Chapter 1

Meet Reid 

 

“Last seen…” Reid muttered under his breath as he reached for his journal and a pen, making sure he was in a comfortable position to write. Once he was as cozy as he could be, Reid flipped it open before he started jotting down inside once again about what has been happening since the day the monsters appeared. It’s become a regular habit of his. The thickness of the journal and the number of pages he filled could possibly end up in an entire series of work as most of the pages were nearly used up. On every page, there were different types of contents.

The first time the monsters were discovered.

The sightseeing or basically the place, time day and year of each massacre.

The types of monsters he witnessed and was disclosed about it such as its possible height and weight, body type.

Even its killing…favorite killing methods.

He wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not finding out that those monsters had their favorite killing methods. What would be next then? Their favorite human blood type? Human body? Human…human’s screams? 

It would just be interesting in the worst ways.

He even jotted down how he has been living for the past four years, how others have lived. But one thing he had in common with everyone was that they were all living in pure fear. Reid never once thought that he would ever end up in a situation like this…in a new world like this where they never knew when they would either die peacefully or be mauled apart by those ferocious monsters. 

Hence to him, it was crucial that he record down every significant instance for future references and assistance. With that in mind, the ink in the pen finally met the papers.

 

2022

It’s been four years since they were first discovered… first attacked…four years isn’t enough to adapt to this new world. I don’t think any number of years will be. Who would want to live like this? We weren’t ready for this change, even for me, none of us are prepared.

The monsters are still at the extreme top of the pyramid. They owned the word now that they would cause massacre as and when they like. Sometimes I wonder… during the first sighting 4 years ago, had the police not disturbed them. Would they have enforced fear in our life now? Either way we can neither predict them nor defeat them entirely due to some of them... being unnaturally powerful…

 

Reid stopped writing for a bit, needing a pause to take in what he would be writing next. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

One…

Two…

Three… 

Finally feeling himself in an atmosphere of ease that was slightly better than before. At least…this was the one activity that kept him sane throughout this burdensome period. There was another thing he needed to write. He wasn’t sure if he was preserving it as a memory or if it would be a note for anyone in future who would read his journal. He took in another deep breath to stabilize himself before picking up the pen to start writing again.

 

Right, that isn’t the only…burden? Do I see it as a burden? Maybe, maybe not. Anyways, I still have this…this ability. Again, I know it still sounds ridiculous as if I’m on the verge of insanity. I guess it’s a good thing. Or it would have been a good thing if I was investigating criminals instead of taking down monsters. The same disadvantage is that…that I wish others would tell me the truths of the situation, especially when it involves the monsters, instead of me finding it out through this ability. I knew they meant well, and they want to keep the hope burning in us, but can we afford to lose our guard and build up on more and more disappointments that we gathered throughout those 4 years? 

Like the time one of the leaders of something gave such a confident speech of how our world would soon revert to its normal state.

What a lie…

Don’t bring our hopes up like that.

Nonetheless, I still must keep this a secret. I felt it was one of the right things to do, I mean since it’s merely an ability using my brain that affects only me. Well, if it was an ability that can bring those monsters to their demise then I guess it's negotiable, but a truth detector ability? What use would it be against those monsters or even our surviving communities? It’s no different than using those lie detector machines, except I’m the flesh and blood version. To give myself additional pressure for specific reasons, I need to and will keep my emotions in check. If I were to act on my feelings…who’d know, how long till someone finds out about this. I can’t let anyone know…I can’t alert anyone that I know when they are lying.

 

“Was writing this a good, of course it is.” Reid mumbled once again, staring into space wondering what else he should add in his entry for the day. Right… he recalled the recent massacre that happened at the nearby market in Missouri. For the past 4 years, Missouri managed to live in peace despite the fear of the lurking monsters, until this year. Finally, they decided to choose Missouri as their next circus, without the interference or disturbance of those monsters. Those monsters…Reid felt that they just decided to attack Missouri. Again, during those times, Reid had to unfortunately hold his emotions deep down in his heart, especially after he saw how the families of the corpses of the innocent begged for their family’s safety and never stopped asking if they would return home in one piece…it was such an agonizing period. Reid blinked to snap from his little flashback of the incident and shook his head before he clicked his pen once again to continue writing about that unfortunate massacre.

 

The massacre in Missouri.

