Dinosaur Lake 3: Infestation (8 page)

“Henry know about this idea of yours to retire and
write dinosaur articles?” Zeke smiled at her over his coffee cup.

“Not yet. He’s been busy. But I’ll be telling him
tonight, if I see him.

“Would you like a bowl of that stew I brought over
before I go? I can warm it up, along with some biscuits, for you?” She couldn’t
stay long. She needed to get back home. The park was dangerous enough when the
sun was shining and Henry was going to be irritated enough at her for leaving
in the first place. Best to get home quick. In the daylight.

“Stew sounds good. I am kind of hungry now that you
mention it. Thanks, Ann, you’re an angel.”

Yeah, and she’d be an angel for real if Henry
caught her out gallivanting around like this.

She heated the stew and biscuits in the microwave,
served it to Zeke, told him to call her if he needed her again, then saying
goodbye, she left.

Not looking forward to reentering the park, but there
was no other way to get home. She’d just drive through fast. Not slow down or
stop for anything. If one of those little monsters were in the middle of the
road, this time she’d run the thing down before she’d stop. Make dinosaur jam
of it. See if she cared. Maybe she’d make it to the cabin without any more incidents.

She could hope, couldn’t she?

*****

Zeke was sad when Ann drove away. He felt better
when she was around. The loneliness that had taken hold of him the last year
was always assuaged when she was with him. He looked up when he heard the
chattering outside the kitchen window. One of his squirrels, the baby one, was
sitting outside, talking to him.

Oh, he knew what it wanted. The peanuts he threw
out to them every morning in the back yard. He had a family of the critters
that had taken to showing up every day and he’d feed them peanuts or pieces of
fruit. The baby one at the window was the friendliest of the lot. It didn’t
seem to be afraid of him at all. He moved to the window and tapped the glass on
his side. The squirrel kept chattering at him and put its paws up against the
glass.
Come out. Come out. Feed me.

Imagine, he thought to himself as he took the bag
of peanuts from the lower cabinet and hobbled towards the rear porch, if
someone would have told him even five years ago that someday he’d be so desperate
for entertainment or companionship, of any kind, he’d befriend a bunch of
fluffy-tailed rats, he would have laughed his head off. Now here he was.
Squirrel daddy. And tickled pink to be. At least it gave him something to do.
Something to care about. Something to love.

He took the bag and shuffled out to the porch, then
out into the yard. His back wasn’t hurting too much so he carefully made his
way down the lawn to the spot, beneath a towering oak tree at the end of his
property, where the squirrels gathered and liked to eat the treats he gave them
each day. The tree was on the perimeter of the modest woodlands that encircled
Klamath Falls. It was one of the reasons he’d bought the house years before. It
had trees behind it. Made him feel as if he were out in the country somewhere instead
of in the heart of town.

Sure hot today, he fussed, as he tossed the peanuts
on the ground below and around the oak tree. Sweat was already trickling down
his neck and under his shirt. It made him itch.

“Ah, there you are, little buddy.” He chortled,
spying the baby squirrel bouncing across the grass towards him. “I knew if I
put out the bait, you’d be here to collect it.” The squirrel darted up to Zeke
and let him hand feed him the peanuts. He even grabbed up with his paws to
grasp them and stuff them into his mouth. Tame little beggar.

By then there was a mess of the fluffy-tailed rats cautiously
emerging from among the trees and bushes to snatch the peanuts. Most of them
stayed far away from him, but some ventured nearer, unafraid of the human
they’d become accustomed to.

Zeke looked up at the sweltering sun and the blue
sky, breathed in the warm air full of the scents of summer. Freshly mowed grass
and dirt. Memories of when he was a child and used to run the paths barefoot in
the forest, exploring. He smiled. He always felt better when he was outside
near the woods, felt better when he was outside period. The sweet aroma of
baking bread drifted on the breeze. There was a bakery down the street he often
walked to. Maybe he’d go get some cheese Danish later if his back would let him.
Someone in the neighborhood was frying bacon and eggs. He could smell it. These
things, too, made him feel better. Alive. Like he was part of something and not
merely a lonely old man. He often thought lately he should sell his house and
move into one of those retirement homes. At least he’d have company. Yep, he
needed to think about that. He loved his home but he sure was tired of being
alone.

