“Hey, look at these,” he said, casting a wary glance around.
Harry came over to his side. “Damn,” he whispered. “What the hell are they doing in here?”
***
Kris felt relieved and a bit giddy now that the ledge was behind her. She took a moment, leaning against the damp cave wall, still breathing hard, yet willing herself to calm down.
“Utahraptor,” she heard Harry say.
She turned, staring at him as he eyeballed the ground.
“Looks like some Utahraptor tracks,” Harry went on, “but they’re supposed to go extinct 100 million B.C.E. Well, whatever made ‘em, they’re bigger than Deinonychus.”
“Bigger?” Gus raised his gun and peered into the shadows.
“Yeah,” Harry said. “Utahraptor claws were the size of butcher knives. Better hope these tracks are old and they’re long gone.”
Kris stared at the tracks, her feelings a disturbing mixture of awe and fear, listening as Harry speculated there had been three or four animals in the cave. But what were they doing underground? She’d never thought about predatory dinosaurs living in a cave.
But then she remembered the cave bears of the Pleistocene. The great Ice Age predators had also lived in caves.
“I guess we should follow these tracks,” Gus said. “If the dinos can get in, then maybe they can get out.”
They set off together. Gaze darting to and fro, the surrounding gloom unnerving, downright scary, Kris sprinted after Gus, Harry right on her heels. She shone her flashlight on some amazing stalagmites, but didn’t dare take the time to really admire them. In the distance, the dull roar of flowing water grew louder by the minute.
The surface of the lake started to exhibit ripples and currents. “Let’s stop,” Kris said, chest heaving because of their pace. Her mouth felt dry. “I’m awfully thirsty––”
A rush of air ripped through the dark, followed by a horrible snarl. A white-hot sensation blazed across Kris’s spine, and she was knocked forward, falling headfirst into the freezing cold lake. She gulped in some water, then coughed and choked. In shock from her wound and the icy water, her mind barely registered the loss of her spectacles, gun, and headset. Then her body started to protest the lack of air. Arms flailing in desperation, she fought against the force of gravity and the current, which was now growing stronger.
When she finally broke the surface, she gasped both for air and because of the terrible pain in her back. In the distance, she heard human shouts, reptilian growls, and the echoing of gunfire.
Kris screamed for Gus and Harry as she was pulled farther from shore. Purposely, she twisted about until she floated on her back. She could feel warm rivulets of blood streaming from her body and mixing with the cold, dark waters of the cave. It was totally black now.
Quite unexpectedly, the pain in her back vanished. She closed her eyes and fervently hoped the men had survived the attack.
And then, inexplicably, a strange feeling of calmness, of soft nothingness, enveloped her as she drifted on in silence.
***
Gus swung around when he heard the rush of the animals. He barely caught sight of Kris as she hit the water. Instinctively, he flinched as a big raptor thrust itself out of the darkness and leapt straight toward him.
Harry’s gun discharged, and the beast died instantly, its head reduced to a gory pulp that splattered everyone with blood and brains. Despite being headless, the body of the animal kept moving forward. Gus jumped aside, barely avoiding its muscular bulk, as the dead raptor tumbled into the lake.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Gus saw Kris bob up and down in the water. She screamed something unintelligible, then dropped beneath the waves.
Harry yelled, “Look out!”
Gus turned. Now he could see two – no, make that three – raptors. One of the beasts was aiming straight for him. He got off a few rounds, catching it in the belly. Despite its wounds, the animal came forward. It flicked open the big talons on its hind feet, preparing for the final strike.
Somewhere, in the far distance, Kris shrieked. Then, with a monstrous roar, something huge broke the surface of the lake. The raptors fell back, startled. Gus glanced over his shoulder just as the elasmosaur surged up. Jaws snapping, it grabbed the wounded raptor and dragged it into the pitch-black water.
The surface of the lake began to boil as the beasts rolled around. Harry and Gus exchanged piercing looks.
“Jump!” Gus shouted.
“Kris, hang on!” Harry yelled.
