by catt dahman
“It hurts.”
“I know it hurts, but it hurts less than day one or day two. You are going to be okay, so why don’t you help Connie with the tangled line, or you can help Joe with peeling the palm, okay?”
Amanda dumped a load of palm sections beside Vera and showed her how to peel the bark away, smiling at Kelly. Surprisingly, Vera tackled the work, doing a good job and working fast. She had been spoiled her entire life, but when given orders and shown authority, she reacted as a typical teen, embracing the order and safety. Deep down, she craved the parameters.
Amanda used her hands to see better, shielding her view from the sun with her hands as visors, even if one were a clunky, bandaged visor. Vaughn, Sue, and Stu waved at her as they fished. They had good luck with the crab traps and had brought in several big fat fish for Joe to cook. There would be a time when people tired of fish, but they were lucky to have it.
Captain Worthington walked down the beach to see what Lisa was holding up. She had several squids that would make a delicious meal, and she was proud of their haul. She was grinning.
“Those are beauties,” the captain called.
Stanley followed a few feet behind. He wanted to see the catch of the day. From his peripheral vision, he saw movement in the trees, but it was as if the trees were moving. The trunks looked to be moving in waves, undulating. He stopped and frowned. From the thick jungle, a huge figure emerged, racing to the water and to those who were standing on the beach. It roared and stomped as it came, sounding like tortured metal and lions, a unique noise that was terrifying.
Stanley had time to realize it was enormous, heavy- bottomed, and brown and that it had luxurious brown feathers with the tips a beautiful shade of blue. In shock, he stood in place as the three-ton animal raced over him, smashing him into the sand and snapping his lower spine.
Time stood still.
Stanley could move his head and shoulders, so he got his face out of the sand, spit sand so that he could breathe, but he couldn’t move. He wasn’t in pain; he was numb, but he was petrified and confused. The sand grew faintly red as Stanley bled from wounds he couldn’t feel. The back claws had cut his legs badly. Frustration washed over him.
The captain carried a spear that he used as a staff when he walked. He might have had only one arm, but he reacted instantly and used his one, strong arm to grip the spear and shove it at the creature, catching it in the soft belly. The wood broke as they fought. He wasn’t about to let a big lizard beat him. He was sea-strong and sea-brave.
At the camp, Davey, Amanda, Joe, and Kelly grabbed weapons and advanced, yelling. Each felt afraid but angry that this creature was attacking them. Why didn’t it find other dinosaurs to eat?
“Kill it. Go for the belly,” Davey yelled.
Infuriated and in pain, the animal twisted and contorted, slamming the captain to the ground. It would normally enjoy the stomach and soft parts of a kill, but because it was so angry, it swung around, snapped its jaws around the captain’s head, bit it off, and swallowed.
Amanda sagged a little as she saw.
Those running to help screamed and yelled, unable to believe that the captain had just been killed in a very fast, but brutal way. An injury was one thing, but having one’s head snapped off was not something that Kelly could fix. After all, he had been through, it was a definite shock to see him killed before her eyes.
“No. Die, you dirty lizard freak,” Amanda screamed. She let loose with every obscenity she could think of, and it wasn’t enough. She made up words and ran them together in strings.
That had been her captain, her friend, and her mentor.
Lisa saw Stanley smashed into the sand and watched the captain’s body fall, blood jetting from his neck. She was sure both were dead, but her focus was on the enormous animal that was right in front of her. She had seen dinosaur skeletons in museums and been amazed at their size, but seeing a big live dinosaur was beyond anything she could think of. She screamed and tossed her squids at the monster, hoping it would take her offering and leave, but it watched her and advanced, cautious of another attack.
Its belly bled onto the sand but not fast enough to save Lisa. It wasn’t dying, or if it were, not quickly enough. “Eat the squids,” she begged it. She cried for the loss of her two friends, for her lost catch, and for herself as she felt her time was over. Despite Stu, the rest made her feel a part of the group, and Tom and Kelly made her feel special. At least she had that. She didn’t want to let it go, she thought.
Sue stopped Stu and Vaughn from leaving the water, pointed to the camp, and said, “Get some weapons. Hurry.”
They moved slowly, having to swim and wade a long way. They made a lot of noise and splashed, both hoping to get away unnoticed and to help those on the beach. They wanted both at the same time, but the noises didn’t attract the creature; he gave them a glance and ignored the prey in the water.
The brown beast charged Lisa and knocked her down. She raised her hands and arms, but that didn’t help. It ripped away her throat with a quick lunging bite, swallowing loudly as it enjoyed the warm, salty blood that sprayed, and it planned to return for the best flesh and innards; she was a big girl, and it knew, at some level, that it could feed well on her. The other two would also be good to eat.
Irritated, it spun.
Amanda had stabbed it with her weapon, a spear that had a knife on the end. It wasn’t a bad wound, but it bled and hurt. As it tried to get at her, Davey ran, driving his spear into the beast’s belly so far that he had to let go and back away. Both yelled as they attacked the animal, daring it to come at them.
There was a pause.
Angry, the dinosaur stopped, shocked by the attacks. What kind of prey would attack him? It was confused as it roared. It wanted to eat what it killed, and these puny beings were stalling the plans.
Kelly couldn’t get a good target, but Joe drove in a second spear, shoving it upwards. The creature bellowed and squealed. That was all it could take. It staggered. It was muddled mentally and decided to run away and leave its kills, but it felt weak with pain. Amanda and Kelly tossed their spears to Davey and Joe who bravely ran at the animal and stabbed again. Their hands went red and slippery as they stabbed and stabbed.
Both men attacked with energy and determination, born of the fury of witnessing their friends’ being slaughtered.
Amanda screamed as a back claw suddenly shot out and clawed her back, raking away flesh and muscle. She fell, but there wasn’t another attack.
The animal took a few more breaths, roared weakly, and thumped over, dead. It was almost surreal to see it die all at once. Stu, Vaughn, and Sue ran over, ready to fight, but it was all over. It felt anticlimactic to them, as well.
“Get Stanley back to camp,” Stu ordered.
Davey and Joe went to get Stanley, having to drag the man back. Stanley wailed and said he was unable to feel anything beneath his nipple line. Kelly ran alongside, ready to do her work.
Stu picked up Amanda in his arms and carried her back while she shivered and cried out with pain. His arms and chest became drenched in gore as he carried her, telling her she would be fine and muttering the same few sentences over and over, unable to think clearly.
Vaughn looked at Sue and asked, “What is it?”
“I have no idea. Something unknown.” She stared at the body of the dead dinosaur. “We may be the first to know of this kind. I wish we had never seen it. Asshole dinosaur, I hate it.”
“What about Lisa?” asked Vaughn who was troubled. The attack had been unexpected and gruesome. How had this happened when a few minutes before there had been peace on the beach? It was unfair after everything they had suffered.
Sue felt for a pulse, despite the blood all over the sand, and shook her head. She had trouble even finding a place to feel in the carnage of Lisa’s neck. “At least it was fast.” She picked up the squids for reasons she didn’t understand and carried them with her. The captain’s headless body lay in the sand.
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Vaughn leaned over and vomited. Sue nodded and patted his back. She gagged several times as well.
At the camp close to the slaughter, Kelly tossed things all over the sand, trying to determine who to treat first. “Davey, do what you can.” She told Stu to lay Amanda face down on a mat, and she yelled orders. Pamela gathered everything Kelly demanded, and Vera painfully crawled over to pat Amanda’s hand.
Vera was sorry now that she had argued with Amanda, but more than that, she was aware that some time, this might be her, and she needed to stay on everyone’s good side. Her leg kept her from having to be a dinosaur fighter for now, but she knew that had she been uninjured, she might have been the one to be ripped up as Amanda was.
Kelly took a deep breath.
Using scissors, she removed the rest of Amanda’s shirt and looked at the injury. Muscles and fat showed, and blood was pouring out. Oh, Amanda, what can I do? she thought.
Kelly knew the wound was filthy from the claw. There would be bacteria from feces and rotten food embedded, yet cleaning it seemed futile and torture. Still, she thought of Fish and set her jaw. “Joe, heat metal…knives…whatever you have…even the bottom of a pot. I need things white hot. Give me that alcohol.”
“No,” Amanda wailed, knowing what was coming, “don’t do it, Kelly; I’ll be okay.”
Kelly wiped away tears and set her jaw. “I hope you forgive me one day.”
Amanda screamed and twisted around, fighting as Kelly poured the liquid onto the wounds and scrubbed them clean. Stu and Vaughn held her in place and were nearly bucked away several times. The agony had to be unreal. Vaughn was pale as he did his job but reeled with the agony he heard in Amanda’s screams.
Kelly’s fingers felt numb, but she dug in her stash and slid a pill into Amanda’s mouth. “Swallow, and don’t ask what this is or who gave it to me.”
Amanda weakly did as she was told, but whispered, “Kelly, I can’t take any more. Please, stop.” She thought she would rather die than to suffer this, and as much as Kelly wanted to help, the pain was far too much to stand.
“Nope. Listen, you are going to do this. Smoke this. Stu, hold it. It may take the edge off.” Kelly lit a marijuana cigarette and handed it to Stu, who looked shocked but nodded. In her wildest dreams, Kelly never imagined giving a patient illegal drugs, but she just had administered two. The rules had changed. She and Stu traded glances and had a rare understanding between them.
Joe had tears in his eyes, but he pushed past Kelly and set a red hot knife on the bloodiest part of Amanda’s back the second she finished her cigarette. He didn’t ask or hesitate, just did what was needed.
Amanda bucked and screeched.
Kelly told herself it was better than without the drugs. “Again.” Kelly dimly wished she, as the nurse, could have some drugs, too.
“Doctor, that’s a lot of whiskey. Should I drink that much? Nah. That’s mine. Did you want some, too?”
“Kelly?” Stu asked.
“Just some medical humor.”
Pamela passed Joe another glowing knife that Joe laid sideways again on the worst of the injury, searing the flesh, killing the germs, and sealing the blood vessels. Amanda passed out, but her body jerked and twitched each time they repeated the process. Five times, they used fire to burn her skin and stop the bleeding. It was of no help or consolation, but everyone was weeping as he treated Amanda.
“The bleeding is better. It has almost stopped except for a few spots. I am going to stitch those.” Kelly worked meticulously, pretending this was normal, but inwardly cringing as she sewed spots that were next to burned, charred flesh.
Doctor, is this gonna hurt? Nah. Not a bit; oh, you meant would it hurt you? Kelly talked to herself, trying to keep from thinking about what she had just done to poor Amanda.
Using coconut water mixed with rum, she cleaned Amanda’s back.
When she was finished, she asked them to move Amanda close to the fire to stay warm and said that was all she could do. She left the wounds uncovered. Tears streaked her face although she didn’t know it. She had cried all the way through her make-shift surgery.
“Davey? How is Stanley?”
“Not good. I cleaned his cuts, but his back is broken, Kelly. He…his bowels released.” Davey explained the foul odor. He cleaned Stanley, and they moved him next to the fire as well. He shook his head at Kelly; he didn’t think Stanley had a chance of survival.
She shook her head as she looked at Amanda.
“Lisa, the captain….” Vera stared into space, shaking. She didn’t even complain that Kelly had a stash of pot. Everyone around her was dead or dying, and her own father was a shell of a man.
Durango had not reacted at all during the attack. He looked at the sea.
Down the beach, Tyrese waved as they brought the sled back to camp. No one waved back. They didn’t have the energy.
Chapter 7: Day Three, Nightfall
Joy, Scott, Helen, Tyrese, and Alex dragged the sled and Tom into camp and fell on their butts, exhausted. They saw the captain’s body lying headless. They saw the blood and Lisa’s body by the water. They saw the big brown dinosaur.
All of that was overwhelming.
Scott told the rest about losing Fish and finding the remains of other people. He talked fast and said he would explain in detail later. Then he waited to hear what had happened at camp which smelled of feces and burned flesh.
Sue gave a recount of the attack, but the events were easy to figure out by looking at the bodies on the beach. “At least the Big Brown is dead.”
“Ummmph,”Alex made a noise.
“He is dead. They killed the bastard. They are heroes.”
“Yeah, she is dead. She’s very dead, true, but….” Alex rubbed his head and walked back to the dinosaur and then returned, sitting down again to rub his head. He looked upset and perplexed as he thought and searched his brain for answers.
“We don’t have to worry about it anymore, I mean,” Sue said. She was confused over Alex’s reaction. He was as fascinated with dinosaurs as she was, and despite the circumstances, he was curious, but now he acted strange.
“She’s very feathered. She’s big but not as big; she has a lot of feathers. She,” Alex said as he took a deep breath and then said, isn’t Big Brown.”
“Yes, it is. It’s brown and has feathers, and it’s dead now,” Stu said. He felt dread creeping into his stomach with a lump of anxiety.
“No, she looks like Big Brown, but she is far more feathered, and Big Brown is male. Go look at her belly and the remains of her brood. They must have live births because there are two dead babies I can see in that mess of her stomach. That is absolutely not Big Brown.” Alex spat the words out with a raised voice, sick with having to relate the information. It was as if it were his fault that this was the wrong dinosaur. It was not the wrong one, really, but it was another one. He didn’t like that he knew that. He really didn’t like saying it. And mostly, he hated being right.
“What does that mean?” Stu asked.
“Alex,” Sue said. She saw that his eyes were full of fear. “You killed Big Brown’s mate. There is a bigger one out there, and I suspect when he figures this out, he is going to be furious. I mean if they are that advanced and can feel emotions, he will get pissed off when he finds out his mate was killed.”
“Another one?” Vera asked.
Alex nodded.
Helen said, “He’s right. I am sure that isn’t Big Brown. It looks like him, but it isn’t. Kelly, Tom is in trouble.”
Kelly had been so busy that when she saw Tom, she didn’t understand that he was on the sled and very sick. She wanted to yell at him for not having his arm treated earlier, and she knew he shouldn’t have gone out, but all that was useless now. She looked at his arm and nodded and murmured as he spoke.
“I didn’t know what to do except drain it and use what we had. We hurried back,” Helen said.
“You did what you could,” Kelly said, “and now
we have to be stronger.”
“I…Fish was gone, he….” Helen stammered, but she and Kelly knew what Fish would have done. It made Helen very afraid. More than ever, they needed Fish.
Quietly, Kelly nodded and walked around the camp, whispering and watching surreptitiously as people did her bidding. She understood only too well how much they needed Fish.
Joe had been experimenting, cutting away a bit of the dinosaur, cooking it well, and tasting it. He gave Vera a bite, and though she scowled, she nodded approval. Davey tried it and found it to taste somewhere between chicken and alligator. Everything tastes like chicken. The way Joe cooked it well done and spiced it up made it very good.
“I’ll need help, but I am gonna carve that thing into steaks, and we’ll eat fine. I can smoke some of the meat for later. It won’t go to waste.”
“Then, we will need to haul the carcass out to sea so we don’t attract predators. We have to hurry,” Vaughn said.
Stu patted his younger brother for thinking ahead.
Joe readied his utensils, setting the machete in the fire; it was the only one they had and was a fluke to have found it; he needed it. Tyrese stood close and stretched his big, muscular arms. He was nervous with sudden energy and had to stretch and twist to release tension.
Stu unwrapped a length of rope that he handed to Vaughn. He went to Tom and asked, “How are you doing?”
“Uhhh. Hurts. Doing fine.”
“Yeah? Good. Tom, you’re a good brother. I think you’re the best of the family. You got all the good traits, and we got what was left.”
“Huh?”
“You’re a good man, Tom,” was all Stu said.
Scott hugged Helen, and they walked over to Kelly who unwrapped Tom’s arm again to check it. The injury had gone blackish and was pouring green ooze.
Fish was an amazing fellow, wasn’t he?” Kelly said. “I will miss him so much. He was a true hero in all ways.” She paused and looked up. “Now.”
Vaughn tied Tom’s legs with the rope, wrapping the rope over and around as if making a mummy. He then sat on Tom’s legs. At the same time, Stu grabbed Tom in a bear hug that Scott joined.
