Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, places, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
NEO JURASSIC
An Off Our Meds Project/published by arrangement with the author
FIRST EDITION
Copyright 2014 by Carolyn McCray
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Any inquiries can be made to:
3524 South Star Lake Rd
Auburn, WA 98001
[email protected]
Neo-Jurassic: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller
**Warning this novel is a roller coaster ride filled with Indiana Jones-style action and young, in-peril characters similar to Hunger Games. Please do not purchase this book unless you are ready to buckle up and hang on for dear life!
Praise for Neo-Jurassic…
“The only thing I knew about this book was that it was going to have dinosaurs in it and it was going to be great! Ms. McCray did not disappoint! A book like no other it brings the past and future together and let's throw some humans together and you've got another great book to read! Dinosaur books are not exactly my favorite to read, but i found myself not wanting to put my kindle down until I found out what happened. Action through the whole book with a whopper of an ending! Never expected that! Can't wait to read the next book of this series.”
Candice
Amazon Reviewer
“Carolyn McCray has come up with another interesting story. Robots, dinosaurs and man all trying to survive on the same planet. Could it get any better? Can't wait for the sequel!”
Bjrcook
Amazon Reviewer
“I have no idea what kind of whacked-out imagination it takes to come up with a story line like this, but I wish I had one! McCray does a fabulous job drawing you into the story, making you believe some pretty unbelievable stuff! And her research is impeccable. A must read. I can't wait for the sequel!”
Peter M.
Amazon Review
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NEO-JURASSIC: The 1st full-length book of the post-apocalyptic thriller series, Our Future. Our Fault
CHAPTER 1
You probably should never try to out run a T. Rex, but hey, it was Tues-Wednesday so why not give it a try?
Appie dug her heels into the muddy ground, turning on a dime, lashing a hand out to catch the thin trunk of a sapling to make the sharp left turn she needed to save her life.
Slipping and sliding down a small embankment, Appie could hear the mighty roar of her opponent. He didn’t like it when prey slipped between his awkward little fingers.
The T. Rex didn’t have to grab any branches as he charged down the hill after her, knocking bushes and trees out of the way as if they were a child’s stick toys. Whereas she was crashing through the underbrush, protecting her face with her arms, taking a whipping on her extremities.
Finally she reached the clearing at the base of the hill. Appie sprinted across the lush grass, the sound of the T. Rex’s anger beating down on her. The ground underfoot shook with each of his heavy steps.
Dang, that thing was fast. She risked a glance over her shoulder. The T. Rex was so close that she could make out its pearly white teeth. So close that it took a swipe at her.
Appie leapt to the right, avoiding the gnashing teeth by only inches. She didn’t waste a single step as she landed, running at full speed, hurling herself toward a break in the hills that surrounded this small valley.
She could hear the T. Rex’s intake of breath just before he launched his fatal strike. Appie could imagine that he already tasted her flesh, relishing a nice appetizing afternoon snack.
With only a fraction of a breath in time, Appie rounded the corner as an enormous silver elephant charged through the breach. His metallic trunk rose up, trumpeting as loudly as the T. Rex roared.
The two hit at full speed. The elephant, Tonka, lowered his titanium tusks and rammed directly into the T. Rex’s chest. Unprepared, the T. Rex rocked back onto his tail, trying to bring his formidable teeth to bear, but this wasn’t Tonka’s first T. Rex mano-a-mano. The robotic elephant used his thick, pillar-like legs, pushing his tusks deep into the dinosaur’s chest bone.
The T. Rex’s mouth opened and closed, gasping in pain. But not even Tonka could finish off a T. Rex by himself. Already the dinosaur was swiping his tail back and forth, backing away. Once the T. Rex was free, those long teeth could penetrate even Tonka’s thick metal skin.
From the top of the ridge, Lev, their titanium lion leapt onto the T. Rex’s back, shredding his skin as he slid down his back, taking a huge yet strategic bite out of his tail. He’d bitten through the nerve bundle that supplied the tail muscle. The powerful tail suddenly went limp, throwing the T. Rex off balance.
Still, the monster wouldn’t go down.
Not until Mattu, his dark face striped in white, jumped from the ridge, landing on the T. Rex’s back. Appie’s dark mentor took a long sword and brought it across the dinosaur’s neck, slicing through both jugulars. Even T. Rexes bleed. The blood gushed down onto Tonka, staining the elephant’s shiny metal skin red.
Lev was gnashing his silver teeth against any flesh where he could find purchase.
Mattu rode the T. Rex down as the dinosaur faltered, stumbling to the ground. It was almost sad when the dinosaur tried to catch himself with those feeble little arms. Almost.
This T. Rex would feed her clan for the entire winter and given the chance, the T. Rex would have wiped out her village without a thought. So Appie didn’t feel too sympathetic.
With a great heave, the T. Rex finally fell over onto his side. Mattu jumped down beside Appie as the others of her clan ran out from cover to finish the T. Rex off and begin to harvest the meat, leather, and bone they would need to survive the winter.
