by Perrin Briar
“Yes!” Zoe said.
She raised her hand in a high five, but Honovi didn’t know how to respond, so she copied Zoe and held up her hand. Zoe slapped Honovi’s palm. Honovi stared at her palm, confused by the action.
There was a grunt from the jungle as a large apeman emerged at the edge of the clearing. He puffed and panted under his breath. He looked at the apemen in the trap, and then at Zoe and the Natives. He grunted in satisfaction with a smile on his lips. He edged around the trap. The women ran in the opposite direction. He sped up, and so did they.
Finally, the beast stepped back and leapt over the trap to the other side, within feet of the women. He raised his arms to smack Zoe, who tripped. The apeman found only air. He raised his huge forearms to bring down on her. Zoe fumbled for her camera and hit the button. The light flashed, and the beast shook his head, smacking at his face with his club-like hands trying to dispel the black spots in his vision.
Zoe wanted to turn and run, but they weren’t going to be able to outrun him. Not in the jungle. Instead, she turned and leapt at him, throwing her weight against him, feet first, knocking him back. But he was big and strong, and Zoe’s weight wasn’t enough to knock him into the hole.
A spear thrust into the apeman’s chest, pushing him back an extra few inches. The apeman gripped the spear and pulled on it. Honovi let go. The apeman’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t expected that. He fell back into the pit, landing on the other trapped apemen.
“Thank you,” Zoe said.
Honovi nodded.
BOOM!
Honovi started at the explosion and the flashes of multicolored light erupting from the main battlefield. The blood drained from Zoe’s face.
78
The warriors swung their homemade tomahawks with speed and grace, parrying with their shields, on the offensive. The apemen relied on their strength, hacking at the Natives like they were tree trunks. The warriors countered them easily, capable of delivering killing blows but were blocked by other apemen, overwhelming them with their superior numbers.
“They’re breaking on the left,” Aaron said. “We need to do something.”
Aaron and Cassie ran toward the break in the defensive line. When they were a hundred yards out, Cassie stabbed a firework into a mound of earth and aimed it at a ninety-degree angle at the apemen.
“Light the fuse!” Cassie said. “Quick!”
Aaron struck a match, but it was doubted by a passing warrior, who hurled himself at the apemen. Aaron tossed it and lit another. This time the fuse lit. It hissed.
Aaron covered his ears as the fuse shrank. It disappeared, seeming to fizzle out at the base of the firework. Then the rocket shot forward, whistling loud like a crow with its tail on fire, spraying a shower of sparks as it struck an apeman on the chest, then dove into the ground and exploded in a myriad of colors.
The apemen screamed like their close cousins the apes. The closest received severe burns, their fur scorched away, crisp, glowing golden, their pale pink skin visible underneath. They threw down their spears and ran away. Not many, but a few.
Warriors rushed forward to plug the gap, strengthening the left. The apemen looked hesitantly at one another before hissing, their lips pulling back from their canines. They dashed forward with their weapons raised once again.
They paused, slowing, as the ground beneath their feet began to tremble.
Cassie looked up. She smiled and pointed at an approaching dust cloud in the middle distance.
“Dad’s coming!” she said. “He’s bringing the dinosaurs!”
79
The foliage exploded, shredded by four-foot horns and broad feet. A huge herd of herbivores knocked trees aside like blades of grass. And right ahead of them, held back between the tree lines by the Natives, the apeman army, the trap they lay in only now dawning on them, inside a funnel that made their death unavoidable.
The Native riders raised their arms high in the air, hooting in impending victory.
Just then, for reasons Bryan couldn’t explain, the lead dinosaurs suddenly pulled left, heading back toward the jungle.
“No!” Bryan shouted. “On the left! Pull them back! Pull them back!”
The riders rushed forward, but were buffeted aside by the unflinching wave of dinosaurs. That surprised Bryan. Normally grazing animals wouldn’t have done anything but what the wranglers had directed them to. But then, these were dinosaurs. There was no way of knowing how they would react.
“Shall we get them back?” Cawing Crow said.
“No,” Bryan said. “It’s over.”
The time it would take to corral them back at the apemen was unfeasible. And they would have lost the element of surprise. Bryan could see Shard now, a victorious sneer on his face. Bryan hated him with an intensity he could hardly explain.
“Give me your spear,” he said.
Cawing Crow handed it over. Bryan heeled his hadrosaur and drove it toward Shard. He could hear the thudding footsteps of the other riders on either side of him.
Shard and his largest soldiers took position at their army’s right flank, preparing to deal with the hadrosaur charge head-on. Bryan’s fierce frown gave way to an expression of realization. He pulled his hadrosaur to a stop.
A purple crest poked above the tree tops on the outer edge of the jungle. The sinister black claws stepped forward and emerged from the tree line. The sharp teeth opened wide and let out a roar so loud the glow bug sun dimmed, and the world became dark.
The apemen turned to face this new aggressor, their eyes widening in fear. They rushed forward, back, but always away, from the terrifying T-Rex as it stepped over them, crushing them underfoot and lowering its teeth to those who attempted to run, snapping its jaws around them, severing them in half at the waist, tearing off legs and tossing them aside like toothpicks. The apemen screamed in pain, in death, in terror, their disordered ranks becoming chaos.
