"Damn," the captain cursed. He immediately reached for the long-range radio.
The captain keyed the mike. "This is the Pusan ferry," he said urgently. "Mayday... mayday. We have collided with an object and are taking on water... Mayday! Mayday!"
* * *
Will Adams managed to push Soonji and the little Korean boy back inside the passenger compartment right before the collision. Like everyone else, they were knocked off their feet. Now all of the ferry passengers were in a panic. Most of them were screaming in fear.
When the ship finally seemed to settle, the passengers calmed down a bit.
Will held Soonji down as he rose unsteadily to his feet. "Stay there," he said. Pale with fright, Soonji could only nod.
As Will cautiously approached the windows, people inside the ferry were still talking excitedly. One woman's panic-filled voice cut through the noise. "Kim! Kim!" she cried frantically.
Kim turned when he heard his mother calling him. He rushed across the heaving deck to her side.
"Mom!" he cried. "We hit some rocks. Floating rocks! I saw them moving!"
Kim's mother ignored his words. She pulled her son close and held him. The whole ship vibrated as the engine strained to move the ferry. The ship seemed to be stuck, as if it had run aground.
Just then, several crewmen ran into the cabin. They began taking down inflatable life rafts that were stored in the cabin's ceiling. One of them produced a bullhorn.
"We must abandon ship," the sailor said through the loudspeaker. "The hull has been ruptured and we are taking on water. Please remain calm. Emergency calls have already been sent. Help is on the way. As a precaution, we will now board the lifeboats in an orderly fashion. Please remain calm."
Of course, his words had the opposite effect. The passengers were thrown into a panic once again. Women sobbed. Men cried out. Some of the crowd tried to take the inflatable rafts away from the sailors. Fights broke out.
Though Will Adams knew almost no Korean, he understood the pandemonium all around him. This ship is sinking! He glanced down at Soonji. Her face was white with panic. She clung to the deck as if it were a lifeline.
A sinking lifeline, Will thought glumly.
Nearby, Kim's mother clutched her son close. She could imagine no more horrible fate than drowning. It had been her lifelong fear. But she did not worry for herself - she prayed only for her young son's life.
Meanwhile, the young American stood up and looked out of the cabin window, toward the bow of the ship.
Suddenly, he gasped and took several steps back.
Kim, his mother, and a few others turned when they heard Will cry out. They, too gasped as a dark shadow rose up and fell across the bow of the Pusan ferry.
As the frightened, unbelieving passengers and crew watched in awe and horror, a giant monster rose up out of the Sea of Japan with an ear-shattering roar!
CHAPTER 7
GOJIRA!
May 29, 1998, 7:18 A.M.
The Pusan ferry
Sea of Japan
"It's Gojira!" one of the sailors screamed. All eyes turned to the large windows.
The sailor let go of the uninflated raft he held and it dropped to the deck. The sailor hit the deck, too, and curled up in a quivering mass of fear. A nearby passenger - a burly man - quickly snatched up the raft and pushed for the exit. Another man grabbed the raft out of his hands, and a fight broke out.
In seconds, the Pusan ferry erupted in pandemonium. One woman screamed and fainted. She hit the deck hard because everyone else was too startled by the appearance of the now-legendary monster to catch her. Other women, and many men, too, began to scream. Children sobbed in fear.
Will Adams looked up as the shadow fell over him.
Godzilla! he thought, taking two steps backward. He stared awestruck at the apparition standing before him. Gojira - the Japanese name for the prehistoric monster known worldwide as Godzilla - was supposed to be dead.
Hell, Will thought, Godzilla never should have existed in the first place!
As Will stared at the creature, panic swept through the rest of the passengers. All semblance of order was gone. People rushed for the exits, thinking they could escape the creature by jumping into the Sea of Japan. Will stifled his own panic and observed this incredible freak of nature with a critical, objective eye that would do his reporter father proud.
Godzilla looked like a Tyrannosaurus rex, but on closer examination the resemblance was slight. The creature had a tiny, wedge-shaped, almost feline head, a bull neck, and a wide, barrel-like chest. The three rows of spikes - which Will had at first thought were gigantic rocks - clattered as the creature towered over them.
