The Gigan
April 21st, 2007, 04:37 PM
This chapter moves away from the were and when the first chapter took place. It moves to another charecter who will meet up with Gordan in Antarctica in the next capter.
Godzilla:
The Final War Chronicles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part I:
The Dawn of the War
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2:
Memories of the Conflagration
General Hirata of the Japanese Air Force sat in his office. Akihiko Hirata was sixty two and had served in the military since he was nineteen. Akihiko felt he belonged in the military, protecting his country. He had felt this way ever since he was twelve. That was fifty years ago.
Akihiko glanced at his Japanese military aircraft calendar. He saw the date and was hit with fear. His face and body appeared calm, but terror had just struck his heart like a fire hose. The calendar read: November 3, 2004. Akihiko took a deep breath to relax: ... November 3. He had remembered well what happened fifty years ago: November 3, 1954.
*****
Little Akihiko Hirata ran through the conflagration which was just yesterday the streets of Tokyo. Twelve year old Akihiko ran franticly down the street ablaze. Many scared thoughts rushed through his head: What's happening? What is this monster that’s doing this to the city? He also thought what any child thinks when scared: Where’s my mom and dad!?
***
It was just two hours ago that Akihiko was with his parents. They were in the middle of an enormous crowd heading out of the city. The prime minister had ordered an evacuation of the entire city of Tokyo. Nobody was positive why. Akihiko lived only about a mile from tokyo bay, so it would take him a while to get out of the city. The massive crowd of people just slowed them down even more.
Around dusk, the military had hastened the evacuation. Every body was walking faster out off the city. People where crammed against each other for over a mile. That was when Akihiko was separated from his parents. Akihiko’s parents held each of his hands, mother on the left, father on the right. The people in the crowd seemed to be getting crammed tighter every minute, they took up every available inch. It wasn’t long until panicking people were forced in between Akihiko and his parents. First his father disappears into the crowd, then his mother was also torn away from Akihiko’s hand. Akihiko was forced against his will to walk forward as he franticly looked around for his mother and father. Akihiko was all alone now, that was the last he would ever see his parents.
Machine guns were now being fired in the distance, at the shore of Tokyo Bay. Every man woman and child turned there heads around in silence. They thought: Are those guns? Who is shooting? What is being shot at? Are we being invaded?
A voice (in japanese) called out through the loud speakers that rose high above the crowd, "Attention... due too recent events, the lack of vehicles, and the overall progress of the evacuation, the remaining citizens must evacuate the city on foot." , there were still thousands of people in the city.
Not five seconds later, a hellish roar exploded from the bay. Every single head in the street shot around in shock. More gunfire could be heard, along with the sounds of mayhem and destruction. The lights of many fires alighted off in the distance. Without a single sound, people began to walk out of the city, there heads still fixed on the fiery glow in the distance. They then hastened there paces, a few eyes broke away from the hell behind. The silent crowds eventually broke out into a full run, as they could tell the red and orange lights were growing closer.
Little Akihiko was pushed, shoved, and knocked around as he could not keep up with the rest of the crazed people. He was mostly trying too stay up and not get trampled to death. His eyes were filled with panic as tears flooded from them. Where is my mother! Where are my parents!
The large crowd soon broke up as the faster ones made there way ahead. There was much more elbow room now. The only people Akihiko could see now were the elderly, the ill, and worst of all, children, abandoned children. Akihiko walked through the abandoned city of Tokyo. There were a few people around him, but he never felt more alone.
***
About twenty minutes later, Akihiko was still wandering the streets. He wasn’t crying, because he had no more tears to cry. He showed no signs of sadness. He showed no sign if any emotion at all.
Mother... mother... father, thought Akihiko in a cold, emotionless tone. Are they still hear? What if they left the city without me. What if they just couldn't find me, so they left me. Or maybe they’re still hear, and maybe they’re looking for me. I got lost before, and they found me. Maybe they will come up behind me, or from around that corner.
Akihiko looked at the street corners, he looked behind him too. He thought he just might run into his parent. He just wanted them to come walking around that corner. Then he would run too them and they would embrace him. Then they would get out of this damned city, together.
He continued too walk slowly towards the corner. He played the scenario of his parents coming around the corner over and over again.
He had finally reached the corner and came to a halt. He looked both ways, the streets were empty, barren. It was then that he cursed his own foolishness. He began to breath heavily. He backed up and leaned up against a wall, then slid to the ground. Then he started to weep, which soon broke out into a full cry.
"M’ma!!!" , Akihiko yelled through his sadness choked throat, "P’pa!!!" He continued to yell out for his parents until his throat was soar. He buried his face in his knees and continued to cry alone with no one to comfort him. He shunned away the rest of the world around him. He didn’t even notice that the earth was shaking at a steady rhythm beneath him, growing louder and stronger.
