The name clicked, just as he saw the sinuous, thirty-foot-long animal stalking along the shadowed riverbank.
“Baryonyx,” he mumbled, watching the animal creep stealthily through the brush, its tiny eyes pointed directly at Caleb. “Oh… crap!” Somewhere behind him, Caleb heard the sound of Tess cursing wickedly, then a large splash as she dove into the river. The baryonyx was close now, only a dozen yards down the bank. It began striding forward more quickly now that it had been spotted. The long, powerful hind legs pushed easily through the tangled underbrush, and the slender tail whipped the air behind it. The animal’s relatively large, powerful forelimbs flexed and twitched as it approached, displaying a gigantic, razor-sharp sickle claw on each thumb. The creature’s gaze remained fixed on Caleb, the beady eyes set in a long, crocodilian skull, topped with a blunt horn. The wickedly curved jaws were lined with dozens of sharp, slender fangs, perfectly designed for catching and holding small agile prey like fish... or humans.
Caleb was already paddling desperately for the other side of the river when the creature stopped suddenly. It paused for a split second, swiveling its nightmare head on a powerful, S-shaped neck, then slid into the river with the ease of a Nile crocodile.
Caleb turned his gaze away and continued his frenzied paddling. His eyes scanned the riverbank, hoping desperately to see Chuck return, even as he realized that she would be no match for this creature while it was in the water. He could hear the animal rushing up behind him, paddling duck-like with its strong legs while its swishing tail propelled it even faster. The creature was close enough that Caleb could hear the hiss and huff of its breath. Ahead of him, Caleb saw that Tess was actually swimming toward him, her own powerful legs pushing her swiftly through the water, while her strong arms and long fingered hands gave her an added push. Caleb could see her sharp teeth gleaming in a snarling grimace. Her golden eyes were fixed on the hungry fisher-dragon behind him, glittering with a mix of fear and anger.
Caleb’s own mind was filled with a wild blend of fear, excitement, and despair. He was stunned to see Tess risk so much for someone she hardly knew, but he was certain that she would be unable to hold up against the animal in its preferred hunting ground. Caleb’s lack of caution had doomed them both.
At that thought, a sudden rage flooded Caleb’s body. With a new burst of strength, he pushed his body under the water, diving for the river bottom. The baryonyx dived eagerly after him, knowing that it would have an even easier catch under the water.
Caleb’s hands brushed against the smooth rocks and weeds of the river bottom, and he spun around, opening his eyes wide in the murky water and clinging to the soft weeds. He saw the dinosaur plunging toward him, a dark shape sweeping down on him like a dragon from legends.
The rushing, muttering river flowed around Caleb on all sides, whispering in his ears and carrying away any traces of doubt or fear. With a sense of deep calmness, Caleb saw Tess's paddling silhouette at the water’s surface, safely out of the path of the diving fisher-dragon.
For a moment, Caleb’s mind was filled with an image of the river spreading and branching across the land like a tiny tendril of some great silver plant. It flowed into and out of other rivers like the pulsing veins of a tree so large it could hold the whole planet cradled in its branches.
In that brief moment, the attacking baryonyx seemed as if it were a tiny mote of light, one of millions drifting in the life sap of that World Tree. Caleb saw the dinosaur’s life light with shocking clarity. Its mind and desires were as clear to him as the cool air over the river. He touched its mind easily, and at the same time he reached out along the river, touching upon the flickering flow of a school of large fish. Through Caleb’s mind, the dinosaur could see the fish clearly. The animal was filled with an overwhelming need to seek them out, instantly forgetting Caleb’s presence.
Caleb watched, his deep calm giving way to confused wonder, as the deadly predator resurfaced and began swimming rapidly downstream. Caleb released the riverweeds and kicked furiously, suddenly aware of his air-starved lungs.
Caleb could hear Tess screaming as he splashed to the surface, gasping for breath. She spun around and stared at him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
“Caleb!” she breathed. “What the hell? What was that?”
