For a moment, he was distracted from his girl troubles as Mattu closed and locked the bunker door then got into his truck and led the procession east again.
The truck rumbled on as if Chimmus’ hand wasn’t wandering up his leg. Drake clamped his hand over Chimmus’ perhaps a bit too hard, but come on, there wasn’t much more leg to go. He gave her hand a squeeze so that she didn’t take it too harshly then moved her hand back to her own leg.
That was the plan at least however it didn’t go so well. Chimmus refused to let his hand go and then proceeded, to rub his hand up and down her leg.
Sweat broke out on his brow and he knew that his cheeks were a bright crimson red. Drake tried to tug his hand away, but that only seemed to encourage the girl.
Back at school, he’d never even made it to second base and here he was on the verge of making it a triple without ever swinging the bat. And in the truck no less with Appie right there. This could not be happening.
“Oh no,” Appie groaned. At first Drake thought it was about Chimmus and he, then he realized Appie was staring out the window.
The skies still looked clear except over the mountain where it looked like black clouds were rolling in. Only clouds didn’t roll east to west and those weren’t clouds.
As Chimmus hand dropped away, Drake had never been so glad to see a Quetz in his life.
Then the flock spread out, blocking the sun with their huge black wings. This wasn’t the Birds. This was like getting attacked by flying wolves.
The things were huge. Huge. Their heads were the size of large cats and their bodies the size of the aforementioned wolves. They flapped those mighty wings, beating them swiftly, spreading out of the plains like a plague of locust. Really big, fat locusts with two foot long beaks.
Ahead, Mattu increased his speed, waving the SUVs past them. The smaller vehicles could travel at much quicker speeds and right now they needed as much speed as they could get.
As the SUVs fanned out around them, kicking up dust as they passed, the descending flock was out of sight for a moment. That didn’t make Drake feel any better.
After the dust settled, the flock seemed to move in fast forward, the forward ranks nearly upon them.
Chimmus grabbed his hand, but this time it wasn’t for anything but support.
The first Quetz hit the windshield at full speed. Its face smashed up against the glass, holding onto the side of the truck with the claws attached to the edge of its wings. Once recovering from impact, it raised its head and pecked at the windshield, seeming surprised it couldn’t get through to the prey inside.
“Hit the brakes!” Drake yelled as the glass chipped just a little on impact.
Appie did as asked and the Quetz slid off the hood and onto the ground.
“Gun it!” Drake shouted.
Again, Appie responded immediately, running the giant winged dinosaur over. One down and a gazillion to go.
Another three Quetz alighted on the top of the truck, trying to peck their way through the metal. Drake looked back to find another five or six attempting to get through the tarp, which ripped under their attack. The Quetz tried to eat anything that wasn’t tied down.
They were ravenous and aggressive. Drake shielded his eyes as one of them cracked the glass. It held but now there was a huge, spreading crack traversing the windshield. It wouldn’t hold up to too much more stress.
“Lavla!” Appie shouted, pointing across the plain.
The red SUV was under serious attack. Not just an attack, but four of the Quetz had gotten hold of the vehicle and were now trying to lift it in the air, flying off with their catch.
Not even Hitchcock would have believed as the tires came off the ground.
* * *
Lavla screamed. She couldn’t help it as the huge Quetz lifted her SUV up and off the earth. The baby started screaming but that was the least of Lavla’s concerns. It was the fact they were gaining height. They were now over ten feet off the ground and the Quetz seemed to just get going as they headed to the mountains where Lavla knew the Quetz would take the SUV to the rookery and allow the young Quetzes to pry the prey out of its metal container.
There was nothing she could do though. She’d tried revving the engine, but the tires weren’t in contact with the ground.
“Hang on,” Robertum said from the back seat. He was still badly injured from the oxygen fire, but he rose, rolling down his window, shoving his burnt body out of the car.
