by C. G. Mosley
Eric looked back to the prehistoric crocodile and then back to his employee holding the rifle. “You can’t see the body because it’s under the water,” he snapped back. “The only way you’re going to see the body is if the animal gets out of the water!”
“That’s right,” Hardcastle whispered, and he began to slowly walk backward.
Suddenly, a horrifying realization overcame Eric. The Corythosaurus was headed straight toward them, and it looked as if the Sarcosuchus would be unable to catch it before it reached land.
“George,” Eric said as he began to back way. “Get to the semi and ready the wench. We’re not in a safe spot right here.” He turned to see if George had heard him and was surprised to see that his other employee had disappeared. “George? George, where are you?” Eric shouted. With George nowhere to be found, he began to run. He ran to the nearest jeep and closed the cage over him. He didn’t have a lot of confidence in the strength of the roll cage against the power of the monster he saw swimming in their direction. It was then that he remembered the handgun in the glovebox. Deep down, he knew a weapon like that was useless, but something about holding it in his hands comforted him slightly. It was at that moment that he heard the scream. The next thing he knew, he felt the jeep being tossed into the air with him still inside it.
***
Jonathon had a tight grip on the steering wheel and he sawed it back in forth, desperately trying to keep the fishtailing vehicle under control. The damaged jeep no longer had the luxury of four-wheel drive, so the loose sand on the beach made it very difficult to keep the vehicle pointed in the right direction.
The right direction just happened to be the large wooden boat that was undoubtedly a transport vehicle for the juvenile tyrannosaur. Jonathon’s current mission was quite simple: destroy the boat at all costs. The men did not immediately seem concerned when they noticed the approaching vehicle. After all, he was piloting a Gill Enterprises jeep, and there would be no reason to assume that anyone besides a Gill Enterprises employee would be driving it.
It wasn’t until Jonathon saw Dave step out of the driver side of the parked jeep that the chaos began. He assumed that Dave recognized him and immediately alerted the other men. Before Jonathon even had an opportunity to react, one of the men, a tall and slender man with what appeared to be a cowboy hat, pulled a handgun from his waist and began to open fire. Jonathon figured he had at least another thirty yards to go before he reached the boat. All he could do was lean over for cover and keep his foot planted firmly on the accelerator.
It wasn’t easy for him to keep the vehicle straight in his current position, but moments later, Jonathon knew he’d reached his target as he felt a sudden jolt and noticed an explosion of splintered wood sailing over the top of him. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a good way to destroy the boat without also driving the jeep into the water. If the four-wheel drive had been operational, there may have been an opportunity to get the vehicle back to dry land. The water came into the floor of the vehicle quickly, and Jonathon’s boots were covered before he’d even realized what was happening. He attempted to steer the vehicle back to the shore, but quickly realized it was a futile action.
“Jonathon, get out of the jeep!” a man yelled. It was Dave.
Jonathon stayed slumped over onto the passenger seat as the vehicle came to a final halt. He hadn’t forgotten about the man that had shot at him. “You know, I’m not so sure I want to get out with a guy shooting at me!” he shouted back.
There was a long pause.
“No one is going to shoot at you,” Dave replied in a calmer voice.
Jonathon kept still. He didn’t trust him.
“Come on out, you’ve got my word,” Dave said.
Jonathon held his ground and frantically searched his mind for some sort of solution to his predicament. He noticed the gun he’d placed on the passenger seat lying on the floor, submerged in water. He grabbed it and began to consider his chances with the weapon.
Was it really a good idea to roll out of the jeep, gun blazing? He didn’t think so. After all, he’d just made a very rash decision that had put him in the current jam he now found himself in. Still, what choice did he currently have? Jonathon didn’t feel like he had a choice when he made the decision to crash into the boat, and now he had that same feeling again.
“Jonathon, it’s okay, come out. He’s telling the truth.” It was a different voice this time. A female’s voice. Charlie.
