Z. Raptor

by Steve Cole

  “Yeah, well, total exhaustion’s quite good for that.” She gave a low whistle. “You know what? It’s Christmas Eve.”

  Adam frowned. “It is?”

  “Maybe we should go down and crash the grown-ups’ party.” Harm sighed. “Sure is comforting, having all these adults around to look after us, huh?”

  Adam imagined his unwrapped present to his dad lying back at his New York hotel room. A pair of gloves, to ward off the Manhattan cold. Tears suddenly prickled at the back of his eyes, and he dashed them away, glad of the darkness. Would the staff at the hotel realize the room had been empty for days? Would they have told the police? Maybe Jeremy Marrs had tried to get hold of Mr. Adlar or even Chen and realized they were missing.

  Soon the Pahalu will be headed back to Hawaii. Dad will tell Dr. Marrs where the island is. They can get help....

  The notion seemed as ridiculous as a happy Christmas.

  “It’s really selfish,” Adam muttered, “but I wish my dad was here.”

  Harm stretched in her hammock. “Guess he’s always been around for you, right?”

  “Well . . . most of the time. His work’s always been really important to him, and sometimes it sort of takes over. . . .” Adam felt a pang of guilt. “But he’s great. He’s there for me, and I’m there for him.”

  “What about your mom?”

  Adam stared up at the stars. “She died way back.”

  Harm said nothing, one hand idly playing with her ragged braids. “It’s good you have your dad around. Mine went to jail when I was just five.”

  “What did he do?” asked Adam.

  “Killed two cops. He was robbing someplace, they surprised him.” Harm was silent for a time. “You know, I grew up hating him so much. And it was weird—the more I hated him, the more I missed him, and that fed into the way I hated him, and . . .” The words dried up into slow, steady breathing. Adam was wondering how best to fill the silence when Harm spoke again, quieter, huskier. “My mom never let me see him. Wanted a clean start.”

  “You never visited him?”

  “No one to take me. I wrote him, sometimes. He always wrote back. I sent him pictures of me, sort of goofing around or dressing up. He said he hoped I’d be able to visit someday by myself when I was old enough, and he would get to see me all grown up.” Harm snorted. “I kidded myself he really cared.”

  “Of course he cared,” said Adam. “You’re his daughter.”

  “You know . . .” Harm took a deep breath as if steeling herself. “He always called me his . . . his . . .”

  Adam waited. “His what?”

  “Never mind.” Her voice sounded thicker, as though tears were close. “That Brute . . . the way he looked at me. Spoke to me.”

  “Sweet and perfect.” Adam shivered. “Like you were his ideal meal or something.”

  “Don’t.”

  “That whole pack of Brutes had stuff wrong with them, did you notice?” Adam saw Harm’s head nod in the moonlight. “Hunchbacks or one eye or half lame or just crazy or whatever.”

  “So they formed a club. I’m happy for them.”

  “But why would their queen send the weakest in the pack to get us?” Adam persisted. “If we’re, like, a big part of her plan for getting the Vels—”

  “Even the weakest of those things are a thousand times tougher than we are.” Harm shifted in her hammock. “Do you buy Agent Chen’s story of why he brought you here?” she asked suddenly. “That he’d risk so many lives and his own too, and splash out on two boats just to find out how much of a bad boy he’s been? I mean, I can give you the names of twenty social workers who’ll tell you I got trust issues, but, man . . .”

  Adam felt uneasy. “Chen’s seen what was left of another Geneflow base after a Z. rex tore it apart. No one could let stuff like that happen again if they felt responsible, could they?”

  “He and his buddy out there drugged you, Adam. Is that what the good guys do?” The edge to Harm’s voice was hard as the starlight. “What if Agent Chen knows Josephs a little better than he makes out? Maybe he thinks no one can stop what Geneflow’s doing and wants to save his own ass by getting in with them?”

  “No, he couldn’t want that . . . could he?” Adam sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

  Suddenly the crash of trampled brushwood ghosted through the night. Oh, God, they’ve found us. Adam turned awkwardly in the thick palm leaves as the small jungle clearing below rustled with strained whispers and hissing voices. But then Chen’s muted call sounded over them. “Looks like our tame dinosaur just got home.”

