Brandon sat still, his face contorting in fear. He had to interrogate William? If the doctor refused to speak up, Brandon doubted he could beat the answer out of him. Moreover, if the doctor was truly guilty, Brandon couldn't really bring himself to execute him. But if he didn't do it, those monsters would keep haunting Mika and Millennion.

Then he remembered when William taught him how to walk with a prosthetic leg. His smile... His patience... His encouraging words... Sometimes, William felt like his big brother, even though the doctor was actually still in his thirties while Brandon himself was forty already.

Perhaps another organization or a traitor within Millennion forced him to commit crimes.

No. He had to get rid of his kind heart now; otherwise, Mika would suffer more or even die. Looking ahead, he gave Norton a "just get past the boss and come here already" glare.

"Do not provoke Brandon," Biscoe insisted, staring at Norton. "It won't do us any good."

Brandon wished Biscoe hadn't been Millennion's boss. His knuckles really wanted to strike the old man in the gut now.

"Wrong. Only an enraged Brandon can do the job this time." Norton walked towards the mob boss and Brandon's bed. "Step aside, Biscoe!"

"You have no right to command me!" Biscoe snapped. "I am the boss! Now, get out before I have to punish you for disobeying your boss!"

The last line stopped Norton in his tracks and made Brandon growl in exasperation. Damn. Norton might hate Biscoe's order, but he would never go against them. It was mostly a matter of respect.

"Fine." Norton turned around. Before leaving the trailer, he glanced over his shoulder. "Don't blame me if things go wrong."

Brandon scowled at this.

From the bench further beside Brandon's bed, Zach added, "Things will go wrong if you anger Brandon. Angry necrolyzers are more dangerous than you can imagine."

"I bet he isn't listening." Biscoe sighed. When he turned to Brandon, he quirked an eyebrow. "Huh? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Brandon replied with nothing but an angry glare.

Biscoe only smiled. "I believe you can do it without Norton's provocation. Come on, think about it. Dr. William may be your friend, but he has the heart to injure your precious child. Why can't you have the heart to give him what he deserves?"

Brandon only lowered his head, his eyelid drooping. "Revenge against your friend is easier said than done," he muttered. "I'll end up letting Dr. William go."

"Even if that'll lead to Miss Mika's death?"

Brandon's eye widened at the question. With a roar, he looked up and slapped Biscoe. His broken forearm saved the mob boss from losing a tooth, though.

Then he jerked away and gulped.

"Told you," Zach commented from the bench. "Don't provoke him."

Grasping his swollen face, Biscoe only said, "I didn't mean to." Eyes full of concern instead of anger, he looked at Brandon. "I know it's hard for you, but I'm sure that you'll change your mind." He turned around. "Well, I'm leaving. See you later."

Once Biscoe had left the trailer, Brandon sighed. He knew that he couldn't simply let William slip away, but... Right now, even imagining a crying William with a bloody nose already seared his heart.

I can't do it! He placed a palm on his face. His eye glistened with tears as the image of William changing his bandage flashed in his mind. He used to take care of me!

"Brandon," Zach called, jarring him out of his daydream, "rest up before Boss sends you to interrogate William. Your wounds will heal faster that way."

With a slight nod, Brandon lay back down and closed his eye.

===

One had to be in a gang to have a better chance of surviving in the streets. The seventeen-year-old Brandon was one of those people, although he never really liked what his friends did to keep the gang alive. Harry dated women and slept with them for money, while Kenny and Nathan earned a living by robbing some helpless civilians.

Luckily for Brandon, he still had the chance to earn money in a more peaceful and honest way. The alleys of West District often contained treasures; at times, he could even find watches and rings in the trash cans. He only had to bear with the odor of rotten food.

Tonight, equipped with rubber gloves, he visited the alleys again. Rats and cockroaches scurried as he approached one of the trash cans. After removing the lid, he inserted his hands into the heap of rubbish and began rummaging it.

