5/10/54

ALEXANDER GALDUR

“Okay, so let’s go over the plan again, alright?”

Both Anna and Max nod silently, tension and nervousness spread across their faces.

“Alright, so first, our target was a tree pangolin, a weird little mammal with scales and a prehensile tail to travel through trees with. Our monster version has rubber replacing the keratin in the scales, and the thing also seems to be resistant to various forms of trauma. The thing to look out for, however, is its tail—the thing is around the length of two full grown adults and the rubber will make it have a harsh grip.”

“In addition, it’ll be pretty mobile because of its tail, so we need to limit where it’ll go. Max’ll set up runes to box it in. My gear will be less effective against it on the count of rubber being a good insulator, so I’ll also need you to give me some runes to focus my light into a laser.”

He shakily nods, “Just like we practiced?”

I give a quick nod back and continued, “Anna, you’ll be on standby somewhere safe. If things are getting rough for me, you’ll send out some quick healing, right?”

She nods, her normally joyful and expressive face set in stone.

“Alright, I think it’s time we move then.”

Walking out from the cat café we had decided to meet in, we all walked down the busy streets of Tulare. Again, the bright sights of the city amaze me: the neon signs of the small businesses, the lively running ons, the sounds of vehicles humming and rumbling, the smell of grease and food in the neglected parts of town, all of it feels nostalgic and new.

Traveling swiftly, we make our way to our destination. I keep watch on one area while Anna watches the other. Max combs through the internet for anything that might signal a monster or eventually attract monsters. The din of the streets below bellow out as a constant, and after only an hour of waiting, Max relays that he has found.

A hotel a couple blocks down has seen recent damage from something scaling it. Whatever it is, it isn’t very big, only being the size of a medium-sized dog. In addition, food stalls selling candied crickets have seen most of their stock stolen with holes being found penetrating the food’s containers.

Moving and passing by the food stalls, we immediately demanded to see the roof of the hotel on the suspicion of a monster residing up there. Of course, they were suspicious of the group of teens barging in and making outlandish claims, however, a flick of my new bounty hunters’ license did wonders to make them comply.

Peeking through the heavy metal door, we scanned the rooftop. The roof was pretty barebones with only a few structures existing on it as storage. Immediately, the shattered window of one of the storerooms drew my eye, and the smattering of dead crickets lying about led me to realize that this was most likely the nest of the monster. Thanking the staff that brought us here, we hurriedly sent them off and began preparations.

Slowly, we snuck onto the roof, eyes watching vigilantly for anything. Anna went to watch the area beneath us, Max began setting up his runes, and I slowly crept up to the broken-in storeroom. Heart thundering in my chest, my ears strained to hear over my pulse, carefully listening for any signs of life. Peaking through the slightest bit, an exhale of relief escaped me when the room was revealed to be empty, though the smell of feces did make me regret the inhale that followed. I went over to Max and Anna and silently signaled for them to come closer.

“The monster isn’t here right now, so we have time to prepare. Max, how are the runes coming?”

“I’ve got about half of the containment runes set up, so I, uh, think I-I might be able to finish in five-ish minutes. Then, I can start making your runes.” He said, body tensed under the pressure.

“Anna?”

“Keep an eye out, right?”

I gave a quick nod and we all split up. While Max worked on his runes, Anna and I watched opposite sides of the hotel. Max finished up his work and drew a rune on my hand while we waited, and eventually, the monster did arrive.

A long tail snaked across the roof and latched onto a nearby pipe. Its brown scales, outlined by black and gray rubber just under each of them, clicked together as the pipe groaned under the strain that was put on it. Coming up behind the slender tail, a pair of clawed paws creeped up until the entire monster followed.

Its eyes snapped towards us immediately, and a rolling growl dragged from the monster’s throat. Before anything could happen, however, ink walls erupted across the rooftop, eventually curling into a swirling dome. The encapsulated area was pitch black, and calling out over the monster’s startled cries, I yelled, “Flashbang incoming!”

Without waiting for a response, I filled the area in front of me with light magic, and rapidly, a light formed and exploded. Eyes unblinking, I watched as the monster recoiled back, sharply screeching, and in that moment of weakness, I pumped light into my legs and leveled into a sprint.

On my way, I gripped hard with my left hand and felt the small orb of ink form over it. Knowing my normal boxing would be inefficient against this decidedly non-human opponent, I threw myself to the ground in a slide. Using my free hand, I grabbed onto the head of the monster and threw it in the air. Waiting for it to reach its peak, I took aim and fired the laser, hitting it in its flank.

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The smell of burnt rubber was accented with roasting flesh, and the cries of the monster tore through the roof. Its tail flew and bashed into me, pushing me back a few feet. Taking advantage of the situation, however, I grappled the tail to keep it close while continuing to laser a specific part of the monster’s tail.

The beast thrashed around, but eventually, with a sickening tear, the tail was burnt free. The smell was horrendous, the air filling more and more with smoke as it became harder and harder to breathe. Using some of the last clean air in my lungs, I yelled, “Take down the barrier!”

