by catt dahman
“Slow down.” Ruby was furious, and John jumped away to curl up with Jack, “I said wait. That means you, too, Jeremy. And you, Susan. And everyone or I am going to stand here and scream.”
“You already are. That’s why John came to me.”
Before Ruby could say anything else, a gunshot rang out.
“Who?” Everyone jumped up or looked startled or scared.
“Hang on,” Jeremy said, “listen first. Don’t go running out in the dusk. He wanted to be alone.”
“Who did?” Trevor looked around, deciding who was gone.
“Where’s Paul?” Alex asked.
“He wanted to sit a while outside. Let him have some time,” Jeremy told Alex.
“I think….” Alex began.
“Let me explain,” Jeremy said.
“Was it pain?” Alex asked. He wanted to run out of the cave and find that Paul was okay but knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“It was part of it. He asked me to help him go sit outside and watch the sunset, and he wanted to be alone,” Jeremy said. “Alex, people are complex, and we might not understand the way some think. You didn’t lose that device to call for help.”
“I didn’t? What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Paul told me something, and I knew why he was staying out there watching the sunset there and what would happen. Paul took the device. From you. He pick pocketed it if you want to call it that.”
“Why? We can’t get out without it,” Sandra blurted, “that’s insane. What did he do with it?”
“Threw it away after he broke it.”
“That’s insane for sure. What the hell?” Sandra asked.
“Really? It’s insane that he had the same plan as Alex, but he was scared he couldn’t go through with it and stay? Or that he would be made to go back? Is it really insane?” Jeremy snapped at her. “I know how he feels.”
“Oh,” Alex said.
“Guilt was eating him alive for Ana, and he was in a lot of pain. You know infection was setting in,” Jeremy said, “So now you know, and it doesn’t do shit to know does it? I wonder how far you’d go, Alex, to stay. Insanity? I don’t know. Maybe it’s the purest sanity of all.”
Marcus stood, “I’ll go deal with him, Trevor? We can spare his friends that. Will you help me?”
“Sure,” Trevor followed Marcus, glad to leave those who argued.
Alex stared into the fire.
“Go to bed. I’ll take watch,” Jeremy offered, “sorry, I yelled.”
Susan flashed him a hurt look as she felt taking guard duty was a way for him to avoid having to argue his choice with her or explain himself further. Quietly, she cried bitterly when she was alone, lying in her sleeping bag that she moved away from where she originally had spread it alongside Jeremy’s sleeping bag. She didn’t want to sleep next to him right then whenever he turned in. She was unsure what she felt or thought.
Jack and Ruby stayed for guard duty, and they slept later when they were relieved of duty. In the cave, despite being warm and dry, no one slept easily, if at all. Their minds were whirling with ideas and worries. Jack and Ruby held one another.
Words were unneeded.
Chapter Thirteen: The Past Catches Up
The day wasn’t rainy, but the sun stayed behind the clouds, and it was easy to say the land was too muddy for travel that day; it was. A psychologist would have pointed out that the contestants were depressed because of the weather and circumstances, unsure of their choices, and traumatized by the recent events. All of that was true.
They were, distance-wise, exactly where they needed to be to reach the finish line by day thirteen. It was day six, and in some ways, it felt they had been out there for years; however, in some ways, it seemed as if it were all very new. And that was also true.
Lawryn and Ruby found branches and fashioned them into brooms, which they used to clean the floor of the cave, and then they used water to clean it further. Susan reluctantly helped as did the others, men and women both, quietly cleaning; they didn’t talk about why they were doing it or what it meant.
Ruby walked out to hear Jack and Alex asking questions about some creatures they were watching.
Jeremy pointed, “What are those things?”
Ruby looked, her jaw hung open, and then she pulled out her booklet. She found a description that fit, but the creatures were almost unbelievable. Quezalcoaltus was a winged dinosaur that could fly and soar, but it only flew to where it wanted to feed instead of endlessly flying the skies like the pteradons. They were below the rocks, wading in reeds and grasses that grew around a large swampy lake, eating shellfish they found, catching crab-like creatures to feast on, and gorging on dead, rotting fish and other dead creatures.
