by catt dahman
Extinction Island 2
Fear the Eyes
catt dahman
Chapter 1: Nests
The nest was wide, built of leaves, sticks, and feces-caked mud, and raked into place by the adults: twenty-foot long dinosaurs called ceratosaurus. Mashed into the muck of the nest and adding to the stench were bits of dropped fish and flesh from recent kills.
Babies chirped, birdlike, and gulped pieces of the rotten meat. Colored a soft, peachy brown, the ceratosaurus had pebbled skin, and frequently broke or rubbed away bristled feathery hairs along their spines when they scratched their backs on trees. They were like birds and crocodiles, displaying traits of both creatures, remnants of feathers and scales.
Carrying food in her mouth, a female adult paused and snorted as she returned to the nest where her eggs had recently had hatched. Pieces of the pale peach eggshells broke under her weight since she weighed almost a full ton.
Procreation and strength as a hunting pack were of utmost concern. She was responsible for protecting the little ones and teaching them skills. Teaching methods were based on punishment, never reward, because they didn’t understand the concept.
The other juveniles and smaller babies gathered around the female adult who set her haul into the bottom of the nest. She lowered her head and snapped the head off the man she had put in the nest. She crunched a few times and then swallowed.
The adults had already eaten, so what was left, was for the little ones. Most of the cloth was already torn away from the food; the waistband and half a leg of denim were matted with mud and stained green from vegetation.
Hardly using its powerful jaws and blade-like teeth, one of the babies grabbed fingers and gulped them. The gold band on the ring finger vanished into the baby’s maw. Then, the baby immediately tore a chunk from the swollen, blackened flesh of an arm.
One of the babies rolled over the lip of the nest as he played with the other babies, and the female adult stepped on its leg, causing it to shriek.
Each of the baby’s hind legs was muscular and strong, but the female adult mashed his leg against a rock that was barely covered by a thin film of mud and green ooze. Because his lower leg and one toe were broken, the pain caused him to limp around and squeal.
The mother of the injured juvenile ceratosaurus leaned down and sniffed the baby. Using her big nose and head, she rolled the baby over several times, trying to force it to get up and stand. She rolled her big yellow eyes as she looked at the baby.
Despite the pain, the small dinosaur rose on his back legs, waving its small but powerful forelegs in the air and squeaking. Like his parents, the baby had ridges over his eyes, a small nasal horn, and raised osteodermal platelets from head to tail like those of a crocodile. The platelets had protected his spine and saved him from instant death.
The baby was not only emitting cries of pain, which might alert a larger predator, but it also showed a weakness in the pack. The cries disturbed the other snorting members who were blowing dust and moisture from large nasal cavities and frightening birds and small animals.
The mother nudged the baby, pushing him farther from the nest and closer to the forest. She worked until he stopped fighting and lay against a rotting log, panting and terrified. She walked away, leaving him to die among the debris.
After he died, whether in a few hours or a full day, he would become food for the pack, a small morsel that would have no connection to the others of his kind.
Usually the adults brought back the common fare: lizards, birds, other dinosaurs, fish, or unfortunate animals from the trees, even some that were furry.
The ceratosaurus were excellent swimmers, able to stretch out to their maximum length and use their enormous tails to propel them across the water’s surface. Able to dive as well as they could swim, they were exceptional fishers, just as pleased with rotting fish as with fresh.
While fleeing from a predator, the man had the bad luck to run into the water and drown. It was the good luck of the creatures to find a different kind of tasty meal in the lake.
It was a fluke for humans and dinosaurs to encounter one another, but this was Extinction Island, and the impossible was routine.
Chapter 2: On the Beach
“How are they?”
Kelly frowned at Air Marshal Lynn and shrugged, “I can’t tell. They’re banged up. We can treat the bumps, cuts, and bruises, but there isn’t a lot to do for mental shock and loss.”
“I mean, how are they mentally?”
