~~~~~~

Walter

~~~~~~

"They will be fine, Walter," Marie said from beside him as they watched the brilliant phoenix shrink into the distance, heading towards the fading light show that had appeared without warning only moments before.

"Of course, Ma'am," Walter said as he quickly pulled his hand from the window, slightly embarrassed by his uncharacteristic display of emotion. But watching Daryl fly on ahead towards an unknown threat… it brought to mind visions of unpleasant past events, of the Undead.

One of the perks of ranking up was that Walter could now see beyond his Domain. Not in the way he saw everything within, but he no longer had to physically look through a window to observe the outside. He could see through all the windows, all at the same time.

Though much like trying to see everything happening inside the Tower all at once, it required a more narrowed focus to achieve useful observations. But it did allow him to see that the last stragglers of the main force were sprinting outside at ground level, Kira's group taking up the rear guard per Nate's instructions. He could see lights springing up among them, and a glowing man leading the charge.

Another fine young man there, Nate was a natural leader. The way he moved among the people, talked to them, and more importantly, listened to them. Things in the Tower had never run so smoothly since that man had arrived. Walter rarely needed to act anymore, merely bringing the details to Nate and letting him resolve the issues.

Many more lights appeared below but were moving quickly and disappearing behind the buildings as the army of humanity moved faster across the city than any automobile might have managed it in the past. Walter suppressed the urge to reach out towards the dwindling spark of flame in the distance. He had become entirely too emotional these days.

"Where can I help, Walter?" Marie said.

"There is rising anxiety in the hall," Walter said, turning from the window with some effort. "I would appreciate your presence there."

"Of course, Walter." She held out a hand in invitation, "Would you escort me?"

Walter liked this woman, she had a sound head on her shoulders. "Yes, Ma'am." He held out his arm and she slipped her hand into place. A step took them to the dining hall.

Loud voices echoed in the space, otherwise minor disagreements escalated by the fear and uncertainty of this night. "Thank you, Walter," Marie said as she stepped away, "I'll be here if you require my assistance."

Walter left her to it and went to check on the progress of their defenses. There was always more work to be done and the fine men and women who had chosen to pursue the path of the builder had been busy since they arrived. They were busier tonight, the threat of a possible attack inspiring many to postpone rest or even meals. Walter moved materials and located misplaced tools, but otherwise left the details to those more knowledgeable in the craft.

He sent fresh fish to the kitchens upon request, pulling them from the underwater area inside his Domain. Always picking out the smartest seeming of the creatures, lest he risk breeding a new threat down there. Stanley had helpfully supplied a large number of underwater life that were as he said, 'dumb as rocks'. But nevertheless, Walter would not make the mistake of underestimating the fauna again.

He even had to interrupt a would-be thief sneaking into someone else's quarters to pilfer a small stash of Cores. The stupidity of some people still surprised him on occasion and Walter took the young man to the front doors. He held him an arms length outside. "If you find a thrill in sneaking about, might I suggest doing so outside?"

"Ahhh!" The first reaction was to scream, a normal response. The next was to beg, "I'm sorry, Walter! I wasn't… I didn't… please don't throw me out… I don't want to die…"

Walter suppressed a sigh. Humans were odd creatures and they handled stress in such a wide variety of ways. He took the man outside the kitchen. "You will assist Mrs Renshaw with whatever she requires."

"Yes! I will!" the man exclaimed, sprinting through the doors as soon as Walter let go of him.

"What are you doing in my kitchen?" the cook roared as soon as he stepped through.

"W… Walter told me…"

"Grab that and bring it over here! Move!" That would keep the idle hands busy for a while.

Walter moved some more supplies and rearranged some of the defenders who had remained behind. Most of them ranged or magic users that were either too weak, or in some cases, had skewed their builds so far into magic that they couldn't physically keep up with the rest of the army outside. Walter was torn on whether that was a good or bad idea. Stanley was one example of someone who had leaned into his power at the expense of his physical capabilities, but his abilities lended themselves to versatility, whereas others who tried the same thing could only dole out heavy damage and would probably die if ever directly attacked. They did make for good defenders in a fortified location though.

Then he saw the phoenix fire returning! Walter watched anxiously as they came back much slower than they had left. It should be a good sign… they weren't fleeing ahead of an army of Undead. "What happened out there to make Eve call for aid?" Unfortunately, he could only watch and wait.

His worry rose again when he saw Daryl was not riding the phoenix, instead Zeke was with Adrian and glowing like the sun. "Someone has been wounded, but who…" His question was answered when they landed on the roof and Adrian carried a small storming hole inside Walter's Domain. "Stanley." He had to use his eyes to see the man, the violent churning of power around him forcing the Domain to retreat. Walter could have tried to force the issue now, to constrain Stanley's flailing power with his own. But he didn't know if that would help or harm in this situation and it wasn't necessary in any case, Stanley wasn't attacking him, but he was attacking something by the feel of it…

Adrian and Zeke filled him in, and Walter was already pulling another healer upstairs before they finished the tale. Eve sprinted inside the ground floor and Walter dropped her next to her brother. Daryl came inside not long after that and Walter felt some of his tension relax.

"The Undead might still be coming, Walter," Daryl said when Walter brought him upstairs.

"Yes, Sir," Walter said with a small bow, "I will continue the organization of the defenders." He left and started assisting Nate with assigning positions to the returned combatants. He kept an eye on the room upstairs as he did that.

Adrian laid Stanley down on the floor and looked at Zeke. "Are you good to go again?"

"Yes, I can do it!" Zeke said as he scrambled into position.

"Remember, Zeke," Adrian said, somewhat sternly, "we take this in shifts. Don't push yourself, we don't know how long we'll need to keep this up, understand?"

"I… Yes, I understand," Zeke said soberly as the room lit up with a golden light.

"You're not in this alone, Zeke. We will all help," Adrian said with a hand on his shoulder.

"How can I help?" Stinson asked, standing next to Stanley.

"Put your Regeneration on him," Adrian said, "I want to see if it eases the strain on us."

The doctor didn't hesitate and placed his hands on Stanley's chest. Zeke nodded almost immediately, "That does help!"

"Get the others, Walter," Adrian said, "let's find out if it stacks." Walter obliged and more people came back with him. Each of them cast their spells and from the lessening glow coming from Zeke it must have indeed 'stacked'.

But it didn't last, Zeke started frowning as the light brightened after a few heals and then blurted, "Food! The hungry Debuff will slow down the Regeneration, and I think I am already having to make up for it…"

"I have anticipated such a need and it is being prepared as we speak," Walter said reassuringly.

