The Last Big Thing

BIG MAN-3

Several other jets met with a similar fate, as did a tank which was unwittingly crushed under the monster’s foot like an empty can of drink. It continued towards the centre of the city, marching between massive office-blocks, at eye-level with their high roofs, knocking one of them over like it was made of Lego. How many people were still in there, Hawkins wondered from a distance. How many more are going to die?

An iconic shopping centre was destroyed in seconds, rubble raining down over the suburbs, severed electrical connections and small explosions lighting up the scene like camera flashes. A historic cathedral which had proudly stood for hundreds of years was wiped out in the blink of an eye. The destruction was apparently without end.

Hawkins readied himself to make the call he’d been dreading and consign the monster, the city and hundreds of thousands of people to a white-hot, nuclear fate. His mouth dry and his pulse racing, he watched the beast in the distance. Hawkins’s soldiers stood their ground, nervously waiting for orders to engage despite knowing how ineffective their weapons would be. Some turned and ran, desperate to get away before either the aberration attacked them or they were wiped out by whatever godawful weapons the powers-that-be were forced to resort to using.

Hawkins paused when the creature’s ex-wife burst into his command truck and demanded to speak to him. She argued the scientists and generals had failed to come up with anything useful, so he should hear her out before he did anything he’d regret. Goddammit, he thought as he listened to her, this was like the final scenes of one of those bloody B movies he couldn’t get out of his head. ‘Let me see him,’ she’d pleaded. ‘Maybe he’ll still listen to me? Please just let me try.’

What harm could it do when so much had already been lost? It had to be worth a try. The intensity of the aberration’s attacks was increasing, more lives being lost with every second. Hawkins options had reduced to zero.

#

Glen didn’t know which way to turn. Where do I go now? He was still deep in the heart of the city and, to his horror, had levelled much of it. If he bent down and squinted into the confusion in the ruined streets below he could see the full extent of the damage he’d caused. He’d taken out a loan for a car six months ago so he could see Ash, and it had taken every spare penny he’d had. Today he’d destroyed thousands of vehicles – all of them belonging to someone like him. He’d demolished homes like the one he’d once shared with Della and Ash. And worst of all were the bodies. He hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone. How would he have felt if this had happened to someone else and Ash had been killed in the fallout? Glen lifted his head and roared with pain, the volume of his pitiful cry shattering the last few remaining windows and causing more badly damaged buildings to collapse.

Let this be over.

My body hurts.

Please let this stop.

#

Surrounded by soldiers, Della walked through the parkland. Cresswell chased after her, dragging Ash behind him. The kid’s tears were audible even over the sounds of fighting.

‘You can’t do this,’ Cresswell protested. ‘This is madness. Della, listen to me!’

‘No, Anthony, you listen to me ,’ she said, turning back to face him. ‘If there’s anything of Glen left inside that thing, then I need to talk to him.’

‘I won’t let you.’

‘You can’t stop me.’

She turned and walked on, her armed guard forming a protective bubble around her, leading her out towards the expanse of grassland they were trying to direct the creature towards. She could see his outline in the distance now, a huge black shadow towering over the tombstone ruins of the city. High overhead a phalanx of helicopters flew out towards the monster in formation, each of them focusing a searchlight on the ground below. She waited nervously for them to return, wrapping her arms around herself to keep out the cold.

#

It happened with surprising speed and ease. The creature seemed to be distracted by the helicopters, and it immediately moved towards them, perhaps realizing that, as they hadn’t attacked, their intentions were peaceful. Della’s heart began to thump in time with its massive footsteps as it neared, and she caught her breath when it seemed to lose its footing for a moment. It lashed out and swatted one of the choppers like it was a nuisance fly, knocking it into its nearest neighbour and sending both of them spiralling to the ground in a ball-shaped mass of metal and swollen flame. How many people died just then, she wondered? How many more died when the wreckage hit the ground? How many people has Glen killed?

