Chapter 4. Resonance
At 8:47, the train arrived at Mishima station. Shinji has never been to this city before. It looked like the sleeping areas of Nagoya. But there was something subtly different in it. When Shinji was in Shizuoka, he became suspicious because everyone at the station was advising him not to go to Mishima, but to stay there and wait for further instructions. The young man ignored the warnings and went on.
At first glance, Mishima was a typical provincial town. At the station, which was situated in the center of the town, there were a few office buildings with nine or twelve floors. Other buildings in the town were much lower. It seemed that these buildings have clearly seen better days. They apparently haven't been rebuilt since the Impact. One could say the same about the roads full of holes. Shinji remembered that such towns are often called depressive.
From the North-East, the majestic mountains, looking down on people, could be seen. No one and nothing could destroy such monumental creation of nature, be it people or the Impact. On the South, their little brothers, which didn't look much better but still were splendid and majestic, were seen.
Mishima was a total mess. The number of people wishing to leave was much greater than of those who were arriving in the town. There were huge traffic jams on the roads. There was a feeling that people tried to leave the town. No, not even that. People were running out of town.
But Shinji had a single aim, so such little things didn't bother him at all. He'd found the nearest pay phone but when he picked up the phone, he couldn't hear the tone, as if all the lines were busy. The decision to stay at the station until Major Katsuragi comes seemed sound.
However, the turmoil in the town was growing. And Shinji was getting anxious more and more. At the station, it was announced that all arriving trains are delayed for an indefinite period. Helicopters, which were mostly military, started rattling in the sky. It scared people. Panic could be felt in the air. And though Ikari has never experienced it, he recognized it right from the start. Probably because panic is a very contagious thing, which is transmitted through airborne droplets. And Shinji could feel the first signs of the disease.
A reasonable question popped up in his head: where was he?
And he got his answer immediately. In a second, a smooth voice was heard, amplified through the speakers.
"Attention! A state of emergency has been imposed in the town. The population is strongly advised to be evacuated or to go to bomb shelters. Follow the instructions of the police and self-defense forces. I repeat," the speaker on the flying helicopter was broadcasting.
Shinji saw a convoy of military trucks drive a block away. The same message could be heard through the speakers of the station.
Shinji was watching the situation for at least 15 minutes. Free buses and trains started arriving at the station in order to evacuate the population. The streets were flooded with so many policemen that the boy couldn't imagine. Soldiers of the self-defense forces joined them later. For a moment, Shinji thought that he was dreaming, so he pinched himself. No, it was for real. Shinji got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Or maybe they're filming a movie? What if it's another Hollywood blockbuster? However, it was too major, even for "dream factory" magicians.
He hurried back to the pay phone, hoping that this time he'll be able to get through. However, no tone could be heard.
Shinji was perplexed. Is it possible that the war started while he was on his way? It doesn't make any sense. He instinctively approached the large group of people, who were waiting for the bus. The guards were lining people up in the queue.
"Oh, it's just extensive exercises," the old man, who clearly has seen a lot over the years, muttered.
"To evacuate an entire city with a population of two hundred thousand? Isn't that too much for exercise?" the second old man, who was apparently his friend, objected to him.
"Think about that. Who needs us?"
"Tokyo-3 is right near us. You never know what daisy cutter those eggheads have created and lost control over."
"Then why are helicopters flying from Tokyo-3 to shore?"
The second old man didn't know what to say. Over their heads, several jets with increasing roar flew.
"Look! They're flying so low!" someone in the crowd shouted.
And then it happened again. And again, and again. A group of helicopters was hardly keeping up with them.
"It seems that all the "Apaches" of self-defense forces are gathered here."
After a series of explosions coming from the South, there was no soul who doubted that the situation was serious. Those explosions could hardly be heard. But still, they were explosions.
The panic was growing and people were becoming scared; scared of who knows what. The police and self-defense forces were silent and weren't answering any questions. And that, of course, was making citizens angry. Shinji was in a trance, not believing his eyes and ears.
A dozen military trucks drove up to the station square, where there was a huge crowd of people, who did not have their own personal transport.
"First come women and children, then senior citizens!" one of the officers announced using a megaphone. "Keep calm, there's enough space for everyone!"
Planes and helicopters were flying here and there, shaking the air with their powerful engines. And the sounds of explosions were becoming closer and louder. After a while, somewhere to the South from the town, the column of a black smoke rose.
"Mom, look how big this plane is!" a little boy murmured, pointing to the sky. And indeed, a big death machine, which sounded like a plane with 8 reactive engines, flew over their heads.
