The Madman's Guide to Miracles

Willard was dying. I could tell from the way his skin looked. Something was clearly wrong, and it didn’t seem to be getting any better.

If he was willing to fight and stand beside me despite what he was becoming, I wasn’t going to turn him away.

It was selfish. I knew that.

But I wanted to live. I needed to know if I’d been infected too. I wasn’t ready to die. Not when Nia was waiting for me back home, worlds away.

I had to survive.

The village was still collapsing around us. Screams echoed through the burning streets while the creatures wandered between the flames, their laughter twisting together with the crackling fire.

Willard watched me in silence. There was something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

Sympathy.

His shoulders sank slightly as he let out a quiet breath.

"...I’m sorry."

I frowned.

"For what"

He looked away for a moment, his grip tightening around the rifle before he answered.

"You’re just a kid." His voice was low, rough around the edges. "And yet..."

His eyes drifted toward the burning village.

"You had to see all of this."

The words lingered before he forced himself to continue.

"...You’ll probably die here too."

I held his gaze.

"So will you."

A faint, tired smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah."

He adjusted the rifle against his shoulder, suppressing the slight tremor in his arm.

"But until that happens..." His voice steadied, carrying the quiet resolve I’d always associated with him. "I’ll do whatever I can to keep that from happening."

I nodded.

Willard stepped closer and grabbed my wrist, his grip firm despite the faint tremor running through his hand. He glanced toward the northern edge of the village, as if tracing the route in his mind.

"Listen carefully." His voice was low and urgent. "North of here, by the river, there’s an old man living alone."

He pointed through the smoke.

"Just follow the river downstream. You’ll find his place eventually."

He hesitated, brows furrowing.

"They call him... a sage. Or a Sorcerer. Something like that." A tired breath escaped him. "I don’t remember."

His hand loosened slightly before tightening again.

"But if anyone knows what’s happening here, it’s him. And if he doesn’t..." He gave a small shrug. "Then at least we tried."

He met my eyes, the urgency in his expression leaving no room for argument.

"Come on."

He released my wrist and raised his rifle.

"Let’s get you there."

Willard took the lead without another word.

The moment we stepped into the street, three villagers noticed us. Their heads snapped toward us in perfect unison, their smiles stretching impossibly wide before they broke into shrill, inhuman laughter and charged.

BANG!

The first one’s chest exploded, sending the corpse crashing through a wooden fence.

The second reached me.

I stepped forward and drove my axe into its neck. The blade caught on bone. I gritted my teeth, tore it free, then swung again, splitting its skull open. Black blood splashed across the dirt.

"Left!"

I turned just as another creature lunged from a burning doorway.

BANG!

Its jaw vanished.

The body stumbled two more steps before collapsing at my feet.

"Keep moving!" Willard barked.

We sprinted through the burning streets. Flames climbed the rooftops while the creatures’ laughter echoed all around us. More figures emerged from the smoke.

Five.

Maybe six.

Willard stopped.

BANG! BANG!

Two dropped instantly.

The others rushed at me. One swung wildly, so I ducked underneath it, collided my shoulder with its chest, and drove the axe upward through its ribs.

Another one grabbed my sleeve. I twisted its arm until I felt the bone break, then drove the axe into its temple. The last one charged at me with a scream. I sidestepped.

One kick shattered its knee, and a swing drove the axe into the back of its head. At last, the street grew silent.

"...Kh—"

A violent cough broke the silence.

I turned.

Willard had lowered his rifle, one hand pressed over his mouth.

When he pulled it away, black blood dripped between his fingers.

"...I’m fine." His voice came out rough, followed by another cough.

He wiped the blood onto his sleeve before raising the rifle again. I observed the veins extending higher up his neck. He caught my gaze.

"Don’t stop."

We started running again.

The river slowed us to a crawl, the current dragging at our legs with every step. The village had disappeared behind us, replaced by dense forest and rushing water.

Then the tree line erupted.

Figures poured down both banks, laughing as they stumbled into the river. They came from everywhere at once, climbing over rocks, forcing through brush, dropping from branches, their shrieks swallowing the sound of the current.

