by Jake Bible
“Your girlfriend can be very confusing,” Raff said to Cash then faced Barbara. “I thought we were saving it?”
“What do you think is going to happen when the mama comes looking for this baby?” Barbara asked. “It’s going to give us all hugs?”
“Confusing and sassy,” Raff said.
“Just don’t,” Cash responded.
“What if the big meat-eating son of a bitch wins?” Raff asked.
“Have you seen a Diplodocus?” Haskins asked from up top the Russian roller. “Might want to have a look.”
Raff and Cash lifted their rifles and eyed through the scopes out at the landscape and the two massive dinos rushing toward each other.
“Oh,” Raff said. “She’s a big one.”
“Christ, how long is that tail?” Cash asked. “Ten meters?”
“The whole dino is nearly fifty meters,” Haskins said. “I don’t know what that carnivore is thinking, but it sure doesn’t know a lopsided fight when it sees one.”
“TRE!” Barbara yelled.
“Coming!” Cash replied. “I’ll help Barb, you keep an eye on the fight.”
“Oh, brother, I wasn’t planning on looking away until it’s all over,” Raff said. “You want a play by play?”
“No,” Cash said.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Your loss, buddy.”
Cash joined Barbara and they carefully moved the cart out away from the rollers.
“We should keep going,” Barbara said even though they were twenty meters from camp. “This isn’t enough space.”
“We go too far and we’ll get picked off by whatever is waiting in the dark,” Cash said.
“What?”
“You think all this noise is scaring the other dinos away? Hell no. It’s like ringing a dinner bell. The smaller scavengers are either on their way or already here.”
“Now you tell me?”
“You wanted to move the baby dino. I’m helping you do that.”
“Yeah, okay, this is far enough,” Barbara said as she grabbed the back of the cart and planted her feet, skidding for a few meters before the cart’s momentum stopped. “We’ll just hope the mama doesn’t crush us when she comes to get her baby.”
“If she lives,” Cash said.
The noise of the fight echoed from the pitch black landscape. The carnivore roared. The herbivore bellowed. The ground shook some more.
“Raff? How we looking?” Cash called as he and Barbara struggled to get the dino off the cart. “Raff?”
“Mama’s holding her own,” Raff reported. “But she’s taking some hits. The other one is—HOLY SHIT!”
“What?” Cash exclaimed.
“The tail, man!” Raff replied. “Mama swung it like a whip and just took a massive gouge of flesh out of the carnivore’s hip. Man, I wish it was daytime. This night vision is not doing that blood spray justice!”
“There is something wrong with Raff,” Barbara said as she and Cash worked at easing the dino off the cart without hurting it.
“Don’t I know it,” Cash said.
The baby cried and shrieked as they manhandled the dino onto the grass.
The cries and shrieks were answered by the mama, even as she fought off a massive predator.
She was not the only one to answer.
“Leave it here,” Cash ordered and whipped his rifle off his back and had it up to his shoulder in one solid motion before he finished speaking. “Get back to the rollers. Now.”
“Tre, we can’t—”
“Now,” Cash snapped. “We have eyes on us. Lots of eyes.”
Cash could see movement through his scope, but he couldn’t focus on any one shape. Whatever was out there, and his guess was there was more than one, was moving fast and staying low to keep from being detected. Which meant there was some intelligence and cunning going on; two things Cash hated in a dinosaur.
“Barb. Please. Move,” Cash said.
“I can’t,” Barbara replied.
Cash spared a second and glanced over at her. Even in the darkness, he could see her body language. She was facing the rollers, but her body was rigid with fear. Cash could see the shape about six steps in front of Barbara.
Raptor of some type, for sure.
But if one was facing off with Barbara, then that meant the moment he turned to engage, at least one more would take him out from behind. He’d watched it happen time and time again out in the field.
“Raff,” he called. “Haskins.”
“What’s up, buddy?” Raff called back. “You really are missing out here.”
“No, I’m not,” Cash said. “Got some bigger problems. Raptors.”