Akihiko rose his head up out of his sorrow. Now he did feel the earth shake beneath his feet. An earthquake?, he thought, No, this is different, strange. Earthquakes don’t act like this at all. The ground quaked like: BOOM... BOOM... BOOM...!!! It felt like the source was not too far away, only about two kilometers away. Akihiko looked up at the eastern sky, it was illuminated a fiery orange. In the absence of the sun, the air was warm. Sounds of chaos and destruction could be heard in the distance. The orange sky, the warming air, the horrible sounds,... it was all getting closer to Akihiko. BOOM... BOOM... BOOM!!!
The natural instinct to run hit his knees and Akihiko found him self sprinting. He was running the other way, away from the terror that was heading towards him. This was the fastest he had ever ran. He had never sprinted for so long. He could feel the muscles in his legs burning, but he continued to sprint. He ran as if hell were after him, for it was.
The danger grew closer and closer with every passing moment. Akihiko could feel each BOOM as his feet touched the ground. They grew louder and stronger. Akihiko almost lost his balance a few times dew to the violent shaking of the ground. Once he had been thrown completely off the ground by the BOOMING of the earth. The chaos was getting ever closer. Akihiko had sprinted for almost three miles now. Running, running, running away from a threat yet to even be seen.
Enough, Akihiko thought, too tired. Akihiko stopped all at once and began to gasp heavily. The air was thick with ash and smoke, making it hard to even breath normally. He started to walk at a fast pace, still struggling for breath. He looked up and saw that he was outside the train station. Akihiko couldn’t run any more, he was too tired. After a few seconds of thinking, he decided to hide in a building. He was closer to the train station, so he ran it there. When Akihiko got inside, he saw that it was deserted, like every other house, store, and apartment.
Akihiko walked slowly through the abandoned train station, looking for somewhere he thought would be a good place to take cover. His eyes then looked out the window. It was then that Akihiko first gazed upon the thing that was responsible for the explosive sounds that had been chasing him. He was also gazing upon the thing that was responsible for the countless loss of human life in it’s fiery wake. Akihiko starred in complete horror as a four hundred foot tall dinosaur stood just a quarter mile away. It had three rows of enormous dorsal spines running down it’s back. In it’s maw was a large train car, along with another in it’s left hand. People were still in side. The people still inside the train car in it’s mouth were all screaming in horror and confusion. Some would jump out the windows to their death. The beast stood their for a second, seeming to not know what to do with this thing in his mouth. It dropped the train car that was in it’s hand. In plunged to the ground, it’s passengers screaming all the way. It crashed to the ground killing most of the people inside, leaving a few alive to die later as they lay trapped, mortally wounded, and bloody in the twisted metal. The monster, with the other car in it’s mouth, began to crunch it’s jaws down on the car. The windows in the train car burst under the pressure. The people were more horrified then ever. The monster then flung it’s head to one side as it released the train car. The train car went flying to the ground. As another train carrying over one hundred evacuees came riding along the tracks, the two collided. There was a massive explosion of fire and black smoke. There were no survivors.
The lumbering giant observed the small spectacle of fire, smoke, and death. It kept a stern, emotionless look. The monster opened it’s jaws half way and released a horrible growl. The lights of the enormous fires danced in the creatures eyes. The air everywhere made blurry waves in the extreme heat. The monster took in a large breath of the warm air, then released it in a hellish roar. Almost every window of every building around the beast exploded.
Bits and pieces of sharp glass flew at Akihiko. He shielded his face with his arms. Large and small cuts covered the front of Akihiko. The giant monster began to walk forward, towards Akihiko. Each step sounded like a bomb going off. Each step covered more than twenty feet.
Hide or run? Hide or run? , The question slammed back and forth within Akihiko’s head. He had recovered some of his strength, along with his breath. He knew the building wouldn’t be standing in less than a minute. He bolted out the door.
Once again, Akihiko found himself running for his life. He could hear the hideous cries of the beast behind him. By the time he was to the next block, Akihiko heard a loud crashing sound. He glanced behind him to see the train station in ruins, and the monster walking through it, as if it were nothing. The monster kept walking through the street, the faces of buildings were being torn away by the monsters sides and tail.
Akihiko forced him self to look strait ahead, and to just keep running. It was then that a strange, loud humming sound arose. It was the monster. It’s back glowed white hot. A few seconds later, an enormous fiery beam of some sort shot high over Akihiko’s head. It collided into a group of buildings on the left side of the street. The hot beam was dragged over to the right side of the street, engulfing everything in a rising sea of fire.
Little Akihiko Hirata ran through the conflagration which was just yesterday the streets of Tokyo. Twelve year old Akihiko ran franticly down the street ablaze. Many scared thoughts rushed through his head: What's happening? What is this monster that’s doing this to the city? He also thought what any child thinks when scared: Where’s my mom and dad!?
By the time Akihiko was at the next block, the monster was much closer. When he looked back, he was overcome with horror and amazement. The towering giant lumbered over Akihiko. Akihiko tripped and fell to the ground. He laid there in awe as the creature towered over him. The monster cast a massive shadow over Akihiko.
