by C. G. Mosley
“Dad, you alright?” he asked.
Henry held up a hand to silence his son. “Now, Dave,” he said. “I need you to start talking, son.” He looked around the jungle. “I know you already know what kinds of monsters are lurking around us. We don’t like to stay in any one place for very long. I’m ready for you to start talking so that we can all get moving. If you don’t talk, you’re going to agitate me, and I assure you my aim is off when I’m agitated.”
Dave stared at Henry, his eyes unblinking.
“So what’ll it be, son?”
Dave licked his lips. “We catch dinosaurs,” he said just above a whisper.
Jonathon took a step closer. “Why?” he demanded.
Dave looked at him, then allowed his head to slump forward as if he’d been defeated. “It’s a business. We catch the dinosaurs and we sell them,” he replied, his mop of disheveled brown hair dangling in front of his face.
Jonathon shook his head in disbelief. “You—sell them?”
Dave nodded, but refused to look up.
“Sell them to who?”
“Whoever will buy them—and people will,” Dave said. “People pay a lot of money for a dinosaur.”
Jonathon looked over at his father, and then to Silas. He was wondering if they were finding Dave’s revelation as unnerving as he was. Each of them seemed to shrug as if unsure what to say or how to digest it all.
“Who do you work for?” Jonathon asked.
Dave sighed and shook his head, another display of stubborn refusal to answer the question. Henry wasted no time whistling another knife through the air and into the tree trunk, just inches away from Dave right ear.
“Eric Gill!” he shouted, for fear of getting another knife thrown at him.
Jonathon marched forward. “Did you say Eric Gill?”
“Yes!” Dave spat. “Just stop throwing knives at me! You know everything now.”
“That little bastard,” Silas growled. “Ole Angus dies and I guess he figured he’d pick up where the old man left off.”
“No, we came and looked for him,” Dave said. “We looked for a day, but the dinosaurs—they were just too dangerous. We couldn’t continue and Eric just knew that Mr. Wedgeworth had to be dead.”
“Angus Wedgeworth is dead,” Jonathon said. “But he had a different reason for coming to this godforsaken island.” He paused to let the statement hang in the air a moment. Dave had not mentioned the fountain of youth and he wondered if Eric had found it.
After a long minute, Dave said, “So why did he come here then?”
“Oh, like you really don’t know,” Silas said, drawing closer to the conversation. “Don’t pretend like Eric doesn’t know—”
“Silas!” Jonathon interrupted. Silas whipped around to face him. Jonathon shook his head and Silas took his meaning.
“So you know Eric?” Dave asked.
Jonathon and Silas looked at each other again, and then back to Dave. “Yeah, we’ve met,” Silas answered.
“When? How did you meet him?” Dave questioned.
“The whens, whys, and hows don’t matter,” Jonathon replied. “What does matter right now is how willing you’re going to be to cooperate with us right now.”
Dave chewed on the inside of his lip and squinted. “What do you want me to do?”
“You’re going to take me to Eric Gill. I need to have a chat with him,” Jonathon said.
Silas said, “But what about the—?”
“It can wait,” Jonathon barked, cutting him off. He wished Silas would quit taking the conversation back to the fountain. If Eric didn’t know about it, he intended to keep it that way.
“I’ll be glad to take you back to Eric,” Dave said. “I’ll do anything to get out of this jungle and back to safety.”
Jonathon laughed. “Safety? Please tell me where safety exists on this island!”
Dave huffed, somewhat perturbed by Jonathon’s smug change in attitude.
“Eric’s built a facility on the other end of the island with high electric fencing and stationed men with guns at every corner. We’ve had a few dinos try, but none have succeeded getting past the fences,” he replied proudly.
Jonathon’s curiosity had now peaked. He was interested in seeing just what sort of compound Eric had put together over the past several years. They’d already encountered roads, and they’d seen the heavily armored vehicles that Dave and other men had been piloting. He contemplated making an attempt to reach the compound before nightfall. He looked up at the gray veil of mist above his head. It was getting darker, a clear indicator that they were nearing the end of the day.
