fredbassett (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fredbassett) wrote2011-06-29 04:10 pm
fredbassett) wrote2011-06-29 04:10 pm
Entry tags:
Fic, Crow on the Cradle, Part 13 of 15, Stephen/Ryan, Lester/Lyle, 18
Title : Crow on the Cradle, Part 13 of 15
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 18
Characters : Stephen/Ryan, Lester/Lyle, Cutter, Claudia, Abby, Connor, OCs.
Disclaimer : Not mine (except all OCs), no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Summary : Lyle’s mother is on the scent of a story and it looks increasingly like the ARC team aren’t the only ones with knowledge of the anomalies.
A/N : this is my first official Primeval Big Bang! With many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lukadreaming for incomparable beta work and for holding my paw throughout a very long writing process. The total word count is 51,277 and I will be posting in 15 parts.
“We’re being stalked, aren’t we?” Julia Denton remarked calmly.
The drug she’d been given was clearly wearing off and, although she was sweating heavily and still looked too pale, Stephen had been impressed by how well they’d managed to make progress back along the trail they’d been following. Julia still needed a supporting arm from Lyle and she had stumbled a few times, but she had flatly refused to be carried.
Stephen glanced at Carl Dewar. The mercenary stared into the trees then nodded, confirming exactly what Stephen had been thinking. He’d caught the occasional flash of movement, sometimes behind them, sometimes to one side but never clear enough to know what it was they might be facing.
“You two need to work on your bedside manner,” Julia said. She shook her son’s hand off. “I’m all right, Jon, I can walk by myself. You’re going to need both hands free to put up a gallant defence of your beloved parent. I knew all those years of gentle nurturing were going to pay off in the end.”
“You always said you wished you’d drowned me at birth,” Lyle remarked. The soldier racked the slide on his shotgun, his action wholly at odds with the conversational tone of his voice.
The attack came wholly without warning. A grey shape dashed out of the trees at a run, head lowered and jaws agape, displaying a double row of serrated teeth easily capable of ripping a man in half. All Stephen had time to register before flinging himself sideways and dragging Julia Denton with him was that it was some sort of allosaurid theropod. Lyle dropped to one knee, shotgun raised, and fired two rounds in quick succession, carving bloody furrows across the theropod’s throat. A second, louder report came from Carl Dewar’s hunting rifle. A heavy calibre round took the creature in the head and it staggered but didn’t fall.
They were clearly going to have to make every shot count.
“We are under attack!” Lyle barked into his radio microphone. “Urgent assistance needed.”
Over his own earpiece, Stephen heard a crackle of static greet the lieutenant’s words words, followed by the sound of what might have been Stringer’s voice, but Stephen failed to pick out the reply over the bellow of pain and rage that followed another round from Lyle’s combat shotgun.
Looking pale but determined, Julia Denton grabbed a broken branch and swung it at the open mouth. Wood splintered and the theropod’s teeth closed around the branch, snapping it like a match, but the distraction allowed Stephen to swing his own rifle up and send a three-round burst into their attacker’s head.
A second bellow came out of the trees behind them and a slightly smaller shape, but still with the distinctive grey and brown mottled hide, hurtled towards them. Dewar flung himself sideways and fired, hitting the damp ground and rolling away. Lyle pushed his mother unceremoniously into the trees and then stood his ground pumping shell after shell into their attackers. Over the noise of both creatures bellowing, Stephen heard the welcome sound of a vehicle being driven towards them at speed a moment before the sound of a horn blared loudly.
The Land Rover slewed violently on the wet ground but Kermit, at the wheel, held his course, catching the injured predator a heavy blow with the front wing, adding to the damage the vehicle had already sustained. The young soldier threw the Land Rover into a ragged hand-brake turn, swinging it around and only barely retaining control as it rocked violently, taking a heavy blow from a swinging tail.
Another burst of automatic fire shredded the larger of the two theropods. Without waiting to see how successful his bullets were being in bringing the creatures down, Stephen sprinted to the trees, hauled Lyle’s mother to her feet and propelled her towards the Land Rover. She stumbled and almost fell, then scrambled inside. He pushed her down behind the front seats and jumped in as well, as Lyle and Dewar piled in behind them.
Kermit floored the accelerator pedal as much as possible on the damp earth and the vehicle lurched away, wheels skidding and finally gaining some much-needed traction. Something slammed hard into the back and the Land Rover was jolted forward, but Kermit kept control and they continued to gain speed. Carl Dewar leaned out of the window and fired a shot at one of their pursuers, the rifle shot deafeningly loud even over the engine noise. Stephen glanced behind and saw the bloodied allosaurids still in pursuit. They had the advantage of being able to cover the ground with alarming speed but both beasts were injured and one was starting to fall back.
“Looks like we’re losing them,” Stringer said calmly. “We’re meeting the others at the river.” He glanced at Lyle. “Any injuries?”
“Nothing life-threatening,” Lyle replied, his voice equally composed. “My mother is threatening to adopt a dinosaur and yet again I’m starring in a bad rip-off of Jurassic Park but apart from that things are peachy.”