Being a child, Akihiko had not yet fully grasped the concept of death. He didn’t know what exactly to think right then. Am I going to die now? Akihiko thought with excruciating sadness, I want my mom, ... my dad!
"M'ma!!!", Akihiko yelled in horror and desperation.
The colossus halted it’s march as Akihiko yelled out. Akihiko thought that it had heard him, and by calling for some kind of help was a very, very bad idea. The monster slowly lowered it’s head down. It was then that Akihiko, a ten year old school boy, made direct eye contact with a monster that wished only for death and destruction. As Akihiko gazed into the monster’s eyes, he could see nothing other than fiery rage, and all of it was focused on Akihiko.
As the monstrosity gazed down at little Akihiko, the small boy gazed right back. Akihiko knew what he was looking at. He was looking at the thing that had killed hundreds of people that were still in the city, the thing that had destroyed half the city of Tokyo by now, the thing that had taken his parents away from him. Deep in Akihiko’s heart, a fiery hatred began to burn. He hated this damn creature. He wanted to some how rise up against it and kill it.
Just then, the fiery hatred in Akihiko’s heart was violently extinguished as the giant monster let loose a deafening roar directly at Akihiko. The boy was forced to the ground by the incredible power of the cry. In his mind, Akihiko was thrown back to feeling nothing but fear and horror again.
Then the monster began to lower its head to the ground at Akihiko. It’s face was falling ever closer to Akihiko. Akihiko could see greater detail in the creatures eyes now. It kept it’s strong, stern look all the while.
Akihiko suddenly felt him self being lifted up from the ground. He soon realized he was being dragged along the ground by the arm pits. He looked up. A young man (in his early twenties) was carrying him away. The man had look of horror on his face, not to Akihiko’s surprise. He looked back at the giant monster. It’s attention to Akihiko had vanished as it rose it’s head up and continued it’s juggernaut march.
Akihiko then realized what the man must have done. The man must have seen Akihiko and came to his rescue. It was the only conclusion Akihiko could come up with. They reached the side walk as they both watched as the monster walk by with each earth shattering step. Several frozen minutes passed until the monster was a few hundred meters away.
The man knelled down, while still starring upon the gigantic monster, and whispered into Akihiko’s ear, "Come on, kid...". Akihiko got to his feet as the two boys walked quickly in the opposite direction of the menace. They walked for several minutes, then Akihiko began to stumble and trip over his own legs. He began to fall behind the young man. He was exhausted. So much running, too much running, running for dear life.
"Can we... stop... for... a moment?", Akihiko panted out. The man seemed to ignore Akihiko at first.
"Just one more block, kid.", the man said. They ran one more block down the empty street with the dark orange sky. It seemed so long to Akihiko. "Hear! We’re hear.", said the man in a worried voice. He looked up at the building next to him. He went inside, Akihiko followed. It was an apartment complex. The man started up the stairs, Akihiko behind him. The two boys walked down the up stairs hallway.
"Emily!", yelled the man, "Emily!". They continued down the hall. "Emily!!!"
Just then, a blonde american girl (the same age as the man) came running out of a room. She had the feeling of glee and fear on her face. She ran straight for the young man.
"Akira!", yelled the girl. They met and quickly embraced each other. They passionately kissed.
"What the hell are you still doing hear?", asked the man named Akira with a smile of relief on his face.
"I was going to leave, but they said on the radio that the evacuation wasn’t moving along, so I thought it would be safe hear.", said the girl named Emily.
"No... no it’s not safe hear, it’s not safe in this entire city anymore.", explained Akira.
When Akira finished that sentence, he could hear, he could feel the rhythmic quakes yet again.
"We have to go now.", Akira told Emily with terror in his eyes. He grabbed Emily by her hand and led them down the hall, "Come on, kid!". The entire building was shaking very violently now. The three of them raced down the empty hall. With every passing second, the rhythmic quakes grew stronger and louder. They ran down the stairs. An earth shattering roar erupted from outside. Almost every window in the building shattered into deadly shards. They got down stairs and ran for the door out of the building, stepping on the pieces of glass under there shoes on the way.
Outside, they stopped for a second to breath, Akihiko treasured this time. Then he heard a loud, horrible sound from behind the building they just came out of. Not another roar, it was the sound of destruction. The building was being gouged out from the other side, then the face of the building started to lean forward, leering down an Akihiko, Akira, and Emily. Then the juggernaut rose it’s monstrous head above the roof. The two boys stood frozen, Emily let loose a scream of terror as she gazed at the monster against the dark orange night sky. It released another roar which completely drowned Emily’s cry. The building began to fall apart as the monster forced it’s way through it. Akira grabbed Emily by the shoulders and began to franticly try to pull her away, but her legs refused, as she walked backwards at a sluggish pace.