It didn't take long after that before the cook arrived with a pot of something steaming. There was some trial and error as they tried to figure out how to feed him the mostly liquid mixture. Walter finally enlisted the help of a young man who could manipulate water, and apparently soup was close enough that he could send it right into Stanley's stomach.

Caffeine made no move towards the broth and didn't even look at the fish she had brought up specifically for him. That more than anything, worried Walter greatly. "What happened to you, Stanley? Whatever it is, fight hard young man. We will stay with you as long as it takes."

After that, they settled into a routine of spells, healing and feeding for everyone. Time passed slowly for Walter as he watched over the healers. Zeke was far too wound up to sleep when Adrian took over and Marie had to help with that by using her skill to force sleep. Eve didn't like that, but begrudgingly accepted it out of necessity.

Marie also took a look at Stanley, but almost immediately flinched away and shook her head. "I can do nothing," she stated, "though I don't think he is sleeping… his mind is violently and actively hostile." It looked like she wanted to say more but was hesitating. Finally she looked at the others in the room and asked, "has he mentioned his brother to any of you?"

Heads nodded around the room. "His twin, right?" Eve said into the silence.

"Yes," Marie hesitated again, "I was told many things in confidence but I think this might be related to the current situation…" She glanced at Walter. "Any signs that the Undead are moving?"

"No, Ma'am," Walter said, "Daryl and some of the others are heading out there now, to watch for movement." Walter hadn't liked that idea, but Nate was with him and together they should be safe. Should be…

Marie nodded. "Stanley told me that he is bound to his brother, bound so tightly that he fears the death of himself would kill his brother." She paused to study Stanley's still form and Walter saw where she was going with this. "I believe his brother may be under attack and Stanley fights with him," Marie said, "and I believe it in part because he feels focused yet distant, as if I am trying to see him from far away…" More heads nodded in agreement.

"I still won't rule out the Undead," Adrian finally said, after they all digested her statement, "they know that he killed some of them… and if he just found their Lair…"

"I agree," Marie nodded to him, "if they are spying on us somehow, and if they truly fear Stanley," she glanced at Eve, Zeke asleep beside her. "You would know more, you were there when the last one fled. Do they fear him? Would they attack if they discovered he was out of the fight?"

Eve glared at the woman, likely for bringing up a sore subject, but she finally caved under all the attention and shrugged. "It ran away… but we're talking about the Undead, literally alien zombies, do they even have emotions?"

"They do," Zeke said beside her, sitting up from his nap, "and not happy emotions either." He shivered. "I think they will come for me again…" Eve reached out to him, obviously upset.

"I remember," Zeke said to her, "they were after us the very first night… after me." He took her hand and held it tightly. "They found Stanley instead. He saved us, Eve."

"I know damn it!" she cursed and then scowled at her brother's smile.

"Saved us twice now," Zeke said, smiling wider at her.

Eve sighed and squeezed his hand in return. "I know, Zeke, I know. Now you get to return the favor." He smiled his still innocent but now less naive smile and she pulled him into a hug. "Slow and steady, Zeke. Don't wear yourself down too much," she whispered admonishingly in his ear. "I'm going to work on my own gear."

Eve dragged her materials into the room and got started on making something, a flying drone by what Walter could see. The propellers were the part she had been struggling to get right and she'd given up before, since most of the fighting was done in caves or old buildings anyway. But now, with a potential threat incoming from anywhere, now she apparently wanted to get some eyes in the sky.

She was still having trouble when Walter cleared his throat behind her. Eve turned. "I believe Mr Castillo can help you with your design," Walter said, gesturing to the middle-aged man blinking in wary confusion around the room and at the hubbub around Stanley.

"What can you do?" Eve snapped.

"Oh, hi," the man looked back at her and then down at the table. "You need the curve to be more like this," He picked up a pencil and started drawing on the table. Walter saw Eve bite back her angry retort. "And your best bet will be to go with four propellers instead of one. You'll get much easier control that way." Walter had only found out about the man's background by happenstance and despite her grumbling, Eve quickly got to work with him.

"Something is coming!" Eve suddenly exclaimed a short time later, her head pointing towards the windows. Then she relaxed a bit and said, "Nevermind, it's just Sam."

The sky was lit up in pre-dawn light when Walter opened the wood and metal balcony door, now more secure than simple glass, and invited the woman inside. "Welcome, Miss," Walter said, "any word on the Undead?"

"I went looking for the tunnels," Sam said, "found them, and this." She held up a small metal spider.

"That's mine," Eve said and reached for it.

Sam pulled it away from her reaching hand. "Why was it in the tunnels then?"

"I sent it to find them!" Eve snarled, "It got out of range and I couldn't get it back…" The spider suddenly moved, causing Sam to drop it with a startled curse. It landed upright and quickly scrambled behind Eve before climbing up her legs.

Sam was glaring daggers at Eve after that, but finally turned away. "The Miasma is definitely stronger down there, but I didn't go too deep." She looked at Zeke, currently on healing duty and glowing brighter than the sky outside. "I say we take golden boy here with the rest of the strong fighters and go exploring."

"That's not happening," Eve stated with finality.

"I am afraid that we are dealing with a small crisis at the moment," Walter said calmly, "and will not be able to undertake such an excursion. But if the Undead are indeed below your base, I would suggest that you withdraw the people in your care from that place and bring them here. I believe that in these extraordinary circumstances we can find the room to house them."

Sam was frowning now. "You seriously won't fight without that crazy old man? Are you all that weak?"

Caffeine growled softly, then whined, his head resting on Stanley's chest. Walter resisted the urge to smile at the woman's glare and saw Eve open her mouth.

"Stanley requires aid," Walter quickly said, in a calm voice, before anyone could start loudly insulting the woman, "we will not abandon a man who has saved so many of our lives simply because it is inconvenient." The woman did not like his answer and Walter continued, "I believe Nate will be amenable to leading a force to the stadium and assisting in escorting your people here, if you would like to begin preparations…"

"And alert the Undead that we know their position?" Sam scoffed, and then shook her head. "Fine, send whoever you want, those cowards can run if they want but I'm not risking my neck for them."

"Very well, ma'am." Walter resisted the urge to frown at the woman as she flew away. As much as he despised the idea of sending Daryl out towards such a threat, he would still pass on the message when the scouts next checked in.

