Codex: Godzillaverse, The Beginning

[three]

Intro, Part 1

There were already enough problems on the face of the Earth to deal with. Pollution, warfare, famine, illness, it never really ends. The reality was that no matter what happened, where you were, what you had or what you really wanted, self - serving individuals you couldn't ever touch would always have their way in politics, and as a human being you'd need the perfect combination of luck and skill to break even in this world. I didn't used to believe in luck, ta tell ya the truth. In fact, I used to think it was all about where you've been, what you've experienced, and what you did with your potential that mattered.

Now, I believe in luck. Oh god do I ever believe in luck. I believe in things well beyond the control of the individual; things that can bring war to a standstill, that can inflict graver pains than the worst famine - hungers or kill more than the most damaging of plagues to hit the human race. I believe in the power of individuals far beyond the control of you, or me, or even those who pull the strings. I believe in monsters my friends, and 2 years ago I didn't believe you had to look anywhere but in the mirror to find them. Then, they found us...

I was out with my then girlfriend, Sara. We'd just been to a movie, and I wanted to go to the park. Yeah, ok, it was nighttime, and the park wasn't empty but it wasn't crowded. The trees were covered in deep green hues and the muggy summer air had died down to a muggy and mild air, so a stroll in the park and (maybe) a quick makeout session were all within the realm of possibility. We got there and started the walk. Sara, being the goofball she was, tripped and fell right into a puddle of mud on the ground. "Yuk! David help me!", I remember her saying. "Gimme a towel!"

"We're in the park, and it's after nine, Sara. I don't carry towels for the hell of it." I said, with a pretty mean tone, but with a smirk on my face and some easy going eyes (she used to tell me those were the reason she wanted to marry me) so she knew I was being sarcastic.

"You're not funny David", she said, as she flick mud up in my face.

"What the heck?! Sara! Stop!!" It was nearly impossible for me to eek out the words. I was laughing pretty hard, looking down at her between mudshots to the face, caught up in the fact that I was willing to do anything for her. She was adorable, and we were both pretty young...and a wind was picking up. We both smelled water in the air, and the mugginess of the day had revealed itself to be a thunderstorm brewing. "Walk's over," I said, disappointed, "but the night isn't...".

"No, no it isn't..." She said in response. I was hoping that she'd take that leap and maybe some intitiative...but alas it wasn't to be. Again, she rejected my advances, and I felt defeated. Some lightening and thunder startled her, and she jumped up into my arms. "Hide me...." she said. If only I'd hid her better...thinking about it now, we didn't even notice what was really going on around us. The wind that had picked up before was blowing much harder now. There was lightening, but no rain. The clouds had been here for a while, and the air kept fluctuating between warm, cool, and hot. For whatever reason, we didn't realize that all this was going on right above us. A monstrous gust of wind blew us back a few steps.

"Lets get outta here..." I said. Something seemed off. I was afraid, and so was she. The wind was really picking up now. The radio in the car was acting funny, but from what trickled through we could piece together something big, something really big, was going down on the coast. "Listen! They're talking about a storm surge!" The situation was bizarre. A storm surge in Florida? With no hurricane on the horizon? No mention of a storm earlier in the day? Granted, this was Florida, and sometimes you get the off storm, but this thing was vicious! Sara was scared, I was scared, but we had no idea what was coming. The broadcast on the radio came through...

ZZZ "...on the shoreline..." ZZZ "...huge surge...feet high! Freddy White...porting in....looks like a cargo ship coming in fast...." ZZZZ

Then it cut out. And then, we heard it. Five alarm warnings going off. Police, fire engines, the works all responding toward the beach. Dozens of them, and we weren't exactly on the coast. "Why are we getting a warning...." I was thinking out loud, "...it doesn't add up. And where is this rain?" I looked over to Sara, who was checking the scene out the window. She gasped a bit, and I turned my head in time to see it. A silhouette in the distance. It was over by the shore, dwarfing the hotels and buildings even though it had to be fifteen, maybe twenty minutes away. Whatever it was, I'd never seen anything in my wildest dreams like it. We saw jets flying in. Helicopters. Then missiles. Bombs. We were nearly run off the road by a convoy of armored vehicles. I'd never seen a tank on civilian turf like this before, let alone this many. Sara was crying, but I couldn't move the car. There was a steady stream of military officials and vehicles pouring in, and people were running on the streets now trying to get by. I saw a mother and her child being pushed around in the fray, and got out to help them, leaving Sara behind. "I'll be right back!" I told her.

"I love you", she said, and reached out, but I didn't return it. I went over to help but was rammed from the side by a passerby. People were now in a panic. The ground shook, and car alarms went off everywhere. I saw windows cracking, and people started to fall over. Another Earth - shaking slam; I fell back and the mother collapsed down. Her kid got separated, and fell over between us. That's when it happened. That silhouette lit up, starting with the spines. An alien glow came over them; light blue, and darkened to reveal the enormity of the creature that had come ashore. By now, even the police and firemen were in retreat. I knew this wasn't ending well. I started over to the kid, and got kicked in the face by someone running by. I looked up to see the kid getting pummeled. His mom reached out but couldn't help him. The crowd came down on me, another guy fell, and then a blast of heat came over everyone. Explosions followed, the skin on my arm boiled and blistered. A blast of blue tore through some buildings and tanks down the street. It HAD to be blocks away, but the pain was immeasurable. The heat seared my shirt to my left side; the woman was steaming over there, and people were on the ground crying in pain. The kid was bloody and covered in bloody shoeprints. He was dead; trampled to death, but I went over to him to help anyway. I felt like I had to make his mother feel comfort, something, anything...and then it roared. If the crowd wasn't stopped before, it was dead still now. Windows shattered. My ears popped and I felt warm liquid running down my head: blood. It blew out my goddamn eardrums. I grabbed the kid but the mother attacked me and huddled him into her chest. She was sobbing, and I tried to tell her it wasn't gonna help, but she batted at my hand and screamed.

"Get off my baby! Don't you hurt him!!" She yelled. I backed away, and saw my car was gone. I started to get up, but my skin tore from the burns. I fell back down, and Sara came over and grabbed me. She was safe from the heat in the car, but was still bleeding.

"Someone stole it." She gave me one of those what-did-you-expect looks, and lifted me up. I was on her shoulder; that innocent and often airheaded little babe was helping me this time. We were moving slowly down the sidewalk and another heavy smash came down, like an Earthquake. I saw the blue light in the distance again.

"Oh god, Sara, RUN!!! Drop me!!!" She ignored me. The beast let out the blue beam again, and it nailed the woman and her kid. Sara threw me down and dove on me. She was seared down the back and screamed, and in an instant she stopped making any sound. "Sara? SARA?!" I was screaming, shaking her. She wasn't moving. I tried to pick her up, but I was too hurt. I started to cry. "Don't you leave me. You wake up. WAKE UP!!!" She didn't respond. Another roar. I looked over to see now the face of the monster. It's teeth visible, two rows down each jaw. It was massive, even for a giant. It had just been hit by the military, the full brunt of the United Sates military force, and suffered no damage whatsoever. I admit, I saw it and cried. I teared up and got goosebumps. Sara was dead. I was staring down something Christ himself feared to challenge. At that point I figured that if there was a god, either he'd thrown us to the wolves, or I was looking at it. I pushed Sara off and hobbled up and away. I looked back once more, and another roar sent me down to my knees. Then I saw Sara stirring. I started to move back to her, but a man in camoflage stopped me.

"Evacuate NOW!!!" He said.

"I can't! Get off me!! Please that's my girlfriend!!! SARA!!!" I was screaming, flailing, bleeding all over.

"Do you have a death wish?! Get your ass out of here moron!!!" The man tried to hoist me up onto his shoulder, but I fought hard and we both fell.

"Leave me here!!! I need to get her!!!" She was looking around, disoriented. I knew she was in a ton of pain. I saw in the distance that the thing's spines were lighting up again. "Oh god..." I thought. "If we die, we die together..." I closed my eyes, resigned myself to my fate, and felt more hands. The man and I had made it to a humvee on the way out.

"Lets MOVE!" He shouted, and smacked the side of the humvee twice. It sped off. The bomb kept coming in, and I saw the beam hit where I was just standing a few seconds ago. Sara was undoubtedly dead now...but something else happened. The beam wasn't a one off like before. It kept coming strong, and turned toward us. An explosion happened, and all I remember is black.

I woke up and smelt blood everywhere. My head ached. Everything was blurry, and I could hardly move. "This one is moving..." I heard. The muffled sounds hurt my ears, and I covered them. "Son, we're interviewing witnesses..." the voice said, "...we're going to need to ask you some questions. First, we'll get you some water, and some painkillers. I'm sorry, but we can't put you under until after the questioning." I'd forgotten my burns, and started to scream. "Son, SON CALM DOWN!" I felt a needle in my good arm...I started to relax...as I faded I heard the voice again..."This one will take awhile...but I'm pretty sure we already know who it was..."

One more voice, different, distinct chimed in. Even with blown ears I heard what he said. I slipped into black again, but before I did one word burned itself into my mind, scarred it forever more. A name was given to my pain, suffering, my fears...the voice came in. It was stern, firm, and yet terrified. "It was him sir. Godzilla...."

[three]

Intro, Part 2

My name is Ayyub Habeeb. I am...was...a jihadist. This is not the jihiadist that many are familiar with outside of my country: I was fighting a war within Egypt against those who had decided to disrespect the Prophet. To be a good man, one must also be a good Muslim. He must pray, he must always carry the teachings of the Prophet with him, and always stay true to the Qur'an. I believed in this truth and fought for it. I was willing to die for it. There was no greater honor than to die for the right reasons, in the name of Allah. The Sunni Muslims had tarnished the name of the Prophet for too long. We were Shia in Egypt, and that left us out of place. Most here are Sunni Muslims. At this point I do not believe it matters much anymore who is right. What I do know is that the time is coming, quickly, when all men alive must act as one.

The incident in America did not reach our ears for months. We were traveling through the desert, near the pyramids, looking for a fight. We had our weapons, hand delivered by the Americans to keep the wars raging in our homelands. We did not care how we got them, and in those days we did not care what this meant for our people. We had a bloodlust and we fought to quench it. When we found a lone group, or those who dared wander our pathway alone, we killed them. We beat them. We made them beg us to stay alive, and we shot them dead. This was the nature of our philosophy. They had chosen their punishment when they decided that the Prophet was under their thumb, that they knew better. But our actions did not go unnoticed. We had connections, my group and I, but that did not stop the government and their crooked police from sending in their enforcers to deal with us. It was that day that things began to reveal themselves to me that I know now, that the world knows now, to be terrible truths.

We had seen a small family on the road earlier that day. They were trying to keep to themselves. They avoided our eyes and kept their faces downward. They were afraid. We knew who they were, and they knew who we were. We saw them stop at a home and later we returned. We kicked in the door, and started shooting into the place. The men and I were shouting "Alhamdulillah" over and over. In Arabic it means "praise Allah". This was in his name, after all. But we realized we had been tricked after the shooting stopped. A grenade tossed back at us, and went off. Instantly, I was blown back. Metal had caught me in the leg and left arm. I was bleeding everywhere. The crimson on the sand I remember was beautiful in a morbid way. I felt blood trickle down my face and ear. Two of us were dead, and five remained. The police began to open fire, and we ran to positions where we could take up defense. They killed another as we ran, and another of us went down. He was screaming for us to come back, but we ignored him. We had to ignore him. I thought to myself, "fil-imteHaan yokram il-mar' aw yohaan.", or in time of stress people will either be beaten or rise and triumph. My brothers were not worthy of the fight that we had taken up.

I cannot lie; I felt pained for him. My friends, my brothers, they were being slaughtered around me, and all I could do was run with a limp to cover. We reached it, three of us left. We started to return fire. Ahmed and Abraham, my two brothers were bleeding as well. I shot into the distance. I hit a man in the head with the bullet, and he collapsed. When his enforcer went to check on him, I shot him dead as well. We had forced them back, and they had taken cover behind our jeep. We kept firing, hoping to hit the engine tank like the movies and cause a great explosion, but it did not happen. Another grenade came our way. The explosion shocked us, and Ahmed fell back. He was struggling to get up, so I grabbed him by the neck and shouted "Do you want to die here? Do you wish to prove your worth to Allah? THEN FIGHT!!" He got up, and kept shooting. We could see another man was down in their group. They had four left to our three. We had little ammo in the jeep, and most of it was on our belts. We could fire all day and night, but could they? I was unsure. I thought we should move back. Another grenade. This one was different: it blinded us. I could barely hear now, after so many explosions. When my vision returned, they were advancing. Ahmed was running, and Abraham was dead. He had blood around his head, and a hole in his neck. I took off after Ahmed. In the distance, I saw the pyramids, and thought to myself of the glory of past civilizations that had been here. Had they fought like this? For the honor of their gods? I did not know. All I wanted now was to live, and we were being shot at. We reached another rocky outcrop, and ducked behind it. We found by chance a dead man, maybe like us, who had bullets and a grenade. I prayed it would work quickly, pulled the pin, and threw it. I remember hearing the ping of metal shards hitting the rock I crouched behind, and covering my ears. I could still hear them yelling in pain. I peered over the outcrop to see that two were dead, and two were alive, but only just. One saw me and began to crawl toward his gun. I walked over, casually, and aimed at his head. "Find peace, brother..." I said, and I fired twice into his skull. I heard moaning and my attention was drawn to the man on my left. He was less able than his partner, but still alive. Another two shots. We had won. Ahmed approached me at this time, slowly at first, and his frightened nature appeared to have left him.

"Peace brother..." he said. I was confused. He then stabbed me in the gut, and walked off. "I informed them brother, because we are wrong..." he said. "We have been killing in the name of the wrong family. I am sorry, brother, you were a good friend..." He left me, dying on the sand. I faded..

When I awoke, I was being tended to by a woman and a man. The man called out to his son, who brought me water when they realized I was awake. "Give it here." said the man, and he put it to my mouth. I recognized him: this was the man and the family we wanted to kill. What was this? A trick? A sign? I was confused. The man smiled and said they had found my on their way back home. I asked him why they had helped me, but resigned I would not tell them I had planned to kill them. "Relax." Said the man, "We know who you are, and what you wanted to do. But we forgive you. I wish for you to see that Allah has greater plans for us, my child." He handed me a talisman.

"What...ugh...what is this?" I asked.

"A talisman." he said, "One from ancient Egypt. I had planned to sell it because it depicts the sun god Ra. It was not by chance that I stumbled back upon you in the desert today, and I believe Ra's talisman to be one of luck and power." I was familiar with the Egyptian gods and godesses, and a few others from ancient times as well. I had not seen this particular depiction of Ra.

"This cannot be..." I said to the man. "This cannot be Ra." I showed him the image on the talisman, "This is a hydra. It has three heads. It is Greek, but not Egyptian."

"My child," said the man, "you have much to learn. The ancients worshiped their pharaohs as direct descendants of the gods themselves and buried them in great pyramids." He paused, and took back the talisman. After a short time, he turned it back toward me so Ra was facing me, and said "Now, if you were an ancient and you worshiped the linage of the gods themselves, what would you do if a god had come down to greet you?" He began to smirk, and I winced with pain as I considered the answer.

"Face him with courage." I responded. "I would not want to show him fear. I would show him I was worthy of being his servant."

"My child," he said again, "if a god comes to greet you there are two reasons: first, you are chosen." He lit up a cigarette.

