The Extinction Trials

by S. M. Wilson

  Rune turned round in his seat. “But how do we know what’s in the loch? Wasn’t one bad experience on the ship enough for you?”

  Stormchaser pointed to the map again. “We don’t even know if there will be boats at the loch. There might be nothing. But given someone has obviously put transporters on Piloria and mapped this place, we’ve got to assume that they’ve looked at the loch too.”

  Kronar’s voice was cracking. “I don’t think we can assume anything. We’ve no idea what’s in that loch.”

  Lincoln was saying nothing. But it was understandable; his knuckles were white from clenching the wheel as the transporter jumped about. There were no roads here, no level ground. But the distances they needed to cover made some kind of transport essential. They needed to save their energy for the terrain that was only accessible by trekking and climbing.

  The sun was baking now, streaming in through the sides of the vehicle. Storm started to finger the water carrier in her lap. “There’s no way the water they gave us will last seven days. It’s so hot here. I doubt we could even carry enough water to last us seven days.”

  “All the more reason to go to the loch,” Lincoln spoke up. “We’ve got purification tablets in our packs. We can fill up while we cross over and on the way back. That should give us enough water to see us through.”

  “Really?” Rune frowned. “I don’t remember seeing any.” He started to rustle around in his backpack.

  Kronar was still white-faced and silent. Storm turned to face him. “What do you want to do? Stay at the side of the loch, and take your chances with the land dinosaurs and anything that comes out of the swamp areas? Or cross the loch with us?” She shrugged her shoulders. “You might not be able to swim, but if something does live in the loch, I don’t think swimming will save any of us. I doubt any human can swim faster than a loch creature.”

  The words sounded braver than she felt. She was going along with the plan for now – it seemed safer to be part of a team on Piloria. But what she’d do once they got there and had to steal eggs? She hadn’t quite worked that one out yet.

  Kronar’s eyes were fixed on his hands in his lap. It was almost as if he didn’t want to even look at the loch. There was nothing else she could say. “I bet there’s nothing in there.” She patted his shoulder and looked back towards the water. The ground seemed to be zooming past and her stomach was turning over and over. Two seconds later Leif put his head out the other side and retched. Thank goodness they were moving at speed and the wind was whistling through the transporter. Sick was the last thing she needed to smell.

  The journey to the loch took an hour. In the distance she could still see the snaking curves of the other transporters winding around the side of the water. There were a few dotted along the other side too – as if they’d decided that might be the marginally shorter route.

  Lincoln started to drive around the edge of the loch, searching for anything that might resemble a boat. It would be old. It would probably be unusable. But it was worth a try.

  Finally Kronar gave a shout. “There!”

  Storm was amazed. Not only was it the first word he’d said in ages, he was also pointing to the bushes instead of the loch. Lincoln stopped the transporter and they jumped out.

  The smell from the loch was overwhelming. Thick, dank and very rich. Nothing like the loch back home. She stared at the water. It wasn’t nearly as clear, and there was a distinct white tinge to it, almost clouding the water over – leaving her wondering what lay beneath the surface. It sent a little chill down her spine.

  The boat hidden in the bushes did indeed look ancient. Lincoln ran his hands over it, feeling the texture. “I’ve felt something like this before. What is it?”

  It was dark brown, but covered in a thick green moss. It only took Storm a few seconds to realize. “It’s made from trees. It feels the same as the trees in the forest. Most of them were covered in moss too.” Inside were three sets of oars, each one looking a little newer than the last.

  “Are you sure this thing will float?” Kronar looked distinctly queasy.

  “Let’s see.” Leif started dragging it towards the loch, stepping into the water without a second thought. Rune helped and Storm bent to lend a hand. As soon as the edge of the boat hit the water the weight lessened – one final push was all it needed. It floated easily.

  Rune leaped from the edge of the loch straight into the boat. For a few seconds it waivered but it hardly dipped further into the water under his weight.