Nate returned shortly thereafter, his arrival preceded by loud booming before he landed on the balcony. "Any change?" he asked. Walter told him of Sam's visit and his subsequent offer to the people in the stadium. "You're a good man, Walter," Nate said, "we will bring them but I'll need to take more people."

"Take all you need, Sir," Walter told him, though he was slightly conflicted on the issue. On the one hand Daryl would have more allies if something happened, but on the other side, everyone here would have less. He knew his strength had vastly improved since the Lair assault and suspected he could now force those same monsters out of his Domain by force of will alone. But he couldn't forget something Stanley had said, 'Why are they hiding, and how much stronger will C Rank be?'

Walter knew what he was capable of, but also understood his limitations. He was a brute in battle, no finesse, decades old fencing lessons providing little to no help. If he faced a foe of equal power but one who knew how to fight…

Nate didn't take many, Kira's group and two others for a paltry total of twenty people. "I suspect that most in the stadium will refuse to come," Nate explained when Walter asked about the numbers, "we'll be lucky to get a few hundred. Especially after Stanley just recruited so many."

That made a tragic kind of sense on further consideration. "Very well, Sir."

He tried to stay busy after that, checking the defenses, assisting the still ongoing construction, and whatever else he could do to avoid watching anxiously out a window.

Eve took her new drone outside and Walter saw it nearly fall out of the sky more than once before she got a handle on flying it. Adrian also had to remind Cheesesteak to refrain from eating it when it got too close. Then she settled down and started working on the bulky suit of armor that she sometimes wore. Walter hadn't seen it in action yet and hopefully wouldn't for a long time…

Eventually he ran out of things to do and started pacing where no one could see him. It wouldn't be proper if people saw him behaving in such a manner, but he couldn't sit still. Something was coming, he could feel it. Walter pulled out his latest sword, a makeshift spear of a weapon, taken from one of the creatures that stabbed him in the battle. It wasn't much for slashing attacks but could pierce everything he'd tested it on. He used it to practice his fencing from so long ago.

He had almost worked up a sweat in the empty room, when Stanley suddenly surged with power and rage. Walter appeared at his side an instant later, but already the power was fading. "Is he…"

Adrian was on healing duty and sat back abruptly, letting his healing fire dim. Walter feared the worst before the healer spoke, "he stopped fighting!" He took a deep breath and then saw the looks on the faces around him, "I mean he stopped taking damage! I think he is resting now…"

Walter nodded and then realized that he was still holding his sword. It vanished and he knelt to touch Stanley's forehead. The cloud of power that had been keeping his Domain away was now gone and Walter could see Stanley in his perception again. There was still something happening in there, some activity, but not on the previous scale.

"Fuck me…" Eve whispered into the silence and then sprang from her table. Walter saw what had likely caused her reaction and was behind her when she yanked open the balcony door. She stopped in the doorway and cursed vehemently. "Fuck!"

In the far distance, a pillar of black energy was shooting into the sky, reaching up and vanishing into the clouds. He couldn't accurately judge the distance and so couldn't tell how big it was, but that was the direction of…

"The stadium!" Adrian gasped behind him and then tore past Eve while shouting, "Cheesesteak!" An answering screech from the rooftop sounded as Adrian jumped high into the air from the balcony. "Find Daryl!" Adrian yelled, even as the phoenix launched into the sky to catch him. Together the pair flew off in a streak of golden fire towards the dark pillar.

"Daryl…" Walter whispered, frozen in horror as they rapidly dwindled in the distance.

Zeke slipped past him and joined his sister on the balcony. "Oh my God…" he said, "Eve, all those people!"

"Shit!" Eve grabbed Zeke and dragged him back inside, "Move it, Walter!"

"Y… Yes, Ma'am." Walter moved aside, mind whirling with horrible possibilities.

"They're coming, Walter, the Undead are fucking coming, get ready!" she yelled and immediately started pulling on her armor pieces that had previously been under construction on her table.

A hand touched him and Walter almost jumped in surprise. "Don't worry," Zeke said to him, "Nate was with them. I think he can see the future sometimes and I bet he felt that coming in time, if they were even at the stadium." Then he rushed over to Stanley. Caffeine was still lying next to the other man but his head was up and tilted as if trying to hear something. Then he lay his head back on Stanley's chest and whined.

"I…" Walter straightened. "Thank you, Sir." He spoke then to the entire tower, "Attention… everyone. All residents report to battle stations. This is not a drill." He could see more than a few people had noticed the black pillar and more were gathering at the windows as he watched. "The Undead have begun to move and… This is it, the moment we have been preparing for." Walter took a deep breath. "It is time to show these dead bastards that they never should have come here!"

"Something is happening," Zeke was back at the door and peeking through the windows while Walter was moving throughout the Tower, getting people to their places, but he could still see the pillar fading in the distance. It shrank down until only a small black dot remained. A dot that he was sure was growing slowly larger, or coming closer…

"I see someone!" Zeke exclaimed, "It's Sam, and I think she's wounded!"

"Oh course that bitch comes running back now!" Eve spat.

Walter could see her as well, and behind her was… "I think I see Nate coming behind her…" Zeke leaned closer to the window. "Something might be chasing them… they are coming in fast!"

"Shit!" Eve finished donning her gauntlets and picked up the helmet. "Get back from the door, Zeke."

Walter's heart sank. "If Nate is not with Daryl…"

"Get inside!" Zeke opened the door to let the fleeing woman inside, his golden aura shining brightly, and Walter saw Sam barreling towards the entrance, torn and bloody. Nate was in the distance behind her, also bloodied, and behind him… glowing red eyes in a skeletal face. "They truly are returned…" Nate's mouth was moving, as if he was saying something… screaming it. Sam was almost at the door and she surged forward, her mouth curling slightly up into a smile on that bloody face. Her hands were moving forward ahead of her, towards Zeke…

Walter moved, appearing beside Zeke and as far in front of him as he could, but she was too close. His hands and power wrapped around the boy, pushing and pulling to get him out of harm's way. He was an instant too slow… Walter saw two black crystalline spikes extending from the woman's hands, saw the needle-like point touch the boy's chest, while another identical shard in her other hand sank into the back of Walter's blocking hand.

Debuff Gained: [Corruption]

Then the world rippled and the spikes stopped. Walter vanished with Zeke to the elevator and Caffeine took his place, jaws already closed over Sam's hand.

A black spike was still in the back of Walter's hand, the flesh darkening quickly around it. The other spike was sticking out from Zeke's chest… It had barely penetrated more than an inch and yet it remained suspended in place. Walter ignored the one in his hand and quickly grabbed onto the other.

