The automatic fire alarms had brought whatever firefighting equipment was in the city but it was useless. Red-orange fire lashed out at the night, leaping and dancing in the sky, leaving destruction wherever it touched.
Like something out of a horror movie, the great creature stood guard over it all. It towered above the high buildings, huge and menacing. It smashed brick walls like sand castles and snapped steel beams like pretzel sticks. The helpless onlookers could only stand by and stare in shock. It looked like a scene from a Godzilla movie… but this was real… frighteningly real!
A sizeable audience had gathered by this time but, for such a gathering, it was unbelievably quiet. The only sounds were the crackling of the flames and shattering of glass. Every now and then the creature would let out a loud roar. The people shuddered and fearfully wondered what could come next. The police were afraid a state of panic would break out if things went any further. They had to find some way of stopping that thing out there – but how?
As dawn broke, the huge Mackenzie Complex was just a flattened, blackened ruin. Thankfully, nothing outside the Complex had been damaged. And the huge creature had vanished, just as mysteriously as it had appeared. Where had the thing come from and where had it gone? Would they ever learn the “Who, What, When, Where, Why and How” of what had happened here tonight?
********************
That thought was uppermost in Ben Small’s mind as he ran back to his apartment. He paused once, turning to look back, still finding it hard to believe what he had seen. Then he ran as if his life depended on it. He had to get his story written before anyone else and get it to his boss. While he wrote, several rolls of film were being processed. He called to give his boss a heads-up and was promised a centre-spread of photos – in colour! And Ben typed faster than he ever had before! He knew there would also be follow-up stories to come in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile… as Ben worked on his story… a short distance away, completely unnoticed, an ugly, slippery, little green frog hopped off toward a nearby pond. Ahhh … sweet revenge! Now he could go back to his own little world and die in peace. At least this lab would torture no more of his kind.
