Gladiators vs Zombies by Sean-Michael Argo Page B

best the few who remained.
    After what seemed like an eternity her legs were beginning to quake from effort, though she heard a bell toll in the distance. It was a warning bell to be sure, but was not of the pitch and keen of the bell in House Laeca. It had to be one of the villa estates nearby, the golems having already spread out from the Laeca villa. She had left the door open to help the sound carry, and the guards finally took notice. Four of the six men took up their weapons and rushed out the door and into the villa, shouting to their comrades the fate of the door guard.
    As she worked her way back down to the floor she could hear the sounds of fighting outside, and knew that the golems would penetrate the ludus soon. She crouched near the entrance to the guardhouse, and then began to sprint. She ran through the guardhouse and right past the two remaining men, one dropping his shield in surprise. They both shouted and gave chase as she careened down the tight passageway into the gladiator pens. Despite the shouts and pleas of the gladiators she rushed past them and into another hallway, towards the noxii cage, only glancing back long enough to see that the two guards had recklessly followed.
    Hesta reached the noxii cages and immediately began unlocking them. Thankfully the golems were possessed only of the most basic intelligence, so for a few brief moments they did not open the cages. Moving as fast as she could the maenad hefted herself upwards next to the door, with one foot upon a torch holder and one hand holding the hilt of the gladius as she plunged it into a cross beam. She used the opposing tension to hold herself steady, though immediately her limbs began to quake from the effort.
    Heedless of danger and focused on their quarry the guards burst into the room, leaving just enough space for Hesta to leap down and close the door behind them. She shoved her ludus key into the crude lock and wrenched it, snapping the key in two and leaving the door jammed. She knew it wouldn’t hold for long, but it would buy her the time she needed. As she rushed back up the hallway towards the gladiator pens she could hear the hinges of the noxii cages creak as the golems within surged forward. The screams of the dying guards filled the passageway.
    Hesta returned to the gladiator pens, unlocking them as she went. The maenad paused only briefly to lock eyes with Drust and smile before sprinting out the side entrance and leaving the gladiators to their fate.

THE BOAR
    He had been a laborer in his village, a long time ago, in the deep forests of a land the Romans called Germania. He had been a naturally strong boy, and when he grew old enough to be named, the elders called him Heraus, after the great boars of the forest. He quickly proved his worth to the tribe, as he could do the work of several men. Heraus plowed fields for crops, cut timber for longhouses, stacked stones for cairns, and dug ditches for defense. His hands and back were never idle, and as he became a young man his bed was never cold for lack of a woman.
    His world was destroyed on a cold morning in early spring. With the dawn came a runner and tales of war, his breath misting in the morning frost. The runner told the elders of a great red army marching across the world, burning the sacred trees and poaching the tribes of gold and women. A great war chief had called the tribes, and the runner had come to find brave men to join the fight.
    The elders were divided in their council, though in the end it was decided that ten men must go. The men of his tribe were not unaccustomed to battle, though were as yet untested against the shield and spear of the Roman. Heraus had never seen a Roman, though he knew of them from tale and song. Small men from the lands near the sea, who fought like devils and worshipped an iron eagle. He had never killed a man, and was just barely one himself, yet with the vigor and courage of a youth he pledged his axe.
    They had set out on