Neo Jurassic Smashwords 11-17-2014

by Carolyn McCray

  Before she completely lost it, Appie walked out of the cave and into the crisp morning air. The world looked fresh and new, as beautiful a canvas as her viewer. Only beyond that ridge lay hell on Earth.

  The others followed her out, heading toward the heart of the forest.

  “No,” Mattu said behind her, trying to shoo Ruby back into the cave.

  The ostrich completely ignored the powwaw, possibly the only member of the clan to be able to do so without grave consequences, and strutted toward Appie.

  “Go, girl. Stay with Tonka and Lev,” Appie encouraged.

  The ostrich ignored her too, nudging her hand for some grain.

  “You can’t come, girl,” Appie said stroking the silver neck. “You get to stay here.”

  Although Ruby didn’t seem to think that was a good thing. Appie might never have gotten away from the ostrich if Lik hadn’t put a rope around Ruby’s neck.

  For once he looked up and spoke clearly. “I’ll take good care of her.”

  Appie patted the older man on the shoulder. “Thank you, Lik.”

  Then it was time to go. Ruby strained at her rope, but Lik held onto her. Appie couldn’t look behind her. If she did, she feared she would lose her nerve. That she would either stay or allow the robots to follow, endangering the entire clan, even Lavla’s unborn babe.

  So Appie simply strode forward, taking on the mantle of responsibility once more.

  “Toffee,” Mattu whispered as they walked down the slope of the deer trail that lead away from the valley.

  Appie smiled. Yes, toffee. Something to look forward to and possibly so much more. She imagined the expression on the clan’s face when they returned. Arms loaded with necessities and luxuries. Soap. Lavla would die to have lavender soap. And Lik would greatly appreciate a cup of coffee.

  Such luxuries made her head swim. Best to focus on finding clean water. The radiation fallout from the nuclear strike had been sporadic. Some rivers and lakes were clean, others were contaminated. You couldn’t even trust rain water since the clouds might have passed over a radiation filled lake and absorbed its evaporated water.

  Yes, water over toffee. Any day.

  * * *

  Lavla watched Appie leave with a heavy heart, nearly as heavy as her belly. She patted Tonka, he seemed as heartbroken as she did at their leader’s departure.

  While by order of seniority, Lik was now the leader of the clan, it was she who clapped her hands.

  “We have our own journey to begin, no more loitering about,” she said, shooing everyone back into the cave. Lik could barely put two words together loud enough for anyone to hear. So the practical aspects of leadership fell to Lavla.

  The men began loading the larger pack onto Tonka.

  They needed to leave soon. The western sky was a grey roiling mass. A storm approached. Although it wasn’t cold, they were in for a downpour. Best to be clear of the valley and its river before that came to pass.

  The baby kicked and kicked again. He was an active one. Would he stay within her until they cross the mountains? She hoped so.

  Lavla knew the rumors that flew around the child’s father. Little did they know. He was someone no one would ever guess.

  Another reason she wished to be over the Rockies before the birth. Once the clan knew the father, she feared she might be banned from the clan. Far better to be on the other side of the mountain if that came to pass.

  A glint caught her eye. One of Appie’s slides had fallen from her pack. Lavla put it up to her eye. It was the gardens of Bouchart. One of Appie’s favorite. And Lavla could see why. The slides from the distant past proved that nature could be, perhaps not controlled, that kind of thinking had gotten their ancestors in some serious trouble. And not even tamed, but the gardens seemed, contained. Made safe.

  Imagine wandering though acres and acres of plants and not being terrified of a raptor attack or a Syn ambush.

  Lavla took the slide down from her eye and waved one of the younger boys over. Scrunch, named for the way he pursed his face when he ate something sour.

  “Take this to her,” Lavla said, shoving the boy in the direction Appie and the rest had gone. They were already over the slight ridge, heading to the forest.

  “How am I going to catch up with them?” Scrunch said. Lavla felt sorry for the boy. He was an orphan cared for by the Widow. That still didn’t explain why the boy wasn’t the bravest of the bunch.

