Landing Party: A Dinosaur Thriller

by Rick Chesler

  Skylar trudged on, trying to silence her inner pessimist, the one that kept shouting, If six out of eight people on your expedition are dead, what makes you think you’re going to get out of this alive, huh? What makes you so special, besides that backpack full of diamonds?

  The wind shifted direction, a downdraft, and she went off on another coughing jag. This one forced her to stop walking, to hunch over and dry heave for a minute. When she looked up again, she spotted a plastic object on the slope, a few yards down from her. Black, pretty small, looked like it would fit in a hand. She moved off down the slope to check it out. Reaching it, she could see what it was without picking it up. A canteen screw cap.

  By itself, it was no big deal. Trash, sure. But it wasn’t like she was going to add even an ounce of weight to her load to clean up this hell-hole. It wasn’t her cap, that was the important thing.

  It was Ethan’s. She pictured his pack, the water bottle clipped to the outside. No doubt when he’d gone running down the slope after she’d shot at him, or possibly evading that T. rex, it had come off then, or he’d not had enough time to screw the cap back on. She looked up from the cap to stare down the slope. This is where he’d gone. And he hadn’t come back, so if Ethan had found somewhere safe down there, maybe she could, too. Problem was, the higher up the slope she was, the easier it would be to gain the attention of the aircraft.

  But when a herd of the chicken-dinos came tumbling down the hill, looking like an avalanche of feathers and claws, screeching and clucking, Skylar knew she didn’t have a choice. Down the slope she went, the same way Ethan had gone. Her feet slid out from under her a couple of times, and she shredded the skin on her palms pushing off jagged rocks to keep herself moving, but she made progress down the mountain.

  Skylar craned her neck to look back up the mountain. The herd still rolled down after her. This one was large, too, still not as large as the one on the cliff, but she would not be able to boot-stomp her way through them should they overtake her. Dismayed at having put her body through so much trauma without widening the gap between her and the predatory threat, she continued ever lower. She sought the nearest shelter that offered the faintest hope of survival in the face of this aggregate killer. A jumble of boulders looked like it might do, but as she ducked down to scoot between them, one of them start to wobble. Figuring something was about to hatch, Skylar backed out, glanced up at the group of avian dinosaurs (closer now), and ran downhill.

  It seemed like she trod down forever, but in reality, only a few minutes went by before she came to a flat but narrow tract of land about a third of the way down from the summit. Quickly, she took her bearings while resting with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. The sound of the herd clattered across the slope from above, relentless in their pursuit. To her right, the track continued around the cinder cone, while to the left it ran for some distance before being interrupted by a confused jumble of rocks.

  She took off left, hoping the rocks strewn about would block the progress of the horde. When she reached them, she had to find a route over the first boulders. She eyed them carefully to see if they might be yet-to-hatch cysts, but they didn’t move at all and didn’t have the somewhat rounded characteristic she’d noticed on those that had produced dinosaurs.

  Skylar climbed halfway up one of the rocks before the weight of her diamond-laden pack pulled her back to the ground with a thud. She scrambled to her feet and glanced back at the oncoming dinosaurs. If this barrier was hard for her to get across, she hoped it would be for them, too. She hefted her pack and chucked it over the rock. Then she tried scaling the obstacle again, this time reaching the top and dropping down in between the jumble of rocks.

  She had expected to climb over all the rocks and continue on with the track, but looking to her left, she was surprised to see the opening to a medium-sized cave. High enough to walk into without stooping and wide enough to drive a car through, she knew this was as good as it was going to get for the time being.

  Skylar flipped on her headlamp and moved into the cave. She would have liked to survey it for a bit before entering, but with the herd nipping at her heels, she wanted to remove herself from their line of sight—and probably smell—as soon as humanly possible. She ran inside, the beam of her light sweeping the walls as she turned left and right. A pillar of rounded stone running from floor to ceiling looked like a good thing to put between her and the dinosaurs, should they make their way in here. She went to it and shrugged off her pack.

