Exile

by S. M. Wilson

  She could hear the others fall in behind her.

  “Hell of a wake-up call,” Reban muttered.

  After its disastrous beginning, the day seemed to pan out much better. They crossed the open terrain easily. At one point, for as far as the eye could see, there was just rolling, green land. In the distance they spotted a herd of apatosauruses. “They don’t look dangerous from this far away,” murmured Jesa.

  Lincoln smiled. “Generally, they’re not. It’s just the size thing. I think they’re quiet creatures, peaceful. But we’d need to learn how to live with them.”

  He shifted on his feet. Had he just said that? It sounded like he was thinking about the long-term plans for humans settling on Piloria. He’d never even imagined leaving Earthasia before.

  Jesa was clearly starting to get nervous. “My mum and Caleb will be so angry with me. I can only imagine the kind of things they’ll be saying.”

  “And when you go home?”

  She gave a sad smile. “They’ll just have a thousand questions about Dad. They’ll want to know how he is. If he’s okay. What I can tell them about him.” She shook her head. “The questions will be endless.” She wiped away a tear that had sneaked down her cheek.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s just…” She lowered her voice as she watched Storm, Reban and Leif walk on ahead. “I wish they were here too. It would mean so much to them. Just to talk to him. Just to touch him.”

  Lincoln nodded. “I get it. I do. It’s hard being away from our families. But this task? It shouldn’t take long. Then we can head towards the jungle where Blaine’s shack is.”

  “Does he stay there all year around?”

  “I…I don’t know. I never asked him. I guess we just assumed that he did.” He gave a half-laugh. “The first time I met him was in a cave, after running away from a T-rex.”

  He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Jesa’s reaction was instant – he could see the goosebumps appear on her arms. She ran her hands up and down them. Piloria wasn’t cold. There were no brisk breezes. This was pure fear.

  Her eyes were wide. “Do you think my father will still be here?”

  His stomach clenched. He knew what the question really was. Do you think my father is still alive?

  Lincoln took a deep breath. “He’s already survived here for nine years, Jesa. I think he’ll have managed another couple of months.”

  Jesa gave a nod and kept walking. “Okay then,” was the reply. Had he convinced her or not?

  A short while later, Storm, who was walking ahead, gestured with her hand. “Get down,” she hissed. They were approaching the brow of a hill.

  Lincoln bent low, then crawled forward on his elbows until he was alongside her. “What is it?” he whispered.

  “They’re just over this hill,” she mouthed.

  He pulled back in surprise. “Isn’t the watering hole still a bit away?”

  She shrugged. “I thought so. Who knows how far they travel to hunt? One watering hole is as good as another.”

  Lincoln automatically lifted his tunic to his nose. He’d only been wearing it since yesterday. “What if they smell us?”

  Storm squeezed her eyes closed for a second. “Let’s hope the wind doesn’t change, or they might.” She looked from side to side. “There’s no cover around here.”

  Lincoln looked around. She was right. No jungle. No bushes. Not even any rocks to hide behind. They’d passed a stream some time back, but that was it.

  Keeping as low as he could, he edged a little closer to the brow of the hill.

  Four velociraptors were drinking at a watering hole. It wasn’t the watering hole he’d seen them at on his previous visit though. This stretch of water was murky, and surrounded by mud. One raptor was clearly the leader. It was bigger than the rest, its red crest more prominent. From here, it looked as if it was covered in thick brown skin, but Lincoln knew that wasn’t the case. Up close, he had seen how the raptors were actually covered in feathers, with a few extra ones around their forearms.

  The lead velociraptor stood proudly on its strong hind legs, with its snout in the air. Lincoln ducked down. “I think it’s trying to find a scent,” he whispered. “They must be looking for their next meal.”

  Leif kept his voice low. “Then what now? Do we hide here, hoping they’ll go in another direction, or get up and run?”

  Jesa looked terrified. From a titanosaurus to a group of velociraptors – it was hardly a great introduction to Piloria.

