Godzilla, Dawn of the Monsters (Part 1)

by Kyle Kaiju Anderson

We knew the world would not be the same. Few people laughed, few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." - Robert J. Oppenheimer.

GODZILLA
Dawn of the monsters

By Kyle Anderson

Part 1.

Reawakening the sleeping giant

He was sitting outside on a park bench waiting for the bus to arrive. It was an early morning in Jack Water's hometown of Summerfield. The weather had been pleasant, despite being only 50 miles north of Los Angeles. Jack's family had been famous for paleontology, including his mother and father Daniel and Audrey Water's. They were currently on a dig in southern Japan.

While sitting down waiting for the bus and one of his friends, he had some time to work on a report he was doing on his parent's recent discovery of new species of dinosaurs discovered in Japan. He wasn't as excited as they were about it. The wind had a slight cool feeling to it this morning. It felt kind of chilly, like something bad was going to happen in the world.

"Hey Dino boy" Jack looked up to see his friend Darrel walking toward him. "I wish you wouldn't call me that dude" "Why? I was just joking" said Darrel, "I know you are, you've called me that ever since my mom and dad discovered T-Rex remains in southern Japan." "You didn't tell me they were T-Rex!" said Darrel in surprise. "My parents are having problem at the site, there having problems with radioactivity." Darrel chucked by what Jack said "Dude why would there be radiation at a dig site?" "Because there digging north of Nagasaki" Darrel surprised by his answer replied "Didn't see that coming." Just then the bus pulled up. "Boring time" said Jack as he got up from his seat.

In Japan Jack's father was worried about the levels of radiation at the dig site. They had already discovered 3 complete T-Rex skeletons, a very rare find. The dig site was in a very hilly area. Legends persist that's where an ancient civilization used to rule that part of the world. In parts of the dig site the levels of radiation began to rise. Nobody knew why. Audrey had left to her tent to get more supplies and some water for her husband and some of the dig crew. When she got inside she noticed that the TV was still on, she was ready to turn it off but when she did the previous program switched immediately to an emergency broadcast channel. A report stated that something happened over in Korea.

On the Korean peninsula North Korea backed by China launched an all-out assault on its southern neighbor, over a million men and thousands of tanks started rolling across the 38th parallel. She dropped everything in her hands. She couldn't believe what she had just heard, "Audrey, honey? Are you okay?" he asked his wife "Dan…..The world is at war."

Back home Jack also heard the terrifying news, his friends heard the terrifying news, his city had heard the terrifying news. The world had heard the news. Jack sat in his living room alone in the dark watching the story unfold. 'Nothing is going to be the same again' Jack knew the world would not be the same.

Four Years Later

Another bloody war had finally ended. In the deaths of over 2 million North Korean and American soldiers, civilian wise however, 20 million North Korean's in total are dead. The same day the war began Daniel and Audrey Water's left Japan. Taking anything they could with them. The Japanese also suffered during the war. North Korean submarines sunk Japanese patrol boats and cargo vessels. 50,000 Japanese soldiers gave up their lives so that Japan could be free. The war wasn't only on Korean and Japanese soil. North Korea failed to land soldiers in Hawaii. Over 10,000 of America's finest defended Hawaii with their lives. 6,785 lived to see another day. Among them Jack Ethan Waters. Jack joined the Marines after high school. He would only fight in this battle. The next morning over 20 million Japanese civilians were dead. North Korea launched a nuclear strike on Japan and allied forces in South Korea. In total 90 million people are dead in Asia. Mostly Japan.

'Even when I pulled the trigger I lost all my humanity, and I didn't even kill anyone, yet' Jack was stationed in Japan during the occupation. His unit was summoned to help rebuild the nation. Even though battered and beaten once again Japan was victorious. Later that day Jack got a message from home. During the last months of the war Jack's mother was pregnant with their second child. The night Jack arrived in Japan his mother gave birth to a baby girl they named her Chloe. Jack was thrilled to hear that he had a baby sister; he knew that he couldn't just think about family, he had a job to do.

