Chapter 19 – Awakening in the Deadlands

“Here.” Jace handed Grid a small copper spoon.

Grid took it and looked at Jace who had one in his hand as well, he frowned and asked, “What the hell is this again?”

“For digging graveyard moss.” Jace said as he took a small spoon and started scraping up the leg bones, scraping a little and putting some into a small bag.

It was Grid’s turn to throw up, and he ran wildly to the wall and began to retch furiously, but since he hadn’t eaten anything in the morning, he only vomited up some stomach fluids.

“Seven silver a pound, Grid.” Jace said with pursed lips and continued to start scraping when he finished.

“Seven silver coins!” Grid yelled, then thought better of it, “Screw you, I thought you weren’t selling graveyard moss! It’s just 7 gold coins and what the hell!”

Cursing, he still wiped his mouth and ran over to the sarcophagus, pushed back the panels a bit more, and started scraping.

Although only the surface of the body is covered with a layer, but after really scraping almost, it is surprising to scrape out quite a lot of graveyard moss, although it may not be up to a pound, but the weight should be as much as a bottle of Coke, there is a half a pound is no problem.

After doing this job for a long time, it wasn’t that disgusting. The two men continued to scrape up the coffin board as they pushed it away again.

It wasn’t until after it was completely pushed away that Grid saw the face of this body.

“Jace, hey.” Grid rubbed his elbow against Jace, who was still obliviously scraping graveyard moss next to him.

“Look, is this man looking at me, I’m afraid I’m hallucinating.”

“Hmm?” Jace glanced this way, and saw that the face of the body’s owner was surprisingly still intact, soaking in dirty water and opening its eyes, a real lifesaver.

Just then, the corpse’s eyes rolled to look at Jace.

“He’s not looking at you, he’s looking at me.” With that said Jace went back to shaving.

Grider slapped Jace on the back of the head and yelled, “He’s living his ass off!”

“Huh?!”

Jace was jolted awake by the slap, and his brain was automatically blocking out the horror in order to seriously scrape the graveyard moss.

The corpse burst out and grabbed Grid’s arm, Grid howled, Jace chopped off the walker’s arm with a quick axe to the eye, the dwarf jumped a bit to shake off the arm, grabbed the bag and tools and ran out the door.

Jace picked up his axe to keep up with Grid, slipping and nearly falling as the body sat up violently from the sarcophagus, letting out a feeble mewling breath as he climbed to his feet and wobbled after him.

The two of them couldn’t care less about behind them, and tried their best to escape upwards, and when they were almost close to the door of the chamber, they were seeing a walker unexpectedly blocking the doorway!

“Fuck off!”

With a roar, Grid swung his sword and surged forward, slicing off his opponent’s head with a sharp blow and kicking the rest of the headless body down.

Jace followed and ran out of the catacombs and was surprised to find that the cemetery in front of him was already full of standing zombies.

Just as the two of them were walking in the direction of the broken hole from the past, they heard a bunch of strange movements coming from there.

Several bowed, flesh-covered humanoid monsters are poking through the layers of shrubs, around the tombstones scurrying this way, a few of them in order to run fast for a while four-legged frantic running for a while two-legged running, does not look like a human being is like a group of wild beasts in a frenzy.

“Ghouls …… Quick, run in the opposite direction!” Ghreed pointed behind him pushing Jace to run fast.

Jace turned and ran, but he knew there was only one place the two could get out at the moment, and that was the hole that had broken behind those ghouls.

Everywhere else was blocked by tall fences decorated with spikes to prevent anyone from sneaking in, making it impossible to climb out.

But the ghouls were so fast, weaving through the swarm of demented zombies like a pack of wild dogs, running wildly toward the two men, that Jace had little room to think of a solution.

Running to the fence, the Dwarf threw out all the bags with herbs and baggage at once, then he shot a glance at Jace and said, “Come here.”

“What are you doing?”

The dwarf didn’t answer, grabbing Jace and throwing him out as well before Jace could say anything.

Jace’s mind went blank, only to feel himself thrown into the air by a strange force, scraping the iron spikes as he flew off, his clothes scraped out in several cuts and his back hurting like hell.

A wave of dizziness followed his fall to the ground, and he grimaced as he touched his back, thankfully it wasn’t bleeding, it was probably just broken skin.

