Dawn of the Kaiju

by Eric S. Brown

  Both he and Danny had gotten up early. They had shared dry cereal with Scott for breakfast. After that, Scott had withdrawn to the rear of the RV with a novel clutched in his hands to pass the time. Danny had pitched a fit to go outside into the camp and play, but Mark had refused to let him. Instead, the two of them played chess on the folded out table of the RV’s small kitchen area.

  Danny was close to beating him when the camp erupted into chaos outside the RV.

  Sirens blared, drowning out the rising panicked screams of those outside the RV’s walls. Scott leaped to his feet, throwing his novel aside.

  “What the heck?” the old veteran raged, racing up to where Mark and Danny sat.

  “Don’t know,” Mark answered, “but it can’t be anything good.”

  “You got that right!” Scott spat.

  “Here, help me!” Scott motioned for Mark to help him tear up a section of the RV’s floor.

  Mark did so. Tucked inside the flooring was a long metal box. Scott pulled it up and out of the floor to sit it between him and Mark.

  Scott’s fingers flipped the box open.

  Mark’s eyes grew wide as he saw what was inside it.

  “Dang, Scott!” he shouted. “You know these are illegal in the camp, right?”

  “Shut up and start loading this one,” Scott ordered, shoving a pump action shotgun into Mark’s hand.

  Scott picked up a belt containing a holstered pistol and began to put it on. Danny watched the two of them with utter fascination.

  A weapon Mark recognized as an AR-15 was also in the box. Scott snatched it up and started loading a magazine for it once he had his belt on.

  “What are the National Guardsmen going to do when they find out you have all this?” Mark stammered as he continued to load the shotgun Scott had given him.

  Scott outright laughed in response. “You hear those sirens, don’t you?”

  Mark nodded.

  “Something tells me they’re going to have their hands too full to notice us, Mark. Those sirens can only mean one of two things, they’re getting ready to scramble us all out of here as fast as they can, likely on foot, or the camp is already under attack.”

  ****

  It had taken some time and a great deal of effort to get his forces reassembled but McCurry had managed it. Nearly everything the United States had left in terms of military power this side of the Mississippi was again under his direct command and headed towards a city once called Asheville. That was where they would meet the Mother Kaiju and the seemingly endless swarms of lesser ones that followed the giant creatures head on.

  The convoy of vehicles stretched along the road. It was led by half dozen Abram tanks. A trio of APCs followed in their wake, McCurry’s among them. Behind the APCs came eight troop transports carrying the infantry assigned to the task force. Three more APCs followed the transports with two more tanks bringing up the rear. McCurry hoped it would be enough to stop the Kaiju.

  Four scattered combat helicopters kept pace with the convoy. Their firepower and ability to close in the Mother Kaiju were going to be sorely needed as McCurry saw things. At this point, he would order the blasted pilots to fly down the Mother Kaijus’ throats if need be. The United States wasn’t likely to get another organized shot at the Mother Kaiju ravaging their way deeper into the country for some time.

  McCurry bounced against the .50 caliber weapon he sat behind as his APC jerked suddenly to a halt. Cursing, he rubbed at his bruised ribs and strained to see what the hold up was up ahead.

  As he watched, the lead tanks began to fan out to the east and west. Their main cannons roared, sending shells flying at some unseen enemy beyond McCurry’s field of vision. The convoy’s com-net was in utter chaos. McCurry cut into it, taking over the net.

  “Report!” he shouted.

  “Armadillo 1 here, sir! We’ve encountered Kaiju and moved to engage.”

  McCurry felt a burning rage growing inside him. This was his command, blast it. He started to order the tanks back into formation, figuring the convoy could plow its way through any Kaiju ahead of it, but never got the chance. The voices of thousands of Kaiju arose from all around in a deafening chorus of shrieks and hisses.

