Francis held his damaged arm in close to his body, and simply swung his other arm, massive fist clenched at the beasts’ heads, knocking them over like ten-pins.
Then the big man looked up, meeting Ben’s eyes, and they widened as Ben could see what was coming a mile away. Just as the thing on Shawna’s back flexed again, digging its talons in even deeper, her muscles automatically spasmed and then contracted — including her hand that was still wrapped around the M82’s trigger.
“No… ” Ben sprinted and dived, taking the huge Francis around the waist, knocking him down.
Shawna’s gun discharged, wildly, but unfortunately for the large form of Buster who was next in line and busy clubbing one of the beasts, it was aimed directly at him. Worse, Shawna still had her explosive rounds packed in.
One minute, the 6-foot 3-inch man was upright, and then next, the Raufoss round took him between the shoulder blades.
Buster’s top half disappeared in a flash of blood, bone, and gore as his head, neck, and most of his chest was sprayed all over the jungle. Weirdly, he stayed standing for a second or two, and even took a staggering step, before the headless body crumpled to the ground.
“Fuck!” Chess yelled, and then turned to rack and pump shots into the jungle. But as fast as it started, it was over, and the small clearing was filled with smoke, misted blood, and leaf debris that rained down like confetti.
Shawna groaned and rolled over. There were long stripes of blood on her neck and back.
“What happened?” She shook her head and groaned.
“You just fucking killed—”
“Shut it!” Ben yelled and helped Francis up.
“Oh fuck, man; that coulda been me.” Francis stared at the shredded remains of his colleague, then to Ben. “You saved my life.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He slapped his upper arm. “In this place, I’m sure you’ll get a chance to return the favor.”
“We must hurry.” Helen kept her eyes on the wall of jungle. “The big hunters will be here soon.”
“Right; we get the hell out of here, patch ourselves up, and keep going. Now move it.”
Drake dragged Shawna to her feet. She moaned loudly and tried to see over her shoulder.
“Where’s Buster?” She winced as Drake grabbed her arm.
“Gone,” he replied, dragging her after Ben.
“Spread all over the jungle,” Chess spat.
“Aww, those goddamn lizard turkeys,” she replied.
“Yeah, them.” Drake carried her out of the clearing, with the group all hurrying to follow Ben.
CHAPTER 43
The home of gods and monsters, Andy whispered as he stared, both horrified and transfixed — the monstrous snake had wrapped itself completely around the body of a juvenile Ankylosaurus. The powerful herbivore dinosaur was only about 12 feet long, and as an adult would grow to twice that, but it was still larger and more powerful than a full-grown rhino.
The snake began to compress as the dinosaur bleated like a lamb. It struggled, but it wasn’t going anywhere. Andy shook his head and blew air softly from between his lips in awe as he heard the first crack of its heavily armored body.
Unbelievable, he mouthed.
The Ankylosaurus was almost completely covered in massive knobs and oval plates of bone, known as osteoderms or scutes, which were also common on crocodiles. And on these beasts they were so thick and dense they would have been like iron plating.
To add to their defensive kit were two rows of spikes along its body. Additionally, its head was long and low, with prominent horns projecting back and to the sides and shelf-like plates protecting its eyes.
Finally, there was the club on the end of the bony tail that whipped back and forth now, but only managed to kick up dirt.
The snake’s titanic coils compressed some more, and there came popping and cracking all along the body. The Titanoboa kept its head clear, its gaze dispassionate, as its body squeezed the life from its prey.
The pulverizing served two purposes; the first was to suffocate the creature and the second was to compress the thing down to near pulp. Most of the bony plates would be indigestible, but they’d be excreted along with the skull and bone fragments later.
There came more tightening of the coils, and the bleating became hoarse gasps. And then the mouth hung open, and Andy gaped as what looked like some of the Ankylosaurus’ stomach was pressed up and out of its windpipe. At last, an eye popped free, before it finally stopped moving.
The snake would continue to compress, and sure enough, it sensed the battle was over and moved its mouth around to the front of the plant-eater. The maw opened, showing rows of tusk-like backward-curving teeth, as it began to push the head and shoulders into its mouth.
It would take almost an hour to swallow, but it had time, and up here, there were few predators who would take on a fully-grown Titanoboa.
Andy exhaled, feeling scared shitless but exulted. He was a paleontologist, like his sister, and also like her, he specialized in this very creature. But where they had studied bone fragments, he had now seen several specimens alive, and they were more formidable, frightening, and admirable than he ever expected.
He smiled almost dreamily; he knew more about the creature than any person living, now, or in the far distant future. He knew they kept their nests underground, and also weren’t solitary, as they preferred to live in communal habitats. They had all the sensory skills of the large modern snakes like anacondas and boas, plus they were a size that made them the most feared creature on the plateau.
There were still answers to some questions that evaded him — why did they congregate up here? It might just be that there was an abundance of prey, or the micro-climate was ideal, or even that the ancient tepui being riddled with caves was perfect for their nesting sites.
But the biggest and most perplexing question of all was: why did they go extinct? He’d heard all the theories, and even postulated some himself, and they ranged from climate change, to competitive tension from other species for food, to disease, and even a theory that something evolved that preyed just on them and wiped them out.
But he didn’t buy any of it — other large snake species survived, and this monster had all their advantages and many more of its own.
Why aren’t you with us today? he breathed. What happened? Andy backed away slowly, glad that the monstrous thing was feeding and not hunting. Otherwise, it’d be him being pushed into that giant mouth right now.
He gave it one last look. I need to know, and I’ll find out, he thought as he vanished into the jungle.
CHAPTER 44
Ben held up a fist and his team froze. He then carefully waved everyone down, and the group eased into the dripping ferns, or any places of concealment they could find. No one said a word; they just waited, all eyes on Ben.
His soldier’s intuition made the hair on his neck prickle. He didn’t need to know that they were being watched; he had felt that for hours now.
After several minutes, Drake crept up beside him. “What have you got?”
Ben looked along the jungle, and then above, and spoke while keeping his eyes on the jungle. “Nothing… and that’s what worries me.” He turned slowly again. “Listen.”