One of the four wraiths roared and ran forward. It aimed to strike Verdell, who took her stance, but Lt. Higgins took charge and blasted a hole through their enemy’s face. Verdell grinned, tilting her head and relaxing her clenched fists as the monster staggered and fall.

“Balls.” Lt. Higgins whistled, scoffing at Tom a moment later.

Tom smiled as well and faced the two others that followed their leader. He moved forward, sharpened his gaze, and began to count in his head. His gun was lowered, his shoulders were loose, and his rhythm seemed slower, but the air around him seemed different that everything was going the way he wanted it to.

Tom dodged a heavy swing from the first wraith by spinning to its side and bashing its face with the bottom of his gun's grip. The wraith staggered. He raised his gun and aimed, but he waited. His focus remained the same, and when he caught that another hammer was coming for his head at the corner of his eye, he ducked and let it slam against his first target.

To his surprise, the second wraith’s hammer went through the first one. It made Tom back away for Lt. Higgins to follow up and end them with a shot through their heads.

“Yes,” Lt. Higgins chuckled. “even with that amount of display, she has more balls than you.” He turned to Verdell and looked back at Tom, aiming his gun at the fourth wraith and felling it with a single bullet.

“Now, you’re just being mean.” Tom laughed back and shot the regenerating head of the first wraith, making it fall to the ground before it could stand. “I guess that’s about thirty seconds?”

“Yeah,” Rosemarie commented. As she did, some of the plants and the pots around the area began to burn. “Something’s weird; you guys aren’t panicking and handling this situation well.” She snickered at Lt. Higgins. “It’s not about the power of reckless abandon due to being insured, isn’t it?”

“Someone’s getting curious,” Lt. Higgins grinned. “You wanna grab some lunch or—”

All the wraiths flickering beneath their feet retreated and flowed into a single ball of green flame. It manifested its limbs one by one, which was slower and familiar, but Tom shivered at its sight. He didn’t know why, but it made him step back to shield Verdell’s body with his own.

Verdell didn’t say a word as Lt. Higgins followed suit. Its form was smaller than what they all had expected, save for the leaner and clearer form of its muscles. They raised their guards at the moment it took its first step, especially when gave weight to its legs and lowered its posture.

With a single kick on the ground and the sound of a flutter, it disappeared from their eyes. The next thing Tom saw was that he was pushed to the side and Verdell was flying backward.

What came next was a flurry of blows that were so slow, Tom was able to see what happened in detail. Rosemarie was left hanging, barely keeping her focus as she watched the fight, Lt. Higgins were conflicted and deciding what to do, and Verdell was hanging for her life. He counted five heavy punches. Verdell blocked three of them while keeping her balance and dodged the rest to punch back, but half of her face was bleeding and her guard was slowly falling like lead in the ocean.

Tom could feel himself smiling helplessly. His vision slowly zoomed out of the fight as he looked for someone, anyone that could help him, but there was none. He saw himself alone with his gun raised and pointed at the wraith and Verdell, and nothing was happening. His gun was shaking and so was his hands. He wanted to pull the trigger and cry out to warn her, but he didn’t; he didn’t want to risk it.

Tom tightened his jaws as he watched the fight unfold. Nothing else mattered at this point, but he never stopped counting. Instead, he stopped thinking. The blood that the wraith had drawn from Verdell’s body glimmered as it flew at that very second. It made him shut his eyes, but his body stood from the ground on its own. Gritting his teeth, he sighed, shoved his gun back to its holster, and screamed as he charged.