Trapped in Time 1: The Time Takers

by Saxon Andrew

  Chapter Fifteen

  Andy and Carrie left the cave early and buckled into their gliders. They were wearing full camosuits and were only able to see each other because they had their skull coverings on. They cleared the walls and caught the morning breeze and lifted in a steady climb. Andy turned south and Carrie turned north. They were going to scout the other caves to see if they were going to be a danger to the community.

  • • •

  Linnae and four women left the cave and Maxus watched them move down the slope toward the forest to check on the crops and to post guards in the towers. He felt uneasy and didn’t know why; he listened and realized the forest was too quiet. He watched them cover half the distance to the forest and suddenly saw four strangers dressed in grey step out from the opening at the end of the walls walking toward the women. He yelled at Linnae to warn her but saw that she already recognized the danger.

  • • •

  Linnae saw the four men step out from behind the wall and one of them raised his hand toward her. She had an arrow notched in an instant and fired it; the man raising his hand was hit in the eye and he fell backwards. A red beam shot over the five women and Linnae had another arrow on the way in an instant. It hit another man in the throat and he fell but not before the other two fired their hand weapons at the women. Linnae saw the beam and it appeared to be moving in slow motion. She knew there was no avoiding it and that nothing would step in and save her this time. She felt an extreme sadness rush through her as her last thought was, “Oh Andy.” The beam blew through Linnae’s chest and she fell to the ground. Another woman was also hit and her head disappeared. The three survivors had arrows on the way and the two men were hit but not before they fired at the women and killed them. Ten more men dressed in grey came out from behind the wall and started running toward the cave’s entrance.

  • • •

  Maxus saw Linnae die and he yelled for help. Six Vikings came rushing forward and they rolled the stone wheel over the opening. One of the red beams flashed around the edge of the stone wheel and a Viking fell to the ground with his arm burned off. The wheel moved into place and Maxus ordered the defense team to the door. They set up at the end of the corridor and waited for the intruders to force an entrance.

  Reif said, “What was that red light?”

  Maxus shook his head, “I don’t know, but whatever it hits, dies.”

  Reif stared at the stone wheel, “It doesn’t appear to have done anything to the wheel.” Maxus looked up at the place the red beam had come through and the wheel didn’t appear to have been affected at all. Reif said, “What are we going to do?”

  “We stand no chance against those beams. We’ll wait for them to attempt a break through and we’ll fill the entrance with arrows. Get everyone set up.”

  Reif looked around, “Where’s Linnae?” Maxus looked at Reif and shook his head. Reif’s eyes showed his distress but he ran away to set up the defense.

  • • •

  Carrie turned north and felt something wet. She held the bar with one hand and reached for her water pouch and felt it was too light; it was empty. Darn it. She had to have water to stay in the air for any length of time. She thought about landing but decided it was too dangerous to try and go to the river in untamed lands. She turned around and headed back toward the community. She was only ten minutes of flight time from the community and she could get a new water pouch and be on her way quickly. She came over the cliff and saw the four men dressed in grey attack Linnae’s group. She lifted higher and quickly turned in time to see Linnae’s death. She was stunned; the men were using a hand weapon from her timeline; the red beam was unmistakable. She saw all four men were killed but then ten more stepped out from the wall and sprinted toward the cave. Carrie saw Maxus get the door closed and she knew the men would not be able to break through the stone wheel; the beams only harmed living tissues. She continued to turn circles overhead and she saw the ten men talking to each other. Suddenly, one of them turned and ran down the slope as the other nine spread out around the cave’s entrance. They were sending a runner for reinforcements.

  Carrie watched the runner move around the wall and jog into the clearing running along the cliff wall. He watched the forest to the left and kept his weapon in his right hand. Carrie watched him jog two hundred yards and start walking quickly. She decided he had to be stopped. She brought the glider down at a high speed and leveled off four feet off the ground. She moved to the side of the runner and just before she drew even with him she activated the cutter on the end of the right wing. The runner must have heard something because he looked over his shoulder. He didn’t see the cutter until it was two feet from him and he had no time to react. The cutter sliced through him at chest level and the two parts of his body fell away from each other.

