Kaiju Apocalypse III

by Eric S. Brown

  The gun turret above, and behind Matan and Curri on their own APC, fell silent. There were screams from the rear compartment as Curri turned to glance through the open interior doorway and saw blood running down the steps of the short ladder leading up to the turret.

  An explosion lit the road ahead of them again. One of the Dog Killers had self-destructed among the Kaiju there.

  “That's it!” Higgins yelled over the comm. “Get your asses moving, people. That opening ain't gonna stay there forever!”

  The sacrifice made by the Dog Killer had cleared a path through the Kaiju. Matan stomped on the accelerator and their APC shot forward like an armored missile. It bounced over the smoldering corpses of the Kaiju littering the road and then was clear of the combat zone. A loud clang sounded from its rear followed by a second. The APC lurched as if a great weight had been added to it. Its engine whined in protest, straining, but the vehicle kept moving, if a little slower.

  “What the devil?” Matan shrieked, not taking his eyes off the road ahead.

  “It's us!” Higgins' voice boomed over the comm. “Zack and I are catching a ride with you!”

  “Roger that!” Matan said. “Shifting all power to compensate!”

  Curri noticed that Matan still had the sensors trained to the APC's rear. There was no sign of the second APC as they sped onward.

  “We. . .” Higgins said, and then paused, swallowing, “…we lost the others.”

  ****

  Curri felt relief wash over her as the city of Atlantica came into view. Higgins and Zack were back to running alongside the APC. The vehicle, as powerful as it was, simply could not bear the prolonged strain of carrying the Dog Killers without its engine burning out.

  There had been several more Dog Kaiju attacks, but none as devastating as the first. Matan piloted the APC through the ruins of Atlantica proper, guiding it around the various overturned and mauled tanks, APCs, and civilian transports that filled its streets. Thankfully, for the moment, there was no sign of any more Dog Kaiju.

  Matan didn't stop the APC as they reached the fence enclosing the hangar area that Dr. Bach's directions had guided them to. Instead, he drove into the fence and through it before finally coming to a stop.

  There, before them, sat a Trident. The ship was several times the size of APC they rode in and its armored hull bristled with weapon enhancements. Its hull gleamed in the dim rays of the cloud-obscured sunlight.

  “Wow,” Curri breathed, “so that's what a Trident is.”

  Matan flashed her a grin as she unfastened the straps of her seat and moved into the APC’s rear section. Curri worked her way through the survivors of tribe Lannier, checking on them and assuring them that the worst was over. Rebecca sat with Nanci, and Buck held close to her in a tight embrace. Curri put on a smile for them as she helped them out of the APC. Higgins and Zack stood watch over the small group as they disembarked from the APC and boarded the Trident. By the time, Curri got onboard herself, Matan was already in the pilot seat, conversing with Dr. Bach over the ship's comm. From what she could overhear, Matan was arguing with Bach and telling the doctor that none of them had the skills required to fly the Trident.

  Curri plopped into the co-pilot's seat next to Matan as Dr. Bach's voice said, “Don't panic. I planned for this, Matan. I can fly the ship from here. All you have to do is be on it when it lifts off.”

  Matan touched the comm controls. “Higgins, is everyone loaded up?”

  “Everyone except Zack and me. We have Kaiju inbound. There are two packs of the things closing in from the east and north. We're laying down suppressive fire now.”

  “Belay that,” Matan told them with a smirk. “Just get in here. Now!”

  “You heard the man!” Higgins shouted before the comm. went silent. A brief moment later, Zack's voice called out, “We’re in! Get us the hell out of here already! Those Kaiju are hauling butt and closing in fast!”

  Without any prompting from Matan, the Trident came to life around them. Her engines roared and she raised herself from the landing area in a sharp, vertical take off.

  Matan let out a whoop as the Trident slashed its way into the gray clouds, leaving Atlantica behind it.

