Los Angeles County General Hospital, United States
(As soon as I mention the name of Doctor William Baybrook at the reception desk I instantly see a sense of the respect the people here have for the man, as almost all the staff in the room know exactly where the so called 'Saint of San Francisco' is to be found. When asked all of them have nothing but good things to say about the man and I am sent to his ward on the third floor with stories of his heroism during the Battle of San Francisco ringing in my ears. When I step onto the children's ward he works in I am instantly greeted by the man himself , short, balding and in his late fifties, dressed in a bright Hawaiian shirt and shorts, who only smiles modestly as I refer to him by his nickname. As we pass through the clean hospital ward many of the children call out or wave to the doctor, who only grins as we pass them by, offering a corny joke or lollipop from his pocket in return. As we enter his small office and sit down he moves a stack of papers aside to clear a space for my recorder and, as I get set up, tinkers with a small Airfix model of the Jaeger Cherno Alpha before I give him the thumbs up and we begin.)
I guess you saw the reaction many of the staff here had when you mentioned me? To be honest I'm flattered but I don't see why I deserve it. I never fought off a Kaiju attack or saved millions of lives. I was just one man doing his job in a very extraordinary situation. No need for any awards or medals.
(As he says this I nod towards the silver trophy on his desk, depicting the doctor shielding a group of children from an unseen foe and the gold key to the city of San Francisco, slightly charred, in a glass case behind him and he only smiles.)
Would have been rude to say no though…
It all started on that morning of August the 11th. Nice day really, bright sun, blue sky… I was in the back of an ambulance speeding up one of the hills by the bay. Just an old man with a bit of heatstroke, but the poor guy had a heart condition so I wanted to make sure he was alright, you know? We had been called to see to a boy who had been knocked off his bike but the kid was fine and this man needed medical help ASAP. Anyway we're climbing up the hill, siren screaming, when the earth just moves beneath us. Literally I felt the solid road beneath us seem to slide around below and the driver instantly put the brakes on.
You didn't think it was anything abnormal at the time?
Living on the San Andreas Fault does come with some bad sides I guess. I think all of us in the ambulance knew it was bad but we didn't know how much worse it was going to get in the next few minutes. The shaking carried on for another second maybe and I heard people screaming outside, sirens blaring and a distant rumble from the direction of the bay.
Then it stopped. The earth was still again. And I remember, even as the shaking stopped, the screams still continued, even louder than before, and I heard what sounded like distant explosions from the harbour. We opened the back doors then, just to see what was going on. The view was out onto the bay and I was just looking out towards downtown when I heard the old man on the stretcher sit up straight, bolt upright and look straight out onto the bay. Then the beep of the monitor next to him echoed inside. The poor man's heart had stopped. But even as the paramedic with me started desperately doing CPR, trying to save the old guy and bring him back from the dead, I looked out onto the view beyond as if in a trance, looked out at the last thing that old man had seen, the view that had killed him. I saw nothing for a few seconds…. Then I looked out at the Golden Gate Bridge.
(He frowns)
Or rather what was left of it.
You remember that film 'X-Men The Last Stand'? When Magneto tore the whole bridge from its foundations? It looked like that, but instead of Ian Mckellen in a cool helmet this was a ten storey tall monster with a head like an axe blade, wading through the bay as the remains of the bridge crumbled behind it.
I was watching it for maybe a minute or so as the ambulance just sat there, the driver just stood out in the road amongst the stalled traffic with dozens of others all watching in horror. I guess the sight of that thing out there was just so alien it made us all stop in tracks, not think about the obvious danger we would all be in very soon.
It was only when the fighter jets came screaming overhead that people outside broke from this weird sense of shock and awe. I heard people cheering, others talking amongst themselves in frightened tones as more planes came roaring above us, all heading out towards the harbour. At the same time three SFPD cruisers tore past, sirens blaring, towards the harbour, followed by two fire engines ,clearing the crowds before us and disappearing down the hill. That's when I think we remembered that, no matter what disaster was happening to our city, we had a job to do. The doors were still half open as we sped through the streets and I saw the jets all fire their missiles as one, saw the smoke cloud around the monster in the harbour.
Then the smoke cleared and the monster was unharmed.
I tried to look away but, as we turned the corner and the creature was lost from sight, I just keep saying to myself over and over again 'Did that thing just take all that firepower and live?' and 'Did it just swat those planes from the skies like insects?'.
Where were you headed to?
Back to the city hospital. The radio was just clogged up with other ambulances calling out for help or telling others to head to the harbour. The hospital was no better when we got there though. I left the two paramedics and entered the main reception into a scene of absolute chaos. There must have been two hundred people there, paramedics, doctors, nurses, medical staff and a literal horde of civillians, only just held in check by ten hospital security staff.
What were they all there for?
