Kaiju Apocalypse

by Eric S. Brown

  Kaiju Apocalypse

  Eric S Brown

  Jason Cordova

  The Red Shiva battalion had been composed of five hundred troopers when it marched out of Pacifica Base, each member of its ranks wearing their state of the art “Dogkiller” armor. Accompanied by two fellow battalions, the Death Walkers and Stirling's Peace Makers, they moved into position along the coastline. The base's sensors had detected a vast movement of Kaiju beneath the waves and Red Shiva was there to stop it, one way or the other. They hunkered down and waited for the inevitable attack. Seconds turned to minutes, which turned into hours. Nerves began to fray as the day turned to night. Voices began to mutter in complaint over the comms, openly questioning whether the sensor readings were wrong again. Their guard began to relax as the men and women of Red Shiva began to wonder if it were only a drill. Rations were handed out and eaten, and shift breaks began.

  It was then that the Kaiju struck.

  The force that rose from the depths was almost unimaginable in size, larger than anything that any living man, woman or child had ever seen. Kaiju poured onto the beach in vast numbers, a veritable flood of claws and fangs, of fury and blood. The fifteen hundred men and women were all that stood against the tide of death, and it simply was not enough. The Kaiju slammed into them with primal fury. Within moments, half of the Red Shiva battalion was simply gone.

  “Lay down suppressive fire on the left flank!” Commander Hall was shouting over the comlink inside Jorg's helmet. Jorg turned to see dozens of the Kaiju charging in that direction. The AI of his suit was already acquiring target locks on them as his armored hands brought the massive Mag Cannon he carried to bear. The gun was a product of the Kaiju war. Even the smaller Kaiju were nigh unstoppable. The Mag Cannon fired rounds several times more powerful than those of an old world .50 caliber. It was both a fully automatic weapon, fed from a belt that stretched outward from the back of the Dogkiller suit into its side, and a single shot one. The single shot rounds were carried within a magazine that attached under the forward length of the gun and they were even more deadly. The uranium-depleted shell in each round was filled with a tungsten core, which completed the kinetic round and made it far more effective than the ancient .50 caliber rounds. The Mag Cannon's internal magazine only held five shots of the larger 105 caliber rounds, usually kept in reserve for larger targets, so Jorg opted to go full auto at the approaching Kaiju.

  Someone had once compared the smaller breed of Kaiju that were storming the beach to trained dogs and the name had stuck. The Dogs stood between eight and nine feet tall, a mixture of water logged fur and glistening scales covering their malformed bodies from head to toe. They were roughly man-shaped in the fact that they had two arms and walked on two legs, but any resemblance to humanity ended there. The fronts of their faces extended like a dog's, ending a sharpened point of hardened cartilage and bone. Clusters of yellow eyes, much like those of a spider, burned with fury as their demon howls rang out even above the continuous sound of gunfire. The scales mixed with and beneath their hair served as armor. Some had hands that ended in overly extended fingers tipped with razor sharp talons while others possessed no hands at all. Instead, one or both of their arms ended in a giant pincer that reminded Jorg of the crabs he had helped his father catch as a child before the Kaiju arose from the oceanic depths to lay waste to the world, and mankind with it. The creatures swarmed over the Earth like locusts, devouring everything in their path.

  Jorg's Mag Cannon spat a stream of death into the Kaiju charging the left flank. The rounds tore through the lightly armored Dogs, splattering the sand with the bright orange blood of the beasts. Wisps of smoke formed where the blood landed, melting the sand, creating a glassy look upon the beach. The Dogs did not notice nor care about their fallen brethren, their stride not breaking as they overran the Death Walkers. Jorg could already see that this battle was lost. The Kaiju were too many and the surface defenders too few. It would be up to the heavier weaponry, which Pacifica Base had, to stop this flood.

