The day Theodor had been babbling on about had come. Shit, I’d had my doubts. I’d thought he’d gone crazy. Hell, I hoped he had. Now, I can’t anymore. After seeing the impossible size of that signature, and after feeling that thing’s presence, I knew he’d been right.

While we were all stunned by its power, Theodor began laughing again.

“Shit,” he finally said in a quivering voice. “All that, and it’s not even here yet. It’s just probing, just feeling around.”

I jerked towards him.

“How’d you even-?” I started, but one look at his mad face made it clear that I’d get no answers from him right now.

Instead, I turned to the adjudicator.

“What now? What are we supposed to do? No one here can handle something like this!”

Her eyes were wide, sweat covered her forehead, but it took her mere seconds to get her composure back.

“The organization’s aware of the incident. They’ve been preparing and support is on their way as we speak. Until they arrive, however, we’ll assist the local authorities with the evacuation procedures and try our best to ward off the premise of the incident. That’s an order, Exterminator 7D11087.”

“I thought I wasn’t part of the organization anymore?”

She stepped up to me and brought her face close to mine.

“Your position as an official exterminator has just been reinstated. Should you choose to decline, however...”

In an instant, some of the support squad members pointed their guns at me.

I gave her a short laugh.

“Now, how could I decline an offer like that?”

With that, we set out. All the while, the Adjudicator was in direct contact with the local authorities. From the voices that blared from the phone, I could tell how shaken and outraged they were. The adjudicator did her best to keep them calm, explained this was an unprecedented incident and it would all be taken care of in time. While the voices on the phone continued screaming at her, I couldn’t help but shake my head. We’d take care of this? What a fucking joke! For a moment, I turned to Theodor, but he was a mess. Sweat covered his face and his eyes were half-open and bloodshot. I could see him grimace in pain every once in a while. I thought about handing him a memory contraption, but he’d already downed multiple. This time, however, they didn’t seem to do a damn thing.

“Hey, man, are you all right?”

He shot me a glance and gave me a weak nod. Yeah, right, I thought.

When we arrived in the inner city, I saw it was absolute hell. Even from where I was, I could see the city center had been leveled. It almost seemed as if a giant sinkhole had opened up and swallowed any signs of civilization. Panicked people flooded the streets and stared at the massive destruction without understanding what was going on. Police were everywhere, busy issuing evacuation orders and driving people away. A defensive perimeter had been set up, and the adjudicator went to talk to the man in charge right away. My eyes wandered over the police forces and the rescue personnel, and I could see the shock on their faces. None of them knew what was going on, but I could tell they were all out of it. Shit, wasn’t that why we existed? To keep things like this from happening?

“The evacuation is under way,” the adjudicator spoke up. “Right now, our objective is to take care of any creatures trying to break the perimeter until support is here and guarantee the safety of the civilians.”

I watched as one of the squad members readied and sent out a multitude of sentry drones. The little devices didn’t make it far before they were fried and crashed to the ground. I heard the man curse in anger, but I knew sentry drones wouldn’t be of any use. Even an A-class creature’s presence had been enough to overload them and this here was much, much worse.

While I was checking my equipment, another wave of pressure hit us. Before I even knew what was happening, I found myself on the ground. I gnashed my teeth and fought against my instinct to run away. A moment later, it was gone. It must’ve been another one of its probing feelers.

“We’re all fucked!” Theodor called out from behind me.

“Get a fucking grip, man!” I screamed at him and got a hold of his collar. “Weren’t you the one who said he wanted to stop this? Weren’t you?”

He gave me a short laugh, but said nothing.

“Fucking hell,” I spat at him before I made my way to the front of the defensive perimeter.

One of the squad members handed me a pair of binoculars. When I gave him a questioning look, he pointed ahead. At first, I saw nothing but rubble and destruction, but after a few seconds, I knew what he’d pointed at. Slightly to the east of the signature’s center, I saw a twisted construction. At first, I thought it might be another ziggurat, but I soon noticed how different it looked. It wasn’t constructed from rubble or stone. No, it looked organic, almost like it was grown. Right at that moment, something akin to a tentacle slithered from the ground, wreathed itself around it and was incorporated. I couldn’t help but shiver.

“What the hell,” I mumbled.

Theodor came over and took the binoculars from my hand. For a long moment, he focused on it. Once more, I saw him grimace before he got a hold of himself again.

“That’s the place. That’s where it’s going to come through,” he said in a shaken voice, more to himself than to anyone else.

The Adjudicator turned towards us.

