He lifted his nose to the air in search of any delicious smells. His rapidly growing body had gotten too big for the Beaumont house. He slipped down the stairs because his feet didn’t fit on the steps. He dug his claws into the walls to slow his fall. End tables toppled and vases smashed as his tail swept across the living room with each step. He marched into the kitchen.
The refrigerator was gouged with dozens of deep claw marks by the time Rex managed to open it. He ate indiscriminately, chewing and swallowing everything in sight. The last thing left was a bulk-sized bottle of ketchup. He chomped down on it, spewing thick red goo all over the kitchen and all over his razor sharp teeth.
***** ***** *****
The Humvee rolled to a stop in the Beaumont driveway. The awkwardness began as soon as Brock put it in park. Ellen wanted to invite Brock inside. For coffee. Perfect. I have good coffee. Way better than the battery acid at Lulu’s. But it’s TJ’s birthday. I can’t invite him in.
The idea of a kiss fluttered through her mind like a butterfly. I just had my first real conversation with this guy! No way does he get smooches in the driveway. I need an exit strategy.
“Thank you for the ride home, Brock. You’re a lifesaver.”
“No worries.” He scanned the dark edges of the yard like he was looking for something. “I was headed this way anyway.”
“I better get inside. My little monster is probably foaming at the mouth waiting for this cake.”
“Wish him a happy birthday from me.” Brock winced like wished he hadn’t said it as soon as the words left his mouth. He had to know that TJ couldn’t care less about anything Brock had to say. But Ellen nodded politely as she got out of the Humvee.
Nothing to stop her this time. Just a few more feet and she could breathe easy. Don’t trip. Good. Okay, up the steps. Almost there. And…
The door swung open to a scene of absolute carnage and chaos.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The rich aroma of rotten eggs lingered over the swamp. The repeated sucking sound of their feet sinking in and pulling out of the mud only added to the general feeling of ickyness plaguing TJ. That and his mother’s last words to him repeatedly playing in his head.
Just like your father.
He couldn’t even argue that fact. He’d never met his father. The only thing TJ knew about the man was that he was a coward. He must have been to abandon his family like he had. TJ wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t leave Rex to fend for himself or let those suits take him so they could experiment on him or stick him in a zoo.
Maybe he could argue the fact. He was nothing like his father.
The beam from Sam’s flashlight suddenly disappeared. TJ spun around to make sure she hadn’t been eaten by an alligator. She was sitting on a fallen log, her flashlight pointed at the ground.
“We’ve been out here for an hour,” she said. “I’m exhausted.”
“Did you expect to find a suitable place to stash a dinosaur in an hour?”
“I’ve never stashed a dinosaur before.”
TJ sat next to Sam on the log. He felt his pupils strain as he stared into the pitch black. He’d rather star off into nothingness than look at Sam right now. TJ had never been comfortable with heartfelt conversations. “Thanks,” he said. He felt the log wobble as Sam shifted her weight.
“For what?” Her voice was quiet, sheepish.
“For everything. For stomping through the swamp in the middle of the night. For helping me hide a dinosaur. For distracting secret agents. For threatening to kick Eddie Figley’s junk into outer space.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what friends are for.” Her voice grew stronger again. “Plus, I couldn’t let you stomp through the swamp in the middle of the night alone…on your birthday.”
TJ tensed. A long silence stretched between them. The frogs and crickets sang a peaceful song that would have lulled them to sleep under different circumstances.
“You forgot your own birthday, didn’t you,” Sam said with surprise.
TJ sounded dumbfounded. “I did. I can’t believe I did. My memory is starting to go in my old age.”
Sam chuckled. “It’s true what they say—it’s all downhill once you hit eleven.”
Their laughs danced on the air, climbing toward the full, shining moon, only to be sliced into a million pieces by the spinning rotors of the Blackhawk helicopter hovering above them. A spot light painted them like a target, momentarily blinding them both. When their eyesight returned, they saw a rope drop from the open door of the helicopter. They were like deer in headlights, only worse. They were deer in army helicopter headlights.