Their legs were like those of a stork, long and thin. As the Quezalcoaltus waded, their wings folded against their sides like soft brownish leather cloaks. What was amazing, despite the wings and thinner legs (two instead of four), was that not only did they look like giraffes because their bodies were tawny-yellowish with big oval patches of brown, but also they had long necks and ovoid heads with extended snouts and elongated beaks.
A dozen searched the waters for food, and as the contestants watched, two more flew over and joined them, and one flew away; they ran to take off.
“Amazing. They’re unlike the other flying dinosaurs,” Jack said.
“Quezalcoaltus, after the Aztec god,” Ruby said, “oh, look: Johns!”
“You said that like we had hookers and johns,” Jack laughed. He tossed some berries and figs to a few micro compys that were darting about. A red, orange, and yellow one came closer to beg more food and seemed friendly.
John peeked out of the pocket and brightened as he chirped at the newcomers. He jumped down, and the group scampered around, sniffing at one another and playing.
“What if he gets lost or runs away?”
“Ruby, Honey, he may want to be with them. Look how happy he is. He hasn’t been this energetic in days. He doesn’t act injured. Let him play. If he comes back, he does, and if he goes, you know he’s happy.”
“Okay. But I am going to watch for those flying things. They better not come near John.”
“What are those?” Alex asked about a pack of upright dinosaurs stalking away from the rocks.
“Mmm. Those are bad, carnotaurus. They are one of the fastest of all. We couldn’t even run from them,” Ruby said.
They were far on the other side and moving away towards another valley. The carnotaurus had stubby heads, big bodies, but no front legs: strange looks. They moved like ostriches with enormous back legs, but only if ostriches had fat, bulky necks that caused them to walk at a thirty-degree angle.
“Look at that thing and his entourage,” Alex stared, “is that a T-Rex?”
Jack turned away from the others to look at where Alex pointed.
“Yes. It is, and the red ones are as well, and those are babies and juveniles with them. See the carnotaurus moving away? They are fast, but they can’t fight a pack of tyrannosaurs. That biggest one? His name is Barney because he’s purple, he rules the pack, and he loves eating people slowly.”
Alex just looked at Jack, “I see. You know a lot about him.”
“I sure do. Barney, as you can see, limps, and he’s probably in a foul mood with an infected foot from an axe injury; he’s hurting with a hole in his leg made by a LAW,” Jack said.
“I take it you and the pack had a fight,” Alex said, “will wonders never cease?”
“We sure did. That’s the one who ate Arnie. Kathleen wounded him, and I hurt the bastard,” Jack added, “I wonder why they came this way…of all places they could roam.”
Ruby bit her lip, “Jack, I think they tracked us. Maybe they don’t know we’re right here, but they are looking for us. Those compys, they are from John’s pack. They all followed us.”
“Why?” Asked Alex.
“Compys came to find John. Barney, he’s looking for us. Vendetta.”
“You have a bunch of tiny lizard groupies and a big purple dino with an entourage that’s pissed off enough to follow you?”
“That sums it up well,” Ruby agreed.
Ruby went back to clean, warning the men to watch John. She helped them sweep and scrub; the floor was finally clean of dirt and cobwebs. By fashioning a tarp over part of the cave opening deep inside, they formed a cool, comfortable place to sleep or sit. Alcoves were likewise covered with tarps to give addition privacy, and some tarps were carefully cut to provide pads under sleeping bags.
All the cooking utensils were stacked neatly to one side so they were close to the warm fire, which also gave light, but which also had a sturdy grate for pots to cook upon, or where they could grill fish and meat.
Without discussing the work, they made the cave a safe, comfortable place where someone could live easily. Rocks were used to protect the opening and for the fire. Working tirelessly, they erected a stable mound of rocks, using the natural formations until they were almost fully safe.
