by Jon F. Merz
Julia nodded. "Save them for after this is all through. Then you can tell me how much you like my hair and my legs and anything else that you think will help your cause. For right now, let's just get this done and then get the hell out of here."
Mick looked at her a few seconds longer and then nodded. "Yeah. All right."
The team got up and moved. Julia trailed behind Wilkins again.
They got about ten meters when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She wheeled around, her rifle already coming up, ready to shoot.
Darren held up his hands. "Wait!"
Julia sighed and lowered the gun. "What the hell is wrong?"
"Sorry," said Darren. "But Nung just did the same thing to me."
Nung nodded. "Just thought you should know."
"Know what?"
"Kendall's gone."
Chapter Nineteen
"Where the hell did he go?"
Mick's voice behind Julia spoke the same words she'd been about to. Kendall. Dammit!
Nung shrugged. "I didn't hear any commotion behind us. I don't think there were any creatures there."
Wilkins cleared his throat. "You don't suppose..."
"What?"
He sighed. "You think he might have just walked off?"
"On his own?" Julia found it tough to believe Kendall would simply abandon them. "I don't know."
"He's felt from the start this should have been his mission anyway," said Wilkins. "Maybe he thinks the time has come for him to prove it, if only to himself."
"How? What's he going to do on his own that we can't do as a team?"
"I don't know."
Mick frowned. "We have to keep moving."
Julia shook her head. Her team was growing smaller with every hour. And the thought of facing some type of strange dinosaur half-breed didn't thrill her. It would have been tough enough with eight team members. Now they were down to five.
Not good odds.
She turned to Mick. "We need to figure out what the hell is going on here and soon. If we lose any more people, we'll be committing suicide."
He nodded. "Let's go."
They followed the path for another twenty minutes. In the distance, Julia thought she could hear the faint hum of machinery. Machines? In the mountain? Things were getting weirder by the minute.
Mick kept them moving slowly and stealthily toward the end of the path. It forked again twice, but Julia let Mick lead them as best his instinct could. He took them left once and then right.
They heard the low growl a split second before all hell broke loose.
Nung actually fired first, but the dinosaur had come at him through the palm shrubs. The M16 sounded like a continuous explosion as Nung's rounds ripped through the air and into the green shrub.
The half-breed beaklike face snapped at Nung. Nung staggered back and loosed another volley from his gun.
Another shout and Wilkins began firing at another one of the creatures who had come streaking at them for the left. Wilkins' bullets found their mark and splanged into the scaly chest of the dinosaur. Bright red blood exploded and the creature dropped.
More growls.
More shouts.
More gunfire.
Mick was firing one shot at a time at two more creatures charging them from the front. Julia saw that Nung had managed to bring down his attacker.
Darren had shot one of the creatures that had attempted to come at them from behind.
Julia hadn't fired a single shot.
"Look out!"
She wheeled and saw the needle-sharp teeth snap at her neck. She leaned back and brought the barrel of the gun up. Her finger squeezed the trigger and the gun kicked. The sudden noise made her wince.
The dinosaur leaned back avoiding the bullets.
Two more shots exploded close by and the rounds tore through the leaves close to Julia. She spun and saw Mick aiming at the creature that had just attacked her.
Then it was over.
Nung sat down, clutching his right arm. It was bright red with his own blood. His face had contorted in pain. Wilkins rushed to him and examined the wound.
Mick prodded one of the dead dinosaur half-breeds with his gun. He looked at Julia. "What the hell?"
She came over. The corpse resembled part of a dinosaur. So, it was true. But the arms and legs looked...humanoid. And the eyes. Julia shook her head. So pitch black. Big, dilated pupils with hardly any lids.
The back of the head was elongated and almost flattened.
Darren came over. "Looks like a Camptosaurus."
"A what?"
"Type of dinosaur. Plant eater, though. I can't imagine them being interested in eating us."
"Says you," Nung grunted. Wilkins was busy slapping a pressure dressing on the wound. Nung frowned. "Damn thing tried to rip my arm clean off."
"You're lucky you were able to get those rounds off," said Wilkins.
Nung sniffed. "Yeah, lucky me."
Mick turned back to the corpse. "What about the arms and legs, though? Nothing prehistoric about them."
Darren leaned down. "No. No there isn't. Weird stuff. Looks like it's part dinosaur and well," he sighed, "part something else."
"Human?"
He shrugged. "Humanoid perhaps."
"Nifty," said Julia. "What the hell are we on to here?"
Mick shook his head. "I don't know. But we've got a bigger problem right now."
"What's that?"
"All that gunfire. It was loud. Shouting. Screeching? It's probably alerted everyone or everything close by that we're here."
"Which would mean?"
"We're going to have a lot more company than I'd be comfortable with in a very quick time. We need to find some shelter in here and watch what happens. I don't want us moving around when they send reinforcements. We'd get slaughtered."
"Where can we hide in here?"
Mick pointed. "They used the shrubs to attack us. I say we use them to hide in."
"You don't think they'd look there?"