  “The other watering hole was closer to the nest, wasn’t it?” whispered Storm.

  Leif nodded. “Definitely. I remember.” He gave Lincoln a half-smile. “We passed it on our way back, after we jumped off the cliff.”

  Lincoln couldn’t help but smile too. It was the first time Leif had even shown a glimmer of the friendship they’d had before. He nodded in agreement. “So maybe all these creatures have more than one watering hole? This could be a complete waste of time. We might put the virus here – and they never return.”

  Storm’s eyes brightened a little. “Maybe that’s actually for the best. As soon as they leave, let’s dump the virus in the water and move on. We could get halfway to Blaine’s shack tonight. Halfway to the leaves.”

  Lincoln shifted uncomfortably. Something was different about Storm. Only a few months ago she’d been so opposed to doing anything that might interfere with the dinosaurs’ habitat. She hadn’t wanted to steal the eggs. She’d been adamant they should leave the dinosaurs alone.

  When she’d questioned him last night he thought it might end up in a stand-off. But now it seemed she’d accepted his belief that the virus wouldn’t work. Part of him actually hoped it would work – but he couldn’t risk saying that out loud.

  “Let’s just stay where we are for now. If we move, they might smell us. They’re fast. I’m not sure we would win a race across an open plain.”

  The others nodded and pressed further down against the earth. Anything to stop their scent being picked up.

  They didn’t need to wait long. A few minutes later there was a high-pitched cawing noise.

  Lincoln edged closer to the ridge. The noise came again at a different pitch. It sent chills through his body. He’d heard this before. He’d witnessed this before – even though he hadn’t been entirely sure then. The velociraptors were communicating with each other.

  He’d heard the Stipulators joking that these beasts had brains the size of a pebble. But they didn’t know what he knew. He’d not only witnessed them communicating, he’d also witnessed their intelligent behaviour. He’d watched the velociraptors extinguish a fire by scraping at the earth and smothering it with dirt. Those pebble-sized brains were using all their functions.

  “Don’t move,” he hissed to the others around him. He shuffled forward just enough so that he could see what the raptors were doing. Storm copied him.

  The leader still had its nose in the air. It tipped its head back and let out the loudest caw yet. The other velociraptors copied it, moving in perfect synchrony.

  There was a flicker in the corner of Lincoln’s eye as a dark grey duckbill waddled into sight. Followed by another, and another. All heading in the direction of the watering hole. They were sniffing around the ground, oblivious to the danger.

  Lincoln cringed. Duckbills. The very thing they’d trapped and used to lure the T-rex a couple of months ago.

  In the blink of an eye, the raptors spread out, circling towards the duckbills. A moment later one of the duckbills noticed them, let out a noise and started running. But it seemed disorientated.

  Its moment of panic alerted its companions. The other duckbills started grunting and running too. But the slow, thick-trunked creatures couldn’t match the speed of the raptors. The first was despatched easily by the large sickle-shaped claw on the lead raptor’s foot.

  But instead of ensuring the kill was completed and starting to feast on the duckbill, the raptor ignored it – leaving it
open on the ground. It followed the other raptors as they chased after the fleeing duckbills, heading over the hump of another hill.

  Lincoln glanced at Storm. “What do you think?” He looked behind them. “Is there any way they can circle back and come up behind us?”

  She thought for a few seconds. “I don’t think so. This is our chance.”

  “You mean, this is my chance.” Leif didn’t hesitate. He flipped open the silver carrier, exposing the intact vials of red, blue and green. His fingers grasped at the green vial instantly, yanking it from the sponge it was cushioned in. He crouched low on the ground, his spear clutched in his other hand. “This is my job. My task. I want to do this. I want to be the one to infect them.”

  Storm flinched at the intensity of his words. Lincoln almost understood. This rage had been bubbling beneath the surface in Leif ever since their last visit. He was angry. Angry at the loss of his two friends. Angry at the dinosaurs.

  Lincoln glanced over the ridge again. “It looks clear. But we’ve no guarantee it will stay that way. I think we should wait longer. Maybe they’ll move on someplace else.”

