She pulled her mother’s arm. “We must leave here.”
“Why?” her mother said. “This is safe.”
“No, it’s not,” Maki insisted.
“What makes you say such a thing?”
“The military thinks these buildings are empty.” Maki canted her head. “Planes are firing rockets at the Kaiju right near offices just like this.”
Her mother nodded in agreement. She took Maki’s hand and headed for the stairs. “They could easily head this way and attack the Kaiju without knowing we are here.”
They headed back to the stairwell and descended quickly.
“What about the water?” Maki said.
“Hopefully, it has receded.”
“What if it hasn’t?”
“We’ll have to deal with it, then.”
Somehow, the stairwell seemed darker than beforehand. Maki’s rain boots slapped the concrete steps as she tried to keep up. Mother kept a tight grip on her hand, and a few times it felt as though she’d pull Maki over.
We’re going too fast, Maki thought. But she didn’t want to trouble Mother.
Maki moved her legs faster and faster, letting the motion increase to a sprint down the stairs. Soon, they neared the bottom. They rounded the landing for the second floor and Maki glanced down at the first floor.
A man stood in the shadows with a heinous grin on his face.
“Wait!” Maki cried, pulling Mother’s hand.
“What is it?” Mother almost tripped on the stairs.
Maki pointed at the man, speechless.
Her mother looked where Maki pointed, then an alarmed look crossed her face. Maki nodded, reflecting concern about the danger.
The man shook his head, and continued to smile.
Mother paused for a moment, as though trying to assess if a threat were real. The man wore filthy clothes. He stepped forward with his palms turned up, suggesting he didn’t mean any harm. A mouthful of yellowed teeth, and a sardonic gleam in his eyes reflected otherwise.
Maki’s heart raced with fear. He can’t be trusted.
The man took another step forward. Maki’s mother reached for the door leading to the second level. She flung it open and dashed into the hallway with Maki in tow.
The man started up the stairs in pursuit.
Maki plodded after her mother, wondering if her stubby legs could outpace the deranged man.
“He doesn’t belong in this building,” her mother muttered.
“No, he’s a scavenger,” Maki said, worried Mother might stop.
“This way.” Mother pulled her around a corner.
Maki glanced back as she rounded the turn. The man panted after them, holding something in his right hand. A hint of steel reflected in the emergency lighting. “He’s got a knife!” Maki gasped.
Her mother picked up the pace, then cut down a dark hallway.
Maki knew her mother would never trust the man now. She took a few breaths, then heard the patter of the man’s work boots in pursuit behind them.
A moment later, and her mother took another turn.
They ran into a spacious room filled with cubicles. And conference rooms spanned the outside walls. Mother swung an exit door open, and let it slam shut, hard. Then, she pulled Maki into the middle of the office and ducked under a desk.
Mother pulled a chair in front of them. Wedged in-between the cubical wall and a filing cabinet, Maki could see through the shadows into the wide aisle.
Her pulse quickened, and she heaved for air, almost convulsing.
“Breath slowly through your nose,” Mother whispered.
Maki nodded, understanding the need for silence, but the running expended all the air from her lungs. And fear had her panic-stricken.
The man’s pursuit slowed to a pitter-patter, as he neared the door leading to another stairwell. A creak resounded through the office when the man opened the steel door. He stepped onto the landing, and the soles of his boots squeaked on the tile. The door didn’t close shut. He merely lingered there, trying to listen for footsteps on the stairs. Then, the door slammed shut, but Maki couldn’t tell if he’d gone into the stairwell.
She listened for the echo of footsteps emanating from the stairs, but didn’t hear anything. Heart pounding at her chest, Maki worried her anxiety might give them away. The man hadn’t gone down the stairs. She felt certain his steps could have been heard from their hiding place.
Everything remained still, and she began to think he’d gone down the stairs quietly. Mother stirred, as though planning to check if he was there. Grabbing mother’s arm, Maki shook her head, suggesting they wait.
A moment passed, then she heard the distinctive sound of footsteps on the industrial carpet. The man moved slowly about the office, trying to go undetected.
Maki pointed toward the sound. Mother nodded, understanding.
The man stalked through the office, trying to stir them into flight. He eased down the aisle, peeking into cubicles. Maki saw him slip past their safe harbor and continue along in the darkness. His footsteps got lighter the further he moved away from them, until eventually, she couldn’t hear him any longer.
They hid under the desk space for a while. Maki grew sore from the cramped quarters and hard floor. She wondered if the man had given up and moved along to another room. He had entered the building to pilfer and take advantage of the commotion. Surely, he’d want to get back to the task at hand and leave them alone.
Maki’s mother must have had a similar notion in mind. She looked at Maki and nodded; then, she pointed up, indicating a plan to look around.
Her mother gently slid the chair forward.
Then, a stomp reverberated from the aisle, and the chair whisked away, colliding with a nearby cubicle. The man leaned into the office space and jeered at them with his tortured grin. A sardonic jeer of a deviant emanated through the dark room.
They were trapped.
His stench permeated the air. Vile.
Drool pooled in his open mouth.