The aberration lumbered ever closer, clearly in view now, illuminated by the remaining helicopters which soared higher until they were beyond its massive reach. Della looked up at it in disbelief, stunned by its size and also by the fact that despite the huge level of deformation, she could still clearly see that it was Glen. Its enormous frame was grossly misshapen, but there was something about the shape of its mouth and the way it held its head that she recognized; the jaw line that both he and Ash had, the colour of those eyes...

When the creature saw the soldiers around its feet, it leaned down and roared. Della thought it sounded like a cry for help rather than an attacking scream, but the military clearly thought otherwise. One of the troopers nearest to her raised his rifle, and the monster picked him up between two enormous fingers and tossed him away. She watched the body fly through the air and hit a tree, then cringed when she heard a sharp cracking sound which was either the tree trunk or the soldier’s bones. The monster roared again, this time with such force that she was blown off her feet. Another soldier rushed to help her up. She got to her feet and shook him off, then ran out towards the behemoth.

‘Glen!’ she yelled. ‘Glen, it’s me, Della.’

The aberration went to swipe her out of the way but stopped. It crouched precariously, lowered is huge head and stared at her. Then, after a pause of a few seconds which felt like forever, it crashed down onto its backside, the force of impact like an earthquake. Della’s armed guard held back, more out of fear than anything else.

‘I just want to know why, Glen,’ Della said, still walking closer, not sure whether the thing could hear or understand her. ‘All those people killed, and for what? I know you must have been scared, in pain even, but why...?’

The monster stared at her, eyes squinting, trying to focus, massive pupils dilating and constricting. Then it lifted its head to the skies and roared louder than ever.

A single figure ran through the trees. Cresswell raced towards Della and grabbed her. ‘Come with me,’ he said, trying to drag her away. ‘That’s not Glen any more. Damn thing can’t understand you. Stay here and it’ll kill you. You’ve got Ash and me to think about and—’

He stopped talking when he realized the gigantic creature was looking straight at him, glowering down. He backed away, cowering in fear, but there was no escape. A single massive hand wrapped around him and tightened, its grip so strong that every scrap of oxygen was forced from his body. The monster lifted him up and held its arm back as if it was about to throw the doctor into the distance.

‘Dad! Dad, don’t!’

#

Glen stopped.

Had he imagined Ash’s voice? He pulled his distended arm back again, ready to hurl Cresswell out of his life forever. Out of all of their lives...

‘No Dad, please.’

Glen looked down and saw his son standing in front of him, and suddenly nothing else mattered. He stretched out and dropped Cresswell more than half a kilometre away, far enough away not to have to think about him, then carefully moved Della and the remaining soldiers out of the way too.

Ash stood in front of his dad, completely alone and looking impossibly small.

‘ Hello, big man, ’ Glen wanted to say but couldn’t. ‘ I’m sorry, Ash, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. ’

‘You okay, Dad?’

‘ Not really, ’ he didn’t say as he gently picked his son up and held him up to his face. Ash sat down cross-legged on the palm of his father’s hand.

‘I’ve been really worried about you.’

‘ Me too, Ash. ’

‘They’ve been saying all kinds of things about you,’ Ash said, pausing to choose his next words carefully. Glen’s heart seemed to pause too. ‘But I don’t believe them. I mean, I know you are a monster now, anyone can see that, but I know you didn’t want to be one. I don’t think you wanted to hurt any of them. I kept trying to tell the man that you didn’t mean for any of it to happen. I told him to try and imagine how you must be feeling. You’re big and strong and everything, but I bet you’re scared.’

‘ I am. ’

‘I said they should leave you alone. I said they should find you somewhere safe to rest, maybe build you the biggest house in the world, something like that, then let the doctors work out how they’re going to get you back to normal again.’

‘ I don’t think that’s going to happen, sunshine. I think it’s too late now. ’

‘I miss you, Dad. I’ve been really scared.’

‘ I’ve missed you too. ’

‘They said you were coming back here to kill everyone, and I told them that was rubbish. I said you were coming to see me. Was I right, Dad?’

‘You were right, son. I just wanted to see you again. Just one last time...’

#

Glen Chambers sat in the park with his son in his hand and he listened to Ash talking until his massively engorged, broken heart could no longer keep him alive.