by Perrin Briar
“What if we can’t?” Cassie said.
“Then we’ll head to the opposite side of the jungle, like we originally planned,” Zoe said. “I’m sure that’s where your father will head if he can’t find us either.”
Zoe began to scale the steep incline.
“Come on,” she said. “The last time I saw them they were up here. Cassie?”
Cassie stood frozen, not moving a muscle.
“Cassie, come on,” Zoe said.
Cassie let out a little squeak. Her whole body was shaking. Zoe walked down the incline and joined her. She froze, her heart in her throat.
Not five hundred yards away, standing there with blood around its broad lips was the T-Rex. Its small yellow eyes were fixed firmly on Cassie. Zoe’s legs felt weak, like they might collapse beneath her any moment. History’s greatest predator, and Cassie was having a staring competition with it.
The T-Rex stepped forward, and Zoe turned and ran, her hand clasping Cassie’s tight. The T-Rex growled at the back of its throat and its footsteps crashed, shaking the world, and their souls. The ground was level here, with broad leaves covering it like a carpet. The T-Rex was gaining. Zoe could hear its breath exhaling through its nostrils.
The T-Rex slammed through the trees, knocking them over like they were twigs. It growled, lowered its open jaws, opening them wide, exposing its giant tongue.
Zoe and Cassie screamed.
The T-Rex’s jaws slammed shut tight with a loud hollow snap, and its footsteps took it further on before it slowed to a stop and turned about, looking one way and then another for its missing prey.
Cassie sat wrapped in Zoe’s arms, her eyes shut tight. Zoe stared at the wall of the hole they had fallen through, terrified, refusing to look to see where the T-Rex was or what it was doing. They were huddled in the corner, knowing that at any moment the T-Rex could lower its nostrils and find them, and they would be trapped and defenseless.
The T-Rex’s footsteps slammed into the earth, getting louder and louder, each crash making Zoe and Cassie jump. Cassie whimpered. Zoe remained calm, though her heart was beating a mile a minute.
50
THEY HAD BEEN FLYING over the terrain for several hours, strafing over the canopy in undulating lines to cover every square inch, but so far they hadn’t come across anything.
“We’re running low on fuel,” the pilot said. “We’re going to need to turn back.”
“All right,” Rosetta said.
She was disappointed. She would have thought she would have seen something by now, but it was difficult to see much through the canopy, wide and broad like a second sky.
The helicopter turned sharply and headed back toward the fracking site, but as it did, something caught the corner of Rosetta’s eye. It was a dark blot on the landscape, at odds with the vibrant greens and yellows of the native plants and trees in the area.
“Wait,” Rosetta said. “Turn back. I saw something.”
She was not prone to outbursts, and so the pilot did not argue with her.
“Which direction?” the pilot said.
“That way,” Rosetta said, pointing. “South-southwest.”
She kept her eyes on the direction she could have sworn she had seen something. The helicopter arched around. Rosetta’s eyes scrubbed the forest. Where was it? But she couldn’t make anything unusual out. The canopy broke like waves across the breakers at a dock.
And then Rosetta’s breath caught. Her hand covered her mouth. Even the pilot, known for his unflusterability, sat up taller in his seat to look down at the huge crater spread out before them.
Hundreds of felled trees lay scattered like dominoes, the trunks and boughs bent over at an unnatural angle. The earth had been tossed up like a hastily-made salad, the brown of the soil overturned. It looked like a large bomb had gone off, except there were no burnt trees, no cinders or evidence of fire. Anyone walking along the ground would have thought it had been a landslide.
But from the air it was clear it could not possibly have been a landslide. The land did not slope down to this location, but was actually on a slight rise. It was a sinkhole. Bryan Angelo had sunk.
51
ROOOARRRRR!
The violent cry burst out over the jungle, made all the more terrifying by the fact it wasn’t far away. Birds took flight from a dozen locations and cawed and hacked at something too large to attack.
