A cold mist settled on the countryside as the sun crept over the mountains and into the pale gray sky, marking the end of night. The Pripyat, the same river Godzilla had followed to Chernobyl, now lead him on his journey. Godzilla’s erect dorsal spines cut through the cold air, raised above the surface like the fins of some horrible giant shark. They absorbed the early morning rays, warming his submerged body and keeping his stamina high. He had been swimming through the Pripyat for many hours now, alone with his thoughts.

He had been dwelling on the flashback nearly the entire time. All his thoughts were rich with hatred and want for revenge… it was an unhealthy state of being- more so for the humans than himself, though. He had given the humans little quarter in his attacks before, but now his wrath would be ten times fiercer. No city would go unpunished, no machine would be left unscathed, and no human would ever see Gojira and live to tell about it.

Time passed, but Godzilla’s rage did not subside. He grew anxious, hoping that there would be some sign of humanity nearby, some signal that would tell him when to unleash his fury. He quickly became impatient, swimming hurriedly and constantly glancing over at the shoreline. Time seemed to slow down as he rushed through the freezing depths in pursue of humans, and the slower time crawled, the more impatient he grew.

Irritated, Godzilla emerged from the river with a burst of white water. He lifted his head above the surface and scanned the horizon, his white eyed gaze scrutinizing every detail. The shore of made up of white sand, deceptively warm looking in the sunlight. Further on there were trees, all of them coniferous, none of them large enough to provide cover. Behind the trees was something undistinguishable… it looked suspiciously inorganic. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a building. Maybe it was something normal and he was just jumping to conclusions. Just because he wanted it to be man-made didn’t mean it necessarily was. Godzilla eyed the distant form warily, snorted, and then submerged.

Half an hour later Godzilla paused again, this time to rest. He had been swimming for hours now, and since there didn’t seem to be any humans in the immediate area he might be able to come ashore and take a breather. After lifting his head out of the water and glancing around, Godzilla lifted himself out of the water and scrambled onto shore. Crawling over a slight rise on the bank and then rising to his regular bipedal stance, Godzilla surveyed the land. Surprisingly, the odd shaped object was there again- off in the near distance, it’s form obscured by pine trees. Godzilla shook his head, flinging water all over, and approached the woods, drawn to the object by his natural curiosity.

Godzilla walked, or rather over, the forest. It seemed odd to him now that trees had once been taller than him. Now they barely came up to his knees. Smashing the ancient pines underfoot, Godzilla advanced on the strange object, straddling it and peering down at it inquisitively. It was tube-shaped, shiny, and black, and it appeared to stretch on through the wilderness for many miles. Godzilla reared up to his full height and checked the horizon. Indeed, the enormous tube went as far as the eye could see. His breather would have to wait- this was obviously the work of humans, following it might lead him directly to them.

Eyes fixed on it’s cold, dark form, Godzilla followed the manmade structure for miles. After following it for a while, though, it became apparent that Godzilla could’ve tracked the thing even if he were blind. It gave off a distinct chemical odor, powerful and strangely natural. Whatever this was, it seemed that it was probably hollow, filled with some rank and pungent substance. Godzilla’s imagination went wild, picturing all sorts of horrible things they might use it for. Perhaps it pumped out all the foul waste from their cities, or something to that effect. Godzilla pondered it some more as he walked on.

Slowly but surely, time ticked on. Godzilla followed the mystery structure for what seemed like an eternity, but his patience finally paid off. Standing out like a sore thumb, a faded white dwelling stood amongst the trees. A small road lead away from it and, most likely, to a nearby city. Godzilla suddenly picked up his pace, racing forward in the direction the road lead. The building splintered into a million pieces as Godzilla crushed it underfoot.

