As we approached the hotel, the wind hissed towards us, there was a strong smell of blood and burnt flesh in the air. The lizards must have conquered the whole island by now. I felt that we were not alone, I got a strange gut feeling to be watched. To be able to assess the situation a bit I climbed onto one of the cars standing around. A quick glance along the main road told me that the cold-blooded creatures had not been here yet. Apart from clothes left behind, which were carried on by the wind, and vehicles standing all over the road, I could not see any signs of destruction or vandalism. Despite the relieving situation, the unpleasant feeling of being watched did not disappear. My wife asked me in the meantime if we were safe, but I did not know at that time. A short nod, that was all I wanted to tell my wife. I decided to pull myself together and to bring my service weapon to myself as quickly as possible. With a shotgun at the ready I walked slowly and carefully towards the hotel. The whole building seemed eerie, clothes and suitcases were scattered everywhere, Lupains seemed to have left the building in panic. The power supply seemed to have failed, as well as the emergency generator, the sparse lighting caused an unpleasant feeling. Although I was here only a few hours ago, I hardly recognized the place. Not long ago I felt safe and secure in this old hotel, but now I was afraid that there could be an ambush in any of the badly lit corners, metre by metre I searched the entrance area for potential enemies, only when I was sure that no cold-blooded creatures were lurking there, I gave a hand signal and my wife and the others followed me into the hotel. "We made it", my wife called out to me and hugged me. I replied that it was still a long way to go before we were really safe. I turned towards the reception desk and put my gun on the counter. Then I jumped over the counter with a tremendous leap. A loud jingling could be heard, I felt that there was something under my paw. It was the room keys it had thrown off the walls. Apparently an explosion or a great shock had caused this dilemma. While I was looking for our room key with the number 237, I noticed a noise beside me. As I looked in the direction of the sound, two blue eyes stared at me in fear. I reached for my gun in fright. I aimed in the direction of the eyes and was about to pull the trigger. When I heard a "No, please don't meet me halfway, I knew I was going to pull the trigger. It wasn't one of those cold-blooded creatures. It was the receptionist who stared at me with his blue eyes, I almost shot him. He hadn't made a sound the whole time. I asked him if he was the only survivor. He shook his head and told me that everyone else was safely locked away in the basement. He was only here to take anyone who came in to the cellar. Afterwards I wanted to know how many of them there were and if they were being looked after. Several hundred he told me. He added that there were also several injured and countless visitors. When I asked him for doctors and paramedics, he confirmed a rough number. There were a handful down there and they were taking care of the injured. My eyes fell on the destroyed front door, with all urgency I wanted to know if something else had entered the hotel. The hotel employee looked very irritated, he wanted to know what exactly I was talking about. When I tried to explain the situation to him, he interrupted me. He wanted to know if the Northern States had attacked, when I shook my head he asked for another faction. However, before he could ask about all the factions, I pointed something out to him. He seemed not to have seen the blue blood on my fur and clothes. Only when I pointed it out did he stare at me for a long moment. "Oh, mon dieu", he said and touched his head. Horrified, he looked at me, he wanted to know to whom this blood belonged. I told him bluntly that it belonged to a cold-blooded man, one of countless here in Hawaii. Almost narcissistically I told him about the attack, I forgot no detail and described it as I would report a master. I even showed my badge to the hotel employee lying on the ground as proof that my story was true. But instead of helping us or doing anything at all, all I heard was a clearing and a soft breathing. That was the only thing that told me that the hotel employee had not died in between. I was angry that he was still sitting there in the corner like a drop of misery. Looking back, it may have been a hasty act, but it was successful. I looked at the counter and grabbed the lizard weapon. I pointed it at the hotel clerk. I asked annoyed if he had ever seen such a weapon. When he said "no" after a short moment of shock, I told him to get his ass off the floor and help me look for the hotel key 237, otherwise red blood would be on my body as well. He understood the threat and reluctantly jumped up. "You can call me Kiak," he threw at me. I was surprised when he reached out his hand to me. After I pressed it briefly but firmly, I asked Kiak a few things. He helped me to find our key, but the search proved to be very difficult, I had great difficulty seeing any of the numbers at all in this darkness. While we were desperately looking for the key, I wanted to know from Kiak what was going on with the power supply and if there was an emergency generator. He turned to me and said that the power supply was intact, in order not to attract attention they had turned it off on purpose. I looked at him in bewilderment, it was the most pointless thing I had ever heard. This is a class 4 hotel and like every class 4 hotel, it has an emergency lock. That would at least prevent the lizards from walking through here. He then tried to explain to me that if we would keep quiet the lizards would not come. Besides others could find shelter here. Sceptically I looked at him, what should stop the cold-blooded creatures? The demolished door through which anyone can walk in and out. If the lizards come, and they will, they'll kill every Lupain in their path. Just like they've been doing all day. "So Kiak," I said, "make sure the safety catch is down. Nobody gets in, nobody gets out, so we're safe for a while at least." He told me afterwards that since the attack, the manager's been nowhere to be found. No one had seen him for hours. I replied that he should stop the key search, with the hundreds of keys on the