Bill looked at his three comrades. “Ledge is it big enough for all four of us?”
The young lad nodded and replied, “Yeah, sure and then some, it goes right under the little waterfall... Why?”
Bill stood perfectly still as he answered the young man’s question.
“Because guys, Rex is back!”
The three slowly turned to see the huge dinosaur wandering in their direction. Bill whispered, “I thought T-rex’s were suppose to be about twenty to thirty feet tall?”
“Maybe it’s the environment...but that son-of-a-bitch has to be at least fifty...sixty...” Jim was interrupted by a body shuddering roar and the Rex sprinted directly for the four explorers. Jim turned to yell ‘Run’, but all he saw was the backsides of the three men sliding over the cliff face onto the ledge below. He didn’t need any prodding as Jim joined them with a sliding drop and if it wasn’t for the young lad’s quick reactions, he might have gone a bit farther than he had planned upon.
“Under the falls.” The older miner shouted as he vanished from view. Over the moderately loud falling water he could be heard shouting, “It’s ok under here, watch your step its slick.”
The men could feel the ground shake as the Rex ran toward them. Jim put his back against the cliff face and controlled his breathing. The shaking stopped and the men held their breaths... Nothing! After several minutes the guys looked at each other... Where was the Rex?”
More time passed and finally Jim slid out from under the waterfall, turned and hugged the cliff and slowly raised to his feet. He looked around and found a tiny foothold and slowly pulled himself up.
Peeking over the crest of the ledge, there was the Rex a mere twenty yards away. Rex was drinking from the only open pool of water in the rocky stream that was large enough for him. He watched the Rex for a while, then slowly lowered himself back to the ledge and sat next to the waterfall.
The three others crawled on their hands and knees, peeked through the waterfall to Jim. They found Jim chuckling. His chuckle turned to a soft laugh as the three poked their heads through the waterfall and looked at him.
“What’s so funny about almost getting eaten?” asked the older miner.
Jim covered his mouth with both hands and laughed. Finally when he got a hold of himself he replied.
“Well first of all, old Rex wasn’t after us, he was after a drink from that pool behind us...it’s probably one of his watering holes. So let’s try to remember that from now on.”
“And that’s funny?” the younger lad asked.
“Naw...the funny thing is old Rex pissed in the water you all are sitting in.” Jim chuckled as the three guys all made grotesque faces. One by one they all slid out of the waterfall and joined Jim on the ledge. Jim looked over at the dripping men and chuckled again.
“You know, I’ll bet that old boy must have pissed fifty gallons.”
Bill snorted something obscene and then added, “Yeah thanks for the info fearless leader. That makes my day knowing that.”
Jim giggled like a little girl, and then the smile vanished. “Seriously guys, just think... Anything we observe should be recorded. We are the first living humans to witness what actual living dinosaurs do. How they behave...stuff like that.”
The young redheaded lad smiled, “You know Jim’s right... Guys we can make history. We need to write all things we see down...document everything.”
Jim pretended to pull out a pad of paper and with an invisible pen began to write...
“Today I saw a T-rex piss fifty gallons at one time...all over my three comrades.” Jim’s grin vanished when he looked up and saw the frowns on his three pals. “Ok, we’ll skip the last part.
There was a roar and the ground shook and as the shaking got softer and eventually subsided as Jim peeked up and over the lip of the cliff. With a sigh he saw the Rex vanishing into the trees at a rapid pace. He pulled himself up and over after moving several loose rocks. Jim kept low and moved to one car sized boulder near the cliff and hid behind it. After several minutes he whistled and Bill’s head popped up and Jim waved him to join him and to keep low. Once Bill got there a final check for danger was made and Jim told Bill to get the others.
Bill ran over to the cliff and held his hand as the older miner began to climb to the top. He slipped and reached for Bill’s hand but missed. Bill dropped to his chest on the rocks and grasped at the miner who was now falling backward and out of Bill’s reach. As the miner fell backward he reached out and grasped the redheaded lads shirt. With a surprised and shocked look on his face, the lad joined his elder on the long journey downward through the clouds to the waiting mountains below.
