Home for Horny Monsters Ch. 115

Out in the water, the kraken turned its attention to the aircraft carrier and its strike force. It smashed a tentacle through a destroyer and roared. Attack planes were already scrambling on the deck of the carrier, but Beth had a pretty good idea about what would happen next. The guns on the carrier would be of little use against the mythical being, meaning a one-sided battle with the Navy.

Up and down the coastline, the undead rose from the water like slimy froth as they stormed the island with a single goal. Someone driving down the highway stopped to get out of their car for a better look.

Beth pulled the walkie talkie from her pocket. "Tink, we're clear."

Once the words left her mouth, the bomb on the beach detonated. Beth and Leilani crouched down behind some rocks before the shockwave reached them, clutching at their ears. Rocks and other debris showered the area, and a broken shovelhead landed nearby. Satisfied that they were safe, Beth peered over the rocks and saw that the pebble beach was now a massive crater.

"What the hell did Tink build that bomb out of?" Even though hundreds of skeletons had been destroyed, still more came in a steady march from the sea. Raising the Rod of Osiris, she pointed it out toward the water. Though she was nearly a mile away, the ocean could still hear her commands.

"Let me know if anything tries to kill us," she said, glancing briefly at the kraken. It had wrapped its tentacles around the aircraft carrier. Air support was already raining missiles down on the creature's back, but it didn't even react as massive limbs squeezed the ship. The rest of the fleet were being bashed apart by flailing tentacles that tore through the ships like paper.

"I've got your back." Leilani stuck the butt of her trident into the ground and stood watch as Beth commanded the waves to carry their burden back out to sea. She knew there was nothing she could do to stem the tide, but that wasn't her job. All she needed to do was buy time and, if possible, find a way to lure Francois out of hiding. Through the walkie talkie, Tink chuckled. "Boom-boom, bony fucks."

Ingrid stood on the edge of Honoapiʻilani Highway, her eyes on the rocky shores below. Skeletons clung to the rocks like sea urchins, their bony digits scrambling for purchase as they attempted to climb onto land. The waves were relentless, smashing the invaders into bits.

Still, it was a numbers game. The tide of undead had yet to show any signs of slowing, and for every skeleton destroyed, two more would take its place. Already, perhaps a hundred of them crawled across the dangerous rocks below, their lifeless eyes on the Order team above them. To the northwest, the kitsune Yuki had actually frozen the bay to keep them from making it to shore, but it was a band-aid at most. Soon, the heat of the day would be Yuki's main enemy, and no matter how powerful she was, this was still an island near the equator, and she couldn't fight the sun. This left less hospitable regions for the dead to make landfall. They surged forward, climbing over the destroyed bodies of their brethren.

"I've seen enough zombie movies to know that we're fucked." Wallace stared down at the mess below and shook his head. "If we were smart, we'd leave now."

"But we can't." Ingrid looked down the road at the hotels and buildings on the shore. She had been part of the disastrous evacuations in Lahaina. At some point, an asshole with a loudspeaker had announced that there was no tsunami and that the government was leading its citizens to the gas chamber. It also didn't help that the tsunami shelters were technically for use after a tsunami, so a few people had caught on early enough.

Another contributing factor was that the shelters nearby were schools that should have been physically incapable of holding the amount of people they had stuffed in there. Right now, there were hundreds of puzzled tourists trying to figure out how they had gotten to the Big Island.

At some point, they had been forced to shut down the portals to keep people from backtracking. This meant they had to defend the people that had shown up too late to be taken to safety. This also included the assholes who had barricaded themselves into the hotels. Resources were stretched perilously thin as a result, leaving Yuki and the minotaur Asterion in charge of the tourist district.

"Oh, I'm perfectly aware that we're stupid." Wallace unslung the rifle from his shoulder and took aim at a skeleton that had made it further than the others. There was a crack of gunfire and the creature dropped to the ground, a massive hole in its forehead. "They say that God prefers fools and idiots. Either way, sticking around guarantees me a spot in Heaven."

Ingrid rolled her eyes and raised her own rifle. She took out another skeleton that was approaching the road. Along the road, her team began picking off undead who made it past the dangerous shores. When they were clustered together, either a grenade or a spell sufficed. There were maybe twenty people total defending the road with another twenty a mile away doing the same.