"This is not our troops," the very same old man concluded holding his breath. "B-52. It's American USAF."
After a while, the plane disappeared behind the roofs of the buildings; and a series of powerful explosions could be heard.
"I don't know what it is, but if they're using the usual saturation bombing, things are looking bad."
Shinji decided to wait until the last moment, despite the approaching war. He had to meet Major Katsuragi. Having considered that he'll still have time to get out of the town, the young man sat on the steps in front of the station. He watched the self-defense forces evacuate everyone. And there were lots of people who wanted to run away. The whole area was filled with them. Military trucks were scurrying around the town. Will they be able to save everyone?
The sounds of explosions were growing and approaching. From the bay, at low altitude, a couple of small flying machines whooshed. A little later, they disappeared and two powerful pats could be heard. South of Mishima, in the Nagaoka area, everything has already been shrouded in black smoke. Gunfire could be clearly heard in the distance. Shinji regretted his decision to come to this crazy city.
All the people in the area were overwrought. Everyone was discussing what the military was bombing. Someone suggested that the town got attacked by the Chinese or the Koreans. Others were talking about a military coup in the country and the beginning of the civil war. There was also a mind-blowing idea that Godzilla was attacking the town. Everyone looked at people saying that like they were some lunatics. People were surprised to find out that the last theory seemed to be closer to the truth. Some users of modern smartphones have found on the Internet the blurry photos of a forty-meter figure that was being bombed. Someone shouted that it was a fake; the number of pictures and videos on the Net was growing exponentially.
Not only Shinji got a desire to see a giant something. A large crowd rushed from the station to the South, not listening to the protests of the police and military. People pulled cameras and phones out of their pockets to capture the image of this incredible creature. You don't see Godzilla, the national treasure of Japanese cinema, every day! The audience was eager to hear the famous and bone-piercing roar of the monster.
Shinji was carried away by the crowd to the South of the town. Many people were running to it, attracted by curiosity, forgetting about their own safety. More and more onlookers joined the crowd. At some point, the spontaneous flow increased so much that it spread to the roadway and almost paralyzed the vehicle movement. Signals of disgruntled and nervous drivers were added to a chorus of the crowd. The police tried to push people back to the sidewalks, but all in vain.
Shinji noticed a girl about his age standing in the middle of the crowd. She was a black sheep among all the people that surrounded her. Her ash-blue hair was cut in bob haircut and her bright red irises were like a beacon on a moonless night. However, no one, who was passing by, paid attention to her, as if she was not there. Shinji stopped to examine a fancy stranger closer. Swearing and crying people kept bumping into him, but it didn't matter. He was fascinated by these two bright lights that had reminded of something very familiar. Shinji remembered seeing them and reaching out for them. The girl was looking at him without showing a single emotion as if she did not care about what was happening around. Her lips slowly moved as she was trying to say something. But Shinji wasn't meant to hear her because of the hubbub of people, the blare of sirens, and the noise of the explosions.
Later, when a bunch of curious townsfolk had run between them, the stranger disappeared. Shinji shook his head, thinking that his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Having climbed on one of the overpasses, Shinji looked at landscapes of morning Mishima. Only low storey houses were ahead of him, so people gasped when they saw a giant humanoid figure standing only four kilometers from them. Something was calmly striding in the direction of Tokyo-3, not responding to the merciless bombing. Due to the huge distance, as well as the rising dust and smoke from the explosions, it was impossible to see the mysterious figure in detail. One thing was for sure: it was not Godzilla. And it made everyone even more curious.
"It's in Tsukamoto district," one woman suggested, capturing everything on video.
Ten minutes later, the creature entered the town boundaries. It was invariably accompanied by flashes from explosions. Only black scorched earth was left behind it.
The siren of civil defense sounded in the town and the sounds of explosions became closer. All this did not bode well. Some people ran back to the station, others continued standing and capturing everything that was happening.
"Look! They're firing missiles at him!" shouted somebody from the crowd.
Everybody turned their phones and cameras to the left, towards missiles, shot by the artillery. The buzz was indescribable.
"It seems that the self-defense forces lead the monster out of the city to the mountains," the man standing next to Shinji concluded.
And it was true. Even armed helicopters tried to strike stinging blows from the East and the North-East. They were luring him in somehow. However, the military could not harm the monster, no matter how hard they tried. It wasn't even slowing down.
"Why doesn't it attack anybody?" one of the women asked.
"Shut up or you'll croak a disaster!"
