Thundarr The Barbarian in Dead Of Night

[Thundarr]

IN​

DEAD OF NIGHT​

Chapter One

In the year 1994, from out of space came a runaway planet, hurtling between The Earth and The Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Man's civilization is cast in ruin. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn. A strange new world rises from the old. A world of savagery, super science, and sorcery. Across this broken land ride three heroes, striving to free the opressed and the downtrodden from the rule of the evil tyrannical wizards. In the lead, riding a magnificent white stallion the colour of fresh fallen snow, rides a large golden hair warrior. His long blonde hair is the colour of wheat. He is big and muscular, far larger than your common peasant. The animal tooth necklace and brown furs that he wears mark him as a barbarian, born to live free. On his wrists he wears brown leather bracers, and attached to the left bracer is a golden sword hilt. The barbarian's name is Thundarr, a name which is quickly growing in legend and becoming a sound of dread to any wizard who hears it.

Following close behind Thundarr is a beautiful young woman riding a chestnut coloured mare with black mane and tail. The young woman is dressed in an blue and gold outfit that leaves very little to the imagination, what is remeniscent of the one piece swimsuits worn by people who swam for recreation and sport thousands of years ago. The suit itself is blue, with a gold trim about the waist. Yellow boots which go up to her knees and gold bracelettes on her wrists round out the outfit. Her skin is a dark olive colour, her hair as black as a ravens wing. Her almond shaped eyes hide an intelligence and wisdom which transends her years. She is Princess Ariel, a powerful sorceress. Years ago Thundarr was enslaved by her stepfather, the evil wizard Sabien. Disgusted by her stepfather's cruelty, Ariel freed all of his slaves and has been riding with Thundarr ever since. Thundarr is quick to act and stubborn as a rock, but he has found Ariel's magic and her vast knowledge of ancient Earths history extremely valuable in their adventures.

Bringing up the rear on a large yellow reptilian mount called an equart is their companion, Ookla. Ookla is a mok, a race of large lionine humanoids which combine the traits of lions and men in much the same way the minotaurs of ancient Greek myth combined the traits of men and bulls. Moks are very large and very strong, far too large to ride horses which is why Ookla rides an equart. Their size, strength, and fierce appearance make moks very formidable in battle, so very few people willingly attack a mok village. Unfortunately their size and strength also makes them ideal slaves. This is how he and Thundarr met, for he too was a slave to the wizard Sabien. During their escape, Thundarr had saved Ookla from certain death. Ookla has been a devoted friend and companion ever since, for it is mok custom to be forever indebted to any person who risks personal harm to save your life. The three friends are riding through the countryside of a land that was once known as California. There's an ancient phone booth lying across their path. Thundarr jumps the obsticle with ease on his white stallion. Ariel jumps the phonebooth with similar ease on her mare. Ookla jumps the phonebooth on his equart, which lands on the obsticle ans squashes it flat.

"I can't wait to get to Cisco," says Ariel, "it seems like ages since we defended that town from the wizard Kublai."

"Aye," agrees Thundarr, "and I look forward to once again dining with Kwan and his people. They really know how to cook a feast!"

Ookla roars something in his own beastial tongue, and Thundarr laughs.

"Yes, old friend. I'm sure they'll have more of those cookies with the papers inside."

Ariel laughs as well. The fortune written on Ookla's very first fortune cookie read 'Your melodius voice and sweet disposition are a comfort to those around you'. Ookla's very sweet hearted, but his disposition and voice are anything but sweet and melodius.

They finally arrive in the community of Cisco. Thousands of years ago, before the time of The Great Catastrophe, it was a great city called San Francisco. But now the name has changed, as the only surviving road sign is missing half the city's original name. The three of them guide their mounts through the ruins, to what used to be San Francisco's Chinatown. This is where the villagers lived. Ariel always liked it here. It reminded her of home, back before the wizard Sabien had murdered her parents and taken over their kingdom. But as they ride through the village streets, they notice something odd. There aren't any people around. The last time they were here, the village was quite prosperous.

"Where is everybody?" asks Ariel.

"The place seems deserted," says Thundarr, "like there's been no one here for days."

"What could have happened?"

Ookla growls a reply.

"I don't think so, old friend," says Thundarr, "If Kublai got his powers back, he surely would have destroyed the entire village. Everything seems to be intact."

"I have a bad feeling about this," says Ariel.

"As do I," agrees Thundarr, "Come! We will search these ancient buildings. Perhaps something has happened since the last time we were here that has forced them into hiding."

The three companions begin a systematic search of the ancient city. They begin with the Old Earth Chinatown. They discover that the residents of these homes have left many valuables behind. They had also left food to rot in their cupboards, cellars, and pantries. Whatever caused them to leave their homes, they left in haste. They investigate further, and find some gruesome discoveries. Ookla was the first to discover it, his sensitive nose picked up the scent of rotting flesh. They discover a body, lying on the ancient cracked asphalt, with a crossbow bolt protruding from one of its eyes. The body was that of a man, one of the villagers by the looks of him, and has obviously been lying there for some time.

"Demon dogs," says Thundarr, one of his favorite sayings.

"Who could've done such a thing?" asks Ariel.

Ookla growls a reply, to which Thundarr shakes his head.

"I don't think Kublai had anything to do with this. My instincts tell me something else is going on here."

"Like what?"

"I don't know," he tells her, "but I intend to find out.

They continue searching. They find another body, this one a woman, also badly decomposed. Someone had cleaved her skull with an ax. As they continue their search for the missing villagers they find a gruesome discovery. There are several dead bodies lying about on the ground, all in various stages of decay, and all with severe head wounds. One in particular has a pick ax driven into the top of its skull. There are also other bodies lying there, much fresher, but little more than skeletons. Their flesh had been almost completely stripped from their bones. And to make matters even worse, some of those skeletons looked as though they belonged to children. The smell and the horrible sight is too much for Ariel, she covers her mouth and nose and runs around the corner of the building where she empties the contents of her stomach.

"Who on Earth could do such a thing?" she asks, "Killing people is bad enough, but it looks like they ate some of them too. And why eat some but just kill the others?"

"I don't know," says Thundarr, "but who ever it is we will make them pay. I swear it!"

They continue searching the town of Cisco for survivors. They search building after building, gradually working their way towards what was once known as San Francisco Bay. Mostly they just find empty buildings. Every once in the while they find a corpse. Sometimes a rotting body with some sort of grievous head wound. Sometimes a fresh body which had been stripped of all flesh until there's little left but a skeleton. Thundarr comes across a building that appears to have been broken into. He walks in and what he sees nearly makes even him sick to his stomach. It looks as though several people had barricaded themselves in the building, boarding up the windows and doors, then piling heavy items in front of all the possible entry points. Obviously their barricades didn't hold, because whoever the attackers were, they had broken in and killed everybody. Some of them were simply killed, their heads bashed in with hammers or clubs, cleaved with axes, some were even shot with bows and crossbows. Others had been eaten, stripped of all flesh and internal organs, until there's nothing left but bloody skeletons. Even an uneducated barbarian like Thundarr can tell by the size of the skeletons that many of these people were women and children. The barbarian covers his face to fight off the stench and exits the building.

"What is it?" asks Ariel, "What did you find?"

"Death," Thundarr replies, "Nothing but death."

"Have none of Kwan's people made it out alive?"

"I don't know. There are a lot of bodies here, but I don't think they add up to the whole village."

Ookla growls and points down the street. Thundarr and Ariel turn to see an old woman shuffling down the street, walking away from them. Thundarr runs towards her so to catch up.

"Old woman!" he calls, "Wait! What happened here?"

The old woman continues walking, apparently oblivious to the barbarian's question.

"What happened to the villagers?" asks Thundarr, "Did Kwan make it out okay? Who attacked Cisco?"

The old lady finally stops walking. When Thundarr has almost caught up to her she turns around. Her skin is a sickly grey colour, her eyes seem to have a milky white film over her irises. She opens her mouth, revealing yellowed teeth and black gums. She reaches for Thundarr, grabbing him and trying to pull him in close to her mouth to take a bite. More people start shambling out of the alleys and buildings, heading towards the barbarian. They all have the same grey palour of skin as the old woman. many of them have wounds which should be fatal, or at the very least crippling.

"Stay. . . back. . . woman!" says Thundarr, "I don't. . . want to. . . harm you!"

Princess Ariel looks about with a frightned expression on her face, as it's beginning to dawn on her as to exactly what they're dealing with. She holds out her hands and blasts the old woman Thundarr is struggling with with a magical jolt that should knock her unconcious. The old woman flies several feet through the air and lands on the ground hard, only to get right back up. She blasts several more of these shambling, slow moving people with similar results. Ookla draws back on his powerful mok bow and shoots one of them with a stun arrow. The person just takes a couple of steps back but keeps on coming. Ookla shoots him again, with the same result. Thundarr takes out his Sunsword and activates the blade. He waves the fiery weapon back and forth at the approaching mob, causing them to cower away.

"Stay back!" the barbarian warns them, "I warn you! I mean you no harm, but I will defend myself!"

Seeing their reaction to Thundarr's Sunsword, Ariel gets an idea. She conjures a ball of fire in the palm of each hand, then hurls them at a pair of buildings across the street. The buildings explode into flame. Many of the people standing near or in between the two buildings are consumed by the fires, while those that are too far from the buildings cower away from them. The sorceress quickly conjures two more balls of fire and does the same thing to two buildings on the other side of the street.

"Thundarr! Call the horses!" she tells the barbarian, "We have to get out of here!"

"Bah! They are slow and weak," says Thundarr, "I can take them!"

"Stupid, stubborn, sword-happy barbarian!" grumbles Ariel, and she quickly casts another spell erecting a wall of fire across the street between Thundarr and the advancing shuffling mob. "Thundarr!" she shouts, "We are in much more danger than you realize! We have to get out of here!"

Thundarr turns and sees more of this shuffling mob coming up behind them at their top speed, cutting off their escape. He looks into Ariel's face and sees a look of genuine terror. He's seen her worried before, that's just her nature, but he's never seen her truly frightened. While always loath to run away from a fight, he decides to accept her council on this. He puts his fingers in his mouth and blows an ear piercing whistle. Moments later their mounts come charging down the ancient concrete road, knocking over anyone in their way. Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla then mount their horses and gallop towards the gathering mob. Ariel conjures a wedge shaped magical shield which surrounds all three of them as they're riding off. Thundarr waves his Sunsword about as he takes the lead.

"Ariel! Ookla! Riiiide!"

Ariel's shield pushes aside their enemies as the prow of a ship cuts through the waves of the ocean. Soon they're leaving the burning village of Cisco far behind them. Eventually they get to a rise which overlooks the village of Cisco and the swamplands which were once known as San Francisco Bay. Thundarr reigns his white stallion to a halt, with Ariel and Ookla following suit. Ariel casts a worried look over her shoulder at the path they just came up.

"What is it Ariel?" Thundarr asks her, "What has you so frightened?"

"I know what we're dealing with," she replies, "I know what happened in the village."

"What?"

"Zombies. The village was attacked by zombies."

"Zawm-beeez?" asks Thundarr, pronouncing it slowly as he always does while learning new words.

"The living dead," Ariel explains, "Animated corpses which have become beings of pure instinct. They exist only to feed and procreate. They have no fear except for an animalistic instinctual fear of fire. And their bite is deadly poisonous. Anyone bitten by a zombie is doomed to become one themselves."

"Demon dogs!" says Thundarr, "So that explains the bodies in the village!"

"Yes," says Ariel, "Those that lay rotting with severe head wounds weren't the villagers. They were zombies killed by the villagers while trying to defend themselves. Those that were stripped of all flesh are the villagers who couldn't escape. The only thing that kept them from rising as zombies themselves was the fact that they were completely devoured."

Ookla points towards the swamp and roars something in his own beastial language. Thundarr nods his head in agreement.

"Yes I see," he says, "There are lots of these. . . zombies, in the swamp down below."

