The Drog War

[M.U.T.O.]

Chapter 1
K

[border]19 Dezember 1962

I’ve found one of the nests today, off Lorner Boulevard and Ziegler Street. The nest is verdammt big; looks like it could be for crocodiles. There’s a huge pit in the center, smells ichorous like sewer odor...widerlich,...anyhow, it measures about three-and-half yards diameter and god knows how deep. I’d estimate about 20 meters down, to the sewer main.
The composition of the nest seems to be of broken pieces of tubing, about dreißig Zentimetern und einem Gemisch aus gebogenen Stahlträger und Rohre von irgendwo, vermutlich unter der Erde. Feststellung der Anwesenheit von Dachschindeln and sewer-mud.
-Wälder [/border]

That one old note is the shot that started the Drog War, you've probably never heard of it, only a select few have. Today, I'll change that.

I'll never forget that night, raining, almost like the movies. The note was getting wet but I didn't care, I had to make sure that the good doctor didn't say anything he shouldn't have. I had grown to see him as a friend after my frequent visits, it may seem sad but yes, it happened. I approached his place of residence, a small dingy place that seemed unfitting for such a brilliant mind. I assume it was because of where he was from, native Germans were looked down upon after the war. Especially in Raven's Thread, we tend to hold grudges here.

As I neared the door, I heard muttering in mixed English and German but I could not make out much besides a "find" of some sort, possibly related to the note? I knocked on the door and the muttering stopped, leaving only the sound of raindrops in my ears. I knocked again, this time a bit louder. I was getting annoyed with him, he never tended to do that.

"Doctor, you know who this is, right?" I started to explain. "Trevor, remember?"

I opened the door and was greeted with a beaker whizzing past my face, lovely. I turned to see my attacker, it was indeed the doctor. To explain Dr. Wälder, just imagine any German scientist you'd see in the papers, the sad eyes filled with regret, the hair just starting to grey. He was aged, I assume from the experiences before and after the war. He always was twitching or doing something with his hands, like he was nervous. Another war experience?

"That's the fifth time this week, and you're running out of beakers." I said with a smile.

"VERDAMMT!" Wälder shouted, seemingly angry.

"Nice to see you too, Doc."

The doctor put down the book he was about to smack me with and merely sighed. He turned toward the shattered beaker and got on his knees to pick up the shards. He was careful not to get cut, very precise for a...eccentric man. He turned to me.

"Why bist du- are you here?" He said, switching languages like it was a pain to switch to English.

"You left something important pertaining to a 'nest' of sorts." I mentioned. "Is that what I think it is?"

The scientist's eyes widened in shock as I pulled out his journal, hundreds of pages all detailed descriptions of the nest he had found. He tried to reach for it but I knocked his hand away.

"I- Is that mein Tagebuch— my journal? Give me that..." He begged.

I turned and looked out the window to see if anyone was watching before responding. "I'm sorry, I can't. The guys upstairs, they need everything on the enemy they can get."

Wälder raised his eyebrows. "They bist widerlich. And they are...enemy? I thought the reds were the enemy."

I turned and saw an old newspaper article on Cuba, those long days. We thought that war was going to happen, that perhaps man should not have the power of God. In the end, mankind won out, prevented our own destruction. Kennedy saved us there, I'd save Raven's Thread here.

I finally found the words to say. "Doc, you of all people should know at the end of the day, the Reds are people. These things-not so much."

"They're not intelligent per-se..." The doctor mentioned, still confused on the thought of them as the enemy.

I was raised Catholic, still am, but this next bit made me question my faith. "But they are a threat, how many deaths can we cover up? How well is it on the soul to know that people die because of inaction?"

The doctors face was filled with horror as he heard this. He knew that we were fighting them, he didn't know why. I didn't and still don't know why.

"When did they begin mauling people?" Wälder asked in shock.

I sighed and walked towards the window again, looking out at the rain. This would be a hard story to explain to the Doc.

I relayed this information to him. "Two weeks ago, a man and woman were found dead in the river. They were reported missing after their neighbors heard something and came to check it out. The next morning, they were discovered. Picked to the bones."

The doctor could barely speak. "I-I've never seen them do that..."

"Neither have we, that is why I'm here. We wanted to know why."

The doctor went for his notes again, this time I let him have them. He quickly snatched it and went through it, reading everything he wrote with almost inhuman speed. The man always amazed me with how fast he could work, it was a useful skill to have. He found something, I could tell his expression lit up and his eyes moved slower.

He lifted up his face and replied. "They've made nests. They're impressive. Go to the sewer mains."

His oblivious nature made me chuckle. "No, that's not everything. Be happy, friend, a new job opportunity just happened to come your way."

Wälder started to lean forward, his eyes focused on me fully. The look on his face was of surprise, he was not expecting this.

"What?" He spat.

"Welcome aboard, doc." I smirked.

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

The German doctor nearly fainted from shock, with me saving him from injury by catching him. As I helped him up I explained it clearly to him.
"Have a complaint? Take it upstairs but we need a specialist and you're overqualified."

"O-oh, good heavens...I need water."

He pointed towards the sink.

"There's plenty at the station." I stated.

"Take me there."

[M.U.T.O.]

Chapter 2
W

"Long wait, huh?" Kingston asked me. The night air was warm, the golden glow around the lamp beaming down onto the platform, and the train was behind schedule. I exhaled into the rain as drops hit my brow.

"Ja,” I responded. "At least I got a drink."

Kingston sighed, opening a small tin and taking out a cigar. "You know where we are going, right?" He looked down the bend to our left, the trees blotting out the main curve before bending back right along the bank of the Ravens Thread Reservoir. The pine trees stood tall behind the track. Ravens Thread may not have the most beautiful personality, but the scenery, I must admit, is breathtaking.

I didn’t know, so I simply guessed what would be most likely. "DC?" I take off my glasses for a moment and walk out into the rain.

Kingston leaned up against the brick wall of the small station house, still holding his cigar between his fingers. "No, we're going to see the chief. You know, the big guy."

I remember the Chief. Met him when I came to the States. He wasn’t...friendly with me, per se, but I recall we struck a deal that if I was needed, he’d call for me. Kingston was there, too. Assigned to my neighborhood; lived a few blocks away if I recall.
"Ohh. W-was ist mit den Notizbücher? The journals?” Me and my tendencies to switch back to German.

"Still have 'em." Kingston still hadn’t lit his cigar.

"Gut ... das ist gut. Er, what time is it, Mr. Kingston?"

"10:34.” He took his cigar out at 10:28 or so. “Doc, please focus, I'm trying to warn you. The chief, he may not like you, boss doesn't like the idea of working with, well, Germans."

My eyes rolled and teeth gritted together. "I've told him once, I'll tell him again! Ich wollte nie mit diesen rassistischen Bastarde zu arbeiten! They were mad!"

Another person on the platform looked at me. Swore his eye twitched at me. Got a glimpse of the news. Red Scare Still Looms, something like that. Every day here.

Kingston finally responded with a frustrated sigh as he turned to look my way. "You think he cares? World ain't fair, good men like you forced to live in dumps.” Now he lights his cigar and puffs a bit of smoke out. “Just gotta live with it for now."

I would’ve said “Tell that to my wife” if I were that brash. The thought only came up, but I stood silently. A sigh escaped my nose as I took my hands out of my pockets to cup some rainwater. I respect Kingston. Won’t get into a fight with him.
Kingston’s pretty tall. Blond hair, green eyes, limber but strong figure. Always sporting a trenchcoat, black shoes. Friendly smile. The neighborhood likes him. Trusts him, so to speak.

"Agent Hunter should be at the office; he'll greet us there."

I nodded with silence, splashing my face with what rainwater I collected.
A whining hiss then permeated through the air, stones on the trackway beginning to shake as I saw a double beam of light along the track by the lake, with several well-lit cars shunting behind it. A short while later, I heard the horn, and the train rounded the bend. I recognize the insignia as belonging to the New Haven Railroad.

"And look, the train's here." Kingston cheerily spoke, killing the glow of his cigar and disposing of the ash before boarding. I followed along, heading into the welcoming glow of the parlor car as we found a seat and got ourselves relaxed.

As the train started off, Kingston stood up from his seat and grabbed a plate from the buffet. I watched as he immediately stacked it high with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and various greens. A nervous look came to my eyes as he walked back, the car rumbling and shaking slightly as it thundered on south. He came to his seat and began eating without a word. Watching him wolf the food down like he did made me hungry myself. I stood up, pushed in my chair, and walked to the other side of the car.
I came back to the table to find that Kingston had all but finished his dinner. I had brought back a plate full of meatballs, knackwurst, and turkey, atop ricotta salata risotto. I smiled, raising my glass to him. He raised his glass in a post-dinner toast as I began mine.
---
“Finally.”

It was midnight by the time we reached the station. Much larger than the one we came from; ceiling was at least three times as high and there were plenty more tracks and platforms. We walked along the granite tile–or at least I was, until I realized Kingston had shuffled in near some young ladies wearing those new dresses which are in style these days. I pinched my brow and walked over to him, motioning that we should be going. He handed them something, I think it was his card, before getting up and walking alongside me. I could hear them giggling as he left.

“Really?” I look at him. He simply shrugs with a clueless expression on his face.

We got in the limousine and were escorted to the headquarters. A short drive, really. NARACO—the National Anomaly Research and Advanced Countermeasure Organization, I believe—is a severely underfunded organization. I can tell this because its base of operations is a very nondescript building. Just blends in well with the conventional office building setting.
Aside from appearances, it is generally underfunded. I saw but one guard inside the building as I entered down a long hallway.

"So you're Dr. Valador?"

I cringed at the way he tried saying my name, knowing who that was. I turned and saw Chief Steinbrecher with his slicked-back black hair, thick mustache, heavy eyebrows. White button-down and black suit jacket, black slacks. There was this air about him which I didn’t like. Don’t even know if he was aware of it at all.

"Wälder. Yes." I sigh, with hasty reply from Steinbrecher coming shortly after with his heavy accent. Not foreign, just...strange to my ears.

"German, all the same to me. Evil bastards, but you know what those...things are, am I right?" His words slipped from his tongue with such ease it hurt. I couldn’t let those words escape justice.

"The only evil bastards in Germany were the Nazis. I didn't want to be hired by the Reich; I disapproved of them anyways…” I was beginning to lose my composure. I sighed and decided to answer his question before things would blow over. ”...Yes, I know of them."

I paced over to Kingston, who handed me my bag of journals, of which I have several. I thumbed through each one, checking the order and number. All of them remained untampered.