Trees were tossed up into the air by the giant’s claws as he raced towards the horizon, the basic shape of human buildings slowly visualizing in the distance. As Godzilla got closer, the roads became more heavily occupied. He purposefully turned from the forest, running over the road. His feet slammed down on the road, sinking it in with each foot fall, crushing vehicles flat. With each giant stride cars were spared, only to find one of Godzilla’s feet touching down ahead and forcing them to swerve off the road or into other drivers. Godzilla lifted his head and roared as he trampled the city’s incoming traffic and charged towards the outskirts of town.

Insanity reigned in the streets below. Godzilla’s footsteps shook the city, knocking trashcans over and rattling manhole lids. People everywhere were panicked and afraid, screaming hysterically and sprinting for cover in a feeble attempt at escape. Their fear only escalated when Godzilla’s inescapable shadow enveloped them. Their fate was sealed: the monster that burned Tokyo to the ground and blazed a path of destruction through China was now at their doorstep. Godzilla was in Mazyr, and no one was safe.

Godzilla’s booming roar inspired dread as he waded through knee-high homes and stores, plowing through the meager buildings as if they were made only of paper. His destructive march triggered small explosions nearby, and dark clouds of smoke began to billow up from the destroyed structures he left in his wake. Godzilla hissed, noticing the mass of people running from him nearby. Horror-stricken men and women watched helplessly as the behemoth caught up with them in a single stride and lowered his gigantic head to the streets. The giant maw opened up, revealing double rows of razor sharp teeth the size of mini-vans. The terrified citizens of Mazyr went mad with fear, shoving each other wildly and trampling the unfortunate fallen as the vast cavern of fangs drove them through the street. Godzilla’s mouth rose upward, snapping shut above their heads, forcing them to suddenly drop to their stomachs of leap out of the way.

Godzilla moved on, passing them with another giant stride and making his way towards the center of town. Starting slowly and quickly gaining volume, sirens wailed to life, followed closely by the less powerful sirens of police cars as they rushed downtown to help citizens to safety. Godzilla roared, charging his spines and pointing his head to face a small squad of police vehicles that had stopped to warn a gathering crowd of fleeing people. Godzilla unleashed the merciless beam of destruction, blasting the cop cars and incinerating their occupants. The resulting explosion engulfed everything and everyone nearby, setting flame to a nearby building and incinerating several people.

Ambulances rushed down the streets that hadn’t yet been filled by fire or debris, speeding to reach their destination in one piece. Godzilla lumbered by, his foot coming down on the road and crushing one of the fleeing ambulance. Police cars raced after Godzilla, running off the road and skidding to a halt ahead of him. Godzilla paused briefly as the officers aimed their guns up at Godzilla and opened fire. The bullets bounced off of him without producing so much as a tickle. Godzilla peered down at the puny humans and growled, the sound of his voice sending them running for their cars.

As the local authorities fled, Godzilla approached a large apartment building. He snarled, putting his eye to one of the windows and looking inside. A human woman screamed and closed the blinds, but there was no hiding from Godzilla. His hand deftly thrust forward, his open palm and three clawed fingers shoving through the brick exterior of the building and crushing several walls and support beams. Godzilla ripped his hand out of the building with a sideways swipe, hurling chunks of the apartment through the air and finalizing it’s demise. Now damaged and unsupported on one side, the top of the building and all four of it’s stories lurched forward. With a puff of dust and debris, the building’s crown broke off and fell to the ground, shattering at Godzilla’s feet in an explosion of bricks and plaster.

Godzilla opened his mouth and spewed radioactive flame on the heavily damaged apartment building, setting the entire structure ablaze. As the light blue flames lapped at the sky and slowly reduced the rest of the building to ash, Godzilla turned his path of destruction right. Tearing every building in his way apart, Godzilla forced his way towards another heavily crowded road. He bellowed at the screaming people as they rushed towards a small, ornate structure.

The building they took refuge in was one of the town’s oldest landmarks, a former monastery, St. Michael’s church. The frightened citizens cowered in the sanctuary of the church, hiding under pews and praying for mercy. Godzilla snorted, watching the humans clustering together in the small, unprotected building. They believed the place was holy, that it’s divine walls would protect them from harm. They were dead wrong.

