by C. G. Mosley
A familiar roar rang out nearby, cutting off his words. Silas whipped around in time to see the tyrannosaur walloping toward them from the wood line. Annie screamed.
“You two, get a four-wheeler and go!” Jonathon stood on the foot pegs and frantically motioned for them to hop on the ATV next to him. They did and Silas had the vehicle moving in mere seconds. The four-wheeler kicked up a plume of sand as he piloted it across the beach. The tyrannosaur immediately turned its massive head in the direction of the fleeing ATV and gave chase. Jonathon started his, squealing the tires as he exited the shipping container. Once he hit the sand, he slammed on the brakes and yelled as loud as he could.
“Hey! Over here!” He waved his arms wildly in a desperate attempt to try and coax the vicious animal to come after him instead. The tyrannosaur slowed its massive legs and turned toward him, cocking its head sideways in a curious manner.
“That’s right, ugly. I’m right here!”
The tyrannosaur responded by opening its large mouth and releasing a thunderous roar. The awesome display made Jonathon shiver; he had to get away quickly. He gunned the throttle, briefly raising the front tires off the sand as he took off. The tyrannosaur came at him from the left in more of a fast walk than a run. Jonathon zipped by with ease and he allowed a smile to form on his face. One glance over his shoulder and the smile vanished. The tyrannosaur was now running after him with blistering speed. He’d always believed the animals were fast, but what he was now seeing behind him was beyond his imagination. Jonathon kept the throttle wide open, but the tyrannosaur was closing in on him fast. Suddenly, he spotted a small group of Parksosauruses foraging on the beach ahead. An idea popped into Jonathon’s head, and he steered the ATV toward the tiny dinosaurs. A few of them stopped what they were doing long enough to look toward him, clearly puzzled by the strange, noisy object approaching rapidly.
Stay right there, boys. Just a few more seconds.
The dinosaurs continued to stare with wonder, when something else finally catches their attention. The tyrannosaur released another deafening roar and the terrified Parksosauruses scattered in all directions. Jonathon bit his bottom lip and prayed that the tyrannosaur would forget about him and chase after the easier targets. The four-wheeler zipped by the spot where the Parksosauruses were foraging moments before. Jonathon looked over his shoulder, desperately hoping that the tyrannosaur would no longer be there. A large, gaping mouth with jaws full of teeth larger than his hand was all that he saw. He felt his heart skip a beat, and it felt as if all the blood in his head rushed away. He felt woozy and felt as if he were going to pass out. Death was close if he didn’t think of something very fast. He could literally feel the tyrannosaur’s hot breath on his neck. He skimmed over the landscape ahead of him and spotted a small trail leading up a hill at the edge of the jungle. He guessed it was probably a trail used by the Parksosauruses he’d seen so many of on the beach. Jonathon turned the ATV up the rocky trail and the vehicle began the climb with ease. He found himself thanking Angus for not going cheap on the four-wheelers. The jungle formed a low canopy over the trail. This suddenly gave Jonathon hope as he realized the tyrannosaur was far too tall to get through the trail. He looked back again and his jaw fell open as he witnessed the relentless animal tearing and crashing through limbs and vines. The jungle did cause enough of a hindrance to slow the massive animal, but it wasn’t nearly enough to stop it. All Jonathon could do was keep the ATV moving as fast as possible. He still had the throttle gunned wide open, and he was pretty sure it hadn’t been released at all since he’d left the shipping container. The trail continued to climb the hill and it became steeper and steeper. Much like it had been everywhere else within in the jungle, it was much darker than it had been on the beach, but Jonathon noticed a bright light straight ahead at the top of the hill. It seemed that the trail came to an abrupt end and then a frightening realization overcame him. It’s a cliff. I’m driving straight toward a cliff. He looked back over his shoulder yet again, and the tyrannosaur was still chasing him. It seemed it was never going to stop until it got the opportunity to taste Jonathon’s blood. He looked back toward the bright light ahead and knew there was only one way out of this. His timing would have to be perfect or he would surely die. He felt his heart rate increase as he considered what he was about to undertake. He wanted to think of another way out, but it was useless.
