by Greig Beck
“Now count.”
Drake began. “3, 2…”
She punched the flare down on her thigh, and it immediately turned their jungle a brilliant red. The Giganotosaurus bellowed, and the sound was a physical force that battered their senses and made Emma’s heart race. It charged, and the ground shook beneath them.
“1!” Drake grabbed Andy and they ran for their lives.
Emma tossed the flare at the thing as it bore down on them. She didn’t wait to see if it struck, but the sound of trees being pushed aside, thumping footfalls, and thunderous roars, ceased for a moment. Even if the flare only gave them seconds, it might just be enough.
She ran almost blindly, praying she was heading back to the crack in the Earth. She also hoped it was as deep as she first thought. Up ahead and just to her right, she could just make out Drake dragging Andy along, trying to guide the young scientist around, over, and under obstacles. He fell, and Drake roughly dragged him back to his feet.
Behind her, the ground-shaking pursuit started again. The flare was still burning as the glow still emanated from behind her, but it had obviously lost the attention of the huge meat-eater.
Worryingly, she was catching up to Drake and Andy. She knew that together the two men were a larger target. They were also moving slower.
Behind her, she began to hear the deep huffing and drew her shoulders up and pulled her head down as though the inch difference might make the monster miss her when it reached for her.
“Run…faster!” she yelled, as she was about to overtake them.
And then they both vanished into the ground. Emma didn’t slow, and in fact accelerated to where they had disappeared. She saw the small crevasse and dove into it.
Where they landed, the fissure in the ground was only about seven feet wide, but a good 20 feet deep. Emma pinballed from one side to the other as she fell to the bottom. Drake immediately grabbed her and pulled her in close to the wall where he and Andy hid.
Soil rained down as the ground shook from the gargantuan footfalls, and then they stopped, and the huffing of huge breaths came from just above them.
The silvery moon was directly overhead and they pressed themselves back into the shadows where there were mounds of fallen bracken, rotting logs, and rocks. From beside her, something the size of a small dog with too many legs scuttled out to investigate, and she batted it away with her fist. She had bigger problems.
Then the moon glow seemed to shut off, as a massive boxy head leaned out over them. It inhaled, deeply, sucking up huge drafts of air. She was bathed in sweat, and she bet the two men were the same—she knew they probably stank to high heaven, and the great beast wouldn’t need super senses to know exactly where they were.
Seemingly satisfied, it turned its head sideways as eyes that seemed too small for the oversized head turned toward them. It seemed to bulge slightly like the lens of a camera focusing, or that of a bird that regards you from behind the bars of its cage.
The massive body lowered, and the head reached in. It had to turn sideways to fit in, but the head on the powerful neck craned downwards as the heavy back end of the animal gave it balance and the monstrous powerful legs braced, like the ballast of a crane.
“Shit,” Drake hissed. He held up his rifle; the barrel was bent, and he’d obviously landed on it. Instead, he pulled his handgun and held it against his chest as he stared upward. Emma lunged across and grabbed at Andy’s holster, taking his gun and doing the same. But she knew the 9mm guns would be like shooting peas at a thing with a skull that had to be many inches thick, plus a hide that was tougher than hardened leather.
“It can’t reach us,” Drake whispered. He looked up and down the crevice, and then back up at the great beast. “And this is the widest point. I think we’re okay here.”
The head was lifted back out, but it stayed above them.
“One problem,” Emma said. “We can’t wait here until it gets bored and gives up.”
Drake turned to her. “Sure, but I think we can afford to give it just a few more minutes, right?”
She bet he grinned in the dark.
“I guess.” She hunkered down as soil rained heavily onto their heads. “Now what?”
Emma looked up just as a single three-toed foot that had to be as wide as an industrial shovel began to rake at the dirt. “Look out.” She leaped out of the way as a large rock was dislodged and rolled down into their crevasse. She seethed. “That big bastard is going to try and dig us out.”
