Dinosaur Lake 3: Infestation (19 page)

A rock hit the windshield in front of Henry’s face.
Then another and another. THEY WERE THROWING THINGS AT THEM. MAKESHIFT WEAPONS!
It took innate intelligence, at least on a certain level, to do that. He kept
shooting through the open window, fending off the advance as best he could.
They kept coming.

Someone was screaming. Ann.

Henry stole a glance behind him and saw Ranger
Stanton and Kiley firing their weapons through shattered windows into the mob.

The bullets weren’t stopping the dinosaurs. There
were too many of them. They kept coming. More and more swarming in from the
woods, from under the foliage and behind the trees. Henry looked up. There was one
beast at least twenty feet tall loping towards them, death in its eyes. Claws
outstretched.

That’s it!
We have to get the hell out of here.

Henry pushed down harder on the gas pedal and the
car surged forward, covered in a mass of clinging, clawing dinosaurs. Dinosaurs
grabbing and biting at them as they were dragged along the road. He heard
Stanton’s car engine reeving up. They were following.

“We have to make it to headquarters!” he yelled at
Ann. “Hold on!” He gunned the gas harder, rocketed ahead for a while, until the
car hit something in the road, a limb or a dinosaur body, and flew into the
air.

Oh, God! They were going to crash!

The jeep rose into the air and spun around, coming
down precariously on its wheels, off the road, and ramming into a dirt rut
alongside. A tree stopped it dead. Crushed its hood like an accordion.

For a time, he had no idea how long, Henry slumped
against the wheel, stunned by the collision. Then, shaking his head to clear
it, he sat up and took Ann’s arm. “Are you okay?” His eyes searching her face,
her body. There was a bleeding cut on the side of her forehead.

She turned to face him. “Shaken but otherwise okay,
I think.”

Henry swung his head around. Stanton and Kiley’s
car was nowhere to be seen. But the dinosaur pack was close and coming on fast.
They were emitting the shrill wails he remembered from the one who’d tried to take
Sasha. A cacophony of high-pitched cries like a flood behind them. So loud he
wanted to cover his ears and scream at them to SHUT UP! But he had no hands
free to do that and it wouldn’t have done any good anyway. Good lord, there had
to be hundreds of them. As far as his eyes could see. They were a moving, chattering
blanket razing the undergrowth as they bounced, stomped and bounded over the
ground. Hissing, spitting and…throwing sticks, clumps of dirt and rocks.
Where
did they learn that?
He didn’t want to know, didn’t want to think about it.
It was too freaking scary.

“Where’s Ellie and Ranger Kiley?” Ann’s eyes were locked
on the beasts closing in on them. Something, a clump of dried mud possibly, whizzed
by in front of her face on the other side of the passenger window.

“I don’t know. We lost them back there somewhere.
But we can’t stop to search or wait. They’ll make it to headquarters. They can
take care of themselves.”

A large rock hit the windshield and shattered it.
Then in succession the other windows went, too. The throng was getting closer.

“But right now we have to get out of here before
those monsters catch up with us! Get your gun and come on!” Henry dragged her across
the seat and they exited the car from his side, rifle in his other hand. They ran
through the woods towards where he thought headquarters would be. The crash had
disoriented him, but he was sure they were going in the right direction. Well,
he was pretty sure.

He still couldn’t get the thought out of his head
that the monsters were smart enough to utilize anything at hand as a weapon. How
many steps up the evolutionary ladder was that? And alarming as all get out.

Run faster,
faster
.

A segment of a tree trunk, a huge hunk of wood,
went flying by Henry and the edge caught his arm and twirled him around like a
top. He went down to his knees and Ann had to help get him to his feet again.
They kept going, breathing heavy and sweating from the intense heat. Henry
thought for a moment he was going to pass out. His arm hurt something terrible.
Ignore it.
Keep running
.

“They’re gaining on us!” Ann scooted around a formidable
outcropping of rock and Henry slid on his feet, nearly falling. He righted
himself and they kept going.

