He turned to the front and took in the carnage. Men wailed as the American fusillade of machinegun fire riddled them. And the Tyrannosaurus continued to prey upon Imperial soldiers.
The fuel dumps were lost.
“Run!” He waved and screamed for the troops to retreat.
A few men looked at him askance.
“Fall back and defend the garrison!” He pointed toward a trail leading into the bush. It began a few yards beyond their left flank.
Some men laid down heavy fire, while others hustled single file to the path.
Bullets assailed them. A few soldiers took hits in the shoulders and chest, and a couple of them spun and fell to the ground, hollering in pain.
The predator leaned over and snatched Private Kondo off the ground. It lifted the man, kicking and screaming, over the defensive berm. A few rounds dug into the dinosaur’s hide. Maddened from the wounds, the T-Rex shook its prey violently.
Its massive head whipped back and forth. Clutching Kondo’s torso in its jaws, the soldier’s head protruded from the giant maw.
Eyes bulging, Kondo’s face was locked in a perpetual state of horror. His incessant screams fueled a continued wrenching of the carnivore’s neck. The distraction gave the infantryman time to clear out.
While his troopers fired at the Americans and attempted a retreat, Tanaka broke for the Yonki. Only moments after seeing the American near the storage tanks, it somehow felt like an eternity. He spied the invader’s mug, sticking out from behind a piling, and within that millisecond, he realized what the man had done.
He slid into the driver’s seat and started the scout car. The small engine sputtered to life, then he mashed the pedal to the floor and raced down the pathway between the first two storage tanks.
Approaching the shoreline, he turned and headed towards the garrison. Tanaka cut around the fuel tank on the right front, and an explosion blasted his ears and sent the Yonki hurling ahead. He almost lost control of the vehicle. Correcting the steering, he immediately knew the tank closest to the water had blown.
He glanced back and the tank was ablaze. Flames wafted upward, like a fire in a barrel with a hole near the bottom that had fed the initial blast. Stepping on the gas, he hoped his troops would clear out before another tank blew.
Thirty-Four
A wave of flames and heat rushed towards Dawson. The explosion blew towards the bottom of the storage tank, and blasted through the metal, catching the fuel on fire.
The blowback flurried in his direction, sending heat and flames at him.
He dove under the water and opened his eyes. Flames whipped over the water and spread around the pilings. The blaze shot up and caught the pier on fire. After a minute, he poked his head out of the water to breathe, and the flames from the blast had receded, except for the planks on the wharf that had caught fire.
Wading onto shore, he checked his rifle as the scout car disappeared into the brush. Only the storage tank closest to the water burned. Paint on the others percolated from the heat. Dawson realized they would blow any moment.
He needed to clear the other Raiders from the area.
Dawson considered running up the passageway between the storage tanks, but he didn’t like the odds of getting through without suffering an explosion. Instead, he sprinted around the tank on fire and circled past the wood line.
Running into the field, he found a wave of scavenger dinosaurs pressing upon Bishop’s position. The marine laid down heavy fire, bursting the creatures with 7.62-millimeter rounds from his Browning. Simmons had stepped over to lend support with his Thompson. Meserve was missing, likely dead, eaten by the Tyrannosaurus, which left Fuller alone somewhere.
He scanned the plain. Another wave of Compsognathus dinosaurs chased after the retreating Imperial troops. Machinegun blasts raged from the opposite American flank. Fuller shot madly in various directions.
Dawson couldn’t follow the attack. Random shooting without targeting the enemy sent bullets in every direction. A glazed look and wild eyes appeared on Fuller’s mug.
Swift movement from Fuller’s right caught Dawson’s attention.
A dinosaur slightly larger than a man closed in on him. Others were upon the marine, from his left and front. The creatures had green hides with dark stripes, camouflaging them from view while they stood in the brush. Only brisk movement gave them away.
Firing with a high-powered machinegun, Fuller kept the two approaching from frontal positions at bay. He couldn’t see the one coming up from the right rear.
Dawson dropped to one knee. He shouldered his rifle and took careful aim.
Taking a deep breath, he inhaled, held the air in his lungs, steady, then slowly squeezed the trigger. A crack resounded throughout the field from his shot.
His bullet sailed through the air and struck the Velociraptor in the eye.
It danced around and yowled in pain.
Fuller turned to the commotion and the other two Raptors were upon him. The mistake registered in his horror-stricken eyes. He screamed.
The one closest to him raised its hind leg and lashed out with a sharp, hooked claw. It tore into the marine’s abdomen and spilled his guts onto the deck. Fuller’s face turned white and he stopped fighting the beasts. Shock had caused a paralysis.
Dawson didn’t give up hope. He fired at the Raptor that had issued the death blow.
Rounds dug into the creature’s backside without slowing it down. It struck the marine again and knocked him to the ground. And then, the carnivore leaned its head forward and began to feed upon the fallen marine’s innards. Chomping ravenously at the man’s guts, the Raptor moved about in a frenzy.
Another Velociraptor approached the spoils, and the one feasting upon Fuller snapped at it, a warning nip. The creature meant to feed on the kill and bit the other Raptor on the neck.
It howled in pain. Then it stepped back and charged into the newcomer.
Both dinosaurs toppled and rolled on the ground, snapping and biting at each other. The Raptor with the head wound stammered in the brush. It couldn’t keep balance.
Dawson realized that more than a head shot had foiled the creature.
The ground trembled. Vibrations shook Dawson.
He glanced toward the enemy line and spied the Tyrannosaurus slouching his way. Standing just fifty feet away, the dinosaur would close the gap with a few prodigious strides. Dawson could never outrun the beast.
An explosion knocked him to the ground. He landed face first in the wet dirt.
Glancing up, he found the next fuel tank ablaze. Metal had blasted open from the side of the storage container and doused the T-Rex with ignited petroleum. A conflagration covered the predator and spread across the field at its feet.
The creature roared, enraged. A yowl of agony followed.
Flames spread across the ground and sailed down from the tank above. Imperial soldiers were caught in the blaze. Uniforms on fire, they screamed and rolled in the soggy earth. A few extinguished the fires on their burning clothes.
One soldier was not as fortunate. While he rolled in the grassy field, a blast of flames shot over the ground and engulfed him.
His skin caught fire. Charred flesh and percolating blisters reflected in the pale evening night, as a light mist drizzled over the battlefield; a miniscule dousing was inadequate to squelch the blaze consuming his flesh.
The burning dinosaur stepped to the man on fire. A vibration knocked Dawson to the ground, as the Tyrannosaurus plodded towards its next meal. It leaned forward and scooped the infantryman from the ground. Standing erect, it tilted its head back, rolling the soldier into its mouth, like a burning shish kebab.