The President nodded, “It seems that this is our best course of action.” He looked toward Parsons, “General, get every ounce of speed that you can out that expensive ship. I want Chimera engaging these creatures before the oil supply is put into jeopardy.”
Parson’s responded with a simple, “Yes, sir.” He then dismissed the group.
Luke walked over to Diana, “Can I assume that you are also being fitted with a hazmat suit so that you can ride with me and Jason again.”
She smiled at him, “You got it, cowboy. How many times do I have to tell you that I won’t let you face these things alone?”
Luke smiled, “Hopefully this is the last time you have to tell me that but I am afraid I may here it quite a few more times before this all said and done.”
He held his arm out to Diana, “Well then, Milady, once more into the unknown?”
She looped her arm through his, “After you, my brave and gallant knight.” The two of them strolled out of the briefing room arm and arm joking with each other and laughing.
Toombs sat fuming in his chair. His mind was awash in frustration and jealousy. Did anyone even notice that he was in the room? They didn’t even acknowledge him in the meeting. Had he been reduced to simply giving medical reports on Chimera and then going back to his room to sit by himself while Luke was friends with everyone on the ship? He stormed out of the room. He was well aware that Parsons either did not notice or did not care that he had left in such a fashion. He began talking to himself as he walked back to his cabin, “I created the monster. They should be worshipping me. Without me, every human on the planet would already be dead.” Toombs mumbled to himself, “I’ll find a way to show them how much I am worth. Then they will all see who the hero of this operation is.” Toombs turned a corner to find two sailors standing in the corridor to his cabin. One was a tall blond male and the other was a gorgeous blonde woman. The homely little doctor took notice of how the woman arched her back and thrust her firm breasts forward as he was walking toward her. He slowed his pace to stare at the woman for a moment longer before rushing off to his cabin.
Allison turned to Aiden, “You see, brother. The gods we are slaves to and the humans they are fighting are playing a game of checkers while we are playing chess. Should the gods be defeated by simply standing here and making a subtle motion, I have laid the foundation for our rise to power.” She looked down toward Toombs’ cabin for moment before addressing her brother again, “Speaking of the gods, we still need to harvest a few more breeders for them. Should they prevail in this war, we will want to make sure that we stay in their good graces until such a point that the means to overthrow them presents itself.” She closed her eyes and leaned back against the hull of the ship. A second later her eyes snapped open and she was smiling, “It seems that I am due at a wedding.” She turned to her brother and winked at him then she disappeared in flash of bright light. Aiden started walking down the corridor to make sure that when he teleported he was unseen. In a world where gods and monsters battled for supremacy of the planet, the creature that he feared the most was his sister. He knew that both her cunning and ruthlessness reached depths of which neither god nor monster could conceive.
Chapter 27
Allison appeared outside of church in Boston. Her clothing had switched from the military fatigues she was wearing on the Argos to a skimpy dress that most women would find far to risqué for a wedding. She adjusted herself properly so that her dress was barely managing to hold in her body in certain places that were sure to draw attention to her.
She entered into the church and immediately drew the attention of the friends of the groom serving as ushers. All three of the young men quickly rushed whoever they were escorting to their pew to the closest seat and then rushed back to meet Allison. She smiled at the first young man to come meet her. He immediately tried to hit on her, “You must be on the bride’s side, because you are far too hot to be connected to Mike in anyway.”
The playfully vindictive Allison jumped at the opportunity to sit on the bride’s side of the church. As the young man was escorting her, she could hear all of the women in the church quietly commenting on how she was dressed. Allison reveled in being the target of their jealousy. As she was being escorted through the church, she could see the eyes of her target lock onto her. The groom was staring at her and she could already see him reconsidering his decision to spend the rest of his brief life with only one woman. Allison smiled realizing that she could make her move now if she wanted to and take this young man to the gods, but she would enjoy herself more if she waited a little to make her move all the more dramatic.
