15 years later

On a beach in the United States, a military transport aircraft has landed perfectly on the large beach two minutes ago without injuring any citizens. The cargo door slowly dropped open and inside were a bunch of US military soldiers who have returned from their journey. One of them was Matthew Cade, he joined the US army three years ago. He used to be a ground soldier but now, he has been promoted as an EOD officer.

"Alright, get up everyone." The Major ordered.

All of the soldiers in the large plane obeyed their superior and got up from their seats as well as putting on their backpacks.

"Hey Matt, you have a family waiting for you?" His friend asked.

"Indeed I do Tommy." Matthew replied with a nod "I heard that they have prepared something wonderful for me too from the text message on my phone." He added.

"Why aren't you a luck one." Tommy commented with a chuckle, and Matthew chuckled back "How long have you been away from them?" He asked.

"Sixteen months." He replied.

"That's amazing but don't get pressured up." Tommy told him "It's the one thing they don't train you for." He reminded. After that, the began to leave the transport aircraft.

"Alright men let's go!" The Major ordered again.

San Francisco

Matthew has finally made it back to his hometown San Francisco after hitching a fourteen minutes ride in an Uber. Once he got back to his house, he was immediately greeted by his wife Melissa who embraced him in a loving hug as well as a kiss to the cheek. After that, Matthew's wife told him to close his eyes which he did, and she began to lead him to the dinning table. When they got to the table, Melissa sat her husband on the table, at this point, Matthew was growing a bit tired of waiting due to him being very desperate to know what surprise his wife and son have organized for him.

"Come on baby can I see it?" Matthew asked with a chuckle.

"I can't tell you." She told him with a giggle. "After all, it is a surprise." She added.

"Fair enough." Matthew said with a shrug.

A brief second later, Melissa placed something on the table and removed her hand from her husband's eyes.

When Matthew's noticed that his wife's hand was pulled away from his eyes, he opened his eyes and saw a cake on the table that read 'welcome home'.

"It's a welcome home cake honey."

"Oh wow." Matthew said with a shocked expression. Then, he looked up at his wife with a contented face "It's wonderful sweetie." He told him.

"Daddy look."

When Matthew heard his son, he looked to where he was standing and saw him pointing at a drawing that is stuck on the wall. But, what his son was really pointing at were the drawings of two stickman figures.

"This is you." Kyle said pointing at the tall stickman figure "And that is me." He finished pointing at the shorter stickman figure.

"What does it say Kyle?"

"Welcome home daddy." He replied with a smile.

"Daddy's home!" Matthew exclaimed happily "This means cake every night." He said with a smile.

"Yeah, that's not happening." Melissa said with a giggle.

"Daddy's home equals cake every night." He told them.

Melissa looked at her son for a moment and saw that he has a little bit of chocolate cake substance on his right cheek.

"Sweetie how did you get chocolate on your cheek?" Melissa asked as she wiped the substance off of his right cheek.

"Daddy did it." He replied.

The remark of the young boy has made both his parents chuckle.

It was late at night now and Matthew was seen trying to get his son to bed while he was wiggling around.

"Come on I can't sleep with you making all this house." Matthew told him.

"Hee-hee-hee." Kyle giggled.

"Alright Kyle, let's get you into bed." Matthew said as he got off the bed, and his son stopped wiggling around. After that, Matthew pulled the blanket on top of Kyle until it was covering his arms, legs, and torso. "Okay strong man, have a good sleep." Matthew said as he kissed his son on the forehead.

After that, Matthew stood up and turned around to face his son's bedroom door. Then, he walked up to it and placed his right hand on the light switch, preparing to turn the lights of his son's room off. But then, his son called him again.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?" Matthew asked turning around to look at his son.

"Will you still be here tomorrow?" Kyle asked with a pleading expression.

"Of course I will." He replied with a smile which made his son smile back. "Now come on, go to sleep." He told him in a soft tone.

After that, Kyle slowly closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.

When Matthew saw his son drifting to sleep, he switched off the lights and gently closed the door to his son's bedroom in order to not wake him up.

While Kyle was sound asleep, Matthew and his wife were in the living room drinking some water. During that, Matthew was showing his wife some of his soldier skills that he learned training he received in the US military academy. And each time he presented his moves, his wife was giggling at how cool he looks.

"Front march and stop." Matthew said doing some casual and quiet marches in the room which his wife giggled at.

Matthew then sat next to his laughing wife on the couch and began to adore her wonderful laughing sounds.