"The police, the papers, the people, they all want to know what is going on. We can't let them, you want to know why? Then they think it's the Reds.” It’s at this point which I realize his concerns weren’t unjustified. The Missile Crisis in Cuba, the constant pointing of Bombs at each other, the constant gainsaying from both sides about their dark projects (I knew very much about them) and their one-uppery in this godforsaken arms race. “Then the war starts, who do they blame? Us."

I stand up straight before breathing in and pushing my glasses up my brow. "I can tell you this. They're definitely not Reds. But there will be some kind of war at some point if the alleged... maulings continue."

"We're inspecting a few murder cases that were unusual a few months back. Fill the gaps." Kingston jumped into the conversation. I stood still, thinking of a response.

"Do you have the skeletons?" I mumble, not expecting a response.

"Yes, but we're underfunded, with no way to go forward or back. It's like they want us to fail. It's a goddamned mess." Steinbrecher spoke, as if he was struggling. He probably was; I couldn’t tell at the time.

"The bodies are still in the basements, nasty stuff. You do not want to see them." Kingston responded.

“I want to see them.”

Kingston and Steinbrecher looked at me with a stare of some disbelief. Last time I checked (about a minute prior), they knew I was a scientist.

"Follow me, then." A voice rang out in the hall. I turned to see a man, moderately dark skin and black hair in a red jacket and black jeans. Steinbrecher smiled, turning to the man and giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Finally got here, eh, Red?" Chief Steinbrecher asked with a hearty chuckle, to which the man nodded and offered his hand to me. I shook it firmly. In such an age with relations between the races being so...tense, I find it relaxing to know such tension is void here. I took note of his nickname. Perhaps it was because of his jacket.

"Sorry, I'm Ruben Lancer, security, evidence, whatever the hell they want me to do.” The man, Ruben, spoke with strength in his words. A tenor voice, one could say. ”Just glad I get work."

"Ja. Pleasure to meet you." I responded with a smile.

"Let's get going then." Ruben nodded with confidence and led me down the stairs.

Kingston leaned over the railing and I looked up. "I'll stay back to talk to the chief.” He yelled to me as I was led down.

"Thanks." I nodded with a smile as the door opened. The light to the basement flicked on, and I took a deep breath.

The basement was not the cleanest place by any standard. It was dimly-lit; cigarette ash littered the floor by the doorway and smoke-dust covered the ceiling. I saw some tables and filing cabinets to the side, with a number of long drawers which appeared like they’d house bodies. It reminded me of the lab in Munich, albeit in far worse condition. Ruben was already over by the far wall, motioning for me to come near.

He opened one of the drawers, labeled MV-Riv02. "Found this one in the river, eyes were gouged out."

It was certainly not a pleasant sight. It was a skeleton, stripped mostly bare of all flesh, save for a bloodied pancreas and a few muscles near the hips; the left hamstrings were left mostly untouched and the sartorius on both legs were ripped. I noticed something as I looked onwards toward the skull. "Hold on, Ruben. Schau hier." There I go again, transitioning to German.

"There's more, some are...not clean. Shit's weird." Ruben muttered with a glance.

I was now fully focused on what was happening, reaching toward the skull. “That shouldn't be there..." And as I reach the cadaver, my fingers tracing the bone, I grasp a broken fragment embedded in the thick skull and pull on it. The object snaps out of its place, sliding out like a knife from a knife rack.

"About goddamn time we find something." Ruben sighs with some form of relief, leaning in to look at the object which I now held in my hand.

"Tooth. Definitely. The conical shape...combined with the shape of a knife...perfect for peeling flesh straight off a body.” The object was off-white and slightly pink, perhaps from blood. The tip was still sharp to the touch. “Gruesome, thinking about it."

"So they do eat people.” Ruben groaned in anguish, pushing his hands onto his brow. “Just my luck."

"They probably don't just eat people. There's a hole leading straight to an old sewer main in Ravens Thread,” I explained my observations last year. “And I found similar bite-marks in rat bones. Similar in that..." I lifted up the skull, raising it to eye-level. "The slope of the bite is the same, from my recollection."

Ruben raised his head in frustration with a small groan. "I figured, otherwise we'd be all dead. And I'd be out of a job." He muttered.

"If they had their way,” I spoke with grave confidence, realizing what we were getting into. “No matter what race, religion, creed...we'd be extinct.” I sighed as well, taking off my glasses and pressing my brow into the cuff of my jacket. “Good thing we're above them."

"Not the way I see it.” Ruben countered. “There's no favorites, they don't think they're better than us." Knowing him for such a short amount of time, he seemed to know a lot more about these creatures than any others here, simply by being here.

"Thing is, Ruben, I don't even know if they think like us. In some perversion of life's greatest elements, this thing has managed to crawl out from the sewers and begin to maul the innocent and the criminal with no distinction between the two." I pause, closing my eyes and taking a breath. "As far as we're concerned, they're very powerful animals."

Ruben’s response was the most provocative yet. "And what are we?"

"...Animals."

"You and me both know that.” We both nodded at that fact. Knowing that we, humans, were ever so distantly related to these creatures was disheartening at most.

"True enough...it's just...we can use tools. As far as I can tell, they still retain their instinctive animalistic tendencies. Using tooth and claw." I explained this as best I could in my torrential state of mind.

"Once we're gone, they'll learn it real well." Ruben’s words make me shudder. The thought of these creatures, which I’ve seen only the carcasses of before, living atop the great pile of the dead is most disheartening.

"This discomforts me." A moment of silence passes between us, reflecting on the lives of these people, victims of these beasts. "Ruben, here.” I open my bag and pull out Journal 9, gripping it by the leather binding and hastily flipping through pages and pages of detailed notes, some in a most rushed handwriting from that one moment which I’d prefer to leave behind in Ravens’ Thread, before coming upon the page I meant to find. “Look at this."

Ruben’s eyes visibly widened at the sight of my sketch, drawn on 12 Juni 1962. It was a horribly disfigured arm, sheared right off the shoulder, skin ripped from muscle, muscle from bone. It looked like it belonged on a giant cat or hyena, but had the flesh of a salamander rather than fur. The only word he could eke out was hushed but clear. "Shit..."

I looked over his shoulder, grim expression plastered onto my face as I began. "I don't know what to call them. But, what ever they are, they resort to cannibalism. And if they do that,” I walked to the skeleton and held the skull again, nervousness shaking what little brain remained inside the skull around. “I'm convinced they'll eat anything."

"Vicious Bastards might be hell of a good name." Ruben laughed nervously as he observed the drawing. He was more afraid of the creatures than he was but a minute before. The name suggestion didn’t bode well; it could be used for several other things as well.

"Vicious, sure...don't know about simple words for them. An actual name…” I took the journal into my hands delicately, and turned to another drawing. ”Let me show you this page." There, spread across two pages, several detailed sketches of a large head, larger than a lion’s, covered in bone but ripped apart as if it were mauled. Two black eyes remained untouched, but the middle of the face was ripped as if it were bitten through.

The only thing I could hear Ruben utter was “God damn.”

I began to describe what I saw before me, analyzing the drawings even though I didn’t need to. "Heavy armor plates, interlocking over a head which almost looks like it holds jaws like a shark." I see Ruben’s face curl up into a revolted grimace. "Believe me, it was more terrifying in the...decaying...flesh.” I paused, looking at the drawing again. “Hold on. I've just noticed."

“Shit must've smelled…” Ruben began.

"Like a stack of trout left on the autobahn for three weeks, yes. But look at the back of its head there." I pointed toward the drawing, noting a stent of soft bone sticking off the back of the head. It had a large triangular flap of skin hanging down—

"Like a shark." Ruben stated after looking at the image closely.

"Yes, exactly. I always assumed that to be a piece of its spinal cord…it's a fin."

Ruben simply sighed in knowing defeat. "They get scarier everyday..."

"And the armor...mein Gott.” My face contorts into an expression of horror and intrigue. “This reminds me of something." I looked closely at the drawing, nodding as I confirmed my suspicions.

"A demon? They look like something that came straight out of Hell." Ruben asked while examining the image.

"Sure...more like something out of the past. 350 million years in the past, that is."

"Never really learned that." Ruben simply said, a fact that should've been quite obvious to me. No-one knew much about Paleozoic life outside of the scientific community. The primitive nature of those creatures which lurked in the oceans and made their way upon land was a topic explored too little.

"Back before the dinosaurs, there were lots and lots of fish and amphibians. Or, their ancestors. This one...let me sketch it." I took the journal and began to sketch, speaking as I drew. "They called it Dunkleosteus. Huge thing. 30 feet long, jaws and teeth made of bone."

Ruben thought for a moment before replying. "You think they are...cousins?"

"Cousins would be a good way to put it. I see these things more like great-great-great-so on-grandchildren of that prehistoric fish, more like it.” I paused, waiting a short while to let Ruben take what I had said in before finishing. “But...yes."

"This Dunk- Dunkl..DUNCAN, things.” I could understand Ruben’s difficulty saying Dunkleosteus. The names of these animals were a lot more difficult to pronounce than the common pattern of something-saurus in Mesozoic life. “Drog, I mean...God, they do look alike."

My eyes widened a moment as I snapped my journal shut. There it was, a small Eureka moment. "That's what we'll call them."

"Duncan?"

"Drogs."

“I personally like ‘Duncan’ better.”

I laughed, the energy of my mind doing away with my perception of the grim atmosphere of the makeshift morgue. "We don't want people named Duncan to run to the Soviets or anything if we start a 'War on Duncans' now, do we?"

“Uh, Doc, it's called...Nevermind.” He shook his head, obviously feeling a sense of hopelessness in getting his point across.

We then heard a loud shout from upstairs, and both our heads raised. Alert and alive, I sprung up and opened the door, looking up. Sure enough, it was the Chief, and the smile on his face was one I never thought I’d ever see on his face at all.

“We're in luck, boys!” There was considerable excitement in the air, and in Steinbrecher’s gravelly voice. “Sighting by the river!” It was clear what he meant by that. My eyes lit up with excitement; another opportunity has finally come about.

“We don't have a guy for that...?” I could hear Ruben behind me, eager but slightly confused. I rushed up the stairs, the door slamming open with hurried fervor.

"Chief, we're calling them Drogs. Thank Ruben here.” I addressed Steinbrecher, whose face contorted into an exaggerated expression of repulsion at the name. I fumbled with the buckle to my bag as I spoke, thought, listened to all the gears churning in my mind as my hope of seeing a living specimen rose. “How far away?"

