Kaiju Canyon Read online

  “Come,” Mark said. “Stay close.” He ran off and the group followed.

  Lewis stayed close to Mark at the front of the pack, firing off regular bursts of gunfire, scattering the lizards ahead to clear the path. Carol brought up the rear, wielding a hunting rifle as a warning to anything which dared to come near them. The cops had their rifles out too.

  “Hey, Lewis,” Mark said, “pass me your blade.” He took Lewis’s machete and handed it over to Mia. “There’s a cave not too far ahead we’ve been using for shelter,” he called out to the group.

  The canyon had quickly become a battlefield littered with dead birds and dead lizards, only the largest and strongest of them surviving to rip into the carcasses and feast. There was no way the group could intimidate or take down an elephant-sized jingo lizard or bloodhawk, but those creatures didn’t even bother targeting living prey that was human-sized. They had enough meat now to satisfy themselves for weeks.

  Once the group got close, the rescue party could see which cave was theirs. A barricade had been set up with branches tied together and rocks providing the weight to hold it in place. A large blue tarpaulin tied to it to signal to a rescue team. Mark wrenched the barricade aside and each member of the group zipped into the shade: Lewis, Cooper, Mia, Harris, Robert, Rodney.

  “Carol,” Mark called out.

  She had fired her rifle at a swooping bloodhawk. She fired again. The bird hovered near her, squawking like mad.

  “Lewis!” Mark said. “The shotgun, quick!”

  Carol had stopped to reload; fumbling, she raised her rifle again. Another shot and the bloodhawk flew off, leaving a trail of bloody feathers. She turned towards the cave and saw a lizard standing in her way. “Mark!” she said. “Help me!”

  He fired the shotgun. The lizard moved towards her. There was another one. Mark ran a dozen steps towards her and fired again. No reaction. Another two lizards. Four, five, seven. They came out of nowhere and surrounded her. More bloodhawks swooped down, cutting through the lizard pack, attacking her.

  “Mark!” she called out. “Lewis, help!” Her cries turned to screams.

  Mark tried to rush in to help her, but Cooper held him back.

  “Carol!” Mark yelled.

  He tried to wrench free, but Cooper held him strong, slowly inched him back into the shelter. They could see the strips of flesh being torn off, disappearing into the mouths of the mad beasts out there. They could hear the bones snapping and the screams giving out to the cold ghost of her, and then she was only the silent, lip-smacking meal of the wild animals painting her blood on their faces and necks.

  THORNELIUS REX

  A dim light cast out into the cave; a small rechargeable lantern sat in the middle of the group.

  “Now, what’s the plan?” Mark asked. He looked to Harris and waited.

  Harris held his head in his hands.

  “Tell me you’ve got a plan, Harris,” he said.

  “Look around you, Mark,” Harris replied. “What about this place makes you think we know what’s going on? What makes you think we know how to deal with this situation?”

  “What happened to the others?” Cooper asked.

  “We got separated,” Mark said. “As soon as those lizards came out, they drove us apart. We couldn’t find them again.”

  “We found Josh,” Cooper said. “The birds got to him before we did.”

  “No sign of the others?” Mark asked.

  Cooper shook his head. “Hey, did you pass that small town on the way here? The one that doesn’t really have a name?”

  “Yeah. Why’s that?”

  “It was mostly destroyed by the earthquakes. A lot of fire damage, too. Couldn’t figure out how an entire town could catch fire like that.”

  “What does that have to do with anything, Cooper?” Harris asked.

  “Must have been that giant bird-thing that’s been flying around. We’ve seen it a few times on our hunts,” Mark said. “Like a dragon. It breathes fire and everything.”

  “Are you sure?” Harris asked.

  “Take a look around. I don’t believe half the things I’m seeing around here. That doesn’t mean I didn’t see them. I saw a fire-breathing bird.”

  “Biomega,” Mia said.

  “What?” Harris said.

  “I saw it, too. The bird. I had a dream about it last night. People were calling it ‘Biomega.’ Queen of the birds and all that flies.”