Princess Ariel looks down at the swamp, and by the silvery light of the broken moon as well as the growing light of the spreading fires of the abandoned village of Cisco, she can see the unmistakable image of zombies walking unsteadily through the swamps. They all seem to be heading towards a large rocky hill in the distance. Her eyes widen in surprise and she points towards the hilltop. There, in the distance, is an ancient fortress built on top of the rocky hill. And in the windows and courtyard of that fortress are the lights of dozens of torches and campfires. She grabs the barbarian's shoulder to get his attension and then points to the hill.

"Thundarr! Look!"

"Lords Of Light!" exclaims Thundarr, "There are people in that ancient fort! Kwan and the other villagers must have barricaded themselves in there when the zombies came!"

"They chose wisely," says Ariel, "That fort is an ancient prison. It was called Alcatraz. No one had ever escaped from Alcatraz in all the years the prison was being used. And the hill it's on, that used to be Alcatraz Island. Before The Great Catastrophe that entire swamp was a bay, called San Francisco Bay, which led into The Pacific Ocean. It would be difficult for you and me to climb those rocky slopes. For something as unco-ordenated as zombies, they must be having a very difficult time just getting to the ancient prison."

"They'll need our help!" Thundarr says, "Can your magic get us inside the prison grounds?"

"We're too far away," she tells him, "I can't conjure a bridge that big."

"How about transporting us magically, like you did when you got the cure for the victims of The Raiders Of The Abyss?"

"That spell will get me there, but I can't take you and Ookla with me."

"Can we get closer to this Alcatraz? So that you can conjure your bridge?"

"Not without us becoming completely surrounded by zombies. I could conjure a shield to protect us as we ride into the swamp, just as I did when we rode out of Cisco, but I'd have to drop it so that I can conjure the bridge. That will leave us surrounded by zombies and vulnerable for the few seconds it'll take for me to conjure the bridge. And with that many zombies, a few seconds are a few more than you'll have to spare."

"Then how can we get into Alcatraz to help Kwan and his people?" asks Thundarr.

"I have an idea," Ariel tells him, "but we'll have to find somewhere safe where we can hide out for a little while. Somewhere where the zombies can't get to us."

"The village of Beverly isn't far from here," says Thundarr, "We can go there and plan our next move."

"Good idea Thundarr," Ariel agrees, "We should warn Ayrlo and his people about the zombies anyway, assuming they didn't travel through Beverly on their way to Cisco."

Thundarr's white stallion rears up on its hind legs, "Ariel! Ookla! Riiiiide!"

And the three of them gallop off towards the town of Beverly to warn their old friends about the danger they're in, and hopefully find a way to help the people of Cisco.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Two

It takes many days of hard riding to get from Cisco to Beverly, but eventually the three heroes arrive in the small community. Thankfully, the journey between the two villages was an uneventful one. An even greater sense of relief is felt by the heroes as they discover that the zombies had not yet arrived in this village. The village leader Ayrlo comes out to greet his old friends.

"Welcome my friends!" Ayrlo calls to them, "It's good to see that you're well!"

"Greetings Ayrlo," replies Thundarr, "We are relieved to see that no harm has befallen you."

"Is there trouble?" asks Ayrlo.

"Cisco is under siege by zombies," explains Ariel, "We came here to warn you, and to plan our next move. Kwan and his people have barracaded themselves in the ruins of Alcatraz, but I don't know how long they can hold out."

"What can we do to help?"

"You need to get all your people into one fortified building. Load it up with food and supplies, and be prepared to barracade yourselves inside at the first sign of trouble."

"I know just the place," he tells her.

Ayrlo takes Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla to a large stone building in town, with stone steps leading up to the heavy front doors. There's an ancient bronze statue lying against the stairs, of a blindfolded woman holding a sword in one hand and a set of balance scales in the other. Princess Ariel nods her head in appreciation.

"This will do just fine," she says.

"What manner of place is this?" asks Thundarr.

"This is an old court house," Ariel tells him, "People accused of crimes would be brought here to be judged. Buildings such as these were built to last. With a little work, it'll be almost as defensable as Alcatraz."

Ariel, Ookla, and Thundarr then set about fixing up the ancient building to make it as zombie proof as possible. Thundarr goes into the holding cells in the sub-basement and uses his Sunsword to cut the bars from the cells. Ookla takes the bars upstairs to Ariel, who uses her magic to fuse them in place over the windows. They also use them to build a metal gate just inside the main doors, which can be locked. Ariel uses her magic to repair any structural damage done to the building itself. Thundarr and Ookla set up the main doors so that they can be barred from the inside. Meanwhile, Ayrlo and the people of Beverly go about clearing out the debris in the courtrooms, and moving furniture, food, water, and supplies into the building. Soon there are enough supplies to wait out a very long siege. Once the building has been fortified, Ariel goes down into the sub-basement and makes herself comfortable in one of the former prison cells. The holding area is now their "panic area", where the villagers of Beverly will lock themselves if the zombies manage to break through the barred front doors and the locked iron gate. Ariel sits cross legged on the bed, closes her eyes, and begins to meditate, reaching out across the distances to seek out an ally. While Ariel is meditating, Thundarr and Ookla are adding to the defense of the old court house. The've been going around the ruins of Los Angeles and collecting ancient automobiles. They push the ancient vehicles to the court house then position them around the building, like circling the wagons of a wagon train. Thundarr then takes out his Sunsword and uses it to weld the vehicles together. Ookla then crushes the car rooftops flat, and they stack the ancient derelicts on top of each other. They've managed to build a wall two cars high and begin on a third level.

"This... would be... a lot... easier... if Ariel... could use... magic... to help." gasps Thundarr as he pushed an ancient Ford Mustang convertable.

Ookla growls in agreement. They don't know how long the people of Cisco can hold out in Alcatraz, or how long it will take an army of zombies to march from Alcatraz to Beverly, and every moment spent preparing Beverly for battle was a moment that Alcatraz might become over run by zombies. Just then they hear what sounds like the cry of a bird of prey off in the distance. They look up from their work to see a gigantic bird flying towards them, calling out repeatedly.

"Yeeeek! Yeeek!" cries the bird.

As the creature gets closer and closer, Thundarr sees what appears to be people riding on the birds back. Recognission dawns on the barbarian.

"Lords Of Light!" says Thundarr, "It can't be!"

Sitting on the back of the giant bird are two young adventurers. Up front is a red haired young woman wearing the furs and bone headdress of a barbarian, and carrying a club with animal teeth and an animal skull set into the top. She is Shara, a young but eager barbarian. Sitting behind her is her companion, a young man with long, light brown hair. He is a sorcerer named Merlik, and a student of Earths history. They had met Thundarr, Ookla, and Ariel years ago when they were only teenagers. Together, the five of them defeated Jurag and his tigerman mutants, spoiling his quest to become an evil wizard. They also defeated the legendary Sleeping Demon, which was in fact just an ancient science experiment gone horribly wrong. Now in their early twenties, they's appearently had a very successful adventuring career. They land their pet bird, Yeek, next to Thundarr and Ookla and jump down to the ground.

"Hey Thundarr. Ookla," says Merlik in greeting, "Fancy running over you here."

"What are you children doing here?" asks Thundarr.

"We are not children!" shouts Shara, "We helped you defeat Jurag and The Sleeping Demon! Remember? And that was years ago! We're far more powerful now!"

"Besides," add Merlik, "we were invited."

"Invited?" scoffs Thundarr, "Invited by who?"

"By me," says a voice from behind.

Thundarr turns around to see Princess Ariel standing in the doorway of the ancient court house. Her hair is matted to her face, and her body glistens with sweat as the effort of spellcasting had taken a physical toll on her. Thundarr shakes his head in disbelief.

"You can't be serious," he says.

"We need all the help we can get," Ariel tells him, in no mood for an arguement, "We can't get into Alcatraz by horse. We need Yeek to fly us in. And they've proven themselves to be very useful in a fight."

"What do you need our help with?" asks Shara.

"Right now I need Merlik's help in casting a spell," Ariel tells them, "and it looks like the boys here can use a hand building their wall."

"What kind of spell do you need my help with?" asks Merlik.

"I'm going to try and contact some people from Old Earth," Ariel explains, "Friends of ours who'll also be able to help."

"The three women of The Prophesy?" asks Thundarr.

"Exactly," replies Ariel, "They are a formiddable team. And after draining the power from The Gem Of Glory they're able to travel through time."

Ookla growls out an opinion, and Thundarr nods his head in agreement.

"You're right, old friend," says Thundarr, "Those three teamed up with us and these two youngsters would be a force to be reconed with."

"Come on," Ariel says to the young sorcerer, "It's going to take a lot more work contacting Valerie Storm than it did you. We'd best get started."

"Right off!" says Merlik, excited to be performing such a complex spell with someone as powerful and well known as Princess Ariel. The two sorcerers enter the building, and Ariel leads Merlik to the room she had comandeered as her casting chamber. They sit cross legged on the bed, facing each other, lace their fingers together as though they were about to have a test of strength, then close their eyes and send their thoughts through time and space, back to the Twentieth Century.

Back in the year 1988, Valerie Storm is relaxing in her apartment with her two roommates, Queen Maya of Endor and Synda from The Valley Of Death. They had met in the year 3996, when the evil wizard Vashtar kidnapped Valerie in order to prevent the prophesy that the three of them would cause his defeat. After vanquishing the wizard, the three of them travelled back to the year 1982, where they have been living ever since. Valerie moved out of her one bedroom apartment shortly afterward, and got a three bedroom apartment so that the three of them could live together. Also, after living their entire lives in a time and place when magic and monsters are a day to day reality, she wanted to make sure they adjusted to living in the twentieth century. The three of them are sitting around watching television. After six years, Synda and Maya are still fascinated by this form of entertainment. Synda helps herself to a large slice of pizza from the delivery box and takes a big bite, which she washes down with a mouthful of cola.

"This Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling is very exciting," Synda says after a very unladylike belch, "Maybe I should become a GLOW girl."

"That's not such a bad idea," agrees Maya, "You're a better fighter than any of those women, that's for sure."

"I wouldn't mind if you were to earn your share of the rent," Valerie adds, "Modeling careers don't last forever, and I'm tired of being the only one here with an income. But you are aware that those matches are fixed right?"

"What?" asks Synda, "Wrestling is fake?"

Valerie laughs, gets up off the sofa and heads towards the kitchen. "I need a refill," she says, " Can I get you girls anything?"

"I'll have another cola," says Synda.

"More iced tea please," ads Maya.

As she's walking towards the kitchen, Valerie begins to feel dizzy. She stumbles and leans against the wall, holding her head. Maya, and Synda get up and rush over to her.

"Are you alright?" asks Maya, "What's wrong?"

"It's Ariel," Valerie tells them, "she's contacting me. She, Thundarr, and Ookla need our help."

"Why?" asks Synda, "What's happening?"

"I don't know," admits Valerie, "but the message seems urgent. We have to go! Now!"

Valerie hurries towards her bedroom, pealing off her t-shirt and taking off her bra as she goes. Synda and Maya hed to their bedrooms as well. Soon they gather together back in the living room. They're all wearing the clothes they wore six years ago when they first banded together to defeat the evil wizard Vashtar. Valerie is wearing sandals and a backless red dress which allows her to angel-like wings to sprout from her back. Maya wears the white dress and a golden crown she used to wear as Queen of Endore. And Synda is wearing the leather garments of a warrior and carrying her Staff Of Power, which amplifies it's wielder's strength by tenfold. They all join hands in a circle, close their eyes, and say in a unified voice, "Let our powers be joined!" Then in a flash of bright light, the three women vanish.

In the year 4000 AD, Thundarr and Ookla find that the young barbarian Shara is far more helpful in building their wall than they had at first believed. Shara would fly about the ruins of Los Angeles on Yeek, and whenever she'd spot an ancient automobile Yeek would grab it in his talons and carry it back to Thundarr and Ookla. The mok would flatten the tops of the cars and place them on the wall, then Thundarr would weld them together with his Sunsword. By the time they're finishing the fourth layer of cars, Ariel and Merlik emerge from the ancient building with Valerie, Synda, and Maya in tow.