Bill stared in horror as Jim scrambled over just in time to see the pair vanish through the clouds. Bill looked over to Jim.
“He slipped before he could grab my hand... Neither one screamed.... My God, neither of them screamed... And the look on their faces...”
Jim put his hand on Bill’s shoulder reassuringly and gently patted his back.
“They probably didn’t want to attract Rex, Bill. They know the danger of making sounds. And don’t blame yourself I saw the whole thing. He wasn’t even close to your hand, there’s no way in hell you could have grabbed him.”
Jim looked from Bill to the clouds below, “They died as silent heroes my friend...not a scream came from their lips.”
Slowly the two men arose and turned back toward the cave. Day two had brought tragedy and now they had to return and tell the others.
Chapter 5.
Even though they had finished the road up to the face of the cliff in one day, the sad news dampened their spirits. Both the lift for cargo and the cage for people had nearly been finished by late afternoon, but the mood was somber. The two lookouts from the plane were the first to be lifted to the ledge by the cage with waist high railings and as it slid upward along the two sets of rails Marti had created, they were amazed at the smoothness of the ride.
So much had been accomplished in one day...so much lost.
The sun neared the mountains in the west and all minds were turned to constructing some sort of a more permanent wall at the cave entrance. Everyone remembered the bats from the night before and didn’t want another incident.
No more losses would be acceptable, but in their hearts, the survivors knew there would be some... Perhaps many.
The band of survivors managed to get the frame for the cave entrance built out of the ‘roof jacks’ and four inch steel ‘I’ beams. These jacks could be screwed tightly upward to brace the roof of a mineshaft. This feature proved to be invaluable as they screwed them tight against the I-beam at the entrance ceiling. They welded pipes for cross support using one of the two portable welders in the cargo bay. Where the corrugated metal panels had not been installed, the tarp was tied back in place as the sun began to set. Those still outside hurried back to the safety of the now covered cave entrance as the darkness fell across the immense valley. They were once again secure for the night and knew the rest of the wall could be finished within a few hours in the morning.
Safely inside, dinner was prepared by Armondo, who as if turned out was quite a fine cook. On the down side, food was running low. Supplies like food were sitting back at the 777’s home base awaiting to be shipped on the next flight. Armondo informed the rest, they had barely one more week of food left... and that was only if they used it sparingly.
“I wonder if dinosaur tastes like chicken?” one miner exclaimed loudly to the chuckles of the rest.
Jim laughed and knew inside, this was more than a feeble humor attempt.
“Gang, tomorrow while you all are finishing the front wall and create some sort of a door, I’m going on a little hunting trip. If there are big dinosaurs, there has to be smaller ones for the big ones to eat.” He glanced around the main cave and in the flickering firelight grinned, “Hell, maybe they do taste like chicken.”
Armondo’s roaring laugh echoed in the large antechamber, “Yeah...really ol
d prehistoric chicken!” That garnered laughter from all present.
Will leaned forward and stared into the fire pit they had made to use for cooking and a communal gathering place.
“You know there is that section of the valley about five miles west where the mountains narrow. We never can see how far west that goes. Then there are those other dinosaur sounds we heard from that direction.”
“When was this?” Bill asked.
Will chuckled, “While you guys were out getting chased by old Rex. Everyone except the machinery drivers herd sounds from the west, especially around early morning and evening. It’s like the dinosaurs are calling each other, warning of the night and calling to celebrate the dawn.”
Marcy sat next to Will. “After we get the wall finished and the tarps set like awnings to keep the sun off the metal wall... perhaps some of us should go and check out the western areas. There could be an easier way out of this fuc.... er freakin’ valley.”
Jim nodded in agreement. There was a moment of silence and then Jim slowly spoke as if his plans were being laid as he spoke.
