Dinosaur Lake

by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

  Chapter 14

  Ann needed a sedative that night to sleep. Zeke had some mild pills he deemed were safe enough for her to take and gave her two.

  Henry tucked her into bed and closed the door quietly behind him, leaving Laura hovering over her mother, playing the worried nurse. He couldn’t bear to hear Ann crying any more.

  Ann had confessed what she’d been doing in the park; explained about how Zeke was going to shut down the newspaper, and that was why she’d risked reentering–for the pictures and the story. She’d told him about the camcorder she’d been looking for and that’s when Henry divulged he’d had it all along. The realization had made both of them feel worse. If only he’d told her. If only she’d asked. It made George’s death seem more unnecessary.

  “There are forests, miles and miles of woods and other lakes around here. I wouldn’t have given away the precise location of where the creature was, Henry,” she’d confided in a guilty voice. “That would have put other people in danger. All I needed was the pictures.”

  He wasn’t angry at her for George’s death. Ann could have, should have died that day, and he was relieved beyond thankfulness she was still alive. George had selflessly given up his life for her as he would have for any number of people he’d cared about. The park, the safety of its visitors had been important to him. Henry would have done the same.

  Ann claimed the blame for George’s death anyway. It’d take her a long time, if ever, to forgive herself. George hadn’t been just a man who’d worked with him, she’d known George, had been his friend, had laughed at his jokes, lame as they’d usually been; served him her best meals and homemade pies, for the time they’d lived in the park. Because George and her husband had become fast friends the minute they’d met when Henry had first arrived

  “None of this was your fault,” Henry said, trying to console her. “It’s that monster out in the woods that killed George and the others.”

  He hadn’t breathed a word about the doomed Deep Rover and Mark Lassen’s death to her, but as he gulped down a cup of coffee in the kitchen, he told Zeke about it and the attack at Ranger Headquarters and Rim Village.

  Zeke listened, somber faced, and didn’t once ask if he could print the story, though Henry knew as well as the old man that it would have saved his dying newspaper. And the thought came to Henry that Zeke might in part blame himself for Ann’s misadventure, and perhaps, indirectly, even George’s death, because she’d done it for him and the newspaper.

  Zeke offered him a tuna fish sandwich, but Henry wasn’t hungry. He needed to return to the park and prepare for the creature’s next onslaught, make a few difficult phone calls and help Greer fend off the press. Because there’d be questions to answer; questions they wouldn’t be able to avoid this time. Henry couldn’t hide the bodies or what had happened to them once the ambulances made their way back to the hospital. And then there’d be hell to pay.

  “Tell me something, son,” Zeke asked Henry. “That monster going to stay in your park, or do we here in town have something to worry about?”

  Henry had never seen Zeke so disconcerted, troubled. “Zeke, I’m not going to lie. I don’t know. So far it’s remained in the park, close to the lake, but I don’t know if it’ll stay there. It’s already surprised us a couple of times. It’s so unpredictable.”

  “What are you going to do about it then?”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you? I can tell you’re plotting something by the way you’re acting. Got that, I’m going to take care of it air about you.”

  Henry met Zeke’s eyes. The old man looked tired and older than the last time he’d seen him. According to Ann, his wife’s death and now losing his business was prematurely aging him.

  “If I tell you, you have to keep it to yourself. Off the record?”

  “That goes without question.”

  “Against orders, a team of us are going after it. And when we find it we’re going to destroy it.”

  “I imagine, under the circumstances, that’s the best thing. Good luck, then.”

  “Thanks, we’ll need it.”

  As he left, the last thing Henry saw was Ann’s camera on the kitchen table. He must have been in a state of grief over his friend’s death because he didn’t mash it into pieces.

  The drive into the park helped clear his mind. He had private time to grieve. Tears glistened in his eyes as he let the good memories of his dead friend slowly overlay the horrific images of his last minutes on earth. George must have thought he owed him something for that time he’d saved his life out in the woods. Poor George. What a terrible way to die.

  At that moment, Henry despised that creature more than anything in the world. He wanted to kill it as it had killed George. Nothing else mattered. All his earlier awe and love of prehistoric creatures, dead or alive, had evaporated.

  By the time he arrived at what was left of headquarters he was almost himself again. With the absence of lights from the buildings now gone or shuttered in darkness, night, a solid velvet blanket, had settled on the park.

  Dim lanterns were in use, hanging from trees, glowing like weak fireflies and softly highlighting the wreckage. Just enough to see by.

