East Coast US
Fafnir exited the stratosphere over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts. The dragon shifted his course slightly to the south then continued in his westward direction. Fafnir was crossing over New York State, when he saw seven small gray shapes flying directly at him. The dragon had previously caught only glimpses of the machines that the humans had used to fly through the air in this modern world. Fafnir fixed his eyes on the US Air Force as jets they were closing in on him. The dragon smiled. It had been a long time since he had the opportunity to engage in an aerial battle. Fafnir relished the thought of proving to the humans who was truly the master of the skies. The six Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors entered a V formation as they came within range of Fafnir. The dragon saw bright flashes of light coming off of the jets as they unloaded their machine guns on him. Fafnir could feel the bullets as they struck his thick hide but the large caliber bullets did little more than annoy the beast.
Fafnir roared and flew straight into the apex of the V formation. The dragon closed his jaws on the lead jet crushing it while simultaneously using his wings to destroy two more jets. The remaining four jets continued to fire on Fafnir as they streaked passed him. The dragon knew that he could easily out distance the remaining three jets but the beast was enjoying the battle. Fafnir turned in a wide arc to see that the jets were circling around to take another run at him. Fafnir watched with curiosity as two long thin streaks of white smoke shot out from each of the planes. A series of projectiles struck the dragon, causing multiple explosions to occur across his body. Fafnir was engulfed in flames but once more the weapons of the humans were not able to pierce the dragon’s thick scales. Fafnir emerged from flames and he could see the look of disbelief on the eyes of the pilots inside the jets as he streaked toward them. This time Fafnir did not even bother to open his mouth; he simply used his body to plow through the remaining four jets. Prior to crashing into the planes, the dragon saw the tops of two of the machines pop off and shoot the chairs that the pilots were sitting on into the air. Fafnir flew around again to see two large white mushroom shapes open up above the pilots slowing their descent to the ground. The dragon smiled to himself. He had not eaten in many years and the two men dangling beneath the mushrooms offered a tempting snack. The two pilots screamed and kicked in vain beneath their parachutes when they saw Fafnir open his mouth as he flew toward them. A moment later, the pilots saw nothing but darkness as Fafnir closed his jaws and swallowed them whole. With the battle complete, the dragon once more adjusted his course and continued on toward Fort Knox.
Twenty minutes later, Fafnir saw a large gray building enclosed by a fence ahead of him. The aroma of the gold coming off of the Fort sent Fafnir into a frenzy. Like a drug addict in need of a fix, Fafnir felt an obsessive need to control the gold in Fort Knox overwhelm him. The dragon made a large circle around the building as security alarms around the complex blared at him. Fafnir stared at the building with lust in his eyes. He could tell that the treasure stored at this place was buried in a large vault deep underground. The beast realized that once he had claimed the Fort as his own that all he would need to do was sit atop of the ruins of the building and his new treasure would be safely stored in the vault beneath him until the end of time. Fafnir altered his course and dove straight at the building, bringing all of his weight down on top of it. The building itself was not half as large as the dragon so that when Fafnir landed on top of it, all four walls were crushed into rubble. Fafnir did not care about the building. It was the gold beneath it that the beast coveted.
Fafnir adjusted the rubble beneath him until it was crushed flat. He was then satisfied that he had formed a liar were he could spend the rest of his days with his new treasure. The dragon looked around to see vehicles and men running toward him. Fafnir roared in defiance at the first creatures to challenge him for the right to own his treasure. The soldiers who were charging at Fafnir opened fire but their rifles and high-powered guns and no effect on the dragon. Fafnir bent his long serpentine head down toward the soldiers. He then opened his jaws and a white mist poured out of them blanketing the attacking soldiers in a thick cloud. The soldiers who were in the mist began to cough and gag. One by one they fell to the ground and died an agonizing death in the poisonous breath of the great serpent.
The dragon had no sooner slain the attacking soldiers than he felt an impact and explosion on his back. While uninjured from the attack, Fafnir was annoyed by it. He spun around to see more than a dozen tanks coming right at him. Fafnir heard several loud booming sounds and felt a multitude of explosion occur across his body as the tanks fired their shells at him.
The dragon slithered out of his new nest in the direction of the advancing tank brigade. Fafnir reared up and spread his wings in front of the tanks. Even at close range, the weapons of man were unable to harm the ancient dragon. The shells simply continued to explode harmlessly against his thick scales. Fafnir’s neck stretched out and his jaws closed on the nearest tank. He lifted the machine off of the ground and he shook it from side to side before letting go of the tank and sending it crashing into the ground.
Several more tanks fired on Fafnir but the dragon ignored the blasts as he used his front claws to swipe at a tank, tearing it to pieces. Fafnir quickly grew tired of the human’s feeble attempts at driving him away from his treasure. The beast roared, then tore into the tanks, crushing them with his claws, teeth and tail. The massacre lasted only a few minutes before Fafnir had destroyed the last of the bothersome machines. Fafnir looked over his new liar to see destroyed tanks, dead bodies, and a crushed fortress all atop his treasure of gold. For the first time in over a thousand years, Fafnir finally felt satisfied. He crawled over the remains of the tanks and then he rested his body in the rubble that was once Fort Knox. Beneath him, Fafnir could sense the treasure that was now his. The dragon that slept for so many centuries was now wide awake. Once more he had a treasure to defend and Fafnir was prepared to fight off all challengers to his fortune.
