The world of 227,000 years ago was coming to an end with fire, and then miles upon miles of ice.
Henri could not believe what it was they were attempting. Did these men have a death wish? He saw the excitement in both Everett’s and Collins’s faces. It was as if they actually looked forward to the challenge. The Frenchman, although thoroughly motivated to find that power coupling, was equally anxious not to be knocked off of his giant chicken while riding into the very nest of raptors they normally would have avoided.
“Gentlemen, shall we sally forth?” Jack said. He raised the Glock nine millimeter as his large roc pawed at the earth, irritated by the sulfuric smell emanating from the south. Carl raised his own weapon and then they both looked at Henri, who unenthusiastically raised the M-4 in mock bravado.
“By all means, let’s ride off to our deaths, because by the look of Erebus, we’re out of time.”
“Boy, he’s a real killjoy, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is that, but he’s French, what can you do?” Jack said as he kicked the roc into action. Everett smiled at Farbeaux and with a return look expressing his incredulity, the former French black operation commando reluctantly followed the two crazed Americans into the valley of the shadow of death—or something akin to it anyway, he thought.
The batteries were draining so fast that Jenks had to adjust not only the rate of fire from the sixteen weapons, but also the distance to engage the target. He tapped in the new parameters and then placed the laptop down and tossed Ellenshaw another thirty-round magazine for his M-4.
“Okay, Doc, we need to supplement the lasers. Start by firing into the front of that bison herd when they get within two hundred yards. Maybe we can turn this stampede into going another direction.”
“Shoot the buffalo?” Ellenshaw asked, horrified about shooting such a magnificent animal.
Jenks inserted his own magazine into his weapon and then charged it. He finally spared Ellenshaw a look of frustration. “Look, either we turn them now or wait until them hairy-ass elephants are crawling up our butts.”
Ellenshaw finally understood. He turned and aimed, waiting for the bison to come within range.
The attack from behind caught both Jenks and Ellenshaw off guard. As Jenks turned and saw the four raptors jump upon the outer trailers of their defensive line, he quickly fired, hitting one of the brightly plumed animals, dropping him into the empty bed of the trailer. Charlie wasn’t as fast and managed to stitch the sky with tracer rounds as the three remaining raptors jumped from the green-painted trailers into the center of the camp. The first sprinted, feathered arms outstretched for balance as it tried desperately to avoid the bullets striking the ground at its feet. The master chief cursed again when he saw the animal crash into the ceramic and steel doorway. It rebounded with half of its scaled, reptilian head sliced open and dangling. It quickly shook off the blow and started to charge the doorway again.
“Son of a bitch!” Jenks said, and fired ten rounds into the running raptor just as the next two charged the doorway. One had a large rock that it threw, not at the doorway, but at the master chief’s head. It narrowly missed as Jenks fired five more rounds hitting the red- and yellow-colored feathers at the creature’s neck, sending him into a sliding crash next to the doorway.
As Charlie took aim and easily dispatched the last of the intruders, Jenks had time to figure out the horrifying fact that the raptors had somehow found a gap in the laser system’s radar coverage. How they found one was far beyond him.
“Oh, oh,” Ellenshaw said as he saw the blips on his own screen. Five targets were emerging from the forest line to the south and six more not far ahead of them. Two distinct groups were charging the camp simultaneously.
Jenks swallowed and wiped sweat from his face as he studied the radar scope on the laser control panel. He shook his head. “We can’t cover all fronts here,” he said as he hurried away and gathered up his two recharged drones. He yelled something at Charlie that the doctor couldn’t hear, and then the master chief started pulling access panels from the two air force drones. Ellenshaw saw the ordnance box next to Jenks and grimaced, afraid of what the navy man was up to. His attention was taken away by the loud hissing as the five raptors in the first group finally broke cover and charged the camp just as the first set had done. Charlie fired but his aim was off and he knew at that moment that at least four out of the five would make the trek into their camp.
Once again Erebus belched flame and fire. The plume blotted out what was left of the sunlight and a surreal landscape came into view and it had a nightmare quality about it — like the world had turned a sepia color. The ground shook so hard that the front two raptors stumbled and fell as the other three easily hopped over their fallen comrades.
“Look out!” Ellenshaw shouted as three spears — sharpened sticks is a more accurate description — came flying through the air and dug themselves into the ash-covered ground near the doorway. It was almost as if the reptilian beasts were out to destroy it. But Charlie knew this couldn’t be, they were just afraid of it and wanted it gone.
He fired and then his M-4 jammed. The second set of three raptors were on them, but just a second before the first of them could leap the trailers they were using as a camp barricade, several shots brought it down. Then more shots rang out over the roar of the distant mountains.
Both Jenks and Ellenshaw heard the shouting as the giant rocs broke through the cover of the trees. Charlie couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the prehistoric birds had riders perched upon their backs. The rocs screamed and the riders charged through a screen of raptors, the huge taloned feet of the running rocs decimating the aggressive little dinosaurs as they crashed through their ranks.
“It’s Jason!” Charlie shouted as he tried to clear his weapon of the jam. Jenks looked up from his tinkering and saw the commander as he fired point-blank into the back of a raptor’s skull, dropping it like a sack of potatoes. To Jenks and Ellenshaw the point was now moot about the impossibility of anything surviving an age it wasn’t supposed to on this messed-up continent. So, raptors outlived their brethren a mere sixty-five million years, but now they were actually witnessing Jason Ryan of the United States Navy riding a giant feathered roc like a charging cavalryman. “It’s Virginia, Sarah, and Anya!” Ellenshaw screamed, causing Jenks to fumble the C-4 charge he was handling. Cursing, he looked up from his task and saw Virginia as she kicked brutally at the giant bird’s hindquarters to get it to jump the first trailer. Then Jason, Sarah, and Anya broke through the gap in the defensive trailer line and skidded to a stop. Jason immediately ran to Charlie and slapped him on the back.
“What are you guys doing here?” Ellenshaw asked as Ryan fired his smoking nine millimeter into the line of raptors that now threatened to break through the tree line in force. Ellenshaw suspected they awaited the herd of bison and mammoths to crush them first.
“Never mind that, Doc, what’s up with that dust cloud?” Jason asked as Sarah and Anya joined them at the firing line. The rocs had decided that they could be in a far better situation than the one they currently held. As one, their mounts deserted them.
“The raptors are using the bison and mammoth herds to stampede our position. They have been herding them for two days now.”