Down by Stephen’s feet, Julia Denton struggled to sit upright as the Land Rover bounced along. She steadied herself against the back of the seat and turned around to stare at their pursuers, an almost wistful look on her face. “Did Madge grass on me, Jon?” she asked, eventually tearing her eyes away from what was happening behind them.
“No, she bloody well didn’t,” said Lyle. “But it wasn’t for want of trying on my part. You are a wholly irresponsible parent and I’m going to apply to have myself made a ward of court.”
“Aw, diddums,” Julia said, managing a half-smile, but Stephen could see the effort it was costing her to maintain the façade.
Before Lyle had chance to reply, something slammed hard into the side of the Land Rover and two wheels left the ground as Kermit wrenched on the wheel and tried to keep them moving forward. Glass broke and a pair of jaws was thrust inside. Julia Denton shrank back against Stephen, but didn’t scream.
“Duck,” Lyle instructed, bringing his shotgun to bear at the same time as Carl Dewar stuck the barrel of his rifle between the creature’s teeth and pulled the trigger.
The head jerked back, the Land Rover bounced on its chassis, and continued to move. It looked very much like something else had joined the hunt.
* * * * *
“They might just be chasing us because we’re a moving target,” Connor said, clutching his laptop to his chest and trying to stop himself being thrown around the interior of the Land Rover.
“Even I don’t feel like studying the hunting habits of tyrannosaurs in these circumstances, lad.” Cutter was tailgating Finn’s vehicle as closely as he dared, his forehead creased in concentration.
Ryan let the words wash over him as he concentrated on what was happening behind them. At his side, Abby still cradled the big hunting rifle and he knew that she wouldn’t hesitate to use it. He had plenty of respect for both her skills with a gun and her nerve, and no matter what the anomalies threw at them he knew she would do whatever was needed, even if her principles occasionally suffered in the process.
She gave him a quick, gamine grin. “Bet you wish you had a rocket launcher now.”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” he admitted. Ryan had an M203 grenade launcher on the carbine he’d borrowed from Finn, loaded with High-Explosive Dual Purpose rounds capable of inflicting considerable damage, but he was still working on standard operating procedures that kept that amount of destructive firepower until they really had no other option. He also wanted to wait until he had a clear shot.
“Do what you have to, Ryan,” Cutter said, clearly aware of their exchange. “We can’t afford to pussyfoot around.”
A slow smile spread across Ryan’s face. He took no pleasure in killing creatures that only wanted to fill their bellies, even if he was on their intended snack menu, but there had been plenty of meat on the ground back in the clearing that they had ignored. From what he’d seen of the giant predators he had a suspicion they enjoyed the chase as much as anything else and the presence of the group could well have infringed some territorial instincts. Either way, the lead tyrannosaur was now getting dangerously close to the third Land Rover driven by Ricky Carey.
Ryan stared around him doing his best to gauge how close they were to the river. As far as he could tell, they hadn’t yet passed the spot where Lyle had left them to go in search of his mother, nor had they had any word yet from Stringer or Lyle. There had been a regular static crackle from their radios to indicate attempts at communication, but beyond a few half-caught words he was none the wiser as to what his second-in-command and his fellow captain were up to.
His thoughts were answer a few moments later when a battered Land Rover, driven at speed by Kermit, swung out onto the rough trail, narrowly avoiding a collision with the lead vehicle. Behind it was some sort of bloody great big carnivore looking like a slightly scaled-down version of the T. rex. Ryan entertained a brief hope that the creatures might decide to make their own entertainment but a bellow from the tyrannosaur caused the other animal to swerve away, back into the forest.
The radio transmission suddenly cleared and Ryan heard Kermit’s voice say, “Sorry, mate, thought it was my right of way.”
A volley of shots from Blade’s vehicle signalled that one of their pursuers had got too close for comfort. Ryan considered using one of the HEDP rounds, but decided the risk was too great with the dinosaur in such close proximity to the Land Rover. He was just going to have to trust Carey’s driving skills.
“We’re about 500 metres from the river, boss.” Finn’s voice came over his earpiece. “Do you want me to go straight in?”
“If it looks no worse, go for it,” Ryan instructed. “And once you’re on the other side, keep going. Get those people out of here as fast as you can.” He switched his attention to the other vehicle that had just joined them. “Jon, any luck?”
“Yeah, she’s with us.”
Ryan’s relief was short-lived. The lead predator very nearly succeeded in overturning Carey’s vehicle. How the mercenary managed to keep control, Ryan would never know. Thoughts continued to race through Ryan’s mind. They were going to need to transfer Lyle’s mother to Finn’s Land Rover before the attempt on the river crossing.
“Finn, I need you to take on another passenger. Stop on this side for the transfer. Hart, I want Lyle’s mother in with Finn. Get her out of the vehicle. Finn, when they’re on board, get the hell out of here. Carey, Blade, go left. We’ll go right. We need to split these sods up if we can. Acknowledge!”
“Will do,” Stephen responded.
“On it, boss,” Blade replied.
“Professor, can you tackle the river?” Ryan demanded.
“Yes, but not if it means leaving you and your men behind.”
“I want you three out of the range of this lot, Professor. We’ll keep the vermin at bay. There’s enough of us to take them down.” Ryan spoke with more confidence that he actually felt, but he was damned if he was letting his civilian charges stay on this side of the river pursued by something that didn’t know when to stay extinct.