"What is the other reason?" I asked, again, wincing. I was becoming fed up with these games. "Tell me...ugh...tell me now!"

"Child, have patience!" He exclaimed. "The other reason a god may visit the mortal plain is if it is here to bestow us with a blessing. Now the question is child, where would you put a god so big?" I thought, and had had enough.

"I do not know, and I do not care!" Again, I began to raise my voice, but my wounds raged back with fury. I winced again.

"You have much to learn." Said the man, smiling now. "We have spared your life. You will play my game." He said, chuckling.

"Fine. I suppose you would bury it until that time which you needed it, or put it in a temple." I had thrown out any answer I could come up with.

"Close," he laughed, "very close. A temple is not far off. Those pyramids are big for a reason, you know." He had broken out into full on laughter, and I rolled over with the talisman in hand. I looked down at ra, the three headed sun god. He was depicted as golden, and heralding in the sun behind him. The beast on the talisman unsettled me, and a feeling of dread crept in as I continued to look deep into the eyes of the beast. Whatever this ra was, even in this form its power could be felt, and I began to feel as though the walls were closing in on me. It felt as though the beast stared back into my very soul, and I quickly pocketed the talisman and closed my eyes to sleep off the pain...

[three]

Chapter 1: The Cover-up

It had been two weeks since the attack on Florida. This was the first time in two weeks that I woke up and stayed awake. I felt pain, alot of pain, but I felt much better than the last time. My breathing was shallow and shaky; the blur of my vision was slowly dissipating. I turned my head too fast and felt pain, so I stopped and very slowly panned my head to the right. I saw dozens, maybe hundreds, of people laying on gurneys in a room. Some televisions were hooked up with different shows on: sports, kid's shows, the news...Nothing of particular interest. There were alot of people there who looked alright, fine, in good shape. Nothing was too out of the ordinary. I started to remember what had happened, I looked around for Sara quickly before realizing that I was in too much pain and that she died. I turned my head back upward to look at the ceiling....and I heard a voice. "So you're awake! Good, good." a rough, but joyful and soft voice rang in from my feet. "I see you're not screaming, which is a major improvement from last week, and the week before." I tried to sit up but it hurt too much, and after about an inch i plopped back down on my pillow and sighed. "No need to move, son." the man approached, "You're alright. Well, you weren't alright when you got here, but I've done what I can for you. I'm Dr. Ford. You're being kept at the home of the Tampa Bay Rays with others injured in the attack." I began to murmur, and he held his head closer. "What's that?" he said.

"The..th-th-the attack?" I couldn't speak loudly, or much at all, but I wasn't sure how much this "doctor" knew.

"Yes, the nuclear strike. Some terrorists detonated an improvised explosive. The Secretary of Defense gave an immediate briefing after it was over." He spoke of this so frankly, so candid, it was as if he was there and actually saw this attack.

"But...what about...that thing..." I couldn't begin to describe it to him, but I tried. "It was huge...it made buildings look like toys in comparison...model sets...minatures. It killed people...Sara..." He stopped me there.

"So, delusions. Hm. This is not a good sign, David. There are some people here who are going to want to get a statement from you. Nothing too formal; you're not in trouble, but they must interview the witnesses to ensure that we know just what happened. Ok?" Before I could answer, he smiled and another two men came over. They were stern, serious, wearing black suits, glasses, ties, shoes. One even had a black ring on...onyx maybe?

"Doctor," the first man spoke in a firm but bland voice, "would you mind stepping outside and closing the curtain, please?" He motioned toward the opening in the curtains around my gurney, edging the doctor out.

"Certainly." The doctor, without much emotion or a second look at me, got up and made his way to the curtain. "Gentlemen," he said, "this one was burned badly. 30% of his body was seared, and he is still in a good deal of pain. We removed several tumors that came up from the radiation as well, so be gentle with him." He then turned, gave me one final smirk and a wink, and left, closing the curtain. The two men came over. The one who spoke took the doctor's chair near my head, while the other stood by the curtain's opening, arms crossed, with his hidden eyes glaring over toward me.

"Now, we're going to start with some basic questions," said the first man, "tell me, what's your name?"

"David...David Branch. It should be on the clip board..." I said, able to barely lift my arm up enough to point to the foot of the bed.

"Indeed, it is." Said the first man, not even looking up from his notes. "Ok, how old are you, David? If I may call you, David."

"You may, and I'm 22." I said, meekly, thinking to myself of how this man was so polite and yet something about him seemed so...off. He creeped me out, he was terrifying. Hiding behind those glasses, peering into what happened by way of my own eyes, and ears, and pain...

"Ok, David," He put down his notes, swallowed, and folded his hands, "you were in Indian Shores, in Pinellas County, correct?" He asked this question differently. He knew the answer.

"Yes, of course. I was there when the attack happened..." I realized I had said too much, too soon. I tried to amend the statement, "I mean, the thing. When it came up on the beach and started attacking the people, the buildings...I was scared...Sara..." I stopped, and looked away, remembering that Sara died. I started to remember the woman and her child, trampled to death, and that she was defending him...but he was dead. I started to cry.

"Stop. Who's Sara? Is she here? We need you to keep it together, David. Please, this is important. We need to know what you saw." His assistant, the other man, now came over to face me as I looked away.

"Go away." I said, again, weakly. I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to face the fact that I watched people burn, their skin literally boiling off. I saw people crushing children to death in front of their mothers to get away...pathetic..."Get away from me!" I yelled, and the second man grabbed my arm and yanked. The pain from the skin graft and burn was immeasurable. I screamed again, but he covered my mouth.

"Listen, David..." Said the first man, "We're not..we're not bad people. We're just here to figure out what's going on. So, listen to what I'm going to tell you..." He continued, "What happened at Indian Shore was an attack by some radicals. Islamists, Muslims, towel - heads if you'd prefer. Nutjobs who can't stand us because we have, and they don't. We have nice cars, we have money, we have freedom, and they don't. There was no monster, there was no great creature on the shore." He put his hand on my good shoulder, and rubbed it gently, "They detonated a bomb on the shore, and we're going to find them. The president has already declared war on several countries on the grounds that they have weapons of mass destruction. This attack is proof, and we have some satellite images.." He pulled out some photos, doctored ones I figured, of black and white pictures from above of what looked like missiles of some sort in the desert. "We're going to hit these people, hard, and get the guys responsible. You won't have to make up stories any more, so rest." He got up, and casually fixed his jacket. His accomplice released my arm, and they walked toward the curtain. "And David," he said, looking back over his shoulder, "we don't have to create monsters to justify what happens to us. They're all around us, every day, and there is one that is always in your mirror..." They left, and I looked at my now bloody bandages. My wounds were weeping, and I was bleeding. I wondered when, if ever, I'd get better.

The doctor came back in, and started off right away, "We'll have to keep you another month probably until you're healed enough to go home." He said, calmly, as if nothing happened. "What happened to your arm, son?" He said, with a suspicious look on his face.

"Nothing." I told him. He wasn't buying it.

"Listen, David," he said, "I was outside, listening in. These men have been doing that to every injured person, everyone from Indian Shore who saw something. The last doctor who tried to stop them, two weeks ago, he went home and hasn't come back in since. We're understaffed, and trying to stem what seems like a major radioactive fallout incident..." He looked down, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes, "I can't...I can't tell you very much, but from what I understand many people saw the same thing. The government insists this was the work of extremists, terrorists. They don't want anyone to know what really happened..." He stopped to cover his mouth, now crying a bit. "My wife...didn't make it out of there herself. She went down to visit the beach. I work all the time, and couldn't go...I do what I do for the greater good. If you ever need anything, anything at all, please, call me. Keep in touch. When you're transferred out of here tomorrow, I'll be sure to keep your name and contact information with me. I know people outside of here in high places, if you catch my drift. I want to know what...what happened, and I believe everyone who was there can help reveal it." He stopped, and his tears gave way to wide eyes. His breathing shallowed. "My god..." he said, "it's hit Cuba?!"

I turned to face the television. All of them now featured the news. Cuba had lost several merchant ships heading south toward Venezuela, and when they sent the military to investigate, those ships did not return. They were blaming shadow operations from the United States. Clearly, this would be a tougher cover up than the men from before had envisioned....

[three]

Chapter 2: Action

After I was moved to a new hospital I had plenty of time to contemplate what had happened to me and what was going on. The US was hardly able to doge questioning about the Cuba incidents, and Cuba was getting ready for war. We had to cave soon, we had to tell the world what we knew was really behind this. It wasn't happening. Instead, we kept hearing the same old story on the news: terrorists or pirates did it. The US was not involved. Truth be told they weren't: we didn't create this Godzilla, and we didn't use it as a weapon.

Or did we? My mind had begun to wonder by now, as there was no mistaking what I saw that day as we drove by the shore. "Godzilla..." I thought to myself. "What the hell are you..." I was uncertain as to what to make of my visit by the two "men in black" as well. Was I in danger? was there an immediate threat? What should I do? I decided that no matter what I wanted to do, there was little I could do from the bed of a hospital with skin grafts all over, so I waited it out, keeping my eye trained on the news for updates on the situation in the Gulf. I hoped that Cuba would do something crazy like declare war, or attack us; anything to expose the truth. It felt so wrong, pathetic even, to know that I knew what happened, I knew what killed that woman and her child, and so many people...and Sara, and yet I could only lay there, useless, and watch as our government covered up the attack.

After a month, my time in the hospital was up. I was finally given the all clear to head home. I went back to see my parents, and to tell them I most certainly wasn't dead, but that things were not nearly as great as they seemed. "We're just glad our boy is home alive." Mom told me.

"I'm back mom, yeah, can we move this along?" I pushed her off me.

"Son, please," dad gave me a look of desperation and exhaustion, "we know you've been through hell, but we weren't even told if you were dead. They kept us away from you. From all of you!" He threw his hands up in the air.

"What do you mean, 'all of you'?" I asked, confused.

"The army, I mean I guess it was the army." He said. "They told us you all were in quarantine. The people caught in the terrorist attack. They wanted to keep you under lock and key 'cause they weren't sure if it was bio-what's it weapons or if it was ne-uclear or what." He stammered to a stop..."Point is son, you're alive. Your mother and I were worried sick. Please, just let us know this isn't a dream." He began to tear up, and I gave him a hug. I knew they had it tough, but it was only going to get worse for them. I figured that if the government or military was on the verge of war, and that if they were going to try this hard to cover up the incident, nobody was really safe. I decided I'd run away, not just to keep myself safe, but because they'd come to my home first. I didn't want my parents in harms way.

Later, I went up to my room and made a very important phonecall. "Hello?" there was a man on the line.

"Yes, this is David Branch. Is this doctor Ford I'm speaking to?" a few moments of silence passed. "Hello?" I said, frustrated. "Can we not play these silly games? I want to speak to the doctor. Now!" I was beginning to raise my voice. Suddenly, I got a response.

"Meet me at Blue Jay's diner tomorrow at eight in the morning. If you're not there at eight sharp, I won't wait around." The phoneline went dead.

"Hello? Hello?" nothing. Something had to be wrong, or going bad if we were playing these little noire games. "Weird..." I thought. "I guess the life of a spy isn't so glamorous afterall..." I flicked off my light and went to bed, somber that I was probably never going to see my family again after tomorrow.

The next day, I found myself up and out bright and early at Blue Jay's diner. The place was a watering hole for the elderly, and I sat there at eight waiting for Dr. Ford to show up. I cannot recall how many times I heard "he has your eyes" or "she's so cute", but I never wanted to have kids after that day, lest I be faced with the grandparents. By eight thirty, the doctor had still not shown. Nine O'clock, nothin'. By nine thirty, I was ready to go, but was approached by a man who was dressed unusually heavy for Florida. "Hello David," he said, quietly, "yes it's me. It's the doctor. I'm not going to stay long, and I'm not going to be able to say much." He was looking around, alot, and seemed pretty nervous.

"What's going on?" I asked. "You're acting odd. Very odd. Someone is watching us?" I began to turn around.

"Don't move, idiot!" He said, firmly and with contempt. "Of course we're being watched. We were at the center. These people, they know what happened. The men who visited you," he looked around again, "they're the same guys who you've heard about in movies and on television. Yes, the government watches those it deems threats to national security. Yes, if you're suspected of a crime you're guilty until you prove yourself innocent and you don't even know it. Ever since September eleventh, it's been like this, and now it's a whole lot worse." He stopped, and sighed deeply. He slid me a piece of paper as a man walked by on the phone. "Take this." he said, tapping his finger on the note twice, "Consider it a gift. I told you I know people. If you really want to help change the way things work, and make a difference, show up there." He then got up and began to walk away.

"Wait," I said, but before I could it happened. A car came careening down the road and slammed him in the side. It had to have been speeding two or three times the speed limit, and the doctor was dead on impact. I rushed over anyway, grabbing the paper on the table. "Doctor!!! Doc! Hey c'mon doc!! Someone call for help! HELP!" I shouted and shouted to no avail. The driver got out and was already on the phone. I was immediately struck by a sense of fear and dread when I saw the guy, and that's when I figured it out: the sunglasses, the hair, the voice, firm and soft but as if the guy was already in your head. It was the agent from the center. I panicked and ran like a bat outta hell back home. I started to pack immediately, now knowing full well what would happen to anyone who dared to try to talk about the reality of the situation. Monsters do exist, and they'er all around us. I checked the note the doctor gave me, having almost forgotten it by now.

"103 Red Lane." I had to check an old map of the area in the basement my dad had. Best not to leave a cyber trail at this point, I figured. When I looked it over, I found my target. An old factory on the shoreline of town, just outside of the area hit by the monster. I expected patrols, armed guards, and to possibly die, but I had to try. Right now, there was nothing else going for me, so I took my suitcase and backpack and headed for the door after I thought everyone was in bed. As I made my way to the door, I heard the floor creak behind me, and my dad was there.

"Son," he said, quietly, "I didn't want to wake your mother. Son, what the hell are you doing?" His voice, though full of anger restrained, was also full of sadness. "We just got'chya back, son. Please, if you need someone to listen, or believe you, just tell me. Tell me why you're ready to go again." He fell back into his chair, ready to cry. I decided I owed him the explanation nobody else had yet.

"Dad," I began, softly, "what happened a month ago, you wouldn't believe it unless you were there. It wasn't terrorists, and it wasn't a bomb. It was something else, something worse. I don't know how I can put it into words, or explain it in a way you could understand, but it was a monster." I stopped, expecting him to tell me to stop being foolish, to quit the theatrics. He was silent. I was met with two words from him before I continued:

"Go on," he said, and I continued.

"The military seemed to be ready and expecting this," I said, just now realizing what I was saying as I said it. They were ready. They had to be. They came out to meet this thing, guns drawn, with heavy artillery on call, jets scrambled...this was not a mistake, "dad, a monster came ashore that day. I heard a man, an agent, call it Godzilla. I wasn't sure what that meant, and I'm still not sure what it means, but I have to find out. I have to expose what the government is doing here, and how they're covering up what happened."

He stood up, and came over to me, "Son," he said, "I know you have to do what you have to do. I just ask of you two things: make your mother and I proud, and come home alive." He gave me a hug and quietly began to cry. "I can't lose my son twice. Please come back home." I pushed him back and made my way out the door.

