“We already ate...” he laughed, “... A bit chewy, but they taste more beefy, than like chicken.”
Armondo chuckled and told the gang he had found many varieties of herbs growing wild on the ledge and below near the creek.
Of course there was some hesitation as everyone sat and looked at the ‘steak’ on their plates. However the smell was intoxicating, and one by one, each took a bite, chewed and then swallowed. Beaming smiles broke out among the diners.
That night the amazing Armondo would never again be questioned on his culinary abilities. After dinner Jim stood and raised his glass of water and turned to Armondo.
“Here’s to the first “Iron Chef, Prehistoric!” The cheers, applause, and congratulations, lasted for quite a while as Armondo took his bows.
However as the night wore on and the survivors retired, worried thoughts ran through their heads. In the morning the men would leave on their journey of unknown duration. All the gear for the morning had already been laid out near the door of the cave. The topic was avoided by the miners as all could see the women were extremely worried about their loves.
Slowly the personal LED lights went out around the cave and the two pairs of lovers retired. This night brought no moans of pleasure as the four lovers spent the night in quiet embraces. The men cuddled within the arms of their women and silently planned for the upcoming day. The women fought the fears that this could well be the last night in the arms of their new loves.
Sleep eventually overcame all, fitful to be sure, but at this point some sleep was better than none... And the morrow would bring the need to be fully alert.
Dawn broke far too soon for the women and the six men prepared to leave. It seemed that somehow, six was the now usual number of people, that went out in parties. Without realizing it, six was the number of people that could easily fit into the lift along with whatever supplies they carried. Once again six were leaving.
As everyone waved, the lift slowly lowered down the face of the cliff. Tearful good-bys had been said in private, but now as the cage lowered the two women stood wrapped in each other’s arms. Tears streamed from their eyes. It wasn’t easy expecting the worst and hoping for the best.
Marcy shouted down to Will. “Dammit Will you’d better come back to me, or I’ll kill you!”
Jim’s shout from below rang out. “I’ll bring him back Marcy, you’d probably kill me if I didn’t.”
“You got that shit right mister...” she couldn’t say more as a big sob stuck in her throat.
Marti shouted down, “All of you bring each other back... Jim I...I...” Marti wept and laid her head on Marcy’s shoulder...
From below came a shout from Jim. “I love you too... I...” but no more could be heard over the roar of the small dozer engine as it backed toward the ledge and stopped. The girls knew this meant the cage was on the ground.
From this point forward, there would always be at least one person standing watch in case the party returned unexpectedly. Even a small, corrugated shack was hastily erected so someone could stand watch during the night. Everyone staying knew this could well be the last time they saw any of the men leaving, alive.
Everyone left on the ledge got to their knees and crawled to the edge and waved.
The six men had put their packs on their backs and picked up the weapons and now were heading west along the cliff face.
The cliff face appeared to go west for miles to the gap they had seen from the ledge. Many car-sized boulders were scattered about for cover until the party reached the jungle; near where the mountains formed a few mile wide gap. As the explorers neared the gap, they noticed the ground raised upward toward what appeared to be a ridge that separated their valley from the west valley. There were signs that paths had been traveled through the now encroaching jungle and large bamboo groves. There was even signs that the last flood had spilled over into the west valley and the swamps that could be seen in the distance. It all made sense, lower valley, the high water floods kept the swamps supplied with the water they caught glimpses of.
The gap itself was several miles long as well as two miles wide and the mountains to either side arose to heights that reached the clouds.
Now at the gap that led into the valley beyond, was the survivors last hope of finding an easy way down, that is if they ever returned. Hearing the roars and sounds from the heavily treed jungle and swamps to the west, made the idea of climbing down the one thousand foot cliff near the cave more appealing with every step.
Within a few brief minutes, the somewhat older Jesus caught up to the men and after a brief argument, the six...became seven.
This was a valley of wonders and death, and now the men were going to go deeper into it.
