Godzilla Returns (7 page)

It was no use. Kim knew his mother was in the grip of her deepest fear - there was no way she would get on a lifeboat of her own free will.

It's up to me to save her
, he decided.

On the other side of the passenger deck, Will Adams continued to peer out the window, straight into the eyes of the monster called Godzilla. And Soonji continued to tug on his leg.

Abruptly, Godzilla turned his mighty head, and the spell that seemed to paralyze the young American was broken. Will looked down at the young woman clinging to his leg.

"Come on, Soonji," he said, "let's get out of here."

Outside, Godzilla was slowly walking away from the disabled ferry. But the crew and passengers weren't out of danger yet. As the creature departed, Godzilla's tail swished back and forth, churning up the water. Some of the overcrowded rubber rafts that dotted the Sea of Japan were overturned in the turbulence. There were screams of terror as people fell into the sea and sank below the surface. Some would never rise again.

Another angry swish, and Godzilla sideswiped the ferry with his long, powerful tail. The whole ship vibrated like a drum. The tail struck again, and the side of the hull caved in. In the enclosed passenger deck, windows shattered, raining glass down on the people still trapped inside.

The Pusan ferry was looking less like a ship - and more like a soda can that had been crushed in the middle. And it was sinking fast.

Will struggled up from the deck and shook off pieces of broken glass. Everyone who was still aboard the ferry had been knocked off their feet when the ship was swatted by the monster's tail for the third time. Now the ferry was listing precariously to one side. Footing was difficult on the steeply pitched deck, but Will managed to remain standing.

He spotted Soonji, who was struggling to get up off the heaving deck.
This ship is going to capsize
, Will realized with horror.

He knew he had to get out and take Soonji with him. But people were still choking the exits. In their panic, the passengers were actually making escape through the doors all but impossible.

Then Will turned and saw the shattered windows. He grabbed Soonji by the hand and yanked her to her feet. She yelped in surprise as he dragged her toward the broken window. There was still some glass blocking their exit. Will pushed his shoulder hard against it, and the cracked window collapsed into shards. Most of the glass pitched into the sea, but some of it rained down on him. Blood began to flow from a cut on his forehead.

"Through here!" he cried, pushing the young woman.

Soonji was about to climb through the window when she saw a Korean boy tugging on an older woman's arm. The woman was curled up in a ball and utterly refused to let go of the heaving deck. Soonji pushed Will's hand away and pointed. He saw them, too.

Will rushed to Kim's side and grabbed the boy. As he lifted Kim over his shoulder, the boy started kicking and shouting. "Mother! What about my mother?" he cried.

Of course, Will didn't understand Korean, but he got the message. Before he could act, Soonji grabbed the woman's arm.

"Up, old mother," Soonji said in Korean.

"No!" the woman screamed. "I can't swim!"

But Soonji would hear none of it. She grabbed the woman by her hair and yanked upward. The woman hollered and jumped to her feet. Soonji dragged her to the window.

The ferry continued to sink. The ocean lapped against the hull only a few feet below the broken window. Will's eyes opened wide with hope when he saw an empty rubber raft bobbing in the water about thirty feet away. Will pulled the Korean boy off his shoulder and pointed to the raft.

"Can you swim?" he asked the boy. Will made swimming motions because the boy obviously didn't understand English. Kim got the message and nodded enthusiastically. At that moment, Soonji appeared at Will's side, dragging the Korean woman behind her.

"I can't swim!" the woman screamed again and again in shrill Korean. "I don't want to go into the water!"

Soonji and Will ignored her. While Kim watched open-mouthed, the couple lifted his mother up and placed her on the broken window sill - careful to avoid the spikes of glass that were still embedded in the frame. She resisted them with all of her strength.

Finally, Soonji had had enough! "Shut up, old mother," she cried. "Shut up... or I'll let you drown!"

When the woman heard the word
drown
, she began to scream and fight with new determination. Soonji turned and faced Will. He couldn't believe it when she actually smiled at him. "Watch this," she said in English.

Then Soonji put her foot on the struggling woman's rump and booted her over the side!

