"I would kill you for everything you've done," Vander snarled, fists forming. Silco, however, stared back silently and slowly stepped downstairs. "If not for the monsters outside."
"I thought you were dead," Silco replied, his voice low with disbelief. "How are you still alive?"
Neither spared the chaos outside a glance. Vander radiated fury while Silco looked neither calm nor calculating, only shaken and completely at a loss.
Vander blinked a few times, realizing Silco genuinely knew nothing, but his anger stayed. "The doctor took me. I've been tortured more ways than you can count because of you."
"I wouldn't have allowed it if I knew," Silco said with regret, his eyes drifting over the stitches, the mismatched, scarred patches of skin. "Never."
Before he could say more, one of the creatures, torn in half, crashed through the window. A thug underneath screamed once before he was ripped apart in seconds. The creature twisted like a rabid animal, scanning for more prey.
The surrounding thugs shouted and attacked with iron pipes and serrated metal, but even with all of them at once it still managed to tear a leg clean off another man before it finally fell still.
The ladies, Silco, and Sevika stared in stunned silence, until Powder suddenly jumped out of Vander's arms and rushed straight to Silco, hugging him tightly.
"Powder, don't!" Vi snapped when she did, but Powder ignored her.
Vander's expression flickered with pain, confusion, and bitterness. Powder stammered, "I-I'm sorry I disappeared for so long. There was the monster and we started working together and—"
She shook her head quickly, urgency spiking. "Never mind that! Do any of your people know where this started? And when?!"
"It began yesterday," Sevika said as Silco silently checked Powder over. "People started acting weird, couldn't sleep. The doctor's been gone ever since… well, now that I'm seeing this, ever since you busted your father out."
She gestured toward the thugs still beating the corpse out of fear it might stand back up.
"But this?" Sevika continued. "I went down to the ventilation shaft this morning to clear the air. Everyone thought it was just chemicals but those things came swarming out. I barely made it back before that pulse hit."
"So whatever it is," Caitlyn cut in sharply, drawing their eyes, "these creatures and that pulse came from the same source. Xander knows what they are but we need to find where it's coming from to stop it. Do we have any leads besides the ventilation shaft?"
"Who's Xander?" Silco asked, looking down at Powder.
"The monster that broke out of Dredge," she answered.
Silco gritted his teeth but nodded. "When the pulse began, a red beam of light shot up from the Promenade level." He glanced back at Sevika. "You saw it. Was that where you came from?"
"No," Sevika said, shaking her head just as another severed head flew into the bar and hit the floor. Everyone flinched. "That light was closer to the river. But it can still be connected through the ventilation system. It runs across the entire city."
"Alright, great, what do we do in the meantime then?" Powder asked, gesturing at Xander still in the square behind them, surrounded by over two dozen dead necromorphs.
"We fight," Vander said, stepping in, voice grave. "That is what we have to do. These things don't appeal to reason. And if not us… Xander must reach the source."
"Hold on, guys," Vi snapped, pointing at Vander. "No offense, but you look like one of those things all patched up. And if y'all forgot, there was that fucked up creature that hurt Xander. Could that doctor who messed up Vander be involved? He went missing, didn't he?"
"I've never seen anything suggesting he could be behind this," Silco replied sharply. "And he was never a man capable of this."
Outside, another scream tore through the street followed by the wet, meaty crunch of something being ripped apart. Everyone inside the Last Drop flinched again.
Caitlyn swallowed hard. "We need him in here. Now."
Vi nodded sharply. "I'll get him-"
"No," Silco snapped. "If you go out there, you'll die."
Sevika agreed, her mechanical arm still sparking. "He's holding his ground. But I doubt he'll last if more keep coming."
Vander looked toward the open doorway, jaw clenching. "We need to pull him back. We need answers before we throw ourselves out there blindly."
Powder tugged on Silco's sleeve. "He listens to me. I can get him."
"No," Vander said quickly. "You're not stepping out there."
Another body hit the street outside with a wet thud. The creature shrieked, too close as it tried to run past Xander but was skewered. Using his necromancer ability, several skeletons had risen up and were now cutting down necromorphs with bone swords.
Caitlyn raised her voice urgently. "XANDER! FALL BACK!"
He didn't respond. He still fought, still summoning bone spikes to impale anything lunging at him.
Vi cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled louder. "XANDER! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE! NOW!"
That got his attention.
He turned, chest heaving, blood spattered across his clothes and face. Three more creatures were dragging themselves toward him. One missing its legs, one with a hanging spine, one crawling with scythed arms like a starving animal.
Vander stepped to the doorway. "Retreat! We'll brief you inside!"
Xander hesitated, clearly wanting to finish off them off himself, but then he saw Powder's terrified face behind Vander's shoulder.
That did it.
"Alright, alright- on my way!" he shouted back, lifting both hands.
Bone spikes erupted upward, skewering and further mutilating the creatures. Their bodies writhed for a moment before lying still. Lifting his hand in another upward gesture, three skeletons erupted form their corpses in a bloody spray, giving him control of seven skeleton warriors that obeyed his commands.
Only then did Xander sprint toward the doorway.
Caitlyn reached out, grabbing his arm to pull him in as if that would've really done something. Vander slammed the doors and Silco's men heaved several tables to barricade it, stepping back in fear immediately afterward.
The assault, however, never came.
Just distant shrieks… and the dripping of fresh blood down the windows.
"My skeletons can hold them off for now." Xander leaned on his knees, panting. "Someone… start talking."
Silco exchanged a grim look with Vander, Caitlyn, Vi, Powder, and Sevika.
Vander spoke first.
"We have a possible source. A direction. Maybe even a timeframe."
Caitlyn stepped in, voice sharp and focused despite her shaking hands. "We think everything- the pulse, the madness, the creatures it all started near the river. Possibly through the ventilation network."
Sevika crossed her arms. "I was there. Something's down there. And it's not chemical leaks."
Powder tugged Xander's sleeve, eyes big and desperate. "We need you. But we need to know what we're up against first."
Xander's expression hardened. "Alright. Brief me."
Silco exhaled slowly, staring at the blocked door as more distant screams echoed from the Undercity.
"Whatever it is…" His voice tightened.
"…it's turning our home into a slaughterhouse."