Chapter 8.
The exploration party of seven slowly moved along the rocky creek bed and stuck to the cliff face as it slowly turned northwest, then back to the west as they came within a half mile of the western swampy areas.
The area near the cliffs spread outward as landslides had fallen here and there making for extremely difficult walking. The guys finally decided the jungle edge was a easier and safer route moved toward the greenery along the fringe of the jungle at the southern side of the gap.
The rocky creek, which at this point was mostly without water. Well past the waterfall, the rocks had gotten smaller and now they trudged through a dried muddy-sand like substance that drove them even closer to the jungle for easier walking.
After several hours, the party neared where the mountains on either side of the valley closed to a point barely two miles apart. Now the dark green jungle closed in around them. Sounds of grunts, roars and an occasional unknown scream would pierce the sounds of their footsteps. There were plenty of trails of all sizes and this worried them. Things that were huge had worn away the jungle vegetation and fears that whatever had made the trails might return... or worse yet, catch their scent.
Spider poked through the dense overgrowth and poked his head around and waved the guys to follow. Slowly they squeezed through the closely packed bamboo stalks until they found Spider standing on a trail that was barely a foot wide. Spider grinned at the guys as they popped out onto the trial he’d found.
“Senors, this heads in the same direction we’re headed and it’s too small for one of those Raptors to have made. It’s a game trail all right, but...” he shrugged.
Will nodded, “Well, whatever made it, it has to be smaller than anything we’ve seen yet.”
“Yeah, not to mention it’s deep in this bamboo field. We should be able to hear any big things moving along any of the wider trails... Good job Spider.”
From there on Spider led, carrying one crossbow. He was followed by Rocky who carried the flamethrower. Then came Amal, one of the supply bearers, Jim with another bow, and Will who carried the other large backpack of supplies. The second miner Jesus carried more supplies and Bill brought up the rear and covered their backs with the third bow. Plans to scatter to each side of the trail were made in case they were attacked. This way, hopefully, only one group would have to flee. It also gave them a way to defend the others on the other side, if possible.
Through the narrow path they proceeded...carefully. The problem that faced Jim was, should they move fast and cover as much ground as they could, or maybe take it slow and safe? Safe would mean another risky trek back to cover what areas they missed this time around. There was some discussion, but a loud roar, quickly made up their minds. They would gain nothing by going slow, as the chance they could wind up dinner for some nasty beast that caught them from behind.
Now moving at a normal pace, the mile of bamboo field began to thin as the jungle slowly began to sweep back in on the small party once more.
Spider froze and held up his hand... He put his finger to his lips. Slowly Spider slid into the lush undergrowth... Minutes passed, and then Spider’s arm poked through the leafy greenery and motioned for them to join him. The men slowly moved through the undergrowth to step out in
to neck high grass. Slowly Spider led them along a path he had obviously made minutes before. He dropped to his hands and knees and the guys followed suit. The grass became shorter and shorter until the men crawled out on to a ledge about two hundred feet above the western area they were seeking.
Beyond lay something that looked to be out of some old science-fiction movie. Miles of swampland and more jungles, with tall trees that reached for the skies above, were scattered here and there. From the trees draped ribbons of a Spanish moss like material, and walking among the trees were a multitude of varied species of dinosaurs. Huge ones, small ones, all waded in the varied depths of the murky swamp water. Dinosaurs with ‘duck bills’ or ‘long necks’ waded about the swamp. Some dunked their heads into the dark waters and came up with huge mouthfuls of vegetation, while others pulled branches form the high trees. There on the many scattered landmasses other familiar looking dinosaurs roamed... and a few the guys had never seen. Unfortunately the jungles were far too dense to see what creatures stalked in them.
Jim moved to a sitting position and just tried to take in the miles upon miles of scenery he was seeing. It obviously gently slopped to the west or their vision would have been blocked from the high trees. This valley seemed to be nearly twice the size of their valley... But then Jim knew they hadn’t explored that one either. He stared at the creatures in the distance.
