The Valley of Tooth & Claw

by Chris McInally

  Even so, it wasn’t all necessarily down to the Scotsman’s physical prowess. Fear had a lot to do with it too. His progress was hastened by a distant rumbling to his rear. The ominous sound kept the mercenary very much on edge; his anxiety only made worse by the less-than-subtle reverberations he felt at his feet from time to time. Going by the commotion, whatever was causing it was big. Very big. What’s more, Campbell had the sneaking suspicion that it was hot on his trail… whatever it was. In this lost world it could be almost anything. Yet, as concerning as this was for him, Elias’ thoughts were soon redirected elsewhere on account of a much more immediate threat.

  A split-second after stumbling his way to the marshland’s edge, Campbell stopped dead. Like the Tin Man without his oil, he seized up. Yet, it wasn’t the splendor of the rich, tropical scenery that rendered Elias immobile. Rather, it was a pair of butter-yellow eyes. The orbs appeared to hover amidst the partition of wisp-like reeds off to his left, where the swamp fused with the last vestiges of the rainforest.

  All but frozen now, it took Campbell a couple of seconds to realize he was holding his breath. Stunned, and not to mention unnerved, by the sight awaiting him, the big Scot had quite literally forgotten to breathe. It wasn’t long before the man’s lungs began to burn in protest, the uncomfortable sensation forcing him to draw in a desperate and rasping lungful of air. This sudden action caused the owner of the golden spheres lingering just yonder to stir. If it hadn’t been alerted to his presence beforehand, it certainly was now.

  Slow and sinuous, a sleek and predatory profile proceeded to puncture the wall of grass, the apparition revealing itself in greater detail to the mercenary. Head dipped low, the quadrupedal figure stepped forward, its big, rounded paws at the end of short but powerful legs splashing subtly as it plodded through the still pools beneath it.

  Run! Elias’ mind screamed. Yet, for whatever reason, his legs would not obey.

  A pair of shoulders, high and pointed, rose and fell rhythmically with each step, the smooth-coated predator creeping forward all the while. The late-afternoon sun caused its golden hide to sheen, the sight both majestic and haunting. For a moment or two, the Scotsman thought he was staring at a jaguar as his eyes trailed over the animal’s golden coat, mottled as it was with distinct circular charcoal markings. This opinion quickly changed however when he noticed one unusual (and admittedly rather prominent) anatomical feature.

  Staring determinedly at the stalled merc, the felid’s rubbery black lips curled back slowly. This simple act allowed Campbell an unencumbered view of its trademark dentition. Elias felt his stomach tighten at the sight of the glistening pair of incisors extending away from the animal’s top jaw. Oversized and sword-like, the ivory fangs were framed by pink gums, the latter wet and shiny. The Scot may not have been a paleontologist, but he certainly knew what kind of animal he was looking at: it was a sabre-toothed cat.

  And it was headed straight for him.

  #

  An apex predator if ever there was one, Smilodon populator once reigned supreme over the Americas during the Pleistocene era, some two-and-a-half million years ago. Now its handful of descendants, like that of several other prehistoric beasts from various epochs, were confined to the extraordinary and seemingly impossible ecological niche that was Javari Valley.

  At over two meters long and weighing in at close to four hundred kilograms, the young male bearing down on Campbell was an impressive specimen. And despite measuring a little smaller than a modern-day lion, the Smilodon was much heavier than the former, a fact emphasized by its decidedly stocky and imposing frame˗ all four hundred pounds of it.

  Moving in for the kill, a low and guttural hiss escaped the cat’s throat, the sound ragged and full of malice. Eyes narrowing, the stoic feline focused in on its quarry, the animal’s bobbed tail twitching feverishly with anticipation. Watching the bipedal creature closely, the Smilodon began to salivate at the prospect of such an easy meal, a single tendril of drool falling away from its parted jaws.

  #

  Campbell watched in horror as the muscles beneath the big cat’s coat twitched with each graceful movement. Next, ears pinned back against its broad, rounded skull, the feline let loose with a savage snarl that chilled the man’s blood. This cry quickly morphed into a terrifying roar; the beast’s stubby jaws splitting wide as the heinous shriek issued forth!