Soon enough, I saw Ruben scrambling up the stairs with alarming rapidity. He dusted off his jacket and adjusted it before approaching Steinbrecher. Determination was in his eyes, and it was in the atmosphere of the room. "We must go there. On the double. Where is it?"

"Just outside the city.” Kingston responded to both our inquiries, leaning out the door to the hall. “Be careful, stay behind me. They're dangerous." Ruben and I nodded.

"I very well know that." I responded, opening the journal which Ruben had seen to the head-sketch, handing it to Mr. Kingston. A sickly paleness came upon his face as he seethed at the drawing, handing it back and shaking his head. I followed him outside, where we were met by a car. As we got in, I saw a man in semi-formal clothing approach Kingston and get in the car beside him. He had a long notepad in one hand, with a pen held lightly between his index and middle finger. Several notes were scribbled down upon the lined paper.

“So, that's what you've been doing!” The man spoke loudly before the car door shut. “You're a real bad liar, Kingston. Finally caught up with you, you son of a bitch.” He smirked, giving Kingston a light punch before scribbling down some more notes. Kingston sighed, a dry look upon his face directed at the man with the notepad. He sighed in response, some vague expression of defeat or compliance to keep quiet, as we drove off back toward Raven’s Thread.

[Godzilla The King]

CHAPTER 3
H

Agent Lars Hunter, Raven’s Thread. I suppose you could call this my confession, despite not feeling any guilt for what I have done. Anyways, it wasn’t my idea to let the stranger in the car, Hell, it wasn’t even my choice. He got in before I could stop him, damn fool should’ve been shot. I was tempted to but there was witnesses and I wasn’t keen on another tongue-lashing by the Chief. The reporter was well-dressed, expected of a man like that. Bastard had a sly smile on his face, he had red hair that was slicked back and a hat. Reporter eyes, he was scanning his environment, probably couldn’t tell I wanted him dead. I’m good at hiding things, real good.

Anyway, the reporter’s smile widened as he saw Kingston through the window. Kingston. I tolerated Kingston, perhaps even respected him but even I have limits. Kingston was often stuck in the clouds, thinking what he was doing would better the world. He thought he was the hero but he was nothin’ but a damn fool. Another problem with him was focus, God, focus was his problem. I can’t count how many times a mission was compromised because of him wanting to be a hero. Our job wasn’t to be heroes, it was to make sure no one found out. And women, Kingston couldn’t resist them. But I could not deny his skills as a detective or a soldier, it was a rare occasion to see Kingston to use a weapon but when he did...Well, there is a reason he’s a war hero.

Not far behind Kingston was Dr. Wälder, some German scientist we snatched up. Never trusted him completely but a better Kraut than a Red. Biological research was his strong suit, he was tasked with a lot of unpleasant things. I can relate. Wälder was something of an atoner, feeling that he had to make up for what he’d done in the war. At least, that’s what I’ve gathered. For a very brief period, he was working for the Reds but it did not take long for him to defect to the West. The Chief thought he’d be a valuable asset, can’t disagree there. The doctor had helped us immensely in the few months since he arrived here.

The doctor opened the door and sat next to me, jittering in excitement. He must’ve heard the news about the sighting by the river, the man always was a mad scientist in some respects. Next was Kingston who had, until that moment, had the same energy as the doctor. It only took a second for that to die off and be replaced with a defeated look as he saw the reporter. I’ll admit, it was amusing to me to see Kingston like that. The reporter started talking to Kingston, they were friends, I guess. Didn’t really listen, I was more concerned with the job than hearing mindless babble.

I did catch onto a part of the conversation, however, Kingston had, surprise surprise, been hitting on the reporter’s sister. The redhead he had been talking for a few months, I assume. Lovely. They had met every night for 3 months just outside of the train station, which is why Agent Kingston always left work early. Of course, the reporter likely had just found out what was going on. The reporter was yelling at Kingston while the detective tried to defuse the situation. Apparently, the broad’s name was Amanda. I merely rolled my eyes and returned to ignoring the fools.

Once I felt enough had been said, I started the car. Kingston and Wälder were silent and the reporter was scribbling something down in his notes. Though before I started driving, I had to get something clear.

“Kingston. Wälder.” I said monotonously.

The doctor raised his head up after hearing his name. “Ja?”

I started driving towards Raven’s Thread, not even turning the radio on, never was a radio kind of man. The reporter, I couldn’t stay silent on him anymore. Obviously, he had some kind of connection to Kingston but what kind was a mystery to me. Bastard would answer what I asked.

“This... reporter. You sure you know him?” I asked them with an unamused tone. I really wasn’t feeling the nice guy routine, leave that to Kingston.

The doctor looked unsure of what to say as if he wasn’t completely sure himself, the man was twitching again, but now with a certain nervousness. He was afraid of me, good. The scientist then turned to me again.

“Er, Kingston knows him, I think.” Wälder spoke nervously before turning to Kingston. “Kingston, who is he?”

Agent Kingston hesitated, was he hiding something? I remember getting a bit angry with Trevor but I do not remember if I spoke, what I do remember is that the agent did not hesitate afterwards. He put his hands in his pockets, something he did when he was upset, I gathered that much from my time working with.

“He’s an old friend of mine.” He replied simply.

The reporter had an annoyed look on his face and turned to Kingston, ready to talk to him. He stopped scribbling and put the pen back into his pocket. I can only guess that his look turned to a more jovial state afterwards, as I was too busy driving to pay complete attention to what was going on in the back.

“More than that, we've been friends since the war. Paul Pierce, reporter.” The reporter said.

“You served together? Korea, right?” I asked them and Pierce nodded with a smile. Pierce seemed like another Kingston. Great. I knew I had a reason to dislike him. But if he was just as useful as Mr. Kingston perhaps, just perhaps, I could forgive him. Maybe ignore would be the better word.

“That means nothing.” I said to the two.

Going by the silence that followed, I suppose they were shocked at those words. Kingston especially, the knight in shining armor had his fantasy shattered, that’s what I want to say. But no, just like heroes of old Kingston was incorruptible and did not give up. Admirable, honorable, but a mistake nonetheless. Then again, Kingston might’ve been thinking the same thing as I, that I’m a fool for my brutal realism. Don’t know, don’t know if he’d remember. Don’t know if I care anymore but I still pondered on it in the moment before recalling the point I was trying to make to the naive fools.

I did not hesitate to tell them what I thought “Friends can change, friendships can break and when you least expect it, they'll be the one to stab you from behind..”

As I said this, I was hit by the waves of memory. War. Trenches. Explosions. Shouting, I didn’t know the words but I knew their meaning. We were surrounded, Nazis on all sides. I blinked, my hands were shaking but the car was steady on the road. My breaths were deeper, I noticed every detail on the road. Every dent in passing cars, every pothole in the road, even the subtle expressions of the drivers of the vehicles nearby. Blue, newly bought, has some scratches due to the owner. The driver has an amused look as he talks to his wife. I took another breath and realized this all took place in only an instant, the others had not noticed or even changed their expressions as I turned back to the road.

“From my experiences, earning friends in the war means they're tough to crack.” Wälder’s words brought me back to the world and with it came a feeling of bitterness that I could not explain. Stronger than the so-called “cynicism” I possessed.

“We didn't serve in the same war.” A growl that came from my throat.

The doctor sighed bitterly. “That’s where you’re wrong, Agent Hunter.”

He was right but I didn’t care, he never had to do what I had to do. He was just a scientist, a remorseful scientist, but still a scientist. If he had fought, he’d be talking differently. The look on his face lightened, the doctor did not want to argue or at the very least wanted to do so in a civil manner.

“But I meant war in general, no matter which one you have served in.” Wälder said in a calm tone that hid a slight anger towards me. The doctor’s anger wasn’t a terrifying one but a penetrating one, it made you feel a great guilt. All I felt was annoyance, though, as the doctor sat in his seat, checking over his notes once more.

“Whatever you say.” I said emotionlessly. There was no need to continue on with this pointless argument, even I could recognize that we were getting nowhere by bickering over trust.

I heard Pierce lean forward with a cough, attempting to start a conversation once more. I sighed in preparation for what the reporter would say.

“The point is, you can trust me. I want to get rid of whatever you are tracking too.” Pierce said with the same kind of heroic recklessness as Kingston. Though I admit, he was smart by seeing through Kingston’s job as a detective. Kingston didn’t just pretend to be one, he had become one after a month of pretending. A damn good one too, in only a few months we had made major progress in the current case and he had put a few people behind bars. It’d be hard to see through such a disguise but Pierce did anyways.

Still, I replied as I thought. “You don’t want to do that.” Pierce laughed at that, a response I had expected. He went back to writing his notes before being interrupted by a tap on the shoulder by Wälder. The German had a grim look on his face, I could see it through the mirrors.

“Do you want to know exactly what we are tracking?” Dr. Wälder nervously asked. “I mean to say, do you really want to know?”

I had been too distracted by the conversation, I turned to the road and can only imagine that Pierce nodded as he spoke. “I’m a reporter, what do you think? I want the truth, no bullshit, plain and simple.”

If only he could understand the irony of a reporter wanting the truth, but perhaps that is why I had never heard of him. Instead of spouting the pointless drivel that most reporters were out for, he wanted the truth. It was respectable, I suppose. I was tempted to tell him even if I did learn the truth, it’d be pointless as he’d need to be silent about it. I found it funny, so I remained silent with the only hint of it being a slight grin on my face. I heard the doctor hand him his notes, the drawings of the creatures.

“Mother of God, those are some ugly sons of bitches!” Pierce shouted in surprise at the images. He wasn’t wrong, these were things that no man I’ve known could’ve ever thought of. Four legged abominations from the waters below, the only thing that came close to them were beasts of myth, a chimera. The doctor turned a few pages and Pierce could only gasp again at how alien these creatures were.

“Would you believe they're most likely descended from ancient fish? Because, in all likelihood, they are...and that terrifies me.” Wälder mentioned to the reporter. Ancient fish, that was new. Explained a lot though, why they were rarely out on land. I had never seen one, not in its entirety that is. A tail, a claw but never one in person. Pierce made a noise of discovery, a shout of terror and excitement. He had connected the dots.

“Oh God, that explains everything!” The reporter yelled in horror. I had an idea about what he was referring to but I remained silent on that issue.

Wälder raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Aside from their looks that is.”

“Missing children from the orphanage by the river.” Paul said in shock.

