After we’d returned from that last incident, I knew things would get real spicy, real soon. Marcia had made it clear she wanted to get rid of Theodor. It hadn’t only been her actions or the way she’d stared at him. No, it had been that special permission she’d mentioned.

So here I was, with no clue what to do. If Headquarters would give her clearance to get rid of him, what the hell should I do? Shit, this was all way too much for me. I was nowhere near smart enough to figure a way out of this mess. Hell, we shouldn’t even bother with any of this shit! If Theodor wasn’t just insane and there really was an eldritch being coming, we shouldn’t be antagonizing each other. We should be out patrolling the city. We should call support and try to figure out a way on how to stop it from happening. Fuck, we should do anything except what we were doing!

I sat in front of the computer. I rerouted drones, activated Sandra’s various scanners, looked for any and all signatures, but there was nothing. That’s when I started to think. That last signature. Marcia had transferred it to us. Sandra’s system hadn’t even picked up on it. What if that bitch had somehow fucked with Sandra’s system to keep us in the dark?

“Fuck!” I cursed and bashed my fists against the desk. There was nothing I could fucking do, nothing at all!

I thought about getting in contact with Headquarters again, but what would it do? They had sent Marcia here to clean house, to antagonize us, get us to fuck up and eventually to get rid of us. We were fucked, totally and utterly fucked!

I sat in front of the computer, rubbing my temples before I made my way to Sandra’s room. Her hands were so small, the remains of her fingers so tiny. Once again, I talked to her. Not about what was going on, just random things. At one point, I administered her with her daily dosage of medicine. Today, like every other day since she’d warned me about Marcia, I got no reaction. No frowns, no grimace, just nothing. She lay there as if dead, and if not for the machines telling me otherwise, she might very well have been.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, my phone rang. Without even looking at it, I knew it was Marcia.

“Exterminator 7D11087, we’ve got confirmation of a new signature. You need to take action immediately. The data indicates it’s a D-class signature, so there’s no need for me and Exterminator 3B66901 to accompany you.”

“Wait, you’re just-?”

“There’s no need for high-ranking personnel to bother with incidents such as this. No, someone like you is ideal to handle it. However, I have to insist that you put on a communication device to stay in direct contact with me for the duration of the incident. Get to it.”

With that, the phone went quiet. That fucking bitch! This whole thing smelled fishy. Considering our last incident, I could tell this wouldn’t be a simple D-class. Fuck, here we go again. I called Theodor, and together we stocked up on anything that might help us stay alive. Then I rummaged through the storage room until I found one of the small in-ear communication devices she’d been talking about. It had been ages since I’d used one of those.

When I checked the signature data, I saw it comprised dozens of smaller signals in one of the forestry areas near the city’s western outskirts. The data informed me we were up against a swarm type, yet I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d tinkered with it again. Shit, we were going in absolutely blind.

The moment we’d made it there, I hit up my close-range scanner. It showed me nothing but a more detailed version of the data Marcia had submitted to us. Eventually, I hit up a few buttons on my phone, took a deep breath, and established a connection with her.

“Exterminator 7D11087, the area’s under lockdown,” I heard Marcia’s cold voice in my ear. “Proceed with the extermination.”

I couldn’t help but shiver. I didn’t like this connection one bit. Having that bitch’s voice right in my ear made my skin crawl.

“Well, Theodor, let’s get going,” I called out to him.

He said nothing as he followed me. His expression was dark, distant, and I could tell he wasn’t fully there.

As we made our way into the forest, I rechecked my close-range scanner repeatedly. The fuckers were on the move already. If the data was correct, we had a migratory type on our hand, one that was busy spreading its influence. Fuck, I hated swarm types. My gun would be pretty much useless. The only thing that worked against them were flamers, and I still remembered how that had ended the last time.

We’d just pushed our way through a few bushes when a flock of birds erupted from the trees ahead of us. When a loud buzzing and the clicking of mandibles reached my ears, I realized those weren’t birds. We’d stumbled right upon the first of the fuckers. What we were up against were insects, giant fucking insects the size of birds. They were disgusting, bloated monstrosities. I saw sharp, long mandibles, pointy, clawed legs and huge, multi-faceted eyes. God, how I hated bugs. Yet, I couldn’t help but grimace. I’d been right. There were too many of them and they were too fucking big for this to be a simple D-class incident.

