Blood Trail

by David Rhodes

  Danny shook his head and said, “You couldn’t have stopped Marilyn. She was headstrong and didn’t listen to anyone. Well, she would have listened to Pete. You didn’t kill her, and you didn’t cause her to die. Everyone has to remember; it all goes back to Taggit.”

  “That’s right,” Ron agreed. “We didn’t want to go on any jumps to begin with, and even though we eventually got caught up in the excitement of them, everyone was okay until he left us behind to die. No one here is to blame for anything. We were forced into a living nightmare and I think Danny is putting us on the right track. Normal responses to abnormal situations. We weren’t meant to do what we did and definitely not see what we did.”

  “I understand everyone blaming Taggit,” Charles said. “But I know you have to blame me too for what happened. It was my invention that caused all of this. That’s what I have wrestled with. I have an addiction to time travel. I guess I had to, or I wouldn’t have been able to focus on my work like I did and actually achieve my dream. But now I have doubts. So, I have cut back on the jumps and I try and calculate the impact of the jump. Something Lauren tried to get me to think about when Ron and her broke into my house.”

  “Broke into your house?” Lauren laughed. Then she took his hand and said, “We don’t blame you. If you’re in a car wreck you don’t blame some guy on the assembly line. Taggit did this to us. No one else. We just have to figure out how to get to the other side of things.”

  “Follow Danny,” Lisa said. “He seems to have some sort of handle on things.”

  Danny shrugged and replied, “Well, ‘some sort’ would be the correct term. I think for the most part I’m doing okay, better than I was. But I still have the occasional dream and sometimes I panic if I hear an odd or unexpected noise behind me. But if we talk about things together, and if you can talk about things with a professional, you will all get better too.”

  “How did you explain things to your professional?” Lauren asked. “You couldn’t just start talking about time travel and dinosaurs.”

  “I told her that writing my book was giving me nightmares and odd dreams and we went from there. In the end I think she just blamed it all on police work and I let her go with that.”

  “That book of yours brings up a sore point with me,” Charles said. “Danny, you changed your name to Don. Lauren became Laura, Ron is Roy, and Lisa was changed to Lois, but I am Carlton. Couldn’t my name have been Chuck or even Carl? I mean Carlton just doesn’t sound like me.”

  “I think it does,” Ron quickly said.

  “Oh yes, definitely,” Lisa added.

  Everyone looked at Lauren who shrugged her shoulders and said, “His vanity license plate does have Carlton on it.”

  As everyone laughed Charles shook his head and said, “I hate all of you, I really do. Now who needs some dessert?”

  As everyone started to move around, Lisa said, “You know, I told Ron we should probably leave after Christmas and then come back before New Year’s. Spend less time here. But now…now I think we should stay. I know I’m still going to have nightmares but our talking about things just now has made me feel better. I’d like to keep it up.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Ron smiled.

  Lauren hugged them both and said, “All of us, every day, we get together and talk. We’ll get through this together.”

  Lauren opened the door and hugged Ron as she said, “Where have you two been? It’s late and Christmas Eve, I thought you would get back earlier. I was worried.”

  “Sorry, sorry,” he told her. “We’ve been doing a lot of talking like Danny said to do. I know we’ve been talking a lot with all of you, but it did us some good to talk alone too. Oh, and we had to buy more presents too. You know you could have called?”

  “I know, didn’t want to be the nagging daughter and I’ve been just fine. Charles and Danny have been going out for a few hours each day, so I’ve been going to some yoga classes. Also, ordering food and making sure everything is just right for tomorrow.”

  “Yoga,” Lisa said as she hugged Lauren. “Tell me all about it. Remember, that’s what I was doing when Ron first saw me.”

  “I promise I can’t forget that,” Lauren replied. “Anyway, it’s a great yoga class, well it would be if that is what I was using it for. After you guys took off, Danny and I continued to talk about things, so I use the class time to sort things out. Not what I’m supposed to be doing, but the class is quiet and more importantly it’s not here. Not in this house. I think it’s helping, no bad dreams in a while.”

