by catt dahman
They came out of the trees and onto the open landscape, unsure where to go. Nowhere felt safe.
Trevor bellowed, and he and Skate veered west toward a huge set of rocks that either they could climb over or look in for a cave; however, Harper veered east, running blindly toward the water of a cloudy pool. She dove into the shallows and came up swimming. Trevor thought, almost in a dream-like state, that the water must feel cool and soothing on her bug bites and scrapes.
The megalosaur followed her, and the ones chasing from behind all went that way as well, but Harper kept swimming in strong, even strokes to the deep center of the lake, enjoying the cool water and feeling more secure and better by the second. She was an excellent swimmer and dumped her pack as soon as she hit the water; she could recover it later and dry everything out. This was her element.
Trevor and Skate climbed the rocks and watched, hoping Harper was okay and the megalosaurs couldn’t swim. Maybe they were too bulky or heavy to swim well.
“She’s okay so far,” Skate said.
Harper laughed as she treaded.
Two of the megalosaurs waded out into the water hip deep but didn’t seem to like it. They looked around, showing fear and nervous behavior with their eyes rolling and their slow movements. Harper laughed again and jeered at them.
“She made it. Wow. They hate water,” Skate said.
“Maybe,” Trevor said, watching anxiously. He knew things were not always as they seemed, especially in this place.
All at once, there was a tremendous splash, and Harper vanished under the surface; a thick red stain bubbled upwards. It might have been anything that rose up in the water to grab Harper, but the men watching had a half-formed mental image of short tentacles, a large, grey-blue, muscular body, and big saucer-eyes, but it was too fast to be sure. Both megalosaurs backed out of the water quickly, met the rest of their pack, and disappeared into the forest they again blended in so fast it was as if they became invisible. They looked terrified.
There was no sign but for the dissipating blood. Skate and Trevor didn’t speak, but were also frightened about what lived in the water. What it was that scared the huge monsters and killed Harper, they didn’t know, but something big and vicious lived in the depths of the small lake, and it was hungry. Maybe it was best not to see the creature.
For all his bravado, Skate shook for a long time and systematically ate peanuts and raisins from his pack, muttering all the while. Trevor watched the forest, wondering if the megalosaurs watched him back.
They spent that night on the rocks, terrified of what was all around.
Skate’s ratings went down. The show’s rating went up one notch.
Stephanie, unheard by those on the rocks, screamed forty-five minutes, and her camera recorded all her misery.
It was just another day in the world sixty-five million years in the past.
Chapter Ten: Team Merge
“Ummmm. I thought I heard someone moving around,” Ruby said as she approached the fire. “After I pee, I can take guard duty, Serinda.”
“I’m okay. Just got here.”
“Yeah. I kind of waited until you were on duty before I got up and came over.”
Susan cocked her head a little as she watched Ruby, hiding her own flaming face, “You look sleepy, Ruby. Tired. Doing okay?”
“Yeah. I just need sleep,” Ruby shut her mouth and tightened her lips as she realized what she said. Supposedly, they had all been asleep for hours.
Susan giggled, “I’ll go with you to pee.”
They walked a short ways, and one stood guard for the other.
“You look a little tired, too,” Ruby noted with a wink.
“Me? Oh, I….” Susan felt her skin go hot again. She avoided the question and posed her own, “Jack, huh? He’s cute, Ruby. He’s a good man, too. I think he’s a good catch. You like him?”
Ruby nodded; her secret was out, “I do. A lot. More than I should with these circumstances because now I worry more about our getting out.”
“I know. I guess we should grab love and romance even here. Gives me a little hope for later…out in the real world. I sound like an idiot; ignore me.”
“It isn’t much better out there,” Ruby said, “not being nosy, but since you were….”
Susan laughed, “Sorry, I could tell though. He’s been looking at you all along. You have been kind of looking at him, so it made sense.”
Ruby came back with a laugh, “Jeremy, huh? He’s cold and detached and tough and hard, but with you, he’s a cream puff. Who would have guessed?”
“I wouldn’t have figured,” Susan admitted “I’d rather everyone not know. Complications….”
