by Alan Spencer
The cannibals were right after her.
Susan didn't make it far before something grabbed her from behind.
All she could do was scream.
Jet Pack Attack
The button on the left armrest indicated machine gun turrets. The right armrest controlled the rockets. Pierce learned this quickly. Goons were pursuing him with their mad machine guns barking bullets, and they were hovering at both sides of him. Pierce dropped down low, and watched the bullet crossfire turn into friendly fire as four of the goons blasted themselves. Pierce realized they were so desperate and bloodthirsty, they weren't thinking straight.
Pierce flew back up high, and played a game of chicken with the last goon with a jetpack. He was speeding right at the gunner. Pierce didn't flinch, he only picked up speed. Faster, faster, Pierce was a human torpedo about to smash himself into the target. The goon was alarmed when he realized Pierce wasn't going to flinch. Alarmed, taken by total surprise, the goon fumbled with his controls to avoid Pierce. The goon accidentally dropped so low a T-Rex swallowed him whole. The resulting explosion caused the T-Rex's face to burst into fire and blood spatter.
After the explosion, Pierce heard Susan's screams. Cannibals were reaching under the vehicle, while others were attempting to tip it over. Several gunshots later, Susan crawled out from under the jeep, and ran for her life. Cannibals were chasing her. The poor woman didn't stand a chance; they would catch up to her in seconds.
Time to send them a bullet telegram.
Spewing four hundred rounds, the horde of cannibals were reduced to flailing, bleeding, twitching, tattered bodies. Dinosaurs swarmed the cannibals. Pierce showed the cannibals mercy, and unleashed two rockets. He drilled them home, watching the feasting dinosaurs be turned inside out.
Pierce noticed there weren't any more dinosaurs or cannibals. He scanned the area over and over again. Susan was standing behind a jeep missing its driver, while clutching her gun. Pierce touched down next to her.
"It's going to be okay," Pierce said. "They're all dead. We survived."
Susan's face showed zero relief.
This was far from over.
Pierce watched Hangman in horror. Hangman removed the piece of silk covering his face. The man had no lower jaw, it was all pink exposed muscle tissue. The man's tongue was fat, and could coil and uncoil to great lengths. Pierce cried out when the tongue lashed in his direction. The tongue stuck to his jet pack from fifteen yards away. The pack was ripped from his back, thrown into a pile of burning bodies, and rendered useless.
The tongue coiled back into Hangman's mouth. Pierce imagined a frog's tongue, but this tongue was a hundred times stronger.
Pierce had Susan by the arm. "Get moving!"
They were sprinting in the opposite direction, when the tongue gripped onto a jeep, and threw the vehicle right at them. Together, they dove to avoid the vehicle that flipped in mid-air five times.
A hail of broken up jeeps and dinosaur body parts rained down, trying to crush them. Hangman laughed diabolically between things thrown.
"This island is mine! Nobody leaves alive."
"That's where you're wrong, pal."
Pierce and Susan stopped when they heard Lee's angry voice.
"It's the pizza man," Hangman taunted Lee. "I want my pizza with extra cheese, you pizza faced motherfucker."
Hangman was fast to the draw. The man lashed his tongue, wrapping the pink weapon around Lee's neck, and Pierce thought the man was a goner. Susan gasped. "No, Dad!"
Lee was much faster than Hangman. His long intestine was tight around Hangman's neck. They both had each other's number. Who would be the one to act first? Whose ticket would get punched before the other? This wasn't like a shootout, both of them were destined to die. Judging by Lee's face, he was prepared for death.
Lee spoke to Susan. "Carry on with The Green Project. I love you, Susan. I can die a happy man knowing this son-of-bitch won't occupy this world with you. Goodbye, honey."
Pierce wanted to intervene.
Lee had made his choice.
So had Hangman.
Pierce and Susan stood in mortal shock as intestine and tongue decapitated each other.
