The Extinction Series | Book 8 | Primordial Earth 8

by Higgins, Baileigh

  Tony spun in a circle, uncertain what direction the danger lay. The distant thumps were becoming louder with each passing moment, and he knew they had little time. An ear-splitting roar turned his innards to water. A second roar answered the first, and he had to resist the urge to run away. It was useless. Running wouldn’t help them now. Nothing would. They were doomed.

  “What was that?” David cried, his eyes wide.

  “That was death,” Tony answered.

  He’d heard that roar once before when he was younger. The Exiles were still a growing group, freshly settled into the Zoo when a beast attacked. It was a fearsome creature that sowed death and destruction. Even more so because it had a mate. Facing one was bad enough, but two were worse. Far worse.

  They’d won in the end, killing both monsters, but it cost them dearly. Swallowing hard, Tony aligned himself with the direction of the roar, and he raised his gun to his shoulder. Removing the safety, he sighted down the scope. This was it. They had to fight or die. “Come on. I’m ready for you.”

  “I’m not,” David cried, throwing him a wild look. “What’s coming?”

  “You’ll see soon enough,” Tony said. Then a thought occurred to him. David could still make it. All he needed was a chance. “Run!”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. I said run. I’ll hold them off,” Tony said.

  “No, you’ll die!” David said, shaking his head.

  “If you stay, we’ll both die,” Tony said. “This way, you stand a chance.”

  For a long moment, David said nothing. Finally, he shook his head. “No. I’m not leaving.”

  “It’s your funeral,” Tony replied, grinning despite their situation. It was a nervous grin designed to grant him false bravado, but he didn’t care. Anything that bolstered his courage was welcome.

  “I suppose there are worse ways to go,” David said, returning his grin.

  “Really? Worse than being eaten by a vicious predator?” Tony asked with mock astonishment. “I can’t think of any.”

  Another bloodcurdling roar rendered them both silent, and their smiles melted away. The canopy shook and shuddered before them as two massive bodies crashed through the undergrowth. Branches snapped, each sounding like the crack of a gunshot, and the earth shuddered beneath the onslaught.

  Suddenly, a gigantic beast burst into the open and paused. Its yellow eyes swept the clearing, searching for life. They found Tony and David, fixating on them with terrifying intensity. The thick leathery lips peeled back from the pointed teeth, each ivory incisor the size of a human hand.

  Tony quailed before the creature, and he had to fight the urge to vomit. Acid burned the back of his throat as his worst fears were realized. It was a pair of T-Rexes, a breeding pair. The female hung behind the male, only slightly smaller than him.

  “Is that a —” David whispered, but he never got the chance to finish his sentence.

  The male T-rex lunged forward, and its head snaked across the ground. Its jaws snapped shut mere inches from Tony’s face who screamed and stumbled backward. His finger tightened on the trigger, and a volley of shots sprayed through the air.

  Several bullets found their mark and punched into the T-rex’s thick hide. It reared backward and collided with the female. Bowled off her feet, she growled and snapped at her mate. The male ignored her ire, struggling to regain his balance. Blood leaked from its many wounds, and it limped on an injured knee.

  Encouraged by his success, Tony fired again. This time, he aimed at the T-rex’s face and snout. A stray shot hit it in the eye, and the eyeball exploded in a spray of viscous liquid and blood.

  “Yes,” Tony cried, whooping with joy.

  Blinded in one eye, the T-Rex roared with fury. Its fetid breath washed across Tony’s face, and he thought his eardrums would burst. Dancing backward, he kept shooting at the monstrous beast. Rat-tat-tat. Rat-tat-tat. Rat-tat-tat.

  David joined in, and together they held the pair of T-rexes at bay. Faced with a wall of gunfire, the creatures backed away, shaking their heads and snorting with each stinging bullet that punched into their flesh.

  For the first time, Tony felt hope blossoming in his chest. Maybe, just maybe, they could win this fight.

  Fate had other plans.

  Click.

  Click, click.

  Tony’s gun was empty, and his heart sank. “Shit! I’m out!” He fumbled for the extra clip at his belt but dropped it the second it was free. “Hold them off!”