Then the building finally gave in to the unstoppable force behind it. The building crumbled, large pieces of it were hurled towards the three helpless people. Akihiko was engulfed in dust and smoke, he began to cough uncontrollably. He could hear the monster begin to walk again, towards him. One giant, four toed dinosaur foot came crashing down, through the thick dust, in front of Akihiko. He was thrown at least a foot into the air by the shock wave. He fell hard on his knees. The foot then rose up and flew over Akihiko’s head, landing behind him with an other powerful shock wave. Akihiko sat on the ground frozen, waiting for the monster to go away. An immense tail came swooping over him, crashing to the ground just a few yards from him. Akihiko just starred, as the immense tail was dragged away by it’s owner. He saw the creature’s back side, trapped in the magnificence on the silver - blue dorsal spikes. The monster continued down the street, tearing away building faces as it went.
Soon, it was gone. Akihiko weakly stood up. He scanned the area, looking for the man, Akira, and the american woman, Emily. The dust started to settle. Akihiko heard something, someone, a few yards away. It was Akira, he was sobbing. After a few seconds, Akihiko could see him. Akira was on his knees, with Emily in his arms. Akihiko walked slowly over to the couple, starring at the motionless form of Emily, a girl he had met only a few moments ago, but Akira must have known much longer. He reached then, now seeing that Emily was soaked in blood. A large wound was on top of her head. Her beautiful, long, blonde hair was now a dark, ugly red. Half of her face was drenched in blood. The blood ran down her neck and into her shirt. Akira’s front and his hands that had cradled the lifeless body were also covered in the girls blood. Akira continued to sod over the dead girl.
"Emily... Emily?", sobbed Akira, "Emily!"
The body lied dead.
"No... no... no, no, no", Akira repeated over and over again. "Why... why her? I don’t have one God damn scratch in me, why the f*** did you take her!?", he leaned his face into Emily’s cold shoulder. It had no breath, it had no beat, it was lifeless. Akira lifted his head up to see the back of the monster responsible for his pain. Those huge, powerful dorsal spikes. The pain in his heart spiraled with thick black hatred. His eyes cursed at the beast as it continued on it’s path of destruction. He then noticed that in his mind, he had just left Emily for a brief period. He wept as Emily still laid dead in his arms. He didn’t know what to do. His mind could not come to terms with this loss. He had loved her. He had never felt that way about anyone before he met her. As lovers, there hearts and minds were intwined as one. Now, to him, the most beautiful, most precious thing in the entire world was gone. With out her, he felt empty. He felt like less than half a man, he was nothing, nothing without her. A vision flooded threw Akira’s mind just then. It was his life, his future. He envisioned the rest of his life without Emily. No..., thought Akira, not without her.... He embraced Emily one more time, cold blood (the only cold thing in this hell once known as Tokyo) covered them both.
"Go, kid..." Akira told Akihiko as he raised his head up to the boy, "There’s a hospital a few miles up this street. There are people there who can take care of you."
"... Are you coming?" Akihiko softly asked.
"... No..., they can’t do anything for her." Akira softly answered, "Emily and I will just... stay hear for a little while." He ran his fingers through the girl’s thick bloody hair. "Go..."
Akihiko slowly turned around and began walking down the street, the sky alight with fiery oranges and reds. Akihiko wanted to try to convinced Akira to come with him, but he noticed something strange with the sad man, something inside him. Something pitiful within him that wanted to die now. Akihiko left Akira and his love behind him. But the image of Akira holding the lifeless Emily would always remain in the back of his mind. He could try running away from them or forgetting about them, but the image of the two lovers would always haunt him, in the back of his mind.
***
Just less than an hour later, Akihiko Hirata reached the door step of the hospital. He could hear cries of pain and misery inside. There at the door step, Akihiko collapsed unconscious from exhaustion. He didn’t remember much of what happened between when he fell into the darkness and when he awoke on a blanket on the floor. He was in a long row of other people, all were lying down, some were still alive. He noticed strange looking burns on some of them.
A girl approached Akihiko and knelled down next to him. She was a delicate looking Japanese girl in her twenties. Akihiko thought she looked very beautiful. She asked him if he was feeling better now. Akihiko said he felt much better after his rest, though he only meant physically. She told him she was the one that found him on the door step passed out. Akihiko asked who she was. She told him she was volunteering as a nurse at the hospital, her name was Emico Yumane.
At the hospital, Akihiko learned the name of the monster that had nearly flattened the city of Tokyo. It’s name was Godzilla.
*****
General Hirata awoke from his hellish flashback. He tried to relax. It had been fifty long years, and the memories had haunted him almost every day. The nightmares in his head repeated them selfs in his mind. After a few moments, General Hirata’s attention to his own memories was broken when a man came into his office holding a thick folder.
"Sir," the man formally began, looking rather flustered, ", we’ve picked up unusual heat signatures along with radiation readings in Antarctica." The man took in a deep breath. "Satellite images also show... geological disturbances... at Site G."
