Janus (Zombies versus Dinosaurs Book 2)

by James Livingood

  This wasn’t the opening shot of a war. This was an experimentation in instinct. Janus wanted to know how this dinosaur felt and operated. He could feel its pulse, its fear, its drive forward to preserve itself. In the end, it was going to give its life to serve Janus. He did not want that. Instead, he concentrated on the beasts instinct. He went and bit the creature once, and then left. It was the best he could do, the most honor he could bestow on the beast.

  Janus left to investigate how the rest of the herd had been doing. He had taken those who were loyal and gave them small herds to lead. Once they understood his instruction, the task had been easy. The dinosaurs were often a mix, and some smaller groups would split and become part of another group. This constant shuffling of resources was one of the first problems Janus faced.

  His free men got angry when their herd got smaller. They wanted to fight for control, as it was what their instinct required. The only peace that Janus had been able to bargain from them was to call all the animals his own. Everyone had small pieces, but they were just caretakers for him. Every dinosaur used and found belonged to one liberated man. Janus smiled as he came back to the pack. He saw many beasts there, ready to be either eaten or used. Most of the riders continued on top of the creatures, without needing to bite or manipulate.

  Janus had a plan with these creatures. He hoped his next gambit would pay off. If this worked, he would liberate the remaining pockets of men. They needed to understand the will of instinct and the freedom that came along with it. Instinct was a deliverance to the more primal nature, and Janus wanted that for all.

  As he inspected the beasts, Janus saw that a number of them were separated from the main group. The beta had separated them into a sub herd. Janus did not like this beta trying to control part of his force. Janus went over to the sub herd and jumped up onto the beta’s animal.

  Without any warning, Janus pushed the beta liberated man off the dinosaur. It was a show of dominance, and everyone knew it. The beta did not want to appear weak, so he was required to fight. Both drew out short knifes and leapt onto the ground.

  Beasts and liberated men surrounded the pair in a circle. Janus did not like the beasts being so closed to loud barking. He worried that the young parts of the pack would whip the creatures into a panic and stamp out both of them during the fight. The dinosaurs knew what kind of fight this was, based upon their own modified instinct. They bellowed several times throughout the fight, but did not interfere.

  Janus stepped toward the beta and tried a quick slash. He was testing the boundaries of the beta’s comfort. He did several short jabs, watching the beta’s reaction each time. The beta was cautious, or was pretending to be. Janus thought he could fool the free man to protecting himself, and then win with attrition. A small cut here, a small amount of bleeding there, and eventually Janus would be the winner.

  Janus feigned a jab and twisted his body around to get extra close. His hope was to slash the arm and cause a small wound. The result was the beta dropping the knife to his other waiting hand and holding it there. As Janus closed the gap to slash, the knife pierced his arm and he had to step back.

  He had underestimated the cunning of this liberated one. Janus would have to ensure that his back was never facing this man. If it was, he was sure he would receive a belly fully of metal. Janus had his cut healed near instantly. One of the reasons he was pack leader, beyond starting the liberation of man, was because he had remarkable healing abilities. His pack mates kissed by him had similar abilities, but to a lesser extent. Many would thing his men were dead and they would find some way to recover. To Janus, it was simply a matter of the soul of instinct refusing to give up.

  Janus pulled out a second knife and held a blade in each hand. Not only would they be good at slashing and stabbing, but by using two, he would have a rough shield. Any attack that tried to make it’s way through could be blocked by a piece of metal.

  The two combatants moved around each other. Howls of blood lust came from outside the circle. The younger ones howled loudly while the older ones simply licked their lips. Janus decided to try something so insulting that it would leave the beta open for a mistake. He would do his best to enrage his rival, hence hopefully causing an opening.

  Janus dropped a knife and showed his rival his back. The crowd got silent at the insult. No liberated man mistook that for anything less than a threat. The beta roared and ran toward Janus with a knife.

  Janus kept an ear on each foot fall, judging how close the beta would be. When the beta got within striking distance, Janus heard a slight slide. He knew the beta was lunging out, trying to stab him in the back. Janus shifted to the side and held out his free hand. This was the hand that only a moment ago was holding a knife. As Janus’s hand outstretched, he caught the arm of his attacker. In one fluid motion Janus flipped the beta in the air. Mid ways through the air, Janus swung a leg out and landed it right in the middle of the beta. Janus let go of the free man and let him stumble away. He then threw the knife in his hand toward the beta. It smacked wetly into the liberated man’s arm.

  Janus smiled and calmly picked up the knife near his feet. It was not deliberate, but the idea that it had been deliberate was what he needed. Control was not always required, but appearing in control was required. Janus knew that this was the secret to leading the pack. It was a secret that the beta had yet to learn. The beta did not bleed much, thanks to Janus’s kiss bestowed upon him many years ago. However, the fear was now bloomed fully in the man’s eyes. He looked worried about the blade in Janus’s hands.

