Seeing the girl staring at me with piercing blue eyes, I finally realized I had never had a good look at her, perhaps because the situation had been so hectic.

The kid had blond curly hair reaching her shoulders and blue eyes, her skin was pale white showing she was obviously not from Texas, as the ever present boiling sun demanded everyone to have tan skin.

Unless they mostly stayed at home like me, but I doubted that was the case.

Just as I figured I didn't even know her name, and had been calling her kid all this time, she spoke.

"Mister", she uttered in a strangely deadpan tone.

Feeling uncomfortable by the sight of a child acting so unemotional.

As if I knew that I wasn't going to like what was about to be said, I answered apprehensively "Yes?".

It seemed her gaze became even heavier as she asked, "If you defeated the big cat and survived, then….. why did my papa die?".

Stunned, I was unable to come up with an answer, leading the girl to ask me the same question again, but remaining silent she lost all pretence of stolidity, and started bawling heavily again as she began to repeatedly cry out "WHY DID MY PAPA HAVE TO DIE".

Seeing the heartbreaking scene and not being very knowledgeable about these kinds of situations, I did the only thing I knew and went on my knees and embraced her into a tight hug, as I said to her "I am sorry".

Although she continued crying, she stopped asking why her father died, and after few minutes seemingly overcome by the day's fatigue, fell asleep.

Lifting up her light and frail bodie, I was reminded at how powerless children were, and how the world always seemed to throw them in situations they had no right being in.

*Sigh* "The worst things always happen to the powerless".

Standing up while letting the kid sleep on my shoulder, I decided to search for shelter or some sort of safe area for today, my first thought was calling the police, however, checking my phone I realised I had no reception.

Not knowing where to go I settled with following the river of manure flowing in the middle of the pathway, I also kicked the corpse of the cat into the river in the hopes no other creature would be attracted by the stench of the the corpse.

While roaming the sewer and seeing no creatures I eventually decided to turn on the flashlight of my phone so I had better visibility, all the while trying to breath through my nose as little as possible, and staying vigilant for sudden attacks.

....

After two hours of exploring I had made numerous twists and turns, and now stood in front of the most disgusting waterfall I had ever seen.

The area ahead was a large circular area where 5 drainage rivers, similar to the one I was following, coalesced and torrented down into a deep pit.

As a constant flow of green liquid cascaded down, the reverberating sound the water made could have being pleasant if wasn't for the pungent smell of piss and shit mixed into it.

The reeking odor seemed to be enhanced by the force the torrent was pouring out.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Even the kid in my arms was scrunching up her nose while sleeping, clearly expressing her disgust.

Seeing the scene I couldn't help but smirk as I said, "Well at least those cat's won't be able to sniff my scent from here".

The reason why I hadn't turned around and left the minute the sickening aroma assaulted me was because right before the waterfall a flimsy iron stairs stood about two meters in height leading to a little outpost of sorts.

If it checked out I would use it as a base for tonight, as after the day's events I was drained.

Walking up the stairs I heard a dull metal echo with every step I took.

Reaching the top, I was now face to face with a silver grey door, hoping it was open I turned the door knob only to be out of luck.

Luckily the outpost had windows that oversaw the sewer.

"No, I shouldn't break those I still need to sleep here tonight"

Coming up with another Idea I decided to just kick down the door, although it looked quite sturdy being made of an metallic alloy, it must have been installed ages ago as it looked old.

Using the maximum amount of force I had, I kicked at the door.

As my foot and the door collided.

"BOOM"

The door immediately flung wide open, and seemed to have almost come of its hinges.

Stunned by my actions, I didn't move for a while, until I was reminded of the system and that I had increased my strength.

"That was... quite powerful"

Realizing my kick had made quite a loud sound even with the cascading waterfall I quickly walked into the room and closed the door, well as far it could be closed as it was now permanently unlocked.

Seeing the room I confirmed it was indeed an outpost, with a control center inside containing aperture such as a few levers and a whole lot buttons that likely controlled the sewage system in some sort of way. Their was also a Radio and a landline PHONE!

In front of the aperture stood one reclining office chair that seemed pretty comfortable, while two wooden chairs were stacked on top of each other in a corner, probably used as replacements.

Reclining the office chair, I gently put the sleeping child on it.

After that I grabbed one of wooden ones and put it at a slight angle against the door, making it act as a barricade, or at least an alarm should someone try to enter.

Having made sure the area was secure, I walked over the control station and picked up the phone.

The phone was a bit special, as only 3 lines were available seeing from the buttons next to it.

The number I could call were TX Sewage management, TX Sewage CT, and 911.

After pressing each button and waiting for a while I was repeatedly met with static noise from the other line.

Seeing that the phone did not work, I sighed as I decided to turn my attention to the radio.

The model was rather old, or at least to me as I had actually only seen them on the internet, their were two big buttons you could turn with one being for volume and the other for frequency, their were also multiple buttons you could press, but I had no idea what their function was.

Turning on the radio, it seemed I was in luck as I heard the voice of the president statically on the news.

Trying to get a better connection I changed the frequency button until the message was at least somewhat audible.

"Dear.. itizens….we hav..being….attac…unknown threat…we u.. you all to stay… inside…the military has being mobo…. and is figh… threath….the incident seems to… happening globally... Dea.. citizens….we have..ing….attac…unknown".

Realizing it was just a repeating message I turned off the radio.

"Useless, absolutely useless", Having heard it my face was slightly aghast as I realised I was completely fucked, although the military seemed to be fighting, that wasn't very comforting as they did not even stipulate if they were winning, had save zones, or anything of the like, it was more likely for the army to still be in disarray.

And locking yourself in your house wasn't much of advise other than giving you some false sense of security before a monster would suddenly enter it… then it would be nothing more than a cage.

And the last piece of news was especially troublesome that the incident seemed to be happening across America, no on a global scale, this not only meant that no aid would arrive, but most concerning of all would be the death toll, if the USA was already struggling with the monsters than other weaker countries could be entirely wiped out.

Although this piece of news was disconcerting I did not dwell on it for to long, although a bit irritated that there was no help for now, that many people would die I couldn't feel much about it, it was not like there was anyone I cared about, and either way I could do nothing to change the situation.

I also had more important things to worry about such as bringing this girl to safety.

As I sat on the wooden chair and contemplated what I should do tomorrow, I slowly drifted off to sleep.