The Valley of Tooth & Claw

by Chris McInally

  “Think they’ve had enough?” Trey asked his superior, a little bleary-eyed.

  Campbell didn’t get the chance to reply.

  A series of horrid, spine-chilling squeals sounded somewhere out there in the jungle! So unusual were they that the screams made Campbell think of a big cat and a lizard all at the same time. The blood in Elias’ veins turned to ice then as a tremor traversed his spine. Whatever it was making these sounds, he could tell it wasn’t human. In fact, it was far from it. Perhaps even more chilling, Campbell couldn’t quite pin the noises down either. They seemed to be coming from every which way. Fear quickly set in and Elias got the feeling it wasn’t him or his brave men who had chased off the bloodthirsty Amazons.

  “I don’t like this,” Trey whispered, his voice shaking.

  “Me neither, pal,” Elias responded worriedly.

  “You think they know something we don’t?” Trevon nodded to the last of the fleeing tribesmen.

  Campbell didn’t answer his friend. Before he could, the first monstrous shape emerged from the rainforest, its movements a nausea-inducing blur! In the end, Elias could only stare in abject horror as one of his men was swiftly bowled to the ground. The figures of victim and assailant violently coalesced into one as they rolled and struggled, before ultimately disappearing out of view behind the silhouette of the lead SUV.

  Then it happened five more times.

  CHAPTER 7

  “What’s going on?” A nagging sensation in the back of Kate’s mind quashed her ability to believe the ambush was actually over.

  Yet, the woman’s eyes told her a different story. The Amazons were indeed retreating; their scattering profiles swiftly melding with the landscape once more. But was it just another tactic of theirs? Were they trying to lull her and the others into a false sense of security to only then deliver some devastating final blow? ‘Hit and run’ was a phrase that readily came to the woman’s mind.

  “Are they really leaving?” Miller’s voice was little more than a whisper at this point.

  Things grew quiet inside the SUV’s cabin for a short time. Save for the occupants’ collective breathing, all the other ruckus faded away to nothing. In fact, you could hear a mouse piss on cotton. Still, it was but a brief reprieve from the bloody mayhem. Chaos would soon return in a different and admittedly much deadlier form than any of them could have imagined.

  A chorus of vicious, animalistic shrieks like nothing Professor Miller or the others had ever heard before abruptly pierced the newfound quiet! Inhuman and penetrating, the screams rang hauntingly in Kate Miller’s ears, the sound somehow managing to infiltrate the confines of the truck. The effect of which was about the same as having a teacher run their nails down a chalkboard.

  “What is that?” Kate just managed to squeak the words out. “What’s that noise?” she elaborated rather lamely. “Is that an animal? It can’t be… can it?”

  Up front, Sienna and Gregory exchanged nervous glances with one another. Color suddenly gone from their faces, the dread was evident in their near-identical expressions. Ultimately, neither of them found the courage to reply to any of Miller’s frantic questions.

  “Oh my God!” Sienna cried unexpectedly, looking ahead through the dulled windscreen.

  Sinister shapes, dark and dexterous, pounced from the depths of the jungle! Lightning-quick, the mysterious figures descended upon the surviving mercenaries with tooth and claw, taking their quarry completely off-guard. Unnaturally fast, it was as if the killers were somehow able to fade in and out of reality itself. If Kate and the others had thought to look to their rear, they would have witnessed a hauntingly similar sight. Screams, high and shrill, followed, accompanied by intermittent gunshots. And with this, bedlam once again reigned supreme over the jungle passage.

  “What are those things?” Kate gasped, horrified.

  Before she could get a good enough look, Miller’s attention (along with that of her companions) was unexpectedly diverted to the front passenger-side door. To their surprise, a tall figure draped in a Kevlar vest appeared, a single muscular arm extended towards Greg.

  “Out of the seat, Poindexter!” the Mohawk-sporting merc grabbed Trentham by the scruff of the neck, preparing to exit him from the vehicle.