"Not much choice, Julia. It's either that or we stay here and fight." He frowned. "And die."
Julia nodded. "Everyone into the shrubs. Now!"
They scrambled off the main path. The leaves enveloped them. Julia found a place to squat and felt her butt touch the soft earth. She hadn't realized how much she'd been sweating during the battle. Now her clothes felt hot. Sticky. She wanted to go to the bathroom again, too.
She could see the others crouching in the undergrowth. At least they'd all managed to find bushes close together.
Mick kept the barrel of his gun aimed out toward the path.
Julia eyed him. Thank God for his presence. Whoever the hell he is.
Movement sounded close by.
Footsteps.
More growls.
Julia's throat felt tight. Her stomach ached.
She saw the feet go past her hiding spot. Inches away from her nose. She clutched the M16 and felt how slippery the grip had become.
On the path she could see there were maybe ten of the dinosaur creatures. They examined the scene carefully, but didn't touch their fallen comrades.
What's going on? Julia wanted to know. Part of her wanted to go out there and approach them. Some stupid sense of curiosity she supposed.
She felt Mick's hand on her arm. How had he gotten so close?
He pointed.
Julia looked.
More feet.
But different.
Another creature?
She could see the legs were incredibly thin. She could hear the growls and chirps coming from the dinocreatures. But she heard nothing in return communication.
Her head swam with images she didn't recognize. Pictures played across her mind. She could see the dinocreatures hauling away the dead to some unknown area of this cavern.
She opened her eyes.
The dinocreatures were stooped over their fallen comrades, collecting the bodies and trucking them away. The other set of feet tur
ned and walked the opposite way.
What had just happened?
Mick pointed at the second set of feet.
Julia shook her head. They couldn't do it quietly. Not now. Not with those things running around already pissed off that we killed some of their friends.
But Mick wanted to follow the second figure.
His face implored her.
She frowned and then finally nodded. She held up ten fingers – ten minutes before he had to come back.
The rest of them would wait.
Was it safe here?
Julia didn't know. She didn't think what Mick was doing was safe either, but he was hard to control. Besides, as reluctant as she was to admit it, they needed some reliable information about these...things.
And Mick was the one best suited to finding out what was happening. He could move quieter than anyone else. He had the training after all.
Julia just hoped he'd come back.
Because she couldn't stand losing another member of her team.
Especially Mick.
Chapter Twenty
While Julia sat there waiting for Mick, she tried to reason out what had happened to her head when it had suddenly filled with all sorts of images. And then she'd opened her eyes and seen the dinocreatures doing exactly what the images had shown.
Had she somehow stumbled onto a form of telepathy? Was that how they communicated? She didn't think the dinocreatures could be capable of it, especially considering they still chirped and growled. That seemed to be their favorite means of communicating.
But what about the second set of feet Mick had seen? She hadn't heard anything from them. Nor had she seen a tail.
Two races of creatures down here? She felt like she was in the land that time forgot or some other adventure story. It didn't make sense, after all. How could science explain an entire ecosystem contained within a mountain in the middle of one the coldest places on earth?
Was she missing something? Undoubtedly. They all were.
She hoped Mick would report back and say he'd found something.
She glanced around and saw Wilkins sweating under the canopy of leaves he'd found for himself. She couldn't see Nung or Darren but could hear someone breathing heavily.
She realized how labored her own breathing had become, especially since the introduction of so much stress over the creatures.
Another balmy breeze sifted through the leaves, bending them and adding more noise to their area. For the first time, Julia also heard the whine of insects. A mosquito landed near her face and she brushed it away without thinking.
Bugs, too?
She shook her head and wondered how much National Geographic would pay for a scoop like this: Shangri-La at the bottom of the world.
Insane.
One of the guys must have been battling a lot of the mosquitoes. They'd obviously sensed the heat from their bodies and carbon dioxide in the air. Julia found herself swatting more of them than she cared to.
Wilkins sat close by, unfazed by them.
He glanced at her and smiled.
Julia leaned closer. "Aren't the bugs biting you?"
He frowned. "What bugs?"
Julia swatted at another one. "These bugs! They've been dive-bombing me on the hunt for blood for about fifteen minutes now."
Wilkins' face clouded. "Julia, I don't see any bugs over there."
"What?" She swatted at another one. Damn, it was big! "I just nearly got one of them. You can't see them?"
"No."
She frowned. The last time this had happened, they'd been back in the tunnel fighting of a hoard of dinocreatures. But that had been a hologram. A trick to get Havel.
Was this another hologram?
And if so, who was the intended target this time?
Julia glanced at Wilkins again. "Check on the others."
He nodded and slithered off through the underbrush. At once, Julia's mosquitoes vanished.
Gone.
She glanced at her arms, but found no signs they'd been able to bite her. No red marks scarred her arms. No itchiness.
Nothing.
What sort of technology could these creatures have that would enable them to project holograms of anything they wanted, wherever they wanted? The realization of what they might be scared Julia.
And she didn't want to think about it anymore.
Wilkins came back. "Darren's gone."
