by Chris Hechtl
A test of one of them worked out quite well. It fell over backwards, but it did direct the blast in the direction they wanted. He showed Walter, Eliza and the others how to make the mines, then turned to work on the next project with Quinn.
Cookie had long agitated for the smoker as well as a better cooking stove. Quinn had tried to improvise a box stove out of an aluminum box, but it hadn't held up well. Roy had them brace the underside to handle the heat, then worked on the design a bit. He had Allen scavenge duct work from the aircraft. These and a couple aluminum pieces bent into collars formed a hood and a pipe for a chimney, directing the smoke from the cooking area to a small chamber nearby that would be used as a smoke room.
Cookie was so happy she hugged him. “Now, if you can just make something so I can bake in it!” she said. He opened his mouth to say something, but she popped a piece of fruit in. “Chew,” she said, as she walked off.
He ate the sweet tasting fruit thoughtfully.
~~~~~O~~~~~
Eliza and Barry, the resident teenage love birds, decided to go pick berries and get some quiet time together after the Roberts’s snide comments from the day before. Since the professor was out and about and they were finished with their chores, Barry talked Eliza into some alone time together. She'd giggled and agreed.
There was no place to do it in camp; everyone could see and she wasn't that forward though. Barry had suggested a picnic, and she'd reluctantly agreed. They had taken a basket and some weapons as insurance.
Barry had been incredibly jealous of Eliza's attention towards the professor. Eliza had to admit she liked the jealousy; it put Barry off balance and made him very attentive to her and her needs. With so many girls around and not a lot of guys, there was a bit of a competition going around for the choice specimen. The professor was a catch, but he was so wrapped up in one project or another…and he stank so much half the time that no one had landed him yet.
She had to admit she'd thought about it; after all, she'd seen the guy with his shirt off. He was built, hunky but was definitely an absent minded professor! She shook her head ruefully.
Near sunset they wandered too far from camp to get some privacy, playfully playing tag.
They got a brief warning of being stalked when Barry caught a giggling Eliza and then realized the surrounding area had gone far too quiet. “Shh…” he told her. She struggled, trying to kiss him but he held fast, looking about. She caught his sudden tension and frowned, the game forgotten.
“What is it?” she asked softly.
“Something's wrong,” he murmured. He looked about. “I don't like it,” he said.
“Barry, if you are just saying that,” she growled. He shook his head. She paled a little. “We need to get back to camp then,” she urged.
“Yeah,” he said quietly, letting her go. “Let's do that. If we can find it,” he said. She pointed to the moss on a tree, then oriented on it. They had headed north out of the defile, so they reversed it. She looked around, but didn't see anything. “I don't like this,” Barry said, taking her hand and picking up their pace.
She bit her lip, but kept going, trying to pick their way through the woods. It was tough, a woods can be thick and almost impassible in some places. The direct route back to camp was clogged with ferns and bushes, blocking their way. The footing was unsure too. They'd wandered off the main trail back to the defile she realized. Too far off. She wasn't sure if they were going in the right direction.
But just as the fear initially set in it was replaced by terror when a familiar caw sounded. Barry looked over his shoulder and swore. “Run,” he breathed, voicing his fear.
Eliza saw the Raptors at the same time he did and felt piss dribble on her thighs. She scrambled to move faster. Terror clawed at her throat as she saw animals out of the corners of her eyes flanking them. The Raptors were faster than them, keeping up easily, almost effortlessly.
They were attacked by pseudo raptors as they ran back to the camp. “Keep going!” Barry yelled, turning back. “Don't look back!” he snarled, yelling. The boy turned, and tried to use a club to fend the animals off as the girl ran. His valiant effort got himself killed as he was flanked and attacked from behind. The girl looked over her shoulder to see her beau go down and cried out. She tripped and fell in a scream as a raptor lunged towards her. She kicked at the animal, screaming and trying to fend it off. She threw the basket at her, but it effortlessly dodged the missile. It tried to circle around again, then gathered itself to jump. She tried to roll just as it leapt in the air, only to be speared by Roy as he arrived on the scene.