  Carrie brought the glider to a halt and she quickly unbuckled her harness. She ran back to the dead runner and picked up the hand weapon. She saw an Allosaurus stick its head out of the tree line and she blew her whistle. It disappeared in an instant. She buckled back into the harness and ran down the clearing. She lifted her feet, turned toward the forest, and lifted twenty feet off the ground in an instant. She rode the thermal higher and headed toward the cliff wall where the updraft blew her three thousand feet in two minutes. She turned south and continued to climb. She’d climb and dive to increase her speed. She had to catch Andy. She had no idea what to do. She decided he couldn’t be told about Linnae until later. She knew he was going to be devastated. She searched the skies to the south and hoped to find him quickly. She was at least fifty pounds lighter and her speed would be greater. Forty minutes later, she saw him off in the distance ahead. Thank God he was taking his time.

  • • •

  Andy slowly rode the thermal higher into the sky and was enjoying the freedom of flying over this beautiful but dangerous world. As he spiraled higher he saw something moving toward him from the north. It wasn’t a Pteranodon; it had a different shape. As he continued to spiral, he saw it was Carrie. What was she doing following him? He turned and came out of his spiral and glided toward her. Carrie came flying in at high speed and did a sharp turn to bleed of speed and moved up beside him. Andy yelled, “What’s wrong?”

  “The community is under attack.”

  Andy’s eyes narrowed, “By who!?!”

  “It has to be from the cave to the north. They’re using a weapon from my time.”

  “What kind of weapon?”

  Carrie took the hand beam out of her pocket and fired it toward the ground. The red beam shot out and Andy saw it dissipate before it could the ground. But he saw it had gone at least a hundred yards before it did. Carrie yelled, “This beam will kill any living organism it hits. They can’t use it to break through the stone wheel. Nine men have the community trapped inside the cave. They sent a runner to bring others but I killed him.”

  Andy knew the hand beam had a much longer range than a bow and arrow. How was he going to kill those men without being killed as well? He yelled, “Can that thing be fired continuously?”

  “No, there is a ten second delay between shots.”

  Carrie saw a large Pteranodon flying toward them and she lifted the hand beam and fired at it. Andy watched the beam hit the giant reptile and a four foot hole was blown through its body. It fell out of the sky and hit the forest far below. The only way to kill those intruders was to have too many targets for them to hit. Andy yelled, “Is the gate at the end of the walls open?”

  “Yes, it is!”

  “Carrie, I want you to fly a mile north of the community and watch for me to swoop down at the forest.”

  “What?”

  Andy yelled louder, “Fly a mile north of the community and watch for me to swoop down on the forest a mile to the south. Blow your whistle and make a circle. I want you to stampede any dinosaur in the forest toward the community. I’ll do the same from the south and hopefully they’ll rush into the gates to escape.”

  Carrie was amaze
d at the idea; but if enough carnivores flooded into the community’s walls…it just might work. The attackers couldn’t kill them fast enough. Carrie lifted higher and dove to pick up speed. She flew quickly ahead and Andy suddenly realized he hadn’t asked if anyone was hurt. Well, he’d find out later. He rose and began flying quickly north.

  • • •

  Semmek sat to the side of the cave entrance and tried to let his anger go. That stupid Gesseg had to go and show his presence too soon. Now his team was dead and the cave was warned about their presence. If they could have gotten inside…well, too late now. His attempt to talk to the inhabitants had failed. He looked over at the four dead men and saw the arrows sticking in them. Maybe going into that cave would have been a bad idea. He was going to need a cutter to get through that stone wheel. He looked over at Jarvey and saw he had a cutter on his belt but he wasn’t going to go into a cave that was warned. He leaned against a stone and hoped Pattinson would arrive soon with additional support.

  Jarvey looked at Semmek, “What’s that noise?”

  “What noise?”

  “Listen.”

