Chapter 236 - POWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Afton walks past the broken robot into the vault-like hallway. Dim lights were in the corners of the roof and illuminated the place just enough to force the darkness away.

"*Zzzt!* N-no! Y-You will leave or your f-friend dies! L-LEAVE US ALONE!" Klaus shouts over the intercom, his voice echoing through the halls.​​

Afton spots a camera on the wall and walks up to it, "You release Anja and pay reparations for your actions and I might let you, and your creepy ghoul family live." he states in no uncertain terms.

"*Zzzt!* NO! I C-CANNOT RELEASE THEM, T-TURN AND LEAVE!"

"Fine by me, as long as you don't mind me curb stomping you." Afton says before continuing onwards through the bunker.

As he walks he notes the fact that the radiation level seems to be getting stronger and stronger. From the ten rads upstairs to fifteen down here. He wondered what the source could be, it couldn't be radioactive waste due to how low the radiation is... So what could it be?

The answer to Afton's question was answered as soon as he entered the next room... Before him was a wall made from metal bars blocking off the majority of the room, he could see a door at the far-right side of it, but he doubted he could get through it in the same manner he had the last metal door.

Behind the wall was the large group of ghouls he'd seen on the camera, they numbered around twenty to thirty, and he could see Anja still standing there without moving. The floor inside the cell was dipped slightly and had a couple inches of water filling it, soaking the fancy shoes Anja had recently put on.

The thing that drew the most attention, however, was the glowing gree ghoul standing above the rest, suspended from the roof via a cage... It wasn't an immediate threat due to how it was restrained, but once every couple of seconds it would growl and raise its arms, causing the radiation in the room to increase rather dramatically.

"*Zzzt* Y-your friend is one of us now! L-leave us be!"

Afton shakes his head, "Anja! Ghouls don't attack other ghouls you know?... Probably!?"

Having caught her attention she turns her head slightly to see him, she looks like she wants to retort, but is still afraid of retaliation by the surrounding ghouls. She was correct to be afraid though as her small movement had attracted the attention of the human-looking ghouls.

While the other rotting ghouls seemed to ignore her, Klaus's family didn't seem to have such restraints. They start slowly shambling towards her, their variant of the ghoul mutation having caused disabilities instead of the rampant cancer tissue and rotting flesh.

By this time the other feral ghouls had noticed Afton and started trying to reach at him through the bars, their claws looking dangerous sharp despite their human-origin. He heads over to the cell door and gives it a strong kick, causing it to clatter on the rather rusty hinges, but even with that it doesn't break.

It tries a couple more times to no avail. Klaus even starts taunting at him through the intercom, causing Afton to scowl. He'd tell Anja to shoot the enemy ghouls but that'd cause the rest to attack her, meaning certain death... The only boon to this situation was the fact the human-looking ghouls were struggling to get through the group to attack Anja.

Afton uses VATS and glances down at his pistol, figuring that 11 bullets in total wouldn't be enough to kill the ghouls to save Anja. Reloading was a pain with one hand, so he'd likely fail if he went that route...

He goes through a couple more idea's until his eyes suddenly light up. Yeah, he had a way to deal with this situation, one Klaus or even Anja wouldn't expect.

Stopping VATS Afton looks straight at Anja and turns his gun on himself, pressing it to his side so he wouldn't harm any vital organs before firing.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

[Grit is in effect]

His new Perk [Grit] activates, causing his already engorged muscles to enlarge further, his Strength had already hit its max due to [Atomic!] granting him +2. But [Grit] also in effect he'd finally breached human limits.

Afton looks down at his fist and clenches it, feeling as if he could tear apart a building if he wanted to, the feeling was so euphoric he'd almost forgotten that he'd shot himself to achieve it. He looks straight towards the camera and snarls at it, "Watch this Klaus you nazi bastard!".

He delivers a kick to the cell door, instantly blowing it off of its hinges and throwing all the ghouls behind it to the floor. He sheathes That Gun and retrieves Knock-Knock, immediately burying the axe into the head of the nearest ghoul... Though, he put so much force into it the axe splits the skull in two all the way down to its neck, causing blood and gore to go everywhere.

[John Wick Style is in effect]

A ghoul runs through the shambling crowd and tries to grab and bite him, but Afton just rears back and headbutts it, cracking the skull and causing a large dent to form. The ghoul drops to the floor and he continues sweeping his axe through the group, almost forgetting to try and avoid Anja as she runs out of the cell and starts assisting by shooting through the bars.

Klaus screams unintelligible things through the intercom as Afton butchers the human-looking ghouls. His axe if not killing them in one shot, cuts their limbs from their body to allow the next easy purchase.

By the time Afton's done, all that's left is shredded corpses that bleed fluids into the water below. The only ghoul that remains is the glowing one in the cage above them, Afton just glances to Anja and gestures towards it, not wishing to hold his pistols and get blood all over them.

Were it not for the adrenaline Afton might've thrown up... He was literally covered in rotten blood, intestines and other organs from his victims.

He backs out of the cell as Anja misses her fist couple of shots on the caged ghoul, but eventually, she manages to get a good hit. A bullet flies through its eye, causing it to drop dead.