“We made contact,” I spoke into the communication device. “It’s a swarm type, but there’s no way this is a simple D-class incident. We might need additional support.”

“Exterminator 7D11087,” Marcia spoke up, not able to hide her gleeful undertone. “I’m sure you’ll be able to handle the situation accordingly. As for now, we’ll assess the situation and request a reevaluation of the data.”

Fuck.

I ripped out my phone and tried to hit up Headquarters myself, but I couldn’t get through. She’d blocked the connection! By now, though, we had other things to worry about. The fuckers had noticed us and the first outliers were descending upon me and Theodor.

I ripped out my gun and lit them up, but what could a single gun do against a dozen fist sized insects? The moment I’d shot one down, the rest got angry, seriously angry. I shot two more before I threw myself to the ground to avoid the rest of them. Yet, it did nothing. Within moments, two of them were upon me and tore through the protective armor. I screamed up in pain, rolled on the ground and kicked the damn things off me. Shit, this wasn’t good, not good at all. In an instant, I threw myself behind a tree and shot down another one, but more and more of them were coming for us. It sounded like the entire fucking forest was buzzing with them. From where I was, I saw Theodor. His combat knife cut through the air, slicing through one, then two more, but I knew he wouldn’t last.

“Theodor, there’s no way you can handle a swarm type on your own. We’ve got more of them coming. We’ve got to find the damned nest! If we don’t, they’ll tear us apart!”

He glanced at me, gave me a curt nod before he did his best to hide himself. For a moment, my hand closed around a flamer, and I considered burning the entire fucking forest to the ground. But what would it do? The fuckers were airborne, and with my luck I’d burn both myself and Theodor to a crisp instead.

“Shit!”

“Exterminator 7D11087, this is no time to rest. Should any of the organisms escape, they’ll most likely form a new nest. Get going and take care of the extermination!”

Yeah, as if I didn’t know that! How the fuck are we supposed to handle something like this on our own? We were pinned down and we didn’t know where the damned nest even was!

As I shot down another one, I strained my eyes, but I found no hint of it. Then I got an idea.

“Theodor, get over here!”

In an instant, he darted across the forest and threw himself down next to me.

“We’ve got to find the nest, and I’ve got an idea.”

“Well, shoot it, Dylan!”

In an instant, I took out a flash grenade. I couldn’t help but smile a little. It had been a while since I’d used those babies.

“All right, I can’t be sure, but the nest is most likely near the center of the signature, right here. We’ve just got to make it there.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Theodor nodded, and an instant later, I activated the flash grenade and threw it high into the air. The sky was drenched in blazing white light and I could hear the confused buzzing of the insects around us. Without even looking, Theodor and I hurried over the forest floor. My eyes were glued to my phone’s screen. We didn’t have time to make it far, but I knew those fuckers wouldn’t be out for long.

We’d barely crossed a hundred meters when I had to throw a second grenade. Another surge of light erupted above us. This time, though, I turned around to light the fuckers up. It wouldn’t do much, but I might diminish their numbers at least a little. Still, by now, there were dozens of them and it seemed the grenade hadn’t affected all of them. I didn’t like this one bit. The fuckers were learning to avoid them, and they were learning fast.

“Shit,” I cursed as another group of them came for me.

I shot down three more, dodged another bunch, but one of them got a hold of my shoulder. Its clawed legs dug deep into my flesh and its mandibles were about to tear into my throat. I pushed it back and put the gun right against its head and pulled the trigger. Disgusting, greenish goo exploded all over my face. For a second, I gagged before I threw myself behind another tree. Theodor had continued on, and I could see him a couple dozen meters ahead of me.

That’s when I saw where he was running. Between the trees ahead of us, I saw a giant hornet’s nest. So that’s where you’re coming from.

Without wasting another second, I threw the last of my flash grenades behind me and rushed after Theodor. I ripped out a flamer and threw it. It crashed against the side of the nest and blanketed it in hungry flames. Trees caught on fire, then the nest before it tore wide open. I’d hoped this would do the trick and would throw the swarm into chaos, but my eyes grew wide.