“My God! A paleontologists dream... Christ, there are some dinosaurs here I never have seen in the books. Look at the variety! There’s dinosaurs from just about every prehistoric age...”
Will moved closer to Jim and sat as the rest did the same.
“Offhand I’d say we have some sort of evolutional hodge-podge of breeding.”
Bill sat next to Jim and laughed, “And I know a bunch of idiots that are going down there.”
Rocky, one of the miners to join the party for this trip had at times acted as an assistant to Marti crawled behind Jim and squatted. He chuckled quietly and in his heavy Scottish accent muttered, “My God man, Marti would have a field day... Look!” He pointed at one of the cliff faces toward the south. Even at a mile away, the many-colored stratum gave proof that this entire area had, at one time in the distant past, violently shot upward as the mountains formed.
“She taught me a lot about minerals and the different colors...” Rocky just gawked at the cliff, “Wow!”
Spider already had found a path downward to the south and he, with Bill in the lead, Will and the other miners, slowly picked their way down the narrow, treacherous path. It was so narrow, the men had to remove their backpacks and unsling their weapons, just to be able to move along it. The path wove its way down the cliff face and now the guys moved directly where Rocky and Jim sat. As the rest moved further down, Bill stopped and pulled a bolt from his homemade quiver, stood on his tiptoes, and poked the bottom of Jim’s foot with it.
“Hey you two coming or what?”
Jim laid down on his side, feet still dangling and laughed.
“Naw we kind of like the view from up here... don’t we Roc...” Jim turned his head as he felt something pass behind him... Just in time to see the lower half of Rocky slowly tumble to the ground. Towering above him was something of a cross of a huge Raptor and a small T-rex. It threw its head backward and gulped down what was once most of Rocky. As it lowered its head and looked at Jim, it snapped up the rest of Rocky in one bite. It swallowed the remains as Jim looked in horror into its cold deadly eyes.
As this beast’s head swung downward at him, Jim just slid over the two hundred foot cliff without thinking. Such was his fear of winding up like their companion. Once over the cliff, it dawned on the pilot, that perhaps this wasn’t one of his better ideas.
Hands reached out, grabbed Jim, and roughly pulled him inward to the rocky path as he tumbled sideways with Bill and Jesus hanging on to him. No sooner had he hit the path, Bill tumbled sideways and fell. With the only hand Jim had available, he reached out and grasped Bill as he fell away from him and the cliff. There was a jerk, and then Jim was pulled over the ledge by Bill’s falling weight. Jim was about to shout something, when he felt several hands grasp on to him and the pair of free-fallers landed on the slightly wider ledge below.
“Holy shit guys, try walking down from now on.” Will laughed. “Where’s Rocky?”
Bill looked over to his boss. “Rocky didn’t fall did he? Was that why...”
Jim pointed upward as several small rocks fell past the men. There looking down was this new beast and by the massive amount of blood on its jaws and teeth, Jim needn’t have said more.
“I don’t think it can come down here, the ledge is far too narrow. On the other hand let’s get moving just in case it tries and falls. I sure as hell don’t want to be under that bastard if it does.”
Jesus looked at Jim and in his right hand was the bow and Rocky’s backpack. Jim hadn’t realized he had instinctively grabbed the gear as he slid over the ledge, Jesus just grinned. This man they had chosen to be their leader had good instincts.
The men hurried along the ledge as it moved back southward and out from under the deadly beast that had snuck up on them. Jim kept looking back at this creature on the ledge as they worked their way down and around the cliffs toward the swampy terrain below.
“That fucking thing is watching us all the way...look.”
Will frowned nervously, “You don’t think it knows another way down do ya?”
“Christ I hope not!” Spider shouted back as he crossed himself quickly.
