Monster Hunter Memoirs: Wolf and Red
Chapter Twenty
"Holy fuck."
"I'm not fighting it."
"RUN AWAY."
The... critter had come out of the sea, and MOSTLY resembled a giant, translucent octopus. It was also hostile, latching onto anything in reach and trying to eat it. Thankfully it seemed mostly blind, and just flailed about randomly.
"Does this happen often?" Red had to ask, shaking her head.
"Every few months, roughly," Anne noted.
"And this isn't in the news because...?" Wolf wondered.
Anne shrugged, "The military handled the big ones, local hunters deal with the small ones." She added, "Government censorship keeps it contained, and anything that does leak gets hand waved as a Godzilla publicity stunt."
"That makes a weird degree of sense," Red agreed.
Wolf descretely shot some cellphone video and sent it to Mimi. She'd FREAK.
Anne sighed, "If you two are done being tourists, we need to get you fitted for your wedding outfits."
"NOT wearing a dress," Wolf added briskly.
"Understood," Anna nodded, "I know a place locally that should work."
The shop was NOT a brisal one, thankfully, but it was fancy and the clothes on display looked good. "Nice," Red mused.
"Coming," the shopkeeper hurried out from the back, then stopped. "YOU."
"Us?" Wolf looked at her curiously.
"Hey, I remember you from when the zombies attacked the bar," Red realized.
Wolf nodded, "Yuki, Akira's ex, right?"
Yuki nodded sheepishly, "Yes." She hesitated then added, "I never thanked you for what happened... thank you."
Wolf and Red exchanged a glance, remembering at one point when they nearly abandoned the woman. Still...
"You're welcome," Red smiled insincerely.
"So, you need formal wear?" Yuki asked briskly, the attractive woman looking them both over.
"Yes, suit or similar for me," Wolf noted.
"I'm okay with whatever, as long as it looks nice," Red offered.
"Well, let's see...," Yuki mused.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Susan Bishop ended up taking the job with 'Bishop's Butchers.' It was, frankly, no worse than her last job as an accountant.
"Wait, you're an accountant too?" Dolores asked, blinking.
"Yes?" Susan agreed, wondering if she had an issue with that.
"Once I check your references, I might have you keeping our books too," Dolores admitted.
Susan was a bit miffed that Dolores needed to check, but she supposed she understood that. She continued, "Who do you have doing your books now?"
"A weasel John hired, based in Vancouver," Dolores said. She added, "I think he had some kind of leverage on the accountant, kept him honest."
"Sounds like John," Susan made a face.
"How are you with guns?" Dolores checked.
Susan shrugged, "I'm okay with handguns. That's about it."
"We'll need to get you out to the firing range," Dolores noted, "I want you checked out on most of our gear."
"I thought it was office work?" Susan checked.
"We've had headquarters attacked once or twice," Dolores pointed out, "plus we might need assistance in the field."
"yeah, yeah... You're gonna make he haul ammo and such, I bet?" Susan mused.
"Possibly," Dolores shrugged.
"I expect bonus pay if I go into the field," Susan accepted that with a sigh.
"Fair enough," Dolores agreed. The phone in the office rang and Dolores picked it up, "Yeah? WHAT. Shit..."
"Trouble," Susan muttered.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"They did WHAT," Nic Carter blinked as the group met up at University of British Columbia, at the Anthropology Dept.
The professor sighed, "They got together a group and went into the sewers looking for the lost 'Temple or Artemis.'"
Gail Ward looked dubious, "That was the temple they think drove all the animals nuts and killed our predecessors?"
"Yup," Dolores agreed, their boss accompanied by a newcomer, Susan.
"WHY?" Nic looked at the old man.
He gave them a faintly accusing look, "Because both local Hunter Teams refused to take them in there."
Dolores made a face, "And anyone with common sense would agree with us. Messing with WHATEVER is down there could trigger another attack."
"So..." Gail jumped in, "what does the University want us to do?"
"Retrieve the, of course," the old man said.
"So, did the University send them in, KNOWING we'd have to rescue them?" Susan asked mildly.
The dude looked uncomfortable.
"Uh huh," Dolores sighed.
Nic offered, "Can we just turn the job down?"
"But they're children!" he blurted.
"We can't," Gail shook her head. "We have a contract with the city, we HAVE to respond to these emergencies."
"Fuck," Nic muttered.
"How long ago did they go?" Dolores checked.
"Yesterday," he replied, "two assistant professors and four students. Alison Locke lead them, she had contact with Wolf and Red."
"Yeah, she tried to hire us to go in to the tunnels too," Nic remembered.
"All right, where did they go in?" Dolores asked, and soon they had the info needed and headed out.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"They want you to WHAT?" Red got the call. "Fuck."
"Yeah. Any advice?" Dolores asked.
"Bring LOTS of ammo. Shotguns worked best against some of the bigger critters," Red recalled.
"Got it," Dolores nodded.
"Mimi has the maps we made, they're rough as hell though," Red added. She paused, "Do you think they did this to make you go in to the tunnels?"
"Maybe," Dolores sighed. "He said you met with the one woman, Alison Locke?"
"Yeah," Red recalled, "she was actually pretty intense. I could see her getting it into her head to go on her own."
"Fuck. Okay," Dolores sighed.
"Be fucking careful," Red added.
"So how's the wedding prep going?" Dolores asked curiously.
"Oh, as usual... one of the Mothers In Law was replaced by a succubus, so there's that..."
"WHAT."
To be continued...
