“Stop the regressor before he makes the dead serve him.”
Dain repeated the beginning he had managed to say and completed the warning slowly. Eli heard each one despite the scrape of the lifting tool against concrete. He repeated them in his head before asking a question, afraid that the noise and the urgency would change their order.
“Who?”
Dain’s gaze moved toward him. His lips parted, but no sound came out. Cael asked Eli to give him room while Rhea checked the support. The slab had risen a fraction. The responder slid a thin board into the space and stopped when the wall shifted.
“Hold,” she said.
Kellan steadied the lifting tool from the opening. Keir kept the route clear behind him. A second responder arrived with a medical bag, but the narrow gap allowed only one person to pass at a time. Cael asked for specific supplies and continued assessing Dain.
Eli stayed close enough for Dain to see him. “The regressor. Did your sender mean someone here?”
Dain tried to answer. He drew a breath that did not become a word. Cael asked him to keep his attention on the voices around him and told Eli to wait while the team worked.