  “You go next.” He pointed at Kronar whose feet were edging backwards.

  “No.” He shook his head.

  Lincoln moved towards him. “It will be fine. With us all rowing we’ll cross the loch in a few hours. Focus on that. Nothing else.”

  He held out his hand towards Kronar, whose cheeks filled with colour. Storm could see his whole body trembling and realized exactly how hard this was for him. But, eventually, ignoring Lincoln’s hand, he stepped into the water then onto the boat.

  It wobbled again, but settled quickly. Storm started passing over the backpacks, climbing on board when the last one was loaded and holding her breath while Leif and Lincoln clambered in.

  She shook her head. “Who made this?”

  Leif shrugged. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, who can have made this boat?” She could feel herself starting to get annoyed by their lack of interest. “How did it get here? Have you ever seen anything made from a tree before? Everything’s metal on Earthasia.”

  Leif frowned. “Well, no.” He touched the rough bark again.

  “This couldn’t have been brought here at the same time as the transporters –” she held out her hands – “look at it. Look at the oars. I’ve been around my loch for years. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

  But Leif had obviously heard enough. “Who cares? If it floats, it floats. If getting across this loch more quickly means we’ll win, then let’s just go for it.”

  The boat sat much lower in the water with all five and their backpacks on board but the last thing they needed to do was attract Kronar’s attention to that.

  Storm sighed and handed out the oars. “Who wants to take the first shift?”

  They settled themselves on the boat, Lincoln, Leif and Rune falling into a rhythm and matching each other stroke for stroke.

  “When did you decide you’d be crossing the loch?” Kronar was clearly annoyed at being left out of this crucial decision.

  “From the beginning.”

  Stormchaser started. She and Lincoln had spoken in perfect unison. They stared at each other, shocked that their thought processes could be so similar.

  It was uncomfortable. Stormchaser had never met anyone who was so in tune with her before.

  But then Lincoln wasn’t, was he? He didn’t care about any of the dinosaurs. He was just here to snatch the eggs and run. He didn’t have time to notice all the beauty around them.

  The strokes increased in pace as the boat cut across the loch. Stormchaser watched the surface. Was this loch as deep as her own? Did it have a link to the ocean?

  Her body gave a little tremor. A megalodon wouldn’t come to a little loch, would it? Not when it had a whole ocean of prey.

  An elegant dark-grey head broke the surface. Kroner stifled a cry but Lincoln slammed his hand over his mouth. Stormchaser stood up, rocking the boat from side to side.

  “What are you doing?” hissed Rune. “Sit down, are you crazy?”

  She couldn’t help but smile. This was something she was used to. It felt good that her first sighting of a creature on Piloria was one that she knew, one that didn’t terrify her.

  She ignored the sound of Kronar as he retched over the side of the boat, watching the long neck lift above the loch and the body crest along the surface. “It’s a plesiosaur.” Her heart had finally stilled in her chest with the sight of something familiar. The thick grey skin, the small head and large body and flippers moved elegantly, sending litt
le ripples across the water. The flick of the long tail sent a splutter of droplets across her face.

  She laughed and wiped them away, still watching as the dark head cut smoothly across the loch. A few seconds later another little head bobbed alongside the first. “A baby!” Storm held her hand in front of her mouth in surprise.

  “So what – it’s a baby. Doesn’t every animal have babies?” Rune looked irritated.

  “You don’t get it. You don’t get it at all. I’ve been going to my loch for seven years. I’ve never seen a baby plesiosaur. I don’t even know how often they breed.” It was clear no one was feeling the wonder of this like she was. Her heart fluttered at the beauty of it, the way the smaller creature dipped and turned as it followed its mother through the water.

  “Who cares?” Kronar was hating every second of being on the loch.

  She ignored him, watching in fascination as the adult plesiosaur seemed to guide the baby around the loch. At one point their heads even touched. Were they communicating with each other?