Debuff Gained: [Corruption II]

Walter ignored the Debuff and the searing pain that was growing in his hand alongside it. He yanked the spike out of the boy's chest. Or tried to… Zeke came with it, screaming in agony as Walter tried to drag the point from his flesh and it refused to come free.

Debuff Upgraded: [Corruption III]

Eve was pounding towards the elevator and Walter opened the door to let her in. "What are you doing!?" she yelled over Zeke's screaming as Walter carefully laid the boy's spasming body on the floor.

"I can't remove it!" Walter exclaimed, then felt the spike sink a small bit deeper into the boy's chest. His own hand wrapped around the spike was turning black and losing strength as the pain kept getting worse. The spike in the back of that hand was vanishing further into his flesh every second.

Debuff Gained: [Corruption IV]

"Move!" Eve shoved him aside and wrapped her gauntleted hand around it. "Ow, Fuck!" She pulled and lifted Zeke off the floor. "Damn it! Why do you always have to try and heal everyone!" Eve screamed helplessly and dropped to her knees next to her brother. "Zeke! Heal yourself! Hurry!"

"I… I'm trying…" Zeke gasped.

Walter's hand was black now, the flesh rotting and falling off, exposing the bones of his fingers. Ugly lines of darkness were running up from the necrotizing flesh like pulsing veins of rot. Walter stepped to another room, stretched out his rotting limb and lifted his good hand over his head. A heavy cleaver appeared in it. One hard swing later and…

Debuff Downgraded: [Corruption]

Walter dropped the cleaver into the rotting gore on the floor. The spike melted into the puddle and Walter made a mental note to have everything in this room burned. He wrapped the bleeding stump of his arm with an extra tie. The bleeding would stop soon enough and Adrian could heal it up when he returned. But there were some faint black lines running up towards his shoulder…

Eve's metal gauntlet had been damaged by the corruption as well, but the skin underneath was still clean when she ripped it off.

Her brother looked bad though, the spike had dug deeper at an unstoppable pace and was nothing but an obsidian lump in his chest now, with ominous black lines spreading from it. A dome of golden light was coming from Zeke and filling the elevator, but it too was streaked with black lines.

"You can beat this, Zeke!" Eve cried as she cradled his head, "I have Faith in you, Zeke… please don't leave me alone here…"

Zeke didn't respond, his eyes squeezed shut and hands locked into fists as his light warred with the darkness.

While all that was happening Walter had been watching what transpired outside his Domain.

Caffeine had forced Sam away and she leapt back, one arm now ending at the elbow as Caffeine dropped a bloody hand onto the floor. She managed to stay on the balcony and lifted her remaining hand towards Caffeine…

Right before a glowing fist went through her skull.

Her body shattered as Nate's fist went through her head… shattered into a cloud of glowing purple shards.

Sam reappeared in the air less than twenty meters away, the Undead monster coming in fast behind her. Nate landed on the balcony she had just vacated and spun to face her as she started laughing.

"What did you do!?" Nate yelled at her, even as his hands and feet started glowing brighter.

"I just invited your golden boy to change sides!"

"Why help them…" Nate's voice was pleading.

"I want to live!" Sam exclaimed, the cloud of purple shards shifting to point at Nate, "and live forever…"

Caffeine took a step… appeared with two feet on her chest and his jaws snapped closed over her head before the sound of his movement could even be heard. He bit down with enough force to send a shockwave through the Tower.

The pug leapt off her chest, back to the balcony and spat out her head as the body tumbled limply down in a swirling fountain of blood. He turned towards the now slowing Undead in the distance, then threw back his head and Howled. It felt like the whole world rang with the sound of that howl, but no Buff appeared…

The red-eyed skeleton stopped in the air, expressionless, its inhuman face nothing but a skull. Then it summoned a swarm of glowing black orbs and launched them at the Tower.

Caffeine jumped again and a shield appeared around the Undead, then shattered as the pug went through it. His teeth bit down on one of the thing's four arms that lifted to protect its head, and then ripped it free as he kicked off the skeleton. It had to be one of the Raid Leaders, to be able to stand up to the pug that well…

The magical attack rained down over the balcony and top floor of the Tower. Nate kicked and punched multiple black orbs away in whirlwind blur, but too many were incoming.

Walter stood before the elevator and thrust his arms out along with his Domain, forcing his will against the Undead's magic. It was another improvement to his ability gained by ranking up, but one that was draining and wasteful under normal circumstances. The circumstances now however, were not normal. Stanley was lying helpless on the floor and Walter would not allow the spell to reach the defenseless man.

The Tower trembled under the barrage but none of the spells breached the walls. "It is indeed a Raid Leader!" he thought as he staggered back.

Caffeine landed behind the falling magic and dropped a skeletal arm next to Sam's head. Then attacked the Raid Leader again. A translucent magic bubble caught the pug right before he reached the Undead and suspended him in midair, his legs only spinning the bubble uselessly around him.

Caffeine grew in size rapidly, the bubble growing with him, until he was over ten stories tall a heartbeat later and the bubble failed to keep up with his growth. It scattered into motes of light around the now massive pug.

His mouth, now large enough to swallow the Undead like a tiny snack, was directly in front of the monster. A skeletal arm reached for him, its pale bones blazing with green light while the other two hands moved frantically in the motions of another spell. Caffeine Barked.

The three-armed skeleton vanished, launched into the distance by the force of the bark. Caffeine was sent backwards by the same force and the once more small pug landed back on the balcony. He sprinted through the door behind Nate and stopped to sniff and whine at Stanley's prone form while Nate dashed past to the elevator. Then Caffeine ran on to Zeke and started whining and licking his face as well.

"Hang in there, Zeke," Nate said, "I'll get Adrian back here and he'll help fix you right up."

Nate emerged from the elevator and Walter finally noticed that one side of his body looked smaller, almost withered. His clothes on that side were barely more than strings. Walter was afraid to ask but Nate guessed what he was worried about. "We all dodged the spell, bringing the survivors back now," he was talking blisteringly fast, "Everyone left inside the stadium is now undead, more coming from the ground! I have to get back to them, can you…"

"I will hold the Tower, Sir," Walter said, ignoring Nate's glance at his missing arm. The other man nodded and vanished through the open door, receding shockwaves marking his progress into the distance.

Walter could see the attacks already flying outwards from the lower floors, the defenders sending whatever they had into their attackers. Undead of all shapes and sizes were springing up, from underground, from other buildings, or just running in from further out. All of them charging the Tower. This time the defenses were holding, the smaller window gaps not letting monsters through but allowing the Humans to blast them from safety even when they started climbing the walls.

