by C. G. Mosley
“We’ve got another mile or so and we should be there,” Cold answered.
Truthfully, they could’ve gotten there even faster but Cold purposely took them along a somewhat longer route to avoid finding the remains of Hank Bailey. That, he knew, would cause complications he simply did not want to contend with. The task at hand was simple: Get the water, and get off the island. Dr. Charlotte Nelson was, in his mind, as good as dead. Trying to venture deep into the den of the Troodons was a careless risk that he had no intention of taking.
In the distance, across the valley, they all watched in awe as a herd of sauropods marched majestically toward the large lake in the middle of the clearing. They seemed to have not a care in the world, and certainly knew nothing of their impending doom.
“They really are amazing,” Harley said as she walked casually alongside Jonathon. “There can’t be very many animals here that would be able to harm them.”
Jonathon nodded as he too stared at them appreciatively. “No, just tyrannosaurs and the Spinosaurus…that’s pretty much it,” he answered. “The young ones have to worry about smaller predators, but usually the adults are there to protect them if need be.”
“Speaking of tyrannosaurs,” Harley said. “I haven’t seen one since we’ve been here.”
“You don’t want to,” Mr. Cold said quickly.
Jonathon chuckled. “He’s absolutely right about that,” he said. “Trust me, you don’t want to be in the vicinity of one of those.”
Harley looked around her, scanning the environment. “So where are they… I mean, how close are we to their territory?”
“Too close,” Jonathon answered. “They frequently hunt in this valley, which is why I’m eager to get away from it.”
“Not that much farther,” Cold said, hearing Jonathon’s concern. “Once we reach the jungle, we’ve got another half mile to go and we should be there.”
“Wait, something is wrong,” Harley said suddenly, pointing toward the herd of sauropods. “They’re running away from the water.”
Jonathon looked in the direction she was pointing and noticed that the mammoth animals were indeed galloping away from the water. His first thought was that Harley was going to get to see her first tyrannosaur, but seconds later, he realized that wasn’t what spooked them at all.
“Not again,” Cold said, stopping.
The ground began to shake and there was an audible rumbling sound that they could hear underneath the earth. “That doesn’t sound good,” Harley said. “Our time must be really short now.”
The three of them stood still, waiting on the shaking to stop, but it intensified to the point of causing Cold and Harley to fall to the ground. Jonathon almost went down also, but barely managed to keep his balance. All around them, the dinosaurs of the island bellowed and wailed their frightened cries. It was a sickening sound and Jonathon thought it would never end.
Just as he thought things could get no worse, a terrifying roar rolled across the valley from the opposite side.
“What was that?” Harley asked, immediately pointing the rifle toward the dark jungle where the sound originated.
“That is the sound of a scared Tyrannosaurus rex,” Jonathon said. “We need to leave…now.” He turned and began to jog toward the cover of the jungle.
Harley and Mr. Cold scrambled to their feet to do the same. The earth continued to shake and it made running an awkward and clumsy task. It was Jonathon’s turn to fall over, and Mr. Cold fell again as well. Harley paused to try and help both men up. She looked over her shoulder and at that moment, she finally understood what Jonathon meant about not wanting to see the tyrannosaur in person.
“Oh my God,” she said, her eyes wide with terror.
Jonathon immediately recognized the fear in her expression and knew what she was seeing. He looked behind him and found two large tyrannosaurs lumbering across the valley, each of them taking turns throwing their heads back and releasing their deafening roars.
“What are they doing?” Cold asked in amazement.
“They’re scared,” Jonathon answered. “They’re just as confused as everything else is on this island.”
“Does that mean they won’t bother us?” Harley asked.
Jonathon stared at the massive creatures and desperately wanted to give Harley the answer she wanted. However, their current trajectory and speed didn’t make him very confident. The earth finally began to settle down and the shaking ceased. Jonathon immediately scrambled to his feet.
“Run! Now!” he said, unable to hide his fear.
Harley and Mr. Cold chased after him with all the speed they could muster.