  “But that someplace else could be over this ridge, where we have no hiding place – no protection.”

  “He’s got a point.” Reban’s comment was unexpected. He’d hardly spoken at all during the morning’s journey. He stood, stretching out his back muscles and picking up the weapon he’d chosen from the locker on the ship. It was double-ended. One end was like an axe, the other more like a sword. He nodded to Leif. “Let’s do this. Let’s get rid of some dinosaurs.”

  Before Lincoln could protest further, Leif had grabbed his spear and set off at a rapid pace down to the watering hole. Lincoln had forgotten how fast Leif could run, and what he hadn’t expected was for Reban Don to almost match him. Reban was only a few steps behind.

  Storm was right at Lincoln’s side. “I have a bad feeling about this,” she murmured.

  Lincoln straightened, turning his head from side to side, watching for any change – any hint of the return of the raptors.

  There was still noise in the distance. The squeal of the duckbills and the squawks and caws of the raptors. Lincoln looked around. Leif and Reban’s backpacks were on the ground behind him. “Gather all their things. We want to be able to move in a hurry if we have to.”

  As he looked back, Leif had reached the watering hole. He held up the green vial. Even from here the bright green colour glinted in the sun. Leif fumbled, trying to remove the stopper. Reban stood at his back, checking in either direction.

  Leif finally let out a cry of frustration and picked up a rock, smashing the vial and letting the shattered glass and its contents spill into the watering hole. Reban turned his head at the noise behind him, watching as Leif bent down for a second, rinsing his hands at the edge of the water before wiping them on his trousers.

  Something inside Lincoln clenched. Had Leif got the virus on himself? The Stipulators had never mentioned if it would affect humans. And, more foolishly, they’d never asked. They’d all just assumed it wouldn’t. What if that assumption was wrong?

  A squawk split through the air. Lincoln’s head turned towards the noise at the same time as Reban’s. The split second of Leif smashing the glass had distracted them. And that distraction might now cost them all their lives.

  That was the thing about this place. Blink. And you missed it. Blink. And you could be dead.

  She’d just bent down to pick up Leif’s backpack when she heard the squawk. It was like being plunged into an icy pool. She’d heard those angry screeches before.

  A raptor was racing back over the hump of the opposite hill, straight towards Leif and Reban. This raptor was the smallest of the group – barely the height of Storm. But its height didn’t detract from the three claws it had on each forearm or the large sickle-shaped claw on each foot. The killing claw. That’s how she’d come to think of it. These predatory animals used it with expertise.

  Leif’s face was instantly panicked. “Come on!” he yelled at Reban, as he grabbed his spear and started to run.

  Reban glanced up towards the ridge of the hill where Storm and the rest of them were hiding. “GO!” he shouted.

  Lincoln yanked the extra backpack out of her hand. “Move!” He took off across the open plain, with Jesa hard on his heels. But Storm couldn’t move. She was frozen at the top of the hill in horror.

  This should have been easy. They should have waited. They could have walked a bit, found somewhere to hide, then come back to plant the virus when the coast was clear.

  Leif was already halfway back up the hill towards her. Reban seemed to be hesitating. The raptor moved quickly – faster than any human – and was in front of Reban within seconds.

  Leif thudded past her, his eyes narrowing as she didn’t move.

  Reban had both hands on his weapon. The raptor raised its claws, swiping at Reban as he ducked from side to side. The forearms were just about avoidable. But the raptor’s frustration was evident.

  It lifted one leg, revealing the killing claw on its second digit. Its red crest bloomed in indignation at a creature attempting to fight back. It let out another squawk. Storm couldn’t breathe. It was communicating. It was shouting for its group. Reban wouldn’t stand a chance.

  The first time it swiped with the killing claw, Reban caught the blow with the staff of his weapon, narrowly missing his hands. The second time the raptor lifted its leg to strike, Reban moved first. The underside of the raptor’s belly was exposed. He thrust forward with one end of his weapon. The end that resembled a sword.

