For a while nobody spoke.
The battle was over.
The surviving cultists had fled.
The alligators had disappeared.
Only the sound of flowing water remained.
Kai sat against a wall.
Andre sat on a broken crate.
Eric collapsed wherever his legs had given up.
Nobody moved.
Nobody wanted to.
Eventually Andre pointed at Kai.
"So."
Kai looked up.
"So?"
"Why are you here?"
Kai blinked.
Andre crossed his arms.
"The last thing I remember was falling into a sewer because of that red-haired woman."
"Then suddenly you're here."
"Explain."
Kai thought about it.
Then sighed.
---
He started from the beginning.
After Andre fell into the manhole.
The slums.
The secret passage.
The hidden route.
The office.
Andre listened quietly.
For almost thirty seconds.
Then Kai finally reached the important part.
"And then Alice revealed she was the Queen."
Silence.
Andre stared.
"...What?"
Kai nodded.
"Alice is the Queen."
Andre stared harder.
"The red-haired bitch?"
"Yes."
"The eyepatch?"
"Yes."
"The weird poses?"
"Yes."
"The one who made me fall into a sewer?"
"Also yes."
Andre slowly looked toward the ceiling.
As if searching for divine intervention.
"That's the queen?"