“I’ll take two men with me, three of the canteens and a third of the food. We’ll hunt and explore... I’m guessing we’ll be gone three...maybe four days. First we’ll head directly for the western side of this valley, beyond what we can see from here and at least get the lay of the land. We’ll make a simple map, possible ways out and mark any additional sources of safe water or water we may have to cross. But guys... there’s also a good chance we might be gone for a week or more, it all depends on what we stumble across. If that happens, we will definitely be living off the land.”
As Jim paused everyone around the fire threw up their hands and shouted they volunteered. Jim smiled. “Marti, you’re needed here as our only engineer. Marcy you and Bill know the aircraft and as we are stripping a lot from it, need to be here.” He looked at Will and snickered, “You as a foreman are useless...” roaring laughter ensued.
“On the other hand Will you’re strong and resourceful... You get to come and play hide and seek with me. Armondo... Hell, you’re just too damned fat.”
Armondo patted his huge stomach and grinned. Jim looked over the miners.
“Gerome, isn’t it?”
The tall, thin Latin stood and grinned at Jim. “Nawh...” he snorted, “...they call me Spider. They call me that because I can crawl into places that no one else can. I should add I’m also the best hunter and guide in all of...”
Jesus nodded, “That’s very true senor. No one can crawl out of a window as fast as Spider when the senora’s husbands come home.” With that and a lot of laughing, Spider was welcomed as the third of the tiny group of explorers. With the addition of Rocky and Amal the party was complete and would set out in the morning.
As the night wore on the main gathering broke up as people had picked spots among the cave’s multi-leveled, antechamber. Some had claimed large holes where water had hollowed out limestone in the granite centuries ago. Others had taken the stone shelves that scattered the floor. The farther back, the higher the sleeping plateaus were. Some of the guys bunked together, while others had claimed areas just large enough for themselves.
The two women had picked a very small side cave that connected the main cave and the smaller ‘bathroom’ cave. This smaller sized cave gave the girls enough room to put up a large tarp over the side entrance as people walked through to the bathroom, yet was far enough back so the women had plenty of privacy.
One of the small generators ran to the rear of the ‘restroom’ cave... or ‘crapper’ as the guys called it. The miners had built two stalls to the side of the crapper’s entrance and laid pipe for flushing water. Larger pipe was used for sewage to the two commodes and the two washstand style sinks they had.
Water was retrieved when the miners drilled through the cave wall and shoved a large pipe through the wall into the waterfall a short ways beyond the cave wall. By cutting the top third of the pipe water flowed into the pipe and into the cave to a huge plastic water storage tank they had on board the 777. So much was accomplished in such little time. But the truth was, everyone hurried to build a comfortable shelter ...so they could get on with the thought of getting the hell off this mountain.
The generator ran at the rear of the bathroom cave, vented to the outside and enclosed in soundproof blankets that had been stripped from the aircraft. The new LED lighting was sprinkled around the caves and softly lit the areas of the cave. It was looking like this surviving thing was more like a vacation... If it wasn’t for the fact they could be eaten at any time by dinosaurs.
The exploration was put off the next few days as rain poured down and the creek began to rise making it hard for workers to keep unloading the aircraft’s bay, but they managed to do a lot of extra work that had to be done around the cave. Instead of using the hoists, they now had the small dozer up on the ledge and using that powered winch, made the lift faster and in an emergency, the dozer could drive into the cave, pulling the lift up even faster. Will and the dozer driver taught everyone to operate it...just in case.
Marti stayed all day in the aircraft with Marcy and with two lookouts above, watching for danger. As the miners came and went as they waded through the knee deep swollen creek. They formed a line in the water and passed the smaller cargo to the shore and the awaiting skids that sat on the newly defined banks. Little by little the cargo bay was getting emptier. Parts needed from the 777 were stripped and knowing the 777’s aerial was fried, Marcy tried in vain to create a makeshift antenna. After hours of trying every frequency, she gave up... about the same time as the aircraft’s batteries completely failed. They were then removed and taken to the cave to be recharged and used for the low voltage lighting.