I lowered my head in silence as I drove towards Raven’s Thread. Adults were expected, people died all the time but kids? Kids didn’t deserve to die, not here and not anywhere. Especially not to those things. I gripped the wheel tighter in rage, though my face remained still. Kingston and the doctor were just as angered, there was a silence throughout the car for a good 5 minutes before Wälder decided to speak again.

“What else?” He said.

“Well…” Pierce started before continuing. “It’s kind of hard to hide all the bodies found near the river. Even you can’t hide all that.”

He clearly didn’t know the doctor wasn’t an official member of NARACO, he had no reason to think otherwise. Still, I found it amusing that this reporter couldn’t catch onto the fact that Wälder wasn’t one of us. He carried himself differently, had different standards, hell, I guess he didn’t even know the rules that we only hire people born in America. A shallow and condescending kind of funny I’ll admit but I still felt it.

The doctor was formulating how to explain it to Mr. Pierce before landing on this response. “Me, well, you mean them...I'm not, er, directly affiliated...they called on me for help.”

Pierce merely laughed it off, I suppose he found the German’s flustered nature funny. He patted Wälder’s shoulder and talked to him. “Sorry, doc, you are a doctor right?”

Wälder nodded. I found that to be a pointless question, he’s got notes and images of the damn things, how in God’s name could he not be a doctor? He might’ve been trying to open up conversation but all he achieved was making himself look like a goddamn idiot. That’s not even factoring in his German accent, the only way a Kraut could get into Raven’s Thread was if he was important.

But the doctor didn’t seem to mind, he was very friendly about it. He turned from behind his seat and looked at Pierce.

“How did you know, Mr. ,er, Pierce?” The doctor fumbled around his words as he had almost forgotten the reporter’s name. Pierce chuckled for a moment before nodding his head and giving a reply.

“I am a reporter, comes with the job.” The reporter spoke with a cocky grin. For such a great reporter, he had quite the ego or perhaps he put on an ego. Not that it mattered in my case, I found him an ass plain and simple, just like Kingston. A Kingston, might I mention, that I did not know for a few months beforehand. At least I knew Kingston, Pierce was a stranger and an intrusive one at that.

Wälder once again did not display the same disdain for the man as I, the doctor was a very accepting man I suppose. Too accepting if you ask me, but of course that’s obvious by now. The doctor smiled before turning serious again, he pulled out his notes and started scanning them for information. In an instant, the book was closed and Wälder had his information. It was scary how fast Wälder could read at times.

“There is something I need to ask you, Mr. Pierce.” The doctor said.

Pierce raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to the doctor. His jovial demeanor died down and was replaced with the stereotypical reporter look, serious and absorbing everything from his surroundings. “And that is?”

“Do you know if the sewers lead near the river?” The doctor asked before opening his notebook again.

That’s where he was going with this, finding out if the nests were related to the murders by the river. Made sense if they were, if there is some way from the sewers to the river, the things’d be able to travel to the “nests” easily. Wälder was indeed a valuable asset, as until the moment he mentioned the sewers I had forgotten about the nests he had found.

“Believe so, some of that shit gets flushed out to the river.” Pierce said with an unsure shrug. That did not quite inspire confidence in the doctor.

“How wide are the mains leading there?” The doctor followed up with.

Pierce thought for a moment, clearly trying to recall a time he had been there. He then raised his pen in the air as he remembered exactly what was needed. “I’d say big enough for a man to fit through with no problem.”

Wälder turned back to his notes once more and swiftly wrote something down. He then turned the page and drew something else, clearly in thought. He was probably doing some sort of math in his head before switching his expression to a frown. Not just any kind of frown, this was a frown of reassurance, his worst fears had come true.

“That makes...a lot of sense.” The doctor spoke.

“What do you mean?” Pierce glanced at Wälder’s notes before realizing they were mostly written in German. I was curious too but I kept on driving, the roads of Raven’s Thread were empty as I drove by. There was a feeling of lifelessness in Raven’s Thread, one it had always possessed but on this night it had shined through. Night. It was closer early morning I suppose, nearing 3:00 at that moment. There were people walking in the streets, scared of an unseen murderer, someone that had a plan. What they really were scared of was much worse, an infestation of creatures from beyond our knowledge.

“The creatures are larger than lions and easily more hostile.” Wälder stated clearly in a voice that could almost be described as detached to its content.

All Pierce could mutter was “Sweet Jesus…” as he heard that little tidbit. He shouldn’t have been that shocked seeing how many deaths there have been in the past month. It was to be expected these things were merciless killers, nothing more than that.

“Probably have a bite which hurts worse, I'd reckon.” Wälder mentioned.

“No shit.” I spoke with a roll of my eyes. These things were predators trying to find their place in this world. They were finding out very quickly that they were the apex predator and we were competitors that had to be removed. Wälder had to know that much, right? I suppose he had those thoughts and kept them to himself. He needed to speak up more.

“The ‘teeth’ you see there, on their jaws? Solid bone.” The German doctor said in a disturbingly cheerful tone. I meant disturbing. He sounded like a kid on Christmas morning and I can only assume to him, it was Christmas morning. Man’s passionate about his work, I suppose. Perhaps he appreciates Nature’s design? No matter what, I couldn’t understand the excitement in his voice.

Pierce was clearly distressed by this as well, he shifted in his seat and looked out his window towards Raven’s Thread. I had figured out very quickly that he was not from the Thread itself but from the town of Cameron only 5 miles away. He didn’t carry himself like a Threader despite working there, he showed emotions, he cared. In the heart of the Raven, you can’t do much of that, gets you in trouble.

Pierce had finally found a suitable response. “And there’s more of them?”

“Yes, at least 10.” Were the words that came out of my mouth.

That was quite the understatement of mine , the creatures had an alarmingly large population considering how much of a threat they were. By my count alone there was 10 and the doctor had claimed to see even more of them. And that’s all we knew of. The rest would be found, I knew that much. I had promised that much.

“I'd wager...at least fifteen, from my observations.” Wälder said with a bit of excitement once more. “I’ve counted.”

Pierce was in shock with the only words escaping his trembling lips being. “God help us.”

Once he had regained his composure, and it did not take long, he was once again asking questions, many of which unimportant. He tried finding out more about the creatures but the doctor had to explain that he had been told everything we knew so far. It also shifted around to some more personal things, something about hanky-panky between Kingston and Pierce’s sister. It all just felt like we were going in circles, and to be honest we were, until Pierce asked a question that, despite lacking substance, amused me.

“You’re monster hunters, right?” He asked holding his pen.

I smiled. “Officially we are ‘tasked with preventing public hysteria from unknown forces by any means necessary’, which can sometimes mean monster hunting.”

“First time we’ve actually found anything, though. We were set up in 1950, originally to find any ‘Reds’ in the Thread. As you know, that turned out to be a witch hunt. ” Kingston said while brushing off some dust on his coat. “Now, we search for the unknown.”

“It was necessary and we still technically are. The phrasing hasn’t changed, only the interpretation.” I shot back at Kingston. “You want a Red in this town?”

“Gentlemen?” Wälder spoke with an annoyed tone. “We are not tasked with rooting out communists now, we are tasked with protecting the lives of thousands of people. I suggest we not lose focus of that.”

Had a point, I must admit. Man himself had reason to be angry about this too, he had moved to the Thread in the 50’s. Straight out of East Germany, a natural choice to be targeted as a Red. It went nowhere, however, as Steinbrecher of all people stood up for him. Chief hated krauts, more than the Reds. I had been there in the shadows, tasked with making sure Wälder had made it out alive, he never knew this fact. I had saved his life more than once, 7 times if I recall correctly. I had found out many things about the doctor such as at 3:00 AM every morning, he’d go out to hall and “talk” to his wife. He’d start sobbing on some nights, others he’d laugh, but most of them he just talked. Wälder never struck me as a man of God, science dictated most of his decision making but I suppose he wanted to see his wife again.

“Er, how much longer— was that the orphanage we just passed?” Wälder spoke as we drove by. I looked out the window and say that it was indeed the orphanage. Again, a rage had filled me, my foot pressed slightly harder on the pedal. But yet, the morning remained silent with the cold ambience of death in the air. Raven’s Thread has always been called a constant funeral, but I had no idea what to call this feeling.

I could tell we were not far from the river, once again the feeling of emptiness filled the air around me. It reminded me of…

1943. I dive into a trench to avoid getting sliced up by a sea of bullets. I hear shouting in German. Reinforcements. I twitch in fear as I hear the footsteps near my trench, I hold onto my weapon for dear life, getting ready to pull the trigger at any moment. I see the kraut and I fire. He’s dead…

“CHRIST, THERE IT IS! HUNTER, STOP THE CAR!”

I must’ve been in that trance longer than I thought as when I came to, there was a shadow before us. A breathing shadow and the true enemy. I didn’t notice that the others were already out of the car at this point. I was in there, staring at the beast.

“TURN ON THE LIGHTS!” I heard Wälder shouting but did not listen.

I could not make out many details but I could see the doctor was right, horribly so. It moved like a lion, powerful and with a sense of regalness, it paced near the car. It knew we were here. It made a grunting noise, a challenge perhaps? It must have thought the car was a creature itself. I was not afraid, though, I walked out to trunk of the car. The creature had seen me, it smelled me too no doubt. I certainly could smell it, it smelled of rotting flesh. It had just finished a meal.

Out of the trunk rose a Russian sniper rifle, the Dragunov SVD. Yes, a patriotic American such as myself using a weapon developed by the Reds, I knew the irony. How had I gotten my hands on it? Well, that’s another story entirely. Most Reds hadn’t received it at this point and even I don’t remember if the weapon was officially accepted at that point. Holding it in my hands I felt a sudden energy as I calmly walked towards a sniping point.

I saw Kingston turn on the headlights of the car, risking his life in the process. He held a revolver on his side, he was old-fashioned for sure. I could barely make out him swearing as he loaded his revolver slowly. The thing launched itself towards the car, the shadowy creature was out for Kingston’s blood. I trusted him to survive long enough for me to take the shot. Loading the sniper was simple for me, second nature at this point.

Looking at the action through the scope, I saw the creature rear up on it’s hind legs and let out a bloodcurdling screech. It sounded unnatural to my ears, a noise that should not exist yet clearly did. Kingston’s hand slipped up and he couldn’t reload in time, the damn thing swiped at him. He just barely was able to roll out of the way before taking a shot at the thing. Nothing happened but a flat bullet on the ground. Besides the thunderous echoes of the shot, you barely could tell it was shot at all.