  Semmek listened carefully and could hear the roars of carnivores in the distance. “Looks like they’re chasing a prey or something.” Semmek continued to listen and the roars grew louder…and closer. He looked down at the end of the walls close to the river and saw a large number of herbivores run past the opening. He stood up and saw that sprinkled among the herbivores were Raptors. He suddenly heard loud roars coming from the opposite direction and dinosaurs were passing each other moving in opposite directions. Suddenly, he realized the gates to the walls were open. He yelled, “GO AND CLOSE THE GATES!” Just as a massive wave of dinosaurs rushed into the clearing between the walls. He lifted his hand beam and fired at a huge duckbill running directly at him and it fell in a heap. Four Raptors jumped over the duckbill and he killed the first one but the two of them hit him and ripped his chest apart with their foot long hooked claws as they ran over him. All nine of the men were trampled or torn apart in a few moments.

  • • •

  Carrie flew in next to the cliff and started blowing her whistle. The dinosaurs that had rushed into the walls suddenly turned and ran out. Several of the smaller reptiles were trampled trying to get out of the gateway. Carrie landed the glider and rushed over to where Linnae and the four women were killed. Nothing remained. She looked at the sand and saw that the attackers had burned the bodies with their hand beams; the heat had fused the sand under the place where their bodies had been. Carrie pulled off her skull cap and fell to her knees and started weeping. Andy arrived a minute later, saw Carrie, and felt something hollow in his chest. He walked over to where she was and saw five bows; one of them was Linnae’s short bow. He fell to the ground and put his head between his hands and screamed.

  Carrie crawled over and said over and over, “I’m sorry; I couldn’t tell you; please forgive me.” Andy shook his head and screamed his misery.

  • • •

  Maxus heard the roars outside and knew something had happened. He ordered the stone rolled back and he saw Andy and Carrie in the middle of the clearing. He jumped out of the entrance and sprinted to his close friend. He lifted him over his shoulder and carried him back to the cave as he screamed his anguish. Arashi and Togawa carried Carrie back to the cave. The community was in mourning and they knew they had lost their heart to the attackers.

  • • •

  A week passed and Andy sat in the cave entrance staring out at the forest. He had said nothing and no one could break through his thousand yard stare. It was as if he was no longer present. Maxus and Joshua tried everything to get him to respond and nothing worked. Carrie stayed in her room and wept; she wasn’t in much better shape than Andy. The community had funerals for the lost members and Andy did not attend.

  Maxus sat in front of Andy speaking to him. He was not giving up on Andy and he yelled at anyone that tried to get him to leave. Maxus shook his head, “You don’t know how much we need you. You have saved us from ourselves and our enemies. I know how much you loved her but we love you, too. Please come back to us. We need your wisdom.” Andy continued to stare straight ahead and Maxus blew out a breath and began to wonder if there was no hope. Suddenly, Maxus was pushed roughly to the side as Anna put her head in Andy’s lap. Maxus was stunned at the sudden appearance of the large dinosaur and he scrambled to his feet. He heard a low groaning sound coming from Anna and then…Andy raised his hand and rubbed her on the head. Maxus heard, “I’ve missed you, girl.” Maxus waited for ten minutes and Andy finally looked up at Maxus, “How long?”

  “Ten days.”

  Andy looked back at Anna and said, “Give me a few moments.” Maxus stood and walked away and prayed he wouldn’t leave again. Andy rubbed Anna’s head and quietly said, “I thought there was nothing but death here…you’ve shown me there’s more. Linnae must have sent you to me; nothing else would have brought me back.” Andy put his head on Anna’s large belly and closed his eyes.

  Maxus watched them and knew Andy had fallen asleep. His eyes had remained open the entire time since Linnae’s death. He spent the rest of the day enforcing silence around the groaning dinosaur and Andy. The next morning, Andy opened his eyes and said, “Bring Carrie here.”

  Maxus rushed into the cave and went into Carrie’s room and found her in a fetal position. He picked her up off the floor and she yelled, “Leave me alone!”

