Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters (29 page)

One of the swarm of helicopters sent into Nevada noticed something unusual, a large shape moving in the darkness, and moved to investigate. When their searchlights illuminated the beast, the crew was shocked at what they saw. As the pilot pulled away, desperately radioing HQ, the creature struck. It covered the few hundred yards separating them in a blink of an eye and ended its sprint with a leap. The helicopter was yanked out of the sky by the beast's powerful jaws, then dropped burning into the desert sands. The monster unleashed a howl of pain and fury into the night and continued south. Its speed increased with every step as it made its way toward the city and the source of the voices it felt in its head.

~

Craig and Leslie were escorted by the four lizard men to a camp, a number of hide -covered huts surrounding a central fire. Numerous stone totem poles surrounded the camp with a large stone statue, which stood about fifteen feet in height, were set near the fire. The statue appeared to be of a creature similar to the colossal monster they had seen burst form the jungle. It was made of stone, but it had a number of blue crystals in the exact same places the creature had them. These crystals glowed.

Seeing the humans staring at the statue, the guide pointed at it and said, “
Shaktarra,
” and then crossed his arms and bowed his head in reverence. There was no mistaking what these creatures thought of the larger one.

Craig and Leslie where then brought to the largest hut, one which had a pair of skulls on poles flanking its entrance. The lizard men clearly did not realize the significance of Craig's gun, for which he was grateful. They’d be in for a rude surprise should he need to use it.

“
Nik'cha toonark ta,
” said the guide into the opening.

“
Cho-na,
” came a reply from within, then the guide parted the flap and motioned for Craig and Leslie to enter.

~

The neighborhood barbeque was swinging into high gear. Dawn was approaching but grills were set up to cook all of the meat the neighborhood had. When it became apparent that the city would be out of power and low on supplies for a long time, it was decided to cook and salt as much of the food as possible before it went bad.

There were many discussions about what could have caused this inconvenience to the regular flow of daily life, but with the lack of mushroom clouds to verify the end of the world, not as many people fell into a panic as would have been expected. The recent appearance of helicopters in the area helped to settle their nerves as well. Despite the disruption, and the initial terror, the inhabitants were making the best of things and creating an almost festive environment in the early dawn hours.

Just as the first rays of sunshine crossed the horizon a steady stream of shakes knocked things over and began to increase in intensity. Then chaos was unleashed.

A massive creature leaped into the cul-de-sac and crushed houses while people screamed and scattered in every direction. Many were pulverized under the feet of the colossal beast as it lumbered its way over to the large grills and knocked them over, sniffing at the cooking meat. Not finding anything substantial to ingest, the monster let out a deafening roar. Windows shattered over a mile away. The fleeing survivors were deafened and fell to the ground clutching their ears in pain. The creature turned to the large buildings beyond the suburb that were now illuminated by the dawn light. It ambled its way through town, destroying houses and crushing innocent bystanders as it went until it reached the west side of the Strip, crushing a large portion of the city’s center along the way.

~

Inside the hut was a hunched, albino lizard man. It wore various items that appeared to be shamanistic talismans. It put down a long necked pipe it had been smoking and looked at the pair of humans who entered its domain.

“
Nokara zog?
” it said to the guide.

“
Shut nat,
” the guide replied.

Craig’s thoughts whirled with his confusion. He readied his rifle. The albino looked at them again and closed its eyes. After some brief chanting, a blue crystal pendant around its neck began to glow.

“
Who are you?
” a voice sounded in Craig’s head. “
What has happened to bring us to this strange place?
”

“We don't know how you were brought here,” Leslie answered, clearly able to hear the creature just as Craig could. “But we call our world Earth.”

“
Our god is angry. We have been stolen.
”

“We had nothing to do with that.”

“
If you do not know what happened, how can you be sure you are not responsible?
”

“Because we don't have the power to move space and time or whatever,” said Craig. “You're the one with the magic glowing rock.”

“
Silly creature. There is no such thing as magic,
” tthe albino thought to them. “
The crystals enhance our natural psychic abilities. They allow us to feed and draw on the power of our god.
”

“What do you know of a giant predator? It was covered by numerous crystals like the ones you use,” asked Leslie.

“
That is Shaktarra. He is our god. He has grown angry and has fled this place. I do not know if he plans to punish your people or if he has abandoned us.
” The albino threw some herbs onto his small fire and breathed in the smoke. “
The increased glow of the crystals shows that he is in combat.
”

~

The morning sun shone down on the Vegas Statue of Liberty monument as hundreds of people poured out of the New York, flooding the street. Warnings from the police screamed of the impending danger. A shadow flowed over the crowd as a massive form leapt through the, air ramming into Lady Liberty, its maw tearing into the statue's throat as two of its claws tore into the superstructure of its victim. The base of the statue snapped and came crashing down into the water surrounding it. The monster fell further out in front of the main lobby of the hotel crushing hundreds of tourists who had not signed on to this experience when they booked their vacation. If they had, it would have been with a hotel called Tokyo.

As Shaktarra got back onto its feet, it obliterated the side of the hotel with a slash of its tail. In the distance, a pair of F-22 fighters closed in on Las Vegas from the west while a squad of soldiers, which had been inserted by helicopter just moments before, had taken up position near
the monster. They painted the creature with a laser while the fighters were given the order to attack. Four missiles were launched from over a mile away and sped to their target.

