An hour later, the group was sitting in the medical center, the small Teddy which had found them by their side. She asked kindly to be allowed into their room and nobody would dare say no to such a cute smile. Other than the Teddy, policemen and doctors were standing by, taking care of them.
"So, you're saying that there is a giant horde of undead and hound-like creatures in the lower floors, you stole machines and such to build these suits and, because of the police, had to act too early and thus some of you, as well as the whole police crew, died down there and your leader, A24, is still down there and probably dead by now?" The policeman was rubbing his forehead, what were these idiots talking about? Did they go crazy in isolation, or something?
"That is exactly what we are saying, yes!" One of them replied.
H49 was looking at them, unable to speak but making gestures indicating that they were speaking the truth. His throat had been cut, but they had something to close the wound in order to keep him alive for as long as needed. Well, since he had now confirmed that they were telling the truth, he was not actually needed anymore but killing an officer in front of a team of policemen was not a wise idea, so they let him live for the moment.
H49 stood up, or tried to, and sat down at a small nightstand next to the bed they had put him into. He started scribbling onto a small piece of cloth. He wrote something about assembling a search party which was heavily armed and going down there to arrest A24 and potentially kill the creature they had named Lina. His hand was trembling.
The leading policeman read the paper. "So you want us to risk our lives to arrest a possibly dead person by entering the lower floors which, may I remind you, is strictly forbidden." He took a few small breaths before continuing, "And risk fighting not only undead friends of ours but also giant dogs and a creature who can take control of our bodies?"
It took H49 and A24's crew a few hours to convince the police chief to start assembling a rescue squad. And it, sadly, took another 3 days to get the armor and weapons ready, assemble the squad which was very likely to die and get permission from one of the higher ups to enter the lower floors.
A24's crew was also part of the squad. In total they had now more than two dozen people ready to rescue and arrest A24 and fight the Lina. If all went well, they would be turned into a financed squad and had to fight the other Linas as well.
The rescue team opened the door into the building which some of them had used to leave the lower floors 3 days prior. Not expecting any enemies at the moment they entered the house and the staircase with their guns on their back and turned off.
They slowly made their way down the stairs. They quickly went from metal to stone to wood. As if the citadels were built over the course of thousands of years and were never updated, just built higher and higher.
The air surrounding them was tense, some started sweating from fear, others( the one Lukas who they had rescued from the connection halls once the Geddos' citadel attacked) had a smile covering their lips.
They continued their descent down the creaking stairs and noticed an odour which was continuously getting stronger. It was reeking of blood and metals and rotting meat. It was gut wrenching.
"Weapons." One of them whispered and all of them but Lukas equipped and turned on their guns, positioning themselves around the door. Lukas crouched in front of the door, dagger in hand. "Ready!"
Lukas ran through the door and started cutting the air around him. He had hoped there would be more undead, but the ground was filled with their corpses.
"There should be no new undead for quite some time, but we might find the occasional one roaming these halls." One of A24's crew said, "We cleaned out most of this area while fleeing."
Lukas had a disappointed expression covering his face. He let his shoulders relax and walked back to the group. "Could have told me sooner. Got excited for nothing!"
"Don't be too discouraged, there will be new undead once we reach the Areas A24 has not visited. While we are going to avoid them, some should notice us and attack."
A smile spread over Lukas' face after the sentence had ended.
For hours they walked through the halls before finding the factories with clear proof that A24 had been there. All the time they were searching, only a handful of undead attacked them, most of them ripped apart by Lukas. No hounds yet.