Sitting in the dusky grey cabin of the aircraft she once flew, Marcy folded the logbook, placed it in her knapsack, and snapped it shut. She sighed, knowing this one of a kind aircraft would never soar through the billowing clouds again, and that made her sad. She had spend the day ripping out wire, metal cables, and other things that could come in handy later on. Stripping the guts out of the flying behemoth she loved, was the saddest thing she had done in years.
There was a light touch on her shoulder and she thought her heart was going to leap from her chest. She swung around with a frightened squeal to see the giggling Marti standing there.
“If you ever tell the guys I squealed like a little girl... Marti... I’ll... I’ll...”
Marti smiled and climbed in the Captain’s seat. “My word, I won’t... Wow, so this is where you two have your office huh?” She flicked several of the dead switches, and then slowly moved her hand across the Captain’s instrument panel.
“Jim’s a good pilot I assume because he sure is a great guy.”
Marcy sat in the engineer’s seat and sighed, “Yeah, he is a great guy and a great pilot. It’s a shame he lost this aircraft. He won’t let anyone see it, but even though we had no control on the events that brought us here...” she sighed again sadly, “He’s blaming himself and I know it will eat at him.” Marcy looked over at Marti and smiled.
“Look I can see you care a lot about him... Maybe more than you let on, but don’t worry Jim’s the kind of guy that won’t let something like this... make him lose it. Christ, I’ve flown through some hairy skies with him, even seen him take on four guys and he... not for one minute, lost his ability to fight, to think...” she smiled, “...to win.”
“Maybe if things were different. Maybe if I had met him somewhere else, under different circumstances...” Marti’s mind was starting some daydream and that began to tick Marcy off.
Marcy frowned at her new girlfriend, “What the hell? What? You expect him to take you out to dinner? To a movie or dancing? You’d want to get to know him better under those circumstances, but not here? Jim might need a soft shoulder to rest his head on, to tell him...reassure him, we have faith in him.”
Marti slowly got out of Jim’s seat and slid her hand across it softly
.
“He shows no interest in me at all. I know you said you didn’t think of him as a boyfriend, but I don’t think...”
Marcy laughed in her musical tone and laid her hand on Marti’s arm.
“Girl, Jim’s a professional. Don’t you see Marti, you’re his passenger. Just another survivor he’s responsible for and as long as you act the part, Jim will treat you as such.”
Marti started to say more, but there was a shout and in the very distance they could hear the last dozer’s engine roar as he headed toward the cliff. Two legs poked through the top hatch in the plane, followed by the rest of the first lookout as he slid into the aircraft.
“Head for the back...Rex snuck up on us... Shit! That mother was just there and...”
The entire aircraft shuddered with such force the three were thrown to the cockpit’s floor. More crashing and the second lookout’s legs appeared through the hatch... and fell to the floor... without the rest of his body! The lookout’s face paled, his voice trembled,
“Where’s the rest of Sergio?” he started to get to his feet, but Marcy pulled him back down. There was a horrid scratching sound, some loud thumps as the cockpit’s ceiling crumpled inward slightly and a huge dark shape slid past the cockpit windows. A loud gravelly thud ensued as the T-rex hit the ground just below the nose of the aircraft.
“I hope that broke his fuckin’ neck!” Marcy stood and screamed out the now shattered front glass of the plane. The weight of the Rex had damaged what the pilots called the windscreen. It shattered as well as part of the roof had collapsed where the cockpit windows had once been.
There was a loud thrashing sound then an ear-splitting roar. Marcy peeked through the folded metal roof to see Rex straighten upright, roar again and then limp on back to the giant forested area to the south.
As shouts from the men running toward the plane became louder, Marcy asked Marti, “Why was it you came up here anyhow? To talk about Jim?”
Valley of Lost Time. Page 5