“Like anyone else here. Scared. Confused. Suspicious of us,” said Kelly as she pushed by him and walked out to stand by the campfire. Her movements weren’t of rudeness, but of frustration that any caregiver might feel.
She could treat a cut or a bruise, but injuries that were more serious were beyond her ability, and injuries of the spirit and mind were impossible for her to deal with. She and those with her would deal with reality and move on, or would go insane. It was the reality of the island.
Kelly and her friends had been on a yacht, enjoying a private cruise, and were enamored with the beautiful scenery and the warm waters to swim in. Those same waves became like battering rams as the wind blew in a storm and blasted them, tossing them around the cabins like dolls.
The crash onto the island seemed like an abrupt, but good ending to the barrage of winds and waves, but the real nightmares began after they landed.
Her new patients were nestled in the ruins of the huge yacht, home to the survivors, and protected from the elements or things even worse. It was where some mended, if healing were an option. Kelly was able to clean up those who recently crashed, soothe their cuts and scratches, and nod as they wept.
“I don’t understand,” John Littleton, captain of the Violet Marie, said for at least the tenth time. He was scraped and bruised, and most of his crew and friends were lost to the sea. Only his best friend’s wife and two teenagers had survived the violent storm that tossed his boat onto the island and swallowed everyone else.
He was still in shock from the violence of the storm, his own injuries, and his losses. He kept repeating himself and looking at each person for some answers.
Helen brushed her dark hair off her neck and tilted her head with sympathy and said, “I’m sorry. We don’t know everything, either, John. We know we crashed here after a storm. We know your boat crashed here after a storm. We know planes and boats that vanished between Florida and Bermuda washed up on the beach. You can see the remains for yourself: planes crashed in the jungle.”
“Bermuda Triangle bullshit?” asked Littleton, who wasn’t sure if this were a sick joke, or if he didn’t understand what was being said. “I don’t get why no one has come to help us.”
“We have. There is no one else except us. We’re alone,” Helen said.
“Because of this joke? You have to be kidding.”
Stu laughed bitterly and said, “I wish. For the first time, I wish I were wrong about everything. In the morning, walk down the beach and see the old remains of the Violet Marie, and then walk back to the new remains of your boat. Explain all this to me in a way that doesn’t scare the hell out of me.” He was angry because the rules were broken. He didn’t like how nothing fit into his mind in orderly ways.
Stu had seen and touched the old remains of the Violet Marie, which were way down the beach. He wasn’t the only one who knew the story, or rather the scary legends of Littleton and the lost boat. It was all part of the Bermuda Triangle lore.
During the last storm, the waves deposited a boat, the Violet Marie, on the sand. John Littleton was staring at Stu and arguing possibilities. It might not be possible, but it was real.
“You’re saying my boat is there, and over there? Both places? It’s some trick,
right? A joke?”
“I’m afraid not. We can debate this forever, but the fact is that somehow, your boat is in two places. I’m not an expert with science, but despite everything, it’s real. You’re here, and Stu and a few of the others heard all about your disappearance five years ago. I know. Impossible.”
“I want to know when help is arriving,” Littleton told Helen.
Stu banged his palm against his forehead. “There is no help. How can there be help when you have crashed here twice and are in two places at once? Look at my brother. See where Kelly removed his arm? It’s a fresh injury. Want to know what happened? Dinosaurs.”
John Littleton blinked and chuckled, “This is a joke on me, right?” His eyes were too bright, and his skin was pale. Everyone knew that he was aware that deep down, this wasn’t a joke and that Littleton was terrified. At the very least, the people he was with must be insane.
Tyrese, the leader of their group, slowly explained again that they had been caught in a storm that came up as a yellow fog and caused enormous waves that tore the yacht apart. Those aboard had suffered broken bones, bruises, and cuts, while others drowned. Using the limited medical supplies she had, Kelly treated the injured, suturing and bandaging for hours.
