Kindled: Dos Point 0

Chapter One-

"I'm not sure what happened. It was working a few minutes ago, but then all the lights turned off," explained the woman on the other line.

I leaned back in my computer chair, folding my hands behind my head. "Have you checked behind the microwave, ma'am?" I asked.

"Why would I do that?""Just try checking."There was a moment of silence, and I heard the

sound of something mildly heavy scraping across what I assumed was a counter top. "Oh, look at this, it was unplugged."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Okay, plug it backit in and try turning it on."

I waited a second. "It's working!" She exclaimed. "Thank you, so much."

I forced a smile out of habit. "No problem, Ma'am."She cleared her throat. "I also read in your ad about

a discount?""Of course. The problem took about seven minutes

or so, so that brings the charge down from three dollars fifty cents to two dollars and eighty cents."

She seemed pleased. She paid with plastic, and we said goodbye. I hung up first, then sighed to myself, hanging my headset on my neck. People like them were common. I charged fifty cents a minute for advice on technical problems, whether it was with a broken mincrowave and crashing program on a computer. At six minutes, it was ten percent off. At seven, it was twenty percent off, up to fifty percent. People, no matter the problem, would always try to keep me on the line for over five minutes in order to get the 'discount'. If they'd done a little bit of math, they'd realise that, at the end of the day, they were still getting ripped off.

My life wasn't the best. Despite that being a common thing for a seventeen year old to say, I feel that I was a bit more entitled to that statement than most. I lived by myself in a small, one bedroom studio apartment. My bathroom was no bigger than what you'd find in a fast food restraunt. My living room and kitchen shared a space. I hada single, twin matress which I leaned up against the wall

every morning to give me more room, a treadmill that I didn't use anymore, and my small, five foot long counter space which was split among a sink, stove, and mini fridge.All of it cost me about a thousand dollars, total.

I didn't have a lot of friends. You could even say I had none, actually. I didn't like leaving my apartment. I didn't make a whole lot of money with my job, but it was better than having to deal with people on the outside. It wasn't that I was scared or anything. Granted, I could be a bit awkward at times whenever it came to talking to people,or working with them, or walking by them, or seeing them.

My point is, people and I, we've never mixed well. It was better this way. I could stay at home everyday and hang out by myself. I could actually make money interacting with people indirectly. I spent the majority of my week lounging around, playing games, or pretending to work out by doing a few push ups in the morning. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. I was happy.

Then, I heard a ringing from my headset, and was reminded of just how big a load that whole idea was. I replaced them on my head and readjusted my microphone. It was a local call. I clicked a button and answered, "Hello, Charlie here, how can I help you?"

There was a muffle of sound, then a woman spoke up. "Hey, I've, um, got a problem with something."

I waited a moment, but she didn't continue. "Okay, what are you having trouble with?" I asked.

There was another muffle and a whisper, and I heard another persons voice before the woman spoke up again. "My... Computer... Broke."

The way she was speaking was odd. It sounded like she was trying to remember how to speak English. "Alright,then," I said, forcing myself to be patient. Most of my clients weren't exactly Einsteins. Being patient was a skill I had to pick up on the job. "What, specifically, is malfunctioning?"

"Like, the mainframe has crashed, or... Look, can we just meet up somewhere? A coffee shop, maybe?"

I swallowed. I took this job up, got my licence, opened a website,

advertised my business, the whole shebag. I put major effort into this specifically so I could avoid direct human contact. But, every once in a while, there was someone whocouldn't quite follow instructions that well or weren't confident enough to work by my simple directions. They'd ask to meet in person and drop whatever wasn't working

into my lap, and ask when it would be fixed. I had even bumped the price up so that they'd have to pay more if they wanted to meet.

"Are you sure? It would be much cheaper if we did this over the phone," I insisted.

"Yeah, yeah, I read. Sixty dollars, right? Done. When are you free?"

I put a hand on my forehead. This was giving me a headache. "My number is open sixteen hours a day. I can put off however much time you need, whenever you need, but I can't promise we won't be interupted."

"That's fine," she said, a bit annoyed. "Can we meet today?"

I blinked. "I... Yeah, sure. Um, where do you have in mind?"

"There's a diner on fifth street. You know it?""Yeah.""Meet me there.""Okay," I said, a bit flustered. "I'll be there in an

hour. Just give me-" She hung up on me. I removed my headset and stared at it for a moment. I'd had clients who were aggressive from time to time, but even they were respectful enough to call ahead of time and schedule an appointment, albeit, as soon as possible, for a meeting. Thiswoman, whoever she was, seemed extremely restless.

I popped my neck, relieving the tension I'd been feeling all morning. I checked the clock on my monitor. It was a quarter 'til two. I didn't drive much. Dealing with traffic was more of a pain than walking. So, I got dressed, quickly brushed my hair, and headed out. My apartment was a good distance away from the city, just off a highway, surrounded by a lot a trees and not a lot of homes. It was about a thirty minute walk to the diner she'd mentioned, so I knew I had to get moving.

But, just as I opened the door and stepped outside, there was a odd shiver that went through my body. I glanced back to see my empty apartment. Nothing was moving or making a sound, but there was a weight on my shoulders, and invisible force that kept me from leaving thestudio.

Then, I remembered the woman and shook my head. She didn't seem like the type to be kept waiting.

Chapter Two-

Like I said, I didn't make a lot of money. My food budget included almost exclusively of a Chinese restraunt

down the street from my apartment. The food was actually very good, and it was cheap enough that I could feed myself for a good week or so with about twenty dollars. Some of it was even healthy.

In this diner, twenty dollars would pay for dessert. Maybe.

I'd put on a light brown stringed shirt and a pair of blue jeans and a dark belt. I wore a pair of black strapped boots that reached half way up my shins. I barerly clocked in at five feet, and the boots seemed to add to it. I also worea somewhat unique zip up hoodie, a gift from my dad. It was black on the outside, white on the inside, and had white dots running vertically down the side of the hood. It was probably my most valuable possession. It was probablymy best outfit, as it went pretty well with my dark brown hair and small figure.

I entered the diner about five minutes earlier than schedule. I walked up to the counter. There was an older man manning the register. "Um, I'm actually just meeting some one here," I explained.

He didn't bother looking up. He just hooked a thumb pointing down at the isle. I looked down and saw a young woman sitting in a booth, facing the opposite direction. My shoulders slumped. I thought I'd get a few moments to myself before the meeting. I placed my hands in my pockets and made my way over to her.

I sat down on the opposite side, and the woman there looked up from the menu. I was expecting some kind of overweight, house mom trying to fix her son's laptop. The woman sitting in front of me was much different than what I expected, and from the moment I saw her, I took note of the fact that, despite the stark differences between us, the average bystander would have concluded that we were sisters or close cousins.

My lifestyle didn't allow for a lot of physical activity. I wasn't the most fit person in the world. At five foot nothing and a hundred pounds and change, I wasn't really a heavy set person. I was slender, but I was still out of shape. I had short dirty blond hair that stuck out in random directions. I'd been called pretty, but I had no striking features, disregarding my amber eyes. It wasn't uncommon for people to mistake me for a middle school boy.

This woman, on the other hand, was like what I would have been if I had spent my life reaching my absolute maximum physical potential.

She was over five and a half feet tall and should've weighed around a hundred and twenty pounds of slender, well toned muscle. She had fair skin, scarlet red eyes, and shoulder length, dark auburn hair tied in a pony, letting her bangs frame her face. She was definitely attractive, and couldn't have been more than thirty, but her eyes had a certain ferocity in them that actually kind of intimidated me.

She wore a red t-shirt under a slim, dark leather jacket and camoflauge cargo pants, tucked into black, lacedup, military boots. She sat with her arms crossed, and looked at me.

I swallowed and smiled. "Hi, I'm Charlie," I said, holding my hand.

The woman sat up straight and shook my hand firmly. Then, subtle as it was, I noticed her eyes flash toward the window. The glance was so slight, I could have sworn she didn't want me to see it.

"So," I said as we released our grips. "What's the problem?"

She grimaced, like she was uncomfortable with the question. "Right, yeah. I'm usually not the one doing this," she said, averting her eyes.

I arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"She sighed. "Listen, Charlie, right? There is no

computer.""Hmm?""There is no computer," she repeated. "I lied."I nodded slowly. "Okay... Why?""Well, we needed to talk to you," she said. "This

isn't going to be easy, but, I need you to stay calm and try tounderstand, okay?" I looked at her curiously. "You see," shecontinued, "for the past week and a half, something has been following you."

I tilted my head. "Something's been following me?"She nodded. "Right. It's a monster, and it likes to eat

things that walk on two legs. Especially if they're small andlive by themselves. Problem is, this thing's actually pretty damn difficult to track. So, instead, now that we know it's after you, we're going to try to use you to catch it and kill it."

There was a long moment of silence. "So," she said. "Anything to say?"I shook my head. "Nope. It's pretty clear."She smiled, and her body seemed to relax a bit.

"Good. See? I knew I could do this. Goes to show what that

old bastard knows."I stood up and smiled at ther. "If you ever have a

technological problem, please schedule an appointment ahead of time."

She lost her smile. "Wait, where are you going?""Home," I said, walking away."Wait! You're going off by yourself after what I just

told you?""I'll take my chances," I replied, not looking back. I

stomped out of the diner, gritting my teeth. That was precisely the reason I couldn't stand

people. They irritated me. All of them. Whether they were pretty or ugly, successful or failures, they were all just children with poor senses of humor and immature natures and all they would ever do is waste my time.

This would be the time where I hopped into my car, slammed the door shut, and sped out of the driveway. However, being that did not own a car, I simply marched off across the street as aggressively as I could and toward my incredibly depressing abode.

"It's no problem, Sir. Have a nice day," I said, hanging up. I let out a deep breath and hung my headset on the monitor and stood up out of my chair, stretching and cracking my back. I walked up to the window to close the blinds. Events of the day came back to me as I looked outside.

The woman had tried to call back twice since then. Ithought about answering to apologize for just leaving her inthe diner, but then I thought about the fact that she called me out for a meeting just to tell me I was being hunted by amonster.

I closed the blinds, turned off my computer, and went over to the bathroom to get dressed. I never bothered shutting the door, since there was never anyone in my apartment other than me. My apartment was small enough for me to be able to see nearly everything in it from the entrance of my bathroom. I had just started taking my hoodie when a sudden chill ran up my spine.

I lived by myself, didn't have any pets or pests or anything like that. Whenever night came about, it was normal for it to be entirely quiet, save for the creaks of the wood floor under my feet when I walked. But, this time, I don't know, there was something unusual about it.

I leaned out of my bathroom and glanced around. There was nothing. My matress was on the floor and my computer set up was against the far wall. There was

nothing between my gaze and the rest of the room. I leaned away from the entrance, still feeling a bit

uncomfortable. I gathered my wits and stepped out. The creak under my feet seemed louder than usual. I spun around a few times, getting a feel for the space. It looked empty enough. But, something still didn't feel right. I felt a slight breeze around my feet.

I furrowed my eyebrows. Why was it so cold all of a sudden? I glanced up, and noticed my door was slightly a jar, letting in a jut of cold air. I swallowed. I would have betmy life that I'd closed it.

Hesitantly, I walked over to it slowly, waiting for something to burst at any moment. If someone really was out there, waiting for me, I wasn't really sure what I could have done. At the moment, I wasn't really thinking about what I'd do if something bad actually happened, I just wanted to see it coming.

Slowly, I gripped the door handle and pulled it open. I peaked outside, shaking slightly. I scanned over the area.

There was nothing. No cars were on the road across from me, which

was normal. The woods and brush that surrounded my house were unmoving, and desolate of all life, as per usual. Nothing was out of place. There was a whooshing sound that drew my eyes to my left.

My blinds billowed out of my open window.My eyes widened, and I heard a rumbling behind

me. I spun around face to face with... Something. It stood atleast seven feet tall. It had a strong, muscular, alien like body with dark, leathery skin, covered with some kind of armor around it's shoulders and the back of it's head. It had an elongated komodo like face with long, razor sharp teeth overlapping it's bottom jaw and a short neck. It's thick armswere just as long as it's back legs, like a quadruped. And it had a long tail at least as long as it's body, forking into several whip like tendrils, tipped with some kind of pulsating light.

It didn't growl, but it released a low, gutteral hissingsound. For a moment, the thing and I were still. I was scared frozen. Then, the cold brought me back to reality. I took a slow step back, and it mirrored my movement towards me. Once again I froze. Without moving my body, my eyes flashed toward the door. I tensed my body and bent my knees.

Then, I launched myself off my door step,

simultaneously slamming the door closed. The last thing I heard was a screeching sound and the crunch of the wood underneath the weight of the monster.

I was far from physically fit, and while I avoided being overweight, running wasn't my forte. Whatever that thing was, I had no doubt in my mind it would catch me on the smooth surface of the road. Instead of trying to cross the street, I circled around my apartment and charged into the forest. The mud and grass under me made it hard just tostay on my feet.

The ground was uneven and soft, providing very little traction. My feet sank into deep potholes as I leapt over branches and bushes. Somewhere behind me, I heard the sound of glass shattering. My heart sped up, and I continued to burn through the night. It's terrifying hiss echoed off the trees.

I didn't risk the chance of tripping by looking behind me. I only hoped that it didn't know which directionI'd gone and that I'd gotten enough of a lead so that it wouldn't be able to find me.

I spotted an old cement arch through the trees, and instantly recognized it as the local graveyard. I broke off my course and headed straight for it.

But, as I ran, I felt the same chill as I did in my apartment. It started as a hot spot at my lower back, and traveled up my spine, quickly followed by a freezing sensation. Then, I loud ringing rose from a low hum to incredibly high pitch wail, like an oncoming train going a hundred miles an hour.

I ducked my head and dived to the ground, rolling down a short hill through the arch way. In the same instant, I felt the rush of air that traveled across my back like a car on a freeway as the thing flew into the concrete wall that boxed the cementary. Judging from how close the air was, it must have missed me by a fraction of an inch.

I scurried to my feet, and picked my pace back up. The cementary was set up in rows of small, concrete buildings which contained the coffins of former military. I heard the creature's feet claw the ground as it hulled itself across the dirt paths and insane speeds.

There was no way I could out run this thing. Instead, as it closed in on me, I quickly turned a corner around one of the buildings, and I heard it skid right by me across the dirt. I managed the corner better than it, but it was still much faster than me. I couldn't keep this up for much longer. The next time it go it's momentum up, I

wasn't going to get away. That's when I spotted a small opening in a tomb, no

bigger than the door on a microwave. I would never have attempted it on my best day in P.E., but this was an exception. I kicked my pace up faster than before, using all my strength for one last burst of speed. I heard the thing behind me.

Without a second thought, I dived through the hole in the wall. I landed on the inside of the tomb. The floor was about a foot lower than the ground on the outside, and a large concrete burial vault was placed in the center of it. Although I made it cleanly through the hole in the wall, myshoulder slammed into the corner of the vault, and my headbounced off the lid, sending me into a world of white. I fell to the sandy floor limply, although I didn't feel any pain, which I was sure was not a good thing.

For a few seconds, I lay there, unmoving. Then, the hissing growl of the beast outside brought me back to my senses. I lifted my head and looked up to see it trying to shove it's head through the small gap. I pushed myself across the floor against the far corner of the tomb, which was probably less than six feet away from the creature trying to make it's way inside. The armor around it's neck scraped against the lining of the hole, and I watched pieces of cement being torn off the wall as the gap grew bigger and bigger.

It wouldn't be long before it got inside. I looked around frantically for something I could hide behind. Then,I spotted an old fashion World War II style rifle with a bayonette attached to the end. It seemed decades old, and I doubted the gun itself would work, but the bayonette was long and sharp.

It was fight or flight, and the sky was nowhere in sight.

I hopped to my feet and lurched for the rifle. I gripped it tightly in my hands and swallowed. However, before I could turn around, I felt some pressure on my feet, and my legs were yanked out from under me. I was violently dragged up the wall, scraping my stomach, chest, and the under side of my arms on the rough ridges of the concrete.

I was pulled out onto the dirt and gravel road ouside. I felt the pressure on my feet release. I recognized the act as that of a wolf. It let go of my foot so that it could go far something above the shoulders.

Desperately, without looking, I spun over onto my

back, thrusting the bayonette upward. It was too dark to seewhere I hit exactly, but whatever I hit, it must have hurt. A lot.

It released a high pitch screeching sound, and bounded off of me. It shook it head back and forth, making rough, sick coughing sounds. I tried to get up and run, but as soon as I put the smallest amount of weight on my right leg, a searing pain snaked through my body, and I collapsed.

I couldn't run. My leg must have been more injured than I thought. I glanced back at the creature to see the glowing lights on the end of it's tail pulsating a vicious red, and I saw it's eyes glare at me with an incredible fury.

My heart leapt into my throat. What the hell is that? My mind raged. Is this the

thing that'll kill me? I closed my eyes. I never claimed to bebrave. Coward or not, if I really was going to die, I didn't want to see it coming.

"Head's up!" Shouted a female voice.I opened my eyes. Both the creature and I looked up

to see a small, round object, silhouetted against the moon, flying through the sky. It landed right in between the both of us. For a moment, we both stared at it, still.

Then, everything exploded into white, and an intensely loud noise completely disoriented me. I could barely hear the hissing sound of the monster over it.

I felt an arm wrapped around my waist as I was lifted off my feet and onto someone's shoulders in fireman carry. I was extremely dizzy, but I heard the sound of a car door opening, and I felt myself being placed into a seat as the door was closed behind me. I heard the car hum to life and I felt it burn out into a very high speed.

Over the next few minutes, I slowly regained my bearings. My vision adjusted to the darkness as I gazed through the window at the trees and bushes that zoomed by.I'm not quite sure how fast we were going, but at that speed, we should have been far from the creature.

I turned my head and looked at my savior. My eyes widened as I quickly recognized her.

The woman from ealier in the diner sat in the driver's seat, staring straight ahead down the road. Unlike before, her attire was much more practical. She wore a greylongsleeve undershirt and a pair of black cargos, black boots, and black kevlar vest with dozens of pockets all over. She had a pistol strapped to one hip and a rifle leaningupright between the seats.

"It's you," I said, surprised.She glanced down at me, then she slowed the car

down and pulled over on the side of the road. I immediatelythought of the thing we'd left behind us.

The car stopped, and I began, "What are we do-"She drew her pistol and placed it against my

forehead. I felt the color drain from my face. It never rains.She reached up with her opposite arm and pressed a

button on a radio in the breast pocket of her vest. "Davis, coming in," she said.

There was a moment of silence, then a masculine, British voice answered, "Report."

"We have a problem," she said. "The Reaper got away."

