There were few people on Earth, save for Endo himself and Cole’s people at GOD, who had the qualifications to handle, without losing their minds, an event on the magnitude of an alien assault. Losing Hudson would not be good. But...Hudson would do everything he could to save the people of Salt Lake, including sacrificing Maigo, who Endo had overheard, was now legally Hudson’s daughter.
Endo marveled at the girl’s willingness to sacrifice herself. She was as brave as he imagined a girl born from Nemesis would be. But like Hudson, Endo suspected her loss would be detrimental in the long run.
Sacrifices have to be made sometimes, he told himself. And what greater love was there than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends?
Friends... The word had become a stranger to Endo. While Alessi was his half-sister and bound to him by blood and common exploits at Zoomb, his only real friends considered him an enemy. He glanced back at Hudson, Collins, Alessi and Maigo. He would never tell Hudson, but he considered the man a friend, and a trusted ally.
A twitch of motion pulled his attention to Woodstock’s mustache. The man was smiling.
“You ain’t even flying, are you?” Woodstock said.
Endo smiled and took his hands off the flight stick. The X-35 continued forward, rocketing across the country at Mach 3.
“God damn, I love Future Betty something fierce!”
I turn to the cockpit, wondering what has Woodstock all worked up. He’s talking animatedly to Endo, who is actually smiling. What the hell? Given Woodstock’s gesticulations, I can tell they’re discussing the X-35. So I tune them out and turn back to the three ladies sitting across from me.
Collins has her hand interlocked with Maigo’s. For some reason, seeing them together like this, daughter and future mother—I hope—makes what we’re about to do so much harder.
“Then we’re all agreed,” I say. “You’re not going in until it’s safe. Until the battle is over.”
Maigo nods, doing her best to keep up a brave front, but the tightness of her jaw and the uncommon bounce in her leg give her away.
“Then...” I take a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “You’ll jump—are you sure about that? You’ve never done it before.”
“I think I can figure it out,” she says, channeling Lilly’s false confidence. “And if I’m honest, I’m pretty sure I could just jump without a parachute.”
Collins raises a finger in the air, looking uncomfortable. “I’m sorry to even mention this, but what’s to stop Nemesis from eating you on the way down?”
“She can feel me, and I can feel her. She’ll know who I am.”
“And she’s just going to let you land on her back and...climb inside,” Alessi asks, showing her first signs of doubt about our plan.
“Something like that,” Maigo says. “If Lilly is right.”
“And if she’s not?” Collins asks.
“Then she’s going to bug out,” I say. “And call us for a pick-up.”
Maigo nods, but I can see she’s not counting on that happening. The hope of it even being a possibility might be enough to derail her nerves.
“Coming up on Salt Lake,” Woodstock says, “and it’s a hot mess.”
The walls and floor of the X-35 display the feed from the cameras on the exterior. Salt Lake City lays ahead, the majority of its buildings still standing. But that’s about to change, because as I watch, Nemesis dives headlong into the Tsuchi, which now matches Nemesis’s three-hundred-fifty-foot height. The pair rise into the air like a tidal wave, crashing down on a rocky shoreline. But instead of breaking on the rocks, they break straight through them, flattening a long building that looks something like a giant, covered, silver casserole dish. But as the pair arc back toward the ground, I recognize the building behind the Tsuchi and cringe.
The Tsuchi’s eight limbs twist back, catching the ground on either side of the ornate Salt Lake City Temple, the largest Mormon temple in the world and the headquarters for Salt Lake City’s bike enthusiasts. The Tsuchi’s fall comes to a grinding halt, its strength matching Nemesis’s. The giant spider’s back seems to tap against the golden angel, Nephi, that tops the temple’s tallest spire, and then stop, as though supported by divine power.
But then Nemesis roars in anger, stands tall, lifts a foot and drives it into the Tsuchi’s chest. The eight-limbed Kaiju crashes back, flattening the temple beneath its girth.
Well, the Mormons are officially going to hate Nemesis, now.
Nemesis doesn’t let up, lunging forward and jabbing one of her long claws into the Tsuchi’s side. The Tsuchi lets out a high-pitched shriek, but it’s far from finished. While Nemesis, looking absolutely frenzied, eyes radiating energy, teeth bared in a snarl, raises her free arm for a second strike, the Tsuchi’s lightning fast tail swoops around and tags Nemesis in the side, one, two, three times.
Oh no...
Never in all our planning had we considered the possibility that Nemesis might lose this fight, and we’d be stuck with an ever-growing Tsuchi fueled by a hunger for all men.