Throwback

by Edward J. McFadden III

  “So, what you think?” Svet said. “We go around?”

  Hawk sighed louder and harder. “I think we have to. It’s way out of the way, but we can follow the outskirts of the savannah around to the mountains.”

  “How far?” Max said. He still appeared agitated about being on the outside of the joke. His normally slack face was tight, his bright eyes narrowed.

  “I’d say about a hundred miles instead of fifty, but once we get up on those mountains we’ll get a much better view,” Hawk said.

  “See light?” Svet asked.

  “I sure hope so,” Hawk said.

  “And we need to stay as far south of the volcano as possible,” Max said.

  Having set their goal for the foreseeable future, the party packed their meager belongings. Hawk felt like a million pounds had been lifted from his back. There were no decisions to be made for a long time, and it would take total ineptitude at this point to get lost. It was a Dora the Explorer trail: go to the savannah’s edge, which was due west. Follow the edge of the plain to the north, and around to the tallest mountain that was on a rough line with the tree marker and the giant arrow.

  The day was a long, dreary, miserable trek, and so were the next twenty. The party was tired most of the time, and when they weren’t hiking they were sleeping or hunting. They still used their guns because they hadn’t had time to perfect their primitive weapons, let alone learn to use them. The harsh terrain made traveling slow, monotonous, and frustrating. The jungle was thick and rich with small game and insects, and they didn’t happen across many larger dinosaurs. It was agreed that Hawk must have misjudged the distance to the savannah, because they still hadn’t reached the great plain and there were no signs of it being near.

  On their morning march, the company traversed a thick section of conifers packed so tight it was hard to push through them. The weather turned nasty, and a light rain coated everything with a layer of moisture. They broke free of the forest and were confronted by an impenetrable stand of bamboo that stretched into the distance to the north and south. It was impossible to hack through the stuff with only knives, and they were forced to go north, which took them miles off course.

  The sun arced toward noon when they came across an opening in the wall of bamboo. A five-foot wide path disappeared on a wandering trail into the thick green patch of bamboo that was so lush it had canes eighty-feet tall.

  “What you think?” Svet said.

  “I think if there’s a path it goes someplace. Probably through this shit.”

  “Agreed,” Max said. “This animal trail is most likely very old, and was in use when the bamboo swarmed over the land. The heavy traffic would have killed the tender young shoots.”

  “We had this stuff back home. Horrific shit. A shoot can grow a foot in a day, and it will spread ten feet in every direction in one season if given the proper light and water,” Hawk said.

  “We no have much in Russia.”

  Max said, “I worry about the traffic we’ll meet. Going around would be safer. And…”

  He didn’t say it because they were trying to help each other keep their minds off their situation, but Hawk knew what Max intended to say. “What’s the rush?” He didn’t because there was no rush. There was nothing at all except their blind quest to nowhere.

  “I say we try it,” Hawk said.

  “Da,” Svet said.

  Max sighed. “That’s it then.” He stormed off into the bamboo and Hawk and Svet trailed after.

  It didn’t take long to lose all sense of direction in the green maze. The trail narrowed to three feet across, and took many twists and turns. When they reached a clearing, and found a pile of bones, they hurried on, taking the wider of two paths that appeared to head west.

  Thick green canes whispered and sighed in the breeze, and bamboo leaves rattled like water rushing over stones. They were forced to choose a path three more times as the tangled maze of trails crossed over one another and the party unintentionally backtracked several times. When it became clear they were lost and going in circles, tempers flared.

  “Mudak,” Svet spat.

  “Hey—don’t bring mothers into this,” Hawk said.

  “You wanted to try,” Max said. “What did you say?”

  “You mother fucks,” Svet said.

  Hawk laughed. He laughed harder than he had since he’d left his family in Florida to live in a tin can. “Motherfucker,” he corrected.

  Max laughed, and Svet joined in, and for a few seconds they weren’t totally screwed.

  “Max, you think you can get us back to the beginning?”

