The wooden barriers had helped, but they weren't finished. Hostiles were still getting into the compound, and that meant interior defenses were getting tested earlier than he'd hoped.

And there were a lot of hostiles. Looked like the creepy buggers from the jail, and he wished he still had his helmet right now. Didn't want to be breathing the same air as these things, whatever they were.

Thank falleen fuck he'd gotten the knives from Eleven when he did. These things just refused to go down properly, but the knives were still cutting tendons and muscle, toppling them long enough to lay into them with one of those wrought iron hooks from the fireplace. That one's turning into a good skull-basher. The more rotten-looking ones lost whole chunks to that thing.

But the numbers getting through are a problem. If he just had a proper--

He'd just hooked a hostile by the throat when he saw the flash, ducking instinctively and yanking the critter off its feet. Who had explosives here and why didn't they tell him? Wait, was that Lily's voice?

The hostile on the floor starts trying to rise, and he gives it a full-force stomp to the back of the neck before turning his attention to the kid. Just in time to see her make somethings head fall off with that wand of hers. What?

Not enough time to question it. She's closing in on him, so he starts clearing the way. "All bits still attached. Nice work, hope you've got more of those."