Tap, tap, tap...

Brandon's hands retreated at the noise as his eyes scanned the surroundings. A gray-haired man stood by a public phone in the distance. Maybe that guy paid no attention to the alley due to the phone call, but Brandon's gut told him to examine this man properly. A thin thread of smoke rose into the air above his head, giving out the stench of tobacco. Creeping closer to the man, Brandon heard him introduce himself as "Rafael Jones."

Brandon's eyes widened at this. Just hearing the name reminded him of everything: the steel beam that crushed the baby inside his mother's belly, his father's severed head, the gunshot that silenced his mother forever... Brandon's skin burned, recalling the feel of the rough street as Rafael's goon dragged him along eleven years ago.

Eyebrows furrowing and teeth clenched, Brandon took off his belt and tiptoed towards Rafael. Age didn't matter; this bastard had to pay dearly for everything he'd done! Yes, keep talking on the phone! Be an unsuspecting deer in the eyes of a lion!

With a leap, Brandon slipped the belt around Rafael's neck. His prey dropped the phone in shock. "Wha-"

Brandon tightened the belt and reduced the speech into gargles. It didn't take long until the noise subsided and Rafael's body went limp.

===

Brandon opened his eye, sighing as he gave the ceiling a vacant stare. William was no Rafael; hurting Mika wasn't as terrible as what Rafael had done. Moreover, William was his friend.

I'm too weak. Brandon looked down. I can never do the right thing unless I blind myself with rage.

"Go back to sleep," Zach spoke from the bench. His voice sounded monotone, but Brandon somehow felt that the doctor was giving him a command.

He shook his head. How could he ever sleep with troubling thoughts in his mind? With the help of drugs? Man, he hated that because they just forced him to get some shut-eye!

"Your wounds won't heal that fast then."

"Shut up."

"I can't let that happen anyway. Boss needs you in a few hours."

Footsteps echoed. Then metal scraped against metal. Brandon looked up, his eye widening at what Zach wanted to do. The doctor took a drug-laden syringe out of an open drawer; Brandon couldn't read the label on the object, but he had a hunch that it contained sedative.

Approaching his bed, Zach said, "If you still refuse to sleep, I'll have to inject this into you."

A snarl escaped through Brandon's gritted teeth.

"I'll count until three." The doctor stopped before Brandon. "One."

Brandon let out another growl, which barely scared Zach. Well, he could easily fend Zach off in a physical combat, but he could no longer defend himself once the doctor called the guards. He couldn't possibly escape either; with a broken arm, he doubted he could put on his prosthetic leg before the guardsmen came.

Then in his mind's eye, he saw Mika standing between him and Zach. "Get out!" he heard her yell.

Now that he thought about it, he figured he'd better deal with William and resolve this case. Closing his eye, he lay back down.

===

Hours passed with a dreamless sleep, which refreshed his body and mind. As he sat up and opened his eye, he heard two distinct voices. He knew who owned them without having to find the talking people, though; the rougher one belonged to Biscoe, while the lighter one belonged to Zach.

When he looked at the bench, he spotted Biscoe and Zach.

"You're already up?" Biscoe smiled. "Excellent."

Zach stood up and walked towards Brandon's bed, his face an impassive mask. After picking up a pair of rubber gloves from the trolley beside the bed and putting them on, the doctor began removing the bandage around Brandon's torso. Like usual, although fast and skilled, Zach lacked Mika's gentleness.

When the fabric came off, Brandon could see that the laceration on his stomach had disappeared without a scar.

"Your back is healing up pretty nicely as well," Zach said from behind Brandon before heading back to the trolley. Preparing the cast cutter, he added, "I bet your arm is fine now."

Brandon nodded with a broad smile.

"Brandon," Biscoe suddenly called from the bench, drawing the necrolyzer's attention, "go check West District. They saw a giant crow flying around that place earlier. Maybe William is there, too."

