Janus (Zombies versus Dinosaurs Book 2)

by James Livingood

  The man laughed. “I’d be a fool not to be afraid of you woman. Who knows what sorcery you concoct here…”

  He moved around the beast, stroking his chin and looking the animal up and down. “Very well. I have a strong pup, so we’ll see who wins.”

  “Oh! I forgot to mention, I am going to invite some other breeders up to watch. After all, if my beast is sick, I’ll surely fetch a low price.”

  The man stopped in his tracks. He looked back and opened his mouth in shock. “You mean to have us bidding against each other! Even if you lose you’ll get double what your asking.” He began to chuckle low in his throat and blew air out of his nostrils with each exhale. “I was right to be afraid of you.”

  “So… does that mean you want to wait for the show? Or do you want to buy the beast now while it’s on an exclusive sale?” Hesh asked, pulling out a clipboard. She knew the answer before she even had to ask. Breeders were fickle and had to always have the best. However, the best often meant the best count of animals. Sick or weak animals were still counted against their grand total.

  “Very well, just don’t let anyone know I bought this one. I am going to nurse it back to health and re-sell the heaven’s sigh thing.” He pointed at the dinosaur. He then walked over and took the animal by the rope around its neck. Shaking his head he started walking away.

  “Excellent! Shall I come to your house to claim the payment from your wife?”

  The man froze in his tracks, the dinosaur nearly bumping against him. “I was going to pay you later. No need to let the good woman know that I bought another one of these things.”

  “Fine by me, but discretion requires immediate payment.” Hesh smiled at the man and moved the clipboard toward him. He put several gold coins on the surface and began to walk away.

  Hesh knew that the animal may not last the week. However, it was extra strong and would have started a litter by that time. The man would be glad with the litter, as Hesh had put extra care into that lumpy dinosaur. It felt like saying goodbye to an old friend. She almost stepped in and brought the beast back when she saw the man tug on the leash. That was not the way to treat one of her friends. She then looked down at the coins and decided what she could spend these ones on. It was a fairly straightforward exchange. She would exchange each coin for a small cache of science books. This amount of coins would be enough knowledge to contain her interest for a month. It was a hard choice to make, but knowledge was a valuable thing. She wouldn’t go without learning, at any cost. To her, knowledge was the only true freedom in the world.

  Hesh left nearly immediately, putting on a beggars robe. This one was meant to distract others and make her look poor. It also hid her red hair from anyone who might be curious. The hope was to make it to the library with a full purse. She knew that she would not get robbed with books in her hands. Rough people wanted little to do with knowledge, but everything to do with more gold.

  She darted through town avoiding central corners. She only went down alleyways that were large and unobstructed. The idea was to cut through town with the least amount of notice as possible. Perhaps that’s why she was surprised to feel the hand on her shoulder when she was peeking around a corner.

  “Can I help you sir?” came a rough voice behind her. As she turned around she saw a man with stubble on his face and a scar near his eye. The man wore a tough leather tunic and carried a knife on his hip.

  “No. No thank you.” She attempted to grunt out. It was her best attempt to sound manly and non-committal.

  “Are you aiming to steal? You keep looking at that beggar’s basket across the street.” Asked the man, one eye brow raising.

  “No, I am just noticing all the other ruffians taking note of the man’s money.” Hesh said honestly.

  “Wait. You’re a woman?” asked the man in the tough leather tunic.

  ‘Perhaps a bit of shock might help me get to where I need to go’ thought Hesh. She pulled back her cowl and whipped her head to show off the red hair. “Yes, I am a woman.”

  “What are you doing out here? This is no place for a woman.” He said, trying to grab her by the arm to lead her away.

  “Is it a place for a man?” she said shrugging off his grip.

  “I guess?” he said, surprised that she had escaped his grasp. He looked down at his hand, which was now free of her arm.

  “Than it is a place for a woman too.” Hesh retorted. She stared at his eyes in dare.

  The man began to pull the dagger from his belt. Hesh started to pale as she saw the metal clear the scabbard. Had she just made the wrong calculation?

  “She’s with me. Back off.” He said, showing Hesh the blade.

  Hesh wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about until she heard a footstep behind her. On instinct she twisted and kicked out. Her kick landed straight in the stomach of a pickpocket. The man crumpled on the ground and she landed another blow to his ribs. The pickpocket whimpered as she then kicked him in the shins several times. He crawled away in haste and she got one more kick in his butt, sending his face into the ground. The man scrambled away on all fours. She made one step towards him, as if deciding whether to chase him down or not.

  “Never mind, I am with her.” Said the man in the tunic, putting away his knife. A large smile reached his eyes. “So where are you heading?”

  “The library.” She said, putting her cowl back up. She turned and continued down the street.

  “Need help carrying any books?” the man yelled after her.

