For three weeks the war has been going on and nobody seems to have noticed.
It seems surreal when I'm on my way to the entry, the armor already on my body and the weapons hidden in the back.
The only thing people seem to have noticed is the smell. I overheard a few comments, my neighbor even went up and down our apartment block to check for a fire. Of course he didn't find any. I'm wondering whether it really is in the air or whether it's just in my clothes.
Of course not just the fact that this war goes on in secret - this whole situation seems surreal. For the last six years I was an exterminator, killing bug infestations, extended cockroach families and wasp hives most of the time and the occasional small mammal invasion. And then I'm pulled into this.
It started three weeks ago, on Tuesday afternoon, with a phone call. The caller, a male with a military tone, asked to be put through to the business owner. Ten minutes later we sat in the truck. Thirty minutes after that we were strapped in body armor. After two hours each of us had their kit complete. The main part is a small flamethrower.
Small because it has to fit in the pipes.
I don't know how long they lived down there. All I know is that there are many and that they are fast.
They are beige, nearly white, with all black eyes. Round faces and about the size of a large dog, but they hobble forward rather than walk or run. Even the small ones can jump somewhere from a foot (0.3 meters) up to about six feet (2 meters) when they are in the bigger pipes. Who knows what happens when they go overground.
The thing is that they do but I was told that they have only been spotted a few times, usually in abandoned buildings. I saw one of the holes they dug, there is one right to our entryway, it's about big enough for a dog to crawl into.
The first time I went in we were four and there was a military in the front and in the back and I was in between them with one of my colleagues to make sure that none gets too close. Now that has changed, we only go in in teams of twos and once I even had to go in alone but I climbed right back out after a minute because that's just plain suicide.
Their claws are huge. I can't even describe it. I don't know where they hide them when they walk usually - you can't hear them touching the floor or anything. They only reveal the claws when they get close, when they attack. When we were still in teams of four one of them cut straight through a guy's shoulder, inches away from me. One moment the pipe was empty, the next it leapt around the corner. It went so quick that neither of us pulled the flamethrower in time.
I don't know why the flames are the only effective thing. Maybe because you don't need to target well, so even when they are fast it's hard to miss. And they are always fast.
Somehow today we managed to go four hours into the pipes without meeting a single one. We heard them taunting us, most of the way they seemed to be just around the corner. There were clicking sounds or grinding sounds and when we turned the corner there was fresh blood running down the walls. Maybe they were baiting us somewhere, or maybe they were just waiting for us to take a break or be inattentive, or maybe they just have fun teasing us. God knows what those creatures think.
The day before yesterday it was completely different. I was jumped three times and Quan nearly six times. That's when you have to do the cover to the back, they always try it from the back.
Up until last week I was wondering why they keep sending us down there. So many of us "got lost" down there, I think it's just a matter of time until Quan and I "get lost" too. Can't they at least send proper soldiers with proper training? Why the hell did they sign us up for this?
