Kai.Jr

Herak, born just a poor black child with zero expectations for the future, other than living and dying has his whole world uprooted when a giant monster appears in his city!

Kai.Jr

I was born just a poor black child, with nothing expected of me other than living and dying. Not making a difference, nor being remembered after I was gone. Whatever people may think of me after hearing this, none of it will matter, so long as I can look myself in the mirror and know I did all I could to do the right thing.

Part 1

“Herak!” He always spoke as if his expensive shoes had stepped into a pile of s**t. “You don’t focus in your classes, you’re always in fights and somehow you don’t even have any friends! You’re in the eleventh grade now! Next year, you’re going to have to start thinking about colleges. Have you even looked into any?” All those words from a councilor like him didn’t matter.

“I promise to do better, Mr. Clark…”

“No! You said that before too!” That vein in his forehead started popping out again, not uncommon. Mr. Clark’s assistant, with her skirt tighter than a trash bag wrapped around two watermelons, entered the room behind me, leaning in and whispering something to him. He seemed to smirk for a minute to her, which she reciprocated.  “You know what, get out of here. We’ll talk another day.” Didn’t need to tell me twice!

Walking down the empty halls from the councilor’s office was calming in a way. I would just stick my hands in my hoodie pockets, listen to the sound of my sneakers melodiously kicking off the school’s floors, and try to clear my head. Other students filled the yellow buses encircling the building as the school bells rang loudly, disturbing my peace. Adding to that, as per usual, that hurried, uneven and awkward trot down the hall would encroach further upon any peace I had.

“Herak!” Like it ran in the family, though in a jovial tone, as if she were seeing a lost puppy, brightest smile plastered on her face anyone could imagine too. “I’m so happy to see you!”

“Mary, you saw me in class in thirty minutes ago.”

“So?! We haven’t had a chance to speak all day!” The light brown hair atop Mary’s head was pulled into the frumpiest ponytail possible. “I wanted to let you know I found the best song! You’re into rap, right?”

“No, not really.”

“Well, there’s a Christian rapper named Lamar the Believer, and he’s stupendous! Truly, a wordsmith! Whenever I listen to his rhythm and beats, I can feel his convictions!” Those baby blues lit up behind her big round glasses.

“Right…” Mary’s amazingly optimistic personality didn’t affect me, regardless of how little she understood personal space. Inching closer and closer, jabbering on about religion and music, I was calloused to her enthused lack of self-awareness, and bright freckled face by then, but I had to make space, grabbing her by the shoulders, I lightly moved her back!

“Are you in a hurry? If not, we can listen to it together!” Mary pulled a pair of headphones from her pockets and moved toward me, gesturing to place the bud in my ear.

“No, cut it out! I’m going home, I’m tired from today. Don’t you have other things to do?”

“Well…I was planning on surprising my father and then heading to the church with him!”

“Oh…”

“If you’re too busy, then it’s fine. I don’t believe father has any other students to meet with on his calendar, so I’ll be on my way!” Off she started to run toward the councilor’s office.

“Hang on, Mary!”

“Yes?”

“…I changed my mind. I want to hear Lamar the…whatever. Let’s listen on the way over to the store, I’m pretty hungry.”

“Oh? But what about meeting my father?”

“Don’t worry about him. I’m sure he’ll…be there when you come back.”

“If you say so. It is best I lend you a hand. After all, we’ve discussed you needing to get on a healthier diet!” She puffed out her chest, that tiny golden cross of hers being pushed forward with pride.

Part 2

Arms full of snacks, we approached the bodega’s checkout counter. “Oh, it’s good to see you, Mary. How is the Father doing?”

“Excellent! Once I’ve made sure that Herak is eating a proper meal, then we shall be heading to the church.” Ms. Cruz and Mary chatted as I loaded several miniature chocolate cakes onto the counter, only to have Mary pick them up and place them aside. “Fruit would be a great replacement for any unnatural sugars.” Thus, irksomely, an apple was dropped into my hand.

We paid and left, bags of fruits and vegetables being another annoyance. “Alright, I’m going home.”

“Take care! I will also make sure to share the whole playlist of Lamar the Believer with you via the sharing app on your phone! And make sure to eat properly from now on, you’re a growing boy!” More advice was shouted my way, but I stopped listening as I tried to depart with haste; that was until screeching tires caught my attention!

Barreling down the street, heading in our direction was some bizarrely equipped white van! The truck, with dual satellite dishes mounted to the top, armored grill, and spiked hubcaps, hopped the curb, flying over top of us! Without a second to spare, I grabbed Mary up in my arms and pulled her to the side, expecting the car to just miss us, but the vehicle managed to halt within inches of killing us!

“Holy s**t! Mary, are you okay?!”

“…I-I think so…” Her small, trembling hands spoke otherwise. “A-Ah! You just swore! Vulgar!” She quickly recovered, which made me calm down a bit.

The van door shot open with a kick! A pair of red-brown combat boots were chased by nylon clad legs, leading up to black and red jean-shorts, and a white lab coat draped atop thin shoulders. “Hmph. It was supposed to be around here!” In a very stern voice, a young woman muttered something while checking a bizarre device.

I was furious! “Hey! Are you even going to apologize for almost killing us?! At least turn and…” A pair of fierce dark-brown eyes were framed by a silky black bob cut, adorning what would’ve been the face of a beautiful young Asian woman…if not for those numerus scars.

“Hm?” From ear to ear, hairline to her chin, one over her eye and one down her lips, those long-closed scars plagued her visage. She glared with a discerning scowl while still checking her contraption in hand. “Huh…is it…you?” She pointed the device at me, which started emitting an unnerving red light. “It is!” With sudden fervor, the young woman seized my arm! “Come with me! Quickly! I need you!”

“What? Wha…who even are you?!” I snatched away from her grip and backed off!

“I-I’ll call the police!” Mary pulled out her phone and tried to dial the police, but her frightened and constantly shaking hands failed to do so. “Wait, I-I input too many 9s!” I quit waiting and grabbed her by the hand, dashing down the road away from the bizarre woman!

“Wait, stop!” The woman yelled as we escaped, her truck clearly stalling and getting stuck on the sidewalk.

Part 3

We made it back to the school, with Mary lagging behind, distressingly out of breath. “…Sorry about that, Mary. Do you have your inhaler? Here, sit down.”

“…I…will be fine…thank you, Lord, again for saving us!” Mary clasped her hands and began to pray right then and there.

“Uh…yeah.” I looked at the time on my phone and assumed enough time had passed. “Mary, you should go ahead and see your Dad. I’m sure he’s waiting for you.”

“Right…and you should…hurry home, just in case that woman is still coming for you!” I picked up the bags we brought along and prepared to leave. “Um…!” Mary once again stopped me. “Call me when you get home!”

“Don’t worry, I will. Make sure to take your medicine too, okay?” With that, I bid my friend goodbye.

Home wasn’t far from the school, so long as I cut through a bunch of alleyways, across train tracks and through people’s backyards. Half an hour of walking brought me to the front door, finally, and with my stress melting away, I entered our remarkably modest two-story home. The sound of the television blaring some courtroom drama, or trashy couples’ show filled the front room along with the loud snoring of my dad. Still in his work jumper, not smelling badly from the day, I didn’t have to rush him to the shower for once.