The baby squirrel began to behave strangely.
Tittering loudly and running in circles. It seemed to be scared of the trees
behind them. It raised its head and its eyes were so big.

“Hey, little fellow, what’s wrong?”

Still making a racket and acting like it was on
speed it ran up Zeke’s pants leg and perched itself on his shoulder, holding on
to his collar with its claws. A raving maniac. Something was scaring the
wildness out of it.

By then the other squirrels had scattered. They
were running in all directions and hiding. Some made it, some didn’t.

That’s when Zeke saw the first interloper rushing
out of the woods towards him. It wasn’t very big, about thirty-six inches from
foot to top of its head or so. It looked like a skinned kangaroo, but reddish hued.
Scaly. Long neck. Not a very big head. Faster than he could believe the
creature could move, in a flash it had pounced on one of the larger squirrels
he’d been feeding and popped it into its mouth like a tic-tac. It had lots of
sharp teeth. Curved claws at the end of short arms. Dinosaurs. They had to be.
Like the ones Ann had told him had attacked her earlier coming out of the park.
But what were they doing here? In his back yard? In his town?

He didn’t have time to think about it.

Because the woods were alive with the squirrel-eaters.
All chasing, catching and devouring squirrels not speedy enough to escape. The
cries and shrieks of the squirrels and the weird noises the predators were
making created bedlam.

“What the heck! What–” Zeke hollered, but didn’t
finish because he’d turned and was limping as fast as he could back to the
house. He was no dummy, he knew when to retreat. His tiny squirrel baby
clinging for dear life to his shirt collar and chattering franticly in his ear.
Probably giving orders in squirrel language.

As he grabbed the handle of the porch’s screen
door, he stole a glance behind him. There were at least six or seven of the
ugly little dinosaurs chasing him and they were right on his tail.

He barely made it onto the porch and then into the
house before he heard them slamming their bodies up against the screens. He had
no doubt they’d tear open the metal mesh and be on the porch in seconds flat. With
those claws and teeth of theirs, they’d have no trouble at all. Better than
screen cutters. So he threw himself through the second door and locked it
behind him.

His pet squirrel jumped from his shoulder and
scurried away into the house somewhere, probably to hide–or find another exit.

Only then did Zeke allow himself to peek out the
windows. His whole lawn seemed to be filled with the disgusting creatures. Bouncing
around everywhere with their ugly bodies and snarling mouths. They were on his
porch and trying to get in at him.

Fat chance! His house was strongly built. Or he
hoped it was.

One even glared in through the glass on the other
side of the kitchen window where the baby squirrel had been just minutes before.
Its eyes sentient and scary as hell. Zeke closed the curtains and started
praying the thing didn’t smash through the glass. Maybe it was thinking about
it.

If those monsters wanted in, it was possible they’d
find a way.

Zeke ran to the wall phone and called Ann. It was
the first thing he could think of. Before the police. Before Animal Control. She’d
know what to do because his mind was fuzzy, his reactions muted. Maybe he was
having a stroke or something. After he got through to her, he staggered off to
get his shotgun out of the hall closet. For good measure, he also grabbed the
wooden bat. At least his thoughts were still clear enough to do that.

If those things broke in he’d shoot or beat them to
kingdom come or back to the geological period where they belonged. Didn’t
matter which. No way were they having him for lunch. Or having any more of his
squirrel buddies, either. Freakin’ dinosaurs.

Chapter
4

Henry

They’d made it to Cleetwood Cove and docked their
boat without a lake monster swallowing them up. Henry considered them extremely
lucky. The monsters had been too busy fighting among themselves to care about
the small boat full of humans.

