To Be A Killer

Chapter 9: Career Day

"Raise the gates! Covering fire... and go," Sam says, just like always. "Runner Four, Runner Five, got a fairly routine mission for you today."

Jody groans. "Don't say that. Why do you always say that?"

"Routine waste of time, more like," Janine grumbles. "This is not how I wanted to spend my last day on coms."

"Your last day?" I repeat with furrowed brows, and she sighs.

"Amelia's streamlining the operation. It appears my time is better off elsewhere. In this particular instance, she might have a point."

"Haven't you ever seen monster movies, Janine?" Sam asks seriously. "Ignoring this sort of thing never ever turns out well."

"Oddly enough, I do not rely on monster movies for my defense strategies, Mr. Yao."

Monster movies?

I blink, my hand reaching up to grab my backpack strap."Uh... what are you guys talking about? Because I'm very confused."

"The Ministry wants us to check out any lead, no matter how ridiculous it might sound," Sam replies.

I nod. "I'm aware."

"They're even thinking of letting us follow up the Phantom of Abel next week."

"Oh, that nonsense," Janine scoffs, and I roll my eyes at the mention of the stupid rumor. "Yes, a few items have gone astray. No, they have not been stolen by a masked figure dressed in an opera cloak. We never should have allowed the amateur dramatics group access to Andrew Lloyd Weber song books."

"Yeah. No, that one's definitely ridiculous. But today's assignment is a-a little bit less ridiculous," He tells us with a small laugh. "We know Comansys has been able to create some pretty amazing technological stuff. Anyway, better safe than sorry-that's what I say. Well, safe as you can be in an apocalypse. Zombies are real; Best not ignore other impossible things before breakfast."

"And uh, what other impossible things are we talking about?" I ask, swooping down to grab an unopened bottle of water. The outside looks a bit dirty, but the inside contents are still clean and the cap is still on tight. I shove it in my backpack.

"Oh, right. I haven't told you that yet. Sorry. Uh, giant footprints. We found giant footprints."

Jody pales. "That's not sound and routine, Sam. What sort of giant footprints?"

"The sort of giant footprints reported by unreliable Roufflenet sources," Janine spits out in annoyance. The agitation is practically radiating off her, and I can't even see her.

"Hey, hey," Sam says defensively, "Roufflenet's no less reliable than..."

"Yes?"

"Yeah, well... yeah, let me get back to you on that one," He says, and I can't hide my laughter. He lets out a small huff but says nothing on it. "We know Comansys had a biological research devision. It's not completely impossible that those giant footprints might have something to do with that. Four, Five, I need you to-wait. What's that?"

Jody tenses. "What's what?"

"To your right, just coming into view. Yeah. Yeah, it's a-"

"Hey!" A new voice shouts. "Hey there! You! Runners!"

My eyes widen at the sight of a short little munchkin running toward us. Black hair is flying everywhere, hiding almost all of the girl's face. I can tell it's a girl from the voice, and the outfit-a Girl Guides outfit.

"Is that your giant monster, Mr. Yao?" Janine asks in a snarky voice before sighing heavily. "Good grief. How old is this child? Seven? Eight?"

"Ten, I think," I reply. "But I'm not sure. The sash she's wearing is a different color than the ones of the last Girl Guide group we saw. She's probably someone we haven't met."