A few days ago, a monster finally decided to appear in one of the markets in Missouri to disrupt the peacefulness. I suppose they had their amusement when they came out of hiding to attack. Specifically attack somewhere they had never touched before, somewhere no one touched them before. Or so I assumed. Usually, they would stay in their hiding unless the hunters barged in to attack them which was how it kind of happened for the past 4 years, even how this whole mess started. But to be a little humane to them even though they never deserved it, I guess it was reasonable because who’d like it when someone disturbs their slumber. But just because it never happened before, doesn’t mean it won’t… Hence the brutal massacre at the market. Like the other attacks of the monsters. I am 100% sure that not a single soul or body survived at that rate. Everything has been increasing, the number of lives that were lost, the amount of people waiting for their loved ones to come home…the number of monsters?

Was that possible?

When would this end? 

What did we do to deserve this…no, it was those monsters’ fault. They are vicious murderers interfering into our daily lives and space. Humanity used to live in so much peace but…now we are living in fear of the monsters coming to attack. It was already frightening to think about death, the pain without the last words.

Is this kind of attack going to happen more often now? When they came at us without warning. Or was this revenge for them? 

Did I feel anything?

4 years didn’t make me numb enough. The sudden massacre was a frightful shock. When the situation cleared up and the hunters attempted to bring down that monster, there were still more questions in my head.

Was this their attempt to make us taste our own medicine? 

Sure, we didn’t manage to massacre them but…I just want some peace.

 

Peace.

Probably something even the rich couldn’t buy now. 

Reid once again closed his eyes and the journal. He figured he already wrote enough, almost enough. He couldn’t stop questioning the situation. But right now, with his eyes and journal closed, he wanted to reimagine the days before the monsters first appeared, where he only had to worry about his mundane life and bills. But now a larger burden of worry was suddenly dropped onto his shoulders. They had to develop new weapons because of these monsters, change their life because of these monsters, everything. Sometimes he wondered…if that peace would come back. If they can ever get that much peace…but deep down, Reid knew that it was impossible. They can never achieve the level of peace where one wouldn’t need to worry about some ferocious ugly strong monsters. Peace was doomed for humanity ever since the first monster, they brutally ruined and destroyed that chance just like the police and SWAT team that was unknowingly sent to destroy them 4 years ago in a town that was only a couple of hours away. That somehow became the green light for the monsters to nearly dominate our world.

Naturally he had to keep up with both the local and international news.

The horror when he first found out…

That they were everywhere.

They were all over the world.

And now, you wouldn’t know when they would attack.

Either fight back to surrender and get ripped apart.

Reid flipped to the mini map in his journal, marking Missouri with red to indicate that it had an attack from those monsters. Keeping up with the news was such a crucial thing at this state, if one wants to continue living to the next few years at least. He assumed the people in Missouri tried that but unfortunately had its first taste of it and the civilians were stepping on eggshells. The poor innocent civilians, their bodies were brutally mauled that it became impossible to arrange a proper funeral for some families. On the…somewhat bright side, they wouldn’t need to worry about living in such a stressful world. 

Of course, that sounded a little mean but hey was he wrong about it?

Reid glanced at his watch, seeing that there wasn’t anything he had to do urgently yet and since he had some time, he decided to open that journal and continue jotting down his last few thoughts inside.

Right…I’m still with the hunters. I guess I can be labelled as one of the reasons the monsters came even though I had no play in the first one. I remembered my first day, where I had gotten…how do I put it?

 “The call”? From the head of my hunter team who told me that I had to suit up. It took me a little while to get used to that routine plus that was the period where I first discovered this ability. I was…I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. 

I questioned if it would get into my way? 

What if I could read the monsters? 

What if I mess up if I accidently caught a lie?

Was that a dumb thought? 

I suppose so but hey, who wouldn’t feel that sheer panic when you realize you're abnormal. I had the feeling others had it worse than I was so that was one of the reassurances I have myself. And I survived so now I’ve been hunting ever since for a couple of those 4 years. Thankfully I’m not one for physical altercation. Based on my ability alone, I am the brains, both left and right. Even though I would never admit that I am extremely terrified of getting involved with such things. 

So called hunter huh? I guess I should have prayed for a different ability to fend off those monsters. Thankfully I’m not relying on my…non-existent super strength alone.