As they explored the island, looking for fresh water and food, the scouting parties found giant beasts, dinosaurs that never should have existed in this time. Unfortunately, the creatures were hungry and preyed on the survivors. “Think of it as an island with giant beasts,” Tyrese said, trying to be helpful.
“Dinosaurs.” Littleton shook his head. He let his eyes travel over some of the bare bones lying around camp, and they did look to be of prehistoric size to him. Instead of being fossils, they were fresher.
“It doesn’t matter what you think now. You’ll see them. It’s not as if we can hide them, right?” Stu asked.
“There are far more, but I don’t think you’d believe half of it,” Helen said. “I’m here, and I still have to pinch myself to stay in reality, but look, you’re in a better place than we were. We didn’t know anything when we came here. We can explain things to you.”
“I just want to get Jada and the kids to a hospital and then see about finding the rest. They might have washed up, and if so, there will be a body recovery.”
Stu stared at John Littleton and said, “We did that, too. We waited for help. It isn’t coming. I don’t even understand how you can be here now. It’s a paradox. You have proven Einstein right, or wrong, but I can’t decide which.”
Kelly sighed and said, “Let’s focus on what we know. John, I think your friends will be okay, but Jada is emotionally raw from the loss of her husband. She has a head wound, but I think she will make it. The teenagers are scraped and cut, but are okay.”
“What kind of dinosaurs?”
Everyone turned and looked at Benny, one of the survivors who washed up with Littleton. He was twelve and curious. With no self- consciousness, he walked across the sand, limping a little because of the soreness, and he smiled at Joe, the cook, from the original group.
Benny’s eyes were expectant and interested, but he also had a kind of maturity to his face that made him seem older. He was the type some would call an old soul.
Joe smiled broadly and handed Benny a plate without being asked. Thanks to salvage expeditions into the airplane cargo holds, the survivors had most of the comforts of home, just minus the home. Benny looked at the food by the campfire’s light, frowned, and asked, “What’s this? It smells good.” He didn’t sound critical or particular about the food, only interested.
“Some canned beans we salvaged and some vegetation from this place, and the meat of a dinosaur. What kind, Alex?”
“Compsognathus.”
“I know about that species,” Benny said. He took a bite of the meat, nodded, and said, “It tastes like chicken.”
“Benny…” Littleton didn’t finish.
Joe laughed. “Yep, it does.”
“How did dinosaurs get here?”
“We don’t know. There are all kinds,” Alex said. “Maybe it’s just an island that has animals that didn’t go extinct.”
“That’s not true,” Stu said, “because you know there are other things here like the Violet Marie.”
“I don’t think we know enough to tell people they are time traveling or caught in some paradox. We only know there are anomalies,” Alex said.
“Predators and prey? Yeah. There is a full eco-system here, I guess. How big is the island? I don’t think animals can grow very big here in isolation, and I bet there aren’t the big monsters like a T-Rex or triceratops, right? The island can’t support that kind of life,” said Benny, as he ate more. “Have you seen any of those? The big ones?”
Alex stared. Thus far, he had been the best source they had for dinosaur behavior. He suddenly felt he was less alone with his ponderings. It made sense that a younger person would be interested in dinosaurs. “No. That’s been my theory, too. We haven’t investigated much, but we do know a few species are large, but again, we just don’t know enough to say.”
“There are lots of islands that people will never find. I don’t see why it’s so improbable to have dinosaurs on the island, Alex. As for the rest, I don’t know. I have to think about it some more and see how quantum physics could apply,” Benny said.
“Are you some crazy genius?” Stu asked Benny.
“I’m not crazy, because my mom had me tested for that. I’m a little socially awkward. I’m also not a genius; again, that was tested, but I am smart,” Benny said as he burped, covering his mouth. “We can talk time travel later. Have the dinosaurs attacked you?”
“Yes, several times. That’s why we lost a few people after we crashed here, and that is why we have a few people who are wounded. The dinosaurs are aggressive.”