“What are the chances of us making it there before nightfall?”
Dave shook his head. “Traveling at night is strictly forbidden. It’s extremely dangerous, and that little vehicle of yours isn’t going to go fast enough to get there before the sun completely sets. The Velociraptors are particularly more active at night, and there is no hope for us if we come across a pack of them.”
Silas shook his head, seemingly amused. “And how do you think we got through the night, boy?”
Dave stared at him for a long moment; he seemed to be confused. “What? If you spent a night out here, then you’ve got to be either the stupidest or luckiest fools I’ve ever met,” he replied.
“Watch it,” Silas growled taking a step forward.
Dave flattened his body against the tree—a futile attempt at escaping the large man’s reach. “I’m by no means suggesting spending the night out here,” Dave stammered. “There is another option.”
“What other option?” Jonathon asked.
“We’ve got a safety net, so to speak, a little less than a mile from here.”
“What do you mean a safety net?” Henry asked.
“It’s an underground bunker. It was put in place just in case someone got stranded out here just before nightfall. It’s a safe place to spend the night until someone can come and get them first thing in the morning,” Dave explained.
Jonathon glanced over at Silas and then to Henry. Without saying a word, the three men all seemed to telepathically come to an agreement.
“Alright, cut him loose, Silas,” Jonathon said. “Take us to this hidden bunker, Dave.”
Silas cut him loose and Dave took a moment to rub the soreness out of the places on his body where the rope had cut into him. Without saying a word, he began to limp toward the ATV. Jonathon grabbed him tightly by the arm as made his way past him.
“I’m warning you, kid,” he said. “You try anything funny, the dinosaurs will no longer be what you fear most on this island. Are we clear?”
Dave nodded, wretched his arm loose, and continued his awkward stroll toward the ATV.
Chapter 19
“What’s wrong with you?” Annie asked. Her delicate voice had an immediate calming effect.
“Why do you think something is wrong?” Eric asked with a smile, doing his best to sound cheerful.
“Because of that,” Annie replied, pointing to the Jupiter cigarette with the smoldering cherry hanging out of his mouth. “You’re on your second pack. It’s hard enough for me to get past you smoking the six or seven sticks you already smoke a day. You never, ever, smoke this much unless something particularly bad is bothering you.”
They were seated at the dining room table of Eric’s lavish apartment space (his was the nicest and largest of all the others on the island). His apartment was in what had been dubbed the ‘Triangle Building’ by everyone at the facility. The Triangle Building got its name because it looked very much like a triangle, wide at the base and decreasing in width until it reached the peak. The building consisted of 25 apartments, and it was where everyone called home while they were working on the island (which was almost all year). Eric’s apartment was perched on the very top, overlooking the entire compound. It even had a rather pleasant view of the coastline. The surf rolled onto the white sand rather gently, and he spotted a group of gulls swarming over what a
ppeared to be the carcass of a smaller dead dinosaur. Probably a Parksosaurus; they roamed all over the beach and were very territorial. It wasn’t unusual to find a dead one from time to time. If a member of a pack got lost, or went rogue, it was quickly disposed of by a rival group. The busy scene on the coastline was what he’d been gazing upon when Annie began badgering him.
He looked at her, smiled another fake smile, and then looked away.
“Call me a liar, Eric Gill,” she added stubbornly.
Eric took the cigarette he’d been pulling from, rather forcefully extinguished it in the ashtray in front of him, and then rubbed his tired eyes.
“I’m just exhausted,” he grumbled.