Caleb continued to gasp for breath, treading water tiredly. “A Baryonyx walkeri,” he wheezed, “it’s a theropod dinosaur from the family...”
“No, no!” Tess said, slipping an arm around Caleb’s waist and hauling him slowly toward the shore. “What just happened? What did you do? The fisher’ was diving after you one minute, then it popped back up and swam away like a scared hatchling!”
Caleb’s mind was reeling from the surreal encounter.
“I didn’t scare it,” he mumbled, “I showed it some fish.”
“What?” Tess exclaimed, almost letting Caleb slip back underwater.
“Kuu, Kuu! It was the song of the fool-hero!”
Caleb and Tess both spun their heads to see Krezahu standing on top of one of the tall boulders. He held an armful of berries and roots, and a strange gleam was in his sparkling eyes.
“He has sung the song of the wild ones,” Krezahu croaked, “and they dance to his music as if their own hearts commanded it.”
Tess stood up in the shallow water of the river’s edge, hauling Caleb to his shaky legs. He looked at her with a bewildered expression, then glanced back at Krezahu. The old Awaru clucked and chuckled to himself, seeming infinitely pleased by Caleb’s near-death ordeal.
“The hero’s song has found him at last.”
THE CITY WAS SWAYING AND MOVING like trees blowing in the breeze. Caleb could hear the screeching groans of the twisting steel and grinding glass echoing through the concrete canyons like the screams of titanic monsters. He looked up as he ran, and saw the dark mass of a skyscraper looming over him. The building bent and folded, twisting and warping into the shape of a gigantic tyrannosaurus. Caleb screamed and ran faster, but the building was already pulling its concrete feet out from the ground, ready to squash him with a single step. Teeth of shining steel and eyes of glittering glass glared down on Caleb’s tiny form. He stared into the glass eyes of the beast, and it began to bend closer, opening its gigantic maw to swallow him whole. He could see buckets of drool dripping and gushing from its aluminum-lined lips. Caleb could only stare into the dark mouth as the stinking drool dripped down, smacking him wetly on the forehead. Drip...drip...drip...
Caleb shifted and blinked, tossing his arms about and moaning weakly. Something cold and wet splashed on his forehead.
Drip...drip...drip...
He sat up, gasping and wiping at the cold water that trickled into his blinking eyes. A bent and rusty pipe hung several feet above Caleb’s head, dripping steadily. He rubbed his eyes again and looked around the cramped and dingy basement where he and Bill had hidden.
They had come here shortly after seeing the dinosaur-soldier kill the young couple in the street. The basement was dark and stuffy, smelling of mildew and furnace fumes. A small window gave a tight and cloudy view of the street outside. Caleb could see by the dim blue light filtering in that morning was fast approaching.
Caleb glanced over at his uncle. Bill slept propped against a torn and stained couch cushion. His face was tense and pale, looking exhausted even in sleep.
Caleb grabbed his uncle’s denim jacket, which he had been using as a pillow, and shifted out of reach of the dripping pipe. He squirmed and wriggled for a few minutes before finding a comfortable position, then closed his eyes. He had nearly drifted off to sleep again when he heard a subtle change in the sounds outside the basement window. Caleb opened his eyes, listening closely as the sounds of wind and distant fires were swallowed by a deep, steady humming.
Caleb carefully stood up and crept to the dirt-streaked window. The street outside was empty, except for a few crumpled cars and silent, blackened bodies. Caleb was about to try to open the window and get a clearer view w
hen a vast shadow swept across the street, blocking the dim glow of early morning. Caleb pressed his face against the grimy glass and stared up into the sky.
Above the shadowed and silent buildings, a gigantic shape hovered in the air like a dark cloud, blotting out a large section of sky. The underside of the object flickered and flowed with waves of dim red electricity. Caleb guessed that the craft was at least a couple hundred feet long, and more than a hundred feet wide. From what he could see of its silhouette, it seemed to be shaped like a gigantic oval, with slight protrusions and serrations along its edge. Once again, Caleb was reminded of a gargantuan trilobite, though this one was much, much larger than the other ships he had seen. He could see several dark patches on the metallic underbelly of the ship, circular in shape and lit at their edges with small blue lights.
