Project Hyperion (A Kaiju Thriller) (Kaiju #4)

But has the part of the monster that is Nemesis been satiated?

I think back to the moment when Maigo first laid eyes on Alexander Tilly. She was filled with anger and fury, but also horror. She remembered what had been done to her. She had to. It’s what drove her to that exact point in time. Her charge south, all the dead, her growth and transformation all lead to that single moment in time when she opened her beautiful wings and sentenced her father to death...by sunlight. For that one moment, when the rays of the sun caught on her wings and focused on the man who had caused her so much pain, she was a being of purity, which is something the world could use a little more of.

I look at Collins and see a little bit of Maigo in her fiery eyes. Despite waves of bodily pain from injuries and tension, I manage a small smile. “You’re not an alien, are you?”





Epilogue I



I’m lying behind a tree, concealed by large ferns and a full-body ghillie suit—the kind that snipers wear to blend in with their surroundings. I’m trying to stay as quiet as I possibly can, but that’s hard to do when 1) you’ve been lying in the same damn place for three hours, 2) have a beautiful woman lying next to you, and 3) really, really have to pee.

“I can’t take this anymore,” I whisper.

Collins shushes me, but then asks, “What happened to taking the ‘P’ in FC-P seriously?”

“The ‘P’ is the problem,” I say. “I gotta take a leak.”

“You know if you go here, it will smell you and the last two days will be a waste.”

Collins and I are on our first official FC-P mission since Maigo leveled Boston. We’ve been camped out in the deep woods of Oregon scouring the forest by day and bunking together in a tent by night.

I grin and say, “Not a total waste.” She sees my grin through the ghillie suit’s dangling tendrils and elbows me in the ribs.

As it turns out, we did take it slow.

For a week.

While our bodies healed.

We’ve been healing our minds since. Turns out seeing scores of people crushed, eaten, burned and torn apart leaves a mark on the psyche. Luckily, we found each other at the right time, and unlike Mulder and Scully, we didn’t feel like dragging things out for a few years before finally getting together.

Under different circumstances, we might have let things play out longer, maybe a few months, but we really needed the distraction. It’s hard to do anything or go anywhere without being reminded about what happened. The Crow’s Nest has new windows, as do the houses in the surrounding neighborhoods. But the view isn’t quite as beautiful, because we can see the circle of destruction left around the fringe of Beverly Harbor.

The country, and the rest of the world, really came together in support of cities and towns that got ravaged. But it’s only been a month and they’re still finding bodies. Boston is completely shut down, but will eventually be rebuilt. The President has promised as much, and the nation is rallying behind him, despite much of the destruction being his fault—a fact cut from my reports by Deputy Director Stephens. A large part of me really wants to expose the President’s failures, and those of my co-workers, but I understand the need to not upset the status quo or cause any more strife. The nation needs to heal first. Although Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts took the brunt of the damage, all those dead had friends and family across the country, if not around the world.

Most of Boston’s suburbs are still intact, and many area high schools are housing refugees from the downtown area who are more accustomed to living in high-rise luxury, not that any of them are complaining. Most of them know people or had family who were killed by Maigo. If they’re alive, they’re counting their blessings. I know I am.

I feel the greatest sting when I think about the dead, all of the 13,532 (and climbing) of them. I actually rooted for Maigo at the end. Not to kill, but to escape. Sure, she might have some part of that little girl in her, but she is not Maigo. I’ve come to call her that instead of Nemesis, I think because that’s the personality I hope becomes dominant before she surfaces again.

And I believe she will. Something that big can’t stay hidden forever.

That is, if she’s alive.