"Man I missed your laugh."

"And I missed you honey."

After that Matthew and Melissa both kissed each other in the lips. Things were starting to get wonderful for a moment but suddenly, the cellphone on the table began to ring which prompted Melissa to stand up from the couch and walk up to the table to pick up the phone. Then, she pressed the call button and placed the phone near her right ear.

"Hello?"

"Yes, this is Mrs Cade."

"Oh really?... Okay, can you hold on for a moment?" Melissa asked as she lowered the phone. Then, she turned around and faced her husband.

"What was that all about?"

"It's the consulate." She told him "Your father has been arrested by the police in Japan." She finished.

Matthew began to pack up his clothes, shoes and other essential things for his trip to Japan to bail his father out of jail. He flipped open cupboards which contained his clothes and many more but, he couldn't find one crucial thing.

"Melissa, where are my pants?" Matthew asked walking out of the room.

"They're in the other drawer." She told him.

When Matthew heard this, he turned around and walked back into the bedroom to find his pants.

"What do you think happened this time?" She asked with a perplexed expression.

"Ugh, must be another one of his preposterous theory about this creature that provoked these seismic waves fifteen years ago in Osaka." He replied with an irked expression as he picked up his pants drone his drawer.

"Whether you like it or not, he is your father." She said "He just needs your assistance right now." She told him.

"I know but, he just can't forget the past." He told her with a vexed expression. Matthew has just realized that he was getting angry with his wife so, he calmed himself down and looked at her with an apologetic expression "Look, I'm sorry. Every time I let him in close, he always tries to drag me back. And I can't. I can't put our family through that." He told her.

"Well, he is your family." Melissa told him with a stern expression.

Matthew then looked back down on his luggage and began to pack up his things again in a frustrated way due to his father's temerarious exertion again.

When Melissa noticed her husband's vexed expression, she walked up to him and embraced her in a comforting hug, and Matthew hugged his wife back. It's a good thing that the EOD officer has his wife by his side to battle his stress.

Tokyo 8:00am

It was early in the morning in Japan's capital Tokyo, the residents of the city were seen living their normal lives as usual.

However, in a police department in the large city, Matthew was seen seated in one of the chairs in the police department waiting for his father to come out of his cell after paying for his bail. A brief second later, he heard some angry noises coming from inside of the cells room. Matthew looked to his right and saw his father behind a caged window picking up his stuffs. And when Carlos saw his son, he let out a smile towards him, but, his son is not as happy as he is right now.

After the bail, Carlos lead Matthew to his apartment. He stuck the key in the keyhole of the door and twisted the door knob, opening it in the process. After that, Matthew walked into the apartment block and Carlos entered after. A brief moment later, Carlos closed the door behind him and turned on the lights which illuminated his apartment block.

What Matthew saw after was astonishing. Around him were newspaper articles that all delineated about the incident that had occured in the nuclear power plant that his parents worked at 15 years ago. He turned around and looked at his father with an incredulous expression.

"Uh... make yourself at home." Carlos said as he lowered his stuffs on the floor "Even if uh... Ph.D.'s don't get that much teaching in English as a second language." He finished.

Matthew looked at newspaper articles with titles reading 'nuclear incident', 'nuclear nightmare', 'Meltdown in nuclear power plant in Japan's etc. All of these newspapers contents represents the incident.

"How's the bomb business going son?" Carlos asked looking down on his studying desk near the window. "It must be a growth these days huh?" He assumed.

"The unit I work in is called 'explosive ordnance disposal.'" He said after reading a news article that read 'giant monster spotted in Japan'. "My work isn't dropping bomb, it's defusing them." He clarified.

Matthew was growing very concerned about all of these newspaper articles that his father collected and stuck onto his walls, it was like he was coming up with something that would lead to detrimental events. So, he decided to ask his father about his plans that he has in mind.

"Dad-"

"Hey, how's Melissa doing?" He asked with an eager expression to know. "And Kyle, oh my goodness my grandson. He must be what? Three? Three and a half?" He assumed but, he was incorrect which made Matthew roll his eyes.

"He's almost five." He corrected him. Then, he walked up to a wall to check his books "I thought you were done with this... echolocation?" Matthew asked with a perplexed expression as he grabbed a green book.

"Oh hey." Carlos said as he quickly walked up to him "Please don't if you do not mind. I have everything the way I like it." He told him as he grabbed the book back and put it back to it's original place.