He was standing on the dock waiting for the others
to disembark when he finally checked his cell phone for messages. He’d begun
doing that more often since Ann’s bout with cancer. He had to stay in touch in
case anything happened. But when he’d been out on the lake reception had been spotty
or dead.

Ann had left him five messages since that morning. Now
that was unusual. Something must be wrong.

He hit Ann’s speed dial button and she picked up
after the first ring. She must have been holding the phone, waiting for his
call.

“Thank God you finally got back to me, Henry,” her
voice sounded panicky. “Zeke’s being attacked by some creatures out in the
woods behind his house. He just called me and I’ve turned around and am heading
back there now.”

“You’re in your car when I asked you not to go
anywhere? Ann! Where are you?”

“Ooh, about that. I didn’t stay home like you told
me to. Sorry. I’m roughly ten minutes outside of Klamath Falls, parked on the
side of the road, and getting ready to turn around and return to Zeke’s. I’ll
tell you quickly–and don’t get mad at me because I had no choice–but Zeke phoned
early this morning and I had to go take him some groceries. He was all out of
food, some necessities, and I had to help him out some. He isn’t feeling well. His
back’s acting up again. He can hardly walk.

“Anyway, I was heading home from his house when he
calls me again, all upset because he says he was attacked in his own back yard
by these…big lizards, as he called them. By his description they sound like
they might be similar to the one you encountered last night outside our cabin.
But he says there’s a horde of them, like the ones that attacked me as I was
leaving the park this morning. He’s gotten back safely inside his house but is
afraid they’ll get inside–”

“Whoa, honey! You can fill in the rest of the story
when I see you. But for right now, you
stay where you are!
I’m on my way
and we’ll go to Zeke’s together. Don’t you dare go back there by yourself. It’s
too dangerous. You hear me?
Stay
.”

“But Zeke needs me now! I have to go back. I have a
gun and–”

“We’re on our way this very second,” Henry gestured
to Justin and Ranger Gillian to get to his car, made them understand they were
leaving, “and we’ll catch up with you. Be there in minutes, I promise. Where
exactly are you?”

She gave him her location.

“I know exactly where that is. Now…wait for us.”

“Who’s us?” Ann asked, her voice still unsteady.

Steven had planted himself in front of Henry. “Let
me come, too?” he whispered, his eyes pleading. “Please?”

“Justin, Ranger Gillian, and a friend of Justin’s,
Steven.”

 “All right. But hurry, Henry. Hurry! I will call
Zeke back now. Tell him we’re on our way.” She abruptly broke the connection.

And Henry hurried. He broke the speed limit the entire
way, but didn’t care. Ann was unprotected outside the park and he needed to get
to her. Zeke was in trouble. Zeke, their old friend, needed help. He cared for
the elderly man as much as Ann did and didn’t want anything to happen to him.
Then behind all his worry over Zeke, there was the new concern for the town and
neighboring towns. If Zeke was being assailed by prehistoric beasts as far away
as Klamath Falls…then the dinosaur epidemic had spread far beyond Henry’s 
worst fears. They were in town now. Oh hell.

As he drove, his thoughts counted off the things he
must do immediately. Alert the Park and Forest Services–darn, he should have
done that already–the FBI, the National Guard as well as the local police.
They’d need all the assistance they could raise as quickly as they could raise
it. There were thousands of people living in and around Klamath Falls and now
they might all be in danger if what Ann said was true. And of course it was.
Ann or Zeke wouldn’t lie about anything to do with dinosaurs.

When they screeched to a halt, wheels throwing
gravel, beside Ann’s car, Henry jumped out and got behind its wheel and had
Ranger Gillian drive his car behind them to Zeke’s. The two vehicles raced down
the highway breaking more laws. Ann hadn’t been able to get Zeke on the phone again
and she was frantic.

