Dino Island 2

by J R Hogan

  I looked at her in awe. I did not like the feeling.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  TOC

  “Are you saying she needs her ACP back, Professor Swift?” Jessica asked, breaking my trance.

  I cleared my throat. “No, she’s dangerous enough for the moment,” I answered, still looking at Chastity.

  She smiled at me.

  “So… you knew something important, but Chastity knew about it before we did?” Sarah asked, leaning closer to Daisy.

  My mind raced. “I wanted to have a complete plan before stressing anyone. But since it’s Chastity’s fault that we’re here, I don’t mind upsetting her.” I turned and stepped away from Chastity in an attempt to diminish the uncomfortable pull she caused. “We have a major advantage, and it’s time to use it. Who’s ready to shoot some dinosaurs?”

  • • •

  The shotgun lay across Ling’s shoulders, her arms slung over the weapon and relaxed at eye level. The black bra, black panties, black socks, and black shotgun combined to form an intoxicating vision. Every time I tried to look away, she bent at just the right angle to draw my eyes to each new feminine curve.

  “She knows you’re staring. She likes it. That’s the only reason she hasn’t stopped you from staring.”

  I snapped back to see Chastity frowning at me. I should have denied or at least redirected the conversation, but my mouth got ahead of me. “How can someone stop a different person from staring?”

  Chastity rolled her eyes. “Women can usually make men think they came up with an idea on their own. You’re going to have to learn faster if you want to survive your present company.”

  I shook my head. “I think you’re underestimating me, Chastity. You really think they can get inside my mind enough to control my thoughts?”

  She raised one eyebrow, but was otherwise silent.

  I had an equal lack of words to contribute as I suddenly doubted myself.

  “Mark, I need a favor,” she added in a low voice. “What you’re planning for today – you’ve admitted that you need my help. It will be dangerous.” She placed an hand on my forearm, sending an icy chill to my spine. “I need my gun back.”

  I tried to pull my arm away, but she didn’t relax her grip. “Chastity, I’m not sure that-”

  “Couldn’t help overhearing!” Jessica announced as she appeared behind me. “Just wanted to pop in and give this back,” she continued, holding out Chastity’s gun.

  Each time I looked at Jessica, I did an involuntary double take. Her golden hair was immaculate in the bright morning sun, and she looked like an artist’s template for the ideal cheerleader. The gun in her hand and warm smile completed a visage so powerful that I would have given anything she asked of me in that moment.

  Chastity took the weapon with a meek “thank you” and a look of great skepticism.

  “No problem!” Jessica smiled as she hefted her massive AR-15, pointing its muzzle toward the sky. “Just let me know if you need protection, okay, Sugar?” She winked and walked away, leaving me unable to control my gaze as her tiny skirt swished back and forth with the energy of a salsa band.

  “And that’s what I’m talking about, Mark,” Chastity explained from behind me. “Every thought in your head right now was planned ahead of time by someone who wasn’t you.”

  • • •

  I looked at each of them in turn.

  Ling had moved her shotgun and was now cradling it as she stared into the jungle, ignoring the rest of us. Next to her stood Jessica, still looking picture-perfect despite the bizarre juxtaposition of her cheerleading outfit and assault rifle.

  Daisy and Sarah sat side-by-side near the smoldering fire pit. Daisy was cross-legged while Sarah had wrapped her arms around her shins and rested her chin on her knees. Both had their respective weapons on the sand in front of them.

  Chastity stood apart from the rest. Her pistol was out of sight, but she still clutched her briefcase close to her chest.

  I looked up at the sky. The sun was wasting no time in climbing high enough to beat down merciless heat. With the chittering jungle in one direction and crashing waves in the other, a sudden pang of dread washed over me. I closed my eyes, the sweat stinging as I did so. I resolved to spend the rest of the day bobbing in the gentle waves if I survived my own plan.

  “The Troodons are excellent hunters. But we’re better,” I began.

  “You’re saying that they outnumber us five-to-one, but we have a prefrontal cortex to balance things,” Ling responded.

  “Basically, yes,” I continued. “Which means that we can survive if we get everything just right, so please pay close attention.” For a moment, it felt like I was back in the classroom, lecturing a group of students with markedly different interest levels. “Once we find exactly where they’re congregated at this time of day, we’ll strike. I don’t think it’s very far from here.”

  I could feel a collective shudder go through the group.

  “So Chastity will make the first move.” I pretended not to notice the glares of four pairs of eyes. “She’ll fire on them from a hidden spot far away from the rest of us. With any luck, she’ll be able to take out a few before I come in.” I let out a deep breath. “I’ll make sure they see me. Then I’ll run. Fast. That’s where the four of you save my ass.”

