After our encounter in the mall’s basement, we both knew we were in deep shit. Something was brewing in this town, and it wasn’t good. As if to prove us right, more incidents were happening. By now, new signatures were popping up multiple times a day. Even worse, we found more of those small fuckers, those puppets, as Sandra called them. Gives you the feeling that the entire city’s crawling with them. So far, we don’t even have a clue what they are or where they are coming from.

We’d barely gotten half a night’s sleep when Sandra’s surveillance system got another hit. This time, the puppets were below a bridge, covering one of its pillars in cryptic writings and trying to open another portal. We were fast enough, however, to keep anything from happening.

Throughout the day, we handled three more signatures. Only one brought a creature through, but we dispatched it quickly. Still, it was one hell of a day. Once more, we’d only made it home late in the evening. I’d just opened a bottle of bourbon to get a shot or two and plopped down next to Sandra. For the first time, she didn’t say a damn thing about it.

“You got any idea what’s going on here?” I asked after I took a brief sip. “What do you think those things are trying to do?”

“Well, I had a look at the data of the past few days, and they only appeared at the smaller clusters so far. If they were to try the same thing in one of those areas here,” she said, showing me a map on her phone, “we might be in serious trouble.”

“Well, isn’t that just great? What are we supposed to do, then?”

Sandra gave me a frustrated look before she cursed to herself. It was the first time I’d seen her like that. When I kept looking at her, she eventually spoke up.

“I don’t know, Dylan! I’ve been in contact with Headquarters, but they can’t afford to send any additional personnel. All we can do is keep tightening the surveillance of the bigger clusters so we get alarmed the moment something happens there.”

“What if we’re too slow? What if something like that creature below the mall makes it through?”

“I wish we could set up base near them, but we can’t ignore any other signatures and let creatures roam.”

“You think that whoever, or... whatever’s behind this, knows that? That everything that’s been going on here so far is nothing but a diversion?”

Sandra sighed before she gave me a weak nod.

“Then why the fuck’s Headquarters not sending any support? Why don’t they do anything about those fucking ley lines and clusters and I don’t know what?”

Sandra shook her head.

“There’s trouble in other areas, too, Dylan. They have only informed me about a signature in Asia, but it’s ugly, Dylan. It’s damn ugly. What we’ve got here’s nothing compared to-“

“All right, I get it. So we’re fucked. Is that what you’re saying?”

As if to prove me right, the alarm of the surveillance network popped up again. It was yet another emerging signature.

“Seems we are,” Sandra said, not bothering to hide the frustration and hopelessness in her voice.

“You know what? Fuck this!”

With that, I took a deep sip from the bottle before I got ready.

It didn’t take us long to pinpoint the signature’s area. It was the same alternative part of town where it all began so many years ago. The signature itself originated in a small back alley. We were still a good ten minutes away when Sandra stared at her radar with wide eyes.

“What?” I asked out, turning to her.

“It’s gone.”

“Shit, you mean the fucker left the area and is moving on?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It just vanished.”

She frowned, staring at the radar.

“Fucking hell, is that possible? Can those things hide their signal?”

Sandra shook her head.

“No, once we pinpoint and find them, there’s no way they can slip away. The only possibility is that the thing’s dead.”

“What you’re saying is someone took it down before us? Did Headquarters send support, after all?”

“No, they’d have informed us about it!”

I remembered my very first run-in with a creature.

“What if it was a civilian?” I suggested. “Hell, if it was, they might still be alive.”

“Could be,” she reasoned. “Let’s hurry.”

With that, we continued on. When we arrived at the small back alley, Sandra didn’t need to hit her radar anymore. The place was a massacre. The creature’s body had been torn apart. Hell, it had been dismantled. Then my gaze wandered around and I noticed something further down the alley. Another body. A person. I walked over and leaned down at what might have once been a human being. From the dirty clothes and the blankets, it was clear that the man had been homeless.

“You think this guy might have been the one who-?” I started.