“It was the same during the A-class incident,” I explained. “The creature was creating something, but we stopped it before it could finish whatever it was doing. Or,” I suddenly reasoned, “it might have been nothing but a test, a preparation for this.”

“How much time do we have?” she asked.

I turned to Theodor, but he merely shrugged.

“Might be days, might be minutes, but so far, it’s only probing, testing the waters, so to speak.”

Once more, I was about to ask him how he knew all that, but at that moment, one of the squad members called out.

“We’ve got visuals!”

Here they come, I thought, and as I stared ahead, I saw dozens of creatures between the rubble. That thing might not have come through yet, but a ton of others had. I’d thought they’d attack us, but they only seemed to patrol the area and watch us from afar. What are you waiting for, you bastards? I picked up the binoculars again and then saw it. People. They weren’t attacking because they were busy dragging away people, most likely to incorporate them into the ghastly growing structure.

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“Shit, they’re going after the civilians!” I called out to the adjudicator.

In an instant, she ripped the binoculars from my hands and her face grew serious. A moment later, she called out orders. I had to give it to her. Sure, she’d lost her composure when the thing first appeared, but she’d long gathered herself.

We set out in an instant, but it seemed that was what those fuckers had been waiting for. I watched as the members of the support squad gunned down creatures, but I could tell from a glance that those were nothing but small fry. The moment something stronger arrived, those men would be in over their head.

Mere minutes later, I saw two of them hit the ground like wet sacks. Yet, I saw no visible wounds, no attacker. Shit, don’t tell me...? A third man fell to his knees, throwing up blood. Then I felt it too, a force reaching out for my mind. For a moment, my head spun, but I instantly popped a mind blocker. My eyes darted around and I soon found the proxy organism responsible. It was nothing, but a grown together bundle of flesh. I pointed my gun at it, but right at that moment, my arm started shaking and I felt my breath come in harder. Shit, that thing was no joke. I took a deep breath, gathered all my strength, and threw a grenade right at it. I felt a last, terrible stab of pain in my head before the thing was evaporated. If there was one of those proxy organisms around, didn’t it mean...

Shit, I had no time to think. I’d barely gathered myself when a humanoid type came right for me. This time, my arm wasn’t shaking, and I took the fucker down before it could get to me. Yet, more of them were coming.

I turned to see Theodor taking down another creature with his combat knife, but his movements were sloppy and he barely seemed to make it. He was slower than usual, panting and clearly in pain. I rushed over toward him, took position by his side and shot down a beast type that came for him. My eyes darted over our quickly dwindling group. Shit, we wouldn’t last out here.

Right at that moment, a giant beast type crashed right into a handful of squad members. The thing might have once been a stray cat, but was now a towering monstrosity. The men shot at it, but it did nothing against the thing. I watched as its claws tore through one man, then another before its jaws closed around a third one. Pained screams reached my ears and a second later, I heard ribs break and flesh tear. The two men still alive were frozen. Cursing, I rushed towards them, shot the thing in the head once, twice, but it was still alive, and now it was not only hurting, but truly angry. The fucker turned around and charged right at me. I threw myself back, but the thing was faster than I’d thought. I felt long claws scratch over my protective armor. Its jaws opened wide to get a hold of me, but at that moment I saw my chance.

“Got you,” I said as I threw a grenade down its throat.

A second later, the thing exploded, and I was covered in blood and guts.

“Adjudicator! We’ve got to go back!” I screamed towards the woman. “We need a defensive position! We won’t last out here!”

“Exterminator 7D11087,” she snapped at me. “Our orders are to rescue any civilians that are-“

“Our orders won’t matter if we all die out here! This is hopeless!”

For a moment, she stared at me before she cursed and ordered a general retreat. Her eyes wandered back to her phone and, for the first time, I saw clear anger on an adjudicator’s face.

“What’s going on?”

“Our support should be here by now!”

I spit on the ground, but said nothing.

Our group made its way back, meter by meter, fighting off any creature that came for us, but more and more squad members were going down.

The moment we’d made it back to the defenses, however, none of the creatures followed us. Theodor next to me was panting, shaking, and covered in blood. Only a dozen members of the support squad were still alive. The men were shaken and clutched onto their weapons with wild eyes. I couldn’t blame any of them. Sure, they might be hardened professionals, but they were not trained for an incident like this.

“Take care of the wounded,” I heard the adjudicator call out to the small group of survivors.

I opened my mouth to inquire where the hell our support was when the ground shook. My eyes darted around, expecting to find a towering monstrosity coming our way, but I saw nothing. A second later, the ground below us was torn asunder.