  No one wanted to draw the monster back to finish what it’d begun.

  There were three silent ambulances without lights. People, not saying much, milled around searching for the missing, or parts of them. Outside authorities had been tipped off and officers were everywhere filling out reports while the nearby local newspapers were snapping pictures and asking uncomfortable questions. Everything was being conducted in an orderly fashion and as swiftly and inconspicuously as possible. They’d all been warned not to make noise or call attention to themselves and had been told why. Of course, no one believed them.

  Greer had done well, taking George’s place as smoothly as if he’d always been Henry’s second in command.

  Henry helped load up a mauled body shrouded in a blood-stained sheet. Greer turned away from the ambulance after the doors closed and said, “We’re having a hell of a time keeping a lid on this with the news media slobbering over us. The ambulances from town lured them out here like flies to carrion. We’ve been fighting them off since you left. Keeping them quiet as to what happened here isn’t an option, either. I’m afraid our cover is blown. The monster will soon be famous.” In the faint light Greer even cracked a sarcastic smile.

  “We’ve had to escort at least three newspaper reporters off the premises and one television crew. They were making too much noise and were flashing lights everywhere. One of the television crew, I’m afraid, got film of the carnage. They got away before we could confiscate it. Slippery little devils, aren’t they?” The last thing they wanted was people to panic.

  “The media. Most of them aren’t any better than rabid dogs once they get the scent of a disaster.”

  “And those Inquirer reporters you talked about have definitely been missed. Their backup is arriving in force.”

  “And we thought,” Henry sighed glumly, “we had trouble before.”

  “Ain’t seen nothing yet, I reckon.”

  “Well, it can’t be helped. Publicity. It was only a matter of time. Too many people disappearing and too many unexplained deaths to keep it a secret now. Let’s just get these people cleared out of here before that monster comes back for dessert. We’ve got to move quickly now.”

  “You got it, Ranger,” Greer said. “But first, can I talk to you in private?”

  Henry nodded and they stepped away from the crowd to stand behind a mound of wooden debris; all that was left of Park Headquarters. Greer kept shifting his eyes behind and around him, watching and listening. He was a trained soldier beneath his polished ways, always on alert.

  “I don’t think it’ll come back here tonight,” Henry tried to ease the man’s fear. “It’s too shrewd for that. It knows we might be ready for it next time.”

  “You think it’s that smart, huh?”

  “Yes, I do.”
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  “Oh.” Greer leaned against a section of wall that didn’t look too sturdy but where there was no light. Shadows hid the two men as they talked. The barrier muffled their voices.

  It’d been warm that day but the night had brought a distinct chill. There was the scent of rain in the air. Maybe it’d wash away the cloying stench of fresh blood, Henry brooded.

  “There’s going to be a next time, Ranger, isn’t there? Real soon.”

  “Yes, but on our terms. We’re going to locate that thing’s lair and exterminate it before it slaughters anyone else. It’s killed too many people. Some were good men, with families. I’m going to have to face those families and I can’t unless I’ve gotten rid of that abomination once and for all.”

  “I second that. It’s time to go on the offensive. Go after it. We can’t keep letting it make the rules and butcher more people.” Greer gazed off towards the distant trees. Watching. “Because what’s to keep it in the park now? There are people and towns out there.” The man, his silhouette in the gloom stooped, wiped his face with his hand.

  A moon was rising and Greer’s predatory eyes gleamed in its soft glow as he tilted his face towards Henry’s.

  The two men stood there, listening. The night animals were chattering. The winds were whispering. A light splattering of rain caressed their faces. For now it was safe. All was normal. But for how long?

  “I’ve been talking to Jim Francis,” Greer said. “He has an idea how to solve our problem.”

  “So Francis made it through the attack? Good.” Henry liked the older man, ponytail, cowboy hat and all.

  “He wants vengeance for his friend’s death also.”

  Out in the black woods Henry thought he heard George’s ghost laughing. Finally free of human form, George’s Indian spirit was wandering the forest he’d loved. That mental picture, at least, brought a smile to Henry’s lips. It was better to think of George that way than decomposing in some beast’s belly. Around them the wind rustled the summer leaves high up in the trees. Henry imagined it was ghosts, all the humans who’d ever died in the park over all the years, talking among themselves; George now with them.

  “Francis is getting another submersible down here. He pulled some big strings and got a four-seater this time called the Big Rover. He’s piloted it before. This sub is not only bigger, faster, but possesses formidable weaponry. He believes it’ll be more than a match for the creature. He’ll bring the sub down from Vancouver in a couple of days, after he informs Lassen’s widow of the man’s death and attends the funeral…well, a memorial, at least, because there’s no body to bury. He’s flying there tonight. He’s already left.

