Dexter wiped the sweat and dust from his brow upon the sleeve of his shirt, not able to pause to look for something cleaner. The result was a smear of both across his face. However, he did not have time to fix it if he had known and no one had time to point it out to him. Numerous rocks and stones flew through the air in his direction, sizes and speed without uniform, but all with the intent to harm. A stretch of earth rose upward to shield the soft targets from harm, before the same earth tore away from the ground to twist around until it became several long stalactites and were used like throwing spears in retaliation.

With spring came a migration. The undead in humanoid form began to move en masses towards the north, seeking the slightly cooler climate and mountainous highlands that would shelter them from the heat of the southern summer. However their routes would have them pass living habitats, providing them with the chance to feast on flesh and bones were they able to break through the walled havens.

The weaker, rambling zombies that had once made up the majority of the hoard seemed to be no more. The monsters pummelling at their defences all had some sort of ability. The ones with more physical aspects; thick, metallic or earthen skins, spines or protrusions or excessive strength, rushed to the forefront, attempting to use their evolved bodies to break the walls and rush the defenders. Others with elemental powers tossed fireballs, lightning strikes and the like towards them. The trickiest handful had stealthy abilities that might have caused the human defences to crumble had there not been mortals with the enhanced senses to discover and kill them.

The attack was disorganised; if a zombie was set alight from 'friendly' fire, no other undead would douse it with water. Not every zombies' powers could be considered strong; an icicle melted before it reached half of the range it needed to cross to be considered a threat. In addition, the attack could be considered opportunistic rather than necessary. These were the main loopholes allowed the defenders to keep the writhing mass at bay.

The weaker zombies were the first to slowly disengage from battle to continue heading towards the north. It was later theorised that they had ran out of the necessary spiritual energy to use their powers and their instincts to migrate were stronger than their instincts to feed. Of course, this was just a theory. It was not as if they had any precedent to draw substantive conclusions upon when attempting to figure out the behaviours of the zombie undead.

Of the remaining ones, those that could be considered to truly threaten the lives of the human community, a percentage left soon after the weakest zombies, while the others fought until they were dead. And this was just one wave of migration that the survivors felt they might have to deal with.

The wave had lasted nearly the entire day. The defenders were exhausted and hungry as well as dirty to the point where they weren't sure whether a bath, a bed or food should be first upon the agenda.

Chang Min took Cole around to fix any weak spots and cracks that had formed in the wall thanks to the constant attacks. Fortunately they were thick as well as tall. There were no breeches in this solid defence to be found. Ren Zexian and the soldier Zak slowly scanned through the carpet of rotting bodies, keeping all senses open to ensure that there were no zombies with the ability to attack them lying in ambush amongst the corpses.

While moving, the zombies bodies had mostly evolved to no longer look like puppets of decaying flesh and organs with oozing pus and bodily fluids. Over their remnant forms, for few had all four limbs, jaws, eyes and such still attached to their core bodies, a thick layer of 'skin' had formed, which was generally pale with a tinge of green or grey. They had also adapted to their misshapen forms. Those without legs might have lengthened and thicker arms in which to remain mobile with, those with only bones in places instead of flesh would not be unhindered and those bones would not necessarily be a weak spot. But once the zombie was downed, it's body began to rot once more and much more quickly that an ordinary corpse might have done beneath the earth. The stench emanating from it was beyond the description of words.

The softly glowing body of the soldier suddenly turned and threw out a paper talisman, which landed in a pool of dark fluid and began to shine with a piercing light. A shriek came from the liquid and a small body leapt out of the puddle it was hiding in and ran to escape. It's child sized head was removed from its shoulders with a swift and agile motion. Ren Zexian shook the remnants form his sword and sheathed it, before complimenting Zak.

Apart from that small ambusher, no other signs of existence appeared to be lurking within the battlefield, thus the other defenders pulled on gloves to begin the arduous task of piling up the zombie corpses, while watching cautiously for more rambling zombies appearing on the horizon. It never took long before the numbers of zombies began to once more increase. However, just as the first and swiftest zombies began to rush over with drool dripping down their jaws and hunger in their eyes, one pile of corpses began to burn with black fire. The zombies came to a stop, roaring with instinctual fear or perhaps frustration, the survivors did not know nor did they care. They only breathed a sigh of relief as they turned away to try their luck elsewhere or continue on with the migration.

Numerous fires burned at high temperatures through the dying light of day and subsequent night, the smoke both filthy with unpleasant smells, yet clean for the poison that caused these monster to awaken in death was no more.

Tyler produced enough water for them all to wash their hands and face before his strength was completely exhausted, having battled along side the rest all day as well. Logan waited in the kitchen with large potfuls of parsnip and carrot soup, bread and salad vegetables as a side to fill the hungry stomachs of the exhausted men and women. He came to the side of his lover as she ate to pour her a cup of tea with a little of the remaining honey to ease her throat as well as to massage her shoulders. The single men were too tired to be jealous that she received such attentions, while they had no one by their sides.

The men with partners hurriedly ate their food in order to nestle in the arms of their beloved, with the exception of Cole and Chang Min who ate even more languidly and unhurriedly while the latter was seated in the lap of the other. Thus Dexter and Ren Zexian were amongst the first to place bowls and cups in sinks and leave the kitchen for their lovers.

Ren Zexian left for the small cottage, having moved back in with his beloved not long after the spring melt. At first, Nathan was uncertain, but that uncertainty disappeared as soon as he entered the familiar surroundings of the building that had been his home for many years. He would just visit their internal farm to check on things, but it had mostly been left to the two teenaged boys and whomever was on farming duty. Most of the young man's efforts were now on sowing seeds and repotting seedlings ready to go into the ground in the future.

Dexter headed up the stairs to the first floor, the heaviness in his legs seeming a little less so thanks to the anticipation, however, he couldn't help but pause as he heard retching sounds coming from the bathroom. Just a couple of days ago, they'd discovered that his Autumn was expecting.

Although before the end, Autumn's body had irregular cycles, leading her to believe pregnancy would not be an easy thing for her to achieve, the couple had still been careful after physically reaffirming their budding relationship.  Autumn was young, times were not easy.  They had a child already, while adopted, it was enough for them.  The protection that they had scavenged would never last forever, so they could only rely on other unreliable methods.  Eventually, those had failed, but Dexter really couldn't bring himself to regret it.  Since Ren Zexian had discovered it through her pulse whilst checking her cultivation, Dexter had been unable to suppress the brimming happiness welling inside his body.  Even the zombie hoard hadn't dampened his spirits, just reinforced the instinct to protect his treasures.

Now, however, hearing the vomiting noises from within the bathroom, his mood faltered and dipped.  He raised a hand to knock on the door.

"Oh hey," a sleepy voice called to him from the just opened doorway of his bedroom.  He turned to see his wife drowsily standing in the doorway, a much brighter eyed small child holding her nightdress.  "I wondered why Lucy was so fussy all of a sudden."

Dexter frowned, concerned at the thinness of her nightie.  "Isn't it cold?"  Dexter questioned in a worried voice as he approached his princesses.  "Where's your dressing gown?"  He picked up his cute daughter, who hugged him and pressed kisses on his cheek as he ushered his wife into the bedroom, wanting to wrap her up in their duvet as quickly as possible.

Behind him, the bathroom door opened as his own door swung shut.  Monika grimaced as she wiped her lips and cussed before returning to her own room.

Author's note; I'm in a bit of a slump, it's across all my books.  I don't want to say I'm coming out of it, because I'm the type to jinx myself!  I only finally figured out this chapter in the last couple of days!  Please be patient with me, my writing likely will increase as and when I come out of the other side.