Bryan grabbed Aaron and pulled him behind the shelter of a rock. He peered over it, eyes moving left to right. Then he ducked back down again.
“Is it there?” Aaron said.
“No,” Bryan said. “But it’s close.”
“Where did they go?” Aaron said.
“I don’t know,” Bryan said.
His stomach twisted.
“Come on,” he said. “We have to find them.”
They retraced their steps, heading back the way they had come, both sets of eyes swiveling in their sockets. Their breaths and footsteps seemed loud in their ears. With the knowledge of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures in the jungle, the place took on a sinister edge. It was no longer a land of wonder, but of fear.
“What if we don’t find them?” Aaron said.
“We will,” Bryan said.
“What if we don’t?” Aaron said.
“We will,” Bryan said.
But he hoped to God they were still in one piece when they did find them.
52
EVEN STANDING ON Zoe’s shoulders Cassie couldn’t reach the top. The trap had been made for creatures far larger than themselves. The walls of the pit were sheer, dug by hand. Cassie could make out the shovel marks from the tools that had been used. There would have been no escape for them if it hadn’t been for one fortunate twist of fate.
As the T-Rex had chased them it had knocked aside the trees, making them lean precariously over to one side. They hadn’t been so courteous as to fall into the hole for them, but the vines in their upper reaches hung low, down through the middle of the pit. They were in reach, should Cassie and Zoe be able to perform a trick worthy of a circus act. Currently, Zoe and Cassie stood facing the wall.
“I’m going to turn around now,” Zoe said.
She did so very slowly, making tiny shuffling movements. Cassie wobbled, waving her arms to keep balance. She leaned back against the dirt wall, focusing on the hanging vines. They were an imposing distance away. She reached out with one hand, keeping the other firmly on the wall, but she was nowhere near them.
“I’m going to take a step forward,” Zoe said.
“No,” Cassie said. “Don’t. I can’t do it.”
“You can do it,” Zoe said.
Sweat was already pouring down Zoe’s face, her body shaking under Cassie’s weight.
“I can’t,” Cassie said. “My balance isn’t good.”
“We’ll take it slow,” Zoe said. “Hey, relax. I’ll catch you if you fall. And we can try again.”
Cassie let out a deep breath.
“Okay,” she said.
“Ready?” Zoe said. “Here we go.”
She edged one foot forward, and then the other.
Cassie’s shoulders were still touching the dirt wall. She pushed herself off it onto her elbows, but standing up straight on the shoulders of a moving person was an impossible task.
“No!” Cassie said, leaning back. “I can’t! I’m never going to make it.”
“You can do this,” Zoe said. “You have to do it, otherwise we’re never going to get out of here.”
Cassie mumbled something to herself, something that sounded like a desperate plea.
“Wait,” she said. “I just had an idea. What if I kind of fall forward?”
“What?” Zoe said.
“You take a few steps forward,” Cassie said. “Then I’ll jump and grab the vine. You would only need to take a few steps.”
“You could fall and hurt yourself,” Zoe said.
“If I try and do it this way, by balancing, I’ll d
efinitely hurt myself,” Cassie said.
“Your father wouldn’t be happy with this,” Zoe said.
“Well, he’s not here, is he?” Cassie said. “Please. Let’s try it. It’s our only chance.”
“Okay,” Zoe said uncertainly. “Ready?”
“Go,” Cassie said.
Zoe took a deep breath, Cassie’s weight forcing the air from her lungs. She took a step. She could already feel Cassie leaning forward, faster than Zoe was going. Zoe took two more hesitant steps and then felt Cassie bend her knees, preparing to spring. Zoe began to fall, lacking the strength to hold Cassie any longer. Cassie’s shoes pushed against her, forcing her to the ground.
Cassie sailed through the air. It wasn’t an impressive jump, but it was an accurate one. Her fingers snared the vines. They wrapped around her forearm and then tightened, drawing taut. They caught her weight and swung her up in an arc.
“Yes!” Zoe said.
