Janus (Zombies versus Dinosaurs Book 2)

by James Livingood

  There was never a time Paul wished he was more wrong. The un-dead dinosaur re-aligned its spine and was moving again. Only this time, it had no sight. It kicked legs out wildly and stomped around. As Paul continued to stab at the beast, he stomach became sick. The eyes that he had feverishly poked out a second ago, were pooling back into the sockets. This would be no easy kill. The beast turned away from Paul, realizing that this one was determined to kill. Unfortunately, the beast turned towards Paul’s house. The beast turned toward Paul’s house, that contained his daughter. The beast turned toward Paul’s house, that had his daughter, and with her the last bit of his sanity. It was threatening the very fabric of his being.

  Within seconds, the beast was too far away to hurt. Paul needed a mount, but no dinosaur mount was around. He ran after the creature, quickly being out paced. As the creature hit the bottom part of Paul’s house, time stopped for him. He saw the breakfast table. Just earlier that morning, his daughter had refused pancakes at that table. He saw the front door smash down. That was the front door just yesterday he had closed to keep his family safe. He didn’t see his daughter. He was unsure if he simply didn’t want to see her corpse, or if he actually didn’t see her, but it didn’t matter any way. As the beast turned around and charged towards him, Paul dropped to his knees. It was over. It no longer mattered. His life was over. The beast turned it’s head downward, aiming its spikes towards Paul’s body. His daughter could be dead. Had he failed to protect her?

  He felt a shaft of wood near his hands. He imagined it was his daughter. What would he say to her? What would be the final words she would hear? He grabbed the spear and felt sudden pressure against raising it. Something was caught at the end. He didn’t care. He held the spear close and whispered, “Sleep well, young one”. Tears streamed down Paul’s face. He hugged the spear as hard as he could. He heard ripping sounds followed by a thunderous crack. He opened his eyes, ready to meet his maker. He saw his daughter standing on the porch, eyes wide, looking at her father.

  Paul didn’t understand. Where did the dinosaur go? He looked down and saw that he had broken his arm. When did that happen? It didn’t matter, so long as his daughter was safe. He smiled at her and looked around.

  People started to come out of their homes. Paul was too tired to protest. What if that dinosaur came back? What would they do? As Paul looked around, he saw a huge shape behind him. It was the dinosaur’s color, but it was missing a head. Paul then saw what he had done. He had used the beasts momentum, and angle of the spear, to go under it’s chin. The previous cuts he had made to the dinosaur’s neck were not yet healed. The force, at just the right angle, was enough to put the dinosaur’s head on a spike. Unfortunately, the momentum meant that by hugging the spear, he had broken his arm. The beast was dead, and his daughter was alive. Paul fell backwards into the mud and wept tears of joy. The town crowded around him and pointed; his legend continuing to grow.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

  Into The Cave

  Hesh stood in the middle of an unclaimed forest. She needed to be here to understand what it meant to create. She watched the peaceful scene of birds flying by and butterflies dancing. Town was far off, though it sounded like they were having some kind of celebration there. She wondered what fool thing they were celebrating now. Whatever it was, there were a lot of firecrackers. They had really gone full force on it.

  Hesh looked away and watched the field. She had to keep her eyes open for blue brains, as this area had not been cleared yet. She dodged wide around hollow logs and gullies. She didn’t want to be pulled into the depths. Her backpack was heavy with weight. The gear she carried with her was all the essentials. She had sold everything she had, including her current set of dinosaur creations. She needed the very best gear. She would build something for the world to remember her by. Something worth enough to buy a library. As she glared at the butterflies, her frustration grew.

  Would she be ridiculed in town? Maybe that’s what this celebration was all about? Her leaving, finally? No, that wasn’t it. She wasn’t that important. She stared hard at a butterfly, trying to determine the color pattern. Was it because of inbreeding that it had that color? What did she know about butterflies?

  At that moment, a messenger dinosaur swooped by and swallowed up the butterfly. Hesh was startled for a moment. Then she was angry. That stupid messenger dinosaur had eaten what she was studying. She determined that she was going to smack it in the head for eating her butterfly. She saw that it flew into a cave nearby. She got about three steps before a thought struck her. “What was a messenger dinosaur doing in a cave? Shouldn’t those be going between the towns?”

  Curiosity drove her forward. She walked through a small stream and through some brush. She kept an eye on that cave. As she continued, movement showed in the corner of her eye. Sudden realization dawned on her that two blues were staring at her. They moved slowly toward her, ready to eat her flesh. She gave a slight yelp and quickly took off her backpack. The zombies shambled closer to her, looking for a meal. She continued to dig further and further into the backpack. As they neared, she pulled out a small pistol. She shot the first zombie in the head and smiled widely. “Serves you right, you blue brain.” She said.