  “Same odds as getting us to the other side,” he said. “But I think I remember several of the paths. We try a new way. Ja?”

  “Da,” Hawk said.

  Svet smiled.

  Max led them back down familiar trails, tried new byways, and things seemed to be going well until the bamboo ended and they stood in a large clearing where many paths intersected.

  “The center of the maze,” Hawk said. “Shit. Max, I could have done that.”

  “Nyet,” Svet said.

  Piles of bones, white as clouds, dotted the clearing, and the scent of decay and rotting flesh permeated the air. The ground was black with blood, and dried skin, mounds of fat, and piles of scat littered the area. Pterosaurs and birds as black as night circled above, carrion beasts looking to get their share.

  “I think we should—”

  A sharp growl stopped Max midsentence. The sound was low and melodious, but it grew as something untold moved through the bamboo. Cracking canes, and the gurgle and pop of a massive beast moving through the maze made Hawk’s stomach go cold.

  “Back the way we came,” Hawk said. He spun on his heel and started for the path when he was met by a creature he didn’t have a chance of classifying.

  It wasn’t dinosaur, lizard or mammal. A forgotten beast whose fossil remains had escaped the prying searches of anthropologists stood ten feet away, its green eyes narrowed as it examined Hawk. Curved white fangs stuck from an extended jaw, and blood caked around the animal’s mouth. Its tight fur was dark yellow and it walked like a human, except with wide sweeping steps that made the thing look like it was going to fall over every time it lurched forward. Each appendage ended in a four-fingered paw, which sported a long curved talon that looked sharp as a knife. Perhaps this was a distant relative of a bear, but the beast had no ears and its arms and legs appeared too short for its massive torso.

  The creature chuffed and snot flew from its nose as it bounded forward with a roar. Hawk ran, and the maze twisted and turned before him. He heard Svet and Max chugging behind him. The growl-bark of the creature in pursuit was close, but he ran blindly, taking random turns, and the sound of commotion died away.

  Row upon row of green bamboo shoots created a wall on both sides of the path and none of it looked familiar. There was no place to hide, and if they met anything coming from the opposite direction they were screwed. A cramp stiffened Hawk’s right leg, but he ran on, the pain causing him to limp as he shuffled forward, desperation propelling him onward.

  The trail widened into a dead patch of bamboo he hadn’t seen prior. It was as if some poison had been spilled in the area, killing everything. Then he remembered the clearings where the markers had been placed, and how nothing grew there. Hawk was getting tired, and he heard his companions sucking air behind him. The sounds of pursuit faded and all he heard was the wind pushing through the canes and a distant rumbling.

  Hawk reached the end of the path and tripped on a bamboo root that looped from the jungle floor like a handle designed to catch his foot. He sprawled to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Then Svet tripped over him and fell, followed by Max. The spacefarers lay in a tangled heap, panting and staring back into the maze. The maw of the maze entrance was dark and quiet, the yellow bear-thing having given up.

  They were right back where they’d started.

  13

  Hawk lost t
rack of time and had no idea what day of the week it was. He’d given up counting the days, but he knew it had been at least a month since they escaped the bamboo maze. Max had been keeping track of the number of days since landfall, but he admitted his count could be off by as much as five days. Hawk and Max had full beards, and even Svet had grown hair in spots not traditional to females. All three of them were dirty, greasy and hadn’t bathed at all in days.

  Trapping and hunting food was difficult, as their passage through the prehistoric jungle was unavoidably loud, and most animals cleared out of their way as the party stomped through the forest like T-Rex larva. Gathering food caused numerous delays, and they’d spent four days in a treehouse they’d constructed, while they built up their strength and supplies.

  Max managed to make two bows and a stack of arrows, but firing the weapons with any semblance of accuracy was difficult. They practiced hitting targets scratched into trees from ten feet away, then fifteen, and all three of the travelers were proficient from that range, but anything farther was next to impossible. The bows weren’t very strong, and the tree branches they’d used to make arrows didn’t have enough weight to fly true. When they did hit something, the arrows didn’t have enough force and would bounce off a dinosaur hide without leaving a mark. Goal one was to construct a better bow and better arrows.