A second passed. "Very well. Return at once.""Hold on a minute," she said. "That's not the

problem part. You see, there's this girl, here. The thing was hunting her, but she survived. Any ideas?"

Another second passed. "Get rid of her. We have other matters to attend to."

My eyes widened and my mouth went dry. I was just attacked by a monster and I barely survived, only to take a bullet to the head by some psycho soldier woman.

Then, she winced. "Actually, that might not be the best idea. The Reaper seemed to have a special interest in her, so I don't think offing her would be the best idea, yet."

The radio turned scratchy for a moment before she got a reply. "Do whatever you want. Be here in the next hour." Then, the radio went scratchy again, and then silent.

She pressed the button, then she holstered her pistol and started up the car again. She pulled back onto the road and we qiuckly picked up our previous speed. My heart was still racing. I had to force myself to stay still.

"So, you alright?" The woman asked.I swallowed. "Peachy."She grinned. "Yeah? That's good. Usually,

everyone's first experience with one of those things is a bit more tramatic."

I looked at her, not knowing if she was being serious or not. "I work customer service. At first, I thought it was another client."

She barked out a laugh. "That a fact?" She asked smiling. "What's your name?"

"Charlotte. Charlotte Dana," I answered. She looked at me. "Charlotte. Charlie. I get it," she

said. She put out her hand. "Anne Davis." Hesitantly, I shook her hand. She must have felt my tremors, because she gave me an odd look. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said, quickly.She arched an eyebrow. "Oh, I know. It's because of

the gun thing, isn't it? Don't worry. You'll be fine. You're coming with me."

"With you? Where?""Headquarters."I tilted my head. "Headquarters for what? Who are

you? Why were you here?""Woah, woah, woah, kid, calm down," she said.

"One thought at a time. First off, I'm me. Second, I was here looking for a friend. I believe you ran into him back there in the cemetary."

"Wait," I said. "You were after that... Monster?""Yep," she said. "I hunt critters like that all the time.

Except, that one was particularly nasty. I was honestly surprised you were alive when I found you. I was expectingto put a bullet through the things skull while it was eating your corpse." I gaped at her. "I'm glad you weren't though,"she said quickly. "Seriously, it sucks disecting things after they just fed."

She smiled at me, as if what she said was actually supposed to make me feel better. "Okay, then," I said, deciding to move on. "So, about those headquarters?"

"Oh, right," she continued. "We track creatures like the one from before. Once we think we have it where we want it, we set up camp until we've caught it or it gets away. Rinse, repeat."

I nodded slowly. "You best get some rest, kid," she said, not looking forward. "Tonights going to be a long one.You have a few hours until we get there." I looked out the window and let my body relax. I let out a breath and closed my eyes, resigning myself to the situation. I was tired, and Ihad no idea what the next day had in store for me. If I was going to die, at least I could be fully rested.

Chapter Three -

I was woken up by a shove against my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see the breaking of dawn as the tip of the sun became slightly visible atop the horizon.

"Rise and shine, Beauty," I heard from my left. "We're here," Anne said, and I heard her unbuckle and openthe door. I yawned and rubbed my face.

For a moment, I thought the events of the previous

night were nothing more then a dream. Then, my door opened up, and I looked up to see Anne waiting for me. I clenched my jaw at the realization of the fact that I really was attacked by a monster and kidnapped by a psychopath.

I unbuckled and stepped out of the car. She closed the door behind me. We had stopped in an old, dirt parking lot. There were a few leafless shrubs and papery grass outling the place.

Then, I turned to see the building. It looked like a huge, abandoned apartment complex. It was several hundred feet long and about five stories high, with peeling, beige colored walls, and many broken doors and loose windows. It was probably decades old.

"This way," Anne said, walking pass me. She walked over to a broken window and stepped through it. "Careful, there," she warned. I stepped over the shards of glass on the floor. We traveled down a long hallway, then she led me up several flights of stairs. "Now, watch what you say, here," Anne said as we approached a door. "They can be a tough crowd, but they're really just a bunch of teddy bears."

She opened the door, and gestured for me to enter. Swallowing, I did, and she followed me. Inside was a barenapartment. The walls were stripped of their paint and the floors were covered with solid wood. It had no furniture, save for a single table in the middle of the room.

Also, there stood three men. The first one I noticed was a large man of maybe three hundred pounds of muscle.He had tanned skin and wore a black tank and dark cargos. His arms were decorated with tribal tattoos that disappearedbeneath his shirt. He was bald, and stood on the far side of the room with his arms folded.

Sitting backwards in a chair, resting his hands and chin on the back, was a young looking man, maybe even younger than Anne. He had long, golden blond hair, tied in a ponytail, that fell down to his shoulders, and parted bangs. His features were soft, kind even, and his icy blue eyes seemed somewhat innocent. He wore a simple brown coat over dark shirt and jeans. He looked at me with a simply, startled interest, like someone who forgot his keys in his pocket.

Leaning against the table facing the two stood another man. He was particularly tall, at least six and a half feet. He had long white hair that fell to his lower back, and a white goatee. He had a muscular, military build, with broad shoulders and a scary face, despite his obvious age.

He wasn't as physically built as the man with the tattoos, but somehow, he still seemed a bit more imposing. I immediately noticed an odd resemblance between him and the blond man.

"Ms. Davis," said the old man. "You survived." His tone made it hard to know if he was glad or disappointed, but Anne didn't seem to notice. "Report."

"Mmhm," she said. "I flashed it, but the thing ran off before I could go after it. Even in diapers, those things are quicker than hell." She nodded towards me. "It was hunting her. Thought it was best if I brought her along."

He didn't even look at me. "Do you think she's important?"

Anne shrugged. "I dunno. It seemed interested im her, so I kept her."

"If you can't think of anything, get rid of her," he said.

My eyes widened. I looked up at Anne for any sign of sympathy. My hopes were crushed by the casual grimaceon her face. "Sorry, kid. Captain's orders."

I slumped down against the wall. I tucked my kneesin close to my chest and wrapped my arms around them and lowered my head. I felt my eyes tear up and I had to choke down my sobs.

"Anyway," Anne said, paying no attention to me. "We have other matters to talk about."

"Such as?""My salary," she said. "You're late three weeks

today." He continued looking at her, as if waiting for her to make her point. She narrowed her eyes. "Listen, you were late on last months payment by almost twenty days, and even more the month before that. Since then, I haven't seen you make even the smallest effort in paying this month. Pretty soon, you owe me double."

He was silent for a moment. "Ms. Davis, our contract is to last for how long?"

She titled her head. "Three more months. Why?""Then, for the remaining three months, we will not

discuss this at all, understand. Now, return to your bunk and go to sleep. We leave at noon."

Anne bared her teeth and stomped over to him. The blond haired man watched her tensely. The one the tattoos, however, quickly made his way over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Davis," he said with a surprisingly not intimidating voice.

She turned her head to him sharply. "You serious,

Dex? This guy's holding out on our payments for as long aspossible." She reaimed her glare at the old man. "Chances are, he's hoping we get axed off before he has to pay, and you're okay with that?"

"Calm down," the man, Dex, repeated. "He's not in debt, yet, and he's payed us properly so far." He glanced back at him. "Albeit, a bit late. If things go wrong in the future, then you can do what you want. Until then, let's just stay put, alright?"

She glared at him, then at the old man. Then, she spun around and stomped away. She grabbed me by the wrist and hulled me to my feet, dragging me behind her andslamming the door. We walked down a hall and entered a room similar to the last, but much smaller, with a single bed, fridge, and heater.

Anne closed the doors behind us. She quickly, angrily unclipped her vest and gun holsters and tossed themon the floor at the foot of the bed. She pulled the tie out of her hair and sat on the bed. She started untying her boots.

"Um," I said."What?" She growled without looking up."Are you going to...""Kill you?" She finished. I shivered. "Well, I wasn't

planning on it."I paused. "B-but, he said-""He's being an asshole," she said, kicking off her

boots. She got up and walked over to her fridge. "Want anything to drink?"

"W-Water," I said. She pulled out and tossed me a bottle of water, then she pulled out a Coke. I took a swig of my water. I wasn't really thirsty, I just needed to cool down.I was alive, for the moment, and I was all too aware of the fact that the only reason I was alive was because of Anne's immaturity.

"So, what's going to happen?" I asked."You heard him," she said. "We're leaving later

today, probably to New Mexico. Or England."I nodded. "Right. Yeah, okay. But, I was kind of

refering to me," I restated.She gave me an annoyed look. "What about you?"I waved a hand. "Nothing, nothing at all. I was just

curious about what I should do. You know, in regards to all... This."

Anne shrugged. "Do whatever you want. If you're going to leave, I'd wait until later. Being outside in the darkwhile that thing is after you wouldn't be smart."

My eyes widened. "That thing was really after me?""From the looks of it.""You mean you're not sure.""Probably.""Probably?""Maybe.""Maybe what?"She shrugged again. I had to remind myself that this

was the person responsible for me not dying. Even so, my life was still on the line, and her casualness was really making me restless.

That's when the door opened, and I spun around stiffly.

The blond guy from before walked in. "Hey, Anne,"he said, closing the door. He caught sight of me, and lookedsurprised for a brief moment. Then, he flashed me a motherly smile that made me heat up a bit.

"What do you want?" Anne muttered coldly, sitting down on her bed.

"About what happened back there," the man said apologetically. "Felix is just a bit vexed. He's not use to traveling this much."

"Tell him to shove it," Anne replied. "Whatever problems he has, tell him to leave it out of his checkbook."

He shook his head. "C'mon, Anne, don't you think that you should proritize hunting more so than money? It's not like you won't get paid, it's just going to take a minute."

"Get out on the field and say that," she said, undoing her belt. "Now, get out. I'm going to sleep."

He sighed, then look back at me. "What about, um...I'm sorry," he apologized to me. "What's your name?"

I hesitated. "I, um, Charlie."He smiled. "Charlie. It's fitting. I'm Andrew." He

held out his hand. Awkwardly, I shook it. He glanced back at Anne, who was turning away from us in her bed. Andrewlooked concerned.

"Um, Andrew?" He turned back to me. "I don't mean to be intrusive on this whole... Operation, but, could you explain what's going on?"

"Do it outside," Anne called."Good night, Anne," he said. "Come on," he said to

me. I followed him back outside into the hall. He turned and leaned against the wall opposite the door. "How are you holding up?" He asked.

"Well enough," I answered. "All things considered."

He laughed. "I'm sure things seem a bit daunting. This is your first time seeing one, after all."

I furrowed my brow. "Seeing what?"He looked away. "An Outsider."I tilted my head. He chuckled. "We don't know how

long it's been going on, but for years now, there've been military experiments going on. Governments attempting to... Cross over."

"What do you mean?"He thought for a moment. "You ever read H.P.

Lovecraft?""No.""Dresden Files?""No."He nodded. "Alright, then. You ever hear of the

Outer Realm?" I nodded. "Yeah. You're talking about the Old Ones.

What does that have to do with anything? Are you saying that the thing that attacked me last night was a god?"

He shooked his head. "No, nothing like that. Just that it wasn't from this world."

I arched an eyebrow. "So, what? It's extraterrestrial?"

"You misunderstand, Charlie," he corrected. "It's notof this world or any other. It's not of this reality." I gaped at him, still slightly confused, yet, not knowing what to say. He seemed entertained by my reaction. "As I was saying, they succeeded. I don't know how, no one does, but they succeeded. They opened some kind of door. Except, insteadof giving us a tour through their world-"

"We gave them a tour through ours," I finished. He nodded. "Us, and people like us, we've managed

to piece together some of the research done on these things.Turns out, they're world might have been infinitely smaller than our own, but they might have outnumbered us a couple thousand to one."

"Meaning?""Meaning that, for the few seconds they had that

door opened, we don't know how many could have gotten in," he explained.

"Wait," I held up a hand, "You mean there's more than one of those things?"

"It and things like it," he said. "What you met back there was the offspring of something much worse. And theyaren't all living things. Some of them simply... Infected certain areas. The things that came from the Outside are...

Impossible.""Impossible how?""They're just impossible," he repeated. "Their

existence defies the laws of physics, thermodynamics, gravity. Every rule that everything, no matter the scale, has to abide by, these things completely rewrite. Monsters as big as skyscrapers that weigh less than you or things capable of porting to dozens of locations at once. Certain hotspots in some parts of the world that absorb all light and sound or warps in time. These things that have no possible explanation and defy all logic."

I nodded slowly. "And you hunt these things?"He nodded. "We investigate them. When we can, we

capture and research them. However, in many cases, they like to... Dispose of them. I guess they work off the idea that, if we can't figure out how the door works so that we can return them to their world, we can achieve the same results by simply killing them all."

"When in Rome."He laughed. "Of course, there aren't many who

actively persue these goals. Other than the Catholic Church in Ireland and maybe the Soviets, the only ones who hunt these things are independent workers. Some of us are fortunate enough to travel with those with real military experience."

"Like the Captain?"He tilted his head. "The Captain?" He smiled. "I'm

sure he'd like that name. You're probably talking about Felix. Yes, he's the one leading our operation. He's pretty infamous over in Britain. He served in the SAS for over twenty years. He was good at it, too. But, what with his ageand with monsters running about, even he needs some help." He looked at Anne's door. "Sometimes, that calls for cheap mercenaries," his head lowered. "Or underachieving sons."

I stared at him. "Wait, he's your dad?"He smiled. "Grand dad, but I didn't know my

parents very well. Felix was one hell of a soldier until, one day, the government dropped a whiny five year old in his lap. Not long after that, he got involved in all of this, and was forced to retire."

I looked out a broken window down the hall. I really had no reason to doubt him. He was nice enough, andseemed to be the only person to actually give a damn about me. But, that didn't change the fact that he was trying to explain to me the fact that, years ago, the military opened a

Door to an alternate dimension and let in a bunch of creepy crawlers that defy common sense.

"So, what's going on in New Mexico?" I asked."New Mexico?"He gestured my head towards Anne's door. "Anne

said something about going to New Mexico after this. Or England."

He nodded. "Right. She's refering to areas of high activity. You see, part of the reason Felix was so... Dismissive was because the monster you encountered doesn't really show it's face too often. We can usually pick it's trail up once a month or so. Whenever it manages to get away, we have really no other choice than to just move on, hunting where ever there's noise. New Mexico was one of those."

I nodded. "So," I continued. "What's going to happen to me?" I dreaded the answer.

He seemed to consider the question. "I'm not really sure," he said. "Anne's the one who brought you here, so you'll have to ask her. Honestly, I'm not quite sure why she brought you here in the first place."

"She said something was hunting me," I said.He looked away. "Even if that were the case, she's

never sacrificed live game to save someone else before. I don't know why she made an exception, this time." He turned back towards me and smiled. "Nevertheless, whatever happens, you're safe here, so long as you're with us."

Then, the lights went out and we were consumed by darkness.

Chapter 4 -

Andrew stiffened, and he looked around in panic fora moment, then, he walked past me and over to the window.I followed him and look out. We were fifty or sixty feet above the ground and it was still too early for the sun to be of any use, giving us only the bleakest of sight.

I looked up at Andrew. His eyes were hard. Without looking away from the ground, he pulled out his pistol. "Whatever happens," he said, "don't fight. Just run." He spun around and quickly made his way back to their operation room.

I followed him. The two men, Felix and Dex, were already geared up, complete with balistic vests, elbow pads,and combat boots. Dex had a shotgun in hand, and a sledgehammer on his back. Felix was loading an assault

rifle."Dex," Andrew called. "What's happening?""No clue," he answered. "But, I'd keep a gun close

by." Andrew didn't look satisfied. He turned to Felix.

"Go wake up Ms. Davis," Felix said. "We're taking an improptu leave." He walked past Andrew and went outside.Dex followed him, giving me a thumbs up as he did.

I was extremely nervous, and Andrew's discontent didn't help that. He still looked concerned. He walked over to a back pack and tossed a few things inside. Then, he heldit out to me. "Here, take this. There's a van outside. Just jump in the back. I'll be down there in a minute."

I took it and put it on, properly. "What about Anne?" I asked.

"I'll take care of her," he said. "You just go." I nodded. I left briskly walked out of the room. The hallway was unbelievably dark without any lights. I made my way down towards the staircase. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't want to slow down and check. I saw the door I'd entered from, and didn't waste any time opening it.

I reached for the door knob and twisted, but it didn'tbudge. I felt my heart skip a beat. For a brief moment, I thought I'd done something wrong. I tried it again, and it didn't open. I rammed my shoulder into it, to no avail.

I took a step back and took a deep breath.Calm down, Charlie. Just find a different staircase.I turned around and started walking back down the

hallway. Then, I heard a thump from above me. I stopped and looked up. I heard it again. There was definitely something above me. A second passed, and I heard it again.This time, some dust rained off the ceiling. My heart jumped into my throat. It seemed to be moving forward, slowly.

It's an odd thing, fear. I'm talking about real fear. Not jump scare or dark alley fear. That's movie theatre fear.I'm talking about being actively scared for your life fear. I'm talking about being in a situation where your death is anentirely possible, and even likely, outcome.

If you can imagine it, or worse, experienced it, then you might be able to relate to what I felt at that moment, when I heard something heavy stalking it's way around the building just a few feet above me.

Then, the ceiling gave way. It collapsed, making theloudest destructive sound possible at the moment. Dust and debris blinded me for a moment, and I covered my face,

coughing. As it began to clear away, something stood up. I

watched it, gaping in terror and disbelief. It stood at least six feet tall on two legs. It was humanoid, with a muscular upper body and long arms that reached past it's knees. It's body was grey and fleshy. It was entirely bald, eyeless, and had a wide mouth with lots of teeth.

Slowly, it turned to face me. I wanted to run away. With every fiber of my being, I wanted to run away, but I couldn't. My feet felt like they were nailed to the ground, and no matter how much I pulled at them, they refused to move.

At first, I didn't think it knew I was there. Then, it opened it's mouth wide, giving me a good view of the hundreds of teeth and saliva dripping from inside. It bent it's legs, as if getting ready to pounce. The whole time, I could only stare at it, and hope that it finished me quickly.

Then, there was a loud bark and it's head exploded outward. Blood sprayed onto my face, and it fell limply to the ground. Standing behind it was Anne, holding out a pistol. She looked at me. "You okay, kid?"

I nodded slowly, still too scared to speak. "Good," she said. There were gun shots outside. She

narrowed her eyes toward the window. "There's a lot of them out there," she said. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Why? What are they doing?""Doesn't matter," she said. She grabbed her rifle by

the strap as well as a sheathed machete, and held them bothout. "Which are you more comfortable with? Up close and violent, or safe and practical?" I hesitated, then pointed at the rifle. She nodded, and reclipped the machete to here hipbefore giving the rifle. "It's got some kick to it," she said. "And it's very loud. Only use it if you're backed into a corner."