  “So how do we get out of here with that thing dominating the sky and Thornelius Rex dominating the land?” Mark asked.

  “Thornelius Rex?” Cooper asked.

  “If Biomega is queen of the birds, I’d call Thornelius Rex the king of the lizards. If I’d take a guess at what’s going on here, it’s some sort of species war, one trying to wipe out the other. We’ve seen Thornelius Rex once too. While we were out hunting scraps down so we didn’t starve to death. We’re also running out of water. We can’t hide out here much longer.”

  “What about tunnels?” Rodney asked.

  “What about tunnels?” Mark said.

  “You know. There are all these caves. Have you explored where they go? Could be a way out,” Rodney said.

  “This one isn’t,” Mark said. “We made sure it was empty before we set up our barricade. This cave’s not very deep, and we reckon the others wouldn’t be very much deeper. Besides, you know what lives in most of these caves?” He paused, leaned into the lantern light. “Jin … go. Jin … go. Every cave, I’m telling you. If any of these caves lead anywhere, it’s to more goddamn lizards.”

  “It was just a thought,” Rodney muttered.

  “Why don’t you take us back to the place where you split up with the others?” Cooper said.

  “Get real. This place is swarming with monsters. We’d never make it there alive. There’s no escape here,” Mark replied.

  “So let’s all just kill ourselves now, yeah?” Cooper said. “Pass me the shotgun. I’ll do you first.”

  Mark stood up and grabbed his gun, backing away from Cooper. “Hey, what the hell is your problem?”

  “I’m not the one giving up here. Yes, I know the canyon is full of dangerous little beasties. We all know the risks involved here. The thing is, if we stay here arguing, we’re dead in a couple of days. If we leave, we could be dead in a couple of minutes, or we catch a lucky break, and maybe we could make it out of here alive.”

  “Is that your best plan?” Mark asked. “That we catch a lucky break? Luck won’t do shit for us out here.”

  “I’m not saying we throw ourselves into the jaws of these creatures just so we may or may not find the other missing three, but if the option is there, if we find a clear path, we might as well take the shot. Back before the birds and the lizards attacked each other, they showed zero interest in us. If we try to find your friends and it’s too dangerous, we’ll just have to leave them. But we’d better at least try to make it out of here.” Cooper stood up and shouldered his backpack. He walked towards the barricade. “Are you guys coming with me or not?”

  Mia followed. Then the Jackson twins. Then Harris. The Hodgins brothers lingered for a moment longer. Cooper held the barricade open for them.

  “I don’t know who you think you are,” Mark said, “but you’re an asshole.” He brushed past Cooper out into the canyon.

  “Just doing my job,” Cooper replied. He replaced the barricade. “You lead the way, partner.”

  Out here, Carol’s body had been picked clean, bones splintered and sucked dry. The beasts had moved on. Mark led the way through the canyon, which was now littered with dead beasts. They kept an eye on the sky for the birds, and eyes on the land for the lizards.

  “There have been a lot of earthquakes since we’ve been hiding,” Mark said. “We’ve just been glad the cave didn’t fall in on us, but I’m not sure if we can find where we lost the others. The canyon keeps changing on us. Even when we’ve been out collecting meat, every time has been different.”

  “
We’re not leaving your friends behind without at least trying to look for them,” Cooper said.

  “You think I want to give up on them?” Mark said. He turned and faced Cooper. “You don’t think I want to find them, huh? They’re my friends out there, going through the exact same shit we’ve been through. We’re falling apart here. Give me a fucking break.”

  “I’m just doing everything I can,” Cooper said.

  “Not helping …” Mark replied. He brushed Cooper off and kept walking. “Pretty sure we lost them up over there somewhere.” He pointed off vaguely in the distance, over a wide chasm.

  Up ahead, a loud roar came out of the chasm. The earth trembled a little. Then it trembled a lot. What felt like another big earthquake coming along.