“What about Mason?” Cutter asked.
Before Ryan had chance to answer, the largest of the two tyrannosaurs finally succeeded in flipping the Land Rover being driven by Ricky Carey up into the air like a cat playing with a mouse. The vehicle landed on its bonnet, bounced and was then picked up and tossed to one side, where it hit a tree and landed on its roof. The huge head reached down, nosing at the wreckage, no doubt smelling the blood and guts from the dead bodies being carried in the back.
The second beast carried on past the wreckage, head down, powerful hind legs carrying it forwards at almost the speed of the Land Rovers. Ahead of them, Kermit spun his vehicle to the right, the wheels skidding on the sparse vegetation of the flood plain. The Land Rover slowed slightly and the rear swung open, disgorging Stephen, his arms wrapped around Lyle’s mother. They hit the ground and rolled, Stephen protecting the woman with his body and a moment later he was on his feet, hauling Julia up with him. Finn brought the other Land Rover alongside them and Ditzy’s hands reached out to haul her in. The door had barely closed behind them as the vehicle’s front wheels hit the brown floodwaters of the river. For one awful moment as the waters rose up almost over the bonnet, Ryan thought they’d miscalculated and that the river was actually deeper than before, but then the Land Rover started to make headway.
“You’re going to need us on this side, Ryan,” Cutter declared. “There’ll be more injured to evacuate and this is the only other vehicle we’ve got that can make the crossing.”
Cutter was right and Ryan knew it. “Let me out, Professor, and try to keep out of trouble until I need you, all right?”
The ghost of a grin crossed Cutter’s face. “Don’t I always?”
After a rapid check in his mirrors, Cutter brought the Land Rover to an abrupt halt. Ryan cradled his rifle tightly against his chest and sprinted away from the vehicle. He could see Stephen running towards him, limping slightly, possibly from damage sustained in the hasty exit from the other Land Rover. Ryan toyed with the idea of trying to persuade his lover to stay with Cutter and the two younger members of the team, but he knew he’d be wasting his breath. Another figure was hard on Stephen’s heels, a hunting rifle gripped in both hands. Someone else had decided to remain behind as well. Ryan recognised Tony Porter, one of the members of Mason’s hunting party.
“You shouldn’t be here, sir!” Ryan chambered a round on his grenade launcher and wondered how the hell he was going to get the T. rex far enough away from the wrecked vehicle to enable him to open fire on it safely.
“You need all the help you can get, captain,” Porter said calmly. “And I’m not missing the opportunity to bring one of these buggers down.”
It didn’t seem like a good time to have a debate about the matter. The Land Rover driven by Kermit had failed to attract pursuit from either of the beasts. They were now both nosing at the wreckage and Ryan was getting the distinct impression that they were about to start pulling it apart like two dogs fighting for possession of a juicy bone.
“We need to attract their attention,” Stephen declared and before Ryan had time to object, his lover started to run in the direction of the two enormous dinosaurs, yelling loudly.
As distraction techniques went, Ryan would have preferred something a little less life-threatening, but he had to admit it was certainly effective.
The smaller of the two creatures swung its head around, clearly aware of the movement but undecided whether to leave the smell of blood and death in favour of alternative prey. A second yell from Stephen and more arm-waving appeared to be the deciding factor. The T. rex broke into a lumbering run. The horn of a Land Rover started to blare loudly, adding to the distraction and moments later, Kermit pulled up alongside Ryan. Stringer, Lyle and Dewar jumped out of the vehicle and fanned out, ready to provide covering fire. At his side, Porter went down on one knee, steadied his hunting rifle and prepared to fire.
Stephen abruptly swerved sideways into the trees. The T. rex lacked the manoeuvrability to change direction as easily, its momentum carrying it beyond the clump of large ferns that were now providing cover for Stephen.
“Now!” Ryan ordered.
The volley of gunfire was almost deafening, from the deep boom of the grenade launcher to the sharper, more staccato chatter of the M4s and the deep blast of Lyle’s shotgun. The resulting damage inflicted on the creature was horrific, but to Ryan’s amazement, it still remained on its feet. Tony Porter quickly and calmly loaded another bullet into his bolt-action rifle and fired again, triggering another round of shots from the others as Ryan pumped a second grenade into the M203 attachment and waited for a moment to see what effect the more conventional weaponry was having.
The T. rex finally swayed and started to crumple to the ground. Ryan didn’t wait to see any more. Once down, there was no possibility of the dinosaur regaining its feet, not in the state it was in, but they still had another one to contend with, and he could hear answering bellows coming from the forest around him that made it sound like other predators were considering joining the party. Ryan knew they needed to start ferrying people across the river before they were over-run, but they also had to get the injured out of the wrecked vehicle – if anyone had survived.
The sheer amount of activity beside the swollen river seemed to have succeeded in attracting the attention of the remaining tyrannosaurus. It took a slow step away from the wrecked Land Rover, head waving from side to side. Ryan saw one of the doors swing open and someone dropped to the ground. His hopes of seeing the black of Blade’s uniform were dashed when he realised that the person who’d managed to free himself first was Ben Harris, the man who had attacked Lyle’s mother. Blade had obviously decided to cut the cable ties binding the man’s hands when their pursuer had got dangerously close, but that humanitarian gesture had apparently done nothing to earn him any favours. Harris took a brief look around at the scene, reached into the wreckage and extracted a rifle before making a quick dash for cover amongst the overhanging foliage.