The men pitched themselves into the churning depths, leaving the two remaining raptors standing powerless on the shore.
***
Kris had almost fainted, her mind on the verge of slipping away, when she heard someone calling to her. “Harry,” she murmured just as something hard and smooth and incredibly swift brushed past her body.
Immediately, she roused back to consciousness. The elasmosaur! she thought, panic-stricken.
But it didn’t bother her again. Despite the wild water, Kris attempted to look around, trying to figure out what was happening. She heard a stupendous roar. Rapids? Now everything was illuminated by a faint light. Despite her poor eyesight, she saw frothy, green water.
Kris thrashed about helplessly, then took in a big mouthful of water. Sputtering and coughing, she fought for air before slipping beneath the foaming waves. She’d reached the outlet of the underground river. With a supreme effort, she tried to hold her breath as she was sucked downward, spiraling into the watery depths.
I’m going to drown! her mind cried out as the deadly current lashed her, but in the next moment her body was thrust upward by a huge swell of water. A roiling sea of tiny, silvery bubbles surrounded her. Feet first, she spilled out of the cliff into the midst of a churning waterfall.
“Help! Help me!” Kris gasped for air and plunged into the pool below. Her body spun around. She had no control. The flow of water started to carry her away from the falls. Too weak to swim, she felt thankful the current had slowed by the time her head broke the surface. Gagging and choking, she reached out reflexively and caught hold of a rock.
She couldn’t believe she’d made it.
But then, with a cry, she realized she didn’t feel anything below her waist.
Using all of her remaining energy, Kris took a deep, ragged breath and screamed for help one last time.
***
The Rover sped toward the buried entrance of the cave. Tasha and Dawn planned to use the E-M cannon to remove the debris. In only a few minutes, they would have everything in place. Then they could blast through the rocks and come to the rescue of their trapped comrades.
After they brought the vehicle into position, they shut off the engine. And then, over the sounds of the nearby bubbling creek, they heard a distant noise.
“Was that someone screaming?” Tasha asked in a stunned whisper.
Dawn cocked her head, listening.
“Help! Help me!”
There was no mistaking who was yelling. “Kris!” Dawn fired up the Rover again. “Kris, we’re coming!”
The vehicle’s wheels spun, then careened forward, heading along the creek toward the sounds. It took several minutes before they reached a large pool, nestled beneath a thirty foot waterfall. Dawn spotted Kris in the water, barely clinging to a rock just as Harry burst from the falls.
By the time Dawn and Tasha reached the water’s edge, Harry had swum to Kris’s side. He pried her fingers from the rock, took hold of her arms, then turned her on her back and moved her toward shore. She was unconscious by the time they reached the bank. Dawn and Tasha waited there, up to their hips in water. They placed Kris on a makeshift stretcher, improvised from one of the Rover’s seat cushions.
“Careful! You must be careful!” Tasha said over and over again as they transported Kris back to the vehicle.
Dawn watched as Tasha examined Kris, shining a light in her eyes to test her ocular reflexes. She turned and stared at the waterfall, h
oping for some sign of Gus. When Harry began to cough, Dawn met his gaze. For the first time, she noticed he was dripping blood from his nose and from a deep gash above his left eyebrow.
She grabbed some gauze and scissors from Tasha’s medical kit and went over to Harry’s side. “Here,” she said, snipping off a section of bandage. “Press this to your forehead. I think your nose is broken, too.”
Distracted, he grunted as he took the gauze.
“What happened?” Dawn asked, desperately trying to keep her voice calm.
Harry looked haggard. Dawn watched as his tortured gaze fell on Kris.
“We were attacked by some raptors, but Gus and I escaped,” Harry said. “Only Kris was hurt. I should have seen it coming, but I, but...” He hesitated. “We jumped in after her, into the underground lake. Last thing I saw, Gus was in the water, too. Then we lost our lights. It was pitch-black. I couldn’t tell what happened to him, or Kris. I must have hit my head on the rocks, because it got fuzzy after that. The next thing I knew, I was coming out of the waterfall.”
