Kaiju Winter: An End Of The World Thriller

by Jake Bible

  “Well, good luck, Howie,” Terrie says. “It was good knowing you.”

  “You too, Ms. Holden,” Howie says. “I’ll miss you and that boy and his wolf dog coming for bait on your way to the Kootenai for those fishing trips you all would take.”

  “Gonna miss that too,” Terrie says and turns and walks back to the Bronco. “Good luck!”

  Howie gives a wave, then fishes out a pouch of tobacco and grabs a plug, jamming it deep into his cheek.

  “How far behind are we?” Kyle asks as Terrie gets into the Bronco, this time behind the wheel.

  “Howie said thirty minutes, but you know Howie,” Terrie says. “It could have been an hour ago and he’d say thirty minutes.”

  “Is it safe for you to drive?” Kyle asks. “What if we run into that guy again?”

  “I think he already knows the Bronco,” Terrie says. “Seeing me isn’t going to change that. And we need to make up some time, which means driving fast.”

  “I can drive fast,” Kyle protests.

  “That’s true, but I can drive fast without killing us,” Terrie smiles. “So buckle up.”

  Biscuit whines and lies down in the backseat as soon as Terrie starts up the Bronco and revs the engine.

  ***

  “What do you mean only half my team can come?” Dr. Probst shouts, trying to be heard over the whine of the jet engines only a few meters from her. She stands on the tarmac, her hands on her hips, and her face red with anger as she confronts the man before her. “I need every single one of those people!”

  “You see that aircraft, Doctor?” Lieutenant Jason Coletti asks. “It can only carry twelve passengers, not including the pilot and co-pilot. That means six of my people, including me, and six of your people, including you.”

  “I don’t need a military escort!” Dr. Probst shouts. “This isn’t a war!”

  “Yes, ma’am, it is,” Coletti replies. “And we’re fighting time. My orders are to get you into Yellowstone as fast as possible. That means you aren’t hiking in. That would take you days, which we don’t have. Not to mention the fact you’d probably be killed by the whackadoos that have started showing up all around the park!”

  “What whackadoos?” Dr. Probst asks.

  “All kinds,” Coletti says. “Religious fanatics, conspiracy theorists, end of the world groupies, heavily armed militias. You name it and they’re there.”

  “If we aren’t hiking in, then how are we getting where I need to go?” Dr. Probst asks. “Driving? Are there vehicles waiting for us?”

  “No, ma’am,” Coletti replies. “The ash is so thick even our best Humvees can’t handle it that close.” He points at the jet waiting for them. “Those engines are self-contained and won’t get choked with ash. Problem is that aircraft only has enough fuel to get us over the drop site and then back here. It can’t stop for a second.”

  Dr. Probst looks at the jet, then at the man in front of her. “What are you saying, Lieutenant?”

  “I’m saying that the six of you will be strapped to the six of us when we jump out of that jet,” Coletti says. “And at the speed we’ll be going, it ain’t gonna be fun.”

  “Are you insane? You can’t parachute out of a jet!”

  “You can’t,” Coletti smiles. “But me and my men can. You just let us worry about getting you on the ground safely and once we’re down, I’ll let you worry about how we stop that volcano. Now pick your five people.”

  Dr. Probst looks over at the group of ten scientists standing at the edge of the tarmac.

  “Dear God, I think I’m going to be sick,” Dr. Probst says and quickly turns away.

  Coletti let her have her moment as he turns and gives a thumbs up to five men waiting by the jet. They nod and hurry over to the group of scientists.

  “You done?” Coletti asks. “Because we need to go now. Tell your people and then my men will get them loaded up and set for take off.”

  “Okay, okay,” Dr. Probst says and takes a deep breath as she wipes her mouth, then looks at Coletti. “And there’s no other way?”

  “Ma’am, thisis the other way.”

  ***

  “You’ve been flooring it since we left Bonners Ferry,” Kyle says. “We’re gonna run out of gas if you don’t ease up.”

  “We have to catch them, Kyle,” Terrie says. “Your mother loves us, but she can’t wait for us in Coeur d’Alene. If we aren’t there with the buses, then she has to keep going.”