  Jessica and Ling looked grave; Daisy was stoic. Sarah seemed ready to vomit.

  “If they’re anyplace near where we saw them yesterday, I’ll lead them to a narrow path between the trees. The assault rifle and shotgun should take care of them as they bottleneck. Any that get too close will be in good range for the Glocks. The katana is in case it all goes to hell and we need a melee weapon.”

  “Are you saying we should expect to commit seppuku?” Sarah asked, ashen-faced.

  “No. I’m saying that you’ll surprise yourself when the time comes,” I responded with what I hoped was the right balance of ‘gentle’ and ‘firm.’

  Sarah’s expression was inscrutable. I again considered that I only knew and thought what they wanted me to think.

  “What weapons will you carry?” Ling asked as she eyed me up and down.

  “Ah, none. They’ll just slow me down,” I explained.

  Ling gawked at me. “But what if the dinosaurs get too close?”

  I smiled sadly. “If that happens, the outcome is the same whether or not I’m armed.”

  Daisy looked up at me for the first time, holding steady eye contact that I could not match.

  “Are you sure this is the best idea, Professor?” Jessica couldn’t hide her stress at the thought: she was worried for me.

  My chest warmed just a little.

  I nodded. “My safety is based on trusting you, and I’m not worried in the slightest.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  TOC

  Jessica’s footfalls made almost no noise as I followed her path. We led the other four as we retraced our steps from the previous day. I tried and failed to match her stealthy movements.

  “Stop.”

  I obeyed Jessica without thinking. The others fell in line behind me.

  “Just over that rise is where we saw them yesterday.” She looked my way with growing concern. “But something feels different.”

  Chills ran up and down my spine. “Wait here,” I instructed the others as Jessica and I stepped toward the small mound.

  Chastity moved forward. “I’ll come-”

  “No,” I answered without hesitation.

  The expression on her face was engineered to elicit a specific emotional response from me, but I didn’t fall into its trap.

  I’m almost sure of it.

  All of my senses cranked to their maximum. The cacophony of jungle insects buzzed from every direction as I followed Jessica across the soft soil. Everything was cast in a green hue from the canopy of trees above us. Sweat rolled down my cheek and pooled beneath my chin.

  I felt li
ke we were being watched.

  Jessica slung the assault rifle over her back and got to her hands and knees. I followed, doing my best not to be distracted by the perfect curvature of her ass as it peeked from beneath the hem of her skirt. I focused on the ground, staring as the soil squeezing between my fingers instead of gawking at the very bendy cheerleader before me.

  She reached the mound first, creeping to the top like a lioness on the hunt. When she lifted her eyes over the edge, Jessica froze.

  Her sudden and extreme distress washed over me. Pure intuition sent me scrambling next to her as quietly as possible. I held my breath and looked over the edge.

  The shock nearly knocked me backwards. “Oh shit,” I whispered. “Jessica, grab your gun!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  TOC

  She clutched my hand with the firmest, gentlest grip. “No,” she breathed. “Whatever was here is gone. It’s not time to fight just yet.”

  I took her hand in mine and squeezed. “Okay, I trust you. But I’m going to tell the others to get ready just in case.”

  She nodded, and I rolled away. Getting back to my feet, I moved as fast as I could while trying to stay silent.

  Every time I saw these women, my breath stopped just a little. Sarah and Daisy were crouched on the ground, clutching their weapons and looking up at me expectantly. Ling and Chastity were clearly trying to stay away from one another while simultaneously not letting each other out of their sights. While Chastity was much taller than Ling and dangerously cunning, I would be afraid for Chastity’s safety if they ever finally fought one another.

  They were dangerous, beautiful, and unpredictable.

  And I wanted nothing more than to keep them safe.

  “Change of plans,” I panted. “Weapons ready. Follow me.”

  “Mark,” Chastity cut in, “what’s going on?”

  “Sucks to be kept in the dark, doesn’t it?” Ling responded without making eye contact.

  I had neither the time nor the ability to untangle any brewing animosity. I focused on Sarah and Daisy, who stood and walked past me without a word. Sarah looked at the sword in her hand with more than a small amount of fear. Daisy moved forward with an ashen-faced stare, pistols in each hand pointing at the ground.

  I moved to the front and led them to where Jessica lay crouched. She glanced at me and nodded.

  Then Jessica stood and walked over the mound, stepping into the clearing with her finger on the trigger. The rest of us followed, and the clearing came into view.

  Absolute carnage lay before us. Many of the Troodon carcasses were whole, but several arms, legs, heads, and intestines were strewn haphazardly about. The grass was intermittently green and red, with various organs hidden like Easter eggs throughout the clearing.