  “I’m trying,” David yelled.

  Sinking to his knees, Tony snatched up the fallen clip from the ground, but it was too late. David’s gun ran out seconds later, and silence fell as the blast of gunfire died away. Tony looked up in time to see a tail sweep through the air. He ducked, and it missed by a hair’s breadth.

  David was not so lucky. The tail connected with brutal force, and he went flying across the open space. Landing in a clump of bushes, he rolled across the ground in a flurry of dust and sand. Facedown in the dirt, he groaned. After a few seconds, he tried to get up but fell back down with a cry of agony.

  David was out for the count, and Tony knew it was up to him to save their asses. An impossible feat, but he had to try. Jamming the clip into place, he crab-walked to the side while firing off short, controlled bursts.

  The T-rexes advanced, drawn by his movement, and he lured them away from the injured David. He kept it up for several moments, gratified to see the mayhem his bullets caused.

  The male’s left knee was shattered, and it could hardly step on the limb, plus it was half-blind and losing blood by the bucket full. The female was better off, sheltering behind the male’s bulk, and Tony watched her with careful eyes.

  When she launched a vicious attack, he ducked behind a tree. She snapped around the side of the trunk and snagged his sleeve with her teeth. The cloth ripped free, and the material flapped around like a flag in the wind.

  Sending up a silent prayer, Tony popped out on the other side and shot her in the head. The bullets punched into her skull, sowing fearsome destruction at such close range. One penetrated the brain, and her eyes rolled back into their sockets.

  A mournful growl sounded from her chest as she reared back. For a single, frozen moment, nothing happened. Then she collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash that shook the earth for miles around.

  Tony stared at the corpse, unable to believe his luck. But the male still posed a problem. Despite its injuries, the T-rex was not defeated, and the loss of its mate sent it into a frenzy.

  With a bloodcurdling roar, the beast charged, its massive hindlegs propelling it forward at great speed. The T-rex crashed through the trees, not letting anything slow it down. It was determined to get Tony and tear him limb from limb.

  Forgetting everything, Tony ran. There was no time to fight back. His gun was almost empty, and he had only one clip left in his belt. After that, he was doomed, and so was David.

  With his breath sawing in and out of his lungs, Tony ducked between the trees. Sharp branches tugged at his clothes and tore at his flesh. Hanging vines impeded his progress, and the thick undergrowth threatened to bring him to his knees. With his strength rapidly failing, he pushed himself to the limits of his abilities.

  It was not enough.

  With each great stride, the T-rex gained ground. It loomed above him, and its shadow cast him in into a world of darkness. Soon, its teeth would tear him in half, and his blood would feed the creature’s monstrous appetite.

  Tony had lost all hope when a new sound reached his ears. The boom of a gun. A massive gun. It rattled off a continuous barrage of shots, and soon, the noise of two more joined the first. Together, they created an ear-splitting din, punctuated by the T-rex’s agonized roars.

  Tony fell against the nearest tree with both hands pressed to his ears. His rifle lay on the ground, forgotten. It couldn’t help him anyway. Huddled into a ball, he waited for the chaos to pass. And pass it did.

  One by o
ne, the guns stuttered into a hiccuping silence broken only by the T-rex’s dying groans. Tony opened his eyes and looked up into the creature’s eyes. It was lying only a few yards away, and their gazes locked together.

  The world faded away as man and beast gazed at one another, both teetering on the edge of death. Locked in a primal struggle as old as time itself, man had won the battle. But Tony felt no victory, no sense of joy. Instead, he felt sad as the life ebbed from the T-rex’s eyes, and the great beast breathed its last. In the end, they were all the same, fighting for existence in a cruel and harsh environment. Today, I was the lucky one, but who knows what tomorrow might bring?

  Glad to be alive, Tony picked up his rifle and checked the load. Slinging it over his shoulder, he hobbled toward the fallen David. While he was curious about the newcomers, his friend came first. “David, are you okay?”

  “Uh, I think so,” David said, rolling onto his side. His face was streaked with dirt, and a trickle of blood ran from his temple.

  “Where does it hurt?” Tony asked.

  “Everywhere,” David replied.

