Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Meanwhile, all across the world, humanity is taking on an older form of civilization. Small fiefdoms begin forming lead by bandit bosses, some now calling themselves kings, in other places; fear keeps the weaker people in line. Fear of the roving gangs and wild animals that are becoming bolder with the constant noises of humanity now strangely absent. Some of the more resourceful people are keeping in contact through ham radios. Through this network, information of conditions in other areas is passed on to travelers, if they have the good fortune of finding an operator.

In more remote areas, some people are seeing monsters, huge beasts with traits that seem to be a combination of several animals. In the northern Midwest, there are tales of a monster that has the size of a grizzly bear, a set of claws that shine in the light that have the proportion of a mole’s, but it is defiantly a badger. In area of Arizona, there are tales of a scorpion as big as an elephant. The tales of creatures like this are filtering through the radio network all around the world.

In Russia, there were tales of a giant man eating wolf. It had terrorized several northern communities and was known to have killed dozens. In Japan, stories of a enormous lizard monster, people were calling it Godzilla; at least it did not have radioactive breath. On the Australian continent, the aborigines told stories of the return of the Bunyip, an ancient jackal like creature.
Tales like this began flooding into the few remaining scientific facilities that had staff. The reaction of the various communities varied from panic, to fascination, to disbelief; until one of these creatures was photographed and studied, there could be no proof or theories put forward.

The Ozark facility communications officer, Lieutenant Jacob McHoliday, is monitoring the satellite phone frequencies and picks up some stories of the beasts. Quickly, he begins recording and taking notes because he feels that this could be important. Thankfully, the government installed a universal translator, based on alien technology, only three exist in the world, but as the technology started here, the facility got one. There is very little delay, but while the audio processes, Jacob hears some distressing things. He hears screams on some frequencies, and panicked inquiries to friends’ status. “Something is very wrong in the world, when did this all become a monster movie?” Jacob thinks.

Jacob leaves his machines recording the broadcasts, and hurries up to the command hub with his notes and some of the clearer recordings. Intent on bringing this to the captain’s attention, he almost walks into the door to his office. Corporal Lopez jumps when he bursts in.

“Is he in Veronica?” he asks hurriedly. She quickly nods and says “He was about to have me call you, he has a plan.”

“Well, I am here now so we can each get our time.” She buzzes him in the office and he goes in without stopping. The General is at his desk reading when he looks up at the lieutenant.

“Ah, Jacob, I was about to call you. I have a plan and I need your help.” The general starts to tell him about his plan, when Jacob does something that would get him court martialed with other commanders.

“General, I need to go first.” he interrupts. “I have been listening to the radio, and everywhere I listen there are stories of monsters.”

“Did you say monsters?” Sebac asks “Monsters are not real, you know that, we are not children anymore:”

“I know that sir,” defends Jacob, “but the signals seem genuine. People are dying, and there have been few survivors, but in each area, the stories are the same. The descriptions are consistent even from different camps. I brought some recordings for you to hear, if you want.” Jacob is getting a little testy; he does not like to be doubted. He is convinced, should that not be enough? Should not his years of service, and impeccable record help validate what he says?

“If it will put you at ease, I will listen. But know that right now I am only listening because I need you on board of my plan. When I disprove this fairy tale, I do not want to hear about it again.” Sebac opens his desk; Jacob slides the drive in and plays what he brought. The first one is from Japan with the giant lizard. This file was not translated quickly enough, but between the screams, they can pick out one word very clearly, “Godzilla!”

“Are you serious?” Sebac asks, “This is just someone broadcasting an old monster movie, trying to put people on edge, more than they already are.” Sebac leans back in his chair, “Is this all you have?” he asks

“No sir, I have something out of France.” He plays the next file, this one does not have screams, and there is no fear in the voices of the people. Just abject amazement, the translator’s mechanical voice translates. “Look at that, did it just move? What is going on here? That statue is moving!”

“Ridiculous, again hoaxes, those voices were obviously children and they are playing a joke. Children are very unreliable witnesses. Do you have anything more compelling? If not we have real work to do.” Dubiously, Sebac waves Jacob on, by his posture; he only has one more chance.

“I have many more, but this was the most convincing to me. This one had video, I saved it for last because it is very grainy.” Jacob puts a new disc in the computer and plays it. It is a scene of a few trees covered by snow. There is a small hut nearby with a fenced off area with a few cows. It is unclear why this video was even being shot, but out if the trees, comes a very large shape. It is doglike, only when it nears the cows, it is obvious that it is huge, easily the height of a draft horse, and twice as long. This is a huge creature. It suddenly grabs a cow, by the spine, and picks it up, shakes once, twice, three times, and throws it out of the fence. The other animals are going insane with fear, but the creature ignores them. It steps over the fence, grabs it’s kill and walks back to the trees.

“That was a little more convincing.” Sebac says, “nothing that lives in snow is that big, especially a carnivore. So what is it?” he asks. Jacob gathers his research and sits down.
“Well sir, the nearest I can come up with, mind you I have no idea where that comes from and our resources are very limited, it is an ancient legendary creature named Fenrir. It is said to be the child of Odin, the Norse god, and it was tied up to some tree or something and will break its chains during Ragnarok. I am not sure about the whole tree, chains or Ragnarok, but it is defiantly a real animal, it is really big, and it is only a matter of time until we see a similar creature here if they are everywhere else.” Jacob explains, this is his theory, but now saying it aloud, it sounds ridiculous.

Sebac thinks for a few minutes, he begins spinning his chair in a very childlike way. Suddenly he stops, looks Jacob square in the face and says, “So let me get this straight, you are telling me that across the world, in most of the places you have contact with in fact, ‘legendary creatures’ are rampaging and causing problems?” Sebac has a very dubious look on his face, it is like he is still trying to disprove this so he can move on to whatever he wants.

Jacob admits, “I am almost embarrassed to say, but yes that is how it seems. The strange part is in Japan for instance, ‘Godzilla’ was only a movie monster. Godzilla never appeared in any myth of any kind. It is almost like they were born from people’s imaginations.”

Sebac relents, “Well you have convinced me enough, keep tabs on it. I will assign you an assistant in my new plan. But for now, we have a job to do that is in within our oath to protect our own people.” Sebac begins to outline the plan; the need to tie up radio space on the “creature feature” is a little annoying, but necessary if monsters appear in the area. Jacob says that it would be very easy to broadcast on all major frequencies, alerting anyone who hears that there is a safe haven here. After some discussion, Jacob leaves to set up some of the automated systems before the meeting at dinner. Sebac leans back, listens to the recordings again and still filled with doubt, begins to work out more details of his rescue mission. While crazy, it just may work.