  ****

  The Trident's flight was a short one. Dr. Bach guided it remotely to the exact location of the bunker the Lannier tribe had set out to find. The bunker was easy to spot from the air, long before the Trident touched down outside of its entrance. It lay half-exposed in the middle of a main street, chunks of the pavement covering it torn away and the scars of gigantic claw marks marring the metal of its uncovered roof. Dog Kaiju were everywhere. Missiles streaked from the Trident as it descended, clearing the area around the bunker with explosions of fire and shrapnel.

  Matan popped the rear cargo bay doors of the Trident remotely from the cockpit as Curri stood next them. “Everyone out!” she ordered. “Run for those doors!”

  The two Dog Killers containing Higgins and Zack were first through the door. They took up secure positions and laid a withering hailstorm of gunfire into the new swarms of Kaiju emerging from the surrounding alleys and buildings with everything they had. Large caliber rounds blew snarling Dog Kaijus to shreds as they bounded towards the Trident and bunker.

  Curri and Rebecca were the last two off the Trident. Rebecca carried Nanci in her arms, sweating from the effort, as she sprinted for the bunker doors that slid open before the other members of the Lannier tribe, who were already reaching them. Curri followed after her with Buck in tow. She dragged the boy along by his right hand, forcing him to keep pace with her.

  Higgins and Zack had begun to make their own retreat, edging towards the bunker as they kept firing. Curri could see that the two of them weren't going to make it at the rate they were moving. She'd learned to tell the two suits apart during the trip to Atlantica. Zack was closest to the bunker, but even he was too far away to have any hope of making it there in time. She watched as Higgins and Zack slowed and adjusted themselves to stand back to back. Their Mag-cannons blazed, killing Dog Kaiju by the dozens, but for every one of the beasts that fell, three more seemed to take its place. Lemura was teeming with the things and there seemed to be no end to the creatures' numbers.

  She watched as the Dog Kaiju blocked her view of her protector. She could hear the hard hammering of the mag-cannon over the snarls of the Dogs, though, and she held out hope for the two Dogkiller suits to make it to the safety of the bunker. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she ran, while trying to make it to the bunker doors.

  The harsh sounds of the mag-cannon abruptly died behind her.

  There was nothing Curri could do to help them, however. Tears formed in her eyes as she continued to run, her legs pumping beneath her and her breath coming in ragged gasps. The bunker doors thudded shut after she and Buck passed through them. Curri dropped to her knees, fighting to catch her breath as sobs racked her trembling body.

  A disembodied voice echoed inside the bunker. It was Matan's. “I'm sorry, Curri. Higgins and Zack are gone.”

  “Where are you?” Curri gasped, getting to her feet and standing as the other survivors of the Lannier tribe huddled just inside the bunker's entrance around her. The loss of Zack was bad enough, but losing Higgins nearly broke her spirit completely. Though she had butted heads with the man since she had assumed the mantle of leadership, she had relied upon him to be her guide, her rock. She looked at the survivors of her tribe. She had to be their rock, as she always had before.

  “I'm on the Trident,” Matan told her. “I've taken over control of the bunker's internal comm with the help of Dr. Bach. He. . . he said that he was giving me the chance to say good bye.”

  “Matan!” Curri wailed at the bunker's ceiling. “We're safe! What are you doing?”

  She could almost see him shaking his head at the Trident's controls.

  “No, Curri, you're not. Nobody is safe. Dr. Bach lied to us. As strong as that bunker may be, the Mother Kaiju are coming. All of them. Every on
e that's still alive, that is. They'll tear the bunker apart.”

  “What? Why?” Curri rasped, tears streaming along the curves of her cheeks to splatter on the metal floor at her feet.

  “Dr. Bach never intended for us to find somewhere safe. He was using us, Curri. Inside that bunker is a weapon, some sort of bomb from what I gather, that can cleanse the Earth of the Kaiju, Mother and Dog alike. He wants you to detonate it for him.”