  The sky flashed yellow and red as the main artillery batteries of Pacifica Base itself entered the fray, precisely on cue. Beams of pure, crackling energy slashed into the main body of the Kaiju forces where the sand met the waters of the ocean beyond. Jorg watched through his filtered visor as the beams swept across the beachhead, leaving deep gouges in the water. The visor was the only thing that kept his vision from being permanently damaged from the energy weapons. Thousands upon thousands of Kaiju died, yet they still came, unceasing. Even the great batteries of Pacifica Base were not enough to matter or change the course of the engagement.

  Pacifica Base was one of the last strongholds of mankind, arguably the strongest and greatest. Only Lemura would remain as a true capital of power for the human race when it fell. Lemura, that old rusted bucket, claimed to be the capitol of mankind. Jorg didn't want to die. He was pretty sure he didn't know anyone who did either, so he fought on in the face of hopelessness. “Tango squad, Tango Six. Form up on me and fall back! Repeat, fall back! Over!” he shouted over his com.

  “Tango Six, Red Shiva Actual,” Commander Hall’s voice came over the comm. “Stand your ground and hold the beach! Acknowledge!”

  “Negative, Shiva Actual,” Jorg grunted, as he narrowly dodged an attacking Kaiju. He put four rounds into the skull of the offending Dog, and six more in a passing Dog’s body. Another Dogkiller, he didn’t recognize, punted the beast aside, only to be rewarded by a swarm of the angry Dogs. Jorg opened up on the cluster, killing all of the Kaiju, but failing to save the fallen Dogkiller. “Position is lost. Withdrawing from engagement and preparing for a fortified defense at Location Delta. Acknowledge, over.”

  Eight Dogkillers came bounding towards him, their thick metal feet leaving deep imprints in the sand behind them. The way he saw it, their only hope of surviving was to get back inside the base. Perhaps there, they could make a stand and keep the Kaiju out of the installation long enough for an extraction group to arrive from Lemura. Staying here on the beach would lead to Pacifica falling before evacuations could be implemented.

  A Dogkiller whom his suit's AI identified as Tango 3 took point. Tango 2 and Tango 4 brought up the rear as the squad fought for every inch of ground. The Kaiju were all around them now, a seething mass from which there seemed to be no end. The battalions had disintegrated in smaller groups of soldiers who no longer tried to hold the coastline but were merely trying to stay alive.

  A Kaiju came snarling in from the squad's right as the Dogkillers raced for the base. Sparks flew from Tango 5's helmet as the Kaiju’s talons raked against his head. The blow must have snapped the neck of the man inside the suit, because Tango 5 spun and fell to the ground. He lay unmoving on the sand as Jorg put a burst of fire into the attacking Kaiju's skull. The thing's head exploded like an overripe melon, chunks of bone and orange blood spraying into the air. He quickly sprayed gunfire in the area behind the group, felling a large cluster of Dogs.

  The Kaiju behind Tango Squad were gaining ground quickly. Tango 2 and Tango 4 turned to engage the beasts, their Mag Cannon hosing the front line of the horde of creatures. Dozens of the Kaiju fell, their guts and entrails leaking from their shattered, mangled bodies, but those behind them pressed onward. The Kaiju were mindless things, driven by hunger for human flesh and a feral madness so deeply within them, it was a part of their bones. One moment, Tango 2 and Tango 4 were holding their ground, the next they had vanished beneath a writhing swarm of Kaiju that washed over them, sweeping them from their feet. Jorg shut off his com so he didn't have to listen to the screams of the dying men as pincers and claws pierced their armor, tearing them limb from limb.

  Tango 7 and 8 were gone too, lost in the chao
s. Jorg had no idea what had happened to them. His attention had been focused on the deaths of his other two squad members to even record their manner of death. Tango 3 was still up ahead of them though, picking his way through the Dogs so that they could make it to the fortified defensive position known as Delta. The servomotors of Jorg's suit whined as he poured more power into them, trying to catch up to Tango 3. They were close to the base. Just a little further and they would be protected by the massive walls of the base, safely ensconced at position Delta. Once inside, they would be able to hold out longer, hopefully long enough for Lemura to send a large enough rescue to pull them out.

