by Mike Brandon

	Hello, my name is Takashi Itagaki. I work at Yurakucho Station in Tokyo, or actually, I used to. This is my story. I was behind the desk filing away some papers and it seemed like a typical day. Travelers were rushing through, trying to get to their destinations. Tokyo is a busy city. A first time visitor could get lost easily here and it just so happened I was talking with someone who was making their first visit to Japan. "Hello, could you show me where I'm supposed to claim my luggage?" he asked. I brought him over to the baggage area and from across the room, I could hear two soldiers talking. They sounded nervous. Little did I know what they were scared of or what they knew about. It was something none of the people in all of Tokyo had an inkling of. A dark horror was waiting beneath the waves miles off the shore of Tokyo Bay but no one knew that. No one knew the living nightmare that was about to take over every one of their lives and grip them in its icy claws. The soldiers went about their business and I looked at the clock. It was getting close to my break time. I stopped at the station's cafe and ordered some steaming sukiyaki with something to drink. Looking outside, the clouds were getting dark and I could see military helicopters fly by. It didn't seem like much until more kept coming, one after another. "What the heck is going on?" I thought as I was finishing my meal. My break was almost over but before I could get back to work, the almost empty lobby area suddenly flooded with people. All of them had looks of panic on their faces. A loud alarm sounded and conductors began rushing people onto trains. I pushed through and made it to the platform, hopefully to get answers. "What's going on?" I asked a frightened businessman. He scrambled into the car too fast to answer. It was chaos! Everywhere, a flock of fear-filled people as far as one could see. "Hey, get these people on the next train!" another conductor shouted to me over the screaming mob. Another train had pulled in just behind the one he was loading and I was trying to get as many people safely on it as I could. More kept coming in an endless stream. It was so loud, my eardrums felt like they would shatter, especially when one lady screamed right next to my ear. Ow, that hurt! My train was filling up quickly and the one in front was getting ready to leave. "Does this train go to Osaka?" an old man asked. I could barely hear him over the madness but it made no difference since even I didn't know where it was headed or what was going on in the first place! It was like some insane nightmare. There wasn't enough room but people were still cramming themselves into the cars and I finally was able to shut the door of one and move to the next. Suddenly, a thunderous roar that silenced everyone echoed through the station. It was like that moment had frozen in time and their hearts stopped, only to restart with twice as much fear. It only lasted for a second but everyone moved faster and I didn't know what to think. I never heard anything like it before but it was scarier than anything I could ever imagine. I had to force my way through people but before I could get to the last car, it was already full. The rest would have to wait for the next train which I could see in the distance. But something else there also, a shadow under the darkened sky. It looked almost like a mountain. The same roar came again, only this time it was closer. The first train hadn't left yet and I looked back at the black towering obscurity in the distance. It was too dark to even remotely make out what it could be but soon, a long line of light flashed down its back. The next moment I'll never forget. Giant flames came down on the incoming train and it was completely engulfed by them! The ground shook again and again with... footsteps? "No, it couldn't be! There's nothing alive that's that big!" I thought. I and everyone else was wrong as its fearsome face was revealed. Glaring eyes scoured everything in front of him. Everyone behind me ran for their lives. I kept looking at the gigantic reptile that was coming closer as the first train was starting to pull out of the station. I ran to try to catch up to it but it was too late. The spines along the creature's back crackled again like lightning and a stream of blue fire passed over my head toward the tracks. The engineer pulled on the brakes as people screamed, not knowing what was happening. A MONSTER strode right through the train station as if it didn't even acknowledge its existence. I ducked and ran to get out of the way of the wreckage as the creature caught up with the train, which hadn't gotten far at all. Looking down with a toothy, foul grin, it opened its jaws and turning sideways, grabbed a car! What an animal! It shook the train violently from side to side, pieces of steel raining to the ground. Passengers also fell and some had even chosen to jump to their doom below. Huge teeth clamped down and sank deep into the car. It soon stopped, seemingly satisfied after ravaging its victims and threw the car to the ground like worthless trash. I stood in shocked horror as there were people in the twisted wreckage but the beast moved on. I ran to the phone but before I could think about dialing a single digit, its long tail, which reached back to the station, came through the roof and landed just a few yards from me! I ducked and was lucky enough to avoid getting squashed by it but not the steel grating that fell from above. I must've been knocked unconscious because the next thing I remember was waking up and it was nighttime. Nurses were around me and other victims of the attack. I heard everyone talking about what happened and from a tv newscaster, I learned the name of what caused it all, a name I will never forget: Godzilla.