We only realized the magnitude of shit we were in once things were over. No incident like this had ever happened anywhere in my country. Sure, A-class incidents had taken place before, but they had never gotten that out of hand. Don’t get me wrong. I fucked up before, and I fucked up bad. This, however, was the worst thing I’d ever been part of. An entire apartment complex had been leveled and hundreds of people had died.

This wasn’t something Headquarters could sweep under the carpet. No, this time, they were in deep shit. They did their usual damage control, of course. People were paid off, the media was bought, and they sent an adjudicator to mediate with the higher ups. Still, this entire failure of an operation would haunt them for a long, long time.

The moment the clean-up crews and support squads had made it to our location, they escorted us from the premises and provided immediate medical care. Theodor and I were hurt, hurt badly, but once again, Sandra had gotten the blunt of it. She was a bloody wreck, and her body had been shredded to pieces by her own powers. It was so bad, I couldn’t even look at her. The medical unit did all they could, but she’s still in a coma and there’s no telling if she’s ever going to wake up again. Or, if she’s going to make it at all. Even if she does, however, there’s no telling what state she’ll be in. Sure, her body’s in terrible shape, but her mind must’ve suffered far, far more. She’d not just gone all out, she’d pushed her powers far beyond their limit. Headquarters had transformed one room in the apartment into a medical station. The entire room is filled to the brim with complicated machines and advanced gadgets, all to keep Sandra alive.

During our trip back, Theodor was still out of it. Even hours after the incident, all he did was mumble to himself and clutch onto his body. I don’t know what he experienced, what he’d seen, and as terrible as it sounds, I’m thankful I didn’t.

For now, we’re on leave and restricted to the apartment. No going out and no doing anything. Until we’re back on track, Headquarters told me that the support squads would keep a tight surveillance of the city and do their best to take care of any straggling creatures still on the loose. Honestly, I didn’t give a shit about any of it. For now, I was done.

Headquarters wasn’t, and they lost no time to get in contact with me. They informed me we handled the situation well enough, given the circumstances. What a fucking joke. If I’d have had the energy left, I’d screamed at them and told them to go fuck themselves. What they told me was simple enough. It was regrettable what happened to Exterminator 4B98344, and they’d provide any means possible to restore her back to health. Yeah, and I’m sure you’re doing it out of the kindness of your hearts and not because she’s a valuable asset. The next thing they told me was that they’d send over additional personnel. The exterminators in question would take over until we were back on track, but they wouldn’t leave any time soon. No, they were to stay, take over operations and assist us in case similar incidents were to occur. Great, I thought, more new faces. Well, whatever. Before they cut the call, I hit them up about Theodor and what he thought he’d seen. They listened and assured me they’d analyze the data regarding the incident and take any action the situation demanded. I’d have argued back that their actions had caused the shitshow we were in right now, but of course, I didn’t. I gave them an okay and with that, the call ended.

For the next few days, I didn’t leave Sandra’s side. It felt so strange to sit in this cramped room, listening to the beeping of the medical equipment all around me. Sandra just lay there as if dead. Her arms were in casts and what remained of her fingers had been bandaged. So many tubes entered her body it made me shudder. When the silence grew too oppressive, I talked to her. I talked about my life, about nonsense, about the things we’d been through together, about anything. I didn’t know if it would do a thing, but I couldn’t bear just sitting there. Every once in a while, a hint of something showed on her face. A frown or a grimace, but I knew she wasn’t reacting to me. It was her broken mind tormenting her. Whenever it happened, I injected her with a specialized medicine provided by Headquarters.

I walked through the apartment like a zombie. I wasn’t just drained; it was the state I was in. My entire body was bruised and all my limbs had taken on a sickly mixture of green and blue. As for Theodor, he’d locked himself away in his room. He just sat there, brooding in the darkness and fighting his own demons.

The memory of the A-class organism was still fresh in my mind. It didn’t feel like memories, more like an afterimage and as if the visions it had shown me were burned into my mind forever. It was the worst during the night. My dreams were haunted by visions of destroyed cities, dead and twisted people, of ghastly creatures entering our world, and of some terrible other place. Those dreams reminded me of the time after I’d touched that orb and when the creature had invaded my mind. Whenever I thought about it, I shuddered.

When I couldn’t bear sitting with Sandra anymore, I went back to the computers. I did my best to familiarize myself with Sandra’s software. I sent out drones here and there to get a feel for it. Yet, no new signatures appeared, and it seemed Headquarters’ support squads had taken care of all the stragglers. For all I knew, I had time to rest, and I knew I needed it. Yet, whenever I closed my eyes and tried to relax, something else came back to my mind. It was only a hint, the smallest of breezes blowing through my mind. That last emotion I’d felt before Theodor had destroyed the creature. It hadn’t been rage. It hadn’t been fear. No, it had been something different.

I thought about it, and I thought about Theodor’s warning. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was right, and if so, what he’d meant when he’d said something worse was going to happen. Before long, I decided to confront him about it.

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When I entered his room, he didn’t look up. Instead, he was brooding over a variety of books in front of him. The moment I faced him, I saw how terrible he looked. His face wore a dark expression. The bags under his eyes were huge, and he looked endlessly tired.

“Jesus dude, you need to get some rest,” I said.

He gave me a frustrated laugh.

“You don’t get it, do you, Dylan? We don’t have any time to fucking rest!”

“All right, Theodor. What the hell did you see?”

“The end of the world,” he said, grinning, but there was no hint of his usual sarcasm to it. No, he said it in a bleak, matter-of-factly way.