Godzilla was almost completely motionless now - only his eyelids fluttered, and his lips curled back, to reveal six-foot-long bone-yellow teeth.
The monster stood on his hind legs, chest-deep in the churning waters of the Sea of Japan. Though Will could not judge the depth of the water here, he figured it must be close to two hundred feet deep.
That would make Godzilla over three hundred feet tall! he realized with amazed terror. Streams of seawater ran off of Godzilla's hide, giving the monster a slick shine.
Then Will heard a huge, sustained rush of air. The creature must have just exhaled, he realized. Carefully, Will sniffed the air. An odor of fish and ozone permeated the atmosphere around the ferry. I can smell it, he said to himself.
Will was surprised to notice that Godzilla's body was not covered with scales - nor was it green. Instead, the creature was a dull charcoal black color, and his skin seemed gouged and pitted with deep vertical grooves. More than anything else, Godzilla's hide resembled the bark on an ancient oak tree. Will could swear that some of the grooves had barnacles, seaweed, and other sea life growing in the deepest furrows.
As Will watched, Godzilla slowly turned his mammoth body to the side. The huge spiked plates on his back slammed together, ringing like bronze church bells. This slow movement caused the water around Godzilla to churn even more.
Waves crashed against the damaged ferryboat with tremendous force. This action brought new screams of panic from the passengers, who still crowded the exits in a desperate attempt to flee from the monster.
Suddenly, there was another rush of air as Godzilla inhaled. Then a terrible, echoing roar smashed against Will's eardrums. As he covered his ears with his hands, Will's eyes rose until he was looking up at Godzilla's massive, feral head. To his shock and surprise, the great prehistoric monster seemed to be staring right back at him with a cold, reptilian gaze.
For a moment, the human and the monster locked eyes.
Then Will felt a tugging on his pant leg. He looked down. Soonji was clinging to his leg, her eyes wide, her tiny face pale with fear.
"Get down, Will," she whimpered, averting her eyes from the beast. "He sees you!"
* * *
The Maritime Self-Defense Force station near Hakata harbor in Japan was the first to receive the distress call from the Pusan ferry. Instantly, the duty officer sent out an emergency alert to the rescue choppers that were always on call.
Within minutes, three large, American-designed, single-rotor Sikorsky SH-60 "Seahawk" helicopters, built under license in Japan by Mitsubishi, were being powered up.
Also on the tarmac was a modified MH-53J "Sea Dragon" helicopter, bristling with antennas, with "Pave Low Enhanced" technology to enable it to lead a rescue or an attack in fog or in darkness. Like the rescue choppers, this highly advanced helicopter was always ready to launch at a moment's notice.
While the ground crews readied the aircraft, an officer burst from a nearby building, waving a clipboard in his hand. He ran to the MH-53J "Pave Low" helicopter's side door.
"Here are the exact coordinates of the ferry!" the officer cried over the sound of the spinning rotors. He handed the pilot the clipboard.
"Be advised -" the officer said, getting the pilot's attention by yanking on his flight suit.
"Yes!" the pilo
t barked impatiently, still studying his flight plan. "What is it?"
"The captain of the ship reports that he was attacked," the officer replied.
"Attacked!" the pilot said, both puzzled and excited. "Attacked by whom? The Communist Chinese? The North Koreans?"
"Worse than that." the officer replied.
* * *
Godzilla's roar echoed throughout the interior of the Pusan ferry, drowning out the screams of fear and panic.
"Come on... hurry!" Kim cried, tugging his mother's arm urgently. "We've got to get to the lifeboats!"
Kim's eyes, wide with dread, kept shifting from his fear-paralyzed mother to the panic-stricken crowds clogging the exits.
It was no use. Kim knew his mother was in the grip of her deepest fear - there was no way she would get on a lifeboat of her own free will.
It's up to me to save her, he decided.
On the other side of the passenger deck, Will Adams continued to peer out the window, straight into the eyes of the monster called Godzilla. And Soonji continued to tug on his leg.