If dinosaurs, such as troodons, climbed up the ledges and were nimble enough, they could find their way to the cave, but not in swarms. A T-Rex couldn’t scale the sharp incline, and it was taller than even Barney, so they weren’t a threat. The big raptors couldn’t possibly climb to the ledge.
“It’s safe here,” Marcus said, wiping away sweat from his face and sitting on a flat rock to rest, “I don’t see how they could get through.”
“What do you think about Barney following us?”
“Jack, I wouldn’t believe it if you weren’t so serious. I would’ve thought it was a joke you were playing, but man, I can’t believe that ole bastard followed us,” Marcus said. “He’s a tenacious son of a bitch.”
“Wonder where they went?”
“Jerm says he watched with the binoculars a while; they went around the lake, drank, let the little ones play, and then found a couple of big plant eaters, attacked, and ate them. They’re still there with the carcasses.”
“Weird.”
Jack thought, “So they are coming around the other side and tracking us so that they’ll find that way through the rocks the dryptosaurs used to come after us. If it’s large enough for fat-ass Barney, then they’ll come to the remains of the dyrps and be below us.”
Two of the military men Brian, and Mike plus Jeremy and Trevor climbed down the rocks to fish and kill a dinosaur or several so the meat could be dried into jerky for long-term storage and portability. Lawryn, Marcus, and Mali carried guns to stay on guard at all time. Adrian stood on the rocks and watched with binoculars to see trouble before it got close enough to do damage.
“The cave looks good,” Bert said.
“It’s clean anyway,” Ruby admitted, “you lose something, Bert?”
“Huh? Oh, my camera. Yep. I was the last, I guess, to get rid of mine. I can’t be a part of filming this mess.”
“What will the show do without filming, Bert?”
“I don’t really know. They can show what they had up to some point and then show some never shown footage, but then, they’ll wait at the finish line and hope they have someone cross over.”
“What if they don’t?” Ruby asked.
“I don’t know. I do know they’ll be angry with me either way, and I’m not going to be a show host ever again. They’ll sack me either way. I guess they’ll play it off, and I am willing to bet there is another team either being placed in here or waiting to be.”
“I wish we knew if other teams came to the same feelings we have. Maybe they’ll be fine playing the game, but I don’t know. I keep wondering about that.”
“I think other teams will be fine. We were a certain group. It’s like certain elements came up to make us different,” Jack said. “We had an herbalist so that added something because we had some injured, but they survived. After the trouble that happened when they sent in Bert and Alex’s team, I bet they don’t make that mistake again.”
“No, we were a mistake for the show, but I bet SSDD has found us fascinating as lab rats,” Alex said.
“I’d like to find those guys and have five minutes alone with ‘em,” Jack said.
Jeremy showed them how to clean squirrels and use the hides and was thrilled that mammals had indeed stayed or come into the dinosaur’s area. With an area as large as SSDD owned, it wasn’t surprising to find that wild-life overlapped; it was a wonder dinosaurs hadn’t appeared outside the enclosures yet, but maybe that would happen one day.
“We also can use the fur,” Jeremy said, “and I’ll teach you how to dry the fish and meat over a slow, low fire so they will become jerky. It’s not difficult. We won’t remove the fur from these skins, but we will fix them up. I know there are oaks for acorns and wild sumac and both have tannin. When I find those, I will show you how to preserve leather.” He showed them how they could turn the skins.
“And then you said the jerky can become pemmican?”
“Right. We’ll use the jerky, fruits, and berries to make that. That’s for the times in winter when animals aren’t around. I think there are beavers, and those will give good fur, too. We will take the meat and cook it well; we can actually store it for a long time in the fat so we won’t toss that out.”
“A gram of fat will give us eight hundred calories while the protein gives us four hundred a gram,” Trevor grinned. He had learned that this afternoon.
