Xander's steps were slow but steady as he moved through the dimly lit hallway, the quiet only broken by the faint hum of the lights above. He was painfully aware of every crack and crevice in the walls, every creaking sound of the building, the weight of the situation pressing down on him.
As he passed through the narrow corridor, his mind raced, pulling together the fragmented pieces of his experience. The Temporal Displacement Protocol had been his lifeline, pulling him out of the jaws of death—but at a cost. He had no idea how much time had passed, or where exactly he was now. It didn't matter. He had to find the others. The ones who had survived, the ones who were still out there, fighting alongside him.
The room he emerged into was quiet, much like the one he'd left behind, but the air felt heavier, as if the building itself were holding its breath. A door stood at the far end of the hallway, slightly ajar, a sliver of light creeping through the crack. It was the only sign of movement in the stillness.
Xander hesitated. Was it them? His mind flashed back to the mission window he'd last seen—the survivors, 35 out of 35, still alive. That should have reassured him, but the doubts kept creeping in. Had he really saved them all? Or were they just holding on by the thinnest thread?
With a deep breath, he moved forward. The door creaked softly as he pushed it open, revealing a dimly lit room beyond. His heart skipped a beat as he scanned the interior. He could see figures hunched over, their faces illuminated by the soft glow of their screens. A low murmur filled the air as the group huddled together, seemingly absorbed in whatever task they were working on. But Xander's presence didn't go unnoticed for long.
"Xander?" A voice, shaky but familiar, called out.
He froze.
Laura.
She was sitting at a table, her hands wrapped tightly around a medical kit. The others were there too—Jared, Greg, Mike—all gathered in a circle, their attention snapping toward him. The recognition in their eyes was immediate, but it was Mike's face that caught Xander's attention first. There was something different about him, something more self-assured, almost... powerful.
Xander swallowed hard, stepping into the room. "Hey," he said, his voice hoarse. He felt a strange knot in his stomach, a combination of relief and guilt. The mission hadn't been over when he'd left, but he'd been forced to abandon it. It was good to see them all alive, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had failed them.
Laura's gaze softened as she stood up, her steps quick and light as she approached him. Her eyes searched him, looking for any sign of injury, but he knew she was also looking for answers.
"You're... back." She said it like she didn't quite believe it, as though she were seeing a ghost.
"Barely," Xander muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I—there's a lot I don't understand. I... I don't really know what happened."
Xander decided against giving out info about his trump care but felt a tinge of guilt lying to Laura.
Laura stepped closer, her eyes flickering to the others before returning to him. "We couldn't find you so we thought..."
"You thought I was dead." Xander finished for her, the bitterness creeping in. His gaze dropped to the ground, to the mission window that still hovered faintly in his peripheral vision. 35 survivors, but no mention of his success. He felt like an imposter, standing there with nothing to offer.
Laura shook her head, but there was no malice in her expression, only understanding. "We weren't sure. We just... we hoped." She reached out, placing a gentle hand on his arm. Her touch grounded him, steadying the swirling chaos in his mind.
"Well," he said, forcing a half-smile. "I'm here. That's what matters, right?"
Greg, who had been watching the interaction in silence, grunted from where he was sitting. "Just don't become a burden. You've been gone for a while , a lot has changed."
"A while?" Xander's brow furrowed. "How long has it been?"
Mike, who had been strangely quiet up until now, stood up, brushing the dust off his pants. "At least a few hours. Not sure how long, but—" he paused, his eyes flickering toward Xander with something unspoken between them. He glanced at Jared, who was still unconscious on a cot nearby, and then back at Xander. "It's been long enough for things to get complicated... its probably easier if we just show you"
Xander nodded slowly, his curiosity piqued. "Show me what?"
Greg stood up from where he had been leaning against the wall, wiping his hands on his cargo pants. "Well," Greg said with a smirk, "you might want to step back for this."
Before Xander could react, Greg's stance shifted—his body straightened, shoulders rolling forward. A faint glow seemed to shimmer just beneath his skin, and the air around him hummed with a barely-contained energy. The temperature in the room dropped, just slightly, as if a current of electricity had charged the atmosphere.
"Greg, don't—" Mike started, but Greg was already too far into it.