"Nice work fellas," says Ariel, "Once this wall is high enough, it'll be impossible for any zombies to climb over."

"Zombies?" asks Valerie.

"Yes," says Ariel, "The village of Cisco is over run. The survivors have barricaded themselves in the ruins of Alcatraz, but we don't know how much longer they can hold out. We need to get to them soon, but first we need to get the town of Beverly fortified. If we're too late, we'll need a fallback position."

"Makes sense," says Synda, "So what are we waiting for? Let's get to work building this wall!"

With the aid of Ariel, Merlik, and Synda, the wall is built in short order. Synda is able to use her Staff Of Power to help Ookla flatten the tops of the vehicles, while Ariel and Merlik use their magic to lift them into place and help Thundarr weld them together. Valerie flies about the ruins of the city scrounging together anything else they can use as raw building materials, while Maya helps several villagers scavenge anything that can be used as a weapon. By nightfall, the wall is completed. The've used the back ends of a couple of old delivery trucks with steel doors which swing outwards as the gates. The also welded some sliding bolts into place to lock both sets of doors. They built a pair of guard towers on the inside of the gates out of old swing sets, jungle gyms, and scaffolding. They also put a similar tower in each corner. Now they've gathered Ayrlo and the rest of the villagers of Beverly together for a crash course in battling zombies. They've set up a series of ancient store manequins to help with their demonstrations.

"Rule #1!" begins Ariel, "Is there is only three ways to kill a zombie. The first, is to destroy the brain. The best way to do this is to shoot them in the head with a bow or crossbow. This kills them while keeping you at a safe distance."

She nods her head at Shara, who shoots a manequin in the head with a crossbow.

"Or you can smash their skulls with a heavy, blunt object, such as a hammer or a club."

Again she nods her head, this time to Synda who smashes a manequins head with her staff.

"You can even cleave their skulls with an ax, or pierce their brains with a spear or pick ax. You need to be careful in doing this however, as your weapon could become stuck in the zombie's skull leaving you vulnerable to attack."

She nods her head, and Maya buries an ax into the head of a manequin.

"Second choice," Thundarr continues, "is decapitation! However you might not be able to cut off the zombie's head with a single stroke. Spending time hacking away at one zombie's neck will leave you vulnerable to attack by other zombies!"

He then demonstrates by decapitating a manequin with his Sunsword.

"Third choice," says Merlik, "is incineration! If a zombie is burned bad enough, it will not be able to continue to function!" He then holds up a glass bottle with a rag stuffed into it, "This is a molatov coctail! It is a mixture of lamp oil and honey! Just light the fuse and throw!"

Merlik then lights the rags and throws it at a manequin. The glass shatters and the manequin goes up in flames.

"Rule #2!" says Valerie, "Is to protect yourself at all times. If you must fight zombies up close, you should make sure every part of your body is covered. Leave no exposed flesh! Wear metal armor if you can! If you can't, then wear leather! Anything that'll be hard to bite through!"

"How'd you know that?" asks Synda.

"I've seen George Romero's movies," Valerie replies.

"Who?"

"Nevermind."

"Rule #3!" says Shara, "There's no cure for a zombie's bite! If any of you are bitten, the kindest thing you can do for them is cut off their head before they change."

"Rule #4!" says Synda, "There are no such things as 'Moral Dilemmas'. People turned into zombies are no longer your friends, your neighbors, or your loved ones. They only see you as their next warm meal. And if you can't bring yourself to kill a zombie because it was a small child in life? Then you're going to be killed and eaten by that small child."

"Now arm yourselves and be vigilant!" says Thundarr, "If we can't stop the zombie horde at Alcatraz, it may very well come here next! If it does, lock yourselves behind this stell wall we've built. It's not pretty, but it'll keep you safe until help arrives."

The villagers all pick out their choice of bow, crossbow, hammer, ax, pickax, and other assorted weapons before heading back to their homes. Valerie turns to Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla.

"So what do we do now?" she asks.

"We get a good nights rest," says Ariel, "Merlik and I have exhausted our powers by contacting you, and with the preparations here. If we run into trouble on the way we won't be any good to anyone. We'll leave at first light when everyone is refreshed."

"Agreed," says Thundarr, "We all need rest. If Alcatraz has fallen, then one more night won't make any difference. And if it hasn't, then they ought to be able to hold out for one day more."

And with that the eight heroes went into the old courthouse to bed down for the night, all hoping that they weren't too late to save the people of Cisco.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Three

Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla awaken with the coming of dawn. Soon Shara, Merlik, Valerie, Maya, and Synda are all awake as well. After a quick, cold breakfast of fruits, nuts, and cheese, the eight heroes prepare to leave for Alcatraz. There's not enough room on Yeek's back to carry five people. Ariel agrees to ride on Yeek's back with Shara and Merlik, while Thundarr and Ookla (grudgingly) agree to be carried in Yeek's talons.

"What about us?" asks Valerie, "I can fly myself, but there's no way I'll be able to carry Maya and Synda. My wings aren't strong enough."

"I will hold onto your back and assume the form of helium," says Maya, "That should make us light enough to not be too great a burden on your wings."

"And you can use my Staff Of Power to hold me with," adds Synda, "With ten times the strength, your wings ought to be able to support our combined weight easily."

"It's settled then," says Shara, "Let's go!"

Shara climbs aboard Yeek's back, with Merlik getting on behind her and Princess Ariel sitting right behind him. Yeek lets out a loud cry as he starts flapping his wings and rising up into the air. He then gently but firmly picks up Thundarr and Ookla in his talons and flies off towards the ruins of Cisco. Valerie Storm takes hold of Synda's Staff Of Power and wraps her arms around Synda's waist from behind. Maya walks up behind Valerie and wraps her arms around Valerie's waist. Then with hardly an effort, the former Queen Of Endore assumes the form of helium. Her body shifts and becomes transparent, but is still visible. Valerie stretches her wings and takes off, easily taking to the air with what should have been an impossibly heavy burden. The entire journey takes but a single day by air, which would've taken them days of hard riding by horseback through dense and dangerous jungle. The sun is just setting as they arrive upon the ruins of Alcatraz. To their collective relief, the fortress had not been overrun while they were making preparations in Beverly. But things are not looking good. The fortress is under attack by a massive horde of zombies. While the humans in the courtyard seem to be holding their ground in most places, one section of the ancient chain link fence which is protecting the courtyard has collapsed under the weight of the zombie horde and the undead are pouring in through the breech. Defenders are running to try and drive them back, but they are obviously tiring and the zombies are relentless. Yeek and Valerie head straight towards the breech in Alcatraz's defences. Once they're in range, Ookla fires an arrow from his powerful mok bow. The arrow buries itself to the fletchings in the skull of a zombie, felling it. Valerie Storm swoops past and lets go of Synda's Staff Of Power. The warrior woman falls several feet and smashes the skull of a zombie with her powerfully enchanted staff. Several more zombies crown around her in and attempt to bear her down with sheer numbers. She smashes their skulls, one after another. Moments later Maya falls from the sky, landing on several zombies with bone shattering impact. Maya had let go of Valerie at the same instant Valerie had let go of Synda. She then waited until she was just above a large group of zombies and changed form, from helium into iron. Zombies gather around her and try to bite and claw at her flesh, but they can't penetrate her iron skin. Yeek flies over head and Shara The Barbarian leaps from his back shouting her battle cry.

"Ha-yeeeeee!" she cries as she falls, using the momentum of her fall to smash the skull of the nearest zombie with her club.

A moment later Yeek lets go of Thundarr and Ookla, dropping them into the fray with the zombies.

"Yaaaaaaaa-heee!" cries Thundarr as he drops, letting out his own battle cry.

Ookla roars as he drops down into the zombie horde. As they're falling Thundarr takes out his Sunsword and ignites the blade, cutting a zombie in two as he lands. Ookla uses his mok bow as a club and smashes the skull of a zombie as he lands. He then quickly smashes the skulls of two more, then launches an arrow at a third. At this close range the arrow goes clean through the zombie's skull, continues on, then buries itself into the brain of a second zombie, killing them both. Meanwhile Thundarr is lopping off zombie heads with his mighty Sunsword, sometimes two or three at a time. Up above, Ariel and Merlik are circling the perimeter of Alcatraz, launching fireballs at the gathering horde of the undead. Dozens of zombies fall to the blasts of their spells. Others burst into flames and flail about, forcing the other zombies to back away. And hovering overhead near the breech is Valerie Storm, blasting zombie heads with energy beams from her eyes. Every time Valerie blasts a zombie with her eye beams, the zombie's head explodes and the body collapses to rot in the dirt. The defenders are heartened by the arrival of reinforcements and fight harder. But even with the sudden press of defence, for every zombie that falls there seems to be two to take its place. Yeek makes a pass overhead and Ariel and Merlik launch a pair of fireballs on either side of the break in the chain link fence. Many zombies just outside the fence fall in a heap, burned to a crisp. Others are flailing about like human torches. However the relief gives Thundarr, Ookla, Shara, Synda, Maya, and Valerie, as well the other defenders of Alcatraz a chance to kill all of the zombies that had made it into the courtyard.

"There's too many of them," says Shara, "We can't beat them all."

"We need time to regroup," says Valerie, "We need to be able to repair that chain link fence and fortify our other defenses."

"We have to get the zombies to back off," says Maya, "if only for a little while."

"I have an idea!" says Synda, "Ookla! Come with me!"

Synda smashes a bunch of zombie skulls and then dashes towards the centre of the courtyard. Ookla backs away from the fighting firing arrow after arrow at the zombies, each one striking a zombie in the head. Sometimes even taking out two at a time. Once he's clear of the fighting he turns and runs over to the warrior woman. She hands Ookla her Staff Of Power.

"Here," she says, "take this and strike the ground with it as hard as you can?"

Ookla makes a questioning growl, essentially the mok equivilant of saying "Huh?"

"Just do it!" she tells him, "Trust me!"

Ookla takes the magic staff and raises it over his head, then brings it down and strikes the ground with all his might. The staff strikes against the earth with a resounding crack, and the ground shakes.

"Again!" says Synda, "Keep hitting the ground! Don't stop!"

Ookla does as he's told. Ookla is strong enough to lift a coulder several times his size and throw it with ease. Synda's Staff Of Power increases it's wielder's strength by tenfold. In the hands of a mok, especially one as strong as Ookla, the staff is formidable indeed. The entire hill of Alcatraz Island shakes under the relentless blows of Ookla and the magic staff. Zombies, already clumsy and uncoordinated, fall from their precarious positions as they attempt to climb up the side of the hill. Loose rocks and boulders shake free and tumble down the hill, knocking over zombies as they come tumbling down, and crashing into the living corpses at the bottom of the hill. Many large rocks strike zombie skulls with bone crushing impact. Other zombies are buried under tons of rocks and mud, unable to move to dig themselves free. In a matter of moments, the sides of the hill which was once Alcatraz Island which were crawling with the living dead are now free of zombies. Those undead left at the top of the hill and inside the courtyard are quickly and easily dispatched. Ookls keeps pounding the ground with The Staff Of Power, despite the fact that all the zombies have been cleared off the hill.

"Ookla!" says Synda, "That's enough! You can stop now! We've won!"

Ookla looks around and sees that Synda is right. He was so busy creating the earthquake that he didn't realize that the fighting had stopped. He hands the Staff Of Power over to Synda and offers an apologetic shrug. Synda takes her magic staff and gives it a quick inspection for damage. Luckily the enchantment of the weapon is so great that even mighty Ookla's great strength could not damage it. Synda smiles up at the mok.

"That's okay," she tells him, "You managed to win the day for us."

