Pacific Rising

by John W Dennehy

  Stiles shook his head, a defeated look in his eyes.

  A pause in the attack gave Hardy some hope. He looked over Stiles’ injuries. Blood gushed from a large bullet hole in the leg. Hardy rolled him over and saw an exit wound. He unzipped his jumpsuit and pulled the web-belt from his trousers and used it as a tourniquet. Then, he quickly applied a field dressing to the lacerated flesh.

  Other wounds leaked blood from the chest area, but his body armor and trajectory angles had prevented the large caliber rounds from penetrating all the way through the vest.

  All commotion from the assault went quiet. Hardy figured the enemy had given up. Then, the unmistakable sound of the cannon turret moving into position sent a chill down his spine.

  “Move!” Hardy commanded. Rising to his feet, he slung Stiles over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry.

  He thundered downhill, pain from his own wounds spiking through his chest and leg. A blast erupted from behind, and Hardy braced for impact. A shell that could immediately launch them both into the darkness of death.

  An explosion from behind sent fragments of rock cascading down on them. The tank’s cannon blew up the boulder they’d used for cover. Hardy hustled further into the woods, seeking cover from foliage and tree trunks. The machine gunner started up again, riddling the forest with large caliber rounds.

  Terrain dropped off a steep cliff to the left. Hardy put his comrade down and eased over the ridge, placing his boots on a ledge. Then, he grabbed Stiles by the war-belt and slid him toward the edge. He scooped him up like a new bride and lowered him onto the ledge. Glancing down, Hardy noted more ledges that he could use for makeshift steps, and continued the process, relieved the stray bullets would only whiz overhead.

  When he reached the bottom, a few soldiers shuffled to the ridge. They stood at the edge, yelling and pointing down, appearing as silhouettes in the dark evening. The infantrymen fired at the SEALs. Hardy grabbed Stiles and pressed them both against the base of the cliff. Bullets dug into the dirt nearby.

  The soldiers understood their futility and started down the craggy slope.

  Hardy locked and loaded his MP-5, then stepped away from the protective cover and trained a beam on the top of the ledge. As he suspected, a soldier remained above ready to shoot if the SEALs fled into the open.

  Taking advantage of surprise, Hardy squeezed off a shot and bore a hole into the man’s skull. Soldiers climbing down the cliff stopped on ledges to take up the fight, while others scurried down the rock-face, trying to get to a solid position.

  Hardy focused on the soldiers shooting at him. As he shot two of them, bullets kicked up dust all around his boots.

  He ran hard at the base of the cliff, ducking out of view, then he jogged along the rock-face and popped out at another location. Hardy got off two quick shots before they could return fire. A couple more soldiers dropped, but three remained, dug into fortified positions on ledges in prone positions. He couldn’t get a good bead on them.

  Running back to cover, he caught up with Stiles and slipped his rifle over a shoulder. He heaved Stiles into a fireman’s carry and worked his way along the base of the cliff, keeping out of sight, but putting distance between them and the infantry soldiers on the side of the hill above. Then Hardy bolted toward a grove of trees. A few desperate shots rang out behind them as the SEALs slipped out of eyeshot.

  Once back in the woods, he carried Stiles to the SEAL Delivery Vehicle. They found the apparatus intact and eased it into the water. Both SEALs donned their scuba gear and dove into the safety of the ocean depths.

  Twenty-Nine

  A while later, Penton eased off the gas and lured the creature closer, then he sped up to keep a safe distance between them. The beast roared in anger at the sound of the music blaring from speakers on the roof. Dawn began to break on the horizon and the weather reflected signs of the storm breaking off soon.

  “What’s the plan?” Kate asked, leaning over to look at the dash.

  “Lead the damn thing further out to the coast so they can take it out.”

  “Well, you should know… we are running low on gas,” Kate said, pointing at the fuel gauge.

  Penton glanced down and shook his head. “Always has to be a wrinkle.”

  “Do you have enough gas to get out there?” Kate said.