She spun around and started off to the locked door. Iwas about to tell her it wasn't open, but then she shot the lock of with her pistol and kicked it open. She continued down the stairs, hardly missing a step. Without questioning it, I stayed close to her, holding the rifle close to my chest. She moved fast, and had do a quick hop every few steps to keep up with her.

Just as we reached the bottom of the stairs, Anne reached for the door. Before she touched the knob, the doorcame off it's hinges and slammed her against the guard rail. On the other side was some kind of lizard dog. It had square jaw, long teeth, large orange buld like eyes, and a

strong, short, stubby body. It chewed and scratched ravagely, trying to get to Anne. Using the door as a shield, she called out, "Shoot it!"

I jumped against the wall. Then, I pulled the rifle upand aimed it against the dog thing. I pulled the trigger, and the gun kicked into my chest. The small area lit up and the gun shook violently in my hands. I shut my eyes tight, and after ten seconds or so, the gun clicked emtpy. My whole body was shaking and my hands and arms felt numb.

Anne pushed the door off and stared down at the dog creature. She looked at me. "Nice job," she commented. "Now, let's get out of here before the whole parade comes marching in." She took of running. For a moment, I sat there, startled by her sudden motion. Then, I shuffled desperately to my feet and took of after her.

When I entered the hallway, Anne was no where in sight. I looked towards the back doors, catching a glimpse of Anne from behind. I kicked off the ground, running afterher. That's when I felt my spine crawl, and my shoulders stiffened up. I stole a glance behind me.

There were dozens of the things that flooded the corridor. The dog and alien creatures from before, as well as other monsters that I could barely recognize. Many of them seemed to be apart of the darkess itself, shadows twirling around them.

I didn't know I could run that fast. I went barroling out the door, almost falling over. I ran out into the barren field. The sun had begun to rise, lighting the area up slightly. I didn't see Anne anywhere, but I didn't want to risk stopping. Behind me, I heard the doors break. I looked back to see them gaining on me. There was no way I could out run them. They were fast, almost as fast as the Reaper.

I stopped and turned around. I gripped the gun tightly. I used up the entire clip on the dog thing, and I was in no shape to fight anything, at the moment. I stood there, facing them. I suddenly understood what it was like to see an oncoming tsunami.

Then, I heard the roar of an engine. I turned around and saw a large, black SUV driving towards me. It spun around, skidding to a hault just a few feet away from me. The passenger door opened, revealing Anne in the driver seat. "C'mon!" She called.

I jumped in as fast as I could. We took off before I could close the door, and I was almost thrown out of the truck. We burned out of the parking lot onto the road, letting the screeching and roaring sounds fade away behind

us. I glanced through the side view mirror, and watched the mass of beasts slowly disappear into the distance.

Breathing heavily, I turned to Anne. "What the hell happened?"

"We were attacked," she answered. I waited for a moment.

"Would you like to elaborate?" I asked.She dropped her head for a moment, then slammed

her hands against the steering wheel. "Those fuckers!" She exclaimed. "Those damn cowards took off without us!"

I wanted to ask what she was talking, but I was too stressed to say much of anything, really. All I could do was take deep breaths and keep from having a break down.

"Hey," Anne said. "Hey, you alright?"I winced before meeting her eyes. She was pissed,

and I didn't want to trip over any land mines. "Yeah, I'm good. Are.. you okay?"

"No," she said brutishly. "No, to be honest, I'm not okay. You wanna know why? It's because my professional business associates whom I've diligently worked with for several years just left me to die in a fucking feeding frenzy!"

For a moment, no one said anything. "So, what do we do now?" She looked at me. "I mean, I'm sorry about what happened between you and your... Associates, but, what do we do now?"

"We?" She asked glancing at me.I hesitated. "I, um, was hoping so. Yeah. We."She took a deep breath. "I don't know. When I

wasn't hanging with those three, I usually just stayed close by in a motel or something. Those things always seemed to be after me."

"So, you don't have any kind of special hideout of your own?"

"Even if I did, those things are thorough. They'd sniff me out wherever I went. Assholes are like bloodhounds.""

"Well, is there a way to kill them?" I asked."Sure, there is," she answered confidently. "Same

way you kill everything else. You can shoot them or cut their heads off or stab their heart or anything else you can think of. They'll die the same way everything else will, but it's the difference between making a free throw from ten feet away and making a half court shot."

And now came the football metaphors. Or was it basketball?

"What about New Mexico?" I offered. "That was the plan, right? Before... you know."

She nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it was. Felix isn't one to bounce a plan. There's no way he's gonna throw it away and just take off to England. He wants that Reaper."

I nodded. "Right, okay. So, that's where we're heading, right?"

She squeezed the wheel. "I don't know. Maybe. I can't hunt normal things without my crew, let alone the Reaper."

"What is the Reaper?" I asked."It's the heavyweight champion of the world," she

said. "All those things you saw at the hotel were small change. Hell, you even emptied a clip on one of them. The Reaper is another story entirely. It's up there with the Grey Man, the Titans, the Boogeymen." She flashed a smile at me. "There's a whole world out there, kiddo, and it's not hiding under the bed anymore." Her eyes returned to the road. Just then, there was a low buzz sound from inbetweenour seats.

Anne reached down and, after a minute, picked up asmall radio. There was a lot of static, and it was bit difficultto hear, but the sound of a young man's voice found it's waythrough. "... back... heading down... -xico..."

Anne pressed a button. "Andy! Andy, is that you?" Anne demanded.

More static, but a voice answered. "Anne, thank G-... to leave... Mexico in... days..."

"God damn it, Andy, I can't hear you. Speak up!""... ten days... ten... Mexico..."Then, the radio went dead. Anne sqeeuzed the radio

to the point where I heard it start to crack, and she threw it into the back of the van. "Son of a bitch!" She sighed. "Well, you heard the man."

"New Mexico?""In ten days.""So, they didn't abandon us?" I asked."Oh, they absolutely abandoned us. It's just that,

now that they know we're alive, they figure we might useful again. The hunt is still on."

"For the Reaper?" I asked."Yep. So, you up for it?" She asked.I looked at her, and arched an eyebrow. "What,

being hunted by monsters? Having my life constantly at risk?"

"No," she said. "Having a life of excitement! Being

the hunter! You and me, the dynamic duo. Batman and Robin. Superman and... his partner."

I gave her a flat stare. "C'mon, don't be like that. I know it's all a bit tough to take in at first, but it's gotta be better than that boring life you were living before."

I crossed my arms. "What do you know about my life?"

"You were a suspect," she explained. "Andy did a good amount of research on you. Hell, if Boss-man wasn't chewing his ass out, he would've been the one you met at the diner, not me."

I thought about it. It made sense. She did seem a little out of her element, trying to be all nice and convincing when we first met.

"I can see that," I said, my heart fluttering as I thought of him. "Andrew is... approachable."

She barked out a laugh. "Put the googly eyes away, for now. That guy's a professional bullshitter. Be thankful he wasn't the one who you met. Otherwise, he would have actually convinced you to come with us, and you would have been hung out as bait. Granted, we would've probably caught out little Reaper rugrat, and those guys probably wouldn't have abandoned me, and you would probably be dead, but, hey, at least now we know who our real friends are."

I couldn't help be amazed at how little tact a human being was capable of not producing. Part of me wanted to believe it was all an act, but then I just figured that she didn't care enough to keep up an act for anyone.

"Yeah, small mercies, I guess," I agreed, halfheartedly. She grinned back at me. "Regardless, I don't think I have much of a choice, in terms of whether or not I join up with you guys."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," she replied. "What, were you too busy not going outside, not having friends, and not getting laid ever?"

My face flushed red. "What do you know?!""I told you, Andy did his research. Your schedule

was important to know." She waved her hand dismisively. "You're smart enough to get a job practically anywhere, andyou're good looking enough to get the jobs your brain can't get you. The only thing stopping you was your lack in confidence."

I seriously can't believe this girl is giving me life advice, I thought.

"I can see why your parents kicked you out. If my

kid were as closed in as you, I'd toss them out, too," she stated.

I glared at her. "My parents didn't kick me out. I left."

"Nice try, kid," she replied. "I read your papers. Honor student shows a little bit of a rebellious side and she's kicked out by over expectant parents. Nothin' to be ashamed. I remember when I was-"

"That's wrong," I said flatly. She glanced at me, andI realized that what I said came out a bit more aggressive than I had intended. I cleared my throat. "I mean, what you read, it's not true. That's just what my parents told the press when they were asked why their perfect little girl had suddenly started living on her own instead of going to college."

"And where are your parents, now?"I shrugged. "I moved out a few years ago. Last I

heard of them, they were somewhere in Florida, living in their summer home. The press only used that to fuel the fire."

"Press?" She repeated. "What, were you a big deal before you took off?"

"In a matter of speaking," I said. "I lived in a small town. It wasn't tough to make the papers."

"Ah," she said, as if understanding. "Well, whateverthe case, I'm sure you'll grow into it. You can go ahead a lean the chair back. New Mexico's about a day's drive away. We'll stop by somewhere in a few hours. Get some rest until then."

I nodded without saying anything, and leaned my seat back as far as it would go, turning my back to her. The way she spoke was as if there was no doubt I'd be doing this for the rest of my life.

Twenty four hours ago, I was going to sleep, dreading the murderous repetition of my life, taking more annoying calls from ungrateful customers, wasting another day in my small shoe box of a home. Now, I was going to sleep dreading whether or not I'd wake up, or worse, what awaited me if and when I did wake up.

My body was more exhausted than I ever rememberit being, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't go to sleep.

Chapter 5 -

"Hey," said a familiar voice. A very familiar voice. "Hey, I need to talk to you."

I turned around to see another girl with dark brown hair, cut short. She wore a black, white dotted hoodie unzipped, with dark scarf wrapped around her neck. Underneath her coat, she wore a clean, white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the top and bottom, some very well defined abs peaking out from beneath it. She also wore a dark pair of slacks, suspenders connecting to her shoulders, that splayed out at the bottom. Her whole pressence was both very formal, yet casual, fitting practically any and all occassions, and eccentuating her figure, showing off just how attractive she was.

But, all that considered, I was still too shocked to doanything other than stare at her, because, while it took me abit longer than it should have, I realized that this cool, beautiful girl was actually me!

But, she wasn't just me. Her hair was cut cleaner, there wasn't a single ruffle in her clothes nor a blemish on her skin. She was me, but without any of my flaws.

She smiled at me. "Great to finally have your attention," she said, cooly.

I gaped. "I-I..." Then, took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm not surprised."

She grinned. "That kind of day, huh?"I nodded, then looked around. We were in a small,

cozy room. There was a fire place, and it took me a moment to realize I was sitting down in a very confortable armchair. A mirror image of the chair sat just across from me, and a small, elegant coffee table sat between us. The girl, me, stood leaning against a far wall with her hands in her pockets. The whole scene looked like something out of a Christman gift card.

"So, what's going on here?" I asked myself. "Where am I, exactly?"

She looked around, and shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't pick it. You did."

I tilted my head in confusion. "What do you mean? Who are you?"

"I'm you," she replied. "Well, to be more specific, I'm a better you. A more complete version of you. If you stopped limiting yourself."

I sighed. "You're going to start lecturing me about how I lack confidence, too?"

She shrugged again. "Not my place to judge," she said simply. "I'm just glad you and I finally get to talk to one another."

I slumped in my chair. "What do you mean?"

"I've been trying to get through to you for a minute, now, but you've always blocked me out. I guess recent events have cleared your mind, a bit," she explained. "You understand what we need to talk about, right?"

"No," I said. "I'm stuck in a room I've never been to before, talking with my better looking twin who's not explaining anything to me."

She gave me a disappointed stare. "There's something wrong, here, and it goes deeper than those monsters."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "If this is some kind of fast acting PTSD, then I think I've really drawn the short stick."

She shook her head. "Why are you here?""That's what I want to know.""No, not here," she said, a bit annoyed. "Why are

you with Anne?""I didn't have much of a choice," I said. "She's

saved my life more than once, now.""You didn't speak up when she mentioned the whole

'dynamic duo' idea. You even played along, a bit." She walked over and sat down on the coffee table, right in front of me, cross legged. "You've taken a liking to her in just a day, haven't you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, accusingly."She said some very interesting things, didn't she? I

guess, maybe, you did live a pretty boring life. Maybe this was the perfect getaway from that. That Andy character is pretty likable, Anne seems reliable, and you don't have to continue that sorry excuse for a life." She rested her elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her fist.

"But, there's something more, right?" She leaned in close. "Something much more basic."

"You mean, other than the fact that we were chased out of town by a horde of demon things?" I asked. "Please, elaborate." She stared at me, not blinking. "Well, she said we were being hunted, right?"

"No," my duplicate said. "She said you were being hunted."

I stared back at her. "I... Yeah, I'm being hunted. So,what? I know I wouldn't last long by myself. I at least knowI'm safer with her than without her."

"Why is it hunting you?" She asked.I threw my arms up. "I have no idea! What's up with

all this cryptic bullshit?!""Why is it hunting you?" She repeated.

I stared at her for a moment longer. Why was I being hunted? Why, out of no where, was I suddenly being chased by some unholy monster thing? I wasn't anybody special. I never did anything to stand out or met anyone who took any particular interest in me. I was completely normal, through and through!

She smiled at me. "Ah, we're getting somewhere," she said. "Heads up. The white light's coming in."

I blinked. Suddenly, everything went white in a sudden flash. I squinted against the brightness. My back ached and my neck was sore, but I sat up and looked around.

I was in the van again. Except, we weren't moving. Iglanced to my left and saw that the driver's seat was empty. I sat up straight, a bolt of worry zipping through me. I looked out the window and searched my surroundings. My heart startle to settle when I spotted her at a pay phone. We were stopped in front of an old gas station way out in what looked like the middle of nowhere.

She seemed to get more animated as she spoke, getting more riled up by the second. Finally, she threw the phone against the it's stand, heavily denting it, before stomping back over to the van. She threw open the driver's door and slumped into her seat, slamming the door shut.

She looked at me and forced a smile. "Great, you're up." She leaned back and picked up a bag of chips from theback of the van. "Here," she said, tossing me the bag. "Breakfast," she said.

"Awesome," I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. "So, what was that about?"

She pressed her fingers to her temples. "I was calling in a favor from a friend. New Mexico is a little over twenty hours away, driving full speed. The probem is we can't travel at night. That van's not great in terms of protection. On top of that, New Mexico is a major hotspot. Once we get there, we either have to find the others or we try to survive until the hunt goes down, and both are going to be damn near impossible."

I nodded slowly. "Okay," I said. "And, this friend ofyours can help us."

"Yes," she growled. "He can. But, he's too busy watching his own ass to give any thought to the people he owes his god damn life to! A personal flaw that, I'm slowly finding out, most people I know happen to have."

I popped my neck. "Plan B?""Getting there might take a little long than expected,

but we can't dodge those things forever. There's a town nearby. We can drop by there, stock up, maybe find a place we can hold out in until tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I repeated. "What time is it?""Around five in the after noon. You slept through a

good amount of the day."I blinked, then rubbed my head. "Wow," I said. "No

wonder I'm sore all over." I looked outside, my eyes searching over the countless miles of dirt and rubble. "You're sure it's okay for us to just bunk up for the night? That'll be safe?"

"You can never be sure of anything, in this business," Anne replied. "But, if we can make it into the city, those things are going to be hard pressed to hit us in the center of a populated area. Oddly enough, they seem to exhibit some kind of intelligence."

"That's kind of scary," I said. "So they can actually reason and plan and stuff?"

"Who knows?" She said. "I don't think they'd be a fair hand in a chess match, but they've got enough sense to pick their fights." She ran a hand through her hair. "Whatever the case, we're wasting time just waiting here. We need to get into town and find a place to sleep for the night while the sun's still out."

She started up the van and pulled out onto the raod. I watched Anne as she drove down the dirt path, placing a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. She may have been a bit dense, sure, as well as a killer for hire, but something abouther made me feel calm. Safe, even. Maybe Mental-Me was right. Maybe I did rely on Anne a little bit more than I should have. Maybe it was because I had just woken up from a crazy dream, but, as bad as things were, I still had this odd feeling that things would work out, somehow. And it all started with finally getting back to a quiet, rural town.

Chapter 6 -

"Holy shit," Anne breathed staring wide eyed at the scene in front of her. I couldn't blame her. Being a contract killer definitely gave her some unique experiences, but I doubt she'd ever seen something like this.

Dozens of abandoned cars littered the road in front of us, several of them were rammed into one another. Garbage and glass layered the side walks. Windows were broken and lightposts were bent.

"What the hell happened?" I asked to no one in particular.

We drove down the road slowly, both of us gazing over the buildings and wrecked vehicles. What was so disturbing was the fact that there seemed to not be a single soul in the entire town.

The cars stopped suddenly, and I looked at Anne. "Road's blocked," she said. "We're getting out." She stepped out of the car, and I followed her. My legs felt a bit awkward to walk on after being in the van for so long. I raised my arms high above my head as I stretched. "Hey, Charlie," Anne called me. I turned around and barely managed to catch an airborn object. I looked up at Anne. "For protection," she said.

I looked down at the object she tossed at me. It was a small black leather sheath. Inside seemed to be some kindof knife. I drew it from the sheath and inspected it carefully. It was about a foot long in length with a neat, silver blade and a wood carved pomel, spiked on the bottom.

"Run if you can," Anne said. "But, if you get caughtin a corner, it'd be best if you had a weapon of some kind." I nodded, replacing the knife in it's sheath and clipping it tomy belt.

"So, what do you think happened here?" I asked as we started walking down the streets.

"This place looks ransacked," she answered. "You think this has something to do with those

monsters? Like, maybe the military came in and evacuated everybody?"

"Doubt it," she said. "The roads are completely blocked. These buildings are all broken into. If anything, it looks like someone came here and raided the place. But, I don't think it was the military."

"Why do you say that?""Just look," she said. "No bullet holes, no shells.

You'd think if the military rolled up to take over an entire town, a shot or two may have been fired. On top of that, there's no way they could have gotten any vehicles here. In fact, it looks like everybody went insane and started tearinginto eachother."

I continued gawking at the chaos that the town seemed to have gone through. "This can't have happened more than a week ago."

"More like days," Anne corrected. "Some of these cars are still running. You'd think they'd have burned through gas after a week." She peered over the town. "There's a police station about a twenty minute's walk that

way. Should be some information there."I blinked and look towards where she began

walking, but I only saw a long line of empty cars and trash. I hurried and followed Anne, making sure not to fall behind.

"So," I said, as we walked. "How did you get into all this?"

"What, being a mercenary?""Yeah, that too," I said, "but I was more refering to

the 'monster-killing-enary'.""Well, I had kind of a rough childhood," she said.

