Megadrak: Beast Of The Apocalypse

by Christofer Nigro

  Ren realized the extreme seriousness of his new predicament, and he began running through a wooded section that would lead him towards the northern part of the island. He was well aware there would likely be no vehicles around, and he realized his chances of outdistancing the gait of such a huge creature was unlikely. The thought of never being able to see the publication of the first photos taken of Megadrak, and reaping the rewards, spurred him into trying, however.

  The thunderous footsteps of the pursuing kaiju gave the lanky young photo-journalist an adrenal rush that further enabled him to keep running. He couldn’t help but turn for a moment when he heard a loud smashing sound, which turned out to be Megadrak stepping on and crushing the copter into flattened pieces of metal and glass.

  “Oh shit!” he screamed again as he ran into a clearing of trees. “That is just wonderful!”

  Ren’s dash into the line of trees was punctuated by a firm hope that the exponentially gaining giant beast would lose sight of him while surrounded by the tall flora.

  That hope was soon dashed when Megadrak entered the clearing and strode through the thick canopy of trees as if they were pipe cleaners. The multiple cracking sounds of the splintering wood followed by the loud thuds that reverberated from each downed tree caused panic to overtake the newsman.

  “Oh gods, I am going to get it!” he shouted aloud to himself when he noticed a sign nailed to one of the trees with a directional character noting that the Daiba Park could be found in a path to the left.

  I need to head towards the park! There will not be any cars there, but I may be able to find a bicycle. It may be my only chance, so I have to try my luck there!

  Megadrak released an angry roaring hiss, followed by respiring another stream of vaguely iridescent oral mist. This exhalation began enveloping the canopy of trees directly behind the fleeing journalist, and the leaves and branches immediately began withering and falling off under the onslaught of the radioactive spray. Several of the more directly enveloped trees started collapsing and falling to the ground, with one of them missing Ren by mere inches.

  “Oh, my gods!” he shouted as another spurt of adrenalin pressed him ever forward towards the path he prayed would lead to some form of safety.

  As Ren finally reached the path, his camera came unhooked from around his left shoulder and plummeted downwards.

  “No, not the camera!” The journalist managed to just barely grab the device before it hit the hard ground. That was when his fedora flew off his head again. “And not my hat!”

  As he turned to grab his cap, the newsman looked up to see the charging Megadrak smash aside the few trees remaining in its path.

  “Okay, to hell with my hat!” Ren quickly resumed his run down the path to the park.

  With another hissing growl, the kaiju projected another stream of mist directed at the bolting human. This time, though, Ren heard the recognizable exhalation sound that immediately preceded and accompanied the lethal spray. He reacted by immediately leaping behind an outcropping of rock that was directly to his right.

  As the mist hit the rock, the granite proved to be an able shield, but only for a moment. The journalist could hear the thick mineral making an odd sizzling sound as its substance rapidly wore down and began crumbling under the corrosive blitz.

  “Oh you have got to be kidding me!” Ren said as he jumped to his feet and resumed continued his on-foot race to the park.

  The retreating photographer soon spotted a fleeing group of people in the distance, these being the last remaining staff members to begin heading to the north of the island. The small crowd turned in unison at the sound of one of Megadrak’s angry hissing roars. They began screaming in horror, and the cacophony of the collective shriek diverted the kaiju’s attention from Ren.

  The journalist detoured behind a small building and peeked cautiously around the side as he saw Megadrak’s two enormous trunk-like legs stomp past him just a few yards distant. His bowels retained their digesting contents when he saw that the kaiju had overlooked him to make a beeline for the people who foolishly caught its attention. Ren covered his eyes as he witnessed one retreating woman, who was holding hands with a little boy that was likely her child, succumb to panic and rush into one of the nearby small buildings in the misguided belief it might provide shelter.

