by catt dahman
They found three duffle bags, a few small beach bags, and four backpacks. It was a gold strike. Because they had found so much and some of the blankets were wet and heavy and took up so much room, they had to stop and take all of what they had back to the camp.
As soon as they dumped that haul, they went back out. They found a few other items that had washed up, but nothing was like they had found in the first haul.
They stopped when they found a mutilated body. It was hard to say who it was, but they thought it might be one of the missing crew members. He had been okay enough to start a tiny fire, but before night had come and the others had seen it, something had attacked the man.
“His head is just gone. It wasn’t chewed away; it was snapped off, see?” said Alex as he showed them.
“Yuk. What does that mean?” Joy asked.
“Look here at the stomach. Whatever it was, had a big mouth, and it wanted the soft organs as well as the brains,” said Alex.
“Those troodons last night had big mouths,” Helen said.
“It looked like that, I know, but this thing would be three times that big. Look at the footprint here,” said Alex.
“That’s a footprint?” asked Joy as her pretty eyes went big.
“I’m afraid so, Joy,” Alex said, “I would guess this thing is twenty feet tall. If this is a small island, then that may be as large as they get, but it’s a big one.” From the sand, he picked up long, brown feathers with violet-blue tips that were wet with blood and seawater.
“What is it?” Helen asked.
Alex shrugged and answered, “I have no idea. Something big, but not as big as a T-Rex or an allosaurus. It is a smaller meat eater and kind of picky to leave the rest here.” Alex searched the area, and he called out, “He’s a lone hunter. We should avoid him since he attacks in the day light so that makes him very brave.”
Alex, always one to know useless trivia, found purslane growing on the rocks and gathered it, eating some as he worked since there was more than they could take back. He told them it was rich in nutrients and could be chopped and added to soup, wrapped around fish to steam, used to stuff fish or make a salad, cooked with vegetables, or eaten raw.
“This is pretty good,” Joy said as she ate some, “but it needs vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper, and maybe some garlic. Yum. With steak or liver…delish.”
“Well, you let Joe know. If we find wine, we can get vinegar, right?” replied Alex.
Alex led the way to the trees. They listened and looked, but there was no movement. He nodded and walked farther into the shadows. Coconuts littered the ground. “These won’t have as much water, but the meat will be fine. And those are sea grapes. They’re really delicious, I’ve heard.” He tried one, spitting out the big seed. It was good. He pointed out wild onions and picked them.
Scott, Helen, Tyrese, Joy, and Tom ate the sea grapes and agreed that they were delicious. They finished their snack and gathered the sea grapes and coconuts.
“I don’t know much about survival in the wild, but I saw a show; give me a few minutes.” Scott grinned as he attacked a tree, cutting off the upper branches and then cutting below so that he had a huge section of tree. Everyone had to help him pull it out to the beach so that he could see better to work. They frowned and ate sea grapes as they watched, thinking he was crazy to be working so hard at the big log section of tree.
Scott pointed and said, “We can take it back although it will take work, but I’m getting some to show you. On T.V. the work was easier.” He poured sweat. Removing several layers of bark, he got to the middle of the tree and cut out a fat section that he held up. He was tired after all of that but determined to finish.
He sliced it apart and handed pieces to everyone.
“Okay, here goes,” said Joy as she took a bite. She smiled around her piece and kept eating. “This will go with my purslane salad perfectly.”
“Oh, it’s like the heart of palm, like an artichoke,” Helen said. The palm was tender and slightly sweet. It tasted wonderful. “We need vinegar and salt water, and then we can pickle it with some seasonings.”
“By the way, that big tree I cut will be a lot of food, but I dulled Joe’s knife and will have to sharpen it again for him. I know we have fish and what we have scavenged, but this alone will feed us. We won’t starve,” Scott said.
Alex nodded. “You out did me.”
“No, I added variety is all.”
“We need water,” Helen reminded them.