Roy had snuck out through the defile to go to the cave. On his way home, he had heard the screams and set into a trot and then a run to investigate. “Get up!” he snarled at the girl. “Move!” he said, trying to shake the feebly kicking Raptor off the end of his spear. He reached in with a foot to step on it and pull the spear out. It bit him weakly on the foot, the teeth going through the leather easily.
He stepped back with a swear just in time as the other animals that weren't feeding on the boy closed in. He fought off the other two raptors but was clawed and injured in the process.
The girl was hysterical, and her screams brought a party of people led by a grim Ashley Simmons. Eliza dived into their ranks, crying hysterically. Klinger and the skipper came up behind them with the reserves, doc along with them.
The armed group charged out of the gate included Susan and Mrs. Roberts, a surprise to Roy. Catrina Roberts took one look at the two and immediately berated Roy in a shrill voice for endangering the teenager.
“Hang on a minute,” Roy said tiredly, not really in the mood for that crap. “It's not what it looks like,” he said.
“A likely story!” she snarled and put a hand up. “We've heard that one before remember? Save your lies; we don't want to hear it. We all know you've been sneaking around, now we know why! Honestly!” She said, voice dripping with scorn as she threw up her hands in disgust.
“Barry's dead,” Eliza wailed, clutching at her arm. “Raptors got him,” she said shaking.
When the group found out the boy was dead, he tried to explain as Catrina gasped. She walked up to him and slapped him, eyes flashing. Roy reared back in surprise. The hit sent a second surge of adrenaline through his system, chasing the wisps of exhaustion briefly out of his body.
“You killed him, you bastard! For what? A bunch of bird shit?” The woman raged, tears running down his face. “That sweet innocent boy!”
Roy shook his head, looking away from her tear-streaked face. But all he saw was accusing eyes around him. Even Klinger, Quinn and the skipper turned their backs on him, clearly uncomfortable and not willing to listen to his report. Doc shook her head as she comforted the girl, one arm over his shoulders.
The others assumed he was to blame, and it started to turn ugly. He feared a lynch mob so he turned and walked away when they shunned him. He felt their angry eyes on his shoulders as he walked stiffly away. He caught a look of triumph from Catrina as he left. That disgusted him.
Roy closed his eyes and decided it was high time he left if they felt that way. He realized he wasn't thinking right but didn't care. He checked his wounds and then bandaged them. Then he went to his shelter. He had work to do and not a lot of time to do it in.
~~~~~O~~~~~
Later at the camp the girl came out of her shock with the doc and nurse Dask, crying in the nurse's arms. “You need to eat,” doc said in sympathy, as she finished bandaging the girl's arm. The feet were okay, a little cut up, but she'd heal in time as long as they were kept clean. Doc was worried about the bacteria in the saliva of the Raptors but didn't voice her concern. The girl had enough on her mind as it was.
“Always with the eating,” Eliza said, chuckling wearily. “I'm not hungry,” she said, shivering.
“Well, come by the fire then,” doc said. Eliza nodded. She came out to the campfire and overheard the Roberts smearing the missing professor. “He was stupid. We
don't need his kind here, to endanger children! He got one of them killed! He doesn't belong here!” Catrina said, practically spitting.
Eliza turned and rounded on them, coming to his defense, "That was not how it happened!"
“Then what did happen?” Gunny Usher asked gently. He knew the girl needed to debrief, and they needed to get the story straight.
She nodded to him, right hand rubbing her bandaged left arm. Haltingly, her story poured out. She told them what happened, how they had been looking for some privacy and had lowered their guard as they had played. “It was stupid; Barry and I should have known better. But…” she shook her head and cried softly, leaning into Jane's arms.
Jane dashed her own tears and cradled the girl. The others looked on in sympathy.
Gunny Usher sighed. “Hell of a way to learn that lesson,” he said quietly. A few people nodded. When Eliza had collected herself again, she asked if he was okay; the doc looked to her. She said he got bitten and clawed.