Thundarr, Shara, and Maya walk through the strewn bodies, finishing off any zombies that aren't quite dead yet and preventing any fallen defenders from rising as enemies. The other defenders go about collecting the weapons of any fallen defenders to redistribute to the other villagers. Good weapons are too rare to waste by just leaving them lying around. Valerie Storm continues to fly about the perimeter of Alcatraz, blasting any zombies that begin to climbe up the hill with her eye beams. Meanwhile, Yeek lands in the courtyard and allows Ariel and Merlik to climb off his back. The two sorcerers walk over to where the battle was nearly lost.

"Is this everyone who fell?" asks Ariel.

"Aye," says Thundarr, "And all the zombies we destroyed as they entered the courtyard."

"Thank you for your help," says a large defender with the build of a blacksmith, "We've recovered everything of value from our lost brethren. All that's left to do is dispose of the bodies."

"I'll take care of that," says Ariel.

The sorceress holds her hands out towards the pile of dead bodies and unleashes a burst of flames. The fire encompases the entire pile. Bodies whither and burn as the fires continue to leap from Ariel's hands. The heat is nearly overwhelming to those standing near by and they have to back away. In a matter of minutes the bodies are all burned to ash, both zombie and defender alike. Then Ariel conjures up a gust of wind that blows the ashes out over the swamp.

"Now let's take care of that broken fence," says Merlik.

The young sorcerer steps up and raises his hands over his head. Beams of green light shoot forth from his palms, enveloping the entire broken section of fence in a green glow. The rust disappears and the steel links of the fence reform. The broken steel wire which held the fence to the steel frames repair themselves. The steel links reattach themselves to the metal frame, and the ancient strands of barbed wire and razor wire once again grace the top of the fence. Merlik then starts working his way around the perimeter of the fence, repairing the centuries of rust and damage that had accumilated over time as well as any damage caused by the zombie horde. While he's doing this an old man with a long white beard and wearing red robes approaches Thundarr, Ariel, and the others.

"Thank you for your help my friends," says the old man, "We are grateful for your aid."

"Kwan!" cries Princess Ariel happily, "You're alive!" She runs up and gives the old man a warm hug, "We were afraid you might not have survived the zombie's attack."

"We have spent years stockpiling food and drink in this ancient prison so that we may take refuge here during emergensies," explains Kwan.

"And it is a good thing you did," says Thundarr, "or you may not have survived long enough for us to bring help."

"Who are your friends that you have brought to aid us in our fight?" asks Kwan.

"Forgive me," says Ariel, "This here is Queen Maya, an Eliment Shifter. With her is Synda, a warrior woman with an enchanted Staff Of Power. Flying about the fortress is Valerie Storm, you can see her powers for yourself. This young lady here is Shara The Barbarian. And the young man going about fixing your steel fence is her companion, the sorcerer Merlik."

"Yeek! Yeek! Yeek!" says Yeek, and Ariel laughs.

"Oh yes! This is Yeek, their faithful steed."

Yeek puffs out his chest like a giant barnyard rooster and everyone has a good laugh. They sober up quickly though, for they may have won the battle but the war was far from over.

"I am surprised that you have not been completely over run," says Thundarr, "Your metal fence seems hardly capable of holding back that zombie horde, even without the rust. We fully expected the entire courtyard to be filled with zombies."

"We have learned of a new weapon to use against the zombies," says Kwan, "Here, let me show you."

Kwan takes the new arrivals to a large stone building which appears to be a new addition to the compound. He opens the large double doors and leads them into what appears to be a huge barn. In the centre of this structure is a great big machine, with heavy cables leading from it and going to the walls. Ariel follows the lines of cables and sees that they are attached to the steel fence. She looks back at the machine. There are a pair of, what looks like, giant hamster wheels built into the machine. And at the back of the building are several stables housing at least a dozen equarts. Realization strikes Ariel like a bolt of lightning.

"It's a generator!" she exclaims, "You've electrified the fence!"

"Yes," says Kwan, "When we first fled our village, there was a terrible thunderstorm. One of the zombies had an iron poker driven through his chest by someone attempting to defend themselves. When we were running, we saw him get struck by lightning. He fell and did not rise again. So when all who could be saved reached the fortress, we attached cables from the power generator to the fence. We've had our equarts running in their wheels constantly ever since. Unfortunately, the equarts are tired. They cannot make much more than a steady trot. In order to repel the zombies, they have to run at a full gallop. Anything less just doesn't generate enough power."

Just then Valerie lands just outside the doorway to the building. "We're not going to have a lot of time to catch our breath," she tells them, "The zombies are already on the move. It's tough going, but they are making their way back up the hill. I've been trying to slow them down, but I can only eliminate one at a time."

"Maybe I can buy us a little more time," says Ariel.

She raises her hands above her head and disappears in a puff of yellow smoke. She reappears just outside the perimeter of the fence. She reaches her hands out towards the ground, and beams of bright white energy shoot forth from her palms and strike the ground. Where the beams hit the earth, ice begins to form. Then it begins to spread, out and down. The ice spreads and spreads until the entire sides of Alcatraz Island are covered in a sheet of ice three feet thick and as smooth as glass. Ariel carefully looks over the ledge, being mindful not to slip down the side of the hill. By the light of the broken moon she can see zombies determinedly trying to climb up the slick icy surface. She smiles and once again disappears in a puff of yellow smoke to reappear alongside her friends.

"That ought to hold them for a while," she says, "That ice won't last long in this climate, but I think I bought us at least a day of rest."

"Good," says Thundarr, "Then tonight we rest. Tomorrow we will work on improving our defenses."

"Kwan," says Ariel, "What can you tell me about these zombies? Do they roam the countryside? Or do they seem intent on destroying you personally?"

"They seem quite content to only attack us Ariel," says Kwan, "They don't seem to want to move beyond the swamp."

"How long have they been behaving like this?" she asks.

"Since they first arrived," replies Kwan, "About a week ago."

"And no changes to their behavior?"

"None that we could see."

"Why are you asking him these things?" asks Thundarr, "What difference does it make if they're intent on destroying the people of Cisco or just roaming about?"

"Because Thundarr," explains Ariel, "The fact that they're intent on attacking this fortress means that they're being controlled by someone. Specifically by a wizard. And since they never lose their focus on these people, that means that the wizard has not slept for at least a week."

"How do you know this?" asks Shara.

"Zombies are not creatures of nature, they're creations of magic. Created by wizards using an extremely dark form of sorcery call necromancy or death magic. In order to control a zombie horde, a wizard must maintain complete concentration. He cannot relax his concentration for a moment, not even to sleep, or he loses control and the zombies run wild. Wild zombies will kill and eat any living thing they meet, even their own creators. That is why so few wizards will practice necromancy, and even fewer will create zombie soldiers. It's too difficult to maintain control. The last wizard who tried was named Necros, who lived in Australia over two hundred years ago. His zombie army had grown so large that one night, while he slept, they were able to break out of their pens and run amock. They killed and ate all of Necros' carock guards, then went into his bed chamber and killed him too. Then without Necros to control them, they just went wild. They cut a swath through the countryside, killing every living thing in their path. No one and nothing was safe. Humans, carocks, dingo warriors, moks, mutants, groundlings, the zombies went after them all. Only a handful of the living inhabitants of Australia managed to escape on ships. Everyone else was either eaten or turned into a zombie themselves. For decades the entire continent of Australia was populated entirely by zombies, until several ships carrying sorcerers and armored warriors landed there on a crusade to whipe the zombie plague from the face of the Earth. Many crusaders died during that campaign. But eventually, Australia was made safe for living creatures to inhabit once more."

"So after a week of constantly controlling his zombie army, this wizard must be exhausted," reasons Shara.

"Exactly," says Ariel.

"But if we destroy the wizard controlling the zombies, wouldn't we be dooming the world to another wild zombie plague?" asks Thundarr.

"Not necessarily," says Ariel, "In order to cast the spell to create the zombies, a wizard must first create a Death Talisman. Death Talismans are items created by the wizard out of a piece of his own body. It could be a glass vial of his blood, a braided lock of his hair, a bag with his teeth or nail clippings inside, anything like that. If we can find the wizard, take his talisman, and destroy it, all zombies created by his spell will cease to exist. They'll just die."

"So now all we have to do is find out who this wizard is, beat him, take his talisman, and destroy it, and we've won!" says Valerie, "Piece of cake!"

"I don't think it'll be quite that easy," says Ariel, "but that is the general idea."

"Then tonight we get some rest!" says Thundarr, "Tomorrow we add to the fortress's defences. Once we know that Alcatraz is as defended as it can be, Ariel, Ookla and I will seek out this wizard and destroy him!"

"Hey!" says Shara, "What about us?"

"The rest of you will stay here and help defend Alcatraz," he tells her, "If we do not return, you will be the only hope for the people of Cisco."

"That makes sense to me," says Valerie, "Besides, without our help Cisco might fall to the zombie horde before Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla finish their mission."

"Exactly," says Thundarr

"Oh, all right," agrees Shara, and Valerie flashes a quick wink and a smile at Thundarr to let him know she understands his true reasoning. Thundarr smiles and nods his head in a silent 'Thanks'.

Kwan then leads them all inside and shows them where they can spend the night.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Four

The companions awake early the next morning. After a hardy breakfast, they go to work helping Kwan and his people improve their defenses. Princess Ariel and Merlik go about the ancient prison and use their magics to repair the damage to the buildings caused by centuries of neglect. While they're doing this Shara, Maya, Synda, and Ookla go about to all the ancient guard towers and equip them with bows and arrows, crossbows and crossbow bolts, molotav coctails, as well as heavy stones which can be dropped on the heads of advancing zombies. Of course if the people manning the guard towers find that they need to drop heavy rocks onto the zombies, then all hope for saving themselves is pretty much lost. While they're doing all this, Thundarr borrows Yeek and, with the aid of the winged Valerie Storn, goes about collecting as much firewood as he possibly can. He and Yeek fly to a wide clearing in the forrest where there are no zombies around to be seen. Thundarr dismounts and begins cutting down large trees with his Sunsword. Valerie gathers up smaller bits of firewood, dry fallen branches and tinder and such. Then Thundarr climbs on Yeek's back and they fly back to Alcatraz, with Yeek carrying a fallen tree in his talons. They drop the firewood off in the courtyard of the ancient prison, where dozens of men with axes cut the tree up into more managable pieces. They would then start building huge mounds of firewood. Starting off with tinder and kindling. Over that they would set up heavier and heavier logs, almost like they were building some sort of shelter. Eventually they stack up logs so large only Ookla could lift them, or Synda with the aid of her Staff Of Power. They build several of these mounds next to the fence. Then they build more around the courtyard. The idea is to play on the zombies instinctual fear of fire. Should the zombies break through the electrified fence again, the defenders would throw lighted torches into the tinder and kindling in the heart of each wood structure. The woodpiles would go up in flames and any zombies that are trying to get through the breach in the electric fence would be too scared to enter the courtyard. At least, that was the hope.

Thundarr and Valerie are on their last trip into the woods. In addition to help carrying the smaller pieces of wood for kindling and tinder, Valerie was also acting as Thundarr's lookout. With her ability to fly, her hawklike vision, and her ability to shoot energy beams from her eyes, she was the perfect back up for this mission. As Thundarr and Yeek fly off with their last tree, Valerie follows close behind with an armload of dry sticks. Just as she's flying past a huge fir tree, a zombie groundling leaps from the tree's upper branches and grabs Valerie's leg. She screams and drops her bundle of sticks, flapping her wings harder to try to stay aloft.

"Valerie!" cries a concerned Thundarr.

The groundling bites her on the calf and she screams again. The zombie's ratlike teeth sink deep into her flesh. She looks down and blasts the groundling's skull with her eye beams. The zombie's skull explodes and it falls to the ground, dead. More zombies come out of the trees and into the clearing.

"Let's get back to Alcatraz," she says to Thundarr, and she leads the way to the fortified prison.