"No promises, dad...at least none I don't think I can keep." I left my father standing in the doorway that night. It was the last time I'd ever see him again. I made my way carefully to the factory near the now leveled area of Indian Shore. It was much, much less guarded than I anticipated. I was greeted with darkness when I entered the factory, but could hear faintly some opera music playing. I decided to follow it and see what I could find. After about fifteen minutes of searching I heard a voice from behind, and the cocking of a gun.

"Don't move." Said a man, with a stern tone. There was no mistaking it: if I so much as jittered, he'd shoot me dead. "Why are you here?"

I gulped, and readied myself to answer the question. "Doctor Ford gave me the address. He said if I wanted --" he cut me off.

"Dumbass. Would you so willingly give information to anyone who demanded it? Had I been with the CIA, you'd not be doing the talking." He lowed the gun. "He's safe, gentlemen." Four men, all armed, came out from different locations around me. All had their guns trained on me beforehand, and all seemed to obey without question the man behind me. "I see the doctor had one last bit of good faith in him before you capitalist pigs killed him." All the men chuckled at this, but I did not. "Do not mistake me," he said, perhaps sensing the tension in my body building, "the doctor was a good man. We were comrades, he and I. We go back to our military days. I remember when we first met. I kicked his ass HAHAHA." he belted out a laugh. The rest of the men joined in. "Don't worry, comrade," he began again, and all the men became immediately silent, "in my country we mourn less and drink more. My name is Ivan, this is Boris, Delvin, Joeseph, and Fritz. We've been playing the game you're about to play for a very long time. But first, we must know how dedicated you are, comrade." He now turned me around, and gave me a gun. "Do you know this man?" He showed me a picture of the agent that killed the doctor, and who visited me in the center. I began to contort my face in a rage, and shake.

"Yeah, I know the bastard." I growled, "Just tell me where...where he is and I'll gut the son of a bitch!" Sensing my forcefulness, and possibly my overeagerness, he stopped me there.

"No comrade, it won't be that simple." He looked back at one of the men, and nodded with his lips in a forced frown. "You will go with Fritz. You will get the information. You understand? You kill no one. Not yet." he handed me the photograph. "Keep it. Remember his face. After you get the information, you do what you wish." He flipped his hand at me. "Boris, show him where we sleep. Tomorrow we have much work to do." Boris, the biggest man I've ever seen, grumbled over to me.

"De boos says you're good, you're good. Come." he waved me over, and led me to my new sleeping quarters. On the way, we passed numerous rooms full of what looked like dated radio and surveillance equipment. Some of it was dusty, some of it blinking. "De boos says, the older the stuff we use, de harder eet is to drack." He said, smirking, then chuckling. "I enjoy the blinking ones." He said again. "Here we go." We reached a door at the end of a long catwalk, and he opened it. The giant metal slab clanged against the wall, the hinges screeching with rust and age. Inside, the room itself was musty, dusty, and had a few beds that seemed less than habitable. The blankets all had a bright red star, and a language I couldn't understand on them. I knew then who I was in the presence of.

"You're Soviets." I said, "You're...my god you're really Soviet spies!" I couldn't be sure if this was cool, or crazy. I turned to face the mountain of a man, Boris, and he was smiling.

"Well comrade," He belted out a laugh, "we were Soviets, but that is no more. Now, we are only waiting for the revolution. Maybe this monster will cause it, who knows? Tomorrow, you find out." He started off down the hallway.

"Wait. Wait!" I shouted. "You know about the monster?"

"Ah haha comrade," he said, "Ivan knows more den me. Ask him tomorrow. But you know, we all know more than the rest of you about this Godzilla. He's been around for some time. Get sleep. You will need it." He was right. After all of this, my head was spinning, and I was tired. I went off to my Soviet - era bed, and as bumpy as it was, being in the company of people who finally knew what the hell was going on comforted me. I slept well that night; the best sleep I had in a month...

[three]

Chapter 3: Hard Answers

Four AM, and on the move. I didn't get much sleep before we were off to Agent Benedict Arthor's hotel room. He wasn't from here, but he was here on duty to ensure that nobody discovered the truth about what happened. According to Ivan, the information he gained from tapping his lines leads him to believe this guy knows more than he is letting on, but he's not stupid. He wasn't revealing anything by way of phone, and of course to prove myself I had to go in with Fritz. Fritz was a crazy guy. On the way to the hotel, I tried to make small talk, but his response was stoic and firm. He left no room for interpretation as to how he felt about me, "Shoot your mouth, dog. I do not speak well to the enemy." That was the extent of our van discussion. I couldn't wait to get to the hotel and finally get some answers to what the he had happened.

I was sweating profusely through my palms, and breathing heavy. It was hard not to throw up, and I was almost unable to stay still in the van. If not for the fact that Fritz scared the hell out of me, I would have been bouncing all over the back of our inconspicuous vehicle, but alas he did not appear to be the type of guy you want to test the boundaries of. We arrived and parked in a lot across the street. Our approach was right through the front door, and to get the keys to the room. "Hello," said Fritz to the attendant, "we're here to see a friend. He said he would have many drinks and party with the women tonight."

The attendant, confused, responded, "Sir, I don't think we can just let someone into the rooms of our guests without their expressed permission. Give me a moment and --"
"Comrade, the keys to room 213 please. Don't make us late to the party." He nodded and winked a bit, then reached into his pocket and pulled out nude photos of a blonde woman, and dropped several condoms on the floor. "Oh, my apologies! Uh, hold this." He handed the attendant the photo, who's face had crinkled into a horrid disfigurement that is forever etched into my mind.

"Here just go!" he said, panicking a bit. "I don't wanna get between a man and his fun, anyway..." he was...blushing? Then I realized what was going on. This was a kid, just a young guy like me, but he was still a virgin to the realities of the world. I had just dipped my feet and felt broken, but he had a job, and was facing down two men who had been blunt honest with what they intended to do. There was no way in hell he'd plan to interrupt.

"Oh, comrade," Fritz turned to say something to him again, "don't ring him up. I bring boy as a surprise. He likes them young, with the women, you know?" He smiled, and gave a chuckle at the attendant, who chuckled back at us awkwardly. Fritz turned back to me, frowned, and murmured "Good work.". We hopped in the elevator, and I made the mistake of patting him on the back. I was caught by the hand, my arm contorted. My face was slammed into the wall, and I felt the cold blade of a knife on my throat. "Comrade, you do not touch me. I still have doubts. You prove your trust, I will tolerate you." He was not joking.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!!" I said. "Please, I wont' touch you again. I'm sorry!!!" He let the knife down, and laughed.

"You idiot! HAHAHA! You should have seen your face. Perfect!!" He doubled over laughing. *Ding*, we hit our floor. Immediately his demeanor returned to normal; he was all business. We stepped out and got to the door. He turned and handed me the key, "Open it." he said. This time I was absolutely sure he wasn't kidding. I turned the lock, and pushed the door open. I was greeted by an elbow to the nose, a quick knee to the gut, and strong left to my face. I collapsed forward into the room, and vomited on the floor. Blood and puke were coming down from my face like a torrent. I looked up to see Benedict standing over me, and saw a foot come flying in hitting him in the chest. He flew back and a brawl broke out. Benedict threw two well aimed punches, but Fritz dodged both expertly, delivering two counter - blows of his own. He then pulled out his knife, and sliced him down the right arm. A quick pair of elbows and a headbutt, followed by two stabs in quick succession to the right leg, and Benedict was down.

Fritz then pulled out a gun, aimed it at the bathroom, and when the door opened he fired three shots without looking or hesitation, killing the other agent. I recognized that one as the one who had come with Benedict to "greet" me in the center. Fritz then threw me some rope and dragged the dead body to the bathtub. "Tie him up, dog. Stop lying around. Capitalists are the lazy among us. It's how you can sniff them out." He was serious, and so was I. I tied the knots around Benedict's writs and ankles several times, just to be sure he wasn't going anywhere. I propped him up against the foot of the bed, and shut the door.

"Who the hell are --" I kicked him in the teeth, twice. I readied my hand to begin pounding his face in, but Fritz stopped me.

"Comrade," he said, this time in a soft and almost comforting way,"your enthusiasm is good. But he needs to speak. Leave his head. Go for the leg wounds." I twitched my head and slammed my foot down on the leg.

"Remember me? I'm asking the questions now, dumbass." I told him. The feeling of torture was surprisingly liberating. "Now, you're Benedict Arthor, are you not?" he laughed at me.

"Maybe I am, maybe ---" I began to crush his thigh again. "AAAAGH!!! YES YES FOR GOD'S SAKE I AM!!!"

"Good. You can now begin answering some other questions of ours. For instance, this was no terrorist attack, was it?" I threw the pictures of the now ruined shoreline at his face, and they tumbled down to his legs.

"Haha...hah..." he began by laughing again, and was breathing heavily, "no. I guess not. Looks like it was pretty bad." I went back to his wound, this time with my fingers ready to dig in and yank, tear at his flesh. "Wait, WAIT WAIT," he shouted, "no, no it was not a terrorist attack. You were there. You know what it was." His breathing continued to be heavy, but was slowing down considerably.

"No, no I really don't. What I saw..." I said, shaking visibly now..."what I saw...." I delivered two punches to his face, and Fritz threw me down and punched me across the face himself.

"Comrade, control yourself!" He was very, very serious. "If you cannot, I will kill you here and now and deliver the information myself. You are here because we let you be, understand?" I nodded. I was in no position to bargin with this guy, and I needed him if I wanted to know what was going on, if I wanted to do something about it.

"I got it. Let me go back." He released me. I made my way back over to Benedict, "So, you had better start explaining to me what the hell we're dealing with, and why it is being supressed. I was not aware that the United States, the basin of freedom, could or would treat its citizens like the Russians do." I looked over to Fritz, and shot him the line, "No offense, 'comrade'." He nodded back.

"None taken, capitalist dog." He smirked and I continued.

"Speak, Benedict. What the hell are you guys hiding."

He laughed, again. What the hell is with this guy? A creep? Hardened? I didn't know. I didn't care. I wanted answers, and he began to deliver. "If you thought this was something new, that the US only just started these policies, you're naive AND a moron." He said. "This..thing has been around since the second World War. I don't know what caused it to show up. I don't know if it was always down at the bottom of the ocean, or if it came down from a space ship full of little green men, or if it crawled out of the Earth's goddamn mantel." He paused, and looked out the window to the sky. Fritz closed the curtains and he began to speak again, "All I do know is that we dropped those bombs on Japan, and in a few years, something very, very big and very, very pissed off came out of the ocean. It hit small villages, islands and things like that first. It sunk more than a few of our ships, and they were honored as part of those bested in war. It made itself known to use first by hitting the Lucky Dragon. The guys on board, just by being next to it, they grew tumors and got sick, real sick. Radioation poisoning. At first we thought it was you guys," He beamed a look at Fritz, who's head turned down and expression grew very dark, "but it wasn't. It was something else. The locals started to call it God, God...Godzilla. We took an interest and began to follow it. At first it seemed pretty placid, but one day it turned on us and laid out a convoy. Naturally, we responded with force..." He now had a look of fear on his face, "but that didn't work. We tried again: that didn't work. We tried once more, and that didn't work. So we tagged the son of a bitch, and followed it. For a long, long time it stopped and laid in the Pacific, down, way down. Every now and again it would move a few miles, but it would stop for weeks, months, years and just sit totally still down there...But something changed twenty years ago. It started to swim down the Pacific, past Hawaii, toward the Antarctica." He gave a small chuckle, then coughed up some blood, before going on..."it got down there, and headed up onto the ice. We couldn't follow it, but we heard and saw it. Off in a blizzard, it was fighting. There was something out there with it. We sent out an expedition, and they came back with the results: two of them, the one we'd been following, and a smaller one. It had a horned nose, spikes down its back, walked on all fours. The Godzilla, the bigger one, killed it. He tore it to pieces, and burned what was left with his breath." He paused and looked down..."So we realized there were more of these things after that day. That somehow, they could tell when there was another one. And then..." he said, his breathing shallowed as he sighed, "he moved up the coast and began to swim north to the Caribbean, where he is now. He was still, very still, for twenty years he just laid there at the Mariana's Trench and didn't move but..." He stopped.

"But what?" I said, very curious as to what else we would learn today.

"But he's awake now. Something has him on the move, and our guys think it's another monster somewhere. We tracked him from Florida, but we could't evacuate you all. We'd alert the world to this thing. We couldn't do that. We have to maintain our presence at the top of the food chain." He was becoming visibly upset, and drooling. I could tell he didn't have much time left.

"What else do you know? TELL ME!" I shouted.

"That there are at least three more monsters here. Two of them are bugs, big bugs. One is caterpillar, worshiped on an island in the Pacific. It's very safe; it hasn't harmed anyone. Now and again it lays a cluster of eggs, but they only produce very tiny likenesses of the big one, more colorful though. The locals say the "cosmos" designate one of these each time the old one dies to take over protecting the planet, and they told us something else..." he stopped to cough. More blood. "Th-they told us, that...that there's another one like it. It's sleeping too, but these cosmos make two monsters of the new brood. One is peaceful, the other isn't. They call them Mothra and Battra, respectively. But there is a third they mentioned...." this time the fear on his face was very real, and he was extremely pale. Sweat was now trickling down his face, and he had one and a half feet out the door, "one that has ended more than one civilization's reign at the top. They said that some called it god, and it could bend the minds of the people around it. It was so powerful, mighty, that it would drive people insane, cause delusions, suicides, mass sacrifice, and if people didn't worship it, they'd be annihilated. The Egyptians kept it locked up, shackled. They built the pyramids to keep it trapped....tricked it. Stopped feeding it, and locked it away. They built pyramids for their gods...for their leaders...to make sure nobody could find it...they knew..." He slumped over, dead from blood loss.

Fritz grabbed my shoulder, "We should clean this up a bit." he said, and handed me a sponge and rag. "Come on, comrade. We don't have much time."

On our search in the room, we found some relativity useless files on different myths and legends around the world that might have been monsters. One he didn't mention seemed plausible, but still was unproven. Manda, the Chinese dragon....nothing ever came of their explorations though. They even had some old Nazi files on Battra, and the Egyptian god. Hitler wanted Rommel to investigate it, but he thought it was a waste of time. Good thing they never went looking, but now that we were, I wondered if we were about to make a mistake. I took the Nazi files, and we headed out the door, leaving the two dead guys nude and washed to rid them of traceable evidence in the tub. I knew nothing about what this meant for us, but I knew for the world, the truth could not be good.

That morning, I gave the files to Ivan and hit the hay. They let me sleep late, and kept a close eye on the situation. Ivan said he had contacts in Cuba, and that they could advice the military on actions to take and not to take, one of which would be not attack the United States, but it would be impossible to hold off the strikes without revealing the truth about Godzilla. We had no real concrete evidence yet, but in a year that would change....

[three]

Chapter 4: The World Takes Notice

It had been two years since Ahmed had betrayed us on the outskirts of Cairo. My life since then had taken a turn for the better. No longer was I a nameless, faceless killer. I had now gained purpose, and refocused myself to reach new goals. I joined the Egyptian military again after the incident. It had taken a good two months for my wounds to finally heal to a point where I could compete and push myself through the basic training again, but I had done it. I remembered when I was a youth and had been conscripted to join the army; I had no degree and no plans to go forward in life as a scholar. The military trained me to use a gun and my wits, and so I took those skills to the street to fight my Jihad.

