. He just had to be careful not to get complacent just because his enemies were walking corpses.

-Ten minutes and twenty-five meters later-

Leonidas had easily defeated the four zombies in his path and was now standing approximately 20 meters away from the cabin. Since he was closer he had a much better view of the situation and could see the zombies surrounding the cabin more clearly. There were ten zombies in front of the cabin and at least two more on each side plus an unknown number that might be concealed from view due to being behind the structure. Leonidas decided to stick to his plan and shout to the zombies to draw their attention to him, but he could benefit from being just a little bit closer so that his voice would carry far enough.

Leonidas moved up five meters, then looked around him for any zombies who might have arrived late to the "fights" Leonidas had engaged in earlier. He did not see any, so he cupped his hands around his mouth and took a quiet breath, then shouted towards the zombies.

"OVER HERE! I'M OVER HERE!" Leonidas shouted as loudly as he could. He then stood where he was and watched what happened next.

[Post Word Count: 890]
[Total Word Count: 1,680/2,500]

Leonidas watched as some of the zombies began to abandon their siege of the cabin and move towards the easier prey which was out in the open. Leonidas watched them move towards him as individuals instead of as a unified group, a lack of foresight that he was not going to complain about. Them moving as individuals made his life easier because he could take them on one at a time instead of having to fight a group of them.

Leonidas waited and let them string themselves out as the faster zombies outpaced the slower ones. When the first zombie got to within three meters of him Leonidas went on the attack. He approached it and when it got close brought his sword down towards its head. The sword inflicted an instant kill when it buried itself deep in the zombie's skull. Leonidas removed the sword and repeated the process until the seven zombies who had heeded what they thought was a dinner bell were all dead with deep sword wounds to the skull. Leonidas then moved up five meters and repeated his call.

"OVER HERE!" Leonidas called out to the undead. He saw the zombies on both sides of the building start shambling towards him and decided to repeat the call again.

"I'M OVER HERE!" Leonidas called out again. That time the rest of the zombies gathered outside the cabin started shambling towards him. He repeated the tactic of waiting where he was to let the zombies string themselves out before moving in to engage them. He took them out one by one without much trouble... the most challenging part of the "fighting" was the effort it took to pull his sword out of each zombie's skull after dispatching it. Still, he was glad that the fighting was that easy because he was not up for taking on large hordes of undead... not yet, anyway.

With the last of the recent batch of undead dispatched Leonidas looked around him to look for any zombies that were late to the fighting that had just concluded. Leonidas did not see any stragglers, so he walked towards the cabin while keeping an eye out for any more zombies approaching the area. After a brief walk he stopped in front of the cabin and immediately decided to do a loop around the structure to seek out and eliminate any zombies that might be behind it. Leonidas took a quiet breath, then started walking around the left side of the cabin.

-Two minutes later-

Leonidas was now at the front door of the cabin after walking around it and not seeing any more zombies. He took a quiet breath, then reached out for the door with his left hand and quickly knocked three times.

"Janine? Janine, are you in there?" Leonidas asked the young woman who was holed up in the cabin. He heard moaning within and feared the worst. He knocked on the door again.

"Hello? Janine?" Leonidas asked again. He heard moaning closer to the door as the sound of a heavy object being moved was heard and he tightened his grip on his Silver Falchion. He hoped that he had not been too late to rescue her.

The door opened and moaning sounded one last time. Leonidas was prepared to face an undead Janine but instead found her to be alive and well. The black-haired young woman was obviously tired and obviously in pain from her left leg... despite her blue jeans covering the leg and obscuring any wounds she was limping on it, which clued him in that Samantha's report from hours ago was accurate.

"Man, am I glad to see you, Leonidas!" Janine greeted her rescuer with a smile. She was wearing a zipped-up black leather jacket and blue jeans plus the sword belt Leonidas had recovered the other day. On her back was a beige backpack. Leonidas saw her hobble over to an old and weathered wooden chair placed near the center of the cabin and sit in it... that was likely the object she had used to try and barricade the door.

"Are you OK, Janine?" Leonidas asked her. She gestured towards her left leg with her left hand.

"I got the iLac I came into the cabin for and put it in my backpack. I started to leave when the zombies surprised me. I turned to run to the left to run around them and tripped, landing on my left leg. I was able to hobble back into the cabin and block the door with the chair I'm sitting on, but if they had managed to break in I would have been dead. I can't run and I can't walk very fast either." Janine replied. Leonidas had a solution to that problem.

"I can carry you back to Capital Crocus." Leonidas offered a way to help get her out of here. Janine stood up.

"I'm in no position to turn you down, Leonidas. Let's get going. I wanna get outta this place before more of those zombies show up!" Janine accepted the offer. Leonidas walked back outside and wiped the blood on his sword off on the grass, then put his Silver Falchion back into its scabbard. He went back inside and gently picked up Janine in a bridal carry style, then turned around and walked out of the cabin with the young woman securely in his arms.

[Post Word Count: 902]
[Total Word Count: 2,582/2,500]

-Capital Crocus, Samantha's house, twenty-two hours later-

Leonidas had arrived in Capital Crocus with Janine about eight hours ago. Samantha had allowed them to drop off their weapons at her place before Leonidas and Samantha took Janine to get medical attention at Crocus General Hospital. It took them about fourteen hours to get that attention due to a lot of people being at Crocus General Hospital and the leg injury being classified as a low priority by hospital staff since there was no bleeding or other serious external injury, but once the leg was examined it had been determined that Janine had not suffered a permanent injury from the fall, only a temporary sprain. After getting medical attention the trio were back in front of Samantha's house.

"Thanks for the rescue, Leonidas. That's two I owe you." Janine thanked Leonidas for the rescue from the Abandoned Cabin.

"I'm glad that I could get there in time to help, Janine." Leonidas replied. Due to not being able to contact Samantha he had been unable to learn anything new about Janine's situation after leaving Capital Crocus to travel towards the Abandoned Cabin. He was not sure if he would arrive in time to save the day or arrive too late to save her, but thankfully he was in time to bring Janine out of the cabin alive.

"Thanks for sending Leonidas my way, Sam. Without you sending him to me I'd be in a bad place right now." Janine thanked Sam for hiring Leonidas to save her. Samantha smiled at the dark-haired mage.

"That's what friends are for." Samantha replied. Samantha walked up to the door of her house and unlocked it, then went inside. She looked at Leonidas and Janine.

"I know you two need to get your weapons and backpacks back, so come on in." Samantha gave them permission to enter.

"I need to get my weapon and my backpack. I still need to deliver the iLac to my client." Janine said to Samantha.

"I need to get my weapon and my backpack too." Leonidas chimed in.

"Once I get my gear I'm heading straight for my client's house to give them the iLac." Janine informed Samantha and Leonidas of her intentions.

"I'll walk with you, Janine. You don't need to be traveling alone with that leg of yours." Samantha stated.

"I'll go with you both." Leonidas offered to tag along. Janine and Samantha looked at each other, then nodded.

"Sure thing, Leonidas. Most of the local hoodlums won't go anywhere near someone like you, so we should be able to travel without any of them harassing us!" Janine eagerly accepted the offer. With that decided the trio went inside Samantha's house to get ready for the trip to the residence of Janine's client.

[Post Word Count: 464]
[Total Word Count: 3,046/2,500]