  “Probably,” Penton replied, “but it’s hard to tell.”

  “We need to keep far enough ahead of it to give us time.”

  He sped up to put more distance between them and the creature. Pavement vibrated from the beast’s pursuit and shook the van toward the edge of the road. Fighting to keep the vehicle on the road, Penton jerked the wheel.

  The van went off the road and slid on the soft shoulder. He slowed down and straightened out the vehicle.

  Penton looked in the mirror. The creature closed the distance fast, as though it realized they were vulnerable. “The thing’s smart,” Penton said.

  “Yeah, and it never seems to get tired or worn out.”

  He pulled back onto the highway and hit the gas. The road still rumbled and he had to fight to keep the vehicle straight. Penton sped up even more to get ahead of the tremors.

  They cruised along with the creature stalking after them. It showed no signs of letting up. All its wounds were superficial. Penton couldn’t believe the amount of ordnance it had withstood. The creature’s head bobbed back and forth as it trod behind them, resembling the gait of an enormous bird.

  A short time later, the magnificent coast came into view. Rugged mountains covered the coastline, dropping off steep cliffs to the ocean below. The rural highway cut along the edge, and the van undulated over the roadway.

  Spectacular panoramas caught their attention. Everyone sat quiet inside the vehicle, glancing at the scenery below. For a moment, Penton forgot about the creature keeping pace behind them. The twisty road caused him to slow down. He glanced at the fuel gauge and noticed the needle getting closer to the empty mark.

  He wondered if there was any place in the vicinity to fuel up.

  Another vibration ran up his leg. Penton instinctively looked in the mirror to chart the pace of the creature. It continued plodding at a safe distance. Then, he reached into a pocket and pulled out the cellphone. “Penton here.”

  “Master Guns,” Keyes said. “How are you holding up?”

  “We’re doing just fine. Except we are running low on gas.”

  “Got enough to keep you going for another ten minutes?”

  “Think so…” said Penton. “Why?”

  “We’re ready to make our move. You just pull ahead and get to a safe distance.”

  “What’s the plan?” Penton said. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

  There was a pause on the other end of the line.

  “Admiral Keyes… are you still there?”

  Another pause.

  “Admiral Keyes?”

  “Just high-tail it out of there,” Keyes finally said.

  “Roger.” Penton ended the call and shoved the phone into his pocket. He looked over at Kate. A dire concern registered on her face. She shook her head, obviously understanding that Penton figured they planned to use a nuclear weapon.

  He nodded to confirm the assumption.

  “This can’t really be happening,” Kate muttered.

  “No time for us to ponder misgivings. We need to put some real distance between us and the target.”

  He stepped on the gas. The van raced along the coastal highway, swerving around curves, and skittering off the side of the road. Yet the creature kept up its pursuit as giant feet pounded the asphalt behind them.

  ****

  Keyes shifted in his command seat while staring at the video screen. He chewed the nub of an unlit cigar and habitually swirled coffee into his mouth. Dark stains ran down the side of the mug and smeared a picture of the Gipper on the front.

  He scanned the room to make sure the suit was still in the head. “What’s the status of the Seawolf?” Keyes
asked his Executive Officer James.

  “She’s ready to fire on your order, sir.”

  “What’s the distance from the beast to the decoy?”

  “They’ve pulled about two hundred yards in front of the creature,” Commander James replied. “Somehow that thing is keeping pace.”

  Keyes studied the screen. The van and coastal highway appeared in black and white from the satellite video. Behind them, the monster stomped upon the roadway, cracking pavement and thundering along.

  “What’s the perimeter of the fallout?” Keyes asked, knowing the answer.

  “Well beyond two hundred yards.” This from Williams the intelligence officer.

  “There’s no aircraft in position to extract them,” Commander James chimed in. “What are your orders, sir?”

  James grasped a phone in his hand, tied into the ship’s communication network. Keyes knew his executive officer already had the captain of the Seawolf on the line. He looked at the monitor again. The beast had moved into the most viable strike zone, where civilian population was the least dense.