  Lavla snapped her fingers and the metallic lion came over. “Take Lev, but come right back.”

  Not that she had to trust Scrunch as Lev would obey her to the letter.

  Lavla watched the two run from the cave on their task. The baby inside of her kicked again. It had to be a boy. No girl baby would put her through so much.

  Besides, she knew for a fact it was a boy, not that she could give the reason why, at least not until she got over the Rockies.

  * * *

  Appie stopped as Mattu held his hand up. “Did anyone hear that?”

  They weren’t even to the edge of the forest and already there was trouble. Had the Syns tracked them from the T. Rex?

  Then Lev came over the hill, carrying Scrunch.

  Was there trouble at the camp? Mattu stepped forward as Lev came to a stop. Scrunch handed her a thin film. One of her slides.

  “Lavla said to return this to you,” the boy said.

  Appie held the slide to her chest. It was one of her favorites. Leave it to Lavla to think of such a thing.

  “Tell her thank you,” Appie said.

  Scrunch went to respond, but Lev made a tight U-turn and ran off to camp.

  “I will!” Scrunch yelled as the metallic lion rushed them back to the cave.

  Everyone chuckled. Lavla must have ordered Lev to bring the boy back pronto.

  The surprise visit and sudden departure lightened everyone’s mood. It was no more a death march, but more a spirit of adventure. If there was a bunker within the Unclaimed Forest, they would find it.

  They had to.

  Mattu picked up the pace as they headed to the edge of the forest. The brambles were so thick it was nearly impossible to peer within the trees. Anything could be in there. And probably was.

  They entered the forest without hesitation though. It was just a forest and most of the predators were nocturnal. They should be able to make good time during the daylight without much harassment from the dinosaurs. Syns also avoided the forest so they should be free of molestation from them.

  The diurnal and nocturnal kind of lost their distinction in the dark forest. The sunlight couldn’t penetrate the thick tangle of branches overhead. Mattu walked without sound, although Appie could hear twigs snap under her feet. One day she might be the tracker that Mattu was.

  After what seemed like forever, traveling through a forest so devoid of features, you couldn’t tell one tree from another. Mattu stopped, knelt down and cleared away about six inches of debris away to find something hard.

  Pavement, Appie thought it was called. In the old world there were entire streets and highways made of the substance. Mattu’s lips widened into a smile. The rumors could be true.

  The pavement was cracked and uneven, but it was pavement. There used to be a road that ran through here. The rumor was that the bunker was near the old university. Imagine, having the time and safety to just sit around and study. How diligent the students must have been to have such a life.

  Mattu kicked the ground near where he dug. “It leads this way.”

  It felt like they had found that magical road in the Wizard of Oz. What had it been called? The yellow brick road. It had delivered the heroes to the wizard’s castle. Theirs wasn’t yellow, but would it lead them to the bunker?

  He checked every few feet to make sure there was pavement underfoot. They were making far better time than they had hoped. The rumors, which were looking more and more like the truth, were that the bunker was about two days hike within the forest. The old man who spoke of it could not get
the doors open and barely made his way out of the forest with dozens of bites all over his body, collapsing and dying before he could show anyone the bunker.

  He had been a metal prospector who ventured into the forbidden areas for scrap metal and other supplies that might not have been picked over.

  At their pace, following the road, they should be able to make the bunker by mid-day tomorrow.

  Hope surged through Appie. Could they really accomplish this seemingly impossible task in just three days?

  Holding the picture slide tightly, she prayed that her parents were watching over them.

  CHAPTER 3

  Durnag slowed as Robertum kneeled over, checking the ground. He brushed a stick over the thick mossy loom. Durnag did not really need the expert tracker to tell what had happened here.

  There was a cave not far off up the hill. The clan had fled from the T. Rex to this secondary camp. And due to the lack of screaming at the Syn’s presence, the clan had clearly moved on.

  “Let us get moving again,” Durnag stated.

  “In which direction?” Robertum asked.

