by C. G. Mosley
As it was now, he was able to think quite clearly and was even beginning to believe that they were getting close. He couldn’t explain why, he just sort of felt it in his gut. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a large stone formation ahead of them confirmed it. He smiled widely and suddenly began to feel a sense of hope. Maybe, just maybe, the nightmare was nearing its end.
“We’re getting close,” he said, pointing at the rock formation. “I think I remember these rocks.”
Angus, who had been close behind Lucy, could hardly contain his glee.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his eyes beaming.
Osvaldo nodded. “Yes, we are near the cave.”
“Well, what are you waiting on?” Angus asked. “Keep going!”
Osvaldo raked a hand through his damp, black hair as he looked left, then right. “Give me just a moment.”
Angus rolled his eyes, and felt his frustration returning. “A moment for what?”
Osvaldo glared back at him with an annoyed expression. “I know that I am close, but please allow me a moment to examine the area a little more. I have to be sure we continue in the right direction.”
“Oh for crying out loud,” Angus grumbled, throwing his hands in the air.
“Angus?” Lucy called out unexpectedly.
The old man spun on his heel to face her. “Yes, Mrs. Baker?”
She smiled innocently and drew closer to him. “I have to pee,” she whispered.
Angus rolled his eyes again. “Well, can you hold it just a little longer dear?”
She shook her head. “I reeeally need to go now.”
Angus glanced over his shoulder at Osvaldo. “Do you remember anything yet?”
“No, please let me think,” he answered, waving him off.
Angus turned back to Lucy and looked at his watch. “Mrs. Baker, you have two minutes. Please hurry. If you are not back here in two minutes, I will shoot Armando,” he said very nonchalantly.
Lucy looked at Armando as a feeling of terror overcame him. She’d seen that look in his eyes far too many times since she’d met him.
“I’ll be here,” she replied, and gave Armando a reassuring wink.
She scurried off into the woods until she found a large leafy bush to squat behind. She looked back toward the others to make certain none of them could see her. They couldn’t, and she began to unbutton her pants. Suddenly, a stick on the ground snapped behind her. She whipped around and looming just behind her stood Travis.
She opened her mouth to scream, but he quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. Panic began to rip through her and she allowed her survival instinct to take control. She thrashed wildly and made multiple attempts to slap him. Travis responded by grabbing a handful of her hair, yanking her head violently back. She reluctantly ceased fighting.
“Sweetheart, the best thing for you to do is be quiet,” he whispered. “I’m going to take my hand off of your mouth, but if you scream, I’ll shoot you. I’ll make it look like you were trying to run away.”
She looked into his eyes and could easily see that he was serious.
He briefly looked away from her to make sure they were out of view. He could hear Angus yelling at Osvaldo, clearly unaware that he and Lucy were still gone. He reached down for her pants and Lucy closed her eyes tightly, preparing for the worst. Ironically, the first thing that popped in her head was Armando. Was Angus serious about shooting him after two minutes? If two minutes hadn’t passed yet, it had to be extremely close. She felt the waistband on her pants loosen and she knew he’d managed to work the button loose.
***
“I’m beginning to think that you’re stalling!”
“No, I’m trying to be sure,” Osvaldo replied. He wasn’t lying and he wished the old man would believe him. He was so close to finding the fountain, but he didn’t want to screw up and go the wrong way. His gut was telling him to go right.
“My patience is wearing thin, Osvaldo!”
“Okay! I think the cave is this way,” he growled back, pointing. “But don’t blame me if I’m wrong. You rushed me.”
“I hope for your sake you’re not wrong,” Angus replied, and then he glanced at his watch. “Mrs. Baker should’ve been back by now.”
Armando heard him and immediately fell to the ground and began to sob.
“Shut up, boy!” Angus spat. “I’m not going to kill you. Travis go look for Mrs. Baker, but be quick about it. If she ran off, then let her go. I don’t think we need her anymore.”