  “She wouldn’t do that,” Kyle says. “Would she? Just leave you and me behind?”

  Terrie looks over at her grandson and gives him a look he’s known all his life. His throat goes dry and he shakes his head.

  “Jesus. She would.”

  “Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain,” Terrie snaps. “And yes, she would. I would too if I was in her shoes. This convoy isn’t just about our little family, it’s about other families and her duty as a US Marshal. That’s a duty she doesn’t take lightly and we wouldn’t want her to.”

  Kyle shakes his head some more, then turns and looks out the passenger window as the firs and pines whiz by. He rests his head against the glass for a second, and then narrows his eyes as he looks into the side mirror. The ash is coming down so hard now it’s like a grey blizzard all around them and makes it difficult to see details.

  But blue and red flashing lights aren’t difficult to see.

  “Grandma? Look behind us,” Kyle says.

  Terrie glances in the rear view mirror and sees the outline of a patrol car coming up on them fast, its lights flashing bright in the ashen gloom of the day.

  “Lincoln County,” Terrie smiles. “About time. Can you see who’s driving? Is it Stephie?”

  Kyle turns around in his seat and tries to make out who the driver is, but he can’t get a good look.

  “Jeez,” Kyle says. “If that’s Stephie, then she better slow down. She’s going to ram right into the back of us at that speed.”

  Terrie looks down at the speedometer, and then into the rear view mirror again.

  “Buckle up,” she orders.

  “I am,” Kyle replies.

  “Then turn around and hang on tight,” Terrie replies as she pushes the accelerator all the way to the floor.

  “Grandma! What are you doing?” Kyle cries.

  “That’s not Stephie,” Terrie says. “And it’s not Eric, either.”

  “Maybe it’s Shane?”

  “No, Shane was waiting ahead,” Terrie says. “The patrol car Howie saw was Shane’s car. I think I know why they were going so fast.”

  “Why?”

  Terrie nods at the mirror, her eyes watching as the patrol car gains on them.

  “Because he found them,” Terrie says. “I don’t think Stephie or Eric is alive.”

  “What? How do you know that?” Kyle asks, looking back over his shoulder as the patrol car comes roaring at them. “OH, SHIT!”

  Terrie instinctively reaches out and puts a hand across Kyle’s chest just as the patrol car rams them from behind. Not that her old arm can do any good in a rear end collision at sixty miles an hour, but there’s no fighting instinct.

  ***

  “How far are we?” Lu asks the driver.

  “Maybe two hours,” the driver replies. “GPS just went down so I can’t say for sure.”

  “I don’t have cell service,” Muldoon says as he jams his phone back in his pocket. “Damn, stupid volcano.”

  “Yeah, you tell it, Officer,” Bolton grins. “We all knew this was going to happen.”

  “The buses should be at the rendezvous point by now,” Lu says. “They’ll sit tight and wait for us.”

  “We stopping when we get there?” Bolton asks. “Or are they just going to fall in behind?”

  “Ideally, they’d fall in behind,” Lu says. “But with GPS and cell phones out, we’re going to have to stop so I can fill them in on the route and exact parameters of the convoy. After that, they’ll fall in line and had better stay in line.
We only have one fuel stop between Idaho and Everett. Other than that, we stop for nothing, even if it means they get left behind.”

  Bolton raises his eyebrows and gives Lu a hard look.

  “You never have been one to cut people slack, Lu,” Bolton says.

  “Yeah, well, I come by it naturally,” Lu frowns.

  ***

  Kyle’s body hurts. That’s all he knows as he slowly comes to.

  “Get up.”

  Kyle opens his eyes, but he can barely see anything. The world around him is red.

  “Wha...what?” he grunts.

  “Kyle, get up,” his grandma says as she wipes the blood from his face and pulls at him.

  “Grandma…? What happened?” he asks as he’s roughly yanked from the upside down Bronco. He sees the knife in her hand and gets to his feet as she whirls around. “What’s going on?”

  “I had to cut your seatbelt,” Terrie says, her own face bloody and bruised. “I don’t see Biscuit, but we can’t look for him now. We have to go.”