  “Where’s Charles been?” Ron asked.

  “What?”

  “You said you and Danny have been talking. What about Charles?”

  Lauren frowned as she replied, “Charles has been busy, very busy. But he says things are winding down. There haven’t been very many jumps lately and he’s about to pull the plug.”

  “Do you believe him?” Lisa asked.

  “I have to,” Lauren said quietly then quickly changed the subject. “But enough about me, how about a hand setting the table? They should be back any minute with all the food.”

  Just as the last plate was set out, Danny and Charles walked in carrying sacks and boxes of food. “Hey, everyone’s here,” Danny shouted as he hugged Lisa.

  Charles set his food down and said, “I’ve got to bring in a few more things, be right back.”

  “Danny, you are looking thinner every time I see you,” Ron said. “Slow down on your diet. How are you doing so well?”

  “Just counting calories,” Danny said. “But don’t worry, I’ll probably gain everything back over the next two days. Lauren, I can’t believe all the food you ordered for tonight. I thought we were just picking up some burgers.”

  “What do we have?” Ron asked.

  Danny took a carton from one of the sacks and said, “Chicken, fried and barbecued, potato salad, green beans, salad, potatoes to bake, pies, cookies, some sort of stew, turkey, mac and cheese, biscuits, muffins, more veggies and…lots of other stuff.”

  “Did the other stuff include mashed potatoes?” Lauren asked. “I didn’t hear you say mashed potatoes.”

  “Yes, my dear, it does,” Charles said as he came back in. “I knew that Christmas Eve or not, if there were no mashed potatoes I’d be going back out to find some.” He was carefully balancing five shoe boxes as he walked past everyone into the front room and left them by the Christmas tree.

  “Elf shoes?” Ron asked.

  “You’ll find out later,” Charles said.

  “Okay,” Lauren said. “Now about this food, it’s for tonight, tomorrow and probably the day after,” Lauren told everyone. “So, don’t eat it all tonight. You might explode.”

  “Yes, Mom,” Lisa said as everyone laughed.

  “Can we eat now?” Ron asked.

  “We can,” Lauren told him.

  After they finished, Danny said, “Okay, I actually can’t move. I may have to sleep right here at the table.”

  “So, you can’t eat that last little piece of cherry pie on your plate?” Lisa asked as she reached for it.

  Danny looked down slowly then picked it up and ate it. “Cherry pie, my one weakness.” Then he grimaced and said, “I shouldn’t have done that because now I really can’t move and may actually explode like Lauren said.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  STEGOSAURUS

  The restaurant wasn’t very crowded as Ron and Lisa were seated. Lisa started laughing and said, “I still can’t believe I ran down to Danny’s door without any clothes on. We may have to cut back on those nudist camp visits.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Ron replied. “I happen to like the nudist camps. Wish I would have started going sooner.”

  “But it was so embarrassing.”

  “You were embarrassed?”

  “Not me, silly, Danny.”

  “He may have been, but I noticed he didn’t complain any.”

  Lisa giggled and said, “No, I guess he didn’t. You s
hould have seen the look on his face.”

  Ron replied, “He’s been smiling for days so I’ve seen the look on his face.”

  Lisa slapped his arm and asked, “Aren’t you jealous?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t want you making a habit out of it, but we have all done something embarrassing in our lives. And if I remember right, you were nude the first time I saw you.”

  “And I apologized for it.”

  “And I’ve been smiling ever since.”

  Lisa leaned over and kissed Ron and said, “That was the right thing to say. But now I’m wondering if you like the nudist camps because of all the other women.”

  “There’s other women there?” Ron asked.

  Lisa kissed him again as she said, “You are two for two Mr. Ron.”

  They ordered lunch and as they ate Ron asked, “I don’t think you have had any dreams lately have you?”

  “I think we are all having fewer dreams,” Lisa replied. “Lauren says our talks are really making a difference. We’ve all talked a lot, well, not everyone. Charles is not around and he is hard to speak with.” She paused and asked, “You don’t think they are having problems, do you?”