“You need to know herbs as well. I know how to make healing poultices and teas, but I can’t teach all that in one night.”
“Susan, your knowledge is valuable, but you have to decide for yourself,” Jack said.
She nodded.
Jeremy smiled, “I’ll show you how to dry blood to keep for stews and how to crack bones for marrow. And if I get a beaver, the tail can be rendered for the fat for survival or oil for light. See? I know things here that can make life pleasant.”
Whether he said that in general or was making a point, no one was sure.
“Plus, you know there are remnants of gardens and probably domesticated and farm animals, and I was thinking about this, too; remember when SSDD built the fences?”
They all nodded at Jeremy. That five decades before were some of the best times for the nation since builders and workers were hired to erect concrete walls and electrified steel fences were installed for six hundred miles: from the coast of Texas to a city in Missouri and to a city in Mississippi, then up to cut off part of Tennessee and Kentucky, and finally to end in the tip of Illinois. Three hundred miles of fencing and walls ran from Illinois back to Missouri, and the same ran along the shallow ocean waters.
The SSDD had hired tens of thousands of workers to complete the work quickly and hadn’t overly paid much; the work was steady, giving the workers paychecks for extended years. After SSDD took over, many workers were electrocuted, trying to get inside, and some were shot and killed by guards, but as word spread, few tried to get inside because they didn’t want to try for the second fence and the creatures behind it.
It was a capital offense even to try to get inside the SSDD facility or to attempt to take pictures of the animals.
“But what I was thinking about was this: We went by a helicopter into specific buildings in specific places,” Jeremy went on. He was guessing since they had been blindfolded for security reasons, but it was a fairly short ride inside. “And then we were told which way to go to the finish line.”
“Sixty-five miles,” Ruby, Lawry, and a few others chanted with laughs.
Bert nodded, “Yep.”
“So even if we are inside, we are in a spot that is sixty-five miles from one part to the other, a fraction. But this thing is almost two hundred thousand square miles. Do we really feel all the old homes and everything else were destroyed?” Jeremy sat back, having made his point.
Alex shrugged, “I haven’t heard much about that since there is a no fly over in this place. It was started long ago; they must have been planting and developing the land while fenc
es were being built, but not that many were employed, so it is hard to image that anyone could possible take out everything.”
“My grandfather used to talk a little about some things. He said that before they began, they took out more concrete and rubble that anyone could imagine,” Marcus said. Most nodded as they had heard old stories from grandparents.
Back then in the very old days when most people had cars, the contestants’ great grandparents removed giant buildings in cities and the roads and highways everywhere. There was a whole system of technology, airplanes were plentiful, and television had many types of shows. Back then were mild reality shows about silly people, funny shows, shows that were like colorful drawings, and more, too many to imagine. There were even sports programs. It was hard to image a society with shows other than news and reality. No one now was quite sure what made-up television would be like.
Trucks and trains moved rubbish and rubble across Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona until Mexico was blocked, but that was before the Great Plague anyway, back when people and cities were in Mexico instead of it being ruins and bones.
“I never thought about it before, really. How would they have removed everything from every town?” Ruby asked.
“What does that mean?” Wendy asked.
“It means they didn’t move it all. It’s impossible. But what does that mean long term?” Ruby couldn’t make sense of the information as it related to them. Maybe she was tired.”
“It means there may be all kinds of things out there,” Lawryn said, “right?”
Jack, Alex, and Jeremy traded glances.
“There could be all kinds of people out there…here,” Jack said.
They stared out the cave into the dark.
“All kinds of people.”
Chapter 13: Day Six
Marshall’s foot was no worse, but it wasn’t better, and he couldn’t walk. He wanted to go out the same way Paul had, but no one would discuss it with him. With others staying, he didn’t have much of a reason to give up since, in time, he would heal. Only now could he fathom just how much pain he had suffered and vowed never again to make such a mistake as stepping on a dirty splinter.
