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JaneMonster Hunter

By Julian Ravage

The railing was cold in my hands as I looked off into the calm ocean. The battleship ‘Orca’ was trudging along slowly as I took in a deep, wonderfully pure breath. The sky above was a clear blue and for a moment, I felt afamiliar peace. The type of peace you feel right before you go into battle.They call me Jane. I hunt monsters.I ran my fingers through my hair as I soaked in the sun. My right hand passed over the shaved stripped on my head. You cannot normally feeltattoos but I am far from normal. The number 25 was giving off a light, pleasant burn on the side of my head. It tended to ground me when mythoughts would drift.I am a military super soldier. They provided this bit of information onceyou get up from the vat and have to stand in line for tests. They tell you a lotof things as they poke and prod you. I remember feeling like a blank slat as Istood there taking it all in. Needles punctured skin and lights blasted your senses. It really wasn’t all that bad because we are all born wantingknowledge. ‘Want’ is the wrong word, ‘needing’ is much better. After thetests, they march you single file into classroom after classroom. We satwhen were told and we waited for others to enter and brief us beforetraining.

Our proper title is GADS, Genetic, Advanced, Drone, Soldiers. We arestronger and faster then normal humans. We are chi engines. This means wehave a chi output of over a thousand percent and can do things you see inmost movies. Running on water, climbing sheer walls and punching holes insteel girders are just a few feats we can do. People are still amazed whenthey see it. Me? Just another day in the office.At first, they created us to fight in war. I heard the stories of the first batchand it still sends a little happy shiver down my spine. 8 GADS took down 8 bases in 8 days. Their orders were to stop the enemy and prevent them fromalerting the core war machine. They succeeded by breaking every ankle andhand of every soldier in each base. I wish I could have said that was all theydid but they took it steps further. Each punch from a GADS channeledenough chi to disrupt cerebral processes which meant they knocked peopleinto comas. After everything was said and done, not one single life was lostand all were taken prisoner. The information from all 8 bases was enough to put down the White Hand war machine and end the war.There was a short period of peace across the globe, and then monstersstarted appearing. At first, it was one or two strange occurrences, nothing themilitary and local police couldn’t handle. Then there were more sightingsand soon full on clashes. It says how fucked the world is when you havesome serpent monster smashing sections of buildings on 5

Avenue. Thesightings, which turned into full out attacks, began to escalate. The militarythink tanks couldn’t figure it out but it had to be stopped. That is when theGADS stepped in.It has been ten years and I have gotten very good at my job. Technicallywe are military property but I always have the thought in my head that noone owns me. I am here by choice and frankly, I don’t like to see people getkilled. So I do this little dance to help keep the peace. And considering how bad things have gotten, peace is what we desperately needed.Sirens went off all over the Orca. They must have caught something on theradar. I checked the two plasma pistols on my hips and lightning sword over my shoulder. Everything was charged and ready to go. As the captain put itto me, I was the back up incase they cannot shoot the creature down. I said“Yes captain” like a good girl but had no intention of following orders. As Ilooked out, I saw something break the surface.Three razor fins broke the calm ocean waves. They came at us in singlefile from tallest to shortest. The fins were too close together, they all belonged to the same creature. The main guns on the battleship started toturn port side and hummed as they charged up. Judging from the speed of the creature and how it was moving, I could tell every single cannon was

going to miss. So I moved myself as the backup plan into the main plan. I put a foot on the railing and catapulted myself up and over into the waves below.The main guns roared to life as I landed on the ocean surface and sprintedtoward the creature. The fins moved fast and dodged side to side as white plumes of water shot hundreds of feet into the air. Sun glinted off the black fins as I raced to meet them head on. Drawing my two plasma pistols, Iaimed and pulled their respective triggers. Smaller plumes appeared as Iaimed for the creatures head just under the waves. I focused my cluster of shots, trying to drive the creature into a better targeting position for the boys back on the Orca. The creature was having none of it. It continued itsrelentless drive toward the battleship. As the fins drew closer, I channeledmy entire chi into a jump and launched myself roughly a hundred feet in theair. As I twirled in mid air, I continued blasting at the creature as it racedunder me and toward the Orca.As I landed on the ocean surface, the monster rammed the Orca head on.The entire battleship groaned as metal bent and everyone was rocked to themetal decks. I was already running toward the ship as the monster reared upfrom the water. A string of curses poured from my mouth as I kept firing atthe rising creature. Its serpent head was swerving to the left and right as I pelted it with plasma bolts. The creature had an armored exoskeleton whichwas tougher then I thought. I was carving nicks into it but nothing wasgetting through. The sea serpent opened its toothed filled maw and cruncheddown one of the cannons. There was a wretched screeching of metal as themonster ripped off a cannon and tossed it into the murky depths.I let a calmness flow over my mind as I raced toward the serpent.Everything slowed as I focused and moving like a phantom, I reached thecreature and started running up the back of its serpent body. I could feel theocean spray raining on my face. I could see the soldiers firing rifles at themonster. I could feel the number 25 giving off a gentle burning glow on theside of my head. I even felt it down to my bones; this is what I was meant to.This is why I am here.I holstered my pistols and drew my lightning sword. The massive seaserpent tried to shake me off but I was fully focused on the task at hand. In a blink of my eyes, I was standing on the creatures head. I could feel thevibrations of the creatures rage pulse through my feet as I heaved my swordwith the point down. I released my chi into my arms, hands and brought the blade down into the creature’s skull. The blade went down to the hilt. Themonster serpent roared in pain as I twisted the blade and released thecharged lightning bolt. The blast was so strong, the eyes burst forth from the