A bulge protruded from his pants, grotesque. Maki understood his intentions, and why he’d been sidetracked from his looting. The degenerate repulsed her.
He held the knife in one hand, and reached for her mother’s ankle with the other.
She resisted, pulling her foot back. He leaned back, pulling and heaving Mother’s leg. Yanking the outstretched leg, he dragged her from under the desk. Mother squirmed to roll onto her belly and scramble to her feet.
The man pounced on top of her. He pinned her arms back, and saliva dripped on her face. His knife lodged between their hands.
Mother thrashed and jammed a knee into his groin.
He arched back and bellowed in pain.
She grabbed computer wires in a desperate attempt to get to her feet. A printer skittered off the desk and cracked him in the head. The man slumped forward, while she shifted trying to get out from underneath him.
Maki climbed out from under the desk, as the man regained composure. She grabbed a stapler and whacked him in the head. He slumped over, tangling his limbs around her mother.
Mother flailed and beat him wildly, then clambered on top of him.
The man groaned in pain and turned his head, disoriented.
Maki helped her mother stand, and they ran toward the stairwell with her mother trailing behind, slowly recouping her equanimity. They ran down the stairs and crossed through the storage room in the back. Mother found a door, and it opened into an alley. Water had already begun to recede.
They stepped outside into the cool evening air. Maki pulled ahead of her mother, trying to find a passageway leading to where they’d entered the building. She desperately wanted to find her father.
Maki ran down the alley. Her rain boots pattered in rivulets of water. She found the door and worked the latch, then she flung it open. Water streamed over the threshold. Mother ran up from behind and peered over her shoulder. They paused and looked inside.
Nothing.
She p
ulled away from her mother.
Maki ran down the alley.
She turned a corner and abruptly stopped. Dread choked her breath.
A body lay partway around the corner. Bloated and pale from drowning, the corpse was strewn on the sidewalk as water trickled around it.
The dead man wore professional clothes and a trench coat. His bald pate faced away from them. Maki rushed to his side and looked at his face. A pair of eyes bulged from the dead man’s head, cast in permanent shock.
Death had distorted the man’s visage. Maki clapped a hand over her mouth and began to cry. Her mother stepped alongside her and caressed a shoulder. “Maki, it’s not him.”
Maki moved closer and registered the discrepancies. He had a bigger nose and a fleshy chin. Still, the sight of the man made her sob. Father had suffered a similar fate. Maki pictured him tossed aside by the current.
“It’s not fair!” Maki bellowed.
“He saved us…” Mother said. “Always put us first.”
“Why?” Maki cried. “Why did he have to die?”
“We must go now. No time to mourn.”
She grabbed Maki’s hand and led her away from the dead man. They stepped out of the alley. Father had led them out of harm’s way. Maki knew it for certain. Anyone on the main street would have been swept away by the water.
When they ambled down the sidewalk, Maki checked left and right, looking for her father. She didn’t like the idea of him lying in a gutter swirling with rain water. The Kaiju had gone up the street to the right.
“Maybe we should go in a different direction from the monster,” Maki said.
Mother nodded, agreeing with her. “We go this way,” Mother said, pointing toward the left.
Maki followed after her. “Hopefully, the military will make the city safe.”
“We need to stay out of the way and avoid the fighting.”
“Do you think the Kaiju is out for revenge?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Grandpapa told stories about it.”
“He’s a foolish old man.”
“Apparently, he’s not.”
Maki glanced up at her mother and noticed the comment sinking in. Younger generations had written off the Kaiju as mere folk legend. Elders weren’t revered nearly as much as in the past, and many of their stories were considered mere nonsense.
Now, the older generation seemed more open-minded and in tune with the past. The Kaiju had been here decades ago, and came back to rampage the city. Maki heard more explosions, then the creature roared.
A dreadful sound that echoed through the tall buildings.
She looked over her shoulder and saw a burst of flames rising in the air. Tokyo had erupted into a city of chaos.
“We must run,” Mother said, pulling her along.
“But the Kaiju is back there fighting with the military…”
“The danger is too close. We have to get away.”
Mother dragged her down the street toward the harbor, while Maki desperately searched for her father. They didn’t encounter anyone along the way.
A tsunami had cleared them a path.
They got a little further down the street and ran into standing water. Layers of oil skimmed the surface. Her mother shook her head.
“We can’t go this way,” Mother said. “The water is too deep.”
“The ground is dry over there.” Maki pointed.
“Come.”
Running along the edge of the murky water, the two of them plied their way toward higher ground. Maki stumbled a couple of times and glanced at the street.
All the tar had been churned up, making the pavement uneven. Tanks had come this way.
****
Kate’s fighter spun out of control. The cockpit intermittently pointed at the ground and the sky. Ejecting from the plane might launch her directly at the earth without time for the parachute to open.
She timed the circumlocutions, then hit the eject button.
The cockpit glass whipped off and shot behind the plane, as the jet continued to descend toward the city below. Her ejection-seat burst into the air, and a popping sound emanated from beneath it. The fighter careened away as her parachute billowed open.
Jet engines roared toward the city below. Kate dropped fast in a wake of exhaust. She glanced up to see if the chute had fully expanded.
