by Greig Beck
“Hey!” she screamed.
“Go, go, go,” he yelled after the group.
Barlow finally caught up. “I can’t…you have to…”
Bellakov grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him close. “Listen, you fat fuck, you run, or you stay; I ain’t carrying you, got it?”
The man’s wet eyes went wide and he nodded rapidly.
“Then here’s a gift.” Bellakov looked down at the struggling Andrea as she began to get to her feet. He lifted one large boot and stomped down on her ankle. There was a crunch of bone, and she cried out. He bent to rip the gun from her hands.
“Ow, ow, ow.” The young woman held her leg, tears running. She looked up at him, more confused than anything else.
“Let’s go.” He dragged Barlow with him as Andrea wailed, holding up an arm to them.
The rustling in the bushes continued, but then the shriek of pain from behind them told him that the creatures had found their staked goat – just like all predator packs, they’d always go for the weakest, the stragglers, or the injured.
Bellakov stopped and turned. He hung onto Barlow and jerked the man around.
“Watch.”
It reminded him of a dog attack – the animals seemed frenzied as they jostled for position, poking heads in to get at the shrieking woman. In only a few seconds, the heads that pulled back were gulping meat, with snouts now slick-red with blood.
The screams became sobs, and then silence. Beside him, he heard Barlow gag, and he dragged him closer
“Don’t you fucking vomit; they’ll smell it.”
Bellakov turned back to the feeding frenzy. Sorry babe, he thought, but you drew the short straw. He still held Barlow by the arm and dragged him close for a second time.
“You owe me big time.”
Barlow’s head nodded like it was on springs.
They ran on but there were no sounds of pursuit, and after another 15 minutes, Bellakov felt it was safe enough to slow down. In another few minutes more, he stopped them. All were out of breath, but still alert.
Steve frowned, looking past him. “Where’s Andrea?”
Bellakov ignored him. “Everyone okay?”
“Where the fuck is Andrea?” he asked more forcefully and stepped closer.
Bellakov sighed and reached out to place a large hand on the young man’s shoulder. “I’m sorry…she’s gone.”
Steve knocked his arm away. “What? What do you mean gone? Gone where? We need to get her.” He went to step past Bellakov with Dan set to follow him.
Bellakov put out one burly arm. “She’s gone, gone. You understand what I’m saying?” He pulled the younger man in front of him, real close, and stared into his eyes. “They got her.”
“But…” Steve’s mouth opened and closed for a few seconds. “They got her? How? Where were you? Why didn’t you try and help her? Why didn’t you call us, me, I would have fucking well gone back for her.”
Bellakov had the urge to punch the kid, hard, but held it in check, as he needed them all on his side. He pulled his face into a facsimile of sorrow, and just shook his head.
“Steve, there were too many. They would have overrun us all.” He sighed. “Please, this is hard for me too, but we must go on and survive, try and find our friends.” Bellakov reached out and gripped the young man’s upper arms. “This is what matters now.”
The two men locked eyes, and he could see that Steve’s narrowed with distrust. After a moment, the fire in Steve’s eyes went out and he seemed to deflate. He looked down at the ground and nodded.
“Good lad.” Bellakov walked past the man. “This way.” He and Barlow headed off into the jungle, and Steve and Dan followed.
*****
Bellakov heard the water before he saw it, and in another few minutes, they came to the riverbank of a shallow stream no more than six feet wide. He waved them down and crouched on his haunches, gun across his thighs, and just watched for a while.
The waterway only looked a few inches deep, with maybe a little more in some areas. It was clear and not moving too fast. Feeder roots from huge trees thicker than his waist burrowed in at the bank and the tree trunks were moss-covered, ancient, and towering above them, creating a green roof over their heads. Bordering the bank, heavy fern fronds reached over the water and though the stream cut a corridor between them, there was a sand and gravel bank on each side.
It looked peaceful, and safe, but he waited and watched. He knew from his jungle hunting days that fresh water was a lifesaver, but it was also a dangerous place to be. When animals came to drink and dipped their heads to lap at the cool water, they were vulnerable – all carnivores knew that, and that went for carnivores both on land and in the water.
“What are we looking for?” Dan whispered.
“Anything.” Bellakov watched as a few dragonflies the size of small birds hovered over the stream and then alighted on some rushes. He tried to listen, but there was the constant zumm of life from hidden insects buzzing, humming, and chirruping all around them. If there was something lurking down there, he needed to flush it out. He turned.
“You; Dan, was it?”
“Huh, yeah, me Dan. What?” Dan replied, frowning.
“Go down there and check for tracks on the bank.” Bellakov kept his eyes on the water.
“Are you shitting me? I’m not going out there…by myself.” Dan’s mouth dropped open in derision.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be safe.” He tapped his gun. “I’ll cover you and I’m the best shot of all of us.” He shrugged. “Take your buddy if you want someone to hold your hand.”
“This is not a good idea.” Dan looked at Steve.
“We’ll all be moving along the stream in a few minutes. But I want you to check for animal tracks now while I can cover you, rather than when we’re all down there, okay?” He pushed Dan. “Hurry up, son; daylight’s burning.”
