“Yeah, I’m in now. As soon as I start moving, we’ll lose contact.”
“All right. I’ll inform the others.”
Dawn wanted to talk more, but Harry’s voice disappeared, replaced by a loud, grating buzz. She tapped her headset. No change. The sound was beginning to drive her crazy, so she shut her communicator off.
She looked around at the gloomy cave, knowing she was on her own, and her heart pounded.
Dawn squinted, turned on her gun light, and slowly began to move forward, into the darkness.
Chapter 23
O love, thy kiss would wake the dead!
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Day Dream
Something made Gus open his eyes. It was damp, cold, and totally dark. Nearby, he could hear the soft lapping of waves upon the shore.
Feverish and drowsy, he wondered how he’d gotten out of the water. The last thing he recalled was fighting the current of the underground river, his body battered by the rocks, his shouts overpowered by the roar of water.
He listened for a moment more, trying to figure out what had awakened him. He couldn’t place it, though. There was nothing out there.
And then, suddenly, he heard several faint sounds in the distance.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He held his breath, waiting, but the noises didn’t repeat. Then he made the mistake of trying to move.
Jesus! Pain exploded, burst through his entire body in needle-sharp spasms. He wailed aloud and then was shocked when he realized he had made such an animal-like sound. After attempting to lift his head, he sank back onto the earth and felt himself start to lose consciousness.
Eyes closing, he gave in to the will of his body. Let it go.
“Gusss!”
He roused, staring into the darkness. He wasn’t sure if he’d actually heard anything, let alone someone calling out his name. It was as though he found himself wrapped in a cocoon of dark senselessness. He didn’t think he could smell, taste, or feel the surrounding environment, and he wasn’t sure if he had heard a voice, either. Only pain was his companion now, only deep, constant, agonizing pain.
He moaned again, and then... yes, someone was calling out a name. He could hear it. “Dawn. Dawn,” it said, over and over again. “Dawn. Dawn. Dawn.” Then he realized he was hearing his own voice.
Suddenly, a light appeared. Through his closed eyelids, he perceived a soft, reddish glow.
“I’m here,” a voice called out. “Don’t move. I’m here, my darling.”
“Dawn?”
“Yesss.”
Gus opened his eyes. A delicate face with high cheekbones and beautiful green eyes hovered above his head. A word flittered through his brain. Dinosauroid, he thought, trying to understand what was happening. Dinosauroid.
Dinosauroid.
“Oh Gusss, I’ve misssed you ssso.” The words were spoken with faint hisses, weirdly alien, yet somehow comforting.
He groaned again. “Wha – who are you?”
“Sssilence, Gusss. You mussst ressst.” The creature leaned down, placed her lips over his, and then regurgitated a viscous, foul-tasting fluid into his mouth.
He started to gag, tried to move, but he was too weak. She leaned against him, holding him down. She seemed surprisingly strong.
“Ssswallow,” she commanded him. “It will make you well, Gusss.”
He choked the vomit down, and then watched in disbelief as the creature rose to her feet and walked away.
In the next moment, the light blinked out, and it was dark again. From somewhere deep in his raving mind, Gus wondered if he had hallucinated everything.
He shuddered, feeling utterly defenseless and alone. Beyond help. Beyond hope. And perhaps, now, beyond life itself.
He closed his eyes and drifted off, fully expecting to die.
***
Despite her panic, Dawn could not help but be astonished by the beauty of the cave. It was a dizzying maze of tunnels, grottos, and cavernous rooms filled with exquisite formations, all sparkling with the radiance of a million spun-glass figurines.
She pushed herself onward, running, her chest tight with fear. When she reached the end of a sloping passageway, she halted, for the tunnel divided into two branches. Studying the radar map on her headset, she decided the best way to reach Gus was through the left tunnel. That way, she could skirt around the lake and follow the river––
Her thoughts broke off as a series of echoing noises filled the air. She held her breath, listening. Even with the faint, pervasive sound of gurgling water, she knew she had heard something different. She scanned the tunnel and decided it sounded like someone’s footsteps.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
Dawn called out, “Is that you, Gus?”