Chapter 40
Melissa found herself in a cold and dark room that smelled like a barn. As she further surveyed her surroundings, she could only guess that she was in some sort of cell or a dungeon. The walls were made of thick steel and the stone floor was covered in a thin layer of straw. She was shocked at the lack of any other furniture in the room because there were roughly two dozen other women in the cell with her, all sitting on the cold hard floor. The women all appeared to be very young either in their late teens or early twenties. Melissa quickly realized that the most disturbing aspect of the other women in the cell was that they all appeared to be in the third trimester of a pregnancy.
The last thing that Melissa remembered was right out of a late night Cinemax movie. She was talking to Luke on the Skype feed when the attractive delivery man came to the door. She had no sooner moved her daughter out of the way to answer the door when the stranger reached down and kissed her. She remembered seeing a bright flash of light and then finding herself here. That was when it hit her. Her kids were still in the house either alone with the stranger or totally by themselves! Melissa’s mind was racing. She felt the immediate need to find out what had happened to her children. She began screaming at the bars, “Help! I need help! My kids have been left alone with a dangerous man!” Tears began to stream down her face, “Please, won’t someone help me? Won’t someone tell me what’s going on?”
None of the women that she shared her cell with bothered to react to her. They all appeared to be severely depressed and in pain as they shifted their pregnant bodies from side to side, trying to find some small measure of comfort from the thin coating of straw on the floor.
Melissa shifted her attention to the long and dark hallway outside of her cell. She could see the outline of what appeared to be a tall man walking toward the cell. When the form walked past the flickering light of a torch mounted to the wall, she could see the face of the delivery man who had kissed her a minute ago.
The yo
ung mother’s fear was quickly replaced with anger, “You bastard! Where have you taken me! What have you done to my children?”
Aiden casually sauntered over to the cell and smiled, “Relax, beautiful. Your kids are fine. The last that I saw of them they were still talking to their father over the computer. He was sending someone to watch over them. By now they are probably protected by an entire division of soldiers.”
Despite the situation that she found herself in, a profound wave of relief came over her. Her children were safe. Somehow even from the middle of the ocean, Luke had found a way to protect them. With the knowledge that her children were not in danger, her mind shifted to her own well-being. She began to question Aiden, “Who are you? Where have you taken me? Why I am I here?”
Aiden grinned, “One thing at a time love. My name is Aiden. I am a nymph who serves the gods. You are currently in the dungeon of Asgard beneath the palace of Odin.” Aiden paused for a moment, “The why you are here is a much more complex question. I can tell you that part of the reason that you are here but the rest of that answer is up to you and your husband.”
Melissa stammered, “Wh… What are you going to do to Luke?”
Aiden shrugged, “I don’t do anything to anyone. I am just a messenger. In fact, I am going to take a message to Luke concerning you. The question is, what are you going to have me tell him in my message?”
Melissa shook her head, “What message? What are you talking about?”
Aiden backed away from the cage, “Odin is the king of Asgard. He is also the wisest and most powerful of all of the gods. He wants me to deliver an offer to your husband. If he and his monster stand aside and let what needs to be done to the humans occur, he will offer your husband and your children asylum here in the realm of Asgard. The monster your husband controls will have to come as well. The beast has proven himself to be a juggernaut. Odin feels that with the other sects of gods destroyed, the beast may prove an invaluable weapon in the defense of Earth at the coming of Ragnarok.” Aiden turned and smiled at Melissa, “So can I tell your husband to accept this generous offer from Odin?”
Melissa was silent for a moment. She began to cry and then her cries quickly turned into hysterical laughter. She pressed her face against the bars of her cage, “You say that Odin is wise? Well let me tell you that he is a fool. He may know a lot things that I will never understand, but there is no way that he knows my husband as well as I know him, or as he knows me.” Tears were still streaming down from her face as her emotions changed from jovial to angry, “I have known Luke for a long time. I can tell you that he does not respond well when he is threated or challenged. He responds even worse when someone threatens his family. Does Odin really think that Luke would sacrifice the rest of the human race to save me? Does Odin think that I would want to be spared at the expense of every other person on Earth?”
Melissa almost snarled, “He and Chimera are going to destroy everything that you and Odin send at him on Earth, and if I am not returned home safely to him, Luke will find a way to bring to Chimera here and together they will tear this kingdom to rubble. He will do all of this because he knows that is exactly what I would want him to do.” She glared at Aiden, “Don’t worry about taking a message from me to Luke, instead take a message to Odin. Tell him to release me or see his people and his kingdom laid to waste!”