  “Sir?” Commander James repeated.

  Keyes thought about making another call to the master gunnery sergeant. He thought about providing a warning.

  “Sir, there’s no time…”

  Keyes ground his teeth into the cigar.

  “Sir?”

  Everything seemed to stand down for a moment. Keyes watched the van and the creature chasing after it. Finally, he nodded to the executive officer. “Give the order,” Keyes said flatly.

  “Fire away,” Commander James said into the phone.

  Another window appeared in the corner of the screen. Choppy waves bashed into the hull of a submarine, and a grey sky lingered overhead. The images on the screen changed up. And the submarine exchanged places with the road scene on the bigger monitor.

  A hatch in the back of the submarine opened. Then, a Tomahawk missile shot from the opening. Exhaust burned through the air as the missile raced skyward. The trajectory of the Tomahawk traced east.

  The intelligence officer abruptly stood up. “I cannot watch this,” Williams said, heading for the door.

  Keyes pounded a fist on the table. “You think this is easy for me!”

  She halted by the door and looked at him.

  He pointed at the small window on the screen. “Those Marines are heroes… and we’ve got to watch them die.”

  ****

  Glancing in the rearview mirror, Penton noticed the creature getting smaller and smaller. At last, the beast finally let up its pace. Penton breathed a sigh of relief.

  “What’s next?” Kate demanded.

  “We’ve got to get some distance from the creature.”

  “An atomic blast… even from a small missile… will engulf us.”

  Penton nodded. He glanced out the window at the rocky coastline. “Maybe we can find some cover. Wait for the fallout to clear.”

  “That could work if we get far enough away. And if we find protection.”

  The van crested a hill and a small cinderblock building caught his attention. Some sort of power control station, the building lay far down a hillside. A driveway led to the building, secured from the road by metal gates.

  “Probably our best bet,” Penton said.

  “How much time do we have? Maybe we’ve got a better option.”

  “Something tells me… we’re about out of time.”

  Penton steered toward the driveway and stepped on the gas. The van broke through the gate and the chain snapped apart. Pieces of metal links danced off the windshield, and the steel arms swung open.

  He drove toward the building at speed. The walls looked solid and the roof was flat, so he suspected poured concrete covered the rooftop. Electrical wires ran into a conduit on the façade and likely worked through a control panel and exited through the opposite side, then snaked through an underground pipeline.

  They closed in on the building fast. Kate grabbed the door handle, as though bracing for an impact. Penton braked hard and the van decelerated, halting with the nose plunging down, then the vehicle surged backward. He shoved the shifter into park and alighted from the van.

  Penton bolted for the door, while Kate helped Maki out of the vehicle.

  He grabbed the knob and found the door locked.

  Penton stepped back and scanned it over. A heavy steel door with the hinges on the inside. He noted a lock in the doorknob and a keyhole for a deadbolt right above it. The place was shut up tighter than Fort Knox.

  Kate ran up beside him, with Maki’s little feet scampering a few steps behind. “Not a window in the frigging place?” Kate said, huffing.

  “Makes it the perfect place to hide. Just difficult to get in.”

  Kate looked at Penton. He nodded, and then she grabbed Maki’s hand and headed around the side of the building. Penton took a few steps back, pulled out his sidearm, and aimed at the deadbolt.

  A whoosh resonated through the sky.

  Penton’s heart raced. A nuclear missile was closing in. He blasted away at the lock, squeezing off four .45 caliber rounds. Then, he fired two more at the doorknob.

  “Run!” he screamed to Kate.

  Penton stepped forward and kicked the knob with the heel of his boot. The door shifted inward, but held together. Kate and Maki rounded the corner, as the sound of an intense explosion ripped through the air.

  They fell to the ground, and Penton staggered, losing his step.

  The door held steady.

  Penton stepped back, reloading.

  He fired madly at the knob and lock mechanism, drilling holes into the steel.