  The next noise was one of strangulated surprise from the raptor.

  Reban twisted the sword and Storm gagged. She couldn’t believe he was still standing there. The raptor made another noise. A cry of distress.

  Now she found her voice. “Move!” she yelled. “Leave it!” At the same second there was a yank on her arm so strong it felt like her arm was being pulled from its socket. Lincoln’s face filled her view. “Storm. Move. Now.”

  Reban pulled back his sword as the raptor swayed, then started to run up the hill towards her.

  Now she could move. Now she could run.

  And she did. Thudding across the open plain with Lincoln’s steps mirroring her own. She didn’t turn back. She could only hear her own breathing. Her body naturally followed the curve in Lincoln’s run as he moved to the right.

  Every muscle burned. The air in her lungs could find a way in, but struggled to find a way back out. Her thigh muscles were on fire. These boots were finding blisters she didn’t know she had. Sweat trickled down her forehead and back. But she couldn’t slow down. Couldn’t stop for a second.

  There was an echo behind her. She wasn’t quite sure what it was.

  The plain seemed to stretch on for ever. But the terrain started to change a little. A few sparse bushes appeared. Some darker foliage in the distance.

  Then all of a sudden Lincoln disappeared from her view. She didn’t have time to process because the next moment she was falling, no, rolling, down hard and bumpy ground.

  Brown. Green. More brown. Mud. Stones. Then splash. Face down in water.

  She shook the moisture off her face and looked up. Leif and Jesa were crouched nearby, their eyes fixed above her, Lincoln just picking himself up. The backpacks were stored behind them and each had their weapons in their hands. Jesa’s crossbow was visibly shaking.

  The lukewarm water seeped through Storm’s clothing. She shook her head again and tried to orientate herself. This was a stream. Definitely not a river. The flow was steady but small. She pushed herself up on all fours as Reban seemed to arch in the air above her. It seemed that he hadn’t expected the sudden incline either.

  She ducked back down as he landed with a crunch in the water next to her.

  “Aargh,” he groaned.

  She held her breath and looked back up. The only noise was the trickling stream – the clear water dancing over the stones.

&n
bsp; All faces were turned the same way. They waited. And waited.

  After a few minutes, Lincoln’s shoulders relaxed. He gave them all a nod. “I’m going for a look.” He scrambled up the bank and peered over the top, sagging back against the crumbling bank with a smile. “Nothing. There’s nothing there. They missed us.”

  The breath that she’d been holding seemed to leave her body all at once, along with every ounce of energy. She didn’t care that she was already wet. She just sagged back down onto the stream bed.

  Leif bent his head next to her. “You’re going to have to tell us why you were frozen there, later.” His voice was barely audible. He lifted his head again as he prodded her with his finger. “Right, get up. You’re ruining our drinking supply. This stream seems as good as any to refill our water bottles.”

  Lincoln slid down the rest of the bank, sending clumps of mud falling around them. “Sorry.” He looked up and down the stream. “Once we’ve filled our water bottles we should probably take the chance to get cleaned up. Who knows when we’ll get it again.”

  Reban was still lying on his back in the stream. Leif stood over him and held out his hand. “You okay?”

  Reban made a noise and grabbed the outstretched hand, letting Leif pull him up. His backpack was totally flattened against his spine. He shrugged it off his shoulders. “Well, anything good in here is ruined. But hey, it broke my fall.” His brow creased as he looked around. “Did someone bring the carrier?”

  Jesa finally spoke. Her hands were still shaking as she clutched her crossbow. “I did.” She pointed to the ground behind her.

  Lincoln walked over and gestured to Leif’s hands. “Did it get on you?”

  Leif was already bending to fill his water bottle. He gave a wave. “Just a little. It’s no big deal.”

  Storm stepped over and took his hand in hers, turning it one way then the other, as if to search for a trace of the virus. “You don’t know that.” Almost as soon as she said the words she dropped his hand, then felt horrified with herself. She resisted the temptation to rub her hand fiercely on her trousers.