Last Train to Pangea: Death by Dinosaur

by Robert Turnbull

  “Dinos?” he shrugged and the good old ‘light bulb’ went on “Ohhh, dinosaurs, I like that.”

  “What do you call them in general?” Wes asked.

  “Twos for two legged, and fours for four legged.” he chuckled “Chompers for meat eaters, and gummers for plant eaters…you know, slangs.” he smiled “But mostly we call them nuisances.”

  “Back to the dead Neos, you said hundreds?” Kurt asked cautiously “In which direction were they headed?”

  “Easy my new friends.” Sven replied, knowing their worries “They were headed to the north of us…and away from you. Our experts on Neos believe they were fleeing this flu themselves. One reason we were late getting here was our guys that were sick volunteered to go into the dying fields to check them; there wasn’t one of the Neos strong enough to do more than raise their head and grunt. Our men found modern belongings among the dead and dying.” He nodded to Wes’s binoculars hanging around his neck “Like those field glasses and backpacks that looked like some that our doughboys wore.”

  Wes nodded “Sounds like maybe someone from semi-modern times landed in their area that was ill and…”

  Kurt muttered loudly “Doughboys? That would put them from the time around WWI. A lot of sickness back then in the trenches. Could explain why the recent attacks. Jesus, they weren’t just getting more aggressive, they probably were fleeing others of their kinds that were sick…they were panicking.”

  Missy finished the thought with a sigh “And just helped spread it running from tribe to tribe.”

  Kurt who had been running trade on the plains nearly since coming to Pangea. His wagons had traveled to every known settlement and most likely knew more about the Neos, nodded in agreement.

  “They do tend to move to other tribes or clans when food is low, or sometimes packs of meat-eaters moved into their areas. The Neos always seemed to help one another, even to making armies to fight the Cros. Armies that the land couldn’t provide for…for long.” He shrugged and looked out to the prairies to the north.

  “All that to the north was their lands…well, that all we know of. Shame I guess, but if they stuck to habit…then they’ve spread the sickness to all the clans.”

  One of Kurt’s men nodded “We could be seeing the end of the Neos…depending upon how many and where they were ported to.”

  Sven related his finding as to a large amount of dead and dying meat-eaters.

  “Our doctors don’t think the flu is active in the dead after a few days, but any of them that decided to feast before that, winds up like that beast that attacked you last night. From your brief description, I’d say it had been eating Neos the last few days. It was probably following the trail of corpses or dying when it stumbled across your wagons. Probably saw your campfires.”

  Wes smiled at Sven and pointed to his men.

  “Let us offer you all some food and drink, and then why don’t you show us the way back to your city? Kurt told us that we passed the old rendezvous point yesterday, but was unsure of the exact location of your city.”

  “A day and a half from here.” Sven nodded to the southeast “We came north to avoid the herds that feed on the plains this time of year.”

  “As did we,” Kurt added “too many meat eating dinos.”

  Missy couldn’t stand it any longer “Have you seen a small teen that…”

  “Oh you mean Cassy?” Sven chuckled “Little spitfire she is. Sure ma’am, I’ve seen her, we all did. She came through the gates the day we left and told us about how we needed to make peace, and how she had been treated by her so called husbands…and some of us townsfolk. She then proceeded to the leaders meeting and scolded them.” he laughed “She told them all you wanted was peace and had for decades.” he winked at Wes and Missy “She then told us to get our act together…I take it she got that expression from one of you newcomers…and then she left against the suggestions of our leaders. I told her she could ride along with us, but she said she had other business back home, wherever home is, and left.” Sven smiled warmly “That little gal was spitting mad and stormed out. As she turned and left she stopped and over her shoulder commented that if she could forgive us for the way she had been treated by our people and her husbands, then we needed to grow up and face the fact that we needed each other.”

  Missy leaned into Wes’s shoulder and clasped his waist as she smiled.