As he watched, a bright pinpoint of light shone out from the center of one of the dark circular patches. It slowly irised open, revealing a short, bright tube extending up into the ship. Several other dark patches also began to open. In the first hatch, Caleb could make out a circular shape sliding down the tube and emerging from the belly of the ship. As the shape emerged, Caleb saw that it was a sort of thin platform, roughly twenty feet in diameter and suspended from the hatch by three thick cables. It continued to extend toward the ground, along with several others. At the edges of the platforms, dark shapes shifted and moved in and out of view.
Caleb’s eyes bugged wide when he finally got a clear view of the platform’s occupants. Each disk was tightly packed with at least ten of the dino-soldiers Bill and Caleb had seen the night before. Caleb counted a total of ten platforms lowering from the ship’s belly, bringing the total of dinosaur-creatures to a hundred.
The first platforms stopped a couple of feet above the street, and the dinosaurs began jumping off and forming into organized clusters. Caleb spun from the window and ran to his uncle, shaking him and whispering into his ear.
“Uncle Bill, wake up!” he hissed. “The street is full of dinosaurs!”
Bill blinked and flinched, then focused his reddened eyes on Caleb’s frantic face.
“What? Caleb, what’s the matter?” he muttered, his face becoming suddenly alert.
“The dino-soldiers,” Caleb whispered. “There’s about a hundred of ‘em out in the street. They came out of a giant...” Caleb’s voice trailed off as Bill rushed to the small window.
“Oh no,” Bill gasped. Caleb climbed onto a wooden crate and peered out again at the small army forming in the street.
The dino-creatures stood in neat packs, ten groups of ten, all arranged in a large circle. One group was only a few feet away from the small basement window. Bill and Caleb could clearly see their scaly, birdlike legs and stiff tails. Up above, the circular platforms were already withdrawing into the giant trilobite ship.
As the massive ship began to lift higher into the sky, each group of creatures huddled together, croaking and hooting in their strange voices. Caleb could clearly hear the conversation of the closest group. The largest creature was giving orders to the others and pointing to a small hand-held computer of some sort. “We have zone three,” it rasped in strangely accented English. “We will proceed south to Golden Gate Park, then rendezvous with Group Seven.”
There was a murmur of agreement from the others in the group.
“There will be no solo activity on this sweep. If pursuit is required, bring a partner. We have already seen that these creatures are unpredictable and resourceful. We do not need a repeat of last night’s incident with Group Nine.”
At this, a soft grumbling and growling passed through the group. One creature leaned toward another and grunted softly in the strange language Caleb and Bill had heard before.
“Chu liym’h tir ugut shinuz chan nuku kammo chu-evit’k,” it whispered, looking surprisingly conspiratorial.
Apparently, the creature’s words were inappropriate, for the others suddenly fell silent, and the leader glared angrily at the speaker.
“We must follow all orders, in all circumstances,” the leader said coldly. “We have orders to limit our communication to human languages. Any use of the Im’h tongue will be reported to squad commanders.”
“The Reaver has no faith in our loyalty,” croaked another creature. “He fears that we will use the tongue to speak behind the backs of the commanders.”
The leader turned his steely gaze on the new speaker.
“Our Master fears nothing,” he hissed dangerously. “If it serves His plan for us to speak human tongues, we shall do so without question. The discussion is ended. Move out.”
With that, the creatures filed into two precise rows and began marching down the street. Several of the other groups had already begun marching in other directions while the remaining groups organized themselves. Bill pulled away from the window and began pacing nervously across the dusty floor, mumbling to himself.
“We’ve got to get out of the city,” he whispered. “This place is gonna’ be crawling with those things in no time. Maybe if we got into a subway tunnel, or the sewer...” Caleb continued to peer out at the marching dinosaur soldiers. Most of the groups had vanished down various side streets, and the giant ship was gone from view. Only two groups remained in the growing light of dawn.