I walked by and started cooking dinner, noticing the unopened scattered mail on the counter. Bills, offers for phone services and…one that stood out, a letter from our lawyer. With a solemn thought in the back of my mind, knowing what we were being contacted about, I plucked the message open. [Hello Mr. Walters, I’ve sent emails, and in case you missed them, I thought following up this way may behoove a response…] Typical longwinded lawyer-speak. [As per our conversation, the next three payments from Sakura corp. will be the last. If you’d like to file for further action, please reach out to me.] Just reading about that company, defunct as it was, still made me shake with rage.

“Oh…when did you get in?” Dad’s groggy voice surprised me. “Anything in the mail?”

“Do you want to try and read them?”

“How many times do I have to tell you, it’s too late for me to learn.” I went back to cooking, thinking the whole time about the Sakura corporation. “How was school?”

“Alright. They said…it’s about time I started looking into colleges.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. Pick anywhere, not like money is a concern.”

“…” I finished up and sat down at the dinner table, as Dad slogged over into the kitchen. “The lawyers sent a message, you know?”

“Oh? What about?”

“…Only three payments left from the Sakura corporation.”

“Damn. That’s going to be hard.”

“…I…never really wanted to go to college anyway.”

“No. You’re going to college. Just means I need to pick up a few extra shifts is all. The house is paid off, I’ve got some money saved up for college, now I just need to pay for the car, bills and food. Don’t worry about it. Just thank your mother.”

“Mom, huh. Dad…you never really told me what happened to Mom and the Sakura corporation. They’ve been paying us for years and all I know is…that Mom died because of some drug test.”

“…I think the lawyer called it an unregulated clinical trial.”

“What was it for? Whenever I looked up the Sakura corp. online, it was all just people guessing.”

“Herak, don’t spend too much time worrying about it. Doesn’t matter anyway. Those b******s are rotting away in jail, just like they should be. You know, the lawyer said they’ve been trying to reach out and contact us. Bet they’re begging for a lighter sentence! I’ll never let those b******s off for what they did.”

“…” A flurry of message cluttered my phone screen, all from Mary. Links a plenty to a playlist she’d made for the two of us; of course, mostly filled with Christian rap and rock. While shutting off my phone, I was flashed my last photo of Mom kept as my background. She was so frail in that picture, holding me as an infant, in her wheelchair; Dad forced out a smile next to his wife, whose brown skin had lost all its luster, cheeks had sunken in and hair just about completely fallen out. All that as it was, she still smiled, even with her weakened body, I could feel the warmth. Warmth I’d never be able to remember in properly.

The screech of tires sliding to a stop cut into our conversation. “What was that?!” We waited silently, holding our breaths, as the television show in the other room partially masked the approaching light footsteps, not breaking stride for a second! A sudden banging on the door, earnestly insistent, like the police were trying to get our attention, shocked us!

“I-I got it.” Afraid of what could be waiting on the other side, I hesitantly turned the doorknob, wanting to grab the bat we kept beside the entrance, only not doing it in case it was, in fact, the police. “Hello…?”

“I found you!” Again, that same scar faced Asian woman! Appearing on our stoop, in lab coat and combat boots, she couldn’t have stood out more in our mundane, almost totally black neighborhood! “There isn’t much time! You must come with me!”

“What?” Her hand reached out, aiming for my arm which I dodged away from! “Seriously?! Who the hell are you?!”

“Herak, who’s that?” Dad popped around the corner, hiding his gun behind his back, unsettling me further.

“I don’t know! Some crazy woman! Listen, unless you tell me who you are and what you want, then you can get lost!”

“…I’m…” A pause hung in the air. Through the wounds on her face, I could see the gears turning, the wrinkling of her nose, clenching of the eyebrows and tightening of her lips expressed way more then she probably wanted. “Agh!” She groaned, then muttered something in another language! “Ok! I am Hoshako Sakura! I’m from what was the Sakura Corporation, and I need you help! Only you can help me!”

“…What did you say?”

“Let me explain, please!”

“The f**k he will!” Dad pushed by me, separating me and the woman, Hoshako. “One of you m***********s coming to my house! My f*****g house!”

“…What you are feeling, I under-”

“Shut the f**k up!” That terrified even me! “Sam died because of you! My baby, I watched her fade away…holding her hand…watching life drain from her eyes! Every day, I would go into that hospital, only seeing her manage a smile while feeling her stomach, knowing that she’d at least be able to give birth to a happy, healthy son. You took her away from us, took away her chance to see her son grow up and have a better life than we ever did! Get out!” Dad used every ounce of his 200 plus pound, 6-foot 3 frame and shoved the woman a foot shorter down the path nearly back into her open van, then slammed the door shut!

“…” The whole house and surrounding area slowly quieted down, leaving just an awkward air.

“…I’m sorry, Herak. I didn’t mean to…”

“Dad, what happened to Mom. Can you tell me everything? Like, really everything.”

“…We were poor, like always were. Your Mom and I were almost homeless, but we fell in love. Drifting between couches, we ended up on the same one, one too many times and, well…you happened. We didn’t have a way to take care of you, really.” Dad looked so small sitting on the floor with his back to the front door, like it was the only thing propping him up, his words ate away at him. “That Japanese company, the Sakura Corporation, started asking for pregnant women for a trial…saying over and over it was safe. If we didn’t take it…we wouldn’t have even been able to afford to have someone deliver you.” That was one of the rumors online, but everyone online shut it down immediately.

“Wait…then Mom did die because of the drugs…?”

“It wasn’t drug research. They told Sam to keep it secret, but she told me everything. I…” It was only for a second, but I could swear my dad, strongest man I’ve ever known, wiped away tears. “I…heard it was some serious mad scientist s**t! Women were held down on gurneys, with weird devices attached to their heads, injected with who knows what, put into giant pods…radiation, some drugs…and some were just plain tortured.” The thought of mom being subjected to all that, seized me with fury.

“All for me…why? Why?!”

“…Because there was nothing in this world that she loved more than you. She wanted the money so that you could live a good life. Of the fifty women who entered the tests, miraculously, they all survived…until they gave birth. The news said all of them, one by one, died while giving birth…except Sam. She held on as long as possible, just so she could get to hold you in her arms. That picture you have on your phone, the same one on mine, is her first and last time holding you. Afterwards…she…”

“…” Sirens blared in the distance. It wasn’t uncommon for the part of the city we lived in, but the quantity was worrying. It was so loud outside, like the entirety of the police force was booking past our house! “Now what?!” I turned on the news to see a sight far, far beyond whatever I could’ve expected!

“We’re here on main street…” A news reporter screamed from inside of a helicopter overlooking what wasn’t main street, but the remains of it! “There appears to be, what can only be described as…look ou-” The broadcast was cut short as something flew towards the camera! In the little I saw, buildings were totaled, parts of the streets, torn up and fires raged!

Suddenly, my phone rang, with the caller ID reading out: Mary. When the line connected, all I heard was swishing noises, mumbles and crashing sounds. “Hello?! Mary?! Mary, what’s going on? Mary! Hey, answer me!”

“There’s no way there was an earthquake here. Maybe a terrorist attack.” Dad’s idea sat badly with me. It was only a few seconds of footage, but seeing Main Street in that shape, the devastation was evident!