  She looked toward the other one, and noticed three more were coming her direction. Of course! The shot would be enough to draw them in. She dug in her backpack for a knife and quickly contemplated leaving the backpack to retrieve it later. She would move much faster without the weight on her back. However, this backpack had all of her essential supplies. Not just food and water, but also her experimenting equipment. She would not let it be stuck up here with a group of zombies. She quick shouldered the backpack and started running toward the cave.

  More and more zombies began showing up. Soon, there was a small crowd of those un-dead following behind. Their speed was incredible and she had to slash at one that got to close. It growled at her. The zombie growled at her like a dog. That scared her even more. These things weren’t supposed to have emotion. The books had always made them out to be emotionless creatures that simply ate and ate. Adrenalin pushed her further up the hill. She kept making her way closer and closer to the cave. She wasn’t sure what drove her that way. It was a foolish thing to do. In a cave, these creatures would have the advantage. However, like a child wanting to pull the blankets over their head for protection, Hesh hoped that this cave would protect her. After all, perhaps someone was in there. Maybe someone had re-claimed the cave and now needed messenger birds to go between?

  She rushed toward the cave and was amazed at how many caterpillar cocoons were hanging from the trees. As she drew close, a dinosaur messenger bird flew from the cave and ate one of the butterflies. Hesh got an idea. She grabbed at the cocoons as she came up to the cave. She kept grabbing more and more. The zombies continued to follow her up the hill. She had several handfuls of cocoons and began chucking them at the zombies. It was a foolish plan, but it was the best she could think of.

  Nothing happened. Panicked at making the wrong decision, she continued to push toward the cave. Her legs were on fire and one of the un-dead almost bit her when she fell down. She slashed its face and then booted it away. She continued pushing closer and closer to the cave. In the cave were a set of green bugs. They glowed and danced around. She was unsure what those bugs were doing but they remained the same distance away from each other. Soon other green glowing bugs sprouted up. Those green bugs got closer and she could see they belonged to the eyes of a messenger dinosaur. The swooped in and started attacking the zombies. As she turned, she saw the birds were not attacking the zombies, more of trying to eat the cocoons she had thrown. Her plan was working.

  “Eat this!” she said as she threw the last handful at a nearby zombie. A wave of motion flowed behind her. Hundreds of dinosaur messenger birds flew out of the cave to eat the tasty treats. Hesh remained still as the tide of flying beast swarmed out from the cave. When the flow started to lessen, she continued to run int
o the cave. Perhaps the zombies would be distracted enough that they wouldn’t care about her. Perhaps they would forget about her. She could then make her way to safety. As she stood in the cave, panting, another thought came to mind. Why were there so many dinosaur messenger birds in this cave? Weren’t they supposed to only be in towns? She walked further into the cave to learn their secrets.

  Hesh strode further into the cave. She was unsure what she would discover. As she turned on her lantern, she saw several interesting sights. The first was a lack of human habitation. No one was currently living in this cave. If they were, they forgot to clean all the dinosaur poop off of all the walls and floor. The sanitation alone was enough to make her want to run screaming from the cave.

  The second thing that Hesh learned was that these dinosaur birds were not the ones she was used to. She didn’t see canisters tied to their feet. Furthermore, they had extra claws at the tips of their wings. In addition to this, they had green glowing eyes, which was a trait not required to transfer messages. She came to the conclusion that these creatures had simply grown from a traditional genetic route. It was rare for her to see dinosaurs evolve without her aide, so she went to studying the creatures. They did not seem to be harmful to anything but the bugs surrounding the cave. In that way, they were kind of like bats with feathers.

  She wondered what she could do with this strain of genetics. Was there some kind of key here that would help her build her legacy. Now that she looked closer at the dinosaur birds, they did seem larger than the traditional messenger birds. Perhaps this diet of theirs helped with that? Hesh took out her equipment and started her experimentation. She had a lot to learn and not much time. Lucky for her, she had figured out the method to accelerate her experimentation.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

  Preparing

  Janus watched from a distance, the chaos a single dinosaur had done among the non-liberated men. He knew that what he had planned they would not recover from. He would go in and liberate all of them. Each and every man among them would be free to pursue their true instincts. They would no longer suffer from having to deal with metal disks or farming. He knew that this would be the moment that their society would change. Such change required deep preparation.

  Janus turned away and went back to his pack. The pack was not far away. They would have noticed such a large force standing still if they had not been preoccupied with a beast running through their town. Janus saw that they had gathered a large host, all ready to swarm at his command. At the command of their alpha. To them, this must have looked like suicide. Every attempt before had been suicide. Janus knew that this time would be different. He knew that because each dinosaur had a different look in its eyes.

  No longer were the dinosaurs simple creatures, immune to his kiss. Instead, they converted and a few hours of his bite. If he had not learned their instinct, their essence, he would have been able to convert them. However, they were his now.

  Behind the first force was another. Behind that one was another. He had no doubt that his freedom would be brought to many towns. He held no reservation that those other towns weren’t waiting on his command. He knew that they were too far back to wait. They would be attacking now. Janus wanted to verify his scout, his first freed dinosaur, had been effective. Since the animal had done so much destruction, he had no doubt that this would be a success.

