GIGARRAH

It was the perfect weather for a birthday party the sun was warm and the sky was clear with a deep blue, Akira stood watching all the kids playing in the garden and smiled as his wife tapped him on the shoulder he turned “Honey it’s time for the cake” Hatsue whispered, Akira nodded “Ok You get Mika and I’ll grab the cake from the kitchen” Hatsue grinned then kissed her husband on the cheek, in the kitchen the cake lay ready on the counter Akira approached but suddenly the nearby air raid siren cried out Akira was worried and charged out into the garden to get people to a shelter, but out in the garden the sky was blood red and there was only Hatsue and Mika standing together as the siren stopped to a sudden deafening silence, Akira stood looking at his family they looked eerily calm Akira called out “Hatsue? Are you and Mika alright?!” they remained still, the ground shook then with a sound splitting crack the glass of the house splintered out in all directions the world tilted and Akira fell away from the ground as glass and debris swarmed around him and his wife and daughter were lost he covered his face and yelled “HATSUE!!!”Everything fell into black.

The air raid siren faded back in, Akira opened his eyes pain throbbed all over his body, he looked around to see that he was inside his car gaining more awareness of his surroundings Akira also realised that the car had been flipped upside down, he kicked open the passenger door and crawled out onto the street as he touched the tarmac he felt intense heat all around him, he stood up and looked around black clouds covered the sky but tinted orange from the fires burning through the city, buildings stood in utter ruin as fighter jets of the JSDF (Japanese Self Defence Force) flew over. Akira couldn’t believe the chaos that he had awoken to people ran passed him to get off the highway in fear and panic Akira thought it wise to do the same, the thought hit suddenly ‘what about Hatsue and Mika?’ he reached into his pocket to get his phone the screen was cracked but still working, he remembered that Hatsue and Mika had left town to visit his Mother In Law for a week he dialled the number and eagerly waited, the phone rang only once then his wife’s voice chirped quickly into his ear “Akira?! Akira are you alright?!” she said fretfully “I’m, I’m fine the car crashed but I’m alright, I don’t even know what happened” He said he looked around confusingly as the sound of gunshots cracked into the air, his wife spoke again “The news said that there was an attack by…” the call went dead Akira yelled down the phone “Hatsue?! Hatsue?!! Damn it!” he tried to redial but all there was on the other end was the emergency response to inform people that the lines are busy and to try again later, an attack he wondered by who? Everything happened so quickly whoever it was must have caught radars and satellites off guard in order to warrant such devastation, an explosion rang out nearby and Akira decided not to stick around there had to be a civilian evacuation under way but he would have to find some form of military to help him get out to his family.

Emergency vehicles made their way through the streets swerving to avoid debris in the roads, Akira wandered past a couple of ambulances who were treating injured people how had been caught in the commotion one stopped to look at Akira she gestured to him “Hey come here!” he walked over to her and she told him to sit “That’s a nasty cut on the side of your head are you hurt anywhere else?” She asked, Akira hadn’t even noticed the blood which had been running down the side of his cheek “Uh no I don’t think so bit sore from the crash but everything seems fine” the paramedic was busy applying paper sutures to the cut when she put the last one on she examined Akira taking a torch from her pocket and shining it into his eyes to check the responses “Doesn’t look like you have a concussion, unfortunately with everything that’s going on we can’t treat you here all injured civilians are being taken to nearby cities” Akira shook his head “I’ll be fine, is the military evacuating people?” the paramedic looked at him “They’ve told us send able bodied people to a forward operating base at the seaside mall for trucks to get out of the city” Akira felt himself calm slightly at least he knew there was a way out he spoke again “Do you know who is behind all this?” the paramedic looked concerned “The military haven’t told us anything, they marched straight in to deal with what is going, we’ve been hearing strange noises and gunfire ever since” Akira looked puzzled “What do you mean strange noises?” a deep groaned echoed out into the sky everyone nearby looked up curiously at the sounds the paramedic spoke to Akira “That is what I mean…right you’re all patched up” Akira felt the sutures and stood up “Thanks for the help, the seaside mall?” she nodded in reply “It’s a bit of a walk but seems like all the fighting is on the other side of the city” Akira began to head into the city.