The tapping stopped.
She raised her gun and moved forward. The ground beneath her feet suddenly slanted downward at a sheer angle. She swallowed, wondering how far she would have to go into the deep recesses of the cave.
Eyes darting back and forth, she rounded a curve in the tunnel. Then she froze. Her gun light had captured something dark and prone. There, in the distance, a motionless figure sprawled on the ground, near the waters of the underground river.
Gus, she thought, hope rising. Oh, Gus, I’ve found you!
Without thinking, she rushed forward, stumbling over the steep bank bordering part of the shore. She regained her balance and jumped off the rocks.
“Gus!” Heart thumping in her chest, she hit the ground running. “Gus! Gus!” she cried as she raced on. “Oh, Gus!”
He opened his eyes. When she finally reached his side, she could see he was covered in blood.
“No!” She dropped to her knees, took off her jacket, and covered his upper torso. “Don’t move – please! Stay still.”
Disobeying her, he nodded, then moaned in pain at the effort. “Water,” he whispered hoarsely.
She grabbed the water bottle from her pack and placed it against his lips.
He sipped, almost choking as he swallowed the liquid. The effort was too great, however, and his eyes rolled into his head. But that was all right. Since any movement caused him intense agony, Dawn wanted him to lose consciousness again.
“It hurts bad,” he croaked. He shook involuntarily.
Dawn’s heart felt like it had been torn apart. “Oh, Gus,” she gave a ragged sigh, “it’s going to be all right.” But she didn’t believe that for a second, and the realization made her eyes fill with hot tears. “G – Gus,” she finally managed, struggling to speak to him, to provide some comfort. “I’m here now. Please let go. Go to sleep.”
Just before his eyes glazed over, she heard him murmur, “Dawn. I saw her. She was here.”
For several minutes, Dawn sobbed uncontrollably. She couldn’t help it. But then, she fought hard, got a hold of her emotions, and wiped her eyes. She stared at Gus. He was so still.
With a terrified gasp, she touched his neck, fearing he had died, but she found a weak pulse. She started to examine his body, gingerly probing him as she made an assessment of his physical condition. To her horror, it looked as though someone had taken a baseball bat to him. He had cuts, bruises, and swollen places on his limbs, perhaps indicating multiple broken bones. The most devastating wound he’d sustained was a compound fracture of his right femur. Jagged edges of bone protruded from his torn flesh. From the center of the broken femur, there was a hint of glistening marrow.
If by some miracle Gus were to survive over the next few hours, she wondered how she would manage to get him out of the cave. She shivered, then froze in shock as she studied his face. Was it her imagination, or did he suddenly look paler?
Fearing the worst, she reached for Gus’s wrist, attempting to take his pulse again. But when her fingers came into contact with his skin, she jumped, for there was a weird twitching inside, as if hundreds of worms slithered beneath his flesh.
Dawn stared at Gus in stunned silence. Something was happening to his body. Before her astonishe
d eyes, his skin, bone, and muscle began to throb and knit together with a speed that defied explanation. Flesh pulsating, Gus’s injuries appeared to be melting away.
Once more, she examined the compound fracture on his leg and was surprised to see how much better it looked. Within a matter of minutes, the bone pulled into his limb. Even the external wound scabbed over. She guessed that in another moment, it too would be gone.
She hugged Gus, telling him how much she loved him. He was bathed in perspiration.
“Gus?” she asked, drawing her head away so that she could look at his face.
He did not respond.
“Gus?” she repeated.
He opened his eyes. “I – I’m okay.” He coughed, then shook his head in astonishment. “I can’t believe––”
“Oh, Gus,” Dawn cried, the black cloud of grief lifting, dissipating at that instant, and she felt surrounded by a wonderful warmth, as if the sun’s rays had somehow pierced the gloomy depths of the cave.
He licked his lips. “Water,” he said, his tone still gravelly and raw.
She held the canteen to his lips. He took her trembling hands in his, steadying her as he drank.