"I'm just... I'm studying bioacoustics." He told him with a chuckle.

"Dad, what were you doing, going back there?" Matthew asked with a perplexed expression.

"This trespassing stuff was crap."

"You broke the law." Matthew said with a disappointed expression towards his father's impulsiveness.

"I was just trying to get back to our old house."

"In a quarantine zone!" Matthew exclaimed.

"Precisely." Carlos said "The new readings are exactly like they were in that day and I can prove it to you." He told him with an exhilarated expression. Then, he walk past him to grab a piece of paper on the wall.

"With a little luck, if I can get back to the house,. I can show you and the world that this was not caused by a natural disaster." Carlos said in an enthusiastic tone "This was-"

When Matthew heard this, he was aggravated. Why can't his father just put all of this behind and just move on? All of his theories that he is trying to prove to him are just deranged and warped. His previous exertion in infiltrating the quarantined city was extremely naive of him. Then, he decided to cut him off.

"Dad!" Matthew shouted with a stern expression.

Carlos immediately shut up after hearing his son shouting angrily at him. He then let out a sigh and slowly walked up to him. Once he got to him, he looked at him face to face with a desperate expression.

"Your mom's out there son." Carlos told him softly "To me, she'll always be there. Back then they evacuated us so hastily, and I wasn't even able to get back a picture of her." He finished.

Matthew sighed when he heard his father's statement. He does still miss his mom but, this needs to stop.

"This has to stop dad."

"You know I did everything I could."

"Let me take you home." Matthew offered "Then, we can live together as a family. I've got a little boy who is so desperate to see his grandfather. We can go tomorrow." He told him with a smile.

Carlos sighed softly when he heard this, he really wanted to solve this case but at the same time, he was very eager to come home with his son to meet up with his grandson. But, he still wants to continue to investigate this matter at hand.

"Let's get some sleep son." He told him with a smile.

The next day

The sun has risen up in Japan but, many people were still sound asleep in their homes and apartments except for kids and adolescents who needed to catch a bus, ride a bike, or walk to school.

In Carlos's apartment block, Matthew was seen sound asleep on his father's couch, today was the day where he brings his father back to his home in San Francisco where he can finally meet up with his son, therefore, everything will go back to normal and they will live a happy life together. Suddenly, the EOD officer was woken up by the sound of someone typing the computer.

Matthew groaned and slowly opened his eyes from the sound. After that, he got off the couch and began to follow the source of the noise behind his father's book shelf. A brief second later, Matthew saw his father researching on something on his computer.

Carlos then threw the pen down and took off his glasses. After that, he turned around to grab something but suddenly, he saw his son standing in front of him which startled him.

"Matthew." Carlos said with a nonplussed expression. But, he tried to act natural "Good morning." He told him with a smile.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

Carlos tried to come up with an excuse but, he had nothing in his mind. So, he let it a sigh and decided to disclose the truth to him.

"I want to go back there Matthew." Carlos told him as he stood up and wore his jacket.

When Matthew heard this, his eyes widened and wanted to object about this temerarious choice.

"No, you can't."

"One hour, in and out." Carlos said. "I have to go!" He told him sternly.

"I came back here, wasted six years staring through that barbed wire, thinking that it was a military mistake or some horrible design flaw that they were covering up." He said "One day, I met a guy who runs a cargo boat offshore. Everyday he goes right past the reactor site. So he places a couple frequency monitors on buoys for me. Two weeks ago, I check this thing like every other day for the kick. Two weeks ago, I'm urning my mind and oh my goodness... there it is." He finished.

"Whatever it is that's in there. Whatever it is they're guarding so carefully starting to produce some noises again." He reported. "I have to go back to our old house Matthew. I need my old disks, and I'm certain that they're still there. I need the data to be able to prove a baseline here that this isn't a fantasy, that I'm not what you think I am. I'm gonna find a truth and put an end to this, one way or another." He finished with a confident expression.

When Matthew heard this, he let out another sigh of disappointment. Why does his father so desperately want to return to that place? If he goes back again, he will get arrested by the Japanese police again.

"Why can't you just let it rest?"

"Because I sent her down there son." Carlos replied with a disconsolate expression "This wasn't just a reactor meltdown-"

"Look, I don't want to hear this, I just want to bring you back home." Matthew said.

"I know I know. But, you can't keep running away." He told him in a logical tone "Problems will keep coming after you." He said.