I really don't know actually… They all seemed, from what I could pick out from the countless individual voices shouting at each other, to be there for entirely different reasons. Some wanted to know what was actually going on out there. As if we would know! Others were demanding that they be allowed to take their sick relatives and friends away, thinking that we would just leave them here if the monster in the bay came this way. And the rest were just all manner of things, both trivial and serious. But nobody had taken charge. I saw one police officer by the reception desk being accosted by three shouting nurses who were nearly ready to attack the poor guy. Since nobody else was trying to get some order into this place I pushed through the crowd and clambered onto the reception desk, shouting for order.
(He smiles grimly)
Did not work at all. I was just about to give up when a shot rang out over our heads and I saw the policeman lower his gun from the vertical position he had just fired it from, straight into the thick wood ceiling above his head. I was about to shout at him for firing into the room above us, which was actually an empty office anyway but then I saw that he was nodding at me and I realised that every eye in the room was on me.
I looked out at all those expectant faces and, summoning up what little courage I had left, started to speak.
An inspiring speech?
(He laughs)
Hardly. I was sweating the entire time. I stammered a bit, told them what I had seen out there and how the military were trying to fight it and I could tell a lot of them were unimpressed. Then I ended saying 'If you run now, you're saving only one life. Stay, and we can save everyone…' That really got them to listen. After that it was a mad rush of paramedics and doctors screaming out towards the harbour to help any wounded by whatever battle was raging down there, and the rest were set to work readying the hospital for disaster level medical treatment.
It was about an hour later and we were clearing some of the storerooms for extra beds when the TV in the corner, which had been set to MTV by one of the nurses ,suddenly changed. Gone was the trashy rap video and in its place was a blank black screen. I looked up for a second when suddenly the room was filled with the crackling whine of the Emergency Broadcast System and the image of the California State Governor filled the screen, seated at his desk and his face pale as he spoke.
"This is an emergency address to the citizens of San Francisco." He said simply, and I watched ,along with everyone else in the room, as he confirmed what we had feared. "The city is currently under attack by a…creature of unknown origin. Military units from the surrounding area are in the process of combating the beast, codenamed 'Trespasser' which is attacking the bay area. I am declaring a mandatory evacuation for the city and am sending in National Guard units to aid emergency services in getting all civilians to safety outside of the forty mile exclusion zone the army is in the process of creating round the city. As of now the San Francisco area is under martial law until the current crisis is resolved. I have authorised police and military units to use lethal force upon any seeking to take advantage of the situation for criminal purposes or looting…"
The governor continued but I didn't hear,as, from the bay area beyond, the crackle of gunfire and howl of the creature echoed out.
The rest of the day just went so fast. One second there were National Guard Humvees and tanks rolling out to the on-going battle with the Trespasser, the next wounded soldiers and refugees came stumbling from the port, saying how the creature was just unstoppable.
Did you stay at the hospital?
For the first day, yes. The day after the police and National Guard were evacuating us out by bus, saying it was just too dangerous for us to continue running the hospital. I kind of agreed with them at the time, despite my protests that the injured were still coming in. The army had been setting up a huge field hospital at the edge of the exclusion zone for the thousands being wounded by the Trespasser's attack. Added to that was the fact that the creature was steadily getting closer, as we could tell through the constant news updates and the sounds of fighter jets and explosions getting ever closer.
I was on the last bus out as we drove through the packed streets. There were whole lanes of cars just sitting there on the main road to the Oakland Bay Bridge that was being used as one of the main evacuation routes. For now the Kaiju was said to be out near the sea so they were trying to get as many people across the bridge route instead of overland. All I remember was we were sat by the bridge at the heavily guarded National Guard checkpoint, watching as heavy artillery and Abrams tanks rumbled across, whilist helicopter gunships and fighter jets screamed above the city and towards the sea.
What was the holdup?
At the time I thought it was the amount of civilian's traffic trying to get through that one bottleneck but later on I found it was more due to the constant military convoys moving in across that one bottleneck stopping us getting through. I don't know whether they had planned for this but it seemed like their land and air units were literally doing nothing to halt the Trespasser, and they were losing men and vehicles at such a rate that they were constantly bringing in more troops to try and fill their losses.
So I was sat in the front of the bus when there's this great commotion from the bridge, people screaming, car horns blaring ,sirens wailing, and I step off the bus and stand by the barbed wire fence the army have set out to keep the traffic in order and for a second, I see nothing expect people sprinting off the bridge and abandoning their cars. Then I look closer and see a huge clawed hand, scaly and dripping with seawater, emerge from under the bridge and grab onto the concrete and metal sides. For a second I just stood there, watching the beast emerge from the sea, watching people just push past and trample one another in their haste to escape as National Guard soldiers, their eyes wide, raise their rifles at this thirty storey high monster.
Then the bridge collapsed.
That's when I started running.