“Look for a trail. There should be one that animals use.” Tyrese looked for one, being careful not to run into a dinosaur.
In a few minutes, Helen waved the others to her, and she showed them a packed, worn trail. Leaving the sled, they followed it, listening for sounds and holding weapons close.
“Shhhh.” Tyrese held his hand up. They faintly heard water flowing over rocks. They carefully followed the sounds, trying to be quiet.
“That’s a hadrosaur.”
“Does it eat plants or people?” Joy asked.
Alex smiled and answered, “Plants. I think it could be a maiasaur. They are not mean, but if we scare them, they could run us over. Be quiet.”
The creatures smelled humans, something they were not used to. They sniffed and snorted. There were five of them, all about twenty feet long from duck-bill to tail-tip. Colored soft green, they could easily hide in the trees and foliage. They had mouths that were like that of a duck, rounded heads, and soft looking bodies; they acted like cattle.
“If we can’t catch fish or just want another food, we can take down a small one,” Tom said.
“I was just thinking that,” Helen agreed.
They moved slowly, filling bottles and containers with the water. For now, it would have to be boiled to make sure it was safe to drink, but there might be a time when they would have to drink it like the animals did. The water came from farther in the trees and from some unknown source, but it rippled across rocks and formed a small, fast moving creek. It looked clean.
“We have to come back and follow this one way or the other. Maybe there is a pool so we can bathe,” Tom said.
The hadrosaurs jerked, their heads rose, and they cocked their heads. One snorted, and their bodies went tense.
“Is it us?” Joy asked.
Alex motioned for everyone to retreat and hide behind some fallen trees. He had a bad feeling as he watched the hadrosaurs react to something they heard or smelled. The birds had gone silent.
Coming from the greenery and pushing past vines and bushes, a bigger creature appeared. He stood twenty feet tall and was solid muscle. Although his front legs were small, he made up for it with his huge back legs and the sharp claws on his big toes. He was brown, and along his spine were brown feathers, tipped with a pretty blue.
“What is he? A T-Rex?” Joy whispered as she asked.
“No. He isn’t. He isn’t an allosaurus, either.” Alex ran every book, every television show, and all Internet images through his head. Nothing matched. This beast’s legs and lower body were far heavier and bigger than in any pictures of dinosaurs Alex had ever seen. He wasn’t a runner. This animal didn’t chase prey because he was far too heavy, but his mode of killing was lethal.
He crept up and used his size to knock his prey to the ground so that he could use a big back claw to pin it and rip out a throat. The prey might fight back, but the creature also had a thick, short neck and could use it to deflect blows. He was the bully of this environment, always stalking and unafraid of any other beast.
He sniffed.
The hadrosaurs were frozen. If they moved, he would leap. They backed away, but Big Brown advanced, stepping through the creek and muddying the waters with his big feet.
The hadrosaurs broke and tried to run, and four got away, fleeing as fast as possible, but the Big Brown lunged, slinging himself at the lone hadrosaur and knocking it down. The slowest and the dumbest most often die, thereby not sharing those faulty genetics nor strengthening the s
pecies.
The victim screamed, making all the birds take flight. The thud was loud in the woods, and it was effective as the brown predator stomped and battered with his foot and with his neck and chest. In an easy motion, Big Brown leaned in and ripped a huge chunk from the hadrosaur’s throat and gulped down the flesh.
The creek turned bright red as blood jetted and poured from the lethal wound. The hadrosaur kicked and fought weakly, but the size of the animals made it sound as if a full war were in progress. There were thuds and bangs, snaps and snorts, but it ended in a few minutes that felt like forever to those who watched.
Big Brown, as everyone thought of him, leaned in and immediately began to eviscerate the hadrosaur, taking enormous bites of the belly. Because he killed so easily, he could be a picky eater, only wanting the best parts of the body. He was a loud eater, snapping bones and smacking up fat and strings of intestines, so the group of humans were able to slowly and almost silently back away.