“Shit,” Klinger muttered. “Where is he?” He demanded, looking at the others. Some shrugged; others looked away.
“Not here. He didn't come back into camp,” Allen said. “I…I think he went off when we…when we closed ranks on him,” he said, sounding thoroughly disgusted with himself.
Alarmed Klinger tried to radio him, then a party formed up to search for him. “Check his shelter,” Klinger ordered curtly. He eyed Catrina. “So much for jumping to conclusions,” he snarled at her. Shawn rose to his wife's defense, but the corporal's snapping eyes made him hesitate. “Next time, get all the facts or keep your trap shut, bitch,” Klinger growled. He turned to Allen as the man came over at a trot. “Find him?”
Allen shook his head. “No, he's not there. Most of his gear is gone too,” Allen reported.
Walter wheezed that he came in and got his gear, he was "walking funny" and was favoring one arm. Klinger wanted to form a search party but the scream of a raptor outside the walls made him reconsider going out at night. Swearing, they set up a double guard. No one would sleep that night.
“Here, sit down, Walter,” doc urged, indicating a nearby rock. “You look about done in,” she said.
“Stress,” Walter gasped, hand over his heart. Doc checked Walter over, starting with his pulse. The old man's lips were blue. “I ran out of my heart meds,” Walter admitted through clenched teeth.
“Pain?” doc asked, searching his face as he clenched his fists.
He nodded. “Radiating down both arms,” he gasped.
“Well, from the sound of it, the stress has brought on a mild heart attack,” doc said, sounding worried. She used her stethoscope to check him.
“I'd hoped we could have refined some nitroglycerin,” Walter gasped out.
“Try to relax, don't talk,” doc said. She waved Jane Dask over and murmured to her. After a moment a couple hefty guys including Allen showed up. Together they carried the protesting old man to the hospital shelters.
The girls were upset about that turn of events when they saw Walter being carried. “Go, check in on him, but don't stress him. Don't cry. He's a tough old bird, so keep him comfortable,” doc said. Eliza nodded, biting her lip.
“Is he going to…to be okay, Doc?” Chloe asked.
Doc sighed. “I'm out of Advil; I used the last with the injured some time ago. It would help,” she said. “But, we'll have to keep our fingers crossed and do our best.” The girls nodded. “He's too ornery to die so easily.”
~~~~~O~~~~~
At day break they were up and Klinger lead a search party. They found the scattered remains of the boy, really just tattered bits of clothes and a shoe. The damn Raptors had torn him apart, then hauled off the bones to devour later. He shook his head.
“Think he's dead?” Allen asked. “I mean…to survive out here at night?”
“If I know the professor, he's okay. He's holed up somewhere,” Klinger said. Allen nodded. “The problem is where? And did he leave a trail for predators to follow?”
“We've got to find him before they do,” Allen vowed. Klinger nodded.
On a hunch he found the stream and then followed it to the waterfall. “He said it's around here somewhere,” Klinger muttered.
“What is?”
“A cave he was going on about. A big one,” Klinger said. “Ah, is that it?” he asked, pointing to a shadow behind the waterfall.
They traced their way along a path. Allen became excited when he noted signs of recent activity. Klinger, however, was wary, treating it as a potential hostile environment. He went in, ready for battle.
Inside they found bamboo and piles of gear, along with the wounded professor who had apparently speared a giant centipede but had been too weak to get the thing off the tip of his lance. The paramedic knelt at his side to get to work while Klinger took the lance and shook off the dead insect. The others formed a perimeter.
~~~~~O~~~~~
At camp the fishers spotted Raptors approaching the seal colony and retreated. The skipper didn't want to be cut off on the rocky headland with nowhere to retreat but into the unforgiving sea.
The seals had fat pups, and the air filled with the screams and bellows of animals in distress as they recognized the predators scent.
Many of the adults and juveniles dove into the frothing sea, only to be chewed up by the predators waiting there beyond the shallows. Captain Grumby swore quietly and pulled his team back. He looked back to see a raptor look up at them, staring at them with gore covered maw…He shivered. “Back to camp; there is nothing here,” he said fearfully, urging his people on.