  “That sounds like our Cassy.” She looked at Wes “Baby, do you think she went back to her cave?”

  “Most likely honey, she feels that she has lost everything and went home.” Wes replied “It’s time we went and told her she still has us.”

  Chapter 33.

  It took nearly two days as they skirted the dead areas thus avoiding any poor creature that decided to feast on the infected. During those two days they encountered dead flappers that had also seen the bodies from the air…but strangely no one, not even Missy, shed a tear for the flappers. It bothered most of the people heading for Blackwood that they knew at some point it would have to be humans or dinos that survived, but hoped that for once man wouldn’t destroy everything he touched.

  For now it seemed that a new problem was arising and Wes let it air before the leaders of Blackwood.

  He slowly paced the floor in front of their table as they looked on.

  “If this plague spreads to the meat-eaters alone as it seems to be doing, we could face an over population of plant-eaters. They could strip the plains bare of vegetation, dust storms could become the norm. On the way in here we saw that you grow most of your food outside the spiked walls and barricades of your large cities and I assume it is the same for the other smaller towns Sven told us of. Those crops could be in danger, even your walls if herds of hundreds stampeded…and Boulder and the Indians would be limited to our protected areas.”

  “Assuming we all don’t die from this flu ourselves.” one of the leaders added.

  About then one of Kurt’s men rushed in with the good news, Boulder was sending a team of doctors and the vaccine and serum they had developed. That was the good news, the bad was that Cassy had not been seen anywhere in town.

  Wes knew from the first day that Cassy had pulled his ass out of the frying pan, that she lived in a cave nearly half way between where their train had landed, and the only town she knew of for certain…Blackwood.

  He and Sarge had both taken bearings from the sun the day they had headed toward Boulder, and then again at night by the stars. Luckily the ‘North Star’ was still located to the north, where as many of the other constellations had not moved to the positions that he knew in 2014. So with a bit of plotting on the crude map Boulder had created and the map that Blackwood had, he got an area to start looking in.

  It was a little after noon on the first full day, and after a good night’s sleep, Wes packed up his horse and another one for Cassy in case something had happened to hers. Against Missy’s protests about not being allowed to go, he gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead. He quickly galloped out the gate as several of the Blackwood riders escorted him to the highest hill to scout ahead among the outcropped terrain that lay ahead.

  “Jesus,” Wes shook his head to his companions that were going no further “From the bluffs all this didn’t look so bad, but from up here…” he sighed “looks like a rex could hide in those hills and gullies.”

  “You take care sir, make note of any of those dinos you call them, while you’re up here…and the directions they’re going. Other than raptors none of the others stick around very long because it’s far too rocky and they can’t see the prey. But do not kid yourself, they hide among those hills and high brush.”

  Wes chuckled “Yeah Captain, I found that out the first few days we were here.” he nodded as the Captain gave him a little salute and off they rode in different directions. The only dinos Wes had seen were some four-leggers, and figured where they were, so might be raptors…he headed his steed in a wide arc around in the direction they had come. Luckily there were hi
gh rolling hills and a few deep gullies to hide his movements. He stayed clear of any gully that he couldn’t ride out of and prayed that as he’d top a hill, there wasn’t a raptor standing on the other side.

  All the time he tried to keep alert and not allow anything to distract him, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d find her cave. He remembered that she had said she had seen the smoke from the prairie fire they had set and that she had thrown together some of her things that she usually took on trips to town or long hunts…and stumbled upon him. Then she had said that there was some sort of dinosaur carcass that the old man had killed before he died and one of her husbands had helped her cut up the remains and drag it down a hill. So he figured unless some large dino dragged the carcass pieces away, there should be a cave nearby.