"Kinda poor, kinda violent. When I was about sixteen or seventeen, I hitched a ride on this merc ship. The captain, Dokes, found me, but, instead of tossing me overboard, brought me to a bar and bought me a few drinks."

"I'm guessing age restrictions weren't a big thing?""I mean, they existed," she said. "Just, neither of us

gave enough of a damn at the time. Suddenly, this local comes in and starts busting the place up. Dokes and I took off out the back, and I may or may not have shot a few people. He gave me a job, taught me to shoot, fight, and basically this whole business."

"I see," I said. "You regret it?"She snorted. "Please, my life was shit before I

joined up with Dokes. Hopping on his boat was probably the best thing that ever happened to me." She looked down at me. "I'm mean, sure, I didn't have colleges clamoring for me, unlike some people I know, but, I still think I got the bettter end of the deal."

I thought about my parents. She was my age when she hitched a ride with a Merc. It was all a matter of convenience. Had I been born in her town, I could have been the gun wielding badass instead of the college drop out. Maybe that would have been preferable to my life.

I shivered. I'm already starting prefer this life over mine."What about this whole monster killing business?" I

asked. "Did Dokes teach you how to hunt them, too?"She shook her head. "Naw, that was Papa Felix who

got me into this clusterfuck. I had just gotten done with a job, protecting some kingpin while he jumped around between islands. Earned myself almost ten grand. I was counting it up when Dokes barges into my room and drops a contract on my lap, telling me the reward could set me forthe rest of my life."

"And you didn't find that suspicious at all?"

"Please, when you get hired to kill people for a living, escorting smugglers, and protecting pimps, a simple animal hunting job is far from the worst thing I'd done." I grimaced. Anne was nice enough, and the closest thing I had to a friend, but that just made it easy to forget the fact that she was kind of a terrible person. "At the time," she continued, "I thought we were just hunting a bunch of exotic pets on the endangered species list. That's when I met Felix."

She took a deep breath. "It was about two year ago when I joined up with their funky little group. Andy explained everything to me about the 'other dimension' thing. Obviously, I thought he had a few screws loose, but, the pay-check was too good to refuse, so I just nodded and smiled. That mission is where I got my grand introduction to the world of the fucked up. Ran into a Goliath, another Hall of Famer I'm sure you'll meet somewhere down the line. Learned the procedure for taking things like that down. There was even a Boogeyman."

I shook my head, smiling to myself. "All your codenames for these creatures, it's like something from a Tolkein novel."

She laughed. "Yep, I thought so, too. The names geteasier the longer you use them. A year from now, they'll become second nature. You'll be tossing the lingo around like you were born into it."

I nodded. "I guess." She nodded toward's something in front of her.

"We're here."I looked up to see a small police station just across

the street from us. I was so into the conversation that I'd hardly noticed how fast we'd traveled.

We entered cautiously. "Keep that knife light," Annesaid. "Look around. Maps, weapons, anything's better than nothing." I nodded, and we split up. The building was only a single story, but extended back much farther than it seemed from the outside. Papers and lobsided cabinets littered the office floor. There was a large desk directly in front of the front doors. To it's right was a long hallway.

There were several doors on each side of the hallway, most of them were just messy offices with trashed computers and garbage covering most of everything. I walkslowly, glancing around for anything that looked useful.

At the end of the hall, there was one door that hadn'tbeen opened. I walked up to it and tried the knob. It wasn't locked, and I pushed it open.

Inside, it was perfectly neat and clean, more so than even my own room was. There was a single small desk dimly lit by a small lamp. A thick, leather journal was placesquare in the middle. There were plaques and degrees framed on the walls as well as a name tag reading Lieutenant Church.

Made sense. Only a real high ranker would have an office this nice.

I walked around the desk and opened the journal. The front page was blank with only the initials W.C. writtenon the front. I flipped through the pages. There were maybea hundred something of them. I skimmed through them quickly, and my eyes quickly widened as I realized just what I was reading.

These things are not bound by the perameters of our logic. They can bend space and time, defying the laws of physics. They come from another plane of existence. I do not know how they gained access to our realm, but I am close to finding out the truth. Ican feel it.

I swallowed. Whoever wrote this journal not only knew of the existence of these creatures, he knew how to deal with them, and he knew they were coming. He was a veteran. The book was filled with information on them.

But, how did he get out? I thought.I picked the journal up and put it in my back pocket

before exiting the room and making my way to the front desk. Anne stood there with two duffel bags, one at her feet and one on her shoulder. She was fiddling with the radio, seemingly unsuccessfully.

"Anne, I found something," I said.She looked up and smiled at me. "Betcha mine is

better." She kicked the bag. "Found a bunch of guns and about five thousand dollars in the evidence locker. This place is completely empty, though. There's a few bunks in the holding cells. We can go around the block, get the van over here, hold out here for the night and take off in the morning. How 'bout you?"

I reached back and pulled out the journal. "I found this in an office. It's like a hand written Bible for all these things."

Anne took the jounral and flipped through the pages. Her eyebrows raised as she read through the book. "Damn, this guy really knows his shit. He pretty much covers everything I know in the first twenty pages. With pictures, too. This guy needs to get out more."

She flipped to the front of the book and looked at

the initials. "W.C.? Who the hell's that?"I shrugged, taking the book back. "Who knows?""Well, I should," she said, walking away. I

followed. "We make it a point to know all the local hunters.We're not a friendly bunch. It's not uncommon for two hunters to clash heads whenever they meet."

I read through the book carefully as we walked out of the police station and turned the corner. "Then again, it's not like there's a whole lot of us in the world. I doubt there's a thousand of us on the entire planet, most of them are part of the military or the Catholic Church. If there's a real-life Batman running around, cleaning up inter-dimensional trash, Felix would have known it before anyone."

I nodded, not really listening to her. She continued on rambling about the job while I continued reading. The more and more I found out about this other world that existed under my nose for so many years, the more fascinated I became with it. These 'monsters', these 'hunters', it was like a this new fantasy world filled with endless possibilities. Like superheroes and supervillains, but better!

And I was a part of it. Now, by sheer coincidence, I was now a part of this

incredible new world. It was scary, sure, but also, somehow, liberating. It was like I was now in complete control of my life in a place where I had actually influence. Somehow, life just seemed more... Amazing!

That when I ran into something, almost falling down. I looked up an unmoving Anne, frozen in place. I stepped around her to see what she was looking at, but she put a hand on my shoulder.

"Careful, kid. You might not be able to handle this."I looked up at her for a moment, then looked

forward, despite her warning.I wish I hadn't.Hundreds, maybe thousands of bodies, scattered

over the road as far as the eye can see, some of them were piled on top of eachother. Most of them were normal people, some were in uniform. All of them were were soaked in blood and filth. As soon as the iron scent touchedmy nose, my senses seemed to hit fifth gear.

Suddenly, I could see every speck of detail. Every splayed and splintered bone, every broken body, they were all perfectly clear. I could see the dried blood as it crusted the eyelashes of a young man's face. I could count the

amount of cracks in the bared skull of a woman's head. I could hear the sounding of flies as the buzzed around from hundreds of feet away. I could even swear that I could taste the blood on the very wind that blew through the street.

It's hard to explain, but imagine you could see everything in a three hundred and sixty degree radius. Things behind you, things above you, imagine you could see, smell, and hear every one of them, that you just knew where they were and what they were doing, like some kind of perfect peripheral perspective. It was like being able to pick out every single note of every instrument of a college orchestra. The whole scene, despite being grizzly and disgusting, was crystalized in my mind. Somehow, it had some kind of clarity to it, as if all my life my senses had been blurred or muffled except for this one, single moment.At a time where I should have been disgusted or appalled, Icould only be entranced by this sudden feeling of absolute clearness.

"Charlie, go back to the station," Anne said, pushingme behind her, bring me back to reality. She pressed a pistol into my chest. "Take this, get to the cells, stay there until I get back." I nodded slowly, my mouth ajar, and hobbled back to the police station.

Blood smells a certain way, a kind of sticky, almost metallic odor, and the air was full of it. The pained and startled expressions of each person echoed in my mind. Mymouth was dry and I had a crushing headache. The room swayed back and forth. I quickly looked around and found a garbage can. I ran over to it and emptied what little lunch I'd had. My ears rang and I felt my eyes water as I tried to slow my breathing.

What the hell was that? Just a few seconds ago, I felt like time slowed down, like I could reach out and plucka molecule of oxygen out of the air. Now, I could only restrain myself from puking up my lungs. Now matter how many breaths I took, I couldn't get enough air in me. My arms shook and my body seemed to weigh me down. I felt myself crying, but I didn't know why.

The more I tried to remember what I was feeling exactly, the louder the ringing in my head became, as if there was something inside my brain that didn't want me to remember, like some kind of emergency alarm system.

I heard the sound of a door closing, followed by Anne's voice.

"Hey, Charlie, you alrigh- Woah." I heard the sound of footsteps grow louder, then felt a hand on the small of

my back. "Hey, um, you okay? I mean, it looks like you're not, but... Will you be? Later?"

The shadow of a grin touched my lips. Anne really was bad at the comfort thing. I put on my straightest face.

"I'll make it," I said. "What about... What happened to them?"

Anne reached around and pulled out a thin, red rubbery thing.

"That's a bone," she said. "From an Outsider."I lowered my head. "How could an Outsider do all

that?""Outsid-ers. Plural. My guess is a swarm hit this

place, like the one at the hotel." She sat with her back against the wall. "Rigamortis had barely started to set in. My guess is the whole thing went down a day ago. Maybe two, at most."

"So, around the same time we were ambushed at thehotel? Give or take a few?" I said.

She gave me a long look. "Yeah," she said slowly. "Yeah, I'd say they'd be pretty damn close, actually. What the hell's going on with them?"

"Has this ever happened before?" I asked.She shook her head. "Not since I've been alive. And

if it has, I've never heard of it.""So, what? Did all the Outsiders just decide to go to

war with humans?""Looks like," she said. "Something made them go

crazy. Something made them all go crazy. At the same time.Christ alive." She ran a hand through her hair.

"We should find Felix," I said.She nodded. "You're goddam right. He'll have an

explanation for this."Honestly, it sounded like she was trying to convince

herself more so than me. I decided not to question her. "I'm going to go find a bunk," I said. Anne gave me

a thumbs up, and I left to find a cell. It felt kind of weird to be entering a cell and closing the door behind me. I knew the jail was abandoned, but having the freedom to wander the station gave me a weird kind of, almost, omnipotent feeling.

I sat down on the bunk, propping a pillow behind my back.

"I'm turning the lights off," called Anne. Then, the jail went dark except for one small lamp near the entrance leading to the front desk. It left me just enough light to see in front of me. I pulled out the journal from before and

angled myself so that I could see the words. Whatever happened today, with those creatures, with me, maybe I could find the answer in this journal. If not, then maybe a hint or a clue of some kind. Just something. Anything.

I opened the book and began reading.

Chapter 7 -

"Anne!" I said, shoving her hard. "Anne, wake up!"She groaned and opened her eyes, flashing me a

mean glare. "What the- What is it? Is something trying to kill us?"

"At the moment?" I asked."Shut up. What do you want?"She sat up slowly, her hand subconcsiously going

for her pistol by her hip. I hesitated, and she stared at me, scratching her head. I opened up the journal and flipped through the pages.

"I found something," I said. She glanced down at the journal.

"That thing?"I nodded. I found the page and leaned in close to

her, giving her a view of the book. "Look here," I said pointing to the page. "This guy, W.C. or whatever, he writesabout this thing that happened years ago. He talks about how a whole military base was raided by a horde of 'beasts'."

Anne's eyes narrowed. "What else does it say?" She asked, her new found interest intensifying.

"He talks about how, days before the attack, a coleague of his began having nightmares. He was more stressed out than usual, more on edge."

It was feint, but I saw Anne stiffen up as I spoke. "What happened to his coleague?" She asked."More importantly," I said, "after the those things

started going crazy, he talks about how these certain creatures start to be more active than usual. He talks about this 'Grey Man' thing, and he even mentions the Reaper. Hesays that they were getting more aggressive."

I flipped over a few pages. "Then, he says something interesting." I skimmed the pages until I found the line. "Right here. Him and his group were taking shelterin gym. And I quote, 'they've cut the power and blocked thefire escape, now there flooding the second floor'."

Anne looked at me for a second, expecting me to explain.

I shook me head. "Have you ever heard of these

things strategically smoking people out of a building? I know there've been cases of them working together, but something this elaborate? Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

Anne closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, her shoulders slumping. "Fuck," she said, simply. "So, what? These are going to suddenly get smarter?"

"I don't know," I said. "After that, he just skips ahead and starts talking about those Boogeymen you mentioned earlier."

Anne nodded. "Well, they're a treat of their own," she said. "Does it say anywhere in there who wrote this book? Maybe where he was going to next?"

"No," I said, earning a growl from Anne. "But," I continued, flipping to the very back of the journal, "I did find this." Stuck between the back cover and the last page was an envelope. "There's nothing in it, but there's a return address."

Anne leaned forward and I showed her the address. "Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1002 N Mesa St," Anne

read. A smile spread across her face. "You know what we call that in my business?"

"Progress?""Prog-... Yes," she answered, looking a bit

disappointed. "And it's on the way there. No reason we can't stop by and check out what's going on there. Maybe figure out who this W.C. person is. Sound like a plan?"

I nodded. She checker her watch, then leaned over and handed

me my backpack. "We should probably head out. I'm starting to..." She stopped herself, as if she almost said something she wasn't supposed to. "It's dangerous if we stay here too long," she corrected herself not-so-smoothly.

She stood up and picked up her duffle bag, then marched out.

Something was bothering her. I mean, it was understandable. The world was kind of ending and we werebeing hunted by a horde of Outsiders, so being a bit on edge wasn't anything unexpected. But, from what I'd seen of Anne, she wasn't the kind of person to get spooked by anold journal entry or an oddly aggressive frenzy of monsters.Granted, that would probably send most people over a cliff,but Anne seemed like one of the few who would be more than willing to go head to head with these kind of creatures,and she'd proven so several times in just the past few days.

Right now, however, she didn't seem scared at all. Rather, she seem anxious, hyperactive, even. I could relate

a little bit, considering what we saw yesterday, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that she had a little more going on than she was letting on.

I picked up my backpack and pistol and hurried after Anne.

As we walked out, something shiny caught my eye. I turned my head to look down the hall I explored the day before. Nothing seemed to be out of order, at least nothing Ihadn't seen earlier.

I could've sworn I just saw something..."Hey, Charlie, hurry up," Anne called from outside.

"We're burning daylight.""On my way," I called back over my shoulder, still

staring down the hallway. I know I'd seen something. I tooka few steps back, turning my head slightly to try and retracemy steps. Sure enough, a bright glint touched my eye. I immediately turned to look at what was giving off the shine.

The rays of sunlight barely found their way through a window with a broken shutter. It was angled just right so that it refracted off of something metal down the hallway, just in front of the wall at the end on the floor.

Curiously, I approached the shiny object. As I got closer, it disappeared from view, but I already knew where it was. Once I got there, I kneeled down and began feeling around for whatever the object was.

That's when my hands traveled over a small bump. Iraised my eyebrows in interest, and hooked my finger under the bump so that I touched something hard and cold, definitely metal. I pulled upward gently, and I felt pressure under my feet.

A trap door?"Charlie, what hell is taking you?" Anne growled."Nothing," I replied. "It's just..." I took a step backward and reached down to open

the door. It took a bit of effort, but I pulled it up, and the door swung open, slamming into the floor behind it with a heavy thud, letting off a large dust cloud.

"What the fu-" Anne began as she came up from behind. "What is that?" She asked.

I glanced back at her with a smile on my face. "Hidden," I answered.

She returned my smile. "That mean someone didn't want it found." She dropped her duffle bag and pulled out aflashlight. "Here," she said, handing me the flashlight. I turned it on and peered down into the darkness. Beneath the

door was about a ten foot drop down on top of another hatch.

"So," I began. "What do you-"Anne hopped down into the hole before I could

finish. I dropped to my knees and leaned forward to see her."Anne, what are you doing?!"

"Well, someone's gotta go down first, unless you wanted to," she said.

"But, what if it's a trap or something?" I asked. "Like, what if it leads to some kind of Outsider hive?!"

She waved her hand. "You watch too many movies. Worst case scenario, we'll run into some unusually large rats. Maybe quick sand."

I narrowed my eyes, and she laughed. "Calm down, kid, I've got this under control." She

crouched down pulled the hatch open. With the flashlight, I could barely see the beginnings of a ladder that led down into an even more encompassing darkness. Anne looked up at me. "You ready?" She asked, rasing her hands, ready to catch me.

"What?" "C'mon, jump. You can trust me," she said.I gulped, and closed my eyes. Then, I sat down,

throwing legs over the ledge, and pushed myself off. Luckily, Anne did end up catching me, setting me down on my feet gently. "See? Christ alive, you'd think you would have a bit more trust in me by now."

I nodded, still a little uneasy. Anne took the flashlight and started making her way down the ladder. Slowly, still a bit scared, I followed her.

That's right, Charlie, you don't have to be scared solong as Anne's here. She's tough. She'll protect you.

Even so, I still couldn't shake an even more unnerving thought.

Are you really sure of that? She's a merc, after all.I shook my head, clearing my mind. Now was not

the time to be questioning my trust in Anne. I clenched my teeth and made sure I kept up with Anne.

After a few seconds, I heard Anne drop off, making a splash. "Be careful, there's about a foot between the ladder and the floor. The water's deeper than it looks."

With that in mind, I kept going until I couldn't feel another step below me. Looking down, I could see the feintmovement of water beneath me. I dropped down, but Anne wasn't lying when she said the water was deeper than it looked. I landed on my feet, but I was completely drenched

from the waist down.I winced. "This isn't... Sewer water, is it?""Looks like it," Anne said. I sighed. "Of course it is."Anne shined her flashlight around, giving me a

good look at the sewer tunnel we were in. It was rounded, of course, with about twenty feet between the floor and the ceiling. The tunnel extended infinitely in two directions.

Anne glared down one direction. "Down that way would be where we came in," she said. She spun around. "So, we want to go that way." As fast as someone could go with their feet drenched in water, we began walking down the tunnel.

"Ah, smell's just like home," Anne said. "I envy you," I stated dryly. She laughed. "How's it feel to get your hands

dirty?""Like I'm waist deep in a sewer."She nodded. "Yep. Get used to it. This is about as

clean as the job gets. But, don't worry, then fun part is only just beginning."

"I can't describe my excitement.""Ah, don't be such a poor sport."We continued for the next thirty minutes or so in a

single direction. You think walking sucks, trying doing it while dragging your feet through the heaviest, filthiest, soggiest water you can imagine in a closterphobic tunnel with the only light coming from a single flashlight. It was at this point that I promised myself I would start doing a bitof cardio every once in a while.

