An unwelcome sense of consciousness comes to me; why didn't I just roll over and die? My eyes flitter open lazily, looking out at the river and the demolished ruins of the bridge. As I climb up to my knees I'm reminded again of last night's horrors, feeling a terrible dried stickiness all over me. Dead people are literally all over me. 

I need to clean this, and fast, or I'll lose it again. The river should wash it off well enough, but first I bend down and drink from it. I was parched, but not hungry. It was strange, not having a desire to eat something, both a pleasant privelege and a haunting memory.

After drinking my fill I stepped into the river, occasionally feeling the rigid pebbles of capsized cars underfoot. I sat down, the water thankfully muting the smash of my rear hitting the soft sand. Raising my right leg I saw once again the bloody sole of my foot. The pasty mush had even crept between my big and second toe; what the hell had I been doing? It didn't matter anymore, I scrubbed it off with my hands in disgust. It was wiped into the ebbing water, the people that had been crushed merely fading away.

Turning to the other side of the river I noticed a large congregation of people and cars. I had a feeling I was being watched by quite a few of them, washing myself. There wasn't a single bone in my body that wanted anything to do with people right now -- I could hardly tolerate myself -- so I let them gawk. I knew with certainty they were talking about me, but I was curious as to what exactly they had to say.

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"You're a what?"

"A cryptid hunter. You know, like Bigfoot?" I said, using the popular example.

"You hunt Bigfoot?" the officer raised his brow, looking fed up of me already.

"Now, I hunt her," I pointed to the monster, bathing herself in the Hudson. "What have you been doing about her?" I asked snarkily, throwing him into the spotlight.

"Well, we just got results back from the analysis team that she matches the description of a young woman who had missed a few appointments last week. Jessica Tammy from Newburgh. It all comes together."

"She's human?" I asked, stunned.

The officer stared at me for a few moments, then turned to see the monster for himself as if to be absolutely positive.

"Isn't it obvious?" 

I suppose it was, but I couldn't shake using the term monster. I hadn't really thought that a human could possibly do the things she had done. She ate people, that's not a human thing to do. Destroying the Brookyln Bridge wasn't human. Being that large was certainly not human.

"We're finding everyone who knows Ms. Tammy and questioning them as we speak. What have you done?"

That was a damn good question. It took me a few moments to think up the proper way to respond.

"I've been studying her since she first appeared, learning her habits. There has to be some reason for all of this, I can't imagine she just decided to grow huge and eat people."

"We can never be sure," the officer muttered under his breath. "There are some weird-ass people out there." He idly watched Jessica splash water onto her breasts, cleaning away the stains of squashed civilians. This was our apocalypse, I thought to myself. A giant, hungry woman in a tiny world. 

"They're gonna nuke her soon," the officer suddenly said, breaking my imagination.

"I'm surprised they haven't already."

"They weren't sure it would actually kill her; they were too stupid to see she's a human just like you were. Thought she might have been some alien or something. They're coming up with the plans now."

"Mind giving me a heads up when they get it set in stone? I'd rather not be following her when you decide to drop the bomb."

"That's outta my hands. I'd suggest you just leave her be and get the hell outta here. There isn't anything left to learn, anyway. You know everything now, don't you?"

No, not yet. Alright, she was human, that was good to know. But it wasn't nearly enough. I wouldn't be satisfied until I had completely dissected everything about this so-called 'Jessica'; I had spent too much time on this to walk away from it. What could I do next? 

"What the hell is she doing?" the officer blurted as Jessica seemed to be squatting on her heels in the middle of the river.

"She's urinating," I answered him. "She prefers to do it in the water." The officer gave me a strange glance, speechless.

"You really have been studying her, haven't you?"

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The official led me through endless corridors and hallways, to a room reading 'INTERROGATION' on the door. Interrogation? Wasn't interrogation when they questioned suspects of a crime? I hadn't done anything illegal.

God, what could they possibly want from me?

He opened the door and motioned for me to enter. I did, powerless under his will. It looked just like it would on Bones or CSI: Miami or something; just a table and two chairs. This wasn't right, this wasn't where I should be. But we both took our seats.

"Dustin Hoffins, is that correct?" the official said, looking over some paperwork. For a moment I was dumbfounded: how did he know my name? But then again, they knew much more, didn't they?

"That's correct," was all I could think to say.

"And what again is your relationship with 'Jessica Tammy'?"

I swallowed heavily before responding,

"Boyfriend."

He glances up at me for a second and then continues to read over his papers. What were the odds, huh? You like a girl, ask her out, and she becomes nearly a hundred times your size and starts eating people. 

"Where were you on April seventh of this year?" he asks, pointing his pen towards me as if in accusation. How could I forget?

"Jessica had told me she was doing something for work... she was a freelance model and getting a place in an advertisement or something... so I told her I'd meet up with her after... then a few hours later she just... I heard these loud crashes and... explosions so I looked outside my window and couldn't see anything... then she was on the news... I didn't know what to do, so I just stayed... then two days later she came back and... you know what happened... so I got my stuff and left."

"So you know her fairly well?"

"Well... before all this, I guess, yeah." The official checked over his papers one last time and brought his hands together as he pushed them aside.

"We have a proposition for you. We're looking for answers, and it seems the only reliable way to get these answers is to ask Jessica herself. Are you willing to approach her with our questions?"

I felt like my stomach was caving in, like I was falling apart.

"No! No, I can't, I can't! Do you see what she's doing?! Don't you see the way she looks at everyone, like she's looking for something... or someone in particular? She's looking for me, I know it!"

"Why is that?"

"Because I cheated on her," I blurted from my mouth like poison. "I was with another girl for a while and she must have found out. She's looking for me! She wants to kill me! She wants to fucking eat me!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Hoffins, we won't make you do anything against your will. But thank you for your time."

"Am I free to go?" I asked impatiently, eager to escape the prison of one-way glass. Thankfully he nodded and I nearly broke down the door, practically ran to my car. I needed to call Melissa.