He turned around when he did not receive a response from Travis. “Travis? Frank, where is Travis?”
Frank looked around and shrugged.
A second later, they heard Travis scream in horror.
***
Travis pushed Lucy onto her back and knelt down over her. He was surprised at how calm she was about it all. But then again, he hadn’t done anything yet. He grabbed her pants at the hips and began to jerk them down when suddenly a look of fear and panic appeared on her face.
“Honey, don’t worry. I won’t hurt you,” he whispered, he looked into her eyes, but she wasn’t looking into his. She appeared to be looking past him, over his shoulder.
Travis whipped his head around, and suddenly, he was the one feeling panic and terror. Just behind him, standing almost twenty feet high and eerily quiet, a female tyrannosaur was curiously staring at him.
Travis felt his heart rate race so hard it felt like it would burst out of his chest. He was just about to reach for a handgun he’d laid on the ground beside him when then tyrannosaur dipped at him. He had just enough time to let out a blood-curdling scream.
The last thing Lucy saw was the entire top half of Travis’s body disappearing deep into the jaws of the huge dinosaur. She closed her eyes tightly, but unfortunately, she heard everything. When the tyrannosaur compressed its massive jaws, a multitude of bones cracked and popped all at once. She felt something warm spray across her cheek and knew the liquid was blood. She wanted to open her mouth and scream, but knew doing so would only bring attention to herself. So instead, she stayed put and choked back her fear the best she could.
***
Frank couldn’t believe his eyes when he arrived at the grisly scene. Travis was now in two pieces. Half his body (the waist down) lay about ten yards away from the top half. The tyrannosaur leaned over the top half of the body and nibbled on the dead man’s internal organs. For a moment, Frank thought he would lose his lunch, but then something else caught his eye. Lucy was on the ground nearby, her eyes shut tightly. He could clearly see her trembling; it was a definite sign that she was alive. There was nothing he could do for Travis now, but there was still time to save Lucy. Frank raised the barrel of the rifle and fired two shots into the tyrannosaur’s chest. The animal immediately stood up straight and opened its large jaws, releasing a deafening roar. The only thing the bullets seemed to do was draw attention to him. Frank was in full-fledge panic mode and he clumsily took steps backward. The tyrannosaur began charging toward him, roaring with rage all the way. Frank turned to run, but before he could ever get into a stride, he too felt the massive power of the tyrannosaur’s jaws. The top half of his body disappeared into a veil of darkness, and as he drifted unconscious, he was fully aware that he was in the tyrannosaur’s mouth.
Lucy immediately opened her eyes when she heard the gun shots. She knew that was an incredibly bad idea, but it was too late now. She watched in horror as the tyrannosaur charged at Frank and effortlessly plucked him off the ground. Again, she heard the nauseating sound of bones breaking, but this time, she saw the carnage too. She saw the bright red liquid rain down from the tyrannosaur’s jaws. She had seen enough. She turned to run, but Angus, Osvaldo, and Armando were there. All of them seemed to be nearly overcome with shock.
“Run!” she yelled at them, and she didn’t wait to see if they listened.
***
“Oh my God,” Silas said. “Was that a—?”
“Tyrannosaur,” Jonathon interrupt
ed. “It’s a tyrannosaur, and it sounds really angry.”
“It doesn’t sound that far away,” Silas replied.
Jonathon took a couple of steps in the direction he thought the sound came from. “God, I hope that Lucy wasn’t…”
“We don’t know if they are anywhere near that thing,” Silas said, trying to comfort him.
Jonathon didn’t seem to hear him. He just took off running.
Chapter 24:
Lucy ran with all her might and never bothered to look back. The tyrannosaur let out another shrill bellow, and it made her legs pump harder. She ran until her side hurt and her clothes were literally drenching with perspiration. When she finally felt she’d gone far enough, Lucy collapsed to the ground on her hands in knees. It was then that she could finally let her emotions catch up with her. She let out a scream and the tears began to flow heavily. She sobbed uncontrollably for what seemed like several minutes. Finally, she felt a hand grip her shoulder.