Those same skills now had readied me to pass through and climb the ranks. I advanced quickly thanks in large part to one incident involving some militants on a routine raid in the area. We had been training on live targets briefly, a practice our sergeant assured us was not entirely legal, but one the group believed was entirely necessary. When we had arrived on the scene something seemed off. It looked like we had the wrong building: it was upkept, seemed to be used, and so on. We entered in, the people there a bit afraid but not combative. Suddenly shots rang down from above and two of the eight of us were down. I was hit through the hand, but only just. I dragged my two men to safety and fired back. I killed one, and that left what sounded like either 4 or 5. I had flashbacks to Ahmed but kept myself restrained. Taking a breath and aim, I hit another two targets. A third man of ours was hit, and I rushed out to save him as well, and commanded two of our group up the stairs to flank the enemy. One stun grenade was thrown up, and it reached them just as my men got through the stairs: both men were taken into custody for questioning, and with that I was promoted for valor and quick thinking under intense pressure to Lieutenant.

I did not take the rank lightly, either. I was given a platoon of 10 men to use as I saw fit, and was now an instructor and in charge of new recruits at headquarters. In a year's time, I had risen to high levels in the military. No longer was I simply Ayyub Habeeb the Jihadist; I was a new man with a purpose. Now I began to use these resources and my rank to find Ahmed, that damned betrayer, and find out why he had betrayed us. The search took time, and much effort. There are many radicals and militants in our country...so much so that it can take months to move on from one case to another in an attempt to eliminate a small group or to find out if information on a group is even legitimate. I went through three and spent nearly a second year looking, but finally found a more solid lead. Ahmed had been operating with another group, supposedly small as well, not far off of where we all used to fight together.

I went out after him, taking 5 men with me and coordinating a strike on a small building in a run down village near town. We arrived at dusk. "Are we ready, brothers?" I asked. This was my standard practice: to ready my men, I would lead us in prayer. It did not matter if they were Shia or Sunni at this point: my wrath lied elsewhere. "Yes!" they collectively replied, as they had ever since the second day under my command. "Then repeat after me," I closed my eyes, lowered my head, and began our prayer, "Astaghferullaha Rabbi min kulle zumbin wa atoobo ileh."

"Astaghferullaha Rabbi min kulle zumbin wa atoobo ileh." They repeated, stoically. They prayer means "Forgive me/us Allah, and forgive us our sins, we give ourselves to you.". I had come to realize that what I was doing must be done, and that at any moment, I could be killed.

"This building..." I turned and said to them, "could be booby trapped. It could have any number of people inside. Keep your wits, and mind each other. I want you all alive when we leave." The van stopped, and we hopped out. This was it. The building itself was run down and seemed to be either abandoned or very lightly used. Some lights were visible from the inside, and nobody was on the streets in the village. Something about the situation seemed off, especially the lack of people. I motioned to the group to head off to the sides of the building and keep to the shadows. We'd need to find a way in without being detected, and I believed someone was aware that we were coming. Around the side, we found a window with a torn screen. The room on the other side was dark, so I slid in first. All was well. We got the rest of the group in on this side, and began to look around.

In the room, there were many things of irrelevance. Boxes, carpets, shelves, old wood; nothing particularly useful or necessary. Navigating it was the most difficult part as lighting had to be kept to a minimum, and we also had to maintain total silence. We managed to make our way through the downstairs, or the basement rather, and began to ascend the staircase. We heard voices on the other side of the door, and I drew my sidearm. Suppressed and powerful, if they tried to come through they'd be killed before they knew what happened. The voices gradually faded, and we went out after a short waiting period. To our left appeared to be a kitchen with a large table. It was lit by candle light, and was not in use. To the right was a hallway with many doors, and was lit with lights on the ceiling every few feet, but for the most part had candle - lit wall hangings to illuminate the area. We walked slowly and deliberately. Checking the first room, we found nothing. A run down, abandoned, and unused room. This one must have been one that we saw from outside. We figured most would be like this, especially if they faced the street. Next room: nothing. We weren't expecting much but kept our guard up.

The next room appeared abandoned, but had a bed. The lights were all off, and inside we saw what looked like a teenage girl, nude, and a large and older man inside. She appeared beaten, confused, and was crying slightly. He face had been swollen on one side, and she seemed to be either tied down or otherwise restrained. We had seen enough and subdued the man quickly and quietly. The girl went to scream, but we covered her mouth in time before she drew attention. The man was grilled quickly:

"What is this place?"

"A-a-a a brothel. Brothel! Yes that is what it is!" He said, whispering loudly.

"Is that right? Nothing else is here?" I asked.

"No, I do not know what you mean." He said, shaking visibly now. "There are other floors. This is just the one I was told to go to. Please sir. A man like me has a hard time finding women. This woman is perfect. I was only showing my appreciation --" one shot to the head, and he was silent. I walked over to the girl, and delivered a blow to her head. She was unconscious. We had to find out if Ahmed was here, and we had no time to free prisoners. We'd get her on the way back. My concern was now on the floors above this one: there was clear walking above us, and so we persisted in moving up.

We reached the top floor, and to our surprise found it to be upkept, clean, and full of computers and technology. Radio equipment, televisions, all of it. The brothel downstairs was apparently the means by which this particular cell was making money, and also seemed to be doing very well. We began a search and discovered files on the men working here. None of them were Ahmed. It all seemed like a dead end, until a man walked out of a back room on the top floor. We gave chase as he sprinted to a fire alarm, and one shot to his knee brought him down quickly.

"Who the hell are you?!" I demanded.

"Please sir please!!!" He was yelling, "I just manage the building. I don't own it! I don't know what they do here. I just rent it out to them and keep everything running." I did not believe his story. I delivered two quick punches to the face, and pulled out my knife.

"Try again," I said to him, now smiling a bit, "and this time, for each wrong answer, I take a finger." I took his hand firmly and slammed it to the floor, driving the knife through it. He went to yell, and I delivered a blow right to his face, ending the attempt then and there.

"Alright." He said, becoming delirious. He was losing consciousness. "We own the building. The brothel is made of women we stole. Not many are older than sixteen. It keeps the money coming in. We...we....the movement...." He began to fade.

"What movement. Answer me!!" He was falling over, and I pulled out my knife and stabbed him again. No reaction. He'd lost consciousness. "Damn!" I had just missed my opportunity to find out who, or what he was working for. We searched the room again, and found some files and other purchases. Some struck my attention: the talsiman that the old man had given me a year ago, nearly two now, was something that the cell had listed as a high value item, one that should be stolen or purchased if it can be. Information in these files listed the hieroglyph of the hydra that was on it as extremely important. There was more writing on the hieroglyphs in the file: the god there was depicted as not ra, but "Ghidorah...". I wondered what that meant. We took the files and checked the computers. Nothing of interest. On our way out, two more men with guns came racing up the stairs, presumably hearing our attack on the man in the top room. They were quickly sent to Allah, and the girls kept downstairs were set free. Many were like zombies and did not know who they were anymore, some thanked us. It made no difference; this was not our goal, and I had what I wanted.

Outside, I was approached by an older woman, who was moved by our freeing of the girls. "Come," she beckoned me. I had Abraham put in charge of the other 4 men in my absence and went with this woman. She led me to an old inn near the far edge of the village. Inside, it was dusty and full of desert sand. The tables seemed to be rotted or falling apart, and the floor creaked loudly with every step beneath my feet. Her steps did not creak the floors, however. She walked us past the bar at the front, where a man stood cleaning glasses. He did not look up; he just kept rubbing out the cups with a dirty rag. We passed a few more rooms before we reached a room that, I presumed, belonged to the woman. It was well kept, and clean. She handed me a small book, and some papers on the group in the building. "You will tell me what this is all about." I said to her, my eyes narrowing.

"You freed the girls in that building. By Allah, I was once in one of those long ago, but my presence was more of a decision than theirs." She said, looking me directly in the eyes. "You have done them well, and I had a child in my days working long ago. His interests grew in the old people's from this land, the ancients. He was out one day, searching for books and artifacts, when he was kidnapped. For three years..." she began to cry, briefly, "for three years he was taken from us. But one day, he came back. He told me he had been taken care of, and was working to help restore our people to the way they were. He gave me those." Wiping her eyes, she motioned to the papers and book I held.

"What is in these?" I asked, now very polite and intrigued.

"His research, who he was with for years..." Her face now crinkled in anger, "He did not say he was willing when he went. He only said he could not come back until his work was done. That was three years ago." She stopped again, and peering through a hole in the roof looked up at the stars. "Did you ever wonder, Ayyub, how in such a large universe, Allah could only have made us in his image? Could he not have made more? Or could something else have come from far away?"

I had my eyes trained on here, closely following her voice and movements. "How did you know my name?" I said, rising to my feet now.

"What? Oh, my boy," she said, chuckling a bit, "we old women ramble. Come." She motioned again, this time handing me a picture. In it, there stood a young man about my size, with pale skin, no beard, no turban, glasses...he did not look like a Muslim at all.

"This is him?" I said, pointing. "This is your boy?"

"Yes," she said, "He looks handsome, does he not?" She gave me the picture, and ushered me outside. I thanked her, and began to walk back to the van. The sun was rising in this desert, and I reached my group.

"What did you find?" Abraham asked me.

"Possibly some leads," I said, "something odd. A boy kidnapped who had done research on the ancients..." I was interrupted by a man running toward us.

"Listen, listen!!!" He was yelling, holding a radio. The news was pouring in.

"Several ships sink in the Atlantic. Russian naval vessels bound for Cuba destroyed, radioactive wreckage strewn about the Atlantic!!!" I was in shock. The US attacked the Russians? This was impossible. By now, everyone knew that the US had been attacked years ago by terrorists in Florida, though not everyone believed this. There was also word that Cuba had been attacked by these same people, though they blamed the United States as well. But to attack the Russians? Nobody would be insane enough I thought. "The UN is calling an emergency meeting..." the broadcast continued, "war may be inevitable." Something was very wrong about this, and I could tell Abraham knew it. All of the group knew it. This could not have been a terrorist attack...

[three]

Chapter 5: A Storm on the Horizon

Two years had gone by since we killed the agent I'd met at the clinic. Ivan, Fritz, and the rest of us had poured over the documents we stole, and we'd been listening in on what the agencies involved with covering up the attack by Godzilla were up to. Tapping their lines, intercepting radio transmission, anything at all we could do to get ahead, or at least break even with these people. The time was approaching when we would let the world know what had happened, and we knew we had little time left. Based on several radio transmissions, we knew that they had checked everyone out at the clinic, save for a few who'd left the country, died, or gone to prison. I heard my name come up...well...let's just say an uncomfortable number of times. They were onto me.

"Comrade," I remember Ivan came to me shortly after we'd killed the agent, "You did good on your first mission. Proved your loyalty to the cause...". He looked down, hand still on the door to the sleeping room, licked his lower lip, and looked back up, "They don't know Fritz. They don't know me. But you...they know of you. The agents have been watching you, your family, and They know. They might not know for sure, but they most certainly know you were involved. Soon, it will not be safe here. You will have to leave. Whether or not we go with you or you go with us, remember you will never be able to sleep well again." His demeanor picked back up, and he left the room. I hoped that they really didn't plan to leave me still, that after two and a half years, they'd consider me part of the group. For the most part, they did, too. All but Fritz, and I wasn't sure Fritz treated anyone like a friend. At any rate, we'd found some important information going through the documents. The great Chinese dragon, Manda for example, was part of the reason behind the construction of the Great Wall of China, along with the Mongol horde of course. The wall proved fairly effective, as the dragon would rarely cross it, resorting instead to traversing the ocean off the coast of China, and on occasion moving to Japan. Benevolent is how it seemed, resorting to eating livestock most of the time, or fish caught by fishermen. The real threat it posed was village destruction, and occasionally the consumption (though incredibly rare) of human beings. It was supposedly defeated in the Yellow Sea by Mothra thousands of years ago, during the dynastic eras of the Chinese empires. It is unknown if Manda was destroyed entirely, or simply beaten into submission, but what is known is that anytime these monsters appear, they do so and actively seek one another out. Be this by design, a grand scheme, or just the nature of the animals they seem to be, what is certain is that the battles are biblical, cataclysmic in nature, and alter history to some degree. The Mothra and Manda battle for example caused a tsunami, small cyclone, and killed hundreds, possibly thousands over the course of the year indirectly based on the calamity it caused at sea.

There were other monsters, too. One in particular, one confirmed by the Nazis, was Ghidorah. Rather than having seen it directly, only a very small handful (maybe three to five) soldiers had stumbled upon the creature. The reports of it were incredible: a gigantic, golden dragon with three heads. A hydra was the term used: a golden hydra, hundreds of meters tall, and long. They took several pictures, and some of the soldiers reported hallucinations, fever dreams, one fainted, and others felt an overwhelming compulsion to kill and release the creature (though the details of how were not recorded, as upon exiting the location and wandering toward their camp for several miles, the soldiers opened fire on one another and all died). The bodies were recovered and information sent back to Berlin, cataloged away for a long portion of time. Of particular interest to the Germans toward the end of the war was the idea of mind control, or influence over the mind. They believed that whatever was in the pyramid had caused the soldiers mass hysteria and insanity, though the duration of the effect was uncertain. Ultimately, the plan to utilize and explore this area fell through as the war was lost, and the information fell into the hands of the western powers. There was considerable efforts to keep the information out of Soviet hands, though using Ivan's group as proof the efforts were in vain. Had the Soviets wanted the information, they could attain it, though it appeared the dawn of the Cold War had forced them to refocus and fight other battles. The pictures of the golden hydra were lost to time, and were not in the files, though some images of the place known as "Infant Island", as well as some very interesting sonar readings and images showed with certainty there were several great beasts beneath the waves and rocky lands in the Pacific and Atlantic.

After two years though, we needed something to bring to the world; to show them that these things existed. Sure, anyone could take what we had and blow the whistle, but who would listen? The world needed to hear it from a source it could take seriously, not some kid and his communist adult buddies (which is exactly how the media would've branded us, at least I thought). Ivan and the group, along with myself, decided that the former Soviets, or some government needed to be aware of what was happening. They could and would blow the lid off the situation, and in the process would not be so easily dismissed with the American documents we had. A plan had been put together to seek asylum in Russia or another country, and in turn offer the information to keep us from being extradited and tried for treason here. We needed a way out though, and Ivan dug up some connections in Russia to cause a storm: we knew that Cuba, being angry over the cover up by the US would seek help from former allies, and Russia stood out. War ships were inbound, America definitely took note (though they couldn't stop them from coming), and Ivan was able to convince an "old acquaintance" to lend us his boat to head out and see if anything took place. We took a camera, some supplies for a week, and Ivan, myself, Fritz, and Borris went out to shadow the small Russian fleet of two battle ships, four cruisers, and a destroyer on their road past Florida and onto Cuba.

Halfway out, between the sunshine state and the communist's paradise, we got a large blip on the radar. "Ivan!" Shouted Borris, the wind whipping across the sails and our faces, water spraying everywhere, "We got a BEEG boop!"

"Let me see!" He yelled back, as a wave cracked the ship. I recognized the weather conditions: stormy, lightening, no rain, windy as hell...we were on his trail. Taking a look at the radar, there was one final blip before it went offscreen. "Ho ho ho ho! Comrades, COMRADES!" Ivan was smiling wide, his crows feet clearly exposed, and his medium grey hair dripping wet. He oozed excitement, saying "We've got him now! Ho ho! He's headed right toward the fleet!" On the horizon, we could make out what looked like a large fleet of ships. There were definitely the cruisers, the destroyer, the battle ships, but also several other ships, two to be exact, that shouldn't have been there.