  The next sound Ren heard was Megadrak literally kicking the roof off the two-story structure, followed by more loud screams from both the woman and the boy. He turned briefly to see the enormous bipedal beast reach its four-fingered hand down into the now roof-bereft building. He turned away again upon hearing the suddenly more discernible screaming of mother and child. The frightening tableau ended with disturbing abruptness following a low but distinct sound somewhat reminiscent of a nutshell being cracked.

  The kaiju next moved to its left in pursuit of another group, these having had the wherewithal to scatter into two pairs to hopefully throw the creature off their trail. This ploy would invariably fail to save both retreating pairs, unfortunately. The titanic monster overcame the flight of one of the duos with its massive stride in mere seconds and scooped them off the ground with a single swipe of its enormous hand. It snuffed the life out of the hapless twosome by ripping their tiny fragile bodies in half and then simply dropping the resulting bisected corpses to the ground far below.

  Upon seeing that grisly act of slaughter, Ren covered his mouth to forcibly suppress his gag reflex; he feared the sound of an upchuck would be enough to bring the kaiju’s attention to him again. When he saw Megadrak turn towards the second retreating pair of people, the reporter took that as his cue to run in the opposite direction.

  There is nothing I can conceivably do to help those people, so I do not see any point to die trying. Nobility and heroism are wonderful things, but I’m sorry, survival is better still!

  The photographer continued running and reciting several silent supplications to his ancestors as his ears picked up the disturbing sound of another of the kaiju’s intimidating roar-hisses, followed by what were clearly the final screams of the couple it was pursuing.

  There was nothing I could do for them! Stop feeling sick, you foolish reporter! And you had better not stop to throw up! You have no time to waste regurgitating your morning sushi!

  Once the noise of the great beast’s footsteps receded into the distance, Ren was finally confident he was out of immediate danger. Not wasting even a moment to give a silent prayer of thanks to the gods after his narrow escape from a horrible fate, the journalist rushed into one of the structures to look for a working phone.

  Luck finally seemed to come his way as the edifice turned out to be the abandoned administration building. Hence, a phone was readily available. Before making the call, Ren made a point to check his prized camera. After doing so, the newsman finally took the time to thank every deity he knew, and every ancestor he was descended from, when he saw that the lens was intact and the roll of film undamaged.

  With this accomplished, Ren sauntered over to the rotary phone sitting on an unattended counter and dialed a collect call to the Rising Times offices in Tokyo city. After a few rings, the familiar gruff voice of Tom Obatu, the editor-in-chief, was echoing in the photo-journalist’s left ear.

  “Obatu-sama, I have a situation here!” His boss began yelling. “Yes, I got some pics of the kaiju, but listen! I need you to send another copter here, because the other one is thrashed and Aksushi is dead.”

  This was followed by more yelling on the other line. “Yes, you heard me right! He’s dead and the helicopter is smashed!” More yelling. “Yes, the damn kaiju did it! Did you think I did it or something?”

  Another, longer tirade of yelling ensued on Tom’s end before Ren answered. “Look here now, you should just be satisfied I got the goddamned pics, and that my camera didn’t break this time! I almost got killed along with Aksushi, not to mention a whole group of civilian visitors at the park!”

  More yelling from the Rising Times office erupted into Ren
’s ear. “Yes, I know how expensive those copters are, but I almost got killed! And you damn sure better pay me well for these photos I got! And no, you’re not deducting for the cost of the copter and Aksushi’s funeral expenses. I do not care how much money I end up making from these pictures, I almost died to get them for you!”

  After the conversation was over, Ren Honda found himself quite unhappy that he would have to return to the mainland on a motorboat rather than a copter, but he did his best to take solace in the fact that his stipend for the pictures would only receive a deduction to pay for Aksushi’s burial costs.

  Little was the bold newsman aware, however, that what he would end up facing back in Tokyo was considerably worse than his run-in with Megadrak on the small synthetic atoll of Odaiba.