“…Main Street…that’s near the church…”

Part 4

Before I knew it, I was already running! Dad yelled stuff as I bolted from home, not like I could hear him with the wind whizzing by my ears though. Every one of my calls to Mary went unanswered, embiggening the pit in my stomach to a pumpkin sized welt! Main Street sat just two train stations away, over ten blocks, but I sprinted until I was gasping, lungs burning, feet hurting, but kept pushing on!

All I could think about were those images from the television! The destruction, it was unlike anything I’d ever witnessed live, not dissimilar to a warzone! Even with my lungs and legs begging for a break, the railway overhead eclipsed my view, meaning the station was just a few more blocks away, so I sped up…and fell down. My foot caught something hard, that sent me tumbling to the ground, rolling into the road like an idiot. “Ow, what the heck?” A massive piece of concrete was upturned from the sidewalk. Before I could get back up, sirens roared, as massive fire trucks blew past me, flying down the street just narrowly missing my outstretched legs! As my eyes tracked the rushing vehicles, it finally became apparent how desperate the situation I’d wandered into was.

“Everyone, please evacuate!” The fire fighters leapt from their trucks, directing fleeing people the opposite way back up the street and away from a row of burning buildings on the corner! Time itself crawled to a halt, witnessing some of the gravely injured citizens being carted toward approaching paramedics, others were being pulled from surrounding, wrecked, and burning buildings. Horribly bruised, bleeding terribly and even some were missing body parts, children cried next to the corpses of their eviscerated parents or siblings, EMTs barked orders, some crying to themselves as civilians fell to the ground, dying right in front of them, realization finally struck me; I was in hell. I’d ignored what were likely warnings from my father, the fleeing survivors and tons of destroyed property all while trying to make it to Mary, putting myself right into the epicenter of a disaster crisis! That pumpkin sized pit sunk deeper, spiraling downward into a ball of tungsten weighing down my stomach!

All at once, sound returned to the world as an earthshaking roar, like an elephant mixed with hundreds of motorcycles revving up, resounded, pulsating through my whole body! The ground began ebbing, trembling as a colossal, rhythmic pattern grew! The skyscrapers in the distance swayed from side to side! Car alarms went off, security systems were activated, explosions detonated from far away as something approached from beyond the train tracks above.

Closer and closer, the earth quaked, the asphalt under me quivered, people screamed, and finally it came into view. At easily over 150 feet tall, with mandibles like a praying mantis, dripping with saliva, and long reddish brown neck, the head of an abomination peered over the train catenary! Those multiple compound eyes, three on both sides of its thin face were draped with long scraggly blonde hair, looked down on the people who all stood in awe before the demonic behemoth! It stared right through them, into their souls, only leaving a feeling of how inferior and insignificant our existences were before the creature. Death was a certainty, inevitable.

Weather due to fear, stupidity or bravado, a man pulled out his firearm, aimed at the monster and fired! The bullet, wherever it went did not faze the monster, but cause it to fold back its twisted face…and beam an insidious smile. A maw filled with an uncountable number of razor-sharp fangs within, opened, glistening with predatory lust. In one fell swoop, it lifted one of the long, spindly legs and pierced the earth like a railroad spike, obliterating the man and all those surrounding him! The warmest, thickest rain ever drizzled down atop my head, painting everything crimson, each drop leaden with human body parts pouring from the sky as the monster yanked its spear like appendage from the broken concrete. Quills covering the leg stuck out with shredded human flesh skewered on each pin, plopping off like discarded trash.

People began to scream and flee, though they were quickly corralled by long sickles extending from the monster’s multi-sectioned arms! The blades drew them together leaving the citizens no room, pushing up against each other, panic overtaking them! Armed citizens opened fire on the monster’s head, but the creature was totally unperturbed. It unleashed a wheezing chuckle blowing hot, rancid breath into the area. Despite their cries for help, I remained frozen in place, terrified. With nothing stopping it, the creature closed its arms, mincing all of the innocents.

Perverse pleasure, even lacking lips as it was, showed so evidently on the creature’s face. Lifting the pools of blood up and flinging the remains up as if tossing confetti about! Suddenly, from beyond my vision a stream of water blasted the monster’s long, exposed exoskeleton! The behemoth turned to glare at a firetruck operator, blasting the monster with its mounted water canon from down the broken street! “You b*****d!” Another smirk crept across the mandibles as it slowly gave chase, wheezing, chuckling and smirking like a child chasing a bug as it did. The firetruck took off up the street, continuing to fire water onto it the whole time.

“Mama!!” A child, surrounded by pools of blood, shredded vehicles and shattered ground all about, wailed helplessly in the road! One of the remaining paramedics limped over to the child, falling just short of reaching, succumbing to their wounds. Cracks quickly formed across the burning buildings next to the child!

(Get up! Get up!) The will to move, after seeing that monstrosity, was nil. (Don’t be a coward! That kid is in danger!) The fires grew, as did the cracks! The structure began giving way, and once again, before I could even think, I was running! My legs flew as fast as they could, seeing the wave of bricks, flames and cement encroaching on the helpless child! (Faster! Faster! Come on! No looking back!) My hand reached out, feeling the intense heat growing across my back, as everything glowed orange! (Was this a mistake? Whatever!) I grabbed the boy by his shirt, pulled him to my chest and rolled tightly away from the collapsing inferno!

Just barely avoiding the wave of burning construction was horrifying, but looking down and seeing the child still alive in my arms filled me with a sense of accomplishment. “look out!” The kid pointed to the top of the street. When I turned to look, a white van barreled down toward us! Shielding the boy was my first instinct, as if I could protect him with my body, idiotic, but the wheels screeched as the vehicle pulled to a stop, centimeters from colliding with us!

“W-why do I keep almost getting killed today?! Seriously!” Thanking the lord, I didn’t need to use the bathroom at any point during all that action, because otherwise I’d have embarrassed myself.

“You?! You’re…” A semi-familiar voice came from the truck. From the window was the scarred face of that woman I’d seen entirely too much of that day! “Are you alright?” She exited the van, concerned, but I was immediately angered!

“What the hell is your problem?!” Flying into a rage wasn’t very reasonable. Though she backed away, I’d already gotten in her face, not just for nearly running me over, but also remembering who she was! I’d gripped her up by the collar of her lab coat, lifting the smaller woman easily up off of the ground! “You…” Dark circles hung below her brown eyes, and in them, the furious look on my face reflected back, concerning me. “…Get away from me.” I released her and walked back to the child who I’d pushed aside. “Are you okay? What’s your name kid? Where’s your parents?”

“I don’t know, a lot of people were running and then the monster showed up, and then all the buildings caught on fire, and then mom got pushed away, my name is Michael and…!” He kept talking, running on and on!

“Whoa, whoa! Slow down! Which way did she go? Where do you live?” Unfortunately, Michael pointed, aiming his finger down the street in the same direction the monster lumbered with its head still in site. “…I’m sure she made it out…” I wasn’t. What was even worse was, that was the direction of the church! My legs trembled as I took the boy’s hand and began to lead him away from the destroyed cityscape.

“Wait!” Again, that woman’s voice, which by then sent me into a near blind rage.

“I told you to get away from me.”

