by Rick Poldark
Trevino stepped on the brake and came to a stop. Tracey hopped out, her eyes darting back and forth all over the dirt. She walked twenty feet away from the Humvee and crouched.
“Keep your eyes peeled on the tree line,” she heard Trevino tell Roach.
She reached down and probed the dirt with her finger. “I’ve got tracks!”
“Anything we need to worry about?” asked Roach.
Tracey followed the direction of the tracks, out further into the clearing. She squinted her eyes, extended an arm, and pointed her right index finger. “Take me there.”
Trevino and Roach both turned to look where she was pointing. “What’s there?” asked Trevino.
Tracey stood, dusting off her thighs with her hands. “That’s where the tracks lead. There’s something there.”
“I gotta radio this in,” said Trevino. He grabbed his radio. “Stallion to Chief. Come in.”
“Stallion?” Tracey rolled her eyes. “I thought you guys were supposed to be like ‘B2 to B7’ and such.”
Trevino winked at her. “This is private sector, doc.”
His radio crackled. ‘Yeah, what is it, Stallion?”
“Dr. Moran has found something.”
‘What is it?’
Trevino pulled his radio away from his mouth and looked at Tracy, waiting.
“There are prints,” said Tracey. “They don’t look like theropods, but I want to check it out anyway.”
Trevino got on his radio again. “They’re not theropods, but she wants to check it out.”
‘So, check it out,’ said Collins.
“Copy that. Over and out.” Trevino jerked his head, indicating for Tracey to hop in. “Let’s go, doc.”
Tracey rounded the Humvee and pulled herself inside, and Trevino took off. Tracey looked back at Roach manning the grenade launcher. His eyes were peeled on the terrain ahead while keeping an eye on the tree line. Suddenly, his eyes widened. “We’ve got dinos!” He trained the grenade launcher straight ahead.
Tracey turned around and saw what he saw. Trevino hit the brakes, and the Humvee skidded to a halt in the dirt. “We’ve got dinos,” he gasped.
Tracey hopped out of the Humvee and darted off in their direction.
“Hey, wait!” Trevino called after her.
“Where the hell does she think she’s going?” asked Roach.
Tracey didn’t look back. As she was able to get a better look, her fast walk turned into a jog. Within minutes, she saw them, dozens of them, lying on the ground—most of them dead, the rest dying. “Jesus Christ.”
Lying on the ground, strewn about, were the bodies of a herd of Stegosauruses. Most had been charred almost beyond recognition. If it wasn’t for the tell-tale dorsal plates, she might not have recognized the species right away.
Trevino caught up to her, assault rifle trained at the dead stegosaur in front of her. “What are you, crazy, lady? Never do that.”
“We’re not in any danger,” said Tracey, her tone impatient.
Trevino stepped next to her and nudged the charred body with his boot. “What is it?”
“Stegosaurus,” said Tracey. “A herd of them. The work of your ‘Daisy Cutters.’”
Trevino sighed. “Well, it could’ve just as easily been one of those T. rexes.”
“We can’t leave them here,” said Tracey.
“Why not? There’s nothing that can be done for them now.”
Tracey turned to Trevino. “You’ve been camping, right, Trevino?”
“Sure?” He was unsure of where she was going with this.
“Well, you know how you’re supposed to keep food buttoned up tight so bears don’t smell it and come around?”
“Yeah. You’re worried about bears?”
Tracey shook her head. “The Tyrannosaurus is a scavenger, not just a hunter. If any of them catch a whiff of Stegosaurus barbecue, they’ll come running.”
His eyes widened. “Got it.” He grabbed his radio. “Stallion to Chief, come in.”
‘Chief, here. Go ahead, Stallion.’
“We’re going to need a small detail to remove some Stegosaurus bodies. The doctor, here, thinks they might attract T. rexes.”
‘What bodies?’
“From the ‘Daisy Cutters.’”
‘Copy that. Re…’
It sounded as if Collins was about to say something more, but the radio cut out. There was a crackling in the sky, and with a bang the forcefield vanished, replacing it with crystal blue sky.