Cracks of gunfire and bangs from tank artillery seemed to be constant Akira kept wondering how big an enemy force were the JSDF fighting against it seemed almost city wide, two jets swooped across overhead booms from the bombs they dropped followed close behind, Akira took out his phone and tried to call Hatsue again but the line was busy, as he continued up the street his pace slowed at a horrific sight, a high rise building had collapsed and now lay across the road what stopped Akira in his tracks was the number of bodies that lay strewn and crumpled across the ground some of them partially buried in the rubble it looked like that as the building fell it was filled with people who must have fallen from the windows crashing to the ground below only for some to be crushed by the high rise as it struck the road with some pedestrians being killed in the streets from glass and debris, Akira paused out of pity for them all of them like him just trying to get somewhere safe but sadly weren’t so lucky. Further into the city Akira was beginning to think that there was no one here to help until an army unit appeared from around the corner of a side street, he stopped quickly but the unit leader paused to look at him “Over here!” the man yelled Akira ran over to them, “Didn’t think there were many civilians left in the city” the man said calmly “My car crashed on the freeway but paramedics told me that there was an evacuation point at the seaside mall?” Akira asked the man nodded in reply “They were right and a bit of a walk but we are heading in that direction somewhat stick with us and we will get you part of the way there” Akira thanked him and they proceeded to head further into the city.

The group of soldiers moved slowly through the street of debris and abandoned cars, Akira felt anxious from the sound of gunfire getting evermore louder he looked to a nearby soldier “Do you know who’s behind this?” the soldier shrugged “It all happened so quickly I didn’t have time to ask myself” another soldier spoke out “From what I heard it’s The Maw again” the first soldier shook his head “Nah can’t be, wasn’t The Maw taken out two years ago? heard air force had to carpet bomb half a city but it did the job” more soldiers voiced their opinions on who was responsible everything from Maelstrom to The Ebony Shrill, the unit leader named Hoshi Takarada looked over his shoulder “Government have been monitoring Maelstrom and The Shrill for a while now according to satellites they are running silent at the moment so it can’t be any one of them” they were a couple of streets away from the city centre when several more groups of soldiers and a tank battalion were waiting, Takarada met up with the Lieutenant who was plotting tactic points on a map “So what’s the situation Sir?” the Lieutenant looked at him sternly “City centre is the target zone fighters are going to sweep in with a bombing run then we take the troops of the 295 battalion and the tanks to see if we can finish this before we are wiped off the map” Takarada nodded and wandered quickly back to his unit and took Akira to the side “Right we are going to attack which means you have only a few minutes to get far away as possible” he pointed to the right side of the street “head down that road and keep going the beach is about an hour or two away but you need to get going” Akira nodded “Thank you for getting me this far” in the distance the Lieutenant’s radio buzzed and he spoke to one of the other units, panic came over his face “Gigarrah? IT’S GIGARRAH!!!” Takarada turned quickly to the tanks which began to move “Shit! What about the air support!” he looked back to Akira “Dammit you need to go, GO NOW!” Akira didn’t hesitate he stood upright and ran towards the road that Takarada had told him to go as he cleared the streets he heard the tanks begin to open fire along with soldiers shouting as they ran to the target position as Akira ran that one word rattled in his mind Gigarrah it couldn’t be that was fifty years ago, as he kept going there was a loud crack from behind were the soldiers were commencing their attack Akira fell to the ground when a tank fell directly in front of him, he lay still for a moment waiting for an injury to manifest but luckily he was unharmed he sighed with relief and picked himself back up he looked at the wreck of the tank it was charred blackened and partially melted by some intense heat, screams came from behind Akira looked to see soldier firing up into the air then engulf in a massive ball of red fire one of the buildings close to the fighting erupted in an implosion of glass on concrete and fell towards the ground which shook with the impact the dust swarmed down the street towards Akira “Oh shit!” he fled into a sprint passed the tank and away from the debris flow, it was getting closer but an alleyway was nearby so Akira charged towards it and threw himself down it and hid behind a large dumpster as the plume of smoke swept through the rest of the street, Akira sat waiting for the chaos to settle catching his breath when the air was filled with a deep grumbling growl the guns continued their barrage at least they were still putting up a fight.