“Little shit,” Stringer commented. “My turn to play bait, I think. Let’s see if we can attract that big sod’s attention, shall we?”
Ryan’s fellow captain gave him a swift grin then took up where Stephen had left off in another lethal game of cat and mouse. Stringer grabbed a rock the size of a cannonball and lobbed it at the tyrannosaur. Whether the huge beast even felt the blow was probably open to some doubt but, for whatever reason, the huge head swung in Stringer’s direction. Beside them, Kermit slammed the Land Rover into gear and pulled away, intending to provide the prospect of another chew-toy to play with.
“Lyle, take this and give me your shotgun!” Ryan said, holding out his rifle. “Cover me. I need to see who’s alive in there. Make sure that fucker doesn’t come back in my direction.” With Harris on the run and armed, Ryan wasn’t risking any confrontations between him and Lyle, not when they still had a job to do.
Lyle swapped weapons without question, accepting Ryan’s three remaining high explosive rounds and, heedless of the mounting chaos, Ryan made a dash for the overturned Land Rover, narrowly avoiding being knocked off his feet by a blow from the tyrannosaur’s tail as it finally decided to chase moving prey. The stench from inside the Land Rover was nauseating and all Ryan could see was a tangle of bloodied limbs.
He could make out Blade’s black uniform in the midst of the wreckage. The young soldier was jammed up against one of the doors, unmoving. Ryan heard a groan, but it wasn’t coming from Blade’s too-still form. Someone was alive. The only question was who. A sudden chittering noise made Ryan swing around. He was being stared at by several sets of unblinking eyes from a few metres away inside the forest. Where big predators hunted, carrion-eaters were never far behind, looking for easy pickings.
Two shells from his borrowed shotgun scattered them before Ryan even had chance to work out what they were – apart from feathered and almost certainly unfriendly – leaving him to his task of disentangling the living from the dead. He heard the sound of booted feet thudding into the soft ground and a moment later, Carl Dewar joined him. Together they started to haul Ricky Carey free. The mercenary was bleeding profusely from a head wound, almost certainly caused by an impact with the now-broken windscreen and at the very least would probably have several broken ribs, but the danger of a punctured lung paled into insignificance beside the other threats they were facing.
Carey sprawled amidst a mess of broken glass and was clearly struggling to breathe but Ryan knew battlefield first aid would have to wait. They had other priorities. Ryan crawled back into the Land Rover and tried to tug at Blade’s jacket. The soldier’s head lolled to one side, blood trickling from his mouth. Ryan took a deep breath, almost gagging on the stench of blood, and hauled. Blade’s body shifted slightly. It was enough for Ryan and he pulled again. Another pair of hands reached in to help him and with Dewar’s help, Ryan was able to drag Blade free of the wreckage.
The sound of gunfire broke out again, and the deeper boom that followed hard on its heels told Ryan that his second-in-command had fired another 40 mm grenade. The sound of a vehicle being driven towards them at speed drew Ryan’s attention. Cutter pulled his Land Rover up next to them and Abby jumped out. In Ditzy’s absence, the girl was their best field medic and Ryan knew they had to get both Carey and Blade out of there as fast as possible. With a nod to Dewar, they picked up Blade and transferred him as gently as they could onto the rear seats. Ryan thought he detected a pulse but he didn’t have the time to be sure. Carey was bundled into the back as well. Heedless of the horror inside the mangled wreckage, Abby had insinuated herself inside, her slight form enabling her to do what Ryan had failed to do and get into a position where she could check on Ed Mason.
A few moments later she backed out, blood streaking her pale cheeks and both hands. She met Ryan’s eyes and shook her head. “His neck’s broken and he’s stuck fast.” She looked around, a frown creasing her face. “Where’s the other one?”
“Grabbed a gun and legged it into the forest. We’re not waiting around for him.”
A quick glance told him that the last volley of shots had done enough to slow the last tyrannosaur down. It started to topple forwards, small arms twitching ineffectually as it fell. Ultimately, the world’s fiercest predator had become the prey, but it had taken an arsenal of modern weaponry to bring it down and Ryan knew that even his men would be starting to run low on ammunition now.
It was time to stage an exit before the bellowing he could hear from the forest came any closer.
“Get them across that river and out of here, Professor.” Ryan’s eyes raked over the now-subsiding floodwater. It was almost at the stage now that the Land Rover Kermit was driving could make an attempt at the crossing.
Whether they liked it or not, Ryan wanted Stephen and Tony Porter on the other side of the river. With his hunting rifle Porter had the range to provide covering fire for them from there, and even with the M4, Stephen was still capable of greater accuracy than most people. It would leave Ryan, Dewar, Stringer and Lyle to bring up the rear in the final vehicle just as soon as the waters had subsided long enough to allow them passage but that was a better option that over-loading Cutter’s Land Rover and putting them all at even bigger risk.