They gripped hands, certain that a swarm of highly trained and lethal commandos were going to rappel out of that helicopter any second to whisk them away to a secret underground prison.
Eleven years old and I’m already going to an underground prison. I never got to see what high school was all about. Never got to see what the big deal about being a teenager was. I just need a little more time.
The pilot must have heard his telepathic plea. The helicopter suddenly banked left and flew out of the swamp, but it left TJ with a knot in his stomach the size of Africa.
“What the heck was that?” Sam squatted down, her knees wobbling around under her weight.
“I don’t know,” TJ said. “But they flew towards my house.”
Sam got quiet. She followed the lights of the helicopter as it flew off, projecting where it might be going. “There are lots of houses that way.” TJ cocked an eyebrow. Sam answered his unasked question. “Yeah, I know. Of course they’re going to your house. C’mon!” She got her wimpy knees under control, and they sprinted after the helicopter.
***** ***** *****
Brock hung up the phone and dove into the backseat, scrambling into the rear of his Humvee. He pulled a silver suitcase out of a compartment hidden in the floor and fumbled with the lock. The screams coming from the house hadn’t stopped since they’d started a minute ago. That woman’s got quite the set of lungs on her. But as bad as screaming usually was, in this case it was a good thing. If she was screaming, that meant she was still alive.
His guilt over disconnecting Ellen’s car battery dissolved in an instant. If he hadn’t finagled a way to get to her house, he wouldn’t be here right now to help.
The case finally popped open. Brock took out the tranquilizer gun and a handful of darts. He loaded it as he ran up the front walk. He slid the last dart in as he kicked open the door. He ignored the red splatter all over the walls and on the floor and the claw marks in the walls. He moved through the house with precision, his weapon ready, like he had done a hundred times before.
Suddenly, the screaming stopped. So did Brock’s heart. He quickened his pace until he reached the kitchen. Ellen was on the ground, a broken rolling pin in her hand. She wasn’t moving. The subject stood over her, red ooze dripping from its mouth onto her throat.
The monster was lucky Brock was only holding a tranquilizer gun. Every battle hardened instinct he had screamed for him to put the creature down for good. Kruger would have wet his pants. Brock didn’t care.
The thing turned. It narrowed its eyes on Brock and the object in his hand. It cocked its head like a confused dog. It stepped toward him, its massive claws scratching along the floor. Brock shrank back. He couldn’t believe how big the thing was. It was inside an egg only a week ago. Osborne and Kruger wanted to make an army of these things? They wanted to set them loose on populated areas? On people?
The subject took another step. Brock’s finger reacted by instinct. It squeezed the trigger three times, sending three darts straight toward the creature’s heart. It whimpered and staggered. Then it slapped the darts away. It looked at Brock with its green lizard eyes and red death teeth. Its jaws opened, and it unleashed a roar so powerful it knocked the wind out of Brock’s lungs.
Brock had learned long ago not to fear death. He had stared into death’s eyes too many times to count. But now, staring down this crea
ture’s throat, fear set his blood on fire. He squeezed the trigger three more times. Three more darts stuck in the monster’s chest. Still it staggered forward. More clumsily than before. Its foot claws carving curls of floor off as it stepped. Its little arms fell limp. Brock put one more dart in its chest. The creature’s eyes glazed over. It fell unconscious to the floor.
Brock raced to Ellen’s side, hoping he wasn’t too late to help. He had some experience with battlefield trauma care. Maybe he could slow the bleeding until the paramedics arrived. Unless her jugular was severed.
Then it was too late.
So much blood. That had to mean…
Ellen stirred. Her eyes fluttered open. “Wha—?”
Brock helped her sit up. “Easy. Are you okay?”
She looked lost, like she didn’t quite know where she was. “I think I fainted. I had a terrible dream that—” She froze when she saw the giant lizard lying in a heap on her kitchen floor. “Nope, wasn’t dreaming. There really is a dinosaur in my kitchen.”