  “Wait, what?” Kyle asks, his head a fuzzy mess. “We can’t leave Biscuit.”

  “We can and we will!” Terrie hisses as she looks over at the patrol car that lies on its side at the shoulder of the road opposite them. The front wheel is still spinning, but that’s all the movement she sees. The woman turns and shoves Kyle towards the woods behind them. “Go!”

  “Grandma? Who are we running from?” Kyle asks. “Who is this man?”

  “We can’t get into that right now,” Terrie snaps. “Just go!”

  Kyle limps into the woods. His left leg is banged up, but he’s had worse, so he knows it shouldn’t slow him down for long. He turns to say something else, but his words are caught in his throat as he sees Linder sit up from a ditch across the road. Linder smiles at him, and then raises a pistol, firing twice.

  “Go!” Terrie chokes. “Run, Kyle! Now!”

  Then she falls forward onto her face and Kyle is left standing there, his eyes locked with the man that just shot his grandma.

  “Hello, Kyle,” Linder says as he stands up. He grunts and stumbles, falling back to one knee. Blood coats his right leg. “I should have worn my seatbelt.”

  “Who are you?” Kyle asks. “Why...why’d you shoot my grandma?”

  “That bitch?” Linder laughs. “Forget her. She doesn’t deserve your love. No one does.” He tries to stand again, but his leg won’t hold him. “Now come help me up, will ya? We should get you away from this backwoods hellhole. No place for a bright kid like you.”

  Kyle just stands there.

  “Boy, come help me,” Linder snaps. “You listen to me and do what I say! NOW!”

  The rage in Linder’s voice breaks Kyle’s fear and he takes a few steps backwards, then turns and runs, ignoring the pain in his leg, ignoring the branches that whip at his face and arms. Kyle runs and keeps on running, leaving a screaming Linder far behind.

  “COME BACK, YOU LITTLE SHIT!” Linder shouts. “YOU DO WHAT YOUR FATHER TELLS YOU! YOU DO IT RIGHT NOW!”

  Kyle refuses to listen to the words as they fade into the background. He refuses to recognize what the man is shouting at him. He refuses to believe any of it, no matter what his grandma told him.

  You do what your father tells you…

  ***

  “Nearing the drop sight. ETA two minutes.”

  “You ready?” Coletti asks Dr. Probst, his voice ringing in her ears through the com system in her helmet.

  “No,” she replies.

  “Well, at least you’re honest about it,” Coletti laughs.

  “How fast are we going?” Dr. Probst asks.

  “You don’t want to know,” Coletti says as he walks them towards the back of the jet’s small passenger area.

  “How high up are we?” Dr. Probst asks.

  “You don’t want to know that either,” Coletti says. “Just trust that the suit you’re wearing, the helmet you’re wearing, and the oxygen being pumped into it will keep you alive. That’s your job until we touch ground. Got it?”

  “And what’s your job? Freaking me out?”

  “My job is to know when to deploy our parachute,” Coletti says. “It’s an important job.”

  Dr. Probst gives a small squeak as she looks over at the five other scientists strapped in front of the five other soldiers. They are all outfitted in thick full body suits with heavy duty hoses going from their backs and feeding into the black visor helmets they wear. Because of the reflective material of the visors, Dr. Probst can’t see anyone’s faces, but she’s pretty sure her colleagues are just as terrified as she is.

  “Drop will commence in thirty seconds,” the pilot’s voice announces through their helmets. “Please proceed to the- HOLY FUCK!”

  The jet rocks to one side and alarms begin to blare. Then silence. Dr. Probst feels her stomach flip, when suddenly everyone is slammed up against the top of the jet’s cabin.

  “Lieutenant!” Dr. Probst shouts. “Lieutenant!”

  There’s no answer.

  “Lieutenant! What’s going on?” she screams.

  She isn’t answered by words, but by movement. Even though it feels like her body is being crushed, she can feel Coletti moving against her and sees his arms reach out for handholds recessed into the jet’s ceiling. Handhold by handhold, he claws their way to the back of the jet then slams his hand against a large button.

  Nothing.