“You’re easy prey, they think. If you killed enough of them, over time, they would develop genetic memories and avoid humans, I think, but that would take several generations.”
Alex was excited, “Exactly.” He was happy to have someone who thought as he thought. In all honesty, Benny might be far brighter. The only other person who knew much about the creatures was Sue, and she was listening to Benny as well, fascinated.
Stu scowled and said, “There are cannibals, too. Kids from the plane crash.”
Air Marshal Lynn jerked and no longer sat stretched out. He tensed. The kids were from his air flight, so he still took it personally that they went off alone and went feral.
He often thought about the early days of the plane crash, and as the lone lawman, he wondered what he should have done to save more of his friends.
“Really? Why? There must be plenty of food here,” Benny said.
“You have to be kidding me,” Littleton said. “Are all of you on drugs?”
“Not anymore,” Davey said.
Helen shook her head, smothering a grin at Davey. “We were going to tell them a little at a time so that they could adjust and take it all in, right? Way to go, Stu.”
“No one went easy on me and told me gently,” Stu said.
“Cannibals?” Benny asked, “Really?”
“Sort of. They weren’t originally, but they were in a plane crash. When they explored, they found a pool of water that we’ve since had the chance to explore.” Helen didn’t want to remember the bad things that happened at the pool of water or how it affected people. “The young people swam there and drank steroid-infused water. The water leeched the steroids out of plants that grew around it. It’s natural but concentrated in the water. Some plants…”
“Contain steroids. Yup,” Benny finished the statement. He pointed to Alex and nodded, “You figured it out? Brilliant. They are aggressive because of that. The kids, I mean. It makes sense: cannibals, dinosaurs, and the Bermuda Triangle. Wow, things around here sure go big, pun intended.” He was interested, just short of being excited.
“We’re going to kill the bastards. They slaughtered one of our group,” St
u said.
Mattie, one of the women who sat around the fire, made a noise and wrapped her arms around herself. The leader of the feral children was her son.
“Unless you killed Lori,” Air Marshal Lynn said. He pointed to Stu.
“We already had this talk. Stu didn’t do it,” Helen reminded him. “He didn’t because we discussed it, and we came to the conclusion that the kids were to blame. That’s his mother, Mattie. It’s a sensitive subject.”
Alex said, “Stu was blamed at first because of some misleading evidence, but when we talked to him and reexamined what was there at the site of the murder, we found proof that Stu was not guilty.” He wasn’t able to say innocent, but it was as close as he could get. Stu had done several things that were not murderous, but they were not exactly innocent, either.
“I’m still going to kill them,” Stu said.
“Knock it off,” Tyrese said, “and let’s stand guard duty. Joe, take that woman and girl some food. Kelly, you might want to check on them, and take Benny back and let him rest. It’s been stressful. Mr. Littleton, we’ll find you a place to rest, and maybe in the morning, everything will begin feeling real. I’m truly sorry you ended up here with us.”
Helen nodded and said, “That’s best for now. We’re all sorry, Mr. Littleton.”
“I am, too. Right now, I think all of you are crazy, or maybe I am having a nightmare.” Littleton wrapped a protective arm around Benny and decided he needed some time to take in the information and decide what to do. “Bad nightmares.”
Helen said, “I wish. At least with nightmares, you wake.”
John Littleton was sore, and he went to a pallet to sleep, wondering what kind of insanity he had wandered into. He thought about the group who claimed that they crashed in a yacht; he believed that part. The other few who said they crashed in the jungle with their plane going down in the trees were believable as well.
In the morning, he would go for help.
Alone, he cried for the loss of his friends and crew and felt terribly sorry for himself, as he tried to sleep. He wanted to make a plan to get help for himself, Jada, Amy, Benny, but that would have to be executed in the morning, and his mind twisted and turned as he tried to make sense of everything.
