The Island In The Mist: A Dinosaur Thriller

by C. G. Mosley

  “Ankylosaurus,” she gawked, in awe at the massive, twenty-foot-long armored dinosaur with the clubbed tail. Ankylosaurus looked just as most paleontologists had imagined. Its back was knobby and rough, very similar to that of a crocodile, but on a much larger scale. Lucy doubted if a bullet would even be able to penetrate it. The dinosaur was five feet wide and dark brown in color, its head, small and triangular. The tail was long, with a bony club at the end of it used as a defensive weapon. As she caught sight of the tail, she felt a chill hit her when she suddenly realized how close she was to the massive animal. She held her breath and began to ease her way back. The Ankylosaurus turned its small head toward her and let out a deep groan that made her guts vibrate. She tried her best not to look afraid, but it was quickly becoming harder to hide as the dinosaur suddenly turned to face her and dug its claws into the ground, kicking up dirt in the air behind it. It looked as it if it was going to charge at her.

  “Easy, boy,” she stammered. “I’m leaving. Sorry I bothered you.” She wasn’t afraid the Ankylosaurus would eat her because it was a herbivore but, that didn’t mean it couldn’t kill her. She eyed the bony, clubbed tail and imagined it slamming into her, breaking every rib in her body. The broken ribs would be bad enough, but it would probably also turn all of her internal organs to gelatin. She closed her eyes and tried her best to shake the unpleasant thoughts out of her head. She took another step back, but it seemed every time she took a step, the animal became more agitated. It eyed her for a moment more and pawed at the ground, as if it were daring her to try and run. When it decided she wasn’t going to move, it charged at her moaning like a bull all the way. She screamed and turned to flee, knowing that would be her only shot at survival. The Ankylosaurus was surprisingly fast and it ran ahead of her, cutting off her escape. She flinched as the dinosaur drew its massive clubbed tail back, and suddenly it swung low at her. She dove just beyond the tail’s reach, feeling a gust of wind as it flew by her. Lucy scrambled back on her feet and immediately began running again, screaming all the way. To her horror, the last thing she expected to see tore through the trees ahead of her, another Ankylosaurus, and this one just as large and just as aggressive. She looked over her shoulder and knew running back the other direction would be useless as the other one quickly closed in behind her. She came to an abrupt stop and knew she’d have to run a different way, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to. A tear rolled down her cheek as she knew running would only delay the inevitable. There was no way she could outrun both of them. She put her hands over her face and screamed loudly, the two dinosaurs began wailing at her, and if she didn’t know any better, they seemed to be taunting her.

  As she stood, eyes closed and hands over her face, she waited for the crushing blow to end her life. The blow never came. Instead, a thunderous boom echoed loudly behind her and the two dinosaurs fled, wailing like a couple of large scolded dogs as they ran. Lucy peeled her hands away from her face and opened her eyes, relief overcoming her body like a cool drink of water. She looked over her shoulder and spotted Frank standing in the shadows of an oak tree, the barrel of the rifle smoking in his hands. He said nothing, but he motioned for her to come to him with the barrel of the gun. She reluctantly did, knowing that unfortunately she would be much safer with the armed bad guys than she would be alone with the dinosaurs.

  Chapter 16:

  “That was a gunshot,” Jonathon said softly. He was unable to hide the worry in his voice after the crack of a gunshot echoed loudly somewhere deep in the jungle.

  Silas took a step in the direction of the sound. He too was worried, but there was no way he was going to let Jonathon know it. “I know what you’re thinking, Jonathon, so do yourself a favor and stop thinking that way right this instant,” he said, desperately trying to keep his new friend calm.

  Annie stood nearby, still silent as she had been for quite a while. She kept her arms cross and stared at the ground. Silas wondered if she was beginning to be overtaken with shock.

  Jonathon adjusted his hat and rubbed some tension out of the back of his neck. “Silas, there isn’t one good thing that could’ve come out of having to fire a weapon,” he said somberly. “Either those thugs shot someone, or a dinosaur attacked them and they had to shoot at it. I’m certainly hoping it’s the latter so at least Lucy, Osvaldo, and Armando have a chance.”

  “It was only one shot,” Silas said.

  “Yeah, that’s what worries me. It would only take one shot to kill a person, but it would take several to kill most of these dinosaurs.” Jonathon felt a knot tighten in his stomach as he imagined Lucy being shot in the head. He closed his eyes and bit his lip. It was a weak moment for him, probably the weakest one he’d experienced since arriving on the wretched island. He was concerned for a moment that he might cry and that was the last thing he wanted to do. Annie was already upset enough; he had to keep a strong face to keep her calm. Desperately, he searched inside himself for answers. He didn’t know what to do. He flinched as a soft hand gripped him firmly on the shoulder. He turned and found that it was Annie; her gorgeous face suddenly looked older and tired. She still managed to supply a fake smile, and he knew it was solely to keep his hopes up.

  “Don’t give up,” she whispered. “I need you to hang in there.”