  Dr. Probst tries to turn her head to look back at the others, but the g-forces are too much and it feels like her neck will be ripped apart if she moves an inch. She has no idea how Coletti found the strength to get them several feet.

  The man grabs her hands and wraps her fingers around two holds, patting them again and again until she understands she’s supposed to hang on and keep them in place. Once he knows they are secure, he pops open a panel underneath the useless button, and grabs the black and yellow handle set inside. He pulls down, turns the handle 180 degrees, and then slams it back in place.

  The entire rear of the jet falls away suddenly as Dr. Probst’s grip is ripped free and she finds herself and Coletti tumbling through the air, end over end.

  “What’s happening?” she screams, but there is still no answer.

  The world is a spinning kaleidoscope of bright blue then dark grey, bright blue then dark grey. Over and over until Coletti gets them under control and they even out, their bodies flat against the air that tears at them, their faces looking down at the hell below.

  “Oh, my God,” Dr. Probst whispers.

  All that’s underneath them is a thick, dark grey cloud of ash. It rolls and rumbles at them as they rocket down towards it. Before Dr. Probst even has a chance to comprehend what she’s seeing, and the implications of it, they pierce the cloud, their bodies swallowed whole by the volcanic ash.

  “Nonononononononono,” she says over and over.

  They’re too late. The supervolcano has erupted and she is diving right towards it. She knows that, at any second, despite the suits she and Coletti wear, they’ll be roasted alive from the heat of the eruption. Anything caught under a half mile above the caldera will be a crispy critter in seconds.

  She feels her arms being pinned to her sides by Coletti’s and their trajectory changes. He turns them slightly, and then angles them downward, sending them falling even faster than before. They are a two person missile lost in the ash, aimed who knows where.

  Then they are out, clear of the ash, and the whole world below opens up before her.

  Dr. Probst can’t believe what she sees. There should be nothing but ash and hot mud erupting again and again. Yet there’s nothing. The ash is above them, filling the Earth’s atmosphere. There’s no mud, no magma, no more ash.

  All that she sees is a gigantic hole in the ground. Her mind doesn’t want to believe it, but it can’t help but calculate the size of the hole.

  It must be 200 miles across, she thinks.But how?

  She feels their trajectory change once mor
e as Coletti aims them for the northwestern side of the hole. Her brain calculates again, now that she has reference points and can see the ground clearly. The jet had to have been in the upper reaches of the stratosphere when they were ejected from it. Again her brain calculates and she realizes what Coletti is trying to do. He has to get them far enough to the edge of the massive hole, but still high enough so they can deploy their parachute in time not to be crushed on impact.

  She honestly doesn’t think they will make it. There’s only empty space below them; a dark, bottomless chasm. At the speed they are plummeting, they’ll get close to the edge, but every fiber in her body says they will fall short of solid ground and end up in the nothing that was once part of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

  Except it isn’t all nothing. Smoke and brief flashes of flame ring the edge of the chasm, highlighting something. Or, to be precise,somethings.

  She wants to scream, she wants to cry out, she wants nothing to do with what her intellect is telling her can’t exist.

  That creatures, unimaginably large creatures, are clawing their way up out of the chasm. Dozens, if not a hundred of the creatures scrabble out of the burning darkness.

  If her estimates are correct, and she hasn’t completely lost her mind, the creatures have to be at least…

  “A hundred feet tall,” she whispers to herself.

  She wants to close her eyes, and just shut out what she is watching. There is no way things like that can be. It’s not scientifically possible.

  Then the wind that rages around her, deafening even with the helmet on, is overpowered by roars that she can feel in her bones.

  Down there, just below the already impossible creatures, are things far more impossible, far worse, far bigger. She doesn’t have the strength to turn her head to see the edge of the chasm that is already behind them, but she doesn’t have to. What she sees in front of her is enough to send her into madness.

  As they rocket towards the Earth, she watches the smaller things make way, parting like a monstrous sea, as new beasts pull their bulk up out of the hole. Chunks of earth the size of whole counties fall away as the monsters’ claws tear into the ground and heft their massively thick bodies onto the surface. The things stand and turn their heads this way and that, then roar as one, nearly bursting Dr. Probst’s eardrums.