They get back to Alcatraz and the men and Ookla begin chopping up this last log. The sun is setting in the west, and Ariel's prediction of how long her ice spell would last was pretty much dead on. The ice had nearly completely melted away over the course of the day. By morning the zombies would be making their way up the hill again. Princess Ariel comes over to the two returning heroes to greet them and update them on the state of Alcatraz's defences when she sees Valerie's bloodied leg.

"What happened?" sha asks with genuine worry.

"Some zombie rat creature bit me," replies Valerie, "took a chunk right out of my leg."

"The bird woman's been bitten!" cries one of the villagers, a big burly fellow with an axe, "Get her! Before she kills us all!"

"No! Stop!" cries Ariel, and she creates a wall of magical energy between the advancing villagers and themselves. Kwan comes over to try and mediate.

"She was bitten by a zombie!" cries the first villager, pointing his finger at Valerie.

"She must be destroyed!" cries another.

"Is this true?" asks Kwan, "Was she bitten?"

"She was," says Ariel, "But that's no reason to kill her. Not yet."

"She has not turned yet," says Kwan, "But she will soon. I'm afraid it is the only way to ensure our safety."

"No..." begins Ariel, but Valerie puts her hand on the sorceress's shoulder.

"It's okay," says Valerie, "I've seen enough Romero films to know that he's right. In all of them, Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Day Of The Dead, once you're bitten you're done for. And what about my powers? Zombies are beings of pure instinct. The first time I ever used my eye beams in my fight against Vashtar, it was purely instinctual. What if my zombie self can also shoot energy beams from her eyes? Any conventional defences against zombies will be useless. I can't die with that possibility looming over my head."

"Look," says Ariel, "if we were dealing with a horde of wild zombies it would be different. But these are controlled zombies. Thundarr, Ookla and I were already planning on tracking down the wizard that's pulling their strings. All this means is that we have that much more incentive to break his evil spell."

"It will be some time before the venom kills her," says Kwan.

"How long does she have?" asks Thundarr.

"By the time the sun sets tomorrow she will be one of the living dead," he replies.

"Then we must make haste," says Thundarr, "We leave tonight!"

"Will you keep Valerie safe until we get back?" Ariel asks Kwan.

"She will begin feeling ill very soon. By noon tomorrow she will be too sick to move. I can guarantee her safety until dusk. Once the sun is about to touch the horizon, one of us will have to remove her head. It is better than the alternative."

"I will," says Synda, who had been listening quietly the entire time, "It's the least I can do for her."

"I can accept that," says Valerie.

Princess Ariel solomnly nods her head and lowers her magical shield. Synda and Maya lead Valerie into Alcatraz to take her to the infermory to treat her leg. Meanwhile, Shara and Merlik walk up to Thundarr.

"So where do we go first?" asks Merlik.

"You aren't going anywhere," replies Thundarr, "Ariel, OOkla, and I are going to head out towards Kublai's old fortress. This wizard may have taken it over as his own."

"You can't leave us behind!" protests Merlik, "We're notchildren anymore!"

"Besides," adds Shara, "Yeek is our bird! If we don't go, neither does he!"

"This isn't about us thinking you're too young," Ariel interjects, "We know that you're older, wiser, and more powerful than you were when we first met. You've already proven that. But with Valerie out of commission, your magic is the village's most powerful weapon against the zombies. If we don't make it back, it'll be up to you to find a way to evacuate the people of Cisco to somewhere safe."

"If something should happen to us," says Thundarr, "we will send Yeek back to you. You can decide where to go from there."

Shara and Merlik look to each other for support. After a moment or two of silent contemplation, they both nod their heads in agreement.

"All right," agrees Merlik, "We'll stay."

"It is the wisest move to make," says Ariel, "The villagers aren't trained warriors. They'll need your guidance."

"Just try and come back in one piece," says Shara, "I don't like the idea of being the only heroic barbarian wandering these lands."

"Agreed," says Thundarr with a smile. Despite himself, he finds that he's grown quite fond of the young barbarian.

Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla all climb aboard Yeek's back. With only a couple of flaps of his great powerful wings, Yeek is airborn and heading off to try and find the wizard responsible for this atrocity. As they're flying off they look down to see a host of zombies trying to climb up the side of the hill. The ice from Ariel's spell has pretty much melted away. The zombies are climbing higher and higher with each attempt. They still reach an icy patch here or there, or they try and grab a boulder that's slick from melted ice water, and come tumbling down. Sometimes they hit their heads on large sharp rocks and never rise again. Other times they just get right back up and continue climbing. It would almost be funny if it weren't for the fact that they were trying to kill the hero's friends. Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla all know that by dawn the zombies will be reaching the top of the hill and will then continue their assault on Alcatraz.

"Do you think they'll succeed?" asks Shara.

"If anyone can, it'll be those three," replies Merlik.

The two young adventurers go back inside Alcatraz and begin taking command of the defences, making final last minute preparations. When those zombies come back, they intend to be ready for them.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Five


Yeek flies all night long carrying Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla, and they have yet to spot the wizards fortress. The sun begins to rise over the eastern horizon, and they know that time is running out. The zombies will be making it to the gates of Alcatraz soon. And what's worse, their friend Valerie Storm will soon be turning into a zombie herself. Finally, as the sun begins to climb higher into the morning sky, they see what must be the wizards fortress. It's old and falling into disrepair, but it still looks quite formidable. The towers reach up high into the sky, and the walls, while covered with vines and ivy, are still very thick and sturdy looking. Thundarr steers Yeek towards the top of the tallest tower, guessing that that would be where this wizard would keep his main chamber. Down below in the courtyard Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla spot several figures roaming about. By their unsteady gait and stiff movements, the three heroes guess them to be zombies, further proof that they have the right place. Yeek lands on the roof of the tallest tower. The barbarian, sorceress, and mok climb down off of Yeeks back. Thundarr pats the great bird on the rump and Yeek takes to the air once more. Thundarr takes out his Sunsword and ignites the blade.

"Whoever this wizard is," he tells his companions, "I doubt we will take him easily. We must be cautious."

Ookla gives an affirmative growl and nocks an arrow to his mok bow. Instead of his usual stun arrows, he now has a quiver full of razor sharp hunting arrows. He knows what will happen to him if he allows himself to be bitten by one of these zombies, and he has no intension of allowing that to happen.

"It can't possibly be this easy," whispers Ariel, "No wizard would ever leave the roof of their fortress unguarded."

As if in answer, the doors to the tower slide open and out step a host of guards. The three heroes can tell by the guards faces that they are undead, but there's something different about these guards. For one thing they're wearing armour. Of course this could simply be what they were wearing when they died, but that's not all that's unusual about them. They also move with a grace and ease they'd never seen from a zombie before, which were always slow and uncoordinated. And they're all carrying spears, which is highly unusual for zombies according to everything Princess Ariel had ever read on the subject. Ariel points her outstretched hands at two of the guards and blasts them with bolts of magic. Green energy leaps from her hands and incinerates the two guards heads, dropping them to the ground. Ookla shoots one, then another, and then a third with arrows from his great mok longbow. The arrows strike each of them in the head, piercing the brain and destroying the undead things. One of the undead guards tries to scewer Thundarr with its spear, but Thundarr cuts the weapon in two with his Sunsword and then quickly decapitates the undead guard. Another guard tries the same tactic against the barbarian. Just like the first time Thundarr cuts the spear in half, but this time when he tries to decapitate the guard it ducks under the flaming blade of the Sunsword and then sweeps Thundarr's legs out from under him. It quickly draws its sword from its belt and, after a quick and fancy florish, thrusts the blade towards the barbarian's heart. Thundarr rolls out of the way just in time, causing the thing to stab his blade into the floor roof. Thundarr nips up to his feet and starts slashing his Sunsword at the guard. Amazingly, the guard ducks and dodges every attack. Finally the guard tries to attack with its own sword, but Thundarr's parry cuts right through the guards steel blade and continues on to decapitate its owner.

"Well, that was new," says Ariel, "At least these things die the same as regular zombies."

"Enough talk!" says Thundarr, "We must find this wizard and destroy his talisman quickly, or else Valerie is doomed."

The three of them enter the guard room on the tower roof. Inside they find an elevator. They enter the elevator and Ariel presses a button which she guesses will take them to the wizard's main chamber. The elevator stops and the doors slide open, revealing a long hallway that's litereally packed with flesh eating zombies. The zombies turn and begin clambering towards the three heroes. Thinking quickly, Princess Ariel launches a sphere of flames down the hall, which gets larger and larger as it rolls along, engulphing all the zombies in its path, until it eventually explodes as it strikes the wall at the far end of the hall, destroying all of the zombies in their path. She quickly raises a shield to protect the three of them from the flames racing back at them from the explosion.

"Oolka and I could have taken them," says Thundarr.

"We don't have time for long drawn out battles," Ariel reminds him, "Valerie and the people at Alcatraz need us to do this quick."

Ookla roars in agreement.

"Very well," agrees Thundarr, "lead on."

They walk down the corridor, stepping over the charred bodies of the slain zombies as they go. They reach the door and find it locked. What's worse, the locking mechanism is fused from Ariel's fire spell. Thundarr cuts through the door with his Sunsword and Ookla kicks it in. The three of them charge in ready for anything.... at least so they thought. But nothing could have prepared them for the sight which was before them. Standing there, in front of a great computer screen, stands the wizard Kublai whom they had conquered before. But that wasn't what they found so surprising. Not the fact that the wizard in question was Kublai, nor even the fact that he had found a way to get his powers back. What has then in such a state of shock was that Kublai was undead. His skin is stretched taught over his skeletal face. His purple clothing hangs off of his skeletal frame as though on a famine victim. His eyes are no longer in their sockets, just deep black holes with baleful red pinpoints of light glaring out at them. Kublai throws his head back and laughs an evil, hollow laugh, devoid of any human emotion.

"Demon dogs!" exclaims Thundarr.

"Kublai!" gasps Ariel, "Impossible!"

Ookla roars in defiance and Kublai laughs even harder.

"No Ariel," says Kublai, "Not impossible. You defeated me as a mortal, but now I am so much more. I am not just a wizard, I am one of the undead. A lich! And you are about to join my army of the dead!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it, wizard!"

Kublai laughs again and presses a button on his control panel. A door off to the side slides open and in walks several skeletal figures, all wearing black uniforms with white trim which Ariel recognises as being the traditional uniforms of people who study the art of kung fu. They each carry a weapon which is a traditional part of that specific martial art. One of them carries a twin pair of hook swords. Another has a pair of sai. Another has a pair of short wooden poles, about 2' long each, commonly known as Filipino Sticks. One carries a spear, much like what the guards on the roof had. Another carries a weapon that Ariel recognises as being called nunchuks. One carries a twin pair of swords, much like the one used by the guard Thundarr fought on the roof. Another carries a pair of Chinese broadswords, with curved blades which are wider near the tip. Another carries what is known as a three piece rod, a weapon very similar to nunchuks. The eight undead kung fu masters spread out and the undead wizard, Kublai, zaps the weapons of the first undead warrior with red energy beams from his eyes. The weapons glow red with mystical power. Then the glow spreads to the next warrior's weapons, then the next, then the next, until all eight kung fu masters are weilding enchanted kung fu weaponry. Then one by one they start twirling their weapons about in elaborate patterns. The red glow of their weapons make elaborate patterns in the air. It would be rather pretty if it weren't so ominous. The three undead kung fu masters with swords charge straight for Thundarr. The barbarian works his Sunsword back and forth furiously, desperate to keep the deadly whirling blades at bay. The ones with the blugeoning weapons head straight for Princess Ariel. The sorceress fires off blast after blast of magical energy at the undead martial artists, but unlike regular zombies they are too quick and agile. They duck and dodge her attacks until they're within striking distance. Ariel conjures a protective magical bubble around herself just in time to stop their nunchuks and Filipino sticks. The two with the spear and the twin sai attack Ookla. The mok grabs the enchanted spear by the shaft and throws its wielder across the room with little effort. Before the other undead martial artist can block, Ookla drives the spear right through the things skull, killing it. Before Ookla can even retract the weapon to use it again, his other opponent attacks him with an amazing flying kick. Ookla becomes bombarded with a flurry of fast paced punches and kicks that he can barely see, let alone anticipate or block. Finally he gets fed up and simply grabs the undead creature by the head with both massive hands and picks it up. Then with hardly an effort Ookla crushes the things skull. With his two opponents defeated, Ookla looks to try to help his friends. He grabs the spear and pulls it free of the corpse's head, or at least he tries to. What he actually succeeds in doing is pulling the corpse's head free of its body. He throws the spear at one of the undead swordsmen battling Thundarr and impales the skull of the one wielding the twin longswords.