Only one apeman did not turn and run. Only one held his ground. The only apeman impervious to fear and pain, and deaf to the word of instinct. He ran forward, pulled his arm back, and threw his spear. It sailed through the air and struck the T-Rex in the eye.
The T-Rex reared up, roaring in pain and anger with the force of a thousand lions at the artificial sky. The world dimmed again, like an eclipse, purging the world into darkness.
Shard reached for a fallen spear, pulled his arm back, and waited for the light to fade up so he could blind the T-Rex in the other eye too.
And then the light did fade back up.
Shard’s eyes widened.
The T-Rex’s nostrils were so close that when they snorted, the air knocked Shard onto his back. The T-Rex stepped forward and snapped his jaws around the apeman leader.
Shard didn’t make a sound, and only beat at the T-Rex with his fists. The T-Rex bit down hard. Shard exploded in a spray of blood. The T-Rex shook his head side to side. Shard’s limbs flew like confetti.
The remaining forces of both armies retreated: the apemen into the jungle, the Natives into their treehouses. The T-Rex gorged itself on the fallen bodies of the battlefield.
80
Bryan hopped off his hadrosaur. Zoe, Aaron and Cassie ran to him. They hugged one another. Against the odds, they had survived.
“Bet you’re glad I brought my laptop now, huh?” Bryan said.
Zoe pressed her lips together and screwed up her face.
“I’m sorry I was so hard on you for checking your emails,” she said. “A little.”
“You were right to be,” Bryan said. “A little.”
“I thought you weren’t the hero type?” Zoe said.
“I’m not,” Bryan said. “Just an average guy doing anything to protect his family.”
“Hm,” Zoe said. “You’re right. Doesn’t sound very heroic at all.”
81
That night, the Natives partied in celebration of their victory over the apemen. All knew that so long as the apemen existed they would have something to fear. But
for the moment they could live in peace. They prayed the apemen might next time select a more peaceful leader.
A vigilant watch kept a close eye on the jungle should the apemen attempt a stealth attack. The T-Rex had disposed of most of the dead and left the rest to rot. The Natives were quick to collect the bodies, both Native and apeman, and wrap them in broad leaves as per their tradition.
In the midst of the celebration the family slipped away, collected their backpacks, and crept to the Passage.
“It seems wrong not to say goodbye,” Cassie said.
“If we try to say goodbye they might never let us go,” Bryan said.
“We should take one last photo,” Zoe said.
She set the camera up with a timer and posed beside the Passage. The light blinked the final few seconds and then flashed.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Aaron said. “If Dad went through this Passage and returned home, why didn’t he come back to us?”
“He might have returned anywhere in the world,” Zoe said. “Who knows where the other end of this Passage might be. It could be anywhere. It could lead into the middle of a mountain or a prison cell for all we know.”
“That’s something to look forward to,” Bryan said.
“You’re leaving?”
They turned to find Cawing Crow watching them. He wore a garland of flowers around his neck. His eyes were sad.
“It’s time for us to go,” Zoe said.
Cawing Crow nodded.
“I understand,” he said.
“You could come with us,” Zoe said.
“I belong here,” Cawing Crow said. “We all do. Besides, my time to go through the Passage will come. Maybe one day I’ll see you in the next world.”
“I almost forgot,” Cassie said, taking off her backpack.
She took out a book and handed it to Cawing Crow. His eyes widened in surprise.
“It’s not much,” Cassie said. “I noticed you have a small collection in the cabin.”
Cawing Crow wrapped his arms around Cassie.
“Thank you,” he said. “It’s the best present you could give me.”
Aaron sidled up to Cassie.
“Where was the advantage in that?” he said.
“What do you mean?” Cassie said.
“I thought you liked using people?” Aaron said. “What you just did looks suspiciously like charity.”
Cassie shrugged.
“Sometimes it’s nice to help people,” she said.
Bryan stood before the Passage.
“This is it,” he said.
“Here we are,” Zoe said.
“Are we sure we want to go through?” Cassie said.
“Once we do, we can never come back,” Bryan said.
“Do you think Dad will be on the other side waiting for us?” Aaron said.
“Maybe,” Zoe said.
Cassie took Bryan’s hand.
“Let’s go home,” she said.
“Stand back,” Bryan said.
He shut his eyes and stepped into the Passage. He rose up, and then stopped as he blocked the tunnel. The pressure built up and he accelerated, clearing the blockage.
“Your turn, Cassie,” Zoe said.
“You first, bro,” Cassie said to Aaron.
“I thought you didn’t want us calling each other that?” Aaron said.
“It’s what we’re going to be now, isn’t it?” Cassie said. “Bro and sis. We might as well get used to it. As well as the gales of laughter mocking us.”
“Thanks,” Aaron said. “I think.”
He took a step into the wind. It sucked him through with ease. Cassie waved to Cawing Crow, and then entered the Passage. She too was small enough not to cause a blockage and flew upward.
Zoe stepped forward. She stopped, turned, and looked back at the beautiful vista, of a world she would never see again. She checked the weight of her backpack. At least she had her photos.