  “No” She yelled back. She knew that she was going to regret that decision. She always got more books than she could carry. However, she didn’t want this guy knowing where her lab was. It wasn’t the biggest of secrets, but she would rather it remain quiet while she read. Men had a way of knocking on the door and trying to get her attention. She didn’t need that. All she wanted was a nice quiet evening digging through her recent knowledge treasures. It even frustrated her that she had to spend time working on the experiments tonight, but next month’s books had to be thought about. Her knowledge addiction would never be quelled.

  CHAPTER FIVE:

  Unlocked

  Janus sat next to the fire. He was a free man, in tune with his instincts. He lounged on his side and watched the fire crackle. A number of those, brought back thanks to his bite, were watching him. As the alpha of the pack, they looked to him to decide the direction. The current direction was laying around near a warm fire. However, even as liberated man, Janus scratched for something more. He never felt alive more than during a hunt. However, all the prey up to this point had been too easy. He had learned how to take down all number of dinosaurs. The men who were caged kept building more and more of the creatures. Janus knew that his belly would never be fully empty. However, his spirits were low.

  Janus thought of the recent dinosaur hunt and how much fun that had been. However, it was just like the hunt before. That hunt was just like the one before it. There was a certain amount of monotony with destroying the beasts. As the alpha, Janus looked into the fire to try to determine what they should hunt next. Janus had an interesting thought about the dinosaur creature. He wondered why its instincts were not accessible to him.

  Perhaps there was a hunt that could be completed without the desire to kill. The thought of not killing prey was foreign to Janus, which is why he kept staring into the fire. The idea was too exciting to give up on, but too bizarre to fully comprehend. Janus wanted to hunt for some kind of instinct within the dinosaurs. However, to do that hunt required not killing. He would have to capture a beast and scare it repeatable. Perhaps he could locate a proper beast and pen like the non-liberated men?

  Janus shook his head. That would not be celebrating the creature, to pen it into a small area. He did not like the idea of capturing anything in a pen. He decided to simply scare a number of dinosaurs and see what their reactions would be. Perhaps he could determine their instincts by scaring a number of them.

  Janus got up and started walk
ing away from the fire. Everyone followed, as they were part of his pack. Towards the back was the beta he had injured earlier. Janus didn't look directly at the beta, but did keep a sense of where the man was at. He didn't want an upstart surprising his way into the role of alpha. It was difficult to lead this pack. The one who carried that responsibility needed to be strong, not simply at the right place at the right time.

  Janus jumped on his deer and began to ride off, looking for a proper dinosaur to hunt down. Nearly an hour had gone by when they found a young brontosaurus. This would do fine, Janus thought.

  It wasn’t until Janus was walking away from his meal that he realized what had happened. He had hunted down and killed another dinosaur. He just wanted to scare this one, not eat it. Instinct was often a difficult thing to control. Janus did not feel guilt over the kill though. His primary instinct had been flared after the creature started to flee. Listening to that primal pattern was what separated him from others.

  Janus decided to try and find another dinosaur, by himself. Perhaps if others were not around he could test and tease the beast. Janus ducked into some brush and began to work on losing his pack. It would not be a difficult task. Most of his tribe was back at the kill enjoying his left overs. A few younger pups decided to try and find him, perhaps curious if Janus had extra blood lust this night. It too many turns and twists to lose most of them.

  When there were only a couple left, Janus turned around and growled. That would send the signal that he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. When he was sure they had departed, he began to hunt by himself, like he did in the past. Hunting by yourself was liberating but also dangerous. However, Janus was not afraid of the danger of falling or getting hurt. His pack would simply dispatch him and a new alpha would take his place. That was the way instinct demanded. The strongest must always be leading.

  Janus spotted an older dinosaur who appeared to be sick. He could tell by the creatures wet nose. Janus crept up, yelled, then ran back under cover. The dinosaur took several steps away and crashed through some brush. Janus snuck up to the dinosaur again and yelled. Once again the creature moved several paces and then stopped. Janus watched the creature as it stood there. He couldn’t understand why the creature was not moving further. Even sick, this being should have fled farther.

  He knew that this was the answer he was seeking. Somewhere in this dinosaur was the reason why the animal’s instincts were foreign. If Janus could understand the beast, he could control the beast. If he could control the beast, then fewer pack members would die on each hunt. More pack members alive meant more breeding and spreading of Janus’s gift. The more he could spread that, the better. Men needed to be liberated and that required an army. It didn’t make sense to have his army destroyed each time they wanted to eat.

  Slowly, another dinosaur approached the first. The sick dinosaur moved a few steps and then stopped. The two rubbed their sides together. Janus jumped out from the brush and yelled a third time. He then watched as both beasts took off. He caught up to them and realized that the sick dinosaur had run much further this time. Did these animals have some sort of pack mentality? Was the new one a pack leader of some sort?

  Janus took his time and yelled in short bursts to move them away from each other. Once the newcomer was separate, Janus watched the dinosaur. He tried yelling at it and the dinosaur didn’t move at all. That could be a sign it was an alpha. It could also be a sign that his methods were no longer working. Janus began to throw rocks at the beast, which got it moving again. The dinosaur moved away from the rocks, not towards. He took this to mean that the beast was not an alpha. Alpha’s would run and fight the danger so the rest of the pack had time to join or flee.