The music changed and the bridesmaids began to make their way toward the altar. Each of them took a moment to look at Allison as they walked by. She could see in their eyes a mixture of confusion as to who she could be along with disgust at the way that she was dressed. The music changed once more, signaling the traditional bridal entrance. The bride entered the church and while most of the eyes were fixed on the bride, the eyes of the groom were still fixed on Allison.
She laughed to herself. This poor human bride didn’t stand a chance of holding the attention of the men in the church when there was a nymph-like Allison nearby. In a way, Allison thought that she was doing this young woman a favor by taking her would be husband from her and sparing her a life of monogamy. As a nymph, Allison’s life revolved around pleasure and sex. The disappointing part of her existence was that she was only in control of one aspect of the pleasurable part of existence. Nymphs were free to have sex with anyone that they pleased. To a human male, a nymph-like Allison was almost irresistible. This was a fact that she relished in flaunting to human females as she had done at the beach and was going to do here on a grander scale in a few moments.
The downside to her existence was that she and the other nymphs served as little more than glorified sex slaves to the gods. If a god wished for her to have sex with him, she was required to be there at his request. She didn’t mind if a god like Zeus or Apollo called for her but when a hideous deity like Hades called for her, it was nothing short of torture. In addition to those duties, the nymphs were also the conduits through which the gods and goddess engaged in their escapades with mortals. The gods could rarely be bothered to gather their mortal desires themselves. Her brother Aiden had been sent by Zeus to gather Alcmene when his liaisons with her had created the demi-god Hercules.
Allison smiled as she considered the fact that gods had neglected to check in on the humans for too long of a time. Even the gods did not yet want to admit that the humans had evolved to the point where they represented a threat to overthrowing them. The Chimera monster was proof of their power. The behemoth had already overthrown the proud Olympians and now he was going to challenge the Mesopotamian gods. In the end, it did not matter if the humans and their monster or the gods won this war. All that mattered is that as a result of the war both sides would be significantly weaker, allowing her and her fellow nymphs to rise to power. She laughed to herself; monsters, swords, cannons… these are things that the gods and humans thought were powerful weapons. The fools didn’t realize that the oldest and most powerful weapon in existence was sex. Allison was all too aware of this fact. She knew what a powerful force sex was and she was a master of that particular weapon.
The priest had almost reached the pivotal point in the ceremony. Allison still had to play her part for the gods and gather the breeders that they required but soon she knew that she would be in position to rule over this world and any other that she chose. The priest turned to the gathered friends and family, “If anyone has anyone has a reason that this man and this woman should not be joined in holy matrimony let them speak now or…”
Allison raised her hand and stood up, “I have a reason!”
A collective gasp echoed throughout the church as she was walking toward the altar. Everyone in the church turned to look at her. When the videographer saw her, he focused his camera on her, thinking that he
could edit her out of the video later and keep the footage of her for himself.
The priest was clearly forgetting his vows of chastity as he looked at Allison and stammered, “Yes, my child, what reason is this?”
Allison laughed, “Isn’t it obvious? This gentlemen would much rather be with me than this sad excuse for a woman.”
The bride screamed, ‘Excuse me, but who the hell are you?”
Allison smiled, “Silly girl. I am the woman who is going to take your husband from you.” She looked into the groom’s eyes, “Isn’t that right, lover?”
The groom didn’t say a word. He was helplessly trapped in Allison’s stare. He simply walked away from his bride and into Allison’s embrace. Allison kissed him once and then she looked at the bride with sly smile and mouthed the words “Sorry.” She then went to kiss the groom again and with her trademark flash of light she teleported him away. Throughout the entire ordeal the videographer had kept his camera focused on Allison.
Chapter 28
Luke and Diana were wearing hazmat suits as they rode on top of Jason through the Saudi Arabian desert toward the border with Iraq. Chimera was walking at a slow pace behind them and he was followed by SEAL Team Beta who were also wearing hazmat suits. Luke was moving Jason at a slow walk due to the heat of the desert. With the team wearing the bulky hazmat suits, dehydration was a legitimate concern in the desert. Everyone had made sure that they were as hydrated as possible prior to leaving the ship. Jason and Chimera were both given plenty of water as well.