An eerie cry broke across the island, echoing over the hills and raising all the hairs on the back of Igrid's neck. She shivered and looked to Wallace for support, but the man had visibly paled.

"This sucks," he muttered, then shot another skeleton. "But I'm guessing it's far better than what the Radleys are facing."

Ingrid nodded. In a way, she wished that she had been part of the defense team protecting the volcano. Ever since returning to Paradise, it was clear that a distinct line had been drawn between family and outsider, and she certainly wasn't family. Whatever happened next, she craved the opportunity to prove herself to Mike and the others, hopeful that maybe they would see what an asset she could be. She hated how confused she felt about the Radley family, a feeling exacerbated by the fact that she intended to leave the Order.

Soon, she wouldn't have a place in the world. Where would she go? What would she do? These were the questions she asked herself as the dead stormed the shore, scrambling over each other in an attempt to murder those on the highway.

"Running low on munitions." Wallace slung his rifle across his back and pulled his sword. "How much longer until they unveil this majestic plan of theirs?"

"When the time is right." Truthfully, Ingrid didn't know. This was a part of the plan that Beth and Pele had kept from the others and it drove her slightly mad that she hadn't been included.

"Hey, you good?" Wallace turned his attention from the carnage below.

Ingrid shrugged. "Not really. Now isn't the time or the place."

"If it's a confession of your undying love for me, well..." Wallace paused to behead a skeleton. Its body moved independently for a few moments before collapsing to the ground. "This is probably the best time and place."

"You're such an ass." Ingrid drew a pistol and fired it point blank into the skull of a dead businessman. "Is there anybody you won't hit on?"

"These guys." Wallace slashed apart a bloated corpse, then whistled in appreciation at a woman in two-piece with only one arm. "Then again..."

Ingrid laughed. "You're such a creep."

He winked in her direction. "But I'm your creep."

"For now," she replied, her attention snapping back to the fight at hand. The team was forced to slowly move uphill toward the elementary school where at least a couple hundred people were holed up. By now, it was abundantly clear to anyone watching that a tsunami wasn't coming. Some civilians were up on the roof, shouting instructions to people below. Cars in the parking lot were being moved to block doors and any other point of entry.

There was another loud cry that carried across the island. The waves surged out to sea, briefly revealing an army of undead that stood in single file lines, along with the merfolk that attacked them from above. Out in the water, several ships were now making a beeline toward the shore, their decks covered in undead.

"Ah." Ingrid frowned. "Those are going to be a problem."

"One we expected," Wallace replied just as someone nearby fired an RPG. It struck one of the ships, blowing out its side. Fireballs were launched from wands in an attempt to slow the vessels down, but the undead didn't require a safe landing. Burning ships slammed into the rocks, spilling their deadly cargo en masse. The undead scrambled over each other as they surged forward, catching the Order team unprepared.

"Fall back," Ingrid cried, using her pistol to pick off the faster runners.

"Which way?" somebody asked.

"Toward the school," she replied, then lowered her voice. "You fucking idiot."

They continued uphill toward the elementary school, moving between the cars they had parked as obstacles. The dead were of a single-minded purpose, which meant they would usually climb over or under the vehicles rather than simply move around them.

A mage who had fallen behind tripped and fell. Ingrid started to run toward the woman and was surprised when a massive Hawaiian wielding a baseball bat beat her there. He smashed his bat through the skull of a nearby skeleton and then yanked the woman to her feet.

"Thanks," she replied, then sent out a sphere of force that detonated about twenty feet out, knocking the undead off their feet. Several other men and women appeared between the cars, all of them wielding some sort of weapon.

"Where did all these people come from?" asked Ingrid as she looked over her shoulder. There were nearly fifty people behind her, all of them native islanders.

"We live here," replied the massive Hawaiian. He was wearing board shorts and an unbuttoned Aloha shirt.

"But you were supposed to evacuate!"

The large man nodded. "That's right, we were, and we did." The man stepped forward to crush a skeleton's skull. "I got to meet my ancestors last night. Can you imagine that? The warriors of old, guiding my family to safety. It really got me thinking about what's important, and I wasn't the only one."

