Dinosaur: 65 Million: Book 2 Change Them, Survive Them

by catt dahman

Ruby was all but crawling over the table to throttle Tony, unmoved by his tears, “The subject? How in the hell can you say this? How can you be a part of it?”

  “We aren’t. We hate what they did. We hate them. My God, the tears I’ve shed. We just didn’t know. We aren’t scientists, we fed the troodons, we walked around, and years passed. We did the little things. You just don’t get it, and yet, I have shared intimate information. Do you know why Tony isn’t getting treated? He can’t. He has a genetic flaw: he is losing his sight.”

  “Fifty percent now,” Tony said dully.

  “You’re going blind?” Wodanaz asked.

  “Yes. So, there is no use,” Shimei looked at the ceiling and laughed without humor. It was a dry, scary sound, “And me. Guess why I am not changed…go on…no? You don’t know? Look at me,” he was almost yelling.

  Tony reached for Shimei’s arm, “It’s ok, Shi.”

  Shimei finally sobered, “I’m black. Did you not notice? I may be smart, and I’m here, but Herr Doktor won’t do a thing. I explained eugenics to you, and you didn’t get it. Because I am black, I am not of a desirable nature.”

  Ruby leaned back in her chair, unsure if she should tell him that was good or say it was bad.

  Shimei told them more. “Tony figured it out, and Curt stopped adding the vitamins, wondering if it mattered. It did. We regained our senses. We had the ability to think again, and we did. Bray and Bright, they saw some things they weren’t supposed to see, which repulsed them. We whispered and planned….”

  Bray got Tony and Shimei into an area where they were not allowed, and what they saw drove them almost mad. Shimei used a steak knife and ripped Dr. Mengele, Junior, apart. His intestines were all over, pulled apart like spaghetti, and blood-coated the walls. He screamed for a long time. “I can’t say anyone was concerned particularly other than Herr Doktor.”

  “You slaughtered him?” Wodanaz asked.

  Shimei nodded, “Yes. Why?”

  “Good for you. What did you see?”

  Tony squeezed his eyes closed a second and said, “Audrina: my beautiful, beautiful woman. He went crazy. They didn’t let me see.”

  “That was merciful then, “Audrina softened.

  Half of the military mutinied, and half remained on duty; there was a war, and bodies piled up. With a Glock given to him on the side, Curt killed three of the SSDD soldiers protecting the experiment.

  There were suicides and gun battles.

  Once there were sixty-five residents, and now, twenty remained.

  “We knew you were coming. Long ago, the guys stopped our supplies, so it was lucky we had plenty stored. They blue-penciled medical, they stopped assistance, and they ground to a halt, and your world failed. Your government guys are all down in the Yucatan trying to suck up iridium and magnetite, even injecting it like junkies. They snort it, too. Freaks. We call them maggites. They want to live forever. It just all fell apart. It was a failure back in the 1940s, but they went on and did it all.”

  Tony tried to speak now, “I realize that all this is an appalling jolt to you, but there was no easy, calm way to tell you how fucked up everything is here and how you followed the yellow brick road, and instead of a wizard, you found abhorrent with repulsive knowledge, yet you had no one to give you a heart, a brain, courage, or a way home. It’s a sham.”

  Ruby felt sick, “You can’t imagine how disgusted I am. I don’t know how to take any of this.”

  Wodanaz nodded and patted Ruby’s arm, “We knew there were always secrets, and this is one of them. Sadly, we have to know it. Ignorance is sometimes much better. We know what they did to us. We’re all victims, just doing what we can to survive.”

  Tony and Shimei nodded.

  Wodanaz went on, “Yes, it is sickening. Eugenics. It seems to me they were played in a game just as we were. We adapted. They adapted. We were used and have faced atrocities.”

  “Are we prisoners? Are we going to be drugged and rolled around in those chemicals until we’re like zombies? Will you do horrific cruelties to us?” Nina asked.

  “No. I know you think we are disgusting, but it was all we could do. You are not prisoners at all. And the chemicals I talked about were spread all over the area when they were hit long ago. It’s part of why you stayed. Some react more strongly. There’s a door, and we have two solar ATVs that we can pull a trailer with full of supplies such as clothing, food, tools, bedding, cookware, better boots, and medical supplies that you can only imagine such as IV antibiotics, bandages, splints.”