"Wait," Anne said suddenly, coming to a stop. I did so immediately. She shined her light on the side of the tunnel. I followed it, peering closely as it travel over a small indentation in the wall.

"You see it?" Anne asked."No, what?"Without answering, she walked over to the

indentation, and knocked on it a few times, pressing her earagainst it. A grin took her face. "Take this," she said, handing me the light. I kept it on her and the wall as she pulled out a crowbar from the bag and inserted it into a small crack in the wall. She put a boot on the end and pushed.

"Anne, I don't think-"Suddenly, the whole section of the wall came

swinging out, nearly smacking me on the way. Dust came

billowing out from the hole, making me cough. When it all settled, I looked up to see Anne triumphantly standing in front of an open door way. The swinging section of the wallwas actually a door itself, set so that it opened and closed just above the surface of the water. Inside, it also looked like it was made to be dry.

"See it, now?""Still a bit blury," I said, smiling. She helped me out

of the water and into the doorway before jumping in herself. She took the flashlight and walked past me. I glanced back at the tunnel. I don't know what it was, but something was starting to make me feel uneasy. I closed thedoor, just for safety, and made sure not to lose Anne.

"Looky here," Anne said. I squeezed past her to see that she'd found a small closet filled with all kinds of supplies. From rations to canned food to gasoline, like you'd find in a nuclear bunker.

"And look at this," she said, reaching down and picking up a small box of cigarettes and a zippo lighter. "Looks like W.C. left us a gift." She took a cigarette from the box and place it in her mouth, lighting it. She held the box towards me. "Want one?"

I shook my head. "I don't smoke," I said. She shrugged.

"Take this then," she said, giving me back the flash light. I looked back up at her. "What about you?"

She flicked her zippo, and the fire lit her face. "Bwauhahaha!" She cried in an over the top, spooky voice. I stared at her blankly. "Jeez, you can at least pretend to laugh."

I sighed and turned around. As I aimed the light all around, I began to realize just how big this place was. It wasn't just some cozy little hole in the sewer. It could have been an entire hotel. Just on the other side of the sewer door was a long hall that seemed to have no end, but there were also dozens of doors on each side that led to massive rooms, and each room also led to another room. It was like some kind of massive Scooby Doo maze.

The oddest thing was that only some of the walls were made of concrete. In fact very few of them were. Most of the walls and pillars were made out of wood, old wood at that. As I went from room to room, I saw that therewas even another floor below it.

"Hey, Anne, there's a basement!" I called."Yeah? Check it out, but stay close," she replied

from a far. As I approached a stareway that led to the

basement, I saw that the floor was covered with a thin layerof water, not even half as deep as the sewers. I should have been scared, going down the stairs, but there was something too interesting about it all to stop me.

I stepped into the water slowly, making sure it wasn't as deep as before. Thankfully, it wasn't, and I continued on cautiously, making sure to shine my light on everything. The basement seemed to be where all the plumming to this whole buidling was at. Honestly, I was surprised it even had plumming. Then again, what with how big the place was, seeing all the pipes and chords and generators every where shouldn't have been that big a deal.

There was one generator in particular that was aboutten feet high. I placed on a small scaffold, the only dry part of the entire basement. It was guarded by a tall metal fence.I could even see a few sparks of electicity bouncing off in random directions. It illuminated the otherwise completely dark basement room.

I explored the area carefully, making sure not to miss anything. Mostly, there was just a bunch of pipes and wooden pillars and support beams. There were different rooms, sure, but the only things that really seemed to be down there were spider webs and dust. I was just about to leave when I caught sight of a door. It was clean and white, like in a real bedroom door. It even had a golden knob and peek hole. I walked over to it and opened it, slowly, just in case there was something inside.

There was nothing, but I was still cautious. I stepped inside, and I would have been less shocked to find a safe full of nuclear launch codes.

On the other side of the door was what looked like alittle girl's bedroom. There was a single twin bed, perfectly made, with clean sheets and a pink comforter. There was a small stuffed animal sat next to some white and pink pillows. Next to the bed was a single desk with a large mirror with a shiny white frame. There was a hair brush and another stuffed animal on each corner of the desk. In front of it was a beautiful white chair that was just too small for me to sit in. I glanced down underneath the bed tosee what looked like a drawer for clothes.

The whole thing was... Surreal. Creepy, even. Just being in the room made me feel... Trapped. Despite the room being so clean, it was clear no one had been in it for awhile. Everything was far too neat for that.

On the desk, however, right in the middle of it, was a small envelope. The the fact that the room was even there

made me nervous, so I was careful to approached it. I shined my light down on the envelope. It looked

like it was already opened, as the top was torn off. I picked it up and turned it over, examining the back. Signed in messy cursive was a name. It was hard to read, but I barely managed to make it out.

AlisonI furrowed my brow. From what I could gather, the

room belonged, or more, was dedicated, to a girl named Alison. And, whoever set the room up must have felt some kind of deep obligation to her. The was the type meant for ayounger girl, still in elementary, so she may have been someone's daughter or niece. Regardless, it was all too bizarre.

I placed the envelope back where I got it and quickly left the room and closed the door, heaving a deep breath. This wasn't the work of loving relative or friend, this was the result of someone with unhealthy and creepy obsession that they couldn't control. I stared up at the door, still perplexed as to what the purpose of the room could have been. Was it a memorial? Some kind of shrine for someone? Maybe a girl really did live in it at some point, which was a depressing thought all on it's own. What kind of situation would call for her to be holed up down here?

Just as I began turning away, I felt something nag atmy neck. I glanced back, my eye catching the peekhole. There was nothing weird about it. Nothing obviously out ofplace or odd, in regards to the context. But, still, as I stared at the door, I felt like something was missing.

I walked up next to the door, looking up at the peekhole.

Was it always that high?I opened the door, a chill running down my spine,

and examined the door from the other side. Something was definitely wrong. On the other sider of the door, the peekhole was about half a foot lower, just meeting up with my eyes. I leaned in close and peered through it. As I did so, I saw the open space of the room on the other side. Again, at first glance it all seemed normal, but, it still felt wrong, somehow.

I looked around the door to see the room with my owns eyes. Nothing seemed to change. I took careful note everything, from the walls to the ceiling to the water covered floor. Then, looking back through the peekhole, I finally saw it.

From someone inside the room looking out, they

would see the room as it was except for a small opening on the far left of it. It was a doorway of some kind. I glanced around the door and saw only a thick cloth draped over where the doorway should have been, blended in so well with the rest of the dusty walls, no one would ever be able to see it if they didn't know it was there.

What the person in the room could see through the hole was a stock image made to look like the real thing. I swung around to the other side of the door and peered through the hole. Sure enough, a clear view of the room was visible from the outside.

Whoever made this room and this door made it so that they could look into it and spy, while anyone on the inside would only see an empty, poorly lit room.

I gripped my jacket tightly and shivered. This was getting to weird. I guess, in the business of hunting monsters, it's not uncommon to run into a few psychos or freaks.

Now knowing exactly where the doorway was, I walked over to the tarp that covered it and tugged it off heavily. There was a loud scraping creek as it was dragged off the old wood it was placed on, and a mountain of accumulated dirt and dust showered me, sending me into a coughing fit. It took a minute before I could see clearly.

I waved away the dust that remained in the air, clearing the way for me to enter. Inside was surprisingly clean. Not creepy-little-girl's-room clean, but it wasn't as dingy or grimy as the rest of the basement was.

Shining my light around, I saw it reflect off of somekind of glass or plastic. I searched a little more and found a small lightswitch. Grimacing, I debated on whether or not to try it. I reach over with a careful hand. I mean, the chances of there being a working light in this place...

I flipped the switch, and the whole room was filled with light. Granted, it was a faded, and didn't even reach the outside of the doorway, but it was light nonetheless. Smiling to myself in relief, I put my flashlight away, and turned around.

And nearly vomitted.The room was, more or less, a small laboratory.

There was a single bar counter that ran along one wall that was decorated with microscopes, glasses, tubes, a sink, and other various sciency things. There were two large cabinets that took up the entirety of another wall, which were also filled with little sciency gadgets you'd see in a B-horror movie. Or maybe a the set to some sort of highschool play.

In the middle of the room, however, was a single, large, metal operating table.

And on it was a body.Less than a day before, I'd seen a mounds upon

mounds of corpses, the bodies of nearly everyone who lived in the town. Somehow, though, it didn't affect me the way a dead body should have. I knew it was weird, what I felt when I saw them, but I decided to not ask questions until we'd at least found some place moderately safe.

What freaked me out more than that, however, was what I felt when I saw the body on the table. Unlike before,there was no euphoric sensation. I couldn't hear or see or smell any better than I ever could. Instead, the body made me sick.

Gross out movies are easy to make. They don't rely on story telling or ominous atmosphere. They simply hammered in a bunch of blood, guts, and gore until you can't watch anymore. No matter how tough you think you are, everybody has a breaking point, a sweat spot that, if pushed just right, would make them throw up. You probably know the feeling.

The feeling of something so disturbingly gross that, no matter how much you want to look away or how much you're ready to barf up your lungs, you just can't look away.You just grind your teeth into dust, clench you fists until they break, cringe and squel and watch until it's over, then you swear to yourself you'll never see anything like it ever again.

Now, imagine that, instead of seeing it in a movie, you're there in person. You can smell it, feel it, even. Even if your not really touching it, it's almost as if the blood is physically washing over you.

I gripped the sleeves of my jacket and pulled tightly.Then, I took a deep breath before stepping towards the body. The body was decayed and zombie looking, making it completely unrecognizable. It was relatively average in size.

I peered down at the body, which called for me to draw my face closer to it than I was fairly comfortable with. I nearly expected it to come back alive and grab me. Iwas moderately sure it was the body of a human, but it didn't have a human's skin. It leathery, like a snake's. Rugged, even. It might have been male, but I couldn't be sure.

It had absolutely no hair on it body. It didn't even have eyelashes. Other than smelling like dumpster filled

with rotten fish, there were a few other disturbing things. It's skin seemed to be splintered, peeling off all over. It didn't even have teeth. Something was wrong with it, but I couldn't figure out what.

I wrapped my sleeve around my hand and careful peeled off a piece of the already falling off skin. Slowly, I saw something red beneath it. At first, I thought it was dried blood, but I quickly realized that it was tougher than that. Holding back a gag, I tore off the piece of skin and dropped it on the floor. I leaned in closer to look at the littlepatch of red.

It wasn't just a scab. In fact, it looked like an extra layer of skin, maybe even closer to scales. Nervously, I ran a finger over it. It was definitely tougher than a human's skin. I pressed down harder, testing it's resiliance. The bodyseemed old enough and weak enough that you could cut through it with a spoon. And yet, I pressed down on the red scale, putting a good amount of my weight on it, and it barely budged. It might as well have been armor.

What the hell had been going on in here? It looked like some kind of sick science experiment, but I didn't understand the purpose of it. Who did this? What were theytrying to achieve?

I felt a familiar chill swim up my spin, but I couldn'tquite palce where I'd felt it before. I just swallowed, then pull out my phone and took several pictures. Then, I spun around, making my way back to the staircase that led to themain floor. I made sure to recover the door before leaving.

I needed to find Anne. Honestly, I didn't think she'd have any answers, or even have the vaguest idea as to what the hell was down there, but I still needed to let her know, if for no other reason than just to make myself feel better.

"Hey, Anne, I found something I think you should see," I called as I came back to the floor we entered on. From not too far away, in one of the other rooms, I heard a reply.

"This place has damn good maintenance for being a thousand years old and built in a sewer," Anne called back. "There's food for years here. Clothes, too. I think I might have found a scarf you'd like."

I tried to follow her voice, but it echoed to much forme to pinpoint it. "Anne, I don't think we should stay here any longer," I said. "I just checked downstairs. There's some seriously freaky stuff down there."

"Leave?" She asked. "What's got you spooked? We just got here."

"I don't know," I admitted. "I'm just getting a bad feeling about this. Please, I don't think it's safe too-"

I stopped myself. I was shining my light around to navigate the dark corridors when it glinted off the steel down we'd entered. But, it reflected off at an odd angle. I looked closer, and my heart nearly stopped.

The door, though barely noticable, was slightly a jar. "Hey, Anne, where are you?" I asked, my voice shaking.

From behind me, farther in the house, I heard her voice. "I'm right here. Jesus, Charles, you're not chickeningout on me, are you?"

My eyes widened. I spun around. "Anne!" I screamed, but I was too late. The next thing I heard was a familiar, low hissing from inside, then the sound of wood being crunched as if under a steam roller.

Then, I heard Anne cry out in pain.My blood ran cold, and I sprinted toward the noise,

drawing my knife.Something had definitely gone wrong. And I was scared.

Chapter 8 -

Have you ever had to look for something in the dark? While you were in a hurry? You might have turned the light on or maybe used your phone's light, but then you realized that the light somehow made it worse? Maybe it's just me, but imagine that kind of situation going on while your a few dozen feet below ground. While a giant monsterwas trying to kill my friend.

I knew I felt it before. At my apartment, the night Anne saved me from that thing.

From the Reaper."Anne!" I called out as I ran in and out of the

various rooms, swinging my flashlight around, looking for any sign of Anne or the Reaper. I could still hear the echoesof the scuffle bouncing off the walls of the hallway, my only hope being that she was able to get away without being fataly wounded.

I'd seen what that thing could do. It effortlessly smashed through solid concrete, mauseleums built to last hundred of years, and that thing broke them like they were made of Legos.

I ran through a doorway, which led me into the hallway. I ran down, glancing back and fourth on each side of the corridor, looking for any sign of Anne.

Then, the wall of the corridor just a few feet in frontof me exploded outward. I had to dig my feet into the wooden floor to stop myself from running into it. Debris flew everywhere, the hall completely disappearing from sight.

I raised my arm in front of my eyes, blocking most of the dust, and watched until it cleared. It was only a few seconds before I saw the subtle back and fourth swing of something long and fluid. It swished from wall to wall, slowly clearing the dust. Then, it swung around out of sight, replaced with the blurry head of the creature I'd seen in my apartment. It's powerful jaw went agape slightly as it released a terrifying, high pitched growl.

When I saw it at my apartment, I remember feeling scared. I remember thinking to myself that I was legitamitely going to die. But, this time, as the Reaper and Ifaced eachother, I could only stare at it, unmoving. It's headand body swaying left and right, I felt myself mirroring it's movement perfectly. It was like my mind had gone to sleep and my body was just moving on it's own. I didn't try to resist. I didn't want to. Something about the situation just felt so natural!

Then, it jerked upward, letting out it's hissing growl and looked down. I followed it's gaze to see a massive knife jutting out from bend of it's leg just as it touched it's body. Gripping it around the hilt was Anne, her face contorted in pain and determination, blood dripping from her mouth. The rest of her body was hidden beneath the Reaper.

"Get the hell out of here, kid," she said in a strained voice.

I felt my body jerk as I was brought back to my senses. My eyes widened, flashing back up to the creature, which turned it's gaze back to me, seemingly uneffected by the knife wound.

With a strong tug of the knife, Anne hauled herself out from underneath the beast and slamming her forehead into the underside of the monster's jaw.

The Reaper released an irritated growl as it spun around, smashing it's tail into Anne. She tried to block it, but it was as useless as blocking an oncoming car. She forced through the wooden wall like a crash test dummy, and I heard something snap.

"Anne!" I shouted. That's when the thing returned it's attention to me. I swallowed and took a step back. Through my perferal, I saw it's claws curl in, and I heard it

scrape the wood beneath it. Even quieter, I noticed it's muscles tense in it's hind legs.

My mind went into overdrive as I instinctively dived to the ground at it's feet. I felt the backdraft of it's body as it sailed over me, missing it's pounce by half a breath. I quickly got back to my feet and ran through random doorway, slamming the door behind.

Which proved to be competely pointless as the Reaper crashed through it like it was a shower curtain.

I ran, swerving back and fourth between the variouspillars and beams that held the floors above us, as I heard the thing swipe and claw at me, narrowly missing me by a hair. I had to believe the beams were slowing it down, but itdidn't seem like it was making any difference.

Then, I got a chill, clenching my teeth, then I dived to my right, narrowly avoiding another massive swing of it's tail. I stayed moving, rolling to my feet to continue running. I saw the doorway back down to the basement, and immediately thought of the generator downstairs.

Suddenly, one of the stupidest ideas anyone had ever come up with entered my mind.

I tried to turn through the doorway without falling. Iended up hitting the wall with with my hands up, pushing off of it without losing too much momentum, throwing myself through the doorway, nearly falling down the stairs.

Which, I suppose, was a better alternative to what would have happened, considering the Reaper went skidding into the very same wall just a moment after myself, completely destroying it. I didn't bother looking back. I just made my way down the stairs as fast as possible. The water splashed as I hopped into it. It was hardto move, but it didn't really matter in a room this small anyway.

I reached the generator and stood with my back facing it, glancing around desperately. I drew my knife. That thing had to be here somewhere. It hadn't followed me downstairs, and I didn't think it would give up just fromsmashing through a wall or two. I had to force myself to keep my teeth from rattling. I felt sweat drip down the side of my face as my eyes searched the basement for any sign of the creature.

Then, like before, I felt something crawl up my spine, and I fell backwards into the water. I saw the whisp of it's blade like tail cut through the air, actually nipping theends of my hair. I pushed with what little traction I had with the water covered floor, and managed to get out of the

way of the descending mass that fell through the cieling. It came down with a splash, a few waves hitting the generator, causing it to spark dangerously.

It spun around to face me as I stood up, holding my knife out in front of me. It growled ferociously and lunged, reaching out with it razor like teeth. I quickly threw myself to it's right, avoiding it's iron jaws. But, slashed outward with one of it's claws, catching the entire right side of my body, and sending me spinning mid air and landing painfully on my back. The water did little to cushion the fall.

It didn't miss a beat in swinging one of it's massive claws downward as I turned to where I landed. I awkwardlygot to my feet as fast I could, but the Reaper was far too fast, faster than any animal I'd ever seen.

But, it was still not faster than a bullet.Or, in this case, a shotgun shell.It's head whipped back as the slug made direct

contact with the creatures skull. It's momentum still carried it forward, but threw it off enough so that it's claw landed just to the side of me, allowing me to roll away without being crushed and/or cut to ribbons.

Standing at the edge of the hole the creature created was Anne, one outstretched arm pointing a shotgun down atthe monster, the other held tightly against her ribs. Her hair and clothes were a mess, and blood dripped from her mouth.

"Charlie," she called, gripping the shotgun in both hands, "get out of there!" She began unloading rounds into the monster with scary accuracy and speed. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd think that the shotgun had no kick whatsoever.