Jonathon clenched his jaw and held the throttle wide open. The tyrannosaur never slowed either, tearing limbs away and thrashing its tail wildly in its wake. The moment of truth had arrived as Jonathon reached the light; he spotted the edge of the cliff and quickly leapt from the ATV. He crashed hard against the rocky trail and allowed his body to roll as many times necessary to prevent as much injury as possible. The ATV continued onward and rocketed off the cliff. It arched a great distance through the air. Jonathon felt his body continue to slide along the hard ground until it seemed to drop out from under him. Oh my God, I’ve gone over the edge! His legs went over first and he clawed at the ground, trying with all of his might to hold on. He saw the tyrannosaur still lumbering toward him like a steam locomotive, seemingly unaware of the cliff ahead. Jonathon wondered if the dinosaur would even be able to see it with its head in the trees. He finally found a sapling to hold on to and prayed it would hold his weight. It did, and as he dangled over the edge of the cliff, he could hear the ATV clang and break into pieces against the jagged rocks below.
The tyrannosaur finally did catch sight of the cliff, but it was too late. The large animal gave its best effort to stop. It tried to dig its large black claws into the trail, but the ground was too rocky. The animal’s legs slid out from under it and inertia carried it right over the edge. Jonathon narrowly avoided being dragged down with the beast. He watched, wide-eyed as the most fearsome predator to ever walk on planet earth gazed up at him as it fell. There was fear in those eyes and it just felt wrong for Jonathon to see it. He looked away before the animal hit bottom; he didn’t want to see the animal die. Unfortunately, he still heard quite a bit. He heard bones break, he heard the air forced out of the T-rex’s massive lungs. He heard a pitiful grunt as the animal died in a painful and terrible way. Jonathon carefully pulled himself back onto the edge of the cliff and let out a sigh of utter relief. It was good to be alive.
Chapter 19:
Silas slammed on the brakes and the ATV came to a sliding stop in the muddy soil. Annie lurched forward, but clung to his waist tightly to keep from falling off. He killed the engine and they sat quietly for a moment, looking back, desperation and fear was etched all over their faces.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Silas said. “I can’t believe the crazy fool did that.”
“He did that to save us,” Annie replied, tears streaming down her face. “Do you think he’s…okay?” Her words came out softly, as if she were afraid to speak them.
Silas felt his eyes water up and a knot forming in his stomach. “No, I don’t think so.”
“How are you so sure?”
“Listen,” he said, and paused a second. “I don’t hear the ATV. It’s loud enough we should be able to hear it.”
Annie wiped the moisture from her eyes, trying to convince herself it wasn’t true. “Well, maybe he stopped. Maybe he’s hiding. We’ve got to check.”
Silas glanced over at her. He felt sorry for her. He wanted desperately for Jonathon to be alright, and he wanted to tell Annie that. But he just didn’t see how it was possible. He wished Annie would allow herself to accept it also. “Sweetheart, we can’t go back there. That T-rex is back there.” He turned away from her before he spoke his next words. “Jonathon’s dead honey. You’ve got to accept that.”
Annie closed her eyes tightly. The helpless feeling overcoming her at the moment was horrible. She felt that it must be the next worse thing to actually dying. She sobbed for a few long minutes. Silas turned and held her close, doing anything he could to comfort her. “We have to go look,” she said, barely clear
enough to understand through the sobbing.
Silas said nothing.
“Did you hear me? We have to go look for him,” she said a little louder, still hard to understand though. “Just to be sure.”
Silas looked over Annie’s shoulder up the stream where they’d come from. He listened for any signs of the ATV again, or the roar of the tyrannosaur. He heard nothing. It seemed as if all of the animals in the jungle were aware of the hopeless, bitter moment because they were silent too.
