The screaming crowd of people began to scatter as the monster, Skyron sent out it's thrashing tentacles to reach out to grab anyone within range. Sid and Jake wasted to time fleeing from the area. As Jake was running, with Sparky in his arms, he briefly twisted his torso around to take a quick glimpse of what was going on behind him. This enabled Sparky to also get a quick view. One of the tentacles had grabbed a man who was running behind Jake. The tentacle lifted the screaming man up into the air. As Jake spun back around Sparky knew what the end result of the scene would be. But his main concern was not being the monster’s next victim.
“Head for the car!” Sid shouted.
Jake and Sid reached the sidewalk and ran back to the car. In the process they were darting past several other persons who were also running for their lives. Jake turned back again. Sparky held his breath in terror as he saw Skyron smashing it’s way through the houses. It’s enormous scythe forelegs ripped through the frail structures as though they were cardboard. It’s long spidery legs made repeated thuds on the ground as they as they propelled the monster. As Jake turned away Sparky’s ears were filled with the multiple screams of humans. Many of them falling victim to the giant monster.
Sid and Jake reached the car. They both wasted no time getting in. Sitting on Jake’s lap Sparky watched through the windshield as Skyron was picking up dozens of people with it’s multiple tentacles. Seconds later it was dropping the fleshless bones of it’s victims to reach for more. It used it’s tentacles to grasp and lift up cars that were sitting in it’s way. A mob of screaming people were still running to escape. Skyron swung it’s scythe forelimb over to demolish a house at it’s right. It spun around to chase after several humans who were running across the street. It’s long reptilian tail swiped through and destroyed a row of three houses as it turned.
Sid started the car.
“Get us out of here!” Jake urged. “Go! Go!”
Sid shifted the car in reverse. He nearly hit three people as he was backing the car away from the area.
Sparky watched as the car was speeding backward. Looking out through the windshield he could still see Skyron in the distance. Cutting a path of destruction as it was stomping it’s way through trees and houses. It’s numerous tentacles were still grasping screaming victims and lifting them into the air.
Where are the cops? Sparky’s frantic thought. Somebody has to do something here.
Sid continued driving the car in reverse until it struck something from behind. The impact caused Sparky to jerk back into Jake’s chest.
“Hey. Watch it,” Jake shouted at Sid.
Jake and Sparky both turned around to see that Sid had ran into a parked car.
“You hit a car,” Jake informed Sid.
“I’m trying to get away from the monster,” Sid yelled. “There’s no time to be dainty here.”
Sid shifted the car in drive and floored the gas pedal while making a sharp left turn. He honked his horn at the people who were still running down the street. “Get the hell out of the way!” Sid bellowed at them. Sid steered the car into the left lane and began to drive away from the area. Two police cars, with their red and blue bar lights flashing and their sirens wailing, sped towards the car and veered over to the right side of the road to pass it.
Finally the cops show up, thought Sparky.
“The police. I don’t know what the hell they think that can do,” said Jake. “Did you see that thing? Did you see it?”
Did I see it? No. I slept through the whole thing, Sparky’s silent scolding to Jake. Tell me all about it when we get home.
“They need to get the army in here. We need tanks and fighters,” Jake ranted. “We need to call Godzilla.”
Sparky agreed with Jake. Yes. Godzilla can handle this. Maybe he has an 800 number we can call.
“Calm down,” Sid told him. The car came to a four way intersection. Sid made a right turn and headed down the next street. In the distance at the right Skyron was still visible. It was still tearing a path of destruction through downtown McKeesport. Behind it was the glow of a few fires that it caused. “There it is. I can still see it.”
Sparky could only imagine the mayhem that was taking place in the monster’s path. He was thankful that Sid had put some distance between them.
Sid reduced the car’s speed as the traffic began to move slower. Suddenly the approaching loud flutter of a helicopter could be heard. Sparky looked out through the windshield to watch the helicopter pass overhead and fly towards Skyron.
Jake pointed a finger up. “Is that a news copter?”
The helicopter stopped and hovered in the air above Skyron. Skyron stopped moving and sent up two of it’s tentacles. Sparky was shocked as he watched one tentacle grab the helicopter while the other pulled a man out from it. The tentacle then pulled the helicopter out of the sky and smashed it to the ground. The buildings in the distance prevented Sparky from seeing the helicopter explode. Only the resulting fireball rising into the air was visible.
So much for the news, thought Sparky.
Sid continued driving at a slow pace with the rest of the traffic while keeping a close watch on Skyron. The car approached another four way intersection and kept going straight.
“What the hell are you doing? You were supposed to turn left,“ Jake told Sid. “You missed our turn.“
“I want to follow this thing and see where it’s going,” Sid explained.