Dawn pulled her communicator out. “Jean-Michel, do you copy?”
“Roger.”
“Can you still get Gus on radar?”
“Oui. He’s in the cave, about a third of a kilometer from the outlet.”
“Is he moving?”
“No. He is not.”
Dawn and Harry’s eyes met for a second, then Tasha stood up. “We must get Kris back to lander immediately,” she said as she finished setting up an IV.
Dawn looked at Kris. Her ordinarily vibrant, cocoa-colored skin was as gray as ash. “Is she going to be all right, Tasha?”
“I fear she has spinal fracture of lumbar vertebrae. If that is so, she will need nerve regeneration therapy within next eight hours, or she will never walk again.”
“Son of a bitch,” Harry muttered.
“I’ve got to stay here,” Dawn said. “Gus needs me.”
“You can’t go into the cave alone,” Harry said.
Dawn frowned. “Oh yes I can! You stay with Kris and Tasha. Besides, that cut on your head needs stitches.”
Harry pulled the gauze from his forehead. Immediately, the wound bled profusely. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about this,” he said. “There are raptors in the cave. And an elasmosaur. It’s too dangerous. I can’t let you go in there alone.”
“Harry, no,” Dawn said as she took his hand and pressed it back onto his brow. “Tasha needs your help. Someone has to drive while she cares for Kris.”
Nodding, Tasha said, “Harry, we must leave immediately.”
He looked at the cliffs. “Maybe you could wait,” he told Dawn. “Don’t go into the cave just yet. Check things out. I’ll come back with the Rover. We can use the cannon to blast our way in.”
“Sorry,” Dawn said as she grabbed her gun and gear. “I’m going in now.”
“What about the comet?” Harry asked. “What if you don’t make it back in time?”
Dawn looked up, fixing her gaze on the comet’s long, filamentous double tail. It looked surprisingly sinister as it hung above her head, like the legendary sword of Damocles.
“If Gus and I are not back by 0800 tomorrow,” Dawn told Harry, “then take off without us.” She put on her headset. “Do you copy, Jean-Michel? If Gus and I are not out of the cave at 0800, the crew is to rendezvous with you.”
“Oui. I copy that.”
“Good.”
“You do not actually expect us to leave you behind, do you?” Tasha asked.
Dawn spun to face Tasha. “Yes,” she said forcefully. “You must. Go on to Mars. I know that’s what Gus would order you to do.”
“But you are not Gus.” Tasha walked over and gave Dawn a hug, kissing her on both cheeks. “Good luck,” she said softly. “Find Gus. We will wait for you.”
***
Anxiously glancing at her watch, Dawn realized she’d spent the last fifteen minutes looking for another entrance to the cave. She hurried on, climbing and hiking along the rough cliff-face, seeking a way inside. After all her years in Northern Arizona, with its myriad lava tubes and underground caverns, she knew enough about cave systems to realize there could be thousands of kilometers of passageways and numerous cracks and openings in the region; it was just a matter of time before she found one in the surrounding limestone bluffs.
Eyeing the screen on her headset, she studied the radar map again. By following the full length of a passageway running adjacent to the underground river, she hoped to spot something leading to an outlet, like a blowhole. She recalled the ones in Northern Arizona, particularly the blowhole at Wupatki National Monument, northeast of Flagstaff.
For a brief moment, Dawn visualized it, a small fissure in the Kaibab limestone that interconnected with hundreds of kilometers of caves. If barometric pressure was lower at the surface than inside, air rushed out of the blowhole at fifty kilometers per hour. If the pressure reversed, air was sucked inside. Of course, ancient humans living in Northern Arizona had not been able to explain this in scientific terms; Hopi legend told their ancestors had worshiped at the home of the Wind God. And archaeological evidence indicated the Wupatki blowhole was in fact the actual place of worship.
But none of that will help me now, Dawn thought. No gods, nothing supernatural. Just my knowledge of the land and science, and my gut instincts.