  Ron looked surprised as he paused, then said, “No. I don’t think they talk like we do, but they still love each other. All of us will get through this and come out on the other side even stronger. We will.”

  “I know,” Lisa said then looked up at a man who had just stopped by their table. He was carrying a briefcase and as Ron looked up, the man smiled and said, “I am sorry to bother both of you, I waited until I thought you were finished eating. Professor Fontana, could I speak with you for just a moment?”

  “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

  The man sat down and replied, “I’m sorry, no you don’t.” He reached forward and continued, “I am Steve Weston.” Ron shook his hand and as Steve shook Lisa’s hand he said, “And I know you are Lisa. Both of you are incredible people and I am honored to meet you.”

  “I’m not sure why,” Ron said.

  Steve nodded his head and replied, “Well, we have a few things in common.”

  “Like what?” Lisa asked.

  “Well, I am a scientist, a rather brilliant one if I’m to be honest here. And, well, there is no easy way to say this, like you - I have traveled in time and seen dinosaurs.”

  Ron opened his mouth to speak and found he couldn’t. Lisa spoke in a whisper as she asked, “What do you mean? Why would you think we traveled in time?”

  Ron jumped in with, “I’m afraid he must be teasing us, Lisa.”

  Steve shook his head and said, “Well, no, Dr. Fontana I’m not. I read Danny’s rather informative book and –”

  Ron laughed nervously and said, “I’m sorry, that was just a science fiction book. None of it was real.” Then he stood up and said, “I think you are confusing reality with fantasy. I’m sorry, we really have to go.”

  “Just a moment,” Steve said as he opened his briefcase. He turned it, so Ron could look inside of it and as he did, Ron went white then red. “This is reality, not fantasy, and I was wondering if you knew exactly what this is?”

  As Ron slowly sat back down, Lisa looked in the case and saw what she thought was a dark brown and splotchy yellow animal horn or tusk. It was about two feet long; a little over four inches across at its base and it tapered to a narrow point with thin spiral rings that looped around it from top to bottom. She looked at Ron who was staring into the briefcase, so she sat back down too. She held her breath as Ron slowly reached forward and took the object out of the briefcase and pulled it toward him. When he didn’t move for several seconds she asked, “Ron, what is it?”

  He laid the bone on the table and looked up at Steve and asked, “Where…where did you get this?”

  “Do you know what it is?” Steve asked.

  Ron picked the bone up quickly this time and replied, “Well, let’s decide what it isn’t first. Without being able to do a detailed comparison with examples I may not get it right, but…” he paused then took a deep breath. “It’s obviously not a tooth which would be solid and not contain living tissue inside of it. A tooth would also have an enamel covering, not keratin like this.” Ron looked closely at it and added, “Probably β-keratin.”

  He turned it slowly in his hands and looked closely at the wider base and continued, “I would also say that it is not a horn, the keratin covering is not thick enough. It’s a bone, a bone with an appropriate cortical structure including vascular tissue. But…”

  “But what?” Steve asked.

  “But it also has thick external vascular grooves.”

  “That makes me think that it’s probably a spike, an animal spike.”

  “Does any animal living today have a spike like this?”

  Ron shook his head and said, “No…I mean, I don’t know for sure. I study dinosaurs, not modern animals.”

  “So, you’re saying it could be a Narwhale spike for instance, or from a gazelle?”

  “No, no I’m not saying that.”

  “But you aren’t saying what you believe, what you know. It’s from a dinosaur, isn’t it?”

  Ron didn’t speak, he found he couldn’t. Then Lisa answered, “Yes, it’s from a dinosaur. Ron just doesn’t want to tell you. This is upsetting both of us.”

  Steve reached out to take the bone from Ron as he said, “That is not what I wanted to do. Far from it. I’ll put it back and –”

  But Ron pulled it away from Steve and said quietly, “It’s the hind spike of a Stegosaurus. An older animal I believe.”

  Steve smiled and asked, “Tell me, how do you know?”