  Kate jerked forward attempting to stop the PMC, when a stretching shadow, an insidious specter, swept across the Chevy’s exterior. Alarmed by the menacing silhouette, Miller shrunk back into her seat, retreating from the eerie, almost supernatural sight. What came next happened all so fast Miller wasn’t even sure what it was she witnessed. If her eyes weren’t deceiving her, she noted the presence of coarse scales and jagged spines, curved claws and knife-like teeth… a truly impossible sight. Such a thing shouldn’t exist… couldn’t exist. Not anymore. Not in this day and age. But somehow it did.

  One second the mercenary was there˗ trying to pull Professor Trentham from the safety of his seat˗ and then he was gone, yanked backwards! Almost in unison, a ghastly effusion of blood doused the side of the SUV! Windows painted crimson with gore, the passengers’ view of the outside world was blocked… as was their view of the murderous entity lurking just beyond. Kate heard the PMC cry out over that of her own manic screeching. Wrenched into oblivion, the man disappeared from view. Next, the professor’s ears registered Sienna’s screams and Gregory’s semi-coherent cursing; both individuals just as shocked as her by what they had witnessed.

  “What is it with you people?” Sienna roared at Gregory, suddenly regaining her composure. “Why didn’t you lock your fucking door?”

  “I-I…” Greg stammered ineffectually.

  “Calm down!” Professor Miller tried to placate Clementine. “Greg˗”

  “Fuck you!” Sienna snapped at Kate, cutting her off with a wave of a hand. “Close the fucking door!” she turned back to Trentham, pointing vigorously.

  No more encouragement needed, the ageing academic shifted towards it. Hands shaking uncontrollably, he pulled hard on the door, slamming it shut. Then, wasting no more time, Sienna followed up by turning over the Suburban’s ignition.

  “I’m not waiting around any longer!” Clementine barked as the engine roared to life. “We’re getting the hell out of here!”

  #

  Cries of fear and pain danced on the air. Added to this, the coppery trace of blood, mingled with the scent of cordite, lingered in the atmosphere like some kind of ghostly aura. Despite these familiar things, it was still the strangest warzone either Elias or Trevon had ever experienced.

  “C’mon, pal,” Campbell said to Trey. “I think it’s about time we were leaving. Don’t you?”

  “Let’s roll,” Trevon nodded curtly, groaning at the same time.

  As one, the pair pivoted on the spot. They turned just in time to see one of their own attempting to enter the civilians’ SUV at the center of the convoy. Both men were rendered speechless by what they saw next.

  A silhouette, tall, long and slender˗ a shadow in the daylight, one might say˗ suddenly materialized behind the figure of the panicked man. Caught in the throes of his frenzy to flee, he failed to even see it coming. In but a few short seconds, the mercenary was dragged violently out of sight. Kicking and screaming, he was hauled to the rear of the truck, before disappearing behind its huge frame to meet a fate one could only imagine.

  “What in God’s green Earth was that?” Trey breathed in disbelief.

  The ex-marine didn’t have to wait long in order to find out.

  Standing between the first and second vehicles, the duo prepared to push off toward the third truck when another of the murderous phantoms emerged. Appearing from God-knows-where, it landed right in their path, revealing to them its fearsome, rough-skinned and reptilian form. Skidding to a halt in front of the pair, it turned toward Elias and Latham. Next, cricking its spindly, S-shaped neck, the beast pitched its head to one side, inspecting them curiously.

  “Holy shit!” Trevon cursed, the merc’s eyes bugging out of his skull.

&n
bsp; Campbell said nothing on the other hand. Instead, the Scotsman simply absorbed the incredible sight on display before him. What he was looking at simply couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. The thing in front of him was something ancient… primordial… impossible…

  A fucking dinosaur! Elias’ mind screamed disbelievingly. And it was a carnivore. He may not have known exactly what species it was, but he knew that much. This he discerned as his eyes trailed over its jagged collection of teeth and bowed claws.

  Standing on two muscular legs, the scaly predator must have been close to seven-feet tall. In fact, Campbell was certain of this as it was looking down on him! Bisected by black slits, a pair of blood-orange, felid-like eyes looked back at the mercenary’s from underneath bony, arched and decidedly foreboding brows.

  Raptor… the word popped almost miraculously into Campbell’s befuddled mind.