With a quick swipe of his hand, the air around Greg shifted. A bolt of crackling energy shot out, streaking across the room like a whip of lightning. It hit the corner of the room with an explosive impact, the force throwing nearby furniture aside in a cascade of metal and wood. The sudden burst of power made Xander's heart race—he could feel the energy in the air buzzing around him, almost like it had a mind of its own.
Xander blinked, his hand instinctively reaching for his rebar, the weight of it grounding him. "What the hell was that?" he muttered, half in awe, half in disbelief. The room was now charged with an energy that sent static sparks through the air.
"That," Greg said with a grin, wiping his hands off as though it had been nothing, "is my power. Some form of telekinesis mixed with an aura that draws aggro and weakens the monsters"
Xander took a step back, still processing the explosion of energy. It was wild—primal almost—but clearly effective. And that was just Greg. Xander couldn't help but wonder what else was hidden within this ragtag group.
Mike, who had been silent during Greg's display, now stepped forward, a more serious expression settling over his face. "It's not just Greg with tricks up his sleeve," Mike said, his eyes flickering to the unconscious Jared on the cot. "We all have something... well, let's just say, there's more than meets the eye."
Xander looked over at Jared, his brow furrowing. Jared was still lying still, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, the only indication that he was alive. But as Xander's gaze lingered on him, he saw a small, barely perceptible twitch in Jared's hand.
Greg's eyes glinted mischievously. "Let me show you something." Without further warning, he turned to the cot, where Jared was lying. With a speed that startled Xander, Greg reached down, grabbing Jared's leg and jerking him roughly to one side. The sound of bones cracking echoed in the silence.
Xander froze. His heart leapt into his throat as he saw Jared's body bend unnaturally, and he instinctively stepped forward, rebar gripped tightly in his hands.
"What the hell are you doing?" Xander growled, his eyes narrowing at Greg. There was no way Greg would just—
But Greg's smirk didn't falter. He met Xander's gaze coolly. "Relax, Xander. It's a test."
Before Xander could protest, he saw Jared's leg begin to straighten. At first, it was a subtle twitch, but then Jared's body shifted in a way that defied logic. Slowly, his leg began to heal—the unnatural bend in the joint righting itself. The bones clicked back into place as though they had never been broken in the first place. In moments, Jared was sitting up, blinking, looking slightly dazed but otherwise completely unharmed.
Xander blinked, his jaw slack in disbelief. "What the hell… How did—"
Mike spoke up now, his voice calm but filled with the authority of someone who had seen this countless times. "Anything that's damaged, his body just… heals."
"Anything " Xander repeated in a skeptical tone.
"Anything , we're pretty sure from his testimony that he actually died a couple times but he was pretty disorientated so we've been letter him rest"
Jared rubbed his head groggily, still coming to his senses. "Ugh… what the hell happened?"
Xander looked between the three of them, his head spinning. The implications of what he had just witnessed were almost overwhelming. These weren't just survivors—these were people with powers, abilities that could potentially rival anything the building could throw at them.
So why are they still here ?
"So, what's the situation?" Xander asked, forcing his attention back to the group. It was clear that they had bigger problems now.
Greg leaned forward, his expression grim. "We've been trying to move through the floors, but it's not like before. The monsters—whatever they are—have gathered on the bottom floor, a group of survivors from there arrived here recently but we still don't have much information"
"Only that they number in the thousands" mike chimed in.
Xander's mind raced as he processed the new information. The idea of a horde of monsters numbering in the thousands was enough to make anyone's stomach churn, but the fact that this group—these people with powers—hadn't escaped or found a way out yet made no sense. If they were as strong as they appeared, why hadn't they fought their way out?
He forced himself to focus, trying to clear the haze of disbelief that had clouded his thoughts.
"You've got powers—hell, you've got the strength of a small army, but you're still stuck here?" Xander asked, his voice a bit sharper than he intended, trying to force the pieces together in his mind.
Greg's face hardened, his usual cocky demeanor gone. "We've been trying to make our way through the floors. But it's not like before. The monsters—whatever the hell they are—seem to have adapted. They're not just randomly attacking anymore. They're organized."
He paused, clearly weighing how much to say. "We can handle a few of them, no problem. But when you're up against thousands—well, things get tricky. And it's not just the monsters we've gotta worry about."
