Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 72

Apparently some of the people my allies had fought had been just as nutty as Caesar, though fortunately at a much lower level. None of those men had allowed themselves to be captured alive. In fact, those who had surrendered disproportionately considered themselves Knuckle’s followers.

That was perfect, since he was the one I really wanted to know about. It would have taken time to figure out who here was highest in his chain of command, if Terrance hadn't done the work for me already.

"Terrance tells me you're in charge?" I asked the man.

I loomed over a rough looking man with ragged  black hair. He was heavy set, which was likely what had saved him from a few bullet wounds to the gut. He looked tough, but not in the crazed lethal way Caesar or his die-hards had. He seemed like the kind of guy you might find as the bouncer at a night club in a rough part of town.

"I knew Knuckles before he made it big, if that's what you mean." The man shrugged, then shot Terrance a glance. "Talking to this guy will give me credit, right?"

Terrance nodded. "Cooperate now, and I'll make sure it is noted when your case goes to trial."

"Good." The man shrugged his shoulders, adjusting his handcuffed arms. "What a pain..." He snorted. "I thought I'd never have to see a damn lawyer again."

I chuckled, thinking of all the survivors from the law office next to where Sakura, Bridget, and I worked. "The lawyers are back. And this time, they're armed. I'd watch out if I were you. Anyhow, I've got a few questions about Knuckles and your crew. What happened here? What is Knuckles up to? What's going on in the prison? Spill the beans… give me everything."

"Yeah, well, things were going alright until about a week ago. The Three Kings held each other in check. Cromwell ruled the mobsters, Caesar got all the crazy psychos, and Knuckles banded together the normal line and file types who were in for selling weed and other bullshit."

"Small timers… got it."

"Well, everything was fine until some asshole killed Cromwell. He was the who kept the mobsters organized and his connections and influence were the only thing keeping Caesar and his crazy assholes in check.” He snorted. “Now, they're running the whole prison."

"Were running the whole prison," I corrected. "Caesar is dead; he's not going to be running anything anymore."

The man grimaced. "Bet he's not."

"Big guy with a spear? Level 42? He's right back over there." I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the bloody pile of bones and flesh. "Look."

The man glanced at the bleeding pile. "Doesn't look like Caesar to me."

I sighed. "Just... trust me, alright? He's dead."

The man still looked doubtful. "Maybe... he's died before. There'll be a new one, soon enough."

I perked up at that. Had Caesar found a way to come back to life, too? I had my doubts about that. Lyra had mentioned it had been done elsewhere, but she seemed to imply it was a rare trick few figured out before the System patched the bugs. She would have mentioned somebody else coming back from the dead.

Unless it was part of some intended skill?

"Oh, yeah, all the time," the man nodded. "It happened a lot in the early days. We've gone through like… eight Caesars." He shot another glance at the pile of human flesh. "I guess nine Caesars, now."

"Are these different people? Or are they same person coming back to life?"

"Uh... I don't know, man. They all wield a fiery spear and are a high level. I don't really know. I try and steer clear of him, to be honest. I wouldn't have been here at all if Knuckles hadn't been forced to give Caesar some of us for support. His people are psychotic and not that great at ambushes. Cromwell's people had to come, too. Their leader was the one with the rooftop snipers."

I quizzed him some more about Caesar's potential resurrection ability. Unfortunately, he didn't know much—at least not any real details.

"All I know is that part of being Caesar has been passing down a fancy laurel crown. Well, that and a free sexy slave girl to keep it polished and shiny when he’s not wearing it."

"Slave girl?" I asked.

The man shrugged. "Yeah, all the Caesars inherited the same sexy slave girl. A real looker, that one… or so I've heard. I don't think anybody except the Caesars have actually seen her.” He hung his head. “And I never had plans to break into Caesar's private quarters to confirm the rumors."

After that, I quizzed him about Knuckles.

His former boss was a pugilist, apparently, just like Martin. It made sense, considering the nickname. He'd apparently been an aspiring rapper, but his mixtape had been so bad it had gotten him and all his friends arrested. Or at least, that was what the rumors said.

From the look on Terrance's face, it was probably just a story Knuckles spread to cover for an actual crime. Either that, or it really had been terrible.

"Alright, Terrance. Take him away and note that he gave us some good info." I waved Terrance away as he scribbled down a note in his pad of paper.

Terrance and some of our wounded rounded up the prisoners. There were fewer prisoners than I'd have liked. In a perfect world, we would have been able to round every one of them up, put them on trial, and do things the proper way. Alas, the apocalypse meant there wasn't as much to go around as there used to be.

Fortunately, those who were willing to surrender were those most likely to be rehabilitated. If Caesar's subordinates were as messed up as the man himself, there was no way we would have been able to make use of them back in Crownhill.

