Anzu attempted to turn with Chimera to protect his injured left side but his avian body was not nearly as mobile on the ground as Chimera’s body was. When Chimera had circled around Anzu, he leapt toward the injured wing. Chimera latched his claws and teeth into the crippled appendage. The kaiju then began pulling on the wing and tearing at it. Anzu tried in vain to strike Chimera with his right wing but the hybrid was well out of range. Anzu shirked in pain and fear. In an attempt to free himself from the kaiju’s grip, Anzu generated a lightning strike from his good wing and sent it streaming into Chimera. Chimera once again felt the pain of electricity but instead of forcing him to release his grip it only caused the kaiju to double his efforts. Chimera bit down even harder into Anzu’s wing then the monster began to pull his body away from the god. The struggle continued for several minutes before Chimera finally tore Anzu’s wing from his body.
A waterfall of blood poured out of Anzu’s body and into the sand. The god-monster shrieked in pain as he spun around in helpless circles. Seizing his opportunity, Chimera leapt onto Anzu’s chest and knocked him down. With Anzu trapped beneath him, Chimera bit into the god’s throat. Chimera did not attempt to tear out Anzu’s throat. He simply used his weight to pin Anzu to ground and he used his canines to pierce Anzu’s trachea and inhibit the god’s ability to breath. Unable to breath and bleeding profusely, Anzu struggled to push Chimera off of his chest. Chimera pressed down on Anzu and buried his claws into the body of the winged god. With his grip secure, Chimera continued to apply pressure to Anzu’s throat. Anzu’s struggles grew weaker by degree until the combination of lack of oxygen and blood loss caused the god-monster to expire.
Chimera maintained his grip for a few moments after Anzu had ceased struggling to make sure that the beast had perished. When Chimera released his grip he did not beat his chest and roar in triumph. He simply sniffed the air. His face contorted in revulsion when he had located the odor of the thousands of rotting corpses that comprised the Colossus of Death. He roared and began walking in the direction that the odor was coming from. The kaiju’s mind was fixed on carrying out the last order that his caretaker had given him. Chimera was going to destroy the Colossus of Death.
Chapter 29
Luke and Diana watched Anzu carry Chimera over the desert until the two beasts faded over the horizon. Once they were out of view, a cold shiver ran down Diana’s spine when she saw how quickly that the Colossus of Death and his zombie followers were approaching them. She screamed at Luke, “Turn the horse around! Run back to the SEALS!”
Luke did not hesitate. He threw his face mask back onto his head and ordered Jason to turn around and run. The horse was galloping at a speed that Luke had yet to experience. The former teacher was still attempting to master the craft of horsemanship. Up until this point, he had only ridden at a fast trot so that he was able to keep pace with Chimera. Now Jason was running as if he were trying to hold the lead position at the end of the Kentucky Derby.
Diana wrapped her arms around Luke as the two of them were jostled from side to side from the power of the sprinting horse below them. Diana was nearly thrown off of the animal but Luke’s quick reflexes were able to grab her arm and rewrap it around his waist. In a matter of a few minutes, they had reached SEAL Team Beta.
The captain of the squadron looked to Luke, “Without Chimera, what should we do sir?”
Luke gazed down at the man as if he was crazy, “I don’t know! I am not military officer! Try to shoot the dammed thing!”
The captain replied with a “Sir, yes sir!”
The captain spun around to see the Colossus and his zombie horde just over two hundred yards from where they were standing. The horrible smell of decaying bodies wafted through desert. The odor was almost enough to make the hardened captain vomit. Aside from the disturbing smell, there was also the eerie buzzing sound that was coming from the Colossus. No one had noticed from a distance but millions and millions of flies were surrounding the Colossus and feeding off of the corpses that made up its putrid body.