They didn’t speak until they were a long way from the butchery.
“Oh my, God, Big Brown, he’s….” Joy stopped and vomited the sea grapes and purslane onto the trail.
“Now we know. What is he, Alex?” Tom asked. He wanted to know what kind of dinosaur this was. He accepted the word, now, because those could be nothing else, weren’t hidden by the night shadows, and looked like pictures in books. At least the hadrosaurs did.
“I’ve thought and thought, but I don’t think anyone has ever found a fossil of him. He’s different. Have you noticed that he is bottom heavy and short?”
Helen snorted. “Short? He’s huge.”
“He’s short compared to many we could find. Trust me, he’s small. All are built differently. I think it’s some adaptation.” Alex waited as Joy finished being sick. “I have no name for him but Big Brown. He’s bold. We have to be on guard because he is the type that would walk right into camp for a kill.”
Joy wiped her mouth and looked at the others with tears on her face and said, “I’m scared.”
“I am, too,” Tyrese said, “but they are just animals. We can outsmart them. We may have to go after him before he comes to us.”
Scott nodded. He thought the same thing.
“Hey, is this your knife? Why….” Joy reached into the moss beside the trail and picked up a knife that was a foot long, handle to tip. She was about to ask why it was rusted and who it belonged to, but suddenly she knew it wasn’t theirs. She wasn’t sure what this meant. But it chilled her.
Scott looked at the knife he took from her, turning it over in his hands. “Now why would this be here? Why? A random knife on a trail.”
“Because someone has been here before us,” Tom said. He rubbed at his wounded arm, irritated by the itchy feeling. His mind whirled. “We aren’t the first, and why would we be?”
Alex nodded and replied, “Right. That’s true.”
Joy frowned and slid closer to Alex; she thought he was smart and made her feel safe. “And?”
He patted her shoulder and blushed. He was kind of amazed that she had noticed him. “People were or are stranded here. Someone lost this knife, and I think it’s been out here a few months. That means they may or may not be alive.” He tried to cover the variables.
“Maybe they were rescued.”
“We’d have heard about it, Joy.”
Joy frowned at Tom and looked at Alex and asked, “Do you agree?”
“Yeah. I don’t think anyone was rescued. I think since the water is ruined from that spot and down, we’ll have to go deeper into the trees. We might find out about the other people,” Alex answered.
“If we want to find them,” Helen said.
“Why wouldn’t we?”
Helen didn’t know, but it was a thought that just popped into her head. “Maybe they aren’t nice people, or maybe the island has driven them crazy. We should just be careful and try to see them before they see us, I mean if they are alive and if we can find them.”
“I agree,” Tyrese said, “all of you may not be seeing it, but we have our own people who are a little….” He twirled his finger at his temple.
“My sister,” Tom said, “is nuts. And my dad, he isn’t right, is he? I thought it was shock or something, but Kelly said his head injuries are bad. His head was knocked around a lot, and he isn’t right. He just sits and stares and pats Vera. Half the time, he doesn’t notice if I call his name.”
“I’m sorry, Tom,” Helen said, “but Stu is himself, and he scares me at times. He is so….”
“Angry,” Tom supplied the word, “ or jealous? Mean? I know. He worries me as well. My entire family, except Vaughn, is useless.”
Helen wiped away a tear as they walked down the trail. Scott reached over and with one arm and hugged her, and she leaned into him. She wanted to stop and have him hold her while she cried for everyone, everything, and herself, but there wasn’t time. He seemed to know as he pulled her close but didn’t quite kiss her cheek, only brushed his face against her skin, letting her know he understood.
Watching behind them for Big Brown, they finished loading the sled with water and everything else they found: more sea grapes and coconuts and several dozen mangoes. The sled was heavy as they strained, pulling the sled along on the sand, but the work was worth it to have the supplies.
After a long time, they saw camp and found new energy to pull the load along with them. Tyrese waved at the ones back at camp, and they waved back, excited to see what was on the sled this time.