"KYAHAHAHA!"

"SKREEEE!"

I attempted to count, but I gave up after thirty because they kept coming.

"You’ve got to be kidding."

Willard’s eyes swept across the horde before settling ahead. His shoulders sagged.

"Doomed."

He already knew that there was no way through.

He rested a trembling hand on my shoulder. "Listen to me, kid." His voice was hoarse, but steady. "A man’s gonna die one day whether he’s ready or not. The only thing he gets to choose is what that death buys. Mine’s buying you a chance." His grip tightened. "So don’t you dare waste it looking back. Just... make sure this wasn’t for nothing."

A cough bent him forward. Black blood spilled into the river. He wiped his mouth, raised the rifle, then shoved me so hard I nearly fell.

I opened my mouth, but nothing emerged. For some reason, it became hard to look at him. His face started to blur, not due to the smoke.

Even though he was already dying, he still chose to spend what little time he had left buying me a chance to live. We’d only known each other for two days, but somehow that didn’t matter anymore. I knew I wasn’t going to forget him. Not after this.

For a moment, I couldn’t find the words.

I swallowed.

"I’ll survive."

He did not respond.

BANG!

A Horror dropped.

BANG!

Another followed.

The bodies became footholds for the ones behind them. They climbed over each other, laughing, screaming, clawing their way toward him.

"KYAHAHAHA!"

"SKREEEE!"

I pushed myself to keep running. Then... a lullaby. My legs gave out. She stood in the center of the river.

That voice. The child’s cry tangled with the mother’s broken pleas. The instant I heard them again, something inside me gave way. My thoughts scattered, my breathing faltered, and an overwhelming sense of dread settled over me like I had already died and my body simply hadn’t realized it yet.

The mother. My body froze. Of all the nightmares in this village... it had found me.

Her stomach hung open, the infant almost completely free now, tiny hands digging into torn flesh as its empty white eyes fixed on me.

There wasn’t even room to compare us anymore. Calling this a fight would be an insult to every fight I’d ever survived.

Willard stopped firing and was just staring at her, holding that gaze for a brief moment.

The mother slowly lifted her head.

"Uwaaah..."

The infant’s mouth opened.

"Uwaaah..."

Their cries overlapped into one haunting wail that echoed through the valley.

Then, beneath the sobbing...

"...d-don’t... h-hurt... m-my... b-baby..."

The voice was barely there.

Broken.

Muffled beneath layers of wet choking sounds.

"...p-please..."

"...d-don’t... h-hurt... m-my... b-baby..."

Willard’s grip around the rifle tightened.

The infant smiled.

Its cry twisted into a deafening shriek.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

The mother answered with one of her own.

Every Horror turned.

Then they charged.

"GO!" Willard roared as the rifle thundered.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The flashes vanished beneath an ocean of bodies. I couldn’t see him anymore. Only shrieks, gunfire, and countless limbs swallowing the place where he’d been standing.

The crying followed me.

I ran.

The mother glided over the river without disturbing the water, the infant dragging itself farther out of her body with every jerking movement.

"...m-my... b-baby..."

"...d-don’t... h-hurt... h-him..."

She was already in front of me.

I swung.

The axe buried itself in the infant’s arm.

Nothing.

Its hand caught my wrist and hurled me into the riverbank. The axe slipped from my fingers as pain exploded through my shoulder. I looked up just in time to roll away, its jaws crashing into the mud where my head had been.

"UWAAAAAAAH!!"

I scrambled backward.

The river roared beside me.

I looked at the current.

Then at the thing charging again.

"...Better than this."

I couldn’t defeat her. I couldn’t run faster than her. The only thing she hadn’t taken from me yet was the river.

I threw myself into the river.

The last thing I saw before the water dragged me under was the place where Willard had disappeared beneath the horde, while the mother’s muffled sobs drifted across the river.

The river swallowed me. The gunfire faded. The screams disappeared. Only her voice remained, following me into the darkness beneath the current.

"...d-don’t... h-hurt... m-my... b-baby..."

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