Mike leaned in, his expression serious. "Greg's right. The creatures on the lower floors? They're not the only problem-"
Greg sighed, his eyes darkening , cutting Mike off. "There's something else down there , when we fought a hoard of them earlier a horn sounded which seemed to be able to control them"
A Boss...
Xander swallowed hard, his mind racing as he processed the gravity of the situation. He'd faced two bosses so far—one that had been a walk in the park, and the second that had pushed him to the edge of his limits. But what he had just learned about the monsters in the lower floors sent a cold chill down his spine. The creatures were organized, evolving. And from what Greg and Mike had shared, whatever was lurking below should be even harder than the second boss.
Thousands of monsters. Organized. Evolving.
He couldn't ignore the implications. If the system's logic held true—and it usually did—then the challenge waiting for them on the bottom floor would likely surpass everything they had faced so far. The growing sense of dread coiled tightly in his gut. The fear wasn't just from the monsters themselves, but from the uncertainty. How could they fight against that? How could anyone fight against thousands of coordinated monsters, let alone a group of survivors with limited resources and abilities?
He looked over at Mike and Greg, who were both quieter now, the weight of the situation clearly taking its toll on them. Even with their powers, they had no clear idea of what was coming. There was no blueprint to follow, no strategy to counter the unknown.
Xander ran a hand over his face, feeling the exhaustion creeping into his bones. His thoughts were blurry, his body still aching from the previous battles. Every part of him screamed to rest, to take a break, but he knew there was no time for that. The monsters were out there, and they were getting stronger. They had to move—had to figure out a plan.
Greg's voice broke through his thoughts. "Look, we've been trying to come up with something. But if we don't have a strategy soon, it's only a matter of time before the numbers overwhelm us." His voice was heavy with the realization that this wasn't just another fight—it was a war.
Xander nodded slowly, the enormity of the situation weighing on him. "We can't just charge in. Not with the monsters evolving, adapting to us. We need to know what we're up against before we go in blind."
Mike stepped forward, his expression grim. "There's a reason we're still here and not fighting our way through. These monsters… they don't just attack at random. They're intelligent. Organized. They've adapted, just like we have. And what's worse, we've got no way of predicting what comes next."
Xander could feel the weight of their words settle into him. The thought of facing off against something that was continuously evolving, adapting to the survivors' tactics, was almost too much to comprehend. And they didn't even have a plan yet.
"Is there any intel on them?" Xander asked, his voice steadying as he focused on the task at hand. "Any weaknesses we can exploit?"
Greg shook his head, his eyes narrowing with frustration. "We've tried everything we could. Weapons, traps, even just trying to sneak past them. But nothing's worked. It's like the monsters are constantly learning from their mistakes, growing stronger every time we think we have them figured out."
Mike's voice was quieter now, almost contemplative. "And that's where it gets dangerous. Whatever's going on down there... it's like they're evolving faster than we are. If we don't come up with a way to outsmart them, we're just going to keep losing ground."
Xander clenched his fists, his pulse quickening as the weight of the situation continued to sink in. Thousands of monsters, evolving at an alarming rate, and they still had no clear plan. It was overwhelming, to say the least.
But he wasn't ready to give up. Not yet.
"Okay," he said, his voice firm as he met their gazes. "We need to focus. We'll need to gather every bit of intel we can. If we're going to stand a chance, we need to outthink them. Not outfight them."
Greg and Mike exchanged looks, both of them seeming to process the words before nodding in agreement.
"I like the sound of that," Greg said, a glimmer of his usual cocky grin creeping onto his face. "We might not have all the answers yet, but we can start gathering intel on the lower floors. Maybe there's something we're missing."
"Yeah," Mike added. "Maybe we can find a weakness—or at least a pattern to their movements. If we can predict what they'll do next, maybe we can get the drop on them."
Xander felt a small spark of hope flicker in his chest. It wasn't much, but it was a start. They weren't completely blind in this fight. Not yet.
"And in the meantime," Xander said, his voice gaining strength, "we train. We get ready. Because whatever's coming next, we can't afford to be caught off guard."
Greg and Mike both nodded in agreement. Jared, still groggy but more alert now, also gave a slow, determined nod. The group was back on track.
Xander felt the first real flicker of hope in what seemed like forever. They weren't alone in this fight. They had each other, and if they could outsmart these monsters, they might just have a chance to survive.
But even as he said those words, a part of him couldn't shake the feeling that the worst was yet to come.