Nearby, a Hawaiian woman used a crowbar to block an attack from a skeleton. A surfer standing behind her buried his pickaxe in the monster's skull, sending it to the ground.

"This is our island," he said with conviction. "We aren't just the people who live here. We are Hawaii." Holding his bat in the air, he raised his voice. "Imua!"

"Imua!" the newcomers shouted in return.

"Imua e nā pokiʻi a inu I ka wai ʻawaʻawa aʻohe hope e hoʻi mai ai!" The big man raised his bat and brought it down on another skeleton. "This is our island! We will defend it!"

Cheers rang out from the crowd and they surged forward. Ingrid watched in astonishment as the islanders started driving back the hordes.

"Damn," Wallace muttered at her side. "I've got fucking chills."

"Me too," she replied, then unholstered her wand. "I bet that big guy takes out more of them than you do."

"Now we're talking." Wallace whooped in delight and charged into the fray. Ingrid followed him, a pistol in one hand and her wand in the other.

I just hope we make it, she thought as she ran toward certain death. Beneath her feet, the whole island rumbled and the skies above darkened. Because it sure feels like the end of the world.

The Caretaker stood on the edge of a cliff, his gaze on the valley below. The shores were dark with undead bodies as they scrambled for purchase, heading up the mountain in a surge of white and gray. Out in the ocean, the abomination that Francois had pulled from the deep was busy crushing an aircraft carrier in its massive tendrils. Bombs seemed to have no effect on the beast, and it would occasionally let out a shriek that made Mike dizzy just hearing it.

This was it, his first official fight with another Player in the Great Game. If not for the actions of others throughout the night, the losses would already be incalculable. Francois was going all out in his attempt, leaving no stone unturned. These were the acts of a desperate man, and desperate men made mistakes.

"Are you ready?" Pele emerged from a nearby stone as if stepping through a cloud, one eyebrow raised as she looked out to sea. "It looks like he has already unleashed his pet."

"You hurt it with fire before, right?"

Pele nodded. "I only had to boil several million gallons of seawater. As you can see, the creature is no worse for wear."

"Are you ready?"

"I am. But we will have to wait a bit longer before we can spring our trap." The goddess stood next to him and closed her eyes. "Your family's actions saved many of my people, Mike Radley. I'm not certain how I could ever repay you for it."

"Consider it a gift, freely given."

Pele snorted. "You spend too much time with the fae."

He laughed, then turned to look at the goddess. "I have a bit of a question for you about divinity."

"Oh? And what questions would a mere mortal ask the gods themselves?" Pele pulled a flower from a nearby bush and tucked it into her hair.

Mike stared down at his hand and summoned a tiny lightning spider which danced around. "I've seen some things lately," he confessed. "Involving my magic. I almost don't want to say it out loud, but--"

"Then don't." The goddess turned to face him, her dark eyes blazing. "You know just as well as I do that words can have great power. What you are and what you are becoming are things that are best left unsaid. Speaking them into existence may actually hinder the process, or gain you attention you certainly do not want."

"Something worse than this?" Mike gestured out to sea. The aircraft carrier was listing badly as the kraken pressed its gargantuan mass against the vessel, causing bulkheads to burst.

She nodded. "You must remember why the gods fled this world in the first place. Someday, you may grow tall like the Koa tree, but for now, you are still just a seed. Should that ever happen, they will take notice of you."

"What are they, exactly?" Mike studied Pele, hoping for answers about the Outsiders. "Where do they come from? What do they want?"

Pele shook her head. "That's just it, Caretaker. You can't define them. They are beings devoid of rules or logic from a place of non-existence. As for what they want? They hunger. That is all. They would eat their way across the stars themselves, devouring time and space, just to fill bellies that lack dimension. They came here because they sensed our power, sensed what we are capable of. We aren't even their prey, if you can believe that. Divinity is the sauce that makes the meal worth eating, and that's all." She shivered and put a fist to her chin. "Let us not speak anymore about them, lest they listen in. I would caution you to only dwell on them from the safety of your own home, because they are always watching. And they will certainly be observing this. You cannot concentrate power like this in any one place without repercussions."

"I appreciate your guidance," he said, then turned his attention down toward the bay. "I can't believe all those people are going to die."