Lavla picked up their son, clutching him to her chest, trying to murmur reassurances that she did not necessarily feel.
The Quetz weren’t just satisfied with carrying her car away, they were also pecking at the windows, trying to get to her baby. She only had a small knife with her, but she brandished it. She wouldn’t let them get her child, not without her dying first.
Which unfortunately looked like a very real possibility as they swooped over the plains and aimed for the highest crags of the mountains.
Then Robertum was there, straddling the door, using the power couplings in his feet, now burned down to the metal to keep himself aright as he grabbed a Quetz by the ankle and shocked it. The beast screamed, turning around, pecking at the offender, but Robertum ducked and dodged, shocking the creature again.
This time the Quetz let go, flapping off on its own. The car lost altitude as the other three Quetz tried to keep the SUV in the air. They stopped their pecking behavior, now concentrating on flapping their wings furiously.
Robertum leaned forward, zapping the lead bird. The thing screamed but did not turn around. Robertum zapped him again.
“Hold on!” he yelled as the second bird let go. The other two could not keep the vehicle aloft and released their hold as well.
The SUV hit the ground and bounced. Lavla kept the baby tight against her chest as the vehicle shook and trembled.
“Hit the gas!” Robertum yelled. They were barely on the ground, but Lavla tucked the baby under her arm and stepped on it. The SUV jerked forward as the baby screamed his little lungs out. How could someone only a day old be that loud?
She felt like the windshield might shatter just from her little man’s cries. “Turn left!” Robertum yelled from atop the vehicle.
Lavla did so blindly, trusting the father of her child completely. He was guiding them into one of the many pock-like caves that lined the mountainside. She hit the brakes and skidded into the cave, her headlights illuminating just how shallow the cave was. Could it still keep her and her family safe?
There was just enough room to turn the SUV around. She stared out the low opening, hoping not to see any more of the Quetz.
They weren’t that lucky. One came forward limping, clearly furious its prize was taken away. It shook its huge wings, making a rattling sound that crawled into Lavla’s spine and settled there. Hissing, the Quetz moved forward, favoring its left leg. The injury only seemed to infuriate the thing more.
It was coming for them.
Then Robertum was out in front of the SUV, waving his charred hands in the air, trying to make himself look bigger than he was. The Quetz wasn’t impressed as it lunged at him, its beak wide open.
Robertum jumped at the last second, throwing himself on top of the beak. He squeezed his arms together, keeping the beak closed as the Quetz thrashed its head, trying to shake her mate.
He freed a hand and put it against the creature’s eyelid and zapped it. The shriek was so high pitched that Lavla feared for her child’s ears. Robertum repeated the jolts three and four times. Finally the Quetz fell over, dead, its mouth gaping open, but not moving.
Robertum stumbled back a few steps then fell over. Only half of his body was working, so he was slowly doing circles on the ground. She wanted to rush out to him and if she didn’t have a baby in her arms, she probably would have, but she did have his son and she knew he would not want her to risk herself or the child.
Or at least, she hoped that was the case.
Then another Quetz stalked into the
cave. It took one look at its dead flock member and one look at the now helpless Robertum. It picked the synthetic up by the arm, dragged him out of the cave as Lavla helplessly screamed. Then he was gone.
She clung to their son, praying that Robertum walked back into the cave but as the seconds ticked by, that possibility became less and less until she had to admit he had been taken to the rookery.
Lavla sat crying, trying to quiet her baby as the cave mouth was darkened by the wings of the Quetz.
* * *
Tears streamed down Appie’s face. She didn’t care who saw them, not even Chimmus. Although the usually opinionated teen was noticeably quiet as they raced across the plains.
Most of the SUVs had made it into the caves.
She’d had to watch though as one of the Quetz had come out of a cave and flew off with Robertum. She could only hope his sacrifice had saved Lavla and the baby.
They had lost some of the supplies off the back of the truck, but that was the least of her worries.
