by Russ Watts
Alex pointed his gun at the doctor and aimed. “Sorry, Doc. Unless you got something to tell me, some information that might really help us, then orders are orders.”
CHAPTER 8
“Cut that shit out right now.”
The voice came from the trees. Alex looked at Karl, puzzled.
“Hold up, soldier,” said Karl. There was uncertainty in his voice. Karl bounded quickly across the rocks to the doctor and Alex. “Watch him.”
“Who’s there?” asked Darius. “Who is it?”
Karl pushed aside some low-hanging leaves and stepped toward the fringe of the jungle. Something was moving inside. He could hear branches being brushed aside. He raised his gun. No more surprises. He wasn’t about to let anyone or anything else get in his way. He wanted vengeance. The heat of the sun was burning his neck and sweat poured down his face, but he kept his gun pointed firmly at the jungle. “Step out here. Hands on your head or you’ll eat a bullet. Now.”
“A local?” asked Darius as he ran up to stand beside Alex. “One of Freddy’s buddies maybe?”
“I don’t think so,” said Max, smiling. He had guessed who had arrived with perfect timing.
As Karl watched, ready to pull the trigger, he saw a figure appear through the vines of the nearest tree. She stumbled into the clearing and looked at the lagoon. “You boys done playing or are you going to help me?”
“Phoenix?” Karl rushed forward to help her. “You look like shit.”
“Thank fuck for that,” said Alex, pleased to see his staff sergeant back.
Darius rushed to help. “We thought you were dead!”
Together, Karl and Darius helped Phoenix to the open rocks close to the doctor.
“What happened to you? We were going to head back in and look for your body,” said Karl. “I thought you were history. We heard the explosion and figured you might have taken that thing out when it got you.”
Phoenix winced as she sat down. “It’s bigger and tougher than us, but that doesn’t mean it’s smarter. I thought I was finished to be fair. But I got away. I’m not sure how. The explosion must’ve scared it away. I might have hurt it, but I didn’t see. It beat me up pretty bad, but after the grenade went off, I blacked out. When I came around, it was gone.”
“Jesus, you are fucked up,” said Darius. “But I’m impressed. You went the full three rounds with that thing, huh?”
Phoenix smiled. Everything hurt. She had been sure that she was finished when the flames had exploded around her. Yet she had suffered no more than a few superficial burns and cuts. Her ribs hurt, and she was going to have some colorful bruises to show off. A tooth had come out and she knew she must look terrible. But she was alive. And now that she had stumbled across her unit, she could resume the operation. She was exhausted but had no intention of giving up now. She had been under pressure before and this was just more of the same. The only difference was the enemy: instead of people shooting at them, they had a hungry dinosaur on their tail.
“Where’s Justin?” asked Phoenix as Karl handed her a bottle of water.
Karl watched Phoenix drink. She looked terrible, but he had to admit he was relieved she was alive. His short-lived command had been long enough. “He didn’t make it,” said Karl. He looked at the placid lagoon. “It looks nice, but I recommend you don’t go for a swim. There’s something in the water.”
“That what all the arguing was about?” Phoenix gulped down the water and wiped her mouth when she was done. “I heard you.”
Karl felt his cheeks flush. “Things got a little crazy. I guess this heat and my frustration at losing Justin clouded my judgement. I thought… well, I don’t really know what I thought. You know we were just messing with the doc. I just wanted to see the old bastard sweat. For Justin, you know? I’m just glad to have you back, Fifi.”
“Sure you are. Now help me up.” Darius and Karl put their arms underneath Phoenix and helped her to stand.
“Justin. I can’t believe it. You said something in the water? Piranhas? Crocodile maybe?” asked Phoenix, looking over at Justin’s body. She could see that something had turned him into sushi. “Or is it alligators in these parts?”
“We’re not really sure what it was. I guess this island has a lot more secrets than we anticipated.”
“Phoenix, are you sure you’re fine? What did that thing do to you?” asked Darius. There were scorch marks all over her uniform and cuts across her arms and face. “Maybe you should let the doc take a look at you.”