“Well, are you going to tell me?”

“You really want to know?”

I gave him a nod.

“It was hell, Dylan. No, not the Christian type. I think I caught a glimpse of where this thing came from. I... I don’t think I can describe it. Our laws of physics don’t apply there. I saw mountains growing from the sky, a dark twisted wasteland, space nebulae and entire, horrible galaxies all around it. There was a monument so strange and twisted, I couldn’t understand it. It was created from entire cultures, civilizations... entire realities. There was such terrible, otherworldly beauty there, and it was all destroyed and fused together to create this monument. It was a thing of such insane magnitude, it made no sense.”

He shuddered, clutched onto himself and stared ahead at nothing for a long moment.

“Theodor, calm down. You’re not there, all right. It might have been nothing but another vision, a memory of that-“

“No!” he cut me off. “There were more creatures like the one we fought, many more, but they were nothing in front of the thing that created that monument. It was a thing that defies reality. And you know what the worst of it all was? You know what the fucking worst was?”

I didn’t say a thing.

“There was no hate or rage coming from it. All I felt from this ghastly, undefinable thing was indifference. Indifference at a cosmic level. This thing, whatever it is, it doesn’t long for destruction. It doesn’t want to eradicate, it wants order. It wants to order and tame reality itself at a level that goes beyond anything. This thing it’s...”

His voice trailed off and shook his head. I felt cold as I listened to him before my eyes wandered to the compendium in front of him.

“You found anything in there? Anything about that... thing you saw?”

He laughed and threw the compendium across the room.

“Not in there, but in this one,” he said and picked up one of the other books Sandra had brought with her.

It was a theoretical thesis on creatures, different realities, and their connections. When I looked at the page and read the title, my eyes grew wide. When Theodor saw my expression, he laughed. It sounded manic.

“Theodor, that’s not possible. No incident of that magnitude has ever happened. It’s only theoretical. Hell, it’s stated that if they exist, they can’t even travel into a different reality.”

Theodor began laughing again.

“No, Dylan. Oh no, they can, and this thing, whatever it is, is coming here. That’s what the creature we fought was preparing for. What we’ve got coming here is an S-class. Eldritch. And if we don’t stop it, we’re all done for, we and this entire reality.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but this was insane. He was insane. There was no way any of this was true. And even if why here? Why in an unimportant city like this one?

“Fucking hell,” I cursed and made my way back outside.

The moment I’d left, I went to check up on Sandra. I didn’t want to think about what Theodor had said. Something like an S-class couldn’t exist. Yet, as much as I told myself these words, as much as I tried to convince myself, I couldn’t.

As I sat there, shuddering, I noticed how hard I was pressing Sandra’s hand.

“Shit, sorry.”.

When I turned to her, however, I saw her eyes were open.

“Sandra!” I called out in shock. “You’re awake! How are you feeling? Do you recognize me? Do you need anything?”

Instead of answering, Sandra stared at me with hard eyes.

“Shit, are you alright? Are you in pain? Do you need me to-?”

I stopped when she opened her mouth. No words came out. Then I felt a slight pressure in my head. I saw Sandra frowning before pain contorted her face. I realized what she was doing. She was trying to communicate with me mentally.

“Sandra, what are you doing? Stop! You’re going to-“

It was too late. I felt her push into my mind. Her efforts were rough, jagged as she tore through it. For a moment, I winced in pain. Then a name appeared, the name Marcia.

“Yes, Marcia. But who’s that?”

Suddenly my brain felt hot, almost as if burning up.

“What are you trying to do, Sandra? What are you trying to tell me?”

I saw her grimace. Her body twitched as she strained herself under the effort, and finally, two more words appeared in my mind.

The Inquisitor.

I stared at her. For a moment, her eyes continued to rest on me before they fell shut again and she sunk back onto the bed. Right away, the surrounding machines gave out warnings, and I was quick to inject her with more of Headquarters medicine.

“Shit, Sandra, what the hell are you doing?” I cursed at her, but knew very well that she didn’t hear me anymore.

Then it hit me. Marcia. The Inquisitor. Headquarters had said they were going to send additional personnel, and I remembered Sandra’s freak-out from before. What Sandra had just given me was a warning. She’d used what little energy she’d left to convey it to me.

Fucking hell, don’t tell me Headquarters was really going to send her. Every European exterminator had heard of the infamous Inquisitor. She was some sort of self-righteous zealot who followed Headquarters’ doctrine to the point and who went against anyone who dared to question their orders. Yet, they only ever sent her to areas that were under investigation for breach of protocol, didn’t they?

Then I realized what was going on. Those bastards. Those fucking bastards. There could only be one reason for sending her here, to clean house. I already knew they weren’t happy about what had happened here, but I guess they needed someone to blame. Who better than a low class exterminator and a freak of nature like Theodor? We were the perfect scapegoats!

This entire thing was their fault, their fucking fault, and now... shit! I needed time to think and to prepare. I had to talk to Theodor and-

My outrage was cut short when my phone notified me about an incoming call from Headquarters.

“Exterminator 7D11087, we are calling to inform you that from now on, you will work under new command. Exterminator 2A00114 will take over all activities in your area. She and her partner are on the way to your base of operations as we speak. Please proceed with your normal operations and share any data regarding the last incidents with her. That is all.”

With that, they cut the call, and I stood there, staring at the phone, knowing things had just gotten worse, a lot worse.

Fuck monsters and fuck the Inquisitor.