  He grabbed her and hugged her tightly in an effort to reassure her she would be alright. “Silas, I’m sorry, but the plans have changed. You’re going to lead her out of here, but I’m not going with you,” he said, his voice suddenly strong again.

  Silas nodded. “When I get her to the ship, I’m coming back to find you,” he replied.

  “I’d rather you didn’t.”

  “I really don’t care how you feel about it,” Silas answered sternly.

  Jonathon smiled. “Alright, suit yourself. You two be careful.”

  Silas grabbed Annie around the shoulder and the two began to walk back in the direction of the beach. Jonathon turned and began walking deeper into the jungle. He had taken no more than ten steps when the deafening roar of the tyrannosaur rang out again from the direction of the beach. He spun around on his heel. Silas and Annie were already rushing toward him.

  “Jonathon, I’m sorry, but the plans have changed again,” Silas muttered. “It’s not safe to go back to the beach yet.”

  Jonathon stood silent a moment, thinking.

  “We’re going with you,” Annie said abruptly.

  Jonathon and Silas looked at her simultaneously. Annie suddenly seemed alert and awake again.

  “I’ve never been so scared in my life,” she said. “But I’m going to put my big girl pants on and be tough for you guys.” She wiped tears away from her eyes and took a deep breath. Suddenly, she seemed much more composed than she had moments earlier. Perhaps it was because she had accepted the fact she wasn’t getting out of there as soon as she wanted. Maybe it was because she felt that she was being selfish. Whatever the reason, Jonathon was grateful for her new attitude.

  “We’re going to find another way to get to the beach,” he told her. “We’ll get you out of here as soon as possible.”

  “I know you will,” she said. “You lead and I’ll be right behind you.”

  Silas threw his large arm around her neck and squeezed gently. “That’s the spirit, honey,” he said. “We’ll all get out of here, you wait and see.”

  Jonathon motioned for them to follow, and he once again began marching forward through the foliage. He longed for a machete, but he hacked and sliced his way with his knife the best he could. Occasionally, a small cat-sized dinosaur would scurry away from them and it wasn’t long before they hardly noticed them anymore. It seemed the further they went, the darker the jungle became. All of the plants were damp and the humidity made the trek miserable. Countless insects, some they’d never seen, buzzed around them. Some of the strange insects bit them. Silas asked Jonathon if they were dangerous. He lied and said that they weren’t. The truth was that he simply didn’t know. There were probably countl
ess insects from the Cretaceous Period that no one knew anything about. And the ones they did know about, it was next to impossible to be able to tell if they were dangerous.

  “What do you think Angus is up to?” Jonathon asked Silas.

  “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to wonder if the old man has done gone senile on us,” he muttered in response.

  Jonathon shook his head as he hacked the knife at a stubborn vine. “I don’t think he’s gone senile. But I do think there is something else going on. He sure is taking some extreme measures to get some pictures of some dinosaurs.”

  “Yeah, but think of the money he’s gonna get for the pictures,” Silas said.

  “But that’s just it. The man has millions of dollars. He doesn’t have any reason to kidnap people and put their lives in danger to make some money. He already has plenty of money,” he replied. “And if it was all about taking pictures, then why didn’t he take her along?” he said, pointing at Annie. “She’s the professional photographer.”

  Annie frowned. “And I’m his niece. I just don’t understand how he could be so coldhearted and leave me for dead,” she said.

  “He’s a jerk, Annie,” Silas said gruffly. “I thought he was a friend, but apparently I was wrong too. You don’t need that guy and neither do I. We’ll have the last laugh, you’ll see.”

  Annie was about to respond when she and Silas suddenly noticed Jonathon stop abruptly. Then they looked around either side of him and realized why. They’d reached the end of the jungle and a wide valley stretched out across the earth ahead of them. The view resembled something you’d see on the plains of Africa. The tall grass whispered as a cool and steady breeze blew across it. But it wasn’t the valley that made the three of them awestruck. It was the numerous herds of dinosaurs roaming and feeding on the plain that grabbed their undivided attention.

  “Wow,” Silas said, his jaw dropped. “This is amazing.”

  “Angus showed me some pictures of this area they’d taken from an airplane,” Jonathon said. “The pictures don’t do this place justice at all. I’ve studied dinosaur bones my entire life and always wondered how close many of the theories in the paleontology community would be to the way these animals actually lived. I never dreamed that we’d ever know for sure, yet here I am. I’m seeing it with my own two eyes.”

  There was a large group of Triceratops marching like a herd of elephants on the south end of the valley. Jonathon estimated that some of them were thirty feet in length and ten feet tall. Their scaly skin was gray with dark spots speckled across their backs. The frills on top of their heads resembled crowns and added to their majestic presence. The horns were fiercely intimidating and he couldn’t imagine many dinosaurs picking a fight with the heavily armored, yet peaceful herbivores. He smiled as he watched the young ones cling closely alongside their mothers, who were no doubt scanning the landscape closely for predators.