Luke looked back over his shoulder at the kaiju. Chimera appeared to be weathering the desert sun and heat well so far. Chimera had yet to be tested in extreme heat and the team was unsure of how quickly dehydration would hit him. To look at Chimera’s whale-like skin Luke was concerned that he would roast in the desert sun, but Toombs assured him that he did better work than that when he had created the beast. Toombs explained that while Chimera’s skin appeared to mainly be comprised of the part of him that was derived from the sperm whale, in actuality his skin was composed of equal parts lion and gorilla as well. Toombs also felt that he would function as well in the heat as a lion would. He further suggested that with a generous supply of water prior to leaving the ship that Chimera would be capable of withstanding the desert heat for several hours even under battle conditions before he succumbed to the heat.
Luke and Diana remained relatively quiet as they rode atop Jason. Aside from the heat and bulky hazmat suits, their thoughts were focused on the task at hand. Finally, Diana was unable to hold her feelings in any longer. She spoke at a level barely above a whisper, “Luke, I ah... I am not sure that I am going to be able to handle what’s coming. I mean a giant snake woman and a three headed dog are terrifying enough but this thing. This Colossus of Death. It’s made up of dead people. Dead people who all died under the most horrifying conditions. In one way or another, they were killed simply for being who they were. They were executed for being a Kurd, for being someone who spoke up against the state, or for simply being human. Isn’t it enough that they died under such circumstances? Does their torture have to be continued in death as they become part of that giant of death?”
Luke sighed, “I don’t know what to tell you. Those people have suffered more than anyone ever should suffer in life or in death. I am not a theologian. I don’t know if there is any part of those people trapped in that creature. The only thing that I do know is that if there some part of them trapped in that monster, then it is all the more reason for us to destroy the Colossus and free those poor souls from that hell.
Jason suddenly stopped walking. The horse took a step backward and then shook his head. At the same time, Chimera stopped walking and shook his head as well. He looked into the distance and roared, but this roar was different from the roar that he unleashed when he was challenging an opponent. This roar sounded almost as if it was sympathetic.
Diana whispered, “What’s wrong with them?”
Luke responded in a solemn voice, “Their sense of smell is far better than ours. They can smell it. They are picking up on the scent of thousands of corpses rotting in the desert sun on the horizon. They can smell death itself coming for us.”
Luke steadied Jason and then urged him on. The mighty horse was reluctant but he obeyed his master’s command. As Jason started moving forward so did Chimera and the SEALS who were following a good distance behind the kaiju.
The duo rode on in silence for ten minutes until they saw it walking across the desert sand. The Colossus was directly ahead of them and the site of the monstrosity was far worse than they ever could have imagined. Even from the distance they were at, they could see the corpses writhing and moving as they either fell off of the Colossus or joined its horrible mass. Behind the Colossus, they could see the army of the dead that was following it and waiting to be called to become part of the nightmare.
Diana almost screamed at Luke, “Quickly, take off your helmet and direct Chimera to attack that thing. We don’t know how close it has to get before we are risking exposure to the plague!”
Luke ripped his helmet off of his face, lifted his speaking horn, pointed at the Colossus, and shouted, “Chimera, attack!”
Chimera lifted his front hands off of the ground, beat his chest, roared, and then charged at the Colossus. The Colossus maintained its steady pace. Chimera had covered almost half of the distance between Jason and the Colossus when a huge shadow fell over him. Chimera looked skyward to see the winged form of Anzu above him.
Luke and Diana watched as Anzu swooped down toward Chimera. As massive as Chimera was, Anzu was nearly twice the size of the kaiju. They looked on in disbelief as Anzu wrapped his claws around Chimera and lifted him off of the ground. Anzu flew one large circle over the area then he began streaking off into the desert with Chimera.