Brandon nodded again.

"I'm counting on you." Biscoe stood up. As he walked past Brandon's bed to pick up the necrolyzer's prosthesis, his phone rang. He picked it up. "Good evening."

Although Brandon couldn't comprehend whatever came from the phone and Biscoe remained calm, the necrolyzer's heart thumped hard and fast. Mika is in danger, he thought, trying not to shudder at the bad feeling.

"All right. I'll tell him. Thank you for the information." Biscoe hung up the phone and returned it to his pants pocket. After picking up the prosthetic leg, he told Brandon, "I have bad news. My scouts spotted a suspicious car heading to the hospital."

I knew it. Brandon returned his gaze to the fiberglass cast around his forearm. Zach was still cutting the cast, which made Brandon grit his teeth and growl in annoyance. Can't you be faster, Doc?

===

Brandon could finally set off around twenty minutes later. With his coat on and prosthetic leg attached, he sat still beside Albert. The lack of cars in the road calmed him down, but most of the time, the thoughts of necrolyzed beasts pouncing on the injured Mika bothered him. By gripping the Bonehacker's handle tight, though, he managed to prevent himself from roaring.

"Honestly, I can't really believe that a nice guy like Dr. William has the heart to do this," Albert said, steering the wheel. "I bet he's threatened by somebody else. He doesn't have a reason to kill his family and attack Millennion."

"I'll make him speak after this!"

Albert chuckled. "Heh, you can finally be rough to your friend."

Brandon nodded.

It took fifteen minutes for the van to arrive at the hospital. As it entered the parking lot, though, Brandon saw nothing wrong. People left the building calmly, talking as they walked towards their cars.

"Was it just a joke?" Albert asked, parking the van at a nearby space. "Better call Boss first."

Then Brandon remembered the different species of necrolyzers, particularly the type he belonged to. Overgrown gray-haired men could easily blend themselves into the environment of a hospital unless they showed their jagged teeth by accident. Necrolyzers right after a therapy discharged pungent odor akin to disinfectant, and a few days later, they'd smell like humans with gangrenous body parts.

Eye widening, Brandon picked up his Bonehacker and opened the door. He jumped out of the car and rushed to the building, paying attention to the signs in his path. Then he realized that he'd forgotten to ask Biscoe about Mika's current location... Ah, never mind. His daddy's instinct told him to check the emergency department.

"Stop!" somebody shouted from behind him. "Weapons aren't allowed here!"

Ignoring their calls, Brandon pressed on. It didn't take more than a minute for him to find the building with a huge "Emergency Department" on the wall beside the sliding doors. His arrival scared people off, though.

Two security guards had the guts to stand against him. "Put away that axe!" they demanded, blocking his path.

Brandon jumped over them and landed inside the emergency department, drawing everyone's attention. Screaming, everybody poured out of the building. Amid the fleeing crowd, though, a gigantic gray-haired man in a black suit ran deeper into the building.

Eye fixated on his prey, Brandon squeezed through the crowd and followed him to a narrow hallway. Their rapid, yet heavy footsteps echoed across the desolated area. When they reached a T-junction, Brandon heard the whirring of six wheels and several light footsteps.

A gurney and an oxygen tank, pushed by two nurses and Harris, emerged from the junction. An unconscious Mika lay still on the bed, breathing with the aid of a mask. A large crimson tube connected her bandaged head to a bottle of blood.

The nurses fled upon the encounter. Harris charged at the necrolyzer, only to earn a fist to the gut and fall. Path cleared, the undead reached out his hand and seized Mika by her neck.

Brandon's eye flared at this. With a savage howl, he swung his axe and sent the necrolyzer's head slamming to the floor beside the gurney. Letting out another roar, Brandon cleaved the undead's body in two and painted the hallway red.

Staring at the mangled corpse, Brandon breathed heavily and noisily. Enough is enough, William!

