Godzilla vs. Kong by Greg Keyes (read people like a book .txt) 📕

the tail, set to drill through Kong’s forehead, dropped. But even as he said it, the eye flickered back on, blazing as brightly as before, and the tail swung back. Kong, taking advantage of the slight lull, pushed back, raising his axe, but the machine began overpowering him again.

In the background, Mark saw blue light. Godzilla lifted his head.

Azure light blazed from the Titan’s mouth, but it didn’t strike Mechagodzilla. Instead it burned by him and hit Kong’s axe, which suddenly took on a life of its own, absorbing and then transcending the now-faltering beam.

Kong roared, pushing back on the Mechagodzilla, wrenching free of the machine’s grasp, and hewed his weapon straight into his opponent’s arm. Sparks flared and red lightning snapped as the weapon sheared off the appendage as if it were a palm frond.

Without pause, the mechanical Titan launched a punch at Kong’s face with its remaining arm, but Kong, it seemed, had had enough. He flew into a berserk rage, whaling away with the glowing axe, cutting the mechanical Titan into pieces. It tried to charge up, to blast Kong one more time with its energy weapon, but Kong buried the edge of his weapon in the monster’s face. Then he let go of the axe and leapt on the pile of metal. He put both hands on the mechanical head and wrenched it off, holding it up like a trophy for the world to see. He roared again, savage, triumphant, as the red glow in the metal skull faded.

Then Kong swayed on his feet and stumbled. Blood hemorrhaging from a dozen wounds, he sat down heavily against a building, his eyes closing.

*   *   *

For a moment, Madison wasn’t sure what she was seeing. She switched her gaze from the hole in the wall to the monitors with closer views to be sure she understood. And it finally sank in; Mechagodzilla was destroyed, and Kong was holding up its head like the statue of Perseus and Medusa. Then she started to yell, and Josh and Bernie joined her wild cheering. They celebrated, and they laughed, hugging one another. It was over, and they had won. Somehow.

Madison realized, after a moment, that she was maybe hugging Josh for too long. It was getting weird. She let go, stepped back—and with a grin hugged him even harder. Let it be weird.

Bernie looked skyward again. “Thank you, my sweet,” he said.

*   *   *

In all of the tumult of the fight, Ilene realized she hadn’t seen Nathan since he had used the HEAV to start Kong’s heart back up. She had seen him leave the vehicle, but he had never made it back to her and Jia. Of course, they had also been a moving target running toward Kong. Maybe he’d just lost sight of them. But she feared much worse.

She and Jia made their way through the debris, circling toward where Kong has been laid out. In the wake of the fight, an eerie stillness had settled over the wreckage of the city. The quiet after the storm.

It was Jia who spotted Nathan, face-down in the street.

You stay here, she signed to the girl. I’ll go see if he’s okay.

Jia shook her head stubbornly. I know what dead is, she signed. I’m not a little girl anymore, remember?

Tears glistened in the girl’s eyes, but they stayed there, contained. Ilene wasn’t sure she could be so controlled. From here, things didn’t look so good. If Nathan was dead, it might be a little more than she could handle at the moment.

So she approached slowly, looking for some sign he was okay, for a twitch or the rise and fall of his ribs. But the nearer she got, the less promising it looked.

She knelt next to him, Jia by her side. She gripped the girl’s hand. Then she prodded Nathan. She felt for a pulse at his throat.

She found it, and carefully rolled him over. His eyes popped open; he looked confused, disoriented.

“Nathan,” she said. “Nathan, are you okay?”

He seemed to recognize her, then he looked at Jia, who was smiling wider than Ilene thought she had ever seen the girl smile. He nodded.

“Come on,” she said, helping him to his feet. Around her, the ruins were coming alive again as helicopters arrived, bringing military and relief workers into the stricken city.

Jia’s sunny disposition broke a moment later, when she saw Kong still slumped senseless or dead against a building.

Kong, she signed. Make better again?

“We’ll see,” Nathan said. “Maybe you two can fill me in on what happened?”

*   *   *

It took a while for Madison and the others to squirrel their way through the Apex headquarters, but they didn’t encounter any resistance in the way of guards; the place was almost entirely empty. Once on the street, Madison guided them toward the area where the Monarch control and relief process was most evident, near where Kong had fallen. As they approached, she saw who she was looking for.

“Dad!” she shouted.

He turned, saw her running toward him.

“Madison,” he shouted. “Madison!”

“Dad! Dad!” she yelled back.

She bounded across the distance, and a moment later they were wrapped up in a hug.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Me too,” he replied.

“Mr. Russell,” Josh interposed, “It was Madison’s idea to—”

“Shut up, Josh,” he said, gently.

“Okay,” Josh agreed. “I’ll shut up.”

Madison pulled back a bit and saw Bernie standing there, looking somewhat lost.

“Dad,” she said, “I want you to meet the man who saved our lives. Bernie. Meet Dad.”

The two shook hands.

“Bernie, Dad,” Bernie said. “It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you. I have a podcast and I would love to have you on to talk about the Monarch facility in Roswell. I have some theories—”

“No, stop,” Madison told him. “Is this the right time?”

*   *   *

Jia stared up, glassy-eyed, at the unmoving figure of Kong. Nathan wished he knew what to say, but he figured that even if he were fluent in sign, he would never find the words. Jia must feel like an orphan all over again.

Across the crowd he saw Mark Russell