most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
It was the runner. “Come on!” she shouted over the sound of chaos all around us.
The dead had reached the town square and the remaining bandits were running for their lives. Knowing it would soon be us on the menu I looked for any kind of cover that could shield us from their sight. There was nothing.
Panic bubbled up in my stomach. I looked to the girl and saw she was kneeling, rifling through her pack. I watched as she brought out two square-shaped bundles and what looked like a trigger.
Before my mind had time to grasp what she was planning I caught sight of a bandit preparing his weapon to fire. Without a moment’s hesitation, I positioned myself between him and the girl and felt the pain tear through me.
An enormous explosion ripped through the air, throwing me forward. Debris fell all around as the floor beneath me began to crumble.
“Over here!” I turned in the direction of the shout and saw that the girl was hanging from a rope tied around her waist, reaching her hand out towards me.
I steeled myself against the pain in my body and climbed to my feet, struggling to balance on the shifting ground. I ran as quickly as I dared with my eyes set firmly on her outstretched hand. I knew I was going to have to jump and fingers of dread gripped me.
The floor was quickly disappearing all around. Bracing myself I sprinted for the edge and launched myself with everything I had left out into the void.
“No!” I heard her shout as my fingers brushed hers before gravity took me, her wide eyes the last thing I saw before everything turned to darkness.
The fire was intense, flames licking at the walls and ceiling. The dead just kept coming, their skin burnt and blistered. My father lay on the floor pinned beneath a collapsed beam with blood pouring from some unseen wound. He was yelling, pleading with my mother to get away. She just stood over him with a look of determination in her eyes as the dead came...
I opened my eyes and blinked. Immediately pain drove through me and I could feel the warmth of fresh blood trickling down my face. I tried to reach up and wipe it away but my arm felt heavy and numb. I could feel the throbbing bullet wound in my shoulder. My whole body ached and I was sure more than a few things were broken.
I made to shout out but the only sound that broke my lips was a hollow whisper. The air was thick with dust causing me to cough and splutter, the taste of blood in my throat.
I tried to shout again, “Hey!” I yelled, before breaking into another coughing fit.
“Ghost? Ghost, is that you?” I thought I heard a soft voice, but my head was swimming and confusing my senses.
“Ghost!” this time the voice was closer, concerned. I felt the weight on my arm shift and the feeling return.
I gingerly rolled over and saw a figure silhouetted against the entrance to a torch-lit tunnel. I began to take a deep breath but stopped abruptly as a harsh smell filled my nostrils.
“He’s awake” the figure in the doorway spoke out, the voice a low growl.
“Who’s there?” I asked, panicking slightly. The figure remained still a moment before slowly moving off down the tunnel. “Hey!” I shouted, “I asked you a Qu...”
A gloved hand clasped over my mouth. I struggled for only a second before I realized the hand belonged to the girl.
“Keep it down, will you?” she whispered, “The dead could still be right above us”.
I looked directly upwards for the first time and saw the hole some distance away, the setting sun shining down.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
“A few hours. I didn’t think you had made it at first. I mean watching you fall...” she faltered, a hint of guilt in her voice. “Well, at least you’re awake now. We can get moving when you feel up to it” she recovered, getting to her feet.
I sat up, pain stabbing through my body, every inch aching. I propped myself up against the cold wall behind me. My eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness and I surveyed the room trying to make sense of where I had ended up. I had landed in a large rectangular room with tunnels leading out of either end.
In the middle there ran a groove cut into