But all the men knew better. The two-mile gap that existed between the mountains were covered with jungle and not all of it was cliff face. That meant further north there were other ways into this valley. On the other hand, the men knew this meant they would not have to return this same way and chance running into what killed Rocky. One thing kept Jim from grieving about Rocky was the horrible knowledge that if there was one of these things, there were most likely more.
He had a quick glance of that deadly thing they left behind. It was about half the size of old Rex, but twice as fast... it had to be. That creature covered the thirty yards or so to Rocky extremely fast and scarier yet, without a sound.
He wondered what awaited them below... and they were almost to the valley floor.
There was much relief as the party looked back to see the beast walking off, still atop the cliff and apparently no longer had an interest in the men so far out of its reach.
They doubted the bows would have any effect on something that big, it was still nice to be able to once again carry their weapons pointing in all directions. Other than perhaps the flamethrower, Jim hoped this wouldn’t give them false hope. As he moved along the line of the six other men, Jim whispered to each, not to let their guard down. He nodded toward the huge plant-eating dinosaurs in the distance.
“Just because they are eating plants, guys... remember they still might try to defend their territory.”
Will grinned nervously, “Not to mention what would happen to us in a dinosaur stampede.”
With that everyone began to walk a bit softer and watched where they stepped, but as they neared the huge long-necked creatures, they realized they wouldn’t be heard by the sloshing behemoths. Bill walked up to Will and nodded toward a pod of dinosaurs.
“They don’t look like Brontosaurs, or...”
Will chuckled, “Easy Bill you’ll wreck you brain trying to guess what species any of these things are. Christ imagine the eons of mixed breeding that might have occurred with a limited population. Or just evolutionary change that might have taken place. This valley could have been raised tens...no, hundreds of millions of years ago. This is a valley of lost Bill, lost to evolution, lost to changing influences from the outside.”
He ginned as Jim began walking next to the pair and added.
“While the rest of the world was evolving...so was this valley in its own way guys. Slower perhaps, but still there had to be some sort of evolution going on here... Christ look
at the variations.” Jim sighed as he scanned the distant creatures in awe.
“I hate to admit it, but Will’s right. There’s no telling what we could find. Hell, we already saw those freakish monster bats and that thing that got Rocky. Everything in this valley kept on living while their counterparts in the world below died out. Evolution continued up here... Christ those long-necked fuckers could be omnivorous and decide to have us for lunch along with all that salad they’re putting away, we just can’t be for sure.”
Suddenly all eyes turned to the ‘as far as the eye could see’ swamp and the denizens within. The guys all looked at the creatures in a brand new light and Jim now wished he hadn’t said what he did.
Spider held up his hand and they all gathered around their scout.
“We’ve wandered away from the cliffs guys. It’s hard to judge with these stupid misty clouds, but it has to be late afternoon. We need to locate some cliffs and find a ledge or something high.”
Amal pointed to one of the redwood-sized trees in the distance. “How about climbing one of those, we have ropes and we...” About that time one of the long-necked dinosaurs strolled over and took a hefty bite out of one of the higher limbs. It snapped off and the longneck chewed on it as smaller limbs fell to the ground. The entire tree had jerked violently!
“...on second thought a cliff would be great...” he muttered softly.
A few muffled laughs later the party headed southward once again to find the cliffs and within twenty minutes of walking they saw them... miles away from where they were presently at. To make matters worse, there was only thick jungle between them and the cliffs they so had hoped to sleep upon.
“Well, that tears it...” Jim snorted, “...We’ll never make it by sundown. Granted the bats would not likely find us under this canopy, but who knows what else is...” he didn’t have to finish, they all knew what he implied.
After nearly another hour the party came across more swamp, but this time it was different. There were no creatures of any kind. In the middle of this new swamp was a small island with a Redwood-sized tree that had broken at the base and laid over into the water at the far end. All around the island, water seemed to boil as steam poured from other tiny steaming pieces of land that protruded from the murky waters.
Valley of Lost Time. Page 8