  Their spears and Hawk’s bolas were another matter. Using shards of bone as tips, they’d constructed serviceable throwing javelins that flew true and did major damage. Svet managed to take down a mid-sized raptor-thing, and that had supplied them with a good amount of meat, which they cooked, smoked, and dried into jerky. Hawk was getting accurate with his bolas, which he’d made from bark rope and two round weighted stones. He managed to snag several birds, and five ground animals that looked like squirrels on steroids. The flesh of the large rodents was tough, but it had a sweet taste that reminded Hawk of duck.

  They’d also learned much about the flora and fauna. They identified edible fruits and lettuces by watching the habits of the beasts. The larger dinosaurs moved slowly, and had trouble changing direction or squeezing through tight spaces, and this made them easy to avoid.

  They’d found no new markers, and the jungle was a monotonous trudge that changed very little. They were starting to despair that they’d gone in a circle when they hit the edge of the savannah, and saw they were much farther north than they’d expected. The bamboo patch, several ravens and cliffs, as well as thick stands of trees had driven them off course. Hawk figured they were only a few miles from the plains northernmost edge, and that meant soon they’d be able to turn southwest and make a direct line to the mountains having avoided the chaos of the open plain.

  The up-close view of the savannah confirmed Hawk had made the right decision. All manner of creatures big and small roamed the plain, kicking up clouds of dirt and trampling any vegetation that had the guts to stick its head above ground. The northern end of the lake wasn’t visible from where he stood, but he could imagine a line of animals waiting their turn to drink, a nice orderly line with no fighting or disagreements.

  Hawk chuckled.

  “What funny?” Svet said. She tore off a chunk of jerky she was munching on.

  “Nothing. Just wondering what’s going on down at the town waterhole.”

  Max said. “You see that there? In the middle of the plain? What do you make of that?”

  What Hawk would have given for a set of cheap field glasses, but he had nothing. Not even a piece of paper to roll up to make a tube.

  At home in Florida, people collect trash along the beach and mound it into a single pile, propping up sticks, and hanging shells and other items from them. The garbage piles became a form of art, and some of the sculptures got big before they were cleaned up and destroyed. This marvel in the center of the plain looked like such a piece of folk-art.

  Tree branches and bamboo of various sizes made a tepee structure that rose into the sky thirty feet or more. All about it leaves, creepers, and mud filled in holes making it look like a solid structure. To Hawk it looked manmade, and even though he knew that was impossible, the thought teased his brain.

  Reading Hawk’s mind, Max said, “You think whoever placed the markers is still here?”

  “Nyet,” Svet said, but Hawk wasn’t so certain.

  “Should we check it out?” Max said.

  A chorus of “Nyet and no.”

  They stayed within the tree break as they worked around the savannah and were forced to trek deep into the jungle twice to avoid a stegosaurus fight and a large dinosaur that looked like a baby T-Rex tearing apart the carcass of an unknown beast. Knowing the dinosaur’s habits helped the company avoid them, and out of sight was truly out of mind. The prehistoric creatures didn’t seem to smell them, or have much space awareness. When they saw food they gave chase, but a human could be standing right next to a dinosaur and if it didn’t see the person, the beast would have no idea anyone was there.

  Hawk was on point when he hit a strange glade of tall pricker bushes with tiny purple leaves and white spidery trunks. They grew close together like a hedge, and the party gave up fighting through the tough plants and went around. Again.

  They walked the rest of the day, and made camp by a river with clear cold water. After drinking until bloated, they filled the water bottles and proceeded to take a bath. Svet went first, then Max and Hawk. Svet said she didn’t care if they saw her naked, but Hawk wasn’t comfortable with it.