“No. Look at the state the body’s in. With wounds like that, there’s no way he could’ve put up a fight.”

“What about the creature?” I asked, pointing back at it.

“Most likely a beast type, but it’s hard to tell. From the size and the signature I saw before, I’d assume it was C-class.”

“You’re telling me someone out there’s able to take down a C-class all by himself and get away?”

“That, or we’ve got something else on our hands.”

“Like what?

“A cannibal type. They feed on their own to become bigger themselves.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Something like that exists?”

Sandra nodded.

“So if something like that’s out there, how come we’ve gotten no hit on it? Shouldn’t we’ve gotten two signatures?”

Sandra was quiet and for a while she didn’t say a thing.

“I’m not sure, Dylan. The creature might have been able to avoid detection until now by pure luck.”

“Yeah, but if it was out here and took care of this one, then-“

“Look, Dylan, I don’t know, all right?”

I sighed before I nodded. Shit, we were both way too exhausted and way too on edge.

“Yeah, got you. So, what do we do now?”

Sandra shrugged, hit a few of her scanners, and sent out some of her surveillance drones. Ultimately, though, we found nothing. In the end, we packed up and went back on our way home.

The next day started exactly the same, with a new fucking signature. All together, it was only two, allowing us a brief rest during the hours of the late afternoon. The sun had barely set when we headed out to the same alternative area of town. It was yet another signature, one in the area’s biggest park.

The moment we made it there, my thoughts returned to the swarm type I’d handled a couple of weeks ago.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“What have you got, Sandra?” I asked, praying it wasn’t another one of those.

“Humanoid. Seems to be C-class.”

As we hurried through the park, the gun was already in my hand. I noticed the fucker right away. What might once have looked like a human being was now something different. The creature’s body had twisted around itself. Legs had grown to twice their size, and multiple appendages sprouted from the body. The head hung sideways, and even from this distance, I could see its gaping black maw.

Right at that moment, I noticed a person. A guy was standing nearby, only a few meters away from the creature.

“Get away from there!” I called out, but I already knew it was too late for the poor soul.

I pulled the trigger twice, but I was still too far away to get a clear shot. A moment later, the creature rushed forward, threw itself at the unsuspecting bystander, and tore him apart. At least that’s what I saw happening in my mind’s eye.

When I heard flesh tearing and bones snapping, my steps slowed down. My jaw dropped when I saw this normal person tear the creature’s arm clean off. The thing stumbled back before it growled and attacked once more. The guy dodged the attack again and then counterattacked himself. He plunged forward, his fists connected with the shapeshifter’s body, and it was thrown off its feet. It tried to get up, but it was too late. The guy rammed his hand into the creature’s body. Blood gushed forward, and the thing began screeching as he tore it apart. He twisted and tore off its appendages one by one before he beat the creature’s body to a bloody pulp.

“Holy shit,” I stammered, pointing my gun at the guy. “Guess we found our cannibal, right? You think we’re able to take the fucker down?”

“I,” Sandra started, but her voice trailed off as she stared at her radar.

I didn’t wait. We couldn‘t let this fucker get away. If he was some sort of cannibalistic organism, and if he was going to grow even stronger, we’d be in even more trouble than we already were. As I stormed forward, I saw him grin. When I pressed the trigger, he threw himself sideways and dodged my shot. Shit, the fucker was fast. For a moment, I saw him still next to the shapeshifter’s remains, in the next he was gone and then he was right in front of me. I pointed the gun at him point black, and was about to fire, but he batted my hand aside with such force, the gun clattered away. I tried to reach for the combat knife, but I felt a hand closing around my neck. He lifted me from the ground with a grip as hard as steel. I saw his eyes and saw the same grin. Then a blast wave crashed into him.

The air crackled around me. I felt my hair stand up, and I saw the guy’s body a couple of meters ahead of me. He was on the ground, barely able to move. I scrambled for my gun, got it, and was about to fire again when Sandra stepped up in front of me.