Cassie swung toward the edge of the pit. She reached for it with her foot, but didn’t quite swing far enough. The vines swung in the opposite direction and this time she reached for the opposite side, but was even farther from making it.
“Swing!” Zoe said. “Swing back and forth! Build momentum!”
Cassie leaned back and forced her weight down, pushing the swing toward its apex. The tree leaned over dangerously, the trunk creaking under Cassie’s swaying weight. No matter how hard she swung, Cassie couldn’t seem to make the vines swing all the way to the other side. They were too short.
“I can’t do it,” Cassie said.
“It’s okay,” Zoe said. “How about you try to climb up the tree instead?”
Cassie looked up. It was a long climb, and climbing had never been her strong suit. Instead, she concentrated on swinging. She swung back and forth two more times. The branch groaned ominously, and at the apex of the swing, Cassie threw herself from the vines, and toward the edge of the pit. There was a snap behind her as the tree branch broke.
She had mistimed her jump, leaping too soon. Her stomach hit the pit’s edge. She bounced off it. She began to slide back into the hole. Her hands scrabbled at the grass, twigs, and roots. Anything! She twisted her wrist, locking it tight. The roots caught, and she jolted to a stop. She waited a moment, catching her breath. Her legs dangled inside the pit.
She pulled herself up, one arm after the other, shaking. Her arms were burning, feeling like they were going to fall off.
“Are you all right up there?” Zoe said.
“I’m… I’m fine,” Cassie said, regaining her breath.
When she was able, she got to her feet. She wrapped one end of a vine around a tree and tossed the other into the pit. Zoe climbed up and joined her.
“Well done,” Zoe said, slapping her on the shoulder. “Now we just have to find Aaron and your father. I say we head back the way we came. I’m sure that’s what your father will be doing. If we don’t find them, we should head for the cliff face on the other side of the jungle like we originally planned. We’ll meet your father and Aaron there.”
But Cassie wasn’t paying attention.
“Uh, Zoe,” she said. “We’ve got company.”
Zoe turned to find a group of short human-like figures. They had downy hair from head to foot, matching their dark eyes. Their arms were long and muscular, meant for climbing. Their legs were bandy and bow-legged, more ape than man. But there was an unmistakable intelligence in their eyes.
“They must have made this trap,” Zoe said in a low voice.
“Do you think they’re friendly?” Cassie said, not taking her eyes off them.
“If they’re capable of advanced forethought like making traps they must be intelligent,” Zoe said. “They might be able to help us.”
One of the apemen approached them. He had a shard of metal protruding from his head. It was embedded at an angle, catching the light and winking at them, like a feather behind an ear of a Native American Indian. He had intelligent eyes, Zoe thought. They were a deep chestnut brown and ran over Zoe and Cassie with curiosity. In her mind, Zoe associated him as the leader.
The leader sniffed them, cautiously, and then prodded them with his long fingers. His skin was thick, dark and creased, like an ape’s, his fur dirty and tangled with leaves and twigs.
“Hello,” Zoe said.
The leader grunted. He took Zoe’s hand and ran a thick sausage-like finger over it. He pulled on Cassie’s arm to bring her down to his level. He looked closely at her face and eyes, fingers investigating her soft skin and long hair.
“Zoe…” Cassie said.
“It’s okay,” Zoe said. “Just let him explore you. It’s his way of saying hello.”
The leader did the same to Zoe, probing her. Then he turned to the other apemen and grunted at them. They stepped forward and poked and probed. Zoe smiled. She was interacting with their ancient ancestors, a dream amongst anthropologists.
Then the creatures grabbed their arms and legs, and lifted them off their feet. Zoe and Cassie lost their smiles.
“I thought you said they were friendly?” Cassie said.
“I’m new here too,” Zoe said. “How should I know?”
Zoe and Cassie screamed as the apemen carried them up a tree.
53
A SCREAM. A PAIR OF THEM. Bryan and Aaron’s ears pricked up. They ran toward them, vaulting over hedges and ducking under low boughs.