  Adam saw movement in the darkness; a mound of dark scales patterned with scars, hunched over.

  “Loner?” Lisa sounded like a worried mother. “Did something happen? Your face—”

  “It is only mud,” came the quiet hiss. “It soothes my wounds.”

  “You were hurt again?” Lisa persisted.

  “Vel patrol saw me. I led it away. Into Brute territory.” He paused, his breath low and labored. “The Brute who was shot in the teeth found me.”

  Chen spoke up, sharp and suspicious: “You brought it here?”

  He shook his head. “The Brutes . . . are making ready for total war on the Vels.”

  “Then they’ll be swarming over this whole area,” said Stone. “We’ve come to the most dangerous part of the island.”

  A hubbub of low, fearful voices started up.

  “We’d better get down there,” Adam said to Harm.

  She nodded. “We should hear things properly.”

  Adam climbed down the tree, an awkward, graceless thing, half numb with dread at what he was to hear.

  He couldn’t help feeling that his first night on the island might very well be his last.

  15

  POWER PLAY

  Harm led the way into the clearing. Adam could see her dark skin was glistening with sweat in the moonlight. He tried to look cool, but it was hard with his heart hammering in his chest.

  “I’m sorry we woke you guys,” said Lisa quietly.

  “We couldn’t sleep anyway.” Adam took a long look at Loner. The raptor’s arm still hung limply at his side, and the mud was covering the gorier parts of his face, chest and side, but he was looking a lot better than he had been earlier.

  Loner crossed to Chen’s pack and plucked out the can of antistink with his good hand.

  “Hey!” Chen protested.

  “The Brutes need this,” Loner said simply. “Then they can help us while they help themselves.”

  Chen looked into the injured raptor’s eyes but couldn’t keep the contact. “What’re you talking about?”

  Loner glared around at the nervous, huddled humans. “It is Vels who have hunted your fellow survivors. Vels who have kept them alive, waiting. Waiting for the feast.” He paused, his breathing softer now, each word cold and clear. “The Brutes let them do so. Now that the time of the feast is coming, the Brute queen will take those prisoners by force.”

  Harm stared at him. “What?”

  “They’re cleverer than we thought.” David let out a low whistle. “They let the Vels do the hard work and then steam in and clear out the survivors in one hit.”

  “Two raptor tribes going head-to-head, and we’re the prize,” Adam murmured.

  “Maybe that’s what the experiment is all about,” said Lisa. “Like a test. Survival of the fittest.”

  “But the Vels aren’t just going to hand over their prisoners to the Brutes, right?” said Adam. “There’ll be a full-on war.”

  Loner held up the spray can. “They wanted to use you as bait to help them get the Vels—until I told them about this.”

  “That stuff could make the battle go a whole lot better for the Brutes,” David realized. “They could attack the Vels without any warning.”

  “But there’s nowhere near enough spray for the whole pack,” Harm pointed out.

  “So, they’ll just spray their biggest and baddest,” said David. “Send
them creeping up for a surprise attack.”

  “It’ll be carnage,” Stone muttered. “Total carnage—and here’s us with no more spray and nowhere to hide.”

  “What if we could get inside the Vel base while the raptors are busy fighting?” Adam said. “We could free the other people they’ve taken—”

  Harm raised her eyebrows. “I thought it was me who got hit on the head today?”

  But David was looking at him thoughtfully. “That would mess up their experiment, all right.”

  Adam nodded enthusiastically. “I just thought—the Vel camp is right on top of Geneflow’s base, and Loner knows the codes to get inside.”

  Chen reacted. “He does?”

  “Sure he does.” Adam turned to Loner. “You got in a few times before your pack turned against you. Right?”

  The wounded raptor gave a cautious nod.

  “Even if we could get past those creatures and reach Geneflow’s base, it’ll be defended,” Stone argued. “Josephs must have guards—”

  “And we’ve got guns,” Chen argued. “They might not work on raptors, but they’ll sure work on people.”