“It’s alright, dear,” Angus said. He’d clearly had trouble keeping up as he panted heavily.
Lucy looked past him and was pleased to see that Osvaldo and Armando had escaped too. They both fell to the ground, too exhausted to run any further. Once she knew Osvaldo and Armando were safe, her mood quickly turned into anger. She glared up at Angus, her blood now boiling.
“No, you stupid old man. Things are not alright at all,” she growled. “It’s because of you that your men are both dead. Travis deserved it, but Frank actually tried to save me!”
Angus released her shoulder and took a step back. He looked ten years older, and for a moment, Lucy believed she’d gotten to him. For a moment, she actually believed that he was feeling some regret.
“It’s unfortunate what happened to them, my dear.” He paused, and then sighed. “However, they’d want us to push forward. We’re so close now,” he said nonchalantly.
Lucy felt her jaw drop in disbelief and she was seconds away from physically assaulting the man when Osvaldo called out to them.
“This is it! We found it,” he shouted excitedly.
Lucy looked around and finally spotted what Osvaldo had grown so excited about. A couple hundred feet away from them the large mouth of a cave opened behind a curtain of vines and leafy greenery.
“I don’t believe it,” Angus whispered. “Finally, I’ve found it!”
The cave entrance stood about twenty feet tall and was nearly thirty feet wide. It was impossible to see anything within the cave. The shroud of darkness inside momentarily spoiled the joyous moment for Angus. With the thoughts of the tyrannosaur still fresh in his mind, visions of all sorts of dinosaurs waiting for them within the cave gave him a shiver.
Osvaldo seemed unnerved and began to approach the entrance with a flashlight in his hand. Lucy wondered why he would act so carelessly, but then it occurred to her that he’d probably reached the point where he didn’t care if he lived or died. If he could just get his grandson off the island, he would probably be happy. He believed he was moments away from reaching that goal. She wanted to call out to him and tell him to stop, but she stopped short of it. It may have been for her own selfish reasons. Someone had to go in and check it out, and there was no way it was going to be her. She watched helplessly as he disappeared into the darkness, but prayed silently that he would return.
“Do you see anything?” Angus called out.
For a long moment, there was no response, but finally Osvaldo returned into the daylight. “Come on, the fountain is still here,” he said, a wide smile on his face.
Angus took long strides to quickly make his way along the rocky path that led into the darkness of the cave. Lucy and Armando followed closely behind, because for now it seemed they would be safer with them in the cave, than they would be outside with a tyrannosaur nearby.
***
Silas struggled to keep up with Jonathon, and momentarily lost sight of him as he ran carelessly through the dense vegetation. Every few minutes, Jonathon would have to stop and slash through the dense foliage, thus allowing Silas to catch up. He finally caught up to him again, but this time, Jonathon hadn’t stopped to cut down any vines or bushes. He just stopped abruptly and seemed to be staring at something. He heard Silas coming, and he turned toward him and motioned for him to be quiet. Silas slowed his pace and crept up next to him. What he saw scared him to death.
“I think it's Travis,” Jonathon whispered as he stood over what appeared to be a chewed-up torso.
Silas opened his mouth, but found himself unable to speak.
“Look over there,” Jonathon said, pointing.
Silas squinted, but easily spotted a large tyrannosaur leaning forward and eating something on the ground.
“I think it’s a safe guess to say the rest of him is somewhere over there,” Jonathon whispered.
Silas swallowed and felt the blood rush away from his face. He felt sick. Then he heard a sound somewhere to his left, it sounded like a twig snapping. He squinted and looked into the foliage for some sign of movement; he was just about to give up when he saw it.
“Jonathon,” he whispered, panic in his voice.
“What?”
“Look,” he replied, pointing.