Like a monstrous dog, the Giganotosaurus raked with one massive foot and then the other. After a few pulls, it’d stop and lower its head again, checking on the width. In a few more moments, it had already widened the top of the fissure by several feet.
Emma looked up and down the crack in the ground. “Move.” She crouch-ran a few dozen feet along the crevasse floor. Drake pulled Andy along after him as he followed. She stopped and flattened herself back against the wall again. The beast followed them, and immediately began its raking again.
“Shit,” she hissed.
“We can’t stay in here,” Drake said.
Emma looked at the walls on either side of her. There was no way to climb out quickly. And even if they did, they’d be back out on the thing’s turf. Frustration boiled within her. She spun, lifted her gun in a two-handed grip, gritted her teeth, and fired half a dozen quick rounds into its face.
The head pulled back, and she was sure she hit it, perhaps every time. But after a few seconds, the raking began again directly over them. The huge head leaned over and reached down again, and then inhaled deeply. This time, the head angled and the mouth opened and the jaws snapped shut again, so close she actually saw the broad, flat tongue inside the mouth.
It was only just too far away, but it was getting closer. Emma held her breath as she smelled the vile carnivore stink emanating from its gaping mouth. She’d seen her friends disappear into mouths like those, and she was damn sure she’d never let that be her fate.
Once again, the head pulled back, and the raking started again, and once again, the trio scurried another 20 feet further along the crevasse. But it was like a dog enjoying a game; the great beast followed them, to immediately rake again.
Emma groaned. The problem for them was that the further along the crack they went, the shallower it got. A few more sprints, and the monster would only need to dig a few feet to reach them.
She turned to see Drake looking at her. He grinned and shrugged. “This has been one helluva a trip, Ms. Wilson.”
She couldn’t help smiling in return. “It’ll sure be something to tell your kids about.”
“That’s first prize,” he said. “Second, is just staying alive to tell anyone.”
Andy leaned around Drake and lifted one side of the bandage over his eyes. He blinked myopically, and then ripped it off. He kept blinking, and then looked upward, seeing the massive boxy head reaching down.
“Jesus.” He ducked as the massive head thundered down into the gap. ‘Please tell me it’s just my screwy eyes making me see that.”
“I wish,” Drake said, also hunkering down even more. “Maybe you should put that back on, buddy.”
Emma grimaced. “Welcome back.”
The head smashed down again, and Emma contemplated another scurry along the trench. But she saw that it became too shallow. They’d be dug out in an instant, if the beast even had to dig. The other option was to try and rush past the head and get to the other end of the fissure—where there were already huge holes now dug in the edge of the crack.
“Lie down flat,” Drake said.
You mean, lie down and prepare to die, Emma thought grimly.
The claws raked and raked some more, and stones tumbled down on them, adding to the fear and chaos. Emma could hear its breath quickening as it started to tire, she hoped, but more likely it was becoming excited at the prospect of soon being able to reach its prizes.
To hell with that. I’m not lying down and not staying here
, she thought. I’d rather die trying to get away than be picked off like some piece of fallen fruit. The moonbeams shone down again, illuminating the end of the crevice. It shallowed out, but even at its end, was still around seven feet high; too high to jump and run, and scaling meant she was vulnerable even for the few seconds it might take her.
Her mind computed the distance, the speed she might need, and her odds—low, she knew. She also knew by herself she might make it, might. But if all three of them tried, then they’d bunch up and potentially get in each other’s way.
She sat up, just as there came the thump of something striking the opposite wall of the crevasse. There came more, as more of the things rained down. A few struck the Giganotosaurus, and it roared its displeasure or shock.
More things rocketed down, and she heard the hard objects striking the head of the great beast with a solid crack of wood on bone. One of the items rolled close by, and she scurried over to reach for it.
“A pinecone thing.” It was larger than the variety she knew, and the size of a small football. The cone’s scales were closed tight, and it was damn heavy, several pounds at least, and hard as a rock.
The cones continued to shoot down, striking the Giganotosaurus’ head, neck, and flanks. It finally screamed its rage, and turned, looking for something to confront.