Godzilla:
The Final War Chronicles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part I:
The Dawn of the War
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2:
Memories of the Conflagration
General Hirata of the Japanese Air Force sat in his office. Akihiko Hirata was sixty two and had served in the military since he was nineteen. Akihiko felt he belonged in the military, protecting his country. He had felt this way ever since he was twelve. That was fifty years ago.
Akihiko glanced at his Japanese military aircraft calendar. He saw the date and was hit with fear. His face and body appeared calm, but terror had just struck his heart like a fire hose. The calendar read: November 3, 2004. Akihiko took a deep breath to relax: ... November 3. He had remembered well what happened fifty years ago: November 3, 1954.
*****
Little Akihiko Hirata ran through the conflagration which was just yesterday the streets of Tokyo. Twelve year old Akihiko ran franticly down the street ablaze. Many scared thoughts rushed through his head: What's happening? What is this monster that’s doing this to the city? He also thought what any child thinks when scared: Where’s my mom and dad!?
***
It was just two hours ago that Akihiko was with his parents. They were in the middle of an enormous crowd heading out of the city. The prime minister had ordered an evacuation of the entire city of Tokyo. Nobody was positive why. Akihiko lived only about a mile from tokyo bay, so it would take him a while to get out of the city. The massive crowd of people just slowed them down even more.
Around dusk, the military had hastened the evacuation. Every body was walking faster out off the city. People where crammed against each other for over a mile. That was when Akihiko was separated from his parents. Akihiko’s parents held each of his hands, mother on the left, father on the right. The people in the crowd seemed to be getting crammed tighter every minute, they took up every available inch. It wasn’t long until panicking people were forced in between Akihiko and his parents. First his father disappears into the crowd, then his mother was also torn away from Akihiko’s hand. Akihiko was forced against his will to walk forward as he franticly looked around for his mother and father. Akihiko was all alone now, that was the last he would ever see his parents.
Machine guns were now being fired in the distance, at the shore of Tokyo Bay. Every man woman and child turned there heads around in silence. They thought: Are those guns? Who is shooting? What is being shot at? Are we being invaded?
A voice (in japanese) called out through the loud speakers that rose high above the crowd, "Attention... due too recent events, the lack of vehicles, and the overall progress of the evacuation, the remaining citizens must evacuate the city on foot." , there were still thousands of people in the city.
Not five seconds later, a hellish roar exploded from the bay. Every single head in the street shot around in shock. More gunfire could be heard, along with the sounds of mayhem and destruction. The lights of many fires alighted off in the distance. Without a single sound, people began to walk out of the city, there heads still fixed on the fiery glow in the distance. They then hastened there paces, a few eyes broke away from the hell behind. The silent crowds eventually broke out into a full run, as they could tell the red and orange lights were growing closer.
Little Akihiko was pushed, shoved, and knocked around as he could not keep up with the rest of the crazed people. He was mostly trying too stay up and not get trampled to death. His eyes were filled with panic as tears flooded from them. Where is my mother! Where are my parents!
The large crowd soon broke up as the faster ones made there way ahead. There was much more elbow room now. The only people Akihiko could see now were the elderly, the ill, and worst of all, children, abandoned children. Akihiko walked through the abandoned city of Tokyo. There were a few people around him, but he never felt more alone.
***
About twenty minutes later, Akihiko was still wandering the streets. He wasn’t crying, because he had no more tears to cry. He showed no signs of sadness. He showed no sign if any emotion at all.
Mother... mother... father, thought Akihiko in a cold, emotionless tone. Are they still hear? What if they left the city without me. What if they just couldn't find me, so they left me. Or maybe they’re still hear, and maybe they’re looking for me. I got lost before, and they found me. Maybe they will come up behind me, or from around that corner.
Akihiko looked at the street corners, he looked behind him too. He thought he just might run into his parent. He just wanted them to come walking around that corner. Then he would run too them and they would embrace him. Then they would get out of this damned city, together.
He continued too walk slowly towards the corner. He played the scenario of his parents coming around the corner over and over again.
He had finally reached the corner and came to a halt. He looked both ways, the streets were empty, barren. It was then that he cursed his own foolishness. He began to breath heavily. He backed up and leaned up against a wall, then slid to the ground. Then he started to weep, which soon broke out into a full cry.
"M’ma!!!" , Akihiko yelled through his sadness choked throat, "P’pa!!!" He continued to yell out for his parents until his throat was soar. He buried his face in his knees and continued to cry alone with no one to comfort him. He shunned away the rest of the world around him. He didn’t even notice that the earth was shaking at a steady rhythm beneath him, growing louder and stronger.
