“Claws, but not muscles,” she says, tossing me ahead of her and then climbing past me with ease.
Using the claws to find good handholds, I climb over the Tsuchi’s back. Lilly helps me up and over the overlapping armor plates, which grind and shift with each rapid step of the creature’s eight legs. Once we’re past the downward slope leading to the tail, we crest the top. I look down at the monstrous head, where the screams of people are crushed to oblivion, and a slew of eyes will see us coming. “It’s all downhill from here.”
I unbuckle the bacteria bomb strapped to my stomach. The round, black disc is fairly simple, and it already has a one-minute timer programmed in, just enough time for us to make our getaway...maybe. Odds are, we’ll have to ride this out until the Tsuchi’s mind is consumed by bacteria and it’s dead on the ground. “I’ll attach the bomb,” I say to Lilly. “You make sure I don’t fall off. But if I do, or something else happens to me...”
Lilly pats the other bacteria bomb buckled to her stomach. “Then I’ll finish the job. Got it.”
“Let’s go—ooh!” The Tsuchi stops suddenly, and forward momentum pitches me forward. I tumble onto the creature’s armored back and roll toward its head, coughing out air as I topple over the overlapping plates. I stop at the bottom, on my back. I open my eyes to Lilly, descending through the air. She lands next to me in an effortless crouch. “Smooth.”
When she pulls me to my feet again, I freeze. We’re standing, dead center, on the Kaiju’s head. It’s stopped moving now, and all eight of its eyes, though lacking pupils, are locked on us. But will it attack its own head? Not wanting to find out, I crouch down slowly, placing the bacteria bomb onto the armored shell. The device whirs loudly as the bolts automatically spin, digging into armor, locking the device in place. I push a single button, and stand, mission accomplished.
But before I can declare victory, jump ship or be skewered by the Tsuchi, my happy ending is ruined by the sound of a skyscraper plummeting toward Earth. The Bank of America building topples like a felled tree, pitching over sideways, and landing atop the clover leaf-shaped Westin Bonaventure Hotel. A shockwave rolls through the city, bursting windows. A cloud of tan dust and debris explodes out into the city, rolling between buildings and covering the freeway to the northwest, while leaving our position in the clear. All around, I can hear car alarms mingled with horrified screams.
The Tsuchi, Lilly and I all remain rooted in place, attention fixed on the fallen building and the towering column of smoke left in its wake. The rising soot is moving unnaturally.
Orange light flickers from within the cloud. It swirls away, pushed by something large from the other side. And then, she’s here. Nemesis. The Queen of the Monsters steps through the smog and debris, orange eyes fixed on the Tsuchi.
She bellows a roar that makes my insides quake, but it’s not nearly as loud as the shriek returned by the Tsuchi. I’m not sure if it’s actually louder, but since we’re at ground zero for a Kaiju roar, the sound sends Lilly and me down to our knees, hands over our ears.
When the roar fades and I open my eyes, my heart skips a beat. We’re in motion, headed straight for Nemesis...and she’s headed straight for us, arm raised to swat the Tsuchi like an oversized...well, like an oversized spider. Without shouting a warning, I leap onto Lilly’s back, wrap my arms around her and stand straight.
As Nemesis’s massive claws descend, I tap my chin down twice, triggering the jumpsuit’s rockets. They’re designed to gain altitude, or speed, when already moving, not for lift off, but they’re powerful enough to do the job. My arms strain as Lilly and I are lifted off the Tsuchi’s back. The first two seconds of propulsion only lifts us a hundred feet, but then, as Nemesis’s arm swishes beneath us and slams into the Tsuchi’s side, we cut through the sky, lifting up past Nemesis’s snarling face.
With just a second of propulsion left, the X-35 swoops into view, its back hatch open. I angle us toward it just as the rocket cuts out. Momentum carries us forward. I reach out with one hand. The clawed finger tips catch on the ramp’s outer edge. The jolting stop pries Lilly from my grasp and she falls, but not before we lock arms. Dangling by the ramp, I feel like I’m being drawn and quartered. My shoulders are about to pop out.
“How...much...do you...weigh?” I say to Lilly.
She gasps up at me, suddenly a teenager again. I’d laugh if it wasn’t for the pain and the fact that I’m about to drop us on top of Nemesis’s head.
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