With the gun still tightly in his grasp, Jonathon slowly crept out of the driver’s side of the jeep. Fortunately, the vehicle came to rest with that particular side facing away from the shore. There were waves rolling in that quickly had him soaking wet up to his stomach. Jonathon kept low and made his way to the front of the jeep in an attempt to get a look at Dave and the other men before he came out fully into the open. It didn’t take long for him to discover he had nothing to fear.
The first thing he noticed was the man that had shot at him. He was no longer wearing the cowboy hat and there was no gun in his hand either. He was lying on the beach, and Jonathon could only guess he’d been struck by the jeep. The other two men were on the ground tending to him—he seemed to be unconscious. Dave stood in front of them with his arms raised. Charlie was standing behind the turret machine gun mounted on the rear portion of the jeep. She had the weapon pointed toward Dave, but kept her eyes focused on the other men tending to their injured counterpart.
Jonathon stepped out from behind the vehicle and trudged through the weight of the water. Once he reached the sand, he asked, “Is he alright?”
One of the men tending to the unconscious man shot up from his kneeling position, an evil scowl on his face. “Does he bloody look alright to you, mate?”
The man’s accent was thick and Jonathon guessed he was British. He seemed to be in his early thirties with a crewcut and goatee. He looked as if he spent a great deal of time in the weight room, and Jonathon could just make out the lower half of a tattoo on the man’s right arm that peaked out from under the cuff of his tight sleeve. It appeared to be the lower half of a heart, bright red in color.
“Well, is he breathing?” Jonathon asked, genuine concern in his voice.
“Yeah, he’s breathing,” the man barked back angrily, and he pointed at Jonathon’s gun. “Good thing you got that gun or I’d make bloody sure you stop breathing!”
“Load him into the jeep, we’ll get him back to the compound and get him medical attention,” Jonathon replied, ignoring the threat.
The British man looked down at Dave. He nodded, and the men immediately began moving the injured man toward the jeep. Jonathon noticed Charlie giving him a worried look.
“When they load him up, get him back,” Jonathon told her. “He needs help. I’ll finish what I’ve started here.”
Charlie shook her head. “No,” she said. “You can’t do it alone, and I sure can’t leave these guys here with you.”
“You’re not going to leave them with me,” he replied. “We’re going to let the tyrannosaur go, and then we are going to lock them into that cage.”
The men suddenly stopped in their tracks and then the British man spoke up. “Like hell you are!” he shouted furiously. “That dino is worth a lot of money, and it’s not leaving this trailer!” As if on cue, the young tyrannosaur began to wail and march nervously back and forth in the cage.
Jonathon chuckled and shook his head. He felt a mosquito buzzing around his head and tried to wave it away with the gun. “Oh yes,” he said. “I guess we should’ve explained what this is all about.”
“They’re here to stop us from taking any of the animals off the island,” Dave explained. He closed his eyes and appeared to be deep in thought. Jonathon wondered if he was already rehearsing how he’d explain what all had happened to Eric.
“Bingo,” Jonathon replied. He pointed at the pacing tyrannosaur with his free hand. “That dinosaur is not leaving this island.” The animal wailed again. It was an unsettling
sound.
The British man turned another shade of red, and Jonathon could’ve sworn he saw a puff of steam leave his ears. The man began unleashing a barrage of expletives at him, but he never heard him. Instead, his attention had turned toward the nearby jungle. A massive flock of birds burst upward from the green canopy like a volcanic eruption. The birds disappeared in the gray, misty sky above, and Jonathon could’ve sworn he felt the slightest vibration under his feet moments before the birds took flight.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the angry man approaching him, but he kept his attention on the jungle. Again, he felt a slight vibration under his feet. He looked to the juvenile tyrannosaur and noticed the animal was still wailing and pacing even more frantically than before. Suddenly, he realized what was happening and it terrified him.
“Charlie, get out of there and release that dinosaur…NOW!” he shouted, panicked.
“Are you bloody deaf, mate?” the Brit screamed at him. “I said that dinosaur is not going anywhere!”