  CHAPTER 10: Escape from Odaiba

  Goro and his sister Keiko continued to act as support for the injured Izo as the trio followed the matronly Gei through the wooded fields leading to the northern end of the island. It wasn’t a quick-moving trek, however, as the extreme pain Izo was experiencing was quite evident, and helping him was a difficult task that greatly impeded the Takiguchi siblings’ progress towards the location where rescue hopefully awaited.

  “Mother, how much longer?” a frustrated and tiring Goro queried. “Your friend Izo-san is in a lot of pain, and frankly Keiko-chan and I cannot keep this up much longer either.”

  “Nonsense!” Keiko insisted. “We will keep this up as long as we need to.”

  Gei responded to her son’s question before he could react to Keiko’s heated disagreement with his statement. “We have just another kilometer to go. If we keep a steady pace, we shall make it.”

  “Oh gods,” Goro replied with a huff. “With this burden, a kilometer may as well be a hundred.”

  “Goro, Izo-san is no burden!” Keiko snapped.

  “I did not mean it like that, imouto,” Goro said. “I meant the physical burden on all three of us.”

  “Goro is… correct,” the agony-ridden Izo uttered through several strained inhalations. “I… I cannot go any further. Please, I need to stop and rest.”

  “We cannot do that!” Goro yelled. “That monster may be on top of us at any moment. We did not leave you behind, so you must endure this until we reach the evacuation point.”

  “Please…” Izo implored as sharp pains continued to assail him despite the forced elevation of his torn leg. “There is no sign of the… thing. It may have left the island… please…”

  As if darkly on cue, the sound of splintering trees could suddenly be heard several hundred meters behind the trio, accompanied by vibrations in the earth that felt like mild tremors. This was followed by a loud bellowing hiss, and finally the silhouette of a towering figure rapidly approaching along the southern horizon.

  “Dear gods, no!” Goro shouted. “Mother, the Megadrak is following us!”

  “We must hurry then!” Gei screamed.

  Goro and Keiko accelerated their pace as much as they could with Izo’s arms around their respective shoulders. Though the injured man attempted to do the same with his one good leg the pain coursing through his other lower limb became too much to bear.

  Izo cried out in agony, no longer able to ignore the biting agony. “Let me go! Drop me and run!”

  “No!” Keiko exclaimed. “Goro, please do not release him!”

  “Let him go and I shall carry him,” Goro told his sibling.

  The fisherman from Yokohama was unwilling to disgrace himself in front of his mother and sister, even under such harrowing circumstances. The young man lifted Izo’s agony-racked body over his shoulders and attempted to move quickly while carrying the man, but his stride was too severely compromised.

  “Mother! Keiko!” Goro hollered as the sound of the kaiju’s approach became louder. “Run as fast as you can! I will do my best to keep up, and I promise not to give up on your friend!”

  “No!” Keiko yelled again as tears began streaming down her eyes.

  “Come on, dear!” Gei said as she grabbed her daughter by the wrist and pulled her along, spurred on by the mega-beast’s inexorable advance.

  The Takiguchi matriarch and a crying Keiko dashed the remaining distance to the northern end of Odaiba, while Goro moved as quickly as he could while carrying Izo on his shoulders. The fisherman knew he wouldn’t be able to outpace the great creature, particularly not with his passenger in tow, but he was determined to try. His desperate state of mind was convinced that such a sacrifice would be worth it if his mother and sister managed to escape, and with their respect for him undiminished.

  This educated prediction proved accurate when a few moments later, Goro’s awkward progress caused him to stumble and fall. He landed on his chest while Izo struck the ground hard on a grassy clearing about a meter away. The latter screamed in piercing agony as his damaged limb was twisted upon impact.

  “Izo-san!” Goro said while instinctively reaching out to him with one arm.

  Izo’s only response, following another wail of agony, was to say, “Goro, go! I am finished! For the sake of your ancestors, go!”

  “No!” Goro screamed once more while he punched the ground in ardent frustration. He knew, however, that he had no choice but to follow Izo’s final demands, as he shared the man’s concern with getting Gei and Keiko to safety.