Caffeine was still crying as he licked Zeke and Walter could hear the boy whispering, "I can do it… it's just pain… it can't stop me if I don't let it…" One of his hands came up and pet the frantic pug, "I won't give up, Caff. I'll save him!" His small dome of light expanded, exploding out of the elevator and rapidly filling the entire penthouse. "I'll save everyone!"

Walter took Stanley to Zeke and then all of them to the dining hall. He wasn't about to make the mistake of leaving anyone behind again. In the center of the rebuilt and rearranged hall, was a heavily fortified bunker. Walter had enlisted some of the crafters to turn it into a kind of safe room. A panic room for when everything went to shit. Just like this.

Zeke struggled to sit up in the bunker and Eve helped pull him upright. "I… won't… fail, Eve! I… will… save… them… all!" The golden light spread further, filling the entire floor and spilling out beyond the walls. Walter saw all the Undead touched by that light burst into flames. Zeke sat cross-legged, his breathing labored, body twitching and sweating. Black lines had crawled up his neck and onto his face but for the moment seemed to have stopped spreading as he fought against the corruption.

Walter left Eve with her brother as he assessed the battle picking up around them. The room was no longer crammed with people in a desperate last stand like before, though it was still a fallback point if things got worse. Now they had people on almost every floor, above and below. The Undead attacking so far were all weak, easily taken down by most people in here. Zeke's aura was now preventing those same monsters from climbing past this floor and getting any higher. Walter made the snap decision to abandon the higher floors and spent a few precious seconds bringing the people above down closer to this level. Better to have them close and within the aura, than to try and protect them while all spread out. Especially if that Raid Leader returned.

Walter did have to make one more trip upstairs for the rest of Eve's equipment. She alternated between encouraging Zeke and setting up her various devices. Then she ran wires out to small turrets on each side of the building. They all started taking shots at the Undead before she got back to her brother. She put together a massive cannon of a rifle and set it by the door, before sitting down with Zeke. She whispered encouraging words to him while holding his shaking hands, with the occasional kick into Stanley's shins and muttered curses for him to, 'wake the fuck up already'.

Walter was tempted more than once to try waking Stanley himself, but knew this wasn't the same as before. Something had attacked him, or his brother. The only question was who had done it and how long he would be out of the fight.

Walter tried to stay busy and he had plenty to focus on as the battle only got more intense, but the still missing Daryl was worrying at his mind the longer things went on.

Eve's spiders had spread around the room by now, with one atop the bunker she was in. He knew she could see through them and appreciated the extra eyes in the room while he was bouncing around the Tower. Walter moved a few more people around, shoring up weak points and trying to optimize the available firepower. Every floor now had fallback barricades, for if, or rather when the walls were breached. It would allow the defenders to retreat and keep fighting, all the way back to a bunker around the stairwell. If that fell then they would all eventually move to this floor.

Then all he could do was wait. He did assist with a few kills here and there, but nothing that would tax him in any way. He knew that this wasn't it, these attacks were nothing but fodder and the real attack was still coming. In the distance, the black dot had expanded and was definitely approaching. Great gouts of fire could be seen near that thing and below the dot, Walter was sure he could see massive shapes moving…

Around the Tower was practically calm, other than the tide of weak monsters. But he did see something else. Dark magic was swirling around a crumpled and headless body on the ground. Then there was a burst of darkness that obscured the body. Walter followed the trail of magic across the field and found the source. A Raid Leader, and this one still had four arms. "Another one. How many are out there?"

Something shot into the dark cloud and the entire thing collapsed down, revealing the body once again as it climbed to its feet. It was Sam.

She looked pale and bloodstained, with a large jagged scar around her neck, but the wound was fading as she started walking towards the Raid Leader. Sam stopped in front of it and knelt.

"Walter, that bitch is alive again!" Eve shouted. She must have had eyes on her from the drone. Walter saw her pick up the large rifle and hesitate, looking between her brother and out towards Sam.

"Go," Zeke said through clenched teeth, "I got this."

Eve uttered some exceptionally foul words describing Sam as she ran to the narrow windows and lined up a shot.

Sam was still kneeling before the Skeleton and Walter could see her mouth moving but was too far to hear what was being said. Then the Undead turned away and Sam stood to follow without a glance back.

Eve fired and blasted a hole through the woman's back. Instead of being instantly killed, Sam spun around and launched a storm of her signature purple shards, though now they glowed nearly black. Walter managed to block some and most stuck harmlessly into the defenses, but a few made it through the gaps and one man failed to duck in time. It went right through his head… Caffeine was sitting up between Zeke and Stanley, and growling softly towards the windows.

The Skeleton had stopped after the traitor's assault on Eve and it must have said something, because Sam abandoned the attack and raced after it. Eve fired again, but her shot only ricocheted off a glowing dome above the Undead, then they vanished around a corner and were lost from sight. "Where are they going?" Walter thought, "Are they just keeping us busy to go after the others first?"

Then another of the large skeletons stepped from a different corner, this one with only three arms. It immediately launched a barrage of the same black orbs towards the dining hall.

The people inside were more wary after the last attack and all threw themselves towards cover. Walter forced his own power into the defence as well and the wall held. Caffeine stood up growling and with a building shaking rumble, he blurred through the building.

"Caffeine, wait!" Walter saw something else out there and tried to stop the pug, but Caffeine was already down the stairs and out the wide ground floor entrance like a bullet. "It's a trap!" Walter yelled helplessly. He could see three more of them, spread out on rooftops where the pug wouldn't see them.

Caffeine went through the Undead's shield and was about to rip another arm off, when the thing blinked further away. The pug hit the ground and his trajectory changed to its new location in an explosion of earth. Once again the skeleton vanished and reappeared further away. "Caff, come!" Walter tried one last time but either the pug couldn't hear him, or didn't want to abandon the chase and they both vanished around another building. "Stanley, if you are going to wake up, your dog might need your help… or not."

It was a trap as he suspected, but not for the pug. Four undead monsters landed just outside the ground floor and started walking towards the entrance. Two huge four-armed skeletons, one equally hulking zombie and the former human turned traitor as the smallest of the lot. She had a dome of her shards overhead and Eve's next shot pinged uselessly from them.

Walter appeared among the defenders on the ground floor. "Fall back," he said quietly, "prepare to retreat upstairs, all the way into Zeke's bubble. Tell everyone above."