All they would have to do was survive on this side of the river for maybe another ten to 15 minutes at most. The roar from close at hand that followed that thought wasn’t exactly the most comforting sound Ryan had ever heard but it wasn’t enough to make him change his mind.
He just hoped he’d made the right call.
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 18
Characters : Stephen/Ryan, Lester/Lyle, Cutter, Claudia, Abby, Connor, OCs.
Disclaimer : Not mine (except all OCs), no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Summary : Lyle’s mother is on the scent of a story and it looks increasingly like the ARC team aren’t the only ones with knowledge of the anomalies.
A/N : this is my first official Primeval Big Bang! With many thanks to
lukadreaming for incomparable beta work and for holding my paw throughout a very long writing process. The total word count is 51,277 and I will be posting in 15 parts.“We’re being stalked, aren’t we?” Julia Denton remarked calmly.
The drug she’d been given was clearly wearing off and, although she was sweating heavily and still looked too pale, Stephen had been impressed by how well they’d managed to make progress back along the trail they’d been following. Julia still needed a supporting arm from Lyle and she had stumbled a few times, but she had flatly refused to be carried.
Stephen glanced at Carl Dewar. The mercenary stared into the trees then nodded, confirming exactly what Stephen had been thinking. He’d caught the occasional flash of movement, sometimes behind them, sometimes to one side but never clear enough to know what it was they might be facing.
“You two need to work on your bedside manner,” Julia said. She shook her son’s hand off. “I’m all right, Jon, I can walk by myself. You’re going to need both hands free to put up a gallant defence of your beloved parent. I knew all those years of gentle nurturing were going to pay off in the end.”
“You always said you wished you’d drowned me at birth,” Lyle remarked. The soldier racked the slide on his shotgun, his action wholly at odds with the conversational tone of his voice.
The attack came wholly without warning. A grey shape dashed out of the trees at a run, head lowered and jaws agape, displaying a double row of serrated teeth easily capable of ripping a man in half. All Stephen had time to register before flinging himself sideways and dragging Julia Denton with him was that it was some sort of allosaurid theropod. Lyle dropped to one knee, shotgun raised, and fired two rounds in quick succession, carving bloody furrows across the theropod’s throat. A second, louder report came from Carl Dewar’s hunting rifle. A heavy calibre round took the creature in the head and it staggered but didn’t fall.
They were clearly going to have to make every shot count.
“We are under attack!” Lyle barked into his radio microphone. “Urgent assistance needed.”
Over his own earpiece, Stephen heard a crackle of static greet the lieutenant’s words words, followed by the sound of what might have been Stringer’s voice, but Stephen failed to pick out the reply over the bellow of pain and rage that followed another round from Lyle’s combat shotgun.
Looking pale but determined, Julia Denton grabbed a broken branch and swung it at the open mouth. Wood splintered and the theropod’s teeth closed around the branch, snapping it like a match, but the distraction allowed Stephen to swing his own rifle up and send a three-round burst into their attacker’s head.
A second bellow came out of the trees behind them and a slightly smaller shape, but still with the distinctive grey and brown mottled hide, hurtled towards them. Dewar flung himself sideways and fired, hitting the damp ground and rolling away. Lyle pushed his mother unceremoniously into the trees and then stood his ground pumping shell after shell into their attackers. Over the noise of both creatures bellowing, Stephen heard the welcome sound of a vehicle being driven towards them at speed a moment before the sound of a horn blared loudly.
The Land Rover slewed violently on the wet ground but Kermit, at the wheel, held his course, catching the injured predator a heavy blow with the front wing, adding to the damage the vehicle had already sustained. The young soldier threw the Land Rover into a ragged hand-brake turn, swinging it around and only barely retaining control as it rocked violently, taking a heavy blow from a swinging tail.
Another burst of automatic fire shredded the larger of the two theropods. Without waiting to see how successful his bullets were being in bringing the creatures down, Stephen sprinted to the trees, hauled Lyle’s mother to her feet and propelled her towards the Land Rover. She stumbled and almost fell, then scrambled inside. He pushed her down behind the front seats and jumped in as well, as Lyle and Dewar piled in behind them.
Kermit floored the accelerator pedal as much as possible on the damp earth and the vehicle lurched away, wheels skidding and finally gaining some much-needed traction. Something slammed hard into the back and the Land Rover was jolted forward, but Kermit kept control and they continued to gain speed. Carl Dewar leaned out of the window and fired a shot at one of their pursuers, the rifle shot deafeningly loud even over the engine noise. Stephen glanced behind and saw the bloodied allosaurids still in pursuit. They had the advantage of being able to cover the ground with alarming speed but both beasts were injured and one was starting to fall back.
“Looks like we’re losing them,” Stringer said calmly. “We’re meeting the others at the river.” He glanced at Lyle. “Any injuries?”
“Nothing life-threatening,” Lyle replied, his voice equally composed. “My mother is threatening to adopt a dinosaur and yet again I’m starring in a bad rip-off of Jurassic Park but apart from that things are peachy.”
Down by Stephen’s feet, Julia Denton struggled to sit upright as the Land Rover bounced along. She steadied herself against the back of the seat and turned around to stare at their pursuers, an almost wistful look on her face. “Did Madge grass on me, Jon?” she asked, eventually tearing her eyes away from what was happening behind them.
