Fleeting hope among the living

Annette found herself in the strong arms of Farfield's captain of the guard as he turned her towards safety behind the fighting. Behind his beard, his voice boomed:

"I don't know how you did it, but I'm glad you made it, Annie. You look like you've been through the nine fuckin' circles of hell!"

He wasn't wrong, she looked awful. The cloaked, dishevelled woman caught her breath from beneath a layer of filth as the captain brushed some squirming maggots from her shoulders. Tears formed in her eyes and her teeth clenched. A night of horror that she felt may never end... but she had finally reunited her with her people, fighting valiantly against the monsters tearing through the town. A flicker of hope grew inside of her.

*sniff* "Th-thank-"

The Captain interrupted her gratitude and grabbed both of the healer's shoulders.

"Annie. Get out of here - now."

"We need to buy more time for the men from the castle to arrive... and I've seen what these fuckin' wretches do to our women. You will suffer far more than we will if they break through."

"Go. Do not look back."

Not sticking around to argue, he lightly pushed her back before unsheathing the stained bastard sword on his hip. Turning, and without hesitation, the Captain proceeded to slice through a rotten arm tearing planks from the wall before stabbing down through the creature's scalp, pulling it free and kicking the festering man back away from the barricade.

Sniffling, she looked behind her at the empty streets leading out of the town. Escape was so easy and would end this waking nightmare for her - yet she did not move. Annette gazed up at the statue of Erena on the square. The tall goddess was draped in linen robes and her pose offered an apple from a basket, smiling sweetly.

No... There was no way she could turn back now. She didn't come this far to leave these brave men to face off against the horde of undead killing and **** their way through her hometown. Peeling the disgusting cloak from her body and throwing it to the ground, she neglected the Captain's advice and walked back to the fighting. She knew the risks and was prepared for such an eventuality if it came.

Spotting an injured man, she rushed over and held her hands over the deep lacerations in his arm, once again drawing the power of Erena as her palms began to glow an azure light.

"Thank you, Annette... but you can't be here!-"

She looked at the man with a stern expression, one that had rarely been seen from the Priestess before.

"Enough!" she exclaimed. "I'm not bloody leaving you all behind! As a Priestess of Erena, all of you are my charge."

The man simply smiled back at her, grateful for her presence. Anyone could tell that her mind was made up - nobody was going to convince her to turn tail and run from this.

Despite the fact that she had since disappeared from their view, Annette's escape had spurred the horde into a frenzy. They attacked the defences with renewed vigour as the rabid need for her body overtook them. Wood splintered as they struck the walls. Rotten palms tore through planks in unguarded locations as the dead found new routes to the living, scratching and wounding any warm flesh in their reach. Zombies began to scale over the barricade with previously unseen mobility as the survivors were **** to take steps back from the walls in order to cut down the dead who managed to find their way in.

By the time they returned to their posts, the holes in the defences had grown bigger, cracks had formed in the supports and the dead began to crash against the weakened structure, sending wood fragments across the cobblestone.