Read Online Kaiju Apocalypse by Eric S. Brown, Jason Cordova - Free Book Online
Authors: Eric S. Brown, Jason Cordova
Tags: Science-Fiction, Horror
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warned.
“You can’t make me go back there,” Knight whimpered over the comm. “You can’t. You can’t.”
“Five seconds.”
“Deploying chaff and flares,” Trident Two announced. “Hitting afterburners... now!”
Thornton and Calloway watched helplessly as the two Sidewinder missiles ignored the chaff and the flares, homing in on Trident Two. A bright flash appeared high in the sky above them, and suddenly, the missiles and Trident Two were gone from the screen. Calloway toggled the comm switch a few times, but was met with static only. The two men sat silently in the cockpit for a minute before they risked speaking again.
“How’re we loaded, Cal?” Thornton asked.
“Four AIM-33 Sidewinders,” Calloway replied in a cold tone. “We’re well within range of him.”
“Target his chicken shit ass,” Thornton growled.
“Are we... shooting at another human being?” Dr. Bach asked, his voice filled with confusion and worry.
“He’s a rutted coward, Doc,” Calloway corrected. “Not a human. Sidewinders are targeting... lock! I have a solid lock!”
Thornton depressed the trigger and the two missiles leapt from beneath the stubby wings of the Trident. They rocketed away from the Trident and into the sky, their targeting systems in their data programming locked fully on the other Trident. The three men in the cockpit watched the missiles track through the air as they moved closer to Trident Five.
Knight, for a reason that the three men would never fully understand, did not budge from his level course. His engines ran hot, and his metallic radar signature remained easy to track. No chaff or flares were fired, giving the two missiles an easy time of it. Three pairs of eyes watched the missiles move on their intercept course. Knight continued to run on a straight and narrow path as the missiles accelerated to an intercept, and without much fanfare, Trident Five was blotted out of existence.
*****
The memories of Cathe Smith ’s long-dead family came to mind as the caverns began to twist oddly around her. Faces appeared and disappeared with maddeningly speed, their visages just at the edge of her mind but never fully brought into focus. It was distracting, but Smith refused to falter. The cold which ran through her veins was born of experience and determination, from willpower and inner strength.
She shook her head. Something was messing with her mind, and she didn’t believe that it was any sort of inner doubt. “Alpha, move it!” she kicked a Kaiju in the head, brain matter exploding outwards and showering the rock walls of the tunnel. “We’re almost there!”
The tunnel opened into a vast cavern. The sheer darkness of it almost startled her, but Smith had been prepared for the contingency. External lights on her suit kicked on as thermal imagery began to draw a picture of just how immense the cavern was. Teeming around her was thousands of Kaiju snarling, a slathering, howling mass of flesh and anger. Her head continued to swim as she tried to absorb all of the information she saw.
There . She felt, more than saw, the presence which had been trying to overwhelm her for the past ten minutes. Deep in the bowels of the cavern sat something which twisted the walls around it, causing her to feel nauseous and anxious at the same time the longer she stared. Eight arachnid-like legs protruded from its body, supporting the weight of the thing's massive brain-shaped lump of a body. Scores of tentacles, all originating from its central mass, whipped and cracked in the air around the thing. The Overmind Kaiju had no discernible eyes or ears that Smith could see. Its central mass was several times larger than an assault tank. On the upside, she noted, it had no scales or armor of any kind. Other than the thing's tentacles, its body appeared to be exposed brain matter, soft and gelatinous.
“A soft target,” she
“You can’t make me go back there,” Knight whimpered over the comm. “You can’t. You can’t.”
“Five seconds.”
“Deploying chaff and flares,” Trident Two announced. “Hitting afterburners... now!”
Thornton and Calloway watched helplessly as the two Sidewinder missiles ignored the chaff and the flares, homing in on Trident Two. A bright flash appeared high in the sky above them, and suddenly, the missiles and Trident Two were gone from the screen. Calloway toggled the comm switch a few times, but was met with static only. The two men sat silently in the cockpit for a minute before they risked speaking again.
“How’re we loaded, Cal?” Thornton asked.
“Four AIM-33 Sidewinders,” Calloway replied in a cold tone. “We’re well within range of him.”
“Target his chicken shit ass,” Thornton growled.
“Are we... shooting at another human being?” Dr. Bach asked, his voice filled with confusion and worry.
“He’s a rutted coward, Doc,” Calloway corrected. “Not a human. Sidewinders are targeting... lock! I have a solid lock!”
Thornton depressed the trigger and the two missiles leapt from beneath the stubby wings of the Trident. They rocketed away from the Trident and into the sky, their targeting systems in their data programming locked fully on the other Trident. The three men in the cockpit watched the missiles track through the air as they moved closer to Trident Five.
Knight, for a reason that the three men would never fully understand, did not budge from his level course. His engines ran hot, and his metallic radar signature remained easy to track. No chaff or flares were fired, giving the two missiles an easy time of it. Three pairs of eyes watched the missiles move on their intercept course. Knight continued to run on a straight and narrow path as the missiles accelerated to an intercept, and without much fanfare, Trident Five was blotted out of existence.
*****
The memories of Cathe Smith ’s long-dead family came to mind as the caverns began to twist oddly around her. Faces appeared and disappeared with maddeningly speed, their visages just at the edge of her mind but never fully brought into focus. It was distracting, but Smith refused to falter. The cold which ran through her veins was born of experience and determination, from willpower and inner strength.
She shook her head. Something was messing with her mind, and she didn’t believe that it was any sort of inner doubt. “Alpha, move it!” she kicked a Kaiju in the head, brain matter exploding outwards and showering the rock walls of the tunnel. “We’re almost there!”
The tunnel opened into a vast cavern. The sheer darkness of it almost startled her, but Smith had been prepared for the contingency. External lights on her suit kicked on as thermal imagery began to draw a picture of just how immense the cavern was. Teeming around her was thousands of Kaiju snarling, a slathering, howling mass of flesh and anger. Her head continued to swim as she tried to absorb all of the information she saw.
There . She felt, more than saw, the presence which had been trying to overwhelm her for the past ten minutes. Deep in the bowels of the cavern sat something which twisted the walls around it, causing her to feel nauseous and anxious at the same time the longer she stared. Eight arachnid-like legs protruded from its body, supporting the weight of the thing's massive brain-shaped lump of a body. Scores of tentacles, all originating from its central mass, whipped and cracked in the air around the thing. The Overmind Kaiju had no discernible eyes or ears that Smith could see. Its central mass was several times larger than an assault tank. On the upside, she noted, it had no scales or armor of any kind. Other than the thing's tentacles, its body appeared to be exposed brain matter, soft and gelatinous.
“A soft target,” she
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