Akihiko rose his head up out of his sorrow. Now he did feel the earth shake beneath his feet. An earthquake?, he thought, No, this is different, strange. Earthquakes don’t act like this at all. The ground quaked like: BOOM... BOOM... BOOM...!!! It felt like the source was not too far away, only about two kilometers away. Akihiko looked up at the eastern sky, it was illuminated a fiery orange. In the absence of the sun, the air was warm. Sounds of chaos and destruction could be heard in the distance. The orange sky, the warming air, the horrible sounds,... it was all getting closer to Akihiko. BOOM... BOOM... BOOM!!!
The natural instinct to run hit his knees and Akihiko found him self sprinting. He was running the other way, away from the terror that was heading towards him. This was the fastest he had ever ran. He had never sprinted for so long. He could feel the muscles in his legs burning, but he continued to sprint. He ran as if hell were after him, for it was.
The danger grew closer and closer with every passing moment. Akihiko could feel each BOOM as his feet touched the ground. They grew louder and stronger. Akihiko almost lost his balance a few times dew to the violent shaking of the ground. Once he had been thrown completely off the ground by the BOOMING of the earth. The chaos was getting ever closer. Akihiko had sprinted for almost three miles now. Running, running, running away from a threat yet to even be seen.
Enough, Akihiko thought, too tired. Akihiko stopped all at once and began to gasp heavily. The air was thick with ash and smoke, making it hard to even breath normally. He started to walk at a fast pace, still struggling for breath. He looked up and saw that he was outside the train station. Akihiko couldn’t run any more, he was too tired. After a few seconds of thinking, he decided to hide in a building. He was closer to the train station, so he ran it there. When Akihiko got inside, he saw that it was deserted, like every other house, store, and apartment.
Akihiko walked slowly through the abandoned train station, looking for somewhere he thought would be a good place to take cover. His eyes then looked out the window. It was then that Akihiko first gazed upon the thing that was responsible for the explosive sounds that had been chasing him. He was also gazing upon the thing that was responsible for the countless loss of human life in it’s fiery wake. Akihiko starred in complete horror as a four hundred foot tall dinosaur stood just a quarter mile away. It had three rows of enormous dorsal spines running down it’s back. In it’s maw was a large train car, along with another in it’s left hand. People were still in side. The people still inside the train car in it’s mouth were all screaming in horror and confusion. Some would jump out the windows to their death. The beast stood their for a second, seeming to not know what to do with this thing in his mouth. It dropped the train car that was in it’s hand. In plunged to the ground, it’s passengers screaming all the way. It crashed to the ground killing most of the people inside, leaving a few alive to die later as they lay trapped, mortally wounded, and bloody in the twisted metal. The monster, with the other car in it’s mouth, began to crunch it’s jaws down on the car. The windows in the train car burst under the pressure. The people were more horrified then ever. The monster then flung it’s head to one side as it released the train car. The train car went flying to the ground. As another train carrying over one hundred evacuees came riding along the tracks, the two collided. There was a massive explosion of fire and black smoke. There were no survivors.
The lumbering giant observed the small spectacle of fire, smoke, and death. It kept a stern, emotionless look. The monster opened it’s jaws half way and released a horrible growl. The lights of the enormous fires danced in the creatures eyes. The air everywhere made blurry waves in the extreme heat. The monster took in a large breath of the warm air, then released it in a hellish roar. Almost every window of every building around the beast exploded.
Bits and pieces of sharp glass flew at Akihiko. He shielded his face with his arms. Large and small cuts covered the front of Akihiko. The giant monster began to walk forward, towards Akihiko. Each step sounded like a bomb going off. Each step covered more than twenty feet.
Hide or run? Hide or run? , The question slammed back and forth within Akihiko’s head. He had recovered some of his strength, along with his breath. He knew the building wouldn’t be standing in less than a minute. He bolted out the door.
Once again, Akihiko found himself running for his life. He could hear the hideous cries of the beast behind him. By the time he was to the next block, Akihiko heard a loud crashing sound. He glanced behind him to see the train station in ruins, and the monster walking through it, as if it were nothing. The monster kept walking through the street, the faces of buildings were being torn away by the monsters sides and tail.
Akihiko forced him self to look strait ahead, and to just keep running. It was then that a strange, loud humming sound arose. It was the monster. It’s back glowed white hot. A few seconds later, an enormous fiery beam of some sort shot high over Akihiko’s head. It collided into a group of buildings on the left side of the street. The hot beam was dragged over to the right side of the street, engulfing everything in a rising sea of fire.
Little Akihiko Hirata ran through the conflagration which was just yesterday the streets of Tokyo. Twelve year old Akihiko ran franticly down the street ablaze. Many scared thoughts rushed through his head: What's happening? What is this monster that’s doing this to the city? He also thought what any child thinks when scared: Where’s my mom and dad!?
By the time Akihiko was at the next block, the monster was much closer. When he looked back, he was overcome with horror and amazement. The towering giant lumbered over Akihiko. Akihiko tripped and fell to the ground. He laid there in awe as the creature towered over him. The monster cast a massive shadow over Akihiko.