  “You are leaving?” Jack asked.

  “A few of us are, and we’d like to join you and give those supplies to you.”

  Ruby stared at the two men, “I hope you don’t mean those who did the experiments and those…things…they aren’t even real people now…those things….”

  Shimei shook his head, “No. Tony and me and Bray and Bright, they are military, and Curt, our cook. Tony put a bullet into the Angel of Death’s forehead. Herr Doktor died.”

  “Why didn’t you save her, Audrina?” Ruby asked.

  “I didn’t know until she started changing,” Tony said. He related how they had plotted when they could, planning to escape from the cave with their friends. They whispered in the dark, and then when they blinked, it was weeks later, and time stayed elusive. Audrina came out of the showers, crying, almost unable to walk for weeping so hard. Scales were beginning to form, and her hands ached as her fingers elongated.

  He abruptly got up and left the room.

  Shimei sighed, “I would visit Audrina sometimes. And watch Dr. Parker, Tate, Ann, and poor Theo. Poor, strong, smart, tough Theo who was reduced to a creature. They pace a lot. They eat. They breed. Most of the offspring…they die. Thank God. You see them…it will drive you mad, so excuse us…me…if I am half crazy.”

  “I imagine,” Audrina felt sympathy rise.

  “Tony didn’t go see Baby Girl. I saw. She looked at me with those sad, sad eyes, and I lost it. I began to stab and slash, and I am not that way, but I lost my head, and I don’t care. We didn’t let Tony see. All this time…years now…sometimes I think about killing them, and I get all ready to, and then I can’t.”

  Shimei told them Tony decided to kill an SSDD guard, and he did.

  “Ten of…those things. Five of us want to join you and take the supplies.”

  Wodanaz nodded, “And the other five?”

  “They want to stay. They’ll feed our friends and remain here. They have enough supplies for many years. We want to leave…to live again…not to be here in this place of horror,” Shimei said. “The other five are just scared to leave. I get that.”

  “The supplies…they would help us build….” Jack agreed, “and Corrine? That was her name…what happened to her?”

  “Bray shot her,” Tony said, “she was really into the experiments and was helping them and giving shots, but she thought it was okay. She wasn’t the same woman we knew before. Mengele ruined her mind, like a false prophet; he changed her, but only in her mind. She was a victim, but she had a choice, and she made the wrong one by being a part of what they did to our friends.”

  “Bastard,” Jack said.

  “Can we join you?”

  Wodanaz thought a while. Everyone looked at him. Chris and Nina shrugged but shook their heads no. Ruby was too upset to vote. Sandra nodded yes, wanting the medical supplies. Trevor nodded reluctantly. Adrian nodded.

  Wodanaz spoke, “You can. We have a certain way of life. You fit in, or you don’t stay. We work hard.”

  With that, they went to work, packing supplies and loading the solar ATVs, deciding on what to carry with them. Sandra supervised packing the medical supplies and was almost giddy, despite the circumstances, thrilled to have antibiotics, IV bags, and painkillers.

  Food went on the trailer. As food was stacked, Curt made sure it had not been altered with the drugs that the doctors called vitamins. He took almost all of the salt that was available. He grinned as he added pl
enty of boxes of seasoning.

  Trevor and Bray loaded clothing, which would boost morale more than almost anything. Everyone would have several changes of clothing, and new socks seemed a luxury.

  “The plan is we drive to your cave. If we meet predators, we have more guns and ammunition, and we can fight,” Shimei said.

  Shimei stared into an area through a small window. He could watch as he had done many times since he found out what was going on and after Audrina joined the others. They had shelter but could roam the cave as well. He didn’t know if they should be freed or left in the area or maybe even killed; they were obscene, and yet, despite the changes, Audrina was in that body.

  As he watched, she barred her new teeth and snapped at Theo, who was keeping food. It was simple genetic mutation. Changes. Her teeth and skin were different, and her skin was rough, scaled, and dark. Her hair was the same, and her green eyes were bright with intelligence. Given the opportunity, she might recall him, but she might attack him as food.