  “Oh, but you will,” Dr. Bach's voice purred over the intercom. “You'll see.”

  “Matan!” Curri cried out. “Matan, where are you?”

  “He's rather busy right now, I'm afraid,” Dr. Bach said. “You see, the Kaiji know we are about to end them and their kind forever. Your friend will die in a blaze of glory along with the war drones I have dispatched to aid him, but rest assured, his sacrifice will help to buy you the time you require. Now, calm yourself and listen. Here is what I need you to do. . .”

  “I won't help you,” Curri's tone was icy, her determination etched in stone.

  “Curri,” Dr. Bach said in a much gentler manner. “This is the end. You have only two choices now. Let your people die in vain, as the Kaiju rip their way inside the bunker and tear all of you limb from limb before their teeth strip the flesh from your bones, or to do as I say. I do not offer you hope of escape. There is none to be had. What I offer is a quick, noble death to the remainder of your tribe, but with your sacrifice, you will bring vengeance upon the Kaiju for all mankind. The bomb I have designed lies within the center of the bunker in which you reside. You merely need to reach it and activate its countdown. The device itself will finish things from there.”

  “And Matan? “ Curri asked. “Is it not in your power to spare him?”

  “You do not comprehend the magnitude of the device I am asking you to activate. It will eradicate the Earth and all of the Kaiju with it. Even if I wished to spare your friend, I cannot. The class of Tridents he's piloting was not built for space travel.”

  Curri glanced about her. Rebecca and Nanci were weeping openly. All the others of the Lannier tribe, too, were frozen by fear and despair.

  “Choose now, Curri,” Bach urged her. “Revenge or a painful, meaningless death at the claws of the creatures outside these doors?”

  “Curri?” Rebecca asked.

  “Kill them,” Buck spoke up through his own tears. “Kill every last one of those monsters.”

  Curri met the boy's eyes and nodded.

  “Which way?” She snapped at Dr. Bach over the comm.

  “Good,” he laughed. “I knew you would be up to the challenge at hand.”

  ****

  Matan was quickly able to discern how the Trident functioned, and after a brief moment of sheer panic when he nearly flew the aircraft into the ground, he managed to turn the autopilot off. He carefully swung the craft around and climbed high into the sky. He peered down at the waters below and grimaced as he spotted the numerous Mother Kaiju stalking the ruined city. The people in the bunker didn’t stand a chance, he realized. Curri and the others would die.

  One lone Trident stood little chance against a Mother. An entire wing of Tridents might be able to stop one or two Mothers. Against this many, Matan wasn’t sure he would even be able to hurt one before they brought him down. He had to try, though. He had to do something.

  He looked over the display panel. The digital touch screens made the system easy to figure out, and after a few seconds, Matan was able to discover that the Trident was not only armed, but it was equipped with missiles as well. His eyes swept across the sky and saw that a small reticule on the window followed his eyes movement. He grinned as he fixed his gaze on one of the Mothers. A second later, the reticule changed color from green to red.

  “What are you doing?” Dr. Bach asked through the comm. “You disabled the autopilot.”

  “Fighting,” Matan grunted and launched a missile at the Kaiju. The small missile struck the chest plate of the Mother, rocking her back on her heels. The Kaiju roared in pain, and as the smoke cleared, Matan could see a large hole in the Kaiju’s chest. Bright orange blood poured from the wound. The Mother staggered and fell into the water, her body creating a large wave as she splashed down. “Killing Kaiju.”

  “I’m going to give you some help,” Dr. Bach informed him. “You may feel a slight... tingling in your head, but it will pass.”

  A sudden pressure near the base of his skull nearly overwhelmed Matan. The Trident wobbled slightly as the pressure built and he was barely able to maintain a level flight. True to the doctor’s word, though, it passed as quickly as it hit him and Matan found himself seeing everything around him in a manner he didn’t think was possible. Multi-dimensional graphing overlaid his visual display and he could see varying ranges for different Mother Kaijus. He blinked and rubbed his eyes.