Sparky let out a high pitched bark. You what?
“You want to follow this thing?” asked Jake. “Are you crazy? Did you see what that thing did back there?”
Sid nodded. “Yeah. But this is the story of the century. We were both there when that thing first came down. People are going to want to hear what happened. We’re going to be celebrities.”
Sparky had no desire to be in a news story about a five story tall monster on a rampage through the county. This is not happening. The kid must be in shock or delusional. Maybe if I push him out of the car then I can drive myself home.
Sid continued driving down the street to try to keep pace with the monster, which was still in the far distance at the right. The car proceeded down the street. Weaving past the slower moving cars. Sid had to slow down as two more police cars came speeding past him. Sid stopped the car when Skyron maneuvered itself onto the street less than a quarter of a mile away. It continued moving forward until it came to the river. It created huge waves when it’s bulk splashed into the water. For a few seconds it was submerged beneath the water. Then it resurfaced and began to travel down the river at a brisk pace. Sid came to an intersection and made a left turn to cross a bridge. Once the car cleared the bridge Sid followed the road to the right continued driving. Keeping pace with the monster. At the right there was a long, sloping wooded section of land separating the road and the river. Half a mile away from the road the monster was still clearly visible as it was traveling down the river. Sparky feared that if Skyron continued traveling down the river at this pace then it could only end up in one place. The city of Pittsburgh.
They continued to follow Skyron for another mile. Then it submerged under the murky water of the Monongahela and vanished.
“Where the hell did it go?” asked Jake.
“It has to be still under the water someplace,” Sid told him.
Sid continued driving while swiveling his head from the road to the river. For the next mile there was no sign of the monster.
“It’s not coming up,” said Jake. “What do we do now?”
Going home is always an option, Sparky thought.
Sid looked to the river again. Then back to the road. “We’re getting close to downtown. If it’s headed there then we’ve got to get there first and warn people.”
They continued traveling until they entered the city of Pittsburgh. The night traffic was sparse. Sid was driving slowly down Fifth avenue. There were less people traveling along the sidewalks than there were at peak daylight hours. Many of the businesses at the left and right sides of the street were closed.
Now here we are. Rescuing the city. No clue as to how we’re going to pull this off, thought Sparky.
“Ok. So now that we’re here how do we start to warn people that a giant monster is coming?” Jake asked Sid.
“I don’t know. Maybe call 911 and tell them there’s a monster coming.”
Sparky was surprised when he heard this. You don’t know? We came all the way out here and you don’t have a plan?
“Call 911?” asked Jake. “That’s our plan?”
Sid did not answer. The car approached an intersection with a traffic light. Near the corner at the right there were several people standing near a bus stop. The light turned red and Sid was forced to stop. As they waited for the light to change they watched as several people came running from the street at the left. They appeared to be in a full panic. There was the sound of a loud boom. The people waiting at the bus stop began to look down the street to investigate the commotion. Then several of them pointed their fingers up into the air. A few of them broke away from the group and ran down the street. Then more of them began to run. There was another loud boom.
Getting a bad feeling about this, thought Sparky.
The next second the massive form of Skyron came stomping down the street. It’s two scythe forelimbs tearing through buildings at the left and right sides of the street. There were already several screaming victims clutched in it’s thrashing tentacles. It quickly dissolved them, then dropped their bones so that it can seek out more victims. It opened it’s sharp toothed mouth to let out it’s loud shrieking roar.
“Ok here’s our plan. We get the hell out of here,” Sid exclaimed.
Sid shifted the car into reverse and mashed the gas pedal to the floor. The car sped backwards for several feet. The wailing of multiple police sirens filled the air. Six police cars came storming down the street behind the car. They all stopped and blocked the car’s path. Sid’s foot mashed the brake pedal and the car came to a screeching halt. Ten police officers got out of the cars with their weapons drawn and began to make a slow advance down the street. They raised their weapons at Skyron and began to fire. Skyron turned and faced the line of officers. Unharmed by their gunfire it let out a second roar stomped towards them.
Sparky shrieked. He jumped out of Jake's arms and landed in the back seat. Jake and Sid both cried out. Sid shifted the car in drive and sped forward.
“Where the hell are you going?” Jake bellowed at Sid.
Sid steered the car to the right and drove up onto the sidewalk. The right side of the car scrapped against a building as it was racing down the sidewalk to escape the area. Sparky watched out through the car’s rear window as Skyron scooped up the police officers with it’s tentacles and discarded their bones and uniforms seconds later. Then Skyron smashed into the Warner Center. Demolishing the entire building as it made it’s way to the next street.