Luke and Diana suddenly found themselves with nothing but a few hundred feet of desert between them and the Colossus of Death with his seemingly endless following of zombies.
Chimera roared in defiance at the creature that had lifted him off of the ground. The kaiju unsheathed his claws and began swiping at the winged god but he was unable to reach the monstrous bird. He then tried to shake his body free but he could not break Anzu’s grasp. Finally, Chimera lifted his head up and fired a sonar blast directly into Anzu’s face. Anzu’s lion-like face contorted in pain causing him to lose control of his flight pattern sending both monsters crashing into the desert below. The impact of the crash jarred Chimera loose from the god’s grip. Chimera found his face buried in the sand. He stood and up and shook the sand out of his eyes.
Chimera looked around to find Anzu still trying to recover from the effects of having his sensory organs overloaded from the sonar blast. Anzu was shaking his head and flapping his wings when Chimera charged him and then leapt onto his back. Chimera sank his claws into the god’s back and then he opened his jaws and bit deep into Anzu’s neck. Anzu roared in pain and shook his body violently sending Chimera flying off of his back and crashing into the sand once more.
Anzu roared at Chimera and began to flap his wings causing him to rise into the air. Anzu circled around Chimera twice before hovering directly over the kaiju. Anzu’s wings began to shimmer and a second later Chimera was hammered with a barrage of thunder and lightning. In addition to having his body racked with pain from electricity, Anzu’s wings generated a windstorm that sent the desert sand whipping into Chimera. The sand was traveling at a velocity of well over two hundred miles per hour. The effect was similar to having millions of automatic rifles firing at the kaiju in unison. Chimera was staggering backward from the attack when he bent down and dug his claws into the sand to steady himself.
Chimera immediately recalled his battle with Zeus and he knew that this attack would wear him down in time. The wind and sand had disoriented the kaiju. He had no idea where he was in relation to his enemy. The monster sent out a low level sonar wave just as a whale would do when hunting in the dark depths of the ocean.
The sonar wave bounced off of Anzu and came back to Chimera giving the kaiju the location of his enemy. Chimera forced his head to look in the direction of Anzu then he unleashed one of his focused sonar blasts. When the invisible blast hit Anzu, it caused him to convulse and fall to the ground in agony.
For a moment, the two kaiju stood in the desert panting and not moving as each beast recovered from the other’s attack. It was Chimera that recovered first. The monster ran toward Anzu and stretched his head out in front of his body. Using his sperm whale head as a battering ram, Chimera crashed into Anzu’s midsection. The collision sent the winged god tumbling onto his back. Chimera sprang on top of Anzu then he brought his fists crashing down into Anzu’s lion like face. Chimera lifted his hands up to strike the god again when Anzu’s gargantuan jaws shot up and clamped down on Chimera’s arm.
Chimera roared in pain as the larger Anzu stood up and lifted Chimera off of the ground. Chimera hung helpless in the god’s grip. Seeing that the monster was at his mercy, Anzu extended his massive wings then brought them crashing into Chimera’s ribs. Anzu repeated the move as Chimera used his free hand to claw at Anzu’s face but the kaiju’s efforts were in vain as the god refused to yield his grip. Anzu brought his wings crashing into Chimera twice more before Chimera was able to time the attack. When Anzu brought his wings forward for the fourth time, Chimera turned his head and sent his face crashing into the joint that connected Anzu’s wing to his body. Chimera could feel the bone underneath Anzu’s feathers snap in half as his reinforced head smashed into the wing.
Anzu released Chimera and stepped backward as he roared in pain. Anzu began to flap his good wing but the broken wing hung helplessly at his side. Seeing that Anzu was unable to fly and that he was defenseless on his left side, the lion hunting instincts buried in Chimera’s mind snapped into action. The kaiju dropped down to all fours and he began to circle towards Anzu’s left side.
Chimera: Scourge of the Gods: A Kaiju Thriller Page 12