  Janus continued throwing rocks until the two dinosaurs met back up. He studied them for a long time. It was nearly dawn when a third dinosaur joined them. He watched them all for a long while. He then popped out of the bushes and started yelling and throwing rocks. This time, instead of running away, they ran toward him.

  Janus twisted and began to run. He could feel his heart pumping wildly as the creatures had reached their boiling point. They wanted to stamp out this threat and go back to eating. Janus crawled up a tree quickly and saw one lumber past. The next one, the sick dinosaur, saw him in the tree. It head butted the tree and Janus nearly lost his grip. Janus wrapped his legs around a branch as the beast head butted the tree over and over again. He knew that if he fell, the creature would stamp him into the mud. Janus did not feel fear or sadness over the idea of losing his life. He continued to study the dinosaur as it tried to attack him.

  Something about being in a group had finally brought out the instinct and primal nature of these beasts. He wasn’t sure why, and would need to watch groups of dinosaurs to figure this out. The leaves and branches were through side to side as the dinosaur continued its assault. Soon after its partner arrived it decided to go back to eating. Janus watched the pair and later the trio, eat during the early morning hours.

  His brain needed time to comprehend this, so he fell asleep in the tree. He wasn’t worried about falling out, because if that happened, it happened. That would mean simply he was not strong enough and the pack would find someone new. Being alpha meant having strength enough to lead.

  Janus awoke several hours later and his research subjects were no where to be found. He could easily hunt their tracks in the daylight, but he had already gained the information he needed. Janus would contemplate why the instinct changed when in a pack. Janus hopped down from the tree and began to walk over to his own pack.

  His pack was much easier to track then the dinosaurs. They didn’t care to be quiet or cause less destruction. All Janus had to do was track down the latest dinosaur kill in the area and watch where the trail led. When he rejoined his pack many of them went silent. As an alpha, he strode up to the best spot and sat down. He did not need to ask for permission or request an invitation.

  A woman came up to him and sat next to him. This was a mate he had kept around. She was turned from Janus’s kiss many years ago. One of the benefits of his gift was that she was preserved. Age and wounds did not show on her body. Janus enjoyed the sight of her, but was in no mood for her foolishness. He pushed her away gently to signal kindly. Hopefully she would get the hint. The signal meant to calm down and go away. Not a direct threat, because Janus knew he would want her back eventually.

  Janus sat there the rest of the day, thinking about what pack meant. He had always worked on building a group of liberated men. However, that was not how the dinosaur pack reacted. The two were very different, and if he could put his finger on it, he would be able to control the beasts. After a number of hours, an experiment came to his mind. He would need another of his pack to help. This would be tricky as he did not want the full group to join him on this expedition. Instead he just wanted one other person.

  The woman from before came back to him and he grabbed her roughly. He began to walk off into the bushes with her. He knew that his pack wouldn’t follow, assuming something else was going on. Instead Janus would use this woman to help him decipher the mystery.

  They walked for a time and she began to pull away slightly. Janus could feel her arm squirm under his grip. However, he had much more power then she, so he led her to the top of a hill. As he looked down he pointed at the dinosaurs. He stomped one foot forward and growled at them. He then pushed her toward the dinosaurs.

  She stepped forward cautiously. She watched him with confused eyes. This woman was not used to the hunt, but Janus knew that she had the instinct within her. He could feel that blood lust. He called to her blood lust and commanded. The woman stopped in her tracks and looked back at him with wide eyes. She was not used to a being that could talk directly to her subconscious instincts. He nodded and pointed. She obeyed and took off to one side.

  Janus began running to the other side. He slowed his pace to keep their approach even. She quickened her pace and tried to scare the prey toward Janus. Her instinct was
trying to flush out the game so that he could dispatch it. That wasn’t the game he wanted to play. He instead grabbed a large branch and smacked it against a tree. The dinosaur started jumping the other way. Confused, but understanding that the alpha deserved the kill, the woman made another move and scared the dinosaur back toward Janus.

  Soon the dinosaur was running in a straight line with other dinosaurs. Janus and the woman threw stones and went for bites of the beasts. Janus jumped over a small cliff and landed. A non-liberated man would have broken his legs. Janus had a strength they did not. Janus used the extra time to get ahead of the dinosaur herd. It was time to take a risk.

  Janus stood in front of the on-coming herd, yelling. The beasts broke branches and snapped smaller trees as they passed. They bellowed toward him and did not move away. They continued running toward him. The woman stopped and started staring at Janus. She probably didn’t know why Janus would want to be at the middle of the on-coming stampede. However, Janus had an idea that needed to be tested. If he was wrong, the dinosaurs would smash him into the ground quickly. Today would be his last day alive. Sweat and exhaustion started to weigh on him, and he began to wonder if he should have rested more before trying this. It was too late now. The ground began to shake so much that he lost his footing and stumbled onto the ground. He sat there, looking at the dinosaur stampede.