by Jake Bible
“I have a good signal. Ready?” she asks.
“Do it,” Lu says.
Dr. Probst is about to activate the elevator doors when the thing comes rolling into the corridor. No longer even close to a semblance of three people, the creature is one mass of black and red tentacles. It speeds towards them, the wet slapping filling the air.
“Holy crap,” Kyle whispers.
“No shit,” Lowell agrees.
“Doctor!” Lu yells.
Dr. Probst shakes off her shock and hits the key. Kyle and Lowell yank on the gurney, pulling it and Dr. Probst into the elevator just as the doors close. The last thing they all see are hundreds of slick tentacles shooting out at them.
The thuds are like ball bearings dropped onto sheet metal. But as the elevator lowers, the sounds grow quieter and quieter until they can no longer be heard.
“It’s still up there,” Lowell says.
“I’ll track it once we get out of this elevator shaft,” Dr. Probst says, closing her laptop and stuffing it back into her pack. “Right now we rest until we get to the bottom.”
“How deep are we going?” Kyle asks.
“Deep,” Dr. Probst says. “Dr. Scofield showed me one way to the Substance, but I think that was only a guest observation portal. I’m taking us to the real entrance.”
“Guest observation portal?” Lowell laughs. “What the fuck would they need that for?”
“Government officials,” Lu says. “Visiting scientists. People they want to impress, but not reveal the whole story to.”
“But we get to see the whole story?” Lowell asks, looking at Dr. Probst. “Do we need to see the whole story? Is this whole story safe?”
“Safer than that thing up there,” Dr. Probst says. “I think.”
“Awesome,” Lowell sighs.
They are silent for a few minutes then Kyle clears his throat.
“How’d that thing get out of the lab?” he asks. “It can’t open doors, can it?”
“No, of course not,” Dr. Probst says. “It’s a monster, not a person. It can’t think”
“It used to be three persons,” Lowell says. “You may be assuming a lot there, Doc.”
Dr. Probst begins to reply then closes her mouth. She shakes her head and gets her laptop back out.
“Getting the hunt ready?” Lu asks.
“No,” Dr. Probst says. “Entering the protocols to purge the levels above us.”
“Do what?” Lowell snaps. “Are you fucking nuts? We’ll be trapped down here!”
“Only way to be sure it’s dead,” Dr. Probst says. “Once I can connect again, I’ll gut the facility except for the bottom few levels. That’ll give us a safety buffer. There’s no way it can travel fast enough to reach us down here. I’ll catch it on one of the upper levels before it can get even close.”
The elevator jolts then begins to slow. A few more seconds and there’s a second jolt as the car reaches the bottom of the facility. The doors open and Lu, Kyle, and Dr. Probst all wince and clamp their eyes shut for a second then shake it off.
“That’s not a good sign,” Lowell says. “How about we get the gear back on the gurney and get the fuck out of this shaft?”
They toss the packs and bags onto the gurney, push it out of the elevator, and wait as Dr. Probst reconnects to the facility’s system. She presses the enter key and then closes her laptop.
“Done,” she says.
“I don’t hear anything,” Lowell says.
“You wouldn’t,” Dr. Probst says. “We’re too far down.”
“I heard a thunking sound,” Kyle says. “From the elevator.”
“Safety protocols,” Dr. Probst says. “It probably locked in place when I initiated the purge.”
“Didn’t sound like metal on metal,” Kyle says. “Anybody else hear it?”
“No,” Lu says, turning her attention to massive steel doors before them. “Let’s move.”
The elevator doors close tight and Dr. Probst smiles then moves to an old-looking keypad by the steel doors. She enters a code and the doors clunk then slide open on huge tracks that creak and groan under their weight.
As they walk through, Kyle looks over his shoulder at the elevator.
“I totally heard something,” he says to Lowell.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, kid,” Lowell says, his attention on the edges of the steel doors, specifically the recessed metal rods in the center of each. “What you want to worry about is what these fucking doors are trying to keep in. Not what is already behind us and out there.”