“Your secret is safe with me. Keep mine, too, huh?”
“Always,” Susan promised, “hey, Ruby, you and Jack. Me and Jeremy. Let’s make it out of here and see if we have a shot in the real world, okay? I want a chance there. A real chance. Not with him…it’s just comfort and fear with us I guess…but….”
Ruby gave Susan a quick hug, “The four of us, all the way.”
The two women waved at Serinda and Wendy and crawled into their sleeping bags, close to the men. Serinda and Wendy smiled at each other as they continued their guard duty, but the night was quiet, broken by a few chilling calls of hadrosaurs, long, haunting bellows like big owls.
The night passed.
As they fixed the breakfast that Susan had planned and set out, the morning was broken with the sound of a helicopter. The noise, common days before, was odd in this surrounding for them, and they scanned the skies, wondering what it meant.
“What do you think this is about?” Jack asked.
“Something to do with our missing cameras, maybe,” Marcus said.
The chopper landed, and a small group got out, walked a distance away, and waved the helicopter away. The group included five men and a woman lightly armed but not military; the other six dressed in paramilitary garb, carried heavy backpacks, and were armed heavily with large M-16s.
“Who is in charge?” a man asked.
Jack scoffed, “That’s stupid. We’re four teams; there’s no boss here. Don’t you watch the show?” he noted the show’s patch on the camouflage the people wore. A few snickers and chuckled followed Jack’s snide question.
“Hi, Jack, Bert McTone here from Dinosaur: 65 Million.”
Marcus leaned over laughing, wiping his eyes. He could hardly stop laughing, “No shit, you think? Wow, Bert, we thought we were on the wrong show for a while until the critters ate most of the teams.”
“We know you, Bert,” Jack said.
“Oh. Well, yes. Sorry about that part. But since you lost some of your cameras, we are here to film. The fans will love this close-up view and some personal commentary,” Bert said. “We were sent.”
“Well, Bert, you’re in a dangerous place.”
One of the men glared at Jack, “We’re well armed. We are here for filming and to guard Bert and Analisa.”
Analisa stomped her foot, “I didn’t sign up for this. I am still pissed off. Why should I have to come out here and…?”
“So we have guards? How does that work into the show, Bert?” Marcus asked. “I’m confused.” They glanced at Analisa but ignored her.
The man identified himself as Alex, “No, you have no guards. We are here for Bert and Analisa and filming. That is the only priority. If we are attacked, we will defend ourselves and them. We will do absolutely nothing in your favor as per the rules.”
“Wow,” Lawryn said.
Bert shrugged, “That’s what we were ordered to do.”
Jack laughed this time, “Military. SSDD. I get it. No doubt this will be edited, but I get it now…all a military-run operation. This is great. Okay, folks, we know the score. None of us are meant to survive this now because we know.” He leaned closer to the armed bunch, and they tightened their grips on their guns, ready, but he didn’t threaten them. Instead, he smiled, “I hope all of you get munched. I really d
o. Good luck.”
The rest of the contestants gave the two new groups dirty looks and walked back to finish their breakfast and to make plans for the day. They didn’t invite the newcomers to eat and would have fought if they had tried to join them in the meal.
Marshall worked on his heel, draining the injury and washing it with Susan’s help. He frowned, “Funny that didn’t bring Mali, Skate, and Preston running when they heard the helicopter.” His heel was no worse and looked slightly better.
“They’re scouting,” Ruby said, “why didn’t they come running?”
“Impossible they wouldn’t,” Lawryn said.
“Marcus?” Jack asked.
“Got it.” He stood and stood ready with gun in hand.
“I’m going.”
“Ruby….” Jack began.
“Please don’t change how we work, Jack. Please.”
She, Jeremy, and Lawryn followed Jack the way they thought the others went earlier. Tension rose as they saw nothing. Maybe some dinosaurs were prowling and had taken them, but it must have been quietly. Questions filled their heads as the four searched.
Skate staggered from some rocks, his face bruised and scratched and one arm bleeding, “They got us. We got attacked.”
