How To Train Your Kaiju
Page 22
I pause with the door halfway closed. I’m about ready to drop the pizza and try to smash in his nose. “You going to threaten to sue me again?”
“Nothing of the sort!” He waves his hands before him as if to swat away the idea like an obnoxious fly. “We are far beyond using threats and coercion to get you to act. Everything you do henceforth with the game is entirely on you.”
“Great to know. Bye.”
“Including letting thousands of people die by sitting idly by,” he says right as the door’s about to close.
I throw the door back open and step into his personal space, jabbing him in the chest with a finger. His body is much harder than his roly-poly appearance suggests. “You know damn well that the only reason those alien-fucks sent that monster was because you tricked everyone into attacking them first!”
He brushes aside my hand like crumbs from a bib. “What does that matter? Do you think that just because you stop playing the game the others will? Or that even if the players all do suddenly stop that another attack isn’t coming?”
The bastard chuckles. Actually chuckles. Something about this whole thing amuses him. He’s sick. Maybe insane. What person in their right mind would be happy about this?
“More importantly,” he says. “The game is changing.”
I narrow my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, that we’re moving out of beta.” He says this like he’s making some grand announcement, and he’s brimming with way more enthusiasm than our close proximity makes me comfortable with. I actually take a step back before I realize what I’ve done and by then it’s too late.
There’s a predatory gleam in his eye when his gaze meets mine. “My associates and I have been most impressed by your performance. We do hope you’ll continue to participate.”
He glances into the house, past me, and to where Mom is sitting in her wheelchair, glaring at him and looking like she’d like nothing more than to hurl her beer bottle at his head.
“You know how generous we can be,” he says. “You never know what other rewards you may be able to earn.”
“What the hell could you offer that would tempt me?” Why the hell did I ask that?
“Consider the technology that you’ve seen us display,” he says, then points at my hand. “Think about what you’ve already been bestowed with. Do you think that’s an ordinary microchip?” He scoffs, then his eyes slide from my hand once again to Mom. “Think about what my people may be capable of offering you. Assuming, of course, that your own conscience is weak enough to allow you to simply sit on the sidelines of our game.”
“It’s not a game!” I don’t mean to scream. My throat is raw from the emotion and energy I threw into it. I’m left panting, like I’ve gone five miles at a dead sprint. “Who the hell do you think you and your backers are?”
Dr. Ward straightens his suit, though it doesn’t need it. My outburst doesn’t seem to have ruffled him in the slightest. On the other hand, he’s not grinning anymore. “We, Mr. Moretti, are the Game Masters. I hope to see you and Taisaur again very soon. It won’t be long before the next phase begins and it just wouldn’t be as fun without you.”
With that, he turns and waddles off our porch.
I don’t see a car in the driveway. I don’t care. I close the door, lean against it, and sink down to the floor. It’s not over, I think, over and over again. Mom’s saying something, but I don’t register her words. I hold up my right hand and stare at the tiny, faded scar at the base of my palm. I hadn’t really paid it any attention. Now that I am though, I swear I can feel an echoing beat to every pulse of my heart, as if whatever it is that they put inside of me is alive.
The bastards, these Game Masters, really are thinking that this is some kind of game. They’re sick. They’ve killed thousands of people on our world alone and tricked us into slaughtering untold number of aliens on that other world. They’re sick.
And yet, as I sit there, staring at my palm, I feel a little tremor of excitement rush through me. Maybe Taisaur and me aren’t done yet.
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Kaiju Art Gallery
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The following art was commissioned from the very talented concept and creature artist, Christina Weinman. Her online gallery can be found here.
Turn the page to see her collection of the kaiju appearing in this book.
Please enjoy our monsters…
TAISAUR
HALIRA
TITANOCOBRA
XENATLAS
SOLRIN
MEGAPTERA