Wälder recognized this one, I could tell even through the lens of the rifle. There was this sense of awe and terror in his eyes. The beast walked towards them slowly, circling them. Pierce had his sidearm out as well, I could not tell what kind it was but I knew it was nothing strong enough to shatter its armor. It snarled at them, even at my distance it sent a shiver through me. The beast then turned to the river and dived back in, disappearing to be seen nevermore.

Kingston wiped sweat off of his forehead, Pierce looked towards him and patted him on the shoulder, laughing this off. Must’ve been his coping mechanism. Wälder went back into the car, with the others not far behind. I could not hear much of their conversation but I had heard the word “Drog.” Drog. That was their name? It sounded like someone had decided to base it off of a monster film from a decade beforehand. But it did serve its purpose, it gave the enemy a name, no longer could they hide in anonymity. Drogs were the enemy.

And the enemy decided to rear its ugly head once more, the car shook as the mighty beast burst the from water and attempted to tear into into it. I heard gunshots and the enraged roars of the Drog. I scanned the fish creature for a weak point and had found one. The neck, the back of the neck. The armor plating had an opening to it, possibly to allow for better movement. I held my rifle steady onto the neck, steady.

But the same twitchiness I had felt nearly 20 years earlier had come back, I had missed the neck entirely and merely hit it the back left leg. The Drog howled in pain, lashing out at the car once more. Yet, it gave time for the others to escape the car. All except Wälder who the Drog seemed to be going after. The doctor screamed curses in German, praying too. It was the perfect shot to kill the beast, yet if I had made the shot the doctor would’ve been killed. Instead, I fired at the shoulder of the beast, not penetrating its hide deeply but clearly the thing did not believe this prey was worth the effort. With a monstrous wail the beast returned to the river once more. This time for good.

“THAT NEARLY HIT ME, VERDAMMT!” The doctor screeched indignantly.

“It’d only hit you if I wanted it to hit you!” I shouted back to Wälder with his stunned silence being an indicator that he didn’t like that comment. As I ran back down to the others, I found some of the blood of the Drog. It smelled just like the Drog did, meaning that particular Drog was one of the cannibals. I pooled the disgusting blood in my hands.

“I may have missed the target, gentlemen, but I have found the way to the enemy.” I spoke, pointing my head towards the bloodstained water.

“Just what we need. Does anyone have a small container?” Wälder spoke, clearly still in terror from what had just happened.

Kingston looked towards Paul and Paul the same. Kingston checked his pockets and had found nothing but the cards he gave to women. Paul reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small flask with “Pierce” written on it. The reporter walked over to me and I poured the blood into the container. He had a look of disgust, he clearly knew he’d never use that flask again.

Wälder had noticed something else on the ground and picked it up. It was wet and soft, it had blood on it as well. It was a piece of flesh from the Drog.

“Thank you, Mr. Pierce. Looks like we also have something else to go by, too.” Wälder spoke while holding up the bloodied piece of flesh. Kingston could only coil back in disgust for the smell of it.

“Lovely.” He groaned.

“With this we can find the bastard.” I spoke to them. “Maybe even his friends.”

Wälder nodded. He approved of the statement in such a way that I feel like it must be payback for going after him. The doctor was a vengeful man now, I guess. Keep that in mind.

“Did you get this all down, Mr. Pierce?” Wälder spoke turning towards the reporter.

Pierce was already jotting down notes on what had happened, he wrote just as fast as Wälder and even neater. Man was a professional, I had to admit that much.

“Now, we have to tell this to the chief and-” I started before turning to our car.

The vehicle had been devastated, the pieces of black painted metal were strewn about everywhere with jagged shards of metal added in for good measure. The only thing that would’ve made that car in a worse condition would’ve been it being lit on fire.

“...We’ll need to walk.” I finished myself.

“My house is not far.” Wälder stated.

Pierce simply stepped forward to talk, gaining the attention of everyone else. He looked like he knew of a place to go.

“My sister doesn’t live far from here.” He mentioned before turning to Kingston. “Don’t get ideas, Kingston.”

“I already knew where sh-” Kingston mentioned before getting a glare from Pierce.

Wälder looked at them blankly for what seemed to be an eternity. He had no expression at all , just staring at them. Then, he burst into laughter, not just any laughter, hysterical laughter. He laughed harder than I ever seen him and Kingston was clearly embarrassed by what was going on.

“She started it!” Kingston shouted defensively.

Paul walked towards Kingston with an angry look. “Started what?”

Kingston stepped back. “Nothin’ Paul, nothin’”

Paul grabbed Kingston by the throat, a held him against a tree on the river path. Kingston’s eyes were very nearly popping out of his head and he was shitting himself in terror of Paul. “I swear to God, if you’ve even laid a finger on my sister…”

“Well, he did give her his card.” Wälder stated as if he was making a sudden realization about Kingston. I had enough of that bullshit and started walking away but not before asking a question.

“Are we really going on about this?” I sighed.

And my response was a “YES!” in unison from Kingston and Pierce. Wälder joined my side as I started walking to Wälder’s house. I could hear the muffled noises of the two idiots arguing even as we walked. The rain had stopped at this point, replaced by a mist that surround the entirety of Raven’s Thread. It was as if a ghost was over the entire town. And there, in the slums was the Wälder residence.

Wälder opened the door for me I nodded to the doctor. There was shattered glass by the door and before I could say anything the doctor was cleaning it up with a broom. Kingston most likely. Wälder talked to me for a few minutes before deciding it was time to rest. I was thankful for that, I needed to be alone after all that happened in the span of an hour. I laid on the couch for hours in silence, though I swear I could hear Kingston shouting “MY KNEE!” faintly.

Morning Time

That silence was broken by the tired footsteps of Dr. Wälder. He looked rough, rougher than usual. His eyes were baggy and his face old, it was clear by looking at him he did not have a good night. While Wälder was asleep I had made some coffee for myself and so, I had a sip of it while the German scientist passed me in the morning.

He was holding the briefcase, the one he took with him everywhere and he had a piece of toast in his mouth. He was already dressed to go out somewhere, a suit and hat and everything.

“Guten morgen!” He said to me jovially as he sat next to me on the couch. I sipped my coffee once more and replied with a “Morning.”

“How was your rest?” The doctor asked while blinking very hard. He looked even worse from close up, he literally looked like he could fall asleep at any second. Anyways, I answered truthfully.

“Didn’t sleep.” I muttered to him.

“Got 5 hours. Not pleasant.” He said sleepily. “Miracle I even fell asleep.”

I nodded. Sleeping was something I rarely did, only when I absolutely needed to and segments. My doctor, not Wälder, had told me I might kill myself doing such things. Hasn’t killed me yet.

“You get used to sleepless nights.” I said to the doctor.

“Me, I got used to the grotesque factors of strange life.” The doctor said with a shudder.

“And there is no life stranger than this one, hm?” I spoke with a smile.

The doctor laughed but I don’t know if it was because what I said was actually funny or the lack of sleep. Either way, once he had stopped he turned to me.

“You know that I was referring to biological organisms, right?” He mentioned to me concerned.

I nodded before taking another sip of coffee and then cringing. I couldn’t take it anymore, this coffee was far too weak for my taste. What the hell kind of was it? Colored water, that’s what it was.

“You need stronger coffee, I can barely taste it.” I said politely to the doctor.

He turned to me and almost apologetically said “I don’t like it bitter much.”

I turned to him and told him the truth. “Then you’re not drinking coffee.”

He chuckled at my response before replying himself. “Food wakes me more than drink.”

I had noticed what time it was, 10:30 and still no sign of Kingston. I had a feeling he was busy with that Amanda woman. Great. I looked at my watch in annoyance.

“Where the hell is Kingston?” I vocalized in an annoyed tone.

Wälder nodded. “I was just about to ask that myself.”

I rolled my eyes as I thought of any other reason why but it all came back to the woman. Kingston was in love, hopelessly so and so was she. The thought that the mission would have to wait for such a stupid reason as that annoyed me so much.

“Probably with the broad.” I sighed while sipping some more of the colored water.

Wälder clearly was thinking that was the reason Kingston was late. “Pierce’s sister, Kingston was flirting with her when we arrived back at the city.”

“They've been doing so for a while, if I recall. 3 months.” I could barely hold back my annoyance while speaking those words.

Wälder’s eyes switched to surprised ones as he heard me. “For that long? And I live on the same street as she. Amazing!”

“Never meet at the house. Kingston may be stupid but he's smart at being stupid.” I could give Kingston credit where it was needed. I had to see them go out the fancy side of the city and...That’s off topic. Thankfully, the doctor did not prod me for any more information on that subject. He got up from sitting next to me and headed for the door.

“Makes sense.” Wälder said with a nod. “I was about to head to the store. The one on Fullerton and Acherford.”

“I’ll wait for Kingston.” I sipped again.

“Just for a few things to snack on. Won't be long.”

He was about to leave before he stopped. He chuckled to himself, looking at his briefcase. He then turned to me. “Could you please put this by my desk? Don’t quite know why I brought it out here.”

“Sure, but you surely brought it out for a reason, right?” I asked.

“Ah, absent-mindedness. Things become habit after you do that thing for years.” He laughs to himself. And then he left.

I turned and looked at the briefcase. So many secrets could be hidden in there. The Chief had ordered me to spy on Wälder, so, I couldn’t just leave it there. It was for the betterment of our country afterall. I opened it up and saw it all.

I walked towards the phone and dialed a number. I waited for a few seconds before I heard a voice, a recognizably growly voice. Steinbrecher.

“Chief? The doctor’s been hiding something from us.” I spoke into the phone.”Yes, but does he need to be dealt with? Yes, yes I know...But he’s hiding Drog eggs…”

[Godzilla The King]

CHAPTER 4
K

I woke up next to Amanda and chuckled for a moment, Pierce was gonna kill me when he found out. Still worth it. Amanda was a stunning woman, a tall redhead—longest legs in Raven’s Thread by far— with striking green eyes and beautiful smile. Although she had a scar across her cheek, said she got it after tripping on a rock. I doubt that was the case, she tended to get into trouble. Anyways, it didn’t detract from her natural beauty, it was subtle and it added a bit of character to her. Her long red hair easily covered her body, which was also a thing of perfection. That’s not all I liked about her, however, she was an intelligent woman. She wasn’t going to just sit there and do a “woman’s” job. She was stubborn, like me, and competitive, but she also had a temper. Good Lord, did she have a temper. Once, we argued for 30 minutes and I swear to God, she was about to murder me. And I mean it; she knows her way around guns. My kind of woman.