A huge turbopropeller aircraft flew right over their heads. It appeared to be right over the monster. Then, something with a parachute flew out of the rear compartment. After a while, there was a terrible explosion that engulfed a monster. While Shinji was watching the surprising effect of differential pressure, density, and temperature, all the problems disappeared at once. In a way, for a brief moment, he felt free as he was still fascinated by the shock wave front. And it was inevitably bearing down on all onlookers standing on the overpass. It was breaking out the panes and kicking up a dust behind it.
Shinji heard the sound only in a few seconds. It hit his ears like a hammer, and for one brief moment, it seemed like he got under a press. Not only Shinji, but everyone around cringed and snatched at their ears. Women squealed with fear; men started swearing. The alarm systems of hundreds or thousands of the parked cars started howling. Shinji and the onlookers surrounding him got lucky. If they were a bit closer, it would end very badly. Not looking at the broken glass near him, the young man wondered: when will he run out of luck limit?
And then, the time started passing too fast. The monster had hardly come out of clouds of smoke before the white glow in the shape of a ring appeared. The creature instantly soared upwards.
At first, people didn't realize that the giant was flying in their direction with incredible speed. Everyone froze with their mouths open, continuing to film it as it flew over their heads and landed somewhere near the station.
The ground began to tremble; the air was shaken by a heavy hooting. One of the nine-storey buildings at the station formed a house of cards. The other two sloped menacingly. A column of smoke rose. People in panic rushed to save themselves, and Shinji wasn't an exception. He regretted that he had come here. All the problems he had faced when he was in Nagoya seemed too petty now.
Everything was trembling. It felt like an elephant entered a China shop. Shinji could hear screaming, the sound of explosions and whistling of flying shells. Armed helicopters were flying over the heads of citizens, releasing unguided missiles into the monster. Now Shinji could see it. It was a dark green musclebound something with long and slender arms; in the middle of its chest, a reddish sphere, protected by protruding light ribs, was shining; it looked like his head was inserted directly into his chest. However, the young man wasn't going to examine it in detail. He needed to leave the town as soon as possible.
Something bright flashed near the monster's head. A moment later, the spot where the artillery fired at, got lit up by a giant explosion. In response, the military augmented the fire, not thinking of the remaining civilians.
Shinji didn't even know who to blame that he appeared to be here and now. He started running for dear life. Only this time he wasn't running away from the problems, but because he was saving his life. He wasn't alone though: thousands of losers like him were there too. The monster was stomping loudly somewhere behind, the shells were exploding, a bright glow appeared again, and the screaming stopped at once. The sounds of cars and trucks engines, as well as the screeching of tires, were added to the overall chaos.
Something exploded over people's heads, and then, everyone heard an upcoming sound. Shinji turned around by instinct and got terrified by the view: a strike helicopter, running on its axis, was slowly falling down towards him. As the strike machine had been defeated, citizens started spreading. The blades hit the asphalt, and the pieces scattered to the winds. The helicopter plummeted to earth and, by inertia, run into the nearest building right in front of Shinji. He was lucky again not to be hurt.
Something was telling him that he had to run away this place before the broken car blows up. However, he couldn't force himself to go. He was still in deep shock: he could have died a few seconds ago. Shinji caught himself thinking that the pilots were less fortunate and they may need emergency assistance. Fortunately, the helicopter wasn't going to explode. It was just like a dying beast, plaintively moaning and choking.
Shinji wanted to see if the pilots were still alive, but he suddenly heard a nasty squeaking of tires. Having turned around, he noticed a blue sports coupe. The passenger door opened, and the car looked familiar, despite the face and the sunglasses on it.
"Sorry for that, Ikari-kun!" There was no doubt: it was her. "Get in!"
"What about people?" he pointed to the helicopter.
"They knew what they signed up for. Get your ass over here!"
"But…"
"Now!" the woman slammed on the armrest.
"Yes!" Shinji shouted, stepping into the car.
As soon as he stepped in the car, Katsuragi immediately surged forward, putting her foot down. From such acceleration, the door closed, and all the sounds instantly disappeared. Shinji got pushed into the sports seat but managed to throw his bag to the backseat.
"Buckle up! We're going to have a fun trip!"
The young man without objections buckled catchy four-point seatbelts up. Katsuragi was already careering through the narrow streets of the town, masterfully shying away from all obstacles.
"Headquarters, the parcel has been found. I provide security," said a woman in a headset. "Copy that, I'm delivering it."
Tires and brakes horribly squealed. The gear change was accompanied by a whoosh, and the engine was howling pleasantly as if it was a racing car. Shinji wasn't an expert, but he figured out that the engine was really good.