  Elias’ pulse quickened on cue, fear infiltrating his veins as he found himself unable to tear his gaze from the creature’s spear-like teeth. Campbell thought he’d seen it all back at the convoy during their encounter with the raptors, but the man now knew he was mistaken. So horribly mistaken. This jungle contained other creatures just as terrifying and deadly as the raptors… if not more so.

  “That’s one big pussy,” Campbell heard himself say stupidly.

  The fiend continued to inch forward, the look in its molten-gold eyes one of determination and hunger. Suddenly, the sabretooth tensed. Then, leaning back on its haunches, the prehistoric brute prepared to pounce. Elias barely had time to blink. Lightning-quick, the would-be killer launched itself into the air, seemingly unencumbered by its hefty frame. Still, before the carnivore could accomplish its murderous task, something unexpected happened. Or rather, several things happened all at once˗ all of them swift and very much unexpected.

  First, the ground shook violently. In that moment, the rainforest appeared to be gripped by aftershocks. So strong were they that the tremors managed to penetrate the swamp yonder, causing its glass-like surface to ripple. Even so, transfixed as he was by the monster before him, Elias barely registered this fact. Still, what came next he was unable to ignore.

  A roar, monstrous and mighty, ripped through the humid air. Almost in unison, the jade arras to Campbell’s left seemed to erupt in a flameless explosion as something enormous punched its way out of it! The resulting storm of leaves and branches swirled momentarily, like a plague of locusts, before parting to reveal a massive, bared, burgundy maw; the yawning mouth lined top and bottom with curved, banana-shaped fangs! To Elias’ horror, the scimitar-like teeth shone in the daylight. Slick with bacteria-ridden saliva, this only added to the already frightening display.

  By this point the Smilodon was mid-flight. Gliding through the air, claws at the ready and its maw hyperextended, the feline didn’t stand a chance. It was completely blind-sided by the new arrival. In the end, the pinched, rough-skinned snout bursting forth from the jungle depths caught the sabretooth mid-lunge! Teeth clamping down around the felid’s furry frame, blood gushed as bowed fangs pierced its supple flesh. Unable to escape, the Smilodon could only jerk momentarily before giving a pathetic yelp. In what couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, the cat went limp in the larger beast’s jaws, the life escaping it.

  Despite his front-row seat to the carnage, Campbell struggled to actually comprehend it all. Indeed, the scene unfolding before Elias was utterly surreal. There was no other word for it. How else could one possibly describe it? Still unable to rouse himself from his awe-induced stupor, Campbell watched as the new˗ and much larger˗ beast marched triumphantly out into the open. Elias felt his body begin to tremble at the sight of it, the sensation starting at his core and radiating out toward his extremities. The horror invoked by the carnivore’s presence was almost unimaginable. Possessed of a fearsome majesty, the beast towered over the much smaller figure of Campbell. A reptile of utterly titanic proportions, to him (in that instant at least) it was a demi-god made flesh.

  Held aloft on a pair of powerful, three-toed limbs with a long swaying, tapered tail to balance its horizontally-positioned body, the dinosaur stalked forward, mutilated quarry still held tight in its fanged jaws. Campbell’s first thought was T-Rex. After all, the titan possessed the trademark vestigial (and thus virtually useless) forelimbs characteristic of said species. Elias soon changed his mind however when he noted the pair of bull-like horns jutting forth from the beast’s head, the protrusions situated just above its crag-lik
e eyebrows.

  If Professor Trentham had been there with him, he would have told Campbell he was looking at a specimen of Carnotaurus sastrei; an impressive name with an even more impressive meaning: ‘flesh-eating bull’. Indeed, its horns weren’t the only feature the species shared with its bovine namesake either. Its neck was thick and muscular too, much like a prize angus, only magnified five-fold. Still, as far as he could tell, the resemblances ended there.

  Much different to any kind of cattle, the Carnotaurus’ hide was a mosaic of granite-like osteoderms. Rough and raised, the stony scales ran virtually every inch of its impressive thirty-foot length. The monster had the appearance of having been chiseled from rock by some celestial artisan. Added to this, whilst its underbelly was a pale crème color, the remainder of the dinosaur’s hide was a solid burgundy. Although, that being said, the carnivore possessed a series of black tiger-like stripes that ran the length of its barreled torso, eventually terminating at the base of its long tail.