Any argument Kyle has is lost as they stand before the gigantic concrete tunnel. Halogen lights begin to flicker on all the way as far as they can see until they are lost from sight.
“How long is this tunnel?” Lowell asks.
Dr. Probst checks her laptop. “Eight miles.”
“Eight miles?” Lowell exclaims. “How is that possible?”
“How is any of this possible?” Lu asks. She nods at a set of doors to the right. “No locks.”
“Don’t need them,” Dr. Probst says, going over to the doors and shoving one open. It slides into the concrete wall and more halogens light up, revealing a fleet of Army green golf carts. “Only way to get down here is to have clearance for everything.”
“Not like you can exactly joyride on those things and no one will see you,” Lowell says. “Pretty straight view.”
The massive doors behind them begin to close, making everyone jump.
“Do we each get our own?” Kyle asks.
“I don’t see why not,” Dr. Probst says. “Although, I’ll ride shotgun with someone. I need to watch the readings as we get closer to the Substance.”
“And keep an eye out for another knock out pulse,” Lowell says.
“That too,” Dr. Probst says.
They walk into the cart holding area and start picking out vehicles just as the massive doors slam shut. The sound of the posts locking in place, securing the doors from basically any type of attack short of a nuclear blast, is almost as loud as the doors themselves.
“Not to sound clichéd,” Lowell says. “But I have a very bad feeling about this.”
***
The two women stand by the pile of fallen timber, neither wanting to look at the white that stands out in stark contrast with the dark mud that coats everything.
“Maybe it’s just an animal,” Krissy says finally, nodding at the jagged edges of bone sticking out from between two fir trees.
“Maybe,” Terrie replies. “But we have to see for sure.”
Terrie studies the pile of timber, looking for a way to access what is crushed inside without collapsing the entire thing. It stands close to five feet tall and is made up of thick firs and small pines, all jammed and crisscrossed together. She eyes a specific pine and points it out.
“That one,” she says. “We pull that loose and we’ll be able to know for sure.”
Krissy doesn’t answer, just grabs onto the pine and begins to pull.
“Hold on, hold on, I’ll help,” Terrie says.
“Just sit down,” Krissy insists. “Your ankle won’t be able to handle this.”
“My ankle can handle a lot more than you think,” Terrie grumbles, but doesn’t move to help, just continues standing where she is.
“Sit. Down,” Krissy growls. “Both bodies may not be in here, ya know? We’ll probably have to keep looking.”
“Not tonight,” Terrie says. “We uncover this and head back. It’s already late.”
“Whatever,” Krissy says and keeps pulling at the pine.
She is drenched in sweat by the time she gets it loose. Collapsing onto the ground, she nearly rips her bandages off as sweat pours underneath.
“You look,” Krissy says. “I’m done.”
“See? We’ll need the rest after this,” Terrie says.
She pulls out a flashlight that hand cranks, one of the pieces of equipment that didn’t get fried by the EMP, and starts it up
. She takes a deep breath and then shines the light into the hole where the pine had been. She angles the light and her head, but grumbles after a minute.
“I can’t see,” she says. “The hole is at a bad angle.”
“Great,” Krissy grumbles. “My face feels like it’s on fire for nothing.”
“Maybe if I shift this log here,” Terrie says. “Yeah, I think I can make this bigger.”
“Gonna bring the whole thing down on ya,” a voice says from the dark.
Krissy brings up her shotgun as Terrie whirls around, the flashlight shining towards the voice. She cries out as she places too much weight on her ankle.
“Careful,” Roy says, shielding his eyes from the flashlight. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
His clothes are nothing but a shell of mud. His hair is caked against his scalp and the skin that does show through the mud is red and bruised, a patchwork of cuts and scrapes. He holds his left arm tight to his side, part of his jacket tied around his chest.
“Roy,” Terrie sighs. “It’s good to see you.”
“You as well,” Roy says. He nods at Krissy. “Young lady. Glad you both made it.”
“Belle is dead,” Krissy blurts out.