Jonathon finally returned his attention to the man, but before he could explain, the gun was slapped out of his hand. Both of them dove for the weapon, but much to Jonathon’s dismay, the Brit grabbed it first. He wasted no time pointing the barrel of the gun at him.
Jonathon looked back to the jeep, desperately hoping Charlie was still on the turret, but she’d already exited the vehicle and was attempting to open the cage.
“Don’t you dare, missy!” the man yelled, and he pointed the gun at her. He then looked to one of the other men that was still tending to the unconscious man. “Jimmy, get her away from that bloody cage!”
The man took one step and immediately stopped dead in his tracks. A frightening and deafening roar boomed from somewhere in the nearby jungle.
“That’s why we’ve got to release that tyrannosaur,” Jonathon said, doing his best to sound calm. “That sound you just heard is daddy…he’s come to collect his baby.”
The British man lowered his gun and his jaw dropped. Oddly, the first thing he asked was, “How do you know it’s the daddy?”
“Because I watched some of the fools on this island kill the mother a couple of days ago when they captured the juvenile,” Jonathon explained. “Now we don’t have any time. We’ve got to release that dinosaur now or things are going to get really bad.”
“Do as he says,” Dave said, panicked. “We’ve got to release the animal right now!” He suddenly looked as if he was going to be sick.
Charlie didn’t wait another moment. She began to quickly release the Master lock and release the dinosaur. The animal cocked its head to the side and looked at her curiously, as if it was trying to figure out if the gesture was some sort of trap.
“Come on, let’s go!” she shouted at the young dinosaur, which unfortunately only made the animal more timid.
At that moment, there was another roar, this time much closer. Now, all of them could feel the rhythmic vibrations of the very large beast that was moving quickly toward them. The juvenile tyrannosaur suddenly leapt from the cage and onto the sand. Clearly, it had heard the adult animal’s call drawing closer as well.
“Okay, it’s out, let’s get out of here,” the Brit said, and he sprinted into the driver’s seat of the jeep. Dave leapt into the back seat, and the other men began to fumble with the rear gate so they could load the injured man.
“Hurry up!” Dave shouted.
Jonathon and Charlie walked toward the vehicle to leave with them, but the Brit quickly pointed the gun at Jonathon’s head when he was within arm’s length.
“Don’t think so, mate,” he said coldly. “You got your wish—the dino is free. You’re not going with us.”
Jonathon felt his jaw literally drop. “Come on, you can’t be serious!” he shouted. “You’re going to leave us here to die?”
“We have room, Scott,” Dave said. “We can’t leave them here.”
“Sure we can,” Scott replied with no emotion. “We leave them here and that bloody dinosaur will chase after them instead of us!” He looked over his shoulder at his counterparts, still struggling with the rear gate. “For Pete’s sake, bring him up here,” he growled.
Dave reached over and grabbed the British man’s arm. “Scott, we cannot leave them here,” he said very sternly.
Scott took a deep breath and released it through his nose. His jaw was set tight as he briefly contemplated what to do. Finally, he looked over at Jonathon. “Tell you what, mate,” he began. “We’ll take you along.”
Jonathon felt a huge rush of relief, and he heard Charlie whispering a big thank you to God.
“But…” Scott continued. “You’re riding back there,” he said, and he jerked a thumb back toward the cage.
Jonathon wanted to argue, but another deafening roar that seemed less than fifty yards away reminded him there was no time. “We’ll take it,” he said quickly, and he grabbed Charlie’s arm and all but dragged her to the cage. The two of them hopped inside and pulled the door shut.
“The door won’t stay shut!” Charlie said, panicked.
“Do you still have the lock and key?” Jonathon asked.
She immediately reached into her pocket and retrieved the lock with the key still inserted. Jonathon snatched it from her and quickly locked the door. He then dropped the key into his pants pocket and watched as the other two men loaded their injured friend into the rear of the jeep.