Her mentor, her clan’s powwaw, patted her on the shoulder as he passed.
“Good hunting, Shawnee,” Mattu said, using the term to denote she was the clan leader.
“Not so much hunting as running,” Appie corrected him.
Mattu waved off her comment as he made his way to the T. Rex’s jaw and cut out one of its large teeth. Later he would burr a hole into the tooth and add it to his necklace. He had the most teeth of any powwaw she’d ever seen. Thirty-seven, now thirty-eight. At a gathering he could easily sell the necklace for enough sugar and flour to feed an entire clan for a year.
However, Appie knew he would never even consider bartering it, and the clan would never ask him to. He had earned those teeth. They were his and his alone. And he was still relatively young even though some snow was sprinkled amongst his dark strands. And lines etched his face that had not a dozen winters ago.
As the others did their work, Appie backed away and sat down on the thick grass. They had done it. Secured their food and shelter needs for the entire winter. It had taken months of planning and tracking, but they had done it.
Lavla waddled with her big belly over to sit next to Appie. Lavla was so near term that no one expected her to do much in helping with the harvesting of the T. Rex. If anything, they feared the excitement of hunt day might trigger her labor. Appie was glad to see Lavla sitting comfortably.
They still had some traveling to do before th
ey made their winter camp. It would be harder to traverse the dangerous wilderness and avoid the dinosaurs that lurked within the Mojave Forest with a squalling infant.
“I can’t believe it worked,” Lavla said breathlessly. “You have saved us, again, Shawnee.”
Appie had been leader of this clan from the tender age of twelve after her parents had been killed four years ago.
Mattu could have made a power play after her parents' death in Fort Mendocino, but he had instead supported her, physically against any challengers and spiritually while she learned to be a Shawnee.
Learning to be a leader she reminder herself. She couldn’t get cocky at sixteen.
Lavla put a hand on her belly. “Ah, he is so excited too, he is kicking non-stop.”
Appie smiled as she allowed Lavla to put her hand on her expanded midriff. The baby was quite active, kicking with one foot and then the other. No one knew the father of the child Lavla grew in her belly. None had pressed the woman since it was her business and in most ways no one cared as long as she added to their number.
There were many rumors that Mattu was the father. He had taken in Lavla since her husband was killed five summers ago. There were few other men in the clan left to ponder. Appie doubted that Lavla had taken the toothless Old Man Grey to her bed or the young Dolph. He barely had peach fuzz on his chin.
That only left Mattu, Salvve who was bonded to Popi, Tin who spent his time with his head bent to his newest project, and poor Lik who had only mumbled to himself since his wife and three children had been killed by a raptor ambush.
Not exactly a wide playing field.
Lavla leaned back taking in a deep breath. “I will be glad to have my body back soon.”
Appie stood and offered Lavla a hand up, but she declined. “I think I will stay here for another few minutes. The sun is delightful this afternoon, is it not?”
Glancing up at the large glowing orb, Appie guessed that Lavla was right. The brutal heat of the summer had passed as they edged into fall. They had learned the hard way that the harsher the summer, the worse the winter that followed would be.
For a moment, Appie allowed the feeling of accomplishment and safety to flow through her. Seldom did one get to bask in even a moment of calm. Their lives were normally filled with pain and fear, under constant threat from any number of enemies.
Appie allowed herself a little treat. She swung her pack off her back and dug down to the bottom. She found what her parents had called a “slide viewer.” She pulled it out and put it up to her eyes, facing the light of the sun.
She looked with wonder that never ceased at the sight of what was once Disneyland. There was a funny giant mouse, waving to her, standing in front of a beautiful castle. Appie clicked the viewer and then a large yellow dog was dancing in front of an old world steam train.
A smile spread across her face. Her parents had loved their heritage, gathering the largest memorabilia collection of all the clans. They had lost much during the attack and had to leave even more in their exodus to a better territory, but Appie had clung to a few such treasures.
Then happiness was replaced by bitterness. How had her ancestors cast all this away? They had a beautiful, easy life, yet they had tempted fate. Gotten greedy. Had thought themselves invulnerable.
Dinosaurs, really? Seriously? Had they lost their minds? And robots. It wasn’t like they hadn’t seen iRobot or the Terminator. Smart robots were just the stupidest idea ever.
Unlike Tonka who walked over, his trunk swaying from side-to-side, a chunk of metal missing at the tip. She would need to go out salvaging soon to find a replacement part they could melt onto the breach.
The tip of his trunk was so soft, a mixture of various metals to create this flexible appendage.
She couldn’t be mad anymore, especially not at robots.
Appie pushed her forehead into his trunk. “Thank you, great man.”
Tonka pushed back lightly, stroking her cheek with the tip of his trunk. He’d been with her family since the last days of the union. Appie’s great, great, great grandfather had stormed a robotic theme park and stolen nearly the entire African savannah set.