  “Andy wants to speak with you.”

  Carrie stopped struggling and allowed Maxus to carry her out to the cave entrance. He put her down next to Andy and she fell back against Anna. Andy looked at her and shook his head, “You did the right thing not telling me.”

  “Andy..I…”

  Andy put his finger over her lips, “You saw what happened to me when I found out?” Carrie nodded. “I would have been useless; the community would have been trapped and who knows what would have happened. You were wise not to tell me.”

  Carrie nodded and felt her tears, “I miss her so much.”

  Andy reached over and pulled Carrie into his arms, “We both do; but now we have things we have to do and I need you fully invested in fighting for our survival.” Carrie looked at Andy as he said, “There were some of those beam weapons in your previous cave, wasn’t there?” Carrie stared into Andy’s eyes and then lowered her head as she nodded. “I suspect you never wanted to see them used against anyone ever again.”

  Carrie’s voice was a sneer, “They’re the devil’s tools. I’ve seen so many die by red beams; I just couldn’t allow them into this new world.” Carrie paused and said, “In my former time, life was a constant struggle to stay alive; food was limited and nothing would grow in the nuclear wastelands. The hand beams would reach out and snuff out life faster than you can imagine. My mother and father both died trying to find food to feed me and my brothers. At the end, I was the only one in my family left alive. I was brought here just before a red beam hit me. The shooter was after the meager food I had been able to find in the rubble of my city. The only bond between those that lived after the holocaust was family. Love was forgotten and humans looked at each other as adversaries for what little there was to eat. Romance became rape and the killing of the victim to remove another mouth to feed.”

  “But the beams are here now.” Carrie nodded. “We’re going back to your former cave to collect those weapons.” Andy stared into Carrie’s eyes, “You’re going to open the door for us to get them.” Carrie looked up as Andy said, “Death by a hunting arrow is just as bad as that beam; but in this world we now inhabit, we have to do whatever it takes to survive. Do you understand that now?”

  “I do.”

  Andy looked up at Maxus, “Gather all the leaders, now.”

  Maxus rushed into the cave and in less than five minutes, all the team leaders were present. Andy looked at the Indians, “Harvey, I expect there will be another group of attackers coming from the cave north of here shortly. I need the scouts
to fan out in front of them and slow them down. Use your whistles to stampede the dinosaurs if you need, but don’t allow them to get here for the next six days. Do you need more archers?”

  “What are you going to be doing?”

  “I’m moving a force to Carrie’s former cave and either get their permission to remove some weapons or kill everyone there and take them.”

  Carrie shook her head, “How do you know they’re still there?”

  “I don’t believe the Time Takers would take the time to empty a room; they might have someone else from your time sent there. They’ll just not allow anyone to open the room unless they’re from your time.” Carrie tilted her head and nodded.

  Harvey said, “I’ll take fifty women with me along with some of the former Outsiders. The attackers won’t see us in our camosuits and we’ll hit and run. We’ll hold them off as long as possible.”

  Andy looked at Maranda, “Do you think some of the women that came here from that cave might want to go back?”

  Miranda smiled, “We welcome the opportunity.”

  Andy turned to Togawa, “I’ll be taking Arashi with me but I’ll need the Samurai and Vikings to stay here and defend the community. Harvey, I’ll need you to keep them informed on your progress at holding them off so they can plan a defense if the attackers get by you. The Romans will go with me.”

  Togawa nodded, “We work better individually; the Romans are a force that can withstand a charge.”

  “Carrie, I need you overhead in a glider letting us know when we should go down to the clearing. We’ll work out a signal system with the cutters so you can let us know what we’re facing. I want everyone in camosuits and we’ll try to take what we want with as little loss of life as possible.”

  Maxus looked at Andy, “What happens if you get the weapons?”

  “We will kill every living being in that cave that sent the attackers here.”

  Maxus saw the menace in Andy’s eyes and knew something had died with Linnae. “I only ask that I be present when that happens.”