"I don't remember there being --" I was cut off by a wave cascading over the ship, pushing it to the side and thrusting water into my face. "Ooof!" I fell sideways, and steadied myself. "I said, I don't remember there being nine ships. I thought there were seven, tops!" I yelled with one hand clutching the doorframe to the captain's cabin and wheel, and the other holding the top of my head.

"Of course Comrade!" He shouted over the howling winds and violent waves, the boat rocking back and forth, "Did you think we come with empty arms? HA!" He had broken down into full blown hysterics, "Comrade, you should know: if the monster doesn't kill us, the bombs will! HAHAHAHA" Borris began to chuckle, and Fritz stood stationary, eyes closed, arms folded, head down, leaning against the wall. "Now! Get the camera!" Ivan pointed toward the hatch that lead to the lower deck, and I complied. Going down, I pulled open a few barrels surrounded by water about an inch high. Not a good sign, and not a good feeling knowing you're on a boat, near a monster, and it's taking on water. I got out of there fast because I wasn't sure I could remain standing for long, and trained my eyes to the fleet. Still nothing.

"You have some nice camera stuff!" I yelled to Ivan, trying to calm my nerves with small talk.

"Yes, it's all about who you know, Comrade, haha!" He chuckled looking out at the fleet with me, the overcast now dark grey, the wind picking up faster.

"You know sure do know some interesting people, hahaha!" I laughed back. "I'd love to meet them one day!", I said, without thinking.

"I could introduce you, Comrade, but I'd have to kill you after." He stared at me, sternly, without a hint of sarcasm on his face. For the first time, I'd seen Ivan serious, and I laughed at a joke he did not. This was the last time I tried to joke first in conversation. Just then, a lough, cracking sound was heard. In the distance, toward the ships, lightening was striking the water: over and over, twice, three times, four and five simultaneously! They were coming down on the spines of the great beast, the first ones rising out of the water. As if an island began to appear, I started to record: one row, two rows, three rows, four rows...I began to shake.

"Keep the camera steady, comrade. Do not show fear..." He said. "Merely keep yourself straight and strong. Do not waiver." His Russian accent was thicker now after two years. I'd just noticed. I figured at first he kept himself from falling into it to keep up appearances and to make me feel comfortable, but now he felt as though he could drop his guard. I took this as a sign of comradery, and the confidence dispelled the fear I felt. I straightened up and focused back on the monster and the fleet. Suddenly, a boom rang out, and flying into the rising spines was a missile. The explosion sent a small shockwave in our direct, the monster continued to rise uninhibited.

More shots, I counted them in my head, "four, five, six, seven...". Soon they became too fast and too numerous to keep up. Every single ship save for the two unexpected ones had begun to fire upon Godzilla, who still hadn't risen to show his head, but was in the process. Finally, the water began to ripple slightly, and a sound one can only describe as similar to a drop prior to the bass in a song playing echoed below the waves. Dripping what was gallons of water at a time from his face, opening his eyes, the monster shook his head from side to side. His arms were ready at his sides, the palms of his hands open and in front of his chest. His spines were rounded at the tips, and shook on his back. I couldn't tell if they were a form of bone, cartilage, or what. The shadow coming down from above due to the overcast covered his eye sockets in pitch black, but his eyes glowed faintly a greenish color. He opened his mouth looking toward the right, toward a cruiser, and belted out a roar that shook me to the bone, to the core, that brought back memories of the woman clutching her dead child, Sara burning, Indian Shore being annihilated. I stumbled back, a wave hitting the boat, and fell forward. I felt Ivan grab my jacket, preventing me from falling over.

"Stay steady, Comrade..." He said, eyes fixated on the monster. The ships continued to rain fire, intensifying now, on the beast. He shrugged it off, and the water around him began to sizzle. Steam rose up from his hips, and electricity began to dance gracefully on the surface coming down his spines. They started to illuminate, very dimly and pale at first, and then brighter and brighter until a deep baby blue had over taken them, exposing his coloration to be a deep, deep greyish green. Without great illumination, it would appear that Godzilla was almost a lighter black color, or grey, but the spines revealed the truth. His face in the light wasn't weathered or old; rather it appeared to be smooth, but small shadows cast by grooves and bumps allowed for anyone to see that this creature wore an armory skin like that of a crocodile. A pair of fangs came down on each side of his upper jaw, and his teeth seemed incredibly sharp even at this distance. A sudden burst of light came from the fully illuminated spines, and that's when it fired off a beam of blinding blue light from its mouth, slamming the cruiser. The smaller warship began to slide backwards over the surface of the water, at first a small explosion from the initial impact registering, and then a full explosion engulfed the ship. Godzilla, not reducing the power of the blasts, simply turned his head and began to fire now on the next cruiser, a battle ship, and a merchant ship. The merchant vessel immediately exploded, thousands of tons of explosives went off at once. The shockwave sent me flying back. I clutched the camera to my stomach and was floored into the side of the boat, Ivan met me and nearly went through the wooden guard. Fritz and Borris were sent flying back in the captain's cabin, the glass blew out. The cloud of smoke and fire illuminated the horizon in what seemed like a symphony of color fit for Armageddon, the end of days. The other ships had been lost in that final explosion, and out of the flames came Godzilla, unharmed, steaming and with small bits of fire being put own by the waves as he began to sink below the surface once again. The destroyer sent by the Russians, burning now and derelict but not sunk, continued right at him. Godzilla did not flinch, but rather kept moving forward. The two collided, and the destroyer saw its bow torn completely off as Godzilla dove downward, his tail flailing up as a whale's does when it dives deep, and the final Russian ship exploded as well, and sunk down. Another deep, echoing, bellow from beneath the waves came, shaking the ship which had taken on considerable amounts of water. The sky, ominously overcast with grey clouds, was now also red, vividly orange, yellow, illuminated from below by fire on the ocean's surface. It seemed as though the ocean parted, and hell itself rose to Earth for but one day in all it's horrible glory.

"We got...we...we got our tape...haha..." I managed to add a laugh in, looking at Ivan.

He peered back at me, still in shock at what we saw, bleeding from the back of his head. He winced, looked back to where the ships once were, and laughed, too, saying, "We certainly do, Comrade. We have them by the balls now..." He laughed loudly. "Borris! Hey, meatbag!" He shouted.

"De boos! Vat?!" He yelled back, limping.

"Get the pump. I want to get home...." Borris, on command, went to grab the pump from below. I went to help him out, and handed Ivan the camera. I looked back down to him.

"Ya know, I think it's time we get out of this country." I was stoic, saddened by the admission that I could no longer stay, and neither could Ivan. "We should head to your homeland. Show them the footage --" he cut me off.

"Comrade," he said, "are you sure you're willing to betray your country? This is not to be taken lightly. They will want you dead." He narrowed his eyes. A test? No, no I had passed all of those. Just being here I knew they trusted me.

"Yes." I said, without hesitation. I had seen the worst of America for now, and I was ready to show the world what they were hiding. "When do we go?" I asked, not expecting any real answer.

"Three days." Ivan shot back. "No more. Say what you must to who you must, and we go. There will be no coming back." He stood up, holding his back with one hand, the camera with the other, and limped to the cabin with Fritz, who appeared to be fine, almost unfazed by the attack. I went and got the pump, and Borris and I cleared the lower deck of water....

[three]

Chapter 6: A Private Audience

My adjustment to living in Mother Russia had not been as easy as I'd hoped. At first, I didn't understand a single word. Their O's looked like they had melted into the letter E, and I liked to stay cooped up in my room with Fritz, yes, Fritz, and tried to avoid going out. I remember my first encounter there with a shop keep; Ivan advised me to grab a bite to eat since we'd just made landfall, and the drive we were going to take would last a few hours. We'd need two men awake the entire time because, in his own words, "Comrade, in my time here I was not the greatest of men. I have made, what you would say, are enemies. Zey would be watching, waiting, and if ever I did return, ze would know. Well, I have returned."

In light of Ivan's pressing fears, I obliged to eat some food. Besides, we just spent a plane ride across the Atlantic only days after watching something, something horrifying, boil up from the depths of the ocean...from god knows where down there, and annihilate one of the strongest military forces on Earth like they were flies on a window. That same monster, that...thing, torched Indian Shore; just being there it mangled bodies, and the images of that mother and child flooded my mind. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." I was leaning forward, on the verge of tears. "Sara, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave..."

"Hey! You! Vats wrong, eh?" I was interrupted in my terrible dream by a tall, burly man. He looked down at me, imposing, a thick beard covered his face, and his nose was flat and rounded, and was the cherry on the beard sundae.

"Uh, what? I-I'm sorry! I'll move..." I slid off to the side, and his eyes tracked me over toward an alley way.

"Are you the thief? The one stealing my tomatoes? EH? You American!" He stumbled forth toward me, and I took off as fast as I could down the street. I was crying now, but not from the thought of the woman dying, or her child being trampled, or Sara...but from the icy cold. My breathing shallowed out, and I started to slow down. I made a left down what looked like an empty road and ran into what was in reality a wide alleyway. Slipping on a patch of ice, I went out cold. When I woke up, two men were standing over me, both dressed in leather jackets, and wearing what you'd expect a pair of Russians to wear. One of them, a rough, carved young man who must've been new at shaving was smoking a cigarette, talking to the other man. His blue eyes were transfixed on the man, who seemed to be aloof but absorbing every word. He was looking down at me, and just the sight of the guy made me feel like I was nude on the ground in this wasteland.

He put his hand up, and pointed down. I felt a sharp pain in my side, and rolled over just in time to catch the next boot to the gut. I writhed about on the ground, the only warmth coming from the blood trickling out of my head from the fall I took. "Damn it!" I shouted at them, holding my stomach. "What, do you want money? I don't have much!" Reaching into my pocket, I threw out a few dollars. I had more of course, but I wasn't about to give it up that easily.

"Oooh...ho ho ho..." said the younger man with rough features, his cheeks twitching and the cracks of his lips curling in a smile that would make the devil cackle with anticipation. I figured I was in for a rough day. The one who had me in his view before knelt down, and I heard a quick click. I felt a slight poke at my neck, and even in this winter wonderland a chilling caress came to rest itself upon my neck. I drew in a quick succession of breathes and held. He was holding a knife to my throat.

"If you don't has money...", he said, gliding his free hand down my back, "you might give something else...". He reached down to my pants, and began to take them off. Now I threw myself into a frenzy; there was no way in hell I was going to come to a foreign land after what I had seen, what I had been through, and let two thugs take my money and rape me. I pushed myself forward, turned around, and heard two shots ring out from behind me. Borris and Ivan without hesitation killed them.

"Comrade, lets go. We have much to do, and little time." Ivan delivered these words so candidly, and without sparing a moment for me to think, and turned to walk off. I could see a car in the distance out of the alley, about a block away parked on the street side.

"Just what the hell have I gotten myself into?" I thought, staggering over to the car.

"Vet me help you, Comrade!" I felt my weight quickly leave my own shoulders, and before I knew it I was hoisted up onto Borris' shoulder and on my way to the car.

"Thanks, Borris." I said, and allowed myself to enjoy the free ride. I slid off his shoulder and crawled into the back seat, curling up near the far door. Borris had to duck the entire ride, but we managed to fit in. Shortly after, I began to doze, and I remember Ivan giving me a quick glance before covering my face with a green and red blanket as we sped away.

When I awoke, we were at a shack surrounded by tundra. "Lets go! Wake up!" Ivan was dragging me out of the car.

"Arg, stop!" I shouted, sprinkling in "ouches" and "oofs" as I was tugged along the icy surface of the ground. "What the hell, let go!" I broke free and fell off to the side. Ivan stopped and turned quickly to me.

"Comrade, Ve must get inside. A blizzard is arriving soon. Come!" He motioned into the shack, and hearing that a blizzard was on the way in this barren place, I made my way to the door. I fell through onto the rug, and before I knew it I was asleep again. I woke up to the smell of delicious stew being broiled; it was a delightful fragrance of earthy vegetables, beats, carrots, potatoes. I turned my head over to see Fritz cooking the food, and Borris setting the table for some sort of soup? I was happy, right up until my head began to ache and I felt sick. I stood up quickly, drawing attention, but I didn't care. I raced to the door and vomited. After the first blob of liquid, I knelt down and heaved. I forgot; I hadn't yet eaten that day. Ivan came over and patted me on the shoulder, "Comrade, you might have a head ache. Come to the bed and lie down." I slowly got up, this time my arms and legs shaking violently, like a leaf caught in a storm dreading the moment its bond with the tree breaks.

He led me to a bed, one of several in the shack, and put a bucket by my bedside. "Sleep, Comrade." He said. "We have an important meeting coming up. I need you at your best."

"A meeting?" I thought. Before he left the room, I managed to eek out a brief few words, almost inaudible, "With who?". Turning back to me now, away from the little doorway separating the room full of beds from the couch, radio, television, and kitchen, he chuckled and put his hand on his head.

"Comrade, you don't know her..." He laughed a bit more, "But I tell you this: don't be fooled. She is a beauty, but she is deadly. Her parents..." he stopped, "I will let her explain herself. I will work on arranging a meeting with her. Until then, comrade, rest." And with that, I felt a drop in my stomach, and I began to dry heave again. Ivan, now laughing, tripped forward out of the room doubled over, and shortly after I could have sworn I heard Borris and even Fritz in hysterics in the other room, taking quite the delight in my illness.

[three]

Chapter 7: The Plan To Awaken A God

After about a week I began to feel better. My strength was returning and my vision wasn't blurry when I woke up anymore. The blizzard that hit us earlier that week had poured snow for two consecutive days, and it was so intense that you couldn't look outside and tell if it were night or day. In fact, it'd be more appropriate to just say it was constantly night. At any rate, I found myself that morning at the dinner table, enjoying a breakfast of sausage, eggs, and toast. Fritz I was told had made a special trip out before the storm to town to get us some more food; enough to last a few weeks time. I didn't mind, and was enjoying the heavily censored and Russian dubbed Three Stooges, when I found myself interrupted by Boris' sudden appearance from the bedroom.

"Ivan says we go in an hour." He collapsed onto the couch right beside me, and my body jumped alittle into the air. He reached over and with his bare fingers took my sausage. Seeing my face krinkle, and with food swirling in his mouth, he croaked out, "Comrade, communists share" and with that I slipped the plate onto his tree trunk thigh and walked over to the fridge. Everything here was like a fridge, even the stove, and I threw in some logs for good measure even with a fire burning.

"Where is Ivan, anyway?" I said, pouring a glass of milk for myself. "I haven't seen him since yesterday, when he and Fritz went out to 'get something to warm the place'." My accent was atrocious, but it gave Boris quite the laugh.

"HAHAHA the little capitalist monkey think he's funny! HAHAHA do the Russian again, monkey!" I raised an eyebrow at the man, and couldn't help but smirk.

"Oh, you like that, did ya? Well, what about this, eh?" I began to dance about like a fool, throwing my arms about in the air. In many months and days, I can say this was the first time I felt truly happy. On my third go around, I turned right into the glare of Fritz. Immediately, I contorted and fell back. Boris was in a frenzy of laughter now, but Fritz did not seem amused, which was the usual.