  A roar louder than thunder shook the night as the ocean beyond the beach began to froth and steam. Out of the waters, a “Mother” Kaiju appeared and began to wash slowly onto the shore. She stood at least two hundred and fifty feet tall. The tentacles emerging from her back that ran down the length of her spine on both sides of the jagged plates of bone protruding outward there, slashed wildly about in the sky above Jorg. She let out an earth-shattering roar, each fang protruding from her mouth larger than a Dogkiller suit. On each hand were four long, spindly claws, obviously designed for rending and tearing. He watched in stunned horror as she moved towards Pacifica Base, her heavy weight shaking the ground beneath his feet, large waves crashing onto the shore as she took step after debilitating step. The base's main batteries swiveled, coming to bear on her. Beams of energy crackled through the air once more as the artillery fired. They blew hunks of flesh from the Mother's chest, causing her to pause and emit a shriek of pain so loud, it blew out the protective sound dampening unit of Jorg's suit. He cursed as his ears popped. He felt blood as it oozed out of them, dripping down onto the skin of his neck. A wave of nausea washed over him, and he realized that his inner eardrums had been ruptured by the Mother’s cry.

  The Mother Kaiju reared up to her full height and charged at Pacifica Base, her yellow eyes blazing like bonfires in the night sky. Each lunging step increased her speed, and Jorg recognized that even if she were to die before she reached the walls, the sheer mass and momentum of the Mother Kaiju would take her through the walls of Pacifica Base. He saw her crash into the base, tearing through its outer walls with those jagged claws as if they were made of paper. Her huge fists smashed the buildings and towers within, as her tentacles flailed about, doing even more damage to the support structures of the wall. His last hope of refuge was trampled and crushed beneath her massive shape.

  “No!” Jorg screamed, horrified. Tango 3 was beside him as the smaller Kaiju reached the two of them where they had stopped to watch the carnage that the Mother had caused. Jorg switched his Mag Cannon to single shot, the giant round reducing the closest of the Kaiju to nothing more than a red mist with its first blast. He never got the chance to fire a second. A Kaiju pincer closed about the throat of his armor, cutting through it with the strength of the creature's grip. His still functioning brain relayed the images his eyes saw as his head bounced along the beach before it finally died and there was only darkness.

  Two weeks later. . .

  “Pacifica has fallen.”

  The word of the base's fall shook Governor Pietro Lanstum to his core. He laid the report on top of his desk and rocked back in his chair, rubbing the back of his head. The Minister of War, Andre Yeltsin, saw in the governor's eyes the look of a man who had just seen his own death coming for him. With Pacifica gone, the Kaiju would surely target Lemura next. There was no question of that. Though there were many scattered islands that remained in the wake of the great flood that contained human settlements, Lemura was the last of the United World military installations. The Kaiju were little more than beasts but even an animal knew a threat when one was present.

  Lemura Base, in its prime, was once the ruling power of the United World. After the great flood reduced the land masses of the Earth to scattered islands, separated from one another by the oceans, it had been the capital of all mankind. Its population numbered in the hundreds of thousands and its standing army second to none. Governor Lanstum's predecessor had led the war against the Kaiju from its domed walls. In those days, it was easy to delude one's self into believing that mankind, with the advent of beam weapons, advanced infantry armor, and Antellium Quark power, had a chance of surviving the Kaiju plague. Perhaps even of retaking the oceans some day, but with the passing of time those hopes eroded away. Even before the great flood, oceans covered the bulk of the Earth and they belonged to the Kaiju. No one knew what had awakened the beasts from their slumber. The first Kaiju, a three hundred foot tall mother creature, had wandered onto the beaches of the United States of America and wiped out entire cities before the powers of that time nuked the monster into oblivion. Within a month, five more such creatures had emerged to make similar attacks, driving mankind farther and farther inland.

  It had been bad before, but humanity survived. It was dangerous, but humans were tough creatures, ingenious when it comes to war, and the battle stagnated as Kaiju were unable to penetrate deeper into the landmasses. Governments continued to function, and the war looked to be a ceaseless one, with a five mile buffer zone between the seas and where humanity would be safe.