Sitting beside him as he drove Ann caught him up on
what had happened since he’d left that morning. Everything.

After she’d told him the story of how she’d been waylaid
herself by a gang of the same creatures, Henry snapped, “You could have been
hurt or killed! I asked you
not
to leave the cabin for any reason,
didn’t I?” But his eyes as he slid them to glance at her face, were more relieved
than angry. He only wanted her to be safe, remain safe. Why did she always have
to do the right thing even when it put herself at risk? But that was his Ann.
She was nothing if not quick to act courageously if someone else was in trouble,
regardless of her own personal well-being.

“But Zeke needed me, I had to go. I hadn’t planned
on being away long. Like I said, I was returning home when he called me. I
couldn’t have been gone over an hour or so.”

“So you didn’t see those creatures at his house?”

“No, it must have happened right after I’d left. I only
saw the ones that accosted me as I was leaving the park on the way
to
his house. But as Zeke describes his dinosaurs, they sound a lot like the ones
I encountered.”

“Why didn’t you just turn around and scoot back
home when that happened to you?”

“Because I was already at the park exit on the
highway and Zeke
still
needed me. I tried calling you, Henry.” She shot
his an accusatory look. “Many times. You never answered.”

“I told you I was sorry.” Henry met her eyes for a second
before his returned to the road. Her face was flushed, her expression pinched. Her
hands were held tightly in her lap. She was worried about Zeke. He pushed the
pedal down harder. The car speeded up. “I must have been in a dead spot on the
lake. Then we were in the middle of a leviathan lake battle…and running for our
lives. I never got any of your calls when you originally made them. But as soon
as we were docked, I noticed your messages on my phone and answered them.”

“What are you talking about? What leviathan lake
battle? What happened?” By the way she was looking at him he could tell she was
shocked. It was in her eyes.

He told her about the dinosaurs in the lake, Steven
falling in, the two different species’ water battle, and their close call. He explained
who Steven was.

When he was done, she laid her head against the
headrest and moaned. “Oh, my, so dinosaurs are in the lake; the park is
infested with them and it sounds as if they’re migrating into town. What are we
going to do?”

“Go help Zeke first and make sure he’s okay. See
what he has to say. After that I’ll alert the proper authorities. I was only
waiting until I had first-hand proof of what was in the lake, so I would know
exactly what to say to the army and Park and Forest Services. Then I’ll go from
there. I’m trying to absorb what’s happened. It’s all been too much, too fast.”

“I know what you mean. I still can’t believe what
happened to me this morning leaving the park. Those little monsters were organized.
They behaved as if they knew what they were doing, what they wanted. Me. Remembering
it now, it feels unreal. But I know it happened.” Ann was watching the scenery
as it flew past them. They had entered the town’s limits. They’d be at Zeke’s
soon.

When they got there the old man let them in.

“I see you brought reinforcements, hey?” he commented
to Ann. “It won’t matter. The culprits have all skedaddled into the woods, the
little cowards. There’s nothing left to chase off or fight. Ann, I told you I
was okay. You didn’t have to come all the way back here.”

“I had to be sure you were, Zeke,” Ann refuted.
“And you never know, those devils are crafty. They could still be out there
watching and waiting.”

“Ha, waiting for what? For me to put a load of
buckshot in their butts?” He waved the shotgun in their faces. “Let me tell you,
I’m ready for them. So just let them try.”

Henry and Ann, with Justin, Steven and Ranger
Gillian coming in after them, trailed Zeke into the kitchen. The old man led
them out on the damaged porch. Outside the sun was low in the sky and purple shadows
were dappling the woods at the end of the yard.

“See, those dinosaur devils did this to my porch.
Trashed it into splintered wood. It’s gonna cost me a pretty penny to fix it.
Screened windows and wood aren’t cheap these days; not to mention the labor to
have it done. When I was a younger man I’d have done the work myself. Now days
I have to hire someone to do it.” Zeke shook his head. “Destructive monsters.
They were all over my property trying to snatch and devour my squirrel
friends–or me. But I showed them, I wouldn’t let them!”