When he finished, he wiped his mouth and then pulled her close, kissing her. Dawn gave in to the dizzying sensations, knowing now, without doubt, that she loved him. And that he loved her back.
***
I’ll be goddamned! Moving his hands over his body, Gus felt for any injuries. He was astounded when he realized his wounds had totally vanished. What had happened? He seemed to have undergone some kind of rejuvenation. But how?
“Gus.” Dawn clung to him. “If you could’ve seen yourself... I don’t understand how you could have healed. I’m so glad you’re alive.”
Preoccupied, Gus remained silent, moving slightly as he tested his limbs. Everything appeared to be back to normal. In fact, much to his amazement, he found he had a whopping hard-on.
He turned to face Dawn, desperately wanting to make love to her. She still held him. Through his sweaty T-shirt, he could feel her breasts pressing against his chest. And then, he felt her shift her lower body. She was coming closer.
He sat, thankful Dawn hadn’t noticed the profound state of his arousal. Making love to Dawn in a cave surrounded by unknown creatures should be the furthest thing from his mind.
What happened? he wondered. Was his vision of the dinosauroid real? Had he actually swallowed her vomit? It was a revolting notion, but, then again, had it somehow helped him to survive?
He looked at Dawn, almost afraid to speculate about the true nature of the dinosauroid. Why had the creature answered to her name? And what had she meant when she called him “my darling?”
Must’ve been crazy with the pain––
“Gus, we need to get out of here.”
He nodded. “What happened to Kris and Harry?”
Dawn informed him of the events that had transpired in the previous few hours.
Relieved they’d made it, he grabbed her hand. “Come on. We need to get going.”
As they got to their feet, Dawn said, “You didn’t answer my questions. What happened to you? If you could have seen how badly injured you were––”
“I haven’t a clue what happened.” Gus glanced over his shoulder and stared into the darkness. All of a sudden, he felt spooked. Looking out, he couldn’t shake the feeling someone was watching them.
“What’s wrong?” Dawn asked in a low voice.
“Nothing.” He gave her a false smile to allay her fears. “Let’s go.”
He leaned over and kissed her on the lips, then together they clambered up the rocks and set off through the tunnel.
***
Dawn led Gus as they followed her footprints and backtracked through the cave. Weapon at the ready, Gus wore the headset now, monitoring everything in infrared. They moved quickly until they spotted a big, white splash on the ground.
“Giant bird poop,” Dawn whispered as Gus shone the gun light on the milky droppings.
He flicked the gun to the right, revealing a trail of dinosaur prints.
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked softly.
“Uh huh,” Gus replied. “Raptors.”
Dawn listened. Was it her imagination, or could she hear the sounds of even breathing, like someone was asleep?
“Up ahead,” Gus whispered.
Forewarned, they walked as quietly as possible until they reached the place where the tunnel split in two. They headed to the right, following the path that wound back to the blowhole.
Despite the pervasive sound of rhythmic breathing, there was still no sign of the raptors. Gus moved the gun in a wide arc. It wasn’t until he’d shone the light into a small grotto by the second tunnel that Dawn saw them. The huge beasts were curled up together, holding each other like two sleeping lovers.
Her eyes widened. Like a person drawn to an accident scene, she couldn’t take her gaze away from the raptors. They were nightmarish creatures, the stuff of darkest legend.
But there was something else here, a kind of alien beauty; in the rippling patterns made by the iridescent, mahogany-dark feathers covering them; in the way their long, powerfully muscled legs sprawled against the ground; but, most especially, in the sparkling topaz depths of their reptilian eyes, which were wide open, yet unseeing.
The beasts were sound asleep.
Gus grabbed Dawn by the hand. His gaze was frantic. Hurry, he mouthed to her.
They moved off together, inching backwards, but then to their alarm one of the raptors shifted, yawned, and sniffed the air. In the next moment, its right eye moved, locking onto the beam of their light.
Dawn rocked on her heels unsteadily. Gus seized her by the arm. In unison, they spun around.
“Run!” Gus shouted, propelling her forward.
Dawn set off, not daring to look back. Now snarls echoed throughout the tunnel, terrible snarls.
