[b]Cassius[/b]
[hr]

The red haired slave walked alongside the buildings of Palantine Hill, passing many a shaking man. Like those men, Cassius had been decimated emotionally by the rise of undeath. How had these Mortui captured most of Rome so fast? This city was supposed to be a jewel of these lands, a city that would stand forever. And yet this plague had brought it to its knees, the gods seemingly forsaking all of Rome.

It had started slow, a new disease spreading across the Empire. Cassius was aware of it as a few fellow slaves died, and some neighbors of his master. But Cassius assumed that this disease was like all others he had heard of. It would cull the weak and lead to a stronger population. But then the plague got worse. Vast swaths of Rome were filled with corpses, as there was not enough fires to deal with the dead. But then these unburned dead began to rise, feeding on the flesh of the living.

Cassius’s master immediately fled his home, taking only a few select slaves with him, Cassius included. They had left for a better defended part of the city, taking refuge behind legions of soldiers. But even the blades of these centurions could not keep back the dead, so the survivors were pushed back and back, until now when all that was left was Palantine Hill.

Against the Mortui, Cassius was mostly useless. His only relevant skill that could help the survivors was his culinary skills. Cassius had become the de facto head chef for the survivors. He figured that he could raise spirits with a good meal, but that was becoming harder as he ran out of ingredients. The assembled living had very quickly gone through all the spices from the east, with most other ingredients following suit. As of this morning they were almost out of meat.

As Cassius wondered what kind of dish he could make tonight, he heard a familiar whistle, one he dreaded. That was the commander stating that the undead were attacking again. A cold sweat immediately engulfed Cassius as he knew that this could be it, his death. Like all of the men assembled, Cassius was expected to defend this position. Hell, he had even seen some women defending the hill.

Since he wasn’t trained in combat before this, he had been assigned a simple weapon, a spear. As Cassius ran toward the barricade, he picked up a spear resting against a wall. With how many men they were losing on each attack, it was quickly becoming that they had more weapons than warriors to use them.

Cassius ground his teeth as he reached the barricade. With spear in hand he pressed up against the makeshift barrier. In the distance he could hear the unnatural call of the Mortui, causing him to shiver. Cassius also saw other defenders shaking. It seemed that they had far too few actual soldiers, as Cassius was surrounded by merchants, politicians, and farmers.