  Ruby, despite her feelings, patted Shimei’s back as he silently told his friends good bye. He cried openly, and Ruby felt a wave of sympathy. Victims were victims. Despite the changes, she could tell that Audrina had been a beautiful woman and that Theo had been strong and handsome, but the doctors had taken away everything from them.

  Jack pulled Shimei aside, “I have one more question. You may or may not know the answer, but Mengele senior was smart. He always had a plan, a reason for what he did, no matter how wicked. Why would he want to combine dinosaur DNA with human DNA? What was his purpose? Because he could?”

  “Don’t ask, Jack. You seem to be a good man. Don’t ruin your life.”

  “I need to know.”

  Shimei didn’t answer at first. Finally he asked, “Do you really want the answer? It will destroy your entire mind and change you forever, but I can answer that. Knowledge can be painful.”

  “I want to know,” Jack said, afraid.

  Shimei led Jack to a room where the computers were; Jack had seen very few computers when he was very young. He knew people used them long ago to communicate, learn, design, and much more. He was in awe of the technology.

  Tapping keys, Shimei showed Jack images. He didn’t speak, but tapped, letting Jack see. Shimei spoke, “Dinosaurs don’t have the intelligence. Humans don’t have the physical strength. Maybe combined, they have a chance.”

  “How long?”

  “Thirty years. Maybe a little less.”

  Jack nodded and looked at Shimei, “It hurts.”

  “Yes, but only for a second.”

  Chapter Two: Travel

  They agreed to spend the night in the bunker, eating only their own food for fear of being drugged, and despite assurances, the food was safe, and they slept with an armed guard of their own. Wodanaz, Jack, and Trevor looked at the doctors’ creations, and all three returned, pale and sickened. They knew it was a bad thing to do and knew they would regret seeing, but they still did it.

  Jack held Ruby, and she felt warm tears run down her neck as he refused to talk about what he had seen, telling her his nightmares would be bad enough and he had no desire to talk about the horrific visions, much less subject Ruby to imageries. He said it was enough that Shimei described what the humans changed into and that Shimei was accurate, if not more considerate in his details.

  While all of the people could have walked away or even stolen supplies, they helped Tony and Shimei leave; Bray and Sarah Bright were eager to go, and Curt, the cook, didn’t care either way. With dull eyes, the few who remained watched them leave.

  Sandra and Nina each drove an ATV that pulled a trailer. It was very slow going as they searched smoother routes, trails without rocks. The rest carried guns and walked alongside, hoping they wouldn’t be attacked. With the women on the ATVs, it would be difficult for everyone to run for cover. They couldn’t hide among rocks that they were accustomed to.

  Shimei and his friends stared at a sun they hadn’t seen in many years.

  Trevor raised a hand.

  There was a wafting scent of feces and carrion on the light wind.

  Around a small copse of trees stood allosaurs: five of them. A dark green male lay in the leaves and pine needles, sleeping, snoring, and farting. Four females, two large and three small, groomed one another, picking with their snouts, nipping at the tiny feathers in shades of green that each had running along her back. The male was the largest at thirty feet; the large females were twenty feet from nose to tail tip, and the smallest ones were ten feet long.

  “The male was grown in the lab along with a female, but she’s not here. Maybe she died, or they ran her off,” Shimei said. “Get the shock sticks. He might remember those.”

  “Just keep moving. Slow and steady,” Trevor said.

  Wodanaz and Jack walked to the sides, placing themselves between the monsters and their friends. Big Green raised himself up and sniffed. All of them made trilling noises, chittering in low, ominous tones.

  They were large predators, weighing two tons, showing off serrated teeth, and capable of bringing down an adult triceratops. Their back legs were less developed than a tyrannosaur; the feet, complete with a dewclaw, were more for grasping and clutching than for running; they were not fast therapods. Their front legs were longer but not long enough to allow them to walk on all four legs. The front legs tapered to hand-like claws: three fingers and a thumb that were not opposable; however, their wrists were able to turn and bend, allowing them a lot of flexibility.

  A plump dinosaur was lying to one side, meat still on the bones, but the internal organs were devoured. It smelled of decomposition and was what the allosaurs had been gorging on. Because they were satiated, they remained curious and cautious around the humans, but didn’t attack yet.

