More things rocketed down, and she heard the hard objects striking the head of the great beast with a solid crack of wood on bone. One of the items rolled close by, and she scurried over to reach for it.
“A pinecone thing.” It was larger than the variety she knew, and the size of a small football. The cone’s scales were closed tight, and it was damn heavy, several pounds at least, and hard as a rock.
The cones continued to shoot down, striking the Giganotosaurus’ head, neck, and flanks. It finally screamed its rage, and turned, looking for something to confront.
Emma looked up to see the beast’s tail hanging over the edge of their crevasse, as the thing must have been facing away from them now. She got up, hunched over, trotted to the end of the crevasse and jumped up, catching the lip with her fingers and pulling herself up to peek over.
She saw the massive theropod snap at the air and take a few thunderous steps toward the huge primitive pines, but it could find no assailant. All the while from high up in the branches, the heavy cones sailed down, striking the infuriated beast over and over.
Drake lifted himself up beside her, and she turned to him. “Jesus Christ; who’s doing that? Is it Ajax?”
“Unlikely he’d even think of coming back for us,” Drake said. “Plus, the guy can’t climb for shit.”
The animal bellowed a few more times and lowered its head. More accurate strikes cracked down on the huge skull again and again, and finally, the thing lumbered off in amongst the pine trees. They listened as the heavy footfalls got softer and softer.
It seemed that a head full of lumps changed an easy meal into something not worth the trouble.
“Round one to our pitcher,” she said.
Drake took out his binoculars. “And looks like we’re about to find out who they are.”
A figure scaled down the tree and jumped lightly to the ground. It was a man, with hair to his shoulders. Though underweight, his body still bulged with sinewy muscle and the frame was still broad.
He was near naked save for the remains of a tattered pair of pants covering his groin and one thigh. There was also a woven sack over his back.
He looked around slowly, and he lifted his head as though sniffing. Seeming to be satisfied, he turned back and walked confidently to the edge of the pit. He stared down at the trio, and then his face broke into a broad smile.
“What kept you?”
Emma fell back into the crevasse.
Ben had tracked the sound of Emma’s voice and then followed the trail of the massive theropod. He’d seen the group disappear into the crevasse, and given he had no weapons, he had to rely on the one thing he retained — experience.
The big carnivorous beasts had hard heads but small brains and were easily confused and distracted. He’d used the ploy before to see the smaller ones off, and the large, heavy pinecones made ferocious missiles.
He climbed well above the beast’s reach and began his attack — one strike, a dozen, 20, 40, before it had finally had enough. He stayed in place, watching its head and shoulders muscle back in through the tree growth and move away down along the waterway.
It might be back, but for now, it would lay low for a while and nurse its headache.
He walked to the edge of the fissure, seeing the heads now poking up. The moon had vanished and he could only just make out their shapes. Each step closer he went, he felt his heart swell to bursting.
Ben tried not to run, but his steps quickened anyway. Would his voice crack? Would he mumble, not being used to talking to anyone but himself for years and years.
He crouched, spoke just a few rusty words, and Emma fell back into the crevasse.
“Huh?” He jumped in after her, and a body immediately fell on top of him.
“Only a guy like you could survive in this place for ten years, Cartwright.” Drake threw an arm over him, while Ben tried to help Emma sit up. He brushed the hair from her grimy face.
She burst into tears and reached out for him. “I knew. I knew.”
He hugged her close. “You came.” He couldn’t say any more, as he felt hot tears running down his own face.
“Ho-oooly shit,” a young man said from just behind Drake. “He actually survived. How? What did you see? Where did you go? I have so many questions.” He tried to burrow in closer, but Drake elbowed him back a pace.
Drake reached out a hand to Ben’s shoulder. “Captain, we need to bug out, like right now. The walls are closing in.”
Ben stood, pulling Emma up with him. He kept his eyes on hers the whole time. “Roger that; and I’m certainly not staying here another ten years.” He grinned, wiped his face, and turned to his friends, really seeing them for the first time.
“You got old.” He grinned.
Drake grinned. “Oh yeah, wait until you see your first mirror after a decade, buddy. And get a haircut, you hippy.”
The four of them climbed out of the crevasse, and Ben turned his head to listen for a moment. “That big guy will be back.”
“Then we need to be far away,” Emma said and hung onto him tightly.
The four of them huddled in together, and Ben looked down at Emma, then to Drake. “Do you have a plan?”
“We ballooned in, and we were gonna go out the same way. Unfortunately, it got ripped apart coming in,” Drake answered.
“But we think we know another way down,” Emma added. “We’re not sure if it’s viable, but there’s another temple built over a chute. I think it leads to the ground.”
“First prize, we climb all the way down, and then keep going,” Andy said, and stepped in closer. “Captain Cartwright, Ben, what did you see? Where did you—?”
“Not now,” Ben said and pushed long hair back off his face. “There’s one problem; the reason I moved off the plateau and stayed far away is because it’s owned by the snakes. And most of the big nests are underground.”
“Of course,” Andy said. “That’s why we found the fossilized remains of the Titanoboa deep in a coalmine. It wasn’t sedimentary settling, but that’s where the thing lived.” He snapped his fingers. “And I bet being underground shielded them from the worst effects of the meteor strike extinction event.”
“Then the snakes will definitely be in the temple,” Ben said.
Drake snorted. “Yeah, we found that out. Don’t worry; Ajax and Fergus will clean them out by the time we get there.”
Ben laughed softly. “You talked them into coming along as well?”
Drake shook his head. “Not me, your girlfriend. And Brocke came as well. But we crashed into the lake, and… he bought it there.”
“Fuck.” Ben’s mouth flattened into a line momentarily. “He was a good guy.”
“The best,” Drake added.
Ben reached out and took Drake’s hand, shaking it. “Thank you, Sergeant; you’ve done a good job. This place is Hell.” He pulled Emma in closer. “You’re all mad, you know.”
“Hell to us, but not to the creatures that live here,” Andy added.
Emma looked up at him. “And we’re not supposed to be here.”
“True.” Ben hugged Emma again. “So let’s go home.”
CHAPTER 36
Eventually, hunger overcomes caution, fear, and pain. The Giganotosaurus turned and then headed back to where it had tried to catch the small sweet-smelling creatures in the ground.