“Oh,” Roy replies, his eyes glancing at the pile of timber and the broken bones. “Well…”
“It’s Linda,” Terrie says. “Tony is back at the bunker. So is Biscuit, although I doubt that’s a comfort knowing my dog made it.”
“Comfort enough knowing my grandson is still alive,” Roy says. “And a comfort that he saw reason and let you in.”
“Took him a while,” Krissy says, getting up slowly. She eyes Roy. “You don’t look so good.”
“Not feeling so good, miss,” Roy replies. “I have at least three cracked ribs and my left arm is busted up somewhere. Too painful to really check.”
“Let’s get a sling on it,” Terrie says. “That’ll help.”
“Maybe once we’re back in the bunker,” Roy says. “Not sure I can move it enough to get a sling on and still stay conscious. It’s not a good break.”
“Are there good ones?” Krissy asks, teenage sarcasm in full force.
“Some better than others,” Roy says. “This feels like I got shards ready to slash their way through my skin.”
Terrie’s eyes go wide and Roy nods to her.
“Do you have the equipment back at the bunker we’ll need?” Terrie asks.
“I do,” Roy says. “You think you can do it?”
“Yes,” Terrie says. “Don’t have much choice. We let it go too long and gangrene will set in then there’s nothing we can do.”
“I have enough antibiotics at the bunker to kill half the bugs in Africa,” Roy chuckles. “But no need wasting them on a lost cause.”
“Will you two tell me what you’re talking about?” Krissy snaps.
“May have to take my arm, young lady,” Roy says. “Sad, but true.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Krissy replies, her eyes wide. “Can’t we just set it with a cast or splint or something?”
“Not the way it feels,” Roy says. “We’ll need to—”
His words are cut off as the entire island shakes. Terrie grabs onto the timber for support. Roy cries out as he is forced to his knees, and Krissy just falls back down to where she had been before, her shotgun slipping from her hands.
“What was that?” she whispers “Earthquake? Another eruption?”
“I think it has something to do with that,” Roy says, taking several shallow breaths as he tries to shift his position and take pressure off his ribs. “Looks like a new boy has come to town.”
Terrie quickly turns off the flashlight as a massive shape rises up out of the Sound, silhouetted against the night sky and the far off glow of the destroyed Mt. Rainier.
“Oh, wow,” Krissy says. “You think it’s here to help those others?”
“I doubt that,” Roy says.
They all watch the shape move swiftly from the water and onto land, its huge, muscular legs moving it at a speed and distance that boggles their minds.
“Looks like something from those old Japanese movies,” Terrie says. “But that is not a man in a rubber suit.”
“No, ma’am, it is not,” Roy agrees.
***
“Japan just made landfall!” a tech calls out. “It is out of the Puget Sound and moving across the SeaTac area towards Mt. Rainier!”
“Australia has landed in San Francisco!” a second tech reports. “It is heading north and fast. Trajectory will take it right to Mt. Bachelor in less than an hour. The thing moves so fast!”
VanderVoort doesn’t respond. There is nothing to respond to. They are all spectators to a war they have nothing to do with.
***
The smaller monsters rush towards Japan, flinging themselves from their perches on what’s left of the old volcano. The six beasts, jaws open, throats bellowing, claws out, do not split up to surround Japan, instead they group tighter together, a massive cluster of monstrous rage and violence.
Japan roars back and its thick body tenses, ready for the attack.
Behind them all, the massive Rainier monster cries out, thumping its chest with its four fists, its teeth gleaming in the glow coming up from the broken volcano. It roars again, egging on its smaller brethren, pushing them into the fight with the much larger monster that has emerged from Puget Sound.
The six beasts converge on Japan, all arms and teeth and claws. Japan takes one step back, brings up its beefy arms, showing the thick muscles that are coiled and ready. Unlike the monsters that crawled from out of Yellowstone and the Cascades, Japan isn’t all segmented arms and body; it isn’t a mix of reptile and insect.
Japan is a full lizard creature, upright on its massive two legs, a reptilian beast of immense proportions. A true kaiju of legend and ferocity that folklore has been built around. Its eyes watch the six come at it, sizing them up, timing the attack.
