(Chapter 4: Thunder Underground)

Weeks had passed after Michaels met with James Ford of Monarch, he and the scientist had looked further into these strange lights in the sky. They met up with several people, one of those random citizens had just gotten home from a trip from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The random female citizen had said that she had seen strange blue lights in the sky, lights that vanished into the ocean. They were so bright, that they could be seen from far away. A loud splashing sound was heard once the lights went into the dark blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

What Michaels and James didn't know, is that these rotating blue flames, they had been seen across the world. A freighter ship captain reported seeing the lights disappearing into the storm around a strange island in the South Pacific.

The same thing could be said in Cherokee, these lights were quite common for some unknown reason. This was found out by Sheriff Robertson, who had some citizens of Cherokee speak to him about the lights.

Robertson's guests were citizens that were old in particular, he wanted to know if these people had seen the lights before in their lifetime. One of them was named Hubert, he was born in the year of 1900, making him the oldest guest.

Hubert explained that he had seen the lights late one night as he was heading back to his home, once stationed on the hill where the cave was. Hubert had left the hilltop home with his family in the year of 1908 after an incredible earthquake. This earthquake made the entire side of the mountain cave in, imploding on itself, creating a massive hole in the side of the mountain. As the smoke rises out from the hole, a rainbow was seen slowly forming..

Another one of the guests was a World War 2 veteran, he remembered flying over the Atlantic at one point. It was at the last times of the terrible war, when a large flying saucer flew right over his head. It was huge, there were five holes on this flying saucer. The edges of the flying object was of a bony material and sharp, looking like it could cut something large. The four bright lights were massive blue flames shooting out of four holes on the ends of the craft, two holes in the front, two holes in the back. There was a larger hole in the front where the other two was. It resembled a giant flying turtle shell with the shell being a very bony material, and the edges looked like they could do some damage to a tall structure.

On the bottom of the craft was large armor plating made of a bone like material, in the center of the underside of the flying craft, was a strange design, making it seem like the armored plating could open by some way.

The veteran pilot recalled seeing the large flying saucer vanish into the clouds, never seeing it again afterwards.

Many older citizens spoke of seeing the same flying object, but all accounts were different than the others. The most convincing was the World War Two veteran, and another World War Two veteran, this other veteran served on the navy.

The navy veteran described that he was on deck of his battleship, when a massive wave splashed before his eyes. It slammed down on the ship, almost pushing the entire warcraft underwater. He recalled hearing a loud rumbling from within the waves, as if something massive was breathing from within them. When he had looked up, there was a flying saucer around one thousand feet above the ship. It looked like it was slowly falling back down into the ocean, before massive blue flames shot out of the flying saucer like object, taking off into the skies of the dark night.

"Does any of you have any solutions?" Robertson would ask, none of the citizens had an answer until one of them decided to break the silence.

"Bomb the shit out of the thing." One of the War veterans said, jumping to a conclusion. Robertson and a few others chuckled, while some others rolled their eyes.

"Well, I can contact the nav.. How about we bomb the mountain?" Robertson halted himself before answering with a different location for bombing.

A few of the citizens agreed, some others were puzzled.

"Why the mountain?" A woman asked.

"Something mysterious has been going on from within that cave, it has been spewing out cold mists, a killer rainbow of all things, and it has been causing this area Earthquakes for the better part of around eighty years. Whatever is within the mountain, stays in the mountain, we trap the thing with bombs, making rocks seal it away from humanity forever." Another citizen of Cherokee answered, he was one of the ones that agreed with Robertson's suggestion.

"If that whatever the thing is can cause earthquakes, I think it can very well break free." Another citizen grumbled, the whole debate on bombing the creature continued on for a good few minutes.

"Well, I need an answer. We've got to resolve this problem some way or some how." Robertson groaned, just wanting his audience to come to a common resolution. The overwhelming number were voting to bomb the mountain, some others rejected this idea.

"Just bomb the damn mountain, I'm sure it will kill whatever thing is sleeping in the cave." Another member of the audience said loudly, but not screaming.

"Fine, we're bombing the mountain, it will take some time though. I have a friend, he's on close terms with the military, it will still take time, so be patient."

(Kannapolis)

Michaels was still relatively new to the area, he still egged on the sheriff for a spot in the police force, but the sheriff wasn't listening to him. It was almost as if he was ignoring his suggestions, so he would decide to wait for the right opportunity to get the attention of the police, in a good way that is.

For now though, he wanted time to simply relax. The former deputy had wanted to expand the friendship between him and the Ford family, he was on close terms with Beatrice Ford, and was now getting along with James Ford as well. Michaels decided to call Beatrice, and ask if James was still in the area.

