“Julia.”
Mick’s voice appeared in her ear. She turned and saw him crouched down low next to her. “We can’t stay here!”
Julia nodded. “You lead, I’ll follow.”
“There’s a door in the back. Another way through. We’ve got to get the hell out of here. No more stops.”
“Okay!”
Mick tugged on her sleeve and led her back to the doorway. Julia kept aiming the laser rifle at the doorway, but she couldn’t see any more dinocreatures.
Kendall was gone, too.
Wonderful.
Mick triggered the door release and it slid up with a hiss.
“In here!”
Julia followed him through.
Another room almost like the one they’d just left opened up before them. Julia swung the rifle around, expecting trouble to come in through one of the many doors that branched off of this room.
Mick kept tugging her along. “We can’t dawdle anymore. We’ve got to get off this damned ship.”
They ran for another doorway. Mick triggered it and it opened into a long circular corridor. Julia frowned. She didn’t like running down something long and curved, it left them too exposed.
But like Mick had said, time was of the essence. If they could just get the hell off of this ship and back out into the snow, they might have a chance of making it back to the research station.
Then what?
Radio for help?
How long would it take them to fly another plane in?
And what if the weather was awful? It would keep the rescuers out while leaving Mick and Julia alone at the tiny station. They could be attacked time and time again until they were killed.
Or worse, taken back here for…impregnation.
Julia pushed the thought out of her mind and kept running after Mick. The corridor seemed terribly silent. Was something waiting to surprise them?
They got about three hundred feet when they came to a concern. Mick slowed down to peer around it. He looked back at Julia.
“All clear.”
Were they letting them go now? Maybe Mick and Julia had killed all of the dinocreatures. Maybe they’d proven themselves as difficult prey and their captors were figuring it was better to let them just go.
Julia smirked. Yeah, right.
Mick ran full speed down the hallway. Julia tried to keep up with him as much as possible. She kept looking behind her though, making sure no one was coming up on their rear. That was the last thing they needed.
“Mick!”
He slowed down and let her catch up. “Sorry.”
“Keep going!”
Something exploded off the edge of her peripheral vision. She heard screeches now.
Shit.
More dinocreatures.
She could hear the sporadic gunfire from their laser rifles as they tried to aim. She risked a glance back and could see them about four hundred feet away.
She wondered how effective the lasers were at such a range.
In answer, another bolt caromed off the wall closest to her, spraying shards of electricity and wiring out of the wall.
Julia screamed and ran on behind Mick.
“There’s a door ahead!”
She nodded. If they could just make it and get beyond it, they’d have some cover from the dinocreatures.
“Run!”
Mick reached the wall first and jammed the door releases.
Nothing happened.
Julia turned and started firing again as Mick hammered the door release trying to get it to work.
“It must be locked!”
“There’s got to be a way in!”
The lasers were coming closer now. Julia found a target and picked it off. It screeched and died as her laser found it in the chest. Several of the creatures comrades stared at it as it fell, their mouths crying.
Julia fired at them, too.
“Mick!”
“I’m trying!”
She glanced back and could see the sweat pouring off his face. “Come on, dammit! What the fuck does it take, huh?”
Another laser blast came closer than the others. They were getting too close.
“Mick,” shouted Julia. “We’ve got to go!”
He abandoned the door and tugged her. “Okay!”
They ran on.
The corridor curved some more. Laser blasts narrowly missed them. Julia found it hard to believe the dinocreatures could be such poor shots.
Unless…
Mick skidded to a halt.
“Shit.”
In front of them.
More of the dinocreatures.
Only fifty feet away.
And each of them had their laser rifles up into their shoulders. Julia frowned. They had a bead on them. It was no good even trying to pretend otherwise. She and Mick ducked back behind cover.
“That was why the others missed us,” she said.
Mick nodded. “Sending us into an ambush was easier.”
Julia noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Another doorway.
Close.
“Mick.”
“Yeah. I see it.”
“You think?”
“Not unless we’re both extremely lucky.”
“You don’t feel lucky?”
“The way things are going? Not likely.”
“I guess not.”
He looked at her. “I never got the chance to tell you why I came on this mission.”
“Now’s not the time.”
He smirked. “It might just be now or never. I want you to know I didn’t want to lie to you. But these things killed every member of my old unit. I had to come on this trip, don’t you see? I had to get them if I could. For my brothers-in-arms.”
Julia looked at him. “We’re both going home, Mick.”
He shook his head. “I can hold them off while you make for the door.”
“Are you crazy? They’ll shoot you!”
He smiled. “Maybe.”
“I don’t like this idea.”
“I won’t let them do those things to you, Julia. Give me the laser rifle and let me do this.”
She looked at him. The determination in his eyes told her he wasn’t going to argue anymore. She sighed. “I’ll come back for you.”
“Go to the cache.” Mick smiled. “There are some things there that might help you. The code is 6-4-1-9.”
“We should have brought more with us.”
Mick shook his head. “They would have taken everything and we’d be screwed worse than we are now. I knew Kendall was a tricky prick, but I never would have figured him for this.” he eyed her. “Remember the code?”
“I got it.” Julia handed him her laser rifle. “Be careful.”
He nodded. “Once I start shooting, you’ll have maybe two seconds before they can squeeze anything off. You’ve got to be that quick.”
“Okay.”
“You ready?”
“Not yet.”
“Wha-?”
Julia leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. Hard. She tasted him one last time and then pulled away, as much as she dearly did not want to. “Don’t die on me, Mick. Not yet. Not ever.”
He stared at her and then brought the gun up into his shoulder. “You ready now?”
“Yeah.”
“On three.”
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again.
“One,” said Mick.
Julia focused on the doorway.
“Two.”
She could see the release button.
“THREE!”
She ran.
Like she never had before.
And hell opened up all around her.
29
The gunfire and screeching suddenly stopped when Julia made it through the door. She took a deep breath and then realized where she was.
Back in the jungle.
She spotted a backpack and looked inside. Winter clothing. But whose? It didn’t matter. If Julia was going to head outside, she’d need it. She slung it over her shoulder and then surveyed the area.
The dirt path led away from the cool metallic door in a winding fashion. She studied the ground and could see numerous tracks in the dirt. But she found it difficult to determine if there were human tracks or more of the dinocreatures.
One set of tracks stood out from all the others, however. And that set looked like claws.