“Dylan, stop!”

“What the hell are you-?”

“He’s not one of those things! There’s no signature! He’s a human being!”

“Yeah, no shit,” he spat at us. “Who the fuck are you guys, anyway?”

“We’re with the police,” Sandra explained. “We were sent here to handle the situation and take out that creature over there. It seems, though, you’ve been able to handle the situation before we could.”

The guy got back to his feet. His grin was still there, but it was tainted by blood. He staggered for a moment, spat some bloody froth from his mouth, and sank down on a bench nearby.

“All right, question time,” I started. “Have you been in contact with other similar creatures these past days?”

“And what’s it to you, asshole? You plan on shooting me for taking over your job?”

I sighed and put the gun away.

“No, all good, we just want to talk, right, Sandra?”

She nodded, but still held the radar in her hand.

“Like I said, he’s human.”

“Yeah, no shit, bitch!”

I could see Sandra’s face change to anger. Oh, this wasn’t good. Now that I got a closer look though, I saw his disheveled look, the dirt on his clothes and the old, torn backpack he’d thrown down next to himself.

“You’re a bum or something?”

“Got a problem with that?” he asked while he rummaged through his backpack.

After a while, he found what he’d been looking for. It was a syringe. Without another word, he rammed it into his arm.

“Fucking hell,” I cursed as he pushed the contents into his vein.

He leaned back, inhaling, but began cursing after mere seconds and threw the syringe into the dark of the night.

“Fucking hell. Shit’s not working! Can’t feel a damn thing!”

“What do you mean?” Sandra asked.

“Doesn’t matter what I use,” he cursed. “Booze, cigs, even the stronger stuff. Nothing works. Just want to score some fucking high, but I can’t feel a thing!”

“All right, when did this start?” Sandra asked, alarmed.

“The hell you want, you freaking bit-“

Before he could even finish the sentence, I saw him cower.

“What the fuck are you-?”

“Now listen. This is just a small sample of what I can do and I can do much, much more. So, how about you answer my questions?”

“Fucking hell,” he spat, but for the first time, that annoying grin had left his face.

“Don’t know when this shit started. Maybe a week or two ago? I had all those crazy dreams and nightmares. Felt like I was fucking delirious.”

“What were they about?”

“Don’t remember shit! It was all scrambled up, old memories, people and faces. Even had some crazy nightmare about a barren wasteland and some upside down hellscape. Shit was crazy.”

When he said this, I looked up and was about to say something, but Sandra motioned for me to let him continue.

“When I woke up, I had these crazy hallucinations, as if the world was melting all around me. Must’ve lain in the gutter for days. Thought I’d score some nasty shit, but didn’t remember buying any. Didn’t even have the money! But guess what, a day later, I’m good as new and the only thing I’ve got to show for this little adventure is this disgusting scar here.”

With that, he lifted his shirt to show us a small gush on his chest that had already healed. Sandra’s eyes grew wide when she saw it and she turned to me.

“I’ve only read about it in the archives, but I’ve heard stories about something like that.”

“What stories?”

“Theories, mostly,” she started while tinkering with another one of her gadgets. “If I’m right though, then-“

“Right about what?” I cut her off.

“That scar looks like a wound caused by a parasite type. However, there are theories stating that certain human bodies can sync with them. Well, sync isn’t the right word, a better one’s absorb. There have been cases in which a parasite entered a human body, mutated, and changed it before being fought off by the body’s immune system.”

“Something like that’s... possible?”

“I’ve only ever heard of a handful of cases, but if a parasite entered his-“

“All right, what the fuck are you assholes talking about? I’ve got no freaking parasites in my body!”

Sandra turned back to the guy with a sour look on her face.

“Stay calm, all right?”

“Sure thing, babe.”

She held the gadget against his body and stared at the visuals it was showing her.

