Kaiju Apocalypse (21 page)

“We have to get out of here!” Curri yelled at Matan as a Dog Killer lumbered in front of the window of their APC.  Curri didn't know if it was Higgins in the suit or not, but whoever it was, he clearly knew how to operate the armor.  Twin rocket launchers rose from the Dog Killer's shoulders and spat destruction at the Dog Kaiju.  The explosion from the volleys ripping into the Kaiju's forward ranks shook the APC.  Curri covered her eyes against the intense light of the blast. 

Higgins' voice came over the APC's comm.  “All units, concentrate fire on the Dog Kaiju mass in front of the vehicles.  We have to break through or it's all over, right here, right now.”

Curri blinked her stinging eyes, trying to clear her vision.  The other Dog Killers came running up beside the APC she sat in, passing it on both sides.  They threw themselves into the Kaiju, charging forward to meet them.  Their mag-cannons chattered and boomed, drenching the road in Kaiju blood. 

One of the Dog Killers stumbled as a Kaiju leaped onto its back.  Sparks flew as the thing's long claws raked the suit's shoulders.  Two more Kaiju tackled the Dog Killer, taking it to the ground.  The screams of the man inside the suit could be heard over the shared channel of the APCs and the power-armored troops. 

“Somebody kill that channel!” Higgins' voice ordered. 

Matan shook himself as if waking up from a nightmare.  His fingers flew over the controls in front of him and the sound of the man screaming vanished just as it reached a crescendo.  Curri saw one of the Kaiju attacking the downed suit thrust a hand clutching what looked to be part of the man's spine high into the air over its head in victory. 

“There are too many of them!” Mark shouted over the comm. link.  He must have been driving the second APC, because even as he cried out, it shifted into reverse.  Its massive wheels peeled out on the roadway as it shot backwards into the growing mass of Kaiju behind it.  The APC made it a good distance into the things before their numbers bogged it down.  The Kaiju swarmed over it like ants, climbing up onto its sides and top.  Matan was using the external sensors of their own APC to view the carnage and Curri watched with him.  The second APC's gunner was yanked from his turret or rather his upper half was.  Long, bloody strands of intestines stretched from where one of the Kaiju held the man's twitching torso back into the inside of the APC where his lower half still remained. Several of the Dog Kaiju were working together to tear into the top of the second APC, peeling back its armor as if they were opening up a tin can. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

**** 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

**** 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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