The moment Scott mashed the accelerator, the adult tyrannosaur came crashing through the palm trees and other tropical plants that bordered the road. It immediately noticed the young tyrannosaur scurrying toward it and briefly paused to sniff at its young. However, the moment was short-lived. Jonathon and Charlie watched as the monster then raised its head and released another thunderous roar in their direction.
“I think you’re gonna want to step on it!” Jonathon yelled toward the jeep. He was unaware if Scott or Dave actually heard him, but he could feel the vehicle picking up speed. Unfortunately, the tyrannosaur was too.
“We’re not going to outrun it in this sand,” Charlie said, her voice quaking.
Jonathon opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. He wanted to say something—anything—that would give her hope that she was wrong. But he knew she was right, and there was nothing in him that would be able to convince her otherwise. All he and she could do was move to the front of the trailer and hunker down.
It seemed to be only a mere few seconds before the lumbering tyrannosaur caught up to them. As it ran along the right side of the jeep, Jonathon closed his eyes. He knew what was coming next. Suddenly, without any warning at all, the dinosaur thrust itself into the side of the jeep, and the vehicle rose from the ground and fell onto its side.
Jonathon fell hard against the iron bars on the side of the cage, and Charlie came crashing into him. He felt for a moment as if he would lose consciousness, but another hard jolt seemed to stir him back awake. A moment later, he heard a blood-curdling scream from one of the men in the jeep.
He glanced toward the front of the jeep and watched the tyrannosaur rise from the wreckage, the legs of a man dangling from its jaws. Jonathon noticed Charlie watching, wide eyes full of terror, and he quickly tugged at her, as he knew what was coming next. He wanted to pull her away, to shield her from the gore that he, unfortunately, knew all too well. As he heard the sickening sound of bones being crushed, he knew he was too late. A shower of bright red poured from the tyrannosaur’s terrifying maw.
Jonathon heard another scream, but this time it was female. It was Charlie. The dinosaur quickly gobbled up its first victim and then snapped its large head around in the direction of the screaming woman.
“Charlie, stop,” Jonathon whispered in her ear. He grabbed her and held her toward the ground, his hand over her mouth.
He could see the terror in her eyes, and he knew that she probably now had lost any control she previously had over her screaming. Jonathon could clearly see the look in her eyes that seemed
to suggest she truly believed she was living the last moments of her life.
The tyrannosaur lunged toward them and the cage clanged loudly when the beast’s head rammed into the bars. The jolt threw Jonathon into the side of the cage again, and he lost his grip on Charlie. It was at that moment that he noticed one of Charlie’s legs sticking out of the front of the cage between two bars. The enraged dinosaur seemed to see it too and the animal dove for the unprotected limb. Jonathon knew there would be no time to pull her back in, and he was already playing out the scenario in his head. She’d either be screaming even louder, or she’d pass out from shock when she realized her leg had been bitten off. Then he’d have to quickly apply a tourniquet while still trying to figure out a way of the mess.
Just as the blood-thirsty animal was about to snap off Charlie’s leg below the knee, Jonathon heard shots ring out from the jeep. He whipped his head around to see Dave, standing on the side of the vehicle, the 9mm gun in his hand. He was firing off shot after shot. Jonathon pulled Charlie toward him and he was just about to yell at Dave to stop and take cover, but he was too late. The tyrannosaur dipped its head downward, and when it arose, there was another sound of crushing bones and a sight of raining gore. Dave never even had a moment to scream. He was literally there one second, gone the next.
“Okay, come on,” Jonathon said, pulling Charlie to her feet. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
No sooner had he gotten her up, Charlie slumped back down—she’d passed out.
Great, he thought. Then he heard more screaming—this time, it sounded like the British man, Scott. Jonathon quickly reached for his pocket to retrieve the key, but before he even got his hand in his pocket, the entire cage began to roll toward the surf.
Jonathon held on and rode the chaos out the best he could, and he could only wince and grit his teeth as he watched Charlie’s limp body tumble round and round in the metal cage. She reminded him of a shoe in a clothes dryer, and the sickening sound of her body slamming into the cage did too.