“Come on, buddy.” Steve got up from his haunches and walked carefully down the bank. Dan followed in a crouch, mumbling about being a crash test dummy.
Bellakov watched the pair only for a moment before he turned his attention to the surrounding wall of jungle. Nothing edged closer or took a run at the pair, as they tentatively went to the bank, their heads turning one way then the other. Bellakov was also relieved to see nothing launched itself from the water, but didn’t really expect it as it looked too shallow. However, there were deeper sections, and bottom line was, he had no idea what freaking things could even exist here, so they’d need to be careful.
He felt the gentle tug on his sleeve and turned to the moonfaced Barlow.
“Janus.” He smiled creepily.
Bellakov was immediately on guard – Barlow never called him by his first name.
Barlow licked his lips. “I’m probably the slowest of you all. And I’m sure the temptation may come to leave me behind, like, well, you know who.” He simpered again.
Bellakov continued to give him an impassive stare. The guy was a schemer and wasn’t to be trusted. Besides that, the mercenary had already thought about dumping his fat ass if he slowed them down.
Barlow continued. “Janus, when that temptation comes, you will resist it, because you will remember the words I now speak to you.” His fingers alighted on Bellakov’s arm and began to gently tug at the fabric. “Five million dollars, no strings attached, and all you have to do for it is finish your job – and that is to get me home. Understand?”
Bellakov stared, letting the seconds stretch. “Ten million.”
Barlow’s eyes widened, but he nodded. “Ten million it is.”
Money talks, Bellakov thought, and he let his face break open in a wide smile. He reached out a hand. “Deal.”
Barlow shook it eagerly. “Good man, yes, deal.”
Bellakov went back to watching the men in the stream.After five full minutes, the pair of men straightened and hiked their shoulders. Bellakov half turned.
“Looks okay.”
Bellakov rose and the
n sauntered down, still wary, and when on the bank, he held up a hand for silence. He stood there, letting his senses take in the surroundings – there was no animal smells, no sound other than the small gurgle of water over rounded stones, and there seemed to be nothing he could see camouflaged behind the green fringe.
He walked out into the center of the stream that only came to his ankles.
“Move out; and walk in the water. It’ll stop predators picking up our scent trail.”
They began to head upstream, Bellakov in the lead, Barlow panting behind, then Dan and Steve at the rear. It was already 3pm, mid-afternoon. They needed shelter, or they needed a tree perch in the next few hours.
Bellakov knew more of them would be dead before morning. And it damn well wasn’t going to be him…or his ten-million-buck meal ticket.
CHAPTER 26
Ben checked his watch – 4pm. Time was moving way too fast on them. He had the same coiled feeling in his gut like he had on some of the missions he undertook in Afghanistan, where he was always on edge, always ready, always strung piano-wire tight.
I left all that for a quieter life. Then I choose to do this – what kind of idiot am I? he wondered.
The streambed they moved along was shallow and clear. From time to time, small fish darted past his feet, but nothing hid in amongst the rounded rocks, and at the riverbanks, the rushes were too sparse for concealment.
A while back, he had spotted the impressions of boot marks. The tiny scrape of moss, the toe mark in sand, and the occasional squashed aquatic critter – the others had come this way, and they weren’t that far in front.
Emma walked beside him, her handgun dangling at her side. “I know what you’re thinking,” she whispered.
He glanced at her and let one eyebrow rise. “Oh yeah. Lay it on me.”
“You’re wondering how the hell you got here?” She gave him a lopsided grin.
He bobbed his head. “How’d you guess?”
Her smile was fragile. “Because I’m thinking the same thing. We were like all the bored, spoilt, overfed, and pampered people of the modern world. We were just looking for a little adventure. Guess we found it.”
He frowned down at her. “That’s not true. For a start, we’re not overfed.”
She brightened a little at his attempt at humor.
“You know what the real problem was?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Did any of us really think this place existed? I mean really think it existed? We underestimated, everything.”
She nodded. “I sort of expected something, but, no, not like this. I thought maybe we’d spend a few days in the Amazon, take a few pictures, rack up a few mosquito bites, and then all head home with suntans and some cool stories to tell over beers.”
“Me too.” Ben stopped. “Uh oh.”
“What?” Emma went with him. Behind them, Jenny and Koenig bunched up, but the hunter, Koenig, remained standing and keeping watch.
“Blood.” He pointed at the tip of a rock just sticking from the water with a red streak. He looked upstream. “No way to tell if it’s human or not.”
Koenig spoke without turning. “There’s no disruption on either bank; they never left the water.”
“Good.” Ben stood. He looked upwards and could just make out the cloud cover through the jungle canopy. The clouds were still low, angry, and unnatural, and seemed to be swirling almost like they were in the eye of a cyclone. He ignored it; he had enough to worry about.
“Let’s pick up the pace.”
They continued heading along the watercourse, trading a little silence now for speed, hoping to catch up with their friends.
CHAPTER 27
2 Hours Past Full Apparition
Comet P/2018-YG874, designate name Primordia, had passed over its perihelion, and though still bright in even the daylight sky, it had already achieved its closest point to Earth.