Being a child, Akihiko had not yet fully grasped the concept of death. He didn’t know what exactly to think right then. Am I going to die now? Akihiko thought with excruciating sadness, I want my mom, ... my dad!
"M'ma!!!", Akihiko yelled in horror and desperation.
The colossus halted it’s march as Akihiko yelled out. Akihiko thought that it had heard him, and by calling for some kind of help was a very, very bad idea. The monster slowly lowered it’s head down. It was then that Akihiko, a ten year old school boy, made direct eye contact with a monster that wished only for death and destruction. As Akihiko gazed into the monster’s eyes, he could see nothing other than fiery rage, and all of it was focused on Akihiko.
As the monstrosity gazed down at little Akihiko, the small boy gazed right back. Akihiko knew what he was looking at. He was looking at the thing that had killed hundreds of people that were still in the city, the thing that had destroyed half the city of Tokyo by now, the thing that had taken his parents away from him. Deep in Akihiko’s heart, a fiery hatred began to burn. He hated this damn creature. He wanted to some how rise up against it and kill it.
Just then, the fiery hatred in Akihiko’s heart was violently extinguished as the giant monster let loose a deafening roar directly at Akihiko. The boy was forced to the ground by the incredible power of the cry. In his mind, Akihiko was thrown back to feeling nothing but fear and horror again.
Then the monster began to lower its head to the ground at Akihiko. It’s face was falling ever closer to Akihiko. Akihiko could see greater detail in the creatures eyes now. It kept it’s strong, stern look all the while.
Akihiko suddenly felt him self being lifted up from the ground. He soon realized he was being dragged along the ground by the arm pits. He looked up. A young man (in his early twenties) was carrying him away. The man had look of horror on his face, not to Akihiko’s surprise. He looked back at the giant monster. It’s attention to Akihiko had vanished as it rose it’s head up and continued it’s juggernaut march.
Akihiko then realized what the man must have done. The man must have seen Akihiko and came to his rescue. It was the only conclusion Akihiko could come up with. They reached the side walk as they both watched as the monster walk by with each earth shattering step. Several frozen minutes passed until the monster was a few hundred meters away.
The man knelled down, while still starring upon the gigantic monster, and whispered into Akihiko’s ear, "Come on, kid...". Akihiko got to his feet as the two boys walked quickly in the opposite direction of the menace. They walked for several minutes, then Akihiko began to stumble and trip over his own legs. He began to fall behind the young man. He was exhausted. So much running, too much running, running for dear life.
"Can we... stop... for... a moment?", Akihiko panted out. The man seemed to ignore Akihiko at first.
"Just one more block, kid.", the man said. They ran one more block down the empty street with the dark orange sky. It seemed so long to Akihiko. "Hear! We’re hear.", said the man in a worried voice. He looked up at the building next to him. He went inside, Akihiko followed. It was an apartment complex. The man started up the stairs, Akihiko behind him. The two boys walked down the up stairs hallway.
"Emily!", yelled the man, "Emily!". They continued down the hall. "Emily!!!"
Just then, a blonde american girl (the same age as the man) came running out of a room. She had the feeling of glee and fear on her face. She ran straight for the young man.
"Akira!", yelled the girl. They met and quickly embraced each other. They passionately kissed.
"What the hell are you still doing hear?", asked the man named Akira with a smile of relief on his face.
"I was going to leave, but they said on the radio that the evacuation wasn’t moving along, so I thought it would be safe hear.", said the girl named Emily.
"No... no it’s not safe hear, it’s not safe in this entire city anymore.", explained Akira.
When Akira finished that sentence, he could hear, he could feel the rhythmic quakes yet again.
"We have to go now.", Akira told Emily with terror in his eyes. He grabbed Emily by her hand and led them down the hall, "Come on, kid!". The entire building was shaking very violently now. The three of them raced down the empty hall. With every passing second, the rhythmic quakes grew stronger and louder. They ran down the stairs. An earth shattering roar erupted from outside. Almost every window in the building shattered into deadly shards. They got down stairs and ran for the door out of the building, stepping on the pieces of glass under there shoes on the way.
Outside, they stopped for a second to breath, Akihiko treasured this time. Then he heard a loud, horrible sound from behind the building they just came out of. Not another roar, it was the sound of destruction. The building was being gouged out from the other side, then the face of the building started to lean forward, leering down an Akihiko, Akira, and Emily. Then the juggernaut rose it’s monstrous head above the roof. The two boys stood frozen, Emily let loose a scream of terror as she gazed at the monster against the dark orange night sky. It released another roar which completely drowned Emily’s cry. The building began to fall apart as the monster forced it’s way through it. Akira grabbed Emily by the shoulders and began to franticly try to pull her away, but her legs refused, as she walked backwards at a sluggish pace.