  Going against their better judgement, they went towards the chasm, where they felt the tremors at their strongest. There, over the edge, deep down in the earth, the jingo lizards had gathered around a massive lizard slowly crawling from a massive cave. It was larger than several city blocks, longer than most skyscrapers were tall. Its head was outside the cave; when it came into the sunlight, they could see its golden lizard eyes were larger than most of the lizards gathered there. At least a dozen eyes spread out across its face. Giant sharp horns on its face, stained dark with blood, stabbed the air. It opened its mouth and roared again, thousands, possibly millions, of teeth in its long, wide, gaping maw, receding from its jaw to deep within its throat. Jagged teeth for ripping flesh, for catching giant beasts and never letting go. It lumbered out of the cave, each heavy step shaking the earth, crumbling rocks tumbling from the cliffs.

  “Thornelius Rex,” Mark said. “This is the closest we’ve seen him.”

  The monster was so large he didn’t notice the other lizards he stepped on, crushing them to instant pulp. He clutched a fistful of lizards in his claws and tossed them into his mouth. Fully emerged from the cave, he began to claw his way up out of the chasm. The jingo lizards followed.

  “Come on,” Cooper said. He had started moving away, following the perimeter of the chasm around.

  He wasn’t going to pass right by them, but they had to take the space while they had it. The group followed Cooper. They stayed close, kept their distance from the edge as the earth shook with every step Thornelius Rex made. He was the earthquake maker. He must have awakened in the bush, maybe in some underground cave system, causing its collapse, tearing the earth open into this canyon.

  The tremors became heavier. The earth rumbled. It was splitting again. The chasm became wider. It split farther, fracturing right up to the cliff which shot up to the surface. The canyon was only getting deeper. The chasm was uncrossable on one side and on the other side there was the massive lizard-beast monitoring his domain.

  As Thornelius Rex shuffled off into the distance with his progression of lizards following behind, the bloodhawks flooded through the sky down into the chasm to collect the scraps he left behind, and they followed even in his wake, picking apart the injured and mutilated beasts which were crushed by his hind legs and tail. They flocked through in a moment, and in another moment they were off chasing the king of the lizards.

  This left the group with only one option: to climb down the chasm into Thornelius’s nest.

  THE FLOCK

  Down here, there were hundreds of small fissures in the earth. Cracks where the smaller lizards slept. Cracks formed from the weight of Thornelius Rex. Countless caves formed deep and dark through the earth where countless lizards crawled, where there were massive underground lakes of fresh water from which they drank and to which they must return. The broken eggs in abundance from which these beasts were born.

  The group gazed into the dark void of these caves and witnessed this nightmarish naturescape. They looked into the cracks of the canyon, which were increasing the canyon's volume as the underground continued to break its way out. They feared the potential of more beasts and larger ones trying to birth their way out into the land.

  “Let’s make this quick,” Cooper said. “If we split up and search the area, we want to head up and out before any of those guys come back. If the others are down here, they’re most likely trapped or injured. Call out. Let them know we’re here. If they’re down here, hopefully they’ll hear us and they’re able to call back out to us. Does that sound okay?”

  They nodded and murmured agreement.

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  The chasm became a chamber through which their voices echoed. Bouncing off rock, the names of the missing reached out, pausing at intervals, waiting for a response. They bellowed their voices down caves and waited, heard the same voices bouncing back, or bouncing out another cave. Hearts hammered, hoping something other than a human would not answer them.

  “Guys,” Lewis called out. “Guys, come over here!”

  They gathered around the entrance of a cave, a corpse laid out on the rocks. The body, human, mostly picked to pieces, had no face, very little flesh. It was a miracle the skeleton was still more or less all there.

  “It’s too small to be Domino,” Lewis said, “too big to be Steph.”

  “Chris,” Mark said.

  “Hello?” A voice echoed from the cave. Female. “Hello? Who’s there?”

  “Who’s there?” Another voice. Male.

  “Steph? Domino? Is that you?”

  “Mark? Lewis? Carol? Josh? Are you all there?” Steph hobbled into the light, followed by a big man, Domino.

  “Thank God, you’re alright.” She hugged Lewis.