I took one look back at the crumbling bridge, the Kaiju puling itself out of the water and clambering onto the street literally only a hundred metres away as explosions blossomed out along its torso, jets screaming overhead and the roar of tanks opening fire and the rattle of machine guns echoing in my ears. I ran down the street, pushing past anyone in my path, my only thoughts of my own survival.
(He frowns.)
Real hero there, wasn't I?
I ran on down the street, feeling the ground move beneath my feet as the Trespasser advanced, squads of soldiers and armoured vehicles in the street ahead all firing upwards. There were people running in all directions, getting in the way of each other and the police and soldiers bravely, but futiley, shooting at the monster coming towards us. I was about to run towards the soldiers when one of them grabbed me. I don't know what he said, the explosions and gunfire had practically deafened me, but he pulled me into a shop front where a small group of civilians crouched, pushing me to the far wall, watching the view outside with a pale face and clutching his M16 to him.
For a second I saw soldiers running past and a few Humvees retreating, the gunners still firing, until a huge shadow fell across us and the heavy footsteps of the Trespasser made the ground, and the building around us, shake. As the monster stomped past the roof shook violently and the soldiers was screaming that the ceiling was collapsing… Last thing I remember then was the entire building rocking around us before a piece of the ceiling smacked me in the back of the head and I blacked out.
How long were you out for?
I don't know. By the time I awoke it was evening and the street was silent outside. I picked myself up and felt myself gagging at the smell. Every other person in the remains of the room was dead. Fortunately only the floor above had collapsed so I was able to clamber out and was about to run for it when I fell over the body of the National Guard soldier from before, crushed underneath a heavy piece of concrete, his rifle smashed to pieces next to him. As I lay there with every part of me throbbing with pain, I heard the dead man's radio crackle into life, saying that the rest of the unit had been wiped out and they needed to get as many civilians to safety as possible while the air force were keeping the monster distracted. I was about to answer the commander on the other end for a second, the poor man who probably already knew nobody was going to answer him when he suddenly said something else, all his previous commanding tone lost.
"Look." He said simply, his voice heavy. "If anyone can hear this, I'm on 37th Street. I'm…well… I've been crushed under some rubble and can't move. But don't come save me! There's a group of school kids trapped in a crashed bus just down the road from me. I repeat, there are kids here and they need urgent assistance or they will die! I… I don't care about me, just get them…"
The line crackled out and I knew the man was dead.
Before I left the room I took the gun from the dead soldier's holster, closing his glazed eyes and then stepping out into the street.
Why did you take the gun?
At the time I just figured it was the best course of action. With all the police and soldiers in the area most likely dead it was likely that all the scum and sociopaths that they had been keeping away from defenceless civilians like me would be taking their chance to… I didn't really know at the time what would happen if I encountered someone like that but I wasn't taking any chances.
When I stepped out into the street I saw a scene of absolute devastation. There was rubble everywhere from where a huge office block further down had collapsed, while grey dust covered the crushed and twisted wreckage of traffic and army vehicles. As I stumbled towards 37th Street I saw more and more of the devastation. Halfway down the road there was a tank embedded in the side of a building, while the remains of a ten tonne truck had been flattened and was surrounded by corpses.
Were there a lot of bodies?
(He nods slowly)
Hundreds. Not just emergency services and soldiers but civilians of all kinds. Men, women…children. No oone seemed to have escaped the wrath of the Kaiju. It was only when I heard the shouts for help from a yellow school bus lying on its side ahead of me that I knew I had reached my destination. Shoving the pistol into my belt I ran towards the bus, hearing the children inside shouting and screeching in fear. I kept reassuring them the whole time, telling them that I was here to rescue them.
They didn't believe me at first. It was only when I actually managed to kick open the back door and show them I wasn't just a smaller monster come to eat them all that they stopped crying. They were only little kids, maybe six or seven years old. One of them told me they had been on a school trip before their teacher had tried to get them out of the city. The bus had hit a parked car and flipped over. They said loads of people had run past and ignored their shouts for help and it was only after the roars of the monster had subsided that they had started calling for help again.
I led them through that rubble as best I could, making them walk in a line all holding each other's hands with their eyes shut. I didn't want them seeing the horror we were walking through. It was already getting dark when we reached the port, where the National Guard were evacuating people by helicopter out of the city. The soldiers there, after getting over their surprise at seeing me leading this long line of kids towards them and quickly getting them on a flight out, told me the Kaiju had been led out towards the other side of the peninsula, where the military were still hammering away at it with everything they had.
"Ready to leave?" one of them said. "After that little act of heroism I think we can get you on one of the next choppers out of here…"
"Are there still people in the city?" I asked ,and the soldier nodded grimly.
"Then my work isn't done…" I replied and walked back the way I came, hearing a few of the soldiers cheer me as ran back into that warzone.
They didn't try to stop you?