Abruptly, Godzilla turned his mighty head, and the spell that seemed to paralyze the young American was broken. Will looked down at the young woman clinging to his leg.
"Come on, Soonji," he said, "let's get out of here."
Outside, Godzilla was slowly walking away from the disabled ferry. But the crew and passengers weren't out of danger yet. As the creature departed, Godzilla's tail swished back and forth, churning up the water. Some of the overcrowded rubber rafts that dotted the Sea of Japan were overturned in the turbulence. There were screams of terror as people fell into the sea and sank below the surface. Some would never rise again.
Another angry swish, and Godzilla sideswiped the ferry with his long, powerful tail. The whole ship vibrated like a drum. The tail struck again, and the side of the hull caved in. In the enclosed passenger deck, windows shattered, raining glass down on the people still trapped inside.
The Pusan ferry was looking less like a ship - and more like a soda can that had been crushed in the middle. And it was sinking fast.
Will struggled up from the deck and shook off pieces of broken glass. Everyone who was still aboard the ferry had been knocked off their feet when the ship was swatted by the monster's tail for the third time. Now the ferry was listing precariously to one side. Footing was difficult on the steeply pitched deck, but Will managed to remain standing.
He spotted Soonji, who was struggling to get up off the heaving deck. This ship is going to capsize, Will realized with horror.
He knew he had to get out and take Soonji with him. But people were still choking the exits. In their panic, the passengers were actually making escape through the doors all but impossible.
Then Will turned and saw the shattered windows. He grabbed Soonji by the hand and yanked her to her feet. She yelped in surprise as he dragged her toward the broken window. There was still some glass blocking their exit. Will pushed his shoulder hard against it, and the cracked window collapsed into shards. Most of the glass pitched into the sea, but some of it rained down on him. Blood began to flow from a cut on his forehead.
"Through here!" he cried, pushing the young woman.
Soonji was about to climb through the window when she saw a Korean boy tugging on an older woman's arm. The woman was curled up in a ball and utterly refused to let go of the heaving deck. Soonji pushed Will's hand away and pointed. He saw them, too.
Will rushed to Kim's side and grabbed the boy. As he lifted Kim over his shoulder, the boy started kicking and shouting. "Mother! What about my mother?" he cried.
Of course, Will didn't understand Korean, but he got the message. Before he could act, Soonji grabbed the woman's arm.
"Up, old mother," Soonji said in Korean.
"No!" the woman screamed. "I can't swim!"
But Soonji would hear none of it. She grabbed the woman by her hair and yanked upward. The woman hollered and jumped to her feet. Soonji dragged her to the window.
The ferry continued to sink. The ocean lapped against the hull only a few feet below the broken window. Will's eyes opened wide with hope when he saw an empty rubber raft bobbing in the water about thirty feet away. Will pulled the Korean boy off his shoulder and pointed to the raft.
"Can you swim?" he asked the boy. Will made swimming motions because the boy obviously didn't understand English. Kim got the message and nodded enthusiastically. At that moment, Soonji appeared at Will's side, dragging the Korean woman behind her.
"I can't swim!" the woman screamed again and again in shrill Korean. "I don't want to go into the water!"
Soonji and Will ignored her. While Kim watched open-mouthed, the couple lifted his mother up and placed her on the broken window sill - careful to avoid the spikes of glass that were still embedded in the frame. She resisted them with all of her strength.
Finally, Soonji had had enough! "Shut up, old mother," she cried. "Shut up... or I'll let you drown!"
When the woman heard the word drown, she began to scream and fight with new determination. Soonji turned and faced Will. He couldn't believe it when she actually smiled at him. "Watch this," she said in English.
Then Soonji put her foot on the struggling woman's rump and booted her over the side!
Before the screaming woman even hit the water. Soonji, Will, and Kim had dived over the side, too. In seconds, they were all splashing into the cold waters of the Sea of Japan.