Before the screaming woman even hit the water. Soonji, Will, and Kim had dived over the side, too. In seconds, they were all splashing into the cold waters of the Sea of Japan.

Though Will thought of himself as a strong swimmer, it was hard trying to get to the inflatable raft. He squinted as salty sea water stung his eyes. The raft bobbed tantalizingly near, but the waves, which were violently churning in the wake of Godzilla's passage, kept pushing him back, toward the hull of the sinking ferry.

Exhausted, Will had to rest. He flipped over on his back and tried floating in the rough waters. As he drifted, he could see Soonji, the Korean boy, and the boy's mother. They were huddled together in the water, clinging to a broken cable hanging over the side of the ferry.

Will noticed that the ship was sinking faster now. The sea had risen almost to the top of the hull. Soon the decks would be awash with water. If Will didn't get to the raft and rescue the others, they would be dragged to the bottom of the Sea of Japan by the suction of the huge sinking ferryboat.

With renewed determination, Will struck out again. He'd swum about halfway to the raft when another wave knocked him backward. Sputtering and swallowing water, Will reached out and grabbed blindly for something to keep him afloat. At last, his hands connected and he held on.

With a gasp, Will realized he was clutching the corpse of an old man - one of the passengers - who had already drowned. Will pulled back in horror and kicked the body away from him. He swam on frantically.

A few minutes later, gasping for breath, Will climbed aboard the empty raft. His arms and legs felt like lead, and he could barely lift himself to his elbows as he lay at the bottom of the bobbing rubber boat. Vaguely, he heard Soonji's voice in the distance. She was frantically screaming his name.

Will lifted himself up and saw the reason for her panic. The ferry was sinking very rapidly now. Waves were washing across its deck, and Soonji, Kim, and Kim's mother were barely able to hang on. The three of them were being battered by the sea.

Clambering up to a sitting position, Will searched the raft for oars. There were none, so he dropped to his belly on the side of the rubber raft and began using his tired arms as paddles. It seemed to take an eternity to move the raft close to the ferry, but Will managed it.

Weakly, he reached out for the others. Kim was the first aboard. The boy was able to swim the few feet to the raft and climb aboard. He helped Will and Soonji pull his mother onto the nearly swamped rubber boat. The woman was numb and paralyzed with fear - but thanks to Soonji and Kim, she was alive. Will cupped his hands and began bailing water out of the tiny, crowded raft.

Just then, an underwater explosion shook the ocean around them. The hull of the ferryboat shuddered. Smoke began pouring out of the windows and hatches as the ferry upended. The few passengers who had stubbornly remained aboard now jumped over the side, or were thrown overboard by the violent explosion.

As Kim, Soonji, and Will paddled away from the ship, using their arms as oars, the stern of the Pusan ferry lifted out of the water, and then the entire ship slipped beneath the waves.

As it disappeared, the ferry left a powerful whirlpool in its wake. Some of the people swimming were caught up in the swirling waters. Most of them were too weak from trying to stay afloat to even scream as they were sucked under.

For a terrifying instant, it felt as if the lifeboat was going to be sucked into the vortex, too. Kim's mother screamed as the raft was turned around by the whirlpool once, then twice. Finally, the swirling movement slowed and the raft - incredibly - remained floating on the surface.

After the noise and violence of the sinking, the silence that followed the disappearance of the ferryboat was eerie. Will, exhausted, peeked over the edge of the raft. In the distance, he could see Godzilla, still moving away from them. He watched for another minute, until the creature finally vanished into the haze and fog.

Then Will sank to the bottom of the raft, where he remained for the next half hour. He was tired, cold, sore, and dazed by his experience.

Will only looked up when, in the far distance, he heard the sound of rotors.
Helicopters!

Will almost burst out laughing. He heard Soonji sob and whisper something in Korean to the little boy.

I can't believe it.... We're saved!
Will said to himself. But he only half-believed it.

Godzilla is still alive - and he's still out there.

May 29, 1998, 2:29 P.M.
The newsroom, INN headquarters
Tokyo, Japan

Brian Shimura was happy that Nick's dire predictions about his life at INN had not been realized.