Toxic Resurrection
Pierce had nothing to add to the deep silence that quickly set in post-battle. Susan was still staring at her father's dead body, she didn't want to believe he was dead. Hard emotions spliced her face. Pierce could only hold her close, and let her cry. That was all that was left to do for her. Release everything. It would take years to get over such a trauma.
Pierce imagined how they'd have to find their way back home. They could locate the materials to build a raft, or if they located a radio, they could call out to someone. Whatever option was available, they had a lot of work ahead of them. Survival was a gift they would have to earn.
"Come on, Susan. We need to get moving. I'm sure you want off this island as much as I do."
She agreed by nodding her head. Susan was still crying.
Pierce understood.
There was some things you couldn't erase from your mind no matter how hard you tried, Pierce learned tonight. His belief system for the unbelievable had forever changed. The meaning of insane had changed from a short definition to a drawn out dissertation. There was still another page to that dissertation Pierce had yet to mentally write.
The fires were starting to die down. It wouldn't be long before the dark of the night would be reinstated. That's why it was so easy to see the neon green circle several yards ahead of them.
"What is that?" Pierce said, drawn to the neon spot. "It looks so strange. You see it?"
"Don't get too close," Susan warned, wiping the tears from her eyes with both hands. "This island's a cesspool of contamination. God only knows what it is."
Pierce made out the T-Rex leg. It had been crudely torn from its body; the dangling rags of meat on the stump indicated as much.
So how could the damn leg twitch?
Pierce's eyes moved faster to make sense of the horrible sight. The neon green wasn't a circle of color, it was part of a dead body, or so it appeared to be dead. The body was smashed, and lodged into the T-Rex's foot.
He made out a doctor's lab coat, part of a sternum, a smashed neck, and a head with a twitching mouth. That mouth spoke!
"Science has brought me back to life! I am Dr. Prater, and I can't be stopped!"
The rags of meat on the T-Rex leg started bleeding green fluids. Tumors, cancers, and sizzling polyps formed on the leg instantly. The dangling rags of meat reached out for dinosaur heads, cannibal organs, and even junked parts of the jeeps.
"Oh my God!" Susan cried.
Pierce had her by the arm. "Run! Fucking run!"
The monstrosity, glowing neon green and boiling with diseases, rose up from the ground in the shape of a crude dinosaur half the size of T-Rex. The human head, lodged in a mess of squashed organs and steel, laughed at their horror.
"My work will continue. I'm going to put you two under the knife. I'll inject you with every disease so you'll grow things I can cut up and put under a microscope. Your bodies are all mine!"
Pierce couldn't shake the image of the cackling man's face in the middle of the inside out crude collage of human, dinosaur, and Jeep.
They dashed for the jungle. Pierce knew they couldn't stay out in the open. He failed to protect Susan on the way to the island; he wouldn't fail when it came time to getting the fuck off the island.
Holding onto her, pushing her forward, forcing himself to keep up a fast pace, they forged deeper into the jungle. Where could they seek cover? Nowhere, Pierce thought. There wasn't a door solid enough to keep out this beast.
The monster smelled terrible. Pierce imagined meat dipped in shit, marinated in garbage, and baked in a casserole of sunbaked carcass and scorched metal. Pierce could hear the neon fluids drip off its body in a steady downpour. It was like sweat to the freak monster.
"Keep moving! Don't stop for anything!"
Susan had no problem following those simple instructions. Ducking, dodging, weaving, leaping, and sprinting through the dense jungle, they were almost at the opposite end of the island. The ocean was visible, and they would be on the shore in minutes. Pierce had no idea what to do next. How long could they run before they couldn't? They weren't in good shape to keep up the retreat for long. The monster wasn't even winded. It would keep pursuing them until they were dead.
Pierce imagined running up the shore to buy them more time. He was about to tell Susan what to do, when they both had to hit the ground in a hurry.
It's Now Their Island
"Noooooooooooooooo!"