The swordsman with the twin hook swords hooks the two blades together and whips them about at Thundarr. Thundarr ducks at the last minute and the weapons wind up accidentally decapitating the swordsman with the twin broadswords. Thundarr tries to take the offensive, but the undead warrior has his weapons in both hands again and is coming at the barbarian with a flurry of attacks that Thundarr is lucky to be able to parry. They wind up maneuvering under a bunch of low hanging power cables. The undead thing tries to Thundarr down with a double overhead downward slash. The hooked blades catch the cable and the swordsman is electrocuted. After the rotting flesh peals back from his skull, the swordsmen releases the weapons and drops dead at Thundarr's feet. Now the barbarian and the mok run over to help Ariel. The martial artist with the nunchuks whirls about and strikes Ookla with them. Ookla simply growls and grabs the undead master by the head with one massive hand and picks him up. Then with little if any effort, he squeezes and crushes its skull like an egg. The undead martial artist with the three piece rod attacks thundarr with it, while the one with Filipino sticks beats on Ariel's protective bubble like he's doing a drum solo. Thundarr deflects strike after strike from the rod with his Sunsword. Then when he decides to push the attack, the fiery enchanted blade of the Sunsword cuts right through the chains holding the rods together, then right through the skull of the undead thing wielding them. With only one undead martial artist left to fight, Ariel reverses her protective spell and traps the one with the Filipino sticks in a bubble. She then shrinks the bubble down until it crushes the unlife out of the thing trapped within. The three of them then turn as one to face Kublai.

"Congradulations!" laughs the evil lich, "Those were my most powerful Death Guards yet."

"Death Guards?" asks Ariel.

"A new form of undead of my own creation," explains Kublai, "They retain the skills they had in life, yet are as mindless and obedient as their more common zombie cousins."

"Enough talk!" says Thundarr, "Surrender now, wizard, or feel Thundarr's wrath!"

Kublai throws his head back and laughs his evil, maniacal laugh.

"Fool!" cries the lich, "You and the mok shall become my latest and most powerful Death Guards! And the lovely Ariel will become a my corpse bride! A lich, like me! Powerful, evil, corrupted, and undead!"

"Never!" cries Thundarr, then he raises his Sunsword over his head and charges the undead wizard, "Yaaaaaaaaaaaa-hee!" he cries.

Kublai blasts Thundarr with energy beams from his eyes. The crimson blast hits the barbarian too quickly for him to block with his Sunsword. Thundarr is thrown across the room and hits hard against the far wall with tremendous force, knocking him unconcious. Ookla howls in rage and charges Kublai with his fists raised high, ready to strike the lich down. Kublai hits the mok with a similar blast, and Ookla too is thrown across the room to slump unconcious against the wall. Kublai then turns his attension towards Princess Ariel. He attempts to blast her with the red energy beams from his eye sockets, but she dives out of the way and tumbles to her feet with a forward roll and throws a glowing yellow ball of energy at the undead wizard. Kublai deflects the spell with a simple wave of his hand and it explodes against the far wall, leaving a gaping hole in the thick steel plating. Kublai tries attacking with another eye blast, and again Ariel tumbles out of harms way and retaliates with a spell of her own. This time she hurls multiple energy balls at him. They're smaller than the first one she threw, but she's hoping at least one of them will get through Kublai's defences. Again the lich defeats the attack with a simple wave of his hand. He replies with another eye blast. This time the sorceress stands her ground and deflects it with a magic shield spell. The eye beams hit the shield with such force that they shatter the magic and throw Ariel up against the wall. But her spell had deflected enough of Kublai's spell to keep her from being knocked unconcious, so Princess Ariel retaliates with a blast of yellow energy from her hands. Kublai unleashes his crimson eye beams at the same instant, and the two magical attacks stop each other cold in the middle of the room. Ariel takes three steps forward, and pushes her spell three steps closer to Kublai. Then she notices the ring on one of Kublai's fingers. It begins to glow an eerie purple colour, then the strength of his eye beams intensifies and their spells are now holding steady once more in the middle of the room. Ariel grimmaces with the strain of spell casting and strengthens her own spell. Her magic gains some ground, but this time only a few inches. It's hard to tell with the perpetual grin of Kublai's skeletal face, but Ariel could swear that she saw him grin. His ring flared purple once again and once again his red eye beams gain ground, this time several feet. Ariel's brow is beaded withy sweat as she strains against the lich's power. She steels herself and intensifies her spell. She doesn't gain any ground, but she does prevent Kublai from getting any closer. The lich's ring flares again, and again his magic intensifies until his eye beams are almost at Ariel's hands. Ariel's trembling now. Her hair and clothes are soaked with persperation. Her vision is blurred and her eyes sting from the sweat getting in her eyes. Streams of persperation are running down her bare arms, legs, and back as she fights to hold her ground against this impossibly powerful wizard. Her knees begin to buckle and her arms begin to tremble under the strain, yet she still refuses to yield. Gritting her teeth and glaring at the blur which Kublai has become, Princess Ariel increases the power of her spell and moves the lich's eye beams back about a foot. Then Kublai's ring flares to life once more, his own spell intensifies once again, and this time Ariel has no defence. The red beams strike the sorceress in the chest and throw her back against the wall, where she slumps to the floor unconcious. Kublai presses a button on his computer console and moments later several armoured undead soldiers like the ones Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla fought on the roof enter the command centre.

"Take these three to the dungeons!" the lich commands his undead minions, "I shall deal with them later. By dawn, they shall be my newest Death Guards!"

As obedient as any robot, the Death Guards rush to fulfill the wishes of their master.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Six

Meanwhile, back at Alcatraz, the vilagers from Cisco are under siege once again. Just as Ariel had predicted, the ice from her spell had practically melted away by morning. By the time the morning sun was high enough to shine upon the rocky slopes of what was once Alcatraz Island, enough of the ice had melted to allow the zombies to climbe to the very top of the hill. Archers, armed with longbows and crossbows, waited for them from within the steel fence. As soon as any zombies raised their heads above the hills ledge, they would take an arrow or a crossbow bolt to the brain and tumble down the hill. The defenders hoped that the falling zombies would dislodge others of the foul horde as they fell, but they couldn't see so didn't know for sure. In one of the guard towers next to the main gate stands the sorcerer Merlik, throwing fireballs at any zombies who manage to climb up that side of the hill. In the other guard tower by the main gate stands Valerie Storm. Her skin is an unhealthy, pastey white. Her clothes cling to her body with sweat as persperation pours down her skin. Her long blonde hair is matted to her head from persperation. Yet she has a steely look of determination on her face. Any zombies she sees climbing over the ledge of the hillside she blasts with her powerful eye beams, destroying its skull and the brain within. Standing with her, watching her with great concern, is her good friend Queen Maya. It was agreed earlier that Maya should be in the tower with Valerie. With her ability to assume the form of any element, she would be the least likely to be harmed if Valerie turned during the battle. And as a former monarch, she's willing to do what must be done if that happens.

Early in the fight, things seem to be going quite well for the defenders. Every arrow or crossbow bolt seems to hit a zombie right in the forehead or the eye. Merlik's spells do tremendous damage to the zombies ranks. And even in her weakened condition, Valerie seems incapable of missing her targets. But as the sun reaches its peak, things slowly begin to shift. For every zombie the defenders destroy, there always seems to be two more to take its place. The archers are having a more and more difficult time hitting their targets. Their arms are beginning to tire from constantly drawing back their bows, and the heat from the midday California sun is causing them to sweat. The persperation is getting into their eyes and blurring their vision. At first it's almost unnoticable. Then they arrows and crossbow bolts begin to hit with less and less accuracy. Not all of them missed completely. Many of the projectiles would hit a little low, catching the zombies in the throat or the chest. Often the sheer force of the arrows hitting them would be enough to knowck them back down the hill. Sometimes an arrow or bolt through the neck would paralyze the zombie, costing it the use of it's limbs. But more and more often the archers would miss their targets completely. Even Valerie's energy beams hit with less and less accuracy. At first she couldn't miss. Then she starts hitting the zombies in the chest more often than the head. Still, the power of the eye beams were enough to send them flying back down the hill. Then she starts missing almost completely. The energy beams start blasting off arms and legs, or hitting them too low on the abdomen to send them over the edge of the cliff. Queen Maya is worried as she looks upon her friend.

"Valerie," says Maya, "are you alright?"

"Can't. . . focus," replies Valerie, "Everything. . . a blur."

"I should take you to the infermory," Maya tells her.

"No!" shouts Valerie, shaking her head, "I can. . . still. . . fight!"

"Fight?" says Maya incredulously, "You can barely stand!"

"Just. . . need. . . to rest," gasps Valerie.

"You're exhausted!" Maya tells her, "You can't do any more good out here! And using your powers could very well be speeding up the effects of the poison in your blood!"

"If I. . . turn," says Valerie, "I'd rather. . . do it. . . out here. . . than while. . . locked up. . . with the. . . villagers."

"Don't talk like that!" Maya tells her, "As Queen, I command it! You will not die! Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla will destroy the talisman in time to save you! Understood? You just have to hang on until then!"

Valerie gives her friend a weak smile. "Okay," she says, "just. . . take over. . . for. . . a bit. . . so I. . . can. . . rest."

"Agreed," says Maya. She pulls out a ceramic bottle of water and hands it to Valerie. "Drink this," she tells her, "and allow your strength to return. I will keep the monsters at bay."

Valerie takes the bottle with a grateful nod, then uncorks it and drinks. She chokes on the water as it goes down and begins coughing. Maya wipes the sweat from her friend's face with a rag, then picks up a crossbow and starts shooting bolts at the oncoming zombies. Over in the other guard tower, Merlik had stopped hurling fireballs and has opted for energy bolts. The magical projectiles would leap from his fingertips and strike multiple targets. They don't have the power to blast the zombies skulls like Valerie's eye beams, but they knock the creatures over the cliffs edge and sends them tumbling back down the hill. The strain of such heavy spellcasting has Merlik exhausted. His clothes and his hair are soaked with sweat. Persperation drips off of his body, and he's breathing heavily as though he had just ran a great distance. The sorcerer looks over to the other guard tower and sees that Maya is shooting the crossbow and Valerie is nowhere in sight.

"Is everything okay over there?" he calls to Maya.

"Fine!" replies Maya, "Valerie is just tired from the strain of using her powers! She's having trouble concentrating!"

"Is she going to be all right?" asks Merlik.

"I don't know!" Maya shouts back, "I think the effort of using her powers may have sped up the poison from the zombie's bite!"

Merlik looks over the battlefield outside the steel fence. More and more zombies are crawling up over the hills edge and aren't being killed off. The arrows and crossbow bolts from the defenders are flying less and less frequently, and are hitting their marks less often. When they do hit, it's mostly as the zombies are getting within pointblank range which simply provides their fellow undead with protection from projectiles. As a result, more and more of the zombies are making it all the way to the steel fence. Merlik turns towards the courtyard.

"Shara!" he calls.

"Yes?" replies his young barbarian companion.

"Start the generators!" he tells her.

"Right!" she calls back up. She runs over to the generator room. There she finds the old man Kwan with several other villagers.

"We have to start the generators," she tells them.