“No, she bloody well didn’t,” said Lyle. “But it wasn’t for want of trying on my part. You are a wholly irresponsible parent and I’m going to apply to have myself made a ward of court.”
“Aw, diddums,” Julia said, managing a half-smile, but Stephen could see the effort it was costing her to maintain the façade.
Before Lyle had chance to reply, something slammed hard into the side of the Land Rover and two wheels left the ground as Kermit wrenched on the wheel and tried to keep them moving forward. Glass broke and a pair of jaws was thrust inside. Julia Denton shrank back against Stephen, but didn’t scream.
“Duck,” Lyle instructed, bringing his shotgun to bear at the same time as Carl Dewar stuck the barrel of his rifle between the creature’s teeth and pulled the trigger.
The head jerked back, the Land Rover bounced on its chassis, and continued to move. It looked very much like something else had joined the hunt.
* * * * *
“They might just be chasing us because we’re a moving target,” Connor said, clutching his laptop to his chest and trying to stop himself being thrown around the interior of the Land Rover.
“Even I don’t feel like studying the hunting habits of tyrannosaurs in these circumstances, lad.” Cutter was tailgating Finn’s vehicle as closely as he dared, his forehead creased in concentration.
Ryan let the words wash over him as he concentrated on what was happening behind them. At his side, Abby still cradled the big hunting rifle and he knew that she wouldn’t hesitate to use it. He had plenty of respect for both her skills with a gun and her nerve, and no matter what the anomalies threw at them he knew she would do whatever was needed, even if her principles occasionally suffered in the process.
She gave him a quick, gamine grin. “Bet you wish you had a rocket launcher now.”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” he admitted. Ryan had an M203 grenade launcher on the carbine he’d borrowed from Finn, loaded with High-Explosive Dual Purpose rounds capable of inflicting considerable damage, but he was still working on standard operating procedures that kept that amount of destructive firepower until they really had no other option. He also wanted to wait until he had a clear shot.
“Do what you have to, Ryan,” Cutter said, clearly aware of their exchange. “We can’t afford to pussyfoot around.”
A slow smile spread across Ryan’s face. He took no pleasure in killing creatures that only wanted to fill their bellies, even if he was on their intended snack menu, but there had been plenty of meat on the ground back in the clearing that they had ignored. From what he’d seen of the giant predators he had a suspicion they enjoyed the chase as much as anything else and the presence of the group could well have infringed some territorial instincts. Either way, the lead tyrannosaur was now getting dangerously close to the third Land Rover driven by Ricky Carey.
Ryan stared around him doing his best to gauge how close they were to the river. As far as he could tell, they hadn’t yet passed the spot where Lyle had left them to go in search of his mother, nor had they had any word yet from Stringer or Lyle. There had been a regular static crackle from their radios to indicate attempts at communication, but beyond a few half-caught words he was none the wiser as to what his second-in-command and his fellow captain were up to.
His thoughts were answer a few moments later when a battered Land Rover, driven at speed by Kermit, swung out onto the rough trail, narrowly avoiding a collision with the lead vehicle. Behind it was some sort of bloody great big carnivore looking like a slightly scaled-down version of the T. rex. Ryan entertained a brief hope that the creatures might decide to make their own entertainment but a bellow from the tyrannosaur caused the other animal to swerve away, back into the forest.
The radio transmission suddenly cleared and Ryan heard Kermit’s voice say, “Sorry, mate, thought it was my right of way.”
A volley of shots from Blade’s vehicle signalled that one of their pursuers had got too close for comfort. Ryan considered using one of the HEDP rounds, but decided the risk was too great with the dinosaur in such close proximity to the Land Rover. He was just going to have to trust Carey’s driving skills.
“We’re about 500 metres from the river, boss.” Finn’s voice came over his earpiece. “Do you want me to go straight in?”
“If it looks no worse, go for it,” Ryan instructed. “And once you’re on the other side, keep going. Get those people out of here as fast as you can.” He switched his attention to the other vehicle that had just joined them. “Jon, any luck?”
“Yeah, she’s with us.”
Ryan’s relief was short-lived. The lead predator very nearly succeeded in overturning Carey’s vehicle. How the mercenary managed to keep control, Ryan would never know. Thoughts continued to race through Ryan’s mind. They were going to need to transfer Lyle’s mother to Finn’s Land Rover before the attempt on the river crossing.
“Finn, I need you to take on another passenger. Stop on this side for the transfer. Hart, I want Lyle’s mother in with Finn. Get her out of the vehicle. Finn, when they’re on board, get the hell out of here. Carey, Blade, go left. We’ll go right. We need to split these sods up if we can. Acknowledge!”
“Will do,” Stephen responded.
“On it, boss,” Blade replied.
“Professor, can you tackle the river?” Ryan demanded.
“Yes, but not if it means leaving you and your men behind.”
“I want you three out of the range of this lot, Professor. We’ll keep the vermin at bay. There’s enough of us to take them down.” Ryan spoke with more confidence that he actually felt, but he was damned if he was letting his civilian charges stay on this side of the river pursued by something that didn’t know when to stay extinct.
“What about Mason?” Cutter asked.
