Ford watched in wonder as, block by block, the surviving street lamps came on across the city. The comforting glow of the lamps combatted the harsh black smoke from the fires. On the waterfront, standing victorious over his fallen foe, Godzilla tottered and dropped onto a massive knee. His weight squashed the headless body of the female, which spurted a gooey ichor over the crumbling piers. Godzilla’s shoulders slumped in exhaustion. Ford guessed that it had taken the very last of the great reptile’s strength to dispose of the final MUTO once and for all. Godzilla’s labored breathing could be heard across the water. The monster’s eyelids drooped. He appeared utterly spent.

Ford knew just how he felt.

He slumped against boat’s exposed helm, all too aware that the armed warhead rendered the MUTOs’ defeat academic. It was possible, he supposed, that Godzilla might survive the blast, as he had back in ’54, but San Francisco was doomed regardless. Ford prayed that somehow, against the odds, Elle had managed to make it out of the city after all. With any luck, she and Sam would survive.

Dropping to his own knees, he was on the verge of passing out when the boat’s engines suddenly revved to life. A fresh jolt of adrenaline rushed through Ford as he scrambled to his feet and jammed the throttle.

The boat shot away from the docks and out into the bay. Losing blood and strength, Ford clung to the helm and fought to stay conscious. Within minutes, the mangled remains of the Golden Gate Bridge came into the view. Ford steered the boat toward the strait and the open sea beyond. He could barely stand and felt light-headed, but he kept bearing down on the throttle.

Hang on, he ordered himself. Just a little bit further…

* * *

In the command trailer, all eyes were locked onto the screen monitoring the warhead. The radial circles denoting the blast zone were swiftly shifting across the map. The warhead was on the move again, but was it going fast enough? Time was running out.

Serizawa twisted the stem of his pocket watch.

* * *

A resounding crash echoed across the bay. Glancing behind him, Ford saw Godzilla collapse onto the wharf. Blocks of world-famous waterfront were crushed beneath the monster’s sprawled form. For a moment, Ford thought Godzilla was dead, but then he saw the fallen giant’s chest heaving ponderously. The huge saurian was wheezing audibly with every breath.

Ford looked away from the debilitated monster, turning his gaze back toward the strait ahead. Godzilla had done his part, ridding the world of the MUTOs. Now Ford had to make sure that the goliath’s victory was not a Pyrrhic one and that the remainder of San Francisco would not be consumed by thermonuclear fire, like that atoll in the South Pacific so many years ago.