  Working its jaws, the goliath chewed away on its meal relatively absentmindedly, the vague suggestion of a dewlap that ran along its chin wobbling with each eager bite. In fact, occupied with its meal, it was almost as if the beast was unaware of Campbell’s presence. After all, a human barely pays attention to an insect. So, why then would a dinosaur of all things pay attention to a human; to such a seemingly measly prize?

  Wrong.

  The carnivore pivoted on the spot, its powerful tail swaying behind it. The swamp’s green-blue waters sloshed beneath the huge figure, small waves fanning out from the reptile’s position. The dinosaur proceeded to scan its surroundings curiously, the animal’s trunkish neck slowly swinging in Elias’ direction.

  “No, no, no…” Campbell whimpered, willing it to look elsewhere.

  A second later the Carnotaurus finally spotted Elias. Eying him off, it finished the last of its meal. Swallowing loudly, the muscles in its broad, leathery throat worked visibly, forcing the sabretooth’s remains down into its gullet and towards the fiend’s waiting stomach. With this, the theropod’s yellow-orange eyes turned to slits, the monster scrutinizing the frightened human in its midst. A low grumbling sound followed, beginning somewhere in the back of its cavernous throat. Next, its lips began to recede, slow and subtle, once more putting its steak-knife-like teeth on display.

  “Fuck…” Elias stared at the monster, bug-eyed.

  A chill trailed Campbell’s spine then. He knew exactly what the scaly beast was thinking. After all, its expression told him everything he needed to know˗ it was still hungry. What’s more, he was on the menu. Actually, he may as well have been the chef’s fucking special.

  Elias didn’t wait around. Instead, he simply turned and ran. Plunging awkwardly into the swamp, he did his best to cut through the knee-high water as fast as he could. Racing for the opposite side of the marshland, Campbell hoped to disappear into the jungle over there and make his escape amidst the nest of seemingly boundless vegetation. Behind him, the Carnotaurus darted after the fleeing mercenary like a fox on a spring lamb. Each thundering step from the goliath sent up a crystalline geyser beneath it, the killer lifting its horned head high and roaring animatedly all the while.

  “Shit!” Campbell cursed, peeking over his shoulder at the oncoming brute.

  It was closing on him and fast. Too fast. On top of this, slowed by the water just below his knees, Elias quickly realized there was little chance of him outrunning the rampaging dinosaur. It may have been big and bulky, but that didn’t mean it was slow. On the other hand, each step for Campbell was a struggle in itself. For him, trying to get through the swamp was like wading through quicksand, its muddy bed shifting beneath his boots. Or at least that’s how it felt to him in his panicked state. It was time for a new tact, Elias quickly decided. But what?

  Then, out of the blue, something came to him.

  Pulling at his rucksack, Campbell swung the satchel around in front of him. In one fluid motion he stowed away his G36, albeit leaving the weapon’s jet-black stock to poke out the top, if only on account of its size. Elias knew he needed something with a little more clout if he was going to get this behemoth off his back. Pressing the knapsack against his chest, Campbell rummaged hurriedly through its contents, searching desperately for something he could use against the theropod. Then his fingers wrapped around just the thing he was looking for.

  “Gotcha!” Elias crowed, removing the cylindrical object from its plastic casing.

  Spinning on the spot, Campbell released the grenade’s arming pin, only to be confronted by a most frightening vision. The killer was virtually on top of him, its massive frame only feet from his own! In fact, it was damn-near set to swallow him. The Carnotaurus’ jaws sprang open, the fanged orifice rushing towards the waiting mercenary at break-neck speed! Its breath washed over him, the rotten stench almost overwhelming. A menacing visage of rows of yellowed tusks framing a cavernous gullet high and low, the walls of which were slick with a sheening coat of salivate, assailed him.

  “Shut it, you mouthy prick!” Elias bawled before tossing the grenade.