  “When he returns, he’ll study the video tapes of Lassen’s exploration of that underwater lava cave. Francis is positive we’ll find the monster in there somewhere. He’s sure that’s why Lassen motored into it.”

  “Justin believes our target’s living in one of those caves, too,” Henry recalled. “Humph, exploring that submerged cave isn’t something I’m looking forward to, but Justin’s sure the monster lives in one of its tunnels. I’ve never been in an underwater lava cave before.”

  “Me neither. Not an active one like that anyway.

  “Okay, Ranger, so we’re going hunting for the creature. If we find it, we have to be sure we can kill it,” Greer’s tone was serious. “So I made that special phone call when you were gone. I think I have the weapons on their way that’ll do the job. A couple of grenade launchers and some other goodies. Should be here tomorrow.”

  “You’re a man of many hidden talents, Greer.”

  “Thanks, I aim to please.”

  Henry thought Greer grinned in the dark, but he couldn’t be sure, the man’s face was in shadow.

  An owl mourned for the dead from the tree behind them and brought Henry back to the painful present. For some reason the sound made him nervous. The woods and everything in them seemed alien and threatening all of a sudden. The moon had slipped behind clouds and shadowed the earth. Henry couldn’t shake his growing disquiet.

  “You know how to operate a grenade launcher?” Henry grilled Greer.

  “Of course. I was in the service. Marines.”

  “So was I,” Henry disclosed. “Iraq.”

  “Me, too, very beginning of it. But I learned how to use a L.A.W.S. Rocket and grenade launchers. That’s one thing you have to give our armed forces. They teach you how to kill pretty well. The bigger, the more destructive weapons, the better.

  “I figure a RPG-7 Grenade Launcher will make a dent in that thing’s tough hide. Hopefully stop it dead in its tracks. Blow it to pieces. And I know some tricks that’ll guarantee it. Bet you do, too.”

  Henry didn’t need to answer. He’d been in a war zone and knew the tricks just as well as Greer. Now Greer knew he knew it, too.

  Greer went into a crouch then and Henry followed, down to the other man’s level.

  “We can doctor up the grenade rockets…fill them with white phosphorus,” Greer said. “When the rocket explodes it’ll burn everything it touches, inside and out, until there’s nothing left. It’ll burn even when submerged in water.”

  “Sounds right to me. Should do the trick.” Henry whistled low under his breath. “Good plan, Greer. Couldn’t of done better myself.”

  Greer made a noise that might have been a polite grunt. “We better conclude our business, though, before Dr. Harris gets the Governor to send the army in here. They’ll lock up the park tight as a jail and launch an all-out search to seize, capture, the valuable specimen.” He stressed the last word. “Harris is probably on the phone with the Governor right now.”

  “Damn,” Henry swore. “I’d hoped the monster had gotten him. No such luck, huh?”

  Greer laughed, restrained, but still a laugh. Everyone knew how he felt about Dr. Harris.

  “I think we have maybe two days before the troops arrive,” Henry warned. “If Harris can talk the governor into it.”

  “Oh, he can. If there’s notoriety or money to be made, a politician will move a mountain to acquire it. I know the Governor personally and he’s as greedy and crooked as they come.”

  Henry and Greer stood up. Someone was calling their names, looking for them.

  Henry recognized the voice. “It’s Maltin, back from John Day’s.”

  The two men went to meet the paleontologist.

  “What the heck happened here?” was the first thing out of Justin’s mouth.

  “The creature followed us from the lake and attacked us,” Henry replied. “You had already left.”

  “Oh, god, I was afraid of that. It’s extending its hunting territory seeking food. Three miles from the lake, though, heaven knows how far out it can travel. Even into town.”

  “Even into town,” Henry echoed softly.

  The three of them spoke quietly in the fluttering lantern light about what had happened when Justin had been gone. The scientist was shocked to learn George was dead. He’d liked him, too. He felt awful about his death, yet was relieved to hear Ann was okay. He agreed wholeheartedly with Henry and Greer that they had to go after the monster. They no longer had a choice. It was either the creature or them.

  They discussed what they’d do when the submersible arrived. None of them spoke of how dangerous their unauthorized expedition would be. They didn’t need to. It was something they all just understood, accepted.