The members of SEAL Team Beta winced in disgust at the sight of the abomination. The captain lifted his rifle and yelled to his men, “Open fire!” The roar of automatic rifle ripped through the desert as thousands of bullets tore into the bodies of the Colossus of Death. The rotting and mangled deceased that held together the body of the giant began to fall apart under the assault causing the Colossus itself to stumble. For a brief moment, Diana though that SEAL Team Beta might actually slay the beast. Then she watched in disbelief as the walking dead that followed the Colossus were absorbed into the giant itself. The new corpses were interwoven into areas where the damaged corpses had fallen from. When the new bodies merge with Colossus, the giant righted itself and began to walk toward SEAL Team Beta once again.
When the Colossus reached the SEALS, he stepped on those directly in his path, crushing them instantly, but for the most part he ignored the humans below him. Once he had stepped over the SEALS, he continued his march into Saudi Arabia. The SEALS looked at the beast in bewilderment for a second until the zombies that followed the Colossus fell upon them.
The first zombie to reach one of the SEALS pulled off his hazmat mask. The moment that the man was exposed to the air the plague that followed the Colossus infected him. The SEALS’s face quickly became covered in boils as he rolled in the sand and screamed in pain. The scene repeated itself over and over again as the SEALS emptied their clips into the attacking zombies. The barrage of gunfire was able to render some of the corpses unable to move but for every one corpse that the SEALS destroyed there were a hundred more behind it. One by one, the members of SEAL Team Beta had their hoods ripped off exposing them to the deadly plague.
Luke and Diana watched in horror as the bodies of the dead SEALS rose from the ground and joined the zombie horde. Seeing that the SEALS had fallen, Luke forced his mind to break away from the horror. He directed Jason to turn around in an attempt to escape the dead only to find himself surrounded by deceased plague victims. The zombies slowly began to move in closer to Jason. One of the deceased SEALS had gotten close enough to the horse to grab Diana by the leg. Never one to be a damsel in distress, Diana grabbed the rifle off of the dead SEAL and then leaning on every zombie movie she had ever seen she fired a shot into the corpse’s head.
To her dismay, the zombie ignored the bullet and continued to pull at her. She pointed the gun down and fired at the undead creature until its body fell to pieces. The disembodied hands and mouth of the zombie continued to reach for Jason even as they lay on the ground disconnected from the rest of the body.
Luke was on the verge of panic. The zombies were trying to pull him off of Jason and the cloud of flies that followed the zombies was so thick that they almost completely blocked out his vision. He was going to scream in frustration when he noticed that the zombies were only reaching for Diana and himself. For the most part, they were leaving Jason alone and free to move. Seeing his one chance, he yelled to Diana, “Hold on tight! I am going to try something!” Diana slung the rifle over her back and wrapped her arms around her best friend. When he could feel that Diana had a hold of him, Luke yanked up on Jason’s reigns causing the horse to buck up and lift his front legs into the air. With his legs out in front of him, Jason began to use them like clubs to knock zombies to the ground. When Jason’s front hooves fell back to the ground, Luke dug his heels into Jason’s side and made silent promise to give the horse a basket full of apples and carrots if he could get them out of this alive. As soon as Luke’s heels slammed into Jason’s sides, the horse kicked out with his back legs, knocking down several of the zombies behind him. With some space to operate, Luke urged the horse to move forward. Jason trampled over several zombies then broke free of the horde as Luke and Diana kicked away the corpses that had gotten a hold of them.
Luke quickly urged Jason to start running into the desert. Diana turned around to see that the zombie horde had forgotten about them and had started following the Colo
ssus who was making its way deeper into Saudi Arabia.
She screamed to Luke, “They are peeling away from us and following the giant again.” She paused for a second, “What’s the plan?”
Luke yelled, “We are going to find Chimera. Last that I saw of him that lion-bird was carrying him off in this direction.”
Diana shook her head, “Anzu was like twice the size of Chimera. What makes you think that Chimera is even still alive?”
Luke answered bluntly, “Because he is Chimera! Besides, do you have a better plan about how the two of us are going to stop that thing after it just mowed down a team of Navy SEALS?”
Diana shrugged, “No, I don’t. Let’s hope that Chimera is as tough as we think he is.”
