Blood Trail

by David Rhodes

  “So, it’s not on all the time?”

  “No. Might draw your attention away from something more important, like something wanting to eat you.”

  “Got it.”

  “Last, your utility belt. You’re right handed so that’s where your sidearm is. You’ve seen them already. Just one mag but it holds fifty rounds of our special ammo. However, you do have a magazine of ten of the exploding rounds attached to the outside of the holster. For those special guests that have overstayed their welcome.”

  “That would be my neighbor, Stanley.”

  “Feel free to take a couple with you when we get back. Next to your holster in the red canisters are three grenades. Next to them in the two green canisters is some smoke. That gets us to the left side where you have three extra magazines for your rifle. They each have fifty rounds in them. Add the one that is in your rifle and you have two hundred rifle rounds, fifty handgun rounds and ten explosive rounds. That’s 260 rounds multiplied by a whole lot of us when we Walk.”

  “That is a lot of firepower,” Danny agreed.

  “Just under your left arm is your knife.” As Danny pulled it from its sheath Lost continued, “That’s an 8-inch blade that has a little extra punch. After you stab it into Mr. Teeth you can slam your hand down on the back of the hilt and the blade will explode forward another 6 or so inches.”

  “That would do the trick. What’s in the long horizontal pack on the back of the belt?”

  As Lost adjusted Danny’s belt, she paused and then told him, “Stuff we hope we never need. All our medical gear. Patches, 4x4s, gauze, tactical tourniquets, morphine, and even some sponge filled syringes to stop bleeding in really bad wounds.”

  “Thanks, Lost.” Then after a pause he asked, “Why Lost?”

  “Because she doesn’t know east from west or up from down,” Blonk answered.

  “Or what time it is, ever,” Whitey added.

  “She’s always just lost,” Maybe said. “But that doesn’t mean she didn’t do a great job today taking the bite.”

  As everyone agreed, Lauren asked, “What about everyone else? What about your nickname, Maybe?”

  “I never answer yes or no right away. I have to think on things first so it’s always a ‘maybe’ to begin with.”

  “Okay, Whitey?”

  He rolled up a sleeve to show his pale arm and said, “This is the tannest I’ve ever been.”

  “Before I forget, what about Stork?”

  “You did see that tall, gangly guy didn’t you?” Blonk asked.

  Lauren nodded and asked, “Blonk? Short for Blonken-something?”

  “Easier than that,” he answered. “I have blond hair and as you can see I am pretty big. My dad always said I was strong as a horse, so he called me Blonk which he said meant white horse. There you go.”

  “Interesting,” Lauren replied. “Ricardo?”

  “Don’t get him started,” Cat advised. “He thinks he is a Latin-lover. His real name is –”

  “Never mind,” Ricardo cut in. “I am Latin, and I’ll leave the rest to everyone’s imagination.” As the Team groaned he continued, “At least I am not a cat because I sneak around.”

  “Hey, what’s wrong with being able to sneak around?” Cat asked. “I’m just quiet and stealthy –”

  “And because you’re a Peeping Tom,” Junk said. “We all know why you’re sneaking around.”

  Cat put his hands up and said, “Always accused, never convicted.”

  “Okay, maybe I should stop,” Lauren said.

  “No, we’re good,” Junk answered. “I’m Junk because I collect a lot of things I think will be valuable one day. Figurines, art, magazines, antiques. Stuff.”

  “Stuff that some of us call junk. I’m Ammo because I know the specs on all types of ammunition: handgun, rifle, shotgun, machineguns, cannons, rocket launchers. I like to shoot and blow things up.”

  “He does. Sometimes he does it just to scare us.” Rover slapped Ammo on the arm and continued, “Or at least me. I’m called Rover because I like to keep moving. When we’re Walking I like to go out with Cat to scout.”

  “That’s not all I hear you like to do with Cat,” Ammo added, and Rover slapped him again. Then he said, “Stoney, why don’t you take your shirt off?”

