Dinosaur World 2

by Logan Jacobs

  I decided I was close enough to get off two quick shots before the birds realized what was happening, and if I was lucky, they wouldn’t even realize where the shots were coming from. I set my feet and peered through the scope, and while one bird looked up for a moment at the click of the safety, the rest continued to ignore us.

  I studied the four scavengers and decided to take out the ones on top first. They would be the fastest to get airborne and could move out of range of the gun more quickly. I also hoped that the two on the ground wouldn’t notice right away that their compatriots were dead and would choose to ignore the sound of the gun while they ate.

  "Alright," I instructed the girls. "I’m going to aim for the two on top first, and I’m hoping I can get both of them before they realize what’s happening. But the gun might startle them, and if that happens they’ll probably take to the air. I need you to to keep an eye on all of them, just in case one goes for me while I’m focused on a different one."

  "We’ll make sure you aren’t blindsided," Becka assured me.

  I looked through the scope again and focused on the largest of the big vulture-like dinos as it walked along the top of the Torvosaurus. Like the other feathered creatures we’d seen, it looked like something that hadn’t quite finished evolving yet. The feathers were a nice enough color, almost like a pigeon, but they stuck out of the body in different directions, and some even looked matted. The feathers on the wings, at least, were smooth, which probably explained how they were able to fly. The head was bare with large wattles that hung down over the chest, and golden eyes that sat just above the massive beak.

  "Okay, you fat uglies," I whispered as I caught the big one in the cross hairs of my scope. "Let’s go."

  I pulled the trigger and felt the power thrum through my arm as the bullet shot down the barrel, and then a second later the jurassic vulture let out a startled cry as its chest turned red. It flapped its wings as if it might fly away, but instead, it toppled over the side of the Torvosaurus and laid still in the grass. The remaining scavengers flew into the air for several moments, but the feast was apparently too tempting. The trio returned to the carcass without so much as a glance at their fallen compatriot.

  “Well, if you’re going to make it that easy,” I murmured.

  I lined up my next shot at the lone scavenger on top. It wasn’t quite as large as the first one, but it was smeared in blood, and I could see bits of flesh stuck to its wings. I fired again, and it couldn’t escape the bullet, but instead of a clean shot in the chest, I saw blood spurt from one of the wings. It struggled to remain airborne, and then it dropped to the ground in a bloody heap. It squawked, a sound I imagined a chain smoking chicken would make, and that finally set the other two birds into a frenzy.

  In a second, their angry cries joined the downed bird’s cries of pain, but before I could take aim, they leapt into the air and started to circle high overhead. It was such a classic vulture maneuver that I felt like I was back at my grandfather’s farm for a moment watching the great birds as they rode the thermals. But these birds were massive compared to the ones I was familiar with, and the angry cries that rained down on us sounded like a creature looking for revenge.

  "Jason, they see you!" Becka said, her voice high and on the edge of panic. “You should get back inside.”

  The two bird things were starting to swoop lower, as if daring us to attack them again. Perhaps they were trying to gauge how far we could shoot, which was a scary thought that I quickly tried to bury, even as the birds bounced up and down in the air, just out of range.

  "Just give me a minute," I replied as I aimed the rifle and waited for one of the birds to get too close.

  I got my wish when one of the beasts suddenly dove downwards, its eyes locked onto mine. I let the bird get closer and closer so that its partner would miscalculate the range on the gun. That sounded so insane, but as I watched the flying dinosaur close in, I could see the intelligence in its eyes, and I knew the pair were indeed trying to gauge the effective range of the rifle.

  "Jason!" Hae-won’s worried voice cried out from the cab of the truck.

  "I’ve got it, don’t worry," I replied.

  When I knew it couldn’t be more than fifteen feet away, I pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet cut a clean path through the vulture’s head. The skull exploded from the pressure and blood and lumpy matter sprayed outwards. The creature fell out of the sky in an arc like a dropped bowling ball and landed dead in front of the truck.