Scott thought about the rusty knife. “Wait until they hear we’re not alone.”
Chapter 5: Day Two, Evening
The new and unusual food delighted most of the survivors as they tasted everything and chatted about it, but this wasn’t a taste-test situation. The camp, although filled with useful supplies, was pitiful with the wreckage as a home and junk as treasures.
Alex told the story of the scavenging trip, making sure everyone understood that Big Brown was dangerous and that they had to be vigilant. Sue thought about everything she knew and agreed that it sounded as if Big Brown were a new kind of dinosaur, undiscovered in fossils. “They will name it after you, Alex.”
“Cool, but I don’t think he is mine, really.”
While the rest were gone, Amanda and Fish organized the camp and set up a system for guard duty. Amanda was bandaged, and she mourned the loss of her fingers, but she also willed the wound to heal and threw herself into her job of keeping everyone calm and safe.
Kelly checked wounds as soon as they arrived and found everyone was fine, except Tom whose slashed arm was worrisome. His flesh was tender, itched, and was bright red. She gave him one of the last of the penicillin shots, and as he grimaced, she scrubbed the injury again since she thought it was getting infected. She slept that night in his arms, worrying and restless. He told her he was there for her and to relax.
Stanley sat with the injured, scared to be outside the wreckage. He wondered about his choice to volunteer since Vera complained and whined. After his guard duty, Davey came over and sat with her, relieving Stanley. He lit a marijuana cigarette and shared with her.
“That’s illegal,” Stanley said.
“So? Like who cares, Dude? She’s in pain.”
“They are still drugs.”
Davey narrowed his eyes and said, “You wanted to sit with the injured so you didn’t have guard duty. Being a coward is worse than a little toke. Don’t judge me.” He didn’t realize his speech had altered and that he wasn’t in the persona of a stoner. His emotional protection was down as he grew angry.
“I can’t fight one of those things. Jeez. I’m a computer geek.” Stanley defended himself.
“So?”
“So I’m scared. Okay? There. I’m a big coward and scared. I can’t help what I am,” Stanley confessed.
Davey saw tears running down Stanley’s face, and he softened. “We’re all scared, Dude.”
“Does that drug help her?”
Davey s
miled and said, “Yeah. Have you seen her leg? No? It’s not pretty, and it hurts like hell, so if this helps her, why not?”
Vera begged, “Davey, light another, please.”
He sighed but did as asked. “You want?” He offered it to Stanley.
“No, thanks, the captain says he wants me back him on my feet in the morning. That’s good about Durango, but he doesn’t say anything.”
“His head is binged up,” said Vera, giggling, “he’s messed up.”
“Maybe he’ll get better,” Davey said.
Vera shook her head and replied, “No bing, bing. He’s lost it. That’s a body, but Daddy died in the wreck.” Tears ran down her cheeks as she giggled, and with huge eyes, she looked at Davey.
He understood what she meant.
Davey understood a lot. He got what they were saying. They might be problematic, but they were who they were and not cut out for this extreme situation.
In the corner, Pamela rested but awoke often reaching for her face. She was bruised black and green, had a dozen stitched gashes, and looked like a patchwork quilt. Finding a mirror, she looked at her injuries and started screaming. Amanda and Kelly had hell trying to get her to stop screaming and touching her stitches. Each time she awoke, she moaned that she was an ugly monster.
That lodged in her head, and she thought about the troodons who killed Wanda. She began to repeat a mantra: “Monster Island, Monster Island, Monster Island.”
Stanley begged her to stop before Stu heard her again and started raving.
In the shadows away from the fire, Joy and Alex pretended to be on guard duty but made frantic love in the sand. Joy demanded and took, and when they were finished the second time, Alex felt used. Joy had taken something, but he wasn’t sure what it was. Stu winked at him and smirked. Tom rolled his eyes. Tyrese whispered that it was about time Alex joined the club of men who had been with her. Fish held up his thumb.