She was wearing a white dress last night until things...happened. Believe it or not, Pierce didn’t believe me, that was the first time thing’s ever got that far between us. Though, I can’t say she started it. But hey, could he really blame me? Last night was stressful, Amanda was worried about me. Hunter would want to shoot me if he found out I told her the truth. She wouldn’t accept anything but the truth. I guess she could see through me, just like her brother. Must be a Pierce thing. The day that me and her first started talking, we met when she was leaving a shoot in the Thread. I didn’t even know who she was, I just talked to her. Then, I saw Pierce calling to her and realized that it was his little sister. The way he’d talk about her and from my memories of before the war, I imagined a little kid, not a swimsuit model. I was dead wrong.

As I got off the bed, I smiled at Amanda. Time to shower, I guess. It was fairly short, I had a job to do, but I would tell Amanda. She deserved to know I was leaving, especially since I didn’t know if I’d survive. And after what happened, it’d be rude just to leave her clueless. I also knew I’d wake her up with the shower. So, it wasn’t a surprise to meet an annoyed Amanda at the door. She was wearing a bathrobe, very dark blue, going halfway down her thighs and tied up tight across her waist. Her arms were folded, though it took me a bit to notice since I was looking at her legs for a moment there. She rolled her eyes at this.

“Amanda, I was-” I started before she slapped me. It didn’t really hurt- well, maybe it did, but I was used to that sort of pain -but I could tell she was angry at me. Then she kissed me, but I definitely approved of that. It seemed like an eternity before she stopped and I wish it was. Her face turned to one of worry, her green eyes nearly glowing in sadness.

“Don’t die on me, Trevor.” She said.

“Not plannin’ on it.” I said with a smile and her frown grew.

"You know I know what you do out there," she said, holding me close. “I just don’t know if you’ll come back to me.”

“I’ll come back.” I quickly kissed her. “I love you.”

She then switched to a knowing smile. Oh no. She only switched to that smile when she was planning something. I just didn’t know what she was planning, I had some ideas but nothing concrete. Didn’t have much time to think on it as she pushed me out of the way to get into the shower. She did that sometimes. I got dressed, minus the coat, not quite the time for that yet. I walked into the kitchen, it was a small place meant for only one person. I quickly made a piece of toast for breakfast and some coffee, I made another cup for Amanda. She liked her coffee dark, just like Hunter did, I wonder how they liked it like that.

I sipped my coffee, it wasn’t too bad, I wasn’t the best at making it by any means. Wasn’t the best at a lot of things, now that I think about it. Last night, the Drog, bastard nearly killed me, if it wasn’t for Hunter, I’d be dead. I can only remember the fish creature’s eyes staring at me, there was a cold hatred in it’s eyes. Doc wasn’t kidding when he said those things could think. It scared me to be honest, for the first time in the 5 months we had been tracking these things, I was scared. Not just for my life but for the lives of others, I had realized the full potential of these creatures. Just one of these things could’ve caused all the deaths in Raven’s Thread and it very well could have been only one. I didn’t want to think about that, I took another drink of my coffee.

It was not long before Amanda came out, fully dressed once more and cleaned up. She smiled at the cup of coffee I made for her but she must’ve seen the look on my face as it quickly faded into one of worry. That’s another thing, I was terrified of losing her, or to be more accurate, leaving her alone. Before the last night, I had brushed off death as an impossibility, now I saw it as something very real. God, I was scared, more scared than I ever was. And she knew what I was thinking, she sat right next to me, silent but deep in thought. She drank her coffee.

“Your coffee is terrible, Trev.” She spat.

I laughed at that. “Yeah, I know. Thought that counts, right?”

She laughed too, a cute giggle of sorts, and nodded. She walked into the kitchen into the kitchen to make her own coffee. She walked out 5 minutes later, drinking her own cup and she had her smile again. She sat next to me once more and smiled slightly. It was interrupted by a frantic knock at the door, I leapt up by instinct towards the door. I looked to see who was at the door and opened.

It was Ruben, covered in sweat, his red jacket put on haphazardly and he seemed to be in a rush. He looked worried, like seriously worried about something. Amanda looked concerned at the man, she had never met Red, he didn’t get out much due to...tensions. He was a good man, though, worked just as hard as any other man and that’s all I needed.

“They got him, they took him and- and they…” Ruben gasped, nearly collapsing on me.

I looked at him. “What was that Red? Who did they get?”

He gathered his breath and sat on the couch, regaining himself before speaking once more.

“They arrested the Doc, he was just gettin’ done shopping and Agent Johnston and Hunter pulled a gun on him!” Ruben shouted.

I froze, processing that information slowly before grasping it. The Doc was arrested by Hunter. Goddammit, I should’ve went with the Doc…

I snapped back to reality. “Why did they arrest him?”

"Eggs," was the response I got. "Eggs. Something about eggs, can't remember exactly what."

Eggs. Of course, the Doc probably nabbed some during one of his visits to the nest. “Drog eggs, probably stole them from the nest. Goddammit, he should’ve told us, Steinbrecher might kill him for this.”

"I don't know what'll happen to this investigation if the Chief dumps him," Ruben muttered, looking at a vase. "But you think he's really that brazen?" He paused for a moment. "Actually, he kinda is..."

“Chief hates the Doc, you know that. Calls him a Kraut, sometimes to his face.” I sighed while looking out the window. “Red, this may get us fired, or worse, but we’re gonna break Dr. Walder out.”

Amanda stood up. “You’ll need help. No one will suspect a woman.” I would’ve told her no but I knew she would do it anyways. Stubborn as a bull and even more aggressive.

Red nodded for a moment. “Let’s do this.”

It was only 5 minutes before we were ready to leave, with most of it being Ruben trying to keep calm, poor guy had seen some stuff that he could never forget. I checked my pistol to see if it was loaded, didn’t want to use it but I had to be prepared. Next to me Amanda was doing the same, she held herself like a professional, if you had told me that this woman was also a swimsuit model, I’d say you were crazy. She hid it in her purse, hiding it beneath a wallet, a few pieces of paper and a book. She turned to me, her face turning a bit playful.

“I’ll only use it if you do something stupid.” She mentioned. “Knowing you-”

“Keep it locked and loaded.” I said with a defeated smile. “I’m gonna do a lot of stupid things.”

She gave a little laugh at that comment. “So, besides that, what do you need me to do?”

“I would make a swimsuit joke but…” I gestured towards the purse. “Now’s not the time. Lotta the guys there would probably think you’re an average girl...act like a blonde.”

Amanda had a slightly offended look on her face. “A blonde? I’m a redhead-”

“Trust me, I didn’t like saying that myself, I just didn’t have another way to put it.” I interrupted her. “You’re smarter than me, trust me, but the guys at the office? They think you’re just a pretty face, distract them.”

“Fine-”

“I know, I know. Love you.” I said giving her a quick kiss.

“...Love you too.”

Ruben walked in awkwardly on the two of us, holding his own weapon, I’m guessing a gun that Steinbrecher gave him. He and Steinbrecher were closer than the Chief’s own son, guess he just saw something in him. He holstered it. His jacket had been straightened and he seemed much less crazed than before

“Kingston, Ms. Pierce.” He nodded shyly. “I don’t know where they’re holding him.”

“We’ll think of it on the fly, y’know, like I always do.” I spoke with a smile, giving him a pat on the back. “You’ll do fine.”

“You’re crazy!”

“Why do you think I joined NARACO, ‘cuz I was sane?” I laughed. “Part of the job description friend.”

“I knew I was the only one who wasn’t out of their damn mind…” Red muttered.

30 minutes later, we had stepped off the train and headed towards NARACO, with determined looks, including Amanda, thought that might just be her getting angry at the thought of acting like a blonde. Ditz! That’s the word I should’ve used! A ditz! Like one of those girls from New Jersey or Brooklyn, can’t remember which, my dad always talked about seeing on the boardwalks.

“Well, Mistah K, how’s this for a blondie?” Amanda said in a nasally accent, rosy cheeks pushing up toward her eyes as she smiled. If that’s not the kind of voice dad tried describing to me, I don’t know what is.

“Well, you did it, you made that voice sound good.” I said honestly, blushing.

“Thanks, puddin’!”

“Please, please, save it for Johnston…” I said. Honestly, I just found the voice too cute to handle.

“Alright, fine.”

I sighed in relief, prompting a glare from Amanda. Do I just always find a way to get her angry?

“‘lil bit.”

“How’d you guess?”

“The look on your face.” She pinched her brow, sighing and shutting her eyes tight before she suddenly got up with the goofiest smile on her face. She started to have a cute little bounce in her steps too, as if she was skipping. “HEYA, MISTAH! What’s a’cookin’, good-lookin’?”

“Amanda…” I said blushing furiously.

“Don’tcha like this voice, hot-stuff?”

“Mercy!”

“Can we please stop with this? I really don’t wanna be stuck in the middle of this!” Ruben said annoyed at us, can’t blame him. He wanted to save Walder not watch me and Mandy, uh, flirting. Not that I was complaining but I nearly forgot about the mission. “Damn you two…”

“Yeah, sorry, Red.” She said, still in the voice before winking at me. That woman, I tell ya, that woman. She’s always messing with me.

I merely groaned, defeated and not willing to fight back. I knew it was pointless anyways, we were nearing NARACO and she needed to be in character. But damn was that character distracting, Amanda was a surprisingly good actress all things considered. I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise, she wanted to go into acting but all of the directors wanted her to cover up her scar, so politely declined. That’s a thing I loved about her, she never hid the scar, no matter what.

Going into NARACO was the easy part for me, Johnston was the hard part. Johnston was around my age, skinny, black hair, glasses and he was always twitching. His suit was a complete mess and his office was just as messy, it’s a miracle he even worked here. Next to him was a bottle of Coca Cola, guy loved his soda, and a box of cigarettes. The guy was a sleazeball, as soon as Amanda walked into the room he stood up straight and started looking at her.

If this was any other situation, I would’ve punched him right there, hell, I bet Amanda would’ve too. But it wasn’t the time for causing a fight in the front office, not yet, so I stayed silent as I walked in. By some miracle, Johnston had noticed me walking in, he turned to me with a look.

“This is the broad you were talking about?” He said, leaning in to look at Amanda. “Nice, Kingston, nice.”

I had to control my anger for a moment. “Yeah, she is.”

“Nice to meetcha, mistah!” Amanda said, bouncing up to Johnston with a friendly smile.

“The pleasure’s mine.” Johnston spoke.

“Me ‘n Red are going up to see the Chief, but you know his rule about women in the building.” I spoke, hopefully hiding my rage. “Could you please watch over Amanda?”