  The crunch of boots alerted Tony to company, and he looked up into the face of a dark-eyed woman. She showed him a first-aid kit, and said, “Can I have a look at your friend? I’m a medic. Private Linda Longo at your service.”

  “Go ahead,” Tony said.

  Linda complied while he stood to the side, watching. The rest of the group approached, leaving the Humvees parked a short distance away. Though they wore no uniforms or insignia, they were armed to the teeth, and Tony guessed they were military.

  One man stood out from the rest, his expression stern and his bearing proud. His steel-gray hair was cut short, and his jaw set into a square. “I am Lt. Cummings, and this is my team.”

  “Well, I sure am happy to see you,” Tony said, sticking out his hand. “You saved my life. Our lives, actually.”

  “Just part of the job,” Cumming replied, shaking Tony’s hand. “Mayor Finley of Vancouver sent us to rescue you.”

  “The mayor? Why?” Tony said.

  “She wanted us to retrieve any supplies remaining after the crash plus rescue any survivors,” the lieutenant said. “It’s part of a deal she struck with your leader, Seth, I believe.”

  “Deal? What deal? I thought we already had a deal with Vancouver?” Tony said with a frown.

  “When the plane crashed, that deal fell through. The mayor felt she couldn’t risk any more resources and canceled. Your man, Seth, offered to complete a risky mission for her in exchange for more supplies and your safety,” Lieutenant Cummings explained as he filled Tony in on all the details.

  “Why couldn’t you do the mayor’s mission? It sounds dangerous? Why my friends?” Tony asked.

  “She can’t risk any more valuable resources. If she does, the opposition will use it as leverage to unseat her,” Cummings said.

  “Ah, I get it. She can’t risk you, but she can risk my friends because they’re disposable,” Tony said. Lieutenant Cummings did not reply, and Tony knew he had his answer. “What about this mission? Isn’t this dangerous too?”

  “Not as much, and the reward is great. The lost supplies are retrieved, and relations with Prime are salvaged,” Cummings said.

  “Smart,” Tony said.

  “Indeed,” Cummings replied.

  “Now, after Private Longo has seen to your medical needs, I’d like to get moving,” the lieutenant said. “You can ride in the back of my vehicle with me. I’ll see to it that you’re comfortable.”

  “Where are we headed?” Tony asked.

  “We’ll escort you to Prime and deliver the second shipment of supplies. In addition, we’ll refuel our Cessna, allowing our pilots to return home. After that, we’ll return to our home.”

  “Thanks again for the help,” Tony said, watching while Linda taped up David’s ribs. According to her, he had two cracked and one broken rib, a dislocated thumb, several scrapes and bruises, and a mild concussion.

  “He’ll be okay, though. He just needs time. Now it’s your turn,” Linda said. After disinfecting his cuts and stitches, she pronounced them well enough to travel. She handed them each a bottle of water, a bag of trail mix for the road, and painkillers. “That should tide you over for now.”

  “Excellent,” Lieutenant Cummings said. “Let’s roll out.”

  Tony climbed into the back of the Humvee with a sense of profound relief. David was still alive, injured but alive, and so was he. They were on their way to Prime in the back of an armored vehicle protected by soldiers with lots of big-ass guns. Suddenly, things were looking up.

  Chapter 21

  For the rest of the afternoon, Rogue stared at the scenery flashing past her window. Ronan led them across the stream and upriver for several miles. A thick stand of trees hemmed them in on one side, with the river flowing past on the other.

  Although the wildlife wasn’t plentiful, she spotted a flock of flyers winging over the canopy. Twice, she saw dinosaurs drinking water at the river’s edge, and once, a herd of Zuniceratops rushed across their path, huffing and puffing.

  It was getting late when Ronan took a sharp turn onto an ancient road, heading due north. The track consisted of dirt and gravel, but a few patches of tar remained. It wound up a steep hill and topped out on the rise.