  "Jason!" Hae-won called again.

  There were only two birds squawking at us now, the one that still circled overhead and the one I had injured. I started to look for the one in the sky, but somehow, the one on the ground had managed to pull itself to its feet. It slowly hopped toward us across the quad, its yellow eyes locked on the truck. I started to aim for the one on the ground, but I heard the other door on the tow truck open and a few seconds later, I saw a slim shape with a raised sword dart across the grass toward the wounded scavenger.

  “Hae-won!” I called out as I recognized the silky black hair.

  "Jason, I got it," she declared as she skidded to a halt directly in the bird’s path.

  "Wait, no!" I cried out. “Move, and I can shoot it!”

  “You’ve got to shoot the one in the air,” she called back.

  “Jason,” Becka called out. “That one in the sky is getting lower. And it’s moving pretty fast now.”

  I tried to aim at the grounded bird, but Hae-won was in the way. It was hard to miss the powerful beak and sharp talons at this distance, and I couldn’t see how the raven-haired beauty would be able to get close enough to strike without being seriously injured herself.

  I should have guessed that the mysterious Korean girl’s odd collection of talents also included swordfighting. She danced around the bird, careful to stay out of its range while she studied its movements. She made a couple of quick feints, and the vulture lunged each time. She darted away again, and when the creature became impatient and tried to stab her with its powerful beak, she swiveled gracefully toward its side, stepped to its chest while it tried to turn to face her, and drove her sword deep into the mass of feathers and gray skin.

  The beast cried out and flailed before he took a few more panicked stabs at Hae-won, but she released the sword and moved back out of its reach. The large bird took one more stumbling step in her direction before it keeled over and laid prone on the ground.

  "Jason, look out!" Becka yelled out in a panicked voice.

  I looked up in time to see the final giant vulture swooping straight toward me, the talons set to grab me. I lunged to the side at the last possible moment and found shelter behind the opened door of the town truck. The giant bird let out a frustrated squawk as it started to climb again, but I was up quickly and already tracking it in the scope.

  I fired before the bird was out of range, though I didn’t have time to line it up with either the head or chest. I clipped a wing instead, and like any injured bird, it spiraled downwards to the earth out of control until it smashed into the ground. It somehow survived the fall, and after belting out another one of its raspy clucks, it pulled itself to its feet and started to charge toward us rather lamely.

  I fired one more time, and the head vanished in a bloody spray as the body collapsed into a motionless heap.

  "Yes!" Becka cheered. "God, those things were scary."

  "And very ugly," Hae-won agreed as she rejoined us.

  "Why did you run after that one?" I asked her. “I would have shot it.”

  "You looked busy," the dark-haired girl said. "I wanted to help."

  "That was dangerous," I said as I shook my head. “That thing could have had you with that beak. You should have waited for me to take the shot.”

  "I was careful," she argued. "I want to help you. They weren’t very smart anyway."

  "I’m not so sure about that," I sighed. "They knew enough to try and figure out what the range on the gun was. And w
e definitely can’t have you getting that close to these things every time we run into one. Eventually, one of them will manage to peck you. So, we need to start some lessons."

  "Yes," Hae-won agreed. "When do we start?"

  "Let’s get the rest of this cleaned up before anything else arrives," I replied. "I’d rather not meet any more scavengers today. If it’s not too late when we’re done, maybe we can go over some of the basics.”

  “Like point and shoot,” Becka teased.

  “That and a few other rules,” I replied.

  “Just to use a gun?” Hae-won demanded.

  “Trust me,” I said. “They’ll help keep both you and us alive.”

  Hae-won didn’t look convinced, but Becka finally nodded. Becka nudged Hae-won, and the Korean girl finally nodded as well. Once I had their grudging agreement, we turned to look at the collection of bodies that littered the quad.

  "Do you think we can take all of them in one trip?" the blonde girl asked. "It seems like a lot."

