Luna stood in front of a giant metal doorway, shaped like a vault. Rei glanced at it while she kept her grenade launcher aiming at the crocs. “Can you open it?”

Luna growled. “I can try.”

She placed Rei down and grabbed the right side of the door. While clenching her teeth, she pulled the door back with all her strength. She hissed as her muscles rippled. “Keep blasting them!”

“Okay!” Rei aimed and fired.

The feral crocodile men didn’t reach too close after Rei blasted them back. But most of them didn’t stop charging. There must be hundreds of them, running through the sewer tunnel. Why won’t they stop?

“Kitty! Get through now!” Luna pulled the door open as wide as she could. She stepped aside so Rei could squeeze through.

After her partner slid through the narrow crack, Luna stepped through next. On the other side, she pulled the door back, closing it.

One green arm reached for her, but she changed her launcher into a shotgun and blasted the arm off the croc. It helped her pushed the door closed.

Rei sighed until something touched her tail. She screamed and leaped around, pointing her gun. She saw a furry face, raising his hands up. Rei couldn’t see his entire face because he wore a heavy woven cloak.

“Please don’t shoot!” the creature cried, shaking his arms.

Luna glanced at him and aimed her shotgun. “Who the hell are you?”

The creature removed his hood and kept his clawed hands up. He was a gopher, dwarf-sized and covered in mucky brown fur beneath his raggy coat. And he smelled like a dirty wet carpet.

“Don’t shoot!” He whistled at the end of his sentence. “I am only a boatman! Ssssh!”

Luna lowered her shotgun. “A boatman?”

“Yes! Sssh! I run a boat through the sewers! Sssh!”

“But you look like a bum,” said Rei.

The gopher laughed with his large front tooth sticking out. “I may look like a sewer gopher, but I sure love rowing boats. My ride is at the back, ready for any trip. Sssh!”

Luna shrugged and changed her weapon to her laser pistol. “Sorry about that.” She placed her gun into her holster. “We just ran from crocs.”

“Yeah, those pesky critters are everywhere. Sssh! But they never attack me. Sssh! I guessed I smell too bad. Sssh!”

Rei lowered her gun and covered her nose. “No ttong!”

The gopher laughed like a snake. “Where are you two going? I never have seen two beautiful felines down here before. Sssh!”

“That is none of your business.” Luna walked past the gopher. “Come on, Rei.”

Rei placed her gun away and followed Luna. But the gopher ran toward them.

“Wait!” he shouted. “Don’t go that way! Sssh!”

Luna glared at the furball. “Why not?”

“The river ahead is deep and shallow! Sssh! The crocs will find you too!”

Rei lowered her ears. “So….. It’s a dead-end?”

The gopher smiled. “Not without me. Sssh! I can take you anywhere on my boat. Sssh! Free of charge!”

Luna crossed her arms. “How in the hell can we trust you?”

The gopher pointed his yellow claw at the tunnel. “You can check if you like. Sssh! You will only find my boat.”

Luna stared at the direction and back at the bum. The bridge between her eyes tightened like she was smelling something fishy.

Rei didn’t blame her. Who else could taste a homeless rodent?

The panther walked down the tunnel and stopped near a large boat. Big as a car with one long paddle on the bottom. It floated on a dark river, blocking her path. Dark waters were usually deep.

Luna turned toward the gopher with a slight grin. “Can you take us to the abandoned water plant?”