The Marines had been assigned down here and their leader didn't argue with the orders, he could see what was approaching. "Yes, Sir!"

Walter walked forward as they moved back, sword appearing in his hand as he strode to meet the enemy at his gates.

"Walter!" Sam exclaimed when she saw him step into the wide doorway, "you don't need to die here, you can still join us and become Eternal!"

"I am afraid I must decline," Walter said as he pointed his sword at her, "and you are no longer welcome in my Domain."

"You're old, Walter. Even with increasing your attributes you don't have long left." Sam spread her arms wide as she stalked closer, glowing purple shards appearing in droves around her. The woman's clothes were tattered rags that did nothing to hide her body beneath, now unblemished by the shot Eve had landed before. "I will still be here when you are but dust," Her eyes were glowing with a bloody light. "I. Am. Immortal…" Walter tensed as he prepared to fight and…

Enemy Raid Leader Defeated. Contributions…

They all froze and Walter swore he could see shock on those dead faces. "Don't mess with the dog." Walter always told people that, and not as they assumed because Stanley would kill them, though that was a real risk. No, he told them that because he knew not to trifle with the Beast Lord. He was almost sure that Caffeine held a Domain of his own, but just never tried to actually enforce it on the world around him.

Caffeine appeared an instant before the sonic boom, standing next to Sam's once again headless body. He spun and Barked before the corpse could even start to fall. Walter saw the still faintly glowing eyes of the woman, right before her head blasted through her own chest.

Most of her body disintegrated from the blow and her head went on to shatter another shield around one of the Skeletons, driving it back in the process of spraying what was left of her head across its chest.

Walter could hear Eve laugh maniacally from her perch a few floors above them and allowed himself a small smile as well. But it didn't last, Caffeine was panting very heavily and had shrunk down to his normal size after that bark. He still snarled angrily at the Undead though and it would have looked ridiculous if not for what he'd just witnessed from the tiny dog.

The Undead all raised their many hands and started almost frantically casting spells, right before Caffeine threw his head back and howled. It was a weak howl compared to the usual, and Walter thought he heard a faint chirp from somewhere. Then a veritable cloud of dark shapes came pouring down the streets from the direction of downtown.

Caffeine took a growling step forward and stumbled. Walter snatched him up and abandoned the first floor. All of the defenders were gone and the next floor was almost clear. He appeared next to Zeke and set the pug between him and Stanley. "You are doing an excellent job, young man. Please keep it up."

"I will." Zeke looked worse than before and the ache in Walter's shoulder was spreading up his neck. "Good boy," Zeke said as he rested a hand on the exhausted pug who had started lapping up the uneaten soup from the pot.

Walter retrieved the large fish from upstairs and left it with the dog while he watched what transpired below. The swarm of bats swirling around the Undead made it difficult to perceive what was happening, but he knew that it wouldn't stop them, already bats were dying by the dozens every second. "Did Caffeine summon them? Or are they just drawn to the Mana?"

Then the zombie in the trio burst from the swarm and into the stairwell, sprinting almost as fast as Caffeine up the stairs. Walter appeared in its path and kicked it back down a flight. He stepped next to it and drove his sword towards its head. The zombie twitched aside and took a slight gash across the side of its head while simultaneously slashing out with horrifically large claws for Walter's legs.

Walter appeared on the other side and plunged his sword into the back of its head. A large foot sank into his stomach and Walter blinked away before it could do more damage. Another stab into its back earned him a fine slash on one leg where he didn't quite manage the dodge in time. But no matter how many times he impaled the monster, it didn't seem to care or even be slowed down.

Then a black clawing mist swirled up the stairwell and Walter was forced to retreat another floor higher.

Debuff Upgraded: [Corruption II]

A spiny crab leg pinned the zombie to the wall as it rounded the next flight and Walter dealt more damage before it started catching his projectiles and throwing them back. He fought a retreating battle as more magic was sent up after him.

The bats below had thinned out greatly, either dead, or joining the remaining flock outside the Tower and descending on the newly arrived undead army. The true army.

Skeletons with bladed arms were predominant among the horde, much faster and stronger than the ones he'd witnessed previously. Red-eyed zombies filled the remainder and together they swarmed the Tower at terrible speed. The bats took a toll on them but it didn't seem to matter against such numbers.

"You are annoying," the zombie spoke for the first time, "even for a human!" The surprise of hearing it almost cost Walter another wound but he slipped away. "I have decided on my next body!" it exclaimed, as Walter impaled it through the back and used the weapon to throw it bodily down the stairs. "I want that beast!" It once again appeared unbothered by the wound then another spell filled the stairwell.

"You are too weak," it howled, charging up the next flight to reach him, "and already infected! I will eat you and the Purifier, and then claim the Beast!"

Walter saved his breath and didn't respond as they both entered into Zeke's aura. Small golden flames burned on the zombie but it only growled and attacked with more ferocity. "That useless human failed," it spat, then waved a hand through one of the black streaks within the golden light. "But not completely!" It grinned a disgusting smile and resumed the chase.

Walter fought it with everything he had but could see the two others getting closer on the stairs below. His head was throbbing when he backed into the large dining hall. The zombie followed him inside in a rush, and was tackled by a silvery glowing suit of armor.

Eve drove the zombie all the way across the hall with pounding footsteps and then slammed it against the wall with a building shaking boom. Walter let her take that one, he was running out of time.

The hall was packed with humans. Once again they had been forced to this state, though many still fought on floors above and below. As far as the light reached, humans held that ground against the army at the walls. The Raid Leaders had passed by the defenders below, seemingly intent on reaching this floor first, likely to remove Zeke. But it meant the Humans there could focus on the threat outside… for now.

Walter made a decision and stripped his Domain from the top half of the Tower. Power filled him and he stripped all of his Domain from the underwater Lair he had won in the last victory. More power flowed into him and Walter stabbed through a magical shield, then kicked the Skeleton back into the stairwell with enough force to partially embed it into the far wall.

This wasn't how he was meant to use this power. Taking his Domain down would give him strength yes, but it was meant to be used as a reserve when claiming a new Lair. It would not last forever and whatever was spent in battle would be lost to him. This would cost him later and he would be forced to rebuild his Domain, but it did not matter, he would not allow this place to fall. Daryl 'Would' have a home 'When' he returned!

A few spells and attacks struck the next Raid Leader's shield as he emerged from the stairs, but most of the defenders were in a desperate battle against the forces outside clawing at the walls. Already Walter could see holes appearing, gaps widening and people being wounded or killed when blade or claw reached inside. Both wounded and dead were quickly replaced by more fighters and the wounded were not down long thanks to Zeke's aura still blazing in the hall.