  “You know I’m not shy,” she said as she took off her shirt and flexed.

  “Now take off the sports bra,” Ammo shouted.

  “You wish. I’m not as big as Blonk and Chesky but you won’t find a lot of fat anywhere on me. The guys think I’m like a stone, so I’m Stoney.”

  “Chesky?” Lauren asked.

  He hung his head for a moment then replied, “My father played Polka music. There is a famous Polka band leader named Chesky and he would call me his little Chesky.”

  As the Team went “awwww” Lauren asked, “Do you play Polka?”

  Chesky hung his head again; as everyone went silent he answered, “Yeah, I have an accordion.”

  As everyone started making jokes Lauren said, “Well, I guess that’s everyone.”

  “What about me?” Sinewave asked.

  “Second smartest person in the room? Why would we care?”

  Sinewave couldn’t help laughing with everyone else and then he said, “I see the way it is. But anyway, smartest kid in my high school. I actually knew what a sine wave was but that’s not what got me the nickname. I loved the old monster movies where dead people were brought back to life. There was always an oscilloscope with sine waves moving across it. I talked about it so much that I became Sinewave. And you know that’s interesting because you can also call them –”

  “Stop him,” Blonk said. “I asked what time it was once, and he told me how Big Ben was built.”

  “Yeah, let’s get Charles, Ron and Lisa suited up too,” Lost said.

  When everyone was ready Lauren said, “Charles, be careful.” Then she added, “And the rest of you too.”

  “Yes, Mom,” the Team replied.

  Lauren shook her head and asked, “Why do I always get that?”

  Before anyone could answer Ben came over the speaker, “If you cowboys and cowgirls are ready, it’s time to take a Walk.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE WALK

  Major Donald immediately entered the locker room and advised Ben, “We’re ready to Walk. Going out will be the Team, Sgt. Jameston, Ron, Lisa and Charles.”

  “Stand by for just a moment,” Ben said.

  Steve came over the speaker and said, “We’ve been watching something for a few minutes and they have suddenly turned in our direction. They’re not going to be close enough to worry about we think, but they are interesting. We thought Ron, and everyone else, might want to step outside for a look.”

  Ben added, “The lagoon is empty right now and I’ll keep a watch on it. Major, you have a green light to step outside but for right now stay within the curtain. We still aren’t a hundred percent sure which way they will go.”

  “Roger that, Paycheck,” Major Donald replied.

  “What do you think it is?” Lost asked Danny.

  “Well it can’t be my neighbor, Stanley, or they wouldn’t have let us go out.”

  Lauren watched on the view screen as the Team moved out of the Unit. Ben immediately said, “Seventeen out, starting the timer.”

  “Dad’s going to like this,” Lauren said. “But are you sure they shouldn’t come back in?”

  “They’re fine,” Ben told her. “They’re still inside the curtain. Just because you can see through it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. If something decides to come closer we’ll just make the curtain look solid and the animal will go around us.”

  “Won’t they just run right through it?”

  “No. I mean, what animal just runs into a wall or the side of a mountain? I know in the movies dinosaurs just run through things but they’re not that stupid. They don’t just run into things to see if they can. They don’t want to injure themselves.”

  “
I had never thought of that,” Lauren said. “Too many movies I guess.”

  Steve suddenly said, “Look,” and pointed at the screen. Outside, the Team saw it at the same time; the head of an animal seemingly floating above the treetops. Where the trees were shorter they could see the long green and grey neck. Behind the lead animal were two others, not as tall, but following closely.

  “What are they?” Ammo asked.

  “My guess is Alamosaurus,” Ron replied. “Maybe a male and female pair with an offspring.”

  “They’re huge,” Cat said. “How big do they get?”

  “80 to 90 feet long and close to 50 feet tall. They were a Titanosaur.”

  “Like the one they found in Argentina?” Ricardo asked.

  “Exactly, exactly,” Ron exclaimed. “Look at their necks. The two larger ones have frills that run about two meters down their necks. The smaller one doesn’t.”