Brock looked her over, taking stock of her condition. “What happened?”
“Rex,” she muttered, her eyes never leaving the creature. “He told me he named it Rex. I didn’t believe him. He said it was a dinosaur, but I didn’t believe that either. Why would I, though, right? I mean, dinosaurs.”
“TJ?” Brock moved into Ellen’s field of vision. “Where is he?”
Her eyes distorted behind a veil of quickly building tears. Her shoulders shook with the budding eruption of heaving sobs. “I came in, saw the mess. At first, I got so mad. I thought TJ did it. Then I saw the blood. So much blood. That monster. It…it…”
Before she could explode with the full force of her grief, Brock looked in her eyes. “Ellen.” He stuck his finger in the red liquid on her neck then stuck it in her mouth. She barely fought the sudden urge to puke on his face. “It’s just ketchup.”
Tears transformed from those of abject sadness to profound joy as they rolled down her ketchup-smeared cheeks. Then the windows started to shake, and tears of confusion and hopelessness cut trails through the red on her chin. A helicopter hovered a short distance away. “Now what?”
“That’s my ride.” Brock smirked and gestured toward Rex. “His too. I’m taking him out of here.”
“Good. I don’t want that thing anywhere near my son.” She looked Brock up and down, a sudden realization dawning on her. “The Herpetological Society has helicopters?”
The cynicism cut through Brock like the claws of a genetically engineered dinosaur killing machine. “Not exactly.”
“So, who are you really?” Ellen screamed over the sound of the helicopter landing in her front yard.
Several men clad in commando style gear marched into the house. Brock yelled and pointed, ordering them to take Rex. It took four of them to lift the creature onto the stretcher they’d wheeled in. Brock looked down at Ellen, still sitting on the floor. He had always loved his job. He lived for his job. A military man through and through…until that very moment. This was the first time he had ever truly regretted having to say, “I’m afraid that’s classified, ma’am.” He turned and followed Rex out of the house.
Ellen didn’t know what kind of tears she was crying anymore.
***** ***** *****
The treetops bent at awkward angles, like they were being flattened by an invisible hand. TJ and Sam heard the whirring of helicopter rotors and knew they were too late. They saw the Blackhawk lift off from the down the street. They yelled as loud as they could, until their throats were raw, but it was no use. The pilot couldn’t hear them. And it wouldn’t have mattered if he had. TJ knew in his gut that they already had what they’d come for.
His breath leaked out of his lungs when he saw the front door smashed in. It squealed out of his throat like air from a balloon when he saw the state of the house. He saved just enough of it to yell, “Mom!”
Ellen stepped out of the kitchen looking like she would drop any second. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. Her cheeks were streaked with tears and covered in a red, gooey substance that looked like ketchup. She leaned against the doorframe, looking at TJ like she thought she’d never see him again.
“Mom, what happened?”
Ellen crossed the living room in two strides and wrapped TJ in her arms. She squeezed the last tiny bit of oxygen from his lungs. Sam suddenly stiff and uncomfortable looking, walked past them into the kitchen.
Before the moment stretched on too long, TJ pulled away. “Where’s Rex?” TJ tried to look past the red stains on his mother’s cheeks. He watched as the relief in her eyes changed to something else.
“He’s gone.”
TJ pushed away from her and watched as the glue that was barely holding her together began to dissolve.
“What do you mean, he’s gone? Where is he?”
Sam stepped out of the kitchen holding the answer to TJ’s question in her hand. She held them out to him. Three spent tranquilizer darts. TJ examined them. He saw a bit of blood on the end of the needles. His eyes misted over. His voice cracked. “Mom, what happened?”
“He destroyed the house. I saw him with red all over his mouth. I thought he…I thought he ate you. I thought he was going to kill me. Then that man, Horne, came in. He shot it. He saved my life.”
