Prologue

No one in the entire world predicted the attacks. Or at least, no one with any proof in evidence after it was all over, despite the later claims of visions by a few psychics.

After all, who could know that giant monsters from the ocean depths would emerge and attack mankind? Even after they were finally defeated, some people (who lived far inland) denied their existence, arguing that such creatures, standing anywhere from five to thirty stories tall, could not even physically survive on land. According to human science, their bodies should literally have collapsed in on themselves, unable to support their own weight when out of the water.

In America, most reporters just called them ‘monsters’ or ‘giants’ or something similar, while a few letters found in Science Fiction magazines described them as ‘Lovecraftian Elder Gods’. In Japan, they were called ‘kaiju’. Most countries and cultures eventually settled on their own descriptors to attach to the things.

Tommy’s favorite term was the one being used over in England, where they were nicknamed ‘buggers’ after a popular but very tired TV news reporter began using the phrase, ‘Here’s what those buggers are doing today... ‘ and shockingly wasn’t censored for using the term.

For Corporal Tommy Byrd, the ‘bugger’ his platoon was dealing with was designated ‘Target Bravo’, since it was the second such creature to attack the U.S. mainland. Given that there were reports of only twenty-one such creatures worldwide, it seemed unfair that America had two invading its homeland, one for each coast, plus one up in Canada, not far from Alaska, and one down in Mexico. With seven continents, it seemed the fair thing would be for each continent to only get three. On the other hand, Antarctica and Australia were smaller, so maybe it made sense they only had one each, leaving 19 monsters for the remaining five continents. The attacks were obviously coordinated to some extent, but it wasn’t a precise thing. The twenty-one creatures had appeared over four weeks time, and the lack of new sightings over the past two weeks had everyone hoping that no more were coming.

He shook his head to clear the extraneous thoughts, then looked over the western horizon just in case Bravo showed up. Of course, he’d be screwed if the thing ever got close enough to see with the naked eye. (That wasn’t strictly true, depending on location. With flat terrain, people could see it unaided from a safe distance.)

To be clear, no one, not even military ground forces, intentionally approached within a mile of any of the monsters. Not anymore. Anyone caught within a mile or so was driven insane. Babbling insane. Attacking-uninfected-humans-on-sight insane.

Their living victims had been labeled with the term, “Infected”, after a medical expert in a radio interview had said that they were ‘obviously infected’ but that no doctors or scientists had been able to identify or even isolate the cause of the infection itself.

The Infected still walked upright and still looked like normal people, except that the Infected slavishly followed the monsters, never eating or sleeping. They were slightly stronger than normal humans, but not outrageously so, and were much clumsier than normal. They didn’t seem to feel pain and, if a wound wasn’t instantly fatal, they would usually heal within a couple days. Infected, who babbled rather than speaking recognizable words, seemingly lost the ability to communicate, even amongst themselves, but when viewed in a passive state from a distance, they seemed to retain many social elements of living in a civilized society, and could even use basic tools and some simple weapons.

And, to repeat and emphasize the point, anyone who spent more than a minute within a mile or so of a monster became Infected. Which is why the dozens of ground-based Army units like Tommy’s tried to stay at least five to ten miles away from them at all times.

Chapter 1 »