One group was already heading down the street, marching in that chillingly precise formation. The other group was just beginning to form into ranks. Caleb watched silently as the group began crossing the street, heading for one of the buildings on the far side. The creatures climbed the building’s steps and quickly kicked open the door. One creature sniffed carefully at the doorway, then listened attentively to its earpiece as it pointed a small black device through the doorway. It turned to look back at the commander and gave a small nod.
“Empty,” it croaked.
Caleb felt a slight shiver go down his spine as the creatures marched to the doorway of the next building.
They repeated the procedure, knocking down the door and listening with their strange device. This time the listening creature turned around and made a quick hand gesture to the leader. The leader nodded, and another creature drew a small cylindrical tube from its equipment harness.
With a twist and a gentle toss, the canister went soaring into the building, trailing a faint wisp of vapor. In seconds, Caleb could hear panicked cries echoing from the upper floors of the building. The creatures left the doorway and began crossing the street.
Caleb leapt away from the window and ran over to Uncle Bill.
“They’re coming!” he whispered. “They’ve got gas or something!”
“What?” Bill said, startled out of his contemplation. “Gas?”
He craned his neck, catching a glimpse of the approaching creatures.
“Oh, shit. We gotta’ get out of here now.”
Bill grabbed his jacket from the floor and took Caleb’s arm in his other hand. The pair ran quietly to the back of the basement and began climbing the rickety wooden stairs built against the back wall. As they came to the door at the top of the stairs, Caleb heard the faint words of the dinosaur voices at the front of the building.
“Movement,” one of them croaked.
“Gas it,” the leader responded.
Bill tugged on the door handle, then groaned as the door held fast. He tugged again, more forcefully, and the door shuddered a little. In the background, Caleb heard a quiet clinking noise and a soft hissing.
Bill gave one more tug at the door, pulling with his whole weight. The door creaked, then popped open, almost dumping Bill over the railing and back into the basement.
Caleb rushed through the door behind Bill, emerging into a wide alley. Bill paused for a moment, looking up and down the long expanse, then tugged Caleb southward.
The two ran quickly, panting for breath but not daring to slow down. Behind them, a faint trickle of white vapor flowed out of the open basement door. If they had paused to look behind them, they would have seen a scruffy alley cat fall limply f
rom the edge of a dumpster. The cat lay motionless on the ground, its open eyes staring helplessly at the sky while its shallow breathing stirred the numbing gas. Nearby, a flock of pigeons milled about casually, pecking at litter and cocking their heads curiously at the swirling vapors all around them.
.
Caleb woke once again in dank, dripping darkness. Soft sounds of trickling water rushed by in the cramped and shadowed space. The sound of Uncle Bill’s slow breathing added a quiet rhythm. Caleb rubbed his eyes with grimy hands and stared at the patches of brilliant red sunset showing through the thick metal grate overhead. Bill had spotted the broken storm drain early in the day, not long after escaping the gas-filled basement. The heavy grate seemed to have been cracked and partially dislodged by one of the countless catastrophes of the previous night. Bill found that, with a fair amount of time and effort, he was able to move it enough for the two of them to slip down into the slick tunnel. An even greater effort allowed him to replace the grate, concealing any obvious sign of their presence.
The pair had spent the day in the dark hole, alternately listening to the passing of the trilobite ships and sleeping fitfully. There had been one particularly tense moment, when a pack of marching dinosaur soldiers had passed directly over the grate. Caleb was certain that they would be discovered by the dinos’ listening devices, but the creatures seemed to be limiting their search to large buildings and more obvious hiding places.
Now, the warm air of the day was quickly growing cool, and the damp hole was beginning to become quite cold. Caleb hadn’t been awakened by the sounds of the dinosaurs or their ships for several hours now, and he began to wonder when he and his uncle would leave the cold tunnel.
Caleb jumped slightly when his uncle’s voice whispered in his ear.
“You awake Caleb?” he asked quietly.
Caleb nodded and glanced up again at the darkening sky.
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