"Boris! David!" He yelled, "We're leaving. Wear your best clothes and be outside in short order!" He marched toward the door, and Boris and I made our way to the room to change. Boris wiped a tear or two from his eyes and hit me on the back with one of his frying pan hands.

"You're alright, Comrade, for a capitalist." He said, chuckling.

"And you're alright for a commie." I said, and elbowed him. He returned the favor, and sent me careening into a wall. Jokes aside, we finally dressed ourselves, and made our way to the door. Outside awaiting us was the last thing I could have expected. Both Fritz and Ivan were standing besides a long, black car with tinted windows. It shown brighter than the ice in the morning sun in this cold place, and had gorgeous silver accents. A gentleman in full uniform and a trench coat opened the back door of the car, and Ivan, dressed in military regalia, and Fritz climbed in. Both myself and Boris, who I had realized now was also in a less decorated uniform, crawled into the back. The door closed swiftly behind us, and in what seemed like an instant we were moving along.

"I hardly expected this!" I said, toying with a cupholder. Across from me, Ivan was looking stoic as ever, and the fun nature in his eyes seemed to have been restrained or subdued. Fritz was having a glass of champagne, and Boris was staring out the window, watching the landscape fly by.

"Comrade," began Ivan, "when we reach this place, I will do the talking. We are going to show the tape, and hopefully these people will aid us in forwarding a plan I had..." He slowed down, and sighed.

"What's the plan?" I said, asking more to keep the conversation flowing than out of any real curiosity. Having been with these guys for a while, I knew that I would likely never find out what was happening until it began to happen, which is why Ivan's next remark sent shivers down my spine.

"Well," he said now, looking down, then back up to me, and leaning forward, "I want to wake up another monster." He let out a quick and powerful breath through his nose, and kept his gaze fixed on me. I lowered my jaw as far as it could go. My eyes widened, and I could feel my face reddening. How the hell could this man, who I trusted since the first day I met him, betray me like this?! Did he forget I lost my town, my love, everything to a monster!?

"Bullshit. Not happening!" I said, crossing my arms and thrusting them down in opposite directs, making them cut at the air. "Don't you remember why we're even here? Just one of those goddamn things is enough --"

"Comrade, the last time a second monster awoke, this one followed to it and they fought. It slept for many years later, until it was disturbed again." His tone shifted again notably to something more grave, and a deep sense of dread pervaded the entire group, "Comrade, the only way to stop 'im now, is to force another monster to fight him." He let the words sink in, and waited for a few moments before continuing, "there is a good chance that, this time the monster didn't wake up to fight anything. It means that unless another monster shows up, he won't stop." I had conceded the point within myself, but refused to admit to him he was right outwardly. After a long silence, I broke into the conversation with a bit of a murmur, and then I raised my voice,

"Which one?"

"Well...we have given it many names. The fascists didn't know what they found, and the ancients called it "Ra", the sun got." He stopped, and pulled out a file and a book from a sack he had kept off to his side on the floor. "This one, here." He pointed to Egypt.

"It's the one from the files we took from Benedict, but that wasn't ever a confirmed monster. As far as I remember, America never confirmed this, and the Nazis thought their own men were crazy. Only four or so ever 'saw' it, anyway. This sounds like a goose chase..." I said, confident in myself that I could sway Ivan.

"No Comrade, this was confirmed. At least, we didn't believe it at the time. In the war in Afghanistan, we heard rumors of great beasts in the lands many millennia ago. They would tell stories to us, the soldiers we trained, about the dragon of Egypt, the sun god Ra, and how it helped bring the Egyptians to great power, but they lost control, and in a final move to save themselves, they trapped it in a slumber for thousands of years..." I looked back at him, and could feel my face reddening again.

"You never mentioned this when we first found the file, damn it." My fists were clenched now, and Fritz had stopped drinking and just held the glass to his lips. Boris was finally focused back on the group in the car.

"Comrade, when we first met, remember what I told you? You can't give away all of your secrets. We're going to meet someone now who can help us to save this world. We have to bring forth another monster to do it. You were committed before; do you break your commitment now? Is your will not strong enough?" His eyes had shown brightly now, and I felt a strong sense of passion surging through myself.

"Damn right it's strong. I will be with you all until the end. But..." I slowed down, my hands now limp and off to the side, sighing deeply I continued, "but what if we can't stop it? What if one of them wins, and it goes on a rampage?"

"I think, Comrade," Ivan began, "That the creatures spend alot of energy just moving. Something that big can't just move as much as it wants. This Ra has been imprisoned for years, but remember: stories say it can be controlled. This is good. Perhaps it can fight for us. For now," he popped open the cooler and poured himself one glass of champagne, "We drink." We shared a glass of champagne, and played cards for a while more. Boris went back to looking out the window, and Fritz joined Ivan and I for the card game.

It was a while until we finally met the woman I'd heard of, and boy beautiful was an understatement...

[three]

The Plan to Awaken A God: Part Two

We had pulled up to what was, at least on the outside, a rundown old building miles away from our cold shack, covered in graffiti and gradient with shades of grey growing lighter up the building, giving it the appearance of being covered in shadows reaching up toward the sky. The car rolled slowly to a stop, and the man in the coat driving the vehicle put it in park. He exited the vehicle, and drew a gun at the window.

"All out!" He exclaimed, and without hesitation Fritz and Ivan were moving, and out of either curiosity or fear of being the only man left behind, I lunged out of the car and in line with them. Boris was last out, and wore a long, brown, insulated coat with a thick hat lined with wool. It did not appear Russian made, and drew an glare from Fritz and the driver. "Drop weapons" he said, in a calm, almost soothing voice. It appeared to be entirely formality to assure everyone that nobody, not even former cohorts, were enemies. "Line up against the wall." He motioned with the gun toward the wall. He then walked slowly toward a large metal door, dented and hanging onto its hinges for dear life, three times with a closed fist. In an instant, four, possibly six, armed men had us surrounded. Two came forward and patted us each down, one by one, removing any weapons they found. Fritz groaned as they removed a couple dozen knives from him.

"You have any extra arms hidden for those somewhere? Hah." I gave a chuckle, and he glared back threateningly, but in a way that a schoolboy glares at a passing group that laughs at his humiliation, rather than hatred or rage. It started me to see him in such an innocent way, and before I knew it, we were being hearded into the building. "Walk." This was a different man, dressed in camouflage and wearing a green cap, this one clearly made in Russia, bearing a red, white, and blue stripped pin at the forefront. The flag on the front was different, but the faces, policy, hell, even the structure, was the same as it was decades ago. The Russians were the Soviets, and the Soviets were all about intelligence. I figured, as we walked past busy rooms, some used for massive wells of paper storage, others full of older technology, and others even more advanced than some of the things you see in movies, that only the times really change. The players remain the same.

We came up a few flights of stairs, and found ourselves at a large door, this one pristine: painted white with the Russian Federation's flag on the door above words I couldn't understand, it was clear that this was an area of great importance. Whatever was on the other side of this door, it was vital to something larger than any one of us, and it could swallow us whole. It felt like the giant monsters had condensed and were waiting, drooling, biding their time for us to come through, just to strike us down like Indian Shore, like Cuba, like the Russian Fleet. The guard with us pressed a button, and said something I couldn't understand. A woman responded. "You may enter." He said, and opened the door. We were ushered in quickly; I nearly tripped at the sight of the monster I saw.

Leaning against a desk was a woman, about six feet tall, smooth as velvet, with emerald, not green, emerald, eyes. Her hair was a jet black color, pinned up in a bun impossibly tight, and her body was wrapped in a suit that seemed to recognize and instinctively grip her perfect physique. Her lips were supple, but not bloated, and colored a deep red, and her nails were painted black on one side, and red on the other. She wore a Russian Federation pin on her left breast, and the shirt beneath her jacket was unbuttuned just enough to reveal to me...

"Vhat are you staring at?" The German accent caught me completely off guard.

"I-I...excus-What?!" I was caught red handed. She walked up to me slowly.

"Vhat,", she placed her hand delicately on my face, "are you," and began to run down my face with just two fingers, dragging her long nails just forcibly enough to be uncomfortable, but not enough to cause pain, "staring...", she stopped on my cheek. My eyes were locked to hers. I felt my breathing shallow. "At?" And before I knew what happened, she'd sent me tumbling to the floor with a powerful slap across the face. Ivan burst out laughing, Fritz gave a single chuckle, and Boris stood there as if nothing happened, no doubt lost in thought about the next thing he'd eat.

"That's my girl!" Said Ivan, boisterous as ever, opening his arms and smiling wide. "Come here, Ivana; give me a hug." She returned with a swift knee to his crotch, and sent him tumbling to the ground. Fritz, for the first time that I'd ever seen, actually gave a prolonged laugh.

"Zis is not Ze time for games." She said. "You should know by now your place. Ve only worked togezer out of necessity; I did vat I did for the Federation, und you..." she narrowed her eyes, and Ivan interrupted

"And I, dear, did what I had to for Russia." He was breathing fast and heavy through his nose, still able to laugh just a bit, surprisingly. The two knew eachother. "This is Ivana. She is with Russian intelligence. She believes that Russia should look toward the future. We wish--" and now Ivana interrupted him

"You vish to see it languish in ze past." Their gazes had been focused on one another, and you could almost feel the hatred penetrating deep into your chest just radiating form them both. Competing views of what was best for their homeland, even if Ivana sounded German, were strong. It was clear that they met out of necessity again, not for old time's sake. "Now. Vat do you have to show me?" She said, and Ivan finally stood up, motioning to Boris to take out the tape of Godzilla's assault on the fleet.

"We have a tape of the destruction of the fleet you sent to Cuba. We know who, or what, destroyed it."

"Give me." She said, reaching outward.

"No, no, no. Not just yet." He turned his head away, as if to suggest he had something to be smug about. "You will need to barter for it."

"You're insane. I have control of the entire building. Men armed to ze teeth at every door, outside, patrolling. Zis is a major point of intelligence for the Federation, and I am in control. Do you think you have something to barter with me? If I vant that goddamned tape, I vill have it. Vether or not you give it villingly is up to you." She paused afterward, allowing for the weight of her words to sink in.

"What you have here," began Ivan, again, "is the proof to prevent a major global catastrophe. The Americans have blamed terrorists, radicals. They would set up a proxy invasion and pretend to root out the problem, solving nothing. Cuba is ready to declare war on them. And Russia lost an entire fleet to what is on this tape. But just showing it would not be enough. We are the sole witnesses to what happened. And..." he looked over to me, now smirking, "We have someone without a vested interest in what you believe. An American who was at the attack in America and on the fleet. With us. He is David."

She gave me a glace, then looked back to Ivan. "Do you believe zat I am stupid? Zat boy could be paid, under duress, anything! I cannot just take his word!"

"Then don't!" Ivan bellowed, drowning her own. "Don't. Don't just take his word. Watch the tape. Then read the files we have from the Americans. Then hear what he says. You lost a fleet. Send another. You can enjoy losing that one, too. And what else? If they suspect you of sending two fleets to their death, you will be put to court. Tell me I am wrong. I dare you. But do not be a fool; the consequences for ignoring what we have to show you are worth a lifetime of suffering." Ivana seemed to give these words deep consideration, thinking it over in her head, ruminating on the possibilities. I empathized. Her options were suspend all disbelief and accept that out there right now, somewhere in the ocean, there was a monster that could take on and defeat an entire fleet of warships, that could maneuver through the water without losing a step, that could bring down an American city and push the world to the brink of a third world war, or she could suffer for the rest of her life in some god forsaken prison out in the middle of nowhere.

"Show me." she said, and with that, we were off. By the end of the tape, she needed to pick her jaw up off the floor. Ivan visibly shuddered at the sight of the monster, Godzilla, probably remembering how close we came to dying just by being within a mile of that thing. Fritz and Boris remained stoic, silent, and attentive. Something about Fritz seemed off, as if he was struggling to keep composed, focusing on everything deeply in the film, but not the film itself. Boris, again, was lost in his own world after a while, and yet despite this always seemed to know what was happening around him. I kept my eyes firmly on Ivana, and there was a clear change of tone. Her body went from slouched to rigid, and her eyes crested down with disdain. Watching Godzilla destroy her Federation's navy hurt in ways I could never understand, as if Godzilla had personally offended her pride. She stood, and dusted off her skirt. "Ver are ze accompanying files?"

"Right here." Fritz, shaking a little, dropped them on her desk. She walked over casually, and flipped through them. "So, zer are more of zem?" She glanced up, and a clear look of concern was on her face, but there was a hint of something more, anger? No, this was greater than anger. Wrath. A deep, powerful urge to destroy without remorse or concern for what it would cost. She wanted Godzilla brought back in pieces, not to be studied, or paid for like a giant attraction, but to be totally, undoubted annihilated. "Und vhy...", she began, "can ve not simply attack this creature with brute force? Triple, no, quadruple our numbers? Use a bomb; call it a test. Lure it over to the Koreans..."

"Stop. Stop, Ivana." Ivan approached and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Get ahold of yourself. We cannot do anything to implicate ourselves in this matter further. We have to show the world that these monsters exist. That they are real. And as a plus, we can blame our enemies abroad for keeping this hidden for so long. They put the world in danger; they let their own cities die at the expense of covering up the existence of a monster." Now it was Ivan letting the weight of his words sink it, and it was having a huge affect on Ivana.

"Ok...ok..." She looked down and shook off her head, trying to bring back some composure. "I'll help in any way I can. In ze files, it says there are monsters in other places. Zhe Pacific Islands, off ze coast of China, and in ze Middle East. Zer has been talk ve have intercepted, and learned of in our work. Zer is a plan to attack monuments in Egypt, to avaken a "sleeping veapon"..." She put her right hand over her right up, pushing back a strand of hair that had become undone. She was having trouble believing what she was saying. "I vill give you vat ve know, and ve vill send you over to meet a fringe group. You vill be our emissaries to zem. Zey are having trouble stopping some extremists, and this vill be our in. Just like Afghanistan, only ve vill not fail like you did. Ve vill not be stubborn." She pounded her desk. "If zis thing is there...", she continued, "vake it up. Two monsters in the vorld vill be more zan enough to bring down zis monster. Oh, and I vant everything ze American knows in writing before you go. He may need to come back, alive, and be shown to our superiors. Is zis clear?" She lowered her brow, challenging Ivan.

"Absolutely, dear." He said. Fritz was now locked in a gaze at Ivana, and was sweating fiercely. His hands were shaking. I knew the feeling; I felt anxious and tense when I first met Sara. Fritz had himself a crush. Boris was leaning against a filing cabinet, tipping it over just slightly, and before we left I made sure to give them my best possible account of what happened at Indian Shore, and in turn they gave me two shots of Vodka and some cold soup, which I kindly declined. And with that, we were off to Egypt to meet a man named Ayyub Habeeb and his "fringe" group in Cairo.

[three]

It Rises With the Sun

We had ourselves a small meeting with a group coming in from the north. We had little choice, but they had worked with Ahmed before, or at least had exchanged information in a trade, so they were our only leads. The last gracious deed done by a contact of mine was to set this up, close to four in the morning. The way the stars glitter in the sky, and how the moonlight reflects off of the grains of sand in Egypt makes it look like millions of flowers have all bloomed at once, made of glass. Their sheen is the only notice you get that they are there. It makes the expanse seem less barren...more alive.
Abraham radioed over to me that we had some new arrivals off of a boarding ship. They were too pale to be migrants coming from Libya or Tunisia, or Palestine. Did they not think this through, I wondered out loud.