“I know you hate me and my family, but you must to listen to me!”

“About what?!”

“About that kaiju!”

“…Kaiju?” She also gestured toward the creature, dread riding in on the same humid breeze tinging the air. “What do you know about that monster?”

“Come with me! I will tell you.”

“F**k no!” That was unintended, though the sentiment wasn’t. “Er…that thing is a monster! I don’t know you as anyone other than someone from the company that killed my mother! And to top it all off…I can’t think of another reason, but no!”

“First, you were already going that way.” She was right. “Second, that boy’s mother is in that direction.” Again, she was right and closing the distance between us! “Third, I can tell you what really happened to your mother.” With that ravaged, yet beautifully sculpted face only an inch or so from mine, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d fallen for that woman in a way. Her boldness in approaching, the unique aura she radiated, those unflinching eyes…

“…OK…” I was enraptured.

Part 5

The inside of that woman’s van, filthy! Discarded clothing of all kinds, random nuts and bolts, notepads, tablets and even beakers were tossed about the back! Sets of wires ran from active computers mounted on the walls, up to the satellite dishes on the roof, being pumped with a continuous green energy. “Bet you’re wondering about those dishes on the roof!”

“No, I’m wondering why you’re not looking at the road!” We swerved to avoid chunks of asphalt broken up from the street! The kid nearly flew out of my arms as the woman jerked the steering wheel with such ferocity, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if she tore it off! “Why are we going this way?!”

I asked, but whatever answered she would have given didn’t matter as we were suddenly riding on two wheels! The mad scientist woman had tipped the vehicle onto its side while avoiding further issues in the road! “That whole street is bad! We’ll use a different road, then get back behind the Kaiju!” Somehow she managed to stay upright while zooming by empty cars and further destruction! “Oh, right! I am Hoshako!” Back to four wheels on the road! “Sakura Hoshako!” Then none! We were flying through the air, soaring over destroyed train tracks and down onto the other side!

“O-oh-oh-okay! Uh…!” I was almost at the point of crying and shaking, but pulled myself together hoping the boy, who was shaking with an excited grin on his face, wouldn’t note my fear. “The k-kaiju! What’s up with that?!”

“The kaiju…it’s the Sakura Corporation’s fault.”

“What?”

“Listen…what I need of you…is for you to become a kaiju too!”

“…” For a moment, my brain was intensely processing that statement. Thoughts whirled around in my head so fast, a hurricane would’ve been tame by comparison. “…So what exactly is a kaiju?”

“A giant monster!”

“…And you want me to become a giant…monster?” There was no way to hide the disbelief in my tone.

“Yes! It’ll be easy! Probably. That kaiju was a normal person just like you before!”

“Huh?! This has to do with the Sakura Corporation, right?”

“That and the experiments your mother went through.”

With the totality of my attention on Hoshako, I listened, still afraid of her wild driving as we continued to recklessly speed around debris. “Please tell me everything.”

“About 15 years ago, the Sakura Corporation was under heavy scrutiny throughout all of Asia. Malpractice lawsuits, being heavily divested in by shareholders, bribery scandals, and embezzlement. The company was dying. I remember father’s heart attacks, the old b*****d…! Anyway, they left Asia and began working in poorer parts of the west! They wanted…pregnant women or those planning to become pregnant, making them act as incubators for kaiju.”

“…Then all those experiments were to make these giant monsters? Why?!”

“Lots of reasons. Weapons, testing the human genome, mad science…maybe all of it!”

“From what I’m getting…I’m a kaiju, right? How come I didn’t transform into some praying mantis skull monster like that one over there?”

“I was a kid during the kaiju experiments, so I had to do lots of research off of my father’s notes. Father believed that sunspots could affect the earth’s magnetism and possibly the atmosphere, making cosmic radiation waves to leak in, activating dormant mutations within you all, further accelerating any transformations!”

“All…?”

“Yup! That was once a human too.” Thinking that the colossus just over the horizon was once a human, like me and that I could become some giant creature like that, was beyond astonishing.

“You said you wanted me to become a kaiju…how does that work?” Before my answer, we suddenly lurched forward in our seats as Hoshako slammed on the breaks! “Careful, holy crap!” We’d just barely avoided careening into a pit! The monster had destroyed our path, yet again! “S**t! We have to go around again?!”

“Mom!” Michael suddenly began squirmed free from my grasp, escaping the car and running off to a waiting group of people! I followed suit, leaving Hoshako behind.

“Michael, is that you? Thank God!” Evidently his mother, the boy leapt into her arms! They shared a heartfelt, teary-eyed embrace. “Did you save my son? Thank you so much!” The mother’s clothes were tattered; dried blood streaks across her forehead, and her bare feet were bruised. She’d clearly been through the destruction as well, but such a warm smile graced her. “I looked all over for him, thank you! I can’t possibly…”

“No. It’s fine. You all need to get out of here, now!” The earth shook, my stomach sunk, and a shadow engulfed the whole crowd and street! The kaiju had once again appeared! It stood looming over us, long legs cracking the earth beneath it, toxically vile breath escaping its maw, and our fearful faces reflecting back in the compound eyes! The other civilians began to run, as I took the hand of Michael’s mother and tried my best to lead them both away! She limped horribly, as I looked back to see bloody footprints on the pavement. There wasn’t time to think, so I grabbed her up in my arms and readied to make a break for it, but was cut off by the insect like kaiju foot crashing down before us!

“Over here!” Hoshako screamed! A whirring resounded from the satellite dish, pulsing with green energy! Behind the wheel, she reached for a lever, pushed it all the way to forward and…nothing. “…Huh? Oh no! It’s not fully charged! Give me a few minutes…!” The looney woman actually held up her hand, like she expected the kaiju to wait! Of course it didn’t!

The creature gave chase as Hoshako rushed in between the monster’s legs, bowling through abandoned cars with the armored hood of her van! I was amazed watching her smash through the unoccupied vehicles and lose next to no momentum, but more so watching her avoid the stomping slender legs! Quickly she disappeared from sight as the kaiju followed.

“Are you alright, ma’am?” Resting Michael’s mother back down on the street, my attention was divided between her, the still fleeing Hoshako, and Mary, who’s location was still unknown to me.

“I think I’ll manage. We should leave, it can’t be too much longer before the military attack that thing.” Though it was obvious, the thought never crossed my mind. With a rampaging monster tearing apart the city, it wouldn’t take long for the government to launch a counter attack.

“Yeah, you’re right. Um…miss can you tell me, did anyone from the church come this way? The church on Main Street.”

“You mean the orthodox Christian church? I don’t think so.”

“…Then I have to go.” Though it was foolish, not knowing Mary was safe left me at a loss for reasonability.

“Be careful!” Michael shouted as I sprinted toward the massive, green back of the kaiju and toward the church.

Part 6

Darkened skies rolled in overhead and more sirens blared in the distance, shaking me to the bone with fear! At some point, the kaiju stopped, changing direction and heading deeper into the city through a number of buildings. The little relief I felt was obliterated immediately upon seeing the state of the church.

Multi-colored, broken glass littered the streets. All the thick stone walls had collapsed inward, crushing the chapel, the pews, flooring and all the ornaments around them. A very familiar gray SUV sat alone in the parking lot, buried beneath rubble! “Mary…Mary!” Rushing over to the wreckage, afraid I’d find my friend’s mangled body, thoughts of even uncovering her lifeless self, eroded all stability in my psyche.