Akira continued through the city the fighting seemed far away now so there was some measure of safety to be felt, a dog was sniffing around the streets a blue collar around its neck meant that it did have a home and owners but they were either dead or had left the poor animal behind in the confusion Akira came across it and crouched down putting a hand out “Hey come here boy” the dog was eager for companyanother strange noises rolled over the city like some sort of growl “That sounds pretty close” the dog seemed spooked and ran off in the opposite direction to the noise “Smart dog” Akira chuckled to himself. He finally came upon the shorefront as he walked out into the open he saw the mall nearby the water’s edge which had now been fortified had soldiers scrambling around it, Akira ran towards it and found the nearest soldier “Hey is this where they are evacuating civilians?” the soldier turned to him “Yeah the next transports are due in about thirty minutes just head inside the FOB, someone will find you something to eat and a place to rest” Akira smiled with relief “Thank you” he proceeded inside, in the mall there were several makeshift medical bays treating injured civilians and soldiers, the information booth at the entrance had been transformed into a communication relay for contacting troops and air support, he wandered past the medics one spotted the cut on his head from earlier “Are you alright do you need that seen to?” Akira waved in response “Uh no I’m fine I’ve already had it seen to thanks though” the medic went back to his patient, further in Akira climbed up a set of stairs and reached the first floor many of the shops were still open clearly just left when everything kicked off earlier although with all the soldiers around he thought someone would have to be desperate to try and loot anything, at the far end of the first floor was the food court Akira hoped he could grab some food it had been ages since he had eaten and all that running in the city didn’t help stay off the hunger, the food court was deserted but he was in luck because there was a sandwich bar with the shutter left open he wandered inside and found several pre-packaged sandwiches and a few bottles of water, taking his pick he slowly wandered over to the large glass window which looked out onto the bay he sat down at a table and began eating, he looked to the water to see the bay was occupied by several naval warships, Akira jumped slightly when the phone buzzed in his pocket but he quickly took it out and saw Hatsue’s name on the caller ID “Hello? Hatsue?” his heart leapt when he heard her voice “Akira we’ve been trying to reach you for hours what happened are you ok?!” “I’m fine a few scrapes but I’ve reached an evac site at the mall a transport is coming soon to take survivors out, how are you and Mika?” Hatsue spoke again “We are fine just a bit shook up when we heard that the city was under attack, Mika is sleeping she got tired from worrying but I can get her if you like?” Akira replied “No, no let her rest just tell her that I will see her soon” “I will you get back to us safely Akira” “I will I love you” Hatsue said softly “I love you too” Akira hung up the phone he felt relieved hearing his wife’s voice and happy at the thought of seeing his family soon, he began to feel fatigue and looked at the time on his phone “Thirty minutes? Hopefully they may come and get me if the transport shows up” he set a timer on his phone for twenty minutes and closed his eyes to rest for a bit.