“He would go back if it were us,” Annie said, her voice firm and clear now.
Silas took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, we’ll go check.”
“Thank you,” she replied softly. “We just have to be sure.”
Silas turned the key and the ATV roared to life once more. He turned the vehicle back toward the beach, kicking up mud as he went.
***
It had taken a great deal of effort for Jonathon to get on his feet. He figured his body had been beaten and abused more in one day than it had ever been in his entire life. His leg was literally sliced open at the calf, and he knew it would only be a matter of time before an infection began to fester. His torso ached where the Dromaeosaurus had made a failed attempt to gut him alive. The puncture wounds weren’t deep, but he feared that they too would become infected. The jump from the ATV to the rocky ground felt like the equivalent of someone taking a Louisville Slugger and hitting him as hard as they could with it. Now a headache began to throb mercilessly between his ears, probably more from the stress of the day than the actual physical punishment he’d been taking. The only good news, he decided, was that to his knowledge he didn’t have any broken bones.
His thoughts turned to Silas and Annie. He was thankful that they’d managed to escape, and he hoped that they hadn’t encountered any other dangerous dinosaurs when they’d headed into the jungle. As he walked down the steep trail, he wondered where they were and how they would probably alter their plans. If he could guess right, maybe he would be able to find them. The first thing he needed to do was get another ATV. It would take him forever to try and catch up with them on foot when he knew they had an ATV of their own. Suddenly, a faint sound somewhere far away (probably on the beach) got his attention. He shook his head with disgust as he wondered what species of dinosaur was ready to fight him next. The humming sound began to get closer, and he couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he realized what it was. He knew there was no reason to keep walking. Where he was at was as good a place as any to wait for Silas and Annie to arrive.
They did eventually arrive and Annie leapt off the four-wheeler and hugged him tightly.
“Thank God you’re okay!”
“You guys shouldn’t have come back here looking for me,” he answered. “But thank you, I’m so glad you did.”
Silas approached and held out a hand. Jonathon took it and pulled the big man to him, hugging him also.
“You made it easy for us to find you,” Silas said. “Your tire tracks showed up real good in the sand, led us right to the trail.” He stopped talking as something dawned on him. “Jonathon, where is your four-wheeler?”
Jonathon gave a sly grin and glanced back up the trail. “Silas, this trail ends at the edge of a steep cliff. My four-wheeler took off that cliff without me and our friendly tyrannosaur chased after it.”
Silas’s jaw dropped and he let out a hearty laugh. “You’re joking,” he said.
“No, sir, our tyrannosaur is dead and so is the four-wheeler.”
“You’ve got more lives than a cat,” Annie said.
“Let’s hope I don’t have to use any more of them for a while,” Jonathon replied. “I got a feeling I may have to use a few more when we catch up with Angus.”
“Let’s head back to the beach and get you another ATV,” Silas said. “And try not to break this one.”
Chapter 20:
Angus felt his feet aching and though he desperately wanted to stop and take a break, he made no mention of it. Soon, he thought, I’ll be young again. My feet will be able to walk all day and I won’t even break a sweat. Soon.
Unfortunately, he knew the others were physically fading also. Maybe they weren’t fading as fast as he was, but fading nevertheless. Lucy hadn’t said a word since the altercation a couple of hours earlier. He knew she was fuming mad, but that was okay as long as she did what she was told. Osvaldo seemed more confused than ever. This continued to frustrate Angus, but he did his best to hide his displeasure. Patience, he told himself. Suddenly, Osvaldo stopped walking and began wheeling his head around in both directions.
“What’s the problem now?” Angus grumbled.
Osvaldo said nothing at first; he just kept looking left to right. Finally, he slowly turned back toward Angus.
“I’m lost. I’m tired and disoriented. I need to rest, please.” His words were genuine; exhaustion was all over his face.
Angus was about to respond, but Travis spoke first. “We don’t have time to rest, now turn around and get—” Suddenly, a rustle in the foliage ahead cut off his words.