  To Rogue’s surprise, a house waited at the end of the track. It sat in a clearing on top of the hill, surrounded by rocky cliffs. The only access point was the road they’d taken, and she guessed they’d spend the night there. It was a good location and made sense as long as the house was unoccupied. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

  She climbed out of the Jeep and dropped to the ground. Turning in a slow circle, she surveyed their surroundings. Tall grass grew in patches around the house, and ivy crawled up the walls. The porch looked wonky, the paint peeled off in strips, and an old car rusted in the driveway. “Charming.”

  “It’s cozier than it looks, I promise,” Ronan said, overhearing her.

  “You know this place?”

  “I found it on one of my many travels and decided to patch her up. On the inside, at least,” he added. “Now it acts as a safe house, and I keep it stocked with the basics.”

  “I see,” Rogue said with a doubtful frown.

  “Not convinced? Just wait,” Ronan said, grabbing his gear from the backseat. He swung it onto his shoulder and waved at the group. “Have a look around, folks. This will be our home for the night, so get settled in.”

  Rogue followed him up the steps and through the front door. It was dark inside. Pieces of tarp stapled to the frames covered the broken windows. A lamp and a box of matches stood on a small table inside the foyer, and Ronan paused to light it.

  It flared to life and revealed an open-concept kitchen, dining room, and living room. The floors and walls were made of polished wood, and stairs led to the upper floor. More lamps dotted the furniture, and Ronan lit them all.

  The furniture was bare, and a fine coat of dust covered every surface, but overall it was tidy—a pleasant surprise. Rogue whistled. “You were right. This is cozy.”

  “Thanks,” Ronan said, dropping his bag. “Check out the kitchen.”

  Rogue obeyed and found a wood-burning stove, cooking utensils, and food in the pantry. “Well, well. This place is full of surprises.”

  “This place or me?” Ronan asked with a teasing smile.

  “Both,” Rogue said.

  “Tell you what, if you get a pot of coffee going, I’ll unload your stuff,” Ronan said.

  “Deal,” Rogue said, opening the ancient oven’s front flap. A stack of wood and kindling waited inside, and she quickly struck a match. Once the fire burned, she found a kettle and filled it with water from a bottle in the pantry. She added the coffee and stood back with a satisfied grin. “That’s the ticket.”

  A side cupboard revealed cleaning supplies, and she rolled up her sleeves. If they had to spend the night, it might as well be in luxury. While the coffe
e steeped, she dusted, swept the floor, and wiped the counters. Meanwhile, the rest of the party unloaded their gear from the trucks and dumped it inside.

  Suddenly, Rogue heard a wild scream, and she straightened up in a flash. Her hand closed around the handle of her handgun, and she ran toward the front door. “What in hell’s name is going on?”

  Outside, a struggle had ensued around the back of their transport truck. Ronan and Daniel fought with a smaller figure and dragged it into the open, hissing and spitting like a wildcat. The rest had gathered around in a wide circle, as confused as she was.

  “Let go of me, or I’ll have your heads for this,” the figure cried, topped by a crown of fiery red curls.

  “What do we have here?” Ronan asked. “A stowaway?”

  “Looks like it, Boss,” Daniel replied with a huge grin.

  “No, wait,” Seth cried, the confusion clearing from his face. “That’s—”

  “Imogen?” Rogue gasped when she recognized the figure’s voice and hair. “Imogen? Is that you?”

  She raced down the steps and waved to Jessica. “It’s Imogen.”

  Jessica paled. “What? It can’t be. She’s still back in Vancouver.”

  “Is she?” Rogue asked, dashing toward the struggling trio.

  Jessica followed, and they reached them just as Imogen’s foot connected with Daniel’s jaw. He let go of the girl and stumbled back, his mouth working. Eyes blazing, he spat out a mouthful of blood and growled, “You’ll pay for that, girl.”

  “No, she won’t,” Jessica said, shouldering past him. She grabbed Ronan’s arm and said, “Let go of her.”

  “What?” Ronan asked, surprised.

  “I said, let go of her. She’s a friend,” Jessica said.

  Ronan stepped back with his hands raised. “Friend? What friend?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Daniel added. He stared at Imogen with narrowed eyes, and Rogue didn’t like his manner.

  Neither did Seth, who stepped in between the two, his expression stern. “Her name is Imogen Finley, and she’s the mayor’s daughter.”