Mad Lad; February 16th

"Sir! This is a bad idea!" The marine colonel shouted in my ear as we rushed for the Blackhawk.

"That's what makes it fun init?" I shouted as we hopped into the aircraft. I quickly checked to make sure my camera was good, my M4 slung over my shoulder, not like I'd be using it today.

Nah, today I was doing every Australian's dream, gonna go touch a monster, snap a couple pictures of it. Then terrorize the rest of the world with em. What could possibly go wrong?

The black hawk slowly lifted off in the predawn light. Slowly rising above Lubang island and making its way northeast. The flight was a bit on the shorter side, about eleven minutes. But I could see the big guy long before that. Even at his… moderate size, he crowned the little rock called Corregidor like a miniature mountain peak.

Manila bay was quiet, almost serenely peaceful, if one ignored the massive floating chunks of rotting meat lining the bay, the recent prey of the big guy. I snapped a few pictures of some of them, birds already crawling over them and the fish taking chunks out of the sides. But we were quickly over Corregidor itself, taking a wide circle around the island as we observed the big guy, still asleep, his nostrils occasionally twitching.

"That clearing there!" I pointed, my request relayed to the pilot who brought us in a few feet above the ground where I dropped out. A wide smile splitting my face as I quickly snapped a few pictures of the big guy as the helicopter quickly lifted off again.

I started my little hike, walking up to his flank. Any unconscious rolling in his sleep and I'd be flattened like a pancake. "Crikey, bastard's huge."

I reached out, my hand sinking into a scar, likely left by a leviathan's long serrated teeth. Thing was near invisible against the dark grey scales, it stretched from my knee to about twenty feet above me.

"Man, gotta be some killer fights… what I'd give to watch those." I chuckled to myself as I started walking the big guy's flank. No adventure like this would be complete without a selfie. Gotta make sure the big guy gets his credit.

I slowly made my way up to the big guy's head. The slow rhythmic breathing was near deafening on the exhale, but near silent of the inhale. Damn, the big guy was snoring! Fast asleep he was. I snapped a couple pics, then faced away, turning the camera back to take a few with the big guy.

I looked at a couple photos… wait… its eye had been opened… I slowly sighed, my amusement ending as I slowly turned to see an eye larger than myself staring down at me imperiously.

"Hey big guy. Hope you don't mind a spot of tourism… heard it's good for the local economy." I joked.

"Hey, name's Jake, pleasure to meet you I guess. Not sure you can even understand me eh?" I introduced myself, then wondered why I was even talking to him. A searing pain flashed through my skull. I dropped to my knees, clutching at my head as foreign images flashed through my mind.

A young girl, exploring an old reactor… curling up at the foot. Growing… several mutants, slashing them with claws and fangs, cracking their bones with a tail. Days, weeks… months of the same. Slowly absorbing everything, fighting. A prompt. Kill the usurper… leaving the old reactor, swimming in the sea. Feasting on a leviathan. Silently cruising past a submarine, the battle, slaughter. Killing the dragon, the usurper.

I panted heavily, covered in sweat as I looked up at the familiar eye staring down at me. He… she slowly pulled back her mouth to reveal her massive fang like teeth.

"Crikey… you've had it rough eh?" I asked, slowly pushing myself to my feet.

"Say… we were fixing to liberate Manila from the undead… would you kindly not attack us?" I asked. Another searing flash, this time far less painful. Ships giving her a wide berth, and her ignoring them, ships shooting at her, being bathed in blue fire.

"So… as long as we don't bother you? You'll leave us alone? That right?" I asked. She snorted. I shrugged.

"That supposed to be yes?" I asked. She snorted again. Shit I guess so. I felt giddy. I was talking with… conversing? With a monster. Wait… some, those earlier images that had flashed through my head?

"What's your name?" Another short series of images, Japanese characters, slowly morphing into the word Gojira. I shook my head.

"Not what you are… What is your name? You, not what you've become." I said. I swore the eye stared down at me with amusement, different characters flashed behind my eyes, slowly taking the shape of letters I recognized. Anomie Rei.

I was about to say something when I recalled some trivia, lot of Asian countries placed their surnames first… so reordering it to what I was used to. Rei Anomie.

"Well, miss Anomie. I'm Jake Ellis. It's been a pleasure meeting you." I walked up and patted her jaw. She snorted again.

"Yeah yeah… sure thing Godzilla. I'm gonna call you Rei from now on though, so get used to seeing your new favorite tourist around!" I waved cheerfully as I walked a ways away before waving the circling Blackhawk to pick me up.