“He shot him?” TJ’s voice shattered into a thousand pieces.
“That thing was dangerous. It would have killed me.”
“Rex! His name is Rex! And he would not! Never!”
Ellen reached for TJ, but he pulled away. The cracks running through her body widened.
“He’s my friend. He protected me. He was here for me. Without him, I’m alone. I’m always alone. You’re always at work. You let that man take him.” TJ ran out the door. “I’m not going to lose him.”
Ellen finally crumbled.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The helicopter had already landed by the time Brock returned to the compound. Kruger was practically dancing out of his lab coat as some of his techs unloaded Rex.
“Magnificent,” he muttered over and over as he clapped his hands. He couldn’t look away from the fabulous creature. He talked to Brock without turning his head. “What did you use to sedate him, Colonel?”
“Sorbynol.”
Kruger lifted one of Rex’s eyelids and shined a flashlight in his eye. “Must have been quite the dose.”
“That’s a tough lizard.” Respect pinged in Brock’s voice. “Thing almost didn’t go down. Almost had to use live rounds.”
Kruger sucked in his breath. “Yes, well, I’m glad you didn’t do anything so rash.” Kruger signaled for the techs to bring Rex inside the compound. “The subject—”
“Rex,” Brock interrupted. “Kid named it Rex.”
With a raised eyebrow, Kruger continued as if he hadn’t heard. “The subject has a heightened metabolism. It’ll burn through even such a heavy dose quickly enough. I’ll perform the procedure immediately.”
Brock watched as Rex was wheeled away. “You’re going to kill it?”
“Of course not,” Kruger scoffed.
Osborne stepped out of the metal doors looking very pleased. “This T-rex will be the first of thousands. Cannon fodder. We’ll be able to wage war wherever we please. The voting public won’t give a damn if a bunch of overgrown lizards get blasted to smithereens. Now, we can finally get things underway.” He looked to Brock with a twisted smile. “All thanks to you, Colonel.”
Kruger skipped after Rex like a child on Christmas morning. “The loss of this specimen would have set my research back years, maybe even a decade.”
Acid bubbled in Brock’s stomach. “This isn’t what I signed up for.”
Osborne’s smile morphed into a jagged frown. “You’ll be saving lives, Colonel. That’s exactly what you signed up for.”
“What about the lives of the people we decide to go to war with? They’ll get torn to pieces by these things.”
Osborne shrugged. “War is hell.�
��
The acid in Brock’s gut seeped into his blood. “You’re no soldier. You don’t know a thing about war.”
Osborne followed Kruger and Rex into the compound. “You jarheads are all the same. One day you’ll realize who’s actually running this country.”
Brock watched as the doors closed. He couldn’t bring himself to follow. He had followed orders his entire life. Happily. He’d always known that he was doing something important, something to protect his country and make the world a little bit safer. He had no regrets. But taking orders from a man like Osborne made him want to take off the uniform. He climbed into his Humvee and sped away.
***** ***** *****
Kruger could barely keep his hands from shaking he was so excited. No, this was well beyond excitement. The greatest achievement of his career, perhaps the greatest achievement of any scientific career, had been brought back from the brink. He’d thought the project was doomed, destroyed by something as simple as a gust of wind and some rain, but there it lay, the culmination of his life’s work.
He desperately wanted to high five someone. He’d never actually experienced a high five, and he could think of no better reason to finally have his first. He raised his hand as he’d seen many others do before. One of the lab techs raised an eyebrow. Quickly losing his nerve, Kruger lowered his hand and refocused. No worries. After this, I could high five Einstein if I wanted to.
He took a scalpel from the tray of surgical tools and made a small incision on Rex’s neck. He implanted a microchip the size of a flattened peanut into the cut and then began suturing it back up.
The process only took a few minutes. When he was done, he nodded to the lab tech, who then wheeled Rex away to recover. A meteor couldn’t wipe the smile from Kruger’s face.
Rex Page 16