  That all changed with the flood. The weather patterns of the southern Atlantic and northern Pacific oceans respectively and abruptly shifted, caused by something unexplainable that the Kaiju did or the toll of mankind's ill treatment of the Earth, and the storm surges came, washing away the land. Rain was endless for months, drowning the crops and changing the landscape as mudslides eroded the overpopulated coasts around the world. The west coast of the United States disappeared, the oceans driving all the way inland until it stopped against the western face of the Rocky Mountains, linking up with Lake Mead and the Colorado River. England completely disappeared, swallowed by the Atlantic and the Thames, save for scattered hills in Scotland. France, Space, Malaysia, China... billions died when the seas rose, and the Kaiju continued their assaults with renewed vigor. Latin American had disappeared, and the Amazon River had devoured much of Brazil. India and Pakistan had both blamed one another for the Kaiju, and nuclear missiles had flown at both the Kaiju and between the neighboring enemies. Tibet, once a forbidden land, had become an enclave of hope and refuge – until the day when two Mother Kaiju had waded ashore and stampeded through the beleaguered land.

  Over half of the human race perished in those dark days, but those who survived fought on. The United States became the United World as humanity forgot its petty disputes in the face of extinction. The best and brightest were gathered across the globe on the largest of the remaining islands. There the great bases like Pacifica, Alantaica, Lemura, Iceitca, and Nor-wic were built. Technological growth exploded as humanity's numbers dwindled. Beam cannons replaced nukes as the first line of defense against the mother Kaiju and for a while, they worked, keeping the great domed bases safe. Human breathed a sigh of relief.

  Then the tide of the war turned once more. The smaller Kaiju, the Dogs, began to show themselves. They were the foot soldiers and cannon fodder of the Mother beasts, and their numbers knew no bounds. Armies of the Dog Kaiju stormed the great domed cities in crashing waves that began to wear them down in a war of sheer attrition. Alantica was the first to fall, and in the months thereafter, the others fell like dominoes. Even the state-of-the-art Dogkiller suits weren’t enough to stem the tide, and now all humanity had left was Lemura Base. Dilapidated, ancient, rusted and almost ready to fall down, but it was the last hope on Earth.

  “We have to do something, sir,” Yeltsin said, when he could stand Lanstum's silence no longer.

  Lanstum leaned forward in his chair towards Yeltsin. “What can we do?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Pacifica Base had been the strongest, the most fortified, with three full battalions of Dogkiller suits at its disposal and twice as many energy weapons as Lemura. If Pacifica fell, then Lemura had little chance against the incoming storm.

  “I'm not just going to sit here and wait to di
e,” Yeltsin countered. “Maybe it's time we went on the offensive for a change.”

  Lanstum's laugh was long and loud. Yeltsin suffered through it out of respect for the man's office. He hid his dislike of the governor well, though he would never deny that the man was good at his job.

  “You would have me send what remaining forces we have at our disposal away from Lemura and leave us defenseless when we both know it’s only a matter of time until the Kaiju hordes show up on our shores?”

  Yeltsin shook his head, keeping his infamous temper in check. “No, Governor, I would not.”

  “Good,” Lanstum snorted. “Because you know what my answer would have to be. What my answer would always be.”

  “I'm not asking for all of Lemura's defenses, sir, only the men and women I need to carry out an assault on the Kaiju Overmind,” Yeltsin grinned.

  Lanstum blinked. Yeltsin felt the governor's eyes looking him over as if to see whether or not he'd gone insane.

  “The Overmind is a myth. Just a wild theory some egghead thought up in a lab somewhere. There is no proof that such a controlling intelligence over the Kaiju exists. If there were some magic bullet to stop the Kaiju, I’d expend all our resources to finding it. It. Is. A. Myth.”

  “I believe it's real,” Yeltsin admitted after a moment. “Do you know of Doctor Bach's research into the Overmind theory? Or the evidence which supports his theory and the conclusion he has drawn up that goes with just about everything we know about the Kaiju?”