I guess they figured I was either too brave or too crazy to leave yet.
(He laughs)
How long were you in the city for after that?
The whole week. I wandered through those ruins looking all over for people in need and would, after giving them directions back to the evacuation point and making sure they could get there safe, just walk away and onto the next street.
Did you encounter the Kaiju at any point?
No. I figured quite early on that no one could survive if they were anywhere near that monster so I kept searching all the back streets and abandoned buildings I could during the day, and slept in trashed apartments by night.
The real danger was never the Kaiju for me. It was other humans that were the real monsters. By the third day there were whole gangs of looters out there, armed and willing to kill anybody who crossed them. I had to use that gun a few times before my bodyguards turned up.
Bodyguards?
Cole and Strand. They were these two guys who just came up to me one day whilst I was looking through a collapsed hospital and said they were here to help me. Scared the shit out of me when they first appeared. Cole was this giant of a man, about six feet tall, only knew his name because it said it on the back of his basketball shirt. He didn't speak much, but the M16 he carried did all the talking for him when we encountered any looters. Strand was the complete opposite. Big and burly too, but he was also a National Guardsman. Said his entire platoon got slaughtered retreating from the Kaiju after a failed attack by a whole tank brigade near City Hall and he had heard about me from another group of soldiers. It was around then that people started calling me by my current nickname. At the time I dint really realise how many people I was saving but they said the current total was in the hundreds and it had only been three days. I guess I was so set on getting people out I kind of blanked out the amounts.
It was Sunday that I finally stopped. Cole and Strand had been keeping me safe for the past few days, but Strand had got a call on his radio saying that the President had authorised something called the Hammerdown Protocol to kill the Trespasser. He never said what it was but I just remember after that message he told us we needed to get out of the city as quickly as we could. If I had known what was going to happen a few hours from then I would have agreed with him.
What did you say instead?
No. Plain and simple. There had been a call over Strand's radio an hour before saying that there was a group of survivors holed up in a bank about a mile from our position. Problem was, the Kaiju appeared to be moving towards that area, and from there it was only two miles to the evacuations point.
We reached the bank with no problems, but Strand was constantly watching the skies, which had been strangely free of aircraft for the past hour. The survivors were fine but, just as we got the evacuation point, where civilian ferries were now docked alongside military vessels whilist a sleek Navy destroyer kept watch, the ground moved beneath us.
The Kaiju?
(He nods)
It appeared from the east, smashing through whole buildings like they were nothing, swatting aside the National Guard helicopters that attempted to fire upon it. As the US Navy destroyer out in the water opened up with its main gun I ran towards the boats, half encouraging,half pushing the survivors around me to get to the nearest ferry, which was already beginning to cast off.
By the time we reached the boat the Kaiju was tearing through the port, shrugging off the fire from the Navy ship and crushing screaming survivors and soldiers alike beneath it.
The ferry was beginning to move from the dock but it was too slow, too weighed down, and the monster was getting ever closer. I took a decision then, one I still don't know where I go the courage from to consider…
Which was?
To sacrifice myself to distract the Kaiju from the boat. I ran into the cabin at the front of the boat to grab some flares when I found Cole and Strand already there, arms filled with flare pistols as they walked out the door.
"Been good working with you, boss." Cole said simply as they ran out, and Strand snapped off a quick salute before the two were gone.
By the time I exited the cabin they were on the dock and running towards the beast, firing off red flares and shouting abuse at the hundred tonne colossus.
As the ferry finally picked up some speed and started moving, I could just see the tiny specks that were my two bodyguards, still firing at the beast before it brought its foot down on them. We kept going and the city was soon far behind us, the Kaiju now tearing into the destroyer still firing futilely upon it.
Then I saw the lone jet fly overhead from the mainland and release a single missile towards the city beyond.
"Down!" I roared at everyone on the deck below and not too soon because, just as I dropped to the hard metal deck, an ear splittingly loud explosion roared out from the city beyond, and I heard the death throes of the Trespasser.
A minute later and I staggered to my feet, watching the grey mushroom cloud rising up from what had once been San Fransisco, and I wept. Not for myself. We were well out of range. Not even for Cole or Strand. Those men had died to save the rest of us. No, I wept in anger at myself. Angry that, if I had only been faster in my searching for the week, more people might have been saved.
That's why I'm not a hero. A hero saves everyone. And I guess I just go to prove that that's impossible, isn't it?
A/N- Sorry for the late update! I just want to take this chance to thank Warlord-Xana,SensiblyTainted,Julian Wright,SpammerheadShark,Bhoddistava,Criticanon, Bear of Cali,evelsaint93 and Dorkzilla for your reviews and also thanks to anyone who favourited or followed. Your support was something I am genuinely suprised and very thankful for and I hope to reward your support with some epic chapters in the future! Next part- Manila and Kaiju Blue!