  Taking in the primeval thing in more detail, Elias noted the feather-like quills, bone-white and sharp, extending away from the crown of its elongated head, the latter of which reminded him somewhat of a monitor lizard. As for the spear-like protrusions, they continued down its gangling but no less strong neck, and along its spine, before receding into nothing midway along its tapered, lash-like tail. It had a short but deep trunk, and save for its off-white underbelly, the creature’s body was a dull grey, mottled with an array of eclectic charcoal patterns. By Campbell’s estimation, the imposing reptile must have measured fifteen feet long from snout to tail. Maybe more.

  It’s gotta be close to three-hundred kilos! He stared at it, nigh-on mesmerized.

  Most prominent of all however, were the dinosaur’s obsidian claws. In particular, the scythe-like talons on the inside of each splayed, three-toed foot! Indeed, these were much more threatening than those attached to the trio of petite digits at the end of each of its wrinkled, skeletal-like forelimbs. Campbell was able to absorb all these details in what could only have been a matter of milliseconds.

  Hiiiiiiiisss! The fanged horror launched itself at them.

  Jaws cranked wide and claws splayed, the ancient killer bore down on the duo, its pink, eel-like tongue salivating wildly˗

  Craaack-craaack!

  The mercenaries’ assault rifles barked in unison, both weapons hellish and full of force! The wave of red-hot lead that followed downed the prehistoric beast mid-flight! Creature flipping over in the air, flesh and blood scattered helter-skelter as the reptile tumbled to the ground, reduced to a grotesque and leaking heap of viscera.

  Elias and Trevon didn’t wait around. Together, the PMCs lunged over the animal’s bloodied carcass, clearing it in a single, albeit awkward, bound. Meanwhile, all around them, the screams of man and beast melded into a haunting, blood-curdling refrain. Not looking back, they rushed toward the waiting Suburban, both men panting and covered in sickly sweat. Within a matter of seconds, the pair reached the civilian SUV. Thankfully, its engine was already running. Campbell thumped a clenched fist against one of the rear windows, startling the occupants.

  “C’mon!” he shouted at the outline of Kate Miller hovering beyond the glass partition. “Open up!”

  The door swung ajar. Inside, the professor sat stock-still, staring wide-eyed from under the brim of her cap at the red-faced Scotsman and his ebony-skinned companion.

  “In you go!” Not waiting for an invitation, Elias shoved Latham inside the vehicle. “What are you waiting for?”

  “Are you okay?” Miller managed to ask Campbell, at the same time backing away from the hunched figure of Trevon now encroaching on her.

  “Never mind me,” Trevon grumbled, head still bloodied and leaking.

  “Don’t worry about me,” the Scot said to Miller. “You might want to take a look at that wound of his though,” he signaled with a curt nod to Trey. “There’s a first-aid kit in the glovebox.” He pointed up front near Trentham.

  “What’s going on out there?” Kate’s voice shook with each word. “What are those…” her voice trailed off.

  “I don’t know,” he lied, failing to meet the geographer’s gaze. It was just too insane to even say it, even if it was the truth.

  Reluctant to say anything else, Campbell turned on his heel to leave.

  “Wait!” he heard Professor Miller shout. “Where are you going?”

  “I have other men besides Latham to think of,” Elias replied, looking grimly over his shoulder. “Now get out of here! I’ll catch up! I’ve got plenty of rides to choose from.”

  Without another word, Campbell slammed the door shut in her face.

  CHAPTER 8

  Gunfire, loud and hectic, continued to pop and crackle; the metallic melody coming from all directions. Even so, the intensity of the hectic chorus was much reduced now compared to what it had been before. This wasn’t a good sign, however. Instinct told Campbell this meant his unit had suffered casualties.

  Boom-boom!

  Two thunderous and abrupt shots redirected Elias’ attention to the fore of the caravan. His ears recognized the distinctive sound immediately, knowing full-well the weapon it came from… and the owner of said weapon. Cricking his neck, he found his friend and fellow demolitionist Franz sprawled on his back, the stout man’s UTAS-15 tactical shotgun just out of reach.

  Franz himself was lying not far from the lead vehicle’s chrome grill, two spent, cherry-red cartridges close by. Elias noted the German’s stocky frame was decidedly still. Blood poured from a grotesque wound punched into the side of the man’s thickset neck, the gushing liquid a frighteningly dark shade of red. All the while, Franz’s green eyes stared into Campbell’s, the injured mercenary’s façade pleading and full of fear. Most unsettling of all however, Franz’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish stranded on the beach.