“If we make it into the jungle, we’ll have a chance,” Jonathon yelled over his shoulder. He could hear the tyrannosaur’s large three-toed feet slamming against the earth loudly as they continued to chase them.
They were almost to the jungle when suddenly the nightmare they were experiencing turned from bad to worse. Immediately in front of them, another monstrous dinosaur stormed out of the jungle with an explosive fury made evident by the creature’s own nightmarish roar. It was the lone Spinosaurus on the island. The beast’s roar seemed full of pain and rage. Jonathon immediately noticed that the animal’s slender skull was torn and bloody. One of its eyes appeared to be gouged out, and each time it opened its jaws, he could see that the roof of the animal’s mouth appeared to be burned and blackened.
What on earth happened to you? Jonathon wondered as he stopped dead in his tracks.
“Oh my God, what do we do now?” Harley asked.
“The sonic cannon, I think it’s time to use it,” Jonathon answered, pointing to the strange weapon strapped to her back.
Harley frantically reached for the weapon and prepared to aim at the Spinosaurus.
“There is no time for that!” Cold said, and before Jonathon had a chance to talk him out of it, he began to open fire on the approaching Spinosaurus.
The giant beast immediately felt the bullets pelt the tough flesh on its chest, but the gunfire did little to no damage. The angry dinosaur roared again like a medieval dragon and before Cold had any time to react, he was plucked from the ground and tossed aside like a Frisbee. Harley and Jonathon watched in horror as the man flew at least fifty yards through the air and they simultaneously winced as they heard his body slam to earth with a sickening thud.
Harley finally readied the sonic cannon, but it was too late, the Spinosaurus was upon them. She screamed as she placed her finger on the trigger. The animal was just about to trample over her when she instinctively rolled to the right. Jonathon was forced to run in the opposite direction and in doing so, tripped and hit his head hard on a rock. He laid on his back and felt himself on the verge of losing consciousness.
No! he willed himself. Get up!
As he struggled to remain awake, he suddenly realized that the Spinosaurus wasn’t targeting them at all. It clearly was after what had been approaching from behind them. The two tyrannosaurs roared with fury as they crashed into their larger adversary. The Spinosaurus wasted no time in snapping its jaws closed onto the neck of the one that met it first. The other tyrannosaur sunk its sharp teeth onto the Spinosaurus’s right arm, but the furious creature clamped its jaws even tighter onto the throat of the first victim.
Jonathon watched in awe as the tyrannosaur that was trapped in the Spinosaurus’s mouth thrashed wildly in an effort to wrench itself free, but as more and more blood began to ooze from the wounds where the needle-like teeth had pierced deeply into its throat, the animal’s movements became more lethargic until the point of no movement at all. The first tyrannosaur had been strangled to death.
Jonathon felt warm blood running down the side of his head and into his ear. He knew that if he and Harley were going to escape, now was their moment. He got on his hands and knees and immediately began looking for her. She’d rolled across the ground on the other side of the Spinosaurus, but after he’d hit his head, he’d lost sight of her. He felt his
heart rate pick up significantly as the two remaining dinosaurs continued their fight to the death. As soon as there was a victor, he was very cognizant of the fact that he and Harley would become the prize. As he moved behind the Spinosaurus in search of Harley, he curiously looked up and noticed that the remaining tyrannosaur had all but ripped the right arm of the larger dinosaur completely off. It was a bloody mess and would never be used again. Returning his attention to the task at hand, Jonathon crawled over to where he’d last seen Harley. She was nowhere to be found.
For a moment, he wondered if perhaps she’d run into the jungle. He certainly hoped that was the case, but as he was just about to turn away, he noticed something troubling on the ground another ten feet away. The now broken sonic cannon was lying there, but perhaps more troubling, there was quite a bit of blood spattered on the grass around it.