“Hello?”

“…” Hiding behind a tree, her disheveled, fluffy brown hair spilling out from the sides was Mary! “Mary…?”

“Oh, Herak!” She rushed over, embracing me with a warm and constricting hug! A small cut on her scalp caused blood to run down her face, beneath her cracked glasses, onto her dust caked face. “I…I thought I was going to die, for sure!”

“It’s okay. You’re safe now.” Couldn’t help but hug her back. Shaking like a leaf in my arms, I wanted to spend some time comforting her, but the sense of danger hadn’t disappeared. “Oh right, where’s Mr. Clark?”

“I’m here!” He ran up, dirtied suit in all, alongside his assistant, missing her skirt… “Herak, did you come all the way down here for us?”

“Yeah…uh, I can’t focus. Here!” I relinquished my hoodie to the assistant who used it to wrap around her waist, hiding her shame. “You guys alright to run?” Everyone confirmed they were. “Cool, let’s get out of here…actually, did you guys see that monster come by here?”

“You mean that devil?! Its bulbous tail is what caused the destruction to the church! The insurance will hopefully cover this!” Mr. Clark began pulling at his hair, almost ripping clumps out in frustration.

“Was it chasing a white van?”

“I…didn’t see that. Mary?”

“Yes! I did happen to notice a large van, but the demon swiped it aside! It flew over…there! It’s over there!” Rolled over onto its side, beneath a half destroyed building wall, sat Hoshako’s van! “Do you know who the driver is? Wait, Herak!”

I had to see if she was alright! No matter how much I may have resented the woman, she did save me, Michael and his mother by sacrificing herself! “Hoshako!” Bloodied and bruised, slumped down in the front seat, I could see the scar riddled Japanese woman, restricted by her seatbelt, buckled firmly into the seat. “Hey, Mr. Clark, come here and help me!”

The father joined me, reaching over her seemingly unconscious body, trying to unfashion the seatbelt. With a click, she was free and I could finally see, as she fell from the seat, through the shattered glass, were pieces of rebar. Two long rods had run through the windshield, into her gut. “…Holy…”

“Watch your mouth, Herak!” Mr. Clark barked as he began pulling her from the vehicle!

“Wait, stop! We can’t move her!” I wasn’t a doctor, but her profusely bleeding, as her lab coat was tugged on, told me all I needed to know! “She’s…really bad off! What do we do?!”

“…” I turned to Mary, Mr. Clark and his assistant who were all pale faced, without an answer. “…I’ll call an ambulance!”

“Don’t…bother…” Hoshako’s raspy voice interrupted me. “…I’m sorry…Herak.”

“What?”

“Because of…my father’s research…your mother and so many others…died.” Something bubbled up in my throat. “All of this…is our fault. This whole city…all these people…I will take…responsibility.” Hoshako, with blood trailing from her mouth, and coat nearly dyed red, pitifully grew paler in my arms.

“Stop! It wasn’t…your fault. You didn’t do anything…and you shouldn’t have to suffer for what your parents did!” Despite basically being a stranger, and with reasons not to hate her, nor care about her, I felt sorrowful.

“Thank you. Go…run away.”

“Without you?!”

“Yes. You…have no reason to be here. Leave…get to safety.” Even with the metal rods still run through her guts, bleeding everywhere as she was, she pushed off my shoulder and stood up! Her hands gripped me tightly, sturdily. She shambled over to the other side of her van, leaving a trailed of bloody prints behind. “Get…out of here…you don’t owe me…or anyone anything. Get…yourself and your friends to safety…I’ll figure something out.”

She was right. Mary was safe, my father was on the other side of the city, the kaiju was heading in the opposite direction from us and the military likely would be apprehending the monster! Almost on cue, the sky rumbled, like several massive drumlines took to the air! Overhead, several military helicopters soared above us, all headed toward the kaiju! No matter what way I looked at it, running would’ve been the best option.  “There’s still a chance…I think this thing finally…is charged up.” Hoshako reached down into the window, grasping for the lever.

“…Hoshako…?” Not because of guilt, or duty, a need to rescue those I loved, or even because I was ordered to… “Can you still make me into a kaiju?”

“Kaiju? Herak, what in the lord’s name are you talking about?” Mary, flummoxed, frantically latched onto my arm.

“Are you serious?” By then, Hoshako had reached her hand onto the lever. “You can just run, you know. I…can figure something out.”

“…I know. There are still people in the city, and no promise that the military will be able to handle that thing, right? If I become a kaiju too, maybe I can stop him!” Somewhere deep down, those words felt like the correct ones to say! Those feelings, it was right to accept them! “Can you do it?”

“Hehehe…” Disbelief turned to glee on that scar riddled face as Hoshako chuckled. “Ow…” As more blood poured from her wounds. “…Put you hand on the satellite. It’s going to be one hell of a ride!”

“OK.” I was so nervous, every part of me was shaking! Even with my sneakers planted firmly on the concrete ground, it may as well have been brittle cardboard. Each quake in the distance signaled the monster was still there, looming nearby!

“Herak! I’m so confused!” Mary gripped me even tighter. “Don’t do something dangerous! That demon, you’re about to try and do something to stop it, right?! Don’t! I saw it firsthand; it was an otherworldly devil! Truly a monster!” Seeing the tears roll down the face of my dear friend didn’t sway my decision.

“…Mary, I’ll be okay. I promise.” As unusual as it was, I felt compelled to give Mary a hug. She quickly reciprocated, but it immediately got uncomfortable for me! “Okay, okay! Let go!” I snapped away and placed my hand on an upturned satellite dish. “I promise.” Reiterated once more to my still fearful friend.

“Hey…girl! You, your father and his mistress better leave! I have no idea how big he’s about to get!” Hoshako pushed the lever all the way to its maximum setting, whirring the machine to life! “This will mimic the astrological phenomenon as best as possible! You’re…about to feel your…whole body change! Get ready!” Just as she said that, Mr. Clark and his assistant began pulling Mary away from us. She reached out her hand screaming something, but the sound of the energy pulsating masked it. I assumed it was nothing but pleas for me to join them, but it was far too late! I laid my palm onto the burning hot metal and felt everything change.

Part 7

Tugging beneath my skin, like wires being reeled backwards through my flesh, something avariciously started devoured my being, bit by bit! Not in my life had I felt such pain! Heat radiated through my arm, down my chest, into my legs, back up into my face and even across every neuron in my brain! I could feel every centimeter, and cell all at once, like a new awareness awoke with in me!

My whole body, like I was being born again, felt itself being reconstructed! It was like I’d become clay and something with a very clear vision was reshaping me. Bones, vanished. Skin, faded. Flesh, withered away! All that was left of me at one point was my consciousness. I feared that I’d died, that whatever was happening was the wrong choice, then I looked down and could see myself! Green energy surged beneath my brown skin, turning it dark black as my dark foamy hair began to straighten, standing on end, illuminating with a white glow! I could see a face of suffering etched harshly onto me, howling in agony as the ground beneath me cracked!