We ate, rested, and prepared to move on to the main prison. I debated waiting for Bridget and Sakura, but this would be bloody work, and going through Shadefall was burden enough for them to carry. It was only right that my other subordinates, here in town, take a turn.

If Caesar was dead, then finishing off Knuckles shouldn't be too tough. Maybe Bridget and Sakura would be waiting for me back at the Obelisk when this was all done. With all the work I'd had them doing, they hadn't been able to join in the victory celebrations in Shadefall.

I'd let them rest and whoop it up after I'd won and mastered this shard. Decision made, I raised everyone from where they'd been resting. Thanks to Chuck's cheese grater and troll orbs, those with minor wounds were mostly healed. They'd be in near-peak condition by the time we needed them again to storm the prison.

Sharky had been wounded enough that I'd let him disperse into Mana, but the time limit to summon him again was nearly up. He'd be at our side again for the final fight.

***

The air seemed to grow thicker as I led our crew through the streets. Signs of battle marked these buildings, and as we came closer to the main prison complex there were fewer buildings and more piles of rubble. Humans had fought here, and the fighting had been far more intense than any battle against monsters.

I spotted wrecked cars left and right, all strafed with bullet holes. A few of them had caught fire and burned, or plowed straight into the sides of buildings and then done the same. Scorch marks covered the brickwork, and wooden structures had been reduced to charred ruins.

Closer to the prison itself, we jumped over the shredded remains of tall wire fences. Clearly, the prisoners who now ran this place were here of their own volition. I'd been skeptical before about why anyone would want to stick around somewhere they'd been a prisoner, but when I saw the thick brick walls and sturdy guard towers of the prison, I understood.

With a few modifications, this place might very well be the most defensible place in Crownhill.

"This is it," Rick said and hefted his axe as we approached the looming structure ahead. "Almost got a job here once, back before the System. Feels like another life, at this point."

"Agreed." Frank gave a grim nod.

I threw down my wire circle, then I summoned Sharky to join us. He'd been quite good at flushing enemies out of cover before, and I hoped he could do that for us again. The prison's battle-scarred walls cast long shadows in the afternoon sun. I held up my hand so the others would stay back while I approached.

There was little use in trying to take them by surprise. If they were at all organized, they would have had some of the people who’d escaped the first counter-ambush return to report to them. Caesar's people might have been too crazy to do that, but Knuckles' crew seemed to have their heads screwed on a little straighter.

I called up to the walls and the people keeping watch at the top of the tower. They had been playing cards until a moment ago, but now they set their game down and watched us carefully. One of them said something to his friend, unslung his rifle, leveled it at me, and pulled the trigger. It was a good shot, but my Deflect spell was active—so no matter how good a shot he was, he wouldn't hit me.

"I wouldn't shoot at me again," I warned. "Otherwise, I'll shoot back. I'm here to give you our demands."

The man on the wall with the rifle spat over the side in my direction. "Go back to your little town and play pretend. The old world is gone! Might makes right, now and the rule of law is dead and gone."

I chuckled. "I agree. And so now we must build laws and order anew. Here are our demands. You will all leave this place and present yourself for trial by jury, and then serve sentences in accordance with your crimes. Tell your remaining leader, Knuckles, that he must present himself first.”

One of the men bent over double in laughter.

I scowled. “Do this, and you will receive the most lenient sentences justice allows. We'll need all the hands we can get for whatever the System throws at us next—meaning there will be plenty of chances to earn a pardon."

The man not still doubled over in laughter spat again. "Yeah? Well how about this!"

He pointed his rifle at me, but it was useless. Deflect had come off its cool-down while I was talking and the bullet bounced off into the air and back towards the prison.

"I told you I'd shoot back if you did that again."

I shook my head. While I'd been talking, I'd also charged up a few Mana Bolts. With a wave of my hand, three of them shot out and skewered the guard. He tumbled from his perch on the wall and fell, face-first, to the pavement in front of the gate two stories below. His head cracked against the concrete like a melon thrown out a window.

"Shit! Shoot him!" the other—no longer laughing—guard said.

I threw the rest of the Mana Bolts I had gathered his way, along with a single Eldritch Blast. That provided cover fire for me to scamper back out of sight to a nearby building where the rest of my forces had camped out.

"It was worth a shot, Sir!" Kyle said.

"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way..."

Scanning our surroundings, I noted a large stone column nearby. Most of these state buildings favored an ancient Roman aesthetic for some reason, so there were plenty of them around.

"Kyle, Marcus, Frank, and Rick… I want you to help me with that pillar. We're going to use it to breach the gate. Kerrie, I want you and the other ranged throwing arrows, spells, and bullets at the walls to suppress enemy fire.”

I smirked. “I doubt these guys have any idea how to defend against a siege like this, but just in case they do, I want you forcing their heads down. Michael…” I frowned at the former pest control worker. “Just help any way you can."