“Oh, so now you think he’s worth having around?”
Karl and Darius looked at each other sheepishly. “Look, Phoenix, we were just trying to scare him. We weren’t really going to—”
“Save it. And I expect the chain of command to resume now that you know I’m not dead. So, you can stick to ma’am or sir. It’s Phoenix when we get home and talk this thing out over a cold beer. Got it?”
“Ma’am.” Karl prodded Darius.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Now tell me what happened to Justin while the doc pops my shoulder back in. Then we’re good to go.”
Karl filled Phoenix in on exactly how Justin had died.
“Hold still,” said Max, smiling as Phoenix lay down on the flat rock next to him. “This might hurt.”
“Trust me. I can deal with it. Just stop delaying and—”
Max shoved Phoenix’s shoulder back in and she closed her eyes. She wanted to scream in pain and cry, but she refused to let it beat her. After what she had just been through, it seemed to pale in comparison. Especially after learning what had happened to Justin.
“Thanks.” Phoenix actually did feel a little better. She looked across at Justin’s body.
“You want me to attend to some of those cuts?” asked Max. “I should at least get some disinfectant on them.” He began to rummage in his pack.
“Leave it,” said Phoenix, putting her arm on the doctor’s. “Thanks for the help, but I’ll be fine. We have more pressing matters to deal with. Pack your gear up, Max.”
Max offered a weak smile. “You might have a concussion. I should really check you over. Just to be sure.”
“Forget it.” For a doctor, Phoenix had to admit he didn’t have a very good bedside manner. He said the right things and made the right moves. He knew what he was doing. But there was something missing. Empathy? It felt like he was going through the motions. It was like when she was talking to someone at a party, but their eyes were constantly scanning the room for someone else to talk with. The doctor was like that too, as if his thoughts were elsewhere. She put it down to fear. Seeing Justin die and narrowly escaping a dinosaur attack would be enough to throw anyone off their game.
“And then you appeared. I guess we should wrap Justin up and head back for the beach, right?” asked Karl. “We can probably make some sort of makeshift stretcher out of these vines.”
“No.” Phoenix took Karl’s hand. “Everyone, on your feet and gather round. Justin is staying here. If we can get him on the way back, we will. Of course we will. But there’s no point in carrying him to the peak.”
“The peak?” queried Alex. “We’re still going?”
“Yes, of course. We have a job to do. There are potentially three people out there who are waiting for us, no, relying on us. I’m not abandoning them just because we ran into trouble. This changes nothing. We need to be better prepared and more focused. At least we know a little more about this island and what we’re dealing with. But the operation goes on as long as I’m still standing.” Phoenix looked at Karl. “Clear?”
Karl shrugged. “Sure. As long as we come back for Justin. Alex, Darius, get some of those palm leaves and cover him up, will you? Don’t want him out in the sun all day. We’ll take him back when we’re ready to go.”
Phoenix stared at the lagoon. “You didn’t see it, Karl?”
“None of us did.” As Alex and Darius hid Justin’s body, Karl looked at the doctor. He was standing away from the o
thers, his pack on his shoulders, ready to go and looking at the jungle. “You know, I think we’ve made a big mistake bringing him along.”
Phoenix rubbed her shoulder. “Why?”
“There’s something not right. I don’t like him. He hasn’t done anything per se, but…I don’t know. Maybe I’m just stressed. This damn heat is getting to me.” Karl let out a sigh.
“You’re not in Chicago now, Karl,” said Phoenix. “Is this really any worse than Iraq? That was hotter than hell.”
“Yeah. I guess so. This is different. It’s not real. It’s like we’ve been thrown back in time. I don’t even recognize half of these plants. Look at that tree over there. Purple flowers growing up its trunk. You ever seen anything like that?”
“Can’t say as I have.”
“Dinosaurs and giant fish that eat you? This place isn’t just home to prehistoric creatures, the whole fucking island is prehistoric. Everything. It’s completely untouched. Shit, I know it sounds crazy, but it all feels off. It looks like paradise, but this place is nothing but a diseased shit-pit waiting to kill us all, pick us off one by one.”