The monster was striding right near them. With each its step, the car was shaking and the woman had to return control of the car. Shinji turned around and saw the monster, enveloped in flames from explosions. It was very close to them.
"Shit!" Katsuragi swore, hitting the brakes. Ikari was pushed into the seat belts which squeezed all the air out of his lungs. The passage in front of them was dammed by a dilapidated building. "Hold on!"
In a second, the woman selected reverse gear and pushed the gas pedal to the floor. The car abruptly flew back, toward the monster.
"Uh?" Shinji got confused.
"I say, hold on!"
Major sharply spun a wheel, and the car made a typical bootlegger reverse. Not waiting for the car to stop, the woman switched to the second speed. Now they were speeding directly under the giant and through the explosions, as if through a minefield. During maneuvers, the car was tossed around. Shinji even got sick. The roller coaster was clearly no match for it. When they flew past the legs of the monster, they heard as the body of a sports coupe got covered with shrapnel from the exploding shells. The left side of the windscreen cracked, and the cobwebs crawled across it. And the side transparency on Shinji's side shattered. Deafening sounds of the battle, the roar of the engine, and the screaming seeped to the passenger compartment.
"This woman will kill us!" Ikari silently steamed, looking at a couple of holes in the bottom of the car and the warped interior. And again, by some miracle, he was lucky to stay alive. How lucky were the people outside? Should he pray for them?
After a while, they finally managed to fling out of the thick of the battle. Shinji was extremely glad that to be found and saved from such chaos.
"Just what we need!" Major looked at the broken radio set. She tried to reach someone on a mobile phone, but it didn't help. "Okay, fine."
"Something wrong?" Shinji asked in a surprisingly even voice. It surprised him.
"It's was nothing, don't be scared," Katsuragi grinned. "By the way, you seem awfully calm. You don't see an Angel every day!"
"An angel?"
"Yeah, that's how we call that giant amphibian monster. Anyone else would be asking me lots questions right now."
"Sorry." Shinji wasn't sure now that he was calm. It was enough to cast a look at his shaking knees. "I just thought you wouldn't tell anything. Is it one of those angels?"
"What? Of course not. I'll explain it to you later. I can only say that this Godzilla-looking monster must be destroyed, by all means."
"Sorry. But is father involved in this somehow?"
"That's a good question! You'll find out with time. And stop apologizing all the time! You're getting on my nerves."
Not slowing the pace, Katsuragi went to the overpass.
"We're so lucky today!" she made a witty remark. "There's a logjam on the road to Tokyo-3, we have to make a detour."
When they got on the freeway, Shinji noticed that the monster wasn't being bombed anymore. He shared his observation with the driver. She parked the car by the roadside and opened the glove compartment.
"Let me see," she unbuckled the seat belt and grabbed a binocular. Then she looked out the window. "Something's not right."
The highway was in the foothills, so the view of the city was gorgeous. However, it was spoiled by destroyed buildings, smoke, soot, explosions, and something walking in the middle of all this chaos.
"Aren't you an officer?" Shinji muttered. He was pushed into the seat. But there was nothing to complain about, quite the contrary. "You should know what the military is doing."
"I am," the woman agreed, not looking to the street. "But not an officer of the self-defense forces anymore. And especially not the USAF1. We have no radio set. No connection. From now on, we're blind and deaf, and I hate that."
Shinji thwarted the temptation to ask what USAF was. Looked like another semi-secret organization like NERV.
"Ahem, poor Lancer2 loner. Tell me, honey, what are you doing at this speed and altitude?" Katsuragi falsely sang, not paying attention to Shinji. "Come on, it can't be true!"
"Huh?"
"Down!"
The woman tightly hugged the boy. At first, he even liked to be pressed by her breasts, which had a scent of expensive perfumes. But then he wished to recoil. It wasn't possible though since the woman was very strong.
At the same moment, the snow-white light filled everything, and the hot air became even hotter, unimaginably hotter. Shinji felt a growing vibration: something bad was coming, very bad. He was going to ask her something, but a massive shockwave made the windshield break and all stuff in the car move. The car got taken away into a ditch.
The car turned turtle to the left side. Katsuragi was lying on the left door, right next to Shinji, who was still hanging on the seat belts. He literally felt the athletic body of the woman.
"You okay?" she tried to thunder down the noise and some banging on the roof. "Didn't you break anything? Did you hit your head?"