  “And if you could set free the other survivors, there’d be lots of us,” Lisa added.

  “Lots wanting payback,” Harm agreed.

  “On this island, it’s always been them and us.” David took a deep breath. “The more of us, the better.”

  “I don’t know that we want too many people trying to get inside,” Chen argued. “Whatever happens in there, it’s not gonna be a walk in the park. This is gonna be a two-man op, maybe three, tops.”

  “Three men and a dinosaur?” Stone shook his head. “John, you’re just rushing in again without thinking.”

  “You said yourself we have nowhere to hide out here,” Chen said hotly, ignoring the others shushing him. “If we get inside, if we can get to Josephs—”

  “If, if, if,” Stone muttered.

  “Doc . . .” Chen crossed over to the pale, graying doctor and put his hands on the man’s shoulders. “When we do that, everything we’ve been through will have counted for something. Right?”

  Stone looked away and said nothing.

  “Just say it worked,” Lisa breathed. “If the raptors wiped each other out and we could stop Geneflow . . .” She took Harm’s hand and squeezed. “Oh, honey, can you imagine?”

  Adam looked at Loner, who was standing in the middle of the excited group, battered and alone, looking down at the canister. He felt a stirring of dismay in the rush of feelings going through him. The outcast beast had done so much for them, and here they were expecting way more. “What do you think, Loner?” he asked. “You’re the only one who’s seen inside that base.”

  David nodded. “Do you think you can get everyone in?”

  “Some, perhaps,” Loner said. “Dangerous.”

  “But this dino-war is gonna be keeping Geneflow’s guys busy,” Chen argued. “Especially with scent-free Brutes rolling around, right? Josephs’ll be trying to keep on top of things—she’ll be distracted. It’s our best shot.”

  “Let’s face it,” said David. “It’s our only shot.”

  “But . . . I just thought.” Adam placed a hand carefully on the raptor’s injured arm. “If you go back to the Brutes and give them the spray, they’ll have what they want. Can you trust them to let you go again after what you did?”

  “I know about the Vel defenses,” Loner said. “I can switch off their lights, make safe their traps . . . if I live.”

  “Now that you have no scent,” said David quietly, “do you think you stand a chance?”

  “If we are to get inside to Geneflow, I must,” said Loner. “But . . .”

  “The dinosaur has a but,” Stone muttered.

  “I will need help.” He suddenly swung his head around to face Adam, the moonlight casting the mud-packed, scarred side of his face into sharp shadow. “The floodlights are run by a generator, protected by the tower.”

  Adam looked at Chen. “The same tower we saw from the sea?”

  “Like a metal chimney at the edge of the trees.” Chen tapped his binoculars. “I saw it. Didn’t look to be guarded.”

  “Why bother to build a tower for it outside when they could put it indoors under concrete?” Harm wondered.

  “If it runs on gasoline, it’ll be giving off carbon monoxide fumes,” David told her. “Deadly gas indoors, not good.”

  “The generator is protected by thick metal, bolted and welded together all around,” Loner continued. “Only the Council can get inside with special keys. But there are small gaps.” He lowered his head as if aware what he was asking. “Gaps that maybe a child can get through.”

  Adam felt his world tilt. He was the youngest here. And now he was supposed to play such a vital part?

  “You can’t send kids into that place!” Stone said fiercely.

  “I’ve got no more grenades,” said Chen, “no other way to wreck the thing.”

  “Assuming this generator’s nothing too fancy, sand in the air intake ought to be enough to blow the whole thing,” David reasoned. “Wouldn’t take long. Could I get inside?”

  Loner shook his head sadly.

  “Well, I’m not a kid, but I’m about the scrawniest here,” Harm declared, her chin pushed out. “I knew starving for three months was a good idea. If someone tells me what to do—”

  God, she’s brave. Adam felt suddenly exposed. “I . . . I’ll go too,” he heard himself saying. “I’m not much bigger than you. The two of us can cover each other, work faster.”

  “And double the risk,” Stone said. “John, you can’t use kids to fight a battle like this!”

  “Well, we’re not exactly drowning in choices, are we?” Chen shot back.

