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“I know it. One. One shifter survived,” I sighed and shot off another bolt.

From across the village sang the song of elven arrows cutting sharp and swift through the thick air. As time crept closer to morning the fox village gave rise to fog and right now, fog wasn’t our friend. Still, we kept shooting.

“We gotta get that door shut,” Canton said. “I think they’re still coming and we can’t kill a whole world of zombies in one village. We need to make sure it’s closed until we start shoving bodies in.”

“Cover me,” I said and started to climb down from the roof we set up our base on.

“No way in Frost’s fiery balls, Philip. My ass can duck down into any of those damn fox burrows and wait them out. You’re fat bear ass can’t do that.”

I hated that he was right, but it was always like that with me and Cant. It wasn’t that we wanted to outdo each other. We were too old for that shit. It was simply that each of us left the GGB with the goal of the other one making it back. The method hadn’t gotten us killed yet. I nodded to him and adjusted my hat.

“There’s a burrow about two feet from that door. It’s a back entrance. Too small for you to see from here, but it’s there. I’ll close the door and jump right in. Should only take a few seconds.

“Be careful. I don’t want to explain to everyone how you got eaten by zombies. Folks are gonna be spittin’ mad that we didn’t tell them what was going on as it is.”

“Eh, screw ‘em,” Canton shrugged. “If they’re not used to us taking care of business by now, they’ll never be used to it.”

“Just don’t become a furry snack pack for the undead.”

Canton shifted down to his furry rabbit form and jumped into a tree. None of the undead searching around for food even took notice of him. I stopped shooting and kept my eyes on him. One of the zombies tripped over a dead one’s leg. Angry growls came from him. Canton paused on a low branch, and I put a bolt in the fallen one’s head. Zombies are bad enough without an irritated one walking around.

Canton leapt down without making a sound. He darted around the feet of zombies until he made it to the door that was barely cracked open at the moment. He kicked it shut and every zombie head in my eyeline turned toward him. He was down into the burrow before their peabrains put together that someone eatable was around.

I let out a low sigh and then a whistle to get them looking up at me. It worked. I let the rest of the world fade away. Canton was safe in the burrow. The wild foxes probably had the same damn idea. Now that we cut off their entrance it was time for a zombie day massacre. Once upon a time, they’d all been people, but now they weren’t. Whatever made them people had left a long time ago if they were lucky.

“Even if their souls are still there, I’d rather be dead than that,” my bear chimed into my thoughts.

“Damn skippy,” I said, letting another bolt fly.

After an hour of shooting, the elves and I managed to get every last one of them down. Still, we all waited another fifteen minutes before we came down. The alpha elves didn’t even bother coming onto the ground until I had walked around a bit. They stayed up in their tree perches.

I glanced over at Pollie’s porch. Canton was already picking the lock on the door. Fucker had snuck out of the burrow without me noticing him. I was lucky he wasn’t a got-damn zombie. He’d have eaten me up.

“Come on, gents,” I called out to the elves. “Glove up and help me drag these poor fuckers back onto their own world. Then y’all can get rid of that door.”

Chapter 11

Leopold

The Hidden Fox Village

Two Months Ago

I threw myself into Canton’s arms. Dirt clung to his face and hair, but I didn’t care. One by one the alphas outside had taken out more zombies than I could count. I rambled an apology as Pox wove circles around his ankles.

“There’ll be plenty of time to figure out the unique set of circumstances that let this happen later,” Canton said, hugging me. “For now, can you close the circle? We brought Sandy’s subs. They’re leftovers from the little kids party at the temple, but they’re still good.”

“After I shut it down,” I nodded. “Uh… Arken is upstairs. He has…”

“Trauma,” Canton nodded without making me say the word.

“Yeah.”

“We’ll get him taken care of, kiddo,” Canton patted my back. “Let’s get that magic dispersed and then we’ll get you all fed. Just stay inside until they get it cleaned up. They’re putting those things back through the door so that the elves can seal off the world again.”

“My carrier is going to kill me,” I groaned.

“No, he’s going to be happy you’re alive,” Canton said. “You tried to contact your ancestors, not zombies.”