"Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is Anderson Cooper, and I wish I was in front of you today with better news.  Or at least news I knew how to even explain.  Please understand that this is all coming to us just now, and...well, frankly, I don't really believe it, and I doubt you will either.  What we're being told is that the National Guard was called into downtown Las Vegas to deal with what some are calling a giant woman."  He frowned, diverting his eyes from the camera as he said the last two words.  Visibly uncomfortable with what he was being asked to present.  

"As I just mentioned, the National Guard was called to the Las Vegas strip to confront a giant woman, uh, allegedly somewhere in the area of 200 feet tall, which would put her somewhere in the region of half the height of the Bellagio."  Reaching the end of his teleprompter's prompts, he put a hand over the microphone and leaned off-camera to the right.   "Uhm, I'm being told that this information is 100% credible, uh, legitimate...eh this is really happening."  An assistant came into frame ushering a stack of pages in front of Mr. Cooper.  Glancing down, he glanced through them, his eyebrows raising up his forehead, further and further into disbelief until they had joined the silver-white hair of his head.  

"Ok, again I apologize, this is just an unbelievable story, we've never dealt with anything like this, uh...any of us.  So what I'm being told is that the National Guard was indeed called to the south end of the Vegas strip to defend the city from an invading monster.  A, uh, 200 foot tall woman is how it...she is being described, and apparently, she is not friendly, an immediate threat to anyone who comes in contact with her.  Reports are flooding in that the National Guard was NOT successful in their endeavor, and I guess there are conflicting accounts on the number of casualties.  Some sources are claiming dozens, others hundreds."  Pain began to wind its way though his veins, displaying its presence through ever-increasing stress lines and wrinkles on the man's face.  

"So what we're hearing for those who are just joining us is that US armed forces encountered and engaged a 200 foot tall woman, and none of them survived.  We do not have an accurate count of the casualties, and to this point, we do not have any witnesses to present an eye-witness account."  No witnesses, he mumbled.  Then, turning, he called out to someone: "Where is this coming from?  No witnesses?  Can someone find us a witness so we can corroborate this mess?  What do you expect me to be saying up here?"  

Back on camera: "I am sure all of you are as shocked as we are, and we certainly apologize for the lack of substantive reporting at this point. What we know has happened is certainly a terrible, terrible tragedy, we know a lot of lives have been lost, brave soldiers working to protect this nation, but since 911, we certainly have not seen anything of this magnitude occur on American soil.  Since we don't have answers, we may as well begin posing questions, questions we hope will resonate with all of our viewers out there.  Joining me is National Guard spokesperson, Lt. John Ringley.  John, thanks for joining us, I'm sure you're well aware everyone has an awful lot of questions, let's start with the biggest, and...uh, I certainly didn't intend the pun considering the severity of this situation...  We are dealing with a giant woman?"   The resistance to believing was evident on his face and in his tone, but the reaction from the interviewee was not one of surprise.  

"Yes, Anderson, that's what we're dealing with."  

"Is this an extraterrestrial being, a regular person like you and I, uh...any idea where she may have come from?"

"We don't know."  This guy was typical.  

Struggling, Anderson continued: "Did she speak with anyone, were there any negotiations?"  

"Not that we are aware of."   The situation was now getting the best of the seasoned anchor.  You have to give these people credit during situations like this.  911, reporting non-stop for 20 hours or whatever, trying to lend credibility to conflicted information.  Creating the tone we all fall into, directing our concerns, addressing them once they've brought us to them.  So difficult to cover something like this, on the spot, careful not to step the wrong direction and offend someone.   

"Our viewers are probably most concerned at this point with the brave men and women of the National Guard who were said to have taken part in this engagement.  Can you add any detail to the reports we've heard to this point indicating there were no survivors?  Any idea as to the number we may have lost?"

"I can confirm there were no survivors, and initial estimates are we lost...144 brave souls to that monster today."  Finally a display of emotion from the veteran soldier.  

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to those lost today, and to their families.  We can't possibly understand why this happened today, we only know that it has.  We appreciate the service of those who fight for our freedom across the world, and we just never expect this to happen behind our own borders.  Perhaps sometimes we take the safety they provide for granted, and its unfortunate something like this would happen, and threaten their efforts to make us feel safe."  