Eve's armor was still glowing with silver light as she slammed blow after blow into the zombie. Blasts of light from the barrels around her gauntlet accompanied each blow, burning holes into the Undead flesh. Yet it did not go down…

Walter found it then, as Eve battered the monster to a pulp, a thread of… something. It ran from each of the Leaders, out to somewhere in the distance and it was pouring power into the Zombie.

It roared as it backhanded Eve into the air and across the room. She fired white hot beams into its face as she flew but the monster leapt after her anyway.

Walter met it in the air and sent it into a tumble when he shattered one of its legs. Then he stabbed his weapon through the Skeleton's head as it reentered the room. It staggered and its arms spasmed, ruining whatever spell it had been casting. Unfortunately, Walter was forced to step away before he could follow up when the other Skeleton's spell slammed into the area. Two human defenders were caught in the edges of that spell and died screaming as they rotted down to the bone almost instantly.

The Leader with a hole through its skull was already recovering and Walter could see the hole closing over with new bone as that damned thread pumped more power into it. "This is unsustainable…" He kicked the second one back down the stairs at the same time as the zombie sprang to its feet and ripped a too close human in half with those long claws. Eve rewarded it by sending it back across the room with another armored punch.

Walter appeared next to its Thread of power and slashed his weapon through it. Nothing happened and on the backswing he wrapped the weapon in his Domain. This time it had an effect. The thread swirled around his weapon, avoiding it…

He attacked with a renewed vengeance, seeking to sever those threads, but they would not meet his blade… "I do not have the necessary power." They started to catch on to what he was attempting and Walter found himself anticipated when he appeared behind the Skeleton. One large hand wrapped around his leg and squeezed. He felt bones crunch in his knee and didn't hesitate to drive the stub of his amputated arm into the creature's eye socket. His Domain infused flesh and bone stabbed into that red glowing eye and the Undead recoiled with a scream. Walter's other hand drove another Domain infused weapon against the arm holding him and shattered it, freeing himself.

He landed carefully on his good leg while Zeke's healing worked slowly on the damaged one. Eve was still beating the unliving crap out of the zombie, but her armor looked less shiny now… less silver and more grey. Her blasters fired less often and with less of a punch. Walter's own reserves were draining…

It didn't matter, they had to keep fighting. There had to be a limit to the reserves the Undead were drawing from… Eve stumbled.

The Zombie pounced on her misstep and took her to the ground. Walter kicked it off her and one of the Skeletons fired a swirling ball of death at the small bunker, straight towards the helpless Zeke and Stanley.

Walter stepped into the spell's path and cleaved it apart with his power. Some of Eve's contraptions sucked in the raging energy of the spell and then melted down into puddles.

The zombie ripped Eve's arm off, armor, flesh, and bone.

"No!" Walter screamed and kicked it away again, all the way across the hall. But it bounced back immediately and pounced towards her, as two spells flew straight towards the bunker once again.

Walter snagged the girl with a foot and took them both into the path of the spells in the next instant. He kicked her back towards her brother and cleaved both spells in half with a large horizontal slash. The deadly energy of the spells was sucked down by more of the antenna like devices before it could do more than rot away most of his jacket. Only one of the antennas survived.

More of his Domain was lost to that effort and Walter threw himself into the fight. Every step brought him to one of the three monsters. Every swing, kick, or punch drove them back, away from the healer and his wounded sister. "You. Will. Not. Pass!"

Eve didn't quit either, her remaining gauntlet started blasting every time she had a shot. Even when the metal started glowing red-hot. Caffeine was alternately taking small bites from the very large fish, and crying or licking at one of the three people around him. Each bite was a little larger than the last as he grew slowly bigger.

Walter held them off. He threw everything he could at them, from bricks to sharpened lobster claws. Others in the room that weren't actively fighting at the walls, also attacked with whatever they could muster.

But he could not hold them forever. His strength was waning and wounds were accumulating. Until he moved just a bit too slowly and one of the skeletons caught his leg… before he could do anything, Walter was wrapped up by three more hands and left helpless before a grinning skull. He drove his forehead into that skull and caved in the thing's face.

It left his own head ringing and he barely saw Caffeine jump at the charging zombie. The pug only took an arm when the Undead dodged aside from his slower than usual charge. It ignored him and headed straight for Eve and Zeke. Caffeine pounced again, smaller and slower than the last time, and the Zombie spun, backhanding the small pug across the hall and into the wall with a small yelp of pain.

Eve blasted the zombie in the back with a massive beam of white and black swirling energy. Her gauntlet melted to slag around her arm as the Undead screamed and spun around unsteadily to glare with murderous eyes at her.

Walter struggled to free himself as he saw the surging energy flowing into the zombie, revitalizing it and rapidly repairing the hole through its torso. It shouldn't have been able to move with its spine not just severed, but straight up missing. Yet it did move. Walter could see some unknown energy bridging the gap, even where the missing arm should be, there was more energy stretching out as if a ghostly arm was still there.

It jumped and brought the remaining arm of flesh down on Eve's head. "No!" She tried to dodge, but only succeeded in turning her head aside.

The blow landed on the side of her helmet, and caved it in with a sickening, wet, crunch. "Eve…" Blood started pooling underneath her head.

Zeke had tears running down his face and yet somehow kept the light going, even as he shook with sobs.

The zombie howled in triumph, standing above Zeke with arm raised. Spells and Skills rained over it, but the wounds inflicted healed faster than they could accumulate.

Caffeine charged in again, limping and howling a tiny little howl.

The Zombie turned from Zeke and snatched up the pug. "Yes! Give me your body!" Caffeine whimpered as claws dug into him and energy surged through the Zombie's thread. It poured into the Zombie and then through it. Through the claws and into Caffeine, through the glowing red eyes and then out into the pugs small brown eyes. "I'll take your Soul as a snack!" That ghostly energy he'd seen before rode along with it, sinking and digging into Caffeine.

Rage Bloomed! Hot, Violent, Suffocating, Rage! "Stanley!"

Everything smothered and stilled under that Rage, and the Zombie started screaming. It screamed loud and shrill as it remained frozen, eye to eye with the little pug.

The claws stuck into Caffeine crumbled and fell away, turning to dust and trickling to the floor. The hands followed next, crumbling and drifting to the ground behind the pug, who scrambled to Stanley's head, whining and licking at his unmoving face. Then he dashed back to Eve's still form and cried while licking at her crushed helmet. Walter thought he heard something from under there, a wet slurring voice, "...accept."