As the phone buzzed before Beatrice would answer, Michaels thought of the current situation in Cherokee, he was worried for Robertson, but he had faith that he was okay. Michaels was currently sitting on a bench that was near the lake in Cannon Mills, it was such a peaceful spot for him. He liked to sit in the same spot in the late evening hours during the sunset, how beautiful and magnificent the sky looked, the pink sky as the sun slowly vanished beyond the horizon, what a calming feeling it was installing within him.

"Good to see you, Michaels." James Ford said as he approached the bench from behind, chewing some bubble gum.

Michaels turned his head and smiled a bit before facing the lake once more, gazing at the reflection of the twilight sky on the smooth waters that occasionally rippled when something moved beneath the water.

"Nice to see you too, Mr. Ford."

James noticed the disbelief, and slightly annoyed expression on Michael's face. This made him guess that something had happened to his friend up in Cherokee. So the Monarch official sat down beside his deputy friend, to speak with him.

"Hey man, why are you down in the dumps for?" The Monarch official asked, Michaels sighed and looked up at him as he sat beside him.

"My friend, he's in Cherokee right now. That's where shit is going down, I feel worried for him. We've been in the police force for around five years, but the good times last forever. He's like a brother to me, even though we aren't brothers."

James smiled once he heard Michaels say those words, and looked at the beautiful reflection of the sky on the waters of Cannon Lake.

"I've had a few friends in Monarch too, still do. One of them is Serizawa, he joined in the workforce because his father was one of the founders. The fella carries a pocket watch around with him, to honor his father, he's determined to find a creature known to his people as Gojira."

Michaels's eyes widened once he heard of this "Gojira." He looked at James with a surprised expression on his face.

"Gojira? What is that thing?" He asked, curiosity in his voice.

"I like to call it Godzilla, has a nice ring to it. Serizawas father mentioned of a large beast with spines running down it's back, apparently they tried to kill it long ago. No one knows the exact truth if the thing is alive or not. Gojira is rumored to have attacked the USS Lawton, one member survived, Mr. Bill Randa. Monarch was reminded of Godzilla in the year of 1973, there was massive cave paintings of ancient beasts, among them was a large lizard with sharp spines running down his back."

"Damn.." Michaels responded with a slight laugh trailing off afterwards.

"How many monsters have you found?" Michaels continued, if something known as Godzilla existed, he was extremely curious if anything else was among the living.

"Oh yes, there is a massive gorilla on an island out in the South Pacific, known as Kong. So he is in the record books for the beasts found by Monarch, if Godzilla exists, Kong exists, and several other things exist, I'm pretty sure that there is more than just two monsters."

(Cherokee)

A few weeks would go on to pass, the mountainous town of Cherokee would remain in an eerie silence since most of the town had fled due to a hurricane. Robertson managed to call up the military, a random bombing would take place sometime soon. It would be random due to how quiet and empty the town was. Only a very slight few people remained in the town, including the police force as well.

It was a quiet Saturday morning around 6:30 in the morning, the sun was just now starting to rise, casting a dark blue sky over the mountainous region. Robertson sat in uniform, in his office. He was sipping coffee, and he continued to wonder when the bombs would strike the cave. He had hoped it would be fairly soon, he decided to head to a diner just up the road. Robertson didn't even have to drive to the diner, he could simply walk a few blocks to arrive at his destination.

As Robertson walked down the street, he couldn't help but focus his stare towards the mysterious rainbow emitting cave. The silence that the town of Cherokee, North Carolina, fell under, was too quiet. He didn't trust the silence, Robertson then heard roaring through the air, the jets were coming. A smirk now came upon the face of the sheriff, he nodded his head as if he triumphed over something as he strolled down the street.

In the small amount of the light that the rising sun was giving off, Robertson could see the outlines of the jets as the flew towards the cave. Bombs were about to be dropped, the rainbow could finally be stopped. Second by second went by as the jets edged closer, and closer to the massive hole in the mountain. Suddenly, the jets started firing upon the mountain to get a head start, dirt and dust began to form as the bullets from the fighter jets slammed into the mountain side right above the cave.

Then, Robertson felt something cold drip on his head. He stuck his arm out, then something cold hit his hand. It was starting to rain, as the sun continued to rise, it was revealed that it would end up being a cloudy day today. When it rained, the rainbow would make an appearance. The rain continued to pick up in speed, eventually it would turn into a heavy shower.

The jets continued to unleash bullets onto the mountain, now they were really close. Robertson watched as the bombs began to drop from the bottom of the jets, he stood beneath a canopy of a gas station as he watched the bombs fall into the cave. Loud explosions were heard, as smoke began to rise out from the cave. Robertson seen a glow from within the cave, not of fire, but of a multicolored glow.