  The scar on her back started to itch and she scratched through her tunic as she sat back down. It was an unconscious action, but Lincoln didn’t miss a thing. “Are you ever going to tell me about that?” he murmured in her ear.

  “No.” She smiled. She couldn’t look away. She couldn’t stop watching the beauty of the mother and child – until, in a split second, they disappeared beneath the waves.

  Storm frowned and scanned the surface – what had made them vanish? Her stomach gave a little flip-flop.

  There was a flurry at the side of the loch, a squawk, as a large-winged bird emerged from some greenery near the shore and swooped down, plucking up a fleshy-looking fish in its sharp-toothed bill. But its victory was short-lived. A far larger predator erupted from the surface, its skin dark green and scaly; it snapped the bird between its dagger-toothed jaws.

  Fear rolled over Storm like a tidal wave. “Row. Row, quickly.” Terror was eclipsing everything. Now she understood why the plesiosaurs had disappeared beneath the waves. Kronar’s skin was so pale she could practically see the veins on his forehead. There were only three sets of oars but all five pairs of arms were on them, powering the boat through the water as if the creature was already giving chase.

  Storm’s muscles burned. Rivulets of sweat were running down her back, irritating her scar tissue. The more she tried to breathe deeply, the shallower her breaths became and the more she felt starved of oxygen. Panic was gripping every part of her.

  The boat rocked, bumped by a dark green shape moving just underneath the milky surface. “Faster!” she screamed. The edge of the loch was in sight. So close, but not quite close enough. The muscles in her arms were on fire, her stomach clenched in terror.

  There was movement again, the noise of some thick skin scraping along the base of the boat and the shingle bottom of the loch – even in shallower water they weren’t safe.

  The boat approached the shoreline and Kronar stood, leaping across the ankle-deep waters. He hesitated for a second before catching the edge of the boat with his hands to stop it bobbing back into the loch. Storm was next, jumping onto the muddy ground and grabbing the boat – ignoring the burst of pain from her injured hand – to help drag it out of the water.

  The creature rose from nowhere, a dark-green flash, jaws wide apart, snarling, fast as lightning. All she could see were the inky fixed eyes and the scaly reptilian skin. There was no time to react – no time to do anything. The scream was lost in her throat as the boat upended, tossing Lincoln, Rune and Leif into the shallow waters.

  Leif was luckiest. He landed only a few millisectars from Storm and quickly scrambled ashore. Lincoln was up to his knees in the muddy water and turned to grab at Rune.

  But the creature was quicker.

  It lunged, jaws gaping.

  Rune let out one shriek; the muddy water flashed red. Time froze. None of the others could move. Rune’s lower half was subsumed in the creature’s mouth – blood staining its teeth; his outstretched fingers brushed against Lincoln’s hopelessly reaching hand. A second later he vanished beneath the murky water.

  “Get out, Lincoln. Get out!” screamed Storm, reaching over and dragging at his tunic. His hesitation was for the briefest of seconds as the water clouded pink around his knees. It was only two steps to the shore and he flung himself onto the grass.

  No one spoke. All eyes were on the dispersing colour in the loch. Kronar retched again, this time into the grass.

  Storm couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe what had just happened in only a few seconds. Her brain couldn’t make sense of it all.

  The boat had been pushed almost completely out of the water by the force of the creature. The spear and battleaxe lay in the bottom – almost mocking them with their uselessness. Their bags were there too. But even though the Stipulators had emphasized the supplies in their packs might be the only thing that helped them survive, Storm couldn’t feel lucky about that, only numb.

  “Oh no.” Lincoln cut through the silence.

  “What is it?” Leif’s voice was trembling.

  “Pull the boat up quick.” Lincoln was on his feet, tugging and pushing at the boat to right it again. “Do you think that thing can come out of the water?”

  “What do you mean?” The feeling of panic was swamping Storm again, crowding her brain with a jumble of thoughts. She couldn’t cope with this. She should never have come here. Dell was right.

  This was madness.