Suddenly, I could feel again, my body was being reformed, unlike before! Every cell expanded, growing up and outward! A coating of skin sprouted from beneath the old, feeling thick, heavy, and sturdy, like armor! My arms lengthened, as did the nails on my hands; like I’d grown lion claws! My jaws became elongated, growing tons of razor-sharp fangs and a tongue to fit the oral cavity. Every follicle on my head seared, as white-hot hairs grew out of my scalp, while stretching my face and head forward! My lower back snapped! It bent up, cracking, and dragging my legs along as my hip bones broke through the skin and reached for the ground below! Something was created from that pain, pushing me upward! Finally, from my back, my tailbone extended, farther and farther into a hefty weight I couldn’t ignore!

The buildings around shrank, meeting me at eye level, as I soon gazed over the tops and looked toward the larger skyscrapers in the center of the city! I became unsteady, feeling my shoes lost completely and replaced with, not my feet, but odd claws, digging into the asphalt with ease! My legs, the ones I felt drawn behind me were steady, but warped so drastically, replaced with something else in place of my old limbs, another set of legs entirely! As I rose, I finally laid eyes on myself…or what I’d become!

Part 8

Shrieks of terror, endlessly blaring sirens and explosions resonated throughout the cityscape! The wailing of the beast, which drowned out almost all other noises, changed into a wheezing chuckle as a perverse smile broke through those green mandibles. Along those spindly legs, more corpses riddled the spines. Truly, that thing was a monster.

A barrage of missiles was unleashed on the kaiju! The warheads collided with the beast, exploding, resulting in shockwaves shattering all the windows of buildings nearby, yet the creature’s brownish-green body was merely scratched! The helicopters circled around, firing rounds at the creature, though they bounced off, scattering to the ground! It seemed as if nothing could stop him…nothing worldly at least.

My own footsteps shook everything, crushing concreate in between my clawed, scale-clad toes. The feeling of my talons digging through asphalt easily was bizarre, though not as bizarre as only having three scale clad toes on four separate legs. The earth beneath ebbed, as buildings wavered in my wake. I cautiously approached, with my scales scraping brick walls, shredding them to pieces, and my gigantic tail dragging along behind, easily tossing tiny cars aside, I was destroying property already. As my head raised above the roofs, the horns should’ve been clearly visible by then.

The choppers clearly took notice of me lifting my massive, t-rex shaped head up. Evident fear was in their eyes even as they orbited like a flock of mosquitos. The beating of the blades was still loud, even though my ears all but receded into my giant lizard head. The kaiju finally turned to see me, a face of panic usurping that smug smirk from before, and I couldn’t have been happier.

(That’s right, you b*****d! Time to fight someone your own size! Another kaiju!) Unbelievable as it was, I stood before that monster, a monster myself, a kaiju! My brown skin had become gray scales, my head changed into some kind of dragon �" t-rex thing, with a massive set of heavy horns adorning the end of my snout, one curving up and the other down, like a beetle’s! Ghostly white hair, running all the way down my elongated, centaur like body, along my girthy tail! Though my arms as a human weren’t all that strong, the one’s I had as a kaiju felt weaponized, with each finger, and toe on each of my four feet, equipped with sharp talons. (Well? Scared?!)

For a minute, it seemed like I won by doing nothing! As much as I’d hoped the mantis creep would hightail it, I was wrong. That wheezing chuckle again, followed by a smile that could only be described as sadistic. “So…there are more like me?”

“…” It spoke! That thing, despite lacking lips was able to comport itself in a way to make words! “I…” Speaking was hard! My mouth was way longer than before and I think I even had two tongues instead of one! “L…eave!” That was the best I could do. (How the hell is he able to speak? This is f*****g difficult!)

“Huhuhu! Leave? There…is so…much city left to destroy!” With one of its long, scythe blades, the monster cleaved into a building nearby! From the windows, people spilled out, plummeting toward the ground!

(Stop!) With both arms extended, I tried to reach for the falling civilians, though I was easily batted away! Using his free arm, the kaiju blasted me over a row of homes into the other city block. (S**t…get up!) Gathering my feet beneath me was tricky; I still wasn’t used to even standing with four legs, so I was left thrashing around on the ground until the enemy kaiju stood atop me! His thorny, corpse riddled legs pinned me to the road!

“Join…me…” That husky, radiation laden breath blew scolding hot air onto my face. “Let’s rule…the world! They can’t stop us!”

That was probably true. Even with my body crashing into hard streets and buildings, I barely felt a thing! Bullets had bounced right off that monster’s armored hide, not even the explosives seemed to have caused much of a dent! Fighting against him was an insurmountable feat! “No…no!” With my clawed hands, I gripped those spindly legs, feeling spines pierce my soft palms, but overturned him! I reversed our positions, having the upper hand, I reared back and punched the monster in its face as hard as possible! “Fuc…you!”

It was sturdy, like slamming a wooden countertop! Next thing I knew; I was being launched again! Using its deceptively powerful legs, he sprung me backwards! My spine slammed into the front of a skyscraper, raining glass down upon me like flakes of snow. Looking up, the monster was already charging!

I ducked to the side, or tried to, as I once again fell, tangling my multiple legs! He crashed into the structure, nearly toppling it! As quickly as I could, I pushed back up off the ground! (Have to take advantage! Use my claws maybe?!) Lunging forward with my claws, they scraped the greenish husk! Barely any visible damage, but marks were made after another quickly delivered flurry! Again, and again, I swiped at his chest, leading up to his face!

“You!” I was unprepared for those pincers! They gnawed deep into my hand! Several teeth within the maw crunched down on my scaled hand, cutting into the flesh and bones!

“Aghhh!” It wasn’t a pain I’d felt before, not even in the fights I had, did someone bite me with enough force to feel like they were aiming to sever my fingers! (If you’re going to, then so am I!) Anger seized me, and I fired back with my much bigger jaws! Taking almost his entire head, the two rows of fangs in my mouth crunched down onto the bug’s head! It tasted how I assumed cigarette ash would, bland and bitter. The kaiju head was hard, like the thorax; I couldn’t break the skull no matter how hard I bit down!

He backed away, pulling us into the building again, desperately trying to break free from my grasp; I wouldn’t let him! Digging my claws into the folds of his long neck, I scraped away, trying to pierce in between the armored portions, aiming to sever his head! “Get off!” With all of its strength and the side of the sky scraper, the bug loosened me and leapt away, free again! “I’ll…kill you!” Those shaggy lochs of hair sprawled across its wide brow were parted in a way that reminded me, at some point, that thing was human.

(He’s long beyond reasoning! A murderer…just as much of a monster as he looks like! I’ll…take him down myself!) As he charged me, it was only a split second, but I noticed a crack formed beneath his hairline! Just then, a barrage of missiles was volleyed by the previously uninvolved helicopters! The explosions did little to perturb the kaiju, however it did offer me enough of a distraction, thus I took advantage! Lunging in, grabbing him around the tiny waist and hauling the b*****d up, I slamming him with every ounce of strength! (Was that them helping me?!) Confused as I was, they were firing on me! (How’d that crack form? Was it my teeth? I’ll bite again!) My mouth was big enough to take a bite out of the shoulder, but again, as solid as a rock! He pushed back up, I fought as hard as I could until those sickles tore up my back! They tore deeply into my back and up along that line of hair running to my tail! I lifted him again and using the claws on my front legs scratched away at his underbelly, yielding no obvious damage again as we broke apart!