  Jonathon then directed his attention toward the center of the valley where a great lake glistened in the grey light that filtered through the thick mist across the sky. A large group of Gallimimus, perhaps more than a hundred, gathered near the water’s edge to drink. They stood on two legs, the adults roughly six feet tall. Their skin also was gray. He couldn’t be sure due to the distance, but they also appeared to have light tufts of feathers along the center of their backs covering the spine. In a lot of ways they resembled ostriches, further fueling the increasingly popular belief that many dinosaurs evolved into birds. At one end of the lake, a small stream branched out and led into the jungle a few hundred yards from where they were standing. Jonathon suspected that if they could make it to that stream, it would provide an easy path back to the beach.

  “They look like big cows,” Annie said softly, pointing toward the grazing herd of Triceratops.

  Jonathon kneeled down and chuckled. “Yeah, I guess they kind of do,” he agreed.

  “Will they hurt us?” she asked.

  “They can hurt us, but they won’t if we don’t bother them,” he answered. “Let’s head over to that stream and make our way back to the beach. We’ll come out south of where we saw the tyrannosaur. We should be able to sneak up on it and turn back if it’s still out there.”

  “Good idea,” Annie said. “You ready, Silas?”

  Silas didn’t answer and Jonathon stopped and turned to look at him. He was staring intently toward the wood line at the northeast corner of the valley. “Do you see that?” he asked, pointing a chubby finger.

  Jonathon squinted and soon saw what he was looking at. He could barely make out six people walking in a single-file line. Although the distance made them look tiny, Jonathon managed to make out Lucy and he breathed a sigh of relief. Angus was close behind her and he suspected the old man had a gun against the small of her back. Nevertheless, she was alive, and at this point, that was all that mattered.

  “They’re all alive,” Jonathon whispered. “Thank God, they’re all alive.”

  “I told you,” Silas said, smiling. “That girl can take care of herself. Angus needs her and he’d be putting himself in jeopardy by killing her.”

  “Yeah, there’s no doubt that she talked them into staying along the wood line instead of venturing out across the open valley where a carnivore could easily get them. Thank God they’re listening to her. I’m still not going to be comfortable until I get her back though,” he replied. “And don’t forget about Osvaldo and Armando. They shouldn’t be out there either.”

  “None of us should be out here,” Annie said softly.

  Jonathon peered back at her and remembered the task at hand. He had to get her back to Bethany. Captain Blackstone and Denny would be able to protect her there. He would still try to persuade Silas to stay there also, but he knew it would be useless. Part of him was grateful for that.

  “Okay, let’s get going. The sooner we get Annie back to the ship, the sooner I can go back after Lucy,” Jonathon said, and he began marching along the wood line toward the stream.

  As they went along, suddenly Annie became very chatty and began giving them her life story. Both of them pretended to be interested, but Jonathon spent most of his time scanning the jungle for carnivorous dinosaurs. He tolerated her talking for a little while because he knew that it was her way of coping with her fear. As they drew nearer to the stream, he began to feel uneasy and asked her politely to be quiet. She abruptly snapped her mouth shut and jumped behind Silas, expecting something to jump out of the jungle. Jonathon crept closer and closer to the stream, and suddenly, he heard a very large splash. It was definitely larger than a fish. He quickly reached for his knife.

  “Stay back,” he whispered to them, and they promptly obeyed.

  He crouched down and slowly made his way behind a large oak tree near the stream. He peeked around the corner and was astonished at what he saw. There was a pair of eight-foot-tall, two-legged dinosaurs drinking from the stream. He estimated from nose to tail they were about twenty or twenty-two feet long. He bit his lip and thought hard as he tried to identify them. He caught a glimpse of a tiny horn protruding from the very top of the dinosaur’s skull, and suddenly, he knew what they were. Majungasaurus, he thought. Carnivore. At the moment, it appeared that they had no idea that he was nearby. He decided not to push his luck. As he turned to head back, his boot inadvertently stepped on a stick. It snapped loudly in the silent jungle and both dinosaurs stood straight up and peered in his direction. Jonathon began to slowly back away, doing his best to remain calm. But when the dinosaurs began to approach, he knew the only thing left to do was run. He ran as fast as he could toward Silas and Annie. Annie saw him coming, and when she saw the first Majungasaurus tear out of the bushes, she opened her mouth to scream. Silas abruptly slapped his hand over her mouth and threw his other arm around her waist. He quickly dragged her to the ground behind a nearby fallen tree. He wanted to help Jonathon, but didn’t know how he could.

  Jonathon saw Silas drag Annie with him behind the log, but didn’t
even give them a glance as he ran past. He could hear both Majungasauruses behind him, and for the first time, he felt panic. There was no way he would be able to outrun them and he knew it. Stopping was not an option either so he kept running. He scanned the environment for something to protect him. He found nothing. Suddenly, his foot caught a rock and he tumbled painfully to the ground. He scrambled to get to his feet, but stumbled again. He rolled over on his back to face the dinosaurs as his inevitable death loomed extremely near. Both dinosaurs were already at him, but to his shock and surprise, they ran past him, paying him no attention at all. He looked on in disbelief as both dinosaurs ran into the nearby herd of Gallimimuses drinking at the pool at the end of the stream. They found a sickly one and ripped it apart as the rest of the herd fled.