Shinji got a feeling that someone turned him inside out. Ears were buzzing from the shock wave, and everything inside him seemed to stir up and mix. It was clearly not a good feeling.
"I'm alright," he groaned. "I got soil in my mouth."
"That's nothing." This positive-minded woman obviously didn't care.
Major unbuckled the boy from the seat belts. They got out of the place that used to be a windshield. The outside world was a total mess. There was a cloud in the shape of a mushroom hanging over Mishima. Everything was burning in the town as if the gates of hell had opened up. One could only hope that people had time to evacuate.
Shinji's whole body was aching, but he managed to survive and get only bruises and light abrasions. He noticed a cat on the hand, but it wasn't serious. The woman was hurt a little, but everything worked out. Even the sunglasses didn't fall down.
When looking at the mushroom-shaped cloud, Shinji remembered something important. Something that was in the very far corners of his memory.
"Katsuragi-san, are we going to glow in the dark now?"
"What?" she asked in confusion. But when she had figured out what he was talking about, she laughed heartily. "No, you won't become Dr. Manhattan."
Now it was Shinji's turn to get confused.
"You can relax now. It was the N2-bomb. In short, it bangs as a tactical nuclear weapon (TNW). Twenty-five kilotons. It's a little stronger than a "Fat man" dropped on Nagasaki in the forty-fifth year, but without radiation and such shit."
"Are you sure?" the guy was still skeptical and was nervously looking at the scene of the explosion.
"Well, if it had been TNW," she pointed at the mushroom, "radiation would have killed us by now."
"You know how to comfort somebody, Katsuragi-san."
"Oh, yeah! Come on; let's get our war horse back on its feet."
They got ready to turn the car over. Only now he paid attention to the color of the woman's uniform: it was black and clearly wasn't military. She was wearing a strict skirt just above the knees and a sleeveless blouse with white edging. On the collar of the blouse, honorable distinctions could be seen.
"Are you ready? And, one…"
They managed to do it from the second push, and Katsuragi notably shook her hands. Shinji warmed to her. She was kind and positive, which always came in handy in such crazy situations.
"Thank you."
"No, thank you, Katsuragi-san."
"Call me Misato, okay?" she took off her glasses and smiled gently. "Nice to meet you, Ikari Shinji-kun."
"Nice to meet you too, Misato-san."
"By the way, despite all the chaos, your voice seems more cheerful than yesterday."
Shinji only chuckled nervously and scratched his head.
Misato looked at the town through the field glasses.
"Yeah. Like water off a duck's back. Even N2 couldn't destroy it, just burnt a little. At least they stopped it for a while. Okay, come on." She sat down in the driver's seat and took a deep breath. "My poor Alpine…"
The car looked really bad: the left wing and the door were like a sieve, the windows were shattered, the rear-view mirrors were absent, and there were dents and scratches all around. It seemed like the rattling car was ready to collapse anytime. It was held together on a wing nut and a lot of prayers.
"I hope the fools there will call a train for us. Otherwise, it'll take us a few hours to get to headquarters." Katsuragi sighed again when the engine uttered a few disgruntled growls. "Come on, baby, don't let me down."
Her "baby" was a Renault Alpine A310, if the rickety sign on the "torpedo" was right. Shinji even whistled in praise of Misato's taste: Alpine models are extremely rare, and they have never had the right wheel. But Katsuragi had a right-hand drive car. The question was where she found it.
They have already departed from this miserable town. According to the pointers, there were only twelve kilometers left to Tokyo-3. The road was descending in mountains, which were covered with dense forest. There was no chaos that filled the shore. That was too surreal. But army trucks, which were evacuating the people in settlements, were still everywhere. If it hadn't been for them, maybe Shinji would have calmed down.
"I hope the civilian casualties are not so big," Katsuragi mumbled with a serious face.
Shinji started realizing that some of the people outside had died. Truth be told, deep down, he knew it, but he just refused to believe.
"Don't be afraid," the woman began to calm the young man down. "Surprisingly, the self-defense forces evacuated a lot of people. So don't worry about it, okay? It's definitely not your fault."
The word "surprisingly" sounded kind of phony, but Ikari nodded, having buried into his thoughts.
"And yet you don't say much, Shinji-kun. Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself. Or maybe there were too many events at a time for the child to see," she reasoned.
"I'm sorry, Misato-san, but sometimes you behave like a child too."
"You little brat!" Katsuragi kindly shouted, ruffling Shinji's hair.
1 USAF - United States Air Force.
2 This refers to the B-1B Lancer, a strategic supersonic bomber of the US Air Force.