by Perrin Briar
“Against an army of marauding apemen?” Bryan said. “We wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Awoooooooo!
The blast came from one of the taller trees. A man waved his arms and then cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted something.
“What is he saying?” Zoe said.
Cawing Crow turned pale.
“Apemen,” he said. “The apemen are here.”
71
The Natives rushed with purpose, each drilled and trained with where they should go and what they should do in the event of an apeman attack. Bryan hastened toward the tree where they had slept the night.
“How long before they’re here?” Zoe said.
“Twenty minutes,” Cawing Crow said. “Maybe less.”
“I’ll get our bags,” Bryan said, reaching for the ladder.
“Bryan, wait,” Zoe said. “These people need our help.”
“We need our help,” Bryan said. “We need to get out of here.”
Zoe didn’t move. Neither did Aaron or Cassie.
“Cassie, come on,” Bryan said.
“I’m staying,” Cassie said.
Bryan clenched his teeth.
“No you’re not, young lady,” he said. “You’re coming with me. You all are. You’re not dying here. Not now. Not after everything we’ve been through.”
“We might win,” Zoe said.
“We won’t win,” Bryan said. “Look at these people. Armed with sticks and stones. Look, if we had more time to prepare… Maybe. But we don’t. The apemen are going to overrun these people and I don’t intend on being here when they do. Do you?”
The others didn’t react. Bryan sighed and then spoke in a softer tone.
“We don’t have any guns or modern weapons,” he said. “Nothing to shift the odds in our favor. We shouldn’t even be involved in their war. We came here to find a way out. That’s all.”
“Things have changed,” Zoe said.
“This isn’t our fight,” Bryan said. “We should get out of here.”
“They saved us,” Zoe said.
“And we should die for them?” Bryan said. “I care only about you, Cassie and Aaron. Please. Let’s just go.”
Bryan turned to Cawing Crow.
“You don’t need us,” he said. “We can’t use blowpipes or bows and arrows. We have nothing here to protect you with.”
“We only need to see you,” Cawing Crow said. “To know you are here with us. Fighting with us. It will strengthen our spirit.”
“If we leave, will the apemen leave you alone?” Zoe said.
“No,” Cawing Crow said. “They will punish us. Perhaps for the last time.”
Silence followed. They all knew what that meant.
“I’m staying,” Zoe said firmly.
“Me too,” Cassie said.
“Tell me,” Bryan said, “how do we help fight when we have nothing to do it with?”
“We do have weapons,” Zoe said.
“What?” Bryan said.
“We have the most powerful weapon in the world,” Zoe said, tapping her head. “Our brains. And you just happen to be one of the best strategists in the world.”
“In the boardroom,” Bryan said.
“Are war and business so different?” Zoe said.
“Of course they are!” Bryan said. He turned to Aaron. “Aaron, help me out here.”
But Aaron had the same cast to his eye as the girls. Bryan locked eyes with Cassie and then Zoe.
“But…” he said.
His shoulders slumped. He was outnumbered.
“Fine,” he said. “But when this battle turns against us – and it will – I want all of you ready to run into the Passage at a moment’s notice. Understood?”
They nodded. Cawing Crow beamed.
“Then, you’ll fight with us?” he said.
“Yes,” Bryan said. “Fantastic. Let’s die for no good reason.”
He pointed to the dinosaurs with the saddles and harnesses.
“Do these things have armor?” he said. “Weapons?”
“They’re not fighting animals,” Cawing Crow said. “They’re work animals.”
“Work animals,” Bryan said flatly. “You haven’t got any vicious trained carnivores we can unleash around here, by any chance?”
“No,” Cawing Crow said.
“I thought not,” Bryan said. “Get me your best dinosaur riders.”
Cawing Crow ran off and spoke to another Native. They took off in different directions.
“What are you doing?” Zoe said.
“Something probably very stupid,” Bryan said. “A stampede worked before with the apemen. There’s no reason to suppose it won’t work again.”
“But there aren’t any dinosaurs around here,” Zoe said.
“That’s why we’re going to have to go find them,” Bryan said. “In the meantime, you need to keep the apemen distracted. You said you had a plan to escape before I heroically saved you at the apeman village?”
“Yes,” Zoe said.
“Do it,” Bryan said. “Whatever it was. Slow the apemen down. Our only chance to beat them is to hold them back until we can get the dinosaur stampede to trample over them. Get the Natives to tell you where the traps they made are. We don’t have time to make our own, but we can use the ones they already have.”
Zoe leapt forward and kissed Bryan full on the lips. Cassie and Aaron turned away in mock disgust, making puking motions.
Zoe leaned her forehead against Bryan.
“I don’t need to think,” she said. “I choose you. No matter whether we find George or not. He might not have died seven years ago, but he is dead to me now. You’re the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
Bryan squeezed Zoe’s hands between his own. His hands shook, he was so relieved.
“Thank you,” Bryan said. “I needed to hear that. I love you.”
Zoe beamed. It was the first time he had said that to her. Her lip quivered. Bryan brushed it with his thumb.