“We’d better head back,” said Trevino. “Was there anything else?”
Tracey looked around. “No.” Her eyes settled on the closest bit of tree line. “That’s it for now. What was that in the sky?”
Roach looked up, squinting in the powerful sun. “The connection to our dimension was severed. We’re on our own.”
They drove back to base in the Humvee, where Nielsen and Collins met them. Tracey hopped out, but Trevino and Roach remained in the vehicle.
“Nice work, Dr. Moran,” said Nielsen.
“Nothing nice about it,” said Tracey. “Those poor animals didn’t even see it coming.”
He turned to Collins. “Do you think your men could see to disposing of them properly? The last thing we need is to be attacked by T. rexes.”
“Do you really think that’s the best use of our time?” asked Collins. “This’ll delay the expedition. We’re ready for anything that comes out of the jungle.”
“I don’t believe you,” said Tracey.
“Pardon?” Collins looked irritated.
“I don’t believe you could be so cavalier knowing what happened to the last expedition who didn’t respect what we were up against.”
“She’s right,” said Nielsen. “Why engage when we can avoid? Dump the bodies in the river. Use the Humvees to drag them.”
“They’re too big,” said Trevino.
“Then cut them up,” said Nielsen. “Or maybe we can burn them.”
“That’ll take precious fuel,” said Collins. “Fuel we can’t spare. We need them for the birds. You know… to keep us safe and all.” He turned to Trevino. “How many bodies?”
“About a dozen, all torn up,” said Trevino.
“Then we can take them to the river in pieces. The current will carry it all away.”
“What river?” asked Tracey.
“The one we’re going to follow right up to the plateau settlement where we believe Dr. Albanese and the rest of our old team are located,” said Nielsen. “We leave in a few hours, after the Stegosaurus clean up.”
“We’re going to take three Humvees and a Huey with us,” said Collins. “Dr. Moran, you and the other technicians will be riding in an INKAS Sentry Civilian.”
Tracey arched an eyebrow. “An INKAS what?”
“An armored truck. We’ll hug the river bank, which should make for easier travel. The rest will be left behind to guard base camp. We’ll be in constant radio communication the whole time, with each other, our bird in the sky, and base.”
“This island does strange things with radio communications,” said Tracey. “What if there’s too much interference?”
“We’ve anticipated that,” said Collins. “We have a color-coded signaling system to communicate with the Huey.”
Tracey had to admit, Collins was inspiring quite a bit of confidence. She thought about Peter, left behind to fend for himself. She wondered if they really stood a chance of finding him and the others.
“Let’s move, people,” said Nielsen. “Times a wasting.”
“You heard him,” said Collins to Trevino. “Take a small detail and handle those bodies.”
* * *
Jason and Mary darted up the narrow path, deftly navigating massive boulders and the edge of the cliff, and made their way into the village. It was early morning, and the women and children were asleep, but the Umazoan men prepared their spears for an early hunt.
“Susan,” cried Mary. “Susan, wake up.”
/> Susan came stumbling out of her thatch hut, rubbing her eyes as Mary and Jason ran up to her, ignoring the concerned looks of the tribal hunters. “What? What is it?” She rubbed her eyes. “Where’s Peter?”
“He never came out of the temple,” said Mary.
Susan frowned. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
“Yeah, well, we have to get the hell out of Dodge, like now,” said Jason, out of breath.
“What’s he talking about?” asked Susan.
Mary panted, trying to catch her breath. “Peter said we needed to evacuate the village if he didn’t return.”
Susan scrunched her nose, as if catching a whiff of something rancid. “Evacuate? Where are we going to go?”
“Peter said we’re no longer safe up here,” said Jason, “and I’m inclined to believe him. He thinks the lizard men are the ones sending the velociraptors up here. He thinks they’re close to just invading this village.” They had lost Molina in the last raid on the village. A soldier to the last, he had fought bravely but had been torn apart by the marauding velociraptors.