  “Storm.” Lincoln’s voice was strong. “Help pull the boat up.” It was an order, not a request and she automatically obeyed. She couldn’t think straight anyway.

  Leif and Kronar got to their feet unsteadily. Leif was shaking his head. “How did it know, how did it know to attack us?”

  They pulled the boat away from the edge of the loch, all the while keeping their eyes on the surface. “Who’s going to get the oars?” Leif’s voice cracked.

  Two of the oars were bobbing gently on the water. Stormchaser pointed to the ones that had landed at the side of the loch. “You can forget about the others. We’ll make do with what’s here.”

  Kronar shook his head. “Stop it. We won’t need oars. We won’t need any of this. We’ll walk back if we have to. There’s no way any of us are going on that loch again.”

  “Do you think we’ll be any safer on land?” Lincoln sounded serious.

  All of a sudden Piloria didn’t seem beautiful any more. It certainly didn’t feel safe. If she was lucky enough to get home, Storm doubted she’d ever swim in her loch again.

  “This is your fault. This is all your fault.” Kronar’s face was red as he pointed at Lincoln. “Why couldn’t we just drive round the loch like everyone else? Why did you two have to be so smart? Rune would still be here if it wasn’t for you.”

  Lincoln stepped in front of him. It was the first time she’d ever seen him angry – ever seen a flare of temper. “Quiet,” he hissed. “We’ve no idea what else is around here.”

  “You think if I stop shouting the dinosaurs won’t hear us – won’t smell us?”

  She saw a wave of realization flash across Lincoln’s face. He stepped straight up to Kronar; something flared in his eyes. “I’ll tell you what they smelled. Your retching.” He pointed to the pool of sick on the grass. “You were sick in the loch, that’s what attracted the creature’s attention. That’s what made it notice us. Up until that point we were just another unknown object crossing the water. Your vomit changed everything.”

  Kronar’s legs crumpled, his face ashen. Leif’s eyes widened and he kneeled beside his friend. Mixed emotions played across his face. Storm could sense his confusion. One friend might have inadvertently caused the death of another.

  No. Some hideous creature from the loch had caused Rune’s death. Not any one of them.

  Storm couldn’t help but keep her eyes on the water. She’d never once seen a creature crawl out of her loch, but then again, she’d never witnessed any attack in a
loch before. Piloria was very different from Earthasia. Plesiosaurs were nothing like this.

  Lincoln turned and walked away, folding his arms across his chest. Storm was torn. Should she go and speak to him or stay with Kronar?

  She took a deep breath. “Guys, let’s go. There’s no point blaming each other about this. I hate this. I hate what just happened. I can’t even think about it. Let’s get out of here. Let’s get some distance between us and the loch.”

  It was the one thing she knew no one would argue about.

  She picked up her backpack and then stopped. Five backpacks. One of them was Rune’s. What on earth were they supposed to do with that?

  Her stomach churned. Survival instincts told her she should look through the backpack to see if there was anything in there they might need. Food. Water. Anything that could protect them.

  She picked it up, but she couldn’t bring herself to open it. It felt wrong. She would stash it somewhere near the loch. If they needed it later for water and food, they could retrieve it then.

  But her movements slowed.

  A gun. Rune had a gun in his backpack.

  It didn’t matter how useless a gun seemed right now. Maybe if she’d had a gun in her hands she could have fired off a shot that would have hit or stunned the creature. Maybe it could have given Rune a few seconds of precious time.

  She dumped the backpack at her feet. “We need the gun. Where did Rune keep it?” She wasn’t going to let anyone argue with her about this.

  Leif pointed to the front pocket. “In there.” He could hardly look at the backpack. As if even touching it was disrespectful to Rune.

  Storm pulled out the gun and shells and put it in the matching pocket of her own backpack. “I’ll work out how to use it later.” She pushed the backpack into some bushes. “We’ll leave it here. If we need supplies on the way back we can collect them.”