Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #18 September 2015 | Page 13

vehicle were six clanking metal behemoths, vague shapes almost lost in the smoke. each sweep. It took another step forward, the impact lifting Jiro’s tank off the ground. The company commander’s voice crackled over Jiro’s headset. “Fire,” Jiro whispered, his mind reeling from the impossibility of what he was seeing. Akagi, his gunner, was screaming. “All men, prepare to engage, prepare to… AAAAAGGGHHH!!!” Jiro saw a stream of what looked like intense blue flame come from the sky and hit the commander’s tank, which exploded almost instantly. Jiro looked up. A vast, dark shape loomed through the smoke. Buildings ahead crumbled from some great force. Jiro could hear Soto repeating “dragon, dragon, dragon” when an immense reptilian foot crushed the thirty-five ton tank like a cardboard box. Jiro could now see the ‘enemy’ clearly. It looked to him like a bipedal reptile, a hundred meters tall, with plates running down its back. Jiro could make out a long, thick tail, smashing buildings with “Fire,” Jiro shouted. Akagi triggered the main gun. The 90mm shell bounced off the thick hide of the advancing colossus. “No effect!!!” Jiro could see the scarred sole of the creature’s 10-meter-long foot as it lifted high over his tank. “Not this way,” was Jiro’s final thought, as the monstrosity took another step. 13