David stepped off the edge of the garbage truck and lifted the lid from the small aluminum can. He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting back the tears and bile caught in the back of his throat. The last time he’d smelled something this bad, he’d been fighting Slug Monsters in the War of ’96. Man, those slimy bastards had stunk.
For the past two weeks, he’d been working undercover, hunting a new creature that DD6 had classified as a five on their scale. Sevens were the worst—apocalyptic. He hadn’t seen a seven since the war. Sixes were just as rare. Fives? They were a nuisance.
The newest beast was a small, green, scaly monstrosity shaped like a tennis ball. He had yet to make physical contact with the little devil, but from the briefings he’d received, it latched onto the central nervous system, placing its host in a locked-in state. So far, his search had been quiet, turning up nothing. His only solid lead was a previous detection two weeks before. DD6 had tracked its location to this vicinity, confirming that it was attracted to trash.
He was starting to suspect that DD6 Supervisory Agent Alicia had sent him on a wild goose chase just to keep him occupied. She hadn’t been fond of him since his last screw-up. One more demerit and he might just be toast. Most supervisors sucked.
His current boss for the City of Kingfisher was a giant jerk named Trevor, who constantly rode him, demanding that he speed things up and stop snooping in everyone’s trash. Trevor drove the truck, never bothering to get out, break a sweat, or help. Undercover work required him to deal with such jerks from time to time.
“Hurry up,” Trevor barked from the front of the cab.
David gave him a nonchalant wave and imagined what it would be like to crack the guy right in the jaw and knock him out cold.
Guys like Trevor were the type of men he wished monsters would latch onto more. Just big bullies with loud voices who worked their way up on the backs of weaker men.
Yeah, he would make sure to get one good accidental punch in. He’d classify it as a casualty of war. It happened sometimes.
Trevor slammed on the horn.
“I’m ready,” David yelled. “Just drive, you arrogant—” He let his words trail off as he stepped onto the back of the trash truck. Why couldn’t they have tracked the beast to one of those suburban neighborhoods with trash trucks that had claws reaching out to clamp solid trash containers? No doubt Alicia was enjoying him being here, having to work manual labor in order to track the beast. She’d even seemed a little giddy as she informed him of the assignment.
He caught movement out of the corner of his eye. It disappeared as he caught the sun’s reflection off the lid of the next trash can.
It could have been a squirrel or a rat. But neither of those could push open a lid and shift it to the side.
The truck came to a stop. He stepped off slowly, carefully placing his foot on the ground without causing even a slight tremor the beast could feel. The neighborhood was quiet, except for the sputter from the truck’s engine. He stole a quick look around as the trash can shook.
Definitely not a squirrel.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device the size of a remote. The Taser only had one or two shots in it. Normally, that was all he needed. Besides, his objective was to stun the creature, not kill it. Killing didn’t provide them the opportunity to record the proper science they needed. And unfortunately, he had a habit of documenting accidental kills. Part of why he’d earned so many demerits.
David took a step toward the trash can. He reached out with his left hand, Taser in his right. He yanked the lid off and quickly stepped back.
There in front of him was the beast. Round, with one eye, green scales, and two razor-sharp fangs.
David aimed the Taser as the thing hissed at him. “I got you.”
“What are you doing?”
David jumped as Trevor barked at him. He pressed the button on the Taser with his thumb in the chaos—an orange beam of light flashed out, missing the green, scaly beast.
“Great,” David said, spinning around. “If Alicia finds out I had an accidental discharge…”
“What is that?” Trevor asked.
“It’s nothing.” David slid the Taser back into his pocket.
“Nothing?” Trevor raised his voice. “I just saw—” He took a step inches from David. “It doesn’t matter. Get in the truck. I’m radioing dispatch. You’re done.”
Great. Not only had he had an accidental discharge on the Taser, but now he’d managed to lose his cover without actually blowing his cover. Alicia wouldn’t understand or even give him a chance to explain.
“Look, Trevor,” David said. “I noticed something, and I can’t explain it, but I need you to trust me on this.”
“Trust you?” Trevor scoffed. “You’re a no-good, lazy punk. Get in the truck. You’re done. Understand?”
David glanced up and saw Trevor’s hat shift on the man’s head. Trevor felt it, took it off, and stared at the hat, shrugged, then turned around, yanking out a cigarette as he did so.
But the small, green, scaly beast sat on Trevor’s head, nestled into the guy’s wavy brown hair.
There was no way he could Tase the small green monster—not without hitting Trevor in the process. Not that that would be a bad thing.
A baseball bat jutted out from the back of the trash truck. It was slightly charred, as though it had been burned, and it had the name Louie etched deep into the side, as if someone had carved it into the wood.
David grabbed hold of the bat. One good swing, just like tee-ball.
But he’d been horrible at tee-ball.
David stepped back, swung, cutting through Trevor’s hair. The beast flew off at the last second, landing with a loud hiss in the back of the garbage truck.
Trevor spun around. He eyed the bat. “You trying to take a swing at me?”
David ignored him, glancing down at the beast. He brought the bat down and slammed it onto the green terror. It flattened like a pancake. Blobs of green and red ooze flew everywhere.
Trevor looked at the disgusting blob, his eyes wide. “What was that?”
David shrugged. “It’s best you don’t know.”
David poked at the flat pancake of slime with the end of the bat. No doubt he would be fired now. Alicia wouldn’t give him another chance.
“Hey,” Trevor yelled. “What the heck was that?”
David tossed the bat in the back of the truck, pulled out the Taser, and fired it right at Trevor.
Trevor spasmed for a second, locked up, and dropped to the ground, out cold.
He’d be all right. Most likely wake up with a bad headache.
David shrugged. His phone rang. The caller ID said Alicia. No doubt they were tracking his actions.
He hit ignore, tossed the phone in the back of the truck, and started walking.
Two jobs in one day. Had to be some kind of record.
Didn’t matter. He couldn’t stand his boss anyway.