  “Tell them I shall never forget them,” Izo said to Goro as he jumped to his feet, “and tell Keiko-san that I always loved her!”

  “I shall tell them!” Goro hollered over his shoulder while he sprinted as quickly as he could to catch up with his two family members.

  Just a few seconds later, the last thing Goro, or anyone else, would hear from Izo was his fervent screaming as Megadrak descended on the debilitated man and lifted him into the air. Goro was thankful the screams proved short lived, and he didn’t give into the morbid temptation to look around to see exactly what the kaiju did to Izo in bringing him the final release.

  The Yokohama fisherman was quick to take advantage of the increased speed he enjoyed thanks to his freedom from the burden of carrying Izo. He raced through a small clearing of trees where he saw Gei and Keiko running several meters in front of him. They were periodically turning their heads to check the progress of the two behind them, and that was when they spotted Goro catching up to them sans Izo.

  “I am so sorry,” the young man told his family, “but Izo-san is gone. Please forgive me, but I fell, and I couldn’t save him. I am so sorry and I swear I did not purposely abandon him! He said he will never forget you two, and that he always loved you, Keiko-chan.”

  The young woman began crying again, while Gei gently said, “We know you did your best, son. Now let us hurry!”

  ***

  The impending doom signaled by the sound of Megadrak’s footsteps made for unsettling reverberations behind the three-strong Takiguchi clan as they resumed their frantic trek towards the northern side of Odaiba.

  Despite being bereft of the injured Izo’s presence, and despite the adrenaline pumping through their systems, they knew their chances of outrunning the massive stride of the quickly-advancing kaiju was slim. Nevertheless, they continued to run, with all three holding hands in mutual support as they did so.

  “Run in a zig-zagging pattern!” Goro instructed. “It will be more difficult for it to catch us then!”

  The fisherman’s mother and sibling followed his directive as Goro sought to fulfill his perceived role as man of the family. This succeeded in momentarily confusing the relentlessly pursuing kaiju and prevented it from getting a bead on them with its deadly toxic oral mist. Since the number of exhalations it could make with this substance in quick succession were limited, the colossal beast had learned to be more cautious about utilizing it against a quickly or erratically moving target. In such cases the kaiju resorted to a pursuit on foot to provide its gullet sacs with sufficient time to replenish their supply.

  The intelligent but primitive mind of the creature clearly understood on s
ome level that these smaller beings would not be able to outrun its mammoth gait for long at any rate.

  As the Takiguchi trio ran through another clearing of trees that served to slow the kaiju down a bit, Gei was the first one to notice the waiting evacuation copter sited on the northern tip of the island.

  “There!” she cried. “We will make it!”

  This gave further impetus to the familial triune to keep moving without slowing. Within moments they were spotted by one of the pilots, who had the copter’s engines prepped for near-immediate take-off. The pilot in the sole remaining transport craft opened the side of the helo’s door and extended his arm, urging the three onward. The Takiguchi family heard the whir of the rotor blades and felt the rushing air it fanned onto their faces as they emerged from the canopy of trees toward the pilot beckoning to them.

  The determination of the family to reach the copter became even stronger when they heard Megadrak smash through a group of trees just a few meters behind them with minimal effort. Nevertheless, the kaiju was slowed just enough that the three managed to reach the large Sikorsky H-19 Transport Copter well ahead of it. Gei was the first to approach the open door, and the co-pilot helped her step into the canopy.

  A few seconds later, Keiko did likewise, and Goro helped push her in before he too had the co-pilot grasp his hand and aid him in boarding the craft with a single strong heave.

  “They’re all in!” Les Duncan, the American co-pilot, yelled as he slammed the door tightly shut. “Take off now!”

  The pilot did his best to remain calm despite the sight of the incredible giant rapidly heading toward the copter. He was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, and he was well trained to operate under pressure. Hence, he had much experience with getting a copter off the ground promptly under often harrowing conditions without putting too much torque into the blades. This was important since such an occurrence could result in a sudden directional deviation or overheating of one of the engines.