  “Franz!” Elias screamed, the color instantly draining from his face.

  Suddenly, a raptor appeared off to Elias’ left. Hanging at the periphery of his vision, its corpus partially obscured by the outline of the Chevy, the primeval killer waltzed casually into view. The creature’s grey, elongated head bobbed with each step like some kind of monstrous pigeon; a pigeon possessed of menacing, cone-shaped teeth and curved, onyx talons.

  “No…” Elias breathed.

  Quick as a cat, the raptor’s jaws sprang open, flecks of gelatinous spittle set free by the action. Then, like a heron diving for a fish, it struck, the monster’s jaws snapping shut around Franz’s bald, egg-shaped head. Then he was gone. As was his killer. Poor Franz didn’t protest. He simply couldn’t. Not with the life literally oozing out of him. With a muffled, pathetic cry the wounded man was spirited away by the lithesome and ravenous reptile, never to be seen again.

  “Franz!” Campbell yelled once more.

  Taking off after Franz and the raptor, Elias barreled forward, head down, determined to save his comrade. Too intent on the happenings in front of him, Campbell failed to check his ‘six’ for any possible threats. And he paid the price for this foolish mistake.

  Elias’ face was in the dirt before his body even had a chance to recognize the angry pain spreading over his back. Something big, solid and furious collided with him. Attacking from the rear, his mystery assailant hit Campbell between the shoulder-blades, dropping the big fella like a ton of bricks. Luckily, his Kevlar body-armor absorbed much of the horrendous impact. Even so, it still hurt enough to rob him of his breath, even if only for a moment.

  “Ooof!” Campbell grunted, hitting the deck like a crash-test dummy.

  When his ears finally picked up on the primeval scream accompanying his assault, Elias knew exactly what had hit him. Then again, what else was it going to be?

  #

  Sienna twisted her body, preparing to yank hard on the Suburban’s steering wheel and peel off when˗ WHUMP! The whole SUV shook with the horrendous impact, its chassis dipping sharply. Somewhere in amongst this, the subtle sound of glass breaking announced itself˗ chink-chink-chink!

  “Argh!” Kate’s neck and torso snapped forward, pain la
ncing up her abused spine.

  Meanwhile, the others cried out as well, just as confused and presumably hurt as she. Looking about her booted feet, the woman searched for the first-aid kit she had been rummaging through only seconds before, but it was gone. Latham would just have to do without its contents for now. His injuries could wait until she knew what the hell was going on.

  “Shit!” she rasped, seething with annoyance.

  After a moment, Kate slowly and tenderly sat back in her seat. The woman’s breathing was noticeably ragged, the pain lingering in her back. The professor’s eyes grew wide a second later when they finally wandered in the direction of the SUV’s damaged windscreen. However, it wasn’t the diagonal, scar-like crack running through the molded pane of glass that had her stupefied. Rather, it was the looming, scaly, bipedal figure perched atop the Suburban’s crumpled and broken bonnet.

  “Jesus…” she exhaled, the woman overcome with a terror she had never known before.

  Eyes burning angrily, the reptilian beast peered in at the human occupants. Pink strips of flesh sat alongside wet portions of viscera wedged in between its sheening, dirk-like teeth. Most haunting of all however, were the large, seemingly exaggerated, curved claws, one on the inside of each of its large feet, twitching with hungry anticipation.

  #

  Ignoring the pain, Campbell quickly rolled over onto his back. To his horror, he discovered one of the saurian monstrosities glaring down at him with a ravenous expression. Long, narrow jaws parted slightly, its collection of glistening, conical teeth were on display in a kind of weird, malevolent grin reserved solely for the downed mercenary. The hungry dinosaur gauged him for a second, the thing’s eyes locking in on the Scotsman’s squirming frame. All of a sudden, a hiss like the beginnings of steam leaving a rusted pipe escaped the monster’s throat. Then, with the call rising in note, a penetrating cry proceeded to spill over its grey, craggy lips! It didn’t take a genius to realize the killer was signaling its attack.