Jack was stationed in Tokyo. The giant metropolitan city fell victim to North Korean rockets. It looked like the end of World War 2 all over again. Skyscrapers that once touched the sky were flattened like the rest of the city. Jack and his squad attended to the injured, they pulled people out of debris of destroyed buildings, cars and subways. "God Damn!" shouted a member of Jack's squad. "Is your back killing you Vince? Or is it the fact you didn't get to see combat?" asked Jack "Hey screw you man, you think I liked killing those people" "I don't know what it feels like so how should I know?" asked Vince. Jack had walked back to the Bradley APC to get more medical supplies. Then an emergency call comes over the radio. A container ship carrying radioactive material has hit a mine in Tokyo bay and is going down fast. Jack knew as much assistance was needed. Jack finds the closest Humvee and speeds off towards the bay. Jack stopped near his squad "Hey! I just heard over the radio that a container ship is sinking in the bay, they need assistance" Three of his squad members jumped in with him and raced for the harbor. When they reached the docks, they were too late.

The container vessel slowly rolled over and capsized and the locks on the deck holding the containers carrying the wasteful material. Helicopters and navy patrol boats picked up any survivors they could, most of them were exposed the radioactive material. On the pier Jack just watched as the massive cargo vessel sank to the bottom of Tokyo bay.

On the shore the Japanese crew men had succumbed to radiation sickness. They would not survive the night. Nor would a submarine crew. That night the U.S. navy and a team of Norwegian ship hunters planned to raise the massive vessel from the bottom of Tokyo bay. Though unknown to the Americans and Norwegians, unaware to Jack and unaware to the entire world. History repeats itself.

"Yellow Viking come in over" "This is Yellow Viking over, we've found the ship over" the small Norwegian submersible had finally found the large container vessel. The small sub approached the bow of the vessel where it read the name of the ship. In Japanese it read Daigo Fukuryū Maru. The pilot of the sub turned to one of his crewmen and asked "Hey Hans, what does it say the ships name is?" he turned back to the pilot and said in Norwegian he said, Lucky Dragon No.5. The sub rose above the bow of the ship to discover that the center was not intact. "Hans look at this damage, this must have been one hell of a mine" "Captain, no mine did this, look" Hans pointed to a part of the bow that was damaged. It was not the damage of an explosion. It was the damage of massive claws. "Dear God, those are claw marks!" "Something ripped open this ship, something big." The sub monitored the inside of the wreckage; the two noticed that the Geiger counter didn't go off. Earlier the ship had so much radioactive material on board to make Chernobyl look like a walk over, now there appears to be none, but how?

On the surface the USS Indianapolis monitored the submersibles progress. Many scientists found it strange that the ship was torn in half and that no nuclear material was found. "God Damn what is happening down there?" said Captain Lockhart of the Indianapolis. Then on the radio a call from a helicopter nearby, something had happened at the mouth of Tokyo bay. "Indianapolis come in over, Indianapolis come in over" The captain of the ship finally responded. "This is the Indianapolis what is your emergency over" "Captain Lockhart a patrol boat was just attacked at the mouth of the bay and has sunk over" Captain Lockhart thought he was hearing things "Did you just say that a patrol boat was attacked? Last time I check ever North Korean submarine in this part of the sea is at the bottom of the ocean" "Captain, No submarine did this, A sailor from that vessel said they were attacked by, some kind of animal." Captain Lockhart couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Is this a joke? Because it's not funny, what kind of animal could sink a 60ft patrol boat?" "I don't know captain, last time I checked it was heading north" "Alright we'll keep an eye out."

Just as Captain Lockhart hung up the radio he saw lightning in the distance and heard thunder in the sky.

Back on the shore Jack had finally returned to his post. The top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Just as he returned it started to downpour "Ah, shit not again" Jack was frustrated. This would be the sixth night in a row that it rained. He was not looking forward to this night. He would not know what was about to happen that night would change history and the course of his life, forever.