It was the birthday party again but the sky was orange and the city around the house was burning Akira walked out of the kitchen into the garden the grass charred and black crunched beneath his feet “Hatsue? Mika?” he called out but they were no were to be seen he glanced around in every direction but there was no one, the air raid siren wailed into life followed by the thunder shaking the earth the thunder caused by footsteps, he ran back into the house search room after room but Hatsue and Miko were nowhere to be found “Mika! Hatsue!” he dashed upstairs to his bedroom and that was empty but upon reaching Miko’s room when he opened the door he found her standing in the middle of the room facing away from him, he rushed over to her and crouched down “Mika, sweetie are you ok? Are you hurt?” he asked she shook her head in reply “It doesn’t hurt daddy, when the fire comes it only hurts for a moment” Akira looked puzzled “What do you mean sweetheart, please turn around and face me” when she turned around Akira recoiled in horror at seeing his daughter all covered in burns “Jesus what happened sweetheart?!” Mika just smiled “You need to be ready Daddy he is coming” Akira crouched down again “Who is sweetie who is coming?” the smile from her face dropped it a stern angry expression “Gigarrah” the ceiling of the house exploded outward and up into the sky pulling Akira up with up to the sound of a loud roar that woke Akira from his sleep.

Akira woke with a fright from the ships alarms that rang out he stood up and looked out to the bay and could see the gun turrets turning towards the city and there was a brief moment of solace then the guns opened fire Akira ducked out of fear “Holy shit!” from the city a loud shriek and roar bellowed out, Akira ran from the food court and towards the stairs the building shook when the ships opened fire again, once downstairs he ran towards the entrance to some of the soldiers who were gathering equipment he yelled out “Hey have the evacuation transports arrived?!” one soldier turned “One is leaving now you better hurry” Akira ran outside to a complete turmoil soldier were firing their rifles and several missile batteries were launching at the massive creature that was tearing up the buildings, Akira could barely see it through the smoke and fire caused by the bombardment of missiles Akira then heard a soldier shouting out and could see the soldiers who were loading evacuees on several trucks an army official yelled at the drivers “IT’S COMING! GET THEM THE HELL OUT OF HERE!” the trucks drove away from the FOB leaving a few people behind Akira ran after the trucks yelling at them to stop but they kept going, Akira stopped in time to see helicopters show up and fire upon the beast, all the combat soldiers geared up to fight marched into the city to try and take this monster down, Akira decided as the tanks rolled passed that he wanted to see it to see if it was true was this beast really the legendary kaiju Gigarrah he ran after the military forces hoping to catch up with them.

Akira ran as fast as he could he was desperate to see it to see what had caused all this death and destruction, he reach the end of the street and turned at the corner, emerging on the next road he stopped in his tracks most of the area was ruin but in the distance was a hulking great mass, it looked similar to that of a dinosaur although jet black in colour with hardened skin with an orangey red glow emitting from cracks in the hide like magma, spiky deep red quills jutted out from the back of its head and along its neck and back, as the tanks launched a barrage of artillery at the giant creature it let out a deep earth shattering roar Akira couldn’t believe it “Gigarrah?” he whispered to himself, there was no mistaking it he had seen images and footage online, it was Gigarrah, the monster that nearly wiped out half of Japan almost fifty years ago, but during the JSDF final battle Gigarrah vanished without a trace, as the tanks continued to fire Akira saw the monster turn to the soldiers with a look of widespread rage upon its face, baring its teeth red sparks of began to emanate from its mouth growing more intense over time, a soldier screamed out in terror “TAKE COVER!” everyone began to run as Akira dived into a nearby alleyway Gigarrah erupted a beam of pure crimson energy which carved through the street and reduced every tank and soldier in its path to ash, Akira was flung into the air and knocked down by the intense force as he hit the ground he grit he teeth with pain, an eerie silence lasted for what felt like hours as the dust settled from Gigarrah’s attack, Akira emerged from the alley coughing from his lungs taking in dust with every breath and walked amongst the charred husks of what were once people now petrified into twisted shapes, frozen in an echo of the pain they felt for that fraction of a moment, Akira stood amidst the carnage and watched Gigarrah reign over the ruins of the city, they couldn’t stop it fifty years ago and there was no way they were going to able to stop him now, this thing had torn its way through world like a force of nature and Akira smiled at being able to witness such an unstoppable sight like witnessing the wrath of a god, all he could do was watch this god incarnate Gigarrah rear its head and thunder out a deafening earth splitting roar into the sky.

END