  Smiling wildly, Janus tapped his arm with the blade. The idea translated quickly through instinct. Obey me or I’ll put another knife in your arm. The beta pulled the knife out and fled. It was the best outcome Janus could have asked for. He made motions to have this herd join with the main group. He wanted the pack to be as strong as possible for the plans he had. He needed every single liberated man and dinosaur on his side to bring upon his idea.

  It was nearly mid day when a new arrival showed up. At first, Janus was not sure why a solitary beast would follow into his herd. The dinosaur looked beat up with many bruises and discolorations. The difference though was that the eyes had turned white. Something had traumatized this beast so much that it fled to him for… what? Help? Release from this world?

  Janus decided it was the latter that the beast required. He pulled out his knife and stabbed the dinosaur. The blood did not flow properly. It was sluggish, and wrong. Janus did not know how blood could be wrong, but this blood was too thick. It flowed out of the dinosaur like a dark molasses. There also wasn’t very much blood to be seen. A wound, like the one Janus had just done, should have caused much more bleeding.

  Out of a hunch, Janus looked at the beast and stamped his foot. The beast repeated the gesture, stamping it’s foot. Janus smiled and walked around the thing. It was responding remarkable to instinct, though he wasn’t sure why. All the dinosaurs he had ever met did horrible when trying to communicate through instinct. This one did not. It was proficient at instinctual communication.

  Janus looked at the eyes again and began to smile. His plan had just changed, for the better. This dinosaur would become a major component to his upcoming plans.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN:

  Interruption

  Paul knew it was going to be a bad day. His daughter woke up and was cranky. She spilled her pancakes and refused to eat. He was tired to his very bones, but the sunlight was just barely overhead. His day would be filled with council meetings, including the one he dreaded the most. The farmer who he forbade to farm his own land, was coming to the council meeting to plead his case. Paul didn’t have a reason to deny the man access to his land. Paul just felt like it was the right thing to do.

  As Paul crossed through the town, a number of people glared at him. Apparently that out of work farmer had been bad mouthing him. Paul would need to work on some damage control to avoid losing too much respect. On the other hand, if Paul lost his council se
at he would no longer need to go through these sessions. Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing to lose your job. He slouched more and made his way up the hill to the main hall.

  Paul quietly shuffled in and went to his seat. For once he was a little early. He wished that the day could be over with quickly so he could get some rest. Shortly after he came into the chamber, another man followed. It was the farmer from the night before. He had a small stack of papers under his arm and didn’t look at Paul once. That was a bad sign. Potentially, Paul would be in for a legal fight where the man provided that Paul had no right to weld his gate shut.

  Unfortunately for Paul, the first few matters did not involve anything that interesting. The first involved a married couple who were arguing over coins. The next involved a missing person’s case about a very smart woman. The third involved a young man asking if he could build a road to the next town. Paul thought the idea was fantastic, but very expensive. He warned the man that building such a road would require reclaiming a lot of land. When the young man heard from a fencer that the construction would need to be steel and riveted together, the man decided to rescind his idea. Apparently that was far too costly of venture for him. Paul still thought it was a good idea and made a note about it.

  Finally came the moment Paul was dreading. The man appeared before them and rifled through his papers. His finger shot up in the air and a ping sounded. Confused, the man looked back at his finger. No one in the chambers understood where that sound had come from. Again, he lifted his finger to protest against the injustice he had found, when the ping sounded again. Paul rose from his seat and walked out of the building. Those behind him yelled for him to return, but Paul wanted to investigate that noise. As he went outside, he heard the ping again. It was much louder this time. As Paul looked at the town, he could see everyone was stopped and looking in a direction. Paul grabbed his mount and started to move towards the noise.

  Behind him he could hear the farmer yelling, “You can’t run away from this one Pale Rider. The truth is on my side! I’ll be farming before night fall.”

  Paul didn’t care. If that man wanted to give up his life, so be it. After all, Paul really didn’t have any right to remove him from the land. As Paul continued to listen for the sound, he moved closer and closer. Soon, he knew where it was coming from. It was from the gate he had requested welded shut last night. Paul pushed his ride full speed toward the disturbance. Paul could hear several other mounted individuals behind him.

  As Paul got to the gate, he saw it had been dented in. He wasn’t sure what had dented this gate and he looked around. The man who was complaining about the property came up behind him. As the man saw the giant dent in the gate they welded yesterday he shifted his body and stuck a finger out towards Paul.

  “This was your doing, Pale Rider! It’s a little too coincidental that this just starts to happen when it becomes my turn.” The man continued, waving that finger at Paul.

  “I didn’t do this.” Paul replied.

  “Sure you didn’t, Pale Rider. We all know that you keep this town scared so that you can maintain power. You’re not going to win this one. I have the law on my side!” The man held up a stack of papers underneath his arm.

  As he did so, a giant dinosaur came crashing into the gate. The papers fell from the man’s hands as the sound rang loudly. So they had found the source of the noise. But why was this beast crashing into the fence?

  Paul turned to the farmer and looked him in the eye, “You’re welcome.”