In the distance somewhere they heard gunshots. His
rangers? He prayed they were all right. More gunshots. An eerie wail filled the
afternoon that sounded as if it’d come from a colossus of some kind, it was so
ear-shattering. How big did this variety of mutant get? Godzilla sized?

In front of them, blocking their path, there was
one of them. Huge. Twenty feet up, or more. Oh, crap.

“Is this the same one,” he asked, “who terrorized
you in town?”

“No. Different. Smaller. Ones in town were much
bigger.”

Oh great.

“Henry, watch out!” She screamed as the monster started
crashing towards them. Henry captured her free hand and they jumped into a dry
gully and stumbled along its rocky bed until they came to a ledge jutting out
from the wall. They could hear the dinosaur’s cries closing in. Henry shoved
Ann beneath the ledge and crammed himself in beside her. “
Shhh
,” he said
and for once she did as he asked. He held his breath, holding Ann and his rifle
close. They waited. Listening.

He didn’t think the thing could fit in the narrow
creek, but he wasn’t counting on it. It sounded angry, determined to find the
snacks that had gotten away.

Above they could hear it searching, roaring and
wailing to the blackening sky as the rain began to fall. The light show had
passed and the night, aided by the storm, was settling in. The light was nearly
gone.

Good, please let the rain cover their scent. The
dark help hide them.

But Henry was worried. He could hear other things
moving through the woods above and around them, searching, too. Other hungry
things. God, how had they gotten into this mess? Hadn’t he been careful? Hadn’t
he known this could happen? They should have high-tailed it for Idaho with Zeke
and Thelma. All of them. The hell with the park and his duty. He hadn’t. They
hadn’t. Now he just had to face the consequences and find a way to save Ann and
himself.

More gunshots. Farther away this time.

“God, I hope Ellie and Matthew are all right.”
There was fear in Ann’s voice. She was holding on to him real tight. Shivering
now as the rain flew in and drenched them. A trickle of water was forming in
the gully feet below them. He could see it glimmering in the going light and hear
the water rushing past.
Better not rain too long or it’ll flush us out of
here like two leaves in a flood.
It began to rain harder.
Just what we
don’t need. How are we going to get out of this?

“You think we fooled it?” Ann finally asked. “Think
we’re safe?” It was now so dark in their hiding place he could barely see her
face. An oval of paleness.

“I don’t know. I still hear it up there bumbling
around somewhere but I can’t tell where. Too much background noise.” Like dinosaurs
growling and things thrashing about.

“How long will we have to stay down here like bugs
in the mud?”

Henry, as scared as he was almost laughed. “Yeah,
we are like bugs…hiding in a creek bed as it turns to muck. Let’s just hope
this stream here doesn’t turn into a river. I don’t have a boat, either.”

“Bugs in the muck. I like that.” Ann made a muffled
sound something similar to a chuckle. That was Ann, seeing the humor in any
situation, if there was any to be seen, that is.

“We’ll wait a little longer and try to make it to
headquarters. I wish we would have had time to grab one of those flashlights I
had in the glove compartment.”

“You and me both, husband. It’s awfully dark out
here in the night woods. In a storm. In the rain. I can’t see even a foot ahead
of me.”

“Neither can I. The only good side to our
predicament is we should be fairly close to headquarters. If I remember
correctly this creek bed winds around behind it. We might climb up to ground
level again and follow it right to where we want to go. Dark or no dark.”

“That’s encouraging.”

“Yeah, it is. Don’t worry, Ann. We’ll make it. I
promise.”

The rain had slackened, a lull, but the night had
grown darker. No moon. Minutes went by.

“At least we’re together, Henry. I feel safer with
you at my side. I always do.” She squeezed his arm and murmured, “I love you,
you know that, don’t you? I have since the first night I met you at that dance
so many years ago. No matter what happens to us tonight I will always love you.
You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.” She was shaking again and he
didn’t know if it was from the rain’s chill or fright. For some reason, instead
of reassuring him, her words made him uneasy. It wasn’t like Ann to talk all
lovey-dovey for no reason and definitely not during an emergency.