Godzilla’s foot smashed through the roof, smashing most of the pews and everyone beneath them. The shockwave of the massive impact shattered the stained glass windows, throwing multicolored shards at the huddled up humans. Godzilla lifted his foot, his claws raking through the remainder of the ceiling. With a savage hiss, Godzilla stomped the wobbling ruins of the building into dust.

Godzilla uttered a guttural rumble and turned, seeing enemies approaching from the sky. He stood upright and raised his fins, standing his ground as the aircraft neared. Finally, their ridiculous military had showed up for another trouncing. Godzilla roared as the squadron of fighter jets rushed towards him in a “V” formation and opened fire. Missiles rained down on him, blowing up harmlessly against his near-impenetrable hide. Godzilla turned around as they flew behind him and prepared for another attack.

The jets suddenly split up into two groups, one group flying to his right, the other to his left. Godzilla charged his beam up and turned to attack the squad heading towards him from the right, but the jets abruptly broke off and flew away. Godzilla’s beam fired out at empty space, streaking across the sky and hitting a large building in the near distance. The structure exploded violently while the jets flew off unharmed. Meanwhile, the group on the left opened fire again, peppering Godzilla’s side with missiles.

Godzilla snarled and turned to face his attackers, lunging at them and snapping his jaws shut near one of the closer jets. They raced on undaunted, rejoining the other group and reforming the original squadron. Godzilla snorted and fired his beam again, aiming at the dead center of the assembly. The now larger target was unable to disperse in time; Godzilla’s radioactive breath struck three of the innermost jets and annihilated them. The resulting explosion rocked all of the nearby fighters, setting flame to two of them and engulfing another completely. Godzilla watched with sadistic glee as their burning remains dropped from the air and crashed into the sides of small buildings on the ground. The surviving jets, including the two damaged ones, prepared to take the offensive once more.

Godzilla eyed the approaching aircraft and readied his claws, eager to lash out and destroy what was left of their pitiful squadron. From under their wings the jets unleashed their payload, missile after missile after missile. Godzilla boldly took a step forward, slamming his foot down hard and taking the salvo of explosives in the chest. Fire and shrapnel washed off his immense bulk like water, utterly useless. The jets scrambled to get away, all flying off in different directions to avoid Godzilla’s monstrous claws.

Buzzing like a cloud of flies, the dispersed jets flew over Godzilla’s head, firing their machine guns wildly. Godzilla lifted one arm and brushed the smashed shells off his face casually, watching the humans and their desperate new tactic. With explosive force he opened his jaws and rushed straight up, catching one of the nuisances in his multi-fanged mouth and crushing it in a small, unimpressive fireball. Godzilla spat out the fragments of metal as the other jets kept shooting, obviously not worried at all by the situation.

At the same time, ground units were mobilizing and advancing on Godzilla’s location. Infantrymen supported by tanks worked their way down the damaged roads of Mazyr and slowly approached Godzilla’s gargantuan form. Hesitantly, a plan was set into motion.

As if suddenly distracted by something more interesting, the jets reorganized their ranks and abandoned their attack. Godzilla hissed, following their movement with his cold, white eyes. What were they up to now?

In the streets below, men in hazmat suits hurried forward, heaving with them large explosive devices: Mines, like the ones they used against him in China. The mines, so heavy they took four men to lift, were set down in the street, waiting in Godzilla’s path. The men in yellow suits ran for their lives as Godzilla peered down at them and roared, heading in their direction.

As Godzilla advanced on the fleeing humans, tanks rolled in, positioning themselves nearby and awaiting the order to fire. Their nozzles pointed sky high as Godzilla moved in, each monstrous footstep shaking the earth beneath them.

Then, if only for a moment, it was quiet. The entire city seemed to be hanging on the edge of it’s seat, waiting for what was about to come. Godzilla’s foot came down, and his three clawed toes dug through the pavement of the street as he applied the pressure of his weight. Then, in the blink of an eye, chaos erupted.