"Shit.." Robertson growled as he knew the rainbow was about to appear, then he noticed the large cliff that overlooked the cave, and where the rest of the mountain once was, began to slowly slide down.

The rainbow continued to rise as large amounts of dust, and clouds of dirt, engulfed the rainbow as the mountain side fell into the cave, starting to trap whatever was causing the rainbow. The rainbow slowly faded within the air, the opacity of the many colors starting to fade until it could no longer be seen. The jets zoomed by the large cave, dropping bomb after bomb, dealing more damage to the cave, only adding more and more layers of rock to pile into the cave.

The worried expression on Robertson's face slowly curled into that of a smug grin, happy to see the death rainbow slowly vanish, and to see more and more dirt rise from out of the cave. Eventually the jets flew away from the mountain, and yet another deathly silence fell upon the town again. The dark cloud of dirt and gunsmoke continued to billow higher into the air amongst the silence, leaving a feeling of satisfaction within the sheriff.

"It is finished, it is done. The rainbow will no longer harm us…" Robertson would say before breaking out into fits of laughter, now that the death rainbow no longer harmed the town, he found it ridiculous and funny that a rainbow was a thing people feared now.

"Boy will these people have a story to tell their kin when they retur-" Robertson's sentence was stopped suddenly, when a violent shaking of the ground knocked him off his feet. He was rattled around from how fast and hard the ground shook beneath him, and the fall was quite hard. The street lamps were shaking, he could hear it rattling around.

"Damn!" Robertson cried out, startled at what was happening. He looked up to see that the canopy was shaking off, he had to move quickly before he was crushed by falling steel.

Robertson quickly jumped up, and made a limping run away from the gas station as the canopy rocked violently around, threatening to collapse. He could hear the groaning of the steel as it shook around, people within the gas station were running towards their cars to try to flee from the gas station before the canopy would crush their only use of escape.

The sheriff came to a stop suddenly, when a building not too far in front of him began to collapse bit by bit. The front of the building began to collapse, as the dust began to emit from the collapsing building. He began to run towards the bridge that would lead over to the dirt road path where the cave once was, there were no buildings in that area, so he felt the safest in that direction. Civilians and police officers followed after him, he looked over his shoulder, he saw the canopy now fall, crushing the gas tanks, this generates a massive explosion, shooting fire across the street and to the building right next to the station.

The road began to crack slowly, buildings began to fall one by one, large amounts of dust and smoke rose from the streets. The shaking of the ground got only more faster, and more violent. The road then burst beneath the remaining civilians feet. The small amount of people were standing on opposite sides of a massive crack in the road, the debris and rubble of the falling buildings started to fall in the opening abyss.

A few loud snaps were heard, a civilian pointed out that a few trees behind a building were snapping. A large amount of trees seemed to be sliding down the mountain, as an extremely large cloud of dirt shot from the sliding mass of trees. It was a landslide, caused by unmerciful rainfall, and by the shaking ground.

The large amount of people instantly fled from where they stood, meeting up on the bridge. Which would prove to be a bad idea not too long afterwards, some of the fleeing civilians and police officers were swallowed up by the dirt cloud. A few of the fleeing children were crying as their parents would vanish within the cloud, once they arrived at the bridge with the rest of the small amount of people. The police officer's and a few of the other adults were quick to comfort the children as Robertson looked upon the town in horror as the landslide utterly destroyed his old home town, he seen the police station getting crushed by large rocks from the landslide. It felt like the end of an era for him, his childhood town, his favorite job as a police officer then, now as a sheriff, all coming to an end before his eyes.

Robertson stood in shocked silence as the deafening roar of the landslide howled in everyone's ears, the children crying hysterically. The landslide continued to roar viciously, during this landslide, he could have sworn he saw a flashing light within the dust cloud. These flashing lights seemed to be in the shape of large spines, bright white flashes were barely seen. Minute by minute went on as they stood on the bridge, the dirt cloud getting extremely close to where they stood, but the cloud didn't swallow them up.

The citizens that weren't part of the police force all looked at Robertson, the pressure was completely on him now. His eyes had a look of disbelief in them as he looked at everything that had been destroyed, it was only in the early morning hours when the sun had started to rise. They were all soaked from the rain that continued to pour, the cold liquids running down their backs, and sticking their clothes to their bodies.

"What do we do now!" A woman cried out as she held her injured son in her arms, tears running down her face. Robertson looked at the woman and went to respond when a man screamed out in rage.

"All of my memories, precious memories in that town, all gone.. FUCK!" The man cried out, then hurling himself off the bridge, falling to his death from out of nowhere, comitting suicide infront of a few children. Robertson didn't have time to stop him, it came from out of nowhere.