“I see it,” Haskins said. “Give me the signal and I’ll drop it.”
“Barb? You’ll need to hit the deck or risk getting shot if Haskins misses,” Cash said.
“Hey now,” Haskins protested.
“Coming to you,” Raff said.
“No. Stay there,” Cash replied. “I don’t want to spook them. Target from there.”
“Them?” Haskins asked. “I’m only seeing one.”
“Raptors, Haskins,” Cash said. “When do they ever move singly?”
“Good point,” Raff said.
“I’m not tracking any other movement,” Haskins said.
“Which isn’t a good thing,” Cash said. “They’re out there. Waiting.”
“I can drop it, Cash,” Haskins said.
“I need to spot the others first,” Cash warned. “Hold until I say so.”
“Or until the fucking thing makes a move for me,” Barbara growled.
The raptor facing off with her snorted and bunched its shoulders.
“Tre…”
“Don’t move,” Cash replied, finally spotting a shape in the high grass. The shape was low to the ground. Cash knew it was a raptor trying to stay crouched before attacking. “Stay very still.”
“Me staying still isn’t the problem,” Barbara said. “It staying still is the problem.”
“Haskins. Raff. I’ve got one in the crosshairs,” Cash said. “On my mark, we fire and Barb hits the deck.”
“Copy that,” Raff said.
“Just say when,” Haskins responded.
The war raged on between the two behemoths out in the landscape, but Cash ignored the roars and bellows, the shrieks and screeches. His attention was fully on the crouched raptor in his sights.
“On three,” Cash said. “One, two—”
A freight train hit Cash from the left and he went flying. Luckily, he flew directly into Barbara and knocked her to the ground the second the raptor in front of her pounced and Haskins squeezed his trigger.
Rifle fire joined the cacophony of the dino battle and muzzle flashes lit up the darkness.
Teeth snapped shut a millimeter from Cash’s nose and the stink of rotten meat filled his nostrils. Going by instinct, Cash punched as hard and fast as he could, over and over, until he felt like his right hand was mush. The dino that had him pinned snorted then went in for the kill.
It never moved more than an inch or two before its head was obliterated.
Cash’s ears rang as he turned his head to the side and saw Barbara with his rifle gripped in her hands, the strap still slung around Cash’s shoulders so that she was at an impossibly awkward angle. But not awkward enough that she couldn’t get the kill shot.
The baby dino shrieked in pain.
Cash shoved the dead raptor off his body and took his rifle back, getting to a knee and spinning about to see two raptors clamping down on the baby Diplodocus. They tried to drag the dino off away into the tall grass, but a shot rang out and one fell dead, its chest and back ripped apart.
“Cash! Get Barbara inside a roller!” Raff shouted. He fired again and the second raptor went down. “Mama ain’t gonna be happy!”
Cash gave the baby dino a quick look and agreed with Raff’s assessment. It was missing a good chunk from its midsection and
one of its legs hung from only sinew. The dino was dying and it made that fact known vocally by calling out over and over, its agony echoing across the landscape.
A roar was cut short then the earth shook as massive footfalls came rushing toward the dying dino.
“Go!” Cash shouted.
He grabbed at Barbara, but she was already up on her feet and sprinting toward the rollers. Cash was right behind her and Raff joined them in seconds as they were almost knocked off their feet by the intense shaking of the ground.
“Maybe this is what made those seismic readings!” Raff yelled as they reached the fallen Flipside roller and scrambled into the sideways hold just as the mama Diplodocus reached the camp.
Cash and Raff got the hold hatch closed then both fell onto their asses. The vehicle was bouncing up and down. Then it went sliding a couple meters as something huge slammed into it.
The baby’s cries could no longer be heard, but the mama’s bellows were so close and so intense that Cash, Raff, and Barbara slapped their hands over their ears to keep from going deaf.
More bellows then silence.
Cash cocked his head and waited, but there were no more sounds from the mama dino.