The mine detonated immediately, erupting into a massive fireball that shoved Godzilla’s foot away and back into the air. The shockwave hit the other mines, setting them off in a terrific display of fire and shrapnel. Godzilla let out a horrified screech as the explosions forced back his foot and tipped him backwards, aiming to throw him onto his back. The tanks wasted no time, their specially made armor-piercing shells blazing over the city and hitting the monster directly in the chest.

The combined force of the explosions and the tank blasts thrust Godzilla backwards. Like a tree ripped away from it’s roots by a lumberjack, Godzilla’s mammoth body fell to the earth. Landing on his back with an ear-splitting crash, the impact of his fall shattered the road like a pane of glass. The fleeing infantrymen were thrown off their feet by the massive tremor, only the steadfast tanks held their position. The ground shook harmlessly beneath them as they marched forward on war-worn treads.

Godzilla lay prostate on the ground. The monster’s chest heaved, but it’s eyes were closed shut, and it made no movement. The tanks slowed down, lined up perfectly, and stopped. Save for the blaring of sirens in the background, the city was silent. The hatches on top of the machines opened up, their apprehensive drivers poking out like prairie dogs. Godzilla made no attempt to get up. He knew better.

As they gawked at his motionless body they let down their guard, allowing themselves to believe that they had really won. How stupid these little mammals were…

Laying still and breathing hard, Godzilla rolled his head over and opened his mouth, his tongue falling limply to the street and forming a puddle of saliva. Infantrymen crowded around, staring with disbelief into the monstrous maw of their “defeated” adversary. The two remaining jets flew overhead, amazed at what they saw below them.

Godzilla listened carefully, picking up every footstep, every cheer, every weapon dropped. Their morale was high, their guard was down, and they had unknowingly set themselves up for a humiliating death. An orchestra of screams filled the air as Godzilla opened one of ghastly white eyes, glaring hatefully at the pitiful soldiers standing only a few feet away. His tongue suddenly recoiled into his jaws as blinding light rushed up his gullet and into his mouth. The horrified soldiers reached for their weapons, but Godzilla was faster. His let loose with his radioactive breath, blowing away the foundation of a nearby building and reducing the foolish humans to ash.

The other soldiers ran, scurrying away and heading for the tanks they had so ignorantly abandoned. Godzilla rose up, lifting his head high above the battered remains of Mazyr and roaring furiously. His foot came crashing down, flattening the tanks and their idiot pilots. The pair of jets hastily flew away as the surviving infantrymen took cover behind piles of rubble and smoldering buildings.

As they quivered behind the charred remnants of their beloved city, the humans prepared their weapons for use. Godzilla hissed and scanned the streets, making note that there were still soldiers about. It didn’t matter, of course- without their war machines, the humans were completely powerless. Godzilla trudged on, ignoring the infantrymen as they shouter and screamed, firing their tiny rockets at him. The explosive shells caused little more than a tickling sensation.

Godzilla left the humans behind quickly and easily. His strides were far greater than theirs, and they had to stop to reload after each attack. Soon they were several blocks behind him, where they were no doubt retreating… and reinforcements. He recalled the jets, they had escaped as well. Surely they would return not long from now with greater numbers.

With this in mind, Godzilla stopped and took a brief moment to think. Should he sprint away and put the humans through their paces, or simply stay and decimate wave after wave of the vermin? As he considered his options, a familiar smell caught his attention. Godzilla turned his head and looked to the horizon.

Though the stores, homes, and apartments of the city were growing more scarce, there was a large cluster of superstructures in the near distance. Fenced in and guarded by a barricade of tanks was a towering collection of spires and pumps which spewed black smoke into the air. He immediately linked the smell to the object he had followed here, and soon spotted it nearby. It ended where the facility began, somehow connected.