As the Spinosaurus began to get the upper hand on the now bloody tyrannosaur, Jonathon used his hand to clear the blood off the side of his head. He then wiped it on his pants as he stood. He took one final moment to look around for any sign of Harley. When he saw none, he gripped the large flamethrower in his hands and began to sprint toward the shadowy jungle.
Just as he took refuge under the canopy of the trees, he glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the other tyrannosaur fall lifeless to the ground. The victorious Spinosaurus stomped its large clawed foot on top of its kill and released a furious roar that rattled every bone in Jonathon’s body. The monstrous beast then began to feed on its new meal, completely unaware of Jonathon’s narrow escape.
Chapter 26
Glenn Hardcastle had moved through the jungle with a great deal of stealth. It wasn’t hard because there was a part of him that couldn’t shake the feeling that the Velociraptors could still be nearby and waiting for their moment to finish him off. He was more than willing to take his time and move at as slow a pace as necessary to keep him from getting attacked again.
His injured arm ached so badly at times that he worried he would pass out, but it was the fear of the Velociraptors again that seemed to motivate him to remain conscious. Multiple times, the sounds of twigs snapping in his vicinity made him pause and search his surroundings for any sign of the vicious pack hunter. No matter how much he tried to push the thought that he was being watched aside, it seemed his mind would refuse to cooperate.
As if his terrible injury and his mind weren’t making things hard enough, there had been another earthquake. This one had probably been the worst of all. The earth shook so violently that he was forced to kneel on one knee to keep from falling over. Not only was it the most intense, but it seemed to last longer than any of the ones before it. Hardcastle didn’t know how long they had, but he was beginning to wonder if the ship was going to be too late to rescue them.
He had estimated that he was roughly halfway to the beach when once again he heard the sound of movement somewhere beyond a crop of tropical flowers to his right. As he’d done countless times before, Hardcastle paused and watched intensely for any sign of movement. He was just about to take another step forward when he spotted exactly what he’d feared the most. About sixty yards to his right and just beyond the colorful flowering vegetation, Hardcastle spotted two raptors walking slowly in the same direction that he was going.
He glanced at his watch and realized he only had an hour before the ship was scheduled to arrive. It was very important that he was on the beach when their help emerged from beyond the wall of mist. Obviously, he was powerless to do anything if the island began to turn into an erupting volcano before it arrived, but he had to assume that would not be the case. If he got himself killed, it could be catastrophic for Jonathon and the others that were depending on him. If no one was there when the ship emerged, it was very likely that they’d all be feared dead and in turn, the ship would probably leave. The presence of the Velociraptors made things significantly more difficult, but he had to find a way to succeed.
***
Jonathon had entered full-fledged panic mode. Harley was absolutely nowhere in sight and there wasn’t the slightest sign of where she’d been. The only thing he knew to do now was to continue the trek toward the cave. It was his hope that maybe Harley had escaped the fighting dinosaurs before him and was now somewhere ahead. With any luck, they’d both meet up at the entrance to the cave and enter it together.
The panic and uncertainty he was feeling had given him a boost of adrenaline. As exhausted as he was, he continued to run. Jonathon felt if he could just reach the cave he could not only put his attention on finding Charlie, but it would also probably let him know Harley’s fate. It was the unknown that was driving him crazy. The last thing he wanted to happen was for him find both women dead and be forced to return to the beach alone. If that happened, he didn’t know how he’d be able to live with himself.
It had been almost ten years since the last time that Jonathon had entered the cave. He kept thinking he’d come across something that looked familiar and reminded him that he was on the right track. Unfortunately, due to years of new growth and fresh storm damage, he saw nothing that jogged his memory. Jonathon was on the verge of thinking that perhaps he’d missed it, or gone the wrong direction altogether. In his haste to escape the dinosaurs that were fighting, he’d forgotten all about the GPS unit that Mr. Cold was using to guide them on the right path.
His head ached from the abuse it had taken over the past two days. The gash on his face still burned to the point that he was almost certain infection had set in. The new wound he’d sustained when his head hit a rock half an hour before certainly wasn’t helping. The blood on the side of his face was now dried, and his hat now felt glued to his hair. If it weren’t for the adrenaline, he wondered if he’d even be able to continue under the circumstances.