Dr. Prater's screech of intense pain echoed across the entire island. The dawn sun was peeking out over the horizon. Pierce and Susan could see them coming clearly. Thousands of flies the size of softballs swarmed around the stinking waft of dinosaur and human bodies. The collection was a moving black blanket of infernal buzzing. The flies pierced through the soft flesh, and carried bits and pieces away. Splashes of blood was the only thing left of the super monstrosity.
The flies were gone. They could hear their distant buzzing recede until everything returned to silence.
Susan was in shambles. She was stiff to the touch. The poor woman was petrified by fear.
Pierce said what he could up against the unbelievable. "We're getting off this island before God knows what else comes out of the woodwork."
Pierce guided the troubled Susan along the rocks of the shore. He wasn't sure how to get the hell off of the island. The thick fog surrounding the island made it hard to see too far out. He was about to lose himself to frustration when he remembered something.
"I have an idea."
He guided Susan onwards with more energy, even though his body was a wreck. It was amazing to think out of everybody on this island, only two people had survived the night.
Pierce spotted the remains of Susan's boat. He went from one high to another extreme low. The boat was smashed on the bottom, and currently half submerged in water. They wouldn't be taking the boat anywhere.
Susan seemed to recover, and sprinted to the boat.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"Follow me, Pierce. Trust me."
They treaded the rocks carefully, and reached the boat. Susan was stepping on the deck that threatened to break into pieces at any moment. She reached into the back, opened a compartment, and ripped back on a cord. With a rush of air, a large orange floatation device blew itself up.
"Thank God the float wasn't damaged," Susan said. "Help me get this in the water."
Together, they safely carried the floatation device over the rocks, and into the water. Susan returned to the boat with a backpack strapped to her back. They loaded it into the floatation device, and started to sail into the ocean.
Susan dug into the bag and handed Pierce a bottle of water. They toasted each other, and drank to getting the fuck off of the island. After devouring several of the energy bars in the bag, they both couldn't help but fall asleep from extreme exhaustion.
* * *
When Pierce woke up, he heard a boat's motor. He wasn't sure how long he'd fallen asleep, but the sun was up high and blazing. Pierce told Susan to wake up, and that somebody was coming. The boat could've been a border patrol boat, or it could've been anybody. The red flashing lights didn't indicate who they represented.
Again, he was thrown into another dangerous situation. Once the boat reached their position, they were met by a group of individuals dressed in black military outfits. They clutched high-powered machine guns, and had the expressions of grizzled soldiers who'd seen many battles, and knew death up close and personal.
Pierce was in no condition to fight them.
Susan knew it too.
Whatever these people wanted with them, they would have no choice but to go along with it.
N.A.C.
Pierce didn't expect the sudden change of events. Pierce and Susan were enjoying cold beer and cold cut sandwiches. He was so grateful for food in his belly and alcohol in his veins. The people on the boat let them eat up their food before talking business.
The older military man introduced himself as Henry Garfield. Henry introduced his son, Duke, a shaven head G.I. Joe type, and a buzz haired woman named "Scoop". The last person on the boat handed Pierce another beer. This man easily had the biggest build of them all. He was a brick wall of muscular fortitude. He introduced himself as Anchor Stevens.
Henry did most of the talking. "You saved us a lot of time. Our mission was to infiltrate that island, take down Globo Corps's illegal dumpsite, and have our crews clean up the mess. The island was discovered only weeks ago, because Lee Branch has been monitored by our organization. We've tracked his movements to this island. When we realized there was much more on the island than chemicals, we had to reform our plan. Last night, we saw a war unfold. It's amazing anybody survived. You two have a lot going for you when it comes to fighting in the hot zone.
Anchor opened a beer, and raised his in cheers. "You dropped anchor on their asses."
"I'll be straight with you," Henry said, smiling at his outspoken partner. "We can't release you back into normal society. You know too much."
The hackles on Pierce's back went up like razor sharp quills.
He knew there was a catch coming.
"Whoa," Anchor said, reassuringly. "We're not the bad guys. Let the man finish."