I lost my footing, almost crashed down and for a second I didn’t know what was going on. Then I watched as a bubbling mass of flesh pushed itself from the ground. Shit, worst case, another one of those formless fuckers. In an instant fleshy appendages formed, shot out and got a hold of two squad members. I fought myself to my feet, ripped out my gun, but before I could even pull the trigger, the liquid flesh engulfed the two men. Without thinking and by pure instinct, I threw a flamer against the creature. Hungry flames licked over it and it screeched in pain. A second later, it pulled itself together and retreated to where it had come from.

I knew, however, that one flamer wouldn’t be enough to finish it. My eyes darted around and a moment later, the creature exploded outward from the street behind us. Only now, as it showed itself in its entirety, did I see how huge it really was. I couldn’t help but grin a little. Shit. Even with multiple flamers, I wouldn’t be able to finish it.

“Where’s that support you’ve been talking about, Adjudicator?” I screamed at her.

She opened her mouth, but before she could answer, the thing came for us. Liquid flesh washed over the street in our direction. The members of the support squad panicked, and I watched as some of them took position and fired at the creature. Dammit, that wouldn’t do a damn thing!

“Get back, there’s nothing you can do!”

My words, however, were too late, and the men were drowned in the enclosing liquid flesh. The second flamer flew high through the air, crashed against the creature and covered it in more flames. This time, however, it didn’t retreat. It pulled itself together, sacrificed part of its body, and came for us again. Eyes formed and focused on me. Mouths appeared all over its body and giggled in anticipation. The adjudicator was by my side. Her eyes darted around wildly.

“What are you doing? Get the fuck out of here!” I screamed at her and pushed her back.

Then my eyes found Theodor.

“Theodor, we’ve got to get-“

I broke up when the creature pushed itself up higher and higher. It was a literal avalanche of liquid flesh and it would come down on us at any moment. As I stared at the countless bulging eyes, the open mouths, I knew there was no way we’d be able to outrun it.

Right before it threw itself onto us, though, the mass of flesh was hit by a blazing light. A flamer, I thought, but when the creature’s flesh melted away and disintegrated, I knew this hadn’t been a mere flamer. The thing screeched in pain, tried to gather itself and find out what was attacking it, but before it could, it was hit twice more. This time, I saw what it was. It was no grenade. It was some sort of concentrated energy beam.

I stared at the sizzling remains in front of us in utter confusion. Then I darted around, scanned the area, and I finally noticed a group of four people who made their way towards us. All except one was clad in armor. I could tell right away those guys differed from any other exterminator I’d ever seen. Their faces were hard, emotionless and covered in scar tissue.

When I noticed the simple silver emblem on their armor, I knew who they were. Omega. The upper echelon of Europe’s exterminators. The best of the best. A special branch tasked specifically with taking care of A-class incidents. Seems Headquarters had realized how serious the situation was. Still, with those guys here, things would get ugly. They had a reputation, one even more questionable than Marcia’s. Sure, they handled all incidents they were tasked with, but from what I’d heard, the word monster fit them more than anything they were thrown against.

My eyes wandered over the group and I remembered each member was named after a Greek god.

One of them was a giant of a man, carrying some sort of futuristic weapon, one he’d most likely used to destroy the formless creature. Considering what I’d seen, it had to be some type of energy weapon. This guy had to be Hephaestus, named after the smithing god. Another one was a sleek, incredibly tall bastard, adorned with a multitude of jagged blades. Ares, named after the god of war. The third man looked more like a robot than a person. His entire body was covered in a dark, futuristic suit of armor, and an assortment of gadgets and robots hovered around him. Hades, named after the god of the underworld. The last member of the group was a young woman. She was bald and dressed in a long, heavy robe. When she shot me a glance, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Another freaking mentalist, one I’d heard about. Athena, named after the goddess of wisdom.

What a bunch of fucking tryhards.

The group didn’t give me, Theodor, or anyone else notice, and walked up straight to the adjudicator. Eventually, I joined them and instantly found myself at the center of attention and four pairs of cold, hard eyes focused on me.

“So, you’re the exterminator responsible for this?” Hephaestus asked, and walked up to me.

For a moment, I could only stare at his imposing figure, but then I nodded. Before I could even react, one of his hands shot forward and lifted me up by the neck.

“Guess it was a little too much for trash like you,” he said and tossed me aside.

“But don’t worry,” he continued. “We’re going to take care of that little fuck-up of yours.”

“Well, isn’t that great?” I mumbled.

As I watched them getting ready to take action, I couldn’t help but curse to myself.

Fuck monsters and fuck those assholes.