  “We thought we would never see you again,” Domino said. He squeezed Mark in a tight hug.

  They looked over at Harris and Mia, Cooper, Robert and Rodney. Then back to Mark and Lewis. Their joy of discovery blurred with a sad confusion. “Where are Josh and Carol?” Steph asked.

  “Yeah, they didn’t make it,” Mark said.

  “Heh, they’re the lucky ones,” Steph said. “What are you guys doing here?” she gestured at the rescue party. “You think we’ll make it out alive?” She shook her head. “There’s no getting out of here alive.”

  In the sunlight they saw Steph’s body was clawed, bitten, bruised, and bleeding. The scabs were large and colourful, most likely infected. Domino was in similar shape.

  “We’ve got nothing down here,” Steph said. “Nothing. We’ve been hiding in these caves, picking at the leftover lizard meat. Haven’t been able to keep much of it down. Couldn’t … couldn’t bear the thought of letting those beasts take Chris away. I don’t think …” she gazed up at the steep rock walls surrounding them. “I don’t think I can make it up these walls. Leave me. Please.”

  “No,” Mia said.

  The group stopped and looked at her.

  “We will not leave you behind,” Mia said. “We’ve come too far and risked too much just to let you give up. We’re going to make it out of here. I don’t give a shit if you don’t think you can. You’re exhausted, you’re sick, you’re hurt. But I’m exhausted. We all are. We can’t let that hold us back. I can’t stand the thought of losing you, too. Get up front and start climbing, before Thornelius comes back.”

  Steph glared at Mia.

  “The tremors are getting weaker,” Cooper said. “He’s still moving farther away. We have the time to get you safely out of here. Start on that rock there,” he pointed at a large boulder near the base of the cave. “We’ll help you up. Just follow the crevices up. It’ll get much easier towards the top. Here,” he stepped up on the boulder and gripped the hard edges of the rock face. “Just watch what I’m doing. I can test to make sure the rock won’t break off on you.”

  She stood there, watching. Pale faced, she looked like she could vomit or pass out, or vomit then pass out. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. She looked over at her husband’s body and said, “I miss you so much already.”

  Her limbs felt like they were on fire. They felt dead and heavy, and she thought she was going to drop at any moment. The higher up she climbed the more dead weight she
felt dragging her down.

  “Keep going, Steph,” Mia said. “I’m right behind you.”

  Behind Mia was Domino. He was big, and though he too was sick, he was still strong. He was concerned, climbing up, where the others had little risk, that each hold he used to pull himself up, each moment he pushed into the cliff with his feet, that it would just take one piece of rock to break off under his weight, and he would slide and slice holes in his body, deep and long, and he would fall and then his bones would be broken and then there would definitely be no escape for him.

  Harris and the Hodgins brothers and the Jackson twins worried too that he would slip and fall and take them out on the way down. This nightmare worsened when a small group of bloodhawks cried out and came down circling near them.

  Cooper pulled himself over the ledge and reached an arm down to pull up Steph. One by one, they made it to the surface on the other side of the chasm. The bloodhawks circled lower and the flock grew larger in number. With guns and machetes out, the group left the chasm behind them and warned the bloodhawks to keep their distance.

  The group moved quickly now that the path was mostly flat. Ahead the canyon looked unfamiliar, the earthquakes from Thornelius Rex had mutated the earth, causing it to rise and fall, break and shift in random places. In the distance it continued to shift where they could see the bulk of his body thundering through the earth.

  Again, they found themselves guessing roughly in what direction they should go. Where the vehicles were left just outside the canyon, if the canyon hadn’t yet expanded that way to consume them. The bloodhawks swooped down and the group fired their guns, swung machetes at them, created a hole where birds once were, and in a moment those holes were filled by another dozen birds. A hydra flock, growing larger, a cloud pressing down on them with feather and beak and claw. More came from the distant reaches of the sky, clusters of them knitted together so thick and dense there was no breaking through the birds. They had never seen a flock like it. There were no lizards to be hunted, only the surviving men and women here.