“Woah!” Bryan said, skidding to a halt.
He was perched on the edge of a deep square hole. He waved his arms to keep himself from falling in. Aaron came barreling through the undergrowth. He didn’t seem to notice the trap. Bryan grabbed Aaron’s T-shirt. He hung over the side, looking down into the pit. Bryan pulled him back. Aaron landed on his backside.
“Thanks,” he said.
“You’re welcome,” Bryan said.
“Do you think they fell into the trap?” Aaron said.
“I don’t know,” Bryan said. “Maybe.”
“They screamed,” Aaron said. “Where are they now?”
Bryan squinted at something on the other side of the trap.
“What’s that?” he said.
He headed around the trap and knelt down. There were footprints in the shape of shoe soles, clearly Zoe and Cassie’s boots. And surrounding them, dozens of bare feet.
“There must be a human tribe here somewhere,” Aaron said.
“A tribe?” Bryan said.
He thought back to the footprint he and Zoe had discovered beside the lake.
“You would have thought we’d have seen something of them though, wouldn’t you?” Aaron said.
Bryan wet his lips.
“Well, actually, we have,” he said. “Your mother and I didn’t want to worry you and Cassie, but at the lake we washed in yesterday we found a human-like footprint.”
Aaron came to a stop.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” he said.
“We didn’t want to scare you,” Bryan said.
Aaron frowned, shaking his head with obvious annoyance. Then he shrugged his shoulders. He smiled.
“You didn’t want to scare us, and we didn’t want to scare you about the dinosaurs,” he said. “I suppose we’re all just a bunch of scaredy cats.”
Bryan chuckled.
“I suppose we are,” he said. “But with dinosaurs running around, and acid lakes to contend with, I suppose we’ve got good reason to be.”
“Are these like the footprints you saw around the lake?” Aaron said.
“I think so,” Bryan said. “They must be. How many types of human could be here?”
They followed the prints, but they only led to a nearby tree.
“Where did they go?” Aaron said.
“I’d say they went up this tree,” Bryan said.
They both peered up it, expecting a treehouse or some other abode, but nothing was there.
“Now what?” Bryan said.
Aaron crouched down to poke at some fallen leaves and broke
n twigs.
“I think they carried them away,” he said.
“Carried them?” Bryan said. “Carried them where?”
“That’s what we have to go figure out,” Aaron said. “Come on.”
54
THEY TOOK OFF AT A JOG, following the trail of falling leaves. They stopped and went back on themselves several times until Aaron was certain they were heading in the right direction. To Bryan it looked like a random collection of foliage, but to Aaron they told a story.
There was a honk from their right, and when they went to look what it was, found a herd of grazing dinosaurs. Maybe it was the same group as before. They had their heads down, munching.
They pressed on, the jungle unspooling before them, winding around giant trees and brightly colored flowers. Just when Bryan was about to give up and say they should head back to the trap, Aaron pulled a bush apart.
Before them was a settlement, a large village of furry inhabitants. The caves were ordered in a geometric pattern. Small mouse-like holes ran along the bottom of the cliff, and above them, approximately ten feet higher, were more holes. It looked like a block of Swiss cheese. Figures moved in and out of the caves like ants on an anthill.
A good number of the females carried babies, more like chimps, in their arms, playing with them, feeding them. A group of males hammered at flint, making it sharp and pointy. Others affixed them to long straight shafts of wood that other apemen were shaving from tree trunks. Bryan recognized what he was looking at. A factory processing line. They were making weapons.
There was hooting and growling as a group of apemen entered the village.
Bryan’s heart rose into his throat. He recognized two of the figures immediately. They were being pushed along and cajoled by the village population. Bryan stood up, exposing himself to the apemen if they were to turn in his direction.
“Get down!” Aaron hissed.
“Your mother and Cassie need our help,” Bryan said.
“We’re not going to help them by getting ourselves captured!” Aaron said.