In the distance, what looked to be ants crowded onto a highway. The assembly were obviously civilians being herded by military and police once I focused my sight. It must’ve been clear my eyes were locked onto the citizens, as that monster tracked my gaze; suddenly, sprinting for them in a murderous mad dash! The soldiers turned their guns onto him as the choppers circling did as well! The people screamed and my only thought was to protect them, playing right into his hands! I reached forward, missing his thorax, dodging aside, swinging back his scythe-arm to cut right into my chest and gut! The blade was pulled up right along my abs, up my pecs and sliced into my shoulder! The splitting, burning sensation overpowered all other thoughts, feeling my arm be almost totally severed. I fell, watching the ground come back up toward me, unable to stop my descent, with the flash of a familiar face on the overpass, fearful of what was to come.

Part 9

My mind was fuzzy. Once again, I was downed by that b*****d, feeling warm blood and heat pour from my body, I laid there, gazing at the asphalt. (F**k…now what? This is just too much to believe…maybe this is just a long dream? This all started where again? Oh right…Hoshako. No one would believe that some crazy Japanese woman would appear out of nowhere and tell you that she needed you to become a giant monster and fight another giant monster. All of this is nuts!) Rationalizing all of that in my head, I still couldn’t believe it. The pain was undeniable, the smell of the burning city was unignorable, and my rage was irrepressible!

I saw red as my body sprung back up off the ground! With fury fueling me, I unleashed a flurry of claws swipes, feeling the strands of muscle in my shoulder and chest break, and heat well up throughout my spine! He pushed me off, crashing back into the overpass! Just as the mantis kaiju again tried to take advantage, a steady stream of water blasted him right in the face! A firetruck on the bridge launched a torrent of cold water, blasting the beast!

“T-Take that, you son of a b***h!” The excess of the cool water rolling down onto me, helped straighten my mind in a way, literally cooling my head; though a white hot, crackling energy, roared persistently throughout my spine! The sound of people screaming caught my attention as I glanced toward the citizens, seeing Michael and his mother on the bridge behind me.

“Run…quick!” More than that was impossible. I still couldn’t form sentences, but that warning hopefully got across in my grizzly voice as the bug creature howled, flailing those long, multi-sectioned arms at the firetruck and backing away! (…Why’d that affect him?)

“You can do it…big dinosaur!” A familiar voice, tiny as it was, reached my ears! Michael, he screamed his heart out over the roaring monster! His mother grabbed his arm and tugged the boy away as the stream slowed. “Get him!” Again, the boy yelled.

(You don’t have to tell me!) Though I’d neglected it before, with my shoulder torn as it was, that horn toward the end of my snout offered the best option I had! The upturned rhino like horn forked back, splitting into two spines. (Hope this thing is sharp enough!) Back on my feet, I charged forward, finally realizing that my lower-half was perfect for running in a straight line, I’d move so much faster! (Like a horse? Ok, then I’d got an idea!) My clawed feet galloped after the kaiju, faster than he could react, and swung my horn upward toward his face, shattering that armored skin! (It worked!)

“Aghhh!” The greenish plaiting shattered, leaving a pink, meaty flesh! “You…b*****d! How dare you!” Springing off my powerful back legs, I blasted him again with my horn, aiming for the shoulder I’d bitten down on before. The second my horn made contact, I destroyed the shell, cut through the flesh and destroyed the bone, completely severing his arm! “Aghh!” He wailed as I caught his other arm, opposite of mine and tugged him into my jaws again! My fangs clamped down onto his head, with blood beginning to fill my mouth!

He flailed about, trying to reach me with his surviving arm but my grip held tight! (Do I…do I actually kill this guy?) In the brief second my resolve lapsed, the mantis freed his arm, slicing away at my back! As agonizing as that was, the heat suddenly rising up my spine, radiating across every singular scale, searing the inside of my belly as a roaring energy surged up in my mouth, overwhelmed all else! I let loose a roar and along with it, belched forth white hot flames!

The searing heat roasted the inside of my whole being! Cells burned red under my black scales; the hair running down my spine sparked with power and an unstoppable force swelled from the deepest pits of my body! I dug claws into the asphalt, fighting against the flames pushing me, ripping up the road along the way!

Flames endlessly cascaded forth like a fire hose, incinerating everything they touched! The stream cut into the body of the opposing kaiju, charring his armored body from green to black as the force blasted him up off the ground! With so much kinetic energy vomiting forth from my mouth, I struggled to face forward, until the power forced my head back and up! White flames penetrated the heavens overhead, parting the clouds as the pillar of light exiting my jaws slowly dithered, fading to nothing.

My legs gave out, all four knees buckling to the ground, slumping down onto the road, I nearly lost consciousness, needing to post up my undamaged arm off the side of the overpass, barely staying upright. “Yeah!!!” Michael cheered, followed by all the citizens on the bridge! They joyously resounded, as I peered at the opposing kaiju, or what was left of him.

A line of smoldering tar, still glowing with white embers, led across the ground. The beam incinerated all within its wake, obliterating buildings, cars and charring the greenish body of the kaiju coal-black! That streak of white energy had trailed across his legs, chest and up to the remnants of his head. Nothing above the neck was left! With only the lifeless body left, I felt a fragment of grief etched into my shallow victory withstanding.

(He was evil…if I didn’t kill him, then he would’ve only caused more problems, right?) Vigilante I’d become, hearing those cheering civilians gave me a little reassurance, until I remembered there were military vehicles circling in on me. Chopper blades cutting through the air approached, joined by the rumbling of the ground. Tanks and more helicopters encircled me shining spotlights, pointing their weapons and ready to fire at a moment’s notice!

Microphone feedback cracked across the slowly quieting cityscape. “You there! Monster! Submit yourself to the government and we may let you live! We have far superior weapons and you are clearly injured!” Boisterously proclaiming his superiority, probably some kind of bigshot shouted thorough the speaker. My body had cooled down so much at that point, I was sure I’d lose a fight against anyone, let alone the military, even if I wanted to fight back.

“…Wha…eva…” Something was wrong. My body continued to cool down, but faster and more drastically! The whole world began to spin! As I rose to my feet, the man screamed something again, but I couldn’t help but fall out across the overpass. Sounds were slowly getting muffled, the lights blurred, my skin stung, I tasted ash melting in my mouth and smelled it back up through my nose, my stomach cramped; I was sure I was dying just then. (F**k…is this how I’m going to die? Maybe I took a few too many hits from that other guy.) Sound was gone. Lights had totally faded. No more feeling. No more taste. Everything was melting away… (…I saved Mary…and a bunch of people today. I guess if I die, that’s not so bad. I’ll get to see Mom, at least.)

Part 10

The world melted away, though my solid hand reached out, grasping for whatever it could! The ashes all around rolled down past me. Rivers of gray flooded against my face, filling my nose with the stench of bland soot as I climbed up a mountain of sliding sludge, digging my fingers into that decaying slope! (No! I can’t die like this, I changed my mind! Dad will be lonely, right? Mary will probably be upset! I still wanted to do things too! Damnit! Not yet! Not yet!!) Waves crashed against me, heavier and stronger with each second! “Go…f**k yourself! I’m not going to die yet!” Finally, a light! My hand reached out, smashing through the pitch blackness around me, grasping freedom! “Yes! Yea!!!” I howled, breathing air once again! Pure air, devoid of smog and soot filled my lungs, as I savored each breath.

