Faira straightened as she noticed the others coming toward her, thankful—yet not too surprised—that they had managed to escape, albeit with the zombies still dragging themselves behind. However, their slowing pace quickly ended in a stomach-wrenching display as pieces of their rotting corpses strew about the hall.

Before Faira could so much as retch, the sound of grinding gained her attention. Her eyes widened, and she stepped away from the wall as it shifted into a gaping hole, the gurgle of water echoing inside it.

“Not [i]again![/i]” Faira groaned, grabbing Little Ann’s hand, ready to haul her up if the he hall flooded again.

Like a mouth dispelling a glob of saliva, only a hiccup of water cascade out, bringing with it the lifeless body of Adrian.

Faira gasped, a hand going to her mouth as, for the first time, she realized he had not traveled with them. Guilt spread through her at the thought that she had left him behind.

[i]I-it was that or we all would have drown,[/i] she tried to reassure herself, shuddering at the thought. [i]Well, whoever [u]can[/u] drown in this group…[/i] she added with a quick glance at the others.

Her attention snapped to the young Marianne as the child stepped up to Adrian’s body, far too gleeful at the sight of a corpse.

“What are you--” she started, her words overlapping with Scarlet’s as the woman addressed the child.

She stumbled back slightly, slack-jawed, as life suddenly returned to Adrian’s body. She looked to the child as the girl’s laughter rang through the hall, then watched with relief as the man took his angel form and addressed the group.

Faira took a small step forward. “You—you’re alive. [i]Really[/i] alive?” She paused, eyeing Adrian and raising her borrowed sword slightly as she continued, searching for any sign the man standing before them was an impostor or illusion of some sort. “It [i]is[/i] you, isn’t it?”