Max
New Jersey Bay
Ocean City
August 19, 2020

"Max, you coming?"

The voice of my friend, Alex, pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Y-yeah, I'm coming"

we were on a trip through Ocean city, towards the theme park. Alex lived nearby, and she decided to drag me to the park to live out some of her childish dreams that she never got to experience when she was younger, due to her pretty oppressive parents. 

She was 18 now, and had planned getting her own place for a long time, as she was very eager to get away from her mom and dad.

As for me, my parents were near the opposite of Alex's. They were practically like a real mom and dad to her, and she would very often sneak out of her house to come to mine. We were pretty close, practically siblings from different families.

"So," I asked her, "What are we doing first?"

With a giddy smile on her face, she looked at all the rides in view of the park.

"How about the log flume?" she asked, pointing at the water-based roller coaster that went into a rock face cavern.

"Sure, you're in charge, my queen-" I said, pretending to bow my head.
"Oh, stop that, you." she chuckled.

we walked over to the ride, paid for it, and got on. It was pretty calm at first, moving nicely through a dark cavern, before going up a high rise and then coming back down at an incredibly fast pace. The both of us screamed as it came down, and I suddenly felt Alex grab my hand tightly. The ride finally splashed down, and nearly drenched both of us.

After we got off, both laughing, I asked Alex.

"Hey, what was with that hand grab?"

Alex blushed. "Oh, well, um..."

Before she could finish, a terrible shriek pierced the air, and the ground shook as multiple thooms could be heard in the distance, coming closer.

"What the hell was that?" Alex asked, her voice trembling in fear.

"I don't know..." I replied

Suddenly, a colossal insect-like head with green horns and yellow eyes loomed over the wall of the theme park facing the ocean. It let out a screech and then forced itself through the wall, crushing attendees and park security.

Alex screamed, and I ushered her behind a minigame stand.
"A giant monster?" she stammered. "I thought Godzilla was the only one!"
"It would seem not..." I muttered, the memories of Godzilla coming back to me...

...I was in New Jersey, and had been very young when Godzilla had already passed through New York. I saw him on TV, causing destruction. In the night, I could hear his roars echoing even from miles away. It scared me for months, and even after he disappeared in San Francisco, I could still hear his roars in my nightmares, as if he were still there...

The shrieking of the insect beast brought me back into the moment. Sirens of police cars could be heard approaching, and before we knew it, there were about a dozen police officers with their handguns drawn, firing at the beast to no avail.

One cop got a little too close, trying to fire at the monster's eyes. In a swift motion, the monster's head shot down, and it's insect jaws clamped around the man's entire upper half, and tore him clean apart. his legs and waste wobbled in place as blood and stringy intestine sprayed out, staining the monster's jaws a dark crimson.

As the disembodied legs toppled over, one of the policemen looked in horror, then leaned into his walkie talkie, and shouted;
"We need some serious backup! Get SWAT! O-or national guard! Something! Hurry!"

As he finished his sentence, a green energy seemed to emanate from the creature's front horn, and a force like a bolt of lightning was projected from it, colliding with the police cruiser next to the officer who had just made the call for help, causing it to burst into flames, throwing it into the air and other officers flying. The blast of the explosion send the officer to the ground, and he looked up just in time to see the top of the cruiser falling towards him before he was crushed underneath 1,000 pounds of metal.

"Christ..." I muttered under my breath, looking at the remaining cops, who clearly stood no chance against the creature before them. Nearly thirty minutes later, dozens of armored vehicles rolled up, pouring out trooper after trooper, carrying machine guns and rifles, proceeding to open fire on the creature, still doing nothing to stop the beast.

Another shock from the beast's horn sent more men flying through the air, and one body landed in front of me, a grenade launcher attached to the underbarrel of his rifle. I looked up from the rifle, and saw the Ferris Wheel.

Suddenly, an idea struck me.

"Stay here." I said to Alex, and grabbed the rifle off the ground, running behind the forces shooting at the creature. "Max!" She shouted as I ran off towards the Ferris Wheel. I aimed at the wheel's hub, and prayed to god that my idea would work. I jerked the pump on the underbarrel launcher, shooting a grenade from within, the force of it knocking me back. The projectile collided with the wheel's hub, exploding and causing the massive wheel to be blown off the supports.

Just as I expected, the wheel bounded forward, right towards the massive beast, and slamming right into it, throwing it to the ground. The beast screeched, probably more in surprise than pain. Afterwards, it backed up, and followed the boardwalk towards the city, the SWAT teams and some additional military forces that had arrived in tow.

Alex rushed over to me, putting her arms on my shoulders. "That was fucking stupid of you, Max!" she shouted in my ear.
"I'm just glad it worked..." I muttered.