I ran over to the generator and pulled open the door.There was a heavy amount of resistance, both due to the weight and the water. I quickly scanned the area, looking for something, anything I could use against the thing. Up on top of the generator, I found what I was looking for.

I climb up the side of the generator and reached for a chord the was connected to the top of it. It was an awkward angle that gave me no leverage, but I gripped it and pulled upwards as hard as I could. It wouldn't come undone.

Then, I felt it's tail wrap around my waist and tug me hard, knocking the wind out of me. Even still, I didn't let go of the chord. It tugged me again, actually pulling me out from the fenced off area, but I still didn't let go. Instead,

the chord ripped just below the plug head that went into thegenerator, the internal wires becoming visible.

It pulled me towards it until I was almost directly beneath it. I could feel it's breath on the back of my neck asit let out a screeching growl. I grit my teeth, and sucked in a breath of my own.

This was going to hurt."Charlie, don't!"The Reaper dived down, it's jaws held wide enough

to swallow a basketball. I spun around, facing upward and thrusting the broken chord into it's mouth. I got it in the back of it's mouth, right below it's back molars. The rest of it's teeth dug into my arm in several places, causing me to wince, but I only felt it for a few second.

There was a ripping sound, like someone was tearing a phone book in half, then it turned into a low, scratchy hissing, before making a high pitched wizzing sound, like an arrow going throuh the air. Then, I rememberseeing a bright light before everything went completely black.

I vaguely recollect the sensation of my body going painfully stiff, like every join in my body was being hyperextended. I also remember the sound of the Reaper screeching, then the cold sensation of my body being engulfed by water.

My senses had gone numb. I couldn't feel anything. I could only see a black emptiness, with random blotches ofcolor appearing in my sight. There was the faint smell of burnt flesh in the air, and my mind was reeling. Oddly enough, I could also hear a loud drumming noise that was starting to give me a headache.

The drumming got louder and clearer. It was going about two hundred beats per minute. I felt it in my body, then in my chest.

Good news was that I wasn't hearing things. Bad news was that it wasn't actually a random drum going on rapid fire.

It was my heart.Honestly, if I could move my body, I would have

rolled my eyes.Of course my heart was beating that fast. Suddenly,

all the colors and noise made sense. That's what happens when someone is electrocuted. That burning smell was probably me. Hopefully, a little bit of it was the creature.

"Holy shit, Charles. Holy shit..." Then, I felt someone grab me by the wrist and haul me out of the water.

I felt myself go slumped over someone's shoulder. "That was a goddamn stupid thing you did,

Charlie," Anne voiced chastised me. "Jesus Christ, if you could see yourself."

I couldn't help it.I smiled. "Is it dead?" I asked, but it came out like, "hzz hngh

dehh...?" My mouth was dry and my teeth hurt. "Don't talk," she scolded. "It pissed off somewhere

back down the sewers," she answered. "You only made it angry. And almost killed yourself." Her voice, while irritated, carried a hint of concern with it, and maybe a bit of humor. "How long did you have that stupid idea in your head?"

I chuckled. "Are you alright?" I asked in my recently invented mumble language.

"That thing got me by surprise, broke a few of my ribs. Cut me up, too," she said. "All in all, compared to you,I think I got the better deal."

I let out a breath."Hang tight, kid. I'll get us out of here," Anne said

to me. At the same moment, her radio went off at her waist.I heard her unclip it and press a button. "Andrew? Felix? Where the hell are you?"

There was a moment of silence before a voice I didn't recognize answered.

"This Anne Davis?"We stopped moving, and I tried to lift my head to

see why. I could barely open my eyes to see a look of sudden caution on her face. "Who is this?" She demanded.

"My name's Quinn," he said. His voice was deep, but still had a sense of youth to it. "I've been order to give you a head's up. There's a Reaper somewhere around here, and it was last seen heading you're direction."

"Really?" She asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "This Reaper wouldn't happened to be a miniaturelittle doll that's been traveling all over the United States? The size of a small dinosaur? Burnt to shit?"

"Burnt?" He repeated. "I don't recall anything of it being burnt."

"It is now.""Oh," he said in understanding. "I see. And you are

alive?""I'm hanging in there," she said. "On the other hand,

my companion here didn't get off so easy.""You have someone with you?" He asked. "I assume

it isn't Maxwell.""Unless Maxy has gone on a hardcore diet, shrunk a

few inches, and somehow aged into teenage girl, unbeknownst to my knowledge," she replied. "She's hurt bad. I need you to pick us up. Are you in town?"

There was a moment of silence before he replied. "You're in the police station, right?"

"That's right."There was another moment of silence. "We can be

there in thirty minutes." Then, the radio clicked off. Anne clipped it back to her waist.

She looked at me and flashed me a smile. "Don't worry, Charlie. This time tomorrow, you'll be frying super-demons like it was nothing."

I rturned her smile with one of my own. For the first time in a while, I could actually relax.

I'd finally realized that dreading the future would only create unnecessary stress, and dwelling on the past would only depress me. So, I decided to simply relax on Anne's shoulders as she carried me through the abandoned mansion, and simply wait until I could find a nice comfy couch to sit on, and a good book to read.

Chapter 9:

I guess I fried my brain a little worse than I thought,because everything afterwards became a blur. I remember Anne carrying me for a short while longer before all the dark blotches became blinding spotlights that made my head pounds even more.

I know I heard voices, but for the life of me, I can't remember a thing of what was said. One voice was Anne's, I was sure of that. The other, I didn't recognize, only that it was a mans and that he didn't seem to want to kill us, whichwould have been a first since I started traveling with Anne.

Things get blurry again, I remember hearing the sound of Anne stepping on

metal grating. Then, someone elses voice said my name. It was the same voice I'd heard on the radio. I was barely more than a limp sack of flesh and bone when Anne handedme off to whoever the man was. I wanted to protest, but I was only conscious enough to make out the outline of the man's form. He was tall, that much I could see, but everything else was a mystery until I regained my senses.

Then, everything went bright."Making new friends already, huh?" Said an echoy,

female voice. "You can't see much, yet, can you? Don't

worry. You will."I forced my eyes open. The voice was the only one

that was clear, while all other sounds were muted, but I hadno idea who it belonged to. It sounded so familiar, but I couldn't place it. I forced my eyes open to try and get a glance at whoever was talking to me. The light began to dim, and I was able to make out a shape. But, it wasn't that of a person.

It was a circle. A wide, teatering circle that swung side to side. My

eyes slowly began to focus, and I realized I was looking at a lamp that clung to the wall infront of me.

Wait, not infront of me. Was it above me?That's when my brain finally registered the fact that

I was not standing upright. I was laying on my back, and I was laying on something soft. I shifted my eyes to the right to take in more of my surroundings, and found the room was pitch black.

Wait, no it wasn't. I just couldn't see out of my right eye.

I slowly turned my head, and saw that I was in somekind of metal room. There was a slight breeze, so I knew it wasn't sealed. I was laying on some kind of cushion futon. Ilooked down at myself, and saw that I was covered with a blanket. Someone had definitely taken care of me.

That was nice of them.I tried to sit up, but, mid way, a sudden dagger of

pain struck me, and I felt like my body was about to snap inhalf. I let out a pained breath as I drop back down to the cushion.

Something was wrong with my spine. Maybe I was semi-paralized. So, I had to try another strategy.

I rolled to my side, swinging my legs off the futon. Iglanced at my left leg, which was also wrapped in bandages. I realized I could feel them reaching up to my thigh. As I tried to stand up, I suddenly lost strength in my bandaged leg, and fell back again.

I was starting to get frustrated. I looked to my left, and saw that someone was thoughtful enough to leave me asingle crutch. I took it and tried standing up again, this timeputting most of my weight on the crutch.

Looking around, the room was actually dark. Not pitch black, like I thought. The lamp wasn't bright, but the room was small enough that the light refracted at several different angles, allowing me to see, at least a little. There was a bathroom just a few feet away, next to a door which

had light streaming out from under it.I went to the bathroom and flicked on the light,

which hurt my eyes. Once they adjusted to the light, I was shocked with the sight of mself in the mirror.

Or, at least, we had the same hair color.I don't know how long it'd been since I'd looked in

the mirror. I think it was when I first went to eat breakfast with Anne, which had been about three days ago. I hadn't changed or showered since then, but surely, I couldn't have looked that bad?

Boy, if you didn't know what seventy two hours of monster survival could do to you.

My hair was usually tied in a pony tail for convenience sake. My clothes were usually loose and comfortable. I don't think I ever looked that good, I'll admit, but it's not like I ever looked homeless. I looked likean everyday college student.

In this case, however, I looked more like an old war vet.

My hair looked like it'd gone through a twister, being ruffled and messy, sticking out at random places and looking more stringy than any self respecting girl should allow. My clothes didn't look any better. My pants were muddied and ripped and crusted from sewer water. My shirtwas stained with dirt and mud as well, especially around the forearms and elbows. I didn't even have my hoodie.

What really stopped my heart, however, were the yards of bandages that covered my body. I realized why I couldn't see out of my eye. A thick bandaged that was wrapped around my head covered it completely. The bandage trailed down my neck and around the majority of my torso. I tugged at my shirt collar and saw that my wholechest was wrapped as well.

I rolled up my sleeves and saw my arms were covered, too, my right arm down to the elbow. My left was covered entirely, even around the finger tips. I tried to wiggle them, but they didn't respond, which I was sure was a bad sign.

My vision still hadn't fully returned, but I looked closer and saw small strands of dark, scabbed skin peaked out from beneath the bandages.

I swallowed, scared and confused, and turned around, making my way towards the front door. I opened it slowly, exiting the dark room. I walked into another room, a few times larger than the one I woke up in. The walls and ceiling were of a large grey color. There were two table,

one long one with several monitors wired on top and round it in the farthest part of the room. The other was set perpendicular to it, closer to the front, with several chairs placed around it. There was also a bar counter with a sink, oven and fridge placed near it. There was also a grey sofa and large TV placed just off the side of the table.

The room was an odd one. It was like some kind of combination of a kitchen, a living room, and the headquarters of NASA. It wasn't that big a room, but everything fit neatly and somehow appropriately in their places.

A man sat in a chair in front of one of the monitos. He was sitting, but I could tell he was tall. He had dark brown hair with blonde highlights. It was cut short, but in the most unprofessional was possible, with many deadends and frazzled spots. He wore a black longsleeve and blue jeans that stopped above his ankles and sandles. He glancedback at me.

He was handsome, definitely. Not in that super model kind of way or the "friendly-boy-next-door" that Andrew had going for him. It was more like the Tarzan kind of handsome, that whole wild man look. He had a goldpiercing on each ear and a long scar across his left eye.

He grinned at me and pointed at the sofa.Sleeping on the sofa, wearing a black tanktop and

cargos, was Anne. One arm hung on the floor, and her mouth hung slightly ajar as she snored softly. She had darker bandages wrapped around her stomach, which peaked out from under her shirt. I had to smile at the sight. She looked too adorable.

"Hey, Davis," the man called. His voice was the same deep one I'd heard over the radio. Quinn's, was it? "Your girl's up." He picked up an empty soda can off the ground next to him and tossed it, hitting Anne square in the forehead.

Her eyes shot open, and she sat up alarmed, her hand instantly going towards her hip, which still had a gun holster attached to it. She scanned the room for a moment before her eyes settled on me.

"Charlie," she breathed as the got up, stumbling.I gave her a friendly smile and waved. "Hey, Anne."She walked up to me and leaned down to stare me

right in the eye. I forced myself not to jerk back. After a moment, she released a heavy sigh.

"Told you she could still see," Quinn said. He looked at me. "You got lucky there, kid."

"What... Happened?" I asked, realising how dry my throat was.

Anne pulled a chair out from the kitchen table and plopped down. "You damn near killed yourself, is what happened," she growled. "What the hell was going through your head?"

I shrugged my shoulders. Or, tried to. I think only one went up. "Do you even remember what happened?" Quinn asked.

I shook my head. "I remember we were in the sewer... Then, the house... Then..."

"The Reaper," Anne finished. "I had it distracted and, instead of running, you decided to try and kamikaze it."

Quinn stood up. "You had second and third degree burns all over your body. Most of your arm looked like a melted wax figure. You didn't even have finger nails. Hell, your teeth were even singed."

I felt around my mouth with my tongue. Sure enough, most of my back teeth were jagged and chipped at the tips. I put a hand on my head. "Where did the Reaper go?"

They both traded a look. Quinn's was amused, Anne's was annoyed. Quinn turned back to me. "After we brought you here, we tracked the Reaper down the sewer and back to that desert of corpses. It ran through there and we lost it's trail."

"It threw you off?" I asked.He nodded. "That thing's smarter than anything else

out there. It's at the top of every hunter's hit list." He walked over to the cupboards above the bar counter. "You hungry? I might be able to make a plate of eggs, or something."

I nodded, smiling, and took a seat at the table next to Anne.

"Um, can I ask about where we are, right now?" Anne glanced back at Quiin. "You wanna explain?"He shrugged. "The way I hear it, Anne's given you

the run down about how our business works. She's told youabout hunters and Outsiders and all that?"

"Well, Andrew told me most of-." My voice failed, startling me. I pressed a hand against my chest.

Quinn held up a hand. "Cool it," he said, then smiled. "Andrew's a good guy. Did he tell you about the different organizations?"

I tried to speak again, but decided to just nod.

"Well, we're one of those big organizations. We're nearly asbig as the Catholics. I guess you could call us, presonally, one of the big wigs of our group."

Anne scoffed. "To put it simply, if the Bible Thumpers are the Justice League, these guys are the Avengers. Smaller, cheaper, but with a ton more merchandise."

Quinn gave Anne a thumbs up. She gave him the middle finger.

"Anyway," Quinn continued. "We've been searchingfor the Reaper for awhile, and we just happened to run into you guys."

I smiled weakly. "Is it really that important?" I said, my voice quieter than before.

Quinn blinked. "Yes," he said. "Yes, it is."I furrowed my brow and looked at Anne.She shook her head. "Don't bother. The difference

between these major league types and us solo hunters is that these guys are always thinking long term. They're too busy fucking about philosophy to actually kill monsters."

Quinn rolled his eyes. "Kids these days," he muttered.

I looked back to Anne and tugged on her shirt to gether attention.

"So, what's going to happen now?" I asked her.She scowled. "There's been a change of plans," she

answered. "I got in touch with those three assholes that took off the other day. After the ambush at the hotel, they took their jeeps and lead about a hundred of those things away from us. Didn't get away until they were out of state."

Then, she sighed and pinched her nose. "Then, things got complicated," she said. "Turns

out, El Capitan and the rest of the crew bit off a bit more than they could chew."

"They ran into a Goliath," Quinn said grinning. I tilted my head in confusion. "Goliath?"Just then, another door opened, and another man

walked in. He wasn't as tall as Quinn, maybe around six feet, and he had a slim build. There were faint shadows under his golden eyes. He had short black hair and long sideburns and a small black goatee. He wore a dark yellow hoodie with black sleeves and a pair of jeans. He had an odd tattoo on his left forearm, which, oddly enough, lookedso familiar to me.

He set his eyes on me, and smiled. "Oh, you're up,"

he said. "How're you feeling?"I blinked and looked down at myself. "I've been

better," I answered, trying for a friendly smile.He nodded. "That's about right. You were severely

burned when Davis brought you here."I rubbed the back of my neck, nervously. "Yeah, I

might have made a bad choice or two."Anne punched me lightly in the arm. "You're a

goddamn moron," she said.The man walked over to one of the cupboards and

picked out a mug, then went over to the coffee machine. "You seem calm," he stated.

I glanced at Anne, a bit uneasy with this man's sudden pressence. "I, um, yeah. Well, I didn't think I'd come out without a scratch when I started traveling with Anne, in the first place. I guess I've been expecting this kind of thing to happen."

He chuckled as he came over and pulled out a chair right in front of me, and sat down, leaning down so we were at eye level. "The water you were in boiled more than sixty percent of your body. That, coupled with the electricity shocked your nervous system. The nerves in your leg, arms, and neck were heavily damaged. Your spinewas especially concerning."

He glanced up at Anne. "I assured Davis your life was in no danger. You are in reasonabley good health and are quite young. However, I couldn't say, for certain, your nerves would ever recover from the damage you took."

I hesitated. "What do you mean?" I breathed. He looked at me seriously. "I know you can barely

feel your left arm or leg, and you can't see out of your right eye at all. I also assume you had trouble getting out of bed this morning."

My eye widened. "What are you saying?""What you did was very heroic, Dana.""Da... na?""Charlotte Dana an Halstein, correct?" He asked.

"I've done what I can for your injuries, but I couldn't promise anyone that took as much damage as you did that they would make a full recovery."

I felt my one good eye tear up. "I... See," I said, dropping my head.

I know I didn't have any kind of promising career asa musician or artist, but the idea of completely losing my left arm and leg and even my right eye was terrifying. He'd even said my spine was messed up. I thought I could handle

this kind of life, however brief it would have been, and I knew I had the life expectancy of a professional stuntman, Inever thought I'd go out like this! I'm brought into a world of monsters and secret organization and I die as a useless cripple?

I felt myself on the brink of balling when the put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see him smiling at me. "However," he said, "your case is a special one." He stood up and walked over to the desk with all the monitors on it. He reached around one and pulled out a small stack of papers. "Usually, when someone is burned as badly as you, it requires years of surgery and skin graphs and, possibly, amputation."

I looked at the papers. They were x-rays of what I assumed was my body. Most of it was covered with white and red cluttle.

He leaned against the kitched table and drop the papers in front of me. "There was no fire involved. You were electrocuted, and if the current stopped in your body, you would have died on the spot. But, it traveled through that little baddie that attacked you. The Reaper took the brunt of it, and pretty much saved your life. Physically, I'd say you have a very strong chance of recovery in your body."

I let out a long breath that I didn't know I was holding as a smile spread over my face. "That eye, though,"he continued, "is another story. I'd give you a fifty-fifty chance of regaining your sight. All and all, you were very lucky."

I began laughing in delight. My heart had been beating about a thousand times a minute, but now that I wastold all of this, I felt the adrenaline suddenly going away.

"Fucking prick," Anne said. "You could have led offwith that instead of trying to scare her to death."

He turned his smile to Anne. "You were hurt badly, as well, Davis. I'd suggest you both avoid any strenuous activity for at least a week. I'd recommend a few more for Dana."

Anne flipped him off. "Stop being creepy, Lincoln. Just tell us where we're going."

His eyes shifted to a monitor on the table. "I'm going to visit some old friends and get their take on what's been going on lately. Then, we're going to drop you two offwith your boss and get you out of our hair."

Anne narrowed her eyes. "Really?" She asked sarcastically.