The car came back to the intersection. Sid made a left turn and drove off of the sidewalk. He proceeded to drive down the street at high speed. They passed several people who were running down the street and sidewalk in a total panic. Looking out of the right passenger’s window Sparky saw the street littered with dozens of the bones and clothes of Skyron’s victims. Sparky felt a nauseating feeling boiling up in his stomach. In sympathy for these dead people and the fact that his skeleton could soon be resting among them.
The car came to a sudden stop with it’s tires screeching. Why the hell is he stopping? Sparky wondered. He jumped over the seat and back into the front with Jake. He looked out through the windshield to see that the road several yards up ahead was blocked by a huge mound of debris from a collapsed building. Oh this just gets better, Sparky’s flustered thought.
“Get us out of here!” Jake shouted.
Sid put the car in reverse and headed back down the street.
“We should never have come here,” Jake cried out. “This was a bad idea from the start.”
Sparky turned and looked at Jake in disbelief. Excuse me? You’re just saying that now?
As the car was moving backward one of the buildings at the left side of the street exploded as Skyron came bursting through. The car screeched to a halt. Sid screamed. He turned his head to the right. Then he floored the gas pedal. He steered the car to the right and again drove onto the sidewalk. He drove for a few yards and came to a thin alley. He made a sharp left turn to move the car off the sidewalk and back onto the street. Then he made a sharp right turn to enter the alley. Looking back through the rear window Sparky saw that Skyron was easily tearing down the surrounding buildings as it was moving through the alley in pursuit of the car. It’s scythe forelimbs smashing through the brick buildings with a swift ease.
The car emerged from the alley and entered Market Square. The huge square area with numerous storefronts on all four sides. There were a few people gathered here. A few of them standing in the path of the car. Sid honked his horn repeated times to get the people to move out of the way. Sid made a sharp right turn and drove down the street to head for a small alley at the far right side of the square. As he was speeding down the street a man stepped out in front of the car. Sid honked the horn and swerved the car to the left to avoid running the man down. The car went up onto the sidewalk and plowed through a wooden bench. Then it struck a utility pole and stopped. The momentum of the crash hurled Sparky into the dashboard. The impact caused a sharp pain to shoot through his back. At the same time Jake’s body was propelled on top of him. Sparky dropped at Jakes feet and Blacked out.
Sparky awoke feeling his entire body being shaken. He heard his name being called out. “Sparky! Sparky!”
Sparky opened his eyes and was greeted to the welcome sight of Jake’s face. Jake was holding him up. Trying to awaken him. Sparky whined as his back was still sore. But his pain was survivable. He let out a high pitched bark. Then a whine.
“He’s ok,” Jake said.
Sparky heard the sound of a loud boom. Followed by people screaming. He turned. Looking past Sid and out through the drivers side window to see Skyron tearing down the buildings at the left and right as it was exiting the alley. It’s tentacles reached out to grab several people who were standing in the square. The other people ran screaming for their lives.
No. I’m not ok, thought Sparky.
Skyron moved forward to pursue the escaping humans. Then it turned to the left and faced the most prominent structure at the edge of the square. PPG tower. Skyron let out a roar and moved toward the building. It dug it’s forelimbs into the side of the building and began to pull itself up. It began to climb up along the side of the building. Digging large holes into it’s structure. Shattering glass, concrete, and steel. A shower of debris rained down to the street. Skyron continued climbing up the side of the building, then stopped close to the top. It’s long serpentine tail thrashed about. Then the tip of it’s tail smashed into the side of the building.
Sparky sat trembling in Jake’s arms as he Looked through the windshield. Watching a flood of green slimy liquid flowing out through the area of the building where Skyron’s tail had penetrated. Skyron pulled it’s tail out. Leaving behind a cluster of large, green globes. Skyron thrust it’s tail into another part of the building. More of the green liquid squirted out from the hole it created and flowed down the side of building. It pulled out it’s tail and left behind more of the slime covered globes. It climbed up higher along the building and repeated this process two more times.
Two Pittsburgh police cars came storming down the street behind the car. Their bar lights flashing and sirens blaring. From the alley at the far right of the square three more cars drove through. From the street on the opposite side of the square came four more police cars. The cars all stopped around the square and a swarm of officers got out of their vehicles with their weapons drawn. They advanced towards the PPG tower and began to open fire at Skyron.
Sparky was startled at the officers who passed by the front of the car while shooting. But they were not his primary concern. His attention was focused on the mass of large green globes that Skyron had deposited inside the building. These same globes were now pulsating with life. And they seemed to be getting bigger. It was obvious to Sparky what these things were. The thought immediately came to his mind.
Eggs!
TO BE CONTINUED.
(Who can save the city of Pittsburgh against this alien threat? We'll find out in the Awakening of Xzytovhorre.)
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