Emma looked up to see the beast’s tail hanging over the edge of their crevasse, as the thing must have been facing away from them now. She got up, hunched over, trotted to the end of the crevasse and jumped up, catching the lip with her fingers and pulling herself up to peek over.
She saw the massive theropod snap at the air and take a few thunderous steps toward the huge primitive pines, but it could find no assailant. All the while from high up in the branches, the heavy cones sailed down, striking the infuriated beast over and over.
Drake lifted himself up beside her, and she turned to him. “Jesus Christ; who’s doing that? Is it Ajax?”
“Unlikely he’d even think of coming back for us,” Drake said. “Plus, the guy can’t climb for shit.”
The animal bellowed a few more times and lowered its head. More accurate strikes cracked down on the huge skull again and again, and finally, the thing lumbered off in amongst the pine trees. They listened as the heavy footfalls got softer and softer.
It seemed that a head full of lumps changed an easy meal into something not worth the trouble.
“Round one to our pitcher,” she said.
Drake took out his binoculars. “And looks like we’re about to find out who they are.”
A figure scaled down the tree and jumped lightly to the ground. It was a man, with hair to his shoulders. Though underweight, his body still bulged with sinewy muscle and the frame was still broad.
He was near naked save for the remains of a tattered pair of pants covering his groin and one thigh. There was also a woven sack over his back.
He looked around slowly, and he lifted his head as though sniffing. Seeming to be satisfied, he turned back and walked confidently to the edge of the pit. He stared down at the trio, and then his face broke into a broad smile.
“What kept you?”
Emma fell back into the crevasse.
*****
Ben had tracked the sound of Emma’s voice and then followed the trail of the massive theropod. He’d seen the group disappear into the crevasse, and given he had no weapons, he had to rely on the one thing he retained—experience.
The big carnivorous beasts had hard heads but small brains and were easily confused and distracted. He’d used the ploy before to see the smaller ones off, and the large, heavy pinecones made ferocious missiles.
He climbed well above the beast’s reach and began his attack—one strike, a dozen, 20, 40, before it had finally had enough. He stayed in place, watching its head and shoulders muscle back in through the tree growth and move away down along the waterway.
It might be back, but for now, it would lay low for a while and nurse its headache.
He walked to the edge of the fissure, seeing the heads now poking up. The moon had vanished and he could only just make out their shapes. Each step closer he went, he felt his heart swell to bursting.
Ben tried not to run, but his steps quickened anyway. Would his voice crack? Would he mumble, not being used to talking to anyone but himself for years and years.
He crouched, spoke just a few rusty words, and Emma fell back into the crevasse.
“Huh?” He jumped in after her, and a body immediately fell on top of him.
“Only a guy like you could survive in this place for ten years, Cartwright.” Drake threw an arm over him, while Ben tried to help Emma sit up. He brushed the hair from her grimy face.
She burst into tears and reached out for him. “I knew. I knew.”
He hugged her close. “You came.” He couldn’t say any more, as he felt hot tears running down his own face.
“Ho-oooly shit,” a young man said from just behind Drake. “He actually survived. How? What did you see? Where did you go? I have so many questions.” He tried to burrow in closer, but Drake elbowed him back a pace.
Drake reached out a hand to Ben’s shoulder. “Captain, we need to bug out, like right now. The walls are closing in.”
Ben stood, pulling Emma up with him. He kept his eyes on hers the whole time. “Roger that; and I’m certainly not staying here another ten years.” He grinned, wiped his face, and turned to his friends, really seeing them for the first time.
“You got old.” He grinned.
Drake grinned. “Oh yeah, wait until you see your first mirror after a decade, buddy. And get a haircut, you hippy.”
The four of them climbed out of the crevasse, and Ben turned his head to listen for a moment. “That big guy will be back.”
“Then we need to be far away,” Emma said and hung onto him tightly.
