• "Jeff, this area has had constant leaks for weeks, no matter how many people we send. Doesn't that strike you as...odd?" Frank said as we waded through the ankle-deep sewer muck, our white boots covered in a blackish-green slime. I chuckled. Good old Frank, he's always such a scaredy-cat.
    "Frank, some places are just leaky. And the fact that it's a really old building doesn't help much." I laughed again. "And the more times they call us, the more money we earn off of the bills and tips and whatnot."
    "Yeah, but five men have disappeared without a trace, and the people who return tell terrifying stories about some kind of monster down there...I don't like this..." I sighed. Frank, who is about sixty, must be losing his mind. Poor old man.
    "Frank, it's all a joke. That monster is made up, and the men are hiding. Now shut up, and let's go fix this damned pipe already!" I said with growing agitation. Frank must have gotten my point, but he occasionally muttered things like "monster" and "going to eat us like breakfast sausages". I paid no mind to his incessant mutterings, and continued on my way.
    About five minutes later, I heard the slow and steady drip of a leak. I turned my head slightly towards the side.
    "See, Frank? It's just a little drip. Nothing to worry abou-" I suddenly noticed that I couldn't see the beam of Frank's headlamp. "Frank? Where are you?" I called into the darkness. My only answer was a skritch-skritch sound. It was probably a rat...
    My eyes caught sight of a single beam of light near the end of the tunnel. Frank. I sloshed through the raw sewage, shouting at my partner. He never turned around. I finally reached him, and I shone my headlamp beam on his face. I screamed. A skull was in its place. Realization hit me like a wrecking ball. Frank was right all along. There was a monster.
    "Hello there, Food," A girl's voice snarled in the inky blackness. "My name is Kiza." I heard a splash as she landed in front of me. Her hair was an almost-black green with light green stripes. She was wearing a dark green dress, and had skin that had next to no pigmentation. She had webbed fingers, a finned tail, gills, and razor-sharp teeth. Small black spines ran along her back, and her eyes were an angry neon yellow. They gleamed with hunger.
    "I have an idea, Food! Let's play a game. If you win, I let you go. If you lose...It won't end very well for you." She smiled. "Now, riddle me this: What is as big as an elephant, but weighs nothing?" At least I knew this riddle.
    "That would be an elephant's shadow, Kiza." She growled.
    "I'll let you go this time, Food, but I'll get you...sooner or later..."
    The last sound I heard from the girl as I tore through the tunnel was a terrible, scheming laugh...and all the rats joined in with their squeaky, high-pitched chortles.