“Mother fucker,” she muttered.
“You better watch your tongue or I’ll cut it out,” the man said.
She tore her eyes away from the television to glare up at him. Aaron had made it through. Her idiot step-cousin had somehow managed to fuck up and instead of destroying the target had used it to send his kaiju to their world instead. Did he not see how this was not an improvement? What the fuck was he thinking?
At his level with his HP so low there wasn’t a chance in hell he could take on Titanocobra. Dallas was going to get wrecked.
As the two monsters on the television began to fight, Aaron began to stir. Every time they exchanged blows he grunted or twisted or snarled. Good God, was this what she looked like when she played the game? He looked ridiculous, spastic bordering on dangerous. Like he was hyped on drugs and on a really bad trip.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one to notice his antics.
“What the hell is he tripping on?” the gunman asked, scowling down at Aaron with disgust. “Shit. Hey, wait a minute. That’s the convict cousin.” He started reaching for Aaron’s face, as if to turn it toward him for a better look.
“We’re not cousins,” Lusitania shrieked as loud and obnoxiously as she could.
The man’s hand fell away from Aaron’s face before he could touch it and his attention turned to her.
That’s right scrotum-brain, all eyes on me. Pay no attention to the man spasming like a drunk monkey on the ground. All your attention on the pretty little princess.
Aaron might be an obnoxious ass-munch and a colossal fuck-up, but he was doing his best to fight off Titanocobra and, for all that he shouldn’t have been there in the first place, he was doing a better job than the military at keeping the serpentine kaiju occupied and not destroying the city. If he was pulled out of the game now there was no telling how much worse the collateral could be. Or what might happen to Aaron.
Maybe he’d just come to like normal. Maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d just get distracted and Taisaur would get killed. But if that happened in their world, did that mean that the death was permanent? Would Taisaur dying kill Aaron? Frustrating as the bastard was she didn’t want him dead. Maimed or seriously injured maybe, but not dead. And not at the cost of an entire city getting smashed apart by that stupid snake.
“Oh, I see,” the suited man said, stepping away from Aaron and back to her, a grin spreading across his face. “He’s your dealer. That’s why you stayed here. Problem-child here gave you a little taste and now you’re hooked.” He crouched down in front of her. “Tell you what. You tell me where he keeps his stash and I won’t shoot your violent friend in the kneecap.”
Lusitania braced herself. What was coming was really going to hurt.
She spit right in the man’s eye.
He bellowed and punched her. Stars exploded behind her eyes. She grabbed onto him. More pain. He was hitting her. Over and over again. Somewhere deep inside of herself, the anger that fueled Halira, surfaced. The pain didn’t fall away, but it became fuel for her rage. Everything in Lusitania became focused solely on dealing out as much damage to this dickless bastard as she could.
Some piece of his flesh passed in front of her face and she bit down on it as hard as she could. She tasted blood. The blows became wild with pain and panic. It was all she could do to hold on.
The gun roared. They fell over. It roared again. The man easily twisted her around on the ground, pinning her. He pulled away from her and the flesh of his neck she’d bitten down on came away in her teeth. He screamed and punched her in the face.
Then he fell over, completely limp, revealing Isabella standing over him, the other man’s taser in her hand, the metal tongs still crackling merrily with blue-white sparks.
“Should have cuffed my hands behind my back,” she spat, then said something in Spanish that sounded very derogatory. Grabbing the handcuffs Lusitania had refused to put on, she snapped them on the man’s wrists, pinning them behind his back and taking away his gun.
“Fuck,” Lusitania swore, half in pain, half in panicked frustration. She and the suited man had tripped right over Aaron as they struggled. That should have been enough to wake Aaron up and snap him out of the game. And he was still unconscious, snapping and thrashing on the ground.
On the television screen, Taisaur was gripped in Titanocobra’s coils just as Halira had been. His HP bar was flashing with the barest sliver remaining. “Shit. Shit. Shit.” Lusitania swore over and over again.
Aaron’s eyes began to flutter. Drool leaked from the side of his mouth. Was he coming around or just having some kind of seizure? Isabella fell to her knees beside them.
“He’s going to lose,” Lusitania said.
Isabella looked at her in confusion, then over to the television. Apparently, her attention had been entirely on the dangerous men that had broken into the house and not the news. That was probably a good thing. Lusitania couldn’t really say. She hurt too badly to think clearly.
“That’s Aaron?” Isabella asked, somewhat uncertainly.
“Yeah.”
“And here I just thought you two were crazy.”
“Bitch.”
“Ho.”
“We need to help him,” Lusitania said. She was so tired. She could feel herself about to pass out. “We need….”
“I got this,” Isabella said. “You rest now.”
“Yeah,” Lusitania said, giving into the pain and slumping into an exhausted puddle on the floor. “Yeah, okay.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
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I’m not lost, though that’s the closest feeling I have to describing the sensation enveloping me. It’s like when you’re taking a route you’ve known for years, only somehow you make a wrong turn. It’s the sensation moments after that. Confusion. Frustration. Disorientation. I know that there’s a path I’m supposed to be on. I know that I’m close to it. If I could just get my bearings I could at least locate my destination. My mind is trapped in foggy circles. Round and round, trying to find familiar footing.