  The problem Wes soon found out, was that there were a lot of dino bones and nearly complete carcasses laying all around the areas he was searching. Some were lying near hills like what Cassy had told him and Missy about. After searching up from the carcasses, he found no caves and he was getting discouraged. Wes had traveled nearly to the bluffs that overlooked the train where Cassy had found him and doubled back knowing the cave had to be back behind that point. Fearing dark would fall before he found shelter, he swung to the east about a mile and started backtracking toward Blackwood in hopes of finding Cassy.

  He watched from a tor as several raptors scurried out of some high brush and headed down toward the prairie a mile below where he was perched. Soon he saw the raptors appear almost a mile and a half away as they chased some poor straggler from the herd of ankylosaurus that had passed earlier that day to the west.

  But what were the raptors doing in the brush? Horses from both cities had all been trained not to make a sound when they sensed dinosaurs, and now both his horses stopped and refused to move. Wes had learned from Kurt that the horses would freeze if they sensed a meat eating dino, and run like the wind if they saw one…his horses froze!

  Wes quietly dismounted and crawled to the top of the next knoll and saw the raptors had grouped in the brush. From where Wes lay prone he could see the trampled brush but little else. Now they were gone and that being the way he had to go…he figured, why not?

  Quickly before the raptors returned, Wes rode down and jumped off his horse that refused to go into the dense brush. Knowing full well that he shouldn’t either…but he had to know…and froze upon finding what was left of a horse.

  Wes’s heart sunk until he found the bridle.

  “Thank God…it was a pack horse.” he muttered to himself. Looking behind to the broken brush he hoped to follow the trail back to Cassy and hopefully her cave. Walking back out and leading his horse to another hill top, it could sense no dinosaurs and once again allowed Wes to spur it onward.

  Less than a mile and along the side of a hill, his heart sank again at the sign of another saddled horse, or at least what was left of it. One side of the saddle had a long and deep gash on it as if a raptor had slashed it with its six inch claw. The saddle had the gash completely from the front to the rear on the right side and he knew if Cassy was in the saddle…her leg… Wes couldn’t bear to continue.

  There were some signs, broken grass and brush, back to the east and southerly as he moved to the top of the hill…and found a bloody rag!

  “My God…” Wes nearly cried “Cassy had a shirt exactly like this.”

  Frantically Wes scoured the terrain for any signs of the lass he had come to think of as his daughter although he still felt too young to have a girl her age, but he knew he had to find her…or what was left of her.

  Fearing there would be nothing left, Wes wondered if he could ever return to Blackwood and Missy without proof of…

  His eye caught another bloody piece of the same material…and a chuck of flesh. As he slowly dismounted Wes gagged…it was part of a liver…the size of a human liver!”

  Fighting mind numbing revulsion he slowly sank to his knees and gently wrapped the remains of some scattered bits of muscle and liver in the bloody rag. Tears streamed down his cheeks and his body spasmed as he fought back the urge to scream at the top of his lungs.

  “Oh God Cassy…you never had a chance…you were so young…”

  “Jesus Christ Wes, did you really think that was me?”

  Wes jumped from his knees and fell over to one side as he spun to see Cassy standing there laughing…until she saw the tear stained face.

  Cassy ran to Wes and hugged him as he managed to get to his feet. She nestled her face into his neck and started crying herself.

  “Oh Wes, I had to do something after Cord died.” She pulled back and looked at Wes as she brushed away his tears.

  “I heard you talking about Blackwood and knew I couldn’t stop you, but I couldn’t let you risk your life.” she smiled sweetly “I had no way of knowing they had a change of heart about people from Boulder.

  “So you…you… came all the way here like an…an…” Wes was sputtering so hard from frustration that he couldn’t get a full sentence out.

  “Idiot?” she smiled “It was risky, but I know the land, and some of the people here…” she got a strange look on her face “But as the old man would say, ‘it was all for naught’. I got here and they were preparing a troop of their soldiers to go to Boulder for assistance.”

  “We found that out…Missy, the guys, and myself.”

  “Missy came? Oh Wes, that was too dangerous.”