  "It does," I agreed as I tried to gauge how much space it would take. The vultures had only started on the Torvosaurus, so it was still large if rather mangled and smelly. "I think the big carnie will take up most of the truck space. Hae-won, can you go grab the tow truck? I’m going to take a closer look and see what we can do."

  "Sure, Jason," the Korean girl replied.

  As Hae-won strode back toward the tow truck, Becka moved in for a closer inspection of the vulture that Hae-won had stabbed. The blonde nudged it, then tried to push it aside, but the large wings made it almost impossible to roll the creatures.

  "These are going to be tough," she said as she stepped back from the animal. “Even if we get them on the truck, those wings will drag over the side.”

  "We’ll have to find a way to tie the wings down,” I replied. “That should work. Here, I’ll close the wing in and you try to push it over again. We need to get Hae-won’s sword back."

  "I hope she appreciates this," Becka sighed.

  I crouched down on the creature’s left side, grabbed the outside of its wing, and started to fold it back in toward its body as best as I could.

  "Try moving it now," I instructed.

  Becka wrinkled her nose, but she stepped up close again and pushed as hard as she could. The body started to roll over, but then it was stuck on the right wing. I straightened out the limb as best as I could, and then as Becka pushed, I pulled from the other side. Finally, the thing flopped onto its back and we could see the hole in the chest and the hilt of the sword. I tugged at the sword but it only slid part way out. With a grunt, I placed a foot on the creature’s chest and pulled as hard as I could. There was a squelching sound as more blood and gore seeped from the wound, but the sword slid free and I wiped off what I could on the feathers.

  "Maybe we should do these flying ones first,” Becka suggested. “If they are more difficult, it might be best to get them out of the way before we’re too knackered to move them."

  "No," I answered as the tow truck arrived. "I think the big boy is clearly the main attraction and more likely to bring in bigger dinosaurs. And if we need to, we can probably find a way to hide these others until we can move them.”

  "I think Jason is right," Hae-won said as she leaned out of the truck window.

  “Imagine that,” the British babe said quietly.

  Hae-won only smiled and started to back the tow truck toward the Torvosaurus.

  "She could have given us a lift," Becka said as the truck wheeled away.

  "It’s just over there," I teased as we started walking. “Surely you Brits can handle that much walking?”

  “This from a yank,” she snorted. “Good thing you are so handsome.”

  “Oh?” I asked.

  “And good with a gun,” she laughed as she gave me a playful wink. “And… other things…”

  “Like my tongue?” I asked, but the blonde didn’t answer since we’d gotten back to the body, where Hae-won had already backed the truck up to the creature’s tail and started to uncoil the cable. The Korean girl was focused on the cable system as we bounded toward her, though Becka gave a triumphant whoop as she touched the side of the truck first.

  "I’ve got your sword," I called to the dark-haired girl as I slowed to a stop at the back of the truck.

  "Thank you," Hae-won said as she finally looked up from the cable. The Korean girl smiled at me and flashed her glittering blue eyes in my direction for a moment before returning her focus to the truck.

  "Who’s going to hook it up?" Becka asked and stared at the dinosaur sideways.

  "Uh, I guess I can," I said and stared at the half-eaten animal.

  “Good,” the blonde said as her face relaxed into a relieved expression. “I really did not want to touch that thing.”

  Becka was entirely justified in being disgusted by the animal. I hadn’t appreciated just how much damage the scavengers had managed to do until we got closer, and I was starting to wish I didn’t have to look. The vultures had already exposed most of the rib cage and several internal organs, and blood and a few other liquids I didn’t want to think about leaked from the remains and oozed into the ground.

  “Damn, that thing is scary,” I said.

  “How are you going to get the cable around it?” Hae-won asked.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “Do you think we can roll it?”

  “Maybe.” The Korean girl looked over the creature. “It is heavy, though.”

  “You could go through it,” Becka offered. “If you get it through the rib cage and hook it around the shoulder blades, that might work.”