Matthew couldn't help but shake his head from his father's veracious statement. Even though that all of this was in the past but, problems will still come after you no matter where you go. A brief second later, Matthew looked up at his father with a confident expression.

"Alright dad, let's go to Osaka."

"Wonderful!" Carlos exclaimed with an exhilarated expression "Thank you so much my son." He said with a smile.

Osaka

In the Quarantined Osaka, Matthew and Carlos were seen riding a motorboat in the abandoned city with Matthew driving it, and his father sitting at the front, both of them were wearing hazmat suits and gas masks too. The deteriorated city was flooded with water that manholes couldn't even drain, and grasses and vines were seen on the streets too. There was a sign on a metal fence that read.

隔離地域 (quarantine zone)

After a ten minutes drive, Matthew and Carlos both got off the boat and began to traverse through the deteriorated city. There were no people in the city, all that was left were grasses, abandoned buildings, wrecked cars and houses etc.

While walking, Matthew and Carlos saw three dogs running past them which got Carlos very perplexed.

"What are they running from?" He asked. But, Matthew decided to focus on the main topic.

"Come on dad, its just two blocks away." He told him as he walked forward "We don't have all day." He added.

Carlos looked down on his digital electromagnetic radiation detector and saw what the number was 0.000 which means that there was no signs of radiation levels in the city.

"Dad." Matthew called him which made him put the device back into his pocket "We going or what?" He asked in a slightly hurried tone.

But suddenly, Carlos placed both hands on his mask and prepared to take it off which made his son's eyes widen in horror behind his mask.

"Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing?!"

But it was too late, Carlos has already took off his mask and surprisingly, nothing happened, his skin was okay and he was breathing normally.

"The air's clean son." Carlos told him "The radiation level should be at a hazardous level but, there's nothing to be petrified about." He finished.

Matthew decided to disregard the previous exertion and continue to head to their old home with his father following from behind. Hopefully they will be able to find some more evidence in there like what Carlos said there would be.

After another minute walk, Matthew and Carlos have both made it back to their old house which was now covered in vines and leaves a little bit. The two shined flashlights around the place and saw nothing but roaches and a caterpillar into some areas of the house.

Carlos then walked into another room which was his office room and headed towards his old work table. Once he got to it, he lifted a metal sheet up from the table and threw it on the floor. After that, he found the four chips that contained the details of the seismic waves.

"Oh thank goodness." He said with a relived sigh.

He then placed them in his pocket and was about to head out but suddenly, something else caught his attention. Carlos looked down next to the keyboard and saw a wrecked family photo. He grabbed the photo with his right hand and saw that it was a picture of him, his wife, and his son together as a family. The wonderful nostalgia has made Carlos shed some tears of happiness. He then looked up and saw that banner that read 'happy birthday dad' on the wall that his son made.

In another room, Matthew has found a plastic soldier toy that he played with when he was a young child.

"Hey Matthew." Carlos called.

Matthew turned around and saw his father standing in front of him with things in his pockets.

"I got what I need, let's head back." He told him.

Carlos has finally got what they needed to prove that his theory about a creature creating these seismic waves is not a joke or a fantasy. Now, he and his son can return to Tokyo so, Matthew and Carlos both began to head back to the motorboat.

At first, everything was going smoothly but suddenly, Japanese police helicopters were seen flying in the sky to see if there were any intruders infiltrating the deteriorated city. This has prompted the two of them to hide behind the sides of the cars to prevent being spotted by the police.

Once the helicopter was out of sight, Matthew and Carlos cautiously walked out of their hiding places and continued to head to the boat but suddenly, something has caught both their attentions.

Across the city was the nuclear power plant that Carlos and Sally used to work in. There were lights on at the place and it was almost as good as new like somebody rebuilt it. The helicopter was seen flying there as well.

"Did they rebuild the plant?" Matthew asked with a perplexed expression.

"I don't know." Carlos replied with a shrug "I've never seen-"

But, just as Carlos turned around, he saw a blue van with sirens on it stopping in front of him which made him sigh in annoyance.

Matthew also heard the sound of a car stopping behind him. He turned around and saw a blue Japanese police vans with four Japanese police officers from the Japanese police force's special assault team aiming their guns at them.

"Here we go again." Carlos said with an aggravated sigh.

After that, two Japanese officers grabbed Matthew and Carlos and placed them in the truck as well as cuffing their hands against a pole of the van. Then, a Japanese officer began to drive them to the nuclear power plant.

Author's Note

Another chapter accomplished! I hope you all enjoyed it!