I saw mandibles, giant mandibles and a moment later, a monstrosity pushed itself from the nest. This thing, it was the size of a human being. No, I realized as it spread out its wings, it was much, much bigger. A loud, high-pitched buzzing cut through the air as the thing lifted itself upward. Then it screeched so loud my ears popped. In an instant, the rest of the swarm flocked towards it. Shit, it was gathering them for an all-out assault, I thought.

Instead, something else happened. The monstrosity’s mandibles opened wide, and it plucked the first of the many smaller hornets from the air, devouring it. The rest of the swarm, however, didn’t flee. They sacrificed themselves as well. In horror, I watched as the thing gorged itself.

At that moment, I remembered something I’d read a long time ago, something I’d forgotten. Most swarm types breed and multiply to increase their numbers. Yet, some acted differently. The word cannibalistic that Sandra had once mentioned came back to my mind. This entire swarm was bred to nurture and feed an alpha organism. And this beast in front of us was exactly that.

“Theodor, we’ve got to take care of it now before it,” I started, but my voice trailed off.

I could already see the creature growing and mutating. A second pair of wings spread from its back and additional legs pushed outward. I started shooting, but the bullets didn’t seem to hurt its chitinous body at all.

A second later, the thing came for me. I’d thought I’d be safe behind the trees, but it tore through the forest effortlessly. In an instant, it had reached me and descended upon me with its giant mandibles. I’d barely enough time to throw myself aside. I felt its legs scratching over my back as the surrounding forest exploded around me.

When I came to a rest on the forest floor a few meters away from its path, I felt a sharp pain in my left arm. I tried to lift it, but saw the long, wooden splinter that had impaled it. Fucking shit, what the hell could we do against this thing? Where the fuck was Theodor? My eyes darted around, but a moment later, the creature came for me again. This time, though, the trees were gone and its path was all but clear. Its mandibles clicked in anticipation and I could see its multifaceted eyes focus on me.

No other way, I thought, as I pulled out a grenade. Come on, come closer, come on. When there were only about a dozen meters between us, I threw the grenade. Not at the thing, but at the ground right in front of it. I was thrown backward by the resulting shockwave, but the creature was hit as well. It staggered before it crashed to the ground, and I saw that one of its wings was broken. Yet, the damage was already healing. I watched in fascination as a new membranous wing began forming.

Right at that moment, I saw Theodor. He rushed for the creature and threw himself on its back. The thing screeched, batted its remaining wings as it tried to shake him off, but within moments, Theodor tore through them. Its mandibles clicked wildly. Legs scurried over the ground, but it couldn’t reach him. For a second, he was about to fall, but then he got a hold again, raised his combat knife and plunged it right into one of the creature’s multi-faceted eyes. It let out a thundering screech, shook its body, and skittered over the forest floor blindly. Theodor was thrown off and crashed against a tree. Goo was streaming from the thing’s damaged head as it flailed around from tree to tree as it tore through the forest.

Eventually, its energy seemed to leave it and it came to a rest. Its legs were still kicking, still moving, and I knew the thing would eventually mend the damage. Not going to take any chances, I told myself as I stepped up to it. I unloaded an entire magazine into its head until nothing but disgusting greenish goo was left. For a while the thing’s body continued flailing around, and I already held a flamer in my hand, but then it grew silent.

“Fucking hell,” I cursed.

As the adrenaline left my body, I realized just how badly my left arm was hurt. It was almost entirely covered in blood. I reached for the piece of wood that had impaled it. Without even thinking about what I was doing, I tore it from my arm. Blood gushed forward and the pain almost made me pass out.

“Shit!”

All I could do was to pour a healing contraption over it and hope it would stop the bleeding well enough until we’d made it back. I looked over at where Theodor was. He’d fought himself to his feet and was grinning at me.

“Got the fucker good, didn’t I?” he called out to me.

“You’re freaking insane, you know that?” I said, shaking my head.

I was about to hit up Marcia to give her confirmation that the incident was over when I noticed something. At first I thought it was a remnant of the swarm, but then I saw plastic and metal. It was a drone, but why was a drone... I didn’t get to think about it, as it flew past me and right at Theodor. Don’t tell me...

“Theodor, watch out!”