Three found their mark. The high-explosive ordinance should have shredded any organic creature hit, no matter the size, but they appeared to do no damage. The blue crystals on the creature’s back glowed brighter at the impact. The fourth missile struck the side of the partially evacuated hotel and New York was now in flames.

Shaktarra turned his head to determine the source of the attack, but had no sense of the distant airborne objects. It unleashed a bolt of energy from its back, converting energy from the attack it just suffered, and the MGM Grand was demolished by the blast, leaving nothing but plaster and dust. The targeting soldiers went up with it.

~

The shaman led Leslie and Craig to the central fire and threw handfuls of glittering dust into it while holding a glowing crystal to his head. An image appeared in the flames showing what Shaktarra was seeing. Leslie and Craig saw the creature toppling the Lady Liberty and, moments later, unleashing its attack on the MGM.

“
Shaktarra punishes your foolish people. Only thing that can save you is undoing what you have done. Return us!
”

“How many times do we have to tell you we don't know what is going on? If you have any control over that monster, you better call if off right now,” Craig told the lizard man.

Leslie put her hand on Craig's shoulder and spoke to the shaman, “You don't realize our people’s capabilities. When they realize what is happening they will use weapons that can easily destroy your god. I'm not threatening you, I'm warning you.”

“
Your weapons have no effect on Shaktarra while he is powered by the will of his children. He can absorb your attacks and turn them back on you.
”

“Those blue crystals focus that psychic energy don't they?” Craig asked. “What about the ones on the statue?”

The shaman took a step away from the humans, its double-jointed legs giving it a strange gait.

“
Your thoughts betray your treacherous hearts. Guards, restrain him. He will be a sacrifice to Shaktarra.
”

~

The Arc de Triomphe was Shaktarra’s next target on the Strip, crushed beneath his bulk while he ignored the bullets from surrounding police. It tore into buildings, sensing a large number of minds somewhere inside. The people fled while a cloud of dust filled the air and the area around the main entrance collapsed. The dust aggravated the beast, and it unleashed a small stream of energy as it sneezed. The monument was set ablaze by the blast while Shaktarra continued tearing its way through the burning structure.

The fleeing horde of humanity was directed down East Flamingo Road, towards the University of Nevada. A pair of helicopters flew down the western end of the road, using bright spotlights in an attempt to draw the creature’s attention away from further buildings. In frustration, Shaktarra attacked the Flamingo for several minutes,
and then slowly made its way after the exodus of tourists.

Every jet the military could muster converged on Las Vegas, patrolling the skies but not wanting to unleash their arsenals until as many civilians evacuated as possible. Additional ground troops were deployed for future targeting of the monster and reservists were positioned for crowd control and to aid in the evacuation.

A pair of F-22s, whose pilots volunteered to attempt to draw the beast away, flew in close and relatively slowly to draw its attention. They hoped a strafing run would motivate it to give chase. The first craft flew in with guns blazing, but the shots did no apparent damage, though it did get the creature's attention. As the other one flew in on his own attack run, Shaktarra unleashed another energy blast. Though less powerful that the earlier one, it was enough to cause the jet to fly out of control. It crashed into the Luxor’s pyramid, bursting into a ball of flame.

~

The lizard folk seized Craig, who readied his rifle.

“Craig, no!” Leslie shouted but was too late. The lizard's head exploded in a spray of blood, brains, and skull fragments. The other guard fumbled with his spear while the shaman cried out, though Craig didn’t know whether it was in fear or rage. The tribe's warriors went for their weapons. A second shot killed the other lizard guard, and Craig pointed the weapon at the shaman.

“Call the others off or you're dead.” Craig snarled.

“
Your attack is futile. Your soul will feed Shaktarra and your world will burn!
”

A number of warriors crept forward. Craig looked at Leslie who had finally dropped her camera for the gun he had given her earlier.

~

Shaktarra rampaged toward the evacuation staging area as panic swept the crowds. The soldiers knew their weapons were worthless against the monster so they focused on controlling
the crowd. With the imminent threat of another devastating attack from the monster, orders were given to attempt yet another missile attack. Eight missiles steamed in, only half of them finding their mark as buildings exploded in their wake. The other half had their energy absorbed by the monster, rendering the attacks useless. In response, Shaktarra unleashed a wide cone of energy at the distant jets. One was obliterated immediately while a second was crippled, the crew ejecting before it spiraled into the desert.

The attack bought the civilians a few extra moments to escape, but the military knew it needed a new weapon to use against this monstrous calamity loose on the Strip.

~

“Last chance to call off your goons,” Craig told the shaman.

“
Your threats are meaningless. Shaktarra's power will protect me, and you will die.
”

“Fine
, have it your way.” Craig pulled the trigger with casual ease.

Crimson blood gushed from a large hole in the shaman's chest, his shattered ribs poking out. The crystal pendant about his neck stopped glowing as the lizard man collapsed.

Letting out a battle cry, the other warriors attacked. Craig and Leslie repelled their advance with a hail of gunfire. Much too soon, Craig was forced to drop his empty rifle and pull out his trusty handgun to continue the fight.

“We have to get to the stone and break the crystals,” he shouted while trying to reload.

“Why? What do you think that'll do?”

“Don’t know, but it can’t hurt. Besides, we’ve got to do something.”

After the pair fought their way to the statue, Craig shifted his grasp on his empty pistol to the hot barrel, covering his hand with his shirt to keep from scorching himself. Armed with a makeshift club, he moved in to smash the crystals.