Jack spun in circles, looking for a threat, “What kind?”
“Green. Medium-sized. Mean,” Skate said.
“How many?”
“I don’t know. A few,” Skate said as he allowed Lawryn to put a cloth over his injury and to try to stop the bleeding.
“A dino did this?”
“Yeah. Bit or scratched.”
“A bite?” Lawryn asked. Her voice sounded curious.
Skate shook his head, “Clawed. He clawed me.”
Lawryn nodded, “Ok, it didn’t look like a bite.”
“No, it slashed me,” Skate said. “I think. It was fast.”
“Where is Preston and Mali?” Jack asked.
“They didn’t make it. Can we just go before they follow me and get on the trail? I want to go.”
“Are you sure Mali and Preston didn’t…?” Ruby wondered why no one heard them yelling, but maybe the sounds of the helicopter covered the screams.
“They’re dead as doornails. Please, I wanna go.”
Ruby frowned. Something felt wrong, but she didn’t know what it was. Lawryn’s remarks made her feel she was right to wonder, and she said, “I want to see what happened to Mali.”
“That’s sick. She was torn up. Why do you wanna see that? Can we get somewhere safe and stop arguing? This hurts.”
“It’s a clean cut. You’re lucky,” Jeremy noted. “Most slashes are filled with feces and dirt from their dirty claws. How did you even get away from such an attack?”
“It used his front claws. I ran away when I saw the other two were down and being ripped apart.”
“Dryptosaurs have long front claws, and the map shows we will run into them but not quite yet. How did you escape one of them? They seem the worst of all…fast….”
“I ran.”
Ruby looked confused, “You ran? Did Mali run? What happened to Preston? Where are they? Did the pack follow the blood trail?”
“The bitch died. Can we go?” Skate almost screamed.
Jack pushed into Skate’s face, “I don’t like you calling Mali that, and I don’t like your tone with Ruby. You can knock it off, or I can whip your ass.”
“Let’s look a little more,” Lawryn glared.
Jeremy took point, walked a while with everyone following, and then stopped. Without a word, he aimed his gun at Skate.
“What?” Ruby didn’t finish but ran to Mali who lay on the ground, beaten, lying in the fetal position with her clothing beside her. Preston was close to her and in a pool of blood.
“Dead. Throat slashed,” Lawryn reported on Preston.
“She’s alive,” Ruby said.
“Since when do dinosaurs yank off clothing?” Jack asked as he went over to Mali and Ruby.
“Okay, here’s the deal. We were scouting, and she went nuts. I didn’t tell you because it was crazy. You know she’s a gang-banger, and all the sudden, she pulled a knife and killed Preston and cut me. We fought. Preston and Mali, they were getting it on, see…and she went crazy and did that to him. I knocked her out and ran. Her kind can just go crazy easy and attack people,” Skate said.
“Her kind?” Ruby asked.
Jeremy stared at Skate.
“Seriously, Dude.”
Ruby bathed Mali’s face, and Mali groaned. Ruby motioned Jack away, “Give her privacy, okay? Let me help her.”
Ruby and Lawryn washed her, and when Mali could help, they dressed her, waiting before asking questions about what happened. Luckily, the blood all over Mali wasn’t hers, and she was not wounded, other than the blood between her legs and a few bruises on her face. Her wrists were already purple and black with nasty bruising.
Struggling with pain, Mali scooped up the knife beside Preston and then staggered over to a bush and recovered her own knife where it had been tossed. “What happened? Can you tell us?” Ruby asked as she continued to help Mali walk.
“Preston hit me,” Mali showed them a lump on the back of her head, wincing as she felt it. Ruby shivered as she cleaned the bump well, knowing it was painful. “Next thing I know, I’m seeing double, and that son of a bitch was raping me.” She stopped talking, and tears filled her eyes, “It was disgusting, the fat pig.”
“Oh, my God, Mali….”
“It’s okay. He tossed my knife, but he forgot he had one, and I snatched it. Cut his fucking throat. He’s dead? Preston?”
“Yeah,” Lawryn said, “he’s dead.”
“Good.”