“From what I can see here, there are certain anomalies within the body, caused by mutation and restructuring. There’s no hint of any outside influence, however, meaning the parasite must’ve been rendered useless after altering his body. From looking at the data and from what we’ve seen before, his physical prowess is far above that of a normal human being.”

“You know, if you want to see what I’m capable of, bitchtits, how about a round in the bushes over there?” he joked, giving Sandra a little wink.

I saw the frown on her forehead, saw it growing deeper and deeper before anger replaced it.

“Shit dude, now you’ve done it.”

He gave me a questioning look before he was thrown off the bench and landed a couple of meters behind it. For a moment, Sandra stared at the body before she turned back to me.

“He’s out for a while.”

I could see a bit of blood running from her nose, but she quickly wiped it away.

“Holy shit, you’re bleeding! Are you sure you didn’t kill him?”

“Yes. I knocked him out, but this isn’t enough to kill him. That parasite he was infested with was at least C-class, probably higher.”

“So, what do you want to do with him? You said he’s human, right? I can’t just go and-“

“No. But with things as they are, we might be able to use him.”

“What? Are you crazy? We don’t even know if we can trust him!”

Sandra gave me a cold, hard look.

“Get him to the apartment. We’ve got some contraptions that should render his body useless and ready for interrogation. If he turns out to be uncooperative, we can still inform Headquarters. Or, we take care of the problem ourselves.”

I stared at her, at her face and the cold hard look on it. For the first time in days, I remembered who I was talking to. I’d grown to know her a bit, grown compassionate about her, but this woman was a cold, hard professional, more so than I was.

Sure thing,” I said in a low voice and holstered the guy up.

Sandra took this thing the whole nine yards. After we’d returned to the apartment, our unsuspecting guest was still knocked out. To be honest, I wondered if he’d ever wake up again. While Sandra searched through the storage room, I followed her instructions and bound the guy to the bed. She was back soon and injected him with some sort of strange, yellowish liquid.

“What the hell was that?” I asked while our guest began stirring.

“Something to keep him in line. It’s a muscle relaxant,” she said with a simple shrug.

“What the fuck? Where the fuck am I? The fuck did you do to me?” he cursed and tried to push himself up, but couldn’t even move his arms.

“A simple sedative. You won’t be able to do anything for quite a while,” Sandra said with a little grin.

“You freaking bitch! Who the fuck do you think you are? The moment I’m up, I’m going to-“

Suddenly, he cringed in pain, and I saw Sandra holding up her hand.

“No, I don’t think you will. So how about we all calm down and you listen?”

When the pain of Sandra’s attack left him, the guy nodded.

“I would like to make you an offer. Seeing that you were proficient enough to kill multiple creatures all by yourself, we’d like to ask you to help us should more of them show up.”

The guy laughed a little.

“Right, and why the hell would I do that?”

Sandra stepped forward again, and I saw his eyes widen. He closed his mouth instantly.

I sighed. This was going really fucking well.

“Accommodation. We can offer you to stay here with us. We’ll take care of all your expenses,” I cut in.

“And for that, you expect me to risk my life?”

I nodded.

“You’re fucking crazy man,” he said, laughing.

I stared at him, scanned his face, and thought back to how he’d grinned when he tore that shapeshifter into pieces.

“No, I’m not. I can see it in your eyes. You enjoyed fighting them, right? No, that’s not it. Killing them was enjoyable. You’re the same as me. You’ve got your reasons for going out there.”

He gave me a long look. For a second, other emotions appeared on his face. Pain and sadness. Yet the same hungry grin quickly replaced them.

“Well, it’s not like I’ve got anything else going on at the moment. This shithole here might be better than sleeping out in the streets. But you know, man, you’ve got one thing right. I’ve got my reason for hunting them down.”

“What is it?”

“I guess I just like destroying things.”

As I stood there and stared down at this disheveled asshole with his wide eyes and that damned grin, I knew what he was. A freaking psycho.

Fuck monsters and fuck psychopaths.