Henry talked faster now. "I knew Angel, Pierce. I was familiar with her team of mercenaries. Hard Case, Shark, and Skeeter were all good people. We were close to asking them to join us in our mission until the plane accident. I'm so sorry, Pierce, for your loss."
Pierce had to know facts. Apologies wouldn't save anybody's life in this situation, and apologies surely wouldn't bring the dead back to life.
"Who are you? Who do you represent?"
"N.A.C.," Henry said with confidence. "The New American Coalition. We deal with unusual threats. Anything from naval threats, marine and aquatic threats, and now, environmental threats. A bigger problem lately has been mutation through the creation and dumping of illegal chemicals. Big companies like ENTECH and Global Corps are the key offenders. We're out to get them. Are you with us? I know Susan is from The Green Project. She'll be interested. You guys are perfect for the job. We need good people who can fight and think in tough situations. So how about it?"
Pierce felt the team's eyes burn into him.
"What happens if we say no?"
Henry sighed, "You'll be detained in a private prison indefinitely."
Anchor spoke. "That makes us sound like the bad guys. We don't want to jeopardize our cause. If anything leaks out, we lose our advantage against the enemy. The playing field is already in their favor, and we can't give up what little power we have."
He eyed Susan. Pierce could see the twinkle in her eye. Susan wanted in, and she didn't have to think about it to be sure. "I'm in. I'm the only living member of The Green Project. I want to keep fighting against those who keep wrecking this world. I'm sick of it. I'm tired of talking about it. I want to do something."
That left Pierce to consider his options. Join N.A.C., fight bad guys, or enjoy forced residency in a government compound.
He thought about Angel. Pierce hoped she'd be proud of him.
The choice was obvious.
"I'm in," Pierce said. "As long as there's a cold beer and a cheap sandwich at the end of every mission."
Anchor shook his hand. "Fuck yeah there is. If you find yourself balls deep in dinosaurs and cannibals and still come out of it in one piece, you're the kind of shit stomper we need on our team. Welcome to N.A.C."
"So what's the next mission?" Pierce asked.
Henry steered the boat back towards the United States. "The next mission? Well, that'll take some time to explain. This one tops them all..."
The End
Read on for a free sample of Jurassic Dead
1.
Antarctic C
ircle–Russian Drill Site Theta-1, five miles south of Vostok
Alex Ramirez wished he had stayed at the surface. Halfway down the freshly-drilled pit, the temperature had actually warmed to a balmy minus twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and at least they were out of the brutal whipping winds, but the cold was preferable to this. In fact, he began to wish he had stayed back in San Diego altogether.
How did he let Tony talk him into this madness? This insanely death-defying stunt to strike at the heart of two heartless nations trying to profit at the expense of the natural world?
Oh right, Alex thought, because my father is one of those heartless bastards.
In a modern-day spin on the Cold War, Russia and America each had set up shop on opposite sides of a massive underground lake, above a discovery that had the whole scientific world abuzz. All that pressure from two thick miles of ice, over millions of years, had created a pocket that had expanded, heated, and melted the glacial ice, eventually forming an enormous underground lake. From initial surveys, it appeared to be teeming with microscopic biological organisms. Some possibly hundreds of millions of years old.
Following the notion that competition spurns innovation and success, the U.N. sanctioned a race to see which nation could get there first. Much more than pride was riding on the outcome, for the research spoils as well as the biological and mineral output down there could be considerable—and worse, from Alex and Tony’s points of view—could lead even to more exploitation of the last pristine continent left on Earth. Antarctica was the only place left on the planet still untouched by corporate greed. If no one else was going to step in and protect those tiny life forms—which certainly could not stand up to modern-day contamination, let alone further drilling, mining, erosion, and utter destruction of their natural habitat—then he would take it upon himself to do just that.
Alex adjusted the camera mounted around his neck. It was set up for dual-action filming, both away and toward his face as he rappelled. “How much farther?” he shouted into the mouthpiece under his hood.