“Make sure to stay in one gorgeous piece,” Bryan said. “All of you. I have something to set up before I give the wranglers a hand. Cassie, you do what Zoe says. Capiche?”
Cassie saluted.
Bryan took off his backpack and ran into the cave entrance the Natives had been working on.
“Where’s he going?” Aaron said.
“Don’t worry about Bryan,” Zoe said. “He knows what he’s doing. Now, let’s get to our position.”
“Where’s that?” Cassie said.
“The front, of course,” Zoe said.
72
Zoe, Cassie and Aaron stood beside the Chief and his warriors on a hill that looked down over the jungle. The Chief nodded to them. The Natives wore bright war paint on their bodies and faces. They held spears and shields in their muscular hands. They glanced at Zoe, Cassie and Aaron every few seconds. Zoe noticed the warriors grew an inch taller, their resolve enhanced.
Zoe knew they weren’t going to be much use in the fight, weren’t going to take down many of the apemen, if any, but to these people, they were a symbol. The Natives would fight and hold their own, and even if they failed, it didn’t matter. They would try their best. They would no longer live beneath the heel of their violent oppressors. And for that, Zoe was glad she could be of use.
“Where are the women?” Zoe said.
The Chief didn’t understand. Zoe pointed at herself and Cassie, and then shrugged her shoulders. The Chief pointed to his weapon and crossed his arms. Women don’t fight. It was a ridiculous sentiment. With doom on their doorstep they needed all the warriors they could find.
“You stay here,” Zoe said to Cassie and Aaron.
“Why?” Aaron said. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get the women to help me lead some of the apemen into the traps like Bryan said,” Zoe said. “I hate to admit it, but it’s a good idea.”
“I’ll help,” Aaron said.
“You stay here,
” Zoe said. “They need to see you. You’re the spitting image of your father. They know that. Take this.”
Zoe handed Aaron the box of matches.
“Make sure to run the moment you light those fireworks,” she said.
“We will,” Cassie said.
Zoe ran a loving finger along Aaron and Cassie’s cheeks.
“I love you,” she said. “Both of you. Be careful.”
She took off.
“So, it’s left to us to hold the line,” Cassie said. “Typical.”
73
Bryan came running out of the cave, having set up his hasty plan. It would likely have only a small effect, but if it slowed the apemen down it would be worth it.
The Native riders ran up the dinosaurs’ tails and hopped into their saddles with a dexterity Bryan would never have believed. Even with Cawing Crow’s help he struggled into his own saddle. Bryan was sat halfway up the neck of a brown hadrosaur. This is one to tell the grandkids, he thought.
They snapped their leads, causing the dinosaurs to bolt forward. Bryan almost fell out of his saddle. The hadrosaur beneath him was incredibly powerful. He followed the other riders into the jungle at a jog. Bryan bumped up and down like Kermit the Frog. His crotch was already sore. Maybe I won’t be able to tell the grandkids after all.
74
The huts were suspended high in the tree canopies. They were of a uniform size, a single room like the one they had woken up in. Zoe’s eyes scrubbed each one until she came to a hut about four times the size of the others, nestled between the boughs of two trees. Zoe marched toward the ladder.
She had assumed the village would need a communal room, somewhere for the village elders to gather and discuss important issues, for important events like marriage to be hosted. Logic suggested it would also be where the women would hide. At least, that was her theory.
Zoe got to the top of the ladder and crossed to the front door. There were no windows to peer through. She pushed the door open.
The Native women sat huddled along the walls, holding babies and children on their laps. They all looked up. One of the women smiled kindly and led Zoe toward an empty space to sit down.
“What?” Zoe said. “No. I didn’t come here to hide.”
She stood before the women, and realized perhaps this wasn’t the best idea after all. How was she going to communicate with them?
“Uh…” Zoe said. “We have to fight. All of us. The warriors aren’t enough.”
Blank expressions. Zoe mimed fighting, playing the part of the apemen as well as the Natives.
“We all fight,” Zoe said, pointing to them.
The Natives shared confused expressions.
“If the apemen get through they’ll slaughter all of you anyway,” Zoe said. “It’s better to fight them. Work together.”
She waved her hands for the others to follow her outside, but none moved.
“One of you must understand what I’m trying to say,” Zoe said.
But none did. Except perhaps one girl who had her head tilted to one side. She was pretty, about Cassie’s age. She stepped forward and stood beside Zoe. She began to speak, and though Zoe didn’t understand what she was saying, the other women shook their heads. The young girl spoke louder, with greater passion, speaking to several women individually. The opinion makers. A few heads stopped shaking. Some even nodded. Everyone seemed most interested in a greying old woman sat at the back of the room. They cleared a space so she could see Zoe and the young girl. There was a pause, the silence ringing and loud after all the discussions.
The old woman nodded. The young woman’s voice rose again. She took hold of Zoe’s hand and lifted it above their heads. A small roar of acceptance came from some of the women’s throats. Those who cheered handed their children to the old and infirm, who would remain.
“Thank you,” Zoe said to the young woman.
The woman said something back, but Zoe didn’t know what it meant.