You couldn’t see the sun for the Quetz. They flapped just overhead, taking stabs with their strong beaks. So far the windshield had held, but only by her prayers.
“What else can we do?” Drake asked, but Appie had no answer. You usually hid when the Quetz came out. They feared nothing, not even fire. Especially when they were in a swarm like this. They were brazen and aggressive the more numbers they had.
It was only a matter of time before the Quetz picked up another SUV or broke into a windshield. Appie did not want to be around to see that carnage.
And their one hope of someone with a few tricks up his sleeve had just been carted off to the rookery.
The combination of the Quetz screams and the incessant flapping of their wings made Appie’s teeth grind.
She looked over to Drake who looked possibly even more scared than Appie felt herself. Which just didn’t seem possible. It didn’t look like his old world ways were going to get them out of this one.
Wait. About the only thing the Quetz didn’t like was loud sound. They hated it. Guess it was competition or something for them.
“Do you have that small music playing device?” Appie asked Drake.
“Yes, my tenth generation iPod? Of course.”
“Does it have speakers?” Appie asked.
Drake frowned. “Yes, Bluetooth but that really drains the battery.”
“Hook it up and pick the highest pitched song you can find.”
* * *
That wasn’t hard to do. To show his sensitive side, Drake had plenty of Brittany Spears on his playlist. Added bonus, back in his day, they had used her songs to turn away Somali pirates, perhaps they could do the same to Quetz.
He rummaged through his pack pulling out the MP3 player and the speakers.
Quickly, he found Gimme More. He fast forwarded to the screechy part. He risked opening the window to shove the speakers out. The closest Quetzes wheeled away, crying out, battling Brittany for who was the most annoying. Drake cranked it up even more, making him wince, but it was making the Quetzes wince even more. For the first time in minutes, Drake could see the blue sky. The Quetzes seemed disoriented by the sound of Brittany’s love anthem.
They flew into each other, crashing mid-air. Now instead of being focused on the attack, they were more concerned with pecking at each other over collisions.
He maxed out the volume as Appie drove from side to side, clearing more and more of the Quetzes from the vehicles. Now it was like they were in the eye of the storm. The Quetzes backed away but circled the convoy.
The first of the trucks, Mattu’s climbed up the gentle slope of the mountainside, disappearing into a cave. The Quetzes voiced their rage as their prey slipped away.
Then Appie found a large enough cave and started to drive in.
“Don’t go in,” Drake suggested. “We should drive up and down the caves to keep the Quetzes out.”
“But what about us?” Chimmus asked, her voice sounding nearly as high pitched as Brittany’s.
Appie ignored the younger girl and diverted from the cave and instead drove along the line of caves. None of the Quetzes dared come near. Soon the sky cleared of the winged monsters.
Bright sunlight flooded the area. Drake turned off the music for a moment to make sure the horde did not return. But the skies were a blank blue slate and the only sound was that of the idling truck.
Appie didn’t wait for the all clear, she jumped from the truck and headed straight over to the cave where Lavla had disappeared.
* * *
Appie skidded on some Quetz poop as she turned the corner in the cave. Appie couldn’t see anyone in the car and a side window was down. Had the Quetzes gotten to Lavla as well as Robertum? Then she heard an infant’s squall.
“Lavla!” Appie yelled as she rushed to the car. Lavla sat up, her face swollen from crying, but she was alive as well as the child.
“He saved us,” Lavla choked out. “But, but… they took him.”
Opening the door, Appie took the woman into her arms. “I know, I know.”
She patted the woman on the back. What else was there to say? She could hear others gathering at the mouth of the cave. All murmuring their condolences. It mattered less that Robertum was a Syn it seemed, but more that Lavla had lost the father to her child.
“We’ve got to go get him,” Lavla said, wiping her cheeks of tears.
Appie backed a step. They had barely survived an attack. How could they survive a rookery guarded by all those adult Quetzes?