  Then, he took a step and leapt toward the door. His heel struck the knob and snapped it off, but the force broke the door open. It swung wide and smashed into the cinderblock wall inside, clanging metal reverberated through the empty building.

  He flew through the doorway and landed on a musty, concrete floor.

  Penton rolled onto his chest and shot upright. By the time he wheeled around, Kate was inside with Maki in tow.

  Penton slammed the door shut and braced it closed with a coil of cable he’d found on the floor.

  The room fell into darkness, and he wondered if the distance, mountainside, and concrete building would protect them from the blast. Kate hit the deck and told Maki to lie down next to her. Penton followed suit and dropped beside them.

  Kate reached for his hand. Comforted by her touch in their plight, Penton couldn’t help but think about his daughter back in North Carolina.

  Thirty

  The Tomahawk missile cruised through the early morning sky as the sun poked out from behind the clouds. Keyes couldn’t help but appreciate the marvel of the sight, even though it meant certain death for anyone located near the blast.

  A white tail of exhaust fumes spat from the missile. The nose dipped and the Tomahawk’s trajectory angled toward the target. Below, the creature stopped in its tracks and canted its head, listening. Then, the beast tilted its snout toward the sky, as though sniffing the air.

  “The damn thing knows it’s coming,” Keyes blurted.

  “Ten seconds to impact,” Executive Officer James said calmly.

  Keyes shook his head, worried about the execution of their plan. He glanced around the room. All eyes were glued to the screen.

  “We’ve got him,” said Executive Officer James, reassuringly.

  The nose dropped considerably as the missile raced toward the creature. Now, the Tomahawk sped almost vertically downward, rapidly closing the distance. Both the beast and missile appeared on the same screen. The missile driving downward, and the creature looking upward into the sky, made the serene coastal landscape appear out of place.

  Everything stood frozen in time, as the nuclear weapon homed in on its target. Keyes clenched his fists, waiting.

  “Five seconds to impact,” Executive Officer James counted.

  The creature stood motionless, continuing to glance skyward, with its head slight
ly tilted to one side. Maybe the thing’s confused, Keyes hoped.

  “Three seconds.”

  Or thinking.

  Two.

  Calculating.

  One.

  And the beast leapt toward the cliffs, bounding over the precipice.

  The missile impacted the ground where the creature had been standing. It exploded, sending rock and debris hurling in every direction. Then, a small mushroom cloud billowed and spread gently over the countryside.

  When the dust cleared, there wasn’t any sign of the creature or its remains.

  Thirty-One

  Penton heard the blast and placed the explosion a half-mile away. A reverberation shook the building, but the sensation passed in a moment. He waited for the nuclear wave to follow, expecting it to shake or topple the building. But nothing happened more than a tremor.

  He groped in his pocket for the cellphone and found purchase. Penton pulled it out and flipped on the light.

  Kate looked at him desperately.

  She was probably thinking the same, frightened of the radioactivity. He shrugged, trying to suggest maybe they had a chance. Her eyes lit up. “We’re in a valley,” Kate said, hopefully. “The nuclear blast might not reach us through the dense, rocky terrain.”

  “We’ll have to wait it out,” Penton replied. “This building might serve us well as a fallout bunker.”

  “The sort that people built during the cold war were in basements.”

  “Tell me about it,” said Penton, rolling his eyes.

  She smiled. “Hard to believe you look that good and go back so long… I meant that you’re in great shape for your age.”

  “Couldn’t have been that I look good?” Penton said, laughing.

  Kate didn’t respond, and the discussion fell into an awkward silence. He stood up and stretched out his back. The room was ten by twelve feet and it connected to another room that was closed off and padlocked shut. He figured an electrical control panel laid beyond the next door, maybe even a radio.

  The tight quarters wouldn’t allow him too many opportunities to shoot at the padlock. A missed shot could send a bullet ricocheting off the cinderblock walls. Someone might get injured, and he didn’t trust the conditions in the environment to send them outside, even for a few seconds.