Osvaldo backed away quickly, and then made it abundantly clear he wasn’t leading them any further.
“What are you waiting for? Move forward,” Angus barked.
Osvaldo looked back at him, eyes filled with fear. “Something is out there.”
Angus rolled his eyes. “Whatever that was couldn’t be much larger than a deer. Now get going or I’ll have to ask Travis get rough with you.”
“Something the size of a deer is plenty big enough to rip us apart,” Lucy interrupted. “Depending on what sort of animal it is, of course.”
“That is why we have guns, dear,” Angus snapped. “Now move!”
Osvaldo didn’t budge and the display was more than Angus could handle. He marched away from Lucy and had every intention of reminding Osvaldo who was in charge.
Lucy had finally had enough.
“No! No! We’re not walking another step, Angus!”
Angus stopped abruptly and gave Lucy a stare.
“You’ve pushed us all day. And I’m not going another step until you tell me what this is all about! If you want to shoot me, then you go ahead and shoot me. I really don’t care anymore.” She did care, but she was running out of ideas. This madness had to stop.
Angus looked surprised and she was glad that she’d at least rattled him.
“Lucy, I have no intentions of shooting you,” he said, trying to sound calm.
“Then what is this all about?” Her hair fell across her face, further enhancing her anger. “This doesn’t have anything to do with dinosaurs, does it?”
Travis moved toward her; he was going to enjoy shutting her up.
“Travis, no! Leave her be,” the old man said, finally sounding worn down. He noticed a large boulder nearby, coated in wet moss. He was too tired to care if his pants got wet, he just sat down. “I suppose I do owe you an explanation,” he said.
“Boss, you don’t have to tell her anything,” Travis assured him.
“Travis, sit down. I suppose we do need to take a break. But keep your eyes on him,” he replied, pointing at Osvaldo. “Don’t let him out of your sight.”
Travis nodded and pushed Osvaldo down on the ground. “Break time,” he said coldly.
Angus motioned for Lucy to take a seat near him and after a brief moment, she did. However, there was no doubt in his mind that she didn’t want to be anywhere near him.
“My dear, first let me assure you that I didn’t mean for things to get this out of control,” he began.
“Well, things started getting out of control right around the time you left Jonathon and the others to die,” she snapped at him.
Angus reached in his pocket to retrieve a handkerchief, he then wiped perspiration from his brow. “Lucy, Jonathon is very resourceful. I’m quite confident that he is fine.”
She stared at him without blinking. Rage oozed from her gaze. “You better hope and pray you’re right,” s
he said. “Because if you’re not, I won’t give you any choice but to kill me to save your own hide.”
Angus didn’t respond; the truth was, her words had little effect on him. He was in control. Instead, he decided it was best to tell her what this was all about. It was worth a shot. “You are correct. There is something else on this island that I want. Something that I’ve kept from you and the others.”
“What is it?” she asked firmly.
“I will tell you, but I must warn you, it may be hard for you to believe.”
“Try me.”
“There is something very powerful on this island. Some people would probably call it magical. It’s something you’ve heard of your entire life and up until now you probably have always felt the same way I have. You’ve believed that it was a legend, a bedtime story of sorts.”
Lucy rolled her eyes and she was unable to hold in her rage. “Get to the point!”
“The fountain of youth,” he snapped, and he didn’t even have the courage to look in her eyes when he said it.
Lucy pursed her lips together and raised an eyebrow. “The fountain of youth? Are you joking?”
“It is real, my dear. I assure you. Please believe me. I wouldn’t have put any of us through all of this if it was not real.”
“You brought us all here and you’ve risked all of our lives to find something that doesn’t even exist?” She stood and shook her head, shock and disbelief overcame her. This man is insane, she thought.
Angus stood as well, trying desperately to plead his case. “Look around you, for heaven’s sake! Up until this morning, did you think any of this was real? Do you honestly think it was easy for me to believe that the fountain of youth is real?”