As he grew near the tanks whirred to life, rolling out towards him and meeting his approach with raised nozzles. Godzilla roared, undaunted by their loaded cannons and their determination to guard whatever it was behind them. Whatever the facility was, it must be important- why else would they defend it so fervently?

The tanks struck first, launching shell after shell at Godzilla’s torso. He pushed through the blasts, shrugging them off with general disconcert. Nevertheless they opened fire again, spewing another round of useless ammunition at their oversized enemy. As Godzilla’s nearing footsteps began to shake the ground beneath them, the tanks switched to reverse and began to back up. They screeched to a half, one of them rear-ending the fence and making it wobble violently. Godzilla’s shadow glided over them as they fired off another round. It was their last.

Godzilla made special effort to stomp his foot down as hard as he could with this next stride; the impact of his footfall threw the tanks that had not been crushed underfoot rolling over on their sides, crippled and utterly useless. Godzilla snorted and moved on, plowing through the insignificant fence without even noticing.

The strange scent became stronger and stronger as he neared the structures- it was almost unbearable now. Hesitantly, Godzilla crouched and extended an arm towards one of the many intricate bars of hollow metal. With a swish of his index claw the thin bar sliced in two and ruptured, spewing it’s contents and staining his hand.

Godzilla gazed at his claws intensely, looking over the warm, black liquid that coated them. Godzilla took another mind-numbing sniff of the substance and retched. He stood up, glaring at the putrid factory. Whatever the foul liquid was, the humans were dredging it up from beneath the ground and harvesting it here. Perhaps the structure he had followed brought the stuff to and from here. Whatever the case, he found the whole thing revolting. It was bad enough they had tampered with the surface world, but now beyond that? The far reach of this infestation was becoming clearer with every passing day. The humans were out of control.

The rumble of jet engines settled in Godzilla’s ears. He stood up and turned his back on the facility, spotting another squadron of flying machines. Jets, like the last, though he recognized one as being larger and of a different build. He snarled and waited for them to attack.

Much to his dismay, the aircraft flew harmlessly over his head. Slowly he turned to look over his shoulder. They had seen him, no doubt, but for some reason they weren’t shooting at him. It suddenly dawned on him that it had to do with the structures before him. Maybe the humans weren’t shooting because they were afraid they might damage the facility?

If this place was so important to them, Godzilla had only one option: to burn it to the ground. Godzilla curled back his scaly lips in a malicious expression hauntingly similar to grin and took a step towards the facility. The jets circled, flying around him cautiously. They knew they had to protect their target, but the risk of opening fire near it was too severe. They were powerless to stop him.

Godzilla opened his mouth, charged his spines, and prepared to fire. The jets immediately shot forward, firing manically with their machine guns, aiming at his head and trying to draw his fire without shooting near the structures.

It didn’t take them long to regret it. Persistent to destroy the facility, Godzilla let loose his thermonuclear breath weapon. What he didn’t know was the true nature of the facility he was about to bath in radioactive flames. It was an oil refinery. One of the largest oil refineries in the world.

There was a blinding flash of light, a thunderous crash that ripped the air apart, and then fire. Nothing but fire. Fueled by the immense amount of oil being pumped in and out of the refinery, the explosion grew to unbelievable dimensions, engulfing both Godzilla and his mechanical foes. Even Godzilla’s roar was drowned out by the thunderclap of the fiery outburst.

As the smoke cleared, it became evident that only Godzilla had survived the blast. Though he had been knocked down by the force of the gigantic flare, he was still very much alive. He stood up with a grunt, burning piece of debris falling off his form as he got up. Scorch marks marked his front side but quickly faded out of existence as his regenerator cells kicked into action.

Godzilla shook himself, looked around, and snorted proudly. He had a feeling the facility might be blow up, but he’d had no idea that it would explode so powerfully! The explosion had fried the jets instantly, conveniently dispatching his enemies for him. With Mazyr in shambles and the human military thoroughly thrashed, Godzilla turned his back on the city and left thinking how lucky he was to have such flammable foes.