  That night they slept on a platform built in the trees. This had become their preferred method of shelter, and except for ants, which crawled and burrowed everywhere, being off the ground served them well. When the quest was over and they knew for sure they were stuck in this time, Hawk envisioned a treehouse that rivaled Swiss Family Robinson’s famous abode.

  Sometimes Hawk believed he could be happy living with nature, enjoying the fresh air and crystal-clear water. Then Michel’s face would fill his mind, and sorrow would wash over him anew. Despite this, he couldn’t help but think about the future. What came next? It was hardwired into his brain.

  The next morning dawned bright and clear, and so did the next eighteen days as they traversed the northern edge of the plain and headed toward the mountains. The tallest peak rose in the distance and was occasionally visible through the tree break. Further north, sticking from a large cleft in the mountains, was the erupting volcano. Hawk figured it was the one they’d seen from the space station. If it was, they were on the right track. The huge cone belched thick clouds of black smoke that darkened the sky. The air smelled of sulfur as the smoke thinned and crept across the jungle like fog. Dark lava spilled over the side of the crater and down the sides of the massive cone, where it cooled, releasing white smoke and steam that disappeared into the black smoke above.

  “We may want to cross a bit further south than we intended,” Max said.

  “Too close to lava flow?” Svet said.

  “Ja,” Max said. “Don’t see why we should chance it. What’s a few more days?”

  A loud buzzing sound rose above the normal daylight cacophony, a stone steady vibrating static that got louder as they got closer to the foot of the mountains. It made Hawk flashback to home, and the hum of powerlines and transformers.

  The hive they discovered was ten feet around, and it hung from a thick branch beneath deep green leaves the size of manhole covers. The air around the hive was black with insects, but Hawk was too far away to tell what type they were.

  “Bees?” Svet said.

  “Ja, I think so,” Max said. “The insect fossil records dating to the Cretaceous are sparse, but with the emergence of flowering plants I’d think the pollination machines would be on the rise.”

  The fellowship traversed the hive and found themselves staring down the face of a tall cliff. It appeared out of the jungle like a mirage, and Hawk estimated its height at one hundred feet. Creepers clung to the cliff face, and bushes and small trees protruded from every outcrop of stone.<
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  On the horizon, the mountains stood out like a scar on the land, massive gray-brown stone with ragged peaks and sheer sloops. Hawk didn’t see an easy way up, nor did he see a way down the cliff face. The rock wall extended to the north and south, cutting the team off from the final part of their journey.

  “We have a hundred feet of line. You think it’s enough?” Max said.

  Hawk went to the edge of the cliff and stared down at the deep green jungle canopy. “Maybe. Even if we come up a little short at least we’ll be closer to the ground.”

  “Da,” Svet said. She pulled the rope off her shoulder and ran it through her hands, making sure there weren’t any knots. When the rope lay in a pile before her, she said, “You hold?”

  “I’d like to tie off on a tree, but the closest one is twenty feet from the cliff edge, and we can’t afford the rope,” Hawk said.

  “Let’s see how far our rope will get us,” Max said. He fed the line over the edge, letting the end slide down the face of the cliff. It got caught in the vegetation several times, and Max lost his measurement count, which he made using the length of his arms spread wide as he dispensed the rope. When the end hit bottom they still had ten feet of rope, so they tied the line off on the nearest tree.

  Hawk said, “We can use the creepers to climb to the ground. Svet’s a good climber and when Max and I are down she’ll untether the rope and work her way down tying off as she goes.”

  One by one the two astronauts and one cosmonaut inched down the cliff, clutching the rope like it was a lifeboat and they were alone on a turbulent sea. Birds, bugs, and small rodents bit, cawed, and screeched at them as they disturbed the equilibrium of the cliff face. When the party reached the ground they were tired, dirty, and hungry, so Hawk called a halt and they made camp and settled in for the night.

  They stayed with the cliff to their backs for four days, stocking up on dino-jerky, water, and adding to the rope using dried vines. Hawk felt the ascent into the mountains would be difficult without climbing gear, but there was nothing for it. The mountains had to be crossed.