Luke nodded, “Trust me, he is more than tough enough to have killed that big bird and still have enough to stop that walking nightmare.” Luke urged Jason to pick up his pace. Luke knew that he had to find Chimera and catch up to the Colossus before it reached another populated area causing the deaths of countless more innocent people.
Chapter 30
Ashik and his family had been nomadic goat herders for generations. Currently Ashik’s family consisted of about two dozen people. He and his wife had four children and each of his six brothers also had wives and multiple children. Their herd of goats numbered around two hundred animals. These creatures provided the family with all of the meat, milk, and clothing that they needed. In addition to that, the family would often sell either the goats or their milk for a profit.
Today, Ashik and his family had led their goats deep into the desert to graze on the meager grasses that grew in thin patches in the harsh climate. The goats had been walking and grazing under the hot sun for nearly an hour when a terrible stench caught Ashik’s attention. Ashik knew the scent well; it was the smell of a rotting corpse of some kind. When one spent most of his life in the desert, one occasionally found the body of dead animal or even a human that had wandered off too far into the desert unprepared and had perished.
Ashik’s first concern was that his goats may accidentally eat something that they should not. Goats were not carnivorous but they may opt to eat the clothes of a dead man if they came across one. If that happened, the goat would have to be put to death as her meat and milk would have been soiled. Not wanting to have to kill a goat for no reason, Ashik began to scan his herd. He was looking over his herd when a fly landed on his nose. Ashik brushed the insect away then continued to scan his sheep. A moment later, several more flies landed on Ashik. He brushed them away as well. In addition to the flies, the odor of death was growing stronger. Ashik began to wonder if perhaps the dead creature was behind him and that somehow they had missed it when his herd went over the area. Ashik mused that perhaps it was a body which was only buried in a shallow grave. A shallow grave would account for the smell and the flies.
Ashik turned around and shrieked when he saw the Colossus of Death approaching him. He screamed for his family to leave the goats and run. Ashik ran to his youngest son and picked him up. He then began sprinting through the herd. As the rest of his family saw the approaching horror, they too began to run in terror. Ashik had run for nearly a minute when he suddenly felt as if his skin was on fire. He looked down to see horrible lesions forming on his hand. His young son then screamed in pain and fear. Ashik lifted up the boy to see lesions forming on his son’s face and neck. More screams echoed over the sounds of the bleating goats and Ashik watched in disbelief as his family members fell to the ground screaming. A moment later the pain spread from Ashik’s hands to his chest. He and his son fell to ground in the middle of the herd screaming in pain. Through the bodies of several sheep, Ashik watched as the Colossus of Death stepped over him. Ashik saw the hundreds of bodies woven together that made up the giant’s foot. By the time the Colossus had passed over him, Ashik and his son had died. A few seconds after their deaths, Ashik and his son rose up from the ground. They stood amongst the herd for moment. Then the corpses of Ashik and his family began walking through the goats that they had been running through while they still lived. In life, Ashik and his family had run from the Colossus in fear of it, now in death they slowly walked after the monster waiting until they called to join with it.
Chapter 31
Luke had ridden Jason deeper into the desert for about twenty minutes when he saw a walking mountain coming toward them. Luke stopped, pulled off his hazmat helmet, and began to cheer. Diana finally loosened her grip on Luke and looked past him to see Chimera lumbering toward them. She also pulled off her helmet and began cheering. As Chimera came closer to them, Luke could see the scars that the kaiju had incurred during his battle with Anzu.
Luke climbed down off of Jason and pulled one of Chimera’s food bars from the carriers on Jason’s sides. When Chimera was close enough, Luke tossed the heavy block to the monster. Chimera scooped up the bar and hungrily swallowed it down whole. Luke pulled his speaking horn off of his back and yelled, “Chimera, follow me!”
Luke then climbed back onto Jason and turned the horse around. Luke urged Jason forward at a fast trot. He turned back to Diana, “We have to be fast but we can’t push ourselves, Chimera, or Jason too hard in this heat. If we catch up to the Colossus and Chimera is dehydrated or exhausted, he won’t be able to battle the Colossus.” Diana nodded in reply then the two of them were silent as they rode after the incarnation of death itself.