  “The direction of the clan?”

  Robertum shook his head. “They split up. A small band without their robotics went in that direction,” the synthetic pointed to over the ridge toward a thick forest. “The rest of the clan is headed that way, more than likely trying to get over the mountains to winter in the east.”

  Durnag frowned. He hated to create such a human expression, but his makers had created him in man’s image and had given him human emotions, therefore, expressions. He was doomed to mimic humans for his entire existence.

  There was a task at hand though.

  Surely, Appalachia was with the smaller band.

  “Why would they head to into the Unclaimed Forest?” Durnag asked aloud. The humans were terrified of the place, and rightfully so. He would avoid that dinosaur-filled forest at all costs, as well. In the early days he had lost several good soldiers to dark places such as this.

  “There is a rumor of a cryo-bunker, in the woods” Robertum reported.

  That made far more sense. However, those places were figments of the human’s imagination. Early during the referendum, the council had scanned all the human records and located all of the bunkers, wiping out the frozen inhabitants and gutting the supplies. Even if the humans somehow survived the gauntlet of dinosaurs, all they would find in that forest would be an empty cement grave.

  Durnag nodded to the east. “We will follow the rest of the clan.”

  Robertum’s eyebrows raised. “You do not wish to cut off the head of the snake?”

  Durnag shook his head. “I will be perfectly happy with destroying the body. The head cannot survive without it either.”

  The synthetic before him nodded. “They are setting a fast pace with their robotics.”

  “We can match it,” Durnag stated, wishing to be in pursuit.

  Robertum’s eyebrow again went up as he glanced over his shoulder. There were several in their ranks without feet. Another with a shattered femoral shaft and still another that was blinded.

  “Perhaps we separate as well?” Robertum asked,

  Durnag was offended at such a thought. Each and every soldier had fought hard, to the death many a time for him. Besides, those injured soldiers wouldn’t stand a chance if they were ambushed by an Allosaurus, an even fiercer predator than the T. Rex and nearly twice as large.

  “We travel together.”

  Robertum shrugged. “Then I know not how we are going to catch them.”

  “We don’t have to. We will attack once they have settled and made camp to the east.”

  “If we follow that far we will be traveling through Utahraptor territory.”

  This did give Durnag pause. Utahraptors were very much like their little cousins the Velociraptors, however, they weighed nearly a ton. They were like death on steroids. While his unit had survived several encounters with the Utahraptor, each had ended in retreat. They had yet to kill an Utahraptor.

  There was no other path ahead, however. To track Appalachia into the forest was of equal risk with less reward. The clan had a female who was gravid, along with several other fertile females. The breeding had to be stopped.

  “East,” Durnag ordered.

  Robertum no longer fussed, he simply headed off after the clan.

  Perhaps this had been an excellent addition to the unit.

  * * *

  Appie stood motionless. It was difficult to tell this deep in the woods but it seemed the sun was dipping low in the sky.

  She looked to Mattu, the question clear on her face. Did you hear that?

  It was a stirring, a rustling of leaves, only ten times louder.

  Mattu nodded and knelt down. The rest of the tracking party followed suit.

  They huddled together to keep as low a profile as possible to any predator.

  Then the snap of a branch. Appie spun on her heel. That had come from behind them.

  Troodons, then. Raptors never would have been so clumsy. Unfortunately, it meant there were probably eight to ten Troodons in the area. They were small but made up for it by their sheer numbers.

  “We are surrounded, “Mattu whispered.

  How could that be? Appie did not doubt him, however between herself and Mattu they were the two best trackers of all the clans. But this was the Unclaimed Forest. There were so many dangers that you could not help but step into one of them.

  Mattu pointed to the north. They would make their break there. Troodons were excellent predators when it came to a single large prey. They attacked in force and with gusto. However against a group of smaller prey? If you could break through the ring and create enough distraction, you could send the pack of human-sized predators into disarray. For all their viciousness, they weren’t the bravest or most organized of dinosaurs.