He looked at me, not understanding, before he noticed the drone flying towards him. A second later, it went up in flames. Theodor was engulfed and thrown aside. I rushed towards him and at first I thought he was dead. Then I saw how he fought himself to his feet. He was burned, one of his arms was covered in blood, but to my surprise, he seemed okay. As okay as one could be after being hit by a fucking explosion. For a moment he staggered, spat out a mouthful of blood before his eyes came to rest on me, not understanding what was going on.

“Marcia,” I snapped. “It was Marcia!”

I hit her up via the communication device instantly.

“What the fuck’s going on? Why the fuck did you-?”

“Exterminator 7D11087, special permission to handle this abomination was given a mere ten minutes ago. The extermination will be carried out as-“

“Don’t fuck with me! Theodor’s the only person who knows, who’s seen what-“

“Exterminator 7D11087. What you’re referring to by name has just been designated a target for extermination. But don’t worry, I’m not as heartless as you think. You can stand down. Exterminator 3B66901 will carry out this extermination.”

At that moment, I saw that freakish partner of hers. The man darted out from between the trees and rushed right at Theodor. Something long and shiny glimmered in the afternoon light. Theodor staggered, could barely dodge the attack, and when he tried to get away, he crashed to the ground. Before he could get up, the fucker went for another attack. This time, the combat knife he was wielding made contact, and he buried it deep in Theodor’s arm.

I got out my gun and tried to hit up Headquarters, but once more, the line didn’t connect. Fuck! In the meantime, Theodor dodged another attack, but I heard him scream in pain when Marcia’s partner landed another deep cut on his chest. Yet Theodor wasn’t done. He rushed forward, crushed his head against the guy’s and for a moment Marcia’s partner stumbled backward. I pointed the gun and was about to press the trigger, but right at that moment, I heard Marcia’s voice again.

“Exterminator 7D11087,” Marcia shrieked in my ear. “You’re hereby commanded to stand down. This extermination will proceed as planned. Any action you take will have dire consequences!”

In front of me, the two of them clashed once more. This time, Theodor had the upper hand, and the combat knife Marcia’s partner had been holding was batted aside. Right away, the man threw himself back and vanished between the underbrush. A moment later, he fired at Theodor, but the bullets merely grazed him before he charged after the man. I did my best to follow them, but they were fast and soon more gunfire reached my ears.

When I saw them again, Theodor had closed in on the man, but was bleeding from a gunshot wound in his lower abdomen. Still, he could finally land a hit against the guy’s head. The mask was torn from his face, and I gasped when I saw what was below. It was inhumane, comprising nothing but scar tissue. The only visible thing on his face were his bloodshot eyes. Where his mouth would’ve been, I saw nothing but a stitched line. I’d read about them before. That guy was a freaking enhanced human. Those practices, however, had been outlawed years ago because of the side-effects.

“You’re telling me Theodor needs to be exterminated, but that thing-?”

“I’d like to inform you,” Marcia cut me off, “that while the practice of artificially enhancing humans has been abolished, we higher-ranking exterminators have a certain freedom to choose our assets.”

“Then Theodor’s one such asset as well,” I spat at her.

Marcia reiterated her tirade about standing down and Headquarters’ permission.

And at that moment, I had enough. Fuck that bitch, and fuck Headquarters. Sure, Theodor was a crazy freak, but by now, I couldn’t call him anything but a friend. Without him, I’d been long dead. Hell, without him, we’d never taken down that A-class organism. My hand closed around the gun. I pushed my finger against the trigger and marched forward.

“What you are about to commit, Exterminator 7D11087, will be deemed as high treason and-“

I didn’t give a shit anymore. Blame everything on me for all I care. With that, I tore the communication device from my ear and threw it deep into the forest.

I could see that Theodor was barely keeping up with Marcia’s partner. He was covered in wounds and one of his arms wasn’t working anymore. I pointed the gun at Marcia’s partner. He was fast, tried his best to dodge, but the bullets still hit. One went deep into his upper body, another one hit him straight in his head. He was thrown aside, staggered for a moment before he crashed to the floor and lay still. I knew I’d just made the biggest mistake in my entire fucking life, but I didn’t care. All I could think about was one thing.

Fuck monsters and fuck artificially enhanced humans.