That’s when the top, which was really the side, of the Flipside roller caved in above them, nearly crushing all three inside.
“Fuck me!” Raff yelled.
Rifle fire erupted outside and the bellows began once more.
The Flipside roller was sent sliding again and it didn’t come to a stop for at least fifty meters.
“Stay or make a run for it?” Raff whispered.
“Where to?” Barbara asked.
“The other roller,” Raff said.
“You want to be out in the open with that thing raging around us?” Barbara asked.
“I just don’t want to be stuck in here waiting to get squashed,” Raff replied.
“You’d rather get squashed on the run?”
“No, I’d rather not get squashed at all.”
“Shut up, both of you,” Cash ordered. “Listen.”
They listened.
“Mama’s gone quiet,” Cash said. “Same with Haskins’ rifle.”
The earth shook one last time and they froze in place. They waited for a few minutes more, their heads cocked and ears tuned for even the slightest sound.
Raff whipped about and faced the rear hatch, his rifle at the ready.
“Something’s out there,” he said.
There was a knock on the hatch.
“You guys alive? Haskins asked.
“Yeah,” Cash called and unlocked the hatch.
Haskins, Dr. Xipan, and Pytor were waiting outside the roller. None of them looked happy.
“What’s wrong?” Cash asked. “The mama still out there?”
“I took care of her,” Haskins said.
Dr. Xipan snorted and walked away, stopped, then backed up and stuck close to the others.
“You should come see,” Haskins said.
“Shit,” Cash said and climbed out.
He saw.
Raff and Barbara joined him and they stared at the dead dino that lay there, taking up most of the ground in front of them. Ground where the Russian roller used to be.
“Oh, come on,” Raff said. “Now what the fuck are we going to do?”
“Walk,” Cash said without missing a beat. “We salvage what supplies we can then we start back to Flipside BOP.”
“A place we do not know the direction of,” Dr. Xipan said. “Or if we can get to from this time.”
“I hate to agree with the doc, but she’s right, Cash,” Haskins said. “We might not even be in the same time as Flipside BOP.”
“You’d rather sit here and wait to die?” Cash asked.
“Well, no…” Haskins replied.
“Then we hunt up the remaining supplies and start walking,” Cash said. “Now.”
“Tre, your knees,” Barbara said.
“I’ll manage,” Cash replied. “I have to. We all have to.”
Twelve
“They aren’t giving up,” Ivy grumbled. “Not one of them has fallen behind.”
“Jesus, they’re still back there?” DeLuca exclaimed. “That’s some stamina.”
“They’ve moved into a single-file line,” Ivy stated, her eyes locked onto the speed roller’s side mirror. “They’re matching us turn for turn like a mother duck.”
“Motherfucking duck,” DeLuca said.
“What does that mean?” Ivy asked.
“No idea,” DeLuca responded. “I’m getting kind of punch drunk. Maybe stop for a break?”
“And do what?” Ivy asked. “Get a soda from the vending machine?”
“No, I was thinking of taking a piss,” DeLuca replied. “I’m probably not the only one.”
“Shit. Right. Sorry,” Ivy said. She activated comms and the static squeal nearly took her head off.
“Fuck!” she and DeLuca screamed at the same time.
Ivy slammed a fist against the main comms controls on the roller’s dash. The squeal ended and the two women were left with a painful ringing in their ears.
“Stop the roller,” Ivy said.
“What?” DeLuca asked.
“Stop the roller!”
“WHAT?”
“STOP THE FUCKING ROLLER!”
“Good idea!”
DeLuca slowed the roller then came to a complete stop. She grabbed her rifle and jumped out as Ivy did the same.
Behind them, the follow roller had stopped as well. Everyone was climbing out, fingers digging in their ears.
“What the fuck was that?” Blumhouse asked.
“Comms glitched,” Ivy replied.
“What?” Morgan shouted.
“Comms glitched!” Cosio shouted at him.
He gave her a thumbs up with one hand while still digging in his ear with the other.