There’s a whirring sound. I see a ceiling fan.
I smell smoke. There’s fire nearby. I can hear a building toppling over.
I cannot experience both of these things at once. I cannot be in two places at once. Am I on the floor in Lusitania’s borrowed living room in my own body or am I sprawled across a city block in Taisaur’s? I don’t know. I feel like I should but in the absence of knowing, I feel my mind drifting back toward myself, toward my own body, as if carried by a current. Should I fight it?
I was trying to hit way above my weight class a few moments ago. Even at full HP and a full rage meter, Taisaur on his own isn’t really a match for Titanocobra. Maybe if my allies had managed to make it through with me, things would be different. But I’m tired and I feel myself stirring. That fan is clearer now. So’s the ceiling. It has a water stain next to the fan.
There’s movement beside my head. Which head I can’t tell though. Lips against my ear. It has to be my own body. Taisaur’s ears are too big for lips to caress.
The touch is followed by a familiar, welcome voice. The tone is frustrated though, panicked. A woman’s voice is repeating itself but I can’t make out what she’s saying? I try to focus. Strain to hear her words.
“—back! You’ve got to go back! Aaron! Your mother’s there! You’re mother’s in danger! Get back in the fight!”
Her words jolt me out of my stupor. I feel myself spasm, jerk, trying to sit up. But that’s wrong. I can’t go that way and save Mom. I turn around, certain of which body I need to be in now. Knowing where I need to go changes the current and I swim with it. I’m racing through a fog, no longer lost.
An instant later, I stir, lashing my tail and twitching my ears. I open my crimson eyes and am back. I am Taisaur again and I roar this to the sky for all to hear.
My HP bar is
still low. My rage has been depleted. But I’m still here and still in the fight.
Then I realize that while I’ve been teetertottering between bodies, Titanocobra’s been busy. He’s slithered back toward where I first appeared, toward the apartment complexes full of people and Mom. It’s her bland apartment he’s looming over, bladed hood spread.
I charge forward, once again bringing the fight to him. I can’t think. I don’t want to think. This bastard was trying to kill my Mom. There is exactly one coherent thought in my mind, repeating over and over again on loop. This bastard needs to die!
My rage meter explodes. I’ve never seen it refill this quickly. Never seen its contents glow and pulse. I don’t give a damn. I just activate my Burning Aurora and hurl myself at Titanocobra’s head.
I crash into him, tackling him away from Mom’s apartment. Shards of broken blade fly from his hood. I hit the ground and skid, carried by my own momentum.
Titanocobra shakes his head, as if clearing it from my attack, then raises up, hood flaring.
Instead of lunging for me though, he opens his maw impossibly wide and spills out a torrent of fire. The world before me is engulfed by it. I hear several explosions as nearby vehicles combust from the heat. I roar my defiance and rush forward, almost swimming up the flames, my Burning Aurora protecting me even as the world around me goes up in an inferno.
I push through the fire, hidden from view within it, until I’m upon my enemy. I burst forward, stripes glowing, Burning Aurora swirling about me, grab hold of Titanocobra’s head, and sink my fangs into his neck just behind his skull.
The flames die as my enemy shrieks in pain. I grab for his hood, feel the Burning Aurora between my flesh and his armor as I take hold. He shrieks again, red energy burning him at the contact.
I sense rather than see Titanocobra’s massive, bladed tail swing around, intent on tearing me free. I counter, slamming Taisaur’s own tail, spikes first, into the oncoming appendage. The red energy absorbs the brunt of Titanocobra’s attack, and my tail spikes slam through his armor. He shrieks and twists, sending another coil at me. I counter with my tail again, slamming even harder. I’m not as lucky this time. No spikes skewer the body, but the attack is stopped.
I’ve got him.
And then he’s got me. Titanocobra goes up. Up. Higher up still. Until I’m left clinging onto his neck for dear life. I’d forgotten just how big the kaiju is.
I don’t let go. I savage him, slamming my tail into his body and raking the claws of my lower limbs down his raised length, gouging pieces out of his armor. Opening him. I’m damaging him. Wounding him. I can feel pieces of him being ripped away or giving under my relentless assault.
It’s not enough. Titanocobra ceases to lift me into the air. For a moment I think I’ve stopped him. I’ve won. I’m proven wrong an instant later as he slams me several hundred feet down, driving me into the ground with all the force and considerable bodyweight he can muster.
I hear the now familiar sound of a building collapsing nearby. Oh God, please don’t let that be Mom’s apartment. Despair fills me. That had been the nearest building. The apartment must have collapsed. Mom is dead. The Burning Aurora flickers and then dies.
I taste blood. Not mine, I realize, Titanocobra’s. I’m still holding on to him, still latched on with claws and teeth. He’s real. He’s right here with me, in my grip. And this fucker just killed Mom.
I roll upward, twisting, ripping free a chunk of Titanocobra’s neck with my jaws, flinging his flesh away through the air. Blood sprays. The stupidly huge snake raises up again, thrashing about like a fire fighter’s hose left untended, blood geysers from the wound I’ve just created.