  Lauren came over their headsets, “Adult and juvenile difference?”

  “Maybe, maybe. Could be.” Ron paced for a second then said, “I wish I could see the sides of them.”

  “Why is that?” Ben asked.

  “Their spikes,” Ron answered.

  “Spikes?” Steve repeated. “Let me put something up on the curtain for you.” A view screen appeared, and they could see a shaky image as a drone was slowly dropping in beside the huge animals. “I’m going slow,” Steve told everyone. “I don’t want to spook them, and I have to dodge some brush. Hang on for a moment.”

  Then the picture steadied and as the animals walked by Ron shouted, “Yes. Do you see them? Just above the back hip on each of them? Do you see the spikes?” Everyone excitedly said they did and watched intently until finally the animals’ whipping tails slowly moved across the screen and then out of view.

  Steve reported, “Ron, you were exactly right. The DTS confirmed that was an Alamosaurus. Great job.”

  Ben came back on and said, “Okay, that was fun. Are we ready to head out now?”

  There were shouts of “Let’s go” from everyone and an opening appeared in the screen. The Team quickly stepped through it and as Danny followed he immediately said, “Man, I forgot how hot and humid it was. Lauren, how hot is it?”

  Lauren asked, “Danny, do you really want to know?”

  “So, it’s that hot,” Danny said. “Never mind.”

  “I’ll stay close to you,” Charles told him.

  Then Steve came in with “Major Donald.”

  “Yes?”

  “Head northeast. Follow the lead drones and bots and stay alert. We’re not seeing the Rexes or really anything yet, but those last three Alamo guys moved in pretty quick.”

  Ben turned to Lauren and said, “Let me explain what we have here. On the main screen right now is the satellite view of the area. We’ll switch to drones and bots shortly and probably go back and forth between them. You saw Steve do that for the horns. On the screens on each side of the main view are the helmet cam videos of the Team with each of their names at the bottom so we know what the Team member is looking at.”

  “Do you have heat sensing optics?” Lauren asked.

  “Yes,” Ben told her. “The drones, bots, satellite and even the Team helmets.”

  “So, there is nothing showing up right now?”

  “Lots of small stuff, we’re talking less than a foot long.” Ben held up his hand as Lauren started to say something and continued, “And I know some of those could be dangerous but probably not to a group of seventeen. Still, that’s why Steve told them to stay alert.”

  Lauren watched as the Team disappeared into some high vegetation and the satellite view disappeared from the main screen and was replaced by a much closer overhead view. “How do you control all of the drones and bots?” Lisa asked.

  “It’s not as hard as you think,” Ben told her. “They all are linked together for a team concept approach. On the ground, the four bots form the corners of an ever-changing rectangle around the Team. We really only have to move one and the others follow.”

  Ben waved a hand in front of him and a holographic view appeared. He looked at Lauren and said, “Just move your hand a couple of inches away from your workstation screen.” She did so, and the Team holograph appeared before her. Then Ben continued, “Okay, you can see the Team silhouettes outlined in red. In the corners, the green square outlines are the bots and the blue outlined circles are the drones. The bots are numbered one through four and there are five numbered drones.

  “Say I want just one bot or drone to move. I just put my finger on it then drag it to the new position.” Ben touched bot 1 and moved it to the left of the Team. “Now obviously the bots cannot move as fast as your fingers. You have to allow for terrain contours and obstacles you can’t see, so it might be several minutes before the bot is in position.

  “You see each of the bots has sensors that keeps them from running into things and gives them the ability to find clear paths. Obviously, all of the bots will encounter terrain difficulties during the Walks, maybe even at the same time. But because they communicate with each other they are constantly attempting to maintain their positions. If one lags behind because of an obstacle or rough terrain their planned shape can change but when the delayed bot catches up they move back into their original formation.”

  Lauren watched as bot 1 slowly changed position on the view screen. It followed a winding course and Lauren could see from its view there were fallen tree branches and some heavy vegetation it had to go around. It took over a minute to get to the new location.