  The Kaiju came from everywhere at once, surrounding the convoy. The creatures had been lying in wait in the trees that lined the road and under the very soil of the ground. They surged forward in unstoppable waves. The APCs opened up with their top mounted .50 calibers. Infantry spilled from the transport trucks lobbing grenades into the Kaijus’ ranks, their M-16s chattering. The infantry was doing its best to fan out and create a perimeter around the convoy to keep the Kaiju away from it. McCurry rotated his own weapon eastward. Tracer rounds flashed as the general used them to adjust his aim and began hammering at a pack of Kaiju closing in far too fast for his liking.

  “Incoming hostiles at four o’clock!” Someone cried out over the com-net.

  The warning made no sense to McCurry. The Kaiju were already everywhere. Then he saw them. The Kaiju came sweeping in out of the blue sky on leathery wings. The creatures blotted out the sun above the convoy with their numbers. McCurry knew he and his troops were dead and cursed himself for never considering that the Kaiju might have the cunning to put an ambush like this one together. He shifted his .50 caliber, bringing the weapon’s twin barrels upwards. The weapon shook, spitting a continuous stream of fire into the descending Kaiju. The heavy rounds splattered the Kaiju they struck, blowing their frail bodies into a rain of pulp and bone fragments. McCurry recalled reading a report on the winged Kaiju. Unlike their ground based brethren they were weak things with hollow bones, next to no natural armor in comparison, and much smaller brains. Nonetheless, they were deadly. Their speed and just as lethal claws made them a force to be reckoned with.

  Only a fraction of the winged Kaiju came directly downward onto the convoy. Most of them concentrated on the attack helicopters that had sped forward to deliver support to the convoy’s lead tanks. The helicopters and their crews never stood a chance. The winged Kaiju were on them before they even came about to engage them. The creatures plowed into the helicopters. A few of the winged Kaiju were sliced to bits by the helicopters blades, but even that got their job done. The copters whose blades were struck in such fashion went into out of control spirals, crashing to the earth. The rest of the copters went down as well, though with groups of the winged Kaiju clinging to their main bodies, tearing at them right up until the moment Kaiju and pilots alike died in fiery airborne explosions.

  McCurry didn’t even bother ordering the convoy into retreat. There was no hope escaping the Kaiju. More and more of the land based Kaiju were coming towards it from as far as the eye could see in every direction. It was like a scene from some zombie movie where the last survivors made their final stand before the screen went black and the credits started to roll.

  The huge .50 caliber that McCurry was firing clicked empty, its belt of ammo exhausted. McCurry snatched up the automatic shotgun beside him as several of the winged Kaiju landed on the roof of the APC he rode in. He blew one of the creature’s arms clean off its shoulder. The thing shrieked and toppled from the top of the APC. McCurry swept the shotgun around to gut a second one of the winged Kaiju with a near point blank burst. The sounds of weapons’ fire was dying out as the cries of the Kaiju grew even louder. McCurry took a final shot that reduced the head of a Kaiju to orange pulp and then ducked inside the APC, slamming the hatch above him closed. He could hear winged Kaiju moving about the vehicle’s roof. He also could hear the raging of the ground based Kaiju outside the APC on the road. Metal screeched and gave way as their claws dug at it. The APC’s driver was screaming. McCurry glanced over his shoulder to see the APC’s front window had been shattered and a Kaiju was trying to force its body through the opening. The driver was sprawled out in her seat, her throat a red mess of jagged and torn meat.

  The side door exploded inward, striking the opposite interior wall. In its wake, Kaiju poured inside
. McCurry met them with burst after burst from his automatic shotgun until it too clicked empty. He didn’t have a fresh magazine for the automatic shotgun so he tossed it aside, yanking his sidearm from the holster on his hip. He took aim at a Kaiju, holding the pistol in a two handed grip. The Kaiju’s head snapped back as he put a round into the thing’s forehead. It flopped sideways into another Kaiju, causing it to stumble and go crashing to the APC’s floor within reach of McCurry’s legs and feet. One of its long arms lashed out. The Kaiju’s claws separated McCurry’s left leg from his body at his knee. With a pained grunt, McCurry flopped to the floor himself. The impact jarred his weapon from his grasp as the Kaiju that had struck him dragged itself across the floor towards him instead of trying to get to its feet. McCurry kicked at the beast with his right leg. The sole of his combat boot met its nose with a sickening crunch. The blow drove the Kaiju into an even deeper frenzy. It dug both of its clawed hands into the APC’s floor and used the strength of its arms to fling itself on top of McCurry.

