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people overwhelmed me. In one nal ourish, the stomps, drums, and chants all stopped at once. The tests were to begin. The jarl broke out in some sentimental speech, but I couldn’t concentrate on his words. My father announced the rst test: repelling down the mountain, then sailing the ship as a team. I sighed in relief, this was an easy one for me. We all completed this rst test easily and the crowd roared in excitement as we returned to the village center. I struggled through my next few tests that relied on my strength, but I pushed through. The jarl announced the nal round: testing our aptitude with various weapons.
We were to be tested on archery rst. Each of us picked up a longbow and chose a haystack target. The jarl ordered us to aim and draw an arrow. From the corner of my eye, I could see Vadar slowly turning. He chose a new target. My father.
Everyone stopped cheering. I lowered my bow and Helka, Hrogan, and Selvick followed. Vikings clad in full armor stepped out from the crowd. They all drew their bows and aimed at my father. Their leader spoke up, it was a jarl from a neighboring island. It sounded like he wanted to take over our land.
I was surrounded by tall and bulky vikings. I had an idea. My small self was unnoticed by the giants all around me. I wound my way through the crowds and snuck knives to my two peers and brother. I whispered my plan to them and slipped away to the weapons rack. I quietly passed out maces, swords, and bows to our fellow villagers. I grabbed a large knife. A large score of armed and angry vikings had assembled. Many other villagers pulled concealed weapons from their belts. I called out the signal and we swarmed the invaders.
Hrogan sprang to protect the jarl, taking an arrow to the back. I tackled Vadar with my knife, debilitating him. In no time at all, the full rage of my village was unleashed on these invaders. We took them out with our trained swing of the sword and battle skills.
The sun was setting as the battle ended. I looked around for my family. Hrogan was alright, the arrow had only just pierced his armor. There were four casualties, including Selvick. The vikings loaded the bodies of the brave warriors onto a ship. They set it on re and let it drift o into the ocean. It began to rain and lightning crashed down. All of the villagers chanted their warrior song. The jarl pulled me and Hrogan close.
The next day was quiet, but beautiful. Flower blossoms pushed through the mud and the sun’s rays poured down on our land. Spring was here once again.
Spring Will Come After Winter
Fiction by Grace Newton ‘16
It’s been seven years since the world was normal. Seven years since there was a government. Seven years since Earth had any kind of society. Seven years ago, the end of the world or as some people call it, the apocalypse happened. I was only eleven when those creatures took over the world. Some would call them zombies, I just call them undead. They took everything from us. Everything that mattered. The government fell, as the undead population rose. Society was soon to fall afterwards. With no government to control us, we were free... into an anarchy.
The undead took everything from me as well. I was sixteen when I lost my parents. They were all I
had left. As for my other family, who knew where. I couldn’t even know if they were dead or alive. My parents and I were trav- eling together for six years after the world ended. Not really having a destination in mind, we just roamed over the years, just trying to stay alive. I learned to grow up pretty quickly in that atmosphere. Together, we became pretty good at surviving. Until of course, one day as fate would have it, they died. It was just like that and they were gone. From the age of sixteen, I had to get used to not having my parents around.
I’m eighteen now...two years of being completely alone. My parents were the last people I had ever really talked to. Sometimes I would talk to myself, but it wasn’t the same. I gured if I kept doing that, I would go insane. My strategy for surviving was the same as my parents. Stay away from everyone, don’t trust anyone. So that’s what I do. They were right...in this world, it’s perfectly reasonable to be naturally weary. Most people who are left are not people you’d particularly want to be around. So that was my fate and I accepted it. I was going to be alone forever.
One day, just like any other, I was in the middle of nowhere just roaming around not unlike the undead themselves. I had spot- ted a village in the distance and wondered if it had been abandoned. I decided that there was only one way to nd out and that was to explore it. Hiding behind a tree, I scoped out the area. It was relatively safe, there were only a few of the undead around.
It wasn’t until I took my rst step towards the village that I was knocked to the ground by an undead. My face had hit the dirt
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