“Uh…son, are you alright?”

“…Huh?” My eyes didn’t deceive me! The light I saw was real, I really did reach for it with my own hand, not the hand of a monster, but my human hand! My clothes, my skin, my hair and whole body; I was back to normal! That light, it was in fact the spotlights of the military surrounding me, being the trail that led me while crawling back to life! “Where am I?” I stood up high on a gray hill overlooking the entirety of the military as rain pour down from the darkened sky.

“Son, come down from there, first!” Gruff and boisterous, it was the same military man from earlier!

“O-Ok…” Sliding down the hill, I saw all the citizens being led into awaiting buses, clearly repurposed by the army as they were being taken to safety. When I turned back around, taking one glimpse of that hill, I notice the remnants of a massive dinosaur like head breaking down in the rain. The rest of its form was nothing more than a mass of ash being slowly washed away by the downpour.

“Son!”

“Huh? Oh, what?”

“I asked you a question, son!”

“…” Getting called ‘son’ over and over felt demeaning in a way, but I stifled a comeback. Probably wouldn’t have been a smart move to act up, seeing as I was basically surrounded on all sides. “What was that question?”

“I said how did you get in that there monster!” He basically shouted everything, despite being less than a foot away from me. He was much taller than me with some of the widest shoulders I’d ever seen! Cleary must’ve been a jarhead for a very long time, the wrinkles and grey hair gave it away.

“Oh…uh…” An idea popped into my head. (Wait…they don’t know I WAS that kaiju?) Judging how confused the soldiers looked around me, I figured I could worm my way off to freedom! (Maybe it’s better they don’t know! I don’t want to be taken in by the government and become some kind of lab rat or get dissected!) I steeled myself, ready to weave an excellent lie! “You see, I-”

“Herak!” Before another word could leave my lips, like a cannonball launched into my stomach, Mary tackled me with the hardiest hug possible, sending us both to the rain covered ground! “Thank the Lord! Thank you, God! Thank you so much!”

“Sorry Major, we didn’t want to hurt her, and that girl was really adamant about getting to see this guy.” Another soldier walked up, immediately getting chewed out by the apparent major.

“Herak, thank God you’re alright!” Tears, even with the rain drenching her, I could see how much she’d cried, all for me.

“I’m alright, Mary.”

“I watched the whole thing! I thought you were going to die when you transformed into that mons-” I covered her mouth with my hand as quickly as possible!

“Shhh!!!” I nearly screamed that shush! All my plans to get away unaccosted just about went up in flames!

“What are you two doing over there?!” The major turned back to us, frowning and scrunching up his face like he’d licked a lemon. “You still didn’t answer me, son!”

“Oh, right…” I pulled Mary in close and whispered to her quickly. “Follow my lead, please, Mary, I’m begging you!” She wasn’t one to lie, thus making this whole ordeal as risky as possible. “I was swallowed alive by that monster! I spent the whole time trying to get out, but then it just died out of nowhere! Did you guys kill it? Thank you so much! I knew the army were the best branch of the military!”

“…” Hoping I didn’t lay it on too heavy, a cold sweat built during the brief hesitation by the apparent major. Like someone slowly loosened the drawstring on a bag, the major’s old wrinkly face lost most of its tension! “Hmph! Of course we are, kiddo! Best branch of the military by a long shot!”

“Absolutely! So cool! You guys stopped two giant monsters! You’re heroes!” All the surrounding soldiers really seemed to like that compliment! (A bit more. Just one last push!)

“Herak, how could you?!” Mary shouted, interjecting pouting, disapproving cheeks in between my lying smile and the major’s smug grin. “You cannot lie in such a way! The Lord wou-”

Again, I covered her big mouth! “You’re right, Mary! I used to feel totally different! I hated the military! I was crazy anti-war! But thanks to our incredible military rescuing the whole city, I’ve changed my mind!”

“No Herak! That is not wha-” Persistent! Her distaste for lying was going to get us in more trouble!

“It’s alright kiddo, I get it.” The major rested his big hand softly on my shoulder. “I used to be a hippie too when I was your age. Had me a hippy girlfriend too! When you get older, you learn war is the natural way of people!” Not what I expected to hear at the end of the day, but that was it, and that was the end of my confusing, heart-breaking and excitingly bizarre day I became a kaiju.

Part 11

“Hello!” Like nothing had ever happened, standing before me, scars and all, Hoshako saluted, flashing a wide smile!

“H-Hoshako?! You’re alive?!” The awe I stood in couldn’t be measured! I was so surprised seeing her, I nearly fell to the ground begging God for answers!

“Well, yes! I would not die from that. I am sorry it took me a week to find you.” After the battle, the city had slowly started doing everything possible to rebuild. In the distance, from my house, construction noises were a near constant occurrence, especially in the middle of the day as it was. “It would look like you are safe and healthy.”

“Well, school has been cancelled since…I think that guy destroyed it. A bunch of funerals and whatnot have been happening over the last few days too, so Mary’s been busy.”

“It is unfortunate. More deaths caused by my family…”

“I told you before, and I meant it, you aren’t your family!” My feelings hadn’t changed. “In that fight, I managed to save people. If it wasn’t for you, not only would Mary had died, but a bunch of other people too! Your father’s work wasn’t meant for what happened, and you absolutely shouldn’t blame yourself. You aren’t your parents.”

“…Heh.” She smiled at me, and I’d be lying to say my heart didn’t skip a beat. Hoshako, even with the scars layering her face, beauty radiated. “You are a charmer, Herak.”

“Herak!” Mary yelled, running up with her frumpy ponytail bouncing in the wind. “Sorry, the church is still being renovated. Father is working with miss Yanik, so they said it best I check on you!” Again, I immediately knew what was happening, so with a sigh I changed the subject.

“Yeah, well…Mary you remember Hoshako, right?”

“…Agh!” As expected, she shrieked. “You’re the woman who died?! How?! Have you resurrected?! Is this more work of the devil?! Oh Lord in heaven…!” Mary started praying, lost in her own world.

“Such a funny girl!” It was nice knowing that I not only stopped the rampaging kaiju, helped Hoshako and even managed to save tons of people. Even if no one expected anything of me, I lived up to my own values. I did something that helped people, and that made me feel great even if I didn’t get anything out of it. “Then, Herak, I look forward to us working together!”

“…Say what?”

“For when other kaiju appear!”

The awe of seeing Hoshako again after believing she’d died was topped! “What?! Other kaiju!”

“Yes. Before, I said there were many other kaiju children, just like you! The cosmic radiation will only get stronger. We can’t predict them either! I’ll make sure to contact you again!”

“…Then you’ll transform me into a kaiju again…?”

“Yes!”

“…sure. Why the hell not?!”

I was born just a poor black child, with nothing expected of me other than living and dying. Not making a difference, nor being remembered after I was gone. Knowing all that, I still wanted to do something with my life. Help people? Make a difference? No, in my head I guess, I just wanted to be a good person and do what I thought was right!

The end…?