Before Ryan had chance to answer, the largest of the two tyrannosaurs finally succeeded in flipping the Land Rover being driven by Ricky Carey up into the air like a cat playing with a mouse. The vehicle landed on its bonnet, bounced and was then picked up and tossed to one side, where it hit a tree and landed on its roof. The huge head reached down, nosing at the wreckage, no doubt smelling the blood and guts from the dead bodies being carried in the back.
The second beast carried on past the wreckage, head down, powerful hind legs carrying it forwards at almost the speed of the Land Rovers. Ahead of them, Kermit spun his vehicle to the right, the wheels skidding on the sparse vegetation of the flood plain. The Land Rover slowed slightly and the rear swung open, disgorging Stephen, his arms wrapped around Lyle’s mother. They hit the ground and rolled, Stephen protecting the woman with his body and a moment later he was on his feet, hauling Julia up with him. Finn brought the other Land Rover alongside them and Ditzy’s hands reached out to haul her in. The door had barely closed behind them as the vehicle’s front wheels hit the brown floodwaters of the river. For one awful moment as the waters rose up almost over the bonnet, Ryan thought they’d miscalculated and that the river was actually deeper than before, but then the Land Rover started to make headway.
“You’re going to need us on this side, Ryan,” Cutter declared. “There’ll be more injured to evacuate and this is the only other vehicle we’ve got that can make the crossing.”
Cutter was right and Ryan knew it. “Let me out, Professor, and try to keep out of trouble until I need you, all right?”
The ghost of a grin crossed Cutter’s face. “Don’t I always?”
After a rapid check in his mirrors, Cutter brought the Land Rover to an abrupt halt. Ryan cradled his rifle tightly against his chest and sprinted away from the vehicle. He could see Stephen running towards him, limping slightly, possibly from damage sustained in the hasty exit from the other Land Rover. Ryan toyed with the idea of trying to persuade his lover to stay with Cutter and the two younger members of the team, but he knew he’d be wasting his breath. Another figure was hard on Stephen’s heels, a hunting rifle gripped in both hands. Someone else had decided to remain behind as well. Ryan recognised Tony Porter, one of the members of Mason’s hunting party.
“You shouldn’t be here, sir!” Ryan chambered a round on his grenade launcher and wondered how the hell he was going to get the T. rex far enough away from the wrecked vehicle to enable him to open fire on it safely.
“You need all the help you can get, captain,” Porter said calmly. “And I’m not missing the opportunity to bring one of these buggers down.”
It didn’t seem like a good time to have a debate about the matter. The Land Rover driven by Kermit had failed to attract pursuit from either of the beasts. They were now both nosing at the wreckage and Ryan was getting the distinct impression that they were about to start pulling it apart like two dogs fighting for possession of a juicy bone.
“We need to attract their attention,” Stephen declared and before Ryan had time to object, his lover started to run in the direction of the two enormous dinosaurs, yelling loudly.
As distraction techniques went, Ryan would have preferred something a little less life-threatening, but he had to admit it was certainly effective.
The smaller of the two creatures swung its head around, clearly aware of the movement but undecided whether to leave the smell of blood and death in favour of alternative prey. A second yell from Stephen and more arm-waving appeared to be the deciding factor. The T. rex broke into a lumbering run. The horn of a Land Rover started to blare loudly, adding to the distraction and moments later, Kermit pulled up alongside Ryan. Stringer, Lyle and Dewar jumped out of the vehicle and fanned out, ready to provide covering fire. At his side, Porter went down on one knee, steadied his hunting rifle and prepared to fire.
Stephen abruptly swerved sideways into the trees. The T. rex lacked the manoeuvrability to change direction as easily, its momentum carrying it beyond the clump of large ferns that were now providing cover for Stephen.
“Now!” Ryan ordered.
The volley of gunfire was almost deafening, from the deep boom of the grenade launcher to the sharper, more staccato chatter of the M4s and the deep blast of Lyle’s shotgun. The resulting damage inflicted on the creature was horrific, but to Ryan’s amazement, it still remained on its feet. Tony Porter quickly and calmly loaded another bullet into his bolt-action rifle and fired again, triggering another round of shots from the others as Ryan pumped a second grenade into the M203 attachment and waited for a moment to see what effect the more conventional weaponry was having.
The T. rex finally swayed and started to crumple to the ground. Ryan didn’t wait to see any more. Once down, there was no possibility of the dinosaur regaining its feet, not in the state it was in, but they still had another one to contend with, and he could hear answering bellows coming from the forest around him that made it sound like other predators were considering joining the party. Ryan knew they needed to start ferrying people across the river before they were over-run, but they also had to get the injured out of the wrecked vehicle – if anyone had survived.
The sheer amount of activity beside the swollen river seemed to have succeeded in attracting the attention of the remaining tyrannosaurus. It took a slow step away from the wrecked Land Rover, head waving from side to side. Ryan saw one of the doors swing open and someone dropped to the ground. His hopes of seeing the black of Blade’s uniform were dashed when he realised that the person who’d managed to free himself first was Ben Harris, the man who had attacked Lyle’s mother. Blade had obviously decided to cut the cable ties binding the man’s hands when their pursuer had got dangerously close, but that humanitarian gesture had apparently done nothing to earn him any favours. Harris took a brief look around at the scene, reached into the wreckage and extracted a rifle before making a quick dash for cover amongst the overhanging foliage.