“Perhaps they are not as special as we were led to believe, brother?” Abraham chuckled quietly. “I will keep them in my sight, anyway. Shiraz will pick them up in two blocks. Copy?”

“Copy.” A voice rang out over the radio. It was Shiraz. He had joined on because his brother had been killed in a raid on a compound run by one of Ahmed’s associates. They had been running opium around, and Shiraz’s brother was sent in with a small group to “negotiate” the only way that people like Ahmed would understand. Predictably, there were casualties, and Shiraz’s brother was one of them. It had been particularly hard on him, because his father was killed in the first American Invasion, and his brother was the only family to fill the void left. He came to me, short, dirty, with piercing brown eyes, and demanded that I let him join. Looking into his eyes, I found it hard to say no to that type of fire...and it got me thinking, the boy in the picture that old woman had shown me. He had a fire like that, too. Maybe he was still out there somewhere, scouring ruins and the ancient monuments that are a part of this landscape now? We would find out another time.

“They are moving to you now. Maybe thirty seconds out. Copy?”

“I copy.” They were coming. I could hear their footsteps as they moved closer and closer now. Stepping out from around the wall, I stood right in their path, and they let out a gasp. Two women? What is going on? “Shiraz? Shiraz? Where are ---“

“Comrade. Don’t move. We mean no harm.” There behind me stood a man who had a fire in his eyes, too. “My name is Ivan. You are Ayyub? Armed? Yes.” He took the gun holstered at my back and looked it over. “Huh. American. I thought you were, you know, enemies?”

“Times change. There are greater foes.” I said, looking straight ahead. They had undoubtedly surrounded me and had certainly taken Shiraz and Abraham by surprise.

“Fair enough, comrade.” Said Ivan, “Turn around.” I did as he requested, and he handed me back my gun. A show of faith among men. “So, let us talk with the others.”

He led me to an alley; trash was strewn on both sides up to my knees. The stench was awful. The dust kicked up was laced with torn paper and garbage, but the cool wind off the sand was nice. In a few hours, the heat would make this even worse. There were three other men, one brutish and large, who appeared to be staring off into space. Another who masked his eyes behind dark glasses; something I had learned never to trust. The third did not seem like the others: something about him came off as different, like he was here for a more noble purpose. He would be the one I would get close to. Shiraz and Abraham were there, too, waiting for me.

“Hello, hello everyone. This is our man, Ayyub. He and his two comrades will be accompanying us as we head out to find our former contact. He went by the name, “Xerxes”, but we know now his name is...” Ivan snapped his fingers, and looked down, hoping I would answer.

“Ahmed. He is Ahmed Bahar, though He only goes by his first name. He betrayed me two years ago, and he has been slowly building his resources and biding his time. I was told you know what he is after, and we will assist you in bringing him down.” Shiraz and Abraham nodded in approval.

“Yes. He intends to awaken a weapon. We know that this weapon is buried here, somewhere near the pyramids. Perhaps it is even deep within them. We are unsure, but now is as good a time as any to start.” Ivan’s words left much to be desired.

“A weapon beneath the great pyramids? Are you insane? There is no such thing. We are dealing with a threat, a real threat. If all you have for us is jokes, and you intend to mock us, I will kill you here and now!” Everyone drew a gun. I pulled mine and pinned Ivan to the wall; I heard Shiraz pull his own, as did Abraham and the other two Russians...but the American did not. Ivan himself only put his hands up in defence.

“Listen! Listen!! We do not come with ill tidings, comrade. We are here to prevent a catastrophe. Right now, there is a real threat of a multinational invasion of this area to capture the man you call Ahmed, and frame him for what has happened in America. You may have heard that there was an attack in the south; a nuclear weapon? And another on a Russian fleet near Cuba? These are not terrorist attacks. We intend to reveal to the world what has been going on. It will weaken the American position and allow the Motherland to reclaim her rightful place as protector and leader. All we ask is that you trust us, and you help us bring this man in alive. I must insist on that point.” His words could not have been more hollow.

“You come here, you mock us. You say a weapon is hidden beneath the pyramids of Egypt, you threaten my men and I, and now you want me to help you BRING AHMED IN ALIVE?!”

“Stop!” I looked over toward the others. The American was speaking. “Stop now. All of you. Can’t you see that there’s more going on here? Revenge, global politics, it doesn’t matter. Ayyub, what’s under the pyramids isn’t just a weapon. It’s a monster. It’s something...alive. It’s dormant and that might not be the case for long if you don’t help us. There’s another one out there, and it’s taken down everything thrown its way so far. If we don’t do something, the world is going to have what may be a new dominant species running amok in the ocean. Please...help us.” Something genuine struck me in his words. I was moved. There was a fire in his eyes as well...one of revenge, like mine, but also something more. Pain? Not just pain...agony. Wrath. But it was bottled behind reserve, and he intended to see this through to the end. I lowered my gun, and so did everyone else, one by one.

“Alright...for the American. We should move now, before the sun begins to rise. They do not guard the pyramids well in the dawn hours.” In truth, what motivated me to follow this boy’s advice was the strange path Ahmed was taking...that strange woman and her missing son, and that coin. “Ghidorah...” I whispered...

“What did you say?” Ivan said.

“Nothing. Just thinking.” I fumbled with the coin in my pocket for a while, and we headed to the jeeps to set out for the pyramids...

[three]

Into the Abyss

We arrived just before the sun had become an obstacle. On the horizon, the sand was white and glaring at us, and soon would be blinding. The rising sun at dawn is when its light is most blinding, but even then we could see that something was amiss. There were other jeeps and vans along the pyramids; and a cloud of dust was rising from the largest of the three.

"They must've gone in there." I pointed at the rising cloud of dust and ash. Had they bombed it? They had become so brazen.

"Shit." The man with dark glasses growled from the back of the jeep. He had yet to identify himself, but the hulking mass of flesh called itself "Borris". It seemed to be their pet. We had been listening to the radio for updates on what, if anything, was progressing on the world stage, but nothing. Just more talk of terrorism, and that more troops were to be deployed in Iraq. Sanctions were being tightened on Iran, and Israel was preparing for war with Hamas. Nothing new, but there was a renewed sense of worry. The public had been stirred; their fears beckoned ever closer by the threat of nuclear terror. They did not believe it could exist, and yet...

"Get out, quick! They've moved in. Shit! Shit!!" Ivan pulled out his sidearm and took point. I stayed right beside him. Only Abraham and Shiraz were with me; it was requested that I leave the others back in Cairo. I obliged. We could not have tensions rising here, because I swore that upon seeing that bastard Ahmed, I would fire without hesitation.

We came around a corner in the pyramid; moving slowly through the thick smoke and ash. They had detonated a bomb, probably a plastic explosive, on the wall following the tour path. It did not appear to be anything out of the ordinary, but who could have guessed that behind it was another wall; this one black with age. However...there was enough room to fit in if you squeezed up against the second wall, and further down, there appeared to be light. So Ivan went in first. Fritz followed him in second now, and I held back for a moment. My attention was drawn to a paper near the wall; it looked remarkably similar to the one that old woman gave me. Was it Ahmed that took her son?

"Come on!" The American beckoned me in. I followed, with Abraham and Shiraz close behind, the Borris behind them. The wall curved, and a second hole had been broken through here, though this one was not by the force of explosives. It was simply weak, and opened into a less narrow room, one that was caked with dust and the webs of spiders. The floor showed the prints of many boots, so Ahmed was not moving with a small company. There appeared to be more than a dozen people here, and the prints all moved in uniformity: they were well trained.

"This is going to be a tough fight." I said. I saw one of the men, Fritz, wiping sweat from his forehead. He was shaking his head just slightly. Something was amiss. I felt something, too: it was as though I had forgotten something, but I couldn't recall what. It began to feel maddening, and tickled at the base of my skull. What was this, caressing my mind? And was anyone else experiencing this? I dare not ask. we pressed on, much more slowly now. There was something very wrong about this place.

The chambers went on, doorways and archways to room after room, for what felt like an hour. Everything was covered in fine dust, though the webs became less and less of a nuisance as we pressed further in. That's how we knew we were moving in the right direction: the less webs meant the less living creatures, which meant we were getting further in. Finally, we hit a staircase. It had one torch lit at the top, and appeared to descend into pure darkness. The feeling I had was getting worse. I couldn't stop thinking to myself about it, and my head was pounding. The others were sweating hard now, but we couldn't stop.

"We need to keep moving. I...I know that they're down there. The prints...keep going."

"Comrade...I agree." Ivan whispered from across the archway down. "There is something...wrong with this place. My head..."

"Mine too." Said Fritz.

"Mine three." Said Borris.

"And you others as well?" Abraham, David, and Shiraz nodded. We pressed on down the dark staircase, anyway, but we took the torch. We walked for what could have been days.

"How long...have ve been moving..." The hulking one asked. "It feels like it has been forever." Indeed, it had. Even the prints told a very odd story: they were no longer so uniform in the dust, and appeared to be walking over one another, into one another, and even brushing the walls. Large areas were completely clear of dust, and it looked like someone had stopped or fallen into them. We pressed on regardless, until finally, we hit the bottom.

I could feel it...a gentle whisper directly to my mind. I would not act upon it. quietly, it spoke to me..."...kill...". It was asking me...to kill the others? They had slowed down. Ahead, there was a puddle on the floor. There was no obvious drip...

"Blood." Said Ivan, looking around the area. "Probably from him." He pointed to a man, his head turned completely around on his shoulders. His body was facing us, but his face was pinned to the wall. He had one hand, from where we stood. His uniform was torn open, and there were obvious stab wounds. "Keep moving. This is a good sign for our endeavor." Ivan, the man leading this charge, did not so much as lose a single step as we proceeded. Something was amiss with him, too...

As we walked, there was more blood. Whoever was doing this might still be around, so our guns were all raised. Even the American had his gun drawn as we proceeded down the dark hall, and the puddles became small streams. Every now and again, there was a body, or part of one, against the wall. We found some teeth in the path, and at one curve in the tunnel there was a smashed rock with blood caked about it, but no body. Ivan said the man who left that mark was a, "tough son of bitch!". I nodded...

[three]

One Came From the Stars

We'd been seeing blood every few steps earlier, but by now it was consistent. There was blood on everything. My head was pounding, just like Ayyub had said. Ivan pressed on ahead, moving faster than any of us. He seemed...almost resistant to what was happening. I hadn't said anything, but I began hearing things. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but now I was certain there was something going on. The guy who we first saw, his head...snapped around...I heard him...gurgle? He made some kind of noise, but that wasn't possible.

And I could have sworn I heard someone calling from behind us, "hey". It happened every so often. Just "hey". As if they were trying to get me to turn around, but nobody was there. I tried to stay near the front of the pack, but my head was killing me, and I slowed down. I was alone at the back of the line now...and there it was.

"Hey." My head shot up, but nobody was there. It was just dark, and I could see the torch and everyone moving away, down the path. And then again, "Hey."

"Who...who's there?" I aimed my gun backward toward the voice. I reached down for a flashlight, but I remembered that Fritz had them in his bag. Or did he? Maybe they wanted to leave me down here? I couldn't get the thought out of my mind. And then again...

"Hey." It came out of a dark corner, and then I heard more. Footsteps. Slow, and not consistent, but moving. They seemed to be traveling around me, but not clockwise...or counter. Sometimes it came from behind, sometimes the left, and sometimes in front, but it was certainly circling. I was in total darkness now, and decided that I would walk straight toward a wall, and travel forward from where I last saw the others. Then I heard it right next to my head, a soft whisper pulled right out of the blackest darkness..."Hey" I fired my gun until there was nothing left. Then I collapsed, holding my head. Suddenly, I felt lighter; I was being lifted.

"You alright, comrade? What happened?" Ivan was holding me up, his face showing concern for the first time since I met him.

"I...I heard something. Someone has been talking. I can hear them."

"I hear it, too." The echoing voice came from behind Ivan and the others. Ayyub stepped out of the darkness, his black eyes locked on mine. "It is telling me to kill you. All of you. What is down here...is unholy. It seeks for us to destroy one another."

"Prob...ably what happened to these people." Fritz managed to eek out the words, but he was having serious trouble. His face was covered in sweat, and his black clothes were drenched. He was breathing slowly, and deeply. He was struggling to keep his cool, and he was shaking. I saw one of Ayyub's guys start to take out his gun. All of a sudden, Ivan went crashing forward.

A guy came out of nowhere and started to pound on his back and head, holding him by the neck. He started biting at him, and laughing.

"Get him off me! Shoot him! Shoot him!!" The shot rang out through the cavernous and yet rounded tunnel, and the man slumped over. He looked to be about middle age, had a beard growing in, and was relatively dark skinned. He was missing a few teeth, and his chin had dried blood on it.

"Fucking zombie!" Ivan roared at the body, kicking it repeatedly.

"No. Something has driven him mad. It will drive us all mad!" One of Ayyub's men wasn't doing so well, either. A shorter one, he collapsed to the floor, crying. "Mother! Mother! What has happened to Fez? He can't be dead!"

"Shiraz, get up!" Abraham and Ayyub rushed over to their comrade's side, and moved him away from the pool of blood. He had been reduced to a blubbering mess.

"David. David!" I shook my head and looked around, and saw Ivan motioning to me. I went over and he pulled me aside, "Comrade, we need to move on quickly. I can't find Fritz or Borris. They may have moved without us, or worse. We should leave the rest here for now..."

"We can't just leave them." I said, looking back. "Who's that?" Tumbling down the cavern came Borris, and behind him was Fritz with a knife drawn. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!" He was screaming at the top of his lungs, and veins were bulging from his sweat-drenched neck.

"Fritz! Comrade! What the hell--" Another man leaped out of the dark and attacked Ivan. Shiraz was inconsolable on the floor, and Abraham was rushing over to stop Fritz from killing Borris. Ayyub ran over and grabbed Fritz's bag, and made a bee-line for the end of the tunnel.

"Hey! Stop!" I chased after him, and I could hear Ivan yelling for me, his voice gradually becoming an echo...

Chasing Ayyub wasn't easy. This guy was a trained professional, and I was just some American guy with no experience. The pain had me wobbling down the hall after him, and I could see the light of his flashlight. Every now and again, I could hear someone shuffling. I figured that some of the soldiers weren't totally dead, and were just wandering aimlessly and insane. Up ahead, I saw Ayyub stumble, then his light went dark. Finally, I saw why: he was laying still at the bottom of a pit, maybe fifteen feet down. He wasn't dead, but he was out cold for now.

My back ached and my chest lurched forward, and I found myself falling into the pit after him. Someone had their arms wrapped around me, and I hit the floor on my side. There was a loud, echoing crack, and i screamed in pain. My shoulder had to have shattered, but I didn't have time to think. I felt a blow come across my face, and another, and another. I couldn't fight back. Then I heard grunting; and I saw the beam of the flashlight bouncing off the walls in all directions, with unmistakable thuds ringing out until finally, Ayyub crawled over to me.