Rippling, the dome lost its form. As it descended upon us, it evaporated just before it came crashing down. All the trapped smoke lifted into the air while fresh air rushed in and replaced it. I panted, tears quickly forming. I snuck a glance at the monster and found it too hurt and delirious to flee. It weakly squeaked out pitiful notes while struggling to move around on shaking legs. Blood gushed around the cauterized parts of the wound I had made, and with every ounce that poured out, the monster grew continually weaker.

Eventually, it died, its last death throe being weak and quiet, a small call onto unhearing ears. Taking a few breaths before proceeding. Anna summoned a flame that healed me while Max and I worked on cleaning up. With the three of us working together, we carried the monster through the hotel with me having to cauterize the monster’s wounds so as to not spill blood on the hexagon-patterned carpet.

We arrived back at the bounty hunters’ office, turned in our catch, and were paid four hundred and thirty three dollars. Beforehand, we had decided upon myself getting seventy-five percent while Max and Anna would each get twelve point five percent. This was my only source of income, afterall. Anyways, after getting our payment, I got three hundred and twenty-four dollars and seventy-five cents while Max and Anna each received fifty-four dollars and thirteen cents.

From there, Max and Anna waited in her dorm while I slipped into mine. Deimos and I locked eyes when I stepped in before we both looked away, and ignored the sudden tension in the air. I had a shower to wash off the blood, sweat, and grime that had been baked onto me by the hot California sun. Then, I slipped away from the uncomfortable atmosphere, hair still wet, and enjoyed the rest of the day with Anna and Max.

5/11/54

The next morning, I was sitting outside while working on my darkness-suppression, and I heard footsteps coming towards me. Cracking an eye open, both eyes flipped open in surprise as I saw, not Elizabeth, but Sarah.

“Lucas.” She greeted with a nod of her head.

“Sarah? What are you doing here?” I rose to my feet and asked.

“Usually Elizabeth comes here to exercise. Have you seen her?”

I shook my head, “Haven’t yet.”

At that, she got a contemplative look and we stood there awkwardly for a few minutes.

Ughh, this feels bad. I know who she is, what her family does, and it-just-AAH! Seriously, she’s like a predator to me, and like a deer in the headlights, I stood there, frozen, until I decided to try and break the tension, asking her, “So, got a clue where she might be?”

Her focus broke and she turned to look down at me. Geez she’s tall. She opened her mouth before quickly clicking it shut. She looked like she struggled as she said, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you, Lucas. It’s a… sensitive matter.”

Mulling that over, I recall that Deimos hadn’t been at the dorm as often, and when he was, he had to leave soon after. Deimos and I might be in an… awkward phase, but I still considered him a friend, so I pushed, “Really? Sorry, it’s just, Deimos hasn’t been around as often, so I was worried for him and Elizabeth.”

She looked surprised at that, “Really? I hadn’t thought you and Elizabeth were very close.”

I nod, lying between my teeth, “Yeah, we’ve been meeting here every morning. We train together.” I knew she was friends, or at least, acquainted with Elizabeth, so I was hoping to earn some sympathy points.

She looked at me, face scrunched slightly, clearly conflicted, “Really?”

I nod, stone-faced, “Really. So, please, could you tell me; I’m just worried about my friends.”

After a moment's hesitation, she breaks. Yes!

“It’s about the ‘Zoo,’ as they’re called. You’ve encountered them, correct?” When I nod, she continues, “Recently, they have contacted the DME and threatened an attack on a few of its branches, one of which is our’s. The DME has become more active and they’ve increased everyone’s workload in response.”

The Zoo, huh? Thanking Sarah, I quickly moved into training, thinking while exercising. The zoo had been becoming more and more prevalent with them terrorizing the NMSA and somehow smuggling animals into large cities. The animals they were bringing in weren’t small too, sure some of them were, but quite a few were around the size of rhinos or elephants.

Continuing to think this over, I had a quick shower, geared up, and then went to the bounty hunters’ office. Before I could head to the bounty terminals, as I had learned they were called from Max, the front-desk guy called me over.

Walking up, eyes flicking about, worried about whether I’d done something wrong, “Yes?

He put down a pile of… something and said, “The parts fr’m yer monsta kills are ‘ere. Take ‘em.”

I tried asking why, but he was already asleep. I guess… you get to keep the parts from the monsters you killed? Though, I did notice that there weren't nearly enough pieces from both of the monsters, so I guess the office kept some pieces. Well, either way, I decided to head back to the dorm because it’s not like I could do my job while hauling around monster parts.

When I got back to the dorm, I threw the parts on my bed and thought about what I should do with them when I realized I didn’t have a single clue. The only reason I got this armor was because Deimos had gotten it done for me. I mean, I did have people I could ask on how to get new armor because my current stuff was falling apart, but…

… I really should apologize to Deimos. I… I should’ve called for help, I shouldn’t have used my dark magic, I should have and shouldn’t have done so much! Deimos isn’t completely free from blame, but I’ve still been immature about all this. I made up my mind, got into my casual wear, and waited on the sofa for Deimos to come back. First thing I’d do when I saw him would be to apologize. He was only trying to look out for me and the safety of others. Can’t really blame the guy too much for that.

So I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

By the time it was nine in the evening, he hadn’t come back.