  “Wow...” he breathed.

  “You can now see what the drones I sent up to act as escorts can see,” the doctor said. “Use them wisely.”

  Matan’s feral grinned stretched nearly to his ears. He twisted the handle of the craft and took the Trident into a steep climb. The drones followed obediently after him. He leveled out and broke into a sharp turn. He directed the drones to focus their missiles on one Mother in particular, while he used the large cannons on the Trident to strafe the Kaiju, distracting her from the drones. Incendiary rounds exploded as they pierced her thick hide and the Mother howled in anguish as thousands of rounds impacted. She feebly swatted the air around her, but the drones, smaller than a grown man, easily slipped through her claws.

  Two missiles lanced out from the drones and struck the Mother in her gaping maw. Blood, teeth and scales flew everywhere as the face of the Kaiju disappeared behind the twin explosions. Matan zipped past her as she began to totter, the damage extensive enough to throw the beast off-balance. Matan cackled madly and pushed the throttle forward for more speed. The Trident responded and he climbed back into the sky.

  The drones warned him of the impending attack from another Mother. He dodged it with contemptuous ease and inverted the craft. He looked out the window and spotted the attacked. A large, bloated Mother covered in blisters was launching the small anti-aircraft Dragon Kaiju. Their silvery forms took to the sky, firing molten streams of metal at the drones as they zipped by. One lucky stream clipped a drone and Matan’s vision wobbled as he lost the perspective of one of the drones.

  The extra large Mother roared as two more drones launched their missiles at her. Matan followed their lead and fired three missiles of his own. The Dragons flew upwards to interpose their bodies in front of the target, their shapes obscuring the radar enough to cause two of the missiles to veer off and kill a Dragon instead of harming the Mother. Matan swore as the drones missed as well, their fiery warheads exploding harmlessly on the large Mother’s well-armored back.

  “Think you’re clever, do you?” Matan growled as his cannons started firing, wiping out a dozen of the Dragons in one sweep of continuous fire. The aircraft shuddered as one Dragon clipped the wing of the Trident with its own. Matan regained control quickly and twisted the craft into a loop. The drones followed, though they were quickly falling to the Dragons. The plots he had moments before, so rich and detailed, were slowly disappearing under the assault of the Dragon Kaiju.

  Matan watched one Mother Kaiju that appeared to be some sort of cross between a dragon and an ape take several drones to its chest, explosions blossoming over in showers of fire, shrapnel, and charred flesh that flew from the beast's body in smoking clumps. The Kaiju stumbled backwards, nearly falling, but managed to stay on its feet, despite the barrage. Another cluster of the drones flew across the air in front of its face, targeting its eyes with their guns. The thing howled in pain as the drones blinded it. It stumbled into the path of larger crab-like Mother Kaiju. The crab-like Kaiju angrily reached out with its pincers, drawing blood as they clasped the wounded Kaiju and flung it out of its path and into the murky water.

  The wounded Kaiju rose
back out of the water and let loose an earth-shattering roar of challenge. The crab-like Mother turned back and began to charge the wounded Kaiju. The two great beasts clashed, humanity forgotten as they vented their natural born rage and anger upon one another in a test of strength and might. Ignored, the drones continued to fire their guns into the two, wounding both and enraging them further. The combatants fell beneath the waves, pincers locked onto the throat of one Kaiju while teeth were embedded into the neck of the other.

  Another Dragon flashed into view and he fired the cannons reflexively. The incendiary rounds tore the smaller Kaiju to pieces and he flew through the remains of it. Something small cracked the pane of glass, which protected him from the elements, the small crack quickly growing larger as the constant pressure from the winds escalated the problem. Matan slowed the Trident and the crack stopped growing, but now, he found himself with a new and unexpected problem.