  “I know that young lady, but I couldn’t have stopped her once Sarge and Kurt got the wagons together and…”

  “They all came for the peace talks?”

  Wes frowned “No young lady…we all came to find you!”

  “Then…then I endangered all of you…” her scolding would have to wait as raptor cries could be heard in the distance.

  “Let’s get mounted.” And Cassy didn’t need any urging. As they rode in the direction of Blackwood Cassy closed toward Wes and began explaining herself as she knew Wes was still perturbed.

  “The raptors came to the cave and found one of my old suitors that had been living there. I guess he had come to find me. He jumped on my horse and grabbed the pack horse’s reigns and took off…the fool. I slipped in the cave that’s too small for the raptors and they chased him. I came out here looking for my stuff…” she sadly looked at the bloody remains “I figured they’d get him and the horses…and I’d get my clothes, maybe.”

  Wes nodded in the direction of Blackwood and Cassy shook her head no and pointed more to the south.

  “That was to Blackwood, you would have missed it by a few miles that way because of a series of hills.” They slowed their pace now well away from the hilly raptor area.

  A quick check around the flatter land Wes sat back in his saddle and looked at the young lass. Wes frowned and tried not to show how happy he was to see her alive and well.

  “Well young lady if you weren’t so damned useful, I’d ground ya.”

  Cassy looked at Wes as she cocked her head.

  “Ground? Throw me on the ground?” she shook her head slowly “I don’t think you would do that no matter how mad you are at me.”

  “No Cassy…ground you.” then it dawned on him, Cassy was from the turn of the twentieth century…long before his euphemism existed.

  “Never mind.” he sighed as he spurred his horse “Why does talking to you make me feel so old.”

  Chapter 34.

  The two of them arrived back at Blackwood just after dark as a very worried and irate Missy met the two of them at the gate. A shout from the guard tower rang in their arrival and their group ran to meet them.

  Of course a brief scolding from Missy was expected, and even to Cassy’s surprise, Sarge laid into her as well…and then Snake, Luke, and Boots.

  Cassy smiled sweetly and wiggled Luke by his small goatee.

  “Even Luke? …The same Luke who swore he’d never leave the safety of the Boulder walls?” she giggled softly “You know that I can take care of myself Luke.”


  Luke and Boots both laughed as Luke replied “Hell girl, we came along to protect you from Missy and Wes.” They all laughed and headed toward the building that served as a hotel.

  “My God…” Cassy muttered as they rode the few blocks to their temporary residence “Blackwood has changed so much since I was last here…” then added “but I never got more than a glimpse of this part.”

  One of their escorts by the name of Carlos frowned and shook his head.

  “And for that we are sorry Miss. Not all of Blackwood is the way you were treated by those that lived at the north gate. That’s one of the rougher parts of our community and one that we’ve tried to clean up. From what your mom said…” he nodded toward Missy as Cassy smiled at her enjoying the thought of ‘Missy mom’, Carlos continued “…it would seem that was also where your two husbands came from.”

  “All in the past now.” Cassy smiled sweetly as they arrived at the hitching post in front of the small boarding house and hotel. This part of Blackwood was one that Cassy never got to see and if one didn’t know, they’d swear they were in one of Boulder’s smaller towns as it was so different from the area around the north gate.

  Everyone felt strangely honored as strangers were rarely let past the gates, let alone into the main part of town and now here they were. They soon were joined by their friends from Boulder for a good night’s sleep.

  The mounted medical team had ridden all night, the military guards that had come with them were allowed to keep their weapons, and as they walked the streets of Blackwood unescorted, people stopped them and asked about their city or just thanked them for their assistance. This was not the Blackwood that Cassy had known.

  Finally a few days later the first wagons arrived, by then the advanced medical team had things under control and the people of Blackwood showed their respect by thanking anyone in a Boulder uniform and Wes’s group, it seemed, had become pretty well known.