The USS Indianapolis was ready to pull out for the night. "Yellow Viking come in, over" "Yellow Viking to Indianapolis were coming up, it'll take a while over." "Roger that, we'll be waiting"

Inside the sub the two men prepared to head for the surface. Then suddenly, a load screeching noise filled the cabin. They turned to see it was the Geiger counter going off "What the Hell is going on?" "Hans where's the source of radiation coming from?" The pilot heard nothing back from Hans "Hans? Where's it coming from?" "From That!" Hans was pointing to a dark object from the outside of the submarine. The giant object passed right by the sub, both of the men stared at disbelief as it passed by. Just then it was gone. "Where did it go?" said the pilot. They both looked out the same window when suddenly another shadow was cast over the sub. "LOOK OUT!" screamed Hans. The giant object turned out had wacked the sub, with a giant tail.

"Yellow Viking! Come In!" yelled Captain Lockhart. "What the hell is happening down there?" asked a crew member. Captain Lockhart turned to see a wave approaching the ship. The wave hit the ship and rocked it back and forth. The ship and its crew thought they were okay; suddenly something slowly something started to rise from the darkness of the ocean until it reached its fullest height. Starring down the crew of the Indianapolis was a giant creature; it looked like it had the body of a T-Rex, a head of a dragon, and giant plates on its back almost shaped like maple leaves, and the arms of a man.

The sailors and crewmen looked up at the giant animal; one man was quick enough to snap a couple of picture. The creature opened its mouth, there was a distinctive roar.

Suddenly the plates on its back started to glow bright white and its eye's glowed a light blue color. The next moment that fallowed turned Tokyo bay into a graveyard.

There was a blinding flash of light. And the ocean burst into flames.

A top the Tokyo Metropolitan Building Jack had just made a quick dinner for himself when he saw it. Out in the middle of the bay a massive flash of light turned the bay into a sea of fire. "Oh My God!" Jack yelled "What the Fuck was that!?" Jack had covered his eyes at the flash, the light slowly died down a little so Jack could see what had happened. In Tokyo bay where the flash had happened all that was left was a giant cloud, in the form of something that had come before "My God what is that?" said a soldier Jack then whispered to himself "Atom Bomb."

Later that night Tokyo heard strange moaning noises coming from the bay. Jack couldn't sleep nor could the rest of his squad. Nor could Tokyo.

Around 2:00am that's when the ground started to shake. It was no earthquake. In the streets of Tokyo in a small shop an old Japanese fish shop owner was awakened by the load thumping noises. He walked out into the night to see what was going on. Suddenly out from the darkness a giant foot emerges from the fog and lands right in front of him, the man falls to the ground and looks up. He is horrified to see what the lightning revels. The creature growls and continues to walk through the streets of Tokyo.

The giant creature walks through the streets of Tokyo causing damage and destroying buildings. People were woken up by the noises of the animal roaring and growling. And the destruction of the districts of Tokyo. Flames had only begun to rise when Jack and the rest of his squad were getting suited up to take on this unknown threat. Just as Jack was being briefed on what was happening the footsteps grew louder and the noise got closer the more Jack started to feel fear. Then he saw it.

Jack had walked up to the window to see what it was, and then it saw him.

The creature had lifted up high enough to see into the room where Jack was standing. It saw the soldiers tuckered back behind tables and chairs. Jack didn't move. He stared the monster in the eye and it stared back at him, after an agonizing minute that felt like years the creature roared and walked back towards the shore.

The old shop keeper walked back into his fish shop and sat down at the door and he said to himself "This cannot be happening, This can't be happening again" The lights turned on and his wife and daughter came to his side, she asked him "Ogata, was it?" "Yes, it was" his daughter asked "Father what happened? What is that monster?" he says one word only "Gojira."

Six Months Later

Jack had been home in Summerfield for at least 3 months. He had survived that horrible night in Tokyo, when he sleeps all he can see are those orange eyes staring back at him. At night he'll strange things, it takes him back to Tokyo. Jack knew that when he left Tokyo he was never coming back. On a brighter note Jack had been accepted to Summerfield University. Jack would be taking classes in paleontology. Just like his father. His classes would start in September.

