As the unforgiven heat of the Australian sun shines directly on Nick’s face. He squinted as he finally regained consciousness. He could feel dried blood at the back of his head, and the unforsaken headache that followed. Even his right arm felt swore, he felt lucky that he didn’t bleed to death.
He hopped up and headed outside, he walked back to the police station to confirm what he already knew. Yet he was naively hoping that it wasn’t the case. Only to find that he was alone, the last survivor. ‘Jesus!’ He mumbled as the pool of gore was swarmed by flies that dined and indulged themselves on Nick’s friend. Well, he thought his friend was amongst the pile of parts and blood.
Nick struggled to process what happened, how he even survived. He looked around and hoped to find anyone else, someone he could talk to. Yet the only answer was the breeze of the wind that carried the red earth which stuck to his boots. What’s the point? What can I even do?
He turned south to see a dust cloud coming his way. Nick shook his head, he couldn’t believe it. Help was on their way, but he couldn’t care. He just wanted to go home and forget about it all.
Grey armoured cars rolled up, on the doors was their logo which was a stylised D inside of a U. Men and women in body armour, carrying different types of weaponry hopped out of their vehicles to start setting up their equipment all over town.
A single man wearing a cowboy’s hat approached Nick with his Mark 39 Enhanced Battle rifle slung to his side. ‘Hello there,’ the armed man said with a thick Southern American accent with a smile. ‘Names Ryan,’ He checked Nick’s injury. ‘Darn, looks like you had a rough week. May I ask who you are.’
‘Just call me Nick.’ He replied with a tired frown.
Ryan kindly escorted Nick to the pub for what seemed to be a simple chat in exchange for medical assistance. Though to Nick, he knew this was an integration of some kind. As soon as they got inside, Ryan picked up two chairs and sat them down while he rested his rifle near the door.
‘Now I know what you’re thinking, and that is why we are inside to have a private conversation. But before I answer any questions, I think it is fair for a formal introduction.’ Ryan clapped his hands together like he was excited as if it was his first time sharing bad news with a stranger. ‘I and my lovely companions are part of what is known as the Disposal Unit. We go to places having a bit of a monster problem and we deal with it ourselves. Now, you are wondering, “why don’t I know you guys?” Simple! We don’t exist. This operation is top secret and frankly, this conversation isn’t happening. Not even the Australian government knows what happened here, or that we rolled in your front yard. Before you ask, yes we did find that man on the bike, and no, he didn’t survive. So all of that out of the way, do you have any questions?’
Nick gawked at the man, utterly baffled at what he just heard and how unserious the man was. ‘What?’ Nick replied, unable to think of a reasonable question.
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Ryan smiled as he pulled out his notepad and pen. ‘Don’t worry, confusion is a totally reasonable reaction to the horrors you have witnessed as well as talking to people who deal with them. Oh, right! I almost forgot to mention that because we are totally top secret, you will either have the option to join us or have your memories erased and you’ll go back to your regular life. Don’t worry, it won’t cause anything life-changing, as in you are not at risk of becoming a vegetable. The guys in blue will just go in and pluck that nasty memory out and you’ll be none the wiser. Simple as.’
‘...What?’
‘If you are confused, you can’t just say “what”. Work with me here, I have a job to do and I too would like to get it done so I can go home.’
Nick stuttered, ‘um, a lot of people died here. How are you going to cover this up?’
‘Now that is a good question. The Clean-Up Crew have their own set of skills to clean up messes like this. So unfortunately, I can’t tell you how they do it. But the gist of it is they might make clones that would die in a month or two, or ping it on you for murdering the entire town. It depends on which story would be easy to fabricate at the moment.’
‘What the fuck!?’ Nick shouted.
Ryan raised his hands to calm him down. ‘Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I am just telling you how we deal with monsters and cover it up. The main thing is, and I think you can agree, is that we don’t want people to know that the bogeyman is real, and the tooth fairy is a psychopath. It would cause utter chaos, and we should avoid that, yes?’
‘I guess.’
‘Good, I know you have a bit of empathy and can step in my shoes. Now, since you survived the encounter, I am going to ask you a series of questions.’
‘Wait, how do you know I survived? How could you tell that I’m not the monster?’
Ryan reached for his side pistol as he glared at Nick. Nick gulped, willing to jump back and run away, perhaps to fight to survive. However, Ryan reverted to his humorous self. ‘Nah, I’m just messing with you. If it was you, you’ll be dead by now and I’ll be enjoying some baby potatoes back home. Without any interruptions, let’s begin.’
Nick spent over two hours detailing the monster, what it did to his friend and other survivors, everything. While outside the other soldiers set up barricades, trip mines, alarm systems, machine gun nests, and a temporary sentry tower.
At the end of the integration, Ryan offered a gun which he again refused. ‘Just so you know, you’ll stay here until we deal with the creature. Feel free to stay near me, I am a good conversationalist. But perhaps after I get someone to patch you up first. I don’t want you to die on me so soon.’ He said after he left to brief his fellow soldiers. Leaving Nick in a state of confusion and hopelessness. They kill monsters? Those guys?