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Author: langbot
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English[en]
The North gate was much as I had imagined it: a squad of soldiers positioned behind and beside an APC (armoured personnel carrier) that had brought them there – and a well-constructed sandbag emplacement for a heavy machine gun. The machine gun was continuing to pour deadly metal into the dozens of zombies who streamed through the university gate into College Crescent. The squad members, lying prone on the footpath, added to this toll by directing their comparatively puny rifles at the same targets. It seemed that none of the zombies was getting more than a few feet past the gate before being felled. The pile of corpses had grown to an alarming height within a very short time. I guessed that, at its highest point, it was around seven feet high. But still the terrified – and often smouldering – undead came, climbing over the now-dead undead. And they, too, were shredded by the gunfire and fell just as quickly on those whose bodies they were climbing. What were my feelings as I watched this carnage? Could I put my emotions to one side merely because these creatures were no longer truly human? No, not really. Some of those fallen had been classmates of mine a few days previously. More than that, my own brother crouched beside me, watching the spectacle intently – and he, too, was one of these less-than-human beasts. And still I felt David’s pain – whether I wanted it or not. We both watched for, maybe, twenty minutes or more – and then a most unexpected thing happened: the clatter of the heavy machine gun abruptly ceased. Was it out of ammunition? Surely not, the APC must have been loaded with boxfuls of belts of machine-gun bullets. However, after firing continuously for so long, the barrel of the gun would have been red hot. So, perhaps, ...? I saw the commander leap into the gun emplacement and desperately try to manipulate parts of the silent weapon – with no obvious success. The gun had definitely jammed.
Cornish[kw]
An Porth a-gledhbarth o kepar dell gryssen: yth esa para soudoryon a-dryv ha ryb KSD (kert-soudoryon durblatys) re’s drosa alena – hag ynworrans rag jynn- setha poes re via drehevys yn ta ow kul devnydh a seghyer tewes. Yth esa ow pesya an jynn-setha dinewi alkan marwel war dhewdhgow a zombis esa ow frosa dre borth an bennskol hag yn Gromman Kollji. Yth esa keffrys eseli an para, a’ga gorwedh war an gerdhva, ow keworra dhe’n sommenn ma dre dennans aga arvow byghan orth an keth kostennow. Nyns esa zombis vyth ow tremena an porth a-der nebes treys-hys kyns aga bos gwrys dhe goedha. Bern an korfow re devsa dhe ughelder euthyk yn berrdermyn. Yth esa an ughella le ow sevel ogas dhe seyth troes-hyns. Byttegyns, y teuth an dus anvarow, dyegrys ha hwath ow korleski, yn-unn- grambla a-dreus an dus anvarow erell (lemmyn marow yn hwir). Lemmyn, an re na a veu ynwedh skethennys gans alkan marwel – ha koedha mar vuan ha’n re a goedhsa seulabrys, aga horfow yndanna, hag i kramblys warnedha. Pyth o ‘m omglywyansow vy ha my mirys orth an krow ma? A yllyn aga gorra a-denewen yn sempel drefenn na vos an greadoryon ma yn hwir denel? Ny yllyn gul henna yn hwir. Nebes yntredha re via kesstudhyoryon dhymm nans o nebes dydhyow. Dres henna, yth esa ow broder ow honan, a’y blatt rybov, ow mires an hwarvosow euthyk, meur y luwder. Hag eev, ynwedh, o onan a’n vestes isella-es-denel. Ha, dres henna, my a glywo hwath galar Davydh – po mynnen po na vynnen. Ni a viras, agan dhew, dres ugens mynysenn martesen – po moy - hag ena y hwarva neppyth nag o gwaytyes mann: heb gwarnyans, y hedhis klattrans an jynn-setha poes. A remaynya dhodho pellennow? Yn sur, an KSD re via kargys gans boksasow a bellennow-grogys rag an jynn-setha. Byttegyns, wosa y denna heb lett dres termyn hir lowr, y talvien barel an jynn-setha dhe vos bros. Ytho, martesen, ... My a welas an hembrynkyas dhe lamma y’n ynworrans hag assaya porres handla rannow an arv dawesek – heb sewena apert. An jynn re dhothya ha bos glenys fast, yn sertan.