  The general caught the monster and managed to roll it over using its own momentum against it. It thudded, hard, against the floor beneath him. McCurry hauled back his arm and smashed a fist into its temple. The Kaiju flinched, its eyes burning with pure hatred and anger. McCurry readied himself to strike it again, but froze in place as pain slashed through him. He saw the claws of another Kaiju’s hand wriggling in front of him. The hand had pierced him completely and jutted out of his chest. McCurry’s body spasmed and jerked as the Kaiju behind him yanked its hand free. Blood flowed from McCurry’s mouth, running over his chin in streams of red. His eyes rolled upwards to show only whites as several Kaiju grabbed his collapsing corpse, tearing it apart between them.

  ****

  Mark didn’t have a clue how Scott managed it but the grizzled old veteran had gotten the RV’s engine going. Scott kicked it into drive.

  “Hold on!” Scott yelled as the RV lurched forward. It plowed through rows of tents and it went bouncing across the camp. Scott swerved hard, narrowly avoiding a National Guard jeep that was also on the move amid the chaos of the camp. One of the panicked troops in the jeep sprayed the side of the RV with multiple bursts from his M-16. The passenger side window beside Mark blew out under the onslaught. Danny screamed in pure terror as shards of glass rained over him and Mark. Mark ducked the exploding glass, managing to keep the bulk of it from digging into his skin. He shoved Danny hard to the RV’s floor between the driver and passenger’s seats. Danny looked at him with wide, frightened eyes.

  “It’s gonna be okay,” Mark said, trying to make himself believe it as he forced out the words.

  Mark heard things hitting the exterior of the RV, some of them being dragged under its heavy wheels. Those sounds aren’t people, he lied to himself, but in truth, he didn’t care. All that mattered was getting Danny out of this hell.

  Raising his head up again, Mark stared out the shattered window beside him and got his first up close look at a real life Kaiju. The thing was running after the RV. Its lips were smeared with red blood and its claws slashed at empty air in an animal like rage. Mark lifted his shotgun, leaning around in his seat to stick its barrel at the window in the direction of the Kaiju. He squeezed the shotgun’s trigger and it bucked in his hands just as the RV ran over some kind of hole or rock. The huge vehicle bounced and Mark’s shot went wild, soaring over the Kaiju’s head. If the thing even noticed it had been shot at, it didn’t care. It kept up its pace in pursuit of the RV.

  “Holy mother of…!” Scott wailed.

  Mark snapped his head around to see the RV speeding towards the hastily erected fence that ran the length of the camp’s perimeter. He reached for Danny as the RV collided with the fence and tore through it. The crash sent Danny flying forward and then rolling back towards the rear of the RV. Mark felt his breath leave his body as he struck the dash. He didn’t know what happened to Scott but the RV suddenly veered wildly to the right, and within moments, too quickly for Mark’s mind to properly register, flipped over onto its side.

  When Mark woke up, the world was dark. At first, he wondered if he had somehow been blinded in the crash before he realized with some relief that night had fallen. His seat belt was the only thing keeping him in place as he hung sideways above the passenger door. His chest was on fire with pain and he tasted his blood in his mouth. Mark knew several of his ribs were broken. Other than that, he had no idea just how badly he was hurt. Regardless of how long he had been out, he still felt as if he was in shock.

  Mark’s fingers clawed at the seat belt latch, trying to free himself.

  “Danny!” he screamed but there was no answer.

  Scott’s corpse was above him in the driver’s seat next to him. There was no question that Scott was dead. His neck was bent at a sharp and unnatural angle. His head dangled limply towards where Mark hung.

  “Danny!” Mark screamed again as he finally got the seat belt undone. He dropped onto the passenger door. Mark tried to break his fall with his hands but didn’t have the strength to catch his own weight. His hands gave way and his face slammed into the side of the RV. When he lifted his head, fresh blood ran from the nostrils of his nose. Sheer willpower was all that was keeping him conscious as he crawled on his hands and knees into the rear of the RV, hunting for his son.