After realizing that Greed was still in there, Jace grabbed the railing and said, “Are you fucking stupid, how are you going to get out?”

“You run, go back to Raven Ridge, if I can’t handle these ghouls ……” The dwarf danced the sword in his hand and said no more.

“You shut your mouth …… let me think.” Jace looked around, then at the zombies and ghouls that were approaching from over there, and suddenly seemed to remember some similar scene from a TV show.

The Walking Dead, right?

He picked up the lumbering axe and slammed it against the bars, the deafening metallic clang startled Grider, and even the zombies and ghouls over there hesitated for a moment at the noise.

“Now, run …… Griddle, and find a way to feel your way into that hole across the street.”

“I see, be careful!” Greed took advantage of the ghouls and zombies wondering what the commotion was all about, and rolled into a tumble between the nearby bushes.

After the dwarves disappeared, Jace stood alone in front of the fence, his rusty lumbering axe clutched in his hand, facing the shadows that stood upright and swayed from one cemetery to another, shrouded in mist, and suddenly felt a pang of intense loneliness pinch at his heart.

He swung his axe again and slammed the bars, and the zombies began to move this way as if they had been awakened.

Before he could swing his axe again, a ghoul suddenly jumped in front of his face, his long to weird arm reaching through the gap in the railing all at once, narrowly missing Jace’s neck!

Jace’s heart stopped a beat in shock and he took two steps back, gulping involuntarily at the monster with swollen eyes, a face full of rotting flesh, and teeth pointed like a coyote’s.

At that moment, the second, third, and fourth ghouls all slumped over the railing, growling low and extending their arms, and one spewed green pus in one gulp, narrowly missing splashing Jace’s body.

These ghouls were like a bunch of hungry baboons gone berserk, and Jace was a juicy fruit in their eyes.

Jace hesitated for a long time not daring to step forward, just then one of the ghouls seemed to hear something and froze for a moment glancing behind him.

“Fuck you.” Jace cursed in his native tongue as he rushed forward and slammed his axe into the railing again, this time catching the attention of all the ghouls at once, they once again reached out like crazy to try and grab Jace by the arm, by the collar, Jace retreated a few steps back tripping over a rock and falling to the ground, checking his arm and body for wounds before letting out a sigh of relief.

“Come on, you brainless bunch!” He yelled, feeling that his voice was really three or four notches weaker than the sound of an axe pounding on a railing, and looked for a chance to change position and pound again, once more dodging the ghouls’ pounces.

This time, he felt as if he had gotten the hang of it.

More and more zombies gathered, each one coming up to the railing to stare straight at Jace, but Jace was used to it by now, and each knock was safer than the last.

That is, until one of the ghouls looked up and glanced at the very top of the fence.

At the sight Jace froze, feeling his throat grow dry.

He coughed softly to moisten his throat as the ghoul suddenly jumped up nearly grabbing the topmost spike of the fence.

“I ……” he muttered in a panic, picking up his sack and preparing to run, when someone suddenly grabbed him by the collar.

“Get out!” Jace jerked away and was seeing Grid standing right behind him.

“It’s me, it’s me!” Seeing that Jace was sweating profusely, Grid shook his neck vigorously, then said, “Now, go!”

“Go …… go.”

The two packed up all their bags and ran wildly into the forest, only slowly stopping when they could no longer hear the roar of the zombies.

Jace threw the already dirty and yellowed shirt he was wearing into a patch of bushes, put on a new brown linen shirt, and sat down on the ground, staring and gasping for breath.

“Realize this, Jace.” Grid gulped and said, “Even the most valiant warrior among the Savage Hammers couldn’t calm down in a situation like this, I assure you. You’re definitely the most fucking ballsy human I’ve ever seen, and if you don’t make it as some kind of knight or royal guard in the future, it must be that Urien kid who’s blind or the whole kingdom that’s more or less in over their heads.”

After a long time, Jace muttered, “I’m never coming back.”

Grid couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, and Jace gave him a look that was followed by a laugh.

The two laughed for a while before Jess asked, “What time is it?”

The smile faded from Grid’s face before he said coldly, “If I could afford a pocket watch, would I still be playing with your life here?”