floor, without enough light it would take several hours to rummage through until you had the right one. He should rather show me the cellar and help me to get some wounded people there. After all, the injured we had brought with us had to be taken care of. When he asked about my wife I confessed that she was hardly injured, but I whispered in his ear that she was very pregnant and had been thrown to the ground by an explosion. I insisted that the doctor take care of my wife first and let me know if everything was all right. He nodded and asked us to follow him, while I helped one of the injured to walk, we slowly walked towards the basement. Now even the last ray of daylight had disappeared and we stood in front of a pitch-black passageway. Before we reached the stairs to the cellar, Kiak told us to wait. Dare I could see him slowly standing in front of a fluorescent door. A loud metallic knocking could be heard, it was Kiak banging strongly against the door. He repeated this procedure two more times. It became quiet and nothing happened for minutes, Kiak repeated the knocking. Impatiently one of the injured asked what we were waiting for. But even before Kiak could answer, steps could be heard coming towards us faster and faster. Someone seemed to stand in front of the door and slowly pulled it open. A loud creaking went through the whole hotel. I was almost sure, if there was a lizard nearby, it was this loud noise that drew its attention to us. The door opened slowly and a beam of concentrated light shone towards us, it was so bright that I had to turn away. A hotel employee, who seemed completely frightened, pointed her flashlight at us. We were to follow the lady into the basement and while Kiak held the door open for us, we slowly walked, still a little dazzled, into the basement. It was not just a simple hotel cellar, I immediately noticed the many heavily armoured doors, with their centimetre-thick metal reinforcements they could withstand any attack. With old petroleum lamps and a lot of flashlights scattered wildly around the basement, Lupains managed to create an almost daylight illumination. It was only a few meters behind the door until the strong smell of blood shot up into my nose. I suspected that the injured were not far from us. I was right in my assumption, because only a few meters further on I could see countless cots scattered all over the basement. Cubs were crying and looking for their parents, who in turn were looking for their cubs. I cannot say how many families were separated that evening. It was a nightmare that we had. My wife was about to turn around, she could hardly pay for this endless grief. But at least down here we were safe, because it was not an easy basement. It was an old bunker under the hotel, I convinced her that we could go right back to our room, she should just be patient. A bloodstained Lupain came towards me, he looked jumpy at the weapon I was carrying. He seemed irritated when he saw blue blood on my fur. "Did you kill one of those things", he wanted to know. "Yes", I answered briefly and concisely. He looked me in the eyes with awe and reached out his hand. "Well done," he said. I ignored him and asked for a doctor, several times I repeated my request. But no one replied that I almost fired a shot to draw attention to myself, when the bloodied Lupain stopped me. He said that he could understand what I had been through and would help me. When asked if he was a doctor, he nodded reluctantly. When he asked what my Wife had, I explained my precarious situation. He dismissed me and told me he had no time for such things. But I didn't let up and almost begged him to take care of my wife. He gave in and disappeared with my wife behind one of the many curtains. At no time in my life have I felt worse than at this moment, this uncertainty whether something would have happened to my cub, whether we would have to give birth now. All this going on around us, I needed a distraction. So I walked in circles several times until finally the curtain opened. My heart was beating so loudly that I even feared that someone nearby could hear it. My eyes pierced him literally, I waited for a clear answer. But he walked past me without a trace of expression. "It's all right," my wife called out to me almost simultaneously. She said she needed a moment to herself and stayed behind the curtain.

  Relaxed, I collapsed and sat down on the cold floor. Nervous and trembling I sat on the floor and tried to distract myself. I knew that keeping a clear head now was the most important thing, but the smell of blood and innards, the screams and the uncertainty of what was lurking out there were getting to me. I knew I needed a distraction, maybe even some relaxation, but to walk alone now to the bar, which was behind inch-thick doors on the first floor of the hotel was something I couldn’t bring myself to. Then I remembered a cigarette box that I was carrying with me. I had not smoked for three years, I dug deep into my pocket and pulled out a crushed and dented pack of cigarettes. It was a sad sight to look at this miserable pack, after all I had sworn to stop smoking. I always carried the box with me as a reminder of my basic training in the Mobile Infantry. When I opened it I saw only three cigarettes, one of them was bent and rather useless for smoking. Also a cartridge case was in there. At the fair I had got hold of a big stuffed animal for my wife. The bullet casing was a memory of the bullet I had shot. It was the first evening I spent together with my wife, that evening we fell in love. With trembling fingers I grabbed one of the cigarettes and lit it with my service lighter. You could have cut the air with a knife, it was so stuffy down here. The ventilation didn't seem to work because the electricity was turned off. Nevertheless I smoked my cigarette in peace and quiet. After a short time of relaxation, one of the hotel employees came up to me and ordered me to put the cigarette out immediately, I showed him my service card so that he would leave me alone. But he did not let up and ordered me again to put out the cigarette. I asked him to come closer and stroked the captured lizard weapons with my hand. If you have one of those too, I'll put out the cigarette right away, I'm joking. I added a "Fuck you otherwise". Without batting an eyelid, the employee turned around and disappeared without comment.