  Then quickly cutting to the side, Campbell splashed down into the blue-green water, holding his rucksack high in an attempt to keep it and, more importantly, its precious contents dry. Somewhat distracted with this, he didn’t see the grenade disappear into the reptile’s mouth. He did however hear the empty whump! as the carnivore’s mighty jaws snapped shut on thin air. Well, not just thin air.

  Before the goliath could swallow, the flashbang detonated. Trapped inside the beast’s huge maw, the expected blinding flash was barely visible. Instead, only a few bursts of light managed to seep through the gaps in the dinosaur’s clenched teeth. The thunderous bang! however was much more noticeable. Like a depth-charge, the detonation, although slightly subdued in terms of noise, was by no means non-existent. It sounded nonetheless, and with it, the Carnotaurus screamed, unleashing a shriek of unadulterated agony! The creature’s confident roar from before was gone, replaced by a high-pitched and decidedly agonizing screech.

  Elias twisted in the water to look at the wounded brute. Propping the rucksack along his broad chest, which was only just above the waterline, the man was still desperate to keep it as dry as possible. With the monster’s deadly advance stalled, the hulking reptile staggered drunkenly, moving left then right, evidently overcome with pain. Its head and neck thrashed wildly as it continued to cry out, mewling frenziedly at the same time. Blood lined its eyelids and poured from its stony nostrils; the predator’s insides evidently damaged by the flashbang. Then it seemed to seize up.

  Save for a few subtle twitches, the Carnotaurus stood stock-still for a moment. Unsure of what was happening, Campbell simply watched as the creature’s eyes closed over. Next, pitching forward, the theropod proceeded to fall like a tired redwood, its gigantic frame set to crush Campbell right where he lay!

  “Christ!” Elias gasped.

  Legs splayed wide and gripping the rucksack’s top loop between his teeth now, he began to crab-walk backwards through the water, kicking up a fizzling froth in his wake. All the while, the injured titan plummeted back to earth like a scaly avalanche set to flatten him. Bearing down on the commander, the beast’s monstrous shadow swept over Campbell akin to a black mist. It was mere feet from him now, its huge profile going as far as to block his view of the sun. Still, Campbell kept kicking, scrambling to escape what was surely his impending doom.

  It’s almost on me! screamed a voice in his head. Just a few more seconds and I’m done for! the same voice told him.

  Like a frightened child, Elias closed his eyes, still clumsily rushing aftwards at the same time. Fearing his luck had run out, he waited for the inevitable impact that would extinguish his very existence. Campbell never thought it would end like this. After all, who expects to be crushed by a dinosaur? Maybe a heroic last stand; a blaze of glory; but not a fucking dinosaur. Seriously?

  The subsequent sensation was much different to what the
Scotsman imagined it would be. For what was little more than a flash in the pan, his body was overcome not by pain but with a biting cold, almost as if he was being pricked by a thousand needles all at once. Added to this, Campbell’s ears registered a harsh, near deafening craaack! followed by a familiar sizzling sound. Somewhere in amongst all this, he felt the waters of the swamp shift around him.

  When the merc finally opened his eyes, he found the tip of the Carnotaurus’ bloodied snout positioned between his splayed ankles. He couldn’t tell if the animal was breathing. To be honest, a big part of him didn’t really want to know. Quite simply, Elias just hoped it was dead. The commander was drenched; his clothes soaked through all the way down to the skin. The noise Campbell had heard before was the beast impacting with the swamp’s surface and the resulting wave of swamp water hitting him was the peculiar sensation he remembered.

  Drenched, beads of liquid fell in ones and twos from the tip of his nose, while others travelled down his brow and cheeks in tiny streams. Elias sat for several minutes like this, just watching the immobile figure of the collapsed theropod, both too afraid to move and stunned that he had survived his encounter with it.

  I’ve got to get out of here! Campbell told himself.

  Elias found once more that he couldn’t move though. Only this time it wasn’t fear that held him in place. Instead it was relief; relief that he was alive. He was savoring the moment. Slowly however, the shock of Campbell’s near-fatal ordeal began to wear off, and with this, his body could relax. Only then was Elias able to appreciate he had been lost in a daze of sorts.

  I need to get up… he told himself. Gotta keep moving… find the others… before it’s too late.