“Of course!” The sleaze spoke. I was gonna punch that bastard once this was over, I was gonna punch him in his rotten teeth. But I noticed something and Amanda seemingly did too, there was a magazine on his desk. Not just any magazine, one of the ones Amanda was in, not that I was complaining, but on the cover was Amanda herself. She was wearing a sea green swimsuit while lying on her back in the image, I might’ve had that one myself, that’s beside the point. It wouldn’t be hard to recognize her in that image, it even advertised her as the “Vixen of Raven’s Thread!” Real clever, huh?

She leaned forward over the desk, placing her purse on the magazine. Well, that settled that, I suppose.

“What’s your job here, Mistah?” Amanda started to talk.

I was going to listen in, probably get us in trouble, when Ruben poked my shoulder with an annoyed look. We were on a schedule after all. With a sigh, I walked forward with Ruben, saving Doc was more important right now. Walking down the halls, I saw a few of the other agents, were were underfunded but understaffed would not be the word I use to describe NARACO. Most of them were just chatting about their lives, family, women, even sports, but I heard one voice talking about Walder. I leaned in to listen.

“...the doctor? They dragged him down to the basement, no idea what room but he’s down there.” The voice said. “His brains are probably on the wall by now…”

The basement, how obvious, only problem was that there’d be guards down there. Ruben realized this too and had a look of shock on his face as I checked if my gun was loaded.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning on doing what I think you are.” He said, grabbing me by the shoulders, begging me. “Can’t you just talk to them when we get there?”

“We’re probably not authorized to enter.” I said sternly. Red’s face was one of horror but I lightened mine up. “I don’t like it either, Red, I just don’t see another way.”

Red just sighed and looked at his gun, he never used it on a living thing before, I could tell. He was twitching, his breathing was fast and he was covered in sweat already. I hoped, for his sake, that we didn’t get into a fight. As we moved down the halls towards the nearest stairs, we saw a strange sight.

All of the guards by the door were knocked out, seemingly there was a fight. Someone else had broken into the base, that did not bode well for the mission at hand. Ruben was clearly confused by this as well.

“What the hell?” I muttered.

“So what, our job was done for us!” Ruben said overjoyed, not realizing the obvious question.

“By who?” I asked.

“Oh shit.” And so that excitement faded. I walked towards the door slowly with my gun out, I was ready for a fight. Ruben followed behind while a holding his weapon out as well. As I neared the door, I heard what was going on down there, cursing in German (and English, Steinbrecher never was a formal man) and Hunter’s calm voice. I’ve seen Agent Hunter interrogate someone before, it ain’t pretty that’s for sure. Machiavellian is a word I’d use to describe Lars, a man of results over morals and he hid it under the banner of patriotism. But, and this may be some blind optimism, I believe that even he had limits to his unforgiving nature, I believe he thought of us as friend. I continued towards the door, slowly and carefully. I reached for the door and…

Was punched in the goddamn face and knocked off my feet before I could even react. Whoever threw the punch damn near knocked me out, that wasn’t my shining moment to be sure. What I was worried about was Red, poor kid never saw it coming, nearly had a heart attack right there. Ruben turned and had his gun pointed at my attacker, though I doubt he would’be been much of a help seeing as he could barely point it straight.

“Kid, do you even know how to use that thing? You’re lucky I didn’t kill your friend there- Sonovabitch! ” The attacker shouted at Red before turning to me and then it hit me…

Pierce. Pierce was the one who knocked out those guards, I’m honestly surprised I didn’t catch onto it earlier. Pierce and I had gotten into a few fights in our younger years, we were known as troublemakers before the war. Guy knew how to handle himself in a brawl for sure.

“So, was that because you didn’t know it was me or was that because of Amanda?” I said laughing as I got up. “What are you doing here, Pierce, sight-seeing?”

Ruben lowered his gun and looked toward me as if to ask if I knew him. I nodded slowly and punched the reporter on the shoulder while laughing.

“You could say that. Seeing as this is important, I’ll ignore that comment about my sister and get to the point.” Pierce said annoyed. “I saw the Doc get nabbed by your ‘friend’, I was getting breakfast at the time, so I decided to follow them and listen in.”

I gave the reporter an impressed nod. “You’ve got balls, friend. Willing to help us break out the Doc?”

“You know he had Drog eggs, am I correct?” Pierce said raising an eyebrow at me. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Doc’s a good man, I ain’t about to let him get killed by Hunter or Steinbrecher.” I said seriously well.

Ruben nodded. “Chief’s gone crazy, the doctor didn’t plan anything. I only just met him but… he wouldn’t sell us out to the Reds, I know that.”

Pierce looked at us cautiously for a moment before sighing. “Whatever you say, we can’t let them kill the guy. I’ll make my judgement after talking to him.”

“So, after letting you live here for over 10 years, this is how you thank us? By trying to leave with the Reds and giving them the eggs?”

“No, no, no. You’re not listening, damn it, you’re not-”

“Then why didn’t you tell us about the eggs, hm?” Steinbrecher growled. “I think you’ve got something to hide, you Kraut bastard!”

“YOU’RE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING THAT ISN’T THERE!”

“BULLSHIT!” Steinbrecher bellowed. “Hunter, do what you must.”

“Doctor, I want you to know, I don’t enjoy this.” Hunter said, almost sincerely. “It’s for my country.”

“You know...very well...that Steinbrecher has a skull as thick as a mountain, Lars.” Walder said, breathing heavily after the exchange. “You can’t let his prejudices...get in the way of your job...and this, this isn’t your job.”

Hunter looked sympathetically at the Doctor. “Sadly, it is. Nothing personal…”

It was at that moment I had enough of this. I ran down the stairs holding out my weapon, with Pierce and Ruben not far behind. Steinbrecher was caught off guard by this.

“Kingston, what the hell are you doing?!” Steinbrecher spat in shock. Hunter drew his weapon on us and had an unsurprised look on his face. Hunter always was a paranoid man, pretty sure he was just waiting for me to go rogue.

“I’m doing what’s right, Chief.” I shot back. “Stay away from Walder and maybe we can talk this out. I really don’t want to do this…”

Finally the Chief noticed Red was a part of the group and his face turned to one of betrayal. He looked at Red and Red’s aim was shaking once more. Pierce kept his weapon trained on Hunter and Hunter had his pointed at the reporter.

“Why are you doing this, Red?” Steinbrecher voiced his disapproval.

“What you’re doing, it ain’t right at all.” Ruben mentioned. “I never signed up for this.”

“‘Foreign threats’, you did sign up for this.” Hunter said calmly, still pointing his gun at Pierce. “Right now, you’re seeming like threats.”

“Dammit, Hunter, do you have any sense in you?” I shouted at him. “Walder NEVER wanted any of this. But you’re too blind, too proud in your country to notice, aren’t you? The ends justify the means, right?”

“In this case, they do.”

“All you’re going to do is kill an innocent man.” Hunter looked at his gun for a moment, I’d like to think he was pondering if he should do this or not but the realist in me doubts it.

“If my friend here can’t appeal to your morals, maybe I can appeal to your logic.” Pierce walked forward while lowering his. “You’re a pragmatic man, no? You kill him, you lose your biggest asset, knowledge.”

It was another long period of nothing, just a few men pointing their guns at each other. We had the weapons but no one dared to fire, a stalemate, an impasse. Hunter’s face remained the same throughout but one could gather that he was weighing his options. The shades made it hard to tell. Steinbrecher had sweat all over him, whether it was from fear or rage is a mystery to me. Pierce and I were confident in our appearance but Ruben is who we were worried about. He was a rookie, he could’ve fire off a shot by accident and gotten us all killed.

Hunter started to lower his weapon, turning to Steinbrecher with a blank look on his face. Steinbrecher had a look of rage on his face, yet he remained silent. I lowered my weapon as did Red, he sighed in relief that he didn’t have to use it. Walder was shaken but released.

“The reporter is right, we can’t sacrifice an asset like Walder, not now.” Hunter said in his monotone voice. “We can pass judgement later but now we need him.”

Silence filled the air for a while.

“Can I explain everything now?” Walder said, wringing his hands nervously.

“Fire away, Doc.” I said with a smile.

He walked toward the briefcase and opened it up. I could see Steinbrecher tensing up, but nothing came of it. He turned the briefcase so that its contents faced us. There, loosely arranged in a grid, were seven large, almost gelatinous-looking ovoids. Their shells were translucent, sort of a dark blue-green. These, the eggs of the Drogs, were disgusting in their nature but strangely marvelous in their existence.

“These, yes, they’re Drog eggs. They’re dead, but still in good enough condition to study.” Walder explained, carefully picking up one of them and cupping it between his hands. The shell, despite being solid, jiggled like badly-made meatloaf, I would know, meatloaf wasn’t Amanda’s specialty. “I had collected these during the few times I’ve actually gone down into the sewer systems.” He set it down on a desk.

“How do you know they’re...dead?” Pierce asked, his face twisted in revulsion at the odor. I couldn’t help but do the same. The only person who didn’t seem affected by the smell was Walder.

“They haven’t changed in months. Haven’t developed any further.” Walder said, sitting down in a chair. “The eggs were piled up, probably miles away from where the nest probably is.”

“Still, not telling us wasn’t a smart idea, doc.” I said, crossing my arms. “Especially when you work with...morally questionable fellas like this.”

“About that.” Walder spoke. “I hadn’t finished my research on these eggs yet, and if any of you have noticed, I still have some...habits which I can’t shake.” He was still wringing his hands nervously.

“You learned to keep secrets.” I said with an understanding nod.

“That’s part of it, but not the main reason. The briefcase, I used to carry one all the time. Not pleasant times, but that was how I carried my research, my equipment, just about everything they had me carry around-”

Almost killing the mood, there was a loud thud coming from upstairs.

“Someone might want to check on that.” Walder said with a sigh.

“Well, sounds like Johnston got what was coming to him.” I chuckled. “Wonder what he did to get Mandy that angry.”

“Wait, you brought Amanda?” Pierce said concerned. “Why did you bring-”

There was another loud noise that could be heard from upstairs.

“Security?” I asked turning to Hunter.

“Can’t be.” Hunter said concerned.

“Jesus, what did he do?” I asked surprised. “I might have to stop her.”

I walked up the steps, more like ran up the stairs. The guards from before were still knocked out but one was starting to wake up, I ignored him as jogged down the halls towards the office. When I got there, I saw Amanda standing there with her hands on her hips and Johnston face down on the floor bleeding from the mouth.

“What did you do, Mandy?” I said looking at her handiwork.