After pushing themselves for nearly an hour, Luke and Diana came across a herd of wandering goats with no one to tend to them. Diana suggested that this was a sure sign that the Colossus had recently been through here, as a herd this large would never have been left unattended. The goats quickly ran away when they saw Chimera. Shortly after passing the goats, Luke and Diana rode to the top of a sand dune where they could see the Colossus and its disciples of the dead wandering into an oil pumping field.
Luke turned to look at Chimera. He could see that the kaiju was both hot and exhausted, but much like the battle that had taken place at the top of Mount Olympus, Luke knew that he had to push the monster or risks millions of more people dying. Luke pointed at the Colossus and through his speaking horn screamed, “Attack!”
Chimera roared and then charged through the desert toward the rotting giant. Unlike other beasts that Chimera had challenged, the Colossus gave no attention to the charging kaiju. The mindless abomination simply continued to walk forward determined to spread its plague.
Chimera crushed the bodies of hundreds of the zombies that were following the Colossus as he made his way to the giant. When he reached the Colossus, Chimera unsheathed his claws and swiped at its back. The blow sent dozens of broken body parts flying into the desert. The Colossus turned and wrapped his grizzly hand around Chimera’s throat. The kaiju ignored the hold and slashed at the giant twice more tearing out its midsection and causing the giant’s torso to fall to the ground. With the Colossus laying in the sand ripped into two pieces, Chimera began to pound on the fallen horror using his hands and feet to crush the bodies that had once made up the terrible creature.
With the Colossus crushed beneath him, Chimera raised his body to its full height and beat his chest. He was about roar when he saw the zombies that had been following the Colossus converging into a single point. The bodies continued to pile onto each other and intertwine themselves while Chimera watched in confusion as the enemy he had just destroyed rebuilt itself before his eyes.
Chimera roared in anger at the undead horror that refused to die. Chimera sent one of his focused sonar blasts at the Colossus but, as the giant had no central nervous system, the blast had no effect on it. The Colossus stepped up to Chimera and attempted to grapple with the kaiju. Chimera was far more powerful than the Colossus and he quickly broke the hold by bringing his fists down onto the arms of the Colossus and breaking them in half. The armless Colossus was standing in front of Chimera when the kaiju smashed his head into the chest of the giant causing the bodies that composed the torso of the walking monstrosity to f
all apart. Chimera quickly pounded the still standing lower half of the Colossus’s body into paste. He backed away from the grizzly scene only to watch as the zombie minions of the Colossus once again converged to reform the horrible creature. Chimera’s shoulders slumped for a second. The kaiju took a deep breath, roared, and then engaged the Colossus once again.
Luke shook his head, “Chimera is wearing down. The battle with Anzu, the trek through the desert, the fight with Colossus, and the heat. It’s all finally starting to get to him.” Luke looked over the countless zombies that were still following the Colossus. “The Colossus doesn’t seem to be able to hurt Chimera. The problem is that it does not have to hurt him. All it has to do is out last him and with all of those corpses following the Colossus, Chimera will pass out from heat exhaustion before the Colossus runs out of zombies.”
Diana looked down upon the battle. Her eyes perked up as a plan formed in her head, “Luke, you said that you had taught Chimera how to pick a ball and throw it right?”
Luke nodded, “Yes but how is that going to help?”
Diana pointed at one of the oil wells that was pumping hundreds of gallons of oil out of the ground per minute, “If you can get Chimera to pick up the Colossus and throw it into one of the oil pumps, I still have a couple of rounds left in this rifle.”
Luke nodded, “So all we have to do is ride in between two kaiju engaged in a death struggle. Convince one of them to pick up the other one and toss into an oil well. Then use your rifle to ignite the one monster without being crushed by the monsters and managing to avoid the army of zombies that want to expose us to a lethal plague.”
Chimera: Scourge of the Gods: A Kaiju Thriller Page 13