Annie got up from where she was sitting and stood up behind him. She began to massage his shoulders. “I’m sorry, sweetie,” she whispered. Then she leaned over and began kissing his neck. “I’ll make you feel better, just you—”
Eric pulled away from her and abruptly stood from the table. He crossed his arms and strolled over to the large picture window overlooking the coastline. After a moment of silence from Annie, he slowly glanced back to see where she was. Annie just stood right where he’d left her. Her arms were crossed; a look of confusion and sadness was on her face.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, turning away again.
“So am I,” she said. She then stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.
***
“Here we are,” Dave said, sounding more relieved than anything else.
“What are you talking about? I don’t see anything,” Silas said, seemingly peering at nothing but dense foliage.
“It’s the bamboo,” Dave answered. “We surrounded the bunkers with the stalks so we’d be able to find them easily, but at the same time the tall plants provide an excellent hiding place.”
“Smart,” Henry said. “But you said bunkers…with an ‘S.’ There is more than one on the island?”
“There are three,” Dave said. “This one is the furthest from the base camp.”
Jonathon had to wrestle with the protective cage on the amphibious vehicle to get it open. It was becoming an increasingly more difficult task each time.
“Silas, this thing needs some WD-40,” he grumbled. “It’s getting harder to get it open.” He punched a shoulder into the door and it finally gave way. The four men clambered out into the dangerous environment and carefully made their way to the bunker door.
Jonathon reached for the silver handle and turned it downward…nothing happened. He once again called upon the aid of his broad shoulder and tried to shove the door open while he once again twisted and turned at the handle. The door refused to budge.
“Get out of the way, please,” Dave said as he hobbled forward. “It has an electronic combination lock.”
He reached for a small panel to the left of the door. The panel had a protective lid that flipped up and revealed a keypad of numbers. He began to enter the first number to the combination when he suddenly realized Jonathon was still leaning against the door with his shoulder…watching him.
“Do you mind?” Dave asked. He tried to make the request sound polite, but it was obviously forced.
“Are you kidding?” Jonathon asked without blinking.
“This entire facility is top secret. I can’t let you see the code to this bunker.”
Jonathon rolled his eyes and stepped away.
Dave quickly punched in the combination. The men could all hear some sort of mechanism moving within the wall, and within a second later, the door opened gently toward the interior. Dave smiled and gestured for the men to step inside. Henry and Silas stepped in first, but Jonathon stood still.
“You first,” he said. “You’re not locking us in there.”
Dave looked genuinely surprised. “The thought never crossed my—”
“Yeah, yeah, get in there,” Jonathon snapped, pushing him into the bunker.
Once the four of them were all inside, he pushed the door shut.
***
Annie walked gingerly toward the main office building within the compound. It was the building where Eric spent most of his time strategizing and coming up with elaborate plans on how to catch dinosaurs, and who to sell the beasts to. She’d sat in on some of those meetings, and some of them had actually been quite interesting. But now she only had one thing on here mind.
Eric had done a fantastic job of blowing her off and, more importantly, pissing her off, so there was only one thing on this forsaken island that could cheer her up now. The one thing that the office building had, that none of the other buildings had, was a vending machine. The machine was full of various candy bars and she suddenly had a craving for one. She always ate junk food when she got mad, so naturally, she immediately targeted the one place on the island where she could get it.
Once she arrived at her destination, she inserted two quarters into the large machine and punched in E4. She then waited for the spiral doo-hickey to release the chocolaty goodness so she could eat and contemplate how in the world she was going to expedite her exit from the wretched island. The wire spiraled away, and just as the candy bar was about to drop, it stopped.
“Shit,” she cursed under her breath. She lightly tapped at the glass. The candy bar didn’t move. “Come on now,” she whined. She slapped the glass a little harder, but nothing happened. “Give me that damn candy bar!” she screamed. Annie began slapping the glass with both hands. She continued to scream and curse at the machine. Tears began to stream down her face, and after she’d pounded on the glass so hard that her hands hurt, she fell to her knees and sobbed. It wasn’t just the candy bar that angered her. It was Eric, it was this stupid island, and most of all, she was angry at herself for going against her better judgment and even coming here.