“I don’t see anything moving out there right now.”
Justin was examining the yard and the trees beyond as he stood in the middle of
the destroyed porch. He was right, nothing was moving anywhere in the
descending twilight. The monsters had all gone home. Wherever home was.

The rest of them were gawking at the porch damage.
“Wow, they did this much damage that quickly?” Steven was speaking excitedly.
“Tell me, exactly what did they look like? How tall were they? How many were
there? Did they make any distinctive noises–”

Zeke turned to Steven. “And who precisely are you,
young man?”

“Just a musician friend of Justin’s. I entertain at
the Crater Lake Lodge some weekends. I was there this last one. Just my luck I hadn’t
left the lodge yet this morning and Chief Ranger Shore was nice enough to let
me come on their lake adventure today. I’m thinking of writing a book on all
these dinosaur happenings around here so Ranger Shore has let me tag along so I
can get some firsthand observations.”

“Good grief,” Zeke expelled the words satirically,
rolling his eyes. “Another book writer. Just what we need.”

Henry reclaimed Zeke’s attention. “Can you describe
the creatures who attacked you and did this damage?”

“Sure. You all accompany me into the kitchen. I’ll brew
us a pot of coffee and we can discuss it.”

“Go on inside, Zeke, and take Ann with you and
we’ll be in in a bit. I want to check out the woods first before it gets any
darker. I have to be sure those creatures are really gone.”

“Come on Ann, help me make the java,” Zeke said,
his voice raspy, his shoulders slumped with weariness, and Ann didn’t resist;
after a backwards glance at Henry she went with Zeke.

Henry signaled Ranger Gillian to follow him. And
Justin, with Steven at his heels, fell in behind, and they moved towards the
fringe of the woods at the yard’s end. Both rangers and Justin had their weapons
cradled in their arms, prepared for whatever they found. Only Steven had no
weapon, but he stuck close to the other men as they entered the thicket of
trees.

It was murky under the canopy. But after thrashing
through the brush and exploring around the tree trunks the men discovered they
were alone in the forest. There was no signs of anything living anywhere around
them. No wildlife of any variety. No dinosaurs. The woods was eerily silent.

The men returned to Zeke’s kitchen after an
additional sweep around the house to be sure there weren’t any dinosaurs
lurking anywhere else. There weren’t.

When Henry and the other men were seated at the kitchen
table Zeke gave them his account of the events that occurred after Ann had left
him.

It was quite a story. 

Henry watched Steven scribble in a small notebook
as Ann handed him a mug of coffee. The others got their own mugs and helped
themselves. Everyone was listening.

Zeke finished with, “And I’ve been looking…there
isn’t one live squirrel left out in the yard. I think those dinosaurs got each
and every last one of them. Ate them up like appetizers.” His expression was
sad. “I liked those squirrels. They were fine friends to me. I used to feed
them scraps every day. Good thing I saved the littlest one, at least. He came
in on my shoulder.”

Henry’s confused expression must have tipped Zeke
off.

“Oh, my little squirrel buddy? He’s around inside
here somewhere.” Zeke’s eyes scanned the room. “Hiding somewhere under
something, I suppose. He’s not used to so many people, you know.”

“Oh,” Henry muttered. “You have a pet baby
squirrel? And it’s loose somewhere in the house?”

Zeke flashed him a grumpy look. “They make good
pets. Mine is a smart one.”

“Okay.” Henry turned his head so Zeke wouldn’t see
his smile. Henry was just happy Zeke and Ann were all right. That they’d all
made it through the day…unharmed and alive.

When Zeke was done, Henry came to his feet. “Zeke,
we’ll be leaving now. I want us home and safe behind solid walls before total
darkness. And I want you to promise you’ll stay inside once we leave. Promise.
Or I’ll never get Ann to leave here.”