  As soon as it hit the ground, she felt a strong hand grip her arm and wrench it back. Her gun went flying, and she heard it clatter into the cave wall. Then she felt the grip leave her arm and the pounding of footsteps across the cave floor, followed by the voice of Ethan Jones.

  “Hands up, Skylar. It seems you’ve found my little hideaway. I’d offer you a cup of tea, but… I’m supposed to be dead for one thing, remember?”

  “Let me explain.”

  “You can start by opening that precious pack of yours.”

  “Why are you so concerned about my pack?” She glared at him across the cave, eyes fixed on the gun. She still had a glimmer in her eye that made Ethan uncomfortable. It was a gleam of sorts that wasn’t usually found on someone with a gun trained on them.

  “I’m concerned, Skylar, because you’re so worried about it that you would lie, cheat and steal for it. So let’s have a look.” He waved the gun at her pack.

  With obvious reluctance, Skylar eased down to her knees, grimacing in pain, and brought her fingers to the clasp on her backpack.

  “Just unclip it and step away, over there.” He waved the gun at a clear area about ten feet away. He figured she wouldn’t try to run away without her pack, knowing that survivability on this island with no gear of any kind was not something the odds makers in Vegas would favor very highly.

  Skylar unclasped her pack and moved slowly away from it.

  Chapter 31

  Ethan flipped off his headlamp and set it on the ground pointing up, so that it illuminated the cave but wasn’t blinding Skylar. He did this without altering his aim with the gun, which was still pointing at Skylar’s heart. “Use one hand to take your headlamp off and toss it on the ground. No funny business.”

  Skylar did as she was told, and when the beam was no longer blinding Ethan, he could see the strands of her sweaty, dark hair caked onto soot-laden skin, framing the sly grin on her face. “Attagirl. Now, you stay right there and we won’t have a problem.”

  Ethan walked over, keeping the gun aimed at Skylar, and grabbed her backpack. He picked it up and dumped the contents onto the ground in a heap. There were only a few camping or expeditionary type items inside. The rest was a pile of raw diamonds, including two very large chunks, gleaming dully under the weak artificial light in the cave. Ethan’s jaw dropped as he stared at the pile of concentrated wealth.

  “Are those… Diamonds?” he gasped.

  “I don’t know,” Skylar shrugged. “They superficially look like diamonds, but there’s no way for me to say for sure without taking them back to the lab for testing. That’s why I’m collecting them.”

  Ethan laughed at this. “Right, because you need fifty pounds or so of them for lab testing.” He took a step closer to her with the gun. “You know damn well that these are some kind of valuable precious gems, probably diamonds, that’s why you’ve gone through so much trouble to lug them around.”

  “They appear to be gemstones, Ethan, but as I said, I need to get them to a lab to be sure.”

  Ethan cackled derisively. “Yes, and I’m sure that as soon as you determine they’re diamonds in a lab, you’ll just rush right out and turn them all over to the U.N., yes?” He stared at her with contempt. “So that’s what you’ve been up to! A plan for your own personal gain? You’re a geologist, for Christ’s sake.” He waved an arm at the walls of the cave, where thick veins of diamond ore criss-crossed the walls. “You killed people for these stupid rocks? They’re just rocks, look at t
hem! People died because you couldn’t carry your own weight, had to borrow other people’s gear because you ditched yours so that you could carry these damned rocks!”

  In a near rage, he picked up one of the diamonds and hurled it at Skylar. It was a serious throw, baseball-pitcher style, his body spinning around so that he faced away from her after he unloaded his pitch. She reached down and withdrew a fixed blade knife from her boot.

  “Now get out of my cave.” Ethan turned back around and jerked the gun toward the exit. He saw the knife in her hand and laughed derisively. Skylar’s gaze moved to the light at the entrance, then back to Ethan. She slowly shook her head.

  “I don’t think so.” She waved the knife at him.

  “Bring a knife to a gunfight, did you? I knew you weren’t that smart…” He nodded at her pack and the spilled diamonds. “…but I didn’t think you were that dumb.”