“Punched him.”

“What did he do to warrant that?” I asked, though I had several different ideas of what did.

“First, he started hitting on me, he’s worse than you, Trev. Second, he figured out who I am, and third, he slapped my ass!” Amanda said annoyed and disturbed.

“You let him off lightly.” I said looking at the relative lack of carnage. “I would’ve broken a few bones.”

“I knocked a few of his teeth out.”

“Bastard deserved more than that.” I muttered. “That was no way to treat a lady-”

“I can handle myself, Trevor.” She spoke while glaring at me. I suppose that was a problem of mine, as much as I knew Amanda could handle herself, I couldn’t help but want to protect her.

“I know you can handle yourself, I just worry that you’ll get in trouble-”

“I’ll get in trouble? You’re the one fighting monsters!”

“Fair enough” I simply said as the others arrived. Walder was out of breath and Red was helping him get there, Hunter had the usual stoic look on his face and Steinbrecher was looking at Johnston on the floor, still unconscious.

“He probably won’t come to ‘til...early tomorrow, from the looks of it.” Walder said after a quick look over Johnston’s unconscious body before he turned to Amanda. “Good punch.”

“Dad taught me how to throw one.”

“Your dad taught you well.”

“Yeah, our father didn’t exactly mess around.” Pierce said looking around. “He was a vet of the first World War, changed his look on the world, taught us to be tough.”

“I had the honor of meeting Mr. Pierce, the guy could’ve killed me easily...and he was on his deathbed.” I said honestly. “That was what 5 years ago?”

“6, Trev, 6.” Amanda sighed.

“My condolences, then.” Walder said with a sincere nod.

“Dad went down fighting, it was the way he wanted it.” Pierce said with a bit of a smile. “He wasn’t gonna sit in a hospital his last few days, he chose to stay with us.”

“‘Our name is Pierce for a reason, get under their skin’, he’d say that.” Pierce chuckled before turning to the doctor. “Need any help?”

“Any help would be...helpful.”

I looked at Amanda for a moment while they were talking. She was clearly saddened by us mentioning her father, it was always like this. Their mother died shortly after she was born, they were raised chiefly by Mr. Pierce, and when he died she lost everything. It was during those days, six months before the death of the elder Pierce, that my life was changed forever by meeting Mandy.

“You better get your broad to clean up this goddamn mess, Kingston.” Steinbrecher groaned to me. “She cost me-”

“Chief, we’re dealing with a threat that could determine the fate of this country.” I said, rising up. “I think Amanda is the least of our worries. I’ll pay for it once this all over, but for now?You just gotta live with it.”

The Chief just muttered as he turned to Hunter, they starting talking silently, I could tell they were talking about me and Amanda, it was fairly clear from their looks and body language. Had I been less reasonable, I might’ve said some things I’d regret, but I knew better.

5 minutes passed before there was a ringing noise, there was a call for us. Steinbrecher rushed towards the phone. The Chief’s face turned dark, the anger faded and became one of horror, I’ll never forget it. He continued talking into the phone and his voice was soft.

“Kingston, you’re needed. Another body, house by the river.” Steinbrecher said slowly. “From what I’m hearing...it’s not good.”

“I’m on it, Chief.” I said, loading my revolver with a serious look. “You coming, Mandy?”

“You know I’ll be right behind you all the way, right?” Amanda said with a reassuring smile.

I walked out of the door with Amanda behind me but not before hearing Hunter mutter something about Amanda. The guy never was a gentleman, no wonder he was divorced, didn’t know how to talk to a lady. Amanda apparently didn’t hear it, as she just walked besides me silently.

I didn’t know what to expect from Amanda, she had never seen the shit I had. She never saw war firsthand like I have and she never had to bury her comrades. I didn’t want her to either, she was too pure to become a soldier like me. She would’ve hated me if I had told her that then and probably would’ve ignore me anyways. She was tough, God, she was tough but I don’t know if she was ready for this. To be honest, I don’t know if I was ready for this.

The walk there seemed to take hours, yet I knew it was only a few minutes. When we reached the wood-panelled house, however, I immediately saw a sign that what had taken place within was brutal. The wall had been busted into, slats of wood bent inward and insulation foam strewn across the floor. Muddy prints and long puddles of water that hadn’t yet evaporated clued me in. The attack was recent.
And I knew this house.

Gregory Clivewell Peterson, an old friend of Dad’s and a founding member of NARACO. I’m surprised the Chief didn’t know he was the victim, Steinbrecher knew my father as well. That is, until I saw the corpse. Peterson was unrecognizable, his body was torn open with blood still coming out and his face was gone, torn to pieces by massives claws. It didn’t eat him. It was mauled. I saw a bullet shell out of the corner of my eye, but I saw the bullet in the ceiling near the wall. He didn’t stand a chance. Poor bastard. I took off my hat in respect to the dead before searching for more clues. As disturbing as it was, I reached for the body and reached into his coat pockets.

What was in them was not much in terms of evidence but it brought me a feeling of uneasiness. The guy had just retired a month ago, I saw him a week ago at a party with my dad’s war buddies. There was a picture of him and his wife, who thankfully was still alive and his children. Guy didn’t deserve to die like this, especially when he had a few more years in him. But what caught my eye most was a note in there about the Drogs, before they were named ‘officially’, it talked about Steinbrecher forcing him out of retirement. Dad was mentioned too, what the hell were they planning?

I haven’t mentioned Amanda’s reaction yet and there is a good reason, she could barely handle it. She was silent but her eyes widened in horror as she looked at the dismembered body of Peterson. She did not cry, she didn't whimper, she just stared for what seemed to be forever. I can’t blame her, really, it wasn’t pretty but I noticed something else about her. She was looking at something on the floor, drag marks. Peterson was defending someone. Going by the blood trail, he failed, that’s two more dead because of those things.

“Did you know him?” Amanda

“He worked with my father and was my boss for a while before Steinbrecher started taking control.” I sighed. “He was a family friend and a good man. He was a father and recently a grandfather. Goddammit, I never thought it’d end like this for him.”

“I just pray that he’s in a better place now.” Amanda mentioned softly.

“I’m sure he is, if he wasn’t, he’d crawl his way out of Hell and talk it out with the Big Man himself.” I chuckled while nodding. “Dad always said Peterson was a stubborn one and a hero. Looks like he wasn’t wrong.”

Amanda didn’t say a word after that but gripped onto my hand, her eyes looking into mine. Her touch was icy and her eyes were full of conflicted emotions. I looked her in the eyes and nodded to her, I didn’t need to say a word to her. I ran a finger across her scar, feeling the same feelings as her. Fear. And never did I feel more fear than than that moment.

Though the moment was cut short by the sound of splashing water. We quickly ducked behind the wall and heard another set of plodding footsteps, with heavy breaths interspersed with a wet snapping noise. It had come back for more. I pulled out my revolver and Amanda scrambled through her purse to grab her pistol.

It stopped, staring towards the noise. I held fast, glaring at Amanda to stop, which she did after she realized what I was referring to. The Drog sniffed, grunted, and then picked up the old man by the arm - which promptly tore off. With a horrible grunt and a wet slap of its fin upon the wall, the footsteps continued until it reached the water once more. I sighed in relief, turning to Amanda once more.

“Kingston, if we make it through this…” Amanda started, still horrified from what they had just gone through. I placed my hand on her again and looked her in the eyes.

“We will.” I said, still having the same smile as before.

“...Whatever you say, Trev. If we make it through, you better make it up to me.” Amanda spoke with a small smile and giving me a look that could only be described as pure, unadulterated caringness and love.

“And I expect the same from you.” I laughed with her punching my shoulder in response.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

(CREDIT GOES TO DM)

Bondo, Kenya
8 hours ahead

The phone rang out in the small booth outside of the bar, the shrill tone reaching towards my ears from the seat near the door. I gave it a glance, not one to be concerned about who it was on the other end. It was probably for one of the tourists that had come in from a safari, to “take a little pit stop” that had been going on for over two hours at this point. Little more could get on my nerves than tourists. They were always the ones that came in as if they could run whatever village they felt like, and that they were the best thing to these people since fire.

Barasa, one of the staff at the bar, quickly left the glass he was cleaning and made his way over to the place where the phone booth was located. I watched with mild interest as he answered the phone, the rickety wooden hut covering most of the sounds that would’ve been heard if it wasn’t for the noise behind me. I watched him give the genial smile as he spoke, and watched as he went and turned into a small frown. He spoke briefly, and set the phone down on the little ledge that had been assembled for the shack when people needed to go and get someone.

I was slightly surprised when he quickly made his way to me, covering the distance in only a few seconds. He stood in front of me, a concerned look that seemed to be slightly puzzled gracing his face. He spoke quickly, not one to waste time on basic chitchat.

“The phone is for you Mr. Flint. I think it is Americans, but they were adamant to only talk with you before I could find out.”

“No worries Barasa,” I commented, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a small smile, “American’s tend t’ have a bark much worse than their bite.”

Standing up from the old stool that I had been seated in, I made my way to the phonebooth, reaching it before anyone else could. Sliding the wood and glass door shut, I sat down and put the phone up to my head. Making sure that I would be heard clearly by only the other person on the other side of the phone, I spoke.

“This is Flint. If this is to lead a safari, I’m gonna save you the trouble and tell ya to bugger off. I don’t lead greenies out here.”

“If that were only so simple,” said the voice over the device in his hands. “I am Agent Steinbrecher, a representative of the United States Government, NARACO.”

“What in the bloody hell of the Congo does Uncle Sam want with an African big game hunter?” was my slightly exaggerated reply. This wasn’t the first time that a government person had called me. I had gone on safari with plenty of people, from presidents to royalty. It was rare that in this day and age, I would be called upon.

“We need someone who’s dealt with predators before. Someone who’s turned the hunters into the hunted.” was the short but stout reply that came back through the slight static on the phone. It was puzzling to say the least however. Why the hell would someone from the US Government need me for? There’s not a whole lot of things that would require someone of my caliber in a hunting party with a country full of gun toting people.

“Why? Don’t have anyone worth the shot back home in the states?” came back my snarky reply. While I was more of one to sit and just let morons run themselves into the ground, I had a bit of fun with those who came groveling towards me looking at hiring my services. He didn’t sound the happiest at asking for help, probably much less from a foreign hunter from the depths of the African Savannah. The answer that came back through was shocking however, and not what I had been expecting.

“You come recommended from an…. associate we are both familiar with. A Mr. Trevor Kingston.”

“What the fuck has that no good son of a bitch gotten himself into this time?”