“Thanks for the uplifting speech, Karl.” Phoenix let her lips curl into a smile. “We’re not beat yet. We’ve been in worse places than this. Maybe this place is a throwback. Who knows what we’re dealing with. Let’s just get on with finding those three colleagues of Max’s and get out of here.”
Karl whistled. “Alex, Darius, pick your shit up, we’re moving out.” Justin had been covered up beneath a makeshift grave comprised of huge leaves and some dead vines.
“Say, Darius, you manage to get any joy out of that radio?” asked Phoenix as he approached.
“The thing is busted,” responded Darius. “I haven’t really had time to get into it, but I don’t think it’s going to help us any. I’ll have another look as soon as I can.”
“Okay, well keep working on it. Go and make sure the doctor’s ready to go, will you? Karl, go with him. Two minutes, okay?”
Karl nodded and joined Darius.
“Alex, come here.” Phoenix watched Darius and Karl head away and put her arm around the young soldier. “How you doing with all this?”
“I’m fine, sir. I mean, ma’am. Glad you’re with us.”
Phoenix could tell that Alex was lying through his teeth. He was young and full of energy, but he hadn’t served with them for as long as the others. “It’s okay to not be okay sometimes.”
“The doc said something similar. When we left the beach, he said he used to be in the Army. A long time ago. He said this wasn’t a job for soldiers and he was sorry we had to come along, but his company didn’t know what else to do.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he said it was really important that they got their three colleagues home. Vital to their future, he said.”
“Anything else?” asked Phoenix. “Anything else I should know?”
“Well, it sounds crazy, but… but he said that Star Wars sucks.”
“Is that so?” Phoenix raised her eyebrows. “Well, then I guess it’s up to us to educate the old man.”
“All good to go, Staff Sergeant,” announced Karl as he came walking up to them next to the lagoon. Darius and Max trailed behind him. The doctor looked pissed off, and Phoenix suspected that Karl had spoken to him.
“Trouble in paradise, Karl?”
“No, ma’am. Everyone knows their role here. We have a job to do. Darius has our only machete so he’s taking lead.” Karl pointed toward the peak. “We seem to have left the jungle behind us. The land is rocky and dangerous, so we’re going to have to watch where we step, but at least we’re on open ground now.”
“Then let’s roll,” said Phoenix. “I want to make higher ground within the hour and figure this out. I want everyone watching for signs of that dinosaur. No more surprise attacks. If we see it again, I want everybody ready.”
Darius began to march uphill, over the flat rocks and onto the hill that would eventually lead to the peak. The volcanic ground was hard and brittle, a complete contrast to the dense, lush, jungle. The sun was all over them like a rash, and there was no protection from it out in the open. The heat swarmed around them, bringing irritating flies and thirst.
“Alex, let me take your pack.” Phoenix realized suddenly that she had nothing. She had lost everything fighting the dinosaur and all the others were still weighed down by their packs. They all had guns too, while Darius had the machete and Karl still had his grenades.
“It’s okay, I’ll be fine.” Alex wiped the sweat from his brow. “I just want to get on with it now.”
“That wasn’t a question, Private. You can keep your weapon, just give me your pack.”
Alex slipped it off his shoulders and Phoenix slung it over her back.
“Don’t forget to keep a look out for any sign of our survivors,” said Phoenix as they marched uphill. “Any clue as to their whereabouts.”
The barren hillside almost made her wish for the jungle. The heat of the sun seemed to hit the ground and rebound up into her face. It was like walking through a sauna fully clothed. The trees had thinned out and were shorter here, as if the sun had made them wilt and stunted their growth. Patches of grass grew sporadically, but it was more like burnt stubble than grass. She looked up at the island’s central peak. It was probably another two hundred feet up and the top of it appeared to be completely barren. They didn’t need to reach the highest part though, just get high enough that they could get some sense of where they were and look for the survivors. She wanted more than ever to find them now. It would give Justin’s death some meaning.