"Not all of them. The merfolk will help where they can. But such a battle has not happened for many centuries, and definitely not out in the open. I just wish more of my brothers and sisters were here to help us." Pele shook her head. "The old ways have been forgotten. The same thing that protects this world from those who would consume it allows acts such as these to occur."

"I thought you said we shouldn't talk about them anymore?"

Pele sighed. "I may be a divine being, but I'm not perfect. Are you ready for what comes next?"

Mike held out his hand and smiled at the golden mote of light that briefly appeared there. "I think so," he replied. He felt like he finally understood his place in things. Ever since last night's sexual buffet, his whole body was positively thrumming with power.

"Good. Then I shall await the signal." The goddess turned to look toward the peak of the volcano. Clouds were starting to boil up above, and ominous thunder echoed across the island. "We stand on the brink of exciting times, Caretaker."

"I'm ready for some boring times," he replied. When Mike looked in Pele's direction, the goddess was gone. He sighed and turned his attention to the kraken. The creature had compressed the center of the aircraft carrier and was actively shoving it under the water. Hundreds of men and women were in the water, likely in some stage of dying. Within minutes, they would all join the coming horde.

A jet shot past the kraken, but was snatched up in a tentacle. There was a fiery pop, followed by the spread of subsonic debris. All along the coastline, the Captain's ghost ships rammed themselves into the shore, spilling their undead cargo. Skeletal armies ran inland, many of them heading into the forest below.

The sky broke, releasing a heavy rain. The ground rumbled as Pele readied her eruption. Mike clenched his fists, sending blue and gold sparks up and down his forearms. He couldn't do anything yet, but when the time came...

Thunder rumbled overhead, followed by dozens of lightning strikes along the ridge. The kraken turned its attention toward Maui and let out a hideous cry. Tentacles flailing, it moved toward land, the water surging in front of it.

"That's right, discount Godzilla. Get your ass over here." Though he was stuck waiting, that didn't mean he couldn't help. A powerful vortex of mana spun inside of him as he sent his will outward into the land. Dazzling specks of golden light floated away from him like pollen, gliding down the cliff to the forests below. In his heart, he could feel the jungle come to life, the trees raising roots and lowering branches to slow the invaders. For a moment, he was one with the island, feeling the steady beat of its heart deep within his own.

Down below, the kraken grabbed onto the rocks of Maui and pulled itself onto land. It looked up toward Mike Radley and roared in fury, then began the long climb upward. The undead surged forward, vanishing into the jungles of Hawaii as they, too, began their murderous ascent.

Eulalie stared at the bank of monitors, nearly ten feet tall and thirty feet across that had been arranged in a semi-circle. She dangled from a thick band of silken webs that allowed her to twist and turn with little effort, her eyes shifting between all the screens. Three of the screens were currently blank.

"I don't have all day, you guys." She could hear the network of rats behind the monitors, shifting about as they finished plugging in the last few monitors. Cables dropped through the floor to the massive server room below, where an experimental supercomputer sifted through the data and attempted to parse out anything of worth. In truth, Eulalie had been debating acquiring it for the last year, and the assault on Hawaii had justified its theft. On the central bank of monitors, she watched as the dead smashed themselves against the exterior walls of an elementary school in Lahaina, the tsunami shelter closest to the sea. Up on the roof, the Order and some native islanders were busy smashing anything that crawled onto it. Down below, the cars that had been shoved up against the exterior doors were now being shoved so hard by the surging dead that the brickwork was beginning to crumble.

Her eyes briefly flicked to a different monitor with the names of anyone wearing a commlink. She clicked on Ingrid's name and waited. After several seconds of no response, she moved down to Wallace and clicked on him.

The comm cracked to life. "Delivery or carryout?" he asked.

"Where's Ingrid?" Eulalie could see the man on her screen. He was covered in blood, some of it his own.

"Inside blocking a hallway. Some of them got in through a busted classroom window. She probably lost her commlink." Wallace grabbed a woman by the shoulder and pulled her back as a skeletal figure lunged from the wall and tried to grab her leg. It caught Wallace instead, who sliced off its hand at the wrist. "Are you guys going to do something anytime soon? I give us maybe ten more minutes before this place becomes a killzone."