Mayday: A Kaiju Thriller

Chapter Five

A little part of me wanted to stay asleep, but on the whole, drowning face-down in a mud pit seemed like a more embarrassing death than I could abide. So I dragged myself out of unconsciousness and out of the mud.

I was going through suits faster than a teenage boy goes through tissues and Internet porn. I found my handkerchief and wiped the mud out of my eyes. It didn’t help much. My eyes still burned. So did the rest of me. There was a panel beater in my brain trying to knock all the kinks out. What the hell had all that been? Had I had a seizure? And why hadn’t anyone come to help me?

I sat on my arse in the mud for a second, trying to get the world to stay still. When it refused, I said, “To hell with you, then,” and stood up. I went down again straight away. Goddamn mud was like trying to get up on roller skates. I grabbed a couple of Yllia’s hair fibres and used them like ropes as I pulled myself to my feet. My head wasn’t too appreciative of the action. My gut tightened and I doubled over, pulling the mask down around my neck. For a second I thought I was going to throw up. No such luck. I stood with my head between my knees for a second or two, blinking back tears. Then I looked up and saw a small body lying face-down in the mud in the shadow of Yllia’s head.

“Priya!” My voice sounded foreign to me. I slipped and plodded over to her. Hell, was she breathing? I couldn’t tell. I sank to one knee at her side—my suit was a write-off anyway—and rolled her onto her back.

I used my sleeve to wipe the mud out of her mouth and nose. Her face was grey underneath. I gave her a couple of slaps to the cheek—it always worked in the movies—and lowered my head so my ear was just above her lip. A light breeze tickled my ear. She was breathing. The knot in my stomach loosened a little.

I felt the roar before I heard it. A high pitched scream that I hadn’t heard since the day I got to watch a live melee. It vibrated up my legs and shook my heart. It shook the rest of me as well. Grotesque. He was angry.

The second scream came a moment later, and then another one after that. Serraton. Tempest. The roars echoed through my skull. I pressed my hands to my ears to try to block them out, but it was hopeless.

My pocket crackled. “Boss,” Lindsey’s voice came through the radio. “Boss, you hear that?”

“Of course I bloody hear it,” I yelled back into the walkie. I found my hat lying in the mud and picked it up. “Forget about it. Are the geeks alive?”

“Yeah, they’re fine. A bit muddy. We all blacked out. Did you see—?”

“Later. We’re around the other side of Yllia’s head. The handler’s still out. I’m going to get her out of this mud.”

“All right, hold on, I’ll come to you.”

“No,” I said, a little rougher than I intended. My brain wouldn’t stop pounding. “I need you to keep the geeks contained, all right?”

“Contained?”

“Don’t let them talk to anyone else. Not until I’ve figured out what’s going on. Don’t tell them you’re doing it if you can help it. But keep them working and under control.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line that the roaring Maydays were more than happy to fill. Whatever Priya had done, she’d sure riled them up. I scooped the mud off my hat as best I could and put it back on.

“Boss,” Lindsey said. “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme? Everyone just passed out. Maybe we should get a doctor down here to check everyone out.”

Priya was light enough that I could lift her out of the mud and carry her with one arm. I thought she groaned as I put her over my shoulder, but it was difficult to tell, what with all the angry monsters screaming.