  “You’re not in charge,” David insisted, but with more petulance than authority. “We . . . we could run to the other end of the island while the raptors bite chunks out of each other, keep running from any who survive—”

  “And what happens to the other people being held there?” Harm demanded. “We leave them to die?” She shook her head. “I don’t care who’s in charge. I’m through running. If Loner can set it up . . . I want to do this.”

  I want to be as brave as you, Adam thought, clearing his throat. “I’m in too.”

  No one else said anything.

  Loner turned with the can of spray and loped away into the darkness to broker the deal.

  To begin the endgame.

  Adam surprised himself by falling asleep despite his nerves. He jolted awake in his hammock when a hand squeezed his ankle. But it was only Harm.

  “Loner’s back,” she whispered. “It’s close to three, and we’ve got to move.”

  “Did he . . . ?”

  She nodded, and looked away. “Deal’s done. We’ve got to go. Right now.”

  Adam found the sleep had done little to refresh him. His body ached with the physical strain of the last twenty-four hours, but fear kept him alert. He followed with the group behind Loner, who moved with impressive grace through the foliage despite his injuries, barely making a sound. Chen was next in line, wielding his shotgun. Lisa, Adam, Harm, David and Dr. Stone took up the rear.

  After an hour of silence, Loner stopped abruptly. “We are close to the camp.”

  Harm hugged herself. “If the Vels smell us now . . .”

  Loner’s tail swished from side to side—then he pushed it into the ground in front of them. The grass and brushwood gave way and crashed to the ground some distance below.

  “They have their tricks just like we have ours,” Stone said shakily.

  “One trap down,” Chen muttered. “The Brutes are gonna love you.”

  “The Brutes will be close,” said Loner, a level of urgency in the hushed, hissing tones. “Can you hear the generator?”

  Adam concentrated, and even his heart seemed to pump more quietly as he caught a faint, trailing whine of power. His eyes met Harm’s. She nodded a fraction.

  “The safe
st way to the tower is through the trees,” Loner went on. “They will help keep you in shadow until you can get inside the tower.”

  Adam looked at David. “If we can get in, what exactly do we need to do to cut the power?”

  “The running engine makes heat,” David whispered. “To cool it, air is blown through the motor housing by a fan connected to the driveshaft.”

  “Whoa,” Harm said. “What are we, mechanics?”

  “The air inlet should be marked,” said David. “Pry it open and pour in sand like I said. It’ll be sucked right inside the motor and mess it up good.”

  Chen looked at Adam and Harm. “You guys okay with that?”

  “I guess,” said Harm, and Adam nodded.

  “Now, listen,” Chen went on. “When the power cuts out, every raptor around’s gonna make straight for that tower—so you gotta split fast. Your nearest cover will be to the east—a square outbuilding with a fence around it, close to the cliff edge.”

  “Loner will lead the rest of us there in the darkness,” David added, his smile too small to be of much reassurance. “Then we’ll all be ready to move as soon as things kick off.”

  Lisa looked at Harm and Adam, full of concern. “We can walk with you, if you’d like.”

  “I will guide them,” Loner declared.

  “Good luck,” Stone whispered.

  His heart doing its best to slither up his throat, Adam followed Harm and Loner through the jungle, an eerie landscape of spindly trunks and creepers. At one point, they had to freeze as a Vel on sentry duty moved nimbly past. Its skin looked blood-black in the moonlight, and its yellow eyes were like lanterns. It peered about, then moved on.

  Harm released a long breath. “We were crazy to agree to this.”

  Adam nodded. He felt like his life had become one of the Choose Your Own Adventure books he’d loved reading as a kid. So many decisions to make, leading you forward and back through the pages. One route might lead you to an ending where you triumphed in your adventure and everything turned out for the best.

  Another might leave you dead in tatters halfway.

  Loner led the way to a thick, sprawling tree and then turned to face Adam. “I can go no farther.” His whisper caught thickly at the back of his throat. “Not enough cover.” The raptor carefully laid his hand on Adam’s shoulder, and brushed the side of his face against Harm’s. Then without further comment, the scaly creature retreated into the jungle shadows.