“Don't run,” Patty warned. “Predators are attracted by something running away. Try to stay calm and retreat,” she urged under her breath.
“Easier said than done, miss,” the skipper said, looking about ready to piss himself.
They felt relief as they got back to the dubious safety of the camp walls, just in time to hear the radio report. The search party radioed that they had found Roy in the cave, wounded but alive. The fisherman arrived to hear that and smiled grimly. “Good to hear,” he said.
“Klinger, I think it's high time we beat feet out of here,” he said loudly as the other fishers told people in camp about the Raptors. Consternation and concern turned murmurs into babbles of fear.
Captain Grumby brushed aside Roberts and grabbed the microphone. He reported to Klinger about the raptors attack.
“Hell, you know it was only a matter of time before they come here,” a hunter said in disgust. “This area is an all you can eat buffet,” he said. “And so are we.”
Klinger nodded in grim concern, rubbing his jaw. He wasn't sure what to do or say though. “I'll get back to you,” he said and signed off.
One of the hunters moved out deeper into the cave to see where the soft turquoise light was coming from. He was amazed at the geode he found, a giant crystal was embedded in the rock ceiling in a large open cell. Parts of its rock shell had been chipped away so that more crystal and therefore light could be seen. It lit the chamber with an eerie light, quite beautiful. “Hey, you gotta see this!” he called over his shoulder. There was a commotion as Klinger and others came to see.
“Wow,” a few guys said, whistling in appreciation. “Some rock!”
“The crystal must be exposed to the surface outside, because it is shining with light, lighting the cavern,” Allen said thoughtfully.
“Yeah, but there are pests,” a hunter said. He speared a centipede that had been in the shadows, then tossed it to the side and looked around. He tried to kill a scorpion with two tails but it was too fast for him. But when it dodged, an armadillo with six legs pounced on it. The guy was about to spear it but Klinger stopped him. “Why not?” The guy said.
“Leave it alone. It's doing our job for us,” Klinger said, remembering some things about the food chain. “Let it be.”
“Fine,” the guy said, hefting the spear and moving off.
~~~~~O~~~~~
“The profess
or has lost a lot of blood but his own first aide hopefully kept the threat of infection down. He is not ready to be moved, however,” the paramedic reported.
“Why the hell not? He got here on his own steam didn't he?”
“Yeah, but I'd like him to rest. He needs it,” the paramedic said stubbornly. “We could use Bess here,” indicating his wife.
“Is he that bad?” Klinger asked.
The paramedic frowned. “The bleeding has stopped; he irrigated the wounds. Bites can fester though; there is all sorts of nasty bacteria in saliva. He sewed up the claw mark on his arm with thread, the same with his arm,” Fred reported.
Klinger winced. He'd had to do something like that once in Afghanistan…He shook his head.
“I think we should stay,” Fred said firmly. “It's what we've needed. With the Raptors…”
Klinger turned to look at the single opening then around to the others. After a moment he returned to the Paramedic. He searched his eyes and then agreed with a nod.
“The rest of you, start looking at this place defensively. I'll be with you in a minute,” Klinger said. He made a call to the camp, telling them to start packing up to move.
“Why? What the hell is going on now?” Jimmy, one of the teens demanded.
“Just tell them to get packing, I'll be there to explain in a bit,” Klinger said and then signed off. He realized he'd have to be there to keep order in the evacuation.
While exploring one of the guards found an alternator from one of the engines of the plane, as well as a crude drawing in chalk of a water turbine. He was impressed, not just with the sketch, but also with the idea of lugging the damn thing all the way to the waterfall, a good two, maybe three miles inland. “Damn impressive man,” he said, shooting a look of approval towards the sleeping professor.
“What else do you have?” Allen asked. They looked around and found other drawings on the cave walls, as well as piles of slate and bark paper with writing. Klinger nodded to the crude map drawn on the wall, with notations on where to put various things. He snorted at a few of the sayings on the wall, like Murphy's laws of war and E=mc2.