 

Reid was about to continue writing till a little ding was heard and his phone lit up. He closed the journal and placed it aside before reaching for his phone. He squinted his eyes when he unlocked his phone that decided the brightness to be as bright as day. Of course, there was the usual expected text from his leader. 

The leader of his team of hunters.

The text was perfect with the exact time and place where they had to meet. And that time isn’t too far away but it was enough for Reid to get ready for this mission. Or so he likes to call it a mission. 

“Here we go again…time for some action then. Who knows if I would make it this time…? Ha… let’s not jinx it.” Reid chuckled to himself before getting up to his closet that was meant for his hunter job.

Reid opened the closet door and took out all his apparels that made up into his suit. Basically, the best they could invent for the time being when they had to go against those monsters. The first layer was a soft bodysuit armor to protect his body against fine fragmentations. Just a simple layer of extra protection. It nearly resembled a bodysuit which covered from his neck all the way to his ankles. The next layer was the hard and rougher vest like jacket that was made from both graphene and some of the skins of the monsters that they managed to kill. Or so they claimed. 

Either way it did a pretty good job in protecting them for now plus it had a good number of pockets for him to hide some necessities and weapons. There were slots and pockets inside the jacket, outside and even on the sleeves of his biceps. The best part was that it didn’t feel too bulky, though that depends on the items of course. Once he firmly buttoned, zipped, and locked both the vest and pants, he sat on the chair to wear his boots. He remembered how he was surprised at first for the boots since they weren't regular army boots. It looked far thicker and heavier that he wondered if they would be able to run or do anything in it. However, after wearing it for the first time, it felt like a regular boot. The addition was that it had extra protection and slots for him to place smaller lethal weapons if a quick escape was needed. It was a good thing to him that the suit was snug on his body, and it didn’t make him look like a bush or a teddy bear so he would be able to sneak into smaller spaces in escape situations. Lastly was his gloves and mask. Oh, he loved the gloves that snugly covered his whole hand which also made it easier for him to hold a firm grip on his weapon.

The weapon, such an interesting and necessary invention. Somehow, Reid didn’t know how, but they managed to retrieve the tougher and sharper parts of the skin from the monsters. Reid assumed that they took other parts of the monster as well such as horns, claws or so. During the first year of the invasion and attacks from those monsters, regular human weapons were useless against them. You name it. From the guns, to rifles, daggers and even the gun of the tank couldn’t penetrate the skins of the monsters. Until someone, Reid didn’t know who, managed to get their hands on the smaller monster’s body and decided to improvise our weapons with the monsters. There were instances where some saw the monsters were able to cause harm to one another, so what better than to somewhat use them against themselves? It wasn’t a risk to create the weapon, but it was a risk to test it out. Reid wouldn’t have minded being the one to test it but someone else took the role. Fortunately, they were able to take down a larger monster with that newly invented weapon and since then, every monster that they managed to kill was not to be disposed of. 

They did have to name the weapons after the monsters and keep track of what monsters could attack which. Just in case, one of the monsters is unable to injure the other hence the weapon would be deemed as useless item.

Reid thought the monsters would have taken the sign that they could be overturned one day but…the largest one would still be able to rip them in half. At least…at least they were still trying.

The blades and bullets were firmly made from all the parts of the monsters, but the handle was its regular materials except firmer. Most of it wasn’t that heavy…well with proper training, of course it wouldn’t be that heavy or a hassle to swing and so on. The weapon he had resembled a claymore. Strong enough to slash and pierce through those thick skins, long enough to reach the vitals. Reid wouldn’t deny he did look amazing in this appearance but well…he could say he was smaller than an actual soldier. He looked into the mirror, brushing his blonde hair that he needed to cut to prevent any mishaps even though there was a very slim chance of it happening, checking that he was all set and all that was left was to make his way to the stated location. 

As soon as he was about to head out, his phone lit up with its little ding again. He wondered if there was any update. Probably any information about the monster they were going to take down or something like that. 

Hey, don’t worry about it alright? It’s going to be one easy one to take down.

Unfortunately…Reid’s ability also applies through texts. Whatever his leader told him, as much as he appreciated how the leader was trying to ease them into the situation, he knew that it wasn’t the truth… 

“I guess I have to be prepared to say goodbye then…just in case.”