Jack had spent his first four weeks of college on a high note he was mostly on time, got little to no assignments turned in late and had met up with some old friends on campus and made some new ones. So far he had forgotten Tokyo. He thought that the terror from that night was over. The terror was only getting started.

Somewhere of the coast of Hawaii a passenger liner carrying 3000 people was sailing quietly towards Mazatlan in Mexico. The ships first mate had control of the wheel for a near three hours, it was close to 9:30 in the evening and people went about their business aboard the ship. It was a nonstop party. It was until a massive blip appeared on the radar. The first and second mates saw what was on the radars screen, both totally shocked at the size of it. "What is that? A whale?" said the first mate "It can't be, it's too big" "Get the Captain." Suddenly the massive object rose out of the water in front of the giant ship. It roared at the people on board. The passengers ran into a panic trying to find some shelter. The ship was a trap. It was the same giant monster that attacked Tokyo just months earlier. The monster closed in on the ship and looked down upon it, observing the passengers and crews behavior. On the ship a boy around 5 or 6 stood in disbelief and was too frightened to move. The monster spotted the boy and moved its head in for a closer look. The boy just stood there, the monsters head so close all the child had to do was to reach out and touch it. The monster then lifted his head up and then it dove beneath the waves. The ship then took damage, the small plates on the monsters tail was able to cut three massive holes into the hull of the ship.

Back in his dorm Jack was in a deep sleep when suddenly he started to see something. He saw a ship in the pacific. Attacked by something. He then woke up to realize that it was the creature that came ashore in Tokyo a few months ago. "What is that monster?" he said to himself.

During his advance mathematics class Jack kept falling asleep. He desperately tried to stay awake; when he slept he kept seeing that monster. He needed answers to what it was. After his classes were over he would go to the library and try to uncover the secrets of the strange creature.

That night at the library was a strange experience. Jack had done research on the computer, he found nothing, but why? If a giant monster attacked Tokyo a few months ago wouldn't there be any record? Wouldn't there be any photos? Wouldn't there be any video's, newspaper articles, something? "I don't get it, why can't I find anything? Did I dream that night?" he said to himself "It's really odd" after another hour of research he finally decided to call it quits when he found two strange articles. One was dated sometime after World War 2 and another after the Bikini Atoll hydrogen bomb test. The articles sent shivers down his spine. The first article was about a battle cruiser that was sunk by the Japanese after it delivered the first atom bomb to Okinawa, the cruisers name was the Indianapolis. The second article talked about a small Japanese fishing boat on its way back to Japan with a cargo load of tuna and it came to close to the testing site. The boat was contaminated with radiation when it came back to Japan and many of the crewmen got sick and one of them died from radiation sickness, the name of the boat was Lucky Dragon No.5.

Jack downloaded the articles into a portable drive and left the library. He was still baffled by the fact he couldn't find anything on the monster and that's when he thought to himself, "Did they cover it up?"

"Jack why would they cover up a giant monster attack?" said Darrel, "If something like that happened don't you think the world should know about it?" "I was there and I knew about" said Jack. Jack had a few friends over to his dorm for dinner and studying. "So Jack what did this giant monster look like?" "It looked like a T-Rex with plates on its back." "And it was 300ft tall?" "It was somewhere around there, Amanda all I know is it was the 2:30 in the morning and it was in the middle of a storm" "What was Jack doing in Japan anyways?" "Oh come on! You should know I was in the Marines." Jack said "Jack I knew it was the military I just didn't know it was the Marines." "You probably could have known I was if you looked at that wall" said Jack pointing towards the wall. On it was a picture of Jack in Hawaii before the North Koreans landed. "That was before the island got invaded right?" asked Amanda "I was there when bullets went flying above my head; it's the only bit of combat I saw from the war." "How many people have you shot?" asked Amanda "Uh, shot or killed? Because I don't know" "Well what do you know about Tokyo?" asked Amanda, "Remember when I said I was never going back" "Yes." "I lied" said Jack. Jack had been planning to go back to Tokyo; he needs to find out more information. During spring break while everyone knew would be in Atlantic City or Las Vegas, he was going to the land of the rising sun.