She held her fingers to the Passage’s updraft. It was soft and warm, and she felt a slight sting from the dirt, but it wasn’t unpleasant. The air pulled on her gently, not like the maelstrom that had brought her here. Breathing in deep and closing her eyes, she stepped into the sinkhole. She got lodged there for a moment, and then felt the air build in pressure. She shot up through the tunnel.
82
The air rushed around her, forcing her up like a cork out of a bottle. The journey was straight and direct. She imagined herself flying out of Old Faithful, a hundred feet into the air, watched by a handful of tourists. She tried not to think of the landing.
She struck something soft and spongy. She reached up to touch it and found it was mud. She lifted her face out of it, but the wind howled and forced her deeper into it.
I’m going to suffocate.
She turned her face to the side and took a deep breath. The mud covered her head, shoulders, and then her arms, hips, legs and toes. She tried to move her arms, but it was like moving through treacle.
So this is how it ends, after everything we’ve been through.
Was this how George went? The reason he hadn’t returned to them? And yet Zoe held onto her breath, making every last molecule of oxygen count, clinging to hope like a drowning man to a life preserver.
Then her head burst through the top. She instantly felt cold as she was ejected from the mud and into a more viscous solution. Some of the liquid slipped between her lips, and she realized it was water. Salt water. She opened her eyes. She was floating in darkness. Her legs were still coming out of the mud, slowly.
She kicked her feet before they were even fully out, and headed toward what she assumed was the surface. She kicked and dug at the water, the pressure relieving itself the higher she went. Life bubbled from her lips as she dug deep and produced the final burst of speed she was capable of. Her lungs burnt, and she had to breathe. She had to open her mouth and…
Breathe.
She burst through the water’s surface and gasped a deep mouthful of air. She tossed her head around until she found one of the figures she was looking for.
“The coast!” Bryan said. “Zoe! Swim toward the coast!”
Aaron and Cassie were already emerging, crawling out of the sea on their hands and knees. They were on the fringe of visibility, partly concealed by a shroud of thick fog. Bryan and Zoe pulled up alongside them, collapsing on their fronts, letting the water lap against their feet.
It was a good ten minutes before they rolled onto their backs, muscles aching and sore. Bryan began to laugh, a deep throaty infectious thing. It made Zoe chuckle, and then roar loudly. The kids followed suit. They were looking up into the thick mists above them. It was over. They made it home.
“Now what do we do?” Cassie said.
“We need to get to the mainland and find an embassy,” Bryan said. “Once we’ve proven our identity we’ll be on the first plane back home.”
They laughed again, relief washing over them.
A stiff breeze blew a window through the cloud, the mist beginning to clear.
Their laughter slowed, and then died on their lips. Cassie looked like she was about to cry.
“No,” she said. “No. It can’t be.”
“But it is,” Zoe said.
“But… we came through the Passage,” Aaron said. “Where are we?”
“As Cawing Crow said,” Bryan said. “The next world.”
Another stiff breeze blew a hole in the mist. A murder of ravens took flight, spiraling up and cawing into the steep sky, a sky shaped like a dome.
Epilogue
The digging equipment had been packed away and the diggers had returned to their homes. Bryan and Cassie Angelo, and Zoe and Aaron Tate were lost. There was still the hope they might turn up somewhere, the items they found buried here red herrings, but Rosetta didn’t think so.
Bryan wasn’t just a boss, he was her friend. She had failed him. Now she was all alone in the world.
She took her phone out of her pocke
t. The number of hours she had spent using it for work, chatting to Bryan, carrying out his orders, were beyond counting. Now it was just a lump with no purpose. Like her. She sighed and let her robot arm fall to her side.
She felt a longing to make one final phone call, to leave a message on Bryan’s answering machine, to give him a final farewell and apologize for not being able to do for him what he had done for her. She could not rescue him. Bryan would never hear it, but it would at least put her mind to rest.
She dialed his number – she always made it a point to remember numbers – and listened to the ringtone.
And then something strange happened.
She heard a phone ringing, from somewhere in the sinkhole.
It was Bryan’s ringtone.
She followed the sound. It appeared to be coming from the center of the pit. She descended the ramps they’d had installed and found a square of bright light buzzing from beneath a pile of dirt. She bent down to pick it up. It was Bryan’s phone all right. She saw her own number calling. But what was it doing here? Had he dropped it? Surely he would have sent her an email from his laptop letting her know?
She hung up. Tears sprung in her eyes and she felt weak to her knees. Was this the last place he was before disappearing? Right here? Her nose was blocked with mucous and she let herself cry. Bryan was gone. She would never see him again. She felt like the earth was falling beneath her feet.
When she looked down, she saw her feet had fallen into the Earth. Just an inch, but it was noticeable. She picked up her feet, and stepped aside. The earth sank again, this time to her knees. Suddenly the earth felt fragile.
The tingling sensation ran up and down her robot arm, almost painful in its intensity. And she realized for the first time that the prickling she’d felt had nothing to do with Bryan or his situation, but her own. It was a warning, and she had once again failed to heed it.
