Lunch Break: A short story

I didn’t care. I just wanted to relax. I only had 50 minutes of free time and I didn’t want to waste it… I had driven outside the complex of the Plant I work in, the same thing I’ve done for the past 24 years. I drove out and parked somewhere down the road, a specific spot in front of a field of grass. It was a nice place to have my lunch and smoke afterwards. The air was nice and cool. The scent of dew and whatever the hell grass smelled of, lingered in the air. The sky was never without clouds, so it wasn’t hot, I could wear what I wanted. So there I was, leaning on the door of the driver’s seat, eating the sandwich I had packed earlier this morning. I had an open bag of potato chips on the hood of the car. A steel bottle of ice water sat beside it as well. I bit into the pillowy softness of the bread and looked out towards the same grass field I’ve seen a million times before. The sea of green danced in the wind, swaying to and fro to the breeze. Just beyond the field, looming like concrete sentinels overlooking Mother Nature itself, were the two cooling towers of the Plant I worked in. The Plant, also known as Typhon Site C, was effectively two buildings in one. One, it was a facility that produces clean energy to several nearby cities and Two, it was a prison for an eldritch creature people had discovered nearly a century ago. I never saw it up close, it was supposedly residing deep within the bowels of the plant, whether it was alive, dead or in some sort of stasis, I didn’t care...It was too much of a hassle to know. All I cared about was my job. All I did was simply push some buttons here and there and get paid for it… I put down the sandwich on the hood of the car and continued to eat the chips in silence. I continued to look out towards the Plant. I could see birds linger around the East Cooling tower. A tiny circle of winged beings, crowing and cawing at something… I wondered what kind of birds they were. I wasn’t a bird watcher, to me, birds were either crows, pigeons, budgies or parrots. I couldn’t care much about them. I was never a bird person myself… The chips were good and I finished them in one sitting. I continued my sandwich as I reached into my jacket pocket to get my smokes. I kept my cigarettes in a silver cigarillo box. It looked classy and it kept my little sticks of sin safe… The ground suddenly shook. I felt the car tilt left and right. The wind suddenly died and a stillness came out of nowhere. The shaking made me drop my sandwich. Damn it. I looked up ahead, the cooling towers shook too. The birds that lingered scattered in all directions. Lights here and there on the towers & surrounding buildings lit up, blinking on and off in the gloomy afternoon light. Something was going on at the plant. I wondered what it was. Another core failure? A fire drill gone wrong? Maybe a terrorist attack? God knows...I surely didn’t. I open the cigarette box, pull out a stick, and place one in my mouth. The taste of cigarette paper and dried tar kissed the tip of my tongue. I reach into the open window of my car and grab the lighter on the dashboard, just above the steering wheel. The flame is lit. The tip is lit. I inhale deeply and exhale a grey puff of smoke. It felt good. Warm and cold air entered my lungs as I took another breath. It was like inhaling cold water in the middle of a summer day. The ground shook again as I returned the cigarillo box into my jacket. I could hear an alarm go off at the plant beyond. It was the emergency alarm. Something bad was going on over there. Should I return? Maybe they needed me. I took a look at my watch, I still had half an hour. Forget it. I’m not going back just yet. Whatever that is, I’m sure they can handle it… The ground shook once more and I see the West cooling tower buckle. It looked like it was going to collapse. Another shake moved the ground. The West tower tipped to the left, then to the right, moving to and fro like a toy… I could see enormous cracks form on its concrete body. Huh. I see something emerge from the ground between the two cooling towers, something enormous kicked up a massive dust cloud briefly hiding the entire plant. The shaking continued, the food resting on the hood of my car slid off and fell to the ground. I continued puffing my cigarette, my gaze focused on the emerging chaos beyond that sea of grass. The dust began to clear. There something alive in that cloud of dust… My eyes widen. Woah. It was a creature of massive proportion. Some ancient looking colossus with large red eyes, horns that resembled ice or even crystals. It stood on two legs with a pair of massive forearms, its body resembled a gorilla of monstrous proportions….like King Kong meets something out of a lovecraftian nightmare. It’s skin was dark blue and there were etchings on it, lines & curves that resembled some sort of ancient writing. The creature roared with might. The low droning of its voice froze my blood and shook the world around me. I noticed that the sky went dark and rain began to fall. Maybe it controlled the weather. Maybe it was just a coincidence. The colossus turned its attention to one of the cooling towers and with one motion of its hand, knocked it down as if it was a house of cards. The monster roared victoriously as a swirl of clouds began to form in the sky above the creature. It seemed like the eldritch creature that was chained below the facility had escaped. No surprise there to be honest… Humanity was never really great at controlling things not meant to be shackled down. The chilling howl of an air raid siren rang in the distance and it seemed like the creature was just beginning its reign of terror. It roared and smashed one of its massive hands into the ground, causing an explosion of blue-yellow energy to raze a part of the plant. I finished my cigarette, stamped it out and continued to watch the creature raise hell. Something about the chaos was entrancing, I couldn’t look away from the destruction. I just leaned there, arms crossed on my chest, looking out towards the fall of man probably...It was an ancient creature of deity like power, it seems like it wanted revenge...Man would always get the short stick. So there I was, enjoying my last lunch break… I was now jobless, sandwichless and judging by the emergence of a being older than humanity itself, soon to be homeless… It couldn’t be chained down forever...sooner or later, it was going to have its day...and its day has come. But honestly, I didn’t care… I just wanted to relax. My reality was coming to an end and I didn’t want to waste it… I light another cigarette and continue to watch the creature’s rampage… It felt good.