  From the other side ran a pack of small velociratpors; they were all three feet tall, and ran, heading for the carcass of the beast lying dead, but they were so excited that several attacked the humans, slashing and biting randomly. They were brave and audacious.

  One of the large female allosaurs ran and scooped up a velociraptor and crunched it. The creature squealed, kicking and fighting, but it was crushed in a bloody mess. Two of the dinosaurs hit Adrian full force, biting his legs and belly as they were prone to do. He shot at the bold velociratpors.

  “Go…Go” Trevor ordered and waved Sandra and Nina to drive on. He couldn’t get a shot, so he ran and began to beat at the creatures. Bray used a shock stick, which gave the animal a strong jolt of electric current, but it still bit and fought. The allosaurs moved in closer. It seemed that some of the creatures recalled the shock stick.

  Chris fired at a female allosaur, and she backed away as a bullet stung her neck and chest. She snapped and twisted her head, angry at being hurt.

  Wodanaz fired at the rest of the velociraptors while the others turned on the allosaurs, giving the women time to drive away, trailers in tow.

  “Run and catch up to them,” Jack told Ruby.

  “I have it,” she said.

  “Move, Curt, Ruby, go with Bray. Move and keep sharp,” ordered Jack, “Ruby, you and Bray know this routine, and, Curt, you are lethal; chant that to yourselves.”

  The three did as ordered. Shimei and Tony both fired, but the small allosaur lunged forward and grabbed Tony, dragging him away. It bit and tore rapidly, trying to kill its food fast, before Tony could escape.

  “Oh, hell no,” Shimei yelled.

  Tony kicked and shot right at the creature, making it let go of him for a second, but by the creature’s good luck and Tony’s bad luck, the allosaurus stepped on Tony, mashing the air out of him and breaking his ribs with crackling noises. With the man unable to shoot at close range, the animal turned and grabbed a leg and yanked. Tony tried to get enough air to scream. One of his legs came out of socket and then ripped loose as the creature yanked brutally. Tony moaned, reaching back for his friends, hands scooping dirt as his nails tore away.

  Shimei shouted, trying to
run after them, but Trevor grabbed his collar and told him to run. They were outnumbered. Bright, Trevor, and Wodanaz kept up the gunfire, allowing the rest to run. The three walked backwards the way the others ran. Bright fired and made a perfect shot through Tony’s head, giving him release from pain; it was a fortunate shot because it was made during a split second as the allosaur paused while swinging its prey around.

  Bright wiped a tear away, checked on Adrian, shook her head, and dodged a velociraptor as it flew at her, leaping. She rolled to one side, sliding over sharp pebbles to avoid the claws and teeth, and the creature found only air. It shook its head angrily, and bit into Adrian. He was gone, and they couldn’t recover his body without endangering themselves. Bright scrambled away.

  Larry, the wolf pup who had politely sat in the bunker and then slept while they packed, ran at the small velociraptors, biting back at them and darting wildly, slightly faster than they were.

  “Naw, leaving me for the last of the team red?” Wodanaz said as they moved away. He watched Adrian, hoping the man was still, somehow, alive and fixable, “Larry, come on.”

  Bright looked at Tony, wanting to mourn him, but the allosaurs had pulled him apart, and his legs and body were separate; she didn’t want to look. The allosaurs roared, and a fight broke out among the pack of velociraptors over the bodies of the humans and the rotting animal carcass. The dead raptors were ripped and torn to pieces, washing the ground in red gore.

  To their credit, Sandra and Nina kept driving, refusing to stop and focusing on getting the supplies back home. There were trees branches and rocks to watch and washed out areas; they had to trust their friends to hold the dinosaurs back while they drove the ATVs back home. It was a rough drive, and they concentrated as they tried to ignore the screams of pain and the roars of the beasts.

  Sandra cursed the entire time, calling the allosaurs every name she could think of, crying and venting. When she was worn out, she ended with…stinky jackasses.” Her hands shook as she gripped the handlebars.

  Running to catch up, the others met the women and ATVs at the little area where they had camped often. Nina and Sandra saw Adrian and Tony were missing, “Neither one?” Sandra asked.