  So Appie sat there on her heels, breathing in and out, waiting for the attack. She had her short spear gripped in her hands. The rest of the trackers held their weapons at the ready as well. It was six against ten. All-in-all, not too bad of odds. They had survived worse.

  The silence filled her ears. All of the forest’s creatures fell into a hush, the sure sign of an imminent attack. Only it didn’t come. With each moment that dragged on, Appie’s hands began to shake. Adrenaline needed a release and sitting here waiting was the worst.

  What were the Troodons waiting for?

  Then it happened, like a timer had gone off. Green dinosaur flesh burst through the brush, punctuated by gleaming white teeth.

  Only there weren’t ten of them. There were twenty or more.

  They had stumbled upon a mega-pack.

  Appie couldn’t worry about the number of them as she thrust and slashed. The first Troodon took a deep stabbing wound to the neck. He flailed back and forth, spraying hot blood on them.

  The second slash cut another’s jaw down to the bone. He pulled back, flesh hanging down, flapping in the air.

  Her trackers were equally effective, repulsing the initial attack without any major injury to them. Mattu burst up, his muscular thighs carrying him past Appie and between two Troodons who seemed too startled by the powwaw’s actions to attack.

  Appie jumped up and followed her powwaw, slicing as she ran, beating the Troodons back.

  It wasn’t enough though. A hunting cry went up and the dinosaurs gave chase. They couldn’t outrun them, Troodons were as fast as they were cruel.

  Old Man Grey cried out as one of the Troodons bit down on his arm. Chimmus turned, arcing her sword, plunging it into the dinosaur’s eye. The offending Troodon screamed, releasing Old Man Grey who stumbled forward. Appie grabbed him by his good arm and supported him.

  Savver swung his hammer in the air, knocking it into another Troodon’s face, shattering the bone, sending the predator reeling. Perhaps that would slow the pack.

  But there were just too many of them. And they seemed pretty hungry.

  She stumbled into Mattu as she fle
d. Why was he stopping? Then she looked over her shoulder. They had run into a hillside. There was nowhere to run. They might have survived if they had room to maneuver.

  The trackers were plastered in a line against the hillside, facing a wall of Troodons who were licking their lips.

  This was going to be a slaughter.

  One of the Troodons came up alongside Appie, tilting its head, apparently sizing her up for a meal. Appie raised her sword but knew how futile that would be. Troodons were tough. She tried to be brave as the dinosaur reared back onto its tail getting ready to attack.

  Suddenly, Ruby appeared from the forest, breaking through the line of Troodons. She was squawking, her wings out, fluttering them, making herself look twice her size. The line broke, confused, snapping at Ruby and at each other.

  Where the heck had she come from? She must have gotten away from the clan and followed them into the forest.

  Her silly, silly ostrich.

  Ruby set up in front of Appie, raking the ground with her claws.

  “Good girl,” Appie said, patting the robotic on the rump. Ruby swiveled her head around, batting those long eyelashes at her.

  But not even Ruby could keep the Troodons confused for long. Quickly, they regrouped into a line. They wanted lunch, darn it. Appie gulped. They had staved off the inevitable for as long as possible.

  Then a rustling from above and dozens of Jeholopterus poured over the side of the hillside, flying into the middle of the conflict. They were the size of cats with thin leather wings. The Jeholos emitted an ear-piercing scream. Appie threw her hands over her head to protect herself from the dino-bats’ long fangs.

  Luckily, the Jeholos seemed more interested in the Troodons. The first Jeholo sank its fangs into the lead Troodon’s neck. You could see its body arch as it sucked hard on the Troodon’s jugular vein. The dinosaur flailed trying to get the thing away from its neck but those tiny front arms weren’t getting the job done.

  The rest of the Jeholos descended in a cloud of fangs, attaching to anything that moved.

  For the most part, the trackers were spared. She had learned when she was a wee babe that humans were too hot-blooded for Jeholos. Not that they wouldn’t attack, but that they greatly preferred dinosaur’s cooler temperatures.