The first thing they felt was the cold.
Arthur Dusk blinked, the grit of concrete against his cheek a harsh, instantly recognizable reality. He sat up, his head swimming in a disorienting, familiar fog. The air was thick with the scent of dust, decay, and that metallic tang. He was in the abandoned warehouse. He was back.
"What in the hell...?" a voice rasped. Rex Kenway, his jacket torn, sat up a few meters away.
Rex didn't push a shard of glass from his hair this time. He just stared at the ceiling, a dawning horror and cold clarity washing over him. He was naked in the rubble-filled bank lobby, the Brute's head exploding, the Abomination...
Across from them, Zane Grants was already on his feet, his gaze sweeping the dilapidated surroundings.
Zane: How... How are we back here? (He asked, his voice low with confusion. He glanced over to the rusted shelves.)
Arthur: I.. don't know, (he replied, getting to his feet and brushing himself off.)
Arthur spoke the words, but his mind screamed the truth: We suffocated. Buried alive after tge explosion. The realization was a cold, terrifying hand gripping his throat. He saw the warehouse, the crates, the faint sunlight, and he knew they were back at the very beginning.
Rex: It's the voice we heard before. (Rex's voice was rough as he explains) Belongs to an entity called Junn King. Clearly sent us back to the very beginning.
Zane froze, his eyes snapping to Rex, then to Arthur. "Why?" he whispered, the ethereal light of his power flickering, unbidden, in his eyes.
Rex: He sees us and this world as entertainment. That's why...
Arthur's hand went instinctively to his hip, confirming the presence of his holstered sidearm.
Arthur: Wait, entertainment? We in a fucking show?
A metallic clink-clack echoed from the shadows. The three men froze, their eyes darting towards the sound. From between a stack of empty crates, a woman appeared, her stance wide and her movements fluid. Her face was grim, hardened by years of struggle. Her choppy blonde hair, her ballistic vest, it was Jenna.
Jenna: Drop your weapons, (she ordered, her voice a low, gravelly rasp.)
Rex's eyes narrowed, not at the gun, but at the woman. She didn't remember. Her eyes were sharp, but there was no recognition, no shared terror of a collapsed building.
Arthur, seeing the deadly seriousness and remembering the pain of a shotgun barrel shoved in his face, didn't wait. He moved not to surrender, but with a practiced, lightning-fast motion, reaching for the shotgun. He grabbed the barrel and the fore-end with both hands, using his forward momentum to instantly twist the weapon sideways, wrenching it out of Jenna's grip before she could chamber a round.
Jenna's eyes widened in utter shock.
Arthur quickly shoved the shotgun away, letting it clatter harmlessly onto the dust-covered floor.
Arthur: Yeah, no. We're not doing this again, Jenna.
Jenna scrambled backward, fury instantly replacing shock.
Jenna: How the hell do you know my name?! (she snarled, glancing wildly from her fallen weapon to the trio.)
Rex stepped forward, his eyes fixed on Jenna's terrified, non-recognizing face, then turned to Zane and Arthur, the purple light of his kinetic charge beginning to shimmer faintly around his hands, a conscious warning to the others.
Rex: I'll explain later, if you survive. For now, the zombies are coming and we need to get outta here, RIGHT NOW.
Zane and Arthur exchanged a stunned, horrified look.
Zane: That's right. A minute or so from now, a brute and a ton of other zombies gonna bust through that wall.
Jenna: What?! But... fighting will draw MORE zombies in the city.
Rex: We don't have time for this.
Rex's voice was cold, sharp, and cut through the rising panic like a knife. He walked over to a stack of rusted metal shelves near the shattered warehouse wall. With a single, fluid motion that lacked any of his previous hesitation, he gripped a length of structural rebar protruding from the crumbling concrete. His muscles coiled.
CRK-CHUNK!
The thick, rusted rod tore loose from the concrete with a loud, tearing groan of stressed metal. Rex barely flinched at the effort, his focus absolute. He dropped the rod to his side, the silence unnervingly broken by the sound of its impact on the concrete floor.
He then smoothly reached inside his jacket, unsheathing his sidearm just enough for the muzzle to clear the leather holster. He checked the sight alignment and the visible status of the magazine before shoving the weapon back home with a definitive thunk. The whole process took less than two seconds.
He turned to Arthur, his purple-tinged eyes hard.
Rex: Arthur. Need you to copy my ability. Now.
Arthur: Rex, I can't just... I don't have the experience! I've never done it before, only you—
Rex cut him off, his voice maintaining its flat, commanding tone.
Rex: You have the memory of what the power feels like, Arthur. That's more than enough. Experience starts now. Grab the rod I just pulled out, tense every muscle in your arm while holding it, and clench tight. It works like a charm.
Arthur hesitated for only a second, his gaze flicking between the determined fury in Rex's eyes and the still-breathing terror of Jenna. He remembered the feeling of failure, of suffocating in the dark. He moved toward the rebar.
Zane stepped forward, his eyes alight with a fierce resolve that matched Rex's.
Zane: Whatever the plan is, I'm in. You need to buy Jenna and Arthur time to escape, don't you?
Rex nodded, his gaze locking with Zane's.
Rex: We need to give them a significant lead. They are not dying again because of my kinetic release. Jenna and Arthur need to get out and find a secure fallback position.
Jenna, still scrambling backward toward the rear entrance, momentarily stopped. She looked at the three men, then at the rebar Arthur was now picking up, and finally at Rex. A disbelieving, cynical chuckle escaped her lips.
Jenna: Are you three completely insane? You're planning on fighting a Brute in the open? That thing is a siege engine!
Rex's head snapped toward her. The purple shimmer intensified around his hands.
Rex: Shut up and get ready will ya. You are running the minute we give the signal. Go secure the escape route.
Jenna flinched at the sudden, sharp command in his voice. She was about to retort, but the air around them began to vibrate with a familiar, rhythmic thud of massive footsteps growing closer, shaking the very foundation of the abandoned warehouse.
Arthur didn't wait. He rushed Rex, his fingers lashing out and making deliberate, solid contact with Rex's wrist. Arthur's eyes flashed, not with the ethereal light of magic, but with a pure, electric purple flare, the visual manifestation of his ability copying Rex's Kinetic Charge.
Arthur moved back with a grunt of effort, retrieving the combat knife he kept concealed in his boot. He stared at the weapon, then, remembering Rex's instruction, he tensed his arm muscles until they burned, clenching his hand tightly around the hilt.
The ignition was instant and startlingly violent.
The knife blade flashed with a brilliant purple light, instantly transforming into a sputtering, charged field of kinetic energy. It didn't just glow; it seemed to burn, encased in a thin layer of crackling, purple flame.
Jenna stared, her jaw dropping, the cynicism in her eyes instantly replaced by wide, terrified shock. The sight of the normal man suddenly wielding impossible power was the final, undeniable proof that her reality had fractured completely.
BOOM!
The far wall that the brute was meant to bust through remained intact. Instead, it had been the ceiling above them.
A massive, shadowy figure plummeted through the ceiling, striking the concrete floor with such force that the entire warehouse foundation shuddered. Concrete dust, metal shrapnel, and plumes of smoke billowed upward, obscuring the colossal form.
Zane: Uh... That's new, (he whispered, his ethereal light fading slightly in confusion.)
Through the thick, grey fog, Rex saw a terrifying detail: the jagged fissures on the creature's massive, sinewy silhouette began to glow, pulsing with a furious, unmistakable bright blue light.
Rex: Fuck, (he breathed, the purple shimmer around his hands dying instantly.)
The Abomination let out a silent, internal roar, its empty black eyes fixing on the new, terrified prey.