  “Yeah… yeah. Thanks.” Said the man, turning his ride around and leaving at full pace. Paul wasn’t sure why the former farmer looked so scared. Perhaps it was the raw power behind the beasts? Perhaps he didn’t like the idea of Paul knowing more than he did.

  It wasn’t until Paul saw the dinosaur’s eyes that it struck home. This wasn’t like the dead dinosaur on the other side of the fence. This was that same dinosaur. It’s lifeless eyes looked nowhere as it crashed into the gate again. Paul was right to add some extra reinforcement to this side. As Paul watched, the bended steal began to have tiny cracks throughout.

  The color drained from Paul’s eyes as he turned around. The final push of the dinosaur smashed the gate wide open. Paul fled from the beast as fast his mount would take him. He needed help bringing down this beast and needed to warn innocents to stay indoors. He ran hard towards the village, the beast stomping near his feet. It looked like he didn’t need to warn the town after all. Most everyone knew that a renegade dinosaur stomping around in the town was a bad thing. Several man showed up quickly near Paul and shot at the beast. Paul continued to ride toward the center of town. Perhaps he could distract this thing long enough to kill it.

  Paul’s ride wasn’t fast enough. Apparently, the beast overcame the distance and hurled Paul off his dinosaur as it flicked its head. The dinosaur Paul was riding slid to the side as the renegade dinosaur continued moving forward. Paul knew that the beast needed to be stopped, but he had no way to stop it. Not wanting to give up, Paul began to sprint toward the center of town.

  CHAPTER TWELVE:

  Rampage

  When Paul arrived finally, the only way he could describe the scene would as be panic. The beast panicked about the nets thrown over it, the spears lanced at its side. Several dead men laid at the creatures feet. It stomped them into the dirt, popping their bodies like water balloons. Several buildings had been broken and one was completely ruined. The hand reaching out from the roof told enough about the tale. This renegade beast needed to be put down.

  Paul grabbed a spear stuck in the ground and helped the men try to kill the creature.

  “What’s wrong with it?” said one of the spear men to Paul. “It should be easy to panic and get going in another direction.”

  “Why’s it keeping the ground here? Why isn’t it afraid of us?” Another man said, poking the beast with a spear. The beast lunged away, then towards the man, breaking the spear into the guys chest. Blood dribbled from his mouth as he fell to the mud.

  “The eyes! Look at the eyes!” Paul exclaimed.

  “By all the peace, Pale Rider. That’s not possible.” Said one of the surviving spear men. “Are you saying this thing is infected?”

  “Infected?” Yelled a man with a net. He threw the net over the beast and narrowly dodged a horn being stuck through his neck.

  “Are you saying this is a zombie dinosaur Pale Rider? That’s … that’s…” the spear man said. He noticed the spear in his hand and dropped it. In a panic he began to scramble away.

  “Yup. Impossible. If I hadn’t seen this beast dead last night I wouldn’t believe it myself.” Paul said. He looked to his right to find that the person who flung the net was dead, somehow his arm had been taken off. Paul looked to his left and saw only a dead spear man, the previous one had fled. It was just the beast and Paul. They both had glares of death in their eyes. Paul looked towards the giant animal and breathed in and out of his nose. Strong exhalations, to help calm his nerves. The gesture also helped Paul feel bigger than he actually was.

  The dinosaur began to charge Paul, pointing a half broken spear stunk in its back toward the man. Paul grabbed the spear and held on. It was wet with blood and he began to slip downward, toward the creature’s feet. If he slid all the ways down, he would paste.

  Paul lifted himself up and stood on the spear. It was sunk deep enough that it supported Paul’s weight. Paul was worried that the blood would cause him to lose footing. He crept toward the beast, unsure of what he could do to stop this titan. He grabbed onto the dinosaur with as much grip as possible. The beast bucked wildly to the right and left. Paul held on.

  Not having luck shaking Paul, the beast turned toward the un-wrecked buildings. If it couldn’t throw him off, perhaps it could flick him off. Paul’s eyes went wild and he began to laugh. Color drained from his face. If this thing wanted to dance, he would give it a tango. The beast crashed toward a series of buildings. Paul swung his weight away from the buildings a
nd pulled out a knife that was stuck on the creature. He plunged it in three quick times then switched to the other side. The beast went to shelter the stabbed side and crash through buildings. As Paul switched to the other side, he continued to stab the beast on that side. They switched between sides several times until they were in another clearing. The beast rolled over, trying to squish Paul.

  Paul jumped off, while still grabbing a spear stuck in the side. The motion caused a huge tear in his hand. However, the move allowed Paul to plant his feet firmly on the creatures face. With a strength he didn’t know he had, he pulled the spear out and stabbed the beast several times in the head. It contained to move until Paul brought down that last swing. From there it fell. Paul had severed the spine and the beast could still snort and bellow.

  Paul pulled out his knife and started working on carving up the head. He cut the around the neck, though blood did not gush out. They weren’t clean cuts. They were meant to sever the jaw and poke out the eyes. He wanted to kill this beast as quickly as possible. Paul heard a large pop and the creature began to get back up.