But would he now leave humanity in peace?
All across the ravaged city, helpless humans held their breath as Godzilla paused between the city and the sea. They watched from rooftops, balconies, hills, and helicopters as the revived leviathan trudged slowly toward the bay. The earth trembled beneath his cataclysmic tread as it receded from the mainland, wading into the water:
BOOM! Boom! Boom…
Cheers erupted in the Coliseum as the Jumbotron carried live coverage of Godzilla striding back to sea. Glancing up at the screen, Ford wasn’t sure if the hordes of refugees were actually cheering the victorious monster or just his departure.
Probably hefty amounts of both, he guessed.
And, honestly, he didn’t care. While everyone else stared raptly at the giant TV screen, Ford turned away to concentrate on what really mattered: Elle and Sam. He’d seen enough monsters to last a lifetime. From now on, his family was getting his full attention. They were going to make it work after all, just like he’d promised.
He figured his dad would approve.
The sun was setting over the Pacific as Godzilla sank beneath the ocean, returning to the depths. His jagged fins remained above the waves for a moment, slicing through the foam, but they too gradually vanished from sight. The churning waters settled until no hint of the mighty leviathan remained. All was as it was before.
Nature was at peace.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg Cox is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels and short stories. He has written the official novelizations of such films as Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Rises, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, and the first three Underworld movies, as well as novelizations of various DC Comics miniseries.
In addition, he has written books and stories based on such popular series as Alias, The Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Farscape, The 4400, The Green Hornet, Iron Man, Leverage, Riese: Kingdom Falling, Roswell, Spider-Man, Star Trek, Terminator, Warehouse 13, Xena: Warrior Princess, X-Men, and Zorro. He has received two Scribe Awards from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. He lives in Oxford, Pennsylvania.
His official website is: www.gregcox-author.com.
As my sister recently reminded me, an Aurora plastic model of Godzilla (with Glo-in-the-Dark fins!) stood guard atop the dresser in my bedroom pretty much the whole time we were growing up, which just shows how long Godzilla has been a source of fascination to me. I honestly can’t remember what my first Godzilla movie was. Maybe the American version of the original 1954 classic, with Raymond Burr, or one of the later ones with Mothra and Rodan and the rest. But I have many fond memories of watching Godzilla tear apart Tokyo on TV and the occasional drive-in movie screen, so it was a thrill to be able to recapture that excitement again — and I have a lot of people to thank for that opportunity.
My dad, for making sure I was properly exposed to classic Japanese monster movies in the first place.
My editors, Steve Saffel and Jaime Levine, and the rest of the gang at Titan, including Cath Trechman, Nick Landau, and Alice Nightingale, for signing me up yet again.
My agent, Russ Galen, for ably negotiating on my behalf.
Josh Anderson at Warner Bros., along with Shane Thompson, Jill Benscoter and Spencer Douglas for making sure I had all the materials I needed to write the book. Thank you also to Jamie Kampel from Legendary Pcitures.
Gareth Edwards and the team at Legendary for bringing the King of the Monsters back to the big screen in a big way.
Author Christopher Bennett, for letting me tap into his encyclopedic knowledge of classic kaiju.
And, as always, Karen Palinko for putting up with me while I obsessed over a giant radioactive lizard for weeks on end, and our family of four-legged distractions, Lyla, Sophie, and Henry, just because. Henry sadly left us during the writing of this book, but was a big part of our lives for over twelve years.
We’ll miss you, you little goofball.
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