“Lots of them,” Collins says, turning back to the group. “The Tsuchi is making a beeline through Burbank toward downtown, eating everyone it comes across on the way, and here, that’s a lot of people, even this early.”
Unlike Nemesis, the Tsuchi won’t have to go far to find more people to eat. There are enough to keep it busy for a long time. And if it can grow as fast as Hawkins thinks, it’s not going to have any trouble finding enough food to fuel its Kaiju growth.
“Police put it at two-hundred-feet long, with a hundred of that being tail.” Collins waits, the phone still at her ear.
“Have emergency responders, local, the National Guard and FEMA—everyone—filling the gaps behind it, but never, and I mean never, crossing its path. Any emergency vehicles already in its path should clear the area and move to the communities already affected. Triage protocols.” Collins is about to relay the orders, but I stop her with, “And get me every military aircraft available. I want rings around this city thicker than Saturn’s. But under no circumstances are they to engage until the order is given.”
“Why not?” Hawkins asks, as Collins relays my orders.
“Because,” I say, “We might have a way to kill it.” I glance at Maigo. “And Nemesis.”
She tries to hide her frown, but fails. Endo does even worse, but says nothing. I reach out for Maigo’s hand, lock her fingers in mine and squeeze, leading her into the X-35, and toward our salvation, or our doom.
Possibly both.
27
“Where are we?” Lilly asks, straining her neck to see through the cockpit windshield. She’s not the only one. Of the six of us, seated on either side of the plane’s small cargo hold, only Maigo seems uninterested in the view. As usual, she’s got her head down, face hidden by her long, straight hair. Normally, she’s hiding from the world. This time, I think she’s trying to hide her emotions from us. Nemesis, as horrible as the monster can be, was—and still is—part of her.
Endo reaches for the control panel Silhouette had used to open the floor panels. He pushes a series of buttons, looking comfortable, like he knows what he’s doing. Of course he does. He was part of this outfit for six months. This isn’t his first ride on the X-35.
The walls and floor around us flicker and then disappear. Lilly yanks her feet up in surprise. Endless city buildings zip past below. Nothing recognizable, just thousands of homes and businesses. And people. Lots of people. The air raid siren has warned them of the danger, but in a city of ten million, an evacuation quickly becomes gridlock.
“What the—” I say, but catch myself before I sound too stupid.
“There aren’t any windows,” Endo says. “Even the front windshield is an illusion. The images are captured in real time by thousands of high def cameras embedded in the aircraft’s skin and displayed on the interior, which is really just a series of large, flexible screens.”
“Just another piece of tech for you to take to Zoomb?” Silhouette says from the cockpit.
“I was never here for your technology,” Endo says.
Obsidian backhands Silhouette’s shoulder playfully. “He’s got a Kaiju crush, man. That’s why he spent so much time at Building-K.”
Endo ignores them and stands, leaning toward the wall at my back. “They’re touch sensitive, too.” He places both hands on the wall and slides them away from each other. Like a giant iPhone touch screen, the image zooms in, bringing downtown Los Angeles into focus. He swipes the view up a touch and then zooms again, honing in on an aberration. His next zoom brings it into focus.
The Tsuchi.
It’s bigger than was reported, and as it yanks an endless number of people from the city it’s crashing through, stuffing them in its mouth, I understand why—it’s growing. Fast. Just like Hawkins warned.
“Contact with Dark Matter in thirty seconds,” Silhouette says. “Sort your shit out.”
The first thing we all did after entering the X-35 was argue about who was going to plant the bacteria bomb on the Tsuchi’s back. In some ways, it would be easier if none of us wanted to do it, and we were forced to draw straws. In the end, cold hard logic won the day. As much as I would love to not do this, I have the most experience with this kind of thing—aside from Endo, who did not volunteer. I’m not about to risk the others’ lives on something that is my responsibility, and I outrank them. But...I’m not going in alone.
Much to Hawkins’s chagrin, Lilly is coming with me, for obvious reasons: she’s faster, stronger and can cling to a Kaiju-Tsuchi back like Spiderman on a wall. While Maigo’s strength might surpass Lilly’s, she’s in a bad place and hasn’t been training with the team the way Lilly has.
The view shows the city, and the Tsuchi, growing closer as the X-35 descends toward the U.S. Bank Tower, LA’s tallest and most iconic skyscraper.