  Nearly every dead dino had a spear or an arrow sticking out of it. Several of the discarded weapons lay about, coated in varying amounts of blood. One nearby Troodon was bleeding from its head with a crimson rock nearby.

  Daisy gasped as I stepped to the nearest one and grabbed the spear embedded in its neck. Its head moved heavily but limply as I pried the weapon from the wound, finally freeing it with a sucking sound like a boot pulling from thick mud.

  The end was covered in dark blood, but I could still make out the sharp, stone tip.

  I faced the women.

  “We have a problem.” I couldn’t hide the heaviness in my voice. “This is a weapon designed for hunting, and we’ve walked into the aftermath of an ambush.” I scanned each of their faces in turn. “We’re not the only people here.”

  Heavy silence fell over us. It felt thick, sticky, unreal. The smell of copper rose from every direction.

  “The photos,” Sarah whispered.

  Everyone looked at her.

  “The photos on Chad’s camera. Professor Swift, I showed them to you right before-”

  “Right before Chastity showed up,” I finished. “And in the sudden shock and confusion – then me going home and returning – we got distracted.”

  “What did it show?” Daisy asked.

  My heart stopped at her words, because she’d hardly said anything to me since I came back. I felt the same tickle of nausea that I had gotten whenever talking to a high school crush. I clenched my fists; this was the worst possible time for my attention to be dominated by my feelings for Daisy.

  I took a deep breath. “The picture was a bit ambiguous. But it appeared to show a figure in the bushes, and it didn’t look like any of us. At first, I was very concerned that an unknown person might be nearby, but that concern was very quickly replaced when-”

  I looked up at Chastity, who had taken several steps away from us. Her finger was wrapped tightly around her pistol’s trigger.

  “Chastity,” I said in a voice that shook with both uncontrolled fear and growing fury, “you need to talk.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  TOC

  “And I think that you should put your gun away for the moment,” I continued shakily.

  “Why?” She snapped, eyes darting back and forth over the rims of her glasses. “It’s five on one, what are you so worried about?”

  “Well, for starters, you have the advantage of knowing what the hell all this is,” Ling retorted, flicking her head back as she clutched the shotgun in a white-knuckle grip.

  “I don’t know much more than you do,” Chastity answered, taking another step back.

  “The difference in our knowledge appears to be critically significant in these circumstances,” I pressed, inching forward.

  Chastity whipped her head toward me. “You saw the picture. Your knowledge is the same as mine: other people are in this place.”

  “Is that what you meant?” Jessica pressed in a voice of eerie calm. “When you first showed up, you said that this jungle is home to monsters that are much more dangerous than dinosaurs.”

  “You look afraid,” Ling added, moving in behind me. “What are you scared of? The butchers that tore this place apart? Or the five of us?”

  I held my hand out. “I think you should give the gun to me.”

  She took three rapid steps backward before turning around and staring fearfully into the jungle. “Are you going to leave me unarmed, Mark? Are you ready to have that on your conscious?”

  We locked eyes.

  Then I strode over to her, grabbed her wrist, lifted it to my forehead, and pressed my skin against the barrel of the gun. “Chastity,” I whispered, “either pull that trigger right now, give up the last of your secrets.”

  She froze.

  The air thickened. I couldn’t hear insects.

  Time tilted.

  Then she withdrew the gun like it had burned her, and Chastity stepped back. I breathed again.

  “Hand it over,” I instructed, my arm outstretched.

  Ashen-faced, she extended her hand with the pistol in it.

  I moved past it and snatched the briefcase from her grasp. Wheeling around, I opened it as I walked to the other four women.

  I stopped in my tracks when I realized that they were all gaping at me.

  “Professor,” Jessica whispered, “you almost-”

  Sarah lunged and wrapped me in a hug, nearly knocking us both to the ground.

  “Hey,” I offered as she buried her face in my stomach, “what’s wrong?”

  Ling looked horrified. “She could have killed you.”

  I faced Daisy. Silent tears shimmered down her cheeks.

  “No, it was a calculated move, I knew she wouldn’t-”

  “Are you sure?” Ling asked. Her knuckles were stark white against the black shotgun.

  “We couldn’t have saved you if she fired,” Jessica added.

  “Look,” I explained, gently pushing Sarah back so that I could look at her, “I was sure of what I was doing.”

  They were silent for a few seconds.

  “We weren’t,” Ling concluded.

&nb
sp; I breathed deeply, letting out a low sigh. “I should have taken her briefcase long ago. It was irresponsible of me to let her have it so long, and for that I apologize.” I wiped the sweat from my eyes. “So would you like to see what secrets have been kept from us?”