Do you know this? One minute you swear to someone that you definitely won't do something and the next minute you do it anyway? Sigh, that's how we feel at the moment. One minute we were swearing to our parents never to go near these sinkholes and the next minute we're standing right in front of them in full gear and radiation suits!
Yibo and I certainly enjoyed the time we had together. I mean, we were home for three and a half months and were able to use the time extensively for ourselves. But still, we were starting to feel like fish in an aquarium. We just kept making our rounds in our apartment and kept looking out the windows.
The ceiling was slowly falling on our heads and we finally wanted to get back to work. With a big mouth I said that I didn't care what we had to do, the main thing was that we could work again. And then we got a call from our boss and he sent us to a military general who then put us in radiation suits and put us on guard duty at this huge sinkhole.
Now we were right where we never wanted to be and we can't even complain. In addition, the general had been pretty cruel and thought we were suit-wearing kids who liked to play spies and that's why we became secret agents. He doesn't even trust us to do more than play agents.
Unfortunately, we are subordinate to the general and he outranks us. I think otherwise I would have given him a decent opinion!
About the sinkholes, we learn more piece by piece now that we have to guard one. The things that the scientists have found out so far have not been released to the public. And there was something that Yibo and I found quite interesting.
After the Russian president thought it would be a good idea to drop a few bombs into some of the sinkholes, we were all anxious to see what would happen. Well, not much, that's for sure. Because the explosions were only slightly audible and the smoke that came out of this explosion came out of several sinkholes. At least now we know that the sinkholes are connected with an underground cave system!
We were shown a surveillance video of a small Polish farmer. He had a surveillance camera in his barn by his cows. He was afraid that his neighbor was stealing a cow from time to time and hoped to be able to convict his hated neighbor of these deeds with the surveillance videos.
Instead of his neighbor, however, something else was recorded. Just a week after a small sinkhole was found near his property, the video showed a gray to almost white human-like figure entering his cow barn and attacking one of the cows. The small farmer found the cow dead in the cow barn the next morning. It had not a drop of blood left in its body!
Polish scientists took the dead animal for examination. And because the small farmer feared the creature might come back, he and a few of his armed friends waited in the barn during the night. When the creature actually came, they killed the thing and then burned it.
Sure, the scientists were super pissed about it, because they would have loved to study the creature. But the small farmer just shrugged his shoulders and said it was just a fucking vampire! As if that was normal there. I thought I didn't hear right and Yibo also just shook his head.
I don't know what this creature was, I don't want to speculate about it. I only hope that such creatures do not really come out of these sinkholes and are keen on the blood of humans and animals! Some of our scientists think that it is impossible that something like vampires exists. They believe that this creature could have been a human being living somewhere without daylight and adapted to its environment by evolution.
Well, whatever these creatures are, we are now required by them to stand guard at the sinkholes and watch out. We wear these radiation suits that don't even make sense, because there is currently no radioactive radiation at the holes. And there are no toxic substances there either. Not even this colored mist is toxic.
Yibo thinks we are wearing these radiation suits just for show. He said, "Helicopters from TV stations keep flying overhead. Maybe this way they want to give the impression that it's dangerous at the holes and prevent people from going there out of curiosity."
"I think you're even right about that." I said. I couldn't think of anything else to say. Because I saw it like he did. But that's all he said. Because while we work, we behave like professionals. I don't think anyone can see that we are more than colleagues.
What surprises me is that our boss also brought Yibo into the civil service. As an undercover agent, he should not be noticed anywhere in public. And yet now he's always standing next to me and a few other agents from our headquarters at this really deep, deep hole. Mhhh, maybe our boss has new plans with Yibo.
I have to say, when I held a machine gun in my hand for the first time in years, it felt really strange. Good, but strange at the same time. But it also showed me how great the fear of an unknown threat is by now.
Even though they say they don't assume this creature came from a sinkhole and was more likely living in some cave looking for food and only approaching people out of hunger, their actions are clearly the opposite of what they say. In addition, I think the creature could have caught some wild animals in the forest instead of attacking a cow.
Unless the creature has so much knowledge that a cow in a cow barn is an easier prey than wildlife in a forest that can run away. What if there are more of these Intelligent Creatures? Where do they really come from? Could they be an explanation for why all those people who disappeared in those sinkholes never reappeared?
I mean, scientists have flown drones with lights and cameras into these sinkholes and in some of these less deep holes they found trees, parts of roads, houses. But no bodies! The people must be somewhere or? And be it only their corpses. But there was nothing! No bodies, no pets, just nothing that was once alive.
Well, thinking too much doesn't help either. And at the moment I'm enjoying the advantages of being able to go back to work. Because now we are allowed to move freely outside again. Even in our free time. And we are allowed to go out to eat in a restaurant, we can go shopping every day in a supermarket of our choice. Oh yes, and on Saturday nights we could even go to a bar.