The Zombie's screaming cut off abruptly as the rest of its body dissolved almost instantly into a pile of dust and the crushing Rage faded along with the screams.

Enemy Raid Leader Defeated…

While that was happening, Walter saw the threads going to each of the Leaders, saw them trembling and weak, disrupted under Stanley's assault.

"Attack them now!" his voice rang out in the deafening silence and as if breaking a spell, the world surged back into motion. Many of the Undead climbing the walls had been knocked loose by Stanley's… whatever that had been, and only now did they start climbing again.

The defenders in the hall used the respite to give everything they had to the Skeleton staggering towards their Purifier.

Walter dealt with the one still holding onto him by slamming his head into its skull, over and over, until the skeletal hands holding him relaxed enough to wrench his arm free. Then he pulled himself closer and kept ramming his head against the Undead, until finally, the Skeleton went limp and he dropped free. Walter kicked the stunned and dying Undead to the ground, and then stomped on the monster's head once more, shattering it into splinters.

Enemy Raid Leader Defeated…

Then turned to the other…

It was unmoving. A long, thin, silvery spike was driven up from below, through the bottom of its jaw and out the top of its skull. Eve stood below it, her helmet missing and one side of her head glowing silver. The spike withdrew down to a silver arm that looked akin to a skeleton itself, coming from her bloody stump of a shoulder.

Silver bones, not quite aligned or shaped correctly, but flowing and shifting closer to the real thing as the finger-like protrusions sharpened into blades and she swept them down through the red-eyed skull in front of her.

The skull fell apart under her hand and she continued down, clawing all the way through its body until it fell into pieces at her feet.

Enemy Raid Leader Defeated…

"Eve…" Zeke cried out behind her and she turned.

Walter almost flinched at the sight that greeted him. Half of her head was gone. Silvery metal was slowly filling in that side of her skull and over the dense web of metal that couldn't possibly be her brain. Could it?

A human eye looked down at her brother and half of her mouth lifted in a horrible facsimile of a smile next to a misshapen silver jawbone on the other side. Her other eye was an orb of silver metal, twitching and spinning as she looked down.

"Eve… are you okay?" Zeke sounded worried, horrified, and most of all, hopeful.

Eve crouched and then sat down next to him, taking his hand with her still flesh one. "I'm okay, Zeke." Walter could see flesh on the top of her head regrowing slowly over the silver metal skull on the other side. "I told you, Zeke, I won't ever fucking leave you alone!"

Zeke burst into fresh tears and pulled her tight as his light exploded into renewed brilliance. All the Undead that reached the golden aura, burst into destructive flames that actively consumed them at a much stronger rate than before.

Walter smiled as some of his pain eased in the light but it didn't last. He could see outside, not as far without the higher floor's vantage point. But enough. The small ball of darkness from before now loomed large, encroaching into the downtown area from what he could see. "It is not over yet," he said to the Tower at large, at least what was left within his Domain, "Stay alert, but grab a snack if you need it."

Caffeine was already taking his advice and was frantically devouring the fish with little ghostly shark bites. He stopped after every few bites to whine at Stanley or wag his tail at Eve, before diving back in. Eventually the entire thing vanished into his stomach and the next one the cook brought out was gone in a single giant bite.

Walter heard distant sounds coming from outside, explosions, screams, and howls… Caffeine tilted his head and then licked Stanley's cheek, dashed to Zeke and Eve to repeat the gesture with wagging tail and sad whines. Then with one last look back at them, he jumped through a hole in the wall and charged away towards the coming dark.

Eve's silver hand stretched longer than it should have and snagged her rifle from the floor, pulling it back to her. "I can still fight," she tapped his chest with a finger, carefully not touching the obsidian shard that was still there, "you need to fix this fucking shit." Zeke nodded and she continued, "You can't fucking leave me here alone either!"

"I will… I won't ever leave!" Zeke closed his eyes as she stood up, a look of intense concentration on his face.

He didn't see the fear flash over her face. The darkness had spread, slowly, but it had spread and was still spreading through him even now.

She looked up at Walter and he could only meet her gaze helplessly. He didn't know how to help her brother with this. His only hope was that Adrian might be able to do something. If… no, when they returned.

There was a very loud, obviously Caffeine Bark, from outside and Eve turned away. She went to a window and started shooting at something in the distance.

Walter sat down next to Zeke. His own corruption was spreading as well, albeit much more slowly, and Zeke's light wasn't curing it…

They had won the battle, but the war wasn't won yet…

Stanley was still unconscious and unavailable... though it felt like his presence was growing stronger, louder...

Power suddenly surged next to him. Walter almost grabbed Zeke and fled before he recognized what was happening.

Stanley was glowing… with that same terrible light he had seen once before. "He called it the Source…"

Walter had listened in when Stanley talked to Marie about it, it had been hard not too, especially once he heard some of the story.

Stanley had also woken up that one time, in the beginning, and there had been a flash of… something. Now he knew what it was, and it had been nothing like this… a drop of rain compared to a hurricane… and it was still surging higher.

He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. And yet… Walter pulled his hand back abruptly. He had been reaching for Stanley, reaching for that Power… as much as it terrified and filled him with dread, it also called out to something inside him. He wanted it… hungered for it… "With that power, I could do anything…"

Walter stood up and took a step away. His eyes fell on hundreds of gazes all locked on the glowing old man. Most were horrified and frozen in terror, but a few had the same look Walter knew was in his own eyes.

"Keep fighting!" he roared at them, "Stanley fights a battle we cannot comprehend!"

He tried to shield or muffle the effect Stanley was giving off but it was a hopeless effort. Nevertheless, they all went back to the fighting, partly because they had to in order to survive the increasingly frenzied Undead and also because even the hungry ones didn't know what they were feeling, or what to do about it if they did understand.

He summoned his sword and planted it before him, leaning on it for support as he stood beside Zeke, who still had his eyes closed, but was smiling…

Walter would stand post as long as necessary. Even if he could take the power, which he doubted. Even if he could wield it, an unlikely reality. "Even if I could use it to save…" He would not.

Loyalty was at the core of everything. Loyalty to his family, even newly adopted, was all that mattered. Even if it cost his own life, even if it cost… Daryl. Betrayal would never be considered. Could never be considered. "Fight! Win! I will be here until you return."

The power surged higher and Walter trembled before the storm.