The ground rumbled in response, throwing Elle to the ground. She threw her hands out in time to keep her face from hitting the wet pavement. Rushing feet pounded past her, and she grasped just how scared Sam must have been when he’d nearly been trampled outside the hospital. She struggled to get to her feet even as the tremors increased in intensity. Through the crush of weaving bodies around her, she gaped in horror as, up the hill in Chinatown, an entire intersection bucked as though it was the epicenter of a quake.

Pavement cracked, wide fissures splitting the asphalt. Steam spewed from broken pipes. Several blocks away, the trembling intersection sank beneath ground level, briefly forming a deep crater, before erupting upward with explosive force. Chunks of cement and blacktop went flying as another monster, even larger than the first, surfaced from beneath the city. Eight giant limbs, each sporting vicious claws, pulled the grotesque body up onto the demolished pavement. The female screeched back at the male.

Oh, God, no, Elle thought. Not the other one, too!

More bodies shoved past her, obstructing her view of Chinatown and the new creature. She clambered awkwardly to her feet and rejoined the frenzied mob fleeing the creatures. The subway entrance beckoned her and she stumbled down the steps toward the gloomy, unlit station. National Guard members began to herd her through the entrance as they prepared to shut the emergency doors behind them. Elle didn’t like the idea of being locked underground in the dark, but it was better than staying out in the open in a city overrun with giant monsters.

Just as she reached the bottom of the steps, a fierce roar trumpeted across the city. The riveting growl was even louder and more intimidating than the strident howls of the MUTOs. Despite her desperate quest for shelter, Elle turned toward the source of the bellowing roar, as did all the Guards and awestruck citizens around her. Eyes bulged and jaws dropped as Elle and the others stared up the stairs at the riveting sight above. Oh my God, Elle thought.

Godzilla rose from the bay and stepped onto the land. His thunderous tread shook the earth as he stomped through industrial shipyards and piers. Office buildings and warehouses were reduced to splinters beneath him. A cable car was crushed beneath a great, clawed foot. His tail whipped behind him, toppling entire buildings. Smoke and flames and billowing clouds of dust and pulverized concrete obscured some details of his appearance, but his overwhelming size and power rendered Elle speechless and made her feel like a minuscule insect by comparison. Godzilla’s pitiless eyes fixed on the MUTOs, his ancestral foes. A furious roar shattered windows across the city and left Elle’s ears ringing. Everyone around stared up at the raging behemoth in awe and terror.

A giant now strode the earth, terrible in his wrath.