Forcing her mind to consider her present situation, Dawn moved along the base of the bluff, trying to pick her way through the jagged scree. She looked around. There was nothing of interest here. No small earth cracks. No cave entrances. No blowholes. Northern Arizona seemed like a spelunker’s paradise compared to this area.
Dawn stumbled, nearly tripping over a branch. She pulled off her VR headset and wiped the sweat off her brow. She noticed then she’d been walking near an animal trail. There were tracks everywhere. Some large, some small. One set was enormous. She could almost hear Gus laying on a thick accent in jest. Big ol’ monster, he’d say. Watch out, or it’ll git ya.
But the memory of his spirit didn’t make her feel any better. It was clear he was hurt, and she needed to find a way into the cave to help him. She put on her headset again and trained her right eye on the radar. Gus was in the same position, presumably unconscious since he hadn’t moved in over an hour. What had happened to him? Was he terribly injured? Would he still be alive when she reached him?
Dawn realized her jaw was clenched. She had to find a way inside soon, she had to.
Jean-Michel’s voice broke into her thoughts, “Dawn, look at the screen. Move to the west. Get out of there!”
She stared at the eyepiece and saw it, too. A large herd of animals was coming straight at her. Already, she could hear a faint rumble.
“Roger that, Jean-Michel. I’m on my way,” Dawn said as she scurried down the embankment and ran for the nearest big trees. Maybe it was time to climb and play monkey again.
“All clear,” Jean-Michel said unexpectedly. “They’ve changed direction.”
“What changed direction?” she asked as she came to an abrupt halt. “What do you think it was?”
“Duck-billed dinosaurs, but I cannot be cer––”
She silenced him with a vehement “Shh!” and then listened. Was it her imagination or had she heard the rush of air?
At that instant, she spotted something dark and yawning, right in front of her. If she’d kept on running, she might have fallen in.
Dawn looked at the blowhole. The aroma of cave air filled her nostrils, slightly damp and musty. In the pearl-gray, softly filtered light beyond the rim, she could barely make out rocks four or five meters below the surface. The shaft was a meter or so across, perhaps a little wider toward the bottom. Maybe she could wiggle into it without having to remove any rocks.
She dropped to her knees, placed her hand above the opening, and felt a tremendous pull of air. At this time of day, the atmosphere was being sucked down into the cave, the barometric pressure higher at the surface than in the ca
vern.
She focused on her right eyepiece. “Jean-Michel?”
“Roger.”
“I think I’ve found a way inside. Do you read my position?”
“Roger that. You are half a kilometer from Gus. He still has not moved. Once you go in, I will not be able to communicate with you. I have one minute, fifteen seconds before loss of signal.”
“Okay,” she said, realizing the spacecraft would soon begin its arc behind the planet. “Wish me luck, Destiny.”
Jean-Michel smiled. “Roger,” he said. “And Dawn...”
“What?”
“Go rescue that bastard Texan.”
Despite the peril, Dawn smiled.
“Bon voyage, chérie and... luck,” Jean-Michel added, his voice cracking up with static. “We... are counting on... au revoir.”
***
The climb down was harder than Dawn anticipated because of her bulky gear, but she finally squeezed herself through the shaft of the blowhole. Now, she stood in a gloomy, sloping vestibule, which trailed off into total darkness. The air moved back and forth, in opposite directions. From somewhere deep in her memory, Dawn recalled this was known as a breathing cave.
For a moment, she stood still, her respiration matching the inhalations and exhalations of the cavern.
Calmer now, she asked into her headset, “Valiant, do you copy?”
Over the returning static, she heard a faint, “I copy, Dawn.”
“Harry?”
“Yes. We made it back around twenty minutes ago.”
“How’s Kris?”
“She’ll live. Tasha’s trying to repair the damage to her back. It looks like someone took a knife and tried to skin her...” His voice died away. “Sorry ‘bout that. It was tasteless. Your ancestor.”
“No problem. I have no emotional connection with him. It happened too long ago.” Dawn smiled ironically. “I guess I meant it will happen too far off, in the future.”
“Did you make it in?” Harry asked.
Dragon Dawn (Dinosaurian Time Travel) Page 26