“Little shit,” Stringer commented. “My turn to play bait, I think. Let’s see if we can attract that big sod’s attention, shall we?”
Ryan’s fellow captain gave him a swift grin then took up where Stephen had left off in another lethal game of cat and mouse. Stringer grabbed a rock the size of a cannonball and lobbed it at the tyrannosaur. Whether the huge beast even felt the blow was probably open to some doubt but, for whatever reason, the huge head swung in Stringer’s direction. Beside them, Kermit slammed the Land Rover into gear and pulled away, intending to provide the prospect of another chew-toy to play with.
“Lyle, take this and give me your shotgun!” Ryan said, holding out his rifle. “Cover me. I need to see who’s alive in there. Make sure that fucker doesn’t come back in my direction.” With Harris on the run and armed, Ryan wasn’t risking any confrontations between him and Lyle, not when they still had a job to do.
Lyle swapped weapons without question, accepting Ryan’s three remaining high explosive rounds and, heedless of the mounting chaos, Ryan made a dash for the overturned Land Rover, narrowly avoiding being knocked off his feet by a blow from the tyrannosaur’s tail as it finally decided to chase moving prey. The stench from inside the Land Rover was nauseating and all Ryan could see was a tangle of bloodied limbs.
He could make out Blade’s black uniform in the midst of the wreckage. The young soldier was jammed up against one of the doors, unmoving. Ryan heard a groan, but it wasn’t coming from Blade’s too-still form. Someone was alive. The only question was who. A sudden chittering noise made Ryan swing around. He was being stared at by several sets of unblinking eyes from a few metres away inside the forest. Where big predators hunted, carrion-eaters were never far behind, looking for easy pickings.
Two shells from his borrowed shotgun scattered them before Ryan even had chance to work out what they were – apart from feathered and almost certainly unfriendly – leaving him to his task of disentangling the living from the dead. He heard the sound of booted feet thudding into the soft ground and a moment later, Carl Dewar joined him. Together they started to haul Ricky Carey free. The mercenary was bleeding profusely from a head wound, almost certainly caused by an impact with the now-broken windscreen and at the very least would probably have several broken ribs, but the danger of a punctured lung paled into insignificance beside the other threats they were facing.
Carey sprawled amidst a mess of broken glass and was clearly struggling to breathe but Ryan knew battlefield first aid would have to wait. They had other priorities. Ryan crawled back into the Land Rover and tried to tug at Blade’s jacket. The soldier’s head lolled to one side, blood trickling from his mouth. Ryan took a deep breath, almost gagging on the stench of blood, and hauled. Blade’s body shifted slightly. It was enough for Ryan and he pulled again. Another pair of hands reached in to help him and with Dewar’s help, Ryan was able to drag Blade free of the wreckage.
The sound of gunfire broke out again, and the deeper boom that followed hard on its heels told Ryan that his second-in-command had fired another 40 mm grenade. The sound of a vehicle being driven towards them at speed drew Ryan’s attention. Cutter pulled his Land Rover up next to them and Abby jumped out. In Ditzy’s absence, the girl was their best field medic and Ryan knew they had to get both Carey and Blade out of there as fast as possible. With a nod to Dewar, they picked up Blade and transferred him as gently as they could onto the rear seats. Ryan thought he detected a pulse but he didn’t have the time to be sure. Carey was bundled into the back as well. Heedless of the horror inside the mangled wreckage, Abby had insinuated herself inside, her slight form enabling her to do what Ryan had failed to do and get into a position where she could check on Ed Mason.
A few moments later she backed out, blood streaking her pale cheeks and both hands. She met Ryan’s eyes and shook her head. “His neck’s broken and he’s stuck fast.” She looked around, a frown creasing her face. “Where’s the other one?”
“Grabbed a gun and legged it into the forest. We’re not waiting around for him.”
A quick glance told him that the last volley of shots had done enough to slow the last tyrannosaur down. It started to topple forwards, small arms twitching ineffectually as it fell. Ultimately, the world’s fiercest predator had become the prey, but it had taken an arsenal of modern weaponry to bring it down and Ryan knew that even his men would be starting to run low on ammunition now.
It was time to stage an exit before the bellowing he could hear from the forest came any closer.
“Get them across that river and out of here, Professor.” Ryan’s eyes raked over the now-subsiding floodwater. It was almost at the stage now that the Land Rover Kermit was driving could make an attempt at the crossing.
Whether they liked it or not, Ryan wanted Stephen and Tony Porter on the other side of the river. With his hunting rifle Porter had the range to provide covering fire for them from there, and even with the M4, Stephen was still capable of greater accuracy than most people. It would leave Ryan, Dewar, Stringer and Lyle to bring up the rear in the final vehicle just as soon as the waters had subsided long enough to allow them passage but that was a better option that over-loading Cutter’s Land Rover and putting them all at even bigger risk.
All they would have to do was survive on this side of the river for maybe another ten to 15 minutes at most. The roar from close at hand that followed that thought wasn’t exactly the most comforting sound Ryan had ever heard but it wasn’t enough to make him change his mind.
He just hoped he’d made the right call.
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Great chapter.
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