  “Okay,” Ben said, “let me show you something else with this one. I’m looking at a pretty uninteresting tree stump at the moment, ah, there we go. See that disgusting looking insect crawling around? The shiny brown one with a million legs and very long antennae?” Ben touched the bot’s video screen and a green dot appeared on the insect. From that moment, the bot’s camera followed only the insect. Ben held his finger on the green dot and the bot’s camera zoomed in until he moved his finger away. “What do you think?” he asked Lauren.

  “I like it,” she told him. “But why did bot 2 move?”

  “Because when I moved bot 1 from the upper left corner it left a hole in the Team security. Since bot 2 is the other lead bot, it moved to the center of the Team and began using its front and both side cameras.”

  “Got it,” Lauren replied. “Team safety is first.”

  “Most definitely. Now, when I’m finished with bot 1, I just tap it twice and it will automatically start moving to resume its assigned spot on the Team perimeter. Again, it may take a few minutes since the Team may not have stopped while we used the bot. When it gets back, bot 2 will return to the upper right corner of the rectangle and you’re back to normal.”

  “How do they know how fast to go in the first place? Do you set a speed?”

  “No, they constantly monitor the Team, also the Team’s speed determines their speed. The bots are there to provide vital information, so they can’t outrun the Team or go too slow. Though each bot has a camera on all four sides, only the front and outside cameras are activated on the leading bots and the outside and rear cameras on the trailing bots.”

  “Unless one is doing double duty,” Lauren said.

  “That’s right,” Ben agreed.

  Lauren nodded and asked, “My guess is that the drones are set up similarly?”

  “You got it,” Ben agreed. “They form a wider perimeter than the bots but are set up the same. They usually have fewer moving problems because they can adjust their height and distance from the group more easily. They move quicker to a new location since they don’t have rocks and ditches to worry about. But they still have to watch out for branches and leaves. So, they may go up and over or out and around things.”

  Ben pointed at the main view screen and continued, “The view from drone 1, which is above and slightly behind the Team, is on the main screen right now. Remember, the drones are the blue circles and like the bots, each view is num
bered to make it easy to know which drone you want to control.

  “Now here is an interesting thing you can do with the drones. When I pinch the holographic drone and pull toward me, it raises up. Pinch and push toward the screen and it will lower. And, if you tap it twice it will auto return to its assigned position.”

  “Okay, so we can control the bots and drones from in here. What about the Team?”

  “Good question. If the Team changes direction or its speed, the bots and drones adjust. If a Team member needs a bot or drone for some specific reason they have to let us know. Too many people controlling them could cause confusion. After all, whatever the Team sees is already shown and recorded through their helmet cams. If multiple views are necessary then we coordinate that from in here.”

  “What if a bot or drone is destroyed?”

  “The same as if we move one of them. The other drones have a preset system of replacement which will keep one drone in front and two drones roving behind the Team. If two drones are destroyed the two remaining ones begin to rove, one in front and one behind. Also, if the Team is close enough, we send out replacements. The new drones or bots begin communication with the others when they arrive and then we’re back to full protection mode.”

  “Seems simple,” Lauren said. “I can just push and pull or tap.”

  “Or hold,” Ben added. “If you want a bot to stop or a drone to hover just grab it and hold it in place for a second. When you want it to move again just tap it twice like before and it returns to its spot.”

  “Wow.”

  Ben smiled and told her, “Just say, ‘thanks Otto’.”

  “Thanks Otto.”

  “Oh, uh, I just did some research and I, uh –”

  Ben cut in with, “Otto, just say ‘you’re welcome’.”

  Otto laughed quietly said, “You’re welcome.”

  Major Donald called in, “Steve, we’ve paused about three hundred yards away from the Unit. Nothing in this area except a kind of trail surrounded by thick brush. Now there are dino tracks leading into the heavy stuff that Ron is interested in. We’re still good to go?”