Michael shrugged. "I have a few things I can throw—little homebrewed water balloons of things that will be nasty to breathe, especially when combined with my class.”

I slapped him on the shoulder and then headed towards the concrete pillar. On the way there, I entered the first level of Mania: Dissonance. When I got to the pillar, Kyle, Marcus, Frank, and Rick helped me wrench the pillar from the ground. Not for the first time, I wished I'd had Cyra or Myrina here. The two of them would have been perfect for this.

Tearing the pillar free, we hoisted it over our shoulders. I'd picked the five of us because we were all reasonably strong and, more importantly, we were all about the same height. The five of us hoisted the pillar and ran at the gates as quick as we could.

The gates were tough and meant to withstand a prison riot, but they'd never prepared for something like this. Given our stats, we charged at the gates with the speed of a car traveling a downtown street, though we packed the combined force of a runaway semi-truck.

All that force concentrated in the broken stone pillar we were carrying made short work of the gates. Hinges snapped. Steel bent and twisted. Bricks shattered. The watch tower off to the side of the prison crumbled as the pillar knocked out half of its lower level.

The five of us jumped clear as the tower toppled sideways, raining debris in every direction. "Now! Charge!" I yelled as I jumped to the top of the pile of debris that had just been a massive section of wall and guard tower.

I drew my short sword and cast Arcane Blade. The guards at the top of the wall were still half-buried in the rubble, and I put them out of their misery with a few swift jabs. More criminals started streaming out of the prison in twos and threes. They'd heard the sound of us shattering the gates and reacted accordingly, but it was already too late.

They might have had a chance, fending us off from the walls, but it was too late for that. We were already inside. They'd lost their defensible wall and we were already streaming past it.

Bandit Thug (Level 14) x 13

Bandit Brigand (Level 18) x 10

Bandit Enforcer (Level 21) x 5

Bandit Taskmaster (Level 25) x 2

Enemies poured out of the prison in a continuous stream, most of them below level 25. Unlike the guards, or Knuckle's men, these bandits all had the dull and lifeless eyes of Caesar’s die-hards. It was a scary sight, but not something I hadn't seen before.

My elites could handle them, especially Kerrie and the four by my side.

I dove in with Arcane Blade. I had enough of a level differential on these foes that hacking through them with Arcane Blade was faster than spellwork. The others joined me as I took out the two Bandit Taskmaster's first.

There were a lot of former prisoners, and more coming through with every passing moment. But by being decisive and ruthless, we made the fighting much easier for the people following us.

I sliced one arm clean off a Bandit Taskmaster, then split his side wide open with my blade. I was almost caught off guard when he tried to trip me up with his whip. He still held the weapon in his good arm and wasn't shy about using it. I'd seen the similarities in his expression to those of Caesar and his die-hards, and I'd heard the stories of my men.

The psychos who served under Caesar were like living zombies. They fought on, regardless of how severe their wounds were. It was a scary sight to behold, and it did quite a bit to close the level gap between my people and these criminals. Fortunately, I was able to deal with the two greatest threats before even my elites engaged.

Your sword proficiency has increased to Level 50!

Had both our groups been at a similar level, I would have been forced to call a retreat. As it was, dispatching these criminals took longer than it should have. My people were both careful and thorough, though, which was a combination which wore down our enemies.

But we also had Sharky.

"NOM NOM!" Sharky gobbled up people two or three at a time.

They could have as much psychotic drive as they wanted, but a very determined corpse was still a corpse—after it had been thoroughly chewed to bits. I wish I'd had Sharky at my side when I’d had to fight real zombies. He would have made clearing out that supermarket far easier than it had been.

We fought our way to the door to the main prison complex, where I’d thought we'd be facing the entire population of the prisons pouring out to attack us. If that was the case, this would be long and bloody work. But almost as soon as it began, the flow of bodies into the courtyard inside the gates came to a halt.

Someone had called for a retreat within the prison. Was that Knuckles? Or someone else? And why hadn't they shown themselves?

"All clear here..." Marcus said.

He had a wide-eyed expression, and I tossed him a clean cloth. I'd learned the hard way always to keep a few towels and clean cloths handy. It had been one of Myrina's tips when we'd gone monster hunting. You never knew when you'd wind up covered in blood.

"Looks like they want us to follow them into the prison." I grimaced. This was exactly the scenario I wasn't looking forward to. I didn't want to fight room to room, or door to door.

Rick apparently agreed with my assessment. "Seems like a massive pain in the ass. Why don't we just ignore the doors and enter the same way we came through the gates? We'll make a our own entrance,” he waved one hand at the building the former prisoners had retreated into. “Just put a big hole in the wall."

"That's... a damn good idea, Rick. Everybody, clean up, patch your wounds, and get ready to move. We'll make another entrance for ourselves in five minutes."

Then, maybe Knuckles and whoever else might be running the show in here would reveal themselves. When they did, I could seize control of the shard.