If Ben Cartwright could have seen through the cloud cover, he might have made out that the tiny streak in the sky was now moving into the left hemisphere, as Primordia’s once a decade visit was coming to an end.
Soon it would vanish once again as it headed away from Earth, back out on its never-ending elliptical voyage through the solar system.
CHAPTER 28
The light was fading, and the ever-present cloud cover combined with the dropping sun to give them an early twilight. The light was weird, near purple, colored by the strange low clouds. And the heat and humidity never let up for a second.
They’d found the carcass a few miles back. They heard the sound of squabbling carnivores coming from a bend in the stream, and Ben left everyone behind a stand of thick pulpy-looking fronds as he crept forward.
The dozens of creatures reminded him of large turkeys, ripping at something he couldn’t quite make out. He prayed it wasn’t a person and edged even closer. It was only when one of the creatures had ripped the head of the victim free, that he saw it was some sort of armor-plated thing no bigger than a kitchen table.
The smaller animals should not have troubled the armored beast. Ben guessed that it had probably been killed by something else, and these things were undoubtedly scavenging on the remains.
Ben eased back and waved Jenny forward. The zoologist came and crouched beside him, and together they leaned out.
“Amazing,” she breathed out.
“Yeah, but are they a threat?” Ben said over his shoulder.
The smaller biped creatures were frantic in their movements, jerking and squawking like a flock of birds, and their heads and necks were now streaked red with blood.
“Dromaeosaurus, Saurornithoides, or could be a dozen other types of smaller carnivore species,” Jenny said. “They’re scavengers, but in larger numbers, they may just decide to attack.”
Jenny craned forward just as one pulled back with a chunk of meat in its mouth and gulped it down. “Their teeth are sharp and close together, creating a serrated scissor effect – they’d do damage to us soft human beings.”
“Then we go around them.” Ben pulled her back to the group.
“Roadblock,” Ben said. “We’ll need to detour.”
The group needed to spend a considerable amount of time looping around the feeding frenzy, and then finding their way back to the stream. Detouring into the jungle meant it was slower going, and once they needed to hunker down as something large blundered past them back the way they’d come – Ben felt vindicated in his choice as he expected the smell of blood would draw larger more formidable beasts.
It was almost sundown when they finally reached the source of the stream. The group emerged from the green cave they had been travelling along and stopped to gape in awe.
“So big,” Emma said. “It’s not possible.”
With the fading light, the huge body of water was already inky black. But even though there was no wind the surface wasn’t still – ripples, bubbles, and V-shaped patterns were made by things moving beneath the surface.
Ben waved everyone down. “Why don’t we just watch for a while; see who’s home?”
Leathery-winged creatures with 12-foot wingspans glided on warm thermals to skim the lake’s surface, now and then dipping three-foot-long toothed beaks down to snatch up wriggling fish before sharply pulling up and away.
As they watched, one spent a little too much time near the surface, and a huge massive black torpedo shape launched itself from below, grabbing the screaming animal and dragging it down in a thrash of bloody foam.
“Jesus; everything about this damn place is hell,” Koenig said.
“No, this place is simply a snapshot of what our world was like about 100 million years ago,” Jenny said. “Maybe to us soft little mammals, it’s a nightmare, but to them, it’s just, life.” She looked up at the hunter. “Maybe to them, our world would be a nightmare.”
“Yeah right, lady,” Koenig scoffed.
“Over there.” Ben pointed. “That cliff face; down on the waterline?”
“Looks like our digs for the night,” Emma said.
“Let’s just hope someone hasn’t already made a reservation,” Jenny said.
Ben eased to his feet and then looked skyward for a moment. “I estimate we’ve got about an hour of light left, and then it’ll be darker than hell without a moon or stars. We need to be in there by then.”
Koenig peered one way then the other. “Options: skirt the lake, left or right, or we go as the crow flies.”
Jenny turned slowly towards him, her brow furrowed. “You did just see that pterosaur get taken a few minutes back, huh?”
“That big dumb bird wasn’t carrying an assault rifle.” Koenig grinned.
“We’re not crossing the water in the dark, and we’re not going to be acting as fish bait.” Ben looked along the lake edge on both sides. “I think we’ll skirt around to the left; seems to be the thickest growth – gonna make traveling a little harder, but will also give us the best cover.”
“Pretty dense cover and some of those trees are huge.” Koenig squinted. “No branches though, but plenty of predators could hide in there. Still think the other side is best, there’s some good open space, we could make a run for it rather than slogging through more jungle.”
Jenny scoffed. “Two things; those tall trees you spotted aren’t trees.”
Everyone turned back to the huge trunks and as they watched, one of the trees seemed to bend down and vanish, before reappearing.
“Is that what I think it is?” Emma asked.
“I think so; some sort of huge sauropod herbivore – spend their entire day just eating and could easily weigh a hundred tons. Looks like a herd of them.” She turned to Koenig. “They’re too big to be troubled by most predators, so if these guys are hanging around and don’t seem agitated, it usually means there’s no carnivores threatening them. And that’s good for us.”