She was thinking of something. I knew she was, andI wanted to ask her about it, but if she wasn't mentioning it out loud right now, it'd be a bad idea to bring it up.

"Excuse me, um, Lincoln, Sir," I said. "What happened to Arthur and his guys?"

Quinn walked over and put down a plate of toast in front of me. "The eggs burned. You get toast now."

"You ever heard of a Goliath?" Lincoln asked.I nodded. "I read about them. They're dangerous,

right?"Lincoln grinned. "Dangerous is a good word.""Dangerous?" Anne repeated. "They set the fucking

curve. They're twenty foot tall tanks with teeth. There's only a few of them in the world."

"Most hunters," Quinn chipped in, "even the big organizations, usually avoid things like that."

My eyes widened. "Are they... Okay?"Anne barked a laugh. "Please, that old bastard's too

stubborn to die. And with Andy and Dex with him, he'll be fine." Then, her she lost her smile. "Still, the way I heard it,it was a close call. The Goliath came out of nowhere and started wrecking shop." She went back to glaring at Lincoln. "And you plan on dropping us off there?"

Lincoln shrugged, his smile returning. "Well, first, we must make a short pit stop down in South America, but, yes. I'm sure that Maxwell is missing you two, as we speak." He looked at me. "We have a shower downstairs. I'm sure it's been a while since you've washed. Davis can help you with your bandages. I'd suggest bathing as soon aspossible."

He stood up and walked out the door he came in without another word. The closed behind him, and we wereleft in silence for a moment.

"I really hate that guy," Anne growled."He's not that bad," Quinn said through a mouth full

of toast. "He's wierd and hard to understand and kind of creepy and..." He trailed off, staring into the cieling. "Yeah,he's not that bad."

"One of these days, you're going to have to tell me how you got roped in with that freak," Anne said, getting up. "C'mon, Charles. Let's get you cleaned up."

I nodded and followed her downstairs."So," I said, as we walked down the stairs. "Who

are those two, really?"Anne glanced back at me. "They're quiet," she said.

"They're professionals. Scary, even. I hate them."

"What's so scary about them?"She shivered, but tried to hide it by rolling her

shoulder. "Quinn's not bad," she said. "He's just like the restof us. No where else to go, so he joined up with these goons and has been slicing up monsters since." She hesitated. "It's Lincoln that's the issue."

I furrowed my brow. "He doesn't seem that bad. A little bit weird, sure, but that can't be that strange in your life."

"He's more than strange," she said. "How old do you think he is?" She asked.

I blinked. "I don't know, thirty, maybe?""You would think that," she said. "But, his name has

been tossed around since the mid seventies."I gaped. "How is that even possible? That would

make him over fifty!"She shrugged. "Strange things in this world,

Charles. Some of them look just us, some of them don't. AllI know is that he's some kind of big shot scientist that's been in this business longer than anyone else." She sighed. "The fact that we ran into him here just goes to show how fucking unlucky we are."

I thought about it. She talked about him like he wasn't even human. From the way she described him to the feeling he gave off, he was starting to sound more like a terminator than a regular hunter. Then again, I guess it wouldn't be too hard to believe that people could live several times longer than the normal person's lifespan. In all honesty, I should've expected it.

We arrived at a small room that actually seemed a bit normal, and not quite prison-esque. At least the walls weren't made of metal. In all honesty, it kind of reminded me off my bathroom.

"Alright," Anne said, "how're your burns?"I looked down and lifted my shirt a bit. Anne helped

take it off. The bandages were completely wrapped around my body, leaving no trace of my skin underneath. "Sit down," Anne told me, and I sat down on the toilet. Anne got down on one knee and began helping me out of my pants. I knew she I were both girls, but I still couldn't help being a bit embarassed.

I felt her reach under the bandages at my waist and pulled upward. I didn't feel any pain, but I still winced at the sticky sound of the bandages being peeled off my skin. I glanced down to see Anne looking sourly.

"Is it really that bad?" I asked.

"It... No, it's not...""You're making a face.""No, I'm not.""You are, though."She grimaced at my skin. "Okay, it may be that

bad."I smiled weakly. "Thought so."She stood up. "This isn't going to be easy. Can you

feel anything?"I looked down at myself and shook my head. "Not

really. I can feel pressure on hands and feet, but everything is pretty much numb."

Anne put her hands on her hip. "It'd probably be best if we ran a bath for you. I'm going to get those bandages off. Just... Bare with it."

I nodded, and together, we managed to peel off all the bandages. Luckily, there wasn't a mirror in the bathroom, so I couldn't see what I looked like. I'm pretty sure I looked like some kind of Freddy Krueger reject.

I had to force myself from dropping into the fetal position from embarassment. I was sure Anne wasn't seeinganything she hadn't seen before. After all the bandages were removed, Anne layed down towels so that I wouldn't slip.

"Alright, Charles," she said. "I think you got the rest, but if you need help getting out, just call." She walked out, leaving a fresh roll of bandages and closing the door behind her. I let out a sigh, and looked at my formerly bandaged hand.

Quinn wasn't kidding when he said it looked like a melted wax figure. My entire arm looked like someone spray painted a piece of tin foil. It was wrinkled and stretched in all the wrong places. It was swollen and weltedand gross looking. I was really glad there wasn't a mirror inthe bathroom. I undressed from the rest of my clothes and slowly lowered myself into the tub. It was wierd. I could kind of feel the heat of the bath. Or, at least, I could feel thetingling from it.

I glanced next to the tub, where my crutch was leaning within arm's reach. I couldn't help the smile that touched my lips. Anne, for being a paid murderer, could actually be really thoughtful. As I sat there, I only thought about all she'd done for me since we'd met. Despite the mean attitude Anne always liked to keep up, I could only think of how lucky it was that it was her I got roped in with.

My body may have been almost entirely useless at the moment, but it felt good that, even with the screwed up situation, there was still someone I could rely on. Someone I knew that would have my back.

It was nice to have a friend.

Chapter 10:

After a little over an hour, I decided I'd spent enough time in the tub. My muscles hadn't quite regained their functionality. It was still a bit tough to get out. Keeping my hands on the toilet, I got dressed. It took a second longer than it should have, but I got the job done.

Even without the bandage, I still couldn't see anything from my eye. I only sighed, and began wrapping itup again. I wrapped my hands up, too, which proved to be areal challenge, given that I only had one good hand and lacked depth perception.

Once I was ready, I turned to leave, and found my jacket hanging on the door knob. I smile to myself.

Anne was really a good person.I left the bathroom, and quietly made my way back

up the stairs. I was going to go back into the kitchen, but just as I got to the door, I heard a tense argument on the otherside.

"No," said Anne's voice. "What's going to happen is you're going to drop us off with the boss, then you're going to piss off and we'll never see you again."

"You can see it," Lincoln's voice replied. "How many people could have survived that much electricity? How many would have woken up?"

"Shut your goddamn mouth," Anne answered angrily.

I could pracitcally hear his grin. "You've been feeling it, as well, haven't you?" He asked. "The Reaper didn't hit you out of nowhere. If it got the jump on you, not even you would have survived. You felt it coming, didn't you? And that wound of yours, you know it's more than a simple impaling."

There was the sound of a chair scraping the floor, and something broke. "What are you after, Adrian?" Revy said.

Adrian? She knew him?"You small time mercs think that simply surviving

is good enough," Lincoln said. "You don't understand the gravity of the situation. You're a child, too ignorant to see what's really at hand."

"You say that," Anne replied. "But, when trouble comes knocking, it's us small time mercs that keep the peace."

"Fine, then," Lincoln said. "If you want to spend therest of your life under siege, fighting and running, then so be it. You've obviously made up your mind. But, I hope youreconsiider, for that girl's sake."

"That girl has a name," Anne growled. "And she's tough. You think she could have survived this long if she wasn't?"

"That's not good enough, and you know it," Lincolnscolded. "There's something wrong with her. She should have died. And with the injuries she has, she can't run awayanymore." Their voice got quiet. "For whatever reason, it wants that girl dead. I don't know why or when, but it's going to come back, and when it does, can you really say that you'll stop it while 'keeping the peace?'"

Another moment of silence, broken by Anne. "You're right," she said. "I can't say that, 'cause I don't know for sure. When I'm sure of, though, is that I have a job, and that job is to find these monsters and kill them. And, if that thing comes back, I'll make sure to do my job."

There was the sound of footsteps and the door swung open, revealing a very bitter looking Anne. She stopped when she saw me. For a moment, her expression fell into something aproaching guilt before instantly reverting back. She stepped around me and didn't look back.

I watched her leave, then turned to Lincoln, who wore a long black jacket that looked like a dark lab coat. He gave me an expecting look. I swallowed and walked in, closing the door behind me. "What was that all about?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Who knows?" I watched him for a moment before walking over

and taking a seat on the couch. "It sounds like she doesn't like you too much."

He nodded. "Oddly enough, I can't say I'm a stranger to people like her."

"Okay," I said. "Then, care to explain why she doesn't like you?"

He seemed to consider the idea. "I could, but I feel it'd be more understandable if Davis explained it to you herself. You two seem to have an interestingly good relationship, considering the type of person she is."

I bristled. "She's not that bad," I said. "She's

actually really considerate. She saved my life.""Which is precisely what I find interesting," he said.

"You're probably not aware of who she is exactly. If you did, you'd never associate yourself with her ever again."

"What are you trying to say?" I said in an a more assertive tone than I'd intended.

"I'm trying to say that the Anne Davis you know is not the real Anne Davis," he explained. "She is a lost, pitiful child with no place to go. If I were to guess, I'd say she's clinging to closest thing she has in this world to a companion." I tried to stand up and get in his face, but my knee gave out and I fell back onto the couch. Instead, I decided to just glare at him.

He turned around, paying me no attention. "But, I suppose saying anymore would be overstepping my boundaries. We have more pressing concerns at the moment," he said as he reached around the monitors and pulled up a large duffle bag, the same one Andrew gave me.He walked over and put it on the kitchen table.

"First off, we have a few things to discuss," he said.I eased off the glaring. "What?""Well, I have a few questions, but the most pressing

of them would have to be why that Reaper was chasing you."

I shrugged. "I have no idea. I just got into this gig."He smiled. "That's right," he said. "I'm sure you've

been briefed on Outsiders and how they got here." I nodded. "Well, I'm also guessing you don't know what makes the Reaper special."

I didn't ask what he was talking about. At this point,it felt like he was just fishing for questions. I just shook my head.

"Then, allow me to explain." He pulled up a chair a took a seat as he began rummaging through my bag. "You see, the Outsiders are a very interesting species that we've yet to completely understand. The only thing we know for sure is that they are dangerous. Among them are a few particularly deadly creatures that entire raids are dedicated to hunting and killing."

"Titans," I said. He glanced back at me."You know them?""Read about them," I said. "The Wraith, the Goliath,

and the Grey Man. They're the most dangerous Outsiders there are."

"Read about them?" He repeated. "You said that before. Where did you read it from?"

I didn't bother hiding my smile. "Trade secret."His lips twitched. "I'm guessing whatever your

source is, it didn't have anything on the Reaper."I dropped my smile and looked away. "No, it never

mentioned them.""It.""What?""Your source never mentioned it. The Reaper is an

individual, not a species." I looked back up at him as he continued on searching my bag, pulling out the flashlight, apistol, and a few other supplies. "It may possibly be a 'she,' but there's only one in the world."

"Wait," I said. "If there's only one, then why hasn't anyone taken it out, yet? Aren't there, like, thousands of you? And if there's only one, then what was that thing that attacked Anne and I?"

"That's what makes the Reaper special," he said. "What you saw was its offspring."

"Outsiders can reproduce?" I asked.He shook his head. "No, they can't. But, the Reaper

can.""I don't understand."He turned to face me in his chair. "The Reaper is

different from the rest of the Outsiders. We've done extensive research on their kind and have discovered patterns so that we can predict their movements with considerable accuracy. However, the Reaper doesn't follow these patterns. In fact, it follows no patterns. It acts entirely of its own accord."

"So, what? It's an Outsider that acts as if it's from our world?"

"If only it were that simple," he muttered. "The Reaper can't be grouped in with the rest of its kind, nor the animals of our world."

"Then, what would you call it?" I asked.He seemed to mull it over. "Several years ago," he

said. "There was a particularly skilled group of people that nearly managed to capture the Reaper. They ambushed it, stalked it, pinned it, and nearly had it down. It was trapped in an abandoned space shuttle."

"What happened?"He stopped searching my bag and leaned back in his

chair. "It found the breaker room and chewed through the cables that controlled the airlock. It crawled its way through the vents and sneaked past the team sent to disposeof it. By the time they realized it was gone, nearly half of

them had been killed and the Reaper had escaped."It took me a moment to come up with a reply.

"That... It... How? Is it really that smart?"He shrugged. "Even more so. Since then, it covers

its tracks and scent so that it can't be followed anymore. And those that still managed to track it down usually fall into traps and ambushes. Smart doesn't even begin to describe it. And if what you two ran into was the real thing,we would never have found the bodies."

You know that feeling where you think you got a handle on things, when you think you've finally made senseof your surroundings, and someone just pulls the rug out from under you? That's how I felt. After everything that happened, I was starting to think I knew what I was up against. But, all it took was a few minutes in the same roomas this guy for me to suddenly be afraid again.

"You're scared?" He asked.I didn't look at him."You probably felt safe around Davis. You're

starting to realize that she's not the biggest kid on the block.Never was. And you understand that things aren't going to get any easier, from here on out." He walked over to me and kneeled down in front of me. His golden irises met my emeralds. "You can barely move, and Anne is less than a hundred percent as well. If the Reaper's offspring comes back, you won't be able to run away. You won't get lucky, again. It will find you, and you will die."

I felt my throat go dry, and this time, I was sure it wasn't because of my injuries. He seemed to notice my sudden tenseness, and smiled. "However, there is another option."

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small bottle of pills. "Your respiratory system has been shocked. You nervous system has been halted. Your legs, your arms, even your eye," he held up a pointed finger rightin front of my blind eye. He tilted his head and shook the bottle in front of my face. "They can regain their functions with these. Two a day should be enough."

I watched the bottle carefully. "What are they?" I asked, curiosity taking over.

He stood up straight and tossed the bottle into my lap. "They're stimulants. Activation drugs, if you will."

"Drugs?" I asked.He nodded. "It will give you back control over your

body. It will be a bit uncomfortable at first, but you will recover much quicker than you would naturally. In fact,

you will feel better than ever before."I eyed him suspiciously. "This is really sketchy. You

know that right? Why would you happen to have the perfect medication for my injuries? What are the side effects? And why are you giving them to me?"

He looked at the door Anne had left through. "I can'tstop you from traveling with Davis, as much as I'd like to. But, if I can at least give a young girl, such as you, the chance to defend herself, then I will do just that."

I didn't buy it. He didn't strike me as the kind of person to care about other people. But, I didn't see any reason why he would try to poison me or anything, with how much he helped me so far. To an extent, I trusted his word that the pills would help me. But, I still had no idea why he was giving them to me.

"I'll have to talk to Anne about this," I said.He shook his head. "That would be my one

condition. Anne Davis can't know about this." Red light."Why?" I asked."I'm sure you've noticed that she's not my biggest

fan. If she found out I were giving you medication, she willconfiscate it immediately, and we would possibly come to blows."

My shoulders stooped. "So, you're asking me to lie to Anne, take a drug I know nothing about, and trust you people whom I've known for less than a day." I heaved a sigh. "I guess it wouldn't be the dumbest thing I've done in the past week."

He smiled. "That's the spirit," he said. "I can give you two bottles, so use them sparingly. Every dose should give you twenty four hours. You're rather small, so you mayget thirty."

"Any risks?" "It's impossible to overdose. Worse case, you will

simply pass out. However, losing consciousness at the wrong time could be potentially lethal." He held up a finger. "Above all, make sure Davis does not find out. These are the only things that allow you to move freely. Without them, you only become dead weight."

I looked back at the bottle of pills. In any other situation, a strange man handing a young girl a bottle of pills and telling her not to tell anyone about it may have struck a few alarms. But, in this case... No, it was still really disconcerting, but I didn't see any other option.

I grimaced, but I poured one out and popped one

into my mouth, earning a smile from Adrian. I tried standing up, but, then I was knocked back onto the couch as the entire building shook. It was like we were hit by a sudden earthquake then went away just as fast as it appeared. I looked up at Lincoln, concerned.

He only looked mildly annoyed. "Don't worry," he said. "It's just turbulence. We get that every once in a while."

"Turbulence? You mean from the wind?""Unless there's another kind of turbulence."I stared at him for a moment before he smiled and

nodded towards the front door. I heaved myself to my feet and limped over to the door and opened it up slowly. It led to a short, curved steel corridor fenced off with a red handguard. My hair began blowing wildly and I had to squint. I leaned over the rail and was awe struck with the view.

We made have been a few thousand feet off the ground. Clouds floated by beneath us, blocking the sight of most of the ground, which, as I looked closer, wasn't ground at all.

It was miles and miles of ocean water, as far as the horizon. I glanced upward to see the giant metal complex as big as a navy carrier. I had to remind myself how to breath as took in the magnificent scene.

"The world is bigger than you thought, isn't it?" Adrian said, walking up from behind me. "Those things areplenty tough on the ground, but the one thing they can't do is fly."

I felt myself smiling.It's amazing how simple things can make someone

so happy. I was injured in ways that pretty much condemned any future careers that involved any kind of physical activity, but at the moment, it didn't matter. As of right then, I could only lean against the rail and smile.

"You should probably get back to Davis. She wasn't too happy when she left," Adrian said.

I looked back at him and nodded, leaving the ocean view behind as I returned to the room and the door I saw Anne exiting. It was bit troubling going down the stairs, butI followed the hall past the bathroom and to another door, which led to another, even steeper, stair case. I heaved a heavy sigh and slowly made my way down. After a short period of not-quite pain, but uncomfortable numbness, I arrived at a tall security door.

I pushed it open to reveal a massive basement the

size of a parking lot. There were hundeds and hundreds of storage crates wrapped in plastic and tape. They were of all shapes and sizes and some were stacked on top of each other, creating a kind of maze. It was too dark to see much, but a small section on the far side was illuminated. I approached it curiously.

As I walked, I felt my limp becoming less natural, and more habitual. I put a little bit more weight on it and found I didn't feel as much pain. It was odd, actually. I could still feel my leg, but it didn't feel like my leg. It was like I was controlling my leg via remote control. Even moreodd, I felt the rest of my body start to tingle a bit, too. I found that I didn't even have a limp anymore.

As miraculous as it was, part of me was feeling somewhat nervous. The pill I took was working fast and working well. I held my breath and forced down my worries as I approached the small lit area.