  “I won’t be going anywhere. The little ones are out there. Just leave me alone, and I’ll do the same to you.”

  “I’m the one with the gun, Skylar.”

  “The gun with no bullets.”

  Ethan checked the chamber of the weapon, his eyes widening when he realized it was in fact empty. Enraged, he dropped the gun and moved to the diamond heap. He picked up the largest stone, the football-sized chunk, and tossed it into a pool of bubbling lava in a corner of the cave. Then he bent down to pick up another…

  Skylar shrieked, “Stop it! What about this: I’ll split them with you. Fifty-fifty—you take half of what’s left.”

  Ethan cocked his head to one side, as if thinking intently. “Oh really? Now that’s funny, because just a few seconds ago you said they weren’t diamonds, that you didn’t know if they were valuable.”

  “That’s right, Ethan, I don’t know, that’s why I want them lab tested. But as you pointed out, they certainly look valuable, don’t they? So whatever they are, I’m proposing to split them with you, half and half.”

  Ethan snorted. “And then what?”

  Skylar shrugged. “We can cooperate in a civil manner to get off this island alive, and from there…” She smiled at him. “We go our separate ways.”

  Ethan stared at her for a long moment as though considering the offer, but then he shook his head as if disgusted. “No, Skylar. I have no interest in them. I only want you to face consequences for what you’ve done here. And these diamonds, they belong here, to this volcano, not to you, you greedy bitch…”

  He bent down to scoop of a handful of diamonds to throw them into the lava. Skylar charged at him with the knife. Just as she reached him, the ground shook violently, sections of the cave walls shearing off and crumbling around them.

  Both of them froze for a moment, staring at each other to make sure the other wouldn’t make the first move as the ground continued to shake. A deep rumbling issued from the rear, darkened portion of the cave. Ethan’s eyes widened in fear as he watched a gigantic cyst boulder roll its way toward the mouth of the cave—right toward him and Skylar. The round rock left no room on either side of it as it spun down the cave’s main chamber.

  He turned and ran for the exit. Skylar spun around and saw the rock coming, but paused to scrounge up her backpack, hastily shoving what little gear she still had along with some of the diamonds into it before the rock got close enough that she abandoned the remaining heap of gemstones. She ran for the exit after Ethan, the boulder jarring along behind her.

  Outside the cave, Ethan saw the high sides of jumbled boulders and knew he wouldn’t have time to climb them before the rolling rock reached him. He was pretty sure Skylar wasn’t going to make it, having stopped to grab her pack. But that was her problem. That rock was going to steamroll right over her and then mow him down, too, unless he could think of something fast. He ran all the way to the edge of the path, where a sheer drop-off fell away for about a hundred feet to the wave-splashed base of the volcano.

  He glanced back at the cave, where Skylar now burst out of the entrance, pack dangling from one shoulder, the massive stone looming immediately behind her. He had zero time to set up a climbing rig. Fear pumping through his veins, he ditched his pack, tossing it out to the side, and then turned so that his back faced the edge of the cliff. He backed down over it, hands clutching the rim. Maybe the thing would just roll right over him as it plummeted over the edge. Or maybe it would shatter the bones in his hands, causing him to lose his grip…

  A guttural yell from Skylar tore him from his thoughts as she sprinted toward the edge, face a mask of sheer terror.

  Ethan glimpsed a solid handhold—a micro-ledge—about a foot beneath the edge, and brought first one hand, then the other to it. He moved his feet about, searching for a toe hold, but contacted only smooth rock face. He would just have to hold on with his fingers for dear life. He could feel the ground trembling above him as the boulder came nearer. He would only have to hang on for a few more seconds.

  Skylar’s face said it all as she trammeled to the edge—pure, mindless panic—she was one stumble, one muscle cramp—away from certain death. The boulder (or was it a massive cyst containing some fully grown brontosaurus or God knows what kind of extinct behemoth?)—Ethan couldn’t be sure, it was moving so fast—took a stray bounce as it rolled over a rock outcropping. The massive rock bounced high, on an even plane with Skylar’s head, and she launched her body into a dive—headlong toward the edge of the cliff.