  “Oh, right.” I griped as I pictured what would be required to accomplish that. “Because smelling like a dead dinosaur all day won’t attract any attention.”

  “I’m not sure that would work anyway,” Hae-won said. “Its legs are very heavy. If you tie it around the top, it might pull apart.”

  “What do you think we should do, then?” I asked the blue-eyed girl.

  “I think if you get the legs, it would be better,” she replied. “Especially the back legs. Those are the stronger parts.”

  “Hmm, okay,” I said as I looked at the dinosaur’s uneaten legs. “That could work. Those will be a lot easier to get to.”

  “You just need to make sure that they are tied together well,” Hae-won explained. “If one comes loose, it will not work.”

  “Got it.” I took the end of the cable from Hae-won. “Just give me some more line to work with.”

  “Sure, Jason,” the Korean girl replied as she picked up the controller.

  The cable began to unwind, and I watched it unspool until I thought I had enough. I signalled Hae-won to stop, and then I carried the cable to the legs.

  “Damn,” I sighed as I inspected the corpse. “This dude was a beast.”

  The limbs were thick and well muscled with heavy ankles and wide toes. The claws were sharp and long, and I had to work around them as I looped the cable around the ankles and between the feet.

  “You ready?” Hae-won asked when I stepped away from the Torvosaurus.

  “I think so,” I replied. “Let’s try it. If it starts to fall apart, I’ll warn you.”

  Hae-won started up the rigging, and we all looked on as the line reeled in, pulled taut, and began to move the massive carnivore.

  “Yes!” the Korean girl cheered.

  “Thank God,” Becka sighed. “I didn’t want to have to smell this thing for days on end.’

  “Don’t celebrate yet,” I warned. “We need to make sure it will fit on the truck.”

  The dinosaur began to move up the ramp, and I clenched my teeth together at the screeching sound of the engine. The rig was definitely straining under the weight of the beast, and I could only hope that it would survive. Slowly, the back end of the dino moved past the ramp and onto the truck bed with a solid thunk. With most of the weight in the truck, the engine seemed to settle and the rest of the dino followed quickly.

&nbs
p; “Yes!” I declared with a fist pump. “Okay, now that I’ve done the hard part, you two can strap it down.”

  “What?” Becka asked, her mouth slightly agape.

  “It only seems fair,” I pointed out. “Besides, that’s the easy part. You don’t even have to touch it.”

  The two girls looked at each other and then at the dinosaur.

  “I’ll drive,” I chuckled.

  “Ah, now I understand,” Hae-won replied with a smirk. “Fine, you can drive. This time.”

  “Fine,” Becka agreed from behind me.

  While the girls started to strap down the dinosaur, I hopped into the driver’s seat and studied the controls. I had a few moments to look over the gear shift and play with the pedals before the girls finished up, and by the time they hopped into the truck, I was confident that I could drive the thing without grinding the gears into oblivion.

  “Buckle up!” I laughed as the girls took their spots.

  “Boys and their toys,” Becka said with a shake of her head.

  The tow truck lumbered forward, slowly at first as I got used to the gear shift, and then picked up speed as we closed in on the gate. I was having a blast driving the big truck, though neither of the girls looked quite as thrilled as I was. I laughed again and was ready to blast across the quad when I saw something move by Timothy. I downshifted and rolled to a stop while I studied the scene at the gate.

  “What’s wrong?” Becka asked when she saw my expression.

  “I thought I saw something by Timothy,” I whispered.

  We were still a good couple hundred yards away, but the girls both leaned forward and narrowed their eyes. I waited for a moment, then placed an index finger over my mouth as I put the truck into park, slipped as quietly as I could out from the cab, grabbed the bullpup, and then stepped toward the edge of the truck.

  I’d hoped the girls would stay in the truck, but the engine cut off and a moment later, and I saw a head of blonde hair and a head of black hair appear on the other side of the truck.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed.