Blood red light from the setting sun crawls across the face of rock above her, framing the young dinosaur and its struggles as Molly begins to squeeze the trigger. Then she stops and her heart begins to flutter in suddenly remembered fears.
Molly sinuses rebel at the sharp smell unexpectedly assaulting them, dredging forth deep, dark memories of pain and fear. The smell now permeates the crevasse! Could this be from the young Albertosaur before her? No, she can see it stop. It’s nostrils quiver and it twists its head, also trying to understand the smell.
A sudden fear crawls coldly across the back of her neck. Ignoring the threat before her, Molly struggles to turn and look back out into the valley behind her.
The two toed, black foot of a theropod is down on the narrow rocky shelf below her peeping out from behind the sharp corner of the rock where the ledge, that she is on, passes out to the edge of the crevasse. Apparently, it must wrap around to the outside of the cliff! She can see a larger killing-claw slowly tapping between the two toes of the predator. ‘Oh you’re just waiting for me to be pushed down there aren’t you! Luckily you have big feet!’
No longer any need for quiet Hive-Tab calls, Molly calls out using the more powerful signal of her communicator, ‘They’re here guys and I’m in one hell of a pickle! I’ve got one of those Alberta-whachamacallits coming down the crack directly toward me and I can smell and see one of the Black Ghosts down on a ledge at the cliff-side end of my crevasse. He’s on the same ledge that I’m on and I’m monkey-in-the-middle!’
‘Hold them off with your pistol Molly!’ Corey called back in reply. She suddenly heard the high-pitched snap of hypervelocity slugs ripping across the bare rock above her. ‘I’m coming.’
Molly turned her pistol back and aimed it at the dinosaur coming down directly at her. ‘Sorry baby but you’re the clearest shot and nearest to me!’ Molly aims for the center of it’s chest as it pushes toward her. She squeezed the trigger. A burst of ionized metal vapor leaps from the short barrel of her Python pistol at more than five times the speed of sound. The charged molecules passed from ionized gas into a molten and then a formed hollow solid, spinning slug in the first five centimeters of its deadly flight from the barrel. A second slug followed immediately behind it and the hypervelocity displacement of the air in its path cracked through the close confines of the rock like the blow of a lightning bolt.
The slug raced across the eight feet separating them, striking the chest cavity of the dinosaur. Bone and tissue immediately deformed the hollow shell of the slug. The red-hot metal ricocheted and shattered as it struck the spine of the hapless victim, exiting through a hole that blew out half of its right side rib cage.
Blood, bone, guts and vaporized tissue sprayed out across the narrow crevasse and over Molly. Her ears rang from the violent passage of the slugs and their impact in spite of the active sound deadening provided by her helmet.
Molly reached across the rock and struggled to turn around toward the threat she knew was behind her. She twisted and immediately felt a hard blow land across her wrist. Her body armor hardened instantly and saved her wrist from the crushing blow of the black demon’s kick. Molly’s pistol flew from her hand and bounced noisily down the cliff and into the open air below.
Molly screams and turns back to clamber up and over the mutilated body behind her. Frantically she scrambles away, pushing up toward the safety of the cliff top. Something hot and rough wraps around her neck. She can feel the pain from a frighteningly familiar, sandpaper-like grip as it digs into her neck. Frantically, with panic in her heart, she lunges forward. A frantic, desperate leap and she grabs onto a claw of the now dead but still shaking beast and her mindless reaction pulls her up over it toward the safety of the cliff top. Intense pain rips across her bare neck and shoulder as she pulls away from the coils around her neck, ripping her skin and surface muscles, stifling her scream!
Something grips her shoulder and twists her up and around. Instinctively her good hand grabs at her attacker. Her eyes swing around to see a black head with wild, blazing yellow eyes glaring. She falls to the rough rocky surface as the stumbling monster rises above her. Setting it’s foot, it swings down, going directly for her face. Blood red jaws open as the creature lunges down at her. She stares helplessly, stunned by the violence. Everything seems to be moving slowly as the approaching jaws open wider and the sky behind them erupts. A thunderous blow slams her flat onto the hard rock surface, filling her world with searing hot liquid and a vision of gold-flecked black feathers.
Molly’s ears rang and her vision blurred. Somehow, she could still see the red sun setting. Suddenly an image of a black demon rises up before her. The red sky fills with it as the apparition leaps across her vision. Her world centers on the sight of massive teeth that flash down at her face. It savagely twists impossibly in mid-leap to be replaced by the image of a bright blue eye, partially turned up into a black and gold skull. Something swings across, striking her cheekbone. It disappears, replaced by the blood red sky and the air is filled with a deathly high scream. Somehow, Molly turns her head. Above her, the black demon’s feet kick spasmodically, striking loose rocks from the cliff face. It swings out, painfully striking Molly, rolling her back onto the hot, wet body of the dead Albertosaur.
Molly pushes up, she sees the black demon’s head swing around, screaming and biting at the massive jaws clamped around its body. The small black raptor is brutally ripped up and out of the crevasse. Molly collapses onto the feathered mass below her, unable to move any further. She feels the screams and head throbbing warbles filling the rock walls around her, the waves of each cry pounding into her body. Three sharp cracks fill the crevasse and the air around her saturates with the mixed smells of ammonia and the now familiar stench of blood and death. A flow of hot red vapor erupts, saturating the air of the crevasse and the fading light of the setting sun is gone from her vision.
* * * * *
His fingertips are raw, bleeding from the strain and frantic grasping of sharp rocks in his rush across the narrow ledge on the face of the cliff. That slip back there had started the problem. Ever since then his sore, bloody finger tips seemed to slide dangerously across every surface he tries to grab onto. Thankfully, the ledge begins to widen below him. Anton frantically picks up speed, scrambling toward the exposed point of broken rocks up ahead and the safety of their shelter.
‘Where are they now? Corey? Molly?’ Anton calls across his Hive-Tab. No response! The rocks between them are too dense for the short range of the Hive-Tab communications. Anton shuffles the last few feet and onto a secure ledge. ‘Ok, let’s have a look!’
Anton pulls himself slowly up to peek over the top ledge. The dinos that were coming toward him are gone! ‘What the hell is going on?’ He calls again using his Hive-Tab. A warble fills the air, climbing up and down the scales and ending with the familiar series of short barks. ‘Ok, the dinos must have spotted them. That’s a rally call if ever I heard one.’
He climbs back up onto the bare rock plateau, swinging his Python rifle around in front of him. It’s getting harder to see as the sun sets. Shadows grow and seem to move all across the rocky plateau. A screech fills the air as Anton pushes ahead to the top of the solid rock crest hiding his view of the others.
The now familiar snap and shockwave of multiple hypervelocity rounds buffet across the plateau, filling the air before him. ‘Oh shoot! That came from over by Corey. They’re both into it now, where should I head first?’
As Anton pushes to the crest of the rock, he can see two Albertosaurs drop. One falls to the ground as if hit with a hammer blow. The other leaps into the air, twisting and clawing, a stream and mist of blood flies into the air around it. Strangely, his mind fills with the thought, ‘Is it really that red or is it from the rays of the setting sun?’
Without further thought, he begins sprinting to the second group of Albertosaurs grumbling to himself. ‘You seem to be doing Ok on your own Corey but Molly doesn’t look too well off
!’
As Anton runs, he spots three other dinosaurs push down the trail parallel to him. They are all headed to the same point. Molly! Another, smaller snap fills the air and a scream rises from the area ahead of him where Molly is hiding. He watches as an impossibly large dinosaur hops across the crack in the cliff-top. It spins and bends down, reaching into the crevasse!
‘Molly!’ His heart leaps into his throat as he raises his Python to his shoulder. He can see the monster swing down and grab something. His hands shake as he tries to steady his bead on the distant beast! Training takes over and suddenly calm hands squeeze the trigger evenly as the weapon rises. Something is squirming and twisting in its jaws! His Python fires and before the sharp snap of its passage through the air begins to fade, Anton rips off three more shots.
The massive black and gold beast explodes with the impact of the Python’s slugs traveling at over four times the speed of sound. Three nearby Albertosaurs fall back from the violence of the exploding beast. Through the flash and blood-mist of the carnage, he can see something falling to the ground. It falls to the cliff’s edge, wounded and unable to get up. He aims at it, his finger slowly tightening on the trigger. His world focuses on this one, lone black creature as it tries to get up. Even in its wounded state, he can see its camouflage adapting to the world around it, fading from his sight as it tries to rise and his finger tightens on the trigger.
A blow to his head and shoulders knocks him down. Anton rolls painfully across the sharp rocks of the field and then quickly scrambles back over to grab his rifle. Looking up, he sees the remains of an adult Albertosaurus falling his way. He rolls over as its head lands on top of his legs. It’s jaws, snapping in mindless reaction of its death throes, are just inches away from his own head. Frantically he pulls to the side and frees his leg, the monster tries to turn its head but most of the steel-like muscles of its neck are gone.
‘Anton, are you ok over there? Be there in a few seconds.’ The call rises in the back of his mind, from the Hive Tab that now seems to be working.
‘Corey! Thank God! Get to Molly, there’s …’
‘Hang on, you’ve got two others …’ three sharp cracks fill the air around him. Their hypersonic blast buffets him, knocking him to the ground again with the impact of their near passage. The rocks themselves seem to be ringing around him as he staggers back up onto his feet. Two more of the black and gold monsters are a mere few feet away from him.
‘um, augh …’ Anton sputters as he tries to get his feet under him again, ‘Cheez Corey thanks where …’
Three more cracks fill the air but their sound is not as painful. Corey calls again, ‘Did you see Molly? Wait a second, there’s two more over there where she was and …’ Two more sharp cracks fill the air. Their violent passage lights up the rocky cliff top in the bright white flash of superheated air. The rays of the setting sun are almost gone and it’s getting hard to see the targets in the fading light.
Anton struggles to rise. Sharp needles of pain run through his back and legs as he hobbles at a run across the rocky ground. There’s more movement down at the crack in the rock that hid Molly. Fear of hitting the girl keeps him from firing blindly into the dark moving figures.
‘Come on, this way Anton. I think I got one of them after the big raptor dropped him!’
Anton ran over to the edge of the rocky crevasse, his eyes scanned the area from down in its dark shadows and up toward the dark figure of Corey huddled on the other edge of the crevasse. The engineer is down on one knee, looking into the black shadows. He swings down as Anton notices movement on the other side of the split in the rock.
Lifting his Python, Anton jumps across the few remaining feet of hard rock. A screech and a hiss fill the air around him as it sees him coming. The air suddenly saturates with the all too familiar stringent ammonia-like order as Anton squeezes the trigger. His Python doesn’t even kick as the hypersonic slug rips through the air ending the struggles of the mortally wounded Black Ghost.
‘Anton, help me over here.’ Corey calls from down in the crack. ‘She seems to be ok but unconscious. Her vitals look good on her armor readout. More damage from shock and some blood loss. Here, grab her but watch her neck and shoulder they’re chewed to ribbons again.’
‘Ok, set her down over here.’
‘There’s still another one around here and I don’t know what happened to the rest of those Alberto….’
A wailing cry rends the air, echoing through their skulls with its volume and sharp retort.
‘Where the hell … there, I think it’s coming from a point near the edge of the cliffs. You stay with Molly!’ Corey shouts as he clambers out of the rocky crack.
‘Cheez Corey, not in this darkness!’ Anton screams at the figure fading across the darkness covering the top of the plateau.
Anton holds Molly’s head as he rechecks the readouts from her battle armor. Furtively he glances across the plateau; the rocks have taken on a ghostly pale white glow in the light of the gibbous moon now high in the evening sky. In the pale light of the bare rocky plateau he can just make out the shadowy apparition of Corey running across the plateau.
‘I can’t see anything over here Anton! No wait, I think there’s a ledge going across the face of the cliff below me over here. Yes, it goes over towards the crevasse where Molly was. They must have come up from below us just as the Albertosaurs …’
‘Corey get back here now! Its hard enough seeing them in the daytime. You’re not going to find him in this dark. He can jump you or me at any time as long as we are alone. We need to pull back and cover our backsides! He’s out there, he knows his buddy is dead. That’s what that wail was! He’ll be out for blood now and we need to get ready.’
‘Ok Anton, I’m coming. I just…’
‘Just come on over here and be quick about it. We need to pick up Molly and move over into the ‘sentinel covered area so we can have a chance of knowing if he’s coming. Watch your step there, you’re right at the edge!’
The evening calls of the valley below them begin to rise as they talk. Screeches, warbles and song soon fill the valley with the early evening rhapsody of the night foragers.
‘The Albertosaurs seem to be gone but we won’t be able to hear even those big guys coming with this racket starting up. Look, you can see their passage report if you take the time to check out your Hive Tab link to our StrobeSentinel network. You’re wrong though. They didn’t get here just as the Albertosaurs did.’
‘Ah, come on Anton. Here, if you’re done putting on that salve I’ll carry Molly you watch my …’
‘Don’t “Ah, come on” me! They didn’t just coincidentally get here; these two black demons brought them here!’
‘Remember our early “false” readings on the sentinels. That must have been them! They sensed the probes even though the pulses were impossibly short. Then our two tricky friends managed to slip away and return with this pack of monsters hot on their tail. These big guys were not after us, they were chasing the Black Ghosts. Those demons had a great plan but it backfired on their smart asses!’
‘You have got to be kidding Anton! Do you really …’
‘Shhh, there’s something following us right now. I just saw something come over the cliff edge. Well, actually, I didn’t see it but it blocked out the star field behind it. Come on, we’ve got to move quickly.’
Corey pushes ahead with Molly slung over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. ‘She’s still bleeding pretty badly Anton. I can feel the blood creeping down my neck and onto my back!’
‘That’s from the anticoagulants in their saliva. Remember, they wanted her to bleed while they fed on her blood. She’ll be ok if we can get her back to the forest edge. I remember seeing a nice protected spot when we put out the security screen. We can clean up her wounds there.’
Anton pulled off to the side while Corey pushed across the rocky plateau with his burden. Every loose pebble his foot stepped on twisted his ankle under Molly’s w
eight, threatening to throw them down to the hard solid rock below his feet.
Corey gradually noticed that the evening song of the forest around them was gone. The far off calls of the valley floor are still there but he could hear nothing from nearby. ‘At least I can now hear Anton shuffling through the brush. What the heck is going on though? Where did everyone go?’
The hard white-granite rock of the plateau seems to glow under the pale white light of the moon. Long shadows play across every branch and rock sending warnings of lurking dangers following their flight. Small islands of brush and low trees amid the hard rock begin to form as he pushes onward. They provide a thankful promise of the near approach of the jungle’s edge as well as the malevolent threat of dangers hidden in their midst.
A low wailing rises to fill the air around him. Like the pleading of a lost soul, it lifts in the song of agony to then fall into the silence of dismay. Again it rises, filling the air around him without yielding any hint of direction or source. The sobbing then lowers to an impossible thrumming than pounds unheard through his skull. The sound waves beat and pound through his head like the painful impact of a rubber mallet on his helmet. His thoughts are confused and he finds it hard to see the world around him with even the former clarity of the open rock’s pale moonlight.
Then the silent waves rise again, lifting into the low moaning of the damned, the wail and sob of lost souls. ‘So, you’re back with revenge in your heart you black demon! Where are you? Let’s end it here and I’ll help you join your brother on his way to hell!’
A shuffle of limbs and the scuffing of stone-on-stone sends streaks of cold fear up Corey’s back. He turns without stopping, his right hand fumbling with the cover of his pistol holster. ‘Can’t stop now! There, I saw that!’ He pushes off to the side, changing his path so that he can keep an eye on the area behind him. Its there in the bushes! Shifting the dead weight on his shoulders to the side, he raises the pistol. ‘Wait! Where’s Anton?’
Hunter's Moon (Cretaceous Station Book 2) Page 41