The hunters, led by the Umazoan chief, approached them. A small but well-muscled man, the newly appointed chief, named Hiu, looked concerned. The other chief had been killed in the last raid, resulting in his promotion, so hearing about lizard men and invasion grabbed his attention. “What?” he asked. “What happen? Liz?” His English was broken, but they understood him.
Jason turned and leveled his gaze. “Chief Hiu, we must leave. Big danger coming.” Then he rattled off the few words that he knew in Umazoan describing the lizard men, raids, and velociraptors.
Hiu listened carefully. Wary from wave after wave of lizard men attacks on the village, he appeared receptive. He responded in Umazoan.
“River?” asked Susan, struggling to comprehend everything the chief was saying. “What river?”
Hiu elaborated, gesticulating wildly.
“Take us away…to another home,” said Mary, translating. “We need to follow the river?” She undulated her hand in a serpentine motion over her other hand, palm facing up.
Hiu nodded emphatically, pleased she understood. He barked orders at the other men, who proceeded to fan out and rouse the rest of the village.
“Looks like we’re leaving,” said Susan, shrugging. “Are you sure this is the right thing to do? These people established this location for the village a long time ago.”
Hiu listened and said in broken English. “Run and live…better than…stay, die.” With that last word, he made a slashing motion with his hand across his throat. The chief before him had been proud and refused to give in to the new enemy. This one was clearly more pragmatic. The truth was, everyone was tired of the relentless attacks. Enough was enough.
The entire village mobilized. The men gathered weapons and cut down crops, loading them on drag sleds to be pulled. The women gathered clothing and tanned skins, packing them for transport while herding the children. The children carried out small tasks as directed by their mothers, anything from gathering up the animals to packing small items.
Within a couple of hours, the entire village had been packed up, leaving only the thatched huts and extinguished camp fires behind. Everyone congregated at the center of the village, where Hiu held court. As far as Mary, Jason, and Susan could tell with their limited language of Umazoan, he made some grand speech about survival against all odds, and he referenced other times in tribal history when an exodus was required. At last, he waved his right arm over his head, gesturing for the tribe to move.
Jason caught something out of the corner of his eye. Several velociraptors crept their way to the edge of the village. “Dinos!”
The tribe murmured and panicked, looking around. A few of them screamed and pointed when they saw the deadly therapods.
Jason turned to Hiu. “Move! I’ll handle this. Just leave me a few of your warriors.”
Hiu nodded and gestured towards three of the hunters, who nodded and hoisted their spears. They stepped forward, awaiting direction from Jason, who had become their lead hunter. Hiu also stepped forward, dispensing additional spears. These weapons would be thrown, as close combat with raptors was ill-advised.
“Not you,” said Jason. “We cannot lose another chief.”
“The tribe needs you,” added Mary.
Hiu huffed, jabbed the butt of his spear into the dirt, and stood resolute.
“I’ll lead the tribe away from here,” offered Susan. In her home dimension, it was her job to manage large groups.
Mary nodded. “Go. We’ll be right behind you.”
Susan barked orders in English and broken Umazoan, and the tribe moved as a unit to the far side of the plateau, where they had constructed a platform out of branches and twine and a pully mechanism to lower it to the ground below. It wasn’t designed for en masse usage, so Susan would have to coordinate it.
*
Jason looked to Hiu, who deferred to him. The Umazoa were accomplished hunters, but they acknowledged Jason’s greater expertise.
Jason nodded, accepting the mantle. He unshouldered his rifle as Mary hefted hers. He put up two fingers and then karate chopped the air in several different places, signaling they had to disperse two-by-two. It was their go-to formation whenever velociraptors entered the picture. Raptors were clever hunters, using pack tactics, flanking and ambushing. Each pair of hunters would cover opposite one hundred-and-eighty-degree fields of vision, and the entire group formed a line, establishing a barrier between the raptors and the fleeing tribe while keeping firing corridors clear. When one was reloading or preparing another spear, the other would swing around and take over, and on and on.