Just as he was beginning to lose hope of finding the cave at all, he tore through a thicket of ferns and suddenly he saw it. At nearly thirty feet wide, and twenty feet tall, the mouth of the cave was black and ominous. Just as he’d remembered, there were curtains of vines and other leafy vegetation that hung from the top of the opening providing perfect camouflage that would make it hard to notice for the unobservant passerby. There was no sign of Harley. As he stood in front of the entrance, he paused a moment, panting. His outer shirt was soaked with sweat and blood. In an effort to reach some tolerable level of comfort, Jonathon ripped his shirt open and tossed it aside as the buttons bounced off the rocky ground under his boots. His sleeveless white T-shirt was dirty and bloody also, but considerably less so.
Jonathon knew practically nothing about the military-style flamethrower but thankfully Harley was a good teacher. She’d taught him how to light the pilot flame and explained that once he pulled the trigger, a valve would open and release the pressurized flammable liquid. Once it crossed over the pilot igniter, the flames expelled could reach targets up to one hundred feet away. She also cautioned him to be precise and conservative since the flammable liquid would run out quickly. He also had a handgun at his disposal tucked away in the back of his pants. Part of him wished that he’d grabbed a rifle also, but the weight of the flamethrower and its tank was tough enough for him to handle in his exhausted state.
With the weapon readied and his anxiety level through the roof, Jonathon began walking into the darkness of the cave. Once fully enveloped in the darkness, Jonathon waited patiently for his eyes to adjust. It was tempting to fire a burst of flame ahead of him just so that he’d see what he was walking into, but Harley’s advice of using the weapon conservatively weighed heavily on his mind. Despite the darkness, the cool and damp environment was a welcome change from the typically hot and humid conditions outside.
Just as his eyes finally began to adjust, Jonathon came across several shafts of light that shone down from the ceiling of the cave and directly into a pool of water on the stone floor. The water was the bluest he’d ever seen and sparkled majestically in the light. It was the fountain of youth, the object on the island that had indirectl
y caused so many deaths. Jonathon had forgotten how the water seemed to beckon whoever was around to come and take a drink. There was no doubt a supernatural element about it and it seemed that this time the temptation to drink from the fountain was even stronger than before.
He stared at the water for a long moment and almost felt as if he’d entered some sort of trance. There was a presence in the shadows behind him watching intensely. The presence paced slowly but made sure to stay within the shroud of the shadows. The animal’s cat-like eyes provided it with excellent night vision and the cover of darkness was its preferred environment for hunting. Jonathon did not sense the stalking Troodon as he continued to stare at the enchanting blue liquid.
Suddenly, he heard a soft groan from the opposite wall of the cave from the hidden Troodons. It was a woman’s voice and it immediately pulled him from the spell the water had temporarily placed him under. He turned away from the fountain and jogged over to a large, darkened crevice in the cave wall. It was there that he found Harley. Jonathon was immediately overcome with a strong sense of relief.
“Are you alright?” he whispered.
She was seated on the stone floor and was bleeding badly, but he was unable to tell from where. She looked up at him when she heard his voice and her eyes had a glazed look about them that scared him. She’d apparently lost a lot of blood.
“J-Jonathon,” she stammered weakly.
“Yes,” he said. “It’s me…I’m getting you out of here.” He knelt down and attempted to pull her up.
With what seemed to be almost all of the strength she could muster, Harley pushed him away. “No,” she groaned a little louder than he’d have liked. “Get Dr. Nelson.”
Jonathon’s heart leapt. “Charlie? She’s alive?” he asked as he pulled away from her.
Harley swallowed and nodded. The small amount of illumination that originated from the shafts of light was enough for him to see the glistening sheen of sweat all over her face. She didn’t look good and he found himself wondering how he’d even get her to the beach. He shook the thought from his head and decided he’d carry her if that was what it took.