Though Will thought of himself as a strong swimmer, it was hard trying to get to the inflatable raft. He squinted as salty sea water stung his eyes. The raft bobbed tantalizingly near, but the waves, which were violently churning in the wake of Godzilla's passage, kept pushing him back, toward the hull of the sinking ferry.
Exhausted, Will had to rest. He flipped over on his back and tried floating in the rough waters. As he drifted, he could see Soonji, the Korean boy, and the boy's mother. They were huddled together in the water, clinging to a broken cable hanging over the side of the ferry.
Will noticed that the ship was sinking faster now. The sea had risen almost to the top of the hull. Soon the decks would be awash with water. If Will didn't get to the raft and rescue the others, they would be dragged to the bottom of the Sea of Japan by the suction of the huge sinking ferryboat.
With renewed determination, Will struck out again. He'd swum about halfway to the raft when another wave knocked him backward. Sputtering and swallowing water, Will reached out and grabbed blindly for something to keep him afloat. At last, his hands connected and he held on.
With a gasp, Will realized he was clutching the corpse of an old man - one of the passengers - who had already drowned. Will pulled back in horror and kicked the body away from him. He swam on frantically.
A few minutes later, gasping for breath, Will climbed aboard the empty raft. His arms and legs felt like lead, and he could barely lift himself to his elbows as he lay at the bottom of the bobbing rubber boat. Vaguely, he heard Soonji's voice in the distance. She was frantically screaming his name.
Will lifted himself up and saw the reason for her panic. The ferry was sinking very rapidly now. Waves were washing across its deck, and Soonji, Kim, and Kim's mother were barely able to hang on. The three of them were being battered by the sea.
Clambering up to a sitting position, Will searched the raft for oars. There were none, so he dropped to his belly on the side of the rubber raft and began using his tired arms as paddles. It seemed to take an eternity to move the raft close to the ferry, but Will managed it.
Weakly, he reached out for the others. Kim was the first aboard. The boy was able to swim the few feet to the raft and climb aboard. He helped Will and Soonji pull his mother onto the nearly swamped rubber boat. The woman was numb and paralyzed with fear - but thanks to Soonji and Kim, she was alive. Will cupped his hands and began bailing water out of the tiny, crowded raft.
Just then, an underwater explosion shook the ocean around them. The hull of the ferryboat shuddered. Smoke
began pouring out of the windows and hatches as the ferry upended. The few passengers who had stubbornly remained aboard now jumped over the side, or were thrown overboard by the violent explosion.
As Kim, Soonji, and Will paddled away from the ship, using their arms as oars, the stern of the Pusan ferry lifted out of the water, and then the entire ship slipped beneath the waves.
As it disappeared, the ferry left a powerful whirlpool in its wake. Some of the people swimming were caught up in the swirling waters. Most of them were too weak from trying to stay afloat to even scream as they were sucked under.
For a terrifying instant, it felt as if the lifeboat was going to be sucked into the vortex, too. Kim's mother screamed as the raft was turned around by the whirlpool once, then twice. Finally, the swirling movement slowed and the raft - incredibly - remained floating on the surface.
After the noise and violence of the sinking, the silence that followed the disappearance of the ferryboat was eerie. Will, exhausted, peeked over the edge of the raft. In the distance, he could see Godzilla, still moving away from them. He watched for another minute, until the creature finally vanished into the haze and fog.
Then Will sank to the bottom of the raft, where he remained for the next half hour. He was tired, cold, sore, and dazed by his experience.
Will only looked up when, in the far distance, he heard the sound of rotors. Helicopters!
Will almost burst out laughing. He heard Soonji sob and whisper something in Korean to the little boy.
I can't believe it.... We're saved! Will said to himself. But he only half-believed it.
Godzilla is still alive - and he's still out there.
CHAPTER 8
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT
May 29, 1998, 2:29 P.M.
The newsroom, INN headquarters
Tokyo, Japan
Brian Shimura was happy that Nick's dire predictions about his life at INN had not been realized.
True, he had toiled in the mailroom, but only for two days. And he had worked as a fact checker for three more days. But, finally, at the end of his first week, Brian had been moved up to the newsroom and given some real journalistic duties.
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