“He would do it for you,” Lavla added, hiccupping a sob.
Of that, Appie had no doubt.
Mattu stepped up behind her. “I am sorry for your loss Lavla, but we cannot risk anyone on such a risky rescue. Robertum would understand.”
“What about me? I don’t understand,” Lavla spat as she cuddled her baby against her chest. “He saved us all, then saved me and the baby, and no one is willing to try to save him?”
Appie looked over the clan. Not a single person stepped forward. She wondered if it were her or Mattu would so few be willing to risk their lives for them?
Then Drake stepped forward. “If someone can get me up there, I’ll give it a try.”
Then Popi and Salvve also stepped forward. “We can act as guides.”
Mattu shook his head though. “Popi you are too valuable with your healing skills and Salvve is one of our strongest. We cannot lose either of you before we are over the mountain.”
Appie stepped forward. “Then I shall go.”
“We will not even discuss that possibility,” Mattu said as he turned away. “If the Old Worlder wishes to try, I will not stop him.”
Bristling, Appie stepped in front of the departing Mattu. “You will not stop me either,” she said, trying to remain respectful, but also tiring of Mattu’s continued wish to tell her what to do.
The older man straightened, rising to his full height. “You have the clan to consider.”
“And Robertum is a member of that clan and father to one of our children,” Appie shot back.
“We cannot save every stray that happens upon the clan,” Mattu argued.
“Like you?” Appie snapped then regretted it. It was no secret that Mattu’s clan had been wiped out by a Troodon attack and that he had stumbled into their camp, bloody and disoriented. He still held such shame over his lost clan. If only he had picked a different path through the forest or had more weapons, or a thousand other details that wouldn’t have mattered. His clan had come across some horrible luck. No one could have saved them. Her parents had tried to reassure him of that, but Mattu had refused to take any position of power within the clan. Instead becoming their powwaw, their spiritual leader instead.
She wished that she could take those words back. They were far too harsh for the circumstance and were motivated by fear and pain.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled not even wanting to look him in the face.
“No,” Mattu said. “You are rig
ht. Your parents took me and gave me a clan when I had none. I was a foreigner to them and yet they treated me as family.”
Appie grinned at her mentor. Even in the heat of an argument, he could find a way to cool things down.
“And as always it is not for me to instruct you, Appie. If you wish to go after Robertum and truly believe it is the best for the clan, then I will not stand in your way.”
Appie bowed her head in reverence for the powwaw. “Thank you, Mattu. I must go or I could not live with myself.” She then turned back to Lavla. “But Lavla, I must warn you if we get there and Robertum is not functional or it is too dangerous, Drake and I will retreat.”
“I understand,” Lavla said, hugging Appie again. “I just need you to try.”
“That we shall,” Appie said, turning to leave to gather some climbing supplies.
“Yah, I should probably tell you I’m not all that great with heights,” Drake whispered in her ear. In truth neither was she, but didn’t feel like he needed to hear that right now.
“Okay, fine,” Chimmus stated, stepping forward. “I will come too.” The girl then turned to Mattu. “Unless you plan to try and stop me as well.”
“Why ever for?” Mattu said, his eyebrow raising.
Chimmus’ cheeks flushed red as she huffed and pushed past all of them.
CHAPTER 12
Durnag gave a little electric encouragement to his dinosaur. The Ornithomimids had run all day at nearly top speed. They were flagging and would probably give out soon. But they were onto the eastern plains and nearly to the base of the mountain.
It was not difficult to track the clan. They had left enough tracks that an old, blind, DVR could have followed them to the mountain. The clan would need to slow as they climbed the mountain, even in their metal vehicles.
He had hoped to catch up with the clan before they crested the mountain, but he knew they were going to some winter ground and would stop there. Plenty of time to catch up then.
His ride stumbled, barely catching itself before falling to the ground. Durnag took a blow to the chin as the creature threw its head back to right itself.
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