True, he had toiled in the mailroom, but only for two days. And he had worked as a fact checker for three more days. But, finally, at the end of his first week, Brian had been moved up to the newsroom and given some real journalistic duties.

At the moment, those duties consisted of sitting in his cubicle, watching a television screen that was tuned to a rival network - in this case, CNN. Brian's job was to monitor the broadcasts on the Cable News Network. If a story broke on CNN that was not covered by INN, Brian was supposed to notify Mr. Takao, the newsroom chief. Other interns, mostly Japanese, monitored NHK and some of the other Asian news networks.

Occasionally, a reporter would assign Brian to other jobs. Some of those jobs were interesting, others were a pain. But mostly Brian just watched television.

"You've got that glassy-eyed stare again," Nick said, tapping Brian on the shoulder "Isn't it time for a break?"

Brian peeked at his watch and smiled. "That it is," he announced, pulling off his earphones.

"What's hot, news wise?" Nick asked as they headed to the break room together.

"Ohhh, well, the U.S. president is threatening trade sanctions against Japan again," Brian said. "The dollar is falling against the Japanese yen, the British pound, and the German mark; another baseball strike is looming, and Kevin Costner's new movie is getting panned by the critics."

"In other words, nothing," Nick replied.

"You said it," Brian agreed. "Sometimes I wonder why we bother becoming journalists. There's no
real
news to report. Nothing ever really happens."

"So you want to go out tonight?" Nick asked, changing the subject. "Yoshi's back. I'm sure he'd like to join us. How about midnight karaoke?"

Brian groaned as he yawned. "You know, Nick," he said earnestly, "you got to sleep in this morning - the
third
morning in a row."

"My job stinks," Nick replied defensively. "Lacks Pulse is a real pain to work for - and
he
doesn't get in until noon!"

"Mr.
Hulse
is management," Brian explained. "
You
are not."

"That'll change when my talent is finally recognized." Nick stated. "Now what about midnight karaoke?"

"No way," Brian insisted.

"Come on!" Nick urged him. "It'll be fun. You haven't lived until you've seen a middle-aged Japanese businessman singing 'Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves' just like Cher."

"Don't be so sure," Brian replied. "I've already seen my parents dance the hokey-pokey at my sister's wedding."

"The horror... the horror," Nick replied, pretending to shudder.

"Shimura-san! Gordon-san!" a voice cried from behind them. Both youths turned. One of the Japanese interns was running down the hall, calling them.

"Come quick! To the newsroom. Big news!" he cried.

Brian and Nick took off in a run back toward the INN newsroom. The whole place was jammed with people - and it had been practically empty only a few moments ago. Now all eyes were on the overhead television screens, which usually monitored the INN network satellite feeds from dozens of remote locations.

All the screens showed the same image - Japanese military helicopters circling over a section of ocean, plucking people out of the water.

Brian tapped Yoshi. "What's going on?" he asked.

"The Pusan ferry, which runs from Japan to Korea, has sunk," he said, his eyes never leaving the television screens.

"So these are
live
shots?" Nick asked.

"
Hai
," Yoshi replied, nodding his head. Nick turned to peek at the television monitors at the desks - the ones tuned to the other news networks. On CNN there was a commercial for deodorant. NHK had a Japanese game show.

"Pretty dramatic stuff," Nick said. "And it looks like we've got an exclusive." He pointed to the other monitors.

Yoshi shook his head. "This not going out over the satellite feeds," he replied. "The live footage we are seeing is being recorded, but it is not being broadcast on the air."

Nick and Brian were shocked. "Why not?" Nick cried. His journalistic sensibilities were outraged.

"Because the Japanese government doesn't
want
it to be broadcast, that's why!" a voice announced behind them.

Nick, Yoshi, and Brian turned. Other reporters and INN staffers turned, too. Some even began to protest with indignant voices.

Everett P. Endicott raised his pudgy arms and silenced them all. May McGovern was at his side, looking grim. "An official news blackout is in effect," Endicott said in a voice loud enough to be heard over the commotion.

"No live footage of this disaster is to be broadcast at the present time. This is a request from the Japanese government that INN officials have decided to grant."