Kwan nods his head affirmatively and signals the other villagers. They quickly harness a couple of equarts and leed them to the generator, where they're helped up into the giant hamster wheels. Then they crack a whip and get them going at a full gallop. The generators come to life, the turbines spinning and the lights flashing, and a Jacob's Ladder buzzing between two wires. Heedless of the danger, the zombies outside grab hold of the steel fence in an attempt to break it down. The air becomes thick with the stench of rotting, burning flesh and ozone. One by one they fall to the ground, lifeless. Newcomers take their place and try to get in with the same results. With the electric fence once again active, the defenders gather up their weapons and head back into the main building. Only the archers in the guard towers remain, along with a handful of men in the compound armed with axes, torches, and molotov coctails. They're there to set fire to the gigantic wood mounds just in case the zombies happen to break through. Maya tries to get Valerie to stand up.

"Leave me," says Valerie, "I'm too dangerous to go back inside with you and the others."

"Don't say things like that!" says Maya, "You're going to be alright! You'll see! Now get up!"

"Maya," explains Valerie, "if I still have my powers after I turn, I'll be far more dangerous inside than I would be outside."

"You are so wrong on so many levels!" Maya tells her, "If you're trapped inside it will be just one of you against all of us! We can put you down before you can manage to do too much damage! But if you stay out here and turn, and you still have your powers even when you're undead, you'll be able to blast through all of the barracades the villagers have built! We'll be outnumbered and trapped! Besides, I told you that Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla are not going to fail us!"

"Look," says Valerie, "I've seen enough Romero films to know how this is going to end. If I haven't turned by the time the zombies break in here, they won't wait for me to turn. They'll just tear me apart and devour me. I think I'd prefer that to becoming one of them and hurting my friends."

"It won't come to that!" Maya tells her, "I promise! If you turn, I'll kill you myself before you have a chance to hurt anybody."

Just then, Synda sticks her head up through the trap door.

"What the heck's taking you two so long?" she asks.

"Valerie wants to stand her post while we barricade ourselves inside the main building," replies Maya.

"Don't be rediculous!" says Synda, "If those things break in here, they'll tear you to pieces!"

"That's the idea," replies Valerie.

"No way!" says Synda, "You are not breaking up this team!"

"We may not have any choice," says Valerie, "This bite is fatal. I don't think I'm going to last much longer."

"You're coming with us!" say Synda, "Even if I have to drag you into the building by your feathers!"

"Hey!" shouts Merlik from the ground, "What's going on up there!"

Merlik and Shara are standing down in the courtyard waiting for the other three heroes to join them so they can all retreat to the main building. Synda looks down to the two younger adventurers and waves them away.

"Go on ahead!" she shouts down to them, "We'll catch up!"

Merlik and Shara turn and look at each other. Then they shrug and walk off towards the main doors. As they're walking away, Synda turns and looks back at Valerie.

"So are you coming with us?" she asks, "Or are we going to have to carry you?"

Valerie laughs weakly and shakes her head. "You two are impossible," she tells them.

Maya smiles at her. "We've been living together for six years now, and you only just figuring that out?"

Maya and Synda help Valerie up onto her feet and down the ladder, and the three of them head off to the main entrance with Valerie leaning heavily on her two friends. An archer with a quiver full of crossbow bolts runs past them to take Valerie's place on the guard tower. Maya and Synda then take Valerie to the least populated wing of the prison. There, they make her as comfortable as possible in one of the prison cells. Synda leaves, but Maya insists on staying behind to tend to her injured comrade. Like with being in the guard tower, Maya's ability to assume the form of any element would render her immune to Valerie's infectious bite. Synda locks the cell door behind her, just in case.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Seven

Back in the dungeons of Kublai's stronghold, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla are just coming back to conciousness. Once Thundarr has regained his senses, he sees that the three of them are chained to the wall in a prison cell. Standing before them is the undead wizard Kublai. If possible, his skeletal face almost appears to be smiling at them. Thundarr tries to leap forward, to grab Kublai by the throat, but the lich is standing too far away for the barbarian's reach. Kublai throws his head back and laughs that hollow, evil laugh of his.

"Fool!" he says, "What can you hope to do to me without your precious Sunsword?"

"I can twist your foul head off, fiend!" replies Thundarr.

Kublai just laughs again. "You and the mok will be my most powerful Death Guards yet!" he says.

"Your walking corpses won't get close enough to bite us!" declares Thundarr.

"Barbaric fool!" laughs the lich, "You've already been infected!" Kublai holds out his hand, which contains two empty syringes. "This is my latest zombie formula," he tells them, "If it works as I think it will, you will keep all of your strength and skill, and even continue to be able to wield your Sunsword. Only you will be completely under my control."

"Only two needles?" asks Ariel, "There are three of us."

"Don't worry, my dear," replies Kublai, "You too will soon be joining your friends in the realm of undeath. I am currently in the process of brewing a new potion specifically for you. Once I inject you with it you will become a lich, just like me. A being of pure evil, under my control. You shall be my corpse bride."

"Never!" shouts Thundarr.

"It is inevitable," says Kublai, "By sunrise, you will all be members of my army. Then you will help me defeat your friends barricaded in that ancient prison."

"No!" cries Thundarr.

He desperately tries to pull the chains free from the wall. Ookla howls in rage and defiance and also starts to pull on his chains. Princess Ariel just silently looks on in shock and horror.

"Ariel," says Thundarr, "can you free us with your magic?"

"My hands are bound," she replies, "I need to have my hands free to use my magic."

Thundarr twists himself about so that he is facing the wall. Pulling hard on the chains, he plants his feet on the wall and starts walking up the side of the prison cell. Once he gets his feet up to where the chains are fastened to the wall, he plants them there and pulls using his whole body. When Ookla sees what his friend is doing, he understands and follows suit. Soon, the weldings that hold the chains in place begin to groan in protest to the stress.

Meanwhile, back at Alcatrz, things are not going well for the defenders. A steady stream of zombies just keep on coming up over the hills ledge and trying to break down the electric fence. The air is heavy with the stench of decaying flesh, burnt skin, and ozone. The pile of corpses outside the fence is constantly growing. The defenders soon realize that sooner or later, the pile will be high enough for the zombies to just walk over the top without ever touching the fence. And unbeknownst to them, things were getting far worse farther down the side of the hill. Part way up there is a large drain pipe, big enough for a man to walk in, which leads to tunnels beneath the prison. Two thousand years ago, during The Cataclysm, it was covered up by several heavy boulders and earth and has been hidden for all these centuries. But while climbing up, a zombie mok discovered a small opening leading into this ancient drain pipe. Whether from some sort of residual memory or some primitive instinct is unknown, but that undead mok starts digging out the boulders. One by one the large rocks begin tumbling down the side of the hill, smashing into zombies, crushing their skulls, or knocking them off the side of the hill. Eventually, the mok opens enough of the drain pipe to be able to walk in. There's a large heavy steel grate welded in place to prevent anything from getting in or out that way. The zombie grabs hold of the metal bars and starts rattling them, pushing and pulling with all his deminished (though still formidable) strength. The metal is weak and corroded from centuries of neglect and exposure to seawater. The grate soon breaks free and the zombie mok throws the useless metal bars away, accidentally decapitating another of his fellow zombies in the process. Then with the stiff, shuffling gate of the living dead, he begins walking into the dark tunnels beneath the ancient prison. Soon other zombies begin to follow suit. Eventually a whole horde of the living dead are now walking beneath the ruins of Alcatraz, seaking a way up to the victims trapped above them.

Meanwhile, back in Kublai's dungeon, things are beginning to improve for Thundarr, Ookla, and Ariel. After several minutes of pulling and tugging at their chains, Thundarr and Ookla finally manage to break their shackles free from the wall. Quickly they rush over to Princess Ariel and use their combined strength to break her free from her shackles. Soon after freeing themselves from the wall though, Thundarr and Ookla begin to feel weak. Thundarr's skin is pastey white and he's sweating profucely. Ookla's eye's and tongue are a very strange colour.

"I feel. . . dizzy," says Thundarr as he leans against the wall for support, ". . . weak."

Ookla growls in agreement, as he too must lean against the wall for support.

"It must be Kublai's new zombie formula," guesses Ariel, "It must work more quickly than the one he originall made."

"Then we must defeat him, before his poison takes us," declares Thundarr.

"I think we can," replies Ariel, "While we were fighting before, I noticed something about him. A weakness I think we can exploit."

"Oh?" says Thundarr.

"He wears a ring," she tells them, "An ornate ring carved from bone. I believe it's the source of his power. I noticed that it glows whenever he's using his magic."

"What does that mean?" asks Thundarr.

"If we can remove the ring from his body," explains Ariel, "or even destroy it, then we destroy him."

"Then all we'll have to do is find his talisman and destroy it to save the people in Alcatraz," reasons Thundarr.

"Not to mention ourselves," adds Ariel.

"Then let us make haste," says Thundarr, "Time is short!"

Out in the hall, a pair of Death Guards head towards the prison cell to investigate a constant, repetative banging coming from within. As the Death Guards aproach the cell door, the heavy metal portal flies off its hinges and slams the two guards into the opposite wall. Quickly, Ookla runs out of the room and before the Death Guards could react, he grabs them both by their heads and crushes their skulls in his massive clawed hands. Thundarr exits the prison cell next.

"The Sunsword!" he exclaims as he notices that one of the guards has the weapon tucked away in his belt. Thundarr takes it up and ignites the blade, quickly cutting away the heavy shackles still chained to their wrists.

"Much better," says Princess Ariel.

"No time for talk!" replies Thundarr, "To the main chamber!"

Then the three of them run off to face Kublai again. Meanwhile, back at Alcatraz, things are going from bad to worse. Whenever the equarts tire and have to be replaced with fresh animals, during the few moments that the generators aren't working the zombies are trying to force their way in. The archers try to keep them under control by killing those in front, but there are so many of them that the loss of a few barely slows them down. Inside the main building, men and women are looking out the windows to try and determine the success of those brave souls who remain outside. What no one realizes is that the danger has already breached their walls. In the ancient prison shower, a part of the prison currently being used mostly for storage of supplies and provisions, a grate in the floor lifts up and slides to the side. Out of the hole in the floor climbs a mok zombie, followed by a human zombie, and a groundling zombie, more humans, zombie carocks and mutants, and still more zombie humans. Over by the showers entrance sits a human villager. He's supposed to be standing guard, but with no forseeable threat to guard the supplies from, he ended up falling asleep. The growing horde of zombies shuffle over to him as he gently snores away. They grab a hold of him, causing him to wake from his sleep. When he sees exactly what had grabbed him, he begins to scream for help. But by then it is too late. The zombies tear into his flesh, eating him alive. Farther down the corridor, other guards hear their friend screaming and run to see what's the matter. As they aproach the showers they are confronted by a mass of undead. A virtual wall of rotting flesh comes at them, reaching for them, snapping at them. One of the guards regains his wits enough to turn and run, screaming bloody murder all the way, raising the alarm. The others were not so fortunate. Their state of shock caused them to hesitate, and by the time they began to react they were in the zombies' clutches. They fight fearsely, driving their hammers and axes into the skulls of the undead horde, but are quickly overwhelmed by the greater numbers.

Outside things are little better. When Kwan next switches equarts with fresh animals, the zombies manage to break through the main gate. The fresh set of equarts begin running on the generators, but it's too little too late. The zombies are storming the gates. The archers in the guard towers start launching flaming molotov coctails at the gates, which slows the breach to a crawl and even incinerates some of the zombies trying to get in. They also manage to shoot down many of those who got through before the fire, and those that they missed were destroyed by the ground troops. But the damage is done. The gate is open and there's no way to close it back up. The ground troops light more molotov coctails and throw them into the giant woodpiles that had been stacked all over the courtyard. The archers in the towers throw more molotov coctails into the zombie horde to try and cause panic amongst their numbers. The plan works somewhat. The zombies don't want to enter the gate as long as there's a fire burning there, and several zombies outside the gates are set on fire and thrash about, knocking others of their kind off Alcatraz Hill before plunging over the side themselves. When they run out of molotov coctails, the archers climb down out of the guard towers. They form a rear guard as the ground troops gather up Kwan and the others from the generator room. Then they retreat to the front entrance to the main building of the prison and knock the retreat code on the door. They hear heavy bolts sliding off the doors, which are soon opened by armed guards who let the outside defenders into the building. No sooner are they inside when they hear screaming and the sounds of battle.