Aiden stood there a moment staring at Melissa. She screamed at the nymph, “You said that you’re nothing but a lowly servant. A messenger? You have been given a message. Do the only thing that your sorry ass is able to do and deliver my message!” Melissa waited for second then added, “Or are you waiting for a tip?” She reached into her pocket pulled out a nickel and tossed to Aiden. The nymph let the coin fall at his feet as he glared at Melissa in anger. In the thousands of years that he had existed, no human had ever spoken to him in such a way. With a few words, this woman had reduced him to a being who was beneath her. Aiden swallowed his pride. As much as it hurt him, he could not touch this woman without Odin’s permission. He spun around on his heels and walked out of the dungeon.
Melissa heard a voice from behind her, “That was great! It’s about time that someone put that bastard in his place.” Melissa turned around to see a young blonde woman who, like all of the other woman, was clearly pregnant. The young woman was using the wall to help in lifting her body off of the floor. When she was standing, she looked at Melissa and pled, “Please tell me that it is true? That your husband has monster that is fighting those things?”
Melissa walked over to the young woman, “Yes, it’s true. In fact, they have already defeated two sects of gods!”
The blonde nodded, “That would explain why we were taken here so quickly.”
Melissa placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder, “What happened to you and all of these other women?”
The girl sighed, “My name is Felecia and all of the women here have the same story. That bastard you just told off seduced us and then when he kissed us there was a flash of light and we found ourselves in something that looked like it was ancient Rome or something. We were trapped inside of a palace. It was much nicer than this but it was still a prison. There were young men there too who had been seduced and trapped by a blonde woman.” Felecia began to cry as she told her tale, “When we were in the palace, there were men dressed in long white togas. I guess that they were gods but whatever they were, they came and had sex with us as they pleased.” She took a deep breath, “It was horrible. We were little more than their sex slaves. Within a day or two after they had their way with us, we all began to notice that we were pregnant, but this was not a normal pregnancy; it was progressing at a rate far too quickly to be normal.” She pointed to her stomach, “I have only been pregnant a couple of weeks and it looks like I am do any day now.” Felecia was unable to continue her story as she broke down in tears.
Melissa comforted her for a moment and then she tried to coax the rest of the story out of the young woman. Melissa was well aware that if she ever saw Luke again, any information she could give him about these gods would be tremendously helpful. When Felecia calmed down Melissa questioned her, “What happened next? How did you come here and where are the men who were with you?”
Felecia calmed down and finished her story, “There were goddesses who had sex with the men. A few weeks ago, the gods and goddess in the togas stopped coming. We were left alone for a few days during which our pregnancies continued to progress quickly. Everyone there did what they could to help each other until these giants dressed up as Vikings came into our prison. They didn’t ask questions or give orders, they just killed all of the men and then they had us women march out of the prison and onto a rainbow of all things. We took one step onto the rainbow and then we wound up in this dungeon. The guy who I guess is their king came to see us when we were first put in here. He looked like a scary version of Santa Claus dressed like a Viking with a crown and an eye patch.” Felecia began to cry again, “He said that we were carrying the children of gods and that once we gave birth that we be slain like the vermin we are. He said that our children would inherit our world and succeed on it where we had failed!” Felecia was crying uncontrollably as she collapsed into Melissa’s arms.
Melissa held the young girl and looked around at the other women in the cell. The thought that each of the women was carrying a demi-god both scared Melissa and at the same gave her hope. Odin had said that they were children of gods but Melissa knew that they were also the children of humans and that thought gave her hope.
She stroked Felecia’s hair and whispered into her ear, “Don’t worry. My husband is coming for us and he is bringing the most powerful creature on Earth with him.”
Chapter 41
Virginia
Luke said good-bye to his mother and daughters then he walked out of his house on the base. Stacy was still upset about her mother but she was sure that, “Daddy and his monster would be able to get Mommy back.” Luke could not guarantee his daughters tha
t he would bring their mother home but he could promise them that he and his monster would do everything they could to get her back.
Luke was heading to the command center on base. He was optimistic about the meeting. He knew that they had defeated two of the three sects of gods prior to the time that Melissa was taken. That made both Parsons and Diana reasonably sure that the Asgardians had abducted Melissa as opposed to killing her. If the Asgardians had Melissa and she was alive, then there was still a chance that he would be able to bring her home.
Luke entered the command center to find Toombs sitting by himself. Luke didn’t say anything to the doctor he simply sat down in his chair. Toombs was staring at Luke and for the first time since they had met, the doctor felt a connection to the teacher. The gods had taken Luke’s wife from him just as they had taken Allison. Toombs felt as if he shared Luke’s pain. For all of the animosity that Toombs had toward Luke, he knew how bad Luke was hurting because he was hurting in the same way.
Toombs stood up and walked over to Luke, “Look Luke, about your wife…”
Luke glared at the tubby little man, “Don’t go there, Toombs. Just don’t go there.”
Toombs quickly turned and walked away. Under his breath he muttered, “Asshole.”
Chimera: Scourge of the Gods: A Kaiju Thriller Page 19