“And I’ve always loved you. I knew I’d marry you
the first time I danced with you that night and held you in my arms, saw that
smile of yours and that mischief in your eyes. I knew. Just knew.”

For a moment their lips touched. A gentle kiss. Hers
were very cold.

Henry froze. “You hear that?” A whisper.

“No, what did–”

They’d been found. The giant dinosaur they’d run
from was hulking above them. Roaring and wailing, calling its little buddies to
the feast. A huge shadow towering against the sky. Its claws raking at the mud
and dirt shelf just feet above their heads. How had it found them in the rainy dark?
How did it know they were down there?
Damn, damn, damn!

Henry knew he had to shut it up. Chase it off or
kill it or it would bring the others down on them. He didn’t think, only acted.
He pushed Ann deeper into the crevice. “Stay here. Don’t move. Not one sound,
not even a whimper.”

And he was splashing out into the stream. Taking
aim upwards he shot at the dinosaur’s silhouette over him or where he thought
the head, the eyes, would be. Knowing it would be pure dumb luck if his bullets
hit his target where he wanted them to. He fired and kept firing. He emptied
his rifle as the creature screeched and screamed so loud it about broke his ear
drums. He heard a crash as if trees were falling or being yanked out by the
roots and almost too late, realizing what was happening, he scrambled away from
the sounds above and watched in shock as a massive blob of reptilian flesh fell
into the creek not twenty feet from him and slid into the water. Unmoving.

Silence held reign again.

He couldn’t help himself and a cheer escaped from
his lips. He’d gotten rid of the thing.
He’d killed it!
He staggered
backwards and his body shuddered with the adrenaline of it all. He felt dizzy
and plopped down in the water, which is where his wife found him, dazed by his
victory and how close he’d come to being squashed like a…bug in the mud.

“You showed that monster who the boss was!” Ann
helped him up and back to their hole in the mud wall. “I’m so proud of you. My
hero.”

Not long after, he said, “I don’t hear any more of those
overgrown gremlins up there rummaging around. Maybe they didn’t hear that
creature dying or falling. Don’t know it’s dead yet. Yet with their keen sense
of smell it won’t be long before they find it. And when one of them discovers dinner
over there in the creek bed we’ll be overrun with the supper crowd–and they’ll
be hungry. Two courses will seem better than one. Time to go.

“Let’s get out of this gully and be on our way. Be
careful, footing will be slippery and we’re going to get wet.” The water
rushing by them was deeper now. A couple feet.

“You’re already wet,” she reminded him. “And so am
I. Good thing it isn’t winter. The water actually feels good now.”

“It does, doesn’t it? After the heat. Let’s go.”

“Okay,” Ann said. “You lead, I’ll follow.”

They splashed out into the creek bed. Good thing
they were going in the other direction of the carcass blocking the channel.
They would have had a difficult time getting around it. Henry stopped after ten
yards or so. He was looking upwards. “I think we can get up here. There are
trees we can grab onto to help us climb.”

It’d be tricky with their guns, but Ann had an
idea. “Tuck my pistol in your belt holster and give me your rifle to carry.
It’ll free your hands to help pull us up.”

“Good idea.”

He did what she’d asked and moved through the
water, careful to make as little noise as possible so any dinosaur prowling above
wouldn’t hear them, and grabbing the thin trunk of a tree he began to climb;
his other hand pulling Ann up behind him. Good thing she was a small woman and didn’t
weight much.

His feet slipped once or twice and it was difficult
climbing when he could barely see where he was going, but they tediously made
their way up the steep slope. The tree handholds helped.

At the top, breathing heavily, he turned and drew
Ann into his arms. “We made it,” he moaned in her ear and kissed her. They were
both soaked and caked in mud, but they didn’t care. They were alive. He reclaimed
his rifle and taking her hand they walked into the woods following the path
along the creek.