Then the building finally gave in to the unstoppable force behind it. The building crumbled, large pieces of it were hurled towards the three helpless people. Akihiko was engulfed in dust and smoke, he began to cough uncontrollably. He could hear the monster begin to walk again, towards him. One giant, four toed dinosaur foot came crashing down, through the thick dust, in front of Akihiko. He was thrown at least a foot into the air by the shock wave. He fell hard on his knees. The foot then rose up and flew over Akihiko’s head, landing behind him with an other powerful shock wave. Akihiko sat on the ground frozen, waiting for the monster to go away. An immense tail came swooping over him, crashing to the ground just a few yards from him. Akihiko just starred, as the immense tail was dragged away by it’s owner. He saw the creature’s back side, trapped in the magnificence on the silver - blue dorsal spikes. The monster continued down the street, tearing away building faces as it went.
Soon, it was gone. Akihiko weakly stood up. He scanned the area, looking for the man, Akira, and the american woman, Emily. The dust started to settle. Akihiko heard something, someone, a few yards away. It was Akira, he was sobbing. After a few seconds, Akihiko could see him. Akira was on his knees, with Emily in his arms. Akihiko walked slowly over to the couple, starring at the motionless form of Emily, a girl he had met only a few moments ago, but Akira must have known much longer. He reached then, now seeing that Emily was soaked in blood. A large wound was on top of her head. Her beautiful, long, blonde hair was now a dark, ugly red. Half of her face was drenched in blood. The blood ran down her neck and into her shirt. Akira’s front and his hands that had cradled the lifeless body were also covered in the girls blood. Akira continued to sod over the dead girl.
"Emily... Emily?", sobbed Akira, "Emily!"
The body lied dead.
"No... no... no, no, no", Akira repeated over and over again. "Why... why her? I don’t have one God damn scratch in me, why the f*** did you take her!?", he leaned his face into Emily’s cold shoulder. It had no breath, it had no beat, it was lifeless. Akira lifted his head up to see the back of the monster responsible for his pain. Those huge, powerful dorsal spikes. The pain in his heart spiraled with thick black hatred. His eyes cursed at the beast as it continued on it’s path of destruction. He then noticed that in his mind, he had just left Emily for a brief period. He wept as Emily still laid dead in his arms. He didn’t know what to do. His mind could not come to terms with this loss. He had loved her. He had never felt that way about anyone before he met her. As lovers, there hearts and minds were intwined as one. Now, to him, the most beautiful, most precious thing in the entire world was gone. With out her, he felt empty. He felt like less than half a man, he was nothing, nothing without her. A vision flooded threw Akira’s mind just then. It was his life, his future. He envisioned the rest of his life without Emily. No..., thought Akira, not without her.... He embraced Emily one more time, cold blood (the only cold thing in this hell once known as Tokyo) covered them both.
"Go, kid..." Akira told Akihiko as he raised his head up to the boy, "There’s a hospital a few miles up this street. There are people there who can take care of you."
"... Are you coming?" Akihiko softly asked.
"... No..., they can’t do anything for her." Akira softly answered, "Emily and I will just... stay hear for a little while." He ran his fingers through the girl’s thick bloody hair. "Go..."
Akihiko slowly turned around and began walking down the street, the sky alight with fiery oranges and reds. Akihiko wanted to try to convinced Akira to come with him, but he noticed something strange with the sad man, something inside him. Something pitiful within him that wanted to die now. Akihiko left Akira and his love behind him. But the image of Akira holding the lifeless Emily would always remain in the back of his mind. He could try running away from them or forgetting about them, but the image of the two lovers would always haunt him, in the back of his mind.
***
Just less than an hour later, Akihiko Hirata reached the door step of the hospital. He could hear cries of pain and misery inside. There at the door step, Akihiko collapsed unconscious from exhaustion. He didn’t remember much of what happened between when he fell into the darkness and when he awoke on a blanket on the floor. He was in a long row of other people, all were lying down, some were still alive. He noticed strange looking burns on some of them.
A girl approached Akihiko and knelled down next to him. She was a delicate looking Japanese girl in her twenties. Akihiko thought she looked very beautiful. She asked him if he was feeling better now. Akihiko said he felt much better after his rest, though he only meant physically. She told him she was the one that found him on the door step passed out. Akihiko asked who she was. She told him she was volunteering as a nurse at the hospital, her name was Emico Yumane.
At the hospital, Akihiko learned the name of the monster that had nearly flattened the city of Tokyo. It’s name was Godzilla.
*****
General Hirata awoke from his hellish flashback. He tried to relax. It had been fifty long years, and the memories had haunted him almost every day. The nightmares in his head repeated them selfs in his mind. After a few moments, General Hirata’s attention to his own memories was broken when a man came into his office holding a thick folder.
"Sir," the man formally began, looking rather flustered, ", we’ve picked up unusual heat signatures along with radiation readings in Antarctica." The man took in a deep breath. "Satellite images also show... geological disturbances... at Site G."