  Janus crawled up the lead dinosaur. It was the largest they could find. Large tusks came out the front and the beast was covered in a thick hair. The creature was rare in this part, which is why he had saved this one for himself. The alpha needed the best to show his pack what could be achieved. He needed the beast to make them envious. He wanted this beast to show them that their hunt was justified. That their hunt was inevitable.

  Once these men fell, and became one with their instinct, Janus would move to the next town and the next town. He would re-unite the human race with their primordial nature. Freedom was running with the pack. Taking down prey, howling together at the strength of will multiple free men could achieve together.

  They all lined at the edge the dinosaur had prepared for them. It would not serve to go in by one or two. That wasn’t a bad strategy, it’s just not how the pack liked to hunt. They liked to swarm and kill. Going one or two, would weaken the enemy, but would cause too much blood lust in the others. They would get foolish.

  The first wave were heavy horned dinosaur riders. Their job was simple. For them, it wasn’t about converting to free men. Their job was shock and awe. They would destroy buildings and trample other dinosaurs. The next wave would be his free men on foot. Their job was to use the panic to bite and convert as many as possible. The third and final wave was for Janus. His goal was far reaching. He wanted to convert as many dinosaurs as possible. The more he converted to their cause, the more that would ride into the next town. He knew that this town was one of the larger ones, but each had their own special defenses. Overcoming all of those defenses meant having the strongest host possible.

  Janus checked out the primitive straps on the front line beasts. They seemed basic by tight. The riders would be able to control their rides through a system of constraints and stabs. Since Janus gave them back to their basic instinct, they would obey only those who free men who rode them. If a non-free man tried to ride one of these creatures, it would simply do it’s best to eat and crush him.

  When Janus was done checking on the front line, he moved to the back position. He jumped off the biggest beast and tied it up. Nearby was his mount of choice. A nimble and loyal deer. It was not big and showy like the large tusked dinosaur. It was fast and able to move quickly in small areas. He then moved his trusty deer ride to the third wave. His army did not yell a defiant roar. They did not need a pep talk. It was a basic thing. They were here to liberate as many people and dinosaurs. With this momentum, they hoped to continue the campaign across the world. Everything started here and now.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

  Accidents

  Hesh could hear commotion outside. It was hard to hear everything that was going on. She had just spent a number of days working on this project. These creatures were fascinating. It wasn’t about learning the specifics of their eyes or why they were in the cave. This was a revolution of the mind. It was a revolution into how dinosaurs were being created.

  She knew, sweating near the heat of the growth accelerator, that this would not just be something to write a single book about. This was a game changer. In the past these birds could move a message or small item between one town and the next. What she was building was capable of so much more. However, she couldn’t even focus on practical application. She was so far into theory and testing that theory that practical application wasn’t even a consideration.

  This would be her finest contribution to dinosaurs and humankind. They would not be a dumb dinosaur that broke its neck for a carrot. They would not be a dinosaur made just for breeding or farming. These would be something far beyond that. She would control them as best she could. However, the thought of control scared her. She wasn’t sure what she was creating could be controlled.

  Deep in the cave she worked and toiled. Sweat kept dropping onto the cave floor. If this had been in town so many people would have tried to stop her. It was only out here, in an area without rules and boundaries, that she broke through. It was only out here that the clarity of her mind saw past the restrictions. What she built in this cave, with these bird dinosaurs, would be beyond what anyone suspected.

  To her, she wasn’t creating an upgrade. To her, this wasn’t the same dinosaur with one small improvement. This was a whole new line. She was crafting the pure breeds. This would be the first in a long line of dinosaurs that would change the world. That scared her, and part of her wanted to abandon the work and run back to the lab. That seemed like a wise idea. However, she knew that she would never be the same, even if she did escape to the lab. Thoughts of these experiments would haunt her. She would never be free of what could be or
might have been. Being locked in that cage of ignorance scared her more. She would rather die in this cave a failure trying, then be rich back home and wonder what might of been.

  She didn’t realize that a part of her robe had caught fire from a bunsen burner. The fire licked up her back and singed off most of her hair. She threw the robe off in a corner near the entrance.

  Hesh shook her head as she stomped out the fire near the entrance. She shook her head and began to laugh at herself. “Oh well! I am human.” She smiled brightly and sucked in some fresh air. She felt the cool against her brow and wiped the sweat away.

  “Human” she repeated, smiling to herself.

  As she watched the woods, she felt like she was being watched. It was probably paranoia but it did cause her to want to leave this place. She had work to complete after all. She had put out the fire before the smoke filled the cave, and that’s what was important. She needed to see her work. Burns would heal, new robes could be bought, but what she worked on was so much more. She had to continue, at any and all cost. Even if it cost her very life, she would consider that a bargain. She had to finish.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

  An Admirer