The four of them huddled in together, and Ben looked down at Emma, then to Drake. “Do you have a plan?”
“We ballooned in, and we were gonna go out the same way. Unfortunately, it got ripped apart coming in,” Drake answered.
“But we think we know another way down,” Emma added. “We’re not sure if it’s viable, but there’s another temple built over a chute. I think it leads to the ground.”
“First prize, we climb all the way down, and then keep going,” Andy said, and stepped in closer. “Captain Cartwright, Ben, what did you see? Where did you—?”
“Not now,” Ben said and pushed long hair back off his face. “There’s one problem; the reason I moved off the plateau and stayed far away is because it’s owned by the snakes. And most of the big nests are underground.”
“Of course,” Andy said. “That’s why we found the fossilized remains of the Titanoboa deep in a coalmine. It wasn’t sedimentary settling, but that’s where the thing lived.” He snapped his fingers. “And I bet being underground shielded them from the worst effects of the meteor strike extinction event.”
“Then the snakes will definitely be in the temple,” Ben said.
Drake snorted. “Yeah, we found that out. Don’t worry; Ajax and Fergus will clean them out by the time we get there.”
Ben laughed softly. “You talked them into coming along as well?”
Drake shook his head. “Not me, your girlfriend. And Brocke came as well. But we crashed into the lake, and…he bought it there.”
“Fuck.” Ben’s mouth flattened into a line momentarily. “He was a good guy.”
“The best,” Drake added.
Ben reached out and took Drake’s hand, shaking it. “Thank you, Sergeant; you’ve done a good job. This place is Hell.” He pulled Emma in closer. “You’re all mad, you know.”
“Hell to us, but not to the creatures that live here,” Andy added.
Emma looked up at him. “And we’re not supposed to be here.”
“True.” Ben hugged Emma again. “So let’s go home.”
CHAPTER 36
Eventually, hunger overcomes cauti
on, fear, and pain. The Giganotosaurus turned and then headed back to where it had tried to catch the small sweet-smelling creatures in the ground.
It avoided the same path it had come before, not wanting to suffer the same bombardment. But upon returning to where it had dug at the crack in the ground, it found they had fled.
But their scent was still strong. It moved quickly to where the fissure narrowed and smelled that they were on the other side of it. The great beast turned away and trotted about 50 feet from the eight-foot-wide crack, then swung back and accelerated quickly, its massive legs pounding down on the hard earth. When it was a few feet out, it leaped across the fissure to land on the other side with a thunderous impact.
The huge carnivore then traced its way back to where it detected the small things had climbed out. It followed the scent trail, huge nostrils flaring wide and sucking in the odors—they’d moved into the jungle. It began to follow.
CHAPTER 37
“What was it like, Ben? Please, I must know,” Andy persisted. He was like a small satellite as he stayed at Ben’s shoulder. “You’ve got to tell me what you saw.”
“It was Hell.” Ben sighed. “And what did I see?” He turned. “I saw a place that people should not exist in.”
“Ruled by tooth and claw, huh?” Andy pushed.
“Ruled by hunger, and without mercy—eat or be eaten,” Ben replied.
“I want to see it,” Andy said. “I want to see it all.”
“There’s a price.” Ben turned. “I stayed alive because I lived below the ground, in caves, only foraging at night, and staying out of sight. Being seen meant inviting death.” He grinned like a death’s head. “If I was a cat, this would be my last life.”
“Yep, I get it.” Andy nodded. “Working with fossils all my life means having to use my imagination to construct what dinosaurs must have looked like when they were alive. But being here, I’ve seen living dinosaurs. The colors, the way they move, even the sounds they make, un-bel-ievable.” He grinned.
“Yes,” Ben said. “They’re faster than we ever imagined. The hunters display pack behavior, just as the plant-eaters move in herds. And some of the pack hunters are smart, even smarter than dogs. They can work things out, problem solve, and they learn real quick.” His eyes narrowed as he remembered. “Makes me wonder what the world would be like if they hadn’t all become extinct.”