“Wow,” a calm, male voice muttered from the doorway. “I’d always heard redheads were hot heads, but honey you take the cake.”
Annie glared over at Glenn Hardcastle. After she gave him an icy stare, she looked away, suddenly embarrassed. She shook her head and said, “Please, just go away.”
Hardcastle ignored her and strutted over to the vending machine. He retrieved an odd-looking key from his pocket and used it to open up the front of the machine. He grabbed the candy bar and handed it to her.
Annie looked up at him, and after a long moment, she reluctantly took the candy bar. Glenn then took a moment to swipe a candy bar of his own before he locked the machine back up.
“Your boyfriend doesn’t know I have this key,” he said, holding the silver object up to the light. “I’d like to keep it that way.”
Annie took a bite of her therapeutic chocolate bar, and despite her best efforts not to, she smiled.
Hardcastle reached a hand downward. “Come,” he said. “We’ll eat up in my office.”
Annie stared at his hand, and then back up to his face. “And why would I want to do that?” she asked, wiping away tears.
Hardcastle pulled his hand away and used it to rub the back of his neck. “Look, I don’t know what’s got you so upset and truthfully, I don’t care. But I’ve heard a rumor that this island has you a little jumpy.”
“Of course you have,” Annie said, pursing her lips into a pout. “I suppose Eric told you that.”
“Sort of,” Hardcastle replied. “He also told me something else. He told me you’ve been here before—before all of this,” he said, referring to all that Eric had built.
“Yeah…so what?” she said, taking another bite of candy bar.
“Well, if you come to my office, I’ll show you something that I think will ease your mind a little.”
Annie thought on his offer, and she quickly remembered where she was and the situation she found herself in. “What the heck,” she said. “Where else am I going to go?” She raised a hand and Hardcastle pulled her up.
He led her out of the doorway and down a long hallway to an office with a piece of copy paper stuck to the door courtesy of a large knife piercin
g into the wood. The piece of paper had his name scrawled on it in font and artwork that looked like something off of an AC/DC album cover. There were lightning bolts, and shooting stars, and nightmarish-looking demons doodled all over it. Hardcastle punched a code into a nearby keypad and the door opened instantly. He threw his arm outward to invite her in.
“Welcome to my office,” he said.
Annie stepped inside the dimly lit room. The source of light came from the seven monitors that lined the wall and desk. The office was tiny, and as her eyes adjusted, she noticed some vicious-looking dinosaur skulls staring menacingly at her from a rickety-looking shelf on the wall. There was something that resembled a mini fridge under the desk, but it was hard to tell since it was partially hidden behind a small mountain of trash collected in the corner of the room. Glenn Hardcastle could tell she was looking the place over and judging him already.
“Alright, you can nag about my housekeeping later,” he quipped. “Have a seat.”
He pulled over a rolling chair from another darkened corner of the room and parked it next to the large one behind the desk. He took that chair for himself and Annie, rather reluctantly, took a seat in the one he rolled out for her.
“Take a look at these monitors,” Hardcastle said, pointing. “What do you see?”
Annie squinted and peered at each monitor, giving each equal attention before she answered. She could tell that each one was showing a different view somewhere outdoors, but the screens were nearly completely black (it was night after all).
“It looks like cameras surrounding the facility,” she finally answered.
Hardcastle shook his head. “No. Although we do have multiple cameras on each fence around this facility, none of these are them. Those cameras are watched by members of our security team.”
Annie looked at the monitors again. She thought she noticed a shadow move past on one of them. “Then where exactly are all of these?”
“We’ve got eyes all over this island,” he answered. “And just because there are only seven monitors does not mean I only have seven cameras. I’ve got a total of fourteen cameras hooked up to these monitors. Each one shares feed for two cameras. All I have to do is toggle between the feeds,” he explained, and then he showed her by punching some buttons on his keyboard.