Phoenix looked around. The ocean in the distance was becoming visible through the sparse trees and bushes. It was shimmering under the sun, the calm water looking so cool and inviting that it only made the oppressive heat feel worse. Behind her, the jungle was also becoming clearer. It stretched a long way around the island before petering out into white sandy beaches and coves. It was clear now why there was no resort, why no one from Freddy’s village had set up home here. Maybe his ancestors had lived here once but that was a long time ago.
Phoenix was conscious too of getting back before sundown. They still had plenty of time, but that didn’t make her feel any easier. After discovering the bone earlier, there was a possibility they were looking for ghosts. What if Tobias, Jane, and Ricardo were all dead? What if they were just wasting their time?
“Ma’am, I think I see something.” Darius had stopped and was pointing to what appeared to be a huge pile of dung.
“Nice one, Darius,” said Karl, “you just found the eighth wonder of the world. Dinosaur shit. Congratulations, you’ll be a very rich man. Now perhaps we can get on with—”
“Hold up.” Phoenix looked at it. The mound of dung had to be three feet across and was swarming with a thousand flies. There was almost no breeze up on the hillside, and the smell had been masked by two trees close by adorned with white flowers that gave off a musky smell.
“It’s not the shit I’m interested in,” said Darius. “Look there. It looks like there’s something in it.”
Phoenix spotted what Darius had seen and her hopes rose. “This could be another clue as to where we should be headed.”
“Alex, fish that out,” said Karl, finally seeing what it was that Darius had seen. There was a silver piece of metal sticking out of the center of the manure with what appeared to be blood on it. There was a scrap of cloth on it too, but it was covered in brown sticky gunk. They needed to see what it was and who it belonged to.
“Why me? Darius found it.”
“Yeah and I outrank you,” said Darius smiling, “so get on your hands and knees, and get digging through that shit.”
Alex rolled up his sleeves and dropped to his knees. There was no way of reaching the metal without getting dirty. “Man, this smells so bad,” he said as began to crawl into the dinosaur manure.
“Anyone bring a camera?” laughed Darius. “Man, this is priceless.
Alex, you should be honored. We let you be the first man on the planet to crawl through dino shit and—”
A rumbling roar that rolled across the hill stopped the banter and Alex paused. The roar echoed across the jungle, and Phoenix looked across the treetops for its source. A couple of birds wheeled far away out to coast, but the island remained still.
A slight tremor ran up her leg and she looked at Alex. She knew what it meant. The vibrations running through the ground were a warning. “Hurry it up, Alex. Something big’s coming.”
CHAPTER 9
“Jesus, you smell bad. Get away from me, Alex. Toss that thing at my feet and find something to wipe yourself down with. Fuck.”
Alex dropped the object he had plucked from the steaming pile of manure and removed his shirt. He found some dry leaves on the ground to wipe himself off with as the others examined what he’d found.
“Someone’s going to have to clean it up so we can get a better look at it.” Karl looked at Darius expectantly.
“I ain’t touching it. You could catch anything.”
Karl turned to Max. “Doctor? Care to do the honors?”
Max was already pulling on a pair of medical rubber gloves from his pack and bending down to the object. “Feces can contain enteric pathogens and bacteria that you really don’t want to get into close contact with. Truly, you could catch something very nasty off this shit. Literally.”
“Now he tells us,” muttered Alex as he poured his bottled water over his arms and began scrubbing.
“Parasites and organisms live in the gut. Quite what would be present in a dinosaur’s gut, I’m not sure. I guess we are all assuming this must be from our friend we ran into earlier?” Max looked at Phoenix and she nodded. Max wiped the object in his hands and turned it over. As it became cleaner, he was surprised to find it was a tablet. “Pass me one of those sterile wipes, will you? They’re in the side pocket of my pack.”
Karl grabbed them and handed them carefully to the doctor. Max rubbed the tablet clean as best he could and then handed it to Phoenix. Max stood up and discarded his gloves. “That’s a Nexus 10X. They were issued to all our employees. I have one myself.” Max sighed. “It has to belong to—”