Nochez hopped out of the hold and gave everyone a curious look.
“What happened?” she asked as she rolled her wounded shoulder and winced. “Why’d we stop?”
“Comms glitched!” Blumhouse shouted at her.
“No need to yell,” she said.
“What?” Blumhouse yelled.
“I said… Never mind,” Nochez focused on Ivy. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” Ivy said, although her voice was slightly raised. “We’re gonna piss then get moving again.”
“Gonna go piss!” Morgan yelled. “Cover me?”
“Blumhouse, you cover Morgan and vice versa,” Ivy ordered. “DeLuca, you do the same for Cosio. I got Nochez.”
There were a couple of blank looks, so Ivy pantomimed what she’d just said and everyone nodded.
“The comms glitched?” Nochez asked as she walked a few feet away from the rollers, dropped her pants, and squatted. “We probably shouldn’t stop again. The rollers may not start back up next time.”
“We can’t drive forever,” Ivy said. “Eventually, we’ll all need sleep.”
She turned and faced the way they’d come from. The single-file line of weird dinos was back there, moving evenly over the land, headed straight for them.
“Then again,” Ivy continued. “Maybe we can lose them by tiring them out. We trade off driving until we’re back at Flipside BOP.”
“What happens if we don’t lose them?” Nochez asked.
She stood and zipped up then held out a hand. Ivy gave her her rifle and switched places.
“Ahhhhh,” Ivy said. “That’s nice.”
“Seriously,” Nochez said. “What if they don’t tire and we lead them straight to Flipside BOP?”
“They can’t get over the wall,” Ivy said. “And there aren’t so many that they can’t be picked off by snipers.”
“Still, Bloom will not be happy with us for bringing them to the gate,” Nochez said.
“Boss!” Blumhouse yelled. “Wingers!”
Ivy stood and zipped up then held out her hand. Nochez gave her back her rifle and they
both looked skyward.
Several wingers were up above. And they were huge.
“I really hate these new guys,” Nochez said, her hand subconsciously going to her shoulder. “They are ten times more aggressive than the other wingers we’ve dealt with.”
“Yeah, and ten times bigger,” Ivy said. “Lock and load, people!”
Bathroom break was over and the operators grabbed rifles and took up positions, ready to fight off the incoming wingers.
But instead of going for the humans, the pterosaurs went for the weird dinos, diving at the single-file line at speeds that looked like they’d crash directly into the ground.
“Uh,” Ivy said. “This might solve our follower problem.”
The wingers ended their dives and swooped upward, claws snagging up a few of the weird dinos.
But the rest of the dinos were having none of that. They leapt at the massive pterosaurs, grabbing onto legs, tails, wings, anything their own claws could get purchase from. The wingers cried out in surprise as the dinos began to fight even as the pterosaurs climbed higher and higher.
Then began to fall.
The weird dinos were tearing into the wingers with a ferocity that made the operators wince. No one wanted the wingers to escape and win, but the way the dinos were shredding them while midair was hard to watch. Blood and flesh fell from the sky then entire bodies began to plummet. The wingers folded under the attacks and dropped fast and hard.
“We should go, boss,” Cosio said. “Use this as cover to ditch the little fuckers.”
“Yeah. Let’s roll,” Ivy said.
The operators split up and hopped into their respective rollers.
“I’ll drive,” Ivy said. “You rest.”
DeLuca didn’t argue as Ivy took the driver’s seat.
Ivy’s hand went for the comms control, but stopped and pulled back, the memory of aural agony still fresh in her mind. She instead stuck her hand out the window and pointed forward before starting up the roller.
Except the roller didn’t start up. The motor whined then smoke billowed out from under the short hood.
“No,” Ivy said and jumped out of the roller, her eyes staring in disbelief at the small flames that quickly followed the smoke. “What the fuck?”
She was about to order everyone into the follow roller, but turned and saw the same issue with the second vehicle. Except no flames. Plenty of smoke, though.