Nylon ruffled in the wind, then a gust caught under the fabric. The chute snapped wide-open and the ejection-seat shot upward violently. Then, the seat settled and drifted gently toward the ground. She glanced down at the battle scene.
Tanks rolled ahead from the defensive line, aggressively approaching the creature. Closing the distance, the tanks fired one after another. Rounds dug into the beast’s thick scales. The creature bellowed in pain and stomped toward the tanks. Another volley of rounds erupted from the large cannons.
A few rounds struck the creature in its lower right leg. The beast lost its gait and stumbled into a nearby building. Glass shattered and stone panels split apart. Debris pelted the street below.
The creature let out a roar, then righted itself, and pressed ahead.
All the tanks moved toward the creature in a makeshift line, firing sporadically. Distance between the opposing forces narrowed rapidly. The creature plodded into the oncoming tanks and stomped one in its tracks.
Smoke and flames billowed out from the turret. Through the commotion of grinding metal and explosions, faint screams of agony lingered in the air. Another tank rolled into the creature’s path.
A menacing foot with sharp claws squashed the tank.
Still, other tanks circled around to engage the creature. Cannons fired round after round, until the fusillades slowly diminished in capacity. Streets were crammed with the wreckage of destroyed tanks. And the surviving tanks had clearly run low on ammunition.
Rattling machinegun fire replaced the explosive cannons.
Tanks broke away from the battle and fled for the protective cover of city streets and tall buildings. The creature roared at the tracked vehicles creaking away from the scene. It canted its head from side to side, then followed after a few of them.
Kate’s parachute slowed her descent. Her plane had flown high enough to allow the chute to fully engage. Winds carried her toward a high-rise building.
She dropped below the level of the rooftop and glided toward the side of the building. Her ejection seat bumped against the glass and jolted her. The safety belts kept her buckled in place. Something bumped again. And she stopped moving.
The chute flapped against the building. Kate glanced upward. A portion of the canopy had snagged on a piece of metal protruding from the parapet.
Nylon fabric tore.
The chute collapsed.
More tearing.
Weight from the ejection seat pulled on the parachute. The material wouldn’t hold for long, and she’d plummet to the sidewalk below. Kate released the safety harness and scrambled on top of the seat.
Reaching for her survival knife, she entwined her left arm in shroud lines, then cut the belts attaching the chute to the seat.
The ejection seat dropped away, eventually striking the ground with a resounding thud.
She sheathed the knife and climbed up the chute, wrapping a leg around a bundle of lines and pinching it off with her flight boots, like climbing a rope back at Annapolis. Kate grabbed onto the fabric and inched her way up.
Nylon tore from her effort and she dropped back down a foot.
Kate took a moment to gather herself, breathing deeply and keeping still. The parachute held when she didn’t move.
Hanging suspended from the parachute, Kate spied tanks approaching from down the street. The creature barged after them, colliding into buildings, shattering glass and breaking concrete loose.
Her heart raced in trepidation. She started up the chute moving swiftly.
The canopy continued to rip, causing her to drop as much as she’d progressed. Kate remained virtuall
y in the same place, scared the material would give way, and petrified she’d fall to the ground.
The pavement below rumbled from the creature’s aggravated stomps.
She gave it another go and felt the chute tighten. A few shroud lines had caught on the parapet. Kate scrambled upward as easily as climbing a rope. Then, she heaved herself onto the rooftop.
Looking down, three tanks rumbled past, churning up the asphalt. The creature took massive strides, keeping pace with the tanks, as diesel engines whined and groaned.
Then, the stamping feet came to an abrupt halt, leaving only the sounds of the tanks creaking off into the distance. A prodigious snout slowly rose above the edge of the rooftop. The creature took prolonged sniffs of the air. Moist nostrils heaved in and out, as if sampling a delicacy.
The nose dropped out of view, then a footstep below shook the ground, reverberating into the building. Kate wavered from the tremor.
A high-pitched roar pierced the evening air, and then the creature smashed into the side off the building. The parapet along the rooftop crumpled, glass broke, and girders creaked from bending under stress.
Kate bolted for the rooftop access door.
Another roar and shuffled footfalls shook the building. Then the creature crashed head-long into the side of the tower. The poured-cement roof broke apart and bits of concrete hurled to the street below, while chunks dropped into the lower floors, opened wide from the mighty attack.
Just as Kate reached the door, the floor beneath her feet gave way. And she plunged downward.
Twenty-One
Penton stared at the screen in disbelief for the second time in one day. Bursting flames from Baker’s plane still fresh in his mind, he watched as Captain Able’s fighter crashed to the earth and exploded.
The attack hadn’t been a success. It was an utter failure, and the creature pressed ahead and decimated the remaining tanks. He’d watched the Kaiju scoop up tank crew members as they fled the scene, gnawing on flesh and bones with massive teeth. Penton could imagine the ear-splitting wails of pain from the soldiers.
Now, the damn thing was destroying a building. Kate’s parachute dangled from the rooftop. Penton clenched his fists, anger spurned by helplessness. He wanted desperately to get out there and do something.
Pacific Rising Page 13