A quarter mile from Japan, the six break apart and fling themselves at the larger monster. One, Two, and Three dive for the legs while Four, Five, and Six aim for the chest and head.
Japan lifts a leg and stomps hard just as One reaches it. The smaller monster is pulverized, its body exploding across the ground, pulp and bone creating a mile wide splatter. Two hits Japan in the knee, but merely bounces off, too light to destabilize the stout creature. Three rams into Japan’s other leg, a solid hit to the thigh.
Japan roars as the muscles under its thick skin go numb. It grabs Three by one of the rear legs and slams it into Two, twisting its wrist so the leg snaps off on impact. Three screeches in pain and Japan reaches for the smaller monster, ready to finish it off, but Four, Five, and Six collide with Japan’s torso, sending the giant monster tumbling backwards.
Using its long, thick tail, Japan springs back onto its feet. It spins about, keeping that tail in play, and swipes at Four and Five. Six dives to the side as its brethren go flying for miles, their bodies limp and broken.
Six scrambles to its feet and rushes Japan, but the larger monster is ready. It opens its mouth and instead of a mighty roar, it lets out a belch of electric blue flame. Six manages to roll away, but not before losing one of its front legs, the limb seared right off. The smaller monster cries out, but doesn’t retreat. It waits, it watches.
Japan takes a step forward then howls. It looks down to see Two clawing and biting its calf, tearing through skin and getting deep into the meat of the leg. Japan reaches down to pluck the creature loose then withdraws its hand as Three comes awake and snaps at its fingers. Japan shakes its massive head and then leaps high into the air, swinging both arms for more lift and momentum.
Two stays attached to its calf while Three tumbles hundreds of feet away. Japan comes down hard and the ground shakes and cracks. Two, still attached, tries to get more claws dug in, but Japan is done. With both hands, Japan grabs Two and twists, tearing the smaller beast in half. Then, as if it was a simple dog tick, Japan plucks Two�
��s head free from its calf and flicks it towards Rainier.
Rainier roars. Japan roars back.
Six makes its move.
It sprints at Japan, jumping at the last second, arms and legs forward, showing nothing but razor sharp claws.
Japan slams its right fist down onto Six, ending its attack with one punch, hitting the smaller monster so hard that it is driven deep into the ground, nothing left of it but a brief geyser of blood.
Breathing hard and bleeding from various wounds, Japan slowly straightens up and turns to Rainier. Like a cat uncurling itself, Rainier moves from the volcano, taking deliberate, careful steps down to the ground below.
The giants face each other, both of impossible size, both quivering with violence, both ready for death or victory.
Rainier moves first, its legs carrying it quickly off to Japan’s left. Japan pivots towards the monster, but does not face it directly. It stands at an angle, providing a smaller target, if that is possible considering the scale of the creature.
Rainier stops. It slams its fists together, the noise like thunderclaps, the sounds rolling across the land. Japan waits then hears a far off response; identical thunderclaps in reply. It risks a look over Rainier’s shoulder, its eyes looking off into the smoky distance.
Coming out of the ash and fog are two more beasts, identical in size and species as Rainier. Japan growls low, creating its own storm-like rumble that shakes boulders at its feet.
Rainier claps again and is answered again. It then lets its arms swing loose, swaying back and forth like a charmed cobra, ready to strike yet perfectly relaxed.
Japan opens its mouth and emits its electric blue fire, but Rainier is ready. Leaping out of the way, it rolls over and over, a tumbling mound of monster flesh, keeping ahead of the fiery attack. When Japan pulls up, clamping its mouth shut and taking a few steps back from the effort, Rainier comes out of its roll and immediately goes in for the kill.
Still slightly drained from the prolonged burst of electric fire, Japan only gets one arm up to block Rainier as the monster leaps for it. Japan manages to connect an elbow to Rainier’s jaws just as the monster reaches it, but the impact sends Japan stumbling back, its feet slipping as it stomps into a mud and ash-filled lake.