The velociraptors spread out. Two walked down the middle of the village, moving like ostriches, their heads swiveling around, sizing up their prey. Another two crept through the fields to the left where the crops once grew, sniffing the ground and circumventing the line of humans. Two more slipped between thatch huts on the right, appearing and vanishing, making use of the cover while making their movements difficult to track.
“They’re hunting in pairs,” said Jason. “Just like us.”
“They’re learning from us,” said Mary, watching his back.
Jason trained his rifle on the two walking through the center of the village. “The ones in the center want us to focus on them so we’re taken off-guard by the flanks.”
“I’ve got the flank covered,” said Mary, training her rifle on the glimpses of velociraptors in between the huts.
Jason looked to his left and saw Hiu hoisting his spear, focusing on the center, but his partner watched the crops carefully.
One of the velociraptors bumped into a wooden stake drilled into the ground in the crop area, knocking it over. It turned and sniffed the stick before continuing on. Another investigated a crudely fashioned scarecrow designed to scare off birds and evil spirits from picking at the crops. It chirped and barked a couple of times, shrinking back as it expected a response. When it realized the scarecrow was no threat, it nudged it with its snout and continued advancing on the line of humans.
The middle raptors crept forward, heads lowered and teeth bared, claws splayed out in front of them. They walked in small, measured steps, leg muscles taut, primed for a sudden, explosive strike.
“Here we go.” Jason took a shot at one of the center ones, striking it in the neck. It cried out, shaking its head. The other one sprung forward, dashing at him.
Mary saw one of the velociraptors running from around a thatched hut, becoming tangled in a clothesline Susan had erected. It writhed about, trying to shake the cord, pulling the stakes out of the ground in the process. Mary shot at it twice, hitting it once in the chest and then in its side.
The other velociraptor rushed out from two huts over, lowering its head and opening its jaws.
*
The two velociraptors from the farming area lunged at Hiu and his partner, a man named Ryo. Hiu hurled a spear at one, glancing its shoulder as it dodg
ed. As he knelt to snatch another spear off the ground, Ryo swung around and launched a spear, striking one of the raptors in its open mouth. The wounded velociraptor veered off, shaking its head and swatting at the spear with its clawed hands. The other lurched forward, opening its mouth, targeting Hiu.
Hiu stayed in a kneeling position, pointed his spear at the advancing raptor, and braced the other end into the ground. The raptor shot forward, snapping its jaws. However, Hiu timed it just right, and it impaled itself on his spear with such force that it knocked the spear out of Hiu’s hands. The raptor overshot and missed Hiu with its teeth. Its back leg, however, lashed out at Ryo, its curved claw slicing the man’s thigh.
Ryo cried out and dropped his spear as blood spurted out of the gash. The raptor turned and latched its jaws onto his torso, sinking its teeth into his flesh between his ribs.
Hiu grabbed another spear and drove it into the raptor’s side. It wheeled around, still gripping Ryo, the spear sticking up into the air. Ryo screamed as blood oozed from his mouth and down his chin.
The raptor slashed at Hiu with its foot, but the chieftain side-stepped it and grabbed another spear. He waited as the velociraptor wheeled around, trying to fend him off while it held onto Ryo. When the raptor stopped for a brief moment, Hiu lunged with his spear, hitting it in its right eye. He thrust it in, pushing with all of his body weight.
*
The raptor Jason shot dashed forward, somewhat unsteadily, as Jason fired another shot into its head, dropping it. The other rushed forward, teeth and claws out, moving too fast for Jason. Unfortunately for him, Mary was preoccupied with the right flank and couldn’t back him up.
Jason struggled to aim, but it was too late. It snapped at him, but he staggered backwards, tripping over Mary. He fell on his back as the raptor pounced, pinning him down. It stood on his rifle, which he held horizontally across his chest, pressing it into him with its body weight. Its curved claws on its feet dug into his sides, and he groaned as they pierced his flesh. He felt his shirt mat up with his warm blood.
Mary took aim at the second raptor, missing it. She, too, lost her balance, tripping over the raptor squatting over Jason. She fell to the ground as the raptor lunging at her missed, colliding with the raptor pinning Jason.