Appie put the viewer away as Ruby, their steel ostrich, strutted from behind the T. Rex, her head bobbing as she made her way over. The ostrich didn’t have maybe quite the same usefulness as Tonka and Lev, however Appie loved her nonetheless. Plus she helped entertain the toddlers and kept them from wandering off. If the little ones strayed from the edge of the camp, Ruby would peck their behinds until they came back to hearth and home.
Clucking to her ostrich, Ruby came over and nuzzled Appie’s pockets. Even though the metallic ostrich didn’t need to eat, that didn’t mean she didn’t like the taste of grain.
There was no waste in this simple treat, Appie thought as the ostrich picked small bits of oats from her hand. The grain passed through Ruby whole, unchanged. It was the children’s duty to run around after Ruby and pick up the grain again. The ultimate in recycling.
If only her ancestors had been so frugal with their resources, they might not be in the mess that they were now.
Appie sighed as she stroked Ruby’s smooth neck. Orwell certainly hadn’t seen this future, that was for sure. She watched as the others began the herculean task of butchering the T. Rex. Getting the skin off to cure for leather would take at least a day. Then the meat. Removing it? Cutting it into manageable chunks, drying it? They would be in this little valley for weeks. Then to pack it all up and head out to their winter camp across the Rockies? They might see the first snowfall before they headed out.
Young and old were helping. The smallest children mainly just used the T. Rex’s body as a jungle gym where as the eldest of them supervised the tasks at hand. She really shouldn’t dally here with Ruby even though in theory, her job was over. Acting as bait, Appie couldn’t stand by when so much work was left to be done.
Appie hoped that Lavla could hold the baby in until then.
“Shawnee, tell me one of your stories,” Lavla called from behind Appie, patting the earth next to her. “The baby would like to hear one.”
Lavla knew there wasn’t much that could distract Appie from a task except telling stories from the old world. She reveled in them.
“A happy one,” Lavla said, wagging her finger. “None of that Shakespeare.”
Appie had just the one. They’d had the disc back at the Fort. Happy Feet, a cute penguin story, should suit Lavla.
Then a scream from behind startled Ruby who took off toward the rest of the clan. Appie spun around the see Lavla crawling backwards, away from an attacker.
Syns. The robots that never died, although they looked worse for the wear. Their original synthetic skin long ago had either worn away, or more likely was torn off by its wearer. After the nuclear holocaust, many Syns peeled off their own skin so they wouldn’t look like humans.
Now they decorated their titanium skeletons with drawings and decorations. It was unnerving to see a Syn with a happy face painted on its backbone.
Appie grabbed a branch even though she knew it wouldn’t even scratch the metallic skeleton of the Syn. But it did startle the robot enough to allow Lik to get Lavla to safety.
Then another four Syns came over the ridge. Apparently, Appie and Mattu weren’t the only ones tracking and planning. Tonka charged over, lowering his massive head and gouging the lead Syn with his tusk, throwing it high in the air then taking a swipe at the next one.
“Retreat!” Mattu bellowed from behind her.
Appie spun around to find the rest of her clan scurrying to safety. She wanted to stand and fight. Too many times they had lost their hunt to the Syns. This time should be different.
Mattu, though, did not flinch. “Retreat,” he ordered.
While technically she was the Shawnee of the clan, not even she would refuse a direct order from Mattu.
She patted Tonka on the leg and even though he seemed to want to continue the fight, he bent his leg and a
llowed her to climb up onto his back. She squeezed her left leg and the large silver beast swung away from the fight, carrying her back to her clan.
Several children were riding Lev and even Ruby had a toddler on her back. Lavla was being carried between Mattu and Lik, as the entire clan fled the T. Rex kill. Luckily, these Syns didn’t give chase. They seemed to be content to take over.
Even though they didn’t need the meat, they did use the leather much as Appie’s clan had, for shelter and clothing. But it was really the large bones that they needed.
Metal, especially substantial whole pieces of metal, were rare to non-existent. In order to repair any damage to their metallic skeleton, they needed high density bone. And it didn’t get much more high density than a T. Rex’s thigh bone.
She looked over her shoulder to find the Syns swarming all over the kill. Her kill. Her clan’s kill. Her clan’s survival. How were they going to survive the winter without it? They didn’t have time before the first snowfall to track another T. Rex and find a perfect ambush like this one. They had overstayed the fall to risk taking this T. Rex. Now they were heading to their winter camp, late and empty handed.
Despair threatened Appie’s balance. Then she looked ahead. Her clan wasn’t giving up. They were going to need her to be strong. To be their Shawnee. She would find a way. She had to find a way.
Appie and Tonka pulled up alongside Mattu and Lik.
“Give her to us,” Appie suggested.
They all had to pause their flight to make the exchange. Then, Lavla was sitting behind Appie as Tonka moved into the forward position, guiding them all to their secondary camp just behind the curve of the valley wall.
Mattu trotted up alongside, effortlessly keeping up with Tonka.
Appie kept her voice low so only the powwaw could hear her. “We should have stood and fought.”
Mattu didn’t even look up at her. “And lose how many in the failed effort?”
She could feel her cheeks flush. Her hands formed fists against Tonka’s back.
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