I give myself fifteen minutes to rest and wait for the surrounding too clear before finally leaving the room. Outside, the hallway is even more trashed than it was before, now clawed and torn with doors destroyed. My rifle hangs, slung to my chest as I walk down the hall, sidearm drawn with its flashlight equipped and my knife held beneath it in a reverse grip. Ready to stab anything that might throw themselves at me as I move through the dark halls.

Reaching the entrance to the security office, I take it in as I examine the torn apart door and sweep the corners for any remaining rats. Outside the airport is quite again, at least as quiet as it used to be, with the occasional call of monsters ringing out in the distance.

Slinking up to the door, I peek through and shine my light. The sun is setting quick, and the interior of the airport is quickly filling with darkness. Things will become very dangerous soon.

Confirming that the coast is clear, I step out and leave the room. Walking over to where Sgt. Lenz fell, I am left speechless.

“He's not here…” I whisper to myself.

Besides a lot of blood, there is no sign of him. No bones, no clothes, no armor. Not even his Shotgun. He must have survived! But how….?

Shining my light on to the monster’s corpse I give it a look over. The thing looks like someone took a monkey, stretched it out to the limit and then replaced its chest with a barrel. Basically, very thick torso with noodle limbs and big hands and feet.

Besides its body, I can’t really examine what is left of its head. It’s been crushed flat and exploded. Not the result of being blown out by a shotgun.

“Did the Sergeant curb stomp it or something? I didn’t think he was strong enough to do this…”

“No, I did it.” Speaks a young woman’s voice right behind me.

I spin around on the spot and point my pistol at where the voice came from, but there is nothing there.

Again, from behind me, “Hey! Do you mind not trying to point guns at people!? That shit is dangerous!”

I spin around again but nothing.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” Speaking angrily, but not raising my voice too high.

Somehow, again from behind me, “Wow, wow. Calm down soldier, I’ll show myself. I just need you to promise me that you won’t shoot me. You’re looking for the guy that was getting mauled by rats, right? You called him Sergeant?”

I slowly move around, shinning my light around as I search for the source of the voice.

“Yes, I’m looking for the Sergeant. How about you show yourself.”

“Not until I get that promise. I’m allergic to bullets you see, and I really don’t want you drawing more monsters down on our heads. In fact, I thought you guys where smarter than that, going and shooting when you're this deep into a city. Hahhh, and you guys were doing so well to, sneaking around and working your way in all sneaky beaky like.” She finishes with a giggle.

“We didn’t exactly get much of a choice, we were pinned and had to go through a monster. Wait… You’ve been watching us! You’re the Shadow, aren’t you!?”

I sweep around with the light trying to catch it, or her I guess, in my sights. The building is becoming darker with each passing moment and the shadows on the walls are growing deeper and longer.

“Shadow? I ain’t no hedgehog. Nor am I an edgy hedgehog.” She giggles again.

“No wha, What!? Not the video game character! A shadow! The shadow that’s been following us. Now show yourself!”

“No.”

“Why not!?”

“I still haven’t gotten that promise…” She says in a tired voice that someone would use if you asked them for a favor, but you still haven’t repaid them for the last one yet and still owe them a twenty.

“Alright…. I promise you that if you show yourself, I won’t shoot you… There, are you happy? Will you show yourself now?”

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“Yes, but I could have done without the sass… Move your light to the left… slowly.” This time her voice coming from up ahead.

“My finger is off the trigger and the safety is on…” I tell her.

Moving my aim to the left, the shadows parting with the light, the flicker of a black tipped tail is the first thing I see as my light brings the figure into view.

Short in stature, even compared to me, and grey and black from head to tail. Grey skin, black hair, and piercing yellow eyes adorning black sclera looks back at me as I stare in shock. She has horns growing from the crown of her head and one appears to be in the process of regrowing after being broken. She is dressed in torn blue jeans and a black t-shirt depicting some cloaked figures worshipping a pot of coffee. Behind her is the tail from earlier, not a figment of the imagination, as is gently sways back and forth behind her playfully.

“Well….? You’re able to see me now. You just going to stand there with your mouth open? You’ll catch flies doing that you know.” She says, tilting her head and trying to act cute with a big smile on her face.

“Wha, wh… What are you…?”

“Really? Well, I guess that is better than having you screaming, and trying to shoot me…” She says, scratching at her chin.