"Are you alright? We're..." He stopped talking and kept his eyes fixed on something. I rolled my head up, tears mixing with blood on my face, to see another set of stairs that descended to a massive room. "Come on..." He helped me up slowly, and we marched down. He limped, and I stumbled, but we moved rather quickly given our condition. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, there was a marvel before us. The ceiling of the room we were in was incredibly high, and the walls were golden with their ancient colour. In front of us was a bridge fit for three people to cross, if they were arm to arm. The room itself was massive, and at the end of the bridge was a great door: upon its face was a great beast. Wings sprouted from each side where there would have been forearms, and it had massive feet with three toed claws on each. Really, they were like the talons of a great raptor. Behind it were two long tails, barbed at the end, and extending from the center of the body, supported by a thick and powerful breast, were three serpentine necks. Each ended with a massive head with two great horns branching out from behind the eyes. Massive teeth grew out in perfect harmony with one another. None was longer than the tooth directly opposite of its position.

"It's a painting..." Ayyub marveled. "A painting that covers a door..." He pulled something out of his pocket. It looked golden...a coin, perhaps? It looked to have the image of the beast upon it. He walked me across the bridge to the door, and after looking for a while he exclaimed that he, "Found it", and slipped the coin in. And the door popped open, and beyond it was the great creature itself. This monster...this god...was chained and shackled. It's necks bore massive, iron weights tethered to the ground, as did its legs. It's eyes were closed on every head, and it bore scars across its three faces, as if it had leveled harsh judgement upon a foe who was determined to fight to its last breath. Ayyub wandered over to the walls, and began to look at the murals of the creature.

"It fell long ago, from the stars. They built the pyramids...in synchrony with the stars they believed it fell from, and they called it Ra, for it was golden." He continued, "They found a way...to control it. To make it obey them. And they fought off many powerful civilizations to maintain their power here along the Nile...but..." he slowed, and then began to detail further, "it seems as though the beast had some means of defending itself. It can...affect the mind...and drive one mad with its power. It can...speak...to you in the deepest subconscious of the mind...and turn you on even your most cherished loved ones...they feared it, and began to torture it...making it endure horrible pain until they sealed it away thousands of years ago." He stopped and looked back at me.

"Now, we have to make sure it stays dead." Just then, a bang rang out through the chamber, and Ayyub was struck in the chest with a single bullet. I turned to look behind me, and there stood Ivan and another man, an Arab. It wasn't anyone I recognized.

"Too bad, such a shame, comrade. He was a good man, you know. But he wasn't the man we needed."

"Nor was he the ruler of the next Caliphate. That honor will go to myself, Ahmed Bahar. You appear surprised. Did you think you were here to speak to Ayyub, American?" He smiled and laughed. It echoed through the chamber, and resonated powerfully off of the walls. I fell off to my side and drew a grimace. My head was going to explode. I was too close to this...monster.

"Now, we wake the beast. Ayyub had the key, but I have the alarm." He waved around some plastic explosive, or some IED. I couldn't tell; my vision was blurring. I Ivan walked over to me and knelt down.

"Comrade..." he began, "If you were in my position, you would do the same. This is for the benefit of my people. We will win this arms race before it even begins. You heard Ayyub. It can be controlled. The Motherland will reign again, and she won't be stopped at Berlin a second time!" He shouted, and I grimaced again.

"What about...Borris...and Fritz...and the rest..." He smiled and looked over at Ahmed.

"Well, I let Fritz have his way with Borris. Borris was a good man, but stupid. And he was more trouble than he was worth. I may have kept Fritz, but he didn't calm down. I left him with the others in the dark. He won't be a problem.

"It's ready!" Ahmed yelled back over to us.

"Good. Lets get back before this thing gets angry. On three. One! Two! Three!" He pressed the button on his remote, and the bomb went off in the mouth of Ghidorah. For a moment, everything was still...

[three]

Beginning of the End, Part One

The air was thick with black smoke, dust, and ash. I coughed alittle, but couldn't see much. I could hear Ivan and Ahmed talking in the distance, very quietly...

"Did it work?"

"How would I know?"

"Go in and check?"

"No, you go!"

A breeze picked up in the chamber; it was warm and powerful. A soft, subtle howl traveled with it. The smoke twirled and danced upward, slowly sliding off the middle head of Ghidorah as it rose from the ground, it's red eyes piercing through the darkness and casting a soft glow upon the room.

"My...god..." The other heads lifted as well, and the room began to shudder and rattle, and the clanking of chains and iron was clear against the stone floors and copper walls. The heads of the creature slowly panned about the room, and Ghidorah was inspecting its surroundings, before fixing its gaze upon Ivan and Ahmed.

"Creature. You are of great power, no? Would you like revenge on those who trapped you here?" Ivan stepped forward, slowly, his hands raised and open. He shuffled his feet closer. Ghidorah's gaze was fixed upon him, not just one head, but all at once they peered down at the puny man who dared step forth to confront them on equal terms. It drew in breath, and its already large breast expanded even further. A powerful shriek echoed through the room, and the walls shook violently. Dust and rock rained down upon us, and Ghidorah stood erect, and fixed its gaze on the ceiling. Its massive wings spanned the entire room, and scrapped the walls, smashing down more debris upon us all.

Then suddenly, it violently lashed them down, and for a moment, it left the ground. The wind was so powerful that it forced everyone to the floor, and sent Ahmed careening backwards. Ayyub's body slammed into the wall, as did mine. I felt blood lurch from my throat and mouth, but couldn't bring myself to move. When it landed back down upon the floor, the room nearly collapsed. The wall behind it fell forward, and the chains on its feet pried at the floor they were bolted to.

And again, it beat its massive wings, pressing us to the floor with the force of what felt like an ocean on our backs, and it rose higher this time. It rammed the ceiling with enough force to cause the corners of the room to buckle under its assault. I had to get out of here before it took us all down. It hit the ground again, and this time I was catapulted into the air. I landed on my hands and knees, and my shoulder ached. I screamed in pain, but rallied to my feet and ran toward the door. It beat its mighty wings again, and this time the chains on its feet broken entirely, as did those upon its necks as it crashed into the ceiling, this time bringing more of it down on itself. When it hit the floor, it sank in further.

Without warning, it sucked in the air like a great vacuum, and its breast expanded. Instead of a scream, a brilliant flash of yellow light streamed from each of the heads, firing off in every direction, tearing deep caverns into the ceiling above, and bringing more of the room down. This time, it lowered its heads and necks, and leaned forward, and beat its wings furiously, the wind sounded like a freight train roaring past us as it ascended to the ceiling, and it rammed it with as much force as it could muster. Alas, this still did not seem to be enough, and Ghidorah collapsed to the floor, which finally gave way and sunk into unknown depths, taking Ghidorah with it down below...

I turned to see Ivan curled up on the ground, not moving. Ahmed was stumbling about, but he managed to walk over to Ayyub's body and take from him the journal papers he had.

"This...idiot....had no idea. The boy did not study the creature here on this world. He was not of this world! He brought us here, and told us of this creature beneath the pyramid. He led us to it, and showed us that it could be awakened. It was HIM! I did not betray anyone! I intend to make us kings again! The world will turn on an axis that spins from Cairo!" Ahmed smiled and laughed, and spun wildly as if dancing to a song of triumph only he could hear.

His smile faded as a bellow roared from the depths of darkness and bolts of lightening shot out from the floor, ripping the stone ceiling apart. Ghidorah flew up from deep below the chamber with unbelievable speed, so fast that it appeared as a blur of golden scales, and smashed into the ceiling; it's body hardly flinching as it tore through hundreds of feet of stone in seconds. Finally, it beat its wings in the light of the sun for the first time in millennnia, and the world would know now that Ghidorah was free from its prison, and its reign had only just begun.

Ahmed had been knocked over by the ascension of Ghidorah, and was bleeding on the floor. I tried to stand, but couldn't muster the force. He rolled over and began to laugh...

"You...fly...show them our...destiny" He started to choke, and finally he started to gag. He began to sit up, and stopped. His gaze was fixed on something in the distance.

"For your...betrayal...brother..." A second voice softly spoke in the distance. Then I heard a single shot, that resonated within the chamber. Ahmed slumped off to the side and stopped moving. Ayyub was lying on his stomach in the distance.

Ayyub laid his head face down and stopped moving. Now I tried harder to move. I could hear crashing and smashing above. The pyramid wouldn't hold up much longer, and Ghidorah was probably laying waste to Giza and heading to Cairo. I gimped to my feet and looked around. Ivan was gone, but he left a trail of blood. I moved to Ayyub and tried to lift him, but he wouldn't budge.

"Leave...me here..."

"No!" I shouted, my head still splitting. I started to cry. "I'm not leaving you. You didn't...you didn't deserve..."

"I do. I lost myself long ago." He grimaced.

"No, no you didn't. He killed everyone you knew, and you got your revenge, but that doesn't---"

"Before that, my friend. I was not an honorable man. I killed out of hate, and malice, but when Ahmed betrayed me...I became aware of my folly. This is where it must end for me, my friend. My judgement is left alone to Allah. My time has come. Now we must part...." And with that, Ayyub took his final breath, and as I fell to my knees his eyes slowly closed for the last time...

[three]

Beginning of the End, Part Two

I had resigned myself to death after seeing Ayyub pass. Ivan had escaped. There was no way I could move myself out of here, and so I sat there on my knees, wondering how long it would be before I was crushed to death beneath falling stone the size of a car. Suddenly, I felt arms wrap around my waist, and I was hoisted up into the air. I started moving...it was Borris! And Abraham! And Shiraz! I smiled, but immediately recoiled and coughed blood down Borris' shoulder.

"It is ok, comrade. You vill be out of here soon enough." Abraham grabbed the documents from Ahmed, and checked Ayyub's pulse. Nothing. He sifted through his pockets and found another piece of paper: a map of the catacombs.

"This should get us out of here. He told me to check his second pocket if something happened. He must have gotten this from that old lady." With that, we began to move, and were on our way out of the tunnels and rushing to the exist before we knew it. In the distance, things didn't look good. Massive pillars of smoke rose up and blotted out the sun. Brief rays shone through and cast a dim and dour light upon the golden sands of Egypt's great cities. Cairo was in flames further off, and there were tanks and soldiers on the move toward the city. Golden scales littered the ground, leading off to Cairo. Ghidorah had struck its first target.

We didn't have time to think on it, because the ground began to shake violently beneath us. Borris, Abraham, and Shiraz ran as I dangled from Borris' shoulders, and we were able to look back as Giza's once great pyramid sunk into the sands of history. A billowing tower of sand and dust rose from the former location of the pyramid, and the sound of cannonfire rang out across the desert. Jet planes flew in low overhead, screaming as they flew by toward Cairo. A single dull shriek could be heard, signaling Ghidorah's presence on the horizon.

"Do you think it will be stopped?" Shiraz asked looking off at the city. I got the sense his interest was far more vested than anyone else's. He got no revenge, and was left without his leader.

"I don't think so. Not here." Said Abraham.

"What happened to Fritz?" I asked, barely able to choke out the question.

"He went crazy. He stopped attacking and started smashing his head into the wall, and then ran off back the way we came. We don't know if he got out or not." Abraham shrugged. We were all that was left, the sole witness to the beginning of the end of time. With two monsters on the loose, and world governments teetering toward global conflict, it seemed like there was no way the human race could survive. I tried to keep my eyes open, but couldn't. I began to nod off, slowly and then it faded to black...

When I woke up, my arm was numb. I'd forgotten it was even broken. I couldn't move it, though. Someone had doctored it up. Borris was asleep in the chair by my bedside. Shiraz was keeping watch. We were in a...tent? It seemed like this might be a refugee camp of some kind. Then I saw Abraham walk in.

"You're awake. Good. There is much to discuss." He pulled up a chair and sat down. He had a cup of tea, two in fact. "Would you like one?" I nodded. Shiraz walked over and stood beside him. "My friend, the news is not good. Ghidorah has laid waste to Cairo, and is moving toward the coast and Alexandria. We've heard from a few sources that your friend, Ivan, has been following along the path of the creature. He still believes he can control it."

"Then we stop him..." I said, sipping just a small amount of tea. "Or not. It's not like he can actually reign that thing in, can he?"

"Should we risk it?" Asked Shiraz, "I mean, he had us all fooled. We did not expect that he would be working with Ahmed, or that he would betray even his own friends. Perhaps he knows more than he let on about this Ghidorah?"

"Yeah, maybe." I said, twirling my tea with my finger. I looked over at Borris, who was sleeping. I tried to imagine how he felt; Ivan was a friend to him, and he left him for dead. He must have felt guilty if he risked his own life to save mine. "Alright. When should we head out? And should we take him?" I motioned to Borris.

"I don't think it could hurt. He did come back for you after all. Perhaps he is a good luck charm?" Shiraz smiled. That was the first time he'd done that since I met him. Then we caught it over the radio:

"Ferry boat moving through strait of Gibraltar found overturned, destroyed earlier in the week found to be highly radioactive. Authorities have taken the boat to a restricted area in Spain, where the ferry originated. Cause: unknown."

"When did that happen?!" I sat up, pulling on every tube and wire jammed under my skin as I did.

"About five or six days ago." Abraham said.

"That's him! That's how we can do this!"

"You don't mean..."

"I do! We need to lure Godzilla here to fight Ghidorah. The reports we had, they said that they once tracked Godzilla out to the Arctic. It was unusual for him to traverse so far out of his comfort zone. They found him fighting another monster out there, and he won the battle before returning to sea. It mentioned that they can sense one another, but maybe it's not precise. Maybe he wouldn't know Ghidorah was out there until he saw it, but he can sense it. That's why he's coming this way!" I could feel my grin growing wider and wider. Shiraz was smirking. Borris was awake. Abraham kept staring at me, his face stern and crinkled with thought.

"How would we even find him? The Mediterranean is large, if you didn't notice." He had a point. There was no real way for us to know where Godzilla might be, and even then how we could lure it to meet Ghidorah at Alexandria. There might not even be enough time.

"Well, we're just going to have to take our chances then, and head toward the coast. We'll try to catch Ivan. If Godzilla shows, it will be a bonus. What do you say? Lets stop him."

"Agreed." Said Abraham.

"Agreed." Said Shiraz.

"Me three." Said Borris.

And wit that, we set off. Moving through the tents at night was difficult. It wasn't that it was dark, but that there were so many. I could hear women and men groaning and crying. Some were holding their children close, but they were limp. At least once, I walked by a little boy, who couldn't have been more than five or six, crying beside his mother. She was laying beneath a white sheet stained with blood. A woman came by quickly and scooped him up from behind, her gloves still covered in blood. Perhaps she was a nurse, perhaps not. She gave me a cold look and moved the boy off to another tent, this one full of crying children. They screamed at the top of their lungs, and some had cried so much that they were no longer shedding tears. Some had blood leaking from their mouths as they screamed, and their little throats gave way. Others just sat there with a blank expression.

"Orphans." Said Shiraz. "I empathize. Ghidorah took their family. Their friends. Their future."

In the distance, the orange glow of Cairo burned still brightly. Armored vehicles continued to pour in through the night, as we made our way out of the city and onto the roads. I was surprised that the army didn't try to stop us, but I guess we looked the part. There were several groups mobilizing in poorly maintained jeeps and vehicles with guns strapped to the back, some trucks had full anti-tank weapons bolted into the bed. Every organization and able bodied man, woman, or child was being mobilized to take down Ghidorah. We trudged along and found a van by the roadside, abandoned in the chaos. All around were military vehicles, melted to the tar and pavement from the heat of Ghidorah's breath. If this was any indicator of what Ghidorah could do, things were going to get a whole lot worse before they got better...