He left without saying goodbye to Mika.

===

Once his van arrived at West District, Brandon opened the door and hopped out of the moving vehicle. Not knowing where to start the search, he walked along the pavement with his ears and eye alert. The luminescence from the moonlight and the street lamps guided him.

He failed to find anything suspicious after a few minutes of searching.

Then he remembered about the giant crow Biscoe mentioned. Brandon glanced up, but he still couldn't find anything. Shaking his head, he resumed investigating the street.

A few meters later, he spotted a massive shadow of a bird crossing the road. When he looked up, the scamper of many feet from the nearby alley distracted him.

Brandon went to check the alley. The noise came from William and the two overgrown gray-haired men behind him.

Whatever business those necrolyzers had with the doctor, Brandon figured he'd better get rid of them first. Leaping over William, he kicked a necrolyzer in the face while beheading another with a swing of his axe. Upon landing on the ground, he crushed the head of the undead he'd just booted under his sound foot.

When he turned around, he found out that William hadn't bothered stopping to greet him.

Running after William, Brandon raised his axe. Humans could never beat a necrolyzer in a chase; aside from having weaker leg muscles, they ran out of stamina very quickly. They also wouldn't get up so fast if they ever took a blow to the back.

Brandon jumped and slashed down. Screaming in pain, William collapsed with blood gushing out of the laceration on his back. To make sure that the doctor wouldn't escape, Brandon landed a foot on the bleeding wound.

"Let me go!" William cried out, looking at Brandon with teary eyes. "I never intended to attack Millennion!"

"Then you wouldn't have a reason to run from me!" Brandon yelled back, trampling the wound again and forcing an agonized cry out of the doctor's mouth. "Tell me everything!"

"O-okay. I did necrolyze Bernard, but... I have no idea why he'd attack me and Millennion."

The image of an injured Mika flashed across Brandon's mind, and he snapped, "You know what you've caused? Mika got hit in the head!"

"But I didn't mean to-"

Brandon cut him off with another stomp. "You hurt my child!"

Silence.

After taking a deep breath, Brandon could feel his rage fading away a bit. "Why did you necrolyze your own brother? You know necrolyzers can never live a good life like humans do, don't you?"

"Some things...are easier said...than done." William sobbed. "Bernard...was dying. My dear brother was dying. So I asked the nurse-"

Squawk!

Brandon looked up, only for a muscular arm to wrap around his neck and pull him back. As his Bonehacker slipped out of his hand, his mind couldn't help but commend his foes for executing such a brilliant move.

Two necrolyzers rushed towards the commotion. He snarled at this; these undead people would die before they lay a finger on William.

Brandon elbowed the undead behind him in the gut. With the grip loosened, he picked up his Bonehacker and sprang at the incoming necrolyzers. A few swings of his axe splattered blood and guts across the alley.

Turning around, he saw the remaining necrolyzer scoot away with an unconscious William. His blood boiled at this, and he ran after them. William. Is. Mine.

An unseen force struck him in the back and sent him face-first to the ground. Grunting, he got up and turned around, only to find nothing. His eyebrow quirked.

Another blow rammed him in the abdomen and knocked him back down. For a moment, he felt like having a knife stuck in his stomach. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a giant crow pulling away with a bloodstained beak.

Brandon's Bonehacker ripped through the air and smashed into the nearby wall. No blood. Goddammit, where had that crow gone? Pulling himself back up, he prepared himself for another attack. A moment later, he felt the beast's presence.

Behind!

Brandon whirled, bringing the full-weight of his axe down. The beast's gurgled caw resounded across the passageway as it exploded into a mess of blood, brain matter, and black feathers.

He did a quick survey of the area and found nothing. Damn. This pest had allowed its ally to escape with William's body. With a frown, Brandon walked out of the alley of bloodshed and began searching for his van. Those wretches would soon find an uninvited guest - their worst nightmare - at their doorstep.