Zoe took off her backpack and sat it on the floor. She took out her camera and hung it around her neck. She turned to the outspoken young girl.
“My name Zoe,” Zoe said, resorting to broken English. “Zoe. What your name?”
“Honovi,” the girl said.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Honovi,” Zoe said. “I hope I didn’t just get you and your friends killed.”
They climbed down the ladder.
75
The apemen emerged from the tree line and formed scruffy ranks across the flat grassland that buffered the jungle and the Natives’ tree village. They each carried a spear and a sharpened flint knife. The Natives were armed the same, though their tools were forged with greater care.
Shard stepped forward from the army, a long sword in his hands. He was the only apeman with a Native-crafted weapon. He raised it above his head. The apemen roared and hissed, bearing their sharp incisors. The sun glinted off the metal crown in Shard’s head. He aimed his sword at the Natives, and then roared. The apemen leapt forward, beating the earth with their fists.
Then a loud voice beckoned, echoing over the flatland, like the voice of God.
The apemen slowed their advance, to a stop. The voice was speaking in English, but the echo was bad and even Zoe and Aaron couldn’t make out what the voice was saying.
“What is that?” Cassie said.
Aaron listened carefully. A smile spread across his face.
“It’s Jurassic World,” he said. “Bryan put a movie on!”
“Dad’s watching a movie?” Cassie said. “During a battle? I’ll kill him!”
The voice drifted away, to silence. And then a loud roar, deep and terrifying, boomed from the caves.
The apemen took a few steps back. Shard shouted, and the apemen stopped, holding their ground. Their eyes scanned the jungle both behind and in front of them, looking for the beast.
The Chief peered around. He too was spooked. He gave orders for some of the men to guard their rear, and they began to move away.
“No!” Aaron said.
He waved his hands to calm the Chief.
“It’s nothing,” he said. “It’s a trick. It’s a movie. There’s no real dinosaur.”
Aaron grabbed a warrior’s arm and pulled him back to his original position. The Chief pointed in the direction of the dinosaur roar and then at Aaron.
“Yes,” Aaron said. “We made the roaring sound.”
The Chief smiled and nodded. He gave another order, and the warriors returned to their original positions. The Chief said something, and the warriors laughed.
Then came a loud roar from somewhere deep in the jungle.
“That doesn’t sound like it’s from the movie,” Cassie said.
“It’s not,” Aaron said. “A dinosaur must have heard the roar from the movie. He thinks he’s being challenged.”
“What use is that to us?” Cassie said.
“It’s not,” Aaron said. “I’m sure Bryan just meant to scare the apemen. It looks like it’s working.”
The apemen looked at one another, fearful. Another roar echoed up from the cave. They only heard a dangerous carnivore on the side of the Natives. They took small steps back. Shard screamed, and beat some of the apemen over the head. The apemen began to edge forward again, eyes firmly on the treetops.
The Chief pointed at the apemen, who were still skittish about going forward, and bellowed the command to attack.
76
Cawing Crow pressed the foliage aside to reveal grazing herbivores concentrating on the grass shoots at their feet. Bryan was nervous. Last time he had simply scared the herd, and they had run in the direction they needed. But these dinosaurs were farther from the village and needed to be corralled through the dense jungle. It required a riding and wrangling skill far superior to his. Hopefully the Native riders would be up to it.
“What do you want to do?” Cawing Crow said.
“Sneak around them and come at them from behind,” Bryan said, “and then scare
them this way, toward your village, and crush the apemen.”
Bryan explained the details of the plan to Cawing Crow, careful to leave himself out of the main driving activities. A dinosaur was much more powerful than a horse and he would only mess everything up if he made the attempt. The secret to good leadership was knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of the other members of your team.
“Let’s do it,” Bryan said.
77
Zoe and Honovi waved their arms and shouted at the left-hand flank of the apeman army.
“Hey!” Zoe shouted. “Over here! Over here!”
Half a dozen apemen paused, spotting the women. They broke formation and ran toward them. The apemen growled and held up their spears. They screamed as they drew closer, so close Zoe could make out their bloodshot eyes and hairy nostrils. But the women did not move, holding their ground. When the apemen were just a few yards away the ground gave way beneath them and they fell into the trap, their bodies entangled at the bottom of the pit.
The Native women hooted with triumph. Another group of apemen spotted the Native women and broke away from the main body.
“Where’s the next trap?” Zoe said.
Honovi led them into the jungle. The undergrowth snapped beneath their feet, the shrubbery clawing at their clothes.
Honovi put a hand to Zoe’s chest, stopping her. She pointed to a jumble of leaves on the jungle floor. The Native women edged around it like there was an invisible force shield. Zoe hoped Honovi’s memory was up to scratch. It looked like a regular section of jungle to her.
This time the women held their spears out with both hands and watched as shadows danced through the tree trunks. They snorted like wild animals. The spear in Zoe’s hand felt like a toothpick.
The apemen screamed from the tree line, running at the women, spear tips raised. They fell through the trap, down into a hole twenty feet deep. They scrabbled at the walls but found no purchase.