Jonathon stared for almost a solid minute and didn’t see anything. He was beginning to think his friend was getting paranoid when finally he saw it too. A large eye blinked, and once he caught sight of the eye, the rest of the Velociraptor seemed to materialize among the surrounding plants. It was very well camouflaged and nearly impossible to see. It was only fifty feet away, and it was standing deadly still.
“Velociraptor. They’re probably all around us waiting for the right moment to attack. Follow me…very slowly,” Jonathon commanded. He began taking steps backward. Silas followed his lead and found himself desperately wanting his hunting rifle.
“What are we going to do?”
Jonathon clenched his jaw and thought. The truth was, he really didn’t know what to do. What he did know is that they had very little time to figure it out. The animals were pack hunters and they no doubt were all around them. All he could think of was the bloody massacre of the Stygimolochs they’d witnessed earlier.
“The best thing for us to do is pretend like we don’t even know they’re there. We’ve got to find somewhere to hide, and fast. Just walk as calmly as you can.”
They walked for what seemed like an hour, although in truth it was probably only fifteen minutes. Jonathon felt as if every step would be his last. He listened hard for any sound of movement in the foliage, and occasionally, he did hear a twig snap. Silas appeared calm on the outside, but Jonathon suspected he was a basket case on the inside. And who could blame him? Suddenly, Silas tugged on Jonathon’s shirt sleeve.
He turned to see what the matter was and Silas pointed toward a large hill to the west.
“What about it?”
Silas seemed puzzled by the question and shook his head. “You don’t see it?”
Jonathon looked again. “What are you talking about, I don’t—” And then he saw it. “Is that a cave?”
“I think so. Do you think we can hide from them there?”
Jonathon mulled it over. He didn’t know what would keep the raptors from just following them into the cave. Furthermore, there may be something else bigger and nastier living in the cave. On the other hand, what choice did they have?
“Let’s go,” he whispered.
***
After a few minutes in the cool darkness of the cave, Lucy’s eyes adjusted to the lack of light. Several feet past the entrance, the cave opened up into a large chamber. There were a few holes in the ceiling of the chamber that allowed piercing shafts of daylight to beam down onto the floor in the center. It was there that she spotted a large, round pool containing the bluest water she’d ever seen. The water literally sparkled when the light hit it.
“The fountain of youth,” Angus whispered, awestruck. “It’s absolutely beautiful.” He looked at the others and smiled
like a kid on Christmas morning. “We’ve found it! I can’t believe we truly found it? Do you know what this means, Ms. Baker?”
Lucy had to admit the sight before her was pretty incredible and it certainly felt magical. However, she would not allow Angus the pleasure of knowing she felt that way. “It’s pretty, Angus, but please think about this before you drink any of the water.”
The toothy smile disappeared from the old man’s face. “Think about what? Ms. Baker, this water will give ever-lasting life, Osvaldo is the proof,” he replied, gesturing toward him.
“Yes, that’s right,” she snapped back. “Osvaldo is the proof. He told us himself that living forever is not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s more of a curse than a blessing.” Lucy felt as if she was wasting her breath, but she pushed the thought aside. Angus Wedgeworth was an evil man and the world didn’t need men like him to live forever. She doubted that talking him out of it was possible, but she had to try.
“Angus, if you drink that water, then you will never die naturally. However, everyone around you will eventually die. I know that you’re so self-absorbed you really don’t care about that, but at some point you will.”
She wanted to say more, but the old man’s expression was smug. He clearly wasn’t getting anything she was saying. Osvaldo suddenly spoke up.
“And do not forget that you can die. If you sustain a mortal injury, you will die just like everyone else. But that is the only way.”
Angus stared at him a moment then laughed. “I’ve gotten by almost eighty years without killing myself. I think I’ve got that part pretty well mastered.”
“Yes, but when you live as long as I have, you will begin to contemplate things that you would never ordinarily think about.”
Angus looked toward the fountain with a longing eye, and then turned his attention back to Osvaldo. “What do you mean?”