Every impact of his thrashing makes the ground shake so hard it’s a challenge keeping upright. There’s so much blood spraying from the snake kaiju’s neck that I almost miss that the bite is not the only wound he’s bleeding from. I’ve done a number on his body, between my tail strikes and his trying to crush me while I had Burning Aurora activated. Enough that huge chunks are missing from his armor. Titanocobra is vulnerable.
I don’t hesitate. I lunge forward, horns lowered. I’m going to impale this bastard.
He twists around, lunges for me, and my arm is caught in his jaws.
I crouch and shove off the ground, shoulder checking him with one of Taisaur’s spikes positioned there. I knew those things would be useful!
The spike tears the neck wound even further open and Titanocobra releases my mangled arm. I leap, horns first, and impact the open wound in his body, impaling him. The force of my attack drives him to the ground and rips me free, sending me tumbling along the ground, smashing several vehicles as I cross over a street.
I try to get up and collapse. I’ve tried to use my now bad arm. Glancing at it I can see bone. It glitters silver beneath the blood, like Taisaur’s spikes and stripes. Shaking my head, I try again, cradling the wounded appendage.
Titanocobra still isn’t out. He’s twisting about on the ground, snapping at everything within range of his jaws. Except that he’s only moving his upper half. The lower portion of his body, the greater portion, is completely still. In fact, he’s still all the down from my point of impact. I’ve broken his spine.
Breathing hard, I stomp my way over to him. I can barely move. But neither can he. Titanocobra is pinned in place by his own bulk, only the first few hundred feet of his over two-thousand-foot-long mass is capable of motion.
Behind him, I see Mom’s apartment complex. Every single window is clearly broken but it hasn’t come down. The building next to it has. She’s alive. Relief washes through me so hard I stagger in place.
I’ve never felt exhaustion as Taisaur before. Strong as he is, his weight is so great that I can feel it making me collapse. But I’m not done yet.
Titanocobra is still alive.
Our eyes meet and the serpentine kaiju lets out a long, lethal hiss.
I bare my teeth and swing my tail around, smashing his head into the ground. I do this again. And again. And again. I keep doing it until there is nothing left but a pile of black rubble and pulped meat.
He’s dead. I’ve won.
I roar my exhausted triumph to the sky in time to see the incoming jets. They’re coming in low and fast. Where the hell have they been this whole time? I really could have used their help against this bastard. I don’t know how much damage their missiles might have done to him, but any kind of distraction would have been appreciated.
That’s when I realize that they don’t actually know I’m on their side. I’m proven right a second later as they drop their payload and missiles crash into me. I stagger. My HP bar drops to empty.
I fall.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
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I woke out of a coma a week later to find the world both changed and not. The hospital staff insisted that I couldn’t leave for another week, during which time Isabella kept me company. She spent her days volunteering around town and her evenings with me in the hospital. The death toll from Titanocobra’s attacks is still being calculated, as is the estimated cost in damages. Both numbers are skyrocketing, the estimates climbing every day.
Lusitania had to return to her father. They had some issues to work out. She’d told Isabella to tell me I was a fuckwad and to call her when I woke up. I did. The conversation was brief and I got the impression that things in her house were even crazier than the rest of the world, which made sense given her father’s job as a senator. She hasn’t told him about the game or its connection to the attacks or my own involvement, which has left him beyond confused.
I think she’s enjoying tormenting him. She’s spiteful that way.
Mom’s alive. Isabella has been calling her daily to report on me. I called her before I called Lusitania and the first words out of her mouth were “I know what you did.”
Words every son dreads hearing
from his mother. In this case though, she was brimming with pride. She followed that up by telling me that I was never ever to do that again. I don’t know if it’s an option or not. I wasn’t allowed a phone and my access to anything my chip could interact with during my stay at the hospital was lacking. Brett was definitely right, I’ve become an addict.
Only it’s not the game I find myself craving as the days wear on.
I want to be Taisaur again. It takes me a few days to confess this to myself. First, that what is there is more than simple desire. Then to admit that what I want, need, isn’t just the wanton and undirected destruction of the game. Sure, that had been fun, back before I knew it was real, but it is a pale shadow compared to what being Taisaur in my own world felt like.
Once when I was six years old, I’d asked a friend of Mom’s if I could try one of his cigarettes. He’d said “sure” and let me take a single puff that left me coughing. I just about puked. And yet an hour later, even knowing what happened last time I’d tried one, I’d asked him again. I asked again several times throughout the day. Each time he told me no and then at the end of his visit, asked me how many times I thought I’d asked. I hadn’t kept track. He had.
Every kid grows up hearing about how bad cigarettes are for you. I knew what they were and what they did. But that was the moment that drove home exactly what kind of power they could wield over me. And I had been completely oblivious to it.
I want to feel the weight of a multi-hundred-ton body, the sensation of my tail thrashing behind me. I want the power, the mass, the strength. I want to be Taisaur so badly it hurts like fire ants beneath my skin.
How To Train Your Kaiju Page 20