  Danny was nowhere to be found. Mark wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a very bad one.

  Finally, he had to rest. He slumped against the RV’s wall as the world spun and he struggled not to vomit. After a while, he found the strength to get to his feet. He climbed up and out the opening of the RV’s side door area. The door itself was gone. Whether the crash or one of the Kaiju had ripped it from the RV, there was no way to tell for sure in the dim light of the stars.

  Several fires burned in the area of the camp behind where the RV rested on its side. Thousands of corpses covered the ground, some of them partially gnawed upon, others left in scattered bits and pieces.

  There was no sign of anyone left alive. Thankfully, there was no sign of the Kaiju either.

  “Danny!” Mark cried out in the night. No answer came. He wished he had thought to find his shotgun before climbing out of the RV as he sat on top of it, but he wasn’t about to risk descending into the large vehicle again. Climbing out of it the first time had cost him enough. It was all he could do to keep moving as it was.

  Mark carefully eased himself from the side of the vehicle to the ground. He staggered through the camp searching desperately for any sign of his son. When he came upon the head of an elderly woman, her body nowhere to be seen, he lost it. He fell to his knees, emptying the contents of his stomach onto the grass. Wiping his lips clean with the backside of his hand, he got to his feet again and continued the search for his son long into the night.

  Although a gruesome task, looting the dead proved easy once Mark got the stomach for it. By the time the sun rose, he had everything he needed. He had treated his wounds as best as he could with a first aid kit he had dug up in one of the Guardsmen’s stations inside the camp. The bandages bound tightly about his wounds helped as did the handfuls of painkillers he popped like candy. He had two pistols holstered on a belt he had removed from a soldier’s corpse and carried an M-16. On his back, he carried a pack stuffed with bottled water, what food he could find, and several magazines for his weapons.

  He was convinced the Kaiju had moved on out of the area. Otherwise, surely they would have come after him by now. It wasn’t exactly like he was trying to keep quiet and maintain a low profile. Every so often, he continued to yell Danny’s name in the vain hope that his son would answer him. At one point, before the dawn, he had even shot a signal flare skyward in hopes that his son would see it and come running into his arms.

  The only two things Mark did know for sure were that he was alive and his son was out there somewhere. He promised himself he would never stop looking until he found Danny and the two of them were together again.

  Scott’s RV was far fro
m the only vehicle that had tried to run when the army of lesser Kaiju attacked the refugee camp. Mark hoped someone had found Danny and took the boy with them. The other possibility of what might have happened to his son was one he couldn’t allow himself to dwell on. It hurt too much.

  Giving the field of bodies one last look through, he staggered westward, leaving the sea of dead behind him.

  Epilogue

  The President was dead along with most of his staff and congress. He had died during the evacuation of the Pentagon. Admiral Fiore blamed himself. They had waited too long to leave and had paid the price for their arrogance. Why had they believed they were safe in DC? He wondered. It was just another place and not even that well of a defended one with so much of the reminder of the military deployed to the west coast and along the Mississippi. The entire eastern part of the United States was lost. Like so much of the rest of the world, it now belonged to the Kaiju.

  In good news, the new defensive line along the Mississippi was currently holding, at least for now. It helped that the Navy was able to join the fight there with smaller but well-armed, refitted vessels to reinforce the army and air force efforts there. There were new centers of research being set up in the heartland, under the direction of the leading Kaiju expert, Dr. Johnson. Some of them with engineering slants, others with a biological one, and all geared to coming up with a means to stop the Kaiju once and for all. Admiral Fiore prayed they came up with something to be used effectively against the Kaiju fast. The human race was running out of time.

  One of Fiore’s aides beside him in the rear of the helicopter that was flying them westward spoke up. “Sir, I’ve got new reports coming in from Europe. It appears Britain may not be completely lost.”

  “Good,” Admiral Fiore smiled. “We’re going to need all the help we can get if we’re going to turn this war around. It’s time those monsters learned that the human race is more than just ants to be trampled over.”