Turning back to the spokesperson: "So that probably brings us to our next question, which is: so obviously we weren't able to contain this, uh, threat.  What does this mean?  Can you possibly explain what our next options are?  Do we have any idea as to this woman's intent?"  

"Well, Anderson, based on what we know, there really didn't seem to be any method to this attack, as we mentioned, no dialogue, no demands.  So, it's difficult to predict what happens next, which means it's difficult to predict the direction our armed forces and president may go."

Anderson turned back to face the camera and put his hand to his ear, pushing the earpiece further into his ear to hear his instructions.  "Lt. Ringley, we appreciate your time, we know you have several other outlets to respond to, we certainly appreciate you choosing CNN, the world leader in news, first.  Is it possible we may be able to reconvene later on during the broadcast?"

"Certainly Anderson, I have a feeling it's going to be a long night."  The soldier removed his headset and spun his chair around, standing up to leave the set.  Chin buried in his chest, feet dragging.  

"We are now set to join the mayor of Las Vegas, Carolyn Goodman, live at her offices at the capital."  The normally upbeat woman appeared on the screen next to the anchor.  "Thank you for joining us Madame Mayor, I'm sure you have far more pressing matters to attend to during this dark time for your city."

"Normally I'd say it's my pleasure to ensure the American public is kept abreast of a situation, Anderson, uhhhum, obviously there is nothing pleasurable about this tragedy.  But it is my duty."  The somber tone was uncharacteristic for sure.  The burdens of her office weigh heaviest during moments like these.  

"We don't know much about what has occured, but we are hoping you can confirm what we have heard, and possibly add some information of your own.  A 200 foot woman attacked your city and was engaged by the National Guard.  Apparently, there was a conflict in which none of the defenders survived.  144 is the number we were given.  That's all we and the American public have been told at this point, we certainly hope you can elaborate."  

"Yes, Anderson, this is indeed the case.  To start from the beginning, we received a frantic 911 call from a young man claiming to have been attacked by a gigantic woman.  Rather the call came to local authorities near Silverton, who passed the information along to state authorities.  The state police responded to the call, sending troopers out to the site of the attack, who were able to confirm the incredible claims.  We were notified by the governor's office that there may be a threat to the city, and to begin planning for a full-scale evacuation."  She paused, allowing Anderson to intervene.

"Yes, when I received the call to come in, I had thought I would be reporting on that situation, and by the time I got here the attack had already occurred, so evidently you were not given much notice?"  

"Actually Anderson, the initial attack occurred yesterday, and there was some delay in getting out to confirm the report, calls like the one we received are typically given lower priority, uh, whew, this is tough.  Uh, this is Nevada, we certainly get our fair share of UFO sightings and what-not.  This just happened to be the first one that was real.  But we were notified late last night to prepare the plan, and that we would hear back whether or not to carry it out.  So initially, the threat was not made public, and we felt it best not to alert the public and cause a panic.  I don't know how it could possibly take so long to locate a 200 foot tall monster, but they didn't find her until she was only about 100 miles from the city.  Fortunately, we had formed a solid plan, and the good citizens of Las Vegas were able to evacuate the city in time to avoid the altercation."

"Well, we certainly applaud your efforts, and those of your staff, and I'm sure the entire city is grateful they elected you."  He took a breath, collecting his thoughts. "So the good news is, there were no civilian casualties?"  

"Any time you're dealing with a city with the population the size of Las Vegas's, it's impossible to account for everyone.  Based on reports from the scene, there were several poor souls who for whatever reason, did not make it out of the city in time.  They perished just like the national guard soldiers, this monster knows no mercy."  Her mood was shifting from solemn to angry.    

"What kind of damage occurred to the city?  We sent our own van out to the scene, but unfortunately lost contact with them, and it doesn't appear any other outlets have released any footage of their own either."  

"Well, her wrath seemed more aimed at our citizens and the soldiers than at any of our infrastructure, but we certainly have a huge mess to clean up."  She didn't catch herself like Anderson.  "She did attack one hotel, pushing it over.  And left several roads in no condition to be driven on.  But mostly, the carnage was directed at the victims of this tragedy."  

Flipping the television off, Quincy lept into motion, grabbing his keys from the hook next to the refrigerator and bursting out the door of his trailer.  "I've got to find that van."