The people started to bicker, and speak amongst themselves loudly. Shaming the police directly in front of them, even their sheriff. The harassment from the citizens, some young and some old, was starting to humiliate Robertson. He loved this job and his respect for the police force in the United States was his highest amount of love among other things, he heard police getting disrespected by others. He heard criminals and even the innocent alike call the police "pigs," and now that the pressure was all on him, he would have no more of it.

"Everyone, shut your damn mouths!" Robertson screamed in rage. "Now, I know this event has traumatized all of you, I am shaken up just as much as you all are. I have no idea of what the Hell is causing all of this, I have no idea of what the Hell caused the rainbow, I have no idea of how this earthquake came about. If we let this get into our heads, we're all fucked!"

The crowd was silenced, they all looked at their sheriff in fear, all having submissive looks on their faces, knowing he could have his police force arrest them on the spot, but then again, there was no jail anymore.

"Then what do you suggest us to do, we have nowhere else to go. Most of the buildings, Hell, even our homes! All of them are gone or reduced to ruins covered in dust, tell us Mr. Sheriff, tell us what the fuck to do!" A citizen screamed, threatening to get in Robertson's face by his body language and movements.

Robertson reached for his belt, going for his pistol, he had a feeling that things were about to get ugly, he then looked at the children, their tear stained faces, and their bloodshot eyes from crying hard.

"Have… Have some faith, all of you. We're gonna persevere, and get ourselves into shelter. We can't do anything, whatever is causing this, it isn't of this world. I don't know what other thing can cause a rainbow that destroys things, and I don't know of anything that can cause earthquakes unlike any other. Cherokee will be rebuilt, but for now, we must move to the highway, there we can get help."

A few of the adults groaned, and a few police officers gave their sheriff a questioning look. Everyone didn't want to walk all the way towards the highway, and interstate, it would take them hours upon hours for them to even reach the highway, going down winding roads, and through wooded areas with roads. Robertson was agitated by this weak response.

"Okay, it is either we get help by getting the attention of many people on the highway or interstate, or we choke on the bits of dust and dirt that still float in the air in what was once our homes. We either die up here helplessly or we fight our way out of this situation! You all are North Carolinian mountain men, and mountain women, you all are known for your toughness of the harsh conditions of these unforgiving mountains, now show the people what you all are made of!"

Again, there was silence among the men and women. Some were slightly inspired by Robertson's brave speech, some admired his determination to live, and fight through tough situations such as these. With that speech, the small group of people yet remaining from the destroyed town of Cherokee, NC, began to make their way down to the interstate..

The group of people would have to make their way on a road that winds down the mountain, it would take them a very long time to do so. They could only hope that it wasn't blocked by another landslide, though it would take them a long time to even reach that winding road. They would have to make their way through torrential rainfall, and deal with the cold of the early morning hours.

(Kannapolis)

After the massive earthquake in Cherokee that caused a massive landslide in which buried most of the town, a few hours went by. Michaels did not know that something terrible happened in Cherokee, he would soon find out for himself via the news.

Michaels was sitting on a sofa within his room at a motel near the Cannon Mills, or the closest one to the mills at that matter. He was watching a show in which he had fairly gotten into, until a breaking news report came onto his screen, his eyes widened once he saw the headline.

"Cherokee buried under rock, landslide and earthquake in the mountains!"

After reading this, the heart within Michaels began to race. His thoughts became troubled, and he stood up, he was in disbelief of what he was seeing on the television. He must have been dreaming, but no, he was living in a horrible reality. His old home was almost entirely destroyed, the buildings that hadn't been destroyed by the landslide, were left in ruins by the earthquake. Only small parts of the town hadn't been touched, those that were living in the small towns in Cherokee were the lucky ones.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Michaels screamed in horror, frustration, and regret. He didn't know how many had died, but he knew how that the police station was directly in the line of fire if a mountain was to have a landslide.

His head was buried into his hands, his voice was shaky and breaking up as he tried to calm his breathing, it sounded as if he was going to burst into tears. He paced back and forth with his hands on his head, he slammed his foot onto the floor in rage.

"Dammit!"

Michaels then sat down on the bed in disbelief, he couldn't believe what he was seeing, yet he had to accept it. It was a shot from a helicopter, all he saw was a faint dirt cloud all around the area of the landslide. He noticed several destroyed buildings, and some were just barely standing. There was also a massive split in the road, torn in half completely.

"Most of the town was evacuated several weeks ago due to a hurricane that came through, luckily the death toll wasn't as high if everyone remained in town. Though there is quite a lot of deaths here, a few being innocent children, a few police officers, and several more missing or dead."

That gave Michaels slight hope, he prayed that Robertson was among the missing and not among the dead. The fact that police officers were dead made him on edge, only making him more worried and anxious.