“I asked you a question. What are you!?”

Raising her hands, she answers in a hurry, “Wow now! Remember, you promised. And to answer your question, as rude as it is. I am a mutated human. Although, I have taken to referring to myself as an Imp, so please feel free to think of me as such.”

She continues after giving a smile full of pearly white teeth “And while I know you haven’t asked yet; I shall go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Lain. Full name is Elizabeth Saint Dixon, but I much prefer to be called Lain.”

Mutated human? Imp? That can happen!?

“Wait, wait, wait. You are mutated? That’s not something that happens, we’ve never… Wait that’s not important!”

“Not important!?” She says looking a bit shocked and upset, her tail jumping up behind her.

“The Sergeant! Sgt. Lenz, where is he!?”

“Quiet down a bit, you’re going to draw attention.” She says waving me down.

“I took him and ran. Pulled him out of all those rats and fled too somewhere safe. He’s pretty bloodied up, but he is still alive. And before you ask, I have no idea where your other teammates are. After saving your Sergeant and making sure he wasn’t going to bleed out, I went to go find the rest of you, but I couldn’t find hide or tail of your friends.”

I breath out with relief, “Then that means they got away. They should be heading back to the fallback point right now. Now, Sgt. Lenz. Where is he?”

Pointing up, she says, “Roof access. You’d be surprised how few of these things are able to get on roofs. Too dumb to find the stairs and climb up if you flee up there.”

“The roof? Can you bring me to him?”

“Ya sure, come on.” She says with a shrug and a smile.

She waves behind her and turns to walk away. Not wanting her to disappear into the darkness and lose sight of her, I keep my light on her, removing the light from my side arm and holding it in my hand so that I am not pointing a gun at her back. My pistol still remains firmly held in my other hand though. I don’t trust her just yet.

Arriving at a wall, she looks up at the sky light before waving me over.

“Grab on.” She says as if it’s the most natural thing to say.

“Uhhhh, what.”

“Grab on, I said.” She gestures as if to give me a piggyback ride. “I barred off the access to the roof from the ground floor to keep anything from just wondering up there on a lark. You guys seemed like you were going to take all day here, so I took some time earlier to make a camp up top while you were sneaking about. Surprised the hell out of me when I started hearing gunshots.”

Nervously, I walk up to her. Taking a second to consider, I holster my pistol and climb onto her proffered back. She doesn’t even budge as my weight settles on top of her.

“Wrap your arms and legs around me, falling would suck.”

I do so, my mind filling with awkward confusion, “This isn’t like some trick, or something is it…?”

“Nope!”

She stands with me wrapped around her back as if I am hardly there and proceeds to simply move up the wall. By the time we are already several meters off the ground and quickly approaching the ceiling, my mind finally catches up with reality.

“Wha! What the hell!?”

I tighten my grip around her in a death grip, holding on for dear life as she reaches the ceiling in seconds and is soon pulling us through the skylight.

Now standing safely(?) on the roof, she gives me a pat on the arm, “You can let go now…”

I awkwardly let go and climb down from her small back, fighting to get my slight shaking under control. I look at her, wanting to shower her with questions, but I come to a grinding halt when I see her looking shy.

“What’s with you? Why are you blushing?

“Eh!” She jumps a bit and scratches at her cheek with what I now see are some very intimidating looking black claws.

I look at her, feeling warry. My hand reaching for my pistol.

Is this all just some trick or something?

“Eh, ah… Well… you see. I’ve never……” She speaks quietly, “I’ve never had another woman hold me so tightly before… It was a bit embarrassing…” Her face lights up in a blush that clearly shows through her grey skin as she looks around at anything other than me. Behind her, her tail is waving back and forth and curling in happy little jumps.

Eh? What? What the fuck? What even is all this? This is my first mission in the city, and this is how it goes? First, I’m get stalked by a Shadow, then everything goes to hell in a handbasket, and now what!? The Shadow was an Imp, a mutated person? What the hell!? My first mission was supposed to be dangerous yes, but normal. Not whatever the hell this is!

As I am suffering a small mental breakdown, the Imp, Lain I guess, stops acting like a shy little maiden and look at me curiously with a tilt of her head.

“You good?” She asks, looking at me as if I might be crazy.

Why couldn’t my first mission have been normal….?