Julia shook her head. "Dammit!" She paused. "Nung?"
"Right here," came the voice to her left.
"Okay," said Julia. "I want us bunched up nice and tight. I want us in each other's eyesight all the time. I'm not losing any more of my team."
Nung squirmed his way through the bushes and Sat close by. Julia could smell the air tinged with body odor. It might have been her own, she concluded. Judging by how extreme the conditions they'd undergone had been, anyone would be hard-pressed to not be exuding a bit of pungent odor.
"Where's Mick?"
Julia faced Nung. "He spotted another type of creature."
"Another type-?" Nung's face fell. "Wonderful."
"Mick wanted to follow him and see what it was. I gave him the okay and he should be back within about ten minutes."
Wilkins looked at his watch. "We're coming up on five now."
"He'll come back," said Julia. "He gave me his word."
"As long as he doesn't get nabbed by those creatures, first," said Nung. "I gotta tell you guys, I'm getting a little nervous about being here."
Wilkins grinned. "Just a little?"
"Okay, I'm petrified."
Julia smiled. "I think it's safe to say we all are, Nung."
"Mick doesn't seem to be."
Wilkins nodded. "Man's got a point."
Julia considered this. Mick had mentioned he'd been scared, but his actions seemed to contradict it. He was the first to volunteer for the most dangerous assignments. He always took point, he always went ahead to see what was lying in store for them. Was he just brave or completely insane for doing so?
"I don't know what he's feeling," said Julia at last.
Nung's face clouded. Julia nudged him. "What's the problem?"
"It's just that - well, maybe Mick's...familiar with these things."
"Familiar?"
"Yeah. Maybe he's dealt with them before."
Julia shook her head. "How could that be?"
"You said he was in the military, right?"
"Yes. According to him, it was years ago."
"What branch was he in?" asked Wilkins.
"Why?"
"Just tell me, boss, okay?"
"Air Force. What's the big deal."
Wilkins frowned now. "You know what he did?"
Julia felt guilty about saying so, as if she was betraying some sort of unspoken trust that she and Mick had developed. But then again, maybe he hadn't been entirely truthful with her. And she didn't think revealing what he did would compromise him in any way.
"Special operations."
Wilkins leaned back. "No shit."
"I didn't even know the Air Force had specops," said Nung.
Wilkins nodded. "Oh yeah. They do. And they keep it really quiet, too. Most people don't realize it. All they ever hear about are SEALs and Green Berets."
"You certainly sound like an expert," said Julia. "How'd you come by all this knowledge?"
"I'm a closet fan," said Wilkins. "Did Mick ever mention what unit he served with was called?"
Had he? Julia racked her memory but couldn't think of anything. "No."
Nung looked at Wilkins. "Why?"
"Well, it'd help pinpoint what he did in the service. We get his unit designator, we can almost determine what he might have been involved with."
"Well, he seems damned comfortable in a firefight," said Nung. "Unlike yours truly."
"Or me," said Julia.
"I wonder," said Wilkins.
"What?"
"The rest of us," he said, "we've all pretty much conclude
d that we were driven to this point in our lives by those dreams we had, right? Those dreams of being down here. At these mountains now that I think about it."
"Yes."
"That night in the galley, I didn't hear Mick say anything that he'd had those dreams. Did he? I mean, did he really have them?"
Julia felt herself grow a little annoyed. "He told me he did."
"But do you believe him?"
Did she? She sighed. She liked Mick. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to trust him. But was her heart able to see the any potential subterfuge? She doubted it.
"I don't know."
"He might just be playing us," said Nung.
Wilkins nodded. "Could be. Worse things could be afoot, though."
"Like what?"
Wilkins looked at her. "Like him using us for bait."
"Bait?"
"To capture one of these things. Bring it back to study. I don't know. He could be planning anything."
"That sounds more like something Kendall would do rather than Mick," said Nung.
Julia felt better having heard him say that. It did sound more like Kendall than Mick. "Good point."
"I had a buddy of mine who worked in specops," said Wilkins. "He said the entire force was split into several compartments. You had the guys who primarily did a lot of hostage rescue. You had units good at covert intelligence gathering, military assignments that type of thing. As you got higher you ran into the guys who got 'sheepdipped.'"
"What the hell does that mean?" asked Nung.
"Means they got pulled out of their units for special assignments."
"Like what?"
"Like the CIA or DIA using them for real nasty black bag type stuff."
"Jesus," said Julia. "You think?"
Wilkins shook his head. "My buddy said there was another level after that. They worked directly for the Space Command."
Nung's eyes lit up. "Space Command?"
"Yeah."
"And you think-?"
Wilkins shrugged. "I don't know what to think any more. I mean, here we are, down in this frozen shit and we're in a jungle with dinosaurs? Freaky, man. It's damned freaky."
Julia looked at him. "you think this has something to do with aliens, don't you?"
Wilkins smiled. "I think we all do. I think we've all been hiding from that idea for a real long time. It's easier to dismiss dreams as just that. But what if they're not? What if they're placed there or something. By some kind of higher intelligence?"