"What's. . . happening?" asks Kwan as he tries to catch his breath.

"Zombies have gotten inside," replies one of the guards.

"What? How?"

"We believe they came up from under the fortress."

"How many?"

"Too many. We're holding them in the main cellblock, but I don't know for how long."

At the main cellblock, what was once a sanctuary now looks like a prison riot. Defenders wielding long spears are holding the zombies back, driving their spears through their enemies brains. The catwalks are lined with archers with bows and crossbows, launching arrows and crossbow bolts into the zombie horde. With them are those too weak to fight, the very young and the very old, heaving heavy rocks and slabs of concrete onto the zombies' heads. With the archers is the sorcerer Merlik. While he has recovered somewhat from the fatigue brought on by his earlier spellcasting, he's still too tired to unleash that sort of magic. Besides, he doesn't want to risk hurting the defenders down below. So he blasts the zombies' heads with energy blasts from his fingertips, strong enough to cause their heads to explode. Behind the wall of pikemen stand every able bodied man and woman in the village, armed with baseball bats, sledge hammers, picks, and fire axes. They are led by Shara The Barbarian with her club, and Synda with her Staff Of Power. Absent are Valerie Storm, who's lying in bed with a fever and chills, and Queen Maya who is looking after her. Valerie is barely concious, her sheets are soaked with sweat and her breathing is shallow and laboured. Maya is certain her friend doesn't have long left to live.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Eight

Back at Kublai's fortress, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla have finally made their way back to the wizard's main chamber. Thundarr and Ookla both lean heavilly against the wall outside the chamber. Thundarr's skin has turned awfully pale since they left the dungeons, and he is sweating more than ever. He peals off his fur vest and drops it on the floor. It hits the metal with a heavy splat, as it is so saturated with persperation. Ariel gives him a worried look.

"Are you sure you two are up to this?" she asks.

Thundarr looks at her, takes a deep breath, steels himself and stands up straight. He takes another breath and gives her a nod. Ookla does likewise. Forcing a confidence into her voice she didn't truly feel, Ariel gives them a nod of approval and says, "Good. I don't know if I can defeat him on my own, not while he's wearing that ring."

"Then let's go take it from him!" says Thundarr, for a moment sounding like his old self.

Thundarr takes out his Sunsword and ignites the blade. He walks up to the hallwat wall and then turns to the others.

"This time we attack together, all at once," he tells them.

Both Ariel and Ookla nod in agreement. Thundarr quickly cuts a large circular hole into the chamber wall. Ookla grabs the metal slab as he pushes through and holds it before him as though it were a shield. Thundarr and Ariel quickly step in behind their friend, Thundarr stepping around to the left and Ariel stepping around to the right. Kublai spins around to face them. On the wall behind him the three companions can see the what it was that held Kublai's attension. On the wall is a gigantic magic mirror, and in the glass is the image of the chaos which is now taking place at Alcatraz. Ariel quickly unleashes a magical blast at the lich, which he easily deflects with as wave of his hand.

"Yaaaaaaa-hee!" cries Thundarr as he charges forth brandishing his Sunsword, Ookla close behind howling in fury and holding his makeshift shield up before him.

Kublai aims magical blasts at both Thundarr and Ookla as they charge, but the attacks are deflected by the shield and the Sunsword. He tries a similar attack on Ariel, who tumbles out of the way and counters with a magical attack of her own. Again the lich blocks it, and quickly tries another attack on the barbarian. Thundarr deflects the blast with his Sunsword, redirecting it right back to its source. The spell hits Kublai right in the chest, tearing open his tunic. Beneath it is what appears to be a red crystal hanging on a gold chain around his neck. Before he can even cover up, Ookla reaches out and pulls the item from his neck. At almost the same instant, Ariel hits Kublai with an extremely powerful magical attack, throwing him against the wall. Kublai reaches out for the lost necklace, but as he does so Thundarr cuts his hand off at the wrist. Thundarr stands over the severed hand with his Sunsword held high.

"You barbaric fool!" cries Kublai, "You'll doom us all!"

Thundarr ignores the undead wizard and strikes the bone ring on the hand with his mighty Sunsword. The ring is destroyed in a loud explosion which knocks all four of them off their feet. Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla sit up just in time to see the evil red glow fade from Kublai's empty eye sockets and his body crumble into dust. Just as the three heroes get back up on their feet, the chamber doors slide open and a horde of zombies start shuffling into the room. Ariel quickly erects a protective wall of magical energy around them, which keeps any of the zombies from attacking them, but the room fills up with more and more of the living dead. They even come in through the hole Thundarr cut in the chamber wall, and they can see that there are more gathered outside in the hall. Ariel turns to Ookla.

"Hurry Ookla!" she says, "Destroy the talisman!"

Ookla drops the crystal neckalce on the floor and stomps on it with the heel of his foot. The second the three of them hear the crunch of the crystal, the zombies stand up straight and stop moving. Ookla lifts up his foot and looks at the ruined talisman. The crystal was not red at all, but was in fact a crystal vial filled with Kublai's blood. Keeping the energy wall up with one hand, Ariel points her finger at the red stain on the chamber floor and unleashes a stream of magical flames, which engulphs the blood. As soon as the blood from the talisman is incinerated, all the zombies in the room and out in the hall collapse into lifeless heaps.

Back at Alcatraz, things are going from bad to worse. The zombies have over run the pikemen on the floor and now Shara and Synda are leading the other villagers in a bitter fight to the end. The undead mob has also broken through the barricades that were keeping them from climbing the stairs to get to the archers on the catwalk. Now the young and the elderly are hiding behind the archers who are trying to slow down the zombies with their arrows and crossbow bolts, but ammunition is running low. The only thing that's keeping the people on the catwalks from being completely over run is Merlik. He has fallen back to a position behind the archers and has erected magical walls between the defenders and the zombies. He has even kept the walls only shoulder height so that the archers can still get their head shots. Unfortunately, this means he can't help the people fighting on the floor. Locked in a prison cell, Valerie is close to death. Maya is standing as far back from the prison bars as she can get, as zombies are right outside the cell and are reaching through the bars to try to get at her. All of a sudden, all of the zombies stop moving and just stand up straight. At the exact same instant, Valerie stops breathing. A second later, all of the zombies fall lifeless to the ground. And at that exact same instant, Valerie takes in a deep breath. Then another, and another. Maya breaths a sigh of relief as Valerie's breathing returns to normal. She touches Valerie's forehead, and is relieved to find that her fever had broke. Maya then checks Valerie's pulse, and smiles as it seams to get stronger with every beat. She peals away the sweat soaked bedding and covers her friend with a dry, warm blanket. Once satisfied that Valerie is out of danger, Maya assumes the form of mercury and slips through the bars of the prison cell. Once outside the cell, she then assumes the form of iron, just in case the zombies hadn't all been destroyed. She runs towards the other defenders to see if everyone's alright. Everywhere she looks she sees dead corpses lying everywhere.

Back in Kublai's chamber, Princess Ariel helps Thundarr back up onto his feet. She can already see the colour rushing back into his flesh. Even Ookla looks as though he is feeling better.

"Are you alright?" she asks the barbarian, "How do you feel?"

"I think I'm starting to feel better," says Thundarr.

Ookla growls a reply, which Ariel recognizes as a sound of agreement.

"Then let's get out of here," says Ariel, "we need to see how much damage Kublai has done."

The three of them head back up to the roof. The sun has just dipped below the western horizon, and the sky is bursting with a dozen shades of red in a spectacular sunset. Thundarr has put his fur vest back on, and the cool night air gives him a chill as it hits the sweat soaked garment. The barbarian puts his fingers in his mouth and blows an ear pircing whistle. In moments they see a bird flying towards them. As the bird grows nearer, they begin to hear its call.

"Yeek! Yeek! Yeek!" it calls.

Soon, Yeek lands on the roof of the tower and lowers his head to allow Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla to climb aboard. Then they take off and head back to Alcatraz. The ancient prison is easy to spot, for the blazing wood piles are giving off a light and pillars of smoke which could be seen for miles. As the returning heroes approach, they see much activity going on in the courtyard below. As they get closer they are able to determine that the villagers are using the burning woodpiles which were set up to slow the advance of the zombies by taking advantage of their instinctual fear of fire, and are now using them as funeral pyres to burn the bodies of the dead. They find an open space in the courtyard to land and Yeek gently sets down. No sooner do they get off the bird's back then a group of well wishers runs up to greet them.

"Thundarr!" cries Shara, and the young barbarian wraps him in a powerful embrace, "You made it! You're alright!"

"Aye, girl," replies Thundarr, "We all are."

"How did things go here?" asks Ariel.

"Not too good," says Merlik, who is just joining them, "we were having some trouble just before you guys succeeded in your mission. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!"

"What happenned?" asks Ariel.

"Somehow the zombies found a way into the fortress from below," says Shara, "Apparently there are tunnels beneath Alcatraz that we weren't even aware of."

"What of Valerie?" asks Thundarr, "Were we in time to save her?"

"Just," replies Maya, who is just joining them, "She was almost gone when the spell was broken. A few more minutes and I would have had to kill her. She's resting right now. It'll be a while before she fully recovers, but Kwan thinks she'll be okay."

"Glad to hear it," says Ariel, "So what can we do to help here?"

And with that, they all go to work disposing of the bodies and repairing the damage caused by the zombie assault. It takes many days to clear away all of the bodies. The air is thick with the stench of carrion and burning flesh, a smell that will linger in the air for many days. Then they go about rebuilding the homes that were destroyed in the town of Cisco. Ariel and Merlik's magics help, but it's still slow going. They also go about reinforcing Alcatraz, just in case a similar emergency happens to occur in the not too distant future. They found the drain pipe which the zombies were able to breach the forts defences with and seal it off, collapsing a lot of the tunnels and walling up others. Now that most of the work is completed, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla meet up with Shara, Merlik, Synda, Maya, and Valerie Storm in the town square. Valerie has greatly recovered from her ordeal, but she still needs to lean on a walking stick and her leg is still heavily bandaged.

"How is your leg?" Thundarr asks Valerie.

"I'll live," says Valerie, "Kwan has been tending to it with medicinal herbs. I'll be back at 100% in no time."

"I'm glad to hear it," says Thundarr, "You are a fine and brave champion."

"You're so sweet!" replies Valerie, and she kisses him on the cheak. Thundarr's face gets flushed in embarassment, which causes Ariel to smile in ammusement.

"So where are you off to now?" Shara asks them.

"First we have to go back to the town of Beverly to collect our horses," says Ariel, "If you don't mind giving us a lift?"

"It'll be our pleasure," says Merlik.

"And what of you three?" Ariel asks Valerie, "Back to the 20th Century?"

"Actually, I was thinking we should stay here in the 41st Century for a while," replies Valerie, "Seems like you guys could use a hand around here every now and again."

"With all the evil wizards running around," says Ariel, "we can use all the help we can get."

Shortly after, Maya, Synda, and Valerie are standing in the town square with Kwan and a bunch of the other villagers waving goodbye as Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla fly off with Yeek, Shara, and Merlik. Shara, Merlik, and Ariel wave back as they ride on Yeek's back, while Thundarr and Ookla are being carried in the bird's talons, and they all fly off into the distance to seak out new adventures.

THE END

 

[Thundarr]

Double Post

 

[Thundarr]

Bump

 

[Thundarr]

Bumped so I don't have to hunt for it.

 

[Thundarr]

Bumped

 

[Thundarr]

Bump!

 

[Thundarr]

With Halloween being just around the corner, and this story being about zombies, I figured I'd give this story a bump.