  The wayward boulder flew over Skylar’s body as she dove over the precipice. The gigantic rock plunged down the slope of the volcano, impacting at the bottom with a crash they could hear all the way up here. But Ethan wasn’t watching the rock. He watched Skylar. The geologist looked like she was about to follow the rock on the same trajectory, but at the last moment, she hooked one of her feet on the edge of the cliff, keeping her dangling on the face upside down.

  The woman had some agility, for after only a couple of seconds, she began to right herself by seeking new hand- and foot-holds. Ethan was comfortable enough where he was for the time being, but he wasn’t about to risk his life for this person who had tried to kill him. He wouldn’t hasten her demise, either, nor would he help her at any cost to his own chances for survival.

  He called over to her as she stabilized somewhat, body in a very awkward position, almost sideways on that rock face, about four feet below the edge. “Drop your pack! It’s weighing you down!”

  Skylar’s backpack dangled precariously from one shoulder, placing undue strain on that arm. She had to keep moving her hand to keep purchase on the vapor-thin hold she had.

  “All you have to do is let it slide off, Skylar.”

  But Skylar didn’t pursue that option. Whether out of greed or a genuine fear that ditching the pack would somehow cause her to lose her grip, Ethan didn’t know. But she stubbornly held onto that pack as she shifted her weight on the cliff. She started to cry, clinging to that rock wall, sobbing gently, trying not to move.

  But Ethan couldn’t hang there and watch somebody die. Even though she had tried to take his own life. The thought of doing nothing while she fell to her death was not something he wanted to live with. “Hold on, I’ll get up and get a rope to you.”

  Ethan climbed back up over the edge of the cliff. Slowly, deliberately. He wasn’t about to make a mistake for her. When he had both arms firmly over the edge, he threw himself up and over and ran to his pack. He unclipped the coil of rope from the outside and returned to the edge. He knew there was no time for a proper rig. He would just have to try to manhandle her up, manually pull her hand over hand once he got her the rope. He was pretty sure he could do it. If not, he’d have to let go, but at least it gave her a chance. The way she was situated on that cliff, she didn’t have much time left.

  “Skylar, here comes the rope. You’re going to have to grab it. Wrap it around you if you can. Whatever you do, hold on good. Then I’ll pull you up. Ready?”

  “Hurry, please.”

  Ethan stood there, perched on the edge of the cliff, eye
balling the best place to drop the rope. He didn’t want it to land on her and actually cause her to fall. But from the shaky sound of her voice and the precarious hold she had on the wall, he knew he had to act now. He fed the rope down to her rather than dropping the unfurled coil, not wanting to dislodge her.

  To his horror, she turned her head and looked at him, eyes wide, and fell a split second before the end of the rope reached her.

  She did not scream, but simply plummeted down the wall. Her body smashed on a lava rock precipice about halfway down before continuing to be flayed along the outside of the volcano, effectively skinned alive on the way down until coming to a dead rest on a lava shelf by the sea, backpack bursting like a diamond shrapnel bomb.

  Chapter 32

  Ethan knelt at the top of the cliff, hanging his head. Skylar was gone. As much as he detested her actions, he disliked the fact that he was now alone on this island even more. Ethan Jones, the last survivor. Would he be able to hold onto that title? He got up and went over to his pack, put it on and took stock of his surroundings.

  He looked up, first, anything to avert his attention from Skylar’s destroyed body below. But the brownish haze of drifting soot wasn’t all that comforting, either. The volcano on which he stood continued to belch fire and ash. At ground level, he heard the clamoring of claws on rock somewhere off to his right, on the other side of the jumble of scorched rock piles they had climbed over to reach the cave by the ledge.

  It sounded to him like a single large individual and not a herd of small ones. Whatever was coming from his right, he would make his way to the left. He walked to the rocky border to his left and was preparing to scale it, to continue on this track around the island, when he heard a new noise.