I rounded the corner of one box, faking a limp, and saw a small reading lamp set up im the corner of a pair of storage containers. A blanket lay on the floor, as well as an ice chest, a pillow, several articles of clothing, an ash tray, asmall TV, and a box of cereal. Sitting against one container,with her legs crossed, taking apart a rifle, was Anne.

I watched her for a moment before clearing my throat and getting her attention. She flashed me a glare, but it disappeared as soon as she saw me. "Oh, it's you. I thought it'd be Dr. Dickless again."

I grimaced. "You mean Adrian?""Unless there's another psychotic, douche bag

surgeon on this ship," she replied grudgingly.I smiled. "You knew it was a ship?""Well, I did carry you on here," Anne pointed out.

"I'd be pretty dense not to notice." I sat down next to her as she looked down at me. "How's the leg? Or the arm? Or the... Everything?"

I chuckled. "Not as bad as it looks. I talked with Adrian, and he said that I should regain control of my legs and fingers in a few weeks." The lie came easy. Something inside me felt empty as I did. All this time, Anne had been nothing but true to me, putting her life on the line several times. Lying to her felt...

"Well, that's good," Anne said. "He may be an asshole, but he's rarely wrong when it comes to medicine and stuff." She continued disassembling the gun.

"So, what's next?" I asked.She stopped and leaned her head back. "Honestly, I

don't know."I dropped my smile. "What do you mean?""I mean I don't know!" She repeated. "Look at you.

You can barely walk, hell, you can barely see! And now weknow you're being hunted by one of the scariest monsters out there."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Anne..."She looked at me. "Believe me, the last thing I want

to do is leave you with this crazy bunch, but if we go at it alone, the Reaper is only going to come back. I doubt we could kill it with a tank, let alone while having to keep an eye on you the whole time."

She sighed. "I"m sorry, kid. You've gotten lucky a few times, but it ain't gonna be that easy anymore. That's just reality."

I watched her for a moment. Anne wasn't the kind toshow people her soft spots, so I knew she must have be serious about this. She really didn't think taking me with her was a good idea, which it probably wasn't. In fact, she was being perfectly reasonable. In the state I was in, regardless of whether or not Adrain's pills worked, I'd be a handicap to her in a world that already had the odds stackedagainst her. I would be infinitely safer here than anywhere else. I wouldn't have to worry about Outsiders or having a place to sleep or work or any real life problems. Life wouldbe a dream.

So, I said what any person would say."Bullshit."Anne looked at me, her expression a mix of shock

and annoyance. I met her stare without flinching."You got a problem, kid?""Yes, I do, actually," I said. "My problem is that you

think you can treat me like some kind of puppy you picked up from the shelter."

She narrowed her eyes. "You think this is a game, kid? There are real monsters out there. The way you are now, hell, the way you were before, you wouldn't last a fucking second-"

"Then let me find that out for myself!" I growled. "You don't get to decide what's too dangerous for me. I might get hurt, I might die. But, you know what, I don't care. I knew from the second you picked me up that things would get scary, and that when they did, I wasn't going to hide. That's not going to change."

"But, that's stupid!" Anne persisted. "I've been swimming through shit creek all my life and you know

what I've learned is the best way to survive? Running and hiding. Because, when everything around you can bench a minivan, that's all you can do."

"That's not true," I said. "You can still fight them.""And you'd lose!" "So what?!" I shouted, standing up. "So what if you

lose? So what if you die? I'd rather go down fighting than live forever hiding under a bed, waiting for someone else tosolve my problems."

I coughed and fell to my knees, my chest heaving. I guess my lungs hadn't quite caught up with me yet. Anne watched me in silence for a few moment, waiting for me to catch my breath.

"So, you wanna try fighting?" She asked sarcastically.

I looked up at her, still heaving, but nodded. She grinned, then stood up. I took a few more

breaths before getting to my feet, too. For a moment, we just stood there. "Fine," Anne said finally.

I blinked. "Wait, really?"She nodded. "Yep. You want to be a fighter?"I gaped, but nodded. "You going to commit?"I nodded again.She slapped me on the back. "That's what I wanted

to hear. And that Adrian dickhead said you didn't have the spine for this business."

I furrowed my brow. "He said that?"She nodded. "He said that you didn't belong in this

world. But, now I can shove it in his face that you've got a stronger spine than anyone on this ship, present company excluded."

She threw an arm around me and laughed. She might have forgotten about my crippled state as she put a good amount of weight on me. Scarily, I noticed that my leg and arms had gone stiff. Anne was leaning on me, and I would have had a hard time supporting her weight before I was hurt, but now, she didn't feel any heavier than a small bird perched on my shoulder. I didn't feel any stronger. More like, my body felt lighter. And, the more I focused on it, the more I realized my whole body was becoming stiffer.It was scary, but I didn't react. I couldn't let Anne know about it.

But, my worries were interupted by the TV as a reporter popped up on the screen with the caption "The Endis Near'. A man wearing a suit with a slick haircut spoke

into a microphone. Behind him was a field of smoking wood and garbage.

"... And things only get worse from there," he said. Anne had stopped laughing and began paying attention to the TV, too. "It is only one among several towns that have been ravaged by riots and other barbaric behavior. These riots began several months ago and seemingly have no connection. In cities and towns all over the world, hundreds and thousands of miles apart, are left in nearly identicle states. However, with no leads or obvious connection between, we're left with the question: Is the end near?"

By this point, Anne and I had gotten very close to the TV. We both traded looks.

"In these towns, there have been few survivors. Those that have describe the events do so in frenzied, incromprehensible rants. They mention 'monsters' and 'demons', which were dismissed as simple delusions by the local police. However, a cell phone was found in barely working condition with a single picture showing what seems to be a large, bipedal creature at least as big as car."

A picture flashed on screen showing one of those dog creatures that had attacked the hotel, but several times bigger than I remember it being. It was beyond blurry, and could have easily been mistaken for a large deer. Or maybe some kind of bear. It was running out from an alley. There was a car behind it, but you could barely see it behind the creature.

"Jesus, looks like things are getting hairy out there in the wild," Anne said. "It's about time people were aware of these things."

I looked at her. "What? This doesn't worry you at all?"

She shrugged. "It's not like it changes anything. I'vebeen having to deal with these things for years. What does it matter that everyone else knows about them, now?"

"Oh, I don't know. maybe because now they're ransacking entire cities? Enough of them to be recognized on national television? I mean, when was the last time you saw this kind of stuff on the news?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Calm down, Missy. Even if it was the end of the world, we would only keep doing what we've been doing all along. We keep our heads down and pick our fights carefully."

I looked back at the TV. "I don't know. I'm pretty new to this, but things seem to changing. For me, for you

guys. Everybody. It's hard to explain, but, I just feel... Scared."

Anne gave me an amused smile. "Oh, where did all that bravado go? I thought you were ready to take the fight to the big fellas?"

I bit my lip. "I know what I said, and I still mean it. It's just... I don't know, but lately, I've just been feeling... Nervous. About everything."

Anne gripped me by the shoulder, but she hesitated. It was the briefest moment, one that wouldn't be caught by the average person. It was like she was about to say something, but immediately decided against it.

Instead, she recovered quickly with a wide, confident smile, patting me on the back. "C'mon, look at this place! You're with some of the greatest hunters in the world, we've got a fully loaded armory, and we're a few thousand feet in the air! For the time being, you're in the safest place in the world."

Yep.It happened again.The second the words left her mouth, the ship shook

and careened and nearly threw us off our feet. Anne barely managed to catch us and keep me from messing my body up even more.

"Jesus, I guess that's the only bad part of being this high in the air," she said.

Then, the lights went out and the TV shut off. "That's not turbulence," I said."No. It's not."The ship shook again. This time, we actually did

fall, but Anne grabbed me and took up most of the impact. Then, a flashing emergency light flooded the room.

Adrian's voice was heard on the intercom. "Davis, Quinn, we have a problem. Get to the gear room immediately. Bring guns. There's a breach."

Anne didn't even hesitate. She jumped to her feet and made way for the door. "Stay here," she commanded.

"Why? What's happening?"She stopped and looked at me. "One of them is

onboard.""Them?""Yes, them!" She snapped. "There's an Outsider on

this ship."

Chapter 11:

I had two choices.

Either hide in the storage area until they got rid of the monster that was hunting me, or follow Anne upstairs where the monster was most likely at. Now, even though the answer seems obvious in hindsight, at the time, I wasn't used to acting under pressure.

So, I followed Anne.At the moment, the only thing going through my

head was that I was safer with Anne than without her. So, without much more thinking, I ran after Anne as fast as I could.

As I ascended the stairs, I heard the sounds of gunshots, then the sound of tearing and beating metal. It had found one of the people on board. I got to the door in the main room and threw it open.

I immediately recognized the creature.The Reaper craned it's freakish head and met my

eyes, recognizing me instantly. It let out it's terrifying hiss and leapt for me.

Had this been a mere twenty four hours earlier, I would have been torn to pieces in seconds. But, this time, I didn't know how or why, but I was able to see it swing it's massive claws at me with perfect clarity. My body acted without me thinking, and I ducked downward and dived to my right, narrowly avoiding decapitation.

It changed it's direction instantly, with unnatural speed and redirected it's lunge to where I landed. I managedto roll to my feet but was no where near fast enough to dodge it a second time.

That's when Quinn slammed into it, stabbing a massive metal spear into it's neck and pinning it to the metal wall. The thing hissed again as it's tail wrapped around Quinn's waist and threw him across the room violently. Wreathing in pain, it tore the spear out with one of it's claws.

In less than a heartbeat, Anne was there, far inside it's reach, practically touching it's chest. She pressed a shotgun to the bottom of it's jaw and pulled the trigger. It's head rocked backwards. It swung wildly, but Anne droppedto her back and avoided being sliced in half. It's claw struckthe metal chairs and tables, and cleaved through them as if they were made of styrofoam.

Quinn charged it again, picking the spear up as he did. The Reaper snapped at him, but he slid downwards, dodging it's powerful jaws and sliding between it's legs, thrusting the spear into one of it's ankles and jumping up behind it. It tried to spin around, but it's wounded ankle

gave out and it stumbled, allowing Quinn to leap onto it's back with a large hunting knife. He began a vicious assault on it's face and eyes, stabbing downward repeatedly.

It's tail whipped around wildly, striking everything within it's reach, which included nearly everything in the room. Anne, however, barely hesitated. She dashed into it again, and released two more shots directly into it's chest.

It swung at her, but it was too innacurate due to it's injury and Quiin providing a more than effective distraction. Anne dodged it's swipe by falling to the floor on her side. She aimed at it's wound and shot out it's leg. It fell to the ground and Anne rolled away before it had a chance to hit her,

The thing growled angry, growing frustrated. It leaned downward and pulled the spear out of it's ankle withit's teeth. Then, it's tail stuck Quinn directly in his head.

I heard a snap.Quinn fell to floor roughly, but the monster wasn't

finished. It wrapped a claw around Quinn's arm and pinned his shoulder with it's other claw. In a single, effortless movement, it ripped Quinn's arm from it's socket.

Quinn screamed. Blood was thrown everywhere, and I felt it whip against my face. The monster wrapped a clawed hand around Quinn's skull, lifting him off the ground and throwing him like a soft ball against the steel wall, denting it. His body fell limply to the floor, leaving a blood soaked imprint on the wall.

It spun towards me and realed back on two legs. Then, it let out a gutteral roar, aiming it directly at me. It's jaws parted wide, nearly a two foot gap between it top and bottom jaw as it's hissing scream filled the room.

That's when a foot long bullet travel right between it's teeth and into it's mouth. It fell onto all fours and into a coughing fit. I looked back to see Lincoln holding a six footlong sniper rifle in his hands, sitting with his back against the wall and the rifle aimed directly at the monster.

"Davis! Get the girl out of here!"Anne ran over to me and lifted me by the waist,

throwing me over her shoulder. But, the Reaper wasn't finished.The hissed in rage and lunged towards us with

lightning speed. It would have doubtlessly killed both of us in an instant were it not for the second bullet that slammed into it's side just a second before.

It threw it off just enough to narrowly miss impaling Anne with it's long jagged claws. Instead, it

clipped her leg, and we both fell and as the creature tumbled past us, hitting the back most wall. I fell and rolled, too.

The creature was getting up again, but Anne, this time, stood up first. She reached into her belt and pulled outa small metal object before pulling the pin and throwing it.

"Davis, no!" Lincoln called out.The explosion was deafening. It echoed off the walls and my head started ringing.

I hardly even noticed losing the entire back end of aircraft. The speed of the carrier combined with the altitude's air pressure, everything in the room was sucked out of the gaping hole. The chairs, tables, and all the technical equipment was the first to go. Lincoln jumped through the door into the hall, dragging Quinn with him. Anne grabbed onto the edges of one of the cabinets. I was almost sucked out of the ship myself.

"Charlie! Grab on!"Anne threw me a torn chord from one of the

electrical circuits and I grabbed it before I was sucked out with one hand. My wrist and shoulder nearly broke, and myfingers felt like they were burning off. I gclenched my teethand held on for dear life.

Until I felt something around my ankle.I glanced down, squinting, and saw the creature

managed to dig it's claws into the steel to keep it from falling and had a grip on my leg with it's tail.

"Charlie! Don't move!" Anne pulled herself almost inside of the cabinet and

pointed the shotgun at the creature. I couldn't hear the blast,but I did hear the painful hiss of the creature as it lost it's grip and was ripped out of the ship.

And pulled me along with it.The last thing I heard was Anne shouting my name.

The chord I held onto ripped in half. For a brief moment, all I could hear was the backdraft. Then, I was airborn.

For a brief moment, I actully felt good. The wind hitting my back as I fell felt nice. Of course, I was also thoroughly convinced that I was going to die, but at least I had a few seconds to contemplate what my life could have been. You know, if I was a little more socially skilled or if Ihadn't been picked up by Anne. Or, maybe what my life hadbeen like as a hunter, given I didn't die less than a week into it.

"Or, you could turn around and try to find a nice, comfy tree to hit so you don't break every bone in your

body," said an oddly clear voice to my left.I craned my neck to see my Nega-Self, falling

backwards, same as me, with her hands casually buried in her pockets. She was still wearing her wierd suspender and coat and casually formal ensemble that she somehow made work. She flashed me a laid back smile.

"C'mon. You got a lot going for you. You've got friends, drugs, a job, and a nice place to stay. Why give al that up because of a little free fall?"

I glanced downward. I dimly noticed a dark figure falling slowly in the corner of my eye. It was the Reaper, without a doubt, but it was falling really slowly. Like, too slowly. Slow motion slowly.

"Take a breather," my Better Half said. "We need to talk a little bit, and you'd only have had about four seconds before you hit a sudden stop."

I almost considered questioning what was going on,but, instead, I decided to just smile.

"Alright," I said. "Talk to me."She grinned at me. "That's the spirit. Now, first

thing's first, looked down."I did. It seemed the whole world was in view.

Despite the impending doom that was surely going to be some large rock or branch, I was a little awe struck at the sight. An infinite amount of trees completely covering whatever ground or rivers or anything else that was beneaththem.

"There it is," she said. "You see it?"I squinted. There were countless trees and leaves all

looked the same to me. What was she talking about?"You know exactly what I'm talking about," she

said. That's right. She was in my head. Of course she

could hear what I was thinking.So, why not just talk outloud?"That's a good idea," she said. "Now, look again and

answer me. Do you see it?""Can I buy a vowel?"She rolled her eyes. "The dark trees are the ones

closer to the ground. The bigger ones are casting shadows on them. Aim for the brightest and widest one."

"Makes sense," I said. "Which one is that?""Look and see. You've got about three seconds left."I turned my head again and began scanning the

immense forest. There were a few bright trees that stuck out. They seemed safe,

"None of them are safe," she said. "Just choose one that won't kill you."

My eye locked onto one large tree that I could actually pick out from the rest. It seemed wide, which meant there was enough water to let it grow and it was bright enough to let me know that it was far off the ground.

"Good. Now, angle your body so that to fall towardsit. Pick your feet up a bit. Spreads your arms and legs. It's easy."

I nodded and began leaning towards the tree, spreading out my limbs to catch more air. The pressure wasstrong, like the wind was physically hitting me, but noticed I was getting closer. And the closer I got, the more I noticedhow fast I was going.

"Now, right before you hit the tree, straighten your body out. Try to avoid branches. Go feet first."

"What if I die?" I asked.She smiled, then disappeared. I glanced back,

spinning around. Time sped up quickly as everything returned to it's normal pace. Just before I hit the tree, I flipped and kicked my feet out infront of me. Then, my vision left me as I was forced to close my eyes when my body began taking a leaf and twig jumping.

I covered my head. I felt my arms, legs, and the restof my body get cut up. I felt things break around me. I hoped none of them were my bones, and then...

Impact.My body hit the floor with a thud, and I felt my

head bounce off the ground. I slid down a slimy, muddy slope with an uncomfortable amount of speed. I continued to cover my head. I vaguely noticed the cold and hard bumps that scraped my back. I felt myself beginning to losemomentum before I felt my body become drenched in cold water. My mouth and nose were flooded with water and mybody went instantly numb.

For a moment, I didn't do anything, I just lay there floating in the water, still wondering if and how I survived. Then, I felt a subtle tug in my chest, something like the tightening you feel when going up in a roller coaster, just a few seconds before you go speeding down at a near ninety degree angle. It was an exciting kind of nervous that you were neither happy nor angry about.

Or, maybe it was just my lungs filling with water.I began gasping for breath, only to taste a sickly

liquid going into my mouth. I opened my eyes to what was a barely visible sky through the murky water.

My lungs felt like they were on fire as I struggled violently to the surface. I clawed my way upward as fast as I could. My chest was burning and my vision was starting to darken. I could've sworn that I my muscles wear tearing apart as I struggled to get out of the water. I felt myself moving slower and my body growing heavier. Finally, against my will, my eyes closed. I gave up trying to move.

There was no point. I didn't have any strength left. All my energy was gone. There was nothing I could do. Images of that monster flooded my head. It's alien body andgnarled growl. The fear it invoked in my sent my mind somewhere else. It sent me to my parents. The people I always though I was safe with. But, as the coldness around me began to turn me numb, thoughts of my parents were replaced with the one person I knew I was safe with.

Anne.She was still out there. My eye shot open and, grinding my teeth, I clawed

my way to the surface, every muscle in my body screamingat me in resistance. The pain from the lack of warmth, the lack of air, the lack of hope, it was all excruciating. But, right now, there was someone who was in danger right now.Someone I cared about. Someone who cared about me.

I breached. At the taste of fresh air after what felt an eternity, I

swallowed all the oxygen my lungs could hold. My thundering heartbeat began to slow and my deep breaths began to shrink in intensity.