Many advantages for Yibo and me, which we are only too happy to take advantage of. For example, we used the opportunity to eat at a restaurant as a way to make a date out of it. Our first real date. Yibo even managed to get some flowers and chocolates for me from somewhere. The old me would have complained and said that these are gifts for women. The new me, the real me, was very happy.
The only thing I found disturbing that night was the stares from our waitress when Yibo and I held hands or flirted a bit. And at one point, this bitch even came up to us and said, "Excuse me, but you should refrain from doing that. This is a decent restaurant!"
Yibo then stood up, looked around, and asked the other guests, "Excuse me? Do any of you mind if I hold my cute boyfriend's hand every now and then and we flirt a little quietly with each other?" I was really uncomfortable because I thought there would be trouble.
An old couple stood up and the man replied, "My wife and I don't mind. We are happy to see people in love." His wife nodded and said we made a nice couple. None of the other guests had a problem with us either and just wanted to enjoy this evening, just like us.
However, the waitress was not satisfied and asked us to just leave. Yibo asked her if she was out to make a ruckus because she was homophobic. She then got even angrier and said it was disgusting to have to watch us. A woman then shouted to her, "There's only one thing that's disgusting and that's your behavior towards them! Love is love!"
It didn't take long for the manager to catch on to what was going on. He came over to our table and asked what was happening. I said, "Your homophobic waitress just asked us to leave because she thinks it's disgusting when my boyfriend holds my hand once in a while or we quietly flirt." I pretended to be shaken to my core and even squeezed out a few tears. Maybe I should have been an actor after all?
The manager apologized to us and had a bottle of a very good red wine brought to the table, which was on the house. Expensive red wine Free? The tears were worth it! The waitress was replaced. We then had a waiter who told us in secret that the manager was married to a man and therefore could understand very well how we were feeling.
The other guests applauded the manager and booed the waitress who was sent home. It was only afterwards that Yibo and I realized that the elderly couple was the mayor and his wife! Damn! We even had the mayor standing by us? What a great evening!
As a thank you for their assistance, we invited them to have a glass of the expensive wine. They gratefully accepted and told us that they had their wedding anniversary that day, so they were at the restaurant. And after Yibo and I explained who we are and that we work for the government, I think with the mayor and his wife we could calmly reveal ourselves, we also talked about the current situation in the country.
The mayor and his wife, were very concerned. They talked about the fact that they want to know, just like everyone else, what the sinkholes are all about and whether we might be in danger. Of course, the mayor couldn't give us any details, but it sounded like the government had worked out a plan for all the high-ranking politicians to get them to safety.
Yibo and I had already expected this. What could we say? It is normal that the government is always taken to safety before the people are taken care of. But since Yibo and I didn't want to spoil the evening with such gloomy thoughts, we simply chose the next topic and talked with the mayor and his wife for a long time that evening. Yibo and I held hands, winked at each other and Yibo even kissed my forehead when he went to the bathroom.
The mayor's wife put her bony hand on mine and smiled. "You two really make a beautiful couple." She said. I nodded, feeling proud.
After dinner at the restaurant, Yibo and I went home. We were slightly drunk, in a good mood and walking hand in hand through the deserted streets when Yibo suddenly stopped, pulled me into a dark alley and put his hand on my mouth, "Shhh, we're being followed." He whispered.
Although I am well trained as a special agent, it takes me a moment to get my heart, which was racing with shock, under control. I focused entirely on my ears and listened. I heard soft footsteps. But it didn't sound normal somehow. Not like shoes walking across the paved ground, but as if someone was walking barefoot along the street.
Since we were not on duty, we had no weapons with us, so we preferred to stay under the cover of darkness. Then the person who was following us passed by the alley. But we did not believe what we saw. There was this guy with long almost white hair, very light pale skin and slightly pointed ears. He almost looked like an elf. But only almost.
This guy, this thing, had no top on, although it was still quite cold. He had quite a muscular upper body and on his face we saw a few scars. One or two were quite big scars. He looked wild and dangerous. He had no shoes on and instead of pants, he wore only a loincloth. We froze when we saw him and held our breath until he was gone. I don't know what it was, but it was definitely not a human being.
We walked to my apartment via detours and through dark alleys. And only when we were home and safe, we called our supervisor and told him about this strange creature. But our boss didn't believe us. It sounded too adventurous and too imaginative for his taste. Even though he saw the surveillance video of the Polish farmer and the creature.
Well, the creature Yibo and I saw looked different from the one recorded by the surveillance camera. Even though our boss didn't believe us, we wanted to tell the general about our sighting the next day. But he didn't even listen to us. Well, what should we do?