***
Gus twisted about, aimed his gun at the beasts, and got off a few rounds. Despite the power of the weapon, the raptors kept coming.
Shit, what can I do? What? Then he had it! With a war whoop, he raised his gun and aimed at the roof of the cave. There was a loud boom! boom! boom! as he fired at the ceiling, which exploded into a thousand fragments. Immediately, a ton of rocks dislodged from the roof and plunged to the ground below.
He turned and ran. Glancing over his shoulder, he barely caught sight of the raptors as the falling debris hit them.
Soon, Gus was on Dawn’s heels. They ran at breakneck speed until they reached the start of a steep incline in the passageway.
“Okay, okay. Stop,” Gus called out.
He saw Dawn halt. Gasping for air, she looked back at him and nodded. Trying to catch his breath, he leaned down and grabbed hold of his knees. His lungs felt like they were about to burst. But they’d made it. Closing his eyes, he felt some measure of relief as his breathing got nearer to normal.
“Did you kill them?” Dawn asked.
“Yeah, I think so, yeah.” Gus wiped the sweat from his brow and then looked down at himself. His skin was streaked with perspiration, dried blood, and dirt, and his shorts and shirt were ripped.
“You look pretty bad, Gus.”
He glanced up. Dawn was smiling at him.
“Well, you should see yourself,” he said. “Glad we don’t have a mirror handy. You’d be fussin’ up a storm.”
“When we get outside, I’m going to bathe in the stream.”
He frowned. “We won’t have the time.”
“Yes, we will. Besides, those raptors could smell us. We reek. You don’t want anything else to get wind of us, do you?”
“You’ve got a point there.” He held out his arms to her. “Ah, come ‘ere, Stinky.”
That got a much-needed laugh. She walked into his embrace, and they hugged each other tightly.
“Don’t mind me, Dawn. I’d love you no matter what you looked – or smelled – like.” He gave her a deep,
dizzying kiss. “You know, the memory of what happened last night kept me alive back there.”
He kissed her again and then silently gazed down the dark passageway, haunted by another memory. Of a pair of beautiful, green, alien eyes.
“Come on,” he said at last. “Let’s get out of here.”
***
When Dawn and Gus finally reached the blowhole, it was dark outside. After they wriggled through the vent, she led him to the creek, where they stripped, bathed, and then fell into each other’s arms.
“Dawn.” Gus bent his head to her and kissed her throat, then her breasts.
She closed her eyes, arching with pleasure at his touch, his fingers gentle, insistent, everywhere. How come we waited so long? she wondered. And then she remembered. This isn’t the first time, but... it is, it is, it is.
There, in the open, laughing, weeping, she let herself go, making love to him with a fervid intensity known only to those who have cheated death. For uncountable moments, the world and all its troubles seemed as far away as the other side of the galaxy.
Afterward, Dawn and Gus sprawled on the rocks, out of breath and exultant. Above them blazed the dizzying jumble of strange Cretaceous constellations.
At last, he turned to her. “Dawn,” he hesitated, “I’ve got something important to tell you.”
“Is it what you said last night?” she asked, hoping to solve that little mystery.
He smiled. “Yeah, I still mean it,” he said, grabbing her hand and kissing it. “I want to marry you.”
Really? She gazed up at the distant swath of the Milky Way. Marriage? Here?
That’s part of the old life. From now on, it’s just us, simply us. Our rules, our society, a brand-new world.
She grinned, snuggling against him. It didn’t matter. Maybe Jean-Michel could officiate. He’d once told her he had considered entering the seminary when he was very young.
“I love you, Dawn. Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, with all her heart. “Oh, yes. I will.”
***
Hell yes! Just what I wanted to hear! Gus wrapped his arms around Dawn. Married – it was what he’d yearned for. He took a breath, reveling in the feel of her body, and his own. He was alive, reborn. And it wasn’t just the aftermath of great sex. No. Everything felt different, his entire body strong, fit, like he was twenty again. Something had happened back in the cave. Only one word could describe it: rejuvenation.
Dragon Dawn (Dinosaurian Time Travel) Page 27