  “Well, it’s two feet long so it’s not going to be a tooth or claw. It’s cone shaped, so that makes it a spike. There were other dinosaurs with spikes, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, and Sauropelta to name a few, but all their spikes are different. The Stegosaurus hind spikes had their own distinct shape.”

  “How do you know they belonged to an old animal?” Lisa asked.

  Steve smiled and sat back as Ron told her, “There’s not much pitting on the spike, not as much as you would see on a younger animal. Also, the vascular grooves are more pronounced. On a spike from a younger example they wouldn’t be.” He ran his hand over the tip of the bone and added, “And this spike has been broken and then it has healed many times. It has been around for a while.”

  Steve nodded toward the spike and asked, “What’s the main thing you notice about it?”

  Ron took a breath and laid the spike down on the table and then looked up at Steve, “That it’s not a fossil.”

  Steve smiled and continued, “You’re right, it’s not a fossil. I told you, I have traveled just as you did.” He nodded his head and continued, “And you’re right about it being from an older Stegosaurus. My team found one that did not appear to have died from any wounds. There were no other animals around, so it seems to have died from old age.”

  “Not every dinosaur died violently,” Ron said.

  “No, but it usually didn’t take long for the scavengers to do their work. That and the heat and humidity. The team cut the tail off the animal and we brought it back. I was hoping to preserve it as it was in real life, but I couldn’t figure out a way to keep the spikes upright. So, I had them removed and, well – here’s one of them. A hind one as you said.”

  Ron tapped the table a couple of times and said, “I wish I would have been there.” He picked the spike up and held it with the point straight up, “The Thagomizer didn’t look like this.” He moved the spike, so it was parallel to the table and continued, “It was like this. The spikes were out sideways from the tail, not up.”

  “Thagomizer?” Steve asked.

  “I can’t remember the exact name,” Ron started, “but Gary Larsen drew a Far Side cartoon where a caveman named Thag something or other had been killed by a Stegosaurus. The cavemen called the spike part of the tail the Thagomizer.”

  Steve leaned forward and told Ron, “I wish
you had been there too. You have the knowledge and answers that we don’t. I can use you on my team, Ron. There are still too many things we don’t know.”

  “We don’t want to go back anymore,” Lisa said. “We aren’t over the first time yet.”

  Steve looked at her for a moment and then said, “I know what you mean. We have lost some men, good men, because we thought we had the answers. I still see them…and hear them. But I’m not asking either of you to Walk with us.”

  “Walk?”

  “Sorry, that’s what we call going out from our time machine, our Unit. Again, I would not ask you to do that.” He turned to Ron, “I just want to show you some video. You might find the Stegosaurus interesting. And I want to know about an animal I have not been able to find anywhere in dinosaur records or descriptions. A real monster from the sea. There are other things too. Ron, I just need your knowledge. That’s all.”

  “What about Charles?” Lisa asked Ron.

  “I would like to meet with Charles also,” Steve replied. “Compare notes and thoughts. He’s been doing this longer than I have and would be a valuable source of information.”

  “Actually, I don’t think he would,” Lisa admitted. “He’s cutting back on his jumps and is getting ready to stop them altogether.”

  “I think he realizes Lauren was right,” Ron added.

  “Yes,” Steve said. “If I remember right, Lauren doesn’t like going back in time and disrupting things. Let me assure you that is not what we do. On one of the first Walks, my team came across a mammoth and there was talk of shooting it. I stopped them immediately. We’re talking mammals and we weren’t that far back in time. I decided right then that all Walks would only be when dinosaurs were the dominant species so that millions of years and several different global disasters would stop any chance of disturbing our timeline.”

  Ron didn’t say anything as he looked down at the spike. As he touched it again Lisa said, “Ron, I think we should leave.”

  Steve picked up the spike and put it back in the briefcase and said, “I understand. I’ll leave you my card and also this, you don’t have to travel back in time with us. But I would like you to stop by my facility and look at some video and answer just a few questions. Like I said, some of my team have been injured or killed because we thought we knew what to expect and it turned out we didn’t. I need help and I’ll pay both of you for whatever information you can provide.”