  They’d get some food, sleep and reconnect at dawn. Henry wanted to sift through the debris of Rim Village for bodies in the daylight.

  Henry and Justin left Greer, who was staying at the lodge, and returned to Henry’s cabin. Greer again loaning Henry his car since he was only a short walk from the lodge.

  The whole drive, Henry’s nerves were on edge, afraid the headlights would spotlight their nemesis. If it showed up now, before they got their weapons, he knew they wouldn’t have a chance.

  Henry breathed with relief when they pulled into the driveway and he shut off the car’s lights and motor.
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  “There’s steaks in the freezer, Justin. I’m not sure I’ll eat much myself, but we need to keep our strength up, so I’ll force myself. Can I interest you in a steak, with all the fixings?”

  “Sure,” the young man answered. “You know I can never turn down a free meal. I haven’t eaten all day. Been on the road. I wanted to get back and didn’t stop for anything, not even food. I’ve discovered more than I bargained for and wanted to share it with you.”

  “Good. You can tell me about it when we get inside. Right now, we’ll grab the steaks from the freezer and take them to Zeke’s. I want to check on Ann. She was pretty upset when I left her earlier.” And he wanted to be with her, Laura and Phoebe one more time before they went after the monster. In case, like Lassen, he never made it back.

  “That’s an even better idea,” Justin exclaimed as they got out of the car and he trailed Henry into the cabin. “I need to see Laura and Phoebe, too.”

  “I thought you might.”

  Inside, they gathered the supplies for their meal as they caught each other up on things.

  Justin told Henry he wanted to come along on their dinosaur hunt.

  “Are you sure you want to come along? You don’t have to, you know.” Henry gave the kid a chance to back out. “Your ribs and all.” Justin was moving as they still hurt him.

  “No, I’m fine. They hardly hurt at anymore. Well, not much. I’m just tired mostly, that’s all. I’ve come this far, might as well go in for the whole shebang. Besides, I have inside information about that creature that might help you to fight it.”

  “So you found out something more from those expert friends of yours at John Day’s about our enemy, hey?”

  Justin had collaborated with some other paleontologists about the creature’s possible origin and behavior patterns. Hoping to glean more information they could use to fight it.

  “I did. The animals represented by the samples they’d been provided aren’t exactly the same as the thing that’s giving us what for, but my associates agree they’re possibly a pre-ancestor. Between all of us we came up with a game plan on how we might defeat a live one.”

  “Great, you can tell me more on the way to town. I want to get out of here quick as we can. No dawdling.”

  “Oh, and Leon Vaughn, one of our new guys, talked to a friend of his at the Seismographic Center in Portland about our earthquake problem. Leon’s friend said that the signs show we’re probably due for a big one in the next few weeks. He’d stake his reputation on it. And, no surprise, the fault line that runs through this area goes right beneath the caldera.”

  “I wish your friend’s friend could have given us an exact day and time, as well. Our trip can’t wait until after the earthquake…if we have one.”

  “I knew you’d say that.” They left the house and got into the car.

  Justin wanted to see if his cabin, with all his personal stuff in it, in Rim Village was still there, so Henry, against his better judgment but caving into Justin’s need, drove him by the destruction. The fire trucks had done their job and were long gone. The smoldering heaps of concrete and wood were deserted in the dark. His cabin was one of them.

  “Well, I guess I’ll have to buy new clothes. No one was hurt, though?”

  “No, not here anyway, not that we could tell. Most had already left.”

  “Lucky for them,” Justin murmured. They drove through the dark park on their way to town, alert to the slightest movement or noise that might herald the return of their nemesis.

  The first tremors they didn’t feel because they were in the car bumping along the road. But they felt the larger ones, which were violent enough that their vehicle swerved across the road and nearly ended up in a ditch.

  Once Henry brought the car under control, he stopped beside a swaying tree, the ground rocking wildly. Justin was holding on to the dash.

  Neither of them said anything until the earth grew calm again.

  “That was fun.” Henry glanced over at his passenger.

  “I’d estimate that was about a four pointer,” Justin muttered. His eyes were on the shadowy night world outside the windows. “About as bad as the one they recorded here this morning around dawn. All just warm-ups for the big one.”

  Henry got the car on the road again, grumbling under his breath all the way. Outside it began to rain, soft and light.

  Voracious monsters, an empty park, his family miles away, dead friends, and earthquakes. How much worse could it get? Henry didn’t want to think about it. What he cared about was seeing Ann and the girls and making sure they were okay.

  The rest of it could wait until tomorrow.