“Yeah,” Ruby repeated Lawryn.
“Fat bastard grabbed me and tried to slobber on me….” Mali spat.
“Damn. What about Skate?” Ruby asked. “He said he saw….”
“That one. I could see him and hear him, kept saying ‘Do it, Dude. Do her.’ And he said, ‘I want a shot...sloppy seconds are fine, Dude. Hurry up.’ The whole time he was laughing and cheering.” Mali looked at Skate, “You think that’s funny? Huh? It’s funny to hit a girl and rape her? You like that? He hit me…you into that shit?” Tears flooded her angry face, and she cried with fury, pain, and a deep shame she felt.
“She’s lying. I told you what happened,” Skate said, his voice shaking. “Come on, she’s a piece of ghetto trash.”
“It’s on camera, Dude,” Jack said.
“No rules out here. You know that. Survival is all. But she’s lying.”
Jeremy narrowed his eyes, “Footprints tell another story. They tell her story.”
“After I cut Preston, Skate grabbed me, and I cut him on the arm and punched him as best I could,” Mali said. “I would have gotten his throat, but he blocked it and hit me back. I hurt. Damn.” She had to sit down again. Bruises from where Preston weakened her.
“You were going to rape her, too? What’s wrong with you?” Ruby demanded, “You can’t find a girl willing to be with you, so you force her? You freak. You and me…I’d cut your dick off and let you bleed out, you pervert,” Ruby sobbed.
Jack hugged her, trying to settle her down, “Come on and relax. We found Mali, and she’s safe.”
“Yeah, back home, my best friend wasn’t; she was attacked, and the pervert got away with it. Jack, she killed herself. She gave up after what he did. You trash,” she said as she lunged at Skate, but Jack held her tightly.
“I said she’s lying.”
“No, she isn’t. If she and Preston did it and trust me she would not want him, she wouldn’t have the lump on her head or bruises on her face and wrists or blood on her body,” Jeremy spoke in a calm manner, but his eyes glittered dangerously.
“Dude, Okay, maybe he did…yeah. He did…there. I admit that it was maybe not her idea, but I wasn’t gonna do anything really. I was just going along so he wouldn’t go nuts on me. I wasn’t gonna really hurt her. I stayed
back because Preston was crazy.”
“That’s your third version of the story, Skate,” Jeremy said.
Lawryn and Ruby helped Mali to walk. Ruby said they would get her back to camp and to Susan for some first aid. Jack calmly explained to Ruby and to Lawryn, who might get angry and blow up as well, that the focus had to be on getting Mali to safety. She was injured, so she needed to be cleaned, soothed, and cared for; that was truly the priority.
Ruby finally sighed, accepted Jack was right and that he and Jeremy would handle the bigger problem. Ruby shook her head, “You’re really trash, Skate.”
“You love it,” he sneered.
Ruby took a deep breath but kept walking and helping Mali.
Once past the rocks, they walked slower as Mali cried. She hated showing a weak side and had always been strong, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Preston’s salty sweat dripping onto her, his unwashed stink, and the way he grunted as he raped her; thankfully, she slit his throat before he finished. She only felt relieved when she slid the knife across his neck and ended the assault, made the noises stop, and was able to push him away.
“It wasn’t fair.”
Ruby agreed, “I know. You did right by Preston. He was a pig.”
“Thanks for finding me.”
All three jumped a little when they heard a gun shot. Lawryn met Ruby’s eyes.
“There’s camp. I’ll be along,” Ruby said.
She waited a second, and Jeremy came walking along with Jack. Skate was not with them. Jeremy tipped his head to Ruby and hurried to help Lawryn with Mali, picking her up in his arms and carrying her the rest of the way. In a show of vulnerability, she leaned her head against Jeremy and cried bitterly. Susan ran to meet them, fluttering about motherly and tending to her patient.
Ruby and Jack sighed.
“Jeremy took care of him?”
Jack took his time answering, “No, I did. It could have been either one of us, but what he said to you…I thought how next time, if he had a chance, it could be you. So I did it. Funny thing is I just don’t feel bad about it.”