"Jack I thought you said you were never going back" said Daniel, "Dad its okay, I've stopped having nightmares" "Are you sure? You won't shut up about that so called monster." "Dad just trust me, I'm fine" said Jack "You sure you want to go to Tokyo? What if you get lost?" asked his father "Dad it's not going to be my first time in Japan, or Tokyo for that matter" said Jack. "So when are you leaving?" asked his father "I'm leaving a day before spring break" "Why so early?" "Early bird gets the worm" said Jack. "More like early bird gets to Japan faster."

That morning Jack had boarded the first flight to Tokyo. He was determined to find the answers he was looking for. For his trip he brought his laptop, a camera, plenty of data stored in to disks and portable drives. While Jack was flying toward the land of the rising sun, he had no idea what was happening just in the waters below.

Below the waves of the pacific a nuclear submarine was being stalked. It was another regular day on board the sub, for a while. From below the sub something started to rise from the deep and approach the sub at first a slow pace, then it struck. The sub was hit from below by the same monster that attacked the cruise ship. The sub and its crew were violently thrashed around. The monster wasn't interested in attacking the sub for no reason, the beast was hungry. The monster used its gigantic claws to force the sub in half the crew would not survive at such a depth but the monster wasn't interested in the crewmen, it was interested in the ships nuclear reactor. The monster found the reactor and started to absorb the radiation from within it. The monster fed of the radiation and let go of the reactor, letting it and the wreck of the sub sink to the ocean floor.

After feeding on the radiation the monster went to the surface. The monster breached the surface to great the morning sun. The monster felt the water fall of its body and felt the breeze blow against him. In the sun the monster closes its eyes; in its mind it sees a memory. Along time ago in a morning like this the monster set a ship a flame and dragged it beneath the water. Of course, that was a long time ago. The monster opens its eyes to turn around to see a small boat right behind it. He stared at it for a while and then went beneath the waves again.

On the small boat the captain of ship had just woken up in time to see just the monsters plates disappear below the waves. The man wasn't horrified; he was stunned by what he saw. He watched as the monsters gigantic plates went underwater "Well I'll be damned; I thought this ended 60 years ago." The man turned and walked back into the cabin of his boat. He turned to look at an old photograph of himself on an island; the picture was dated October 30th 1954. He stared at the picture for a long time before going below deck. Inside a small box he took out an old press badge dated around the same time period. Then looking back to the picture he said to himself. "It certainly has been a long time, hasn't it Steven?" The badge said United World News, Chicago USA.

Jack was relieved to get off the plane. Once he was over the Pacific Ocean he couldn't stop having visions and he blacked out during the night. When he awoke up his plane touched down in Tokyo. The visions still haven't stopped he couldn't figure out what the monster wants or where it's going.

Jack check into a hotel that over looked the city. "I'd never thought I'd see you like this again" he said to himself. Jack started unpacking his equipment when another news report came on. "This morning around 8:00am a nuclear submarine was destroyed by an explosion that killed the entire crew, The American government has launched a full investigation of the disaster." "It must have been the monster" Jack said to himself. He finished unpacking when he heard a knock at his door. Jack answered to see a man dressed in black "Are you Jack Waters?" "Yes, is there something you sir?" he asked the strange man "I need you to come with me to civil defense headquarters for question" Jack didn't expect what he said "Is this a polite way of telling me that I'm under arrest?" "No Mr. Waters it is no arrest, it has to concern your internet history and data collecting" That's when he knew something was really up. "I'll be ready in a few minutes" "Oh and Jack, bring your research with you, we have much to discuss."

On their way to the Japanese Civil Defense HQ Jack kept worrying what this whole situation could be about "Oh God, what do they want with me?"

To be continued